Viva Espana!

I need to go back to Spain. 3 days is not enough, even for a little city like Malaga. Everything about Spain is beautiful, the beach, the shops, the food, and the people! We arrived in Malaga around 3pm on Friday, after a crazy flight on RyanAir. I think RyanAir is flight school for Europe. Everyone even clapped when we landed, but that's a different story. After we got all settled into our hostel, we walked down to the beach. The Mediterranean was extremely warm, so we all jumped in and hung out there until around 8. We stopped at a restaurant on our way back because we were starving, but they shut down the grill form 6pm-9pm. Prime dinner hours in the States. We settled for a quick french fry at Burger King off the beach, and waited around on the roof of the hostel until the Spanish dinner time of 11pm. We walked through these quaint alleyways and ended up at a nice seafood place for tapas (small plates or appetizers) and Sangria.

Main shopping alley in Malaga

Waiting for a table at dinner


Lindsay and Adam with the Sangria pitcher

Lindsay and I woke up early on Saturday and went to find the boys, but they weren't answering our calls up to their room, so we decided to go on an excursion ourselves. We ended up eating breakfast at this great little place outside of our building. Then we hiked to the top of this huge hill, where an old army fort still stands and is open to walk around. Best 60 cents spent the whole trip. See the pictures below for the great views we had from up there!

The coast and bull fighting arena in Malaga


View the other way with the cruise ship port


Lindsay locked me in the fort dungeon, thanks alot!


On top of the fort


Us with the bull fighting ring

After that, we met up with the boys and went shopping for a good portion of the day. We ended up on the beach around 3, and once again, hung out there for most of the evening. Our next Spanish dinner was a shared assortment of delicious paella, which is a rice dish consisting of any kind of meat or seafood you could think of. After another late dinner and a walk around town, it was time for bed to prepare for our crazy Sunday!

Lindsay and I woke up early again and had breakfast at the same place (we're so lame!). Then we met everyone else and went to the Picasso museum. He was born in Malaga (along with Antonio Banderez, mmmmm), so there is the beautiful museum dedicated to him tucked in a little nothing alley. It was only 4 euros to get in, and every single painting and drawing inside was done by Picasso. How cool is that? Some of the sketches were pretty weird though. We decided that he was pretty messed up to draw people the way he did.

After the museum, we went to the beach AGAIN, and then left to get ready for the big WORLD CUP FINALS featuring Spain vs. Netherlands. On our walk back, we noticed huge groups of people waiting outside of the bull arena, so we ran back, changed and headed that way. We got there about 2 hours early, at 6:30, and there were already thousands of people packed inside. We passed the time people watching and dancing to Shakira with the Spaniards around us. It was great!

The crowd hours before the game started

Lindsay and I waiting for the game to start


Zach, Adam, Kevin, and Brian excited for the game to start!


Crazy Spaniards.. where's BZ?


That's better... the group before the game

The game started at 8:30, and the place was shoulder to shoulder. The game was actually pretty slow, but there were alot of close shots. At the end of both halves, the score was still 0-0 and the game went into overtime. Nothing happened for the firsth 15 minutes, and then in the last 5 mintues of overtime, Spain scored!!! The entire place erupted. People were dancing and screaming, and even setting off fireworks fight next to us. It was ridiculous! The last 5 minutes of the game were just a big celebration, until the final seconds when everyone settled down, just to erupt again, even crazier! I wish I could upload my movies, but it isn't working. Pictures don't really do the celebration justice, so you will have to wait until I get home.

Yay for the first goal :)

Viva Espana!

Spain being handed the championship trophy

After the game, we stayed in the ring for awhile just dancing and singing and watching people light fireworks. When we finally got kicked out of the ring, the party continued onto the streets, where people were yelling, honking, and singing until we woke up again at 4am to go to the airport. I fell asleep watching the impromtu parade taking place outside of our hostel window. I will never forget that night. I can't even believe our luck. Once in a lifetime.

The parade of Spainards outside of our hostel

After our amazing trip to Spain, we headed back to Berlin very early Monday morning and went right to school to finish our programming project. The rest of the week was spent on cultural excursions, like a trip to the Baltic Sea and Peenemude, where the German Army created the V2 rocket. The rest of the week Lindsay and I spent shopping and getting ready for our trip this week.

Today was our last day of Germany Summer School. We had to give presentations about our projects to our department at TU Berlin and some professors who came over from Michigan. Afterward, we had a huge BBQ before everyone went their separate ways, which ended up being alot sadder than I had originally anticipated. A big group is headed back to the states, a couple went to Amsterdam, others went to Munich, and Lindsay, Kevin, Colin, and I are headed to Italy tomorrow morning. We are flying to Milan and pretty much going nonstop from there.

Saturday: Fly to Milan early from Berlin
Sunday: Spend the day in Milan, leave for Florence by train at night
Monday: Spend the day in Florence
Tuesday: Day trip to Pisa, back to Florence for the night
Wednesday: Leave early on the train for Venice and spend the day there
Thursday: Spend the morning in Venice, leave around noon to fly back to Berlin

Thursday night, my Mom, Bill, and Casey are flying from Detroit and arriving in Berlin early Friday morning. I am so excited to see them and show them everything! We are spending a couple days here and then driving through Germany and ending up in Munich for a night or two and then flying out of there to go back home. These are going to be some crazy 14 days, but there is so much to look forward to. I am really excited to get home and see my G-unit, Dad, Bonnie, Camryn, Kyle (if you ever come home!), Matthew <3, the Geigers, La-Lew & Moose, and of courseee, Ralph!

I will try to update again between Italy and the fam coming! :) Thanks for sticking with me through the last 6 weeks. This has been a really great way for me to keep everyone in the loop, and for me to remember all the good times I've had here. The countdown has begun (or at least it better have started Camryn) 14 days! Miss you all! Love you guys! Auf Wiedersehen!

Born in the USA

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! I really missed G-unit's cottage and the Evart 4th of July parade. Although the 4th is just any old day here in Germany, we tried to make it memorable and fun. In the morning, some of us went to a little cafe down the street and had an awesome brunch buffet. It's hard to find good breakfast food here (they eat like turkey sandwiches for breakfast), so that meal was heaven-sent. Then we decided to spend our free day in Berlin on Museum Island, and got a pass for all the museums on the island with our 50% student discount. Our first stop was the Neues Museum, where we saw the original Bust of Nefertti and walked around for a couple hours. Then we headed to the Altes Museum to see the floor of sculptures.

Kevin hanging out in the Altes Museum

Just those two museums alone brought us to 5pm, when we had to head back for our 4th of July BBQ on the roof of our apartment building! We rented the top terrace, which has a grilling area that overlooks the entire city of Berlin. The buildings aren't very tall here, so you can see for miles up there. The airport is only a couple of miles away, so I watched all the planes land and take off. One of the best views of Berlin I've seen. The boys acted all manly and grilled everyone cheeseburgers and hot dogs, while we blasted God Bless America and Born in the USA from Ian's iPod speakers.

Some of the boys on the roof of our apartment


View of Alexanderplatz from the top of our building


Zach and Chris grillin' up our burgers

Self-timed group pic at our 4th of July BBQ on the roof

We ended up hanging out up there most of the night. It wasn't the same as sitting around the camp fire with my grandparents and family up north, but we made the best of what we had.

Monday morning was another early morning and, sadly, our last German class. For our last day, we sang German World Cup songs with our teacher Katalin and watched a couple of German films. German class has been one of my favorite parts of the program, so it was a bittersweet end-- mostly because it meant we had 7 hours of computer programming for the rest of the week instead. UGH!

The advanced German class with Katalin (far right)

Then on Monday night, Aylin invited me to come over to her house to dinner and meet the rest of her family. Around 6pm, I met her at a central subway station and she took me to her neighborhood, which is in the South of Berlin. The area was much more suburban, with family homes, little corner stores, and tons of parks. After about a half mile walk, Aylin pointed out the house that her family's apartment is in. As soon as I walked through the door of the top floor apartment, I was greeted by her dad and mom, who, in broken English, but smiling from ear to ear, said "Welcome to my home!" A few minutes later, Aylin's little sister Salene, came bouncing out of her room. Aylin had told me that Salene had been taking English lessons, so I should try to get her to talk in English, but she was too shy. I tried to open her up by making her laugh with my bad German, "Wie alt bist du?" (How old are you?), "Spechst du English?" (Do you speak English), and "Du hast sehr shöne blaue Augen." (You have really pretty blue eyes!). After the initial introductions, we set the table and sat down for dinner. The food was delicious! Her mom made a feast and I could have eaten it all! We had steak bits with peppers, homemade rice pilaf, Turkish salad, and pan seared potatoes and carrots. After dinner, I told her it was "das beste Essen in ganz Deutschland!" (or the best food in all of Germany). I was in desperate need of a home cooked meal. My stomach is grumbling just thinking about it.

Me and Aylin at her house

Amazing dinner cooked by her Mom


Aylin and her 8 year old sister Salene

After dinner, Aylin, her mom, little sister, and I drove to a little ice cream cafe a few miles away. Her little sister had warmed up to me a lot throughout the night and was trying to talk to me in English. She told me all about her English class and sang "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" with me.

Me and Salene


Me, Salene, and Aylin's Mom at the ice cream cafe

Before I left, Aylin's family had offered to let me stay the night, come back whenever I wanted, money if I ever was in trouble, and invited me to Turkey with them next summer. Even a pretty big language barrier could not mask their innate hospitality and kindness. Just being around a family again made me really miss my own. We're around other students 24/7, so it was nice to see Aylin's dad make her little sister giggle, or to see how her mom took care of everyone in the house. I think that was one of my favorite nights here so far.

Tuesday was spent in the computer lab and then doing more homework after. I went down to my apartment's beer garden with a couple of people and just hung out watching the Netherlands/Uraguay World Cup Game. Wednesday was the big Germany/Spain game, so after school, we all headed downtown to stake our stop at the Fan Mile. It was about 25 degrees less this time, so the Fan Mile was much more manageable and we didn't miss any German goals this time! But that's only because there weren't any. Spain ended up winning 1-0 and about a million pouty Germans flooded out of the park. I wish they could have pulled it through to the Finals, Germany would have just gone nuts!

Lindsay, me, & Tom at the Fan Mile for the semi-finals

Right after Spain scored.. dead silence

Lindsay, me, and Ben at the empty Fan Mile afterwards

Secretly though, the fact that Spain won kind of works out better for us. As much as I would have loved for Germany to win, 6 of us had planned a trip to Spain weeks ago for this upcoming weekend. Tomorrow, we are leaving for Malaga, Spain and staying until Monday morning. We would have switched our flight if Germany won, but now we get to be in Spain for the World Cup Finals between the Netherlands and Spain. I am so excited! What I am most looking forward to though is the beach, and the beach, and more of the beach. Malaga is located right on the Mediterranean and although some are "clothing optional", Malaga's beaches are supposed to be beautiful.

Leaving for Malaga, Spain tomorrow!

I can't believe how fast this trip is going by! We already finished our classes today. This weekend we are going to Spain. Next week is filled with planned program excursions because it is the last official week. Then, Lindsay and I leave for our train trip across Italy. And finally, my Mom, Bill, and Casey are here for a week, and I'm home before you know it! I'm excited for what's ahead, and keeping busy until I can get back to see everyone. I love you all, and miss you tons! Have a good weekend! Today it is: Adios!

Beer Showers & Crusty Hair

So it's been awhile and I'm so sorry! These past 10 days or so have been filled with school and trying to enjoy our last two "official" program weeks of Berlin. Zermatt feels like so long ago, but I guess that is where I left off. Last Tuesday, I spent the day with Aylin, Matt's Uncle Mike's German exchange student, and I had a great time. She picked me up from my apartment after school and we went a couple of train stops to see her school. Then she took me out to eat in the Turkish neighborhood of Kreuzburg. Her dad ended up stopping by and picking me out the best meal on the menu, and picked up the tab before I could get a word in edgewise. He didn't speak a lick of English, mostly Turkish with a mix of German, but we traded multiple smiles, nods, and simple German phrases while Aylin was our translator. After dinner, her dad drove us around the city and showed us some remains of the Berlin wall. Her family lived on the West side when the wall was in place. (I have yet to meet anyone who lived in the East!) After that, he dropped us off at Potsdamer Platz, which has a mall, theater, and little cafes. We had ice cream and just hung out and talked for a couple hours. It was fun to hear about what she experienced in the US and to compare that to my experience living in Germany.

Aylin and me in front of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz

On Wednesday, we had class all day and then I just did laundry, went to the gym, and did homework. Thursday about five of us went out to a bar in downtown Berlin for the night. The bar was on a terrace above the dance floor, so Zach, Adam, and I spent the night sitting up there and laughing at everyone dancing below us, making up life stories for each of our favorite characters. Although we were having a great time, we decided that we were ready to leave around 2:30, but to our surprise, we found out that all of the trains stop running at 12:30 on weeknights. There are hardly any busses back to Wedding, so we were forced to keep ourselves awake until 4:30am, when the first train started up again! It was crazy! I didn't get home until 5 and then had to wake up for class at 6:45. Not fun. I did make it through class, just to come home on Friday and nap from 5:30-11:30pm. 6 hours! After being suddenly woken up by Zach and Adam furiously ringing my doorbell, I went downtown with a couple of them and we just walked around and ate döner for most of the night! :)

Saturday was a crazy day! I woke up around noon and began getting ready for the World Cup quarter finals Fan Mile! The Fan Mile is this huge festival put on by FIFA in Berlin where they play all the Germany games and have tents of food and beer. They have a stage and feature different artists, as well as huge TV screens to broadcast the game.

The front of the FIFA Fan Mile Berlin

Lindsay's boyfriend, Hendrick, was in town, so Hendrick, Adam, Zack, Lindsay, and I went to the beer garden around 1 and then headed to the Fan Mile for the 4pm game. When we got there, we ended up getting pretty close to the front, but the entire mile filled up quickly after. I guess the 90 degree weather didn't stop people from coming, although I wish that it had.

The view behind us at the Fan Mile

Adam, me, and Zach at the Fan Mile

Lindsay and me

Within the first 5 minutes of the game, Germany scored!!! It happened so fast that all of the Germans had yet to finish their beers, so they ended up just throwing them all in the air. They were freaking out and I was drenched in warm beer! Pretty disgusting way to start off a long game. After halftime, Lindsay and I were overheating, so we went to go take a break, get some water, and sit in the shade. As soon as we stepped to the side, Germany scored a goal and the Fan Mile went crazy! We were super bummed that we were to the side of the action, but figured there would be another when we got back. About 5 minutes later, while we were still sitting to the side, Germany scored again and we missed it! Go figure! Just our luck.. Regardless, it was kind of cool to watch the crowd go crazy from the outside.

The crowd during the second of the 2 goals we watched from the side

After we cooled down, Linds and I headed back toward the center and anxiously awaited the next goal. With about 10 minutes left in the game, Germany scored again and the crowd went CRAZY! (check out this you tube video to see what I mean...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkQJZc10rBo) In the end, Germany beat Argentina 4-0 and it was a great game and an amazing atmosphere!

Hendrick and Linday at the Fan mile
Check out the guy in the backgroud.. super happy they won!

Deutschland hat gewonnen!!

After the game, we just hung out and ate and then went downtown to the casino for the night. I didn't gamble, but just watched some of the boys play poker. One lost 150 Euro in 13 minutes. We timed him.

It was a pretty good weekend in Berlin, so I'm happy we didn't make plans to leave the city. I'll update about our 4th of July and so on tomorrow, but I am pooped tonight! School wore me out this past week, but we only have 3 more days to go! I've gotta push through.. Missing everyone lots! Love you! Auf Wiedersehen!

On Cloud Nine, literally..

I am exhausted. Utterly exhausted, but in the best way possible. On Friday, after a day of programming at school, six of us came home and packed and got ready for our big trip to Zermatt, Switzerland. Our first train left from Berlin around 7:30 and got to Frankfurt around 11pm. We had 3 hours until our next train, so we went outside to look for some food. I think I could have lived a happy life without ever seeing Frankfurt and its red light district. The six of us ran back to the train station and camped out in McDonald's instead, a good call I'd say. After the longest 3 hours of my life, we were on the train from Frankfurt to Basel, which I remember none of. I found my own row and slept the entire 3 hour ride. The next two trains were through the mountains of Switzerland, and I managed to stay awake for both. The first was from Basel to Visp, and then the last was a tiny mountain train from Visp to Zermatt. We arrived in Zermatt almost exactly 14 hours after we stepped foot outside our apartment, around 9:20am on Saturday, immediately forgetting our long night at the sight of the surrounding mountains and tiny Swiss ski town.

View of the famous Matterhorn from the Zermatt train station

After walking around a bit, we dropped our bags off at our hotel and decided to rent some mountain bikes, an idea that sounded great to the male group majority. Lindsay and I were good sports and started up the mountain right behind the four boys. Lindsay had never been to the mountains before, so about a half an hour in, she couldn't catch her breath, so we stopped and sent the boys onwards. We relaxed for a little bit and then decided that we would walk our bikes for awhile. With our pride in the way, we decided that we wanted to get to the top, whether the 3 hour trail took us 8. We couldn't let those boys show us up. After about an hour, we had been hoofing it, with our bikes in tow, we ran into a British couple and asked them how far the top was. "A longgg way," the woman said, followed by, "Oh, were you with a group of American boys? They just turned around and went back down!" She also informed us that there was a chair lift to take us up, and that we should have never let "stupid boys" talk us into riding our bikes up. Lindsay and I headed down, following the sign towards Zermatt, which basically took us 90 degrees down the mountain over rocks and fallen trees. Once again, our bikes followed behind. Thank God we paid 22 Francs to push a mountain bike up and down the mountain. Oh well, we got plenty of laughs out of it. We later found out that the boys took the round about way down, and stopped for a romantic italian lunch on a ridge. Thanks for waiting up guys! At least Lindsay and I treated ourselves to ice cream at the bottom.

Lindsay and I pre-meltdown mode

The boys happily waiting up for us...

After our biking disaster, we went back to the hotel, napped, showered, cleaned up, and went to downtown Zermatt, which consists of 1 street. We had dinner at a traditional Swiss restaurant, complete with cheese fondue and chicken schnitzel. Then we went to a bar and watched the USA versus Ghana World Cup Game. We lost in overtime, so that was a bummer, but it was still a good game to watch in a fun atmosphere.

Alex, Zach, Me, Brian, & Adam in downtown Zermatt

Lindsay & I in front of the restaurant

The next day, we all woke up early and walked down to the base of the Matterhorn mountain. Alex decided he wanted to spend the money to summer ski the Alps, and left the group for the day. The rest of us decided to hike up to the chair lift, and take it up the mountain. The hike only took about a half hour and we were able to touch the river of glacier water.

Brian & I on the trail up to the chair lift

Brian in glacier water!

When we got up to the ski lift, we were told that it was more expensive to go to the very top of the mountain than it was to go up two more lifts. Lindsay had never seen the top of a mountain before, and I wanted to see the top of the Alps, so we decided to spring for the highest lift ticket, while the boys were lame and settled for the lower ones. The lower stops also had amazing views and there was snow all over the place.

The view from the Matterhorn gondola

Taking the gondola up to the second stop

The view from the lower lift

Lindsay and I at the intermediate lift

Adam, Brian, & Zach before their hike

After about 45 minutes at the second highest lift, Lindsay and I left the boys to hike while we took the single huge gondola cart up to the very top of the Matterhorn. When we got off the gondola, we were filtered into a huge cave that went through the mountain. When we got to the end of the tunnel, all we could see were clouds and snow. It was crazy! We were above the clouds on top of the Swiss Alps. We walked up to the top of the observation deck, looking down at the clouds and the smaller mountains below, covered in snow. The sight was indescribable. The pictures can never do it justice. The experience was definitely worth the extra Francs.

The sight at the end of the entrance tunnel
(That's clouds, not snow!)

Adjacent peaks to the one we were on

Lindsay & I at the very top of the observation deck

Us on the way down the gondola

After our majestic afternoon, we just shopped around Zermatt and then headed back the same way we came, leaving around 6:30pm. Four trains and three hours of sleep later, we were walking to class Monday morning straight from the train station. At the beginning of the trip, I had no idea what Zermatt was, let alone a desire to visit it. It just goes to show that sometimes the best things in life are unexpected, spontaneous, and exhausting, you've just got to be open to it! Only have 4 hours of sleep ahead of me now, so I better take full advantage. Not much planned for the week. I'm going to dinner with Matt's Uncle Mike's German exchange student Aylin tomorrow night and she's going to show me her favorite places in Berlin. It should be fun! :) Goodnight! Auf Wiedersehen!