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!

Highway to Hell

This has been one crazy week! As I mentioned last time, everyday has been filled with different activities and things to look forward to. On Monday, instead of class, we went to the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg. Basically, it is like a theme park with thousands of little kids running around. Overall, I wasn't super impressed, but the actual factory tour was really cool, even though it only lasted 40 minutes. After the tour, we had a couple hours to ourselves, so we went into the Bugatti exhibit, where we saw this mirror-finished Bugatti. It was amazing!

Mirror finished Bugatti at the VW Autostadt

There was also a car museum, where I found Matt's future orange Lambo. Although I'm sure his will be much cooler! :)

After the day in Wolfsburg, and a couple of missed trains later, Zach, Lindsay, and I made bratwurst pasta here, and did some homework. Nothing too exciting because we had to prepare for our epic night of AC/DC!!!

Which brings me to Tuesday...what an adventure!

Zach, Lindsay, and I had bought tickets for the concert online last Thursday. Another kid from our group, Alex, had told us about it because he had bought a ticket for himself months ago. We asked our TU Berlin program director if we could have the tickets shipped to her office, and she had no problem with it and filled out all the forms for us. Monday rolled around and no tickets had come yet. We all just crossed our fingers for the mail Tuesday, but when Zach checked online the ticket status was "undeliverable address." 80 Euro down the drain.

Or so we thought.. Zach hunted down our German teacher, and had her call DHL to track the tickets back to a DHL warehouse about an hour train ride outside of Berlin. Using his hand drawn google map sketch, he found the warehouse and the only English speaker inside, who helped him find the tickets at 4:30pm. The concert was scheduled to start at 6.

Luckily, Alex told us there were 2 opening acts, so we took our time and had italian carry out. Then we left for the Olympic Stadium around 6pm, followed the enormous crowds of old men with black tshirts on, and got there around 6:45, which was plenty of time to find shirts, food, and a good spot on the floor.

Olympic Stadium Berlin


Zach and Lindsay headed down to the floor


Us on the floor surrounded by crazy German fans

AC/DC came on around 9pm, and the place went crazy! Their first song was Back in Black and it was a great start. They played all their really popular songs, and only about 3 I had never heard before. Their encore was Highway to Hell, which was the best song of the night. I took a video for you Dad! :) We were dancing and singing all night long, and unlike all of our previous experiences, the Germans around us loved us! Be sure to check out the background people in all of these photos. They are pretty hilarious!

Excited for the concert to start!
Check out tall German giving us bunny ears.


Zach and I


Those old men weren't supposed to be in the picture. haha

First song of the night!

Soo excited! :)

So many people!

Highway to Hell encore! Amazing!

Crazy old German AC/DC fan after the concert! hahah

The concert ended around midnight and after pushing our way onto the train, we made it home safe and sound around 1:30am. That was definitely one of the best nights we've had here so far! Lindsay and I both slept through our alarms the next morning, but our teacher was really cool about it because he was at the concert too! :)

After school Wednesday, we were supposed to go to the Germany Fan Mile for the World Cup soccer game, but we fell asleep from 5-8!! The gates to the fan mile were only open until 6:30, so we ended up watching it at our favorite restaurant down the street. All of the people who went to the fan mile said it was crazy! There were thousands of people there all dressed up and singing songs. They even got to see an impromtu concert by Jason DeRulo! (I know Camryn, I'm so dumb for not going!) He sang two of my favorite songs! UGH! I guess that has taught me to never sleep through any opportunity here, because I am bound to miss something good! Secretly, I think the nap was well worth it though.

So that brings us to today. We had class all day and then Lindsay and I went shopping for replacement coats for Zermatt at the North Face store on the Ku'Damm. Then, our program director set up a night at a German swimming pool and sauna. We went to this huge complex that had volleyball courts, water slides, multiple pools, a gym, and over 20 saunas, all indoors. We started out by playing beach volleyball on the indoor courts, which was really fun even though I made a fool of myself, per usual. Then Christina, our German student advisor, wanted to give us the FULL German sauna experience. Interesting, to say the least. Lots of naked people running around. Completely comfortably. Crazy. Oh well, I guess it's their culture.

Later we went swimming, and we got back home around 11pm. I just finished some homework and should be packing, but I'm going to go to bed! :) We have class until 4 tomorrow, and then we leave for Zermatt, Switzerland at 7pm! We stop in Frankfurt, Basel, Visp, and then Zermatt. It will take approximately 14 hours, but we'll get there eventually, and save money on a hotel for the night, right!? We leave to come home late Sunday, and get back Monday morning just in time to walk from the train to German class. Exhausting, but perfect. Should have lots to update on Monday, if I'm awake at all. Until then, I love you guys and really miss you all. Have a great weekend! Auf Wiedersehen!

Work Hard, Play Hard

Happy Father's Day Dad, Bill, and Grandpa!!!
Missing you all lots today!

This past week was the first week of our engineering class, which has really put a damper on our time to explore Berlin. Regardless, we found time to have some fun! On Tuesday, we went to a Coheed & Cambria concert at this little concert hall in Berlin. We got there an hour early to get a good spot, and there were only like 20 people there. They are pretty well known in the States, but I guess not here. Brian and Alex, kids from our group, were really excited to be so close because they are huge fans and were singing every word to every song. A couple of Germans yelled at us for singing too loud (they can be such stiffs sometimes!), but we also made a couple friends from TU Berlin, so it all worked out. Lindsay, Zach, and I left a little early and went downtown to eat dönner sitting by the river, and we got home around 12:30. It was an awesome night! Not bad for a Tuesday...

Colin and Brian in the 2nd Row during Coheed & Cambria

Alex's new German friend and Alex at the concert

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty low key nights. Lindsay and I made dinner here, definitely took a nap, and did homework. We have class from 8:30 to 4 every day, so by the time we get home to Wedding, we don't feel like doing much. On Thursday though, we got a 3 hour lunch break, and Linds and I went to the major shopping street a couple blocks away from school called the Ku'Damm. There are a ton of American stores, but also some cool European ones. Mom, this is where you guys need to stay when you come, although I'm warning you it's dangerous! :)

Friday we had class in the morning, and then a Germany World Cup game was on, so naturally, everything here stops, and we watched the game with the entire TU Berlin Computer Science and Electrical Engineering department. Party animals! haha, right. For engineering class, our U of M group was split up into two projects, a Computer Science project and an Alternative Energy project. Of course, the alternative energy group was taken to a beach bar in downtown Berlin for the Germany game, while we sat in the computer lab streaming the game from FIFA.com. I love being a nerd.

We decided not to travel anywhere this weekend, so after the game, we went home, got carry out Italian, and got ready for the night. Lindsay and I were in charge of finding the club for the night, so we looked online and found a top 10 list for Berlin. We gathered the group to go to the club that was number 1 on the list we found, called Knaack, which was about a 20 minute train ride followed by a 15 minute walk, and when we got there, there was absolutely nobody there. Total bust! Everyone was kinda upset, and we will never live it down, but at least we will never be required to plan our nights ever again! :)

Lindsay and I's self-timed pic before our lame night in Berlin

Saturday was a much more successful day. Although we didn't do really anything Friday, we got home late and went to bed around 4 (after Skpying with my mom, Casey, Camryn, and Bill during their Dearborn tornado) so we didn't wake up Saturday until around 1pm. When we finally got up, we went downtown and bought train tickets for our trip this coming weekend. Then, Zach, Lindsay, and I found a Starbucks downtown (yum!) and had breakfast/late lunch? in front of the Brandenberg Gate. Since we were so close to the Ku'Damm, we went back again and shopped at KaDeWe! That is a huge shopping in the center of what was once West Berlin, which has everything you could ever imagine. Think Harrod's of London, but much cooler.

KaDeWe on the Ku'Damm

After shopping, Lindsay and I went to the gym, got ready for the night, and a group of 4 of us went to dinner at a really nice Thai restaurant. Then Adam and Brian met us at a dance club THEY picked out, called Matrix, and it was awesome. It was great music and just a fun atmosphere. Someone stole our jackets from the coat check though. UGH! We lost track of time, and left the club around 4:30 and when we got outside, it was completely light outside. I made everyone stop and take a picture, but they wouldn't go to a nice background, so it really doesn't do it justice as to how light out it was, but that's okay, you'll get the idea. :)

Lindsay, Zach, Kevin, Me, Adam, Brian at 4:30 am

By the time I got in my room, it was 6am, and the sun was shining directly in. I had to sleep with my sweatshirt over my eyes. Today I woke up at 1pm again and we've been hanging out at home all day, with a quick field trip for a chocolate croissant. We need to rest up for our crazy week ahead! I can't wait! Here's the schedule for the week:

Monday: All day tour at the Volkswagen production plant in Wolfsburg. I'll be thinking of my Uncle Ronn the whole time!

Tuesday: AD/DC CONCERT AT THE OLMPIC STADIUM BERLIN. Three of us managed to get standing floor seats. I cannot wait!

Wednesday: Last first round World Cup game for Germany at 8:30pm. They set up a huge "Fan Mile" with TV screens right by the Brandenburg Gate.

Thursday: REST REST REST

Friday: ZERMATT, SWITZERLAND! Five of us are going to this little ski-chalet town in Switzerland for the weekend. We are leaving at 7pm from Berlin and not getting there until 9am on Saturday. We have to take 4 different trains to get there, 1 with a 2 hour layover, then a 45 minute layover, and then another with a 4 minute layover! It is going to be nuts. Since we only need to pay for 1 night, we sprung for a nice hotel instead of a hostel, thank God! You can take a train to the top of the mountain and ski on a glacier or hike and bike. We're still trying to decide what we want to do when we get there because there are so many amazing options! It's supposed to be only in the 40s and 50s there, so I better get a replacement coat fast! It is going to be the quickest, most exhausting trip ever, but it should be totally worth it.

Zermatt, Switzerland in 5 days!!

So after this week, I hope I have lots to fill you guys in on! Gotta keep busy to keep from missing you all too much!! Love you guys!! Auf Wiedersehen! :)

Potsdam, Prague, and Pictures

We got home from Prague at around 9:30 on Sunday night. Even though we have only lived here for a week, I felt happy to be back, almost like I was back home. Mind you, my home will always be Michigan, but for the next 7 weeks, this is what I've got, and I think it's really cool to have that feeling someplace else that I wouldn't have expected. But I guess I should rewind a couple of days and start with Friday morning with our trip to Potsdam.

Potsdam is this really cool old city about 30 minutes outside of Berlin. It is right on the edge of where West Germany and East Germany met. We started outside of the city looking at a bunch of palaces and gardens. Then we went into the city and saw the Dutch Quarter, which is like 5 blocks of a mini-Amsterdam. Overall, I was really impressed with the city and am definitely planning on taking my family back there when they come in 6 weeks! :) I'm sorry to go short on Potsdam, it really was awesome, but after our weekend in Prague, it just seems anticlimactic.

Lindsay and I in front of Fredrich the Great's Palace in Potsdam

We kept telling our tour guide that we had a train to catch to Prague, but he really needed to get all of his facts out, so he kept us there until 3. We had to run to the train stop in Potsdam for the 30 minute ride back to Berlin, and then run to our apartments and grab our stuff to head back on the subway to the main train station to leave for Prague by 4:30. Of course the boys hadn't even packed yet, but somehow everyone made it there, with time to spare for snack shopping.

The train ride was beautiful, and sufficiently comfortable. We had our own little cubbies, each with 6 seats and we followed along the river, passing little towns and castles the whole way. We got to Prague around 9:30pm and got completely lost.

Zack and Lindsay lost in Prague

We didn't get to our hostel until about 10:30, and when we finally found it, the street wasn't lit at all and the hostel's sign was made with Microsoft Word, printed, and taped to their front door. Hostel Friendship it was called, and I guess you can't expect much for 8 Euro a night. As we walked through the dark corridor, Lindsay and I were whispering plans of ditching the group for the Best Western we saw glowing in the distance and how our parents would kill us if they knew we were staying here. All was well though when a smiling Czech girl opened the door and showed us to our 2 gigantic rooms, one with 12 beds and the other with 8. We had an entire floor to ourselves with 3 bathrooms and a kitchen. It was no Peninsula, but for the 10 hours we spent there, it was money well spent. The group got real close, real fast living in that close of quarters for 3 days. That night, we went out to little downtown area called Old Town, and found a little restaurant/bar and hung out there for most of the night.

The outside of Hostel Friendship in Prague
It was even more scary at night.


Benny, Lindsay, Me, and Zack before dinner the first night


Zack, Kevin, and Ian at the bar in Prague

On Saturday, all of us split up into smaller groups and did our own things. My group went on a self-guided tour of the city! We walked all around the famous Old Town area, and then up to the castle on the other side of the river. The walk was about 2 miles completely uphill, but the views were well worth it.

Old Town Prague


Lindsay and I in front of the castle


Some of our group at the top of the hill
Downtown Prague in the background

After walking for hours and hours, we decided to go back to the hostel and get ready for the USA and UK World Cup soccer game. As we were walking around earlier, we noticed a huge television screen and tents being set up in the middle of the square so we decided to head back that way and check it out. The game was at 8:30pm, so we got there around 8 and found a seat right in front. As game time grew closer, the Center Square of Prague was flooded with people, many dressed up in ridiculous costumes, with flags draped all over them. They were singing songs and chanting cheers and jeers at one another. What an amazing atmosphere! I have never seen anything like it. It was kind of a pinch me moment, like hey, I'm in the middle of Old Town Prague watching the world cup game with hundreds of crazy Europeans. If you're going to watch soccer, that's definitely the way to do it.

Zack, Lindsay, and Adam before the game started


Some of the World Cup crowd in Prague

Some of the group watching the game


The World Cup Fan Park in the Center Square at half time

The game ended up being a tie, so there were no fights and not too much celebration. Afterward, we decided to go to this club a couple of Americans we had met the previous night told us about, which played all American music. When we got there, the bar was completely packed, shoulder to shoulder, with middle aged Europeans. We kind of stood out. They were all on the dance floor screaming American songs and dancing, so we all joined in. It took awhile, but the crowd warmed up to us and before we knew it, we had all the adults singing and dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies with us. So great!

Us dancing to Beyonce with all the European adults
If you see anyone under the age of 40,
they were probably in our group!
My favorite is the guy in the far
background with the grey hair.

Sunday we woke up and got breakfast and then continued to sight see until our train left for Berlin at 4:30pm. This train wasn't quite as nice as the other, but was still comfy enough to sleep and play cards, which we did the entire ride home. When we got back, it was half time of the Germany/Australia World Cup game. The main train station was packed with fans and we were surrounded by them on our way home as they headed to their next parties. We watched the second half at our favorite Italian carry out restaurant right down the street. Germany won 4-0, so everyone went pretty nuts. There were fireworks going off right outside of my window that people were blowing up from the courtyard below. That was actually pretty scary. After that cooled down, we could still hear people yelling and honking on the streets. That was only the first game, and they were expected to win. I can't even imagine what games to come are going to be like!

Anyways, yesterday and today were our first full days of school, so the fun has settled down a little bit. We have spent the past 2 days soldering resistors and capacitors to a motherboard. It's pretty much as exciting as it sounds. Tonight we are planning our trip this weekend. We're debating between Vienna, Innsbruck, or Zurich, which are in Austria or Switzerland. We are going to a Coheed and Cambria concert Wednesday night too! I'm sure there will be more to come even with school going on in the background. :) I really miss all of you guys so I've gotta keep busy! Love you! Auf Wiedersehen!