Sorry for the delay, folks. I keep forgetting to put it up.
We arrived in London at about 6:45 AM. We woke up, grabbed our bags, and stumbled out into the Euston Train Station. We managed to make it to the Underground station and buy some 3 day passes that wern't TOO expensive: 18 pounds, unlimited travel for 3 days. We took the train to our hostel (Journey's) which was near the Lambeth Walk station, if anyone knows London.
Remember when I said that place in Edinburgh was the worst hostel we stayed at? That was only because I had not yet arrived at Journey's London Eye in London. This place was garbage. We were staying in a 12 PERSON ROOM. This room, to give you some perspective was smaller than a Marycrest room. 4 stacks of beds bunked 3 high in our room. The building wasn't air conditioned, making sleeping at the top floor on the top bunk awful. Plus, my bunk wobbled like an unsupported skyscraper every time one of my two bunkmates below me rolled over.
There was no room in each room to store your stuff. You just left it on the floor, making navigating the room a royal bitch, as theres about as much floor space left to fit a card table, and everyone was leaving their luggage lying on it. Each floor (not each room—each floor of maybe 40-45 people) shared two showers, making getting ready to go also a pain.
Anyway, so we stored our luggage at the hostel like we'd previously done, and set out to enjoy London. Our first stop was the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel overlooking all of London. However, each ride cost 17 pound, and having already blown a ton of money on this trip, we decided to pass on the Eye. You could get some good pictures of the parliament building from where we were, so we got some pictures and then walked over to it.
We also checked out Westminster Abbey while we were over there. Once again, my compadres decided to skip on paying 12 pound to go inside. However, when I asked them what they wanted to do, they suggested, “Go home and nap.” Since this seemed to be the majority opinion, I opted to stay and go check out the Abbey and meet everyone else back at our shithole hostel.
The Abbey is really cool, theres a lot of really famous dead people buried inside. Theres some really cool architecture too, but after you've been in Europe for two months, you tend to see it all in castles already.
After the Abby, I went back to the Shithole to move my stuff into my room. However, since everyone else checked into the hostel before I, I had no idea which room we were staying in, or what the password to the lock was. I went up to the desk, and was greeted with a “I'm sorry, in 15 minutes I'm not here...wait for the next receptionist to show up.”
Seriously?
Eventually, the next receptionist did show up, and helped me get to my room, where I dumped all my stuff off. We still had some time to burn before dinner, so I went out on my own once more to fulfill some personal goals of mine.
My first target was Fleet Street. My goal? Eat a meat pie. However, Fleet Street today, is this obnoxiously built area with lots of tall apartment buildings! I only found one place that sold meat pies, and they were all sold out. Oh well.
My second goal was a tad easier. I went over to Kings Cross Station to get a picture of the famed Platform 9 and ¾. However, when I got there, I found that there was no division between platforms 9 and 10. What gives? Upon leaving the area, I saw a sign declaring that “due to construction, platform 9 and ¾ has been magically moved to a new location. Please follow the map!” So, I followed, and got some other tourists to take my picture next to the famed gate.
We decided that a good evening activity would be to go see a movie. We chose “The Hangover” based on raving reviews of many of the locals that we met in the UK/Ireland. We took the underground to the movie theatre, bought the tickets, and then went to find a place for dinner.
We found this cool pub which I really enjoyed which gave us some pretty cheap food (comparably). I had fish and chips (yet again). After dinner, we walked over to the theatre and saw the movie.
This wasn't one of the cool theatres that had a bar, unfortunately. However, I figure that was probably for the best. This way, I wasn't getting up to pee every five minutes or so during the movie.
The Hangover was a really good movie; I really enjoyed it. After the movie, we decided to head in for the night. We were all still pretty tired from the train ride. First though, we headed over to the Picidilly Circus stop, which is a very “Times Square”-esque area. A lot of electronic billboards and flashing lights. It was a sight to behold.
The next day we got up and met Mike and George, fresh in from taking the Chunnel from Paris. We showed them the London Eye, and Big Ben, then we decided to go on a boat ride! We took a boat from the parliament building down to the Tower of London. We saw the new exhibit on King Henry VIII, as well as we got to see the crown jewels (at a lot of other rich person stuff). Afterwards, everyone went back to take a nap. I went to the Fenchurch Street Station to take a picture of the ticket queue (nerd alert!)
After that, we all went out for dinner and got ready for the stage show. We had decided to see “We Will Rock You,” a Queen jukebox musical. Troy, Dirk, and Frank decided to pay 50 some pounds to sit in 6th row seats. Mike, George, and I sat in the back row for 20 some pounds, then moved up to the front row of the balcony (a 50 pound value) after the show started. I guess some people don’t know how to see stage shows!
After the show, we went down to show Mike and George Picidilly Circus, then went and found a bar. The bar had a really good cover band playing, so we stayed there for a while. I figured it was my last night to drink heavily, so combine that with the 4 pound double cubre libres that the bar was serving, and you have a recipe for a good night. I did see someone who knew a friend of mine from high school, so that was cool.
The following day was my last day in London. We woke up and went to see the royal palace. We happened to be there at the same time as the changing of the guard, so we all saw that. Afterwards, we took the underground to the Hard Rock, and had lunch there. It was pleasant…one of the few air conditioned buildings in London! We split ways after lunch—George, Frank, and Dirk wanted to see Wimbleton, so they split off to see that. Mike was meeting up with one of his friends from his car forum, later, so he and Troy went home to take a nap.
I, upon recommendation from a Katie Marie Wilson, went to the Tate Modern Art gallery, one of the free museums in London. It was pretty cool. My favorite exhibit was the AnnLee exhibit, which was really intriguing. Afterwards, I had about an hour before I was meeting Mike and Troy at the restaurant, so I wandered into a park near the building to check it out, and lay down to watch the clouds.
I woke up two hours later. Shoot! I power walked to where they described the bar to be, but I could not find it for the life of me. I eventually gave up, with the intention of wandering into town to maybe see another show on my own. However, just as I was about to leave the area, I saw the bar! It was very exciting. I went inside and found them, and talked to the group for a while, before we decided to leave.
We tried to go north to find another of Mike’s friends at some bar, but we were incapable of finding the bar. We eventually went back near the hostel, and had a couple of drinks, where I tried to use up as much pence as I possibly could. We met the others back at the hostel, and all went to bed.
Wake up on the 3rd was at 6 AM. I snagged a quick shower, and threw my last clothes in my bag, then we were off to the Airport! We had to take the underground to the Victoria train station, then the half hour train from there to the Gatwick Airport. I said “goodbye” to my travelling mates at the entrance to the airport, then went in line to get boarded.
Travelling back to the states was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take my “carry-on” on the plane—it was too large—so I had to check it. However, I was still able to have my laptop and other paraphernalia on the plane. I exhausted the movies on demand list on the plane, as well as took a quick nap. We had two lunches…my meal schedule was all messed up due to the time zones. The first was chicken, the second, a small sub.
I had an orgy of phone conversations once I got back to Carolina. I had to stop and go through customs there. It was very simple…I was sorry that I didn’t try and take a few bottles of beer back to the states!
My flight to Pittsburgh was delayed for about a half hour, but my luggage and I got there eventually.
Thus ends this tale.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
After Prom--Scotland, Part 2 (28-6 to 29-6)
We woke up the next morning to get on the bus at about 8:30. Today, we were going to the Isle of Skye! We traveled along the “Road to the Isles,” which is known as the prettiest drive in all of Scotland. We passed a Loch which has naturally formed to look like a natural map of Scotland!
Our next stop was the Eilean Donan Castle. This castle is still in use today, and is an excellent example of pure Medieval architecture. It has also been used in may films, including “The World is Not Enough” and “Highlander.”
We eventually traveled over the bridge to the Isle of Skye. We stopped on the way to pick up picnic supplies for lunch (it was Sunday, and most of the stores were closed for the day, giving us few options to eat. It was really good though. We just sat out in the field and had a picnic while Fergie told us stories. He did tell us the story of a lady who, on the way to her wedding, had her eyes popped out like spaghetti due to an accident while traveling. Thinking a trick was being played on him, the Groom killed her servants and shoved her into the nearby stream. However, the stream healed her face! We all proceeded to dunk our faces into the stream for its healing powers.
We also found a small waterfall which Fergie claimed the Faerie King and Queen lived under, and that if we held water from the stream in our mouth from the top of the falls to the bottom without drinking it until we got there, we would get one wish granted.
Also, that water was tasty!!! Many of us filled up our water bottles at that stream for later drinkage.
Other than that, this day was filled with miscellaneous sightseeing. After the days trip, we returned to Morrag's Lodge. There was another group there today, that was a day behind us on the Skye High tour. I ended up hanging out with them all night. No offense to any of my fellow students on this trip, but it was nice be hanging out with a group of literature and music majors instead of engineers for a change. Anyway, instead of going out and getting drunk with the other kids that I was traveling in Scotland with, I stayed in the lodge and watched Highlander with these other kids.
The next day was our last day on the bus tour. We got on the bus, which, yes, by this point was getting to be a little bit cramped. We traveled south along the west edge of Scotland down through Glencoe. We saw some small miscellaneous things on the way back to Edinburgh. We stopped and saw a hairy coo. We saw the monument to William Wallace, the biggest monument to one single man in the world. And Fergie, of course, told us many, many stories.
We also stopped a train station, and got our pictures taken next to the train used in the film as the Hogwarts Express. Cool!
We arrived in Edinburgh slightly before 5 o'clock. I went to a souvenir shop to see if I could find one last souvenir with my clan name on it, then I met up with everyone at the McDonalds that we were meeting at (free wifi!). Eventually, Hueti and Tim had to go leave for their 4 part train/ferry saga to Dublin. The remaining four of us went over to a bar where we had drinks and played a bunch of Euchure while we waited for our train. Once it got closer to the time, we went to Waverly train station, so that Frank and Dirk could get their large bags out of the Left Luggage Office. We got our tickets out of the ticket machine, then went to a bar in the train station where I chugged a Strongbow. By this point I was pretty drunk...which is exactly what I was hoping for. I never sleep well on vehicles, and I was hoping that being drunk would help the process.
We were all too cheap to buy sleeper beds on the train ride (Those things are like 100 pounds! Serioulsy!), so we all just took the “reclining chair” option. Fed up with my chair on the train, I slept on the floor. I'm pretty sure some people found that kind of weird, but what do I care? I got like 5 hours sleep on that floor, so deal!
We sped off into the night, well on our way to our final stop...London.
Our next stop was the Eilean Donan Castle. This castle is still in use today, and is an excellent example of pure Medieval architecture. It has also been used in may films, including “The World is Not Enough” and “Highlander.”
We eventually traveled over the bridge to the Isle of Skye. We stopped on the way to pick up picnic supplies for lunch (it was Sunday, and most of the stores were closed for the day, giving us few options to eat. It was really good though. We just sat out in the field and had a picnic while Fergie told us stories. He did tell us the story of a lady who, on the way to her wedding, had her eyes popped out like spaghetti due to an accident while traveling. Thinking a trick was being played on him, the Groom killed her servants and shoved her into the nearby stream. However, the stream healed her face! We all proceeded to dunk our faces into the stream for its healing powers.
We also found a small waterfall which Fergie claimed the Faerie King and Queen lived under, and that if we held water from the stream in our mouth from the top of the falls to the bottom without drinking it until we got there, we would get one wish granted.
Also, that water was tasty!!! Many of us filled up our water bottles at that stream for later drinkage.
Other than that, this day was filled with miscellaneous sightseeing. After the days trip, we returned to Morrag's Lodge. There was another group there today, that was a day behind us on the Skye High tour. I ended up hanging out with them all night. No offense to any of my fellow students on this trip, but it was nice be hanging out with a group of literature and music majors instead of engineers for a change. Anyway, instead of going out and getting drunk with the other kids that I was traveling in Scotland with, I stayed in the lodge and watched Highlander with these other kids.
The next day was our last day on the bus tour. We got on the bus, which, yes, by this point was getting to be a little bit cramped. We traveled south along the west edge of Scotland down through Glencoe. We saw some small miscellaneous things on the way back to Edinburgh. We stopped and saw a hairy coo. We saw the monument to William Wallace, the biggest monument to one single man in the world. And Fergie, of course, told us many, many stories.
We also stopped a train station, and got our pictures taken next to the train used in the film as the Hogwarts Express. Cool!
We arrived in Edinburgh slightly before 5 o'clock. I went to a souvenir shop to see if I could find one last souvenir with my clan name on it, then I met up with everyone at the McDonalds that we were meeting at (free wifi!). Eventually, Hueti and Tim had to go leave for their 4 part train/ferry saga to Dublin. The remaining four of us went over to a bar where we had drinks and played a bunch of Euchure while we waited for our train. Once it got closer to the time, we went to Waverly train station, so that Frank and Dirk could get their large bags out of the Left Luggage Office. We got our tickets out of the ticket machine, then went to a bar in the train station where I chugged a Strongbow. By this point I was pretty drunk...which is exactly what I was hoping for. I never sleep well on vehicles, and I was hoping that being drunk would help the process.
We were all too cheap to buy sleeper beds on the train ride (Those things are like 100 pounds! Serioulsy!), so we all just took the “reclining chair” option. Fed up with my chair on the train, I slept on the floor. I'm pretty sure some people found that kind of weird, but what do I care? I got like 5 hours sleep on that floor, so deal!
We sped off into the night, well on our way to our final stop...London.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
After Prom--Scotland, Part 1 (26-6 to 27-6)
Scotland is GOREGOUS. Going here was a fantastic decision.
We arrived in Edinburgh Airport in the wee hours of the morning after flying in from Ireland. I found a shuttle that ran from the airport to the center of town, so we hopped on that and ended up in the middle of Edinburgh. We pulled out our map and decided that the Cowgate Tourist Hostel must be on Cowgate street, and wandered over that way. We were lucky enough to have it be there, so we were able to go in and store our bags. The time is now a little before 10:00. Since we had nothing else to do, we all sat down in the rec room of the hostel and napped for about an hour.
We got up and walked down the street a bit until we found a place for lunch. It was just another pub, but it had some good fish and chips. Afterwards, we decided to hike up the hill and check out the Edinburgh castle. It cost money, so we didn't go inside, but we still were able to get a good look at it. After stopping at the souvenir shop for a bit, we went back and checked into our hostel.
This was the worst hostel in which I have ever stayed. It was crowded and completely falling apart. The hostel was a bunch of old apartments that were transformed into hostel rooms. However, this led the space to be very crowded. A four room apartment leads to 24 people, sharing two bathrooms and only one shower. Add the fact that it was practically falling apart (there was a hole in the door!) and you get a fairly crappy situation.
That afternoon we were still tired, but we went into town to meet up with Tim and Hutie, who had been staying in Edinburgh for over a week now. We were supposed to meet up with them at track 5 in the Waverly Train Station (an arbitrarily chosen number), only to find that the Waverly Train Station arbitrarily has no track 5! An interesting predicament. It didn't help that they showed up 15 minutes late either. Eventually, we found each other and went to the big park in Edinburgh where we had ice cream and watched a couple practically have sex in the park.
When we got hungry, we went over to a restaurant where we had a great 5 pound “Beer and Burger” meal. On our way to the restaurant, we found a guy doing street performances that we watched. He didn't do very many tricks, but he was damn funny, and kept us entertained for a while. After the show, we got to the restaurant, and I had a burger and a Strongbow. Afterwards we went back to our hostel, zoned on the computer for a bit, and went to bed and passed out.
The next day we got up and tried to shower before the bus trip (to no avail—I ended up sink showering before we left). We met Tim and Hutie over at the Haggis Bus Tours office, met our bus driver/tour guide, Fergie, and got on the road.
Our first stop was the Forth road and rail bridges, which are supposedly pretty spectacular. However, due do the fog we were dealing with (This is Scotland), they were very hard to see. They did look majestic from what we could see though.
After that, we sped through Perth, one of the larger cities in Scotland, and stopped in Birnam (Think MacBeth)and Dunkeld, where we saw a ruined cathedral and the River Tay, which is like one of the most expensive fishing rivers in Europe.
After that we stopped at Drumochter Pass, the highest road in Scotland. Fergie told us a story about the first Jacobite fight against the English, and we sped onward to lunch.
Lunch was at a small village on our way to Loch Ness. We all ate at a pub. I had a venison burger (I felt like eating Bambi). It was okay, but I decided that venison really isn't my cup 'o tea. After a short break to stretch our legs, we moved on to Clava Cairns.
Clava Cairns were piles on ancient stones where dead bodies were lain to rest while they decomposed. Apparently all the stones to build the Cairns were hand carried from the lowlands over several lifetimes. The area was kind of cool, after looking at the Cairns, we all kind of wandered around and took small naps.
Also, we passed the stone bridge the Hogwarts Express passes over, so that was cool too.
Our next stop was Culloden, the site of the final Jacobite battle, where Bonnie Prince Charlie lead his troops in a spectacular defeat. He probably shouldn't have sacked his military advisors. It was a pretty sobering experience. If anyone is interested in Classical music, I should note at this point that there is an excellent three-piece suite “Culloden” which details this battle. I particularity like the third piece “We Toomed Our Stoops for the Gaudy Sodgers” [sic].
We stopped briefly at Urquhart Castle, a famous ruined castle in Scotland. However, we weren't gonna pay money to go inside, nor did we have the time, so we kept going.
Our final stop before our destination was Loch Ness. We stopped along the road, and hiked down the road to the Loch (to pronounce it right, you have to produce a loogie by saying the word). Fergie promised us that if we waded knee deep in the water, threw our heads back, and yelled “I believe!” Ness would appear. I was sorely disappointed.
Our hostel for the next two nights was “Morrag's Lodge,” This was the best hostel that I stayed in the whole trip. The rooms were nice, the staff was nice, everything about the hostel was nice. We had a bathroom for each room, which was actually fairly large!
We ate dinner at the Hostel, which was Haggis (intestines—yum!), and went on a mini boat cruse on the Loch. I talked to some people, took some cool pictures, and learned a good bit about Scotch from the bartender on the boat.
Afterwards, we went out for a few drinks, then went to bed.
We arrived in Edinburgh Airport in the wee hours of the morning after flying in from Ireland. I found a shuttle that ran from the airport to the center of town, so we hopped on that and ended up in the middle of Edinburgh. We pulled out our map and decided that the Cowgate Tourist Hostel must be on Cowgate street, and wandered over that way. We were lucky enough to have it be there, so we were able to go in and store our bags. The time is now a little before 10:00. Since we had nothing else to do, we all sat down in the rec room of the hostel and napped for about an hour.
We got up and walked down the street a bit until we found a place for lunch. It was just another pub, but it had some good fish and chips. Afterwards, we decided to hike up the hill and check out the Edinburgh castle. It cost money, so we didn't go inside, but we still were able to get a good look at it. After stopping at the souvenir shop for a bit, we went back and checked into our hostel.
This was the worst hostel in which I have ever stayed. It was crowded and completely falling apart. The hostel was a bunch of old apartments that were transformed into hostel rooms. However, this led the space to be very crowded. A four room apartment leads to 24 people, sharing two bathrooms and only one shower. Add the fact that it was practically falling apart (there was a hole in the door!) and you get a fairly crappy situation.
That afternoon we were still tired, but we went into town to meet up with Tim and Hutie, who had been staying in Edinburgh for over a week now. We were supposed to meet up with them at track 5 in the Waverly Train Station (an arbitrarily chosen number), only to find that the Waverly Train Station arbitrarily has no track 5! An interesting predicament. It didn't help that they showed up 15 minutes late either. Eventually, we found each other and went to the big park in Edinburgh where we had ice cream and watched a couple practically have sex in the park.
When we got hungry, we went over to a restaurant where we had a great 5 pound “Beer and Burger” meal. On our way to the restaurant, we found a guy doing street performances that we watched. He didn't do very many tricks, but he was damn funny, and kept us entertained for a while. After the show, we got to the restaurant, and I had a burger and a Strongbow. Afterwards we went back to our hostel, zoned on the computer for a bit, and went to bed and passed out.
The next day we got up and tried to shower before the bus trip (to no avail—I ended up sink showering before we left). We met Tim and Hutie over at the Haggis Bus Tours office, met our bus driver/tour guide, Fergie, and got on the road.
Our first stop was the Forth road and rail bridges, which are supposedly pretty spectacular. However, due do the fog we were dealing with (This is Scotland), they were very hard to see. They did look majestic from what we could see though.
After that, we sped through Perth, one of the larger cities in Scotland, and stopped in Birnam (Think MacBeth)and Dunkeld, where we saw a ruined cathedral and the River Tay, which is like one of the most expensive fishing rivers in Europe.
After that we stopped at Drumochter Pass, the highest road in Scotland. Fergie told us a story about the first Jacobite fight against the English, and we sped onward to lunch.
Lunch was at a small village on our way to Loch Ness. We all ate at a pub. I had a venison burger (I felt like eating Bambi). It was okay, but I decided that venison really isn't my cup 'o tea. After a short break to stretch our legs, we moved on to Clava Cairns.
Clava Cairns were piles on ancient stones where dead bodies were lain to rest while they decomposed. Apparently all the stones to build the Cairns were hand carried from the lowlands over several lifetimes. The area was kind of cool, after looking at the Cairns, we all kind of wandered around and took small naps.
Also, we passed the stone bridge the Hogwarts Express passes over, so that was cool too.
Our next stop was Culloden, the site of the final Jacobite battle, where Bonnie Prince Charlie lead his troops in a spectacular defeat. He probably shouldn't have sacked his military advisors. It was a pretty sobering experience. If anyone is interested in Classical music, I should note at this point that there is an excellent three-piece suite “Culloden” which details this battle. I particularity like the third piece “We Toomed Our Stoops for the Gaudy Sodgers” [sic].
We stopped briefly at Urquhart Castle, a famous ruined castle in Scotland. However, we weren't gonna pay money to go inside, nor did we have the time, so we kept going.
Our final stop before our destination was Loch Ness. We stopped along the road, and hiked down the road to the Loch (to pronounce it right, you have to produce a loogie by saying the word). Fergie promised us that if we waded knee deep in the water, threw our heads back, and yelled “I believe!” Ness would appear. I was sorely disappointed.
Our hostel for the next two nights was “Morrag's Lodge,” This was the best hostel that I stayed in the whole trip. The rooms were nice, the staff was nice, everything about the hostel was nice. We had a bathroom for each room, which was actually fairly large!
We ate dinner at the Hostel, which was Haggis (intestines—yum!), and went on a mini boat cruse on the Loch. I talked to some people, took some cool pictures, and learned a good bit about Scotch from the bartender on the boat.
Afterwards, we went out for a few drinks, then went to bed.
Monday, June 29, 2009
After Prom--Dublin (24-6 to 26-6)
I was in Dublin for the nights of the 24th and the 25th.
The plane ride to Dublin was interesting. The RyanAir people basically tried to sell us everything that there was to sell. We arrived in the Dublin airport and took a bus to the center of town. We found our hostel, which was in a great location, and then stored our bags there. However, most hostels, this once included, don't let you check in until the afternoon. So, we went out and got lunch first.
We went out and got some traditional Irish food from this restaurant near our hostel. The waitress was very nice and told us all the things that we’re saying wrong because we’re in Ireland. The biggie was “Smithwicks,” which is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. It’s pronounced “smit-icks,” though, so be careful. Don’t get caught in Dublin looking like a non Irishman!
After lunch we bummed around for a bit and looked at souvenirs and just kind of chilled until 2:30, when we could first check into our hostel. Once we got there, everyone (except me) basically crashed and passed out in the room. I guess they were all tired from having to get up “early” for the flight. So we all just spent most of the afternoon in various places in the hostel, either sleeping or chilling on the internet.
The hostel that we stayed at was Barnacles hostel near the Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is probably the most famous bar in Dublin, and this hostel is literally right around the corner. This is probably the best hostel that I'd stayed at up to this point. It was clean, friendly, and had a quality rec room. These are all marks of a great hostel.
At about dinnertime we started to get kind of hungry, but we were going out to dinner with Frank's mother's cousin. She, and her friends, were from Uinversity of Delaware (the not as cool UD), but were studying in Trinity College in Dublin for the summer, so we were meeting up with them.
So, we met up with them, and they took us to an Irish pub that they go to, and we all ate there. They were all really nice and fun, and it was cool getting to know them they two days that we're in Dublin. They also introduced us to a drink called a “Snakebite,” which is a raspberry cider/beer/thing. It was a bi of a girly drink, but still really good.
Also, I was pretty amazed to be in a country where you could get tap water for free again! Amazing what being in Germany for 6 weeks will do to you.
We spent the rest of the night pub-hopping and basically keeping them up real late so that they were zombies in class the next day. It was pretty cool.
The next day we all forced ourselves awake at like 9:30 so that we could do touristy style things during the day. We first went over to the St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was pretty cool. It was another neat church.
After that we hiked over to the Guiness Brewery, stopping for lunch at a pub on the way, and went on the self-guided tour there. It was a lot of fun. I know most people don't like Guiness, myself included, but we got a complimentary pint of Guiness at the brewery, and it was possibly the best Guiness I'd ever had. I think this was possibly because:
A) Now that I know what goes into it, I can better analyze the taste of it, and appreciate it better.
B) It was super fresh. The Guiness that we were drinking was 1-4 days old, measuring from the time it is deemed acceptable for sale.
C) It was served at 42 degrees F. Guiness has to be served at that temperature or the taste of the brew changes, and I bet a lot of bars don't bother.
After Guiness, we all got up and walked over to the Jameson Distillery. We went on a guided tour there which was really fun. Our guide was pretty crazy and made lots of good jokes. Plus, Jameson is yummy—the best whiskey I'd ever had.
We went back to the hostel and chilled for a while, before going out to Rick's Burgers for dinner. They had some good burgers at Rick's, mostly because they were so big. Their fries wern't bad as well.
After diner, we bought some beers, and played some drinking games in Frank's cousin's room. Afterwards, we went to this really cool pub and had drinks and listened to the music. The band was really cool. I got really happy when they played acoustic “You Can Call Me All.” This feeling was dashed however, when the news of MJ's death broke. Apparently all the Irish hate him too, because there was much cheering upon news of his death.
After this I decided to just go to bed. I walked Johanna home (she didn't want to say out late), then I went back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up EARLY. Our plane left at 6:50, so we all got up at 4:00 to catch the bus to the airport. We made it through the airport with plenty of time. We were hurting for sleep though—especially Dirk who was very hung over. I was able to buy my first warm breakfast at the airport in a long time: Real eggs, a hashbrown, and a biscuit! It was delecious.
At 6:50 we got on the plane, and moved on to Scotland.
The plane ride to Dublin was interesting. The RyanAir people basically tried to sell us everything that there was to sell. We arrived in the Dublin airport and took a bus to the center of town. We found our hostel, which was in a great location, and then stored our bags there. However, most hostels, this once included, don't let you check in until the afternoon. So, we went out and got lunch first.
We went out and got some traditional Irish food from this restaurant near our hostel. The waitress was very nice and told us all the things that we’re saying wrong because we’re in Ireland. The biggie was “Smithwicks,” which is one of the best beers I’ve ever had. It’s pronounced “smit-icks,” though, so be careful. Don’t get caught in Dublin looking like a non Irishman!
After lunch we bummed around for a bit and looked at souvenirs and just kind of chilled until 2:30, when we could first check into our hostel. Once we got there, everyone (except me) basically crashed and passed out in the room. I guess they were all tired from having to get up “early” for the flight. So we all just spent most of the afternoon in various places in the hostel, either sleeping or chilling on the internet.
The hostel that we stayed at was Barnacles hostel near the Temple Bar. The Temple Bar is probably the most famous bar in Dublin, and this hostel is literally right around the corner. This is probably the best hostel that I'd stayed at up to this point. It was clean, friendly, and had a quality rec room. These are all marks of a great hostel.
At about dinnertime we started to get kind of hungry, but we were going out to dinner with Frank's mother's cousin. She, and her friends, were from Uinversity of Delaware (the not as cool UD), but were studying in Trinity College in Dublin for the summer, so we were meeting up with them.
So, we met up with them, and they took us to an Irish pub that they go to, and we all ate there. They were all really nice and fun, and it was cool getting to know them they two days that we're in Dublin. They also introduced us to a drink called a “Snakebite,” which is a raspberry cider/beer/thing. It was a bi of a girly drink, but still really good.
Also, I was pretty amazed to be in a country where you could get tap water for free again! Amazing what being in Germany for 6 weeks will do to you.
We spent the rest of the night pub-hopping and basically keeping them up real late so that they were zombies in class the next day. It was pretty cool.
The next day we all forced ourselves awake at like 9:30 so that we could do touristy style things during the day. We first went over to the St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was pretty cool. It was another neat church.
After that we hiked over to the Guiness Brewery, stopping for lunch at a pub on the way, and went on the self-guided tour there. It was a lot of fun. I know most people don't like Guiness, myself included, but we got a complimentary pint of Guiness at the brewery, and it was possibly the best Guiness I'd ever had. I think this was possibly because:
A) Now that I know what goes into it, I can better analyze the taste of it, and appreciate it better.
B) It was super fresh. The Guiness that we were drinking was 1-4 days old, measuring from the time it is deemed acceptable for sale.
C) It was served at 42 degrees F. Guiness has to be served at that temperature or the taste of the brew changes, and I bet a lot of bars don't bother.
After Guiness, we all got up and walked over to the Jameson Distillery. We went on a guided tour there which was really fun. Our guide was pretty crazy and made lots of good jokes. Plus, Jameson is yummy—the best whiskey I'd ever had.
We went back to the hostel and chilled for a while, before going out to Rick's Burgers for dinner. They had some good burgers at Rick's, mostly because they were so big. Their fries wern't bad as well.
After diner, we bought some beers, and played some drinking games in Frank's cousin's room. Afterwards, we went to this really cool pub and had drinks and listened to the music. The band was really cool. I got really happy when they played acoustic “You Can Call Me All.” This feeling was dashed however, when the news of MJ's death broke. Apparently all the Irish hate him too, because there was much cheering upon news of his death.
After this I decided to just go to bed. I walked Johanna home (she didn't want to say out late), then I went back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up EARLY. Our plane left at 6:50, so we all got up at 4:00 to catch the bus to the airport. We made it through the airport with plenty of time. We were hurting for sleep though—especially Dirk who was very hung over. I was able to buy my first warm breakfast at the airport in a long time: Real eggs, a hashbrown, and a biscuit! It was delecious.
At 6:50 we got on the plane, and moved on to Scotland.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
After Prom--Berlin (23-6 to 24-6)
I was in Berlin the night of the 23rd. I beat everyone else there by about an hour, since my tram was earlier. Upon arriving in Berlin, I decided I needed to find out where my Hostel was. Unfortunately,all I knew was the name! Luckily the Berlin Hbf had a tourist center, and they helped me out. So I then took a tram to my hostel and checked into my room.
The hostel in which we were staying was the Odyssee Globetrotter Hostel. The place was pretty run down, however, it was really cool at the same time. There were a lot of cool statues around, and a fun recreation room. My bathroom wasn't too run down either.
I had decided to save a few Euro by buying a bed in a larger room than everyone else, resulting that I was staying in a different room. My roommates were pretty cool, however. I got to know two of my roommates, these two Swedish girls pretty well. We talked for a bit. Then, Dirk, Troy, and Frank showed up, go settled into their rooms, and we went out to dinner.
There was a reasonably priced Italian restaurant across the street from our hostel, so we went out to eat there. I had some pasta, which was pretty good. They also had FANTASTIC bruschetta. After dinner, we went back into the hotel, where we just hung out for the rest of the night. We had a few beers, and played some Euchre, then went to bed at about midnight.
We woke up at about 6 o'clock to catch our plane out of Germany to Dublin. We were flying RyanAir for this occasion. If you don't know how RyanAir works let me explain it to you. RyanAir is one of the cheap airlines that runs in Europe, and makes all their profit by hitting you with tons of hidden costs. RyanAir charges a boatload for overage fees on checked baggage (15 euro a kilo!). This was a major reason that I shipped most of my stuff home. Basically, everyone hates RyanAir, but still flies with them because if you do it right, they're by far the cheapest.
We took a tram down from our hostel in Berlin to the Berlin-Schonefeld Airport. This is not the main airport in Berlin, and as such, was really small and cruddy. We managed to get our way through the airport and up to the flight. The airport didn't have one of those things that lets you walk straight onto the plane, instead, we had to walk across the runway, and take the stairs up onto the plane. A bit later, the plane lifted off the ground and I had left Germany.
The hostel in which we were staying was the Odyssee Globetrotter Hostel. The place was pretty run down, however, it was really cool at the same time. There were a lot of cool statues around, and a fun recreation room. My bathroom wasn't too run down either.
I had decided to save a few Euro by buying a bed in a larger room than everyone else, resulting that I was staying in a different room. My roommates were pretty cool, however. I got to know two of my roommates, these two Swedish girls pretty well. We talked for a bit. Then, Dirk, Troy, and Frank showed up, go settled into their rooms, and we went out to dinner.
There was a reasonably priced Italian restaurant across the street from our hostel, so we went out to eat there. I had some pasta, which was pretty good. They also had FANTASTIC bruschetta. After dinner, we went back into the hotel, where we just hung out for the rest of the night. We had a few beers, and played some Euchre, then went to bed at about midnight.
We woke up at about 6 o'clock to catch our plane out of Germany to Dublin. We were flying RyanAir for this occasion. If you don't know how RyanAir works let me explain it to you. RyanAir is one of the cheap airlines that runs in Europe, and makes all their profit by hitting you with tons of hidden costs. RyanAir charges a boatload for overage fees on checked baggage (15 euro a kilo!). This was a major reason that I shipped most of my stuff home. Basically, everyone hates RyanAir, but still flies with them because if you do it right, they're by far the cheapest.
We took a tram down from our hostel in Berlin to the Berlin-Schonefeld Airport. This is not the main airport in Berlin, and as such, was really small and cruddy. We managed to get our way through the airport and up to the flight. The airport didn't have one of those things that lets you walk straight onto the plane, instead, we had to walk across the runway, and take the stairs up onto the plane. A bit later, the plane lifted off the ground and I had left Germany.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Last Three Nights (20-6 to 23-6)
This is the account of my last three nights in Leipzig, Germany.
Saturday. Saturday was a really fun day. I got some of my reading assignments done on Saturday, and I got to hang out with Chiara and Killian (the kids) as well. They're both really nice and I loved hanging out with them. A good part of my Saturday was spent packing and planning out what clothes I would be bringing on the after trip (which we have dubbed “After Prom”).
That night we went out to the Beerboese, a legitimate beer festival by the monument to the battle of nations. It was pretty cool. They had over 900 different varieties of beer available, so I was able to get glasses of a few different kinds. One kind was served out of a boot! (DAS BOOOOOOOOOT), so I forfeited my deposit on that glass and took it home with me (3,50? Totally worth it!). There was also a cool band playing as well, playing some 90’s music.
Afterwards we went into the town with Prof. Falko and we went to a café and ordered some drinks with the mentors. After a few hours of this I went home to bed.
Sunday. Sunday I woke up and went to church in the other huge church in Leipzig: St. Nicholas’ Church. The service here was a lot like the one in St. Thomas’ but it was still cool to go to a service in a different foreign church.
On Sunday afternoon I went out to the dorms where the other students live and watched Beerfest with the mentors, to show the Germans the worst stereotyping of their own culture. The mentors really enjoyed it, partially because Beerfest is a funny movie, and paritially because the movie actually stereotypes Bavarians, which everyone else finds funny. (Bavaria is like the German version of Texas. And come on, who doesn’t enjoy making fun of Texans?)
I spent Sunday night hanging out with my host family. Killian and I watched more Bob der Baumeister and Chiara and I played a game (in which she won…of course). We also had a magnificent photo taking experience which I shall post the results of when I get caught up with photos.
Monday. Monday was our last day of classes. Since Dr. Falko was our only professor left, he taught for the entire morning period, then cancelled class in the afternoon. Cor went to the morning classes with us, and then took us to the Mensa so that we could return our food cards and get the money that was deposited on it. Afterwards we went back to Casa and ordered one last Doener in Germany.
We had our last German class in the afternoon and then I went home. I spent some time getting my last bit of homework done and finishing my packing on Monday. Then, I went over to Mosher's house to print out all my Etickets for After Prom and then went over to Byersche Bahnhof for dinner.
Dinner was pretty good. I got the Schwinehaxl which is basically the leg of a pig. The bone is still in it and its served with a big ol' knife sticking out of it. It was delicious, and it was fun to have one last big dinner with all the students, teachers and mentors.
After dinner, we all went over to Killie Willie which is an Irish Pub south of the city where we went to the first night of the trip. It was probably one of the best ways to say good bye to everyone. We all sat around and had drinks and one by one people would get up and say goodbye I stayed until about 11:15 ish and then got up and said goodbye to everyone. It was really sad, but it went about as good as it was going to go.
I rode the tram back to the Hbf with Justin, Cor, and Jenny, and then took my tram back home. I was asleep by midnight.
Tuesday was my last day in Leipzig. I got up early in the morning, because I wanted to be able to say goodbye to everyone while they were still in the house. Chiara was the first to leave, as she had to go to school (don't forget....German school is year round). Then my host father had to leave as well, to go to work, so I said goodbye to him. I watched one last episode of Bob der Baumeister with Killian and then he went over to his friend's house so I said goodbye to him too.
I spent the rest of the morning finishing up packing, and wrapping up my large luggage bag to be mailed home. Frau Goestermeyer drove me over to the post office and I shipped it home. Upon our return, I mailed my finial UDI journal off to Mosher and then chilled out for about an hour before it was time for me to leave.
I said goodbye to Frau Goestermeyer and Mariam, and then wheeled my luggage out the door. I rode the tram over to the Hbf, where I met Lina, my mentor, for lunch. Brad was also there, as he was leaving soon, as well as Cor and Jenny, who were staying at the Hbf all day to see people off. We had one last lunch (at Pizza Hut), which was fabulous. I was finally able to give Lina her gift (an Andy Warhol poster) as well as some Wir Sind Helden CDs (she had said that she had never heard of the band. I HAD to remedy this!).
After lunch, I ran a few last errands in the Hbf (such as turning in the deposits on all the bottles I had accumulated throughout the experience), and then took my train to Berlin. Cor and Jenny both saw me off from the platform, and Cor gave me a music CD that she had made for everyone, wish was major sweet.
I then got on the train.
And left Leipzig.
Saturday. Saturday was a really fun day. I got some of my reading assignments done on Saturday, and I got to hang out with Chiara and Killian (the kids) as well. They're both really nice and I loved hanging out with them. A good part of my Saturday was spent packing and planning out what clothes I would be bringing on the after trip (which we have dubbed “After Prom”).
That night we went out to the Beerboese, a legitimate beer festival by the monument to the battle of nations. It was pretty cool. They had over 900 different varieties of beer available, so I was able to get glasses of a few different kinds. One kind was served out of a boot! (DAS BOOOOOOOOOT), so I forfeited my deposit on that glass and took it home with me (3,50? Totally worth it!). There was also a cool band playing as well, playing some 90’s music.
Afterwards we went into the town with Prof. Falko and we went to a café and ordered some drinks with the mentors. After a few hours of this I went home to bed.
Sunday. Sunday I woke up and went to church in the other huge church in Leipzig: St. Nicholas’ Church. The service here was a lot like the one in St. Thomas’ but it was still cool to go to a service in a different foreign church.
On Sunday afternoon I went out to the dorms where the other students live and watched Beerfest with the mentors, to show the Germans the worst stereotyping of their own culture. The mentors really enjoyed it, partially because Beerfest is a funny movie, and paritially because the movie actually stereotypes Bavarians, which everyone else finds funny. (Bavaria is like the German version of Texas. And come on, who doesn’t enjoy making fun of Texans?)
I spent Sunday night hanging out with my host family. Killian and I watched more Bob der Baumeister and Chiara and I played a game (in which she won…of course). We also had a magnificent photo taking experience which I shall post the results of when I get caught up with photos.
Monday. Monday was our last day of classes. Since Dr. Falko was our only professor left, he taught for the entire morning period, then cancelled class in the afternoon. Cor went to the morning classes with us, and then took us to the Mensa so that we could return our food cards and get the money that was deposited on it. Afterwards we went back to Casa and ordered one last Doener in Germany.
We had our last German class in the afternoon and then I went home. I spent some time getting my last bit of homework done and finishing my packing on Monday. Then, I went over to Mosher's house to print out all my Etickets for After Prom and then went over to Byersche Bahnhof for dinner.
Dinner was pretty good. I got the Schwinehaxl which is basically the leg of a pig. The bone is still in it and its served with a big ol' knife sticking out of it. It was delicious, and it was fun to have one last big dinner with all the students, teachers and mentors.
After dinner, we all went over to Killie Willie which is an Irish Pub south of the city where we went to the first night of the trip. It was probably one of the best ways to say good bye to everyone. We all sat around and had drinks and one by one people would get up and say goodbye I stayed until about 11:15 ish and then got up and said goodbye to everyone. It was really sad, but it went about as good as it was going to go.
I rode the tram back to the Hbf with Justin, Cor, and Jenny, and then took my tram back home. I was asleep by midnight.
Tuesday was my last day in Leipzig. I got up early in the morning, because I wanted to be able to say goodbye to everyone while they were still in the house. Chiara was the first to leave, as she had to go to school (don't forget....German school is year round). Then my host father had to leave as well, to go to work, so I said goodbye to him. I watched one last episode of Bob der Baumeister with Killian and then he went over to his friend's house so I said goodbye to him too.
I spent the rest of the morning finishing up packing, and wrapping up my large luggage bag to be mailed home. Frau Goestermeyer drove me over to the post office and I shipped it home. Upon our return, I mailed my finial UDI journal off to Mosher and then chilled out for about an hour before it was time for me to leave.
I said goodbye to Frau Goestermeyer and Mariam, and then wheeled my luggage out the door. I rode the tram over to the Hbf, where I met Lina, my mentor, for lunch. Brad was also there, as he was leaving soon, as well as Cor and Jenny, who were staying at the Hbf all day to see people off. We had one last lunch (at Pizza Hut), which was fabulous. I was finally able to give Lina her gift (an Andy Warhol poster) as well as some Wir Sind Helden CDs (she had said that she had never heard of the band. I HAD to remedy this!).
After lunch, I ran a few last errands in the Hbf (such as turning in the deposits on all the bottles I had accumulated throughout the experience), and then took my train to Berlin. Cor and Jenny both saw me off from the platform, and Cor gave me a music CD that she had made for everyone, wish was major sweet.
I then got on the train.
And left Leipzig.
Friday, June 26, 2009
End of My Last Full Week (17-6 to 19-6)
Wednesday was out trip to the Porsche factory. We had a little bit of class that morning, then took two trams and a bus out to the Porsche plant. Most of the teachers were really anxious about going to Porsche, mostly because of the vast amounts of money involved. The cheapest tour that the Porsche plant offered was 44 Euros a person and came with a three course meal.
We got off the bus and walked to the Porsche plant, which is nicknamed “The Diamond” to to it's distinctive architecture. The three course meal, which was first was pretty incredible. Course 1 was a green soup with roast chervil, and Course 2 was braised Ox and a grilled steak with vegetables and a ricotta. Course 3 was merely called “Inspiration of Dessert,” and involved several different flavors of ice cream as well as something similar to fried cheesecake.
The restaurant had a wonderful view of the track below as well. Next to the diamond was Porsche Leipzig's race track. It contained many of the famous turns and bend found at other race tracks, and had the capacity to hold professional races there. The track is used for testing Porsche cars, as well as event usage. You can pay money at the plant to ride or drive a Porsche, and if you do the buy a Porsche event, you can drive one on the track as well (both on and off road).
After our meal, we all wanted to coma out, but we still had to go on the tour. Our tour guide was very nice and charismatic—I think one of the best tour guides we had so far. We saw where they made both models of the Porsche manufactured there, as well as watched a short video about the awesomeness of Porsche.
After we got back to the main train station, I hopped over to the post office to see what I needed to do to ship my luggage home. After having a conversation with the postal worker (which went very successfully!), I went home, and had dinner with my family.
Wednesday night marked the beginning of a lot of nights going out in a row. At this point, everyone was realizing that we barely had any time left in Germany, and we wanted to go out and hang out with the mentors as much as possible. We went to the karaoke club by the Ring Café again, and had a great time. I got to sing Gabi and Klaus (something I really wanted to do). I wanted to sing “Jessie’s Girl,” but the number in the book was wrong, but I just went with it and sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” instead. I also ended up singing “Somebody Told Me,” as well as “I Want It That Way” with a bunch of other people.
Some other highlights of Wednesday involved me dancing to the new “Cotton Eyed Joe” with Francesca, as well as us singing “Schrei Nach Liebe” from the audience to help two girls who were having trouble with the song.
Thursday started with me being tired from going out the night before but I made it anyway. We got out of class early because of the required organ concert that we had to go to that evening. Stephen called Silke, our German teacher, and we got class moved up so we could have it right after the new end of class. We decided it would be a fun day to go canoeing, so the four of us rented a canoe and went up and down the canals of Leipzig, while Silke told us the history of the manufacturing districts that we went through.
Afterwards, I decided that this would be an excellent time to go back and visit that graveyard that I wanted to check out. It was AMAZING. I want to be buried in a place like that. There are a lot of interesting flowerplots in front of the graves, as well as some interestingly shaped headstones as well.
After that, it was time for me to meet the rest of the group for the organ concert. This was an hour long concert of Bach organ music in St. Thomas’ Church as part of the Bach festival. The concert was pretty cool, but organ music really isn’t my thing.
After the organ concert, we went to some whiskey bar with Adam (and had got some really cheap Four Roses), we went out to the Student Campusfest that night at Sportforum (a university building near my house). Since I hadn't been home all day, I stopped there first and put my backpack away, and then met everyone back at the festival.
It was pretty cool. They had a cool rock band playing and a cool reggae band as well. Anne showed us around the building, so we got to see the sport center for University Leipzig. There was also this weird thing involving rapping puppets (PuppetMasterz) which was very strange. Lina, my mentor, showed up though, so I got to hang out with her which was really fun.
After the campus festival, I was going to go home, but I met these Americans who were at the bus stop getting ready to go out to the TV club. They invited me with, so I went out dancing with these random people from (I think) OSU. They were really nice, and, although I never saw them again, I had a lot of fun.
Friday was pretty harsh on me. I was just too tired from going out the last two nights in a row and being exhausted from having gotten up early in the morning were taking their toll. I did get to sleep in an extra half hour on friday because we were going to see the concentration camp Buchenwald in Weimar. It wasn't too far, only an hour and a half by train (with one transfer).
The camp was pretty depressing. It wasn't an extermination camp, so there were no gas chambers or anything of the sort, but there were still plenty of people who were murdered there for no reason at all. We saw the walls, the old gate, and the locations where each bunker used to be.
The most horrible part of the camp was the medical room where Allied POWs were taken after captured. The soldiers were taken into the room one by one. After being given a standard check up by an SS soldier pretending to be a doctor, they were asked to stand up against a measuring device (to see how tall they were). However, unbeknown to the soldier, the device was backed up against a small closet, wherea soldier would stick is gun up to the little window between the two and shoot the POW in the back of the neck. His corpse would be taken out the back door, and the next victim would be led in.
The Crematorium was also very disturbing. Just seeing the kilns that burned all the bodies of murdered people was pretty horrific.
The original plan for Friday was to go to the Moritzbastai and dance our faces off, but no one knew how good it was going to be, since there was a goth night going on there. I went in and did a scouting report, and decided it was “unsatisfactory for Dayton standards,” So we went to the Alpenback instead. I didn't party too much there, because I had no energy left, so at that point, I excused myself and went to bed.
We got off the bus and walked to the Porsche plant, which is nicknamed “The Diamond” to to it's distinctive architecture. The three course meal, which was first was pretty incredible. Course 1 was a green soup with roast chervil, and Course 2 was braised Ox and a grilled steak with vegetables and a ricotta. Course 3 was merely called “Inspiration of Dessert,” and involved several different flavors of ice cream as well as something similar to fried cheesecake.
The restaurant had a wonderful view of the track below as well. Next to the diamond was Porsche Leipzig's race track. It contained many of the famous turns and bend found at other race tracks, and had the capacity to hold professional races there. The track is used for testing Porsche cars, as well as event usage. You can pay money at the plant to ride or drive a Porsche, and if you do the buy a Porsche event, you can drive one on the track as well (both on and off road).
After our meal, we all wanted to coma out, but we still had to go on the tour. Our tour guide was very nice and charismatic—I think one of the best tour guides we had so far. We saw where they made both models of the Porsche manufactured there, as well as watched a short video about the awesomeness of Porsche.
After we got back to the main train station, I hopped over to the post office to see what I needed to do to ship my luggage home. After having a conversation with the postal worker (which went very successfully!), I went home, and had dinner with my family.
Wednesday night marked the beginning of a lot of nights going out in a row. At this point, everyone was realizing that we barely had any time left in Germany, and we wanted to go out and hang out with the mentors as much as possible. We went to the karaoke club by the Ring Café again, and had a great time. I got to sing Gabi and Klaus (something I really wanted to do). I wanted to sing “Jessie’s Girl,” but the number in the book was wrong, but I just went with it and sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” instead. I also ended up singing “Somebody Told Me,” as well as “I Want It That Way” with a bunch of other people.
Some other highlights of Wednesday involved me dancing to the new “Cotton Eyed Joe” with Francesca, as well as us singing “Schrei Nach Liebe” from the audience to help two girls who were having trouble with the song.
Thursday started with me being tired from going out the night before but I made it anyway. We got out of class early because of the required organ concert that we had to go to that evening. Stephen called Silke, our German teacher, and we got class moved up so we could have it right after the new end of class. We decided it would be a fun day to go canoeing, so the four of us rented a canoe and went up and down the canals of Leipzig, while Silke told us the history of the manufacturing districts that we went through.
Afterwards, I decided that this would be an excellent time to go back and visit that graveyard that I wanted to check out. It was AMAZING. I want to be buried in a place like that. There are a lot of interesting flowerplots in front of the graves, as well as some interestingly shaped headstones as well.
After that, it was time for me to meet the rest of the group for the organ concert. This was an hour long concert of Bach organ music in St. Thomas’ Church as part of the Bach festival. The concert was pretty cool, but organ music really isn’t my thing.
After the organ concert, we went to some whiskey bar with Adam (and had got some really cheap Four Roses), we went out to the Student Campusfest that night at Sportforum (a university building near my house). Since I hadn't been home all day, I stopped there first and put my backpack away, and then met everyone back at the festival.
It was pretty cool. They had a cool rock band playing and a cool reggae band as well. Anne showed us around the building, so we got to see the sport center for University Leipzig. There was also this weird thing involving rapping puppets (PuppetMasterz) which was very strange. Lina, my mentor, showed up though, so I got to hang out with her which was really fun.
After the campus festival, I was going to go home, but I met these Americans who were at the bus stop getting ready to go out to the TV club. They invited me with, so I went out dancing with these random people from (I think) OSU. They were really nice, and, although I never saw them again, I had a lot of fun.
Friday was pretty harsh on me. I was just too tired from going out the last two nights in a row and being exhausted from having gotten up early in the morning were taking their toll. I did get to sleep in an extra half hour on friday because we were going to see the concentration camp Buchenwald in Weimar. It wasn't too far, only an hour and a half by train (with one transfer).
The camp was pretty depressing. It wasn't an extermination camp, so there were no gas chambers or anything of the sort, but there were still plenty of people who were murdered there for no reason at all. We saw the walls, the old gate, and the locations where each bunker used to be.
The most horrible part of the camp was the medical room where Allied POWs were taken after captured. The soldiers were taken into the room one by one. After being given a standard check up by an SS soldier pretending to be a doctor, they were asked to stand up against a measuring device (to see how tall they were). However, unbeknown to the soldier, the device was backed up against a small closet, wherea soldier would stick is gun up to the little window between the two and shoot the POW in the back of the neck. His corpse would be taken out the back door, and the next victim would be led in.
The Crematorium was also very disturbing. Just seeing the kilns that burned all the bodies of murdered people was pretty horrific.
The original plan for Friday was to go to the Moritzbastai and dance our faces off, but no one knew how good it was going to be, since there was a goth night going on there. I went in and did a scouting report, and decided it was “unsatisfactory for Dayton standards,” So we went to the Alpenback instead. I didn't party too much there, because I had no energy left, so at that point, I excused myself and went to bed.
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