Classes, My Birthday, and Berlin!

The past few days have been a busy and fun one! It started with my first week of classes. The economics classes here in Germany take a very lax view of how the classes work. There is no form of registration and they do not really seem to care whether you come to the classes or not. You merely show up to whatever classes you want and at the end of the semester your register for finals. So my first week of classes I had a good time going to multiple different classes and seeing which ones I wanted to take for the rest of the semester. I finally decided on a set of classes that will only have me taking classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This should give me plenty of time to travel!

My University Building 

I took this extra time to travel to plan a trip to Berlin! But first I decided to stay the weekend in Wurzburg and celebrate my birthday with my newly made friends. I started out the evening by doing a bar crawl that was organized by the  business department. It was something very different to go on a bar crawl that was organized by the school itself! After going to over 6 different bars around Wurzburg I retired to be exhausted, having to catch a bus the next day to Berlin.

I will say that the festivities of my birthday made me miss the first bus that I was supposed to take out to Berlin......but luckily I caught another later that day. Berlin is an amazing city, with plenty to do during both the day and the night. I spent a total of three days there and managed to see the Brandenburg gate, the victory monument, the Reichstag, six museums, and ended the trip with a visit to the Berlin zoo. The city is alive with tourism everywhere. And the city itself has so much history it is amazing. The scars of the cold war are still very visible in Berlin and something that the people there have to deal with on a daily basis. All of the history however only makes it that much more special to visit.

My only regret for Berlin was that I didn't have a bit more time to spend in the city. This was the first time that I had a chance to stay in a hostel and I would have liked a bit more time to just interact with the people passing through. I managed to meet people from all over the world that were all doing the same thing that I was, sightseeing. It was something truly amazing and I even managed to take away a couple of there suggestions for future trips in Europe. One thing is for sure, visiting Berlin has only given me a taste of what it is like to travel..... and I want more!

Hello again!

It has been way too long since I last posted so I thought I would give it a shot. My first month here has been hectic because everything is so new to me here. With almost no break I arrived in Germany and started a month long intensive German language course. This meant that when I wasn't out and about getting lost in town I was doing German courses for four hours a day. Add on top of this all of the homework and Germany has managed to keep me very busy so far. The class has helped me to pick up the language so quickly though! Now I am able to at least order food and ask for directions in German when I get lost. The class has also helped me to meet many new people that are also studying abroad while here. Many new friends means that I now have people to explore the town and go out at night with!

And man, I knew that beer was a big part of the German culture but I never expected it to be this big! It seems that no matter where you go there is always a place to find a beer nearby. I was surprised to even see that the "Mensa", which is the schools cafeteria, sells beer. I even got to sample the local night life when Wurzburg hosted there "Clubnacht", they seem very fond of not only bars but also clubs! It seems like the Germans will use any excuse they can to drink a good beer.

1 Liter Beers at the "Volksfest"

Now that it is becoming summer they will have there annual "Volksfest" which is a big carnival type festival. Since the weather is beautiful here I am sure that it is going to be a big destination for not only my friends, but also all of Wurzburg all week long. My first visit there had me drinking whole liters of beer as I sang along to all of the live bands English songs. I am hoping that things will calm down a little bit more when my actual classes start up. I have yet to do any travelling since my arrival here and I am itching to see what the rest of Germany and Europe has to offer!