Wurzburg!

On Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Wurzburg.  It's about 30 minutes away from Schweinfurt.  Mindy, the physical therapist at our clinic, was going there anyway so she volunteered to drive us.  Our first stop was at a lederhosen shop because the guys needed to get some traditional German man clothing to wear to fests since we girls have our dirndls now!  Seeing American guys in tight leather overall shorts is pretty much the funniest thing ever!  The shopping trip was a success!  Now we are all set for fests!!!!  Germans love their festivals, they take any excuse to party, it seems like every town has a few fests a year, with the biggest being Oktoberfest!

Lederhosen:  Traditional German man outfit.

After the lederhosen adventure, Mindy dropped us off at the Wurzburg train station to meet Kevin.  Kevin is some like 20 year old German dude from Wurzburg that the other externs met on a train last week.  They ended up talking for a bit and he volunteered to give us a little tour of the town.  He's a nice kid, he seems to really like American culture and wants to practice his English, so it works out well for both parties.  He took us up to the castle/fortress overlooking all of Wurzburg.  Wurzburg is a pretty city with a few beautiful bridges that survived WW2!  This is also wine country!  Since it is almost harvest time the vinyards, which line the hillside, are at their prettiest!!!

Looking down on Wurzburg from the castle.

Emily and I at the wine fest!

We then walked down the hill into town.  We walked over the main bridge, to a couple big churches, and he showed us a display of what Wurzburg looked like after the war.  It was pretty much burned to the ground along with every other city in Germany.  They managed to rebuild in the old style to Wurzburg has kept its charm!  We stumbled upon a little Wine Festival going on in a main square, so we stopped for some wine and bratwurst.  I know that sounds like a weird combo, but it really worked great!  Kevin acted as a good tour guide showing us all of the interesting a cool parts of the city!  Of course, as with any international meeting, we had to be diplomatic and teach each other curse words in each language. (Haha!)

Later that night we met Mindy and a German friend of hers for dinner and drinks.  They told us they were going to take us somewhere cool.  They drove us up to a hill overlooking the city and we pretty much parked in an empty field.  We walked down through a tiny field and down a little path (mildly confused if we were actually getting anywhere) and found a restaurant/beer garden with a wonderful view of the city at sunset!  How anybody can find this place, is beyond me!  Saw a new place, made new friends, all and all a good day!

Emily walking over the bridge.  I don't know why I randomly like this pic.

First week in Schweinfurt!

So the night we arrived back from Berlin we met the other 3 externs from Pennsylvania College of Optometry.  They have 2 guys and 1 girl...Andrea, Adam and Ketan.  They're pretty cool and we all get along really well so far.  It's funny how in just a few days I feel like I know these people better than people I went to school with for 3 years.  That's what happens when you work together, live on the same hallway, eat together, and do pretty much everything else together.  In 3 months we'll either be best friends or never speak again, I guess we'll see!  Haha!  No, they're really cool, I'm excited to have such a fun group to hang out with in Germany for 3 months.

These are the laundry facilities on our hall, this is how I found it.  The common kitchen looks similar, which we dont use.  However, I have used the machines, they do work!!

As for the barracks, it keeps things interesting.  It's like living in a really old, kinda dirty, boys dorm in college.  Except the boys are crazy!  We don't know all of our neighbors names, but we give them nicknames based on their tatoos.  There's a guy we call "Dragon", he's really loud and possibly certifiably insane.  He got his name because the other night he comes knocking on our door, since there were 3 people in our room we decided to open it.  He had a fresh bloody tatoo of a GIANT dragon across his chest that he wanted to show off.  Never a dull moment with these guys!  (But don't worry, we've become friends with their commander's girlfriend who works at the clinic and he's given the guys a briefing not to bother us, so we shouldn't have any problems.)

This is a lot like college, except we're in Europe!  It takes some adjusting to get use to again and I never thought I could get use to dorm living, but I'm getting there.  We hang out in the dorm room watching movies, we take our laundry down the hall, and we have to take the bus to the store.  Lots of college de ja vu moments, but I'm 25, it's weird.

Old church in town.  One of the few building that survived WW2.

Work is good.  Seeing patients right off.  Nothing too exciting, except I'm seeing more kids than I would like to.  Hopefully that will end when school starts.  But work is boring, who wants to talk about that...

So Friday night we decided to stay in town because we were told there was some sort of festival going on in town.  Even though it was raining we made our way to down town with the promise of music and beer.  I must say, I love to hear 1980's American music sung with German accents, it cracks me up!!!  After sampling some of the local beverages, listening to some bands, and making a bad decision to eat a late night burger at McDonalds we decided it would be a good idea to head to a local nightclub that many of the soldiers told us about.  Keep in mind it is somewhere between 11:00 and 11:30 at night, so not too late, by nightclub standards.  We get to the club, and it was just okay, we just felt weird, we felt OLD, and we didn't know why.  After a little while their we decided to catch a cab home.

All of the externs at the Schwinfurt Festival

1. 

   Sarah and I with a Schweinfurt pig.  You see these around town.

The next morning at the dining facility we talked to one of the dudes the recommended the nightclub to us and told him how we felt we must be too old for this sort of thing now.  Come to find out in Germany night clubs are open to teenages (16-20) until midnight, and the over 21 crowd doesn't get there until about 1:00am.  So basically we were partying with a bunch of kids almost a decade younger than us, most excellent.  Don't think we'll be going back there since I like to be in bed by 1:00am these days!  Haha!  But kinda a funny story!

Dirndl Shopping

Emily, the other girl extern Andrea, and I all bought dirndls to wear to the fests.  Especially Oktoberfest!  People actually wear them!  It's awesome!

Berlin Pics!

Nazism, Communism, Capitalism.

At the Berlin train station.  Reminded me of Perception class.

TV tower in Alexander Platz put up by the Communists to show their wealth and power.  It was not in their plan for it form a cross when the sun hit it in the west, this was known as the "Pope's revenge".

Checkpoint Charlie, or what is left of it.  Basically a tourist stop now.

Back side of Brandenburg Gate, couldn't get the other side because they were having some event.

All of us in front of the Reischtag.  Now the parliment building.

Me in front of part of the wall at the East Side Gallery.

Emily trying Currywurst and pommes.  Basically a bratwurst with curry ketchup and french fries.

Getting of the train to go to the East Side Gallery.  Gotta love what those Commies left behind....

Sarah setting foot in both the former East and West Berlin!

Berlin: "Poor but Sexy"

Once again I'm blogging late about this past weekend.  So after spending our first night in our barracks Emily and I were awoken at 5:30 am by the yelling of sargeants and other people.  Apparently the army thinks it a swell idea to wake up before the crack of dawn, organize themselves, and shout orders in the field outside of our window.  Not cool army!

After possibly a couple more hours of sleep we (Emily and I) decided to get up and meet Sarah at the train station to head to Berlin!  Berlin is 4.5-5 hour journey, including a train stop in Bamberg.  We arrived in Berlin in the early afternoon, dropped our bags at the hotel, and headed down to Alexanderplatz.  As I recall (which for the record I may be wrong on any of this), Alexanderplatz was the main "square" (aka "platz") for East Berlin back in the day.  Now it has the TV tower which people like to go up in and it's overrun with tourists, gypsies, and people who like to wear fishnets and combat boots.  We were headed there to meet our bike tour.

I had done a Fat Tire Bike Tour in Paris 3 years ago and loved it, so we decided to go with the same company in Berlin.  We road about 6 miles seeing the sights around the city.  It was awesome and a great way to cover some ground in this very large and diverse city!  We saw part of the Berlin wall, the sight where Hitler's bunker was, other Nazi era stuff, beautiful modern achitecture built since the wall fell, had a snack in a beer garden, Checkpoint Charlie, and Brandenburg Gate, just to name a few.  After that we were really tired and decided to take advantage of the free WiFi at our hotel and call it a night (I know, LAME, given Berlin is a huge party city!).

The next day we had a lesuirely morning sleeping in a bit.  Then we got out to see some more of the things that had caught our interest the day before.  First we headed back over to the Checkpoint Charlie area to go to a free museum called the Topography of Terror.  It's all about the rise of Nazism, with an emphasis on Berlin 1933-1945.  Ironically, this is located adjacent to the Berlin wall, which was from the Communism era.  It was sometimes difficult to remember to differentiate these two times as you saw things throughout the city.  I have a great picture on here taken from there which I call "Nazism, Communism, and Capitalism", because it shows the Berlin Wall, an old Nazi headquarters building (which only survived the war because it was a good reference point for Allied bombers), and a huge Ben & Jerry's billboard all on one street corner.  Just to avoid confusion, the Ben & Jerry's poster does not represent Communism in this instance, haha, kidding!

We ended up walking around a lot, even though it was quite warm and sunny it still felt better than Houston in August!  We went to check out the Currywurst Museum (Currywurst is like a signiture food of Berlin), however it cost 8.50 euro and decided we weren't willing to pay that just for something that we thought would be more of a joke.  So bust there!

We then took the city train further into the old east Berlin to see the East Side Gallery, which is the largest area in which the wall was still standing and artists have painted it.  Very cool!

That night we checked out a place called Winerei which our preceptor doctor told us about.  It's kinda off the beaten path in a non-touristy area (a lot of half empty stores and apartments because Berlin is somewhat of any empty city).  The basic idea is you pay 2 euros for "membership" (a wine glass and entrance).  There are several kinds of wines out and a large bowl.  You drink as much as you would like and then pay what you deem "appropriate" for the amount you drink at the end of the night.  However, we were told it was important not to abuse the system since Americans have a reputation for doing so.  We were the only Americans in there and it a somewhat local/underground feel to it, which was pretty cool.

On Sunday morning Sarah headed back to the U.S., and Emily and I headed back to Schweinfurt.  All and all a great weekend trip!!!

Berlin was probably the weirdest city I've ever been to, but it was awesome.  Virtually everything in the city was built or rebuilt since the 1950s since it was pretty much leveled in WW2.  Then you throw in very strong reminders of the division of the city and Communist rule by seeing the wall, or the stones on the wall representing its former location, and in some areas you see the older very bleak Communist era buildings (not a good look, may I add).  It's amazing to think how much has happened in this city in only my short lifetime!  However, from this history of oppression it's obvious that they have totally done an 180 and are all about acceptance and freedom.  I mean it's a place where you see the funkiest dressed and weirdest looking people you can imagine, a very artsy/underground scene, and you also have wine bars where you have the FREEDOM to pay as you feel.  They had none of this just 20 years ago!  I'm not a very liberal person at all, but I somehow found it amazing that they were able to create a free spirited place from a place with virtual no freedom in a very short time.  There is also so much new growth and amazing architecture that has come about in the last 20 years, I don't know how they did it so fast!  So that's my take on Berlin, and that's why they call it "Poor but Sexy".

In the Army now???

So I'm writing this several days later because I didn't have good internet for several days.   I arrived in the town of Schweinfurt, Germany, the location of my externship on Wednesday August 18. 

So I had e-mailed the doctor a few weeks before to tell him which day I planned on arriving.  This was good to go, or so I thought.  A few days before leaving for Schweinfurt, I e-mailed the doctor asking him what I should specifically do when I get off the train in Schweinfurt.  But due to the weak army e-mail system, he didn't get my e-mail in time, and I did not get an answer.  I figured I'm a smart worldy girl, I can figure this out. 

So Sarah and I arrived in Schweinfurt just before noon.  Sarah decided to take a cab from the train station to her hotel and I decided to take a couple of my bags and head toward the base.  I tried calling the phone numbers for a couple of the technicians who worked in the office, but neither of them worked.  However, I knew I had e-mailed with the doctor about my arrival date, so I assumed all was well.  When I asked the taxi driver to take me to the army base, he asked me "which one?".  I had no idea, but luckily I guess correctly.

German taxis can't go on base,  so I had him drop me off at the main gate.  I rolled up to the gate with 2 suitcases in tow and explained my situation.  I asked if they had a phone number for the health clinic and of course they were completely useless and had no phone numbers.  (Sure hope nobody has a heard attack near the gate!)  So I used my military ID card for the first time to get me on base and had them point me in the direction of the clinic.

So there I was walking down the street on a base rolling my 2 suitcases, it's lunch hour so lots of people in uniform are roaming around, so I felt like a spectacle.  Luckily the health clinic was only about 500-600 meters from the gate and everybody knew where it was, so it was pretty easy to find.  So at this point I really had no options.  I had no working phone numbers for the clinic or any staff and they were not getting my e-mails.  I rolled into the front door, followed the signs to optometry, and walked right up to the desk (feeling ridiculously akward since I was now sweating and carrying 2 suitcases+a large backpack).

It's lunch hour, so almost everyone is gone.  The woman working at the front desk was very surprised to see me since she was told all of the interns would be arriving 2 days later.  She was very nice and let me in.  After lunch two of the technicians came back from lunch, also very surprised to see me there.  This did not help the embarassment factor!  Everyone was really nice and showed me around the clinic.  When Dr. Eddis came back from a meeting, seeing me seemed to refresh his memory that this was the day of my expected arrival. 

So it gets better.  Dr. Eddis realized he needed to take me to get a base pass so I could more easily get on/off base.  However, a family of 3 had just walked in for their appointments.  In order to get done on time for the base pass office to still be open, he asked me to take a patient.  It was a healthy 8 year old and I really didn't mind at all.  But here's the catch...I was wearing JEANS, a black TSHIRT, and new balance TENNIS SHOES!  NOT EXACTLY CLINIC ATTIRE!  I felt so akward, and I couldn't help but laugh at the situation.  That all went fine, but I wonder if that girl's mother could take me seriously. 

They showed me around the base some.  I must say I've spent a lot of time on a lot of bases, mostly AF, but a few army, and this is the...how should I say it to be polite...it's the oldest.  So basically it's crummy.  However, everything is what you make of it, and I'm sure it will be an awesome time!  Next, I went by what will be mine and Emily's dorm room.  First of all, we are staying in enlisted dorms which are technically co-ed, and the building is quite old.  I've seen frat houses cleaner than this place!  For real!  The hallways kind of smell like cigarettes and urine.  Not lying.  Our room isn't too bad.  We share a bathroom with one other girl extern.  There is a common kitchen which I will eventually post pictures of because nobody will believe me if I describe it.  When Emily was at the dorm a few days later she looked around and was like "Is this real life???"  Haha!  We're safe and it's free and that's all that really matters.  It makes for a lot of laughs and some funny stories! 

Anyway, Emily (the other extern from Houston) arrived in Schweinfurt that night.  We picked her up from the train station and stayed at a hotel for 1 night in the cute downtown area.  We ate dinner at a cute beer hall.  The pictures I've posted are from us exploring the town the first couple of days.  No pics of our living situation yet. 

The people at the clinic are really nice and they are determined to make this an awesome experience for us, so I'm excited!  The living situation isn't exactly what was described, but it's fine.  I just have to get use to the army for 3 months....

The Hills Are Alive!!!

Sarah and I decided to take the 1 hour 40 minute train ride to Salzburg, Austria.  We both really wanted to see the beauty and culture of Salzburg...okay...let's be honest...we wanted to do the Sound of Music Tour!!!!! 

When we got to Salzburg we walked around the cute streets and did a little shopping!  Of course, we had to shop at H&M!  Before lunch we walked around the Mirabell Gardens which are really beautiful, but mainly because many scenes from the Sound of Music were taped there.  Sarah and her blonde hair became the photo-op for a very excited Japanese tourist, apparently she is like a freak of nature you must get your picture with!  Haha!  After lunch we got on the bus for the Sound of Music tour.  It takes you around Salzburg and shows you many of the sights from the movie.  Obviously, some of them aren't as grand or the same as perceived in the movie.  But this was still an amazing way to see Salzburg and the surrounding area.  We went up into the mountains and through the small town of Monsee. 

After the tour we had about 1.5 hours until we had to catch our train back to Munich.  So what did we do???  BEER HALL!  We heard about the Augustiner beer hall which was started by monks a long time ago who brewed their own beer.  It's attached to a church, and has a beautiful beer garden.  You go in, get the size mug you want, rinse it under the cold water since it is still warm from the washing, pay the guy, he give you a ticket, and another guy fills your mug.  There is only one kind of beer, and I have to say it's pretty good.  The atmosphere is what makes this place! 

On the train ride home we met a young Colombian guy who was strangely obsessed with Milka chocolate and Hairbo Gummi Bears.  He had a whole backpack full of it to take back home with him.  I love the interesting/ridiculous people you meet when traveling!

Bike, Hike, Slide, and Cinderella's Castle!

So I'm blogging this a little late because my internet access has been limited since my computer battery ran out of power.  I was aprehensive about using the european converter to charge it because I was mildly concerned my computer would blow up.  I finally got the guts up to plug it in.  If I ignore the strange buzzing sound coming from the converter, it works just fine!

So on Monday Sarah and I had signed up for a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle.  We decided to make a full day of it, and rather than getting our tickets and waiting hours with swarms of Japanese tourist buses to tour the castle, we did things a little differently!

We started off the morning with a pastry from a local bakery (typical).  Then we set off on a 2 hour bus ride outside of Munich toward Neuschwanstein.  When we got there the weather was a little misty, but that didn't stop us from getting our bikes!  As a group we took a 1.5 hour bike ride around the beautiful countryside surrounding the castle.  We learned we could still ride a bike, though hills and and knowing which gear is proper to use (Sarah!) is somewhat tricky!

After the bike ride, and walking out bikes up the long hill we were too weak for, it was time for lunch.  After lunch we opted to do the Alpine Slide.  If you don't know what an Alpine Slide is, don't worry, I didn't know until I was in the middle of it.  It's basically like a luge, but your just leaning back and there is no ice.  You get pulled up the tall hill like when you go up in a roller coaster, then you wind down the hill on a track while sitting on this little cart/sled thing.  Weird, but kinda cool.

So our tour guide was this pretty cool South African dude.  He tells us he attended the German School of Magic for 2 years and he is like the "Magic Circle" or whatever that is.  Sounds kinda like Harry Potter to me....  So anyway, he did a little magic after lunch, and I thought it was going to be pretty lame.  Because let's face it, unless you are a warewold, vampire, or wizard in a bestselling novel, I'm not really interested in your magic.  But of course, I get pulled to be the female assistant.  This dudes tricks totally messed with my mind!!!  I still don't know how he changed that card in my hand, I swear, I had a death grip on it!  Haha!

Finally we get to the good part!  A 45 minute hike uphill to the castle.  Emphasis on the UPHILL!  Germans are pretty active people who enjoy hiking.  Their version of a mild hike is like a death march to me!  The brochure said "not the least bit strenuous"...LIES!  Anyway, we hiked past some beautiful scenery including some waterfalls, and finally made it to the top.

The interior castle tour was pretty short, since Ludwig did not get to finish it before his mysterious death, but it was very cool on the inside.  When we finally made it back to the bus to return to Munich we were sore, hungry, and tired.   But all in all it was very cool day (and all that exercise helped us rationalize that 1L of beer we had the night before)!!!!

Prost!

Sarah and I at Hofbrauhaus in Munich!  Prost!!!

Sarah and I made new friends that night!  We sat next to a guy from Italy who was obsessed with American sports including the WWE.  He kept asking us what we knew about the WWE and who our favorite wrestler was.  I think we disappointed him when we didn't have an answer.  I think we failed his expectation as Americans....

Here are some pictures of Dachau concentration camp, Marienplatz in Munich, and me at Hofbrauhaus.  I know it's not the most appropriate mix of pictures, but my wierd internet here is mixing them up.  I'll put them all up sometime soon!

Made it to Germany!

Hello!!!

I made it to Germany!!  Sarah and I left Houston on Friday morning and arrived in Frankfurt on Saturday morning.  The plane ride was pretty painless.  The German lady on the aisle next to use had the cutest baby I've ever seen in my life, and we was really good, which is surprising for a 9 hour flight!  After getting out Eurail passes validated we attempted to figure out the German train system.  It's pretty easy, except we were told we did not need a seat reservation for our train to Munich.  This made for a rather stressful situation the first hour of the journey because we kept having to switch seats and move my MANY bages.  But we (and the bags) made it to Munich!!!  Our hotel, Le Meridien, is right across the street from the main train station, and it is awesome!   It's newly redone, and HUGE for a european hotel room!!!  We got an awesome deal the week the Euro dropped in value, so that's good!

After a little nap and a much needed shower Sarah and I ventured out into Munich!  We walked around the old down and saw Marienplatz.  The weather was perfect (high 60's/low 70s and sunny) so we found a nice beirgarten (beer garden) outside to have dinner and a beer in.  It was great!  By about 8:00pm we were exhausted and decided to go back to the hotel to sleep.

Today (Sunday) we woke up and went to the train station to meet for our tour of Dachau concentration camp.  Dachau is about 15 minutes by train outside of the city.  Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and the whole thing was very interesting, and quite sad.  We saw the gate, buildings, gas chambers, and crematorium. It's one of those things you feel like you need to see, even if its kind of upsetting.  Apparently, German school children are required to go to a concentation camp during their school years as part of the ciriculum.  The day started out gloomy, which we though appropriate for a concentration camp, but it turned into a gorgeous day!  Who knew it could be sunny with blue sky and I would not be sweating??  It was about 70 degrees with a fresh breeze (perfect!).  I know this weather will be short lived and I will be whining about being cold before you know it! 

After getting some sandwiches and taking another nap we decided to head back out to see more Munich.  We were planning on getting up by 4:00 so we could see the Glockenspiel (famous clock) do it's thing at 5:00.  But when I woke up at 4:00, my sister said I said "screw that stupid clock" and turned off my alarm.  We eventually got up and made out way to the famous Hofbauhaus (beer hall) for come beers and giant pretzels.  It is such a festive place, with the Oom-pah music and the 1 liter steins of beer.  Though there are very few Germans there, and a lot of tourists.  We made friends with some people for Alaska and a dude from Italy at our table.  Good times!  Now we're resting up for another fun-filled day tomorrow!

So far, Germany has NOT disappointed.  Everyone has been very friendly and very forgiving about me not knowing the language!  It's looking like a good 3.5 months!!  I'm attaching a few pics of our first day, but more will follow shortly!

Novice Blogger

So t-minus 11 days until I head across the pond!

I've never blogged before so I have no idea what I am doing.  In fact, I've typically judged people in the past for blogging their thoughts and feeling because I don't think most people even care.  So I realize I take that risk with starting this blog.  With the exception of my mother, nobody may care about what I'm doing enough to read it.  However, I figured it could be fun to try a blog, and if nothing else, it will help me remember what I did on my trip.

I'm going to be spending 3.5 months based out of Schweinfurt, Germany as an optometry extern student.  Which pretty much means I'm paying somebody else to practice being an eye doctor.  But I feel so lucky and am super excited because get to spend that time in EUROPE!!!!!!!  (Also, if you are a stickler for proper grammar and spelling, you are NOT going to get that from me!).

So my plan is to be student eye doctor during the week and travel on weekends/ holidays!  This blog is for my friends and family to keep up with my travels and cool experiences.  So I hope you enjoy reading!!!!