Tchuss und Alles Gut

I hate saying goodbyes so much.  I say Stephen from across the street and we waved our goodbyes, him not knowing it'd be our last. I ran into my host day on my shortcut home. And I got my last rostbratwurst at Super Doner. And in my poor German I told them that I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and I hope to see them if I'm ever in Germany again. And they told me, "when I come back, we'll probably still be right here, and you'll always have a friend in Germany"


I don't want to leave.

Erfurt/ Eisenach

I can't believe it's the last week of classes, time has really been going quickly lately... Well today we went to Erfurt and Eisenach. On the way to Erfurt we got lost, (which was actually fine by me, because we could stay on the bus longer. I was tired and it was cold outside.)  So once we finally arrived, we had one of the most awesome tour guides, he was a funny elderly man that would get really enthused about the different sites. One of my favorites was this cathedral, the architecture of it is phenomenal.

I was enamored by this quaint city. I was beautiful even on such a dreary day.

Next we went to Eisenach, that is home to the Wartburg castle. This is the castle that Luther stayed in when he was kidnapped by his Prince.  Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside the castle but I still have the memories to remain.  It was interesting to see the room where Martin Luther stayed. I was a very small room...and from my understanding, he was not a very small guy.  In one of the rooms of the Castle it was made completely as a mosaic.  It was magnificent. 

 Despite the terribly dreary day, this castle still provided a gorgeous view of all of Eisenach.


After the castle we visited the Bachhaus, which was by far my FAVORITE part of the day.  It was so interesting to see the different instruments of his time and hear a demonstration of them. Bach is definitely one of my favorite composers. I could have spent all day in that museum! There was a room dedicated to listening to some of Bach's compositions and we went around to listen to each one. All different and all so beautiful. 

 

 A Viola Di Gamba, a 6-stringed viola.  I used to be obsessed with this instrument when I started playing viola in 5th grade because it's so interesting, it's basically a hybrid of a Cello and Viola.

Dresden

I feel as if I've started many a entries like so, but I must say -- what a wonderful city!

There was an interesting mix in the style of the city where it was obviously modernized but as we wandered into the old city there was an obvious shift into where the true culture and history of  Dresden lies in the artistry of the cathedrals. I was fascinated by how far the city has come from being completely destroyed.  It was interesting to have a tour guide that grew up in the city when it was destroyed and how she showed us then and now  pictures to give us an idea of the complete destruction the city suffered.

Next we went into the Frauenkirsche and it was absolutely gorgeous on the inside and out.  They remodeled the outside in the style of the time, using some of the stones from the original church before it was destroyed.

After the tour was over we went to a restaurant called "Schnitzelgarten" and it was literally the best food I've had in my entire life. Not to mention I was really hungry, so I basically ripped the giant piece of schnitzel to shreds. It was glorious. After lunch we wandered with Henrieke, and did a bit of shopping.  Later that afternoon we went to see "Hunger Games" which was a great movie! Surprisingly I understood most of it, despite the fact that it was in German.  After the movie we met up with the rest of the group and did a bit of bar hopping with our friend Anna who attends the University in Dresden.  She had jut celebrated her birthday the previous evening so we just continued the celebration. Overall and awesome night!

Day 2:

 The next morning we left for the Konigstein Fortress, and man was that an adventure. We began by taking a train along the beautiful Elbe, watching as the ice slowly melted and the bird sat along the glistening slabs of ice. We made it into the city and we looked up to see the Fortress sitting on top of the mountain in all of its glory. We hiked to the top of this mountain -- Thought I was going to die.  I had an asthma attack on the way up, which was brutal because for awhile it felt like we were ascending straight up.  I stayed back with Matt and Casey and we toook our time to  take pictures and observe the scenery.  As Jackie says "I now have a new appreciation for an impregnable fortress" because that was a rough hike to get to it. Sometimes the path would narrow or be extremely rocky, with steep falls on one side. I can't even imagine how armies would make it up there, especially in winters.

Once inside the fortress it was even more magnificent.  It was so beautifully constructed the way it was basically carved out of the mountain.  It was interesting to see the way things operated back in that time, such as where they stored the food, the well, and all the canons strategically placed around the fortress.  After wandering around in the castle for awhile we got ice cream at one of the small shops up there. It was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. Fresh Strawberries and all. We took a nice relaxing nap in that same pavilion soaking in the beautiful sun that had just emerged.  

 

Leipzig Pt. Zwei

This was our second visit to Leipzig, this time much warmer, therefore much more enjoyable. I already deemed Leipzig as one of my favorite cities even though it was frigid the last time we were there. This time we visited the US Consulate.  We got a presentation about possible internships and how the U.S. Consulate operates, and what they can and cannot do for Americans in foreign countries.  Next there was a presentation of how American's typically view Germans and vice versa.  it was interesting because some of the stereotypes that Americans my mom had told me before I left, but I've proven many of them untrue.  Except that some Germans are not the friendliest to foreigners, that I've experienced a little of, especially when my German was non-existent. But I've also met plenty of Germans that are very welcoming to foreigners such as some of the friends I've met here.

After the consulate we went to Leipzig University for lunch, and their food was DELICIOUS. I was definitely impressed, makes me hate the CDR even more, thank goodness I don't have to eat there next year. After lunch we visited the Völkerschlachtdenkmal or  the Monument of the Battle of the Nations. It was an interesting building nonetheless, the reflecting pool made it very pretty.  After wandering around inside for awhile we decided to climb to the top, I have literally never been so claustrophobic in my entire life, the higher we got in the monument, the narrower the staircase became.

But the view from above was beautiful, and well worth the hike. we could see all of Leipzig from the top of the monument, every looked so small from above, but it was a beautiful day to be up there, the weather wasn't too bad, so we could just stay up there and enjoy the view.

After making the journey back down the fortress we all went our separate ways Henrieke, Juliana, Judith, Vanessa, Dylan, Evan and I all wandered around the city for awhile and at in a delicious cafe, called Lukas, to relax. We also went to H &M (one of my favorite stores that I've been to in almost every city we've visited) and shopped for a bit before it was time to  catch our train.

Bittefeld

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"A day of nature appreciation" as Hans called it. We explored the peninsula of Bittefeld and wandered through the city a bit. There isn't much in the city but we found a nice little coffee shop to stop in for awhile to warm our hands where we came across a street notorious for its multiple book shops and outdoor book stores. We sifted through the shelves upon shelves of books and went into the shop for some cake and tea.

Our final stop was when we climbed to the top of one of the highest points in Bittefeld from where we could see Leipzig, Halle and a few other surrounding cities. What a lovely afternoon we shared!

Weimar

During the Host family weekend my host parents, Hans and Ruth, took me on two excursions.  the first we went to Weimar on Friday.  That quickly became one of my favorite cities. The city was beautiful despite it being gray the overcast contrasted the bright colors of the city very well.  First we visited the Anna Amalia Library! And we sure got lucky, because they only let about 200 people in per day because the building is so old.  In order to avoided our shoes scuffing the hard wood, we had to wear large slippers over our shoes. Very tough to walk in, very well worth it. The library was such an interesting chunk of history there were a few videos explaining

1. How incredibly awesome and interesting Anna Amalia was, she seriously became one of my favorite historical women.  She was so cultured and had such great connections with the mind of the time.  And her appreciation for music and literature was astonishing. 
2. Also The videos gave a more detailed history of the library. 
3. The most interesting part being the fire and and how volunteers in the area were working together to rescue as many books as they could. Following that video was one about the restoration of the library and how local volunteers worked to repaint the library in its original style. 

Unfortunately I couldn't sneak a picture of the inside (as much as I wanted to try) but there were busts of Anna Amalia's favorite and most influential people of the time.  It was almost moving how beautiful the library is.  Also when you stood in the center of the library, if you looked straight up there was a painting on the ceiling.  And above the main shelves of books there's an illusion that makes there appear to be even more levels of books, but in fact it was a painting.

After the library we visited the an art exhibit of the work of Lucas Cranach and then from there the museum extended to be a historical art museum guiding us through history and art with each ascending floor. Unfortunately we didn't make it up to the Rodin exhibit, but we were able to see a lot in such a huge museum. But alas, our stomachs were calling, and we left the museum.

Finally we were coming to the end of our day, we wandered the city some, and made our way to Franz Liszt's house, which was BEAUTIFUL. Sadly I couldn't take pictures in there either, but the memories are there.  He was quite the packrat -- many of the rooms were just as he had them, and there was a lot packed in there.

Magdeburg

Yet another gorgeous German city, this is also the city Henrieke is from! So it was great to see her home. We visited the Landtag and received a tour a of the building. We got to see where the sessions are held.  The woman who gave the tour was great, she was very lively and enthusiastic about her job.  Later they gave us a presentation on the inter workings of the Landtag.  The presentation was in German so I only understood part of it, but the part I understood was interesting!

Next we visited a church (whose name escapes me...) But it was beautiful nonetheless.