Germany has been one hectic country. I definitely will say that I am ready to go back to the U.S. but in the meantime I am having a lot of fun at my new college. I arrived in Magdeburg on June 1, and ever since have been loaded with activities and trips -not to mention class everyday at 9am. Since a lot has happened, this potentially could be a book, rather than a blog post, so hold on while we recap the last 2 weeks.
June 2- So waking up at 7:30 was not as fun as I thought it would be during my summer... break? However the German class today was pretty great. However, being as I have only ever had one German course... taking a B1 level German course isn't the easiest thing. Most of the time I truly haven't a single idea of what she is saying... and I completely bombed the first test she gave us. So lets hope that the course is based on your growth and not just how good your German is. Ooh, I almost forgot to mention... I am not on this trip alone, there are other Americans! :D Who are my class mates for the duration of this time, and I also live with them in the hostel. There are 8 in all, all from good 'ol South Carolina. 4 guys and 4 gals make up there group and I mean they are pretty fun. Although about every stereotype from the South/ the U.S. in general are portrayed. You have the uptight Christian/Jock, the big guy who is engaged at 19, the rich kid, the immigrants, the pretty popular girls (who probably ruled high school), the smart one, the bla- African American, the pot smokers, and the young father. Ooh, and of course you have the Gay one.
So tonight we had a welcome party, which simply consisted of the whole group going to a riverside bar (beach bar) and having the school (Magdeburg) pretty much buy anything that you wanted (alcohol). #gottaloveGermany
June 3- Tonight we had a "Campus Fest" at our campus here in Magdeburg. It consisted of 3 bands, which were surprisingly really good! Definitely had a great time. The approach to college, while much more intense here isn't the same as in the US as alcohol is imbedded in their culture. So quite obviously they served alcohol at the fest, which was on the campus green. It was so much different than any festival I had been to at my home university in the US, which is a completely dry campus.
June 4- Well, I have been here for 3 days already, it is quite crazy to think that in exactly 20 days I will be home. It has been a long 4+ months in Europe and I am very excited to be arriving back in the US! Today wasn't the most exciting adventure ever... we got a guided tour courtesy of the university. We got to see the best parts of Magdeburg, which (obviously) consisted of 3 churches and a few older government buildings. The oldest church that we saw was built in (I believe) the 1600's and the majority of it has survived through the wars. Which not much has, we learned that Magdeburg used to have amazing architecture, however after the war much of it got destroyed and only a few things - one building with stone statues near the doorway, the church(es) and one other building which is now the government building - survived and are a staple of the city. They also had a person who is very regarded in Physics. He was the first person to prove the function of a vacuum. He demonstrated this by taking a 2 half metal circles and sucking all the air out of them, they then attacked each side to a horse and had the horses attempt to pull them apart... It got lost in translation, but I don't think it came apart.
June 5- Today I personally didn't do anything, the rest of people went to this medieval festival... Which just simply isn't my cup'o'tea. However there is a pretty awesome festival that is beginning... And rumor has it they have rides!
June 6- Anyone ever heard of VW? As in the car manufacturer? Well today I got the chance to go tour their factory where they make the cars. When we arrived at the facility we got informed that we would get to ride in a cart, which we later found out was created to look much like a VW car... and a roller coaster! So we got to sit back and get driven through the plant. We actually got to see nearly every part of production in the facility which focused on 2 main models (the golf and tiguane) but will be expanding to future models in the future. We found out that each time someone orders a VW it is manufactured at that facility according to the person specifications they requested. Which I though was very awesome! After the facility we got to tour their VW car land which has different buildings for each VW car brand (Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi etc). Due to time restraints I was only able to visit the Audi building and the history part, which had all brands of the cars. All in all, I totally want to purchase a VW when I get a car! Definitely great German manufacturing going into those cars!
June 7- After WWII most of Germany was destroyed. However one city (which I forgot the name) wasn't destroyed and still has much of its original structures! It is what they consider a classic German town, which now is on the list of protected cities and can no longer be undated or renovated. Many of the structures in that town date back to the 1600's. They are maid with nearly all wooden beams and nails. Definitely a great site to see, unfortunately it was nearly a billion degrees today so the heat kind of ruined it. We also went to a gigantic hill/ mountain which has great German history of dancing witches. We got to take a gondola up to the top and then walk around and see all the amazing sites. I would love to upload pictures on here, but unfortunately I seem to have misplaced/lost my camera :$
June 8- Today was another brutally hot day, we went on a sight seeing tour to Stendal. In Stendal they have the sister school of the school I am studying at here in Magdeburg, DE. Some of the buildings here are equally as old as the town we toured yesterday, although the history of Stendal is very rich. Around the year 1600 Stendal was a vibrant and powerful city. They had many wealthy residence who would trade their goods with local towns and made Stendal a very popular city. Unfortunately as time went on the money did not stay there, and now it is not a very big city, nor is it at all powerful. Nut none the less it has some great and rich history,
Well that was the first weeks recap of my stay here in Magdeburg, Germany. I will be writing and uploading this weeks journey as soon as it gets finished. Hope everyone has enjoyed reading about my time in Europe... Only 1 week left and I will be states bound.
