Altoona Education Abroad GeoBlog

I have been back just over a week now and almost everything is back to normal. I have most of my gifts given to their recipients, my laundry is done, and my suitcase is back in my closet. 240 pictures have been printed of the 680 I took. Looking back now, I am glad that I was able to take part in the trip. I gained many experiences I never would have been to had I traveled with my family instead or if I'd waited till after college. I wish we would have had a free day in Frankfurt and/or Stuttgart for more exploration and that in someway we could have had some more interactions with the locals. Although I really enjoyed the trip and have no complaints whatsoever, I feel that we had a very "tourist-y" point of view for the most part. However, when traveling abroad with the purpose being for tours that is understandable. I'm glad I was given the opportunities to experience more of the culture with free evenings and that I did take advantage of that while I was in Germany.

Lastly,on that note, to anyone planning on studying abroad, I have one piece of advice. Take advantage of anything and everything you have the opportunity do because you never know when or if that opportunity will be open to you again.

 

This was an opportunity that I am glad I took.  The trip was an experience that I have taken many things away from.  I learned that I can adapt in a completely foreign environment.  Things over in Germany run at a different pace and thats all and good but I couldnt live there.  There is truly no place like home.  

I have been home for a few days and I am being asked, "How was Germany?".  My answer is usually the same.  I say that I had an amazing time but I was definitely ready to come home.  The experience was something I will never forget but traveling in such a large group took its toll after a while.  Im starting to settle in and my next message will be my last which should sum it all up.  

I got back home about 5 AM yesterday morning. I tried to stay up all day, unpacking (from both the trip and moving home for the summer), dealing with credit card and phone companies, and getting inducted into the local ELKS, to counter act the jet lag. Well, in doing so I became so exhausted that I fell asleep at my computer writing this post. On the upside I woke up at my usual time this morning.

Our second day in Munich had nothing scheduled. We were free to do whatever we wanted, explore the city, go to museums, etc. I, along with one other person from the study abroad group, decided to go with a tour group to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Alps. After a two hour train ride, we took a bus up to the little village below the castle. Our tour group had lunch while waiting for a bus to take us up to the main walking point. I tried Munich's specialty weisswurst or white sausage. I really was not fond of this meal. I pealed the casing/skin off of the meat even though you can eat it but the biggest thing that I did not like about the meat was the fact that it had a spongy texture and not a typical meat texture.

We continued up to the walking point and were able to make a short side trip to a bridge over a waterfall with a magnificent view of the castle as well as the snow covered tips of the Alps. We toured the interior of the castle and saw all the elaborate and beautiful carvings and wall paintings. After touring the castle we walked 30 minutes back down to the little village and took a bus to catch our train back to Munich. Overall the trip to the castle which took the majority of the day was an experience that I will always remember.

The last day we spent in Germany was packed full. We began our day by visiting the engineering department of a military school. We were spoken to by an electrical engineering teacher who told us about how different Germany's school system is from America's. The difference in the systems is incredible. One of the most astounding thing he informed our group of is that if you want to go to college you have to decide by age 10 to be put on that "track". He also showed us a Dilbert cartoon clip about "the nack".

In the afternoon we toured BMW's plant. Going into the tour I was prepared to be unimpressed. However, I was wrong. I found it very impressive how the company works with what space they have and instead of building out (which they do not have room to do) they built the factory up. Their multiple story factory houses the entire process to make a car, from conception to construction. The huge clustered robotic arms that assembled the cars were flawless in their synchronous movements. Also, impressive was the system they have created for painting the cars. Just the inclined floor with water to collect and dissolve loose paint was interesting in its own right.

Lastly, as a group we partook in a dinner at a local Munich brewery. We all enjoyed a delicious meal made up of potato dumplings and sauce, red cabbage salad (my favorite part), a large variety of meat from different kinds of wursts to duck, and apple strudel. We were even serenaded during our meal with authentic German music as well as the star spangled banner when they found out we were Americans.

Tuesday we began our return home. I sleep for most of the two hour flight from Munich to London. However, after four movies and two novels later, we landed in D.C. We made our way through customs, which was not nearly as bad as the horror stories I was told prior to the trip. Honestly, the worst part was waiting in line. Finally, after sleeping through the 3 hour drive to Altoona, and driving the additional 2 ½ hours home, it was 5 AM and I began my Wednesday in hopes to start a normal schedule for the summer.

 

Well after a good nights rest, as hard as it was to readjust to the time change, I'm finally home again. The trip home was quite an adventure. We had two small experiences going through security in Munich. One was because a drinking horn was bought and was in a carry - on. This was no where near allowable due to the point on the end of the horn. Luckily Brent hadn't had a bag checked so he was easily able to check his duffel bag and all was well. The other was a little more interesting. Elliott didn't realize that he had his knife in his bookbag. Well in Germany knives that can be opened with one hand are completely illegal, of course Elliott's opened like this. So the actual police where called and he had to have the rest of his stuff checked out. Luckily ELo spoken German or I feel like it wouldn't have gone so smoothly. In the end his knife was taken of course and he paid a fine. I'm now finally going through the pictures and realizing how amazing of an experience this really was. 

I have got some sleep on the plane and currently find myself wide awake on the van heading back to altoona.  I made it through customs semi-quickly and without problems.  This trip has been an amazing experience and I believe I have gained skills that I will use for the rest of my life.  I enjoyed my time in Germany but I am definitely glad to be heading home.  Some people are saying they are moving to Germany as soon as they can but I belong in the US, its my home.  

I am sitting in the London Airport during a three hour layover.  I am too tired to think and can barely keep my head up.  This trip is an amazing experience and once I get a few hours of sleep on this six hour plane ride I will be prepared to reflect on it.  

Well I can't beleive I'm sitting in my hotel room getting ready for our final day in Germany. Yesterday was our free day, and it was awesome. First some of us went to the technical museum. It was cool , but I can't lie I slightly museumed out by now. Then Kendra, Elliott and I went exploring. Now this was interesting I must say. We traveled about 2 miles up the river, which was beautiful!! They are whats seems to be building a park down near the river and everyone was checking it out like us. We all decided that we needed a bike and a dog to fit in. I don't think I've talked about this before but this country is so accepting of dogs, they're everywhere. You can't take them all through the city with you, in the shops, and the outside cafes. A lot of the owners don't even have leashes on the dogs they'll just wonder around near their owner and then if the dog hears a whistle normaly it means it needs to get back to its owner. But down by the river the dogs were running all over the place it was awesome, some were even swimming.

       After taking the trek up the river's edge we decided to head more into the city, or so we thought. At this point we realized that not one of us had a map, or really knew where we were. No hopes lost though we continued to explore the city, attempting to find a map. After walking so far, it started to rain which seemed to be murphy's law biting us.  So now we are mapless, its raining, and we have no idea where to go from here. We found a gas station and got something to eat while we walked, and thank god the lady there spoke english. She told us where we could find the U ban which is the tram we have been taking all over the place. Finally after about 3 hours of walking we knew where to go. After finding the tram we made our way back to the hotel. From there we met up with a lot of our group and went out for dinner.

All in All I feel like I've explored as much of Germany as I could in the time I've had and it was an amazing experience.

Well with lack of a combination of internet/computer access I begin what I am sure will be a long post as so much has happened in the past four days.

To start with, I am really suprised about the music I have been hearing. It's American. Every city we have been in we have listened to music that I have heard on some radio station back home; everything from oldies swing to current pop. So far I really have not heard any true German songs.

Anyway, Frankfurt is Germany's New York City. The hotel the group stayed in was located in the busniess district and we were withing walking distance of Frankfurt's Wall Street and many corrporate buildings. Our second day in Frankfurt we had the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look at both the Opel factory and John Deere Factory. ( I do have pictures to post once I return.) The plants were very well developed, which comes as no surprise since they are such large corporations. Opel and John Deere both used continous moving assembly lines and industrial robotics. During both tours we were given head sets so we were able to hear everything the tour guides were saying as well as help drain out some working noise (which I am surprised how little there was of). Although I really enjoyed these tours (they are what I came for), I don't feel that I gained much cultural experience from them. However, I did gain some in the evening when a small group of us decided to go explore more of the city and have some dinner. We enjoyed great food at a cafe called the Bull + Bear which is named after the statues which represents the ups and downs of the stock market which it is located by. Once again during dinner we discovered that some additional knowledge of the German language would be of great help. However, after seeing us struggle with determining what food was actually on the menu the waitress took pitty on us and gave us the English version.

The following day we set off for Stuttgart and on our way we stopped at the Auto & Technik Museum in Sinsheim. Originally my thoughts were that it would be like any other museum, something where you just "walk" around. Well, while we did walk, alot, (so we were able to enjoy the awesome displays of everything from motorcycles to trains and some of the earliest cars made to WWII planes) the greatest thing was being able to go on the roof of the building and not only explore different kinds of airplanes but return to the ground floor by sliding down a slide that started in the flight deck of one of the planes and went through the roof. We also enjoyed lunch at the meseum's cafeteria. The meal I got is special for the area and was fantastic. The best way I can discribe it would be a pierogi in lasagna form.

After our first night in Stuttgart we spent the following day at the Mercedes Benz factory and museum. This factory was unique to the tour because industrial robots build the engines, with limited human intruption for the most part. Although opperators do need to have programming knowledge. We were shown a section of the assembly line where the robots have not yet been installed and our tour guide informed us that although they will be using robots for those employees jobs in the future, the workers will not lose their jobs but be offered positions else were with equal or better pay. The Benz too was interesting. I was able to see cars similar to the repla car my dad owns. As well as learn some history on the company and cars themselves.

 That evening I, along with two other girls on the trip, made our way back out, using the U Ban (Germany's city's metro)  to find our way to Stuttgart's "Spring Fest" which was a large fair. Similar to the county fairs I go to back at home were people dress up in their western wear, Stuttgart's citizens  dressed their part in their lederhosen and dresses. It was such an amazing experice to see that aspect of their culture. I didn't think we would get the oppurtunity to participate in any cultural festivals or celebrations. It was an experience I won't soon be forgetting. The singing, the food, the clothing, it was all overwhelming and perfect for a view of how the Germans celebrate. Even riding back on the packed metro, people were still singing and showing high spirits.  

Last but not least, I am now in Munich, by both bus and train. After arriving at our hotel we were given a breif orientation and then embarked on another walking tour (by the same gentleman). We got to view many of the curches, learn about some traditions (such as blessing buildings for the year and marking them with chalk/white paint), and view some amazing architecture. After the tour ending we did some shopping and I finally got some of the souvenirs I wanted to be able to take back to the States. However, even though we tried to retrace our steps from the tour to find shops we had seen a few of us ended up with our own little adventure in Munich. However, we made it back to the hotel in one piece and just a little wet from the down pour we got caught in during the afternoon.

So now I am drying out and preparing to get some sleep. Tomorrow is our free day and I am really looking forward to taking a trip to visit the castle that Walt Disney's Cinderella's castle was based off of and possibly a trip to Munich's Hofbrauhaus.

        Well I have to say tonight was an adventure, but I'll talk about that later. I haven't been able to blog for a few day due to problems with my laptop, which really blows because these past few days have been absolutely amazing. We started in frankfurk which was nice but I am loving Stutgart! I really am feeling like I'm in a true german city. Frankfurt was very much a bussniess district, and it showed alot with all the workman and woman everywhere. I feel like this remided me some what of New York. Coming into Stutgart I finally got the feeling and the realization set in that I was really out of ther country. I've tried the white asparagus, I've visited bier gartens, seen some of the most beatiful buildings and parks, all while navigating myself through the city. I don't say this lightly but I'm absolutely horrible with navigation, so you can imagine my fear being in another country, when I can't even ask directions and assume they will understand me. BUt that was all the more exciting about it. Here you can't expect them to speak english (although many do), I feel like in the US we seem to just expect everyone who visits to speak our language no matter what the circumstance. This country is a very "at you're own risk" as all the signs say in german, type of country. There is no spoon feeding here.

           So back to what I've actually been doing these days. The last day in Frankfurt , we toured two different factories (John Deere and Opel). Both we're interesting in their own way. Then today we tour the Benz factory and museum. Its crazy to believe that it was strange to see employees in the factories. Yes, most of the factories were covered in Industrial robots. The employees were there to check for malfunctions, and basically "on call" for problems. This means that all the employees need to know how to programm all the robots and then fix the problem. When the employees where on the assembly line they work on a slow moving platform, as the part proceeded to pass by. I believe it was the Benz factory where the guide told us that in the past 4 years the percentage of gross was paid to employment wen from about 25% down to 4%. But a crazy fact they haven't laid someone off since 1950, crazy I know! The employees are transferred to another part of the line where more hands are need. This could be anywhere, such as like our tour guide said design and testing the models.

               Now tonight it was more along the lines of exploring the city on our own. I went to the spring festivel as the call it, it was an amazing fair. Due to the fact that this is a very very true German part of the country there were so many people in "leaderhosen". It was crazy. This fair runs all of sprin and is actually shutting down at the end of the weekend so it was soo packed! After walking around and ejoying a delicous nutella and banana crepe, my friend and I decided to try the sling shot. It was crazy, now I know you can do this at the board walks, but "when in Germany". The entire ride home on the metro was filled with german students our ages signing. They were crazy and completely remided that all students no matter where you are are one in the same. So now I'm sitting in the hotel lobby with the group, waiting for a pizza to be delivered tot he hotel.

Off to Munich tomorrow!!!