Kuks in Germany!

This past weekend, one of my roommates, Katie, from college came to visit. Katie is currently in grad school at Princeton for civil engineering. Her sister is studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain, so she came to Europe for her spring break! It was so wonderful to have her here!
Katie flew in from Madrid on Thursday evening, so we spent the night in Frankfurt. We walked around the Zeil (the main shopping area)and then headed to Sachsenhausen for some traditional German food and Apfelwein. Then we headed back to Darmstadt to stay with Emily for the weekend.
On Friday, Katie and I headed to Gross-Bieberau, so she could see where I live. She got to see all the highlights - beaver statues, war monument, my school, and my apartment. That night we went out for pizza in Darmstadt with Emily and then for a drink at a Mexican restaurant.
Saturday Emily, Katie, and I took the train to Heidelberg. On the way, Kate, another TA, joined us. Although the weather wasn't great, Heidelberg was still really pretty. We went up to the castle and walked around the old town. In addition we got ice cream at an Eiscafe and split a boot of beer.
This morning, I took Katie to the airport. It was such a blast to have here, so I was pretty sad to leave her at the airport. Hopefully, I will get to see her this summer though!
This afternoon I met up with Lisa, Kate, and Emily to see Music and Lyrics at the English movie theatre in Frankfurt. It was really cute, and we all enjoyed it.

Berlin Berlin!

Last week was the annual German Fulbright Committee Conference in Berlin. All Americans doing Fulbrights in Germany were invited as well as those doing Fulbrights in other European countries. There were researchers, teaching assistants, exchange teachers, and exchange professors. For the conference we stayed at the Park Inn right on Alexanderplatz. We had a nice mixture of presentations from various Fulbrighters as well as talks and panels with people from other institutions.
At the conference I also got to meet up with the a lot of Fulbrighters that I haven't seen since orientation, which was really fun. Also, my friend, Lisa, who lived in Farley at ND also was there. She is doing a reaserch Fulbright in Estonia.
Being in Berlin was really fun. It's such a great city! I wish we would have had more time there too. The weather was great, so that helped a lot! The city is so interesting. It's amazing to think that it was split in half and the two halves were parts of two different countries. In addition Berlin has become a very mulitcultural city. I'm really excited to go back with the 10th graders in June!
The pictures are both from Berlin. The first one is Emily and I at a Mosque that we took a tour of (it was beautiful). The second one is Lisa, Veronique, Maureen, Emily and I with the former ambassador from Germany to Russia.

So much to talk about...

So I haven't posted in a while, and that is due to the fact that I've been pretty busy and gone. I met Maria again in Frankfurt on Thursday March 8th after she had worked in Bonn. We met up with Lisa, Emily, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Sara to go bowling. It was really fun. Needless to say none of us should turn to a career in professional bowling, but we had a lot of fun. After bowling we went out for a drink in Sachsenhausen, which was fun as well.
On Friday Maria, Emily, and I headed down to Mannheim. We spent most of the day just walking around and shopping. The most exciting thing for me that day was that I have been searching for pink golashes since I studied abroad in Innsbruck. I found an absolutely adorable pair in Mannheim, so I was really excited. It was also appropriate that Maria was there since she has been there since the beginning of my search!
Saturday, we slept in and then I headed back to Gross-Bieberau, so I could get organized. Maria spent the day buying gifts and things in Darmstadt. That night we went out for pizza with Jessica.
Sunday morning we got up early and headed to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt Emily and I left Maria and headed to Berlin. Maria was not flying out until Monday, but I had to leave on Sunday to go to the annual conference hosted by ther German Fulbright Commission. It was great to have Maria here and be able to introduce her to my friends here and show her around.
I will post more about Berlin later, I need to go finish up lesson plans for tomorrow!
Saturday I had

The Return to Innsbruck...

On Thursday morning my friend, Maria, flew in from Minnesota. Maria and I had German together our first semester at ND and have been friends ever since. Our friendship was solidified during our year in Innsbruck when we were basically inseperable. She is now working for Lockheed Martin in Minnesota and is working in Bonn this week. She came early, so we could spend the weekend together, and we will hang out again this coming weekend.

Friday morning Maria, Emily, and I took the train from Darmstadt to Innsbruck (well I first took the bus back to Gross-Bieberau, because I had forgotten my passport). In Innsbruck we met up with Liz and Lynn (Lynn also studied in Innsbruck with us). It was so amazing being back in Innsbruck(even though I was there a month ago with Amy adn John), and it was especially neat to be back with Maria and Lynn.

We spent the weekend hitting up some of our favorite spots in Innsbruck - pizza from Simay, dinner and beer at Theresienbraeu, 11erhaus, Limerick Bill's, Sillpark, Goldenesdachl...etc. We also ran into Herr Guertler (the ND Innsbruck program director) on the street. He had told us he wasn't going to be around because it was semester break, and he was at Notre Dame, but he had to come back early. We were able to have breakfast on Sunday with him and his wife Anita. It was very cool to see them again.

Also, on Saturday I was able to meet up with my guest family - Camille, Andreas, Arabella (now 15), and David (now 9). When I was in Innsbruck I lived in a dorm, but had a guest family that I would eat dinner with our hang out with regularily. They were wonderful. We went out to lunch and then up to their house for cake. I really enjoyed catching up with them again. We may try to get back to Innsbruck sometime, and I will hopefully see them again.

It was really hard coming back from Innsbruck since it was such an amazing weekend! This week I'm pretty busy with teaching (I'm doing some extra teaching) and working on some other things. My weekends in March are really busy, so I need to get things done during the week! Maria will be back on Thursday night or Friday morning and we will take a day trip to possibly Mannheim or Heidelberg. Then on Sunday it's off to Berlin for the Fulbright Conference!

(Pictures: top - Maria, Lynn, and I with Herr Guertler, middle - Maria, Lynn, and I with our favorite pizza-maker, bottom - Liz, Emily, Lynn, Maria, and I in our hostel)