Freiburg

On Friday morning Emily and I met up in Darmstadt to take the train down to Freiburg to meet up with Liz and Lana (Lana studied abroad with Liz in Freiburg 3 years ago). We had to switch trains in Mannheim, and I unfortunately left my backpack on the train. Emily went on to Freiburg, while I took a detour to Kaiserslautern to get my bag. I arrived late afternoon in Freiburg, and Liz met me at the train station and we headed to the hostel. That evening we walked around and saw various parts of Freiburg and then grabbed dinner at one of Liz and Lana's favorite restaurants.
Saturday morning as we were leaving the hostel, we ran into some other teaching assistants, including the other one from Winona, Alyssa. The rest of the day we walked around the city more, went to the market, and walked up to the top of Schlossberg for a great view of the city. Saturday night we headed out. Liz and Lana took a night train back to Vienna, and Emily and I went back to Darmstadt. It was a really fun weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing Liz, Lana, and Lynn in Vienna this weekend!

8 Weeks Left in the Bieberau

So I fly home from Germany 8 weeks from yesterday, and my parents come 2 weeks from today. In some ways I feel like time has been gone really quickly, but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever. I have some fun things planned for the rest of the time here, so I think time will go by quickly.
I've started tutoring a 6th grade girl who lives in Gross-Bieberau but goes to school the next town over. It's nice to have another activity during the week. I also really enjoy working one on one with her. She is relatively weak (corrected thanks to lynny)in English, but has a good attitude and is willing to learn.
The weather here has been wonderful. It's like summer here. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm hoping it doesn't get much warmer, because then school will be miserable. This weekend I'm heading to Freiburg with Emily. There we will meet up with Liz and her friend, Lana. Lana and Liz studied there together the same year I was in Innsbruck. We are also planning to see Lise, another counselor from camp. She is working on her PhD in Biology at the University there.

(The picture is from Katie's visit in March...Gross-Bieberau is a lot prettier now that it's warm and sunny!)

A Weekend in Brussels

Last weekend, Emily and I headed to Brussels to round out our spring break. We took a train early morning from Frankfurt to Brussels. We almost missed it due to my being absentminded and forgetting my wallet (I missed my bus going back to get it, but was able to bike to the train station). We were in Brussels by around 11 and got to the city center by around noonish after getting ourselves lost. We walked around a bit, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to the Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts. After spending the afternoon at the art museum, we went and met our friend Farin at the train station. We have worked with Farin at Waldsee over the past couple of summers. He is half-German and half-Belgian and lives in Brussels.
We headed back to Farin's apartment where we met two out of his three roommates. He has a Belgian roommate, a Slovenian roommate, and a British roommate (very international - just like Brussels itself). We made ourselves pizza for dinner and then went out for some Belgian beer.
Saturday we spent the day mostly walking around. We saw a lot of Brussels. We were able to see the European Commission building and European Parliament building (pictured above). We also saw many of the different neightborhoods and parks around Brussels. We even head some Belgian waffles while walking around! That evening we went out for Chinese food before heading back to Farin's where we hung out with his Slovenian roommate and some of his friends (one was Danish, one Irish, and one Dutch).
Sunday we had a nice breakfast and then walked through the Turkish neighborhood Farin lives in to the train station. It was a really cool weekend. Farin was a great host and it was interesting to be in a city with such an international population.

Athens

We arrived in Piraeus late Sunday night and took a cab to Athens. We had reserved a hotel in Athens, but when we arrived they had no record of our reservation. We then spent a while wondering around until we found a reasonably-priced hotel. Fortunatley we were able to find one and get some sleep.
Monday morning we packed up our things and headed out to see the city. We started out by heading up to Acropolis. We were able to see the Parthenon and other sites there. After spending some time there we headed to the Parliament building where we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier. It was realy cool, the soldiers wear traditional outfits that involve tights and shoes the with big tassel-type things on the toes. The changing of the guard is almost more like a dance than a military event. Also while in Athens we saw the Panathenaic Stadium which was where the 1896 Olympics (first modern Games) took place. That night we watched the changing of the guard again before heading to the airport. We spent the night in the airport since our flight was at 4:30 on Tuesday morning. It was a fabulous trip and I really hope that I can go back to Greece someday and see more of it.
Tomorrow Emily and I are headed to Brussels. We will be staying with Farin, one of our friends from camp. It should be a fun weekend, before heading back to work on Monday!

Santorini

Santorini was definitely my favorite place we went. I felt like I could have stayed there forever. Pictures just cannot capture the beauty. We spent our time on Santorini enjoying the sun and relaxing meals on rooftop terrasses. While in Greece we had Greek Salad at least once a day, and I believe I am now going through withdrawl.
One day we tried to go to Akrotiri, an ancient city preserved by lava. Unfortunately, a roof collapsed on the excavation building last year and the site is closed. Our trip did not go to waste though, because there was red sand beach nearby where we spent the day. Also during our time on Santorini we were able to see some of the Holy Week and Easter celebrations, so that was really interesting for us.
After our time on Santorini we took a ferry on Sunday night back to Piraeus.

Crete

So I decided to split my entry about Greece into a few different ones, so I could put up lots of pictures. We arrived late on Sunday night and took a bus to Piraeus (the port town near Athens). We spent Monday in Piraeus before taking an overnight ferry to Hania, Crete.
Hania is located on the northeast part of Crete. It is the second largest city. Although it is a good-sized city, the port area feels very cute and quaint. Unfortunately we were not able to go to any of the areas around Hania, because the buses weren't running. We still really liked Hania though. While there we mostly relaxed, walked around, and enjoyed the sun.
After a day in Hania we took a bus to Iraklion, the capital and largest city in Greece. Iraklion was very different from Hania, but still nice. We took a day trip to Knossos, which is the archeological site of the largest Minoan Palace on Crete. It was really interesting to see how they work to recreate what was there thousands of years ago. After 2 days in Iraklion we headed on to Santorini.

Happy Easter!

So this morning I arrived back in Germany from Greece. The trip was absolutely amazing! Over the course of 10 days we saw Piraeus, Hania and Iraklion on Crete, Santorini, and Athens by tram, train, plane, bus, ferry, car, and van! It was fantastic. I am heading to Frankfurt to meet up with Emily and her parents for dinner, but will hopefully upload pictures and more information about the trip tonight or tomorrow!

Beautiful Greece

So I am at an internet cafe in Hania on Crete and thought I would use a few minutes to write a quick update. We arrived in Athens at 2:30 on Monday morning and took a bus to Piraeus where we had reserved a hotel. Monday we just walked around Piraeus and booked a ferry to Hania. We took an overnight ferry last night and arrived here this morning. It is beautiful. Unfortunately none of the buses are running to the beaches or to Samaria Gorge because it is the low season. We are still having a wonderful time. Today we have just been enjoying the sun and the town.Tomorrow we will take the bus to Iraklion, Crete's capital. Friday we will take a ferry to Santorini and Sunday night we will head to Athens. Then we fly back to Frankfurt at 4:30an on Tuesday morning. We are a little disappointed because there is a lot more we would like to see, but hopefully someday we will have the chance to come back.

Off to Greece!

Tonight I am flying to Athens with my friends Lynn and Liz. We arrive in Athens at 2:30am. We are really excited. We don't have exactl plans, but we are staying in Piraeus where the port is and are hoping to take a ferry to an island tomorrow! It should be a great trip. We fly back to Frankfurt on Tuesday April 10.
Last time I was in Europe, I spent Easter break in Italy (Rome, Florence, Milan, Verona, and Venice), so I decided to put a picture from that trip up. This picture is Devon, Peter, Maria, Julia, and I on Ponte Vecchio in Florence.