10/13 München: After a long walk from our Hostel to the main plaza, we were given free time in town! It wasn’t overly eventful- I went to the Mac store with Santiago, bought some post cards, and ate some fries. J That night we ate at a typical German Restaurant—it was delicious! J After that, one group went to a soccer stadium, and the rest of us stayed in the Hostel. The downstairs of the Hostel was SO cool! It had a bar on one side, and a completely relaxed lounge (with FREE wi-fi) on the other! That was the night that we got “Milk Drunk”!! Instead of being normal teenagers in Germany, we decided to drink bottles of milk rather than beer in the bar and take some crazy photos! It was SO much fun! We consumed a total of like.. 12 bottles of milk! (Us being Taylor from Kansas, Kaleigh Arizona, Morgan from Michigan, and myself.) The next day we were all hanging out together and ate Sushi, took some crazy pictures in the Deutschland Museum, and went to the “English Tea Garden”.

Rothenburg: I’m just posting the newspaper article here because I talk about Rothenburg.

It’s a Small World After All

Grusse aus Deutschland! October went by in a flash for me! From the 9^th to the 24^th, I was on the Deutschland tour with other Rotary Exchange Students, Rotex (Former Exchange Students) and Rotarians. We traveled by bus all around the county to cities such as Heidelberg, Freiburg, Mainau, Schloss, Munich, Dachau, Rothenburg, Dresden, Meissen, Berlin, and Hamburg. Our first stop was to Heidelberg, and it was GORGEOUS! Picture this: a small city with rustic brown roof tops alongside an enormous river at the base of a mountain, giving it a safe and cozy feeling. Opposite the stone bridge over the river connecting the city and the mountain is a giant stone castle on a hill. It was amazing. The typical German village! After the tour of the city, I spent my free time eating Dönners (a Turkish Pita wrap) and fries with two of my closest Exchange Student friends, Morgan from Michigan and Santiago from Pachuca, Mexico. Pachuca happens to be the same town that my Host Sister is currently living in on Rotary Exchange. Not only is it the same city, but also she goes to his school. On top of all of this, Santiago’s family will most likely be one of Franzi’s host families! Rotary really does connect people!!

My favorite city on the tour was Rothenburg. It is a small town located in the heart of Germany, and was founded in 1170. A protective wall that was built back in the Middle Ages surrounds the city. One of the first things we did here was go on a guided night tour of Rothenburg by the Night Watchman- a man playing the role of an ancient city protector. It was quite comical to hear his old-age language and humor! At one point, he told us all we should “Go to Hell!” In Rothenburg, Hell is actually the name of a nice restaurant! As the tour continued, he proudly stated to us all that Rothenburg lasted on its own without being seized longer than any city of its time. The story of its conquest in 1631, during the Thirty Years’ War is quite funny as well! The neighboring town of about 40,000 Catholics was experiencing a mudslide on the streets, and needed to relocate. An informant was sent to Rothenburg, a city of about 5,000 Protestants to warn them of the nearing conquest. Rothenburg decided to fight, though severely outnumbered, and ended up loosing due to a simple mistake. The man in charge of guarding the gun powder room was sent to retrieve more powder, but made the mistake of walking into the room with a lit torch, causing a massive explosion. Rothenburg suffered just two casualties during this war- the guard holding the torch, and someone who was standing too close! The opposing city suffered a loss of 300 men! The next day, we were given the opportunity to walk along this wall, and to see where reparations had been made. Right after WWII, Rothenburg was nearly destroyed because a Nazi Official was hiding out in the town, and would have been if not for an American Officer who refused to bomb such a historic town, and because as a child, his mother had a painting of Rothenburg hanging above their mantle and told stories of it’s beauty. I just love how much history there is in Rothenburg!! It is the stereotypical Old German Town! There were so many beautiful cities that we were able to visit on the Deutschland tour- I loved all of them! Berlin was so modern and really had a big city feel, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and Rothenburg all had a calm atmosphere. Mainau was unique because it is an Island on the Bodensee Lake at the foot of the Alps, which is bordered by Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Munich or München as we say in Germany, is rich with the Bavarian way of life. Hamburg is a port city with boats and the cool breeze from the river. The difference from Berlin to München is as great as that from New York to Texas! It’s amazing!

To conclude this month’s article, I’d just like to again say that I LOVE GERMANY!! I love Rotary, I love Exchange Students-- I just love everything! It’s been almost three months and each day gets better and better! I’ve been warned that Homesickness is typically at its worst around November and December- I guess we’ll see! :) Tschüs and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Dresden: Soo Cool!! It was almost completely destroyed during WWII, I will post some pictures when I get a chance of the before/after shots.

Hamburg: Was gorgeous, but SO rainy and cold!! I think I will go again to visit Amy, and hopefully NOT when it’s raining! Haha J When we got there, we were all amazed to see a GIANT chess board in the middle of the floor! I’ll post some pictures! We played an epic game of Wizard’s Chess there! That night about half of us went on a “Night Tour”, it was cold and rainy, but we had a blast!