New Blog

For anyone still reading this, why are you? Haha. There hasn't been nothing to read for over a year. Sorry about that. BUT! The main reason is because I've been blogging mostly on the CRRWU blog. So, to keep up to date with my thoughts and sometimes what I am up to, visit crrwu.blogspot.com

I miss Germany

I'm rather missing Germany. I mean, don't get me wrong...I'm glad to be back home too but I like a nice little 2 week vacation back in Berlin with the crew.

Frühlings in Berlin

Yesterday I took some out of my very busy Sunday afternoon to head to Treptower Park. The weather was beautiful; high 60's and sunny. I wanted to get there to take some pictures, because earlier in the semester we went for one of my seminars and the weather was absolutely disgusting and cold and lifeless. This time, it was just the opposite. The park was very crowded and you could sense what the Germans call Gemütlichkeit. It basically means the perfection situation. It the good feeling you have when you sitting outside on a nice day on a park bench chatting with a buddy, while drinking a cool german pilsner and eating your bratwürst. The part of Treptower Park were I went to take pictures, is actually an old Soviet memorial. The park lies in former East Germany, and they were very sympathetic to the Soviet Union. The Park memorializes the Red Army's victory of the battle of Berlin and there defeat of Fascism. It is also there to as a way to promote Stalin, Lenin, and other communist beliefs. The second function of the park, is the fast that its a cemetery. Buried under 5 lands memorialized mounds of earth of thousands of Soviet soldiers that were killed in Berlin during WWII. Most of them were unknown soldiers. The grandness of the place is far better to see in person than in the pictures I took, but they give you a pretty good idea I think.

A European Day

Today was a very nice day, and glimpse into how the Europeans live (or at least the Germans). I had a meeting this morning with a representative of the Jusos for my final project. So I headed into town like many other Germans on their way to work. We chatted, he answered my questions, and we had coffee. After that I returned back to the apartment for a little something to eat before heading outside to work on a photography assignment and enjoy the beautiful of day. It was sunny and really warm, with a little breeze blowing. I wandered around a section of the borough of Berlin that I live in and took photos for my class. I just walked around at things that looked interesting enjoying the weather and listening to my ipod. After about 45 minutes, I hoped on the train into Potsdamer Platz to drop of my photos to be developed. After dropping them off, I headed to a cafe near the photo shop. I ordered my cafe mocha and sat outside with the rest of the Germans reading and sipping on my coffee in the sun. It was perfect and quite enjoyable. I read for almost an hour, until I had finished my coffee then I went to pick up my pictures and went back to the apartment. It was a fun and beautiful day with all the interesting activities that Europeans are known for.

Bout Time

The sun is finally out and Berlin and the weather is nice. The temps are actually hitting high 50's and low 60's. Hopefully I'll be able to finish up all my work in the next few days, or at least get enough done, to get out there and enjoy it. Oh yeah, and the Biergartens (Beer Gardens) are open!

A Trip to Dresen

We had our last group excursion down to Dresden, Germany this past weekend. Although it wasn't the best trip, it was still nice to see the city. Dresden is the historical city of the once powerful kingdom of Saxony. Saxony, before German unification in 1871 under Otto von Bismarck, was one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms in what used to be the Holy Roman Empire. Dresden is also known for being completely devastated and destroyed by Allied bombers at the very end of World War II. It was carpet bombed and the entire city burned to the ground.

We left Saturday morning, taking the regional train there. Our guide is the same guide (Helmut Franz) that showed us around Potsdam at the very beginning of the semester. He was born and grew up in Dresden. He showed us around the old part of the city (Altestadt). We saw the former palace of the Emperors, the Treasury housing their jewels and other priceless belongings, and also a few churches. One was a stunningly beautiful Catholic church and the other was a Protestant church with a magnificent organ. We toured the other parts of the city, looking at what had been rebuilt, what was ruins, and also the different architectural styles of the regimes that controlled Dresden.

Our hostel was very nice, and located in the new part of the city (Neuestadt). The city is seperated in two by the river Elbe. The new part has less of the old buildings, and we walked around more to look at the architecture. The hostel was located in the part of the city where most of the students live, because there are nearby universities and schools. It was quaint and quiet. The weather wasn't the bus...in fact it was much colder and rainy than predicted. We ended up leaving a couple hours early, because we were looking to get back to Berlin to get work done and there were a couple of people who had started to get sick from a bug or something. All in all, it was a nice city to see, but would have been better as perhaps a day trip and with much better weather.

Ostseebad Binz

I just returned yesterday from a weekend getaway to a small town on Germany's northern coast. We visited a tourist town known as Binz. Binz is a coastal town on the Baltic Sea in an area of Germany known as Rügen. Since it was the off season, there weren't very many tourists. 14 of us went. We took the regional trains up and back, so it took about 4 hours each way. The ride was comfortable and we all either talked, did work, or napped. We left Saturday morning and arrived later that afternoon. The youth hostel we stayed in was top notch and was only about a 10 minute walk from the train station. It was located right on the beach and was beautiful. The rooms were nice, they served us breakfast, and they had ping pong and pool tables to keep us occupied.

When we first arrived, we unloaded our stuff into our rooms then headed for the beach. We had great weather. It wasn't really hot, but the sun was out and it was warm enough to play outside. Once on the beach we pretty much took over a huge section haha. We ended up splitting up into 3 groups. One group played frisbee, the other wiffleball, and the other soccer. I played some wiffleball and then jumped into the soccer game. We had some intense games for both. We pretty much stuck out like a soar thumb on the beach. All the Germans were just walking the beach with their winter coats on and children dragging behind. We were running around in our shorts or bathing suits and having a good ole time. After the sports matches, some went off to walk and take pictures, and just sat in the sand. Me and a couple other guys decided to build a sand castle. Then the sand castle idea turned into deciding to build a sand snake. Then that idea turned into building a sand crocodile. The crocodile idea stuck and looked pretty good for what we had to work with (which was nothing but a frisbee as a shovel).

After that most everyone headed back to the hostel to clean up and find something to eat. A group of us wandered around the town looking for a pizza place we heard about. It took us about 45 minutes to find, and we discovered that it was pretty much right across from the hostel. The pizza was delicious. After that we headed back to the hostel and people just chilled, talked, or played ping pong for the rest of the evening.

The next day, I got up early to shower and take a walk on the beach. I regretted not bringing my running shoes or clothes, because it would of been perfect conditions to run on the beach. But I wandered up and down for about 45 minutes taking pictures and admiring the scenery. It remined a lot of back home in Scarborough and in Rhode Island. I definatley love being on the water. After my stroll, I headed back to the hostel for some breakfast. We hung around on the beach for a little while longer after that, then we caught a bus to a nearby island town for an afternoon hike. We walked through the town, to a small forest located on the edge of the sea. The hike was beautiful and was located on the cliffs. The sea looked amazing on this day, because parts of the cliff had actually slide off into the ocean just a few days before. The ocean looked much like the carribean, because the soil in these cliffs had a lot of chalk and limestone in them, thus turning the dark blue and much lighter color. We hiked for a good long time, then headed down to the rocky beaches. We sat on the beach (i layed down the rocks which were actually quite comfortable and almost fell asleep) for almost an hour. It was sunny and warm and absolutely beautiful. We then headed back into town for the bus back to our hostel. When we arrived back into Binz, we went to the local grocery store to pick up some things for the train ride back, got our things from the hostel, then caught the train back to Berlin.

The vacation was short, but a much needed time of relaxation. The weather was perfect for us, and I was feeling much better after being sick. The area reminded me a lot of home and made me realize how much I really like the scenery of Maine and Rhode Island. I probably will never really be able to live in a city setting much longer than I have now. I like the ocean and the mountains to much and the activities that go along with them. I was a very nice getaway. I also am aware that I haven't told you anything about Hungary and Romania yet, but I've been wicked busy and to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if I'm going to have the time to post anything about the trip. The excursion was very long and there is a lot to tell, but if I have time I promise I'll make a post. If not, then just remind me to let y'all know when I return.

Bis Dann