Sorry for the delay. The last 4 days!!!

6-18-08

Today was a longer day for everyone. Today we had our last day of classes. Basically, one class was all about Mozart and listening to his "abduction" Opera, talking about his history, etc. Lol. I rocked this class out, and I am sure matt did the same thing in his class. Our teacher, Eva Lacour, likes to believe that she knows everything. However, if I do know anything, I know Mozart. Can we say thank you James Griesheimer? Yes!!!

She fought with me about Mozart not being poor at the end of his life...Ummm... Music Majors, can you help me out here. I am positive that Mozart was so broke at the end of his life! She fought with me, and I conceded that while Mozart had built up a lot of money during his lifetime, he had squandered it all away, therefore being poor!!!

lol. So anyways that was so much fun, we got to hear good music and talk about something that Matthew and I both knew bascially everything about!!! Yay, music majors united!

The other half of class with Frau Lucht was a review game of things that we would have on the test the next day through Jepordy.

After this, we had a small break in which lunch was had. Afterwards, we met at the Mayen Ost trainstation at 1:30 and headed out to a very, very, small city about 10 mins from Mayen by train called Montreal.

Montreal is very small, but has good wine, pottery, and history. When we got there, we were lead on a city tour where bascially every building was explained to us. It was one of the more boring city tours, however, it was ok. We got some nice pictures, and this is probably the smallest German city I have ever been in. It was so small, if you had closed your eyes for like a 20 second nap in a car, you would totally miss it.

After the city tour, we did a wine tasting. We sampled 56 wines and then sampled a Wine Liquor. All were very good, and we got to learn little bit about brewing wine, collection of grapes on the rhine river vineyards. Which is very difficult because the vineyards on the rhine are on steep, steep hills. Very intimidating!!!

We were also fed a pig fat spread, a cheese and onion spread, hard cheese, and bratwurst. It was very good and very enjoyable.

However, I must admit that within the first 4 mins of being there, I picked up my tiny wine glass to admire it, and my fingers were sweaty because of how hot it was. I accidentally dropped it and it shattered all of the table. (what a nice first impression, huh?) lol.

After the Weinprobe (Wine Tasting), I was determined to buy some pottery for my mother. A place in town had been reccomened to me and so I decided to take a later train by myself ( only later by an hour) and check this place out. So I walked back into the city, and when I got there, I could tell straight away this was not the pottery that I was looking for (Star Wars reference, "These aren't the droids you're looking for" , sorry geek moment).

Number 1, most of the pottery was meant for gardens, they were larger pieces, and they were extremely colorful. Meaning the whole piece was one bright color. This potter favored Bright blue and Bright red. Not a fan and nothing like the lovely pottery that my mother and I had bought in Hohr-Grenzhausen.

So...after spending 5mins there, I had to walk back to the bahnhof and wait for an hour. good thing I brought a book with. However, on the way, I decided to see if there was a bus I could take that would leave earlier. The last bus had left at 5, and it was 5:15. So this old man, (very old, walking cane, bowler hat, the whole bit) was worried that I wouldn't be able to find the Bahnhof on my own, so he walked me there. He was very nice. So he left me at the Bahnhof and I proceeded to read, and later he came back, right before my train showed up to make sure that I caught it. lol.

So I got on the train, I get home and matt is waiting for me. I seem to remember making soup, and after matt had checked his emails, he proceeded to go home for an early night. I went to bed late tonight, because the book I am reading is awesome "The Constant Princess" By Phillipa Gregory (Historical Fiction about Henry the 8ths first wife, Katherine of Arragon).

6-19-08

Today was our ending examination. I will be very honest, at school, when I have a german test, I spend quite some time studying for it. I did not study at all, I feel very confident that I aced it. It is mostly because of the fact that this test is meant for both of the classes and the advanced class basically everyone has had german for at least 6-7 years, where as like matts class, it is more like 2-3 years of German.

After the test was over, we took a group photo, one serious and one silly. It was fun, and we bid the lovely Rathaus workers goodbye. They had been so good to us, I really enjoyed them.

Matt and I made our way back home, where we proceeded to check emails, and look for jobs online. Mainly matt, because I couldn't find anything.

Afterwards, I packed for about an hour or so. I must admitt, even though I finally made up my mind that I am going to go back to Mayen after Berlin, I am still worried if I will be able to get everything home without something breaking, being confiscated, or me having to pay extra because my luggage is too heavy.

We'll have to see.

After packing, I meet Matthew and his host Brother Felix at 1:30 for a tour of the Genovevaburg in the heart of Mayen . The Genovevaburg is basically a museum now, but not like you would think. It has many levels. Mayen is the biggest place in Germany for roofing. Mayen has a roofing school and people who want to have their houses roofed come to Mayen to have them do it. So back in the day, people dug under the burg to get stone slabs which they split and make into roofing tiles, the lowest underground, rock surfaced, cold level of the museum is basically detailing how this process goes, its history, a activated ride, stuff about WWII and how this was a bomb shelter for everyone in Mayen, etc. The other levels were like.... I am not even sure, one had to do with geography, and the make up of the land, etc. It was interesting. Felix works there, so he gave us an unofficial tour and we learned a lot.

After the tour, we went back home, where I took pictures of Matt's house, him and his host family. Afterwards, I went home to finish packing and to get ready for my dinner with my host family.

I chose to wear my flower print, long, layered skirt with my new jacket and a white tank top.

Marianna, Ecky, and Tobi took us to the Mendig Vulkan Bauerei (Mendig Volcano Brewery) to have dinner. I had a onion weinerschnitzel and then a bowl of Spaghetti ice cream ( no not actual spaghetti, the ice cream is put through a machine to make the ice cream come out in strands like spaghetti noodles. Rest assured, not actual spaghetti ice cream. It was very nice, because it was their treat to us.

After dinner and pictures, they drove us into Mayen to the Genovevaburg where the Burgfest spieles are going on (basically city festival plays). Tonight, we had been generously given tickets to go see "My Fair Lady" auf Deutsch. (meaning in German, I had though all the dialog would be in German and the songs in English, nope it was all in German. So the play, takes place in the Genovevaburg courtyard, set up with risers with backs and a set. The first half was wonderful. Eliza Doolittle was the best Eliza Doolittle I have ever seen. She was so spunky. So we made it through the first act, which is the best in my opinion. We had our intermission and it started to rain. Now the courtyard is open air. The show, meaning the second act opened and continued to go on in the rain for at least 15-20 mins, before it became obvious that this rain was not going to stop and the actors were getting drenched, as well as the set furniture and costumes. lol.

They really did a good job going on though. Lol. Everyone in the audience was under umbrellas and rain coats, lol and the show just kept going on. I was laughing out loud, because it was just so funny. I felt so bad for the poor actors, but they were real troppers, they kept it up until the man came on stage and said that there was too much rain to go on. I think everyone was pretty happy that they finally stopped, because they would have kept going and we woudl have stayed and been miserable. lol.

Well after this, food was provided, like this little pasta salad, hot tomato soup in cones, salmon puffs, fish and rice, the courses just kept on coming, what else....curry wurst and bread, cheese, olives, and red peppers on a stick, and finally I believe desert puffs came out. Matthew and I had at least 3 each. Plus the drinks were all free. we had champagne, wine, etc. It was lovely. We stood at standing tables in the first floor of the Burg museum and at and chatted with german people who had been at the show. Finally at midnight when it finished raining, Matthew and I packed up for the night and went home. Matthew walked me home and I went to sleep right away.

6-20-08
Today was a long day. I woke up at 5:50, went and ate a quick breakfast, then decided to hurriedly jump in the shower. Ecky took the girls and I with our baggage to the train station. Out train arrived at 7:29 with the rest of our group except for Matt Fleming. Remember how I told you earlier on that our first weekend a kid missed the train with us to Salzburg, yea, that was Matt. Apparently he has missed several trains on this trip, I believe this was his 4th. lol.

So of course Matt Fleming jokes ensued for the rest of the trip to Jena. We had 7 train exchanges on our way to Jena. Which basically just sucked, because we have 22 people, most with all of their luggage. It was rushed, crabby, and frustrating. Basically we spent most of the day on the Train. when we arrived in Jena there was confusion. We were all taken to the Hostel by cab, well our cab misunderstood and took us to the university. We realized basically immediately that we were not at a hostel and we got back on the road to where we needed to go.

After getting to the hostel we settled in. I getting the only three person room on our floor, everyone else had to stay in 10 person rooms. lol. yay, score!!!

We got settled in a little bit, and then matthew and I went in search of food before our city tour. Matthew got French fries and a beer, I had various potatoes things and a peach.

We then proceeded to the city tour. This tour had to be the most boring tour I have ever been on, the woman was American who had been living in Germany for many years, and the tour was in German. lol!!!

After the awful tour (just because it was truly boring) we went to a restaurant where I proceeded to have a strawberry daqueri that could not have been a daqueri because it was basically just crushed ice and strawberry flavoring. it was more like a liquor slushie. lol.

They had a grilled food bar, and Matthew and I both decided to part take, the food was good. There was freshly cut pineapple and watermelon, various grilled meats, salad, bread, and rice pudding bups with strawberry. So tasty!!!

Matthew and I finally decided to head for home and we waited for our bus for 20 mins and proceeded to watch a bachelor's party take place. Basically the groom was dressed in a white disinfected body suit and was having eggs thrown at him, people would pay money for the eggs, people would throw and later in the night, that money was bar money. lol. It was fun to watch.

The bus came and we went back to the Hostel. When there, I showered, looked at pictures, read in my book, and went to sleep. Long day, people were crabby all day, and sleep was really needed!

6-21-08

Today, I woke up at 7:59, had a light breakfast, and got dressed and ready for the day.

The beginning of today was terribly sobering. We went to the concentration came in Weimar "Buchenwald." I have been to a concentration camp previously, Dachau, but I was 16 when I went there and I couldn't truly grasp the horror of it all.

We watched a video on Buchenwald with English subtitles, it had pictures, accounts of people in the camp who had survived, etc. It was hard to watch. We were then given audios guides and cards to show us what buildings corresponded with what numbers on our audio guide tour. Matthew and I went through the big gates at Buchenwald and headed for the first building we saw. This building turned out to be the Crematorium.... All I can say is... The crying for me, started in this building. The trip was very different than my trip to Dachau. I did not understand at Dachau, I tried, but I didn't understand. Today, having seen movies, read books, met people, etc from this time, I was hit with the full effect of it and wept bitterly for every man, woman, and child who suffered and died through this period our history.

We went through what we could in the time we had, saw pictures (horrible, horrible pictures), read letters from a U.S. solider to his wife, etc. It was very hard.

When we were turning our audio guides back in, a few of our group were huddled together crying and from there on I was pretty much crying for a good hour. There just are not words to express all the emotions.

(It was very dark, but necessary, because we cannot forget it, we must not forget it, it happened and many people died for nothing but one man's ambitions).

The bus was quiet on our ride into Weimar. When in Weimar, we went to a restaurant where I had a tureen of potato soup with sausage and matty had a very tasty noodle and marinara pasta.

Afterwards, we found an internet cafe to quickly check our mails and had a hot cocoa and beer.

At 3 we had a city tour of Weimar. Now Weimar is a fantastic place for cultural history. You have Goethe, Schiller, List, Bach, etc. It was amazing. this tour was 2 hours long, but it was so wonderful, I was not bored at all and I took lots of pictures!!!

When the tour was finished, we all packed back on the bus to go back to Jena. At the Hostel we just chilled for a while, I read my book until 7 and then a group of us walked into Jena for dinner. We ended up settling on a tropical food restaurant called Mango. When I order, I was going for cheap, so I picked one of the cheaper things, which was Thailand veggies and noodles. I had no clue what to expect. I got it, and It was phenomenal. Hot, but the sauce was a spicy coconut cream sauce. It was soooooo good!!! I think everyone really enjoy their food.

After dinner, we walked home, waited for John while he used a pay phone, and now I am writing to you lovely people!!!


Tomorrow we leave at 10:15 or so for Dresden. My mommy has looked up some things about it for Matthew and I, so I am going to try to check that stuff out if I can.

I hope you are all doing well. I will hopefully update again tomorrow after our day in Dresden!!!

Biss Dann!