Visiting the Motherland

When I told my mom the potential title for this post, she and I laughed at the fact everyone was going to think I had gone home. So that is why I specified the “Motherland” and not the “Homeland.” I’m not yet home, but I am in the land of my ancestors.

Last Wednesday I went to the airport and hopped on a plane to Madrid, and then a plane to Munich, followed by a two-and-a-half hour bus ride to Bamberg. I arrived at approximately 3 a.m., and took a cab driven by a nice man from London to my friend Natalie’s apartment.

Thus began my time as a shadow of an exchange student. For her time abroad, Natalie did a direct exchange instead of going with a program, which means she directly applied to the university and now goes there as a student. She lives in the student dorms with other international students, and lives the life of a normal, German college student, all the way down to playing intramural futbol.

I was reminded of how different the college atmosphere is than in the real world. People were studying all of the time, there was free cake and coffee on campus, and people went out on a Monday because why not. I did not realize how different the atmosphere is and how I actually missed the comradery of living in what I like to call the “land of forever twenties.”

The Highlights of my German Immersion

The Long Night of Churches

Friday evening we participated in the “long night of churches” which was held downtown Bamberg. This festival started at 18:00 (6 p.m.) and went till midnight. Every church had an open house essentially with groups performing at various times. So we spent Friday listening to various classical music concerts in various churches.

My absolute favorite part is at the end of every performance, all of the musicians lifted their instruments into the air pointing them at heaven instead of bowing, which I found to be a great way to deflect the focus from the performers, and back to who gave them the gifts.

It was, as the kids say, “lit.”

Basketball

Sunday afternoon we attended my first European basketball game. It was a very intense game, in which Bamberg was victorious. Key differences from American basketball;

1. In the pregame show, people had actual sparklers in the stadium and held them up as the players entered. There was also fire being shot from the ground as they ran on to the court. Call me a safety guru, but that is a lot of fire right next to a wooden floor.

2. Generally, the players shoot the first half of the game opposite of their bench, so that when they switch at the half they are given the advantage of coaching the shooting side in the last crucial minutes. This was not the case here, but I can almost guarantee I’m the only person who noticed or cared.

IMG_1633_edited

IMG_1642

IMG_1644

IMG_1643_edited

Beer Garden

After we hiked up to a fortress Friday afternoon, we ended our adventure with a relaxing meal at the beer garden. This was an outdoor restaurant on top of a hill with a lovely view of Bamberg below. Here we had the traditional meal of Bratwürste, sauerkraut, and, Bamberg specialty, smoked beer, which has a bacon after taste. Before this adventure I would have sworn on my GPA that I didn’t like sauerkraut, but after actually trying it was actually not half bad. Breaking out of my comfort zone one traditional food at a time.

Parks and Recreation

My last morning Nat and I got up early (compared to other days) and rode our bikes down to this park that Nat claimed was awesome.

She did not disappoint, this was one of the most natural, yet fasntastic parks I have ever seen.

This park was huge, and the perfect size for me, so needless to say I had a ball climbing up the

ropes, jumping from stone to stone, and sliding down the slide. Not only though did this playground have a massive play place, it also had a natural water park, fully equipped with a zip line, water toys, and a system of dams that could change the path of the river temporarily. I decided at that moment that I wanted to become Leslie Knope and run the department of Parks and Recreation, so stay tuned for that next life step.

-

On Saturday, we went to visit a palace right outside of Bamberg. We laughed and joked as we walked around the lake and talked about our hopes and dreams. It was raining slightly, but that didn’t bother us. The five of us took refuge under three small umbrellas and laughed and joked some more.

While we were huddled under the umbrellas, I turned around and looked back at the palace and suddenly, it hit me. I was in Germany. I was actually in Germany, a country I had read about my whole life, and that I had been told my family was from, 5,000 miles from home, exploring the grounds of a palace with girls from all over the world.

At that moment, I realized this trip was turning out to be exactly what I wanted it to be.

I’ve done my fair share of city exploring. From Boston, to Madrid, to Seoul, to Lisbon, I have a lot of practice in the “explore the city for the sake of exploring” experience. When I began to plan this trip, I knew one thing; I did not want this to be me romping around various cities seeing cool sites by myself, or tourism for the sake of tourism.

Meeting up with friends has changed the whole mentality of the trip. Instead of going to visit a location, I’m going to visit people’s lives. It’s a bit different kind of an adventure, and not one where I will have the most new passport stamps, but one where I think I will grow the most as a person by being challenged by old and new friends, and being able to see the world from their perspective.

It also a kind of adventure that involves people being willing to host me for some time, so I’m going to go ahead and thank Maria Jose (Sevilla), Natalie (Germany), Elise (Switzerland) and Will (Italy). You people are fantastic and I owe you big time.

IMG_1609

IMG_1560

-

Currently, I am on a bus on the way to Switzerland to visit Elise. I will be there until Saturday, before I head to Florence. This trip is coming to an end extremely fast, and as my sister told me yesterday, only 8 more sleeps till we’re reunited.

Thank you again for all of the prayers surrounding this journey of mine. They are greatly appreciated and always needed!

Peace and Blessings