Oktoberfest & Neuschwanstein

“If You Can’t be With the One You Love, Love the One You’re With.” –Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young

American Song of The Week: Hang On Sloopy at Oktoberfest. I guess even the Germans were happy to see that Terrelle Pryor was starting.

This Week’s Travel Tip(s): Learn How to Enjoy a Good Book. From Friday at noon until Sunday night at 11 we were on a train for approximately 18 hours. A good book comes in real handy when your iPod dies on day 1, you can’t sleep, and the American you meet is drinking a Miller Lite in Germany so he is obviously not worth talking to.

Alright, what I’ve figured out being in college is that the weekend starts on Thursday. Wednesday for some, but Thursday for most. I decided to go to the before mentioned Grund last Thursday, The pub Liquid, and listen to some live blues music. Although she was singing in French it was still awesome. I think God is doing everything he can to
1) Make me flunk out of school and
2) Keep me from going willingly back to the U.S.

Friday takes us on a 7 hour train ride to Augsburg which was a 40 minute train ride from Munich. We check into our hostel, throw down our bags and immediately find a German place to eat. The menu was in German so we played a game and you just had to pick something. Luckily I had sausage, ham, and sauerkraut; it was excellent.

Saturday we made a big mistake of waking up before sun rise, too early for the continental breakfast, and naturally miss our train to Munich. We finally make a train and get to Munich. From here it was pretty simple; follow the 1,000 men in lederhosen and the women dressed as milk, or bier, maids. You come up the stairs from the Subway and walk into a land that would make Otis from The Andy Griffith Show feel right at home; unlimited beer. Each bier company has its own tent and getting into that tent is extremely hard. It unfortunately upon first appearance looks like the Ohio State Fair with a main stretch and each bier tent, festival ride, and salted pretzel stand scattered in between. It wasn’t what I imagined as far as the physical set up but exactly on for the atmosphere. If you make it to Oktoberfest in your lifetime good for you but it’s not something I would put on your Bucket List.

Sunday morning five of the ten of us got up at 6 AM and hopped on a two hour train south to Fussen and King Ludwig’s castles. King Ludwig II of Bavaria had a beautiful castle nestled at the base of the mountains; Hohenschwangau.

He then for no reason beside pure pleasure had a bigger and better one built; The Neuschwanstein. The Neuschwanstein is what Disney modeled the castles at their theme parks after. The Disney version is modified but you can still see the resemblance. I gotta say after seeing it, I can’t blame the guy. However, the people of the Bavarian region of Germany were not happy with this. Mysteriously before he was able to move into his bigger and better castle he was found dead in the bottom of a nearby lake.

It was about a 25 minute walk up the mountain to the castle. You had to take the tour to get inside. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time so we took it in from the outside. Then from the castle another 20 minute walk that wrapped around the mountain went up to the St. Mary’s Bridge where you get this view.

The Neuschwanstein

Then another short hike up the mountain on the dirt path and tree roots you get this view…. I think she took the picture on two...

After seeing a countryside like that it’s completely worth the 8 ½ hour train ride home…

Bonjour’s to:
Kitty: I guess it took me going to Europe to finally get Lenore to use the internet! Thanks for helping her out!
Jody: Thanks for keeping dad informed for me last week. I look forward to hearing of your adventures!

Cindy, Wendy, Karlton, Regina, and Patty: Sorry it took me so long to get in touch. Your e-mail’s got lost somewhere between Columbus and Brussels, Belgium

We Survived Weekend I

“Back to School, back to school, prove to Dad I’m not a fool. My lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, hope I don’t get in a fight.” –Adam Sandler in Billy Madison

American Song of The Week: The hit song, Summer Lovin’ from Grease. This was played in the ‘Discoteque’ (dance club) in Strasburg on Saturday night.

This Week’s Travel Tip(s):
1) It’s really simple but Plan Ahead: We got to Colmar on Friday and our hostel was a 30 minute bus ride from the small town of Colmar, which we didn’t expect. Travel during the week if possible. On Sundays all places such as the European Union, government buildings, etc. are closed. However, this is the peak day to see a gorgeous Cathedral. There was a jazz festival in Colmar that we couldn't attend because we couldn't get to the town square. Planning ahead would have helped with this!

2) Make sure your travel partners are interested in the same activities and have the same mind set as you. Thank goodness for this our first weekend trip was a success.

I’m glad to here everybody made it out of the storms in Ohio with no damage. As I heard Mamma said, “In my 78 years I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Well classes finally started and three of my classes are some of the best I have ever taken. History class, The Rise and Fall of Hitler, will take us on a five day study tour to Cracow, Poland, Prague, Czech Republic, and Auschwitz. Music class will take us also on a 5 day study tour to Vienna, Austria: The Capital of Classical Music. During a tour of Lux City an area of town was introduced to us that many did not know existed. It is called ‘The Grund’, or the old city. The lifestyle in this area is similar to that of the Short North, German Village, or Victorian Village of Columbus. It is a young and affluent area that is on the uprise. Upscale bars and pubs are scattered throughout this lower city with some of the most incredible scenery

Looking down on The Grund from regular City level

Friday we take off for our first trip. Colmar was a 3 hour train ride to the city center. Going through the first customs check of my life, this was interesting. Thank goodness the two women next to me could speak with them and tell me what to do. We finally catch the bus that’s taking us to our hostel after we find out it is not in the city. We were a 30 minute bus ride from the city staying in Fast Hotel, which was not by anything. We ask the man where we check in if there is anywhere close to eat besides McDonald’s. He points in some direction and says ‘Town 5 minute that way, just walk 5 minute that way.’ Well we walk 5 minute that way, then 5 more minute that way and we stumble upon ghost town, I mean a true authentic ghost town at 9 o’clock at night on a Friday it looks like 3 in the morning. We see a sign for ‘Medieval Tavern’ so we follow the sign. We walk up to a house that has a sign pointing down the gravel driveway towards the medieval tavern. This is the entrance below:

Nobody knows what is going to happen now. We open the door and walk into an authentic German restaurant that was as good as you can get. I definitely had one of the top five meals of my life. We were the only ones in this incredible restaurant in the basement of their home; we could hear the dog barking up the stairs, it was great.

Saturday morning we ride the bus into Colmar, France. This is a great little town. A little more touristy than I expected but very cool indeed. The city has been swapped between Germany and France many times so it has influences of both. Just like many other beautiful cities here it had a cathedral in the middle. Colmar’s greatest piece of history concerning the U.S. is that Frederic-August Bartholdi, the man who created the Statue of Liberty, was born in Colmar, France.

Unable and unwilling to get out of the city on a bike ride on this dreary day we then decided to head off to Strasburg but only after a great Tarte Flambee, a local special. It is like a soft doughed pizza with thin toppings on it. Taste great!

One of The first views as we get into Strasburg.

So we catch the 45 minute train north to Strasburg and find our hostel. To our relief this one was in the city. Everyone’s tired so we decide to find dinner in ‘Little France’. On the south side of the city by Little France there is a large dam. This dam was put in so that the French could open the gates and flood out the city to avoid ever being attacked. We stop at the Academie de la Biere. It had a pub atmosphere but definitely was a french/german feeling. After an excellent sausage, hot dog, potato, ham, and sauerkraut covered meal we sit around for a total of 4 hours and told stories of our experiences so far. We then decided to head off to the Discoteque for a little while. Naturally we were the only Americans there….so we were the only ones who new the words to the three Grease songs that were played, followed by Joan Jett’s I Love Rock ‘n Roll. Luckily for Robert and I we were greatly outnumbered by girls in our group. We have a short stay there and head home, but not before passing this on our way.

Sunday morning we finally have sunshine!! This was a great feeling and everybody was ready to go. Our first stop is the Cathedral which I didn’t get the name. It is listed everywhere as the Cathedral. We catch the very end of mass, which is funny because most stay for the whole thing and avoid the end.

The next block over is the Gutenburg Square. Gutenburg did his work inventing the printing press in Strasburg.

Gutenburg and I, and the Merry-Go-Round

Next we catch the tram to the north side and go to the European Union buildings. Strasburg is one of the three capitals of the E.U. Unfortunately we could only see it from the outside because it’s closed on Sundays. We take some pictures outside, get back on the tram and go into the town square.

Everyone at the E.U. Headquarters

Every village was built around a town square, and as in movie reviews, this one gets two thumbs up. We decide to grab a cheap lunch and eat it in the square under the sunshine. Kids are playing, people are singing, a guy is playing his guitar, people are drinking coffee, and a young couple is kissing; it’s exactly what you imagine in a European Town Square.

Enjoying lunch before the Ride Home

Pretty simple but excellent weekend.

Hello’s go out to….

Karlton: You have 4 months with no pressure to set things up for Christmas break. I have big expectations for the work you’ll get done.
Krzan clan: keep me up to date on the once again dominating Watterson JV field hockey team and let me know when Annie gets called up to the big leagues! Thank you for the inspirational message Mrs. K, I've done very well so far!
Kathy C.: I think even I’ve been to all 57 states now!
Katherine Morgan: Remember the plan for this semester!

Lame Story, Bastogne, Castles, and the Winery

Jerry Seinfeld: You kept making the stops?!
Cosmo Kramer: They kept ringin’ the bell!!

American Song of The Week: Theme song from Beauty and The Beast over the P.A. in Cactus (Wal-Mart).

This week’s travel tip(s): Expect the Unexpected, and when it happens turn it into a positive. A train will be missed, a bus will be missed, the credit card will get turned down, the ATM won’t give you any money, the German lady with the broken finger in front of you in line at the cell phone store will try to speak English with the luxembourgan worker and take much longer than she should, the iced tea will be carbonated, the french fries will be served with mayonnaise dipping sauce instead of ketchup, Diekrich beer can be bought at McDonald’s, when you return an electronic item you will be treated like a potential terrorist, and the girl that was hitting on you will have a boyfriend, ok so that’s a joke but everything else is true. So the positives…the mayonnaise dipping sauce is excellent, if the ATM won’t give you money then you can’t waste money, because the German lady was trying to speak English it caused me to miss my bus and I got to experience the following.

So the story about missing the bus…I’m at a Cactus (Wal-Mart) and it was supposed to be a quick trip because luckily it was a night with no homework so I was supposed to meet some friends for a little while. Well in this country small specialty stores all close at 6 PM. Large stores such as Cactus close at 8 PM, this is still taking some getting used to. A little side note, but the ministry of foreign affairs office in Lux City, who I have to deal with to legally be here told me they are only open from 8:30 AM-10:00 AM…they laughed and said no when I asked if that included Saturday. So anyway back to the original story, I finally get finished at Cactus after many unnecessary delays and run out front to catch the bus. Well of course as I’m running up to the bus stop it is pulling away….the next bus doesn’t come for 30 minutes. I then decide to sit down next to the lady at the stop who is eating her apple and has absolutely no intention of speaking with me, as is the culture here, no one ever smiles or says hello to strangers. So she’s eating her apple and I decide to pull out a slim jim, some chocolate filled crackers, and my surprisingly carbonated iced tea, still haven’t adjusted to that either.The bus finally comes and takes us through a couple stops in an affluent part of town. We come to a stop and a man and woman, about age 55, stand up to get off. All of a sudden the woman starts screaming at the bus driver in what I assume is French. She was screaming because as I look back the man (her husband?) is standing outside the bus with his wrist caught in the door and his hand inside the bus. Fortunately he did not appear to be in any pain but was more concerned about keeping his wife from cold cocking the bus driver. All I can think of is Elaine standing outside the subway with her arm stuck in the door and somebody walks by on the subway and takes her gyro out of her hand. Anyway, the bus driver finally explains to the woman that the doors automatically close and there was nothing he could do. The best part about this story was that the man was standing with his arm stuck in the door and it appeared not to phase him in any bit. My sister Katy might say sarcastically, “wow, great story”, but I guess you just had to be there.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week (Sept. 4,5,6) were all orientation days either at the Chateau or various sites in Luxembourg. Friday’s orientation took some of us to Bastogne, Belgium. This is close to where the Battle of The Bulge was fought in WWII. The Nazis completely surrounded the city for miles but General George Patton and his men stood strong and held down the city, with the hardest times coming in late December 1946. On Christmas day of ’46 the men defending the city were told (and I paraphrase), ‘this is the greatest Christmas present you could give to your families and the people of America, fighting for freedom so they can enjoy their Christmas day. I apoligize for butchering this incredible quote. Eventually Hitler and his men retreated and the Allies/United States came one step closer to an overall victory.

Memorial at Bastogne for the U.S. soldiers.

There is a cemetery nearby where 6,800 German soldiers are buried. Allied countries such as Belgium are still very hostile towards Germans because of WWII. Since the cemetery is in Belgium it rarely has any visitors. If someone is a German veteran of WWII they do not mention so as you could imagine why.

Saturday was an action packed day that all of you would enjoy. The morning started off with Ian waking Collin and I up late. We missed the first bus so we were an hour late to school and missed our first orientation session. After lunch we split into our travel groups at the Chateau and my group headed off on a bus to Southeast Luxembourg. This put us in Schengen on the borders of both France and Germany.

Because of the Schengen treaty that was signed in 1985, all countries in the European Union have taken down their border patrol and customs between each other to make easy flow of traffic more possible.

Next we headed off to the St. Martin Winery. Incredible experience. The vineyards are all local and the winery does all of their work in a cave under the hillside. The pictures here do not give this place justice. We learned the entire fermentation process from a man that looked like Uncle Vernon from Harry Potter and then of course wrapped up with some samplings which lead many college students to making purchases.

The final leg of our tour lead us to the east coast of Luxembourg at el chateau de Vianden. This castle has been a possession that has been swapped many times between different countries since it is close to the border. It is approximately 700 years old and was built with one large addition about every 100 years. Austria in its hay day took it away from Luxembourg the most. Sorry for lack of history, it was a very quick trip.

An interesting side note, this sign below was posted in the window of a garage on the walk up the hill to the castle...

The bus then went back to the Luxembourg City fair. This fair began as a Shepherd’s fair for all the farmers to meet 663 years ago but is now simply your local carnival, but with excellent German food. I went with the Luxringer with sauerkraut and .25 Liters of a Bofferdinger to wash it down. We then left the fair and made a few stops at some local bars that of course played American music, just to a techno remix.

Sunday was family day. ‘Dinner’ was at 12:30 and took about three hours to eat. We first had a chicken noodle soup, followed by salad, then a wonderful zucchini filled with beef. Dessert followed and we had the choice of muffins, cookies, or a banana yogurt cream that was eaten only with a nice cup of coffee. Sorry Dad, I had to use more than one cream and one sugar to make my coffee enjoyable. Our family just returned home from vacation in Turkey where they brought back a bottle of black liquorish tasting liquor. This is the stuff I would give someone if I was trying to keep them from ever drinking alcohol again. We each had a little shot glass sized drink in which we were to sip. Things then split up a little and we returned not long after for grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and enjoyed about another hour of conversation following. Kevin was very excited to practice his English with us and Marie was very frustrated by the end of the night having to translate our English to french or german and then the kids and Shanni’s speaking to English. Another wonderful day!

Sorry for the length but again there was so much to say. A couple of hello’s:
Jim Slater: Collin’s cool even though he is from Hinsdale. Keep me updated on the Buckeyes b/c it’s going to be real tough to catch them here.
Kara: Keep me updated on all the fiestas of your life!
Brian: Thanks for all the blues music and sorry you can’t be taking African Roots in The Blues, GREAT class. Also keep the great stories coming!
Kyle & Donny: Keep me up to date w/ the ‘skins inside information, good stories like from Michigan, and your girlfriends.
Megan McGinnis, Miami U. class of 2013: See you at Miami next year and maybe you’ll be attending Luxembourg your junior year!

Travels & New Surroundings

J. Peterman: “Make it interesting.”
Elaine Benes: “Interesting, yes INTERESTING, people like interesting!”

Just like Elaine I will do my best to make this interesting but I promise nothing.

This week’s travel tip(s):
1) Learn a foreign language, French or Spanish. The bus driver didn’t speak English; neither did the lady at the bookstore, the waitress in the restaurant, and neither does my house dad nor two of the kids. If you can speak there language it is much, much easier.
2) Don’t connect a flight through Newark, NJ.

I tend to ramble so I will do my very best to condense as much as possible but not leave out any great details. Ok, so it’s only been a couple days but I feel like there is so much to say and send back. This is going to be in two parts. There is so much to write about. Part I will be about everything from intro about the country and family up until orientation. Part II will be about orientation. Every part will have a few hellos to a couple of different people.
Here is a little tid-bit on the country of Luxembourg (which I thought was a city in Germany until I applied to the program). The entire country nestles between Belgium, France, and Germany. It has a population of 450,000 people and its largest city, Luxembourg City, has a pop. of 85,000 people.

Just like the United States it is a hodge-podge of people. The most recent group of immigrants are Portuguese but it is a country made up of many different ethnicities of people. Everyone learns Luxembourgish right off the bat at home. French is second and is learned at home or at school around age 6. German then follows around age 8 with English bringing up the rear about age 11. They are an environmentally conscious people with recycle bins everywhere and NO ONE drives SUV’S or even mini-vans. Something I would describe as hybrid Volkswagen’s are as big as it gets. Another reason for this is because of gas prices. Gasoline is approximately $9.00 per gallon. It is deceiving though because the gas is sold in liters so it appears cheap. Speed is in Kilometers per hour so it took some adjusting when seeing the speed limit sign say 90.

It was a three hour group bus ride from Brussels, Belgium to Differdange, Luxembourg where the school is located. We had a safe trip to school where we met our host family. The mother and her two year old daughter Sophie met us at school. There I found out a couple of things. Sophie was a fireball and completely full of energy. The father Shanni (Shaw-nee) spoke zero English. Getting into his Volkswagen I complimented on his nice car and the first thing he says is “no English”….great way to start the semester. Marie the mother however speaks very fine English and has been a wonderful mother. The family you could describe as a patchwork family. Kevin, 16, belongs to the father Shanni. Jordan, 6 (boy), belongs to Marie. Sophie, 2, belongs to Shanni and Marie together; however Shanni and Marie are not married and have no plans of it. By speaking with other students we have discovered this is common practice for a mother’s “friend” that is a male to live with her for many, many years without marriage.

L to r front: Shanni, Marie, Me, Collin. L to R back: Jordan (6), friend of Jordan, Kevin (16), Ian.

I live with two other Miami students; Collin from Chicago (Hinsdale), and Ian from Oxford, OH (home of Miami University). They are great guys and we have really helped each other a lot. About half of the 130 Miami students live in Differdange not far from school while the other half is scattered in the suburbs of Lux City. We are in the little village of Cessange. The bus stop is right outside our house and it takes ten minutes to get to the Luxembourg City train station on the bus. From there the train takes approximately 40 minutes to get to Differdange where the school is located. Once class starts this will either be great study time or great nap time, we’ll see what happens. This has all been a huge learning experience considering I have never lived anywhere where public transportation is so commonly used.

Chateau de differdange, where school is located. Sorry for no authentic pictures yet.

The train stop in Differdange is approximately 5 minutes from school or “the Chateau”, which is an incredible place that is owned by the steel company that pretty much owns all of Differdange. The only trouble with the train stop is that there is a GREAT little Portuguese bar right next to it. It has been a trend to stop and buy a boot of Battin beer with some Differdange friends before hopping on the train to head home to Lux City and its suburbs for the evening. When I say Boot yes I mean just like the movie Beerfest, and to answer your question yes the bubble really does exist and the boot must really be turned sideways to keep the bubble from popping beer in your face. The name of this gathering place has politely been renamed ‘Das Boot’ by the Miami kids because of the simple reason that they serve beer in a glass boot (large= 1 liter and small= .5 liter) for very reasonable prices.

Sorry for the length but again there was so much to say. A couple of hello’s:
Dad & Katy: I love you guys. I can’t wait until you can experience it yourselves! Katy, remember it’s senior year and before you know it you are graduating from the greatest high school in the world. Enjoy every second of it, work hard, BUT enjoy every second.
Mamma: I’m doing my best to keep my eye on the donut and not on the hole. I Love you!
Kohlhepp’s: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Tell the boys I say Bonjour!
Baumbusch’s, Bright’s, Myers’, and Stevensons’: Thank you so much for all of your support. It truly is great to have an entire family to support you!
Paul Davis: I know you would appreciate all this history even though you already know it all. Thank you very much for all the genealogy information. It was 10x more than I expected. I hope your health is holding up and we look forward to seeing you around the holidays!
Jim Irwin: I have been looking for the Rasputin family around here but unfortunately have had no luck. Go Bucks!