Becoming Domestic

I apologize for the massive blog posts all at once, but I am afraid after this next week I will have even more to write about.

I just wanted to take a minute and explain how living on your own can result in many domesticating experiences. Since I have been in Germany I have done many things that I would have not typically done or ever really wished to do. As you read early today I slept in a train station, I have done my own laundry, cooked, bought groceries, and cleaned all without my mother telling me too!! Not only have I been able to accomplish these everyday survival tasks, but I have recently had a really domestic moment.

In Rehutte I live with 3 female Germans and one kid from Illinois. Well come to find out these women like to have parties, and not just any kind of party but something most men would not attend. That is right I am talking about a Tupperware party!!!! As of 2/16 I officially attended my first and last tupperware party.

When coming to Europe I had people telling me that I would have the time of my life and experience many things, and they were right. For you future foreign travelers, don't be afraid to try everything, and I do mean everything. Even if it is a tupperware party or going to a local festival, it will be something to remember for a long time to come.

Now and update of future blog posts:

Gerald and Jayme (aka mom and farmer of the year dad) will be joining me from the 20th through the 26th! I am not going to spill the details of our trip to keep up the suspense, but they should be entertaining as my jet lagged parents track across Europe! If you care to see pictures from my trips they are loaded on my Facebook Profile.

Until next time...

Carnival: Mainz Germany

After returning from Austria I thought there would be no trip that could top it. However, I soon realized that every trip in Europe is special. In Europe you can't compare place, events, or traditions. Yes some times will be better than others, but all will leave different, lasting impressions on you.

To start this story I feel everyone should have some knowledge of the event that I am going to. So to make your life easy I have included the link to the Carnival Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival. This is a pretty good summary of what I saw on my way to Austria and what I would experience on Monday the 15th.

Upon arriving at the Limburgerhof train station I met up with Stephen Bux. He is an intern with BASF as well. We met and soon knew we were in for a long day of partying. Before we even got to Mainz we saw people wearing ridiculous costumes, singing, dancing, drinking, and carrying on.

The train ride to Mainz was standing room only and took about an hour or so. There we got to hear more singing and people just plain having a great time! After we arrived at the train station in Mainz we were engulfed in the festivities! The train station was packed and there were people and police everywhere! To best describe this event was a mix between Halloween and St. Patrick's Day.

Now Stephen and I did not just go to Mainz without a plan, in fact we had planned on meeting some locals. There is a program called "couch surfing" that millions of people take part in. The group consists of people in many different locations that will host travelers when they are visiting cities. So we met up with Nora and hung out with her and her friends for the day. We went down to the parade and go even more immersed in this new cultural experience. The parade is know as "The Parade of Roses," see the wiki page for more detail. This parade consisted of thing like floats, rotary clubs, bands, and many others things. The outfits were both traditional and some were entertaining. Overall this parade was both festive and long, about 5 hours.

After having been at Mainz for near 7 hours, Stephen and I were ready to go home! As we boarded the train, it was again standing room only! The train ride home took about 45 mins longer than it did to get there. Again we met some new people from Germany ages ranging from 16 to about 27. Finally we arrived back safely in Limburgerhof and made our way home before passing out at 8pm and getting some much needed rest before work the next day. Overall our first Carnival experience was one to be remembered!!

Innsbruck Austria

I am sorry that it has been a few days since my last blog, but I have been a little preoccupied traveling around Europe. Please forgive me!

Any this will be the first of about three blog posts I will try to have done by the end of the week or tonight which I feel I can get done.

My first trip was to Innsbruck Austria, if you don't know just type it in to google and you will find it. In Innsbruck I met up with friend Luke Sullivan to go snow skiing in the Alps for a few days! However this trip was both the best yet, but at the same time seemed to have the worst of luck! Don't worry I will inform you about being on the mountains, but first we have to start at the beginning of this memorable trip!

On Thursday 2/11 I went to work like most days excited about the trip that lay ahead of me that weekend. I left work around 5:30pm with a slight bounce in my step since I would soon be on a train headed to the Alps!! As I packed to get ready to leave I was getting even more nervous, so I decided to leave early. Well given my anxious nature I arrived at the train station almost 40 minutes before I even needed to get there, but at least I knew I would not miss it.

Just to keep you up to date, Thursday the 11th was the first day of Carnival, which is a celebration leading up to Lent. So when I was waiting on the train I saw everything possible. There were people wearing things I didn't know you wore when it was around 25 degrees F. After being entertained by the costumes I boarded the train which was standing room only! After about an hour and a half the train finally cleared and we got to sit the rest of the way to Munich.

When I arriving in Munich I stepped off the train and headed to my sleeper train that would eventually take me to Austria. Well, I got to the right platform and guess what, the train wasn't there. So I went and checked on its status, and as luck would have it the train didn't come until 6:38am, it was only 12:45am!!!!! So I went to the nearest warm place, Burger King, and stayed there for about 2 hours, and slept for about an hour before they kicked me out. As I left and wondered the city in the cold and dark I was starting to really appreciate a warm place to sleep. I finally made it back to the train station after hanging out in an ATM terminal to stay warm, and then slept on the benches at the station until about 5am. Then I went to the coffee shop warmed up, ate some food and then finally 6:30am came and it was time to load the train. As you can imagine within minutes of giving the conductor my ticket I was asleep for two straight hours.

When waking up after my short nap I was in Austria. Now for those of you who have seen the Rockies, take that times about 10 and then you almost compare to the Alps. To this day I still can't get over the view. After the bad luck I had encountered with traveling the sight of the mountains was well worth everything it took to get here. Finally I arrive in Austria, get to the hotel and check in. I then spent a couple of hours looking for the ski rental shop and lift ticket office before meeting Luke, or at least I thought. Much like me, Luke mis read his ticket and came at 1:30pm and not 11:30am. Oopppss! Word to the novice travelers out there, read your ticket carefully before leaving the warmth of your home!

After we both finally arrived, we got out skis, and got some food to eat. We then walked around a little bit, checked out what times the bus left for the mountains and then by 8pm we both crashed!

Finally we made it to the main event, ski day! I had not been skiing in nearly four years so when I woke on Saturday the 13th I was beyond excited!! We decided to go to the Glacier/Stubaier resort. This was the biggest and highest ski runs in Innsbruck. When we got to the top it was amazing! You could see mountains for miles and nothing but clear blue skies and sun all day long!!! As we made our first few runs, we were a little rusty and overwhelmed, but we got our sea legs and so decided to get a little more brave. After a good 5 hours, we stopped ate lunch and rested. We were then coming close to the end of the first ski day and headed back to the bottom of the mountain to head back to town. As we left the mountain the we were both just exhausted, but the beauty of the mountains was still fresh in our minds.

As we got back to the hotel we rested and watched a little bit of the Olympics, which were in Innsbruck in '64 and '76 for some of you that remember. About 8pm we headed out on the town and went to the "Old Town" to eat some authentic Austrian food. After dinner we made our way back to the hotel to rest up for the next day of skiing and more train travel!!

On Sunday we were faced with a problem, the distance to some of the ski lifts. So Luke and I decided that we would just stay close, little did we know we were in for a real treat. Once we arrived at the first lift we were a little disappointed. On Saturday we had near perfect weather all day, and Sunday just seemed to be cloudy, cold, and just a little depressing. As we loaded the lift and started our assent we were so shocked. We rode up to about 500o feet and that gloomy day was no more. When reached that point we came out of the clouds and much like the day before we could see nothing but clear skies and mountains for miles!! Now the day before had some pretty amazing views, but nothing compared to the sites on Sunday! The skiing was good, but the shear beauty of being on top of the mountain seemed to be the highlight of our day.

As usual the time to leave was upon us, and Luke and I made our way back down to the hotel and then made our way to the train station. We parted ways about 2:30pm on Sunday the 14th and would leave Austria having seen some of the best mountains in the world, having experienced the best snow skiing in the Alps, and memories that would last a life time!!

Another Week

Hey everyone!

I don't really have anything new and exciting to share this, but thought I would just right and kind of detail what you might be able to expect in the coming month.

In the coming month I plan to do a bit of traveling around the countries of Europe. My first trip will be to Innsbruck Austria. Here I will be meeting up with a friend from U of I and go skiing for a few days in the Alps!! After that I plan to attend a cultural event the following Monday (2/15/10) called Carneval, I probably spelled that wrong.

After that I will probably take another short trip around Germany, and then mom and dad arrive. With them I plan to travel about 7 of nine days hoping to see more of Germany, France, and possibly London if I get the chance.

After Ma and Pa return home I will be partaking in an American tradition. This tradition is more of a coming of age sort of ritual, or just another night in which a good friend turns 21. Except the difference is we won't be in the freezing tundra of Illinois we will be in Alicante Spain right next to the Mediterranean Sea!!! Beaches here I come!!

Well that is a brief synopsis of the adventures I will be having in the next month!! Don't worry I will be updating this after each one and trying to post pictures, so all of you in Illinois can get excited for Spring or maybe even Summer!!

Until next time!

Oh wait.. Please spread the word about the blog, if we reach an undetermined number of followers something really cool will happen with this blog, but you won't know till we reach that number so please spread the good word!