Hanging On To What We Know!

My class and I have enjoyed learning about German traditions and culture, but sometimes you just need to be AMERICAN!  So, Saturday we had a good old fashioned Halloween party.  There was no trick-or-treating and, sadly, very few costumes made it there, but we carved pumpkins, painted faces, had a bonfire on the Rhine River, and even watched some scary movies.  The movies were Pixar's "Monster House" and "The Strangers" with Liv Tyler.  There's still a debate between a few of us about how scary the movies really were.  If you've ever watched a scary movie with me, you probably know what side of the fight I'm on.  All I have to say is that I never thought I'd actually jump from fright (several times) in an animated film.  Germans generally don't celebrate Halloween, but I did see a few pretty convincing vampires and witches on the train!  

I hope you all had a happy Halloween!

Everyone hard at work on their punkin' carving.

Catherine's "Mr. Burns" turned out great!

Uhhh, so maybe I got a little to into it.  You think?

My 1st Jack-O-Lantern ever!!

(He's supposed to be sleeping ... not dead.)

A little face painting: Here I am turning Ryan into a pirate to

match the pumpkin he carved.

The Big 2 3

Hello sweet family and friends!  As you may know, this past Saturday, October 24, was my 23rd birthday.  Wow, that sounds older and older every time I say it.  (All you people older than me, please stop rolling your eyes.)  All I'm saying is that this birthday is making me realize a little more than usual that ... I'm about grown up.  Yikes!  That's a scary thought!! ;)

Even though I couldn't be at home with my family and close friends, I had plenty of people here helping my celebrate my special day.  It turned out to be a great day, too!

First off, I woke up Saturday morning to "Birthday Breakfast" with my wonderful host family.  The Mauers really are a special family, and I am so blessed to be in their home.  When I came up the stairs that morning, I found that they decorated the kitchen with a "Happy Birthday" banner (in English!) and had my place at the table set up with candles and a birthday gift.  They all gave me hugs and wished me a happy birthday individually.  My gift turned out to be a coffee mug like one of theirs that I had admired.  It has a simplified drawing of the cathedral in Cologne and also bears one of the "Ten Laws of Cologne", which are not really laws at all, but wise sayings.  Mine says, "Et es wie et es." which means "It is what it is."  Always good advice to remember.  Here's a pic of me at the table and one of that also has three of the boys and Thomas.

Around 11am, six of my friends from classmates came out to my house and we all went out to a ropes course nearby where I live.  Suren came too!  :)  Those of you who know how adventurous I am (which is not at all, typically) would be quite proud of me for climbing up in trees to platforms set at 15 meters above the ground, jumping off on zip-lines and climbing across rope and log ladders.  We had sooo much fun!  Here are a few pictures of us at the course to give you an idea of what it was like.

Some of the pieces of the courses.  Crawling through the green nets

wasn't too bad, but the rock wall turned out to be a little challenging ...

Go Megan!

Some of the challenges took a little teamwork!

And if you think that's all the birthday celebration we could possibly fit into one day, you are wrong!  My classmates planned a surprise dinner at a great Italian restaurant in Bonn called Vapiano.  The food was so good and my friends were so kind to treat me to dinner and birthday dessert.  The boys even bought me flowers! :)  

I enjoyed every bite!

The whole gang at Vapiano.

My beautiful bouquet from "my boys."

It was a great day, and I thank everyone who made it so special! :)

New Adventures ... And Lots of Them!

Well, I believe I have fulfilled my self-proclaimed prophesy.  I am a terrible blogger.  :)  Sorry to leave all of you hanging for ... a while.  Life here in Bonn (and various other places) has been quite busy.  I've been traveling a lot lately both with my class and independently.  Last weekend my friend Catherine and I went to Sofia, Bulgaria, and just today I arrived home from a six-day class trip to Berlin and Prague.  Both trips were a lot of fun, and I can now Czech another country or two off my list.  ;)

Sofia, Bulgaria

You might be asking, "Whitney, what on earth made you go to Bulgaria??"  Well, the answer to that question is a fun little program that the airline Germanwings offers.  On Germanwings' website you can find all kinds of cheap airfares in different ways including the program called "Blind Flights."  Here you can choose between lists of possible destinations that are grouped together based on what they offer (for example: culture, party, beach, etc.).  After you select a category of possible destinations and book the flight, you wait about thirty seconds and then the destination you have been assigned is revealed to you.  Catherine and I chose the category called "Metropolis Eastern Europe"  because none of the other trips we have planned would take us into Eastern Europe and ... we were curious about it. :)  So we paid our fare, waited for the drum roll and .......... Sofia it was!  We looked at each other with shocked faces and then started laughing because neither of us knew anything about Bulgaria at the time.  We had a little trouble even finding it on the map!  But we did our research and a week later off we went to Bulgaria.  

I'll just say that Sofia is quite different from where I'm living in Bonn, Germany.  I'll suffice to say that the past presence of Communism could be felt strongly there.  It was present almost everywhere in the architecture of most apartment and business buildings.  Fortunately, some of the more ornate government buildings, churches and museums have been preserved.  Catherine and I had fun going to watch the change of the guards at the Presidency, sketching inside of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and photographing odd sculptures in the garden next to the National Art Gallery.  We also enjoyed browsing through a few open markets looking at philigrine, pottery and fur hats!  

We spent two days in Sofia.  We had lots of fun, but were quite worn out from walking all day both days.  We were happy to be home Sunday night!  Here are a few pictures to help tell the story.

The changing of the Guard at the Presidency.  These guards

guards are not quite as stoic as the ones at Buckingham Palace

are rumored to be.  The one on the left kept winking at Catherine

and I while we took pictures.  Honestly, you have a job to do Mr.

These Roman ruins and the church that still functions

inside of them serve as evidence of Sofia's age.

This and the following picture are of "The Russian Church."

 An example of Eastern Orthodox architecture.

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Another shining example of Eastern Orthodox.  Pictures

were not allowed inside, but I must tell you how ornate it

was.  It seemed that every surface that wasn't sculpted was

painted.  Besides the domes that make up the roof of the

cathedral, inside, the different chapels were divided from each

other by smaller (but still quite large) domes of their own.  

Catherine and I were lucky enough to be there while a baby was

being baptized in one of the side chapels.  There was something

so powerful about the sound of that baby's cries echoing off of the

30-40m tall ceilings.  It made me think of how God is so in tune 

with our lives from the moment they begin.

Catherine and I made sure we had the opportunity to try at least

one authentic Bulgarian meal.  We had pork, chicken and a stuffed

tomato.  The food was delicious and the restaurant, Pri Yafata, was

decorated in traditional Bulgarian ornament.  

Well, that's it for Sofia.  Due to camera problems, I'll have to get back to you on Berlin, Prague and a few other things after I can get pictures from some of my classmates.

Starting Out

Hello everyone!

As you may know, I decided to start this blog as a travel log of sorts.  I also hope that it can help us all keep in touch even while we are far apart.  To anyone who is reading, thank you for your interest and please feel free to leave your thoughts and messages on my page as comments or send a note by e-mail or facebook.  I am always glad to hear from you.

Currently, I am living in a small town near Bonn, Germany.  It a very nice city of 315,000 people.  Bonn was the capital of Germany for over fifty years until the Wall came down and Berlin became the capital city.  Bonn is located along the Rhine, and it is the birthplace of Beethoven.  The study abroad program that I am here for is located in Bonn, but I am staying with a host family in a town called Bruhl which is located between Bonn and a larger city called Cologne (or Koln in Deutsch).  I will be here until the beginning of December.

I have to tell you that it is wonderful over here.  Everyday as I ride the train and walk to school, I have to remind myself that I am not living in Disneyworld.  It feels a little like that because of the large number of 17th and 18th century churches and castles I pass on my way there.  I really never imagined that castles were so com

mon!  Nevertheless, you can hardly go anywhere here without seeing at least one.

Although we've barely been here over a week (our group arrived on August 27), my classmates and I have already seen so much!  We have excursions several times a week, especially now while the weather is good.  I feel like there is so much to catch up on ... I'll try to re-cap the last week, but mostly I'll just let the pictures do the talking!

Thursday (8/27) and Friday (8/28) - These days were mainly filled with meeting our host families, resting from the long journey over th

e Atlantic and some orientation and visa business.  I am living with the Families Mauer.  They are a very fun family of seven:  Thomas, Carmen, Sebastian, Stephan, Simon, Suren and a crazy little white dog named Flocky.  With all of us in the house, there is never a dull moment.  It's a little strange adjusting to living in a family of brothers after spending all my life with only sisters around, but I'm finding that it's kind of fun.  They're a very sweet family, and they are very good at making sure that I am always included.  I'll try to post a picture of them soon.  For now, here's Flocky gazing out at the garden when he decided to hang out with me one morning last weekend.

Saturday (8/29) - My oldest host brother, Sebastian, offered to take me and some friends to see Cologne.  Sebastian is my age and a lot of fun to spend time with.  He's very nice and made an excellent tour guide!

A view across the Rhine toward the "Koln Dom."

This Gothic cathedral is the 2nd largest in the world next to the Vatican in Rome.

A closer view of the cathedral.

The spires are 515 ft. tall, and it took 632 years to

complete construction of the cathedral (1248-1880).

Me, Jose and Catherine in the platz in front of the cathedral.

We were about 150 ft. from the doors and they still look gigantic don't they?!

I'm learning that Germans are very big people.

This man on the bridge made me feel like a dwarf ... that's a first!

Sunday (8/30) - A quiet morning at home.  I was fortunate to meet a German missionary who had previously lived in Bonn while I was traveling in Brazil this summer.  He was kind enough to suggest some churches in the area that I might visit while I am in Bonn.  Unfortunately, this past Sunday I was still overcoming jetlag at this point and slept right through my alarm in the morning!  I was very disappointed, but I look forward to visiting an English-speaking church this Sunday.  I am also glad that my professor and one of my classmates will be joining me.  It's good to have a little fellowship here! :)

Monday (8/31) - First day of classes and also our first class excursion!  On this day we went to see the Botanical Gardens of the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms Universitat.  The Garden is located at a former palace that was donated to the Bonn University.  The University has done a great job of preserving/restoring the integrity of the historic design for the most part, but there are plans to do much more work in restoring some of the original design where parts of the garden have taken on more of a research facility look.

A view of the palace as it is today and the main garden.

Over 11,000 plant species are grown in this garden including

many non-native species like these giant lily pads that grow up

to 2m (~6 ft.) in diameter and can hold 80 kg (~160 lbs.)!

The four girls in our class in front of the palace and garden.

(l-r): Sydney, me, Catherine, and Megan)

Tuesday (9/1) and Wednesday (9/2) - These two days were mostly filled with class.  We were assigned our first design project:  we will be designing a plaza around three Frank Gehry buildings in Dusseldorf (another city along the Rhine about an hour from Bonn).  Also, Tuesday morning our class and several others studying at our Academy were officially welcomed by one of the new mayors of Bonn.  Here they have several mayors of different districts and one Lord Mayor.

Our class with Mayor Peter Finger in the middle or

the group wearing the grey suit.

Thursday (9/3) - This was a great day!  We had an all day excursion that started with a cruise along the Rhine River.  Then we had lunch in a quaint town called Braubach, hiked up a hill and toured a medieval castle.  We ended the day with dinner and a wine tasting at a beautiful winery.  

One of the many castles and villages we passed

as we cruised down the Rhine.

Me enjoying the sun and the view from the upper

deck of the boat ... it was a little windy.

Some of the vineyards we passed along the Rhine.

Previously I did not know so much wine was made

in Germany.  This region of the country has a lot of

slate rock which captures the heat in the soil allowing

the grapes to grow.

The views along the Rhine really were breathtaking.

In Braubach before lunch.

(l-r: Ryan, me, Jeremy, Jose, and Keaton)

Looking back on the second of four gates into

the Marksburg Castle.  The doorway is abnormally tall

because knights would enter here still on horseback.

The next three pictures are still in the Marksburg

Castle.  They show some of the living areas of the nobility.

This picture is a side view of the area where the cook fire was.

The entire stove area is about 10x12 ft. and is big enough to

roast an entire ox at one time.

The nobles' bed.  It was shockingly short!  Only about 6 ft. long!

This is because people in medieval times were very superstitious and

believed that if they slept lying down they would die because that was 

how dead bodies were laid out.  So they would sleep propped up on

pillows in a sitting position.

I think this might be the culprit that got Sleeping Beauty!

Our group enjoying our dinner and wine-tasting at the

beautiful Winzer winery.  We were also given a tour

of the cellar and shown how they make the wine.

A nice end to a "lieblich" (lovely) day!

Friday (9/4) - Today we took a class excursion to Schloss Augustusburg in Bruhl, the castle/palace nearest to where I live.  I had briefly walked past the garden on my first day here with my host-mother, Carmen.  It is a beautiful palace with an exquisite garden.  The palace and the garden have been modeled, in some ways, after the French palace Versailles.  After years of learning about these kinds of places in my classes at A&M, it is wonderful to finally lay my eyes on the rich beauty they offer.  God has given us such a precious gift here in this world to be able make and enjoy such beautiful places.  I live about fifteen minutes walk from Augustusburg and I look forward to coming back to visit and wander through the expansive gardens.  Unfortunately, our tour was rained out today.  We made it partially through before the downpour came! :)  We all ran to a brauhaus (coffee house) nearby and the rest of the class headed back to town as soon as the rain let up.  However, I had the advantage of living in Bruhl and thus had the opportunity to go back and do a little exploring on my own!  Here are some views of the few parts of the garden I made it through.  I still have a lot of exploring to do!

I'm standing on the main allee of the parterre embrodery

portion of the garden with the east wing of the palace

showing in the background.

... notice the rain clouds approaching ...

So intricate.

The entrance to the Jardin Secret (the Secret Garden).

Thank you for hanging with me through all of my reminiscing.  I promise not to always be so long-winded.  This has been a busy week.  Things may slow down a bit as we get settled in and the weather gets colder.  I'll keep you posted!

P.S.  I forgive you if you just looked at the pictures!