The Netherlands

Germany is great and all but I really wanted to get out of the country so I rang up my best friend Gabby and told her that I needed to come visit her in the Netherlands. Gabby is studying abroad in Utrecht which is only a short distance from Amsterdam and about a 3 hour train ride from me. So I booked my train and left for the weekend.

I thought that The Netherlands would be really similar to Germany being that they are neighboring countries. It's not. I would to describe it as being Canada and Germany the US. The Netherlands is much smaller and obviously has a lot less rules than Germany. I got off of the bus and I'm pretty sure I saw more people riding bikes than I did walking. I got in at night so I couldn't really see any of the buildings around me but I could definitely feel the difference in atmosphere between the 2 countries.
I met up with Gabby at her quaint university and at around 12:30am we decided to go out dancing. Everyone rides their bike in the Netherlands so before I came Gabby rented me a bike so that we could ride around. So at 12:30 we rode our bikes to a club where me met up with some of her friends. It was fun riding my bike but I gained a new respect for the reliable subway system in Germany. After we had our fill of music and dancing we rode home and slept for a long time.

The next day we decided to go into Amsterdam. Gabby said that it would be better if we waited until mid-day to go because we'd be too tired if we spent the entire day there. We went to the train station booked a ticket and were in Amsterdam about a half of an hour later.

Amsterdam is an interesting city. Pretty much everything is legal there but it's no proverbial Sodom and Ghomorra. It's very clean and, like most of Europe, the people walking around are very fashionable. We tried to stray away from the typical tourist things to do because I told Gabby that I'd be coming back with my school in about a week and we'd probably be doing those kind of things so we leisurely walked through the city and took a canal tour. It was nice because I know when I go this weekend we'll be doing non-stop stuff.

After dinner Gabby wanted to take me to the Red Light District and then dancing (not in the same place). So we had a nice pizza dinner and then walked around the Red Light District for a bit and then went out dancing.
It seems like everywhere we go we meet Americans because in the club we met this girl from USC studying at the University of Amsterdam who happened to know a close friend of mine. The more I travel the more I feel the world is actually a lot smaller than I had originally thought.

We didn't get back to Utrecht until about 4am so we slept in again the next day. Gabby really hadn't been home in a lot of weeks so we spent a nice day riding our bikes around her city. Even in Utrecht they have canals so it was a welcome change from Germany, but again I like being home and was ready to use those good ol' subways so I left once again for Deutschland. Tomorrow I go back to Amsterdam and it will be interesting to see how different my experience is this weekend from the last.

P.S. I have a number of photo albums on picasa web. The url is: www.picasaweb.google.com/tderodeff for your viewing pleasure!

OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!

So we decided to go to Oktoberfest a little last minute. Many people plan the event out months or even an entire year ahead. We, however, finalized our plans about a week before. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I really wanted to go to the fest because I didn't really know what to expect.

Let me just say I'm glad I decided to go.

Because we're young and dumb, we decided to book a night train so that we'd get to Munich at 7 in the morning and then we'd be able to party at Oktoberfest all day. So we took the midnight train from Bonn to Munich and slept on the train. We got to our hotel in Munich at about 7:30 and got ready for the day. We took a taxi to the actual grounds of Oktoberfest and waited outside of the Paulaner tent with hoards of others. Once they opened up the doors it was a mad rush to find a table. After about 20 minutes of no success, we finally found a table and sat with 2 german girls and 4 Texans dressed in lederhosen (I know right?).

They don't actually tap the kegs until 12pm so we had to wait about 2 and a half hours to actually get our first beers. The beers came just in time too because we were all tired from traveling and ready to start this party. Finally the tent livened up, people started to yell and stand on tables and music started playing; it was time to tap the keg. After a 30 second countdown in German (which I was very proud to be able to do) the party began and the beer was brought out in droves. I have no idea how the waiters and waitresses were able to carry 10 beers 1 liter each to each table but it was surely a sight to be seen.

After the first beers were brought out, we had reached the point of no return. More live German music was played, people continued to dance on tables and the day just got crazier and crazier. Women were walking around with breathalyzers so that people could find out their blood alcohol content and even get a certificate to show off their high score. It was seriously one of the most fun places I had ever been to; after people started to dance on the tables I knew I wouldn't have a problem fitting in.

We pretty much partied in the tent all day and in the evening walked all around outside looking at the carnival rides. After we were done walking around we decided to go back into another tent (the other Paulaner one) and see what it was like. This time we found a table with some Italians and proceeded to dance on these tables as well. Each of the tents have a different feel and even though this tent was owned by the same owner as the one we were at earlier, it definitely seemed more American. The singers in this tent were definitely German but played a more classic American playlist with songs like "Proud Mary" and "No Woman No Cry" we obviously enjoyed this very much but got tired out really quickly and left for our hotel at around 10pm.

The next day was a little bit more relaxed. We just walked around and looked at all of the tent. Gabby and I had been talking about the Hippodrome for months so we went in and decided to take a look around. The tent is known for being super exclusive but somehow we got in and were seated by a hostess. It was fun but I was happy that we had spent the previous day in the Paulaner tent. After the Hippodrome, we walked around and met up with some friends who were also at Oktoberfest outside the Lowenbrau Tent. It seemed as though we picked the interntational tent because there were so many people from other countries surrounding us. We sat in between some Australians and a few Englishmen. Finally it was time to head back to Bonn. We took another night train and returned to Bonn at around 5 in the morning. Luckily I had no class all day and was able to sleep and reflect on what an awesome time I had and how lucky I am to be able to experience all this!

Cologne

THE city closest to Bonn is Cologne. It is the 4th largest city in Germany and I feel as though if Bonn were Sacramento, Cologne would be San Francisco. Cologne is the 4th largest city in Germany and a whole lot bigger than Bonn. In one of our first weeks here, our advisors at the university decided that it would be a good idea for us to see the city and become a little bit familiar with it.

Cologne is famous for 2 things: Inventing Eau de Cologne; and it's massive cathedral. On our tour of Cologne we climbed almost to the very top of the cathedral and looked out over the entire city. While my fear of heights led me to be a little bit apprehensive at first, I'm glad I took the opportunity. The view was gorgeous, the sky was clear, and I felt like I was on top of the world.

It was also cool being able to see the inside workings of the cathedral. Our tour guide showed us the skeleton of the cathedral as well as various oddities I had no idea existed.

Cologne is a nice city to visit (especially at night) but I'm really glad I live in Bonn which is just a short train ride away. In comparison to Bonn, Cologne is very large and at this point of my stay I've figured out my way around. Bonn is basically in a big circle and I pretty much always know where I'm going whereas when I'm in Cologne I feel as though if I take one wrong street I will have no chance of getting back home. A few friends and I have visited Cologne a couple of times for it's nightclubs but I always prefer returning back to my room in Bonn. At this point, I believe, it's become my home.

Several Things I've Noticed About the Germans

ON one of our excursions we had a mixer with a number of German high school students who were studying US-German relations so we were instructed to talk to them about their perceptions of us and vice versa. It's given me an interesting perspective of what being an "American" is. But for now I'll dish on my perspectives of the Germans:

1. Most younger Germans speak English because they are required to learn in like 5th grade. Also any German will tell you that English is way easier to learn than German. Most Germans know 3 languages as well.
   
2. Germans aren't cold! A simple smile is just more of an invitation over here than it is in the U.S. (I'm still trying to figure out whether this is good or bad)
3. Germans will tell you exactly how they feel. Whether it's about politics, food, how someone behaves, Germans want to you know exactly what is on their mind. At first it's a little offputting, now it's more refreshing.
4. Germans know how to party and like to party very much. After attending Oktoberfest this past weekend, this became very very very clear.
5. Germans don't hate Americans!!! I think it has more to do with our current administration. Whenever I tell someone I'm from America (California especially) they immediately want to talk about celebrities or sunshine.

This is just the beginning. As I continue to travel I'm sure I will develop more perceptions about my new friends the Germans and will report on them accordingly.

It is an Honor to be a Bonner

So after a month in beautiful Deutschland comes my first blog entry. It has been almost non-stop until now. I don't have class until Monday so I finally have some time to breathe.

Basically, Germany is amazing and exceeds my expectations every day I am here. The trip over was long...very long. However I am glad that I took the group flight because it made it a lot more bearable being with people I knew. For some reason though I had a lot of trouble sleeping and didn't really until I got to my room in Germany. We got to the Frankfurt airport and took a 2 hour bus ride to the city of Bonn, where I will be living until mid-December. One of the first things I noticed as I stepped into Germany was how much English is used everywhere. I'm glad that I garnered a very basic understanding of the language before I left but after I noticed this I knew it wouldn't be much of a problem to make my way around the country.

After getting into Bonn they separated the students staying with host families from the students staying in the dorms. I was told that I would be living by myself and at first I was a little bit apprehensive about this but now I quite enjoy it because I'm living in a room for 2 people as 1. The people I live with are really nice and I know I'm creating some lasting relationships with my newly-formed friends. In the dorm facilities there are also students from a landscaping program at Texas A&M University as well as several German business men so it's an interesting smorgesboard of people from different cultures!

After settling into our rooms, our housing coordinator Olaf took us all out to dinner at a Biergarten near the university. There I had my first taste of German beer. The regional favorite is Kölsch which is brewed in nearby Cologne. German beer is way better than American beer. To put it mildly. Anyway, we had dinner on the Rhine and I got to take lots of beautiful pictures. Then Olaf asked us if we wanted to go shopping for food or out to a bar. We chose the bar.

Zebulon is a bar famous amongst the LMU students in the Bonn program because of their friendliness to us basically. Inside there's a large LMU banner and various pictures of LMU students from their semesters abroad. The staff is really friendly and ordered us all a round on the house.

Before arriving to Bonn I was worried about how long it would take to adjust to a completely different way of life than my own but after my first day in Bonn I knew it wouldn't be much of a challenge.

-American Boy-

europe: take 1

so in lieu of my study abroad adventure in germany, i thought i would upload some media of the last time i was in europe.