It is amazing how fast time flies. Indeed, my last week in Bayreuth was quite eventful. On Monday, April, Ines (our friend from Spain), and I took a taxi to the Lohengrin Therme spa, located in Bayreuth. I will quote the website because any description I give would not do this place justice:

In the middle of nature – bedded between the spa park Eremitage, the marvelous summer home of Markgräfin (Countess) Wilhelmine, the nature resort Rotmain Valley, and the 18-hole championship golf course – Lohengrin Therme has been built within but two years and was opened on 22 November 1999. The spa is fed by the warm water of Friedrich Well, which was acknowledged as a stately medical Well by five Bavarian ministries in 1993. The medical water comes up from a depth of 1,122 metres, has impressive 20,000 years of age, and keeps a temperature of + 36° C (about 95.5° F) at the bottom. But it is not just the water which makes the visit of Lohengrin Therme an experience. Beside of the “Thermenwelt”, the large-scale “Sauna World” and the “Wellness Oasis” the Physiotherapy Lohengrin Therme, the In-Balance Team as well as the Lohengrin Bistro will contribute to your well-being.

April, Ines, and I spent three hours going from one pool to another. All were heated, but some more than others. Our favorite was the hot tub whirl pool, which had bubbling jets. He had to laugh because we were definitely the youngest people there – most of the other people were in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and even eighties.

As we were leaving, we had another good laugh when we realized that you had to call if you wanted the bus to come. Just then, a taxi pulled up.

Excited, we all jumped in, only to realize that someone else had specifically called for this taxi. As we got out, the driver promised he would hurry back and get us after he dropped off the other people. However, five minutes after he had left, another taxi came, and we all got in. We arrived back at the Hauptbahnhof ten minutes later, unlocked our bikes, and rode home. I felt so relaxed after the Lohengrin Therme that all I wanted to do was go to bed, and it was about midnight when I finally did so.

The next day, Max (our friend from Berlin), Ines, April, and I went to the famous Bayreuth Opera House and paid eight Euros for

great seats to a concert given by an American singer who performed opera songs in German and Italian. We were easily the youngest people there, as well. I must say that the Opera House is absolutely breathtaking, and we were lucky to go before they start renovations (it will be closed for the next three years!) The concert lasted for two hours, and afterward, we went out for some coffee.

On Wednesday, I got to go to a German hospital. Allow me to explain: Yesterday at Kreuzsteinbad (the local swimming pool), Ines jumped off the high dive, which was 10m tall. Her face hit the water so hard that when she got out of the pool, we were all shocked to see that she had bruising under her eyes. She insisted that she was ok and didn’t need any medical attention. However, when she came to work Wednesday morning, her face was very swollen, particularly her eyes. So, Laura (a girl I work with) said we should take her to the doctor. However, because of a public holiday, the doctor’s offices were closed, and we had to go to the hospital, or Klinikum, instead.

Bayreuth’s Klinikum was very nice. As Laura, Ines, and I walked into the main lobby, we were all surprised to see a beautiful fountain. Behind the fountain was a small pastry shop that sold mouthwatering delicacies. We found our way to the emergency room. Ines is from Spain, but by showing her European ID card and insurance, she had no problems seeing a doctor. We sat in the waiting area for about forty-five minutes. During this time, I watched the big ambulances pull up and unload patients, mainly elderly people. All of the doctors wore white clothing, including pants and shoes.

When Ines was finally called back, we went in a small room where a nurse did a general evaluation on her – asking her what happened, how she felt, etc. Next, we waited only five minutes for an X-ray. Following this, though, we waited about twenty minutes to get called back. An intern checked out the X-rays and determined that Ines was ok. He gave her some medicine to make the swelling in her face go down.

The following night, April, Ines, and I met Max for dinner at Café Kraftraum. We ate a delicious meal and talked for four hours. We had been sitting outside, and the waitress gave us some fleece blankets to use because of the cold weather – so European! Eventually, we moved inside and continued to talk over some tea. Around 1:00am, we went to Max’s friend’s apartment, which was right above the café. Jürgen was a nice guy, and he asked us a lot of questions about America. He even showed us some songs on his guitar.

By the time April, Max, and I got back to our dorm, it was almost 3:00am. Since it was mine and April’s last night, neither of us wanted to go to bed. We spent the next few hours listening to music and watching YouTube videos. I think we may have only gotten an hour of sleep.

The next morning, April and I arrived at Nuremberg Airport. We got our boarding passes from Lufthansa and checked our luggage rather quickly, then headed through security. We waited for about an hour before boarding the plane. I think we both slept the entire flight to Frankfurt.

Frankfurt Airport was huge. It was not difficult to find our terminal, but it certainly required a lot of walking. Once we went through security, we spent the last of our Euros on food.

Our plane took off forty minutes late due to an overbooking of seats, and the entire flight lasted almost nine hours. During the flight, I watched the movie Gran Torino. The U.S. Airways plane was nice because every seat had its own TV. The meals served on the plane weren’t bad either. When the plane landed, we had to wait twenty minutes for a terminal. Then, it took another half hour to get our bags from baggage claim. After going through customs twice, we finally met our parents in the international waiting area. It was really nice to see them again.

As we drove from Philadelphia to our house, I was excited to see familiar places again. I went to bed early because I was so tired and slept until 11:30am the next morning.

I miss all of my Germany friends, but I am very happy to be home. This summer definitely changed my life. During the two months I was in Germany, I fell in love with Bayreuth. I cannot wait to go back to Fordham and tell everyone about my amazing summer. Even though I write a blog every other week, I have kept a journal for every day spent in Germany. With fifty-eight pages of typed journal entries, I should just publish my writings as a book — just kidding! I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

I would like to thank the RISE team for all of their hard work in putting this program together. I would also like to thank Maike for giving me the opportunity to write this blog.

Wishing everyone all the best!

Tschüss!

Kim

April and I spent an amazing weekend in Berlin. We stayed with the family of a girl whom I work with, Laura. On Thursday evening, we drove with Laura about three hours from Bayreuth to Berlin. Driving in a car was particularly nice, as the train would have taken double the time!

The next morning, April and I went with Laura to see all of the historical attractions that Berlin has to offer. First, of course, were the remains of the Berlin wall, which was a physical barrier completely encircling West Berlin and separating it from the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), including East Berlin. The wall separated East Germany from West Germany for more than a quarter of a century, from the day construction began on August 13, 1961 until the Wall was brought down on November 9, 1989.

Next, we saw the Brandenberg Gate that used to separate the East and West sides of the city. This was where President Kennedy gave the famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech in 1961.

Afterwards, we came upon Checkpoint Charlie, which was the crossing point between the former East and West sides of Berlin. This point was guarded by the U.S. soldiers on the West side and by the Russian soldiers on the East side. We were also able to see the Reichstag. This is the huge building (near the Brandenberg Gate) where the German “Congress” lives. Now that Berlin has again become the capital of the reunited two Germanies, it is the center of the German government. Laura, April, and I then walked along the Kurfürstendam (“Ku-dam”) or the main street that has many excellent shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. This street was where all the big nightlife was in the 1980s.

One interesting thing about Berlin is the Ampelmännchen, or the little traffic light man. This figure is the symbolic person shown on traffic lights at pedestrian crossings in what was formerly East Germany. Before the German reunification in 1990, the two German states had different forms for the Ampelmännchen, with the usual human figure in West Germany traffic crossings and a male figure wearing a hat in the East.

The next day, Laura, April, and I met up with Laura’s sister, Aglaia, and we went to the KaDeWe, a huge German department store, for some shopping. Coming from New York, I have seen some pretty impressive malls, but I was truly in awe of KaDeWe (Kaufhaus Des Westens). Besides having some great clothing stores, there were amazing art sculptures, fountains, ponds, and flowers spread out around the interior of the mall. Outside of KaDeWe, we took some pictures with some Berlin bear statues (the bear is the mascot of Berlin). These statues were beautifully painted in different ways to represent different countries from around the world.

At night, we all went to a club called 40 Seconds (so named for the forty seconds it takes on an elevator to get to the top of the building where the club is located). We had a fun time dancing, but it is still hard for me to get used to the techno music that is so often played in German clubs.

The following morning, April and I went with Laura and her parents to take their dog, Nick, to a dog park. One thing I have noticed about Germans is that they are very close to their families, and I admire this quality very much. After living in Germany for almost two months, it seems to me as though Americans are sometimes too fast-paced with their lifestyles. For me, it was quite relaxing walking through the park on a misty Sunday morning with Laura, her parents, and her dog. I must admit, I never thought I would visit a dog park while I was in Berlin!

Since I have been in Germany, I have heard so much about Berlin. Countless times I have been asked if I have been there, and now I can proudly say that I have. I do agree with my friends that no German city is quite like Berlin. It is a place that is so historical, yet at the same time, so modern.

April and I had yet another action-packed weekend! This weekend was Bürgerfest in Bayreuth – meaning a festival for the people – NOT a party for hamburgers (as we wrongly thought). We walked around town and enjoyed the music and other festivities. I have never seen so many people out in Bayreuth at once!

A girl that I work with named Connie told me that her soccer team was having a tournament on Fourth of July in a town calledRegensburg. She asked me and April if we would like to play and I, of course, said yes. So, at 8:45am on Saturday morning, I rode my bike to the Geo building, where everyone on the team was gathered. They had rented a red university van, and we all threw our bags into the back.

The drive to Regensburg was about two hours, and we arrived by 10:00am. The tournament was sponsored by a network called Elite, and all the teams participating were different departments from various universities in Bavaria. My team was Global Change Ecology (GCE) from Uni Bayreuth. The winner of last year’s tournament was Uni Regensburg, and this is the reason that they were hosting the tournament.

The whole tournament was beautifully organized. There were three soccer fields, and each team played with seven players (plus substitutes). Our team wore navy blue shirts that read “350 ppm” and “Global Change Ecology.” (The number 350 represents the ideal carbon emissions level. Right now, scientists estimate that the number is about 389 ppm, so to reduce global warming, we need to cut down on our carbon emissions!) The back of our shirts said “Komm in die Gänge!” or “Get in the Game!”

In total, we played three games, and we were the only team out of twelve that was made up of mostly girls. In between games, we snacked on soft pretzels (so Bavarian!) and bottled water (with gas). It was fun to meet some of the other players! After our three games were over, we joined up with some of them and had one giant friendly soccer match.

When it came time for the awards, we may not have won the first place trophy, but we did win the award for the “Team with the Best Spirit.” Along with a certificate, we were given two bottles of champagne! Spirits for having spirit! Everyone also received a brown polo shirt with the name of the tournament on the back.

Following the tournament was a large barbeque. I ate bratwurst with bread and potato salad. The food was incredibly Bavarian and incredibly delicious. After dinner, my team set up our camp site (we had decided to camp at Uni Regensburg overnight). In all, there were six tents and plenty of sleeping bags. Some players from other teams also joined us.

As it was only 8:00pm, some of my teammates and I decided to explore Regensburg. We walked to the town center, which was full of people. We sat on the edge of the Danube River for a good hour just talking and watching the moon come out. The scenery was breathtaking, and the flow of the river made everything seem so peaceful. Continuing on our walk, we found the Dom, which was the main church of Regensburg. The church was having a light show, and huge colorful lights lit up specific parts of the outer part of the church as a voice on a loudspeaker narrated the history of how the church was built; it took six hundred years to complete! The colorful lights were reminiscent of the fireworks that I would (unfortunately) not be seeing on this Fourth of July. I even tried some of the Radler, which is a mixture of beer and lemonade.

We all got back to our camping site around midnight. Instead of going right to sleep, we sat and talked. Fortunately for me and April, everyone was gracious enough to speak in English. We finally ended up going to bed around 2:00am.

The next morning, we got coffee and ate some breakfast. By noon, we had packed up all of the tents and loaded the van. We arrived back at Uni Bayreuth around 2:00pm, and everyone was exhausted from all of the excitement of the previous day. I had such a great time. Never had I imagined that I would have the chance to play in a soccer tournament in Germany. After the tournament was over, one of the players from another team came over to me and April and told us that he had never seen girls play soccer so well – what a compliment!

Later in the afternoon, April and I went swimming with some of our friends in Kreuzsteinbad. We went in the wave pool and down the water slide and then sunbathed for a little while.

After dinner, we went to church with our Italian friends, Katia and Valentina. Even though the mass was in German, I was able to understand a fair amount of it. The church itself is beautiful, and the organ sounds wonderful.

Overall, my time here in Germany is flying by. I am just about at the halfway point of my stay, and I feel as though I have so much to do in so little time! Tomorrow, April and I will depart for Heidelberg, and we cannot be more excited to meet the other RISE participants. Heidelberg – here we come!

This past weekend, my friend Mike came to visit me and April here in Bayreuth. He is also a RISE participant and is doing research in Ulm. April and I woke up early, and rode our bikes to the Hofgarten to meet Mike; luckily, we found him without a problem.

Around 4:00 pm, April, Mike, and I went to the Uni-Openair, a series of concerts taking place at Universität Bayreuth and consisting of multiple bands playing indie and techno music. The music seemed a bit strange to us Americans, but we all had a good laugh at some of the bands; our favorite, by far, was a group called Diego.

After dinner, we decided to walk around Bayreuth with Mike. He had a GPS on his I-phone, so we were able to navigate through the dark streets pretty easily. On our way back, we got some delicious gelato. When we arrived back on campus, we went back to Uniopenair for the last band, which was quite decent. Towards the end, everyone was dancing and singing. When the last band had finished, everyone moved inside for the after party, which began at midnight.

Bright and early Sunday morning, we awoke at 6:30am to go to Nuremberg. It took about forty-five minutes to walk to Bayreuth’s Hauptbahnhof. We split the cost of a twenty-eight euro Bayern ticket (which lets up to five people travel for an unlimited amount of times in one day in Bavaria) and got on the train. The ride to Nuremberg was about an hour. Upon arriving, we ate a breakfast of coffee and pastries in a café and then hit the streets. We stopped at a souvenir shop, and I bought two porcelain dolls that are dressed in traditional German clothing.

We made our way to Nuremberg’s Imperial Castle and for five Euros, we went up in the castle tower, explored the museum, and witnessed a demonstration of candles being lowered into an ancient well. As the story goes, the king ordered his servants to dig him a well so that he could have the purest drinking water. The only problem was that his castle was built on a hill, making it nearly impossible to dig for water. However, after ten years of digging, the servants finally created a working well, which ended up being half a mile deep. In the demonstration that we watched, the tour guide lowered candles down into the old well so that we could see how deep it went.

After touring the castle, April, Mike, and I walked around some more. I had to go to the bathroom, and in order to do so, I had to pay 0.50 cents to a man who worked outside the WC. It still fascinates me how you have to pay to use a public restroom (except in McDonalds, where it is always free).

Next, we walked to the old Nazi rally grounds. This area consisted of large lawns of grass with old steps and tourist signs describing the buildings that used to stand there. Many had been torn down or destroyed in the 1940s. After 1945, the city of Nuremberg had the area remodeled into a park. Every year, there is a ceremony commemorating victims of the National Socialist rule of terror, which lasted from 1933 to 1945.

Using our Bayern ticket again, April, Mike, and I took the S-Bahn train back to the Hauptbahnhof, and we ate dinner in the food court. The train ride back to Bayreuth went fast, seeing as we slept most of the way. Upon arriving in Bayreuth, April and I said goodbye to Mike (who would take the train back to Ulm) and walked back to our campus. All in all, I feel that there has not been one dull moment since I have been in Germany!

I have had both a busy and amazing first week in Germany. Two days ago, April and I bought tickets for a trip to Munich this coming up weekend. The trip is open to any international students at Universität Bayreuth, and we hope that it will be a good opportunity to meet new people and, of course, see Munich!

On June 4^th, we went hiking in a small town called Alexandersbad. Joining us were April’s colleagues of the Geochemistry department. Everyone came equipped with backpacks, snacks, and good hiking boots. We hit the trails at 9:00am, and worked our way through a labyrinth of trees branches, dirt, rocks, and roots. At some points, we were climbing rocks that were in the formation of stairs. Other times, we had to squeeze through tiny rock caves.

Surprisingly, everyone held up pretty well; we hiked for four straight hours. We stopped for lunch around 1:00pm, when we finally came to the summit of the mountain. We ate at the Hönika Bräu, which had beautiful wooden tables and a breathtaking view looking down on several tiny towns. Here, April and I tried our first authentic German food. She ordered Bratwurst, and I ordered Schnitzel, which tasted and looked like breaded chicken. Everything was delicious! We drank mineral water sans gas.

The next day, April and I walked down Universitätstrasse and found the town mall. It is amazingly similar to an American mall, and has everything I could want. We had a good laugh when we came across a store called the New Yorker, which sold clothes that people presumably wear in New York. We ate dinner at a small restaurant, and I had a wrap with eggs, shrimp, and chicken.

We tried to go to the bookstore the other day, but to our amazement, the student resource center, where the bookstore is located, is only open from 9:00am-12:00pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and from 1:00pm-3:00pm on Wednesday. How inconvenient! Why is the resource center for students only open for three hours a day?! April and I both have to be working during these times. Hopefully, though, we might be able to stop there on our lunch break on Wednesday. We hope to buy some Universität Bayreuth sweatshirts.

On the night of June 6th, we met our Italian friends, Katia, Antonella, and Valentina, and walked over to the Mensa for the “Breaking the Crane Party.” It was amazing how the university had transformed the Mensa (the cafeteria by day) into a huge “Disco.” The lighting was very colorful, and the music was great – with a surprisingly large amount being American music. It was particularly funny when Lady Gaga’s Poker Face came on, and all of the German students started singing in English. All in all, I have never been to a party of this caliber, and I had such a great time dancing. The party began at 10:00pm and ended at 4:00am!

The weather was a bit gloomy this weekend, and it began pouring around 4:30pm on Sunday. However, Katia, Antonella, Valentina, April, and I decided that we would go to our first German mass. Luckily, by 5:30pm, the rain had stopped, and we walked through the scenic Hofgarten to get to the church. The church itself was old and beautiful, having been built in 1753. Minus the language barrier, the mass was very similar to one in the U.S.

Yesterday night was the final night of Volksfest in Bayreuth, which is equivalent to a big carnival. I was amazed at the rides, some of which looked incredibly daunting. I didn’t ride any of these rides, but I did take plenty of pictures. Because it started raining as we were walking around, we took refuge in the carnival’s Biergarten. Basically, this was a giant room with a stage, a band, and hundreds of people. Waitresses were weaving their way through the crowds carrying six or seven large mugs of beer (exactly like I had seen in the Rick Steves DVD of Germany). Half an hour later, the rain stopped, and just in time, too; the fireworks began, and they represented the end of Volksfest, which had been going for the last two weeks.

On another note, something essential to have in Bayreuth is a bicycle. In fact, next to my dorm building is a huge area where all of the residents of the dorm park their bikes; from what I can seen, there have to be at least 200 bikes in there! Thanks to April’s PhD student, Elke, we now have bikes to ride for the next two months. I am very excited because my walk to work in the botanical gardens is quite long. Now, I can make it there in half the time! Until next time, Kim

Hi! My name is Kim, and this is my first blog. I am April’s twin, and we will be alternating each week in writing. We are still in America, but by next week we will be in Germany!

To prepare for our trip, April and I have been reading a lot of books to build up our knowledge of Germany. We were very surprised at some of the facts that we have learned. Did you know that in Deutschland, you not only have to pay for grocery bags, but also for public radio and public television?

If you thought birthdays are celebrated the same all over the world, you would be wrong. Something else we found particularly interesting was that on your birthday, you are expected to put on the party and provide cake to all of your friends and coworkers! Never tell someone in Germany that you have a gift for him or her; in German, “gift” means poison!

In Germany, you must think twice about credit card acceptance; never assume that the nice restaurant in which you just dined will accept MasterCard or Visa. To be safe, you should always look for familiar credit card logos on the store windows; if you do not see any, just ask.

As we will not be using our American cell phones, April and I are going to look into buying inexpensive prepaid phones once we arrive. Did you know that the German word for cell phone is das Handy?

The German language is more direct and uses far fewer euphemisms than the English language. If you need to “relieve yourself,” you call a toilet a toilet (eine Toilette), not a restroom. If you go to the “bathroom” in Germany, it is to take a bath.

We are definitely looking forward to trying German cuisine. From what we have read, the two essential staples of the German diet are bread (Brot) and sausage (Wurst). Putting the two together, you get what we Americans know as a hot dog. Although I am going to stop here, you should keep this is mind: Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei – Everything has an end; only the sausage has two!