All Good Things Come to an End

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