Summer in Deutschland

So, liebe Freunde und Famile. It's once again been a long time since I've written on my blog and just like last time there is plenty to tell!

I've spent less time over the last few months traveling and more time planning for the future, but of course there have been a few weekend outings here and there. On the 1st of May, I went to my roommate Carsten's hometown. The 1st of May is a very interesting holiday in Germany. It's sort of a mixture of Labor Day and Father's Day and as with all other German festivities, there was a lot of drink involved. Here's how it works:

Step 1.

Drive out to your countryside "Dorf" and find all of your old friends.

Step 2.

Find a wagon and decorate it how ever you like. Loud boom boxes with bad German pop music and flashing lights are compulsory.

Step 3.

Fill the wagon with as much beer and liquor as you can find/pull in the wagon.

Step 4.

Patiently wait until it's 11am and start pulling the wagon. You can guess what happens to the alcohol.

Step 5.

Play a game which is basically a long range version of boccie and pull the wagon all over the country side waving to the other people who are doing the same thing .

It was a really great time and I have to admit. I've never quite experienced the Germans like that. We had such beautiful weather and the day was just awesome. It was also really cool to see Carsten's home town and meet all of his lifelong friends. I've been back a couple of times since!

There's been some changes in the apartment over the last few months. We've lost some roomies and gained some new ones but nothing less is to be expected in such a large apartment full of students. Katrin and Crissi have moved out and Laura and Jonas have replaced them. Crissi has moved to Hamburg to pursue her career in graphic design and Katrin has gone to Düsseldorf to work for the local radio station. I've managed to visit both of them since they've left.

Düsseldorf is a beautiful town and only about an hour away from me. The Rhine runs right through the town and it's the capital of the state I live in, North Rhine-Westphalia. The people of Düsseldorf have a reputation as being a bit fancy schmancy and you definitely notice it in the streets. There is a large community of Japanese people living there, one of the largest in Europe in fact. We visited the Japanese quarter and ate some sushi there.

Hamburg was also in the works. I didn't just go there to visit Crissi but also to go to a party for Lisa, an exchange student from my high school. We've stayed in good contact over the years and she was celebrating her move to Bordeaux, France and her birthday at the same time, so I figured I needed to make an appearance. Hamburg is such an amazingly diverse town and also very international because of the enormous port. If I were going to live in a bigger city in Germany, I think that Hamburg would be one of my first choices.

Big things to report on the Münster front. I finished my teaching assistantship in June and have been planning like mad ever since. Deciding what to do has been rather difficult for me but I examined my options and finally have a plan. I've decided that I want to continue my education by earning a masters degree and I've also decided to stay here in Münster to do that. There was a multitude of reasons as to why I decided to stay here, far too many for me to list in my blog. But I think I've made a good decision and am very excited to get started in the fall. Here's my program for those of you who would like to take a look. (It's in English)

Fotos.

This is Lisa! We had a great time at the party and hung out some on Sunday too. I'll miss not having her in Deutschland!

Crissi and I on the port. We went to the fish market super early in the morning and everything was so delicious. It was also fun to watch Crissi haggle in Turkish.

These are the newest roomies, Laura and Jonas. We all went out to a local bar/club one night called Gleis 22 and saw an American band.

The smallest German I know. Leonie. :-)

This the 1st of May. Notice the awesome Bollerwagen.
This is the large tower in Düsseldorf. It sits in the "Medienhafen" (Media Port), an old port which has been rebuilt to house much of the region's media companies such as television and radio.

A shot of the Rhine and the old part of the city. As you can see, we had beautiful weather.

I took this picture inside my school on the last day.

A very common sight in Germany. Germany is the biggest user of wind power in the world. I always have to laugh a bit when I catch myself starting at them from the train because my mother once told me that I was fascinated by pinwheels as a kid. Some things never change.

Time for a list.

Facts about North Rhine-Westphalia.

1. North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state in Germany with about 18 million inhabitants.

2. At about 13,120 square miles, North Rhine-Westphalia is about one third the size of Ohio (44,825 square miles)

3. At the heart of North Rhine-Westphalia is the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Area). The Ruhrgebiet is a huge metropolitan conglomeration of many different cities. The area is one of the most important industrial centers for Germany and has about 5.5 million inhabitants.

4. When Germany was separated into two states during the cold war, the capital was located here in Bonn.

5. In the eastern half of North Rhine-Westphalia, there is a region known as Sauerland. It is a very popular vacation destination for skiing and hiking.

6. North Rhine-Westphalia shares its western border with Belgium and The Netherlands.

7. Europe's largest inland port is located in Duisburg which is situated in the heart of the Ruhrgebiet.

8. Because of the region's industrial importance and concentration of large cites, North Rhine-Westphalia suffered greatly from air raids in World War II. Many of the cities had to be completely rebuilt and now exhibit a interesting mixture of modern and traditional architecture.

9. Carnival is an extremely popular holiday in North Rhine-Westphalia, especially in Cologne, where there are hundreds of thousands visitors every year.

10. As coal production and other forms of industry decline in the area, North Rhine-Westphalia has continued to adapt to the modern world economy, changing its cities and people in the process.

I guess that's it for now. Bis die Tage. :-)