After I got back from Italy, I was shocked by how fast the semester had went by. There were only two weeks left and I still had a lot to do. I got back on Wednesday and I had to take an exam on Friday (or write an exam – this is how the Germans referred to it as). I only had one day to study for my Germany in Europe final. Germany in Europe was a class specifically designed for exchange students and it teaches us the history of Germany and their involvement in Europe. The exam took place Friday (4/21/17) morning. I got a 2.0 on a 5.0 scale. This transfers back to UIUC as an A. 1.0 is the best you can do and 5.0 is failing. For UIUC, 1.0-2.5 is an A so that was what I was shooting for on my exams. After my exam on Friday, I began to study for my next final on Monday (4/23/17). Studying for finals was very different than my whole time abroad because I was not used to it haha. Like I mentioned earlier, classes were typically once a week for 3 hours. The semester was also slit up into two quarters. This was why I was not used to studying because there was no point until it was time to take the exam. There was no homework or quizzes. After the German final, I needed to start preparing for two more exams on Thursday (4/27/17) and Friday (4/28/17). On Tuesday (4/25/17), the IRO (International Relations Office) held a farewell meeting with the Tauschies and provided us with sandwiches. This would be one of the last times all of the Tauschies were together. On Thursday, I had an exam for my Productions and Operations Management course. I did not like how this course was taught because the professor was very boring and the students would not be quiet during class. As a result, I did not learn anything from it and I did not understand the material (just like most of the Tauschies). Thankfully, a large group of Tauschies all studied together for the exam and practiced several exercises together. Since I had another exam on Friday, I had to start studying for my Retail Marketing exam as well. A weird thing about the exams at WHU was that most of the exams did not contain multiple choice or true/false. The exams were mostly conceptual and if the class involved math, there would be some exercises. The way the exams were marked, or scored, was on a bell curve. There could only be a certain number of 1.0s, 1.3s, 1.7s, etc. After my last exam, the end of my time abroad started to hit me hard. On Thursday after my exam, the IRO set up a final goodbye Tauschie group photo. Everyone stood in front of the main campus building for the picture. Afterwards, my friends and I wanted to get our own group picture with the ones that were here. It did not feel real at the time because we still had over a week left and none of us had thought of packing. Little did we know that the week would fly by and our time in Vallendar would have to come to an end, just like seeing each other every day. (I will discuss my departure and goodbyes in my last blog.)
Friday 4/28/17
After taking my exam, I began to pack for my weekend getaway to Munich. This time there were five of us going from my program. We took a night train to Munich that left Koblenz around 22:30 (10:30PM) and arrived the next morning. We thought it would be fun to all sleep in the same room. (It was very packed and there was hardly any room to move!) The weather was cooler than usual in Munich and had previously snowed the week before coming. It was not very fun to have traveled to Italy where it was sunny and 75 to Munich where it was in the 40s.
Saturday 4/29/17
We arrived to Munich around 07:00 and began to make our way to our hostel. Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria with an approximate population of 1.5 million people. Munich is famous for hosting Oktoberfest and its location near the Bavarian Alps. When we arrived, we were not able to check into our hostel until 14:00 (2:00PM); however, we were planning on spending the day at Frühlingsfest, or Springfest. Since we could not check in yet, we ate breakfast and got dressed in our dirndls and lederhosen. A dirndl is a traditional feminine dress worn in Bavaria that is based on the traditional clothing of Alps peasants. A lederhosen is a type of “leather breeches.” They may be short or at the knee and were common workwear across Central Europe. Today, mostly men where them as folk costume in Bavaria. I purchased one in February to wear for Carnival and for Frühlingsfest because I thought it would be a good way to dress as a German would for their traditions. Frühlingsfest is a smaller version of Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is held in September through October and typically has a lot of tourists. Frühlingsfest generally has less tourists and more locals. Frühlingsfest is the German word for Springfest because it is held in mid-April to May. When we made it to the festival, I was not expecting it to be like a carnival or fair. There were several attractions, food stands, and some beer tents. I wanted to ride some of the rides so I did. Afterwards, we headed to the tents and we all sat at a table. Inside the tents, there were tons of tables close together and there was food served along with some traditional Oktoberfest music. My favorite one was the song “Ein Prosit,” which played every 15 minutes. The lyrics went as follows: “Ein Prosit, ein Prosit Der Gemütlichkeit. Ein Prosit, ein Prosit Der Gemütlichkeit. OANS! ZWOA! DREI! G'SUFFA!” and translates too: “A toast, a toast to cheer and good times. A toast, a toast to cheer and good times. One! Two! Three! Drink up!” People also said do not stand on the tables until the Germans do because you can get thrown out if you do. This is a “rule” because they think that Americans get drunk to fast and if the Germans do it, then everyone is already drunk. This was correct because by 19:00 (7:00PM), a new band entered and all the Germans stood up on the tables so we all joined. One thing about Frühlingsfest and Oktoberfest is that they serve 1 liter glasses of beer. Springfest was a lot of fun and I hope to go back for Oktoberfest in the near future.
Sunday 4/30/17
Our Sunday morning started around 08:30. We wanted to go see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria so we took a train from Munich to Füssen, Germany. Füssen is a Bavarian town just north of the Austrian border with an approximate population of 15,000 people. The Neuschwanstein Castle is only about 5-10 minutes away. Once in Füssen, we took a bus to the bottom of the castle and began to hike our way uphill. The Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th century Romanesque Revival palace on top of a hill overlooking a village. The palace was constructed under the order of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, also known as the “fairytale king.” The castle is the inspiration of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Germany. Just before we arrived in Munich, it had snowed. Due to the snow, the trails and bridge were closed; however, there was no one enforcing the closure so all the tourists would walk past the fence and head to the bridge to get the iconic pictures. We walked around the base of the castle before heading to the trails. We also did not enter the castle because we did not book our tickets in advance and the next entry available was later that evening. The hike up to the bridge was a challenge because of the ice patches. I am glad I did not fall down haha because we were walking up a steep hill that had parts covered in ice and slush. I did not wear the right shoes for it either. Once we made it to the top though, it was worth it. The snow looked cool in the pictures as well. After admiring the castle, we headed down to a lake, Alpsee, that was nearby that is surrounded by the Alps. The views were perfect and with the sun, it was nice to just relax there. When we finished relaxing by the lake, we headed back to Munich where we ate dinner. After dinner, I wanted to see some sights since there was a little bit of sunlight left. We walked through Frühlingsfest again at night to see all the lights lit up on the rides and we walked by a nearby church, St. Paul’s Church.
Monday 5/1/17
The last day in Munich was spent seeing the city and relaxing. The day started around 08:30 and we began to make our way to some sights downtown. We walked to Marienplatz, which is a central square in the city with the Old City Hall and New Town Hall located on the outside of it. The New Town Hall hosts the city government. On the outside of the building, there is a clock that has a show every hour. Around this time, a chant started to occur and people with signs started to walk through the crowd. May 1st is May Day or Labor Day. On this day, the spring weather is welcomed along with people campaigning for and celebrating workers’ rights. During the time when we were there, people were advocating for socialism. We left the area and headed for the Englisher Garten, or the English Garden. The English Garden is a large park in Munich that is 1.4 square miles. It was very peaceful in the park and there were several places to sit on the bench. I started to get hungry so some of us left to go eat at the Hofbräuhaus. The Hofbräuhaus is a beer hall that was originally built in 1589 and rebuilt in 1958 from bombing from WWII. There was also a remodeling in 1897. The restaurant serves traditional Bavarian food and of course serves tons of beer. The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is not only loved by tourists, but the locals love it too. They keep their personal beer steins stored there at the place for use when they visit. After visiting the Hofbräuhaus, it was getting closer to the time to depart back to Vallendar. We took our final night train back to Koblenz; this time we split up into different rooms so there would be more room to sleep.
Tuesday 5/2/17
After a long ride back to Koblenz, we finally arrived 07:30 and arrived in Vallendar around 08:15. Of course since it was early, I took a nap until noon. After my nap, I woke up with nothing really to do since I was finished with finals and Munich was my last trip. Most of my friends still had finals so I had nothing to do besides watch Netflix (the hard life). That evening, I previously planned a dinner at a local German beer garden restaurant overlooking Vallendar to celebrate my birthday on Sunday, May 7. However, the weather looked like it was going to rain all week so I decided to move it to a local Italian restaurant. The weather turned out to be great during my final week in Vallendar. After having dinner with some friends, we headed to Korova for one final Tauschie Tuesday. Since it was the end of the year, it wasn’t a real Tauschie Tuesday, but we created our own. It was a great evening spent with some great friends.
See you soon, but not too soon
-E