So sorry it’s taken me so long to write anything. We are literally in class all day on Tuesday and Wednesday so this has been my first free second! So last weekend we went to Munich and it was AMAZING! It is definitely my favorite city so far. We took an overnight train, which left Thursday night. That was definitely an experience…I was in a tiny room with two other people and got the top bunk. It was insanely cramped but we slept the whole time since there wasn’t room to move around, so it was bearable.
We arrived Friday morning at 6:30 am, exhausted but excited. Our first stop was to the Dachau Concentration Camp. It was chilling to go through and see where the Nazis kept everyone. Andre (our guide from Miami) walked us through and explained the history of the camp. When the camp was raided at the end of the war, the Nazis burned the entire place down. As a memorial, however, they rebuilt some of the buildings. We walked through the barracks and the gas chamber to get a feel for the conditions they endured. There is an amazing sculpture in the camp, which is below here.
After our tour was over, we headed to our first beer garden- Augustiner. We had lunch and I quickly learned that I was definitely not a fan of German food. I had some type of bratwurst and ended up mostly eating fries. Because of the food, I’ve decided that I could never live in Germany for more than a few days.
After that, my friend Charlie from home met up with us. We both turned 22 this week so he came in for the weekend to celebrate our birthdays. Our first stop was to go and find a dirndl. It is a German beer maid’s dress that evidently people actually wear around as an outfit. I think that’s the most shopping Charlie has ever done in his entire life, but I informed him that he’s now my new shopping buddy for my Bal dress since he did such a good job!
We had dinner at Hofbrauhaus, which is the largest brewery in Germany. They had live music and these performers who had fishing polls that they hit together to make noise…not really sure what they were called, but it was really interesting! After dinner we went out to different clubs around Munich, which were very interesting to say the least.
Saturday was the most fun I’ve ever had. We went on a 9-hour bike ride through Munich, which was absolutely amazing. We had a history tour in the morning and saw the Tina Turner Church and rubbed some lions’ heads that were supposed to bring us good luck. We saw the Nymphenburg Castle, which was gorgeous! We had lunch at a beer garden where I found a crepe with Nutella! We continued on and stopped at another beer garden in the English Gardens. The best part of the day was the river inside the English Gardens. The current was insanely strong and you had to hold onto the side for dear life in order to stop. I went in 4 times and my body ached for two days from all the scratches and bruises I got!
Germany was playing in the 3rd/4th place game against Uruguay Saturday night so we tried to get into the Olympic Stadium to watch the game. We were too late that they had stopped selling tickets by the time we arrived. So we went to a restaurant near the stadium, which was just as fun. The Germans definitely have pride in their team!
On Sunday we explored Olympic Park and played putt-putt. I also stopped by the BMW museum, which Lizzie and Dad would absolutely love. Granted I’m not really into cars and didn’t understand all of the details, but I know they would really appreciate learning about them. Later that afternoon the group took another bike tour around Marionplatz, which is the center square of Munich.
We had to take another night train Sunday night and arrived in Florence Monday morning. All day I tried to catch up on sleep from the trip and then had to pick up my friend Lauren from the train. She came in for a night to celebrate my birthday! We’ve known each other since we were about 4 years old. She was our neighbor on Valley Brook and she was the first person I ever spent the night with when I was little, so that tells you how long we’ve been friends!
That night about 20 of us went to a restaurant called Tijuana. It had amazing Mexican food and was definitely a nice change from pizza and pasta. Everyone seemed to love it and I had a great 22nd birthday celebration!
This week I’ve been in class 24/7. I have a lot of stuff due next week so I’ve been scrambling to get it all finished before Barcelona this weekend. Tonight I had to interview someone for my journalism class with two of my friends. We chose the owner of a restaurant that we like to go to- Dante’s Pizzeria. I had eaten dinner before the interview, but he was so nice and insisted that we have dinner on him that night. My first dinner consisted of 2 courses and then I was forced to eat another dinner. Needless to say I have never eaten that much Italian food at one time!
Tomorrow we’re flying to Barcelona and I’m supposed to be up at 4am. As you all know I’m definitely not a morning person, so we’ll see how it goes! Love and miss you all and I’ll write about Barcelona next week!
MH
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