nothing but busy!

So, since I've last posted, I can't even remember what I've done! But, we went into Meersburg to see the oldest castle in Germany which wasn't a REALLY BIG castle, it was more like a big house. Then, my class and I went to the Brauhaus for some REAL German food, which was of course delicious! I got the chicken with spätzle and I could have eaten it for days.

**if you click on the pictures they will enlarge!**

Alexander from Finland, Me, and Eva from Norway before the Brauhaus

ferry ride over to Meersburg

this is the oldest castle in Germany, the Meersburg Castle (about a 15 minute ferry ride from Konstanz)

when the bishop's decided to stay in Konstanz they built this new "castle" for them to live in because they didn't like the old one anymore apparently

this was a house walking up to the castle

this was on the castle grounds in one of the courtyards

Saturday, 14 Aug, was the final day of the Seenachtfest (Sea night fest) and every year Konstanz, Germany and Kreuzlingen, Switzerland (neighboring towns) have a firework competition essentially. A group of people and myself walked into Switzerland (yes, we walked!) and watched the fireworks from there. Konstanz charges about 16,00 EUR for admission into their area, but in Switzerland it is free, so we walked! It was of course POURING outside, but the fireworks were amazing. First Germany went, and they had their show set to music. Then it was Switzerland who didn't have theirs set to music but most certainly outdid Germany....but only by a hair. They started out with three fireworks that didn't open up huge or anything they just shot into the sky and flashed like a spark and made a really loud bang like a gun shot, one right after the other with a few seconds in between. Then in the middle they were beautiful of course, but the end is where Switzerland hands down won. They had fireworks open up into little red parachutes!!!!! I wish I had pictures of them I MUST find them somewhere from the internet. But they exploded like fireworks and look all pretty, then we see these glowing red parachutes come our way! It was unlike ANYTHING I have EVER seen before. Absolutely amazing.

here's a link for the Swiss firework show, I can't find the parachutes yet, but give me some time and I will! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad_Zl4vIobE&feature=related

The "ambiance" of the Swiss side

Then yesterday, we went to Liechtenstein! Oh my goodness what a BEAUTIFUL country. If you don't know anything about Liechtenstein, its only 160 sq km and has a population of 35,000. It was cold and raining when we went yesterday, but everything was so scenic! We were in the capital of Vaduz for their Independence day, and when we arrived at the "castle" (they have so many large Rupunzel-like castles here in southern Germany and the surrounding areas but I seem to be going to none!) the Prince of Liechtenstein was out shaking hands, talking to people, and some man even sang the national anthem to him! Everyone was so impressed when they saw the Prince walking around drinking a beer (in his suit of course!) because for any country seeing your leader like that would be a HUGE deal. But, Liechtenstein was beautiful! The group of people I went with and I decided that we were going to travel up to the top of one of their mountains, Malbun. So we took a bus as far up as we could, but before I continue, I must tell you this: the entire capital city of Vaduz was closed! AND ALL THE BUSES AND MUSEUMS WERE FREE! Yes! Free!! So, moving on, we took a bus up as far as we could, and then a ski lift up to the very top of the mountain. We were all sitting there like "why did we decide to do this its so foggy you can't even see anything." But as we started walking down the mountain the fog cleared for literally 3 minutes and made the ENTIRE thing worth while. At the end of this blog I'm just going to post a ton of pictures and write captions so you can get an idea. So since it was their Independence day, and the ENTIRE capital was closed down, there were just food and candy vendors lining the streets. All of the food was delicious, but it was amazing how much more things cost in Liechtenstein. In Germany, a soda is about 2,40 EUR, a small beer is like 1,00 EUR sometimes less, and coffee about 3,00 EUR; but in Liechtenstein, soda was about 3,30 EUR, 3,60-4,00EUR for a small beer, and I paid 3,60 EUR for a coffee! It was crazy to see the prices change when you're just an hour away.

Liechtenstein also had an AMAZING firework display around 10:30 PM. It was better than the Swiss show, it had to be! They shot the fireworks off from a cliff where the "castle" was situated and at one point had fireworks falling down the side of the cliff like a waterfall. It was unreal and every time we thought it had just been the finale and they were over, MORE came! At the very very end however they lit one firework and it was a smiley face! It was adorable!

this was one of the views from the mountain as we walked down and the fog cleared

this was from inside the bus going up the mountain...these buses had to have been turbo charged or something because they were going up these mountains without ANY issue

a pretty building in Vaduz, Liechtenstein when it was actually sunny, NOT pouring.

a very original style home that looks like an organ

This was the castle on top of the cliff!

Overall my past week has been good! Lot's of things to do and see and NO time to write about it! I thought I would have wayyy more time than what I have had and it's hard trying to remember a week's worth of activities! Although one thing that does stand out and very strange here in Konstanz is the weather! The first week I was here and maybe 2 extra days it was hot, like 85-90 hot. The rest of the time its either cold and rainy (today is 58 with rain) or sunny and around 70-75! I could have sworn it was going to be so much warmer here!! I have had to buy warm clothes because it's been so cold, I brought one pair of flats and the rest sandals expecting summertime weather! ah! But, alles gut (all is good) and the way I see it I've done some school shopping that I otherwise would not have had the chance to do back home!

I am also very disappointed in the weather because I had purchased a float so I can float in the Rhein and I have not yet been able to use it :(

Check back soon! I am going to Austria this week!!!

-Sam

So, this past weekend was amazing! It was so much more fun than I was expecting, although to be honest I really didn't know WHAT to expect. Friday night we all just hung out in one of the dorms, Saturday the Uni hosted a beach party for us at a club...I was expecting sand and a beach atmosphere, but there was none! Regardless it was an amazing time and it was so much fun to see how energetic everyone got when Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind came on and Kesha's California Girls. It was so weird I was just thinking "you're all European! And if you're not then you're from IBH and you're probably Canadian!! You're not from New York!" It was really entertaining and as far as I'm concerned just solidifies the fact that NY has the best music! The DJ was amazing though and everyyyyone was dancing. Yesterday, Sunday, me and a small group of people (6 others....that's small right?) went to see Toy Story 3 in 3-D! AND IT WAS ALL IN GERMAN! By far the best decision I've made thus far. Toy Story 3 was amazing! And what made it even more amazing was that I understood ALOT of the German they were speaking!!

What is even MORE amazing though, is that the other night I had a dream in German! I woke up and was like "woah did that just happen?" and the more I am in class and the more I am speaking German the more I find myself wanting to type and write words like they do in German. So this is so far an amazing trip and worth every penny and every single day.

As amazing as this is, it could possibly be the worst trip ever for me! As soon as I get home I KNOW I am going to want to come back again and again and again. Everything here is so laid back, at least where I am in Germany and the people here don't get mad if you make a mistake speaking German, if anything they try and help you and correct your mistake! Sometimes they feel bad and speak English to you....but let's not talk about that and pretend like thats NEVER happened to me....

So anyway, today was a very long day of classes, from 9-5 but that didn't feel so long either! I really enjoy being in class and absorbing every single thing that I can. My professor (or TA I'm not sure what to call her, I think she is a graduate student at the Uni and is teaching this summer course for experience) only speaks German and another Slovic language that I can't think of at the moment. So we are FORCED to ask her questions in German, and it turns into the entire class filling in the "blanks" with their German that they know and she eventually understands! But I am learning SO much and everything is so great with me!!

I don't have any photo's to post yet, I just cooked/ate dinner and am getting ready to head back out! So possibly tomorrow or when I have time to upload my photo's you can see some new ones!!

-Sam

It's Friday!

Finally, a week (well, 4 days) of classes are over! Not much has been going on, really just classes, some shopping and hanging out and meeting new people.

Yesterday however, some friends I made from Norway & Canada and I made a family-style taco dinner together at one of the dorm rooms! It was a lot of fun, and it's really nice to eat dinner with people as a "family" when you're so far away from each other. Dinner was excellent and this is a picture of who I ate with once we were done and cleaned up!

I also found this amazing little spot by the Rhine where you can just sit and put your feet in and depending on how high the water is that day you can even just walk around on top of this little platform and get your feet wet! There is also an amazing view of the Rhine and the other side of the river!

Everything here is so beautiful, and I honestly don't feel like I'm out of place here. A lot of students and people speak English, and a lot of them don't but it honestly doesn't even matter because people try to understand each other's broken English or German, and your language progresses so much once you just start talking. One of the biggest problems I've noticed is people just being too shy to try and say what they want and instead they say nothing and their language skills don't progress. I love speaking my German here! Its so much fun being able to use the skills you have!!

Today we went into Meersburg which is about a 10 minute ferry ride away. We had a castle tour, and it was about 2.5hrs long. The castle we went to was the oldest one in Germany, and because it was so old it was super hard to take pictures inside, they really didnt allow it. It had so much history to it though and the courtyard was very very nice.

Alright well, it's time for me to go!

-Sam

Rain in Konstanz

DAY TWO (TAG ZWEI)

okay so today, Monday, day two of my journey, was a rainy one. Brianna, Charlotte and I went to Media Markt across the Rhine for some things we needed (ethernet cables, blow dryers, etc.) and wound up eating at this amazing bistro; the food was SO good, and even though I got a pizza, I was so happy with it. The owner guy, Joe, spoke some English and was kind enough to help us figure out the menu. He was so sweet, and even tried getting his daughter to help us who spoke the most English. We also met some 3 girls, 2 from CT and 1 AZ that are going to spend the year in Germany (first two girls) and Switzerland (last girl). Konstanz is just their month-long intro to Germany/German before they continue on the next year. After talking to them I was very pleased my flight even more so than I was before (and mind you I was VERY pleased) because I found out they were only allowed 1 piece of luggage at 50 lbs and had to pay an extra 50$ for their second piece of luggage. And 1 piece of luggage would NOT be enough for me for one entire year. So I was pleased because my airline allowed 2-50 lb pieces of luggage, a carry-on as well as a personal bag...and the pilot spoke 3 languages, the landing was absolutely amazing, AND the Swiss chocolate at the end of the flight was AMAZING.

So what else did we do today...after lunch and Media Markt we all (Brianna, Charlotte and I plus the three other girls we met) walked around on the other side of the Rhine, found some places for groceries, than came back to the dorm to drop off our left-overs, put on some rain gear than head out for more exploring/food shopping (which was not accomplished)/souvenir searching. Everything went over really well except the food shopping part, however I went to a bakery and was able to purchase 3 rolls and a pretzel for ,89 € which I was super pleased at.

After bargain hunting all day for post cards, I was able to find some for ,30€ as opposed to ,60€ and even got a book of 12 postcards for 3,00€. I also got a keychain!

After that we ate dinner at a cute little place where I ordered Kaffe (coffee) and Olivermuss mit baguette (olive spread with baguette bread), and the coffee was very good and came with a little chocolate! All of the chocolate here is delicious, there was a chocolate place that I came across that I must go back to so I can bring some home.

I also got Gelato before dinner, hazelnut flavor, and that was to DIE for, definitely going back there again. 2 scoops of delicious gelato only 1,60€ !!

Not too much happening today, although I had a moment of self realization... when I'm home at SBU and it's raining I freak out about my hair getting wet, my legs getting wet, and looking miserable, however here I was completely fine with everything. So what if my hair was wet, there were times that if it were raining I wouldn't put my hood up at all, and I never would do that back home. I guess its just the environment and the people that make you not worry so much about how your hair is or if you look really nice, everyone here is very laid back and its very refreshing.

Thats about it for now, its 22:30 (10:30 PM) here and 16:30 (4:30 PM) back in NY and I have my first day of classes tomorrow! I need to be up at 7AM and take the 8:09 bus in order to get to the University on time (I'm in off-campus housing) and Germans are very, very adamant about being on time, and prefer earliness.

Oh and by the way, my suite-mate speaks only German and very little English, so my skills will completely improve by the time this month is over!

-Sam

German snails have the coolest shells, they're a pale yellow with a brown spiral

this is me outside a cathedral in the middle of town

ARRIVED IN KONSTANZ!

DAY ONE

Okay, so I'M HERE IN KONSTANZ!! And let me start from the very beginning. So, 12:30 pm I leave my house to head to the airport, say my teary-eyed goodbyes to everyone not coming with me to the airport, and even more teary-eyed goodbyes once I'm there. Check in was actually really quick because I had already done it online, and all I needed to do was pick up my boarding pass. So, my baggage was weighed, and I was allowed 50lbs but wound up only having 40lbs (go me!) and off I went through security. So, let's fast-forward to me on the plane. I was SUPER impressed by the pilot, he spoke German, English AND French, and when he made his announcements he made them once in each language and said THE EXACT SAME THING!!!

There was no deviation! We arrived a full HOUR EARLY (absolutely amazing timing!) and we fly from NY up north way past Maine and way up into Canada, then east, and we were actually a little south of Iceland & Greenland, over England, France (we actually passed over Normandy) and then on into Zürich. Let me tell you, this pilot not only amazed me with him language skills, but his landing ability is equal to no other. We touched the ground and that was it. No bounce back up, no feeling of being pushed forward and like bending over because of super hard braking. It was like we were in a helicopter and he just hovered on down from 40k feet. I was SO amazed. Everyone on the plane clapped! It was amazing. Here are some pictures from the plane!

these are all pictures heading into Switzerland. This one is of the country side outside of Zürich and if you look really close you can see the Swiss Alps!
These were some clouds when we were still over France that I thought were lovely!!
Look at these colors. It looks like cotton candy in the sky! So beautiful to see, this was the sunrise heading into France

Okay, so I get my bags, go through customs, all that un-fun stuff, then, get a 2nd class train ticket from Zürich to Konstanz, and let me tell you, this second class was like first class on the LIRR....if it existed. There was such ample room, every seat was a two-seater facing another 2-seater, like booth style in a restaurant without the tables, and the sights were AMAZING.

this is one of two sunflower fields we passed going from Zürich into Konstanz on the SBB.

So, We get into Konstanz, we get picked up by Bastian (Bass-tee-on) and he takes us (I was traveling with two other girls, Brianna and Charlotte) along with our massive and heavy luggage THROUGH THE CITY OF KONSTANZ ON FOOT, to show us around a little bit and how to get to the dorms. So after that trip, which Bastian said would be about 10 minutes, and was actually about 20-30, we were all dead. So at this point we're super excited to head into our dorm's and unpack and hang out, however, the elevator was not working. Bastian said it must have something to do with these two kids who were moving out last week putting a couch in it and riding the elevator up and down all day for hours. So we had to trek...again...up the stairs. Now mind you, in Germany the first floor is really our second. So I was on the second floor and had to trek my luggage up a good, long 3 flights of stairs. Not fun at all. This is the dorm:

After that we all walked around and explored and had quite the adventure trying to order dinner at a Spanish restaurant that they only spoke Spanish and German in. We struggled but managed to pull through with dishes that were totally not what we were expecting! Oh well, every day is an adventure that's for sure! her are some places I thought were very pretty and blog-worthy!

this place was built in 1913

foot/bicycle bridge going over the Rhine to the other half of Konstanz

the Rhine from across the foot/bicycle bridge "the other side"

3 days left!

So I have three days left officially until I leave for Konstanz! I am in the process of going through all of my clothes putting some aside that I want to take and going through them to see what I really DON'T need to bring with me, because if I bring something and I don't wear it, then it's just a waste of space in my luggage! I'm traveling with Swiss International Airlines and they allow two pieces of luggage at 50 lbs each. When you're traveling for a month two pieces of luggage at 50 lbs cant be enough!!! I suppose its going to have to be. I'm trying to pack things that I can leave in Germany; like shampoo & conditioner I can throw out before I leave because that doesn't HAVE to come back with me, and I'm bringing bars of soap instead of body wash because I'll only need one bar instead of an entire bottle.

I also bought some cool things from the store for my trip but the trial-sized packages of laundry detergent are my favorite and by far the most noteworthy. There's just something about them!

I also bought luggage from the store because everything I have is old and heavy. I got a really good price on a 7-piece set, and even though its just green I bought some fabric and I have my mom adding it to my luggage to make it "my own" so when I'm in the airport waiting to collect my baggage I'll be able to see it and know that I'm not taking the wrong luggage! She's still working on it, but I'm going to take some pictures and upload them. If you don't have a mom as handy as mine, or if you're not handy at all, another thing you can do is buy patches from walmart or michaels or any craft store (online even too) and iron them on.

so thats the luggage so far, i'm also bringing a duffle bag that i'm going to try and convince her to put some fabric on!!

But, I must depart, I still have to make photocopies of my passport and drivers license for my mom and myself...and time is slowly ticking away! More pictures to come that WILL be much better than my luggage, promise!

-Sam

12 days & counting

Right now, I have twelve days left until I get myself on a plane and head to Germany! I've been feeling so overwhelmed trying to PLAN what to pack, that I feel like there are so many things I NEED that it just won't ALL be able to come with me. There are so many unknowns, for example I have no idea if I need to bring sheets with me, or pots and pans or even a sponge to clean these things. Of course I can buy things while I'm in Germany, thats not a big deal, but I just wish I KNEW for sure what I needed to I could appropriately plan! I want to travel as lightly as possible but when you're abroad for a month that's not very easy! I'm going to have to send some emails and see what I can find out. However, once I am done with my list-making (lists keep me so organized I'd be lost at times like these without one) I will paste it onto my blog so you can see what it is I'm bringing! Hopefully when I get settled in Germany I'll be able to let you all know what was/wasn't useful and what I should have brought!

All of that aside though, I am SO excited to get there and to see EVERYTHING!!!!! I fly into Zurich, Switzerland and than take a train to Konstanz, Germany. While I'm there I'll have German Class and part of the program involves the University taking the study abroad students to "see the sights" which include the oldest castle in Germany, a trip to the country of Liechtenstein and Austria! AHH! SO EXCITED!

I have family in Germany, and apparently they are only about 30 minutes away from Universität Konstanz, so I am hoping I'll be able to see them; I haven't seen them since I was only a few months old! I'd love to be able to meet them again.

Well time to head back to my lists, then off to the stores to run some errands to purchase things for my trip!

-Sam