Since it's been quite awhile since I was able to write a blog, I'll just hit the high points, as some days weren't filled with activity and excitement.
On Monday, June 30, Joseph and I did some sight seeing around Mainz before I had class. We went to the Dom and St. Stefan, going inside both of them. I'd never been inside either, so I was excited to see them. The history behind both is quite fascinating. Construction on the Dom began in the 900s, and had changed time and time again since construction first began. That night we also went to Nero's, a bar down the street from me, to watch the Germany game. On Tuesday, July 1, Joseph, Matt and I went to Eisgrub to watch USA-Belgium game. It was a heartbreaking loss, but I'm really enjoying experiencing the World Cup in Germany.
On Thursday, July 3, Joseph and I went on the Gutenberg Express, a little street tram that goes around Mainz and stops at all the historical places. Before it started, I had a nice conversation with a German couple who was also on the tram. My comfort level with German has increased significantly since I've arrived here, and little conversations like this just further that and increase my confidence. After the sight seeing, Joseph and I went to Cuba Negro, a place with awesome burgers. After class, we met everyone at the Rewe to get food for a Rhein barbecue. It was a larger group than normal. Aside from myself, Joseph, Matt, Marcella, Clare, and Frank, some of Marcella's friends from home were there, as well as a few of Marcella's German friends. It was a really enjoyable barbecue and the weather was perfect. We left a bit early, as we left for München (Munich, in English) early the next morning.
Entirely too early on the morning Friday, July 4, Joseph and I caught the train Frankfurt, where we caught the bus to München. We arrived in the late afternoon, had some lunch, and then immediately began sightseeing. We saw Michaelskirche, which was a surprisingly beautiful church, Frauenkirche (church), Marienplatz (a square), the Nationaltheater (national theater), Feldherrnhalle (a hall), the Residenz (formal royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs), Heilig Geist (church), Theaterskirche (church), Peterskirche (the oldest church in München), Viktualienmarkt (another square), and then Hofbräuhaus (famous beer hall). When we walked into Heilig Geist, there was something being filmed. Somehow, we got into the church even though no one else was supposed to be in there. We were told to go back later. I wish they hadn't been filming, because it was a beautiful church. In the middle of our quest around town, an old lady stopped us and asked if we needed any help finding anything (in English). She proceeded to continue talking for the next 10 minutes, and she covered topics ranging from divorce, to travel, to the Nazis, to rape. It was less of a conversation and more of her just talking the entire time. It was by far the strangest encounter that I've had here. Once we got to the Hofbräuhaus, we stayed and watched the Germany game. It was an amazing environment to watch the game in, though I was less than impressed with the service there. Joseph was quite happy to get his liter of beer!
On Saturday, July 5, we went to Dachau. Dachau was definitely the number one place I wanted to go on the trip to München. I wanted to visit one concentration camp while I'm in Germany, and it was an experience I'll never forget. The city of Dachau is about a 25 minute train ride from the city center of München, and then the concentration camp was another 10 minute bus ride from the train station. Once we made it to the concentration camp, we got audio guides to walk around with. The camp was much bigger than I had thought, with most of the area being the officer camp, and only a small portion for the concentration camp. The officer camp is not open to the public. We made our way through the camp, going into the museum, barracks, and crematorium. We were short on time and were only able to stay for 2 hours, while at least 3 would have been ideal. I learned quite a lot about the camp. For example, Dachau was the first camp and ended up being the camp that Nazis based all other camps off of. Everything that happened at the camps happened in some magnitude at Dachau. They did medical experiments, gassed prisoners, had a brothel for the prisoners, and so on, all at Dachau. Actually, I was surprised about the brothel. I knew that some concentration camps had brothels, but I was always led to believe they were for the officers to use, not the prisoners. They forced female prisoners to work there so that male prisoners could visit, and therefore increase their moral and productivity. I also learned that in the beginning before the war (Dachau was open from 1933-1945), they actually released prisoners from the camp. The camp was also only built for 6,000, but it held over 30,000 at times during the war. The last place we visited was the crematorium. There were actually two on the grounds, the old crematorium and the new crematorium. They built the new one when the number of bodies exceeded the working capacity of the old one. I walked through the several rooms of the new crematorium. One room was a holding room for the people that were about to be gassed, one was a room where the clothes of the deceased were disinfected, one was the "shower," one was the room that held the bodies before cremation, and the last room held the ovens. Walking into the shower, or gassing room, was eerie. I felt like I shouldn't be in there. I stood in the doorway and looked around before I walked through. Standing in a room where so many had died out of hatred just felt wrong. When I was walking from the new crematorium to the old one, I was struck by how peaceful the grounds felt. It was so quiet, I could only hear the birds chirping and the wind in the trees. I felt as if it only made sense, like peace was finally at the place where too many had senselessly lost their lives.
We had to rush from the concentration camp back to the train station so that we could make our bus on time. Once we finally got back to Mainz, we stopped at Pepe Pizza for dinner and also watched the game that was on. While we were walking back to my place from Pizza Pepe, we got stopped by a bachelorette party. The bachelorette asked me to write a good-luck wish on her shirt. I wrote "schönes Leben zusammen," which means something like, "have a beautiful life together." I really love little encounters like these.
On Sunday, July 6, Joseph and I got a Döner and then headed over to Wiesbaden to do some sight seeing. We walked around and saw some churches and the casino. Afterwards, we got dinner at a little Italian place. It was a beautiful day outside. On Monday, July 7, Joseph and I got a Döner and Spaghettieis before class. That night, we went to Eisgrub with Marcella, Matt, and Frank for Joey's last night. It was a really fantastic evening. On Tuesday, July 8, Joseph went back to the States. It was really nice to have him here. That night I went to Extrablatt with Matt, Clare, and Marcella. Matt and I stayed and watched the Germany-Brazil game. We were watching the game on the projector, which was about 8 seconds behind the rest of the TVs, so we had a nice warning when Germany was about to score. At halftime, Matt and I went to the apartment of his tandem, and we watched the rest of the game there. In case you didn't watch, Germany destroyed Brazil 7-1.
I don't have anything planned for today, but hopefully something comes up. I'll post some pictures later!
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