München

Well... it appears I haven't updated my blog in a month. I will blame this on all the exciting things I have been doing, and will do my best to try and remember/share the best moments. For starters I went to München (Munich) the last weekend in June. My friend David (fellow CDS participant) was kind enough to let me stay with him in his dorm room; granted the tile floor didn't make for the most comfortable bed, but it was free :-)

To prepare for my trip I naturally needed some kind of transportation to get down to München. I opted to travel with the Deutsch Bahn (Train), because not only is it cheaper than a flight but how often do you travel by train in the US... not very. I bought a German Rail Pass, which for 150 Euro allowed me to travel on unlimited trains for four days in the month following activation. So, after using two days for my trip to and from München I would still have 2 more days left to travel in the next month. The train ride from hamburg to München lasts ~6 hours, so I decided it would be in my best interests to take my first vacation day (I get 4 total) rather than arrive at midnight. I also used that friday morning to go to the "Anmeldungsamt" and officially become a resident of Hamburg, which I finally successfully completed after the third try lol. I got to Hamburg's central station and at 11am got on an ICE Train (Intercity-Express) headed toward München.

I arrived on-time and began the adventure of trying to find how to get to the dorm room where my friend lived. Luckily, by this time I was a professional at taking the regional trains (U-Bahn S-Bahn). I arrived at his station exactly when I planned, which was good since I had forgotten to load more money on my cell-phone. I unloaded all my stuff, then headed off into the heart of the city to get a look around. We looked at the Rathaus (city hall), and the town-square before grabbing some pizza, not exactly german food :-p, and heading to the Stadtpark to meet some other Americans/Brits/Canadians/Spaniards. We went to the Chinese Biergarten and watched Spain vs someone...Paraguay? on the big projector screen. Then we played some Frisbee, which was a highlight for me since I'm an avid ultimate player, but no one in Germany has ever heard of it. We just chilled for a while and then called it a relatively early night (1-2am), since we had a lot to see the next day.

On saturday we got up, had an early lunch, and then headed off to do some more sightseeing in München. The main attraction of the day was paying a visit to the olympic park. We visited the olympic pool and park area, where there was a large mountain bike race going on. We then went to the top of a tower, where you could see most of München including: Allianz Arena, the hotel of the Munich olympic catastrophe, BMW corporation/museum, and much more. We then went to Schloss Nymphenburg, which is a large 'castle' most notable for its sheer size and magnitude. Next we headed back to the touristy part of the city so I could do some souvenir shopping. For dinner I specifically requested the Hard Rock Cafe, since I like to collect the shirts as many of my friends know. It was great to have a nice American style meal in a German style atmosphere. We then headed to Studentstadt, which is a part of town with lots of students and dorms, to meet up with some other Americans to watch the USA vs. Ghana game. As you all know the result was less than spectacular, but we always have the next world cup. Afterwards we called it a night, because I was getting up early to go to Neuschwanstein (Disney world castle) with some of my friends.

We had all agreed to meet at the train station at 8:45 since the train left at 9:00 sharp to head to the alps and the castle. I was there safely in time, but one member of our group decided to cut it very close. It was the last call for the train and he was running down the platform to try and make the train. He would have made it safely at the last second, if not for a poor decision in footwear. As he turned to stop and leap onto the train his flip-flop slipped off and dropped in between the platform down onto the tracks. He also managed to fall onto the metal step and receive a rather large cut on his leg before the train attendant hoisted him into the train and we pulled away, minus a sandal and some blood :-p So we were successfully on out way to the castle, if not without a little excitement, and with a dire need for a shoe store and a wetwipe. Once we arrived in the small town at the base of the alps we found a store that was open (a rarity on sundays in Germany), although the only shoes the had were Crocs. He had no choice but to buy a pair, and embraced the awkwardness by purchasing a hot pink pair. Alas, after a short bus ride we had reached our destination. The alps were simply magnificent and the castle was stunning. We hiked up to the top and took the castle tour before heading to a small bridge through the alps that overlooked the castle. It was all truly spectacular.

Nevertheless all good things must come to an end. It was now time for me to head back to München, grab my bag, and then head back to Hamburg to go to work on Monday. Unfortunately, my trip back from Neuschwanstein to München coincided with the Germany vs. England thrashing, so I was unable to enjoy that. I got on my ICE train at 6:30pm and after a few delays, arrived in Hamburg at 1:30am. I headed toward the subway station that I normally use to get home, before realizing that the trains didn't run after midnight on sundays... This meant I had to figure out what Nachtbus (night bus) to take. It also meant I would inevitably run into many 'interesting' German characters running around celebrating the soccer victory. I eventually found the bus I needed to take, and after a short ride and a long walk I made it home. It was only 3:00am haha and I had to get up 7:00am for work. Needless to say, it was a struggle to stay awake that Monday. It was definitely a small price to pay however, for a great weekend in München!

Another Great Week in Germany

So as any football fan (soccer) should know, Germany started off their World Cup with a 4-0 victory over Australia last week. I was able to be at Heiligeistfeld for this game, along with 55,000 other crazy German fans. It was great to see Germany get off to a great start, but a 1-0 loss to Serbia on Friday was especially disappointing. The game was at 1:30pm, which basically meant that everyone went home and the weekend started early. I watched the game with some colleagues, and then headed over to the Public Viewing to watch the USA game. At first it looked like it was gonna be a disappointing day all around, with the U.S. down 2-0 at the half,

but an amazing comeback to tie it (should have been 3-2 and a victory, thanks ref) gave me some solace.

Believe it or not, there is still other stuff going on in Hamburg besides watching the WC, aka my internship :-) This past week was the best week on the job so far, between finally making progress on the Purchasing Training, and getting tours through the landing gear, engine, and maintain halls. I even got to go out on Lufthansa's "runway" and take some pics with a decommissioned Boeing 747. Also I've made some contacts in the engineering departments, and it seems as if I could have an internship again next year if I wanted.

After seeing a few more sights this weekend, I have done the touristy part of Hamburg, and am now planning on doing some more traveling around Germany and Europe. I bought a German rail pass good for 4 days in the next 30, and am going to visit München next weekend. I haven't decided where I'll go with the other two days for sure, but feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions. I am also planning on visiting Paris sometime in July, so that should be rather exciting too. I was gonna go sailing today, but the weather disagreed so hopefully I'll get another chance. Too all my friends back in the states, I wish you guys could be here too (if you can afford the plane ticket you'll have a place to stay).

More Sightseeing and Stuff

I have now had nearly two full weeks and weekends to enjoy Hamburg, and have been able to see and do a lot of cool stuff. Instead of writing about it all I'm just gonna post a bunch of pics with captions, in no particular order.

Above and below are pictures of the Public Viewing at Heiligengeistfeld, for the England vs. USA match. There were a couple thousand fans there, the majority of which were impartial Germans. However, I found a group of about 25 American students and got the USA USA USA chants rolling. The Brits replied with their old songs and actual football tradition, so pretty soon we had a miniature revolutionary war going on. Still didn't match a game at the Big House, but I'm excited to see how much crazier it gets when Germany is playing.
The next four pictures are of a nature trail and beach along the Elbe river in Hamburg. For those of you who don't know Hamburg is one of the biggest harbors in Europe, and the largest in Germany. It was a beautiful summer day when I went to the beach.



Below is a pic of Alster sea, from Alster park. It is a lake in the middle of Hamburg's city center. It's a great place to relax on a nice summer day.
Another picture of some ships in the harbor.
Below is a professional volleyball match that happened to be going on, while I was walking around the harbor. The court was actually in the middle of the Elbe and was pretty cool. Also not sure if I was supposed to pay, but no one ever asked for a ticket :-)
Another view of Hamburg's harbor and old warehouse buildings.

First Week on the Job

Monday had arrived and it was time to wake up and head to work. But before I could do that I needed to sign the lease for my room. Unfortunately the head of the studentenwohnheim didn't arrive at his office until 9am, which was precisely the time I needed to be at work... luckily Lufthansa was fine with me showing up a little late. I arrived at the dorm, received my keys, and got a quick tour before heading on the s-bahn and u-bahn to get to work (above and below ground trains). Luck would have it however, that the train station I was heading towards had caught on fire and we be closed for up to an hour. Around this time I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to make it to Lufthansa Technik.

I decided to follow the crowd of people exiting the subway, and started walking in the direction of the next stops. It would be amiss of me not to mention that it was raining that morning as well, as it does more often than not in Hamburg, or so it seems. Good thing is that rain puts out fire, and by the time arrived at the next stop the firefighters had done their job and just reopened the subway station. I got on the train and after a few more stops arrived at the airport, where I got on a bus that took me to the Lufthansa Technik Basis.

By this point I was tired and anxious, but ready to get started. My German, however, was not ready. I quickly was overwhelmed by the speed at which they spoke, and had to ask them to slow down before I could understand where I had to go. After working my way through the grounds, which is as large as Central Campus at the University of Michigan, I found my department. I was going to be working in the Corporate Purchasing Department with my mentor Jessica Tomm.

Jessica was just as friendly in person as she had seemed on the telephone, and she quickly got to work introducing me to my coworkers and telling me about their responsibilities. We often changed between German and English before Jessica asked me which I preferred, to which I responded English... at least for the first day. After we finished the introductions it was time for lunch. Lufthansa has 2 large cafeterias where you can get just about anything you want for under 5 euros, and it tastes fantastic. After lunch I was introduced to some of the software they used, and then worked on some online training's and such for the rest of the day.

After work I headed back to the hotel, and relaxed for a while before calling it a night (Although I had my dorm room now, I had booked the hotel till the 1st of June assuming that would be the first day I could move in, so I just stayed there). The next day I arrived at work punctually, and learned what my task was going to be for the summer. I have to create a training concept for Corporate Purchasing employees of Lufthansa Technik working outside Germany. This training is for the different purchasing programs, organizational tools, and corporate purchasing methods they use. This involves me learning not only about the tools they are currently using abroad (odd that abroad now refers to outside Germany), but also the tools they use in Hamburg and the training's they give here. In addition I have many smaller tasks such as fixing and optimizing their work flow diagram software.

I moved into my summer room that night after work, and had to go buy pillows, sheets, and a blanket for my bed. I once again was too exhausted to go out and do anything exciting after work; after getting up at 7 and not getting back till 6 for the past few nights. The next day I learned Jessica was sick and wasn't coming back till Monday, so two days in and I was already on my own. Unfortunately, I think I caught whatever she had. That evening and the next day I had a sore throat, followed by a runny nose the next few days. I apologize if so far this post has seemed a little negative, but I was sick and stressed this past week. However, such is life and things can only get better, as they did.

Today (Friday) I started feeling better and the weather had cleared up as well, becoming 67 and sunny. After work I rushed home and changed before going to see the Rathaus and the harbor downtown in the evening sunshine (It stays light out until after 10 here and the sun rises at 5).

I also looked through a few of the shops before realizing this was the exact place I had been 3 summers ago with Walled Lake Central's German Exchange Program. I sat down and enjoyed the sunshine while thinking of all the great times I had already had in Deutschland, and of the even better times that are still to come...

Orientation in Berlin and Arrival in Hamburg

Berlin Berlin wir fahren nach Berlin!

The time had come for me to begin my adventure. After checking my overweight luggage, I bid my farewells to my overanxious parents. I boarded my flight (Lufthansa of course!) and took my seat, to begin a trip which is bound to end up being one of the best of my life. After flying all through the night I arrived in Berlin at 12pm local time... it's funny how flying works.

That's when it finally hit me, I am really going to be in Germany all summer. I also quickly realized that I hadn't spoken German in over a month, let alone with native born speakers. I had reached my first of many hurdles on the trip; where were all the buses? Looking everywhere all I could find were Taxi's, and I didn't want to spend 30 Euros when I could spend 2 on a bus. I was faced with the classic male dilemma; ask for directions or continue being lost for the sake of pride. I asked for directions, of course, and quickly found the buses.

Whilst fretting about where I was supposed to get off to reach my youth hostel, I noticed two others in a similar predicament. I asked if they were going to the same hostel... and after barely deciphering their thick Australian accents I found out they were. At least now if I got lost it would be with other english speakers (or something close to english haha). We arrived at the hostel with surprisingly little difficulty, only to find out that we would actually be sharing the same 4 person room. We decided to embark on a short journey about Berlin, including a stop for some currywurst (which I would have liked if not for the myraid of ketchup-which I dislike- on it), while we waited for our room to finish being cleaned.

We came back to find a nice room with high ceilings and large windows. After a break for a quick nap and some more exploring, we headed out for a late dinner at an Italian restaurant near the Brandenburger Tor. We went back to the room and met our 4th Mitbewohner, who also turned out to be an Auzzie (which I learned should be spelled with a Z, along with some other interesting things like who a Kiwi is). Who would've thought I came all the way to Germany only to learn about Australia.

The next day I moved on to the Etap Hotel for our orientation seminar. This was a great time, and allowed me to befriend some of the other participants. After a trip inside the American Embassy to meet the head of the embassy, we all went back to grab some dinner. I ate with my roommate Greg at a small German cafe, and then conversed for a while with the owner. This was my first opportunity to really speak and listen to good German, since our group mostly spoke english when together. That 5 minute conversation may have been the highlight of my trip to Berlin.

After dinner we all met up and went out for the night. Eventually all 25 of us couldn't agree on what to do, so me and 4 others split off and headed towards Berghain- the best club in Berlin and arguably all of Germany. It is 5 stories tall in an abandoned warehouse, and is quite difficult to get into... foreshadowing. After a series of questions by the bouncer we were deemed Americans and not good enough to get in. Our pain at getting denied was alleviated when we realized nearly 80% of people were getting shot down. Also we honestly weren't dressed to fit the hardcore German techno scene, so we called it a night and went back to get some sleep.

After a visit to the Reichstag building, Berlin wall, and Brandenburger Tor, as well as another day of orientation, I was headed to Hamburg.

I had little trouble catching a train, and opted to take a taxi to the hotel since I had little clue to where it was (later I would find out I was only 10 minutes walking from the train station). The first night in the hotel was nice enough, I was finally able to get more than 5 hours of sleep :-p which was a plus.

The next morning I set off to find the student dorm where I would be living for the summer. After taking about 5 subways and trams I found the place, and will go there again tomorrow to sign my lease. I also went out to find where Lufthansa Technik AG was located, so I wouldn't be lost on my first day. Which brings to where I am currently, sitting in my hotel room anxiously awaiting the first day of my Internship with Lufthansa...

The Journey Begins

Today is my last day in the United States for 3 months. I have said my goodbyes and am heading to the airport. My trip begins with an orientation seminar in the great German city of Berlin. Once I complete my orientation I will head to Hamburg where the true adventure begins. Here I will be partaking in an internship with Lufthansa Technik AG, which is a commercial aircraft company. This is truly going to be one of the greatest summers of my life.