Feuer!

Not really a whole lot of exciting to update on right now.  In 3 weeks from today, I will be waking up bright and early, getting on a train to Frankfurt, and flying back to the States.  I don't know if I'm ready for my time here to end, though.  I mean, yeah, it'll be great to see my family and all my swim club friends, and have free bathrooms, free water and free refills at restaurants, and pool access, but there is so much that I will miss. I have been so spoiled by the beautiful path along the Rhein as a running trail that running around Columbia isn't going to be nearly as fun. And I really have a lot to do when I get back to America.  My first night will be spent in the St. Louis Airport, as I will be getting on a plane to fly to North Carolina at 6:00 the next morning (I arrive in STL at around 6:30 pm). After spending some time in NC with my mom and youngest sister, we have to be in Kansas for my brother on August 2nd.  I will likely be in North Carolina for this whole duration between the 21st and then.  Once I finally get back to Missouri for good, I have to move into a new place in Columbia and start back up at work.  If there's someone I HAVEN'T missed, it's been Mother Bread.  But I only have 2 more semesters worth of time there.  Also, I have to work out my cell phone issue when I get back to Mid-MO.  And I have to find some time to swim so that I don't drown when Swim Club starts back up in September.
Anyway, in some Germany-related news, there was a fire in my Wohnung on Saturday.  Before you get all excited, it was just a small fire and stayed confined to the room where it started.  I'm still a little bit unsure on the details, but there ended up being 10-15 fire trucks outside for a fair amount of time.  I had gone for a walk so I wasn't inside when it happened and they didn't even evacuate the building.  The fire alarms are so loud that I can hear them going off in other peoples' rooms on different floors.  Normally they only go off for 30 seconds or so before they stop (somehow), but I heard this one going off longer than usual.  Being a light sleeper, I was unable to take the nap that I was about to lay down and take, so I went for the aforementioned walk.  As I was coming back and getting closer to my building, I saw a bunch of fire trucks, and they were all turning down my street.  It was kind of exciting, since the building wasn't actually burning to the ground.  So, naturally, I took some pictures of all the fire trucks to document the moment.  Then I continued walking some more until there were no more emergency vehicles outside, when I went inside to take my nap and eat lunch.

In Euro Cup news, Germany is now out.  They lost last night to Italy and, if you ask me, the Germans certainly didn't play like they wanted to win.  Mary and I had been keeping mostly up-to-date with the Euro Cup games, and I even bought a shirt to support my German team.  Oh, well.  Obviously it wasn't meant to be for Germany to win the whole thing this year.  And I still love them.  They're still my team of choice.  I'm no fair-weather fan (I may not be a soccer fan when I get back, but that doesn't mean I can't be one while I'm here).  So the Finale is on Sunday at 8:45 my time, and it's Spain vs Italy.  In their last match in the early rounds, they tied 1-1, so it should prove relatively interesting to watch.

That's about all in my life right now. Tschüss!
Maddie

Berlin

So I know it's been a while since I updated, but it was a lot more difficult getting back to school after two weeks off than I thought it would be. So, here we go.
The Berlin trip was okay. It would have been better with fewer tours and less bus time. The bus ride one-way was at least 7 hours, and I felt that the trip was rather poorly run. It was somewhat well-organized, but there were so many tours every day. I really would have rather just run around the city with a few friends and taken pictures of everything. Maybe a couple tours would have been fine, but not so many every day.
On the first full day we were there (Tuesday, June 5th), we had a bus tour of the city. We got out to see Checkpoint Charlie, and then we headed to the Reichstag. However, we didn't have a tour of the building for whatever reason. Instead, we just stood outside and listened to someone talk about it and answer questions that some people had. Afterwards, we had a little bit of free time in the area to eat and explore (and see the Brandeburg Gate) before heading to Hohenschönhausen, an old Stasi prison. The tour of the prison was good, because I didn't know much about that kind of thing. After that, we went back to the hostel for dinner and whatever evening plans we wanted to do.
On Wednesday, we had a lot of free time. The only planned tour we had was at the Topographie des Terrors museum-thing. After that, I explored the city with a group of friends. A couple of them went back to the hostel to nap before dinner, while I went to the Tiergarten with a pair of Michiganders and hung out and talked for a couple hours. We also saw the most adorable puppy there. It looked like a teddy bear! Then, on Wednesday night, dinner was a cookout-esque thing on the grill out behind the hostel. That night, I just hung out with people outside until about 11 pm.
Thursday we went to a memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe, and then we headed to the Museumsinsel for some museum time. I chose the Neues Museum, which had an exhibit of Ancient Egyptian artifacts. They even had the bust of Queen Nefertiti, which was AMAZING! We weren't allowed to take pictures of it, though. Several of the people who I went with to the museum didn't really care for it, but I thought it was cool. After dinner at the hostel, I tagged along on a trip to the Tempelhof Airport, along with four others, because it's always more fun to visit things in groups.
Friday, our last full day in Berlin, was spent in Potsdam. First, we had a tour around the grounds of the Schloss Sanssouci, which was gorgeous. The weather this day was sunny and warm, and that made for some beautiful photos (in my opinion). Then we went into the actual city of Potsdam and had free time for the whole day. I ran around with my Michigan friends and we ate delicious ice cream and bought souvenirs. After returning to Berlin and eating our last hostel dinner, I went out for a drink and a movie with some of the same people I'd spent the day with. We saw "Snow White and the Huntsman", which was okay. I wasn't blown away by it.

Saturday was mostly spent on a bus driving home to Bonn. We arrived back in town early enough to go grocery shopping and, for those who wanted to, catch Germany's first game of the Euro Cup. I chose to go to bed instead of a public viewing with thousands of drunk German soccer fans. However, I have since adopted soccer as my sport viewing of choice here. Since I missed so much Mizzou basketball this season, I haven't had much of an outlet for my sports cheering. So on Pitcher Mittwoch (Wednesday) earlier this week, I decided to embrace the Euro Cup. Germany's second game happened to fall on Wednesday, so I bought a shirt for 15 Euro to support them. It was an excellent game, and Germany's next game is tomorrow against Denmark. As long as they at least tie, Germany will be the winners of Group B's first round, and thus move on to the quarter finals. I still don't really get the appeal of soccer, but I will use the smallest excuse possible to watch/get really excited about sports.

 Piece of the Berlin Wall at Checkpoint Charlie

 Checkpoint Charlie

 More pieces of the Berlin Wall

 East Side Gallery

 Building in former East Berlin

 Reichstag

 Brandenburger Tor

 What a cell in Hohenschönhausen would have looked like in the 80s

 Stasi interrogation room

 Lego Giraffe outside the Sony Center

 Tiergarten

 Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

 Tempelhof Airport

 Berlin Airlift Monument

 On the grounds of Schloss Sanssouci

Baby Brandenburger Tor in Potsdam

I actually took way more pictures than this. I think I took over 300 photos in Berlin, so a decent number. However, there were so many other things I would have loved to take photos of, but we spent too much time in the bus.

I have less than five weeks left here, and classes end in less than a month. I'm not ready to go back to America! It's been so cool here these last few months, and I don't really want to leave. However, I do miss free public bathrooms and free water in restaurants. And my family and old friends, of course. But I finally got to Skype with my mom today! It was really nice to see her and talk to her face-to-face again.

Nothing else to say here. Hopefully there will be something exciting to talk about next post.

Maddie

Pfingsten

This week had been Pentecost break, and it has been relatively low-key for me. I finally went to Cologne and explored it to more of an extent than just the zoo and the movie theater. What a cool town! I went with a group of my friends from Michigan (turns out I'm not the only person who didn't have travel plans for our week off) to just check it out a little more. We climbed to the top of the Dom, and the views were totally worth the 3 Euro and 533 steps that it cost to see them. But climbing up a narrow spiral staircase is kind of difficult when there are also people who are coming down the same staircase. After exploring the lower part of the cathedral and working up an appetite on the ascent and descent from the tower, we had lunch at a Kölsch brewery that was right near the Dom. Kölsch is a local beer that is brewed in Cologne (Köln is the German name for the town...get it?). The food was delicious, and exactly what I needed after the climb.
After lunch, we went to the zoo. I had just as much fun there this time as I did on my first visit. I got to see some of the animals that I didn't see the time before, and we explored the aquarium after we finished our hike around the zoo. After the zoo/aquarium visit, most of us headed back home. Becky stayed behind to meet a friend who was from Cologne. It was excellent weather and a good day to walk around outside as much as we did.
The rest of break, I didn't really do anything. I just kind of relaxed and enjoyed the nice weather. It is finally starting to get warm here instead of being cloudy and rainy every day. However, it kind of skipped spring and went right to summer. Not that I'm complaining, though. I laid out last Saturday and got a sunburn, so afterwards we went to buy sunscreen and aloe vera. I also bought sunglasses since I didn't have any.
On Monday morning, we leave for Berlin. We have a 7:15 am meeting time, because the bus is leaving at 7:30. That's kind of not fun since we don't have class, but it should prove to be a fun week. I might try and do some digging to see where my German ancestors come from while I'm there. But I'm not sure if I'll have time.
Anyway, pictures from Cologne. I won't post any more zoo pictures because I already have, but I will post al the Dom pictures.

Well, that's about it for now. Have a great week!
Maddie