Deutschland!

Guten Tag!We arrived in Cologne or Köln as it’s known in German yesterday. My last night in Amsterdam was a blast. Kelly, Sue, Steph, Alexis and I met the Madrid kids at their hotel. A short photo shoot with Otto in their lobby followed. Pretty ridiculous. We headed out and walked around the red light district. Insane. Honestly, it’s something you just have to see. We brought Otto along and Paulie covered Otto’s little virgin eyes with his short little orange arms. Sorry, no photos...

Yesterday we stopped at a former German training camp for political leaders in the Nazi party in the Eiffel region of Germany. It’s now a national park and is being turned into a tourist attraction. It was eerie, but still pretty interesting. Our professors failed to inform us that we would be taking this tour OUTSIDE in subzero temperatures. Needless to say, none of us were prepared since we assumed we’d be spending the day on the bus. Fail.

It was Wes’s birthday yesterday so a group of about 15 of us went out for dinner at this Italian-ish tapas bar. I decided that since I was in Germany, I would try a German beer and see if I would magically like it. I was even a wuss and got a beer-Fanta mix. Yeah, I still hated it. I’ll stick to my white wine and Mike’s please!

This morning we took a tour of a Turkish mosque about an hour away. The mosque is only about a year old and is the largest one in Germany and cost 8 million Euro to build. It was just beautiful. We had to take off our shoes once we entered and I proudly sported my striped orange and blue Syracuse socks. That’s just how I roll. We had a traditional Turkish meal served at the mosque before heading back to Köln.

We got back to the hotel and then a group of about 8 of us went to the Cathedral of Köln. It’s the tallest cathedral in all of Europe and probably one of the most amazing things I’ve seen in my life. Cathedrals and churches are always cool, and it usually goes something like this: “Wow that’s big and old and cool and pretty.” But this cathedral was just incredible. It makes Notre Dame and Chartres look like pieces ‘o crap.

It was cold and snowy but I really wanted to climb the belfry tower. Kelly, Mika and I decided to make the trek while the others went back the hotel. 553 steps…crazy! My legs were shaking, but the view was completely worth it. Honestly, it’s moments like that when I stop for a minute and realize where I am and what I’m actually doing. It’s an incredible, indescribable and empowering feeling. I never want it to end.

The three of us stopped at a traditional German pastry shop to have cake and coffee (well, hot chocolate). Apparently this is a very German thing to do.

Cake and coffee every afternoon? I’m not complaining!

Mika speaks German so she served as our translator…how convenient! Just got back to the hotel. We have one more lecture tonight and that’s it.

Colleen has been in Germany since the middle of December visiting David, her boyfriend who studied abroad at CHS two years ago. We had talked a while ago about how we should get together when we were both over here but didn’t think it would actually happen. But tonight the two of them drove up with David’s parents to Köln which is only about an hour from David’s house to visit.

We went to a cafe called Brownies and had milkshakes and then went to Murphy’s Irish Pub and downed two pitchers while his parents went for dinner. I’ve decided that I’ve changed my mind about beer after Murphy’s haha. Also, so epic...there was a U2 360 tour poster on the staff door. Colleen and I had quite the photo shoot. Overall it was definitely my favorite night on the trip. Love them. Love this. Love Europe.

One more day in Cologne then headed to Strasbourg on Friday!