Greece .wmv

A little video of my trip to Greece. Here is the version that will work in Germany.

Christmas ramblings

As I sit on this train bound for the city of Köln, (Cologne) I am reminded that I have not written for a while in my blog. So with pen in hand I begin this entry with my holiday plans. For a brief overview, I will be traveling to first Bremen, with my good friend John, after which I will take a train to Köln, a bus to Frankfurter-Hahn Airport, a plane to Kos, Greece, a ferry to Athens and Crete, a flight back to Frankfurt-Hahn, a car ride to Berlin, Germany for New Years and then finally back to Reutlingen on the 2^nd of January. I have just finished the first leg of this trip, which took me back to the old city of Bremen and my original introduction to this wonderful country. I would have to say things did not go as planned, but in the end all worked out. I stared this trip in my home town of Reutlingen on Friday morning the 17^th of December at 7am. From there I sojourned through the town of Stuttgart with John to go to my interview at Mercedes. The interview went very well, with a small introduction to the work I would be doing. The work while very intriguing, is not really anything I have experience with but I believe it would be a great stepping stone for me into the world of Database systems. I will have an answer after the New Year, as everyone is now on vacation. Once I was finished with this task, I then boarded a train for Bremen. As you might have heard, we are having an abnormally large amount of snow this year, and apparently this wrecks havoc on the usually punktlich (punctual) system of the Germans. Through the three trains I had to take, I was delayed 3 hours, so what would normally have been an already long six hours on the train became 9. I did not really appreciate this, however I had little choice. When I finally did arrive in Bremen, I was delighted to see my old stomping grounds again. There is a special place in my heart for Bremen and I think there always will be. After a wonderful weekend spent with great friends and a visit to the lovely city of Hamburg, I departed at 21:43 for the city of Köln and am currently in route and should arrive around 1:00am. My bus for the airport departs at 2:30am and then arrives at 5:00am ish. Until then, I, Brent am out.

December 21, 2010. I am currently on a ferry bound for the city of Athens. It is 1:00am and I feel like I should be sleeping, but alas there are few places to do so. In order to save as much money as possible one purchases what is called a “deck ticket” . This means just what it says, you sleep on the deck, one of the three that are offered. This trip lasts from 8:00pm until 9:00am so as you can see I am only half way through and strangely wide awake. The events of the past day have been most enjoyable though, with much time spent cruzing around the Island of Kos on rented mopeds, catching beautiful sunsets and the wonderful freedom of personal transportation again. Not having it for four months has been one of the hardest things I have had to deal with. The ability to simply wake up and say, where do I want to go today? anywhere the open road takes me. Tomorrow leads to more experiences and hopefully even better things are in store.

December 23^th 2010

Over the past few days I have seen, smelled and most importantly tasted some of the best things my senses have ever experienced. After spending a day in Athina (Athens) which included, visits to the many Soulvaki shops, the Parthenon, the Acropolis and many other ruins of this ancient city, as well as a 10km walk to the town of Athens from the port, as a result of the strike currently underway. 

We then continued our trip to Crete, the largest of the Greek Isles. Once we arrived off our overnight trip on the ferry, we had some time before we would be picked up from a German couple, that my friend Craig, had become acquainted with. During this time we took a chance to visit a castle fortress on the seaboard from the Byzantine era. We stretched out in the sun and took as much in as we could, until The couple, Roland and Manuela, picked us up from the bus station in Rythemno, Crete. After a short car ride we were in the mountains of Crete, surrounded by beautiful scenery and the incredible ever-present smell of olive trees. We stopped in Spili for some of the best coffee and sweets that I have ever had. We also drank from the fresh mountain water that flowed through an ancient aquifer. After this we then continued to the home bass of our hosts, through the breathtaking vistas that the mountain passes and dirt roads provided. The town we ended up in was Triopetra, a land of beautiful beaches and the warmest part of Crete. It was 22 c when we drove in at 3:00pm and the cliffs of Triopetra were calling for a nice plunge into the Mediterranean. Before we did this however we got the chance to meet a native Cretan that welcomed his old friends and us, the newcomers. After a quick chat, we hiked over to the cliffs and plunged in. Every time I am on the edge of a cliff, waiting to jump in a get a sense of exhilaration that cannot be rivaled. We topped this day off with a homemade Cretan meal and fresh Raki, a traditional Cretan drink, after which we drove home and shared some wonderful 14 year scotch from our wonderful host, and hit the hay.

December 24^th, 2010

Today I woke up, greeted with the sound of birds singing out my window and rustling in the kitchen of my breakfast being made. After a delicious meal on the deck, taking as much advantage of the sun I could, we were interrupted by the landlord of the house we were staying in, bringing us fresh olive oil, and Christmas sweets. We thanked them for this with a, efalisto, and then tried the goods, which were wonderful. After we finished this wonderful mid-morning snack, we drove to first the town of Sivas, for a delicious lunch of goat, beef, squid, and lamb prepared in different sauces. The flavors I tasted could only be rivaled by some of the finest restaurants I have eaten and even then, there was a certain freshness to the food that could not be duplicated. We finished out time before out ferry back to Pireaus, with a visit to the hippy town of Matala, which as most of Greece at this time is pretty dead. We stopped and had a wonderful glass of Mountain Tea, a local specialty and soaked up the last few rays of the fleeting rays of sun. Our final leg of the trip took us to the bus stop of Mires and then to Heraklion. In Heraklion, Christmas spirit was in the air, with open air choirs and fake Christmas trees lining the streets. After some navigating through the roads to the harbor, we found some internet and called the folks back home to wish them a Merry Christmas and tell them we missed them very much. I would have to say that this Christmas held many firsts for me, but this was the first Christmas that I was not able to see my family, and it was much harder than I had imagined. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, I guess? Once on the ferry, a familiar scenario transpired. Search for a seat, save said seat, try to get some sleep. End of Christmas Eve.

December 25, 2010

Started the day out by arriving at 5:30 into Pireaus, we talked to the families again and waited for It’s a Wonderful Life to download, as I realized that I needed at least one constant for the Christmas Season. It being Christmas day, our thought process was, we had already seen Athens, Nothing would be open for the next couple of days anyway. This being the case we determined that a trip to the nearby island of Agena would be better for our plans of camping out for the night. After a very successful fire was built we cooked up some sausage and Pasta with very minimal materials and both of us were quite impressed with how they had turned out. We then settled down to watch It’s a Wonderful Life and take in the beauty of the moment. Merry Christmas, Greece.

December 26^th

Awaking to the sounds of the waves lapping on the shore, I had to do a quick double take of where I was. Ah yes, I remember now, Greece, on a beach, watching the sunrise, sadly my last full day in this little slice of heaven. The events up to this point have been pretty uneventful, ferry ride back to Pireus, quick check of the ol’internet and jump on the next ferry bound for the Island of Kos an our flight back to the frigid lands of the North. While I am very sad to be leaving this place, I am a little excited to be going back for more adventures this New Years when I travel to Berlin to ring in 2011. 

Wein (Vienna)

 So a quick summary of Vienna and then off to bed. It was great. Let me expound upon this idea a little more in depth. The plane ride was a success, with ease of transfer and time schedules being met. The weather was sub-par, cold but not raining or snowing. The accommodations were surprisingly nice. Me and my partner in Crime John from Pennsylvania, found a nice cheap spot outside of downtown that was reasonably priced as it was out of seasonal travel time. The food was wonderful. The first night we had a classic Vienna dish at this pub that also had a special Austrian beer, Ottakringer, both were an absolute delight. The next morning we set out to explore the city, after a delicious breakfast of bread and cereal. We then plotted out our route and were on our way. The  buildings beautiful. Vienna has this wonderful museum district with a large amount of either original buildings or post WW2 reconstructed buildings. As shown here 

After much walking we stumbled on one of the most fantastic finds yet, a gentleman's shop of sorts. The store was one of the most aesthetically pleasing stores with a posh selection of menswear only a little out of my price range (a small understatement there). Nevertheless I was able to justify buying a one of a kind scarf there and was very pleased with my purchase, hopefully I will be back for more some day. 

We then journeyed on to see the Museum of Modern Art which was surprisingly to my liking with a well designed layout and informing exhibits, plus it was the only one that was free. A couple of my favorites.

We ended the day by finding a local bar to try another local brew in but first made a stop by the University to see the place Freud and many other important men and women had studied over the years. 

Our final day was filled with traveling and staying out of the bad weather. We then had a uneventful flight back to our home city, after a short photo-op on the famous Blau Danu river or in English, Blue Danube. Famous for the waltz by Johann Strauss with the same name. Cheesy photo-op that is. All in all an amazing trip and a chance to get to know the east coast better, learn to appreciate modern art, and class up the wardrobe a little, All without the help of the Johnster would not have been possible.  See you in July Vienna.

Hum drum

If you are an avid blog reader of mine I would say firstly I am sorry for not posting more often and secondly thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and sometimes pointless drivel. You also might be asking yourself why has he not written more in the month of November. Well to be honest there really has not been much going on. That is to say I have settled down into a routine and am not traveling as much now to save money for later excursions. This weekend I will be going to Vienna on a special that the local airline offers called blind booking. Basically you have six options and from those options they "at random" pick one of the destinations. The funny part of this is that of six of my friends that have done this, all of them have gotten Vienna but at 19.99 euro the price is right. Other than this I have applied for several jobs, had an interview at one that went pretty bad but mostly because I had applied for the wrong job, thank you German language and advisors with horrible advice. This being said I am very happy that I did not get this job as the company was not that great and the person I would have been working with/ under was not the kind of person I would have liked to work with. I hope that this next job opening that I have applied for will be better, and lesson learned, I made sure the translation of the job description was right. I will say that trying to get a job in a foreign country is by far one of the hardest things I have ever done, as the challenges are not merely confined to language barriers but also contract differences and also interview procedures. I do think that the German system of education does offer more opportunity with German businesses to further grow and that internships are much more readily available as every Bachelor student in the Hochschule must complete one and a thesis on how the company they worked for could be improved. It is a very open system to constant change and improvement and I think that this is the way that Germany has remained so competitive worldwide in the export of their quality products. Today I am on my way to BMW manufacturing in Munich for a tour of the plant and hopefully one of the museums. This is a very exciting day for me as the BMW headquarters has always seemed so far out of my reach and today I am finally going to be stepping through the front doors of the hallowed ground that produced some of the greatest cars ever known to man. I have been feeling a little more homesick than normal but I think this is simply from the fact that I have a large amount of free time and do not really know what to do with it. I have been going to more lectures, workout events at the gym, running in preparation for my marathon in May, and yoga. It is nice to finally say, “I have so much spare time, what should I do with it?” hopefully I will make the most efficient use of this time. I miss everyone very much and hope you are doing well and if you would ever like to chat, I am only a skype call away. 

Fall break/Paris

So as  I look over the pictures from Paris I regret to say, I wish I would have written more about it when I was there. As of right now I am on a train bound for Rotterdam, Bruges, and Brussels which will complete my goal of the northern towns I wanted to see with exception of GB. Paris was amazing , to put it in one word. So much music, food, sites, and just overall beauty. I have to admit it was a little hard at first dealing with the language barrier but as I was there more I was able to work around it. The auto show was amazing, so many new models and concepts! I just wish there were a few less people, as you had to fight to get a look at the new models, it was still very rewarding though. After I finished the auto show in Saturday, Sunday was spent walking around Paris with a walking tour that was very enjoyable and informative. I learned about many little secrets about getting in places for free and getting the best food for the best price, as Paris can be very expensive. So in summary Paris was awesome and if you ever get a chance to go, go. School is going well, very busy, I have six classes three in English and three in German. All of them are very interesting and the school that I am going to is Hochschule Reutlingen. It has a very good international program so many of the students are international students, which  unfortunately means English usually instead of German=(. Even though I am not getting as much practice in speaking German as I would like, I have met some really cool people. Currently I am in Rotterdam, Netherlands with a Russian from St. Petersburg named Nik, and I also have found a local German Ultimate Frisbee club that I have played with once or twice but have been too busy to play with them all the time, sadly.  Through school I have seen an interesting side of the Automotive world that I would love to get involved in. Automotive Consulting. A dream come true for someone like me, and hopefully someone with the combinations of experiences I have.  I have applied for a job a MBtech, a consulting firm with Mercedes, so fingers crossed and we shall see! So this post has been in several parts mostly because of the randomness of this trip and the events that have taken place. After Rotterdam we went to Bruges, Belgium and saw the old town center and shared in some wonderful Belgium beers with some new found friends from the UK and Australia. The best part about traveling and staying in hostels is that you get to meet all sorts of people from different walks of life with such different experiences but yet we are all so similar. After this we went to Brussels, Belgium and I have to say I was very impressed with the beauty of the city and the surrounding area. We saw all of the great landmarks and also had a chance to visit some old friends in Bremen. So all in all a amazing trip with loads of waffles, fries, beer, and some good ol fashion boyhood antics. Now it is buckle down time until my next big trip to Greece in December. Until then I need to study harder, practice more, save money and most of all enjoy ever experience that I can. Bis dann. 

Tschüss Bremen, Hallo Reutlingen.

As I sit currently on the train from Bremen to Stuttgart I think back over the past two months in the lovely town of Bremen. The memories made there I will never soon forget and the friends I have from this experience I will always keep in my heart and thoughts. Since my last update it has been roughly a month and so much has transpired in that time, I can hardly recall it all. There was the weekend trip to Bremerhaven for the Sailing Festival, which was pretty cool. Then was the weekend of hanging around Bremen, going to various festivals and always having a great time with the peeps. This last weekend was the trip to the infamous Oktoberfest. One word describes the annual Fest, Verruckt! (crazy) So many people and so much Beer! This was the first year that they did not allow smoking in the big tents and as a result the smell of sweat, beer and thousands of  inebriated  young people, mostly men, was a bit overwhelming at times but also I really could have cared less at that moment. I was in Mecca! Although most native Germans will tell you that Oktoberfest is simply for the tourist and that they never go there, I did meet several there. The most interesting part was definitely going to the bathroom. Picture this, one bathroom six or seven thousand men, and ungodly amounts of beer. Needless to say , many elbows were thrown and much shoving took place. After getting into a beer tent , which holds about 6-7 thousand people, you cannot leave the tent or you forfeit your spot.  So I was in there from 8am-8pm and would have to say I have never sang or danced more in my life! It was very memorable to say the least. After we returned from the weekends festivities, we had to get ready to move to our final placements so which meant loads of busy work and transportation arrangements. We also went out for a fantastic dinner with the peeps at the Ratskeller, which has some of the oldest wine in Europe. I had a fantastic roasted Duck and glass of delicious Spätburgunder, which is a really good German red wine. We also had a chance to tour the Werder Bremen Soccer Stadium which is currently under reconstruction, it was pretty cool to get an inside look at the workings of a Bundesliga Mannschaft. So in conclusion I cannot thank everyone enough for the wonderful time in Bremen, meine Leute, Meine Oma und all of the Bremenites, Thank you!

Norway

So here is my update. I am currently on a bus to Seljord, Norway in the Telemark part of the country. I could not be more excited but to understand my excitement we need to go back a little further. This trip started its’ evolution in the Month of  August the recommendation from a friend that you must see Norway! I thought great, so I booked my trip on Ryanair (a discount service that flies throughout Europe) for the bargain price of 45$ and Started my planning. As I started to search for cheap places to stay I ran into the problem that Oslo is one of the most expensive cites in Europe. Great, ok , so now what? I cannot afford this trip! But wait one sec, isn’t Norway one of the hiking Mecca’s of the world? Yes. And isn’t camping aloud anywhere in the Country as long as you are 200 meters away from a residential area? Yes! So the logically I chose to go to this little town in the middle of nowhere with the most amazing views I have seen, or at least hopefully at this point. So you see my friends I am on the brink of something amazing here I feel and I could not be more excited at this point. I will report back with more details when they are available, but until then peace out world. After I got back it has been non-stop! One thing after another.The trip was amazing, the sky pristine and the stars were the most vivid thing I have ever seen. There was a three dimensional feeling to the sky, as if you could see galaxies beyond. In one word breathtaking. I have some video of the event and eventually I will be editing it and making it into one. Other than that life goes on at a normal clip, one event leading to another, trying to get ready for my move. I miss everyone and hope all of you are doing great. Bis dann!