Slideshow >> SB 2009

They say that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, so I guess I'll let them do talking:

Spring Break 2009 - Czech Republic

The last leg of my trip during Spring Break was to the historical city of Prague! I'd been receiving recommendations since arriving in Vienna to go and check this place out. It was a thoroughly fascinating experience - the city is in an impressive state considering how old and historical it is.
Getting to Prague was a hard experience; after the night in Dresden really revealed my exhaustion and weariness, it was tempting to just head back to Vienna. I decided against that, and took the train that morning from the Dresden Hauptbahnhof to Prague.

During the ride, I finished reading Obama's "The Audacity of Hope." I read the last page and set the book down in immense satisfaction that the man whose book I was reading was the president of the most influential country on earth, that simply by his presidency and his desire for change he has set something great in motion. I glanced out of the train window onto the beautiful quaint but stunning landscape that flew past. Now I was glad I had decided to press on.
Upon arriving at the station, I was immediately impressed by the cleanliness and brightness of Prague. For some odd reason, I'd expected it to be gray and rainy, but it was just the opposite: the sun dominated the blue sky and uplifted my body's weariness.

Now, on to the problem of finding what I needed and where I needed to go to find the hostel. I wandered around in the train station for longer than I care to remember: getting money, pouring over a few tourist maps, and trying to figure out the transportation system. It was a process that I had become very accustomed to by this point, but my broken suitcase was becoming an ever-pressing burden. Somehow I managed ...

I finally found the hostel - Miss Sophies - and it was located pretty near the city center. The people who worked at the receptionist were amazingly calm, and it was impossible to be stressed out with their calm voices and generous manners. They gave me a lovely map of the city, pointed out a few places that were popular and great to see, and then I started off.

The weather was lovely - a bit windy, but gorgeous. I hopped on some trams and just let myself wander around the city. The river, the 600-year-old bridges and buildings, the exotic Czech language, the new merging with the old, was breath-taking. Prague was indeed a neat city, see for yourself:

[Media: 1. The Dancing House, Prague; 2. View of the city from near Charles' Bridge]

Spring Break 2009 - Belgium

I arrived in Belgium on Friday morning, dropped my luggage in the storage room, and headed out to check out the city of Brussels! Indeed a neat city - very very old as well. I wandered around for a bit longer than I care to remember, the chilly winds quickly taking over the once-sunny day. After a long time of searching I finally found my way to Atonium, which I had been wanting to see forEVER and a day. It was beautiful; the decorative lights against that black sky showed off the structure's ingenuity and was a gorgeous sight indeed.

Friday evening I met up with my friend's sister, Denise, who has lived in Brussels for the last 7 years. She works with the EU Commission (as does her husband). She treated me that evening to a lovely and huge meal at a nearby Moroccan restaurant. She was very fluent in French, having studied in Belgium and lived in French-speaking environments for almost 10 years. I was so thankful for her translating abilities, since I don't know one word of French. We discussed my all-time favorite topic: changing the world, and she filled me in on the details of her career. She aids in the social and economic development of other countries, making sure that the money that is alloted for purposes intended to improve the lives of the poor ends up fulfilling its purpose. A safeguard, so to say, to make sure that money allocated i.e. for building a new bridge is used not only to build the bridge, but to improve the populations well-being because of that bridge.
It's good to know that people are still ready to change the world.

The guy I met in my hostel that afternoon happened to be from St Louis, a pre-law student at Wash U! He spoke of his interest in working in environmental or human rights law - "anything" he added "but tax law!" It's one thing to be weirded out upon hearing American English, but something different when the person lives in your neck o' the woods.

The next morning, after a decent night's rest, I got up and began preparing for the long trip to Prague. I met some nice folks, from Japan, Thailand, California, Germany, and a few other countries. I pitied the guy from California; he said that he had just graduated and was worried about finding a job. I told him that with a degree in economics, he would normally already have have something. "Yeah, I just picked the wrong time to graduate" he replied. I keep praying that this crisis will loosen its grip soon; our dreams and hard-work are drained of hope in the face of what's happening worldwide. I was sad to leave that little group, to say the least, whom I'd know for all of 15 minutes. Meeting them and sharing their enthusiasm for travelling and changing their worldviews gave me a much needed dose of hope.

Now let me tell you why my love for Germany rarely wavers.

There were numerous delays with the Deutsche Bahn, and I ended up missing the connection that would have taken me from Dresden to the Czech Republic. The woman who worked the night shift at the train station in Dresden was extrememly helpful. She gave me several options as to what I could do since the next train to Prague would not leave until 8am the next morning. It would be best to spend the night in Dresden. In an almost maternal manner, she declined this-and-that place because it was not safe for a young woman to be out at night. She suggested a nearby-hostel instead, called to inform the receptionist of my arrival, and gave me a detailed map and instructions. All I can say is, thank the Lord I know German and that she was there. Otherwise, it would have been a cold night in the train station ...

Dragging my broken suitcase through Dresden at 11 o' clock at night was not a fun time by any means. My exhaustion and ceaseless self-criticism - "Why on earth did you decide to do this?!" came at me full force. I got out of the S-Bahn and had no idea which way to go to find the hostel. After a few minutes of hopeless wandering, a bus driver stopped, asked where I needed to go, and pointed me in the right direction. There were passengers in his bus, and I was NOT at the bus stop.
So I followed his directions, and lo and behold! the hostel was in sight. A student who happened to be passing by in the opposite direction stopped and carried my broken suitcase up the stairs to the reception for me. He was a God-send, and I think I said "Danke!" thirty times before he left.
Even the guy at the receptionist was warm and very helpful, not a trace of edginess, even at the late hour.

Now you see.


Once I got settled in, the first thing I did was thank the Lord for all those people who randomly went out of their way. Then, for the first time, I realized how alone I was. Like my friend had said, "It's crazy; you wake up and realize that no one in the entire world knows exactly where you are at this moment." I lay awake, waiting for the thrilling moment to hit. It never did. I just cried. I cried for my great-aunt, sick in the hospital, whose voice I hadn't heard over 3 weeks. I wanted so much to tell her how I owed every ounce of my success and determination to what she did for me almost 2o years ago. (She brought me home from the hospital at three days old and raised me) At the time I was also reading Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope, and many things he wrote about reminded me of how long the weight of the world had been pressing down on me. I understood, during this night in Dresden, that a large part of my frustration in adjusting to life in a new city is due to being separated from the motivations that drive my enthusiasm, my future-oriented mindset, my willigness.

I was separated by 5000 miles of land, wind, and water.

[Photos: 1. The Atonium by night, Brussels, Belgium; 2. the medley of folks I met at the hostel in Brussels; 3. a small piece of Dresden from my window]

Spring Break 2009 - Germany

Thursday, 12. March:
I am thoroughly brainwashed by the German language.
So I arrived in Münster on Monday night - a miracle in and of itself. In Cologne I hopped on the wrong train, one heading all the way to Amsterdam ... I somehow managed to connect with a Münster-bound train in Düsseldorf. Upon arriving in Muenster, I searched out a pay phone to give Rebecca a buzz to let her know I had made it. She met me right there, on time, standing behind me as I dialed her house!
I met Rebecca through a German professor from Webster University a few months back, and it was great to see her again. I knew it was going to be nice to finally settle down for a few days, tame the madness of being alone and stranded in unknown cities. She graduated from Webster with a Bachelor of Arts in both Art History and Philosophy, and was now preparing to continue with her Masters in Art History at the Univeristy of Muenster. All that she's strived for to get where she wanted to be - in Germany - is for me an inspiration.
Tuesday we had the German class. From 8.15am until 3.30pm ... a long day. Wednesday went similarly, only that we ended around 1.30pm instead. It was great - the students were from all over the world, but had been in Muenster anywhere from 1 to 3 years. And the majority of them had excellent German, which at first was a bit intimidating. Rebecca reminded me, however, that they had LIVED there for some time, had jobs where they had to speak German, and even German boyfriends...so I shouldn't be worried.
It was pretty neat to test my German with the other students, and I quickly found myself speaking unhindered. Most of them were much older than I (although they rarely looked it) - 25, 26, and up - so I felt "itty bitty." But the way that German universities work corresponding to the ages of its students, it was absolutely normal. Students my age, 19, are still considered to be in "Gymnasium" (a type of equivalent to high school) and most students take a year off before starting university. As I rambled on about my plans for the future, how I'm lost and not sure what to begin first and when; how I had an interest in urban planning and environmental design, how I wanted to help improve city environments and someday work in Germany, and how maybe I'll do my Masters at a German university too, most of them just looked at me, astonished, and said, "You have time, you have time! How old are you? 19?! You have plenty of time - I'm 27 and still not completely sure..."
I want so much to believe that "I have time." But I am fully aware that time costs money, and neither one are on my side.
It is stunning: the costs - of the universities, health insurance, student fees, an apartment - are a mere fraction of what they are in the US. Rebecca is paying Euro 150, - for an entire semester of the German course, while most US universities charge, at the very least, $600 per credit hour! During the class time, we got into a discusson comparing and contrasting private and public university education in Germany and in the United States. Most were absolutely astonished about the cost of our education for both private AND public colleges. And we wonder why certain groups of people in the US don't make it to college. More and more I'm beginning to see that it's not necessarily a lack of will, motivation, or even of opportunity. It's a lack of funds.

Overall, my stay in Muenster was a great experience and very relaxing. They city left me with a very good impression, a place that I would have no problem living for many years. The attitude of the Germans is so open and I felt almost liberated. When I walked around the city, people continued to stand idly by, maybe glancing my way, but then went back to their own thing. I LOVED that! It's so hard for me to feel like random people are suspicious of me, as I've felt all too often both in St. Louis and in Vienna. There have been some days when I've felt that all the time I spend learning - about the culture, country, and language with which I'm through some kind of past life connected - is going to waste. During my short stay in Muenster, I began to sense - for the first time in a long time - that my strides are not in vain. My desire to become integrated into this culture will someday be honored.

[Photos: 1. Myself, Rebecca, and another student from the Uni Muenster inside one of the lovely hang out places, 2. The theology building of the University]

Spring Break 2009 - Switzerland

Saturday, 7. March:
I finally made it to Luzern! From Vienna to Luzern was about 10 hours, and even though I thought I'd be bored to death riding on a train for that amount of time, the landscape of the country is so impressive and stunningly beautiful. The time almost "flew by" and my eyes were glued to the window the entire time. Switzerland was unlike anything I've EVER seen: the natural beauty, calm lakes, towering mountains, and sturdy wood houses were all breathtaking. I also started reading Barack Obama's "Audacity of Hope" and also "Der Vorleser" [recently made into a movie "The Reader"] Both are extremely well-written, even with the language difference! There was a 30 minute delay with my train, and I was definitely way CLOSE to missing my train!! Once I got in, it was so crowded that I entirely gave up lugging my boulder of a suitcase through the aisles and took a seat on the stairs. It was then that I realized how different Swiss German sounds. Everyone that I ran into was very nice though - several people stopped and gave me directions to the hostel after seeing my frustrated and lost expression, and I was very grateful for such generosity. I'm realizing that it's not that way in every city, and it was nice that people were so willing to point me in the right direction. As soon as I found the hostel, the receptionist was very nice and friendly - not to mention fluent in what seemed like a billion languages! (It was great that people spoke German to me; most of the time, people are so anxious to practice their English that I get out one word of German and then it's over) I dropped my bags and then turned immediately to the most important thing: finding FOOD. The food was delicious, and in the proccess I met two recent college graduates from Tokio who were touring through Europe - they were also in complete awe of Switzerland's beauty. We all thought to ourselves, "They get to see THIS every day?!"

Monday, 9. March:
I spent Sunday and the majority of today taking a scenic trains throgh Switzerland and also in the mountain town of Interlaken (where the highest point of Europe is located) - and it was just amazing. I walked around that place and thought, "God, how did You do this?" The beauty of this place in unparralled, and my eyes could hardly contain what was before me. Only one thing went not so good: as I was checking out a souvenoir shop, my purse bumped into a table, breaking a statue that was worth over 300, - Euros! Ja, not good. I barely had enough money to pay for the damage, and was positive that I'd have to deal with an overdraft on my account. When I got to the hostel to check on my Internet banking, I was exactly $4.45 away from an overdraft charge.

God is good.

This whole business about"travelling the world" is not as easy I would have thought. But I'm convinced that it will be one of the best experiences, and surely Spring Breaks, of my life, and will be remembered fondly for a long time. Sunday night I arrived in Montreaux, and couldn't read a blasted thing! There were no maps or indicators about the transportation system. I took the taxi, and to my surprise it was only about 10 CHF, not bad as I was expecting.

The hostel was pretty nice, but getting up to my room was a bit frustrating. Some teens were just hanging around near the staircase, staring at me as I entered, and didn't offer at all to help with my broken suitcase. This was the turning point of my trip --
I realized that I've been pampered in a way. It's much more common in the U.S. for people to stop what they are doing to help someone who looks confused. It seems that, at least in most of the cities I've visited, asking comes before help. It's a tough thing to process at first; the first thing I wanted to think was "Could someone at least OFFER to help me find this room? My suitcase is 30 pounds, I'm soaked from the pouring rain, and 'I, I, I'"...." But after I got the chance to sit calmly and rest, I became grateful for such an experience. The level of maturity and independence, self-confidence and understanding of the world that I gained in this one small incident would prove to be enough to lift my spirits and work in unseen ways for the remainder of the week.

By this time, I have introduced myself what seems like a billion times. The question that's been the most interesting is "Where are you from?" I respond: "I am from the U.S., but studying in Vienna." But somehow that doesn't satisfy me. It's a bit easier, I must say, now that Obama is the new President. Even so, I am aware of the great privilege and responsibility that I carry as a United States citizen. People I meet will judge my entire country by what they see in me. They will judge every other American they meet by the way that I present myself, by the way that I represent my nation.

... of the people that I shared a hostel with in Montreaux, there were two very sweet university students from Spain. One of the girls had very good English and the other struggled a bit but was still great. She seemed a little embarassed because she didn't know all the words she was fishing for, and she took her time in thinking of the best way to express the ideas she had. She taught me something in doing that: that I don't have to always be "perfect" with German, that I can take my time, that I can admit that there are still some things I don't know yet. For a language major like me, who constantly strives for perfection - especially with German, this was an important and valuable lesson.

[Photos: 1. the lake-side city of Luzern, 2. the view of the shimmering lakes and snow-capped mountains on the train ride to Interlaken, 3. the Swiss alps rising mysteriously out of the thick fog right outside the hostel in Montreaux]

Time FLIES

Week 8

We took the train to Bratislava during the weekend for a day trip, and it was a pretty good time. The weather was rather dull, rainy and cold, but the city was overall relatively small and conducive to just walking around. It was four of us, and no one had done any research prior to our trip, (and of course we couldn't speak a word of Slovakian) so it was indeed an interesting experience. I bought a map at a small shop, but it was all in Slovakian and therefore didn't serve us much good. We ended up walking around the city, eventually running in to a small outdoor market (where I bought a few souvenoirs) , a mall, some neat buildings, and an extremely good restaurant. By 7pm or so it was beginning to get dark, so we decided to head back.

And then came all the studying!! This was the last week before Spring Break, meaning that we had midterms. All of my classes are concentrated on one day, Tuesday, which makes studying for midterms and finals an absolute nightmare. Somehow I made it through...
My German final test for the Austrian Literature course was not as bad as I expected, although it was still a tough lesson to sit through. We identified the main frustration for us students of German: the gap between what we want to say and what we actually can say, given our current language competencies. I went away from that class extremely "enttäuscht", dissappointed. But I suppose such dissappointment is the first and possibly most painful step in preparing for a long process such as learning German.
For some odd reason unbeknowst to me, my classmates in the Intro to Critical Thinking course decided to take the midterm after the break. I could have died! It would have been much easier to study hard to Tuesday and Wednesday, take it on Thursday, and be completely worry-free during Spring Break about the midterm. In this case, however, the majority ruled. Friday evening of Spring Break will be spent studying for my midterm on the train to Prague.
The midterm that I was the most worried about, Political Theory, was not as I imagined it to be. I have more of a photographic memory than conceptual, and to my disadvantage, much of the midterm dealt with political concepts rather than easily accesible dates, lists.

By Wednesday, all exams were finished, and I had the day to begin planning for Spring Break and to go see Mozart's "The Magic Flute" at the Volksoper. I am very familiar with the music and songs from many of Mozart's operas, but hadn't seen the actual operas on stage. The Volksoper's performance of "The Magic Flute" was fantastic - lots of talent in the cast - and it was also very cheap. Following my teacher's advice, I bought a ticket in the Stehplatz (standing) section for only Euro 1,50, and because there were tons of empty seats, I got to sit and enjoy the show...and see EVERYTHING!


Thursday was a pretty packed day. In the morning I met up with the friend, Stephanie, that I'd met in the Straßenbahn a few weeks prior. We went to the bookstore and I bought the whole place! I got the following: Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father," Stephanie Meyer's "Twilight" series, and the recent big hit, "Der Vorleser" (The Reader). I met up afterwards with some friends for a Bible study and we had very interesting discussions about heaven, hell, and other such topics. After class ended at 5.30, I went to the world-famous "Musikverein" and saw Joshua Bell performance. It was absolutely phanomenal! He was an extremely gifted musician and violinst and played with a passion that I've never seen before, and I left the hall in awe.

Friday was spent getting prepared for my Spring Break trips to Switzerland, Münster, Brussels, and Prague. I also hung out with Bright and we had dinner together at his place while discussing politics - it was very nice. Planning for such a trip was definitely a bit stressful, but for at least one thing I am grateful: that I purchased a Eurail Pass. It saved me hundreds of dollars, and gave me the most flexibility in when and how I can book my trains. Friday I packed up my things, including all the books and homework for the 10 hour train rides, and prepared to leave for Switzerland early Saturday morning ....


Spring Break 2009

This year is the first time that I've ever done any thing for Spring Break. In high school when everyone's locker proclaimed warm destinations or service trips, I simply had nothing. So here's my itinerary for Spring Break:

• Saturday - leave Vienna, arrive in Luzern, Switzerland


• Sunday - leave Luzern, take the Panaramic trains through what is known as the "Golden Pass," and get a firsthand look at Switzerland's extreme natural beauty, mountains, forests, and lakes; arrive in Montreux, Switzerland


• Monday - leave Montreaux, arrive in Münster, Germany; my friend is preparing for study at the University of Münster and agreed to let me come and check it out with her, since I am also interested in studying at a German university


• Tuesday & Wednesday - stay in Münster and explore the town and univeristy atmosphere


• Thursday - leave Münster, arrive in Brussels, Belgium; a sister of my friend lives in Belgium and plans to meet up with me while I'm there; I hope spend the day during "touristy" stuff and then meeting her family


• Friday - leave Belgium, arrive in Prague


• Saturday - spend the day exploring the oh-so-famous city of Prague! It looks like others will be visiting at the same time so if it works, I'll get to meet up with them


• Sunday - leave Prague, arrive "home" in Vienna, Austria; I'm going to be exhausted, and SLEEP will be the utmost priority!

It's taken months of hearing others talk about their new sense of freedom and independence while travelling for me to gather the strength to do this! It's scary, and the thought of going alone is a bit unnerving, but as my friend described: "Waking up in a new city, and hardly anyone knows where you really are at the moment, is a thrilling feeling." Sooo we'll see how this goes!! Find photos that I took during my trips by clicking here: Spring Break 2009.

[Photos: 1. Main train station in Bratislava, Slovakia; 2. Musikverein, performance of solo violinist Joshua Bell and the Minnosota Orchestra; 3. Switzerland's flag blows proudly in the mountain breeze]