Last monday was the first day of classes. I'm not going to go into much detail about them, because that is the least important part about this trip :) Of course, I'm joking, but nobody wants to here about what I did in class... Monday night was spent hanging out with some people and getting the homework for Tuesday finished.
Tuesday's are an incredibly busy day. We have 3 hours of class in the morning, followed by another three hours of class in the afternoon. Luckily, each class is pretty interesting (for the most part) and they seem to move by fairly quickly. Tuesday night we went bowling as a large group and met some German students from the University. Despite the fact that I am completely awful at bowling, talking to the German students was a lot of fun, and afterwords we all went out to a bar for a bite to eat and a drink or two so we could continue carrying on our conversations.
After class on Wednesday we all went to a German high school English class. They gave us presentations about what we could do in Dresden in order for them to practice their English skills. It's kind of sad that when we said a sentence or two about ourselves in German to them that our level of speaking was way less advanced than what their eighth grade level of English skills are. They gave us a tour of their school, and we got the opportunity to talk to the students about their hobbys and how a high school in Germany is ran.
Thursday we had no class! Instead, we took a field trip to Mießen. The trip was about an hour by train, but we had to be at the station by 8:15 to get ready for the full day ahead of us. The first view of Meißen is breathtaking. It is an old medieval town, with a cathedral and castle (which is more like a palace, if there really is any actual distinction) rising up on a hillside over the river.
Our first task was to climb this hill to get to the "fortress" at the top (taking the bus up the hill is for girls -Dr. Spencer). On the way up the hill we stopped at a few interesting landmarks... such as a building that served as a tavern and a torture chamber (unfortunately I do not have a picture of that) and a so called medieval stone that has carvings in out that you can supposedly make out every letter in the alphabet in.
I personally think one would have had to have a bit to drink in order to make out all the letters of the alphabet... but then again, this is Germany...
Our first stop after we huffed and puffed our way up the hill, was the Albrechtsburg castle. It is now a museum that depicts the history of the building. It was built (a long time ago) for two brothers of some sort of importance. It was considered very luxurious for it's time because it had indoor toilets, which was pretty much a hole with a lid that lead to a place where the rain water could easy the waste away. Unfortunately, the palace was never actually lived in. Later on in history (don't want to look through my notebook for dates) the palace was turned into a porcelain factory. European porcelain was discovered in Dresden and manufactured in that area (MEißen). Even though the palace is no longer the porcelain factory it once was, the porcelain is still manufactured in Meißen, we just did not get the chance to go to the factory (it's just a typical factory -Dr. Spencer).
After eating our packed lunch, we were able to tour the cathedral, that is literally connected to the palace. The gothic style cathedral was breathtakingly beautiful.
Inside was the original gate that people used to enter the cathedral. The mural/ statue type thing over the door depicts Jesus with Mary his mother, John the Baptist, and the 12 apostles and angels. It is called "Judgement day" as the people who walk through the door to enter into the cathedral are being judged.
Also inside is one of the original stained glass windows that dated back to the 1200's! It depicts the different saints, and, unfortunately, during some of the renovations of the church, the bottom part of the window was removed. What was so awe-inspiring about this church is that it is the original building, not a replica (the palace was too, to some extent.)
In the middle of the cathedral there is a big crack that run down the center. This is because when it was being built workers worked on it from two different sides. The crack is where the two sides of the building met to complete the building.
After exploring the cathedral for a while, I got ready to face my (minor) fear of heights and climb the spill staircase (307 steps) to the top of one of the cathedrals two towers.
On the way up there were a few platforms at which you could stop.
The first platform is known as the bell level (obviously it is where the church bells are located). The big bell was one of the biggest bells at the time it was created, and to this day is the most decorated bell in the world. During world war II the bell was taken down to be melted for it's iron, but fortunately it was spared and returned to it's home after the war.
The second platform is the main lookout point. I got many good pictures from this view.
However, there was still one more obstacle... climbing the tower. I was nervous enough because of my fear of heights, but Dr. Spencer made it worse by making me believe that there were no guard rails at the top and if you weren't careful you WOULD fall. Of course, I now know not to believe a word that man says! Despite the fact that my legs were literally shaking the entire trip up the stairs, I made it to the top and was able to see Germany from an amazing view!
After we climbed back down the spiral staircase (makes you dizzy btw...) we visited a few other churches such as the Meißen Frauenkirche,
As well as the NickoleiKirche, which is now a museum to world war I veterans. This church/museum also houses the largest porcelain figures in all of Europe.
AFter a long day, we took the train back to Dresden, but the day was not over. A group of us decided to watch the semi-final soccer game Germany vs. Italy at a campus viewing. It was crowded and loud, but it was fun to watch the game and talk to our German "bowling buddies." Despite the fact that Germany lost (2-1), we all had a great time, and I will never forget my first soccer experience in Deutschland!
On Friday, we did not have class again. Instead we went on a short field trip to Dresden's original fortress, which is now underground. The tour, however, was completely in German, and even though the lady spoke really slow to help us comprehend... don't ask me about what was said on this tour!
After the tour we all sat in a big circle on the grass outside the museum and did an exercise with the 201 teacher (who does not know any English) about asking for directions. Then we had to ask random people on the street how to get to a famous landmark with the information we had just learned. I went to a gift shop nearby, purchased a few souvenirs, and asked the lady at the cashier for the directions! After that, me, Becca and Sam went to the Großer Garten to work on gathering information for our presentation.
After that, we went back to the dorm until Me and two others met a group of our German Bowling Buddies in Neustadt. We went to the store, purchased a pack of Bier and went to join some of their friends in a park. We discussed how if we were in America we would be breaking at least 4 laws... underage drinking; in a public park; after sunset; where there was small fires. We got back to the dorm around 1:00 am, and I (finally) was able to sleep in (to some extent.)
Saturday morning I worked on homework (kind of) until the afternoon, when I wen with Sammi and Elaina to meet a few Germans to play beach volleyball. THe volleyball court was at a place called Zetrum Beach, which was on the roof on a shopping center in the middle of the city! IT was very hot (86 degrees, which is almost unheard of hear in Dresden).
After almost overdoing it (personally) in the sun, we went back to the dorm to change to go to a summer iceskating party with another German. After a hot day in the sun, the ice felt amazing! I did not fall at all, and by the end I was able to skate fairly quickly.
After the iceskating we walked to a bar that is on another beach that is along the river. We sat and talked for a few hours and then headed back to the dorm. We made it back right before a thunderstorm hit!
Sunday I slept in again, and I spent my day doing the homework that I had procrastinated on over the weekend. For supper we had a cookout with a few of the German "bowling buddies." We had brotwurst, steaks in a traditional German rub, and cheese that you grill (and it doesn't melt!!) All the food was amazing!
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| this picture is great because as I was taking a picture of the grilling, Sammi dropped her Wurst on the ground... |
After the cookout I went back to my homework.
This morning was classes, and then me and Becca went back to the Großer Garten to visit the botanical garden there, before our presentation tomorrow. The botanical garden was beautiful, and I hop to go back sometime before I leave.
I got back to the dorm, took an nap (migraine) ate supper and planned a weekend trip to Prague during the 5th weekend. Now, after I read how busy this past week has been, I am starting to get extremely tired. I will post the pictures in the morning and hopefully get this up before class tomorrow.
Gute Nacht!
Ok, so I guess the posting tomorrow morning thing did not happen ( i woke up, thought about it, but decided sleep sounded better. So, I will talk about the exciting day of classes I had today (sarcasm is not so easily translated through text, so I will tell you that that was sarcastic!)
So after my 3 hour language class in the morning, I ate lunch, then had my 3 hour culture class with Dr. Spencer. My group presented on the GRoßer Garten. I think it went well. After the required classes, I went to a class with one of the German students about North American Geography. Even though the class was entirely in German, there were pretty pictures, and I feel like I was able to understand certain words here and there.
Again, I'm sorry this took so long to update... but life here has been so busy doing amazing things, that I do not have the time to sit in my room and write this.
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