Busy Week

Olympic Park -- Olympic Statium

Last week was the third week of the month of July. And time continues to go by so fast it is unbelievable. With all the events and activities we had, the week went by even faster. On Monday we visited the Olympic Center, the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics. Since I arrived in Munich I had been to this park a couple of times before but this time around I took some really nice pictures and did what most tourists do: go up the Olympic Tower. The tower is approximately 291 meters high, it is located in the middle of the park and it also functions as a television antenna. You can visit the top of the tower by going up via a very fast elevator. On the top of the tower you have the best views of Munich. Once up there Munich does not seem to be the big city you would expect it to be. You do not see too many densely built or densely populated areas. There are basically no high-rises. From what I understand, after the destruction the city experienced during the bomb attacks in World War II the city was re-built to pre-war conditions and the number of high-rises that could be built was limited by the local authorities. So far, this one together with the English Garden is one of my favorite parks in Munich. The Olympic stadium, located right next to the tower, has a pretty cool design too. It used to be home to the FC Bayern-Munich until recently, when they moved to the new Allianz Arena. It is now home to lots and lots of concerts. All the major artists who come to Munich have their concerts here.

Olympic Tower* -- View of the city from the tower

* Picture from the Olympia Zentrum website. All others were taken with my camera

Olympic stadium viewed from top of the tower with one of "my students"

As you walk towards the Olympic Center from the subway station, you won’t miss the BMW factory building, the BMW Museum and the still-under-construction-BMW-World. The factory building has the shape of a 4-cylinder engine. From what I have been told by people who work there is that BMW wanted to demolish it a couple of years back because it is a very old building. However city official prohibited the company from doing so as this building is an icon. It is one of Munich´s landmarks. What the government did then was to provide funding and to work together with the company to invest money in renovating the building.

BMW Building-- View of BMW building and museum from tower

Eisbach in English Garden

Taking advantage of the good weather (no rain) the school organized an afternoon day of games and fun at the English Garden (the one I always compare with New York’s central park) on Tuesday afternoon. We got to the park around 3:30-4:00 and what stroke me the most was to see how crowded it was. The place was full of people who were sunbathing, swimming, or playing some sport. I could only wonder why so many people would be at the park on a work day around that time. For most of us 3:30 – 4:00 is when we actually start being productive at work. Oh well!!…we played some volleyball, board games (in German), did like a 30 minute session of Yoga (one of the girls who works at the school is also a Yoga instructor), and went for a swim in the "Eisbach". Eisbach literally means ice creek. The Eisbach is an artificially made creek from the Isar River, which crosses the park on different sections. The water on some of the stretches of the creek is still, but on some others it has a rather rapid current. It is so that in certain parts of the creek a wave forms and people can and do surf. So to say that we swam is acutally an overstatement. You do not have to swim since the current just moves you along. Of course I had to try it; and let me tell you they don’t call it ice creek for nothing. The water was ice cold. The first couple of minutes, while being swept by the current the only thing I could say was:" I’m going to freeze, I’m going to freeze, I’m going to freeze I’m freezing, I’m freezing" I then decided to do apply some of my "It’s all in the power of the mind" philosphy and changed to I’m not going to freeze, I’m not going to freeze I’m not freezing, I’m not freezing . After a while you get used to the temperature and that is when you really start to enjoy being swept by the current. The creek itself was not too deep. I could reach the floor. I would say the water would cover me all the way to my neck; however, it was impossible to stand up as the bottom was very rocky and the current kept swiping you away. Of course the current around the area where we swam was not like the one in the picture. Unfortunately I did not take the camera to the creek and therefore I have no pictures. Ok, I continue. I think we swam for about 5-7 minutes. But then again it is hard to time these things when you are in them. Coming to a stop was also very interesting and somewhat cumbersome. As I tried to hold on to one the rocky sides of the creek the current kept trying to snatch me. On top of it I was cracking up and couldn´t stopped laughing because I couldn’t come to a halt. That made me loose the strength as I was trying to hold on and push me away from the water. Luckily the guys in our group had gotten to that point of the creek ahead of me and they helped me get out of the water. When I got out my ears were hurting. I think it was due to the cold water. However it was A W S O M E!!!!! Lots of fun!! I want to go back and do it again. The not so fun part was having to walk barefoot on a road full of little stones all the way back to where our group was stationed on another part of the park.

Allianz Arena

On Wednesday our group decided to visit the Allianz Arena. This is the stadium where the opening game of the 2006 World Cup (Soccer) was played between Germany and Costa Rica. The stadium is also home to the 2 soccer teams in Munich: the FC Bayern Munich and the TSV 1860 Munich. The stadium is located in the northern part of the city and you can reach it via the subway. It can sit up to 69,900 roaring fans, and it with its roof (partial roof I should say) it will cover all of them. The facade of the stadium is made up of approximately 2,700 panels made of some sort of plastic (Sorry but the tour was in German so I did not really get all the details). On the nights when there are games these panels are lit up based on the color of the team that is playing: red for the Bayern Munich, blue for the 1860 and white for the German national team. When they are lit up, the electricity consumption costs the stadium 50 Euros per hour. The tour lasted 75 minute where they walk us all over the stadium; took us to the press room, the lockers and the VIP lounge, showed us a 5 minute movie on how the stadium was built, and even made us do "the wave" and scream TOOOOOOR!!!!! (goal in German). My only wish now is to be able to go to one of the matches of the "Bundes Liga" and witness a game from the Bayer Munich once the season begins in 3 weeks. However, I’ve been told it is pretty difficult to get a ticket!! So I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Stadium facade and panels -- Partial roof

Regensburg

Regensburg & view of the Danube

This past weekend was a busy one. On Friday night, we went out to a very nice and hip lounge called Pacha, near the city center. I liked the place a lot: good music, nice atmosphere, an outdoor and an indoor area to sit down, and no cover charge for women. That night we ran once again into the subway dilemma: leave the club just before 2AM so we could catch the last subway straight to our respective homes or wait until the first subways of the morning at around 4:30AM. We opted for the latter so once again I got back home at the crack of dawn. Trying to keep up with these twenty something year olds (a.k.a “my students”) is killing my 8 hours of beauty sleep. I still tried to sleep that morning as much as I could to recharge my batteries for the Regensburg trip on Sunday. The remaining of the day I spent it at the open air opera and then on a barbecue we had on a lake on the northern part of the city.

On Sunday we visited the city of Regensburg (population 151,000) in the state of Bavaria, yet another beautiful and enchanting city about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Munich. Regensburg old town district was named in 2006 as a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. The city is crossed by two rivers: the Danube and the Regen and it was the residence and death place of the astronomer Johan Kepler (laws of planetary motion).

Regensburg - Old town

Regensburg Cathedral

The Bavarian Jazz festival was taking place that weekend and the city was filled with stages spread all over the old part of town. Each stage had performances from different jazz bands from all over Bavarian. The weather was a little bit too hot for my tastes but at least it did not rain. It was sunny, clear, hot and somewhat humid. The city is not that big so we strolled around the old part of the city in about 2 hours. It was a great and relaxing day where we just walked, sat down to listen to some jazz, ate an ice cream to help us survive the heat, and enjoyed talking to other students from the school. The return train was delayed about 35 minutes due to a bad signal somewhere along the railroad. We ended up having to catch a train to another city and then catch a second train back to Munich. The second train was crowded as it had its regular passengers plus all of the people who were in the same situation we were: trying to go to Munich from Regensburg. There was basically no place on the train so I had to make half of the journey standing up in a train with no AC. We got back to Munich just in time to meet up with some other people from the group and say good-bye to the first person from our usual suspects who was heading back home (Madrid) on Monday morning. :-(

Erdinger Brewery

White Beer and Pretzels

Once again we had an awful weather last week: it was cold with lots of rain. With this changing weather I finally got a cold on Tuesday. I stayed home in the afternoons, drank lots of liquids and was feeling better within 2 or 3 days. On Thursday afternoon we made a field trip to Erding, a suburb about 50 minutes from Munich where the Erdinger brewery is located. This brewery exists since 1,886 and it is still a family-owned business. We made a very interesting one hour tour of the brewery and at the end were treated to beer (of course) and some typical Bavarian food: white sausages (the ones made out of veal), pretzels, and mustard. The total cost of the event (tour, drinks and food) was 8 euros. Not bad! During the tour we learned about the main ingredients in producing beer, the fermentation process, and the bottling, packing and shipping process.

Brewery Tour

Erdinger is mostly known for their white beer (Weiβbier in German): a type of beer that is very popular and highly consumed in Bavaria. White beer is also known as “liquid bread” since it is made with wheat. It is not as clear as the beer we are used to but it sure fills you and fattens you up much quicker. In Munich there are basically 3 types of beers that are offered everywhere you go: white beer, dark beer, and helles (clear beer); and then there is also the Radler which is the mix of lemon soda with helles beer. The oldest law in the state of Bavaria dates back to 1,516 and it is called the “1516 Bayerishe Reinheitsgebot”. The literal translation is 1516 Bavarian’s Pureness Commandment. This law guarantees the pureness and good quality of the beer by specifying the 4 ingredients to be used when brewing beer: water, hops, yeast and barley (I had to look this one up in the dictionary). The only exception is in the making of white beer where the barley is substituted for wheat. All of this information I learned from one of my teachers and also from the Erdinger tour guide. Oh!! and another interesting fact is that in Germany you can legally start drinking beer at the age of 16 (No hard liquor until you reach 18).
After the tour we had about one hour and a half to enjoy as many beers as we wanted from the different types of beers produced by Erdinger (in the 0.5 liter glass). I had a glass of the white beer (of course) and a glass of the dark one. However, some of my classmates had a little bit more to drink. Just picture this: being a twenty something year old student and getting all the beer you can get without having to pay an additional cent.

White Beer tasting

The filled-up glasses of beer were constantly arriving to the table. I’ve heard that some of them had 5 or 6 glasses during the one and a half hour time span. Needless to say everyone was very very happy by the time we left Erding to go back to Munich. Everyone was singing on the train songs from Shakira, Ramazotti, Celia Cruz, and even “Pasame la boteeellaaaaaaa quiero beber en nombre de ella….paaaasame, paaaasame, pasame la botella” etc etc. And just as you would expect I was the chorus director!!

Nürnberg

Nürnberg Cathedral

This past weekend started out with going to a club on Friday night and experiencing the true night life of Munich. This city is so quiet, calmed and Pleasantville like that for a minute I doubted there was one. But to my surprise Munchners can party in ways other than drinking beer. We went to an area filled with clubs, something similar to a CocoWalk, located near the city center. Each club offers a different type of music, environment and crowd. We ended up going to a club recommended by our Brazilian classmates. They had been there before and had become acquainted with the bouncers (one of them who was from Brazil) and therefore were able to enter without being carded. Not that I was worried about being carded but we had 3 seventeen year old girls in our group who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to go into a club. The place played mostly pop music as well as some Brazilian and Latin music including a little bit of salsa, merengue and to my surprise Regeatton. HereI am, thinking, I had finally gotten away from “La Gasolina” but not. They played it along with some other Reagetton classics (if such things exists) plus some other ones I had never heard.

On Saturday there was a hiking trip planned to the mountains for which I didn’t even attempt to get up. I went to sleep so late it didn’t make any sense for me to go hiking all day long. I wouldn’t have made it. But at the end it worked out that I didn’t go. In the afternoon Carlos and Geraldine (2 friends of mine from Colombia) called to let me know they were in town and wanted to get together. They live in Stuttgart (about a 2 hour drive from Munich) and decided that same day to drive to Munich to meet up with Carlos –Carlos from Munich from now on- and myself. The 4 of us went together to school back in Colombia so you can say we had ourselves a little German School reunion. We spent some time around the city in the afternoon and then went to dinner to a Mexican Restaurant on Leopold Strasse: a street on the east side of Munich and close to the University which is full of shops, restaurants and coffee shops along the sidewalks. It was great seeing them, and spending time catching up, reminiscing about our good old school days, and getting ourselves updated with what is going on with each one of us and our other friends. We laughed a lot and like it always happens when you meet with friends we made lots of plans for the future. I had a wonderful time!! Unfortunately by the time they called me I had already left my house and had not taken my camera with me. So I don’t have any pictures.

For Sunday our group of usual suspects had planned a trip to Nurnberg; a city about 1 hour and 40 minutes, by train, to the north of Munich. Since it is located in the state of Bavaria we took advantage once again of the Bayern ticket (5 persons for 27 Euros). We met early in the morning at the main train station, got a coffee and a croissant to go and headed to the walled city of Nurnberg. Fortunately this weekend we had great weather: clear and sunny with an average temperature around the 80´s. The first thing we did when we arrived was to visit the “Germanische National Musem”. In my opinion, it is nothing out of this world. However we did learn that if you enter the museum with a minor, then 2 or 3 other people can enter the museum, together with the minor, as a family and pay less per person than the regular price of one adult ticket. Since one of the girls in our group is 17 years old that is exactly what we did, and of course we made note of this detail for future reference.

Museum* Nürnberg Cathedral

*Entrance to the Germanishes Museum. Each one of the 30 columns has engraved one of the 30 human rights in a different language.

After having lunch we walked along the old city’s pedestrian streets, stopped often to take lots of pictures, and tried to enter one of the many church towers along our walk to see the city from above. One of the towers was closed on Sunday and the other one was under renovation: so no luck with that plan.

Views along the tour of the city center

We made our way to the castle on the other side of the old town and walked all the way to the top to once again try to enter the tower. Once in the castle we discovered there were 2 types of tickets: a full price ticket to enter the museum, the castle, the tower and the well, and a more economical ticket for just the tower and the well. Since our goal was to climb up to the top of the tower we went for the second option. We planned to once again use the “minor” card to purchase the tickets. For some reason I ended up being the spokesperson for the group so I told the cashier we had a minor in the group and needed to get 7 additional tickets for the tower and well tour only. The man told me that the tower was closed for renovations. We told him we were not interested then since the tower is what we wanted to visit. He then told us he could do something for us (he was going to “hook us up”): give us a free entrance to the well tour and then have a tour guide take us to a room in the castle with, according to him, the best views of Nürnberg and we would just give the guide a good tip. I translated to the group what was going on and the guy continued talking to all of us in English. We looked at each other, debated somewhat and finally decided to accept the offer. Then the guy says: OK then I give you a ticket for 1 teacher and 6 students. When he said that I turned around and looked at one of the guys in our group who was by then cracking up. He tells me: he just called you teacher. I tried very hard to contain my laughter (as did all the rest of the group), thanked the guy, picked up the tickets, confirmed the time and place we were to meet the tour guide and left. When I looked at the tickets I realized he had given us 2: one for one adult and one for 6 school kids. The 8th person was the seventeen year old girl from Spain so she didn’t need a ticket. We couldn’t stop laughing for like the next 5 minutes. We all thought it was hilarious that the guy had thought I was their teacher. Of course they started to play along by asking me: teacher when was this castle built? Who lived in this castle? At what time is the bus picking us up to get back to the station? We toured the castle museum for about 20 minutes to kill sometime before meeting our tour guide. I also played my part and told them the story behind a trumpet displayed on the museum which was built specially for the King of Sweden. We me the tour guide and headed to the well together with another group of people. He also took us to the castle’s double chapel and the room with a view of Nürnberg. While giving the tour the guy asked if anyone in the group knew what a double chapel was and where else in the world you could find other famous double chapels. No one answered. He then looks at me and said: "Well, I guess we all now know what one of the questions on the test is going to be." I just smiled and said : "Yes we do!!" What else was I supposed to do? I had to play along. The views were not that spectacular but we laughed so much and so good that it was all worth it. We then headed back to the train station to catch up the train back to Munich not without first stopping at a Gelateria to get some delicious and refreshing the ice cream.

P.S A Double Chapel is 2 story chapel with 2 separate entrances where the first and second floor are not connected. The first floor was attended by the workers of the castle while the upper level, with better ventilation and a view of the altar, was reserved for the nobles. Although there are a couple of these kind of chapel over Europe perhaps one the most known ones is the double chapel in Assisi, Italy.

Summer Camp

Half liter and One liter beer at Hofbrauhaus

I never went to summer camp but right now I feel I’m going to one: I love it!!!!. Monday of last week was just like the first day of summer camp. July brought a lot of new students to the school. The majority of them are here just for 1 month to learn German during their summer break from school (most are going to college and then there are some that are still in high school). Some of my classmates from last month are also here this month. Meeting all the new students the first couple of days was exciting. It was once again asking and being asked the routine questions to learn about each other: how long are you staying in Munich? When did you get here? Where do you live? Why are you learning German? For how long have you studied German? and so on. Once again we have a very diverse group of people. We have students from the U.S, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Holland, Russia, Brazil, Italy, England, Syria and Madagascar. The school has prepared an aggressive plan of activities to keep all of us entertained during the month of July, so last week was pretty hectic. And since most of the people are here only for 1 month they want to take advantage of their time here and do something everyday. We have already formed a nice group of about 7 or 8 people who always go to all the activities planned by the school or the ones we organize ourselves when there is nothing planned.

Last week we went to what else but a couple of beer houses to get something to eat and of course to drink some beer. In Munich depending on where you go the price for a half liter of draft beer can cost anywhere between 2.50 and 5 euros on the average. The 0.3 liter beer can cost between 2 and 3.50. Now, the price for a Diet Coke (0.2 or .03 liters) can be anywhere between 2 and 3.00 euros. So from an economical point of view it does make more sense to drink beer. Right?? On Wednesday we went bowling for a couple of hours after lunch and ended up going to the famous Hofbrauhaus afterwards. This brew house is one of the most famous ones in Munich. It is quite a folkloric place. It is always full (mostly tourists) and there are some people who find it be too much: too crowed, too touristy, too cheesy, and too loud. But I love it. You are guaranteed to have a good time in there, especially if you go with a group of people. The place serves only about 3 types of beers (white, dark and helles) in the 0.5 or 1.0 liter glasses and sells traditional Bavarian food: pretzels with mustard, sausages, sauerkraut, pork, potato salad, and mashed potatoes. The waiters/waitresses wear the typical Bavarian dresses and they have trouble understanding the meaning of the word service. However it is lots of fun. You sit on some very long wooded tables with benches (picnic style) and you have to find yourself a place where to sit down. You usually have to sit on the same table with other people you don’t know, but after the first beer you end up cheering with them (Prost! in German), coming up in their pictures and they end up coming up in yours. And even those who do not speak a word of German learn some of the very basics of the language from their German neighbors.

On Thursday the school went once again to the Tollwood festival. This time around I couldn’t make it since I had already made plans to go to a salsa dancing class. Not that I came here to learn how to dance salsa but when my tandem partner told me about it I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to see some Germans trying to move their hips to the rhythms of Marc Anthony, El grupo Niche and Oscar de Leon. We got to the dancing studio and the advanced class was going on. I have to say that I was very impressed with what I saw: very advanced moves executed to perfection, very natural movement of the hips, and a very natural way of dancing. I entered the "rueda" (circle of dancing couples) to discover the person calling out the different steps was German: "guapea, dame, setenta, enchufa, etc etc" with of course a heavy German accent. "Eeehhh, excuse me??? Habla español? Repeat please?? "– That is what I felt like saying but of course didn’t. I could hardly understand him so I just let the men lead the steps. I was also laughing inside because every time some one stepped on me or I made the wrong turn they would tell me something in German and I would just smile. It was just surreal. The teacher showed up a couple of minutes later. He is Cuban but of course he taught the class in German: "Zurück, bin ban ban, Links, bin ban bon, Rechts, bin bon bun", die Hüfte (the hips) bin ban ban". Once again very surreal. After the class there was a 15 minute introductory class for absolute beginners. That was just too much for me to try to describe it. All I have to say is that I admire their will and enthusiasm in wanting to learn something that is so different from who they are. But with perseverance, discipline and practice they will get to be where my counterparts from the advance class are.

Disclaimer

You are probably thinking: but when does she get any studying done? Didn’t she tell us she was going to study? All she does is party!! Well, as you all know and remember very well there is a lot of partying and going out when you are a student. It is t part of the nature of being a student. All of you have been there and know how it is. But let me tell you my friends that it is not all fun and games. The learning experience at the school continues to be, in my opinion, fruitful and successful. I do feel that I understand more and more each day. I like to watch the news on TV and I understand them, some times more than others. I also like to watch other shows that are the German version of Good Morning America and from time to time the German soap operas. They are bad but they vocalize and pronounce very good so they are easy to understand. Of course I’m thrilled with my progress. I love the German language more and more each day. My classmates laugh because they say that I’m crazy about German since I’m always using catchy German phrases. And by now I’ve also learned a couple of sayings that are very funny and which I love to repeat every time I have the chance. The school also offers, on a voluntary basis, a program called Tandem Partnership. It basically is a program that pairs you up with a German person who is learning or interested in practicing your mother language. You meet with that person for 1, 2 or 3 hours and talk the first half of the meeting in German and the other half in Spanish or English. It is a great way to attempt to have a true conversation on the foreign language. It forces you to talk and talk and talk, learn how people in the streets actually talk, and to use and practice the vocabulary and grammar you learn in the class. They paired me up with a girl from Hamburg who is learning English because she wants to find a better job. She currently works for the ministry of family, seniors and youths. We have met a couple of times to have a coffee and talk about how things work in Germany vs. how they are in the US. In addition to that my friend Carlos got me together with a coworker of his who is learning Spanish. He works for a company that does computer systems training for BMW. So it has also been very interesting to learn how corporate Germany works.

Everyday we also have homework left and I´ve been very good at doing it and at trying to study some more on my own from time to time.

My new life

Salzburg

I can’t believe June is over. Time just flew by. I spent most of the month adapting to my new life as a student (which also means living under a student budget) and getting acquainted with Munich: lots of walks around the city, visiting parks and museums; having a cup of coffee, an ice cream or a beer in one of the many platz or town squares going to different stores trying to learn what each one sells, who has the best prices and and who offers more variety. I also took advantage of the good weather we had during most of June by going to some cultural and outdoor activities offered in many of the parks and squares by the city of Munich. I went to Tollwodd, the arts and crafts festival I told you about that takes place in the Olympic Center. I also went to a Greek festival with traditional food, music and dances. Three weeks ago there was a weekend long celebration of Munich’s 849th birthday with food, an arts and crafts fair, and traditional music. I also went to a Lake on the north part of the city to relax and get some sun. This is one of the favorite activities of the Münchner during the summer months. They love to go to one of the many lakes near the city and just enjoy the day the same way we would enjoy the beach: lay down on the grass or a chair to relax, read a book and get a sun tan, go for a swim on the lake (very cold for me), barbecue some beef or traditional German sausages, play volleyball or soccer, and spend some time chatting with family and friends.

Feldmoching See (Lake)

I also visited the new and old Pinakhothek (art galleries) on a Sunday. Since these 2 museums are state-owned they only cost 1 Euro on Sundays as opposed to 9 Euros on any other day of the week (this is an example of the things I´ve learned to research when you live on a student budget). The new Pinakhothek is the most important museum of art of the 19th century in the world. It is home for example to one of Vincent van Gogh´s most famous painting: “Vase with Sunflowers”. Very interesting museums which are worth visiting!!

The first weekend I was here I also went to Salzburg (in Austria) with some of my classmates. Salzburg is right on the border with Austria and if you take a regional train it is only 2 hours away. For regional trains you can buy what is called a Bayern ticket. This tickets costs 27 euros and it is good for up to 5 people. The ticket is good for an entire day and you can travel on all transportation systems (trains, subways, buses, trams) in the entire Bayern region (including Salzburg) with the same ticket. Salzburg was the birthplace of Mozart and it is also the city where the movie the Sound of Music takes place. Like many of the cities in the South German-Swizerland-Austria region, Salzburg is a charming city. It is crossed by the Salzach river and with a castle on top of a hill, a lively pedestrian zone and many churches and small museums.

Salzburg

The week before last was already the last week of classes for some of the students of the school. One of them was my Japanese classmate. So as a good-bye gift to us she brought her contrabass and played 3 songs: a classical piece, a Japanese song and the wedding march for one of our teachers who was getting married that weekend. This is my classmate who is also a soprano singer. The best of it all is that she also sang the Japanese song. Another Japanese girl from a different classroom joined her in the song. They sang beautifully and I was amazed by how talented they are. As a matter of fact there are quite a good number of students who have a musical talent and who have promised to perform for us before the end of this month. Of course after listening to the Japanese girls singing there is no way I’m opening my mouth to talk about my previous renditions of mariachi songs and boleros I’ve played in public with the guitar: "pero sigo siendo el reeeeeeyyyy!!!!" What was I thinking back then?? Why didn’t anybody stop me???
On Friday the school had a farewell cookout of traditional Bavarian food: white sausages (made out of veal), pretzels, mustard, and of course beer. They also served a very popular drink in Bayern: Radler (the German version of a “refajo”). It is a mixture of beer and lime/lemon soda so it does not have the bitter taste of regular beer. And when served cold it can be very refreshing. That night there was also a Brazilian/Cuban party at a bar/restaurant in the suburbs where one of my classmates works from time to time. Till this day I’m still trying to figure out why they called it a Cuban party too. It ends up that everything about the party was Brazilian: the music, the food, and the decorations etc etc. I think they did it to attract more people to the place. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun. There was a girl from Brazil singing and playing the guitar. One of the Brazilian guys from the school accompanied the singer by playing one of the songs on the guitar. I’m telling you, this people are all very talented and very musical. The party was a lot of fun and we left it too late to catch the last train of the night back to the main station. Since the next train was not leaving until about 5 o’clock in the morning (by then it was 3:30 am) we decided to get a taxi to the main station and then catch a night bus from there. We were also starving by then and we had the feeling the only place in Munich were we could find eat something at that time would be at the station. There were 5 of us who needed to get to the station to then take separate night buses from there to our respective homes. We got to the station around 4 o’clock and had to pay a total of 16 euros (not bad at all since we split the cost between 5). We had something to eat and discovered that the first subways departed the main station around 4:30 am. And that is just what we did. We waited for the first subway of the day. When I go to my stop the first glimpses of daylight were showing up. I decided to wait there an additional 10 minutes for the bus to avoid having to walk at that time. And since I was tired and cold that was my best alternative. I was very happy when I finally got home, took-off my shoes, put on my PJ’s, got underneath the blankets and went to sleep!!!

MOVED

I finally moved to my apartment last weekend on Sunday afternoon. I met with the landlady at 11 o’clock that morning to get the keys and do a walk-through of the apartment and the building. Everything was in order. I cleaned the place, unpacked the bags that night and got everything ready to start the week, the month and the new class early on Monday morning. As promised, here are some pictures of the area where I’m leaving. What you see is the path I take everyday to catch the bus/tram/subway. The neighborhood is called Neuhausen and the square that is close to it (where the subway and bus station are located) is called Rotkreutzplatz (Redcross square). Unfortunately it rained all week long so the pictures did not come out very good. They say that we are having April’s weather in July. On Wednesday the temperature was 50 degrees Fahrenheit and on Thursday it felt even colder. In the mornings I have to walk about 5 or 7 minutes to Rotkreutplatz where I take either one bus or one tram to go to school. The ride to school is 10 minutes and it stops right in front of the school. Needless to say I’m extremely happy with my 15 minute commute. I wake up usually between 7:45am and 8:00 am, get ready, have breakfast, prepare a small snack for the break and leave just before 9:00 am to catch the 9:06 tram.

Entrance to U-bahn station (Subway station)