Germany Article for “A Student Abroad”

The Easter Bunny Didn’t Follow Me to Germany

Hallo! I got back very late last night from my Germany expedition. It was an absolutely amazing experience. My boyfriend, Adam, is starting to notice a trend; every country that I spend time in, I want to move to. I think that sounds like an excellent way to work and live.

While in Germany I tried to take note of the major differences between American, Italian and German culture. These are what I’ve come up with:

· German keyboards have the “z” key and the “y” key switched
· People of all ages are way more athletic than Italians, but probably not more than people in Houghton
· The cities and structures are very advanced compared to Italy
· Germans are very welcoming to tourists and provide huge information centers with staff on holidays!

Of the five days that I spent in Germany, three and a half were spent in Cologne. This city has not been a major tourist destination, coming in behind Munich and Berlin, but it seems they are trying to change that. With lots of things to do from renting a bike, cruising on the Rein River and many museums, plus a zoo to visit, the city is in no way lacking opportunities.

The largest and most known attraction in Cologne is the Dom, which is German for “main church” just as the Duomo is the main church in a city in Italy. This structure took over 600 years to build and is definitely the dom-inating structure that you would expect. Just by looking at my pictures you can see how large the church plays over the rest of the buildings.

Also coming to my attention in Cologne were the many modern buildings. The newest being the most recent structure that now represents the city, regrettably, I do not have a photo. Other fancy looking structures included a new concert hall to complement the outdoor facility already used, an amazing Maritime Museum as well as large business buildings.

While in Germany, Casey, Jeff and I took advantage of the infamous German brew. In Italy, beer is very expensive because all the focus goes into making wine. In Germany, with countless brauhaus in Cologne alone, we had no problem finding good varieties of beer. It was interesting to note that all of the main breweries listed in our supposedly “insider” and student geared tourist guide, attracted an older crowd.

Sadly, the weather during the trip was not optimal. I can see the place being a hot spot during the summertime though. Regrettably, since the weather was so poor, I didn’t take a cruise ride on the Rein river. I’ll have to save that for next time. Another down side to our chosen vacation destination was that over the Easter time, lots of things were closed. This only impeded us slightly though, so all worked out for the best.

All in all, Germany was an amazing place to visit. I can’t even imagine how great Munich and Berlin must be but I am making plans to find out! These next couple of days my nose will be to the grindstone since the teachers, as usual, decided to make everything due all at once.

Schoos! “bye” in cologne.. Pronounced like moose, only drop the m and add a “ch” in the beginning