Brewery Ambition

After much thought I have decided that one day I will open my own brewery. Seriously, after enjoying real beer for four months I want people in America to have beer that isn't bread in a can of water. It may take me a while, a decade or so, but my goal is to one day start my own brewery. Anyone interested in taking part? If so let me know.

On a different note, Corrina's friend Sara is coming to Vienna for a few days. Also, I have a VWC College Facebook page now. To see it simply click on the link to the right of this post.

The Germany Trip

Well Corrina and I are now back in good old Vienna. We had a pretty sweet trip through Germany. We spent the first third of our trip with my family friends in Rhineland-Pfalz. We had a great time visiting my family friends around town and taking day trips to a castle, Speyer, and Trier. They even took us to see the movie "Hitch" in English.

After our stay with my family friends, we spent four days in Berlin with our friend Jamie. We had a blast wondering around the metropolis. We got to go on top of the Reichstag, see what was left of the Wall, Check Point Charlie, Treptower Park, the Soviet War Monument, Tackeles, the 1936 Olympic Stadium, Kaiserkirche (or what was left of it), various watering holes, and some other random city sites. I really want to return to Berlin and see more!

After our all to brief stay in Berlin, we spent the remainder of our time in Lübeck. Lübeck was a pretty nice old German town. We saw a lot of medieval buildings and simply had a great time walking along its quiet streets. We even made a day trip to Kiel, which is fairly close to Denmark. Kiel is a very modern city, for it was (and still is) an important German port. Thus it was bombed back to the stone age by the Allies during World War Two. We got to see the beautiful waterfront, a nice Church, and do a little shopping.

Through our travels in Germany, we got lucky and were able to ride the high speed ICE trains. Seriously, it was like being in an airplane but far better. If you ever go to Germany, be sure to ride the rails and take an ICE train. It made the return trip to Vienna a whole lot faster and smoother.
Well it is good to be back in Vienna, but time has gone by far to quickly. My next major trip will be my flight back to America. Blah! Vienna feels too much like my home for me to want to leave it. Oh well...

Also, Corrina and I took many pictures, so stay tuned for their debut online!

Greetings from Lübeck, Germany

So far our trip has been great! I'll go over all the details once I return to Vienna.

Better warm-up a fresh pot of coffee...

In a mad rush to get Corrina's memory card empty for our 12 days in Germany, we've put over a hundred new photos online. Be sure to visit the photo site and look at all the new folders.

Graz and Melk

Yesterday Corrina and I took a trip down to Graz, Austria for the day. Graz is a pretty cool city in the lower part of Austria known as Styria. We saw the interesting Schlossberg, with its clock tower and castle ruins. We visited the garrison museum and a medieval armory museum. The armory had well over 3,000 objects on display.

Today Corrina, Becky, and I went to Melk, Austria. I had seen the amazing monastery there when I came through Europe with my high school. However, the monastery deserved another visit. We had a rather enjoyable trip.

Tomorrow is the beginning of my trip through Germany! I will try my best to get online every so often and make some blog updates.

Germany Travel Plans

• Höheinöd - 15. April to 18. April
• Berlin - 18. April to 23. April
• Lübeck - 23. April to 26. April
• leave for Vienna on the 26.

Mauthausen

Yesterday I went to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp with Corrina and Becky. After a crazy trip, which included a train ride lasting two hours longer than it should and thus missing the connecting train and having to take a grand prix like taxi, we arrived at the camp at 3pm or so. The camp was remarkable. It looked more like a castle from the outside. However, it was a very dreary and depressing site. You really need to be ready before visiting such a horrific place. I could smell death in the crematory, even 60 years after the camp was liberated by the U.S. Army. You can help but hope that those responsible for the atrocities there met a brutal end at the hands of the Allied courts. After the camp we had a crazy walk in the rain to the train station, thanks to poor directions. The train home was fast, and we arrived back in good old Vienna at 9pm or so.

Still Here...

So Corrina and I have decided to stay in Vienna and not go to Salzburg. Rather, we are going to take day trips to various Austrian destinations. Today we are going to Mauthausen, which was a concentration camp. Other planed day trips include going to Graz, though we still have yet to figure out the final day trip.

Over

Well the program in now over. It feels like I just got here. At least some friends of Corrina and I are going to get together tonight for one last drink as a group. Hopefully we will all keep in touch and eventually meet up again in America. Until the 4th of May Corrina and I get to enjoy Europe without having to go to class. I will miss the classes, and the teachers, but I will enjoy the freedom!

Closing Down

The AHA program had our going away dinner tonight. I still cannot believe that the program is almost over. There are just two more days of classes and then my in class education here is done. Seriously, it feels like I just started! At least I have about four weeks left in Europe, cause I so do not want to return! Of course I want to see everyone, but Vienna feels like home. I want to come back here! Alas I know that I must return to the US, however I wont be the same person.

Pope John Paul II

I felt that the Pope deserved his own post, and thus I have done so. The Pope was one of the greatest human beings to have ever lived. May he rest in eternal peace.

One Week...

Sadly my program here in Vienna ends this coming Thursday. I seriously cannot believe how fast my time here has gone. Lucky for me I still have about a month left in Europe. I have about two weeks in Vienna/Austria and about two weeks in Germany. I just hope those do not fly by!

On another note, I had a pretty good weekend. I had a good time at Bratislava on Friday. I was able to make yet another trip to the grand 1516 brewery. Today I was lucky enough to see inside a World War Two era bunker. Besides those things, I've spent a lot of time writing papers.