January 13, 2011 We have a really great teacher at the Goethe Institute that makes our lessons really interesting. Since it’s a C1 class (higher level) we don’t learn much new grammar, its mostly practicing using the language and expanding our vocabulary. Our lessons have been really interesting so far. He usually throws in a few songs to listen to, interesting articles, or tells us something about German history. He grew up in Dresden in the DDR times, when the Soviet Union was running the show in East Germany, so he has a lot of first hand knowledge. He’s also an art history major, so all things cultural fascinate him and I think he enjoys the class just as much as we do. So on Thursday he organized a little field trip for us after class ... read more

Getting There January 2, 2011 Whyyyy Deutsche Bahn?? Why? Well the Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) let me down again when moving to Dresden. The tiny train was insanely overbooked and it was completely full. There weren’t enough train cars and the aisles, entrances and every possible space, were all full of standing people. We barely made it on the train at all since we had 3 suitcases, 3 backpacks, and coats and stuff, because as I said, even the entrances were full. We finally found a train car whose door wasn’t completely jam-packed and Mia fought her way on while I threw on the three suitcases. The crowd ended up being pushed all the way down each aisle and we were able to stand in the aisle too, which was completely blocked. Unfortunately, almost everyone on ... read more

In this blog: Dachau, Schloss Nymphenburg, Hofbräuhaus, Linderhof Castle, and Neuschwanstein Castle December 23, 2010 - Dachau Concentration Camp So we’ve only spent 5 of our 10 days so far and we still have a lot to see! Munich has so much to see and I’ve even seen a few new ones too. Today we visited the city of Dachau and the infamous concentration camp. I’d rather not describe it again in detail too much, but here’s my other blog about the first time I went about two months ago - Last time I was there I rented an audio guide, but this time we did a full out tour so my family could really get all the information. The tour was really well done and even explained some things I didn’t know after my first ... read more

I’m told by the school director that usually there isn’t this much (or any) snow in Munich this early. He said it’s usually like this in the end of January, but I love it! There’s a ton and it’s snowed almost every day for the last two weeks. It’s really piling up and hopefully will keep doing so until my family gets here on Sunday. I went around the Altstadt a bit today and took a few pictures of the snow covered Christmas market. Hopefully we’ll have a white Christmas too! Today was my last day at EF Munich (my language school) and it was kind of sad since I had to say a lot of goodbyes. I got my language certificate though and we got to watch a movie for the last part of class, ... read more

There are so many Christmas traditions here in Germany! Not only the Christmas markets, but also so many of the local shops, restaurants, and cafes are decorated for the Christmas season. Tollwood is the local winter festival here in Munich. It’s very similar to a Christmas market, because there are lots and lots of stalls selling food, gifts, and also Christmas trinkets, but there are also a lot of odd things too. There’s a really big indoor bazaar with even more stalls for shopping. Some of the things for sale include: wooden giraffes, stuffed animals, mittens, hats, funny hats, big hats, small hats, Christmas ornaments, wooden ornaments, wooden furniture, bongs for hookah/shisha, musical instruments, and lots of food! Mulled wine (Glühwein: pronounced "glue vine", but not made out of glue :P ) is also a big ... read more