Matt in Deutschland

The first day at sea involved sleeping in, something we hadn’t done since starting our travels. My friend Rachel and I decided to go off and do our own thing in the morning. My decision was to eat a great breakfast at the buffet and then to grab my book and lay by the pool. I found a great lounge chair and just got to enjoy the sun and relax. After lunch I met up with Rachel, we hung out in the solarium and had pizza and French fries as a little treat. We went to the bar and enjoyed the drink of the day before dinner. The next morning we arrived at Santorini, Greece. This port was one of the main reasons we choose this cruise. We arrived via small boat since the cruise ship ... read more

Meeting all the participants in Berlin I was able to hear what everyone’s travel plans for our 2 weeks in July. Another of my good friends was planning to be in Italy during the same time and so we decided to meet up in Amalfi. Rachel and I took the water bus to Amalfi the next morning. The boat made a stop in a town called Positano before arriving in Amalfi. Positano was amazing we were tempted to stay. Once we arrived in Amalfi we met up with our friend Ryan. We walked around the town and saw a very beautiful church. Ryan recommended a restaurant he ate at the night before and it was only a short bus ride away. It was this cute little restaurant that was family owned and a little old woman ... read more

My last few weeks in Germany I made it a point to sort of say good-bye to my favorite cities. I couldn’t have been prouder to live in the state of Nord Rheine Westfallen. The state was filled with amazing cities and mind blowing sites. Even though Remscheid was not a glamorous city it still became my home and a town I miss. Köln The city of Cologne over the year was always the place to go when I wanted a change of scenery. It was not much further away from Düsseldorf but for the first 5 months it also cost me 6 Euros roundtrip since my first pass only let me travel through the northern part of my state. I will still remember the first time I saw the Cologne Cathedral and how over the ... read more

So after spending one night at home after Rome I had to get up early the next morning for our train to Berlin. The trip to Berlin was paid for by our program because it was a final seminar for all 75 participants. The week was basically to visit the capital and be involved in different publicity events to support the exchange program. It was also a nice way to all meet up and find out how everyone’s year has been. We arrived on Tuesday and only had a brief greeting from the program organizers before having a nice dinner all together at a Restaurant in downtown Berlin. Berlin is the capital of Germany and a really amazing city. I think it would be hard to find another city with so much history and culture. We ... read more

With the weather getting nicer and my time getting shorter I have been trying to take advantage of every weekend and every event. During one of the nicer weekends in early May I made a plan with a friend in Bonn to go hiking. We took a train along the Rheine to a town called Königswinter where there is a beautiful castle and gorgeous hiking paths. The town is right along the river and a castle is located up the hill called Drachenburg or Dragon Fort. We hiked up and enjoyed the amazing views of Bonn and the surrounding landscapes. We enjoyed the nice weather and had a picnic and then hiked back down the hill to the town. After getting back to Bonn we had ice cream and watched the end of a marathon in ... read more