This entry is a series of loose vignettes that describe some of the more interesting aspects of Frankfurt. An Overview of Frankfurt I gaze out of my fourteenth story office window, where I sit high above my surroundings. Looking to the far right, my eyes meet the jagged points of the Tanus Mountains. They follow the green mountain slopes down to where the foothills meet the outskirts of the city of Frankfurt. The tops of the buildings, mostly of uniform height, form a plateau only visible from above. If this were any other city in Europe, this plateau would be nearly flat or would mimic the contour of the land, but this is Frankfurt. Here, the characteristic European flatness is negated by the extreme highs and lows exhibited by the many skyscrapers that punctuate the plateau, ... read more

A few weekends ago, I traded the pair of brown leather shoes that I wear to work five days a week for a pair of Asics 2140s. It was time to follow my itchy feet to the Rhine, Main, and Necker - three major rivers within an hour of the heart of Frankfurt - on three separate trips. I had not visited this area of Germany before, but I was familiar with it thanks to the works of the German Romantics. The Romantics, or Die Romantiker, were individualists whose collective work spans most of the 19th Century. They looked to the world of ages past to find their material, searching Märchen, "fairytales;" Sagen, "sayings," in Volkslieder, "Folk songs;" and the mysticism of the Middle ages. They traveled to the sites of these stories and re-imagined their ... read more

It was an abnormally warm August day back in 2008 when she called. She was one of my host sister's friends, a tiny blond girl who my host sister knew through days of putzing around in the horse stall. I had been in Germany for two weeks, tops, and understood little of what was going on around me. Up to that point, I had spent my days developing fluency in my own kind of toddler-esque hand language. It was amazing what I could communicate with my hands! Yet it was far less amazing how little use those hands were where the telephone was concerned. She was inviting me to the beach, my host mother explained to me. They'd be here in a half an hour. I should sunscreen. So there I was, scaling the steps of ... read more

The Plan of Action Entry 1 - Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria • March 30th - arrive in Berlin • March 31st- tour Berlin and Potsdamm • April 1st - leave Berlin, stop in Dresden, and arrive in Prague • April 2nd - tour Prague • April 3rd - depart Prague, arrive in Vienna • April 4th - tour Vienna • April 5th - depart Vienna, arrive in Lido de Jesolo (Venice) Entry 2 - Italy, Southern France, and Monaco • April 6th - tour Venice • April 7th - depart Venice, drive through Tuscany, and arrive in Montecatini Terme (Florence and Pisa) • April 8th - tour Florence • April 9th - tour Pisa, spend the afternoon at the beach in Lucca • April 10th - depart Montecatini Terme, drive along the Mediterranean Sea, and ... read more

It was finally here: the reward of all rewards; the thought that every exchange student clung to at night when the going was rough; the Eurotour. Eurotour lasted 19 days and covered 8 countries: Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Monacco, Belgium, and the Netherlands. We were 46 exchange students in total, hailing from 5 continents. We spoke at least 9 languages together - some of us communicated in 3 or 4 of those languages. Eurotour was so massive that I couldn't even decide what country to attribute this entry to. The Plan of Action Entry 1 - Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria March 30th - arrive in Berlin March 31st- tour Berlin and Potsdamm April 1st - leave Berlin, stop in Dresden, and arrive in Prague April 2nd - tour Prague April 3rd ... read more