Idina Menzel in Concert

This past weekend Chelsey and I ventured to Atlanta to see Tony winner Idina Menzel. After some mishap with tickets (we ended up with 6 for the 2 of us), the concert was finally here. We spent the day shopping in Atlanta before meeting some friends for dinner at Hal's and then it was off the Chastain Amphitheatre for the concert! Not only did she sing all the great songs off her album, she did songs from "Wicked," "The Wild Party," and "RENT." Except at the Tonys, I had never seen Idina Menzel live in any shows. It was a spectacular concert and I can't wait to see her on stage again somewhere!

SC Heart Gallery

Today I had the most incredible experience. As part of an exhibit that works to get foster children in South Carolina adopted, I got to take pictures of three amazing teens. It was both exciting and sad at the same time to know that these kids didn't have families to go home to. It seems like such a small thing, such a little amount of time to give that could potentially change these children's lives.

For more information, check out http://www.scheartgallery.org/

And the Tony goes to...

So New York City was amazing. Getting to see the obc cast of RENT was unbelievable! I am sad to hear that Cry Baby is closing because it was on my list to see next visit and I can't wait to see Passing Strange. We sat next to the stupidest people. One women was wearing an entire bottom of smell and their Broadway knowledge was minuscule to say the least.

The trip came about because Chelsey was turning 21 and for her birthday, she wanted to see the Tonys. The parents agreed and so she and I were off to the Big Apple for the first time on our own.

While we were in New York, we saw Sunday in the Park with George where we meet Danial Evans and Jenna Russell, both Tony nominated for their roles. Mary Poppins had mind boggling sets and the cast was great. Spring Awakening is my favorite musical. The story is unlike anything I have every seen on Broadway or anywhere for that matter. The cast was extraordinary and the show made you remember why I feel in love with musicals to begin with. Peter Gallagher and Morgan Freeman starred in The Country Girl, the first play I had ever seen in the city.

In our many trips to the city, we had always passed the Jekyll and Hyde Club, but didn't know what it was. Come to find out, it is this really cool restaurant with characters who wonder around, sing, act weird, etc. Of course we ate at our favorite, The Boathouse, but with sun set it was really hot.

The trip was one to remember and I can't wait to visit again soon.

Back to Reality

It is hard to get back into the swing of things when you come back from a trip, especially such a long trip. I had a wonderful time, but I sure do love home. After two long days of working on our project, it was time to present to our class and the Dean. Our project went really well and I am very relieved. Now it is back to the beach and internship at Brandon Advertising.

The 8 hour work days bring you back down to earth real quick. But, this Thursday it is off to New York and the Tony Awards!!! Not only is it amazing in and of itself to see the awards, but the obc (original Broadway cast) of "RENT" is performing with Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs and Anthony Rapp. The cast of "Young Frankenstein" is performing along with "The Littler Mermaid," "Cry Baby" and so much more. And to top it off, Whoopi Goldburg is hosting.

Berlin or Bust!

To my astonishment, we are settled in the actual city of Berlin. We arrived into the city pretty early this morning and made our way to the first hotel of the day. Upon arrival, we found out that the hotel was an hour outside of Berlin, not a great location for sightseeing. A little tired, we made our way back to the airport and were working on getting flights changed to go back to Munich earlier. A little over everything and really over the unhelpful people. I hope that when people come to the US, that we are more helpful and friendly than some of the people here, who by no means go beyond their job or out of their way to help. Now, some people are really nice, so I hate to stereotype, but it gets frustrating after a while.

Once we were checked into hotel number two that was actually in Berlin, close enough to walk to a remaining section of the Berlin Wall, we began exploring city a little. Tomorrow if the weather is good we plan on taking a bike tour of the city.

Follow the Crowd

The weather is beautiful and sunny, wonderful for exploring the Prague Castle and St. Vitus Cathedral. The castle surrounded the cathedral and was like a small town in itself. The stained glass was so neat with all the light shinning through, giving the church a yellow glow. We found a small café for lunch and made a stop at our favorite chocolate shop before going on the bike tour. The “non-strenuous” tour took us through many parts of the city and over the river. Our guide re-vamped the tour to include a biergarten stop. Unlike Germany, the biergarten was uphill. I couldn’t ride up that steep, so I pushed my biked up the hill. Afterwards, we took a different path down, but that required going down flights of stairs to get down. I am now a pro at bike riding through cars, trains and up curbs! During the tour we saw lots of neat artwork, including a statue that was of two men peeing onto a waiting pool in the shape of the Czech Republic. If you so desire, you can text a message to 420 724370707 and the statue will pee whatever message you send to it.

Again by a recommendation we dined at the Café Slavia for traditional Czech food. A great meal for our last night here. Tomorrow is another early morning to get to Berlin.

We have learned from our wondering that following the crowd usually puts you in the right place. If you go and stop seeing people, then you went the wrong way. So far it hasn't lead us astray!

Prague

With an early flight out of Munich, it was off to Prague. By noonish we had dropped off our luggage and were ready to see the sights. A short ride on the subway and we were near Old Town Square. What a view from the Town Hall tower and the clock even has a sort of “show” on the hour. Unimaginable, it was worse than the Glockenspiel! Really not worth a trip to the square on its own. While we were in the square, the 10th Cultural Festival was taking place and we got to see some children doing local dances. The afternoon was just spent wondering the streets. The city is a great place just to wonder and explore. We ran across a bike tour that we decided to do on Sunday and this amazing Belgium chocolate shop, the Gold Pralines.

By recommendation, we headed to the U Prince hotel’s rooftop bar to view the evening sunset before going downstairs for dinner. Number 74 on the menu was chicken! This might not seem like a great feat, but chicken isn’t a big item over here to my dismay.

People here aren’t as friendly as Germany. The guy at the information desk at the subway doesn’t sell tickets, doesn’t give change and doesn’t help you figure out the ticket you need. Not sure what they are paying him for.

Prost!

In Germany when you make a toast you don’t say cheers, but rather prost! This is done by toasting glasses logo to logo, eye to eye. Tonight at the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten, we toasted one last time during our final group dinner of the trip. It doesn’t seem real that two weeks here has past. The time has flown by. After many, many rainy days, today’s weather was amazing with beautiful sun shine. We finished up some lose ends of our project and then went shopping for the last minute souvenirs.

For lunch, it was good ‘ole American food at Hard Rock Café. You may laugh, but sometimes you just want some food you are accustomed to and at Hard Rock there are free refills. I never realized how great that was until I started paying 3 euro for a coke, no refills. Dad even found some splenda, something that is really hard to come by here. I wanted to climb the roof of one of the Olympic park buildings and rushed to get out there only to find out that they weren’t offering it today because of a concert tomorrow night. This really ticked me off because I have e-mailed multiple times and even tried to buy a ticket Wednesday and the women said it would be no problem to get my ticket today for the tour!!!

Before we met at the biergarten, dad and I climbed 94 steps to an elevator that took us up in a church tower with some great views of the city. Next it was gelato before getting on the subway to meet the group. It is hard to explain the enormousness of a beirgarten. The one we ate at tonight is the second largest in the world and it is 3 times the size of Central Park. Sort of in the center is the food house and beer and around it are huge grassy areas where people lay out and have picnics. One of the rivers also runs throughout the park. Clothes are optional in some parts and there is always tons of people biking, running and just hanging around.

Everyone is now packing and trying to figure out how they are going to get the beer steins home in one piece. It is sad to leave everyone and especially all the friends we have made at the hotel. It is an earlier morning tomorrow as we depart for Prague, so it’s off to bed.

Castles in the Clouds

It was any early day in order to make train one to get to the castles. Our first train departed at 6:40 a.m. followed by a second train then two buses at which point we finally made it to the town of Fusse, where the two castles were that we were visiting today. The first castle was Hohenschwangau, the summer home of King Ludwig I. The castle was in ruins when he found it on a hunting trip and he had the castle renovated for the family.

In 1869 the foundation was laid for Neuschwanstein castle. This is the castle that inspired Walt Disney’s design for Cinderella’s Castle in Walt Disney World, Florida. Both castles are filled with all the original furniture and ornate paintings. Coming back to Munich it only took three transportation vehicles to get us back.

For dinner, dad and I went to 181, the restaurant in the Olympic Tower. The restaurant begins spinning at 7:30 p.m. and offers a 360 degree view of Munich and the surrounding areas. The food was amazing and so was the view. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day in Munich. Two weeks seemed like so much time, but it is about to come to an end.

BMW. Sheer Driving Pleasure

Munich is the original location for BMW. The company began making airplane motors, but moved into motorbikes and cars when Germany was not allowed to make plane engines following WWI. Now the multi-national company has plants in many countries including Greenville, S.C. On a visit to the museum and plant today, we got to see a short movie on the BMW company history and its products as well as take a plant tour where we saw the 50 hour process it takes to make one car.

The factory here produces around 900 cars per day. With the advances in technology, 98 percent of the process is completed by machines that have amazing maneuverability. In other car factories, the maximum number of welding that can occur is 10 spots at one time. BMW has the ability to have twelve welds at one time. The production line is producing three different cars at the same time. The laser system and computer tracking system are able to tell the machines what type of car and it exact location to allow for precise work and installation of parts.

Before the cars begin the painting process, they are wiped over with ostrich feathers, specifically emu feathers, which cost around 70,000 euros per year. These feathers are known to pull dust and particles from cars to ensure a smooth paint process. The car is covered with fill, or the material that is seen if the paint is chipped and then sent through the color process. Customers can choose from nearly 30 standard colors or can get any specialized color for a nominal fee! If you ever wondered why metallic colors cost more, it is because the process of applying that paint is more difficult to ensure the car surface remains smooth. During the drying process, the cars are sent through infrared lights, which suck the moisture from the paint.

Currently the most popular color is silver with around 35 percent of all cars being this color. A popular color in the US is white, but this color is not popular here because of the danger blending in when driving in snow, fog and rain. The factory only receives supplies as they need them with deliveries coming 30 minutes before. Knowing that traffic or other happenings could disrupt this, the factory has a storage room that houses enough materials to continue producing for up to four hours if supplies aren’t received.

Cars here are made for countries that have driving on different sides of the road. To accommodate for this, the car piece is created to work for either design and the holes on the side not being used are filled in during the assembly line process. One part that I really liked was their community relations. Because the factory is adjacent to homes, the company has meet and continues to meet with the homeowners to ensure the factory does everything it not to be disruptive.

Following the factory tour we ventured through the museum where we could see all the different models of the BMWs and drive a simulation car to see some of the features the cars offer. It is unbelievable the intricate process it takes to make a car from start to finish with such high quality.

Dachau

Even through everything you read and learn about the concentration camps and what occurred there, nothing can prepare you for visiting a camp. Today we went to the Dachau Memorial which was one of the camps in Munich first constructed in March 1933 in a factory. From 1937 to 1938 the camp was re-built to house 6,000 people. When the camp was liberated on April 29, 1945, it was over capacity with more than 32,000 prisoners. Even though the people were liberated, many died from the disease and malnutrition suffered at the camp.

During the re-building in ’37-’38, a fence was built surrounding the camp to make escaping impossible. The fence made with barb wire was watched by SS guards and any prisoner who entered the prohibited zone was fired upon. Some of the prisoners entered this zone to end their misery at the camp. The first people brought to the camp were not Jewish, but people who spoke out about the government. Later people of religious affiliation and other backgrounds were brought to the camp. Originally Dachau only housed men, but later some women were brought to the camp.

Thought the camp had gas chambers, they were not used for mass murder. When the chambers were used, the prisoners were told that they were taking a shower and shower heads were in the rooms to make it look the part. In the crematorium area people were killed by execution or other murder techniques. Approximately 11,000 prisoners were cremated during the camps operations.

In the beginning, the camp was used as a “prevention” center where people were brought to show them how bad it could be if they continued their behavior and typically they changed their behavior when released. Prisoners at the camp were worked from 4 in the morning until 9 at night. If there wasn’t useful work for them to do, they were forced to exercise all day. Upon arrival the guards decided what work and place you would live in.

The camp was visited to see how people were being treated and what type of people were being held. To make things look in their favor, the SS had designated barracks that were nicer and groups of certain stereotypes present during these visits so that people would think that the prisoners were treated well and that they needed to be held. The camp did have an infirmary with a dentist. One visitor commented that the prisoners got better dental care than outsiders, but what they didn’t know was that the dentist was there to pull out any gold teeth the prisoners had.

Before leaving we viewed a twenty minute video that documented life and the happenings in Germany, but particularly in reference to Dachau. It is unimaginable that people could work at a place where they killed so many people and just hauled them off or burned their remains. Even after visiting I don’t think that the situation makes sense as to the enormous number of people who were affected by these camps. At Dachau alone there were more that 206,000 people registered to have been there when it was liberated.

Second Times the Charm

We seem to lack the ability to plan in the sense that no one bothers to make sure things are open. This morning everyone got up and ate breakfast in order to take the train to Dachau, the concentration camp memorial about 20 minutes away. The problem was that the memorial is closed on Mondays, but it took a woman who didn’t speak English to try and explain why they wouldn’t let us on the bus. So, we rode the train back into town and the day turned into a work day. It was good to make sure we had everything we needed and make plans to get what we were missing.

At 5 p.m. we headed to the ITF for our interview. The gentleman we were supposed to interview was busy, but he set us up with one of his colleagues. The interview started off a little rocky when the guy didn’t seem to know the drinking age in Germany, but it got better and there is certainly some material we can use. It is planned that we head back out to Dachau tomorrow, so we will see what happens.

Everything in Germany is really environmentally conscious. The trains run on electricity from the wires they run along and there are more recycling bins for paper, plastic and glass than there are trash cans. From what I understand, you get charged by the amount of trash you have, therefore more is recycled. If you take back your water bottles, you get money back. At the hotel, the lights and electricity in our rooms only work when a portion of our room key is inserted into the slot, so no lights, TV or outlets are left running when you are out. Also, the hall lights are motion censored so that they only come on when guests walk through. The toilets often have two flushing capacities to conserve water and there are lots of different toilets: some with seats, some without and some that are just bowls on the floor. These practices have become second nature to those who live here and you can really see the impact it is making. Many simple steps and they are saving money and preserving the environment.

“It’s A Privilege to Pee” and “The Hills Are Alive” in Salzburg

With a slight mix up in the trains, it was off to Salzburg, Austria for a day of exploration and journeying through the filming of “The Sound of Music.” The train took about 2 hours, which could have been shorter, but there were lots of stops! The day wasn’t really planned at all, so after getting off the train, it took a while to re-group and get a game plan. Six of us decided to go on The Original Sound of Music Tour that took you to the locations in Austria where the movie was filmed. There was a little time before the tour started, so it was off to the Abbey where the escape scene was filmed to look around before we joined Trudi on our tour.

The four hour tour began with us eating pretzels we bought right before getting on the bus. In Munich, there are pretzels everywhere. Huge, soft pretzels that you can get at breakfast, and just about any other time of the day. These pretzels we got weren’t just any pretzels, there was one chocolate covered and one cinnamon pretzel. The chocolate was okay, but the cinnamon was amazing and tasted almost like a cinnamon doughnut. Actually we snuck eating them on the bus because food wasn’t allowed, but the 6 of us inhaled them, so we were safe.

Some movie background: Austria served as the location for filming the outside scenes of the movie. All of the inside shots were filmed in LA before the cast and crew came to Austria. The filming in Austria was supposed to take 6 weeks, but because of bad weather, rain and cold, the shot took eleven weeks. Surprisingly most Germans and Austrians don’t know what “The Sound of Music” is if you were to ask them. Before Hollywood made the movie, a film was made over here titled “The von Trapp Family” followed by the squeal “The von Trapp Family in America.” These films were popular here, but “The Sound of Music” never was. Both movies were based on the book written by Maria von Trapp about her life.

Most of the story is the similar, but there were a few changes. The family escaped to Italy by train and not Switzerland. They had refused the Nazi party three times, Captain von Trapp wouldn’t serve in the military, they von Trapp kids wouldn’t sing at Hitler’s 50th birthday and they oldest von Trapp son wouldn’t join the military, so the family decided to flee. They found out about the border closings by their butler, who was a Nazi, but who was extremely loyal to the family too. The von Trapp’s left of the train 1 day before the borders were closed. In real life, the oldest von Trapp child was a boy, but this was switched to Liesl. Maria really did become a nun, but not for long because she was sent to be the governess for Captain von Trapp. The real Maria von Trapp was not happy with the Hollywood changes and approached the movies director Robert Wise about it. She also said she wanted to be an actress, so to make her happy, he gave her $90,000 and a role in the movie. If you look, the real Maria von Trapp is the lady in black that Maria in the movie passes singing “I am Confident.”

Stop one showcased the lake where the famous canoe scene was filmed and the location of the house the served as the backyard to the von Trapp home. The outside of the home was a yellow house at another location. So, when you see the scene when they have fallen out of the canoe and Captain von Trapp is speaking with Maria, she is one place and he is another in regards to the backgrounds they are against. No one bothered to ask if the children could swim before this scene and it ended up that Kym Karath, the littlest von Trapp Gretl, couldn’t swim. The scene was set up so that Maria would fall out and catch Gretl. This worked perfect in the first take, but as you see in the movie that used the second version, Julie Andrews falls backwards and the children forward. If you look closely, you can see Gretl fall out, come up for air and then go back under. The scene didn’t go as planned and someone had to go in after here. When the director wanted to shot the scene again, the thought of it made her throw up on one of the other children. Needless to say, they went with the second take and moved on.

Our next stop took us by the villa that served as the outside of the von Trapp home and the row of trees Maria ran down signing “I am Confident” before first arriving at the von Trapp home. This stop also took us to the gazebo where some of the “I am 16” part was shot and also the scene between Maria and the Captain. During the first take of the “I am 16,” the dance shoes Liesl had didn’t get the proper slip soles and she went flying out a window. Luckily she didn’t get hurt, but she didn’t sprain her ankle. If you look closely in the movie, you can see the taped up ankle. The scene between Maria and Captain von Trapp is silhouetted in the movie because the lights being used were making a farting noise and they couldn’t quiet laughing. To fix this, the director had the scene changed to be dark so you couldn’t see them laughing.

To our dismay, Christopher Plummer is not actually singing in the movie, rather Bill Lee is the voice you hear. Plummer did sing during the movie, but decided to have a voice double since he wasn’t good enough next to Julie Andrews. He was also not the only candidate for the part. Others considered were the guy from “The King and I,” Sean Connery and Walter Matheson. He was sort of snobby and for the final scene where the family is walking over the mountain, Plummer wouldn’t carry Gretl on his back because he said she was fat. Rather, they used a body double in the scene.

The bus ride continued around the lake district where we passed Lake Fuschi and Lake Wolfgang that was where some of the opening scene shots were filmed. Also on the tour we passed the Mozart foot bridge that Maria and the kids ran over to get to their picnic. The tour continued to Mondsee, the Austrian town where the marriage of Maria and Captain von Trapp was filmed along with the scenes where the children were hanging from the trees.

We didn’t get to go to the arena where the singing contest was filmed at, but we didn’t learn that the song they were singing was not German, rather it was written by Rogers and Hammerstein, therefore all of the extras had to learn the words. This was a problem since many of them didn’t speak English, so you can see that many of them are “faking it” in the movie. These extras were also mad because they had to wear summer clothes in the cold weather and the scene was shot between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The opening scene in the movie was actually the last shots filmed because of the weather. It took an ox and cart to get Julie Andrews and the crew up the mountain to film. It was shot from a helicopter, but the problem was the downdraft that knocked her off her feet during shots. She wasn’t happy about this, but the scene was finally captured.

The last stop on the tour was the magnificent Maribell Gardens. This was the location for the “Do Re Me” song where the group is on the steps, running around the fountains, running down the arch of oak and rubbing the gnome. As is all the stops, it looked just like it did in the movie and in that case it required us to reenact the scenes. Jordan, Lauren C., Jamie, Sarah, Caitlin and I have video of the fountain scene, corridor scene and gnome scene. It was not only a great trip to see the spots for the beloved movie, but we also go to see so much of Austria in the 1 day that we were visiting.

To explain the rest of the title, “It’s a Privilege to Pee” is from the Broadway musical “Urinetown,” the story of a town that has to ration water because of a shortage and everyone must pay to use the public amenity, or toilet. I feel like that is the case when we have to pay to use the bathroom. It is really a pain and it costs between .50 euro and 1.50 euro, which is $1 to $3! Today there was a man who was taking money and escorting us to the stalls. It really makes you appreciate the US.

And the Oscar goes to…

Well, it might not be Oscar worth but it was lots of fun. Today Ronda and I ventured off to the Bavarian Filmstadt (or film city), the largest film studio in Germany. The studio consisted of a 4-D movie with movable seats, a stunt show and a tour of the back lots. The 4-D movie and stunt show were in German, but the ideas and comedic aspects translated. It was almost like a little amusement park with fun stops and movie props. Our tour of the studio was a 1 p.m., the only English tour of the day. It is weird to be the minority where everyone understands but you. They laugh or clap and you don’t know what they are responding to.

The tour was probably the best studio tour I have ever been on. The ones in LA are neat, but this tour had props and recreations of sets that you could walk through, climb on and take pictures with. At one part we got to star in the sci-fi movie and later get to see the final product. So, acting isn’t a career option, but it was great fun. Later on the tour we got to choose which picture to show “live” by selecting from the introduction logo and music, main host, news correspondents and closing logo and music. Tons of movies have been filmed at the studio including “Das Boot” and “Marienhof” (a German soap opera).

Something that has really stood out since we have been here is that the Germans take their dogs everywhere. You might think I am exaggerating, but last night we dined with man’s best friend in the restaurant. Dogs can ride on the subway, gondolas, buses, trains, anywhere really. Some are so cute and clean while others are more on the smelly side.

All in a Days Work

There is always a question as to how things will be received in another country. What is acceptable or normal in the US isn’t always the case in other countries. Before we left the states, we got students to fill out a survey with questions about their drinking habits, preferences and thoughts on German laws. In order to make a comparison, we are using the same survey, just switching the US specific questions to deal with Germany. In order to hopefully be more successful, the survey was translated into German to elevate some of the confusion that might have come up with an English language survey. Surprisingly, many people were very willing to fill out the survey, although they giggled at a couple of the questions.

While at the train station getting surveys filled out, we also got a couple of interviews with people 17-28 talking about their drinking habits along with the laws and problems that face Germany. Luckily for us, we didn’t get into any trouble and no one cared that we were filming. In total we got 4 on camera interviews and more than 30 surveys.

Another cool part of our trip is that the journalism school is working on a promotional video of sorts that is documenting our trip and the process each group is going through to get the end results for the project. This consists of several group member interviews throughout the trip and filming of each group while we are filming and working throughout the city. It will not only serve as a great way to promote the school and future trips like this, but it will also be a really cool souvenir.

To wrap up the night, we ate dinner at this small beer garden/ restaurant that was the best meal I have had so far in Germany. I had beef (they don’t have a lot of chicken to my despair) and some of the pasta in lobster sauce. Amazing! Next we headed out to M-Park, a local night club, because it was buy one get one free drinks. Not every person on this trip is extremely bright and didn’t think that this could mean that one drink would cost double what a drink might cost elsewhere. After paying the cover charge to get in, it was straight to the dance floor where we danced the night away to such hits at “Ice Ice Baby,” “Yes,” “Respect” and “I Want to Dance With Somebody.” Man, they are really up to date with the music. It was a neat experience and there clubs are very similar to ours in the states except here you get a Garfield stamp when you leave. If you feel you need a little more exercise after the club, you can stop at Mcfit, the gym next door to the club.

Lights, Camera, Action

Today we got to go to the Munich Film School to meet some students, view some films and tour their school. I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as the quality of the work, but the films were amazing. The one that really stood out was "Milan," a film about the bomb raids from NATO in Siberia. The film was suspenseful and intriguing with twist and turns. It is German with English subtitles and if you ever get a chance to see the 22 minute short film, take it! Others films included a language film with people from different cultures making animal noises and a funny short film about a man trying to get his passport renewed the day of his flight because it expired, only to find he didn't need one to go to Turkey.

After viewing the films, we toured the school seeing some of the editing rooms, sounds mixing studio, small and large filming studios and library with more than 3,000 DVDs and VHS tapes. The work produced from these students was superior and reviled many things seen in theatres today. The film "Weeping Camel" created from a student at the school, has shown in more than 100 countries. This school is different from our universities in the fact that students go for more than four years. The woman who spoke with us today has been a student since 1995. The students have various area of study, like documentary, fiction and production and they have assignments including 4 films. The school gives them different requirements for each film and different budgets. The school has an interesting application process and only about 30-50 students from 800-1000 are excepted each year.

Returning to the hotel, we headed out to shop. Some of the close are very similar to the US, but there is a lot more color and patterns. Some shops were great while others had our hopes up with clothes in the window that lead to disappointment with the rest of the store. A little sick of German food, tonight we had Italian at a cute restaurant off the plaza followed by ice cream.

There are some funny things we have encountered here, for instance if you buy french fries at Burger King, you have the BUY ketchup to go with them. Menus are very hard to understand and they use terms differently from what we have. Someone ordered Bavarian Meatloaf and got something that was a mix between Bologna and spam. One menu even had pictures but the food items didn't match what the pictures looked like.

Fashion here is different too. We have seen some really neat trends and also some "do nots" in the style department. Mullets are the big surprise and tons of people have them. They are very popular, but NOT in style! They mix a lot of colors, some that match and others that do not. We meet one man walking around with a mouse nose and another man was doing magic tricks dressed as a demon person. Today we even saw a woman with knee highs and capris. Yikes. They also like various hair colors, including red, pink and blue. It is not uncommon to see two hair colors and even two hair styles (you can cut one half of the head with one style and the other half the other style).

Right Place, Right Time

Do you every just end up in the right place at the right time? Today was our first day to spend working on our projects, the actual reason we are in Munich. My group is looking into the drinking age and drinking problems the country faces vs. what occurs in the US. Before we came over, we tried to e-mail and make contact with various offices, but didn't have as much luck as we would have hoped for. With the addresses and names we did have, we set out today to hopefully get some people to interview and give us information. The first stop was the Munich Police station. It was so intimidating, but Roland was really helpful, answering all of our questions and even printing of laws and other information for us.

Next we hopped on the subway and headed out to the IFT, which is an office that researches drug, alcohol, tobacco and prescription usage among Germans. By chance we ran into one of the ladies who worked there and she put us in touch with her boss, Tim. He deals more with drug use, but also knew tons about alcohol too. He agreed to let us do a film interview on Monday and put us in touch with many other contacts in Germany. This trip gave our project so much focus and information about places, people and alcohol usage in Germany we hadn't even thought of.

It was a great feeling to finish the day so successfully. The new leads have revitalized our excitement toward the project and the direction each piece is going. Auf Wiedersehen until tomorrow!

Mountain Mania

Today it was off to the Zugspitz Mountains. After two train rides, we were playing in the snow of the Alps. Snowball fights and snow angels were in full force in the deep snow. The views were unlike anything else I have every seen. With the warm weather, we dined outside from the very top of the mountain after taking the gondola up.

The day finished at Hard Rock Cafe and then everyone headed to the lobby to hack in to another hotels free wi-fi for an Internet party.

The Climb to the Top

Being a German holiday on Monday, the museum we trekked to was closed, so instead we headed to lunch and then back to the plaza where we climbed 306 steps in the a church tower to see amazing views of the city. With the clear sky, you could see all the way to the Alps.

To finish the day we went to the Hafbrauhaus, the famous beer hall. It was a little too tourist and we got reprimanded for toasting! We moved on from there and headed to Hard Rock.

It was a successful landing in Germany after the almost 9 hour flight (Munich is 6 hours ahead of east coast time). Everything was going smooth until we got to baggage claim and none of the groups’ luggage seemed to coming out. Our luggage was literally the last twenty pieces to come out! The drive to the hotel took about 45 minutes and then we found out our rooms were ready. This was around 9 a.m., so we moved the bike tour up to 11:30 a.m. A little jet lagged, we hoped on bikes ready to see the city. The tour guide was actually from Hawaii, but has been living in Germany for 9 years. The four hour tour which navigated four miles in Munich took us to see many historical buildings, the second largest beer garden in the world (we made a bit stop here) and to a spot in the river where you can surf a wave that is made by the flow of water there.

After completing to tour it was time to check in at the hotel. The rooms are okay, but there is no air conditioning, so it’s a little hot. At least the window opens to let in the breeze. A quick bit to eat this evening and then tomorrow marks the start of our projects. Wish us luck.

Heißen Sie willkommen nach Deutschland (Welcome to Germany)

I now officially hate packing. Until last night I didn't think I was that bad, but planning what I was going to wear for 18 days was mind-boggling on top of having to pack for climate with temperatures ranging from the 40s to high 70s. Sitting in the airport, I can't recall if I got everything, but it is a little late now.

The trips brings up mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness. It is always amazing to travel to a new place and get to experience the culture, especially for three weeks, but I worry about the hotel. The online reviews were very mixed. Some said it was nice, good for the money, and one person said it was "possibly the worst place they have every stayed worldwide." I guess I will find out soon.

The upcoming days are going to be filled with castle visits, BMW plant tour, a conentration camp tour and much more. Stay tuned.