Where to begin. After
getting back from Prague on Sunday night I needed a breather after such a
packed week/weekend. Thank God for that Monday holiday. My host
"grandparents" had a BBQ with all the different kinds of sausages I
could imagine. I feel like every meal surpasses the previous in being the best
meal I've had in Europe, and there is no such thing as leaving leftovers here
in Germany.
On Wednesday, we
visited Cologne for the day. A group of us had already gotten stuck in Cologne
after missing our train and were amazed by the shear size of the cathedral the
first time, but it was just as impressive if not more the second time. This
time we were able to go inside this behemoth of a structure and even got to
climb up to the very top after a very sketchy elevator lift and an extremely
narrow spiral staircase. Our guide gave us a lot of information about the
prolonged construction and expansion of the Cathedral, which I found very
interesting how something so massive could even be built even with today's technology.
Here's a picture which still doesn't do this structure justice.
Another interesting
thing that we did in Cologne was go to the Roman/Germanic Museum. There I found
a collection of ancient Roman currency made of gold. I was impressed by the
development of an actual coin currency similar to the systems in place today.
It is intriguing to analyze the change in the way money was used back then
compared to today’s increasingly digital use of money.
Now for one of my
favorite events of the trip. On Friday night, a lot of our group bought tickets
to a concert in which our very own Henning was headlining on drums for
Karbholz. First off the town of Rosbach where the concert was held was
beautiful. It was a little town right on a river surrounded by huge trees.
Right across the river was an “ACL-like” stage filled with hardcore Karbholz
fans repping all black everything and staring our group down like we had just
wandered aimlessly from America to there. I definitely felt out of place to say
the least. The band before Karbholz finished up and we all pushed our way close
to the front to see our program director jam out on stage. Needless to say he
killed it. The concert was so much fun. All of us were yelling out random noise
trying to go along with the German lyrics and trying to stay out of the aggressive
moshpits forming all around us. I got so pumped when Henning was pointing at
all of us, his AIB students, throughout the performance. I really regret
leaving early to catch the train, but overall that night was a blast.
The reason we all
left early that night was in order to be at least somewhat rested for our
weekend travels to Brussels the next day. We kind of last minute planned this
trip and I wasn’t really sure how Brussels would compare to our last few
cities; Amsterdam, Vienna, and Prague. It might’ve surpassed all of them. At
least as far as food goes, it was by far the best I’ve had in Europe and we
have had a lot of good food here. We got free powdered donuts, French fries
drenched in tasty sauce, chocolate covered waffles, omelets, and probably my
favorite meal for real this time at this place called “Le Fin de Siecle”. I
ordered a Pork Knuckle (I think that’s what it was) and it was massive. It came
with a salad, baked potatoes, and what looked like a whole pigs leg with meat
falling off the bone. I’m getting hungry just thinking of it. All of us were so
worn out and full after that meal we had to sit down and digest for a few hours
back at the Airbnb where we drank local Belgium beers (some good and some bad)
and played every card game imaginable. Enough about the food though, Brussels
as a city was gorgeous. The Grand Place was enormous, surrounded by gold plated
buildings that could be seen from a mile away. When we first set foot in it, I
was at a loss for words with how pretty and huge these buildings were. We went
into Brussels without a real game plan, and it actually worked out pretty well.
We spent a lot of time exploring and relaxing, stopping to get a few drinks and
snacks along the way and just enjoying our time there. Brussels is definitely a
place I would want to visit again to see what more this city has to offer. Side
note: the little peeing boy and girl statues were very confusing to me, and if
anyone knows the actual significance please let me know.
This was a great
week. I learned a lot from our excursions to the Opera house in Koblenz, the
Roman/Germanic History of Cologne, and my favorite the construction and architecture
of the Cologne Cathedral. Learning, delicious food, great people, and cool
cities. What more can you ask for? Another week in the books, and it feels like
it has gone by in the blink of an eye. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for
us next in Norderney and Paris.
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