What a "Dam" Trip

Welcome to another edition of what I'm doing in Europe! (pictures coming soon!)

First off: I'd like to urge everyone who reads this to vote for IES EU PROGRAM IN GERMANY in the IES study abroad tournament. We're in the second round and up against Paris! We need your help and the help of everyone you know. It is only 3 simple clicks!

http://blogs.iesabroad.org/centerchallenge/tournamentvoting.html

So this weekend I headed to one of the most popular destinations in Europe - Amsterdam. It was everything I'd heard and more, and was a catalyst for interesting experiences in life. I left for Amsterdam after class on Friday to meet up with my friends Lexi and Neveen from high school. Lexi is studying in Oldenburg, Germany, in the north part.

On the train ride there I met a couple of Americans from Georgia who are studying in London and are currently on spring break, travelling around Europe. They were on their 4th train of the day, coming all the way from Venice. I had a a nice conversation with them about all kinds of things and reminisced about home for a bit before wishing them a farewell in Amsterdam.

I arrived around 11:30 PM and promptly headed to my hostel to drop off my stuff and head out to see the city night life. We went to a couple bars in one part of town and got a good taste of the night life and saw some interesting people, mostly tourists. We did see some Dutch men sporting what Lexi called the "Dutch Mullet" - or long hair gelled back on the head, an odd look I must say.

Saturday

On Saturday we woke up, had some food at the hostel, and headed into downtown to see the sights. We hopped on with a free tour around the city, which is probably the best value ever. Free tour, 3 hours, all over the city. We learned some cool facts about the founding of Amsterdam and the massive amount of terrain modification that has happened in the Netherlands. The country has literally been reclaimed from the sea, though only barely - the average altitude in the country is -.5 Meters. The buildings in the city are also very intersting, as they are all built on the shifting sands. Many of them are tilting at extreme angles and on some streets literally look like they are hanging over you. We saw some classic sights such as the Dutch East India Company, St. Nicholas's Church, the Old and New Church (that's really their names), the Red Light District, and even the Marijuana museum.

Speaking of Marijuana - It became legal in Amsterdam in 1975 and you can carry up to 30 grams at any time. Though you can only buy it at licensed coffee houses in the city 5 grams at a time. The industry generated 4 billion Euros in revenue for The Netherlands last year alone. It has become part of the culture in Amsterdam and makes it a completely unique place. The Marijuana museum displays the history of cannabis culture in the Netherlands, talks about the benefits of Cannabis for both health, and agricultural practices (Hemp). It also goes through the prohibition of Marijuana in the US and other countries around the world and comments on the "Drug War." It was a very interesting visit and provided a lot of education about the plant and the culture.

Another integral part of the culture in Amsterdam is prostitution, yes really. It's a fully legal and as I understand, a pretty lucrative position. It's interesting to walk through the Red Light District and see scantily clad women looking out at you from behind the glass doors. One might expect the Red Light District to be a shady, or sketchy place. However, I found it to be quite the opposite, it was a safe and well maintained area that far exceeds the conditions in many other cities through Europe.

That afternoon we took some time to wander the city and stumbled upon a nice English Bookstore. I purchased another guide for my European adventures this summer, and a new novel as I was about to finish mine and needed a new book to read.

That evening while hanging out at the hostel we met another group of students, mostly from Cornell, who were  visiting Amsterdam for the weekend. Several of them were studying in Maastricht (another Dutch city), and others in a other European cities. We ended up heading out into the town with them and having some beers, and genuinely enjoying ourselves with our new found friends. 

Sunday

Lexi and Neveen had to head back to Oldenburg in the morning, and as my train didn't leave until later in the evening, I was left with most of a day to see more of the city and the surrounding countryside. In the early afternoon I headed out to the Tulip gardens at Keukenhof. This huge garden houses tulips of every color, size, and shape imaginable. They boast as being the most commonly photographed place in the world - pretty good for a place open from March - May! I spent several hours relaxing around the gardens and seeing the fields. Unfortunately, a lot of the Tulips were not fully in bloom, just leaves in the ground. After getting back to Amsterdam proper I spend a little more time wandering around and getting some food to take on the night train with me.

While wandering around I came upon a gay pride parade/demonstration in Dam square. The group came through and proceeded to dance and party for about 15 minutes. The group had just completed a couple days of workshops and wanted to bring a greater understanding of their culture and their hopes to the city. Their main goal is to stop segregation in social, political, and economic circles.

My train headed out of Amsterdam around 8:30 PM and I promptly found my seat and took a nap (a tip I picked up from my new found travel guide on how to keep a Cabin to yourself!). I spent some time reading my book and sleeping before I was promptly woken up by a Deutsch Bundespolizei (German Federal Police). I had crossed into Germany and he simply wanted to see my passport. I managed to carry on the conversation with him in 1/2 German 1/2 English and was back asleep in under 5 minutes. I thought my encounters with the police were over for the night before I was awoken again at 2:30 AM by 2 more Bundespolizei who questioned me (in my very groggy state) as to where I was coming from and going to. Now obviously since I'm an American tourist they assumed I was carrying weed with me and proceeded to search my bag and frisk me in the cabin until they were satisfied that I didn't have anything. An annoying wake up call, but its good to see the boys in green (they have green uniforms) doing their work.

So after a very exciting 2 days I was back in Freiburg around 6 AM and headed back to school on Monday morning.

This coming week is filled with tests, papers, and prep for our upcoming trip to Stockholm, Tallinn, and London. I'll be leaving on the 8th of April, and not returning to Freiburg until the 18th.

Remember to vote for IES EU PROGRAM IN GERMANY!

http://blogs.iesabroad.org/centerchallenge/tournamentvoting.html

Your average week

Hi Everyone,
So I've finished another glorious week in Freiburg and don't really have any crazy stories or anything to share, so I'll tell you what I have done.

On March 10th a group of us went wine tasting at a local winery. We had a private tour and got to see all the important rooms for the wine making operation. The coolest thing is that they have giant wine barrels, that stand as tall as a 2 people. They all have cool carved fronts and hold tons of wine. The evening also included lots of wine drinking, all of them quite good. The red wines aren't a big deal in Germany and it's more focused on the whites. They also divide their grapes by quality and harvest time which makes for much more variety and many more choices when looking for a bottle.

The next Wednesday was St. Patrick's day, and as you can imagine we had some pretty good time. We all got together at someone's apartment and had an "Irish Flag" meal with Orange, Green and White dishes. It was good fun and nice to get together with everyone for a meal and a few bottles of Guinness.

Last weekend we had a long weekend and had originally planned to take the trains over to Munich for some sightseeing on Saturday, however the plans feel through due to time, cost, and homework constraints. Instead we stayed a little closer to home.
Friday
On Friday we went to Heidelberg, a town about 2 hours north of Freiburg to see the castle and enjoy the beautiful weather. We took the local trains using the great Deutsch Bahn deals to get there and back for only €5.60 each. We arrived and took a nice stroll by the river until we reached the part of town with the castle. Heidelberg castle rests on top of a hill overlooking Heidelberg, so we got our exercise in by walking up to the castle. Unfortunately the only way to see the inside of the castle is to pay an additional fee on top of the entrance fee, which we didn't want to, but we enjoyed check out the castle facade and the pharmacy museum that is part of the compound.
Heidelberg was never hit during WWII so the whole town and castle are still in great condition. Naturally, like every sight in Europe, there was restoration work happening on the castle so some of my pictures were scarred by scaffolding.

After the castle visit we headed back into town to have some late lunch and a local beer. Because the weather was so great we also figured that we needed to get some authentic German Eis (ice cream). By the time we had finished enjoying the town and the sights it was already time to head home.
Saturday
On Saturday I decided to head to the SC Freiburg soccer game against Mainz. This is an experience in itself just being part of the crowd, singing the songs and doing all the chants. It also happened to be Freiburg's first win in 12 games which made it that much more exciting. Final Score: Freiburg 1 - Mainz 0. I of course had to get the traditional soccer scarf to wear proudly around the stadium and around town after the victory! It was a really exciting time and we enjoyed the company of good friends and crazy German soccer fans very much. GO SC FREIBURG!

That's about all for this week, but next weekend I'm headed to Amsterdam to meet up with my friend Lexi and see the Netherlands!

I'd tell you what I've been doing - but I don't know past tense

There hasn't been a whole lot going on since our return from our last field study trip. It has been kind of nice to have a bit of time to relax and re-charge my batteries.
I've been doing quite a bit of school work, as this week is Midterm, which of course means tests for all of us and the the lots of studying involved. I've also had to start figuring out what I'm going to write my several term papers on as well as writing a number of smaller essays for other classes.
I've also been trying to nail down travel plans for the remainder of the semester and develop a bit of a travel schedule for after the program. This weekend I'll be heading to Munich, to Amsterdam for our "spring break" in April. This is followed by our third, and final, field study trip to Stockholm, Tallinn, and London. I'm also planning on heading to Italy to visit Rome an my friends the Falcioni's near Florence in early May.
Once the program ends I'll (hopefully) travel with my parents for awhile, and maybe meet up with some other friends or people from the program who are staying in Europe for a while.
But let's talk about something everyone loves... Food

German food is great, there are lots of different foods you can't get in the states, and some really unique dishes. I'll write a little about good foods, and normal things about shopping and eating.
Foods:
Wurst:
The good old traditional German sausage, which is like no sausage you've ever eaten before. They come in hundreds of varities, shapes, and sizes. Wurst can be purchaced in your local store, at a butcher, or my favorite way, from a cart on the Münster Platz for lunch!
Weiner Schnitzel:
Despite the rather odd sounding name Weiner Schnitzel is a pretty simple thing. It's a think pork steak, breaded and fried. Usually served with some sort of sauce or topping and Pommes (Fries) it makes a good hearty meal at a good price. There are a number of restaurants that serve good Weiner Schnitzel around Freiburg and I've tried several types, all excellent.
Dönner Kebab:
Dönner is not actually a German dish, but it is more common here than McDonalds in the US (I'm seriously not kidding, there are dozens within walking distance from the IES center).  Dönner is a Turkish food, consisting of sliced chicken or lamb, with a cabbage and tomato salad, and a special sauce. There are a number of different ways to have a Kebab, but my favorite is "im Yufka" or rolled in a thin tortilla like bread. A thurougly excellent meal that we consume several times a week.
Brot, Brotchen, Bretzeln, and Pastries:
Bakeries are almost as prevalent as Dönner Kebab stands, and have all kinds of delectable treats. Germans love their bread and will visit the bakery several times a week to get fresh bread. There are tons of different breads but they are usually a dense, dark loaf with a seed on top. Bretzeln (Pretzels) area also another excellent snack. They are different (and better) than baked pretzels, but are still soft and tasty. Some are even sliced in half and have butter spread on them.
Bier:
Of course I couldn't leave my most important food group out... ok, maybe not. But all kidding aside Germans are known for their good Bier, and for good reason. The beer is some of the best on the planet and Germans consume more of it than almost everyone in the world (except the Czech's). There are specific beer makings laws, dating back hundreds of years, that allow only 4 ingredients: Water, hops, barley, and yeast, to be used in beer making, and it pays off with awesome beer.

Shopping and Life in General:
My experiences with shopping and dining in Germany have been largely successful but there are some distinct differences.
Most obvious is that everything is smaller. Grocery stores are smaller, serving sizes are smaller, refrigerators are smaller, hell, even my lettuce heads are smaller. As a result I am shopping more often, but taking home much less. I go to the grocery store about once a week, and only come home with 1 or 2 bags of items.
Another strange thing I've noticed is that food doesn't seem to keep as long. The refrigerator is not kept as cold, so food doesn't keep as long, another reason to buy less, less often.
The recycling system here is also excellent. All bottles you buy have a Pfand (deposit) on them that you get back by returning them to the store, and pretty much everything else can be recycled in the bins outside our apartment.

It's finally starting to warm up in Freiburg, I even wore flip flops outside today. Tomorrow we're expecting temperature in the 60s with sun all day. Maybe I'll even break out the shorts!

From Paris, with Pictures

So this is the second part of the wonderful trip to Luxembourg, Belgium and France. And it is the part you've all been waiting for. PARIS FRANCE baby!

Paris was amazing, I had an awesome time and saw some really really cool stuff. It's amazing that although we arrived on Thursday night and left on Sunday afternoon, I feel like I hardly touched the surface of what Paris has to offer. Part of the reason for this is the sheer size of the city, it's massive, and getting from one sight to the other basically requires getting on the Metro, making 2 transfers and getting off somewhere else. The other is that there is just so much to see, with all the museums, monuments, squares, gardens, sights, cafes, shopping, and everything else in between there is no way that you would be able to see all of it in a week, much less 3 days.

The other important thing to note is that I took a lot, repeat A LOT of pictures. My count for the entire trip is 739, with 458 of those being in Paris (and probably 150+ of those having the Eiffel tower somehow present.). I figure this is the best way to coordinate my thoughts and remember stuff. Hopefully they'll be fun for you to view as well. I am adding a few pictures to this post, however, you can see the whole album on Picasa and select photos on my Facebook.

With all that said - Here is a description of everything I did, in as short a format as I can fit it into:

Thursday Night

We arrived to the hotel around 7:30 and after getting changed and organized struck out into Paris to check out the town and search for some food. We took the metro to downtown and walked down the river bank from near Notre Dame. We stopped at the Louvre and admired the building while it was lit up. the massive pyramid on the plaza stood in stark contrast to the rest of the building. Naturally, I took pictures. 

We continued our tour by walking through the Gardens toward Concorde, which is at the Southeast end of Champs-Elysees. After strolling up the Avenue for a bit toward the Arc de Triomphe some of our party broke off to head back to the hotel. Several more of us continued on and met up with another group heading into town. We walked with them, still in search of dinner. 

We crossed the river and went into a very nice district of town where we found an excellent Sushi place. Now I know sushi is not French, not even close, but by this time it was 11:00PM and everything was closed. Once we had finished dinner we headed back outside with the intention of making it to the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately high winds and bitter cold temeratures stopped us in our tracks and we headed back toward the hotel.

Friday

We were up early this morning to head out to our first meeting in Paris. The meeting was at the EU 'Think-Tank' called the Instutite for Security Studies. We discussed the pros and cons of Nuclear weapons, disarmament, and proliferation with one of their researches and learned some interesting things about the way the EU looks on the nuclear debate as well as threats of nuclear power from other countries, such as Iran and North Korea.

Unfortunately, our second meeting, with the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs was cancelled, and we were left to determine a different schedule for the afternoon. I visited an exhibition on Charles de Gaulle for one of my classes, and learned about the French leader's history from childhood all the way through both world wars, the building of the EU and all about his policies in France. This museum is also the final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to visit the old emperor of France, so we went and saw his tomb, a massive 10 foot high coffin made of huge red stones. Funny, since Napoleon was under 5 feet tall.  Afterward a group of us headed out to see the remainder of the city in the daylight. After strolling some of the streets and a local market we came to the Parc du Champs de Mars, better known as the location of the Eiffel Tower. The group I was with proceeded to make very slow progress toward the tower taking lots of pictures and having a really good time. We continued up to the Palais de Chaillot to get some more views of the tower. Sadly, I had taken too many pictures and my camera died. Luckily someone else had one, as a result. there are lots of pictures of me!

Afterward we headed over to Notre Dame to check it out at night and view the area around it. We met up with a few other people in the area and figured out what we wanted to do for dinner.

Some of the folks in my program met up with some friends of theirs in Paris and we all headed out to have dinner in the Latin Quarter. This is an area where there are tons of restaurants, and often the propreitors or staff will haggle you on the street to come inside. The dynamic is very intersting and makes choosing a place to eat almost stressful. We finally settled on a small  typically French restaurant. Here I had my first encounter and taste of escargot. It was quite an enjoyable experience and I can't say that it wasn't rather good. Basically reminded me of every other shellfish I've eaten. I also enjoyed some wonderful lamb chops and chocolate ice cream. After a long dinner and with a belly full of food I was ready for bed. So I headed home to sleep.

Saturday

Another early morning, but not for meetings. We were going to Versailles! The group headed out to the giant palace that was home to French monarchs for generations. The place is simply amazing. I do not know how such a construction project was undertaken and am just amazed at the intricacy, detail, and complexity of the building. Not only is the palace at Versailles amazing, but the gardens are equally beautiful. The scale of the royal power during that time and Versailles in particular, if nothing else, taught me one thing: If your people are starving, don't build a gigantic palace - they'll probably revolt... and fancy that, they did.

We started off with a tour of the interior of the building, seeing the Chapel, Royal bed chambers, studies, and of course the Hall of Mirrors. Fun fact - the queen's bed chamber was also the location of 18 royal births, all of which were public. This was to "legitimize" the birth of the heirs and have witnesses to their royal blood. There were also daily "Royal Rising" ceremonies when the king would wake and begin his day. The connotations and innuendos there are too many to count. The palace also contains some very nice artwork and excellent ceiling frescoes. There are paintings that are literally 56 square feet. Amazing.

After seeing the inside we decided to head outside to check out the gardens. We spent quite a bit of time wandering through the gardens, viewing the palace and enjoying the nice weather (for a change). Though the weather was nice on this particular day, the gardens were not in bloom, and in fact had very little life to speak of. It would have been wonderful to see with all the colors and the fountains filled, but I guess that will have to wait until another time.

After heading back into Paris the group broke up and we headed off to see the Paris Catacombs. The Catacombs are in what used to be an old mine deep beneath the streets of Paris (below the Metro even). They were not used for some time, but in the 1780's the cities growth, and public health forced the Church to relocate several mass graves and cemeteries. They chose the mine as a good location, consecrated it and began moving bodies to it. There are now over an estimated 6 million sets of human remains that are here. The bones are stacked in walls along the original walls of the mine and consist of all parts of the body. Walking through the Catacombs in the darkness is a eerie and almost scary experience; definitely not something for the faint of heart.

After rising back to the surface and breathing fresh air we headed off to Notre Dame, which I hadn't had a chance to go into the night before. We walked around inside and were over awed by the beauty of the church. Despite the beauty of the church, I have one point of contention - here is my rant: Why is Notre Dame so popular? It is not the biggest, highest, oldest, most beautiful, most Gothic, or the church with the best art or stained glass. It's really not remarkable in any way. What on earth makes it so popular, besides it's reputation? Perhaps there were pilgrimages there in ancient times, but i doubt that the millions of people who visit Notre Dame every year are there to see holy relics. I just don't get it.

Anyway, after Notre Dame we walked over to the Louvre again to see it in the daylight. We enjoyed a walk around the plaza, and watching the people. There of course were good times to be had and pictures to be taken.

After that we went over the Arc de Triomphe, built by Napoleon as a gateway he would pass through after conquering all of Europe. It was never finished during his reign, and his grand army never marched through it; Through several other armies have. We spent a few minutes walking around the Arc and looking at the sculpture and sheer size of the construction. The French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies under the Arc, and while we were there a ceremony was being conducted around it.

Next we went to the best light show in town, the lighting and hourly flashing of the Eiffel Tower. We spent a bit of time watching the tower and enjoying the views of Paris lit at night before heading off to dinner.

For dinner we went to another French place with quite possibly the worlds worst translated menu. I had: Pig, rib cooks in oven sweet chestnuts & crushed by potato - which was actually: Pork rib, with sweet chestnut sauce & mashed potatoes. Oh the beauty of language. We also enjoyed some wonderful wine and and spent the rest of our evening recollecting the day before going to bed.

(Whew)

Sunday

After getting to sleep in for a bit (finally) I got up and had breakfast before heading to the Sacre Coeur Basilica. The Basilica is located on the highest point in Paris and offers great views of the city. We hiked up the stairs and took plenty of pictures of the Paris skyline. We headed inside the beautiful Basilica and gawked at the huge arches that held up the dome. Sacre Coeur stands in sharp contrast with Notre Dame as it is Romanesque while Notre Dame is Gothic. This was a nice way to end our trip to Paris before we boarded the bus to head home.

On the way back to Freiburg we made a stop at the Lorraine Military Cemetery and Monument. There are over 10,000 American soldiers from WWII buried in this cemetery who served their country honorably. Though this was not the happiest or most exciting ending to our trip, it was nevertheless a chance to think about the role the US has played in Europe and the continuing role it plays in the world.

We arrived back in Freiburg about 9PM, safely and happily after enjoying a wonderful trip to the Luxembourg, Brussels, and Paris. 

In order to not complety bore the readers out of your minds, I'll abstain from any further thoughts or writing. Hope you enjoyed the post!

A Long Post, for a Short Time

So I meant to write a post over the weekend before I left for our trip, but I unfortunately didn't have any internet for 2 days. So I'll just write it now!

The Weekend

So it's now March, and it's hard to believe that I've been in Germany for a month and a half. We spent the entire month of February around Freiburg, which is amazing. It's also crazy that we've been in classes for as long as we have, we're already approaching mid-terms.

We've gotten to know Freiburg a lot better and have had some really interesting experiences getting to know the town. Last Friday a group of us decided that we wanted to play a little soccer game. So we headed over to a local field and started kicking the ball around. After awhile we found some Germans playing and set up a little game. We played a nice friendly competitive game and had a nice cultural experience while we were at it. That evening some of us got together to play some charades and other games.

On Saturday morning I got up and headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather and headed into the Black Forest. I headed up the Schönberg, a nice "mountain" near my dorm. The weather was completely beautiful and the forest was amazing. I took some wonderful pictures of the German countryside, the open fields, and of Freiburg from above!

The unfortunate part of playing Soccer and Hiking is that my legs were then very very sore. I'm still recovering from a few minor aches and pains almost a week later!

On Saturday evening I played in the "First Annual Freiburg Beer Pong Tournament" in the true Olympic spirit. I played as Russia and won several games before losing to the USA (naturally). It was a good time hanging out and enjoying other's company. Oddly the German's are not big on any drinking games like American college students are.

On Sunday my friend Chris and I headed to Stuttgart to see what it had to offer. Stuttgart is the headquarters for both Porsche and Mercedes-Benz and they both have excellent museums. We headed over to the Mercedes museum and enjoyed it a bunch. They have 8 floors of cars starting with the first motorcars and proceeding all the way to the future of their vehicles. The museum was humongous and contained hundreds of cars of all types. There are some vehicles of famous people as well. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mercedes is displayed, along with the truck from "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" and Princess Diana's car. They even have the "Pope-mobile." We had a great time, and spent almost 5 hours in the museum starting at the oldest automobiles and going all the way to R&D for future models. The sheer amount of innovation and engineering that has gone into the vehicles over the last 120 years is really amazing and it's hard to believe that one company has existed since the beginning.

We didn't have time to enjoy the Porche Museum, but did spend a bit of time walking around downtown Stuttgart before starting to head home, which actually turned into quite an adventure.

There is an excellent deal with Deutsche Bahn that allows 5 people to go anywhere in one state for only 28 Euros. This is a really good deal and is much cheaper than buying individual tickets. There are a number of other deals too that make travelling an easy and affordable thing to do on the weekends. Unfortunately we missed the last train home on our ticket, so I ended up paying more for an express train home. Just the lessons you learn by traveling though. I now know to always check when the last train home departs!

On Monday morning we headed out on our next great adventure to the EU Institutions on Luxembourg, Brussels, and Paris! Here are the collected stories so far.

Luxembourg

After an early departure we arrived in Luxembourg around lunch time. We headed out into the downtown area and immediately started taking pictures. Luxembourg is a picturesque and quaint city. There are a number of old fortifications around the city that have been either restored or maintained. The city was founded in 963 so it has a lot of history and is wonderful to see. Unfortunately the city is not very large and you can see the whole thing in just a few hours. We also stopped by the EU Info Center and picked up some good information on the EU and got a few posters.

After lunch we headed over to the European Court of Justice and had a presentation from one of the legal staff there. the ECJ is housed in a beautiful building that is currently under renovation/expansion. We learned how the legal system of the EU is quite different than any other system and that they are in the unique position of checking large amounts of legislation and hearing vast numbers of cases.

Brussels
That evening we arrived in Brussels. A couple of us went out to a restaurant and wandered around the city for a little while. We didn’t arrive until rather late, so we simply turned in early and got some sleep for our big day on Tuesday.

On Tuesday we started off the day by visiting the Council of Ministers and the European Council. The two instutions meet in the same building and both work to build the EU. The European Council is all the Heads of State for the EU members, so they are a pretty big deal. We talked to a translator who works there, and with the 23 official EU languages.

After the meeting we had the opportunity to tour Brussels, which we took full advantage of by walking around in the nice weather, seeing the sights and taking plenty of pictures. We saw The Gran Platz, Manneken Pis (a statue of a boy peeing), The Royal Palace, various government buildings, squares and churches. We looked at the St. Michaels Cathedral, which was a beautiful cathedral of white stone with amazing stain glass windows.  It was a great afternoon and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to walk between the sights.

That afternoon we headed to the Turkish Mission (similar to an Embassy) to the European Union. We talked about the possibilities, and challenges of Turkish ascension to the European Union. Let me know if you want the full story and debate, it’s a rather lengthy issue!

After a day of meetings it was time for some Belgian Beer. There was a famous bar just down the street from our hotel. The Delirium Bar has over 100 bars on tap, and some of them are very interesting. Though I didn’t get a chance to try them all I did have a few really great beers. They have beer from all over the world, including a few from Colorado (Left Hand and Flying Dog). We enjoyed the company of some other student groups who happened to be visiting Brussels from a study abroad program in Copenhagen and a group of British students. Quite a nice evening.

Another early morning on Wednesday took us to a meeting with the Flemish representation in Brussels. Flanders is a region within Belgium which, like the other regions, has quite a lot of power over its own policies without the oversight of the Belgian government. Afterwards we headed to the Chocolate Museum in Brussels and did some souvenir/chocolate shopping. The Chocolate museum was a bit of a letdown as it wasn’t very large, interpretative, or educational. We then headed over to the EU Commission and talked with several representatives from different committees about EU Energy policy, with special respect to Russian natural gas and oil pipelines. The other speaker talked about the Turkish ascension question from the EU perspective as well as the general idea of expanding the EU to other countries within Europe.

Yesterday we departed early to head to NATO and learn about the future of NATO efforts and roles in the world, as well as the US position within the EU. It was an educational experience as we received various opinions on what the future of NATO was, and should be after the fall of the Soviet Union, and what role Europe vs. the US should play. After that we headed South and stopped at Waterloo for lunch. Waterloo is the site of the most historic European battle of the 19^th century and the final stand of the Allied nations against Napoleon Bonaparte’s rule in France. After the battle Napoleon was exiled and spent the rest of his days writing his memoirs. The battle site didn’t have much to offer in the way of interpretation or information, which made it hard to understand what happened. We continued south, making it to Paris yesterday evening.

I’ll write about Paris once I return to Freiburg, as to not spoil the fun!

As always, thank you for reading, I love hearing from anyone or talking about things I’ve done if you have any questions.