HipHip!

Day 3 in England. This place is grand. I got here on Tuesday night and met up with two friends from back home in Duxbury. Catching up with old friends is definitely one of my favorite things. The next morning we got up and made scrambled eggs (they have cheddar in this country!!!), and then we hopped on the tube to check out Harrod's. This place was unbelievably huge. We explored everything from clothing, jewelry and makeup to rugs, lamps and crazy food. It was awesome. Back at my friend's apartment, we indulged in scones and clotted cream with jam. Not so sure how I feel about this part of being in Britain. The clotted cream was nevertheless an interesting experience. By then it was time for me to hop on the OxfordTube and go see Miss Caroline! Since then we have been tearing up Oxford: touring the area, checking out the college buildings, eating great food and visiting the coolest pubs. Last night we went and saw "Miss Congeniality 2 : Armed & Fabulous" on a whim...quite entertaining! However today has the potential to be dangerous, because after lunch, we are going to one of the biggest bookstores I have ever seen. And you know me and books. And you know how long it's been since I've been in an English-speaking bookstore.

Nathan, MLE & Matt

Starkes Bier Anstich

Strong Beer Festivals in Regensburg. Ahhh.

Yesterday I spent the day down by Regesnburg at a brewery on Adlersberg. Right. It was a big ol' German party, complete with oompah bands, Lederhosen, and big liter glass mugs of frothy dark beer. I went with Lindsey, a bunch of her students and two other Fulbrighters (Nate & Matt) from Bayern. Just like Andechs, we had to walk about 45 minutes to get up the hill where the brewery was. However, the area between the bus stop and the hill was all flat farm land. As we started climbing up the hill, there was a cool view of Regensburg behind us. When we got up there, we grabbed a table and soaked up the sun (what little there was!) and the atmosphere. It was great. Nate, Matt & I left before the others to go get some dinner. We had wanted to take the bus back into the city, but it just drove right by us. doh! So we walked about 2 hours back along the river. Not so shabby, but rather cold and we were all a bit tired. The reward for walking: L'Osteria. It's a fantastic pizzeria in town. We settled in to warm up and rejuvenate. A whole bunch of pizza later, I looked at my watch to find that I only had 10 minutes till my train left the station! whoops...so I left and ran to the tracks, barely making it--I think the conductor was yelling foul things to me in German, but I didn't care 'cause I was on the train :) Needless to say, it was a perfect end to my first weekend of Easter Break.

Weltkulturbelauf: 1. Mai

On May 1st, one of my high schools is having a 'mini-marathon' to show school support as one group in a larger townwide event. I've decided that it would be a whole heck of a lot of fun to join in, so now I am officially in training :p
Or at least as much "in training" as you could be when the whole run is 4.1 km or about 2.5 miles! Glad it's finally kind of beginning to be spring!

Me & the Fernseherturm in Alexanderplatz

Fulbright Conference 2005

Just got back from a week-long conference in Berlin for all Fulbrighters in Germany (and a few from nearby countries). It was rather interesting, since it was my first "official" conference and I wasn't sure quite what to be expecting. They put everyone up at the Park Inn Hotel, which is in Alexanderplatz right near the city center. Each day there were different sorts of events. We had research presentations, where people presented what they are currently working on. There were workshops, mostly about teaching and our experiences. There were also lots of lectures by administrators and officials in Berlin. My favorite lecture was by a man named Achim Meyer auf der Heyde, who heads up the German National Association for Student Affairs. He talked about the current state of university life and about a few of the current reform issues...i.e. it was right up my alley. Yay for continuing my thesis research! On top of all this, there were countless tours offered. Each had a different theme, so you could go on a 'highlights' tour one day and then a 'red' Berlin tour the next. Several of the nights also had scheduled events, including a Music Gala with the music grant recipients and a party out at a big brewery on our last night. On Tuesday night, I also went and saw the Three Penny Opera (Dreigroschenoper) at the Maxim Gorki Theater. It was an awesome production! Even though it was almost 3 hours long, I bareliy noticed the time passing. On my last day in Berlin, I saw an exhibition on the Stasi that focused on their growing influence, the extent of their efforts, and their decline.