"She Like the Schnitzel"

I would just like to start off with three main points based on my weekend in Munich.

1. Train Stations are amazing.
2. any German beer tops any Italian wine.
3. I belong in Germany and yes, I will live there one day.

A brief introduction: We landed in Germany, filled with Lufthansa's complimentary wine and Valentines chocolate, to snow on the ground and German signs leading us into the heart of Munchen.  Upon arrival we dutifully dubbed our hotel Hagrid's bachelor pad (due to the rustic duct taped chandelier, broken lights, leaking shower handle, huge giant beds, and trickster ghost Hagrid who haunted us throughout the weekend) and spent our Valentines day eating our first (of many) train station hot dogs and drinking True Loves at a Spanish bar that really enjoyed playing Shakira classics.  Typical night for the orphans actually...

The next day we woke up early and headed to the train station for our first tour.  When planning Munich, one of the first things we decided on was a concentration camp tour, thinking that even though it wasn't on the typical "fun abroad student" agenda, it was something we were all interested in experiencing so in the frozen air of morning we headed to Dachau, the first concentration camp of World War Two.  After walking through the camp in the biting cold and falling snow, and witnessing the emptiness of the compound and the silence of the rooms, I'm so thankful that we took the time to visit Dachau. I can't really begin to explain what it was like to see the shadows of horror that mask one of the darkest times of humanity, and honestly I'm not even going to try.  I could never do any of it justice and, even now, so much of it is still so unfathomable that I wouldn't even know where to begin.  So I'm going to leave this part of the trip as something I can never talk about, and an experience I couldn't trade for anything. Just know this, I have never felt such a heaviness, down to the very tips of my fingers and nails of my toes, and I will never forget the stale fear and desolation that still linger in the air as a memory of a past most of us would like to turn away from.

So back to the brighter side of our weekend: we'll start with the train station.  If you would please refer to point #1 on my list: the train station was the best thing that has ever happened to us.  If you think I'm lying you are sorely mistaken.  This train station had every type of food imaginable. It had my future husband who worked at the hotdog stand. It had free wifi. We ate more than half of our meals at the train station, and within a day we knew our way around it better than most who live in Munich.  The train station is our home. I love the train station, the orphans love the train station, and even you, you should love the train station.

Another thing we loved, the "Let's Play a Game" game.  Have you ever read German writing? or looked at it?" It looks like some fake elf language. It's looks fake. It sounds fake.  I'm actually almost certain it is fake, which brings us to the "Let's Play a Game."game.  Any time we were walking around Munich or there was just a general lull in the conversation, someone would always casually say the words "so....let's play a game." from then on, we had to attempt to pronounce any and every German sign we saw, leading to the most culturally ignorant and hilarious display of the German language imaginable. We are big fans of this game...and in my mind we were also fantastic at it (and usually drunk while playing it).  So good work Munich. We salute you.  And for those we offended, I apologize, we're just the American stereotype at it's finest and dots above the letter A do not make sense.

Other highlights of our trip that I feel the duty to mention:

• Hofbrahaus beer is amazing. and I don't think I have ever tasted anything as fantastic as a pork knuckle in my life.
• Casual daytrips to Salzburg, Austria need to happen more often in my life.  Specifically so I can live my dream life (aka Julie Andrews from the Sound of Music). Plus I already have my home picked out there: the castle, for I am a princess firebender.
• Having a snowball fight down the mountain from the castle is the absolute highlight of my weekend/abroad experience/life.  Good work Morgan on nailing Catalina in the head and causing our thirteen year old selves to emerge in all of their immature glory, A+ for you.
• I belong in Germany. I look German. I am part German. I love everything about it. When I don't come home just know that I am in Munich and I am happy and just leave me there please.

So basically I love Germany more than I ever would've thought.  Mom and Dad, if you want to take me  to another country at any point of time (since I obviously haven't been abroad enough), let's go to Germany please.

So...now I'm back in the orphanage, still caught up on Munich and simultaneously preparing for Greece in 3 days.  ...my life is a joke.