Paris!

Pictures from Paris CLICK HERE

Pictures from Versailles CLICK HERE

So........

Now that I've been to Paris... I am certainly going back!

There is too much to do and too much to see in a day and a half. I did enjoy the time there though, it was a very beautiful city. Not as organized and straight laced as German cities, but full of history and beautiful architecture.

To get to Paris, the 5 of us took an overnight train that left at 9:08pm Friday night and arrived in Paris at 9:23am Saturday. My first experience with an overnight train was not a success. It was miserable. It was hot, stuffy, the seats were extremely uncomfortable and the train was quite loud which made it nearly impossible for me to get any sleep. In the future I now know to fork over a little extra money and reserve a couchette, so at least I can have my own little bed to sleep on.

So anyways, my lack of sleep carried over into my day in Paris and later on came back to haunt me. When we arrived we walked just a short 5-10min walk from Paris Est train station to our hotel, "Hotel Liege Strasbourg." We thought since it was our last weekend to travel together, we would up the quality a bit and stay in a hotel. I ended up finding a screaming deal on a this place and it turned out great. We had a room on the top floor which was awesome because we had a cool view from our balcony.

Once we got settled we decided to go on a free walking tour, to check out the sites. Our tour guide was a bit of a twat, so we decided to ditch the tour at the Louvre and go our separate ways to check out the city. I split from the group and made my way back from the Louvre palace to Notre Dame Cathedral. It was free to go in and I'm glad I went because the inside was pretty amazing. My pictures don't quite do it justice, because the stained glass was pretty incredible. After that I walked back along the Seine river and made my way back passed the Louvre to the Eiffel tower, where I was to meet up with the rest of the group. We met up, snapped a few pics, ate some grub, and headed back to our hotel for what was supposed to be a quick nap.

But..... what was supposed to be an hour nap, turned into a 5 hour pass out. They tried to wake me up, but I didn't budge. When I finally woke up on my own after midnight, I was really pissed at myself for missing a whole night in Paris. I guess my body needed it, but I was planning to climb the Eiffel Tower at night, and who knows what else :(

It was all better in the morning, my body was rested and I got up early with Kelsey to go see the Palace of Versailles (The Grandest Palace in all of Europe). It was a bit shaky getting there, but once we did, it was amazing!! Golden gates, beautiful luxurious architecture, incredible gardens that seemed to go on for miles, and we made it just in time for a fountain show; which was really cool. Although we did not go inside the palace, because we had to get back to catch a train at 12:30pm, the gardens and the outside made it well worth the trip.

Paris put a smile on my face :) It definitely gave me a lot of excuses to come back. Hopefully next time it's with a significant other!

Can't wait for my next adventure with my friend Wolfgang in Gottingen, Germany and Switzerland by myself.

Until next time,

Au revoir!

Final week at Slim School and the Netherlands

CLICK HERE to view the pictures from my weekend in the Netherlands

Hello all,

Last Friday was our last day doing camp at Slim School in Bergen. It was sad to say goodbye to the kids. This week it was off to a new location in Fallingbostel, another British base about a 30 minute drive from camp in Hohne.

So far camp has gone pretty well for the few days we've been in "Fallie" (that's what the Brits call it). Our facility is a bit difficult to work with, but we are adjusting to the new changes the best that we can. Just a week and a half of camp left!

Let's talk about my last weekend in the Netherlands shall we!

Well we left early Saturday morning instead of Friday this time, but got into Utrecht, Netherlands around noon. Utrecht was where our hostel was for the night, and let me just say, it was an experience! Our hostel was super sketch... first of all when you enter the front door on street level you have to climb about three flights of probably the steepest and skinniest stairs I have ever seen, just to get to the main lobby, which was pretty much just a living room :). We slept in a 16 bed mixed dorm and it was truly an experience. I slept well though haha

There was a "Summer Darkness Gothic Festival" going on that weekend in Utrecht, so it was quite the sight waking up to men squeezing into these elaborate black leather outfits in the morning. I could never be a "Goth," that's too much work!

Anyways, we spent Saturday in Utrecht and it was a very cool little city, with lots of canals and cellar bars and restaurants tucked in along the canals. The main focal point of the city was the huge Gothic Cathedral and Tower which is the tallest tower in all of Holland. I really wanted to climb it, but when I went to climb it the place had closed just 3 minutes before I got there :(. Anyways, we just explored the city, took a canal cruise and ate a nice Italian meal at a restaurant on the canal. It was a nice break from the fast pace of Berlin.

We woke up early on Sunday morning, checked out of our hostel and took a 25 minute train ride to Amsterdam, where we were to spend the day. The weather wasn't so great, pretty gloomy, but the city was beautiful. When we arrived in Amsterdam we made our way straight to the Anne Frank House. I was a bit skeptical about waiting in line to go inside, but I'm so glad we did because it was a very interesting experience. It was amazing to see where her family had hid from the Nazis for two years before being captured and sent to concentration camps. Also, I don't know if you remember me mentioning this in another post, but Anne Frank died in a concentration camp (Bergen-Belsen) just down the road from where I'm living... So it was really quite surreal to experience a piece of her life first hand.

After the Anne Frank house we ate brunch at this little pancake house, that at the time we were there, happened to be filled with American tourists. None the less, the food was great! After brunch we explored the main city center, bought some souvenirs and on our way back to the train station walked through the red light district... You can't go to Amsterdam without at least walking down this strip. It's all that it's talked up to be... just not my cup of tea :/

After that it was back on the train to Celle, and once again another great weekend trip. However, we had some train trouble on the way home, it took us 7 hours, but we made it back safe. Off to Paris this weekend!

Until next time,

Auf Wiedersehen!

Ps. I came across a stone engraving of a swastika and Adolf Hitler's signature signed in 1933 today on base. It was quite surreal to think that Hitler once visited the place that I'm living right now. Hohne Garrison was once a German military base home to multiple Panzer divisions during the second world war. The British liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the base in 1945 and have occupied it ever since.

Berlin is amazing!!!

To see picture from Berlin Part 1 CLICK HERE
Part 2 CLICK HERE


Hello all,

Week two of camp went well. We went from having 49 kids the first week to only 37 the second week. Most of the little 5-6 year olds from the first week all went on holiday with their parents. Some of my favorite kids are gone for the rest of the summer, but it's all good... the new ones were great as well!!

Friday after camp, 11 of us from Camp Adventure embarked on another weekend adventure, this time in Berlin. Berlin was everything I had hoped for and more. It was incredible. The history and the culture was everywhere. For some reason I originally had this almost negative image of Berlin, as if my mind was just looming in the time periods of the second world war and the cold war. I had this image in my mind that Berlin was a pretty run down city, but I was totally wrong.

Berlin is alive!!! In fact it is the most alive city I have ever been to in my life. What do I mean by alive? Well, that's how you feel when you are experiencing Berlin, you feel alive! Engulfed into one of the most important cities in the modern world. It's is the Capital of Germany for good reason.

If you ever do go to Berlin, I encourage anyone to take a free walking tour, rather than exploring your first day on your own. It is the best way to get orientated and see so much of the city that you probably would never get to see on your own. My tour guide was awesome, she new so much about the history and took us to all the major sites in Berlin in just 3 1/2 hours. Well worth it!

One other great thing about Berlin is its public transportation system. Awesome!!! You can get anywhere you want in the city by bus, S-Bahn, U-bahn, and tram. The small price of a daily ticket is well worth it. Berlin is a very large city so this made getting around very easy.

I loved every second I was in Berlin and I didn't want to leave. I could definitely see myself living there. My favorite city so far! Hope you enjoy the photos!

Off to Utrecht, Netherlands this weekend!

Until next time,

Auf Weidersehen!

First Week of Camp and Weekend in Munich :-)

For my Munich photos CLICK HERE

For Munich part 2 and Castles photos CLICK HERE

Hello Again,

It's been about a week now since my last post, and oh how things have changed!

Week 1: Fintastic Ocean Jamboree

We have successfully completed our first week of camp and it was a lot of work, but things went relatively smoothly; just a few hiccups here and there. We had 48 kids enrolled in camp last week for 6 staff, so each of us was in charge of 8 kids in a small group. Out of the 48 kids, about 25 were 5-6 year olds, so you can see how it was a lot of work. I had seven 5 year old boys and one 7 year old. I wish I could post pictures of my little guys, but due to Camp regulations, we are required by law not to publish any photos of children on blogs or Facebook.

Anyways, so here is how a typical day of camp runs. Most of our kids are picked up via the bus route, so two of us Camp A staff have to get up early, around 7am, and drive to Celle (about a 25min drive). We then hop on the bus and begin the bus route to pick up the kids. The bus route goes from Celle back to the school we are working at in Bergen (arriving around 9am). Then once we arrive with the kids, camp begins with a Blitz (series of songs we perform for the kids), and after Blitz we perform a skit. Following the skit we go over expectations (rules) for the week then wash our hands for snack time. After snack we break into small and large group activities, then it's time for lunch. After lunch were do a series of rotations with the kids called (Rotating Activities), this lasts for a good 1 1/2 hours then we follow that with club time. (This weeks clubs were: Sports club, Arts and Crafts, and Science club). Myself and one other staff member led sports club, and go figure... Football (Soccer- for those of you slow Americans) was the only thing the kids ever wanted to play :). We end off our day with closing time, where the kids have a chance to wind down and sing quiet songs and share about the best parts of their day. After that we load up the bus to complete out day.

So after a long first week of camp, 5 of us planned to enjoy our two days off in Munich. It was an absolute blast!!! After camp on Friday, all 5 of us jumped on the bus back to Celle with the kids and were bound for the train station. We caught the 4:47pm train to Munich and our awesome weekend began. We arrived in Munich around 9:30pm and made our way to our hostel. We got settled into our room and went down the road to the this huge Beer Hall for a late night meal :) Delicious of course! After eating we were all tired so we went back to our room and slept.

On Saturday morning, the group split up, Rose and I went to Fussen to visit the famous castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau and the other three explored the city of Munich. We had an awesome time, the weather was so beautiful and the Castles were incredible. Rose and I returned at around 5pm and met back with the group at the Hostel. We all just relaxed for a bit then got ready to go out to the Hofbrauhaus (Munich's most famous Beer Hall). It was sooo fun. Live music and German dancing, great food, and of course amazing beer! We all had our 1 liter jugs of the Hofbrau Original House Beer.

After dinner we went out to explore the city, which Rose and I hadn't seen yet and just walked around. Kat and I capped off our night with a beer at my personal favorite Paulaner's before heading back to the hostel. Sunday morning we checked out of the hostel, explored more of the city, climbed a church tower, and jumped on a train back to Celle.

Oh what a wonderful way to end off our week!!!

Time to do it all again next week :)

Until next time,

Auf Weidersehen

Day Trip to Hamburg

To View all my photos from Hamburg CLICK HERE

Hello all,

Things are going very well in Germany. Saturday our group took our first day trip to Hamburg, Germany, which is a port city in the Northwest Germany. We got our first taste of train travel, and let me just say, we would have spent much more money if we hadn't got help from a nice German lady who showed us how to use the ticket machine :). So far people here are very nice, although I have been a little caught off gaurd by the fact that in the German culture people don't smile as a friendly gesture like we do. So initially you think that, "Wow these people, must have some problem with me..." but it's really just a cultural thing that I have discovered.

So anyways, Hamburg is such a beautiful city, the architecture both modern and old, the canals, bridges, churches, the harbor... there really wasn't anything I didn't like about it. So the train from Celle, which is the train station closest to our base (about a 25 min. drive), to Hamburg was about 1:45 min. Traveling by train is ideal in Europe, the trains are always right on time and you have lots of departure times to choose from. When we went to Hamburg, we didn't really have any plans, we just wanted to explore the city. And that's exactly what we did.

When we arrived at Hamburg Hbf we walked into the city center which was just lined with designer shops and cafes. We arrived around 2pm and we hadn't eaten yet, so we tried out this sandwich shoppe for some authentic German cuisine... Whatever I had, forget what it was called, but it was delicious. It was kind of like thinly sliced meatloaf with ketchup and lettuce on a large bread bun... I took a picture of it, so if you want to see it click the link at the top of this posting.

After we ate, we walked further into the city center and visited St. Petri Kirche (St Peter's Church)... we weren't allowed to take photos inside, but we climbed the church tower and were allowed to take photos. The church tower was 137m high and we had to climb something like 548 steps, but it was well worth it. There was nothing like the 360 view of the city. It is the tallest tower in the city and you could literally see for miles.

Just after descending the tower, we visited the Rathaus (City Hall and government building). It was an impressive building with beautiful architecture inside and out. View photos for a better look. After that we hopped on a bus towards the harbor in search of Miniature Wunderland, which we never found, but our wandering around along the harbor allowed us to see more of the city, which was very nice. While wandering we decided to enter the St. Michael's church which has a bell tower that has the largest clock in Germany. The inside was beautiful and I got a lot of really good photos.

If it weren't for us wandering, we would have never stumbled upon the Duckstein festival! It was a lot of fun, live music, street entertainers and lots of different types of food from lots of different countries. I ate a rib eye steak sandwich from a Spanish tent particularly because of the very attractive Spanish Senorita that was serving food. I enjoyed my Spanish meal while my other Camp A mates enjoyed African and other cuisine.

Shortly after eating and enjoying a glass of beer and wine, we made our way back to the train station to end our lovely day in Hamburg. Life is oh so good!!

Until next time,

Auf Wiedersehen

It's Thursday in Germany.

I have been in Hohne for three days now and I'm starting to get used to the routine. Waking up at 7:00 am and going to breakfast. We eat our meals in the Station Officer's Mess Hall, which is a very nice building, very formal dining. It's interesting experiencing British military culture. I think those us on British Garrisons this summer have a unique experience, because we get to be exposed to both the British and German cultures, which is very interesting.

Wednesday we took a tour of the base and got cell phones. After lunch we visited the beautiful town of Celle. It is a quintessential German town and I loved it! Hope you enjoy the photos!

to see all of them CLICK HERE

Today we woke up early once again in our always flattering Camp A attire and ate breakfast. Straight after breakfast Myself and two other of my fellow staff were sent to the drivers training center on base to take our drivers familiarity test and computer quiz. The first couple hours we watched a film made in the 70's about the German traffic laws and after took a computer test. We all passed the computer test the first time, but the printer wasn't turned on, and we thought they were joking, but they made us take the test over again... And of course we all failed!!! hahahaha I was able to pass on my fourth attempt as well as my fellow staff. The test was deceiving because you could essentially get a 39 out of 40 and fail, because if you missed one of the situational questions you fail...

After the computer test was finally over... we had about an hour to do a quick drive through the town of Bergen. They all drive manual cars in Europe, so I had to learn to drive just last week in order to attempt to get my drivers card here in Germany. But it was a success. It was very simple, because the cars here all run on diesel fuel, so when you release the clutch the car will go on its own. I only stalled it once, and had one horn honk, I was very pleased with myself!!!. Now we are able to drive our vehicles wherever we need to go for work purposes.

In the afternoon we did some prep work for next weeks camp. Tomorrow (Friday) we will have a visit to our facility where we will run the camp in Bergen and start to set up for camp on Monday. I look forward to some days trips this weekend to Hamburg and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. I think Greta (my director) and I will also be attending church on base for a Sunday service, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Until next time

Cheers!

Arrived in Germany Safe and Sound

Well, all is well so far in Germany. I survived the 16 hour trip from San Francisco to Dusseldorf International Airport. We arrived about an hour late because of air traffic at London Heathrow (where we connected flights) and finally got to Dusseldorf, Germany around 5 pm on Monday. I had some serious jet lag after the long flight, because I wasn’t able to get much sleep at all. I maybe got a total of 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Once we arrived in Dusseldorf we were greeted by Camp Adventure Project Director of Europe (Dr. Christopher Kowalski) and Project Coordinator of the British Garrisons (Bobbi Meyer). From the airport we hopped on a bus and drove about 45 minutes to Rheinndahlen Garrison, where we met up with the rest of the Camp Adventure staff (30 in total). I’d also like to mention, that out of those 30 Camp Adventure staff, I am indeed the only male. Why more males choose not to participate in Camp Adventure is beyond me? I mean hey, I’m in Europe for 2 months, for next to nothing, and where are all the guys? They are seriously missing out on a great experience. Sucks for them!! ;-)

So anyways, back to business… When we arrived in Rheindahlen, we were given our accommodations for night; I of course had my own room. We ate dinner in the mess hall and had a quick meeting afterwards to discuss the itinerary for the following morning. We did a quick run through of the Blitz (for those of you who don’t know, we have to learn a lot of songs for Camp Adventure and Blitz is a series of songs that we choose to perform for the kids each morning to start off Camp). Anyways, we were to perform a Blitz in front of some of the important figures of the British military and youth workers on the base on Tuesday morning, so seeing as it was Monday evening we had to do a quick run through to make sure we still remembered the songs and what not. Then it was off to bed.

I slept soundly through the night, which was beneficial because I was able to adjust to the time difference rather quickly (by the way it’s 9 hours ahead). So Tuesday felt just like any other day, except for the fact that I had to wake up at 7:30am for breakfast. After breakfast we went over to Rheindahlen Youth Centre and did our little presentation and orientation until lunch. After lunch, all the staff packed their stuff back up and departed for their respective Garrisons in different areas of Germany, except the staff that were staying at Rheindahlen. We of course had the longest drive to Hohne Garrison (about 4 hours), which is the base I am stationed on this summer. There are 5 other Garrison locations contracted with Camp Adventure: Rheindahlen, Güterslow, Münster, Paderborn, and Garrison Travel Camp. Each location has about 5- 6 Camp A staff.

We traveled by mini-bus to Hohne Garrison which is 3 km from Bergen, Germany in the state of Lower Saxony. It is in North Central Germany about 2 – 2 ½ hours West of Berlin. When we arrived in Hohne, we met our Point of Contact on the base and she gave us our accommodations, which are very nice and spacious; however we are unable to access the internet from our Barracks. That is really the only downside to what has been a tremendous time thus far in Germany! We should be able to get access via the internet café on base, but access may be limited because it is not open 24 hours. Most of my internet time will most likely be on my weekend trips to different cities. Our first weekend the 23^rd- 25^th of July, we are restricted to day trips only, so we plan to visit the town Bergen, the Bergen Belsen concentration camp just 5 km away, the city of Celle and possibly Hannover or Hamburg.

For those of you that are reading this and want to hear from me via facebook or by phone/skype, because of the time difference the only times that I could reach you would either be in the early morning my time which would be around 10 or 11 pm in the US or evening/night my time which would be midday 10-2:30pm in the US. Place comments; ask questions if you’d like; but keep in mind, due to my lack of regular internet access, my answers to your questions may not be as swift as normal. If you would like to set up a skype session (Mom, Corrie, Brent, Dad… etc.) the best times would probably be on the weekend at the above mentioned times. Hope you all enjoy my blog for the rest of the summer, I’ll try and keep them shorter in the future.

Auf Wiedersehen!

I'm working on getting pictures up!