Going Home

Well, I'm at Frankfurt International Airport and will be heading home to Spokane in about an hour and a half. It has definitely been a fantastic five weeks in Germany, and I am going to miss it quite a bit. I didn't do a very good job of blogging about my trip (as you can see by my two week intervals between posts), but I will post one final trip recap with pictures when I get back to the states.

Quick recap of the last two weeks: We spent a weekend in Prague, and it was pretty awesome being in another city and country (plus getting another stamp for my passport). After Prague, our final week was full of site visits and research for our final projects. It was pretty neat to meet different politicians and speak with different foundations about current issues and other interesting topics. Our class ended with presentations on Friday and then a boat ride down the Spree River. We finally had some sunny weather over the last two or three days after a week of rain and gray clouds. I was bummed to leave Berlin on Saturday, but it was nice to be in Frankfurt with my dad. I guess his conference in Frankfurt worked out perfectly with my trip so we could spend a few days going around Germany.

After a brief walk around Frankfurt on Saturday, we bought train tickets for unlimited travel in Germany. Sunday, we headed north to Cologne and visited the massive Cologne Cathedral. Quite impressive, I must say. Pictures later. Monday, we went south to Munich where it was nice that I knew where I was going so I could show my dad the cool sites. Later that afternoon, we headed up to Nuremberg for the evening, following Rick Steves' self-guided tour through the city. Finally, yesterday, we decided to take the train across the country to Berlin as my dad had never been there (plus I'll take any chance to head back to Berlin). It took us 4 hours and 15 minutes to get from Frankfurt to Berlin, and then I took my dad on a blitz tour through Berlin in 4 and a half hours. It was nice that I remembered most of the history of each site from all the tours and visits we had during our class in Berlin. I probably could've made some money from tourists by letting them join our little tour. :-P

After a long ride back on the train, I'd say we did a pretty good job of getting around to key sites in just 3 days. I'm excited to come back again in the near future. It's time for me to get to my flight, but a longer post with pictures is coming in the next week or so.

Stay tuned,

Sam