Germany and Austria 2019

Germany and Austria, 2019

The adventure began at BNA. It hardly seemed like a year had passed since the last time the four of us were about to board a plane to leave home for a month, but at the same time, we all felt that a lot had changed in our lives during the previous school year. After a quick and uneventful plane ride to the Chicago Airport, we were quickly faced with the task of selecting a dinner destination. Chile’s turned out to be the most agreeable, and we tried as hard as we could to wolf down the deceptively large quantity of food we ordered there. Unfortunately, there was a minor mishap regarding my seating, which I discovered after our time at Chile’s. Instead of being booked for seat 11C, I was booked for seat 49A - nine times. A few phone calls later, everything was sorted out, but I was left in even greater anticipation of the stereotypical German efficiency I would surely experience in a few hours.

Wiesbaden

The plane ride was peaceful. I watched Into the Spiderverse, with which I was pleasantly surprised. We deboarded and were greeted by a quick trip through customs and baggage claim, followed by our host families. I met my host brother, Linus Strube, before coming here, which eased in my entry to Germany. Sadly, for the first whole day, I was very sick to my stomach, so it had to wait another day before I could properly enjoy German cuisine. I did, however, have the privilege of meeting what felt like half of the population of Wiesbaden, Germany, on the first day. Realistically, it was closer to twenty people, but the number of people Linus introduced me to was nevertheless stunning. As I write this, I can feel the nostalgia creeping through my mind as I remember the sights, the sounds, tastes, smells - everything. We toured around the downtown area and finished the night by a little pastry stand in the park. As the first few days played out, I was increasingly thankful for the Strube’s hospitality. Linus is truly a very warm, welcoming person, who I think did a fantastic job getting me as involved with the German youth as possible. His parents were both fun and relaxed people and took us out on fun excursions to Frankfurt, Mainz, a jazz festival, and more. Their house was lovely, I felt right at home at all times and we were only a short walk from a bus station. Speaking of buses - I was surprised at how much better my life was in the presence of an effective public transport system. I feel almost trapped back here in Nashville, in comparison. Similar to how the buses made mobility around the city a breeze, the kindness and warmth of the Wiesbadener youth made getting around socially perfectly easy. Whereas back here in America, I only have a few real friends, most of whom are pretty similarly-minded, but Linus and some of his acquaintances went out of their way to introduce me to people from all walks of life, people I probably never would have met otherwise. I am very thankful to Linus for that. To put it in perspective - I think most of the other American students looked forward to the days when we would go on an Americans-only excursion for an opportunity to see their American friends and be in a more English-friendly environment, and while I am not going to lie and say I don’t like my American friends or was more comfortable speaking German than English, but my host brother did such a fantastic job immersing me in the culture of the German youth that I wanted to savor every minute of it. But while I am on the subject of the day-trips we took, our visit to the vineyard-town of Rüdesheim offered the most amazing views of rolling hills, lazily sweeping wind-turbines, and of course the Rhine that I could imagine. Additionally, the food there was excellent, even by German standards.

Munich

On the day we left to Munich from Wiesbaden, I truly came to appreciate how saddening a drawn-out goodbye can be. The levee holding back my tears must have been on par with the Hoover Dam that day. Once we tore ourselves away from the wonderful city of Wiesbaden, we were quickly filled with anticipation. We arrived in Munich after a four-hour train ride. Seeing the München Hauptbahnhof (Munich Central Train Station) as we stepped let me know I was in a place unlike anywhere I had been before. I loved it at once. I just had to bear through the heat for a bit until we got to our hostel room and put on new clothes because I was thoughtless enough to think it wouldn’t be absolutely blazingly hot in the middle of summer. But I digress. After a short bit of downtime, we took the subway to Marienplatz, the plaza next to the town hall.

Mr. Dougherty was kind enough to treat us each to a Leberkäse sandwich, a sandwich basically made of a thick piece of bologna-like sausage with sharp mustard. As in Wiesbaden, I was stunned by how affordable all of the food and how high-quality in Münich was. After our snack, Mr. Dougherty told us we would have fun climbing a two-hundred-and-fifty-stair spire of a beautiful cathedral near the city center. I think I burned every last calorie in the Leberkäse during the ascent, but the view was definitely worth it. For dinner that evening, we went to the famous Hofbräuhaus, which was livelier than I could have imagined. I had the Schweinshaxe that Mr. Dougherty had been recommending since my sophomore year, and while it did surpass my expectations, it probably could have served two people.

Over the next few days, we saw the stunningly artistic BMW Museum, toured the saddening remains of Dachau, bought exotic fruits at a huge open-air market, strolled through the English Gardens and Olympia Park, saw the world-famous Allianz Arena, and more. Out of all of the things we did, I was most impressed with the Deutsche Museum, an enormous and complex science museum that tops the Science Museum in London easily. Although, Schloss Neuschwanstein, the beautiful and exorbitant castle built by the Mad King Ludwig, situated in the Bavarian Alps, might actually be my favorite thing we saw, depending on when you ask me. Both were amazing.

In terms of what we ate, it is hard to say what I enjoyed the most. Hofbräuhaus certainly was an experience, but I think the plethora of Turkish street-food restaurants provided the most unique experience. I was expecting Turkish food to be similar to either Greek or Indian food, but it was something completely unlike any food I had eaten before. Hopefully, a store that makes fresh, high-quality dürüm’s and döner’s opens sometime new in Nashville. All in all, Munich proved to be one of the coolest cities I have been in.

Vienna

When I stepped out of the train into Vienna, I immediately felt that I was somewhere different. I asked my friends, and they could feel it too. Something that was hard to put my finger on felt different about the entire setting - the people were ever so slightly different-looking, the buildings were styled differently, the accents were just barely noticeably different, but it all added up. Perhaps the most noticeable difference was the abundance of pastries. It was madness. I think I cast my eyes upon more chocolate, bread, and frosting during my three days in Vienna than I have during the rest of 2019. Not that I am complaining, of course - I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Speaking of food, I had not one but two delicious, real-life Wiener Schnitzels in the home of the Wiener Schnitzel, as well as some cheese-filled sausage that I, unfortunately, forgot the name of. But we didn’t get to enjoy any of that until we accomplished the most important task at hand - climbing over three hundred more stairs. This view was nice, but I can’t help but wonder what sadist designed the spiral staircase. It was so steep and tight that I was climbing on all fours for the final third of the way up, and there were no windows to see how much progress we were making as we climbed. As we reached the top, we got to see Vienna from a nice little gift shop, where I realized with horror that the gift-shop employees cursed to climb those wretched stairs every day. As for what we did day to day in Vienna, we visited the world’s first zoo (which definitely is on my top-three zoos list), a couple of royal palaces filled with relics from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Prater Amusement park, where two of my comrades were yelled at by a friendly Russian park-worker because they didn’t know how to turn a Go-Kart. Sadly, my phone ran out of storage space so I was unable to take any pictures while in Vienna. I did have enough room to take a video of an enormously rotund seal at the zoo, but as I cannot attach videos to this blog, you will just have to imagine an obese seal making a thunderous coughing noise. In conclusion, I still like Munich a little more than Vienna, but my experience of the German-speaking world would have been horribly incomplete without such a charming and singular city.

The Experience..... and Danke Sehr!

The time I spent in Germany and Austria this summer was, in my opinion, the most formative four weeks of my life. Before I left for Germany, I was expecting to spend most of my time inside and to make maybe three friends at most. Linus worked really hard and brought me out of my comfort zone, and I think the experience of meeting and hanging out with so many new people who I would never have known otherwise was an education like no other. The bonds I made in Germany are some of the strongest in my life. And of course, my German friends' patience with my initially broken German smoothed out the language-learning process considerably. As I mentioned previously, The time I spent in Europe this summer proved to be more life-changing than I could have imagined. I cannot say enough how thankful I am. Programs such as these are the ones that set MBA apart from other institutions and make it the life-changing place it is. Danke Sehr, Wilson Familie!