Monday, January 8, 2018

New experiences, Enlightenment, and Beer

     This is my first blog, and certainly not my last. It was my first day on the trip, and I did not expect to have something to write about this early on. But, contrary to my first thoughts, my first day was possibly the most important day I will have on this trip. Granted it's one day, but you just have to try and think of all the things I did, and all the things I saw. I didn't go to a concert or an opera, or a tour, or anything really set up by the class, except for the group dinner. But wow, my day was full of experiences.

      After a long 10 hour flight, my classmates and I were blessed with another hour long flight. Fast forward another hour and I'm sitting in the hostel we are staying at for the whole "school-week", thinking to myself about the overwhelming possibilities and opportunities. My roommates for the week are Tomick, Carl, and Konner. After a quick lunch at a basic little coffee shop, that consisted of a pizza and two red bulls, my roommates and I decided to go on an adventure, or get lost, whichever you prefer to call it.

      During a 4 mile walk before dinner, we saw A LOT of things. At one point we passed a shop selling old German pistols (very cheap by the way if anyone is interested), not much farther the smell of fresh bread led us to a bakery. The greatest experience on this walk, by far was coming across just one of the many churches in the city, Rudolph's Church. This moment I shared with my roommates was an amazing moment. The doors were open when we walked up to see the quality of art outside the building, and I urged my roommates to journey in with me. Going inside was quite possibly one of the most enlightening moments of my life. The church was completely empty except for one woman who I assume was praying, it was in German so I'm not really sure. Not only was the church empty, it was also completely dark besides the little light that shined in from the outdoors, and a few candles. The smallest bump on a pew would echo through the building, it was that silent. I could hear each step we took, and each breath I took as I continued to be amazed at what I was seeing. We were alone, but it felt so... Honestly, I can't really explain what I felt or what the experience was like.

     Moving away from that experience, we took a good little trip to the subway. I'm going to talk about this because it was a hilariously ironic, considering it was our first day. With this in mind, I'd like to talk about how the train broke, as we were getting on it. We were unbelievably confused already, as everything was in German, so when the announcement was made that the train was closed due to technical difficulties, it was not something we understood. This was especially true when the German-speaking locals were also confused. There's not much more to that story except that it's a funny little story to tell. What's a trip to a foreign country without having issues with their transportation system?

    This blog will probably be my longest, as there's so much to take in. The day ended with a fantastic dinner at a local but well-known beer garden, that was based three stories underground. As it was a beer garden, surprise surprise, beer was consumed, responsibly of course. I'm pretty sure I was given a basic beer, as I just said: "Bier Bitte" which translates to, "Beer Please". But a basic beer in Austria seemed to do the trick, as I tasted a fantastic drink, that complimented my breaded Schnitzel and potato salad. Finally, I walked home and passed out pretty quickly, most likely from the fact that we had been up for around 24 hours. All I can say about this first day is it was amazing and definitely set a standard for the whole trip. WOW

- Aaron Ristau, Biertrinker



   

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