12 months in photos.

As much as many of the more conservative and less tech-saavy people seem to think that social networking sites are the work of the devil, I do have to agree. And when it comes to something as important as connecting with loved ones across the world, what an easier [and more practical] way to do so by using facebook.

And what’s my favourite thing about this Zuckerberg founded web-giant? :]
The profile pictures. Simple images that depict what you’ve recently been up to… and after 12 months of traveling around Germany and Europe, experiencing the best it has to offer, I’ve had a range of pictures displayed on my facebook account that give an insight into my adventures. So here’s a little look in to those people who I don’t have on facebook. :]

NB: They get soooo much better as you go along. ;]

Rainy ol’ Regensburg

This past weekend was a tough one for me…
it was officially the last time I would be with all the other exchange students before my return home in January. Saying that, it was a rather emotional outing to Regensburg for our Christmas weekend, and I tried my hardest to keep in the tears when we had to say our “goodbyes”, or as I preferred it, “see you soon’s”.

Thankfully I will see some of them again soon… namely the english speakers and those living in my town. :] I’ll definitely try to visit the others all around the world!

Here are some of the photos I took over the weekend. The main sights included the Regensburg Cathedral and the Turn Castle, where we wandered through the stalls of the lovely Christmas Markets.

Christmas is getting closer! :]
But I really don’t want my time here to end. :’[
Ryan
x

The capital that continues to please.

Quite recently, I made it back from Berlin for a second time, and much like the first time, I saw many of the sights that had to be seen. However, for some bizzare reason, I enjoyed myself much more when I did the trip with fellow exchange students. :]

We were rowdy, boisterous and always tired… and they’re just the positives. ;]
I thoroughly enjoyed my time last week, and I mean every single part of it. We managed to see a great number of attractions in Berlin, and I believe the small map below makes it quite easy to see where we were. :]

View Larger Map

For a whole bunch of crazy and whacked out photos, stroll through the gallery below… there’s a lot to see. ;]

And for those of you who prefer learning through reading, here’s a quick summary of a few ridiculous things we got up to. :]

• Went to Potsdamer Platz and ate in an Aussie Restaurant… tried Crocodile and Kangaroo
• Shortly afterwards we went and took pictures with a lego giraffe… because we’re cool like that.
• We dressed up for halloween with costumes including: zombie teacher, zombie sailor, a VIP, tranny-hookers, a fox-thing, a cowgirl, the freaky girl from The Ring and a greek goddess…. etc.
• Blue Man Group…. was a “surprise” from Rotex.
• Visited the sex museum located directly next to our hostel… great choice of accommodation! ;]
• Wrote on the Berlin Wall :]
• Ate a late night Falafel…. and a Döner too ;]
• and did all the tours of the numerous well-established museums. :p

Hahaha. Enjoy!

Lots of Love,
Ryan!
x

Just casually…. off to Berlin.

Thanks to Rotex, the exchange students from Rotary district 1840 and I are leaving this evening and we shall be returning this coming Friday back home.

Thus, there probably won’t be any blog updates for a little while, but bear with me… i’ll be back online soon. Until then, I’ve got lots of old content to flick through, so have some fun seeing what I’ve already uploaded. And don’t forget to do me a huge favour and share this post around the world. We need to make a change. ;]

Soon enough I’ll be in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world… and I’ll once again be seeing old favourites like those below.

Read about my last trip to Berlin here.

Peace,
A thoroughly excited Ryan. :]
x

Snow, a hut and 30 or so exchange students…

This past weekend I’ve spent my time catching up with the new exchange students in my district, all in a hut in the mountains near Obertsdorf in Southern Bavaria. :]

We got up to some wild adventures during our two nights…
Upon arrival there was our first Schneeballschlacht – snowball fight – and it became an all out war with truces being made between a Kiwi at one point “in honour of the ANZAC’s”. ;] That night we got into the grub – some heavy pasta around the dinner table.

Breakfast however wasn’t all that… some slices of meat and bread. But having to shower with all the others was something a little different. Even after six years of boarding school I found it to be something quite strange; I’m used to having a shower curtain. So I think it’s safe to say we’ve all gotten to know each other quite well ;]

After freshening up for the day ahead, we were informed of the death-defying journey we would soon be facing… an hours march through the freezing snow… but we all had fun pretending to be wolves, throwing even more snowballs, and making some pretty little snow angels. Oh yeah, and we hiked across a river where the water was ice cold. Good times. Good times.

That night it was time to learn some names… so we played a few stupid games. And I really do mean stupid games. For example, we sat in a circle and had to repeat everyones names and their favourite thing / thing to do: “I’m Ryan, and I like fish”. (Which we all know is a lie) ;]

We got even cozier later on when we discussed host families and any troubles we’d been having the past year in a “Candlelight discussion”. We discussed German food, the oddities of the language and even the weather. :]

So that last night turned out to be even more fun… Kim and I played a little game, soon to be joined by the others after we danced the night away to some deliciously trashy club music… and a ridiculous (a.k.a. way over the top) amount of Latin Music. With Leila and Naomi both behind the camera lens, we were the two models following our photographers’ directions. I think we did well…. we took well over 100 photos of absolute shit… definitely good enough for Vogue… ;]

So that was a night to remember… and then we woke up and a whole new adventure kicked off. Sunday meant we had to all pack our crap together and say “see you in Berlin” to everybody, jump on our trains and head home. But, being amazing english speakers, we all headed to our beloved English Cinema in Munich and watched A Midnight in Paris starring Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard, among others. Good film, great time laughing at its faults. Can’t wait to do it all again.

I’ve fallen in love with the new exchange students, and I miss the oldies like hell, but the one thing that keeps me going is knowing I’ve still got tons of Germany to see. And I intend on doing just that… even if I do end up getting “accidentally” hit in the face with a water bottle whilst on the train to Munich. Thanks for that Little Miss Ontario Representative. It hurt A LOT!

Love you still.
Love you all. Newbies, Oldies and everyone in between. :]

Ryan
x

D-Tour Week 3 (At last…)

Just to fill in with all the other Deutschland Tour Posts (and yes, I know they’re well over two months late), perhaps start with the first one and then go in order. :]

You can’t defy the logic.

And now here’s what you’ve all been waiting for: the very last post, that finally means you can stop wondering when, if ever, this post will get written. Well it has at last!

As you all should know, the last stop that we had on our tour was in Hamburg, and in order, we’re now on our way to Bremen, the beer-brewing city that Beck’s calls home.

On arrival, we were herded out of the bus, told to chuck our luggage in the hostel (seen below), and then slip out to the Beck’s brewery to see how all the magic happens. After a fairly lengthy tour, that saw a few people drifting off into a land of slumber, we made our way into the older part of the city, encountering an Aussie themed cafe, going inside the city’s historical church, and checking out the main square. :]

What a weekend!

Dating from the 30th June to yesterday (3rd July), I spent four days in attendance to either a Rotary or Rotex function, spent the whole of Friday in a disco, did a high-ropes course and filled myself with typical German food. What can I say…? I’m stuffed, tired and do not want to be disturbed, because sleep is on my agenda. :/

It began on the thursday night, a formal rotary dinner where I ate the most delicious of fine meat. It went late and after getting picked up by my host mum at a little before midnight, she opened a bottle of sekt (champagne) on the hour to celebrate my official first minute as an adult. Lovely thought. :]

I then plodded up the stairs to bed and hit the hay for my much needed six hours of sleep. School felt like a normal day… except my class baked me not one, but TWO, cakes. SOOOOO good. :] One tasted like crushed Oompa Loompas and marshmellows, the other like Willy Wonka and his flavoured wallpaper. In other words, they were magically good.

Soon afterwards, it was time to head to the next Rotary meeting. A most joyous occasion to have on ones birthday. But I didn’t mind. I got to eat Schweinshaxe, one of the most delicious and meaty Bavarian specialties there is. After finishing up the meeting, I finally headed home around 2pm with Victor (from Mexico) so we could eat this lovely surprise that my host mum whipped up for me.

After two pieces (bringing my total for the day up to 7, along with other meals), I was completely full and said goodbye to Victor, who returned home to prepare for his farewell party. I too got ready, and then I went into Augsburg (after missing my first bus, because I’m so stupid that I can’t read a timetable.) to meet some of the others. We had some”dinner” in Burger King and afterwards headed to his party at PM, a disco near the city.

Prague, Prag, Praha. Ein wunderschönes Stadt.

‘A beautiful city’.
That’s what it says in the heading for all those people who haven’t had the lovely challenge of learning German. But I have to admit, as my skills (and slight arrogance) in German grow, my English becomes worse. Not happy Jan.

Yet that’s not why you’re here. You’ve not come to listen to complaints and sit there idly as nothing can be done about it (except for clicking that little ‘x’ at the top of your web browser… but then we could never be together through the use of my blog). You have come though to hear about the joyous adventures that I’ve been having, and what I’ve been up to most recently. So sit back, relax, make some popcorn and read about the only jewel i’ve found amongst the worlds great cities that even comes close to my beloved Sydney; Prague. :]

It all began on a cold winters day…. Just kidding. I’m quite sure I remember it as blistering hot. In fact, it very well may have been… As it was a public holiday, I had to get up very early to travel with my host mum to the nearest train station or I’d have no means of getting to Munich on time for our train to Prague. I managed to struggle out of bed and into the shower, feeling quite instantaneously refreshed. Much more awake and less bitter (it occurs most often in the mornings), we drove to the station and caught the 6am train to Augsburg where I changed and ventured on further to Munich, full of anticipation for the long weekend ahead.

Meeting up early at Burger King (the [filthy] American version of Hungry Jacks), we slowly headed over to our train and squeezed onboard for the six hour journey. It was hellish if anything, having to sit in the corridor, as people (who had not reserved seats) sat in the cabins. All we could do was sit, wait, and mouth/sing the words to Katy Perry songs to annoy the other passengers. It was most certainly a success. :]
Win for the exchange students.

As the train eased into Prague’s outskirts, we pounced on the opportunity to pinch some more comfortable accomodation from those who wanted to take pictures and stand in awe at the sights of the surrounding cityscape. We still won. We got seats and a show. :]

The train finally drew into the station and we disembarked with our ridiculous amount of luggage and were off to the nearest currency exchange. The luck some people had in finding somewhere in which we could exchange our money for 0% was quite astounding. But I still feel as if we may have been slightly ripped off. Oh well, that’s Eastern Europe.