Munich Update 2/Back in CPH

Wow. Today I was in three countries. Doesn't that sounds strange and exciting?

Well, my Danish adventure has almost come to a close. Tomorrow I will be leaving for the airport to fly back to Chicago. It is hard for me to believe I have been in Europe for 9 weeks. At the same time, though, I have a TON of memories (and pictures) that I will not forget. :-) But let me update you on Munich.

So in my last post I thought I would just bum around and not do anything. Well, that didn't really happen. I met three great guys from the States: David (MechE), Michael (Civil) and Justin (Comp Sci with languages). As you can tell we hit things off well just because of our majors. I ended up going to three bars/beer serving places with them that night. I did NOT drink at all three but did have some tasty beer. And it was fun! We got back a bit late but made plans to hit some of the major beer gartens/halls on Tuesday. I hung out with them all day on Tuesday and had a blast. We had Paulaner beer at the Paulaner brewery beer garten and also went to the English beer garten. At both places we had interactions with Martin Monk. Look him up on Youtube. In two months (that is what he claimed) we will all be on youtube in his "Beer Garten" episode. Oh man, this guy was a character! I can't really describe him here because words just won't do him proper justice. It was fun and very awkward. :-) After the English garten we wanted to go to the Hirsch beer garten, which is the largest in the world at an 8000 person capacity (they serve like 186 American sized beers AN HOUR or something ridiculous like that). We got lost and ended up eating (and drinking) at Augustiner (the place has great beer and delicious and cheap food). My stomach was acting up again so while I had ordered an incredibly delicious blue cheese lasagna-like dish I could only eat about 15 bites of it. Thankfully the guys were hungry. :-)

We made it to the Hirsch garten but ended up chatting with some locals for like half an hour before almost running to the beer garten so the guys could get one more maass (it's not supposed to have two a's but Idk how to make the symbol correctly). They drank and we headed back to Wombats where we chilled at the bar till it closed at like 1:30. I went to bed and we had plans for them to come get me before they left for Neuschwanstein (the inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle).

Wednesday saw me wake up in a room with 5 guys. Yes, it's possible and it did happen. I knew one of them but things were still a bit awkward. I have engineering to thank for prepping me (kind of) for such a situation. But anyway, I had to wait for all of them to use the bathroom and once they were done I got to shower. David showed up twice, the second time to tell me they wanted to catch a train 15 minutes later. So I grabbed my bag and off we went. We ended up running to the train which meant we were sweaty forever because the train had no AC and it was over 80 and sunny the whole day. But the view of the castle was fantastic! It may be under restoration but it is still beautiful. We booked it back down the mountain and got on our train just in time. After an hour we parted ways (sadly) as they were off to the Black Forest and I was going back to Munich. They really did make those two days incredibly fun for me and seeing the castle with them was way more fun than it would have been alone.

I called home, my grandparents and my great aunt after all of that and then went to bed. Yesterday I went on the free walking tour and it was AMAZING! Ozzie is THE BEST tour guide EVER! So, if you go to Munich, stay at Wombats Munich and take the free walking tour with Ozzie. He is the only black tour guide in the city and he literally talks the whole 4.5 hours you are with him. Yes, 4.5, you read that right. Didn't feel like it at all and you see a ton. Our tour ended at the English garten but a bunch of us bought beer/food and sat with him for a few hours. I didn't get back to the hostel till 6:30. It was a great day. My shins were in pain, though, as I am pretty sure I got minor shin splints from booking it down the mountain on Wed and then didn't help them with the walking tour. So that's a pray request: healing for my little shins.

I went to bed relatively early and was awake sometime after 3 this morning by my new roommates (again, all 5 were guys). Beer just does funny things to foreigners I guess. :-) Got up this morning and was basically all packed. Got ready, did Internet then bought my train pass and more chocolate than I should have, packed the chocolate and headed to the airport. I got there WAY early but am glad because I finished reading Acts and started reading Romans. It is amazing how much I have learned in just the past few days while I have been in Munich. Not just historically and culturally but spiritually too. I didn't grow much last summer while at Abbott and was afraid the same thing would happen this summer. I shouldn't have feared that happening because, well, it didn't.

The flights went well though I was tired for both of them. Got back to CPH around 7:10, got my bag, discovered all of my beer bottles were intact, and headed home. Got to Hellerup around 9:30 and caught the 21 to Emdrup Soepark. It took me like 15 minutes to walk from the stop to the house because my bag was so heavy but when I arrived Yujie was excited to see me and then I learned that Lise is gone for the weekend. I shouldn't have rejoiced as much as I did but it means less stress for me. I also get to sleep in a bed tonight and not worry too much about showering or packing. In fact, I thought I would pack tonight but I will probably only sleep till 8 or 9 and then have plenty of time to repack a bit. I need to be at the airport around noon tomorrow so I can do tax free stuff before check-in. Check-in will NOT open more than two hours before take off (which is 3:30pm tomorrow) so I do not want to be there too long. Noon should be fine.

So there is the update. I am glad to be back in CPH again, even if just for one night. This place is familiar (though parts of Munich were familiar by today)and I know how to get around and where I want to go. Last week you may remember I did not want to leave. I still would like to stay but after being on "vacation" for a week I am ready to be home. Guess that just goes to show that God will provide and prepare you for whatever is ahead, even if you don't realize it.

I do, however, have prayer requests. Please be praying for my shins as I travel tomorrow. Pray for peace of mind and comfort as I travel (God has been so good to me every time I've travelled!) and for the weather and crew. Also, this is ridiculous, please pray that my beer bottles won't break! They are important to me for more reasons than just the fact they are German beer and I really want to get them home. They survived today and I am tempted to leave them just as they are (don't worry, I will add more padding and more plastic bags) for tomorrow's trip. Also, please pray for my family as they drive down to Chicago to get me. They have had lives the past two months and I am coming back "all of a sudden." Pray for my attitude as well. I have been gone and want to see everyone and will have the urge to be the "center of the world." I by no means want to be like that as I cannot wait to hear what everyone else has been up to, who they have met and what they have learned. But attitude is huge. Thank you for praying; I really appreciate it!

Have a great day/night/afternoon and I will probably post one last time once I am back in the States just so that I can talk about my trip home.
Bekah