TRA[life]VELS

Just more than a week ago, I didn't wake up to church bells, my facebook didn't ask me for my "passwort", and asking for tap water didn't warrant a puzzled expression. Yes, I am back in the good 'ol USA. Our narrow escape from Eyajfjallajokull took place April 15th at noon, only we didn't know we were escaping anything. Once we arrived at our connecting flight in Philadelphia, we heard that they started canceling flights right after ours.

This entire experience has been sandwiched between two planes. Just another season of my life that has come and gone, and yet I never really felt that I had come or gone anywhere. I don't mean I felt my experience was lacking in traveling or seeing fantastic places, because that is one area it definitely wasn't lacking. The entire time I was in Germany, I wasn't homesick. Not once. Sure I missed certain things, like watching youtube videos with my friends while we should be studying, fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters at Grace and Truth Study, and Mexican food...but that's a different thing entirely. When I arrived at LAX 9pm Thursday night, I got in the car with my family, drove the 2 hours home, and walked right back into my bedroom. Nothing had changed, and I only noticed because I had.

It's impossible to sum up the last three months of my life. Even as I dwell on it at times I can't wrap my mind around it. Was it the trip itself or the fact that I had never done anything like this before? Would I have grown in similar ways if I hadn't gone overseas? I don't know the answers to my own questions. I can only speculate and my guess is as good as yours. But for what its worth, let me tell you what I do know. This semester was not on accident. As haphazard as it seemed at times, each specific circumstance was there on purpose. God knows what He's doing. So simple. Why do I forget the simple things easiest? The factors that went into getting me to AMBEX alone prove that point, but then when I think that God did that for 9 other students as well, it sort of blows my mind. And that's just one thing, there are countless factors playing into my experience that I don't even acknowledge that were all specifically put in place so I could come out of AMBEX different than when I went in.

God is good. Period.

Although my circumstances aren't ideal in my eyes right now, my goal is to reflect on the past three months of my life as an encouragement. The same God that sent me to Germany is also keeping me in the high desert for four months.

None of us knew anything about our last stop on our Italy tour, and we didn't get there until close to midnight. We woke up in the Cinqua Terre hostel and look out the window...we are ON the coast, the sun in shining, around 60 degrees, and best of all, no planned activities! Cinqua Terre is the Malibu of Italy. Its not quite tourist season yet so it was quiet and quaint and just perfect. I don't actually think that place is too touristy anyway. Cinqua Terre means "5 Terraces" which we found out was because it is made up of 5 little cities on hills that sit directly on the coast line. The one we stayed in was Manarola. There was an awesome hiking trail to Corniglia (the next town) so we took that. It was probably about an hour of dirt trail and ocean. The trail was cut directly into the side of the cliffs...we even crossed a rickety old bridge. When we got to Corniglia it was almost lunch time, so we walked around for a bit before we stopped in this hole in the wall to get some foccacia sandwiches which were amazing AND cheap! Then we got some gelato and took it down to this spot on the cliff with a park bench and we just sat and stared at the ocean in the warm sun for a good 3 hours. Then we decided to take a train two towns over to Vernazza. This town was a bit more touristy, but just as beautiful. We walked around, saw an old church, explored an old castle/fortress, and got pizza before we left back on the train home arriving just in time to see the sunset. Good day. Overall good trip.

I left off en route to Florence. The forecast was snow...and lots of it. In order to get from Venice to Florence, we had to take the main route through the Appenine Mountains. We started off on the main highway, but soon realized that due to the snow, the highway would be closing. We stopped at a shopping center off the highway to get some food and figure out our next move. The plan was to take a back route. It was our only option, even though it was a windy mountain road. AmBex travels in two vans which are difficult to navigate through the snow, and the lack of chains made the next leg of our trip near impossible. We would drive for a ways, and then realize we should have turned down another road which meant we had to turn around. One person would get out and direct traffic on the one way road while the vans attempted to do a 23-point-turn. Regardless of all of that, seven hours later we were in Florence. We ate dinner at the hostel and went quickly off to bed. Our hostel was a converted private estate in the Tuscan countryside just outside the main city. The next day we had the chance to get out and go exploring. Horner took us to see some of the most important pieces of artwork in art history. Florence was at the very center of Renaissance art and culture. The first museum we visited was the Acadamea which is the museum that holds Michelangelo's 'David' among many other things. The next museum was the Oficia ("The Offices") which was one of the Medici's palaces that got turned into a museum. This is the one that holds 'La Primavera" and 'Birth of Venus' by Boticelli as well as numerous DaVinci, Cranach, etc. Boticelli's paintings were the most memorable to me. The next morning it was already time to leave Florence, but before we left we stopped at the Duomo [the Dome of the Florence Cathedral that Bruneleschi designed) and climbed our way to the top via very long, narrow staircase... 463 steps to be exact! It was well worth it because we got to look down on the entire city of Florence. Some of us even launched paper airplanes off the top. The inside of the dome was painted by Zuccari and depicts some pretty graphic images from Dante's "Inferno." When we were on the inside rim we were able to see just how big the figures were. This is a rough guess but I'd say I was only about a tenth of their size. We then went back down the same way we went up and headed for some pizza. An hour later we were off to Pisa! Who knew that Pisa was the Wichita of Italy? I certainly didn't. The only thing that keeps them afloat is the leaning tower. And I am proud to say that I got my very own "holding up the tower" picture. That's at least 10 tourist brownie points. I also didn't know that Pisa was so close to the coast... so we drove there to enjoy the beach and eat some dinner. It was dark by the time we left for our last hostel stop in Cinqua Terra. None of us knew anything about where we were going, and we didn't get there until close to midnight. We all trudged p this hill with our luggage dragging and went strait to bed. We were in for a surprise the next morning.

Our most recent AmBex adventure took us to Italy to study Art History with Professor Horner. Our first stop was Salzburg, Austria so we wouldn't have to spend the entire first day driving. Salzburg is the home of "The Sound of Music" so before we left we had a movie night and watched the whole thing...which is perfect, because who wouldn't want "I am 16 going on 17..." stuck in their head 24 hours before it needed to be? Anyway, Salzburg was fun, but it had just gotten dumped on by snow the night before. The snow started sticking to the highway and delayed our drive a bit, so we didn't actually get there until close to midnight. The next day we went on "The Sound of Music Tour" which ironically didn't include much sound of music besides the soundtrack playing over the tour bus speakers. All in all it was a good time, but what we were all really looking foward to was Italy.

On Monday we arrived in Padova, Italy which is the sister city of Venice (about 30 minutes away). We got to Padova at night so the next morning we had the entire day to spend in Venice. Venice was actually really cold and windy, which isn't too typical for this time of year, and it actually started to snow a bit. The city is so cool. It has a ton of history. The entire thing was built on a bunch of logs that were jammed into the sediment around the 12th century...because of the lack of oxygen down there, the logs never rotted and the city has been sitting there ever since! Every street you turn down, you're in another narrow alley, surrounded by old brick buildings, and occasionally crossing one of the many canals that run through the city. I couldn't help think of movies like "The Italian Job" every time we saw a boat putting down a canal. Our first stop was going to be San Marcos Plaza to see the Cathedral San Marcos and a Doge Museum. In order to get there, we crossed the grand canal...where the canal is the biggest and the one that I'm used to seeing in all the pictures of Venice. The Cathedral San Marcos was built on what looks like a giant dock that is San Marcos Plaza. The Cathedral doesn't look much at all like the ones we've been seeing in Germany and Austria. Horner explained to us that when you go further south especially in Italy, you will find Eastern influences in both architecture and religion. Some of the building windows looked like something you'd see in "Aladdin" and the supposedly Catholic Cathedral looked more like an Eastern Orthodox church. After we finished learning about the cathedral, we went back out to the plaza and couldn't ignore the masses of pigeons that were entertaining all the visitors. Andrew and Tanner actually managed to catch one of the greedy pigeons in Tanner's bag. Once it was in the bag we couldn't just let it go, so they thought of a creative way to make use of a pigeon in a bag. They waited until Courtney came around and handed her the bag. She didn't exactly scream like we were hoping, but she was surprised for sure. The pigeon didn't even seem to care, like it had happened to him before...he was just chillin' in the bag for a good 20 minutes. We went to the Doge's (Duke's) Palace turned museum after that and then took the train back to Padova so we could prepare to leave the next morning for Florence. To our surpise, we woke up to heavy snow!...not good if you have to take a route that goes through the Appenine Mountains, and especially if you have no chains for your tires.

To be continued...

Castle Church, Wittenberg

The castle church is most famous as the church where Dr. Martin Luther nailed his “95 Theses” to the door. Obviously a Catholic church at the time, it converted to Lutheran in 1525 shortly after the death of Frederick the Wise. Although Luther preached here on occasion, this was not his regular church – that was St. Mary’s just down the road. The remains of Luther, Melancthon, as well as Frederick the Wise are kept in the church. Melancthon, although differing in ideas at times with Luther, was his closest reformer. He died in 1560 and Luther died in 1546. Frederick the Wise was Luther’s ally who used his political prowess to keep Luther safe. Frederick also resided in the castle church and the church reflects the royal nature of its inhabitants – the dome appears to be crown-like. The church burned down in a fire but was rebuilt near the time of the civil war. The famous door is not the original, but was put up in the 19^th century. Furnished with black bronze, the door is engraved with each of Luther’s 95 Theses. This church was also made the academic chapel of Wittenberg University in 1507. Personally, I expected this church to be larger than it was. Upon seeing it in person, I assumed that it was not the church that Luther nailed his theses to. Ideas that big I pictured being nailed to a door of equal enormity. Visiting the Castle Church in Wittenberg puts you right at the center of Reformation studies.

The Parish Church – St. Mary’s, Wittenberg

St. Mary’s church in Wittenberg is where Luther consistently preached and is also the oldest building in Wittenberg. The church was originally decorated in the Gothic style, but its spires were replaced by octagon-shaped towers. The inside of the church has many of Cranach’s paintings. Lucas Cranach was a German Renaissance painter and did many portraits of the protestant reformers of his day. We noticed that hanging above the altar is a painting by Cranach that also graces the cover of our Lindbergh text. The church was originally named St. Mary’s Church, but later became “the city church.” This church is the oldest piece of architecture in Wittenberg because it wasn’t destroyed in the war or under any other circumstance with sections dating back to the 13^th century. Luther actually married his wife Katharina von Bora here in 1525 and all of his 6 children were baptized here as well. His original pulpit is no longer in the church but is instead held in one of his house museums. The church is still used today. Although this was originally a catholic church, the interior is drab and as plain as possible. When churches separated from Catholicism, they were stripped of all pomp and icons. I was surprised at how close the Castle Church is to the Parish Church as well as how similar in size they are. It gives me a new appreciation for Luther’s boldness. He didn’t just attack the Catholic church in town from afar, but instead attacked the Catholics who were literally right next door.

Luther’s Home, Wittenberg

Luther lived in this Augustinian monastery while he was a monk and also after he married Katie and had his children. I was surprised at how big it was. Something about Luther gave me a picture of a small and uncomfortable looking abode. Parts of this monastery, because it was dissolved during the Reformation, were turned into residence halls for students. The Luther house was home to around 35 to 50 people consistently… students, friends, family etc. Inside the museum, we got a chance to see paintings of Luther and Luther’s works inside his actual home. Also a random fact, monks are known for their breweries. Luther had his own in his basement and is quoted as saying “strong beer is the milk of the old!” More important than beer, Luther’s house has a book collection containing many first editions of Luther’s works. The museum also has a room dedicated to reformation art – most of the paintings are by Cranach. Here at the Luther house, we learned a lot about Katherina von Bora, Luther’s wife and heard rumors that Katie “ran the household.” Katie was educated because of her past as a nun, and therefore was able to participate in the theological table conversation right alongside Luther and his peers. Walking through the house we were able to see some of the rooms and what it would have looked like at one of these large dinners. For anyone even remotely interested in the history of evangelicalism or history in general, it will be a surreal to know that you are standing in the rooms that Luther developed his radical reforming ideas in.

Erfurt Augustinian Monastery

Erfurt is the home of the Augustinian monastery where Luther fulfilled his promise to St. Anne to become a monk. He joined in 1505 and left in 1511. Out of all the types of monks, the Augustinians are most well known for their severity. There are a few speculations on why Luther chose the Augustinians out of all the different cloisters to join. Personally, I think that because of Luther’s personality, he thought that if he was going to make a deal with God to become a monk, he needed to go all the way. Luther, as well as many other monks, thought that the harsher they treated themselves to be purged of worldly pleasures, the better guarantee there was for salvation. They worked the hardest, were extremely ascetic, and had the harshest living conditions and schedule. Upon taking the tour, I found out that morning prayers began at 2 in the morning, meals were twice a day, and most of the monk’s day was spent in silence. As harsh sounding as their lifestyle was, it was not reflected in the aesthetics of the monastery which was beautifully well preserved. The oldest section of the monastery dates back to the 13^th century. Something else I was not aware of until visiting the monastery was that it specialized in a type of blue dye that our tour guide explained was similar to how blue jeans are made. Inside the church, we got to compare the appearance to that of the Castle Church and others like it. The monastery church was extremely cold and bare. The only decorations were stained glass windows, a few crosses, and some stone sculptures of monks from the cloister; a stark contrast from the Catholic churches of its day.

Wartburg Castle

While staying in Eisenach, Ambex had the privilege of visiting Wartburg Castle where Luther took refuge after the Diet of Worms in 1521. Frederic the Wise helped Luther escape because there was a plot to kill him on his way back to Wittenberg. Pope Leo X had excommunicated Luther after Luther’s famous words at the Diet “I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand, I can do no other!” In order to remain undetected, Luther hid under the auspice of “Knight George.” Luther stayed here for one year. It was here that Luther translated the Greek New Testament into German, which only took him a matter of months! The Luther room has a story behind it. It is said that while Luther was translating the Bible one night, he apparently saw a demon in bishops clothing and threw an ink well at it. I could have missed it, but I didn’t notice any ink stains still there. The actual castle is from the feudal period and was built in 1067 and was used by royalty and later turned into a museum. The Thuringian kings occupied the castle for a majority of its run. The castle turned museum definitely contains more than just Luther exhibits - it has history beyond that, so there is also an emphasis on St. Elisabeth of Hungary who lived at the palace in the 13^th century and was canonized a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. The palace itself is constructed in Romanesque style that is typical of Medieval Europe, but throughout the years the castle has gone through numerous renovations and additions.

Cathedral at Speyer

The Cathedral at Speyer is the largest Romanesque church in existence today. The inside of the cathedral has extremely high ceilings with rounded arches, typical of the Romanesque style. It is true what they say about high ceilings focusing your attention on God. As I stood there in the cold cathedral, my eyes were consistently directed upward, which would have been beneficial for the church attendees. Because they couldn’t understand the Latin masses to focus their minds on God, at least the ceilings might be able to. The artwork around the top of the cathedral serves to show the shift in colors where a lot more blue was being introduced. The church was established in 1030 under Conrad the Second, but is probably most well known for its significance in the 16^th century when the numerous Diets took place. There were as many as 50 diets at Speyer, the most important two being in 1526 and 1529. At the time of the Diet of Speyer in 1526, Charles V was the Holy Roman Emperor, but he did not actually attend. In lieu of Charles, Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria oversaw the diet. The goal of the diet was to bring the Protestants and Catholics together on some compromise or common ground. Actually, what ended up happening was good for the Protestants. The terms discussed at the diet were “postponed” for a number of years, so nothing was really set in stone as of yet. The Protestants used this to their advantage to spread the message of grace alone and faith alone. Luther himself agreed that the council in a sense temporarily released the Protestants of heresy charges. The Second Diet of Speyer took place in 1529, this time to reverse the religious tolerance given to the Reformers at the first diet in 1526. It was here when the Reformers protested that these believers were given the name “Protestants.”

Our first "reading week" was last week which I spent in Trier, Germany. Trier is where Chris' mom grew up, in Western Germany near Luxemborg. So we were spoiled and instead of paying to stay at hostels, we stayed at his Grandma's house and got most of our meals for free courtesy of all his family. The Rhineland is beautiful with its rolling hills and beautiful rivers. The bonus was that the sun actually came out! Seeing the blue sky was so novel.

On Monday there was a parade for Fasching. The best way I could describe Fasching would be to have you picture a Mardi Gras and Halloween hybrid. Even the Germans we talked to didn't really know the point of it, but the general consensus is that its an excuse to get work days off so you can dress up and get drunk. The parade had all kinds of crazy floats, and when you shout "helau!" they threw candy at you. The bummer was that it snowed the entire time, but after that first snowy day we had some consistent nicer weather.

On Tuesday we decided to play tourist and go see some of the sites. Trier is the oldest city in Germany, and has its roots in being occupied by the Romans. We went to see "Porta Negra" [The Black Gate] which was the original entrance into Trier, a Roman Colosseum, the Roman Baths, and Pauline's Kirche [the church where Chris' parents got married]. That night we went to Chris' great-aunt's house. Her and her husband live in this beautiful house on the river that has been in the family for hundreds of years. I realized that night just how much I appreciate communication...especially the being able to do it part. There were about ten people at dinner with us and they all obviously spoke German. Sometimes I would pick up on things with the words I knew and then use their non-verbal communication to fill in the blanks, but many times I sat completely dumbfounded. They were all very sweet though, using what English they knew to try to include me whenever they could. On Wednesday for lunch we went to his other great-aunt's house. Sigrid and her husband Horst were so great. Sigrid made us chicken and rice, but the Tiramisu was probably the best. Just when we were about to pop, she asked us if we liked it and we said yes. She took our plates to clean them off, we thought, but came back out with MORE. Needless to say, we were fed well that week. After lunch, they drove us up this hill to where there was a path that led through the forest. Sigrid kept saying "Grey, grey, everything is grey. In the summer it is much better!" I'm sure that's true, but the lack of greenery gives you an opportunity to use your imagination. It's beautiful either way. We stopped at a lookout that gives you a view of the town, some of the surrounding hills, and the river. Even the rain clouds couldn't take away from that walk. We went back to the house and before leaving, in true grandparent-ish fashion, Sigrid and Horst gave me 20 euros! Thursday was basically free so we just went walking into town for some food and coffee, later we went back to a family friend's house - the Gombold's - for dinner. We left Friday at noon on the 9 hour train ride back to Regensburg, only to pack up so we could leave for Dresden the next morning.

Currently we're all in Wittenberg on our Reformation study tour for Reformation History with Dr. Cleaver from Liberty University. We're gone this entire week. Saturday we were in Dresden, yesterday we stopped in Berlin for 4 hours and then headed to Wittenberg where we are today and tomorrow. We depart for Eisenach tomorrow for 2 days and then Heidelberg until Sunday. I'll have a lot to tell! Until then...

"Slow down you crazy child, take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile..."

Yesterday, instead of Starnberg, we made our way to Garmisch. I'm not quite sure how it worked out that way, but I don't think any of us really cared where we were going as long as we were just...going. Garmisch is a town in the mountains about 3 hours south-west of Regensburg. So we left an uncharacteristically sunny Regensburg from the train station around 9am headed toward our connecting train in Munich. We honestly didn't have too good of an idea where we were headed, what we would do when we got there, or even if we were on the right train, but again, none of us seemed to care. We were going to enjoy our independence for all it was worth. As the train made its way further and further south, the towns got more obscure. At one point we just kept looking out the window wondering where our sun had gone! I don't think any of us would have been shocked to look out the window and see a couple eskimos, or a dog sled. The blowing snow made it hard to see much past the few scattered houses. Soon enough our train pulls into the Garmisch station. By the sound of the town's name, and the "under construction" look of the station, we jumped to conclusions that this place was a little sketch. Thankfully, as soon as we walked out the doors and into the town, we realized how great the place actually was. The sun started peeking through and we could see mountains on every side. For those of you who know Big Bear, it reminded me a little of that - only Germanized. So we walked around for a bit stomping through some serious snow, looked at some souvenirs, and then headed for a coffee shop. I'm going to miss that about Germany [the bakery/coffee shops]...Starbucks doesn't even come close. After some "coffee chocolat," Heather and Lisa stayed to read for a bit while Chris and I explored some more. We ran into a couple cool churches, and stumbled on an awesome path that goes kind of above the city. Pictures would explain it better than a description, but I didn't actually take any [oops!]. The other three did though, so check them out.

Yesterday we took another field trip and went to Nurnberg which is about an hour away from Regensburg. Our plan was to hop on the bus, get to the train station, and then head strait to Nurnberg. Well, we were almost late for our bus, and we thought we were almost late for our train...so we ran a little. Turns out that the train was running 15 minutes late that morning. This is pretty unusual for Germany. Just within the past couple decades, scheduling has been getting a little more lax. There's an old saying that went something to the effect of being able to set your watch by the German trains. Anyway, with our extra time, some of the group decided to go grab some coffee while the rest of us went to wait on the train that had just pulled in. So we're sitting on the train and we notice that its about to take off [a little sooner than we thought]. Just as we're about to get nervous for our 4 classmates, we see them hurrying down the platform. At that moment Chris turns to me and goes, "wouldn't it be hilarious if the doors just slammed right now?" Well coincidentally, they did...with a vengeance. As soon as those doors slammed we all looked over to see if they had made it. One-two-three...oh no, where's Jeff? I looked out the window to see Jeff standing alone on the platform, pleading with the railway worker. When I saw the man vehemently wave his hands to signal "once they're closed, they're closed" I knew Jeff wouldn't be joining us that day. Luckily we weren't too far from the hostel. What made the whole thing even more comical was the fact that 5 minutes later, a man with a cart came rolling down the aisle shouting "coffee!...cappuccino!...tea!"

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Last year I was able to drive home so we could go out to dinner at Johnny Carino's, but this year we had to settle with skype. Yesterday's AmBex adventure was a trip to Neuschwanstein castle, built for [mad] King Ludwig in the 1800s in classic medieval style. The castle was never finished because Ludwig died (likely murder) in the process...just a few days after being declared insane (likely because he was massively in debt!). It took us around four hours to reach the castle by train and we had to switch trains twice. This winter day produced uncharacteristic sunshine that bounced off the snow and fog to display a picturesque scene. Neuschwanstein is also the castle that the Disney castle was modeled after. Oh! I also found out that this is the lace of the actual Swan Lake (Ludwig had an odd obsession with swans). The hike up to the castle was long, and even colder than what we've been used to, but we were so distracted by the snow-peaked Bavarian Alps that we didn't mind all that much. After a minor bus mishap in Regensburg, we finally made it back to the hostel...safe, sound, and in enough time to wish mom a "happy birthday!"

Yesterday our group made the trip to Rothenburg, Germany, a Medieval town about 2 and a half hours from Regensburg. The town is very well preserved. The best way to describe it is probably cliche, but I felt exactly like I stepped back in time. The cobblestone roads, the moss covered bridges, and the colorful houses all contributed to the atmosphere. Apparently, Rothenburg was the inspirations for the setting of Pinocchio. We also kept coming across shops filled with teddy bears, and Kelley told us that this was the place where they first made them. I don't know too much about the history of the town, just that it is extremely old and extremely well preserved. The parts that were destroyed in World War 2 were restored back to their original state. We came across this cool little carousel that was way too small for us...but we sat on it anyway. When we put in a euro, we were disappointed to find out that it didn't work. We got a cool picture though! There was a man in the shop window laughing at us the whole time...Germans get a kick out of American tourists...because we're completely clueless.

This morning we had the pleasure of having a guest lecturer for our “People and Places of Germany” class, Frau Obermier. She is a German school teacher for 10-14 year olds and her pupils are staying here with us at the youth hostel for a few days. In Germany, all children go to elementary school until they turn 10 (I think) and then attend one of three types of schools: The Gymnasium, Realschule, or Hauptschule. The Gymnasium is for bright students who plan on attending a university. The Hauptschule is more vocational training…students who aren’t as intellectual who are preparing for hands on jobs such as a baker, a hairdresser, or a bricklayer. The Realschule is one that is sort of in-between. Frau Obermier is a Hauptschule teacher and her students are here to prepare for how to do a job interview. These students must get a job and begin working at age 14 and 15! The interview we had with her was supposed to be focused mainly on education, but it ended up being quite a bit broader than that. What really interested me was when our conversation took a turn toward politics and religion. “I think people have to believe in something,” said Frau Obermier. How interesting coming from a very liberal woman (like most Germans) whose idea of religion is a cross hanging in Bavarian classrooms and going to church or mass on holidays. In Germany, southern Germany at least, religion is still very much a part of life. On your birth certificate your parents declare you either Protestant or Catholic. As you can see, religion is more politics than anything. Many people even declare themselves atheists because declaring yourself either Protestant or Catholic means you have to pay taxes to your church. Contrast this with the United States. Religion is banned from politics (over-emphasis on separation of church and state) and equality and neutrality of religion is highly valued. Despite this, there are more believers (or at least claimed to be believers) in the United States than in Germany or the rest of Europe. I did not realize how much the socialistic mindset had a hold on a Germans worldview. They see everything through the lense of socialism, because that is what makes sense to them. Frau Obermier could not fathom why certain Americans did not support Obama’s vision of socializing medicine.

“I think people have to believe in something…” it is impossible not to have faith in something. Now that is something we all could agree on.

Later on we went on a tour of the churches in Regensburg. The cathedral our group went to 2 days ago is the largest…it towers over the entire city, but there are surprisingly many other churches, both Protestant and Catholic, that surround it. We even saw the place where Napoleon stayed for a time. Something I didn’t know before, the current Pope is from Regensburg and lives here part of the year. The walls of the large cathedral were once covered in soot from the war, but recently much of that has been sand blasted off, so you’ll see parts of the church that are completely black while other sections carry their normal color. I started taking more pictures of all the churches today, but unfortunately, the wifi is extremely slow here…it may take some time!

This morning we all woke up to SNOW!...that may not sound like a big deal to some of you, but for the California kids it definitely was. What started as a light snowfall ended up as snowballs being chucked at us from the sky. I'm not even kidding. The snow is significant because we had to walk in it, probably 20-30 minutes to the church from the Regensburg Youth Hostel and back. This morning we visited a Catholic church to see the Regensburg boys' choir. That choir is supposed to be second only to the Vienna Boys' Choir. Both are world famous. The thing about seeing the boys' choir was that they performed at Mass. This was my first experience with a Mass. The inside of the church (kirche) was no different in temperature than outside. Even with our warmest clothes on, the cold penetrated so much that after awhile it was actually painful. Apparently, being able to tolerate the cold is equated with piety. The church was very ornate, like most Catholic churches. Bavaria is prominently Catholic, and this church wasn't destroyed in the war, so it dates back very far. The inside was decorated in gold plated saints and stained glass windows...it was beautiful, but I couldn't help thinking about what paid for those elaborate decorations. So we stood, then we sat, then we stood again, and sat again...you get it. The service was entirely in German and Latin so I caught about every 10th word. Mass finally ended and we walked back out onto the snow covered cobblestone. If my fingers hadn't been so frozen I would have taken some pictures, but I haven't taken any yet. Thankfully, I have 88 more days left!

After a loooooooong day of flights we're finally here. 5 hour flight to Philadelphia then a 7 hour flight to Munich.

Hallo Freunde!