Hey there! It’s been a while!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and have started the New Year off on the right foot! I know it’s now the beginning of February 2017 – making my first blog post of the year well overdue – but I hope to make up for the gap between posts by talking about everything I’ve done the past few months: from visiting Germany for a few days before bumbling my way through finals to traveling home to Florida to spend time with family and friends at the beach (as Floridians are wont to do), then heading back to Ireland to start class and visit Dublin for the first time. Let’s get to it!
Trip to Germany
I wasn’t able to travel a lot outside Ireland last semester because of my accident, but I was fortunate to be able visit my boyfriend Aaron in Bamberg, Germany just before the finals period began. We stayed in Bamberg most of the time I was there, but we also traveled to Nuremberg and Munich for a day. Not only was it a huge plus to be able to travel abroad with a fellow HC student, but it was an even bigger advantage to stay in a foreign country with someone who could act as your personal translator. Before I got to Germany I had no idea what to expect; I didn’t know very much about the country or its history apart from what I’d learned in school. In a way I suppose that made the trip an even bigger and better surprise.
I was absolutely blown away by the architecture and how old many of the buildings were. We passed by several churches that were hundreds of years old, and the first dinner I had in Bamberg was at a brewery that was originally established in 1405. Walking through the streets felt like walking through a fairy tale – if you’ve ever seen any adaptations of German folk tales (this includes stories by the Brothers Grimm!), you might have noticed how many illustrations draw influence from the original, Gothic style of German architecture. Needless to say, it was certainly a treat to see this style – among many others – stand the test of time to the present day. One of my favorite sights in Bamberg is of the Old Town Hall, which is detailed with magnificent painting and carvings that make it a true German icon. In Nuremberg you can check out the Nuremberg Castle, an impressive landmark as old as the Holy Roman Empire. Munich, the biggest of the three cities we visited, has an incredible central square (called the Marienplatz, or “Mary’s Square”) with a massive and intricately-designed town hall that is definitely worth seeing!
Even more beautiful and mind-blowing than the cities themselves was the Christmas markets within them (or Weihnachtsmärkte, as they’re called in Germany). I had heard from a friend that they were much bigger than the one we had in Galway, but I wasn’t prepared for how massive they truly were. Even in Bamberg, a smaller town than Nuremberg and Munich, the streets were lined with local vendors selling handmade goods, sweets, bratwurst, and glühwein, a kind of mulled wine exclusive to the Germans. I had never seen a city so alive with music, lights, and tourists and locals alike enjoying the holiday season despite the bitter cold.
Aaron and I walked through all three cities and all three markets for hours, and