I discovered a packet of old photographs from a vacation my Great Grandmother enjoyed during the 1970’s.  We’ll let the images speak for themselves.  The city of Heidelberg is still using the same crane style to continue building and improving their downtown areas.  Feel free to ask questions or comment because I still have this account linked to my e-mail.

JRW

My U.S. classes have been my main occupation for the last month.  I have become the Financial and Economic lecture hall source for information in modern Europe.  My new found class discussion role is a nice change of pace from defending “Greedy American Capitalists.”  

The new Career Development Center merged with the Experiential Learning Center to form the collective “Geiser House” building.  The wonderful team at the center have welcomed me to their team.  This weekly employment is now also sharing my time outside of radio work and class schedules. Some of the job roles include being a secretary of sorts and coordinating the student outreach program for Studying Abroad.  We are planning classroom visits for underclassmen to inform younger students that studying outside of the comforts of Albright is both possible and feasible.

If you have just found this resource, I encourage you to read an assortment of my entries spanning nearly 4 months.  Germany. Summer 2012. I hope you’re ready for my return.

Ask questions and remember to smile!

John Rush Weber 

I gave myself a few days of reflection between traveling and arriving in the comforts of my family home in Reading,Pennsylvania.  Typical habits of the US are now perceived as strange or wasteful to me.  Why do I not have to separate the trash into 4 bins anymore?  Centralized heating?  Why aren’t we ventilating the house for 10 minutes, 2 times a day?  I suppose these are signs of assimilation, but I can accept that life in Pennsylvania is certainly not horrible.  I do miss all of my Germany friends and hope that they are doing well in their studies and social lives.

Now down to business.  I left behind Reutlingen at Noon (6:00 AM- PA time) on Thursday January 6th.  My sister’s car picked me up from the Philadelphia airport at 6:00 PM - PA time on Friday!  That’s right I was traveling for 36 hours. It wasn’t all bad as I had time to ponder in Heathrow and visit the wonderful English city of London.  Piccadilly and Oxford Circus were starting points and I wandered the streets for several other hours.  I walked into the giant Nike Town and then ventured with the help of the underground to 221B Baker Street.  Sherlock Holmes has always been one of my favorite fictional adventurers and it was nice to see the legendary spot where Londoners remember their tweed covered detective. Before returning back to Heathrow I made stop overs in Westminster and Buckingham Palace.  The sights were mostly closed, but there were plenty of tourists snapping photographs reminding me of those bustling journeys into Times Square when I was in high school.  Cities that “never sleep” tend to lack genuine personality when trapped in the tourist sites.  I made an attempt to walk elsewhere and explore streets that were both old and didn’t contain anything worth noting other than interesting locals.  

I will tell you that I slept on 3 cafe chairs made into a bench in the middle of Heathrow airport for 1 hour.  This did give me backpain for days, but was a necessary step to regenerate.  That was my only sleep and maybe provided me with the spark needed to tackle that final flight stretch back home.

Sometime around 3 or 4:00 AM Friday morning, I had the idea to explore the other terminals of Heathrow and see if I could discover something else interesting.  Midway to Terminal 3 in the underground walkway, I heard a loud fire alarm and a message over the PA saying something along the lines of “There is a fire alarm in another section of the building, stay where you are.”  I decided that I should probably turn around and head back towards my original home base.  Seconds later, a young man with a bleeding nose walked past me exclaiming “FIRE ALARM!”  This was odd enough, but then he found me later and asked me to use my cell phone.  Strange man that seemed under the influence, but I honestly didn’t have a cell phone to share.  Life continues.

I made sure to indulge in Mediterranean, Sirloins, Pizza and Burritos upon my return home in the days following.  I missed some of these foods so dearly, but was so happy to reunite with my family.  There are loose plans to return to Germany in 18 months.  Time will tell because there is so much still left to accomplish here.  There will be a few more posts regarding my presentations in the area and my January Thanksgiving. Questions are still encouraged and I’d love to hear from anyone who has/is reading about this trip that might not have contacted me before.  Feedback is appreciated in order to better tailor the content if and when I go back to writing journal entries in the future.

John aus Reutlingen

Brent has returned from his odyssey of travels across Europe and has still allowed me to sleep on the floor of his tiny dorm room.  We’ve been watching our favorite comedy movies and debating whether or not certain Hollywood Blockbusters are considered “films.” Sorry everyone, The Dark Knight does not count in my opinion.  

I enjoyed an indian buffet today in Tübingen that made me remember the feeling of being engorged with midday eastern meals.  Food was middle grade, but the coma that followed was unreal.  Maybe in a few hours I’ll be ready to eat something light and start feeling like myself again.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Reutlingen and if you’re reading this, I hope that you send me a message so that we can either say a “goodbye,” if you are in Germany, or a “hello” when I return.  Also, please offer suggestions for my layover in London.  Maybe there’s a few sights that are open past 11:00 PM that would be worth exploring before I attempt to sleep in London Town Airport (Heathrow).  

There will be follow-up posts regarding my return trip, reacclimation and reuniting with the ones I love.  Thank you for following my trip thus far and taking the time out of your day to take a glance.

John

I do not like this method of retelling my stories a few days after occurring, but these moments need to be shared with you.  I sped away from Karlsruhe on an ICE train towards the bordering nation of Frankreich.  

With Etienne as my guide in Reutlingen, he instructed me to buy a 1st class ticket to his homeland because of an internet discount that actually made it cheaper than 2nd class. After the first 30 minutes, the train was delayed for nearly 90 minutes in Strasbourg “waiting for the tracks to clear.”   Throughout the ride I witnessed an upset customer wear his emotions on his sleeve and enter into a confrontation with a Deutsche Bahn employee, made room in the aisle for running and screaming children and was dominated in computer chess.  Nearly everyone in 1st class seemed to have stumbled upon this discount. Perhaps other compartments were quiet and calm, yet I doubt it after witnessing such a wild international transport.

Etienne’s parents, grandparents and another Reutlingen schoolmate (Nikita II) met me in the Paris East Train Station gate.  I was shocked to see anyone waiting with my train’s delay and evening hour of 11:00 PM.  Etienne’s family then gave me a driving tour of the city that included all the major sites, Eiffel, Arch, Palaces, Cafes, American Embassy, Opera Houses, the Moulin Rouge and even a brief look at Notre Dame.  Their generosity was shining within the first moments and I knew that I left behind one great family to share the company with another.

Over the course of the next few days, Nikita, Etienne and I took day trips to Paris from Etienne’s home in the suburb of Montfort L’Amury.  I walked into Notre Dame to see with my own eyes and walked over the downtown for the rest of the day.  

Tuesday was a relaxed day of playing music and getting acquainted with the suburban village.  Etienne’s mother made Ratatouille, Escargot and a great seasoned chicken for dinner.  My first experience with all of these French specialities was delicious.  The family went out of the way to share what they had and ensure that my time spent in France was assisted with local advice.  Most mornings, Etienne’s mother would print out maps of Paris and highlight paths and sights that I should walk and experience.

Wednesday was spent in L’Orsay Museum of 19th century art.  The building houses the finest examples of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, Rodin and Gerome that I had ever seen.  But even the “obscure” painters of that century were displayed proudly alongside the French masters and held their own weight.  There was one Van Gogh hayfields painting, my favorite subject of his career, and a few wood pieces that Gauguin had made in his tribal obsessed days.  We meandered to Montmartre, a hip art hill in Paris, that still was interesting despite the foggy cloud cover.  Versailles met my eyes twice that day from a car window and I will say that Louis XIV was a bit obsessive with lavish living spaces.

When my time ended the next day, I had wandered through the famous Louvre, the former home of Louis before Versailles, and can express my honest opinion.  The museum is large and overwhelming, but their collection is unmatched.  It would take a week to really explore that building.   I was satisfied with a few hours because I watched tourists line up to take photos of the Venus de Milo and completely ignore other comparable quality works in the same room.  The museum has transformed into a hype circus that draws giant crowds that fail to appreciate the simplicity of quietly enjoying the world’s art culture.  There are plenty of exceptions to this rule and I would love to be proven wrong.  But my experience compared to the O’rsay was rather disappointing.  

Throughout the last few days, Etienne’s friend, James, allowed us to hang out in his Paris apartment and shared his bread/wine with us.  I owe him a few baguettes if he ever makes it to the states.  He gave us a warm space to wait before my 10:00 PM evening bus.

Nikita and I then rode a subway to the far east of Paris, hopped on a night-bus and made it back to Reutlingen 12 hours later.  I was exhausted, but Paris was beautiful.  Parisians can be misinformed about tourists, yet I recommend finding a local and listening to their suggestions.  That is to say if they are willing to speak English at all.

New Years eve/day was a slow recovery, but I watched from the 6th floor as the entire town was engulfed in professional grade fire works.  Where did these products come from?  I was welcomed into the new year hours before midnight with the battlefield noises of Reutlingen locals chanting and setting off their firework explosions in the distance.

John

I had a great shot with  an Eiffel Tower guard holding his machine gun.  The lighting and flash ruined the image though.  If someone asks, I’ll show it to you and you can laugh about what could have been the best photo taken with someone during my trip.

My last lengthy post was over one week ago and my body has fallen and regenerated many times since that point.  I’m not feeling as sick anymore.

I left you with the memory of packing for Karlsruhe on a bit of a time crunch.  In an uncharacteristic moment of my life, I procrastinated in moving my things out of my room and had to run frantically through the dorm that morning.  You can imagine what a topless, shoeless, frantic John Weber looks like throwing clothes around and transporting luggage to a storage room.  As I was running through the halls, I said some brief goodbyes and rushed to Etienne’s waiting van in front of my room.  Despite a Reutlingen lunch hour traffic jam, I ran through the train station and jumped into the waiting train as the doors closed.  Luck was on my side and my friends were helpful in this stressful sprint.

The next day was spent with Christian, his friends and family.  I attended the Karlsruhe big band practice and watched his 30 minute “Music for Three (freeeeee)” trombone concert in the street.  Despite yearning to play a drumset, I decided that I would be home soon enough and could get reaqquainted with a kit in my own home.  

Throughout the remaining days in Karlsruhe, I made a home with my former German family hosts, Base Camp Family, and soaked up the christmas tree heat.  They loved the art books from my Parents/Grandmother and gifted me with more neckties, a german novel, chocolate and some smaller odds and ends.  It was successful and a unique experience.  After some debate, I decided to leave my djembe with the family in return for safe keeping and occasional use.  If and when I return, I’ll play it again and save myself the hassle of buying another one here in Germany.

My final day was spent perusing the city gallery and ZKM multimedia museum.  There was a special Veniatian exhibition in the museum that featured works from German photographers and painters.  It was unique and extensive, but the ZKM building was undeniably my favorite.  As a former munitions factory, the building was large and filled with a host of interactive audio and visual experiences that would make the Brooklyn art scene cower in fear.  If you are still in Germany, go to this place and visit the panoramic rooms!

I moved onto Paris in the evening and said my final goodbyes to a generous family that opened up their hearts and home to a young American.  These are great people and during my bus ride home from Paris, I made sure to stay awake during the Karlsruhe stop, to remind myself of the great times shared with the Basislager Familie. Anticpitation for my home in the states is growing, but leaving behind my new family and friends perhaps is the most difficult emotion to overcome.

Real candles pose a fire hazard and make the room warm, but keep the German traditions alive. The angel fell and almost burned the house down.

Music for Three, sometimes with additional djembe

ZKM in Karlsruhe