Americans Everywhere!

All of the students coming from Oregon State are now in town. There are about twenty of us total, which if I have my facts straight makes this group the largest OSU has ever sent. It is nice to see so many friendly faces. Today I mostly wandered around town meeting up with everyone and seeing where everybody is staying. We are all scattered around Bad Mergentheim in various apartments and hotels.

Yesterday Travis, Will and I caught a train to Nuremberg for the day. Nuremberg is a magnificent city, full of history, located west of us in Bavaria. The city is known for being the location of major Nazi-Party rallies held in the late 1930's to the early 1940's at the height of the Third Reich. However, there is much more to Nuremberg's history than this. It also known for an incredible Christmas market, many notable artists, and these little sausages called Nürnberger Rostbratwürste. Very tasty, I must say. We stopped at a small restaurant in the heart of town and enjoyed a few ourselves.

                                                                      Travis and I in front of Lorenzkirche

On the train to Nuremberg, we were confronted at our seats by a girl with three pink roses. She spoke quickly, I couldn't understand anything she said, and when she was finished speaking handed each of us one of the roses. She then realized, by the baffled looks on our faces, that we had no idea what was going on. She then, in English, told us that she was riding the train with a group of friends and one of them was a bride to be. She explained it was an old tradition to have strangers, handsome young men of course, to deliver the future bride roses on the train ride to her bachelorette party. So we marched down the isle, pink roses in hand, and delivered them to the bride.

A little while later, after we had returned to our seats, all the girls showed up again and handed each of us a shot of berry-schnapps. We had to drink them, at 10am, with the future bride. This was the second part of the old tradition. The Germans are funny.

                               Will, Travis and I with the bachelorette (Gray shirt between Travis and Will)

School starts tomorrow, except I still feel like I am on vacation. I'm sure sitting in class from 9am to 4pm should bring me back to reality.

Hallo Bad Mergentheim!

Travis, my fellow finance major and friend from Oregon City, and I arrived here in Bad Mergentheim at about 6pm Monday evening. Bad Mergentheim will be our home for the next three months as we attend DHBW Mosbach, a business school partnered with Oregon State. At the end of our studies here, and provided we pass all our classes, we will receive our International Business option/discipline from the College of Business.

Bad Mergentheim received its town privileges in 1340 and is well known today as a spa resort and a destination for those seeking treatment for physical ailments. Its main landmark, and where our classes will be held, is the Deutschordenschloss. This castle was once home to the Teutonic Knights and consists of a series of buildings built over a span of eight hundred years. The town has a population of about 23,000 and was once home to Beethoven.

Travis, Will (another Oregon Stater) and I live in the upstairs of a small pub run by an older woman named Frau Hahn. She is very nice and made us dinner the night we arrived. We each have our own room, and each room has its own sink and balcony. Needless to say, I am a little (actually, substantially) too tall for the bed. This may come as shock to some of you, however, it is not an issue for the small bed is still warm and soft, which is all I could ask for.