Today marks the start to what could be the longest three-week countdown for my departure to Bad Mergentheim, Germany. It's a bit early to start blogging about my trip and I know that most of you will pass this off as soon as you read it, but I wanted to fill everyone in on what my trip is all about and why I'm going where I'm going. Also, I figured I would utilize this blog to stay in contact with anyone who wants to know whats going on with me while I'm studying abroad. I anticipate that most of my followers will be my direct family (mom), but I will do my best to keep the content fresh and funny so there is actually a reason to visit my blog. So when you receive this URL please add it to your bookmarks and check in on whats going on.
A little background:
As most of you know, I am wrapping up my final term as a Business Student at Oregon State University here in Bend, Oregon. I will receive my Bachelors of Science in Business Administration with an International Business option the day I'm done with school in Germany. Exciting! When I began attending the University, the first thing I did was look into any study abroad opportunities that might be available to me. As it turned out, there was a German exchange that had been set up to have perfectly aligned credit transfers. In other words, I could take classes over there that would fit directly with my graduation requirements at Oregon State University's College of Business. Originally I wanted to do something in France, Italy or Spain mainly because of their fashion, food and wine influences. But once I looked into the Germany option a little more, it became something far more appealing than what I had originally thought. Plus I have German blood and love the German Bauhaus architecture influence. So that was that.
The school:
I will be attending school in Bad Mergentheim, Germany with my long time best friend, Kyle Martin, and three of my other good friends from school. Bad Mergentheim is a small spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, based around a medieval castle that once housed Teutonic Knights. It just so happens that the school we will be going to is in the castle. Pretty cool huh? The cool part about where we are located, other than going to school in a castle, is that its more like a town than a city which is more my style. We are also only a short train ride away from all of the well known German cities. And with Germany being bordered by 9 countries, I can travel where ever I want in a short amount of time.
I know this is a long post, so I'll wrap it up. My trip begins March 15th when I will fly into Frankfurt just short of two weeks prior to school starting. I will travel around for that period with my friend Carolin until I go to school. It's kinda up in the air at this point, but we are planning on visiting Brussels and Amsterdam and possibly parts of France. I wanted to go to Prague, but because Kyle also wants to go I'll wait to go with him during or after school. I digress. We will have school from early April until early July. During this period we will have many long weekends due to the different class structure that they have. We plan to travel around as much as possible during this time while maintaining good grades. After School ends, Kyle and the boys will have some extra time before they leave so we will probably backpack around for a while. I have some places in mind, but I'm totally going in to it open minded and ready for whatever. Considering that I bought a one-way ticket and I will have graduated that term, I will travel around as long as I can after I'm done. I have a date in mind for my earliest departure, but that is completely subject to weather I can support myself or not. Lets just say I will be gone for a while.
So here it is. My blog. Stay up on whats going on and check my photos.
The town center!
