Garmisch-Partenkirchen II: Zugspitze

Some friends from work had been planning to climb the Zugspitze at the end of July for some time, but I decided last second I would see if I could make it on the trip as well.

I was emailing places all week trying to get a reservation for a harness and helmet (since the hike is more of a climb at times and you cannot do it without the proper gear-- unless you are experienced and a tad nuts), but didn't get a positive response until 2:00 pm on Friday. In order to make it to the place to get the harness I had to leave Munich at 3:30. Luckily, being the eternal optimist that I am, I had packed enough clothes for the trip in my backpack when I left for work in the morning (in the off chance I did manage to secure a harness by the time I could head to Garmisch with the others...) So, I left directly from work to get to the train station. I still hadn't figured out where I was going to stay that night, but I was on my way to Garmisch yet again, but I had nowhere to stay. I was determined to climb the Zugspitze, though, and those details would have to wait until I got there.

As is usual in Germany, the train wasn't air-conditioned. I was boiling the whole time since I still had my work clothes on and had basically sprinted there directly from work. It was a small price to pay, because I was really excited about the next day.

We got to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and picked up our gear-- also opting for some crampons (or Steigeisen in German which means 'climbing irons' if you translate it directly) for the trek up the glacier which was part of the chosen route through Höllentalklamm (which, incidently, means 'hell's valley'...)I had to find a place to stay in Grainau (or nearby) because that's where everyone else in the group was staying that night. I was praying I'd be able to find something since the last thing I wanted to worry about was a proper night's rest before beginning the 8 hour ordeal the next day. My back-up plan was to sleep in a park...which seemed a little sketchy at best. Luck seemed to be on my side that day, though, because the first place we saw after we got off the bus to Grainau had a sign that said room free. I walked up and rang to see if I could get the room for that night, and sure enough I was able to rent the last room in the place. The hostess was a little old German lady who spoke not a word or English and who I was a head taller than (she was really short). She asked me what my plans were in Grainau and I told her I'd be climbing Zugspitze through the Höllentalklamm the next day. She tried to talk me into the easier path and seemed very concerned about this plan. I'm pretty sure she thought I was a goner, but with good reason as I found out the next day...

2962m of Alp right there

At 5:00 am the next morning we began our trip to the Höllentalklamm at Hammersbach-- it took about an hour to reach the start of the Zugspitze trail and from there it would be another 8 hours to the summit. Everyone was pretty pumped and we breezed through the first few hours of the hike-- reaching the Höllentalklamm Hütte in less time than we thought it'd take. We took a quick break, loaded up on water, trail mix, and fruit before continuing upward. Pretty soon it became clear why this place was called Höllentalklamm. There was no shade and the sun was already beating down at 8 am when we started the Steig.

The beginning of the valley-- beautiful scenery and the morning was really nice weather for hiking.

Just past the last lodge and the valley is already in full sun. This did not bode well for sunburning...

Soon enough we reached the first via Ferrata (metal bars and cables that help climbers get through the more vertical passes.) This was actually a lot of fun and not that difficult. I had a lot more trouble with the hiking, but I think I deserve a little credit, as this was my second hike ever. In 20 years of existence..

All smiley pre-via Ferrata

Clipping in to the cables all the way and not looking down a whole lot.

After another couple hours of trudging up the valley, we reached the glacier, which marks the end of the hiking before the 2nd via ferrata which continues the rest of the way to the top. Don't get too excited, it's still another couple of hours of climbing before you reach the summit.

Glacier-- still pretty far away, lot's of hiking to do!

It was pretty steep, slippery, loose rock through here. The full sunlight didn't help. I was beginning to see where the 'hell's valley' moniker came from.

Grateful for the Steigeisen here. The glacier sucked.

Pulling myself up the via Ferrata was a little awkward since I was a bit short to make the first bar. I did a very awkward chin-up to get going and kept climbing with a few breaks for the next 3 hours!

I was probably half an hour from the top when I saw it beginning to cloud up and I heard thunder. If there is anything that will give you a little kick at the end of a 8 hour+ day, it's lightening on top of a mountain. I charged up (no pun intended, but there was electricity in the air) the rest of the way as quickly as my tired muscles could take me, took a photo or 2 and then got the hell off the summit and into the Zugspitze lodge. I then rewarded myself with a beer and a chair before heading back down the mountain via cable car and train.

Worth. It.

And all 9 (Nate was taking the picture, so it's only 8 right here) made it! We wanted a picture on the summit, but, you know...lightening...

I returned my gear and got on a train back to Munich. After a well earned Döner, shower, and a quick call to let my mom know I was still alive, I passed out in sheer exhaustion for the next 12 hours.

**Pictures of me at the summit do exist! I just need to get them from the people who have them on their cameras!

Garmisch-Partenkirchen I & Füßen II

Originally, the plan was to go to Interlaken with Kristen (also from MIT) and her friend Lara who she knew through friends in her sorority the weekend of the 20th and 21st, but those plans didn't work out because lodging was going to be a zillion dollars and the car ride was going to be 5 hours each way. Instead, we threw together a quick trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Füßen via Telfs, Austria in a few days.

We set out early on Saturday with Kristen at the wheel of the spiffy BMW 3-Series Limosine. The trip to Garmisch was about an hour and a half-- not bad. Kristen is a pretty good driver and I was given the task of navigator (not too hard since we had the head-up display with GPS). Between the 2 of us there were no incidents.

This is downtown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I'm striking a very flattering pose with Lara.

We decided we'd just relax all day in Ga-Pa at the Pflegersee-- a cute little lake in the shadow of the Alps about an hour hike from the town. It was a much needed relaxing day. 

Seemed to be a pretty popular spot. As we were leaving we saw a huge group of Bavarians in Lederhosen and Durndels walk by (this is where I have to give up on the Lederhosen count, sadly. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of Bavarians who rock the leather trousers.)

We lazed around for a few hours and then went back to the trail. We saw a sign that said 'Werdenfels Ruine' and decided we'd see what it was all about, so we went down the trail a little further and came upon some ruins from around 1200. 

Just climbing around in the old fortress

After taking some cool pictures around the ruins we headed back to Ga-Pa to check out the Eibsee-- a beautifully clear mountain lake at the foot of the Zugspitze. We went for a brief row on the lake and got some pretty nice views in every single direction. I failed pretty miserably at rowing, but luckily Kristen (who has much more rowing experience-- MIT  crew) got us back to the dock in time. 

Zugspitze on the right side. 

After a dinner by the lake we headed to Telfs, Austria for the night at the nicest Bed and Breakfast ever. It was a lovely drive through the Alps I was glad I wasn't driving because I got to admire the sunset as we drove to our accommodation. The next morning we went to Füßen, which I went to earlier this summer, but I didn't mind going back because I think the town is cute and Kristen and Lara wanted to see the castles. So we got the standard pictures at Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau before an afternoon walk around the Alpsee. 

 I think this picture appropriately sums up the crowds at the Marienbrücke. 

We grabbed a really good meal in the town before heading back to Munich. It always makes me a little sad to see the Alps disappearing behind me as I head back to the city, but not to worry, I got to go back this weekend as well!

No change to beer or Lederhosen totals!

Barthelona (7/12-7/15)

I'm in the process of writing 3 posts because I don't want to lump the past 3 weekends into one!

Least recently, I was in Barcelona. It was an uneventful flight there (which is how I like my flights). The cheapest airline that flies between Munich and Barcelona is called Vueling (pronounced: vway-ling) and it is so cheap because they literally pack people into this little Embraer/Airbus/Regional Jet of sorts like sardines. It's like they tried to fit the number of people on a 737 or bigger plane into a RJ.

Alright, so after 2 hours or so of mild discomfort and a very inconsiderate armrest hog who managed to claim both armrests in the middle seat, we (me and Val) were elated to get off of the plane. We took the bus into Barcelona from El Prat and then oriented ourselves in La Placa Espanya (pardon my questionable Spanish spelling). It is a beautiful plaza with a palace-museum building and a huge fountain. I couldn't get a very good photo with my old cell phone, but I found this one:

Not bad.

We then successfully navigated the subway to the different places we were staying. That was kind of stressful because the language of Barcelona is Catalan. So, even if I could remember a single word from 8th grade Spanish, it wouldn't have helped. Not to worry, I met my gracious host, Farah, without delay and it was quite a relief to make it to a nice place to sleep at the end of a long travel day.

The next morning Farah had plans to go Cava tasting (or as I prefer to call it, Cava drinking...) which she invited me to as well. We got up early to catch the train to the Freixenet and Codorniu wineries outside of Barcelona. I learned all the facts on how to make a delicious Cava at the Freixenet tour (which was, thankfully, in English) and nodded politely and smiled at the (apparently) amusing tour guide at the Codorniu tour-- which was given in Catalan.  I think he was saying the same things as the guy at the last tour, but I honestly have no idea.

I was 3 drinks in by 2 pm.

I was probably a little tipsy when I took this picture at Codorniu; that's Montserrat in the background.

Personal Favorite: Codorniu Anna Pinot Noir

On the way back to the apartment we stopped by Sagrada Familia. By far the largest work of art I have ever seen. It is truly amazing. It's hard to get a good picture of it-- if you get to close you can get the detail but not the scale, but if you back up to get all of the cathedral in one picture you can't see all of the amazing work. It's super frustrating! Here is my feeble attempt to capture it:

This is the side Gaudi himself worked on. Cranes in the background because they are trying to get this building done by 2026. Construction will only have taken a modest 150 years at that point.

We caught up with friends later that night to get Tapas which were absolutely delicious. One thing I really enjoyed was how much cheaper Barcelona is than Munich. The amount of food per Euro was EXCELLENT.

We were all pretty tired so we just headed back to the apartment after dinner (disclaimer: Barcelonians and most Spanish people eat dinner at like 9, so by the time all was said and done, it was kind of past my bed time!)

Sunday dawned and I was ready to hit the beach, but I was having trouble reaching Val (I found out later she had her phone stolen Friday night after she went out with friends), so I went to Parc Güell with Farah and hoped I could get things straightened out by the afternoon with enough time to go to the beach.  

Everyone and there cousin is at Parc Güell on Sunday since most other places are closed. Luckily it is a pretty big place and everywhere you look you see Gaudi. There is also a spectacular view of the city where Sagrada Familia is also visible (by visibile, I mean hulking in the middle of apartment buildings).

So the detail isn't great in this one, but that thing in the middle left is Sagrada Familia. Downtown is off in the distance along with the Mediterranean.

After a few hours taking pictures and enjoying the views from the park, I went to the beach to relax for a couple of hours. It was beautiful and the water was a perfect temperature. I was very paranoid about leaving my bag alone on the beach so I asked a couple of girls who I was sitting next near to watch my bag. They were English and I trusted them enough-- plus it was too hot not to get in the water for a bit. 

It was pretty popular, but not as crowded as I thought it would be. I hastily took this crooked photo for proof. I think I'm getting worse at this photography business.

I enjoyed some time absorbing vitamin D and swimming in the Mediterranean and then navigated my way back to Farah's apartment.

We went out for what was supposed to be a quick dinner and with full intentions to see the magic fountain at La Placa d'Espanya (it lights up, plays music, and does some kind of fountain-y dance, I guess), but, dinner was taking a while-- so we didn't get to see the fountain show. However, we did get a free 'salad' out of the deal to go along with our paella and sangria. 

This 'salad' was a combination of jamon iberico, greens, olives, more random vegetables and a really yummy vinagrette. I wasn't complaining about any fountain if this was what I got instead. Jamon iberico (Spanish bacon) is heavenly.

The next morning Val and I managed to catch the appropriate trains and buses back to the airport with plenty of time. The Barcelona airport is rather annoying. They announce your gate about 5 minutes before boarding, so you have to hustle to the gate and then you get on a bus that takes you out on the tarmac to where you plane is waiting. You then climb the stairs from the tarmac onto the plane. It was all a bit much before 7 am, but we made it back to Munich and into work around 10:15. I can't say that I was an especially productive employee that morning and I may have had a coffee every hour on the hour, but it was all worth it when I look back.

That sums it up for Barcelona! Only one thing left...

Totals:

Beer: 15 (+1 Damm Limon-- It's like a Spanish Radler)

Lederhosen: 33 (holding steady-- no Lederhosen spotted in Barcelona)

500

The blog just broke 500 views. Either it is moderately popular, or some people like to procrastinate. A lot.

Panorama of Lake Zurich 

Munich und Umgebung

die Umgebung: (oom-gay-boong) = the surrounding area

If you are wondering where I've been for the past few weeks, the answer is mostly Munich (because I work here), but I've also made escapades to Austria and Switzerland. I'll bring you up to speed as concisely as possible!

6/21: BMW Museum & BMW Welt (the museum was free as an intern at BMW; BMW Welt is a dealership, so it's free all the time) 

Basically, the BMW museum is a mechanical engineer's favorite kind of place. Lot's of historic and modern machines. Also, sat in a z4 at BMW Welt :) The line for the M6 was too long, though :(

No idea what model this is, but I though it was awesome. I could go back again for free and find out-- the museum is about a mile from where I live. 

6/22: Salzburg, Austria

This town is famous for being the birthplace of Mozart and the setting for the Sound of Music. It's really not very big, but seems to be a hit with the tourists! Instead of following the typical tourist route, I spent most of the day at the Red Bull Hangar, which is a short walk from Salzburg. It's a pretty cool collection of Red Bull sponsored aircraft and sportscars in a beautiful building which is more like a greenhouse than a hangar, to be honest.

Decided to have a drink at the bar on the 3rd floor of the Hangar. Planes and F1 cars in the background.

6/27: Munich Cowboys v. Schwabing Hall Unicorns

The Cowboys and Unicorns are German Football League teams. By football, I mean American Football. We met the quarterback of the Cowboys when he led our 'beer tour' through Munich a week before (6/20) and he got us free tickets to the game. The Cowboys lost, sadly, and it rained the entire time. But, it was still a lot of fun!

As you can see, the weather was beautiful.

6/28: Munich X-Games

I had to scalp a ticket to get in (not the easiest thing to do in German), but the weather was about  100x better than the previous day. Although it was windy and the Slopestyle final was postponed for 5 hours, this actually turned out to our advantage-- we also got to see the big air skateboard final from our view on Olympiaberg (the location of the Slopestyle course). We finished off the day with trip to Tollwood-- which is a big food and music festival also in the same park as the X-Games-- for some fresh Döner Kebab (which is a delicious sandwich that is too many calories to have too often).

It is really hard to take action photos with a cell phone.

7/6-7/7: Zürich und Züri Fäscht

There was perfect weather for Züri Fäscht this weekend. It was a challenge at times because the crowds were so huge that my friends and I kept getting separated, but we all made it from A to B without much delay. Activities included: trips to the art museum, history museum, botanical gardens, Lake Zürich, and Uetliberg. There was also a spectacular fireworks show with awesome accompanying music. In all, I really enjoyed Zürich and I think it is a beautiful city! 

To get to Zürich, the bus gets ferried across the Bodensee. I didn't realize this until the bus pulled up to the ferry dock. It was a pleasant surprise and a gorgeous day for a Schifffahrt.

Zürich crowds waiting for the fireworks show to begin.

Well, that's it for updates on my travels! I'm going to Barcelona this weekend, so there is more to come :)

Totals:

Beer: 14 (+1 Becks, +1 Preminger, +1 Franziskaner, +1 Feldschlösschen, +1 Weihenstephan, +1 Augustiner Weissbier, +1 Ayinger)

Lederhosen: 33 (+/- 3, since it's been hard to keep exact counts):  (+4 at X-Games, +4 in Salzburg, +6 on a Saturday at the Marienplatz, +3 in Zürich)

Holding on for Dear Life: Hiking in Bavaria

It's been a while since I've updated the old blog and I know my single reader (I'm looking at you, Mom) is probably wondering what happened. Answer: This past weekend I went to Füßen which is better known as the town in which Neuschwanstein is located. Neuschwanstein was the model for Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle. There is also a ton of stunning scenery-- Füßen (which also means feet in German) is, logically, located at the foot of the Bavarian Alps.

Val and I decided it would be a good idea to explore the surrounding landscape, especially since the weather was amazing. Here are a few pictures that I took. Don't give me too much credit, we were just walking and we'd literally just stumble into a postcard-worthy view. It was very difficult to take an unattractive picture.

15.06 : We did some hiking around the Alpsee and Schwangau. The weather was spectacular and the water was frigid. Here are 2 of my favorite pictures, both taken at the Alpsee.

15.06: Recovery drink of choice after hiking day 1. King Ludwig II was the King that built Neuschwanstein. It seemed appropriate to try his beer. Also, it stormed like crazy this night, but we made it back to the Hostel  right before it really started to pour (Happy Sleep Hotel-- run by a nice Asian lady who spoke German but not much English,  who also gave us free ice cream, so we weren't complaining).

Coming down the other side of Tegelberg

Neuschwanstein from the Marienbrücke

16.06: This is when things got a little crazy. Val and I decided we would climb Tegelberg. It looked like a moderately difficult hike, so we were like, "Sure, we can do this. We're in good shape." Half way through, this hike turns into a legitimate climb. With cables and harnesses and whatnot. After I stopped panicking and Val convinced me to climb this cable-y section with no harness (or experience, mind you) we made it to the top of Tegelberg and signed our names in the log at this cave/grotto thing. It was intense, but completely worth it. I would do that again in a second.

Totals:

Beer: 7 (+1 Löwenbräu, +1 König Ludwig Dunkel, +1 Augustiner Bräu)

Lederhosen: 16 (+1 at Füßen, +4  servers at Biergartens have a penchant for wearing Bavarian clothes)

P.S. there are 2 things I miss most about America-- free wifi and air conditioning. I definitely will not take that for granted when I get back! It has been too hot here for the past 3 days for this 'no a/c' nonsense.

In which I walk about 15 miles

I'm inside writing this post and hoping the rain lets up somewhat so I can go for a run. Updates from this weekend: Valerie, Jiaming (who were both in the same German 4 class as I was) and I did some more touristy things around Munich.

Saturday was a beautiful day so we went to the English Garden (Englischer Garten-- it's basically the same in German), which is this beautiful park in the middle of Munich. We walked probably ~8 miles throughout the day, enjoyed the weather, and capped off our day with some delicious food at-- you guessed it-- the Marienplatz.

There are a few permanent waves along the Isar, which runs through the garden. Surfers take advantage of these waves even though the sign here says "Danger to life" and "Surfing forbidden."

I ordered the Wiener Schnitzel. I think this portion could serve a family of 4. It also came with a side salad. It only took me 2 sittings to finish and it made for scrumptious leftovers.

Sunday brought more adventures and more walking as we headed to Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See). Valerie and I really wanted to water-ski, but by the time we actually found the water-ski dock it was starting to look stormy and we opted out of getting in the ~60 degree water. Instead, we walked around the lake, took pictures and enjoyed some really excellent gelato in the town of Starnberg. We also found a castle-- or Schloss Possenhofen, I should say. Unfortunately, the gates weren't open, so I was unable to get a good picture, but here is a picture of the Palace I found on Google and here is a picture of Kaiserin Elisabeth who loved the castle and to whom an entire Museum in the town of Possenhofen is devoted to.

The (somewhat crooked) picture really doesn't do it justice, but if you look closely you can see the Alps in the distance. We're hoping to head to see Schloss Neuschwanstein sometime soon, so I'll get some actual pictures of the Alps whenever that happens.

It no longer appears to be raining! So I'm going to wrap this up with my updates to my beer and Lederhosen totals.

Totals:

Beer: 4 (+1 Paulaner Original-- also delicious)

Lederhosen: 11 (+1 at the Hauptbahnhof from this weekend)

Factoid

Fun German fact:

die Mutter = Mother

but, in engineer speak, die Mutter = nut (as in nut and bolt)

I have no further comment, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions about how this coincidence came to be.

More updates to come after this weekend! Going to the English Garden in the middle of Munich tomorrow-- a good chance to enjoy the nicer weather and find some beautiful Biergartens :)

More from Munich

I just finished my first week of work. I still don't really have much to do-- it's kind of glorified secretary work at the moment, but I'm trying to get the annoying paper-pushing done as quickly as possible so I can move on to the details of my project.
Another classmate from MIT came got here on Wednesday so we went and grabbed some more real Bavarian cuisine at the best place (that we know of) to get it; the Marienplatz. Expensive, but probably my best meal here so far. I think we'll wait until we get our first paychecks before our next excursion.

Beer 3: Schneider Weisse Sommer Blonde Weisse Bier (this one was really good-- my favorite so far)

Totals:

Beer: 3

Lederhosen: 10 (+2 from the U-bahn)

Marienplutz

First, a note on Bavarian accents. When you get on the U-Bahn there are several stops with the name '---platz,' but in Bavaria, Platz = Plutz. Hence, the name of this post is the Bavarian version of 'Marienplatz.'
The good news is, I'm allowed to stay here now that I have successfully obtained residency permit and I don't have to go back to the KVR for a while (yay!). Also, the sun came out for the second time since I've been here and it's about 70 :)

The bad news is, I have to go apply for my German tax confirmation form, or, as they say in German, a Lohnsteuerersatzbeschienigung. Not kidding, that is the word for it. This means another fun-filled trip to a government building in the wee hours of the morning (ok, like 7:30 am, but for an MIT student, that is asking a lot).

In other news, my friend from MIT arrived yesterday and we went to a German restaurant in the Marienplatz to get some authentic German food and beer! I didn't get any pictures at the time, since it was cloudy and getting dark, but I plan to go back and make sure I get some good photos of the Rathaus.

Here I am with Rostbratwurst and Sauerkraut with a 'Radler' 

Updates to the running tally on Lederhosen: +5 since it was a traditional Bavarian restaurant 

Update to the running tally on Beer: +1 (Radler--Augustiner Bräu)

Totals:

Lederhosen: 8

Beer: 2

Deutsches Museum: "Germany is a country of engineers"

Yesterday I decided I would kill some time at the German Museum (Deutsches Museum). This required yet another ride on the U-Bahn-- always dicey, since the Munich transit map is basically a tangled, colorful mess of lines that I've yet to decipher. On a brighter note, at least I brought my umbrella because I had to wait outside for an hour in the rain in a line to get in to the Museum. Admission was only 3 Euro, which is about the cheapest activity you can do in Munich, however.
So I got into the Museum, which is huge, and the first thing I noticed was that, sure, they had a lot of scale models, but the number of full-scale machines and boats and planes they had was amazing. I had a great time just looking around and seeing these old machines from the industrial revolution and admiring the mechanics (wow, I sounded like a huge nerd there). My mentor told me on my first day of work "Germany is a country of engineers." I don't know if I'm qualified to make a judgment as I've been here nearly a week, but after seeing the German Museum, I'd say that it definitely would appeal to any engineer.
I'm going to keep this one brief since nothing more exciting happened today, except I got a pre-paid SIM card so I can now use my phone to contact German numbers and use German data networks. Oh, and I found a hockey league to play with, but it's kind of far away :-/ (in Unterföhring) but, it will be a good way to stay in shape and hopefully meet some more people here!

 

This is the view of the Olympiaturm and BMW headquarters from my apartment building. As you can see, it's been quite sunny here.

The Deutsches Museum sits on an island in the middle of the Isar. It also has 2 observatory towers, but the Planetarium was closed :'(

Bimmers, KVR, Stammtisch, Feiertag

I'm going to try to summarize this as concisely and clearly as possible. Despite my rough start here in Munich, I'm starting to get my sea-legs and learn the city and BMW a bit more. It's actually a very friendly city if you are a friendly person. That sounds a bit strange, but I'll start with a synopsis of the past few days and you'll start to see what I mean.

Monday: FIZ and Apartment
I was a bit nervous for my first day at work and understandably so! Would I get lost on the U-Bahn? (a constant fear since everything, and I do mean everything is in German) Would I like my co-workers? What about all the logistical things like signing my contract? I nearly had a panic attack thinking of all these things the night before. I was beginning to wonder if I could handle this Munich adventure. Well, things got started when I left the Hostel at 8.15. I knew the train ride would only take 15 minutes, but I still left 45 minutes early just to make sure I had time to get lost and still be on time. It turns out that German trains are marvelously efficient so I was ~20 minutes early once I counted in walking to and from the U-Bahn. This wasn't a bad thing, since I had to check in as a visitor and between the receptionist and my broken German that took longer than I would have anticipated.
Anyway, I met my mentor and he proceeded to give me a 'quick' tour of FIZ (Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum). Some designer, in his infinite wisdom, decided that he would paint all the hallways the same sterile white and pave the entire building with an enthusiastic palette of grey tiles. Everything looks the same and I am sure I will get lost in this building endlessly. However, I can forgive their lack of creativity in the building because the real fun started when I got a tour of the parking lot. All the BMW prototypes are constantly driving around the complex and they are awesome. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to take photos while I'm at work, but if I see one of the prototypes on the street while I'm walking home I'll try to get a pic and post it!
I didn't have much work-- just a quick orientation, but I found out that I got housing at the BMW apartments! So, I went back to the Euro Youth Hotel, checked out and moved in that night. I have a 2-bed room, but I didn't meet my roommate until the following morning because I was so tired. Needless to say, I was grateful both my wishes had been fulfilled: +1 apartment and +1 roommate. Munich was starting to grow on me.

Tuesday: Kreisverwaltungsreferrat.
When you work in Munich as an international employee, you have to get a residency permit. This means going to the city's equivalent of the DMV. This hellhole opens at 8.30, but you will see a crowd forming at 8.00. It is the worst. I spent a total hour and a half there only to find I will have to return on Monday because their appointments were full for that day and for Friday. Oh, joy.
Work was once again pretty tame. I got my BMW employee ID which is pretty cool. I'll probably post a photo of it just because my picture just looks so dashing on a BMW card. This is nice because it means I won't need a visitor's badge which eliminates the annoying process of checking in each morning. Since we have a 3 day week-- Thursday is holiday and BMW gives its employees every other Friday off, I spent the day reading up on BMW business practices and learning about my department, Technical Planning. Not super exciting, but not super terrible.

Wednesday: Stammtisch
Today at work I didn't have much to do, but my mentor demonstrated his creativity with coming up for projects for me. He asked me to create a presentation for our next "Stammtisch" or round-table for the department. My presentation is just a quick introduction-- where I'm from, where I study, etc. I will make my presentation at the next department meeting, in German, of course!-- no pressure. Knowing that this was the only task I had all day and given the BMW corporate guidelines for powerpoints (BMW has it's own font and has strict rules on sizes of fonts per slide) I had time to be exceptionally picky about what photos I chose and to quadruple check my grammar.
After that, I went to another "Stammtisch," that my roommate invited me to-- this one at a bar in Munich. The Praktikanten go out each Wednesday to meet and greet other people with BMW. It got quite loud within the bar since, well, it's a bar. So I chatted outside with a few new acquaintances. I tried  to speak in German  for some of the conversation, but I think I made their  ears bleed with my grammar. Anyway, we managed to have a good conversation anyway. They  2 guys I was talking to were quite interested in what BMW's image was in America and how Americans perceived Europe in general. It was fun to talk to them for a few hours and enjoy my first German beer (since I'm keeping track, it was a Tegernseer Hell). I should've taken a picture, but I didn't really want to seem that touristy around my co-workers. I'm sure it won't be my last Tegernseer, it's a popular beer here.
German beer total: 1 (I'm not going to count every beer I drink, for the sake of propriety, but I will add to this total each time I try a new beer)

Thursday: Feiertag!
I didn't do much today since I didn't have work and everything was closed. I went for a walk and it started to rain. I didn't have an umbrella so I got a little soaked. But, I did locate the Olympiapark and I will probably make it my running route to go there. It's less than a kilometer from my apartment.
Only other news worthy of the blog: I got wi-fi. That is why I'm posting this all now.

Other than that, I've also decided I will start a running total of the number of people I see in Lederhosen for the trip.
Lederhosen total for the past week: 3

That's it! I'm tired and I plan on going to do more touristy things tomorrow so I need rest.
Bis später!

Day 1: The Hauptbanhof

I landed in Munich this morning at approximately 10.00. I got acquainted with the airport quickly-- locating not only the WC (which was more difficult that it should have been), but also purchasing a few converters for my american plugs, changing my U.S. cash to Euro, and picking up my super unwieldy luggage. Gargantuan bags in tow I managed to navigate my way to the Hauptbanhof via the S-Bahn. I think it may have been bad form to take up 3 seats with all my luggage, but in fairness, I hadn't really slept much and standing was probably going to end in a worse way.
At 11 my train pulled into the Hauptbanhof and I was looking forward to crashing in my little hostel room, less than a kilometer from the train station, but I was faced with a very distressing dilemma: where the hell was the Hostel. I talked to a nice old German lady, but didn't really get much direction so I asked a kind looking American couple who had a map if they could point me to Senefelderstrasse. We were able to figure this out and I checked in by 11.30. However, I wouldn't have a bed until 2...so I spent my time looking for housing, which is literally a full-time occupation.
I set up an appointment to look at an apartment at 15.30, and proceeded to stare vacantly at a wall in pure exhaustion.
I decided to get some food at the Hauptbanhof food court--which was probably over priced-- but I got a little bratwurst for my first meal in Bavaria. It wasn't anything special, but it felt like the right way to introduce myself to Deutschland.
At 15.00 I ventured to the Hauptbanhof once more to make my way to Kantstrasse to check out an apartment there. A lot of confusion ensued as I wandered through the Bahnhof (this place is huge and there are about a million people milling about at anytime), but by some act of God or good sense of direction, I made it to the Peteulring stop and found, once again, that I hadn't the slightest idea how to get to Kantstrasse from there. Luckily I was able to ask a nice German couple in my kindergarten-level German how to get to Kantstasse and managed to make to the apartment with out getting flattened by one of the zillions of BMWs whizzing about Peteulring.
In all, travelling has been exhausting and I would really appreciate a warm, cozy Wohnung and a roommate or 2, but until then I'll be here at this hostel looking for housing, wondering how broke I'm going to be at the end of summer, and getting nervous for my first day of work. I've got to sign off now, because I'm tired and I need to get up early to shower, eat, and plan my route to BMW! Until then, Liebe Gruesse von Muenchen!