Music and Churches For Dayz

We have a problem. As the days progress, we keep naming each day "the best day ever." Not that we're being dramatic, though a few of us are notorious of that (Yeebz), each experience has become increasingly interesting, beautiful, and memorable- and to think, we have only been here for a few days! I would define the last few days as days of musicians and churches- which is a relief since we came on a music and Bible trip!

I'll catch you up on the past two days, beginning with Thursday. We began with our two early morning classes, and a few of us had the opportunity to talk to an ACU professor who was in Leipzig for another trip about the history of some of the places we are visiting in regards to WWII and the Cold War. He also explained the purpose of this mural that I am quite fascinated with, which we pass every morning on our way to class.

Later, since we had never trekked outside of our dear city center, we went exploring down some cool streets. We had spotted the top steeple of a gothic cathedral from far away before, and decided to find the source of this mysterious "spire." When we got close, we realized it was St. Peter's church (Peterskirche) and decided to walk in. The mood was eerie inside because of the drone of an organ playing in the background, but the gorgeous architecture and stained glass took our breath away, and the beauty of the church astounded us. We weren't sure if we were allowed to be in the sanctuary, but then an English-speaking German man, who happened to be the only other person in the room at the time, approached us, and talked to us about the church. He found out that we were all musicians and requested that we play on the organ. He explained that because it was Ascension Day, there was a 12 hour "concert" going on in the church and different people walking through were asked to play on the organ to add to the concert. All of us (even Jack) played, then he brought us to a grand piano backstage, and a few of us played on that as well. The experience of playing music in the most beautiful church I had ever stepped foot in, in addition to the flawless acoustics, while getting to meet the cool German man, made for a memorable experience.

Friday was our class's day trip to Dresden. We rode on our first train through some countrysides (YAY) that were bright green and exactly what I envisioned while naming this blog site. We arrived in Dresden, having no idea that the city was FULL of history. Elaborate castles and cathedrals were everywhere. But something was wrong. Many of them looked black, covered in burn marks, or looked like a mix of the parts from the original cathedrals and reconstruction. We found out that this city had been severely firebombed during WWII, destroying almost everything. The class participated in a German worship service in one of the crazy cathedrals. Then we were free to go exploring for the rest of the day. At one point, after seeing a ton of churches, Alex, Mikayla, Jack, and I decided we wanted get to the top of the tower of the castle. While in line to buy a castle ticket, three adorable old ladies gave us their tickets to an exhibit inside the castle. We all teared up a bit I'm sure, then checked out the exhibit. It happened to be the collection of the treasures of the castle that had existed since the 1500's- ivory carvings, diamond jewelry, mother of pearl trinket boxes, and gold shields, was only the beginning of this collection, and the security to even enter the exhibit was intense. We learned so much about the Kings of Saxony and the royalty that possessed these fancy items. I began to hate the firebombs that destroyed most of the castle and the city of Dresden.

The two above are in the church we worshiped in.

The Introductory Adventures- With Minor Setbacks

Hello Family, Friends.... dogs,

We know you've been waiting to hear from us, but as stated in the title, there have been a few minor setbacks: this late post and a lack of photos. The late post is a result of our unpredictable wifi connection that goes in and out all day. It's happening to work right now, so I'm posting fast! The lack of photos I have for you is because it has been pouring rain most of our first day here in Leipzig (by the way, thanks, Momma, for forcing me to take my rain boots- they saved me).

So now to the good stuff! Here is what we have done so far:

The plane/bus rides went smoothly, and the ride in Leipzig from Berlin was breathtaking! We all keep saying how we are so glad we came to Germany instead of Oxford, which is the place most ACU students choose. The architecture is beautiful, the history is rich (2015 marks the 1,000th year anniversary of the city of Leipzig!), the food so far has been delicious, and the Germans we have interacted with have been so friendly! Our first night in Leipzig we ate at a nice Pizzeria, then went back to the hotel room and played Bananagrams with our friends, then walked around the city center and found an ice cream shop. Today, we did a walking tour of the musical landmarks around city center. Some of the places we saw were Gewendhaus, which is the place that has the oldest orchestra in the world, the Mendelssohn house (which is cool because Alex, Zach, and I have played a piece by him and we got to see where he lived!), the graveyard of Wagner's parents and other famous musicians,  St. Thomaskirche, the Leipzig Opera House, and the Graphic Quarter, which is the Music Publishing House- the oldest one in the world that issued the first editions of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart, etc.

Then it started raining. So we went to find a snack at a cafe then went to our rooms.

By they way, we are staying at a really cool apartment in the fancy area of city center called Quartier- M. I posted a short video tour of mine and Mikayla's room.

Tonight we ate dinner with our friends at this AMAZING middle eastern restaurant called Aladin. We all had the infamous Döner Kebab. It tasted really similar to a greek gyro. Then we had cake and coffee at an unexpectedly fancy McDonalds. Now we have 57 pages of reading and a quiz tomorrow on our first day of classes... 

K well Alex and my family always make fun of me for detailing every aspect of my life- so I apologize. I probably won't have time to write all the time but I thought you would want to hear about our first couple of days.

Some things we have learned:

1) German is really close to English.

2) Germany doesn't like to have air-conditioning... and it doesn't need it.

3) Schnitzel tastes like chicken... or that's what Alex and I thought it was.

4) Ice cream tastes like cream blended with ice, not frozen cream.

5) All German men seem to dress nice all the time.

6) Tipping waiters isn't a thing.

7) Strawberry wine is a thing.

8) Mcdonalds is classy- they have glasses and silverware.

9) The middle eastern waiter at Aladin loves George Bush.

10) Germany caters to blind people- the Euro bills and coins are all different sizes, the sidewalks are paved with different stripes and textures, and there are clicking sounds at crosswalks.

11) Girls like to dye their hair strange colors.

12) Only one TV channel is in English- CNN World.

Every building looks cool.

So much excitement.

I'm like the mom who is never in any of the pictures.

The graveyard of the famous musicians and relatives.

Yeebz enjoys the sights.

Interesting tree sighting.