THE MOUNTAINS WERE CALLING...
Pictures
CBYX/PPP – 30 – Innsbruck, Österreich, The Mountains calledI loaded this one with pictures because it was such a beautiful and picturesque trip. But I highly suggest looking through the album. It was absolutely amazing...
Lately
Work after the seminar was an absolute joke. I knew I wasn’t going to be there for long, and even took an extra day of vacation because I was so unbelievably unmotivated to be there. Monday was useless, and Tuesday was even worse.
Tuesday afternoon, however, I had a phone interview for an 18-month International Graduate Program. It was with RWE AG, the 4th largest energy provider in either Europe or Germany. The interview went pretty well, just felt like a casual chat about my experiences and stuff, and part of it was in German too. The guy seemed pretty impressed and overall who knows what’ll come. If I go further in the process, I’ll be invited to a day-long interview at their Assessment Center on June 30. One step at a time!
Right after my interview, I hopped on a train. WEEKEND!!!!!!
This Past Weekend
It’s always a good sign when your weekend starts on a Tuesday, and especially when you’ve taken that next Monday off. That’s right, 6 day weekend, WHAT’S UP!!!!!!
This past weekend was by far the absolute best weekend and trip that I’ve had this year. Words cannot adequately describe everything, but I’ll try.
So a couple of months ago, my new travel crew (Zack, Dawn, and Katherine) wanted one last hurrah before the program finished. We finally got a date to work for everyone, and decided on changing it up. The Plan: Innsbruck, Austria for a weekend, hiking and wandering around and having fun. It turned out to be brilliant.
As I said, I started this awesome adventure by hitting up my frenemy (currently sitting at about 80% friend, 20% enemy) the Deutsche Bahn and headed down to Reutlingen. I got in late, but that next day I had a super-relaxing day. I worked on my Alphabet (more to come later!), picked up our rental car (oh yes, supercarthymes), and then put together an impromptu excursion in Baden-Württemburg.
A relaxed evening, then morning, and then we were off!!! We packed up our stuff and hit the road down to Austria. We had a beautiful drive through Southern Germany, and once we crossed the border, it was like we jumped to a new world. Let’s just say Austria is absolutely beautiful (at least the Alp-region). Our drive to Innsbruck was beautiful. We made a couple of random pit stops (Zugspitze panorama, and an old castle/museum), and took our sweet time, a definite benefit of being on an open schedule!
Eventually we arrived at our target: Innsbruck, Austria!!! Zack and Katherine were already there and chilling around at our AirBnB place. They took a bus from Berlin the night before, and got in a little bit before us. But they got all napped up and recuperated, and we hit the town (walking around and stuff, that is…).
Sidenote: this trip was much different than our other trips because we decided to stay in one place and just let it flow, rather than having a bunch of places we wanted to go and only a few days to do it with a car. So being in one spot, with this great group of people, was an absolute treat.
Well, our AirBnB was absolutely perfect. Great rate, but best of all was its location, literally a 5 minute walk directly to the center of the Altstadt! We made use of that extensively. After we got in and got all situated, we all walked through the city. And right away I found my most favorite street in Europe.
People comment on the colors of Venice, or other places along the Mediterranean, but the street leading to the main square in Innsbruck (in my opinion) takes the cake. The buildings are extremely colorful, there was a few layers of buildings from the right perspective, AND there were gorgeous mountains in the background. Total recipe for success and moments of standing there in awe.
So yeah, walking around, checking out some different parts of the Altstadt and the historical/touristy buildings and stuff, then headed back to our place for a nap and relaxation. This was also another benefit of our trip—a home base and a place to chill. After a little bit, we headed to a brewery that our host recommended to us, a Keller brewery on the other side of town. And OOOOOHHH HAH did he do us right. I got this giant pig leg with Knödel and Kraut, and everyone else had amazing food with some good beer. And we were serenaded (in a round-a-bout way) by a bunch of old Austrian gentlemen, I think they were in some sort of secret club or something…
The next day we did some more walking around. We tried to go to a cool breakfast place but they were full. So we grabbed some food at a bakery in front of one of the old city gates and chatted for a bit.
First place we stopped at was a bell factory. This was really cool (and accidentally free, we didn't see you had to pay...). They had some massive bells in there, in all stages along the bell-making process. We got up close to them and stuff, and got to tinker around with the ones they had setup in the museum to play with. I really wanted to buy a cow bell (not the Will Ferrell kind, the real one), but didn't.
Next we walked up to the Bergisel, the giant ski-jumping facility overlooking the town. It's a really cool facility, and you can walk all around the arena, and even get right up next to where the ski-jumpers start. I gained a new appreciation for this sport; holy crap would I be terrified to do that!!! The landing hill seems like a straight vertical drop, and you can't even see the landing point from the start. It's nuts.
After that, we did the city walking tour. Zack was pulling for it, so we all went and learned some fun stuff about the city. After that we climbed the clock tower, then all took naps, and finally went out for food.
We found out that places in Austria close down early, even worse than Germany. We went out at 19:00 to go to a market and get stuff to cook with, and everything was already closed. That was frustrating.
We ended up at Vapiano. It was pretty good. Then we went to the Augustiner Biergarten. We all got Maßes, and had a very, VERY interesting time there.
Saturday turned out to be a great day. We started off at The Breakfast Club, a really cool breakfast place in town. A nice omelette and some sugary waffles were a great start to such a memorable day. After grubbing up, we headed to the market and got food for lunch and ingredients for dinner. We planned a little cook-out.
With everything else in place, we geared up for a little mountain wandering. Innsbruck is situated in a beautiful valley in the middle of the Alps, and there is a great gondola that can take you up to the top of the north ridge. That's what we were gonna do. We got our tickets and started the journey. We didn't take it all the way to the top, however, because we planned on tackling the last section ourselves.
The gondola ride was beautiful. Each step of the trip provided more amazing views than the last, and taking us higher and higher out of the city. Side note: I was feeling out of it the whole time because there were sick downhill bikes everywhere. It was a perfect day for a good MTB ride, people were taking advantage of it left and right, and I was jealous and wanted to take part.
So yeah, we finished our gondola journey and then the fun started. We walked around to a couple viewpoints from the hut, were greeted by a little herd of mountain sheep, then picked our trail and started on our way. We picked a trail that followed the valley, and slowly worked its way up to the ridge. It was a nice and fairly easy trail, providing great views of the valley and mountains the entire time.
After a while, we made it to the top of the ridge, and things just kept getting better. Holy crap was it gorgeous!!! We were greeted with a much greater view than we imagined, with a look into the other side of the ridge providing even more mountains and beauty. It was unbelievable.
We got our echo on, scrambled around some rocks, watched Katherine (the Arizonan) act like she'd never seen snow before, and just all around had a great time. It was unbelievable. The peace of being alone at the top of the mountain is one of a kind. Looking out onto things bigger than you can grasp, but so calm and still, it really left an impression. If I could go back there and just sit and stare out into the distance for a few hours, I would be a content person.
Eventually we made it up to the lookout point. We had our lunch and some celebratory beers on hand to enjoy at the top. Sitting around, eating and drinking with friends at the top of a mountain, a definite recipe for success.
Slowly, and very reluctantly, we worked our way back down. Naps were in store for everyone, then dinner came. Me and Zack cooked up a nice little stir-fry for the ladies, with wine to boot. We had a delightful little dinner in our own little 'mountain chateu'. We grabbed a quick drink with one of Dawn's old friends after that, then came back for a little more relaxation.
We ended the night with cigars, beer, wine, and auctioning off our children for arranged marriages. Yes, you read that right... We all predicted the number and gender of our kids, then had a round-robin setup to decide whose kids were going to marry who. My three little ones were the first to get paired off, and I think I am going to have quite the awesome extended family. (Sorry in advance to my future kids, but you'll thank me, eventually...)
Sunday was another great day. It started off a little sad with Zack and Katherine catching their 14 hour bus back home early in the morning. It's always sad saying goodbye to these people, and this was no exception. But, the show went on, and Dawn and I did a little more exploring of Innsbruck before we hit the road.
We decided to take our time and do some exploring along the way, so we found a less-traveled road, and followed it. This took us a little further in the Alps, and gave us some absolutely beautiful views. Driving the roads was one thing, but seeing where we went was the best. We got to roughly the top of the pass, and drove up a ski-resort to be treated with a great view of the valley. It was right next to this GIANT water reservoir. I wanted to drive up to see it, but the road was iced over, and our little punch-buggy wasn't quite up for the challenge. So we found a few benches and enjoyed the awesome scenery. And we got some unbelievably fresh mountain water. Oh baby was that thirst-quenching.
Weiter geht's, and we were treated with an unbelievable descent into another valley. This one had a gondola in it, so we spurred the moment and took a ride up to the top. We were right next to a ~3000m peak, and did a little wandering around there. We also planted a tree at the top!
Zack and Dawn shared Christmas together in Reutlingen, and they got a tree, named Tanny (short for Tannenbaum) to celebrate. Well, with the end of the program coming, they wanted to give Tanny a good new home. And although Zack wasn't there to see his little guy welcomed into his new home, it turned out to be a great success. He's sitting now with a great view of the Austrian Alps.
After our romp around up to at the Hoch Oetz, our trip kept going. We made our way to another back road, and kept getting hit with extremely picturesque sights. They just kept coming and would not stop.
After a while, we wandered off the road back home to a beautiful little lake tucked in the mountains, Plansee. It was a couple hours before dusk, and we got an awesome view of this lake with the rain on the water, the sun over the ridge, and just everything coming together at once. Impossible to describe, but everything was amazing.
Sadly, we hit the home stretch and made our way back to Reutlingen. Not before getting stuck in 2 hours of traffic though, because for some reason they decided to funnel 4 lanes of traffic down to 1. It made for a lot of waiting. Not the greatest end to the trip. But the days we had this past weekend are something I will never, ever forget.
My Travel Crew turned Lifelong Friends
I am truly thankful, honored, and lucky to be in the company of my three travel buddies, Zack, Dawn, and Katherine. I have never had a group of friends like this, that pairs so weirdly well together no matter where we go or what we’re doing. Long car rides and the crazy discussions that come from them, the fun of exploring new places and things together, and most importantly, the company and conversation that comes with every reunion have led to amazing memories together with these true friends.
One of the best overall memories I’ll have is how we are able to have such a great time in simple situations. Whether that be grabbing some food or beers, looking out over a breathtaking panorama, or being jammed together in a car, we always have fun. There is always great conversation, tons of laughter, and things that bring us closer together as we learn more about each other. It is something truly special.
I am lucky to have somehow connected with these three great people, but I will never forget the awesome and fun things we’ve done together, and I really hope we can somehow continue our fun for many years to come.
Austria, the Experience
Austria is situated directly below Germany, and going there (at least in the mountainous area we were at), you can see quite a few similarities, as well as very vibrant parts of the country’s culture.
Lederhosen and Dirndls are a normal day-to-day article of clothing for everyone, and they make it work. (Zack was super sad because he forgot his at home…).
They seem to be a proud people. One sign of this is through their window shutters. A majority of them are painted in the style of the country’s flag. Not something you see everywhere, and it really added a cool feel to it all!
In the mountains, I really loved seeing the cows and sheep with bells around their necks. For some reason I thought it was super cool, despite being totally normal there. Anyway. I liked it.
The language is german, but extremely different than what you here in Germany. As Zack stated it best, “It’s frustrating being in the only other country that speaks the language we’ve been learning for months, and not being able to understand any of it.” The accent is different and seemingly incomprehensible, and they like to use different words for things.
Quite the unique and enjoyable country.
Freedom of das Auto
I forgot how much I missed driving. Finally getting behind the wheel again this weekend was absolute bliss. A little romp around BW on Wednesday, and then the weekend going to and from Innsbruck was absolutely amazing. The freedom to decide where to go, the ease and peace of mind in travel, the ability to change plans at the snap of a finger, you just can’t get that any other way.
I always took it for granted in the U.S., but now I miss it. I really, really miss it. I don’t know when I’ll finally regain ownership of any sort of car, but no matter how far off in the future that is, I look forward to regaining the freedom of mobility, and enjoying every chance I get in the mean time.
Alphabets
On my multiple train rides this weekend, I was able to work more and more on my alphabet, and I think it's all set!!! Take a look and let me know what you think.
I also got my watermark ready to go. I like it, but now I need to find a way to automate putting it onto my pictures. I don't want to have to do it separately for every one, that would take forever. But regardless, I think it'll turn out pretty well.
Here it is in action. It's subtle, but I think it looks good. If you have any opinions, ideas, advice, or whatever, please let me know! I'd love to know what people think about it.
“Surprisingly, I’m Still Here...”
I know I'm not the most talkative person. But I fucking hate it when I do talk and no one gives a shit. They just keep talking or even start talking while I am trying to get a point across like I'm not even there. This happens to me a lot and it pisses me off.
K.C.'s Video
K.C. Fong is one of the coolest kids in the program, and he's all sorts of artistic. He gave us a little treat at the seminar last week with a video he put together regarding the program. It may not mean all that much to people not in the program, but this moved us all watching it, and brought out some tears.
AdventureThis may just be more for me to keep it in my memory, but here is a link for everyone to enjoy. :-)
Up Next
It is really hard to believe, pretty nerve racking in a way, and starting to make me really sad, but I only have a few weeks left in this program. Holy crap has this year gone by extremely fast.
I'm hoping to get some answers from my CEO about my job opportunity here. That, and I'm still in the running for an 18-month development program with a big company. I won't find out for a couple weeks though if I get called in for an interview, which would then take place at the end of June. So my life after the program is still extremely unclear.
UPDATE: Well, I talked with my CEO yesterday, and it went really well. First off, he said the position he offered me before doesn't exist. We didn't get that project, so I wouldn't be working on that, but they would find another way to work me into the team there. After that, I thanked him a ton for his help and the opportunities they've given me, then explained about the RWE Development Program. Long story short: he was awesome about it. Being open and honest, I explained it all, and asked if I could wait on making a decision until I hear back from RWE. He was totally cool with it. Now let's just hope this whole thing works out ok!!! :-D
A month from now, I will most likely be in Norway, exploring a few cities and getting lost (most likely literally and figuratively) in the beautiful fjords and mountains that are there. But, I'm not going to rush myself there. I've still got a good few weeks to live it up in Hamburg, and I plan on making the most of them!
This weekend I am headed to Sylt. It is one of the more popular island on the North Sea, and Lutz's grandparents have a vacation house there. So I'm taking Tuesday off (Monday is a holiday), and we're going up with some friends to veg out on the beach all weekend. Cherry on top? It's supposed to be crazy hot all weekend. Let's do this.
Original Publish Date: June 6th, 2014