Just two weekends ago, my French and Greek friend and I decided that it was time to head to the excellent Jewish Museum here in Berlin. During our marathon 4-hour visit, we learned thousands of years of Jewish history, with a particular focus on the Holocaust. What made me particularly happy was that the modern architecture was stark but impressive, and thus made for some nice photos.   Blue skies have become a bit...

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Unfortunately, I have some bad news to report. My exchange program, the Congress-Bundestag Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX), is in peril! They are facing major budget cuts in the coming years. Not good! CBYX is a intercultural exchange program funded by the American Congress and German Bundestag (their parliament). The goal is to make the important relationship between the German and American people tighter by exchanging...

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After that thrilling journey to Vilnius, we can finally return to the country we all care most about - Germany! The weekend after my return from Lithuania, my "Cultural Orientation to Berlin" class had our last educational field trip - this time, to one of the most up-and-coming, "trendy" areas of Berlin: Kreuzberg. I, unfortunately, do not live in this trendy quarter. It's about a half-hour subway ride from my berth...

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Back with more reportage from my trip to Lithuania! After sleeping at our cheap but cozy hostel, we set out to enjoy our final 12 hours in the city. In the last post I brought up the Užupis Republic, which is sort of like an unofficial city of artists within the city of Vilnius. This statue is their guardian angel...

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Finally back with updates and more wonderful pictures! Last week, I was in Frankfurt for a CBYX (my exchange program) seminar, and stopped in Nuremberg for a day on my way home. But don't worry, those will both be subjects of their own blog posts. I'm happy to announce that, as required by my program, I have found a 6-month internship related to my career interests! I will be working at Kompakt Medien, a PR and communications...

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This is it, the one and only... Neuschwanstein! Germany's most famous castle! One of the country's most wildly popular tourist magnets, Neuschwanstein is just 2 hours by train outside of Munich. So, early on my last day in Munich during my post-Christmas trip last month, I hopped on a Deutsche Bahn train headed for the castle. What I would eventually see later that day - the front of Neuschwanstein Castle! ...

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And now, back to my post-Christmas trip to Munich, in the German state of Bavaria! Day two of my trip was action-packed and full of amazing sights that made for tons of especially cool photographs that I am excited to share with you. Let's get started! I specifically made sure that I was in a good photo-taking spot at dusk. I definitely succeeded! More photos from this vantage point below...

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Shortly after the Christmas festivities with my host family in Berlin came to an end, I headed 360 miles south to Germany's largest (in terms of geography) state, Bavaria, and its capital city of Munich. When you think of some typical German products and traditions, you may in fact be thinking of things that originated in Bavaria - particularly beer gardens, Lederhosen, BMW, and Oktoberfest. Therefore, Germans often complain...

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Finally, I have reached the end of my pictures from the photogenic city of Prague. Between this December trip with Tony and the previous trip in November, I've spent a cumulative seven days there! Each day I succeeded in finding something new and exciting to see. I know my way around the city pretty well now, I feel. It's a great place, and highly worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Europe.  Tony and I started off...

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Back with more great pictures from my second trip to Prague! Considering this is my 5th blog post about the city and still have one more to write, we are about to become legitimate Prague experts. On the second day of our trip, my American friend Tony and I first hung out with his host family for a bit and checked out a mirror maze. That was the first time I've ever been in one, and it was much more disorienting than I ever thought...

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Just before Christmas, I was given the chance to go to Prague for FREE! As one can see from my three blog posts about the city I recently posted, I had already had a trip there. But as I previously mentioned, Prague is both an interesting and super cheap city, so I went along for the ride! I was with another American participant in my program, Tony, and his host family. His host family seems just as nice as mine, so it's good...

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Happy New Year! It's crazy to think that 2014 is over. It was the single most eventful year of my life, as it included my interview for this cultural exchange program, my graduation for college, the news that I got accepted to this program, and my departure to Germany. But on December 31, 2014, it was time to look forward to a Guten Rutsch - a good transition into the new year. In the afternoon on New Year's Eve, my host father,...

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Happy New Year! It's now 2015, and thankfully I just have two Christmas-themed posts left before I move on to post-Christmas happenings. I decided the Christmas markets in Spandau, Dresden, and Kurfürstendamm weren't enough, so I made sure to hit two more before the season was up! First up was Potsdamer Platz. Sony Center, which plays host to countless film premiers and the Berlin Film Festival, all lit up...

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