Shennanigans in Garmish, Beautiful Bavarian Weather

Yesterday was absolutely wonderful in terms of weather. No clouds in the sky, temperature was a great 22° (71.6°F). A couple of friends and I decided to take an excursion out to Garmish, a town near the tallest point in Germany, the Zugspitze, which stands at a hight of 2962m (9718 feet)above sea level. Unfortunately the Cog Train the leads up to the observation area on the mountain was shut down for the day. Bummer. We wanted to go on top of the closest mountain to get a better view, and perhaps catch a glimpse of the Zugspitze. At the base of Hausberg, we tried asking if we could take a cable car up, but unfortunately the cable car had ceased operation just 30 minutes prior. Everything was starting to crumble. We decided to do something very stupid, and ultimately ridiculously fun....

Following the cable car route adjacent to the ski slopes (still covered with snow), we trekked up snow and melt/mud all the way to the top of Hausberg in our worn tennis shoes whilst wearing t-shirts. Hausberg stands at 1340m (4397 feet) above sea level and the journey took about 2 and some hours, because i am severely out of shape and well....we were fighting for grip on mud and snow. Seriously it is as though we took two steps to move one. We waved to passing skiers and even climbed one of the towers cable car towers for a quick picture. The part that  made us really laugh, was a couple of germans in Lederhosen, skiing down the slopes.

 Finally we reach the top and it was absolutely beautiful. I was dead tired, but it was just so quite, no cars, just birds, and beautiful picture-esque alps with he Zugspitze in view. We realized how insignificant our trek was once we saw how much higher Zugspitze stands....

We needed to get back because the sun was setting; during our decent, we had gathered way too much momentum and started slipping around everywhere. Eventually it turned into us falling on our asses and slidding down snowy icy skii slopes on our bums. I took a couple of videos but the internet at the hostel is way too slow to allow uploading. Oh my god i was laughing the whole way down. I wish I had gloves, and boots, but it was ridiculously funny watching all three of us sliding down a slop trying to gain control. With the cunning use of leaning, rucking and rolling, we kindof had an idea of how to navigate some serious corners, but for dangerous stuff, we just flattened out to slow down and stuck to the mud on the side with trees aiding out decent. We were soaking wet, our feet were squishy, but what took us 2+ hours to go up, took the better part of 25 minutes to go down.  it was so ridiculous but it was the most fun i've had in a long while (and cheap to!).

a day of good times cost 10 euro in train tickets. Honestly, i would totally do it again (sliding down a hill) but next time, maybe take a ski lift a couple hours earlier.

Small cell phone pic not even half way up the mountain

Today is 25° (77°F) so i broke out the Flip Flops and will walk around town taking some pictures. It's absolutely lovely here in Munich, but it would be nice to make some friends. I miss a bunch of people in Braunschweig and the Lions Racing Team but new opportunities, new experiences.

Click here for the Full Flickr Album to Garmisch-Partenkirche

First day at BMW

Thursday i moved out of my Studentenwohnheim and will miss a bunch of my friends back in Braunschweig....and the Lions Racing team as well. One of the members gave me a bottle of jägermeister and a box of small chocolate covered cake ball things. He said he would contact the Formula Studen - Munich team to see if I can tag along and get a Ride to Hockenheimring for competition this August. The train ride was great, I reserved a seat in the Ruhebereich (quiet car) and had window and an outlet. By the time I reached Stuttgart, I had the entire booth to myself to stretch out and relax. I wrote my two page essay on the train about the Kulturelle Unterschied (cultural differences) that I have observed while in Germany. Everything went as scheduled.

I ran off the Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum (Research and Innovation Center which I will refer to as FIZ from now on) which is the same place I had my interview. I was scooped up by one of my interviewers and lead to the office area where I will be working. I met everyone in the office and realized right away, that I really really need to concentrate hard when listening to people. Beyrisch (bavarian) accents are quite different to what I'm used to; it has its own intonation and inflection as well as different word usage and pronunciation. Oh man...

The office has a wall of large windows that open nicely to let a breeze through, and they have small plants growing in the room with strings leading up to and across the cieling so the vines would grow out all over the place. I was shown my desk, then immediately given a plate and silverware.
There is an old tradition in BMW that has been observed since the "old days," called Brotzeit (bread time). Every Friday we have Weisswurst, Pretzels w/ mustard at 10am.

I got to take a ride-along in a test mini. We drove through the city and onto the Autobahn; it was rediculously fun.

The cafeteria has 6-7 stations with different types of food. Fish, meats, salads, soups, pastries etc etc. And its CHEAP. a meal was roughly 4 euro. there are about 8000 employees that work on the BMW campus all over northern München. We walk through the core of FIZ... absolutely stunning architecture.

We get back, and we have to drop my contract off at the headquarters (4-piston tower) and get my Ausweiss (I.D.). We dropped my Contract off and got my I.D. It's official, i'm now employed as an intern  :D

This was only my first day, and I can already tell that I am going to miss it when I leave for the states this September. It's truly a dream job as its the practical, hands on, type of engineering. Monday I will be starting with real work. I hope I can hold up to their expectations, haha. Everyone here is really friendly and i'm extremely eager to do my best to help, and learn during my short stay.

dream job

the Saga continues...

I have accomplished a lot, but feel like I haven't.

Today I went to take care of all the scanning involved to try to push this Contract back to BMW as quickly as possible. I had to visit my health insurance provider and to my surprise they will not give the Contract back to me. They must review it first (for some reason) although it was only asking for confirmation of insurance coverage with a signature and stamp. Oh dear.....

They told me they will mail it back to me, only problem is I am leaving in 2 days. I changed the address effective 7. April when my new apartment is available for me to move into (Im living out of a Hostel for the next week). When they mail it, it would be to an address that I would no longer live, it would get bounced back and remailed to an address I may not yet occupy. This is becoming a bit chaotic, but I can't help but laugh at the situation panning out before me. 

I took care of address changed with the University and filled out a Nachsendeauftrag (to forward mail until everyone gets the idea I've moved). I still have to finish a two page essay and then pack my belongings up. Now that I think of it, i still need train tickets.

I am still enthusiastic though; tell me 4 years ago that I was going to be going to school in germany, moving from Braunschweig to München, and working for BMW for a couple months, I wouldn't believe it.

Stoked.

ENGLAND: London, Southampton, Stone Henge, Bath

Before I start my Praktikum, I had a little bit of time before my week of chaos (more on this later)...

With the friendly invitation of some family, I rendezvoud with my Girlfriend in London. We saw many tourist sites and visited some local places not far as well. We got a tour from my step-brother through London. Then we got to go to the small town of Southampton and check out some old ruins. We took a tour of Stone Henge and Bath, then ate at local eatery's and had drinks in some pubs.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but it was a very nice break. This week I must:

Unpack
Do laundry
Repack all my belongings
Clean my room
Fill out the contract for BMW which arrives Wednesday, and mail it back
Write a two page report
Get my apartment inspected on Thursday
Catch a train to München (arrive around 7pm Thursday)
Check into and stay at a Hostel for one week.
Start work immediately the next day (Friday) at 8:30am

I finally was able to locate housing with the help of BMW's Accomodation office, but it will not be available until 7. April. I am excited to start working and being more productive. I also can't wait to start learning German more rapidly. I am quite sad that my stay here in Germany is already more than half way over, but something tells me..... I'll be back.


England:

Full Flickr Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22512029@N06/sets/72157626375547120/

Beautiful Praha (Prague)

This city is quite amazing. A lot of old buildings remain intact and doesn't have the Modernized Urban Redevelopment feel to it. No skysrapers, nor ultra modern artistic architecture... the pre-baroque elegance and art put into many of the buildings as well as the Gothic cathedral is just...awe inspiring

See the whole Flickr set for PRAGUE




Street Performers

Astronomical Clock

Blacksmiths making coins in Prague

Prague

May be going to Prague this weekend

Procured a Praktikum!

I will be starting April 1 at BMW's Research and Innovation Center. I am very excited about the work to be done and look forward to learning as much as I can during my short time there. I am currently looking for a place to live then I'll move down at the end of the month. If anyone ever wants to visit München, let me know.

Lions Racing:
A lot of stuff has been happening this week. We had to recover clay from the beautifully scultped front end to finish the rear. We are now using body filler and sanding it to create the last layer before the fiberglass negative is created. Then that will act as a mold for the Carbon Fiber.

While I am quite happy about my upcoming internship, a part of me is saddened because I will no longer be able to actively participate in helping build the car. I may be able to help out with the Business Plan that they have to prepare and present.... but I am going to try my best to make it to Hockenheim to act as support crew when they compete Mid-August (If i can get the time approved). I would love to see the team to the end as this is a rare opportunity for me; and they are all great people.

Me sanding:

Full Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22512029@N06/sets/72157625266426453/