Well folks… it is time for my final blog post from Germany.
This past weekend I spent most of my time working on quite a bit of writing. Along with this experience comes a rather lengthy report I must write for the honors program back at the university. School work?? Oh yeah…
Outside of that, I’ve been saying my goodbyes. Saturday evening Micah and I met up with three other ICP students downtown for a visit to the Hofbräuhaus. They hadn’t yet experienced the famous beer hall and I was okay with having one last maß of the royal brew. The evening was an enjoyable last one in the heart of Munich.
On Sunday evening I was blessed with a nice evening with one of my colleagues from work out in a beer garden in Olympia Park. I was introduced to my final new German beer… Ayinger. This was the first ecologically friendly beer I had tasted in Germany. All ingredients and production processes are 100% green. I found the concept to be very cool, and the taste even cooler.
The beer, however, was not the best part of the night. The best part was simply enjoying good company and one last relaxing Sunday in Germany. At the end of the night, we climbed to the top of Olympia Park’s giant hill and looked out at the Munich night cityscape. In the distance one could see the lit church steeples and even the Frauenkirche. To the north, festival lights lit up the park below as a giant Ferris wheel turned next to the old Olympic stadium. It was an incredible sight and a wonderful evening. Zum wohl!
Monday I officially deregistered with the City of Munich and wrapped up my German banking account. Goodbye international debit card.
Today was my last surprise to the department at BMW before leaving. I introduced the old fashion American root beer float! Back in June when I was home for my friends’ wedding, I picked up a 12 pack of Barq’s root beer from our local IGA and smuggled it all the way to Germany for his last little “hurrah”. It was the funniest thing watching my co-workers faces as they tried the strange concoction. None of them had ever even heard of a root beer float before!!! What?! Well they know now! A beer unlike any they had ever tasted before. Most thought the treat was way too sweet, but most agreed that it wasn’t half bad. Not sure… I may have introduced the next new big German fad…
Later conversation revealed that they are not familiar with red soda, cream soda, or even Mt. Dew. I guess America is really the center for “pop” culture. Okay… it’s late, so forgive the bad jokes…
Leaving work will be tough tomorrow, but I suppose life always has those times for goodbyes. The best part is that they only bring into life more “hellos”. I’ve made some amazing friends over here and I have lived some amazing experiences. I cannot speak truly to how strongly I feel about everything I have learned and been blessed to see while abroad. All of that aside, one thing is for certain… I am ready to be back home.
Tomorrow, the suitcase gets packed up and Thursday the plane “geht’s los”. I’ll be sure to let you all know when I’m back safe and sound. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support while I have been away. I cannot describe how much they have meant to me.
Deutschland… Aufwiedersehen.
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