Time to Say Goodbye

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.

Dinner with the Manager

We’re in the home stretch, so that means some time to sort out a few logistics on my end. Item of interest number one with only 14 days left is to sell my bike. It’s been loyal. It’s been faithful… sans my flat-tire incident. BUT it is time for it to go. I put up a flyer on Monday and published an ad on the BMW intranet to sell the thing at a reasonable price. Time to brush up on my German bargaining skills! On Tuesday, I already had a response from a guy wanting to buy it! Unfortunately, my hopes faded quickly when he emailed back saying it would be a wedding present. 1) Who buys a couple a bicycle for a wedding present? 2) I knew when he saw the bike in real life, the rust, stickers, and bald tires might drain his ambition to buy the wheeled machine. On Friday I met with the guy and he met my bike. It was not love at first sight. I feel bad for the newlyweds… they won’t get to experience my awesome bike. SO… the sales offer continues! If you know anyone over here who wants a bike, let me know!

Outside of the chore related “exit” logistics, other fun items included Sommerfest on Wednesday and a trip to Peissenberg on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Micah invited me to go along with him and his new roommate to a summer festival called “Theatron” in Olympia Park. Outside of the typical masses of pretzels and beer being sold, there was also paragliding on the small lake and live bands playing in the amphitheater. This particular summer festival lasts about a month and features nearly three new bands each night… free of charge! Even without the bands, I always enjoy Olympia Park in the evening. Between the lights and the park-scape, it always has a great view. On my way home, I was even able to sneak a peek inside the Olympic swimming hall for the first time. It was huge! I have a couple of really big swimming friends back at home, and I know that if they lived in Munich, they would likely be here every day! Biggest swimming pool I’ve ever seen.

Thursday was also a great evening. I regret not bringing my camera, but I didn’t have time to grab it after work. Our manager has wanted to take us out for a while now, but between weather and weekend plans, our “date” kept falling through. We finally were able to steal away to his humble abode on Thursday evening for a visit dinner. He drove us down to Peissenberg, which is an old mining community about an hour’s drive south of Munich. Lots of fields and farms mostly, but the landscape was gorgeous. It lies halfway between Munich and the Alps, so basically your backyard has a giant mountain scene in the far distance. Don’t get your hopes up too high though… a house out here will cost you just about one million Euros!

We met him, his wife, and his son in a biergarten just outside of Peissenberg in Polling. Polling used to house a very large monastery that once had the largest library in Europe. Since then, that library has been long gone, but the monastery is still in operation. After enjoying our meal, our manager showed us a small workshop around the corner where the old monastery there used to be. This workshop was AMAZING. It was a hidden gem in this small village and it was a car shop dedicated solely to restoring Mercedes-Benz 300SL models. The company is called HK-Engineering. I think I found the company I’d like to work for someday! You’ll have to check out the website for pics. All I know is that if my dad and I had a shop like this when we restored our Triumph Spitfire, we’d have been gold.

After dinner, we drove to Hohenpeissenberg, which is a giant hill just outside of town. There we had one of our best views of Bavaria yet. One could easily see both Munich to the north and the Alps to the south! It was an amazing view, so thank God for a clear day! After taking in the sights, we headed back to our manager’s house where we relaxed and enjoyed a few refreshments before parting for the evening. It was a very generous evening and I am especially thankful that I had a manager thoughtful enough to take some of his interns out to dinner for a nice evening.

That is the week’s update! I’ll be making my final “Big Trip” this weekend, so stay posted for an update on the holiday. Bavarians do not work on Assumption Day, so I’ll be chillin’ on Monday before my last full week at work for BMW. Bis bald!