Concerning Germans.

Concerning Germans, they are a smart, industrious people, who like beer. So do Americans students. So naturally, it has been an interesting weekend. That is all I have to say about that.

Other wise, Bad Laasphe is a beautiful place. It is a little town not to far from where I will be spending my time with my host family in Hungen. Bad Laasphe is hilly, and we (the CBYX students) are on top of one of these steep, hard to climb hills in Schloss Wittigenstein or "the Schloss." A 16th Century German castle with a boarding school, essentially German Hogwarts. My first week has been filled with the fun, excitment, and certain air of magic that comes with living in the semi-rural areas Germany.

One of these eventful adventures was a "night walk." Along the trails surrounding the Schloss. Split off into groups of four, we had to endure a pitch dark night, lit only by an eerie orange moon, while constantly on the alert for the "Schlossgeist" or language camp staffers who would like nothing more then to make an American student compromise their bladders. I was assigned a group with my fellow students Amanda, Allison, and Shareef. We started off the walk by loudly bellowing the American national anthem to the darkness. After being told to "shut up" by a staffer who did the splitting of the groups, we proceeded to quietly walk down the forest path in to the surely waiting arms of terror and death, somewhat figuratively. During the walk my partners and I scared ourselves more then we were scared by staffers. We swore multiple obsenities to Sven. Jonathan, Anna, and Martina, the staffers clearly trying to kill us out of fear.

They never responded.

At least not until the end. After hitting the halfway point in which we had to walk a length of the forest alone (multiple "Our Fathers" and "Hail Mary's" were prayed). With our confidence boosted we began to bellow camp songs. But after a few paces we were sprayed by a hidden Sven (he was called a compound word that I never would repeat in front of my parents), and then ambushed by a number of staffers that included Martina, who corrected us on our inaccurate lyrics, and Jonathan, who was attacked by a rabid teenage girl (Allison.)

And thus Germany adventures.

A few quick words on attending a Catholic Mass in Germany.
It is seriously wonderful how you will always know what is going on at a Mass anywhere in the world. I am proud to be a Roman Catholic and I am now motivated to keep my faith alive while in Germany.

Auf Wiedersehn!

Sean