Issue 5 - June 24th -- Koln (Cologne) and Deutschland Game!!

Hello!

So I am super late with this issue but I just have been pretty busy/occupied with stuff to update the blog. Last weekend some of us went to Koln (or Cologne) which is only an hour from Aachen. They have a lot of museums there - we went to the Chocolate museum =) Yummmmmmm! The Koln Cathedral or Dom as they call it here is also pretty famous and awesome. We climbed all the way to the top - pretty tiring. The Rhine River also goes right through Koln so it was pretty awesome chilling on the river. There are 3-4 bridges that connect 2 parts of Koln. One of them is very famous. The fence on the bridge is covered in locks - locks that couples left on the fence and now the bridge is a famous landmark. Of course, there is the Cologne fountain where there is a fountain with cologne coming out of the tap or whatever its called. This place was where cologne was invented! Had to see that! It smelled amazing!

One day after I work, I decided to go biking with a German friend Tristan and another RISE student. We biked to the Netherlands and back! 25 km!!! I was exhausted but the scenery was beautiful! I have some pictures below.

The Deutschland-Ghana game was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!! German fans are crazy. There is a huge open square where they show a public viewing of the game and it gets packed 2 hours before the game starts. People sing, dance, wave flags, yell and go absolutely nuts!! Check out the pictures below. After the victory, everyone went nuts on the streets! People were singing, dancing, yelling and just having a good time! It was an awesome experience for me! Lets go USA and Deutschland!!

Heading to Amsterdam this weekend which should be exciting!

Until next time,

Parth

RUTGERS!! Again!

The Cathedral (Dom)

Cary, Andrew, Rahul and Me by the Rhine River

The people who were in the fraternity where we Couch Surfed! Lot of cool and relaxed people!

The travel gang on the train to Koln.

Issue 4 - June 16 - Hamburg Weekend! Continued! Continued!

Part of the group in front of a church. I look so big!

At the USA-England football viewing! Woooooo USA!

Aachen Hauptbanhof - The main train station in Aachen. This is where I met my car-pooler to go to Hamburg.

Issue 4 - June 16 - Hamburg Weekend! Continued!

Another view of town hall.

A Kontour house. People would work ridiculous hours here typing up stuff for shipping companies. They used to have elevators that went in circles and never stopped, so people would have to hop in and hop out when they thought they had arrived at their destination. Of course it was impossible to tell where you were since it never stopped and always went in a circle.

On a bridge. Nice view.

Standing on a bridge at the harbor.

Another cool view from a bridge. No roads, just water!

Issue 4 - June 16 - Hamburg Weekend!

Greetings Followers!

I am a few days late updating the blog this week because I went to Hamburg this past weekend and have been busy with work. Hamburg was a lot of fun!! I car pooled there and back and met some cool German and non-German people. On the "Autobahn" (highway) here there are no speed limits so on some portions we went 180 km/hr which was pretty cool! This makes it very easy to get from one part of the country to the other in no time. We covered about 550 km in well under 5 hours. Hamburg had a lot of history, as does most of Germany, with the World War and everything being bombed. The Great Fire of 1842 destroyed a lot of buildings in Hamburg, and the bombings after did not help. Hamburg is a harbor city with a huge port so the scenery was awesome! The city is famous for its Fish market every Sunday morning - it opens at around 6 AM and goes until 11 AM. We watched the US-England game in a huge field where they had a public viewing on a giant screen! So much fun! Lost my voice within 20 minutes! Check out the pictures!

Watched the Honduras-Chile game during my 2.5 hr lunch break today! Can't wait for the double header Friday with Deutschland and the USA game!

Planning on going to Cologne, which is less than an hour away, this upcoming weekend.

Until next week,

Tschuss

A view of the city from the top of a burnt Church.

At the public viewing of the US-England football game. 1-1 tie. Wooooo!

At the world famous fish market in Hamburg at about 5:30 AM. Everyone gathers here early Sunday morning. Back in the day, all the businesses would get fish for their business here but over time it has become a tradition for the general public to come buy their fish here.

Port city! By the harbor.

Me standing in front of the Rathaus - AKA Town Hall.

Issue 3 - June 7 - Week off Exploring Aachen Continued

Cool wheel thing at Sports Day! It's an official sport here!

Ballin!

Stack the crates and climb!

Mini ping pong with mini paddles! Pretty funny watching people play this here!

Issue 3 - June 7 - Week off Exploring Aachen Continued

Sports Day at the University - kayaking in a portable pool in the middle of a field...go figure.

View of the city from a nice hill that we hiked up. It was beautiful up there and we plan on having several picnics up there.

City view from hill #2.

Town Hall! Really really old!

A huge square in the center of town by the town hall. They have the only Starbucks and Pizza Hut in town here. This is usually the meet up spot for all the RISE kids.

Issue 3 - June 7 - Week off Exploring Aachen

Hello Everyone!

I had my first week in Aachen off since Thursday was a federal holiday so I got to explore the city without having to work. I got some administrative stuff taken care of on the first day and then explored the city!

Aachen is a really small city with primarily college students which is really exciting and lively. There are old cathedrals, bakery's, ice cream shops, fast food shops, restaurants at practically every corner. There is apparently a hot spring that has healing water which I plan on checking out soon.

Today was my first day of work and it was very exciting! I mostly just got a tour of our building and lab and got some keys and stuff. Did some AR-glass roving tensile tests at various temperatures.

See pictures below and stay tuned for updates next week! Planning on perhaps travelling this weekend if things work out.

Cheers!

At Bollywood night, the DJ was mixing some music from YOUTUBE!!! HILARIOUS!

Cheering on the local Aachen football team - the Aachen Vampires UNDEFEATED!! The quarterback from the team lives in my building which is pretty sweet. Hopefully he can get me a jersey =)

The Aachen Vampires in action! About to score a TD!

Some amazing pizza cooked by Chef Oza along with Mango Tango juice!

Chef Oza at work again making the roundest pancake ever imaginable!