Dresden, ja!

As of last week I am officially heading to Germany this summer!

Ich werde nach Dresden, Deutschland von Juli bis September, AH!
("I will go to Dresden, Germany from July to September, AH!")... I think "AH" is globally known for meaning: "WOW IT'S REALLY HAPPENINGS!

I am participating in the Dresden Language Study Abroad program and will be taking two language courses and a culture course. Every Thursday in my culture class we will be taking field trips.

With Dresden being bombed in 1945, 12 weeks before the surrender of Nazi Germany, much of its history had been wiped out. Since then however, the city has put a lot of money into reconstructing Dresden.

One landmark I would like to see while there is the Frauenkirche which was reconstructed in 2008. The Frauenkirche took 7 years to reconstruct by architects who used 3D computer technology to analyze old photographs and every piece of rubble that had been kept.

Another former landmark I would like to visit is the Semperoper, which is the Saxony State opera house. The Dresden State orchestra is actually one of the world's leading orchestras (they play at the opera house).

Even the University I will be staying at is a landmark in itself. The architecture is amazing, and the opportunities to discover new things lay all around the campus. The first few days there we will be meeting with German students that we will hopefully be able to get to know better over the next few weeks. I'm hoping they'll be up to showing us the parts of Dresden that our teachers will not be including on the tours (aka: bars...Deutsch Bier ist gut!...I think.) I guess I will find out.

The Zwinger Palace wouldn't be too shabby to tour either (alright, I'll admit it was the name at first that drew me in: Zwinger. Now that's an interesting name.) Anyways, the Zwinger was used to place the cannons between the outer wall and the inner wall. I could witness some hard-core 18-century artillery. Now however, the Zwinger now houses collections of fine art and scientific treasures (paintings, armory, weapons; all dating from the 16th and 17th century).

Apart from the typical tourist attractions, I am looking forward to opening my eyes to a new culture (yes I'm actually looking forward to not being in my own element.)

I know there are many stereotypes for Americans. One of my friends who I speak to on DailyBooth lives in Saxony, Germany. Out of curiosity I asked him what stereotypes he thought of when he thought of Americans; here is what he answered: "no culture;
fat, arrogant, shallow people who think they are the best thing in the world."

Yea. Makes your eyes bug out. I think it's important for more and more students to study abroad JUST so their ignorance of other cultures does not portray to the rest of the world that Americans are just shallow people who think "they are the best things in the world."

Like I mentioned before in a post, the world is becoming more reliant on each other and we are becoming more global. Therefore, studying abroad is one of my most important life decisions you can make...a part from that whole marriage and having kids thing...