If you didn’t know, WHU is split into two quarters within a semester. Conversely, if you were in good ole’ Vallendar, there would be no way of not knowing. The streets have been cleared and the libraries filled. As the first Quarter’s exams rolled around, Vallendar transformed for a short period of time. Studying abroad came to encompass it’s name as each Tauschie was truly studying abroad. Thankfully, my only exam was in German for this quarter, so I got to skip out of some the madness. My Structured Problem Solving course was only case study and my International Capital Markets & Derivatives exam got moved back to the next quarter. Fun Fact: Germans say they’re “writing an exam” on whatever day the test is. Knowing that I had some down time while everyone was studying, naturally I started looking to travel in what will probably be the most ideal time.
Therefore, I found myself asking some of my favorite groups to travel with what they were thinking about doing and stumbled upon Amsterdam. In my previous post I wrote about going to Hamburg and didn’t segway into the Amsterdam trip as I believe it jumped into my next month. Therefore, I’ll start where I left off. After Hamburg, we took a train to Amsterdam where I would go through the most surprising of experiences.
To preface, my faith is everything to me. While in Vallendar, I wasn’t able to find a church of the same denomination and thus, hadn’t been able to go to church since my arrival. Therefore, when I joined the trip my friends had planned and found out we were staying at a Christian hostel; I was excited to say the least. Upon arrival, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I was excited to see whether or not the Hostel truly held my same beliefs. To my delight, I found out they did. The staff was comprised of volunteers who would work for a semester and do mission work. To add to my surprise, I found a volunteer that was from Dallas. Within the hour, I was able to join their faculty bible studying and was left feeling rejuvenated.
The following day, we ventured out into Amsterdam. First, we took stood in line to experience the historical Anne Frank House.
The wait was well worth it as we peered into one of history’s darkest moments. Following Anne Frank’s house, we visited Vondel Park and did some sight seeing of Amsterdam’s landmarks.
When?Sunday arrived, one of my fondest memories was finally being able to attend a church service with the hostel’s faculty at a Hillsong Church plant. If I’ve appreciated anything throughout this experience, it has been the deepening of my faith. Having my ability to go to church pulled out from under me, I learned to depend on the word, prayer, and podcasts. Therefore, I did not take for granted this special moment and experienced the community of the church in a different way that I look to implement into my church at A&M.
The next quarter began and a new set of classes came underway. I took Asset Management, Real Options, and continued with German. Thankfully, I was adapting to WHU and was able to take that into my next courses which turned out to be harder. Throughout the next quarter, I studied and worked on interesting case studies and was able to learn a lot and utilize excel in a new and refreshing way that WHU provides. I loved how adept WHU students become with this essential function in finance and hope to compound some of the learning I garnered.
Finally, I was able to take my favorite trip to date with what I call my “Hong Kong Crew.” Truly, these became some of my fondest friends and I was appreciative for any time I was blessed to spend with them. We first immersed ourselves in one of Poland’s saddest cities Krakow. We were fortunate to get up early and be some of the first to arrive at Auschwitz’s concentration camp.
The weather complemented the mood of our trip as we got to explore a darkened time in our history. We were short on time so we unfortunately weren’t able to spend as much time as we wanted, but I was taken back by the display of hair taken from the inmates upon arrival as well as the monument to the Jewish religion. After leaving, we were only able to visit Birkenau (Auschwitz sister execution camp) for a few minutes before taking the bus to go to Poland’s Salt Mines.I loved the Salt Mines, but one image within stuck with me and it was the main room and chief exhibition below.
After Poland, we took a night train and ventured out to the Czech Republic. Arriving early at Prague, I was taken back by the beauty of the city. Prague truly is grandiose in nature. At times, I felt like they got bored so they chose to adorn ever square inch possible. You would pass meaningless store adorned with beautiful statues depicting various events. After checking into our hostel, we mapped out our attack on the city and got to work.
We visited nearly all of Prague in one day. We stopped by Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, multiple churches, and even visited a Ice Pub. The first church we stopped at turned out to be filled to the brim with gold and gorgeous statues.
Following that, we visited the renown Charles Bridge which did not disappoint. It was heavily saturated with art, statues, and beautiful views.
Passing the bridge, we came to the Prague castle, which resembled the exterior of Cologne’s Dom (Cathedral) heavily. Conversely, the interior was adapted to Prague’s culture and unique design. At night, we even got to visit a local attraction called the Ice Pub.
Finally, we visited a site where you could get a panoramic view of the city and finished with some of Prague’s local cuisines.
This month was by far my favorite having had adapted and taken part in two of my favorite trips to date. I look forward to next month where I get to finish the semester and see my beautiful girlfriend and family! Until next time!