Cologne: Stairs, Chocolate, and SculpturesNew Travel Vlog

Cologne: Stairs, Chocolate, and Sculptures Me and Todd go to Cologne and end up climbing the tallest tower. It was a really fun day but super exhausting. Come watch us travel! WATCH MY LAST VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diCOVQXhNOA FIND ME HERE: Twitter: @alexbenda Tumblr: http://alexbenda.tumblr.com/ KAYLA'S CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/user/UnderTheMicroscope22 TRAVEL BLOG: http://alexbenda.blogspot.com/ FIND TODDS BLOG HERE http://toddingermany.blogspot.de/ Music by Dan-O at DanoSongs.com.

Short But Sweet

Yesterday was a rest day for me. I just woke up late, enjoyed a little breakfast and caught up on some reading. BUT Today was a rally day. I was to meet the international students at 2:30 to go to the chocolate festival. So I went downtown early, I haven't been able to explore downtown to much, so far its been miserably cold. I only arrived like 40mins early but it was just enough to walk around a little. Tucked into every nook and cranny of this city is something amazing. Even dark scary allies open to some unforeseen beauty. I was just walking around and say that down an ally way no bigger than a person was a shrine of some sort. So I squeezed between the buildings to see this back doorway to a church. It was really wonderful. The church was just a small church and was not on a main road but it still was amazing to me that anywhere you go is something spectacular or wonderful to discover. But I had to return back to the main square before everyone got there. So that ended my exploration for today, when the weather becomes nice again I will go back out. 

I was still 5 minutes early so a grabbed a quick bite, they had a hot dog stand of sorts near the main square. They have real sausage and brats that are massive, then they stuff them inside half a loaf of french bread. It only cost like $2.75. It would have cost that much for the bread and single sausage alone at the market. I swear I do not know how they make money here. But I can live with that because once again it was such a tasty treat! I really think I am just going to survive off the vendor food here alone! I absolutely love it! But my friends showed up and we were off to the chocolate festival! 

 The chocolate festival was a bit disappointing, it was a small convention of only 8-9 vendors selling chocolate. They did have some good displays but nothing that was too impressive. There was someone making a chocolate sculpture outside that you could eat the pieces that he carved off for free. I really liked that but it was still fun to see just how many people come out for this event. I am told it is the first time this convention has been held so maybe in the upcoming years it will grow and expand but today it was only semi impressive. One issue was that most of the chocolate was being served as ice cream. It is SO BLOODY COLD that looking at ice cream made me shiver. So after about 10 minutes we all looked at one another and said it was time to go to the pub.

At the pub we ordered a few beers and again started sharing stories and getting to know one another. It is a lot of fun to just sit around and relax the day away. I know for me the beer is inexpensive but again they are micro-brews so really tasty beers. I really enjoy spending my time like this! I just need to make sure I do not put on too much weight from drinking this beer! But with how much walking I do and all the stairs I walk I think it should balance out. I also think the daily visit to pubs will subside when we start classes. But for now this is the way of life. We all left to go back home for now. We were meeting later to go out dancing.

I went to a friends place to try some of Croatias best schnapps and other fairs before we went to the club. It was really enjoyable and being business students you could tell we spent a lot of our time trying to network with one another. I guess it is good we are all learning early on the importance of making lasting impressions and connection. While we were drinking one of the my friends here gave me a really nice compliment. She said the me and my good friend Joao are the two most like guys in our group. I really enjoyed that she thought this. I feel that it is really a sincere complement, especially since their perceptions of America have been changed slowly due to my presence here. When we got to the club we again had ourselves a table but the club was so crowded no one could move. I was going insane with being so cramped I left early! I love being with my friends but loud music and just trying to find a spot to breathe isn't my idea of fun! any who overall another successful and wonderful day! Tomorrow I will have lunch with the all the Gerber's and then who knows in the evening. I do have homework now so I will probably do this later tomorrow. I am really excited for classes to begin. I think this will open even more doors for me here. I did come here with More of a purpose than just to go out every night. I have my goals and dreams that I need to follow, and considering the mindset here of just taking things easy, I will be able to really take advantage of unsought opportunities.
Benda out!

Me and my Croatian friend Ana, she gave me a tour the first day around Zagreb
Really a sweet girl :)