COBBlog

The Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkts) in Germany is something I feel one should experience in their lifetime. The smell of freshly grilled bratwurst, roasted almonds and chestnuts, spiced wine, and of course the shopping are enough to make you want them to stay all year round.

Unlike the United States, Germany does not have as many malls. Many of the stores here line the streets with apartments accompanying them above. There are two malls here in Jena: the Neue Mitte and the Goethe Gallerie. As nice as they are for shopping for things like clothes and shoes, everyday items are normally found elsewhere.

But the Christmas markets are so much different from the malls. Every second stand or so is a food stand; be that sweets, food or drink (the roasted almonds and the bratwurst are my favorite!). The little shops are all made of wood and remind me of little cabins you could find along a lake in Northern Minnesota. There are rides that the little kids can go on, accompanied by lots of little kids begging their parents to let them get some tokens so they can go on those rides. (more…)

Hello to all from the wonderful country of Germany! That’s right. I am not currently studying on campus at Concordia, but am studying abroad for a year in Jena, Germany. But first a bit about me before we dive into the fun-filled life and struggles of studying abroad.

My name is Heather and I am a junior this year at Concordia. I come from a small town near the Twin Cities called Victoria, Minnesota, but grew up in nearby Minnetonka, and am double-majoring in german and history.

Why study in Germany, do you ask? Well, for starters many of my ancesters came from Germany, and my last name is German: Hetzler. I have been studying German for about 7 years now, and figured it would be a good experience to test my skills (and they have been at times) and give studying abroad a shot. So here I am!

After an eight hour plane ride from Chicago to Frankfurt, I had the fun of trying to find my way from the airport to the train station and buy my train ticket to Jena. After asking some nice elderly ladies for help finding the correct track for my train, I ended up running up and down staircases with my suitcase and the ladies to find my train! Five minutes later, I was on the correct train with about 30 seconds to spare! And in all the panic I was speaking German! My first test and I passed! (more…)

Well, Christmas Concerts ended in Minneapolis last Thursday night, and we headed back to good ol’ Concordia early Friday morning. The picture above is practically what our entire bus looked like that morning - completely and totally sound asleep.

Why where we all sleeping? Well part of it had to do with having to get up at 6 a.m. to get on the busses (what kind of college student gets up at 6am anyways), and the other part of it was that we worked our little tails off the day before with a rehearsal and back-to-back concerts on Thursday night. All in a day’s work I suppose.

Well to quickly touch on the cities concerts at Orchestra Hall, they were incredible! Especially the 9 p.m . concert. Everyone was concentrating so intently and connecting with both the conductor as well as the audience. Right after we finished singing “When I Survey The Wonderous Cross” I had tears filling my eyes because it was just that beautiful, and because I truly realized that, as a senior, this really was my last Christmas Concert. (more…)

In my last post, I talked about the amazing amount of dedication that goes into choir, and especially during Christmas Concert season. Well, have I got a story for you from this weekend!

Friday’s concert went very well, followed by a dumping of snow that night. Well, the snow sure didn’t stop us or concert goers on Saturday as both nights were almost completely full. Satuday afternoon was fine, and Saturday’s night concert was unbelievable.

Unfortunately, I was distracted for about the last third of the concert. You see, the girl that stands next to me I noticed wasn’t breathing regularly. Well I thought she would simply sit out for part or the rest of the concert, but I began to be a little concerned when she stood for the next song and was kind of wobbeling a bit.

So I grabbed her hand to support her a little and hopefully transfer some energy and kept holding her hand until our last mass chorus piece. When everybody started walking I had the chance to lean over and tell her to sit down. At this point, she just collapsed and me and the girl behind her managed to get her into her chair. (more…)