Germany Group Trip

What an experience - I feel like we've been exposed to the Martin Luther side of the early 1500s here in Germany. The humanities class (and the rest of the crew has had the shortened version presented to them) has learned about the Medici family coming to power in Florence and throughout the region as the Renassiance period flourished. We've been exposed to how the Medici family had a member who finally became pope who really abused the position. This was about the time that Martin Luther went on his journey to Rome and became disgusted at how the money was being spent to fund St. Peter's and how money was being spent to supposedly buy a passageway into Heaven. Well, now we've had a dip in the German culture. We toured Worms where Martin Luther had the opportunity to recant his statements against the church's actions. We gained respect for his actions and bravery.

We also had some good ol' German culture fun - outside of class. Here is a run-down of our German experience: We arrived in Mainz on an overnight train - the group's first overnight train experience. We met up with J.R. Duke (Dr. Ganus' grandson - Debbie Duke's son - for anyone with HU connections) who played basketball at HU when Clay and I were in school; J.R. is a professor at the University of Mainz and lives in Germany. Clay and J.R. have planned and planned for this program and have spent countless hours making the experience wonderful. J.R. has put a tremendous amount of hours into planning our Germany trip unforgettable, and he met us at the train station with some German sport friends upon our arrival with a German snack and drink in hand. After storing our luggage at the station, we trained to Bingen, caught a boat across the river to Rudesheim, strolled the streets and shopped a bit, and got back on the Rhein River for a little cruise down to Bacharach. J.R. located a bakery in Rudesheim and picked up a birthday cake for Lauren (see picture #2), so we celebrated her birthday before the group split up for free-travel. We then trained to the gym where J.R. coaches a German basketball team and had a pickup basketball game. Then, we had a cookout with some of J.R.'s sports friends and church friends. The BAT students slept at the Mainz Youth Hostel and were pleased with their "quarters."

The next day, the group bused to the new soccer stadium and got a tour (it was under construction, thus the hard hats - see picture #3). The group bused to downtown Mainz and strolled among the open-air markets seeing the fruits, veggies, and flowers with the cathedral in the background. Then, the BAT group met up with J.R. at the university where he works, went into his classroom of German students studying the American south, and split up into small groups (Americans and Germans together) where the Germans took the Americans to eat lunch on campus. We met up at the end of the experiential class and discussed our differences in the food arena. Getting to know students in that setting in a new culture was a special way to experience the German culture. We then trained to Worms - refer back to paragraph one.

Back at Mainz, the Beasons waved goodbye to the BAT group, wishing them safe travels and lots of fun. We spent the night in Frankfurt. My parents flew over to meet up with us for our free-travel week. We did the same Rhein River cruise that we took the students on the other day - I wanted my folks to experience it. See picture #4 - castle ruins in the background. We went further north to St. Goar upon Rick Steves' recommendation (see picture #5). Now, Clay, A-C, and I are back at J.R.'s apartment kicking back and relaxing and discussing how things went for the students, what could be improved upon, what we loved, what we'd change, etc.

Hopefully, this relationship/exposure to/with the German university students and our HU BAT students can be continued. I feel like we've had a unique time in Germany with J.R.'s expertise and preparation, and I know our BAT students appreciate his efforts. I'm so thankful to him and to Clay for the work that has gone into the trip. The schedule has been absolutely packed full, but the BAT crew is college students, and they can handle the physical and mental demands!

I know that they'll come back to Scandicci early next week with story after story, and we'll be ready to hear them all!