CBYX Final Seminar

Outside the Bundestag

The last week of May, all the CBYXers made their way to Berlin for our Final Seminar. From Tuesday through Saturday, we spent our time discussing our internships, our struggles/accomplishments during our stay in Germany, and also had a special day dedicated to us at the Deutsche Bundestag (German Parliament) where we met the German Parliament President and U.S. Ambassador to Germany, among others. It was an exhausting, but exciting week of events. The best part was I got to see the great friends I have made in the program all in one place and we were all able to hang out together for an entire week. Woo!!

Brandenberg Gate outside the U.S. Embassy

Now my FIFTH time in Berlin, there was still so much I wanted to see and do, and I also got to revisit some of my favorite places. The seminar was great this time around because they gave us a lot of free time to explore the city and hang out. They even took us on a city boat tour on the Spree River.

Spree River City Tour

Hanging out in Gorlitzer Park in Kreuzberg; reserved karaoke room in the East; Maria Bonita (remember the AMAZING Mexican food I raved about before? We brought lots of Americans back here to try it out for themselves. Verdict: AMAZING); chilling in a Biergarten with perfect weather; theatrical performance that there are no words to describe; White Trash Fast Food bar/club/restaurant/tattoo parlor for the second time;  a day dedicated to us at the Deutsche Bundestag with the 250 CBYX high school participants, as well as the 75 of us, along with event put on for us at the U.S. Embassy..... to sum it up as much as possible, this was my funnest time in Berlin. (I was even here a day before to hang out with my parents... even better).

Berlin Biergarten

Gorlitzer Park

White Trash Fast Food

After our seminar ended on Saturday, some of us headed to Dresden where our good CBYX friend, Johnny, lives. He is a brewer for Radeberger beer, and his brewery was having a big festival that only happens once every 3 years. Lucky us!

Radeberger Brewery

Johnny gave us a personalized tour of the brewery (in the small town of Radeberg), and we even got to try things like yeast and unfermented beer (definitely not recommended folks). We all enjoyed the weather & then celebrated our friend, Brent's, birthday at midnight. Sunday we went back to the festival for a little bit to see the bottling process and get some souvenirs. Then it was back to Mainz for work the next morning. I took a Mitfahr who was an older lady who had to have driven faster than anyone I have ever been in a car with. She got me from Dresden to Mainz (500 km) in 3 1/2 hours!! (with traffic!)... Germans and the Autobahn.

Learning about the ingredients

Check out more pics on Picasa here!