Fall Ramblings

In keeping with the theme of last week's post, this week continued the trend of things moving quickly here. Thanks to prudent planning and a willingness to explore, the time spent between games is going by faster than it has throughout this whole summer. Perhaps one of the biggest culprits to this is the sudden realization that came upon me this past weekend: it's not Summer anymore. All of my friends at home are back at school, the people I care about had their first athletic contests, the days here grow ever shorter...most shockingly, it's September. Summer in my mind is June through August; September is firmly rooted in the Fall, no matter the weather conditions or the circumstances of my life. Going into this experience and throughout it, I've thought of this as strictly a Summer gig. Here I am, still in Germany, and it's unmistakably Fall in my mind. It's a bit jarring, but I think it will only help in the transition to leaving here and going home in a few weeks.

Since the clock on our time here is ticking, on Thursday Mitch and I finally decided to take a hike to an area we've had in mind for most of the summer, the Osnabrueck Peisberg. We've referred incorrectly to it as a mountain; it's more of a big, big hill. The weather was perfect, overcast yet still warm, and we made it to the area we wanted to get to without getting too lost. We were treated to some impressive views of the city and surrounding areas and got a great walk in the bargain. This hike is something I would have regretted not doing if we hadn't, and it killed time on an otherwise slow afternoon.

Pictures from the hike

This weekend, we played the Rostock Griffins at home. They were our second win earlier this season, in which I had my first breakout game statistically and we coasted through most of the second half after building an early lead. In the weeks preceding this second match-up, however, the Griffins, who played through most of the season winless, played well to a close loss and first win. That win came against a team that beat us handily twice, so we spent the week of practice preparing for this new look team. We would not take them lightly the second time, especially considering our own circumstances.  Saturday came and we had more players than we have in weeks, but we were still determined to play as hard as we have with the depleted rosters we've grown accustomed to. 

 Waiting for the start of the game

The game started off slow, but then picked up quickly. Although Rostock had visibly improved, they were still beaten soundly. Since our receiving corps was almost back to full strength, and the weather was good, we focused mostly on the passing game. We scored easily, on drives and big plays, and our defense played its best game of the season. I didn't have to play any defense for the first time in seven games, since the first time we played them back in June. Even with this extra rest, I had the least touches I've had all season. The offense was still potent, though, so I'm just happy with the win. Next week I'll have to make up for all the in-game downtime. 

 After Stra's first TD

Postgame huddle

Statline for me: 12 rushes for 88 yards, 3 touchdowns, 1 catch for 1 yard, a kickoff return and a punt return for 20 and 16 yards, respectively. Team: 45-7 win. Unfortunately, the most important statistic from the game is a negative one: three of the offensive linemen that played were hurt at some point in the game. We're not sure about the status for all of them for next week against a strong Hamburg team, but with an already depleted group, we might face major issues to close out the season. Somehow, I'm sure we'll find a way to make things work.

 

A few more pictures from the game

Also this ridiculousness...lots of press

A few weeks ago, Mitch and I decided that we needed to visit Berlin. It's one of the most major cities in the country, probably the most famous, and, for me, where my brother-in-law Curtis grew up, so it was a must-see after having lived in Germany for so long. After doing some research, finding out about costs associated and looking at our schedules, it appeared that the most logical thing would be to drive down ourselves and spend a day in the city. After planning for a Monday day-trip and being foiled by the forecast of rain, we settled on Tuesday for our day in the city. We prepared our things for the long drive Monday night and planned to spend most of the day exploring.

Berlin is a four to five hour drive from Osnabrueck, so we planned to leave at five AM. We were both up by four thirty, and on the road around five because we were shooting at making an eleven o'clock free tour. We're both on a money crunch because of our upcoming trips, so we weren't planning on spending money on much of anything outside of gas for the trip, so eating breakfast and packing food for later was important. The drive took even longer than we expected after we hit an hour-long traffic jam following what looked like a bad wreck. As fast as you can drive on the Autobahn, you can be stopped to standstill just as easily. This is the second time I've been caught in an hour-plus jam, and really only the second long car trip I've taken on the road here (discounting bus trips). So, we missed the tour and had to wait to catch the next one at two, but we got into Berlin and parked around eleven o'clock. Nothing like a six hour car ride to kick off the day.

 The first sign I saw after leaving the parking garage

Immediately upon stepping foot onto the sidewalk I realized that this city was different than any other I've seen thus far in Europe, or in my life. Our parking garage was located not even a few hundred meters from Checkpoint Charlie, and important historical spot. This is the only place that people could pass between Germany's Iron Curtain from the West to the East and vice versa, and as such was essentially the front line of the Cold War. Seeing this right out of the car set the tone for the day. Nowhere else have I seen that so embraces its history, the bad and the good. I use the word embraces, but that's not quite the right word for the vibe Berlin emanates; perhaps 'acknowledges' or 'presents' are more appropriate. History permeates the streets here. This is in part because the history is so recent, some of it only as old as I am, but it dominates the landscape nonetheless. Within fifteen minutes and very little movement we had seen Checkpoint Charlie, the remains of the Berlin wall, and a museum dedicated to the history of the Topographie des Terrors, the district that housed the headquarters of many major Nazi agencies, including the SS. Somber doesn't begin to describe the mood in visiting these landmarks.

Piece of the wall

 These are a series of pop-art projects that the city has presented on pieces of the wall. They're incredible.

The section of wall still standing

Beyond the immediate history, Berlin buzzed. It is the busiest city I've been in; the craziness of the traffic was something I don't think anyone ever grows accustomed to. What seems like half of the street crossings are without any type of crosswalk or direction, with cars and bikes and mopeds and pedestrians all jockeying for the right of way without any authority siphoning anyone into their proper places. After a bit more wandering on our own and finding good things on what seemed like just about every corner, we had a quick, cheap bite to eat (maybe the best doner I've had here) and met up with our free tour at two o'clock. On the tour, we saw a great deal more than we did on our own and had many of the things we found ourselves explained at length. This is the second tour I've taken through this company, and I've not been disappointed yet. I plan on taking another in Dublin when I'm there. That's probably the best advice I can offer to anyone traveling the major cities of Europe: find the free tours if they're available. They are an invaluable tool to become acquainted with things. I was even more impressed by the city after the tour. We saw the things from before the conflict, the more majestic, European areas of the city. And these were the most impressive of any I've seen yet.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

After the tour was a bit of a walk back to the car and the long drive home. Thankfully there wasn't much traffic on the way back, and we made great time, a bit over three and a half hours. Even after an entire summer together, Mitch and I managed to hold a good level of conversation for the majority of the trip. He's been a good travel companion; it's strange to think that this was most likely our last trip together until the journey to the airport in Dusseldorf at the end of our stay here.

And so the time winds down even more. Another week down, another trip down, another trip on the horizon. As always, I go with the flow as much as I can, and enjoy it while it lasts.