Germany

Germany 2008 & 2009

Gutersloh, Germany

    I have been fortunate in my young life to have traveled abroad four times prior to this newest adventure. My first opportunity began in the fall of 2007. I walked into my academic advising office and spotted a flier for an informational meeting about a program called Camp Adventure. A friend, who was with me, had heard about the program and encouraged me to look into it with her. By the end of that week I was going through the application process and had a tentative acceptance into the program. 

Amsterdam

    That following spring, of 2008, I trained with other excited college students to run a summer camp. During that time, I found out that I would be going to a British Army Garrison located in Gutersloh, Germany. So off I was, on my first international trip abroad, unknowing that this would starting a seemingly incessant need for travel. The camp would run for 5 weeks, giving me four solid weekends to explore the region. I traveled to Bielefeld, Berlin, Cologne, in Germany. I also traveled to Amsterdam and Bruges, Belgium. 

     I went home at the end of that summer ready to travel again. I signed up for Camp Adventure again, but this time I would be helping to train the new set of counselors. They finally split the training between UC Davis and Sac State, so every other Tuesday I made the long drive with Kasey, again. I was recommended to be a Camp Director, and found out I would be returning to Gutersloh for the summer of 2009. I shared the role with a fellow veteran of the program out of UC Davis. 

Dortmund, Germany 
(Soccer Match)

 It was a wonderful experience to go back to the same site and since the program only provides four travel weekends, I got to expand my travel of northern Germany and surrounding areas. In Germany, I traveled to Bielefeld, Bottrop, Cologne, Detmold, Dortmund, Munster, Osnabruck, and Paderborn (revisiting a few of the old sites with my new travel buddies). I also traveled to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and Brussels, Belgium. Just outside of Brussels is a former Nazi Labor Camp situated at Fort Breendonk in the village of Willebroek. I am not sure if I ever wish to visit a site like Auschwitz, the air felt heavy enough in that small labor camp. 

Detmold, Germany 
(Horsemen of the Apocalypse Statue)

Brussels, Belgium

Cologne, Germany