Traveling Fun

Here is a fun video of Anna hauling bags up a long hill on an extremely hot day (probably in the 90's and humid) as we left the bed and breakfast in St. Paul and began the long trip to Berlin.

(Many thanks go to Angie and Joe for letting us borrow their suitcase!)

Our First Apartment in Berlin

Our first apartment was small but brand new. We were told we would only be there for two weeks while they remodeled a bigger apartment in the same complex. It turned into four weeks...

This is the view when you walk in the front door. Notice the washing machine under the counter...that took the place of an oven.

Next is our living/dining/bed room. The closet is where you see something sticking out of the wall. They built the it too shallow so hangers only went in sideways and the sliding doors wouldn't close.

It was a lovely little apartment and we really enjoyed living there...for the first two weeks. After that it became a little tight and we were glad to move into a bigger one.

One Year Anniversary

We celebrated our one year anniversary in Vienna, Austria. It started with an overnight train on Friday night which unfortunately, we missed. We stood on the platform for half an hour when an announcement was made over loud speakers that our train was 40 minutes late. We decided to go get a bite to eat while we waited and although we were back in less than 40 minutes , we cut it too close. The train arrived earlier than predicted and we got there as it was making it’s last call for people to board. We ran up to a conductor, showed him our tickets and asked if it was the right train. Since it was earlier than we expected, we wanted to make sure. He said no and pointed down the train. We were pretty sure it was so we ran in the direction he pointed and asked a female conductor a few cars down while holding out our tickets. The train started to move and she waved us away.

Long story short, they were able to get us on another train two hours later and we arrived in Vienna on Saturday at 11am. We checked in to our hotel, showered, and headed straight to a large outdoor market one of Rick’s bosses suggested we visit. It was almost like going to a huge yard sale because venders were selling everything from old shoes and clothes to artwork, lamp shades, antiques, food, and many other things. It was a lot of fun and we spent most of the afternoon wandering through it.

We then headed to the similar Sacher Hotel for traditional sacher cake. It was delicious!

Rick made reservations at a nice restaurant and bought tickets for us to see the Vienna Mozart Orchestra that evening. We got dressed up, had a wonderful dinner, and enjoyed a fabulous concert in upgraded box seats!

We spent Sunday sight-seeing and took another overnight train that night. It’s quite unpleasant trying to sleep sitting up for nearly 11 hours and thankfully had a chance to spread out for a few hours at the end. Rick had to head straight to work from the train and just took the suitcase and changed into a suit once he got there. He was a great sport but we were both exhausted and ready for a shower.

It was a wonderful trip and quite an exciting way to celebrate our one year anniversary. We couldn’t have chosen a better city for the occasion!

An overview of my 'praktikum.'

This internship is certainly a far cry from any other work experience I have previously had. My first day began when a nice young woman named Nora picked me up at 9:00. We drove immediately to the chamber of commerce where I was to meet one of the partners I would be working under—Martin Dolling. Herr Dolling, however, was running late, so by the time he rushed into the building there was only time for a brief introduction before we ran (literally--this guy never walks) upstairs to a meeting between the various leaders of the chamber. It was a two and a half hour long meeting—in German. Quite the introduction.

After the meeting we proceeded to the firm, which is located in a nice area on the western portion of the Kürfsdamstraße. The firm itself resides in three levels of an old building just off the main road. Each floor is divided into a different partnership, all of which are jointly held together by E. Wagemann and his senior partner, Thorsten Stielow. The third floor holds the most employees, with three main partners and various accountants and assistants. The second floor is a law office of two partners. My office was on the first floor, with Wagemann +Partner New Consulting, which was jointly held by the two partners I worked for—Martin D. and Ferdinand Kögler--and two law partners.

The afternoon of my first day was terrifying. Ferdinand placed a thick consulting presentation on my desk and asked how much of it I could read. Of course, he was trying to determine where I stood in terms of my German. However, given that my single goal of the first day was to impress them, it was a terrible prospect. Naturally, given that the last German I had taken was in high school, I didn’t understand much at all.

Thankfully, the second day I asked for an electronic copy and ran the whole document through Google translator. (I thank God daily for Google!) It was far from perfect, but far better than my previous understanding. I was able to determine the nature of the document and begin doing more research based on my newly found grasp of the material. This now, is what I do, and it has worked quite well. Martin and Ferdinand both make sure to send me electronic copies when possible and I translate them and then begin doing more research for them.

That said, there were two major projects I was introduced to in my first week at Wagemann. The first was a German engineering company that created automatic detection systems for cosmetic defects on cars at the end of assembly lines. The second was a bioenergy company seeking a loan from a bank in order to solve liquidity issues.

In regards to the former, I drove with Martin (going 200+km/h!) down the autobahn to visit their operations site, where I was given a tour and then charged with the task of “doing something to help.” After several requests for clarification, I gave up and am now researching “ways to help.” Martin and I are still working on our communication!

Ferdinand, however, is the person I am working with on a daily basis. He has given me specific tasks in regards to researching the sawmill industry, wood pellet market and German governmental policies on bioenergy. The goal of our research is to determine the likelihood of success for this bioenergy company as it pertains to the risk the bank takes on by expanding their loan to the company. Towards that end, I am currently creating a (rather large) presentation that may or may not be given to the client.

And I am running out of time....so that is my internship thus far in a German nutshell!