Wow.. Maybe I should give into Peer Pressure and take up meditation.

My new love.

We Create

Sketch of the St. Nicholas Church in Hamburg, Germany

We Destroy
Destruction of the St. Nikolas Church in the great fire of May 1842

We Rebuild
Reconstruction of the St. Nicholas Church 1868

We Vanquish the Enemy
An Avro Lancaster Photographed above Hamburg during a bomb raid
Bomb raids begin: July 1943
Bomb raids end: April 1945

We Leave in our Wake
Photograph taken over Hamburg in 1944

Consequences..
The St. Nicholas Church stands in it's original condition after the 1943-45 bomb raids Very little remains besides the original spire that stood as the world's tallest building until the beginning of the 15th Century, and the burned stones that once made up walls

We Cry
Statue in the courtyard of the monument that sits on a pile of bricks brought in from concentration camps around Hamburg
"There is no man on earth that can change the truth, he can only find it and serve it"
Quote engraved on a plate on the otherside of the sculpture not shown

I'm back now.. Can I be the first to inform the world that traveling SUCKS right now?

And now for something completely different..

How popular is your surname in the United States?

I doubt there is a single one of you that can beat out my rating of.. *drumroll* numero 2 in the states!

Ever felt malicious glee? Joy in someone else's pain?

Oh don't deny it, you know at some point you have. Like that moment you found out that the signifigant other that cheated on you is now bawling on someone else's shoulder because they were cheated on. Or that waiter that was treating you quite horribly just got fired for poor treatment of customers.

Well, the Germans actually have a special word and cultural concept purely for these instances in every day life.

At this point in time I would like to point out a great example of this and use the word in the full cultural sense:

Schadenfreude haha!

I went to Berlin just a few days ago, it was quite the experience..

I did everything I had time for. Unfortunatly that did not include going up to the glass dome in the Reichtstag so I could look over the great city expanse.

Forgive me if my spelling is a bit quirky. Unfortunatly learning another language really has taken it's toll on the ability to spell my own.

Germany has been a learning experience, like any college kid that goes abroad I have learned much of another cluture and so forth.. But I honestly can say that quite a bit here that I have seen has honestly broken my heart in more ways than I really have ever felt before.

I went to the great and all beautiful Museum Island, and throughout the wing of the Old Museum (Altes Museum auf Deutsch), there were Egyptian reliefs that had been in perfect condition, but after the intense bombings of WWII by the Allies they were almost completely destroyed.

Priceless artwork that gives us insight into the world of an Ancient culture, nearly destroyed by war. I even have pictures of these beautiful pieces of plaster that still bear the burn marks from the bombs.

Kind of makes you think.. What about the lives lost and the country's faith and pride that was completely abolished?

Destruction of human values in favor of others, the pain the suffering.. I have never felt so much agony over the values I was raised with until I came here. I have felt pain over the ignorance that exists in our country.. Thats a given for any that endeavours to bridge the gap of American culture to universal undestanding and empathy. But god, living with these people and seeing their country's heritage almost completely destroyed and the ultimate effects it still has on their very personalities today.. it just breaks my heart.

Political Graffiti

Venice, Italy

Random Alley Canal

Venice, Italy

Erotic Art Museum Piece

Hamburg, Germany