Abstecher ins Abenteuer und Döner

That title translates to something like this: Walk on the Wild Side and Döner. Yes, Döner cannot be translated into Englisch. It is an inalienable part of German culture (yes, the Declaration of Independence just came to mind). I decided today that Döner is my favorite food in this world: a amazing combination of salat, lots of veggies, strange dressings, käse (cheese), and a kind of meat that is indescribable and varies from Döner-Shop to Döner-Shop. I have heard rumors that the meat is a hybrid of lamb and chicken, other places have said beef...all that really matters is that it is LECKER (tastes so so good). Usually the meat is placed at strategic places in the pita-like toasted bread, some on top and some at the bottom with all of the tasty goodness in the middle. Today, I had only my second Döner in my 2 weeks or so of being here in München thus far. And I decided that I have not had the proper amount of Döner one must eat if one lives here.

So lots of Abenteuer (adventure) happened this past week. After the mighty Eagles fell to Tennessee by a close margin (we were tied with 5 minutes left!) the adventures began. I have to say I'm proud of my school and my team for coming up so big and almost pulling off one of the greatest upsets in the history of the NCAA Tournament. Over the weekend I went out to Schloss Nymphenburg and had my first ever castle experience in Deutschland. This Schloss was gigantic, actually it is so big that it is a majority of the area of München by the same name. So I walked around with a friend for a few hours through the grounds, taking in the beautiful grounds. Later in the week, a friend and I went to see "Der Herr der Ringe" (the first Lord of the Rings film) with the entire Münchener Philharmonie and two choirs, the University Chor and a Children's Chor. But before we got in to the show, we had to get tickets. It was sold out, so we ended up writing a sign (Wir brauchen Karten...We need tickets!). Most people that walked past us and saw the sign laughed with their buddy and made jokes about it. It was definitely interesting to see people's reactions...I almost felt part of a pyschology experiment. About half of the concert-goers pointed out that people were selling tickets 5 feet away from us! Did they really think we didn't see people selling tickets?!? We needed 2 to go to the show, so 1 would not be good enough (which is what we told them). So one woman finally had 2 tickets she wanted to sell for a bit less than face value, but really far away from the stage. We decided to pass and see if we could get something better. Our luck seemed to fade away quickly when a couple rushed up to the woman and bought them off of her. I honestly thought it was the end and there was no hope left....until 5-10 minutes before show-time. A guy came up to us and offered his one ticket and we told him we needed two, but THEN one guy said he had 2 and they were great seats. We ended up getting them for less than half of the face value. These seats were dead center, one section back, just perfect seats. And the performance was beyond epic. I have never experienced anything like this and probably will not again. I had chills running down my spine for the whole film. I literally felt part of the movie and the music was really incredible. I had never sat down and listened to the LOTR soundtrack but in this setting I appreciated it so much more. The soloists were right on and the music matched and exceeded the epicness of an already epic film. All I can say is 2009 = The Two Towers in München.