The first bike ride

Today (Sunday) was our first full day here and it sure was a long one. We started the day off with a small worship/dedication service with those in the program. It was leaded by the staff and creators of the program. Soon after that had ended we all got ready to head out on our bike ride.

Tim lead us on a total of about 12 miles. We went through all of Heidelberg and then through fields to the next town of Ladenburg. This town is even older then Heidelberg, as we rode through it the buildings and atmospheres almost seemed fake, like a movie set or even Disneyland. So you can imagine how awesome it was (we will update this post soon and add pictures of the town). This town was the home to Karl Benz who is the inventor of the very first automobiel! So we got to go into a small museum that was inside his actual garage. There they had his first car that his wife drove down the streets of Ladenburg as his test drive.




At the end of the bike ride we went to a bbq with several of the private teachers (however neither one of our teachers were there). The went all the way to the american military base to get "American" food like chips and salsa, rootbeer (something they do not have), hamburgers, and hot dogs. They taught us this game involving wooden pegs and sticks. We do not remember what the name of the game is but it was a lot of fun and we probably were the best players. Our team didn't win but we promise you that we were the best and we should have won. The bike ride and bbq ended around 8 so now we are just about to head to bed and soon start our next day!

Tomorrow is another packed day of running around and trying to get us adapted to this new culture. The next 3 days we have crash courses in German which is good, because we are both anxious to learn a few phrases to help us around our every day.

Thanks!

We made it safe and sound!!

After a 5 hour plane ride to Detroit followed by a 71/2 hour flight we made it to the Frankfurt international airport safe and sound! Both of the flights went really well - we actually landed in Frankfurt 30 min early, so that was great! Once we had landed we met with Tim (the head of the program out here) and he took us to Heidelberg (Which is only an hour drive away from the airport)!
The town is even more beautiful then I had imagined! It is nestled in between two hills which are both covered with green trees. And all of the buildings are so beautiful and unique in their own way. Many of the buildings have shutters and planter boxes decorating their windows. It is great!! David has been taking tons of pictures so in the next few days and we will try to get a few pictures up of the town.
As for now, we are both horribly jet lagged - but we are so excited to be here!! Tomorrow the group is going on a bike ride around the city to get a better picture and feel of it. We hope to be able to give a better update in the next few days on the town and how we are doing when we are not this sleep deprived!

Praise the Lord that we had a safe trip, and everything worked out perfectly and according to plan! We feel so blessed to be here, and excited for what he has in store!

Hope to write back soon
Love - David and Jess

3 more days

Oh me oh my we leave so soon! The group is meeting at APU at 4am Friday morning to head on out to LAX for our 8 am flight!
Right now I guess we are both fumbling to get all of our stuff packed and ready to go. It is really hard to try to figure out how to pack for 4 months in two suit cases. But at least if we forget anything, or realize we need something it should be really easy to get that in Germany. I mean we are going to be living in a town, not out in the middle of no where! So that is good!
This past weekend David's parents hosted a fund raiser dinner and it turned out to be a huge success! It was a lot of fun and filled with great loving people! So thank you to all of Davids family who helped out and made that possible, and another huge thank you to all of the friends and family who contributed to the success of the evening!
It is so crazy to think that the next blog will be written from Germany, and hopefully that will make the post a little bit more interesting then this one!

A little something about us and our trip. . .

We thought that it would be helpful to our family and friends to have a small "bio" on each one of us as well as a little info on how we met.  The reason for this is that we are sure most of you only either know one of us, or know little of our relationship.  (Like the fact that it might have even existed ha ha)  We hope that this can be helpful or at least, interesting!

Here we go:

David Catalan is currently pursuing a degree in Music Education and will be completed with it at the end of this school year.  He attended Citrus College for several years and transferred over to Azusa Pacific University two years ago.  In Germany he will be studying music with members of the Heidelberg Philharmonic.  He will also have opportunities to play in various ensembles including chamber ensembles, orchestra and jazz band.  He has been studying composition and arranging for the past several years and is looking forward to furthering his study while in Germany.

Jessica Guy is also in her last year of college at APU and is working on her BM in French horn performance.  This will be her primary focus during her time in Germany.  While there, she will have the chance to play in a number of ensembles with students from the University of Heidelberg.  She is looking forward to study privately with the principal horn player of the Heidelberg philharmonic.

This program has been created by both Dr. Funderburk, the Dean of the APU School of Music, and Tim Schwartz, a musical instructor and contractor in Heidelberg.  Some of the courses we will be taking include: World Civilizations, Baroque and Classical music history, German 101, and Concert Music.  The purpose of this is to give the students an opportunity to study in a place that is rich in both culture and history. Both of us hope to use this time to grow, not only as musicians, but as individuals.

We are sure that now most of you are oh so interested to hear "our story" on how our relationship started.  It  all began about two years ago when David started going to APU.  We played in several ensembles together and instantly became friends.  At the beginning of this year we finally went out on our first date and everything has fit so perfectly into place since then.  Our time together has been a tremendous joy and blessing for both of us and we are thrilled with the fact that we can share this amazing opportunity in Germany.

Random Information about the trip

We received a basic itinerary that includes a lot of the small day trips we will be taking as a group. I thought that some people might interested in seeing what we will be up too. . .

8/30 Arrival
8/31 Orientation tour/opening barbecue
9/1-3 Orientation activities/German crash course/Course Introductions
9/4-7 Travel to Eisenach, Weimar and Leipzig
9/8 Normal course schedule begins
9/13 Trip to Ladenburg/ visit Ladenburg Old Town Festival
9/19 Day-trip Schwetzingen
9/21 Optional: Rhein-River Boat Tour
9/27 Heidelberger Herbst Old Town Festival
10/1-5 Travel: Salzburg/Vienna
10/17-19 Open optional long travel-weekend
10/24 Day-trip Speyer
10/31 Day-trip Mannheim
11/7-9 Open optional long travel-weekend
11/21 Day trip tba
11/26 begin Heidelberg Christmas Market
11/27 Thanksgiving
12/6 Closing celebration/dinner
12/7 Departure

I know it is a lot - But hopefully we can update regularly enough to talk about everything on here.

We also got our flight information which is really exciting! We fly out of LAX to Frankfurt, Germany at 8:30 am on August 29th! So soon, but still very exciting!

Soon we will be going to a orientation/ meeting on the 28th - and then right after we will be flying out!

-Jessica

Mailing Address

Here is the mailing address to the place where we will be living:

Our Name
bei Pension Jeske
Mittelbadgasse 2
69117 Heidelberg
Germany

As of August 2008 I know that international postage is $0.94 for letters and postcards.
Thanks!!