New Roommate/Ruins in Hohenems

Hello everyone, I hope all is well back in the States. This will be a short, quick post informing you of some of the goings-ons of the past week and a half or so. On Feb 1 I got a new roommate, Arto (pronounced R-2), a DB from Finland. Luckily, he speaks good English so communication is not much of a problem for us. He is a very nice guy and a good player, and we have gotten along very well since he came.

http://sportschump.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/green-bay-packer-cheesehead.jpg

I was able to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday (actually Monday morning for me). We went to an American style sports bar and were served all we could eat pizza, chicken wings, fries, potato wedges, all the healthy, American food that I have been missing since I came here. The game kicked off here at around 12:35 am local time Monday morning. I got home at 5 am, and went straight to bed. It was a cool experience to see the game at such a different time than I am used to, but it's definitely not the way I want to watch it every year. As a Bears fan, I would like to say congratulations to the Packers on their win. However, I would also like to remind everyone that this is still a franchise that most often associated with a dairy product...

This past Sunday a local girl took Arto and I on a hike up to the local ruins above the town of Hohenems. It was supposed to be a pretty easy hike up the mountain, but recent logging of the hill leading up the way turned the normally wider path into a 2-3 foot wide path covered in ice and mud going up an 800 foot mountain. I would consider myself something very far from adventurous, and needless to say, the trek uphill was fairly intimidating. However, when we got to the top, the treacherous journey had been worth it...

View of Hohenems and into Western Switzerland from mountain above Hohenems, Austria.
Southern Germany and Lake Constance are just outside of the right edge of this photo. 

There was an incredible view of the town below, as well as Lake Constance and on into Southern Germany. A sign at the sight told us that there used to be a castle at that spot that was built between 1160-1190 AD. Some of the walls and towers still remained, and it was pretty remarkable to think how old they were. That is about 600 years older than my home country, amazing. Below I will put some pictures of the ruins, hopefully you enjoy them.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully you all made it through the epic snow storm last week and are recovering from the terrible weather. It is starting to warm up here, and we just had a couple of days of about 55 degree weather (12 celsius...a measurement I'm still getting used to). Until next time...

Go Blue Devils/Boys!
Mitch Niekamp

Ruine Altems in Hohenems

Ruine Altems in Hohenems

Ruine Altems in Hohenems

On the way back down the mountain.