Jason Michael Spruell2004
Below FYI is the recent email that I received from Jason who is doing chemistry research in Germany during the summer. Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer...Jay Dear Mr. Masingill and the Ramsey Family, I hope that this email finds you and the Ramsey Family well. I am writing from a slightly dreary Northern Germany Sunday afternoon but enjoying this Lord's day to the fullest. I attended high Mass this morning, probably understood about 20% of it, but hoped God would give me the best parts. There is a lot of faith involved in living in a foreign country with minimal language skills. I say that, but my German is improving steadily every day. It is much work though. I came to Germany nearly four weeks ago. I spent the first five days with my brother at his house in the small town of Obernberg south of Frankfurt. I mostly rested and recovered from both jet lag and the end of the semester (I came to Germany only five days after my last exam, it was a very busy time). I had a wonderful time with my brother and his german wife during this time. For easy reverence, their names are Derek and Christin (pronounced Christine). Anyway, they then drove me to my new home of Münster, Germany. It is a distance of about 3 and 1/2 hours by car and 5 by train (something of a colossal distance to most Germans but it doesn't seem too bad to my American sense of distance). I spent one and a half weeks working in Münster before I took a week off to visit Italy. My mother and her husband were there for the wedding of his son. I had a very good time in Tuscany and saw many great things (including Michelangelo's David in Florence and the Leaning tower in Pisa). Despite the greatness of the cities, I found the Tuscan countryside to be the highlight of the trip. The wedding was held in the same villa in which most of the family was staying in the middle of Tuscany. It was beautiful and peaceful and such a treat. I returned to Germany at the end of a great week in Italy and then returned to work. I love my job here working in the lab of Dr. Armido Studer at the University of Münster. My coworkers are very nice as well as Dr. Studer. It has only been one week today since I returned to Münster after my Italian trip. German life is good and the people are very friendly. This is becoming a very great experience and I am glad that I can share a little bit of it with you via email. I have sent an email to Josh Moore but have not received a reply. I believe that I will try calling him. It would be wonderful to meet up with another member of the Ramsey family while here in Germany. I am not so sure of how much traveling I will be doing during the rest of my time here in Germany. I am somewhat limited to weekends. I know that I will spend some time in Garmish, Germany around July 18 (my brother's as well as my birthdays are two day apart and we would like to spend some time in the German alps on holiday). I would love to get to Vienna though to see the great city and to visit with John Harris. I still need to get his contact information from Ms. Duvall; if you happen to speak with her before I do, could you have her forward that to me? Thank you again for everything. I think about next summer and my Ramsey trip with rising delight nearly every day. It is great that I will be able to spend this summer living in Europe and next summer traveling through Europe. Please pass this email on to members of the Ramsey family if you feel it is appropriate. I send you all my best. Mit freundlich Grüße aus Münster, Jason Spruell I trust that you are well and that you are enjoying a lovely Tuscaloosa July. I would also imagine that preparations are already being made for the fall semester. It is amazing how fast a summer can fly by. I am thoroughly enjoying my stay in Europe and am sure that this experience will be a fond source of memories for the future. I am, however, also looking forward to my return to the Capstone and the completion of my undergraduate education. I have learned a great deal while working in Münster, in Chemistry, German, and about the rest of the world. That might sound somewhat cliché but I think it is true. This is the first time that I have lived completely on my own and had to depend fully on my self. I very much appreciate the situation faced by foreigners in the States that have difficulty with the language and understanding the customs. I am glad to say that I have nearly made it through the trip and am still alive. I have tried to seize every possibility that presented itself and hopefully I will be fully satisfied on later evaluation of this experience. I had originally planned the project that I would work on in the lab while still in Tuscaloosa. However, I was given the opportunity to try my hand at a slightly different project when I arrived in Münster. It was a high-risk but high-rewards project in that this group had never tried something like it before; therefore, it could work and be immediately publishable or it could die hard. Well luckily I have been working on other smaller projects on the side because the main one died hard. That is not to say that it isn't a good result--now my boss knows that this chemistry will not work and there is no longer a need to try it out. That is research. Through this project, though, and some of the other things that I have been doing in the lab, I have been able to learn many new techniques, work in a different field of chemistry that I had previously, and expand my options in Chemistry for the future. Therefore, the chemistry side of my summer stay has been a success. While not being able to travel extensively this summer due to my work obligations, I have been able to see a little bit of Europe. I already told you and the Ramsey Family of my trip to Italy. That is a very memorable part of this summer. I spent my fourth of July weekend in Northern Germany, near the North Sea in the city of Bremen. I was greatly impressed with the landscape of Northern Germany, not very well known to most Americans, which is made up of dykes and canals crisscrossing large fields shadowed by windmills. The people are very sea faring. I stayed with my brother's parents-in-law in their very old thatched roof house that was built in 1789. That was an experience that was only topped by the fact that all of the surrounding houses were of the same period. There is a little European life lesson: being old doesn't mean bad. Bremen is a lovely city set off from the North Sea and connected by a large river. That weekend concluded with a motortour through the Lüneberge Heide towards Hannover. The Heide is the German word for the flower Heather. There were fields and fields of the stuff and the entire region is named for it. It was quite lovely. I spent the weekend and beginning part of the week surrounding my birthday in German Alps in the cities of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. That is an amazing place. It is set at about 3000 feet with the 9000 foot Zugspitze (the tallest peak in Germany) towering over the valley. Because the valley is quite low elevation, the temperature was lovely. I spent the morning of my birthday paragliding from the Alpsitze (a slightly smaller mountain). It was a wonderful experience to fly over Garmisch; paragliding is something that I have always wanted to do and I can think of no better place to do it. We stayed the last two nights of the trip at the Eibsee-a crystal-clear, alpine lake at the base of the Zugspitze. The water was the ideal temperature for swimming in that you had to keep moving to stay warm. I cannot remember ever swimming in a nicer lake with such a panorama. That was a trip to remember and I fully recommend the Garmisch area to any traveler in need of some fun in the sun. I spent last Saturday in the Netherlands in the small town of Enschede. Again, that was lovely and surprising. I am only about one hour by train from the Niederlander border and it makes a nice trip to cross over. It is amazing how short the distances are into a different world. The language is an obvious difference but also architectural styles and customs change tremendously with short distances. I went with a friend from work to the big open air market that is held every Saturday in Enschede. That was a treat and delight. I am still enjoying very fresh Dutch cheese from that adventure. I have one other big trip planned. I have some friends that live in Cambridge, England that have invited me for a weekend. I have managed to arrange the completion of my work in Münster and the start of this trip to coincide. I will move out of Münster and go immediately the next day to the airport for a three day trip around Cambridge and London. I hope to see Oxford and Cambridge in this trip. This experience will be very fresh on my mind when I return to the States because I will fly from London to Frankfurt on Monday and then return to the States on Wednesday. I am looking forward to telling you and the Ramsey family more about it at the lake party. One of my regrets for this trip is that I wasn't able to plan things well enough to be able to visit some of the members of the Ramsey family that are currently living in Europe. That gives me all the more reason to look forward to my traveling Ramsey trip next summer. Thank you again Mr. Masingill and the Ramsey family for all of your support. I feel that this summer has very much primed me for the Ramsey tour next year. I wish you and the Family all the best. Sincerely, Jason Spruell ---------------------------BEGIN SUMMER 2005 Great Ideas/Honeymoon Tour ------------- Dear Jay, I thought you might like to know, Joy and I have worked out a rough iternerary with dates for the Ramsey Tour. I will be emailing Jan Duvall for help in organizing with John Harris and other Ramsey Family members overseas. This is very rough and subject to change, especially because my brother and his wife are expecting twins to be born sometime in June. May 11: Arrive Marseille, France May 12-20: Travel in Southern France and Italy (Florence, Pisa, Rome, Venice, Milan) May 21: Arrive in Geneva, stay with family friend in Geneva May 22-27: Sightsee around Geneva and travel across Alps towards Vienna May 28: Arrive Vienna, visit with John Harris May 29-June 2: Visit around Vienna and travel north through Prague and Berlin June 3: Arrive Bremen, visit with family June 4-6: either travel north to Denmark with family or go south through the Netherlands/Belgium/Luxembourg (possibly staying with John Harris in Belgium) June 7-10: Visit around Muenster with friends, colleagues and travel in the low countries June 11-22: Stay around Obernburg, Germany with my brother. Visit around central Germany including Heidelberg to see Josh Moore. June 22: Arrive Paris June 25: Fly to England June 26-July 11: Travel through northern England and Scotland with Joy's parents. Also plan to visit Bill Barnard in Oxford. Thanks again, Jason Received first email below from Jason Spruell on his Great Ideas Tour. You may recall Jason was married just before departing so he and his wife Joy are enjoying a honeymoon Great Ideas Tour...Jay 5/16/05 Hello from Cinquoterra Dear All, Joy and I wanted you to know that we are safe and in Italy. We have had a wonderful time so far, camping in campsites along the way. We are now in an internet cafe in Monterossa, Italy. It is part of the Cinquoterra--beautiful mountainside towns nestled on the Mediterranean about 1 hour south of Genoa. Things are going great. We began our trip in Marseille, France and took some time to recover from our travels. The next day, we were able to find a great camping supply store where we stocked up. We filled up the back of our little Peugeot. It is a zippy little car that can compete with all of the crazy Italian drivers. We drove through small roads in France through Marseille to stay on the Mediterranean in Cassis, France. Our first camping night was quite save and provided a wonderful way to walk through the open air market in Cassis the next day before taking off for St. Tropez. St. Tropez had great views of the yachts coming and going along the French Riviera. There was a lovely couple staying near us who had been traveling around the Continent for around 30 years that had much advice about Italy and especially Venice. We took there advice to avoid Cannes and Nice during the Cannes film festival and therefore traveled on the Motorway at least until Monaco where we got back on the slow Sea road. Monaco was a wonderful little side trip. It was amazing to see all of the buildings nestled on the cliffs with gorgeous views. It didn't take long to drive through Monaco with the occasional stop for pictures. Italy came soon after Monaco and along with that, the desire to get back on the Autostrada. It would take two years to get anywhere on the little road, so at San Remo we found the Autostrada again and made our way to Genoa. The landscape and people are amazing in that 100 km will change the way in which people live. The farming increased with Italy and every available space on the hillsides was used. Genoa was a very industrial shipping town but we were able to find a camping stop up a hill in a very rainy canyon. It was a rainforest where we were staying but it was dry and arid down at the Sea--quite interesting. From Genoa we made our way yesterday to Levanto, Italy where we stayed in a wonderful campsite a short walk from the beach and little town. We are exploring today on the Cinquoterra--five little secluded towns that are connected by walking trail and train only. They are quite the sight and we feel so blessed to have the opportunity to see them. Joy and I wanted to thank all of those who have made this trip possible. We will write soon again. We have alot of Italy to cover and then off to Switzerland. Sincerely, Jason and Joy 5/31/05 Dear Ramsey Family, We wanted to update everyone on our trip and also apologize for not writing in several weeks. We are having a wonderful time and thank you for making this possible. We arrived in Vienna two days ago and explored the tourist sites yesterday. John Harris is quite a character and has been so hospitable to Joy and I. It is a true pleasure to stay in Vienna through the kindness of John. After our last message from the Cinquoterra we drove through Pisa to see the leaning tower and then on to Florence. We camped at Camping Michelangelo--a camping site just down the street from the Piazella Michelangelo and we had the wonderful view of the Dom just out of our tent door. It was a soggy night and afternoon though and we got a little wet in the city. Florence is a beautiful city though rain or shine; we had a good time and sought sanctuary from the rain in Brunelleschi's dome. From Florence we drove through Tuscan countryside towards Rome. It was wonderful to spend some time around the small Tuscan villages and hillside towns. San Giminano is a wonderful town of towers that provided a great afternoon walk. From there we drove on towards Rome. The threat of rain after an already soggy night helped us choose a hotel for that night. We had planned to stay outside of the city around the GRA (ring around the city) so not to have to drive all the way in but all the hotels were booked up. We ended up going right in. Other than a minor fender bender in Rome the driving was altogether scary. But I managed to find a hotel after a few goes around the Piaza del Republica roundabout (no yielding in Italy). Our car and the car of the Japanese man that hit us were both fine. After a dry night in the hotel we took out to explore Rome--taking a tour of the Colleseum and Forum and then going to the Vatican. It was altogether interesting and a lovely day. We managed to be in another accident on the bus into the center of the city though as our bus squeezed past a nice mercedes. After a brief (2 minutes tops) meeting between the driver and the bus driver--all was well and we were again underway. We learned a valuable lesson--stay out of the bus' way in Rome. We were then especially thankful to be able to drive to beautiful Venice, especially after driving in Rome. Along the way we drove through very beautiful mountains and had lunch in a very local mom and pop bicycle cafe for paninis. We stayed near Venice across the lagoon at the Punto Sabioni, a long stretch of campsites. Ours is a walk away from the ferry and isn't too expensive. Venice was beautiful and charming and we are having a wonderful time strolling. Our ferry out of St. Marks square with the sun setting over the city is a wonderful memory. We left Venice the next day towards Geneva with a night in the Lake district planned. We stayed on Lago Maggiori--the western most lake in a town called Stresa. The roses were all in bloom and the palm trees were amazing. The lake was lovely and the people were all very friendly. From there we drove north to go over Simplon pass into Geneva. However, coming near the pass, we were stopped by Italian policeman. Neither being able to speak English, in broken German we were able to communicate that the pass was closed but there was a train that could carry us and our car through the pass. We then got the adventure of traveling by train in our car through the pass and arrived in Switzerland. From there we drove through stunning Swiss mountains not far from Zermatt towards Geneva. We stayed with a family friend just outside of the city center. It was great to be so close to the international center. We spent the next day walking around the city and seeing the spout on the lake. We had dinner in the charming French medieval town of Yvoire on the French side of Lake Geneva. We were so impressed with the medieval charm of the city that we decided to include more such adventures to our plan. We spent the next day northeast of Geneva in Swiss alpine country, visiting the medieval town of Gruyere and the cheese factory at the base of it. Let´s just say that everything smells like cows in the Swiss pastureland. The lush pastures run all the way to the top of the mountains. We drove from Gruyere over Jaun pass and somewhere along the way passed back into German speaking Switzerland. The kids must be very confused. Speaking of children--Joy had a knack for spotting naked little boys off the side of this road. A brief stop in the posh ski town of Gstaad completed the tour that day. The charm of Lake Geneva kept us near the following day as we traveled to the far side of the lake to Montreux. It was there that we saw the must fully preserved and open medieval castle that either of us have seen--Chateau Chillon. We spent several hours poking around the castle and had a wonderful dinner in the next town over on the lake. We began traveling towards Vienna the next day. We drove north near Bern and Zürich. We glimpsed the Bodensee and made our way from there through the tangle of borders--German, Swiss, and Austian--into Austria. We entered Austria through a great pass with wonderful alpine views. We stopped in Innsbruck to stock up on groceries and to walk through the village. We then ran into a "demonstration" on the road where the autobahn was closed for no good reason and we were caught in in for several hours. The road had been closed because the locals thought the tolls were too low and therefore it carried too much traffic. Well that was fun. Anyway, the first campsite we got too was a blessing and was open. We were able to see the little town of Vamp, Austria in the Tirol region more so than we otherwise would have. The next morning we drove to the playground of the Salzburgerland. We went to the Dürnnburg saltmines and rode down the slides that Joy had been telling me about. It was facinating to see how the Salzburg treasure was created from the Salt. We then went up to Hitler´s Eagles nest--wow what a view. We spent the night on the Chiemsee and were able to visit Ludwig´s copy of Versailles--Herrenchiemsee the next morning. Now we don´t have to see Versailles. It was quite an amazing use of gilding, mirrors, and artwork. We then drove into Vienna. We were able to meet John Harris in the city who moved us into our apartment in the middle of the downtown area. We are about five minutes from the Opera house. John didn´t take long to get me up on his antique Penny Farthing (a high wheeler bicycle) and I will never forget the riding lesson in front of the art school in the park. Well we are happy and safe in Vienna. We have one more day in the city planned along with a Mozart-Strauss Concert tonight. From here we will drive north through Prague and Berlin and then into the heartland of Germany. Thank you again for your thoughts and especially for your support. Sincerely, Jason and Joy 6/26/05 Dear Ramsey Family, It is great to write to you from England. Please pardon the brevity of the message and that one hasn't come for several weeks. It is amazing that when you meet up with family, your time grows short and you don't seem to wander in to the internet cafe. Since we last wrote in Vienna at John Harris', Joy and I have traveled nearly as far as we had to that point. We drove north from Vienna to Prague. Although I had been to Prague before, it was a treat to see the countryside outside of the city in the Czech Republic. We got our first passport stamps while on the continent at the real border crossing into the former east block and went directly into to arid farm land. It took quite a while to travel through the old cities on the small roads but it was an adventure. We eventually hit the motorway--which, although it had a set speed limit, was much more of a white knuckle driving experience than the German Autobahn. We soon hit Prague and camped just outside of the thriving capital. It was truly and treat to walk through and experience that old city. From Prague we drove north into Germany towards Berlin, seeing Dresden on the way. Again we camped outside of the city and spent the following day in. It was a stormy day but we walked around the giant construction site that is a city finding itself. The Reichstag and Brandenburger Tor were impresive as well as a walk down Unden den Linden where the Wall used to be. After Berlin we drove across northern Germany towards the North Sea through Hamburg. We camped on the beach--just behind the dyke north of Bremerhaven on the coast in a small town called Otterndorf. The North Sea lived up to our expectations and was cold and windy--a normal June day at the beach, but still quite nice. The town of Otterndorf and those surrounding it were very charming complete with old world thatched roofs. From the north we drove down to my old home of Muenster Germany. We met up with some of my friends and co-workers. It was amazing how much at home I felt and as if nothing had changed in a year. By this point, my German had recovered from a year of neglect and we could get around Germany quite well. A traditional German Spargel (white asparagus) meal with Hollandaise sauce prepared by some of our German friends was a good welcome to a house and bed after a week of camping since John's flat in Vienna. Muenster was a welcome sight but one that we left after a couple of days to see our new born nephews in central Germany. My brother and his wife, who live near Aschaffenburg, Germany, had been expecting twins in July. They were born quite early though in June and we had the good fortune to spend quite a while with them. We drove into Aschaffenburg and took on diaper and bottle duty to try and ease a slightly overwhelmed set of new parents. We made some side trips out from our post on the Main river in Aschaffenburg--a day trip to Heidelberg, a day trip to Wuerzburg, and one night trip down to Garmisch/Munich--all of which were quite fantastic. We then moved a little north of Frankfurt near Giessen to stay with Joy's cousin. He works with the US military as does my brother and in fact, Joy's cousin had been my brother's first boss here in Germany. Buddy, Joy's cousin, treated us to quite a nice time in central Germany and showed us the great towns and villages just around Frankfurt. A couple of days with Buddy wore us out and we recovered with a driving tour along the Rhein river where we met up with Josh Moore for breakfast and a small bicycle tour. It was great to be able to meet up with another Ramsey Family winner living abroad. He seems quite comfortable in his old world Rheinland existence in Walluf, Germany. He lives with his wife and daughter (they are expecting again) in a complex opposite her parents and grandparents. We met the grandmother over breakfast in the garden. Josh was a great host as we rode up the Rhein and explored the towns on the way. Our time in Germany came to an end too soon but Paris called. We drove from Giessen to Paris in one day and turned in the car. That was quite a day along with riding the metro back to our campsite on the outskirt of Paris. We had a great time despite the heat in Paris while we were there. We explored the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, strolled down the Champs Elysee, Notre Dame and the Sacre Cear. Despite neither of us speaking French, we got around quite well and found the Parisians to be friendly. From Paris we flew to England and arrived yesterday. We our now staying with Joy's parents who live north of Cambridge. We hope to drive to Scottland but are mostly looking forward to poking around England together for the next two weeks so that Joy can show me where she grew up. Thank you Ramsey Family for making this possible. We wish you all the best. Jason and Joy Spruell |
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