The North Pole

One epic trip on a long weekend with the school is over. My cameras stayed busy, my legs stayed tired, and my days stayed awesome. We left Friedensau Thursday morning headed for Hamburg. For those of you whose Germany geography was like mine before this trip, Hamburg is up north. Pretty much north-est. We actually went almost all the way north on another day. It is officially the most northern I have ever been in my life discounting the brief stint I had in the Iceland airport. I felt I could almost see Santa's workshop and little elves running around busying themselves. Of course that is absurd, but I did see the oldest lighthouse in Germany and from up there everyone was small so that may count for something.

I recently stated that Berlin was my favorite city at that time. I am sorry Berlin, Hamburg may have you beat on account of how pretty it is there. Hamburg is on a river and has one of the biggest harbors in the world (10th biggest to be exact). It also has canals running through it like a northern German Venice. I spent a lot of time doing nothing but take pictures.

The first day there it was raining. I wasn't too sad since me and rain have never been nemeses in the strictest sense, but I cannot say that I was ecstatic. No matter, we spent most of the day in a  tour bus exploring the city and seeing the awesome sights through a rain beat window. That is when I got a glimpse, albeit a small glimpse, of how pretty Hamburg is. That night we went to get something to eat and I experienced another first. When we were walking through the city we kept seeing police vehicles. I noticed that it was an inordinate amount. We got to the City Hall and there were 18 parked out front, but the issue was not there. It was outside our restaurant. There was a protest going on. From the sounds of it, it was a pretty charged environment. What better to do then to get as close as I can and get video. When I got closer I got a look at the police presence, the immediate group of protesters had a big group of police isolating them from the rest of the public, by standing in a square around them. They all had what looked like Storm Trooper helmets from Star Wars on and we saw two trucks with water cannons. Around that group was a group of onlookers, some beginning to join the protest from outside. Then there were police scattered throughout that group for control, but it couldn't be blocked off since it was a city square. I was secretly hoping to see a riot break out and was mildly disappointed when I saw they had all dispersed by the time we were done eating. 

Later we went to Lübeck and then on to the coast where we had coffee and cake. Pretty much my favorite German cultural thing. Basically it is another small meal. I never have another problem with an added meal time. We were drinking coffee and eating cakes by the sea. It was cooler (what most people call cold) that day so the coffee was nice to hold on to. 

One of the days was what I like to call chilly, for normal people this is below the comfortable temperature by a lot. I was loving the promise of winter in the air, however my poor cameras cannot take the cold air as well as I can so I had to shield them all day. I looked like I was smuggling things. I had to do that the night it rained too, which was inconvenient because we were walking through stores in an outlet mall and the door alarm kept going off when I walked through it. Combine that with the bulge in my coat looked incriminating. Fortunately no one confronted me because my German comprehension only translates to someone talking normally not unhappily. I began to suspect the cause of the alarms going off whenever I walked in or out of the stores. I hypothesized that it was the transponder in my pocket. The transponder is basically a UFO shaped object on our keychains that we have to get into doors and pay for meals here. It constantly sends off a low frequency burst, I surmised, because we just wave it in front of things at school and sometimes we have to press the button. After I figured that out, I left it in my hostel room and didn't take it with me the rest of the week.

This week wasn't as exciting in my war with gravity. This force with a mind of it's own decided this week that it would just behave. This is nice because I was around water a lot and I was carrying a lot of camera equipment. However I will be ready for the next time this G-Force monster rears its ugly head again. 

This Wednesday we are going to Berlin again. I plan to enjoy sights such as the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie, and anything else I can cheaply get to in that area. It will be Berlin's chance to have another word in the battle for my heart. It will be a hard battle but I will go with an open mind.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to talk with me directly, and are only reading this as a means to keep up with me, I am doing well, I absolutely love Germany, German people and their culture. I haven't had too hard of a time adjusting however I have had a time of it occasionally. I definitely still keep up with football, and when I think of America and of all the people there that I know, I know how you will love to hear the stories that didn't make it into these blogs and see pictures that didn't make it online and I will be more than happy to oblige. But for now, these will keep coming as regularly as I can. 

Busyness, Bikes, and Berlin.

Bicycles may be the best invention in the world but they sure aren't perfect for every situation. Today I discover just how imperfect they can be for certain situations. This weekend was a busy one for just staying around the school. Normally my busy weekends involve me going somewhere and going on an adventure. But one does not always need to go somewhere to go on an adventure. And one especially doesn't need to go anywhere to be busy.

This Friday we more or less solidified a tradition; we talked about making it a tradition and didn't have any opposition so it probably will be. We decided to make Friday suppers together and not eat in the cafe. We also chose the cuisine for the meals. Always pasta Fridays. Once again, no complaints. The verdict stands. I am excited. The next morning we also decided to make our own food. I made hash brows, and others made eggs and pancakes. A great meal. We were nearly late to the welcoming ceremony for the new students, but we made it by the skin of our teeth. Saturday night I was supposed to go to Berlin with some friends for the Festival of Lights.

No dice. I opted out when there weren't enough seats on the Rufbus (For the American audience, here public transportation doesn't come on the weekends so you have to call a special service to come get you. Still free if you have a semester ticket for travel. If you call a taxi it's not cheap but still an option). The Rufbus didn't have seats for 5, only 4. I was the one who made the most sense to stay behind so I did. I hear from my friends that it was pouring rain the whole time. It's good that I didn't go then because not 3 minutes before I broke my umbrella. But more on that later. Instead I spent an evening with the friends, hanging out and watching a movie.

Me and hilariously tragic and ironic mishaps go together like peanut butter and jelly. I'm not always a fan of either but both seem to bring great joy to everyone around. Earlier this year I met a step at an alarming rate and tore my pants. This week I had a Mary Poppins incident. That's what I am calling it. Since it had been raining for several days I had mastered the art of riding a bicycle with an umbrella in hand like Mary Poppins. Or so I thought. Apparently the riding of the bike with said umbrella isn't the hard part. It's the start. Because I am elevationally gifted I prefer my seat to be at a higher level than is considered safe for most people. As it turns out, I also am sometimes on that list. Because of the rain my seat was wet, and I didn't care to wipe it off since I was also wet. So I began the climb to the heights of my seat umbrella between my chin and my shoulder and my backpack with my camera on my back. The wet seat became a glorified slip and slide turned slip and die and I began the slow motion descent to the ground with alarming accuracy. In the attempt to right myself I dropped my umbrella, and as fate would have it, right into the path of my descending bicycle. Now I am trying to avoid catastrophe. Disaster not averted. The slow motion became high speed and within a matter of what seemed like .0001 seconds I found myself half in a bush and on/under/around my bicycle and my umbrella in tatters. As I replayed the scene in my head I figured out what happened. On my way down I flailed my feet around trying to correct the balance and stay onto of my sky scraper of a bike. I also didn't want to tuck and roll because my camera was on my back and a bush in front. I landed in the bush and tried to push off, but it didn't provide much support and I bounced off like a fat kid on a blob. One of the guys looks up at me and says, "I am so glad I just witnessed that." In all honesty, I was jealous for him. I wish I could witness something like that too. 

Today a professor asked us if we wanted to go see a castle/palace/giant house thing. We would have to ride our bikes there. With the memory of it trying to declare mutiny on me the night before I was anxious to show my bike that I was still in charge. Besides there was coffee and cake involved, and the potential for awesome pictures. These are a few of my favorite things. (Like the second Julie Andrews reference?) The bike ride was unlike any I had ever experienced before. If any of you get it into your head that riding a road tour bike through sand and mud and trails through the woods, I might suggest a more suitable bike. Unless you are addicted to peculiar adventures like myself. If that is the case, go for it. Needless to say, my bike was ill-equipped but my demeanor made up for the rest.  The ride was challenging but the reward was amazing. Not only did I get some of the best cake and awesome pictures, but I also got a great memory of an epic adventure. On the way back Michael met the ground by the insistence of a large log in the path so I didn't feel like my bicycle adventure was singular anymore.

Not only did I stay busy this weekend, but I had a great time with friends and I learned more German language and culture. I did learn that it is impolite to leave a backpack on the ground next to me when I eat when there is an empty chair right next to me I can put it on…at least I think that's what the lady was saying to me. She was happy when it was moved. I also learned that while a bicycle can be your best friend, but sometimes you have to not be friends, you have to show it who is boss, and make it respect you, then build the friendship from there. Altogether an awesome weekend.

Oops. I may have fallen in love.

Berlin. What an awesome city. If there was a city I could spend days upon days in, it would be Berlin. It may have topped my list of favorite cities. I will have to spend more time in it to be certain but that won't be hard for me. Thank goodness it is cheap to get there.

I could not have asked for better weather. When we left Burg a slight drizzle had begun. When we got to Berlin, the skies threatened with the same weather. The entire day was overcast and foggy, almost macabre in some way. We went on a city tour in a tour bus. That is the most touristy thing I have ever done and it was spectacular. I got to see places I want to go back and visit; pretty much every stop.

I don't really remember what we immediately did after that, the day was a bit of a blur. We did however go to the mall and eat some amazing Turkish food at the insistence of our professors who said Turkish food is the real Berlin food. If that is how Berlin food is then count me in. Over my face being stuffed with yumminess, I managed a hearty "Das schmeckt sehr gut!" a phrase one learns quickly in Germany. I we had some free time to go explore the mall, maybe get dessert, or whatever we wanted to do. Dessert? I just had heaven in a pita! I don't want that to go away so fast. Besides, there was a massive electronics store I saw that caught my fancy. It didn't disappoint either. I could have spent hours (and thousands of Euro) there had I been rich and had no pressing engagements.

After we left the mall we went to Berlin Cathedral. There we got to climb to the dome and look out across all of Berlin. Remember the mist and the cloudy day? It made the colors on the changing trees so saturated and luminous. It also added an awesome atmosphere to the pictures. I cannot wait to see how they turned out. The inside of the cathedral was mind-blowingly stunning as well, the ornate designs and nearly ostentatious gold layering in the main sanctuary area threatened to occupy the rest of my time just snapping pictures. 

We then journeyed on to the Brandenburg gate. It's a massive gate that is super cool. On the other side there was this walkway that had all the fall colors lining it in perfect mixes of fall colors. There was also a man blowing giant bubbles along the sidewalk. This fascinating activity prompted more clicks of the shutter. The bubbles with the fall colors in the background have the potential to be really cool pictures. I was on the wrong lens and we were very pressed for time so that is just one of many excuses to go back there really soon.

Berlin Hauptbahnhauf is a fantastical building. Massively tall, it is the main hub for all the central public transportation in the region. The U-Bahn (subway or metro) goes through the bottom levels and the trains go on the next few levels. It was a bit peculiar to think of a giant glass building having trains running at different levels through it, but then I remembered that I am in Germany and they are genius engineers. I have decided that one could spend an extremely long time in the Hauptbahnhauf without going through the same area. It is massive and it's just such a cool building.

That sums up the day. I feel asleep on the train, first in the standing position, because I'm a ninja, and then on the seat. I was really tired because we had an awesome day. Berlin, I will be back, you have something of mine and I want it back. You stole my heart.

Candy Canes and Garden Gnomes

They say that after a few weeks of living abroad the euphoria goes  away and reality kicks in. For me, that happened this week. I realized that living here wasn't all about candy canes and garden gnomes, but that its like any other place and I would have to work hard to make it work. I have already adapted in many ways but there is still work to do.

Since the last update I have been traveling a bit, but because my life has settled into more of a routine, it hasn't been so mind-blowing and exciting. Don't get me wrong, it has still been awesome, and I wouldn't trade this for anything, but my perspectives are shifting now. It's really cool. Instead of sharing things that have been super exciting, this blog will be more about things I have learned.

I have learned a lot in a short time. Things like the trains really aren't that punctual, always carry coins around with you, and some Germans are really good at picking out Americans, to name a few.

When one hears German trains, the first thing one thinks about is punctuality. People even say "He is as punctual as  a German train schedule" it's not a compliment anymore. Of all the times I have ridden the trains, which is pretty frequently, they have been on time three of those times. Usually this is good because we aren't usually that on time ourselves, but it has been a point of amusement for us. We then find out later that it's not entirely uncommon to find them late. The busses are on time though.

You would think that after the first time or two of not being able to use the restroom because I didn't bring coins that I would remember to bring coins. Sadly this is not the case. I still forget sometimes. This can make for a very unpleasant day. Places they have free bathrooms: trains, the place you are eating at for lunch (sucks if you are having a picnic) and back at Friedensau. That is about it. There really aren't free bathrooms anywhere. This is why one would think that I would remember coins. After forgetting two or three times, I am probably going to forget once or twice more, but probably not much more than that. Days are really long when you have to pee.

I can fool a lot of people into thinking that I am German by simply not saying anything and walking around. However I have been getting better at German and I have a decent accent so sometimes I can say things like a German person and still fit into the mix. For the most part this may be true. Friday I was in Magdeburg buying pants because I tore my other ones in Burg (funny story). I was wandering around a mall because we had time to kill and I became hungry so I went to order food. I asked for the food in flawless German so I thought, and the man replies to me in English. What a demoralizer. Apparently my German was bad enough that he knew I was American. He was speaking German to everyone else. Oh well I guess I need to practice more. I can't complain too much, I got my food and it was tasty so I still came out with a win.

Okay the pants story. I actually had forgotten about it until I just wrote it a little bit ago. We were in Burg going on a tour of the towers there. It was fun because we got to go up into the towers. Yes I definitely brought my cameras. After one of the towers I walked outside to the basement area where they kept the cows. There weren't any cows there anymore, but I was curious what a cow holding area would look like in a tower. There were several steps, no big deal I am not an uncoordinated youth anymore. Irony isn't my best friend sometimes. On the last step I managed to sit down at 9.8m/s^s. Gravity, you are heartless. I loved those pants. I stood up from my ever so graceful encounter with cobblestone and walked it off like nothing happened. To my knowledge nothing did. Then one of the girls laughed and pointed at my behind.  I could make some comment about how that in itself is a downer when a girl does that, but in this context I knew it was probably from the fall. I didn't know what was up so I asked. I tore my pants from the belt line to middle of the hamstring region. I wasn't really embarrassed that I was walking around with a giant hole in my pants. I was sad I ruined my pants. So Friday I went to the mall to get new ones.

The past few days have been eventful. We've had a holiday in the middle of the week, I have gotten information about my internship, and I have had two tests, gone to Potsdam and Berlin, and encountered many people in various situations. My time in Germany has hit the stage where its not candy canes and garden gnomes, but it is the learning stage. That to me is more exciting. I am one step closer to becoming a fully assimilated German.

Wanderlust

"I'm going on an adventure!" The words of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit kept echoing in my head as I pedaled my bike closer to Burg this morning. 

Today was a particularly exciting day. A group of 5 of us headed out for our first trip of any real distance away from Friedensau. We went to a small town in the Harz mountains called Thale. It's a cute little village with a cathedral with a park around it and mountains behind. I also saw the biggest ropes course I have ever seen. It was quite a fantastic day that had many close encounters and many more adventures.

We rode into Burg around 9:30 to catch our train. We had some issues with one of the bikes so we were a little behind schedule. We got to the train a full five seconds before it started to leave. Now I could set my very heavy pack down and take a rest from the long ride we just did. In Magdeburg we had to switch trains to get to another line. Made that one by a skim too. One thing I have learned about German trains is that every single time we have ridden them thus far, they have been late, most of the time to our benefit and we cannot count on that happening much more. In Magdeburg there were Politzei everywhere. I hadn't seen so many in one place very often so I was curious as to why they were there. Then we got to talking about it on the train. They were there because today was election day in Germany and it was a preventative measure to keep less than peaceful demonstrations from erupting. We were on the train and on our way to Thale and our adventures there.

The weather was perfect for our climbing. We set up two hammocks and one route. At the end we had to tear down and I had noticed that you could climb off the back edge and hike back to the trail. I volunteered to be the one to climb up, tear down, and walk back. So, not being without my ego (and therefore less reasoning) I climbed the route with my 40lb. (aprox 18.2kg for the Europeans) backpack. It wasn't the worst idea I have ever had…it certainly was the best one either. It wasn't too bad until the top when I had to do two lay backs. My Sharma scream became a little better than in the past. Once I climbed over and was on my way down I realized the crux of the climb was before me. When I looked at how passable it was I misjudged the fact that what I was seeing was not a grassy slope, but instead a cliff covered in a carpet of moss. Since I have historically had bad experiences with mossy rocks I was not the most overjoyed person in the world. All the manliness I was feeling from the climb was running away into the forest like a rabbit in the sights of a .22 rifle in the hands of an over zealous kid. After making one turn that I wasn't excited about I finally found the route of most resistance. (If I wanted the path of least resistance I would have just jumped.) Once I got down I rearranged my pack as I waited for the rest of the group. We eventually met up and off we went. 

There was a bike race in Thale and therefore there were hoards of people there. With that and the fairly urgent need for a bathroom that didn't operate only by coins (of course the only kind we didn't have), we boarded the train where we had both free bathrooms and the promise of a new adventure in the next town: Quedlinburg. 

We had heard that it had a nice downtown area and was super old looking. It was really quite fantastic. Then we found food. Some of, if not the best pasta I have ever eaten was at Quedlinburg. I will be stopping there again for sure. If you ever find yourself in a small town in Germany that has a funny name starting with a Q, go to the place called Flying Pizza and get some of their pasta. It won't be a bad choice….unless you are allergic to cheese. We walked around the city until it got darker and we had killed enough time before the train home. 

Nope. We didn't kill enough time. Oh well, an empty train platform isn't the worst place to sit for ten minutes. We had fun just chilling. We eventually made it back to our bikes in Burg, and after meeting a nice guy on the train who was traveling to London to get his masters and try to start a band we headed off. I had almost forgotten that I had a pretty heavy pack on until the ride back. By now it is around 21:30 and we still had about an hour ride until Friedensau. I am rarely the one to be slowed by a little work put into an adventure, so I took the not so functioning bike and limped it back. I have ridden worse bikes before, however it has been a while since and I didn't have a 40lb pack on and it wasn't dark. So the adventure continues. It was a fixie and was meant for someone half the size of me. On the trip I was compared to the old woman on the bike in The Wizard of Oz with my heavy pack on and me leaning all the way forward on it, not from the weight of the pack but from the fact that it was a miniature bike.

We finally made it back and were really excited about the day we just had. All in all we loved it. From riding our bikes 18km (11.2miles) one way, to barely making trains, we had an epic time. The weather could not have been better and the company was top notch. I cannot wait for more times where we get to experience more and to get ahold of a little more of my wanderlust.

Pictures of Germany

These are repeats of Facebook pictures 

but I want to put them on here too.

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This is a bench on the walk to the water bridge in Magdeburg

The water bridge of magical powers in Magdeburg

                                                                                     German engineering. Need I say more?

The small town of Burg that we visit on occasion and 

where we rode our bikes from.

Bicycles, Old People and Rain

My German understanding has been increasing a lot. I now know a lot more about conjugations and more important words to use. 

I am not a huge fan of interviews. Never have liked them that much. As a person in my profession I should probably get used to them. This week I had the opportunity to take one step in being more comfortable with interviews. I had to interview someone in German. Granted these were all simple questions like "What is your name?" and "What are your hobbies? Where are you from…?" Etc. Needless to say I was reticent to be bounding out and asking someone I barely knew questions in a language that I am still not too confident in. But that is why I am here. To learn German. After the people I wanted to interview were not there I found some old people walking around and interviewed them. It turned out to mostly be them interviewing me and it was pretty fun. They were nice people and even though we had difficulties understanding each other some times, we had a good talk. It was the opening salvo to the incessant barrage of learning that I will have the privilege to experience.

Today I had a bit of a cultural experience. Me and several other friends traveled via bus and then train to Magdeburg to purchase my new ride, a older, refurbished tour bicycle that I bought for 80 Euro. On my trip I also realized how useless American money is in Europe… long story short (well not really a long story, but still, Reader's Digest version) it's pretty useless. After we bought our bikes, we boarded the train back to Burg where we disembarked to ride back to Friedensau; a 15km ride…in the rain. But I am adventurous and have an abundance of optimism and no amount of rain can dampen my spirits. Besides, its not like it was pouring. We rode back to school chatting most of the way. Europe is really good to cyclists. This weekend we have plans to go down to the Harz Mountains and go climbing. Hopefully the weather will hold.