Today was one of the hardest days since coming back from Germany, and I'm going to try to explain why but I won't promise that it will make any sense. Anyone who knows me knows that I love college, college is what I'm good at, and I've always said that I just want to go to college the rest of my life. I willingly admit that I like homework, and I take hard classes for fun. Apparently that stage of my life ended when I went to Germany. In Germany, I discovered something new: it's called a social life. I never really had homework at Dortmund and each of my classes only met once a week, leaving me with empty evenings and 4 day weekends. Instead of sitting in my room reading, writing papers, and sleeping, I actually went out with people. I watched movies with my neighbor, I went downtown and walked around just for fun, I went to student bars, I traveled with people, I danced at the diskos. The most stressful thing I had to worry about was missing the train, and I didn't have the academic pressure that I have here at Maryville.
While in Germany, I forgot how stressful my American life is. I forgot how to study. I forgot how to sit down and read 50+ pages a night and answer really deep questions about themes, language, and symbolism. I forgot how to stay in one place. Every freshman in college must learn something very important: how to balance their academic and social lives, and I am having to learn this as a senior because it is the first year that I have had a social life. Before, the only thing that mattered was getting the grade, but now that I've lived in a world where socializing was a major aspect in my life, I can't go back. I want to meet people, I want to catch up on the college life I've missed, but I have to take hard senior-level classes, write thesis, try to keep up the GPA I've worked so hard on. What I really want to do is drop everything and go to a random European country--that luxury was such a big part of my life in Dortmund. When things got stressful or I started feeling restless, I just left. I went to 8 different countries and countless different cities while I was abroad--I got accustomed to being surrounded by things that were new and different and now I'm surrounded by the same old Maryville College that I've delt with for years. I can't concentrate, nothing can keep my attention. How can Wordsworth and Shelley compete with Bratislava, Vienna, Munich? I feel very trapped now. I can't travel. I can't just walk to a bar with my friends. I can't cook my own food (I really got used to having a kitchen). I can't dissapear for a weekend. I can't just go to class, participate, and get an A. I can only speak in one language.
Ultimately, I'm not sure what to do. I keep hoping this feeling will pass--I will readjust to my Maryville College life. But I also keep wondering if I want to.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Old Friendship, New Place
Look at me, three posts in one month! I'm feeling quite proud of myself right now :-) Also, I bought a new camera, so you can once again enjoy photos!
Last weekend (11 June-14 June) I went to England to visit my good friend TJ. TJ and I worked at Camp Wesley Woods together, and I had not seen him in almost 2 years, so I don't need to tell you that I was very, very excited to spend time with my old friend--in fact, my trip to England was the first flight I booked after I came to Germany.
It all started on Thursday. I had a late flight (19:45), so I spent the morning finishing my packing, talking to Kevin, and cleaning my room (I hate coming home to a messy room!) At 14:00, I started my long journey to the airport. I was flying through a company called Ryanair, and although the website says that the airport is in Düsseldorf, it is really in a town about an hour outside of Düsseldorf called Weeze. On a good day, it takes two trains, one bus, and about three hours to get to this airport from my flat. Of course, it was not a good day, and my second train was running about 20 minutes late (which is oh so typical for Deutsche Bahn--I can't wait to get my car back!), which caused me to miss my bus. The bus only runs every hour, and we missed it by about ten minutes, so I was looking at standing (in the rain) at this bus stop for about 50 minutes. Instead, I took a taxi with 3 other people who also did not feel up to waiting, and they ended up paying for it, telling me not to worry about it! Yay free taxi ride! Actually, this was my first taxi ride. Ever. Once I got to the airport, I sat with my new taxi friend, Florian, and waited to board that plane. Florian shared his headphones with me, and we watched "Gray's Anatomy" on his laptop. At this point, I feel the need to inform all of you about Ryanair. Ryanair is the cheapest airline ever. Seriously. I flew to Manchester and back for €20, including all taxes and fees, and it is amazing what a person will endure to save money. First, there is no assigned seating--everything is first-come-first-serve (of course, for a small fee, you can be one of the first people to board the plane). Once you enter the plane, you notice that there is really no space, and it is amazing how many people they cram into this tiny plane. There is no leg room, the seats do not recline, and you are sitting very close to your neighbor, and I was truly thankful that I have short legs and that I am a small person in general. Next, everything is covered in an obnoxious yellow color and advertisements, and you have to pay an outrageous amount of money for food or beverages (3€ for a can of coke?!?!?!). The worst part? No air conditioning. It's not too bad once you get up into the air, but I honestly thought I was going to be sick because the heat really worsened my motion sickness (I remember closing my eyes and thinking "Please don't throw up, Please don't throw up"). Luckily, it was only an hour long flight, and it was only 20€.
Once I arrived in Manchester, I found an advantage to being a non-EU (Europen Union, but you should already know that) citizen. There were significantly fewer of us traveling, so the customs line was non-existent :-) I was asked what I was doing in England, how long I was staying, where I was going when I left, what I am doing in Germany, what I am studying, etc, then I got another stamp in my passport (yay!), and I went out and found TJ! When we got to the car and TJ was putting my bag in the trunk, I opened the door and started to get in when TJ said, "Oh hey Danielle, I'm going to drive." Haha, driving on the other side of the road (even as a passenger) took quite a bit of getting used to. Actually, I never really got used to it: while we were in London, I saw a car pull up to a red light and freaked out because there was a little boy in the driver's seat! But then I sheepishly realized that he was sitting on the left side, which is the passenger's seat in England :-)
Enjoying the beautiful sunset :-)
After TJ picked me up, we went to a grocery store for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then drove out to an overlook to watch the sunset. We just missed it, but you could still see the colors on the horizon. It was so nice and really reminded me of home (as did many things that weekend). The we went to TJ's house where his mother made me cheese on toast which was absolutely amazing! I know what your thinking, what's so great about cheese on toast? Well, let me tell you. First, she started toasting the bread in the oven, then she took it out and put a big pile of freshly grated, yummy white cheddar (Americans have no idea what they are missing when it comes to cheese) and worcestershire sauce on it, then she put it back in the oven and let it get all melty--Yummy!
The next morning, TJ's mom made a delicious breakfast of bacon (which is what we Americans would consider country ham), sausage, eggs, and toast. That was really the first hot breakfast I've had since coming to Germany, and I enjoyed every moment. That day, TJ and I went to a really pretty park, Tatton Park, with his Golden Retriever (I've missed playing with dogs so much!), and I really enjoyed just walking around in nature.
Pretty
She really liked playing in the water
We saw so many stags that day, I couldn't even begin to count them!
After returning Becky to his house, TJ and I went to Little Moreton Hall, a historical building in his town. It was really a cool place, and I enjoyed learning the history of it. I also enjoyed the nice garden in the back--I think Dortmund is leaving me severely nature deprived.
In front of Little Moreton Hall
The courtyard inside
Momma duck sitting on her eggs behind the hall :-) Yay nature!
That evening TJ took me to the bar/restaraunt where he works, and we ate dinner. I had a delicious steak and mushroom pie, along with a glass of cider. After eating, we sat at the bar where I drank a hot chocolate with Grand Marnier, followed by black current juice. I've never had black current before--I've only heard of it because we have a scent at Bath and Body Works called "Black Currant and Vanilla" (I not a big fan of the scent because I don't like vanilla). It was quite nice :-)
The next day was a big day--we got up early and went to London! TJ's brother lives in London, so he came with his girlfriend and showed us around the town. We only had 7 hours to spend there, so it was truly a whirlwind tour! Here are just a few pictures:
Tower of London
The bridge wasn't that exciting (apparently the original bridge was bought by a man in Texas and moved there), but this statue was kind of cool
Globe Theatre!
St. Paul's. One of the only buildings not destroyed in the fire.
Buddies
Walk to the Palace. All of the flags were out because it was the Queen's official birthday.
Pretty
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben. The name actually refers to the bell, not the clock.
I caught him sticking out his tongue :-)
Saturday evening, TJ and I went to his friend's birthday party, which happened to be a fancy dress (British for costume) party. I had so much fun! We danced, we drank, we ate delicious food, and I really enjoyed the luxury of hanging out with a friend that I've had for longer than 3 months. Oh the things you take for granted! I actually enjoyed a lot of luxuries that weekend: playing with a dog, staying in a house with a family (that speaks English), riding in a car instead of depending on public transportation the whole time, spending time in nature, a home cooked breakfast, among other things. It actually made me quite homesick because it was much more like home than Dortmund, and getting that little taste of home just reminded me of what I am missing. Not much longer, and then I can get the chance to be homesick for Germany :-)
Don't we look great? TJ kept commenting on how the costume fit the contours of his body perfectly... :-)
So much fun!
Sunday afternoon (oh too soon) I was back on a plane to Germany, and I just wasn't ready to give up all of these reminders of home but classes were calling. England is wonderful. Go there. I plan on returning, one day. I actually like it so much, that I think I would like to live there one day. Seriously.
One thing I know all of you are thinking: What did Kevin think of you going and spending four days with another guy? I would like to use this moment to announce to everyone that the man I am marrying is wonderful. He trusts me and had no problems with me going to see TJ. In fact, he was a little jealous ("You get to go see TJ? I wanna go see TJ!"), and it was actually really nice to spend time with a friend that actually knows Kevin.
Also, I've gone back to many of my blogs and added a link to my Facebook albums so that you can see more pictures. Adding pictures to my blog entries is actually a fairly long process, so you don't get to see the majority of my photos. Here is the link for my England Adventure.
Tschüss!
Last weekend (11 June-14 June) I went to England to visit my good friend TJ. TJ and I worked at Camp Wesley Woods together, and I had not seen him in almost 2 years, so I don't need to tell you that I was very, very excited to spend time with my old friend--in fact, my trip to England was the first flight I booked after I came to Germany.
It all started on Thursday. I had a late flight (19:45), so I spent the morning finishing my packing, talking to Kevin, and cleaning my room (I hate coming home to a messy room!) At 14:00, I started my long journey to the airport. I was flying through a company called Ryanair, and although the website says that the airport is in Düsseldorf, it is really in a town about an hour outside of Düsseldorf called Weeze. On a good day, it takes two trains, one bus, and about three hours to get to this airport from my flat. Of course, it was not a good day, and my second train was running about 20 minutes late (which is oh so typical for Deutsche Bahn--I can't wait to get my car back!), which caused me to miss my bus. The bus only runs every hour, and we missed it by about ten minutes, so I was looking at standing (in the rain) at this bus stop for about 50 minutes. Instead, I took a taxi with 3 other people who also did not feel up to waiting, and they ended up paying for it, telling me not to worry about it! Yay free taxi ride! Actually, this was my first taxi ride. Ever. Once I got to the airport, I sat with my new taxi friend, Florian, and waited to board that plane. Florian shared his headphones with me, and we watched "Gray's Anatomy" on his laptop. At this point, I feel the need to inform all of you about Ryanair. Ryanair is the cheapest airline ever. Seriously. I flew to Manchester and back for €20, including all taxes and fees, and it is amazing what a person will endure to save money. First, there is no assigned seating--everything is first-come-first-serve (of course, for a small fee, you can be one of the first people to board the plane). Once you enter the plane, you notice that there is really no space, and it is amazing how many people they cram into this tiny plane. There is no leg room, the seats do not recline, and you are sitting very close to your neighbor, and I was truly thankful that I have short legs and that I am a small person in general. Next, everything is covered in an obnoxious yellow color and advertisements, and you have to pay an outrageous amount of money for food or beverages (3€ for a can of coke?!?!?!). The worst part? No air conditioning. It's not too bad once you get up into the air, but I honestly thought I was going to be sick because the heat really worsened my motion sickness (I remember closing my eyes and thinking "Please don't throw up, Please don't throw up"). Luckily, it was only an hour long flight, and it was only 20€.
Once I arrived in Manchester, I found an advantage to being a non-EU (Europen Union, but you should already know that) citizen. There were significantly fewer of us traveling, so the customs line was non-existent :-) I was asked what I was doing in England, how long I was staying, where I was going when I left, what I am doing in Germany, what I am studying, etc, then I got another stamp in my passport (yay!), and I went out and found TJ! When we got to the car and TJ was putting my bag in the trunk, I opened the door and started to get in when TJ said, "Oh hey Danielle, I'm going to drive." Haha, driving on the other side of the road (even as a passenger) took quite a bit of getting used to. Actually, I never really got used to it: while we were in London, I saw a car pull up to a red light and freaked out because there was a little boy in the driver's seat! But then I sheepishly realized that he was sitting on the left side, which is the passenger's seat in England :-)
Enjoying the beautiful sunset :-)After TJ picked me up, we went to a grocery store for Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then drove out to an overlook to watch the sunset. We just missed it, but you could still see the colors on the horizon. It was so nice and really reminded me of home (as did many things that weekend). The we went to TJ's house where his mother made me cheese on toast which was absolutely amazing! I know what your thinking, what's so great about cheese on toast? Well, let me tell you. First, she started toasting the bread in the oven, then she took it out and put a big pile of freshly grated, yummy white cheddar (Americans have no idea what they are missing when it comes to cheese) and worcestershire sauce on it, then she put it back in the oven and let it get all melty--Yummy!
The next morning, TJ's mom made a delicious breakfast of bacon (which is what we Americans would consider country ham), sausage, eggs, and toast. That was really the first hot breakfast I've had since coming to Germany, and I enjoyed every moment. That day, TJ and I went to a really pretty park, Tatton Park, with his Golden Retriever (I've missed playing with dogs so much!), and I really enjoyed just walking around in nature.
Pretty
She really liked playing in the water
We saw so many stags that day, I couldn't even begin to count them!After returning Becky to his house, TJ and I went to Little Moreton Hall, a historical building in his town. It was really a cool place, and I enjoyed learning the history of it. I also enjoyed the nice garden in the back--I think Dortmund is leaving me severely nature deprived.
In front of Little Moreton Hall
The courtyard inside
Momma duck sitting on her eggs behind the hall :-) Yay nature!That evening TJ took me to the bar/restaraunt where he works, and we ate dinner. I had a delicious steak and mushroom pie, along with a glass of cider. After eating, we sat at the bar where I drank a hot chocolate with Grand Marnier, followed by black current juice. I've never had black current before--I've only heard of it because we have a scent at Bath and Body Works called "Black Currant and Vanilla" (I not a big fan of the scent because I don't like vanilla). It was quite nice :-)
The next day was a big day--we got up early and went to London! TJ's brother lives in London, so he came with his girlfriend and showed us around the town. We only had 7 hours to spend there, so it was truly a whirlwind tour! Here are just a few pictures:
Tower of London
The bridge wasn't that exciting (apparently the original bridge was bought by a man in Texas and moved there), but this statue was kind of cool
Globe Theatre!
St. Paul's. One of the only buildings not destroyed in the fire.
Buddies
Walk to the Palace. All of the flags were out because it was the Queen's official birthday.
Pretty
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben. The name actually refers to the bell, not the clock.
I caught him sticking out his tongue :-)Saturday evening, TJ and I went to his friend's birthday party, which happened to be a fancy dress (British for costume) party. I had so much fun! We danced, we drank, we ate delicious food, and I really enjoyed the luxury of hanging out with a friend that I've had for longer than 3 months. Oh the things you take for granted! I actually enjoyed a lot of luxuries that weekend: playing with a dog, staying in a house with a family (that speaks English), riding in a car instead of depending on public transportation the whole time, spending time in nature, a home cooked breakfast, among other things. It actually made me quite homesick because it was much more like home than Dortmund, and getting that little taste of home just reminded me of what I am missing. Not much longer, and then I can get the chance to be homesick for Germany :-)
Don't we look great? TJ kept commenting on how the costume fit the contours of his body perfectly... :-)
So much fun!Sunday afternoon (oh too soon) I was back on a plane to Germany, and I just wasn't ready to give up all of these reminders of home but classes were calling. England is wonderful. Go there. I plan on returning, one day. I actually like it so much, that I think I would like to live there one day. Seriously.
One thing I know all of you are thinking: What did Kevin think of you going and spending four days with another guy? I would like to use this moment to announce to everyone that the man I am marrying is wonderful. He trusts me and had no problems with me going to see TJ. In fact, he was a little jealous ("You get to go see TJ? I wanna go see TJ!"), and it was actually really nice to spend time with a friend that actually knows Kevin.
Also, I've gone back to many of my blogs and added a link to my Facebook albums so that you can see more pictures. Adding pictures to my blog entries is actually a fairly long process, so you don't get to see the majority of my photos. Here is the link for my England Adventure.
Tschüss!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Dear München, You were wonderful. Please take care of my camera. Love, Danielle
So I promised a timely post about Munich (called München in German), and I guess my body really wanted to keep the promise because I was wide awake at 8 this morning, and I don't have class until 12. I'll start at the beginning, prepare yourselves for a typical super-long post:
We left the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) around 8:30 Friday morning, and by "we," I mean myself and 14 others. There were 7 German girls, 2 American girls (including me, naturally), 1 German guy, 4 American guys, and 1 French guy. It was really a great group, and we got along quite well. On the way to Munich (it was a 6 hour trip on a high-speed train), we decided to keep up the German tradition of drinking on trains and made White Russians. Of course, you usually only see people drinking beer on trains, and that really would have been much more German of us, but we decided to be classy--plus we only needed 2 bottles of liquor for these drinks instead of a ton of beer bottles. So to summarize the train ride to Munich, we were drinking yummy mixtures of Vodka, Kahlua, and milk at about 11 in the morning. Good way to start, right?
Once we got to Munich, we checked into our hostel and headed over to the Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten (a huge, beautiful park that is the biggest in the world), and I felt like I had walked straight into a German stereotype. There were a ton of people in traditional Bavarian clothing (think lederhosen), there was a band playing polka-style music, and everyone was drinking a Maß. When you imagine the huge glasses of beer in Germany, you are imagining a Maß, which is a liter of beer that I've only seen in Bavaria. It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed it. Afterward, six of the German girls split from the group and the rest of us went to a really neat beer hall created from horse stalls that my guidebook recommended: Augustiner Bräustube. We walked in and one main word came into my mind: tavern. It was really cool, and fairly inexpensive. I drank a Maß of Weiße, ate a bowl of delicious Spargel Suppe (asparagus cream soup that is made from white asparagus), and split a huge plate of meat and kraut with my friend Tori. It was all infinitely delicious, and I felt really German :-) I also just enjoyed the chance to hangout with my friends--as I said before, it was a really great group! We got back to the hostel around midnight, and the girls all went to bed as the boys went back out to a student party (I decided to get some rest so I could enjoy Munich on Saturday).
The next day I wanted to visit the Neuschwanstein, a castle built by Ludwig II who was a crazy king who built tons of castles in Germany before he was accused of being insane. He was arrested, moved from the castle, and was mysteriously found dead face-down in a lake with his psychiatrist the next day. This particular castle was the last one the he built, and it was also the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disney World. It was a 2 hour train ride from Munich and only 2 people, Tori and Erin, were up for it. Despite the fact that it rained the whole time we were walking up to the castle (a pretty long walk straight uphill), it was a wonderful day. The castle is at the top of a hill with a beautiful view, and I think the fact that it was raining and misty made it even more majestic. We toured the castle, which is mostly empty (Ludwig was arrested before the majority of the rooms could be decorated), but the rooms that were decorated were amazing. I literally felt like I walking through a fairy tale--everything was covered in paint, gold, and murals, and every time you passed by a window, you saw the beautiful view. I really could rant for a long while about this castle, but I still don't think I could portray how cool it was or how much I enjoyed it. I also thoroughly enjoyed hanging with Tori and Erin, and I'm really glad they came with me.
We got back from the Neuschwanstein around 8 (we got started a little late on Saturday), met up with the rest of the group, and headed over to the Hofbräuhaus, one of the most famous beer halls in Germany. I have a friend from camp, Conner, who has an internship in Ingolstadt and just happened to be in Munich on Saturday, so he met me there with two of his German friends. The Hofbräuhaus was insanely crowded, so my group decided to go to a different place across the street, but I stayed with Conner and his friends (it is much easier to find a place for 4 than it is to find a place for 19). Let me explain this place a little more for you: the entire place was a huge, high-ceiling hall full of long, sturdy picnic tables, and you sit with a bunch of strangers wherever you can find a place. The four of us finally found a spot, and I had a great time catching up with Conner, eating Bratwurst and Kraut, drinking a Maß, and talking to and singing drinking songs with all of the people at the table. Overall, it was wonderful, and I'm pretty sure that Saturday was my favorite day in Germany so far.
Now at this point you might have noticed that I haven't posted any pictures of my best day ever. That is because my camera decided to abandon me in the Hofbräuhaus. All I know is that it was in my bag when I walked in (I took pictures immediately before entering, then put my camera back in my bag), and when I left and reached for my camera, it was gone. The only explanation I can come up with is that it fell out of my bag. This leads me to Sunday and the great camera hunt. By the time I realized that my camera was gone, the beer hall was closed, so Tori returned with me on Sunday to see if anyone had found it. We thuroughly searched the place and talked to at least 4 waiters, the manager, a waitress, the gift shop lady, and the gift shop kiosk lady, but to no avail. Apparently, someone acquired a free camera on Saturday night. It was truly frustrating, and I shed a tear or two for my camera, but there was honestly nothing I could do. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I didn't do something stupid like set it down and walk off without it, but I'm so mad because it seems so stereotypical: an American tourist losing her camera in a beer hall. Oh well.
After the fruitless search for my camera, Tori and I went to the Nyphemburg Schloss, which is called the Versailles of Germany. Tori bought me some ice cream (she is truly a beautiful person, and I'm glad to call her my friend), and we sat outside the water and watched some baby swans playing. It was really relaxing. Afterward, we went to an art museum because they are only 1€ on Sundays, but neither of us were really that impressed because everything was from the same time period and looked exactly the same. It was cool for the first couple of rooms, but became monotonous. Then it was time to head home :-( I was very sad because I loved being in Munich and because leaving was officially admitting that my camera was gone.
Overall, I must say that, apart from losing my camera, it was the best weekend I've had since coming to Germany. Munich is wonderful, Maß are wonderful, my friends are wonderful, and I've never been more in love with Germany.
We left the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) around 8:30 Friday morning, and by "we," I mean myself and 14 others. There were 7 German girls, 2 American girls (including me, naturally), 1 German guy, 4 American guys, and 1 French guy. It was really a great group, and we got along quite well. On the way to Munich (it was a 6 hour trip on a high-speed train), we decided to keep up the German tradition of drinking on trains and made White Russians. Of course, you usually only see people drinking beer on trains, and that really would have been much more German of us, but we decided to be classy--plus we only needed 2 bottles of liquor for these drinks instead of a ton of beer bottles. So to summarize the train ride to Munich, we were drinking yummy mixtures of Vodka, Kahlua, and milk at about 11 in the morning. Good way to start, right?
Once we got to Munich, we checked into our hostel and headed over to the Chinesischer Turm in the Englischer Garten (a huge, beautiful park that is the biggest in the world), and I felt like I had walked straight into a German stereotype. There were a ton of people in traditional Bavarian clothing (think lederhosen), there was a band playing polka-style music, and everyone was drinking a Maß. When you imagine the huge glasses of beer in Germany, you are imagining a Maß, which is a liter of beer that I've only seen in Bavaria. It was lots of fun, and I really enjoyed it. Afterward, six of the German girls split from the group and the rest of us went to a really neat beer hall created from horse stalls that my guidebook recommended: Augustiner Bräustube. We walked in and one main word came into my mind: tavern. It was really cool, and fairly inexpensive. I drank a Maß of Weiße, ate a bowl of delicious Spargel Suppe (asparagus cream soup that is made from white asparagus), and split a huge plate of meat and kraut with my friend Tori. It was all infinitely delicious, and I felt really German :-) I also just enjoyed the chance to hangout with my friends--as I said before, it was a really great group! We got back to the hostel around midnight, and the girls all went to bed as the boys went back out to a student party (I decided to get some rest so I could enjoy Munich on Saturday).
The next day I wanted to visit the Neuschwanstein, a castle built by Ludwig II who was a crazy king who built tons of castles in Germany before he was accused of being insane. He was arrested, moved from the castle, and was mysteriously found dead face-down in a lake with his psychiatrist the next day. This particular castle was the last one the he built, and it was also the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disney World. It was a 2 hour train ride from Munich and only 2 people, Tori and Erin, were up for it. Despite the fact that it rained the whole time we were walking up to the castle (a pretty long walk straight uphill), it was a wonderful day. The castle is at the top of a hill with a beautiful view, and I think the fact that it was raining and misty made it even more majestic. We toured the castle, which is mostly empty (Ludwig was arrested before the majority of the rooms could be decorated), but the rooms that were decorated were amazing. I literally felt like I walking through a fairy tale--everything was covered in paint, gold, and murals, and every time you passed by a window, you saw the beautiful view. I really could rant for a long while about this castle, but I still don't think I could portray how cool it was or how much I enjoyed it. I also thoroughly enjoyed hanging with Tori and Erin, and I'm really glad they came with me.
We got back from the Neuschwanstein around 8 (we got started a little late on Saturday), met up with the rest of the group, and headed over to the Hofbräuhaus, one of the most famous beer halls in Germany. I have a friend from camp, Conner, who has an internship in Ingolstadt and just happened to be in Munich on Saturday, so he met me there with two of his German friends. The Hofbräuhaus was insanely crowded, so my group decided to go to a different place across the street, but I stayed with Conner and his friends (it is much easier to find a place for 4 than it is to find a place for 19). Let me explain this place a little more for you: the entire place was a huge, high-ceiling hall full of long, sturdy picnic tables, and you sit with a bunch of strangers wherever you can find a place. The four of us finally found a spot, and I had a great time catching up with Conner, eating Bratwurst and Kraut, drinking a Maß, and talking to and singing drinking songs with all of the people at the table. Overall, it was wonderful, and I'm pretty sure that Saturday was my favorite day in Germany so far.
Now at this point you might have noticed that I haven't posted any pictures of my best day ever. That is because my camera decided to abandon me in the Hofbräuhaus. All I know is that it was in my bag when I walked in (I took pictures immediately before entering, then put my camera back in my bag), and when I left and reached for my camera, it was gone. The only explanation I can come up with is that it fell out of my bag. This leads me to Sunday and the great camera hunt. By the time I realized that my camera was gone, the beer hall was closed, so Tori returned with me on Sunday to see if anyone had found it. We thuroughly searched the place and talked to at least 4 waiters, the manager, a waitress, the gift shop lady, and the gift shop kiosk lady, but to no avail. Apparently, someone acquired a free camera on Saturday night. It was truly frustrating, and I shed a tear or two for my camera, but there was honestly nothing I could do. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I didn't do something stupid like set it down and walk off without it, but I'm so mad because it seems so stereotypical: an American tourist losing her camera in a beer hall. Oh well.
After the fruitless search for my camera, Tori and I went to the Nyphemburg Schloss, which is called the Versailles of Germany. Tori bought me some ice cream (she is truly a beautiful person, and I'm glad to call her my friend), and we sat outside the water and watched some baby swans playing. It was really relaxing. Afterward, we went to an art museum because they are only 1€ on Sundays, but neither of us were really that impressed because everything was from the same time period and looked exactly the same. It was cool for the first couple of rooms, but became monotonous. Then it was time to head home :-( I was very sad because I loved being in Munich and because leaving was officially admitting that my camera was gone.
Overall, I must say that, apart from losing my camera, it was the best weekend I've had since coming to Germany. Munich is wonderful, Maß are wonderful, my friends are wonderful, and I've never been more in love with Germany.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Aachen and the Dreiländerpunkt
Ok, I want to start off by stating that I am well aware of the fact that it has been an obscenely long time since I’ve posted. Honestly, there hasn’t been that much to post—I guess you could say that I’ve finally fallen into a routine and sometimes things feel so normal that I can’t think of anything to tell you. This last Friday, however, I went on an exciting adventure, and I’ve decided to write about it.
As I think I told all of you earlier, every student at Dortmund University gets a “Semester Ticket” that allows them the travel second class anywhere in our state for free. Lately, I’ve been trying to take advantage of this ticket and really see the NRW (Nordrhein Westfalen) before I leave, and this past Friday, we went to Aachen, a really cool town in the Southwest. When we first arrived, we checked out the Dom (cathedral), and it was really cool. Definitely one of my favorites (and I’ve seen a lot of them since arriving in Europe!) The inside was absolutely gorgeous—the entire ceiling was covered in beautiful mosaic art. I tried to get a few pictures, but my camera was not very cooperative in the dim lighting. Oh well, if you want to know what it really looks like, you should just go to Aachen. After checking out the Dom and eating some lunch (very reasonably priced and yummy Chinese food), we headed out to the Dreiländerpunkt (“three country point”). I actually only recently learned about this, and it is the point where Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands all meet—pretty exciting. It was a bit of a walk from the Innenstadt (inner-city), and I loved every minute of it! We walked down a road with fields on either side of us, and I almost felt like I was back home, walking down the road past our farm in Virginia. I’ve been having some serious homesickness lately, and this was exactly what I needed. After walking past fields for awhile, we went through a forest, which also felt like home—I could’ve been walking down camp road :-) I had forgotten just how much I love the smell of the woods. Finally, we reached our destination—the Dreiländerpunkt! It was so much fun—we all took turns standing/sitting/laying in any combination of the three countries, and some people took the opportunity to buy and eat some form of food in each country. I had such a wonderful time, and I think it is so amazing that I live only 2½ hours from such a neat place. It was also nice to just spend some time with other international students. Our traveling group had six different countries represented: US, Hungary, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Turkey. Here are some photos from the adventure:
The outside of the Dom. I thought it was so cool, and there is a little dome in the middle that is shaped like a lemon juicer :-)
A lot of the Doms have a miniature version outside of the door. I decided to bust out the Danzilla on this one :-D
One of my only decent pictures of the inside--that design on the ceiling is a mosaic.
The road through the fields. The road was named Dreiländerweg ("three country way").
Yay cows!
This was next to the road in the forest. We were the only four brave enough to play on it, and it was epically fun. There is a different country in each corner: Anil (far left) is from Turkey, Balazs (on my left) is from Hungary, and Thiébaud (on my right) is from France.
Sitting in 3 countries--the green lines by my butt and my foot are the borders. Germany is on the left, the Netherlands are in the middle, and Belgium is on the right.
Group Pic :-D
Tomorrow I will be leaving for Munich, one of the biggest cities in Germany that is considered the second capital. It's supposed to be really cool, and I am super psyched, so expect a post when I get back! (No really, I promise to write about it within a few days of returning)
Link to my Facebook album
Tschüss!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Realization
This past Friday five of us went on an adventure to Kassel, which is about a three hour train ride outside of Dortmund, to see the Brothers Grimm museum. Shenanigans ensued and I’m pretty sure a good time was had by all, but I’m not really interested in telling you all about the trip. More important was the ride home. The funny part is, I’m positive that it only held such great significance for me, and it was an experience full of vibrant colors. One thing I noticed is that everything is significantly greener here than it is at home because Germany is not in a constant drought like East Tennessee. Also, on the way home, we saw an amazing sunset, along with a full, beautiful rainbow, and then I sat, staring out of the window as the light was fading from the sky and settling in a haze of pink and orange on the horizon. It was peaceful and beautiful. I looked around me and saw my four fellow travelers, all Americans: reading, listening to music, drinking various juices as well as Ouzo, and I felt at home for the first time since I arrived in Germany. I often find my heart longing for the mountains of East Tennessee and for the people there whom I love and who support me, and before Friday, I could honestly say that I would be perfectly happy going home, but this was the first time that I realized that leaving Germany will be difficult—the first time that I realized that pieces of my heart lay in different cities throughout Europe and in the hands of people that were complete strangers to me two months ago. I looked at my fellow travelers and saw people that I loved, people that I never wanted to leave, people who made the difficult days in Germany bearable and the good days in Germany wonderful. Germany is no longer some far away, unobtainable goal that I’ve had for years, it is my home, and these people here, with whom I have these crazy adventures, they are my family. So there I sat, with tears brimming in my eyes, staring out of the window somewhere between Warburg and Soest, knowing that my life was permanently changed. And the train kept moving…
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
“Why was 9/11 so traumatic for America?”
Today marks the two month anniversary of my new affair with Germany. We are getting along quite well, but I doubt that we will be intimate for longer than three more months :-D
My life currently has been defined by classes, reading for classes, partying (shocking, right?), sleep, and travel. I’m excited to say that I have now been in five countries (USA, Mexico, Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands), and I already have plans to visit more. For example, I have already purchased a plan ticket to Manchester on June 11-14 to visit my good friend TJ (which only cost 20€ round-trip, huzzah!), and I might be going to Krakow, Poland with my roommate in July to check out Auschwitz (everyone should, at some point in their lives, be humbled by history). I’m trying to see and do as much as I can, while still trying to live the everyday life of a German college student.
The main reason I wanted to write today is to talk about my “Migration and Global Horizon of Contemporary American Fiction” course. It is a difficult class because it is a graduate-level course and involves quite a bit of intensive reading, but it is one of my favorite classes mostly because it never ceases to be maddeningly interesting. It mainly focuses on globalization (What is globalization? How is it affecting literature?) and post 9/11 American fiction. For today, we had to read an article by Richard Gray called “Open Doors, Closed Minds: American Prose Writing at a Time of Crisis” which is criticizing post 9/11 literature for dwelling on trauma, then trying to move away from it. To sum up Gray’s argument: he tells his readers that American fiction writers focus on how traumatic 9/11 was and how life will never be the same, but the basic plots of the stories remain the same as pre 9/11 stories. We also read a short story by Dwight Eisenberg entitled “Twilight of the Superheroes,” which was a fascinating (and slightly depressing) story about different lives that were touched and changed by the falling of the towers. The most interesting/surreal/slightly disturbing part of the class today, however, was when we started discussing 9/11. Our professor posed the question, “Why was 9/11 so traumatic for America?” and he moved on to point out that the attacks on the towers were not statistically that traumatic (only 3,000 people died). At this point, I want to clarify that my professor is a guest professor from the US who has obviously wondered about and struggled with this topic himself, and he is not a foreign asshole who sees no significance in 9/11. So what do you do when you are asked this question in a room full of Germans whose history is much more statistically traumatic than ours? How can you explain to a foreigner the fear that leaked into our country on that day? To a point, our professor was right: this was not the first time that terrorism had shown its ugly face in America (it’s definitely been quite prevalent in other parts of the world), and 3,000 is a relatively small number of casualties. Was it, as a few German students suggested, the media that created the atmosphere of fear and loss? Or were we devastated that our isolation and control was broken? Or perhaps we were afraid because we had no clear enemy to stand against? Were we just lamenting our pride? Needless to say, it was an interesting and rough class. It made me ask myself who we are as Americans. What is our culture, what is our history, what do we stand for or believe in? Are we naïve? Europe has definitely had much more frequent and up-close experiences with war and terror—were we so bold to believe that our soil would not/could not be tainted in such a way? I was forced to look at America as both an American and an outsider, and I don't know if I'll ever recover.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Longest Blog Post Ever...aka Prague and Kutna Hora
I'm slightly torn right now as to whether I should finally post about Prague and Kutna Hora, or if I should, instead, write about my trip to Amsterdam this past weekend. Because I am chronically indecisive, it is looking like I'm going to write about both. So get comfortable, it's going to be a long ride.
After spending 2 days in Berlin (at this point, I want to re-emphasize that Berlin is the best city ever), Michael, Jessica, and I moved on the Prague which is the capital of the Czech Republic and the gateway city between western and eastern Europe. On the way to Prague, we rode an EC train, which was super cool because it had individual compartments that seated six people each. Being the nerds that we are, we were very excited because the train made us think of the Hogwarts Express :-) It was about a four hour ride, but we were fully entertained by the gorgeous scenery--the terrain looked like someting out of the Lord of the Rings (once again, it satisfied our inner nerds). Once we finally made it to Prague, we learned that the subway system there is very user-friendly and despite the fact that we had to take two different trains, we had no trouble at all finding our stop. Once we got to the station, we were a little nervous because everything looked so foreign, and we really didn't recognize anything, but there were signs that led us straight to our hostel. After checking in to our hostel (which was a really good deal--about 15€ a night, including bedding and breakfast), we went and withdrew some money because they use crowns in the Czech Republic instead of Euros. We each withdrew 3000Kč (about 115€, 1€=25Kč), and went to a little restaurant that was recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel (She told us it was a "traditional Czech meal at a traditional Czech price"). It was absolutely delicious, and extremely inexpensive--I think I might be happy if I could only eat Czech food the rest of my life :-)
This delicious shot of liquor that tasted like spearmint candy cost only 20Kč (less than 1€). I really, really loved that restaurant.
When we decided to go to Prague, all three of us wanted to go to the Kostnice Ossuary (also called the Sedlec Ossuary or the Bone Chruch), but we soon learned that it was not located in Prague but was instead in a small town called Kutna Hora which was about a an hour and a half bus ride from Prague. Figuring out the bus system and trying to buy a ticket was a huge adventure that took us well over an hour, but we were eventually (finally) in Kutna Hora. I absolutely loved this town--it was a picturesque European town full of churches and beautiful buildings, but it was not completely tainted and crowded with tourism. After arriving in Kutna Hora, we went on an adventure, walking around the entire town, checking every church to see if it was the Kostnice Ossuary. At one point, we were approached by a man advertising for his pizza place, and there was a little map of the town on the back of the flyer he gave us, so that helped a little. When we finally did find the Bone Church, we were not dissapointed. The Kosnice Ossuary is a small church that is decorated with the bones of 40,000 people who died in a plague, and in the middle of it, there is a chandelier that includes every bone of the human body. It was very cool, intriguing, bizarre, creepy, etc, and we were all very satisfied with our find :-) After our little adventure, we were all a little nervous about finding the way back, especially considering the fact that it took us over an hour to find a way to get there when we were in a big city that is used to stupid American tourists :-) Luckily, we found a very nice lady who spoke German (those were infinitely more common than ladies who spoke English), and she showed us which bus to take. That evening we revisited our favorite restaurant. Seriously, I want to take that restaurant home with me.
The first church of our adventure--Church of St. James
The second church that we investigated--St. Barbara's Cathedral
Beautiful view of Kutna Hora from St. Barbara's Cathedral
The Stone Fountain--as far as we could tell, it was more of a reservoir than a fountain.
The side of the fountain. That's right--built in 1097
The tourist map called it the "Stone House." I thought it looked pretty cool.
The Plague Column. Not positive which plague.
The next church--I don't know that name of this one...
Finally!
It was a little bizarre (ok, it was really bizarre) to see so much Christian symbolism in human bones
There was a tower of human bones (just like this one) in each of the four corners. They went all the way up to the ceiling!
Here I am with the chandelier
The next day we decided to actually check out Prague. First, we went to the Prague Castle, which was really cool and slightly intimidating. By some stroke of luck (we all called this our trip of happy accidents), we showed up right as they were changing the guard, and that was very interesting to observe. We also checked out many other main tourist spots, including the town square which was happily decorated for an Easter festival :-D Yay Easter! We each bought a trdlo, which they translated into a potato pancake, but I don't think that was a very good translation. It was absolutely delicious, and I'm a little glad that they don't have them at home because I would gain about 10 pounds eating them all the time! We also bought some yummy gingerbread that was decorated for Easter. On the hour, we watched the apostles come out on the astronomical clock. This clock was my favorite part of Prague. Seriously, it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and I took a ridiculously large amount of pictures.
Walking to Prague Castle--there were a lot of stairs
Prague Castle
The changing of the guard
I couldn't help myself, I'm such a tourist (hangs head in shame)
The cathedral inside the castle walls. So pretty--I wish we had stuff like this in the US
Delicious!!!!!
Yay Easter festivals!
"Our Lady" plus part of a really neat statue that was in the middle of the square
We got a couple of moonlight pictures--awesome, right?
The astronomical clock.
The best traveling group. Ever. Seriously.
The next day was the last day of our adventure. For a few days we thoroughly enjoyed the Czech Republic and the really cheap prices of everything there (I still had 800Kč leftover after three days, and that includes paying for three nights at the hostel), but we soon learned that although everything there is fairly cheap, it is not so cheap to leave the country. It cost around 50€ to get back to Berlin. Once we got to Berlin, we bought our tickets back to Dortmund (for those of you who are wondering: yes, the best way back to Dortmund was through Berlin) and boarded the train, expecting to be back around 19:00pm. About two hours into our train ride, a woman came to check our tickets, and freaked out when she saw our tickets, telling us that we had the wrong tickets. We tried to tell her that we had just bought the tickets and that they were valid tickets to Dortmund, but she kept freaking out and told us (in German--she spoke no English) that the train didn't go to Dortmund. I understood her perfectly, but I didn't understand the situation at all. As it turns out, the train before ours was running quite late and came at the same time ours was supposed to. The sign said that it was our train because it was timed, but it was not our train. In fact (as the English-speaking woman who was sitting next to us on the train pointed out to us), we were going to the completely wrong direction, and we almost made it to the Baltic Sea before the train lady checked our tickets. For those of you who, like me, are terrible with geography, I've included a map:
As you can see, it was the completely wrong direction
Needless to say, this put a little damper in our trip home. I thought it was funny because when we finally understood exactly what had happened and got off the train, we all went to our happy places: I called Kevin, Jesika bought a Kinder Egg, and Michael went to take some pictures of historical-looking stuff. In the end, we had to buy a ticket back to Berlin (the trainstop where we got off was in the middle of nowhere and couldn't take us straight back to Dortmund), and we had to pay more money to upgrade our ticket back to Dortmund from Berlin because only the expensive trains were running so late. So instead of getting back around 19:00 that evening, we ended up getting home at about 3:00 that morning, and we almost didn't even do that because we all fell alseep on the train! Luckily, Michael woke up and looked outside and recognized the city seconds before our stop. Overall, it was truly an adventure!
Ok. So now it's time to tell you about Amsterdam, but I've decided that I lied and I'm far too worn out to write anymore. Forgive me. I will catch you up later, promise.
Here are the links to my Facebook albums for more pictures: Kutna Hora Prague
After spending 2 days in Berlin (at this point, I want to re-emphasize that Berlin is the best city ever), Michael, Jessica, and I moved on the Prague which is the capital of the Czech Republic and the gateway city between western and eastern Europe. On the way to Prague, we rode an EC train, which was super cool because it had individual compartments that seated six people each. Being the nerds that we are, we were very excited because the train made us think of the Hogwarts Express :-) It was about a four hour ride, but we were fully entertained by the gorgeous scenery--the terrain looked like someting out of the Lord of the Rings (once again, it satisfied our inner nerds). Once we finally made it to Prague, we learned that the subway system there is very user-friendly and despite the fact that we had to take two different trains, we had no trouble at all finding our stop. Once we got to the station, we were a little nervous because everything looked so foreign, and we really didn't recognize anything, but there were signs that led us straight to our hostel. After checking in to our hostel (which was a really good deal--about 15€ a night, including bedding and breakfast), we went and withdrew some money because they use crowns in the Czech Republic instead of Euros. We each withdrew 3000Kč (about 115€, 1€=25Kč), and went to a little restaurant that was recommended to us by the receptionist at the hostel (She told us it was a "traditional Czech meal at a traditional Czech price"). It was absolutely delicious, and extremely inexpensive--I think I might be happy if I could only eat Czech food the rest of my life :-)
This delicious shot of liquor that tasted like spearmint candy cost only 20Kč (less than 1€). I really, really loved that restaurant. 
The first church of our adventure--Church of St. James
The second church that we investigated--St. Barbara's Cathedral
Beautiful view of Kutna Hora from St. Barbara's Cathedral
The Stone Fountain--as far as we could tell, it was more of a reservoir than a fountain.
The side of the fountain. That's right--built in 1097
The tourist map called it the "Stone House." I thought it looked pretty cool.
The Plague Column. Not positive which plague.
The next church--I don't know that name of this one...
Finally!
It was a little bizarre (ok, it was really bizarre) to see so much Christian symbolism in human bones
There was a tower of human bones (just like this one) in each of the four corners. They went all the way up to the ceiling!
Here I am with the chandelier
Walking to Prague Castle--there were a lot of stairs
Prague Castle
The changing of the guard
I couldn't help myself, I'm such a tourist (hangs head in shame)
The cathedral inside the castle walls. So pretty--I wish we had stuff like this in the US
Delicious!!!!!
Yay Easter festivals!
"Our Lady" plus part of a really neat statue that was in the middle of the square
We got a couple of moonlight pictures--awesome, right? 
The astronomical clock.
The best traveling group. Ever. Seriously.The next day was the last day of our adventure. For a few days we thoroughly enjoyed the Czech Republic and the really cheap prices of everything there (I still had 800Kč leftover after three days, and that includes paying for three nights at the hostel), but we soon learned that although everything there is fairly cheap, it is not so cheap to leave the country. It cost around 50€ to get back to Berlin. Once we got to Berlin, we bought our tickets back to Dortmund (for those of you who are wondering: yes, the best way back to Dortmund was through Berlin) and boarded the train, expecting to be back around 19:00pm. About two hours into our train ride, a woman came to check our tickets, and freaked out when she saw our tickets, telling us that we had the wrong tickets. We tried to tell her that we had just bought the tickets and that they were valid tickets to Dortmund, but she kept freaking out and told us (in German--she spoke no English) that the train didn't go to Dortmund. I understood her perfectly, but I didn't understand the situation at all. As it turns out, the train before ours was running quite late and came at the same time ours was supposed to. The sign said that it was our train because it was timed, but it was not our train. In fact (as the English-speaking woman who was sitting next to us on the train pointed out to us), we were going to the completely wrong direction, and we almost made it to the Baltic Sea before the train lady checked our tickets. For those of you who, like me, are terrible with geography, I've included a map:
As you can see, it was the completely wrong directionNeedless to say, this put a little damper in our trip home. I thought it was funny because when we finally understood exactly what had happened and got off the train, we all went to our happy places: I called Kevin, Jesika bought a Kinder Egg, and Michael went to take some pictures of historical-looking stuff. In the end, we had to buy a ticket back to Berlin (the trainstop where we got off was in the middle of nowhere and couldn't take us straight back to Dortmund), and we had to pay more money to upgrade our ticket back to Dortmund from Berlin because only the expensive trains were running so late. So instead of getting back around 19:00 that evening, we ended up getting home at about 3:00 that morning, and we almost didn't even do that because we all fell alseep on the train! Luckily, Michael woke up and looked outside and recognized the city seconds before our stop. Overall, it was truly an adventure!
Ok. So now it's time to tell you about Amsterdam, but I've decided that I lied and I'm far too worn out to write anymore. Forgive me. I will catch you up later, promise.
Here are the links to my Facebook albums for more pictures: Kutna Hora Prague
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