Youth Camp and Coming home!

At the high ropes course the second week

Kasia and I in the camp house

I left Tübingen for (almost) the last time to head down to southern Germany and a little town called Oy, just a couple kilometers from Neuschwanstein castle, to spend the rest of my time abroad. Here I was working at a summer camp for German kiddies to learn and practice speaking english with some native Americans like myself. Although I was just a volunteer, I did quite a lot of work, like cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping for forty people, and planning daily activities with the kids.

Both sessions were a week long, so the first group of 30 kids was switched out with another 30 after a week. The first week was really great and the kids were pretty angelic looking back. One of the teachers that Kasia and I shared a room with liked to create drama, but luckily she was just there the first week and was pretty much the biggest problem we had. The second week wasn't quite as blissful because the children were everything, but angelic. After the first night of chaos, Kasia and I retreated to the Seehaus on just the second day for more than a couple Zotlers. Since we were used to such friendly, positive, and kind kids, it was pretty hard to switch to the cliquey, mean, and bullying dynamic that happened the second week. The first week was fun, but by the time we were done with the second week, we were all pretty ready to be back.

I spent that last Friday night and Saturday at the hostel in Tübingen with Kasia, and hung out with the other camp counselors since all of my friends had already headed home. It was pretty weird to be back in Tübingen without everyone I usually hung out with there, and kind of depressing. But since it was only for 48 hours, it wasn't too terrible. Leaving was definitely a little surreal when the time finally came, since I was leaving the home I had known for many months. It made me happy to head home and see everyone, but also sad thinking I might not be back to this place for a very long time. I know I will be back to Germany sometime soon and will hopefully keep up all the German that I learned during my time there.

The kids and us counselors after the first week, with the house in the back

Leaving home again

I ended up spending my last week in Tübingen mostly not in Tübingen, because there was suddenly so many things that seemed more important than going to my last classes. The Grafs picked me up on Sunday, the day after the Holifest in Tü, and I went to stay with them until Tuesday. Then I took the train to Würzburg to visit Krissi and her family for a last time as well. On Thursday I headed back to Tü and finished up university business, packed and moved out of my room, and hung out with my friends there until Saturday morning when I headed to the summer camp.

At the Holifest

It was really strange to finally leave Tübingen because even though I knew it was coming and had been there since April, it seemed like it happened really fast and sudden. Saying goodbye to my host families and friends was really hard and strange because I really don’t know when I’m going to see them again, or if I’ll ever see them again, now that we’re so far away. It was so cute and sad when my younger host sister, Nele, asked me when I was going to visit again, because even if I see them again in a couple years, that will feel like a much longer time for her than it would for me. There were definitely tears shed when hugging everyone goodbye and just knowing how far around the world we were about to be from each other. The worst was when I was leaving the Abschiedsparty at Kuckuck and had to say goodbye to my friend Heloise and was crying and sad, then proceeded to cut my foot on a broken cocktail glass and bleed for a long while until it stopped…

At one of the University buildings

As excited as I was getting to go home, finally leaving was pretty sad and I felt like I could have stayed longer. After being around my friends in Tübingen since April, we had gotten really close and I didn’t want to leave what we had there. I am so excited to see Gus and my family and Domino again when I get home, and then to move back to Ann Arbor in my new house, but goodbyes are never easy.

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens...

I wrote about a few of my favorite things in Germany back in March when I lived in Schwäbisch Hall, so I thought I'd update my list with more things I love in Tübingen, and what I'm going to miss when I head home in a couple weeks. [Warning: this list is mostly food items]

1. Gelato. This is probably an obvious choice for being in Europe, but boy do I love the ice cream here. My favorite spot sells one scoop for only 1 euro and makes the ice cream fresh every morning in every flavor you can imagine: almond, hazelnut, walnut, coconut, pistachio, biscotto, chocolate muffin, snickers, chocolate hazelnut, choco-banana, mango, banana, pineapple, melon, lemon, cherry, currant, strawberry, raspberry, strawberry cheesecake, strawberry quark, yogurt... The list goes on and on. My favorite is probably raspberry with cherry or currant, perfect for hot summer days. It's a rare day when I don't stop for two scoops at least once.

2. Trains. Frequenting the trains here really makes me wish they were cheaper, more convenient, and available in the US. Nothing is more on time, allows you to skip traffic, pay for gas, and lets you relax like the trains, and they make traveling 3 hours there and back in one day not nearly as terrible as driving the same amount of time.

3. Open alcohol in public places. There is really nothing better than going with a friend to the park and casually drinking a beer together. This is allowed occasionally in the states, but not nearly as often or acceptable, which is going to be sad to come back to in the fall.

4. Small and local grocery stores. I LOVE being able to walk one minute to Netto, the cheapest grocery store in town, (or two minutes to Edeka) and be able to do my grocery shopping every day. It's such a shame we're not able to do this in Ann Arbor or East Lansing, and are pretty much forced to drive to Meijer or Kroger to get the best prices. Definitely going to miss this back home. Also, it's necessary to bring your own bags, or else you have to pay for plastic. Forced recycling is the way to go.

5. Fruit stands. Much like the previous post, I am very spoiled with two fruit stands both within a one minutes walk from my dorm. Nearly everyday I pick up a carton of raspberries, strawberries, a quarter of watermelon, or fresh peaches to take back and enjoy. Sometimes at the end of the day the owner yells out "Angebot!" and you can get something like a whole pineapple for 1 euro. 

Twinning in Europe

My latest vistors for the last 12 days were none other than my siblings, Harriet and George! It was Harry's first time in Europe and George's second, so they were both very excited and I think it was a good graduation present from Dad. They flew in and got to Tü on a Thursday and the next morning we took the early TGV train to Paris, Harry's request since she learned french in high school.

I was a little surprised at how much I liked Paris, just like I was with London. Both seem like such big, expensive, and typical/mainstream European cities, which made me hesitant to go, but I really loved both of them. Surprisingly as well, I spent less in London than Paris even though the pound is more expensive than the euro.

Macaroons in Montmarte

Regardless we had a really nice time in the "city of light" (which means enlightenment/knowledge!) and Harry got to practice speaking a bit. My favorite parts of our long weekend was the Eiffel Tower light show that we saw on Saturday and Sunday night, the free walking tour that Harry and I did, and the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Montmartre. We didn't climb up the Eiffel tower, but did climb to the top of the Basilica, which I think was better since then you actually get to see the tower in pictures! I was disappointed by the Moulin Rouge, since I imagined it quite glamourous from the movie, but impressed with the macaroons which I thought I might not love. We managed to fit quite a lot in the almost four days we had there, including two art museums, the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay, and got to be in the annual Gay Pride parade which was pretty awesome, especially with all the politics surrounding it in France right now. We experienced that first hand when we saw the anti-gay marriage parade, which was super lame and just a bunch of cars with flags honking up and down the street...

Harry and Jor in front of the castle

We got back to Tübingen late on Monday and spent the rest of their time in Germany, mainly in
Tübingen but also with some day trips. On the 4th of July we ventured to Schloss Lichtenstein, which is quite close, not taking into account the necessary hike up the mountain that I was unaware of, and probably would not have worn flip flips if I had been. That Friday was coincidentally the Sommerfest for the stipendium program I receive for studying here, so I registered us all for the fest, and we got two free bus rides to and from Konstanz, free entrance to the Insel Mainau (a tourist island full of flowers), free mimosas, free dinner, free dessert, and free stolen glasses! It was pretty awesome to see another site in Germany and not have a pay a euro cent to do so. That weekend was also the Stadtfest in Tübingen, so we were welcomed back to a pretty decent hip hop concert in the park, although we were too tired to see much else of the fest. On their last day here, we took the train to Schwäbisch Hall to see my host family and for them to meet my real family. It was a super nice day and we got to swim in their pool and catch up, in German and English for the twins. I didn't realize how much I was missing living with the Grafs until we got there! I'm hopefully going to get to visit again soon for a little while longer too.

On the Bodensee

It was really good to see the twins and manage to be together constantly for such a long time without bickering like we used to, and definitely would have if we were younger. I can't believe that they're heading to college already in the fall, but I think it's good because now we're all experiencing similar things again, and the gap between us doesn't seem quite as big. Our goodbye wasn't too hard though because I will be being picked up at the airport by them in just over a month! Crazy how time flies, and I am sad to be leaving Europe and all the possibilities it holds, but am becoming more and more excited and ready each day to head back to the good ole USA. 

Hamsterdayum

Mike, me, Heloise, Alex, Chris, and Ryan on the bus

This past weekend was my second in three consecutive weekend trips in June: Amsterdam! Five friends and I took the overnight bus on Thursday night, got to Amsterdam on Friday morning, then had a long 11-hour bus ride home to look forward to on Monday. While I did like the city, it honestly wasn't my favorite, especially after loving Greece the weekend before (although it's probably my fault for scheduling so much traveling in a row... it's hard to not compare them!) Not to mention that it rained nearly the entire time we were there, while in Greece we had perfect beach weather...

One of our favorite activities was also taste-testing
every cheese store we passed on the streets

Anyways, some of the highlights of the trip were as follows. The first day after checking into Bob's Youth Hostel, we walked (in the pouring rain of course) to the Van Gogh Museum, one of the most popular tourist spots. It was literally full with nearly all of his famous paintings, including the sunflowers and his self portraits. The next day we went to a traditional Dutch pancake house, and I had a delicious, ginormous waffle with bananas and bacon. Even funnier was that the NBA player Andrew Bynum rolled up with some friends and sat at the table right behind us. I didn't know who he was at first, but a giant black man dressed in sweats with an American accent is quite rare for Europe, and I correctly assumed he must be an athlete. The best part was that I overheard one of his friends ask what language the menu was in, and his response, "French!".... Classic American jock, seriously. On Sunday, we went to the house where Anne Frank hid for years before being found, which was super interesting, but also sad and eerie.

After being in Germany where you can literally buy beer everywhere, it was super interesting and strange that you can buy and smoke weed everywhere in Amsterdam. It's a totally different approach than what we grew up with in America and by the ratio of guys to girls in our hostel, you can clearly tell how many come to the city just for that. The second big difference is the amount of prostitution in the city, which I found super creepy and didn't want to be around. Some people say it's fun and part of the "Amsterdam experience", but all I could think of was that those women were most definitely not there by choice, or that it was really their best and only option. Seeing some of the women on their iPhones in the windows made that pretty clear, and I really don't understand how anyone can take enjoyment from it all. This all kind of put a damper on my time in the city, and I got pretty annoyed with one of the guys in my group. Regardless, I did love that the city had canals all through it and that I got to travel and join in on their first hostel-experience with my French friends, Alex and Heloise, who really haven't done that much travelling throughout Europe although they've lived here their entire lives.

Ya sas, Thessaloniki!

Ya sas, which actually is spelled like this Γειά σας, is the only Greek word I managed to pronounce and remember, but I want to try and remember to use it as a greeting regularly! Last Friday, I flew with 4 girlfriends to Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. I wasn't expecting/planning on getting to go to Greece during my travels, but when we found a 42 euro round trip flight with Ryanair, it was hard to resist! It ended up being one of my cheapest trips yet as well, since the hostel was only 12 euro a night, and restaurants were super cheap as well! Plus museums and historical sites are almost all free for EU students like myself. :) 

My favorite parts of Greece were probably the beach, bakeries, and olives. I've never been the biggest fan of olives, but omg these were amazing, and wayyyy cheaper than any I've ever seen in my life. We got a quarter kilo-bag for only 1 euro-- amazing. The bakeries were also fantastic, and every day there started with a sugar-high off of their chocolate molten cake, mounds of shortbread cookies, baklava dripping with honey, and a delicious Thessaloniki special pastry, like of like a flaky hot pocket filled with vanilla sauce. And lastly, of course the beaches were beautiful and wonderful. We took a bus to Halkidiki, just south of Thessaloniki, on Sunday, packed a picnic, and spent the whole day basking in the sun and in the salty Mediterranean. Even more amazing was that I managed not to get sunburnt after being exposed to some deadly rays. 

Greek Salad! Veggies, eggs, feta, olive oil. Delicious.

The rest of our time was spent sightseeing and eating Greek salad and gyros. We went up in the famous White Tower, saw some ancient artifacts at the Archaeology Museum, and went on a free (minus cocktails) Pirate ship around the harbor. The nightlife there was super alive, and the streets were more crowed at 2am than 2pm. The financial crisis going on was definitely noticeable with the many street beggars and state of the majority of houses, but it seemed similar to the life in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It was interesting traveling in a big group of girls, with sometimes contrasting opinions, but overall a really nice mini-vacation. I would love to go back someday and visit one of the islands, and stay on the beach absolutely the whole time. 

Ameera, Alex, Tiffany, me, and Kasia

Besucher, Besucherin

Kristi and I in my kitchen, before Top10

Gus and I at Schloss Hohenzollern

Ever since I got back from my nearly two-week vacation, I've had quite a bit of company in my dorm in Tübingen! Kristi was here a couple nights before we took the bus to Munich, then Gus was here for almost a week after we got back from Hamburg, and Margaret and her boyfriend, Tim, were just here for two nights on their mini-Euro vacation. It's been really nice being able to see people from home, and getting to show them around the city I've been living in for the past couple months. It's also cool because I have a chance to see the "touristy" sights around Tübingen that I might not have done otherwise. I took everyone to see the castle in Tübingen, where I have my archeology class, as well as Neckarmüller, the local brewery that has really good schwäbisch food, and one of my favorite bars, Bierkeller, which serves french fries until midnight!

Marge and Tim at Bebenhausen

While Gus was here, we took the quick train over to Schloss Hohenzollern, which was (and still kind of is) the home to the Prussian royal family. Afterwards we stopped and explored the town of Reutlingen, which is only a train stop from Tübingen, but I had never bothered to go before. We also popped into the Stadtmuseum in Tübingen that I had never been into, which had a really cool exhibit about Lotte Reiniger, famous for silhouette films and animation. While Marge was here on one of the first summer days, we walked the 5-6 kilometers to a small village called Bebenhausen, where there is a really old and beautiful monastery.

Besides my visitors, I've been living a pretty normal, college life in Tübingen, similar to in Ann Arbor, minus the crazy studying and hours in the library. This Saturday, I went to a typical brazilian 'June Party', which included a "wedding" where everyone joined in and danced. It was a pretty hilarious experience! In other news, I'm flying to Thessaloniki this Friday with four girlfriends-- yay!!

Pfingstferien Part II: London and Hamburg

We decided to go to London almost on accident, since it was one of the cheapest places for me to fly from Croatia, and also for Gus to fly from Michigan. I was literally only there about 48 hours, but we managed to fit quite a lot in, and it was honestly just fun to be together again after being apart for so long.

In front of the London Eye

The coolest pelican ever in the Royal Gardens

One of the first things we did when I flew in (Gus arrived the day before), after checking in at the hostel and dropping off my bags, was to go find fish and chips at a little pub near our hostel. I've become a sucker for the traditional/typical cuisine, so this was a must for me! It was served with peas, which I usually don't like, but ate for the sake of being English. Afterwards we headed to a concert that Gus really wanted to see at a hip club called Cargo, which ended up being a super fun and non-traditional way to spend our first night. The next day we hit up as many sites as possible including Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey (although we didn't go inside because it cost 18 pounds!), Harrods (the coolest store I've ever seen), Platform 9 3/4 (a must-see for me), and the Victoria and Albert museum, where there is a lot of random but awesome collections, including a cool fashion exhibit which I liked a lot. We took a quick nap since we were exhausted from all of the sightseeing, then went out for Lebanese food, and did our
own little pub crawl in Camden Town.

The touristy picture I made Gus take

The next day was a classic, rainy day in London, but we made the most out of it by having an "English breakfast", going to Buckingham Palace for the "changing of the guards" and then over to Oxford street for a little shopping before we had to head to the bus station to get to the airport. The bus was at least 45 minutes later than it should have, which gave us only 45 minutes to catch our flight, but thankfully we made it in time (after a bit of running) and then had to wait a half hour anyways for the plane to get fuel. We made it to Dortmund almost on time and caught our bus just fine, but of course this bus was also late, causing us to miss our train to the Hauptbahnhof. We took a quick taxi ride and luckily made our 2-hour train from the Hauptbahnhof to Hamburg, with enough time to buy snacks. By the time we got to Hamburg, it was past midnight, so we just found the hostel and went to bed.

The "best currywurst" and a lot of mayo

Our full day in Hamburg was super rainy and cold, and I was unfortunately very unprepared for the weather. We tried to go to the famous Fischmarkt there, only to find that it was only on Sundays, then had a warm lunch before heading to the Jazz concert that we had day passes for. The concert, called Elbjazz, took place on the docks, and we got to ride a boat over to get there. Since we were so cold and it was nice to be out of the rain, we rode the boat back and forth a few times before actually getting off and checking out the concert. We only stayed for a while because the weather was so depressing and the concerts were outdoors, then headed back for a nap. Luckily by the time we woke up, the weather had cleared up slightly and the rain had pretty much stopped! We went to supposedly the best currywurst
restaurant in Germany, then headed to the docks for the concert. They had a TV monitor set up where we got to watch the Champions League final, where Dortmund lost to Bayern, 2-1. Everyone was freaking out in Germany, since it was a huge deal that they beat out all the other Spanish and European teams. Right afterwards, the first concert we wanted to see started, called Caravan Palace. They are a french "electro-swing" band and really put on a great show. Right afterwards, we headed to the main stage to see Aloe Blacc, who also put on an amazing show. He seemed like the coolest guy ever, and even got a soul train going on in the middle of the crowd! Overall, the concert was definitely a cool experience and we thankfully had a little luck that the rain mostly stopped for the performances.

Aloe Blacc (we were so close, I didn't even zoom here!)

The next day, we headed back to the Fischmarkt, then met up with our driver back to Stuttgart. It was the first time I had used Mitfahrgelegenheit (basically a website for carpooling across Germany), but it worked out super well and was much cheaper than the train tickets back to Tübingen! It was a really fun and fast five days and we managed to see a lot, but were both happy to get back to Tübingen where we could relax and just hang out together again, which we've gotten quite good at during the last three years we've been together. :)

Pfingstferien Part I: München, Praha, Croatia

Since I had two visitors over my weeklong break (which turned into almost 2 weeks), it only makes sense to divide it up that way as well. This part could also be called Kristi, since we did all of this traveling together!

Since it was Kristi's first time in Germany, I thought it would be fun for her to see one of the biggest touristy cities, Munich. We took the bus on Thursday morning (only 9 euro!) and got to Munich in the afternoon, slightly exhausted and a little hungover, but we wanted to make the most out of our day there. We checked into the hostel right by the Hauptbahnhof, then headed to Marienplatz for the Glocken (bells) and then to the English Gardens, where we hung out in a Biergarten, right next to the Chinese Tower. Afterwards we took the subway to the Augustiner brewery and had some pretty delicious schnitzel and natürlich beer, all the while amazed that this brewery was founded in 1328-- practically twice as old as the USA! We were pretty exhausted at this point, so headed back to the hostel bar for a drink, then went to bed since our bus left at 7am the next morning.

At the John Lennon Wall

We got to Prague midday Friday and stayed until Monday at the cute little Hostel Elf. After some initial complete confusion with the currency and language, we really had a great time in the city, the farthest east I have been so far in Europe! The currency was pretty hard to get used to since 25 krones is 1 euro, and about 20 krones to $1. Everything was amazingly cheap though, and a traditional Czech meal in a restaurant usually cost only 5 or 6 euro, much cheaper than anything in Germany. Our hostel had happy hour every night as well, where the typically 17 krone beers were only 9 krones! Unbelievable.

Our favorite part of Prague was definitely the bike tour, which ended up being a private tour since we were the only ones that showed up that morning. They were advertising "free bike tours" which naturally made me a little skeptical, but they really were just a couple guys that love biking and like to show tourists the sights of Prague. We did the 2-hour long historical tour and biked all the way up and around the castle, then back into the city. Our tour guide Karel (Carl) was the coolest guy, and afterwards I gave him 500 krones, since we definitely would have paid that much for a much lamer tour anywhere else. Our other daytime activities included the Prague Zoo (the 7th largest in the world), walking around the old town and across the Charles Bridge, where we coincidentally ran into a friend from UM, and climbing up the Czech Eiffel Tower, which is actually as tall as the one in Paris if you include the hill it's on (a joke among the Czechs according to Karel). The first night we met up with Kristi's friend who is studying abroad in Prague, then to this cool underground "Labyrinth" bar. The next two nights we hung out with our German roommates and did a silly pub crawl (with the t-shirts) that Saturday. It was pretty funny to have met so many Germans in Prague, since I live in Germany and honestly don't hang out with too many considering that I live in the international dorm.

View of Prague from the top of the Eiffel Tower

After a fun couple days in Prague, we headed over to Croatia, where Kristi's parents were both born and most of her family still lives. We flew into Split and were taken around the city by her cousin who studies there, then went out for a nice dinner (I had a delicious bowl of seafood gnocchi) before catching the bus to Zadar, where her family's house is. I only got to stay two nights at her place before flying to London to meet Gus, and it rained almost the whole day I was there. Still, it was fun to met her family and have some delicious home-cooked food for a change, and also to hear her speaking Croatian with her family (she's fluent!) since I definitely had never heard it before.

The boardwalk at Split

Kristi was definitely a good traveling partner since we have a lot of the same interests, and also because we were always hungry at the same times! We did quite a bit of traveling (at least 10 hours on a bus and also a plane ride), but also saw quite a bit, and with a couple naps squeezed in, I wasn't exhausted by the time I flew to London. ;)

Off again

Currently, I have an air mattress next to my bed, occupied by my college-friend, Kristi! She just got here yesterday and we explored Stuttgart a bit and went to the super fancy Mercedes Benz museum before heading back to little Tübingen. Tomorrow we are off to Munich, then to Prague on Friday! From Prague, we're going to Croatia and staying with her family for a couple days before I split off and fly to London to meet up with my boyfriend, Gus. Then we are flying back to Germany, going to a Jazz festival in Hamburg and then coming back for the week in Tübingen. *In case you were wondering, next week is Pfingstferien (aka. Pentecost), so I am not even missing any class here!

I'm excited for another big adventure and hopefully some good weather! Auf wiedersehen ;)

Schnitzel and Sachertorte

Yesterday I got back late from my weekend travels to Vienna! My exchange partner from high school, Krissi, lives in Vienna, or Wien which is it's real name, and I knew I wanted to go visit her since I'm only a country away in Deutschland. It was about 7ish hours by train, but do-able and a nice weekend trip even though it went by way too fast!

In the backyard at Schönbrunn

I left Tü early Thursday morning and got to Wien around 3ish and Krissi met me at the bahnhof, the first time we'd seen each other in over three years! She had to go to class that afternoon, but I keep myself occupied walking around the city, eating ice cream and Manner cookies, and taking a ton of pictures. I climbed up the 300-something steps of Stephansdom in the middle of the city and got a nice albeit foggy view of all of Wien. That night we went out to dinner with her boyfriend, Dani, and came home and watched Germany's Next Top Model. ;)

On Friday, Krissi and I met up with another friend Julia, that I met three years ago during Christmas break in Lech, and her boyfriend for breakfast. Unfortunately Julia was going to a wedding later that day, but it was fun to see her again and catch up on each others lives! Afterwards, Krissi and I explored the city a bit more and she showed me her university, which is literally a five minute-walk away from the Opera house! Then we went to Schloss Schönbrunn, the famous "summer house" for the royal families back in the day, including the beloved Empress Sisi. It really was a beautiful castle as the name indicates, and the backyard was ridiculous! That night we went out to pizza with a boy who I also know from Lech and some of his friends. Being all from Austria, they obviously spoke German, but the dialect was seriously hard for me (and Krissi!) to understand.

Schnitzel! <3

On Saturday, we went to a flee market with one of Krissi's girlfriends, then went out for Wiener schnitzel for lunch! It was seriously one of the best meals I've ever had-- it's essentially just thin veal, breaded and deep-fried, and so incredibly delicious! Hopefully I will be able to find it just as good outside of Wien, so I don't have to wait to return to have it again!! After lunch, we went and bought a Sachertorte, a famous Austrian chocolate cake, from THE Hotel Sacher and headed to the Belvedere art museum where Gustav Klimt's most famous collection is kept. The art museum was in yet another beautiful castle, almost overpowering all the artwork inside! That night we went to a handball game between Wien and Bregenz, the town where Dani is from and one of his friends from home played on the team, so we sat on the away side of the arena. It was a little funny for me to watch such a foreign, very European sport since it looked a little like basketball, but also not! It was quite an intense atmosphere and unfortunately Bregenz lost in the final minute...

Krissi and I at Belvedere

It was really great to see Krissi again and other friends from Austria, and also cool because we spoke German the entire weekend, since we've previously spoken a lot of English when we were together! Wien was a really awesome, old city and I totally understand why Krissi chose to study there-- it's big but not too big, and has more interesting things to do than you'd ever need! It was also really cool for me to see since there are sooo many old buildings and interesting things to look at wherever you turn, something we don't get a lot of back in America.

Studentenleben

Granted it is the summer semester here, but everyone is so incredibly relaxed about school compared to back at UM. It's seriously hard for me to imagine being back in Ann Arbor right now and taking finals-- ich würde sterben! I'm loving the casual student life, and simply learning to learn, versus worrying about getting good grades back home. Of the six classes (16 hours) I attend each week, I'm only receiving credit hours for three of them, and even then it only matters that I pass because my grades won't show up on my transcript. So yeah... Classes are pretty stress-free. Swedish is definitely my hardest class and I have to work the hardest at it, but I do have a lot of time on my hands here, and it feels kinda cool to be learning a foreign language in a foreign language. 

My end of the table, with all my French and Italian friends!

While I'm unfortunately not going to be here in the fall for Oktoberfest, the second best festival of the year, Frühlingsfest, is happening right now in München and Stuttgart, which is only an hour by train away! Some friends and I went on Saturday for the day and it was if anything, just like what is shown in the movies. Huge mugs of beer, dancing, singing, and standing on tables in a giant red and white striped tent. I was actually surprised how many Lederhosen and Dirndls were worn though, literally like 75% of everyone there!! I wanted to buy a Dirndl soooooo bad, but at 150 euro, it seemed like a bit of a frivolous purchase for something I would wear once... The cheap train tickets make it very tempting to head back to the festival and I'n definitely planning on visiting it again during the next couple of weeks!

Settling in (again)

I've now officially been living in my little dorm room in Tübingen for a week, and am finally starting to calm down from all the traveling and moving around of the last couple weeks. It feels really nice to be in a college town again and to have more independence than we did during the homestay. My dorm is really in a perfect location right in the Altstadt (old town) and nearly everything is only a couple minutes walk away. My floor only has six people, who I share a kitchen and three bathrooms with. There are two other Americans, one girl from Mexico, another from New Zealand, and one sweet girl from Taiwan. Other than the fact that my scheiße internet isn't working in my dorm room yet, I have no complaints!

My dorm is just a street over from the church in this picture, hence I am woken up every morning at 9:00am to the lovely bells... Right around the block though, there's multiple bakeries, ice cream shops, a discount grocery store, and an H&M... What more could I ever need! It's also good to be in a student town again now that the weather is nice, because there are people out and about everywhere. These steps are a popular spot, as well as the botanical gardens, along the river, and outside of every university building. Yesterday and today have been pretty rainy and gray, but the rest of the week was beautiful and sunny, around 70 degrees each day (Sorry to everyone back in Michigan...). I went to a couple university classes this week, but our German classes that I'll be receiving UM credit for don't start until this coming week. Right now, I think I'm going to take an archaeology class (in German), a class about prison culture in the US (in English obvi), and a Swedish class. The Swedish class will definitely be the hardest since I'm essentially learning two languages at the same time, but since I have a lot of time on my hands here I'm going to try to give it a shot! My best Swedish so far is Jag heter Jen, aka. My name is Jen. ;)

Spring Breaking Part III: Lisbon

Some new friends and I in the main square

I decided to go to Lisbon for a couple days almost on a whim, but was so happy that I did because it really was my favorite city during the trip. It’s not as big as Rome, but still has a lot of cool places to see and things to do. I got in around 5:30 in the morning and since not even the Metro runs that early, hopped in a taxi to get to my hostel. Thankfully they had 24-hour reception, so I was able to check in and sleep for a couple hours before heading out and exploring the city. The first day it was raining when I woke up, so after my free pancakes at the hostel, I went to the aquarium and watched some awesome otters and penguins for a couple hours. Afterwards, the day had turned really beautiful and I took advantage of it by walking along the boardwalk next to the Atlantic Ocean. The next day was also really beautiful, so I went with a couple new friends to the beach. It wasn’t quite perfect beach weather because the wind made it a little cold,

The most delicious pastries ever!

but it was only April so I didn’t even care! I managed to get a sunburn and was honestly happy just because it meant that summer will be here soon! After the beach, everyone else was pretty tired, but I decided to head over to the neighborhood of Belem to try the famous pastry shop and explored along the water. There is a huge bridge in Lisbon that looks almost exactly like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco… Who knew!

Travelling alone was quite an experience, and I learned a lot, both good and bad. It’s kind of a scary feeling to go into a whole new city by yourself, not knowing anyone, but also teaches you to be more outgoing, and that it really isn’t very hard to make new friends if you just be yourself. Lisbon really is an amazing city though, and somewhere I could actually see myself living. Regardless, after two solid weeks of travelling, it is really good to be back in Germany and it feels a lot like home.

The sunset over the Torre de Belem

Spring Breaking Part II: Cordoba and Sevilla

After an exciting and exhausting week in Rome, we hopped on a plane to Sevilla, Spain and I split off from Mike and Ryan to go visit my friend Margaret in Cordoba, only about an hour away from Sevilla. She met me at the train station and it was so nice to see someone from home I was almost in tears! Her parents were there for that week so we went out with them for some really good tapas, strolled around the city, and went to Marge’s favorite little bar “La Bicicleta”, or The Bicycle in English. It was pretty strange being in a city where very few people spoke English, so I was very happy to have Marge around! Obviously I don’t speak Italian either, but since Rome is so touristy, almost everyone spoke English and I didn’t feel as incompetent not knowing the native language as I did in Cordoba.

The first night there both Marge and I stayed in the extra beds in her parents hostel room, but they left the next day so we had to find me a new place to stay. Since Margaret is living with a host family, they were hesitant to host another guest, so I ended up staying with two guys in her program who live in an apartment in the city. I got there right during peak tourist time, so it was nice not to pay the high hostel rates (and save money which I was already blowing through like crazy…).

The cute little streets in Cordoba

After doing so many activities in Rome, I was happy to just relax most of my time in Cordoba, which is exactly what we did. Literally everyday we walked around in the beautiful weather and ate gelato and tapas and drank coffee and canas (little beers). While Marge was in school, I wandered around the winding little streets and visited a couple big tourist sites. The most famous was the giant Mosque, a very old church that has been changed and added to at least three times because of the changing population and takeovers of the city. It was really good to see an old friend and catch up, and also so funny that we are both in Europe at the same time and able to meet up so casually.

Enjoying a cana in the mushroom-thing overlooking Sevilla

I left Marge and Cordoba on a Wednesday in order to head to Sevilla and catch the overnight bus to Lisbon. After getting slightly lost in Sevilla, I met up with a friend from UM who is also studying in Spain and had some really good tapas for lunch. Side note: Spaniards eat on such a strange schedule! They have a big lunch at 3 or 4, then eat dinner around 9 or 10 at night… I suppose it’s not super strange, but took me a little while to get used to! Anyways, after our 4 o’clock lunch, we walked around the city for a while and I saw a lot of the famous buildings in Sevilla. He went off to eat dinner with his host family and I went to this really cool mushroom-looking thing that gave a great view of the entire city before catching the bus to head to Portugal. 

Spring Breaking Part I: Rome and Florence

Ryan, Mike, and I inside the Colosseum

I started out my vacation within a vacation in Italy, which as I expected, was so so so amazing! After a not so graceful, Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality-style fall right when I stepped off the airplane and onto Italian soil, our trip went off with very few additional missteps. I was travelling with Ryan and Mike, two other boys from UM in my program, and we spent 6 nights in Happy Days Hostel, with a solid five days to explore the city. Our hostel was pretty hilarious, and basically the kind of hostel you always hear stories about... We had no room keys, lockers without locks, and always had to get buzzed up (it was on the fifth floor of a random building, just a couple blocks from the Vatican). We were given a sheet and comforter (with no duvet cover) and the pillow was tucked under the sheet since they didn't have enough pillowcases! Oh, and the power (including hot water) was out one morning, lol. Regardless, we had a really fun time there, and were always woken up to hot Italian coffee (basically an espresso shot that you mix a heaping spoonful of sugar into), the workers gave great recommendations for food, transport, and nightlife, and to top it all off, one of the workers made us all pasta for dinner the last night!

My best picture of the Pope riding around
on his chariot through the masses

While in Rome, we tried to hit up all of the touristy must-sees, including the Vatican museums, where

My amazing snipe of the Sistine Chapel...
("No pictures allowed!")

the Sistine Chapel is located, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, and the Mouth of Truth. A happy and pretty special coincidence was that we arrived the day before Easter and were able to see the new Pope give Mass in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday. There were sooo many people and Catholics from all over the world migrated to the Vatican for Easter. We woke up at 5:30 and went to stand in line along the Vatican walls until they started letting everyone in at 8:00, before waiting until Mass started at 10:15. We were pretty exhausted after the flight and then staying up wandering around the city, but it really was a once in a lifetime experience! All of the other sites were really amazing-- we decided to take a guided tour of the Forum and Colosseum, which was definitely a good choice since we got to hear a ton of stories and history by our Irish tour guide, and without the tour, we would have been looking at rocks with hardly any background info. I really liked going inside the Colosseum, and it honestly felt like I was walking into the original Big House, combined with the Hunger Games... Two of my favorite things! We didn't buy into the "Skip the line!" tours of the Vatican Museums, and while we saved money without doing the tour, we certainly paid for it by having to stand in line for over three hours, in the pouring rain and sometimes hail. On the plus side, the vendors all had a happy day selling their 5 euro umbrellas!

At the top of the Bell Tower in Florence

Since we did have a decent amount of time in Rome, it would have been a crime to not do a little more exploring throughout Italy, so on our fourth day there, we hopped on the express train to Florence! Firenze was a perfect day-trip and really nice city to walk around. We got to see Michelangelo's famous David, but I would love to go back and visit the other art museums there sometime since we didn't have time for them that day slash the boys aren't quite as into art as I am... I maintained my steady diet of two gelato-a-day naturally, since the gelato there was AMAZING! Real Italian food may have just been my favorite part of Italy, and seriously puts Olive Garden and Bravo to shame... I could live on the pasta, gelato, and wine alone and would be a very happy (and overweight) girl. 

Alive

Just so my family (and everyone else checking up on me knows), I am alive and have had a great week in Roma! Tomorrow I fly to Spain to visit one of my best friends for a couple days before I head to Portugal. Buena Sera! ;)

Gone

Hello family and friends, I am now officially moved to Tübingen (although I haven't gotten my dorm room yet so am staying with a friend). I was sad to leave my host family and friends in Schwäbisch Hall, but am looking forward to living here! Tomorrow I fly to Rome for 6 days, then Spain for another  5, and finally Portugal until I fly back to Deutschland on April 13th. I am very excited and will hopefully have many adventures to share once I get back! xoxo -Jen

Brown paper packages tied up with strings...

Since I've been in Germany for a while now, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite things (mostly food-related), and what I know I will miss once I go back to America!

1: Döner Kebab. This gyro-like sandwich is actually Turkish, but super popular and prevalent all over Germany. At only 3 or so euro a sandwich, it is seriously the most delicious and perfect lunch or snack! There really isn't anything like it (that I've seen) in America, which is honestly such a shame.

2. Laugenbrötchen. While Germany is well-known for soft pretzels, I much rather prefer the Laugenbrötchen, or pretzel roll auf Englisch. They are soft and a little salty, and go perfectly with honey, nutella, salami, cheese, jam, butter, and everything else.

3. Electric towel racks. Is there anything better than a warm towel after the freezing cold air hits you after a shower? I think not. Why don't we have these in the USA??

4. Kaffee und Kuchen. Seriously my favorite tradition here. Pretty much every afternoon after my host dad gets home from work (Monika is already home because Kindergarten only lasts until 1), we sit and drink coffee and tea and eat cake or cupcakes or muffins. It's even better on birthdays, when there is usually a selection of at least 6 cakes for 15 or so people!

5. Dunkel Bier. I was pretty surprised myself to find that I prefer most dark beers to white, but I find them sweeter and easier to drink than weiss bier, although they are both 100x better than American beers.

These are all my brain can come up with right now, but I will think of more and add to this list later! Today I went to a Osternmarkt with my host family since Easter is only a week away. It was in the Freilandmuseum, a little village of houses from the 1800s turned into a museum, which was quite cool, but it was scheisskalt! There was traditional egg-dying with natural colors made from wood and onions and also a market selling Zuckerhasen, or sugar rabbits, a lot like the christmas candy we make but poured into rabbit molds when it is boiling hot. It's hard to believe, but a week from today, I will be in the Vatican City and at Easter Mass given by the new Pope!!

Nele and her natural wood-dyed egg

The making of the Zuckerhasen

St. Patty's Day in Deutschland

It feels quite strange that today is one of the biggest holidays in college terms, and yet most Germans don't know what Saint Patricks Day is! I might have forgotten myself if not for Facebook... Thank god it always reminds you what you're missing out on! Regardless, my lazy Sunday has been really nice, and I was very grateful to catch up on some much needed sleep. Yesterday we took a day trip to Heidelberg, which I think was definitely the most beautiful city I've seen in Germany, or anywhere else really, thus far. It hosts the oldest University in Germany and I certainly wouldn't mind studying there! We spent the day doing a walking tour of the city and University museum, then we had a break for lunch and shopping along what is said to be the longest shopping street in all of Europe. Afterwards we met up with our guide for a tour of the castle overlooking the city--- ganz schön!

My week was quite normal... Friday I went back to Schenkenseebad with friends and went out that night with Ines and her friends to celebrate her birthday this past Tuesday. Thursday was Kaffee and Kuchen at Goethe Institut and I got to see our sweet friend, Uli, again. Wednesday was Stammtisch, and Tuesday I went to a ballet class with some friends. We took a day trip to Tübingen on Monday to sort out details on our quickly approaching move into the dorms there... It's still hard for me to believe that I only have 10 days left of school at Goethe Institut and in Schwäbisch Hall! I am excited to move to Tübingen and be a university student again, but I will be sad to leave my host family and my easy life here behind.

Gemütlich

The title of this post describes my life in Hall perfectly; gemütlich translates to cozy, comfortable, homey, and leisurely in English. Not having much to do besides class every morning really allows you to enjoy the little things, and take time to do things I wouldn't normally in Ann Arbor or East Lansing. For instance, on Thursday I went to the Solbad with two friends and spent over three hours just relaxing in the saltwater pools. Friday I spent the entire afternoon bowling with a group from Goethe, then this Tuesday, I'm going to a beginning ballet class with friends! Like I said, not having much to do lets me do interesting things and appreciate them more.

Bowling with three new friends from Japan,
one from Brazil, and two other Americans.

This Saturday was Nele's much anticipated 9th birthday and party. It was very similar to my birthday parties when I was younger I think, especially the part where she got extremely cranky and sassy when things weren't going her way. The absolute best part of German birthdays is all the cake though... Between yesterday and today I've had probably 10 slices, since we celebrated it with three different groups of people! Anne, my oldest host sister that lives in Bremen, came home for the weekend and Nele's Geburtstag, so it was nice to get to meet her since she only makes it home a couple times a year. She is an "art therapist" and has worked with disabled children and people in jail previously, as well as spent significant amounts of time in Mexico and Nepal. She invited me to visit her in Bremen which I can hopefully do in one of these next couple months!

Monika, Nele, Anne, Ines und Thomas at the table where we eat all of our meals.

Side note, writing on my blog is the only time I ever really write in English (besides chatting online but that hardly counts) and I keep wanting to use German words, which has to be a good sign!

Spring Fever

My February class: 14 students and 7 nationalities! So süß.

Well, today was the first day of March classes and just as I expected, I was a little more than disappointed with my new class... All of my classmates seem nice, but our teacher speaks sooooo slllllowwwwwlllllyyyy and we literally only did about 20% of the amount of activities as we would do in my class last month. Hopefully it will get better, because practically falling asleep on the first day is never a good sign and I constantly kept wishing that it was my February class!

On the plus side, it is currently sunny, 60 degrees, and feeling like spring here! Some friends and I ate lunch while drinking Radlers (bier and lemonade) along the river and it felt quite heavenly compared to the cold wintery weather we've been having. Afterwards I was on such a sun-high that I decided to go running for the second day in a row, something that I do very seldom. Here's to hoping German weather isn't as inconstant as Michigan weather!

Berlin, Berlin!

The Brandenburger Tor

My first mini-vaca in Europe to Berlin was a success! Berlin is seriously a cool city with such history that still has a big presence everywhere, and also some of the best food stands in the world I think... It reminded me a lot of New York City in a lot of ways--they are both not the prettiest cities but there is always always something to do, have really fantastic public transportation, and Berlin's Tiergarten is practically a mirror image of Central Park. After being there for only four days, we really only skimmed the surface of all the possibilities of things to see and do, and I could have stayed for quite a while longer. For the first two nights, I stayed with a friend from UM, who is studying at the Goethe Institut in Berlin and lives with a host family in East Berlin. It was really nice knowing someone in the city and getting a less touristy picture of Berlin, especially in terms of nightlife. The next two nights I stayed in extra beds in my friend's hostel rooms in the Mitte--not having to pay for any accommodations made me feel less bad about spending more money in Berlin than my whole first month in Schwäbisch Hall!

With Hera at the Altes Museum

Denkmal für ermordeten Juden Europas

Our train got us to Berlin a little after 9 on Wednesday night and after dropping our stuff off at Corey's place, we went to the Stammtisch for the Berlin Goethe Institut which was really cool, and made me laugh to compare it to our little Stammtischs in Schwäbisch Hall! Thursday was a pretty touristy day, but we covered quite a lot of sites: the Brandenburger Tor, Reichstag, Memorial for the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and Checkpoint Charlie. I was a little bitter because I got scammed in the U-Bahn to buying a fake day-pass, but luckily we never got our tickets checked... whoops! I met Corey and his French friend, Antoine, for dinner at a famous German brewery before meeting up with the other UM students at their hostel bar, which was more crowded than I've ever seen at a hostel! Friday we spent the entire day on Museuminsel, an island in the middle of the city literally covered in very cool museums. We covered four of the most famous museums, progressively spending less time in each as our attention spans allowed. Saturday was a really beautiful day, so we walked through the Tiergarten for a while and past the zoo, then back into the Mitte and along the Mauer and through the Topographie des Terrors, which is a outdoor museum in the basement of the old Gestapo headquarters. That afternoon I got to meet up with my good friend Alexandra, who is in Berlin for her spring break with the Max Kade group from UM (the same program that I went to Cologne last year with). It was unfortunate that my little break from Goethe only overlapped with their vacation by a day, but still nice to see her! Even though my time here has been going by really fast, I know I'll be grateful to get to see friends from home sporadically during my time here later on and will help me from getting too homesick!

Just passing some llamas along the riverwalk

Yesterday I woke up after getting probably three hours of sleep, and we headed out to the Berlin flea market before 10. The flea market was a really long stretch of stands selling pretty much everything you can imagine and was a little cold, but very cool and somewhere I could see myself going often if I lived in Berlin. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel, I packed up my stuff, and managed to get to my train a mere 5 minutes before it left, also whoops... The train back to Nürnberg was quite long but comfortable, and then we had to take an S-Bahn, bus, and train to finally got back into Schwäbisch Hall. Needless to say, the traveling, lack of sleep, and many kilometers walked made me quite exhausted, which is what I blame for my taking the wrong bus home last night. It was quite an exciting weekend, but I've been enjoying my day off of classes today in little Schwäbisch Hall!

Also, quick update on the flu I had last week... Apparently it was a strain of noro-virus and has been spread around so much and so quickly that Ines had no school on Friday and today! Talk about German efficiency. ;)