There are no baguettes like European baguettes ...

… (especially the ones from France, but Germany’s pack the punch too)

While I know I should be doing various homework or life errands (going to the bank, calling the credit card company, sending emails, etc), I feel the need today to procrastinate a bit and update my blog.

           

            It’s hard, coming over her from America, not to visit the bakeries in Germany every single day. Actually, I rarely do go a day without wondering into one. There is one of nearly every block, sometimes two or three even! And they are sport a vast array of glorious breads, sandwiches, and sweets (like my favorite chocolate croissant). Each time I purchase a delicious fresh loaf of baked bread, or a warm baguette, I think again to myself, “How will I live when I am back in America and do not have these amazing bakeries?” I’m sure if any German could read my thoughts, they would laugh hardily, for they are used to such things. They don’t even think about it. I appreciate every single sandwich in every single shop. I’m equally as sure if a French person could read the same thoughts, they would thing I was “total verrückt!” (totally crazy), for the bakeries in their countries blow everyone else’s out of the water.

            Will I be able to go back to the store bought bread? I doubt I’ll ever have a taste for it again.

            I’ve finally coming to the conclusion that, one, I will have to go to Panera every other day, two, I will have to bake my own bread (if only I always had the time available), or three, I just won’t be able to eat bread anymore. It will most likely be a mixture of all three, I suppose.

            It’s funny; I hardly had any culture shock coming here. It was truly easy to get used to the use of no car (the amazing public transportation helped with that), the quiet Sundays where nearly everything ist geschlossen (is closed), the Pünktlichkeit (punctuality), knocking on tables as opposed to clapping (this one is truly a bit weird) etc. and so on. I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to go back, though. I think I may experience more culture shock returning to America than coming from America.

            Good thing I’m planning to return to Germany the year after I graduate, or maybe two years after, to commence research! Hopefully it works out!

Wo kann man hier wandern? Überall!

            At long last, a close friend (whom I have not seen in more than two years) and I were again united … in Europe of all places! My friend Paige, who transferred away from University of Richmond after 1^st semester freshman year, came to visit me in Konstanz! She stayed with me; luckily, I managed to get my hands on an extra mattress floating around Europahaus so we didn’t have to share my tiny twin-sized bed for four nights).



Paige and Me!



            Midway through her visit, we decided we needed to go hiking in the Alps. Sunday morning, we put on our hiking clothes, packed a backpack full of water, notebooks, cameras, and snacks, and strolled on over to the Bahnhof (train station). When I asked them if we could buy a ticket to any train station in the Alps the ticket booth employees looked at me as through I was insane, “Sie moetchen HEUTE gehen!?” They asked me. I told them that we did indeed want to go that same day. They sent us to Switzerland and told us to ask there. So, our adventure began. Luckily, the Swiss didn’t find the request as strange and quickly booked us tickets to the small mountain town of Heiden. When we arrived, the town was encompassed in a cloud.

As the cloud abandoned the streets.

           Worried that it would be this way the whole day, and not knowing where we were going to hike or anything, I found it all very amusing and just cracked up for awhile. Fortunately, within 5 minutes of us arriving to the town, the fog lifted and the day turned sunny and beautiful.

A funny, friendly gnome we ran into.

            After trotting about the tiny town for a bit, I finally asked a man working in his yard where a good path was. Naturally there happened to be one right across from his driveway, and our hike commenced.

The beginning of the path.

And facing the other way.

            It was simply gorgeous. This section of the Alps was/is quaint and humble; beautiful, but not in a bragging way.

            It reminded me immediately of The Sound of Music. Of course, I had to cheesily sing the tune.

            We stumbled upon many houses, herds of cattle, horses, and flower patches on our trek.

            And at the end, we stopped at a nice bakery in town for a treat and then, a little restaurant by the station for tea.

Paige is pooped out on the train after the long day. A pleasant pooped out, though.

At the end of this successful day, we went to the movies in Konstanz to watch The King’s Speech. I recommend this movie highly. We watched it in English with German subtitles (Paige doesn’t speak German). I found the translation interesting, in a rhetoric and linguistic type of way. The subtitles were obviously not word for word, or even phrase for phrase. They instead sometimes said something in an entirely different way, resulting in a similar meaning. Language and expressions are so interesting.

C'est Beau

Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve had the time to blog … and if I am going to be quite honest with myself, I don’t truly have the time now, but I think it needs to be done. France was beautiful, but it would have been 3x more so if I had known the language. In a way, however, not knowing the language had it’s own merits. For instance, one can appreciate the beauty of a language in a different way by listening to the sounds.

The third evening I was in France was the evening Remy and I arrived in Brittany. Shortly upon arrival we were herded off to church for the Easter Service (Joyeuses Pâques!). Here I was witness to beautiful hymns and prayers sung and spoken in French. I had no clue as to what they were saying, but the sounds were beautiful.

Another way not knowing the language played a positive role: one can discern what people are saying, the feelings people have between one and other, and the expressions people make, without spoken language, but with body language. I noticed things I may not have seen if I could actively participate in every conversation.

OK, enough about speech, more about the happenings of the trip itself. We started in Paris. Remy’s university is located in Paris and thus, he knows it well and most of his friends reside there. It is so much more enjoyable to see a city through the eyes of a native.

The night we arrived we met up with Britt and Monica (two of my American friends who study in Germany with me) in the train station. We all four met up with some of Remy’s friends and attended a kind of party of a bridge. This bridge is a footbridge located in the middle of “tourist central” (meaning it is by Notre Dame and such places). The local students and young people go there most nights in groups just to hang out. I’m pretty sure Moni, Britt, and myself were the only non-French speakers. Luckily, Remy’s friends speak English and were very welcoming (unlike most of the French are towards Americans).

Not a great photo, but the only one I could take without drawing a ton of attention to myself. This is from the bridge talked about above.

The following day we had what Remy calls, “Cheesy Paris Day.” He guided us through the touristy sections of Paris and we went photo-crazy, got ice cream, and sucked in the view.

If you don't know what this is a photo of, please go to history class. ;)



I love the lighting here.





Just a moment I liked.

 

Brittany (a different region on France where his family owns a castle and land) lent an entirely different experience. It was still enjoyable, but not in the same fashion. The landscape was breathtaking. Their castle sits right on a quaint lake in the country. The meals were jolly and followed by various cheeses and dessert. I also picked up a bit of French and have a new determination to learn a bit more of it. (It’s funny, after going to Spain and picking up a bit of Spanish again I had the same determination. Now I must decide which to take next semester just so I know the basics for the future).

Remy and his family on the steps chatting away.

Remy, his brother, and some goofball cousins taking the fact the we didn't have enough paddles for everyone into their own hands.

A town in Brittany.

Part of the backyard.

Random funny insert: every time I met a new French person, and they discovered I was learning German and not French, they just couldn’t fathom why.

The trip back was quite eventful. Rides got mixed up and Remy and I ended up having to spend the night in Geneva. The next day we visited a few other places, like Annecy (semi on a whim and semi because we had no choice) and finally got home entirely too late. It took us two days to travel what should have taken 7 hours. But it was an adventure and I wouldn’t take it back if I could! One bad thing happened after another but due to the occasional happy surprise of a new pretty place, the bad things just appeared hilarious to me.

The view from the room I stayed in in Geneva.

We had a picnic in the park while in Annecy, France.

We've Gone Loco

Where to start? Mmm, well for a quick summary, 4 other Americans, an Austrailian, and myself all started off the trip taking a train, well, 5 different trains since we had to transfer so many times, to an airport in the middle of nowhere. We were flying the cheapest airline in Europe, RyanAir. This means that it's not a real airport. We board like the president does, walking outside and up a set of stairs. Also, you don't have assigned seats: first come, first serve. You are allowed only 1 small backpack. This translated to each of us jam-packing our things. We had to take 9 days worth of things in 1 bag. Talk about packing light!

So, we flew into Reus, which is supposedly 1 hour from Barcelona. We waited an hour for the bus, and 2 and a half hours later, or maybe 3, finally ended up in Barcelona, hungry and exhausted.

The first time we went to the beach in Barcelona, a few interesting things happened. Only in Barcelona does one have the oppurtunity to buy beer, a massage, cocaine, hash, and water every 15 minutes on the beach. Seriously, people walk around the beach offering those things for sale. Luckily, after that insane beach we managed to find a less populated one which was ten times better. At least at the new one we were only offered massages. Massge, 5 Euros? No! 10 minutes later ... Massge, 5 Euros? No, gracias. And so on and so forth. Even with that, however, the beach was gorgeous. The water is shockingly blue in the Mediterranean. Another plus of the second beach was that I found a fun vertical wall to play on!

Me right after I swam in the Mediterranaen. It was so chilly that when I got out I ran ... just kept on running for 10 minutes until I was warm once more.

If only I'd brought my climbing shoes along! I couldn't climbed all day on this wall and been happy as a clam.

I found something else to climb that day, too.

Also, in Barcelona, my love for cappuccinos doubled. They really know how to make cappuccinos in Europe, and especially in Spain! Every time they make one, they use chocolate to make an interesting design on top. I had a series of different ones, but here is an example below.

            The food in Barcelona was quite teuer ( expensive). I believe the city has been overcome by tourism and this is why. We just couldn’t catch a break! This led to spending a ton of money since, alas, we had no kitchen in the hostel (shocker =P). Albeit expensive, the food was aesthetically pleasing.

            We did find one or two restaurants on the last day there that were cheaper. Of course, we all speak way more German than Spanish, so communication was difficult. We found ways, however, of getting what we needed. Like this pizza below, for instance; I wanted not only peppers, ham, and the like that came on it, but extra beef as well. So, we asked for more cow in Spanish.

            Other fun things about Barcelona included the plethora of street performers.

            And the famous mark of an unknown man. Below it is shown. There is a guy who travels all only the world and inscribes the white and blue tiles somewhere very public, but is never seen.

            The gelato was also sehr lecker! (very delicious!)

            My favorite part of Barcelona, however, was the gorgeous church, Sagrada Familia. I spent 3 hours inside and around this magnificent place.



The church is in the background here.





We went up to the top of a tower and this was a few through one of the many openings and windows.



            Also, on the way to this church, I meant an adorable little pug that reminded me how much I love and miss my pupdogs back home.

            Oh, and the funny fact that random people bath and chill in public fountains.

            So after 6 days and 5 nights in Barcelona, the time had come to move on to Madrid. As you can tell from the picture below, Barcelona wore us out.

Madrid was a breath of fresh air. It was not quite as touristy as Barcelona which meant more culture, cheaper food, and cheaper metro lines. Of course, we used the metro far less often in Madrid, but it was still nice when we did have to use it that it was viel billiger (much cheaper).

            Hmm, so Madrid highlights. We stumbled into a jewel of a park, many pictures shown below. I’m again following my motif in one of the pictures below. (We realized at the end of the trip, each of us had something we always did. John was always ready to do anything 24/7, Keith ordered a beer with every meal and anytime he could, Issac constantly made a stroke face in pictures, Britt always talked back to the creepers who hit on us and said “Boss”, and I always bought cappuccinos and climbed anything climbable).

Isaac, with me reenacting his signature look in photos.

            Also, funny thing about Madrid: their sign is a bear eating food from a tree because back when, bears used to come into the city to eat fermented berries from the trees within and get drunk! So funny, and I’m sure destructive. Can you imagine drunken bears stumbling around a city?

            Also in Madrid, we visited the palace. This palace is the largest one in Europe!

            The trip was a blast, but boy, I was ready to be home in Konstanz. I love it here and it already feels like a second home. I snapped a quick photo as our plane began to land.

            Oh also, just for kicks, here is a photo of the bike I bought myself in Konstanz!

Strangers or Friends

It´s interesting, isn´t it, relations between people. Today, after deciding that I needed a break from touristy sight-seeing and travelling in a large group, I settled down with my book in the cozy cafe section of a restaurant. Shortly upon sitting down, two ladies, perhaps a mother and daughter, sat down at the table and comfy chairs neighboring me. They asked me, in Spanish (which I hardly know a lick of), if they could use the seat opposite me to put their coats and purchases on. Of course, since I wasn´t using it, I obliged and answered (with one of the few Spanish phrases I know) ¨Di nada¨when they said ¨Gracias.¨ After that we somehow managed to communicate every now and then that afternoon. Like when I went to the bathroom and left my things there for them to watch, except my purse which I took with me. By the time I left the cafe a few hours later, we had communicated enough that we both smiled and warranted each other a friendly good bye. How funny, that people do not always need language and words to befriend one and other.

Busy B's

            For me, Sunday mornings and early afternoon = personal time. And boy do I always really need it! As much as I love it here, I never get alone time. There is always so much going on in this beautiful city! Plus, these Sunday hours give me time to update this ever-so-interesting ( ;-) ) blog.

            Since being here, I have come to many conclusions about Germany and the people within the country. One of these is that Germans just seem to Adore paper work and filling out forms. I never Knew so many forms existed in order to get a student visa! Plus, I’ve had to get my parents to send over notarized documents, two saying the same thing but in different ways. So silly.

            Let’s see, a couple short highlights of this week include the Rothaus brewery visit, the party themed American Parties, Reichenau, and Meersburg.

            The Rothaus brewery was really interesting: it looked like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, except for beer.

 

Wonder if I walked down this hall the door would be realllly little at the end ... 

The best part was the all-you-can-eat meat, bread, and beer after. I took full advantage of the meat and bread!

Surprise surprise, a couple of American guys (and an Australian who might as well be American) threw it. They did all the classic American college party games, (ex. Beer pong. Except, played with water in the cups and the accidental mistake of ordering the wrong size solo cups).

The next day, my friend Remy and I decided it was a wonderful day to stroll about a little island of the Bodensee called Reichenau. After receiving many confuddled directions, we finally walked along a long street/bridge connecting Konstanz and Reichenau.

The island was a cute, quaint place with a few gorgeous buildings, like a monastery, a church, etc.

            In the summer it was be more glorious because there is a vineyard and many huge flower gardens.

This was a beach on the opposite end of the island.

Remy on the beach.

 

A group of us also went to Meersburg, another cute little town/island on the Bodensee. While Reichenau was more rural, this one was more of a town like Konstanz, only a lot smaller. We toured a castle there, was a lady named Annette lived.

Bis Spaeter!!!