Christmas in London is Cool

Hey gang. So sorry, I have been so remiss in blogging lately. To be honest, I don't really have much to blog about. Things seem quite less exciting on here when I don't do tourist-y things. London was not terribly tourist-y. I spent most of my time hanging out with Paul and sometimes even doing homework, because I am super cool. 

However, I do have a few fun stories to tell you about. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were both very fun. I spent Christmas Eve with Paul and his family at a family friend's new apartment. This family friend is an Iranian girl, who had immigrated to London for various reasons and since converted to Judaism. So we had a lovely dinner at her apartment and then had a council of people browsing JDate for this girl, Lilli. This council was headed up by Paul's mother, who had a lot of fun on this website. Afterwards, Paul's mom, Paul's house-keeper and I went to midnight mass. So a Jew, a Muslim, and a former Catholic Atheist all go to midnight mass seems like the start of a really good (or really offensive) joke... 

Christmas Day we went over to Paul's grandparents for a Christmas lunch of turkey, and then there was the whole debacle as to whether we should recook the turkey, and I was told "this is what you get when you try and celebrate Christmas with a bunch of Jews." Lolerskates. The dinner was very nice, and then we played a game called Articulate, which is pretty much Taboo. That was also some kind of debacle, but nothing like the turkey. Then Paul and I watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special, which was so great and so many emotions and I am going to stop now before I get embarrassing (too late?). 

The next day I went into Central London by myself (score for navigating Hampstead and the London Underground) to meet Robert for lunch. He had been in Paris all semester, but because of being crazy and things, I hadn't gotten a chance to see him. So it was great to catch up. However, this also meant that we were stuck in the middle of Boxing Day madness (and madness it was). There were queues that went around entire stores and everything. (Brits love them some queueing.) So there was that. Then on Friday, I had Shabbat dinner with Paul and his family (baby's first Shabbat), which was fun and interesting. 

That's pretty much it as far as my end. I am back in Tübingen now and trying to balance studying with preparing for New Years Eve (here called Silvester). It's working...sort of. It's especially hard when the Packers are playing the Bears. :) But hey, PACKERS WON THE NFC NORTH! Woooooo!

Vor Weihnachten Round-Up

Hey gang. So it's been a long time and for that, I apologize. Things have been rather crazy with classes ending before the Weihnachtsferien, friends visiting, and going places. So I'll do a bit of a round-up of the things that I have been doing since Sweden. 

After Sweden, I only had a few days in Tübingen before I left again for France. Which meant that I lived off canned chicken noodle soup and frozen paella, which isn't as bad as it sounds. I left for France on Thursday the 12th and returned late on Sunday the 15th. The way there was smooth, despite taking 5 different trains and Deutsche Bahn's penchant for being late. I got into Metz, the capital of Lorraine. My friend, Owen, met me at the train station and we went back to the Georgia Tech part, which is on the outskirts of the city. The weekend was spent just hanging out with Owen and his friends, which was very nice. They are all engineers and remind of my engineers at Tufts, whom I miss terribly. So we'll just suffice it to leave it there.

After I returned, I had a week in Tübingen before I left for London for Christmas. The first few days of this was filled with panic. I have started to realize how many things that I need to do before exams...and I'm scared. So the crunch time is starting. Woooo. I actually bought a coffeemaker (more specifically, a French press). Let exam time begin. Also I bought all seven of the Harry Potter books in German. Which is wicked awesome. Also on that Monday, I baked chocolate chip cookies, which was a bit of an adventure. Germany doesn't sell chocolate chips from what I can gather. At least not in the baking section of your local grocery store. So I bought 2 large Milka bars and cut them apart. Then there's the whole, what's the German equivalent of baking soda question and things of that nature. So it was all jolly good fun. The cookies ended up turning out alright at least. Not as sweet as normal. But the little German high schoolers in my English conversation group ended up really liking them. Small victories.


Then on Thursday, Dorie came to visit. She has been studying in India for the past four months and made a stop over in Berlin, because her brother's girlfriend lives there. And since she was in Germany and she's the best, she decided to make the long trek to come and visit me. It was absolutely great. She was experiencing some reverse culture shock (wait there aren't cows in the street?), and it was fun to show her German things. We ate döner on Thursday, she met Max, and I took her to Deutsch Kompakt Stammtisch and Anna's Russian themed birthday extravaganza, where we went home early because both of us were tired. Then on Friday, we went to the Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt, which was awesome. It's the biggest one in Germany, and there's literally Christmas everywhere. We ate tons of German food (Thüriger Bratwurst, Kartoffelpoofer, Glühwein, gebrannte Mandeln, chocolate-covered fruits) and bought things. (Ich habe Hausschuhe gekauft!) Afterwards, we went back to Tübingen and met up with the other Tufts kids for a dinner at the Neckarmüller for schwäbisches Essen. Because Yasmine had two Tufts friends and her sister in town, there were 10 of us, which basically means a Tufts invasion. The food was delicious...Dorie and I split Schwäbisches Sauerbraten (effectively slabs of beef and knödeln, which are pretty much matzah balls), Maultaschen (the Schwäbisch ravioli-type thing), and spätzle. Needless to say, we feasted and it was great. 

Then on Saturday, I had to leave early (really, really early) for London. The flight was a little late because they had to de-ice the plane. But it was fine. And then I sat with Elizabeth in the bus station for an hour, waiting for her bus to go to western England to stay with her family. After she left, I hopped on the Tube to go to Hampstead, and I navigated it all by myself. I'm pretty proud. I met up with Paul in the Starbucks in Hampstead. Which I guess brings me to today. The past few days have been a lot of chilling, TV watching, and a little bit of wandering around London--and naturally getting used to a bit of reverse culture shock. Nothing drastic; I'm just not used to such anarchy whilst walking down a sidewalk. But in any case, it's been nice. :) I'll do some sort of London round-up once I get back to Tübingen on Saturday. 

In the mean time, ich wünsche euch allen eine schöne Weihnachten! 

Anna und die Holztruhe Teil 6

Anna hatte viele Fragen, aber niemand können diese Fragen beantworten. Derweil durchsuchten die Jäger und Ritter den magischen Wald. „Wir werden sie nie finden“ klagte ein Jäger. „Dieser Wald ist zu groß.“

„Halt die Klappe, Jan. Sie ist nur ein Mädchen. Wie schwer kann es sein?“ sagte ein änderer Jäger. Aber sie hatten den Wald stundenlang durchsucht, und niemand sah sie.

„Der Prinz wird uns alle töten“ flüsterte Jan. Als er dies sagte, sahen sie den Zentaur mit zwei Pfeilen in seiner Schulter.

„Was ist passiert, Zentaur?“ rief Peter, der Hauptritter. „Warum haben Sie Pfeile in Ihrer Schulter?“

„Es war diese Mädchen, verdammte Frau“ schrie er, und dann ging er weg.

„Es muss sie sein.“ sagte Peter. „Schnell! Wir können sie vor dem Einbruch der Nacht finden.“ Sie liefen zum Fluss aber da war Anna. Sie versuchte sich hinter einem Baum zu verstecken.

„Wo ist sie“ fragte ein Ritter ärgerlich.

„Anna war verwirrt. Sie sah sie neben dem Fluss. Sie mussten sie gesehen haben. „Suche in der Umgebung!“ befahl Peter.

Anna sah ihre Finger an. ‚War dies der Ring?’ dachte sie. „Können sie mich nicht sehen?“ flüsterte sie. Sie ging dem Baum weg, und niemand sagte etwas. Sie bewegte sich wieder und nichts passierte. „Sie können mich nicht sehen“ sagte sie mit einem Lächeln.

Anna hatte kein Lust darauf, von den Männern des Prinzen zu fangen, aber sie wollte nicht nur ruhig weggehen. Deshalb hatte sie ein bisschen Spaß mit den Jägern und Rittern. Sie griff einen Stein und warf den über dem Fluss.

„Was war das?“ schrie ein Jäger.

„Geh und sieh an“ sagte Peter.  Und dann warf Anna einen anderen Stein. Diese mal traf der Stein auf den Kopf eins Ritters. „Au!“ schrie er. „Wer hat das gemacht?“ Sie traf die änderen mit Steinen, und dann sah sie die Karte wieder an. „Vielleicht in dieser Richtung?“ flüsterte sie und ging weg.

Sie wanderte durch den Wald. Es war fast Nacht, und sie hatte keine Ahnung, wo sie war, und sie fand den Großvaterbaum noch nicht. Aber dann hörte sie eine Stimme.

„Ich warte auf dich“ sagte die alte Stimme schwächlich.

„Wer hat das gesagt?“ antwortete Anna alarmiert.

„Hier, Mädchen. Der Baum.“ Anna drehte sich herum. Vor ihr war ein sehr großer, schöner und komplizierter Baum.

„Sind Sie der Großvaterbaum?“ fragte sie.

„Ja, Mädchen, und du bist Anna. Der Zauberer hat mir vielen von dir erzählt, und ich kann dir helfen. Um die Holztruhe zu finden, musst du der Karte über den Hügel folgen. Da liegt die Holztruhe.“ Und dann war das Gesicht des Baumes weg.

Anna und die Holztruhe Teil 5

Anna war im Klauen des Zentaurs. „Ich werde dir nichts erzählen!“ schrie sie.

„Dann werde ich dich töten“ sagte er emotionslos. Er hob seinen Faust, um sie gegen einen Baum zu schlagen, aber plötzlich ließ er sie los. Sie fiel schnell und schlug hart gegen den Boden. Der Zentaur schrie vor Schmerzen.  Er hatte einen Pfeil in seiner Schulter und einen anderen in seinem Bein, aber Anna konnte nicht sehen, wovon diese Pfeile kamen. Der Zentaur ging mit den Pfeilen in seinem Körper weg.

„Hallo?“ rief Anna. „Wer hat das gemacht?“

„Du musst darauf achten, Anna, Tochter des Metzgers“ sagte eine Stimme.

„Warum wissen Sie meinen Name?“ fragte Anna.

„Anna, ich bin nicht dein Feind. Du musst auf mich vertrauen, obwohl du mich nicht sehen darfst. Dein Ring kann dich nur vor unmagischen Wesen schützen. Deshalb können die Männer des Prinzen. dich nicht sehen, aber du bist nicht sicher vor Wesen, wie diese böser Zentaur.

„Warum und wie wissen Sie das?“ fragte Anna verwirrt.

„Ich weiß viele Dinge, und jetzt höre mir zu. Traue keiner magischen Kreatur in diesem Wald. Finde nur diese Holztruhe. Wenn du und dein Bruder leben wollen, finde diese Holztruhe.“

„Aber wer sind Sie?“

Es gab keine Antwort. Sie war wieder allein, mit nur dem Ring und der Karte und ihrer Furcht.

Little Babies! Duck L'Orange!

So Sweden happened. And my God, was it absolutely awesome. Now before I start rattling off about my adventures, I would like to write a disclaimer. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the four of my friends and I (Kyle, Lisa, Hannah, and Anna) that went were staying at our friend David's apartment in Uppsala, which is a student city 40 some odd minutes north of Stockholm (and illustrated on the map to the left). This meant however, that what you are about to read is not exactly a typical American tourist in Sweden's account of an adventure. We didn't really go to museums or art galleries or anything like that. My Swedish adventures was so much crazier and so much better (to sort of a steal a quote from Doctor Who). 

Vi älskar Sverige :)

We arrived on Thursday night, after a train from Tübingen to Stuttgart, then another from Stuttgart to Frankfurt Flughafen, and finally a flight from Frankfurt to Stockholm Arlanda, which is a large airport midway between Stockholm and Uppsala. The entire thing went surprisingly smoothly, and whilst waiting for three hours in Frankfurt for our flight, we watched Come Fly With Me. If you don't know this show, look it up and commence with the marathon-ing, because it's absolutely hysterical. We got to Stockholm around 6PM or so and grabbed our luggage off the conveyor belt, also without a hitch. However, from David and Emelie's point of view (they were waiting for us outside of customs), it seemed like things were going very badly. Whilst waiting for us, a group of six police officers were sent into customs, and they were worried that we were causing an international incident. However, shockingly enough, it was not us causing the commotion, and we went on what David dubbed the "hillbilly bus" (every yellow bus in Uppsala heads out to hick country, apparently) to Uppsala and then David's apartment, where all 6-7 of us (David's flatmate was there sometimes) would be crashing until Monday. Now, this apartment is really meant for two people and only has one bathroom. So it was packed pretty tight. However, it was absolutely wonderful chaos, and I cannot thank David enough for letting us all stay there and create mayhem. Once we got there, Emelie and (to an extent) David made us a traditional Swedish dinner, which consisted of some sort of sausage (which tasted a little like bologna), sliced tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, cream, and cheese and mashed potatoes, which we just called glue, due to its consistency and the fact that you may have been able to use them to repair buildings. Then David gave each of us a map of Uppsala, which he had made a few useful choice modifications to, a key chain in the shape of a Dala horse, and a pseudo-Swedish flag. The flag is now hanging in my room, and it looks awesome. We retired pretty early that night, because David and Emelie both had class in the afternoon. 

Friday morning consisted of the slow process of waking up, eating toast, drinking (wicked delicious) coffee, and the two-hour-long process of putting everyone through the shower (one bathroom for six people problems). David left for his class around noon and came back around two. He left his keys with us (you know just in case you want to go exploring or something)...and we didn't leave his apartment. Instead we hung out, watched Biathalon (ski shooting), and played a strange video game called Fat Princess. It was absolutely lovely. 

Once David got back, we went to the all-you-can-eat student Chinese and sushi buffet in the center of Uppsala. On our way there, David pointed out various important parts of the city and random historical facts that he could rattle off. The two main things that we saw on the way were the Uppsala Cathedral, an absolutely beautiful 800-ish year-old building where Gustav Vasa, a king of Sweden, who was one of those who helped to unify the country (but the entire process of doing that was slow), is buried. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go inside...costing money and stuff. The second building we saw was the pink Uppsala castle. I don't really know what more to say about it other than it's very, very pink, and has two towers on either side. These two towers led David to say "and here's our castle...it has boobs." Then there was the all-you-can-eat chinese/sushi buffet for the rough equivalent of 9€. Best dinner ever. Afterwards, we went to the grocery store to stock up on provisions for the next few days. Then we went back to David's apartment to begin a ridiculous evening of German-bought contraband drinking, Rock Band playing, not-at-all-accurate US map drawing, Youtube video watching, and lamp breaking. It was great. 

 The next day was a bit of a slow start. Especially considering the whole two-hour-shower process. However, we eventually made it into Stockholm around 3:30PM or so (after a train ride of not sitting next to anyone that we didn't know). Fun fact: Swedes refuse to sit next to someone that they don't know on public transit. They would rather stand. It's pretty funny, seeing one person sitting in a group of 6 seats and everyone else pointedly not sitting there. Anyways, the only thing that was a bummer was that, as it was Sweden in the winter, 3:30 meant that it was pretty much night time by the time we got there. Which wasn't all bad, but it meant that most of my photos are blurry. My apologies. However, we got there, and David took us down the main shopping street, by the castle, and to the Old City, where there was, of course, a Christmas Market. I don't really know what else to say about it. Stockholm is beautiful and freezing cold. But I really don't think I would mind living there. As far as random facts to share, I guess there is a church in Stockholm's old city, where the Swedes have honoured various folks for doing extraordinary things by putting their names on a wall of fame sort of deal. Sometimes, they also just give these to visiting members of government from various countries, and David claimed that "I think there's some Italian dictator guy up on there." When I asked if he meant Benito Mussolini, he said he thought that was the one. So Benito Mussolini may or may not still be being honoured by the country of Sweden. But if I'm wrong, don't blame me. Blame David. We ended our brief stay with a trip to another all-you-can-eat Chinese/sushi buffet, which was also awesome, and then headed back to Uppsala for more debauchery with a few of David's friends. This was also really wonderful. 

Because Swedish shenanigans are the best kind of shenanigans.

Sunday was a very chill day, after a pretty crazy weekend. After it got dark, we went to the grocery store again to buy provisions for burger-making. There, I found SBR (Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce), and there was much rejoicing. Anyways, for dinner, Kyle and I made burgers and attempted to cook fries in the oven (they turned out rather mediocre). Then, we watched three consecutive horror movies (Session 9, The Orphanage, and Insidious 2), and I probably won't be able to sleep for like 3 weeks. And due to those movies, we are all now terrified of everyone named Simon. Which is an issue that I will probably have to work out sometime before next year. But anyways, during said movies, David had us try lemon curd ice cream, which was delicious...Sweden has all the best food...and then he made us Glögg, which is the Swedish (much better) equivalent of Glühwein. 

Then today, Monday, we flew back home, but not before watching some absolutely terrible Married with Children at David's this morning. The travel home went pretty seamlessly, except for our flight being delayed 45 minutes, for which the head stewards repeatedly and profusely apologized--it was pretty funny. 

Oh and since I was in Sweden. It only seems appropriate that I post a song from another Swedish band that I heard while I was there. It's a sister singing-song writing duo that sounds very American, but is actually from Enskede, south of Stockholm. So yeah, here's the song called Emmylou. 

Stockholm's cold, but I've been told I was born to endure this kind of weather.

And so, that's my story. It was an absolutely lovely weekend, but I am so sad to have left the Swedes for a second time now. But hey, I am sure there will be a next time. Moving forward: I leave for France in 50 some-odd hours. Craziness. So I'll have to tell you all about that later. So until then, bis später, dudes.

...But, Baby, It's Cold Outside

Hey guys. So as I said before, I went over to the East for this past week, which in this case means: Jena, Leipzig, Weimar, and various other places. Which I am about to tell you all about in this monster of a post. Viel Spaß. :)

Sunday: Traveling und Schtuff
So on Saturday night, we stayed at Elizabeth's boyfriend, Joab's, house out in Deckenpfronn (read: the middle of nowhere). It was a joint birthday party for the both of them, so we hung out, drank, and then slept over, as that was easier in making it to Stuttgart the next day to begin our journey out East. Surprising, the entire thing went off without a hitch. We met up with Ute, took a train to Nürnberg, which was miraculously on time. (The belief that German trains run on-time is largely incredibly false.) And then from Nürnberg to Jena. 

Yup, that's Jena.

To start, Jena is a university city in the deutsche Bundesland Thüringen, which seems to me to be one of the lesser-known Bundesländer. It's cutesy, old (but not that old for Germany, only founded in the 1300 or 1400s), and whatever. And everyone tells you it's horribly boring, which I guess is at least half-true. While it is a student city, it seems to be significantly less hopping that Tübingen. But I digress. Upon our arrival in Jena, we met up with our host families. Our entire group was spread out across four families across Jena. Yasmine and I at one place, Theron and Julius at another, Elizabeth and Marlena at another, and then Ute stayed with our tour guide, a sassy little German man named Wolfgang. Now for mine and Yasmine's host family. They are perfect. Literally, they have no flaws. There are four of them. Father, mother, and two daughters, who are 18 and 20. The parents sing in a semi-professional gospel choir and go dancing on Tuesday nights. The 18 year-old daughter is in a different choir, and their 20 year-old daughter goes to school in Jena and plays the piano. They all sit in the living room, and either work on homework or sing Christmas carols together. It was just so much perfect-ness. 

That night, we went to dinner at a restaurant called Zur Noll, which served us some pretty delicious food, and the chef was a sassy tall man. Instead of even contemplating the idea of going on in Jena, we decided to go home with our host family promptly after dinner. (They live in Jena Ost, which is very far from being in the center of the city, so a car ride home was pretty appealing.) We turned in somewhere around 10PM. I guess there's some merit to Julius calling me Oma. 

Monday: Ostschule und Jena

One for the Tufts-in-Tübingen brochure

Montag was a mildly early wake up call. We were supposed to meet at one of the local Gymnasiums (read: high school, or at least close enough to a high school, I'll explain the German education system later) at 9:30AM or some nonsense. But our host family made us a lovely German breakfast of breads, jams, meats, and cheeses (and for which we naturally had to be punktlich). We spent the morning and part of the afternoon being shuffled from room to room to speak English with the kids. It was hectic, but fun. We went to three classrooms, two with 12 year-olds and one with 18 year-olds. I had a group of 18 year-olds interrogate me as to why I didn't tell the teacher that German bier was my favourite part of Germany. ("Wait, so you're twenty, right? So why didn't you say that bier was your favourite part of Germany?!") Afterwards, when they heard we were going to the cafeteria for lunch, one of them told me that the lunch ladies "cook with evilness." They were pretty hilarious. 

Then naturally, after the high school, we stadtführunged, which didn't take terribly long as Jena isn't very big. But it was also horribly cold. Somewhat of a theme for the rest of this week. We eventually ended up at the Weihnachtsmarkt, drank some Glühwein, and then went with Ute to a student restaurant for dinner. Afterwards, we met up with Julius and Theron's host mom at the Weihnachtsmarkt again. (We had wanted Eierpunsch.) This lovely lady showed Yasmine and I where the Straßebahn stop was and then took us to an Irish pub. It was all rather lovely.

Tuesday: Buchenwald und Erfurt
I thought that Buchenwald deserved it's own post. So it has one. Which you can find below. Cool? Cool. 

Which leads us up to the middle of Tuesday. We got to Erfurt around 1:30 or so, and made immediately for the Weihnachtsmarkt there to eat a quick lunch. And that was the fateful day. The day that I first tried a Thüringer bratwurst. To sum things up rather quickly: it was beautiful. This would also begin another theme of the week: eating bratwurst for every meal ever. After lunch, Wolfgang showed us Erfurt, which meant one of the two big churches in the city, the old synagogue, the Krämerbrücke (and the wonderful homemade chocolate shop on said bridge) and then the Rathaus. Then we had time to bum around, which meant "Russian Hot Chocolate" in a café to get warm (we were freezing during the entire tour), buying homemade chocolate, and going to the Weihnachtsmarkt. 

When we got back to Jena, while the boys hung out with their host mom, Ute took the girls to an Italian restaurant with the sassiest little Italian waiter/comedian I have ever met. He would talk to us in a mixture of German, English, Italian, Spanish, and French and would just give us a hard time. It was pretty hysterical. 

Wednesday: Weimar

Goethe's office

Weimar was also bloody cold. We walked around the city for two hours or so. Which admittedly was very cool. It's a very pretty old city. But it was freezing nonetheless. Also, Goethe (who was a wicked famous German writer and politician) lived there. Which is you go to Weimar for any amount of time, you will know because the entire city is Goethe everything. (Come to Goethe's house! Goethestraße, Goethe's grave, statues of Goethe, statues of Schiller and Goethe--it got a little out of hand.) We ended our tour at the Weihnachtsmarkt again, but we decided to try a café for lunch instead. I had a salmon salad, which was probably closer to soup--Germans love them some salad dressing. Afterwards, we chilled in Goethe's house (which is currently a museum) for a while, which was cool. If not a wee bit excessive. Then we went back to the same café and ate cake, because why the hell not. (And my God, was that cake delicious.)

However, all of this food meant that we didn't really have room for our early dinner at a Greek and Italian restaurant. Which was unfortunate, because the little food I did eat there was super delicious. We ended our night at the Jena Planetarium, where we watched Queen Heaven, a light show set to the music of Queen. SO FUCKING GOOD. Ute was shocked that all of us were Queen fans. ("You guys are so young!") But I guess that's what you get for having parents that play that kind of music in the car all the time.

After the planetarium, the six of us hung out in the city for a while, drinking wine, but I decided it'd probably be better to catch a tram back (which meant that Yasmine and I had a midnight curfew) instead of trying to figure out the whole bus/taxi nonsense.

Thursday: Small-Town Sachsen-Anhalt und Thanksgiving 

Thursday was a less early day, which was lovely. It was also a lot of time in the car, which meant sleep. Yay! We went around some small towns in Sachsen-Anhalt, namely Bad Kösen and Freyburg. And after a super large and delicious lunch at an adorable hotel in the middle of nowhere, we eventually ended up in a Sektkellerei called Rottkäppchen, which is the biggest producer of Sekt (champagne) in Germany. Our tour guide was an adorable little German woman, who didn't speak much English, I'm pretty sure was a little drunk, and enjoyed having fun with the Americans. She taught us a drinking song that went like this:

Alle meine Freunde trinken so wie ich

Alle meine Freunde trinken so wie ich

Legen sich besoffen nieder

Stehen auf und trinken wieder

Alle meine Freunde trinken so wie ich

So that was pretty hysterical. She also had us all get stuck inside a Fass (one of those big Sekt barrels), although I guess we really weren't stuck... 

So yeah, after the Sektkellerei, we returned to Jena early, which meant that we had time to nap! Yay, sleeping! I am fairly certain my host family thought that all Yasmine and I did was sleep, eat their breakfast, and travel places. But at 7PM that night, we had Thanksgiving. Now Yasmine and I thought that it probably wouldn't be like a "normal" American Thanksgiving, because, you know, people eat healthy portions over here. WRONG. We had the biggest damned turkey I have ever seen (it could have been an ostrich) and so, so much food. It was absolutely delicious. The chef at Zur Noll is a god amongst men. Afterwards, I promptly went into a food coma for roughly ten hours.

All the nomz

Friday: Max, Leipzig, und Borna
But that was good, because then I had plenty of energy for Leipzig. After an hour and a half-long car ride, we finally got there. So a few things: it was really apparent while we were driving that we were in East Germany, it was so industrial looking and the tiny towns that we passed through all 1. seemed dead and 2. had really Soviet-looking architecture. Second, Leipzig is a wicked cool and interesting city. During the days of the DDR, Leipzig, in addition to East Berlin, seemed to be the hot beds of anti-Communist activity. And when the DDR was finally disintegrating in October and November of 1989, one of the biggest demonstrations (if not the biggest) was in Leipzig. So yeah, Wolfgang showed us around and then left us to our own devices. 

This kid.

Then shortly after one, I got to meet up with Max again! Which was just so crazy cool. I hadn't seen this kid since I was a freshman in college, when he came to visit USM. It was awesome being able to see him in person again. We hung out for a while during his lunch break, got some lunch at the Weihnachtsmarkt, and then he showed me around the parts of Leipzig that I hadn't already been to, which was awesome. He did have to leave for work again, so I met up with my friends and we hung out until 5:30 when they left to go to dinner in a castle and I stayed and waited for Max to pick me up. We had made plans the night before for me to stay over at his place and then go back to Jena in the morning to catch the train back to Tübingen. He picked me up at the Hauptbahnhof. We then went to where his girlfriend works and had a bier. Well I had a bier; he had an alkoholfrei bier because he had to drive. He then took me to Connewitz, which seems to be a very hipster, left-wing, and young part of Leipzig. We ate both döner and burgers, because he wanted to show me both of his favourite fastfood places around there. And then we went to one of his friend's houses where they kicked my butt in a bunch of different Wii games. But it was still super fun and they are really cool.

However, we went back to Borna, where Max lives with his family, relatively early because we both had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn. Me to get to my train and him for orientation in Ravensburg, where he is going to be going to school in January. So about Borna. Borna used to be a relatively hopping place during the DDR times, because it had a ton of coal-mining around it. So all the coal-miners and their families lived there. After the fall of the wall, however, all the coal mines closed and the families left. Now you just have a declining town with very, very little to do. As we drove past the Hauptbahnhof, Max said, "and here is the best part of Borna...because you can leave." Which is fairly true. It was probably the first time that I truly realized that I was in the former DDR. Despite the fact that it was Saturday night, it was empty, eerily so. It was really weird. I had challenged him if it was more depressing that my home town. His won by a mile. But we drank biers in his family's kitchen and talked until 2AM or so, and that was great. 

Saturday: zu Hause!
Then this morning, I got to meet Max's family, who are some of the nicest people in the world. Not only did they invite me into their home, despite the fact that they had never met me, his grandfather offered to drive me an hour to Jena for my train because Max couldn't. They are just so sweet and wonderful. So I had a lovely conversation with his grandfather in the car, who is a quiet, sweet German man who hardly speaks a lick of English. And then took a train back to Tübingen (or well Nürnberg, then Stuttgart, then Tübingen). Once we got home, we promptly went to Kaufland--I had literally no food, and then crashed, because, you know, long week. 

And with that, that seems to be about it. I am leaving for Sweden on Thursday. Which is so crazy. I can't believe it's already here. I also maybe getting sick, which is less than ideal. But hopefully that won't be the case. And with that, I say thank you to the folks that actually read to the end of this long and rambling nonsense. Bis später, dudes. 

Jedem Das Seine

the only picture I took of the camp

Hey guys, so this is what I wrote in the car after our visit to Buchenwald. 

When I returned from Central Europe in 2011, my entire family without fail would always ask some variation of "so yeah, what was it like being in Auschwitz?" I had no answer. No words did justice to the horrific monstrosity that was and is Auschwitz. Not even pictures can explain the feelings, the atmosphere. However, this time I am going to try and put the experience into words. What a concentration camp is like (at least from my perspective). And I will try my darnedest to do it some justice. 

On the third day of the Tufts-in-Tübingen-in-the-former-DDR adventure, we went to Buchenwald, a work camp roughly 45 minutes northwest of Jena. Unlike Auschwitz, Buchenwald was only a work camp. There weren't/aren't large ovens that gassed people alive. However, 600,000 people still died over the course of this camp's five year (1940-1945) existence from overwork, beatings, starvation, dehydration, and extreme weather. 

Buchenwald is a quiet place. Just like Auschwitz, all you seem to hear is the sound of feet crushing gravel, leaves, and ice. It is a permeated silence. Thick with death, suffering, and memories. You're with a group, but you're alone. You feel very alone. In this case, it was cold. The kind of late November cold (then -3°C) that envelopes you. But you know it will get colder. And then you think of the inmates. Emaciated with their wooden shoes and their striped prison suits. If I'm cold in my coat and boots, imagine their suffering. The cold and the starvation and the lack of reprieve and hope. 

Your tour guide shows you a monument. It commemorates a cave in which the Nazis running the camp starved inmates as part of an experiment. See how long they can last without food, water, or adequate clothing. Meanwhile, a zoo for the SS Men's families and kids was right on the other side of the fence, with well-fed and healthy lions, tigers, and bears. 

Inside the old camp buildings (most of which have been destroyed), it doesn't seem like things have changed. The air reeks of death and ash. Six ovens stand in the middle of a large main room, still full of ash. 

Just when you think you cannot stand the cold any longer, your tour guide brings you to your relief, the museum. It's warm inside, a lovely warm. One that the inmates were deprived of every winter. You go upstairs and there you are reminded that there is no relief from the thick silence. Upstairs are pictures. Pictures of the camp, of public forest executions, of inmates. 22 years-old, 17 years-old, 35 years-old, 20 years-old. French political opponents, Hungarian Jews, Polish homosexuals. The words start to string together in your head. The faces haunt. You see them over and over. The Polish political prisoner, a bright red triangle on his breast pocket, handsome and defiant, minutes before his death standing in a forest. The recently dead and swollen faces of inmates. 

Then there's the art exhibit where you mix these drawn images with the real ones and everything becomes clearer somehow. There are shoes, and those are always the worst part. The most painful reiteration of how real these people were. And yet some how they were so easy to dehumanize. 

And American GI wrote a letter to his wife after discovering Buchenwald (post-liberation; Buchenwald was the only camp to liberate itself) and it's posted inside the museum. It seems like the best way to end this post.

I was inside a Nazi concentration camp today, and the things I saw would turn the stomach of the strongest man who ever lived. Don't let anyone tell you these things didn't happen or that the stories you hear of Nazi brutalities and atrocities are cooked up to maybe sell more bonds or get more recruits for the WAC's. I saw it and smelled it and I talked with men who had been living in hell for five years.