'schland und die WM

and also my political musings on America in the context of sports, individualism and Alexis de Tocqueville–have fun everyone.

So I know that it's been more than two weeks since the World Cup (which I shall refer to as the WM–die Weltmeisterschaft–from here on out) started, but I haven't really had much of a chance to blog about it due to traveling and trying to finish presentations during that traveling. First off, let me just say how wild it is being in a country where not liking football (not gonna call it soccer, sorry not sorry) and particularly not caring about the WM is weird. As in you are very much the exception. And may I also say that I absolutely love it. I can't imagine a day where the streets of a place like Boston (or I guess a more appropriated analogy would probably be Urbana-Champaign Illinois) would close simply because the USA won a match in the WM. Emphasis on a. Not the entire thing just simply one match. That's what has been happening in Tübingen, you know when Americans aren't getting stuck in vagina statues. The Neckarbrücke (the main bridge in town) was closed for an hour yesterday simply because people were partying in the streets. A bus was caught in the middle of it, so the bus driver simply pulled out a newspaper and waited for the partying to stop. It's a crazy feeling to be in the middle of all of the hullabaloo. 

For this reason, I am glad that the WM seems to finally be catching on in America. But a friend of mine also posted an article from the Daily Beast entitled Why the Yanks Don't Get Futbol. In case you are too lazy to read the link, here is a brief summary. Essentially, the articles argues that Americans do not understand a sport like football, because football is in every sense of the word a team game. Now you may be saying or thinking, American football is a team game, basketball is a team game, baseball is a team game. What's more American than baseball. Pshaw, Americans don't understand team sports. But think about it, how much emphasis do we put on certain individuals within those teams. We talk far more frequently about Lebron James than we do about the Miami Heat. Or frequently you hear things like, another win for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. You hear about how many homeruns Ryan Braun scored more than the actual score of the game. And you care, you care deeply about the stats of a certain player, sometimes more than the team overall. As this article puts it, for football, "the only thing that counts is the team: did they win?" The cult of individuality that characterizes many American sports simply does not exist. Thomas Müller scored a hat trick against Portugal, but you didn't hear about that. What you heard was that the Deutsche Nationalmannschaft beat Portugal 4 to 0. And that to me is incredibly refreshing. 

I read Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America as a freshman in college, and despite having written this book in the 1830s (first published in 1835), I think that it still is relevant in analyzing and theorizing as to why the United States of America seems to be so much different than the rest of the western world in so many aspects. This interested freshman year, but reading this Daily Beast article, I kept on thinking about to Tocqueville.  

Some context: Tocqueville traveled to the US during in the 1830s for roughly two years and went around observing and writing about what he saw, which later became Democracy in America. One of the most interesting part for me is his discussion and musings about American Individualism. He writes, "...I see an innumerable multitude of men, alike and equal, constantly circling around in pursuit of the petty and banal pleasures with which they glut their souls. Each of them withdrawn into himself, is almost unaware of the fate of the rest. Mankind, for him, consists in his children and his personal friends. As for the rest of his fellow citizens, they are near enough, but he does not notice them. He touches them but feels nothing. He exists in and for himself, and though he still may have a family, one can at least say that he has not got a fatherland."

This individualism is still alive and well. I have heard so many times "I don't want to pay for another's person XYZ" whether it be healthcare, food stamps, education, you name it. This discussion doesn't exist in Europe. There is little to no controversy over their healthcare system. Hell, even the radical right-wing parties here don't want to touch government programs like that. And I believe the only reason that controversy over these things exists in America is because of this anti-traditionalist individualism that the United States adopted pretty much at its founding. While this individualism is certainly sometimes admirable, I also think it is what is keeping us different from the rest of the western world. It is why we don't have universalized healthcare or government-funded education the way that most European countries do. I guess you can view that favorably or not, but I think that it is largely to our detriment. 

Before I thought that Tocqueville had merely made a cogent point about our political thinking, but clearly that extends far beyond even into the way that we watch sports. To extend what Nico Hines was saying in his article, Americans can't and won't appreciate football in the same way that the rest of the world does until we confront and perhaps change this individualist lenses through which we as Americans see the world. 

A small PS: Sorry if this isn't exactly what you are looking for with this blog post but as an international relations kid with a pretty serious interest in politics and political theory, I kind of like my political musings. 

A short PPS, I had no idea that Ann Coulter had written this lovely little Op-Ed for the Clarion Ledger when I was writing this. 

That time we ate Berlin

Back in the Land of the Currywurst

Hey dudes. So after 5 wonderful days, I am back in Tübingen. A fact which seems rather surreal. Taking the bus home from the Hauptbahnhof, it seemed like I had been away for far longer. Things are strange like that. But in any case, Berlin was beautiful. My kind of city in just about every way that I could imagine, and now I'll tell y'all all about it.

Tuesday
We left for Berlin at the godforsaken hour of 7AM on Tuesday. I had packed hastily, because I had been hanging out with friends in the Neckarmüller biergarten and was slightly disoriented from having stayed up late worrying about potentially oversleeping and missing the train. But that didn't happen, and after 8 some-odd hours, we were in Berlin and after another, at our hostel in Kreuzberg. For reference, Kreuzberg is a neighborhood in the southerwestern part of Berlin, where all sorts of young folks and hipsters hang out. This neighborhood also is home to some pretty awesome currywurst and the best döner probably in existence–but more on that later. Our hotel, the Hotel Transit, was pretty nice with spacious rooms and a (really) kickass breakfast, but other than that nothing much to write home about.


Then commenced the eating. A large theme of this trip was food. (And I am going to talk all about it despite my family making fun of me.) The food diversity in Tübingen–as I have previously explained–is rather limited. And by rather limited I mean schwäbisches Essen and Italian food and the occasional nudelbox, which may or may not give you food poisoning and that's about it. Because of this, we were all on a mission to eat all of the wonderful exotic things that Berlin had to offer. And this started with Thai/Singaporean food in a lovely restaurant called Amrit in Kreuzberg/Friedrichshain. It was wonderful. I mean, just look at it. And we ate all of the things, because Tufts was paying–thanks, Tufts. However, this meant that we also went home and promptly passed out somewhere around 23, like the old folks that we are.

Wednesday
But turning in early was a good decision for all of us, because we had to be up and out of the hostel by 9:30 to go the Deutsch Auswärtige Amt (the German foreign service) to chat with the head of the Transatlantic Desk about various issues in German-US relations. We got to ride in the Paternoster (which he translated to the Elevator of Death), which was awesome and terrifying. We then discussed issues such as TTIP, Ukraine, and climate change, and we'll just suffice it to say that he was very...diplomatic. 

After a sad salad and a bit of rain, we went to the Bundestag and were given a small talk by a sassy German man–who continually kept translating things for Yasmine after finding out that she was American. Afterwards, we got to go up in the dome, which was super neat. Our day continued with currywurst, cheesecake, and other rain time activities that for the sake of surprise I shall not elaborate upon. It ended with kick-ass burgers, Fotoautomat-ing, and some beers. 

Thursday
Thursday was a museum-y type day. It started with the Pergamon museum, which holds treasures from the old Grecian city of Pergamon, which lies in modern-day Greece. This includes a construction of a temple and a pretty incredible gate. We got a tour from a nice little German archaeologist dude who didn't seem like he knew what to do with our lack of questions, and I was kind of falling asleep standing up, and the museum is nonetheless super incredible.

After that little stint, we went to the Hackescher Markt to grab a quick lunch, which ended up being turkish food–nomz and then we met up with Ute back by the Pergamon to go on a short boat tour, which was pretty lovely, and afterwards, I went to the DDR Museum by myself because everyone else was rather pooped from the previous museums. Luckily for me (as I was also rather pooped) the museum was small, but also super interesting, with all sorts of stuff about DDR day-to-day life and the party. 

But then Kevin, Theron, Yasmine, and I went to the Deutsches Geschichtemuseum, which I don't think there are words for how incredible one of their current exhibitions is. It's called Targets by Herlinde Koelbl. This woman (I have no idea how) photographed men and women from more than twenty different armies and the targets that they practice on, and it all comes together as one incredible critical view of wars and armies. And my God, is it chilling. Seriously, if you are in Berlin, go to this exhibit. You won't regret it. 

This wonderful museum experience was followed by some wonderful thai food (where I also happened to run into my Tübingen friends who I didn't know was going to be in Berlin–the world is weird) and then a play called Biedermann und die Brandstifter, which I guess translated into English is called the Fire Raisers, which doesn't really do the German title justice, but oh well. It was quite funny, even if I didn't understand every word. 

Then afterwards, we went to a divey kind of bar by our hostel to watch the first games of the World Cup. Can I say how happy I am in Europe for this? It's so much fun.

Friday
Friday was the day of the Wall. Ute took all of us to the big Mauer Monument by the Nordbahnhof, where original parts of the wall still remain without much on them–unlike in say the Eastside Gallery or something. It's rather cool but also quite eerie. It's also strange for a bunch of kids my age, because we were never alive during a divided Germany and sometimes it seems like straight-up history, but then you go to Berlin and it's not at all. Parts of the Mauer are still up just like they were 30 years ago, and parts of the city still look like they belong in the DDR (Karl-Marx-Allee for example.) It's a wild feeling. 

After the wall tour, all 11 of us kids got lunch at a Vietnamese place on Karl-Marx-Allee called Curcuma, which was both moderately priced and incredible, and then went to the Eastside Gallery. The Eastside Gallery is on the Spree river and also a large part of the remaining wall. However, this wall is quite different from the way it was during the DDR days. This part of the wall has been converted into a monument/art gallery and was on the Eastern side of Berlin, as in facing the DDR. Therefore, the "wrong" side is painted, since the wall was neither painted nor graffitied on the east side. Since the fall of the wall, this part has been kept and painted by various artists, and it looks incredible.

Then afterwards, we had a lovely little Tufts meet-up with some alumni at a bar called Aufsturz, wherein the Tufts Alumni Association provided food and we chatted and stuff it was great. Then, we decided to go out to a club near the Eastside Gallery, and then that was pretty much our day. 

Saturday

We went to a super fancy café on Saturday with a friend of Yasmine from Opera Camp and had pancakes which was a pretty lovely and chill time, and afterwards, Yasmine, Caroline, and I went to the explore the Tiergarten in the middle of the city (but you really can't tell that you are in the center of a city–super neat). Which was a lovely way to spend our last afternoon in Berlin. For me, it finally brought everything together/full circle from the last time I went to Berlin in 2011. I walked by things that I recognized from then, and even found the playground, which I had noticed from the big tour bus, which we had drove around in, but never had gotten to check out or play in. In case you were wondering, it was as cool as it looked in 2011. 

Then afterwards, we went to the Berliner Philharmonic to listen to a Chopin and Beethoven concert, which was pretty cool (but I kind of fell asleep–awkward), and then went to the same dive bar to watch Italy beat England whilst eating our last Mustafa's döner (seriously, it's magical, with all sorts of vegetables and cheese and everything). This time it was even more fun than the first go-around with the Brazil v. Croatia game, because in the bar, there was a series of rowdy Englishmen, Italian, and Germans who were all yelling at the screen when anything happened. It was extremely entertaining.

Sunday
Sunday was leaving day, which pretty much meant packing but also one last slice of cheesecake. Then we got on a train for another 8 hours, and here I am, back in Tübingen and a little angsty that I only have 4 more weeks left of class. But I guess we won't get into that now.

With that, it's late and I am a bit of a grandma, so bis später, dudes.

Berlin: I eated it.

nobody expects a grecian fanny pack

So gang, it's been a little while, but this post re-commences the travel portion of this blog, otherwise known as the part where I do stereotypical study abroad traveling. This weekend was a long weekend, because on Thursday everything in southern Germany (and maybe the north too–I'm not sure) was closed for Christi Himmelfahrt, known in English as the Day of the Ascension. Considering this fabulous long weekend, Caroline, a fellow Tufts-in-Tübingen-er, and I decided to take a trip to Thessaloniki, Greece in pursuit of warm weather and beaches. It was most certainly an adventure.

To start, as cheesy and trite as the phrase "it's all Greek to me" is, it is also completely accurate. I arrived at Thessaloniki airport knowing two words "ano poli," which means old city, and no, I have absolutely no idea how to spell it with Greek letters. We arrived at the airport at 23:20 and managed to get the last bus from the airport. It was completely packed with people, so Caroline and I stood up at the front entrance with the driver. It was dark and we had no idea where we were going, more or less what anything said. Our hostel was a bit outside the very central part of the city, up on a hill with lots of windy streets. Thus when we got off in city centre, we took a cab, which I normally hate doing, but when the map looks like this, it's pretty necessary. 

We made it to our hostel just after midnight and were greeted by the single most friendly woman probably in all of Greece. Her name is Vicky and she runs the Little Big House hostel in Thessaloniki, which is–no exaggeration–the most beautiful hostel I have ever stayed in. The rooms are brightly colored and come with a kitchenette in addition to the main communal kitchen. There's a terrace to chill out and enjoy the beautiful Greek sunshine. They provide you with a free frappé (ie heaven on Earth) upon arrival. This place is the most wonderful. So yeah, that's that. Maybe 5 minutes after Vicky left, we went to bed. 

From the tallest point of Thessaloniki

The next day, we spent our time roaming around Thessaloniki. As I previously stated, we had hoped for two days of beaching, but it was raining on Friday morning, so we decided to explore the city instead. After breakfast, we started out at the highest point of Thessaloniki which has a little fort thing and the remainder of some of the Byzantine walls. So a bit of background the city is in the northern part of Greece, is the second largest city and a big port, and used to be part of both the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. The Turkish influences are pretty obvious looking at some of the architecture and inevitable if you step into a coffee shop, but more on that later.

Anyways, we wandered down to the White Tower which is right on the Aegean and then wandered along the water until we got to the markets. The markets are super cool and half open-air and sell lots of food and clothes. They are also very loud and lively and have Greek people rushing around and yelling about all sorts of different things–or at least I am assuming since I only know how to say "ano poli," good morning/afternoon/evening, please, and thank you in Greek now. We bought 1.5kg of cherries for about 5€ (best day ever), some olives, and I bought super awesome hippie pants, which my mother and grandmother think are super ugly but I love very much. 

Afterwards, we got gyros, which was an exercise in hilarity really, because the menu was in Greek. We went up sheepishly to the guy and just kind of where like "ummmm..." To which he responds, "gyros?" Then he asked what we wanted on it, to which I responded "whatever you like," so we got two different types of sauce on it (something that looked like barbecue and the other that looked like mustard), tomatoes, and french fries, and my God, it was delicious.
  
Once our super late lunch was over, we wandered around some more and ended up in a lovely café. The shop is a little dark, old-looking, and full of painting and knick-knacks and old iron furniture. Coffee and tea were quite the production and it was awesome. We got teas and Greek delight (roughly the same idea as Turkish delight) and it was wonderful. Then we wandered back up to the hostel to take a nap and relax. 

We got back to the hostel and promptly crashed into our bunk beds, but after a few minutes were greeted by a friendly Australian named Tony, who asked what we planned on doing later. We told him that we were probably gonna get food after our nap. After our nap, we dawdled a little and drank more frappés on the terrace and then decided on seafood for dinner. Vicky recommended us a local place close by, and so the three of us wandered up the mountain to the place and had seafood and it was absolutely wonderful. There was a cityscape view and everything. Also in case you haven't gotten the idea, a major theme of this trip was tasty food. (Sorry not sorry, hate all you want Pookie and Dobby.) Then us three went home, drank wine on the terrace and played a Taboo-type game. It was a lovely and chill evening.

The next day, Caroline and I woke up early to go to the beach, which was a series of mishaps. We wanted to take a boat to the beach, something that Vicky recommended, but it was too windy, so the boat wasn't going. Then we wandered around for 45 minutes trying to find the railroad station (which is really just a bus station now because most of the trains in Greece are no longer running because of the financial crisis). After much searching, we got on the first of two bus rides to go to a beach roughly an hour and a half away. It was a debacle, but it wasn't all bad. At the bus station, a man came up to me speaking Greek, and when I told him I didn't speak Greek, he started in German and said that he thought I looked Greek, which was something that I haven't gotten before–maybe I am tanner than I thought? And we did eventually make it to the beach. 

Since it was windy, the place was completely empty. So we got to relax in the sun on a mostly empty beach and it was wonderful. And I have a sunburned tummy to prove that I was there.

We got back to the hostel around 19 or so (after two bus rides filled with Greek high school boys wearing purses, fanny packs, or fanny packs as purses–wild stuff), and were so hungry that we ate more than half of our crackers, feta, and olives. Quite the tasty pre-dinner snack. Afters we grabbed some beers from the hostel bar and hung out on the terrace with quite the collection of people. There were folks from America (us), Australia, Brazil (who had done a study abroad year in high school in Neenah, Wisconsin of all the places–we bonded), France, Belgium (both the French and the Dutch parts), the Netherlands, Albania, and Greece, and ranged in age from 18 to 70. It was really wild talking to all of these different people. (And really even more wild that the Brazilian guy did a year of high in Neenah fucking Wisconsin–I mean, really what are the odds?) 

Caroline and I ended up going to dinner at a cute little "taverna" down the road with the woman from the Netherlands, who is a 69 year-old Dutch actress named Maria and the Albanian guy joined us (weird world, right?) His English was pretty rudimentary, and he only spoke Albanian and some Greek so communication between the three of us and him was partially a game of charades, but that was pretty fun. Maria, Caroline, and I ate "Greek-style" ie ordered three dinner main dishes (souvlaki, meatballs, and a beef ring–whatever that is) and a bunch of sides and split them, and it was awesome. 

And since we had an early flight in the morning (ie we just wanted an excuse because we were super tired), we denied Niko and Tony's requests to go out partying in the city, which I am not too sad about really, we had quite the full day. (God, I sound like a grandma.)

Anyways, other news in Sarah-land, this weekend I am going to the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest, for those that don't know the German name) with Unterwegs and then it's Pfingsten (Pentecost) on Monday (ie more closed stores) and then Tuesday begins the five-day-long Tufts-in-Tübingen-in-Berlin trip which promises to be both a nerdy and crazy time. Well, I am off to watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Stay tuned gang, things are getting wanderlust-y.