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.

a german breakfast from the store?!?!

Hi gang. So it's weird, the transition from this being a fun travel blog to me being boring and normal again, isn't it? With that being said, I have continued to go to work at Vivat Lingua and do some stuff for school. Mostly for Tufts as it turns out. My thesis crisis continues in that finding a topic that you shall spend a year of your life researching is super daunting. Woooooo. So enough about that. 

This week, I did the whole class thing. Nothing too special going on. I also sat in on English classes for Vivat, which was super fun. However, it's also super weird for me to teach English to adults, but they are very nice and enthusiastic. 

Then the fun part came. If you have seen my Facebook lately, you will see that two of my wonderful friends, Jay and Ray, came to visit me in Tübingen, and boy did we have a fun time. I tried to do all the fun and/or delicious Tübingen things that I could think of. This involved: Neckarmüller dinner, Neckarmüller Biergarten, Kalender döner, Porsche factory, hanging out on the church steps, Kicherbse falafel, Schloss Hohenzollern, hanging out in the Alter Botanischer Garten, Tübingen Schloss, and of course, meeting my friends.

So yeah, of all of those things, I guess some of the most interesting was the Porsche Museum. I had never been there before. So we adventured to the northern part of Stuttgart to go to the museum, and it was so much more interesting than the Mercedes-Benz Museum. I mean, the cars are much cooler for one, but also it wasn't as long and tedious as the Mercedes-Benz Museum. So yeah, Jay and Ray nerded out a little bit with that. Afterwards, we walked around Stuttgart and then went home to hang out with my friends at the church steps. Cool. 

Then the next day there was the Schloss Hohenzollern, which I already talked about so I'll skip over most of that. We did a tour in German, which I had to translate parts of for them, which was kind of funny. Then we went to a Norwegian barbecue, because yesterday was Norway's constitution day, which celebrates independence from Denmark and Sweden. I guess one of the core parts of the holiday is that you get to eat as much ice cream as you want, which is a tradition that I can get behind. 

Then today, the three of us had a german breakfast, the first one I have ever orchestrated, and then chilled with Caroline in Tübingen, but now Ray and Jay are gone and on there way to Budapest and I feel sad. But it was wonderful to have seen them. So that's about it from my end. Stayed tuned. There will be traveling adventures happening very soon. :)

hamster wheels, churning butter, and fabulous beards

Hey, gang. If you watched the Eurovision song contest, you know what the title of this post is about. If you didn't, first off, you missed out, and second, I'll give you a small recap. But first: what I have been doing with my life.

There was Frühlingsfest again last Saturday, which was, as usual, fun and filled with dirndls, and I guess there isn't much more to say than that. 

This past week was full of classes and work, but nothing particularly eventful. But there was one semi-big milestone. This week was the first week that I felt like a high-functioning human auf Deutsch. You may be thinking that: Sarah, it's been 8 some-odd months. How are you just feeling this now? Well, let me explain: I have known enough German to get by for a long time now. Telling people directions, ordering at restaurants, all of that hasn't been stressful since the first month. But with other things I was not as great at. Germans have a habit of switching to English the second that they find out that you are American, but now, it seems that many would rather speak German to me than English. 

But I guess the biggest reason for this hitting now was one particular milestone: calling a German flight company and handling the entire thing in German. Talking to someone in German face-to-face is difficult enough, but on the phone, where you can't see their face, is a whole different ball game. Caroline and I made last minute plans to travel to Thessaloniki a few weekends from now, and so we booked (or in my case, tried to book) tickets via a discount website. Caroline's went through, but mine didn't so I had to call them. My call was picked up by a woman with a Spanish accent who was speaking to me in German. Oh God, I thought, and she didn't speak English. But I managed to get through the entire call in German and get my flight all sorted out. This was when I realized that I think I have turned another corner on this whole language thing. 


There were tacos this weekend as well, because Marlena is a wonderful person and a great cook. I also made guacamole for the occasion, because you can't make germanized-Mexican food without some guac. Then that night, I went to the Kreuzkirche to play Zombies (like tag, but Zombie apocalypse-style) with the Unterwegs folks for Tony, Val, and Emily's birthdays. 

One Ms. Hannah Heagy gets photo credit for this one

On Saturday, I went Stockerkahning with Lasse, Håvard (one of Lasse's friends who is studying here for the semester), Yasmine, and Lasse's friend from Norway. Weather here has been rather variable. So it started out as a lovely sunny boat ride, but by the time we picked up Hannah, Lisa, Lucia, and Mike an hour and a half later, it was about to rain. But luckily, the rain wasn't too terrible. 

Afterwards, we headed up to Lasse's to make pizzas and watch the Eurovision Song Contest, which Buzzfeed has compared to "American Idol on LSD." That is probably the best description that I have heard of it, although it doesn't quite do justice to the fact that the whole thing doesn't seem at all serious. In case you didn't open the article in the link, here is a gist of what this whole thing is. The Eurovision Song Contest is a yearly contested started in 1956, wherein the Europeans decided to put the centuries of fighting each other with deadly weapons in favor fighting each other in song. Every European country (and some countries you might not consider Europe, such as Israel, for example) send a contestant or a group of contestants to sing a song in front of the entirety of Europe. However, many times these songs involve ridiculous costumes or props or maybe the song is ridiculous, whatever. There is inevitably something either absurd or kitschy in the routine. Then all of Europe votes, but they are not allowed to vote for their own country. They tally up the points and whoever wins gets to be King or Queen of Europe and then that country hosts the contest the next year. Cool? Cool.

This year, there were such wonderful acts as Ukraine with a sensual hamster wheel, Poland who sent a female singer and an entourage of big-breasted women to (almost pornographically) wash clothes and churn butter, and France whose group sang about wanting mustaches and who came in last with a resounding 2 points. But the winner was none of these. Instead the winner was a drag queen from Austria named Conchita Wurst. She is absolutely wonderful with a beautiful voice and a signature luxurious beard. Naturally, as you can imagine if you have been paying attention to the news, Russia was not thrilled with her presence in the competition. But the rest of Europe did not agree with Russia (and Belarus's) ridiculous and homophobic stances, and made her the Queen of Europe. Which was super wonderful to see. Oh, and Russia got booed...a lot.

So that's about what I got for you guys. Exciting news for the upcoming week: Ray and Jay are coming to visit on Thursday. Shenanigans will ensue. So for now, bis später, dudes.

Friedrich, Wilhelm, oder Friedrich-Wilhelm

Hey, gang. So, it's been a little while, and I am sorry for that. However, my existence has been pretty mundane these past two weeks. Lots of class things and hanging out with my friends, mostly. However, there have been a few news-worthy events that have been going down. So I'll give you a quick over few of those. 

Last Thursday was a day of Frühlingsfest, which is a spring bierfest in Stuttgart. Similar to Cannstatter Volksfest back in September/October. Which similar to the fall, was filled with bier,  dirndls, and general insanity. In a similar vein, I appreciated how much I love the atmosphere of these fests. (Oktoberfest is a whole different animal. I'm talking about the "smaller" ones.) There is nothing quite like a German bierfest. Certainly nothing that rivals it in the US. Everyone is happy and dancing and the entire thing is jovial. Also, just gonna leave this song here–it pretty accurately summarizes the experience. 

Anyways, after Frühlingsfest, there wasn't much done that weekend, besides homework, because classes this semester have a lot more reading, which I think I mentioned before. So there was a lot of that. Then I started my internship on Monday, which thus far has been organizing books and downloading worksheets. But the people that I work with are super nice, and I ironically get to practice my German a bit despite being the English intern. (Sidenote: I have become totally dependent upon Rocky for transport. He's a pretty wonderful bike.)

Nothing says fun like Neo-Functionalism, amirite?

Then there was my presentation about Heinrich Böll, a German post-war author who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1972. He wrote such things as Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa... (a title which I can only pronounce auf Schwäbisch, which is pretty ridiculous).  But the presentation went well, I think.

Also, Lisa, Hannah, and I have set out on a three-day-a-week work-out regiment called Project Amazon Warrior, which involves a bit of lifting and left me very sore for the majority of this past week.

In weather news, it has been raining (and that I mean periodically monsooning) this week. So no Alter Botanischer Garten or reading outside. Instead, I have been in my hovel (and by that I mean my pretty nicely lit room) reading about the European Union. It also means that I was wrong. It's not quite summer yet. I tempted fate and for that, I am sorry. 

Then there was the castle. Today, Ute took us Tufts Kinder to the Schloss Hohenzollern, which is a fairytale castle only 20 minutes or so away from Tübingen. It's pretty incredible. This castle takes up the entire top of a small mountain (855m/2,805ft), and it overlooks the surrounding area majestically. It belongs to the Hohenzollern family, which is a fancy family which became prominent in the Middle Ages and eventually became German Emperors (think Friedrich the Great). They are on their third version of the castle, because, like the TMC Loj, they have issues with fires. However, unlike the Loj, those fires seem to have been set by invading armies. Props to them for making the hike up that mountain. It's pretty damn steep.

Anyways, after a rather steep and grueling hike up to the castle, we have a pretty sick view of the surrounding area. Then, we got a lovely tour of the castle, which seeing as it is still privately owned, was rather limited. We also buffed their floors–they made us wear hausschuhe, which were pretty ridiculous and made you shuffle around the place. Unfortunately, like many attractions in Europe, you can't take pictures. But it's an absolutely beautiful place on the inside with super beautiful stained glass and all that. (My mother would have probably gone bananas over that.) We also got to see some of the crown jewels and stuff in the Schatzkammer, which was pretty cool. (Don't imagine anything like in London, though.) But it included some nice tea sets and things of that nature. Oh and a sword that is taller than our 5 foot-tall Caroline. Which is always funny. 

Soon after our tour, we had to go back down to catch the bus back into town. It was either that or hike back to the Hauptbahnhof, which was not the most appealing option in the world. So we did that and ended up getting back to Tübingen at 5ish. But before I get to dinner, I have to tell you about the most adorable German child on the train. We sat across from him and his mother, and he heard us speaking English to each other. To which his response was that we were speaking a "komische Sprache" (weird language) and then proceeded to babble about something that Kevin and I couldn't quite understand. Then he asked me "hast du eine Fahrkarte?" (do you have a ticket?). The entire thing was quite funny and cute.



And now for dinner: THAI FOOD. I write that in all caps, because if you have been remarking on the food part of this blog, you have noticed that most of my meals in Tübingen involve schwäbisch food, italian food, or döner. So it was pretty big news when we heard that was a Thai restaurant in the western part of the Altstadt that was good. And, oh boy, is it good. Not having had thai food for about nine months made this possibly one of the more exciting things to have happened in the past month or two. Make as much fun of me all you want, family. All of the other Tufts kids agree with me. I got a duck curry thing with pineapple and lychees, and it was awesome. I promptly went into a food-coma-type-state.

So, dudes, that about what I have for you. A rather uneventful two weeks, but thai food. That's a pretty landmark event. In any case, bis später, gang.

See you in Shell (and other bad Easter puns)

Hey gang, so the second full week of class is over, and on that front, there isn't much to report. All of my classes are good, and I think this semester is going to be both more interesting and challenging, what with the two seminars and all. Basically, I am starting to get back into the swing of things. 

On Wednesday afternoon, my friend Cornelius (remember the guy that I met in Paris?) came to visit. He was originally planning on attending university in Heidelberg for the Wintersemester, but for some reason changed his mind, and so he came to hang out and see all the wonderful things that Tübingen has to offer (which is a lot–Tübingen is pretty damn awesome).

To start, after finishing my James Bond class on Wednesday, the two of us went up the Schloss Café for Unterwegs Café English, which was fun, as per the usual. The next day, we walked around, saw pretty much all of Tübingen, went to the Schloss, rode on a Stockerkahn (think gondola) with Lisa, Lasse, and Lasse's two Norwegian friends, and then went to Kaffeestunde with Ute and the other Tufts kids. Then for dinner, we (and like 10 other people) did schwäbisches Essen at the Neckarmüller, because when there is a guest in town they must have schwäbisch food. Then we spent the night hang out with the Deutsch Kompaktlers (or I guess I should say the old Deutsch Kompaktlers–we're old now, how weird) and drinking on the church steps and then in Hannah's WG. Cornelius left pretty early the next morning to catch a train to Göttingen (another large university town) and then back to Berlin.

Both Friday and Saturday weren't terribly eventful. I did some lounging and a bunch of reading for class, and Lisa, Hannah, Sarah Müller, Lasse and I watched the first Spiderman (the Andrew Garfield one) in order to prepare everyone for the second one which was released recently.

Then Sunday, despite me not being religious, Easter Sunday was packed. I woke up early to make broccoli salad and do some more reading and then met up with Hannah at 13:30 to head up to Unterwegs brunch. Brunch was filled with food (pancakes, hashbrowns, and even grits–my first real grits) and games. We had a chocolate hunt, pin-the-tail-on-the-bunny, and various other egg-related games which got me a bit covered in hard-boiled egg. Not quite as bad as Erin and Beth though. At the end, they played Russian Roulette with eggs (half were boiled and half weren't and then they broke them over their heads). So that was awesome and hilarious. Also I got to see Germans try Peeps for the first time, which was pretty priceless. 

After all that shenanigans, Hannah and I made our way back to the Altstadt to commence with Easter dinner festivities. It was a very last minute decision that we made, but on Saturday, Lisa, Hannah, Lucia, and I decided to have a "Secret Easter Bunny" basket exchange, which is basically exactly like a Secret Santa. So we all made baskets, and exchanged them, which was quite fun. Then we continued with egg dyeing. Lasse showed up, and we used the "Ei da Vinci" egg-dyeing kit that I bought and made some beautiful eggs. 

Afterwards, we made a lovely Easter dinner of Maultaschen, eggs, onions, and zucchini, a cranberry walnut salad, and my broccoli salad. Then we watched the Prince of Egypt, and that was about Easter. 

Today, we also have the day off, because more Easter stuff and so we are going to do some preliminary checking out of Frühlingsfest and then go and see Spiderman 2 in English in Corso in Vaihingen, because there are no OV or OmU (Original Version or Originalfassung mit Untertitel–read not dubbed) in Tübingen. 

So yeah, that's about my week. Even more fun things to come, with Frühlingsfest and then my internship starting next Monday. Bis später, dudes! 

It looks like a synchronized swimming bike

Hey gang, so it's been a little while, and I am sorry for that. Not too much has happened this week outside of the mundane school-starting shenanigans, so that's what you get to hear about. Get stoked. 

To start, Tübingen has been beautiful. Literally 65-70ºF and sunny every day with the exception of Tuesday afternoon. I am in love with this weather. However, it is not at all conducive for productivity. The Sommersemester is going to be hard. 

Anyways, I have no classes on Mondays, and therefore, my school year didn't officially start until Tuesday. However, Monday was filled with sign-ups. As it was last semesters, while some classes you sign up for way before the semester, and some have sign-up days on the first day of the semester. The two big ones for me being art classes and ADaF (German as a foreign language). So in the morning, I headed to the Neue Aula to sign up for art classes, met up with Caroline, got falafel with her and her friend Dan, went home, and then went back into town to sign up for ADaF courses. I got everything I wanted–thanks to Ute who got us all really good sign-up times. Later that day, it was the first day of Unterwegs Zumba, and afterwards, I went with Lisa, Hannah, Erin, Emily, and Drew to Saints and Scholars for burgers. (Super productive after working out, I know.) 

Then Tuesday, I had my first class: International Political Economy in English. Which was good and pretty interesting. Despite not needing it for credits or anything, I think I am going to stick with it. The rest of Tuesday was pretty uneventful. I went to the gym, ate dinner, you know, normal stuff. 

Wednesday was super-everything-at-once day. I had my two seminars (das Politische System der EU and Der Agent des Zeitgeists. James Bond-Filme als historische Quelle–so a political science seminar about the political system of the EU and James Bond movies as history, respectively). I also had to sign up for Tufts fall semester classes at 3, and the university wifi was down. The Tufts kids and I had intentions of getting together in the library to sign up for classes together, but that quickly came to having Camp Class Sign-Up in Elizabeth's room. 

I had to leave before my 3PM sign-up time because of my poli sci seminar at 2, which I proceeded to make a bit of a fool of myself looking for the room. This building is a large one with a north entrance and a south entrance, and whatever architect decided that the building should be separated down the middle with no possible way to go from one way to the other should be severely scolded, because that is incredibly unpraktisch and unlogisch. Now before I go any further, I should say that I was incredibly nervous for this class. It's a seminar, so that means I have to speak intelligently in German about complicated political topics. Furthermore, I thought the entire class would be comprised of Germans, and so that would be super intimidating. However, after arriving, I was put at ease. I got there to 4 people sitting in the room, one guy and three girls. After some silence, one of the girls asked my name, and I told her and then said I was from the States. She told me her name and that her and her friends were from Russia. And then the last girl chimed saying she was from Poland. The guy responded with "ich bin ganz normal; aus Deutschland." So I was put very much as ease that I wasn't the only one who didn't speak German as their native language. Also the professor didn't end up showing up. (He was sick as it turns out.) So I was able to sign up for Tufts classes completely on time. 

Afterwards, Marlena, Elizabeth, Caroline, and I had victory falafel in the Alte Botanische Garten, where we hung out until Elizabeth and my James Bond class at 6. We got there early, because the professor had told us that there would be quite a crowd, and ended up being some of the first five people there. Harvey rolled in 10 minutes later, and together, we made an Austauschstudenten corner. The professor came in, kicked out everyone that wasn't let in or an international student, and then started the class. And god, is it going to be cool. I can barely contain my excitement. After class ended, I went to Elizabeth's for gin and tonic with her housemates, and then went home after the eventful day.


Thursday was much less eventful. After a slow start, I went to the library to do some of my reading. Hannah met me there at 4, and we went to Edeka to get meat for the Unterwegs first Donnerstagabend of the semester/barbecue. As usual, Donnerstagabend was awesome with tasty food, awesome music, and fun people. Afterwards, Hannah and I met up with Lisa, Lasse, Mike, Claire and her friend and went to a bar for a while, and that was that. 

Friday was the much-anticipated Tufts grill-party. :) That night, we went over to Marlena's house to chow down on food and play some music. She made burgers, baked beans, and potato salad, Yasmine brought guac, and I brought Nana's broccoli salad. It was all super tasty, and we left for the Semesteranfangsparty quite full. Anyways, just like last semester, the first Friday of the semester is the Kuckuck Semesteranfangsparty. However, unlike last semester it wasn't actually at Kuckuck (a location with a lot of bus traffic). This year it was at the Mensa Morgenstelle (on a hill with next to no buses). The party was quite cool and fun, but we hiked both up and down the hill, which wasn't great and left us getting home and close to 4:30AM. 

Then the next morning, I woke up at 8AM for the bike flea market. (Woooooooo!) After meeting up with the Tufts students, we went to the wrong location and Yasmine and I only actually managed to make it to the actual location because some nice guy had made the same mistake and offered to take us over in his car. By the time we got there, there were already quite a crowd, but there were still quite a few bikes left. And that was how I met Rocky. Rocky is my beautiful mountain bike, and he is awesome. Yasmine bought an equally wonderful 80s looking bike, that, if it were a person, would have been a cheerleader and synchronized swimmer in the 80s. It's named Bunny, and her and Rocky are dating, in a Grease-type scenario. We rode the bikes back into town, got locks, and then went back home for some down-time before heading to Metzingen with Julius, Marlena, and Caroline to go outlet shopping. However, the outlet-shopping was sad, expensive, and didn't include sundresses. So I am not going to talk about it any further. Once we got back, we had a nice Italian dinner, and then I went home, chilled, and went to bed. 

Then there was today, Caroline and I went to the only English movie theater in the area and saw Captain America. And oh my God, IR nerd freak out, it was beautiful. Watch it! However, the only theater in the area is Vaihingen, so the 2 hour long movie turned into a roughly 5 hour excursion. But I am still content with my Sunday. After I got back, I went with Hannah to a biergarten, and that's been about my Sunday. 

So that's my week. All of my classes are starting this week, so things will ramp up a bit. And then it's Easter, so hooray for everything closing! But hopefully that means chilling and hiking. So that'll be good. Anyways, bis später, gang!

Wasserfälle über Wasserfälle

This is Schweizer Deutsch.

Hey dudes or should I say Grüezi-Moin, because Schweizer Deutsch, amirite? So I just returned from a short jaunt to that lovely little trilingual country to the south. The Eurrail passes that Hannah and I had bought for our Italian adventure still had a few days left on them, so we decided to head to Interlaken, Switzerland, being pretty close to us (only about 5 hours on trains). And it was German-speaking (in the loosest sense of the term–Schweizer Deutsch is crazy), which is always a perk. 

To start, Interlaken is a bit of a tourist trap located between two lakes (hence the name, I guess). People go there to do any number of outdoorsy activities, but seeing as it's April and the end of the winter season and the slow start of the summer season, it's pretty much off season there. The weather is really hit or miss for site-seeing (ie taking cable cars to the tops of really tall mountains). In addition, it's also super expensive, because, well, Switzerland. So we were glad to be there, but also glad that we weren't there for a terribly long time, because going broke sucks. 


Anyways, we arrived in the early afternoon on Friday to gorgeous weather. The forecast said either clouds or rain and luckily we only got passing clouds. So after putting our stuff in our wonderful and adorably Swiss hostel, Balmers Herberge, we wandered around the city center. The city center consists of an array of different types of restaurants (there was so much Thai food!), tourist shops, mountaineering gear shops, and expensive brand-name stores (think Prada stores). It didn't take us long to wander through the center, as it is quite small. But during this walk, we found/did some important things. First, we exchanged money. Swiss money is the coolest currency I have ever seen. So many colors. Second, and more importantly, we found a Mexican restaurant. Now, everywhere that I have been in Europe, I have yet to see an actual proper Mexican restaurant. I'm not talking a burrito stand. Those are everywhere. This place was a restaurant, and due to our 8 months of being enchilada-deprived, we decided to go there. So after wandering through town, we went to the grocery store, a place called COOP, got food for sandwiches for the next day's hike, some cheese, chocolate, and beer. After putting that in the hostel, we went back to the Mexican restaurant. 


My God, was that the best decision ever. The wait staff was incredibly friendly. The amused us when we spoke to them in German (me) and Spanish (Hannah)–albeit they were quite confused with the simultaneous two different languages. We got margaritas and enchiladas (both of which absolutely kicked ass and we were so happy). After we finished eating, our waiter came up to us and after I asked for the check (auf Deutsch), he asked "where are you guys from?" I assume the question because he had probably heard us speaking English to each other and then the German and Spanish to him. We told him the States, and then he said he was from Florida and in the same breath not to believe anything he says. After that the manager (or at least I think he was the manager) came up to us, and I asked, in German, if we could pay separately. His response to my question was "it's really weird going up to someone and expecting them to speak to you in one language, and then them speaking to you in another." Afterwards, he chatted with Hannah in Spanish about her time in Chile and ended the entire conversation saying that we spoke good German (to me) and good Spanish (to Hannah). I'll call it a meal of accomplishments. 


After that, we went back to the hostel and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with people from hostel (a guy who was born in New Jersey, grew up in Hong Kong, went to boarding school in Scotland, and university in Washington state, and three American girls who had been studying in Oxford for something that they called the Hilary semester or something along those lines). We ate cheese and chocolate, and drank beer and it was definitely a great Swiss evening. 

The next day we woke up early. One of the guys in our room (an older gentleman who had been coming to Interlaken, to our exact hostel, in fact, every year since 1973; his name is Jim) recommended a hike for us to do that didn't involve much elevation. It was far too foggy to go much further than 700m above sea level. He told us of some waterfalls somewhere along the Brienzersee (the large lake east of Interlaken). We asked the reception about it, and they pointed us towards the commuter boat that took us to a place called Giessbachsee. So we went into town and then hiked a little further along the boat route because we had an hour or two until the boat left its first spot. We made it to Böningen, its second stop, with 40 minutes before the boat came, so we hung out at the beach until the boat picked us up. 

After the boat picked us up, it was another 30 minutes until Giessbach because the boat made zig-zags across the lake at various stops, but we didn't mind. I mean, seriously, a lake in the middle of the mountains. You can just relax and enjoy the scenery. 

When we first got to Giessbach, it didn't look like really anything. The boat drops you off at the entrance to a cable car, which takes you up to a hotel and costs 6€ one way. We weren't really sure where to go until we found some trail signs. After that, we just started our way up the hill alongside the cable car, which is infinitely better than taking the lazy way up. The entire place is one gigantic waterfall that you can just climb up forever. Dreams do come true. We got up to the top of the cable car route which leads to a hotel, which I believe is closed until the summer and therefore looks super haunted. We checked out both the waterfall and the lakeside scenery, which is also just incredible. Gah, Switzerland. We walked up the waterfall path for a little while, but ended up heading over to the next town, Brienz, which the lake is named for (probably because it's at the very end of the lake, not because it's big or anything. Basically all that seems to be there is timber). Anyways, we started on our way. For a while it was normal hiking trail, but that quickly became road, and we felt like we were hitch-hiking. Along the way, we met some sort-of nice cow creatures that had super intimidating horns. We befriended in the only way that one can befriend a beautiful cow creature with gigantic horns–incredibly timidly.  

It took a while, but we eventually got to Brienz, where we ate sandwiches and I put my blistered feet in the water. Instead of taking the boat back, we decided to take the train, and once back in Interlaken, we went to COOP to get some pasta-making things for dinner, went back to the hostel, showered, and took a nap. Jim woke us up, and then we decided to go to the Irish pub next door to have a happy hour beer before starting to make dinner. Then there was dinner–Hannah's delicious brie, carrot, and onion gnocchi creation, the rest of our grocery store beer, and bad German television (some sort of talk show where people had to do any number of ridiculous challenges; oh and Cameron Diaz was there). Afterwards, we went to bed early, because of early-morning train wake-up (well early morning by my standards). 

Then today, we got up and took the train back to Tübingen without any hitches. Gotta love the Deutsche Bahn miracles. In other news, first official day of class tomorrow, but my first class isn't until Tuesday. Also I am pretty convinced that summer has come to Tübingen. It was probably 65ºF/18ºC when I got back today. Be jealous, America, be very jealous. So that's about what I've got for right now. But it is t-minus two weeks until Osterferien (Easter break) and the start of Frühlingsfest (time to break out the ol' dirndl), so wild times are a-comin'. Prepare yourself. In the meantime, bis später, gang. 

In France's stomach

Hey guys. So I have been home for quite a while, since my Interrail pass validity ended on the 27th, but I guess I have been so busy hanging out that I hadn't quite gotten around to this whole blogging thing. (It's been about 70ºF/21ºC here, which means that I have been outside in sandals and reading in the sun.) But yes, so for my time in Lyon. To preface, I wasn't there very long, so it wasn't terribly fascinating, but an adventure nonetheless. 

I managed to get there without a hitch and only got mildly lost getting to my hostel. So those are some small victories. I got settled in and then went out to do some night exploring, which basically meant looking for dinner. (I hadn't eaten very much as I had been on trains all day.) I ended up giving up and getting döner, where I made friends with the two guys running it. I spoke broken, elementary French and they spoke broken, elementary English, so it sort of worked. I went back to the hostel to eat, and then proceeded to finish High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. (Very good book, by the way.) Almost everyone in my hostel lounge seemed to be on their phones or computers, or talking with someone they already, so I didn't really talk to anyone, which was fine, because you're never lonely when you have a book. (How cheesy am I?)

The next day, I woke up a little late (for traveling at least), got breakfast, and spent the day exploring. Lyon is very pretty, and the main part is not exactly the most car friendly (lots of small alley ways). It's very cool. And I guess known for its food. ("If Paris is the heart of France, Lyon is the stomach.) However, Lyon seemed to be one of those places for fancy people with money. There aren't many hostels and all that lovely food is very expensive. So I did more backpacker/college kid things, such as bumming around and taking advantage of under 26 free entry to the Musée des Beaux Arts (which was completely empty when I went and kind of creepy). After that, I got a sandwich (ie a baguette with meat and cheese) and wandered up to the La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, which is a beautiful basilica, but also on top of a very impressive hill and therefore quite a hike. But still cool. I then spent the rest of the sunny afternoon sitting in a nice park and reading Hemingway's A Moveable Feast. Then there was coffee and a crêpe and then back to the hostel for a nap. 

I got up around 19h, with the resolve to find more food, which turned into me buying a microwaveable thing from the grocery store and eating it in the hostel. However, that was how I met Jula, a German girl from München. She was doing a French speaking course, and so I spent the evening in the hostel with her and her friends from that and drinking Belgian beer. So that was lovely. 

And then I left the next day. So that's about it for my adventure in Lyon, but it was quite nice nonetheless. 

there's nothing nicer than a Galway hooker

Finally, after more than a year and a half, I have finally returned to Ireland. Now to back up, for those of you that don't know, I lived in Ireland (Dublin, more specifically) for two months during the summer of 2012, and I loved every second of it. I couldn't wait to go back, and Paddy's Day seemed like an appropriate time to do it. I even got the Tufts-in-Tübingen crew to come with me. Well, all of them minus Marlena. 

On Sunday, the day before Paddy's Day, we flew from Frankfurt into Dublin. The flight was short and painless and had free wine, and we got into Dublin around 17. Instead of taking that stupidly expensive Airlink bus, I brought us to the Dublin Bus stop. However, that's when our problems started. I had hoped there was money on my Leapcard (a card that, when loaded up, is good for transportation all around Dublin), but unfortunately there wasn't. The Dublin Bus, while a decent bus system, is possibly the largest pain in the ass if you aren't from there. They accept only coins, and the ticket machines are very rare. (And when they do exist, they rarely work.) After Julius, Theron, and I got on the bus; Elizabeth and Yasmine were sent to the ticket machine that didn't work and then left at the airport. So that wasn't ideal. But we all ended up meeting up in city centre, because the Spire is wonderful and a great meeting point. 

After that little debacle, we continued onto our second debacle: the hotel. We booked this little adventure in January, and by then, there was not a single hostel in Dublin with availability. So we found the cheapest hotel that we could, booked a two-person room for two nights and hoped that we could sneak all five of us into it. When I google-mapped the place before, it seemed easy enough. Right on the Liffey, just have to keep walking East. But, as it turns out, the hotel changed its name without letting anyone know. So we went a little bit further than was originally planned and only ended up finding it because we went into the Spencer to ask where the Clarion was. "This is the Clarion," they responded, as if that should be completely obvious. After sneaking five people's-worth of luggage up to our hotel room, we went to something I had been looking forward to for months: The Counter. The Counter is a wonderful burger joint on Suffolk Street, right near Trinity College and Grafton Street. From the outside the place is pretty unremarkable, and you can easily walk by without even noticing it, but they make a mean burger, and having lived in Germany for the past 7 months, I have been craving a good American-style burger. (Because German burgers, while good if you don't have anything to compare them to, just don't stand up to American burgers.) So I brought the Tufts-in-Tübingen crowd and Yasmine's friend, Tori, who is studying at UCD for the semester, to The Counter. We had burgers and cosmos (my old Counter tradition), and it was wonderful. I also met up with Megan and Bri (two of my housemates from when I lived in Dublin) there, and that was a surreal and really great reunion. 

I didn't get to talk with them much that night, though, because after the Counter, we all decided to head up to my friend Shane's place. Shane sublet from my friend's in Boston this past summer but is Irish and lives in Dublin. We had agreed to meet up while I was there, and he invited all of us over to his house to hang out on Sunday night. And strangely enough, his house was about a five minute walk from where I had lived, so getting there was pretty simple. We ended up hanging out with him and his friends until about 3AM, when we caught a cab back into town in order to wake up early for the Paddy's Day parade. 

The parade started at noon, but we woke up early. We got there around noon, just as it was supposed to be starting but the entire place was absolutely mobbed. There was no way to see the parade, unless you were four years old and sitting on someone's shoulders. But we made our way towards Trinity and found a decent place to stand by the statue of Henry Grattan. The parade got to us about 45 minutes after the start time, and we didn't stay long on account of not being able to see much and the desire to get back to The Counter. Yes, my friends enjoyed The Counter so much that they wanted to go back roughly 18 hours later. I felt accomplished. 

After our delicious, second-round of burgers, we waited at the head of Grafton Street for our Irish friend Eimear, who studies with us in Tübingen. We caught up with her and walked around Stephen's Green and Merrion Square (where I had worked whilst living in Dublin). We went our separate ways, though, after Julius managed to attract an entire group of 14 year-olds, who swarmed us like pigeons. Shortly thereafter, Yasmine, Theron, and I did the same and went back to the hotel to take a nap. Elizabeth and Julius got back a little while later, and after a little while, we met up with Shane at the Spire. He took us to a bar south of the Liffey but in the eastern part of town called O'Reilly's. It a cool little bar built under the railroad tracks that has pints for very cheap. It was pretty cool, but Shane had to leave us for a little bit, because his drunk housemate lost his keys. We were supposed to meet up at a club in Temple Bar called the Button Factory, but that didn't end up working out. Temple Bar was absolutely disgusting that night with drunk people and garbage everywhere. We tried to get into the Button Factory, but it was a mad house. So instead of staying amongst the garbage and absolutely packed bars and clubs, we decided to go back to the hotel. 

The next morning we woke up around 10 and commenced the packing process. We were hoping that getting everything out of the hostel would be as chill as getting it in, as we hadn't messed up anything with the whole cram-five-people-into-a-two-person-room thing yet. Fortunately, that all went off without a hitch. We then went, got bagels, and then made for Heuston Station to catch our train to Galway. 

We got to Galway and our hostel, Barnacles Hostel, without any problems. Barnacles is right on Quay Street, one of the main streets in Galway, and very close to the ocean. So after dropping off our stuff, we decided to go exploring and wander along the beach. It was a little cold and windy, but still absolutely marvelous, especially because we have been land-locked in Tübingen for so long. After our walk, we went to a seafood place about 20 feet from our hostel (and recommended to us by the hostel) called McDonough's, where we got really, really good seafood chowder, fish n' chips, and Guinness. Gah, the fish. How I have missed the Irish fish! After that, we went back to the hostel, took a nap, and headed out in search of Irish music, which we found at Taaffe's. I also had me a really good whiskey ginger. It was just a lovely night, but we went to bed early because we had an early morning for our Cliffs of Moher tour. 

Dunguaire Castle

I figured it would be better to do the Cliffs of Moher the first day. The trip required little planning because there were tours going there all the time and there were a hell of a lot of tours. We got to the bus station at 9:45 for our 10AM tour and got seats in the back of the bus. Unlike the last time I went to the Cliffs of Moher, this whole thing would take us to a bunch of different places, like The Burren and Dunguaire Castle. Our tour guide was a little Irish man named Gary, who used the phrase "in itself" way too frequently and nonsensically. (For example, "there you see the chimney, where the family would do all of their cooking in itself.") But we had a wonderful day of touring, seeing The Burren (a really interesting part of Ireland with limestone covering most of the ground), Dunguaire Castle (which is really just a lookout tower), Corcomroe Abbey (an old church), and finally the Cliffs of Moher. Other highlights include a really tasty beef and guinness stew at a pub in Doolin and finding a Milwaukee Irishfest bumper sticker at said pub in Doolin. 


Then there were the Cliffs. The Cliffs of Moher are pretty brilliant. Gary gave us the whole schtick about don't go where the signs tell you not to, but that's the best part. So Yasmine, Elizabeth, and I made straight for the Cliffs. (The boys went to the recommended, and in my opinion, over-rated O'Brien Lookout Tower.) We did some cliff-walking, which was windy and cold and wonderful. We were lucky the weather had held-up otherwise it would have been a lot worse. 

After the Cliffs, we drove along the Atlantic coast for a while, stopping briefly at another cliff, and then made our way back to Galway with Gary blabbering on about leprechauns and "in itself" most of the way. We got back around 19 and after brief contemplation, decided to get an Irish breakfast for dinner (an Irish brinner), as it may have been our only chance to have one. And that was a good decision, because it was absolutely delicious. 

Afterwards, we decided to hit up a bar called Monroe's because they were having "world music" (ie salsa and other fancy types of dancing) night, and Elizabeth really wanted to go. The pub ended up being really cool (with just enough similarities to the Loj to make me a little home sick for it), and Elizabeth taught us to dance (or at least, tried to, I am not the most graceful human). 

View from Dún Arainn

The next morning, it was rainy and miserable. We figured that our good weather (at least for Ireland) streak had run out. But we boarded a bus bound for the ferry bound for the Aran Islands, because it was our last day in Galway, and the Aran Islands are incredible. After a rough crossing, we made it there, and much to our surprise, the sun was out. We met Mister Oliver Faherty at the docks, and he took us around the island in his van. And strangely enough, it was only us. I guess we get rewarded for our perseverance. Anyways, I guess I should give a little bit of background info. Three islands make up the Aran Islands, which lie off the coast of Galway: Inis Mór (pronounced een-ish-more, the largest, 11miles by 3miles, population 800), Inis Meadhóin (pronounced: een-ish-man, population 300), and Inis Oirthir (pronounced een-ish-eer, population 200). They are a Gaeltacht (an Irish-speaking area). Seriously, the language used in the home and stores and stuff is Irish. It's really cool. The economy is based upon tourism, fishing, and a little bit of farming, and they are known for their (really cozy and wonderful) sweaters. They didn't get electricity until 1975 and have one small supermarket on the islands (located on Inis Mór; it's a Spar.)

So I guess that gives you an idea of what kind of place I am talking about. Mr. Faherty started the tour by bringing us up to a fort called Dún Arainn, which was supposed to be closed for renovations, but he didn't say anything so neither did we. It was absolutely incredible. This fort is on the tallest point of Inis Mór. We spent probably 45 minutes, climbing on stone fences and admiring the view, which, as you can see above, is pretty breath-taking. 

Dún Aonghasa

Afterwards, we continued on towards Dún Aonghasa (pronounced dun angus), which is the most famous fort on the island and sits right on the edge of a cliff. Oliver dropped us off for about two hours. Before heading up to the Cliff, I went into some of the shops and bought Dip a Claddagh ring and myself a wonderful cozy green sweater. The five of us also had a wonderful chat with Sarah Flaherty, the woman selling the sweaters, who told us that the whole family sweater pattern thing is a load of crap. (I had heard from multiple people that each family on the islands had their own sweater pattern, that way if someone got lost at sea while fishing and turned up later, you could identify the body...morbid, I know.) The more you know. But in any case, the sweater I bought is really cool and intricate. 

After the sweater-buying excursion, we made our way up to the fort. May I reiterate how incredible this place is. These cliffs abut the Atlantic. You can tangle your feet over. It's probably my favourite place in all of Ireland. Up on the cliffs, we had a picnic with cheese, sausage, and baguettes that we had bought from the grocery store. Eventually, we headed back to meet up with Oliver.

We continued the journey to the northern-most point on the island, which has a beautiful, albeit very rocky beach, where we hung out and enjoyed being so close to water. 

We finished our tour by the Seven Churches, which is actually two churches and some other church-related living quarters, which had their roofs burned off them by Oliver Cromwell. (Oliver Cromwell was a proper prick, in case you had some sort of misplaced positive notions about him or something. Before he came, the Inis Mór had 2,000 people on it...then he killed them and anything else that moved or seemed Irish.) Anyways, the seven churches are pretty incredible especially when you have the place pretty much to yourself. Oh and we met a really friendly donkey. 

After the churches, we had a pint and then got on the ferry home. That night we had one last fish n' chips at McDonough's and then went back to Monroe's for live music and fun. And that was about it. The next day we got up early for 12+ hours of travel back to Tübingen. 

That's all I got for ya, dudes. I am not really sure as of right now where my adventures for the remainder of the break will take me, but I will keep you posted. With that, bis später, dudes.

Oh and P.S. a Galway hooker is a boat, you dirty-minded people.