Birthday In Brussels

The weekend before my final exams was also my 21st birthday, and I'd be celebrating the birthday weekend in Brussels, Belgium with Samson, Dave, Cat, Anne, and Elodie. Back in January when Samson first came to visit me, we both nonchalantly started looking up our favorite musicians to see if they would be touring in Europe while we happened to be there. I asked Samson, "Who are the top 3 jazz musicians you want to see before either you or they die?" When he posed the same question back to me, we realized we both wanted to see one musician really, really badly. The answer: Herbie Hancock. So we went online and typed in his name to see whether he would be touring in Europe anytime before August. Sure enough, and to our huge disbelief, Herbie had a European tour planned with none other than Chick Corea, legendary pianist (who also happens to be Samson's favorite). When we looked at concert dates which would work for both of us, we saw Herbie and Chick had a concert planned for July 5th (my birthday) in Brussels. Completely blown away with the opportunity that fell into our laps, we checked the website everyday until the tickets were sold to the public. I'm pretty sure Samson and I bought the first tickets to the venue, as you'll find out later.

The plan was to always meet up in Brussels just for the concert, but as other plans started to develop, and the idea that the first weekend of July would be the last "academic-free" weekend of our year abroad, Dave, Cat, Anne, and Elodie jumped on board to make it into a weekend trip. I found a camping spot in Brussels so that we could bring our tents and hang out (turned out to be the only campsite in the whole city), and found some cheap bus tickets round trip from Cologne (round trip costs for bus fair came out to about $2.50) to start cutting costs since it was the end of the year and our 'fun money' reserves were hurtin'. We arrived on Friday around noon and spent the rest of the day walking around the city, seeing old sights from our first trip to the city, and getting some classic French fries from Antoine's, the premier fries food stand in the city. Samson and his mom, who flew over from Baton Rouge for a Euro-tour, were arriving in from Rome where they spent the past few days playing tourist there. We agreed prior to meet up at the Starbucks near Grand Place, and as soon as we got wifi we coordinated a time. When we finally made our way from the other side of Brussels to Grand Place to meet up, we exchanged huge hugs and caught each other up on all of our stories since last seeing each other. Dave and I had seen Samson about 8 weeks prior in London when we went to the Flying Lotus concert together, but Cat, Anne, and Elodie hadn't seen him since...March maybe? We spent close to 3 hours on the patio of Starbucks talking and having fun. The barista, though, thought we were being too loud and at one point passively asked us to leave. We headed out to the Delirium Cafe for the night.

On Saturday we all boarded a train headed to Bruges, Belgium. This city was popularized by a movie called "In Bruges" (which I haven't seen but heard it's good), but was also recommended to us by our friend Arne. Arne grew up in Bruges and had nothing but great things to say about it. He even gave us all the tips for the city while we were there and said "If you get lost while there, just call me back in Germany and I'll help you out!" Well, we didn't get lost in the town, but I did take him up on his french fry sauce of choice: joppie sauce. Delicious!

Cobblestone alley in Bruges' center

View from the top of De Halve Maan Brewhouse

While there we toured a brewhouse and saw into the history of beer brewing, one of Belgium's pastimes. At the end of the tour we got a complimentary 8% beer to enjoy in the leather sofas of their lounge. We headed back to Brussels to regroup before heading out for the night.

At midnight, while walking through the cobblestone streets of central Brussels towards Grand Place, the "Happy Birthdays" from Elodie, Cat, and Anne filled the streets. I was officially 21 in Europe! Not that this birthday brought any special privileges that I couldn't already enjoy, it was still nice to be celebrating a birthday with friends, abroad. Funny enough, although 21 remains to be strictly a birthday with American importance (that is, you can now legally drink alcohol), Europeans still celebrate this birthday with as much gusto as their American counterparts. Not because it's special, not because it's divisible by 7 or 3 or some other reason, but because they find it funny the drinking age is so 'late' in the US. In Europe, it's celebrated almost satirically.

I spent the better part of the first four hours of my birthday in central Brussels before retiring to the campsite for some needed sleep. I woke up the next day and met up with Samson and his mom and toured the Atomium, spent two hours at a corner cafe which had a live jazz band playing covers of American jazz standards, and then dinner at a pasta restaurant before heading out to the concert with Samson.

The Atomium

Samson and I were ready for the show of our lifetime; we had front row seats to the concert! Even the act of walking through the small lines to the front, being ushered into the front-most door at the venue..it all just made for a great lead up to the actual performance. When Herbie and Chick stepped out the crowd erupted into applause. They joked with the crowd, took pictures, and then sat down in front of their pianos, which were positioned so that both could look each other in the eyes during the show. There were no charts. There wasn't anything planned prior. No set list. All they did was sit down, start playing off of each other, and let the fun begin. It was an absolutely fantastic show. Thanks parentals for the birthday gift! After the show, Samson and I stuck around to see if we could get pictures with them both. Neither of us had anything better to do that night, or the next morning, so we were content with waiting. Sure enough, after an hour they both came out and took pictures with anybody that had waited til the very end.

With Chick Corea!

With Herbie Hancock!

There aren't many musicians or artists out there that I'd be more excited to see live or get a picture with for that matter. But Chick and Herbie are up there near the top. A great birthday, a great birthday weekend, and a great time all around. Final exams were right around the corner and the 7 day countdown for leaving Bonn was on!

A Weekend in Madrid

Towards the end of June I flew down to Madrid to reunite with two of my old rock climbing friends, Guillermo and Isabel, from Bonn. I first met Guille and Isa back in October 2014 when I went to the local bouldering gym, Boulder's Habitat, for the first time. I wrote a blog post about it in October and still fondly remember my first outdoor climbing session in Luxembourg in mid-October. A few months after meeting Guille and Isa, sometime around the end of winter, both of them moved to Madrid to live closer to Isa's family so she could finish up her PhD (and Guille could, coincidentally, rock climb in some of the best locations in the world close to home). It was right before I was heading out for my own adventures in England, France, and South Africa, and I never got the full and proper "good bye" I wanted.

I found some round-trip Ryanair plane tickets for $60 (what a steal!!!) and planned a 4 day trip to just relax, climb, and hike in the mountains near their small village Manzanares El Real north of Madrid. Unfortunately when I arrived on Thursday Isa was a few hours away near Barcelona on a scholarship conference, but would be joining me and Guille on Saturday once she finished up. Arriving into the airport to meet Guille strangely reminded me of my first trip out of the country to Costa Rica. All the signs in Spanish, the excitement of being in a new country with a new language (which I kind of can get when it is slow enough)....it just flashed me back to the first time I left the country in the summer of 2013.

Guille and I met up and took the subways into Madrid where we boarded a bus which would take us into his village about an hour north, which was great because we had so much to catch each other up on since we last saw each other. Quiet and reserved, Guille is a great listener and was happy to have me babble on about my travels in South Africa and Namibia, starting Uni again, and riding my bike, but he was also due to catch me up on all of his new adventures living in Spain . We talked back and forth all the bus ride home as he pointed out certain features of the landscape zooming by: "We are driving towards this mountain range ahead, that's where Manzanares is." First impressions of Madrid/Manzanares: slow pace of life, hot hot HOT, lots of distance bikers riding along the highway, and very friendly people. It was a very strong and positive first impression.

Guille showed me into the house, which was small but homey. No air conditioning in the house but there were opened windows and awnings creating shade in front of the windows to keep the 100 degree heat out. The house was decorated with objects from both of Guille and Isa's travels from across the world, as well as a coffee table with an inlay of postcards from the places they've been to so far. Not to mention, the walls of the house were covered in pictures from their travels as well as wedding pictures (which happened to be about a year prior...Happy Anniversary!). The first night I arrived we just had a small meal of hashbrown potatoes and vegetables, made guacamole, and caught up even more over post-meal tea and chocolate.

On Friday morning we woke up and had a small spread of bread with different jams and butter, coffee, and mate tea for breakfast. As opposed to a traditional English (or Irish or American) breakfast which can seem at times larger than lunch portions, this (perhaps) typical breakfast of small proportions went slowly and was often interrupted with bits of conversation. After breakfast we headed out to Madrid's center, about 50 minutes away by car, so I could walk around the city, see the sights, and get a few things checked off the checklist. Guille was a great guide in putting together the itinerary, but he quickly admitted to me that he was a tourist in the city as well. I never quite got the sense that Madrid was a tourist capital (in my opinion, for the better) because there never was one "must-see" sight the way Paris, London, Barcelona, and many other European cities have.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

The day by foot was HOT. Our relief came during a lunch break of tapas near the El Madrono (should be squiggly 'n') statue in Puerta del Sol. Guille and I ordered a tapa of salmon and guacamole and another with beef and honey.

Spanish tapas for lunch 

After sweating buckets, taking a siesta nap in a nearby park, and hitting almost all the sights in the city, we headed back home for a quiet evening of conversation, music, and final exam studying.

Saturday morning we woke up, I studied a bit, then we had another small breakfast of breads and jams before meeting up with Guille's friends Nacho and Britta (a climbing couple who used to live in Bonn..go figure) and Felix, a metalworker friend, to go rock climbing in a nearby hillside in the mountains near Manzanares. We had two climbing sessions broken up by a small coffee break at a nearby lodge, but by the end of the day we had spent about 10 hours outside hiking, climbing, and getting to know each other--well, me getting to know all of Guille's friends. Since I hadn't properly climbed in about 4 months, not only were my forearms and fingers not ready for the job, but also I lost all of my calluses on the palms of my hands. After the first route I busted 6 of my 10 fingers into a bloody mess, but made it to the top after many attempts.

Guille belaying Felix

We saw the sunset, at around 10:30 pm, from the top of one of the higher mountains in the area. We were hiking back down with emptied water bottles, taped fingers, and all the climbing supplies to the car, and Guille was leading the way since Isa was already back home waiting for us to come back from our day outdoors. We got back and I was greeted with a huge hug from Isa and a warm plate of dinner. It was probably the latest dinner I had eaten all year--11:30 pm, but it certainly felt earlier! Time flies when you're having fun. We caught up over dinner and she told me about her scholarship conference and the plans for tomorrow, where we'd be hiking La Pedriza and camping out under the stars.

My last full day in Spain was spent touring the village of Manzanares and seeing the big sight: el castillo (the castle). Isa and Guille showed me around other parts of the village too, and we even had a traditional Spanish lunch outside on the patio of the restaurant under an awning.

Castillo de Manzanares El Real

After lunch we headed home, packed up our things for our night of camping and afternoon of hiking and headed to the base of the mountain to start our hike. It was a short hike of about 2 hours, but we wanted to start later in the day once the peak heat period had passed. We hiked uphill two straight hours and took in the sights along the way. As we climbed, we got better and better views of the village down below, where the castle served as the reference point.

Once we made it to the top we found a flat patch of grass in the field for us to lay our heads for the night. Equipped with only sleeping bags and a camp stove (out of choice), we stashed our packs nearby, prepared our dinner of pasta and bread, and relaxed in the shade of the huge boulders as the water boiled. We told stories of past travels and future travel wishes, and I got quizzed by Guille for my upcoming final exam at Uni Bonn, taking place 18 hours after my plane landed. We slept on top of the mountain underneath the stars and an almost full moon with a slight breeze keeping the warm air moving. A few hours after drifting off into sleep I was awakened by horse sneezes......at which point I found out there were wild horses 30 or 40 feet away peacefully munching on grass. It was still hard to shake the idea that I could peacefully go back to sleep after knowing there were horses nearby looking for a midnight snack. The next morning we woke up, at which point Guille told us he pretty much slept with one eye open and one eye closed all night long with the horses nearby!

Me and Isa after summiting

Guille

We made it back down to Manzanares a-ok but after getting back I had to pack up my things; unfortunately it was time to head towards the airport for my flight back to Bonn. The time had passed so quickly but it was definitely well spent. I made some new friends ("If you ever come back to Spain, come visit us, you've got a free place to stay!"), did a bit of climbing (now on to nursing the wounds), a bit of hiking, and a bit of camping, all while being in the company of great friends.

Once I got back to Bonn I reflected on my time spent in Manzanares. 'Wish I had gone sooner,' was what I kept thinking. After this trip I started to really consider, and continue to consider, picking up Spanish again. I learned Spanish in middle and high school and used it a bit in Costa Rica, but for travel purposes, Spanish is a great language to know. Central and South America are untapped treasure troves of travelling, and getting a firm grip on the language is the best preparation. I also thought how great it would have been to study in Spain for a year. Germany is a great location to study, but Spain (or at least the tiny part I experienced for a few days) seems like a great location to live. The people, food, and culture, reminded me of home, oddly enough. I suppose another trip to Spain can't be discounted, and I look forward to returning there!

Bikin' Pt. II

The week after getting back from my long ride to the border of the Netherlands was just another run-of-the-mill week. In my European Integration class we talked about the relationship between Germany and Israel, with plans to talk about TTIP the week afterward. In my Focus on Scotland course we talked about the multi-culturalism of the state, as well as their parliamentary procedures. In my Transatlantic Relations course we talked about the rise of ISIS, policy regarding the nuclear framework with Iran, and the Middle East in general. All very interesting presentations with a lot of reading on subjects I didn't know much about before arriving to Germany, but I feel now, after having met so many people from all walks of life, that my understanding of these subjects is coming more naturally than forced. It will be interesting to see how I do in a conversation with someone at the local coffeeshop when I get home.

The one highlight of the week came on Wednesday night when I attended the USA vs. Germany soccer game in Cologne. A student from Missouri, who sits next to me in one of my classes, is a huge soccer fan, and she used to travel around the US following both the US and German teams no matter where they were in the country. Somehow I stumbled into a conversation with her about a month ago about the soccer match and wanting to go, and she told me she had an extra ticket for sale. I bought it off of her before class ended.

Counting down the days towards the game sped up the weekend before, and I was extremely excited to see my first live match. Not a bad first game to see! If you followed the World Cup this past summer, then you know that Germany won it all (Die Weltmeister) and the US didn't have a bad run either, shattering the world's expectations by making it out of the group stage my beating Ghana, tying Portugal, and narrowly losing to Germany. Also, the US head coach was a former German player who was on the country's last World Cup winning team in 1990 and who got a few half-German half-American players to make the jump to the US team.

Megan and I took the packed train from Bonn to Cologne, sandwiched in like sardines and surrounded by people who were sporting German jerseys and painted faces with the national colors. Megan and I happened to stand right next to some Americans from Texas A&M, and we talked back and the forth the whole way to Cologne. They had just arrived into Germany 3 weeks prior and were happy to meet some people from the South (Megan is from Missouri....we'll let it pass this one time) who they could relate to when it came to talking to strangers (something we've all been deprived of here in Germany). But, they were definitely the obnoxious American fans we'd be seeing on the big screen later who didn't know much about the sport.

The game was great. Germany got the first goal of the match in the 12th minute, but the US team stayed strong and kept good form. The 40,000 person stadium erupted with chants of "Deutschland, Deutschland, Deutschland," and cheers. Megan was ecstatic, as she was rooting for Germany the whole time. I was happy just to see a good game, but I brought my vuvuzela that I bought in Cape Town and blew really loud for Germany nonetheless. Then right before half-time, the US scored. The teams weren't taking the game too seriously after that, as this was just a 'friendly' match with no real consequences, just practice for your benchwarmers, but the US still looked strong. Germany's best players who played in the World Cup were already on vacation, although the German who scored the winning goal in the final against Argentina, Mario Goetze, did play the first half. Likewise, the Americans were benching most of their playmakers so as to make room for the new guys. In the end, the US beat Germany 2-1 and we sent that 40,000 person stadium packing for the subways. Good game!

Flag show during Germany's national athem

Fan divided: USA shirt and lederhosen

The weekend after the soccer match I went for what would probably be the last big bike rides before going home. Planned was a day trip on Saturday with a friend from Belgium, then on Sunday a day trip with Elodie. The bike trip with Arne was planned a month in advance, because we were going to be riding to Belgium and the Netherlands where they meet with Germany, called the Dreilandespunkt. We set off around 12 and headed out for the 100 km expedition, passing small farms, going through horse trails in the woods, up and down hills, and through villages and town squares. We got off to a slow start with bad orienting skills, but got right back on track after a quick check.

Arne and some farmland with gray skies

Double checking the bearings

On these long bike rides, I often like to stop in the villages, find a grocery store, and stock up on some fruit and snacks while exploring the village a bit. Our first stop was in a village called Erfstaft, where we got some chocolate milk and pastries from the bakery. Then we headed on our way towards Noervenich and Dueren before taking a fast pace towards Aachen and the border. At one point we were riding right on the shoulder of the highway with cars zipping by ("Let's take the first turn we see!!") but other than that the ride was peaceful but not pretty on the eyes. These villages seemed much more run-down than the villages I had seen in the past, and plus, there was just a lot of farmland around and it smelled like cow manure about 40% of the time. Still a good ride. When we got into Aachen we took an early dinner break since it was already 6:30 pm.

Two thumbs up and he hasn't even tried it yet--whatta chump

After Aachen it was easy to find Belgium and the Netherlands--just look up to the hill. After 7 hours on the bikes the last thing we wanted to do was ride uphill for the next 20 minutes, but pumped with the excitement of achieving our goal we sped through it. Arne was home in Belgium! When we got to the top he got to speak some Dutch with other bikers, asking where the photo-ops were.

Twister, European edition: One hand in the Netherlands, a foot in Germany, and a foot in Belgium

Arne atop the tallest point in all the Netherlands (not a very elevated country)

The other ride during the weekend to cap off a great few weeks of riding was with Elodie, a friend from Paris, where we'd be starting in our former end point of Koblenz and riding south along the Rhine river to Mainz. It's here where the greatest density of castles anywhere in the world is (at least that's what I've heard from others in Bonn) and while riding, it's hard to think otherwise. It's also one of the prettiest parts of Germany where the river flows through the valley along small villages with riverfront bakeries, cafes, and restaurants. It's also here where the Rhineland's famous wine comes from. Through each bend in the river we saw the valley open up with large vineyards draping over the hillsides.

Castle on the other side of the river in Bingen, Germany

At the end of one hour of riding, I think we saw 5 or 6 castles atop hills overlooking the river, and by the end of the day saw maybe 10? I lost count after a while. The histories of each remain a mystery to me, but I will say it was the nicest bike ride I think I've yet taken in Germany. Between the scenery, the weather, the villages we rode through, to me it just epitomized the myth of "small-town Germany" that we might each think about. The Germans were also much nicer here than anywhere I had yet been; Elodie and I would go up and ask strangers for directions and they would respond so nicely. At one point, a German told *me* "Hello," a first in nearly 11 months of being here.

Profile of Marksburg Castle

Castle near St. Goar, Germany

Ye old German village

Elodie, say "Fromage!"

We were on our way to Mainz, our end point for the day, where'd we take a train back to Bonn after finishing up the 95 km ride, but 25 km outside of it Elodie and I got in a little bike accident. Everyone was okay, but then I checked my bike and saw that my back tire was totally bent out of shape and wouldn't even rotate. We walked it into town, but because it was Sunday, everything was closed, putting us out of business for the day. We took a long break at a cafe drinking our Hefeweisen beer and talking about how great the day had been for a ride before heading for the train station. We saw all the great parts of the river before heading home, so we were definitely happy with our accomplishments. Another great ride!

Bikin'

Probably one of my favorite activities here in Germany has just been riding my bike. I dedicated a few posts earlier during my time abroad to my adventures on the bike, and now is no different. The weather is absolutely perfect for being outside and procrastinating on every piece of homework assignment and reading, so hey, thanks awesome weather. The days we've been having here are the rare days back home; these crisp, low-humidity days of sunshine and warmth, without the sweat, happen maybe two or three days a year in transition from Fall to Winter, but now I'm having the benefit of week-long stretches of uninterrupted sunshine (Note: some days it does get completely cloudy and gray where the sky has no depth. It shocks me back into winter mode and I don't leave my room except for class). I try to take every opportunity like it's my last to go bike riding.

This past weekend I took a new route in my attempt to ride as much of the Rhein river as possible before leaving Bonn. In the past I've been to Duesseldorf and Koblenz, both day-long rides totaling about 6 hours on the bike (I camped out in Koblenz in my tent because I couldn't make it back in time before the sun setting and took a train back from Duesseldorf). I woke up, scrambled some eggs, had a glass of multi-vitamin juice and some toast with Nutella, and packed my bag with some water and two sandwiches in preparation for the ride. I set off by train for Duesseldorf's train station, which would mark my beginning point and head northward along the river route. Initially I was planning only to ride to Duisberg, 30 km north and then back. but while riding the sky opened up, everything warmed up, and I felt like conquering the world, so I just kept going.

Usually the route is well marked, and I tip my hat to whoever's idea it was to mark the trail so generously with signs (you really can't get lost even if you tried), but because of some new construction the signs were out and I was riding in circles for about 10 minutes before I happened upon another biker, aged about 60 with a walrus mustache and thick framed glasses pedaling his possessions, in the same situation. We teamed up and rode to our stopping point, making conversation along the way. He had a thick accent (either from southern Germany or learned German as a foreign language...couldn't make it out) so all I got from him in our ride together was that he had already ridden 450 km along the river heading towards Amsterdam, staying in hotels and eating at restaurants along the way. What a life! I told him I'd do the same exact thing he was doing if I had the money to, but for now I had to stick to day trips and homemade peanut butter and jellies. We parted ways in Duisberg and I headed to find a grocery store to stock up on some calories (which ended up being chocolate milk and a huge streussel treat from the bakery) before heading out again.

I often ride while listening to new music, but for this ride I felt the moment was just better spent taking in the landscapes, little German villages, fields of vegetables and flowers, and diving into my own thoughts. It was a really reflective bike ride spent appreciating everything these past 10 months have brought me and all that I'll miss when I have to give it up.

After hours of riding, another stop at a grocery store to buy water, lots of chance interactions with fellow bikers and townspeople enjoying the weekend, I made it to Emmerich, the town I didn't think I'd make it to when I set off for the day. I was really proud and started hoopin' and hollerin' along the path with my fists raised that I had ridden 120 km in a day, and not to mention, crossed the border from Germany into the Netherlands! I boarded a train in the tiny town (luckily the last train of the night, with only 5 minutes to spare before it left) and in 3 hours was back in my dorm room, showered up, and chowing down on all of my leftovers in the fridge trying to replenish calories. I'm setting my sights now in the other direction on the Rhein: south. My next goal is to start in Koblenz and ride to Mainz, about 95 km away, but in so doing will see about a dozen castles along the Rhein in what is supposedly the highest density of castles anywhere in the world. I can't wait. Not sure what other adventures lie ahead with the bike, but I look forward to whatever they may be!

Some ruins. No idea their significance though

When in doubt, find the river and ride downstream

Cover your nose: the cloud factory smells like industry

Riding under windmills makes you feel small, but they make for cool shadows

Mission accomplished

Visit from Mariel and Sarah

I recently hosted two of my friends, Mariel and Sarah, for about a week near the end of May. We all went to high school together, knew of each other then but didn't hang out in the same circle of friends, but have been close friends since starting college. Out of the friends who have visited me in Bonn, Mariel and Sarah were the first two not coming from Europe. Samson, Miranda, Samir, and Laine were all coming from England and France as they were also spending time abroad during the spring semester. Mariel and Sarah were taking a 4 week vacation to Europe and visiting Samson, me, and Samir along the way. This marked the first real visit to Europe for both of them--how exciting.

It was great to see them after the 10 months of me being abroad. Picking them up from the bus stop made it feel like no time had passed, and because we had all been staying in touch with each other since I left, we knew just where to pick up with conversation. They were visibly exhausted though, having spent 10 hours on an overnight bus from London and having had a bustling itinerary in England that didn't include a lot of sleep.

Because I'm writing this two weeks after-the-fact, I can't recount exactly everything that we did (I need to get back to writing these posts in a timely manner...), but a few things stand out to me still.  Mariel made it clear to me a few weeks prior to visiting that they didn't want to get the "tourist treatment" while in Bonn, and I completely understood. Most of my joys from traveling just come from walking around the cities, doing normal everday things like grocery shopping or taking a tram, and people watching. Mariel and Sarah were no different, but I did owe it to them to show them the Koelner Dom (see one of my first posts about visiting the cathedral), one of Germany's, and the world's, best cathedrals. A brief 10 minute visit was enough and afterwards we headed home from Cologne to Bonn. Taking the train back was also a good lesson in normal everyday life; because they don't always check tickets on the trains you can run the risk of not buying a ticket and getting home for free. I had much success with friends in the past not buying tickets, so with Mariel and Sarah it was no different--except the result. Within 5 minutes of boarding the train we had a controller come by asking for tickets. I pulled my 'confused tourist' spiel, always packed in the holster for times like this, and luckily to my surprise we weren't given the fine by the controller, just the opportunity to buy our tickets on the train. Catastrophe averted.

Later that day, after dropping bags in my dorm room, we jumped on a subway and headed towards the nearby castle for a few hours of hiking. We were also meeting up with my old host brother Jannik, who I hadn't seen since October and had just gotten back from 2 months in Cuba. We hiked to Drachenfels, the old ruins at the top of the hill, and passed the Drachenburg castle along the way. The weather was nice and crisp during the hike which made eating ice cream at the base of the hill a great reward.

The rest of the time in Bonn remains a blur; I introduced Mariel and Sarah to my friends here, took a few nice long bike rides with them, sat out on the parade grounds with sketchbooks and snacks just talking and drawing, and mostly just relaxing. The time spent with Mariel and Sarah was great. Just catching up on little things from back home (like how the friend group back home dwindled to include Mariel, her boyfriend Colin, Sarah, and her boyfriend/my roommate Aaron since everyone else is in Europe) and explaining things from being abroad was special. It really gave me some perspective as to what I've gone through these past 10 months and how, well, foreign, it still is to many people back home. Mariel has never lived in a city that's not her hometown, and up until my year in Germany neither had I. In July Mariel is going to Australia to begin her semester abroad and we are all going back home to the US, so unfortunately our week together in Bonn will be our only time of intersection over the course of 16 months.

The rest of Mariel and Sarah's travels have gone well. They arrived in to Bonn after having spent time in Dublin with a friend of a friend, Nottingham with Samson and his friends, and London as tourists waiting for a bus out to Germany. They spent time in Cologne and Bonn and got a small sense of German life. We traveled to Amsterdam on our last two days together and camped out in a park. After we parted ways in Amsterdam they traveled to Paris, then went to rural France to live on an organic farm for a few days for free (work on the farm for food and housing + meet cool people also interested in farming), and are wrapping up there European vacation in Italy visiting Samir. Truly an eclectic vacation with samplings of a few cultures, a few friends, lots of laughs and headaches, and many memories. Glad to have been a part of it!

Over the course of a year abroad you go through a few pivotal moments that make you reevaluate the whole situation. For different people these experiences are different things, and I've had many many many of them since arriving here in August. Hosting Mariel and Sarah and reconnecting with two of my best friends from home was the latest in the sense that it showed me what I have to look forward to when I get home, and just how short I have to wait. The majority of the time abroad has been phrased "I've been here _____ months," but more recently, as my calendar has only one page left to turn and the phrase goes from months to weeks, it also changes into "I only have _____ weeks left." Scary change. It helps me remember, as sometimes I am prone to forget, that this experience has an expiration date, that I can only speak face-to-face with my friends here for a few more weeks, that some experiences, sights, and opportunities are running out of time. I'm enjoying my time here and know that when I'm back home I'll be missing it, but I also feel ready to go home, see friends and family again, get the ball rolling for my last year of university, and feel the comfort of old friend groups, restaurants, and sights. It's a divide that often has me swinging like a pendulum a few times a day. It's a weird feeling.

But on a lighter note, I'll end the post with a few pictures I took from Mariel and Sarah's visit.

Prost! Sampling German beer with Sarah (left) and Mariel (right)

Once enough beer has been consumed, döner makes the perfect dinner

Our camping place in Amsterdam. Blue skies, green trees, good company, what else do ya need?

DAAD Conference in Mannheim and Going the Distance

The weeks and weekends have been flying by. I recently re-read a few of my old posts from when I just arrived in Germany and was commenting on "how much time I had." I would give anything for that to be true, honestly. The University started during the first week of April, and already it feels like just yesterday I was reading the syllabi for the courses. Since I haven't posted much of anything about the new semester, I'll first write about my courses and how they are going.

I'm enrolled in 6 courses this semester and I'm finding all of them very interesting. Like my first semester here, and unlike LSU back home, the majority of my classes meet once per week for 2 or 3 straight hours. There are pros and cons to this system: a pro is that I have more free time to do what I want, and can spend my remaining time abroad in Germany bike riding or hanging out with friends. A con is that frequency and repetition help me retain information, so by only looking at the material once per week, I often play catch-up with readings and assignments. This semester I am doing much more assigned reading that last, but I'll get to that in a bit. All in all, still a great semester.

1. European Integration: This is a class offered only for international students at the University of Bonn and through it we learn about post WWII Europe from the perspective of West and East Germany. One or two students every class period give a 15-20 minute presentation about a different topic relating to the subject and then the professor gives a more detailed presentation afterwards. It's a really great class in understanding the other side of post WWII life.
2. Focus on Scotland and Ireland: This course was chosen to really just learn something I know little about. My aunt and uncle once traveled to Scotland for a vacation and brought me back a t-shirt with the flag on it, but other than that I know relatively little. We break down Scotland into different spheres like Religion or Education and peer present the topics after some research. The professor is actually a Florida native but is a huge geek about kilts and haggis. The class is taking a week long trip to Edinburgh in June.
3. Behavioral Economics: Similar to last semester I decided to enroll in Behavioral Economics, but this semester it's the Master's edition and not the Bachelor's. Same subject matter more or less but a bit more in depth.
4. North American Popular Culture: Initially I thought this course would be something else; from the course description it seemed like we would be learning about popular radio and television programs in the US, celebrities, etc. In reality we are taking a hard academic stance on defining just what 'popular culture' is. It's kind of boring. In defense though, we had a weekend seminar for the course where we had to come prepared by having watched episodes of Mad Med, Two and Half Men, Louie, Modern Family, and the Daily Show and then be able to discuss their relevancy to popular culture. That part was fun, although the class was 7 hours long.
5. Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century: This class falls under the umbrella of International Relations and discusses the future relationships of the US with Germany, specifically. Our professor for this course is a retired US diplomat (who at first frequently mentioned his robust resume, but has since gotten in the groove of leading discussions), and definitely comes across as such: he is reserved, speaks slowly and quietly, and is always looking to bridge topics of conversation into a compromise, somehow. This class has me reading maybe 6 or 7 newspaper articles a day along with a few long reports per week. It's my first real IR class, but I'm enjoying the intensity it brings. Each session we present a developing topic (past examples include Ukraine and NSA) and then discuss the implications of certain 'solutions' for about 90 minutes. The sessions get better every week, so although the course started off slowly it is something I really look forward to.
6. African American History post Civil War: This course actually has me taking a train once a week back to Cologne, as the course is offered at the University of Cologne instead of in Bonn. Besides the fact that it's nice to explore new university settings, the course is through the Master's program, so I'm surrounded by students who really know their stuff. What is most interesting though is recognizing the perspective I have: in middle and high school in Louisiana, I grew up learning about slavery, the Civil War, the movements of 1964 and more, but for many European students, learning about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad requires intensive study. I take it for granted. During many of the lectures I'm recalling instances when I was 12 years old, sitting in middle school, and writing out vocabulary words on index cards for this, and here I am again learning it in a Masters program in Germany. It's really interesting.

Once again I'm having a great semester filled with interesting classes, cool professors, and great readings and assignments. I guess the one downside to the semester is that it doesn't end until mid-July, but on the upside we have many public holidays (hand it to Germany) and a week break at the end of May.

As mentioned in one of my first blog posts, I am a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Scholarship holder this year. Starting in the second semester DAAD began hosting a series of conferences for all scholarship holders from around the world. I was grouped into the "Economics, Law, Political Science, and Public Policy" conference and would be driven out, housed in a hotel with all meals paid for, a bit spoiled, and then driven back to Bonn all in a weekend's time by DAAD. I got back a few days ago and I cannot really put into words how great of an opportunity it was. In only the short 48 hours there I met so many people from all over the world, attended a handful of lectures which sparked interesting debates and conversations, and just, I don't know, had a great time! I never wanted the conference to end. I was surrounded by tons of students just like me, students who are galvanized by meeting people from other countries, hearing what they have to say, what they study, what their interests are, and where they want to be in the future and what they want to be doing. It was a great eye-opening experience. Although I think this was my last opportunity to meet other DAAD-ians this year, I am still keeping in touch with a few friends I made at the conference and also plan on getting together with a group that lives here in Bonn.

Now that the weather has turned into true Spring warmth and sunshine, I set out the goal of riding my bike as often as possible, trying to find new villages and landscapes that I didn't cover in my first semester. I got back from the DAAD conference humming with energy and a 'high on life' kind of attitude, and with the great weather I couldn't ignore, took the bike out for a spin. In October I discovered that only about 90 minutes south of Bonn, along the river, the landscape opens up into valleys with rolling hills and castles overlooking the river. I never really much explored into the landscapes, so this ride I went uphill, through some small villages whose churches dominate the city square, and found huge fields of yellow blossoming flowers. It was awesome. The most fun might have been speeding down hill through the fields and then through the villages back towards the river. Just another day on the bike.

And then, as if my 'high on life' attitude from the weekend still hadn't expired, the next day I took my bike out with a 20 pound pack filled with my tent, sleeping bag, and other essentials and rode south to Koblenz, a city which was on the "Place to Ride" list for quite some time. My friend Anne also tagged along for the 70 km ride along the river. Filled with funny moments, sore butts, and salvation in the form of chocolate milk and peanuts from a grocery store, the ride was fantastic. I camped out along the river, across from the Deutsches Eck and Festung and rode back the next morning. Quite a week!

Taken in the area of Andernach, about 20 km from Koblenz

"Take my picture with Kaiser Wilhelm II in the background" "....your bike isn't in the picture" "..oh.."

"How 'bout now?"

Celebratory beer...Prost!

Weekend in London, again

So I managed to make it to London again. This marked my fourth trip to the city since the end of November (and probably marked my last visit, unfortunately) but the trip wasn't on a whim, rather, was planned in December. Much like my first visit to London I was making the weekend jaunt to see a concert on Friday night, play tourist on Saturday, and then head back on Sunday to Bonn but this time around I wasn't travelling alone. I left Bonn with Dave, a friend from Uni, and was meeting up with Samson who was wrapping up a giant European tour. Now I was a seasoned traveler to London and corrected the mistakes made in the past; instead of arriving into Stansted airport and buying a bus ticket on the spot at an egregious price, Dave and I bought train tickets a week in advance (and at great prices: for any so-to-be London travelers, check out the Stansted Express). Pluses from the train include timely departure and arrival, drop-off at the hub tube station in London, and speed. What I learned, painfully so, during my first trip to London in November was that the National Express bus from the airport to the city, although helpful, ran into huge traffic delays on a Friday afternoon, had no wifi for communication purposes, and created many headaches. It was all due to the bus in the first place that I almost missed the concert my first weekend there! But I digress. The train was great because it got Dave and I into the city right on time to connect with Samson before heading straight to the concert.

We three were staying in south London for the weekend at a friend of a friend's flat. Samson became 'mates' with one of the roomies during a previous trip to London and got us the hook-up for the weekend, which was super appreciated. Meadsy, thanks so much man! It ended up being a 5 minute walk from the concert venue which was crazy awesome. Dave and I reunited with Samson outside of the tube station, gave each other huge hugs and caught each other up on all of the crazy travels since the last time we had seen each other. That included Samson's trips to Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Torino, and south England, Dave's trips to Switzerland to ski and Ireland for St. Patty's, and my trip in South Africa and Namibia. So many side-splitting stories (mostly when Samson was storytelling) and great times.

Friday night we headed to the concert almost immediately after meeting up and had an absolutely fantastic time. We saw Flying Lotus in concert, which is a producer I've been wanting to see live since 2012, so this really was a dream come true. We strolled up to the venue around 8 pm, Samson and I sporting our banana costumes from Karneval and Dave sporting his chili pepper costume as well. Everybody loved us.

Let's goooooo! 

The place was sold out, and I mean to tell you, hundreds if not thousands of people there. Whether we were the chosen ones, or more likely because we were wearing outrageous outfits which everybody loved, we made our way all the way to the front row no problem and just took it all in. We danced a bunch ( I woke up the next morning with my abs sore??), sang along to the raps and lyrics, made friends with our neighbors, and just had one of the best concert experiences of all time. Once the encore had finished everyone started heading out, but we staked our spot in the front row, and sure enough Flying Lotus came out to greet the fans. Surreal!

"I shook hands with him! He likes the banana suit!"

Once the concert wrapped up we walked back to the flat, dumped the costumes, and headed out to Ronnie Scott's, London's best jazz club, for their "Very Late Show" which started at 1 am and ran through 3 am. That was out in Soho, and far away from south London, so we three hopped on the Boris bikes and biked through London. Really, it gets me every time. Those Boris bikes are always so much fun, especially with friends when you make a little "biker gang" and whip through the streets and in and out of taxis, city buses, pedestrians, and stop lights. It was about 30 or 40 minutes from A to B, but the whole time I'm leading the crew with my Google Maps pulled out, constantly checking the route. All of a sudden I look up to double check and THERE is Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey all lit up! Honestly we couldn't have planned it any better. Trying to navigate through the back streets of London on a Friday night, needing some reassurance of the route and there we go stumbling upon the most iconic aspects of the city. After that, all was well, we zipped over to the jazz club, docked the bikes at the station, and after a little persuasion from Samson to the doorman (who was "not impressed" with our attire), found a booth at the club and settled in. 

This show was killer! It reminded me how long it's been since I had seen good live jazz. I saw some in Cologne when I first arrived, but it wasn't the same kind of hard-bop, intense improvisation, energetic jazz I was spoiled with back in Louisiana. This show was the epitome of the great live music I gave up by leaving Louisiana for a year, but hey, at least I got to see this show. It was a quartet with a drummer that was just killing it on the solos. Great sense of timing and rhythm and a quiet but strong leader who gave the other players direction and structure.

They played some jazz fusion covers of Billy Cobham, Freddie Hubbard, and Herbie Hancock...I mean the set list was just great! After the concert we biked back home on a high from a night filled with great music and great company. We got back and I crashed, but not after receiving a congratulations from Samson for staying up until 5 am. Samson knew as well as anybody that I just can't (or couldn't) hang past midnight or 1 am, as evidenced through our nights at Karneval and my time spent in Nottingham. But I did it! I made it!

Saturday started off late, but by no means was dull. Although Samson and I had been to London several times, this was Dave's first visit. We rented the Boris bikes again, rode into the city, and tried to hit as many big attractions as we could in the few hours that we had. We biked across the Westminster Bridge to a view of an approaching Big Ben and Parliament (super touristy but necessary), hit Buckingham Palace, Regent's Park, and Hyde Park, Downing Street, rode our bikes through the roundabout at Charing Cross, and made our way to the British History Museum. We actually saw the Rosetta Stone. Again, the Rosetta Stone, there, 12 inches away from our faces. It was absolutely unbelievable to see it up close. Then the museum closed abruptly so we had to leave, but on to the next adventure, right? I had dinner reservations with Josh and Marta and had to peel, but Samson took Dave to Camden Town and killed a few hours there. 

Meeting up with Josh and Marta for the, seemingly, last time in the near future was weird. Weird in the sense that it finally hit me, the finality of a year abroad, coming to an end on July 30th. Up until this visit to London everything I had previously experienced wasn't so distant that it couldn't be experienced again. But having dinner with Josh and Marta signaled the numbering of the weeks, the hyper-organized structuring of my remaining weekends so that none go to waste. It was nice enough that they took time out of their studying for final exams at LSE to meet up with me though! We had a great dinner at Il Portico, a restaurant recommended to me by my London advisers in the Campbell family, with wine and dessert. We even met the owner James. All in all, a great send-off meal filled with conversation, laughs, and memory sharing.

Cheers!

After dinner I met back up with Samson and Dave where we were again going to Ronnie Scott's for round 2. One night of poppin' jazz just wasn't enough. The quartet swapped out the lead trumpet for a lead saxophone, changed the set list around, but still wowed the crowd. Another great night of jazz. When we got out of the club we were greeted with a stiff London rain and a 40 minute bike ride back. We biked back, in the rain and gusts of wind, but had the streets of London all to ourselves at 4 am. Cycling back at top speed with Samson yelling "LONDONNNNN, LONDONNNN, LONDONNNN" at the top of his lungs made us all crack up with laughter. Not to mention he was riding a defective Boris bike whose seat wouldn't raise, so Samson looked like he was riding a tike's bike whose knees kept hitting the handlebars. So jokes. 

We didn't get a lot of sleep that night due to early departure times but boarded our buses back home just fine the next morning. Dave and I boarded our 9.5 hour bus ride from London to Cologne, and luckily we both slept the majority of the ride home. We made it back to Bonn Sunday night, ready for class the next day. London: all in a weekend's work. 

Part 2: London, Cambridge, and Nottingham

After Karneval ended it was time to hit the road. First on the agenda was England where I would meet up with Josh again in London before making my way to Nottingham to visit Samson on his stomping ground. As opposed to flying to London from Cologne, which I did in November, I instead took a bus. It ended up being about 10.5 hours (including London traffic), but was a great alternative to flying for several reasons: I went under the English Channel for the first time, got some reading done and listened to new music, and also saw  Europe. We took a route from Cologne to Brussels, passing through the Netherlands, before entering the top corner of France and then making our way to London. It was really interesting to see so much during that ride, although by the 9th and 10th hour I was definitely ready to arrive.

My first weekend in London was great. I met up with Josh and his friend Marta for some art gallery touring and sightseeing. Josh showed me around the Bangladesh-corner of the city, which had great food to sample and an alternative art scene. Window shopping was the name of the game. We also ducked into a coffeeshop because I wanted to read a local newspaper and Josh wanted to work on some homework, so all in all a rather normal day but still I had a bunch of fun. Late that night, as expected, we rented out the Boris bikes and zipped through town at breakneck speeds. It's always a highlight of being in London for me, especially with a local tour guide to ride behind.

Parliament by night

The next day we went out and celebrated the Chinese New Year in Trafalgar Square. It was packed with people and there was hardly any room to stand, so we went through some back streets to get to London's China Town which was unsurprisingly crazier. I think Josh and I stood for 20 minutes in a sea of people just trying to maneuver around to an adjacent street. We were pretty content with the festivities so we headed out to the nearest Boris bike station, rented a pair of bikes, and rode over to the coach station, where I'd be hopping on a bus to Cambridge. That ride was memorable for two reasons. First, I was carrying a huge hiking backpack on my back with all of my possessions which made turning and accelerating extremely difficult. So while Josh was zipping away in front of me I was huffing and puffing just to keep up. Secondly, here we were enjoying a nice ride with blue skies and white clouds when all of a sudden the temperature drops, the wind picks up, and it starts raining. My glasses get all dewy and it starts getting so chilly that I lost feeling in my fingers. We were shouting directions back and forth through the rain and eventually got to the coach station, but it seemed like one of those bike rides which seemed to stretch on an on and on. I boarded my bus to Cambridge and set off for the next adventure.

I arrived into Cambridge around 8 pm but it was cold and desolate all around town. It was like a scene in a movie with the dark streets with standing water in the potholes, the dim-orange light of the occasional street lamp, and the one other person on the other side of the street walking briskly in the other direction. It was kind of surreal. I bumbled around the neighborhood looking for my hostel and eventually came across it. What a place! That night they happened to be hosting a local music concert with folk artists. There was a fair share of acoustic guitars, symbolic tattoos, and neck beards. I didn't actually get to attend because I was late to the party and had to eat dinner in the reception area, but later after dinner I went and walked around town for about an hour, getting to know the sleepy town by night.

English humour, so jokes

Local ale with dinner

I only spent 18 hours in Cambridge as a pit stop between London and Nottingham but had a blast just walking around the town and seeing all of the historic colleges, canals, churches, and libraries. Sometimes I played 'dumb tourist' by wandering into the campus facilities, ignoring the admission fee, but sometimes I also got kicked out. I don't have any picture from the colleges because I left my phone in the hostel to charge, but the whole town was extremely well-kept and attended to. I saw a few groups doing punting tours in the canals of Cambridge (kind of like gondola tours in Venice), which I've been told is a uniquely Cambridge tradition. I also wandered into a library which was having a free exhibition on the printing press, which was pretty fascinating. All in all, Cambridge was great, and I highly recommend it to other travelers. One full day would have been better, but I think I did the town justice. Afterwards it was on to Nottingham to see Samson!

I met up with Samson outside of the Nottingham train station and we boarded a city bus back to the university. Just like when we met up in Cologne in January, we were talking back and forth and catching each other up since the last time we saw each other a week prior. We hit the ground running once we made it back to the dorm and went to the cafeteria for dinner where I met a lot of his friends. Afterwards we went down the hall to the dorm's billiards room and bar, where we shot around for an hour or two, betting with beer. Samson and I make a dream team with pool, so if you're reading this and think you might have a chance, just know that we'll take you down! Samson's friends didn't know any better but we all had lots of fun. I crashed on the floor and slept like a baby that night.

The rest of my time in Nottingham went by quickly. By day I was exploring the campus and surrounding neighborhood or sitting in a cafe trying English tea and reading the newspaper. Samson was still in class so during the day I was on my own, but by night we were always out and about in the town. Samson actually got a job from his friends he met the first weekend in England, so every Tuesday night he checks coats at a bar during one of their dance nights. We went out and he showed me around that night which was really cool. My regular 11 pm-7 am sleep schedule was drawn into direct opposition to Samson's nocturnal nature in the funniest ways possible. He stays out much later than I am used to, so it became a common theme that I always headed home around midnight while Samson partied the night away during my week in Nottingham. I'd wake up the next morning and without fail he'd be in the room sleeping like a log. One night I stayed out til 2 am (do I get an award?) and everyone cheered me on, but I still ended up leaving earlier than everyone else!

My last day in Nottingham was wrapping up some to-dos for the sightseeing which included Wollaton Hall, the set for the Dark Knight Rises. It was only a 15 minute walk away from the dormitory and provided some great photo-ops. The weather happened to be exceptionally "un-English" that day with blue skies and rays of sunshine.

Wollaton Hall

At the end of the week Samson and I headed to London with a few of his friends to cheer on his friend Damien in England's national ping pong tournament. It was the real deal type of ping pong games and we saw some crazy moves, the kind you see in Youtube videos but are never lucky enough to see in person. We only spent a weekend in London before Samson and his crew headed back to Nottingham and I headed out to Paris to visit Miranda but it was a great 7 days with Samson meeting new friends and seeing new places. This marked my third trip to London but first to Cambridge and Nottingham, where I felt I actually got to experience English culture. I had a conversation with a stranger about rugby and american football, tried the whole English tea time thing (a little overrated), had an English breakfast at my hostel in Cambridge (so really, just an American breakfast with baked beans), read the local newspapers and political sections for the upcoming elections, learned some of the lingo ("So jokes mate, so jokes," or "All over the gaff") and really just tried to blend in during my time there. By the end I was telling myself that England would be my #2 choice for studying abroad because of the culture, but Germany would still be #1. I was glad to be able to spend a week getting to know the culture to some degree but more time would be appreciated! Unfortunately I don't have any extra free time before coming back to the US to give England another road trip opportunity, so I'll just have to save it for the future. I'll end this post with a nice little find in the local newspaper.

"Was said to resemble a giant chocolate cake......" -___-