Introduction to University life and a trip to Luxembourg

After returning from Munich, it was time to start classes at the university; my summer vacation which started the second week of May and lasted through the first week of October was officially over! I was ready to start classes, but of course was not ready to give up the freedom of summer!

A few days before leaving for Munich I moved into my room and got situated. The living situation here is a bit different from the standard dormitory setup I was a part of my freshman year of college: instead of sharing a room with another student (like in the US), I have my own room, complete with a desk, dresser, and a few book shelves. Although I have my own room, I share a hallway with 4 other students, and together we share a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a shower. I live with two girls from Germany, one girl from Japan, and one PhD student from Austria. Although we share an apartment, more or less, I hardly ever see any of them--even though I leave my door open! I'm also pretty sure I'm the only person who uses the kitchen, although the fridge and pantry are filled with food. I'm not sure what everybody does all day, but I know they aren't spending their time in the apartment! So, the social living scene isn't all that exciting, but I live in a great area of the city. I live in a 5 minute radius of: the main library, the Economics library, all of my classes, the multi-purpose field, the main University building, a few cafes, the central bus and train station, and my favorite, the cafeteria! I really lucked out with the location of the apartment, being central to the city where I don't even need to take a bus or train to get where I need to go. The grocery stores are within 5 minutes by bike, as well as other important stores, so all is well!

The Hofgarten, with the main University building behind

Academically speaking, I will be taking five classes this semester. Below, I've provided a brief summary:

1. Verhaltensökonomik(Behavioral Economics): This course is taught in German and is a Monday/Wednesday course lasting for 1.5 hours each day. It is taught in a large lecture hall with around 90 enrolled students (although only 60 attend the lectures). Content wise, this class deals with the psychological and social aspects that economics seeks to explore. It is a relatively new branch that is viewed as "soft" in the economic realm and "hard" in the psychology realm; many academics view this branch of the field as a hybrid between economics and psychology. To my economically-minded readers: We are taking a rather mathematical approach to the topic and proving theorems in class, not sticking strictly to psychological theory and vocabulary words.
2. Game Theory (Economics): This course is taught in English and is a Wednesday/Friday course lasting for 1.5 hours each day. It is taught in the same lecture hall as the above course with relatively the same attendance. The professor looks and talks like Ralph Fiennes, so the first day in the course I couldn't shake the fact that Lord Voldemort was teaching me Economics, but rightly so because the first class kind of scared me anyways. This course is inherently mathematical, so at times I just feel like I am in a math course where economic terms get thrown around randomly. I am excited to see how this course goes this semester.
3. Deutsch in Wirtschaft und Handel (German in Business and Commerce): This is a German language class which will help me improve my grammar and vocabulary through conversation homework. Some of the goals of the course are to prepare students with writing CVs in German, writing professional emails, and learning the right vocabulary for various other tasks. This is a class which meets just for 2 hours each Tuesday and is a 9 person class, and it's proven to be a light work-load with a great payoff!
4. Green Utopias/Dystopias: Literature from the Anthropocene: This is my English literature course which meets once a week for 2 hours. The class is limited to 30 students, but we break into small groups to discuss reading assignments. We have a reading list of five novels which deal with Earth as imagined in a utopian/dystopian future where human actions have considerably changed the Earth's ecosystems. This class has already proven to be very thought-provoking and I look forward to further discussions.
5. Changes in America's Republican Party with the advent of the Tea Party: To be honest, this is probably the class I have looked forward to most since learning of my schedule. It's a 9 person class which meets once a week for 2 hours. The content of this course deals with a highly detailed academic review of the Republican Party, and specifically, what influences the Tea Party has had and will continue to have going forward in American politics. Each class has a themed lecture and we will also be covering the Midterm Elections and presenting on several key states. I will also make an additional presentation on the results of Louisiana's midterm elections.

I am very excited for this semester, both between the courses I am enrolled in and the various programs sponsored by the University. I think this semester might be filled with the most interesting courses I've yet to take in college, and that isn't meant to be a knock to LSU, but after 4 semesters of working hard, I've earned the right to take a few fun General Education credits here in Germany. I will have to work hard in the courses, but I also have a great deal of liberty which I hope to exercise when I choose to do some travelling abroad in Europe. We'll see what the coming months hold!

After settling in Bonn, I began to look for some ways to branch out and meet new people. The University has a well-organized sports program and offers groups/classes ranging from soccer to Nordic walking, mixed-dancing classes to Capoeira, and everything in between. Unfortunately for me, I was late to the game and found that, out of all of the relevant 10 or so sport classes I would have wanted to sign up for, all were booked! I went ahead and just started Google searching things to do and came across a rock climbing group in Bonn full of international people who don't speak German. This was great for me because I flew over some of my climbing gear and didn't know where to start. It also helped that I would be meeting people from all over the world who preferred to speak in English rather than German. I contacted the head of the group, Guillermo (from Argentina) and he was more than willing to help me out. The next day I met him and some other climbers at one of Bonn's climbing gyms. We climbed for about 2.5 hours, and as I was leaving, Guillermo asked me if I had any plans for the weekend. He told me they climb every night of the week in gyms, but try to make an excursion to the outdoors every weekend for more practical climbing. This weekend, they were going to Luxembourg to a world-famous climbing place and said I could tag-along if I was free. I quickly became free!

Climbing gym in Bonn

We met early on Saturday morning, where I was introduced to the climbing group for the weekend: Guillermo would be heading the group with his wife Isa (Spain), along with long-time friends Vasiliy (Russia) and Kathrin (Germany)....and then there was me, 10 years younger than the youngest! We loaded into the van and headed out for the 2 hour ride. When we arrived we immediately hit the trails with all of our gear and started to climb.

View of fields in Luxembourg after an ascent

Before the 2 hours at the climbing gym days before, I hadn't climbed in nearly 4 months. Needless to say I was really out of shape, but I was surprised that I was able to go 6/6 in all of the routes I tried out. I attribute a lot of the unexpected success to the great encouragement from the others, who were always yelling down from below "You've got this, you can do this!" and then, it just happened! We spent our time hiking through the fairy-tale-esque forests, fields, and valleys before heading back to the campsite and starting the BBQ.

Mid-hike picture of a cow pasture

Each person threw in a contribution to the potluck dinner and we ended up having a variety of sausages, cheeses, and kebabs of onion, bellpepper, tomato, zucchini, and mushroom for dinner. It was great. To boot, we bought a few Belgian beers from the bar nearby. Afterwards, just when we all thought we were full, Vasiliy busted out two bags of marshmallows and skewers. Add that to some new-found chocolate that Isa found in her bag and we were close to making the smores trifecta, but alas, no graham crackers were to be found.

"Rocky Mountain Marshmallows," "Made in the USA," "A True American Tradition," "Classic"

 After having a great fire and feeling as full as could be, we all headed to sleep. The next morning we woke up to a breakfast of breads, cheeses, peanut butter, coffee, tea, and chocolate milk. We then headed out to climb for the remainder of the day. We climbed for the next 6 hours before heading back to Bonn.

A Luxembourg Sunset

As we were sitting above the valley watching the sunset above the routes, we said "How crazy would it be if a climber just poked their head up here?" No more than 10 seconds later, as if on cue, Vasiliy poked his head up and said "Hey guys!" You couldn't have scripted it any better!

Isa, with Vasiliy who just completed a route

My trip to Luxembourg was short, but it felt like time passed so slowly that it was easy to live in the moment and take in everything that I was experiencing. It really was a great weekend, not only because of the friends I made, but because of the little things too. The first day we were climbing on a face that had several routes nearby for other climbers. Along that face we were sharing the area with 3 other groups, and what I found really interesting was that every group was speaking in a different language. On the far left we had French, then to the right of that Luxembourgish, then Spanish, and we were speaking in English. By the end of the weekend though, in addition to those languages I also heard Russian, German, Italian, and Flemish spoken. Call me a tourist, but I still get goosebumps being surrounded by all these different cultures.

I am tempted to say that my trip to Luxembourg beats out my trip to Munich for "Best Weekend in Europe," but it's comparing apples and oranges at this point. I am seeing every experience for what it is and am not trying to compare against experiences; each experience is just adding to the tapestry of my short time here in Europe.

Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany

The week after my departure from Cologne was filled with registration and paperwork for the University. However, at this point in time I was still living in Cologne, therefore I was waking up early every day to commute to Bonn to start my day of standing in lines, dealing with bureaucrats, running back and forth between buildings, and the like. It was such a hassle! I wasn't the only one though, because virtually every foreign student in Germany goes through a long, drawn-out process of the same paperwork too. We struggled together. Come Thursday of that week, I was considered done with everything and could finally enjoy what little time I had left before classes started four days later. Luckily for me, I had already planned out my celebration.

My friend, Alan, was going through the same process I was, but in Munich. Early on, once we had learned about the details of our future cities, we had planned to spend a weekend down in Munich, where of course we would check out Oktoberfest, and then maybe do some hiking the next day. Generally speaking, the most expensive part of attending Oktoberfest is the accommodation. Luckily, I was able to crash at Alan's place in my sleeping bag free of charge. Check!  All I needed to do was book my transportation there and back, pack a bag, and withdraw some Oktoberfest money from the bank and all would be good. Thursday around noon, after finishing off a tasty bowl of coconut-curry soup and a heaping bowl of pesto pasta (from the cafe I mentioned in an earlier post), I headed out to Munich. I once again booked my ride with the carpooling website, where the prices were four times cheaper than the train (and the rides were the same amount of time). This gave me a great opportunity to meet some new people, practice my German, and just see the countryside from the Autobahn. I had a blast. The ride started out a bit slowly, but with time came an hour-and-a-half long conversation in German. All of the passengers were quite receptive to my learning of the language, and all offered tips and corrections. After learning of my interests and hobbies, I received suggestions for future hiking destinations within the country. I can't wait to check those out. The ride ended up lasting 2 more hours than expected due to traffic (which we should have expected), making for a grand total of 7 hours in the car! I finished off one of the books I brought, Lord of the Flies, and started another. I also listened to quite a bit of music. We rolled into Munich at 9 pm, and I met Alan shortly after.

The next day, Friday, which also happened to be Germany's national holiday, we woke up and cooked a nice, hearty, Mexican breakfast. We left the apartment at 9:30 am, not really knowing exactly where to go to find Oktoberfest, but as the saying goes "FOLLOW THE LEDERHOSEN!"

Alright, that's not an actual saying, but I think it should be.

We found Oktoberfest in due time and went to find a beer tent to occupy for the rest of the day. That was at 10 am, one hour after the opening, and there was nowhere to sit inside! We searched thoroughly, but finally came to the conclusion that we were going to have to part ways with this specific tent (for those unaware, each brewery, or brand, has their own tent which can hold ~600+ people) and search elsewhere. As we walked back out, we discovered the outside patio--same structure as inside, just not as many people. We had our picking at tables, so we sat down at an unoccupied table and ordered two maß (pronounced 'mass': A one liter quantity of beer at 6% alcohol, costing a total of 10 euro). That was at 10:17 am, but it was 5 o'clock somewhere, so no worries. Within 30 minutes of us sitting down, we were greeted by a group of Germans, our age, who were looking for a place to sit. We ended up chatting with them for the next 3 hours! I made friends with Annka, who will soon be down in Australia doing a 3 month exchange program.

Annka, in a dirndl, and myself, sporting a pair of lederhosen

We ate some delicious German food, including pretzels, potatoes, and some heavenly chicken. The whole day was just fantastic. We talked a lot and laughed a lot, and you can't ask for much more than that. There are, of course, more stories to tell! Everything went well and I'm glad I was able to participate in one of the biggest cultural experiences in the world!

The next day we woke up early to catch a train that was heading down south near the border of Austria. We had carefully planned out the day's events two nights prior and would be heading down to Neuschwanstein, one of the most famous castles in all of Germany, to do some sightseeing and hiking. It's a big tourist destination, and actually has a connection to Walt Disney and Disney World. I encourage you to check that out on Google. We caught the train and settled in for the 2 hour ride. The seats were scarce, so I ended up sitting next to an elderly woman, but we got to talking and didn't stop for the next hour. I prefaced my monologue with "having living in Cologne for two months" at which point, very bluntly, she told me Cologne was not so pretty as Munich! She told me she had lived in Munich for the last 60 years and found it to be quite cleaner than Cologne (I'll tip my hat to that one). We talked about a variety of subjects, and it was just nice to talk to somebody with a different viewpoint. I hopped on the connecting train to Füssen and parted ways with her.

When Alan and I hopped on the new train we found a four person section unoccupied, so we took up residence. Another guy came and sat across from us and I, assuming he could speak German, asked him a question. He responded in English that he didn't speak any German, so we got to talking in English. Turns out he's from Colorado and is doing an exchange year here for academic and religious reasons. Within a few minutes of meeting him, he stuck out his left hand and said "I noticed your Eagle Scout ring, I'm an Eagle Scout too." After that, the conversation went strong for the next hour or so, talking about Louisiana and Colorado, hiking, Europe, and everything in between. Austin had plans to meet some of his other friends in Füssen, but wasn't able to get into contact with them, so he tagged along with us. We ended up hiking through the woods to the castle and spent the better part of 5 hours talking, hiking, and later, eating at a local restaurant.

View of the castle, left, nestled in the landscape of southern Germany

Alpine trail towards the castle, where Fall has already taken effect

Within 30 minutes of hiking from the base of the hill, we had made our way to the photo-op: Marienbrücke. This is the classic shot of the castle, situated on a bridge above a huge ravine overlooking the castle.

Neuschwanstein

Austin, Alan, and I hiked up a pig trail to get a better view of the castle, at which point we were looking down onto the castle and took some pretty memorable pictures. Good times. We hiked back down to grab something to eat. Afterwards, we parted ways with Austin and made our way back to Munich.

I left Munich the next morning by carpool. The ride lasted 8 hours (+3 hours for traffic delays), so once again I got some reading done, listened to some new music, and held conversation for about 2-3 hours. I rolled into Bonn at 8 pm, ready to start my first day of classes at the University only 12 hours later.

My weekend in Munich has been the best experience of my time in Germany so far. I was able to experience a different side of German culture, meet some new people, have delicious food and beer, and really just spend the whole time relaxing. When I set off for my year-abroad, I wanted to make sure that I experienced the right things and lived in the moment. Between Oktoberfest and Neuschwanstein, I can definitely say that my trip to Munich underlines everything that I wanted in a year-abroad in Germany. To that, I'll drink!

"Prost!"

Farewell, Cologne

I must sound like a broken record, but the time has been flying by. It seems like just yesterday I was flying over to begin my year-abroad and already I am commenting on events from my 8th week here.

My time in Cologne came to an end as we finished off the month of September, marking 8 weeks since my arrival in Germany. The last week of the immersion course was filled with silent reflections of the time spent together, the information learned, and the prospects for the future. When I joined the class , we were about 12 students strong, full of energy and conversation.  As of the last week we were down to 7, and although we were closer than before, it made for a tough 'good-bye;' after getting to know each other more personally, the thought that all of us would soon be in different cities, meeting new people, seemed absurd. It was a tough pill to swallow. One of the things that I really appreciated about my specific class was the fact that every student came from a different country (with the one exception that Iraq was represented twice); we had the US, Mexico, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Georgia represented (and during the fourth week you could say Spain and Turkey were both represented). This always created a great dialogue in class about customs back home and helped me 'see' the world just by being in Germany. On Friday, the last day of the program, we had a pot luck celebration of our accomplishments over the past two months. Every student brought a food typical from their homeland. I had considered making a gumbo, but didn't have the time to shop and cook, so I settled for cooking red beans and rice. Synthia, from Indonesia, cooked fried rice and brought spiced tomatoes. Madiha, from Pakistan, prepared a spiced, baked chicken with mild yogurt on the side. Alan, from Mexico, prepared a fresh sweet potato spread. Husam, from Iraq, cooked a traditional lentil soup which is normally served during Ramadan. To describe which food was my favorite would be impossible. Never before had I been able to sample such an array of traditional , freshly cooked meals from all over the world. The red beans and rice went over well too, but by the end of the picnic everybody was going back for seconds and thirds for ALL of the foods. I brought my Tony's along too, and it went over well. To finish the picnic, our teacher, Frau Exner, served her freshly baked cheesecake. It goes without saying that she is German, and a great representative food for her would be a pastry! I thought I was full before I learned of the cheesecake, but upon being served a slice I quickly found room in my stomach. It was delicious!

After the feast we exchanged memories and stories from the time spent together in Cologne. Frau Exner presented each of us with a card in which she wrote down a personal memory. We then spent the next 30 or so minutes trading the cards with each other writing stories and memories. It was a nice gesture and continues to be a memento from my time in Cologne. We parted ways in the class, but we still stay in good contact with each other. There is the possibility that we might be able to meet up again at some point in time this year. I look forward to this opportunity.

Synthia, Alan, myself, Frau Exner, Madiha, Saad, Husam, and Shorena

With the conclusion of my immersion program came the end of my time with my host family. When I first arrived, I wasn't allowed to clean my own dishes, unset the dishwasher, or perform other chores--that was left to the mom or son. It felt very out of place not being self sufficient or part of the team. Over time, and with my continual efforts to 'sneak' into the kitchen to unset the dishwasher, came more individualism and mutual respect. Towards the end of my stay I was doing all the dishes after dinner, unsetting the dishwasher, and usually setting the table too. We never had an outright conversation about who was to do what, but I tried to show my appreciation through the little things. During the last three weeks with my family, the idea that I would soon move out seemed to weigh heavier on me, as well as the others. Over dinner, the conversations became longer, more interesting, and more involved. The small talk picked up during the day too. Upon reflection, it seemed like I was recognizing what I would soon be missing, and I attempted to create every opportunity I could to savor the moment.

The last night with my host family was spent on a Tuesday night. The next morning I would be heading to Bonn with all of my luggage, by myself. My host mother, Frau Birgit, asked that I supply the menu for my last night, and she would cook it, even leaving work early if that's what it took. Of course I didn't want to infringe, and luckily my favorite dish (although 'favorite' is used lightly as I enjoyed every single meal at the house) was a potato casserole with pork. It seemed like an easy request to make. Tuesday night was spent with Frau Birgit, Herr Klaus, and their daughter Lena. Unfortunately Jannik, the son, and arguably my closest relationship in the whole family, was in Holland. But I appreciated the gesture of seeing Lena--she doesn't live at home anymore but came back home to see me off (she also came in town to see me 'in' on my first day). She had always been very helpful and patient with me in conversation, understanding that my German would take some time. We ate over the family dinner table with red wine, tossed salad, and homemade apple juice. At the conclusion of the meal, Frau Birgit went into the kitchen quickly as I began to unset the table, but soon I realized the meal wasn't over. She came in holding a homemade, perfectly constructed, tiramisu cake with freshly ground cinnamon on top. I was blown away...it might have been the best tiramisu cake I had even eaten. The dinner ended up lasting about 2.5 hours and during the whole meal we held conversation. We talked about my time in Cologne, differences with US culture, and so much more. It was a huge confidence booster, because I specifically remember on my first meal with the family I tried to stay as quiet as possible, fearing that my German was inadequate or that what I had to say was too elementary, but now, 8 weeks later, I was able to dabble in conversations from a wide spectrum of topics....and my German was actually pretty good now! They were quick to tell me this too, noting that my German had drastically improved since 8 weeks before.

There are only so many ways to repay kindness, and the task of repaying or recognizing 8 weeks of helpfulness, friendliness, home-cooked meals....well, I had my work cut out for me. I wrote the family a letter thanking them for all of their help, and I put that in a bouquet of flowers which I gave to Frau Birgit, but of course there wasn't any way to really thank them sufficiently.

My night with the family concluded with a train ride with Lena back into the city. It was just the two of us in the train, but we spoke in German for nearly the entire 30 minutes into the city center. She was heading back to her apartment and I was heading to meet Alan to spend an hour or two walking around our favorite parts of the city. Lena and I parted ways with a hug and a promise to stay in touch! I met up with Alan and we walked around the Cologne Cathedral and over the Rhine river, just reminiscing about our time in Cologne with the program. Both of us were in disbelief that the time had passed so quickly and that, 12 hours later, we would both be bound for our new homes.

View of the Cologne Cathedral and Hohenzollern Bridge, by night

I couldn't have asked for much more out of my stay in Cologne. I made some fantastic friends, laughed a lot, learned a lot, and have no regrets looking back. My first trip to Europe, my first encounter with German culture, was shaped by my time in Cologne. I enjoyed every second of it! Now it's on to the next adventure in Bonn!

China Fest, LD Haus, and Mundolingo

The day after our trip to the Pützchens Markt I made another bike ride to Bonn. The weather was absolutely perfect for a nice day trip. I made myself a big breakfast at the house before I left, relaxed for about an hour and then headed out. I've been able to shave off a few minutes on the hour ride every trip I make, but still I am trying to take in all of the scenery. Like I've mentioned before in previous posts, the bike path follows the curves of the Rhine river between Cologne and Bonn. Along the way I'll see a soccer field here and there, playgrounds with kids and parents, some small farms, and gardens. Here is a picture I took right outside of Bonn. I think it's a cabbage patch, but I'm not completely sure.

The ride is not the most photogenic I've ever taken, but when the weather is as perfect as it was this weekend, just being outside is good enough. The air was crisp and warm, and with a good pace the wind going against you makes for a perfect temperature. When I rolled into Bonn I spent some time just wandering around the city on my bike. I found it to be quaint, but inviting...if that makes sense. It seems just small enough for you to run into somebody you know at least once a day, but yet still large enough to keep me finding new things about the city for several weeks. I'm excited to move there and experience it all for myself. Before I left back for Cologne I stopped off at a cafe and ordered a huge bowl of granola with yogurt and fresh fruit. It was delicious! Luckily this cafe is right around the corner from my apartment so you might be hearing more about it in the blog in the future.

Later in the week my immersion class took a field trip to the LD Haus in Cologne, rich with German history from 1933-1945. It was definitely a heavy topic; being reminded of all of the terrible history of the Nazi time period in Germany is difficult to comprehend, but the trip was extremely informative. In my history classes in high school we learned a great deal about Germany during this time period, but for lack of sufficient time we don't go into all the specific details. Aided by a required presentation on one of the topics from the Haus, I came away with a deeper knowledge of the information. I messaged my former high school history teacher with pictures that I had taken at the Haus and information I had learned. She was very receptive to the new information and might be teaching it in her classroom this year when WWII comes up. Below is a picture of the actual haus.

Synthia posing in front of the Haus

A few days after the field trip to the LD Haus myself, Alan, and another one of our classmates, Saad, went downtown to the China Festival. The weather was rainy, overcast, and dull, so the turnout wasn't too great, but still we enjoyed a traditional Chinese dragon dance.

The dragons came down off the stage and wandered through the crowds, coming only a few feet away from me before heading back to the stage to complete the dance. Unfortunately the weather worsened a bit so we headed out before the festival ended.

Every Wednesday night in Cologne a large group of international students congregate at a bar downtown. The bar is off the beaten path a bit, which is good, because every Wednesday night the crowd is so large that the people flood out into the street talking and drinking. We all meet up for what is called "Mundolingo" and it is a really cool event. At the door to the bar is an attendant with a huge book of stickers of flags from over one hundred countries. When you walk up you ask for the flags of the countries whose languages you can or would like to speak in that night. You wear the flags in a column on your shirt, with the top most flag being your mother tongue. After that, it's simple--just walk around talking to people! It's a great opportunity to meet new people and practice your language with others. It's great for my German, and in return I get to help people improve their English (although to be fair everybody's English is really good). Everybody is really inviting and the atmosphere is really fun. I've met people from all over the world there and I've been marveled at how many languages some people can speak. Sometimes you'll just turn around and see someone wearing 7 flags and you just can't believe it.

Trip to the Pützchens Markt, Indiana Jones style

The weekend began with a haircut that had been postponed for about two weeks. I wouldn't really consider getting a haircut to be important or noteworthy enough for the blog, but I decided my first haircut story warranted a paragraph. I had been dreading going to the barber for a while, mostly because I was scared I was going to say the wrong thing in German and end up with something ridiculous and unwanted. I asked my host family for some tips and decided I would commit the necessary phrases to memory, just to be safe. I rode my bike around the village until I came across the shop my family told me about. I locked up my bike, headed inside, and took a seat. I was the fourth person in line so I took up a newspaper to read and patiently sat to be called. About 20 minutes later I got the nod. Heart racing, palms sweating, I muttered my phrase, "Alles kurzer"  (everything shorter). I could see she (obviously) knew what I was talking about, and I finally relaxed. But just to make sure she didn't ask me anything funny about the haircut, I closed my eyes, hoping to break any conversational commitments, until she finished. If I was going to be surprised with a weird cut, I was going to learn of it all in one, sweeping moment. 10 minutes later she was done. I opened my eyes, and everything looked fine. My anxiety in something so trivial was rooted in nothing once I (after-the-fact) realized she does this all day everyday and of course would know what I meant and wanted. It gave me a good laugh on my ride back to the house.

Later that day I met up with some of my classmates; we were heading to Bonn, a city about 20 minutes away by train, for the Pützchens Markt. This was essentially a big carnival (some could argue it a "State Fair" atmosphere) with rides, food, and games. Alan, Synthia, and I met with Madiha in Bonn about an hour before the sunset. This gave us the chance to see the carnival before all of the lights came on. We spent a good amount of time wandering around looking at all of the dinner possibilities including typical German sausages, smoked salmon, Chinese noodles, pizza, and more. After perusing the assortment of food stands, we made our way over to the rides, deciding that it would probably be best to eat after being thrown around by the rides.

Swinging carousel, 100 feet above the Markt

All four of us rode the swings, pictured above. We were able to look over the Ferris Wheel into the distance, seeing the city of Bonn. It was really nice. This ride also gave us the chance to see what other parts of the Markt we wanted to visit. We decided after this ride, though, to get some food. We decided on the typical German food, selecting bratwurst, currywurst, and reibekuchen. It was of course, all very delicious. The reibekuchen (essentially a large hashbrown) was served with apfelmuss (applesauce). I had never tried this combination of foods before, but it was very good!

Alan, myself, Synthia, and Madiha

Around 11 pm we decided to head back to the train station in order to catch our ride back to Cologne. Madiha parted ways with us, leaving the group to three. As Alan, Synthia, and I were approaching the ticket kiosk at the station, a fairly drunken man walked up to us, offering to sell us his last 3 train tickets back to Cologne for a reduced price. Alan and Synthia seemed skeptical of the deal, but for better or worse, I lent the man my attention. He showed us the tickets, which were oddly shaped and a bit torn at the top. I told him that these tickets were of an irregular format for a train ticket, but he explained to me that they were part of a ticket package with the Beethoven Music Festival, which had just ended an hour before. He lent me the ticket to validate, and sure enough, in what I could discern from reading the ticket, it appeared that this ticket offered the user admittance to the festival as well as a two-way train ticket to/from anywhere in the state. Alan and Synthia still seemed skeptical, but in my haste to save a few euros and save time before the train approached, I bought 3 tickets for the group. As soon as I paid, the man rushed away. Not a good sign, we thought. We saw him moments later on the other side of the station approaching travelers with what we thought to be the same spiel. 

"Didn't he just sell us his last 3 tickets?" 

"It's too late now, here comes the train, let's just get on."

We hopped on the train and immediately started thinking the worst. Sometimes in Germany you can get lucky on the trains by not having your ticket checked. Not every ride will have a "Controller" who walks around validating tickets. This is nice in the seldom moments when you have to take a train, but don't have the money or forgot your ticket at home (I will admit to 'free-riding' on a few occasions thus far). This was not one of those times. As soon as we stepped on we saw the Controller down at the other end of the cab. We started thinking about all that was wrong from that situation in the station: why was the man dressed in casual clothes if he said he came from a Beethoven concert, why did the man appear fairly drunken, and why was he talking to more people if we bought his last three tickets? If we were caught 'free-riding' we'd get stamped with a 40 euro fine and might get thrown out at some random station! 

It was the longest 20 minutes of my life.

We were frantically keeping tabs on the Controller's position. The Controller made it about halfway through the cab in 5 minutes (we are never gonna make it at this rate!) but then stopped in the mid-section for 10 minutes trying to herd a group of drunken men. With only 5 minutes left in the ride, Synthia decided she couldn't take it anymore and that we were all going to get out at the next stop, no matter where that might be. We left our seats and stood in front of the doors, ready to burst through them as soon as we stopped. The "Next Stop" sign lit up above our heads (We're gonna make it! We're gonna make it!) indicating West Cologne. We waited about 10 more seconds, but then we saw West Cologne wizzing by......NOOOO! Are you kidding me?! I think Synthia's heart just about leapt out of her chest at that one, but we were stuck, we were goners for sure, the Controller was making her way down the aisle now!  But wait! The "Next Stop" sign just lit up again...it was our stop! Only 20-30 more seconds 'til we are home free! But the Controller is three people away....two people.....no wait now there is only one person in between Synthia and the Controller!

-ding-ding-ding-

We might as well have kissed the ground at the train station for making it out alive. We joked later that the train ride alone was the biggest adrenaline rush of the night, more so than any of the rides from the Markt! Funny enough, by the time we made if out of the train we had absolutely no idea whether our tickets were valid or not; we never asked any of the fellow passengers to validate our tickets! I guess we were too scared to possibly hear bad news. We parted ways at the station, promising to bring our tickets to class the next day to see if our teacher could tell us if we were crazy or not. It was an action packed day and night and a story I won't be forgetting soon!

A Weekend in Hamburg Pt. II

When I flew out from the US at the end of July, I had made sure to pack many things from home with me. Some were pictures of family and friends, others were mementos from my first two years of college. Additionally, I had also packed away a large bottle of Tabasco and Tony's (previously mentioned in an earlier blog post) so I could give my host family a "taste" of where I'm from. I also flew over a pound of dried red beans because I knew I was going to want to cook my host family a meal representative of where I'm from! I talked to my family early on, telling them I wanted to do this sometime in the future before I moved out of the house at the end of September. For two weeks the meal kept getting postponed due to various reasons on both of our ends, but I finally got around to doing it! I was very excited to cook this for them. I wrote my grocery list on an index card and headed to the store. I had to buy a few things such as celery, onions, garlic, and sausage. Interestingly enough, it took me about one whole week to find celery! None of the grocery stores I went to sold it, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a farmer's market that was selling it. The onions and garlic were not a problem, but the sausage was. Germany is, perhaps, famous for its variety and consumption of sausages, but of course none of the choices at the market matched perfectly with the kind of spiced sausage I was accustomed to using. As an aside, none of the food here is as well seasoned as back home in Louisiana (more on this in a bit) so then again, maybe it wasn't all that surprising! I went and ahead and bought a few links which had "added seasoning," but really that just translated into mildly salty! Another one of the concessions I had to make for the meal was the side of cornbread. I enjoy eating my red beans and rice with cornbread (although I'm not against French bread) but there were no mixes to be found! I couldn't even find regular corn meal in the store, so I went ahead and bought a fresh baguette from the corner bakery. The bread turned out to be a fine addition to the meal. I followed all the steps from memory and the meal came out quite nice!

I brought out the Tony's for all to try. I was impressed--everybody took a few sprinkles of the seasoning for the meal. I also offered my Tabasco, but of course they had tried this before (I've noticed you can buy it here in the stores). I told my host family about the history of the meal and also the variants of the meal as served by different restaurants. My meal didn't turn out as "soupy" as I would have liked but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

A few days after serving my Southern meal I headed out to Hamburg for my "Weekend in Hamburg Pt.II." After spending the day playing tourist in Cologne with Pia, she mentioned to me that I should travel to Hamburg the next weekend to hang out with everybody before University started in October. She told me that everyone in the group will be going to different cities come October, and that this might be the last chance for a while to hang out together. She told me about a carpooling website in Germany, where the prices are generally half that of any train ride. I checked into the idea, and it seemed plausible! I booked a carpool ride for Friday mid-day, which would put me into Hamburg for dinner time. I also booked a return trip back via the Hamburg-Cologne Express train which would take about 4 hours.

Come Friday I met up with my driver and we headed out. I was excited to see Germany from the Autobahn's perspective because up until now everything I had seen had been from a railroad track. The drive to Hamburg was pretty hilly for a good bit. The countryside was great, and you would often see windmills off in the distance. I was dropped off in the outskirts of Hamburg and took a train into the city center where I would meet with Nic before heading to dinner.

Nic and I met up and headed to a burger restaurant around the block. We met up with Nic's cousin, Matti, who was stopping by before heading to the parkour gym for practice. Matti invited both of us to join, and of course we said "yeah!" Nic had already been a few times, but this was my first time. We wheeled out all of the equipment into the open gym, put down all of the crash pads and mattresses, and went to work. Many of the guys there were doing some really interesting moves; sometimes you'd turn your head and see some dude running at a full sprint, leaping off of a foot stool, and then flying 30 feet into the air into a pad. Crazy. Others were doing backflips off of walls. And then there was me. I went right in and asked one of the guys to teach me to do a front flip. It became my goal of the night to get that move down! Lo and behold, I did get it! Nic got it on video, but unfortunately I can't figure out how to upload it to the blog without it playing upside down. We went home around 11 exhausted and tired.

The weather in Hamburg, unfortunately, wasn't the best for my Pt.II adventure so a lot of the time was spent indoors listening to music and watching Youtube videos. I can't say it was a waste of time though, it was just nice to spend a weekend relaxing. Later in the night we would go out walking through the city, stopping here or there for a bite to eat or glass of beer or wine. On Sunday morning Nic and I met up with Tomma and Pia for an early breakfast. It was nice to catch up with everybody in the comfort of a warm cafe. After the meal we parted ways and I gathered my things for my return train ride back to Cologne. I got some reading done on the train ride back. Luckily it went by pretty fast.

I might not be visiting Hamburg again soon, but I'm thankful for the hospitality of my friends there. Next time I visit I'll hope to do some typical touristy things (good weather pending) and blog all about it.

Playing Tourist in Cologne and a Bike Tour to Bonn

Life continued on as normal the week following the discovery of the jazz club. For me this means 4 hours of immersion program per day, grabbing lunch with some classmates afterwards, and then (sometimes) participating in the "Activity of the Day" with the immersion program. This week was particularly sparse on account of additional German homework and exercises. Although, at the end of the week we had a going-away party for many students at the immersion program. A large group from Brazil had just wrapped up their 6 month program and would be leaving Cologne. On Friday we had a huge pot-luck dinner to celebrate, and everybody was encouraged to bring some type of food representative of their home country. I didn't have enough time to prepare a southern meal, so I settled with bringing my large bottle of Tony's and Tabasco. Both were hits but I did see an obvious decrease in the level of Tabasco when I went home that night! I think many people were reluctant to try Tony's, but the way I see, that's just more for me! I was able to sample food from all over the world, and it was all delicious.

I was looking forward to the weekend on account of a scheduled "Tourist Day" with a friend, Pia, whom I met while spending my first weekend in Hamburg. She was visiting Cologne for the weekend, so we decided to meet up and see some of the big attractions in the city.

Pia and I met up in front of the cathedral (after several minutes of scanning crowds of hundreds of people) and started the day off with seeing the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). I had not yet seen it and was eager to finally step inside. It was like stepping into a time machine. The space was so vast it was almost hard to comprehend. The architecture especially was unrivaled by anything I had ever seen before. The stained glass was astoundingly intricate, yet told a simple story at the same time. In sum, it was amazing to see! Pia and I just so happened to walk in during a mass which was open to the public. We stayed for a few minutes through several scriptures. At the conclusion of the scriptures, the organ player began a playing and soon the entire cathedral was enveloped with deep, airy, organ tones. The acoustics of the cathedral enhanced the power of the organ and made for a great 'performance.' 

We then stepped outside and decided to walk towards the Köln Triangle across the river. The roof of the building overlooks the city from the opposite side and made for some good picture opportunities. Here's a picture from the 28th floor of the Köln Triangle overlooking the Kölner Dom.

We then walked back across the river via the Hohenzollern Bridge and happened upon a Cologne tradition: the love locks. After a bit of reading on the internet, it seems that this tradition was born in Italy, but has some deep roots here in Cologne. The idea is that couples bring an engraved lock to the bridge, latch it onto a gate of the bridge, then throw the key into the river. One website says that an expert estimate of the weight of the locks sits around 2 tons! When walking, it was easy to estimate the number of locks into the tens of thousands. 

My day with Pia concluded with another visit to the Botanical Garden to see the titan arum, but this time in bloom. The weather was perfect for walking through the gardens and made for a nice wrap to the day. 

Later in the weekend I visited a used-bike market. Since arriving in Germany I had been looking for a bike to purchase as a means of transportation around the University and for weekend bike rides to other villages and towns. Luckily Cologne has a very organized market structure; every Saturday the used-bike market sets up shop in a different location and sells like-new bikes at discounted prices. I bought a road bike for a reasonable price and road it all the way home, 16 km, along the Rhine river. The next day I took the bike out for a 50 km round-trip ride to Bonn. When I left the house the sky looked overcast and gray, but I told myself it wouldn't rain. That was a mistake! About 30 minutes in the rain came down, not with intensity, but with persistence. It rained for the next hour and left me soaked to the bone. I rolled into Bonn wet, cold, and hungry. I found a little shop where I snacked on some currywurst and bread and then headed back to Cologne. Near the end of my ride I got lost because I had missed a necessary turn off of the river path. This led me to riding aimlessly through a deserted chemical facility (with giant silos and pipes crisscrossing the road), dragging my bike up a hill to the highway (which I thought would be promising, ended up not so), and ultimately riding around who knows where until I could catch my bearings. I rode until I found a gas station (thank god, civilization!) and bought a Snickers bar for some energy. Right near the gas station was the subway line connecting wherever I was to where I needed to go: home! I quickly found the on-ramp and waited out the subway. It rolled around the corner, I hopped on, and thirty minutes later I was at home, showered up, and eating dinner with the family. It was a bit distressing but all made for some good fun!