Kassel Trip #1

So October 31st is a holiday in Germany...not only is it Halloween but it is also Reformation Day, the day that marked the start of religious change in Germany. Because of this, I had a very long weekend. I don't have classes on Friday and October 31st fell on a Monday. So I had Thursday evening to Monday off! I decided to make an Ausflug (outing) to Kassel. Another participant from my program lives there so I had a reason to visit and a place to crash. You see, this whole CBYX program is actually a couch surfing program cleverly disguised as an exchange program. Haha nur ein Scherz (just kidding)! So yeah, I opted to go to Kassel for 4 days and spend Halloween there also. It takes about 4 hours and €19 to get there...not the cheapest or shortest trip but you save on money when you can crash at someone's house.

First of all, my friend that I was visiting lives in a Wohngemeinschaft (WG for short) which is a shared apartment. He has 6 other Mitbewohners (roommates)! When I first heard this, I was alarmed but when I arrived I realized it wasn't so bad. They each had there own large room and the bathroom was usually available when you needed it. It just worked out because all 7 people were just on different schedules so no one ever really found themselves fighting over the bathroom or what not. It just worked. All of his roommates were very nice and interesting. He lived at the top of this tall building so getting to his apartment took climbing a lot of stairs (and then you get to eat Nutella for doing it!). We left the apartment one morning and the sun was streaming through a window just beautifully in the stairwell. I just had to take a photo.

I known it seems by now that I am just a little obsessed with photos that capture sunlight...but my camera does it so well and the photos always look amazing. So I will not stop!

The first morning I woke up in Kassel, there was little time to relax. Me and my friend were on a mission. We were planning on carving pumpkins for Halloween so we had to get to the farmer's market to get the best pumpkins. We did end up getting the best pumpkins and later that weekend, ended up carving them on Halloween and making pumpkin soup with all of his other roommates. It was so much fun and kind of a blur. You see, all of his roommates helped so the soup was literally done by the time I finished carving my pumpkin. It was delicious and we ate it by the candlelight of our beautifully carved pumpkins.

My pumpkin!

There were also some other cool things going on in Kassel that weekend, there was a fair in town complete with Reisenrad (ferris wheel). There were also about a bazillion ladybugs in Kassel that weekend, some of which were black with red spots not red with black spots. So weird! Needless to say, that fair was the focal point of my weekend.

Reisenrad

One of the mutant ladybugs in question.

Kassel is also surrounded by many wonderful parks. One park is by this building called the Orangerie. The building is orangish so I can only imagine that Orangerie is a derivative of "orange" and "menagerie". The park that surrounds it is very beautiful. When you are in the park, you can't imagine that you are in a city. The park is just that big and beautiful.

The building at the end of this path is the Orangerie. 

On the second last day I was in Kassel we decided to go see Herkules (German spelling). It is the main tourist attraction in Kassel. It is this huge statue of Hercules at the top of this very large hill. It takes a bit of determination to get to the top but it is well worth it to see the view. It was also very foggy the day we went so Hercules was shrouded by fog almost the entire way up until we got to the top.

Paradise?

This is an aqueduct. In summer, it has water coming down it from a very old, still working aqueduct system.

Do you see the girl in white...she is taking wedding photos.

Herkules is way at the top of that point. He's hiding in the fog.

Almost there.

In summer, water also runs down this part of the aqueduct. They shut the water off in fall/winter to conserve water. It is also fed by the same very old aqueduct system.

By the time I returned home on Monday night (Halloween night) I had only gotten home in time to serve 3 Trick or Treaters. I felt kind of bad that I had missed all of them until I asked my host mom how many I missed. She said 3. So, on Halloween night only 6 small groups of kids came my house in Germany. You see, Halloween is fairly new in Germany and it is still catching steam. I think in a couple years it will be bigger. Also, yay for me for not putting one picture of myself in the post! The guy I visited in Kassel actually said something very funny once that was kind of true. He said "Your blog is full of pictures...but they are just pictures of yourself that just happen to have Germany in the background." Haha it is totally true...what can I say? I am a narcissist.

Dessau

Sachsen-Anhalt (the Bundesland that Magdeburg is in) is very tame. Not a whole lot to do but the other CBYX participant that lives in Magdeburg with me had the idea to go to Dessau for the day. My first questions was "What's in Dessau?" He said he didn't really know but that there must be something since it was one of the other "big" cities in Sachsen-Anhalt. Being a big city in Sachsen-Anhalt really isn't saying too much but I was willing to give it a try. Dessau is only one hour away from Magdeburg but all the other train stations on the way were really creepy looking. I'm talking run down and returning to earth. They all had broken windows and looked like they were no longer being used to contain people seeking warmth. They just looked abandoned. Upon mentioning this to my host sister, she said "Yeah...don't get off at those stops." I was a little scared after hearing this. So we went to this city...and, it turns out, it, indeed, does not have that much to do. We found a nice mall and a pretty neat town square. We also popped our heads into this neat looking restaurant in the town square. The door was open but no one was in it. We yelled "hallo" but no one answered so we left. Haha it was so weird and sketchy all at once. We were told to go to this place called the Bauhaus by people who we told we were going. It turns out this place is kind of a museum for architecture. I have no interest in architecture and neither did the other participant so we quickly left. Feeling pretty defeated we sluggishly made our way back to the main part of the city. On the way, however, we crossed paths with a sign for a Tiergarten (zoo). I immediately became very excited. I love animals and I love them even more when the are contained and can't run away from me. So we had stumbled upon this little gem in this seemingly boring city. I love finding gems. The Tiergarten was actually very beautiful and it was strange to think it was hidden away in this city that seemed so bland at first glance. The pictures below are from the photo shoot that followed the discovery of the Tiergarten.

Oh ya know, just putting some wood on the fire and making a meal. 

Creepiest/most beautiful face ever

"Here lives Teddy and Eika"

I love lichen (symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae) almost as much as I love Kate Winslet and Germany has the largest specimens I have ever seen.

Is this the road to my future? One way to find out.

Berlin Trip #1

As noted in the previous post, I have been lagging on my blog posts and, if you read the last post, you know why I have been lagging. So now, I am going to post about something that happened way back on Oct. 15th. I went to Berlin for the first time. Berlin is only 90 minutes away from Magdeburg by train so it is quite accessible for day trips or übernachten (overnighting). So me and another participant decided to go to Berlin the weekend of the Oct. 15th-16th. This weekend marked the beginning of the Berlin light festival when all the major monuments are lit up. Sounds great right? Well, we arrived early morning Saturday to meet another CBYX participant who was assigned to live in Berlin (lucky much?). So we had a free place to stay overnight which was great! While we were walking to where this participant lived I quickly noticed that the street we were walking on had special meaning to me. The road was named "Clayalle". That basically means "Clay Road". I was on my very own road in Berlin! What more could I ask for? Well apparently I could ask for there to be a dentist on this street with a sign shaped like a tooth with "Clayallee" written on it because that is what we found.

So we took a mini tour by foot through the city and see some stuff...one of which was the Ritter Sport store in Berlin. I was in heaven! It is a two-story building devoted to nothing but Ritter Sport! They had all kinds of Ritter Sport chocolate and merchandise. You could also make your own Ritter Sport bar out of your own ingredients. Me and my group just poked our heads in and didn't get to participate in any self-designed Ritter Sport making since the store was packed full of people. So after walking around Berlin a bit, night came and it was time to view the light festival in all of its glory. I think it was the first night the light festival was going on and I think Berlin was easing into it since I don't think nearly as many monuments were lit as should have been...but it was beautiful nonetheless. We went to the Brandenburg Tor and saw it in all its glory.

Side note! The Brandenburg Tor is right next to the hotel where Michael Jackson hung his baby out of the window to show his fans. It is the Adlon Hotel and if you need your memory jogged about the incident here is a complimentary photo for you. I really don't know what I was more excited about...seeing the Brandenburg Tor or seeing that darn hotel.

As we wondered away from the Brandenburg Tor we came across a small protest. I will let the picture below explain what it was about.

Yes, the "We Are The 99%" movement is in Europe

I almost forgot one major part of this story. I was nursing a minor eye infection this entire night. It came on very quickly. The morning we arrived in Berlin I was fine but by that same night things were coming out of my eye (just the right eye) that should not have been coming out of it. It really kind of put a damper on the night since one kind of needs eyes to see a light festival. Anyway, the whole night I kind of kept quite and kept to myself as I was feeling like a disgusting cesspool of disease. The whole night we were getting on and off of trains and I barely remember doing it since I kind of put myself into this "zombie" mode. I was so repulsed/worried about my eye that all I could do was walk with the others as not to be left in Berlin alone but what we were doing or where we were going was really not important to me. Not to fear though. I woke up the next morning and my eye was almost 100% better which was sad since I was really looking forward to going to the doctor in Germany. Haha. Anyway, there you have it. My first experience in Berlin was made of the stuff of dreams. One Michael Jackson hotel, one half-assed light festival, one Clayallee, and one oozing eyeball. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

If you look closely at my left eye, you can see how watery it is. Poor me.

War Sucks

Some of you may have noticed that it has been quite some time since I have posted a blog post. I have a reason for lagging on my posts though. Needless to say, Magdeburg is not my cup of tea and I have been a little "lack luster" since moving to Magdeburg. No drive to post about other good things that have been going on because Magdeburg has cast a storm cloud over my normally sunny disposition. Magdeburg is in former East Germany and, let's just say, I have another reason to hate WWII (as if there weren't enough). My reason being that WWII destroyed what Magdeburg used to be. Magdeburg used to be a wonderful, sprawling city that had the most church steeples in its skyline in all of Germany. It is said that Magdeburg would have become Germany's capitol city (instead of Berlin) were it not completely bombed in WWII. The entire city was bombed just a few short months before the war ended. Just think, it almost survived...almost. All the beautiful churches and old buildings were lost...save for a few buildings. One of these buildings just happens to be the Magdeburger Dom (cathedral). The reason this building was not bombed was because it served a purpose. This building was consciously not bombed because pilots needed a large, unmistakeable landmark to let them know what city they were bombing. The Magdeburger Dom served this purpose. So, although it still stands, the reason for its continued existence is a very sad one. Just think, this very old, grand building is only here today because it allowed pilots to know what city they were bombing. The cathedral also happens to be Germany's oldest Gothic cathedral. It is very dark and looming looking with very interesting gargoyles on the outside...some of the best I've seen so far.

Don't be mistaken though, it was THOUGHT that Magdeburg could have become Germany's capitol city a long time ago, but that doesn't mean it has become very large at all. The city is actually very small...really small. When you stand in the city center it seems as though it could be a large city but upon further exploration you find that the main parts of the city actually lay on just two main streets for a stretch of about 2 miles. When you venture past this area, it is difficult to find things of interest. Shops become sparse and all that you see are identical apartment buildings. Magdeburg was rebuilt, after it was bombed, while it was still under Soviet influence so it has very modern, square buildings with extremely wide streets. Sometimes I forget that I am in Germany and think I am in Russia sometimes. Not at all what you picture when you think about Germany...but it is a part of Germany. The problem continues though. Magdeburg has a real problem with shrinking population. Many children of native Magdeburgers will stay in Magdeburg until they are done with their studies and then they leave. This has resulted in Magdeburg having a decreasing population and we all know a city can't exist without inhabitants. So the moral of the story is that war sucks...really sucks. It sucks for many many reasons, one of which being that war can turn a beautiful riverside city like Magdeburg into an empty shell of what it used to be.

****Update. I maintained the original text of this post to serve as a reminder for me...this is also how I honestly felt at the time. The last few months I lived in Magdeburg, however, I really loved it. The city really came alive when spring came and I realized I had to look past the not so "pretty veneer of the city to see what the city had to offer me. I consider myself as one of the luckiest of the 75 2011-2012 CBYX participants because I got to have a truly unique experience in Germany by living in Magdeburg.****

Randoms #2

If you have been following this blog (and why wouldn't you?), you know by now that, every so often, I need to make a random post. These posts are full a pictures that tell a small story in themselves but do not warrant a blog post of their own. Therefore, I group them together in one big blog post. This was not the first blog post of this kind and it will not be the last. Enjoy!

Just some of the gang hanging out by a fountain. This was right before we toured the Fürstenberg Brauerei.

Anyone who knows me knows how amazing I think Kate Winslet is. I just couldn't escape her in Germany. There I was, minding my own business, and she found me!

This was a photo I took on the Helio Ship. It was just so quintessential Germany here. A beautiful lake with church steeple visible in the distance with a German flag blowing in the wind.

This was taken in front of a store in Ulm when we went to see the church. 

This was also taken in Ulm. When we had descended the church steps we wandered through the city and stumbled upon an international festival. I believe this was a Thai food booth. I saw this lady carving beautiful artwork out of fruit and just had to take a picture. 

I am almost as obsessed with argyle as I am with Kate Winslet. Just kidding. But seriously? I found an argyle house in Ulm! I wanted to wear it!

Ulm is a very interesting city which is why I have so many photos from there.  Someone in my group in Ulm spotted this on a house and I had to take a picture. It was situated on the house's roof. I can only speculate that it was there to ward off evil?

I know this photo has been done a million times but, when I saw the sunset, I just couldn't resist. This was taken after me and the other CBYXers had a fake Thanksgiving. You see, we will all be too far away from each other to see the entire group when the real Thanksgiving rolls around so we decided to have a make-shift Thanksgiving together at one of the participants' houses. When we were satt (full) we made our way to the nearby beach (which was, in fact, always near when you live on the Bodensee) and played on the playground. Natürlich!

This photo may seem familiar since it is the one you see when you first log onto this blog. This was also taken after our make-shift Thanksgiving. I decided to make it my blog photo because it represents what this journey is like. I am in Germany (as seen by the flag) and, although I am an important part of the big picture, I am, in the scheme of things, relatively small. 

What more is there to say. Swans at sunset. And yes, this is a real picture.

Yet more evidence that people are not that different from each other even if they come from other countries. Our defining characteristic? We all love a good deal! Or, in this case, cheap crap we don't actually need. This is a 1€ store in nearby Singen. Not everything was exactly 1€ but everything was pretty cheap. I bought some tupperware there. Three for 1€ baby! It made me feel like I was home.

I didn't really take too many pictures of Konstanz and I regret that. It is a very pretty city situated right on the Bodensee and it is very near to Radolfzell. I saw this and just had to have a picture of me on it. Who wouldn't want a picture of themselves on a metal 8-legged horse with corn-rows?

Axes for sale at Aldis. I mean, what more is there to say really? 

Me and a fellow CBYXer kissing a giant gnome at Konstanze Oktoberfest. That's an oxymoron isn't it? A giant gnome.

A Love Letter to Radolfzell am Bodensee

Okay. This post was way overdue but, theoretically, I couldn't post it until early October since this post is all about the beauty of Radolfzell and, trust me, it takes two full months to capture the beauty of Radolfzell. Not much to say about Radolfzell other than the fact that it is awesome! It is nestled right on the Bodensee (the largest lake in Germany) and is close enough to make day trips to a number of really great places (Ulm, Münich, Heidelberg, Stuttgart) and it is dangerously near the Swiss border. As much as I terribly miss this place, I realize that going back would not be the same. The 17 other CBYX participants that made it such a special place for me are not there anymore. Nevertheless, I would like to return someday to take a stroll through the Stadtgarten and Altstadt. I learned a lot there (some of it pertaining to Germany...some of it not). Anyway, no amount of words could do this place justice so I will just comment on the plethora of pictures I have put in this post. Enjoy!

Our beloved Bodensee swans. momma and baby. Also that statue was kind of
cool as well. When we got to Radolfzell, the guy's face was all you could see
and when we left you could see his entire body as the water level decreased.

I swear the bells form our church went off every 5 minutes, but it was welcomed. This was also where the farmer's market and most other events that Radolfzell had were held.

A fountain of Bishop Radolf of Verona, founder of Radolfzell. I owe him big time!

This is what I got to walk through every time I went to the train station...which was very often.

This photo and the photo directly above and the 5 photos below are of the Radolfzell city garden. It used to be the mote to the city but, when it was expanded, the mote was turned into a garden. Natürlich! The wall on the left side of the picture is the old city Mauer. 

This city is so beautiful, it makes me look good!

This is my beloved Carl-Duisberg Centren as seen from my equally beloved Stadtgarten.

The street I lived on. I lived about 200 feet from where this was taken.

This is the Stadtmuseum (city museum) where my host mom worked. Because of this, my host family's house was filled with old pictures of Radolfzell that I got to look at every day. Me and some other CBYXers also took the official tour through this place which also used to be the city's Apotheke (apothecary).

Ahhhhhh. What is there to say about Radolfzell's train station. Almost every memorable adventure we went on began on those very steps. "Nächste Halt Radolfzell".

This tower is also a part of the original city wall. As soon as you walked through that little doorway, you were officially in Altstadt Radolfzell.

To the untrained eye, this looks like a seemingly ordinary scene...but to the Radolfzell CBYX eye this was where we went almost every day between and after classes. we would buy something at Kaufland (which is just outside the picture) or Koch (spelled with a pretzel as an "o" apparently) and sit by this little fountain. We always wondered where the water came from but we can only assume it came from the Bodensee.

Another photo of my Stadtgarten. The the left is the old city wall.

This was not a rare occurrence in Radolfzell. This was what most of the nights on the Bodensee looked like.

Yes. Yes of course the Stadtgarten had fish in the pond. Why wouldn't it?

In closing, I would like to say, please remember me Radolfzell. You will always have a place in my heart.