So, I'm in Amsterdam, waiting on the train to Osnabrueck. My flight was early getting in, which I didn't know ever happened, so I've got tons of time to wander the vast hallways of Schipol airport. Unfortunately, everywhere smells like the tasty, fresh baked breads of the Italian, Dutch, German and French bakeries that are nestled between designer stores, and I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing in this airport I can eat besides BK french fries. I refuse, so I will sip on my Capri Sonne and bemoan my gluten intolerance instead.
My flights were great. I had lovely neighbors; on the flight from Jackson to Atlanta was an elderly lady going to her nephew's wedding in Wisconsin, and from Atlanta to Amsterdam was a man on his way home to Finland. He was absolutely fascinating--he worked for a chemical company that had him live for three weeks in Rome, Georgia, then go home for a week, for around six months. Before Rome, it was a town outside Leipzig, Germany (I have a post about Leipzig from last summer!), and,at one point, it was Japan. He's hoping next time for Thailand, and I don't blame him. That's a pretty sweet set-up, if you ask me.
Jan and I got to be pretty close, even though he didn't speak much English or any German and I speak absolutely no Finnish. He hasn't always worked with chemical production. Before that, he was a fashion designer. Random, right? He didn't really go into detail, though, because he got side-tracked by telling me about Finnish candy. Apparently, the Fins go cuh-razy for this candy called Salmiakki. He told me straight up I wouldn't like it, but that I could buy it in Germany if I wanted to try it anyway. Challenge accepted. He also told me about some other candy and how yummy it was, then pulled out a package of them and offered me one. He didn't mention that it had more menthol than a Hall's cough drop or that it left your sinuses in a post-wasabi like state. I apparently was quite amusing in my pain/ confusion because he would not stop laughing. Once I got used to the cool burn of whatever the hell that was, I really liked it, though.
As much it pains me to write this, especially I begin to drool from the scents of broetchen, I can't hate being gluten sensitive too much. My meals on the plane were awesome. For dinner, it was a salad in balsamic-vinaigarette, fresh fruit, chicken with rice pilaf and zucchini and a slightly sweetened rice cake, and, for breakfast, I had another one of the suuuuper yummy rice cake things, a banana and corn flakes. Simple? Yes. Better than all of the other food on the plane? By far.
And I've finally figured out how to get me to sleep on a plane. I stayed up suuuuper late on Wednesday night, then took Nyquil with dinner. I was out. Cold. So much so that I couldn't even take my own breakfast. Jan had to get it for me. But when I woke up, I was so rested. I know I'm going to PTFO tonight, but I don't feel like I have to worry about that happening on the train.
Now if only I could stop missing people so much.
Love,
Eli
22 June 2011
Rainy Daze
The weather is gloomy in Oxford today, meaning it is a perfect time to day dream about my adventures.
I leave a week from tomorrow and arrive a week from Friday. It's incredible--I can't believe I'll be back in Osnabrück, back at Bar Celona (my favorite bar/ restaurant) in just a few days. I've learned some about my homestay. I'll be living with two girls around my age. They have two cats, and both of them smoke. I'm kind of intimidated by the smoking aspect, as I've never been around cigarette smoke for a large amount of time, but my room will be smoke free, so I think I'll be okay. As for the cats, I'm so excited. Being around cats will help ease the pain of missing Nelson. I haven't been away from him for more than a week since I got him in August, and, for the vast majority of that time, he's slept in my bed and just generally been around me all the time.
I've started packing some. I want to be done by Monday, so I can make sure that I have everything I could ever possibly need. But I also need to be done packing because I have to be out of the apartment by the time I leave on Tuesday. I just can't believe it's already time for that. It seems like I was just moving out of the RC, and here I am moving out of my first apartment. Then, come August, I'll move into my first apartment by myself, with my own furniture and my own dinner plates from Anthropologie and my own grill, and I'll take upper level German and Spanish classes, a fiction writing class, a class on Tennessee Williams and one on constitutional law. And, in the mean time, I'll be living in an apartment in a foreign country with foreign roommates.
It just all feels so...strange. It's the life I've always wanted, and it's coming true.
I leave a week from tomorrow and arrive a week from Friday. It's incredible--I can't believe I'll be back in Osnabrück, back at Bar Celona (my favorite bar/ restaurant) in just a few days. I've learned some about my homestay. I'll be living with two girls around my age. They have two cats, and both of them smoke. I'm kind of intimidated by the smoking aspect, as I've never been around cigarette smoke for a large amount of time, but my room will be smoke free, so I think I'll be okay. As for the cats, I'm so excited. Being around cats will help ease the pain of missing Nelson. I haven't been away from him for more than a week since I got him in August, and, for the vast majority of that time, he's slept in my bed and just generally been around me all the time.
I've started packing some. I want to be done by Monday, so I can make sure that I have everything I could ever possibly need. But I also need to be done packing because I have to be out of the apartment by the time I leave on Tuesday. I just can't believe it's already time for that. It seems like I was just moving out of the RC, and here I am moving out of my first apartment. Then, come August, I'll move into my first apartment by myself, with my own furniture and my own dinner plates from Anthropologie and my own grill, and I'll take upper level German and Spanish classes, a fiction writing class, a class on Tennessee Williams and one on constitutional law. And, in the mean time, I'll be living in an apartment in a foreign country with foreign roommates.
It just all feels so...strange. It's the life I've always wanted, and it's coming true.
26 May 2011
Regrets, or "A New Beginning."
My blog has been pitifully abandoned, and for that, I am sorry. There was so much left to be told, and I've forgotten so much. Therefore, I am making a promise to the two people who read this (Hey, Mom and Dad!) to update at least once a week. I'd say more than that, but, come on. I know I'm not going to post something about a day when I sleep in and don't leave my room. No one wants to read that. Or write it, for that matter.
My trip has just been thrown together this year. I wasn't able to take Germ 304 because of my migraine, so I was encouraged to go to Germany to satisfy that credit and to brush up my German skillz to prepare myself for upper level classes and then a semester in the country. All good and well--I applied, got in, had a heart upon seeing the tuition in dollars instead of Euros...the usual. Then came time to buy plane tickets.
Booking flights is not pleasant for anyone, I don't think, except the CEOs who are raking in money like nobody's business. You can try online, but not all the flights are there. You can go to a travel site and end up flying Air Canada to Germany. You can spend hours on the phone with the airline directly AND work with your computer. I chose the third option. I had nothing to do that day except a chapter of geology, and, by damn, I was ready to buy my ticket to Germany. Many, many hours, transfers, menus and technicians (all with bouncing accents that led me to believe that their names were not "Pam" and "James"), I not only had no ticket, but also had become uncomfortably familiar with the hold music. I was at my wit's end. Why was there no way for me to fly out of the country's capital? Why did I have to ride the train for 6 hours to Amsterdam? Why does every flight have to suck so much? And what if they don't have gluten free meals? It took two more phone chats that began mid morning and ended in the early afternoon, but I finally got my damn ticket. The flights are decent--nothing too early or too late, no random connections in Kenosha, Wisconsin--and I was assured that the airline would (most likely) provide something gluten free (maybe).
I took a much-needed break from trip-planning after that; however, when I did start reading about where to stay and in which ho(s)tels to stay, I was immediately met with a problem. I was feeling especially continental as I read about a hostel in German, and I clicked the rates calendar. I typed in the dates we'd be staying there, how many people, what kind of room. An e-mail almost instantaneously arrived; turns out, it was thanking me for reserving with them and that they look forward to meeting me. Whoops.
So now I at least have something to show for my trip: plane tickets that aren't unbearable (but are free--thank you, Skymiles!), a meal to eat on the plane (maybe), and a reservation at a hostel I looked up because it has a bar and pretty bathrooms. This is shaping up to be an interesting trip.
Peace,
Eli
My trip has just been thrown together this year. I wasn't able to take Germ 304 because of my migraine, so I was encouraged to go to Germany to satisfy that credit and to brush up my German skillz to prepare myself for upper level classes and then a semester in the country. All good and well--I applied, got in, had a heart upon seeing the tuition in dollars instead of Euros...the usual. Then came time to buy plane tickets.
Booking flights is not pleasant for anyone, I don't think, except the CEOs who are raking in money like nobody's business. You can try online, but not all the flights are there. You can go to a travel site and end up flying Air Canada to Germany. You can spend hours on the phone with the airline directly AND work with your computer. I chose the third option. I had nothing to do that day except a chapter of geology, and, by damn, I was ready to buy my ticket to Germany. Many, many hours, transfers, menus and technicians (all with bouncing accents that led me to believe that their names were not "Pam" and "James"), I not only had no ticket, but also had become uncomfortably familiar with the hold music. I was at my wit's end. Why was there no way for me to fly out of the country's capital? Why did I have to ride the train for 6 hours to Amsterdam? Why does every flight have to suck so much? And what if they don't have gluten free meals? It took two more phone chats that began mid morning and ended in the early afternoon, but I finally got my damn ticket. The flights are decent--nothing too early or too late, no random connections in Kenosha, Wisconsin--and I was assured that the airline would (most likely) provide something gluten free (maybe).
I took a much-needed break from trip-planning after that; however, when I did start reading about where to stay and in which ho(s)tels to stay, I was immediately met with a problem. I was feeling especially continental as I read about a hostel in German, and I clicked the rates calendar. I typed in the dates we'd be staying there, how many people, what kind of room. An e-mail almost instantaneously arrived; turns out, it was thanking me for reserving with them and that they look forward to meeting me. Whoops.
So now I at least have something to show for my trip: plane tickets that aren't unbearable (but are free--thank you, Skymiles!), a meal to eat on the plane (maybe), and a reservation at a hostel I looked up because it has a bar and pretty bathrooms. This is shaping up to be an interesting trip.
Peace,
Eli
04 November 2010
02 September 2010
Home again, home again.
I'm really glad I've saved entries because my feet are starting to itch. Forget football season; I want to be back in Germany to see the leaves start to change and to snuggle under my duvet as the cool autumn air twists through the window. And to be in a city again! Oxford, although I love it, is stiflingly small.
But I guess the old saying is true, and that absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
Next up: Osna, then Amsterdam, then Culture Shock.
Peace
But I guess the old saying is true, and that absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
Next up: Osna, then Amsterdam, then Culture Shock.
Peace
19 July 2010
Dorm Life: Techno Musik, Sheep and Nudity
So, I promised an entry on Osnabruecker adventures, but, honestly, I don't feel like writing about those just yet. I fully intend to, however, as there are some interesting stories. What I really want to talk about is my living situation.
Initially, when they told us we were going to be living in a dorm, I was excited. Getting to know German students AND living on campus? It sounded so kick ass. They forgot to mention a few details, though, in our information briefings/ packets/ emails. For example, because dorms are a relatively new idea in Germany, oftentimes they aren't that close to the University, which is the case for ours. It's actually kind of nice, as the area where the University is located is the center of the city and can be a bit loud. But it sucks when you really want to go back and take a nap during lunch, as it takes an hour to get to the dorm and back to the classroom.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned was that are dorms were co-ed. Not the Mississippi version of co-ed, but all the way co-ed, including bathrooms. I didn't know this, so imagine my surprise when I see a dude walking out of the stall as I entered. Besides this encounter, though, I've hardly see anyone in the bathroom, let alone a boy, so it's cool. Besides, the Germans, who love their rules, have the bathrooms labeled with signs. You can only "pee standing" in the first stall.
While we're talking about bathrooms, I must tell you about our toilet paper. First off, it's brown and scratchy, but whatever. It's not that bad. What's bad is that they pretty much ration it. Apparently we get 18 rolls per month, and, if we use that up, we don't get any more until the next month. It sucks, especially since I don't know where to buy toilet paper in Osnabrueck, and I certainly didn't pack any.
Enough about the bathrooms, though. There's a vending machine with beer in it. Seriously. In a college dorm, they make beer easily acceptable. There's also a cigarette machine, and you can smoke almost everywhere. The TV room has ashtrays, the halls smell like smoke, and, everytime I go into the kitchen, there's someone leaning out the window with a Lucky Strike. Oh, and you can smoke in your room, too, although they don't seem to encourage this, as they don't put ashtrays in the rooms.
The students in our dorm are big partiers, or maybe it's just because we're here at the beginning of their summer break. Whichever. These kids have been partying a lot. Saturday night, they threw someone a birthday party in the student bar (!), which happens to be two floors below my room. The techno music blasted until two or three in the morning, and I mean blasted. My iPod was turned up all the way to soothing, let's-go-to-sleep music, but I could still hear the steady beat and electronic sound of the techno version of Happy Birthday. And they come in at all hours of the night, talking and singing and--you guessed it--playing techno in their cars.
I've decided that it's actually not that loud, really, and that it's just that my window is open in hopes of catching a breeze. I can hear the most obscure things, like sheep baa-ing. Not kidding. The first time I heard the sheep, I thought it was fake, a ring tone or some stupid toy. Wrong. There's a sheep farm in front of our dorm. With actual sheep. And we're in the middle of the city. My mind is blown every time I hear the wooly animals, who quite often are the reason I wake up from afternoon naps. Sheep can be loud.
As for my room, it looks like something straight out of a 1990 Ikea catalog. I love it, though. It's so German. And I don't have a roommate, which has been so awesome. It's not that I would mind living with someone. It's just that it has been so damn hot here, and there's no air conditioning. I don't even have a fan anymore (see Goettingen). So, in the intense heat, sleeping in anything at all, even Nike shorts and a t-shirt, is too much. Without a roommate, I can be naked all the time, which is so awesome. Although, as it cools down some, I'm enjoying snuggling up in my comforter and falling asleep cozy. It makes me think of Mississippi and the beauty of air conditioning.
So that's my experience with German dorm life thus far. It's been interesting. There have been days when I hated it, when I wanted nothing more to move back to our hotel in Leipzig that had air conditioning and not leave until it's time to go to Amsterdam. But overall, it's been hella fun. Write to you soon about Osnabrueck and our excursions.
Peace,
Elizabeth
Initially, when they told us we were going to be living in a dorm, I was excited. Getting to know German students AND living on campus? It sounded so kick ass. They forgot to mention a few details, though, in our information briefings/ packets/ emails. For example, because dorms are a relatively new idea in Germany, oftentimes they aren't that close to the University, which is the case for ours. It's actually kind of nice, as the area where the University is located is the center of the city and can be a bit loud. But it sucks when you really want to go back and take a nap during lunch, as it takes an hour to get to the dorm and back to the classroom.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned was that are dorms were co-ed. Not the Mississippi version of co-ed, but all the way co-ed, including bathrooms. I didn't know this, so imagine my surprise when I see a dude walking out of the stall as I entered. Besides this encounter, though, I've hardly see anyone in the bathroom, let alone a boy, so it's cool. Besides, the Germans, who love their rules, have the bathrooms labeled with signs. You can only "pee standing" in the first stall.
While we're talking about bathrooms, I must tell you about our toilet paper. First off, it's brown and scratchy, but whatever. It's not that bad. What's bad is that they pretty much ration it. Apparently we get 18 rolls per month, and, if we use that up, we don't get any more until the next month. It sucks, especially since I don't know where to buy toilet paper in Osnabrueck, and I certainly didn't pack any.
Enough about the bathrooms, though. There's a vending machine with beer in it. Seriously. In a college dorm, they make beer easily acceptable. There's also a cigarette machine, and you can smoke almost everywhere. The TV room has ashtrays, the halls smell like smoke, and, everytime I go into the kitchen, there's someone leaning out the window with a Lucky Strike. Oh, and you can smoke in your room, too, although they don't seem to encourage this, as they don't put ashtrays in the rooms.
The students in our dorm are big partiers, or maybe it's just because we're here at the beginning of their summer break. Whichever. These kids have been partying a lot. Saturday night, they threw someone a birthday party in the student bar (!), which happens to be two floors below my room. The techno music blasted until two or three in the morning, and I mean blasted. My iPod was turned up all the way to soothing, let's-go-to-sleep music, but I could still hear the steady beat and electronic sound of the techno version of Happy Birthday. And they come in at all hours of the night, talking and singing and--you guessed it--playing techno in their cars.
I've decided that it's actually not that loud, really, and that it's just that my window is open in hopes of catching a breeze. I can hear the most obscure things, like sheep baa-ing. Not kidding. The first time I heard the sheep, I thought it was fake, a ring tone or some stupid toy. Wrong. There's a sheep farm in front of our dorm. With actual sheep. And we're in the middle of the city. My mind is blown every time I hear the wooly animals, who quite often are the reason I wake up from afternoon naps. Sheep can be loud.
As for my room, it looks like something straight out of a 1990 Ikea catalog. I love it, though. It's so German. And I don't have a roommate, which has been so awesome. It's not that I would mind living with someone. It's just that it has been so damn hot here, and there's no air conditioning. I don't even have a fan anymore (see Goettingen). So, in the intense heat, sleeping in anything at all, even Nike shorts and a t-shirt, is too much. Without a roommate, I can be naked all the time, which is so awesome. Although, as it cools down some, I'm enjoying snuggling up in my comforter and falling asleep cozy. It makes me think of Mississippi and the beauty of air conditioning.
So that's my experience with German dorm life thus far. It's been interesting. There have been days when I hated it, when I wanted nothing more to move back to our hotel in Leipzig that had air conditioning and not leave until it's time to go to Amsterdam. But overall, it's been hella fun. Write to you soon about Osnabrueck and our excursions.
Peace,
Elizabeth
14 July 2010
Hamburg, and Why Waffle House Sucks.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been so busy with class and getting settled, and somehow, no matter how much time I seem to have, it just evaporates in this unairconditioned heat and leaves me sleeping. Anyway, at the urging of several friends, I will now recount my tales regarding Hamburg
We headed to Hamburg a day early because of the intense heat and lack of things to do in Goettingen. After we checked into the hotel, we went to the Rathaus. It is so, so gorgeous. I felt like I was walking through a palace. Or a Vegas hotel. Whichever. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the pedestrian zone in front of our hotel, and I was given a rose by the waiter at the end of our meal. We walked around for a while after that, around the lake nearby and through the streets lined with gorgeous buildings. Hamburg is so, so beautiful. I almost didn't want to go back. I wanted to keep walking and to see everything in the city.
The next day we went down to the harbor. It was a really lazy day, just walking up and down, and stopping for fish and chips for lunch. We headed back to the hotel early, though, because that night we had tickets for Der Koenig der Loewen, or the German version of The Lion King on stage. It was phenomenal. The theatre is on the opposite side of the harbor, so you have to take a boat to this massive metal theater. We got there really early, so we sat outside and watched the ships come and go. The play didn't disappoint, either. The music is overall the same, although in German. And the costumes! Ahhh. It was such a good show.
We met up with Jake the next day, and just kind of wandering throughout Hamburg and caught up on all things America and FIFA related. After lunch, we headed to the Reeperbahn, which is the big party street in Hamburg. It was tame when we were there--after all, it was only the early afternoon. Anyway, it has this vibe to it that reminded me of Bourbon Street, but if it was in New York. Our adventures there were uneventful. We discovered that Jim Bean sells mixed drinks in a can--the perfect whiskey and coke, available at your local doener shop/ grocery store. They also sell champagne in a can, a discovery which is right on up there with the Kinder Surprise for me. We managed to stumble upon one of the places The Beatles used to play/ live, which was a nice surprise.
Our last day in Hamburg was spent wandering through the warehouse city on one of the hottest days in my memory. I loved walking through that area, but ended up with a migraine from the heat, and headed back to the hotel to nap and pack. We had dinner that night in the pedestrian zone again, although this time we opted for a typical German restaurant.
There were quite a few recurring topics of discussion throughout our stay in Hamburg, one of which was waffles. We were three weeks into the trip and would have done some horrible things for an American breakfast. It got to the point that I searched waffles in Hamburg, to no avail. However, it occured to me that Waffle House has one of the best (aka most likely to clog your arteries) breakfast spreads in the world. We figured that there had to be a Waffle House in Germany. Wrong. I was so disappointed.
I have since then had a waffle, thanks to my sweet travel companion, who bought waffles and syrup upon our arrival in Osnabrueck. I'll tell you of my more recent adventures soon, although they are admittedly a bit boring, as we've not been doing too much due to the heat.
Peace,
Eli
We headed to Hamburg a day early because of the intense heat and lack of things to do in Goettingen. After we checked into the hotel, we went to the Rathaus. It is so, so gorgeous. I felt like I was walking through a palace. Or a Vegas hotel. Whichever. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the pedestrian zone in front of our hotel, and I was given a rose by the waiter at the end of our meal. We walked around for a while after that, around the lake nearby and through the streets lined with gorgeous buildings. Hamburg is so, so beautiful. I almost didn't want to go back. I wanted to keep walking and to see everything in the city.
The next day we went down to the harbor. It was a really lazy day, just walking up and down, and stopping for fish and chips for lunch. We headed back to the hotel early, though, because that night we had tickets for Der Koenig der Loewen, or the German version of The Lion King on stage. It was phenomenal. The theatre is on the opposite side of the harbor, so you have to take a boat to this massive metal theater. We got there really early, so we sat outside and watched the ships come and go. The play didn't disappoint, either. The music is overall the same, although in German. And the costumes! Ahhh. It was such a good show.
We met up with Jake the next day, and just kind of wandering throughout Hamburg and caught up on all things America and FIFA related. After lunch, we headed to the Reeperbahn, which is the big party street in Hamburg. It was tame when we were there--after all, it was only the early afternoon. Anyway, it has this vibe to it that reminded me of Bourbon Street, but if it was in New York. Our adventures there were uneventful. We discovered that Jim Bean sells mixed drinks in a can--the perfect whiskey and coke, available at your local doener shop/ grocery store. They also sell champagne in a can, a discovery which is right on up there with the Kinder Surprise for me. We managed to stumble upon one of the places The Beatles used to play/ live, which was a nice surprise.
Our last day in Hamburg was spent wandering through the warehouse city on one of the hottest days in my memory. I loved walking through that area, but ended up with a migraine from the heat, and headed back to the hotel to nap and pack. We had dinner that night in the pedestrian zone again, although this time we opted for a typical German restaurant.
There were quite a few recurring topics of discussion throughout our stay in Hamburg, one of which was waffles. We were three weeks into the trip and would have done some horrible things for an American breakfast. It got to the point that I searched waffles in Hamburg, to no avail. However, it occured to me that Waffle House has one of the best (aka most likely to clog your arteries) breakfast spreads in the world. We figured that there had to be a Waffle House in Germany. Wrong. I was so disappointed.
I have since then had a waffle, thanks to my sweet travel companion, who bought waffles and syrup upon our arrival in Osnabrueck. I'll tell you of my more recent adventures soon, although they are admittedly a bit boring, as we've not been doing too much due to the heat.
Peace,
Eli
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