30.6.06
Konstanz, day one.
Getting to Konstanz was crazy. We were finally getting used to the train system, so we braved the first weekend expedition will little trepidation. We planned out the trains to where we only had to switch twice and the longest trip was on the nicest type of train on the Eurail, the ICE. It's generally the only kind with air conditioning and actual leg room!
So we get up and get to the train station in the Schwä (( as we now fondly call our Gmünd )) at about 9:15. Trains run perfectly -- we didn't miss any and all were on time. However, there was a little confusion on where we were at certain points. We knew that we were supposed to get off the ICE in Singen. Listening to the announcements of the stops -- which, in itself, was a luxury not found on many of the other trains -- only piled on more confusion. Apparently, every stop in the vicinity of Singen sounded like Singen over the loud speaker. So we spent a fair amount of time standing near the exit, hoping not to miss the stop we needed. Everything wound up well, and we arrived in Konstanz without any problems.
At this point, I guess I ought to mention the problems I've been having with my foot / ankle. Namely, I don't know what the problems are. My foot has been swollen for a couple of weeks now and, after walking on the field trips and around the Schwä, my ankle also became swollen. Luckily, the plan was to take it easy this weekend in Konstanz. So, inside the bahnhof is a little store. We go in, buy a map, and try desperately to locate the street on which the hostel I had information about is. Sadly, I don't really know how long a kilometre is, so I had no idea how far or how close it was, even after finally finding the street (( that, in itself, was quite a feat )). Before heading out completely, we stop by the tourist information center and try to find if there is anything to actually do in Konstanz or if we were just going to laze around. Basically, all I learned was that there was a "SeaLife" museum-thing and approximately a million and a half castles.
Then we started the magical trek to our hostel. Who would have thought that, after the marktplatz, the town goes uphill? Or that the most direct route to the hostel would be over 2.5 miles? Or that it would be extremely hot? I had to stop a few times because of my foot. When we found the street where our hostel was located, we noticed that it also headed uphill at a steep angle. We brave it as it seems to take an hour to climb, and then it dead ends. Interestingly enough, it dead ends into a cemetery. On the right was what appeared to be a prison with a huge tower attached to it. We check the map several times to make sure we're on the right street and whatnot, and eventually decide to ask around. The problem with this: pretty much no one at the top of the street knew English. Finally, we find one woman who points to the prison-like thing and says "Place for youngsters".
We decide this must be the hostel and start walking toward it. The nearer we get, the louder we hear the shouts and laughs of children. It takes us over an hour to check in to the hostel, and meanwhile they pile fees upon deposits upon more fees and deposits. When we're finally done, we feel like we've given them almost all of our money. On top of that, they put me in a room on the 5th floor of the tower and Luke in a room just outside of the lobby. Oh, I forgot to mention that there were about 150 kids staying in the hostel (( by kids I mean less than 10 years old )). All of whom were really loud.
The winding stairs up the tower were horrible. Each step was about 10 inches above the previous, the steps were about 18 inches wide and about 5 inches deep. All in all, that equals bad design. And then, add on the kids running up and down the halls and yelling. After braving the stairs and putting my stuff away, we decided to see if there was anywhere in the town where we could stay for cheaper. Now that we knew the distance and terrain, we decided to try out the bus system. While waiting at the nearest stop, an old woman with a small dog (( I think a bichon frise )) came up and started looking at the bus schedule and talking to us in German. I explain that we don't speak German, so she asks if we speak English. I'm excited that she does, but as soon as I tell her that we do, she starts complaining about how Americans think they can go anywhere in the world and everyone will just speak English for them. I then have to apologize for all Americans, and she soon forgives us all. She asks us where we are staying, and we tell her about the hostel but how we're looking for somewhere else. She tells us that there is a hotel somewhere down the road and writes down for us how to ask if they have any vacancy. She explains that she cannot go with us because she has an excursion the next day and she has to get to the bahnhof by 7:30 AM (( over 12 hours from then )).
As we start to head in the direction she told us, she decides to take us there. She tells us that she can't go in and talk to us because of her excursion. At about this point we realize that she is speaking to us in English, herself in German, and her dog (( Poopie )) in French. When we get to the hotel (( not really that far, but not up that mountain to the tower )), we thank her for her help and say good-bye. She begins to leave, and then runs into the hotel. She shouts back to us that she just saw a sign that said there was a vacancy, so she was going in to ask them how much it was. (( I realize that the story might be getting a little confusing now, but just understand this old lady is crazy and it should all work out for you )). She talked to them and found out that one woman there spoke a little English and that the rooms were about the same price as the hostel rooms, but there were no fees or deposits to worry with. And it was nicer. And it had a biergarten right below it, so we didn't have to search for somewhere to eat dinner.
So, on the prompting of the crazy lady, we went back to the hostel. We told them that we had to leave and got our money back. We went back to the hotel, settled in, and had dinner. Dinner was really good. At one point, we were asking the waitress what putenfleishe was, and her response was "It's like chicken, but it's not chicken. I don't know the word." We later learned that puten was turkey. So we had some tasty putenfleishe schnitzel and took a walk around the park.
So we get up and get to the train station in the Schwä (( as we now fondly call our Gmünd )) at about 9:15. Trains run perfectly -- we didn't miss any and all were on time. However, there was a little confusion on where we were at certain points. We knew that we were supposed to get off the ICE in Singen. Listening to the announcements of the stops -- which, in itself, was a luxury not found on many of the other trains -- only piled on more confusion. Apparently, every stop in the vicinity of Singen sounded like Singen over the loud speaker. So we spent a fair amount of time standing near the exit, hoping not to miss the stop we needed. Everything wound up well, and we arrived in Konstanz without any problems.
At this point, I guess I ought to mention the problems I've been having with my foot / ankle. Namely, I don't know what the problems are. My foot has been swollen for a couple of weeks now and, after walking on the field trips and around the Schwä, my ankle also became swollen. Luckily, the plan was to take it easy this weekend in Konstanz. So, inside the bahnhof is a little store. We go in, buy a map, and try desperately to locate the street on which the hostel I had information about is. Sadly, I don't really know how long a kilometre is, so I had no idea how far or how close it was, even after finally finding the street (( that, in itself, was quite a feat )). Before heading out completely, we stop by the tourist information center and try to find if there is anything to actually do in Konstanz or if we were just going to laze around. Basically, all I learned was that there was a "SeaLife" museum-thing and approximately a million and a half castles.
Then we started the magical trek to our hostel. Who would have thought that, after the marktplatz, the town goes uphill? Or that the most direct route to the hostel would be over 2.5 miles? Or that it would be extremely hot? I had to stop a few times because of my foot. When we found the street where our hostel was located, we noticed that it also headed uphill at a steep angle. We brave it as it seems to take an hour to climb, and then it dead ends. Interestingly enough, it dead ends into a cemetery. On the right was what appeared to be a prison with a huge tower attached to it. We check the map several times to make sure we're on the right street and whatnot, and eventually decide to ask around. The problem with this: pretty much no one at the top of the street knew English. Finally, we find one woman who points to the prison-like thing and says "Place for youngsters".
We decide this must be the hostel and start walking toward it. The nearer we get, the louder we hear the shouts and laughs of children. It takes us over an hour to check in to the hostel, and meanwhile they pile fees upon deposits upon more fees and deposits. When we're finally done, we feel like we've given them almost all of our money. On top of that, they put me in a room on the 5th floor of the tower and Luke in a room just outside of the lobby. Oh, I forgot to mention that there were about 150 kids staying in the hostel (( by kids I mean less than 10 years old )). All of whom were really loud.
The winding stairs up the tower were horrible. Each step was about 10 inches above the previous, the steps were about 18 inches wide and about 5 inches deep. All in all, that equals bad design. And then, add on the kids running up and down the halls and yelling. After braving the stairs and putting my stuff away, we decided to see if there was anywhere in the town where we could stay for cheaper. Now that we knew the distance and terrain, we decided to try out the bus system. While waiting at the nearest stop, an old woman with a small dog (( I think a bichon frise )) came up and started looking at the bus schedule and talking to us in German. I explain that we don't speak German, so she asks if we speak English. I'm excited that she does, but as soon as I tell her that we do, she starts complaining about how Americans think they can go anywhere in the world and everyone will just speak English for them. I then have to apologize for all Americans, and she soon forgives us all. She asks us where we are staying, and we tell her about the hostel but how we're looking for somewhere else. She tells us that there is a hotel somewhere down the road and writes down for us how to ask if they have any vacancy. She explains that she cannot go with us because she has an excursion the next day and she has to get to the bahnhof by 7:30 AM (( over 12 hours from then )).
As we start to head in the direction she told us, she decides to take us there. She tells us that she can't go in and talk to us because of her excursion. At about this point we realize that she is speaking to us in English, herself in German, and her dog (( Poopie )) in French. When we get to the hotel (( not really that far, but not up that mountain to the tower )), we thank her for her help and say good-bye. She begins to leave, and then runs into the hotel. She shouts back to us that she just saw a sign that said there was a vacancy, so she was going in to ask them how much it was. (( I realize that the story might be getting a little confusing now, but just understand this old lady is crazy and it should all work out for you )). She talked to them and found out that one woman there spoke a little English and that the rooms were about the same price as the hostel rooms, but there were no fees or deposits to worry with. And it was nicer. And it had a biergarten right below it, so we didn't have to search for somewhere to eat dinner.
So, on the prompting of the crazy lady, we went back to the hostel. We told them that we had to leave and got our money back. We went back to the hotel, settled in, and had dinner. Dinner was really good. At one point, we were asking the waitress what putenfleishe was, and her response was "It's like chicken, but it's not chicken. I don't know the word." We later learned that puten was turkey. So we had some tasty putenfleishe schnitzel and took a walk around the park.
29.6.06
Field trip to Ludwigsburg
This wasn't really one of my field trips, but I was allowed to go along with Dr. Norwood's travel writing class. The main thing in Ludwigsburg is the gigantic palace in the center of town. We took a tour and had another great tour guide. Everything is orderly and measured precisely in the palace. This very much exemplifies some of the stuff about Neo-classicism that we are reading about in the Lit class; they harkened back to the idea of reason governing everything, and thus things needed to be symmetrical and perfect. The front apartments of the palace were all arranged in a line and, from one end to the other, the span was exactly 100 meters. The palace is a mirror image with a perfect line of symmetry right down the middle.
I took lots and lots of pictures. So many that I ran out of room on my memory card (( and hadn't thought to bring the other one just in case )), so I'm going to have to get some from some other people that were there too.
It was particularly interesting that there were two churches in the palace. This is because the duke and the land were both Protestant, and then a new Catholic duke came into power. He converted the old church into a Catholic church. Later, another Protestant duke came into power and he built the second church onto the palace instead of yet-again renovating. So, due to the passage of time between the two constructions, they had extremely different aesthetics. One was neat and clean and orderly, while the other exemplified the Baroque movement with (( what I consider to be )) too much ornate decor crowding the walls and ceilings.
The train ride back was interesting. Luke and I were the only students going back from the trip to Schwäbisch Gmünd, so the two of us ended up talking with Dr. Norwood and Dr. Johnson the whole time. It's really funny because, in many ways, Dr. Norwood is like a student here, too. He speaks some German, but not much. He's been to Germany, but not for a very long time. However, Dr. Johnson lived here quite recently (( from what I can tell )) and is pretty well fluent in the language.
I took lots and lots of pictures. So many that I ran out of room on my memory card (( and hadn't thought to bring the other one just in case )), so I'm going to have to get some from some other people that were there too.
It was particularly interesting that there were two churches in the palace. This is because the duke and the land were both Protestant, and then a new Catholic duke came into power. He converted the old church into a Catholic church. Later, another Protestant duke came into power and he built the second church onto the palace instead of yet-again renovating. So, due to the passage of time between the two constructions, they had extremely different aesthetics. One was neat and clean and orderly, while the other exemplified the Baroque movement with (( what I consider to be )) too much ornate decor crowding the walls and ceilings.
The train ride back was interesting. Luke and I were the only students going back from the trip to Schwäbisch Gmünd, so the two of us ended up talking with Dr. Norwood and Dr. Johnson the whole time. It's really funny because, in many ways, Dr. Norwood is like a student here, too. He speaks some German, but not much. He's been to Germany, but not for a very long time. However, Dr. Johnson lived here quite recently (( from what I can tell )) and is pretty well fluent in the language.
28.6.06
Second day of class
Today we had our midterm exam in the Literature class. Yes, it is the second day. But the reasoning is that, if we did the reading before the trip, we could easily pass this test. Dr. Norwood said he didn't want us brooding in our rooms all day and night trying to read for his class while we could be enjoying Germany. After all, you could just wait and take this course in the fall back in Georgia if that's all you really want.
These class days are pretty slow days. Mostly we just hang out and take the opportunity to go to the stores. The main store that's nearby is the NORMA. It's a small (( i.e., very small )) grocery store with a beverage store attached to it. Because the Germans drink so much bottled water, half of the beverage store is just different brands and kinds of water. I've learned something that is integral to my survival here: Wasser Ohne Kohlensäure. Kohlensäure gass is a carbonation used in drinks, and most people here assume that you want the "bubbly water" when you just ask for "wasser". The bubbly water (( Wasser Mit Kohlensäure )) is not that bad, but it's not refreshing. After I drink it, it seems I'm more thirsty than before. This is not so great when I've spent all day hiking around a town. Plus, I don't really think I want something that sounds like colon-sour gas in my water.
These class days are pretty slow days. Mostly we just hang out and take the opportunity to go to the stores. The main store that's nearby is the NORMA. It's a small (( i.e., very small )) grocery store with a beverage store attached to it. Because the Germans drink so much bottled water, half of the beverage store is just different brands and kinds of water. I've learned something that is integral to my survival here: Wasser Ohne Kohlensäure. Kohlensäure gass is a carbonation used in drinks, and most people here assume that you want the "bubbly water" when you just ask for "wasser". The bubbly water (( Wasser Mit Kohlensäure )) is not that bad, but it's not refreshing. After I drink it, it seems I'm more thirsty than before. This is not so great when I've spent all day hiking around a town. Plus, I don't really think I want something that sounds like colon-sour gas in my water.
27.6.06
Pictures
http://community.webshots.com/user/alpinesummer
This is a link to a place where I'm uploading a lot of my pictures. It's slow-go, but I've got up through the Stuttgart trip. I know, I know, not very much, but I have to find the time where I have a computer available and I don't have something else I have to do. None of the pictures have been cropped or edited yet. But at least you get an idea of how many pictures I've actually taken.
This is a link to a place where I'm uploading a lot of my pictures. It's slow-go, but I've got up through the Stuttgart trip. I know, I know, not very much, but I have to find the time where I have a computer available and I don't have something else I have to do. None of the pictures have been cropped or edited yet. But at least you get an idea of how many pictures I've actually taken.
Field trip to Tübingen
Where we go on field trips seems to be ever-changing. For this first trip, Dr. Norwood decided to conduct a joint field trip with Dr. Johnson's Nazi State course. This was actually a really good idea, because Dr. Johnson lived in Tübingen for a year, so he knows his way around the town and also, and more importantly, knows the rail system like the back of his hand. All in all, between the two classes, all but three of our students were on the trip to Tübingen; the others went to Ulm with the German language class.
The day started with a walk to the Schwäbisch Gmünd train station. Everyday I learn that this town is a lot bigger than I think it is. The walk was about 35 minutes, with no stops. When we get to the station, we notice huge groups of small children gathered around a few adults every here and there. Dr. Johnson explained that Germany has a year-round school system and that today was a field trip for them, too. The train was backed with children and others. Our group wound up scattered over about 10 or 12 cars, which made some of us pretty nervous. We knew (( i.e. thought )) we were supposed to get off at Stuttgart, but no one was really sure where we were at any given time. In the end, it was no problem; all got off at the right stop.
While on the train, a little girl named Gina taught me how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors (( or Paper, Scissors, Rock )): Blat, Schere, Undt. I'm not at all sure about the spelling of those, I'll look it up later.
We ate lunch at a gorgeous biergarten right on the river / creek / some small body of water. It was the first place where I got tap water for free! Yay for free water! I don't know why they all drink bottled water; maybe it's for business, maybe convenience. Dr. Noll said that the tap water here is probably even cleaner than most of the bottled water, and my experience thus far has corroborated. For lunch, Luke and I shared a biergartenbrezel (( giant pretzel )) and an ofenkartoffel (( baked potato )) with some sort of sour cream sauce and chives. It was all very good.
The real reason we were in Tübingen was Hölderlin. We visited both his tower (( outside )) and his grave. When we first arrived in Tübingen, it began to rain. It was miserable, but it cleared up soon. The dark sky and the wet feeling around us fit perfectly for talking about Hölderlin -- he spent the last 36 years of his life in Tübingen, schizophrenic and depressed. At his grave, we observed it silently for a while, and then read his poem, "Brevity" aloud. According to the marker, we missed the anniversary of his death by 9 days.
We had a little bit of a hard time trying to find his tower, partly because it's poorly marked and partly because we had split up from Dr. Johnson's group at the beginning of the cemetery -- they were there to see things related to the war. But, going past the tower gave us a good opportunity for a group shot of our class. On the way back, I noticed a little sign poking out of a hedge about 10 feet off the ground where "rlinhaus" was visible. When we got closer, we saw that it indeed pointed us where we wanted to go. We weren't able to enter it; I think they offered tours but the next one wasn't until after we had to leave.
Tübingen's environment was different than anywhere else I'd been so far in Germany. Everyone seemed to move a little slower; the pace was more relaxed. Dr. Norwood said that this was because it's an intellectual center and a university town. While most Americans associate being in college with being in a fast-paced environment where you have to fight to keep up, this seems to be reversed here. Their education is so important to them that they enjoy slowing down to take it more seriously. It's a refreshing view on something that hits so close to home for me. I always feel like I'm running in place with school. Instead of seeing the pro-side to school in the end, when opportunities arise for employment, they take advantage of every step and enjoy it along the way.
The day started with a walk to the Schwäbisch Gmünd train station. Everyday I learn that this town is a lot bigger than I think it is. The walk was about 35 minutes, with no stops. When we get to the station, we notice huge groups of small children gathered around a few adults every here and there. Dr. Johnson explained that Germany has a year-round school system and that today was a field trip for them, too. The train was backed with children and others. Our group wound up scattered over about 10 or 12 cars, which made some of us pretty nervous. We knew (( i.e. thought )) we were supposed to get off at Stuttgart, but no one was really sure where we were at any given time. In the end, it was no problem; all got off at the right stop.
While on the train, a little girl named Gina taught me how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors (( or Paper, Scissors, Rock )): Blat, Schere, Undt. I'm not at all sure about the spelling of those, I'll look it up later.
We ate lunch at a gorgeous biergarten right on the river / creek / some small body of water. It was the first place where I got tap water for free! Yay for free water! I don't know why they all drink bottled water; maybe it's for business, maybe convenience. Dr. Noll said that the tap water here is probably even cleaner than most of the bottled water, and my experience thus far has corroborated. For lunch, Luke and I shared a biergartenbrezel (( giant pretzel )) and an ofenkartoffel (( baked potato )) with some sort of sour cream sauce and chives. It was all very good.
The real reason we were in Tübingen was Hölderlin. We visited both his tower (( outside )) and his grave. When we first arrived in Tübingen, it began to rain. It was miserable, but it cleared up soon. The dark sky and the wet feeling around us fit perfectly for talking about Hölderlin -- he spent the last 36 years of his life in Tübingen, schizophrenic and depressed. At his grave, we observed it silently for a while, and then read his poem, "Brevity" aloud. According to the marker, we missed the anniversary of his death by 9 days.
We had a little bit of a hard time trying to find his tower, partly because it's poorly marked and partly because we had split up from Dr. Johnson's group at the beginning of the cemetery -- they were there to see things related to the war. But, going past the tower gave us a good opportunity for a group shot of our class. On the way back, I noticed a little sign poking out of a hedge about 10 feet off the ground where "rlinhaus" was visible. When we got closer, we saw that it indeed pointed us where we wanted to go. We weren't able to enter it; I think they offered tours but the next one wasn't until after we had to leave.
Tübingen's environment was different than anywhere else I'd been so far in Germany. Everyone seemed to move a little slower; the pace was more relaxed. Dr. Norwood said that this was because it's an intellectual center and a university town. While most Americans associate being in college with being in a fast-paced environment where you have to fight to keep up, this seems to be reversed here. Their education is so important to them that they enjoy slowing down to take it more seriously. It's a refreshing view on something that hits so close to home for me. I always feel like I'm running in place with school. Instead of seeing the pro-side to school in the end, when opportunities arise for employment, they take advantage of every step and enjoy it along the way.
26.6.06
First day of class
O, the horror! Unfortunately, I don't get to traipse around Germany every day of this trip. I'm here to take a class or some crazy thing like that. I wish I could just tell Dr. Norwood, "Actually, I think I'm just going to go roam the countryside today, OK? Classes are for losers." But at least the course I'm taking is something I like. Literature!!
Honestly, the class isn't bad. It's just like a normal literature class, with a few exceptions: 1) The class is tiny. I think there are eight students. 2) Not everyone is a Lit major. In fact, I'm pretty sure Luke and I are the only Lit majors in the class. 3) When we look out the window, we don't see CSU. WE SEE GERMAN HILLSIDE. (( and some construction work, but I think we can overlook that )). The class is really relaxed; it's interesting because we're talking about books, plays, poems, and stories that we've already read. Usually you run into "Well, I read part of it, but I'll read the rest before the test." That's great and all, but the test is in week one.
For seemingly the first time, I'm able to put the stuff I've learned to use. I'm able to answer the questions about the literary eras and styles, etc. It seems like I should have been able to do that sooner, but no one really asks "What is the Romantic period all about?" in Romantic British Lit. I mean, that's what the class is.
Friendships are really starting to develop. As one person noted, "the battle lines have been drawn." OK, nothing that dramatic, but the groups are pretty obvious. To be blunt, Group A is "Frat boys that like to get really drunk and loud every night and the girls that love them," or for short, "the drunks". Group B is "People who have better things to do than get really drunk and loud every night". There are a few people that kind of hang out in the middle, but the best part about it is that no one is mean or rude to anyone else -- we just don't really care to hang out together.
Since today was the least eventful but most relaxed day so far, I want to talk about slumpf (( long U sound )). While we were at the ice cream shop in Schwäbisch Hall yesterday, we took some time to examine the flavours. Some were obvious, some became so after a little bit of guesswork / asking someone who has taken a German class for help. The man working the shop didn't speak any English, so he wasn't much help in the translations. But, after all, we deciphered all but one flavour: next to a tub of bright blue ice cream, in big bold letters, was the word SLUMPF. No one was quite adventurous enough to ask for it. But then . . . since Luke had only had one scoop the first time, while most of us had two, he went back to try this mysterious slumpf. Most all of us in our group had a try of it. I thought it tasted like blue raspberry candy. One guy was sure it was bubble gum. Someone else offered cotton candy. Luke declared that it tasted like slumpf. Nothing was definitive other than our liking of the word.
This afternoon, curiosity got the best of us. At lunch, Philip asked Dr. Noll what the word meant. What we learned confirmed what most people thought but no one was brave enough to suggest: a slumpf is a smurf. The ice cream is a flavour simply meant to entice kids and is a vague sweet candy taste. Apparently the slumpfs are popular here, so the blue ice cream is a big seller with the children. Also, smurf-flavoured ice cream is very amusing.
Honestly, the class isn't bad. It's just like a normal literature class, with a few exceptions: 1) The class is tiny. I think there are eight students. 2) Not everyone is a Lit major. In fact, I'm pretty sure Luke and I are the only Lit majors in the class. 3) When we look out the window, we don't see CSU. WE SEE GERMAN HILLSIDE. (( and some construction work, but I think we can overlook that )). The class is really relaxed; it's interesting because we're talking about books, plays, poems, and stories that we've already read. Usually you run into "Well, I read part of it, but I'll read the rest before the test." That's great and all, but the test is in week one.
For seemingly the first time, I'm able to put the stuff I've learned to use. I'm able to answer the questions about the literary eras and styles, etc. It seems like I should have been able to do that sooner, but no one really asks "What is the Romantic period all about?" in Romantic British Lit. I mean, that's what the class is.
Friendships are really starting to develop. As one person noted, "the battle lines have been drawn." OK, nothing that dramatic, but the groups are pretty obvious. To be blunt, Group A is "Frat boys that like to get really drunk and loud every night and the girls that love them," or for short, "the drunks". Group B is "People who have better things to do than get really drunk and loud every night". There are a few people that kind of hang out in the middle, but the best part about it is that no one is mean or rude to anyone else -- we just don't really care to hang out together.
Since today was the least eventful but most relaxed day so far, I want to talk about slumpf (( long U sound )). While we were at the ice cream shop in Schwäbisch Hall yesterday, we took some time to examine the flavours. Some were obvious, some became so after a little bit of guesswork / asking someone who has taken a German class for help. The man working the shop didn't speak any English, so he wasn't much help in the translations. But, after all, we deciphered all but one flavour: next to a tub of bright blue ice cream, in big bold letters, was the word SLUMPF. No one was quite adventurous enough to ask for it. But then . . . since Luke had only had one scoop the first time, while most of us had two, he went back to try this mysterious slumpf. Most all of us in our group had a try of it. I thought it tasted like blue raspberry candy. One guy was sure it was bubble gum. Someone else offered cotton candy. Luke declared that it tasted like slumpf. Nothing was definitive other than our liking of the word.
This afternoon, curiosity got the best of us. At lunch, Philip asked Dr. Noll what the word meant. What we learned confirmed what most people thought but no one was brave enough to suggest: a slumpf is a smurf. The ice cream is a flavour simply meant to entice kids and is a vague sweet candy taste. Apparently the slumpfs are popular here, so the blue ice cream is a big seller with the children. Also, smurf-flavoured ice cream is very amusing.
25.6.06
Rothenberg & Schwäbisch Hall
Another full day of touring. First, breakfast, which was basically the same as the day before. Then, we headed to Rothenberg, which was a longer trip than I had anticipated. We talked a lot on the bus -- a lot of us are really getting along, which is good. We're all going to be together for 5 weeks, we should get along. I was really afraid that I wasn't going to get along with anyone (( I'm always worried about that )).
Rothenberg is amazing. It's also a tourist area. We had another great tour -- this one all on foot, because Rothenberg's supposed to be car-free from 11 AM - 4 PM (( though it's not )). It's been practically untouched since the start of the Enlightenment. I don't know how towns like that get left behind, but it was really pretty. We saw a lot of half-timbered houses, which is the stereotype of German houses (( i.e. Helen, Georgia )). I learned that, if the timbers have lots of notches cut into them, that means that it was once plastered over. Thinking that it was more aesthetically pleasing, many people would build their houses and shops half-timbered, but would cover them in plaster. The notches were cut so that the plaster would adhere better to the wood.
Rothenberg is picturesque. They still have most of their old walls, and other parts have been rebuilt over the years. The palace church is absolutely gorgeous -- the guide said that you have to make reservations a year in advance to get married in the church, it's in such high demand.
St. Jacob's / St. James' cathedral is there, which is fascinating for many reasons: 1) The carving of Moses on the roof has horns. This is one of the famed horned Moseses that suffered from the problems in translating "horned" for "crowned", considering they apparently come from the same Hebrew word (( correct me if I'm wrong, all you Hebrew scholars )). 2) There is a huge carving outside of the agony, which is behind bars. 3) Inside, the alter is one of controversy. The painting is of the Last Supper, where Jesus is telling them that one of his disciples will betray him. In this particular image, Judas is already holding a moneybag, indicating that it has been done. All the disciples have looks of horror or surprise on their faces, except for John. John is lying, peacefully asleep, across Jesus' lap. The biggest controversy is that Judas is pictured in the center of the painting, and many people see / saw that as heresy. However, the artist created Judas on a removable, separate piece, so that he could be removed completely from the picture. The removable of Judas also allows one to see John more clearly, and note his calm expression.
The original gate of Rothenberg still stands. "The eye of a needle," as in the thing through which a camel will pass before a rich man will go to heaven, is part of an old gate, not the literal thing through which a thread must pass before a seamstress can work. The gate is at least 15 feet high and was closed every night at dark. If you were a citizen or a welcome visitor who arrived after the fall of darkness, you had to be admitted through the eye of the needle, a very small door in the center of the gate.
Outside of the palace garden was a perfect place to take pictures -- the city is long and thin and curves around to form a backward C, though not with so sharp of turn. The palace gardens are on one end of the end, on the inside. Therefore, looking out, you can see the other side of town as well as landscape.
Apparently, the medieval times were all about torture. An ancient polizei building is now used as a kriminalmuseum, a place dedicated to torture. For only a few Euros, you can tour the museum, which is about 6 or 7 stories high (( and low, several of the floor I'm counting were below ground )). As one of the guys from our group commented, it seemed like it would be hard NOT to get tortured back then. They had a dunking cage for bakers who cheated their customers out of bread weight (( thus began the "bakers' dozen" -- a baker would go ahead and give another piece, lest his bread be deemed underweight )), shame masks for anyone who committed minor crimes (( anywhere from gossiping to adultery to just "acting like a pig" )), an iron maiden (( they have determined that the spikes were a 19th century addition and it was only used as punishment for young women, not death, in the medieval period )), etc. Also, interestingly enough, if a man were to be seen getting beat up by his wife, the town would unroof his house. The logic was that a man that was weak enough not to be able to defend himself against a woman did not deserve to be shielded from the wind and weather. Do remember that this is a place where it snows heavily.
After adventuring through Rothenberg, we headed to Schwäbisch Hall, which is a tiny ancient town that is not a tourist attraction. We walked through a lot of the town. We didn't have a tour guide, but Dr. Noll told us a bit about the town. There is an island just off of the mainland, in a river, that is mainly a park. They have a miniature Globe Theatre, and they had some sort of musical festival going on while we were there. This is also where many of us tried German ice cream for the first time. German ice cream is wonderful -- I dare say it's better than American ice cream! It's icier than American ice cream, but creamier than an Italian ice. It's also cheap -- 1 scoop (( not like a Bruster's scoop, but probably the kind you'd scoop for yourself at home )) in a cone is 0,60 Euro. Even in American money, that's still only about $0.80.
After walking all day when it was hotter than anticipated, a lot of us were wanting to go swimming. So, we inquired about the pool in Schwäbisch Gmünd when we got onto the bus. So, on our way back to the Universitätspark, we swung by the pool to get some information about it. It's pretty cheap, but not free. And, by the time we got all the way back home, none of us really felt like swimming anymore. I guess the bus cooled us off a lot and the amount of walking we did all day finally kicked in.
We were on our own for dinner for the first time in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Luke and I walked down to the Kebaphaus, which is actually a Turkish restaurant. There we tried to order, but the man didn't understand us. He didn't know any English, so we looked for someone around that could at least help us enough to order. Unfortunately, the menu was stuck to the outside wall and we couldn't just point to what we wanted. One guy indicated that he knew a little English, but we never heard him order for us or anything; he just told us to sit down outside and wait 20 minutes. Utterly confused and not entirely sure that we were even getting food, we did as we were told. Less than 5 minutes later, the man from the restaurant flagged us and pointed to the food. Each of our pita-type sandwiches was listed as 5,50 Euro on the menu, so Luke handed him 11,- Euro. The man gave him back the 1,- Euro coin and then changed the 10,- for a 5,-. Confused, we assumed that he just thought Luke was paying for his own, so I tried to hand him 5,50. He refused, shooed us away and pointed at the food and shooed us again. So we took the food and started eating, thinking that maybe somehow we had offended him by not knowing German or something. Later, he came outside and told us, in German, that England had won the soccer game with a score of 1-0, and that Beckham had kicked the ball. At least, that's the best I could understand. I guess he assumed we were British because we were speaking English, so we tried to tell him that we're from America. He didn't care about that, and just wanted to tell us about the game.
[This is supposed to be an arrow. Oh well.]
|
\|/ Owen
V
Rothenberg is amazing. It's also a tourist area. We had another great tour -- this one all on foot, because Rothenberg's supposed to be car-free from 11 AM - 4 PM (( though it's not )). It's been practically untouched since the start of the Enlightenment. I don't know how towns like that get left behind, but it was really pretty. We saw a lot of half-timbered houses, which is the stereotype of German houses (( i.e. Helen, Georgia )). I learned that, if the timbers have lots of notches cut into them, that means that it was once plastered over. Thinking that it was more aesthetically pleasing, many people would build their houses and shops half-timbered, but would cover them in plaster. The notches were cut so that the plaster would adhere better to the wood.
Rothenberg is picturesque. They still have most of their old walls, and other parts have been rebuilt over the years. The palace church is absolutely gorgeous -- the guide said that you have to make reservations a year in advance to get married in the church, it's in such high demand.
St. Jacob's / St. James' cathedral is there, which is fascinating for many reasons: 1) The carving of Moses on the roof has horns. This is one of the famed horned Moseses that suffered from the problems in translating "horned" for "crowned", considering they apparently come from the same Hebrew word (( correct me if I'm wrong, all you Hebrew scholars )). 2) There is a huge carving outside of the agony, which is behind bars. 3) Inside, the alter is one of controversy. The painting is of the Last Supper, where Jesus is telling them that one of his disciples will betray him. In this particular image, Judas is already holding a moneybag, indicating that it has been done. All the disciples have looks of horror or surprise on their faces, except for John. John is lying, peacefully asleep, across Jesus' lap. The biggest controversy is that Judas is pictured in the center of the painting, and many people see / saw that as heresy. However, the artist created Judas on a removable, separate piece, so that he could be removed completely from the picture. The removable of Judas also allows one to see John more clearly, and note his calm expression.
The original gate of Rothenberg still stands. "The eye of a needle," as in the thing through which a camel will pass before a rich man will go to heaven, is part of an old gate, not the literal thing through which a thread must pass before a seamstress can work. The gate is at least 15 feet high and was closed every night at dark. If you were a citizen or a welcome visitor who arrived after the fall of darkness, you had to be admitted through the eye of the needle, a very small door in the center of the gate.
Outside of the palace garden was a perfect place to take pictures -- the city is long and thin and curves around to form a backward C, though not with so sharp of turn. The palace gardens are on one end of the end, on the inside. Therefore, looking out, you can see the other side of town as well as landscape.
Apparently, the medieval times were all about torture. An ancient polizei building is now used as a kriminalmuseum, a place dedicated to torture. For only a few Euros, you can tour the museum, which is about 6 or 7 stories high (( and low, several of the floor I'm counting were below ground )). As one of the guys from our group commented, it seemed like it would be hard NOT to get tortured back then. They had a dunking cage for bakers who cheated their customers out of bread weight (( thus began the "bakers' dozen" -- a baker would go ahead and give another piece, lest his bread be deemed underweight )), shame masks for anyone who committed minor crimes (( anywhere from gossiping to adultery to just "acting like a pig" )), an iron maiden (( they have determined that the spikes were a 19th century addition and it was only used as punishment for young women, not death, in the medieval period )), etc. Also, interestingly enough, if a man were to be seen getting beat up by his wife, the town would unroof his house. The logic was that a man that was weak enough not to be able to defend himself against a woman did not deserve to be shielded from the wind and weather. Do remember that this is a place where it snows heavily.
After adventuring through Rothenberg, we headed to Schwäbisch Hall, which is a tiny ancient town that is not a tourist attraction. We walked through a lot of the town. We didn't have a tour guide, but Dr. Noll told us a bit about the town. There is an island just off of the mainland, in a river, that is mainly a park. They have a miniature Globe Theatre, and they had some sort of musical festival going on while we were there. This is also where many of us tried German ice cream for the first time. German ice cream is wonderful -- I dare say it's better than American ice cream! It's icier than American ice cream, but creamier than an Italian ice. It's also cheap -- 1 scoop (( not like a Bruster's scoop, but probably the kind you'd scoop for yourself at home )) in a cone is 0,60 Euro. Even in American money, that's still only about $0.80.
After walking all day when it was hotter than anticipated, a lot of us were wanting to go swimming. So, we inquired about the pool in Schwäbisch Gmünd when we got onto the bus. So, on our way back to the Universitätspark, we swung by the pool to get some information about it. It's pretty cheap, but not free. And, by the time we got all the way back home, none of us really felt like swimming anymore. I guess the bus cooled us off a lot and the amount of walking we did all day finally kicked in.
We were on our own for dinner for the first time in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Luke and I walked down to the Kebaphaus, which is actually a Turkish restaurant. There we tried to order, but the man didn't understand us. He didn't know any English, so we looked for someone around that could at least help us enough to order. Unfortunately, the menu was stuck to the outside wall and we couldn't just point to what we wanted. One guy indicated that he knew a little English, but we never heard him order for us or anything; he just told us to sit down outside and wait 20 minutes. Utterly confused and not entirely sure that we were even getting food, we did as we were told. Less than 5 minutes later, the man from the restaurant flagged us and pointed to the food. Each of our pita-type sandwiches was listed as 5,50 Euro on the menu, so Luke handed him 11,- Euro. The man gave him back the 1,- Euro coin and then changed the 10,- for a 5,-. Confused, we assumed that he just thought Luke was paying for his own, so I tried to hand him 5,50. He refused, shooed us away and pointed at the food and shooed us again. So we took the food and started eating, thinking that maybe somehow we had offended him by not knowing German or something. Later, he came outside and told us, in German, that England had won the soccer game with a score of 1-0, and that Beckham had kicked the ball. At least, that's the best I could understand. I guess he assumed we were British because we were speaking English, so we tried to tell him that we're from America. He didn't care about that, and just wanted to tell us about the game.
[This is supposed to be an arrow. Oh well.]
|
\|/ Owen
V
24.6.06
Stuttgart, pre-game
The first full day in Germany was definitely full! Breakfast started at 8:30, which certainly wasn't a problem given that I went to bed at about 10 the night before. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs (( not usually a fan, but these were great )), bacon, an assortment of cheeses, and about a thousand types of bread from which you could choose, along with a tiny toaster in case you prefer your breads toasted. It was quite good. I've never been a breakfast person, but I really enjoyed breakfast.
We left soon after breakfast for Stuttgart. We took the same bus again. On our way into the city, we passed by the new Daimler-Chrystler museum, as well as the World Cup Stadium (( this may not be its name, but that's what everyone was calling it )). When we got into town, we picked up our tour guide, who was an extremely nice German lady. She rode around with us for about an hour and half, telling us about a lot of buildings and some town anecdotes. After that, we all got out for the walking portion of the tour. We had to detour quite a bit because Stuttgart was an absolute mess. Later that day, Germany was playing in the World Cup, and everyone seemed to have amazing amounts of Deutsche pride. People were holding their own little parades down the streets, singing and whistling about Deutscheland. Also, there were, at that point, about 75,000 British visitors in the town. By the next afternoon, they were expecting another 25,000, at the least. England was playing IN Stuttgart the following night. In fact, that night, 380 English visitors were arrested. The British players actually arrived while we were there, and they had already planted a British flag outside the hotel by the time we'd passed by. David Beckham is really well-liked here, as well. The tour guide indicated that most of the people standing outside the train station for the arrival of the players were really waiting for him.
After the tour, Luke, Philip, and I found somewhere to eat, and I had something amazing -- it was a wrap with chicken, corn, and cucumber. I generally don't eat cucumber, but it was very good. Also, there was some sort of cheese stuffed into the center of the wrap itself. The best part was that it was only a few Euros, and it was definitely enough to fill me up. I have learned, however, that any water you order is bottled water and, therefore, is not free. After eating, we walked around the town a bit. We tried to stay out of the city center mostly, because that's where the most people were. It was incredible to see all the people's pride and excitement for their team, but I'm glad I wasn't staying long. Before we left, I checked out a candy store, where I got some gummy citrus fruit things; they were a lot like the little cheap candy orange slices in America, but they were much tastier and less chewy. Also, I got a big bar of puffed rice covered in chocolate. It reminds me of a Crunch bar (( given the ingredients, of course )), but there is less chocolate and more rice. The woman in the store was very nice and said she knew just a little English; she told me that the white stuff in the bar was "puffed mice".
After Stuttgart, we were all pretty exhausted. We ate a sack dinner of sandwich (( I pulled the ham off )), yogurt, carbonated apple juice, and an apple. I haven't had any problems dining here, yet, and I hope I don't.
I want to talk about the plumbing and electricity here, because it's different than back home. The showers are interesting; they might be quite different in a private home than a dorm environment, but they're still not like in America. There is a single knob that controls the water -- the farther left you turn it, the hotter the water gets. There is uniform water pressure, so that's not controlled by hand. The shower head is a round thing that sticks out from the wall. It sprays downward with extreme pressure, although the head has about a million tiny holes to disperse it. What eventually hits you is a mist -- light enough so that you don't feel pelted, but somehow heavy enough to actually clean you.
Toilets are another story. The "wasserclosets" consist of a toilet which immediately looks very different than those at home. The entire thing is lower than American toilets, and there is no standing water in the bowl. Instead, there is a shelf in the bowl, which catches everything. When flushing, a fast heavy flow of water washes everything down beneath a little trapdoor that harkens back to a motorhome toilet. If the water does not do the job completely, you are responsible for brushing it and flushing again. Each little stall is equipped with its own little brush.
Electricity is a different issue. I knew that the electrical outlets are of a different voltage and shape than those at home. After buying my voltage converter and adaptors, I expected there would be no problem. Unfortunately, there was. American appliances, as I assume most do, run on different wattages. Because they are packaged for specific regions, they interact seamlessly with the outlets of that region. My convertor allows for two wattage settings -- "low" for 0-25 and "high" for 25+. Ok, this should be easy. I look at my battery charger. Listed as 35 watts. I try it on the low setting, just to be sure. It doesn't work, so I take the next logical step and try the high setting. For a moment, there is a slight buzzing sound and then a pop! and I have no more battery charger. The poor thing doesn't work on any setting. Same problem with my hair straightener -- it tries very hard to work on the low setting, but buzzes on the high. I didn't want to take a chance and unplugged it completely before it popped too. I don't know that it would, but it's better safe than sorry. Luckily, my DS charger works beautifully on low, and Luke's computer, because of the brick, doesn't require the convertor at all -- just the adaptor.
We left soon after breakfast for Stuttgart. We took the same bus again. On our way into the city, we passed by the new Daimler-Chrystler museum, as well as the World Cup Stadium (( this may not be its name, but that's what everyone was calling it )). When we got into town, we picked up our tour guide, who was an extremely nice German lady. She rode around with us for about an hour and half, telling us about a lot of buildings and some town anecdotes. After that, we all got out for the walking portion of the tour. We had to detour quite a bit because Stuttgart was an absolute mess. Later that day, Germany was playing in the World Cup, and everyone seemed to have amazing amounts of Deutsche pride. People were holding their own little parades down the streets, singing and whistling about Deutscheland. Also, there were, at that point, about 75,000 British visitors in the town. By the next afternoon, they were expecting another 25,000, at the least. England was playing IN Stuttgart the following night. In fact, that night, 380 English visitors were arrested. The British players actually arrived while we were there, and they had already planted a British flag outside the hotel by the time we'd passed by. David Beckham is really well-liked here, as well. The tour guide indicated that most of the people standing outside the train station for the arrival of the players were really waiting for him.
After the tour, Luke, Philip, and I found somewhere to eat, and I had something amazing -- it was a wrap with chicken, corn, and cucumber. I generally don't eat cucumber, but it was very good. Also, there was some sort of cheese stuffed into the center of the wrap itself. The best part was that it was only a few Euros, and it was definitely enough to fill me up. I have learned, however, that any water you order is bottled water and, therefore, is not free. After eating, we walked around the town a bit. We tried to stay out of the city center mostly, because that's where the most people were. It was incredible to see all the people's pride and excitement for their team, but I'm glad I wasn't staying long. Before we left, I checked out a candy store, where I got some gummy citrus fruit things; they were a lot like the little cheap candy orange slices in America, but they were much tastier and less chewy. Also, I got a big bar of puffed rice covered in chocolate. It reminds me of a Crunch bar (( given the ingredients, of course )), but there is less chocolate and more rice. The woman in the store was very nice and said she knew just a little English; she told me that the white stuff in the bar was "puffed mice".
After Stuttgart, we were all pretty exhausted. We ate a sack dinner of sandwich (( I pulled the ham off )), yogurt, carbonated apple juice, and an apple. I haven't had any problems dining here, yet, and I hope I don't.
I want to talk about the plumbing and electricity here, because it's different than back home. The showers are interesting; they might be quite different in a private home than a dorm environment, but they're still not like in America. There is a single knob that controls the water -- the farther left you turn it, the hotter the water gets. There is uniform water pressure, so that's not controlled by hand. The shower head is a round thing that sticks out from the wall. It sprays downward with extreme pressure, although the head has about a million tiny holes to disperse it. What eventually hits you is a mist -- light enough so that you don't feel pelted, but somehow heavy enough to actually clean you.
Toilets are another story. The "wasserclosets" consist of a toilet which immediately looks very different than those at home. The entire thing is lower than American toilets, and there is no standing water in the bowl. Instead, there is a shelf in the bowl, which catches everything. When flushing, a fast heavy flow of water washes everything down beneath a little trapdoor that harkens back to a motorhome toilet. If the water does not do the job completely, you are responsible for brushing it and flushing again. Each little stall is equipped with its own little brush.
Electricity is a different issue. I knew that the electrical outlets are of a different voltage and shape than those at home. After buying my voltage converter and adaptors, I expected there would be no problem. Unfortunately, there was. American appliances, as I assume most do, run on different wattages. Because they are packaged for specific regions, they interact seamlessly with the outlets of that region. My convertor allows for two wattage settings -- "low" for 0-25 and "high" for 25+. Ok, this should be easy. I look at my battery charger. Listed as 35 watts. I try it on the low setting, just to be sure. It doesn't work, so I take the next logical step and try the high setting. For a moment, there is a slight buzzing sound and then a pop! and I have no more battery charger. The poor thing doesn't work on any setting. Same problem with my hair straightener -- it tries very hard to work on the low setting, but buzzes on the high. I didn't want to take a chance and unplugged it completely before it popped too. I don't know that it would, but it's better safe than sorry. Luckily, my DS charger works beautifully on low, and Luke's computer, because of the brick, doesn't require the convertor at all -- just the adaptor.
23.6.06
From Atlanta to Paris, Paris to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Part II
The Paris Airport (( Charles De Gaulle )) was very nice. It was clean and modern, but once you commit to your gate, there's no where else you can go. Security does not let you back. It seemed like there was a lot of wasted space, but I get that feeling from a lot of "modern" buildings. I tried to use my cell phone, but all I could get was an automated voice yelling at me in French. Garbled French, so that I couldn't make out a single word. Finally, I found a pay-phone kiosk-thing and got one to work with my debit card. After a few minutes, I was able to receive a call in to my cell phone.
Boarding the plane was quick and easy. It was a much smaller plane and a much shorter flight. I got a window seat this time, and the seat beside me was empty. Instead of 3 rows of 3 seats, there were 2 rows of 3, labeled ABC DEF (( which makes more sense than in the other flight )).
In the aisle seat of my section was a German lady named Ingrid. She spoke English very well and was eager to speak with me to tell me about Germany as well as ask about America. She was in America three times, from what I gathered; she took a business trip to New York City, honeymooned in Hawaii (( after stopping in San Francisco on the way there and Chicago on the way back )), and visited New Orleans, also for business. She knew about all the hurricane damage to New Orleans, but had many questions about whether people were moving back yet and if it was indeed below sea level. She inquired about why soccer is not very popular in America and came up with her own conclusion that Americans like to hold balls in sports games, and soccer does not allow it. Also, she knew that we have a "football" game, but didn't know anything about it. So I tried to describe it to her. She couldn't understand why it was called football when soccer is called futball elsewhere and you definitely use your feet more in it than American football.
She told me a lot about how Germans are educated. They go to start kindergarten at 3, attend first year at primary school at 6, and move to the high school at 10. They have 12 grades altogether (( not including kindergarten )), as opposed to 13 in France. She said that some schools in France cut back to 12 years but has lessons further into each afternoon; Germany used to have 13 years, but, when they cut back, did not add any time daily. She also complained about the manner in which children are taught English. They are not taught vocabulary and grammar rules, but phrases and sentences. Therefore, if someone asks them a question they've practiced in English, they're fine. But, if something unrehearsed comes up, they are unprepared because they do not know how to compose sentences on their own. This argument reminded me of Luke's complaints with his French classes. He is taught in the same way as the German children, whereas my Japanese instructor gives us vocabulary and reasons why things are the way they are in the language.
I got to take a few pictures from the plane. Most of them look the same, but I was intrigued by the massive green areas. At some point, I could see the peaks of the first of the Alps on this side, but they didn't come out in the pictures.
The arrival at the airport was very smooth. Again, there was a very good landing. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before getting off the plane, and we were able to walk directly into the terminal. We didn't get a passport stamp at the Stuttgart airport either, but we didn't have to deal with any hassles over customs. Getting everyone's luggage took about 15 minutes, but then we walked out of the baggage claim and met Dr. Noll, ready for Schwäbisch Gmünd.
Boarding the plane was quick and easy. It was a much smaller plane and a much shorter flight. I got a window seat this time, and the seat beside me was empty. Instead of 3 rows of 3 seats, there were 2 rows of 3, labeled ABC DEF (( which makes more sense than in the other flight )).
In the aisle seat of my section was a German lady named Ingrid. She spoke English very well and was eager to speak with me to tell me about Germany as well as ask about America. She was in America three times, from what I gathered; she took a business trip to New York City, honeymooned in Hawaii (( after stopping in San Francisco on the way there and Chicago on the way back )), and visited New Orleans, also for business. She knew about all the hurricane damage to New Orleans, but had many questions about whether people were moving back yet and if it was indeed below sea level. She inquired about why soccer is not very popular in America and came up with her own conclusion that Americans like to hold balls in sports games, and soccer does not allow it. Also, she knew that we have a "football" game, but didn't know anything about it. So I tried to describe it to her. She couldn't understand why it was called football when soccer is called futball elsewhere and you definitely use your feet more in it than American football.
She told me a lot about how Germans are educated. They go to start kindergarten at 3, attend first year at primary school at 6, and move to the high school at 10. They have 12 grades altogether (( not including kindergarten )), as opposed to 13 in France. She said that some schools in France cut back to 12 years but has lessons further into each afternoon; Germany used to have 13 years, but, when they cut back, did not add any time daily. She also complained about the manner in which children are taught English. They are not taught vocabulary and grammar rules, but phrases and sentences. Therefore, if someone asks them a question they've practiced in English, they're fine. But, if something unrehearsed comes up, they are unprepared because they do not know how to compose sentences on their own. This argument reminded me of Luke's complaints with his French classes. He is taught in the same way as the German children, whereas my Japanese instructor gives us vocabulary and reasons why things are the way they are in the language.
I got to take a few pictures from the plane. Most of them look the same, but I was intrigued by the massive green areas. At some point, I could see the peaks of the first of the Alps on this side, but they didn't come out in the pictures.
The arrival at the airport was very smooth. Again, there was a very good landing. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before getting off the plane, and we were able to walk directly into the terminal. We didn't get a passport stamp at the Stuttgart airport either, but we didn't have to deal with any hassles over customs. Getting everyone's luggage took about 15 minutes, but then we walked out of the baggage claim and met Dr. Noll, ready for Schwäbisch Gmünd.
From Atlanta to Paris, Paris to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Part III
[Some pictures might have window-glare. Unfortunately, that's the price you pay for snapping shots in a bus.]
Dr. Noll had a bus waiting for us outside of the airport so, as soon as we were all together again with luggage, we packed up and headed out. The bus itself was pretty awesome. It was a Mercedes-Benz and was either brand new or just extremely well-kept. It was really tall -- you have to climb about five steps to get into the aisle inside, and even there you can't reach the ceiling (( well, I couldn't. I'm sure some of our taller companions could )). We all had little personal air conditioning and lights, as well as little speakers for the PA system up front. There was a lot of traffic in the area, so we took some scenic routes and saw a lot of hillside. The trip also took longer than the 30-45 minutes we were told, but most of us were exhausted and slept on the way there. After getting frustrated with not being able to call out with my cell phone in Paris, I tried again just outside of Stuttgart. This time, no automated voice "told me" what was wrong. However, less than five minutes later, I received a text message IN ENGLISH explaining how to dial to the US in Germany. So I did, and it worked. And, even if I have to pay for that text message, it was wildly more efficient in communicating how to dial out than yelling at me in garbled French.
The Universitätspark is really nice. When we got to the rooms, we all had huge bottles of water and candy bars waiting for us. It's pretty quiet--the only exception being the road behind our buildings. As soon as we got off the bus, Dr. Noll showed us around a little bit and then handed out keys. The rooms are very spacious. I was really surprised. After settling in a little, we had dinner. Baked chicken legs, German potato salad (( very different from American potato salad -- this is mostly mashed and has little to no mustard. I'm not sure what the flavours are, but they are good! )), cold corn salad, and some breads. There might have been more, but I know that's what I ate.
After dinner, we took a walking tour of Schwäbisch Gmünd. The village is a lot bigger than I imagined, but it is still very walk-able. The city center was set up for the World Cup (( most, if not all, German cities are having public viewings of the games )) on big screens. I'm not sure if this is the same place that is visible in the webcam of the city, but, if it is, it looks very different all ready for the viewings.
After walking back to the Universitätspark, we were let loose. This gave me time to do exactly what I wanted -- SLEEP!
Dr. Noll had a bus waiting for us outside of the airport so, as soon as we were all together again with luggage, we packed up and headed out. The bus itself was pretty awesome. It was a Mercedes-Benz and was either brand new or just extremely well-kept. It was really tall -- you have to climb about five steps to get into the aisle inside, and even there you can't reach the ceiling (( well, I couldn't. I'm sure some of our taller companions could )). We all had little personal air conditioning and lights, as well as little speakers for the PA system up front. There was a lot of traffic in the area, so we took some scenic routes and saw a lot of hillside. The trip also took longer than the 30-45 minutes we were told, but most of us were exhausted and slept on the way there. After getting frustrated with not being able to call out with my cell phone in Paris, I tried again just outside of Stuttgart. This time, no automated voice "told me" what was wrong. However, less than five minutes later, I received a text message IN ENGLISH explaining how to dial to the US in Germany. So I did, and it worked. And, even if I have to pay for that text message, it was wildly more efficient in communicating how to dial out than yelling at me in garbled French.
The Universitätspark is really nice. When we got to the rooms, we all had huge bottles of water and candy bars waiting for us. It's pretty quiet--the only exception being the road behind our buildings. As soon as we got off the bus, Dr. Noll showed us around a little bit and then handed out keys. The rooms are very spacious. I was really surprised. After settling in a little, we had dinner. Baked chicken legs, German potato salad (( very different from American potato salad -- this is mostly mashed and has little to no mustard. I'm not sure what the flavours are, but they are good! )), cold corn salad, and some breads. There might have been more, but I know that's what I ate.
After dinner, we took a walking tour of Schwäbisch Gmünd. The village is a lot bigger than I imagined, but it is still very walk-able. The city center was set up for the World Cup (( most, if not all, German cities are having public viewings of the games )) on big screens. I'm not sure if this is the same place that is visible in the webcam of the city, but, if it is, it looks very different all ready for the viewings.
After walking back to the Universitätspark, we were let loose. This gave me time to do exactly what I wanted -- SLEEP!
22.6.06
From Atlanta to Paris, Paris to Stuttgart, Stuttgart to Schwäbisch Gmünd, Part I
I really like planes. I love being up in the air and those sudden occasional feelings of weightlessness. But, it's been so long since I was up in a plane. Probably close to 15 years. The memories I have of flying are very distinct, but still very removed from time. So, the whole time I was waiting to get on the plane in Atlanta, Georgia, I was freaking out.
Okay, that's not exactly fair. I spent most of the time convincing myself that I was NOT freaking out. I think I can honestly say that I was more nervous about getting nervous than the actual flight.
Luke and I were quite separated on the plane. Because it was so full, no one was allowed seat change requests. I was in the first-to-last row of the plane. Each row had 9 seats split into sections of 3; all seats were labeled ABC EFG JKL. I found myself in B, between two other members of this program but by no one I knew. One of them was a self-proclaimed "big guy" and, the other commented, "I'm glad they gave me so much leg room; I'm 6'2" and have no where to sit." So, needless to say, the 5'4" girl in the middle was squished.
The plane was rather "high-tech". I use the term loosely just because, with all the advances in technology, it might not have been as impressive as I thought. We had little touch-sensitive TV screens in the backs of the seats in front of us, and we received complimentary headphones (( this impressed me, simply because so many people had told me you have to rent headphones on planes )), along with earplugs and a black-out mask. There were large screens in the aisles and a huge one at the front of the section for the security instructions. These also had a moment-by-moment map of where we were.
The television selection was pretty good. I didn't watch much, but they offered quite a bit. For example, you could watch McGyver, Frasier, or the old Mission Impossible series in English or French on the "series" channel. For movies, there were several French movies with subtitles, and "Match Point", "Brokeback Mountain", "Grease", and "Failure to Launch", all available dubbed. There were some rather creepy cartoons for kids, news and sports channels, and the same instantaneous map. They offered about 20 games (( played with a remote control that popped out of the armrest )), 25 music options, and a "How Are We Doing?"-esque questionnaire. After saying all that, I feel the need to mention that many of us agreed, should the plane go down, it's best that we at least be watching McGyver when it happens.
I've heard so many negative things about airline food, but they truly got a gold-star from me in this area. Since the flight, I've heard that the meals are one of the things in which Air France really takes pride. It was real food -- chicken with potatoes and green beans, shrimp salad, bread & butter, cheese, yogurt (( a little thicker than home but very tasty )), coffee cake, and your choice of beverage. Meals are already included in the ticket, at least ours' were. In the morning, we were served a breakfast of apple danish, fruit, and cheese.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures from the plane. I really wanted a few shots flying over Ireland, but I couldn't get a view (( I could barely see out as it was )), and "big guy" wasn't interested in helping me out.
I didn't get to sleep but about an hour on the flight. The back few rows seemed to not have air conditioning, so where Luke was complaining nine rows forward of being too cold, I was extremely hot. The flight was pretty bumpy. We flew through several storms so there was a lot of turbulence. The landing in Paris was wonderful; I hardly realized we had touched down. I've always heard my father say that "a good landing is any one you walk away from," so I was expecting much worse from such a large aircraft. After we landed and pulled into our departure "spot," we had nearly an hour of sitting. This may have been because they let everyone off from the front first. Whatever reason there was nearly raised my time in that tiny cramped area into double-digit hours; the total ended up being somewhere around 9 1/2.
Once off the plane, we boarded the bus of death. The driver seemed not to notice that about 20 more people got onto the bus than could actually fit. And then he dragged us about 5 miles to a terminal, including going through a construction site where the workers seemed quite unhappy about the big bus in their way. We walked up a few flights of stairs and into the customs. They looked at our passports one by one, but didn't stamp it because we didn't plan on leaving the airport. We found our terminal, which was forever away from where we were left off by the aforementioned bus of death, and went through to our gate. There, we got to sit for a couple hours.
Okay, that's not exactly fair. I spent most of the time convincing myself that I was NOT freaking out. I think I can honestly say that I was more nervous about getting nervous than the actual flight.
Luke and I were quite separated on the plane. Because it was so full, no one was allowed seat change requests. I was in the first-to-last row of the plane. Each row had 9 seats split into sections of 3; all seats were labeled ABC EFG JKL. I found myself in B, between two other members of this program but by no one I knew. One of them was a self-proclaimed "big guy" and, the other commented, "I'm glad they gave me so much leg room; I'm 6'2" and have no where to sit." So, needless to say, the 5'4" girl in the middle was squished.
The plane was rather "high-tech". I use the term loosely just because, with all the advances in technology, it might not have been as impressive as I thought. We had little touch-sensitive TV screens in the backs of the seats in front of us, and we received complimentary headphones (( this impressed me, simply because so many people had told me you have to rent headphones on planes )), along with earplugs and a black-out mask. There were large screens in the aisles and a huge one at the front of the section for the security instructions. These also had a moment-by-moment map of where we were.
The television selection was pretty good. I didn't watch much, but they offered quite a bit. For example, you could watch McGyver, Frasier, or the old Mission Impossible series in English or French on the "series" channel. For movies, there were several French movies with subtitles, and "Match Point", "Brokeback Mountain", "Grease", and "Failure to Launch", all available dubbed. There were some rather creepy cartoons for kids, news and sports channels, and the same instantaneous map. They offered about 20 games (( played with a remote control that popped out of the armrest )), 25 music options, and a "How Are We Doing?"-esque questionnaire. After saying all that, I feel the need to mention that many of us agreed, should the plane go down, it's best that we at least be watching McGyver when it happens.
I've heard so many negative things about airline food, but they truly got a gold-star from me in this area. Since the flight, I've heard that the meals are one of the things in which Air France really takes pride. It was real food -- chicken with potatoes and green beans, shrimp salad, bread & butter, cheese, yogurt (( a little thicker than home but very tasty )), coffee cake, and your choice of beverage. Meals are already included in the ticket, at least ours' were. In the morning, we were served a breakfast of apple danish, fruit, and cheese.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures from the plane. I really wanted a few shots flying over Ireland, but I couldn't get a view (( I could barely see out as it was )), and "big guy" wasn't interested in helping me out.
I didn't get to sleep but about an hour on the flight. The back few rows seemed to not have air conditioning, so where Luke was complaining nine rows forward of being too cold, I was extremely hot. The flight was pretty bumpy. We flew through several storms so there was a lot of turbulence. The landing in Paris was wonderful; I hardly realized we had touched down. I've always heard my father say that "a good landing is any one you walk away from," so I was expecting much worse from such a large aircraft. After we landed and pulled into our departure "spot," we had nearly an hour of sitting. This may have been because they let everyone off from the front first. Whatever reason there was nearly raised my time in that tiny cramped area into double-digit hours; the total ended up being somewhere around 9 1/2.
Once off the plane, we boarded the bus of death. The driver seemed not to notice that about 20 more people got onto the bus than could actually fit. And then he dragged us about 5 miles to a terminal, including going through a construction site where the workers seemed quite unhappy about the big bus in their way. We walked up a few flights of stairs and into the customs. They looked at our passports one by one, but didn't stamp it because we didn't plan on leaving the airport. We found our terminal, which was forever away from where we were left off by the aforementioned bus of death, and went through to our gate. There, we got to sit for a couple hours.
21.6.06
This is just a test.
Hello, this post is just a test.
I'm an American student from Georgia studying in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. This is a place for me to share my thoughts and pictures with everyone back home and anyone looking to visit or just curious about Schwäbisch Gmünd or anywhere else in Germany. So come back for my thoughts on airplane food, big Mercedes-Benzes, and small Alpine villages.
I'm an American student from Georgia studying in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. This is a place for me to share my thoughts and pictures with everyone back home and anyone looking to visit or just curious about Schwäbisch Gmünd or anywhere else in Germany. So come back for my thoughts on airplane food, big Mercedes-Benzes, and small Alpine villages.
About Me
- Name: Sydney in Wonderland
- Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
I'm just a silly little girl who likes to go places; a plucky 20-something just trying to figure out which crafty thing she's meant to do in this world!
Things I Like
Toothpaste for dinner for the rest of eternity Schwäbisch Gmünd
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