travel.

So, let's see. I last left off in February with the crazy ridiculous Fasching stuff going on. It's now June and I hadn't written anything, so I figured I'd do a bit of an update.

Conference 1:
After fasching we had a conference for my scholarship in Lambrecht, a ridiculously tiny town in the german state of Rhineland-Pfalz. It was mostly boring, though the Jugendherberge we stayed in was a step up from the norm. Visiting the military base at Ramstein was interesting though. It is just like a little America - apparently the largest collection of American citizens living outside of the USA. We got to go inside a troop/transport aircraft, which was quite an experience - it just has the exposed parts of the airplane sticking out everywhere, not covered up like in a commercial aircraft. The seats were fold-down things from the walls, pretty much just like camping chairs, but you would have had to sit in them for hours on a transport back from Iraq. They were along the walls, not facing forward like in a train or a normal airplane, but sideways. I can only imagine the motion sickness you could get caused by turbulence, as there were absolutely no windows inside.

Apparently they had just used it for emergency medical evacuation - there were still a few medical cots set up. Three people to a rack, packed in like sardines. It was disturbing. I knew life in the Military could be harsh, but packing injured soldiers in like that was worse than I had expected. There were all sorts of gadgets attached to the walls for the life support systems and such, oxygen masks. There were a few crates of stuff that hadn't been moved out of the plane yet either, such as a big canvas bag labeled "BODY ARMOR", a case of chaff or some sort of flare labeled something like "EMERGENCY COUNTERMEASURES" and most importantly - a case of German beer.

The cockpit and navigation areas were interesting because they were lined with what I thought at first was just a really thick floor mat, which turned out to be thick ballistic shielding, so when people shoot up at the plane with guns it doesn't go through and hit the pilots in the feet etc, though the rest of the plane had no such shielding...so if you get shot at from the bottom when you're in the cargo/transport area, sucks to be you.

Being on the base was an interesting glimpse into Military life. We were not allowed to take any pictures outside as we were already considered a "security risk" but they did let us take some pictures of the plane, I may post some later.

Trip with Nikki:
After the seminar in the beginning of March I began my travels with Nikki. We met in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 4th of March...stayed in a sketchy Hostel called Brodie's, where we were put in together with the "long-termers" (I'll explain the full story to people when I get back). The city of Edinburgh is beautiful and pleasant - with a 10-15 minute walk you can be from the middle of the toursity areas to out in what feels like the middle of nowhere on top of a giant hill. (I can't remember the Scottish word they use). We visited her friend in St. Andrews which is also very beautiful - a really good party/college town (where the bars close at 12, I guess this is a law in the UK?)

I could spend hours detailing all the little things we did in each city, but I think that would be boring for both me to write and for people to read.

Amsterdam was incredible, as is to be expected. We got there early in the morning and did a good amount of sightseeing, but the "highlight" of the night...was going to a squatter's bar we found in Wikitravel. See, I had printed out the Food/Drink suggestions from Wikitravel, as it's always good to find restaurants that people enjoy and not get sucked into touristy trap ones, and one of the most stressful things to do when traveling is find a good/cheap place to eat. The suggestions had generally been good for Scotland, so in Amsterdam we were happy to take their advice. I wanted to check out "Amsterdam's most famous squatter's bar" which seemed interesting/kinda hippyish or something. The way they described it made it sound like a very popular spot to go party...if you knew where it was.

We rang the bell to get in - it was an unmarked door in the side of a normal apartment building. The guy looked through a peephole at us (which I found out was to make sure we weren't the cops) and then decided to let us in. So we walk in the bar, it's a pretty big room, high ceilings and a loft filled with computers, to find about 10-12 hardcore gutter-punks drinking sociably, obviously all friends/acquaintances. They all turned to look at us when we walked in, assuming it was going to be one of their friends. I was kinda stunned as I walked in, "holy shit, what have I gotten myself in to" was the main thought running through my mind. I felt very out of place...even though I was wearing a dirty white t-shirt and jeans and my hair all ratty from running around all day, but Nikki was wearing her nice peacoat with a white scarf. We did not "fit in."

We ordered 2 beers (I kinda mumbled in half german - half english, and luckily the music was so loud that I just sounded like I was speaking dutch) and went and sat at a table away from the bars...drank the beers quickly, and kinda scurried out of there as somebody else was coming in.

I looked at Nikki and said "Did that seriously just happen? Did we just go to a fucking squatter's bar with gutter punks in Amsterdam?"

Yes. We did.

Copenhagen was not as eventful, even though it hosts Christiania, an entire squatter's TOWN. They took over an old army base in the 1970's, and haven't looked back since. The members of the community build their own houses and don't pay taxes...though they have just started paying the city for power/water is what I read recently. Most of the houses are self built little shacks, though some are quite beautiful and large with a nice view of the lake.

One of the highlights of the Copenhagen stay was the visit to Louisiana - a modern art museum along the coast about 40 minutes north of the city. The view from the museum was absolutely gorgeous, and even though I am not the biggest fan of Modern art - kinda forced by Nikki to go - I found some things I liked. The architecture was very cool, with rooms opening up to huge paneled windows offering beautiful views of the water separating Denmark from Sweden.

We had our fair share of creepers in Copenhagen, an old dude who claimed to be from Sweden "but they wouldn't let him live there anymore" - mid 70's to 80's who was LIVING in a dorm room in the hostel...and an expat from Iran, who was living in the hostel because he "didn't like Sweden anymore." Those stories are for home though too. (C'mon guys, what's the matter with Sweden?)

I also ate like 12930812038 hotdogs while in Denmark, because they have these sweet sweet hotdog stands everywhere. Also, everyone in Scandinavia is beautiful (except for creepy old Swedish men living in hostel dorm rooms).

Stockholm was great. So beautiful and stylin. Tall skinny dudes in tight pants. I fit in here.

We hung out with Dylan's friend Christoffer who was wonderfully hospitable, invited us over to his beautiful apartment for dinner cooked by his girlfriend Gina. The apartment was small but very nicely furnished/decorated (especially that Plasma HDTV wall mounted with surround sound...and they live in Stockholm...) Perfect for a young couple...I was jealous. They showed us a fantastic time, Chris' brother was great, a crazy party animal. We watched a ridiculous Swedish TV show where former stars have to sing songs that start with a word they put on screen, or something like that.

We enjoyed some traditional Swedish cuisine (meatballs...yayer) and took a very nice boat cruise around the city, where a few young dudes had jumped into the freezing water completely naked, then proceeded to stand on the edge of the dock and wave their junk around at the boat. I saw more penises than I thought I would...but I guess that's just how life is.

Istanbul, Turkey:
Coming back to Germany was nice, but it wasn't for long. I got on a plane to Turkey about two days after we had come back.

Istanbul is one of the most incredible places I have been. So much history, and so much fun. The friends I made there thanks to Lizzie were some of the greatest people I have met abroad - you gotta be a certain type of person to decide to spend a year studying in Turkey...

Being in a "Muslim" country was very interesting, the call to prayer was awesome, and mosques are incredible buildings. The Hagia Sophia is one of the coolest things that I have ever seen in my life. I did quite a bit of sightseeing, and also enjoyed quite a bit of "nightlife" thanks to the Turkish Yeni Raki. This vacation was a "vacation from my vacation" as I was somewhat exhausted from the two straight weeks of hardcore sightseeing with Nikki.

The Turkish people were great (they even helped pull me out of a potted plant I had fallen into...but that is another story). I never felt threatened because I was a westerner, and even though I didn't speak any Turkish (well, I guess I learned how to say a few things) I still managed to get my point across using hands and the tiny bit of the language I did know. The shopkeepers were generally delighted that I knew the word for "one" and "bread" and that I was making an effort to speak their language, instead of demanding that they speak mine like some American tourists...and speaking of bread, Turkish food is amazing. I really miss the hot-dog sandwiches, (maybe they were called Kumir? I can't remember) and the Dürüm (I think with double ü?).

Turkey, you were great, and so were the extra five days I spent there after missing my plane. I got back to Germany on the 31st of March. Basically spending the entire month of March out of the country...

Prague:
ACCESS DENIED. (lol. pwnt.) Well, turns out I forgot my passport and got denied entry to the Czech Republic. It was a planned trip over a long weekend with a bunch of crazy Brits, I think in April? I'm not quite sure...but I got up at like 5am and managed to get back to StuSta at 4pm. Denied entry. Ownt. I'll get back there eventually. I have been in the Czech Republic now though for about 30 minutes!

Rome:
No crazy stories really to be told here, except that I decided to go about a day and a half before Nico and the Hobbit (yes, a nickname) left. We took the night train down there, which was quite great and spent Saturday/Sunday/Monday sightseeing. It was completely incredible. Rome is truly the best city I have ever visited in my entire life, hands down, no competition...though the mobs and mobs of tourists got overwhelming at times, the sheer old-ness of the city was just indescribable. I managed to take some of the best pictures I have ever taken in my entire life here, and I can't wait to go back.

I'm pretty much all written out. I'm going to update again with descriptions of StuStaCulum and the last seminar in Heidelberg within the next few days or so.

fasching is crazy.

Just gonna do a little update, because today was ridiculous.

Right now is "Fasching" or "Karneval" time in Germany, basically an excuse for all the old people to get drunk and wear stupid costumes. I went downtown today to experience the festivities, and honestly it was insanity. Imagine Times Square on New Years Eve and put it smack in the middle of the day on a Tuesday. It was around 3pm and everyone was completely trashed, packed into Marienplatz. There were old drunk German men pissing on the SIDE of the bathroom instead of inside because the line was too long. Literally just in a huge crowd of people pissing on the side of a building...then we saw more drunken guys pissing on a pile of gravel as if it was a urinal, out in a huge crowd of people, no shame.

The best part and what made me want to do a short entry so I don't ever forget it, is the fact that on one of the stages the radio stations had set up there was a guy dressed up as BLADE from the vampire movies doing a choreographed dance to a techno song. Literally of all the things I would have thought I could have seen today, BLADE doing a dance routine...let's just say I would never have believed it if you had told me I would see it. Of course after his routine he proceeded to strip with a bunch of GoGo dancers around him. Of course. He was wearing a sword and had a big fake gun and would periodically wield one or the other at the crowd. Hilarious.

Anytime you feel yourself getting down, just remember, you aren't a BLADE impersonator doing a dance routine in Germany as "Faschingszeit" entertainment.

Okay, so I've been slacking on the posts...

Yeah so I know I've been slacking on the posts. I just have had quite a bit to do, and not enough time/heart to keep this thing 100% updated, but tonight was just too fucking ridiculous to let it blow over. To start it off, I had THREE finals on the same day yesterday (Thursday the 8th of February) so tonight (Friday) was the night to have some fun.

I didn't really feel like drinking very much, but was persuaded to go to the "All-you-can-drink ERASMUS Farewell Party" which was in the same complex as my apartment building. I figured what the hell, if I have 2-3 drinks over the course of the night, the 9 Euro cover charge will pay for itself. You can imagine what happens at an "All-you-can-drink" party...

It was fine when I got there at about 11:45, people were of course already sloppy drunk, there was quite a bit of ridiculous drunk dancing, etc, but no violence, just drinks being spilled all over my shirt. At about 1:00 am, I helped the single security guard and a few other guys throw this drunk fucker out who had been ruining my (and everyone else's) night by slamming into them and grabbing girls in inappropriate places. I got hit with his disgusting wet shirt which had been dragging around on the ground, (yes he was so drunk for some reason he didn't have his shirt on)...

I got to enjoy myself for quite a while until about 2:30, when two guys, one of whom was an acquaintance of mine, decided that the accidental drunk-bumping-into-someone was something to get in a shoving match. Being the idiot that I am, of course I had to get in the center of it and try to break it up. I managed to avoid any punches, and the situation was distilled into all-you-can-drink retardation. I went back to enjoying myself, but kept a wary eye out for the next fight, which by that point I realized was going to be inevitable when free alcohol is involved.

I saw my friends off at about 4:15 am and was heading back to my apartment to catch some sleep when I saw a friend-of-a-friend who was visiting from Spain standing alone obviously lost. I helped her find her way back to her friend who was still at the party, where an all out brawl had broken out. We stood outside, not knowing quite what to do as one guy was thrown out. We tried going around to the other entrance to no avail, it was not open. We waited until we thought the situation was calm enough for her to find her friend and for me to get back to my room and get some deserved rest. It turns out, the idiotic male alcohol-aggression was nowhere near finished.

I've seen a few drunken fistfights in my time, but nothing compared to this. Ever. The security guard was trying to escort a guy out while both sides of the fight were clamoring around either side of him, totaling about 12-15 people. As he got closer to the door, the sides started pressing together. I'm not quite sure who threw the first punch, but the image of one of the first people I met here in Munich being hit in the face as hard as possible is something that will stick with me forever. I've honestly never seen anything like it. It's not like in the movies where people take punches and keep swinging. This guy took a hard punch to the face, blood splattered on his jacket and shoes and he was down. I went into 'protect people' mode, pulling the people around me back and standing in front of them, like an idiot (as if I would have been able to fight...I'm a lover not a fighter, (and I've lost all the muscle I put on this summer) haha). I don't know how long it lasted, it was one of those bizarre seconds-feel-like-hours moments. People look fucked up after a fistfight. It's nothing like you've seen on TV, one punch and people are seriously fucked up, broken noses, eyes swollen shut, blood everywhere. I've been in Germany now for close to five months and I have never seen anything like this before.

The Aftermath is luckily only lots of bloody noses and black eyes as nobody was seriously hurt. I was worried about a gun (which has happened at parties in Seattle in the past), then realized that I was in a civilized country where gun control is strict. The one guy who was really fucked up was taken care of by an ambulance (no stitches or hospitalization was required, just an ice pack and cleaning up of his face), who then called the Deutsche Polizei to file a police report.

All in all, a fucked up night. The moral of the story is - don't give in to the idiotic feelings of (most often male) aggression when under the influence of alcohol.

a few musings...

i guess i didn't talk much about the christmastime stuff here, even though that was the title of the last post. basically they've set up a really crazy huge tree in marienplatz along with little wooden storefronts which will be opening in december i think? i'm excited for it to be cold, i really want snow. everybody was blabbering about how cold it was going to be here etc etc and so far its not cold. at all.

i didn't end up going to the kafe kult show on saturday, but i went to one in erding at a youth center. the music was kinda amusing, but not really all that good. the slovenian band put on a good show but i didn't like the recorded versions of their songs on their website at all. friday was fun too, the party in klinikum definitely was a good thing, as well as finishing a bottle of whiskey between like 5 or 6 people in a hour...most of them already drunk. so classy. the german guy that followed us back to nikki's, not classy. reallllly glad we didnt have to bar him entry or something and that he just kept walking...

club on saturday after the show was fun, kinda got a little tired, and then the really long trip back kinda woke me back up. i talked for a while to a girl named geddy or getty? i dont know, she walked up to me wanting to split a taxi, i told her we could take the bus, and she ended up living one stop before me. she had lived and studied in the states too, so her english was just about perfect...like everybody else here.

this isn't really directly related to germany or anything, more like me blabbering...so if you don't want to hear it you can stop reading here. there was this big fat nerdy dude at the club. he was there alone. he was at the bar alone. he was drinking alone, dancing by himself, and singing by himself to shitty pop/rap music from the 90's. the whole thing depressed me so much. before i think i would have just laughed at him and not thought about it, but i like genuinely felt bad for some reason. he was out there alone! like who goes to a club and drinks around a bunch of people, but really you're alone because you dont know anyone there? somebody who doesn't have any friends i guess? but like the poor dude, that is his life! not having people...having no one to call when you go out to a bar/social sort of gathering. i kinda felt like that when i first moved here and it was just so terrible, but then after the first few days i had dylan and then lisa and then just ballooned out from there. living my whole life like that would be so terrible...

i hope he finds some sort of resemblance of a friend he can ask to go to a bar with next time...or maybe he just liked the atmosphere? i dont know, drinking alone in that kind of environment was just saddening to see...

christmastime

the days and weeks are really starting to fly by here. i can't believe i've been here for this long now, but i still have such a long time ahead of me. with mondays off i have a 3-day weekend every single weekend, which i think contributes to time flying. i don't even really remember what i have done in the past 2 weeks, nothing super exciting i don't think. i've started to try harder in my classes because i'm not just an outsider watching them, i actually do need to participate. i read the entire book for this friday (okay admittedly in english, but it was Frankenstein - originally written in english!). i tried to join the discussion...wasn't really capable of keeping up when the girl next to me speaks faster than anybody ive ever heard. valley-girl style fast, without all the 'likes' and 'oh mah gods!'. so yea trying to keep up with that, not something that is going to happen this early.


i've made some friends in my classes now, i'm definitely a curiousity because i'm an american, which i try to use to my advantage. i'm really scared to do my 'referats' but they are both after winter break...the actual presentation wont be that bad, but the discussion stuff i can't really keep up with the whole time. about the friends - Markus is in my friday sci-fi style class, he works/volunteers at a place called Kafe Kult (akimbo played there kyle on their euro-tour, lol. lightning bolt too!) which is hella small and hard to find but has ridiculous super-indie stuff, which is fun to discover. there is a german local hardcore band playing there tomorrow night, he estimated a turnout of 20-30 people, haha, so i may go check it out, cause these are the kind of things that really help you to get to know a city i think.


i bought the first season of deadwood for my birthday, my mom told me i wasn't allowed to just save the money like i usually do, so i got it in a german department store, where it was 29 euros. i then kinda had buyers remorse and figured it would have been cheaper online, etc, and NO. the fucking MSRP is NINETY NINE US DOLLARS (this is for you andrew). even on amazon it was still around 55 bucks for just the first season. wewt, got a deal.


the people on my floor are cool, we watch the oc together...in english. im really trying hard to improve my german but i feel like it has kinda hit a stalemate. i try to speak german to everybody i meet, but they ALL speak english and want to improve (all educated people here speak english is what ive been told), so they always end up just kinda sneaking into english.


thats enough rambling for now i guess. if anybody is curious what else there is to germany i'd love to talk to you guys, i got skype now so i can call you when its like 6 am on a saturday morning for you. LAWLZ.

Munich with Mackenzie

Sounds like some sort of weird sitcom name. Munich with Mackenzie! But yeah, it was a really great time.

Mac flew in on friday at around 11:10 or so, i had class until 1, so we met at 1:10 in Marienplatz, the main square downtown. she wandered around before we met and took some sweet pictures of the downtown area. it was a beautiful crisp cold day, with really blue skies. perfect for wintertime sightseeing. i wandered with her into the main church here in munich (frauenkirche), but having lived in paris for the past 2 months, most churches/cathedrals aren't that impressive i guess.

We then walked down to Karlsplatz, generally absorbing the nice sun, even though it was fucking cold. aka 28 degrees or something ridiculous. she got to wander through some nice leaves, and we then decided it was time to eat. i took her to Augustiner beerhall, they used to brew beer on the site from like 1328 or something ridiculous, then stopped sometime in 1600 and turned it into a restaurant/beerhall. she got two Weißwurst (white veal sausages, which she described as looking like "dead fetuses floating in this hot water") with sweet bavarian mustard and a preztel, as well as a Weißbier to drink. really really traditional bavarian brunch or "zweites frühstuck". as gross as it sounds to have to peel the sausages out of their skins, it's actually really really good.

we then got to take a nice walk through odeonsplatz, the residenz garden, and the english garden. we stopped at a starbucks to get the christmas mix fix for mac, then she took a nap in her floor-bed, wearing all her clothes because she was cold and exhausted. it was pretty amusing. for dinner it was a cool cafe near the city museum.

saturday was dachau. i didn't really want to go, but mac really really wanted to see it, it was important to her, so i agreed. i'm glad i went. i warned her that i would probably start sobbing, which i came through on, though she did an alright job herself. "Arbeit Macht Frei" on the entrance to the camp was what did it for me. (the original gate that the prisoners used to enter the camp, 'work makes you free'). i think thats all that needs to be said. the memorials there were very tastefully done, and it was good to see a german schoolgroup there early on a saturday morning. they were probably freshman in highschool, but i didn't feel quite like they took the seriousness of the camp to heart. the weather was appropriately miserable.

we took the train barely into the city enough to change trains and get on the one to Andechs, a monks monestary. it was good fun, really hearty traditional german food and good beer. mac got a little tipsy after her liter (good job, you finished it all by yourself) and proclaimed her love for the internet. I showed her my favorite bar in münich when we got back into the city, and then we headed to bed.

museums on sunday were at first really lame, because the impressionism was closed at the neue pinakothek, but we wandered down to the pretty gardens at the Lenbachhaus, then walked to the Residenz and took the tour of the palace and the treasury. ps - WTF is the matter with catholic people. there was all sorts of really fucked up shit in the 'relics' room. like three DEAD MUMMIFIED BABIES inside a glass case, supposedly from the cleansing of Sodom or something. then all sorts of bones in ridiculously ornate gold and jeweled cases. like a fucking hand of some saint, a HAND...inside this gold case. not to mention the weird skulls on pillows covered in jewels. god it was weird. i did some research on wikipedia afterwards, there is apparently a relic (or was) of the "Holy Foreskin". Jesus's foreskin...and it was kept someplace in france...but it couldn't be validified that it was really his foreskin (duh). WHAT THE FUCK.

we ended her trip with some nice food from a stand in marienplatz, and then a really nice walk next to the Isar, the main river in Munich. her visit was really nice, and im glad i got to show off my tour guide/german speaking abilities.

sketchy trip to Ikea

So today was my trip to Ikea...finally. I've been meaning to go for quite a while, and i know i'm going to end up going again, because stuff there is so cheap, and i can't carry everything i want back with me.

it was really a shitty adventure. I had class today until 5 pm, and then took the U6, my subway line, all the way to the end, where i could catch a bus that ran out into this middle of nowhere shopping center. so it took about 20 or so minutes to get all the way to the end of my subway line, then i waited for about 10 minutes for the bus. not bad. it was then about 5:40. took til about 6:05 to get to Ikea on these dark sketchy narrow roads...but the store was literally right across the street from the bus stop. unfortunately, the last bus back to Garching-Forschungszentrum (the last stop on U6) was at 6:40, so i planned on hurrying.

now i don't know how many of you have been to an Ikea, but you definitely can't "hurry" through it. you walk through all the displayed rooms with all the furniture prettily set up, and mark down what things you want. i was really there to get a matratzeauflage (like a mattress pad), and nothing else. i had considered getting a futon, but trying to get that back to my apartment without a car would have been quite a task. so after eventually finding what i wanted, i scurried down through to pick it up underneath, where they have all the stuff packed up in boxes. again, unfortunately it was in the "back room" or something, so i paid for it at the cash register and had to go around the side to pick it up.

by this time it was 6:35, and i was worried about making the bus. i knew there was one that would come at 7:20 to get me to the Eching train center, but that would mean a gigantic roundabout trip down through the city center to get eventually back up to where my aparment was. after waiting for literally a half hour, the guy comes out and says sorry, we dont have this anymore, you have to go back inside and get a refund. i waited for a full THIRTY MINUTES! come on! that's enough time to look in the fucking computer and see that you don't have it anymore! the shittiest thing is the poster next to where he was standing advertising "7 minute delivery or we buy you a drink!"

i chewed him out as best i could in german, asking him why he was just standing around instead of looking in the computer to tell me they had no more (he was seriously just standing around, im not being a dick...). but unfortunately i didn't know the words for "incompetent piece of shit, you made me miss my bus."

i got my money back inside, knew i was going to miss the 7:20 bus to the Eching train center (the last one), and asked how to get there by foot. "oh, 15-20 minute walk...straight and then left."

i quickly bought another pad, cheaper and i could actually just go pick it up myself, and set off on my journey.

think about the sketchiest unlit road next to train tracks you can, and that was this road. i walked in the dark carrying my bookbag and all this shit from ikea, the pad, a frying pan and a blanket for about 20 minutes. the trains would like whizz past me, and sketchy dudes on bikes would ride by every 5 minutes or so.

quite an adventure.