A Merry, Merry Christmas

I am oh-so excited about the month of December here in Germany! For one, I have a great love of Christmas, which I got from my Mom (see, Mom, I blame good things on you, too :)). I love how Christmas just makes you feel happy for no reason and you can literally feel it all around you (sorry to be cliche, but it's a cliche for a reason: it's true). I know that Christmas is around when a few things start to happen:


1. I start obsessing with the color red, even though for the other 10.5 months of the year, red is my least favorite color.


2. I love to bake and listen to Christmas music (don't love to bake the rest of the year - love to cook, but not a big baker).


3. I love to go on walks outside in the cold (normally hate cold and would much rather stay inside).


So when these things start happening, Christmas is near. Normally around Christmas time, I love a ton of lights, I watch all of the sappy Christmas movies on TV religiously, and I hum Christmas music all day long. I knew this Christmas would be different than normal since I am on a different continent. And I'm not really sure what to expect, but I know it's going to be brilliant.


So far, I've already begun the Christmas music and baking. Also desperately want to find a cute red hat to wear. We've put up decorations and begun our Advent Calendars. I've seen so far that Advent Calendars are a bigger deal here than in the States. I know a lot of people do them in the States, and we normally always had one, but they're still a bigger deal here somehow. Which suits me fine, since I'm on board for anything that has to do with Schokolade. Another difference here is that no one gets a Christmas Tree until the 24th. Then they leave it up normally going into January.


One thing you might have heard of: Germany is known for their Weihnachtsmarkts, which translates to Christmas Markets (Weihnachten = Christmas, Markt = I think you can figure that one out). Every town has one, and they are supposed to be gorgeous. They have all kinds of food to eat, gifts to buy, rides for kids, and they are famous for Gluehwein (hot red wine with cloves, sugar...etc). One of my favorite parts is that every Markt has their own Mug (Tasse auf Deutsch), and when you buy a drink (hot coco, gluehwein, tea), you get to keep the mug! And they're really cool mugs, too. I have been to one small Weihnachtsmarkt so far, which was adorable, but apparently according to Monika it wasn't even that great of a one, so I can't wait to go to more.


And I will be doing a lot of traveling for half of December, starting next weekend by going to Munich with a friend, then when my mom arrives on the 16th, we have a great trip planned to Paris for Christmas, Belgium for a few days, and Amsterdam for New Year's (scary?). I really can't even begin to imagine how great it will all be. I don't think it has sunk in yet.


I will of course miss everyone in the States terribly. There are a couple of things that I wish I could fly back really quick for. Don't make fun of me, but Zoe turns 4 on December 9th (they grow up so fast) and I miss her so much!!! And then one of my best friends, Sara, graduates from college! It makes me so sad to miss it and not be able to go! But I will be thinking of you, promise :)! And we will celebrate everything (birthdays, graduation, christmas) when I get back to the states!


So, everyone, Ich wuensche euch ein Frohe Weihnachten.
Liebe Gruesse.

For the Love of Food

I figured since it's Thanksgiving week, it's a good week to talk about food! It's been an interesting experience cooking in Germany. I've been cooking dinner once a week for about a month. And while I've cooked pretty simple things so far, I've had to change a lot of the way that they are cooked since it's pretty impossible to find some ingredients. Everything has for the most part turned out just as good, though. So far, I've made enchiladas with spanish rice, barbecue chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and green beans, chili with cornbread, hamburgers with french fries, beef stew, snickerdoodles, rice krispie treats, banana bread... and some other things. The cornbread had to be made with polenta instead of corn meal, and it was actually my favorite cornbread I've ever made. It was a pretty fine-grain polenta, and I soaked it in the milk for about 30 minutes before using it, so that helped. They don't have canned/jarred enchilada sauce (that I could find), so I made it from scratch. Which was super easy and yummy. The ingredients for beef stew also changed, but it tasted almost the exact same. All in all, it's kind of fun to have to change around the recipes a bit. Sometimes you find something works better than you've grown up with, and it makes it a little bit of a challenge.


I've been trying to think of other things I can cook that are kind of "american". Although, Americans don't really have their own food, I don't think. We just have americanized versions of other cultures' food. So I've been thinking maybe chicken and dumplings, a breakfast dinner with biscuits and gravy/eggs/bacon, dirty rice... and I would LOVE some other suggestions if you want to comment below!!! :)

Chili & Cornbread

This weekend, I am attempting to make Thanksgiving dinner. I've never done a Turkey before, so that will be a first. But I've made sure to get lots of advice, so I'm going to be optimistic. I just keep thinking of that turkey on Christmas Vacation. And then that makes me think of the squirrel running across the table and all the other things that happen, and I'm pretty sure that's all going to happen to me. Someone's going to bring me a cat in a box. Although if someone says the Pledge of Allegiance at the table, I guess that'd have to be me, since I'm sure they don't teach that in German schools. Anyways, so here is what I'm planning on cooking... I'm trying to keep it simple because it's just me (although I'm sure they will help) and the ovens here are small...Turkey (of course), macaroni & cheese, green bean Casserole, mashed potatoes (wanted to make sweet potato soufflé, but don't have enough oven-time), corn, gravy, Derby Pie, and I'm going to TRY to find canned pumpkin so that I can make pumpkin pie. I don't have much faith in that, though. And I would LOVE some stuffing, but I'll just have to wait until next year. Anyone else have any suggestions???? I know there is a ton more that I could make and that I will miss, but that's okay. Having mac and cheese and derby pie will be good enough for me!


SO, I hope that everyone has a wonderful Turkey Day! I will miss all of my family and friends that are home for the break!

The Week of Murphy's Law

My birthday was last Thursday -- I turned 23. That's when my "Murphy's Law Week", as I'm now referring to it, began. As most of you are probably aware, Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. And wrong it went.


Thursday, my friend Jordan arrived. She is an au-pair about 2 hours away from me. About 5 minutes after she got here, we opened a letter in the mail stating that I apparently broke a German law, obviously unaware. So now I have to pay a large fine. That was my birthday present from Germany. After we steamed about that for a few minutes, I decided to shake it off since it was my birthday, and we still had a great weekend, despite (or maybe in spite of?) Germany's birthday present. That didn't stop things from going wrong all weekend, though. And when something would go wrong, we did the only thing we could -- we got a good laugh out of it.


On Friday, we went to Duesseldorf. Everything went well and we had a lot of fun shopping and exploring the Altstadt (even though we accidentally ate a really expensive Fajita). Duesseldorf has some of the cutest little buildings and restaurants. I love walking around there. It also has the most well-dressed people that I've ever seen in one city. Then on the way home, we accidentally forgot to pay attention on the train and ended up in The Netherlands at midnight. Whoops. No problem, we just got back on the next train and remembered to pay attention this time.

Adorable Restaurant in Duesseldorf

The next day, Saturday, we went to Koeln. There is a train to Koeln every hour at :44. We got to the train station to go to Koeln and missed it by 1 minute. So we decided to go on ahead and eat brunch somewhere since we had to wait an hour. So we went to the closest cafe, which turned out to be mediterranean food. We ordered hummus and a little bit later, the waitress returned with a plate of pommes (french fries). This is where our American accent gets us in trouble sometimes. So we tried to explain we ordered hummus, not pommes, and they brought us hummus with no bread. So we ate hummus with pommes. I do not recommend it. But we laughed about that for a while. Could we have looked more American to the other patrons eating hummus mit pommes? After eating, we walked back to the train station to go to Koeln and missed our train AGAIN by literally 1 minute. So we looked and another train was actually coming at :26. So we sat down to wait. After that passed by, we looked at the schedule again, and of course, that train doesn't come on Saturdays. So we sat down to wait again for the :44, refusing to miss it for the 3rd time. After we finally got to Koeln, we went to the Dom, climbed the 533 steps to the top of the tower, went down the 533 steps, then accidentally went shopping. After running away from the shops before we spent any more money, we went to the Altstadt and had really good Thai soups and salads before returning back home. We had to take a taxi from the train station because it was too late for the bus, and I gave the cab driver 25 euros for a 9 euros taxis ride. Whoops. He probably wants to move to America now since we apparently give giant tips.

Pommes mit Hummus

Yummy Wanton Soup in Koeln

All in all, it was a really great weekend. Sometimes when things go wrong, it ends up making things more fun. Gives you something to laugh about. Although I do really wish I could exchange Germany's present.

Going in Circles

The weeks have been flying by here. Part of it has to do with my incessant need to always be doing new things and learning new things. And since I have no patience, I want to learn them now, not later, not in a few days. Nope, now. I don't have ADD, but I feel like I have some form of something like ADD, where I'm always searching for new things to discover, even while I'm working on one thing. Or maybe it's just an obsession, an unclenching thirst, for knowledge. I want to know everything.


Example 1:
I started my German course on the 10th. We have had two weeks of classes so far, and it is four days a week from 8:30 - 12:30. This week and next week we are on holiday, and then we start up again for 3 more weeks. I love going to class. It has already helped me a lot with my german and I just have missed school. I'm one of those people that likes being a student. If I could make a salary from being a student, that would be my profession. So I've been enjoying class. There's about 15 people in my class and they are from all over: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Greece, Cameroon, Nigeria. It's fun meeting this people from different places and knowing that although we are from such different cultures, we have this in common: we all know how to be students and we all need to learn German. It is kind of unifying, the fact that we are all outsiders here in Germany, being unable to fluently speak the native language. And now, when I look at Facebook, there are so many different languages filling up my news feed. I love it. The problem is, while I'm sitting here learning German (which I really need to learn), I keep thinking about how much I now want to learn Spanish and Greek... and I start trying to learn these languages on the internet before stopping myself, and realizing, HELLO, you are living in Germany. You must learn German first. I try to tell myself that I can learn these other languages later, after I get back to the States. But it's still there in the back of my mind, while I'm learning new words in German, I'm thinking, I wonder how I say that in Spanish? Greek? Or when we are in class, and the native spanish speakers are talking to each other, I just want to ask them what they are saying and how can I say it?, while the teacher is standing there trying to teach us German. Don't get me wrong. I do want to learn German the most.  It just goes back to my desire to know everything and my limited supply of patience. When I want to know something, I want to know it now. It all goes back to that list I made when I was 16... my list of things to do before I'm 30. I don't remember all of it, but I remember that one of the things was to be fluent in at least 3 languages. I've always wanted to learn many languages.


Example 2:
I'm trying to read books in German so that I can learn it better. I've tried watching TV shows and movies in German, but it doesn't work for me. I learn by seeing and doing. I can't learn by hearing. So I've been slowly reading a german book, along with some magazines in German. It does help a lot. The problem is that when I can't read a book quickly and have to keep stopping to look up words, I get distracted. I start thinking of other things I've wanted to read, like I've wanted to read more poetry. So then I google Dylan Thomas and start reading poems. Poems not in German. Or I remember, oh I wanted to look up when the next book in so-and-so a series is coming out, so I look that up. Then I start reading about books. And then I think, oh, speaking of writing, I need to write a new blog. Which brings me here.


Some more quick examples: I just bought a keyboard so I could learn. I've been wanting to learn and now I can. I'm teaching myself with Youtube... there's this guy who put together some really good lessons. I'll be a pro soon. I've started watching ER from Season 1. There are 15 seasons. That's a lot of hours. But it was such a big show on TV and I want to watch it so that I know what went on and how good it was. I'm on season 4 now, and it's really good. I love history, so I'm always interested in learning more about it. The problem is that I can never decide what I want to learn more. So I just end up googling a bunch of different things and never learn the whole story. Ancient Egyptians or Peter the Great? Scotland Highlanders or the myths of the Ancient Greeks?


Summary: I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. And not enough time in the day to find out all the answers. Which brings us back to the first paragraph, stating that the weeks have been flying by, and that is some of how I have been filling my time the past few weeks.


Now... on to read some more german again. Before being distracted by all this talk of languages and history and ER.

What a funny cat. I mean, why would a cat want to learn guitar? They seem much more like a flute animal. Or maybe a harp. You gotta click on him, he does neat tricks.

Hello (Hamburg) Goodbye (Liverpool)

"We were born in Liverpool, but grew up in Hamburg." - John Lennon

In my last post, I mentioned writing a blog about Beatlemania in Hamburg. Here it is; If you like the Beatles, enjoy. Although, you should love them, not just like.

When I first found out I was going to Hamburg (to take the GRE), I started researching the best things to do. Lo and behold, through my Germany Travel book, I found out that Hamburg is the city where The Beatles got their start. I had no idea. So when I found this out, I made a plan and list of all the places Beatle-related to go in Hamburg. There are quite a few. The most important are: The Indra Club, The Kaiserkeller, The Star Club, BeatlesPlatz, and the Beatlemania museum. The first three are the bars/clubs where they played during their time in Hamburg. The BeatlesPlatz is a square dedicated to The Beatles, with sculptures. The last, is of course, a museum of their history starting with their beginning in Hamburg and ending with facts about where they are now. If you ever go to Hamburg, I suggest visiting these places. I learned all of this information from the Beatlemania museum in Hamburg, and am typing from memory, so if any facts are a bit off, forgive me.

To begin, I want to explain the area a little bit. Hamburg is known for Reeperbahn Strasse, where the red-light district is located. It's supposed to put the red-light districts of Amsterdam and Las Vegas to shame. I walked along there around 8pm one night and it was pretty sketchy. I didn't feel like I was in any danger, but the people that hang out there are of a semi-sketchy variety, to put it nicely (is that nicely?). So, you have Reeperbahn, which is filled with all kinds of shady clubs and shops. Along Reeperbahn, you have the Beatles Platz. Platz means square basically, when using it in these terms. So, Beatles Square is right in the busiest section of Reeperbahn. This is where Reeperbahn meets GrosseFreiheit Strasse. GrosseFreiheit is interesting to look at and walk down. It's a pretty skinny street, open pretty much only to foot traffic as a rule at night. And there are so many lights. All of the clubs, bars, and shops are competing for the biggest and brightest sign as to outshine their neighbors and be noticed. I stood there for a while, just trying to look at all the signs. The three clubs where The Beatles played are on GrosseFreiheit.

The beginning of Grosse Freiheit

Now that I have explained the area a little bit, on to some Beatletrivia. So, the first club that The Beatles started playing at in Hamburg was The Indra Club. At the time, in 1960, the band included George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Pete Best, and Stu Sutcliffe, and they were just playing in small bars around Liverpool. When they got an offer to play in Hamburg for a few months, they accepted. So the fab five began their stint in Hamburg.

Plaque on The Indra Club, which is still standing and functioning as a local watering hole

Their contract with the Indra Club required them to play 4 hour sets Sunday through Monday, and 6 hour sets of Friday and Saturday. Their rooms were windowless boxes, and they had to shower in sinks in the public bathroom. Supposedly unsuspecting customers would just walk in on them while they were "showering". They could not have smelled good. After a few months at the Indra, the club was shut down, and they began playing at the owner's nearby club, The Kaiserkeller.

Their first night at the Kaiserkeller, they shared the stage with a band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, taking turns playing. Can you guess who their drummer was? Yep, Ringo Starr. They continued playing at the Kaiserkeller and Ringo would hang out and listen to them play, becoming friends. Around this time is also when they met a group of young artists/photographers. Among them was Astrid Kercherr, who later became Stu's fiance.

Because of their growing popularity, The Beatles were soon offered another contract taking the place of Tony Sheridan and the Jets for a nearby, more popular club, The Top Ten Club. As the owner of The Kaiserkeller was not fond of this idea, he had George Harrison deported on the grounds that he was only 17 and therefore not old enough to work in Germany. The rest of the Beatles continued to play for a while until Paul and Pete were also deported for setting a fire behind the theatre where they lived, which was attached to the club. John followed Pete and Paul, but Stu stayed behind and moved in with Astrid, living in the attic of her parent's house.

Their hiatus from Hamburg didn't last long. A few months later (after Harrison turned 18), the group returned to Hamburg to play at The Top Ten Club. At the new club, their fame only continued to grow. Stu left the band shortly to attend art school (he was always a painter first, musician second) and continue his relationship with Astrid. The Beatles began backing Tony Sheridan, and got their first recording by backing him in a recording of "My Bonnie". It was this recording that got Brian Epstein's attention and decided him to sign on as The Beatles' manager.

In 1962, The Beatles returned to Hamburg again to play at The Star Club. Arriving, they learned that Stu had died earlier that day. He had collapsed at Astrid's house and died on the way to the hospital, 21 years old. A few days later, they began playing at The Star Club, along with Little Richard and Gene Vincent.

They played here for about a month, and during their break, hopped over to Abbey Road Studios in London for an audition. A few months later, Pete Best was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr. No one knows exactly why except for The Beatles and Pete Best. Some say it was mutual, some say Harrison, McCartney and Lennon were jealous. Some say Epstein thought that Starr had more talent and stage charisma. It's a mystery. But Pete Best went on to have a soaring career. Fans of The Beatles, who were outraged of Best's dismissal, stayed extremely loyal to him and he still tours the world with his band.

After their single of "P.S. I Love You/Love Me Do" was released in the UK, The Beatles returned to Hamburg to play at The Star Club again from October 1962 through New Years, taking about a month's break in the middle. After that, they returned to the UK where they skyrocketed to fame. But without Hamburg, who knows where they would be? I wonder if we ever would have heard of them. I'm glad Hamburg happened.

Signing the wall in the Beatlemania museum.

P.S. I suggest checking out Astrid's photos of The Beatles, which she took while she was friends with them in Hamburg. They're some of my favorite photos of them and you can see some pictures of the 5th Beatle, Stu.

Playing Catch-Up

OK, so I’ve been awful at keeping up with the blog this past month. I blame it on all of the traveling. Now that I’m back for a bit, here’s a short version of what you have missed.

Cologne for an au-pair meeting that consisted of 20 Russians, 1 Greek, 1 Mongolian, and me. The Ludwig Art Museum. Keyboard (as in the musical instrument) shopping. An infinite number of Croissants. And chocolate. And Eis. Hamburg. The Beatles’ history in Hamburg. Trying to sleep while guys in the same hostel-room as me are spilling lord-knows-what all over my shoes at 4 in the morning. Getting up the next day at 6 to take the GRE. Finishing the GRE!!!!! Eating delicious fish in Hamburg. Meeting people. Learning their stories. Riding trains and reading books on said trains. A lot of Sudoku; I am now an expert. A fair, german-style. Mastering the art of parking in tiny parking spaces. The Netherlands. The freezing cold, but utterly refreshing North Sea. Failing at finding a shark’s tooth at the North Sea. Massively jamming my whole left foot and ankle. Christian pulling me around in a wagon because I cannot walk on left foot. Experiencing the German health care system. A stalker from Cameroon. Desperately trying to avoid shopping. Trip planning and fantasizing.

As far as I can remember, that basically sums up the past few weeks. On October 2^nd, I was officially here for 2 months and they’ve gone by surprisingly fast. I’ve now had time to look and see the biggest of the differences between Germany and America, which are many. I don’t think one is any better than the other; they are just different. One big difference is that Germany has not become as mesmerized by technology as America. It’s almost like stepping back a few years. But I like it, in a way. I’m definitely learning a lot of new skills. For one, when I get back to the states, I will be really good at parking in the humongous parking spaces. I should look for a parking contest when I get back. Whenever I park in a German Parking Garage, I feel like I have to do some Harry Potter magic to make the car slim down and fit in the spot.

Since the above is just a quick overview of my past month, here are some more details about some of the events…

First, the au-pair meeting. Here’s how it went down: the 20 Russians spoke in, you guessed it, Russian, the whole time. So the Greek, Mongolian, and I, the American, spoke to each other in German for the whole trip. They were nice and I liked them. The girl from Greece had actually been to South Carolina the previous summer and loved it. So she was one smart girl in my book. One of the Russian boys told me that he hated America and Americans. He didn’t stop there…he also let me know that we are all full of ourselves. He asked me who won WWII, and when I answered him and started discussing it he just looked at me. He asked me how I knew about the war since he was sure that our schools only taught us about American history and we don’t learn about any other countries (even if that were true, since America fought in WWII, wouldn't we learn about it?). I told him it sounded like he was the one that didn’t learn about other countries in school. After that he was nice and we were friends. I went to the Ludwig Art Museum in Cologne and it was a great day. 4 stories of art. The largest Picasso collection in the world. I’m not a huge fan of Picasso’s art, but I love his story. I think that’s what I love most about art, is the stories that make up the art. I just love stories, period.

I still haven’t made it to the Chocolate Museum in Cologne. But I will go, one day, and then I will write a whole blog about chocolate.

The next weekend was my trip to Hamburg for the GRE (Btw, just yesterday, about 2 weeks after taking my test, the PowerPrep Software, which the GRE people send to you for free to help you study, arrived in the mail.). I arrived late in Hamburg on Friday. I wasn’t sure where my hostel was and didn’t want to wander around aimlessly at midnight, so I took a cab from the train station. I got in the cab, he drove approximately 500 feet and then stopped in front of my hostel. Glad I took a cab. I went (or tried) to go to sleep immediately since I had to wake up early for the GRE. Sleeping didn’t go so well, but that’s ok. I still did fine on the GRE and felt an intense relief at being done. After that, I treated myself to some fish and potatoes, Hamburg’s traditional meal, on the harbor, and explored. I went in a museum of a ship from the 1800’s, which has been restored to its’ original décor. It was neat. I pretended I was a pirate on the ship. The lady and man that ran the ship’s shop were nice to me. They personally showed me around to the different areas. The lady made me take German explanation sheets since she said I was here to learn German, but then the man gave me an English version, too, and told me that would help. Basically, I learned I want to live in a ship; one that is permanently docked at a harbor. The rooms and beds look so cozy.

One of my big goals in Hamburg was to unravel all of the Beatles’ history there, and it was so much fun. I’m not going to go through everything in this blog because there is so much to tell, but the Beatlemania Museum (http://www.beatlemania-hamburg.com/) was one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. Everything was so interesting – I think I’ll write another blog on this, so if you’re interested in the Beatles, I suggest reading it.

After Hamburg, I came back to Moenchengladbach to relax for 4 days before leaving for the North Sea. Christian and Monika had graciously invited me to come on their vacation with them. Naturally, as the beach is one of my favorite places in the world, I tagged along. There are a lot of differences in the way that Americans go to the beach and the way that Europeans go to the beach. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the North Sea is freezing. If that is correct, then maybe it has more to do with cold-water beaches vs. warm-water beaches and not European vs. American. Either way, it was fun and I had a good time. The first full day, Saturday, I hurt my foot really bad, and poor Monika had to drive me all the way back to Germany to go to the hospital. I found out it wasn’t broken, but apparently I had just jammed it really bad and couldn’t walk on it for a few days. Then we drove all the way back to the North Sea. By about Thursday, I could walk OK on it, but even now, it still hurts when I walk or have to press the clutch while driving. Not too bad, but I’m hoping it goes away soon. Anyways, I did basically what I always do at the beach... relaxed, laid out in the sun, read books, ate Eis.

And now I am back in Moenchengladbach. I start my German class next Monday, which will take up a lot of time, but I’m excited to begin and become better at German. I won’t have much time to travel in October or November because of the class, but I’m planning on staying busy and exploring closer cities around me. Plus, without traveling, I’ll be able to keep up with the blog better. I know; you’re so excited. Try to contain yourself. Plus, I’ll be getting plenty of traveling in when my Mom visits for 2.5 weeks at Christmas. Can’t wait!

Better get started on planning… ‘til next time.

Schönes Tag.

Discovering Zurich

This past weekend, I went on my first solo trip: Zurich, Switzerland.

I actually did not plan on going to Zurich. I purchased a “blind” plane ticket from German Wings, in which they choose the destination. They give you a list of cities depending if you want to go for culture, nightlife, shopping, etc. The ticket is cheaper than most and I thought it would be fun to purchase and be surprised. You can ask anyone – I am awful at decisions. I mean seriously awful. (A lot of the time when I am trying to choose between two things, I mix them around behind my back and choose a hand. I know, this game is usually played with two people – it does make it a little challenging to mix them behind your own back, since you still know in the back of your head which is in which hand. So I try to hum a song, like Elephant Love Medley or something Disney while I’m mixing them up. That way, I forget to pay attention to which is in which hand.) Now that I’ve given you a tip on how to make decisions for yourself if you, too, are bad at making them, I will continue. Basically, anything that takes the decision-making aspect out means I am happy, so this blind plane ticket was perfect for me. I already told you I went to Zurich, so you know the outcome of my purchase. Initially, I was not overly excited. I had never pegged Switzerland as one of my top 5 places to travel while being here. Nevertheless, I threw myself into researching and psyching myself up for my first trip. As the planning began and I researched Zurich, I grew more and more excited.

I have to say that I was not sure what to expect of Switzerland. I made sure not to have any preconceived notions, as I didn’t want to be disappointed if it was not as beautiful and serene as I have been led to believe. However, there was no need to worry. Everything about Zurich is beautiful: the people, the turquoise-colored river that flows through the city and into Lake Zurich, the cobblestone streets, the view of the snow-capped Alps in the background, the chocolate shops on every corner…just, everything. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I was in love.

I arrived at my hostel around 9:30 on Friday night. There were two girls checking in at the same time as me, and they were also American. We immediately recognized each other as Americans and started talking. They were sisters about my age that had been travelling around Europe for three months. Switzerland was one of their last stops before returning home to New Jersey. It was so nice to meet some Americans that I could tour around with during my stay. After putting our stuff down in our room, we went back to the hostel’s café for our free drink and to start planning the next day. I, of course, had made a list of everything I wanted to do in Zurich. So, I whipped this list out and we made our plans.

We first rode a train to and then hiked to the top of Uetliberg (a mountain), where it is possible to see all of Zurich and the surrounding Alps: the bird’s eye view, basically. We got back to the city of Zurich around noon and began our own walking tour of the city, starting out by walking down Bahnhofstrasse, the most expensive street in all of Switzerland, lined with the major designers: Prada, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and on and on of stores that would fulfill any girl’s Pretty Woman fantasy. One of my main goals on Bahnhofstrasse was to find Spruengli’s. It is the go-to chocolate shop. All of the reviews I read said that it was a must. And it was. We each bought a few chocolates (not too many as they were expensive. I got 4 little pieces and it was CHF 7.20, which is about $9.00) and then went outside to sit on a bench and eat them. They were divinely (yes, it is a word – or if it isn’t, it is now) delicious. For the rest of the day, we walked around Zurich – to the old town, where the Roman’s first settled Zurich in 200 A.D., to the various churches along the river, down Augustinerstrasse, one of the oldest and cutest streets in Zurich, and other various spots. We found lunch as we were walking by a square – there was a band playing to benefit MS and a restaurant had set up a table selling some superbly scrumptious mushroom risotto out of wooden bowls. We rode a boat around the lake and watched all of the swimmers, sailors, and boaters enjoying their day. We stumbled upon a flea market with all kinds of old treasures. We went into the toy store, and looked at all the Swiss toys, then to a music store that was 5 stories, where we drooled over the Steinway pianos and other instruments, all wishing we were more musically-inclined (it is one of my goals in life to learn to play the piano).

View from Uetliberg

Walking along the river...

We sat for a long time at Lindenhof square, which is the exact spot in Zurich where the Roman’s first settled. They have giant chess boards there, of which 2 out of 3 were taken up by white-haired old men, but we took the third one and started to set up the board. Then we realized none of us knew how to play chess, so we didn’t know how to set up the board. I hadn’t played since 5th grade when we had to play a tournament in GT, so I definitely didn’t remember. But we set it up how we thought and then I asked a guy that was walking by if it was correct. I asked him in broken German, “weiss du if das ist richtig?” (Christian/Monika – what should I have said?) Ok, so the “if” is English, but he could figure it out. Anyway, he just looked right at me and said, “Why don’t you just say it in English, it will be a lot easier for both of us,” in his barely-there Swiss accent. So I asked him if it was correct; he said yes, it was, and then asked us if we were going to play. We told him we didn’t remember how, so he showed us and then sat with us for a while and told us all about Zurich – where to go, the history, and lots of other interesting things.

Let me just stop here and say how much I love meeting new people here. I love the European lifestyle. This Zurich guy (we never asked his name) is just one of the examples. He was eating a carrot (I mean, a whole carrot. It looked like he had just pulled it out of the ground. It still had the green part attached to it. I’ve never seen anyone eat a whole carrot like Bugs Bunny – it made me smile), and he had no problem just sitting down and talking to strangers, telling us about his city and country. Most Americans would have just kept walking, or at least not have given us all this information. Another example: the girl that worked at the hostel was from Germany. She moved to Berlin when she was 16 for a couple of years. She then went to visit some friends in London. And she liked it. So she stayed for 4 years. Then she visited some friends in Zurich. And liked it. So she stayed. I so admire the sense of spontaneity and courage that it takes for her to make those choices, and I’ve met quite a few Europeans like that so far. People just amaze me. It’s so interesting for me to meet new people and find out their story and background. What makes them who they are today? That is one of my favorite things about being over here: just the culture and lifestyle of all of the people I will meet. I feel it will make my life much richer, just learning these things and meeting these people. They know how to live in the present, and that is one thing I need to learn to do. Rather than planning out my life so much, I need to be better at just letting it happen.

Back on track: after Lindenhof Square, we began our search for dinner. Switzerland is beautiful, but expensive. We walked around for an hour, and the cheapest restaurant we could find was about 25 Swiss Franks (CHF) for a plate (around $31). While I would love to eat a nice dinner for that price, I can’t afford to do that. So, we kept walking and finally found a Beer Garden-type restaurant right on the river with a band playing, which was pretty cheap. I got a small salad, a side of potato salad with a drink, and it was CHF 20. Expensive, but the view and atmosphere was worth it. I also learned that I have reached one of the minor goals that I have been working on for a long time: I think I FINALLY like tomatoes! I am a believer in if you don’t like something, but keep eating it, then you will teach yourself to like it. I’ve done it with potatoes (which I now regret as my diet would be a lot healthier if I didn’t), collard greens, black-eyed peas, lima beans, and now, tomatoes! So that was exciting.

After dinner, we walked slowly back towards our hostel, got our free drink, and we all sat down to plan out Sunday. Jenn and Carrie were going to be leaving in the morning, so I was solo on Sunday until my flight back to Germany at 6:30. I still wanted to do a guided walking tour to find out small tidbits that I didn’t know already, and go to the Swiss National Museum (mostly because it is in a castle).

So Sunday, I woke up, went on my guided walking tour (where I learned a lot), ate lunch and wrote postcards, then went to the Swiss National Museum (Landesmuseum), (where I did not learn much because most everything was in German & French – the English translations, which were just on papers by the door, were all out, and I didn’t have enough time or patience to try and read all the German descriptions). The Landesmuseum was very pretty, though, and I’m glad I went. I did get to go to the special exhibit on the WWF, which was very interesting. I did not know that it was founded in Zurich (World Wide Fund – not wrestling, people).

View from Lindenhof Square

Although Zurich would not have been my first choice, I am so glad that German Wings made that choice for me. I got to see a beautiful city with beautiful people and a beautiful atmosphere.

The Simple Things

For the most part, I get way more excited about simple things rather than the big things in life that most people would get excited about. An example is in a drink I got on Saturday. It was a short tumbler glass with a short straw (the drinks are smaller her, not always in large glasses). The cool thing was the short straw was a bendy straw!! I had never seen a short bendy straw before. Sure, you get tall ones in drinks all the time, but a short one?? So cute!

Anyways, there have been a lot of examples of these types of things this past week.

I went to Koeln (Cologne) for the first time. It was just a day trip, so not a lot of time, but it was nice to get an introduction to the city. I walked out of the main train station in Koeln and looked up at the Dom, Germany's most popular tourist attraction with about 20,000 visitors a day. At that moment, I started smiling and couldn't stop. It was amazing. Huge. Intimidating. Old. Basically, a masterpiece. I loved it.

I couldn't decide what to do first, so I just sat on the Dom's steps and looked at it while listening to "Nowadays" from the Chicago soundtrack. I wrote in my journal and then decided to just walk around the Dom and Koeln to get an idea of what the city holds. I walked around the Dom taking pictures, journeyed over into some other streets, and after about an hour of walking around, stopped to eat at a cafe. I got an omelet and coke light and read a book. It was bliss, but not the best part of my day.

The best part came next. After eating brunch, I decided I needed some ice cream (because who doesn't?). While I was walking around before, I saw about 23 Eis cafes surrounding the Dom. I walked back over to one of those, got a chocolate cone and walked back towards the Dom to ogle. About that time, some street musicians started playing Chopin with 2 accordions and a tuba. So I stood beside them and listened while I ate my Eis and stared at the Dom. THAT was the best part of the day. I wasn't touring the Dom (that came later) or in a museum, but it was real and it was simple and it was perfect. I could have stood there all day. But then I ran out of ice cream and decided it was time to actually go inside the Dom.

Let me first say that the Dom is wonderful inside and out, but I prefer the outside. The inside was beautiful and incredible to look at, but there was just something about the outside, so intricate. I could have sat outside all day just looking at all of the detail that went into creating it. No wonder it took centuries to build.

After meeting Monika and Yannick and walking up the 500-something steps to the top of the tower, we drove back to Moenchengladbach. Koeln is close to us, so I plan on taking day trips there every now and then to see everything. I have plenty of time.

The next day, I took the train with a friend to Duesseldorf. I have to say, I love taking trains. It is so easy and you can just sit back and relax while reading a book or listening to conversations (you know you do it, too). Although, it makes it difficult to listen when they're speaking a different language, but it helps me learn German. See, I listen only for the sake of my German education. No one should deny me that, right?

Duesseldorf was so cute. We went to the older section of the city and everything was cobblestone streets and older buildings with ivy growing up the sides. We mostly walked around, got a Doener, which is a really popular street food in Germany (basically a gyro), and sat down to people-watch. Again, simple, but a perfect day and night.

Other than the trips to Koeln and Duesseldorf, I am still getting acquainted with Moenchengladbach. t's been a good couple of weeks. Germany is treating me well. I'm learning more every day and thoroughly enjoying it. While I haven't done a lot of extravagant things yet, all of the little simple things remind me of why I am here and how special it is.

Guten Tag!



Extra:

Things I have learned so far:
1. While searching for the 3rd Harry Potter book in German (I figure since I know it so well, it will help me to learn German), I went into a bookstore and politely asked the man working there if they had Harry Potter. I asked the question in German, yet when I got to "Harry Potter", I said it in my british accent. He looked at me for a minute, I think trying to decide if I was American or English (because my british accent is so believable), then answered my question in english. Must remember not to use my british accent around strangers.

2. Germans are serious about driving. They do not like it when new straight-drive drivers are learning in front of them at a red light and stall out for four cycles in a row. They might pull up beside you (on the wrong side of the road) and glare at you. Luckily, I've got the whole starting/stopping thing down pretty well now.

3. No matter how well I think I am saying something in German to a sales clerk or someone I don't know, they can immediately tell I speak English. They then answer me in English. How do they know I'm not fluent in German?

4. I can't depend solely on my debit card like in America. Some places don't take Visa. WHAT!?!? But, I do like Euros better than the Dollar. I'm going to miss them when I have to return to the States.

On to Deutschland!

Well, I have finally made it to Germany! The flight here was a 15 hour journey, including the layover in Miami, but not counting the 6 hour time difference. Basically, I didn't sleep for about 36 hours. I am still trying to catch up, but am much more awake today. On the flight from Miami to Dusseldorf, I flew AirBerlin, so all of the flight attendants and most of the fliers spoke German. However, they did play Friends in English, which was nice of them. The guy sitting next to me slept for most of the flight, except to eat. I am pretty sure he was German. He didn't speak much except for "danke" und "bitte", but he had a German accent. Although his t-shirt was in English, so who can say? So confusing.

The stewardess did ask me all of the questions in German, like "möchtest du zu trinken?", and I of course responded "haben Sie Cola Light?" and guess what! They DID have Coca Cola Light :) So before even landing in Germany, I got my first Coca Cola Light. Life is good.

As I got in the car from the airport, the song that was playing on the radio was a techno version of American Pie. It was the perfect welcome of fused German and US music. Although, everywhere I go here, they are playing American Music. I asked Monika if people could understand it OK and she said they understand some, if the song is slower. On the sidewalk while we were shopping today, some German musicians were singing Stand by Me (auf Englisch). It makes a girl proud to be from America.

I often wonder when I am around a bunch of German people (before I start speaking, of course) if they can tell I am American. Can I pass as German? I always thought I could tell if someone was German, but now that I am surrounded, I notice that they mostly look and dress like Americans. Although, the MC Hammer pant is in big time style here right now. I have seen many-a-women wearing these and they actually look good! Don't be surprised if you see a picture of me in some MC Hammer pants soon. I think it is very fitting considering my initials are MC, ja? How can I NOT wear them when they were clearly named after ME and not that one-hit-wonder guy. I might not want to claim that, actually. They have been made fun of for most of my life. Ignore all of that, bitte.


So, now that I am done rambling: on to my experience so far. First, the family is great. They are very helpful and patient with my lack of skill in speaking German. Yannick is adorable; I will post pictures soon. He has a lot of personality and is very personable. He yells, "Hallo!" oder "Guten Morgen/Tag!" to anyone we pass, and is always talking, talking, talking. He loves to talk. It is funny to see a child speak a different language than English. He is a very funny kid, and it is hard to tell if he would be as funny if he was speaking English and I could understand all of it. Who knows? I guess I will find out once I learn more German.


My German class starts in October. Because I am not taking the easiest class, it starts later. Until it starts, I will just try to learn from the book and from asking Monika and Christian questions. Most of what they say right now goes over my head, but I am trying very hard. It is hard to be somewhere and can't understand much. You can't say what you want to say because you don't know how. It is a real challenge. Sometimes I get excited because I understand a whole complex sentence, and then I realize it is because they are speaking English. Oy Vey. :)


This is my 3rd day here and mostly we have been running errands, like to the bank, to the schule to find out about my German class, to the grocery, etc. We have also gone to the Water Park and to one of Yannick's friend's birthday parties. There were three boys, all with blonde hair. I haven't really eaten anything German yet. For breakfast, we mostly have toast and jelly or cheese or salami. We had pizza for dinner one night and then pasta another night. We drink mostly iced tea (which is bought from the store in a glass bottle and doesn't really taste like tea we drink in the US, but it is good), apple juice mixed 50/50 with mineral water, mineral water, oder kakao (chocolate milk). They did buy me some Coca Cola Zero today, though, because I saw a commercial for it and got excited since they did not have that last time I was here! I still need to look for Oatmeal or Grits in the grocery. I don't think I will have any luck with grits. Might have to get some mailed to me.


Not too much to report on yet, but I am having a good time. It is a lot to adjust to, for sure. But I'm am definitely going to enjoy the experience and can't wait to travel and have visitors!

The First Dose of Europe

First, I have to give props to my good friend, Elizabeth, for giving me the idea for this post and helping me relive all of the funny adventures we had in order to include them all. Check out her hilarious blog @ www.catscatscatskittycats.blogspot.com. You will not regret it.

Now, because I am about to go on a year-long excursion to Europe, I (with Elizabeth’s help) thought it would be good to relive the first time that I went to Europe in May 2009. I went with a summer session study abroad group to Italy, Austria, and Germany for about 2.5 weeks.

We started the trip off in Rome, where we immediately figured out (Elizabeth and I) that we were not going to be included in the “popular” group. One girl arrived late because she had been vacationing in the south of France at her family’s estate (poor thing). She also threw away all of her clothes when we moved from city to city because it was too much of a hassle to actually wash and pack them. She would then proceed to buy new clothes at the most expensive place she could find in each city (I mean, SERIOUSLY, did her mother never tell her that there were starving kids in Africa/China/EVERYWHERE). With her being the ringleader of the majority of the students, we decided to choose our own path and steer clear of them for the most part.

One of the best things I first discovered in Europe: Coca Cola Light!!! AMAZING! At the time, I was so addicted to caffeine that I would wake up in the middle of the night and have to drink a Coke Zero (Bad, I know). So when I got to Europe, and they didn’t have coke zero, I tried Coca Cola Light and fell in love. This is one thing I’m very excited about, getting to drink it again!

We of course did a lot of touring and walking in Rome. One day while touring, (with our British tour guide, David, who used to be on a soap opera!), I was walking and talking as I normally do. However, for someone that is not very coordinated and trips while walking quite a bit, I really should remember to look forward during pretty much any type of activity. On this particular day, though, I was talking to someone behind me and walking through the streets of Rome, periodically tripping over cobblestones or uneven pavement. As I was laughing and smiling, marveling at the sites, I ran right smack into a pole. Yes, you are correct, no one around warned me that I was about to run into a pole. Nope, they just let me keep on walking towards it. Things like this happen to me a lot. Is there such a thing as a “walking class”, where an instructor teaches clumsy, uncoordinated individuals how to walk? I feel I would benefit from this.

After Rome, we went to a small town and visited a vineyard for a wine tasting (wonderful). I lost my camera on the bus back from that trip. We then went to Florence (the statue of David is incredible – should be on the top of everyone’s list to see… there I go with lists again), Venice (smelly, but getting lost in all of the alleys was fun), and we hiked Cinque Terre (amazing).

 The view from our hike.

Our final desination of the hike.

Some buildings in the small town we hiked to at Cinque Terre.

Our last stop in Italy was my favorite Italian city: Verona (hello Romeo and Juliet!). The memory that is ingrained in my mind from Verona is Elizabeth, Ann, Audrey, and I trying to find a Laundromat. Basically, after a bunch of hand motions and broken Italian with some Veronese, 3 bus changes, about 2 miles of walking, and lots of sweating, we finally made it to the Laundromat. The Laundromat in the sketchiest area of Verona with no air conditioning in 98-degree weather with all the dryers going. Sounds fun, ja? However, all that isn’t the part I remember most. The part I think of when remembering my time in Verona is the 4 hours we rode around in a bus trying to find out way BACK to the hotel. The bus driver finally stopped and kicked us all off the bus since we were the only ones on it for about an hour and a half in a random neighborhood in Verona.  After that, we just started walking and I think we finally found our hotel around 6 that night. The worst part was when we got back to our hotel and some of the other group said that they went to a Laundromat that was just around the corner. We had been told that one was closed. At least we got a good tour of Verona, right?

Next stop: Austria. I loved Austria. It is beautiful and exactly what you expect when you think of Austria. Except I never found Julie Andrews, which was a bummer. We were only in Austria for a few days, but we made sure to make the most of it. I bought some Seven Jeans, froze my butt off most the time because Austria is cold at night. Even in the summer. And again, we got lost. I imagine I get lost so much because I really don’t mind it. It is fun to get lost in most instances. You get to see more of the city and discover things that you wouldn’t normally discover. Mostly, we walked and shopped and took a lot of pictures, and didn’t pay attention to where we were walking, so we got lost. We hiked up some mountains, went to a petting zoo that was in the middle of the mountain on our hike (strange place for a petting zoo), drank lots of cappuccinos and tried to talk German to the Austrians that would talk to us.

Out of the bus on the way to Austria.

After Austria, we made our way to our final stop: Germany. I wasn’t expecting to like Germany as much as I did. But I loved it! Jolly might have had a lot to do with this. The first day we arrived in Munich, Germany, we went on a bike tour with Mike’s Bikes (If you’re ever in Munich, you must do this!).  Jolly was our bike tour guide. He was from Australia and apparently left home when he was about 16 to just travel from place to place. He was about 26 now and was in Munich working for Mike’s Bikes for a while. All the (cool) girls had a crush on him. Anyway, he gave us our awesome bike tour and I still can’t help but laugh when I think about the people in the parks we rode through and people running over geese (funniest and saddest thing I’ve ever seen).

Our our bike tour. In a few minutes, some geese are about to dart in front and be run over by about 5 people.

Needless to say, Germany was interesting and my favorite place that we visited.

And now I get to go back! Very lucky girl, I am.

Tschüss!

The What, Where, & How

I guess I should explain how I have received the amazing opportunity to live in Germany for a year. I am not just going to travel around and site-see on another person’s dime (I’m not that lucky). I was offered a job as an au pair. That’s right, a nanny.

I will be caring for an adorable, blonde-haired, German-speaking, almost 3-year-old little boy named Yannick.

Yannick likes horses, the zoo, and going to the airport to watch planes. He is an only child; son of Monika and Christian. They (soon to be "we") live in a town called Mönchengladbach, which is right beside Düsseldorf and about 45 minutes from Cologne (Köln).

My basic duties include getting up in the morning around 8 (Monday thru Friday) and getting Yannick ready. I then proceed to drive him to preschool for the day. After that, I can spend the day how I like, but must be home around the time that Monika and Christian pick him up from daycare in case the traffic is bad and I need to go pick him up. Oh, and I must also do a little cleaning around the house (about an hour a day). I get weekends off (Fridays if I want to travel that weekend) and 4 weeks of vacation during the year.

I picture myself (after dropping Yannick off) going to cafes and drinking cappuccinos (although in the states, I do not like coffee, I have figured out that I do like it when I am in Europe. I know, it’s touristy and all in my head, but I’m OK with that.).  What will I do at these cafes while drinking my cappuccino and perhaps eating some type of pastry? I could read a book, write a journal, people-watch, plan a weekend getaway, plan the rest of my day, skype with friends/family that happen to be up at 3 in the morning (which will probably only be James), et cetera, et cetera. Basically, whatever I feel like doing that day.

After breakfast at my café, which I will become a regular at, I will maybe drive my stick-shift Opel back home (after I learn to drive stick-shift). Then I could ride my bike around and explore the ‘hood. Apparently there is a river/stream near and also some horses. Maybe I can ride a horse! In Germany! How awesome would that be? Or I could take a drive over to the Netherlands (which is 20 miles away) and buy some tulips. Or maybe I’ll just go home and watch Pirates of the Caribbean in German and laugh at Johnny’s dubbed over German.

I also have in my head all of the outfits that I will be wearing while I do these things. Monika has informed me that they are very casual, wearing mostly jeans and basic t-shirts. However, as my mother will pledge to, I denote certain articles of clothing as “my skirt that I wear to stroll along the riverbank” or “my shirt that I pick apples in”. I like to visualize stories with my clothing. So as I picture my time in Germany, I also picture all of the clothes I will get to wear, like the pants I barely wear, but save because they would be perfect for wearing to an open air market while carrying a whicker basket for all of my fresh fruit and vegetables.

At one point it might have seemed far-fetched, but now I am getting to not only visualize but live out my dream.

So the question is: will I really do any of these things? Who knows. But I am excited about finding out and living my day-to-day life in Germany. I’m sure no matter what activities I get into every day or what clothes I have on, it will be a perfect experience. And as I start this life, I’ll be sure to let you know if I spend my mornings sipping cappuccinos and my afternoons picking tulips.

“Die wirklich glückliche Person ist eine, wer die Landschaft wenn auf einem Umweg genießen kann.” – Unknown  (I think this is translated correctly?)

(“The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour.”)