Aachen/Hamburg, Germany / Wurstmarkt

Travelling has still consumed much of my time while in Germany. Of course nowadays, it's more difficult to balance that with having to take care of school matters and what not. However here it is not so bad, with classes only meeting once a week, and therefore giving me more time to do what I need to do for them.

The latest travelling I have done has been to the northern part of the country, with both locations being quite different from each other. September 2-4 I was originally going to Hamburg to visit one of my German friends I met in high school, however busy schedules began to conflict, so we'd have to put that off for another week. Instead I made the decision to go see another one of my high school German friends in Aachen for the weekend. About three hours by train, Aachen is about as close to the Dutch border as you can get. A three minute walk would have allowed me to that.

I've done a terrible job making use of my camera when going places lately, but such a short stay can be better summed up in words I think. Unfortunately my friend, Boris, injured his foot while playing soccer only a few days before I came, so our ability to do things was quite limited, but we made the most of it. The first night we watched an important soccer match, Germany vs. Austria. The match had implications on a later tournament, but I won't go into much detail about that. Many of Boris' friends were at his place with us, so during and after the match we all hung out and just had a good time with usual drinks and what not.

I had woken very early that morning in order to get some issues taken care of and then to catch the train, so I was quite tired, and I went to sleep around 2 in the morning. Waking up, we had no real plan of what we wanted to do. This is how most of the weekend was. Today we decided to go to a lake, a very cold lake, where people came together and swam and just relaxed. I figured I was only here once, so I had to get in, and it was probably the coldest water I've ever gotten in. However it was refreshing, and shortly after we relaxed on the side and let the sun dry us off. We stayed here for a couple of hours, and then left to attend a soccer match of one of Boris' friends. We got there fairly late, but it was interesting to see how a club game, with no professional athletes playing, still attracted such an audience and people of all ages. At the conclusion, random men came up to me shaking my hand saying their respective German "good game" equivalents. I remember my days of playing soccer and only seeing parents on the sideline...

That night we decided to go out to the "downtown" of Aachen, if you will. One famous club and quite a few bars lined this street. We hopped from bar to bar and eventually sat down and relaxed for a while. The rest of the night was nothing out of the ordinary, and we left for home fairly late.

Next morning we woke up late, and I decided to go ahead and catch a train back to Mannheim. It was indeed good to see my old friend Boris again. It had been nearly three years since our last encounter, which was of course in high school.

Arriving back to Mannheim, I prepared myself for the first week of classes...

My schedule is fairly weird when compared to my UNCG schedule. Like I mentioned earlier, these classes tend to meet once a week. One of my classes will only meet four times during the semester. I will have Fridays free.

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A good week did indeed present itself, with no problems and what not. All my classes were introductory lectures, which meant a shorter class period. That Friday I set off for Hamburg, to see another one of my old German friends from high school. In the US, we called him Paul, but in Germany he prefers Marian. So this is what I tried to do while here.

It was about a five hour train ride, and upon arrival, we greeted each other and then set off for his flat. We relaxed for a little before some of his friends came over to play some drinking games. We would do this before heading out to der Kiez. This place is considered the night-life of Hamburg, but also serves as its red-light district. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people on one street, yelling and drinking, lined with many bars and clubs with people going in and out: this place was crazy. It was also dirty in some respects, trash lining the road and beer bottles and plastic shot glasses broken to pieces laying all over the place.




An above view of the Kiez, I believe, taken by a friend

We stayed here until the wee hours of the morning, having fun and enjoying ourselves. Marian and I would not get back to his flat until around 6:15 in the morning. We woke up at noon and went out to get some food, and then returned back to prepare it. Eggs, with tradition bread, butter, and other spreadings. We took the day easy and went out to meet some of Marian's friends in the downtown area. We sat by a lake and just relaxed for about an hour, but by this time Marian and I were quite tired from the lack of sleep the night before.




Me on the left, unaware of the picture being taken, and Marian in the middle.

We returned and watched some soccer highlights of the German Bundesliga, had spaghetti for dinner, and then relaxed a little more before going out to another party. But the most interesting part of the trip would make us a couple of hours late.

I was shutting the door to Marian's flat when all of a sudden he yelled "Wait!". But it was too late, we would now be locked out of his flat for the night. With no options apparent to us, we walked in state of shock to the train station. Suddenly I had an idea. In Germany, the windows can either be opened fully, or opened slightly at the top so that the window kind of leans inward.

For example (In fact, this is almost identical to what my windows in my own room look like)

Notice how the handles to both doors are situated right next to each. Theoretically, you could access the closed window knob by reaching something tiny and strong through the small opening to try and turn it. Well this was exactly what was going through my mind about Marian's place. He had left his kitchen one cracked, but it was a single window and therefore it was impossible to get in. But one of his front windows had been left cracked, so I figured it was worth a try. Of course, we were surrounded by other flats, as well as a party going on above us, so the most difficult part was trying not to look like we were breaking in to someone's flat (which we were basically doing...). We notified the people above us that we would be doing this, and after much effort and time, we were actually able to access the closed window and open it just enough so that I could get in. Now the hard part, not opening the window too much so that all the breakables right behind it would fall off the windowsill. Well we managed to get by that too, and damage was only done the curtain as I fell through the window and onto the couch. Marian and I were quite impressed with ourselves. However, I would not recommend that anyone try that alone or in a sketchy area, or in general really... I can now truthfully say that I broke into a flat in Hamburg...

We retrieved his keys and then went out into the night. At the party, we met in one of Marian's friend's rooms, and talked. And we talked for a long time. We discussed the differences in the teaching and learning of history between Germany and the USA. At times it was quite a heated subject, and ironically it was the Germans who would sometimes be arguing with each other. But what I noticed about this, was that, in my opinion, people our age in the USA would never have this type of discussion. Here were 19, 20, and 21 year olds having a legitimate discussion/debate about such a topic that I think only the older generations in the US would have. I was pleased to hear their opinions, and I was happy to hear theirs. I think it's great to hear opinions about your own country from people of another. It adds to one's world perspective, and for me, it helped me to point out some flaws in my own country, which some Americans, I think, have a very hard time doing. (which, in fact, was one topic we discussed/debated).

After this lengthy conversation, we all decided to go back to the Kiez for another round of bar hopping and clubbing. And once again, we stayed out until the wee hours of the morning...

I woke up at around 2:30 in the afternoon, and I decided it was best to go ahead and go to the station to get a train, since I had class the next morning. (which ended up being cancelled anyway...I wanted to stay another night in Hamburg...oh the irony.) So I made a reservation for a 6 PM train, and Marian and I sat in the food court section of the station and ate and watched some soccer on the overhead tv's.

Like Boris, it was nice to see Marian again, and I plan on returning to Hamburg at some point, since Boris will also be there around that time, and together the three of us will take care of some heated trashtalk that has been going between on us since three years ago, especially regarding ping pong.

I arrived in Mannheim at 11 PM that night, and went back to my own place, and again prepared for a week of class...

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Two nights ago, I decided to go to Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim. It has the distinct priviledge of being deemed the largest wine festival in the world. I completely understood why after experiencing it. A 45 minute tram ride would take us there, and when we arrived, thousands of people were enjoying the festival.

Me and one of my best friends in Mannheim, Zach, enjoying a glass of "Röse Trocken" in one of the tents.

Not only were there many, many wine tents, but there were also rides to enjoy. It was actually like a mini carnival in some respects. We all decided to go up on the Ferris Wheel, which allowed us to really see how large the festival was.

The many, many tents, and thousands of people. This is only a fraction of the entire festival.

And when we all got off, we were quite happy.

You'll notice Zach was not in this picture. His wallet had been stolen in the large, vast amount of people, and was on his way to the Polizei to take care of his case. You must be careful about your belongings in such a place, professional pick-pocketers to exist.

Three hours later Zach would reach into his pocket and find his wallet...

After enjoying many hours here, we all decided to head back on the long tram ride back. Once getting into Mannheim, it would be a lengthy walk back for me and Zach, since 1: there is no direct tram to where we live. and 2: no trams or busses (which do take us right to where we live) were running that late. But once getting back home, I changed and went right to sleep.



All continues to go well here in the land of the Germans. Last night I enjoyed a party with a lot of my friends, and today I am taking it easy since I have an early class in the morning. My next adventure will be the legendary Oktoberfest in Munich, and this probably excites me the most. Until then though, as always, take care, and much love and happiness to the USA from Germany!

21st Birthday/Prague, Czech Republic

Greetings, everyone. Since my last post, a few important events have taken place, which I think are worthy of sharing. Other than those events, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. I've been busy organizing everything in my apartment, as well as taking care of important legal matters in order to live here...

I begin with Sunday, August 21, a typical Sunday night here. Of course this was a school night, but in Germany, that is never allowed to be an excuse for not going out and hanging with friends at bars and what not. This particular night, though, one of my friends prepared a spaghetti dinner for me and a few others. It was a time to just relax together and talk. The weekend had indeed been quite tiring, so we wanted to relax, since Stammtisch would occur the next night (A meeting of international students at a coffee shop to drink and socialize). The dinner was quite delicious, I felt terrible for being that guy who took four large helpings of spaghetti...

Afterwards, we decided to go to my friends room and complete part of our homework that was due the next day. We had to compose a short love poem in German, and this took a while for me to do. With the help of a German friend, we were able to get our ideas on paper, and then finish the rest later. It was getting late, so one of my other friends and I decided to head back to our apartment complex, since the last tram would be coming soon. To our dismay, when we arrived at the station, we saw that last had come and gone. We were once again forced to walk back to our complex. (Our particular housing site is one of the most difficult to access. The nearest tram requires a decent walk, and theres only one bus that will take us from most places to our site. Also, the bus that normally took us to school every morning was unable to pick us up at that stop for several weeks due to road construction. It remains this way right now). We decided to walk into the city and catch the tram, since our bus was no longer running tonight. Almost 25 minutes of walking led us to the next stop. We would keep skipping stops to try and kill the time until the next tram would arrive. As I sat down on the bench and looked up at the timetable, I realized it was now midnight. I was, in Germany at least, now 21 years old. I would never have made this connection so quickly if hadn't been for my friend wishing me a Happy Birthday! as soon as that moment arrived. It was at this moment that I was not only thankful for the life I have lived, but also for friends and family, such as this one, who go out of their way everyday to support me and give me healthy advice about life.

We arrived at our apartment complex and retired to our respective rooms. The next morning was the same old day, going to class and what not. I was given a small gift on behalf of the Sommerakadamie in recognition of my birthday, which I found quite thoughtful. Nothing else out of the ordinary occurred during the day. It was the evening I was looking forward to, Stammtisch with my friends. We all had a very good time at this event. As much as I would like to go into detail, I think it is better that you all use your imagination of what a typical person does when he or she turns 21. So basically, it was a great night for me and the others.

In conjunction with a few other birthdays that my friends celebrated during the week, I decided to put together a party at the central party room of my apartment complex. This place is open to students on Wednesday and Sunday nights, and I figured it was the perfect place. It had music, a bar, a tiny dancefloor, and many games such as ping pong and foosball. It was a great night, and there was a great turnout.

Monday night Stammtisch with some friends. August 22, 2011

Celebration on Wednesday, August 24, 2011. Olga, on the left, had same birthday as me. Several others had birthdays during the week that were "celebrated" here.



Another moment from the Wednesday celebration. This with one of my good Russian friends, Slava.

 The days and week following these celebrations were nothing out of the ordinary. But as for the actual celebrations, I will probably never forget these. Being with good friends and just having a good time. In only three or so weeks of summer classes here in Germany, I would never have thought that I would have made friends like I have. It has certainly been an unforgettable time here.

A few days later, I would take and pass my Abschlusstest, my final exam in my summer class. I received a certificate of completion and passing, and have moved up to the next level of my German studies, which I will begin when I take a German class this coming semester here.

It was a sad day when people from the Summer Academy had to begin departing back to their home lands. These people were only staying for the duration of the month long summer class, and were not staying the entire semester or year. They made the academy what it was, and for many, it was very tough to say goodbye. I can only imagine what saying goodbye will be like after five months here. Like I've said, it will certainly be a month that I will never forget...

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Friday, August 26, 2011. It was late in the evening on this day. I had done a final presentation today in my last class of the Summer Academy, and it went very well. I hopped on a train early in the eveing and rode it to Frankfurt Airport, where I would board a plane and fly 45 minutes due west. When I landed, this was what I first saw. I had arrived in Prague, Czech Republic. Although the flight had been delayed, they made up for it by actually getting us to Prague in about 32 minutes (which was unbelievable given it took over and hour to get back). It was here that I was meeting my Aunt and Uncle, who are beginning travels of their own here in Prague. We would be staying in the Old Town Square Hotel, and it would be quite difficult in finding out how to get there. Luckily I found a kiosk that had connections with many of the area hotels, and mine was on it. I paid a flat rate of 32 Euros, and was on my way with a personal driver and quite a nice car.

The commute was almost 35 minutes, as the airport is situated quite far from the actual city. Had I left from Frankfurt now, I would have gotten to Prague faster than I got from the airport to my hotel. Interesting idea, I thought. I was dropped off in front of Old Town square, and I met up with Missy and Steve at a restaraunt right in front of the Astronomical Clock. They had arrived in Europe only a few hours before, so sleep deprivation was evidently catching up to them. We enjoyed a dinner and then walked around a little before heading back to our hotel room.

A night view of the Astronomical Clock. A slow shutter rate gave way to a blurred image, which I think, may have been taken from our hotel room.



And then morning arrived...

 We all slept soundly and woke up the next morning, with no exact plan in mind. We used this time to go around to souvenir shops and see what we could find. Many of them sold the same general things, but they really reflected what Prague and most of the Czech Republic is known for, glass. Some of the things we saw just defied our imaginations of how these things could have possibly been made this way. It was almost like glass made inside of glass, and so on. It was quite something. From here we journeyed on to the Fashion avenue of Prague, lined with many unique shops. For instance:

A shop dedicated to those, like myself, interested in building legos into different structures

A book store, with works in Czech, Russian, Italian, French, Latin, English, and so on. This particular photo was taken with my Grandmother in mind.

And of course, who could forget electronic stores? Many of you will recognize the Angry Birds on the glass here. I got a good chuckle out of this one.

As well as this one.

Our eventual goal was to make it to the Museum Of Communism. Situated above a McDonald's, and next to a casino, we weren't so sure how well it would turn out. In the end, it turned out being one of the highlights of my trip. So interesting it was to witness the history of post World War II communism from the perspective of another country, in another country, and such a country who's history was so important and affected as well during this time. During this time of course, the Czech Republic consisted of what is today Slovakia, hence its former name, Czechoslovakia. There was such a somber attitude amongst the visitors in this museum. Steve, Missy, and I were no exception. We seemed to have been taken in by the mysterious curse that the museum exhibited, one of somberness, silence, and observation. The quotes from Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx just seemed to captivate any visitor who walked in the entrance, where an enormous statue of both also stood. Even for some time after the visit, we just couldn't really talk about anything else other than how magnificent this museum was.

An interrogation room situated inside the museum. From what I saw, it could very well have been an actual preserved room, however I'm not 100 percent sure on this. Notice the handcuffs hooked to the chair on the right. It was not uncommon for torture to have been inflicted upon the one being questioned.

"Workers of the World, Unite!"
(German: "Proletarier aller Länder vereinigt euch!")
One of the most famous rallying cries of communism by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It was the state motto of the Soviet Union, appeared on its coat of arms, and was even used on banknotes. It is also inscribed on the tombstone of Karl Marx, and is sometimes still used today in labor strikes or protests.

I was amazed at the artifacts and objects they had on exhibit, such as guns, books, tables, and other things. One of my favorite objects was shown at the end. I cannot be sure whether or not it was an actual part of it:



The Berlin Wall

After this impressive museum, we journeyed out towards a Thai Restaraunt that Steve had researched before arrival. Although it was quite spicy, it was very delicious nonetheless. Afterwards we did some more walking around, looking into little malls and seeing interesting sites along the way:

A guy riding an upside down horse



The hanging, or self-hanging, of someone immortalized by statue.

 Upon returning to Old Town Square, we sat down and enjoyed some typical Czech beer. As soon as we started, the rain began to fall. And it rained for almost the remainder of the day. We decided to return to our room and relax until around dinner time. I was surprised by how tired I was, and I dozed off for a good couple of hours or so. Steve made a reservation for us at a recommended Italian restaraunt down the street, and it was quite delicious. The three of us were engrossed in a conversation throughout the meal regarding the "communistic" history of countries and what not, all fueled by our experiences at the Museum of Communism. We talked late into the night, and then left and did a little more shopping at nearby souvenir shops. By the time we got back to our hotel, we were quite tired, and we all had a nice rest that night.

We woke up Sunday morning and had breakfast again down at the restaraunt, included with our hotel stay. Missy was not feeling well today, so Steve and I decided to walk to Charles Bridge. It is a famous bridge that crosses the Vltava River. Being the only way of crossing the river until 1841, it was an important connection betwen Prague Castle and the "Old Town". A total of 30 statues, 15 on each side, line the bridge. It is a very quiet place by night, including six in the morning when Steve first went out to investigate. At ten, it was a completely different place. There were hundreds of people as well as different traders on the bridge. Put that all together, and you get quite a crowded scene.

A view down the bridge.

A view from the bridge.

On the other side, referred to today as Lesser Town, it is not quite as busy as that of the Old Town Square side. The Lesser Town houses such structures as Prague Castle, but unfortunately the commute there was too difficult. We resorted to walking down a main street and seeing more shops, as well as different Embassys and Consulates of countries. For lunch, we found a tiny place that Steve had researched prior. He called it the "Czech Undiscovered Place". When we got there, we realized why. We were the only ones eating here for about 25 minutes. Most of the restaraunt workers we saw understood little English. So, ironically, I had to use the little Russian that I know to communicate with them. I had us sent to the "Garten" area instead of the actual restaraunt. The Garten seemed like it was more for lunches. More casual and open, if you will. We ordered a typical Czech meal, although unfortunately I have forgotten what exactly was in it.

 We talked for a while here, and our discussion can also basically sum up our trip in Prague. We talked about how, yes, Steve had done all this planning for the trip, however, seeing so much at one time cannot be taken in but so much by someone. From what you've read here, its obvious that we didn't spend all day of everyday doing something or going to look at something. A lot of the time we relaxed, whether it was having a drink somewhere, sitting in the room, looking at souvenirs at one of the many stores, or just endlessly walking around. I think Steve and I agreed that, even though we were in a foreign country and seeing new things, being able to relax is also what makes the trip so great. If we were tired and had walked around all day looking at things, we would not have been as interested in them. Having been relaxed during the entire trip, I am able to better look upon what we did in the years to come. This is not the case for all people, and I am certainly not trying to conclude that this method is correct. But it is how we enjoyed the trip, and I think that is what makes the experience all the more memorable.

We left from lunch and headed back to our hotel. Throughout our time here, we had seen tours that you could take in old fashioned cars, which we thought was neat. On our way back from lunch, I was able to take a picture of several potential options for tourists.

One option, with the driver's shirt saying "Sightseeing Tour"

Another couple of options

 It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when we arrived back at our hotel, and we knew it was time for me to start gathering my things as I had a 5:10 PM flight back to Germany. We also had to keep in mind the commute time it took to get there. The hotel was able to arrange for me a driver the same way I had two days prior, and at 2:30 I said my goodbyes to Missy and Steve. Here we would go our separate ways again until around Christmas time, me back to Germany, them on to Slovakia. I had truthfully and thoroughly enjoyed my time with them.

Arriving at the airport, I was able to take two pictures that symbolize my ideas of Czech culture, from what I saw during my days there.

Number 1: The glass expertise. In any shop, if the price tag on the glass said "Blue", then it had been handcrafted in the Czech Republic.

And Number 2: How the Czech Republic doesn't like the Euro. Until I arrived, I did not know that a different currency was used here, the Czech Crown. I had paid for my driver to the hotel in Euros, but many other places did not accept it, and in some instances I was given an interesting glare when I handed the Euro bill. I guess its true that they want to end the payment of Euros there, represented by this sign: "End", with the Euro symbol being the "E".  Slovakia, by the way, had just endorsed the Euro in January of this year.

 I arrived back in Frankfurt around 6:45, and then took the train back to Mannheim. Since then, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. Tomorrow I will journey to Aachen, Germany, two hours from here by train. I will be visiting one of the first Germans I ever met, and one of the few, that you read in my introductory post, who I met in high school and influenced me to begin my interest in Germany and its culture. It should be a good reunion.

And so, here ends my most recent travel experience to the Czech Republic. I hope I could give you a satisfactory image of what I saw and felt during its duration. The coming weeks will be difficult, as more friends from the summer academy leave, and regular semester classes begin on Monday. But to me, I think, as one part of this adventure is ending, so another part begins. Until next time from Germany, take care!

In front of the Astronomical Clock

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