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!