Germany Trip 2009: Part 2
Now that I am here for another week and a half, I decided to take a vacation during my vacation. Part 1 of my German trip was jam packed (read the posting and you will know why). Therefore, for the second part I wanted to take it slow and enjoy my time. So on Friday, May 29, 2009 Dominik and I rested.
For Saturday, May 30, 2009 and Sunday, May 31, 2009 Dominik and his beau needed some time alone. I had monopolized Dominik for over a week, it was about time for Lars to see him again -- don't you think so? Yeah, me too. So I went to a spa/hostel for the weekend in Köln. I got on a regional train to Köln and used the U-Bahn to get to the place. It was the most fun I have had in months. The place is amazing. Let me tell you about it. Get this: two ,,Finnische Sauna" (dry saunas), one ,,Dampfsauna" (steam room), one ,,Sanarium" (solarium: large room with hugh skylight for suntanning), one caldarium (basically a large hot-tub), and a tepidarium (stone room with radiant heating from the stone benches/walls), deck, and a restaurant/bar (with good prices I may add). The place had an awsome concept -- you check in, shower, change, and then walk around and relax, chill, sweat, swim, tan, eat, and drink. Then, when you are tired you find an open room, lock the door, and sleep. Once you get up, you do it all over -- relaxing more and more each time.
The check in fee for the weekend was around 20 euro and then you pay your bill for food and drinks when you leave. I had five sodas, two drinks, currywurst, a huge cob salad with grilled chicken, strawberry cheesecake, some apples, and cheese plater. From my calculations before I checked out, I figured my bill was going to be around 30 euros. I woke up around noon complexity relaxed. No, that word does not cut it -- I woke up complexity tranquil on Monday, June 1, 2009. Sure enough, my calculations for the food/drink bill was correct. When I checked out it was 28 euro. But, the check out guy then said ,,Ein Moment" and a lot of German words. Then, the price displayed on the register changed from 28 to 12 euro. I looked back at the guy and he just smiled at me. I didn't question it, I payed the 12 euro and left -- a nice ending to a spa weekend.
I jumped on the U-Bahn and headed back to the main train station of Köln. When I got back I decided I would go explore the city a bit -- see the cathedral, so on. On the way out of the train station I ran into Olaf (one of my study abroad coordinators). It was such an amazing coincidence. He said he was on the way to an outdoor bar area on the other side of the Rhine and I was invited. I went with and relaxed, had a few drinks, and talked to Olaf for the rest of the afternoon. It was such a nice sunny and lazy afternoon -- almost a continuant of the spa. At 4pm I went back to Köln main train station and headed to Bonn. I met up with Dominik and Lars at the park next to the dorms I stayed at on my study abroad. We went for a nice walk around the park and ate ,,Eis". We took photos of each other and just hung out. When it got late, Lars went to the train station and Dominik and I went to his place for bed.
On Tuesday, June 2, 2009 and Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Dominik and I rested and hung around the apartment. When we felt like it we would head into downtown to grocery shop. We grilled each night and watched movies. I made him watch The Producers movie. Until recently the play, The Producers, was banned in Germany (the movie still is). After we watched it, Dominik said the ,,Hakenkreuz" (swastika) imagery is illegal in Germany, except in museums (in the German theater they replace the swastika with silhouetted pretzels -- creative). Also, interestingly, Will Ferrell's character actually says a lot of German words (mainly German profanity). Oh, Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop is loosely based on a traditional old Bavarian folk dance -- LOL.
After relaxing for so long, on Thursday, June 4, 2009 we decided to get an adrenaline rush. We went to Phantasialand -- a theme park in Brühl, Germany. The park's landscaping and scenery is fantastic. The areas, such as the asian area, has authentic planting from the depicted area. Dominik said that the landscaping of the park has won many awards. The park is not very large, nowhere near American theme parks I have been to (Disneyland, Disney World, Bush Gardens, Six Flags, so on), but the style of Phantasialand has a lot of attention and detail.
For some reason Phantasialand has a strange connection to Michael Jackson -- yeah, my reaction exactly. Dominik said that Michael Jackson visits the park a lot. In fact, he even purchased some of the original rides (i.e. two-story carousel) and had a replacement built in the park (using the originals in his Peter Pan world). Also, he was upset Phantasialand did not have a "run away train" ride. So he had one commissioned called "Colorado Adventure" aka "The Michael Jackson." I think Dominik said Michael owns a 1/3 of it still. It was a good ride, much like the run away train ride in Disneyland -- one of my favorites. Being around the Colorado fake stone facade made me miss Utah -- of all things to make me think of home, lol. At 6pm the park closed and Dominik and I jumped on a long distance train back to Bonn.
On Friday, June 5, 2009 we got up around noon and went shopping for the things people requested me to get: chocolate, beer, and Haribo (the best 3 of Germany?). Dominik took me to the Haribo outlet store in Bad Godesberg. It is a bulk store where you fill bags and pay 3.50 per 1000 kilograms. I got 4000 kilograms of Haribo for people. Later that night we went back to his apartment and grilled -- yes, again. We hung out talking until bed. Somehow the topic of how a law is created in America came up (I think we were talking about marriage law). I tried to explain, then remembered the School House Rock "How a Bill Becomes a Law." I found it on YouTube.com and showed Dominik -- worked perfectly, explained it much clearer then I could.
For Saturday, June 6, 2009 , Dominik and I have plans to go bowling and dinner with the gang (Dominik's Sister, Brother in Law, and others) -- a kinda' farewell thing.
Sunday, June 7, 2009, is a relax/pack everything before I fly day. I really hope I can fit everything back into my luggage.
I fly to Texas Monday, June 8, 2009. I am really glad I extended my trip. I did not feel ready to leave over a week ago -- I still had things I needed to do. Also, it gave Dominik and I a chance to get a bit closer. There are some things you just don't talk about over the phone. Come to find out we have more in common then we knew -- or wanted to know. I cannot think him enough for letting me come and take over his life for three weeks. I hope he knows how grateful I am. Oh, and to Lars for letting me monopolize Dominik's time -- thanks Lars.
Now that my trip is over, I need to figure out what to do with my life. I need to find a job. I really am thinking about moving to the West coast. I have lived on the East coast for 10 years and the Gulf coast for almost 10 years, I think it is time to live on the West coast for around 10 years. Then who knows, maybe Europe for 10 years, then the moon for 10? -- LOL.
Germany Trip 2009: Part 1
It's about 9pm on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. I am sitting in a tent, in the rain, pitched about 200 feet from the Baltic Sea and it could not be any better. My Germany trip is coming to an end with only 1/3 of the time left. I am writing my blog as Dominik drops of his friend at his house; the camping ground we are at closes the gate at 10pm, because they want to limit the noise at night. I guess I should start at the beginning and tell you how I ended up in a tent, in the rain, on Rügen (Germany's largest island).
I arrived in Frankfort Airport -- after a 9-hour plane ride -- at 10am Germany time on Monday, May 18, 2009. I then found my way (all by myself, if I may add) to the long distance train station, where my luggage was waiting. After a short nap on a bench my train arrived at noon. I got on the train and knew I was so tried -- my eyes were red and itchy -- that I needed to set my alarm for when the train was to arrive in Bonn; I then fell asleep. My alarm sounded and I arrived in Bonn right on time. Dominik and his mom picked me up and we drove to Dominik's place. I then slept for a few hours to catch up on my sleep. At 5pm Dominik woke me up to go to dinner with his new beau (Lars -- could it be any more German?) and to see the city. After, we went back to Dominik's for a full night sleep.
Dominik and I talked about what we were going to do now that I was in Germany. We came up with a road trip of northern Germany. On my study abroad trip I was mainly in southern Germany, so going to northern Germany was an exciting idea -- see the Baltic Sea.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 we got up around noon. I went to see Miriam at AIB Willhemlstrasse (my program coordinator from my German study abroad trip). After I saw the changes they made to the facility, she took me out for coffee. We reminisced about my classmates and talked about what I am going to do now that I have graduated. I told her about my plans for traveling north Germany with Dominik. She told me I would love Rügen because it was so beautiful. At 4:30pm, I grabbed an U-Bahn back to Domink's place.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 we went up to Köln to see Dominik's good friend Boris. One of Boris' friends got a new closet system, so Boris purchased his old one. We helped Boris move the old closet system out of the one apartment to his. I say, "we" helped him move, but I just stood around. I never thought about this, but moving large objects in a second language is very hard. You use a lot of words when moving things together: left, right, higher, lower, faster, slower, watch the wall, so on. When you think about it, when you are in a rush -- or in pain -- you yell out words in your native tongue -- hence, why it was a good idea not for me to help.
To thank us, Boris took us to dinner at a Cubin restaurant and then to a movie, Star Trek (yes, in English). The restaurant was amazing. We each got a different type of calzone. I got one with Spanish sausage, cheese, and herbs. I had seen the movie before, but it was worth seeing again. Oh, yeah, Boris speaks English -- it was nice to talk more then just pleasantries to someone new. Come to find out, Boris is a producer of one of Germany's popular TV talk show "Stern TV," and travels to the USA quite often. He was a very nice guy; I can see why Dominik is friends with him.
On the way home we gassed the car. Now, normally I would not write about gassing up a car, but in this case it deserves it. America is falling behind in technology -- or just not implementing it. I have blogged before about "green" fuels, but never used it. In Germany they now have Liquefied petroleum gas(aka LPG). The car we had used both traditional fuel and LPG. It had two tanks for each fuel. The cool thing is that in the car you flipped a switch and the car switched fuel. What is the benefit of LPG? The cost. Traditional fuel cost around 2 euro a liter, whereas LPG is 55 euro cents a liter. The negative to LPG is you get a little less horse power when accelerating, but about the same milage. It looked so futuristic when you filled the car. At the end of filling, when it broke the seal to release the filler, it would spray the extra LPG like a space ship. Awesome!
Speaking of space ships, on Thursday, May 21, 2009 we went to the Technical Museum in Speyer, Germany. The ,,Technik Museum" houses a mechanical and technical collection, such as a space shuttle, Bowing 747, fighter jets, helicopters, cars, trackers, U-boot, and more. Interestingly they had a lot of German WWII plans, swastika and all. My favorite things were the U-Boot and Lufthansa 747 (it was the same type of plane I came over to Germany with this trip). Titled at and angle.
In the afternoon we picked up Lars and went up to Sarah's (Dominik's sister) place. Sarah, Guido (Sarah's beau), Dominik, Lars, David (a friend of the family that I met on my study abroad), and I went to dinner around 7pm. Dominik, Sarah, Guido, and David spoke minimal to very good English, hence a nice conversational night. Sarah and Guido kept buying me ,,Kinder Bier" (beer mixed with cola) all night -- they got me to opened up and talk. Sarah said, "This is the most I have ever heard you talk," I responded, "yeah, all it takes is social lubrication." We were at the restaurant until 11pm -- over 4 hours. Dominik left around 10pm to drop his beau at home and left me with the others. At first I was petrified; but the night and conversation was really good -- mainly about the differences between American, Germany, and Britain. When Dominik got back, he brought his friend Toto (which I met on my study abroad). It was Toto's birthday so he brought him out to celebrate. At 1am, Dominik and I took Toto home and then went back to Bonn.
On Friday, May 22, 2009, Dominik got up at 5am to take his Sister and Guido to the Düsseldorf Airport; they went to Spain for holiday. I would have gone with because it would be the last time I could see them before I go home. But when I got up I had a massive headache and my legs ached. So I stayed and slept. Dominik got back at 9am and slept a bit more. We got up at noon and went shopping for our road trip. We wanted to get two cheep folding chairs so decided to go to Ikea. We got stuck in traffic for two hours -- what should have been 10 minutes -- for two 6 euro chairs; what happen to "just a quick trip to Ikea?" (A trip to Ikea is never quick). Dominik had almost everything else for camping; we just needed food. We packed the car and headed for Berlin. I told Dominik we "have a small grocery store in the car." Honestly, we did. We had fruits, vegetables, 5 different sodas, candy, chips, breads, cheese, and a lot of meats. The car was our own little mobile apartment (home for the next week ) and the world was our bathroom -- hmm, on second thought that sounds terrible. We used the autobahn's (highway system) rest stops for that.
We arrived in Berlin very early on Saturday, May 23, 2009. Dominik knew a safe, respectable, and peaceful rest stop on the side of the autobahn, so we pitched the tent and slept. Around noon, we got up, freshened up, and went to downtown. It just so happened to be Germany's 60th Birthday so the town was full of people, events, food, and music. It was a perfect day to arrive in Berlin; could not have been planed any better. When we got to downtown, there was a televised concert with, I say, thousands of people. We watched for a few and saw some of Germany's famous people, like Boris Becker and Eva Padberg. After, we walked around Berlin, went and saw many of the landmarks: Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), Holocaust Memorial (Dominik's first time), the Siegesäule (Victory Column in honor of Prussian victory over France in 1870), Parliament Building, Tiergarten, and Sony Center. 
I wanted to visit a Sony store to get a battery car charger for my camera -- we only had two bars and still 4 days left without any way to charge it. Disappointingly, they did not have a car charger -- we came to the conclusion, "if it dies, it dies. We will still have our mental memories" (luckily, we found a way -- I'll get to it later). We had dinner at the car we went to sleep and got up early to drive to Berlin's main train station.
After parking at the main train station on Sunday, May 24, 2009, we got a two-hour train ride to Szczecin, Poland. We went to Poland for to reasons: I wanted to add another country to my list of visited places (as well as see Poland) and Dominik wanted to trace some of his heritage. Dominik is German, but born in Poland. How does that work you ask? Well, remember WWII? Szczecin was once in Germany, given to Poland after WWII. So Dominik's family was German, in Germany, but then it became Poland and Dominik was born with a Polish birth certificate. Got it? Okay.
Anyway, back to the sorry, we arrived in Szczecin around 9am. Before the start of the trip we booked a rental car in Poland over the Internet. We had to select the Airport Avis because it would not let us select the Avis in the downtown. You're probably wondering why we didn't drive the other car to Poland? Well, Poland is known for cars being stolen; the insurance on the other car would not cover us in Poland unless we paid 400€. It was cheaper to rent a car in Poland (insurance included). When we arrived at the train station we asked the taxi how much to go to the airport, over 300 ZL (Zloty) (~ $75) and over 50 km (40 minutes). So we called the Avis and found out she just left the downtown Avis with the car and was driving to the airport. We told her we were downtown -- she was, what we presume, slightly angry. We took a taxi to the downtown Avis and met up with her. She was very nice and understanding. She told us they are normally not open on Sunday and was working today just for us -- we gave her a 8 ZL tip (~ $2) for her trouble; come to find out, it was her first tip ever in 4 years of working at Avis. We also discovered that she was there with her husband and -- what a coincidence -- her baby son Dominick; maybe that is why she gave us a 15% discount.
Once we finally got the car, we went to see the apartment where he grew up for 4 years of his life and his Grandmother's house. Okay, if you're not already riveted by this posting, here is where the story gets good. Dominik really wants to find out about his dad's side of the family. With his dad already past and a bad family rivalry, his only connection was his grandmother's neighbor. Problem, Dominik does not speak Polish and we doubted that the neighbor spoke English. Solution, Dominik came up with the idea to go to the University area and see if one of the students would come with us and be a translator (most of the younger generation in Europe speaks English). The first person we found said she would love to help, but would not go anywhere with us. I truly thought that this was so not going to happen, but Dominik persisted. I thought, who is there right mind would get into a car with two strangers from another country? Answer: the second guy we asked; that's who! His name was Michael. He was studying chemistry. He was 27.
We took Michael to Dominik's grandma's house -- sadly, the neighbor was not home. So we decided to go on our second errand, shopping. Sarah and Dominik's Mom knew were going to Poland so they all wanted specific Polish food for memory sake. I got 450 PL (~ $99) in sausages, candy, flavored toothpaste-shaped concentrated milk stuff, bread, and mustard. Michael took us around and pointed out what was traditionally Polish. At the end of shopping, we saw the time. We told Michael we would only need him for around an hour. It had been two hours now, and he was supposed to meat his girlfriend, who was now pissed. We wanted to help, so we took him to where he was to meet her. We went with to show that he was not lying to her about to strangers driving him around. When we got to the meeting place, a teeth grinding angry girlfriend greeted us. After Michael and his girl talked for a bit we told them we wanted to think them for their generosity and patients with dinner. Before dinner, we stopped off at the cemetery to visit Dominik's grandpa, grandma, and father's graves. It was very emotional. We took a few pictures of the graves because neither Dominik, sister, nor his mother had any photos and rarely went to Poland.
After checking to see if the neighbor was home (surprise, surprise, she was not) we went to the city center for a quick tour -- we went to the highest point in the city, the top of the church (completely built of brick). The church was unusual; it was also a memorial for the fallen: seamen, holocaust, wars, so on. It was a church for everyone. We then went to dinner at a traditional Polish restaurant called the "Karczma Polska" (Polish Inn). Some of the best food I have had. I do not know if it was because I was so hungry, or if it was just amazing. Dominik's meal was fantastic -- a rolled up tenderized stake, stuffed with a terrific filling, served with asparagus, salad, and potatoes.
After dinner, we went to drop the car off at Avis and then decided to just walk back to the mina train station. Michael told us that it would only take 15 minutes and the taxi we took from the train station to downtown was a huge rip-off. The driver charged us double what it should have been. Once the car was safely turned in, we remembered that big box of Polish food. At the store, for easy caring we put everything in a big box. It was so heavy Dominik and I had to carry it Dutch style. It was so warm outside; sun blaring and our arms were so tired. About half way the box began to break. We could just imagine the box giving up in the middle of the road and Polish food running everywhere. Dominik and my arms were so tired, the sun got to us. We suddenly just creak up in the middle of the street, almost dropping the box -- we where like giggle little schoolgirls.
We stopped to get Michael's girlfriend's bike on the way to the train station. Oh yeah, to make her day worse, when she was ridding to meet us at the city center she hit something that popped the front tire. What a great day -- how do you survive a bad day? Laughing at two giggling, delirious, foreigners caring a breaking box of Polish food on a damaged bike. Anyway, we put the breaking box on the bike and walked to the train station. We finally got to the train station around 8pm, said goodbye to Michael, his girl, and waited for our train back to Berlin -- missing the early connection by two munities. We were sitting in the middle of nowhere, giggling at each other, eating the flavored toothpaste-shaped concentrated milk stuff. The whole place looked as if it was about to fall apart; neglected and run down. We were in such a strange mood. Everything was making fun of us; people walking by and even the birds in the rafters. We would yell, "Shut up" they would "hoot;" "shut up," "hoot," "shut up," "hoot." It drove is mad. Also, amazingly, by a fluke we discovered our train was waiting at the other end of the station. If we hadn't of stumbled upon it, we would have been stuck in Poland till the morning. We arrived in Berlin around 11pm, got the car, and headed for Rügen.
After a couple of hours of driving, we pulled over at 3am on Monday, May 25, 2009 and pitched the tent. We slept for about 4 hours, got back in the car, and drove the last hour to the furthest eastern part of the island. We picked up one of Dominik's friends. He gave us a quick tour of the city and also showed us a good camping place that had reserved tent sites, water, electricity, showers, and bathrooms. Sleeping on the side of the autobahn for the last 4 days, this place sounded like heaven. We reserved the site we found that all our paperwork came out wrong. They misspelled Dominik's name, gave us the wrong end dates, and the wrong camping site parcel (we did not notice that until one night in).
Even with the paper work problems, the camping ground and facilities were immaculate. Our site was just on the other side of the dyke from the Ostsee (East Sea, AKA Baltic Sea). The forest was calm, clear blue skies, warm sun, and slight cool breeze. We set up the tent and grilled for dinner -- fantastic. What was even more fantastic was that the site had electricity! I charged my phone, laptop, and camera -- finally. The night was extraordinary -- just the right temperature, clear night sky, and a suburb theatrical serenade of German crickets perfectly in unison with the crashing ocean waves.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 26, 2009, we got up at noon, had a small lunch, and took a superb, long over due, shower. At 3pm we picked up Dominik's friend (Michele). We went to the city center and walked along the boardwalk. It reminded me somewhat of New Jersey's boardwalks -- just much cleaner and somehow older. After, we went to the harbor area because we wanted to get some fresh fish to grill for dinner. Sadly the fish market closed just 30 minutes before we arrived, so we went for a short walk and then decided to have a fresh fishmeal at a harbor restaurant. We could tell something was brewing in the weather. The wind started to kick up and sky was darkening. We spent the rest of the day at the beach, playing in the sand, building castles and waiting in the water.
This brings me to where the blog post began. It started to rain. Dominik took Michele home and I stayed in the tent and began to write. When Dominik got back the rain started harder. As we were watching Hitch on my laptop, we noticed that water was starting to come in by the seams of the tent. Dominik came up with the idea to cover the seams with opened trash bags, plastic bags, and black duckedtape But, after a few more munities, it just was not helping -- the blankets and pillows were starting to get sopping wet. So, we took all the food crates out of the car, laid down the seats, and transferred the bedding to the back of the car and food to the tent. We then finished the movie on the laptop and slept in the dry car.
The next day, Wednesday, May 27, 2009, we got up at 1pm. The tent looked like a hurricane hit it. We could hear people laughing as they walked by the campsite. We got up and de-plasticed the tent, hung up the bedding on wire strung from tree to tree, and put the food back into the car and aired out the tent. Once the campsite was presentable again, we got ready and zipped over to the harbor fresh fish market again.
We arrived right as they were closing and they only have one type of fish left out, so we got 3 fillets for just a few Euros. The workers told us that there was another fresh fish market in the downtown that closed later. So we headed over there and got some shrimp kabobs, a beautiful salmon filet, and a whole cleaned fish. We then made a quick stop at a hardware store for a tarp because we knew it was going to rain again tonight. At 5pm we picked up Michele and went to the campground to grill. As the BBQ briquettes were heating up we placed the tarp over the tent -- perfect fit. We grilled from 6pm to midnight -- Michele took the last bus home around 10:30pm.
At about 1am on Thursday, May 28, 2009, Dominik and I went down to the beach, for the last time, with a bottle of wine, two wine glasses, blankets, and a flickering citronella candle. It was our last night and we wanted to make it special. We placed the blankets down and laid under the night sky, speckled with stars, drinking the wine and basking in the moment. Once it got cold we packed up from the beach and went back to the tent. Packing up for the night we put the extra food out in the forest -- we were visited by three "wild" domestic cats that loved our cooking. It was fun to watch them, we placed the food and then went about packing up, and when we went to check to food, it was gone.
In the night it got very windy and rainy, but when we got up at 10am the tent was dry, not a drop of rain on it -- perfect. In one hour we packed up the site into the car and left for Bonn at 11am. On the way out of the city we passed classic northern Germany thatched roofs; very traditional. After an 8-hour drive we arrived in Bonn at 7pm. In the last few miles Dominik and I talked about me flying back to the USA in the morning, he asked, "Why are you going back now?" I could not give him an answer. The Hawaii trip was canceled and my job hunting is postponed anyway, so after we arrived and unpacked the car I found out how much it would be to move my flight. With that fee, it would only cost me food if I stay longer with Dominik. So I went ahead and pushed my trip another 8 days. Here's to another adventure...
Protected: Dominik Sings
Thanksgiving & Bonn Christmas Market
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Being here in Germany on Thanksgiving is kind of hard. They do not celebrate it here and I really miss family. To help the "pain," the program I am here with gives all the students a Thanksgiving party; with turkey and all. I think I said that AIB has students from Texas A&M University and from LMU from California. The party was a joint Thanksgiving, so it was nice to have more Americans around to help celebrate and create the Thanksgiving mood. It was a nice dinner. We had pounds of mashed potatoes, 6 turkeys, stuffing, salad, fruit salad, green beans, souffles, cobblers, pies, and more.
After the two hour dinner, the Texas students went to Bonn Christmas Market-- and the Glühwein was flowing. The markets take over the plazas in the city. They set up little quaint themepark villages. It is such a cool experience. The shops, lights, food, smells, sights, merchants, so on. All that was missing was caroling; which supposedly starts in December. The cup system here is neat. You go up and order your drink. Included in the price is a deposit on your cup/mug. If you like the cup/mug you just keep it and your deposit is the cost of the cup/mug; or you can go up and give it back and receive your deposit back. The Christmas mugs this year is a hand painted strong mug with scenes from around Bonn, so I kept mine as a souvenir. Oh yeah, I also did the same in Vienna.
In other news, today also marks the last day of my semester classes! Whoop! No more classes. Now I have 9 days of traveling, roaming, relaxing, and packing. I am going to Barcelona, Spain, November 29th till December 2nd. Then, home to Texas on December 8th at 9am (German time). It really is bitter-sweet. I want to stay, but I really want to go home.
Boo! (That’s German for “Boo”)
For Halloween the studio decided to have our own party (because Germany does not celebrate Halloween) then go clubbing in Cologne. We all went over to Pam's host parents house, which graciously agreed to host the party. We all contributed 3€ and Pam went to the store for hotdogs and snacks (it was BYOB). The class mainly went as leaves, 4 people went as the current presidential (and VPs) candidates, and one person went as if she was stuck in the 80s. The party was really fun. 
Our professor even came and did face painting. We had a good time being all together outside of the classroom. We were going to meet Miriam (our AIB program coordinator) in Cologne, but she sent a text saying she did not fill up to it. Because it was cold, we were relying on public transportation, and everyone was dressed up, we did not go. The party started winding down at midnight. Everyone wanted to make sure to catch his or her last U-Bahn home, so we ended the party.
I got home at around 1am. I expected just to go to sleep, but the next part of my night made a 180 degree turn, no, more like a 360 degree turn. If you want the full story, ask me in person. Basically, I ended up in Cologne until 9am. So yes, I was up all night. I got back to the dorm at 10am, and went to sleep. I got up at 5pm for dinner and AIB movie night. I got home from movie night at midnight. Sunday, I got up late at 1pm; after much needed rest. It was a very good weekend. I am glad I finally went out in Cologne; an amazing Halloween!
Colors of Nature
Saturday, Briana and I planed on going to UN day. When the class visited the UN building, our tour guide told us that UN day was all Saturday near the UN building. Briana and I decided she would come over to the dorms at 4pm (because the dorms are just down the road from the UN building) and we would walk to the events. Well, we could not find UN day. We walked by the UN building and down to Bonn Park. We walk all over the park. This park is like central park in New York, huge. We finally realized that we were not going to find anything and gave up. After walking in the beautiful landscape, we wanted to explore more outside. We remembered some other classmates told us about the Japanese garden in Bonn (a part of the large park). We walked a little further and found the garden. Wow, absolutely stunning. The layout, water, white/gray stone, sounds, vegetation, maroon/red maples, just made for a stunning setting.
A little backtracking; Briana read an article a few days ago about red lipstick. Basically—I am drastically paraphrasing—the author did an experiment to wear red lipstick (she never wore red lipstick). She came to the conclusion (even thought it was relatively awkward at first, because red is such a powerful color) that it was a confidence builder: people noticed and commented, people seamed to respect her more (at least listen more), and so on. Briana wanted to try. So yesterday, Friday, we went to one of the mall like stores in Bonn and rummages thought the red lipsticks. Briana could not find anything. After 30 minutes she had over 15 red lipstick test dots on her hand. I looked at one of the gem tones sitting right up front and said, "That one. Buy that one." She did. So, Saturday she wore it for UN day. The color is really nice and it fits her. Anyways—why I am telling you this story—at the garden, the Japanese red maples had begun to drop leaves. We took many photos posing and playing in the leaves because the scenery was so beautiful. I picked up one of the leaves and gave it to her; it was the exact same color as her lipstick. Because Briana's camera was already out, I used it to take a picture of her. Later, Briana touched the photo up; absolutely gorgeous.
Later that day, I went over to Briana's host families house and made baked pumpkins seeds from the pounds of seeds we collected from the pumpkin carving night. Her host 'mother' was astonished at how "much work it is." She had never had them before (remember, they do not celebrate Halloween, so no pumpkin carving, no baked pumpkin seeds). They turned out really good. We made two types: salt & pepper and cinnamon & sugar.
Back to Saturday. Briana and I realized that we have been in Bonn forever and never once gone dancing/out in Cologne. We all have been to busy or traveling. We decided this Saturday night was a good time to go out; a last hoopla before we had to buckle down and finish our projects. I had found a grand opening of a club in Cologne (SEXY) a few days before, that just happened to be this night. I requested we go. We told Rachel (classmate) and she wanted to come too. We all met at the Bonn HBF at 10ish and got to Cologne at 11pm. The club didn't even open its doors until 11pm (like ever other club in Europe) so we knew we were fine on time. We walked from Cologne HBF to the club in just a few minutes. As we were walking down the last block we could see the line. I have seen movies, that take place in big cities, were people stand outside clubs waiting for the bouncer to let them in, slowly moving inch by inch, as the line extends all they way around the city block. This was that line. We were stunned; we didn't know this kind of thing acutely happens. We waited in line for over 2 hours. All while learning that Germans do not know how lines work. We had so many people cut in front of us. At around midnight multiple lines started forming—the main line had growths coming off. By 1 am, the line was a massive group of people up by the main door. We three came to the conclusion we should just give up and catch a train back to Bonn. After midnight the trains only run every hour, so It was good to go at 2am. By the time we would have gotten into the club (and paid the 10€ cover) we would only of had a few minutes before we had to grab the 3:50am train (which we all wanted to do). All in all, it was just a fun night being out in Cologne, seeing hundreds of people, and being at a grand opening of a club. Baby steps, right? Next time we go out in Cologne, we will go to a club that is established.
UN, Castles, & Pumpkins
This week in school we have mainly been working on our studio projects. On wednesday we went to the UN Campus for a tour/visit. It was an interesting visit. I really did not know much about the UN. A little Bonn history: When Germany was split into Western and Eastern Germany (and Berlin was split as well), Western Germany moved their capital to Bonn. For 20 odd years Bonn was the capital and had everything governmental. You know that iconic video of the German parliament where they all, as if rehearsed, jump up cheering when they hear the wall is coming down? That was in Bonn (which btw, I am going to that building/room this Saturday).
That iconic moment was good news. The subsequent events after were not. Now that Berlin was reunified, Germany decided to move its government back to Berlin. The Bonners didn't know what would happen to the city. Would it shrivel up and be forgotten? To prevent such fate, the German parliament passed the Berlin-Bonn legislation, establishing the UN Headquarters of Germany in Bonn. Bonn is now the fastest growing city in Germany. And for good reason: it is centrally located in Europe, it has a small town feel with the resources and infrastructure of a metropolis, and a city that supports the UN full heartily. One of the best parts of the tour, they took us up to the 29 floor of the UN building and we got a 360? view of over Bonn.
On Thursday we went to Schloss Dyck. It is an old castle from the Dyck family, built over 1000 years ago. We went on a garden tour. It was neat to see because the gardens are modern while reflecting the history of place. All the gardens where hidden in tall grasses, kind of like european corn fields (to give you a mental image). It was fun running in the fields; such a perfect activity during autumn weather. After the tour we all went back to studio and had a pumpkin carving party. It was nice to do something all together that had nothing to do with school; relaxing and rejuvenating. This weekend I am just working on projects.
Bonn Light Show
I was walking around after dinner and saw spot lights coming from Munsterplatz. I walked over and found that someone was putting on a light show. They had a massive stage set up that was a giant fountain. It was connected to the fire hydrants. They played music, the water danced and sprayed all over. Lights shined into the water and made a magical ambiance. It was amazing. Also, they would spray a fine mist and project movie clips--the water acted like a screen. It is so cool how many things this city has going on. I was thinking this is the kind of thing College Station/Bryan should do. It was free to watch, but they had food at vendors you could buy. Everyone was having such a good time. I have some clips of the show I will put up later.
Prep, Two Weeks of Travel
I'm distressed about how much traveling I am doing soon (photo by Briana Morrison). I am doing laundry right now to prepare for two weeks of travel. Saturday the class is going to Berlin, Germany, for four days and then Prague, Czech Republic, for three days. After, we are coming back to Bonn. I have one night of relaxing and doing laundry again. Then, Briana, Brent (her BF that is coming to Germany for 9 days), and I are going on our week of travel. We finalized our travel plans today. Starting October 5th, we are going to Cologne for the afternoon, then riding a 3 hour high-speed train to Amsterdam, Netherlands. We will be in Amsterdam for 2 days/nights. Then, ride a 2 hour train to Bruges, Belgium for one day/night. Then, ride a 1 hour train to Brussels, Belgium for one day/night. Then, ride a 2 hour train to Paris, France for 3 days/nights. Finally, ride a 3 hour train back to Bonn/Cologne. We reserved hostels/hotels in each place. We are paying about 200€, per person, for all the logging. Most of our places included breakfast and are smack-dab in the middle of town. Our hotel in Paris is only 5 minutes walking distance from Notre Dome. Oh! Also, I got a rail pass (for all the train rides), so all the trains only cost me 295€. I believe I am going to be able to get away only paying 700€ for everything (lodging, food, transportation, and maybe souvenirs) for this 10 day trip. And, to makes things better, I will still have three train travel days leftover on my rail pass. To use them, I have started planning a trip to the Black Forest and Bern, Switzerland, sometime in November.
Puetzchen’s Markt
Yesterday at around 4pm a group of us went to the traveling fair, Puetzchen's Markt, that comes to Bonn around this year. Puetzchen's Markt is like a traveling fair in the USA, but German style. You remember the traveling fair, it would come around, you could see it setting up, and you could not wait for it to open. They would have food stands, a few rides, and activities, right? Well, to imagine Puetzchen's Markt you need to take the atmosphere of New Orleans at Mardi Gras and mix it with Las Vegas. I'm not kidding. This place was massive. The AIB student workers say it is a mini-Octoberfest.
It took over 15 city blocks. It had over 20 rides; I mean big rides: fairs wheel, three water rides, swinging ship, Wild Maus roller coaster, scrambler, three hunted houses, bumper cars, and so much more. And the food, Oh, the food! Pickle stands (yes, pickles!), ham, championed sauteed mushrooms (which were to die for), fried fish, candies nuts, plain nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, candied apple, giant cookies, and every kind of sausage you can name. Then, the ,,Markt" park of the fair (market), kiosks of all kinda: olive wood cutting boards, jewelry, clothing, so much stuff.
Then the really German stuff, the beer. Every other kiosk was a beer stand. Some just a small tent, whereas, some an elaborate German style half plank house. 
The major event was the Bayern-Festhalle (main beer tent). This is a massive (texas highway church size) tent that has hundreds of tables where people order the really big iconic glass beer-stein and drink, talk, and listen to authentic German music (with an american 80's song every now and then).
All of this fun and it was free to get in! Well, just like at an american themepark everything was market up in price. The rides were about 2-4€ each, the food was about 4€, drinks around 2€, and stuff was around 10€. Beer on the other hand was (as usual) cheeper then water at about 1€. I had a lot of fun. We got there at 4pm and left at midnight, but it runs consistently the weekend (three days) it is here. I went on two ride, had dinner, and hung out with my class.