Amsterdam

I ended up in Amsterdam this weekend. It was a very last minute trip- I bought the ticket about 12 hours before I left. The result was a far-from-optimal train route that optimistically offered me time to catch up on sleep. I brought my inflatable pillow, which I initially got to add some firmness to my giant square German pillow. This pillow is in contention for the best purchase I’ve made, right up there with the fan.

I got to Amsterdam and was immediately confused. In the Netherlands, they don’t operate trains on the honor system- you have to scan a ticket to get in or out of the station. So I arrived and I was trying to get to be metro to go to the hostel, but I couldn’t figure out how to scan my ticket since it was a mobile ticket and the ticket scanners were just for RFID. Then to compound the confusion, the metro line I wanted to get on was at the same platform I just got off of my inter city train from Germany. It took me a fair bit of time to figure out what I needed to do. As it turns out, there’s 1 e-ticket reader to exit. Then you have to purchase the metro pass. The you have to re-enter the station to board the metro.... Luckily the rest of Amsterdam isn’t so confusing.

I got to the hostel and ate an incredible burger, then went downtown to check out the night scene. It was mostly a place for people watching, especially as I accidentally ended up in a stream of people traversing the red light district. A few comments on the red light district: it was definitely uncomfortable to be there. None of it felt “natural” to me... the girls in the windows, the drunk men gawking and cat-calling. What I did find really interesting, however, was some of the "pre-reading" I did on the train over to prep myself for Amsterdam. Prostitution is not only legal in Amsterdam, it's a very competitive business. You have to register as a business owner, obtain a license, and pay taxes. One positive in all of that is that healthcare is a mandatory part of life for these women. They also have unions. But I think it's really easy to get caught up in the legality and openness of the red light district and neglect some of the darker aspects. Human trafficking is still very much an issue in Amsterdam, and I wish that it got the same attention that the red light district itself gets.

Amsterdam is exhausting, and I definitely slept in the next day. After exploring the winding canal streets and doing some shopping, I got myself a proper Dutch meal for lunch: mashed potatoes with sauerkraut and some wurst. While out shopping, I encountered what I might just call one of the most American things I've seen while abroad: escalators for merely a few stairs. It totally blew my mind, but one of my friends has recommended I think of it as that European efficiency instead of the American laziness. Either way, seems excessive to me...

After lunch, naturally there was still more wandering around to be done. Eventually I walked past this chocolate shop that was tucked away in a basement. It seemed really familiar, then I realized that I'd actually had one of their chocolate bars in San Francisco but hadn't seen the brand elsewhere. Tony's Chocolonely is a company dedicated to producing slave-free chocolate. I think of them like the chocolate equivalent of fair-trade coffee. And here's the thing, there chocolate is REALLY quite delicious. I also love the fun shapes of the bars. This also just happens to be the only retail location they have, so I feel like I truly lucked out with my find. Inside the store reminded me a bit of Willy Wonka. Chocolate bars were everywhere, and they just had free samples of.. well.. all of them. It was beautiful.

The next stop was a canal boat tour of Amsterdam. If you go to Amsterdam, this is the one thing I definitely recommend that you do. Seeing the city by boat was stunning. The neighborhoods are really fascinating, particularly with the houseboats. And of course as an engineer, I really appreciated seeing the different designs for the draw bridges, but unfortunately did not get to see any in action.

The Netherlands is crazy about their bikes, and Amsterdam is no exception. I should have gotten that picture when I first arrived and there was an entirely separate road system set up for bikes, but it wasn't until I saw my first bike parking lot that it really hit me. They don't even lock their bikes up here for the most part-- I imagine the reasoning is something like, everyone has a bike so who needs to steal one?

Then on Sunday, in preparation for my 7 hour train ride back, I visited the iconic I Amsterdam sign.

(but not before another lovely walk along the canals and stumbling through an outdoor yoga conference and happening upon the Heineken brewery)

Then of course, being so close to Belgium, what a better parting snack than a fresh Belgian waffle? The answer of course, is two... 

A Leisurely Weekend?

I think some of the best weekend adventures are unplanned until the very last minute and even the mostly spontaneous. My friend Ryan came down to visit for a few days, and at first I didn’t know what we were going to do because honestly Kaiserslautern is cute but not filled with much to do. On top of that, it was supposed to storm the entire weekend.

Saturday we were up pretty early and checked the weather- most of the rain was pushed off for later, so we decided to go on a hike. It was about an hour train ride to get to Annweiler, but worth every minute. The trail started in a small town at the base of a mountain with an old castle ruins overlooking from above.

At first I thought we were hiking up to the castle, but that didn’t turn out to be the route. I will now point out that I am directionally challenged (even with google maps and all), and can therefore make no guarantee I actually brought us to the place I meant to. Nonetheless it was a great hike. We started by climbing a mountain. I was really surprised how quickly we climbed elevation- I think around 30 minutes in we were almost at the top. It was a tough climb but the view made it better. Close to the top we found a lumbar yard with a giant bee farm, so we enjoyed a nice snack watching the bees work.

At the very top of the mountain was an old watch tower that we got to climb. I had thought the view from the mountaintop was great, but the view from the tower was something else entirely. We had such a perfect view of the surrounding villages. It was really cool because we could see some areas were shaded by clouds and others got the direct sunlight. It was really easy to imagine where the old beliefs about a king’s power might come from.

The hike was supposed to be 5-6 hours, but we finished in right around 4 hours, do either I got us lost and we took a different trail, or we hiked very quickly and took much less time than expected. I prefer to believe we’re just that good, especially because right after we finished our hike, it started to pour. The timing was perfect.

And after a long day of hiking, some Döner was in order. If you’re not familiar with Döner, it’s a German food created by Turkish immigrants that is basically finely shaved meat with some sauce and vegetables. It also might be my favorite German food, only time will tell.

Then on Sunday we started the morning with coffee and a discussion about electronics. Now is a critical time to point out that I converted my windows into a dry erase board for such instances. When I say I converted the windows to a dry erase board, I want to clarify that I just got dry erase markers. The only trick is using the right color marker for the right time of day to be able to properly read it. Oh, and it's actually impossible to capture the contents of the window on camera. Built-in security :D

Once again the day was too beautiful to stay indoors, though, so like reasonable people we went to a Bier Garten to continue the conversation. Pretty much everything in Germany closes on Sundays, but the Bier Garten seemed to be the place to be. I loved how many people brought their dogs and just hung around. One group even came via horseback, and shared a snack with their horses and a very happy pup. I also had the best Käsespätzle, which is more or less German macaroni and cheese. What a beautiful meal to round out a wonderful weekend.

Traveling and meeting new people is really quite nice, but it’s also great to run into familiar faces while far far from home. Especially as an American in a sea of Europeans and an engineer among computer scientists.

I was really pleased with the wonderful weekend. Almost on cue, the sky opened up on Monday and it started to storm. We had some minor flooding, but nothing too severe. Hopefully the rest of the week looks better, but a little rain never hurt anyone. Until next time!

Getting Settled

I’ve been in Kaiserslautern for a few weeks now, and it would be easy to simply write it off as a small German town to skip over. But it’s basically the perfect place for a nice quiet summer. The town is adorable, the outdoors are everywhere, and it is so close to many other places of interest. I’ll describe it as “but enough to have everything you might need but small enough to be cute.”

Because of its size, the public transportation can be a little bit strange. Often it will be a situation where the bus ride would be 45 minutes, or it takes 50 minutes to walk, or only a 20 minute bike ride. Naturally, I got a bike. I got a magnificent €40 bike that will most assuredly get its own post in the near future.

Since I will be in Germany for quite a few more than 90 days total, I have to take a few extra bureaucratic measures. First, I had to register with the town hall so that they knew I was living in Kaiserslautern. You must do this within 2 weeks of arrival. I ended up having to go twice because the first time I arrived, it was terribly busy. After waiting in line for some time, I finally got to the receptionist, who sent me away and said to come back tomorrow. It was a very American-like experience, which caught me off guard considering how polite and timely people talk about Germans. I came back that morning and had a totally different experience, one that lined up with my expectation. After a short 10 minute wait, I got to speak to an office worker who got me registered and issued me my official papers declaring I do indeed live in Kaiserslautern. In July, I have an appointment with the Foreign Office to get my visa squared away. As long as that goes smoothly, I have all of my paperwork in order :)

The house at Rostocker Strasse is owned by MPI and has a flat on each of its 3 floors. It is basically the intern house, although sometimes PhD students live there temporarily until they find other living arrangements. When I first moved in, none of my flatmates were there. Then after a few days, it was just me and my Croatian flatmate. A few days later, our next flat mate arrived. He’s from Pakistan but studied in Freiburg prior to coming to MPI for his PhD. And finally about a week later, our last flatmate arrived from Greece. I think it’s a good mix of people- we all seem pretty easy going and there’s a good mix of socializing and not.

After living here for a while, I still think it’s a nice flat. My room is great, and the desk has a wonderful view to sit and work. The kitchen table is also a great place to sit and work if I’m the only one there. The only things that I might really say are “missing” are a microwave and a ceiling fan in my room. Germany doesn’t typically have air conditioning, which means we rely on it not being too hot outside (typically fine) and that we can open the windows to keep it fresh inside (also typically fine). But still I think a fan is great for particularly hot days, and even more critical at night to keep the temperature down. I had debated roughing it out for the summer, but I found an ok fan so I got it. Let me say, it’s been arguably the best purchase I’ve made in a long while.

It’s really nice to be more or less settled down for the summer. Cooking my own meals, no matter how simple or not so great they turn out, is always a comfort. One day I’ll even figure out to properly work the oven (it has no words, only strange pictures and a Celsius temperature knob). I’ve adjusted to the Celsius air temperatures but cooking is a different ballgame. The good news is, I have the whole rest of the summer to figure it out. Wish me luck!

PS- leave it to a prestigious software lab to finally develop some solid methodology on dishwasher usage

Week 3: Kaiserslautern, at last

Well, I finally made it. I just barely made it, but I did in fact make it. I owe my success to the kindness of yet another stranger. As I ran to catch the train very early in the morning, some guy literally jumped off his bike to help me get my suite case down the stairs and onto the train, wished me well, and then ran back up to his bike. I think he deserves a medal; I was mostly astonished at what was happening, amazed that I actually made it on the train, to offer anything more than a brief "Danke." So, thank you kind stranger.

Once I made it on the first train, it was (almost) smooth sailing. I did have one transfer, and when that second train showed up, it was unmarked. Typically, the train has a screen next to the doors that says what train number and it's direction so that you know you're getting on the right train. This one did not, but it was the right time and right track, so I hoped for the best. A few hours later, I arrived in Kaiserslautern. The scenery along the way was gorgeous. The light fog combined with the mountains, morning sun, and castles was stunning.

When I made it to Kaiserslautern, my supervisor met me at the train station and took me to the office to start my first day. I'll talk more about my internship at a later day, once I've figured out what I am working on. My team seems like a great group of people, and I know I will learn a great deal working under them.

Then, after many months of anticipation, I finally got to see what my housing situation was going to look like. All I had known previously was that I had housing supplied, but no real idea as to what precisely that entailed. I am living in a shared flat right next to a forest. I have my own room, but I share the kitchen and bathroom/laundry with 3 others.

When I first arrived, there was quite a bit of microbiology blossoming on various food items. I did not want to upset the flatmates I had yet to meet, but in the end I threw out all of the moldy food. I later learned that two had moved out the week before and neglected to throw out the perishable food, and the last had been home in Croatia for a few days, so it was fine.

Overall, it's a nice flat. We even have a balcony, although I don't have a door from my room... so I just have to climb out the window. The windows here fascinate me because you can set them to swing open like a door OR flip a knob and they crack open from the top (kind of like a drawbridge).

I've been spending this week settling down into my new home, unpacking and resting and rearranging things to make sense for me. My room has plenty of space and a lovely view. I am also proud to report I made a towel rack in my closet #weengineerbetter My only complaint is the pillow. They use these weird square pillows in Germany, and I just don't know how I feel about them. 

All in all, a good first week in Kaiserslautern. Looking forward to an awesome summer!

Barcelona

Barcelona... what can I say? It’s a city with a lot of everything: beaches, museums, parks, architecture, food. Definitely worth a trip; definitely spend more than 2 days there.

At the airport, I found an adorable book right at my reading level :)

My flight was super delayed getting in, so it landed around 21.00 instead of 19.30, which meant everything was closed. Unfortunately that included the tourism office where I was supposed to pick up my transit card, the bank where I needed to break my €100 bill into something smaller (since the ticket machines don’t accept bills that large and the stores where I could also try to break my large bill.

So, the result is that I got to the train station to go into the city without a real plan about how exactly to buy the ticket. I was about to head back to the main station to look again for somewhere to break my 100€ when a man with his two small daughters asked me if I could buy an extra ticket from them. I explained to him that I would if I could, but I only had about €0.80 of usable money. He very generously gave me the ticket and even showed me the directions and train path to navigate to my hostel. I am so thankful for his kindness and very touched that he was willing to help me while having his two daughters to look after. What a beautiful family. He’s a former pro soccer player and was giving me all kinds of advice on where to go and what to eat in Barcelona (and Valencia if I ever make it there). People like him give me more faith in humanity.

Anyway I finally made it to my hostel, and was planning to go right to sleep. Instead I got a quick snack for dinner, then played Euchre late into the night with some Canadians staying in the hostel.

Pick pocketing is a huge problem in Barcelona, so much so that I was advised to take a picture of my passport and only carry my phone plus some cash and maybe a credit card, but not even a purse if I could avoid it. Fortunately I wore some pants with a secret zipper pocket I could put some cash in, and just keep a close eye on my phone (translation: hold it the whole time). It was really nice to travel so lightly, with no bag or anything to carry.

Friday morning I went on a horse tour of the mountains overlooking Barcelona. It was awesome. I hadn’t ridden a horse in a really long time, but would definitely say I did the best out of our small group. One of the other girls was scared her horse would walk off a cliff and screamed every time it went to the edge to nibble on some weeds. We got some great views of the city and surrounding area, but I didn’t take any pictures because I had my hands full riding my horse. I was surprised about how much the mountain landscape varied from side to side. It was really weird to only hear birds on one side, but they only live in one part of the mountain because of the kind of vegetation that grows there.

  

Our guide was super awesome, and I really enjoyed his honesty. The company that hosts the tours is also a competitive horse training school/training facility. I was asking about how popular horse showing is, and he flat out told us that it’s a sport for very rich people. A good competition horse can cost €100,000 on the low end or more than €2 million on the high end. Even if you win the competitions, there is no way to make back your money. The only way to be able to train and show horses is to come from a rich family, like our guide does. I didn’t realize just how rich his family was, though, until he casually was telling us that his father is personally financing the construction of a new road up to the horse school so that they can drive normal cars to it instead of off road vehicles. It’s not a small road, and I don’t imagine it was cheap. Sometimes the amount of money people have is too difficult to understand, and for me this took it to a new level.

After the horse tour, I went to the Sagrada Familia for my scheduled audio tour (you have to reserve it in advance). It’s the only museum-type thing I actually went in, but it was totally worth it. Gaudi has a very unique style, and the cathedral has so many amazing details.

After that I went down to the Olympic park to look around, then headed to the Magic Fountain for the nightly show. I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I would be, but maybe that’s just because it was still pretty light during the show. It was cool, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t know if I would go back now that I’ve seen it once.

That night I made friends with my hostel roommates, and we went on a late night gelato run then had a riveting philosophy discussion. And, because I haven't given up being a child, I got some dinosaur cookies that miraculously looked just like the pictures on the box. I'm growing more and more adamant that the term American should be dropped and replaced with something that sounds less like we're the only inhabitants of this hemisphere. Hostels are great because even if you’re traveling alone, you meet a bunch of other people who are also traveling alone, and then you can hang out and have adventures together.

The next day I went on another self-guided tour guided by me, but this time I was a bit more in the know about what I was seeing. I went to the Gothic Quarter and saw a bunch of cathedrals, but I didn’t go in any because I kind of feel like I’ve been to enough Gothic cathedrals to know what they look like (unless it’s a special one like Sagrada Familia). The streets were super narrow and fun to weave around. 

 

  

Then I ran into a huge protest that seemed to be growing to take up most of the Gothic Quarter main streets. They were protesting some kind of pension, and fortunately it was a peaceful rally, just chanting and waking and holding signs.

My last stop was the beach, because how can I go to Barcelona and not at least have a look at it? The sand was much darker than I’m used to seeing at beaches and had a bit of a different texture to me. It wasn't very sunny, so it did not look terribly inviting to me, but everyone there seemed to be having a wonderful time. At the beach, I got some paella as a final meal. I couldn’t define paella for you except that it’s a delicious rice dish. It’s the thing to eat if you’re ever in Barcelona.

Then as I was heading out, I was too enamored by the liquid nitrogen ice cream to pass it up. I’ve never actually had it before, and it really does have a much smoother texture than normal ice cream—much smoother. To make it, you just take the liquid ice cream and dump liquid nitrogen on it, then the ice cream freezes and you’re good to go. It’s just like a magic show!

Taking a two week intense German class and then going to a Spanish speaking country is kind of rough. Much less English is spoken here, which further complicated things. Then, to make it even MORE fun, I totally lost my voice on Saturday, so I couldn’t even speak in English in hopes they understand. It was quite literally pointing and nodding for most of the day. I got a sandwich from a bakery and I'm afraid the baker thought I was actually incapable of speaking because he gave me a free chocolate croissant. No worries, though, my voice came back toward the end of the day.

Surprise, surprise, my flight back was late as well. I’m 6 for 6 on late flights, so if you think your budget European air travel is going to be on time, I would reconsider.

Weekend #2 on the books.. I’d absolutely go back to see more of the city. But for now, I’m absolutely exhausted and need a break :)

Week 2: Goodbye Köln

Köln is a beautiful city, and I regret that my time here is quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow I will take the train down to Kaiserslautern to finally settle into my home away from home for the summer.

I had a short week here, only Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. And every one of those days it was supposed to storm all afternoon. I can happily report that the weather forecasting in Köln is about as accurate as Cincinnati— sometimes it rains on schedule, maybe it doesn’t. With the forecast in mind, it was a great week to hit up some of Köln’s museums.

But first an update on the grocery shopping situation: I got some kefir on accident thinking it was a tiny milk drink. Nope... when it first hit my tongue I thought it was sour milk because it was a little yogurt-y and fizzy. But it turns out it's some sort of fermented milk beverage (thus the fizz). If I ever bought it again intentionally, I'd enjoy it.

The first museum stop was the National Socialism Documentation Center. It is housed in the old Gestapo HQ. From the outside, I would have never guessed what was inside. The upper floors detail the rise and fall of the Nazi party in Köln. The personal accounts of different Köln residents were chilling— stories of forced sterilization and euthanasia, children brainwashed by the Nazi Youth and the ramifications they faced after, and the resistance to the Nazi Party. Part of the motivation to conform was simply that not all resistance was punished equally- some resistors met only light repercussions while others were forced into labor camps or even executed. Later in the war, the focus of the Nazi Youth was to remove them from the cities into “safe houses” in the country, but the exhibit showed how the propaganda and promises did not come close to the reality of their dreadful conditions.

Then in the basement we saw the actual Gestapo holding cells, some of them with inscriptions from the prisoners still on the walls. Honestly it was incredibly heartbreaking to read the messages left behind. Some didn’t even know why they were being held, only that they were facing almost certain death. I am so thankful not to live through such tribulations. It was a powerful reminder that we are all humans in the end and need to look out for one another. I don’t want to say it was a good museum, since it was more disturbing and simply depressing, but it was informative and an appropriate remembrance to what transpired.

Wednesday we went out to Bonn just to see the town. I thought it was neat, but there wasn’t too much to do. Beethoven’s birthplace is there, but we did not actually get to go inside.

We did however to the LVR Museum, which was some sort of archaeological museum that housed much history of the Rhineland. The downside was that everything was in German, so I had to rely on my basic basic German and general knowledge of European history. Surprisingly it turned out better than I thought. It was an interesting museum with really cool exhibits and artifacts.

While we walked around the town, I said I was going to put on sunscreen and walked over to a tree to put it on. A little girl was playing by the tree and her face lit up when she heard us speaking English. Her family had moved to Bonn for a few years just under a year ago, and I could tell she was overjoyed to speak to us for a few minutes. I bet it must be difficult for her at such a young age to be in such an unfamiliar environment, but I’m glad we were able to make her day just by walking by!

Then taking the train back was a complete nightmare. The first train was delayed by about 30 minutes, and the next train was so packed that I didn’t think anyone else could get on (I was wrong, of course). The way back was supposed to take 30 minutes but the train kept stopping randomly so it took an hour to get back. It was what I will call a novelty experience: totally packed train, many severe delays, no air conditioning. My only solace was the little hand fan I brought from my time in Korea. Luckily, though, I made it eventually :)

My last Saturday night in Köln, some of my classmates and I stumbled upon my first public soccer viewing. It was for the Liverpool vs Real Madrid in the Champions League match. Even though Germany wasn't playing, it's a big enough game that they all wanted to see it. It was really crowded, but looked like a fun time. I'm excited for the World Cup later (but first I should learn something about soccer).


Today I went to the Schokoladenmuseum to punctuate the end of my time here with a smile. On the way there, I met a recent PhD graduate from Ghana who studied International Relations. We had a super interesting discussion about how confusing the US political situation is, and how much the US news is influencing how people are thinking. I'm really starting to love these brief encounters I have with super interesting strangers. I think if I didn’t love chocolate so much it wouldn’t necessarily be a good museum, but given my love for chocolates I thought it was really interesting. And the super nerdy part of me was really pleased to see the chocolate production line, complete with some diagrams explaining the process. The truth is, it wasn't the most impressive museum but I'm very happy I went. And the chocolate fountain at the end did not disappoint.

More on the rest of the weekend/weekend later, since I took off for Barcelona Thursday after class.

I’m definitely going to miss Köln, but luckily it’s only a 2 hour train away! Of everywhere I’ve been in Europe so far, it’s definitely a favorite. I am definitely ready to move in to someplace more permanent for the rest of the summer. Next stop: Kaiserslautern. But first I should go get packed up....