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