Aachen Adventures!

Hello faithful readers! When I left you last, I was feeling a little bit discouraged about still not having an apartment, but I was excited for my upcoming visit to Aachen.  Well, I’m pleased to report that not only did I have a lovely weekend in Aachen, but I also found a place to live upon returning to Wuppertal! I like to do things chronologically, so first I’ll recap my trip to Aachen.

This past weekend was Easter weekend, or Osternwochenende.  The Germans take their Catholic holidays very seriously, even though hardly anyone is Catholic anymore, so I had both Friday and Monday off work.  Since Inka was going to Berlin to see her family, and I still don’t really have any friends in Wuppertal yet, I decided to hop on a train and head to Aachen.  Both Steve and Shane are co-oping in Aachen, but what’s even more exciting (sorry guys) is that my long lost Norwegian friend Helge is going to med school in Aachen and he lives there as well!  Yay for having friends!

I slept in on Friday, woke up, and made my half hour walk to the Wuppertal Hbf.  I bought my ticket to Aachen for the weekend, as well as my Bahncard 25 and a ticket to visit Josi in Stuttgart in two weekends.  I was especially proud of this because I conducted the entire transaction auf Deutsch, even though it probably sounded awful.  Deutschebahn has very kind and patient employees.  When I arrived in Aachen, I was greeted at the Hbf by Shane and Zach Kramer, who was also staying for a weekend visit.  We headed back to Shane’s place where we were eventually tracked down by a Viking.  That’s right, Helge Rustenberg the Norwegian wonder and I were reunited! We spent the rest of that evening catching up, eating, tossing a couple back, and feeling some much needed friendship.   

Look who I found!

On Saturday, we decided to take a day trip to The Netherlands.  That still sounds so crazy to me, a “day trip” to a different country.  Oh Europe.  Aachen happens to be located right near where Germany borders both The Netherland and Belgium.  We hopped on a bus and went across to Vaals, Netherlands.  There isn’t that much going on in Vaals, but we spotted a crazy looking tower on top of a hill in the distance, so naturally we decided to hike towards it.  When we finally reached the tower, we realized that we had found the Drielandenpunt – the spot where the borders of Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands all meet!  Usually I don’t get scared of heights, but this tower had a cantilever type platform and the floor was SEE THROUGH.  The tower is about 300m high, so it was pretty freaky.

The brave boys.

The Tower!

Sunday, we were invited to have Easter brunch with Susan, an intercultural training expert from the Carl Duisberg Center.  It was so awesome to see a familiar face and talk with her and her family about our German experiences so far.  The food was delicious, but the company was even better.  It’s very nice to know that there are people out there that want us to have the best experience possible.  The rest of Sunday was spent wandering around Aachen.  We went to a cool old house turned museum that was filled with beautiful antiques, and then visited the Aachener Dom. After a day full of walking, we headed back to Helge’s place where we got a Kasten and watched Lord of the Rings Return of the King (extended version, of course).

The Aachener Dom from the outside.

Such an elaborate, tiled ceiling! 

Me and some beautiful stained glass windows.

I headed back to Wuppertal on Monday with only one goal in mind: find myself an apartment.  I had gotten a couple of responses from WG-gesucht over the weekend, so I contacted the most promising.  I went and met with the potential roomies (and potential roomie cat), and they turned out to be fantastic!  The apartment is beautiful; it’s in an old building, but the interior has been newly redone.  The two other girls that live there are both awesome.  They are a tad older than me, but are still studying at the University.  Both of their majors are… get this… English! How perfect!?  So, I will have no problem communicating with these lovely ladies, and hopefully I can really improve my German through living with them.  Meeting Franzi and Anna (and Sookie) was the prefect way to end a great weekend!  You can look forward to a post about my new place after move in this weekend! 

Wupperverband: First Impressions

Today marks the end of my first week of work for the Wupperverbandgesellschaft für integrale Wasserwirtschaft mbH, a Tochtergesellschaft (subsidiary) of Wupperverband. Seeing as that name is A BIT of a mouthful, I’m going to refer to my place of work as ‘Wupperverband’ or ‘WiW’, sound good?  So far, my impression of the company is really wonderful, which is such a relief! I know that this is still just a first impression, but I’m going to be working on some pretty cool projects and I’m very excited! 

My place of work is located on top of a hill, where I have a beautiful view of the Wupper valley!  The building is nice and new with big bright windows so that an entire days work can be done by natural light.  That’s assuming that you have a bright sunny day, which today was not. The office set-up is quite nice.  Each floor basically consists of a long, wide hallway with offices on either side.  Each office has either one or two desks (you get your own desk if you’re important) and the door can be closed, but most people leave them open.  I really like that I’m not stuck in a cube all day!  However I still don’t have a permanent desk yet… so a dingier office might be in my future.  Everything is nice, neat, spacious, and like I said before, very bright!  I think it’s a great atmosphere.  I’ll try to sneak some pictures soon…

The main project that I’m going to be working on is an EU funded project called INNERS which stands for INNovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle.  A full description can be found on the website: http://inners.eu/.  Basically, the project looks at the urban water cycle, and optimizes energy usage in waste water treatment plants.  The goal of Wupperverband is to have an energy neutral (or even energy producing!) waste water treatment plant by 2020!  I had a tour of Wupperverband's largest waste water treatment plant today, and believe it or not it was actually kind of beautiful.  The WWTP is set back in the forest and beside the occasional smell of decomposing organic material, it was really cool to explore.  I’m going to be learning about things like biogas, heat exchangers, and activated sludge.  It’s going to be really challenging because most of the material is fairly new to me, and I’m also learning it in a foreign language.  At least I’ll always be busy at work!

So far everyone that I have met at work has been incredibly nice.  Everyone is very impressed that I am trying to learn German, and they even tell me that I speak it really well (which I KNOW is an exaggeration).  I think that everyone will be very patient with my language learning, I just need to not get frustrated with myself.  I still haven’t met my “real” boss yet as he has been away on holiday.  These Germans love their holidays. I’m looking at a four day weekend because of the Easter holiday – I’m not complaining!

So I bet you’re wondering how I get to my pretty office atop the hill… well, in true German fashion, Inka and I have been biking to work together!  Inka bikes to work pretty much year-round, rain or shine, and since I don’t really know how to say “I’m kinda lazy” yet auf Deutsch, I’ve been biking with her!  I have been borrowing a bike from her neighbors until I can borrow one of my own.  Inka helped me send out an email to all our co-workers asking if anyone has a bike I can borrow for five months.  Within minutes we already had three responses, so I think I will be all set in the bike department! And I was only half kidding about the lazy thing… I actually enjoy biking to work, even though I’m a hot sweaty mess by the time we get to the top of the hill.  But hey, it’s a much needed workout to counteract all the cheese I’ve been eating lately. 

I’m very happy that I found a co-op that fits me so well.  It is truly a relief!  I do have some unfortunate news however.  Remember the WG that I found, and visited, and thought I was all set to move into?  Well it turns out that the other roommates decided they wanted to find someone that will be staying for longer, so I still don’t have a place to live.  Back to the search!  Again, I’d just like to thank my lucky stars that I have Inka who has been ridiculously helpful and welcoming and kind.  I would be in a heap of trouble without her! 

I’m trying not to get too discouraged about things.  I feel like my language is improving little by little, but it is still incredibly frustrating to have the language skills of a 3 year old.  Speaking of 3 year olds… Inka and I went over to our co-worker Catrin’s house for dinner last night and she has perhaps the cutest son in all of Germany.  He’s probably around 4 or 5 years old (and of course can speak better German than me) and he was so loud and funny.  Seeing him hang all over his parents made me really miss mine.  I’ve still been feeling really homesick, but it’s getting better now that I’ve got some concrete things to look forward to.  I am also seriously bummed out that my apartment situation fell through, and that I’m basically back to the start of my search.  Ah, such is life.  So for now, I’m very lucky that I have Inka hosting me at her house, and I will try calling people about WGs throughout the next couple of days.  I’m looking forward to a trip to Aachen this weekend to visit Steve and Shane (other ICP students) and I’m EXTREMELY excited to see my friend Helge!  Helge is from Norway and he was a foreign exchange student at my high school.  He now goes to medical school in Aachen, so I’m going to hopefully meet up with him this weekend!  Also, the UC DAAP students are arriving in the coming week, so I’ve got that to look forward to as well!  And what do you, my faithful readers, have to look forward to?  I’ll be posting about my trip to Aachen, as well as some new Greenservations soon!  Until then, Tschüss!

Wuppertal: First Impressions

After a sleepless night at the backpacker’s hostel, I set off for my new home: Wuppertal. Wuppertal is only a short distance from both Köln and Dusseldorf. The three cities kind of form an upside-down triangle, where Köln is at the bottom, Dusseldorf is top left, and Wuppertal is top right. It only took me about half an hour by train to reach the Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof, where I was greeted by one of my co-workers Inka. I’d like to take a moment and really give a hearty thank you to Inka. If it weren’t for her kindness I’d be even more alone and even more freaked out right now. Inka is letting me stay with her for a week or so until I find a permanent apartment of my own. I seriously don’t know what I would do without this woman. She’s been so nice. And she’s also been speaking only German to me, which, as difficult as it is, is exactly what I need.

My first impressions of Wuppertal have been mixed. It’s very different from Köln in many ways. Köln is the 4^th largest city in Germany with a little over 1 million people whereas Wuppertal has about 350,000 inhabitants. Also, the terrain and layout of the cities are very different. Köln is relatively flat and the city has a nucleus (the Dom, obviously) and it sprawls out in a circular fashion. Wuppertal on the other hand is in a valley, so it is very hilly and the city spreads longwise along the bottom of the valley. I arrived to Wuppertal Hbf on a rainy morning, which made it look even more dreary in comparison to the Köln Hbf. Other differences I noticed right away were not the greatest. Wuppertal appears to be dirtier and less biker friendly than Köln, but this can be attributed to the fact it is less tourist oriented and the terrain is quite different. I’m very intrigued to learn more about Wuppertal, and to form deeper opinions other than just my first impressions.

I’m also very excited to make some German friends my age! I think my first step in achieving this will be moving into a permanent apartment. I think I found an apartment through WG-Gesucht with two German students, a 21 year old girl and 27 year old guy. I visited their apartment on Friday shortly after arriving to Wuppertal. Luckily for my sleep deprived self it was only a short walk from Inka’s house. They both seem really nice and willing to help me with my German. I’m hoping to hear back from them within the next few days! I’ve been feeling pretty lonely ever since I left everyone in Köln, and I’m really excited to make new friends!

Speaking of new friends… I suppose I’ve already made a couple acquaintances. Inka plays volleyball on Fridays with a mixed group of men and women from their late 20’s to 50’s and she was nice enough to invite me along. I was truly amazed at how athletic everyone was. Not only was everyone in really great shape, but they all really knew how to play volleyball. Everyone was setting up plays and having great rallies! We played for a little over 2 hours, changing up teams and taking water breaks in between sets. After playing for that long my forearms were KILLING me. Then, after everyone was all volleyball-ed out, we went to a cool Irish pub and I had myself a Guinness.

Saturday Inka’s brother Jens was coming for a visit, so we had to go to the grocery store. Remember how I said Wuppertal isn’t really that bike friendly? Well Inka defies that statement! I borrowed a bike from a neighbor and yes, Inka and I biked through the hills of Wuppertal to a sweet little organic grocery. I told you this lady was cool. Then Inka, Jens, and I went to an old coal mine that has been re-vamped into an architecture museum. Very cool. After that, we went home and cooked dinner together. Both Inka and Jens are vegetarians and I was really excited to eat some healthy, home-cooked food after all the bread and meat-heavy take-out I’d been eating.

Today, I slept in then wandered by myself around the city a little bit. I tried to find the University… but I got lost. I really had a rough time being alone today. I’m feeling very homesick and I had a big “what-have-I-got-myself-into” freak out. I’m also really nervous about starting work tomorrow because I still don’t really know what I’m going to be doing. I know that things are only going to get better from here. Soon I’ll be in an apartment of my own, making new friends, and my German is only going to get better with practice. I actually just learned that three UC DAAP students are going to be studying abroad in Wuppertal as well! So we can be Bearcat transplants together and maybe form some sort of support system. I just have to keep practicing my German and just keep smiling.

Köln: Part 2

Hello avid readers! I can’t believe that my time in Köln is already over, and that I’ve already been in Germany for 2 weeks! Time seems to be flying by already. Where did I leave off… Ahh yes, the bloodwurst story. Well I’m happy to report that I haven’t eaten any more nastiness, just deliciousness. When I last blogged my classmates and I were about to go to the EL DE house; an old Gestapo station that has been transformed into a museum. It was a really creepy and cool place. Creepy because of the history of the building and the horrible things that took place there, but cool because of the style and presentation of the information in the modern day museum. There was a lot of information about the rise of the Nazis, the Hitler youth, and propaganda. Very eerie and interesting stuff…

Old Gestapo station, turned museum

The basement where the Gestapo would keep prisoners

Like I said... creepy, but cool

On Friday my classmates and I took part in a scavenger hunt around the important historical monuments in Köln. We were all a little reluctant to participate seeing as it was Friday and all, but after we realized all the cool things to see we were more willing. Köln was founded by the Romans in 50 AD or something so there is a lot of really old really cool stuff all throughout the city. It blows my mind! After the scavenging we all took a nap and then headed to the part of the city near the University for dinner and drinks. Beers were drank, food was eaten, fun was had!

Me in front of a legendary statue!

On Saturday we slept in a little and then Josi, Nick, and I rode the train to the Kölner Zoo. I know, I know, a zoo is a zoo is a zoo. But hey, I like zoos so I wanted to go to one in Germany! And the Kölner Zoo is a really cool one. Is has a HUGE elephant exhibit and it also had a ton of tigers and gorillas. It also had lions, which as many of you know, are my favorite animal, so I was a happy camper. There was also a Raccoon exhibit, which we all found quite humorous. Also, it was really cute to hear all the adorable German kids yelling the animal names auf Deutsch… but then I would get jealous of them because they speak better German than me and they’re like four years old. It’ll get there Morgen, it’ll get there. After the zoo we grabbed some eats and headed to a German Kino (movie theater) to see The Hunger Games. We found a theater that plays movies in their original language, so the movie was in English, but it had German subtitles. I think the funniest thing about the Kino was that every 10 minutes or so you would hear a beer bottle being knocked over on the ground. Did I mention that you can drink pretty much anywhere in Germany? In the Kino, on the streets, on the train… I haven’t really taken advantage of it yet because I feel like I’m breaking the law. But I’m sure I’ll get over that cultural speed-bump in no time…

Kölner Zoo!

Sunday I really slept in and then hung out with some classmates at the Hauptbahnhof. In the evening we decided that we wanted to try and go to the Köln vs Dortmund Fußballspiele… little did we know that Dortmund is first place in the league and that the game was sold out. Even though we didn’t get into the game, it was still CRAZY to ride the train to the stadium with all the fanatics. Yelling, singing, chanting, booing, and of course, drinking all took place during the jam-packed half hour train ride. We ended up finding a bar to eat some dinner and watch the game. At half time the score was 1-1 and we headed back to Brauhaus Ohne Namen near the Jugendherberge to watch the rest. To our dismay, Köln ended up losing 6-1… ouch. Needless to say, the bar emptied out pretty quickly, so we followed suit.

The next week was filled with more language and cultural learning. On Monday afternoon we all travelled to Dusseldorf (only a half and hour train ride… if you go the right way…) and visited Fachhochschule Dusseldorf http://www.fh-duesseldorf.de/a_fh, a university for applied sciences. We learned about higher education in Germany, and about some of the engineering research going on there. I think that trip intimidated me more than anything… I could only understand about 15% of what the professor was saying. I had been feeling fairly confident in my conversational German, but technical speaking is a whole different animal, and it was pretty demoralizing. I know that with practice comes proficiency, so I shouldn’t get too discouraged! That evening we got dinner in Dusseldorf and tried their Uerige beir. I personally liked it better… but I would never tell that to anyone in Köln. A rivalry exists between Köln and Dusseldorf… kind of like the rivalry between Cincinnati and Cleveland. People from one place just kind of turn up their noses at the other. It’s just kind of funny to observe.

"Genie" means genius ;)

We got to Dusseldorf from the main Köln Hauptbahnhof and used 5 person tickets. So, we had to go back in two groups of five. I was in the group that hung around in Dusseldorf for a while longer. When it came time to head back to Köln, we accidentally went to the platform that said Köln/Messe Deutz instead of Köln Hbf. It wasn’t until we had stopped about three times that we realized the mistake we had made. The train we took to Dusseldorf was a nonstop express train, and took about 30 minutes… well, the train we took back was neither of those things. It putted along throughout the German countryside and stopped every 15 minutes. It would have been cool and scenic, except it was already dark out so we really couldn’t see anything. A little over 2 hours later we finally made it back to Köln. Ahh you live and you learn.

On Tuesday we took our “final exams”. Believe it or not, I think we actually get some course credit for this class we took. Everyone got “Basic User” proficiency. Hooray! That afternoon, we went over all the important details about getting registered in the cities we’re living in, opening a German bank account, and just other “nice-to-knows”. That evening, we went to a very traditional German brauhaus. I got some delicious goulash, ‘twas essentially like eating gravy with meat chunks. Wondrous.

Wednesday morning we went on a tour of the Deutz engine plant. It was cool, but engines aren’t really my thing. Wednesday night Josi, Nick, and I went to a restaurant RIGHT across from the jugendherberge. They are known for their pork chops, so naturally I got one of those. Ladies and gentleman, this pork chop was the best piece of meat that I have ever eaten. Better than filet mignon. I am serious. And it was ENORMOUS. A heaping slab of pork, and a generous side of potato salad, all for 11 euros… which is about $14.70. Such a deal. When I couldn’t finish all of my food, the German waiter laughed at me, took my silverware, cut off a hunk of meat, and fed it to me. Everyone in the restaurant was entertained, including myself. See below right for the post force-feeding picture.

I forgot to mention the glazed onions... my mouth is watering.

Josi and I decided to stay the night in Köln again on Thursday night before we went off to our respective cities. Unfortunately the jugendherberge we had been staying at was all booked, so we were forced to move ourselves and all out luggage to a backpacking hostel. The experience would have been lovely if it weren’t for the large man in our room who snored the ENTIRE night (see video on facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2992325653465). So Josi and I didn’t sleep at all, and in the morning said goodbye to Köln and parted ways. It was reall weird saying good bye to everyone and not really knowing when we’re going to see each other again. Hopefully soon, because I’m already feeling a little homesick. I’m glad my introduction to Germany was in such a beautiful city with great people. Stay tuned for a post about my new home: Wuppertal!

Tschüs Köln! Bis später!