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!