So I've been meaning to get around to a post like this...

A couple days ago, Michelle posted a link on her blog.  I found this link highly entertaining and very spot on, and since I had been meaning to made a list of cultural observations on my own... well this one is just so all encompassing and contained so many things that I was planning on saying I'm just going to pick out my favorites my favorites and adapt them to my experiences.  Deal? Deal.

My spin on the 'What I Know About Germans' list...

6) Their babies are particularly beautiful - And their babies all speak better German than me. Very frustrating. 

13) They speak English better than most English people I know - Especially my roomie Franzi, she is an English Lit major and has better English grammar than I do.

21) Germans simply do not understand thongs/flip flops/jandals as viable footwear. Even when it’s warm and sunny. And a boot is impractical, or too warm for the feet to be comfortable. They will stare, bewildered, at thonged feet and quietly wonder if the wearer is mad - I wear sandals to work a lot.  I like my feet to breathe.  Almost every day someone makes a comment about my Sandalen. I think this is especially bizarre because Germany is home to Birkenstocks, the mother of all sandals!  But apparently Birkenstocks are just "house shoes".  When I told people how much Birkenstocks sell for in the USA they laughed! They're only about 40 euros here!

24) Germans are always prepared for the rain - This is no joke. It rains ALL THE TIME here. Sadly I lost my rain jacket so I've been really soggy lately.

27) German clubs routinely remind the world of the universality of 90s pop - And not just 90's pop, but all sorts of the most random music imaginable.  Some of my favorite randoms include "You're the One That I Want", weird techno mixes of "Country Roads", and about every N*SYNC and BSB song imaginable. It's wonderful!

32) Germans don’t tend to jay-walk. And they judge those who do - I really struggle with this one. Especially if it's raining and I'm standing rainjacketless in the rain.

52) Germans seem to really enjoy How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men and crime fiction - This is so true and just cracks me uppp!

53) They love their dogs. Often their dogs catch the bus with them and sometimes their dogs even dine with them in restaurants - Speaking of German dogs... I'm not allowed to pet them and it makes me really sad. Germans are very particular about their pets and according to Franzi they don't even like it when you make googly-eyes at their dogs, let alone touch them!

67) Germany loves a public holiday. Bavaria in particular - Thank goodness for this because it has afforded me lots of opportunities to travel! Wheeee!

87) Germans can’t queue. Full stop, the end. They don’t know how, they have no interest in trying. This is the one time Germans embrace a lack of system and what happens when a queue is called for is the unfortunate culmination of Germanic forcefulness and uncertainty in the face of a system-less world. Take, for example, what happens in a supermarket when another check out line opens. Instead of calmly indicating the person at the top of the queue, yet to unload their basket onto the conveyor belt, should head up the new checkout line, there is this mad dash like a scattered flock of sheep, and your standing in the original queue becomes completely irrelevant. If you are fast enough, you can theoretically come from well behind and end up getting served before the person five people in front of you, who has been patiently waiting for 10 minutes. And no one thinks anything of it - This is THE MOST frustrating thing. Ever.

88) Germans can open a beer bottle with anything. The couch, a coffee mug, a banana. Body parts. It’s like they all secretly take a class at school when they’re eleven, in preparation for a life time of beer consumption. Next time you are with a German, hide the bottle opener and casually hand them your beer. They will flick off the top using a toothpick as if it is the most normal thing in the world - This is THE COOLEST thing. Ever. I'm trying to learn but the one time I tried with a lighter I cut my finger. Oww.

96) Germans love Spargel. They love Spargel and anything to do with Spargel, like Spargel peelers and Spargel steamers and Spargel platters. Forget Christmas or Easter or any other notable markers, the German year revolves around Spargelsaison - Sadly, I'm not a fan of the creepy whitish asparagus.

So there you have it, my take on the 'What I Know About Germans' list!  Look forward to a couple more culture posts like this before I leave.  Less than a month here in Germany - I can't believe it!

Tampere, Finland

Finland?! Yes Finland. This past weekend I hopped on another Ryanair flight and headed north to the beautiful land of lakes.  In Tampere I was met at the airport my my sweet Noora.  My family hosted Noora as a foreign exchange student during my junior year of high school.  Five years later, Noora got to return the favor and host me for a weekend in Tampere!

After another goofy flight with Ryanair (everything about this airline cracks me up - the great lengths at which one must go to reach their remote airports, the ridiculous classical music they play when boarding the plane, the obnoxious blue and yellow interior, and the celebratory bugle blow when the flight successfully lands...) Noora and her boyfriend Toni met me at the Tampere airport.  It has been about 3 years since I had last seen Noora, and she looked just as cute as ever!  Plus, she has a great boyfriend who is in a band and a super legit skier! During the ride back from the airport, we immediately started catching each other up on one another's lives.  As we drove through Tampere, I couldn't help to notice how serene and peaceful everything felt.  The beautiful scenery combined with the calm lakes and the over all lack of people made me feel very relaxed and welcomed into Noora's country.  We got back to her place (an adorable little efficency apartment - I would expect nothing less!) and headed to the supermarket to grab supplies for dinner.  The supermarket was essentially the same as German supermarkets, except for the massive fish selection.  We grabbed a slab of salmon, fresh veggies, and a loaf of bread and then headed back to Noora's place where we (mostly Toni) whipped up a delicious dinner.  Then we went for a stroll along one of the lakes near Noora's apartment and I got to experience a BEAUTIFUL Finnish sunset.  The sun sets so late in Finalnd (it's still pretty bright around 11:30pm) but the sunsets make it worth the wait!  After our stroll, we got ready for bed, watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies (which were crazy!), and chatted until we fell asleep.

Reunited!

So yummy. So sooo sososooo yummy.

Hey beautiful sunset!

So beautifuuuul!

Toni, Noora, and I enjoying a lovely sunset!

So awesome!

Saturday was a full day of Finnish adventuring.  We woke up relatively early and headed to meet up with Toni at a bike rental place.  We got ourselves some bikes and started off towards a Finnish breakfast place where I had the absolute best rice porridge I've ever eaten.  After stuffing ourselves full of Finnish breakfast, we set out to bike around the other lake surrounding Tampere (Tampere is situated between two lakes of different elevations and mad made channels run through the city connecting the two lakes).  We biked around the whole day, seeing old factories, well-pruned parks, and an authentic gelato place.  We even biked up the tallest hill in Tampere which is home to an old watch tower and the best Munkki in the city.  We were rewarded with the best view of Tampere as well as the tastiest Munkki!

View from the top!

Munkki. It may look like your ordinary powdered donut, but its oh so much more!

Tampere is a truly beautiful city.  What it may lack in quantity (as the third largest city in Finland, Tampere rings in at about 300,000 inhabitants) it most certainly makes up with quality.  Everything is so clean and well pruned!  The buildings range from old wooden houses, to stone mansions, to brick factories, to new glass apartment complexes.  Oh, and the lakes.  Have I already mentioned the lakes?  Yes?  Oh well, I'm going to mention them again.  The lakes in Finland and clean and calm and freaking gorgeous.  I jumped into one of them.  Yes, I bought a bikini for 6€ at H&M and I jumped into a super frigid Finnish lake (Noora and Toni did too).  Then the three of us snuck into a sauna without paying!  How crazy!  I almost died in the sauna.  The only seats left were in the corner furthest from the hot rocks, so I sat up in the very corner.  Right after some older man in a very tiny speedo poured more water onto the hot rocks, Noora informed me that where I was sitting was the hottest place in the sauna.  Then the heat hit me like a wall.  I could barely breathe!  So what did I do?  Went and jumped back into the freezing lake, and then came back to the sauna where I found a better seating arrangement.  That was truly and unforgettable experience!

In the lake! Cheesin'!

After my crazy lake/sauna experience, we decided to go out for pizza.  We all ate whole pizza by ourselves, and I think with all the biking we did that we earned our pizzas fair and square.  We headed back to Noora's place and gabbed the night away.  Noora and Toni introduced me to the Finnish cartoon series Muumi, or The Moomins.  Apparently it is also a sensation in Japan.  Of course.  I can't believe Noora didn't tell me about this 5 years ago because now I'm kinda obsessed.  Just have a look:

Sunday we got up, returned our bikes, and then headed to this awesome little waffle place.  They served sweet and savory waffles.  I opted for a savory waffle and got one with salmon (when in Finland!), sour cream, and dill.  To say it was delicious would be an understatement.  Then before I knew it, I had to part ways with my Finnish sister and her awesome Finnish boyfriend and head back to Germany.  I think my favorite part of the weekend was discovering that no matter where we are, or what we are doing with our lives, Noora and I can pick up right where we left off and act just like we did back in high school - sisters. 

Just had to include a picture of this epic waffle

And last but not least, me and my beautiful Finnish sister!

Hamburg

This past weekend I made my first foray into Northern Germany and visited my friend Michelle.  Michelle has been living and working in the burg of Hams for about a month now, and I have been wanting to visit, so this past weekend I made it happen.  I got to Hamburg using a good ol' Mitfahrgelegenheit for 22€ each way, can't beat it!  I was a little nervous since my last experience with ride sharing left me stranded in Berlin, but I'm pleased to report this time was much better.  I didn't get into the city until a bit after 10 on Friday evening and upon arrival I was greeted by Michelle at the train station.  Together we headed to a 'Sex, drugs, and rock & roll' themed party at her place of work.  Germans are crazy, designers are crazy, so you can only imagine how crazy a party thrown be German designers was.  Plus there was an open bar.  I'm just going to skim over the rest of the evening...

Fast forward many libations and a few hours and Michelle and I were waking up with große Kater (look it up).  Luckily Michelle lives around the corner from an American style breakfast all day diner called Mamalicious.  It basically saved my life on Saturday.

Thank goodness for Mamalicious. (Note my coffee mug)

After we mustered up some strength, we headed to the Miniatur-Wunderland, home of the world's largest model train!  The walk there was through Hamburg's Speicherstadt - a little island full of old warehouses.  Hamburg is a harbor city with tons of bridges and canals.  Even more canals than Amsterdam and Venice says tourguide Michelle.

Bridge and harbor action

Building the crazy Hamburg symphonie building

Me and a canal running through the Speicherstadt

So this Miniatur-Wunderland.  I'm going to go ahead and say it was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in my live.  The scale, the modeling, the figurines, the DETAIL.  I just couldn't believe it.  Every scene was so intricate, so involved, so well schemed.  There were mini versions of cities in Germany, Switzerland, Scandanavia, and the good old USA.  There was a mini airport with mini planes that would take off, and a mini terminal with mini parking garages filled with mini cars and mini people.  The people were just barely bigger than a Polly Pocket, to give you an idea for scale.  Not only were the trains and the tracks super cool on their own, but the scenes that they weaved throughout were just absolutely insane!  For example:

A couple fornicating in the bushes

A mini music festival

The grand canyon and some pueblos

Mini Hamburg

We were so exhausted after the Mini-Wunderland (and still not feeling our best) so we headed back to Michelle's places for a nap.  After a sufficiently long snooze we made some delicious guacamole and watched Harry Potter movies into the wee hours of the night.  We needed a night in after the craziness that was Friday.  Sunday we woke up feeling very well rested and set off to see more of the city.  We walked around Michelle's neighborhood as well as the Altstadt downtown before eventually heading to the infamous Reeperbahn and red light district.  Conclusion: Hamburg is rad.

A shanty town near where Michelle lives! Safe!

Cool German squalor

Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, one of my favorite train stations yet!

Rathaus aka town hall

Super old partially destroyed church whose name escapes me...

Lofty claims on the Reeperbahn...

The harbor. So cool!

Greenservations 7: Radfahren

I think I may have mentioned earlier that I bike to work everyday.  Well... practically everyday.  Sometimes I'm just too darn lazy.  Or sometimes it's raining so hard that I am literally soaked through to my underwear if I don't cower under an umbrella.  Oh, Wuppertal.  Back to the Greenservation at hand: Radfahren.  The sustainable observations about cycling versus driving are plentiful and apparent.  Since I've been rather scatterbrained lately, I searched for a list of 'the benefits of biking' online so I could organize my thoughts.  Here are a few of my favorites from the list:

1. On-going use of a bicycle has virtually NO carbon footprint.
2. Bicycling can be faster than walking, transit or motor vehicles.
3. Save travel money by biking. If the switch is from a car this includes purchase price, gas, tires, fluids, insurance, maintenance, washing, parking, etc.
4. Regular bicycling helps with personal weight management - new full-time bicycle commuters can expect to lose an average 13 pounds their first year of bicycle commuting if they maintain the same eating habits.
5. Bicyclists can ignore the highway traffic jam reports.
6. Reduces road kill and saves animals.
7. Biking is fun.

You should really check out the whole list for more great and environmentally friendly reasons to bike instead of drive!  Now, I'm going to continue to overwhelm you with statistics and reasons why you should get off your lazy bum (I'm lookin at you Mom and Dad) and get pedaling! According to a study from  Environmental Health Perspectives, if 30 million urban and suburban midwesterners replaced JUST HALF of their short car trips with cycling during JUST THE WARMEST six months of the year, they "could save approximately four trillion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 1,100 lives and $7 billion in mortality and health care costs for the region every year."  Boom.  Sustainable, healthy, and fiscally responsible.  What more could you want?  Oh, an awesome infographic about the benefits of biking? Here you go: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/bike-to-work-infographic-benefits-health_n_1145815.html

I really hope that the USA adopts a more bike-friendly mentality in the immediate future.  I've observed and experienced firsthand all the benefits of biking to work, and I have been lucky to do so since I live in such a bike-friendly country.  Everywhere I go I see racks of bikes on bikes on bikes!  Just look at what I get to be a part of! (Below left: Amsterdam, below right: Munich, bottom: Heidelberg)

I plan on seeing even more sweet bike action in a few weekends when Michelle and I head to Copenhagen, the city of bikerly love!  I hope this post has inspired you to green up your life by embracing the wonder that is biking.  If it hasn't inspired you to do that, maybe I've inspired you to work on your hyperlinking skills.  Bis später!