So Little Time...So Much to Do

I don't know if it is just me, but the past weeks have been speeding by. Of course, I have been traveling and filling my time with exciting things...but I get the feeling that I'm not utilizing my time to its extent. Perhaps I'm a person who enjoys relaxing a little bit too much; my adventures always seem to lead me into a cozy coffee shop, or end with a cup of hot tea or Glühwein while reading a book in my room. These things are wonderful, but shouldn't I be out exploring and discovering all the sights I can see while I'm here?

Tonight instead of joining the others in my group for a night of bar-hopping and dancing, updating my blog and connecting with friends from back home sounded much more fulfilling. So, as I listen to the live Guitar music coming from the little Schwarz-Weiss venue across the way, here are some thoughts, things, and random-other-noun that are going on in my life at the moment...

Tomorrow morning I plan to head north towards the Hessen city of Kassel. My friend Kelly and I read that Wilhelmshöhe, located in Kassel, is "Der Größte Bergpark Europas", the largest mountain park in Europe. I'm really looking forward to leaving Marburg and spending a day walking around a park and maybe seeing a little of the city as well. I think I may luck out with the weather too!

Starting last Tuesday I began the next level of my German language course. This time around my class is much bigger and livelier, so that makes the learning a bit more fun. I'm surprised with how well my German skills have improved for only being here 2 months. It makes me excited for how I will be speaking at the end of 5 months. Speaking German is where I struggle, though yesterday I met with my Tandem partner Maria for the first time and we spoke German the entire time. It felt really good and was really fun to speak with a native speaker. Next time we meet we will spend one hour speaking English, to help her with the English skills, and the other speaking German. I can't wait!

I just realized as I was typing that I often want to capitalize many words that are capitalized in German, as well as add commas everywhere because German has slightly different rules for them. Just a heads up. Also sometimes I even write things or say things in English but with the German sentence structure...my mind is working extra hard to sort everything out up there with the more German I learn.

Okay, where to begin with my trip to Zurich? Well, Dustin and I left to spend the afternoon in Frankfurt before we boarded our train to head to Zurich. We wandered the streets in search for some delicious Currywurst, basically it is a hot dog/brat with ketchup and curry seasoning on it. But taste-buds-wise? Its a party in the mouth :) Our mission was successful and we found a little place called Pommes-Happy, the "o" in pommes was a little smiley-face, how adorable.

Our train leaving Frankfurt ended up having a 7 minute delay, which worried us because our transfer to our next train was originally only 4 minutes...now would we even make it in time? Thankfully, the next train waited for us and so the rest of our travels went quite smoothly! We arrived in Zurich about midnight, and then walked through the rainy, sleepy streets to our Hostel. Langstars Hostel, located on Langstrasse, was a really fun place to stay. At street level, the hostel is a bar and cafe and at night has live music! Since we were guests, each night we got a drink from the bar up to 5 Swiss Francs for free! Which seems like a lot, but this is Zurich, and so that barely covered a little beer. But free is free! And college students love that.
We stayed in the top of the building, in the 12 person dorm. Needless to say, in the mornings it definitely smelled as though twelve people had slept there. Oofta. But it was quaint and nice nonetheless.

Here is the lower part of our Hostel with the cafe, bar, and cool art! We also got a complimentary breakfast each morning that consisted of coffee, brötchen, nutella/jam, yogurt, cereal and juice. Scrumptious.
Our plan for exploring the city was...basically to have no plan. Sure, we researched all we could do and stopped at the main train station to get maps and ideas; but there is something really exciting in just simply walking and wandering. We strolled along the great Lake Zurich for a few hours until our stomachs took over our thoughts and we found a neighborhood grocery store, then brought our food back to the lake for a little picnic. The weather was fairly warm and sunny so it was perfect!

There were water birds all over Zurich! I don't think I've seen so many swans in one place before!

Lake Zurich :)

                                                                                                           

We also discovered on our walk the Lindenhofplatz, where people can play life-size chess!

 The following pictures are from our adventure to Uetliberg, a lookout point on top of a mountain. We read that it was possible to hike to Uetliberg, so on Friday morning when our plans to go to Liechtenstein fell through, we began our journey to the top. We wandered aimlessly through the streets, only knowing that we were going in the right direction because of the tower on top of the mountain. Once we actually made it to the base, it was a 2.7 km hike up snow-filled, steep, winding steps, with no railings and a steep drop off on one side. Best hike ever!

Here is the is our destination:

Happy Hikers!

You can slightly see the path in these pictures.

 This is actually a picture looking down the hill, the steps wind from side to side as they go up. It was a lot steeper than it looks...i'm serious!

At the top were very beautiful views!

On Saturday before we headed back to Germany, we stopped at the Langstrasse Flohmarkt, or flea market, to look at all the treasures. There were some very interesting and cool things, but I didn't end up buying anything. It was a great place to people watch!

Strolling down the infamous Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich is another great place to people watch. Here you get frantic tourists overwhelmed by the designer stores that are in abundance while the wealthy Europeans/whoever walk between them into the stores like buying a $700 dollar purse is no big deal. Which one do you think I was? :)

That is all for the moment, it is time for me to get some sleep.

'Til next time!

The Blind Side of Marburg

I have but a few hours before I begin my travels to Zurich, Switzerland...but here's a little something to make you think until I share my adventures from Zurich!

The Philipps-Universität Marburg has the greatest number of blind students in Germany. This is quite evident when you walk around the city--there are special things everywhere to help the visually-impaired.

Built into the cobblestones in the Oberstadt, are special stones that make up patterns that when felt with the walking cane, tell the people what is around them. (i.e. door to a store, crosswalk, etc.)

Kind of a blurry picture, but you get the idea.

Rewe, one of the main grocery stores here has a complete map of the store in Braille at the entryway. Here people can figure out how everything is laid out. It helps give a little more independence.

I have been told there is a Cafe in the Oberstadt staffed by the blind. You can go and eat and get the experience of being blind because the restaurant is completely dark inside. Once I figure out where it is, I want to go try it out!

Other than that, its just important to pay attention where you are walking, but its neat to see how the city strives to make life as normal for the visually-impaired as possible.

So that is all for now, short and sweet! Have a wonderful week!

Brittata makes a Frittata

Hello to all you out there somewhere in this world,

I finally bought eggs at one of the numerous wonderful grocery stores in Marburg. So today after I came home from class naturally the first thing I wanted to do was make a warm, veggie-filled, delicious Frittata. And boy has it been cold here! This hot ceramic bowl of goodness is just what I needed. Perhaps some tea to make this lunch complete.

This picture is just proof that I do cook for myself here! I found out fast that the more I buy food in cafes, restaurants, or bakeries...the sooner I would be packing my bags back to White Bear Lake. Though I am making an exception for testing out the bakeries here; the brötchens, croissants, and other scrumptious treats are simply not found in the U.S. At least not when you compare the quality to price ratio...

I´ll try not to come back to Minnesota with too many extra pounds (you try resisting a .50 cent schokobrötchen Torben!)

Yum.

This past saturday I made my first solo trip here in Deutschland to visit Sinh, a friend from a previous Exchange trip, in Darmstadt. It was only a two hour train ride, and then the fun began! It was his birthday, but first Sinh gave me a tour around the city before we headed to his Party. After almost 3 hours of walking around Darmstadt, I was definitely ready for a little celebrating! Also just somewhere to sit :) The entire trip was a lot of fun and I hope to visit again! I also really enjoyed speaking so much German.

Sinh and I in front of the Stadttheater

Behind us is the Hundertwasser Haus, designed by German artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and officially is called Die Waldspirale.  I wouldn´t mind living here!

This is a blurry photo, but the lighting conditions on my tour through the case-mates and catacombs of Marburg yesterday didn´t have the best lighting. These case-mates, that stored the artillery of the town once upon a time, were built into the hillside below the Castle. They were very cool to see, but it was so cold yesterday it was tough to enjoy. In the above picture our tour guide was in the process of explaining how the men operated, and transported, the heavy cannons. What is hard to imagine, is the fact that these men carried the cannons down extremely steep staircases into the case-mates. Muscles!

I don´t remember exactly where this staircase led, but before we ascended the staircase the tour guide had a little fun breaking off the icicles above the door and shooting them our way. It was exciting/frightening, but no one was hurt. 

Well, my frittata is now content in my stomach.

Bis Später!

Die Zeit Vergeht Immer Schneller...

Can my third week in Germany already be underway? Its hard to believe, but it is a good reminder to enjoy every moment. Since I last posted, I have gone on a Stadtführung through Marburg (city tour), ice skating in the Marburger Eis Palast, attended Gottesdienst in the Elisabethkirche (a church built in the 1200s), spent a day shopping in Frankfurt, a night meeting other international students and Germans while dancing, and even squeezed in a load of laundry for the first time in 22 days.

It seems that everyone within the past week or so has been busy planning their travels for our first break beginning February 15. It is fun to hear of all the places people will be visiting; Rome, Venice, Paris, and various others. Where will I be heading off to? The plan at the moment is to board the train to Zürich, Switzerland, and let the adventures unfold. Planning a trip is a lot more work than I had expected, but if I can channel my mom´s amazing organizational skills for even an hour, it wont be so bad.

Apart from traveling to other cities, I´ve just been spending my time in Marburg; meeting new people, trying delicious German beers, exploring new streets, and doing my best to speak lots of German! I find it is easier when I am out and about and talk with the locals in Bakeries and stores. But often in class it is harder to speak, because the topics require a vocabulary that I have not fully developed yet.

Next weekend I will visit Sinh Duc, a friend from my German exchange trip two years ago, in Darmstadt for his 20th birthday party. It will be fun to take a little trip on my own! I hope all goes well.

Here are some pictures from the last week, bis später alle!

In the Elisabethkirche, listening to the Stadtführerin tell the interesting, and funny, history of Marburg.

Wandering around

Too short

Fun Filled Night!

Skating in the Eis Palast!

International Students Party

These pictures are a little out of order, es tut mir leid!

In the MyZeil shopping center in Frankfurt. (Photo from Kelsey)

Kelsey, Kelly, and I believe we observed an Occupy protest in the streets of Frankfurt...its always amazing to witness things happening worldwide. (Photo from Kelsey)

Living in a Fairytale Land

"Jedes Leiden und Übel führt leicht im stillen irgend einen zu gute kommenden Ersatz mit sich"

--Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm

Good Afternoon Everyone! 

The quote above roughly translated says something like, "All suffering and evils can easily lead one to a quiet, good alternative." I could be wrong, so if so (Tim or whoever) correct me! I just chose a random quote by the Brothers Grimm because it is fitting for this blog post. The Philipps-Universität Marburg was where the Brothers once studied, long long ago. Its hard to forget that fact, when many of the streets here are named after them.

Yesterday I took walk up to the Landgrafenschloss, the castle that presides above the city. It was hard not to imagine life back in the late 1700's, and with Marburg's quaint city and beautiful geography; I may or may not have imagined being in a fairytale for a little while.

All in all things are going well here, and since pictures are worth a thousand words (sorry for the cliche) I am going to tell you the events of my week through pictures, with little blurbs below.

Pferd! Horses in the Oberstadt in Marburg. This picture was taken when a few of us were looking for an adventure. So we roamed the streets and even were offered some fresh "Pflammkuchen"  (pancakes) from out of a 4th floor  apartment window. We declined the generous but strange offer and continued on our way. Of course thats when we realized we were really hungry, so we stopped in a cafe and I ordered another Auflauf, the casserole-like cheese thing, this time with salmon and spinach. It was delicious! But I really need to make a budget. It is too easy to spend money here.

Spaghetti-Eis! A Marburg specialty. Somehow they push the ice cream through a spaghetti noodle maker and voila! Ice cream that looks like spaghetti noodles--with raspberry sauce playing the part of the sauce! Delicious. 

I had to document the blue sky that appeared yesterday. Finally a day of sun shine and little clouds! 

This is a view of Marburg from the Mensa, the student union/cafeteria. Behind the bikes is the river Lahn, but its not very pretty right now. Last week it was incredibly high, it felt like I was in Eau Claire.

This is James, Clemence, and I standing before the Marburger Rathaus. The city hall, I have yet to see the rooster at the top crow on the hour, but one of these days I'll be there at the right time.

On my way to the castle! We walked along a winding cobblestone road up the hillside, with old rock walls lined with ivy and vines. Yeah, it was pretty cool!

A view of the castle--almost up the hill!

We stopped along the way to take pictures, when the sun actually comes out, you have to take advantage of it! 

Me and Marburg :)

Clemence and I again--we met in our class, she is from Cameroon, Africa.

The wall was green! 

So this was my adventure from yesterday. Today I will be going on a city tour of Marburg, to learn more about the history of  all these places I have pictures of. I'm sure I'll be going to the castle again, and taking more pictures...but when I post again I can offer a little more knowledge behind the pretty views.

Have a great weekend everyone!

B