Day 23 & 24- Onward to Barcelona

Thursday, July 4th: We arrived in Nice yesterday around 2. Our usual routine of going stopping at tourist information and getting directions to our hotel was followed. We were told that we needed to take a train and a shuttle and where to go to buy the tickets. At the ticket counter the woman said that we need to take a different train and needed a bus ticket and that is what she sold us. Well when we got onto the train, I asked a conductor if the ticket was correct. I guess I shouldn’t have done that because it was wrong and he was going to come back to sell us tickets. We sat next to a guy who had two dogs with him, one very old German Shepard and a 6 month old boxer looking dog. He didn’t speak English but was still very helpful and nice to try to communicate with. The conductor never returned and didn’t say anything when we got off the train. Our biggest hurdle was yet to come. We had no idea where our hotel was. It was pretty hot and I was starting to feel very sick from lack of food and water. We ended up finally finding the hotel at 4 and it was on the opposite side from the train station. Jeff left to go to the beach and I stayed for awhile to relax and start feeling better before getting ready myself to head to the beach. I mailed my postcards along the way and found the beach that Jeff was at. It was small full of pebbles but the water was so nice. It was much warmer than any large body of water that I’ve been in and also clearer! I swam around like an awkward dog for a while before feeling comfortable. Just the surroundings here are beautiful though. We were both hungry and dried off. We went back to the hotel and changed and had dinner at les garçons. The meal was amazing. We split a salmon tar tar appetizer and I had a cooked salmon filet with mashed potatoes and asparagus. They also start your meal with these olives that are marinated in oil, garlic and some herb which were delicious. For dessert, I was able to sneak some macaroons to go. I ate them back at the hotel and they were amazing. I keep saying that I have a new favorite dessert. They were definitely not anything like I expected.

Jeff left early in the morning to go for a walk along the beach. I took my time to shower, get ready and pack my backpack for traveling to Barcelona. Jeff got back a lot later than I expected. Apparently he had gotten lost and wandered onto a military base. We went downstairs and checked out. I sat on the porch and enjoyed the view and some last minute wifi. Jeff had gotten instructions to get to the bus stop which would take us to the airport. The walk was again pretty brutal. The weather was very warm (my first time wearing shorts and flip flops for travel). We had to trek up this steep hill that was full of stairs. The heat had made me feel ill again so I sat and waited at the bus stop while Jeff shopped for postcards. The bus ride was typical but the view was far from it. Nice is beautiful. The water is crystalline and there are all types of boats in the harbor. We arrived at the airport early and went to grab some lunch. The cafeteria upstairs was terrible. The instructions were unclear and even when you asked the answer was vague. My food was pretty edible but Jeff’s wasn’t. He said it tasted like soap and I definitely was not going to try it. We checked in and went through security. I made the mistake this time and did not finish my Coke. Oops. The flight was very short and I had a cat nap. Upon arrival we took the Aerobus as instructed in the email to Catalunya. The address did not come up correctly in Google maps and we had to stop multiple times for directions. The guy that was supposed to meet us was not there so we waited in the lobby with the weird receptionist. The place was nice and typical of a bed and breakfast. While the rooms were small the community space was expansive compared to Rome. We changed and headed out to the Borne district for dinner. We both had paella. I played it safe and got vegetable while Jeff had mixed. His rice tasted like clam chowder and it had huge pieces of squid and full languistinos. I was happy with mine and finished it all. Afterwards we walked around the shops in front of the cathedral before making it back to the room. I looked up the chupito or shot bar that Sarah suggested. It was a short walk away. The place was so cool. We tried 5 different shots and most were medium. This Australian girl showed up next to us and ordered the Monica Lewinsky. I would describe what happened to her but it was so lewd that I would prefer not to here. The shots were not very strong at all. I really liked the marshmallow one and this one with a sugared orange. Most of our shots involved fire which made the experience very memorable and fun. We called it a night and got home around midnight. I video chatted with David while Jeff was in the shower. It is always nice to see his face.

Friday, July 5th: We woke up around 11 and I showered and had breakfast. Jeff and I did separate things for most of the day. He went to the beach and sailed while I did another Sandemans tour. I window shopped on my way there and arrived early so I walked around the immediate area to pass time. I was able to find a shop with 1.5 liter waters for 1.80€ and was ice cold. I drank most of it. This trip has left me so dehydrated. I met for the tour shortly before it was due to start. Here are my notes:

Barcelona
Gothic quarter. Plata del Rey- Isabella and Ferdinand stayed here. Nextdoor is the chapel dedicated to Agatha who did not worship the roman gods. History museum of Barcelona was moved brick by brick. Underneath is remnants of Roman city. Watch tower. Wilfred the hairy founded Barcelona. Catalan flag comes from King Charles running Wilfred blood over his gold shield.
Cathedral of Barcelona the front is neogothic since it was placed last. Dedicated to another martyr.
Modernism- lawyers mailbox
Barcino is the roman name for Barcelona
Plata de pine- soldier climbed to top of the pine tree and had a vision of Virgin Mary. Chapel is dedicated to her. Catalan gothic architecture took normal narrow arch and made wider to save wood. Seni is boring outside but beautiful inside. 2nd largest sphere window. Inside are giant statues. 1700s history under control of Madrid. National anthem called reapers. Spanish war of succession Catalunya always picks the wrong side in history. Eschapla was the expansion and where the rich people live.
Jewish quarter- medieval times were rounded up and made up a large population. By law they couldn’t make anything with their hands and became a middle man of trade.
Plata de San nieri- hidden square an old shoemakers guild building was moved brick by brick. Borne area is full of designers making shoes. The church of San Felipe neiri a fascist group bombed the church that’s full of young children taking refuge. Spanish civil war- hitler tried to take over by dropping general Franco in Madrid to support the nationalist. Republicans had Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell supporting them and lost. Franco dictated until 1974.
Gargoyles are to ward off spirits, move water, and witches that pee on you.
Heart of the city plata San Jaime where the human tower happens. The barbed wire sculpture represent the highest tower. Government building st georgekilling a dragon. Town hall- housed council of 100 men representing society.
Hercules is said to be the city founder. Hercules st.
Borne area. Santa Maria del Mar built by the people for the people. Red terror history. Monument to those who first fell in the civil war and call for independence. Catalunya is still looking to separate from Spain.
Bon dio (good day). AdAu (adios). Sis plau (please). Merci (thank you).
Calle Las dames- women would gather to marry men from port. Placa de les olles where sailors would eat. Most famous and expensive tapas bar.
Lichtenstein face of Barcelona homage to comics and different times in history. 1992 Olympics artists put art everywhere. The lobster.
Haidi park well free passe de grati. Casa de battlo Casa mila.
How Barcelona won their city: guns, baracades, rolls of paper to hide behind, people’s army. Convinced nationalists to move to the republican side. Won the city but lost the war. Became part of the French resistance against fascism.
Sybille
-look up la sagrada familia hours
-look at lunch hours in the born district.
-go to parks tonight

My tour guide Sybille or Billy was very friendly. On a few different legs I talked to her about my trip and about where she is from in Dublin. I walked back to our room and spent a few minutes relaxing my legs before heading out to see Gaudi’s Malia and la perdoma. The entrance fee for both was over 15€ so I opted for shopping instead for a bathing suit. I found three super cute ones at a store called Caledenzia. Since I was short on time and couldn’t decide, I got all three. Hopefully they hold up well. I got back to the room and waited for Jeff for about 20 minutes before he showed up. He was about 10 minutes late and had gotten lost. I was honestly about to head upstairs though before he showed. We reconvened upstairs and changed for dinner. Jeff wanted to shop for Bianca so i took him up the street to where i shopped earlier. He found a jewelry store that he liked in another city. I stopped at Intimissi and a macaroon store to get some things for myself. We walked to Barceloneta along the harbor before picking this minimalist/modern looking tapas bar. I now know why people say Spanish food is terrible. The tapas here sucked. Jeff could hardly eat anything that came out and I was just trying to power through it so that I had a full stomach. Jeff located the other location of the shot bar nearby since we needed to clean our palettes. We started with the marshmallow shot again, had one strong one that was on fire as we drank it through a straw (tasted like I drank fire but in a good way) and ended on a medium minty one that was layered red, yellow and green. Here we also witnessed a guy getting Monica Lewinsky’d. I don’t know how but the dildos were the size of a horse here. 😳 And so went our night.

Saturday, July 6th: here I am now on the plane to Londontown. This morning started nice. I woke up early and ate a good breakfast alone then pack up my stuff and chatted with David before he went to bed. It was very fun to talk to him this morning and I gave him a tour of the B&B. I walked to la familia sagrada which was pretty far. The sun was beating on me the whole time too. By the time I got there, the line was already around the building. The structure though is incredible. It is massive for one and then there seemed to be so many details leading all the way to the top. Unfortunately, I was feeling very ill and decided to rush home instead of heading to parque guell. Luckily on the way to the room, I ran into Jeff in the shopping district and he was able to give me the keys. Without those, I would have been miserable. I laid down and turned the AC all the way up and hydrated which helped. I met Jeff downstairs along with the guy who was running the B&B. this scared me because I saw the guy first and it was past check out time by like 20 minutes. He seemed fine about it. We grabbed our stuff and headed to Placa Catalunya to catch the Aerobus to the airport. Everything about the airport was fine until we got to lunch. I thought the place was miserable. The terminal we were located in was all UK flights. The only worker at the bistro didn’t speak understand or read any English. My order was a bacon sandwich when I said pollo barbacoa and I couldn’t substitute water for beer. Oh well. I ate most of it by sticking my BBQ chips on it. Jeff and I did some souvenir shopping and then waited in the queue. The flight so far has been fine and the views lovely as I have a window seat (and no one tried to take my seat this time either).

Just arrived in London. It is interesting how all the other EU countries didn’t have a customs check or stamp our passports. I wonder what changes. The tube ticket to get to our hostel cost 18£ and is only good within two zones. That’s already 1/3 of my pounds gone. London is going to be very expensive; I can already tell. The rail system seems to be good here.
Already it is weird for me seeing cars driving on the other side of the road. Even the train is backwards! I am definitely going to have to look multiple times when crossing the street. On another note, it feels great to be somewhere where English is spoken all around you and you can feel at ease asking a question. The countryside is very green and beautiful here as well.

Day 15-22: Mercedes, Berlin and Rome

Today is Wednesday, July 3rd. Clearly, it has been awhile since I last blogged. I kept putting it off saying that I would remember, but that never happened. So here I am. It is Jeff and I’s last night in Rome. This experience really could not be any better. Tonight had to have been the best meal that I have had so far. The only thing that would have made it better would have been the gelato place off Borgo Pio (Sweetness & Co) being open at midnight in Vatican City (wishful thinking). Let’s back up to where I left off because a lot has happened. By tomorrow when I finish writing this, I will likely be in Nice have a nice tan. 😉

Wednesday, June 26th: We visited Daimler Trucks which refers to Mercedes. Before that, I didn’t even know that Mercedes made industrial trucks. Since then, I have started to notice them around and how the buses in Rome were sometimes Mercedes. The tour was okay. It was the same things that I have already seen before in a car manufacturing plant just on a much larger scale. The best part was 1. playing around in their full size display cab and 2. a discussion panel with 2 Brazilian ex-pats on their experiences. The timing of the discussion could not have been more perfect since Dr. Dhieln-Becker had just lectured on the dimensions of human resources and we looked at a case study that was in a similar situation. Both the Brazilians said that the two cultures were very different, one was a younger female working in HR and the other an older male in management. Both had to build new lives. The man talked about how it was extremely difficult on his family as none of them spoke either English or German. It was actually funny how sometimes either of them would mix up the three languages sometimes when talking. After our visit, we hopped on the short bus back to the school to have a short discussion about all the things that we liked and didn’t like about the program. Overall, I really enjoyed the program except for the- you guessed it- homework. I also think CI could have done a better job funding this trip and then preparing us before we ever left for school either during the spring or immediately following graduation.
Honestly, I am not 100% sure what we did that night but we ended up going out to Scruffy’s as a group for one last hurrah and then to a night club. The club was popping for the middle of the week. It ended up being Jeff, Chase, Thomas, Manuel, GiGi, and I at the club. We definitely stood out. People don’t seem to dance at clubs in Germany or at least not many immediately around us. Either way, I danced my booty off to my own beat and had so much fun.

Thursday, June, 27th: Off to Berlin we go. I went to the train station early with most of the group. We ran into Morris who had his wife with him. Linda, his wife, I described her as the female version of Morris. That is since changed but she is awesome and has a fiery personality with no filter. I remember getting a doner and chocolate croissant one last time for the train. I sat at a table with Kyle, Jeff and Tim. The most memorable part of this trip was playing cards. The story goes that Kyle taught us all this game Pisoi or Chinese poker. It was all going well until Jeff tried to play a 5 card hand to beat Kyle, and Kyle explained it away saying that it didn’t beat his since the high card of the flush needed to be higher even if Jeff had a higher suit with the same high card. Okay. So a few games later I play a hand that I think is going to beat Kyle’s and win the game (I am winning in points and Kyle is in a pretty close second) based on the previous explanation. So I play a hand with a much higher card than Kyle’s but it is the same suit or something. Either way, the argument goes back and forth for only a very short time before he starts repeatedly saying STFU. This then pisses Jeff off since he is cussing at me and I’m a girl. In order to deflate the situation Linda, a drug and alcohol counselor jumps in and has everyone leave since Kyle refused to get up. It was so stupid. Honestly though, everyone on the trip besides 1 person has verbally said they have a problem with Kyle and/or gotten in an argument with him because he is either being irresponsible, dishonest or immature. He didn’t ruin the trip though. A group of us ended up playing cards in the back of the train and deciding the roommate arrangement so as to not make anything worse. When we all reconvened as a group, Kyle apologized. It wasn’t the most sincere apology but he seemed like he felt bad for at least losing his temper. I still feel frustrated by the situation though. I just don’t get how he doesn’t see the bigger picture of what went wrong in the situation and why he would go so crazy over cards.
We checked into our hotel and I ended up in a room alone which at first was a little scary since it was so far from everyone else but it turned out to be a bigger room and nice to just do my own thing at the end of the night.
We left for dinner after checking in at this Greek restaurant. The food was great. I shared with Suki and the restaurant gave us all a type of reddish wine on ice to start and a shot of this stuff that tasted like black licorice at the end of the meal. It was a cool place for one night. We were all tired and I ended up being one of the first to call it a night.

Friday, June, 28th: We went to DB or Deutsche Bahn which is the public transit system. The guy was boring and everyone was falling asleep. The entire meeting can be summed up as lots of coffee. Thankfully, Linda lightened the mood and asked some questions that had us laughing. The guy was probably confused because he was bored of himself talking. We then explored the Sony center and local park before heading to lunch. Berlin is famous for doner and curry wurst. We ate lunch at the place that supposedly invented the curry wurst. It was a hot dog with ketchup and curry powder. Eh. Afterwards our bike tour was supposed to happen but it started to pour rai once we got there. Somehow it stopped as quickly as it started. Our tour guide was brief and kind of abrasive. We didn’t stop much and riding a bike was scary at times in the city. We saw parts of the Berlin Wall and the river. That night for dinner we split up. Some went to doner and others went to Italian. I went to Italian that had the word romantic in the name. Again, I shared a meal with Suki. It was a perfect portion for us to share. The food was okay but it was nice to sit and eat.
It was GiGi’s last night in Berlin so we wanted to take her clubbing. The club ended up being a bust. She drank way too much, I had to pee, and the boys couldn’t get into the club. The girls decided to call it a night. As we waited for the bus stop, GiGi looks at me and says I have to throw up so I run with her down the stairs frantically looking for grass. Of course, she projectile vomits at least three times which makes me have to run away to keep from losing my stomach. I was pretty annoyed at how the night had gone. I should have listened to my gut and stayed in.

Saturday, June, 29th: The next day I had breakfast with Emma and decided that I would do the Sandeman tour alone. I was nervous to take the metro system but the front desk gave good directions which helped. The tour was informative and fun. I was chatted up by a girl from new york teaching in Prague that was very nice plus Dan who just started his PhD in molecular biology in Virginia and is traveling with his friend from Berkeley. I needed to meet up to tour Parliament or the Reichstag building so I moved quickly and luckily ran into Morris while walking. The building was so cool. New and old all in one. The dome had so many features and great views. I was falling asleep though on the tour since my feet didn’t want to move anymore. When we finished it started raining and Suki and I shared my umbrella. She was pretty funny though trying not to get wet. We took a train to dinner at this very nice Italian restaurant. Morris was kind enough to treat us to our food and we just had to pay for drinks. We tried to do something for Suki’s birthday but she wasn’t feeling well.

Saturday, June 30th: I overslept. I woke up to the front desk calling my room. I don’t know what happened but I had obviously turned my alarm off. I jumped up and was throwing things into my bag to catch the train to the airport. I felt terrible for Jeff. He was clearly stressed. Luckily we made it with plenty of time though. The flight was short. We got lost trying to find our room. The address was across where the bus dropped us but we walked around the block and all around looking. Once we got settled we explored Vatican City had gelato at Sweetness and Co. which was amazing and then dinner at this place that was mediocre. Our room only had one big bed and Jeff was kind enough to sleep on the floor so that we could feel better about the arrangement.

Sunday, July, 1st: we did a lot of sight seeing, a free tour, explored, ate an amazing dinner that was cheap but the house wine was watered down.

Monday, July, 2nd: mostly random explorations, failed at seeing the Sistine chapel and ate at an even better restaurant with a similar menu for our final night.

Tuesday, July 3rd: I miss David. I felt very sick because I only ate a bar on the plane for lunch. We ended up not getting to the hotel in Nice until 4. We did a ton of walking with our backpacks and it was fairly warm with no water supply. I rested for a while before heading to the beach to meet Jeff. I was scared to go in the water alone since I am not a strong swimmer (Jeff compared me to when you throw your dog into the pool for the first time). It was nice when I got in though. The water much warmer and cleaner looking. The beach we went to was very pebbly. It definitely hurt my feet. It was also optional topless. This has become of a passing thing as I have gotten older and gone to the gym but I still felt awkward. Dinner was at les garçons and was amazing. I finally had macaroons and they were so good and nothing like what I expected.

Day 14- LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

We got two noise complaints last night. We weren’t being loud though. Okay, maybe we were loud the first time. At least we were working on our homework. The second time was after the new teenagers in our hall came home and were yelling. By the time the guy came upstairs, I was brushing my teeth and GiGi was video chatting her grandma. Have I ever said that I will not miss this hostel? I am so looking forward to Berlin and staying at a hotel.
My room slept in this morning but we left the earliest around 8am with Nick to get chocolate croissants from BackWerk in the train station. I think we were all nervous about getting to school by 9. Getting on the bus to school, I was going to stand but then the old lady I was standing near tapped my leg and pointed to the seat next to her which was nice. I waited to eat until we got to school around 9:50. Dr. Morris lectured and we jumped right into the debate. My team, team yes Germany should leave the euro, was Suki, Nick and Andy. The first round didn’t go as well as we would have liked. Team no had better structure and was more poised and prepared. For round two, we had to go first and brought up our best points for last and gave rebuttals to the other teams opening arguments. When team no followed us with their rebuttal, I felt attacked by Chase. During our rebuttal I mentioned that the political argument was not true since we were only discussing Germany leaving the euro and not the EU with no directed attack on anyone. Chase though turned around looked at me and said Ashley’s point is wrong… I was shocked because debates are never personal. It felt very personal though. It might have been the fact that I am very competitive but it got my blood pressure up. In turn after the debate was over and the judges debated on the winner, I deflected and pointed out Jeff’s misstep in speaking. I apologized when we let out for lunch but I really shouldn’t have done it. The judges came back once the heat died down and announced the winner on three criteria. I was so surprised when our team was announced as winner.
Lunch was good today. I couldn’t eat a ton because I was not very hungry. They served pizza, veggies, and salmon. My salmon was salty though. I made my rounds and hung out with everyone during lunch.
After lunch, Morris gave us a short lecture, and we got out early. Afterwards, we were all excited for the BBQ that Max and Catherine were hosting for us. Suki, Nick, GiGi and I went to Rewe to recycle all of the bottles and were able to get about 4€ to use collectively on drinks for the BBQ. Thomas came over early to play some ping pong with us downstairs. We left around 6:10 to catch the train. It ended up being a little crazy because we were catching the train at a different stop than normal and Jeff and Nick had to run back into the hostel and were planning on catching up to us. We waited for them around the corner so they would walk by which worked out. While waiting, Gina and I went to get some gelato (ice cream). I had strawberry and dark chocolate which was delicious; it tasted just like a chocolate covered strawberry. We all met up and got on the train. Max and Catherine were waiting for us and we went to a nearby grocery store. Everyone got 1-2 cold drinks. We proceeded to Catherine’s apartment in the rain. Walking up the stairs that went round and round for what seemed like forever. She had to live on the 6th (top) story. Her place was cool though. Her roommates had a ball pit which was really fun to roll around in and try to juggle. Our group split up some to cook and some hung out. I stayed warm upstairs. The food was great- sausage, multiple seasoned pork and vegetarian options. I especially liked the baguettes and curry ketchup.
Afterwards, we went to Scruffy’s (Gina, Emma, Jeff, GiGi and I). It was okay. They had live music but it was crowded so we only stayed a short time before retiring. Overall it was a fun and successful night out.

Day 13- Sleepy Day at School

Since I traveled so much over the weekend, I did not want to wake up. Today was a hair up and just get ready quick kind of day. I video chatted with David. It’s always so nice to be able to see his smiling face. Being away really makes me miss him and wish he was traveling with me. I covet a life where we can both not have any obligations and just go anywhere. One day.
Our group was finally early to school today! Shocker! A few of us didn’t want to eat at the hostel and got some pastries at the school which are priced okay but BestWerks in the train station is way better and only .99. Morris lectured in the morning and I was so tired. I could not stay awake today. It was so embarrassing. Lunch probably didn’t help that. The cafeteria had pasta, beets, mushrooms, potato salad, green salad. It was good but afterwards I needed coffee to stay awake. Also, not a good idea. I went to the bathroom at least 4 times during the lecture by Dr. Dieter-Baker. It’s not that the lectures were boring. In fact, I made 2.50 today playing the Prisoner’s Dilemma game with Andreas. He originally offered me 1€ so I took the deal but after the lecture felt bad and split it. He’s such a nice guy though and also very smart and contemplative.
School ended and I came home and did the homework then laundry. Most people were out and about. When people were around, we went downstairs and played ping pong pretty much the rest of the night. Right now, it’s bed time and time for girl talk. Ashley out.

Day 12- Afternoon in Heidelberg

I forgot where I left off while writing my last blog while on the train back to Karlsruhe. In case I didn’t mention it, I was very nervous to travel alone that day since I have never used public transportation very much and definitely never by myself. Gina and Emma were going to Endsbrook in Austria and left on a train at a similar time to mine which was convenient and calmed me. My first train came a few minutes early but ended up leaving at 11:27am when I had to be at the next station at 11:30. Fortunately the problem was well communicated or something because my connected ICE (high speed) train had waited for a number of passengers. I was able to get a great seat in a small cabin with about 12 seats and proceeded to write my last blog post to pass time. At one point, I looked out my window and saw camels in a field. A few people tend to have horses or goats but that was so strange. I wish I could have snapped a quick photo but we had passed it by the time I did my double take to make sure they were real. Even with all the train delays I experienced, the trip could not have been smoother and my train arrived on time at Karlsruhe and Max and Katherine were waiting. We went to his car which was an older model Opal (lighting bolt symbol) stick shift and took the autobahn to get to Heidelberg. Going there, he wasn’t driving too fast since there was some light traffic. We tried to find free parking in the city once we arrived and ended up having to find a paid parking garage. The parking garage was really interesting. The spots were tiny; the ground was even painted; and there were spot specifically for women near the entrance/exit. Maybe that will catch on at CI so girls don’t have to walk all the way to the A10-11 lots which are affectionately called the “rape lots”. 😬 Max jumped right in to your guide mode. We walked through the upper street where the shops are towards the church. I stopped in this Christmas shop that was open on Sunday (miracle that it was open!) which Sarah’s mom had mentioned before I left. It was quaint; smelled like roses and was full of the older generation. We tried to go up the spire of the church but it was closed. He pointed out the golden statue of Hercules. A lot of details here were in gold which made the city sparkle. It was really beautiful. The architecture on each building was old-fashioned, different and eye catching. From the upper street we took the lower street which contains all the bars and cafes for the older crowd during the day but a much younger crowd at night. He translated some of the bar names which were funny like Assisted Drinking and pointed out the famous absinthe bar. He said that if you hadn’t ever tried absinthe but wanted to buy something that the owner brings out glasses and gives you the breakdown. Depending on how you look at it, I am either lucky or unlucky that I dislike anise seed smell and flavoring. There are so many cafes and he was able to point out the best of the city and where we might eat later. We then turned to the river to see the old bridge which contains markings of the water level over the years. In some years, it seemed to be underwater. I got to touch the local good luck charm which is a baboon statue holding a gold coin. Next to it is a golden scroll and 3 mice. Each represent different fortunes like children, wisdom (not sure if that was correct) and wealth. The face of the baboon is even open like a mask so you can put your head inside to take a picture but I didn’t want to. We walked to the center of the bridge to enjoy the view. It was stunning. From there we walked to the tram which was built in 1907 and is one of the first electric trolleys if not the first. For 4€ (student price) we were able to take it to the castle or schloss. We went into the castle and walked around. They were setting up for a production in the evening. The coolest thing inside the castle has to be the casks for wine. I walked in and there was one huge one (the size of a ping pong table), and then an even bigger one (maybe two stories), and then the BIG barrel that was housed in its own room and had to be over 40 feet tall. They have it set up so that you can walk up it and stand on top. My question still is how did they tap it to drink the wine. There was a pharmacy exhibit that we walked through that was mostly boring except for the herbs that you could smell and interact with. The grounds of the castle are what are impressive. The view is magnificent. There is a park that is so romantic and beautiful to walk around and has multiple fountains and views. We walked the path around it and happened to see yaks which I had never seen before and 3 baby yaks which were running around and were adorable. When we finished, we took the long steep stairs down and Max explained fraternities since there was one next to the castle. Apparently, the word means connection and in Germany they have super exclusive ones. There is also a practice of marking the individuals with a scar below their eye. We stopped on the stairs for a water break when a group of 6-7 mountain bikers cruised down these steep stairs with no problem. Max talked to them at the bottom and apparently they had just came down from a two day trek to grab drinks and relax. We were hungry after all the walking so we looked at a couple menus before deciding on Japanese. MoschMosch was delicious. I had a tofu noodle dish. The tofu was perfectly cooked, and it had a lot of vegetables. My favorite thing though was the flavor. It wasn’t salty at all which seems to always happen with Asian food. Since drinks were expensive there, we stopped at Vetter a small, family owned brewery that brews on site. It was very traditional German food served there. The beer was okay. I’m not a very big fan of beer but I finished it since Max was treating. From the brewery, we did some more walking down the Main Street to the university and finally the car. The autobahn on the way home was fun. We were cruising at 170km/hr and cars were still passing us. Getting back into Karlsruhe we went a scenic route that was really pretty. The road we took remind me of Oregon. It was so green and beautiful and there were nice walking bridges. I was so grateful to be able to enjoy all the scenery during the drive. Even the sunset was fiery orange driving back. I felt so good after this trip. I honestly wasn’t expecting anyone to be home when I returned but everyone except Gina and Emma were. GiGi (other Gina) and I took a walk to DeutscheBank to get money and had some real talk time. We all went to bed after all the traveling over the weekend. Today, was so difficult though to wake up from it all! I love the adventures I’m going on but boy they are tiring!!

Days 9-11: Weekend in Munich; Visit to Dachau

Looking back, Munich was an adventure and definitely my favorite city so far. The morning after the wild storm, I was up and ready early since we wanted to leave extra early to prevent any tram delays. When I check on the girls, they were all ready to go, but the boys were all asleep even the ones that I thought were leaving early to explore the city during the day. Fortunately we had that early departure time from the hostel otherwise we might not have made our train. We had 3 transfers over the course of the trip which actually made it go by faster (left at 9am and arrived around 3pm). One of our trains broke or couldn’t go further due to debris so they unloaded us and we got on charter busses to another stop that looked abandoned and was an hour away. Some of our stops had us running to get there but we had about 30 minutes to pick up lunch which was nice. Although, I am never getting Asian food at the train station again. Once we arrived, Jeff checked in and we got settled and waiting for Suki and Nick in the hotel room. Staying in the hotel spoiled us. We were at the Marriott Residence Inn off Ostenbalf. No one wants to go back to the hostel; it sucks.
We went to dinner at the famous Haufbrahaus and were super lucky to have a table next to the music. I had a 1 liter Russ’n which is white beer and lemonade (basically no alcohol and tasted refreshing and was a good substitute for water). And yes, you read correctly, beer was served in giant 1L mugs. The waiter was super fast paced and you had to know exactly what you wanted and tell him that. I was dying for a bratwurst and sour kraut but they ran out. How do you run out of something like that?! Luckily they had bockwurst and potato salad instead. It tasted like a hot dog and was good with yellow mustard. The potato salad was some of the best so far. Here, potato salad is totally different. It is made with vinegar and olive oil and is much lighter and tastier. I am happy to have experienced that place but feel like I do not need to do it all over again. The smaller delis at the marketplace are cheaper and seem better to me for food. Crissy, a former CI exchange student, lives in Munich and met up with us thanks to Chase. She took us on a cool tour which included the glockenspiel at night, Sausalito’s for cocktails to go (pricey ~10€ but the taste is there as well as the liquor), walking the shopping district, hanging out on the steps of an old building with the locals, and ballroom dancing in the park at midnight. I didn’t dance but it was so romantic. It felt straight out of a movie. Half the group left here since Jeff was sick and I stayed with Chase and Kyle a little longer before heading home for the night. I really like how easy the metro system is to use here. We can get anywhere for a pretty reasonable price with our whole group.
Since we arrived home around 3am, the entire group slept in and had breakfast around 10am. We left for Dachau Memorial Site around 12. I made a big bathroom mistake though and skipped a free one only to keep drinking my 1.5L water. By the time we got to our stop I was running to the bathroom and when I paid I realized that of course someone had locked the entire bathroom when there are stalls so I had to go into the men’s. 😳No one was in there but it reeked of urine. Fortunately men rarely use the stall. To get to the site, we took a bus. First thing we did was stop at the information desk. I was pretty bummed that we missed the 1pm English tour by 15min so I tried to tag along to a tour whenever I found it in a convenient spot. Our group watched a movie together about the history but I really wanted to do my own thing and go through the history through each panel. The information and testimonials on the panel were both moving and disturbing. Even after taking the History and Psychology of Nazi Germany class, my mind is still blown to know that people could do that to their fellow human beings. For me, seeing the firing squad wall near the bunker was what really hit me. There were holes and deformities in the wall which I could tell if they were from weather or remaining from 1945. When I went to the restored bunker, the tour guide was telling stories of how a room meant for 50 held 250. He also told the story of a boy that recounted his most prominent childhood memory was waking up between his two best friends, that protected him, not moving since they had drowned in the fluids of the dead in the bunk above them. I cannot even imagine having such a traumatic memory. The area where the crematorium was is still very in tact. The showers were not used like the death camps but they were used for small groups and individuals. Standing in the “storage” room between the oven and the shower was eerie. In the movie, they showed a video of townspeople looking into that room with horror as bodies were stacked and piled, but they didn’t do anything. The memorial had a path behind the crematorium to remember the thousands of unknown people that were murdered and their ashes dumped. Along the path however, were multiple more pistol ranges that had drains for the blood still dug out… Words cannot begin to describe the sickening feeling of being in a place where torture and murder was a norm when you’re surrounded by beautiful flowers and large trees. My final stop was at the Jewish memorial. I picked up a small pebble to remember this place and all that the world fought to change so that it may never happen again.
I met up with everyone around 4. Apparently, they were looking for me. As bad as it sounds, I didn’t really care. I really wanted to be away from the whole group for awhile since I don’t always feel like I fit in well with the dynamic. As the trip continues, I find myself wanting to do something different and sometimes just be alone. As much as I enjoy the boys goofing around and making us all laugh and hanging with the girls, I realize we do not have fun doing all the same things all the time. For example, when it comes to the homework, I see it as a big waste because this class to me is more of a real world life experience of getting to know the culture and practices of the people here. If I wanted to write papers or sit inside on a beautiful day, I would still be in Moorpark. The grade in this class, while it matters to me for my overall GPA, it counts towards nothing else and while I do the work, there has been one person in each of my groups that hasn’t contributed effectively and that bothers me a lot since I hate group work in college for that exact reason. I know I am weak on the subjects and haven’t done every chapter reading but I try to focus and help in some way.
We left Dachau to go to Marienneplatz and get food at the market and allow some people to shop on Saturday since everything closes on Sunday. This part of the day left a bad impression on quite a few people in the group. I needed to vent a lot after this and wished that I had done my own thing and could have seen the English garden instead of eating. This is where having a group train ticket sucks. After waiting, grabbing a white peppery bratwurst and kraut to go, the group met up and then Kyle stayed behind while the rest of us went back to do our homework. The whole time, I felt annoyed that one of our group members was not going to be able to contribute. It isn’t her fault because it was a free weekend after all but the timing of the assignment was so inconvenient for everyone in Munich. Afterwards everyone split up. I went with Gina and Emma to the city center again to see the park and grab some food and drink. It was nice to wander and relax. I finally did my make up which was fun for me to feel like I was going out on the town but still dressed casual. We walked by the opera which was just letting out and in the middle of Germany’s Rodeo Drive. I had a nice time just hanging out for a couple of hours before heading back. Suki and Nick were in our room. We played some card games- spoon, happy birthday, and big 2. There had been an ongoing prank to lock the safe and change the code. I did it to Suki but she tried too many codes and put the safe to sleep for the night. I felt bad after it locked especially since the code was easy 0000. I am carrying all of our stuff though so it evens out I guess. I opened it the next morning with no problem. Everyone was in bed, but I wasn’t tired especially with Suki and Nick sharing the pull out with me. I stayed up and chatted with David a bit and played around with my emails and Facebook to pass time. Even though I went to bed at 2:30am, I was wide awake at 8. I waited to get up since everyone was fast asleep. The wifi was slow this morning in the hotel which was annoying because I had been trying to coordinate with Max to pick me up so I can explore Heidelberg. Right now I am on the train back to Karlsruhe alone. Doing this journey alone made me a bit nervous on the inside but I know I need to use this experience to the fullest and gain more independence. So far my first train left 10 minutes late which put me behind to get on the next train. I have no idea why they are delayed because the announcements are in German and I don’t feel comfortable asking what they said. The ticket puncher on this train said that I should not have a problem with my connections. Today, I have seen camels and been surrounded by two rivers on either side of the train which has been entertaining. The scenery is beautiful and I am still not tired of seeing all the green fields and tall trees. Hopefully the rest of my day works out well.

Days 7&8- ADA Cosmetics and Porsche

I left off my last post with being in the middle of no where on our way to ADA Cosmetics. Well, we found it eventually which is what counts. ADA is a leader in providing the German hospitality industry with amenities like soaps and lotions. The CEO greeted us and welcomed us into their nice air conditioned board room (AC feels so rare here. Same with ice). In front of each of us was a goodie bag that we could take home and some pamphlets about the company. During the guys presentation Suki fell asleep which was at least entertaining since I was almost right there with her. I don’t know what it is but I always want to have a siesta in the afternoon. After the presentation, we were “camouflaged” in booties, smocks, and hair nets to tour the factory. The factory was really neat just to see how the bottles get filled and everything. It’s way cooler in real life than on TV. We were taken back to the board room and had a feast waiting for us. I went for fresh fruit- apples, bananas, apricots, pears, strawberries, nectarines. There were also sandwiches and assorted breads. Everything here is bread. After our visit was over we went back to school and Gina C. bought us all gum which turned our mouths blue and contained menthol. It was so hot that day though so we got out early and didn’t have homework which was SOOO nice. I seriously hate having to come home after going to school and doing homework here. I feel as if I am missing out on experiencing a lot of the cultural things and being able to recharge myself. This trip has been so exhausting. Currently, I have already had a sore throat for 3 days which has developed into a painful cough and runny nose. Even though I am not feeling well, I have been trying so hard to power through it but by the end of the day I am passed out.
Wednesday was Emma’s birthday so a small group of us stopped at Reve to get flowers and a bottle of Riesling (which is a German white wine). We ended up going out to Aposto an Italian beer garden. I ordered ravioli and a sprite as I wasn’t feeling well ever since I found out that the shit I smelled in the hostel shower that morning was actually shit.
The background behind that is that the Special Olympics are in town and the chaperones have to take care of a lot of them in the middle of the night. Basically, our floor has turned into a stinky, creepy playground (and this isn’t the first time either). Every few days we have new people and I don’t think it’s ever been an ideal situation. There has also been guys that go into the women’s shower even when the men’s shower is open and literally on the other side of the wall. I might feel less cranky if breakfast wasn’t the same everyday and dinner was better.
Anyways, that’s enough venting on how crappy this hostel is… I left the celebration early with Gina since we were not feeling well and I went straight to bed. The next morning we did not have to be at school for a lecture by Dr. Andrew Lee, an English economist, on the future of the euro. It was very interesting and we were able to have some good discussions.
Following the lecture, we left for Porsche (you do pronounce the e at the end after all). The train ride was not bad and the tour was cool but I felt like I had seen a lot of it before in Detroit. The coolest thing there was these driverless carts that pick up parts and deliver them within the buildings using magnets in the floor to follow a path. They could even take the elevator.
Once we finished our tour the shops were closing at Porsche and we took the train to Amadeus, a biergarten. It was supposed to rain hard so we didn’t sit inside. Inside ended up being very hot with all of us crowded around a table and it never rained while we were there. I ordered maultachen and split a Greek salad with Kyle both of which I really liked. Maultachen is like a meat ravioli topped with sauce and grilled onions. I did hate how it was so hot and there we had to keep buying water for our whole table. I swear people don’t drink water here. My body was overheating so much that my stomach was feeling nauseous. Fortunately everyone around me cleared out to smoke and I was able to eat and cool down. Once our meals were finished some of us went to hang out outside. I bought an ice cream to cool down and make my very sore throat feel better. When more people came out, we played black magic and unfortunately the tell was revealed. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted (2 hours over a few days). Although the storm didn’t hit us while we were eating, it did strike while we were on the train. Our train must have stopped for 30 minutes and people including our group got out to check outside. We took some jumping pictures and group ones in which these random guys joined us before the train was ready to proceed at a snails pace. Arriving in Karlsruhe, it was a mess. The trams weren’t working; the taxi line was long. We spent about 10-15 minutes deciding on a plan before Suki, Nick and Gina walked and the rest of us waited for a cab. While we were walking around, we found our Starbucks barista and his girlfriend who is super nice. It’s random how small a world it is even when you’re away. Everyone made it home safely and the only more eventful thing to happen was trying to get bugs out of our room for Suki.

Day 3- Baden-Baden

Well, it’s only a day late. Yesterday started off a little crazy because we went to the German house party the night before. I woke up at 9 and needed to be downstairs at 9:30 for our trip to Baden-Baden… I made it around 9:45. It ended up working out because the train we needed arrived when we got to the platform. Needless to say, yesterday ended up being a very good day. When we got into Baden-Baden, we took a bus to the casino which is so much like Casino Royale. The whole city is like Beverly Hills with shops and expensive cars. We were hungry and stopped for lunch at a French bistro after visiting the casino during tourist hours. I had a fried egg skillet with ham and tomato, water and Jeff’s sour kraut. My brunch came out to be 9€ and the food was delicious.

We were not sure where the spa was and were just following people walking. There was this beautiful large white building but for some reason we didn’t picture that being the spa. Castavalla was amazing. We paid 31€: 15 for 3 hours and 6+10 deposit for a towel. The place is two stories. On the first story there are multiple pools and jacuzzis in and outside at different temperatures from 66-100C and then a brine steam room and aroma therapy room at 100% humidity. I loved the steam room. My skin felt great after sitting in it. The second story is all saunas ranging from 60-95C with different lights, music, scents and even outdoor log cabins. There had to have been at least 8 different saunas, a whirlpool, foot bath, and multiple mini cool down pools. At the end of the 3 hours it wasn’t even enough. I could have spent the whole day relaxing there. Leaving, we walked out and got gelato and walked the shops. I think our group is going to go back before the end of the trip.
Back in Karlsruhe we stopped at a Doner shop that was cheap and delicious- only 2.5€ for what would be a gyro at home and it was filling too. After that we went grocery shopping and back to the hostel to eat our free spatzle and schnitzel dinner too. We had some wine and went to the park at the palace to meet up with Chase, Tim, Julia and her friends. It was a beautiful day and evening. Since the park closes at 9 when it gets dark, we went on an adventure to the grocery store and were given free beer on the way out from some girls that did want it. We ended up hanging out at the park behind our hostel. I showed up late because I stayed and talked with Suki about our days. About 45 minutes after I got there, a large van pulls up and it was the police. I was so scared. My heart was beating so hard and I was ready to run in my skirt and flip flops. They came and were speaking German but seemed like they were confused and shining their lights all around the park. Turns out there was a noise complaint but we were not that loud and it was a small group of us just hanging out drinking these light mixed beers which it isn’t illegal to drink in public in Germany. We were wrapping up the night anyways because we were very tired. My nights sleep was very good. This morning we woke up around 8 to go to Black Forest but unfortunately the van was too small for our group so we are going to a monastery instead

Days 5&6- School

The first day of school was good but so hot. It had to have been at least 90 degrees out and just as hot inside the building. Professor Dr. Sabine gave us a crash course in German. I honestly didn’t retain any much if any of it. Learning German has mostly come from reading the signs and asking our ambassadors how to say phrases and practicing them immediately in situations. It is difficult still though because everyone here speaks or at least understands English since it is taught starting from the 5th grade. Either way, I really liked our teacher as she kept the lesson fun with videos on German culture. I was really struck by one where they asked different people if they are proud to be German. Most said no, but they are very happy to live here. Before coming on the trip, I did a reading on German happiness and most Germans are quite happy as a group even though we think their demeanor can be cold as they are standoffish. Our cultures are definitely very different as well. I can pick out a German simply by how they eat their food. They never put down their knife and fork. There are so many subtle things that are different but similar too. We like to think that Europeans dress differently and while some do, I think we all blend in very well (at least, according to Tim we do) aside from how we speak.
After our lesson, we went to lunch in the cafeteria. The German students hate the place, but compared to our hostel the meals there are 5 star. The first day we filled our plates. I shared with Suki and we had curry bratwurst and fries (yum!), baby potatoes (also yum), lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce (good but difficult texture), and salad (my new favorite thing to eat here as it feels like such a treat). We all hung out and tried to stay cool but it was so hot everywhere we went. When we came back to class we were all sleepy from digesting and the heat. Dr. Morris lectured for a little bit on FDI before we broke into groups to discuss cases and get assigned our first case study. We left around 4 and stopped to get water and recycle our empties (.25€ each bottle!) at Rewe (pronounced Revie). By the time we got home, we had about 30 minutes to read before dinner started which flew by. In fact, the rest of the night flew by. I was reading about culture in one of our chapters and kept falling asleep while reading. Then Manuel, Tim, Julia, and Thomas all came by to hang out but we were all breaking into our groups to do the assignment which took us till probably 10pm. Unfortunately we were unable to spend any time with them, and while I tried to contribute to the assignment as much as I could, my group was all business majors and some of the discussions got very technical for me. I’m not sure when we ended because towards the end of the paper, I accidentally fell asleep (that’s what I get for being on a bed instead of a chair). I woke up about an hour later to only Suki. It was kind of embarrassing since I have been snoring if I get turned on my back from the sinus congestion from allergies. Fortunately, Suki said I didn’t snore. Unfortunately, while we were getting ready for bed we were talking too loud and getting ourselves kind of scared when someone banged on our door. It was so scary that I screamed and Gina fell out of bed. We thought the boys were playing a prank but when we asked it wasn’t them which freaked us out more. Then, of course, we needed to use the toilette. We turned on the hall lights and sprinted to the bathroom only to see an old lady sitting staring in a dark room. On our way back, we grabbed Nick from the boys room to escort us and sleep in the other bunk. I feel bad for Nick because we kept getting the giggles. I was so tired though that I passed out.
Yesterday (Tuesday) was pretty good though. We only had a short assignment looking at an experience we had with a cultural difference here (there were so many to choose from). School went by fast. The economic concepts were difficult to understand for me though. It wasn’t how it was taught but just the background that I think I’m lacking. I haven’t heard most of those terms since high school. We got out early from school, had ice cream, and went to the pool near the Rhine River. It was SO crowded-Like more than magic mountain. We went in the wave pool for a short time and had to leave for dinner which of course we were late to. We are late for everything even when we leave early. After a fast dinner we got dressed and went out to the Oxford Pub with Andy, Max, and Max’s girlfriend (who’s name I should remember but can’t). It was fun and they came prepared with a sign up sheet so that we can do things together as a group. The beer menu is literally a book there and you can write in the back like a yearbook. Chase and Kyle had a mini war of words in the back before it was decided to write which beers we had, how we liked them and Chase wrote everyone’s biography. He is really quite creative to come up with it all on the spot. When we came home from the pub, we all separated and I did my homework and video chatted with David. Even though it was hot, sleep came easy which is fortunate as today we had to be ready by 8 to go to Khel to visit ADA cosmetics. Compared to everyone, I’m way overdressed. We have been driving on our short bus the entire time I wrote this and just got off the freeway. We are in the middle of nowhere though so I think we have a ways to go.

Day 4- trip to the monastery

Even though when I woke up and came downstairs I thought that we were going to be going to the Black Forest only to be a little disappointed that we were not, the trip to the monastery was so much more fun than I expected. We met some new friends from an old man in a cute cafe which warmed everyone’s hearts to Nike, the drunken gypsy by the water who is going to visit Chase at CI.