Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Lübeck

Last weekend I embarked on my last trip with my program group to a northern German beach city named Luebeck.  It really is a quaint little city filled with lots of fish speciality restaurants, canals, river boats and quite the intriguing shopping district.  We had a lot of free time to wander the city this time compared to the last few trips, so Carissa and I took the time and indulged in some much needed shopping adventures.  Ok, they weren't really needed.. but a ton of fun?  After all, there are only about 5 weeks left to my travels here, so I guess I might as well get the most out of my favorite European shops as I can (which is nothing because I'm still a broke college student.. but anyways..).  Here are my lovely shopping results.

Isn't Nemo Lovely?!  I'm quite fond of him.  He even moves back and forth like a real fish.  I thought it was an adequate souvenier for a beach/fishing town.  As for European fashion these days, leggings with jean shirts or long shirts are definitely in.  Oh and tank tops with light summery scarves.  I swear, if I tried keeping up with the fashion changes as accurately as Germans would like, I'd be more broke than a door nail.  They always have the newest fashions, trends, etc.  and its almost fascinating how fast things come and go into their stores.  I love it, not going to lie, but dang do I wish I had a job here which could afford my shopping lust.  Oh well, another day I suppose.  I'll just have to alternate between my couple cute outfits which I've acquired over the year.  Should do the trick.  Oh, just another note.  The German culture tends to prefer the darker color tones of the blues, blacks, greys, browns and whites.  Ok white isn't dark, but it definitely fits into their preferred color scheme.  It isn't a bad thing- they do tend to usually look classy.  Granted there are shirts which are pink, yellow, bright green, whatever.  But if you walk through a crowd of people you're most likely to find blues and greys.  Tis the way it is!  But I kind of like it.  At lest you usually only have 3 different types of laundry loads.. the blues, the whites and the small load of other colors, whereas back  home its the pinks and reds, the blues, the blacks, the whites, the other random brights.. yeah.  Woooo laundry day.  I should probably get on that.  But anyway. 

Note to self: Get your butt to the grocery store.  You've successfully eaten everything possible out of your house and have pushed back going to the store for the last 2 weeks.  Your mother would not be proud of you.

Back to the point.

So Luebeck.  What a cute little town!  Here are some photos from miandering around the city before our shopping adventures..

 
 
 

So there is a small glimpse of Luebeck for ya.  The last two photos were in a Marzipan shop which Luebeck is famous for, called Niederegger.  If you want a better idea of what they offer there or what Marzipan is exactly, check out their site..
It's in German, but on the upper right hand corner you can switch it to english :)  They can make the most realistic shapes out of Marzipan, such as the little lobsters in the photo above.  Personally I'm not a huge fan of the taste of Marzipan, but I am definitely a fan of the cute things they can create!  I was so close to bringing home one of those little lobsters (they practically never go bad..) but eh.  A photo will do.  If you're ever in Luebeck though, I definitely recommend stopping into one of the shops.  Even if you're like me and don't particularly fancy the taste of Marzipan, the designs and creations are worth a glance.

The main planned event for the group was a walking tour of Luebeck and then a boat tour of the canals.  Unforuntely, due to misunderstandings, our tour guide never showed up for the walking tour, leaving us with only the boat tour.  Since Luebeck was such a small city and I didn't feel like I was missing out on too much, the disappointment was kept at a low regarding the tour by foot.  Oh well.  Carissa and I went back to the city center so she could get a dress/shirt she wanted and then we both indulged in fruit smoothies.  It really wasn't a waste of an afternoon after all.  The boat tour was pretty sweet and short, but I got some nice pictures of the riverboats and such.  Ch-ch-check it out!


 
 

So those are some of the sights from the tour.  Not too shabby.  The only downside to the tour was the guide's speech, which was all in German, and he kept saying "well of course the Americans won't know this.." as though we couldn't understand him.  Helloooo some of us know exactly what you're saying all the time.  Oh well.  A day in the life I suppose. 

After the tour, a few friends and myself headed out for Hamburg which was only a 40 minute train ride south of Luebeck.  I went to dinner with the Hamburgers, hung out at a friends apartment and then Chris, Patrick, Thorben and myself went to join up with my program on the beach the next morning.  The beach was in Travemuende.  I didn't realize it, but I had actually been to that exact beach with my first host family back in 2007 on a weekend day trip.  It was kind of an odd feeling being back there, like walking into a foggy, sandy memory.  But the beach was nice (minus the intense wind) and I managed to receive some new tan lines.  There is this one main hotel in Travemuende, and oh my god is it ugly.  It's like the one sky scraper in the middle of a small village, just like, standing there.  So out of place.  Apparently the hotel is supposed to be super nice, but they could have made it more horizontal than vertical in my opinion.

 
 

Yep.  Welcome to the beach.  The baby is also in our program; we have a married couple with their 5 month old here with us.  She is so adorable!  And has an odd but cute obsession with bottles.  Ohhh babies.

In other news, the reading is almost to a close.  I'm halfway through Reading Lolita in Tehran, and then the final book is The Shaking Woman  by Siri Hustvedt.  I've heard from others that the Shaking Woman book is supposedly terrible, so I can't say I'm all that thrilled to be moving onto that book.  Oh well.  After that, I only have one essay and I'm done with that course! AHHH! I'm so excited.  Well actually, that course did teach me a lot about literature that I really would never have figured out on my own, and has improved my writing by making me think more in deapth behind what I'm writing.. if that makes sense.  Whatever.  In short, I guess the course was helpful in the long run and not a waste of effort and time, which is always a relief.  My other European Union course has a lot of work to be done in the next week, so I should probably wrap up this blog and get on that.  Next stop on the list, Norway!  I'm excited since it's been my dream vacation since what feels like forever, and I finally get to meet up with my friend from high school who was an exchange student in my grade.  She's probably one of the funniest people I've ever met, so I'm pretty pumped.  I'm not pumped to deal with the prices of Norway (similar yet worse than those in Sweden which I already spent enough time in this blog whining about) but it should be ok.  You only live one right?  Well, I'm off to do homework for class and then off to class!  Until next time ladies and gents. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Easter Weekend and other Shenanigans

Well hey there folks!

I know I'm basically a week behind on this whole Easter thing, but forgive me; this week turned out to be full of homework, social events and royal weddings.  But none the less, here we are and I am going to catch you up on my oh-so-thrilling life.  Okee here we go.

Last Thursday I boarded the train to Hamburg to stay with my friend Patrick and his family for Easter.  Usually when I travel to Hamburg I never have to reserve a seat; it's an option always, but why bother spending 3 extra euros when you're 80% certain you can find a seat for free?  Richt.  However, silly little me forgot that it was Easter weekend.  Aka Travel mania.  Aka a large variety of German families wanting to get a headstart back to the home city of their relatives boards a train or jumps on the autobahn all together and creates a manic traveling chaos (Basically, same as the traffic in the States over holidays, just add trains to the mixture..).  So that left silly old Steph with no seat on the train and standing for 3 hours next to a family with god knows what type of food residue on their clothing, an unfamiliar odor and no teeth.  Lalala happy easter.  Uh. But hey, I made it to Hamburg!

Hamburg was a lot of fun.. basically just chilling, partying, bonfire-ing, shopping and eating.  Oh and tanning.  Yep.  That basically sums up the entirety of my easter weekend.  (Just a side note for all of you at home.. it was a darling 80 degrees for Easter here..) I also went with a friend to a town in northern Germany called Heide, which didn't have a ton to offer but was near the beach.  The beach was cool- the water actually receeds 2 km during low tie, allowing beach-goers to walk along the bottom of the sea.  I didn't do it due to my hatred of crustacions and other such creatures living among the not so inviting looking muck of which people were pushing their baby strollers through like complete idiots.. err.. ehm.. I mean, walking through it it just wasn't my cup of tea.  But the beach was cool.  I would definitely hit it up in the warmer months if I had the chance. 

Also while in northern Germany I was able to witness the extreme use of wind energy.  Wind energy actually makes up 7 percent of Germany's total energy production.. how cool, right?  I know I'm thoroughly jealous.   That's 7 percent of their energy they don't have to rely on the Middle East for.  Winners in my book.  In the USA at the moment we're only attaining 2.3% of our nation's energy through wind.  Yes, I'm aware of the difference in sizes between the two nations, but still!  Let's kick it up a notch, USA :)  Apparently there is a plan in place to have 20% of our energy be produced through wind by 2030.  I suggest we get a move on.  But anyways, back to Germany.  As you can see, the north is just covered with these little wooshing towers.  Here, have a look..

My friend and I took the liberty to park underneath one of them, and let me tell you from a first hand witness account, they are definitely NOT loud.  Not sure what all the hype is about wind farms in the US.. they're great.  Ok enough plugging for new energy sources.

Back to life in Germany.. 
Here are the usual photos of the Hamburger group..

Yep.  The first one is during Patrick and I's escapades in making Milkshakes, and the second couple photos were from when a group of us all went for cocktails on Easter Sunday.  Gooood times.  So yes.  On another note..

Happy Belated Easter!!
Ahhh my little Easter bunny from Patrick's mom.  Sooo cute.  Gotta love the German chocolate industry. :)  The bell on his neck even rings.  Classy.  It's just so adorable I wonder if I'll ever bring myself to eating it...  Highly Doubtable. 
Easter here in Germany is basically the same as back home in the States;  little kids search for eggs and chocolate baskets while the adults all bring their families together in the afternoon for a lunch/dinner.  The only difference I noticed was that the night before, many of the German families have bonfires in their backyards as some tradition from the church involving ghosts or sins or something.  The explination to me wasn't really that clear, but oh well.  The whole city smelled like one big bonfire for a few hours.  But yeah, the bonfire was nice and relaxed.. nothing too special.

Oh my goodness this post is getting so long I kind of am forgetting what I all wanted to write about in here.  Well I do know that one thing I wanted to do was brag about my cooking advances.  Check out my cayenne pepper rubbed chicken breasts with Avocado lime salsa on top.  Heck yeaaaaah I made that!


Oh it was so deliciuos.  Clearly I've come a looooong way since the beginning of my L.A.A. (Living Alone Abroad) adventure began.  Heck, last semester I lived off store bought tortellini, broccoli and chicken breasts with only salt and pepper.  Oh and Special K.  Seriously people, it was getting pretty habitual.  And bland.  And then all hell broke loose once tortellini was removed from my diet after it's little food poisoning stunt (it was kind of like losing a good friend..), resulting in me becoming a Marthastuart.com frequent visitor.  Yes, I know.  It was indeed an all time low; admittance is the first step to recovery they say.  So I admitted to myself I can't cook alone and boom.  Now I'm making chicken with avocados on top (I didn't even know how to cut those things, let alone put them with lime juice and call them a "salsa") and no longer tortellini dependant.  Oh, it is such a liberating feeling.  Gotta give the jailbird Martha some credit.  That woman can teach Steph to cook! Wallah!

Oh I also made broccoli omlettes :)  (for those of you who aren't aware, broccoli is, and forever will be, my guilty pleasure.  At least it's not the stereotypical chocolate, right?  Yay originality..)


Ok enough Julia Childs-ing.  Life otherwise is still consisting of an unusually large amount of reading (and probably will through the rest of May, sorry in advance for future blog references) but oh well.  I can now see the end in sight, which is a strange feeling.  I'm not ready to pack up and fly back to the place which feels more foreign to me now than here, but there are moments, I must admit, some good old Target shopping or Qdobas fast Mexican food are just screaming my name.  Sure, I miss all of you back home, but it is unusually strange how fast one can adapt to not seeing certain people or places for so long.  I usually don't think of home much when I'm out and about, and when I do, I always think of it as a relatively not-so-far away place.  It's basically allowed me to avoid homesickness the entire year I've been here (minus the few moments, such as food poisoning, where I just wanted my mommy..) and I'm quite content here.  I'm amazed at how strong friendships have grown in one year; some even overcoming friendships back home which I've been building since elementary school.  It's amazing how also, you find out who your true friends are; some pushing their way back into your lives to make sure they're not forgotten while you're abroad, some just falling off the face of the map.  It's that time of my life, for people to come and go, so I'm not entirely disappointed.  I'm actually quite fascinated to see how my life is turning out.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to Europe for at least another full year of my life; grad school, career, research, glorified vacation.. who knows.  At the moment I feel almost in the middle of an identity crisis as to where I really "belong."  Yes, I'm American, true and proud, but somehow the lifestyles here just seem to fit my mentalities and lifestyle better sometimes.  I realize now that I'm always going to be torn between home and the other home, but at least in today's modern age it isn't nearly as impossible to visit as a mere 50 years ago.  But yeah.  Enough deep thought/ philosophical talk.  Life is beautiful. 

We celebrated the first of May here in Marburg at a celebration in the middle of the city square.  They had a really great cover band named The Les Cloechards (check them out!!) and some great wine/champagne drink mixture.  It was definitely a great time.  At midnight we all sang some strange May song all together and then headed homewards.  Ch-ch-check it out.


 Yep yep.  It kind of reminded me of our hometown little celebration called "Bay Fest" back in Green Bay.  Only minus the fireworks and river view.  Buuuut minor details. 

I finally finished that book, A Mercy by Toni Morisson.. definitely not a favorite.  It was way too strangely written and jumpy.  Novels about Slavery are generally interesting to me, but this one was just.. strange.  Next on the list?  Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books  by Azar Nafisi.  I really find myself interested in Middle Eastern cultures, so I'm predicting that this novel will be of particular interest.  Or at least I'm hoping so after that last one.  Dear god.  I'm amazed my eyes haven't fallen
out of my head after all this reading in the last few weeks.  I've also got articles, essays, short stories, chapters of other novels and whatever else to read for my other class and this one as well.  Oh crap.  I just realized I have some reading to do for today's class yet.  Boo.  I should probably get on that.  Good luck to all of you back home with finals this week or on the horizon.  Summer for you has basically arrived.. yayyyy working season! haha.  Alright.  Well off to read my article.  Tschauuu Leute.