Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Author: Katie Rinda

Why You Shouldn’t Study Abroad: End of Semester Thoughts

December 20, 2014 / / 0 Comments

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Everyone who has ever studied abroad comes home saying the same thing:

“It was the best time of my life! I learned so much! Saw so much! Everyone should study abroad!”

I’m not home yet (I won’t be until June, as I have an internship next semester here awaiting me), and so I’m not going to echo what so many study abroad people before me have said. Those are the kind of people that tend to make me suspicious, whose blind adoration is intimidating, rather than welcoming. I will instead, lay down the reasons that you shouldn’t study abroad. No, I’m not going to go into logistics, like money, time, or the other details that can prevent you from heading off to see the world. These are the things that ensure that your time abroad will be wasted.

Like everything else, going off to learn and experience life in a foreign country can be pretty awesome while simultaneously being very awful. You have to take the good with the bad, like how engineering majors balance heavy workloads and sleepless nights for a challenging rewarding career. If these cons outweigh the many, many advantages of study abroad, don’t go.

Why You Shouldn’t Study Abroad:

1. You absolutely cannot function outside of your controlled environment. You are the kind of person who is absolutely worthless when you don’t have your coffee at precisely 9 am, when your alarm clock isn’t set to the loudest buzzing known to man, when the class schedule varies a bit. You plan everything, and everything is organized. Study Abroad, is not for you, my precise friend. There will be too many unknowns, and you will be unable to predict them. It’s really okay. I’m not judging you for this, as you are probably the person who keeps the world running when I’m off traveling.

2. You are deathly afraid of not understanding what’s going on. If you depend on understanding everyone else’s words, and the cultural norms, study abroad is not for you. There is never a moment that you will ever be able to understand every aspect and every conversation in a new culture.  More importantly, study abroad requires a brave heart, one that does not cower in the face of the new and unknown.

3. You cannot survive without your support network, or you are the key support for someone else. If you rely on a group of people to navigate all life matters, you will be lost in the lost distance world of time zone changes and internet communication. You will not have the means or time to contact home everyday. While the internet has made communication across the pond much, much easier; it cannot fix all ills. If you need to be in someone’s physical presence, you should not study abroad.

4. You don’t think experience is a good way to learn. If you think the best way to learn is in a classroom, from a textbook, written by an expert, instead of by your own life, then do not study abroad. You will not get anything from the myriad events and lessons that life in a foreign place will teach you. You will not enjoy the full experience of new food, new people, and new ideas.

If these don’t sound like you, then you really should study abroad. If these aren’t obstacles, but challenges, you can handle the growth experience that is study abroad. Go and see the world.

Christmastime in Germany: It’s Truly the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December 12, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Germany is OBSESSED with Christmas. They start decorating in mid-November, and keep celebrating until Three Kings Day, on January 6th. The word in Germany for Christmas is Weinachten, and the highlight of the Christmas season in Germany is the Weinachtsmarkt. Every German city has these Christmas markets at some point throughout Advent, in the center of town. Some last all of December, some only a few days.

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St. Nikolaus in Munich.

 

The towns around Reutlingen are no exception. Reutlingen itself has a Weinachtsmarkt for a full month before Christmas. Tübingen has a Chocolate Market, only for a weekend, which is quite unfortunate. We’ve gone to three already, in Reutlingen, Munich, and Salzburg (technically not in Germany, but as it’s on the border of Austria and Germany, I feel like it counts.)

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Salzburg, all lit up. The lights in the middle of the square next to the big pretty building are where the Christmas market is.

 

There are a few things at every Weinachtsmarkt. Adorable Christmas ornaments, nativities, wreathes, delightful baked goods, and an overabundance of Glühwine. What is Glühwine exactly? It is a warmed mixture of wine with spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon, more commonly known in the US as mulled wine. I really, really like Glühwine and am very pleased that you can get it everywhere at Christmastime. There are also non-alcoholic versions, for those who don’t wish to imbibe and for the kids. While Glühwine is traditionally made with red wines such as port or claret, Germans sometime will also serve white wine versions.

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Hoards of people around a Glühwine stand in Salzburg.

 

The warm Glühwine is even better enjoyed while strolling around a Christmas market. Germany in general has a far milder climate than the Midwest, but it is also a much more humid climate. It’s the kind of cold that sinks into your bones if you stand still for too long, but doesn’t seem bad at all when you’re moving around. The Glühwine is another excellent technique for combating the chill. The non-alcoholic version even tastes like cider, so you have the classic American fall drink covered!

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The square in front of the Munich town hall, all gussied up for Christmas.

 

Another welcome part of the German holiday celebrations: they drape all of the shops downtown and around the Christmas market in lights. Of course, just like at home, they began decorating well before Thanksgiving, which is highly unnecessary. Then the season of advent came and the streets were delightful. I always give myself from Thanksgiving to New Years to enjoy Christmas, and Germany seems to be on the same page.

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Storefront in Munich decorated for Christmas.

So while the weather here seems to avoid freezing, and I have no snow to remind me that it’s December, the Christmas markets sure help. I may go to the Reutlingen one again this weekend. Or to the medieval one in Esslingen. Or to the one in Cologne… so many choices!

Merry Christmas from Germany!

 

How to Make Spätzle: A Schwabian Food Special

December 12, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Our faculty here is awesome. Have I mentioned that? Since we have such a small class here in Reutlingen this year, our Art History professor invited us to his house for class one day. Furthermore, since his home is in Tübingen, and we missed our usual lunch break, Herr Springer also made us lunch.

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Best Day of Class Ever. Sorry other teachers/professors.

 

It was delightful, and really delicious. (Who knew that a simple cucumber salad could be so good? It’s just cucumbers, cream, and vinegar, but it’s so refreshing.) And as an added bonus, we learned how to make Spätzle, traditional Schwabian (regional) egg noodles. The dough is fairly simple: eggs, flour, water. But, unlike regular egg noodles, the ratio of eggs to flour in Spätzle is really high. This makes the dough really, really sticky. It takes a special press to push it through the noodle maker, and even with the special tool, it’s a ton of effort. The dough is so sticky that instead of scraping the last bits of dough out of the mixing bowl, the dough peels off the side. Before being cooked, the dough is the consistency of epoxy or high grade industrial grout.

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Filling the noodle maker.

 

The noodles are pushed through the dough maker (there might be an official name for this, but I don’t know) and into an already boiling pot of water. They sink to the bottom, but when they finish cooking, they float, right up to the top. The cooked noodles are fished off with a strainer ladle and put into a glass pan.

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Push really hard…

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… and you’ll get Spätzle.

 

Here’s the funny thing about Spätzle: it’s really like the Schwabian version of really good homemade mac and cheese. Once in the glass pan, the noodles are covered with grated cheese. Herr Springer also added bits of fried onion and ham. Then the Spätzle is baked for about a half hour, long enough that the cheese melts and the ham bits get crunchy. Then you eat it, in gratefulness to whomever came up with the brilliant idea to melt cheese on noodles.

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A finished plate of Spätzle, waiting for delicious ham and onion.

 

Spätzle is a Schwabian specialty, and restaurants all over Baden-Würtemberg and the other southern German state, Bavaria serve it. Still, the best Spätzle is homemade Spätzle.

Checking In and Catching Up

November 25, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Okay, I realize it’s been a while. I just got so caught up in traveling that I forgot to document the traveling. And general life experiences. We’ve traveled a lot. Since I’ve written last, we’ve been through the lands where Luther and Bach walked. We’ve seen Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Budapest, Prague, Munich, and Paris. At points, we also attended class and slept.

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Brittany and I were amazed at the precision of our neighbor’s leaf raking.

I have just looked at when I last posted. September. Sorry, guys. I’m going to try and catch you up with the last month or so in my next few posts, but to keep the ball rolling forward, let’s start with the last weekend: Paris.

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Me! In front of the Notre Dame.

Paris was not originally on my must see list. It seemed to be such a cliché- See Paris! See the World! The city of lights was more beautiful than I expected it to be. It is also way too crowded a place for me to ever live in. Parisians are strangely bad at English, considering that it is basically the language of international tourism (i.e. how to make money off of all the culture they’re so proud of.) The first day in Paris, we took the metro to a stop near the right bank of the Seine River. From there we walked across the Ile de’ Cite, which is the island home to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Palace of Justice. The latter is known primarily for something involving the revolution (as well as being a beautiful old building). Notre Dame means the Church of Our Lady in English, and it is quite impressive in person, although there were too many people there, a general theme for famous tourist spots in Paris.

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There were a lot of cars, and a roundabout with no lanes, which to me seems like death.

We then crossed over the Seine and took the RER suburban metro train to the Eiffel Tower, which is much larger than it seems in pictures. It’s massive. 986 feet, according to my Art History professor. (He actually gave it to me in meters, but I thought you would all appreciate the imperial system. I definitely miss it.) It is also gorgeous at sunset. I took approximately a million photos, one of which I shall share with you now.

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Sunset at the Eiffel Tower, just as the lights were being turned on. 

Perhaps most importantly, across the Seine from the Notre Dame is a little bookstore, one may safely say is the best in the world. It is known as Shakespeare and Company, and coming to Paris, it was the only thing I needed to see. It did not disappoint. It was, in fact, the most magical place of selling books that I could have ever envisaged. Outside, there are carts of secondhand books for sale, spanning everything from the most generic children’s book about football to obscure short story writers from the 1930’s. The ground floor is overrun with bookshelves, new stories from the US and the UK. The second floor has a collection of children’s books in the landing and two perfect reading rooms filled with books. There is even a cat, who only sleeps in the best of the reading room chairs.

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Here I am, in front of my favorite bookstore in the world.

So, Paris was a beautiful and hectic city. Coming back to classes and responsibilities in Reutlingen was a little painful, but such is life. I will begin catching you up on the rest of my adventures soon!

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The study abroad kids at Professor Springer’s house for lunch- but more about that later.

First Trip: Part 1 Berlin

September 25, 2014 / / 0 Comments

So, having been in Germany for a grand total of three weeks, we decided it would be a grand idea to take a ten day trip to Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. Seriously.

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Kaiser Wilhem Memorial Church, left unrestored in remembrance of the horrific damage WII caused not just here, but everywhere.

 

Technically, the Berlin trip was a part of our Modern Germany class. Nothing is more exciting as a college student than a field trip. (Excepting free food and naps.) Learning about the Friedricks and Wilhems of Prussia is great, but their importance doesn’t really sink in until you see building after gorgeous building funded by the Prussian monarchy. There are many of these buildings in Berlin. We also visited Sachsen-hausen Concentration Camp and the German History museum to continue learning about Germany outside of the classroom.

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No, I do not know why Super Luther is a thing. Seen outside the Berlin Cathedral

We were in Berlin from a Friday to a Wednesday, so there was plenty of time outside of class to go exploring. Berlin is a fantastic city to walk around in and admire the architecture. I loved exploring the neighborhood of Savignyplatz, where our hotel was located. There were fun restaurants and shops everywhere, gorgeous turn-of the-century buildings, and (most importantly) two fantastic bookstores underneath the S-bahn: one for fiction, biography, and philosophy; and one for all kinds of art-based non-fiction (film, music, architecture, art, etc.). I bought a book one rainy afternoon, and read and enjoyed fantastic hot chocolate at a cafe three doors down from the hotel, which was delightful.

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Platter for four at the Zillemarkt in Berlin, just a few blocks from our hotel. Yes, this was a ridiculous amount of food.

Since this was a longer trip, we visited so many places that I started losing track. We went on a bus tour that highlighted key sights in East and West Berlin, including the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and a few sections of the Berlin Wall (Cue Pink Floyd). We toured the Berlin Cathedral, took pictures in front of Humboldt University (where Einstein and Max Plank taught!), visited the Brandenburg Gate, marveled at the beautiful Schloss Charlotenburg and its extensive grounds, admired Art Nuveau at the Bröhan Museum, and ate authentic Berlin Currywurst.

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Train rides across Germany are long if you do not amuse  yourself.

(As a side note, while they might not always be there on the exact minute, German trains, buses, and subways are pretty much the best. Easy to understand maps, signs showing the train, its final stop and stations between are everywhere, and they-re pretty much always clean. Plus, even in second class, the inter-city Deutsche Bahn trains are very sleek. They have automatic glass doors between compartments. It’s like a science fiction movie. Maybe James Bond?)

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Courtyard and Alley to Orangienburger Strasse

There’s my update on our Berlin adventures. I will explore some of our tourism in more detail, along with Hamburg and Cologne, when we arrive back in Reutlingen. Right now: Hamburg. Tomorrow: Cologne. I’m excited for more trains!

Gearing Up for Berlin and Travel Season

September 17, 2014 / / 0 Comments
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Waiting for the bus.

This last week was a little on the quiet side. Went to class, ate more chocolate croissants, attempted to say more than “Ein. Brelzen.” to the very nice bakery ladies, and polished off my third jar of Nutella. (It actually is better in Europe. The chocolate to hazelnut ratio is perfection, and the smoothness is reminiscent of Wynton Marsalis’ patter at the BBC proms. I feel for you who have never experienced the wonderfulness of European Nutella.) But a nice, calm week is probably the best kind of week to have right now, as Friday begins our whirlwind of class traveling on a train headed for Berlin.

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Yes, I color-code my travel maps. Although not entirely consistently.

In honor of our season of traveling, Brittany and I began our travel map, pinned with places we’re going and hope to go. The list is long, but between the map and the realization that Italy is a lot closer that we thought, our plans are coming along quite nicely. In addition to Berlin, we’re headed to Hamburg and Köln (Cologne) in the next couple of weeks. Don’t worry, I will post pictures of it all. I will also figure out how the post works again so I can send all the people I said I would send stuff a postcard. I promise.

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We found this walking to the train in Reutlingen. I think it’s a coffee table. I also think it’s for sale.

Oh, I forgot something for my summary of the week’s events… Tübingen! This university town is 10 minutes west of Reutlingen, is home to one of Germany’s oldest museums, and sits on the Neckar River. It’s a very pretty and very vertical town. We briefly toured the downtown and the castle with our Art History professor, who’s lived in Tübingen for at least thirty years. We also got to go on a boat ride on the Neckar. It’s not that big, as rivers go- compared to the Mississippi, Illinois, or Mackanac, it’s a mild-mannered stream- but that made it an even better choice for punting, in which the boat is moved by digging a long stick into the bed of the river and pushing the boat forward. Our punter (the guy that makes the boat move) was also a member of one of the university teams for the annual punting race up and down the Neckar. According to our professor, the winners throw a huge party, and the losers have to drink castor oil. Our boatman’s team got 5th out of 30-ish last year.

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The beautiful Neckar, and the punter.

While we were there, we enjoyed a dinner at the Neckarmüller, a microbrewery right on the river.  We ate with everybody associated with the Valpo program in Germany, even including the retired language professor from the start of the Valpo program here, almost 50 years ago.

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Kaitlyn and Katie, two non-Reutlingen Valpo students in Germany, enjoying the sunshine on the Neckar

That was Sunday, and it was delightful. But what will Berlin bring? You have to check back next week to see…

 

The Narrowest Street in the World and a Prussian Prince

September 7, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Week Two in Reutlingen

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Berg Hohenzollern, sitting above the Swabian Alps

After the exciting jet lag recovery, soccer game watching, and chocolate croissant eating events of the first week, I spent most of week two familiarizing myself with my new hometown. We found the real grocery store, which was exciting. More exciting was our tour of the Stadtmitte with a native Reutlingener, including a visit to the narrowest street in the world: Spreuerhofstraße!

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Me at the end of the narrowest street in the world

To further aquaint ourselves with Reutlingen, we also went to the Heimat Museum, which is devoted to the city and some of the surrounding area. It has artifacts from the Middle Ages through WWII, including everything from original stonework from the Marienkirche (local cathedral) to a complete room from a traditional guild hall. The sword used for executing thieves was intimidating, but the little textile shop room from the early 20th century was really charming.

The most important thing I have learned from the tour and the museum: Reutlingen was an imperial city. This meant, back in the days of the Holy Roman Empire, that Reutlingen had market privileges, trade privileges, and self-governance. You can see evidence of this everywhere in the town. The manhole covers in the Stadmitte feature the imperial eagle, as does the facade of every major building built before the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire by Napolean (that cad). The Marienkirche even has the imperial eagle in some of its tile work. To this day, the mayor of Reutlingen still has to swear every year in a formal ceremony to serve the citizens of the city, which is cool. (I would also like to take this moment to point out the history I’m learning- Look mom, education!)

The most scenic event of the week however was our visit to Burg Hohenzollern, an honest-to-goodness castle that is still owned by actual royals. The journey there was nice, but the footpath up to the castle was steep. And long.

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Brittany and Kaitlyn taking a brief respite from climbing the near vertical stairs.

Once you’ve made it up the stairs, you’re rewarded with a castle, and some really gorgeous views.

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The view from the top.

This castle was part of the ancestral lands owned by Kaiser Wilhelm II, also known as the guy who was technically in charge of Germany during the first world war. The castle itself is fairly new, only dating back to the 1800’s. (Insert comment about the lack of years of American history here!) They have some excellent artifacts from the family on display, who became the rulers of much of the lands we now call Germany in the Middle Ages and hung on through WWI.

No members of the Hohenzollern family have really lived there since the early 1900’s. But, they do occasionally visit. We just happened to be there at the same time as Georg Friedrich, who is the current Prince of Prussia. I was unaware that any German noble titles still existed to be granted, especially the ones belonging to the now-defunct monarchy, but my ignorance has now been remedied.

The Prince very kindly offered to take a picture with us- that is, the group of around 70 international students from Reutlingen University. I do not have access to this picture, but somewhere there exists actual photographic evidence that I was within ten feet of royalty. Maybe Georg Friedrich has an Istagram? I shall investigate, and leave you with another beautiful view of the Schwabian Alps.

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From one of the guardposts on the outerwall.

 

Every Day I Shall Have a Chocolate Croissant

August 31, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Katie Ackerman (Right) and I at the Reutlingen SSV match on Saturday

Week One in Reutlingen

Five Valpo students arrived at the Stuttgart airport Thursday noon, hauling our lives around in suitcases, energy sapped, but enthusiasm mostly intact. Four of us: Brittany, Alan, P.J., and I, were bound for Reutlingen and the Valpo Study Center there. The fifth, Katie Ackerman was tagging along until she could move into her apartment in Tübingen. Of the five, I think I’m the only one to have never visited Europe before. I apparently was not as nervous about this as I could have been.

The Reutlingen students and I are all living in Wurmhaus, a mostly international student dormitory with a longer name which I currently cannot recall. Theophil-Wurmhaus perhaps? It’s on the edge of campus, and a short walk from the city soccer stadium, where we went to watch the Reutlingen SSV get Portugaled yesterday. (For those who don’t recall, this is where a scoreless game is finally broken by your team, only to be crushed by the other team a few moments before the game ends. See also: USA v. Portual, 2014 FIFA World Cup.)

Wurmhaus, Home Sweet Home

Wurmhaus, Home Sweet Home

It’s a longer walk to downtown- about 25 minutes- but the bus runs pretty frequently. Like many cities that are hundreds and hundreds of years old, Reutlingen’s center is filled with historic and beautiful buildings. The Tübinger Tur and Garden Tur are gates from the original castle walls that are still standing imposingly around the city center, or Stadtmitte.

We’ve been exploring our new home the past few days, learning mostly the practical things like where the grocery and train and buses are, but also getting into the beat of the rhythm of life here. We wandered through the Reutlingen Wine Festival Friday. The vendors’ tents were circled all around the Marienkirche, Reutlingen’s cathedral, completed in the 15th century. By nighttime the tables and the paths were full. We stood and chatted over glasses of local Riesling, along with about everybody else in the city. Today we walked through the massive park next to the soccer stadium. The morning rain had pushed slugs and snails onto the asphalt path, which grossed me out. (Brittany found them quite adorable, and asked that I tell you so.)

But perhaps the most important place we have been introduced to is the bakery down the hill from Wurmhaus. It’s open every day. It serves delicious coffee and baked goods. It’s less than a minute walk from our dorm. The best part, however, would have to be the Nutella filled croissants they make EVERY DAY. This is possibly the greatest thing mankind has ever invented. I now have breakfast plans for the entire semester. Done.

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