Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Author: Stephanie Volz (page 2 of 2)

The Coolest City in the World

September 19, 2011 / / 0 Comments

The title might be a misnomer. I obviously haven’t visited every city in the world. But I’ve traveled a lot, and by far the coolest one I’ve seen is Berlin. The Reutlingen program brought us to Berlin for a “class” trip for 5 days, and during that time we were able to explore Berlin and learn about all of its crazy and important history and its culture. And even though we didn’t have class per say, just being in that city and touring around and talking to people was so much more informative than sitting in a classroom. So here I’m gonna outline a bit of what we did while there.

We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday, and were set free to explore on our own til the following morning. First order of business after a long train ride was dinner, so we wandered around until we found a typical German restaurant that looked good. Turns out we made the best decision of the day right there, their crispy baked half duck and apfelstrudel was AMAZING. And even despite all the restaurants in Berlin, it was so good that we had to return later that week.

Brandenburg Gate

Wall museum and remnants of the wall

The next morning we met up with Professor Malchow to take a guided tour of the city. During the extremely interesting  tour, we got to see the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag (the German Parliament building), parts of the old Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, and the square where the famous photos of Hitler speaking to gathered ranks of Nazis were taken, among many many other places. The tour guide also taught us about the deep history of Berlin, from the Hohenzollern dynasty to Nazi dominance and through the end of the Cold War. It was amazing to see all the places where some of the most well-known history actually happened. That night, a few of us decided it would be really cool to go see an opera or a classical concert or something of the sort, so we found that the famous Deutsche Oper (German Opera) was putting on Das Rheingold that night. Which I had seen as part  of my German 351 class a year ago broadcasted live from Chicago. But seeing it in person (and in Germany!) was so much cooler.

One of the palaces from the bottom of their terraced garden (!)

The next day we took a day (well, afternoon) trip to Potsdam, about a half hour train ride from Berlin. We had heard there was a pretty cool palace there from Frederick the Great called Sansoucci. Pretty cool doesn’t even begin to describe it. We spent about four hours there that afternoon, and didn’t even go inside any of the three gorgeous palaces on the grounds. In my opinion, the gardens themselves are the best part about it. We literally spent all four hours exploring the grounds, and never got bored or ran out of things to explore. It truly was beautiful and amazing (and I took so so so many pictures–you can see them on my Picasa account). In fact, before we left the last day we decided to spend another few hours there.

The next day (Monday) we decided we should actually go inside a few of the sights and museums in the old Eastern part of Berlin, where most of the history is. So we headed to the Berliner Dom (Cathedral), and it was incredibly beautiful. And when we climbed countless steps to reach the top balcony on the outside, we were able to see a lot of the city and overlooked the courtyard where the famous Nazi demonstrations/gatherings were held. Once we finished there, we found some of Berlin’s specialty food, currywurst, which is spicy sausage with sauce served with a roll. It definitely lived up to its expectation. After nourishment, we were on a roll (pun not intended), so we headed to the Reichstag to see if we could get in. Of course they need a reservation 3 days in advance, so we couldn’t.. But we chilled on the vast lawn in front of it for a while. And got a brochure that told us everything we’d need to know about Germany’s Parliament. And on our way back to the hotel we passed by the Prussian Victory Pillar and decided to have a look. Once we finally made it to the top, the view over the big park that surrounded it was amazing. And on our way up we got to see the histories of many important buildings worldwide.

Inside the Berliner Dom

The square that the famous pictures of Nazis always are in. Hitler spoke from the steps on the right.

Our last full day there we visited Checkpoint Charlie as part of our “official” program. It’s really touristy, and not actually as important in the grand scheme of things as America makes it out to be (after all it is the famous American checkpoint, and we’ve got to keep our American pride!) But parts of it still were interesting, and we learned a lot of the history of the wall. I was then going to explore the German History Museum, which is supposedly one of the best museums to visit, but decided a nap was more necessary.. So instead we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe in Berlin after a few hours relaxation. And guess what?? They actually serve free tap water if you want it! Nowhere else in Germany does! It was a little taste of home in a huge foreign city.

Checkpoint Charlie!

Since it was our last night there, a few of us grabbed some drinks and went to sit in a market square to listen to street musicians playing and watch fire twirlers twirling. And nothing made it better than seeing the beautiful architecture lit up at night on the side of the Spree river, along with the culture all around us. Despite us not taking part in Berlin’s great nightlife like we did almost every other night, it was a great relaxing way to have one last hoo-rah in the cultural center and mix of Germanic outdoor eating and relaxation with deep history and with a big city, the great mix that makes Berlin the coolest city in the world.

Like I mentioned earlier, after seeing Potsdam again, we headed away from Berlin the next day (much to everyone’s sadness. The theme of our lives right now is that we still want to be in Berlin). But to hear about our next two days of adventure before making it back to Reutlingen you will have to wait til the next post! Bis dann!

Ambiance (and Alcohol)

September 4, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Germany and America are very different in some ways, I’ve noticed. I mean, that’s probably obvious. We are across the ocean and have a different language. But even with differences like that, people are the same everywhere. We’re all humans, you know? But there are actually big cultural differences. And I think it’s really cool to learn about all this, it’ll be one of the high points of this whole experience, just talking to people from other countries and living in a non-American environment.

One of the many cafes

One of the big differences is the attitude towards alcohol. Germans are so incredibly relaxed about it. Instead of being confined to bars and restaurants and inside someone’s home like in America, you can pretty much get a beer and drink it wherever you want here. So you can just sit at a little outside cafe in the city center and order one or two beers during the afternoon while shopping or just wandering around. It’s just as cheap as water, after all, so why not drink beer?

They do fun stuff to their beer too! Here, beer with cola (actually really really good).

And if you’re lucky, there’s a Biergarten near you. Those things completely epitomize the German way of drinking. There’s one in Tuebingen right on the Neckar river, which is also a restaurant, and also brews its own beer. But in the Biergarten part of it, there are rows and rows of nice wooden picnic tables surrounded by trees and hanging lights and a few canopies just in case it rains. You can either bring your own beer or buy some at the counter on one side, and it can even be a family affair. Bring the kids. If they look like they’re about 14 or older, they can get some. Without being carded. Really, it’s just beer here, there’s no American uptightness about it. And there are young kids in strollers too, and some running around chasing birds or each other.  It really is amazing, and incredibly relaxing, and I vote that we bring the tradition back to America.

That’s the thing about Germany. They work hard when they work, and are very serious about it all. But they’re also very serious about their free time. Hours on businesses and restaurants and stores are very restricted. And almost nothing is open on Sundays, so you have to make sure you have enough food for the weekend by Saturday afternoon. It’s very unlike the customer-focused competitive consumer culture of America, and it’s actually very relaxing once you get used to the fact that you have to work your own schedule around the stores’ schedules.

So that’s what I’m doing this semester. Learning to relax in Germany. And learning to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

We’re in Reutlingen!

August 29, 2011 / / 0 Comments

So since I haven’t actually written about what we’ve been doing the past four days, I think it’s about time. Also, as a side note, when I wrote “four days,” I had to stop and think for a while, because it seems soooo much longer than that.

The narrowest street in the world (and one of the Professor's cute kids hiding at the end)

Anyway. These four days have been amazing. For the most part, the group and I have just been getting acquainted with the city of Reutlingen. One day, we took a tour of the Stadtmitte, which is the only-pedestrian city center where most of the social activity, restaurants, and stores are. Despite our old and soft-spoken guide who was difficult to understand, it was fascinating to see the historical and important sights in the town. Included in the tour were the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s cathedral, the huge cathedral in the city center), the Rose Garden (which was tended by monks who lived in an adjoining building, complete with flowers, benches, and a chapel), and Reutlingen’s claim to fame in the Guinness Book of World Records, the narrowest street in the world. Unfortunately, there are too many cool photos to include in this small blog, so you’ll have to visit my Picasa account at  https://picasaweb.google.com/100454144518688283131 to see the rest of them! Because this small space isn’t even close to enough room to convey the whole experience.

Molly just waiting for the bus.

Much of our time so far has been spent learning the bus and train system and walking around attempting to navigate the town. It’s not that complicated–buses come to our neighborhood every ten minutes, and leave the city center every ten minutes bound for our neighborhood. And there’s one easy route to walk to the city center. But the fact that everything’s in German makes it a bit more complicated. Times like this it’s nice to have our professor herding us around, since he’s fluent! But I’ve got it down now, I think. Time to be independent!

 

Not only are they the best-looking berries ever, they're also the best-tasting. Win-win.

One of the highlights of our time here has been market day, which is like an enormous farmer’s market. Meat vendors, fruit and veggie farmers, bakers, and cheese-makers all come to the market square in the city center every Saturday and Tuesday morning and sell their homemade or homegrown goodies. You can find basically anything you’d want–gigantic loaves of delicious breads, homemade honey and jam, so many fruits and veggies, and can even grab authentic German bratwurst-type sandwiches while you peruse. Again, look on my Picasa account (link above) to see all the delicious goodies, because there are way to many to portray here.

On Sunday, the Reutlingen and Tuebingen groups met up for a tour of Tuebingen given by Dr. Springer, an art history professor at the University in Tuebingen and one of the professors in the Reutlingen Valpo program. It’s a fascinating city. Unlike Reutlingen, it wasn’t destroyed in war, and so all of the buildings are extremely old, especially by American standards. The coolest part, of course, was the castle. It’d be strange if the castle wasn’t the coolest part of any tour. I mean, they’re pretty awesome. And then we got to eat at a restaurant right on the river, which has its own brewery as well as fabulous food. A great day, all in all.

CASTLE.

That’s an overview of life the past few days! Until class on Monday. But even that, too, will be incredibly interesting. After all, we’re in Europe! What isn’t interesting over here?

 

The Beginning

August 27, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Hier bin ich! (Here I am!)

 

After a nerve-wracking, scary, exciting, and stressful emotional roller coaster ride that was the days prior to departure, I am finally in Germany and somewhat settled in. How I got here though, that’s interesting. Unfortunately, I’m not exactly the plan-ahead type of person, so most of my packing was done the day before I left my house in Alabama. Which meant a bit more stress than if I had started earlier, but like they say, nothing would ever get done if it wasn’t for the last minute! Fortunately, I can’t think of anything important that I forgot. Yet, at least. So it seems that my packing tips might actually be useful (and if it turns out they aren’t, I’ll let you know later when I kick myself for forgetting something). Here goes:

Getting ready to leave

1.   Pack lightly. That’s the first thing anyone will tell you, and it’s true. For our group’s tickets, we only were allowed to bring one bag for free. The second one was $50 (ouch). But most of us brought a second one. After all, it’s almost four months abroad, and drastic season changes occur during the fall semester. Point is, you will need a lot of stuff while abroad, but it’s expensive to bring a lot, so keep it to a minimum.

2.   Leave room for items bought abroad. Not only do you have to pack lightly, but you also want some free room so you can bring more back with you. Christmas presents, for example. Who wouldn’t want a Christmas present from Germany after all? I cheated the system by packing toiletries in mine that I will use up. Shampoo, body wash, that kind of thing. As long as your suitcase is under the weight limit when you leave, it’s fine. But even with the space that will be made by those things, you still want to leave a little extra room, because you will always, always have too much stuff.

3.   Plug adapters. Sometimes the program will have extras that somebody left from a previous year, but it’s better safe than sorry. Know what kind of outlets your country will use, and make sure you have an adapter that will work. And it’s easier to find them in the U.S. than trying to find the right one abroad.

4.   Shoes. You really don’t need many. Just make sure they are good for walking, because that’s the primary mode of transportation for students abroad. You’ll need a pair of shower shoes too if you’re in dorms. Remember tip number one, pack lightly! Four pairs is probably all you really need.

5.   Don’t bring money. It’s a lot easier and cheaper to get money with a debit card from an ATM than it is to try and change American dollars to Euros. Cheap is, of course, a relative term, because you’ll still have to pay a fee to transfer the money, and the exchange rate right now is terrible, about 1.4 dollars to the Euro. Ouch.

6.   Medications. Make sure you bring all the prescription medications you’ll need for your entire time abroad. It’s illegal to ship prescription medicine to Europe. And medicine in Germany like Advil is much more expensive than in the U.S., so it is definitely worth it to pack what you think you’ll need. Before you leave, make sure you find out what the country’s policy and price is for medications.

7.   Water bottle! It’s incredibly useful, especially since water in Germany has to be bought. If you aren’t opposed to tap water, you can always refill it from the sink in your room or dorm and in the bathrooms of restaurants. It will save lots of money in the long run.

8.  Finally, Find out what your program will provide. In Reutlingen, bedding and cooking utensils, among many other things, are provided for the students by the Valpo program. There are also many other items, like desk lamps, shower caddies, and hangers that other students have left behind that are up for grabs by the new students. Talk with your program’s director or a contact at your place of study to see what they can provide for you before you pack.

After I used up all of my brainpower in packing, I left for Valpo for a few days to catch up with my friends and see those I would miss most before leaving for four months. Needless to say, it didn’t help slow down my emotional roller coaster ride thinking that this would be the last time I’d see them for a long time. There were times I didn’t want to leave, and times I was so excited that I just couldn’t sit still. But the time came to leave, and since there really was no turning back after buying a $1500 plane ticket and an $800 Eurail pass, I left for the airport. And after all of the goodbyes, we turned the corner with a last glance back and were ready for our flight!

Our home for 9 long hours

After, of course, spending time getting through security with their fancy new machines… And spending way too much money on Reese’s Pieces because it would be the last peanut butter I’d be able to eat for a while… And sitting for way too many hours waiting for the flight… But then we finally got on board, and after a long, fairly restless, very uneventful flight we made it to Germany and to our dorm safe and sound!

48 hours into our semester, and there are already so many experiences to talk about, but those will have to wait until next time.

Bis später! (Til later!)

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