Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Page 18 of 124

Weekends in England

October 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Emma Hecht

Location: England, United Kingdom

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Three weekends ago, six other Valpo students and I loaded ourselves into a van with our director, Dr. Brugh, and her husband, and took a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath. When we arrived in Stratford, we ate dinner at the Dirty Duck and afterwards, as Stratford is Shakespeare’s hometown, went to a play. Our group split up, half of us going to Tamburlaine and the other half to Maydays, a choice we had made a few days previous after reading a synopsis of each half. I was in the Maydays half because I knew it was contemporary (I did not want to sit through two hours of Shakespearian speech) and for some reason (a delusion) I thought it was going to be funny. It wasn’t funny. It was extremely political, there was a ton of yelling, and through that ton of yelling, a ton of spit spray. Thankfully, we were not in the front row.

The next day we walked around Stratford, touring Shakespeare’s childhood home and walking through an outdoor market. Mid-afternoon we all piled back into the van and headed for Bath, the home of the Roman baths. As I understand it, the baths were where old rich men could come and bathe together… The baths are still filled with water; however, no one is bathing there now, unless they want to be submerged in a sticky brown and green pool.

A Roman Bath

Two weekends ago, on a beautiful fall day, all of us gathered up again and made a trip to Blenheim Palace and Coventry Cathedral. Blenheim Palace was the home of Winston Churchill’s grandparents, where he would have lived as a toddler. For proof of this, they’ve mounted locks of his five-year-old hair above a bed in one of the rooms. However, it’s not only Churchill that stems from Blenheim Palace, but also Princess Diana Spencer. While she never lived there, the palace is still in her family.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace Grounds

Coventry Cathedral was our other stop. In preparation for the trip, we learned about the architecture of the Cathedral. It was bombed, obliterated during World War II. The walls of the original church are still somewhat intact with a little bit of the original stained glass, but there is no roof, so the area has been turned into a courtyard. Mid-twentieth century, the contemporary space was built, connected to the courtyard. The architect who designed and build this church was in close communication with the man who designed the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valpo. Some things are extremely similar, such as the paneled walls leading up to the altar. The chairs are exactly like the ones in the Chapel (although, rumor has it that the seats in the Chapel were widened three inches to accommodate Americans’ “size difference”). But instead of a stained glass window at the front, there is a huge tapestry that covers the entire wall. I still like Valpo’s Chapel better (nothing beats the stained glass window), but it was interesting to see a beautiful contemporary church in England, which seems dominated by Gothic architecture.

Coventry Cathedral Courtyard

Study Abroad in Reutlingen Germany

October 25, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Shannon Ilg

Location: Reutlingen Germany

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

This is the second set of pictures from my adventures here in Germany. Since my first set of pictures, I have done a lot of traveling outside of the country. I have been to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, and I’m on my way to Sweden as I write. It has been so much fun, and I have learned so much. Below is the second collection of pictures I took daily of the beautiful, strange, and mundane for me, your good-ol’ average Valpo student. I hope you can take a moment to see and appreciate the little things I have photographed, feel free to skip around, and maybe even be inspired to take on your own journey!

 

September 19, 2018

In Germany, we take the trains all the time. This is an underground entrance to one of the train stations that is particularly colorful. For the most part, the graffiti on the walls seems to have been paid installations. They are very interesting and colorful; it always gives you something to think about or appreciate. While traveling around Germany, make sure to keep your eyes open, because sometimes you’ll stumble upon really cool murals on the back of buildings or similar places where you wouldn’t necessarily expect.

September 20th, 2018

Here you see the first (and only, up to this point) attempt to make a pizza from scratch with the limited resources that my friend and I could find here. I purchased a circular metal plate for one euro to use as a pan which has actually been quite a good purchase. Since then it has been a plate, a lid to a pot of carrots and potatoes, and a tray to carry other dishes back and forth to my room.
Anyways, the pizza was actually really good. The only weird thing was that we used pasta sauce instead of pizza sauce or tomato paste, so it had a little bit of a strange flavor.

September 21st, 2018

We made our final full group trip to Liepzig which ended up being kind of a smaller version of Berlin. This building caught me off guard because it was so, you know, chopped in half. It was a really interesting café with statues of elephents in front of it.

September 22nd, 2018

Our second day in Liepzig we went to a Bach Museum. Around the museum, you could listen to the different musical arrangements that Bach had written, and in the room pictured above, you could listen to different pieces and decide which instruments you wanted to hear by pushing buttons on and off for each instrument. It was quite interesting.
Another cool thing about this museum was how evolved it was for the blind. It makes sense that a museum about music would be somewhere a blind person would enjoy, but they really go out of their way to make sure it is welcome and easy to enjoy for those who cannot see. At one point there were organ pipes hung from the ceiling that when you touched them, they played different musical compositions. In the above room, there was a book explaining every instrument in Bach’s time. Each page had a plastic page in front of it with braille, and the pages with pictures had a plastic page in front of it with a three-dimensional model of the instrument. I was very impressed that such accommodations were made so that those who cannot see have a wonderful museum to explore while discovering the beautiful history of music.

September 23rd, 2018

This is Wartburg castle where Martin Luther hid after nailing his theses to his church’s door. We went on a tour throughout the castle and got to explore the halls for several hours. The day we were there it was rather rainy which made the view outside foggy and after leaving, we all got soaked to the bone. In general, it was a good fun trip: standing in the rain when everyone is just as soaked as you never fails to bring a few smiles.

September 24th, 2018

After our final day in Liepzig, we all went off to go on our own smaller excursions. A friend and I decided that Austria would be our next stop. This was a delicious hot chocolate from a small café we ate at while waiting to check into our Airbnb.

September 25th, 2018

We had one full day in Austria, and we decided to climb a mountain. It was a beautiful journey up, every turn different and more amazing than the one before. By the time we reached the top, it was pretty steep, and I tripped and fell, scraping my leg pretty good on a rock. We ate at a quiet restaurant at the top and then headed back down. Let me tell you, I laugh at every time I ever thought as a kid ‘dang it, I really wish I was going downhill’ when I was going uphill. I am not a mountain climber; I was clad in plain tennis shoes with a bit of a cold, along with a high level of clumsiness. I slipped and fell like at least twelve times on the way down. I honestly never felt so incapable of anything in my entire life, where every single step I took was one step closer to complete and utter failure. But even so, it was so much fun, and unbelievably beautiful. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

September 26th, 2018

Just look at this wonderful view we had from our Airbnb. Down the hill on the left is a field full of very large friendly cows. On the right is a beautiful panoramic view of mountains all around. Behind the photo where you cannot see is the mountain that we climbed. Everything was so unbelievably beautiful, and I would recommend the Austrian countryside to anyone looking for a calm and stunning view.

September 27th, 2018

Welcome to the Oktoberfest, in Munich! First things first… Thursday was a great day to go. It was lively, but we could still get a seat to get a drink. It was not impossible to walk. It was a blast!
In case you don’t know exactly what the Oktoberfest is, it is a German festival with wonderful food, music, beer, and carnival rides. I have also heard that the Munich Oktoberfest is actually not quite as genuine as some of the smaller cities’ versions of Oktoberfest because it has been turned into a bit of a tourist attraction. Of course, this makes sense, but it did not make it any less enjoyable for me… because I am a tourist.

September 28th, 2018

This entire semester, they have been tearing down this building. In this picture, I was standing on the seventh floor of one of the apartment buildings that Valpo students are staying in. Behind the large pine tree in the top right you see the other building where we are staying. That’s my building. In between there used to be a third similar building but now all that is left is several piles of rocks. Oftentimes, I wake up in the wee early morning to the sounds of construction, or rather destruction vehicles. It has been quite interesting to see the complete process of the tearing down of the building.

September 29th, 2018

This is a little potted plant in the communal kitchen/lounge on my floor. It was just sprouting a flower in this picture. At the beginning of the semester there was a cute note next to it asking people to make sure it was watered while the owner was gone. Thankfully it survived and is here to show us cute little red flowers.

September 30th, 2018

This is the top of Georgenberg, a mountain on the outskirts of town where you can see the entirety of Reutlingen. It makes for a decent hike and a beautiful view. My favorite thing about it is that from the top you can see and point out pretty much every major place we had been to in Reutlingen. You can see our dorm buildings and the University, you can see the Church downtown and between the two you can see everywhere else that we had been in town.

October 1st, 2018

This was an issue that I have had a couple times eating Pringles. When I went to open the can, the inside foil covering peeled away from the cardboard. It’s not particularly strange or anything, it just hadn’t ever happened to me before. But it of course does not affect the quality of the beloved Pringles so I still enjoyed them.

October 2nd, 2018

Above you see Johannesbeeren. It is a delicious fruit that I discovered at a local farmer’s market. I had never eaten or even seen them before but guess what? They are around in the US, too! It’s a currant! I mean, I just never thought that you can eat them plain and not cooked in anything. They are wonderfully sweet and sour, and you can literally put the whole stalk of them in your mouth and pull out the stalk and eat all of them at the same time. They are so fun to eat, and I am definitely going to see if I can find them as well in the US when I return.

October 3rd, 2018

Above is our perfect, uncooked pie. It is made with apples directly off of a tree, and a wonderful blend of sugar and cinnamon (I haven’t been able to find brown sugar though, which is okay, just a little weird for pie). It turned out a little bit overcooked on the top and a little bit undercooked on the bottom, full of an inch of liquid from the apples… It tasted delicious, but this picture is definitely more fun to look at than the one of the cooked pie. Hey, but pie is pie, and it was a blast making-and eating-it.

October 4th, 2018

Here you see the first super interesting thing about Milan, Italy. I took a weekend trip there with a couple others and we ended up having a really fun time. In this picture you can see the track for the streetcars going right through the grass. There were other places where the grass was even growing in between the tracks. As for the rest of Milan, there were beautiful plants and flowers growing everywhere. And I mean everywhere. They were even abundant on the sides and rooves of buildings. I really enjoyed the feeling from this, as it gave the city a very green appearance and feeling.

Weekend Adventures in Germany

October 15, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Ulises Hernandez

Location: Germany 

On September 20th, I had the chance to travel to Germany along with some of the other students that are also part of the Cambridge study abroad program. From London, we took a plane to a small town called Memmingen, which is about two hours from Munich. From the airport, we took a bus to Munich and we walked around the city before checking in into our hostel. The whole city was preparing for a major annual celebration known as Oktoberfest. Everywhere you turned you would see vendors selling the very famous Lederhosen outfits which are a very important component of the celebrations. After walking around for a few hours, we decided to check into our hostel to leave our backpacks in order to see what Germany had to offer after sunset. For dinner, we stopped at a local market where hundreds of people enjoyed eating smoked meats, bread, sausages, dips, and soft pretzels. After spending some time in the market, we walked to the very famous Hofbräuhaus where we were very lucky to find a table, especially with all of the tourist that were already in the city of Munich for the Oktoberfest celebration. While we were there, we enjoyed eating soft pretzels with our drinks while live authentic German music was being played a few tables away from where we were sitting. After having enjoyed the music, we went back to our AirBnB to make plans for the following day.

On our third day in Germany, we as a group decided to visit the very famous Neuschwanstein Castle located in Schwangau, Germany. It was a three-hour train ride from the Munich train station to Schwangau, but on the way there, we were able to see the very beautiful German countryside. Once we got Schwangau, we took a bus to the castle since the castle is located on top of the mountain. Once we got to the castle, we were able to do a tour through a small section of the castle and hike parts of the beautiful mountain. After spending many hours at the castle, we took the train back to Munich in order to spend some time at Oktoberfest. The next morning we got up very early and took the train back to Memmingen in order to make it back to Cambridge on time for our Monday classes.




The Thing I Liked Most About Oktoberfest Was the Ice Cream

October 5, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Emma Hecht

Location: Ireland/Switzerland/Germany

Two weekends ago, late on a Saturday night, I flew into the Shannon airport in Ireland and got into a cab with three other Valpo students and our very Irish cab driver. He was one of the nicest, funniest people I’ve ever met, but I had absolutely no idea what he was saying for at least a quarter of the drive. Most of his sentences went something like this: “Oh! Yeah, ye hmnhmnhmn Limerick!” Yes, Irish people do say “ye” for “you.” And yes, they’re mumblers (disclaimer: in my own personal experience). We made it to our hotel just fine and the next morning (the morning of our only full day in Ireland) and woke up at a nice and early 10:30 am to take a three- hour bus trip to the Cliffs of Moher. As I ambled off the bus, still trying to wake up from my nap, I was stunned at how beautiful the Cliffs were. They span a little under nine miles long, are over seven hundred feet tall, are over three hundred million years old, and have starred in movies like Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince and The Princess Bride. Maroon 5 even filmed a music video there. And, as my words are totally insufficient to describe them:

(Photos above by Mark Young, markyoungphoto.com)

We spent our entire day at the cliffs, only heading back into Limerick when we thought we were going to pass out from hunger. After scarfing down our late dinner, we headed back to the hotel to go to sleep before we had to get up at 4:45 am to make our flight back to London. Last weekend was another excursion—this time to Salzburg, Austria and Munich, Germany. My friend Claire and I went to Salzburg specifically to do The Sound of Music tour, which is hands down the most touristy thing I’ve experienced since I’ve been in Europe (the bus was packed full of Americans). When we arrived at our Airbnb, our hosts, Luke and Jenny, said that they had never seen The Sound of Music… and apparently, that’s typical for Austrians. Pictured below is one of our stops, which we made not for The Sound of Music, but for the beautiful Austrian view.

Our next stop was Munich for the first day of Oktoberfest. Just a five-minute walk from where we had just gotten off our train, we stood and watched the long parade of floats and bands, which led to the tent where the opening ceremony occurs (in which the mayor taps the first keg with a loud pop and says “O’zapft is”. “It’s open.”

Throughout the day, we walked around. In and out of different beer/food tents, in between amusement park rides, by food stands selling schnitzel and heart-shaped gingerbread cookies. Inside the tents, there was live music, everyone standing on tables… we got to witness over five thousand drunk Germans singing (at the top of their lungs) John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

This weekend we’re off on a class trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath, both located in central England.

 

Financial Advice from Germany

October 4, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Michael Boyaijan

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Guten Tag reader, and welcome to my blog! For the past month, I have had the pleasure of studying abroad in Reutlingen, Germany. Throughout my time here I’ve seen many amazing places, made lots of friends, and already had numerous unforgettable experiences. Although there is so much to share, I have decided that the focus of my blog will be more financially-based. For many people, myself included, money plays a large role in whether one can afford to study abroad at all. Although Valpo gives out an estimation of what a student will spend studying abroad, expenses are different for each student. This semester, I will be reporting my personal budget and expenditures so that you, the reader, can get a real-feel for what it costs to study abroad in Reutlingen, Germany. Along with this, I will be explaining things I learn and mistakes that I make.

I started my semester with a budget of $3,133. Like I said before, expenses vary from person to person. Some people spend a lot of money, and some people don’t. At the same time, what people choose to spend their money on varies drastically. What I did not know is that Germany is primarily a cash-based society. Yes, credit and debit cards do exist here, but for everyday purchases (i.e., groceries, public transportation, etc.) Germans generally use cash. With that being said, here is tip #1: Open a bank account/get a credit card that has little to no foreign transaction fees. I have a Chase College account and every time I take out money from an ATM, I get charged a small fee. Additionally, the conversion rate from US dollars to euros varies. So far, I have paid for everything in cash. The amount of cash that I have taken out is $781.80. I have used that cash for groceries, trips, souvenirs, a guitar, and meals out. So far, of the $781.80, I have used $675, leaving me with $106.80 that will still be used. My current budget is now $2,458.

For the first month, we spent a lot of time going on group trips and excursions, rather than in class. As a business student at the ESB Business school here, my classes only recently began. Going forward, I expect to spend less money as I will be doing less travelling, and I will not be buying another guitar. I hope you find this post useful in your decision to study abroad! Tschüss!

My Adventure in the Great Country of Ireland

October 2, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Ulises E. Hernandez

Location: Limerick, Ireland 

A few weeks ago, I was able to experience one of the most amazing weekends of my life because I had the opportunity to visit the famous Cliffs of Moher. Ireland, like all countries in Europe, has been shaped by war and by many devastating events. I didn’t know a whole lot about Ireland before visiting that truly amazing country, other than the stereotypes that all Irish like beer, the color green, and leprechauns. During our visit, I got to learn a lot about Ireland thanks to our fantastic and very funny tour guide. According to the guide, the Irish have faced very difficult times due to the English. Not only were they banned at one point for practicing their religion, but they also lost their land to the point where they couldn’t even grow their own food to feed their people. Due to this unfortunate event, the Irish were forced to rely on potatoes as their main source of food which caused a famine that killed thousands of people. It is sad to hear how history shapes people’s nations, but thanks to its magnificent and beautiful natural scenery, Ireland has received many immigrants and a lot of tourists from all over the world which has helped their economy tremendously.

When it comes to people’s identity, the Irish are very different in comparison to the English or even the American people. Not only do they have a very unique accent, but they also tend to be very outgoing and surprisingly happy people. The very first person that I got to meet was our taxi driver. He was an old gentleman with a caring heart, a great sense of humor and overall a great representation of the Irish people. The difference between the Irish and the English is shocking. Based on what I have seen, the English tend to be very reserved and private, which is the complete opposite of the Irish. Regardless of who you are, based on my experience, they treat you like family and they make sure that you feel welcome at all times regardless of where you are. That’s something that I have not experienced to the same level in England, and it’s not that the English are rude people, it’s all due to people’s identities that are shaped by culture and traditions. Based on the people that I talked to, the Irish do not like the English due to the unfortunate events that I mentioned earlier but they are still very welcoming since many people within our tour were English and they received the same treatment as we did.

The pubs and city life in Ireland are very similar to the English. My great friend Ben and I spent the night at a town very similar to Cambridge called Limerick. Even though this small city is not a college town, it still provides its locals with a large selection of pubs, malls, and a great transportation system. Limerick also holds a lot of historical landmarks similar to Cambridge. This town is home to many churches, castles, museums, and historically significant pubs which make the locals very proud to share with the tourists. A very similar problem Ireland and England face is their infrastructure. When I say infrastructure, I don’t refer to their buildings, but their lack of roads that are capable of accommodating the needs of small and large vehicles. Our bus driver had a very difficult time navigating through many of the local and country roads due to how narrow the roads were paved, which is also a problem that I have noticed in England as well. Even though this is just an everyday life struggle for them, the Irish make the most out of what they have and based on what I saw they tend to look at things through a more humorous point of view.

Overall, I had a very wonderful and welcoming experience in Ireland which is something that not everyone shares when visiting a foreign country regardless of your ethnic origin. The Irish are very wonderful and joyful people that are willing to share their culture and beautiful country with the rest of the world. I hope to come back to Ireland at some point in my life and bring my loved ones along so that they too can experience the breathtaking natural scenery that Ireland has to offer.

 

My First Month Abroad: Reutlingen, Berlin, and Ireland

October 1, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Mark Young

Location: Germany/Ireland

One of our first days in Reutlingen we climbed Georgenberg, a nearby mountain with a beautiful panoramic view of Reutlingen and the surrounding towns. Nearly all of the houses here have red roof.

 

Walking through the city provides many gorgeous views of the natural and man-made landscape. Houses often have neatly paired stone and vines which give off a rustic and aged feeling.

 

The dogs are extremely well trained here — many are walked without leashes. This good boy was waiting outside a cafe for its owner.

 

We visited Tubingen in our first week here. Tubingen is home to the University of Tubingen which causes the city’s population to be one-third student. It is a very pretty and historic city.

 

Just a short walk from the dorm you can find many gorgeous views of the Swabian Jura.

 

Our first trip was to Berlin. This is the Altes Museum at night. Hitler once addressed mass rallies up to a million people on the steps of the museum. It now holds antique paintings, drawings, and other classical pieces of art or history.

 

This is the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. It contains 2,711 slabs of concrete arranged in a grid. It was designed to replicate the Mt. Olive Cemetery.

 

We also visited Sanssouci, the summer palace of Frederick the Great. It is often considered the German Versailles.

 

After our trip to Berlin, I went to Ireland, with a two day delay in Mallorca, Spain. The rocky coastline of the Celtic Sea was gorgeous and sublime.

 

As if the rest of the coast wasn’t magnificent enough, the Cliffs of Moher commanded respect and admiration. Standing next to such a sheer drop-off was both terrifying and exciting.

 

Back in Reutlingen, a couple friends and I climbed another mountain and watched as the sun set over the city from a ruined castle’s tower.

 

The one month I’ve been in Reutlingen has been wonderful. While language barriers can sometimes cause minor issues, the people are accomodating and friendly; the city is historic and pretty; and the landscape is a nice change from the plains of Indiana.

The First Month

October 1, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Liam Bodlak

Location: Germany/Denmark

I’ve been in Germany for about a month now, and it already sort of feels like home. My classes started today, and while being the only American in my Business Stats class is kind of weird, it’s not too bad. I’ve been traveling a lot, meeting people from all sorts of different backgrounds, and learning a lot about Europe in general. I had a lot of time to do what I want given that I’ve only had two classes up until now, but even with a full course load my schedule isn’t too terrible. Not speaking German has definitely been an issue, but I’m learning a little bit every day, and most people here speak a little bit of English anyways.

So far I’ve been to a number of places in Europe, both within and out of Germany. First, I was in Berlin for about a week, then I spent the weekend in Copenhagen. Both places were amazing, filled with culture, nightlife, and great people. Berlin especially has great historical significance. We went to a number of WW2 monuments, and the tone of it intrigued me greatly. As Americans, we have such a positive view of World War 2 because we won in just about every regard possible. The US benefited from that war more than anyone, and we’re proud of that to this day. However, the Germans suffered the greatest defeat of the war, and the tone of their monuments reflect that. They’re somber, reflective, and show a country that wants to move strongly forward without forgetting its dark past.

The Berlin Wall was also incredible. So much has been said about the wall, its significance, and its eventual tearing down. But one thing stood out to me when I was looking at the wall. There was a lot of graffiti on the wall, some of it political, some of it apolitical. One piece of graffiti stuck with me, however, and I still think about it now two weeks after leaving Berlin. The message reads “ TO ASTRID, MAYBE SOMEDAY WE’LL BE TOGETHER ”. It’s not clear who wrote this, or when it was written. It’s heartbreaking to imagine someone who misses someone else badly enough to get near the top of the wall and write a note that might not even reach its recipient. I figured that, with the amount of people who saw this message every day, and the far reach that social media has, that someone would have found the story behind it. However, doing research on the message just leads to tourists taking pictures of it. It sounds sentimental, and I doubt that any sort of conclusion will come on what happened to these people, but I can’t help but wonder if the writer of this message ever found Astrid, and if that someday ever came.

Then we went to Copenhagen, which was a fun experience even if it was only for two days. We marched with the Danish army through the streets for the changing of the guard, got lunch on the Nyhavn waterfront, and wound up bar hopping in the city for a little bit. We weren’t there too long, but even so, I can honestly say that Copenhagen is one of the most aesthetically beautiful cities I’ve been to.

After a few days back in Reutlingen, we were back traveling again, this time to Leipzig. I honestly didn’t expect Leipzig to be as much fun as Berlin given its size (Leipzig is slightly less populous than Milwaukee) but it’s an amazing city. The nightlife was surprisingly great, every club we went to had great music and fun people, and the cities small size worked to our advantage, as everywhere we went was within walking distance. After Leipzig me and three friends went to Munich to partake in Oktoberfest for a day. It absolutely lived up to my expectations, the vibe there was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The Scottish guys I hung out with there had been there for three days, and if I have the opportunity I definitely want to spend a week or so there. I had an amazing experience, but I feel like I barely scratched the surface of Munich Oktoberfest.

So, all in all, it’s been a fun month. I’m looking forward to the rest of this semester, and all the traveling, experiences, and growth that comes with it. I’ll be keeping this blog updated regularly, so hopefully you’ll all be hearing from me again soon. Tschuss!

 

No, I Didn’t Meet the Queen

September 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Emma Hecht

Location: London, England

I arrived here in Cambridge on August 23rd and even though I’ve been here for a little over a month, I still haven’t acquired a British accent, which has been on the top of my to-do list since I started reading Harry Potter in the 5th grade. Despite this, my 33 days in Europe has been extremely productive, eye-opening, and full of wonder in different ways.

One of the first nights I was here, my friend Claire and I went to a pub down the road, The Mitre. We walked in and stood by the door for a good thirty seconds, wondering if someone would come and take us to a table. Around the thirty-first second, it became increasingly apparent that we were on our own. To confirm this, we approached the bartender and asked, “Do we seat ourselves?” She replied with a turn of phrase odd to the American ear, “Oh yes you absolutely can do so.” So, we found a corner table and sat and sat, waiting for our waitress. She came up to us after a good bit of waiting and took our drink and food order, both of which were out in record time. We scarfed it all up, talked for a bit, and then sat and sat and sat, waiting for our bill. After an hour and a half of sitting and not seeing our waitress anywhere, I got up and walked around, trying to spot her. After determining that she forgot about us and went home, I went back to the bartender and asked if we could pay her at her register. We could, so we did. And left a 20% tip to which she responded with a surprised, “Oh wow, that’s so kind of you!”

Rules for eating in a pub (which we learned the following day):

  1. You seat yourself.
  2. You go to the bartender to order.
  3. You go to the bartender to pay.
  4. You don’t have to tip your waitress.

Pictured here: the traditional English meal I ordered at The Mitre after I told myself I couldn’t get macaroni and cheese because I can’t eat the same things I eat in the United States when I’m in England.

In Cambridge, classes don’t begin until late September/early October (excluding our British Life and Culture class, which is taken through Valpo and began when we arrived), so I’ve had quite a lot of time to wander around the city. Boots serves as the UK Walgreen’s, and I do most of my grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s or Aldi. The architecture is incredible, every piece of every building carefully formed, uniting to make magnificent buildings. One day I took a book and read for a few hours (well, read for an hour, napped for a couple more) in front of St. John’s college on the River Cam (pictured below).

We’ve also gone over to London a couple times, visiting the Churchill War Rooms, Piccadilly Circus (not a circus as I thought it would be, rather an English Time’s Square that for some reason hosts a three-story M&M’s store), the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe (to see a three hour performance of Othello, for which we were in the standing court—a great performance that also greatly tired my legs), Borough Market, Westminster Abbey (where we got to see Stephen Hawking’s stone, just put in two-three weeks previous to our visit), Kensington Palace, and Buckingham Palace (a portion of it pictured below—and no, I didn’t meet the Queen).

 

While I enjoyed London, at times it feels just like any other metropolitan city, like being in Chicago or NYC. However, I love being in Cambridge (so far—we’ll see how I’m doing later when the stress of classes sets in). The town, while it is big, just feels friendly and welcoming, a perfect home for four months abroad.

Study Abroad in Reutlingen Germany

September 21, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Author: Shannon Ilg

Location: Reutlingen Germany

I had never set foot outside the United States before, and now I’m here, in Europe, where I don’t speak the language and it’s great! I have really enjoyed getting to know the area and it’s already beginning to feel like home.

Below is a collection of pictures I took daily of the beautiful, strange, and mundane for me, your good-ol’ average Valpo student. I hope you can take a moment to see and appreciate the little things I have photographed and maybe even be inspired to take on your own journey!

August 29, 2018

At the first night in Reutlingen, I was already amazed! The windows have no screens and they have a three-position handle that allows you to open them in two different ways: either wide open or cracked open at the top. You can also see the shade halfway down which comes in handy if you want your room pitch black in the middle of the day! It’s perfect for when you really just don’t want to get out of bed on  a Sunday morning.

It’s also a good time to note the lack of air conditioning here in Germany. It’s really speaks for the environmental appreciation here, that harmful chemicals are not needed everywhere just to cool down a space. You just open the window and turn on a fan!

August 30, 2018

Believe it or not, these are the refrigerators. But they look so much like regular cabinets! Each is shared with four people on the floor, and the far-right bottom one is the freezer to share with all 16 people. On the left you can see the ‘gelber sack’, or yellow bag. It is the start of the intense garbage disposal process here. There are approximately a billion different categories that you can separate your garbage into including this bag, which is where you put any packaging, plastic or otherwise. Other separations include the bio waste, for any fruit or vegetable garbage, paper, batteries, and the restmull (everything else). There is also one day a year where old Christmas trees are collected, at least that is what I hear.

August 31, 2018

I am just surprised at how the cinder blocks are different. Not a big discovery, but it is certainly an interesting difference. Of course, the first couple days here I saw many subtle differences that you wouldn’t quite expect.

September 1, 2018

Here you can see the fountain statue in the middle of the square downtown. In the back is one of many beautiful examples of old German architecture. Some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.

September 2, 2018

This is the view from the balcony on my floor. It’s especially beautiful with the fog rolling into the foothills.

September 3, 2018

Our first city outside Reutlingen! Tubingen according to our guide was named the most beautiful city in Germany. It was truly beautiful, even though it was a bit overcast the day we went. But we got a lovely  tour and a nice dinner.

September 4, 2018

Meet the Doner! It’s like a Gyro, but with beef and cabbage instead of lamb and cucumber. They’re quite delicious, and not too expensive. They are the go-to food for college students here because it’s so close to campus. It’s also really interesting to see so many of these outlets scattered throughout the different cities in Germany.

September 5, 2018

There are so many beautiful flowers everywhere! Many locals make a point to take very good care of their gardens. It is always really nice to be going for a walk and to pass yard after yard of various plants and flowers that are all so different from the ones that I’m used to.

September 6, 2018

It’s so funny to me how the peanut butter is sold as an American food, with the flag on it. For the record, the sliced white bread also has an American flag on it!

September 7, 2018

Once again, an example of the beautiful and well-kept gardens. These plants are particularly interesting to me, not only because they are so pleasant to look at, but they are so subtly different from the plants I see back in the United States.

September 8, 2018

This was our first walk through Berlin! The city was so different and exciting! Pointing into the sky you can see the Fernsehturm, a very distinctive tower in Berlin. You can see it from very far away and it was nice to know while wandering around that you could never get too lost as long as you could find your way back to the tower.

September 9, 2018

Here are the beautiful details of a bridge in Berlin overlooking a canal. You can tell how great the weather is!

September 10, 2018

This is just some of the beautiful street art in the city. This guy had actually made two different versions of this on two separate days, and after a little while I noticed that there were actually several other faded versions all across the square.

Ooh, also a funny side story. On the top left corner of this picture you can see a pole about three feet high intended to stop vehicles from driving into the square. Anyways, when you are walking in a group of 20+ people, these little buggers come out of nowhere and will knock you right in the hip if you’re not careful. Take it from me… I finally began to notice them after running into them like four or five times.

September 11, 2018

This is just a picture of me, enjoying the sights Berlin has to offer! I was enjoying some street food from near our hotel. I had what is called ‘currywurst’; essentially it’s a sausage with barbecue sauce and curry powder and they taste absolutely amazing. And because it’s street food, they’re inexpensive, quick, and delicious. Hence my happy smile!

September 12, 2018

Our last day in Berlin came with a couple museums, including this industrial museum. In the picture is the proof that a teardrop shape has the best aerodynamics, at least of these four shapes. In this museum there were also really old trains and boats of all sizes—one of which was actually a shipwreck.

September 13, 2018

This was the trip from Germany to Denmark, where our train got a nice ride in the hull of a Ferry! I’ll say  that again for those in the back… One moment I was on a train, the next we drove directly onto the ferry. What precision boating skills that takes to be able to have the train so well lined up with the boat! It was really nice, as well, to get off the train and stretch out a bit, while also getting to see the beautiful skies and waves.

September 14, 2018

Next stop, Copenhagen! It was interesting to be walking along minding our own business and then BAM, we followed the Royal Guard for 45 minutes to the changing of the guards! It really was quite the unintentional, free tour. We ended up seeing a lot of pretty scenery through the city following the guard. Afterwards, we got fish from a nice little shop on a canal, and let me tell you… if you ever get the chance, spare the time and eat some fish from Copenhagen!

September 15, 2018

Fancy that! Another country and yet another kind of window! Still no screens, but this time there are two windows: one opens to the inside, one to the outside. I suppose it could keep the house more insulated in the colder winter months. This might actually be valuable since Denmark is so far north. The difference in temperature even now is a lot from Copenhagen back to Reutlingen and it took me by surprise. It wasn’t quite cold, but long sleeves were comfortable.

September 16, 2018

Just a note: the drying machines aren’t super great, and we get to pretty much hang dry all of our clothes. Once again, here in Germany it is a lot more environment friendly, and not using dryers as much is a big effect of that. Dryers use a lot of electricity and honestly tossing your clothes on a drying rack for a few hours does the job. Plus, your clothes won’t shrink or wear out as fast.

September 17, 2018

This is just a friendly bright-colored bug of some kind walking along.

The bug culture here in Germany is a little different… As the windows are open all of the time and there  are no screens, bees and other insects can fly in and out at their leisure. It is a little different, but I don’t mind it to be quite honest. I mean, catch me the day a giant spider comes waltzing in through my wide open window and maybe it will be a different story, but for now, I kind of like the bees that occasionally visit while I’m just working on homework or making dinner. They really are harmless and having them everywhere kind of gives me an appreciation for the natural world that I never would have thought would be an effect of going abroad.

September 18, 2018

I must say, there sure are a lot of hills back in Reutlingen! What you can see in this picture is effectively a third of the height of this hill. I definitely could have used some physical training before coming here, but it really makes you appreciate the agility of the locals, who spend a lot of time either walking up an down hills or using bicycles, often electric bicycles.

Let’s just take a moment for the electric bicycles – I honestly did not know that those were invented. I suppose it makes sense… electric scooters, electric cars… of course there are electric bicycles… Anyways, the first week or so I was really impressed because I would see person after person glide up a giant hill with ease and I just thought they were just that strong because they were used to the hills. Alas, they were just all using electric bicycles. Not that it is really less impressive: they still have to pedal a lot for those hills, but just not quite as much as I thought they were.

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