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The Best Things I Ate This Month: Part 2

Since this wasn’t the most exciting week for me, instead of writing about going to class and doing homework, I thought it was time for the next installment of my favorite foods of Europe. As you are probably well aware, one of my favorite things about living in Europe is eating in Europe. Since my last “Best of” food post was so much fun to write (and research) I have, in fact, decided to make it a series. For each of the four months of my travels, I will post the very best things I ate. While the first post was dedicated to German favorites, this one also includes culinary pleasures from Austria and Paris. Since I only spend 36 hours in Paris, there’s no way I could possibly do its incredible cuisine justice, but rest assured, I’ll be back someday. I have many, many things to share this month, so this is going to be mostly pictures (in chronological order) with short commentary.

First, the Thüringer Wurst, my first experience with street food. Surprisingly good for just 1 euro!

Next, there’s Spaghetti-Eis. It looks like spaghetti, but it’s ice cream. And it’s terrific!

I had this meal in a very old Austrian restaurant in Salzburg. It’s pork roast with the best gravy and a giant Knödel. That’s a dumpling, but I just like the word Knödel.

This was my meal at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich. This establishment isn’t exactly known for the food, so the schnitzel cordon bleu was just okay.

The apple strudel, however, was perfect. Fresh and not too sweet.

On a day trip to Ulm, we stopped at a little café for cake and coffee. This is a slice of blueberry goodness.

And now, on to Paris! The first thing I ate there (besides the free breakfast at the hostel) was a Nutella crêpe. They don’t skimp on the Nutella!

While in Paris, we decided to have one splurge dinner at a real brasserie. The steak-frites was great!

And the crème brûlée was even better! That crunch of the sugar on top is the sound of perfection!

So those were the highlights. Over the next month, I’ll continue to be that tourist, taking pictures of all my food, so I can share it all with you! And next week, I’ll have more travel experiences to share!

Me being a goof on a hill in Park Guell

Barcelona: Gotta Strut Like You Mean It

March 20, 2014 / Danielle Steinwart / 6 Comments

We all know those people who go on some exotic excursion to, like, Texas or something and return as though every other experience of their lives (and your lives) should kowtow to this divine trip.

We all hate those people.

Over the past few weeks, it has taken a lot of self control for me not be one of those people.

We had our one week break recently, in which a group of us flew to Barcelona, and then Julia and I went up to Paris while the rest went to Madrid. Now, I didn’t pray with an ancient Guru or find my true love or really do anything too jaw dropping (or anything out of Eat, Pray, Love). But for the first time, I traveled to and navigated around a foreign country without adult supervision. I had to take on the responsibility of booking flights, reserving bus seats, planning an itinerary, researching hostels, etc. I had the freedom to choose what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. Which turned out to be a blessing and a curse, since my characteristic laziness kept surfacing. But in the end, I grew up a bit and learned a lot about independence (and overspending on hot chocolate and churros).

Inside of RyanAir airplane

Our flight to Barcelona left on a Friday evening, and the ten of us had gotten through check-in and security with a lot of time to spare. It was only a 2 hour flight to Barcelona, and the blindingly yellow interior of the plane kept me conscious until we landed late that night. In broken Spanish, I asked for directions to our hostel, and we found it tucked in a quiet street. It was a nice, relaxing evening, except for the 13 year olds partying and making out in the lobby. That was admittedly very uncomfortable.

The next morning, I experienced a combination of things that are rarely found in England during the winter:

Sagrada Familia

sun, warmth, and no wind. It was only February, and I didn’t need anything more than a light jacket, if that. I got a tan, guys. Kind of a big deal for my rapidly paling skin. So, that day we took a bike tour, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Our tour guide, Paula, was hilarious and laid back, and she took us to the big and

Arc de Triomf

beautiful staples of Barcelona, like the eccentric cathedral Sagrada Familia, the red Arc de Triomf, and the grassy park outside the city zoo. We wound up eating lunch at the beach, and it amazed me that two hours away from London via plane there was such a balmy paradise.

After the tour, we wandered around the city for awhile before heading back to the hostel to get ready for the Magic Fountain show that night. Unfortunately, I was pretty dehydrated, so I chugged a ton of water and subsequently became too nauseous to go see the amazing

Fountain outside of zoo

light and water show. Good decision making is not my forte, apparently. Thankfully, some of them came back after the show, and we all went out to an authentic Spanish dinner, where I insisted to the waiter that we order in Spanish. At first the waiter was less than excited by this, but when Julia attempted to order in English, our waiter was like, “Nonono, I do not speak English. I only hear the Spanish names of food.” To be fair, all Julia had to say was hamburguesa con queso. Like I said, authentic Spanish dinner.

Sunday and Monday, Julia and I embraced a Barcelona mentality called Mañana. Our bike tour guide described this as accepting that you don’t need to run around like a sweaty blur in order to accomplish everything quickly. You should move slowly and not care if you’re not busy every second of the day. Romanticized laziness, basically. So Paradise for me. While the rest of our group sped around finding breathtaking sights, Julia and I spent most of our Sunday lying down in the gorgeous park outside of the zoo, talking and watching

Park outside the zoo

Spanish families enjoy their weekend. When I was Skyping my dad the next week and telling him about my trip, he marveled at the fact Julia and I had over three hours of things left to talk about after being roommates for a year and friends for almost tw0. In reality, most of our time in that park was spent laughing uncontrollably and garbling through bad jokes between fits of giggles.

The entirety of Monday was spent at the beach. God must have given the sky a good scrubbing that day

Me being a goof on the beach

because it was spotless. I had a kilo of strawberries and bare feet, and it was sensational. The only flaw in our day was this guy who gave us pieces of coconut and told us to eat them, then asked us to pay four euro for each for them. In confusion Hannah and Kelly each gave him the full four euro, while Julia and I weren’t having it and gave him some change. This marked the beginning of my enthusiastic vendetta against coconut.

On Tuesday, everyone left for Madrid, leaving Julia and I to explore Barcelona on our own for an extra day. We went up to Park Güell, designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudí. Since we were too cheap to pay to

Me being a goof on a hill in Park Guell

get inside, we roamed the free outer half of the park. Eventually we climbed to one of the higher parts (the park is set on an incline), and I saw a hill and thought, “We can definitely climb that.” I sort of forgot that I was wearing ballet flats and Julia was wearing sandals, not to mention that the path was unpaved and rocky. After about 10 minutes, she and I finally reached the top, and the view was breathtaking. We got a 360 view of Barcelona, from foothills to skyscrapers to the Mediterranean Sea. We stayed up there a long time, since no one else was around, and just took in Barcelona (as well as took embarrassing pictures). Barcelona, where no one ever seemed to be working yet everything was always open, a place that slowed my walk and lightened my heart. I was reluctant to go. But I remembered after dinner and gelato that night (we did not choose the coconut flavor) that we were headed to a city equally as beautiful the next day: Paris!

Danielle

PS: Yes, the title of this post is a reference to Cheetah Girls 2.

Switzerland and Feeling Like the World is Yours

March 16, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

We’ve officially past the halfway point of the semester. The feeling that comes with that realization is incredibly difficult to describe. First of all, I’m proud of myself for doing a thousand things I never thought I could. I’m sad to see the time passing so quickly, but since I have another whole year here to look forward to now, I’m actually really excited to go home for the summer and be with friends and family for a while before round two. Knowing that I have more time has gotten rid of the sense of urgency I had to go everywhere and do everything as soon as possible, which feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Still, I know that my experience next year will be nothing like this semester, so I’m trying to really cherish all the unique opportunities I have now.
The most exciting of these opportunities is the backpacking/hosteling/eurail riding experience. It’s one giant cliché, it’s what all the college kids are doing these days, or at least, it seems like it. Honestly, I never expected to love that style of travel. It all sounded way too spontaneous to me. However, I think this weekend was when it finally started to sink in that this freedom to go anywhere is pretty incredible. The fact that we can decide on Tuesday that we want to go to Switzerland on Friday and actually make it happen is not something to take for granted.
So that’s what we did. It conveniently takes only 3 hours to reach Zürich, and while it’s somewhere that was never on my travel bucket list, I’m so glad I went. We spent only a day and a half there, but since we decided to spend our time in a more relaxing way just enjoying the culture, we didn’t feel compelled to spend longer going to every typical tourist attraction in town. And to my surprise, the culture of Switzerland is really fascinating. The country has four official languages, and almost one quarter of its inhabitants are not natives. It’s like a playground for the rich and famous, but still has a rich mixture of cultures. Although Zürich is in the German speaking part of the country, I felt right at home when I walked into cafés with menus half in German and half in French.
We began our exploration of the city with a walk down the most famous shopping street. It’s lined with the kinds of stores I would feel awkward just walking into, but at the end of the road is the beautiful Lake Zürich. Switzerland, not Illinois.

The rest of our time was spent at a leisurely pace, looking for more beautiful views, strolling along the pedestrian streets of the old town, enjoying authentic Swiss meals in the outdoor sections of cafés, having wine and chocolate on the rooftop terrace of our hostel, and simply finding as many of those little moments of perfection that we could. It’s those moments of perfection that make this entire experience what it is. It’s those moments that make all the challenges worth it. It’s those moments that make me wonder why all the college students in America aren’t tripping over each other on their way to sign up for study abroad.
It’s been said a million times before, but studying abroad changes you. It not only makes you more independent, adventurous person, but also a more interesting person. You get out there and see all you can see, and when you get back, the world seems both bigger and smaller at the same time. Now I realize that America is such a small part of what it has to offer, but at the same time, I feel like it is a little more within reach than I used to think. It’s mine to explore, to experience, and it could be yours too.

View From the Skybar

A New View of Windhoek

March 10, 2014 / Maddy Rainaud-Owens / 1 Comment

This week marks the halfway point in my study abroad experience, and to say it’s flown by would be a ridiculous understatement. Two months from today, I’ll be home. Whoa. Nonetheless, the weeks fly by. Each are packed with studies, but many adventures that make it all worth it. Though this week was crazy busy, it definitely marks one of the best weeks I’ve had thus far. On a high from skydiving and Swakop, being back in classes was a bit difficult, but I managed.

We had 2 birthdays in group this week, so we celebrated accordingly. On Thursday, after dinner we made a walk over to a place called 3 circles, by far one of my favorite places in Windhoek. It’s about a 20 minute walk from our house through the city and up a little hill, but once you get up it is absolutely breathtaking. The view looks over the mountains encircling us as well as all of Windhoek and Katutura. We made it just up in time as the sun began to set, and if you know me you know that sunsets are one of my favorite things in life. As I watched the sun go down, painting pinks and oranges in the sky, meeting the city lights and the tops of the mountains, I couldn’t help but smile. It was such simple, but surreal moment, and it felt so much like home.

The group looking over 3 circles

On a more solemn note, ever since arriving in Namibia, every time I’ve watched the news there’s been a new story of a violent killing of a woman, often by her significant other. Gender-based violence is a rising and very serious problem here in Namibia, and many citizens are beginning to take a stand. On Saturday morning a group of 12 of us headed downtown to “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes”, an event organized by some people in Windhoek to raise awareness of gender-based violence. Hundreds of men wore high heels as they stumbled down the busy street chanting things like “Don’t hit her, just kiss her” or “Stop gender violence” in order to show their support in the fight against GBV. As I marched down the street with all of the locals, I sincerely recognized it as one of the coolest things I’ve ever been apart of. To see all the men [and women] walking and supporting something so important was truly amazing; I got the chills as I looked around at the crowded street.

The men leading the way in heels

Crowded Streets of Windhoek at the "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" March

The weekend just kept getting better and better as we headed to Skybar, a nice little restaurant/bar atop the Hilton in downtown Windhoek. As we climbed to the top we, again, got to see all over Windhoek as the sunset; an absolutely breathtaking view (this place seems to be full of those).

View From the Skybar

This week is absolutely busy to say the least, but the next 3 weeks hold numerous adventures; which includes our rural home-stay in the north, a safari in Etosha, and spring break in Victoria Falls. Buckling down on work is hard, especially when I know all the things I’d rather be doing outside. But nonetheless, I’m learning topics I’ve never learned before,which is a pretty awesome feeling. I should have one more post out before we leave a week from today, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

All my love- xoxo,

Maddy

I Live in Germany: What I miss and What I Don’t

March 9, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

This week will mark the halfway point of my semester abroad. Over the last two months, I have really settled in here and created a life that I love. And that’s not just because studying abrade is tons of fun. I really think it’s because there’s just something about Germany that’s good for me. I felt it when I spent a summer here in high school, and I feel it again now. There’s a different pace of life here, and a different general philosophy that’s impossible for me to fully describe, but it just feels right. And I’m not the only one who notices this. In fact, most of the people in the group repeatedly comment about how we want to live here forever. Today, as a sort of midpoint reflection, I want to share the top 10 things I miss from home and the top 10 things I’ll miss about Germany when I do come home. And then I have an announcement to make.

First, let’s start with what I miss from home/ things that annoy me here: (In no particular order)
1. Comfy beds. I don’t know if it’s just the dorms, and cheap hostels here, but I haven’t slept in a bed that wasn’t hard as a rock since January. Also, the bedding is odd here. I’ve already complained about the big, flat pillows, but the duvet blanks are weird too. I miss my fluffy comforter and my memory foam.
2. A fully loaded, kitchen. I’m a chef. I’m thankful that the program supplies us with some essential kitchen items, but I miss having a full set of pots and pans, my electric mixer, and all my little gadgets. Plus, I miss dishwashers and garbage disposals.
3. Free water, free bathrooms, free anything. Restaurants are the worst about this. not even a glass of tap water is free, and the price of bottled is beyond ridiculous. But it’s the bathroom thing that really gets me. Why on Earth should I have to pay 50 cents to use it? Is there some great cost of operating a WC that I’m not aware of? I have been known to sneak under or ark ound the barriers without paying whenever possible because I’ve never heard of anything stupider than having to pay for a bathroom.
4. Doggie bags. You usually can’t take your leftovers home here, but it’s jude to leave food on your plate. So what option does that leave?
5. 1-hour laundry. I miss being able to wash and dry a load of laundry in an hour. Here, the washing takes an hour and the drying can take several days.
6. Normal showers. This just apples to the dorms. I really miss taking showers without having to push the water back on every 10 seconds. Environmentalism really makes my life more difficult than it has to be.
7. Public trash cans. There are a few of them around, but when I’m out and about, I usually end up hoarding trash in my purse all day until I can get home to throw it out.
8. Stores like Target. I miss being able to go to one place and buy pretty much everything I need. Sure, I love the quaint, specialized shops here, but shopping through them can take all day.
9. My Taylor Guitar and time to play it. I have a little travel guitar, but it’s just not the same.
10. Service with a smile. The superficiality of American customer service used to really bother me. But the utter lack of it here bothers me more. Every once in a while, I’ll find a really helpful employee, but that’s rare.

And now for just a few of the things I love here:
1. Bakeries. They’re just better here. They have more variety, the product is cheaper, and they smell heavenly. Plus, their croissants and baguettes are just as good as in France. It’s a little dream of mine to work in a German bakery.
2. Public transportation. Granted, the Deutsche Bahn isn’t usually as punctual as the stereotype would suggest, but still, you can get literally anywhere and everywhere without needing a car.

3. Pedestrian cities. Since the cities here were built before cars were invented, they are laid out with pedestrians in mind. Once you take a bus or train to the center, everything you need is in walking distance.

4. Cafeteria food. The locals here complain about it, but I think it’s great. You can get a good, filling meal and dessert for 3 euros.
5. 3-day weekends. This requires no explanation.
6. Very informal professors. Most German professors actually insist on a more formal relationships with their students, but in Reutlingen, we have the perks of being a Valpo kid. This means that all of them invite us to their houses and feed us at least once during the semester.
7. The German language. When I go home, I’m going to miss hearing it and speaking it every day. Every day, I have at least one communication challenge, so i’m in the habit of planning everything I want to say in German before I say it.
8. Paying in change. There are 1 and 2 euro coins, so there’s a lot you can buy without paper money. I know it’s just an illusion, but it makes things seem cheaper.
9. Feeling safe all the time. One time, a tour guide I had in Munich joked that you could walk around at night with money glued all over you and nothing would happen to you. I still wouldn’t do that, but I think she’s right. I lock my doors and always keep an eye on my stuff, but a lot of people don’t.
10. A de-cluttered life. Almost everything I have here fits in a suitcase. Sometimes that’s frustrating, but most of the time, it’s freeing.

There are days when I really miss things about home, but all in all, I really thing that the good outweighs the annoying. I feel like I can live in two cultures now. I don’t know if I ever really had “culture shock” but the idea of it between the US and Germany seems silly now. This is my home now, and since I love it so much, I’ve decided to make it my home for a little longer. Next year, I’m going to stay in Reutlingen for an internship in the university’s international office. I’ll be back for the summer and then back at school for senior year in 2015, but for now, this is where I need to be.

Paris and La Joie de Vivre

March 9, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

One of the best things about this study abroad program is that every weekend is a three day weekend. That way, we can maximize our opportunities to travel. So this week, we finally decided that it was time to activate our Eurail passes, and what could possibly be a better first stop that Paris? I’ve wanted to go to France ever since I was about 5 years old, so even though one weekend couldn’t possibly be enough time to explore this beautiful city, I jumped at the first chance to go. In our 36 hours there, we missed so much. The Louvre, Versailles, L’arc de Triomphe. But what we did get, was a wonderful introduction to one of Europe’s greatest cities.
The train from Stuttgart to Paris only takes 4 hours, so we left after class on Thursday and arrived at about 11p.m. I’m glad that we did this so that we had more time there, but unfortunately, our first experience in Paris was a stressful one. In the dark and without a real map, we got lost. Now, I know I’m not alone in this. Several of my friends have told me about their similar first experiences in Paris. It seems to be a right of passage. But my tip is to get to your destination before dark and not to rely on google maps. That little blue dot isn’t always right.
Anyway, we finally did find our hostel, and after a good night’s sleep, we were ready to go get our real first impression of Paris. Of course, our first stop was the Eiffel Tower.

The line for the elevators had about 72,000 people in it, so we decided to get up there next time we’re in town. And there will be a next time. After that, we stopped for lunch at one of the many quaint cafés, where sitting outside in the 60 degree weather, I enjoyed my first authentic French crêpe. After lunch, we took a free tour of Paris’ other most famous landmark, Notre Dame.

In the afternoon, after a quick ice cream stop, (Salted caramel and butter is my new favorite flavor.) we decided to go on a short sightseeing cruise on the Seine. It’s such a touristy thing to do, but I love river cruises because there a great way to see a lot with very little effort and really get an impression of the whole city. After the cruise, we headed back to get ready for dinner. For lack of time, we had to skip many of Paris’ main attractions, but one thing we wanted to make sure to do was go have a fancy French dinner.

Time for a funny story: After deciding on a restaurant out of our Paris guidebook, we read the metro directions in the book and hopped on at the stop closest to our hostel. After following the directions exactly and even switching lines once, we got out of the metro station near the restaurant, only to realize that we were just down the street from our hostel and could have easily walked there in less time. Note to self: next time, knowing where you’re starting will help a lot to figure out where you’re going. When we got to our restaurant, the waiter was extremely friendly and patient, taking time to explain all of the specials in English. Later, he even offered to take a picture of the 3 of us enjoying our meal.

After our steak-frites and crème brulée, we made one last stop to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. Standing there watching it sparkle, I had another one of those moments where I just have to stop for a second and marvel at the fact that this is my life right now. That I get to stand here in one of the most beautiful places on Earth and experience a moment of perfection. And this is for school. I feel like coming back to school and begging everyone I see to go study abroad because I really can’t understand why most people don’t. Just sign up, and then you get to live this amazing life!

After years of hearing about how great Paris is from everyone who has been there, I needed to see it for myself. Now that I have, I feel like I’ve been let in on the big secret. I just get it now. I’ve been to Germany 3 times now, but never anywhere else in Europe, so I’m glad I finally got to change that. Before going to Paris, I was a little nervous because of the pickpocketing horror stories I’ve heard, but I have to say, I didn’t feel unsafe once. The city certainly does have a different atmosphere than German cities, which are so safe it’s almost funny. I was a little more on alert than I usually am. Still, I feel like I could love Paris like I love Germany. I could live here someday. In fact, I want to. All weekend long, I had such a strong desire to go eat in every little café, to hop on the back of somebody’s motorcycle and race through the narrow streets, to really experience la joie de vivre like a Parisian. So someday, I will live in Paris, but right now, I live in Germany. I just realized that I actuallylive here. It’s not just an extended vacation. But that’s another story for another post.

A Perfect Day in Reutlingen

March 5, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

Hey guys, it’s been an unexpectedly busy week for me, so I’m sorry I didn’t post sooner. On top of that, I lost internet access in my dorm for a couple of days, but it’s all fixed now, so I’m back! Right now, it’s 10pm, and I’m leaving for Paris tomorrow, so instead of the long post I planned to write, I’m going to share a shorter reflection of a really great day I had last week. There wasn’t really anything thrilling about it, but it reminded me of everything I love about Germany at the exact right time I needed to be reminded of that. I had been in a weird mood for a while, and I don’t think it was homesickness per se, but I think it was just my initial honeymoon period with the study abroad life coming to its natural end. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still having a blast here, but I was exhausted from all the travel and the challenges of doing everything that all 8 people in the group want to do all the time. I needed to take a day to relax, reconnect with myself, and simply do the things I wanted to do.

But here’s the thing: I never go anywhere alone, ever, at least not in America. Seriously, I don’t even walk around my block by myself. Last week, my German teacher told us about an immigrant housewife she knew, who told her that she’d never gone into town by herself in all the time that she’d lived there. My teacher went on and on about how sad that was, and I realized that I hadn’t ventured off on my own yet either. I decided to change that. So I planned to spend the day in Stuttgart, specifically to go to Desigual, my favorite store ever. However, at the last minute, (and by that I mean just as the train doors were about to close) something told me to stay put and really explore the city I’m living in. So I hopped off the train and spent the next 5 hours memorizing every corner of downtown Reutlingen.

The one vague plan I had for the afternoon was to do some clothes shopping, mainly because I think the other reason for my crummy mood was that I was tired of looking like a slob. Sure, it’s freeing to not have that many material things to travel with, but I was really sick of wearing the same 6 t-shirts over and over. I thought I gave up on Desigual when I jumped off the train to Stuttgart, but I walked into a department store, and low and behold, there was a whole corner devoted to my favorite brand! So I grabbed pretty much one of everything and headed for the dressing rooms. I had all afternoon and no one to answer to, so I might as well. And then I found this dress….

It’s beautiful, bright and flowing to the floor (okay about 6 inches past the floor, but that can be fixed.) It was so expensive, but it was the first thing that made me feel stylish in a long time, so I found myself saying my new favorite phrase once again: Man lebt nur einmal. So now I can’t wait for it to be spring so I can wear this. Plus, now I’ll look cute when I go to Spain or the south of France. Now that I have the dress, I have to go there!

Once I was all shopped out, I realized that there was still a lot of daylight left and more places left to explore. Since I can’t wear the maxi dress yet, I needed something else for some immediate gratification. I was in luck, across the street was a nail salon. So I treated myself to my first gel manicure in almost a year. And I was quite proud that me and my asian nail tech managed to understand each other’s broken German. After that, I was already feeling pretty good, but if I know one thing for sure, it’s that no great day in Germany is complete without ice cream…and Döner…in that order. After my extra dark chocolate gelato and oh-so-nutritious pita pocket of goodness, I headed home. Truly, purely, overwhelmingly happy. Having found all I was looking for, both materially and non materially.

After I get back from Paris, I’m going to have a blogging marathon! I’ll devote a whole post to Paris, and then in another one, I want to share my top 10 things I miss from home and top 10 things I’ll miss about Germany when I leave. Plus, I still have to make my big announcement!

View on the way down

Coastal Living

March 3, 2014 / Maddy Rainaud-Owens / 5 Comments

This weekend our group of 15 set out on a 4 hour road trip to a coastal town called Swakopmund- an area inhabited originally by locals, settled by Germans, and houses a genocide in its history known by few around the world. The four hour drive quickly passed through naps and a stop for some junk food at a rest station we passed along the way. Swakop greeted us with palm trees, and beautiful desert dunes meeting the Atlantic Ocean. Though I definitely could have gone for weeks longer stay, it was the perfect little taste of what the coast has to offer.

Desert meet coast

Our first day was spent touring the beach town, the local township Mondesa, and the informal settlement as well. During these tours we got to visit a traditional Herero woman, a Dama lady as well as the chief of the Damara tribe who is the first woman chief. While speaking with the Herero woman, we learned a little about the Herero genocide and the effect it has had on the survivors lives today. During the genocide from 1904-1907, 80% of the Herero population were killed by the Germans. . . Yet in the middle of Swakopmund stands a large statue dedicated to those Germans who lost their lives, while the Herero men, women, and children have just a small piece of marble dedicated to them on the outskirts of town.

German Memorial

OvaHerero Memorial

The following day we headed out to Walvis Bay, a short 20 minute drive from Swakop. Walvis Bay houses the large international port, NamPort, where goods are constantly being shipped in and out internationally. During our time, we met with a man who works for NamPort as well as a man who works for the export processing zones (EPZs). While in Walvis, we also got the chance to travel out to the Topnaar community. The Topnaar community grows a plant called the !Nara that sprouts melons, which they then roast the seeds and sell them. I actually got to try some of the seeds, and they were delicious!

Me with the !Nara melon

Last but not least, the adventures began. We set out to climb Dune 7; the tallest dune in Namibia and if that’s not cool enough, it’s the oldest desert in the entire world. The climb up took about 15 minutes, and was definitely way more tiring than it looked. As the sand slips underneath your feet, you feel like you’re getting no where, but alas, we made it! And the view from the top was worth it a million times over. Our weekend was also comprised of nights spent on the beach, and dinners spent watching sunsets; I can’t complain!

Atop Dune 7

But the highlight of my weekend, and so far marks the best day of my life was when I decided to fly 10,000 feet in the air and jump out of a plane. Because 2 out of 4 of us were getting our jumps filmed, we had to split up. I was last, but to say I was excited would be a ridiculous understatement; my biggest fear being the tiny little plane I had to go up in, not actually jumping out; I’m not quite sure how I justified that one in my head. But nonetheless, I watched the altimeter climb up by thousands and the nerves kicked in quite a bit once we got to 9,000 feet. As I lifted my legs out of the door and let my feet hang out into the whipping wind, it suddenly became real. Head back, hands on the harness, move as one, ready.. set.. go!! I began to fly. As I free fell for 30 seconds and descended down for 5 minutes I looked out at the beautiful coastline; the only place in the world the desert sand dunes meet the ocean – absolutely breathtaking seeing the earth curve and feeling like I was just apart of the sky. And oh my gosh, I wish I could put it into words, but I truly believe it’s physically impossible. No, my stomach didn’t drop, no it wasn’t scary, it was literally human flight, and I would do it a hundred times over if I could. And.. come to think of it I just might have to. So as a little plug for all the crazies out there, if you’ve ever considered skydiving, do it. And even if you haven’t, do it. Don’t think about it, don’t question it, just do it. It will be the greatest thing you will ever do. Hands down. Because I can’t put it into words, I’ll leave you with two quotes they left me with.

View on the way down

“You must jump to know. No words can describe the incredible rush when the wind invites you to play. You are one of the few, for a brief moment you doubt but the doubt is short lived. As gravity pulls you from the safety of the plane you understand, this is freedom. No turning back now but who would want to? the dream of human flight. you know what it means to skydive.”

Free fall

“Once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”

Thanks again for reading,

Xoxo

Maddy

Six Cities in Nine Days

February 24, 2014 / kaitlyncarzoli / 0 Comments

n the Reutlingen study abroad program, one of the courses is all about Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach. It’s an interesting mix of history and theology, and as part of it, we all take a five day tour of Luther and Bach Land. That’s Leipzig, Wittenberg, Eisenach, and Erfurt. Following that, we have five days for free travel, just like after the Berlin trip. This time around, we chose to go to Munich and Salzburg. So many cities, so little time! We did so much this week, it’s impossible to talk about it all, so I’ll pick one or two highlights per day.

Saturday:
We actually arrived in Leipzig late on Friday, but Saturday was our first real opportunity to explore the city. While both Luther and Bach spent significant time in Leipzig, the guided portion of our day was more about Bach, who’s still clearly a local celebrity:

For a different kind of musical experience, that night, I found myself somewhere I never thought I would be: An opera house. By some miracle, we were able to buy very cheap, good seats for that night’s performance of Der Rosenkavalier. I wish I could be one of those truly sophisticated people who knows how to appreciate opera, but I’m still working on it. However, even though I didn’t know what was going on most of the time, the music was really beautiful, and I do recommend that everyone go to the opera at least once, at least just to say you did it.

Sunday:
On Sunday, we took a day trip to Wittenberg. Here, Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis on the door of the Castle Church almost 500 years ago. Unfortunately, the church is currently undergoing a major renovation in preparation for the anniversary. I do think that the Lutherans in our group got more out of the day, but it was still very interesting to see where such pivotal events took place.

Monday:
On Monday, we moved on to Eisenach, the birthplace of Bach and the location of the Wartburg castle, where Luther translated the Bible into German. For the history, as well as the wonderful views, the castle was my highlight.

That evening, we continued to Erfurt. Okay, my other, smaller highlights of the day were the charmingly eccentric Opera Hostel we stayed in in Erfurt and the surprisingly good steakhouse named “Texas” next door. I didn’t realize how much I missed American food.

Tuesday:
After a tour of Luther’s cloister, we had the rest of the day free to explore this city that pleasantly surprised me. At the beginning of the week, I really didn’t know what to expect of the former East Germany, but I was pleasantly surprised by all four cities, especially Erfurt. Because it’s a well-preserved, medieval town, it reminded me of why I fell in love with Germany. After exploring and enjoying the views from the Petersburg Citadel for a few hours, I spent the next two just sitting in an Eiscafé talking to a friend. It was the first real break I had all week, and while it may sound less than thrilling, it was probably my favorite day of the trip.

Wednesday:
To my surprise, I found out that the 10-day rail pass provided by the program is also valid on trains to Salzburg, Austria. Even though I’ve already been to Austria, I had to jump at the first chance I had to go to another country. Most of the day was spent on the train, but once we got to our hostel in Salzburg, one of our roommates invited us out with some of the other people staying there. Now, I’m not sure yet, what I think of the hostel experience. One the one hand, I had a fabulous, authentic Austrian meal at a table of people from 8 different countries, and that’s an amazing experience. On the other hand, I don’t know how comfortable I am wandering around at night in a foreign county with a bunch of strangers. Plus, it’s really hard to sleep in a room of 8 people snoring, coughing, and sniffling. So the jury’s still out on that one…

Thursday:
On Thursday, we saw the whole city, but the clear highlight was taking a cable car up to the top of the world. Yes, little old me, who’s afraid of heights , stood on top of a mountain. Like a real one… with snow and everything!

Friday:
I’ve been to Munich before, but I really did enjoy going again. We started the day with a free walking tour, which I highly recommend. It’s a great way to see the highlights if you don’t have a ton of time or money, and I know that many cities offer them. That night, I did the one thing I regretted not doing the last time I was in town. I went to the famous/infamous Hofbräuhaus. Honestly, I didn’t have terribly high expectations of the place because it is a known tourist trap, but still, it’s one of those things you just have to do at least once…like the opera. Anyway, the food was just okay, the beer was beer, and the Apfelstrudel was incredible. (Of course the dessert would be the highlight for me.) But the real reason why you go to the Hofbräuhaus is for the atmosphere. Surprisingly, there were actual Germans there, and we did share a table with them, and we did sing silly German songs. It was delightfully stereotypical!
It was a long week, and I’m glad to be home, but so grateful to have had all of there experiences. Sure, it’s hard sometimes, but this whole study abroad thing, this is the life!

5 Reasons to Stay in Cambridge on the Weekend

February 21, 2014 / Danielle Steinwart / 3 Comments

Since we’re only here for a semester, a lot of us feel the need to take every opportunity to travel. Because none of us have classes on Friday, every weekend is a three-day one, so many people in the house go away every weekend. This could mean a series of day trips around the UK—Laura and Madalyn stumbled across a carnival last weekend on their spontaneous adventure!—or a trip to continental Europe that lasts from Friday to Sunday—a group went to Berlin a couple weekends ago and Edinburgh before that. Julia and I, on the other hand, have been staying home so far on the weekends. This is partly because we’re on a budget and partly because we didn’t want to activate our Britrail yet (Britrails allow you to travel via train anywhere in the UK for free for a period of two months). Although traveling every weekend obviously has its benefits, I have really enjoyed staying in Cambridge these past few weekends. And because I’m a mediocre writer and don’t like coming up with interesting transitions, I have just compiled into a list my top reasons why it can be great to spend a few weekends in the city where you’re studying abroad.

5. It doesn’t drain your money.I understand that everyone has different budgets and that some people can afford to go away every

Downtown Cambridge

weekend without batting an eye. Others, however, need to watch their money a bit more closely, and as glamorous as it sounds to pop into Belgium for the weekend, the cost can pile up, especially because the US dollar here isn’t very strong here. I am definitely not saying that you should never travel on the weekends. Because that’s one of the best reasons to study abroad in Europe: you’re just a 2 hour flight away from dozens of other countries, a luxury we don’t have in the States (that’s something you pick up here, constantly referring to the US as the States. England is so posh). But going away every weekend, especially toward the beginning of your stay, can be tricky. It’s easy to overestimate the amount of money you have, so accidentally overspending during your first month could mean a very tight budget in your last month.

4. You can actually relax. Although we only have classes until 11:45 every day, the afternoon can easily fill up with naps (because you stayed up too late the night before jamming to The Proclaimers with your roommate), grocery shopping, weekly papers due Monday (which no one does until Sunday, or Monday morning if you’re traveling), cleaning, planning your itinerary and booking hostels and activities for your next trip, and other random errands. And as fun and thrilling as traveling is, it is also stressful and exhausting. Sometimes using a Friday to recharge can be very healthy for your mental state. And by recharge, I mean sleep in, watch a movie while eating chocolate and pizza, and taking a walk, during which you may or may not buy more chocolate. Once again, this does not have to be every weekend or even every day of your weekend. But we all know that having a whole day to yourself is usually needed and welcomed with open, chocolate-bearing arms.

One of the many colleges in Cambridge

3. You can get to see your city. By staying home on some weekends, you can really get to know your temporary hometown. Getting to know the general layout of the city you live in sounds like knowledge you will naturally acquire just by living here. But if you don’t take classes at the local British university, all of the classes you take will be inside the house. I know there have been a few times here when I didn’t leave the house all day. If you don’t make an effort to explore your city, it will never become your city, but merely a city you eat and sleep in, and you will only know how to get to Aldi, Domino’s, and maybe a close-by pub. If family or friends visit you for a week, you will want to be able to show them the best parts of where you live. You will want to know where the crepe cart is or what the names of the colleges are or which shows are playing at the local theatre. Spend time in Cambridge or wherever you study abroad. Because don’t you want to be able to talk about it with some authority when you get back home?

2. You can experience your city. Now, this ties in closely with the last one. As the previous reason

Janet Devlin concert in Cambridge

explains, it is crucial to know your way around the city you live in. You want to be able to actually help a tourist when they ask you for directions (we all know that superior feeling we get when we can give directions with confidence). But there’s more to your city than simply knowing where everything is. There is plenty to do in Cambridge, and I’m sure there is just as much to do and see in the other study abroad destinations. Instead of knowing where the pubs are, discover which have the best atmosphere or the most reasonable prices. Figure out which clubs play the best music on which nights. Go to a museum or two and find your favorite exhibits and artists (and all British museums don’t cost a thing, so enjoy your learning free of charge). In Cambridge, there are the Botanical Gardens, which is a beautiful place to take a walk, write, or listen to music. Additionally, go to more than just places all tourists visit in your city. I’ve been to a pool and snooker bar, a Janet Devlin concert, a bowling alley, and to a protest (the last one was the result of a detour we took on the way to the bowling alley, but still). Experience your city. Fall in love with it so you can miss and remember it when you’re back home with your Netflix and peanut butter.

Playing pool

1. You can make friends. This one is the most important, in my opinion. Since most of us only have classes with each other (I’m the only person who takes a class at a British university), it can be challenging to meet people in Cambridge unless you stay home on some weekends. The group of people that I talked about in my last blog post are hilarious, interesting, and sweet, even when I ask strange questions and can’t properly navigate them through the city and back to the house (I didn’t realize there were so many streets cars aren’t allowed to drive on). They helped me understand what it’s truly like to live here as well as offered advice about true English norms and popular British recreational activities. We are so incredibly lucky to have met them. Like I wrote last time, we met them on a Friday night in a club, an experience we never would have had if we were traveling every weekend. Becoming friends with these guys has made me miss home a little less and has allowed me to truly take advantage of my time here at Cambridge.

I hope these reasons not only give comfort to those who know they can’t travel all the time as well as persuade those who can to stay home every now and then. That being said, I am currently writing this about 20 minutes before I have to leave for the airport. This next week is our one week break and we are flying to Barcelona! Julia and I are then going to Paris while others are headed to Madrid. Hopefully I will have some good stories to share when I get back!