My Interesting Weekend

I know it's still Sonntag, aber I'm feeling blog-y. So there.

Friday we were supposed to go on a hike around the Wolfgangsee. I set my usual two alarms. I slept through both of them and woke up at 9, with the bus scheduled in 19 minutes to leave from Mirabelle, which is at least 25 minutes sprint from the Lehrerhaus. I called a friend who got Phoeobe on the line, and I apologized profusely. I got off the phone and cried for about twenty minutes, and then pulled myself together, determined to have a good day anyway. I ran some errends in the man city that morning (went to the bank, went to the Eurostore-- the dollar store, basically-- and bought some bus tickets). I returned to the Lehrerhaus for lunch, and then set off to find the correct bus to get to the Europark.

I found the Europark! I wasn't very impressed with the mall part of it, since I live five minutes from the Mall of Georgia in the States. I almost bought a nice knitted scarf in wool from Pimkie, or Pimplie, or whatever that store is, but I didn't after all. After I walked around the mall part, I went to IKEA!!!! Huzzah!



I really really really like this couch. Funny story: this is the picture I took the second time through the store because the first time, this lady happened to be sitting there, and she came up to me and was all like, "WHY DID YOU TAKE MY PICTURE, ERASE IT AT ONCE, BEEEOTCH!" and I was like, "Sorry, ya know, I just liked the couch and you just happened to be sitting there?"

This chair matches the sofa that will be sitting in my living room. And yes, it is as comfortable as it seems.

It's a moose. I thought it was so random and cute I had to take a picture of it.

After I'd walked through the store twice and bought tupperware (DISTANS, 2,48) and a cup-thing for my toothbrush (BEHALT, 0,49), it was only about three-thirty, which is really early for dinner, but I'd wanted to eat dinner at IKEA anyway, and so I bought spinach crepes, a cake thing that was deeeeelicious, and the soda fountain thing, which was 1,14 or something for unlimited refills. Needless to say, I sat there for about an hour, constantly refilling my drink.

You see the empty seat across from me? I was stuffing my face and this business-dude come up and asks, in German, if he can sit down. My mouth full, I motion with my fork, "Uuuh, okay, sure," and he leaves his briefcase and coat in the chair while he buys some coffee. Now, I'm not mean and creepy and going to take anyone's stuff or let anyone else steal it, so, whatever. But it seemed very strange to me. I mean, I wouldn't do that in the States. He returns with his coffee, drinks it, says, "Ciao," the only words other than asking if he could sit, and leaves.

Odd.

Saturday! I hadn't planned on hiking to the Ice Caves, but I thought since I'd missed the trip on Friday I should go. We met our guide, Alex, at the Bahnhoff at 8 that morning, and he led us onto the train. The ride was about an hour, and the mountains just got bigger and bigger.

We also got crazier and crazier, as Dominique demonstrates.

Once at the correct stop, we got off the train and found a little bus thing waiting to take us up the mountain a ways before the trail began.

And we got some great views, but these are nothing compared to what we saw later.

This is before we began hiking. I was happy. We were all happy.

Half an hour later, we were tired, but we saw these views.

Another hour went by, and we were getting done. It was cold on the mountain, and we could see our breath streaming white in the air as we gasped our exertion, and I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves pushed up to my elbows.

However, we got views like this.

Me all bundled up to go into the Ice Caves!!


You weren't supposed to take pictures, not officially, but if you turned off your flash it was okay. I tried to hide my camera, but other people were taking pictures in full view of the tour guide. Who was really cute. This is the polar bear. Oder Eisbär!


And this was the Elephant, obviously.

Going down the mountain was so much easier than going up, although it was scarier, because there were rocks and gravel on the trail, and you'd slip and slide, and you were right on the edge of of the mountain, and so there was much imminent fear of death. Aside from all that, I was glad I went.

Heute (Sonntag): I was going to the Franciscan Church to hear something Mozart. However, when my alarm woke me up at 8:15 I wasn't ready to get up, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up later, and did absolutely nothing much for the entire rest of the day. (Except for now, of course, haha.) I went and sat outside on the patio of the Lehrerhaus, and read in the sunshine. I wanted to make something different, and I had sugar and milk and rice, so I made spartan rice pudding like such:


It is fantastic! How you do it: boil the beejesus out of some rice until it's cooked and all the water is gone. Add milk and sugar and a little bit of Nutella for depth, and then add more and more sugar. Cook the mess for about twenty minutes, making sure to stir from the bottom so that it won't congeal there. When you think it's about done, add a little more milk and sugar and one more little bit of Nutella, cook for a few more minutes, and then it's done.

I was very proud of myself. :)

Poem For UA

Why is a river needed? you ask.
Why do we need to eat? you might say.
Well, since this assignment is my task,
I will try to find a way.
The Salzach River, Two-hundred twenty-five kilometers long,
Beautiful, and clear, and clean,
The current is quite strong,
And all the plants it can make green.
The Celts, so very, very long ago,
Used it as their trading route.
The Romans followed too its flow,
Using it for long commutes.
White gold, they say, in longing tones, is salt.
It made the city rich.
It made the poor exalt.
It made the wealthy twitch.
Without the river, diverted through,
The dream of white gold would not come true.
Without its shining, flowing tides,
All thoughts of riches would only have dried.
Many animals live in there,
Unmolested by pollution.
In the 70s, it was almost despair,
But today, they have thankfully found a solution.
Flooding, however, can be quite a pain.
All the old buildings underwater—oh, no!
They built high walls the water to contain,
So now the waters aren’t quite such a blow.
Although water is quite dangerous,
It isn’t, in this case, all traitorous.
The Salzach River: flow ever, ever on,
Even after I have come and gone...


(I wrote it this way to disguise the fact that I really didn't know anything about the river. Mwahaha.)

The Views

From my bedroom window:

From my classroom window:

Yes. You should be jealous. It's okay. These feelings are natural.

Nuremberg Day Two (ish), and Salzburg Parts One and Two

The next morning we packed up all our stchuff and schlepped it to the bus and then had breakfast right off the main square in Nuremberg. We got extra money from the hostel because apparently the boys had found bedbugs in their beds! Uck. Luckily, none of the girls had any bedbugs.

After a nice large breakfast, we met our tourguide: Diane, who was scottish. Funny. She was fantastic and full of lots of great and interesting information, and told us all about the square, the church, the fountain (where we all turned the golden ring and made a wish), and then led us uuuup the hill to the castle. (I forgot my camera on the bus. Yes, you can kick me if you wish, but rest assured that I have kicked myself a lot already.)


The thing I remember the most about the castle was Diane's story about this knight, who was especially nasty. After the wars, knights had nothing to do except for steal, and this particular knight was sentenced to death. His last wish was to sit on his horse. So they brought his horse, and he's sitting on it, on the top of this mountain. There is a dry moat surrounding the castle, and it was at least thirty or forty feet down to the ground. Lore has it that this knight jumped his horse off the wall, down into the moat, and escaped. (He was later executed.) Diane said, "I don't know if this is true, but if you look right here, there's the imprint of a horseshoe on the wall." And there was, and I touched it! It kinda freaked me out. It was awesome, but I sort of suspect it was put there for the tourists. Too bad...

We saw this really odd statue of this misshapen rabbit, and it was all about how we need to keep a hold of the environment. We also learned a lot about the different types of building styles: classical, baroque, gothic, tudor. Tudor style is fairly popular in Nuremberg, and almost every house has a bay window (which started out as an area for a shrine, but then the rich people wanted to have one, so it developed into something just for appearance). The churches almost all have gothic spires on their towers (I think-- correct me if I'm wrong, since I can't go look at my pictures, sad day.), and the towers on the wall that surround the city are all round except for one.

I could go on and on about Nuremberg, but we didn't really spend much time there, and so I'll go back and write more on it later. I bought some lebkuchen in the markt before the church, and then we got on the bus and went to the old Nazi Party Rally Grounds, after passing quickly by the courthouse where they had the Trials (I did get pictures of that). The Nazi Party Grounds are a huge complex (4 kilometers square, with a lake and large zepplin field thing as well as the main building, which is based on the Roman Colleseum, and probably just as big).



The colleseum housed the documentation center which was a museum, and we went in and sat in this auditorium thing and had an introduction by this professor dude before we went on the audiotour. I'm sure he was very interesting, but he spoke softly, and his accent was thick, and it was all we could do not to fall asleep, so, sorry, I didn't catch much of his speech. My bad.

The audiotour was interesting, and rather long. I had to skip some stuff, otherwise I wouldn't've made it out on time. It follows Hitler from the first Pusch all the way until after the war. I couldn't even begin to tell you everything I learned. One thing I remember that was particularly interesting was the movie "Triumph of the Will", which Hitler himself named. It was a movie made during a Rally in Nuremberg, and follows Hitler around through all the speeches and specticles of that. It won first prizes at the Venice Film Festival in 193-, and it now banned today from having public showings of it. It's pretty powerful, and such a beautiful and interesting film about someone and something that turned out to be so awful.




After we made it out of the museum, a few of us had just enough time to walk around the lake to the Zepplinfeld, the Zepplin Field, where Hitler inspected troops and working men and spoke to the Hitler Youth. I stood in the exact spot where Hitler had. And the Zepplinfeld was huge! I just had to imagine it crowded with people, and it was really amazing to think of it. What a show.

Back on the bus, and we were headed, finally, to Salzburg! Huzzah! Our busdriver had a treat for us: we watched "The Sound of Music" to help pass the time! Since the trip was about 4 hours, it worked out perfectly since Phoebe would start pointing out mountains and interesting stuff half an hour before arrival in Salzburg. I watched and and took many pictures of the German countryside, with the Alps in the background. Phoebe laughed at us, but the scenery was so picturesque that I couldn't help but want to take pictures. My favorite was when I could catch a kirche against ein Berg, because of the juxtaposition.

Anyway, the Untersberg was hiding his face, so none of the German side, but I got some pictures today of the Austrian side.

We arrived at the Lehrerhaus around 6:30, after passing the house they used as the back of the von Trapp's house, and also a statue of Abe Lincoln riding a horse in the back of the Lehrerhaus-- very strange.

The Lehrerhaus is yellow, and is currently being used as a little bit of a hostel until Monday, and then is being renovated. On the second floor (third floor) is where we three are, Forrest, Allie, and I, and the single rooms are great: huge and the beds are comfortable and the showers are great, the internet is fast (although I've been spoiled by wireless at home all summer-- now I'm back on the wire, sigh), there's a small gym area downstairs in the basement as well as a pingpong table and the laundry rooms, they prefer to hangdry their clothes, there's a large backyard area (with the statue I mentioned) and a comfortable patio, the kitchen is great, and we get pots and pans and cutlery and dishes, as well as our own locked compartments for fridge and shelfspace, there's two common rooms on the first floor, one for non-smokers and another for smokers, there's a library with some English books in it, two practice rooms with pianos in the basement which are soundproof, and it's just going to be amazing. There is so much shelf- and closet space, and I can't wait until I get to move into the double, because I have no doubt it's going to be as awesomely arranged as the singles are.

Because shops close around 6 on Saturdays, Iris, Phoebe's friend, had bought each of us a small box of food to last through Sunday (because the shops don't open at all on Sunday). I got cereal, milk, lots of fruit, cheese, cheese spread, turkey, a loaf of bread, green tea and sugar (wahoo!), some "Knusper-" something or other (nibble bars!), OJ, and plus I still had some lebkuchen from Nuremberg, so I didn't have to buy anything at all yesterday evening or today.

I woke up this morning fairly late (10:45) and took an amazing shower (the water pressure is fantastic) and blowdried my hair before heading off with Forrest into the city. Allie was so excited she took off by herself. Forrest and I waited at the Lehrerhaus for a bit because Julia said she wanted to meet us there, but she never showed up, so we just went. (I later found out Julia had done stuff with her Frau instead. Good. Then we hadn't left her stranded.)

To get to school, we have to walk over a mountain. It's a small mountain, but it is a mountain nonetheless. Then you cross the street very carefully and go through a chilly tunnel, and appear on the other side by this fountain of horses, with horses painted all over the wall behind it. We took the wrong way, and went up this really touristy street (I had to give my map away later, and the ones I have now don't show it, but I will find out) and over to Franz-Josef Strasse, which runs right along the river, and we followed that until we found the college. There is an easier way to get there, though, and we will take that route tomorrow morning.

There at the college we actually found Allie, who was starved, and she went to lunch in an Irish pub right down from the college while Forrest and I headed back to the dorm-- Forrest was thirsty, and didn't feel like spending a lot for water. We checked our email, and then set out, this time from the back of the dorm, and we were going to walk basically around Salzburg, heading out a ways and then up to the Augistiner place, where they brew beer and there's a nice biergarten there. We somehow ended up walking off the map completely. Eventually we found our way, but it was interesting. We saw some pretty flowers, like this:

And this:

So it wasn't all bad. We also found some stuff that wasn't marked on the map, like this Gerburtshaus:

And this WWI/WWII memorial set randomly into the side of the mountain.

Anyway, we eventually made it back to the dorm, and I really have to do homework now. (Uuuuuugh...)

Munich Day Three (ish) and Nuremberg (also ish)

We got up early and stuck our luggage in the storage room, before taking the underground to der Olympiapark, where they held the 1972 olympics. The BMW plant is right beside it, and we went inside and took a tour of the plant. It was sooo awesome, and I really want a BMW now! You have a 1.5% chance of getting the same exact car as someone else, so basically you get a BMW that no one else in the world has. Awesome.

After that, we went up the big tower in the Park, and I took lots of cool city-scape pictures. We trekked back to Munchen center on the subway (European trains are awesome, btw). Dominque, Forrest, and I went back to der Viktualienmarkt wieder, and to the same bakery too, and I got ein kase-bretzel und ein schokolade-creme croissant for about 3 euros. (That's a cheese-covered pretezel and a chocolate-creme croissant for you non-German types.) Nom nom nom! Forrest then wished to visit the big Football Stadium for the Munich team, and so we took the subway all the way out to the stadium. We had some issues coming back (namely, we didn't plan enough time for the return trip, and we came out the wrong side of the Hauptbahnhoff, and we panicked) and were about 15 minutes late for the bus. :( I hate to be late. I was so tired, too, since we basically ran up all the stairs and across streets and down sidewalks and everything-- basically, we ran.

In any case, once on the road to Nuremberg, Phoebe called us up to recieve our rooming assignments. Allie, Forrest, and I got dorm rooms, and I'm very excited. For the first week we'll have to stay in single rooms because the dorms are being renovated, which suits me fine because it'll give me some time to get used to Salzburg and also get more German under my belt, so in case my roommate doesn't speak much English I won't be completely lost. So. Sehr gut fur mich.

Once in Nurembeg, we checked into our hostel (which is a little sketchier than the Wombat, but the internet is suuuuuper fast, so it evens out) and then hit the streets. I thought we'd go out together, but it ended up that just Julia and Sara and I went out for dinner. We wandered around for a bit, me trying stupidly to figure out the map the front desk had given us, before we ended up at a Mexican place. It was fantastic, believe it or not. The prices were a little expensive, but it was totally worth it since everything tasted very good and the portions were huuuuge. The restaurant was called Sausalitos (do you say it mexicanly? or germanly?) and I totally recommend it. I had the Sonora quesadilla (which is Blattspinat und kase-- spinach and cheese-- I didn't know what blattspinat was) and it came with a salat und Kartoffelecken (salad and potato wedges) and it was excellent.

Our waitress was very nice, too. She came up to our table and started jabbering away in German, and I caught the last word: "minuten." I figured she meant "are you ready to order, or do you need a moment?" so I answered, "um, minuten, bitte," and then she gave a little, "oh" and switched to perfect English. I swear she didn't even have a german accent at all. It was crazy. Another crazy thing that happened was, while we were on the subway earlier, just three of us, this German lady came up to us and started asking where a station was. I said, "Sorry, ich weiss nicht," and gave her my map of the underground. Very funny.

In any case, Julia and Sara and I walked around for about ten minutes after dinner, but we were tired by then, and it was about eight, so we came back to the hostel, and here we are. I need to take a shower, but I'm scared, because boys and girls are supposed to use it? And everyone else is being chicken, but it is not an option for me: I need to take a shower. So I guess I will.

Oh, one more thing: if I get back to Munchen, I want to go to the Biergarten in the middle of the big park by the old palace, the chinese tower one. We meant to go today, but obviously we ran out of time. Ah, well.

Munich Day Two

Life is so much better without jetlag. It is so much better without jetlag. I cannot reiterate it enough.

We woke up this morning about 7:15-- well, we'd been woken up a few times that night due to rowdy-ness-- but this is a hostel, and in Munchen. But we slept very well (went to bed at 8-- we were laaaaamoes). We got up, had breakfast, and then met our tourguide for the morning, Alle. She took us aaaaall over Munchen, and we saw der Alten Botanischen Garten (the old Botanical Gardens), the hotel where all the Middle Eastern royalty stay when they visit Munchen, she explained the Gates to us (the city middle used to be enclosed), the city hall where the glockenspiel plays every noon (which commemorates the story of King Wilhelm's marriage to Renata), St. Paul's Kirche, several different palaces, the old and new Palaces of Justice, the Parisian and English gardens (with the beergarten in the middle of it), the Operhaus (and the story of the water above the stage), etc. etc. We walked for three hours!

We had lunch in Viktualienmarkt, which is the huge market thing right off the main drag of Munchen. I had eine bretzel grosse und ein apfel I'd stolen from breakfast that morning. The pretzel was huuuuuuge! It was also delicious.

After lunch, we went to the Deutches Museum. It was actually interesting. Our tour guide, Bruno, was fantastic, and we saw old engines and turbines and the pendulum and the electricity show (I have some awesome video from that-- sehr laut!) and old airplanes and space stuff...The tour was almost three hours long. Our feet were killing us at this point; I hope Bruno didn't think he was boring us, the way we pounced on every opportunity to sit down. Ahh, it felt good to sit down!

Near the end of the tour, Phoebe skipped out, because we were supposed to find our way back to the hostel ourselves, in time for interviews which would decide where we stayed in Salzburg. A few of us had signed up for 16:00, and we were on our way out the door, Bruno still explaining stuff, at 15:40 because we didn't think to keep track of the time. We literally ran across the city, Allie being our wonderful navigator, and we still arrived about twenty minutes late. Things I Learned in Munchen Number 4: When you have to be somewhere, leave half an hour before you would usually leave, as it's farther than you think. In any case, Phoebe wasn't mad we were late. Had interviews, and then Julia and I went on an adventure to find a notebook. We didn't. Oh, well.

Back to the hostel, we sat around for a bit until we got too hungry to wait, and then we went to the pizza place right up the road. I had marghartia pizza, and water, and then we went to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) for some gelato (I had Schokolade-- nom nom! And the guy who served us was very nice, auch.). Then Memory and I went back to the hostel before 20:00 because we got a free drink in the hostel bar during happy hour. We both had rotwein, and met this guy named George who had actually mooched off our tour in the Deutches Museum earlier in the day. He was here on vacation because he'd come off a round-the-world work tour thing. We talked for a bit, and then I escaped and came up here to my room to write this. I am exhausted. Walking hurts!

We've got to be up early tomorrow: ready by 7:30-ish, ick. We're going to see this very famous car company, and then we're heading to Nuremberg. Tonight, I will organize my stuff, and then watch Pocahontas. As you can see, I'm really living it up in Munchen: watching a movie and organizing. Well, give me a few days. I lost the cap for my deodorant somehow. I can't wait to get to Salzburg, because I am so disorganized. I know, I know: "You're so disorganized anyway, Sarah!" There's disorganized, and then there's disorganized and living out of little bags. Difference? I think so.

Pictures not coming until Salzburg, as usual. I have some awesome video of the electricity show at the Deutches Museum. I can't wait to share it with you. Anyway, Guten Abend!

Hallo From Munich

But first, a backtrack to my Newark Travails:

"There is no free wi-fi in Newark, so I can’t get on the internet. Poop. I also cannot get my phone to work. I did the code the way the paper says, but it doesn’t work still. Oh, well. So, the parentals will not be getting a call from me, and I will not be posting this online for a little bit. I can do other stuff: like type this, and transfer some more music to my mp3 player, and maybe compose a little bit, though, and transfer some pictures I’ve already taken onto here, so it’s not a complete waste.

Just a little bit of one.

The flight here was uneventful, except for one thing: they fed us! Now, granted, it was a slice of dry turkey on a roll alongside a piece of what I think was meant to be lettuce, chips, and a mini candy-bar (I had a Twix), but it was unexpected. I had orange juice to drink-- gotta try to not get sick, breathing other people’s air for eight hours. So, mom, your sandwich is still uneaten. It won’t go to waste, but I wish I’d eaten it this morning for breakfast instead of that muffin.

I had a whole row of seats to myself. Fantastic! I doubt the Munich flight will allow me that pleasure, though. And I’ll have to buy some three-dollar headphones, as the jack is the stupid two-prong thing, and I refuse to spend eight hours without something to watch, or listen to. So, first expense, headphones.

I took some pictures on the plane, which I’m sure you can see. I took pictures of something I thought was New York, but is most certainly not; and I took pictures of the New York Skyline. You can sorta see it through the clouds and gross window. I also took a little bit of a nap. I tried not to, but I was soooo sleeeeeepy. I probably slept for about twenty minutes, and man, I get what my dad says about power naps. Unfortunately, I don’t want to be energized. I want to be exhausted, so I’ll sleep on the Munich plane. I don’t think I’ll have a problem, however.



ARG. I wish I could GET ON THE INTERNET. Grrr. Then I could call my parents. But, no, they want you to pay for it. Oooh, RUN, SKINNY GIRL, RUUUUUN. I love people watching in airports. She looked like a model, and she was sprinting. Huh.

So, ta for now. I will post this when I get the chance (probably once I’m in Munich, and then I will post another thing about that flight as well. Even though I’m sure no one really cares. But I am documenting, dang it! So deal.)."

Two things: one, how do you spell 'Newark'? Newark? Or Newerk? Who cares. Secondly, I didn't have to buy headphones for the second flight.

I walked nearly all the way to my gate, skipping only one section, and I saw this awesome Zimbabwean art. (See Facebook for additional images; this wi-fi is reeeeally slow.)

Flight to Munich. Very back row of steerage. Bleh. The bathrooms weren't there, luckily. but the flight attendents yammered on and on. I watched the remake of "The Karate Kid" (verdict? fantastic!), ate their "chicken teriyaki" (I think that was chicken, but it didn't look like it), and then dozed off for at most two hours, at least an hour. Not bad.

Note to people studying abroad: read what they send you. I had recieved an info email about my arrival in Munich, but only skimmed it. I got out of the gates, expecting to see someone holding a "Salzburg College" sign. I wandered around for an hour and a half, growing more and more upset, finally culminating at calling my parents back in the states, who were wonderful and didn't mind that I'd called at three in the morning their time. In any case, I eventually read the email info, and found where I was supposed to go. I met everyone, sweaty and red-faced, and, yeah, crying a little.

We went to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch, and I had the vegetalish (sp, I know) special, which was fried swiss cheese with accompanying cranberry sauce (made with real cranberries-- mm!) and a side salad. I also had my first german beer, and I ordered one with "lemonade", which I hadn't remembered was actually a sprite-like drink; so I had beer with sprite, and it wasn't too bad. I'm glad I started with that, since I wasn't sure I'd like the straight beer. As it was, it was very filling, and I only drank about a quarter of my glass, and ate hardly any of my delicious meal-- when I travel, I can't eat that much the first few days. So, it was a good experiment, and the Hafbrauhaus was great and our waiter was fantastic too. He allowed us to practice our German on him.

After lunch, we walked back to our hostel (the "Wombat Munich"-- I kid you not!) and got into our rooms, and then at 1600 we had an orientation meeting. I'll be taking Beginning German II, which suits me fine, since I can't remember any of my German. Sorry, Dr. McFry. Being around here, though, has allowed a bit to come back, and listening to my fellow students has really helped. I'll blog about them tomorrow. (I already have homework-- ugh.)

We went off on our own to find a grocery store (to many a "I wish there was Wal-Mart"), and we finally did, and I bought a full sized shampoo and conditioner for just under 5-euro. Not bad, I think, and the shampoo smells really nice.

I'm exhausted now. I walked all over Munich Airport (and the city center), and am now crashed out on a woven chair with a large comfy pillow behind my head. The lure of sleep is almost too much for me to handle. Let me do my German homework for tonight:

Ich bin jetzt in Deutchland. Ich esse zu Mittag im Haufbrauhaus. Ich mag Kasse. Das Internet ist langsam. Ich benutze Google Translate das zu schreiben. (At least I'm honest.) I don't know what to write. Give me a few days of German, and I think it will all return to me. Hopefully.