Friday, November 25, 2011
Back in Germany
I'm writing this from band rehearsal :)
The Christmas market is open since we came back from Sweden and we've been eating from the cute little shacks all week. It can't be healthy :p baked potatoes with quark, bratwurst, hunters sandwich, grilled mushrooms, battered cauliflower, and etc :) it's a really fun time to be here!
And our friend Eric is visiting from Sweden! :) pretty busy week.
Ps Rene's flat is right on the main street, so the Christmas market is right outside out door!
Denmark and Sweden!!
I have to say I really really love the Scandinavian countries! They are usually quite nice and friendly, the sign are usually also in English, and it's possible to understand the public transportation system! All great things for me.
We were in Lund to visit our friends Basti and Janina from Friday till Monday, and from Thursday till late Friday we were in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen was really neat, with beautiful architecture and some great bars. The best and most interesting part, by far, was Christiania. This section of the city has a special status (self declared) of being out side of denmark and the EU. The people who live their have essentially taken over an old military base and turned it into the ultimate hippie commune. The community takes care of each other, builds a house for each person, runs businesses to make money to support the community. The citizens who live there don't use Danish crowns, they have their own currency, but the need to have some to pay for water, electric, and buy groceries they can't grow or make themselves.
There seem to be three main industries, theres a boutique style bike shop with really interesting, hand build, super expensive bikes. There is the drug trade, with is just super open, and not as sketchy as say in holland. We stayed away but everything seemed really chill, and according to Christiania law you cant sell hard drugs anyway. The next way to raise money were the bars and restaurants. They bars are just pretty classic dirty hippie bars, and there's a pretty simple vegitarian restaurant. On the top floor of a third floor walkup, the whole building covered in graffitti, hides the best restaurant I've seen on the trip so far. Beautiful wood panelling, candle light, it's actually makes everyone giggle when they first open the door. They servers were from Christiania and were just wearing whatever, but they spoke English perfectly, and were super wonderful and friendly, and I can't even describe how amazing the food was. It ended up being the equivalent of 50 euros a person (Rene, Basti, and I) plus wine, but really worth. There were just 8 choices, 4 meat (venison, wild boar, veal, and duck), a fish entree, and 3 vegetarian choices. The menu changes every week, but to hear people talk about it, it must be consitently great.
So in Sweden, Basti and Janina were throwing a huge party. Mostly for their departments (chemistry) and their friends from their phd work. It was awesome :) someone brought liquid nitrogen and we made the alcoholic equivalent of dip n dots with wine, rum, whiskey, and gluhwein. Just reminded me of a Clarkson party, I felt so at home. Lund itself was a really cute little city, and the university itself, well.. How would you like to go to class in a palace :p lol. The science campus wasn't quite as beautiful, but nice old brick buildings and the beginnings of Europe's second biggest particle excelerator.
We were in Lund to visit our friends Basti and Janina from Friday till Monday, and from Thursday till late Friday we were in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen was really neat, with beautiful architecture and some great bars. The best and most interesting part, by far, was Christiania. This section of the city has a special status (self declared) of being out side of denmark and the EU. The people who live their have essentially taken over an old military base and turned it into the ultimate hippie commune. The community takes care of each other, builds a house for each person, runs businesses to make money to support the community. The citizens who live there don't use Danish crowns, they have their own currency, but the need to have some to pay for water, electric, and buy groceries they can't grow or make themselves.
There seem to be three main industries, theres a boutique style bike shop with really interesting, hand build, super expensive bikes. There is the drug trade, with is just super open, and not as sketchy as say in holland. We stayed away but everything seemed really chill, and according to Christiania law you cant sell hard drugs anyway. The next way to raise money were the bars and restaurants. They bars are just pretty classic dirty hippie bars, and there's a pretty simple vegitarian restaurant. On the top floor of a third floor walkup, the whole building covered in graffitti, hides the best restaurant I've seen on the trip so far. Beautiful wood panelling, candle light, it's actually makes everyone giggle when they first open the door. They servers were from Christiania and were just wearing whatever, but they spoke English perfectly, and were super wonderful and friendly, and I can't even describe how amazing the food was. It ended up being the equivalent of 50 euros a person (Rene, Basti, and I) plus wine, but really worth. There were just 8 choices, 4 meat (venison, wild boar, veal, and duck), a fish entree, and 3 vegetarian choices. The menu changes every week, but to hear people talk about it, it must be consitently great.
So in Sweden, Basti and Janina were throwing a huge party. Mostly for their departments (chemistry) and their friends from their phd work. It was awesome :) someone brought liquid nitrogen and we made the alcoholic equivalent of dip n dots with wine, rum, whiskey, and gluhwein. Just reminded me of a Clarkson party, I felt so at home. Lund itself was a really cute little city, and the university itself, well.. How would you like to go to class in a palace :p lol. The science campus wasn't quite as beautiful, but nice old brick buildings and the beginnings of Europe's second biggest particle excelerator.
Rock weekend number 2
On November 12th (Saturday) Rene's band played at his guitar player(Nicco)'s dads 60 birthday party. It was a traditional German birthday party, with about 150 people, amazing classic German food ( so meat, potatoes in 10 different ways, and lots of gravy... Aka Jane's food heaven), and hilarious situations. So after dinner the dj started playing pretty tradition folk music from Germany, Russia, even Greece and I got to see some pretty hilarious dances, and even joined in a few with Nicco :)
They also did some Fashing type skits, which were pretty hilarious, like a human percussion sketch (blue man group style) and a pop song lip synch (complete with outfits)... I was pretty hilariously strange. The band played from about midnight till 4 and we all had a pretty relaxin Sunday :)
They also did some Fashing type skits, which were pretty hilarious, like a human percussion sketch (blue man group style) and a pop song lip synch (complete with outfits)... I was pretty hilariously strange. The band played from about midnight till 4 and we all had a pretty relaxin Sunday :)
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Helsinki is hell
It's not really, it was pretty fun. Helsinki is hell is just so catchy :p
Rene's sister lives in Helsinki so we went to visit her last weekend. We were pretty sick all week so the flight kind of sucked, but once we got there we had some fun.
It's not a beautiful city really. It was mostly soviet run till the 70s so there's a lot of block buildings and concrete. The port area is really pretty though, it reminded me of Boston, with the markets and brick.
The first night we went to a lug called garbage which was really neat bc it was all recycled stuff, like redone tram seats as booths and graffiti all over the walls. We figured out pretty quickly no one was drinking beer, which was a change. Everyone drank hard cider (in all sorts of flavors) or something called long drink with was like a gin lemonade thing the was on tap. Even at the house party we wenv to the next night or the grocery store everyone had long drink or cider.
While we were in the city m favorite stop was the Finnish chocolate shop called Fazer. They had all sorts of chocolates and pastries and the best lactose free hot chocolate I've ever had :) yum yum yum
The bad parts were it was super cold, the sun set around 4pm and nothing was written in English, although everyone spoke it :p
This week we are relaxing bc we still feel a little under the weather.
Xoxo
Rene's sister lives in Helsinki so we went to visit her last weekend. We were pretty sick all week so the flight kind of sucked, but once we got there we had some fun.
It's not a beautiful city really. It was mostly soviet run till the 70s so there's a lot of block buildings and concrete. The port area is really pretty though, it reminded me of Boston, with the markets and brick.
The first night we went to a lug called garbage which was really neat bc it was all recycled stuff, like redone tram seats as booths and graffiti all over the walls. We figured out pretty quickly no one was drinking beer, which was a change. Everyone drank hard cider (in all sorts of flavors) or something called long drink with was like a gin lemonade thing the was on tap. Even at the house party we wenv to the next night or the grocery store everyone had long drink or cider.
While we were in the city m favorite stop was the Finnish chocolate shop called Fazer. They had all sorts of chocolates and pastries and the best lactose free hot chocolate I've ever had :) yum yum yum
The bad parts were it was super cold, the sun set around 4pm and nothing was written in English, although everyone spoke it :p
This week we are relaxing bc we still feel a little under the weather.
Xoxo
Halloween weekend! Or not :p
So the Germans don't really celebrate halloween, but don't worry, we made up for it!
Basti and janina (Rene's friends from sweden) came to visit. They speak great English, are super nice, and fun, and both are doing advanced biology research! We had so much to talk about :) the first night we all went to the Kuze, my new favorite bar here, it's homey and fun and super cheap. Rene and Steffen are friends with the bartenders so we stayed until 330 and had way too much fun and shot and played the most ridiculous music.
Friday we all got tickets to a concert by a local legend band called Pothead. They came to Germany from the us about 25 years ago an just never left. They're sort of cult famous here and were hilarious to watch. They're about 50 now, and wear suits while they play, a drummer, a bassist, and drums. They didn't talk the whole time except to say danke and thanks. Lol. They just smiled and sort of giggled with each other like, really? They still like us this much? Lol. And then after we got donne, which is the only German late night food and I end up with it a lot.
Saturday was Benito's going away party, which was just a really big flat party and Benito's band played. Theyre pretty fun to dance to so it ended up being a really good time, tons of people, and some one brought red paint and we all ended up with it on our faces (see pictures).
Unfortunately someone also brought a bug and we all were sick by Monday. Yuck.
Unfortunately
Basti and janina (Rene's friends from sweden) came to visit. They speak great English, are super nice, and fun, and both are doing advanced biology research! We had so much to talk about :) the first night we all went to the Kuze, my new favorite bar here, it's homey and fun and super cheap. Rene and Steffen are friends with the bartenders so we stayed until 330 and had way too much fun and shot and played the most ridiculous music.
Friday we all got tickets to a concert by a local legend band called Pothead. They came to Germany from the us about 25 years ago an just never left. They're sort of cult famous here and were hilarious to watch. They're about 50 now, and wear suits while they play, a drummer, a bassist, and drums. They didn't talk the whole time except to say danke and thanks. Lol. They just smiled and sort of giggled with each other like, really? They still like us this much? Lol. And then after we got donne, which is the only German late night food and I end up with it a lot.
Saturday was Benito's going away party, which was just a really big flat party and Benito's band played. Theyre pretty fun to dance to so it ended up being a really good time, tons of people, and some one brought red paint and we all ended up with it on our faces (see pictures).
Unfortunately someone also brought a bug and we all were sick by Monday. Yuck.
Unfortunately
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
German Rock Weekend
So last weekend we visited a neat little town about a half hour away fro Berlin. Rene's entire band and I spent a few days at his drummers house playing music all day, eating terrible food, and drinking beer all night. :) on Saturday they played a big concert with a touring band from Sweden. It was pretty neat, the club was a converted bank, and the backstage band room was the old vault. The band introduced me as their muse :p and i got to drink free beer, listen to amazing music, and eat the free band food :) after the concert we went to the local dance club and they were having a throw back night which was pretty hilarious, it was just really terrible old "funk" like abc 123 , and Stevie wonder, etc. Lol
We are back in Potsdam/Berlin now and getting back into the normal schedule. :) this weekend is Rene's friend Benito's goodbye party and a few concerts well probably all go to will write soon.
Xoxo
We are back in Potsdam/Berlin now and getting back into the normal schedule. :) this weekend is Rene's friend Benito's goodbye party and a few concerts well probably all go to will write soon.
Xoxo
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
German days
Right now I'm at band practice for Rene's band. I'm an American dating a German in an Americana band :p
During the day we wander to another garden or park, more castle, etc. We shop, plan dinner, watch a movie if it's raining, cook dinner, eat out, or get Vietnamese take out from across the street (the pho is amazing!) then we go to a concert, or cool bar, or a concert in a cool bar :p
Potsdam is so beautiful, the seat of prussian royalty. And Rene lives in a beautiful area, right next to a castle and park, pedestrian only with great shops and restaurants. We just walk everywhere we need to go.
It does rain alot here though, so I've invested in a nice raincoat. :)
Xoxo
During the day we wander to another garden or park, more castle, etc. We shop, plan dinner, watch a movie if it's raining, cook dinner, eat out, or get Vietnamese take out from across the street (the pho is amazing!) then we go to a concert, or cool bar, or a concert in a cool bar :p
Potsdam is so beautiful, the seat of prussian royalty. And Rene lives in a beautiful area, right next to a castle and park, pedestrian only with great shops and restaurants. We just walk everywhere we need to go.
It does rain alot here though, so I've invested in a nice raincoat. :)
Xoxo
Sailing trip
So the sailing trip was a sucsess! No one got sea sick or fell over bored. I did get a little carsick on the way there, driving 7 hours in a European (super) compact, going 150mph. Lol
We sailed out of a town called Harlingen, right on the edge of the ijlssemeer (sp?). We spent one da in the ijlssemeer, and spent the rest of the week in the north sea.
Each day we woke up at 8, ate breakfast at 9, and left port around 10. We had ceremonial 11 o'clock beers and then enjoyed the weather and wind and see, some read books, some knitted, some played guitar for the rest of us :) we scavenged lunch, and then began to make for some north sea island. We docked and then wandered around, went grocery shopping, hung out at some cafe, and walked to the light house. Then we would have group dinner, and start rolling cigarettes, drink port, wine, scotch, etc. Play games, wander around the ship and wreak general havoc :) the ship fit 20 of us (German academics, plus me, the youngest by far and the only non German speaker) and two crew, a capatin and first mate. Klass, the captain, was very sailer-esque, and spoke English in a mediocre way, he thought we were all pretty classic, but didn't hang out much. The first mate, however, (Marco) thought we were just great, and made it his mission to keep up and surpass us :) he also spoke English really well and made it his mission to translate every aspect of sailing into English. Mostly the mornings were pretty rough, English wise, but after the 11 oclock beers everyone spoke quite fluently. This was an interesting phenomenon to witness.
Did I mention weed is legal in holland? Lol. Several group members took this as a challenge. G
We sailed out of a town called Harlingen, right on the edge of the ijlssemeer (sp?). We spent one da in the ijlssemeer, and spent the rest of the week in the north sea.
Each day we woke up at 8, ate breakfast at 9, and left port around 10. We had ceremonial 11 o'clock beers and then enjoyed the weather and wind and see, some read books, some knitted, some played guitar for the rest of us :) we scavenged lunch, and then began to make for some north sea island. We docked and then wandered around, went grocery shopping, hung out at some cafe, and walked to the light house. Then we would have group dinner, and start rolling cigarettes, drink port, wine, scotch, etc. Play games, wander around the ship and wreak general havoc :) the ship fit 20 of us (German academics, plus me, the youngest by far and the only non German speaker) and two crew, a capatin and first mate. Klass, the captain, was very sailer-esque, and spoke English in a mediocre way, he thought we were all pretty classic, but didn't hang out much. The first mate, however, (Marco) thought we were just great, and made it his mission to keep up and surpass us :) he also spoke English really well and made it his mission to translate every aspect of sailing into English. Mostly the mornings were pretty rough, English wise, but after the 11 oclock beers everyone spoke quite fluently. This was an interesting phenomenon to witness.
Did I mention weed is legal in holland? Lol. Several group members took this as a challenge. G
Friday, September 30, 2011
Interesting cultural things
So here are some neat things everyone seems to be doing:
Rolling their own cigarettes
Eating huge lunches
Buying fresh bread every morning
Food is wayyy cheaper here
the beer is sooooo good
Its brewed all over, in cute small breweries
Sparkling water!
Political awareness is way up
Everyone speaks English
Weird duvet over things instead of sheets
Really flat low beds
No dryers! Ahhh
Lol
We leave for a sailing trip in the Netherlands in 2 days!
Xoxo
Rolling their own cigarettes
Eating huge lunches
Buying fresh bread every morning
Food is wayyy cheaper here
the beer is sooooo good
Its brewed all over, in cute small breweries
Sparkling water!
Political awareness is way up
Everyone speaks English
Weird duvet over things instead of sheets
Really flat low beds
No dryers! Ahhh
Lol
We leave for a sailing trip in the Netherlands in 2 days!
Xoxo
Praha
So Rene and I just got back from 4 days in Prague :)
We had so much fun!
Sights: the charles bridge,
Praha castle,
Old town,
The Jewish quarter,
One million bars/beirgarten
One million churches
Absenth
Bohemian goulash
U'flecku
2 blues bars
The Praha coockoo clock
The square
Lots of beer :p
We had so much fun!
Sights: the charles bridge,
Praha castle,
Old town,
The Jewish quarter,
One million bars/beirgarten
One million churches
Absenth
Bohemian goulash
U'flecku
2 blues bars
The Praha coockoo clock
The square
Lots of beer :p
Monday, September 26, 2011
First Few Days :)
Day 1:
I met Rene at the airport! It was an awesome day :) we went to see his university and then took my stuff to the apartment. It's in a really pretty area, pedestrian only, so we walked a while with the bags. There are shops and cafes everywhere, with people playing music outside and cobblestone streets. I had doner kebab for the first time :p Rene's favorite street food. After unpacking a bit we met up with Rene's roommate Steffen (schteffen), and his friends Michael (misha) and Thomas (tomas). We all walked down to this really neat bar with wine bottle candles and sofas (and beers for .70€).
Day 2: during the day I caught up on sleep and unpacked while Rene played music outside for a bit (and made 54€ in a half hour). Then we went to one of his friends birthday parties, there we met up with Micha and Steffen and had a BBQ, which was pretty cool. No buns, but brotts and grilled chicken, and bacon on a stick :) we drank a bunch of wine in the little park behind luci's house and then the four of our group walked through a park and climbed over a fence behind a palace to get to a student bar in the basement of the palace. Lol micha's roommate was the lead singer of the band there, it was sort of a hardcore show meets etherial melodies. And it was in such an interesting place. It was super chilly so we took the bus home :)
Day 3: rene decided that I had to ride a bike :p lol so I practiced in his court yard for a bit and then we started off around this city, mostly in the parks. We saw a bunch of castles and ended up at a brewry right on a really pretty river. We met up with nicco (nicko) and Micha there and sat outside trying a dark cherry beer and a lighter beer brewed with melon. Really really good and so much fun. I only fell on the bike once, on the way home down a steep hill. Lol. I scraped my hands and an elbow, and bruised my leg a little but over all I'm just fine :p then we got european style pizza at home and had a movie watching night in.
Day 4: just finishing up packing for Prague! We will take the train, and we have a little room like in Harry potter :p we will be there till Thursday and then take the train back. Will update from Prague soon!
Xoxo
I met Rene at the airport! It was an awesome day :) we went to see his university and then took my stuff to the apartment. It's in a really pretty area, pedestrian only, so we walked a while with the bags. There are shops and cafes everywhere, with people playing music outside and cobblestone streets. I had doner kebab for the first time :p Rene's favorite street food. After unpacking a bit we met up with Rene's roommate Steffen (schteffen), and his friends Michael (misha) and Thomas (tomas). We all walked down to this really neat bar with wine bottle candles and sofas (and beers for .70€).
Day 2: during the day I caught up on sleep and unpacked while Rene played music outside for a bit (and made 54€ in a half hour). Then we went to one of his friends birthday parties, there we met up with Micha and Steffen and had a BBQ, which was pretty cool. No buns, but brotts and grilled chicken, and bacon on a stick :) we drank a bunch of wine in the little park behind luci's house and then the four of our group walked through a park and climbed over a fence behind a palace to get to a student bar in the basement of the palace. Lol micha's roommate was the lead singer of the band there, it was sort of a hardcore show meets etherial melodies. And it was in such an interesting place. It was super chilly so we took the bus home :)
Day 3: rene decided that I had to ride a bike :p lol so I practiced in his court yard for a bit and then we started off around this city, mostly in the parks. We saw a bunch of castles and ended up at a brewry right on a really pretty river. We met up with nicco (nicko) and Micha there and sat outside trying a dark cherry beer and a lighter beer brewed with melon. Really really good and so much fun. I only fell on the bike once, on the way home down a steep hill. Lol. I scraped my hands and an elbow, and bruised my leg a little but over all I'm just fine :p then we got european style pizza at home and had a movie watching night in.
Day 4: just finishing up packing for Prague! We will take the train, and we have a little room like in Harry potter :p we will be there till Thursday and then take the train back. Will update from Prague soon!
Xoxo
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