Schottisches Wochenende [Scottish weekend]

Well, I'm finally settled in Potsdam. After three weeks of traveling around Europe, I'm ready to stay put--at least for a little while. But I still need to write something about the amazing weekend I had in the UK. While my transit to and from Edinburgh was far more stressful and difficult than I anticipated, the end result was definitely worth it. All I'll say about my transportation to and from Scotland is this: make sure you know where the airport you need is; sometimes it's an hour and 45 minutes out of your way.

I was so glad to meet up with my long-time friend Alyssa Small in Edinburgh. We didn't plan the whole picking me up at the airport thing, but we somehow managed to time things perfectly, as she rolled up on the bus literally two minutes after I got through customs. Of course we had to ride on the top level of the double-decker bus to her flat. Once we got to her flat, I met her lovely "flatmate" Lindsey from New York. What a breath of fresh air Miss Lindsey is! She tells it how it is, but is so kind, friendly and hysterical at the same time. Luckily, Lindsay accompanied us with all of our activities throughout the weekend. Highlights  were shopping on Princess Street, eating fish and chips (I never eat fish, but it was delicious!) and dining at a Portuguese/South African restaurant. We also toured Holyrood Palace where the queen stays when she visits Edinburgh.

Outside of Holyrood. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside; that didn't stop Lindsey, though. 

We also stopped by The Elephant House for lunch. This was the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of the early Harry Potter books. 

It was also just a lot of fun to hang out in Alyssa's flat, chatting with Lindsey and the other roomies, discussing the differences among the US, Scotland and Germany. But my favorite moment was on my last full day in Scotland when Alyssa and I climbed a hill that overlooks the whole city. As I sat alone on the hill overlooking the city and the ocean, I got chills. Absolutely breathtaking to think that I was just chilling on a hill in Scotland without a care in the world.

Hopefully I have more moments like that. Thanks, Alyssa, for the great weekend!

Toller Tag [great day]

What a great day in Germany. 

After a peaceful morning of sleeping in, I joined Julia and four of her friends for lunch in the cafeteria of the university here in Leipzig. The food was cheap, but the cordon bleu was a hundred times better than what the Food Zoo could whip up. 

Afterwards, we drove about 25 minutes to the town of Lützen, where Julia grew up and where her grandparents still live. We visited with the charming couple in their garden (which is still common here in the east: you have your apartment, and then you have a small plot of land where you have a little one-room house--same thing as "the dacha" for you Russian speakers). It was during this conversation when, for the first time, I could really feel my German's improvement. I still am not talking as much as I should be, but I understood nearly every word of the conversation, which isn't always easy when speaking with 1) East Germans and 2) elders (I could never understand my own grandpa back in the States). It was also amusing to hear that "old people" say the same things everywhere. Julia's Oma [grandma] went on and on about how kids these days have no respect, can't behave themselves on the bus and how furchtbar [horrible] their slang is (specifically, how kids say "Hey, Alter!" all the time, which is the equivalent to "Hey, Dude!"). Then there were the "back in my day" moments. Except with this couple it was all about the DDR [East Germany]. Example: We were discussing the taste of Coke in the US compared to German Coke, and Julia's Opa said something along the lines of: "Well, you should have tasted the Coke they gave us in the DDR--that stuff wasn't Coke." 

We then headed to a nearby town of Dürrenberg to visit a new phenomenon for me: a Kurbad [literally Cure Bath]. Kurbad Bad Dürrenberg is situated on the edge of town and along a river. The park consists of walking paths, playgrounds, benches; also scattered about about are some restaurants/cafes. Then it gets a little stranger. There's a building filled with tropical plants and caged birds from all over the world. Surrounding the entire area was this wall. What it was comprised of I'm still not sure. As much as I tried to figure out what it was, I never got an answer. All I know is that salt water trickles down the walls, making it smell like the ocean. I've included a picture here (I still don't have my cord to upload pictures, so I stole this from Google Image Search--yeah, it's not that green here yet).

                                  

People come to this place to heal after illness, hence the name "cure bath." There were many sick and elderly people who were enjoying the park when we were there. I'm not sure how helpful the park is for healing, but it was beautiful and relaxing. 

On the way home from Dürrenberg, I drank a "Sparkling" Peach Iced Tea, and Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" came on. Yeah, life's pretty good right now. 

Woche des Reisens [week of traveling]

First I need to apologize for my lack of pictures on this blog. I stupidly left my camera cord in Potsdam, but once I get back, I'll upload some pictures from my adventure. Anyway, it's been a while since I've blogged. I was gone for a week, traveling across three countries with my friend Julia. I'm currently staying with Julia and her mom here in Leipzig. So much has happened, and I've seen so much; I think the best way to tackle this is to recap the main stops I've made. 


Leipzig, Germany
As I mentioned before, I'm using Leipzig as my home in Germany until school starts in Potsdam in April. Julia and her mom have an amazing apartment in the city. And what a beautiful city Leipzig is. East Germany can have the reputation of being poor and dirty, but you don't see it here in Leipzig. There's so much history here, too. After reading Faust in my German literature class this fall, it was cool to visit Auerbach's Keller--the cellar where Goethe spent time writing the famous piece and also where a scene in the play takes place. I also got to see the modern side of the city, when I went to a German electronics store to buy a cellphone. Now I have a way to contact my fellow Europeans. And the price was right: less that $20 for the phone, and I pay by usage. 


It has also been exciting to meet a lot of Julia's friends. Julia and I seem to speak English when we're alone, so it's probably good for me to have her friends around to speak German. I went to a birthday party one night, we had a vegetarian picnic in the park another day and last Saturday night we went to Moritzbastai: the largest student club in Germany. 


Vienna, Austria
I always knew Vienna was beautiful, but you really have to see it in person to appreciate it. While there, Julia and I stayed with Alice and her host mom, who was so welcoming and kind. She lives  a ways from downtown, so we were able to commute every day into the city via bus, tram and subway. No, I didn't get fined this time. 


A highlight was when we went to a ballet of Don Quixote at Vienna's Staatsoper [Opera House]. Now, I'm not someone you'll normally find at the ballet, but the show was quite spectacular, and just sitting in the opera house was spectacular. It was also fun to hang out with Alice and some of the other students who are studying in Vienna from the University of Montana (Kate, Chelsea, Kelly, I'm talking about you guys, right?). The night before we left, we all got together at Kate's house and watched Germany's Next Top Model; one day in the future, I'll give my opinion on Germany's version of one of my favorite shows. Although we were only in Vienna for about four days, it felt like weeks because we did so much and saw so much of the city. I definitely must return one day.


Prague, Czech Republic
I've never heard a bad thing about Prague. That's why I was a little concerned that I would be let down because my expectations were so high. But Prague definitely lived up to its reputation. First of all, the city is breathtaking--absolutely stunning. I had to stop myself from taking pictures in order to save my camera battery. What I was also so impressed by was the Czech people. There were many times when the language barrier was steep, but not one Czech person was rude. When we were wondering whether or not we could park along a certain street, Julia got out of the car to ask a few middle-aged women, and although their English was severely broken at best, they tried so hard to help us and eventually let us know where to park. 


We only spent a couple days in Prague, but we went on a tour of the city (including a boat ride). On the way back to our hostel the first night, we walked by the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to eat dinner there. I walked in and felt like I was back in America. Although I've been gone less than two weeks, it was so much fun to sit in a booth again and get free refills of Pepsi. The waitress even greeted us with (in a thick Czech accent which made it that much better), "Hello! My name is Irena, and I'm a going to be take care of you tonight!" 
I'm at the point where I'm loving everything Europe is offering* and recognizing what I love about my home in the States. Hopefully I can keep this balance the whole time. 


*Okay, not everything. I really miss my dryer. Hanging your clothes out to dry on the balcony just doesn't do it for me--even if it is saving energy. I'll never complain again about my jeans taking too long to dry. 

Schwarzfahrer ["free rider"]

Before today, I had never been in a train station. Laugh at me all you want, Germans, but my experience with public transportation is nonexistent. Aside from school and charter buses, I've been on a bus in the city probably 5 to 10 times. Even in Missoula, where public transportation is a huge step-up from Billings, I've lived on campus all three semesters, so I've never actually taken the bus. So this morning I had to make it from my WG in Potsdam to Leipzig--100 miles away. Thankfully, my Facebook German friend Franzi helped me research where exactly I needed to go: from the tram station right by my apartment building to the Potsdam Main Station to the Berlin Main Station and then the train to Leipzig. I even watched a "Navigating Berlin" video online about what type of ticket to buy (on April 1st, I'll be able to buy a pass for 6 months, and I won't have to worry about this). I made sure to buy an ABC ticket when I got on the tram because, as the video instructed, if you're traveling in Potsdam (or other outlying areas of Berlin) you're in the C zone. 

I made it to the Potsdam Station and then hopped on the train to Berlin. It was quite a long ride, but I didn't mind because I got to see a lot of the city. I was about 1 minute away from the station when the Kontrolleur came around (the Kontrolleurs are inspectors on the trains who ask to see your ticket to make sure that you in fact have one and that you aren't a Schwarzfahrer [black rider]--someone who rides the train without paying. So I held up my ticket, but the Kontrolleur grabbed it and yelled, "Nee, diese Ticket passt nicht!" [No, this ticket doesn't work!]. He then told me to get off at the next stop. Luckily for me it was the Berlin Main Station--where I needed to catch my train in a matter of minutes. After I got off he started berating me, but I told him in English that I didn't understand him, hoping to get some sympathy for being a foreigner. I really wasn't trying to cheat anyone--I just bought the wrong type of ticket, I guess. Or maybe I needed to buy one at the train station. I'm still not sure. I kept saying that I was sorry and I thought that the ABC ticket was what I needed, but he just barked back, "Now it cost you 40 Euro!" I I didn't have that much cash on me, so I had to run down to the ATM to get money to pay him. I probably would have been more upset by the whole ordeal, but all I could think of was the train that was leaving to Leipzig anytime. I gave him his damn money, and I ran to the train. 

So in short, it cost me as much money to get from Potsdam to Berlin as it's costing me to fly from Germany to Scotland. Aber so ist das Leben [Such is life]! I'm having an amazing time in Leipzig, which I'll recap later. It's too early in my trip abroad to sulk. 

P.S. The first thing I did when I got on the train to Leipzig was frantically ask a female passenger where I can buy a ticket. She smiled and calmly said in German, "You can simply sit down, and someone will come around to collect your money." Phew. 

Das Abenteur fängt an [the adventure begins]

I'm going to survive!! I found Diet Coke (or Coca Cola Light, as it's named here) at the grocery store for a reasonable price just a couple minutes away from my WG [apartment, if you haven't read my other posts].

Now that I got that out of my system, I MADE IT! The transit from Billings to Potsdam was probably as painless as it could have been. I left in the afternoon (Billings time) and arrived in the afternoon (Berlin time). I made all my flights and got a lot of sleep in (and a lot of food in thanks to Delta! Seriously, I was expecting nothing, but I couldn't eat all the food they were giving out). The only obstacle I encountered was the transport of the my microphone that I use to record my podcast/ do voiceovers for my reality shows. It kind of looks like a mini spaceship, with a large sphere supported by a tripod of sorts. I didn't even realize how suspicious it looked in my carry-on bag, all wrapped up in clothing at the bottom of the bag. The security team at the Billings airport took a good five minutes and several scannings to identify the object. Once I told the lady what it was, she got quite a kick out of it and made the others guess what they thought it was. I encountered this problem again going through customs in Amsterdam--although it was much funnier. The security man dude (what's the proper name for those workers?) opened my bag, picked it up and started singing into it in Dutch. Then yelled his coworker's name and yelled "Microfoon! Microfoon!" No worries, though; my mic made it to Germany, too. 

I was lucky enough to have my super-nice roommate Pit come pick me up at the airport in Berlin, which relieved a ton of stress. My WG is really nice. I have my own room and share a bathroom, kitchen, living room and dining room with my 2.5 roommates: Pit, Frederike (whom I have not met yet, but from all our internet interactions, I can tell she's great) and Missi, who is the cutest and most well-trained little German shepherd I've ever met. 

I've been here for a little over a day now and am absolutely loving it, despite the fact that I haven't really done anything, haha. I've made it over to the grocery store a couple times, where prices are much cheaper than the stores in Montana; the store kind of reminds me of little IGA or something--quite the opposite of Walmart Supercenter. And I totally forgot to bring my own bag to the store. If you want a plastic bag, you have to pay for it. Everyone just shows up with their own bags (or even just a purse).

I've also discovered the cutest thing on earth: little kids speaking German. On my way home from the store, there were many little kids running around, (school had just been let out nearby) and this little girl wandered up to me and asked, "Ist es schon halb vier?" or "is it already 3:30?" It was so cute, I think my heart melted a little bit. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a phone, so I had to tell her I didn't know. 

Other than my outings to the store, I've been in my room adjusting to the time difference. I bought my three favorite shows on iTunes--The Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model and, of course, Survivor--and spent some time catching up. Tomorrow I head to Leipzig to stay with my friend Julia and then onward we will go to Dresden, Prague and Vienna. I won't make it back to Potsdam until the end of the month, but I am so glad I have a comfortable home to come back to. 

morgen [tomorrow]

Oh. My. God: tomorrow. Tomorrow's the day. I honestly can't believe that tomorrow I will board a plane at 1:08 in the afternoon and fly to Minneapolis and then to Amsterdam and then to Berlin. I've had this particular exchange to Potsdam all planned out since last February; and I've known I was going to study abroad in Germany for several years now. This trip abroad has always been in the future--it's always felt so far away. And now it's here, and I'm trying to absorb the concept that in less than two days I will be at my WG in Potsdam.

Some of you may wonder why I'm leaving in March to study abroad. Well, the university system in Germany runs on a summer and winter semester. Summer semester starts in April. I feel like I'm the caboose of all my friends. So many of us have chosen to study abroad for our junior year: My friend Brent spent the fall in Chile. My friends Michael, Alyssa and Caitlin left for Spain, Scotland and Ghana, respectively, in January. I also have friends in Italy (Gabrielle) and the Czech Republic (Megan) at the moment. Perhaps the most convenient of all, however, is that my girlfriend Alice is studying in Vienna with a group of student from University of Montana (shout out to Kato Potato!) I'm hoping to visit or meet up with all of my fellow European students at least once, and in the case of Alice, hopefully many times.

With school not starting until April, I already have some extensive travel plans in March: I'll be staying with my friend Julia, who was a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school) in Leipzig. We'll do some traveling, making stops in Dresden, Prague and Vienna. Then at the end of March, I'm making a stop in Scotland for a weekend (the ticket was roundtrip and $50!). Hopefully I will fit in time with my other beloved ex-foreign exchange student friend Edda and the aforementioned Michael.

I'm going to stop myself there. I could map out some other plans for the semester, but I'm going to wait to see what happens. A huge part of this trip is an attempt to break free of my regular routine and habits in an attempt to just go with the flow.

Next time you'll hear from me will be in Germany!

Hab euch Lieb [love you all]