Somewhere Along the Line, I Developed a Liking for Brezeln

Guess what. I have been in Tübingen about two months now! That means I am a third of the way through my semester abroad. CRAZY! I now have 15 stars on my Germany map marking the places I’ve visited. (I will get to add more this weekend when I go to Kassel and ??mystery??) I suppose it’s time for the good ol’ “what do I like better about Germany VS what do I miss” blog.

The most obvious one to start out with would be the food -Oops! I mean family and friends! ;) But honestly you guys, that’s a given! Anyway, I desperately miss full home cooked meals. Yes, I have a kitchen here, but very limited kitchen supplies. Not to mention the fact that when cooking for one, you end up wasting a LOT of food. Seeing as how everything is so expensive here, I can’t afford to waste food. My typical diet consists of mini pizzas, fruit, and deli sandwiches. I don’t get even close to the right amount of meat and vegetables that I should be eating… The only “real” meat I ever get is by eating out. (and of course that is rare because of the cost)

A little known fact about Germans is that they actually drink more coffee than beer! You would think that would translate to having a HUGE selection of coffee and coffee products- WRONG. Germans typically drink their coffee black and with no added flavor or sugars! Basically, the only place you find the kind of coffee I like Starbucks! I do love Starbucks, but Tübingen doesn’t have one and people should be able to make „fun“ coffee in their own homes!

Water… omg. It should NOT be this difficult to get good natural water! The water in Germany’s restaurants typically isn’t free and it costs a lot. I hate ordering water only to be given the WRONG kind of water! I do NOT want any carbonation or sulfur taste to my water; why is that so hard to understand?? Also, there are no water fountains to be found… I could rant about water for an entire blog, but nobody needs or wants that. Let’s just say I almost always have a water bottle with me everywhere I go. If I forget my water, I get pretty ticked.

Hmm… now that I just whined about the food/drink for three paragraphs, I should point out that there are German foods and such that I will REALLY miss when I am back in the States. 1.) Döner!!! 2.) Schoko-croissants (3. German Brezeln with Apfel Schorle (Brezeln weren’t that high on my list until just recently. I just realized today that I have purchased 5 in the last three days! Don’t worry; I haven’t gotten to the point where I want them for breakfast. That’ a common German thing, but so is Nutella for breakfast. That is much more me. lol) 4.) the Eis. Particularly, Nutella Eis. (ice cream) 5.) the Bakeries on EVERY corner.

Transportation. I love how the train system in Germany is incredibly efficient and can take you virtually anywhere. In the states on the other hand, I wouldn’t dream of traveling all over by train. Amtrak is so SO inferior that it doesn’t seem like it should be considered the same mode of transportation. The trains and busses here are almost always exactly on time. When they aren’t, I’m tempted to take a picture of the sign saying the train is running late. But hey, at least you are informed that the train will be late and by how much. Psh, Amtrak fails again! I wouldn’t go so far as to say I prefer everything about transportation in Germany. Public transportation, yes; but I miss having my own car to drive sometimes. It is a pain to have to switch bus lines multiple times just to go visit friends living on the other side of town.

Germany is far more environmentally friendly than the U.S. There are recycling bins EVERYWHERE! In Germany I don’t have to deal with digging through the trash after my roommates to recycle their water bottles and such. The German recycling system just suits me. Also, the Germans really love their flowers, gardens, and parks. They also spend quality time relaxing in those beautiful parks. I will definitely miss that when I’m in the states. I’m getting really spoiled by the fact that everything is so beautiful and CLEAN in Germany!

Shopping is entirely different in Germany. You bag your own groceries, rent shopping carts, and there is a noticeable lack of customer service here. (That is especially true in restaurants.) I wish the stores would stay open later than they do. I still haven’t quite gotten used to everything closing around 7:00pm. And of course nothing is really open on Sundays. Aside from the crappy hours and lack of customer service, I prefer clothes shopping in Europe. I really like the European style of dress, and there seems to be more to choose from here. Before I go on, I need to clarify that I like the European styles for females. The males over here dress so… metro? I will never be a fan of the Man-pris or Euro mullets! Eww! Ew, ew, ew, EW! Those fashions should have died long ago! Scratch that- they never should have existed in the first place!

Now for a few more random things I miss about home: Skating. Full showers where you don’t have a curtain constantly blowing in on you! The ease of doing laundry… here it is SUCH a pain and (here’s a shocker:) expensive! The availability of affordable things and places like Target. The ease of signing up for classes at MU. The fact that MU provides you with easy access to computers and other technology that is included in your tuition. Being able to PRINT things!

Of course, let’s not forget one of the top reasons that Germany is AMAZING: The language! I love the German language and the fact that I am constantly surrounded by it. That doesn’t mean, however, that I always know what is going on. It’s just fun! Even though I’m in Germany; English books, music, and movies are readily available. If only the United States would have decent access to things in foreign languages… America’s low level of interest and attention to foreign language is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! I hate telling people that I only speak one language. Monolingualism is overly common for Americans, and I think our country should be ashamed of that!

Some Rules Are Made to be Broken

I had a great time visiting Holly in London. I saw all the main tourist attractions and more. There was never a dull moment and there was always plenty to do. I spent quite a bit of money but… well… when in London?? Haha.

Holly didn’t have class on Wednesday, so that was by far our busiest day. We woke up fairly early to go buy tickets to the musical Wicked and for the London Bus Tour. Our tickets to Wicked were only around 30 pounds. (Keep in mind this is a professional musical. Broadway quality!) The bus tour took us around London and stopped here and there so people could get off and take pictures or do whatever. We stopped at Buckingham Palace, Westminster and Big Ben. We then had lunch and made our way to the Freud Museum!! Sadly, pictures aren’t allowed in the museum. It was neat to look around Freud’s old London home and the greatest gift shop of all time but… something was just missing. My only regret about my entire London trip was that I didn’t jump the rope and lie on Freud’s couch. Of course, if I were to break that rule, breaking the photography rule would be a given! Honestly, wouldn’t it be worth the being kicked out and paying a fine to lie on FREUD’S COUCH??? I certainly think so! lol. I should have done it… It would have made a great story for the grandkids someday! For real, of all the museums to get kicked out of and for all the reasons to get kicked out, that would have been the best, hands down!! Then it was back to Primark to do a bit more shopping... (I told myself I wouldn’t buy many clothes in Europe… oops). After a quick dinner, we rushed over to the theater to see Wicked. Neither Holly nor I had ever seen it. It was a great show! I may have taken a couple of “illegal” photos of the set… Somehow, we still had a bit of energy after the show and decided to go check out the London Bridge at night. It’s sooo pretty!

Thursday was my last full day of London. We went to the Tower of London (pictures weren’t allowed, but I snuck a few anyway) after lunch for a few hours and then made a quick trip to Hyde Park. After Holly got out of class I decided we should go back to The Rocket for dinner. We went via double decker bus this time around. It was great. :) We clocked in fairly early since I had to wake up at 4:00am to go back to Germany the next morning. Like I said, great trip, but I should have jumped over the rope and lied on Freud’s couch…

I Have Found That Ducks Opinions of Me Very Much Depends On Whether or Not I Have Bread...

I’m currently sitting in a dorm in London that overlooks Regent’s Park. Holly has several classes today, so that gives me time for a long overdue blog entry!

Last Wednesday I went on a solo adventure with my Eurorail Pass! I hopped on a train to Nürnberg and then to Würzburg. I had no set train times or even specific places to visit in the two cities. I basically wandered around for a few hours in each place. I didn’t have a map, but I didn’t get lost once! (Dad says that means I didn’t have a true adventure. psh, What does he know!? haha) It was a very long day, but I got to add two new stars to the places-I’ve-visited map!

Friday morning was also a fairly early morning. I had to go to Stuttgart to pick Holly up from the airport! I was a bit nervous about getting there and finding Holly ok, but everything went smoothly! The bus ride to the airport was quite scenic and everything went well on Holly’s end as well.

First, Holly and I headed to the center of Stuttgart for lunch and Starbucks in the main square. We decided to grab lunch at a Doner stand because Holly needed to try one and most places were closed for Good Friday. (The Germans make a bigger deal out of Easter than most Americans.) Lunch was great, and we even sat next to an American couple living in Germany for the wife’s job… speech pathology!! What are the ODDS?

After lunch we headed to Starbucks for “dessert” coffee. They were out of toffee nut syrup for our mocha frappuccinos so we tried almond syrup. It was just as phenomenal as the toffee nut! We then went to the main square with all the flowers and fountains to enjoy our tasty purchases. The weather was absolutely PERFEKT, so we played in the fountain with some little kids and a couple ducks! (By play in the fountain I mean put our feet in… not sure you are allowed to run through the fountains… lol)

Holly choose to go to the Stuttgart zoo/ botanical garden from the choices I provided. I had never been to Wilhelma Zoo, but we found it without any problems. It was by far the coolest zoo I’ve ever been to. Okay, to be fair, I think I’ve only been to one other zoo… but it WAS cool. It was beautiful, entertaining, and just pure awesomeness. (As most places are when visited with Holly I’ve come to find).

The next day we made our way to Hohenzollern (a castle about a half an hour south of Tübingen. As with many castles, it was perched high up on a Mountain. It slightly resembled Hogwarts. The hike up to the castle from the shuttle stop was a lot of work, so we rewarded ourselves with the picnic lunch I had prepared. As always, the view from the castle was fantastic, and I got lots of pictures of everything. There were a couple of moats and draw bridges around the castle, and Holly and I concluded that they should have water and plastic inflated alligators in them! (You KNOW that would be fun) We also decided on the way down to shuttle stop that the castle should have a giant slide down the mountain. But no, just long scenic walk down a mountain in perfect weather. When we got to the shuttle stop, I tried to figure out when the next shuttle would come to take us back to town. As it turned out, we had over 2 hours to wait! Neither Holly nor I are patient enough for something like that, so we bought some ice cream and proceeded to hike down the mountain. By the time we made it back to the Hechingen train station, we had walked down a mountain, across a field, over the autobahn, and through town. Needless to say we were tired and hungry. We grabbed a snack at the little train station cafe before the train back to Tübingen. I tried Currywurst for the first time and I don’t feel the need to ever order it again. It wasn’t horrible; it just wasn’t anything special.

Upon arrival in Tübingen we ate at the Neckarmuller and stopped at the grocery store so Holly could buy German chocolate. We ended up with handfuls of various chocolate bars and a carton of black forest cake flavored ice cream. Of course we dumped our purchases on the kitchen table as soon as we got back to my apartment and proceeded to dish up the ice cream. To make room in the freezer, I had to take out an old ice cream carton that was nearly empty. I poured water in the carton to let it soak while we enjoyed our easter/German candy. As luck would have it, my roommate, Martin walked into the kitchen during our chocolate sampling. He looked over and said hi as usual and it dawned on me how bad it looked that we were sitting at the table with ice cream and a mountain of chocolate. I looked down at the table and then at Holly. Mistake. She did the exact same thing and we exchanged a look and started cracking up without a word. I think this confused Martin a bit. “Is everything alright?…” The giggle fits continued for at least a half an hour. Fun times… lol.

We got up fairly early on Easter morning so we could go to an Easter service and see more of Tübingen. Since Holly doesn’t know German and we had a lot to do, we only stayed for about a half hour. I was excited because I was able to understand a good portion of the sermon!

The trip to London on Sunday included a train, bus and plane. Things didn’t go 100% according to plan, but everything worked out well in the end. The high speed train to Frankfurt had individual compartments like in Harry Potter. We were surprised that we were allowed to sit in them. Although…it was probably better that way for the other passengers because Holly and I were having a good time and were a bit noisier than the other passengers. So yeah, having our own compartment was awesome.

Holly and I arrived in London at approx. 11:30pm Sunday and it took quite a while to find transportation from Stansted Airport to her dorm in Regents Park. Then the bus to her dorm took about an hour. So… it was super late when we finally got to her room and went to sleep. We decided to push the London bus tour back to Wednesday so we could sleep in a bit Monday morning.

Yesterday (Monday) was my first full day in London! We started out with a full English breakfast and then shopped a bit. Holly took me to a clothing store called Primark. I WISH we had Primark in the States. Everything is REALLY inexpensive. Zum Beispiel, I got a nice pair of jeans for only 6 pounds!! INSANE! After that, we went to Starbucks and headed back to Holly’s dorm. Along the way we bought a loaf of bread to feed the ducks in Regents Park. It was great! Feeding ducks is so therapeutic… Later we went to a pub for dinner (where holly made fun of me for not ordering any alcohol… “It’s a PUB, Courtney” True… but my water is kostenlos) After dinner we ventured over to Kings Cross. One guess as to why this was on our itinerary... Yep, platform 9 ¾. The old Harry Potter obsession never completely dies. And hey, we saw several other groups and people doing the same thing that looked around our age… so yeah. Before heading back to Holly’s place, we stopped at Big Ben to see it all lit up at night. It was a great day…pictures won’t be posted for a while though. I didn’t bring my laptop to London with me, and I may be pretty busy when I get back to Tübingen.

Sunny With A High Of 75

Stuttgart is amazing! I really enjoyed the trip with Deutsch Kompakt on Friday. I even liked the Mercedes Benz Museum despite the fact that cars are not really my thing. Everything in the Museum was just so clean, crisp, and shiny. I was not as fascinated with the cars as most people though. I was the first one to finish walking through the museum; and, unlike Chris, I came nowhere close to missing the bus.



The ballet was also nice. We saw The Taming of the Shrew. (Thankfully we didn’t see Romeo and Juliet. I fully despise that story!) Half of the time I was comparing the formations and steps to skating and thinking up choreography for synchro. Some things never change. lol. The opera house that we saw the ballet in was really nice, but I wish the refreshments hadn’t been so pricy.

Now for the REAL excitement! Yesterday Monica, Chris, Sarah and I went to Stuttgart for the last skating session of the season! I was SO excited when we got close enough to see the arena. I straight up squealed… The other people in the group seemed amused by how excited I was. I guess you have to be a skater to appreciate exactly how exciting it is to skate in Europe. When we finally got on the ice, the rink guard saw me take a picture and came over to tell me I couldn’t have a camera on the ice. LAME! *Honestly, I’m skating in GERMANY; I’m GOING to take pictures! It was no biggy… I just had to be a little more stealth about my picture taking.



After skating, we decided to go up in the Stuttgart Fernsehturm for a good view of the city. The weather was nice, but a bit cloudier than I would have liked. The booklet about Stuttgart from Deutsch Kompakt said that Stuttgart’s Fernsehturm was the first in the world! Before heading home, we stopped at a Starbucks and took a leisurely walk back to the train station.

Oh hey, es ist Frühling!

I’m done with my Deutsch Kompakt course! (well, technically) We had our Abschlusstest on Wednesday and the classes are over. However, they are taking us on one last excursion today. We are going to Stuttgart to see the Mercedes Benz museum and a ballet. I’m looking forward to it because the weather has been beautiful lately! It’s exciting that everything is finally starting to turn green and flowers are popping up all over! Yesterday the weather was so nice that I had to go out and walk around town a bit. I bought Eis (ice cream), took a few more pictures, and discovered places in Tübingen that I hadn’t seen before! Wunderschön!

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Also this week, I met up with several Germans that want to practice their English and help me with German. All of them are incredibly nice and very interesting. One of the girls, Monica, lives across the hall from me and invited me to watch German television in her Zimmer last night! So cool! That’s not all; Monica and I are going skating in Stuttgart TOMORROW!!! Skating has been on my mind quite a bit lately and I was getting a little homesick because of it. Speaking of skating, it’s ice show weekend back home! I won’t get to see the show until I get home in August, but you can bet I’m looking forward to watching the tape! This is the first ice show that I have not been in or watched in 12 years!!! For any skaters reading this: Have a FANTASTISCH show, SK8 GR8, und VIEL GLÜCK!!!