I'm Coming Home (Soon) If You're Ready Or Not.

I will be home in just under 20 days! As my departure date approaches, I've been thinking about all of the things I'm looking forward to about being home. It's a list that keeps growing:

• Seeing my parents
• Hanging out with my best friends
• Mom’s wonderful cooking
• Hugs
• FREE water in restaurants and water fountains in public buidings
• FREE bathrooms
• Having my very own scanner and printer again
• Stores are open later and on Sundays
• Scrapbooking
• Skating and coaching. Who doesn’t love the start of the skating season??
• Random retail therapy trips with my mom
• Getting a regular dose of Dad’s lame jokes
• Printing pictures from my trips (It’s going to take FOREVER to choose which ones I want printed…)
• Seeing Jefferson City again
• Coffee experiments with Mom
• REAL American BBQs (The Germans think they have American style BBQs, but they are so wrong)
• Ice cubes
• Seeing the new Harry Potter movie
• A greater selection of coffee and coffee products
• Sleeping in a real bed
• The sounds of a Missouri summer night (who’d of thought??)
• Eating fast food and at restaurants that aren’t available in Europe
• Panera Bread (so amazing it deserves it’s own slot)
• Moving into my new apartment
• Mizzou’s Rec Center
• Volunteering at the Language Pre-school
• Mizzou football season! There’s something about driving along the highway and seeing tiger tails flapping in the wind that can never be replaced.
• Simply walking around Mizzou’s campus
• Watching football games with Dad and annoying him with my questions/ commentary even though I know he secretly enjoys it.
• Missouri Autumn
• Driving my own car
• Occasional mudslides with the fam
• Getting involved with MU’s exchange students and hopefully meeting a few from Germany!
• Talking everyone’s ear off about Germany
• Family dinner
• Being surrounded by MU pride on a daily basis
• Eavesdropping on Mom’s half of her weekly conversations with Grandma R.
• The fact that I will still get a ton of e-mails from Dad every week even though I will only a half hour away. Funny.
• Washers and Dryers that WORK and work well
• Having a dishwasher
• Disposals (AKA: No more Bio Müll!)
• Having an income again
• FREE condiments at restaurants
• Chilling in Memorial Union
• Things will be cheaper and more affordable
• I’ll have a microwave in my kitchen again!
• Catching up on The Office. Hopefully having an Office marathon with Holly…
• Taking classes that serve a purpose and are interesting
• The structure of Mizzou’s courses
• Using the Mizzou library
• Re-reading Harry Potter (if I have time)
• Random drives/ shopping/ Sonic runs with Simpson
• Keeping it classy with Becky Billings. (Which probably entails making laps around Hy-vee for free samples…)
• Having a larger selection of outfits and shoes at my fingertips every morning
• Schutz, Jess-Jess, and Wilson
• Lazy Sunday afternoons
• No deposits on shopping carts or bottled beverages (Germany’s way of getting people to recycle).
• Simply being home. There’s no place like home.
• Did I mention my family? I love my family!!!

“It's Berlin. We go to bed at 4 am.”

My trip to Berlin last week was all kinds of interesting. First of all, I was sightseeing with Mark and TJ. If you knew them, you could imagine how that would make for a unique (and at times extremely frustrating) travel experience. Then there’s the fact that we stayed with one of my Mizzou German Professors. Olaf is probably the craziest professor in the department, as a matter of fact. He still lives the “college lifestyle” which just makes guys like Mark and TJ idolize him even more. Finally, it’s Berlin. Berlin is just interesting by definition.

The trip to Berlin was slightly chaotic before even leaving Tübingen. My internet decided to stop working the day before, so I didn’t have Olaf’s contact information, access to the train schedules, or any clue when Mark was going to get to Berlin. I still had packing to do that morning, had to find a way to get internet access, and I had a couple classes to attend. Monday was my second encounter with Tübingen Universitaet’s library. The more I learn about that library, the more I miss Mizzou’s library. It took me at least an hour to finally get online at the library. I had to go up to various help desks and explain in broken German that I wasn’t able to get online/ I didn’t understand what to do and where to go to fix the problem. TJ suggested we just go to an internet café, but I wasn’t going to pay for something that I knew I could get for free… even if it WAS a major headache.

Once we got on the train in Tübingen, everything went smoothly for several hours. However, when we reached Hannover, things went wrong. We had a couple minutes to transfer trains in Hannover, but the first train arrived a few minutes too late. We sprinted to the platform only to find that the train had left. Then we noticed the sign said that the train we “missed” was running 10 minutes late. Sweet! 10 minutes came and went; still there was no sign of our train. I was getting confused by everything, so I decided to check out the main departure/arrival board. That’s when I realized something was very off. ALL of the trains were running late. ALL of them. In GERMANY. The board was entirely screwed up and most of the trains were running late by an hour or more. An hour or MORE. I was kind of freaking out at that point because we were already supposed to arrive in Berlin after 11:00pm, now I had no idea how late it would be.

TJ and I got some Chinese food while waiting for a train to Berlin. We weren’t the only people confused. It seemed as if everyone in the station was wandering around with the same dumbfounded expressions. After waiting over an hour, we finally found a high speed train to Berlin. We quickly boarded the train only to wait another 20 minutes for the train to actually move. TJ called Olaf to let him know we would be getting in much later than expected. (When he called, Mark and Olaf were on their way to pick us up at the train station, but since we would be late they changed there route to a bar instead.) Luckily a guy sitting nearby overheard our conversation about the trains being late and explained what had happened. Apparently, someone had committed suicide on the tracks and all trains going through Hannover’s main station were suffering long delays. Once the train finally started moving, the staff apologized for the delays and offered free drinks, chocolates, and a voucher for a free train pass.
We got to Berlin around 1:30 Tuesday morning. Olaf and Mark had gone to a bar/ beach dance club right next to the train station. When they picked us up, I apologized again for getting in so late; and Olaf replied, “Oh well. It's Berlin. We go to bed at 4 am.” (I kind of laughed; but by the end of the trip, I realized he hadn’t been joking) To my surprise, we went back to the bar that Mark and Olaf had been at for an hour or so. When Olaf took us back to his apartment, I was more than ready for bed; but then they put a movie in! So much for getting up early the next morning…

Sure enough, we got a late start the next day. I woke up at 9:00 but had to wait around for my lazy friends to get up. I was starving and dying to see Berlin, but noooo. They had to sleep! We didn’t leave the apartment until noon. NOON. Ridiculous.

Luckily everything was within walking distance from Olaf’s apartment. Seriously. The Brandenburger Tor, the Berliner Dom, the Reichstag, parts of the Berlin Wall, everything. The only problem is that there was so much to see that we needed another day or 5. The next day we went to Potsdam (just outside of Berlin). We didn’t get an early start that day either. Slightly earlier… 11:00. I will blame this on Mark. I’ve found that most things can be blamed on Mark in one way or another. That night they insisted we go clubbing because “Courtney, how many times are you going to be in BERLIN?” I finally gave in and accepted that we would be getting to be late yet again.

My last day in Berlin was crammed packed. I still had to get souvenirs and there were a number of things that I still wanted to see. It became apparent that morning that Mark wasn’t going to wake up until noon or so, so TJ and I left early to get souvenirs without him. Around 1:00, we got a call from Olaf asking where we had gone. Apparently we had to get our stuff out of his apartment ASAP because he had a friend coming at 4:00. (Things were obviously not clearly communicated earlier…). I still hadn’t finished my shopping, but we immediately sped walked back to Olaf’s. Olaf then took us to a youth hostel where Mark and TJ booked a room because they planned to stay one more day. While they were checking in, I was getting antsy about getting my souvenirs and getting to the train station. It was a little after 4:00 when we finally got to the Berlin Hbf. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and found the next train headed in the direction of Tübingen. I still didn’t have all of the souvenirs I had planned on getting, but TJ promised to pick them up for me on their way back to the hostel that evening.

The train ride was rather uneventful. I mostly sat there looking through my photos and wishing I hadn’t gotten such a late start home. The schedule put me home around 2:00am. Looking at the ticket, I decided the route seemed strange. Why would I go all the way to Karlsruhe rather than switching trains in Frankfurt? There are constantly trains going from Frankfurt to Stuttgart. That would save me time and get me home earlier than the schedule I had printed off… Hmm. So, like an idiot, I decided to change my route without knowing the train schedules for certain. As soon as I reached Frankfurt, I rushed over to look at the timetable to find the quickest route to Tübingen. The screen showed only one possible route to Tübingen for that evening. Hmm… I would have to go via Karlsruhe…wait…WHAT?? I immediately dashed back to the train I had previously gotten off of just in time to see it pulling away. I just stood there starring for a few minutes before walking over to the Starbucks where I sipped my Mocha tearfully for an hour before the next train to Stuttgart arrived.

As luck would have it, I got to Stuttgart at 00:55. 8 minutes after the departure of the last train to Tübingen… I printed off the schedule for the very first train to Tübingen the next morning (5:15) and searched for a bench to “sleep” on for the night. I found a small waiting room with hard wooden benches that I decided would have to do. Not long after I got settled (or as settled as you can get on a wooden bench), a couple security guys came in to check for tickets. If you don’t have a ticket, you have to leave the train station. There was and old homeless looking lady on the bench next to me that kept arguing with the security men. They told her she couldn’t stay there without a ticket and if she didn’t leave immediately, the police would be called. She finally got up grumbling and pleading saying that she wasn’t foreign. She had lived in Germany for 39 years and they “can’t do this.” It was an interesting scene to watch take place. Although I was dead tired and upset about having to sleep in a train station, I was able to understand everything being said.

It was quiet an experience…I’ve never felt so homeless and alone. I got back to my apartment at 6:30 the next morning, showered, and went straight to bed. I slept until 6:30 pm when I received a call from Alyssa asking if I wanted to go to Zurich the next day. I agreed even though I was completely worn out from Berlin.

Zurich was absolutely beautiful of course, and I got to use up all but 40 cents of my Swiss Francs. Not bad. I finally heard a good deal of Swiss German, and I must say it is the hardest dialect to understand. It sounds pretty awesome, but I don’t know what they are saying 70% of the time… I picked up a free magazine about different parts of Switzerland, and I look forward to my next trip in the incredible Alpen region. It won’t be this semester, unfortunately; but someday. I really do love Switzerland. :)

Dark Blue

Let me just say, first off, grocery stores in Germany are a complete joke. I just got back from a shopping trip were I was able to find only half of the things on my grocery list. HALF! Granted, I was at the Rewe near my WG, which is a pathetic grocery store even by German standards, but still. Among the things I couldn’t find: dried banana chips, raisins, baby carrots, peanut butter, string cheese, and get this: eggs. I kid you not! I couldn’t find EGGS in a grocery store. I guess they were sold out, but tell me, when have you EVER been to a grocery store where they were sold out of EGGS? Ridiculous. Perhaps some of the items can be found, and I just don’t know my way around yet. (I swear the eggs were NOT there though. I looked for at least 15 minutes)

Failed shopping trip after failed shopping trip makes me wonder how long it takes to figure out the German grocery store organization. Although, I have a suspicion that Germans themselves don’t really understand it. I know Markus doesn’t. However, since Markus is a guy and doesn’t cook much; I probably can’t use him as an example, huh? Well anyway, close to 5 months isn’t enough time to figure out a small grocery store that I shop in a couple times a week. This is one of the reasons why I’ve been eating the same things all semester. I have about 3-4 meals that I rotate around. It’s getting old and I’ve been putting on weight, so I decided to spice things up a bit and try different foods. (Yes, Corky Porky is finally living up to her name)

I just realized that I should have chosen to do this adventurous shopping trip on some day other than a Monday. Dumb move on my part; Mondays never go smoothly. I had a Referat (presentation) today that I wasn’t well prepared for and a grammar test that I also wasn’t prepared for. This time I actually have a fairly reasonable excuse…well, maybe. I wasn’t in Tübingen at all last weekend. Friday I went to Neuschwanstein with Monica and a couple others and then to Koln on Saturday and Sunday with my history class.

Even though I had already been to Neuschwanstein, I jumped at the invitation to join Monica and her Canadian friend who was visiting. It was either go to a beautiful fairytale castle, or sit in my room and work or a boring Referat all day. Easy choice. Maybe not the most responsible choice, but who makes responsible and academically correct choices while abroad? Exactly. I enjoyed Neuschwanstein just as much as last time if not more due to my excellent traveling buddies. We (ok, mostly I) enjoyed making fun of Monica the whole time for finding the castles and scenic landscapes of Bavaria to be somewhat “ho-hum”. Honestly, Germans have don’t seem to appreciate how beautiful their country is. I didn’t take a TON of pictures this time around because I already had several of the angles in ’05.

Oh… Köln. Well I made it there, but not without a bit of panicking. The bus was to leave the uni building at 7:30 and I realized at 7:20 that the bus I had planned on taking doesn’t run that early on Saturdays. Luckily for me, I live only a 15-minute-RUN from where the bus would pick us up. 15 minutes running and I had only 10. So, I began to run awkwardly with my luggage across town cursing under my breath. WHY hadn’t I been more careful when I checked the bus schedule? I did NOT pay for a trip that I wouldn’t get to go on! WHY can’t the bus simply pick me up in front of my WG like it does for all of the Fichtenweg people?? Finally I made it to the bus stop 8 minutes after they said they would leave. I sighed with relief and collapsed into the seat behind Chris only about a minute before the bus started up and took off. (No, they weren’t waiting on me; I just lucked out.)

When we arrived in Köln that evening, we unloaded our stuff in our rooms and headed straight to dinner. It was the first time I had eaten in a youth hostel and I guess it wasn’t too bad. After dinner I set out to explore Köln on my own a bit before heading back to my room to work on the stupid Referat. I soon found a Starbucks and bought a tasty, long awaited frappaccino. (some say I have a Starbucks radar) On my way back to the youth hostel, I encountered my class heading into the city with the professor. I asked Chris where they were all going and he said, “Oh, they’re showing us were some of the best bars are.” Figures. On every class excursion I’ve gone on so far, we are provided with information about/ directions to bars. Do they ever direct us to the nearest Starbucks? Oh, no! No wonder I don’t make many friends. Almost everyone else studies abroad to party and get wasted in as many different cities as possible. I think there were a few people on the trip that actually felt sorry for me. One person asked me, “so…do you not have any friends in class?” Only, the way he asked it, it sounded more like he thought I have NO friends. Period. I have friends. Very good friends. Most of them, however, are back home in the States. (I miss you guys!)