Thursday afternoon Marty and I skipped out on German Politics and Culture class and took the Train/Tram downtown to Universitat Bremen (Not to be confused with Jacobs University Bremen) where we picked up our passports, not fit with German residency permits (a requirement to get Russian Visas). We then just took the tram directly to Bremen Airport and checked in at the lovely garage that was the Ryanair terminal. The flight was only a little over an hour, and I slept through most of it, as did Marty, who was asleep before take-off. At the London-Stanstead airport, we got held up in customs and missed our scheduled EasyBus downtown, but were fortunately able to catch the following bus, for and hour and forty minute drive into London. We then proceeded to walk to our Hostel, the Smart Hyde Park Inn, which was very convieniently located within a minutes walk of a shopping district, Hyde Park, and two Underground stops. Later that night we explored the local area and planned our next days adventures along with a Turkish German from Stuttgart named Erdal whom we met at the hostel.
After consuming large quantities of toast from the Hostel's "breakfast" we set off to the far north of London to Colindale, where we found the Royal Air Force Museum and spent the remainder of the morning there. All three of us were studying mechanics (2 Mechanical Engineers and 1 Foundry Mechanic) and found the exhibits very interesting.
We then took the Underground to Trafalgar Square and essentially wandered around London until dark, seeing Trafalgar Square, the world's smallest police station, The National Gallery, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Admiralty Arch, Westminister Abby, the Tate Center, St. Paul's, the Globe Theater, the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the Golden Hinde (of Sir Francis Drake), Piccadilly Circus (pretty much the downtown area), Roosevelt and Churchill on a bench, and Buckingham Palace.
For the second and third nights our room in the hostel was moved, and we were now in a room full of long term french residents (they were there for about 4 months). I was able to stumble through conversations with them, and spent part of the night hanging out with them, and then later went out with Erdal and some others.
On Saturday, the weather was once again beautiful (atypical of London I believe) with blue skies and quite warm out. We first went to Leicester Square and visited the discount tickets booth. We then proceeded to go to Buckingham palace via a different station than we took the previous night, and ended up back at Big Ben and Westminster Abby by accident. We made it to the palace about 5 minutes after the changing of the guard ceremony started, but were able to get a good view from the Island in the middle of the road where the Victoria Monument is located. At this point Marty went off to meet with his Great-Uncle whom he had never met before, and Erdal also had an appointment with some friends. I then proceeded to Abbey Road (crossing and studio) with a group that I met from NY. I then attempted to see platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station, but could not get to that part of the station without a train ticket. I then spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Imperial War Museum, which also featured very extensive and interesting exhibits on secret british military and intelligence operations (MI5/MI6, secret troops in WWI/WWII, SAS), and also a very nice holocaust exhibit. That evening we went and saw the musical version of The Sound Of Music, which was on it's last night of performance. The show was excellent, and the scene changes were also very cool to watch, with a mountain that descended (giant tilting platform) and moving floors on the stage so that stage crew members never had to appear on the stage. At one point the entire theater was suddenly decorated with Nazi propaganda, which took me by surprise, and had a very cool immersive effect.
Overall the underground system was very convenient and easy to use, nearly foolproof for navigational purposes actually. Unfortunately there was repair work being done all day Saturday, and several lines were closed, making getting around slightly more difficult and crowded, but still feasible. Our plan for Sunday morning had been to sleep in our clothes, and then just wake up, check out of the hostel, and take the underground to where our bus would pick us up for the airport. When we got to the underground station, however, we were informed that it didn't open until 7 a.m. Armed with what we thought was a pretty good map of London, we set off running through London at 3 in the morning in search of our bus stop. We decided that it would be easier to run along a main road rather than try to cut corners and take a more complicated and direct route, and set off on Bayswater Road looking for Gloucester Place, or Baker Street if we missed our turn. What our map failed to show us was that Gloucester Place actually turned into Portman Street and Baker Street into Orchard Street for only the block directly before the intersection with Bayswater. As you can imagine this led to much confusion when we ended up at another underground station that we knew was too far down the road and had checked every street sign on the way there. This was one case where it was very fortunate to know the local dialect, english. We eventually found the station and had missed the bus time we were aiming for, but were able to catch the following bus, and thanks to our driver whizzing through london in his little mercedes bus, made it to the airport in about an hour less than it took on thursday night within plenty of time to get tickets for our flight, as did the other 2 students who had found a very helpful taxi driver.
After a comfortable trip back in the more-spacious emergency exit row, we all fell asleep and were then greeted by some lovely Bremen weather...dark grey skies again.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Berlin (Part 2)
Day 3.
Saturday was more laid back than the previous two days, with our first large chunk of free time during the day. After Prof. Hornfeck's Circuits class finished in the hotel, Rob and I organized an excursion to Alexander Platz, where there are multiple malls, large shopping centers, and department stores. This was not exactly what we were looking for, so we broke off from the pack of Lafayetties and doubled back to the famous street Unter den Linden (comparable to what Champs Ellysees is in Paris, but not as big), which translates to "under the lime trees." After some shopping, almost getting hit by a train, and having a nice sprint back to the hotel, we got on the bus with the rest of the group just in time.
In the afternoon, we got a choice of three museums to visit on "Museum Island," The German Historical Museum, the Pergamonmuseum, or the Jewish History Museum. I would have liked to go to all three, as they all sounded amazing, but settled with the Pergamonmuseum in the end. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, I knew it was a collection of ancient artifacts, and suspected a bunch of glass cases with old relics in them. Boy was I wrong! As you can see from the pictures, the Pergamonmuseum featured entire rooms set up to give you the appearance of being in an ancient civilization, surrounded by real monumental structures straight from their excavation sites at Babylon, Assur, Uruk, Miletus, Egypt, and Priene. This experience was probably one of my favorite throughout the entire trip. While not quite as impressive, the museum also featured a seciton on islamic art, a middle eastern museum, and an antiquity collection filled with statues from all over the world.
We proceded to eat dinner in Kreuzberg, finding a nice Turkish restaurant, where i had 3 turkish pizzas (delicious) and Ayran (turkish yogurt drink, it was kindof like drinking cottage cheese). We concluded the evening at the English Theater Berlin, with a showing of The Extremists, which was a "labyrinth of wordplay and mind games in which a television talk show host and his guest who wrote a book about terrorism get lost in their own doublespeak." It was essentially a witty 2 hour conversation, with one player occasionally forgetting his lines, and me occasionally forgetting to keep my eyes open.
Day 4.
We continued our guided tour of Berlin, seeing Checkpoint Charlie, the Autobahn grandstands, the Olympic Stadium, and examples of Nazi architecture, then drove to Potsdam to see the castle Ceclinienhof (doesn't that roof look like a face? creepy) and castle Sanssouci. One thing of note about Sansoucci; the ruins you see on top of the hill are actually fakes, built so that the castle would have a nice view. Exhausted, we arrived back at Jacob's that evening.
Saturday was more laid back than the previous two days, with our first large chunk of free time during the day. After Prof. Hornfeck's Circuits class finished in the hotel, Rob and I organized an excursion to Alexander Platz, where there are multiple malls, large shopping centers, and department stores. This was not exactly what we were looking for, so we broke off from the pack of Lafayetties and doubled back to the famous street Unter den Linden (comparable to what Champs Ellysees is in Paris, but not as big), which translates to "under the lime trees." After some shopping, almost getting hit by a train, and having a nice sprint back to the hotel, we got on the bus with the rest of the group just in time.
In the afternoon, we got a choice of three museums to visit on "Museum Island," The German Historical Museum, the Pergamonmuseum, or the Jewish History Museum. I would have liked to go to all three, as they all sounded amazing, but settled with the Pergamonmuseum in the end. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect, I knew it was a collection of ancient artifacts, and suspected a bunch of glass cases with old relics in them. Boy was I wrong! As you can see from the pictures, the Pergamonmuseum featured entire rooms set up to give you the appearance of being in an ancient civilization, surrounded by real monumental structures straight from their excavation sites at Babylon, Assur, Uruk, Miletus, Egypt, and Priene. This experience was probably one of my favorite throughout the entire trip. While not quite as impressive, the museum also featured a seciton on islamic art, a middle eastern museum, and an antiquity collection filled with statues from all over the world.
We proceded to eat dinner in Kreuzberg, finding a nice Turkish restaurant, where i had 3 turkish pizzas (delicious) and Ayran (turkish yogurt drink, it was kindof like drinking cottage cheese). We concluded the evening at the English Theater Berlin, with a showing of The Extremists, which was a "labyrinth of wordplay and mind games in which a television talk show host and his guest who wrote a book about terrorism get lost in their own doublespeak." It was essentially a witty 2 hour conversation, with one player occasionally forgetting his lines, and me occasionally forgetting to keep my eyes open.
Day 4.
We continued our guided tour of Berlin, seeing Checkpoint Charlie, the Autobahn grandstands, the Olympic Stadium, and examples of Nazi architecture, then drove to Potsdam to see the castle Ceclinienhof (doesn't that roof look like a face? creepy) and castle Sanssouci. One thing of note about Sansoucci; the ruins you see on top of the hill are actually fakes, built so that the castle would have a nice view. Exhausted, we arrived back at Jacob's that evening.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Berlin (Part 1)
Last weekend (and by weekend I actually mean thursday through sunday) us Lafayetties were fortunate enough to have a class trip to Berlin. Berlin is the third German city and my favorite of those I've visited thus far, with the first two being Hamburg and home-sweet-home Bremen. Interestingly enough, these three cities are Germany's only three city-states.
Day 1.
We travelled to Berlin by double-decker bus, which I think was is even more comfortable than traveling by train. We had Jacob's personal travel agent, Frank, with us, as well as a tour guide which we picked up when we arrived at the outskirts of Berlin. Throughout the four days, the two of them provided more information about Berlin than anybody could hope to possibly retain, although most of it was very interesting and I probably would never have known had I visited Berlin on my own. We began our tour by bus, stopping a few times at key locations, including the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Churches, two cars in concrete, Sieges Saeulle (Victory Monument), Jimmy Carter's Smile, the German Holocaust Memorial, Hotel Adlon, the Brandenburg Gate, (not at big as you would think it would be, like the Mona Lisa) Berliner Dom, the Berlin Wall, and the Berlin TV Tower. At this point I began to understand how physically large Berlin is in actuality (second only to London in terms of area). Afterward, we had a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, and proceeded to check into our hotel, a European Best-Western. A few random notes about the hotel, the beds (once again with just a pillow and comforter-within-a-sheet) were extremely comfortable, far more comfortable than the Jacob's beds, or even my own bed at home, although my nearly instantaneous sleep might be contributed to the three exhausting days beforehand as well. Also a continuing trend from Jacob's to Berlin was the toilet with two flush buttons. The only other thing of note in the hotel was the lighting system, which required you to put your access card in a slot in order to activate electricity in the room. I really like the idea in terms of saving energy, although this led to a few students locking themselves out of their rooms. We solved this little situation by using a student ID card for the lights and kept the access card safely in my pocket.
Day 2.
On Friday, I elected to go with a few students down the road to Potsdamer Platz to visit the Deutsche Kinemathek (German Film Museum). Along the way we saw our first set of large above-ground pipes. Apparently these pipes are temporary structures that are set up at every construction site to pump water out as the foundation is being laid (due to Berlin's high water table), once the foundation was complete, the pipes would be disassembled and relocated elsewhere in the city. Going back to the film museum, I was originally unsure whether or not I would enjoy the museum, as I had zero previous knowledge or interest in German films. The museum, however, turned out to be very interesting, consisting of a large repertoire of artistically created and individually themed interactive display rooms, ranging from the first panoramic shot filmed to huge rooms that immersed you into the landscape of famous german movies (METROPOLIS), to a featured exhibit on Alfred Hitchcock. We continued our tour of Berlin, visiting sites such as the Bundesrat (second house of government), Sony Center, Berlin Wall Division, the memorial to those who didn't make it across the wall, and met with two parlimentary members in the governmental sector. We also took an extensive tour of the Reichstag (Yes, that' a crocodile standing there, and bonus points to whoever figures out what the statue is holding, my vote goes to hair dryer), where the German Parliament meets, including walking up the external dome at the top. After it was burned down (it was blamed on communists, but a covert Nazi operation is suspected), the Reichstag was completely redone on the inside, with an interesting set of interior decorations, Russian graffiti from the occupation of Berlin. One particular piece of graffiti is definitely fake, however, E. Kennedy U,S,A, 13th May 1945. This is blatantly a European graffiti, due to the european 1's that look like ^'s, 9's that look like g's, backwards date (day/month/year as opposed to month/day/year) and using commas instead of periods to write U,S,A,
Later that night, after the mandatory events were over, we attended the famous Berlin Film Festival, the Berlinale, which we were lucky enough to be in town for. The film featured that night was a Bulgarian film called As, Grafinjata (The Countess) about a young woman who fights for her individuality at a woman's re-education camp in 1968. We then explored the Kreuzberg portion of Berlin, otherwise known as "Little Istanbul."
Day 1.
We travelled to Berlin by double-decker bus, which I think was is even more comfortable than traveling by train. We had Jacob's personal travel agent, Frank, with us, as well as a tour guide which we picked up when we arrived at the outskirts of Berlin. Throughout the four days, the two of them provided more information about Berlin than anybody could hope to possibly retain, although most of it was very interesting and I probably would never have known had I visited Berlin on my own. We began our tour by bus, stopping a few times at key locations, including the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Churches, two cars in concrete, Sieges Saeulle (Victory Monument), Jimmy Carter's Smile, the German Holocaust Memorial, Hotel Adlon, the Brandenburg Gate, (not at big as you would think it would be, like the Mona Lisa) Berliner Dom, the Berlin Wall, and the Berlin TV Tower. At this point I began to understand how physically large Berlin is in actuality (second only to London in terms of area). Afterward, we had a welcome dinner at a local restaurant, and proceeded to check into our hotel, a European Best-Western. A few random notes about the hotel, the beds (once again with just a pillow and comforter-within-a-sheet) were extremely comfortable, far more comfortable than the Jacob's beds, or even my own bed at home, although my nearly instantaneous sleep might be contributed to the three exhausting days beforehand as well. Also a continuing trend from Jacob's to Berlin was the toilet with two flush buttons. The only other thing of note in the hotel was the lighting system, which required you to put your access card in a slot in order to activate electricity in the room. I really like the idea in terms of saving energy, although this led to a few students locking themselves out of their rooms. We solved this little situation by using a student ID card for the lights and kept the access card safely in my pocket.
Day 2.
On Friday, I elected to go with a few students down the road to Potsdamer Platz to visit the Deutsche Kinemathek (German Film Museum). Along the way we saw our first set of large above-ground pipes. Apparently these pipes are temporary structures that are set up at every construction site to pump water out as the foundation is being laid (due to Berlin's high water table), once the foundation was complete, the pipes would be disassembled and relocated elsewhere in the city. Going back to the film museum, I was originally unsure whether or not I would enjoy the museum, as I had zero previous knowledge or interest in German films. The museum, however, turned out to be very interesting, consisting of a large repertoire of artistically created and individually themed interactive display rooms, ranging from the first panoramic shot filmed to huge rooms that immersed you into the landscape of famous german movies (METROPOLIS), to a featured exhibit on Alfred Hitchcock. We continued our tour of Berlin, visiting sites such as the Bundesrat (second house of government), Sony Center, Berlin Wall Division, the memorial to those who didn't make it across the wall, and met with two parlimentary members in the governmental sector. We also took an extensive tour of the Reichstag (Yes, that' a crocodile standing there, and bonus points to whoever figures out what the statue is holding, my vote goes to hair dryer), where the German Parliament meets, including walking up the external dome at the top. After it was burned down (it was blamed on communists, but a covert Nazi operation is suspected), the Reichstag was completely redone on the inside, with an interesting set of interior decorations, Russian graffiti from the occupation of Berlin. One particular piece of graffiti is definitely fake, however, E. Kennedy U,S,A, 13th May 1945. This is blatantly a European graffiti, due to the european 1's that look like ^'s, 9's that look like g's, backwards date (day/month/year as opposed to month/day/year) and using commas instead of periods to write U,S,A,
Later that night, after the mandatory events were over, we attended the famous Berlin Film Festival, the Berlinale, which we were lucky enough to be in town for. The film featured that night was a Bulgarian film called As, Grafinjata (The Countess) about a young woman who fights for her individuality at a woman's re-education camp in 1968. We then explored the Kreuzberg portion of Berlin, otherwise known as "Little Istanbul."
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mercedes-Benz, German Engineering At It's Finest
One of the benefits of our study abroad program is the scheduled day trips around Germany. We were extremely fortunate to be able to tour the Mercedes-Benz factory located right here in Bremen, for which there is apparently a waiting-list over a year long. Our tour guide was an Irishman who had been living in Germany for the past couple of years, meaning that he spoke comprehensible english, a plus indeed. Before the start of the tour, I intended to follow it up with a blog entry about the engineering and other technical aspects that I observed, however, in this case I feel compelled to mention the personality of our tour guide as well. The man (who's name I forget) was extremely willing to impress upon us as much knowledge of the workings inside the factory as he possibly could, including such specific details as the torque of certain automated screwdrivers. But among the technical mumbojumbo came more cultural references in a short time frame that I have ever heard in my life. "Where is this red car going? Not Europe for sure, back to America. Home Sweet Home. Home Sweet Home Alabama, a good song. Who saw the Grammys? Coldplay won a bunch, you know Coldplay? Probably like you know U2? A good Irishman. My daughter's name is Caroline, you know, that song, bah bah bahh. Do you know what your name means Stephen?" Note: I'm pretty sure he didn't stop to breathe during that segment.
Anyways, back to the Mercedes Plant, things I noticed:
-Black and silver are the most popular colors, with white coming in third.
-There were very few tans, blues, and reds, and almost all of them were going to the U.S.
-Mercedes has a 0% tolerance when building cars, if there's a minor imperfection, it is thrown out.
-Efficency is everywhere. It takes too long to walk across the plant, so they ride bikes in the buildings.
-Mercedes loses 22.000,00 Euros for every minute the assembly line stops working
-Us Lafayetties accidentally stopped the assembly line for a minute.
-Oops.
-The assembly lines build multiple types of cars (sedans, SUVs, ect..) on the same assembly line at the same time.
-The robots are just amazing, they move very gracefully, and make the car assembly look effortless.
-We weren't allowed to take any photographs during the tour.
-I really wish we could have.
-There are cars, doors, and various other parts moving around in every direction you look, including a couple levels above the floor.
-It takes four days to make a car.
-The Bremen plant made about 1.000.000 cars last year.
-Everything is made there except the engines, which are made in Berlin.
-I'm not too sure about that last one, because the intro video was in German.
Anyways, back to the Mercedes Plant, things I noticed:
-Black and silver are the most popular colors, with white coming in third.
-There were very few tans, blues, and reds, and almost all of them were going to the U.S.
-Mercedes has a 0% tolerance when building cars, if there's a minor imperfection, it is thrown out.
-Efficency is everywhere. It takes too long to walk across the plant, so they ride bikes in the buildings.
-Mercedes loses 22.000,00 Euros for every minute the assembly line stops working
-Us Lafayetties accidentally stopped the assembly line for a minute.
-Oops.
-The assembly lines build multiple types of cars (sedans, SUVs, ect..) on the same assembly line at the same time.
-The robots are just amazing, they move very gracefully, and make the car assembly look effortless.
-We weren't allowed to take any photographs during the tour.
-I really wish we could have.
-There are cars, doors, and various other parts moving around in every direction you look, including a couple levels above the floor.
-It takes four days to make a car.
-The Bremen plant made about 1.000.000 cars last year.
-Everything is made there except the engines, which are made in Berlin.
-I'm not too sure about that last one, because the intro video was in German.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
A Little German Culture Anyone? Warum Nicht?
Dorms are called Colleges
Fruit punch is bright orange, not red (and really good!)
"Exit" signs are little men running towards rectangles
Public transportation can get you where you want to go without a car
A drivers license costs > 1000 Euros
Beer is sometimes cheaper than water, and cheaper than soda most of the time
Cars and trucks are all tiny
Commas are periods and periods are commas. $1,000.00 ->1.000,00 E
Be sure to stay off the bike paths! Bikers have no mercy!
Nobody jaywalks, it is a large fine, and considered rude because it sets a bad example for others
If you make eye-contact with a bum, it means you are expected to give him/her money
German beer is required to have only 4 ingredients
Oftentimes beer has a higher alcohol content than in the US
Professors squeegee chalkboards
There is no sun!
Traffic lights for pedestrians have 2 reds
Cafeterias are Serveries
At German clubs, you only dance with people you know, and don't usually speak to other people
There's nothing wrong with hitchhiking
German trains (and public transport) arrive on time
Really nice cars look terrible with ugly hubcaps
Fruit punch is bright orange, not red (and really good!)
"Exit" signs are little men running towards rectangles
Public transportation can get you where you want to go without a car
A drivers license costs > 1000 Euros
Beer is sometimes cheaper than water, and cheaper than soda most of the time
Cars and trucks are all tiny
Commas are periods and periods are commas. $1,000.00 ->1.000,00 E
Be sure to stay off the bike paths! Bikers have no mercy!
Nobody jaywalks, it is a large fine, and considered rude because it sets a bad example for others
If you make eye-contact with a bum, it means you are expected to give him/her money
German beer is required to have only 4 ingredients
Oftentimes beer has a higher alcohol content than in the US
Professors squeegee chalkboards
There is no sun!
Traffic lights for pedestrians have 2 reds
Cafeterias are Serveries
At German clubs, you only dance with people you know, and don't usually speak to other people
There's nothing wrong with hitchhiking
German trains (and public transport) arrive on time
Really nice cars look terrible with ugly hubcaps
Hamburg...The German Home of the Beatles
I'm trying something new this time, for pictures, just click on the links within the blog post.
Our first real excursion out of Bremen took place this weekend to Hamburg. Our semester tickets allow us to take all the public transportation in Bremen, as well as the slow train to Hamburg and Hannover, so naturally, everybody decided to spend at least a day in Hamburg. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany, and largest city in north Germany (Bremen is second). Even with a population of over 2 million, we still managed to run into other groups of Lafayetties (3 times)! It started out on Friday, the most beautiful day we've had yet, with the sun out, blue skies, and also surprisingly warm.
We played tourist for most of the day, wandering about the main roads and sidestreets as we slowly made our way to Wira Hostel. The churches in Hamburg are quite impressive, especially the remains of St. Nicholas, which was burned in a fire in World War Two, leaving just the 147 meter tower and some of the surrounding walls. We returned the next day and ascended the tower, unfortunately the weather was not as clear as it was when we first arrived. Other impressive structures included St. Michaels (a closer up picture) church and the Rathous.
Because Jacob's University is an International University, we don't get "german" food in the serveries (although sometimes the main dish comes with "american sauce"). This was our first chance to sample traditional german cuisine, which we did in a little restaurant off the Reeperbahn.
When we arrived at the hostel, we ran into a little problem (no, not masked torturers trying to steal our livers). Because we were staying in Germany, none of us had brought our passports, so we had to convince the owners that driver's licenses were legitimate forms of identification, and put down a 50 Euro deposit to recieve our keys instead of handing our passports over as collateral.
For those of you who aren't Beatles fans, now it's time for a quick history lesson :) When the Beatles first became a band (out of the ashes of the Quarrymen) there were five of them (from left to right): Pete Best, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Stu Sutcliffe. The Beatles first got their start in Hamburg, playing and clubs and living right off of the Reeperbahn. Eventually, Stu died, Paul switched to bass to cover all the instruments, and Pete Best was deemed a bad drummer and replaced by Ringo Starr, who was...less of a bad drummer. Now in Hamburg, there is a circle right outside of Grosse Freiheit on the Reeperbahn to commemorate them called the Beatles-Platz. Us at Beatles-Platz
Oh yeah, we also explored the Sea Port.
Our first real excursion out of Bremen took place this weekend to Hamburg. Our semester tickets allow us to take all the public transportation in Bremen, as well as the slow train to Hamburg and Hannover, so naturally, everybody decided to spend at least a day in Hamburg. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany, and largest city in north Germany (Bremen is second). Even with a population of over 2 million, we still managed to run into other groups of Lafayetties (3 times)! It started out on Friday, the most beautiful day we've had yet, with the sun out, blue skies, and also surprisingly warm.
We played tourist for most of the day, wandering about the main roads and sidestreets as we slowly made our way to Wira Hostel. The churches in Hamburg are quite impressive, especially the remains of St. Nicholas, which was burned in a fire in World War Two, leaving just the 147 meter tower and some of the surrounding walls. We returned the next day and ascended the tower, unfortunately the weather was not as clear as it was when we first arrived. Other impressive structures included St. Michaels (a closer up picture) church and the Rathous.
Because Jacob's University is an International University, we don't get "german" food in the serveries (although sometimes the main dish comes with "american sauce"). This was our first chance to sample traditional german cuisine, which we did in a little restaurant off the Reeperbahn.
When we arrived at the hostel, we ran into a little problem (no, not masked torturers trying to steal our livers). Because we were staying in Germany, none of us had brought our passports, so we had to convince the owners that driver's licenses were legitimate forms of identification, and put down a 50 Euro deposit to recieve our keys instead of handing our passports over as collateral.
For those of you who aren't Beatles fans, now it's time for a quick history lesson :) When the Beatles first became a band (out of the ashes of the Quarrymen) there were five of them (from left to right): Pete Best, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Stu Sutcliffe. The Beatles first got their start in Hamburg, playing and clubs and living right off of the Reeperbahn. Eventually, Stu died, Paul switched to bass to cover all the instruments, and Pete Best was deemed a bad drummer and replaced by Ringo Starr, who was...less of a bad drummer. Now in Hamburg, there is a circle right outside of Grosse Freiheit on the Reeperbahn to commemorate them called the Beatles-Platz. Us at Beatles-Platz
Oh yeah, we also explored the Sea Port.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Becks - Spitzen-Pilsener von Welt
Located tight in downtown Bremen, is Beck's Brewery, home to the Beck's and Hakke-Beck's brands. Certainly you've heard of Beck's, but maybe not Hakke-Beck's. Hakke-Beck's is a local north german brand, with a sharper taste and more head, due to the increased proportion of hops in the beer. For those unaware of how beer is made, the longest standing german food law, called Reinheitsgebot (or German Beer Purity Law) requires that beer is made using only four ingrediants: water, yeast, hops, and barley (although barley may be replaced by wheat for wheat beer). Yeast was not originally included in the law because it's effects were not known.
We were led through a tour of how beer used to be made, and how it is now. Two notable points: Beer was supposedly discovered when a woman living near the desert left bread out in a bowl, which filled up with rain water and then sat in the sun for a while, a dehydrated man later stumbled out of the desert, and desperate for a drink, drank the bread-water...thus discovering beer. A second interesting fact is that a large temperature drop is required to drop beer, making it impossible for beer to be brewed in the summer before ice became readily available.
The tour continued with a look at the silos where the raw materials were kept. I've included a picture of one of the beer holding silos, which, at one beer a day would last a person....any guesses? Nope, 5000 years, by which point, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be beer anymore.
The tour ended with a taste-testing of two unidentified beers out of three choices: Beck's, Hakke-Beck's, and Beck's Non-Alcoholic Beer. I was able to correctly identify the beers as Hakke-Beck's on the left and Beck's on the right. We were then able to sample various brands of Beck's and Hakke-Beck's (one of mine tasted exactly like gingerale), which are unfortunately not available in the states.
PICTURES OF BECK'S HERE!
We were led through a tour of how beer used to be made, and how it is now. Two notable points: Beer was supposedly discovered when a woman living near the desert left bread out in a bowl, which filled up with rain water and then sat in the sun for a while, a dehydrated man later stumbled out of the desert, and desperate for a drink, drank the bread-water...thus discovering beer. A second interesting fact is that a large temperature drop is required to drop beer, making it impossible for beer to be brewed in the summer before ice became readily available.
The tour continued with a look at the silos where the raw materials were kept. I've included a picture of one of the beer holding silos, which, at one beer a day would last a person....any guesses? Nope, 5000 years, by which point, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be beer anymore.
The tour ended with a taste-testing of two unidentified beers out of three choices: Beck's, Hakke-Beck's, and Beck's Non-Alcoholic Beer. I was able to correctly identify the beers as Hakke-Beck's on the left and Beck's on the right. We were then able to sample various brands of Beck's and Hakke-Beck's (one of mine tasted exactly like gingerale), which are unfortunately not available in the states.
PICTURES OF BECK'S HERE!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
The Ins and Outs of Life in College IV
The college switched to a new meal plan to reduce food waste :)
Longer lines now, and the meal cards like to backfire (my meal plan accidentally got deleted today) :(
There are now stickers on the doors to indicate push or pull :)
Drilling continues at ridiculous hours in the morning directly above my head :(
I successfully navigated the lower tunnels to locate the washing machines :)
I also managed to somehow lock myself out of the laundry room :(
We have fancy-shmancy washers and dryers that are brand new and come in 17 languages with about 20 washing and drying settings :)
I have no idea how to use them :(
I received another present outside my door, a mini garbage can with rotating lid :)
I have no idea what to do with it because they already gave us a garbage can :-/
Longer lines now, and the meal cards like to backfire (my meal plan accidentally got deleted today) :(
There are now stickers on the doors to indicate push or pull :)
Drilling continues at ridiculous hours in the morning directly above my head :(
I successfully navigated the lower tunnels to locate the washing machines :)
I also managed to somehow lock myself out of the laundry room :(
We have fancy-shmancy washers and dryers that are brand new and come in 17 languages with about 20 washing and drying settings :)
I have no idea how to use them :(
I received another present outside my door, a mini garbage can with rotating lid :)
I have no idea what to do with it because they already gave us a garbage can :-/
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