Glückspilz/kostenloses Wochenende!

So I really lucked out this weekend: I paid for just about nothing and still did tons of stuff!

My weekend started on Thursday (I don't have any real class on Friday - just tandem team). That night my March language course group got together at a beer garden on the harbor.


Here's my half of the table. (The guy next to me is Denis, my tandem partner.)


Our professor came, too. She is great. I gave her this drawing I did of her as a gift, and she loved it and kissed me on the cheek and kept thanking me. That was sweet. (I purposefully did it on notebook paper, because she always teased me about my doodling during class. She said once that she wanted me to make a booklet of all of my best doodles from class.)

On Saturday we Oles went to Sea Life Center (yes, that's its German name), which is an aquarium mainly for little kids – screaming little kids with microscopic attention spans. We got in for free with a coupon from the booklet that we got when we became residents.


What's a blog post without a photo of Chrissy doing something weird?


There was a cool tank with baby sharks and rays and the real mermaid's purses from which they "hatch."


And they had one of those tunnels you walk through with sharks and sea turtles and eels on all sides. I'm a sucker for those tunnels.

At the end there was this wall where kids stuck post-its answering the posed question "What do you wish for the future of the lake?" Here's my favorite response:

DAS GANS FILE DELFi NE GiBT. [sic]
(dass [es] ganz viele Delfine gibt. that [there] are lots of dolphins.)

After that we went to a free museum above Sea Life with taxidermied animals, which was also cool.


I love Constance.


Then we split up, and Kirsten and I went to Osiander Café to use another coupon (Gutschein) for free hot chocolate (heiße Schocki), which was perfect on a somewhat chilly day. (Don't worry, parents, it's already back to beautiful today!)

After that the two of us went to the Archäologisches Museum, which is free Saturdays. It has artifacts from all over Baden-Württemberg from the prehistoric up through about the 14th century.


Here are some trepanned skulls.


And here's a Carnival (Faschnacht) mask and part of a window from an old Gothic church.

Then yesterday six of us (one German and five foreigners) went to Kreuzlingen, our Swiss neighbor city, to watch Germany wallop Poland in the European Football Championships. While we were standing in line, some extremely nice woman offered us her tickets for free (they had cost her 11 franks, or about $11, a piece)! We lucked out so much! Plus she said there were only four tickets, but it turned out there were six (perfect)!


Deutschland schalala!

Tonight I'm going Shamrocks for their Monday special: delicious half-price hamburgers and €1 off a pitcher of beer! And better yet, my family is coming from the US to visit on Wednesday!

die Insel Mainau und mehr schönes Wetter!

Yesterday was a holiday in Germany (Labor Day, or Tag der Arbeit), so we had no class. Chrissy and I decided to grab the opportunity and go to Insel Mainau, an island about 45 minutes by foot from our dorm.

Our route to Mainau took us through Egg. We saw two little boys working what is apparently the German version of a lemonade stand. We each bought a cup of Apfelschorle, which is something like sparkling apple juice.


Later on we passed this stand. Its owner just left everything on the table, even tho the sign said no one was going to be back to man the “shop” until Sunday!

Well anyway, we obviously made it to Mainau, which is known for its floral gardens.


These are “Star Wars Magnolia hybrids,” according to their sign. They’re definitely pretty, but mainly the name just cracked me up.


one of several flower sculptures


Mainau also has a famous butterfly house (Schmetterlingshaus) with a little waterfall, turtles, and fish. It was ridiculously crowded in there. It was difficult to get photos of the butterflies as they zipped by, but there were hundreds of them.


There is also this big greenhouse of orchids with a really expensive restaurant in the middle.


Chrissy posing as best she can


This is what most of the island looks like.


And I’d feel negligent if I didn’t put up one of my millions of photos of the Alps. This one I took from the U. That gross, lighter-colored building is part of Sonnenbühl Ost.

So my life really isn’t too shabby. And a week from today I’m off to CAIRO!

Paris, je t'aime!

After Dresden we took an overnight train to Paris. We rode in a couchette, which is (according to Webster) a train car with, and I quote, "sleeping berths." I slept like a rock, even though I didn't really fit into my "sleeping berth." I even slept through the two hours we were stalled on the tracks. We had to transfer in Mannheim, but we were scheduled to have just over two hours there, so we made our next train with minutes to spare.

So, after around four hours of sleep, we were in Paris! Amelia and Chrissy wanted to do a walking tour of the city, and I wanted to visit the Institut du Monde Arabe.


The Institut
It was around €4 for students, which is I found very typical for Paris. It was awesome. I even bought Al-'Amîr Aṣ-ṣaghîr (engl. The Little Prince - how much more French/Arab can you get?) in the book store there. ****

Then I went to the Galerie de paléontologie et d'anatomie comparée in the Jardin des plantes. Entrance again was €4 - and definitely worth it! ****


Rue Morgue or Planet of the Apes? No one knows.
(entrance hall to the Galerie)


me in the hall of comparative anatomy
Behind me is a whale's baleen-filled mouth - enormous!


I enjoy this shot.

The paleontology exhibit was not as good as the comparative anatomy one, but it was still cool.

Then I met up in front of Notre Dame with Erik, my roommate from Olaf, and we went to his friend's apartment on the Place d'Italie. His apartment is awesome - he has a kitchen, a bathroom with a nice shower, a bedroom, a living room, a hallway and a guest room! That's where Erik and I stayed. Plus the guy, Mark, was really cool. It was definitely quality housing.


Erik and I spent a significant portion of the next few days eating our way through the Parisian boulangeries and pâtisseries. French food is definitely the greatest thing ever. For example, one night I stopped at a boulangerie near Mark's place, and I grabbed dinner consisting of a tuna and cheese crepe, a massive chocolate brownie/cake thing and an Orangina. (NB: Orangina in Paris has one of the strangest ad campaigns I have ever seen. Check it out!) I'm giving French food - regardless of expense - a perfect *****.


massive dog


Notre Dame is beautiful.


Then one day Amelia had this brilliant idea: picnic in the Tuileries gardens! Pictured: French baguette, French wine, French strawberry (from a farmer's market that morning). Not pictured: French rotisserie chicken, French cheese, French plastic silverware.


My lovely friend Kelly Hamren, who is spending the year studying in France, came up to visit for the day.

After our picnic, we went to the Louvre (it is apparently free on Fridays for anyone under 26). At first I didn't want to go; I though, "I've already been to the Louvre, and it's just a mass of paintings by stuffy old white men". Stupid, jaded ass. The Louvre is spectacular. Even if you've been there a thousand times, I'm sure you'd still love it. I'm not positive how much entry usually is, but even if it were €20, it'd still be well worth it. Also, if you are an art history student or have a fake art-history-student ID like Mark, you get in free every day of the week. *****


Plus while we were there, they had live music playing in many of the rooms. AMAZING!


"Winged Victory"


And then of course we had to go to the Eiffel Tower.

The next day Erik and I went to the Grande galerie de l'évolution, also in the Jardin des plantes. This was slightly more expensive (€6 or €6,50, I'm not sure), but it was also awesome. ****

The first floor consisted of exhibits on marine wildlife, and it had an actual, plasticized giant squid.


The second floor was full of terrestrial animals (here as seen from the third).

The third floor was called "The Evolution of Man." This name, however, is more than a bit misleading. Instead of following the descent of humans from apes, it detailed the destructive impact humans have had on the natural world.


One hall on this floor was dedicated to the species that have gone or are going extinct because of humans. Above is a preserved specimen of the (in)famous Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. This part was kind of depressing, but it was cool to see an actually Tasmanian tiger. They also had a dodo on display.


On a more positive note, we're bringin' haute-y back!
Erik bought this bottle of slightly alcoholic cider, and we drank in the Tuileries on our way to…


L'Orangerie! I think it was €5,50 entrance, but it was awesome! ***** A definite must-see. Monet's massive paintings of ponds stretch around the circular rooms upstairs. In the center of each room there's a bench, so it's just like you're sitting in the middle of the paintings. Extreme quality.

And downstairs there's a very decent collection of other Impressionist art.


a Modigliani for Dad

In conclusion, Paris was spectacular!

Well, I have class now, so I gotta run. Look soon for a post about life back in Constance and the beginning of the regular semester.

Leipzig und Dresden (Ostdeutschland, ehemalige DDR)

Alrighty, so the problem was that I hadn't downloaded the most recent security update. Everything's taken care of. PLUS I have internet on campus now! No more stupid trips to McDonald's!

But on to the more interesting stuff.

After Berlin we traveled to Leipzig. This was possibly my favorite city. It's hard to say, tho, because Germany in general is so freaking awesome.

First thing we did when we got there was to buy a day pass for the buses. It cost €11. IDIOT idea. Leipzig is so small that you just walk everywhere. Plus it's so pretty that you should even if it were big.


Next up was the Nikolai Kirche (above). It was where the East Germans first started plotting their democratic rebellion. Entrance was free. ***


Then we went to the cathedral where Bach used to play and is buried. Above is a photo of his organ! (free entrance, again) ***


just kind of a cool shot (of Leipzig)


After that we walked to the Stasi Museum. The museum was pretty sweet. It was an outpost that was kept basically the same as it was during the GDR period. ***


then my favorite part! THE ZOO
The Leipzig Zoo is amazing. It cost, I think, €7 for entrance (I'm not positive), but it rocked hard core. Some of the animals (for example, the above monkey) were freilaufend, meaning they could wander around wherever they wanted. This monkey walked right by us.

And the best part of the zoo was the great ape exhibits. This was unlike anything I'd ever seen. We actually went to the zoo for this reason, because I was reading this book called The First Word, on the origin of language, and it mentioned several times the linguistic research on apes done at the Leipzig Zoo. *****


The apes have free roam between an outside area (pictured above) and an inside enclosure (below).




Here's a bonobo using a tool (a twig to dig out insects)! And just a few decades ago no one thought animals could use tools!

Nota bene, it's not just apes and monkeys at the zoo, tho. They're just what particularly interested me.

next up: Dresden


me being stupid (surprise) at our hostel in Dresden
We stayed at another A+O. This time it was a lot nicer of a room, but the roommate was crappy. He snored like no other. It was like an earthquake. Plus he went to bed at 8:30 and got up (loudly) at 7. Other than that, it was pretty nice, we had our own bathroom, and it cost only €13/bed. ****


We walked around the city. Again, you have no need for the bus.


Dreden is beautiful.


This is where I ate lunch.


Then we went to the botanical gardens at the university there. Apparently they're famous. They're really cool. Chrissy thought it might rain when we went into the Tropenhaus, but it didn't.


I have no idea what this is, but I thought it looked cool.

Oh yeah, botanical gardens=cool and free. ****


And what better proof that Dresden is sweet than the fact that it has an IBIS!

Tomorrow I'll post about Paris. Bis bald, alle!