Dampfschifffahrt and Halloween!

Sorry for the pause between postings, but I've actually started to become busy with school.  DaF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache) started this week, and of course a lot of homework comes with any language class.  It's a mix of students from all over the world, although mostly European.  I'm the only American, but there's a girl from England and a girl from Australia too.  I also met a girl from Korea, and we talked in Korean a little bit (although I kept mixing it up with German.)  There are quite a few students from Mexico and South America too, so I hear a lot of Spanish being whispered.  My teacher is from Spain so she has a Spanish accent when she speaks German.  She's only 23 too, so I think this is probably her first year teaching.  We have a lot of Italians in class too, and I love hearing them speak German because they make it so melodic.  If you're familiar with the intonation patterns of Italian (or even the stereotyped patterns that we make fun of), then you'll know what I mean.

Poem from Middle English
www.archive.org

I've been working on my Referat (report/presentation) for my Middle English class all week.  My entire grade is based off of it, so I've been really stressed.  I just have to present for 20 minutes on Language Contact between Middle English, French, and Latin, but I'm still not sure what's "normal" for a presentation here in Germany.  In America we always make powerpoints, but here students seem to prefer the overhead projector.  I don't think I've used one of those since grade school.  Plus in the presentations there appears to be a strong lack of citations, so I'm not sure how strict they are about proper MLA citation format here.  Maybe my high school Conserve just drilled it into me too deeply.  There if we screwed up even one citation we'd lose an entire letter grade on the project.  In any case, I found some good sources and I think my powerpoint turned out pretty snazzy looking, so wish me luck on Tuesday!

Yesterday we had a BU all expenses paid Dampfschifffahrt down the Elbe River.  Yes, that is one word,  and it basically means we took a ride on a steam-powered cruise boat.  For all of you Linguistics people, that is a part of the famous German word: Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftsraddampferkapitänskajütentürsicherheitsschlüssel that we've looked at in Morphology classes.  Broken down: The Donau Steamboat Ride Corporation Paddle Steamer Captain's Cabin Door Security Keys.  I looked around the boat, but unfortunately this word was nowhere to be found. :-(

Christine and I in front of the Dampfschiff

The ride went really slowly, and although it was sunny out it was still pretty cold so we sat inside for most of it.  I ordered some Glühwein, warm wine, which is starting to become one of my favorite drinks here.  I'll have to figure out how to make it back in the States.  I was having a fun time on the cruise until a dog bit my leg when I accidentally stepped on its paw (in my defense its owners let it sit on the walkway.)  It didn't break the skin luckily, but now I have a huge bruised bite mark on my leg.  On the bright side, at least it happened on Halloween and now I can say it's a zombie bite!

Justin (one of the Bio Students)
looking very American in front of
the German flag!

After the cruise I went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Altstadt with Lin and some of the Bio Students.  I've been making an effort to get to know them better, and they're a lot of fun to hang out with.  Plus I do kind of miss being able to goof around in English.  Anyways, the food there was good, but I got a spicy salad and apparently my body needs to adjust back to eating spicy foods again because I had a tummyache all night.

View from the bow of the Dampfschiff

I went out with Lin, Alex, Christine, and our friend Markus (who lives here in Dresden but speaks good English).  We got all dressed up (I wore my dirndel of course!) but when we got to the club hardly anyone else was dressed up.  The few that were didn't get too creative about it either.  I mostly saw lederhosen and silly hats or masks.  The music was just classic club hits too.  Not bad for dancing, but I really need to find a House music club here before I leave!

Meißen Vineyard & Beer Pong Tourney

Photo by Zeynep Deligönül

I didn't end up going to Wittenberg on Friday.  :-(  It was for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it required a 6 hour bus ride and my headphones broke and I didn't have a book along.  Call me American, but you guys know I can't travel anywhere without listening to my music.  (The lack of students who wear headphones while they walk here is quite surprising.)

My boo Oli arrived in Dresden on Friday evening.  We had dinner and drinks at Vapiano's (a delicious bruschetta pizza with vodka and tonics.)  Then we went to a Beer Pong Tournament that the Bio Students had set up.  It was Oli's first time playing, but he really had a knack for it!  All of the teams were dressed up, so I put on my dirndel and Oli wore my Kanye America glasses.  I called us "Team Opposite." :-)  But officially we were just listed on the bracket as "Tricia and Freund" haha.

Photo by Zeynep Deligönül

It was BYOB (we played with water cups), so Oli and I brought some Wodka und Apfelsaft.  Not sure how it happened, but we ended up finishing the entire Flasche that night.  We played one game and won (!!!), but everyone was being too loud so we went down to the Gutz to finish up.  We were using smaller, eurostore cups (no party cups here in Deutschland) so the games took awhile.  Oli and I just hung out in the Gutz and talked with people.  There were a couple other Germans hanging out with us, but I'm afraid our American group was dominating and they all spoke English with us.  The tournament was put on hold until the next night, and Oli and I were already gut drauf so we just went to bed.  I ate a ton of Salzbrezeln (salty pretzels) before bed because I was convinced that then I wouldn't get a hangover.  It actually worked pretty well!

By the way, I'd just like to point out that so far I haven't puked from drinking in Germany. :-)  I also haven't seen any Germans throw up.  I've heard that it's a really shameful thing to do here.  Everyone seems to drink until they blackout though.  I'm not sure how you can have one without the other, but more power to them I guess.

Church and Castle in Meißen

On Saturday, we went on a wine tour in Meißen with five other Libby's and Jen's German friend.  Since two of the Libby's didn't come, that meant that Oli and this other guy got in for free!  We had to climb a bunch of steps and a hill to get to the top of the Vineyard, but the few was just gorgeous from up there (see pictures.)  All of the grapes had been harvested already, and a fresh batch of wine had been made just a few days ago.  Our tour guide, a jolly drunk old man, was also the owner of the vineyard (which he called a "Winyard" in English lol), so we got a personal tour of the woods and everything around.  We asked him how he got into the wine business, and he said it was because in college he loved beer, but then he moved to Meißen after college and found all the beer there to be terrible so he would just drink a bottle of wine every day instead.  Spoken like a true German!

Gorgeous view of the Weinberg

We also got to do quite a bit of taste testing (win!).  I think overall we must have the equivalent of about three glasses of wine or more.  They specialized in dry, white wine, which isn't my favorite, but free wine is always delicious to me!  We also learned the proper way to drink, smell, swirl, and then drink good wine.  We got to see how it was made and taste some of the juice before it was fermented into wine (much more delicious in my opinion!)  Since the grapes had a bad summer, our tour guide said that all of them had to be picked by hand to check for quality.  That must have been a fun summer job for the kids.  He also doesn't bottle his wine, but instead fills up old wine bottles or pitchers for his customers to save on glass.  He said that's the proper way to sell wine, or at least that's how the Romans did it.

When we got back, Oli and I went to Vapiano's (again!)  I had ravioli this time, so delicious.  Then we saw "The Social Network," but it was dubbed in German and Jesse Eisenberg talks so quickly in that movie that I had problems understanding.  I'll have to watch it again in English when I get back.  It was a good movie, but I didn't like seeing Jesse Eisenberg being such a douche.  He was much cuter in Zombieland!

We went back to the Beer Pong Tourney (without our costumes this time unfortunately), and we ended up winning!  Oli did better than me in the last two games, which isn't too bad for a First Timer.  I've been playing for over three years now!  Germany doesn't have any drinking games, but maybe Beer Pong will start to catch on here (or Swine Flu-friendly Water Pong, who knows.)  We got a cute little certificate proclaiming us the Official Dresden Bier Pongen Champions!

Then we drank some more in the Gutz, met up with Lin to finish her vodka, and then went to Club Mensa because it's cheap and nearby.  I really like most of the music there, but I've started to notice that they play the same songs every night, sometimes even in the same order.  Or the DJ plays like three Die Atzen songs in a row, which isn't much fun.  Variety is the spice of life!  In the DJ's defense though, he played my favorite German song of all time ("Nur Tanzen" by the Houserockerz), so I can't say anything  bad about him.  That was my first time hearing it a club, and I couldn't stop jumping up and down!

Tequila Party and Apocalyptica

I'm pretty worn out right now, although I'm not even sure why.  I did quite a bit of walking today, but I've got even more planned for tomorrow if I end up going on this class trip to Wittenberg.  (The city in Germany, not the town in Wisconsin, although I have been there too!)  It's where Luther did all of his famous Protestant things, which I don't really know anything about.  I looked it up on Wikipedia and it looks rather interesting, but we leave at 7:30 and don't get back until 8:00 pm so I'm not sure if I'll be up for it (especially since Oli is coming to visit tomorrow night!)

Last night Lin and I went to Tequila Night at Club Mensa.  It was free entry and one free shot of tequila for TU students, so of course we felt like we had to go.  Unfortunately apparently half the campus also felt the same way, because the line was around the corner.  Normally I hate waiting in line, but I was sober and I had nothing else to do.  We ended up waiting for about an hour and a half, and as we got closer to the door we became more and more squished.  Maybe this analogy is still too new, but it was a total Love Parade.  The Bouncers were trying to stagger the kids coming in, but every time they started letting in new people, everyone behind us would start pushing.  Lin and I got caught between big guys, so that didn't help either.  By that point we were so packed we couldn't even lift our arms, let alone try to get out of the line.  So we kept getting pushed forward, and the final push that sent me through the door I couldn't even breathe.  Kinda scary.  The club should really rope off an actual line or something.

After we got in, we had to wait another 20 minutes to check our coats.  Then we danced for awhile, and the music was upbeat and fun like last time!  Unfortunately the dance floor was also packed like sardines, so we couldn't do much besides shake side to side a little.  We got in line at the bar (Die Nacht der Schlangen, The Night of Snakes aka Lines) and had to wait another 20 minutes to get served.  While in line we met a guy from Canada and a guy from South Africa, so we talked to them in English to pass the time.  Once we made it to the bar it took awhile for the bartender to notice us (even though I was holding out money.)  This really drunk guy next to me was trying to talk to me but I was having a hard time understanding his German.  He felt bad that everyone around us was getting served except for us, so he bought me a shot of tequila and told me to smile more.

I ended up doing three shots of tequila in a row, but I barely even felt it.  I guess since we went right back to dancing afterwards we probably ended up sweating it out.  I had class at 9:20 the next morning so I didn't want to stay out too late.  We spent another half an hour or so dancing, but then the music got kinda slow and boring.  We had another 20 minute wait in the coatcheck line, and then we finally made it home.  Of the 3 hours we were out that night, we must have spent at least 2 in lines.  It was still an experience though, and hey, it was free!

Speaking of free things, today I went with Jason and Anthony to see Apocalyptica play a live acoustic set at Centrum Gallerie here in Dresden.  I don't know much about the band, but it was free and Jason told me they play with cellos so I was interested to see what it was all about.  I always thought they were heavy metal, but actually their songs turned out to be really soothing and sadly romantic.  I don't understand why they had long hair and wore black t-shirts then.  Maybe their actual concerts (not acoustic) get a little wilder.  Then Jason and I got some noodles and he went to Karstadt to get more Dr. Pepper.  I checked and they're out of Poptarts again (not like it really matters because I've still got at least 20 packs in the package from my parents!)

Vier, Drei, Zwo!

Clubsound - Mein Himmel

Second week of classes in swing!  Today is rainy again, but Monday was sunny and cold.  I had my Word Building Patterns class at 9:20 am, which isn't too early for me.  I find the class really interesting too.  We learn a lot of cool German words (eg. Warentrennbalken - the plastic grocery separators in the checkout outline.)  We talked about basic linguistic concepts too, and scientific words seem to be about the same in German and English so I didn't have any problems following along.  Just to be safe, I like to check the presentations online beforehand for any big words I don't know.

The teacher likes having foreign students in her class too.  From what I've seen, there's also a Spanish girl who speaks Catalan and a guy from Czech Republic.  We learned the idiom for heavy rain, "Es gießt aus Kannen." (literally, "It's pouring from the water can.")  Then the professor asked Jason and I what we say in English, and we said, "It's raining cats and dogs" which the class found pretty funny of course because that phrase doesn't make any sense at all.  Then she asked the Spanish speaker, who said that they also say "It's pouring from the water can" as their idiom.  So maybe these phrases are more regional than lingual?

My Teaching English class was also yesterday, and while I enjoyed the topic (and being able to take notes in English, let's be honest), the class is rather big and disruptive.  The professor had a bad cold and couldn't speak too loudly, and although he kept asking the class to pay attention and stop whispering and giggling, they weren't too obedient.  I found it really annoying, but I've seen plenty of that in American lecture halls too.  That's just what comes with a larger class I suppose.  Half of me was hoping for him to break away from his passive English "If you have any questions, just please ask me" to some angry German like, "Geht ihr aus!" (Get out of here!)  Sorry for playing up on stereotypes...

I was surprised to learn that by 4th grade, 90% of students in German schools are excited to learn foreign languages.  This is the year that they start learning English and/or French, and 85% reported having a high interest in that.  (By comparison only 59% had interest in studying German.)  This is pretty different from what I've seen in American schools.  Kids don't have to start learning foreign languages until high school or so, and then the most of them just complain about it all the time.  Even at college, the language requirement is relatively low for most majors (only 2 semesters for Communications students.)

My guess is that is has to do with media exposure and the necessity of the foreign language.  German kids are exposed to a lot of American movies, TV shows, toys, etc and want to learn about them, but in America the most cultural exposure we get is maybe one or two channels in Spanish, if you have cable.  Even then what are you going to watch?  The telenovelas and game shows?  Not exactly the most exiting entertainment out there.  Plus Americans just don't have much motivation to learn foreign languages.  Even if they do want to travel, it seems like everywhere they go these days they can get by using English.

It's really no one's fault; it's just the way the world is right now.  English has become a Lingua Franca, and whether that is beneficial or detrimental to English speakers depends on the speaker himself.  Personally I wish I had been exposed to more foreign languages and cultures growing up, but that's what comes from growing up on a farm outside of a small, monolingual, completely white town.  Spanish wasn't even offered to me until 7th grade, and even then only for a semester.  I'm lucky that I have these opportunities now, and I'm attending a large university where plenty of languages are offered.  (Sign Language next spring!)

This morning was my first Aerobics Class here.  Even though it was in German, I knew pretty much all of the routines already from America (V-step, Step Touch, Grape Vine, etc.)  I was really surprised at how similar it was to American classes actually.  Maybe AFAA runs workshops in Germany too?  I heard some girls commenting afterwards how the class was "American style," so maybe that explains it.  I wonder what "German style" is then.

The class was all women and relatively large.  I'm not too worried though because if there's anything I know about fitness classes, it's that after the first day usually only half the class still comes back.  Plus this class is at 8 am when it's arschkalt (butt cold) outside, so we'll see how attendance goes.  The workout itself was pretty easy, not nearly as much high intensity as Turbo Jam.  That's what I expected though.  I just want to get more of a feel for aerobics class structure in case I ended up teaching my own class at Fitrec in the spring.  The music was also surprisingly good!  Quite a few club hits and even some Lady Gaga to sing along too!  I got German numbers drilled into my head, although this is Dresden so everyone says "zwo" for two instead of the High German "zwei."  I gotta admit, I had to suppress an inappropriate giggle when we were all marching in place counting in German.  Looks a little bit like some movies I've seen lol.

Käse, Downtown Dresden, and Großer Garten

Hey, me again!  I've still been feeling pretty bored lately.  Any suggestions?  I wish I could watch more TV, but I can't find any free streaming sites here in Germany and I'm worried about filling up my traffic quota too.  Surfing the net and reading stuff doesn't seem to use much, so mostly I've been reading random articles, like on cracked.com or The Frisky.

Bierkäse
http://www.traditionelle-lebensmittel.at/
ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/R/45030-300x300.jpg

Yesterday Jason and I spent most of the day walking around and shopping.  He helped me find the Sportkomplex where my Aerobics class will be on Tuesday, and then we went to Prager Straße to do some shopping and just walk around.  I helped him pick out and buy some new clothes, but I didn't have enough money to go shopping for myself.  I bought a new shiny ring (my flower ring broke in Prague) and some Bierkäse (beer cheese) from a Dutch Cheese Shop.  Definitely one of my new favorite stores - if only I had a job and a disposable income here!  I was so excited to try it that I bought a Brötchen from the shop next door and sat down and cut myself a slice of cheese.  Delicious!

Robin, my friend studying abroad in Berlin, was visiting Dresden with his class yesterday, so we met up after dinner to hang out.  He went out dancing with Lin and I later that night.  We wanted to check out more of Neustadt, so we went to this club called "Downtown Dresden" which is pretty popular.  It was Ladies Free before 11:30, and we got in line by 11:20, but we didn't get to the ticket booth until 11:40 or so.  I thought that maybe we'd still be able to sweet talk our way in, but the cashier was a woman (albeit a lesbian, but I didn't think that would work as well in our favor.)  So we had to pay the 4 euro cover for students, but at least we got a free glass of Sekt (German champagne) for being there before midnight.

The music wasn't bad, but it wasn't House.  Mostly Black Musik and some Pop.  The DJ played Cascada's "Evacuate the Dancefloor," which could count as techno because DJ Manian and DJ Yanou are wellknown Eurodance artists, but I think after the initial CD, Cascada just sold out to mainstream Pop and Club.  (Same with Basshunter...schade.)  Also, the cashier and the large percentage of females there should have tipped me off to this right away, but I'm pretty sure that Downtown Dresden is either a lesbian club, or was for that night at least.  We were on the elevated stage dancing with a bunch of lesbians, but none of them tried to hit on me.  That would have been a welcome change! lol  Maybe the girls here don't get as "bi-curious" during their college years as American girls do.

There was also a second floor of the club with an Ü25 Party (25 years old and up.)  They were playing 80's and 90's hits.  We got excited for the American songs and sang along, but when the German songs came on we were at a loss and listened to the Germans sing along.  I got really pumped up when they played Macarena, and I was expecting everyone to start doing the dance like we do in the States, but either no one knew it or no one wanted to do it!  Oh well, Lin and I were really breaking it out, booty shaking and all.

Today was *finally* sunny!  I went for a run on my long route around Großer Garten.  It was kinda windy so a lot of the leaves were falling and blowing around.  Hard to be in a bad mood after that!  I wanted to go walking again later on today, but no one else wanted to go and I was kinda tired from yesterday anyways.

Now I'm munching on some Salz Brezeln (salt pretzels), which are so much better than what we have in the States!  They actually taste like real baked pretzels, and they're wicked salty.  Perfect snack for going along with your beer or rum & coke (don't worry Grandma, I'm not drinking right now!)

Musings

Not much going on, just trying to pass the time.  I've been journaling a lot lately (in my *real* journal of course; it's a touch more private than here.)  It's almost full, so I've been reading through my old entries (dating back to last December.)  I've been keeping journals since I was 9, but I've always enjoyed writing in them more than reading old ones.  There's something kind of unsettling about reliving one's previous thoughts and emotions.  Some are best left buried or forgotten.  But it's interesting and passes the time, plus it always helps me see my current situation in a new light.

Since classes have started I've had a ridiculous amount of free time.  Most classes only meet once a week, and since it was the first week we don't have any homework yet either.  Only my Teaching Class has a textbook, so I've been reading that a little.  My Word Building Design class has a Literature List, but I'm not sure which book is best for beginners so I emailed the Professor asking her opinion.  Still haven't heard back though...  I'm also hesitant to buy any new books until my new debit card from America gets here and I have access to my money again.

Last night Lin and I went out to PM Club (Club Royal) in Altmarkt.  That's where I went my first weekend in Dresden and met Oli.  That was on 80's and 90's night when it was practically empty, but last night it was too full.  I don't like bumping into people all the time and not having much room to dance, plus when some guy comes up behind me I have no means of escape.  By the end of the night I was beginning to feel pretty claustrophobic.  Plus there was this really tall fat guy who kept trying to grind on me.  I would feel something squishy behind me and think "Oh no, what is this..."  Lin and I got circled by guys a couple times too.  The music started out as only Black Music, but then they played some faster hiphop and club tunes, but no true House or Techno.  The DJ did play "Shots," but apparently no one in Germany knows the proper dance because Lin and I were the only ones fist-pumping and jumping during the chorus.  German kids need to watch more music videos.

Speaking of fist-pumping, the club was full of guidos.  Is Jersey Fever really spreading this far?  They were more harmless than true guidos (not many fake tans and no fist-pumping), but they all had Ed Hardy shirts and gelled hair.  Some even had mullets, which made me smile. :-)  They could have been actual Italians, but who knows.  I'm not sure why they were all at this club that night.  Maybe because it was "Casino Night" and the DJ was playing Black Music?  They were dropping their empty beer bottles on the floor like usual, which is really turning into one of my biggest pet peeves.  Broken glass is NOT SAFE people!

So I was looking at the Stats for this page, and I'm getting a lot of page views from around the world.  Germany is far in the lead, with the US and France not too far behind.  My blog also seems to be quite popular in India.  I definitely don't know anyone there...

With so many page hits, I'm rather disappointed that I haven't been seeing any comments!  Who's out there???

Big Kid Classes

I just had my first week of actual university classes here at T.U.  The semester starts so late, it's ridiculous.  The students get two weeks off for Christmas and then finals are first week in February or so.  Needless to say, I have to leave well before then so I can start the American schedule on Jan. 13.  Silke gave us all letters to show our professors that explain the situation and ask if there's some way we can receive an early grade.  Since most of my classes have a final paper or presentation instead of a test, it hasn't been an issue for me.

As it stands, my current classes are Wortbildungmuster des Deutschen (German Word Building Patterns), Introduction to Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Introduction to Middle English, Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German as a Foreign Language), and Luther und die Deutsche Sprache (Martin Luther and the German Language.)  So that means two classes in English and three in German, although the Luther class, where we're going to be learning Frühneuhochdeutsch (Early New High German) is only for audit.  I'd like to say that I'm able to take university classes in German without any trouble, but right now I'm still reading at a 5th grade level or so.  

Teaching English is probably my most practical class because I've been seriously considering it as an option after graduation.  Middle English is just for fun, and Word Building Patterns will fulfill my last requirement towards my Linguistics major at BU.  DaF is also very practical and the class I'm looking forward to most, because I really do want to improve my German quickly!  I took the placement test on Wednesday, so I won't find out until next Wednesday which level I placed into and which classes I can take.  In other good news, I got an A in my Intensive German Course!  I saw my final exam too, and I did a lot better than I'd expected.

I'm also taking an Aerobics class (8 am on Tuesdays! woot!)  Hopefully it'll be fun and teach me some German too.  At least it'll give me some practical experience if I end up teaching Aerobics when I get back to the States.  Besides, I've always wanted to take an aerobics class in German after hearing this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZF1z2Nc67Y (I really want to meet the guys that made this video! lol)

Last night was Russian Night at the Gutz (the bar in the basement of my dorm.)  Nothing there was actual Russian, except for some food they were selling.  I was expecting cheap vodka specials and "Volna" on the dance floor!  Lin and I tried to get into Club Mensa, but the line was around the corner, and we're too cool to wait. :-)

Amsterdam cont...

The weather yesterday was gorgeous and all of the leaves are starting to change, so I went for a walk and then a jog through the park.  Today I've got a stomachache and my legs are wicked sore, so I think I'll just write more and finish my Amsterdam saga.

We got lucky and had really nice weather on Saturday.  The hotel didn't serve breakfast, but we got room service to bring up some bread, jam, and of course cheese!  Apparently that's a traditional breakfast in Holland as well as in Germany.  Personally, I'd rather have my cereal and milk, but it's still better than the rice and kimchi breakfasts I had in Korea!  The cheese was of course delicious, and I ate a ton.  I was also incredibly sore from using the Fitness Studio in the hotel the day before, so even walking hurt.  I guess that wasn't good planning on my part, to do a hard workout and walk around sightseeing all at the same time.

Since it was so nice, Oli and I walked through the big park that connects our hotel to downtown.  I forgot the name of it, but I posted a picture from it, and it's known as Amsterdam's "Central Park."  Definitely worth visiting for anyone who likes nature.  There were a lot of cute dogs out, and we even saw a little girl on a skateboard getting pulled along by her dog!  So adorable.  Of course there were tons of bikes too, and I don't think I've ever had to wait so long just to cross a bike path before.

When we got into the city, we stopped at a coffeeshop to rest and "loosen up."  We didn't really have any plans, which I find best for traveling anyways, so we decided to keep wandering towards downtown and look around.  I gotta say though, thank God for Oli's iPhone.  We were never lost!  It's so useful for traveling.  We went to some more tourist shops and got lighters (I just got a regular XXX Amsterdam one, but Oli got one that lit up with different colors, really sweet.)  We also got sweatshirts because the day was starting to turn chilly and we hadn't brought our coats with.  Mine says "amsterdam" with each letter in a different neon color (kinda like a techno sweatshirt), and Oli went full-out tourist and bought the "I (pot leaf) Amsterdam" sweatshirt.

We went to the Bols Genever Cocktail museum.  It's a kind of liquer that's popular for mixing cocktails, but neither Oli nor I had ever heard of it before.  Apparently it's well-known in New York City and was the "original gin."  The museum turned out to be mostly a giant advertisement, but we got to learn about how "taste, smell, and sight" all play an important part in mixing the perfect cocktail.  Of course we also got to order a free cocktail with our admission (otherwise why would we go? lol).  I got the traditional Holland House and Oli got an Apple Martini.  Mine was rather bitter and a little stronger because it was mixed with some other liquers, but it was still pretty good.

We found the Red Light District and waved back at all the friendly prostitutes in the windows.  It was only 3 pm, but they were already ready to work!  I wonder when brothels typically open?  We didn't get a chance to take the Red Light District Tour (led by a former prostitute) because it turns out you have to reserve tickets online first and it was already full.  Maybe next time I go...  I gotta admit, the prostitutes were really hot, but I think they're probably just the "advertisements" in place to lure in customers.  I can't imagine someone that hot would want to be a prostitute when they could be a model or something better.  They were nice and blew kisses at us, but I couldn't stop giggling (the coffeeshops probably didn't help for that haha.)

I also forgot to mention that they day before we took a Canal Cruise tour.  It's kinda like a Stadtrundfahrt, but on a canal boat.  There are a couple different lines that go all around the city, and you can buy a day pass and stay on as long as you'd like.  That was fun, and we got to see the famous museums (from the outside at least.)  The houses by the water are also the most ornate and antique, and they're all so tall and narrow.  The staircases are so small that each house has a pulley-system on the front for large objects, and this causes all of the houses to slightly lean forward over the water.

On the way back, Oli and I walked through the park again, and since it was a nice day and it was Saturday there was a lot going on.  Some stoner hippies had started a little dance party, so we sat and watched them.  I would have joined, but I was exhausted by then.  It was enough to watch all the dreadlocks bouncing around. :-)

We got back to the hotel and I took a bath (it's been so long since I had a big tub!)  Then we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner, and I got French Onion Soup (with cheese of course) and Oli got his favorite, steak.  For dessert I saw an item on the menu called the "Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich," so of course I had to try it!  It turned out to be nothing like a pb & j, but was still good nonetheless.  It had a little ball of fruity ice cream of some sort, then almond and strawberry ice cream wedged in between peanut brittle wafers.  I had no idea how to eat it either.  I had to stick to using my hands.

Like the night before, we were incredibly tired and full and ended up staying in for the night again.  It was probably the best decision anyways because our train left at 11 am the next morning.  Of course thanks to the Dutch Railway System the train was late and made us miss our connection, but what can you do.  They said that they were "running tests" and "all of the trains will be leaving from different gates."  It made no sense at all.

Ok, my tummy's feeling better now so I'm gonna get a little to eat.  Tschüss!

Amsterdam

This is almost a week late, but here are some of the highlights from Amsterdam:

Oli and I ended up taking the train there (although on the way back we realized this was a mistake because the Dutch Railway system was pretty bad and made us 2 hours late to Hamburg, which made me almost miss my train back to Dresden that night.)  It was nice seeing the countryside though, and I'm working my way through Die Zombiehöhle (The Zombie Hole.)  It's kind of embarrassing that I need to "work through" a 5th grade level book, but it's still a step up from the 1st grade level books I was trying to read when I got here!

I was really excited to see some classic Dutch windmills, but none were to be seen!  I saw plenty of fields and cows at least.  Some Holstein, but also a lot of different breeds that we don't have in Wisconsin.  There were quite a few sheep and horses too.  It looks like they get a lot more grazing space here than in the States.  I'm used to seeing cows crammed together a little tighter.  Maybe it's because they don't have as many fields for crops?

The trip took about 5 hours, and we arrived in Amsterdam in the evening.  We found our hotel (the Westcord Fashion Hotel), and it was very stylish and comfortable.  We even had a king size bed for our room (a nice change after trying to fit together on a dorm bed for a week.)  I felt quite spoiled!  It was kinda rainy and cloudy out, so we went to the 10th floor Skyy Vodka Lounge for dinner and cocktails.  I got the Jakarta plate and Oli got the traditional Amsterdam one.  Mine was good (shrimp and eggrolls with a spicy sauce), and Oli's was pretty much all sausage and cheese (plus these really delicious fried balls called Bitterballs.  We think they were made with potatoes but weren't sure.)  The cheese ended up being delicious, and there was a big bowl full, so I ate quite a bit of it myself.  I'm a true Wisconsin girl at heart!  After that I was determined to go out and buy some Amsterdam cheese for myself.

We wanted to go out for our first night there, so we asked at the front desk where a good Studentclub was and went there (after first checking online to make sure the DJ played techno and/or house.)  It was difficult to find the entrance, but we got to see a good part of "Party Amsterdam" while looking for it.  The place was really hopping for a Thursday night.  When we found Studio 80 it was relatively full, but the music was all heavy electro.  I'd been to these kinds of clubs in the States before, but Oli was kinda surprised that they weren't playing faster music.  It's probably because Amsterdam is so full of stoners.  They like chill music better, even for clubbing.  It was ok, but I agreed with Oli that German clubs are still the best!

Some highlights from Friday were finding the Anne Frank House (and then realizing the line went around the block), so we went to a coffeeshop instead.  We ate some "Space Muffins," but they weren't too strong.  We went to the Vodka Museum, which I suggest for anyone traveling in the area.  For 12 euros you can get a tour of the museum and 4 free shots of whatever you choose.  They explain the history behind vodka, how to make it, and they have every kind of vodka on display (even nasty Gordon's Vodka from Kentucky that I used to make jello shots last summer.)  The Amsterdam Van Gogh Vodka was really good and came in all sorts of flavors, but Oli and I liked the Russian Vodka best (he liked the Goldflake kind best.)  I asked the bartender/tour guide if it was true that the gold flakes irritated your throat and made the alcohol go quicker into your blood stream, but she had no idea what I was talking about.  Must just be an American Urban Legend lol.  We ended up buying two nips of Van Gogh Espresso Vodka (made with real espresso), but I never got a chance to try them!  Some other time...

After the Vodka Museum we went to the Sex Museum next door.  It didn't have too much to see, except for lifesize wax figurines that did inappropriate stuff as you walked by.  We took some fun pictures and videos, but I'm afraid those aren't Facebook-appropriate.

Then we went to another coffeeshop to uh, drink coffee.  It made us pretty hungry so we found the Vapiano's in Amsterdam and ate a pizza each (although these are smaller than the typical American pizza.)  We were really stuffed and tired after that, so we just stayed in watching TV and movies.  Dutch TV has a lot of American channels and they're only subtitled (not dubbed like in Germany).  I'll tell you though, a day of sightseeing and coffeeshops is not conducive for an exciting nightlife!

On a positive note, I found a lot of cheese shops (with delicious samples) and bought a wedge of Dutch Gouda.  It's already half gone!

Catching Up

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile.  I got mad at google for canceling my Adsense account (I was past 30 euros too!) and it was difficult to type on Oli's computer because the German keyboard has the "y" and "z" keys backwards and other weird things like that.

My week vacation was very nice.  Oli and I were able to do a lot of things in Hamburg, like visit the Hagenbeck Zoo, the harbor, and the World's Largest Model Train Museum!  The Zoo was the biggest and oldest in Germany.  A lot of the small animals weren't caged, and we were able to feed all sorts of animals, including elephants.  Oli taught me all the German names and I told him the English.  There were also quite a few animals that neither of us had ever seen before, so we had to go by the signs for that.  My favorite new word was Nasenbär (lit. Nose Bear), which was something like an anteater I think.  Watching the baboons was the most entertaining, but we also found this cafe where we could drink coffee and see flamingos, zebras, and lions all at once.  There were supposed to be Mountain Goats behind the lions, but maybe they were inside for the weather.  It was rather cold (but don't mountain animals like the cold? I don't know.)

On a nicer day we went down to the harbor and to an old church.  I need to start remembering names for these places.  In my mind all these churches are just "Die alte Kirche" (the old church) lol.  There was a nice view from the top, so we decided to take the stairs all the way up, totally underestimating the total height of the steeple.  We made it at least!  It was a great view, and we could see the entire harbor.  We went down to the Crypt afterwards, where we were basically just walking over graves.  I found one that said "Bach" and was sectioned off, but it turned out to just be a relation to the composer.  Oh well.

The Model Train Museum was awesome!  I could have spent all day looking at all of the tiny details in each set.  Definitely a work of art.  There was America, Hamburg, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden/Norway, and other parts of Germany.  They were in the process of making a working airport too.  The trains were all connected, and there was a little tunnel that said "Hamburg-America Tunnel."  If only it were that easy in real life!  Switzerland is the most famous exhibit there.  The mountains are two stories high, and there was a little chocolate factory that gave you real pieces of chocolate when you pressed the button (Oli pressed it twice lol.)  All of the scenes went through Day and Night, so you could see the buildings light up at night (Las Vegas in "America" was my favorite.)  It was a truly incredible piece of art, and I highly suggest it to anyone visiting Hamburg.

Oli and I also spent a night at his parents' house in Großhansdorf and were able to go for a hike through the woods by his house.  The houses and gardens there are so pretty!  It was a great place to be in fall.  His mom also asked us a ton of questions about the Amsterdam trip, and for some reason I can understand her German better than anyone else's.  Maybe because it's all travel vocab I learned in class? haha.  I wish she had given my listening test though!

We watched a lot of American TV and movies, and now I've exposed Oli to the movie Eurotrip and Jersey Shore.  I got hooked on Mad Men, and I'm really intent on finishing up the seasons when I'm back in the States!  Oli introduced me to "Bored to Death."  It was pretty good actually.  Any of you guys watching it?  It has that guy Zach Galifianaskis from "Between Two Ferns" on FunnyorDie.com.

Next blog will be about Amsterdam, I promise!

PS.  The picture is just Oli on his computer.  I bought a new camera (a really shitty one from Russia for only 35 euros) and I was trying it out.  It works, but every picture is blurry!