Ankunft!

Omar is here! Priscilla is coming! Jon is coming! Katie is coming! Football is coming! Wooo!

So I'm back in the U.S. and wanted to take this time to share some of my experiences upon returning. The trip back, which I took with Priscilla went very smoothly. We took the early train to Frankfurt and devised an effective plan for manuevering luggage up and down the stairs and from train to train. One of us would stand on the train, while the other handed all the luggage up from the platform. We changed trains once and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to catch our flight.

We arrived in Chicago, and were immediately annoyed with the U.S. The long line snaking through just one of four customs lines designated for U.S. citizens seemed not to be a re-entry point, but rather a daycare center. There were no less than 8 children directly in front of us and 3 behind us. Screaming, whining children. I had gotten so used to the dramatically lower number of small children in Germany that I had almost completely forgotten their over-abundance in the US.

After picking up our luggage, Priss and I then parted ways, as she lives in Chicago. I rechecked my luggage and headed to my connecting flight to Greenville-Spartanburg. I took a crowded tram to my gate area, then had to go through security again. It was, again, quite a line to wait in and I was more annoyed than ever at the ridiculous rule about removing shoes. (I had been wearing them for about 21 hours at this point. They smelled, er, not their best, and the woman at the gate made sure to announce it to the world that they didn't.)

When I heard the man behind the X-ray machine announce "bag check!" as my bag rolled through, I tried not to scream with frustration. After all, I had had over 2 hours from when my flight from Frankfurt landed and when my flight to GSP started boarding, and now I only had about 20 minutes left. The man that performed my bag check slowly unzipped my bag with gloved hands and proceeded to take out everything in my bag in the slowest fashion possible. I'm sure he was going to slow as to make sure not to break anything. Certainly it wouldn't occur to him that one might be late because of the dreaded "bag check!" call. I'm convinced 'in a timely manner' is not in his job description.

A small change cup was the culprit. Apparently everything jumbled together is hard to dechiper on an X-Ray machine. It was also the last item he pulled out of my bag. After hastily snatching my items back and ramming them into my bag (to which he replied "What time does your flight leave?" Hmmm... so maybe it had occured to him?), I took off in search of my gate. I had about 10 minutes to find it. Seems like plenty of time, until you consider the size of the O'Hare airport.

Finally, I found my gate. Of course, it was the last gate in the terminal, all the way at the end of the hall. I had about 5 minutes before they started boarding, because the flight before was delayed by a late passenger. On the plane, a rather rude air attendant announced we were 'welcomed' to our flight. Luckily, I was able to catch about 30 minutes of shut eye before arriving in GSP.

I love the GSP airport. So small and unencumbered. I simply walked off my flight, down a few stairs and met Valerie! Though one of my bags wasn't in the terminal, it was 'on it's way' and was delivered to Valerie's house the very next day. Now I've fixed up my car, spent time with family, and moved into my new apartment in Clemson. Next on the list: finding a job.

As for now, I'm thoroughly annoyed at Clemson University. They offer no help for study abroad students. It seems every person is out of the office or simply will not return my phone calls/emails. Lovely. I have to pay an extra $34 for my parking permit, as I can't transfer any credits and get the senior discount. I can't get my scholarships until I transfer my credits and show that I didn't sit on my butt all last year by not attending classes. I can't transfer credits until I get an official transcript from Germany, because Clemson doesn't take the Scheinen. I can't get a transcript until I send the Scheinen back to Germany and wait for their return. AHHHH!!

Berlin: July 27-28

Despite designating today to be the day to pack, I'll take a short break and put up some information from my short trip to Berlin.

My friend Beverly and I took the 4 hour, 74 Euro (round-trip) ICE train leaving at 7:08. It was a great train ride because I absolutely LOVE the ICE seats and "dream pillows" as I call the headrests. Plus we didn't have to change trains once.

We stayed at Meininger Hostel for 15 Euro, which included linens, towels, and an all you can eat breakfast buffet. It was very close to a U-Bahn and S-Bahn stop, so location was ideal and reception was open 24 hours. They also had a luggage room you could use after check-out at 10, which was helpful.

Walking around Berlin was great. Clear skies were the order of the day, so Beverly and I took advantage of the weather and decided to visit the Berlin Zoo and Aquariam. For a 14 Euro combination pass, we gained access to both sites. We saw everything from elephants, giraffes, monkeys, tigers, bears, goats, cattle, deer, and vultures to alligators, turtles, sharks, frogs, salamanders, and different species of ants. We didn't get to see the famous polar bear Knut, though. There were simply too many people crowded around his area. Which, I might add, was not in any type of cool environment. It was outside in the heat.

A note on the ants: It was a bit disturbing when we were in the insect portion and one cage had caution tape stretched the whole area. We looked inside to see a bunch of ants. Unfortunately, we also saw several of these same ants crawling on the outside of the cage... We didn't stay long in the area.

The rest of the day was spent walking around seeing the famous sights of Berlin. We saw the Brandenburg Tor, and the Reichstag. We decided to spend some time in the grass admiring the Reichstags to rest our weary feet.

Since everyone had told us to try a Doener in Berlin, we hunted for almost an hour to find one for dinner. We finally found one, but only in the Bahnhof. It was definitely better than I've had before, but still not as amazing as everyone described. Of course, it did come from the Bahnhof. We then returned to our hostel, but were so tired that we didn't even bother to enjoy our free "welcome drink" provided in the connecting bar. Beverly and I didn't sleep well, because two other girls came in at 12:30 and were quite loud setting up their beds.

Nevertheless, we woke up the next morning ready to see more. After taking full advantage of our included breakfast, we checked out and left our heavier items in the luggage room. We headed to see Checkpoint Charlie, the Berliner Dom, the Fernseher Turm, a portion of the wall, and Schloss Charlottenburg.

Unfortunately, it cost 3 euro to see the Dom. I didn't want to pay on principle. Churches are supposed to be free. We couldn't find any huge parts of the wall, but we did see the line that runs through the city denoting where it had once stood. The Turm was highly visible from most of the city, and Schloss Charlottenburg was very pretty. We didn't go in, because our feet were killing us. After that, we headed back to get our things and took the 16:57 train back to Bamberg.

While we didn't go in the Reichstag, despite being free, because the line was incredibly long, and though we didn't pay to see the inside of the Dom, I feel this trip was productive. We were able to visit a zoo with the most species in the world, we saw all the major historical points, and even enjoyed some Starbucks and the best Doener I've tasted. I'm glad I was able to visit Germany's capital city before returning home.

As a side note: I didn't do as much as I would have, because I have a nasty infection on my big toe. It's quite disgusting and it makes walking more painful, especially in closed toe shoes. Gross, I know. But it had to be said. Oh, and pictures later.

On Leaving, or something like that

Two 6 page papers: Check
One 10 page paper: Check
Two written exams: Check
Two oral exams: Check
Berlin: Morgen früh

I'm done with this year.
I don't want to leave.
I can't wait. Very anxious.

More later.

Luzern, Switzerland: May 3-5

Ok, since I'm backtracking, I won't bore you with too many details about my trip to Luzern, Switzerland. Here are the essentials:

1. The train from Bamberg is 7 hours, and I stayed at Backpackers Lucerne.
Advertising note: This is a great hostel to stay in because they exchange money for free, the staff members are knowledgeable about the area, and so friendly! They even have a stock of coats left behind by other backpackers (all washed and clean!) which came in very useful.

2. The first day I shelled out the big bucks for a four part trip to nearby Mt. Pilatus. I first rode a boat across Lake Luzern to get on the steepest cogwheel train in the world. Once on the mountain peek, donning the hostel provided jacket (because I didn't think about it being cold on the mountain top! go me!), I hiked around and got an amazing view, despite the cloudy day. Then I took a gondola down the other side of the mountain to catch a bus back to the city.

3. It rained. A lot. I gave myself a city tour with the fairly decent tourist map and saw almost everything in half a day. I decided to cut the last day of my trip (the 6th), and the hostel had no problem with refunding the money. I walked around more on Saturday, and took the 2 pm train back to Bamberg.

4. Major points of interest: Loewendenkmal, Glacier museum, Chapel Bridge, Musegg Wall, and a myriad of small town squares with lovely architecture....like all of Europe :-) Enjoy:

Prague: July 5-8

On Thursday I added number nine to the list of different countries I've visited since I've been in Germany: the Czech Republic. For the grand total of 145 euros, I traveled to Prague with about 100 other exchange and native German students.

I must say it wasn't the best trip I've ever been on (it will take an fairly spectacular trip to beat out Portugal), but not because of the beautiful city. The only thing I could do was laugh at myself and be light hearted about everything else.

Problem 1: The bus picking us up from Bamberg was late. Now this doesn't seem like much of a dilemma, but it made us late picking up more students in the town of Erlangen. This will transform into an even larger one, as I will relate later.

(Almost) Problem 2: Silly little me had gotten so secure about not having to show anyone my passport while traveling, that I left it in my luggage bag. It was safely locked in the lower regions of the double decker bus, but not within my reach. While nothing came of it, I certainly was panicking when we actually had to stop at the Czech Republic border.

Problem 3: We arrived so late in Prague, that we had to completely cut out lunch time from our schedule. No one had any crowns yet, so there was no way of stopping into a fast food place to get anything. Result: Me. Hungry. Not. Good.

Problem 4: After taking the most round-about way into town, we began looking for somewhere to exchange money. First place: rate wasn't good enough. Second place: even worse exchange rate than the first. Third place: Just right. But only for about 15 people. Good thing I was one of them! Fourth place: accomodated a lot more. Fifth place: It was a bank, so people could withdraw money instead of exchanging euros. It was getting a bit ridiculous, so after that everyone had to branch out on their own if they needed money. Keep in mind the sky decided pelt rain on everyone, so we were soaking wet for the rest of the day.

Problem 5: At this point we trekked over to the national museum. This isn't a real problem, per se, but it was a lot of geological items and not all information was in a language I could understand. National Museum may sound interesting, but it was more for children. Plus: Me still hungry.

Problem 6: After eating (finally food!!) at a typical Czech restaurant (with a less than friendly waiter and untimely service, but tasty food!!), John and I decided to leave. We didn't know anyone in our group as we had split up to eat, and I had a pounding headache. Unfortunately for us, our dorm wasn't even on the map! So we were, of course, lost. After walking around for an hour uphill, stopping in 2 hotels and taking a tram without a ticket (only two stops!) we finally made it back.

Problem 7: I shared a room with Amanda, and we had some American suite-mate guys who were studying at an English uni for the semester. They seemed nice enough. Until it was 1 in the morning and they were playing rap music so loud that it woke even me, the dead sleeper! For an entire hour they blasted their beats, even rapping along to some of them. How thoughtful. If that wasn't bad enough, they played it again starting at 7:30 in the morning until they left for the weekend at 9. Lovely. At least they were gone.

Here ends the laundry list of my disappointments with the Prague. Even though our city tour was canceled on Friday, we had one on Saturday (that also started half an hour late). But it was worth the wait. We had the most amusing Czech tour guide who said the funniest things while on our English tour.

What could be so great? "He even had to die in his bed because he couldn't find a mate." "This is a one way street. It is awkward and unpleasant." "This tower has not been built so high anymore." And the best? He continually said things like, "When he was king he did many things e.g. tearing down the tower." It was e.g. hilarious.

The weather was sunny the rest of the weekend, the club was somewhat entertaining (5 stories) , and the old Jewish cemetary was fascinating. I loved spending time with my British and Canadian friends, and making a few on the way. The castle was beautiful, the architecture gorgeous, and despite being unorganized, the people who set up the trip were nice.

Oh and one last problem: on the way home, we were making great time when the bus broke down! I had to pee, and the toilet on the bus was already broken. So what to do?? Well, let's just say you have to do what you have to do. After waiting for an hour for our replacement bus, we climbed aboard and finally made it back home to Bamberg.

June 22-June 25

To me, this whole weekend was one big day. On Saturday I experienced American football, European style! On Monday, I'm still paying for it. It all started Friday night...

It just so happened that the exchange program of Bamberg organized its last party of the year for last Friday. After being convinced to go out, and convincing my friend Romina myself to come out, we headed out for a less than average night.

First, the Eintritt was 3 euros. Second, I got a beer but only drank half because a friend knocked the rest over. I've done it myself, though, so I didn't say anything. Third, the music was on repeat. Seriously, we heard more than a few songs twice. Fourth, Priscilla was so upset about her lost black belt!

Well, we ended up getting home around 3:30 after taking a taxi home. I didn't mind, though, because I had a day of football to look forward to. And it turns out Priscilla's belt never left her room; she found it the next day safely strewn across her bathroom floor.

Now: World Bowl time! Erinn, Shawn (Ami) , Jenny (Brit) and I left Bamberg on the 12:20 train to Frankfurt. We were all really excited, and even met a German who has lived in Manhatten for 45 years. He happened to be very talkative, but I had to cover up my bare arms to protect myself from his occasional rains of spittal.

In true football tradition, we "train"gated with Pringles, muffins, Smiley's, and our own beverage of choice. Mine: Vodka and Coke. Erinn: Cider. Shawn: see mine. Jenny: beer. Once in Frankfurt, it started raining. But we came prepared!! We rocked our colorful, 50 cent ponchos while we walked around looking at all the booths set up outside the stadium. I even bought a home team scarf (Gooo Galaxy!) I must say, I was probably a little biased with such amazing colors as ORANGE AND PURPLE!! Woot! On that note, I also happened to meet a man from SC sporting a CLEMSON TIGER'S hat!! It just made the trip that much better.

Once we found our standing room only spots (at only 13 euros a spot!), Meatloaf played before the game! I'm not sure how old he is, but he sounded pretty good. During the whole game, people were blowing whistles (I could never tell if it was a ref or not), waving flags and banging on drums. There weren't many Hamburg Sea Devil fans, but certainly a ton of Frankfurt Galaxy fans.

After the game (Sea Devils won, but I don't remember the score), we headed back to the train station. We had already decided to pull an all-nighter so we wouldn't have to pay for a hostel, but we met some British guys. Instead of spending a boring night on cold concrete, we headed to the Irish pub right across from the Bahnhof and spent all night chatting with our new friends. They ended up walking us to our 5:30 am train! After that, I passed out on the train, only waking up when Jenny made me change trains. I didn't get back to my room until 10 Sunday morning!

It was all worth it, but I'm still paying for it. I absolutely canNOT speak. I have completely lost my voice from all my screaming at the game; I can barely manage a whisper. I didn't care who won. I didn't care if it was a crappy call. Heck, I didn't really even pay that much attention to the actual game! I just like to scream at some football! But seriously, 13 euros for the SuperBowl equivalent of Europe? Gotta love it.