Friday, June 26, 2009

Eurotrip

Today I am trying something new. Blogger has an option where you can email posts, thus enabling one to update via mobile devices. So forgive me if this post is not too lengthy, because I'm typing it out on a BlackBerry.

I am on a train to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, my home away from home. I spent New Years Eve (Silvester) there to bring in both 2008 and 2009. I have a couple of good friends there. They have a son, who will be turning 3 soon.

Children confuse me. They are so trusting and accepting. Maybe that is why people have babies, so that they can be reminded what innocence was like. (That, and we must propagate our species, I suppose)

So a week ago, 3 friends and I split a rental car and drove from Berlin to Vienna. We stopped in Dresden for a few hours, and in Prague for 1 night before continuing on to Austria. We stayed in Vienna for 2 nights.

Traveling within Europe is very cheap. It CAN be very expensive, but that is only if you insist on nice hotels and high speed trains. So, for a 4-day, 3-night trip through Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, the prices were not bad.

My share of the rental car: 40€
Three nights in hostels: 55€
Plus food and stuff like that, it was just over 100€.

Now, that may seem like a lot. In some contexts, it is. But compared, say, with my trip to Sweden... it is absurdly cheap. (Just my plane ticket to Stockholm was 100+€)

The point that I'm trying to make here, is that Europe can be affordable if you know what you're doing and plan a little. Hostels (even the non-grimy/horror movie sort) are between 15-25€ per night. The biggest cost, for those who do not live in continental Europe, is GETTING HERE. That transatlantic flight is a bitch, and can run between $700-$1400 depending on the airline, time of year and how far in advance you book your ticket.

The moral is, you should take your next vacation here. If you want to stop in Berlin, you should. I make a good tour guide.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Permanent Vacation & Stockholm Syndrome



Man, I should stop waiting weeks in between entries. I really am sorry to those of you who have been actually asking for updates. I am notoriously bad about frequent updating. But hey, doesn't that mean that when I
do update, it is a little more special?

Important news: I passed the TestDaF! I did not do perfectly, though. So, I have to retake another German language test in September before my classes would theoretically start in October. The
Freie Universität Berlin, where I HAD wanted to go is no longer an option for me, as I basically missed the application deadline due to serious misinformation. So now I am applying for a Master's program at Humboldt Universität, the alma mater of: Einstein, Bismarck, Engels, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Heisenberg, W.E.B. DuBois and The Brother's Grimm.

Cross your fingers for me, my friends. I really want to get in to this
Universität. I am tired of not being in school anymore. My life has very little structure. I basically stay up late, and sleep in every single day. I have dubbed this my "permanent vacation," which is much less relaxing than one would imagine after weeks go by. One becomes a little stir crazy. I am only allowed to work 3 days a week on my current visa, so that has made me balk at job hunting. I miss feeling like I have a purpose or reason to get up in the morning, beyond a distant "Fall 09" semester. I want to feel like I am accomplishing something.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Stockholm, Sweden. It was a truly amazing place. The sun shines for like 20 hours a day during the summer. The language is totally beautiful. But, I would never bother to learn it because only 10 million people live in Sweden, and they ALL speak perfect Englis
h anyway. Some highlights of the trip include:

- Räksmörgås - These are open-faced sandwiches (pictured above) with mayo, egg, and a giant pile of tiny shrimp. I don't even like shrimp that much, but these sandwiches are amazing. Actually, I loved all the Swedish food I tried. I'd go so far as to say that I'm a fan for life. Which is odd, because you never hear much about Swedish food. It's always "Asian, Italian, Mexican..." Where's the Swedish?


- The Stockholm Absolut Ice Bar - This is a bar that was made entirely out of ice. Even the glasses were made of ice. They gave us all "warmth capes" and gloves because the whole room is kept at -5 Celsius to prevent the tables, couches and whatnot from melting. They had several varieties of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. I just liked it because one's shoes would freeze to the metal floor so with every step you'd have to kind of un-stick yourself.


- The People Watching - Scandanavians have somehow hit the genetic jackpot. The girls are all amazingly gorgeous and everyone is quite tall. I am also tall, but the people are noticeably taller than in Germany or in the U.S.


-
The High School Graduation - There were dozens of dumptrucks rolling around the streets of Stockholm with the graduation high school classes of 2009. They were playing loud techno, "hootin and hollerin," drinking and just generally waving at the citizens and tourists in Stockholm. I raised my hand in a thumbs up to one truck, and was met with a roar of applause. I could not help but to laugh out loud. The government took care of all this, as well. Workers were driving the trucks, and guiding the traffic. If we did something like this in America, we would have 100% graduation rates.

I really want to go back to Stockholm someday, and spend some more time there. Though, I can imagine that it is rather insane during the winters, as it was very cold there in June. So, I can only imagine that the freezing cold of the Nordic winter combined with almost complete darkness all day long would make me a little down.


Traveling has been very helpful in dealing with my permanent vacation. The constant distraction it provides is good for my mind. Less than a week after returning from Sweden, I went on a road trip to Austria, but I am saving that for another entry. (...I won't wait 3 weeks to post again, either.)