19th-21st April

This will be another blog that is short on words, and which uses pictures and captions to tell about the weekend. It's less time consuming for me that way :p


Friday night

There was a party at one of the ACADEMIC BUILDINGS at the stadtmitte campus. And I don't just mean a pizza party and movie type of party. No, this was a full blown club-style (aka "Disco") party night! There were approximately 5 bars stations! There were 2 large dance floors, complete with lighting and DJs.

I went to the "K2" party (that's the nickname for the building, which is short for Keplerstrasse 17- it's address) with Helly, and 2 of her friends. The one on the left is a German, and the other girl is also an international student, who I hadn't officially met before, but Helly knew.

This is just one dance floor!!! The building is huge! I had no idea because this whole room is completely underground and to the side of the main building. I think a lot of buildings here are built like icebergs. There's a lot more of the building underground than you would ever think. I suppose it's efficient, because they can then make the most of out door space, and they have room for lots of grassy parks and city squares.

Anyway, there was a huge crowd at the party .

Another group picture.

Free shot of Jaegermeister since we got there before 11pm.

Free jaeger shots seem to be the thing here. At EVERY party I've been to, there have been free shots if you arrive before 11 or midnight.

 

 

Saturday:

  I went out shopping in the Stadtmitte from 2:30pm until 8pm. I was on a mission to find some shoes, but in the end I couldn't come to a decision, and so here are some cool things I found instead.

A men's vest that I would love for Tyler to have, but I know he would not like because he doesn't like velvet. But it was sooooo cool, and reminded me of the hobbit- dark green with embroidery around the neck, and buttoned all the way up. But also it's German looking, since it was in the section where men buy lederhosen and plaid shirts for Fruehlingsfest trachten- aka spring fest attire. :)

Apparently you can only sell dirndls if you have some kind of ridiculous displays, such as this one which includes a LIFE SIZE cow stuffed animal! Where do you even get something like that!!!??

 

An entire shop dedicated to selling muesli cereal.

 

A super old building (for Stuttgart, since most of the city was bombed during WWII) that now is the SWATCH store. :)

 

These are mannequins that are not going to get Sunburned. They also look very FRFy to me!

Sunday:

  I went to church in the morning, and as I was leaving at 1pm, I remembered that there is supposedly a very good ice cream shop on the same U-bahn line as I needed to take, and since my space phone internet powers work on my Germany Handy (aka cell phone) I was able to discovered that "Pinguin Eis Bistro" opens at 1pm on Sonntags. Perfekt!

Cassis aka Black current, and Tiramisu flavors!!!

 

 

And wouldn't you know that as it turned out, there is a Platz across the street known as Eugensplatz, that is stunning. It is very small, but has a great view of the city, since it is out of the valley where the stadtmitte sits, and about in the middle of a hill. There's a fountain and some gorgeous landscaping.

A secret path that was blocked off! I was disappointed. It was so magical looking

 

Seldom does one find drinking fountains in Germany, but when there is a drinking fountain, it is rad!

The sign says "Trinkwasser" which means directly translated "drink water" aka drinking water. Only drink from a public fountain if you see a sign like that. Otherwise, it's weird, and  you could be drinking recycled water or sulfur water.

 

 

Beginning of April

Ok so I've been lazy lately.
Also not much has really happened this week, except for me getting so frustrated about my classes not working out to the point of wanting to screw everything and come home.
But I'm sticking it out, and when I hand out with other students here, I realize how fortunate I am to have met such wonderful people from so many different countries, and that we have all become friends here.
 On Saturday the 13th, a few people in the Erasmus study abroad program (students from other European nations, and Asia) organized to have an International Dinner at their dorm. They invited about 20 of their friends, which branched into about 40 people being invited, which turned into about 60 international students showing up. Everyone was asked to bring a food from their home countries.

My goodness it was so wonderful! It was such an exciting atmosphere, with great people and delicious dishes! Many of which were vegetarian, and thus I lucked out!

Greek salad with home made tztiki sauce, rice and seaweed balls, noodle entrees galore, Peruvian potatoes, French cheeses, banana biscuits, cookies, crepes, eclairs, lasagna, canned Haggus, some Turkish eggplant looking thing, a ground beef-veggies-egg-and-cheese scramble, egg strata, authentic quiche, fried meat of some kind, potato pancakes, apple crisp, tiramisu (the best one!), baklava, curries, mushroom something or other, and because I am American and I hadn't gone grocery shopping and only found out about the party an hour before going: Peanut butter and Jelly finger sandwhiches!

Then of course, since we are all college students, there were French wines, sangria, beers, and a Turkish liquor that was anise flavored!

Unfortunately I was dumb and didn't take any pictures of the food :(
But here I am with a couple of friends - an another American. A very unfortunately stereotypical American.

I wish there were an international dinner party once a month. It was so much fun, and filling!


 Annnnd now to back track just a bit,
On Saturday during the day, I needed to go to the stadtmitte campus library to use the printer, and so I decided to walk around a little bit. I accidentally took a turn to quickly on the way back to the train station, and ended up at the Friedrich's bau U-bahn station.

Apparently there is a lovely fountain that is turned on in the spring and summer. This was the first time I had seen it on, and it was very cool looking.

 

 
This is a silly little statue right outside the Friedrichsbau

 

 

Alrightly, so the Friedrichsbau is the name of the building and train station that host (underground) a large theater with different live shows throughout the year called the Friedrichsbau Variete.

It's quite loved in Stuttgart, I think.

 

 

Sonntag (Sunday) the 14th was the first extraordinarily beautiful day outside. It was sunny all day and between 65 and 70 from morning to sun down. Therefore, I was determined to spend the day outside. Around 4:30pm I headed to the stadtmitte, where there is a large park/garden called the Schlossplatz, to meet a group of people and relax outside.

 

On the way from the train station exit to the schlossplatz, I walked past a street musician who was playing blues music. There was a decent sized crowd gathered around already, and I hadn't planned on stopping to listen, but I heard a John Lee Hooker song and decided I had to stop.

I was soon very happy I had stopped to listen, because next he played a Screamin J Hawkins song, followed by his own rendition of House of the Rising Sun. He was totally American, by the way. With a stellar cowboy hat.

 

Shortly thereafter, I met the small group of people already at the schlossplatz, and we sat on one of the lawns just relaxing in the sunshine for a couple hours.

As we were getting ready to head back to the Hauptbahnhof to go home for the evening, we saw this:

We surmised that in Germany, if people get to warm in the summer time, they dress up as rabbits and go bathing in one of the schlossplatz fountains.

At least that's what we learned from these guys.

 Germany, what will you think of next?


And now I'm backtracking again:

On Wednesday the 10th, I watched my first every Fussballspiel!
I ran into my friend Edu on the way back from class in the stadtmitte on Wednesday morning, and he invited me to go to a sports bar with the gang later in the evening to watch the Barcelona- Paris championship (or something or other) match. You guys know that I'm not big into sports, but I figured; what the heck, its better than sitting in my dorm all evening being anti social!

And so I went. And because it was a good group of us who went, I had a good time. The Spanish guys were teaching us the chants they have for the teams, and had to explain most of the rules to me. And it was a crazy game too! It was tied for a majority of the 2nd half, and apparently due to the ways Barce played in the other games they didn't have to technically win this one, they just had to tie. And so the whole last 10 minutes, we were just hoping that Paris didn't score. And they didn't. So our team won. And even though only 2 of the guys in our group were from Spain, when the game was over, we all stood up and cheered and hugged. 
It was a lot less angry than watching an American football game. (with a Quinn anyway) 


  
 

First week of April, Last week of Language Course

  Yes, so as the title explains, this week was the last week of my intensive German course. We had a final exam, which if we pass means that we earn official certification of a level of German language. I'm hoping for C1 certification, but we may only have had the option with the exam we took to get as high as B2 certified.
 In any case, it means that for the actual semester, I'm going to be taking 2 more language courses at the Sprach Zentrum (Language center) for upper level German speakers. One class is about Bademwurttemburg- the state I live in, and the other is about German Literature and Culture.
 
 I also received good news from professors at the university, whom I had emailed about taking their classes. So, my classes at the actual university campus will be: Architekturgeschichte (Architecture History) and Olympia- Mythos, Politik, Kultur (Olympia- Myth, Politics, Culture)
 
Anyway, the exam went fairly well. My teacher said that I am one of 3 students in the class who are Konjunktiv II experts. AKA, there was a grammar section on the exam, 65 points total, 15 of which were over konjunktiv II, and apparently the 3 of us got all the points, which were earned by writing out all of the 9 functions of Konj II and examples for each case.
The exam also consisted of a free-writing portion - we had to write about the future, which was a main theme for our class anyway, so easy provided there weren't too many mistakes I made and didn't catch.  Then there was a listening portion. I predict I got about 75% on that, because lets be honest, even in English I probably only hear about 90% of what people tell me. (Tyler will tell you it's more like 25% because I don't listen).   .. Annnnd a reading comprehension exercise. So boring. I hate them in English, and I don't like them any more in German. I know I didn't do perfectly, but I feel like I probably got 85% or so.
 
Ok, so now that I've talked my exam to death, the summary is: I think I passed. I hope I got an 80% overall because that is the ONLY grade for the course, and PU sucks, meaning that there is no curve or grade adjusting. If I got a 75%, then PU counts that as a C.
 
I forgot to mention that our exam was about 3 1/2 hours long. A vast majority of us were ready to go out for a drink afterwards. We could. So we did. And our awesome hippie teacher met up with us for a little while and even made us buy her drink. I'm sure the waiter wasn't too thrilled when we handed him a crazy amount of 20 and 50 cent coins to split the cost between us, but money is money.
 
 
On Friday night, one of the German guys (who is the buddy to my Australian friends) hosted a party at his apartment. So, Helly and I went together. I always have a good time when I meet up with Helly, she is so sweet and I get to practice speaking German, and she gets to talk in English.
 

 

That's me, helly and Ty Ron- the guy who was hosting the party. He spent a semester or a year studying in Australia and as a result his English is really good. He has kind of a funny accent in English, where if you didn't know he was German you might guess he was from somewhere closer to England.

 
Anyway, I made it back to my dorm around 2:30am and at 1pm the next day, I met up with my Spanish friend Edu, and a couple of his friends, and we all went to the Saturday flea market downtown (in the stadtmitte). It was pretty cool, but if I were really to buy anything, there's some serious haggling to be done. For instance, I asked someone with a used books stand how much their copy of Harry Potter und der Orden des Pheoniz cost, and he replied (translated from German) "20 Euro? Well it's normally 30 Euro but I'll give it to you half off, so 15." 15 Euro for a used copy??? I can buy it new for cheaper I think! So I politely said no and walked away.
But, there was a lot of cool stuff there, and I am likely to go back in a few weeks.
 

 
Later in the evening, I planned to go to a party at the student bar at my "wohnheim" (living home? I don't know what to call it in English, but it's like a dorm, except that there are actually a lot of smaller buildings, like 8 or so that make up my whole wohnheim) at 9pm, but then Edu and his friends said they were cooking dinner around 9:30 and asked if I wanted to come. So of course I said yes.
We had maul-taschen, a typical German ravioli type pasta. Most people eat them stuffed with spinach and meat, but just for me, they bought veggie ones. It was so nice of them!
Oh and I brought a jar of applesauce, because I feel bad going to dinner at someone's house and eating their food without buying some of the groceries or helping them cook. And applesauce was the only unopened food item I had besides red cabbage.
 We actually started dinner just before 10pm, which was the same time that the Barcelona Fussball game started, so for the first time ever, I watched about half of a real soccer game. It wasn't that bad.
 At 11, I decided to head over to the party at "Sansibar," the student bar. It was so cool because it was super crowded with nearly all international students. I met up with some Finish friends, one of which hilariously drunk and told me multiple times that I am the best American he has ever met, and that he always thought that Americans are uneducated and not very friendly, but that I am awesome.
It might be the best compliment I've heard.
 
However, at midnight, a security office/ police man, I don't know which, showed up to the bar and told them they were in some violation of noise regulations- even though the law in the area is not supposed to go into effect until 1am. So I don't know what the deal was, but basically for the whole extra half hour we stayed and hung out, the cop was still there and appeared to be writing a ticket or warning of some sort to the bar.
 
(taking a picture of 4 people is difficult)
 
I also found out when I got back to my dorm that the front door lock is broken. I don't know what happened, but the keys no longer open the door. There was a note saying "please don't shut the door." because we would all be locked out, but guess what, it was just my luck that someone shut the door. Thank goodness my neighbor was home, because I had to call her room and ask her to let me in.
 
Anyway, I now have no classes until Wednesday, and I am glad for a couple of free, relaxing days.
 
Also, I forgot that on Friday morning, I finally got the package my parents sent me. It took like 3 solid weeks for it to get here, but the homemade cookies were still good!

 

 

Matt also had to make sure I have a picture of David Hasselhoff, because you know, it is Germany afterall.
                                   
 
My favorites: Ruffles cheddar chips, fruit strips, homemade chocolate chip cookies, candy and gum! Oh and a nutella to go pack, and my camera charger!
                                  

Ikea, dirndls, friedhof. That sounds German to me

This past weekend was Easter weekend here, which meant that we had no class Friday or Monday. However, it also meant that EVERYTHING- except for stores at the main train station and public transportation- were closed Friday, Sunday and Monday. It was also a bummer since Orthodox Easter is not until May 5th, and therefore I had nothing to celebrate.

However, on Saturday I met Helly and went to IKEA. We had been planning to go sometime in the last 2 weeks, but I had class stuff to do, and then Hellys mom had a baby, so of course Helly was spending all her free time at home.
Anyway, we finally made it to IKEA on Saturday. My mission was to get a rug, a desk lamp, and a couple of bins to organize papers, a cookie sheet, a glass baking dish and a measuring cup.

I actually followed my list pretty closely. Unfortunately I discovered that apparently cookie sheets are a rarity in Germany. Helly had no idea what I was even talking about! So I settled for a metal cake pan- which I could use anyway, since the kitchen here is majorly unprepared for people who like to cook and bake to be living here. I also found a set of sheets for Euro 4. They aren't the softest cotton in the world nor my choice in pattern, but honestly you can't beat that price! Additionally I bought 2 little candles because they smelled really great: vanilla something or other, and tangerine/citrus. I'm pretty glad I did actually because I got all the way back to my dorm, and realized that the desk lamp didn't come with a lightbulb.

desk lamp with candles

 

rug!

Paper organizers and boxes

 

My room is coming together! Also my mittens are hanging in the window to dry- the heater is beneath my desk

 

And for the most part, that was my Saturday.

Oh, I did however find out that one of the department stores got a new shipment of dirndls in (I was looking at their selection online) and that they were open until 8pm, so at 5:30pm I caught a train to the Stadtmitte and rushed to the store to do some dirndl shopping. ...And what do ya know, I bought a dirndl! I was so happy: It originally cost Euro 100- which is about average for its quality, but I found a rip in the side seam when I was trying it on. I figured it would be easy to fix, but as always, I asked at the register if there was a policy for when an item is damaged. The cashier told me I could either take 10% off or they would send it to a tailor for free for me!  I opted for the 10% because I really didn't want to wait for it to get fixed- I was so excited to finally have my very own dirndl!

I liked this one

too christmasy

 

 

I'm sneezing I think

I really liked the color and fabric of this one, but they only had one size and it was a little tight.

So the next one I buy (oh yes I need a 2nd dirndl before I leave Germany) will be green

I liked the colors of this one, and it was on sale, but there was only one size left, and this one was too big.

AAAANNND here is the dirndl that I bought!!! I'd say it's very me!

 

*  *   *

 

On Sunday, I tried a new Orthodox church. It was in an historic cemetery, and it was a very pretty old

building. I was so excited because everything was at least half in German this time instead of ALL Russian, and the priest even said a few things in English!



Afterwards, I wanted to go check out the "Seilbahn" in Stuttgart, which is the word for something like a cable car, so I went to the station (2 trains and about 5 stations away from where I live) and discovered that it's more of a "Berg Bahn" than a cable car. It's a short little wagon, with staggered levels like stairsteps so that it can go up very steep inclines without tilting too much. It was the same style as the one in Heidelberg, except that this one was super old and made completely out of wood! So there were some ominous creaking noises and I could feel the wood planks shifting a tiny bit as the train went to the next station.
 I wasn't sure what to expect at the top of the mountain, where the line ended, but I was surprised to find it led to 2 very old cemeteries.
It was another 20 minutes before the next train came to go back down, and so I decided to take a stroll through one of the cemetaries. It may seem odd, but it was in the middle of a forest, and there were some nice looking trails.

 

 

seil = rope. hence seilbahn

    

the other train car passed us on the way there

 

 I must say, I have never been happier that I went for a walk. I can't begin to describe how beautiful the "Waldfriedhof" = forest cemetery was. It was just incredible. I've never seen anything like it, not even in a professionally manicured public garden. First of all, the graves were decorated in such a way that they didn't even look like graves necessarily. I mean yes there were headstones- mind, of all sorts of shapes and and designs- but the plots all had at least 4 inches of rich, black fertile soil, pressed down into a very tidy, flat suface. Some had stepping stones on them for family members or visitors to walk right up to the head stone, and others were covered with planted flowers, and in some cases lit candles.
 Due to the cloudy gray sky, the various hues of the green grass, moss, leaves and plants were very vibrant, and I ended up walking around the place for over half an hour, just mesmerized by the beauty of it.
I finally understand why people would embrace the idea of being buried after death. It was such a peaceful, beautiful place, the Waldfriedhof. Believe it or not, I would even say it's a lovely place for a picnic.

so beautiful

 

It's hard to believe it is a cemetery. Everything was just so lovely looking and in a forest.

 

I don't know what this is, but it was cool