Eine Wochenende in Baden-Wuerttemberg . . .

So I am going to try and keep this post a bit shorter than some of the other ones.  I am going to try to cover several topics but in several posts, instead of many topics in one post.  Yes, I have finally begun to work here in Cologne now that I have received my visa, but I am going to cover that later, when I finish out my first week.  

Over the weekend I had a really great time in Baden-Wuerttemberg.  I went there to visit my friend Michael who lives in Berlichingen, a very small village there.  If you are not aware, Germany is made up of several "states" or "Bundeslaender" just like in the United States.  Cologne is in the Mid-West of Germany and is in the state Nordrhein Westfalia.  There are other states such as Bayern, famous for Munich and the "Black Forest", Hessen, Saxony, and also Baden-Wuerttemberg.  All together there are 16 different Bundeslaender.  

Michael is a really good friend of mine who was an exchange student in the US for a year, and since then I have seen three other times; in Rome, Germany in 2006, and also again when he visited the US for a second time.  It was great to go down to his village again, and spend time with him and his family, who are all extremely welcoming.  

It was a three hour drive to get there, and once you are outside of Cologne, Germany is completely different.  Cologne is very much a large city with big streets, big buildings, and it's fair share of graffiti.  Once you travel a bit south of Cologne, the cities become much smaller, and you can experience much more of the German culture.

I think that every American who has not been to Germany has an idea in their minds of what it is like, but they don't actually believe it exists.  I know myself, before I came here, I thought about biergartens, burly men playing accordions, sausages, people drinking and singing songs, and of course lederhosen.  Well, let me tell you, in Baden-Wuerttemberg it really does exist!  

Michael's village and surrounding villages only have a couple hundred people in them, and they are far out in the countryside.  There are rolling green hills, streets with no middle line, and little clusters scattered about where people live.  In the villages, the streets are all cobblestone, houses can be as old as the 1600's, and some villages even have a great big wall that surrounds them, from medieval times.  It is truly an incredible experience to see, and believe me, they don't have many tourists here.

One thing that was cool, was that during the summer time, all of these villages hold small festivals.  The area is known for it's vineyards, so the wine season is typically a reason to have a party in the streets.  I went to two of these festivals, and it was really incredible to see.  The main road was turned into a biergarten, there were all kinds of vendors selling sausages (wurste) and beer.  There was a traditional German band playing, and the whole village was attending.  

I tried to capture some of my weekend, but didn't take too many pictures.  I did however take a couple of videos with my camera, even though they are not the best quality.  I have linked up a video I made to the blog post for you to see, and just combined all of the video I took, and some of the pictures within it.  The video is taken while riding a bike into Michael's village, Berlichingen. 

I better end here, as it's time to get to bed so I can get up for work in the morning!  There's another blog post coming very shortly!  

Keep the comments coming!

Tschuess!

Meine Reise Nach Koeln, Und Lebe Hier . . .

So I have been in Cologne for a few days now.  I have been getting myself adjusted on the six hour time difference, and just adjusted to daily life here.  With the visa problems that I had I am truly lucky to even be here.  

Less than a week ago, I was still in the United States, and thinking that I wasn't going to get to leave for Cologne for another three weeks.  The problem was that the German powers-that-be were being slow with processing my working visa that I had applied for at the beginning of March.  They said that it would take an extra three weeks to process it and get it sent to me.  They were also holding my passport since your visa has to be issued with your actual passport.  So the day before my flight was supposed to leave I was in Charlotte and got a phone call from the German Consulate in Atlanta that they would send me my passport overnight and I could fly the next day.  (To change my flight was going to be over $800.)  Apparantly my friend's father (a german with some political presence) had asked for a favor, and I would be allowed to enter the country.  So the good news is, I saved $800, made it to Deutschland, and alles ist klar!  The bad news is that I still don't have my visa, and have to wait a couple of more weeks without being able to work.  Ok, so I am in Germany and can't work, doesn't sound so bad, but keeping myself from spending money while I am waiting for my visa is hard to do, and I have a negative income!  But that is the story of how I was able to get into the country.  My flight was alright, and my roommate's boyfriend was kind enough to pick me up at the airport.  I feel really lucky that everything fell into place like it did!

So a little bit about what life here is like . . .  I am living in an apartment just outside of the city center, with two others.  My roommates are very very nice and very helpful with getting me adjusted to everything here.  My first day here, I spent the majority of the day sleeping since I had not slept the entire flight.  It's safe to say I was exhausted.  The next day was the start of a good few days.  Several of my roommates' friends came to the apartment to make a house party before going out to a kneipe (club).  They taught me a little bit about German drinking culture, and more specifically Cologne drinking culture.  In the picture, you can see the typical and popular beer here in Cologne, Reissdorf Koelsch.  Koelsch is the type of beer that is specific to this region, and Reissdorf is one of several brands sold here.  Those of you in Raleigh, if you go to the Flying Saucer downtown, they have Reissdorf Koelsch on tap, but I believe it is a good six dollars for a pint, and it is probably not served in the traditional Koelsch glass as seen in the picture.  After having a drink or two, I also learned that it is NOT illegal to just carry your beer with you on the street.  Upon leaving for the club, I left my unfinished beer in the apartment only to find everyone else just casually drinking theirs on the way to the "Purple Club" just a short one minute trek from our front door (yikes).  When we got to the club, they had 200 liters of free Koelsch.  I am going to stop the commentary here for that night.

It is important for me to mention that while I have been here, the commodity of speaking English has been refused to me.  One of my roommates does not speak English, and the other roommate refuses to for my own good, and so do the rest of their friends.  It is exactly what I need, and has been good so far.  A lot of times I have to ask for someone to repeat to me, and hopefully communicating with me has not been too frustrating, but it has been a great learning experience, and I feel like every minute of the day I am learning something new and my German is improving.  I never realized, however, how mentally tiring it is.  All day long to comprehend, and try to communicate back, it takes a lot of energy, and I've never felt my thoughts feeling so tired before.  Fluently speaking in language is a gift that we probably take for granted.

Well, I am already writing too much for one post, so I am going to stop here and continue with more later.  I miss everyone at home, however, I am having a great time here as well.  The first week is almost over, and I can tell that these six months are going to go very fast.

Bis Bald!