Germans Know How To Party

The whole gaggle of us!

The last two weekends have been packed with fun and amazing adventures, but it seems that not one is quite profound enough to write a blog entry about it. Thusly, this post will be about everything over the last two weekends.

Last weekend we started out our adventures by going to Bremen. (Oh I love having a semester ticket and traveling for free!) I had a grand time walking around this fair and just looking at all the shimmering lights. First stop (of course) was to the mini beer garten for a glass of beer or a mug of gluhwein. While all of them were finishing their drinks I went to explore down the road a little ways where I found a stall that sells currywurst.

For those of you who don't know, I love currywurst. Since I first tried that slice of heaven at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Denver, I've been looking for it here. So I saunter over to these people and they start chatting me up before I could even order. Just take a second and think of the normal kinds of people you'd see here. They are all chatty and rather flirty because they want you to come to THEIR shop because it's better than the one around the corner. 

So I can successfully say that I got hit on in German and I understood it all. Score one for Lex!
So after flirting as outrageously as I could in a foreign language, I bought some delicious curry wurst and headed off to the next attraction.

The next attraction just about stopped my heart. I'm not sure how else to explain it besides saying "It's one of those big spinny things".  Rebecca, Ty, and I sat at the top while we waited for the people on the bottom to get loaded. I wish I had brought my camera up with me because the view almost made me cry. Sitting there suspended above a picturesque city in Germany with the bright pink sunset on the horizon really just makes you realize how far from home you are and how much you love it. THEN YOU PLUMMET TO THE GROUND AT A SPEED THAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GOING TO DIE because that's how the ride is designed.
Every time that ride hit the top and I felt like I was just floating, I would simply close my eyes and imagine I was flying. Spread eagle 100 feet above this wonderful city. 

Yeah, that's right, I'm awesome. 

The rest of the night was fun and very cold for my poor monster toes. The boys decided to show off at a bow and arrow booth where Blake and Alex destroyed everyone.
I was very proud of Marijn that night. He learned how to use a bow and arrow and wasn't too shabby at it! 

The next day a bunch of us were on a train back to Bremen then on to Hamburg. Can I just tell you a bit about how much I love train stations? Or airports? Or bus stations? Every time I enter one, I just get this

Anne and I 

instant wanderlust and want to hop on the first train and see what kind of adventures I can get myself into (I am an adventure magnet after all).

We got to Hamburg a few hours early so we decided to walk the harbor just a little (since it is probably the largest harbor I'm ever going to see). It was a beautifully sunny day to walk along the water and see all the boats pulling in and out as well as watch all the people who would frequent this little bit of the harbor.

It was quite a lovely little walk before we hopped back on the train (subway) and headed to the Hamburg dungeon.

You may remember the last dungeon I mentioned, the one from Amsterdam. Remember how I raved about it? Yeah, that's not going to happen for this one. This one was far more crowded (and sadly with a middle school group that shrieked at everything) and everything was in German.
Now I know what some of you are already saying. "But, Lex, you speak German. How is this a problem?"
Part of the fun of the dungeon is how funny it is. The actors are witty and can play off of anything the crowd throws at them. You need to be very good at the language to keep up with their sharp wit and clever puns. Thankfully most of the rooms were like the one

in Amsterdam so I could pretty much figure out what was going on just because I saw the other version first. It was still fun to explore a little part of the city with a whole group of international students. :)

Now onto this weekend (I know, already feels like a lot!)
Friday night there was a welcome party at die Pinte (student run bar in the dorm) for all the international

students. There were a ton of people packed in this little bar, but it was really fun to chat with some of these people. I finally even got a picture with Dominika! She's a friend of mine from the first course I had here. Her German sounds so pretty because it has a Polish accent.

The next night, however, was a blast. It was called the Black and White Mustache Party. There was a whole group of us that decided to suit up and out class everyone there. We had one or two in a 5 piece suit. Yeah, who said Americans can't be classy? I'm not sure what to say about the party besides I had fun being classy. We danced. We drank. We smoked cuban cigars (yay for not having an embargo here!). We just looked our dang best.

Adorable Dutch Boy (Marijn) and I

Have no fear, we all have mustaches!

Ty and Blake

Anyone else thinks this looks like a photo of a mob party?

Then drunk Lex tried to ride her bike home (she tried a few times actually) and it never worked.
I'm now the proud owner of several bruises and abrasions on the left side of my body. Now, I don't want you all to worry about me. Everyone there was doing a really good job at keeping on eye on me. Rebecca even walked me home, she just wasn't fast enough to catch me every time I tried to get on my bike again.
It was quite a grand night and worth the ruined stockings.

Dutch? Netherlands? HOLLAND?

A quick lesson in what you should call Dutch people:

"The correct name for this tulip growing nation is the Netherlands. The confusion is understandable  The

general region has been renamed a lot over a thousand years, but it's not just the history that makes this country's name confusing. The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces including (what makes the confusion) North and South Holland. So calling the Netherlands "Holland" is like calling the United Stated "Dakota". Though, unlike the Dakotas which are mostly empty, the two Hollands are densely populated and have some of the biggest attractions. Chances are if it's Dutch and you've heard of it, it's in one of the Hollands."
 The video I quoted this from is HERE. They are far funnier and go into much more information.

Now onto what actually happened there. One of the first things I noticed upon meeting Marijn's (Adorable Dutch boy's) dad who drove us from Groningen (Where the bus drops us off) to Huizen (where the family lives) is that Marijn got his use of cheesy compliments straight from his father. After an evening of being interviewed (almost what it felt like) by his lovely parents we went to sleep only to be up early the next morning and off to Delft!

Delft is a lovely city. It's the city where Marijn studied, and a city that reminds me of Amsterdam....but in a good way. It's smaller and less in your face about pot and sex (golly, Amsterdam was horrid about that) but it was still VERY DUTCH. Lovely all around.
At one point we had ducked into a shop so I could buy some postcards to send home (urm, I should actually send those...), and Marijn spotted some silver windmill earrings.
HE GOT SO EXCITED!
His logic:
1) They are very pretty and he wanted to buy me a pretty thing.
2) They will remind me of a cool place I traveled.
3) They will remind me of him (he studies wind energy).
They aren't something I would pick normally, but I love them simply because he loves them.

Oh golly let's talk about food now. Can we please please pleeeeeeeeeease talk about food now? PLEASE?
Okay good.
I have found my newest sweet tooth addiction. These huge waffle cookies are called stropwafle. They are thin waffle-like cookies with honey/caramel/syrup like stuff in the middle. They have the best texture in the world!
Interesting tidbit:
Marijn's dad pulled out a little jar of what's inside the cookie, called stroop, and put it on some bread Easter morning. He said he always puts it in his porridge. Guess it's a huge Dutch thing to use it for breakfasts!

The next item of food I had looked so nasty, I almost didn't like it totally based on the look. Imagine liquified meat rolled into a little cylinder then covered with bread crumbs. Once you order this delicacy, they throw it in some oil and fry it for you. Then roll it, piping hot, onto a bun and serve it up. Bam. Fried meat juice.
Sounds great, doesn't it? Ya know.... it actually was rather good! It's called broodje kroket. Just be careful, that liquid meat will burn the skin off your tongue before you realize how stupid it was to take a bite right away.

We walked around the market a bit longer (always go to a market!) I dragged Marijn through the two big churches in the city and got lots of pretty pictures.

One thing I thought was really cool, was this sign.
I know, you're telling me, "But, Alex, you can't speak Dutch! How can you find that sign remotely interesting?"
AH HA!
Let me unleash my secret weapon!
Well, I guess he's not much of a secret. I made Marijn translate it.
Sorry, anticlimactic, but it's quite funny. Here's what it says:

"Is your guy annoying?
Does he not want to shop?
Is he whining by the fitting room?
We are the ideal solution:
'THE FREE HUSBAND DAYCARE!'
Drop him off at "The Gallery"
We will care for him, you just pay for his snacks and drinks ;P "

Sounds like a good deal to me!

The next story sadly doesn't have any pictures to go with it. Marijn's mom slipped him some money on the way out the door with a wink and a, "take her somewhere nice."
Okay, it didn't happen quite like that, but I like my dramatic effect a lot more.
That evening, Marijn brought me to a very nice italian place where he almost had to translate the entire menu for me. Hey, at least his English will be really good after all this! I ended up getting a rather large pizza and proceeded to get hand cramps trying to use my knife and fork. I ended up giving him the last small bit simply because I was not going to pick it up and eat it. It was a personal challenge to eat the pizza like a European and I simply wasn't going to fail!

On Easter Sunday we wandered our way through the deserted streets of Groningen in search of a place that wasn't too crowded where we could purchase a simple cup of coffee. We stroll into this bar and take a seat at a table. After seeing a huge poster of the Red Hot Chili Peppers each wearing a single, strategically placed sock and then seeing some very interesting looking magazines lined up by the window I tell Marijn that we were in a gay bar.
He just looks around and shrugs (after all he is quite proud that the Netherlands were the first to legalize gay marriage). We had a lovely cup of coffee with the bartender and some very nice men brought in some decorated eggs for us to eat as well.  On our way out, Marijn turned around and walked backwards asking, "Okay, so how do you tell from the outside it's a gay bar-." He cut himself off because we both saw, proudly flying above the tables, a rainbow flag.
We must have needed that coffee because we did NOT see that on the way in.

On the way out of town, we stopped to get Subway (everything else was closed or far above our price range) and this dork ate the meal with a fork and knife.
Yeah, he's european alright!

We're Off To See The Mayor!

No, we didn't go there at night.
I just thought it was a pretty picture!

After getting our semester tickets (finally! Free buses!) a whole group of international students went to see the mayor. The Rathaus (mayor's building) is a simply beautiful building. I've been itching to get into it since I first walked down the street and fell down to the cobblestones in awe at this building and the church next to it. We all file in and I get dizzy walking in spirals up the central stairwell with the gleaming jewels of stained glass windows staining our skin is luminescent colors.

I really wanted to stop a friend and get a picture of them in the different colors, but we were so busy being ushered from one place to another, I didn't want to stop the herd.

So up and up and up we go until we get to a beautiful chamber with an old balcony above us in stark contrast to the projector screen that was posted on the opposing wall.

Once we take off our jackets and settle in, the mayor steps in and starts his presentation on the city of Oldenburg, what it was, and what he hopes to make it. What I found most interesting was one of his slides that had each state in Germany rated on their happiness.

All I wondered is....how do you even get the information for this map? Do you judge it by the amount of smileys they use in an average text message? Do they just ask people on the street?
"Hello sir, on a scale of 1 to I-can't-stop-smiling, just how happy have you been feeling lately?"

Either way the map clearly shows that Bayern and Niedersachsen are both the happiest places in Germany as of last year. (Spoiler, I'm in Niedersachsen).

So after his fancy presentation with a lazer pointer and everything, he invited us to have a drink with him, talk to him, ask him any questions we could think of and sign the guest book.
The classiest part of this whole thing? We got champagne. WE'RE THE COOLEST!

Dominika (from Poland) signing the guestbook

Daniel (Michigan) and Bear (Washington DC)
being super classy. 

Later that night we all met at a bar called Between the Sheets. I know, sounds super dirty. They have very cushioned, deep benches all over the place with lots of pillows and a candle sitting on a nice tray in the center of each. It's far classier than you'd expect. On top of that, it's also far more expensive than you'd expect. €7,50 for a Long Island Ice Tea? COME ON! But all in all it was a good night. Lots of talking with other international students. I was in and out of German all night long.

Michael (Germany), Anne + I (Colorado), Bear (DC) Rebecca (Germany)
Look! An American sandwich on German bread! ;)

P.S. I love putting the places people are from after there name. :D

Unterschiede (Differences)

I've been feeling like this blog is reserved for big events and adventures. I can't post unless something super awesome and foreign happened!

But life and experiences aren't always about the big things. In fact, the big things are shaped by the little things that happen every day.

I've been waking up at 7 every day and saying "Guten Morgen"  to the very nicely dressed old man cleaning the floors of the bathrooms and showers.
          You see, in Germany, with their school system they have lots more people who go through vocational school so they have people whose career path is janitor, waitress, or anything else along those lines.

Then I get ready for school by grabbing an apple to throw in my backpack because I really don't have the motivation to cook something in the morning. I hop on my bike and ride to class.
along the way I see places like this:

Can anyone say Arthur Dent?

This vine will be so beautiful in the summer!

Isn't that beautiful? And all the houses are that level of interesting! Then I cross a river to get to the Uni:

Then I make sure there are no cars coming, stick out my arm and cross the street. The cars here aren't afraid of bikers. And by that I mean that they aren't afraid to hit you. Biker here need to have balls of steel. DRIVERS CAN SMELL FEAR! So then I park my bike, lock it up (unlike everyone else here) and head in to class. Here are just a few pictures from my campus:

I sit in class for a few hours and have my brain crammed so full of German words, grammar, and culture I feel like it's going to dribble out my ears at any moment. At about noon, we head off to lunch, which is also cool and different. You walk across campus and cross this street:

Then we go through the rows of bikes you saw earlier to get into the building. Once inside you have three different staircases to choose from. It's like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure novels, but in real life. Go up staircase B and you get meat. Go up staircase A and you get "alternative" options. Go up the center staircase you get more expensive but nicer food.

Choose wisely!

Once you're in the seating area you get this view:

Now isn't that just beautiful? :)

Then I go back to class for about an hour and a half more before we break at 2 and go our separate ways. We might meet again later for something, other than that we just do our own thing. Some of us go to the Innenstad, others do homework, one or two Skype their girlfriends, and even others go to a bar. All in all it's a good day.

And then when we do get together and study (to avoid getting into Deutsch kurs 2 with a teacher none of us like) we bring chocolate, beer (or wine), Hollander cookies, or cheese and bread.
Yup. Life's pretty sweet here. :)

An Irish Holiday Celebrated by Not-So-Irish People

I get back to the university from Amsterdam at just after 1 in the morning. I grab my bike and head back to my dorm. Do I go to sleep like I should? NOPE! I stay up, post a blog entry, and then upload pictures. So somewhere close to 3 in the morning, my head finally hits the pillow.

Sunday I wake up and realize that there was going to be a party! OH NO! So instead of cleaning up like a good person, I ended up working on an ongoing video project I'm starting. I'm trying to take fun and neat videos to put them to the song "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2. I really look forward to posting that when it's done. It already gives me chills. :)

Cute Dutch Boy (Marijn) came over after that and brought his guitar. He sang me a song and it was quite lovely. Since he sang me a beautiful song I deemed him worthy of having some of my food that mom sent from home. She sent me some good tortillas and beans to make my favorite burrito. The entire time I was putting it together, Marijn was making comments about how cooking was very different in America. granted, I wasn't cooking, I was preparing, but still.

Also, he's a really good singer.
Check out him playing his guitar and singing at the party here:
♫♪♫♪

At said party I broke a table, and I wasn't even dancing on it. What a shame. :P
I was just standing on it because everyone around me was so much taller than I am, and my heel just went through the top of the table. Well dang. Guess I owe them another €5 table....

The rest of the night was filled with shenanigans and singing VERY LOUDLY to some of our favorite songs....and cool hats. There were some cool hats going around.

Also, don't ever drink absinthe.

It's just not worth it

....

that is all...

The Land of Wooden Clogs, Cheese, Pot, and Sex (That Escalated Quickly)

I went out and had one beer last night with some friends and 6 hours later I'm napping on a bus to Holland. The bus ride itself wasn't bad at all. I'm also used to driving for 5 hours and still being in the same state, so it was odd to me when they took a smoke break about three hours in. Either way, Alex and I get there about 11 or so. First thing we do is hop on a boat for a tour of the city.
I highly encourage this because then you get a good feel for how the city is laid out, you get a map, and you get to see all the "important" things right away. One thing I was sad about though, is that I think the evening or dinner ride would have been so much more worth it with how the city was lit up at dusk. Shame Alex and I were in an Argentinian Steakhouse when the sun set. It was a pretty great time though.

After this handy, dandy cruise thing we went on, we decided to take a walk and then went in the wrong direction. When you're wandering and just looking at shops there isn't a wrong direction I guess, unless you end up out of the shops and main part of the city and end up in residential areas. Yeah, don't do that. That's no fun. We decided we wanted to make our way to the Amsterdam Dungeon and we took the long way. Not sure why though, I'm usually fairly good with maps. At some point we wind our way past the Anne Frank house. Just a note, if you ever want to go see that, get there REALLY early, or be prepared to wait in line for a long time. Alex and I didn't even bother trying to get in to it.

Later, as we're standing in the middle of a 5 or 6 way crossroads looking very confused, a man approaches us and asks if we need help or anything. I showed him the map and told him we were looking for the dungeon. He just look at me for a second and asks (all of the sudden in German) if I speak German or if I am a German. I reply that I can speak enough to get around and that I'm actually not from Germany. BUT WHAT? DO I HAVE A GERMAN ACCENT NOW? BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE THE SINGLE COOLEST THING TO BRING BACK HOME!

So after that burst of awesomness, we finally find our way to the dungeon. A lad greeted us outside the door and told us that if we came in RIGHT NOW, he'd take €5 of each ticket. It was still a little much for us to pay to go into a museum or whatever we thought it was, but since we walked far to get there we decided to give it a try.
We go in and are greeted by a rather funny character who is a dead, posh, English gentleman. This was no museum. The best way to describe it is a guided tour/play/ride/haunted house....thing.... Each room has a story of Amsterdam's past with a character to tell it. There was lots of audience participation. Alex actually got us all thrown onto a VOC ship headed straight for hell. COOL! They had really cool effects and they had a beautiful balance between corny, scary, and down right creepy.  Another really neat thing is that the entire ....show... was in both English and Dutch. They never really repeated themselves, but you could still understand everything you needed to. It was a beautiful balance on all levels. If anyone is planning on going to Amsterdam, I would HIGHLY suggest this. 80 minutes of this kind of entertainment is worth the money.

Something else about this city is the cheese. Oh my gosh the cheese.
Alex and I stopped by a cheese shop and bought some because it was just to die for. You know in Scooby Doo where the smell of something will waft over to them, pick them up by their nostrils and carry them off? Yeah, that happened to us. I can't even remember the name of the dang shop, but it was fantastic.  I also don't even know the name of that I got but it smelled and tasted like heaven. One is French and one is Dutch. That's all I can tell you. I'll be sure to figure out more later. :)

That's more or less the sparknotes version of our very long and exhausting day in Amsterdam. If you don't mind I'm going to go throw myself into my bed for as long as it'll let me. I have to host the St. Patrick's day party tomorrow after all. Ain't no rest for the wicked!

God Gave Me You

I've come to a certain realization within the last 24 hours or so.

Last night I was looking to see if I brought any scissors so I could cut my bangs (I'm getting a bit shaggy...) and I found that I brought some by accident in my laptop bag. Granted, they are little kids' safety scissors, so I can't do anything with them. Then I started thinking, hey now, this laptop bag was a carry-on. So I brought scissors through not just the security check in DIA But also the ones in Chicago and Dublin! How does that even happen?

Seriously, think about that for a second....

So with that in mind I went to sleep.

Today I went to class and it went more or less like normal. Outside was sunny then snowing then more sunny then MORE SNOW. All in all it felt like home. After lunch we got brought to the computer lab to watch a video and answer questions on it. The video was ALL about sign language and a "hand rapper". The teacher and I got into a discussion about how even though sign differs from region to region, it's fairly universal. I always thought it wasn't. I got so excited because I understood not only the German but the sign as well in the video. Having the ability to speak German AND speak to deaf Germans in sign language opens SO MANY doors I thought weren't even doors at all! It's like a whole wall just up and left right in the middle of your morning tea and the sun light just floods into your kitchen. It was like that!

Then I walked through the cemetary to get to the DHL shop on the next block. It was a beautiful, sunny walk. When I got the package I took a seat on the bench in the cemetery to open it and proceeded to start bawling. Between the song that came on my headphones Click here to listen to the song! :D and reading the card she gave me I burst in to tears. I haven't felt so far away from them as I do now.

Somewhere deep inside of me has been telling me I needed to go on this trip since I first started planning. I wasn't sure if it was just really wanting to find other Popkens or what. After today though, there is no doubt that I need to be here right now. You can attribute it to what ever force you think drives the universe. I am going to believe that God has a great plan for me here and I am so very excited to see what is in store.