Explorations of the Area: Ravensburg, Lindau, and Meersburg

[As a quick warning this post may be forever long.]

You know what keeps me up at night? Worrying that one day, I will wake up and take for granted how beautiful the Lake Constance area is.

Okay, maybe I don't stay up worrying about this. But I do wonder if I will get used to it. If at some point I will look around and say, "I mean, it's pretty dec". I hope this doesn't happen, but who knows. Maybe I will look at one too many lakeviews, or castles, or cottages and start shrugging my shoulders instead of staring.

This is to say I have visited some sickeningly beautiful towns recently. The first town I visited was Ravensburg, just a short train ride away. My journey there was an adventure in itself. When I got on the train there was no sign or announcement letting me know I was on the right one. I just had to assume this was the one. At the next stop they announced something about the train going to Stuttgart-a far way from where I was going, and certainly not what I had bought a ticket for! I started panicking and tried to get off.  I decided to just sit down and see what happens. Maybe I could try to explain myself to the ticket collectors. Maybe they would by sympathetic. Or maybe I would wind up in Stuttgart with a large fine to pay. The train went on for a bit, and then an announcement was made regarding all the stops on the way to Stuttgart, including Ravensburg. Whew! But really, they couldn't haven mentioned that sooner?

The day was a bit overcast. I wandered around a lot in the older part of town. I bought a backpack, as my current drawstring bag had a large pickpocket-friendly tear in the side. As much as I like this new backpack, I have since realized that a black leather backpack is not the best for bike rides in the sun, but more on that later.

This past weekend I biked to both the Island of Lindau (there is a bridge, I didn't bike through the bottom of the lake), and Meersburg. When I went to Lindau it was also overcast, but I was just glad it was dry! Again, I did a lot of walking around. I wandered down to the port and looked at the lake. I climbed up to the lion, but did not go to the top of the tower, I think I'll say that for a clearer day.

Look at my lack of crazy eyes! Kind of.

 Then, of course I ended my day with ice cream before biking back. I picked a blue ice cream called Engelblau (which I think translates as Angel Blue). It tasted like bubblegum but I ate it anyway. At this point was my only blip in the trip, in which a man decided that it was appropriate to follow me on his bike to say, among other things that I didn't understand, that my shirt matched my ice cream. I was a bit insulted really, I mean did he really think I hadn't known that and planned it accordingly? (who doesn't match their ice cream to their shirt, after all? #ellewoodsingitup).

Okay, but actually it wasn't cool. After enough dirty looks where I made eye contact then deliberately looked away (Atlas Shurgged-style), he got the picture and biked away. Whew. I like making friends, but I am not that desperate.

In real life the colors matched more
and the ice cream was not
fluorescent, I promise!

On Sunday, I apparently had not had enough of biking, so I biked in the other direction to Meersburg. I had the brilliant plan to leave at midday and be on a path with little shade. Also, let's go back to that black backpack. Yeah, I have not been so sweaty for so long ever. Although I dried off (really, I was gross after the 2 hours), I never really cooled off once I got to Meersburg, as it was still pretty hot out.

Meersburg has by far been my favorite place so far. It was so beautiful I wanted to pinch the cheeks of a fat baby penguin and scream. I left my bike at the ferry stop, along with a million other bikes, and spent the day walking around.

To get out of the sun, I visited the Neues Schloss (New Castle). It was nice, but I think I might be mostly castled out. I mean, I want to look at the outsides of castles, and maybe the insides of a select few, but the insides are mostly just "and here is were King somethingblablablerg and Queen blergblablasomething slept" and some paintings of dead royalty. I think it really might be the outsides that I am just interested in, but we'll see.

This castle was pink.The 5 year old girl in me who had plans to move to England and wait until she was old enough to marry a prince died a little. There was a wedding going on, which was cool. I mean, how many people get to say they got married in a castle? It was very sweet, until they started playing Bruno Mars' I Think I Wanna Marry You at the end. Nothing says romance like "Oh hey, I'm bored. Want to get married? And if it doesn't last that's fine by me." 

Maybe I was being a bit judgemental. I really don't like Bruno Mars. But still. Of all the songs about love, why that one?

I walked around more, and finally I found a spot on top of a hill, where I just sat in the shade and stared at the lake and the old castle and everything for approximately a forever and a half.

The ride back was long, and I was exhausted. I stopped to get ice cream at what turned out to be an alcoholic ice cream place of sorts- there were different wine flavored ice creams, and lots of sundaes with liquors. Although I was really curious, I had to bike back and did not fancy getting a BUI :P

The best part though, was when I got home I saw this:

A note with directions to make pizza, with dough and other ingredients all ready to go in the fridge from my Host Mom :) Twas the best! I was so beat.

More biking adventures to come soon! As long as the rain clears up by the weekend.

Hallo from Deutschland!

Hallo everyone!

I have been enjoying Germany for about 2 weeks now, so I guess it is about time I get to blogging. Clearly the procrastinating doesn't stop when school stops.

My host family leaves on the coast of Lake Constance, in a small German town. We're right across from Switzerland and just north of Austria. Least to say, it is incredibly beautiful here.

This is what I look at while running :P

The family is really fantastic, I have three little German boys to look after- ages 9, 6, and 2 1/2 (insert obligatory Von Trapp reference here). They are all very sweet and fun to play with. Especially on the giant trampoline (seriously, I think this has been my favorite thing so far). We live near all of their family (we all get together for lunch every day), so there are always extra kids running around to hang out with us.

The biggest challenge so far (or one of them at least) has been making myself at home in someone else's home. I realize acting like I feel weird makes other people feel weird about me feeling weird, so I've been doing my best to make myself at home, even when I do feel weird about it. I'm not saying I'm just acting ridiculous and putting my feet on the table and jumping on beds. I mean more that even if I initially feel weird about leaving my toothbrush in the bathroom I make myself do it because that is what normal people who feel at home do. Also I don't share the bathroom so no one would know if I left it there or not. (So calmate, Sara). It's a work in progress, and I still ask if I can have a glass of water or have yogurt for breakfast or whatnot, but I am definitely settling in quicker than I had expected or thought possible.

Whew. I will try not to use the word "weird" so much.

The next biggest challenge is unsurprisingly the language. Although my German is coming along and I have definitely picked up more since being here, it is also a work in progress. I'm also getting better at expressing myself in less exact terms, and making do with the limited vocabulary I have. My pantomime skills have also gotten better. I would make a joke about a back up career, but I hear that that is how it all starts....

Ice cream from Ravensburg, more on that soon!

So far, I have visited several little towns and eaten lots of ice cream. And pretzels. I have made the ice cream my obligatory snack in each town I go to. Partially because it's hot and I just wander around for hours outside, and partially it's delicious and there are so many places to try! I am not sure if it's ice cream or gelato-usually the places display it like a gelataria, but (depending on the place) it tends to have more of the consistency of ice cream. Either way it's delicious, and I know how to order it in German. Usually just one scoop, the picture on the left features an exceptionally delicious exception

Anyway. I will post more soon, but there was some pressure to get going. So here you go for now!.

Reflections

It has been four months since I got back to the States.
Which is crazy.
Really.
Really.
CRAZY.

It has just been a very surreal experience to look back on. It just feels like it was so long ago. So as I sit here, procrastinating and thinking how I would like to be abroad again, I decided that the rest of this would be better organized into FAQs that I have gotten from people since getting back.

What do you miss the most?
Short answer:
Er. Everything.

Long answer:
Empire biscuits
Hiking around and explorin ala Dora
People being so...nice
Not really having to do a lot of coursework
Accents
All my Scottish/otherwise European friends (:
Biscuits, crisps, chips, tomato sauce, and lifts
Even the, erm... lovely residence hall of Geddes Court (except the fire alarms)
Cooking dinner with everyone
The Angry Australian who lived on my floor
Friends
Rain
Did I mention friends already?

How is the adjustment back to the States going?
Short answer:
It's going.

Long answer:
It's a process. It is a hard to think that I'm realistically not going to go back for a very long time. That I'm not going to see anyone from there for a very long time. Or eat proper empire biscuits for a very long time.

One of the issues of the adjustment is that life went on (obviously) when I wasn't at Clark. Not that I am surprised people have a life that does not revolve around me (Though I must admit this fact is somewhat disappointing). It has just been weird to try and re-insert myself into life here. Because everyone else has changed. And I have changed. But we didn't change together. And I think there is the mutual (though unconscious) expectation that we all still fit neatly into our previously designated roles. Not to get all psychological on you.

Where else did you Travel?
Short answer:
I went to Italy for a weekend. It was so amazing, and I ate so much food, and loved loved loved it.

Long answer:
I went to Scotland because I wanted to go to Scotland. Not because I wanted any ol' jumping point in Europe so that I could take weekend trips elsewhere. Not because it was the only English-speaking program that my school offers (It's not). But because I wanted to go to Scotland. I wanted castles, landscapes, accents, kilts, bagpipes, and haggis.

I mean, yes, there are a bunch of countries right there and you can just hop on a plane to Spain or Germany or France like it's no big deal, and that is really cool. And granted, I did go to Italy for a few days and LOVED it (see the short answer). But I also really loved my experience in Scotland. I would rather people ask me about Scotland first instead of dismissing that whole experience by jumping to asking about where I traveled. I want to tell people about the school I went to, and the friends I made, and the empire biscuits I ate. Then I want to gush about Italy. :)

What were the differences between Scotland and The States?
Short answer:
Er. It's a whole different country.

Long answer:
This is possibly the broadest question there is. How does Scotland compare academically? Socially? Politically? But most importantly, I was there only 4 months. As much as I loved and experienced it, I can in no way speak about the whole country in depth and how it compares. I am not nearly qualified enough to do so. I can, however, blab about how my 4-month experience as an American in a specific area compares to my 21-year experience of two areas of The States.

Academically, there is a lot more independent work. However, there are also higher standards. In this I mean that while I didn't have to do a lot of work over the semester, it was because I should have been doing outside reading and the like. Although I would say it's pretty easy to get seconds (Bs), getting firsts and first-stars (As and beyond) is more difficult.

Otherwise, I feel that overall people were more friendly. Although I have heard (on my last evening/morning there from my Scottish R.A.) that this is because I'm American, and that Scottish people are in reality not very nice to each other.

Everything was so beautiful. Enough so to make me consider living in the country and not a city (which again, those of you who know me know that this is not something I would consider under normal circumstances).

Did you try Haggis?

Don't "Google Image" haggis. Just don't.

Short answer:
No.

Long answer:
No, I'm vegetarian. However the people I know that did try it liked it. So, ya know, don't hate.

How was the accent?
Short answer:
I spent the first week smiling and nodding. 'nuff said.

Long answer:
It was definitely hard at first. Although no one actually sounds like Mel Gibson in Braveheart it was a good week of smiling and nodding when people spoke to me because I had no clue.

But also, there are so many variations of the accent. I also think I like Glaswegian accents the best, at least those that I heard. They are more....crisp, I think is how I would describe them. Or clipped? Hm. I also tried to find a good youtube video to illustrate this, but the internet is being slowsky and I didn't have the patience. So, look it up!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Well, those are my final thoughts on Scotland. I know some of yous asked me to write about my adventures in Worcester, which I will get on....soon. :)