Traveling about

Hello All!

It's hard to believe that I am already over half way done with my semester in Germany.  So far it has been a blast and I am incredibly thankful for all the new experiences I am having.  Traveling around Europe is something I'm especially thankful for.  Obviously, visiting a new place is always fun, but I have also been able to compare them and how they are similar and different to Mannheim.  Below, I'm going to sum up my different visits briefly:

Paris France:

Paris is an incredible city.  It's also an enormous city.  The first day I was there I decided to walk into the city center from my friends dorm (where I was staying).  Other friends from Mannheim were arriving later in the day so I really just wanted to walk around and see the different sites, and get a sense of the city.  It was a doable walk, but it definitely added to what I can best describe as a day spent walking.  The city is centered around the Seine river for the most part, so many of the major sights can be visited by following the river once you are in the city center.

There is no doubt in my mind, however, that Paris is a beautiful city.  Especially the old part of the city, whose streets are so narrow I can't imagine driving a car around them (props to the chauffeur who was driving the brand new Rolls Royce I saw).  The view from the Sacré-Cœur was spectacular, though and you get a much better sense of how vast the city truly it.  It seems to just stretch for miles, but there aren't sky scrappers the same way there are in the United States.  In fact, the financial quarter (the only area with sky scrappers) was quite small.  

Paris was also expensive.  No doubt because it is a famous city famous for its tourism industry, but it was still  a financially painful difference from Mannheim.

Amsterdam, Netherlands:

Set right on the water, Amsterdam is like no where else.  Many things that are much more private or illegal in other places take center stage in Amsterdam. The city is famous for its red light district and “coffee shops”, and for good reason. Those aspects are nearly unavoidable when visiting, so I wouldn't recommend people with traditional values to visit the city. If you go in with an open mind, however, the city proved to be very interesting. Perhaps you could call it a sort of social science experiment, but it was very amusing to watch.

Less amusing was the hostel my friends and I stayed at. There were 18 people in the room we bunked in, which was fine, but it definitely keeps you on your guard the entire time.

Like I said, the city was on the water, which was a pleasant change from where I am in Germany. Amsterdam, however, was built on marshland so the building have settled a bit over the year. The tended to tip inwards toward the street a little bit. Couple that with the fact that the streets were narrow, and the city had a sort of claustrophobic feel to it. I found it kind of charming, but I could see how others might not.

Freiburg and the Black Forest

This trip was a mandatory trip for all Umass students studying in the Baden-Württemberg system, so part of the trip dealt with paper work and what not to ensure we were all off to a successful start in Germany. For the six of us who are studying in Mannheim, we were already in pretty good shape. We have been in Germany longer than anyone else (partly because of the Summer Academy and partly because our school starts earlier than the other), so we were already pretty adjusted to living in Germany, and we had a pretty good grip over our academic plans. The trip was still a great experience, and we had a chance to visit a old farm house where we got a tour and learned about the way of life for the original farmers in the Black Forest. The landscape was also very breathtaking. This area is the setting for many fairy tales and it was very apparent after walking around for a while.

We also had a chance to stop at Freiberg on our trip home, which was a fun place to visit. The city is a little more touristy than Mannheim, but that certainly didn't take away from it in any way. What I found most interesting was the Freiburg Bächle. This is the water system that runs through the streets of the city. They are small water filled runnels that border the sides of the streets. They were once used to provide people in the city with fresh water, but now they are just there for aesthetics. The reason they are not more present in more cities is because they were often boarded up after they were made obsolete by indoor plumbing.

Munich and Oktoberfest

I consider myself particularly lucky because I won a ticket in a lottery with my schools “Visum” club (international student organization). Since I won one of the coveted spots, I had the chance to join a group of about 50 people on a two day excursion to Munich during Oktoberfest.

I have never been to a festival quite like Oktoberfest. Thousands of people, livestock, rides, tents, and exhibits set in the city along with what felt like enough beer to drown the city. It seemed that people of all ages and backgrounds took part in an event that felt very German. Nearly Everyone had on Lederhosen (for men) and dirndls (for women), and it was definitely a day filled with drinking, chanting, and general merriment. This, no doubt, was fueled by the fact that the serving of beer came in a Maß which is a 1 liter mug. To put that into perspective, that's about 3 American Beers per serving.

The second day we spent there, we had the opportunity to tour the city and the Olympic stadium where the games took place in 1972. No doubt it's a city filled with history, much of which centers around the breweries in the town. On the final day, we visited the BMW museum, which I found incredibly thrilling.

Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona is an incredible city, and it also shares little in common with Mannheim. I had the opportunity to visit this city because it was where I met my parents during their visit to Europe. From Barcelona we embarked on a 7 day cruise through the Mediterranean.

I'm so glad we arrived in Barcelona 2 nights ahead of leaving on the cruise, however because the city is an exciting place to be. For one thing the weather was amazing. I left on a bus at 2:45 am in Germany and I was shivering through my coat I was so cold, but once I was in Barcelona, it was back to t-shirts and shorts weather! The city is also architecturally beautiful with buildings designed by Gaudi and others that line the blue green waters of the Mediterranean. The crowds are fairly spectacular too. Our hotel was on the main street, La Rambla, and this definitely helped us to get a better sense of just how crowded the city is. I guess the same could be said about any large city in Europe, however, my father kept commenting on it so I remember the crowds here most vividly.

...ok I'm all out of time now, but more to come soon, I promise.

Classes

So I am in my third week of classes here, and so far, so good.  Classes are a little different from home.  First of all there is far less time spent in class, but more independent study.  Also, there aren't regular exams throughout the semester.  These are definitely two big adjustments. 

I also note that the system to sign up for classes is not nearly as organized or intuitive as at home.  For one thing, we didn't sign up for classes until about a week before they started, and there isn't necessarily a way to confirm that you are in the class.  This brought on a bit of stress, but more than anything, it made me appreciate the system we use at home.

Anyways here are the classes I am taking:

For my Business Degree:

Human Resources Management: This class is especially for international students, so its nice when I walk in and am met with a bunch of familiar faces.  The class itself is fun although the material has been a bit dry thus far.  Here's to hoping it gets more interesting.

Marketing-Consumer Behavior Research:  This class is actually what is called a block class so it meets every day for a little more than a week and then the class is over.  It's kind of a cool set up, I wish there were more classes like this.  I'm pretty excited for the class, though, because its along the lines of what I would like to do once I graduate.  It starts this Friday so we shall see!

For Psychology:

Special Topics in Cognitive Psychology:  This class is actually meant to be taken along with a seminar, but the professor has graciously made an exception for international student.  It's pretty straight forward, but I appreciate the exceptionally small class size.

Social Cognition in Mental Disorders:  This class is a bit more interesting than the Cognitive class, I think.  Again is a small class size, which I appreciate.  I don't appreciate that its located in a building 9 or so blocks further away from the castle (which happens to be 9 blocks even further away from my apartment...).

For General Education:

Analyzing TV Mad Men and the American 1960s:  This is easily my favorite class.  I had never seen the TV show but I have watched most of the first season so far and we will cover through season 4 in the class.  In a way, its funny I came to Europe and now I am studying about America but it's interesting to see how my fellow classmates talk about America, and the views that they hold.  The show itself is addicting too, which is making my "homework" (watching the show) pretty easy.

Whats different from Home?

So this is going to be an ongoing list but as I notice things here that are different from home I will try to update the list (also its in no particular order)...

1. The public transportation system here is far more vast and accessible
2. Groceries are incredibly cheap (try around $30 for a week of good food)
3. Cars are smaller (gas is far, far more expensive)
4. Cars are also nicer 
5. People often put car seats in the front passenger seat
6. Cell phone calling plans are far less expensive
7. Emergency vehicles make a different siren noise (this I will never understand)
8. People pay attention to the crosswalk signs and only cross when they are suppose to
9. Nowhere is air-conditioned (took me a heat wave to realize how much I miss it)
10. You never get a bag at the grocery store
11. People drive very fast, especially taxis
12. EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays, except some restaurants 
13. We really need to switch to the metric system
14. Strangers stand/sit closer together on public transportation
15. There are deposits on everything- shopping carts and drink glasses to name a few
16. At the end of class everyone knocks on their desk as a sort of applause
17. People are Generally more dressed up, you don't see people out in sweatpants for the most part

...and I will continue to update the list as I think of more

Where have I visited so Far?....

In my first month here I have been able to travel and explore much of the region through the excursions that were offered by the summer academy.  These trips included:


Stuttgart:
Stuttgart was a trip I had been looking forward to since I first began planning my semester in Germany.  I have been interested in cars since I was little so I was eager to visit one of the most well known places for the car industry.  It took a little over 2 hours to reach the city by train from Mannheim, and the ride was relatively pleasant.  About one third of the way into the trip the train began to follow the neckar river, and the view of the German country side was particularly memorable.  Nestled along the country side were small villages and even a few fortresses here and there.  As we approached the city, though, factories became the main focus of the views. The day was definitely a success after I spent around 4 hours in the Mercedes Benz museum.  The museum itself seems to be a testament to the car brand itself.  The building itself was very high tech and specially engineered, not unlike the cars the brand is famous for.  I also enjoyed walking around the crowded city after visiting the museum. 

Frankfurt:
Frankfurt is definitely the most built up city I have had the chance to visit since I arrived in Mannheim.  Some have compared it to cities in the U.S., but I still don't believe that's a completely fair comparison because there still really aren't suburbs here the same way as we have them back home.  While we were in Frankfurt we had the chance to go to the top of one of the tallest building, and the view of the city and surrounding area was pretty spectacular.  That being said, I still can't get over how quickly the landscape changed to country side.

Bad Dürkheim:
Bad Dürkheim is a small town located on the end of a tram line that goes through Mannheim. The town itself is a quaint town set on a hillside. The narrow streets wind around the city is a fairly unorganized fashion, but its small enough that it doesn't take long to figure out where you are. After walking for nearly an hour, we reached a fortress set on top of the hill that allowed us to have a commanding view of the town and the surrounding area.

Shwetzigen:

The town of Shwetzigen is most well known for the castle that acted at the vacation residence for those living in the castle in Mannheim.  While the castle itself was similar to most of the other castles I have visited so far the gardens that surrounded the castle were nothing short of spectacular.  The level of precision and symmetry was mind blowing, and I easily could have spent and entire day wandering through the maze of trees, plants, and water features.

Heidelberg:

Heidelberg is a well know city that is a short train ride away from Mannheim.  The boasts incredibly scenic views, and our tour group had an opportunity to tour the remains of the castle that is perched over the city.  Afterwards, we had an authentic German dinner at a restaurant in Heidelberg.  I ordered the schnitzel (veal that has been pounded thin and then breaded) in a mushroom sauce. It also came with
Spätzle which is the traditional german pasta.  

Living in Little Istanbul

My apartment is in a fairly convenient location in Mannheim.  It's within the city center (the grid) which allows me the luxury of being able to walk most places.  It particularly convenient for going to class and grocery shopping, but the most interesting thing about where I live is the fact that I am located in the ""Little Istanbul" section of the city.
Living in this section has most definitely proved interesting.  Its easy to forget that I am living in Germany because very little German is actually spoken in this section.  Instead Turkish can be heard throughout the streets.  In many ways, however, this is still an accurate representation of Mannheim.  There is a huge Turkish population, and they have had a large influence on the city.  Take for example the food.  As I had mentioned earlier, I ate my first of many Doners the day I arrived.  While Doners are not a traditional German food, they are very abundant in Mannheim because the Turkish people brought them here.  Overall, I think living in Little Istanbul has added to my cultural experience.

The Summer Academy

The first month that I am spending in Germany is not actually apart of the fall semester here at the University of Mannheim.  Instead the University runs Summer Academy program that focuses on German language and culture courses.  While being in class may not sound like the most entertaining way to be spending my last month of the summer, I am actually very thankful for the opportunity.

For one thing I have greatly improved my German writing and reading skills, which were errrrrrr...non existent before coming to Germany (....whoops).  On top of this, the Summer Academy has allowed me to meet tons of people from all of the world who, like me, have come to Mannheim to study.  In fact, the vast majority of the people I have met so far have actually been foreigners.  It's really interesting, though, because I am learning all about their cultures as well as the German culture itself.  I'd say that as an American, there's a little more to adjust to as compared to those who are from the European Union, but there is no doubt that we all have a common connection to bond over as we adjust to living in Germany.

Overall, thought, I sincerely believe that such a program is a great way to begin a study abroad program.  Rather than jumping straight into classes and whatnot, I have had a chance to adjust and make friends before I begin working on my major studies while I am here in Germany.

Photos From My Trip!

For anyone who cares to see what I've been up to feel free to check out this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85297114@N07/

I'll try to be good about adding my pictures as I go to different places.  Also you can find the link in my profile (just click the link under my picture that says "my website")

Thank guys!

Arriving in Mannheim

On July 31, 2012 I embarked on my Journey from my home in Boston, Massachusetts to Mannheim Germany.  During the next 5 months I will be living and studying in Germany.  So far the experience has been amazing, and I am excited to see where my journeys will take me.

The first 40 or so hours of my trip were not particularly pleasant, however.  While my flight was relatively easy the change in time zones resulted in me more or less missing a night of sleep.  I left Boston around 6:30 in the evening on Tuesday July 31 and then flew to Dublin Ireland before continuing onto Frankfurt, Germany.  I arrived in Ireland around midnight in the Boston area, but it was five in the morning in Dublin, and after waiting a few hours I flew to Frankfurt, where my plane touched down at around 10:20 on Wednesday morning.  After collecting my luggage I was able to navigate my way through the Frankfurt airport and purchase a ticket for a high speed train to Mannheim.  This is where things began to get interesting as I had no taken any German language courses prior to my arrival in Germany.  This made me all the more proud of myself when I arrived in Mannheim without too many issues.

At this point however I had to make my way with my luggage to my new Apartment.  I expected navigating the city of Mannheim to be a relatively easy process because the city itself is set up like a grid (which is rare for a European city), but that does not mean I didn't run into problems.  My apartment was located on block G7, but after having little success making sense of the tram map I was beginning to feel less confident about finding my apartment.  While trying to make sense of a map I met a kid from Ireland who had actually been on my flight as well.  He also didn't speak German, and eventually a German man helped us buy tickets and told us which tram routes we needed to follow to get to our apartments.

When I got off the tram at my stop I began searching for my apartment with little success.  The Man who had told be where to get off had explained where I needed to go, but he spoke little English and I found it difficult to understand him.  While I understood that that the grid is set up with increasing letters in the alphabet for vertical streets and numbers for horizontal streets, I had not understood that the letters for the left half of the grid were A through K while the right half was L through Z.  The Tram stop I got off at was at in the right side of the grid I began working my towards where I thought G would be only to realize the lettering system of the grid about an hour later.

Once I finally arrived at G7 I began searching for my apartment complex.  I wasn't expecting it to be too difficult to find because its a fairly distinct looking orange and gray building, but I could not remember if my room was in building 26 or 28.  Once I found the entrance I searched for a way of contacting my Hausmeister (landlord) about getting into my room.  I had miss understood the instruction as I was expecting him to be there upon my arrival.  When I realized I had to call him I was not sure what I was going to do because I did not have a German cell phone yet, and my American cell phone was proving to be frustratingly useless (and at that point I would have paid any amount of roaming charges just to make a little forward progress).  Luckily for me a student who lived in the building pulled up in his car and after I explained to him my situation, he called the hausmeister for me.  About 10 minutes later he arrived with my key and let me into my apartment   Once he left I promptly took a shower and began to get settled in.

After that I went out into the city on my own and began exploring and familiarizing myself with the area.  I was also determined to find something to eat as it had been quite a while since I had eaten (shelter took priority).  I found a small Donner shop and ordered the traditional Mannheim food (its kind of similar to a Gyro) using as little English as possible.  Eventually I made my way back to my apartment and settled in for the evening.  After the incredibly long day, I had a lot to think about.  There was no doubt that I was overwhelmed with all that I had experienced, and I was beginning to wonder if I had made a huge mistake.  After all, I was about to spend the next 5 months in a Country where I didn't speak the language.  Besides that and ocean separated me from nearly everything I new in life, but I tried my best to reserve my judgement.