Karneval and Faschings Fest

Guten Abend! Good evening! Today I woke a happy girl as I looked out the window to find that the sun had come out for the second day since I've been here! It is as though the entire city comes alive when this happens...dogs, old folks, and small children alike rush the parks and river front. This afternoon I took a long walk along the Neckar river along with most of the population of Heidelberg. I was astounded by the number of large dogs out as well...and the number of them that wanted to be my friend (I smell like roughly 50 different varieties of dog right now).

The events of yesterday and last night, however, are likely the most noteworthy of this week. Yesterday concluded the festival of Karneval or Faschings (different names depending on where you are in Germany), which began last November. Karneval essentially celebrates the period just before lent (kind of like Mardis Gras), but it otherwise doesn't really have any religious association. In large cities like Cologne and Munich, Karneval is a HUGE deal. Everyone dresses up in ridiculous costumes and basically spends the entire day partying and getting drunk in the street. In Heidelberg however, it is not quite as large (the drunkenness, however, still exists for some). The difference between Cologne and Heidelberg is kind of like the difference between the Thanksgiving parade in New York and the parade in Raleigh. Equally fun, but the Raleigh one is a little bit ghetto.

Regardless, starting at 1:00 in the afternoon, the entire city of Heidelberg shut down (stores closed, employees were sent home, kids were given the day off from school, and the buses stopped) and all gathered for a parade on the main street. What then commenced was the most odd assortment of costumes, music, and candy throwing from floats. In terms of costumes, there was everything from traditional lederhosen to scary techno gear to 15-year-old girls wearing a little less than I would prefer. In terms of music, there was techno (and a lot of it), some German song about the town of Heidelberg, and make-shift "bands" consisting of a few instruments played by men aged 50+ (some better than others). In terms of "candy throwing" however, it got a little dicey. There was your traditional chocolate candy and popcorn, but then it got a little interesting when people started throwing brussel sprouts, meat and cheese, whole loaves of bread (which hurt when they hit you in the side of the face, fyi), and beer (yes, free beer in the streets). The parade then concluded with a huge techno dance party of folks under what seemed like the age of 25 or so.

Following the parade, I think most people went home to recover for a while before going out again at night. Great costumes lined all the streets and bars, and a good time was had by all.

Below then, are a few pictures to help portray the event:

These kids stood from the porch and attached those umbrellas to the ends of the long ropes you see. They would then lower the umbrellas when candy was thrown and gather their goodies.


Free beer (it's legal to drink in the streets and on the buses)

The parade coming down the street...I love the architecture in the old city...


Out and about later that night. Above: David (Italy...playing Johnny Depp for the night), Danica (Canada...playing a pirate)

And now other random pictures:

Little German snow babies (they were too cute, I had to take this)

Trash art...see the face?

The view from my classroom window again

The Marriott hotel, if you want to stay there Mom and Dad (sorry, had to throw this in for you guys)

And two quick vidoes from the parade. On top, we have the brief cross-dressing part of the parade (note the "Deutschland's Next Flop Model" poster at the end...a play on "America's Next Top Model."). Below, we have the dance party at the end of the parade. Sorry the recording's so bad, I couldn't really see...

Heidelberger Schloss

Guten Nachmittag! Good Afternoon! So I apologize for everything being in an odd font here, but I have passed my realm of computer knowledge and can't make this stop.

Regardless, today's blog is merely a montage of pictures from my trip to the Heidelberger Schloss (Heidelberg Castle) in the snow. They're in reverse order for some reason, but I hope you enjoy:

On a way back from the castle, we were trying to get down the mountain to little avail. Fortunately however, I spotted this park which sped up our journey quite a bit. You can't imagine how cold that metal was on a tush....

Views from inside the castle

My city! (yes, I own it now...)

An epic snowball fight shortly followed the taking of this photo. It ended with my purse overflowing with snow...

Above: me, Alex (UNC-CH), Deborah (Arizona State), Sean (UNC-CH)

The icy climb up to the mountain bc we were too cheap to buy the tram ticket. This way was SO much more fun...

BRATWURST from a street vendor during Carnival (a celebration similar to Mardi Gras in origin...)

And going out for a few beers with the gang night before last...I think you should recognize most of these people by now.

Well, that's all for now! I'm leaving to join a few friends for our new Sunday night tradition of "Wine Night in Neuenheimer Feld" (our neighborhood) in a bit. Love you and miss you all!

The Tale of my University and my wonderful Roomate

Good morning again! Thanks to my wonderful roomate, Philipp, I now have a special password to get internet access in my room! The university is still just as slow as ever in terms of processing information, but he set up a special password through some round-about way called "forliz." Did I mention I love him (in a completely different way, Ryan)?

In this blog, I intend to better explain Heidelberg and my university and, as indicated by the title, tell you the tale of my wonderful roomate.

First, the university:

--The University of Heidelberg is the oldest university in Germany, built in 1386.

--It has around 25,000 students, of which almost 5,000 are foreign (Where these 5,000 are, however? No clue. I've met about 100), coming from more than 130 different countries.

--Uni Heidelberg is known for it's teaching and research

--Uni Heidelberg does not work off of the American "fall" and "spring" semester system. Instead, it has a winter and summer semester. Right now, German students have just finished their winter semester and are, essentially, on winter break. Thus, one of my roomates, Michael, left the day that I arrived to go vacation in Australia for 5 weeks. The summer semester will start in April (the same time when my normal German classes will begin).

--German professors are....(for lack of a better word)...blunt. When handing back grades, no discretion is used. They announce all grades as they are being passed around, and, if you did not perform up to standard, my professor has no problem announcing that your work was "TOTAL KATASTROPHE"...or a "total catastrophe." It makes me laugh (or cry, if he's referring to me).

--I've moved up to a higher German grammar class that is much better suited for me. I'm being challenged more (albeit doing more homework), but my new classroom has a view of Heidelberg castle (beats the heck out of looking at the construction on Veneable at UNC).

Now, the short tale of my adorable roomate. He is, to give an understatement, extremely intelligent. He is currently writing an 80-100 page thesis (in ENGLISH) for his physics degree about some algorithm he's written to help people find tumors in men suspected of having pancreatic cancer or something. He wants me to edit his paper at the end...(HAH...like I know what he's talking about....)

He's been over-the-top nice to me, however. Despite acting as my 24-7 babysitter at times, he has been generous and kind. He's always busy and running around, but finds time to help me get my bearings every day. This morning he text messaged me to inform me that whenever I woke up, that he had made coffee and breakfast for me. Next week we are going shopping for groceries so that he can teach me how to make something other than spaghetti with tomato sauce (fyi...tomato sauce here comes as a small powder in a package that you mix with water on the stove...).

Anyway, I guess that's not much of a story, but I thought it was worth noting.

The following, then, is just a list of pictures that I wanted to post with my last blog, but couldn't because of the slow speed of the internet. Enjoy:

Walking through the Altstadt (the old city)...I take this route everyday on the way back from class...wie schoen (how pretty!)!!

I am very proud to say that we found the grocery store and that food is cheaper here (except for fruits and vegetables), but not so proud to say that we couldn't find anything in our teeny-tiny Euro store. Above: Deborah (Arizona State University), Marissa (U of Arizona)

More views of the Altstadt.

My walk to class every morning across the die alte Bruecke (the old bridge). I'll get a picture of my classroom building soon...too cute.

My apartment building (which kind of looks like the Hilton at Nags Head). I'm on the top floor with a beautiful view of the city and the mountains behind.

My teeny-tiny kitchen (note the tiny oven), shared with 3 other people who had kindly already stocked it with pots, pans, dishes, etc. and are letting me use everything. Above: Alex (UNC-CH).

More views of the city. I walk this route everyday too.

First meal at a German pub, ironically called Hemingway's. Left to right: Kate (Australia), Marissa (U of Arizona), me, Deborah (Arizona State), Alex (UNC-CH)

The view from my bedroom window (THE SUN CAME OUT!!!)

Other view from the window on a sunny day.

Well hopefully I'll have another blog up soon! Love to all!! I miss you!

I MADE IT, I'M ALIVE!! (and i'm freezing cold...)

my bedroom (and yes, the window is that big. and no, it does not come with curtains)

arrival in Frankfurt (in the snow)

GUTEN TAG VON DEUTSCHLAND!! Sorry that this has taken so long to get up, but I don't have internet access in my room and I've been crazy busy.

I arrived in Frankfurt on Monday morning and made the long haul to Heidelberg. For future reference, bringing two 50lbs bags and a hiker's backpack and carrying them across a country is a terrible idea. I had help from a holy host of random people...the cute, old German couple who didn't speak English that bought my train card for me...the law student, David, who used to go to Uni Heidelberg that carried my bags and got me on the train....the creepy old Chilean/German guy, Miguel, who got me off at the right stop and helped me get directions and phone minutes and wants to have a beer later (that's not happening), etc..... The German stereotype of being standoff-ish and rude could not have been more false over the last several days. I've been blessed with such kind people.

I have to keep this short because I'm in an internet cafe and have to leave in a few minutes, but here goes a quick review of the last several days:

-- I got to my room. I'm on the 11th floor of a really nice (albeit really freaking expensive) apartment building with a beautiful view of the river and the old city. I live with two guys (Philipp and Michael) and another girl (Kinga, from Lithuania, but who studies here full time and speaks little English). And yes, we all share the same bathroom...it's kind of hairy in there. Most of the students in my building are considerably older than me bc they are involved with the hospital accross the street.

--I set up a German bank account entirely in German (woot, woot!), but the bank somehow cant find my 1200 Euro deposit right now. No worries, we're working on that...

--I got a cell phone. It's ghetto.

--I started all the registration processes, which are ridiculous!! Germany's 18th century record keeping methods (everything is written on half sheets of paper and filed in cabinets) makes it nearly impossible to get anything done. I'm at least another week from getting internet access in my room bc Germans only work for about 2 hours a day and don't computerize anything. This has, by far, been the most frustrating part. I've been nickled and dimed to death with surprise fees and often feel like i'm getting nothing done....

--I'm really cold. The ground is covered with snow and ice and it's about 32-35 degrees every day

--I started my German language classes and am in a lower level class somehow, but it's okay bc it's fairly easy and a good grammar review

--I made a few friends (hooray!)

--I went to my first German bar (called Vater's Rhein) with my one of my roomates and spoke mostly in German (albeit horrific German)

--I discovered the grocery store and made a fool out of myself trying to check out (dont put your grocery basket on the coveyer belt on pain of death)

--I overslept my first alarm (fortunately, my roomate Philipp, who seems to have designated himself as my full-time babysitter, woke me up)

--I tripped on the cobblestone...many times...

--I got lost

--I ate bratwurst (yum, but I kind of feel sick now)

There's so much more that I would like to add, but I figure that this is the best place to start. I'm running out of time and have to go, but I'll have more comprehensive and detailed blogs in the future.

Before I leave, take a glimpse at my new home (sorry I can't post more, the internet is slow):

My beautiful city in the snow

Departure Date Set: Sunday, February 15

Thank you to all who have requested or shown interest in me doing another blog. Please feel free to forward this address to anyone I left off...

My adventure starts on the 15th, but sadly, I probably won't have internet access for a week or so. I'll get the first post up as soon as possible.

Love and thanks again to all! I can't wait to share my journey with all of you!

Auf Wiedersehen for now!