Thursday, November 22, 2007
München: Sunday, November 18th, 2007
After a long night, woke up in Hamburg and got my train to Copenhagen. Not to go too crazy on all of you, but I have to write about this because it infuriated me so much at the time and it still frustrates me right now, almost a week later. I don't know if something really illegal was happening, but "polizie" came on board when we were going to get on the ferry to cross to Denmark and started asking those who "looked middle eastern" where they were from and more questions that I couldn't fully hear. He then checked the rest of the train, glanced at me and other white or Asian people, but never asked for our passports, stopped at an Iranian and asked for his passport. The police eventually escorted the Iraqis out and I sort of followed to see what might be going on. Went to the bathroom, came out and the guys were off the train. I have never seen anything like this before and it was really disturbing. I asked a worker right after it happened and specifically mentioned Iraqis and he said "it's routine. The police always do this." I don't think racial profiling is routine.
I spoke with the Iranian a while after and brought it up and he said that it's very hard to get Visas to other countries and coming from Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan you have to have visas to most countries. So maybe it had something to do with that. I don't know, but it was extremely frustrating. They were discriminated against and pointed out in front of everyone on the train. The policeman was even yelling and being really mean about it...whatever....I guess, was frustrating and I don't know the facts.
Got into Copenhagen, found a store to buy some stuff for home. Got on the train for home around 4:30pm and arrived home in time to watch the end of the Packer game's live stats! Amazing trip overall and so glad I took the time!
I spoke with the Iranian a while after and brought it up and he said that it's very hard to get Visas to other countries and coming from Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan you have to have visas to most countries. So maybe it had something to do with that. I don't know, but it was extremely frustrating. They were discriminated against and pointed out in front of everyone on the train. The policeman was even yelling and being really mean about it...whatever....I guess, was frustrating and I don't know the facts.
Got into Copenhagen, found a store to buy some stuff for home. Got on the train for home around 4:30pm and arrived home in time to watch the end of the Packer game's live stats! Amazing trip overall and so glad I took the time!
München: Saturday, November 17th, 2007
We planned the night before to get up early, then Lilit would study and we would go out. However, that didn't happen. We got up around 10:30am, ate an amazing breakfast by Zara of toasted cheese, ham, and pineapple, coffee, and juice. Lilit wanted all of my music from my computer, so I started transferring that immediately...all 15GB. Before we knew it, it was already 6pm and we had to eat and I had to pack. Zara had been cooking pretty much all day, so we ate delicious food once again!
There were some meat things (tasted like meatloaf), some potatoes, some sort of Spanish soup, and chatchapuri (with cheese this time, instead of meat). I would have loved to take her home with me with all of the amazing dishes/meals I have eaten!
Lilit and I got ready to go and we headed to the train station to put my bags in a locker, then were planning to go to Hofbraühaus, but we didn't have too much time at that point, so we settled for another bierhaus Nik recommended, Augustiner. Had to get a möss and of course brez'n (pretzels). We also ordered some sort of cake dessert with ice cream. Very tasty, whatever it was. Had less than an hour to drink my liter of beer and had to drink it all because I wanted to bring home a souvenir! Great beer and successfully got it out of there without getting caught. (Lilit practically ran out!)
Back to the lockers, hid the möss in my bag, got a cup of coffee, and went to my platform. Was so sad saying goodbye to Lilit. No tears, but I especially had so much fun and we've both grown up so much and we can relate to each other so well! Said goodbye's and off I was on my first train at 11pm.
Lilit gave me a pair of earrings that she got in India that are beautiful! So different, but so pretty! Zara also gave me a soft, pink scarf that she got in Barcelona. It is also so beautiful! Lilit and her family have been so generous and so hospitable and welcoming to me! I had so much fun getting a chance to get to know Zara and Razmik a lot better. Was a great trip and I would love to do it again!
There were some meat things (tasted like meatloaf), some potatoes, some sort of Spanish soup, and chatchapuri (with cheese this time, instead of meat). I would have loved to take her home with me with all of the amazing dishes/meals I have eaten!
Lilit and I got ready to go and we headed to the train station to put my bags in a locker, then were planning to go to Hofbraühaus, but we didn't have too much time at that point, so we settled for another bierhaus Nik recommended, Augustiner. Had to get a möss and of course brez'n (pretzels). We also ordered some sort of cake dessert with ice cream. Very tasty, whatever it was. Had less than an hour to drink my liter of beer and had to drink it all because I wanted to bring home a souvenir! Great beer and successfully got it out of there without getting caught. (Lilit practically ran out!)
Back to the lockers, hid the möss in my bag, got a cup of coffee, and went to my platform. Was so sad saying goodbye to Lilit. No tears, but I especially had so much fun and we've both grown up so much and we can relate to each other so well! Said goodbye's and off I was on my first train at 11pm.
Lilit gave me a pair of earrings that she got in India that are beautiful! So different, but so pretty! Zara also gave me a soft, pink scarf that she got in Barcelona. It is also so beautiful! Lilit and her family have been so generous and so hospitable and welcoming to me! I had so much fun getting a chance to get to know Zara and Razmik a lot better. Was a great trip and I would love to do it again!
München: Friday, November 16th, 2007
Got up with Lilit again for her 8am lecture. Got on the one S-bahn within the hour (I like to stress this apparently...) and headed to the lecture hall with the actual professor in it. This time we learned about joints and bones. Very interesting stuff, but also very hard. Lilit's exam was today on the Latin words and what they mean in German - mostly on different diseases. They have an exam every week and what's hard is that they have a lot to study, but the exam is very short, so they have no idea what will be on it out of the 500 terms, for example, that they have to learn.
After the first 2-hour lecture, I took off to go look around the city and maybe stop at some museums. Lilit and I decided we would meet up at 1:30pm at Marienplatz. I left to go see some museums that Razmik recommended. First stopped at Glyptothek, which had many sculptures from 2000+ years ago. After that, I went to Alte Pinakothek, which has the oldest art out of 3 art museums, one being modern art. Both were interesting, but a lot of it I didn't appreciate as much as I should have.
Met up with Lilit and we went to a pizza place. It's funny because when we walked in, it reeked of smoke. I'm not used to people smoking in places anymore and I guess they are passing a law to ban smoking in most public places that will begin this January.
By coincidence, we ran into Lilit's good friend, Dave, who was eating there with a friend. It was neat that I got to meet some of her friends because I also get to learn more about Lilit. Next, we went hunting for Birkenstock stores, but were out of luck in finding the shoe she was looking for. Were planning to hit up a biergarten, but we were tired so we found San Francisco Coffee Shop. Coffee was really good! Headed home and another of Lilit's friends, Lara, came over and we hung out. She is also a great person and seems like a great friend to Lilit. Then....headed to bed! Last night in Munich!
After the first 2-hour lecture, I took off to go look around the city and maybe stop at some museums. Lilit and I decided we would meet up at 1:30pm at Marienplatz. I left to go see some museums that Razmik recommended. First stopped at Glyptothek, which had many sculptures from 2000+ years ago. After that, I went to Alte Pinakothek, which has the oldest art out of 3 art museums, one being modern art. Both were interesting, but a lot of it I didn't appreciate as much as I should have.
Met up with Lilit and we went to a pizza place. It's funny because when we walked in, it reeked of smoke. I'm not used to people smoking in places anymore and I guess they are passing a law to ban smoking in most public places that will begin this January.
By coincidence, we ran into Lilit's good friend, Dave, who was eating there with a friend. It was neat that I got to meet some of her friends because I also get to learn more about Lilit. Next, we went hunting for Birkenstock stores, but were out of luck in finding the shoe she was looking for. Were planning to hit up a biergarten, but we were tired so we found San Francisco Coffee Shop. Coffee was really good! Headed home and another of Lilit's friends, Lara, came over and we hung out. She is also a great person and seems like a great friend to Lilit. Then....headed to bed! Last night in Munich!
München: Thursday, November 15th, 2007
Lilit and I woke up around 11am to the sun shining and a few inches of snow on the ground and all over the trees. Was absolutely beautiful! Lilit was feeling a lot better and her fever had gone down. Also woke up to find that workers of the S-bahn and other main rail stations in Munich were on strike until Saturday and there was only one train per hour to get to the central area of Munich. Razmik told me that this is a very common thing, but it's frustrating because so many people rely on public transportation and when things like this happen, it screws up people's lives a bit.
Razmik and Zara made breakfast for us: toast with eggs and tomatoes, German frankfurters, and leftover salad from the night before. It's been a while since I have eaten such good meals and it was so nice of them! They went to work around 1pm and since Lilit was feeling sick, she didn't go to class. I eventually left the apartment around 4pm to catch the one train within the hour.
Went to Hauptbahnhof Central Station to find the tourist office to get some more information about stuff to do. Got lost for almost an hour trying to find the main pedestrian street, but eventually found it. On the hunt for Birkenstock's for my mom, I found a shoe store and bought 2 pairs of shoes for myself! Can never have too many!
Went home, ate some dinner along with 2 shots of gramole (some Italian liquor) and a bit of beer with Razmik and Zara, and Lilit studied. Later, Lilit and I chatted about lots of random stuff til 2am when we fell asleep.
It's so fun to be able to go to another country and even though you may not know some people very well, you sort of become dependent on them. It makes it so easy to open up and I especially notice with Lilit that we have become such great friends. We've only seen each other 3 times before (twice in the US and once when I came to Europe in '99), which is pretty amazing!
Razmik and Zara made breakfast for us: toast with eggs and tomatoes, German frankfurters, and leftover salad from the night before. It's been a while since I have eaten such good meals and it was so nice of them! They went to work around 1pm and since Lilit was feeling sick, she didn't go to class. I eventually left the apartment around 4pm to catch the one train within the hour.
Went to Hauptbahnhof Central Station to find the tourist office to get some more information about stuff to do. Got lost for almost an hour trying to find the main pedestrian street, but eventually found it. On the hunt for Birkenstock's for my mom, I found a shoe store and bought 2 pairs of shoes for myself! Can never have too many!
Went home, ate some dinner along with 2 shots of gramole (some Italian liquor) and a bit of beer with Razmik and Zara, and Lilit studied. Later, Lilit and I chatted about lots of random stuff til 2am when we fell asleep.
It's so fun to be able to go to another country and even though you may not know some people very well, you sort of become dependent on them. It makes it so easy to open up and I especially notice with Lilit that we have become such great friends. We've only seen each other 3 times before (twice in the US and once when I came to Europe in '99), which is pretty amazing!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
München: Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
After getting up 1 hour later, around 6, Lilit & I got ready to go to class. They live about an hour commute from her college and she had class at 8, so we had to leave pretty early as well. I spend the morning with her in one lecture on muscles, however, since it's all in German, I kind of just looked at the video of a real corpse and the muscles on it. Was interesting to see all 800+ students so interested in this stuff when it sort of grosses me out - at least the whole touching real muscles with bare hands. This class has 2 rooms, one with half of the students that sit in one hall with the professor and the other half are in another room where they watch a camera. We were in the room with the camera, so was very different that in any of my classes in Minnesota.
After that, I went to the library where Lilit could study for her Friday exam. The buildings on this "campus" are so beautiful and so old - all are around 100 years old or more. We went to eat lunch on campus and after that I went to another lecture of hers. I believe this one was also on muscles, but I can't quite remember because I was dozing off half of the time. I will put some pics up of the lecture hall because it was very different than any I have seen.
Directly after this one hour class, Lilit took me to her microscope class. About 100 students are in a room and all get a microscope to observe cells in their normal states, so they can understand how healthy cells should look like versus those with diseases. Was pretty interesting and it was actually something I already knew because they focused on the cell processes, which I learned in biology from previous years before.
Lilit attends Ludwig Maximilians Universität. Apparently it is compared to the standards at Harvard Medical school, so she must be at a very good school.
We headed to Starbucks to grab something to drink and Lilit then went home because she was feeling sick and I walked around the city. Munich is such a beautiful city and I don't think I mentioned before, but it was snowing all day and it made the city even more beautiful! The last time I was in Europe (and Munich) was in the summer, so it is an extremely different atmosphere, literally, as well as just the life on the streets.
Went shopping for a little while and then hopped on the S-bahn, hoping to not get lost and went back home. I ended up getting very lost when I got off the train because I wasn't quite sure where I needed to walk to get to her apartment. I eventually asked someone on the street because I had the street name and found my way. Got home and Lilit was in her pajamas in bed with a fever. Shortly thereafter, Zara and Razmik got home and they made a delicious dinner of salad, this vegetable salad thing, a very tasty thing called chatchapuri (very thin pastry layers with hamburger and spices, sort of like baklava if you've ever had that, but more of a meal, not a dessert) and red wine. Not very long after, I went to bed. Was so nice to finally sleep after very long 2 days!
After that, I went to the library where Lilit could study for her Friday exam. The buildings on this "campus" are so beautiful and so old - all are around 100 years old or more. We went to eat lunch on campus and after that I went to another lecture of hers. I believe this one was also on muscles, but I can't quite remember because I was dozing off half of the time. I will put some pics up of the lecture hall because it was very different than any I have seen.
Directly after this one hour class, Lilit took me to her microscope class. About 100 students are in a room and all get a microscope to observe cells in their normal states, so they can understand how healthy cells should look like versus those with diseases. Was pretty interesting and it was actually something I already knew because they focused on the cell processes, which I learned in biology from previous years before.
Lilit attends Ludwig Maximilians Universität. Apparently it is compared to the standards at Harvard Medical school, so she must be at a very good school.
We headed to Starbucks to grab something to drink and Lilit then went home because she was feeling sick and I walked around the city. Munich is such a beautiful city and I don't think I mentioned before, but it was snowing all day and it made the city even more beautiful! The last time I was in Europe (and Munich) was in the summer, so it is an extremely different atmosphere, literally, as well as just the life on the streets.
Went shopping for a little while and then hopped on the S-bahn, hoping to not get lost and went back home. I ended up getting very lost when I got off the train because I wasn't quite sure where I needed to walk to get to her apartment. I eventually asked someone on the street because I had the street name and found my way. Got home and Lilit was in her pajamas in bed with a fever. Shortly thereafter, Zara and Razmik got home and they made a delicious dinner of salad, this vegetable salad thing, a very tasty thing called chatchapuri (very thin pastry layers with hamburger and spices, sort of like baklava if you've ever had that, but more of a meal, not a dessert) and red wine. Not very long after, I went to bed. Was so nice to finally sleep after very long 2 days!
Göteborg - München: Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
I'm going to go about this as I did Norway - I will be entering in daily entries because I took notes as I went through the trip so I could give you as many entertaining details as possible! Here goes....have fun reading!
Oh my goodness! After close to 24 hours on a train, I finally arrived in Munich around 4:30am on Wednesday morning. Quite a long and sad story and I can explain the general part, hopefully without too many details.
I had been speaking with Lilit via e-mail for a few weeks and I finally figured out some dates when I could visit her. (Lilit is a very good family friend that I have met a few times before - currently she is 19. Her mom is cousins with my Aunt Nonna, all from Armenia.) I went to the central station in Göteborg about a week before to get my tickets for the trains. I decided to travel train not only for the cheaper price, but because I had 2 Eurail Passes that would go towards the trip. That means that I didn't necessarily have to buy reservations unless it were necessary because the Rail Pass operates as a ticket.
I got seat reservations for all but one train from Hamburg to Munich because, according to the computers in Sweden, it was full. I didn't need a reservation for this train and it could be possible to check in Copenhagen to see if any seats opened up, otherwise I could wing it and hope there would be a seat.
After leaving at 6:25am Tuesday for Copenhagen, we arrived around 10:30am. Went straight to the ticket office and they told me I HAD to have a reservation because "it is an express train and goes fast, so I need a reservation" and it was still full. After hearing that news, I started panicking. I had a 6-hour ride ahead of me and all I could think was that I would be in Hamburg for the night. Got to Hamburg after a few catnaps here and there. I now had 30 minutes to find the ticket counter for DB and hopefully get on the right train. Hoping they still had seats available, I spoke with a lady and she said that I didn't need a reservation. Most trains in Germany don't need reservations. I was so frustrated and flustered and with less than 15 minutes to get on the train, I practically ran. Saw a train was still there, so I jumped on. Pretty lame of me at this point because it took me about 6 hours to figure out I was on the wrong train and I was still in central Germany.
After speaking with a worker on the train (and after finding out Lilit was at the train station and I quote "Laura, your train is here, where are you?") he helped me figure out another route to Munich that began at the following stop of the train I was on. I would arrive at München Ost (the eastern side of Munich) around 4:30am. Lilit sent me her address and after sleeping for a couple of hours, got a taxi and arrived at her apartment. Zara heard me after a few tries at ringing the doorbell and she was very kind, especially for me arriving so late/so early in the morning! Went to sleep around 5am to wake up at 6am to go to class with Lilit. One helluva first day I must say!
Oh my goodness! After close to 24 hours on a train, I finally arrived in Munich around 4:30am on Wednesday morning. Quite a long and sad story and I can explain the general part, hopefully without too many details.
I had been speaking with Lilit via e-mail for a few weeks and I finally figured out some dates when I could visit her. (Lilit is a very good family friend that I have met a few times before - currently she is 19. Her mom is cousins with my Aunt Nonna, all from Armenia.) I went to the central station in Göteborg about a week before to get my tickets for the trains. I decided to travel train not only for the cheaper price, but because I had 2 Eurail Passes that would go towards the trip. That means that I didn't necessarily have to buy reservations unless it were necessary because the Rail Pass operates as a ticket.
I got seat reservations for all but one train from Hamburg to Munich because, according to the computers in Sweden, it was full. I didn't need a reservation for this train and it could be possible to check in Copenhagen to see if any seats opened up, otherwise I could wing it and hope there would be a seat.
After leaving at 6:25am Tuesday for Copenhagen, we arrived around 10:30am. Went straight to the ticket office and they told me I HAD to have a reservation because "it is an express train and goes fast, so I need a reservation" and it was still full. After hearing that news, I started panicking. I had a 6-hour ride ahead of me and all I could think was that I would be in Hamburg for the night. Got to Hamburg after a few catnaps here and there. I now had 30 minutes to find the ticket counter for DB and hopefully get on the right train. Hoping they still had seats available, I spoke with a lady and she said that I didn't need a reservation. Most trains in Germany don't need reservations. I was so frustrated and flustered and with less than 15 minutes to get on the train, I practically ran. Saw a train was still there, so I jumped on. Pretty lame of me at this point because it took me about 6 hours to figure out I was on the wrong train and I was still in central Germany.
After speaking with a worker on the train (and after finding out Lilit was at the train station and I quote "Laura, your train is here, where are you?") he helped me figure out another route to Munich that began at the following stop of the train I was on. I would arrive at München Ost (the eastern side of Munich) around 4:30am. Lilit sent me her address and after sleeping for a couple of hours, got a taxi and arrived at her apartment. Zara heard me after a few tries at ringing the doorbell and she was very kind, especially for me arriving so late/so early in the morning! Went to sleep around 5am to wake up at 6am to go to class with Lilit. One helluva first day I must say!
Friday, November 9, 2007
I've had a very fun week. Not a lot to do with school, but outside of class, we've done quite a few activities. On Sunday we went to Eugenia's apartment and she cooked my whole apartment lunch! Was delicious and some Italian dishes mixed in too! After that we had a little expedition to find a go-kart track somewhere north of the main city. Nine of us including my whole flat, Casey, Ketchup, Juan, Eugenia, and Juan's friend from Spain who was visiting. We eventually found it and the place has an indoor and outdoor track but we got there too late, so we raced indoors. Was a lot of fun! I've never been on go-karts that go so fast, and we had to wear a little racecar suit and helmet and gloves. Juan beat us all in the amount of time it took us to make one lap, but whatever. It was fun!
For the rest of the few days, I had class. We are starting the two main projects in both of my classes, so I'm sure I will start to get really busy. My Construction Contract Relationship class has a project where we have to interview a large business, ours being NCC, and how they create their contracts and what they include in it to hopefully avoid any complications during the construction process. Sort of confusing, but I'm figuring it out. The only real reason I'm taking this class is so I can spend more time with Belma and Janne since I only have one month left!
My other class, Vehicle Ergonomics, has a huge project where we have to analyze the inside of a vehicle for it's ergonomics and if it would need any improvements, etc. One of my group-mates has a friend that has a car, so we used his. Much easier than trying to rent one, and since none of my group mates have a license, I would have to try and figure out how to drive it! On the streets of Gothenburg...doesn't sound like fun to me! We analyzed the car Wednesday night, took a few pics, and asked the driver many questions. Seems kind of cheesey, but I find it rather interesting!
After meeting with my group Wednesday, Juan, Casey, Ketchup, Brennan, Nik, Juan's friend, and I found an ice rink right near our place! Frolunda is good for something I guess! Was so much fun! Just 50kr to rent skates and could skate for 2 hours. Had a huge track and wasn't that good of condition, but it worked. Juan had never skated before, so it was funny watching him and trying to teach him how to skate; he's never rollerskated before either, so there was no trying to explain the difference in that. Had a couple falls, not me, but the others. I think we'll be going back soon, especially since it's so COLD out and the ice will stay pretty frozen.
Well....that's about it for the last week. I'll try to get some pics up of the last few events. Oh..I have a trip planned to Munich, Germany and I leave Tuesday November 13th and I come back on Sunday November 18th. Should be lots of fun! I'm going to meet family friends that live there, so I will have a place to stay, which is really convenient! I also might be going to Barcelona, Spain within the next couple weeks or Helsinki, Finland. Not quite sure which one yet, but I'll let all of you know as soon as I know! I'm trying to make the best of this last month, especially since this whole semester went so fast!
All for now....
For the rest of the few days, I had class. We are starting the two main projects in both of my classes, so I'm sure I will start to get really busy. My Construction Contract Relationship class has a project where we have to interview a large business, ours being NCC, and how they create their contracts and what they include in it to hopefully avoid any complications during the construction process. Sort of confusing, but I'm figuring it out. The only real reason I'm taking this class is so I can spend more time with Belma and Janne since I only have one month left!
My other class, Vehicle Ergonomics, has a huge project where we have to analyze the inside of a vehicle for it's ergonomics and if it would need any improvements, etc. One of my group-mates has a friend that has a car, so we used his. Much easier than trying to rent one, and since none of my group mates have a license, I would have to try and figure out how to drive it! On the streets of Gothenburg...doesn't sound like fun to me! We analyzed the car Wednesday night, took a few pics, and asked the driver many questions. Seems kind of cheesey, but I find it rather interesting!
After meeting with my group Wednesday, Juan, Casey, Ketchup, Brennan, Nik, Juan's friend, and I found an ice rink right near our place! Frolunda is good for something I guess! Was so much fun! Just 50kr to rent skates and could skate for 2 hours. Had a huge track and wasn't that good of condition, but it worked. Juan had never skated before, so it was funny watching him and trying to teach him how to skate; he's never rollerskated before either, so there was no trying to explain the difference in that. Had a couple falls, not me, but the others. I think we'll be going back soon, especially since it's so COLD out and the ice will stay pretty frozen.
Well....that's about it for the last week. I'll try to get some pics up of the last few events. Oh..I have a trip planned to Munich, Germany and I leave Tuesday November 13th and I come back on Sunday November 18th. Should be lots of fun! I'm going to meet family friends that live there, so I will have a place to stay, which is really convenient! I also might be going to Barcelona, Spain within the next couple weeks or Helsinki, Finland. Not quite sure which one yet, but I'll let all of you know as soon as I know! I'm trying to make the best of this last month, especially since this whole semester went so fast!
All for now....
Saturday, November 3, 2007
21
I want to start off saying that I had a fantastic birthday! Thank you to those that called me (or tried to since I was horrible at answering my phone) and it was great to hear all of your voices and to talk with you! Also, thank you so much for all of the cards! It's always fun to receive things in the mail and it was definitely a nice surprise to have received so many!
I also want to thank my amazing friends here that made my 21st so special for me! No 21 shots, but it was nice to have the Americans to know what 21 really means! I won't go into details of the night, but do want to say I learned how to tie a tie! That was pretty neat, and the boys even approved it!
Thanks all so much! Miss you lots and I hope all is well!
I also want to thank my amazing friends here that made my 21st so special for me! No 21 shots, but it was nice to have the Americans to know what 21 really means! I won't go into details of the night, but do want to say I learned how to tie a tie! That was pretty neat, and the boys even approved it!
Thanks all so much! Miss you lots and I hope all is well!
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