i'm getting tired of titling these posts already. Oh well. Sorry if they get kind of uncreative.
So yesterday we had class and then afterwards I came back to the dorm. I wanted to go shopping in an effort to find warmer things to wear, since it has been much colder here than I was expecting, but no one seemed to want to go with me so I decided to use the time to venture out on my own. Really, I didn't end up going very far, but it was enjoyable to walk around and explore a little by myself, without worrying about getting to know the people around me or feeling the need to socialize and make small talk. I could really just enjoy the city and look around me, and take my time. I ended up finding a white sweater at a relatively cheap store and a scarf at Oxfam, a thrift shop here. Not a jacket, but layering is helpful, and they kept me warm this evening. I also stopped at the store to get some frozen veggies and lunch meat.
After making myself some dinner (eggs and vegetables), I called my friend Tim, who goes to U of M but is in London visiting his brother for a month, and he came over. I met him at the tube station (after some confusion, because apparently King's Cross/ St. Pancras station is tremendous) and he came back here where we went with some people to a pub, and I had my first pint of Guiness. It was an enjoyable and quiet evening and we came back early and put Tim in a cab to go home since the tube closes at midnight. I came back and attempted to read some of my homework, and somewhat succeeded before falling asleep.
Today, I woke up kind of late and read more of my book before getting up to make breakfast and plan my day. My friend Eszter from Michigan is here visiting me, and she was supposed to get into Victoria Station in Westminster around 2pm but did not make the first bus. This was actually not a bad development since I had planned on walking all the way there (about an hour and a half from my dorm) and sightseeing along the way, but it started pouring around noon when I had planned to leave, and there was no one at the front desk to help me find linens for Eszter. So I waited to get linens and then started out. It took over an hour to walk to Victoria station, but on the way I saw lottts of things. I saw Leister Square, and Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace, and St. James' Park, taking touristy pictures the whole way. It took me awhile to find Eszter at Victoria Station (which is a tremendous train, tube, bus, and coach station) but when I did we got her some food and I ate the lunch I brought with me, and we planned the rest of our day. From there we went to Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey (which was closed since it was after 3:45pm...weird) and to Parliament and Big Ben and the Thames. We wandered around for quite awhile, taking pictures and just enjoying the sights.
After seeing a good deal of Westminster, we headed back toward Buckingham Palace and asked someone when the changing of the guards is so we could plan on seeing it the next day (it's at 11:30). We took more pictures, and then walked back to Trafalgar Square to the tube station to get back to my dorm, since it was almost 6pm. We braved the tube during rush hour, and got back safe and sound. We made dinner and then wandered around this area afterwards, stopping with some of my friends at a pub, once again, to talk and relax for the evening. And now we are back here, and Eszter is sleeping so I should probably take a shower. Tomorrow we plan on getting up early to see Westminster Abbey (the inside) and the changing of the guard, before doing some more touristy things and meeting up with another TBS (Tau Beta Sigma, my band service sorority) sister who is also in London.
I suppose I should also address briefly the news situation here...there have been a couple of car bombs found around the busier parts of the city today. Everyone on the program is, understandably, a little bit nervous about the upcoming second anniversery of the 7-7-05 tube bomings in London, and this does not help much. However, both bombs were successfully diffused, and it seems like people are being very diligent about looking at their surroundings carefully and reporting anything suspicious. The area I am living in is not very busy or touristy, and therefore not really a target area at all. Eszter and I plan on being very careful with where we go tomorrow, and will concentrate mainly on places with high security or not too many crowds. And now I should go so we can get up to go to those places tomorrow. Hope everyone is well, as always.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Tower of London etc.
I started with pictures because I'm not sure how to put them at the end. They are all from Munich and are, in order: me and Mel being silly; a church (i have no idea which one); the bones of the patron saint of single women; a building in the main touristy square of Marienplatz (I hope that is correct); a picture of Olympic park in Munich; me with beer (don't worry, one was Mel's); and the summer palace.
So I have actually quite a bit of schoolwork to do (apparently I am taking classes, not just hanging around exploring London), so this will have to be short. In fact, I think that I'll make a list of notable things that have happened in the past few days, with only small bits of elaboration where necessary/interesting/convenient. I hope no one objects.
Tuesday
1. Wow, I really can't remember what I did yesterday. That is not a good start.
2. Oh yes, I went to class. English lit was very good, although the short stories we read were a bit disturbing. I really like this professor a lot, he seems to be very helpful and really excited to make us love London as much as he does. He also said "Not everything is always Prozac and rainbows and unicorns" which I thought was fabulous. What a quotable phrase. For this class we are all doing presentations on different literary locations in London, so I chose Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum, mainly because our professor said it would involve a lot of research into why it is a Victorian creation and how it has changed, so in an effort to keep up some facade of working on my thesis while I'm here, I decided it was for me. However, I think it is incredibly expensive to go so I'm hoping there is a student discount so I can actually see what I'm talking about.
The other professor, for our "British Cultures since 1945" class, seems very interesting but a bit scattered. She has reccomended lots of books for us to read without really thinking about how we will obtain so many when the exchange rate is so bad for us, and there are only a couple of copies of each one in the library we are using. I'm sure tomorrow will be more organized. At least I hope so. But she does seem like she has a lot of valuable information andinteresting opinions. For my presentation for this class I'm working with 6 people on the year 1963 in Great Britain, so that should be interesting. Yay Beatles!
3. After class I bought an Oyster pass for the tube, which is a discount card that I can use, but does not give me unlimited rides so it will still help me stick to my promise to myself to walk anywhere I have the time to. We'll see how well it works.
4. Yesterday night we saw our first play for our British Drama class, called "Rafta, Rafta", at the National Theater (which is subsidized by taxpayers' money...much better support for the arts here. At least for drama). It was a comedy about two Indian families whose children get married but are unable to consummate said marriage because of the awkwardness that comes from living in his parents' hosue. I really enjoyed it. Before the play, I went out with some girls to dinner at a pub-like place near the theater. I had a brie and cranberry sandwhich that was slightly disappointing because they forgot the cranberry sauce (which I did ask for) and didn't toast the bread, which was not fabulous to start with. Still, it's hard to go wrong with brie and bread.
5. The internet in my room finally started working. I am now finally reconnected.
Wednesday (Today)
1. We toured the Tower of London this morning at 10am, bright and early. Even though I have been there before, it was incredible to listen to our guide tell us about all of the crazy history that happened there. And it is so old! The White Tower, which was the first part of it to be built, was put up in the 11th century (I believe) by William the Conqueror. We also saw the crown jewels and a big armory collection, both of which were interesting but still didn't compare to hearing about all of the rulers battling it out and murdering their cousins, brothers, nephews, etc, all in very gruesome ways (although a lot of them are not necessarily confirmed stories). Still, a wonderful experience.
2. I walked with one of the girls on the trip all the way back to the Senate Library at University College of London, about an hour's walk in all. Everyone else took the tube and we were very proud of ourselves for navigating the city and braving the walk. It was really enjoyable, and we went straight through "The City," which is the part of London which used to be walled, and has always been the center of financial life. Needless to say, we looked a bit out of place in jeans (it is still quite cold) and sweatshirts but it was worth it.
3. Library orientation. Very boring. It was in the Senate House Library, which is mainly notable for being the building that George Orwell hated so much that he made it the model for the evil "Ministry of Truth" in "1984".
4. Dinner (delicious thai chicken soup from the supermarket) and Play #2, "The Pain and the Itch." We barely made it to the play on time because we had to wait for the tube for about 12 minutes, which is highly unusual here, but luckily the theater was right next door to the station. I enjoyed the play very much, and it was especially interesting because it is an American play done by British actors, some with better American accents than others. A lot of people on my trip did not like it at all. I thought it was over the top and hard to follow at times (unecessarily so) but overall funny and thought-provoking. It's hard to even summarize it...it's about a Thanksgiving dinner where lots of bizarre things happen and end up in someone dying and lots of family secrets being revealed. Also interesting is the fact that the lead actor was the same person who played Mr. Darcy in the newest version of Pride and Prejudice, with Keira Knightly. He is a bit heavier and balder now, and I couldn't figure out why he looked so familiar until someone pointed it out to me. Still, the second famous person I have seen in London, on week one (although not nearly as random as Ricky Gervais).
5. I can't stop eating the delicious German dark chocolate that Melanie sent with me. It is an addiction, but one I won't be able to feed after I finish the chocolate bar. Sad.
OK so this wasn't really a short entry. There's just so much to talk about! We'll see how much of Conrad's "The Secret Agent" I can get through before falling asleep. Goodnight all!
Monday, June 25, 2007
End of Munich, Beginning of London!
Sorry it has been so very long since I last posted. I truly apologize for not keeping my promise to post every day, but various circumstances have occurred to prevent my ability to do so. So let's see where I left off...
Friday in Munich
I belive it was Friday. After staying up very late (or rather, so early the birds were chirping) the night before chatting, Melanie and I woke up at 1pm, completely by accident because we forgot to set an alarm. A little upset at missing the entire morning, but at least fully rested, we ate some breakfast and went to her friend's house to play a game of makeshift taboo. Then we went to Marktauf (probably didn't spell that right...the supermarket) to buy sausages to grill later in the day. Then Mel and I went back to have a snack (mango, "mountain cheese", and crackers and chocolate) and went for a very long walk in the beautiful and extensive Englischer gardens. It was a bit rainy so we saw lots and lots of snails, more than we have ever seen in one place before, and a few duckies (although I'm sure they're there when the sun is out as well). The Englischer Gardens were built around the time of the French Revolution (I am not so good with dates) for the "common people" because the monarchy wanted to pacify them and avoid similar riots in Germany. At least I think that's what my fabbbbulous tour guide told me. They are so big and gorgeous, I was very impressed. It hardly feels like you are in a city at all!
After our excersize we treated ourselves to sausages, weisswurst (veal sausage) and Nurenburger sausages (little spicy pork sausages)...again apologies for name butchering. Melanie, feel free to correct. We fried them in a pan (with beer, of course) instead of grilling them because it was raining so the bbq was cancelled. Oh! Also, walking into the kitchen of Melanie's dorm, I nearly ran into somebody I know from Michigan who is studying there for the summer! How bizzare. Later we went to Melanie's friend's 21st birthday party, which was enjoyable despite some drama that Mel had with her friends. All in all it was an interesting night, and I got to know some of Mel's friends a bit better, which was fun. I was also mistaken for Jewish by a boy on Mel's program who was more than a bit tipsy at the time and thought my flower necklace looked like a star of David (understandable) and proceeded to ask if I felt awkward in Germany, and then to apologize for five minutes for thinking I was Jewish, which was very awkward. However, it really is not his fault because I was also mistaken for Jewish today (Monday) by the two Jewish girls I was with, and I didn't even have on my necklace. I had no idea I looked so Jewish! Maybe it is the fact that I am from NJ as well. We also went to "Club 20 1/2" which is basically the basement of one of the dorms, with music, a pool table, and a couple of "kicker" or fooseball, tables. It was really just a finished basement, but again, fun.
Saturday in Munich
The next day we woke up at the more reasonable hour of 11:30am (remember, I was still jetlagged, so it was acceptable to sleep lots). We ate some breakfast and headed off for the day. Our first stop was the summer palace, which again had extensive gardens, although this time with more formal parts as well as similar areas of "wild" like in the Englischer Gardens". The more formal parts had flowers and statues and fountains, and there were fake ruins scattered throughout the more "wild" parts. We walked around for a very long time, talking and catching up on life (after almost a year there is a heck of a lot of that to do!)
When we left the palace, we got some ice cream (latte macchiato for me) and went to meet some of Mel's friends for dinner at a schnitzel place that they like. Schnitzel is pounded meat (we think this was pork) that is battered and fried with lemon squeezed on top, with a side of potatoes and a salad. Melanie and I split one, along with a Radler, which is a drink that is half beer half lemonade. Both were delicious! By now we were very full and walked around for a bit before taking the U-Bahn to the Olympic Park, where the 1980 Olympics were held. It is basically a big park (again) with stadiums, a tower built for seemingly no purpose at all, a random aquarium, and the BMW museum. It also boasts the only hill in Munich, which is made from WWII debris that was mounded up and covered with grass and dirt. There was a great view from the top of Munich, and apparently on clear days you can see the Alps very well, but we could only see the outlines. Still, they look impressive even from far away, and I am sad I'll have to miss them on this trip!
After walking around Olympic Park (which has a German name I can't spell or remember, of course), we finally headed back to the dorm for the night. We hung out with some of Mel's friends again and talked more ourselves, of course, before I got everything together for my trip to London.
Sunday: From Munich to London
Saturday we woke up around 8am to get to the bus stop by 9am so I could head off toward the airport. Melanie very kindly fed me and sent me off with all of the Milka chocolate bars she had in her possession at that time. Delicious. She also paid for my S-bahn ticket so I wouldn't have to withdraw more Euros, but I did pay her back in American dollars, so hopefully she won't lose them before getting back to the US! Thank you Melanie for being such a fabulous hostess, I miss you already!! Old friends are so very rare and special :-D I love you all.
Ok enough sappiness, back to this incredibly long entry which I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads in its entirety. I got to the airport without a hitch and checking in took about 5 minutes, which was nice. The flight was easy, and although I had not been feeling well earlier that morning, I felt fine halfway through and was able to relax and read a book for class here. I found my bag at Heathrow (although it took awhile to come out...I think the ribbon must have gotten stuck on something because it was shredded along with my nametag when I finally did get it) and went to find the tube, after procuring some food. Well, I had my first adventure feeling stupid in London, because when I got to the place to purchase tube tickets I could not figure out what to buy. You would think there would be one nice person able to tell me what to do, but insteawd there were about 10 people waiting in line behind me, impatiently I'm sure. Someone was very kind and helped me purchase what I needed, and also to get on the correct train. It was about a 45 minute ride or so into London, and I clutched my bags the entire time on the crowed tube. It was very nice to see the countryside, however, and get a feel for where I was. I got off at Kings' Cross and another nice man helped me lug my suitcase up the stairs because there was no escalator or lift. I found my dorm without too much trouble and here I am! Voila.
Last night we had orientation and dinner (sandwhiches from Pret de Manger, which is apparently one of the best sandwhich places in the city) and I talked to some people, unpacked, journaled, etc. I went to bed around 11:30pm or so, and it took me awhile to fall asleep but overall my room is quite comfortable...but more about that in a shorter, later entry.
Monday: First day in London
This morning we left as a group for class at 10:15am. Our first class was drama with Professor Benedict Nightengale (what a wonderfully English name!) who is a critic for the London Times, and actually got a call from them during our class. Apart from discussing general differences between British and American theater, he gave us reccomendations for other shows in London that we are not seeing as a group, including a musical version of Lord of the Rings that condenses the trilogy into one, and he seemed unsure of, despite the fact that his son is in charge of the music. I'm not sure I could deal with a singing Frodo, although he said it is more like background movie music. Still.
At break a couple of us had lunch at a pub, and I had "sticky lemon chicken" with chips and a "salad", basically some onions cucumbers and tomatoes. It was pretty tasty. After break we had our English lit class, where we talked about London's history and went on a mini field trip to see the bones of Jeremy Benthem in University College of London (UCL) which are dressed up and sitting in the foyer, by the request of his will. Odd.
After class a group of us went to various shops downtown to get books, notebooks, electronics, etc. I got most of what I needed (except a cell phone sim card, which I will do tomorrow) and got a better idea of how this part of the city is set up. It rained for most of the day, but as we were getting back to our dorm it cleared up. OH! I realized I have a very exciting story. While walking in the rain to find the bookstore earlier in the day, we saw Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office, walking around. We were too shocked and shy to go up to him but were sad that we didn't. Later, however, when three of us were walking back, just as the sky was clearing, we saw him AGAIN! This time, one of us yelled "Ricky!" and caught up to him, telling him we were such big fans and asking for a picture with him. He was really sweaty and looked like he had been excersizing and had an ipod on, but was soooooo incredibly nice and normal. So I'll post the picture when I have it.
The last order of business tonight was to go to an internet cafe and then to the supermarket, where I got plenty of groceries for a week or two for only 16£. Not bad, although I think I overcooked my chicken bacon raviolli tonight so it wasn't as tasty as I'd hoped. But then it was very cheap too, so who knows. I'll experiment a bit.
And now I'm using the internet account of a girl on my floor who has access to the computer labs instead of a laptop. We are supposed to have internet tomorrow but we were also supposed to have it today so who really knows. Hope everyone is doing well, congrats to anyone who got through this monster post!! Miss you all.
Friday in Munich
I belive it was Friday. After staying up very late (or rather, so early the birds were chirping) the night before chatting, Melanie and I woke up at 1pm, completely by accident because we forgot to set an alarm. A little upset at missing the entire morning, but at least fully rested, we ate some breakfast and went to her friend's house to play a game of makeshift taboo. Then we went to Marktauf (probably didn't spell that right...the supermarket) to buy sausages to grill later in the day. Then Mel and I went back to have a snack (mango, "mountain cheese", and crackers and chocolate) and went for a very long walk in the beautiful and extensive Englischer gardens. It was a bit rainy so we saw lots and lots of snails, more than we have ever seen in one place before, and a few duckies (although I'm sure they're there when the sun is out as well). The Englischer Gardens were built around the time of the French Revolution (I am not so good with dates) for the "common people" because the monarchy wanted to pacify them and avoid similar riots in Germany. At least I think that's what my fabbbbulous tour guide told me. They are so big and gorgeous, I was very impressed. It hardly feels like you are in a city at all!
After our excersize we treated ourselves to sausages, weisswurst (veal sausage) and Nurenburger sausages (little spicy pork sausages)...again apologies for name butchering. Melanie, feel free to correct. We fried them in a pan (with beer, of course) instead of grilling them because it was raining so the bbq was cancelled. Oh! Also, walking into the kitchen of Melanie's dorm, I nearly ran into somebody I know from Michigan who is studying there for the summer! How bizzare. Later we went to Melanie's friend's 21st birthday party, which was enjoyable despite some drama that Mel had with her friends. All in all it was an interesting night, and I got to know some of Mel's friends a bit better, which was fun. I was also mistaken for Jewish by a boy on Mel's program who was more than a bit tipsy at the time and thought my flower necklace looked like a star of David (understandable) and proceeded to ask if I felt awkward in Germany, and then to apologize for five minutes for thinking I was Jewish, which was very awkward. However, it really is not his fault because I was also mistaken for Jewish today (Monday) by the two Jewish girls I was with, and I didn't even have on my necklace. I had no idea I looked so Jewish! Maybe it is the fact that I am from NJ as well. We also went to "Club 20 1/2" which is basically the basement of one of the dorms, with music, a pool table, and a couple of "kicker" or fooseball, tables. It was really just a finished basement, but again, fun.
Saturday in Munich
The next day we woke up at the more reasonable hour of 11:30am (remember, I was still jetlagged, so it was acceptable to sleep lots). We ate some breakfast and headed off for the day. Our first stop was the summer palace, which again had extensive gardens, although this time with more formal parts as well as similar areas of "wild" like in the Englischer Gardens". The more formal parts had flowers and statues and fountains, and there were fake ruins scattered throughout the more "wild" parts. We walked around for a very long time, talking and catching up on life (after almost a year there is a heck of a lot of that to do!)
When we left the palace, we got some ice cream (latte macchiato for me) and went to meet some of Mel's friends for dinner at a schnitzel place that they like. Schnitzel is pounded meat (we think this was pork) that is battered and fried with lemon squeezed on top, with a side of potatoes and a salad. Melanie and I split one, along with a Radler, which is a drink that is half beer half lemonade. Both were delicious! By now we were very full and walked around for a bit before taking the U-Bahn to the Olympic Park, where the 1980 Olympics were held. It is basically a big park (again) with stadiums, a tower built for seemingly no purpose at all, a random aquarium, and the BMW museum. It also boasts the only hill in Munich, which is made from WWII debris that was mounded up and covered with grass and dirt. There was a great view from the top of Munich, and apparently on clear days you can see the Alps very well, but we could only see the outlines. Still, they look impressive even from far away, and I am sad I'll have to miss them on this trip!
After walking around Olympic Park (which has a German name I can't spell or remember, of course), we finally headed back to the dorm for the night. We hung out with some of Mel's friends again and talked more ourselves, of course, before I got everything together for my trip to London.
Sunday: From Munich to London
Saturday we woke up around 8am to get to the bus stop by 9am so I could head off toward the airport. Melanie very kindly fed me and sent me off with all of the Milka chocolate bars she had in her possession at that time. Delicious. She also paid for my S-bahn ticket so I wouldn't have to withdraw more Euros, but I did pay her back in American dollars, so hopefully she won't lose them before getting back to the US! Thank you Melanie for being such a fabulous hostess, I miss you already!! Old friends are so very rare and special :-D I love you all.
Ok enough sappiness, back to this incredibly long entry which I'll be surprised if anyone actually reads in its entirety. I got to the airport without a hitch and checking in took about 5 minutes, which was nice. The flight was easy, and although I had not been feeling well earlier that morning, I felt fine halfway through and was able to relax and read a book for class here. I found my bag at Heathrow (although it took awhile to come out...I think the ribbon must have gotten stuck on something because it was shredded along with my nametag when I finally did get it) and went to find the tube, after procuring some food. Well, I had my first adventure feeling stupid in London, because when I got to the place to purchase tube tickets I could not figure out what to buy. You would think there would be one nice person able to tell me what to do, but insteawd there were about 10 people waiting in line behind me, impatiently I'm sure. Someone was very kind and helped me purchase what I needed, and also to get on the correct train. It was about a 45 minute ride or so into London, and I clutched my bags the entire time on the crowed tube. It was very nice to see the countryside, however, and get a feel for where I was. I got off at Kings' Cross and another nice man helped me lug my suitcase up the stairs because there was no escalator or lift. I found my dorm without too much trouble and here I am! Voila.
Last night we had orientation and dinner (sandwhiches from Pret de Manger, which is apparently one of the best sandwhich places in the city) and I talked to some people, unpacked, journaled, etc. I went to bed around 11:30pm or so, and it took me awhile to fall asleep but overall my room is quite comfortable...but more about that in a shorter, later entry.
Monday: First day in London
This morning we left as a group for class at 10:15am. Our first class was drama with Professor Benedict Nightengale (what a wonderfully English name!) who is a critic for the London Times, and actually got a call from them during our class. Apart from discussing general differences between British and American theater, he gave us reccomendations for other shows in London that we are not seeing as a group, including a musical version of Lord of the Rings that condenses the trilogy into one, and he seemed unsure of, despite the fact that his son is in charge of the music. I'm not sure I could deal with a singing Frodo, although he said it is more like background movie music. Still.
At break a couple of us had lunch at a pub, and I had "sticky lemon chicken" with chips and a "salad", basically some onions cucumbers and tomatoes. It was pretty tasty. After break we had our English lit class, where we talked about London's history and went on a mini field trip to see the bones of Jeremy Benthem in University College of London (UCL) which are dressed up and sitting in the foyer, by the request of his will. Odd.
After class a group of us went to various shops downtown to get books, notebooks, electronics, etc. I got most of what I needed (except a cell phone sim card, which I will do tomorrow) and got a better idea of how this part of the city is set up. It rained for most of the day, but as we were getting back to our dorm it cleared up. OH! I realized I have a very exciting story. While walking in the rain to find the bookstore earlier in the day, we saw Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office, walking around. We were too shocked and shy to go up to him but were sad that we didn't. Later, however, when three of us were walking back, just as the sky was clearing, we saw him AGAIN! This time, one of us yelled "Ricky!" and caught up to him, telling him we were such big fans and asking for a picture with him. He was really sweaty and looked like he had been excersizing and had an ipod on, but was soooooo incredibly nice and normal. So I'll post the picture when I have it.
The last order of business tonight was to go to an internet cafe and then to the supermarket, where I got plenty of groceries for a week or two for only 16£. Not bad, although I think I overcooked my chicken bacon raviolli tonight so it wasn't as tasty as I'd hoped. But then it was very cheap too, so who knows. I'll experiment a bit.
And now I'm using the internet account of a girl on my floor who has access to the computer labs instead of a laptop. We are supposed to have internet tomorrow but we were also supposed to have it today so who really knows. Hope everyone is doing well, congrats to anyone who got through this monster post!! Miss you all.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Beer and pretzels
Since I have a little bit of time before going to a bbq for Melanie's friend Kendra's 21st birthday party, I will try to update this and appease the masses (aka Sarah and Peter).
So I think I left off last time before talking about yesterday, my first full day in Munich (Thursday). We ended up sleeping until around 11:30, since I was quite exhausted from my trip the day before. We woke up and had museli (with chocolate...yum) and yogurt for breakfast before heading out into Munich again to finish the churches and gardens tour. After taking the U-bahn into the downtown area (I'm probably wrong about this, but the more city part of the city, I guess), we stopped at a discount bakery and bought a pretzel, a pretzel roll, a chocolate croissant, and a pastry with something called johannesbeer (some sort of berry that Mel is not sure has an English translation), the latter which we ate right away, and saved the rest for later. We wandered around for a bit stopping at the last three churches on her "tour" and shopping, mostly at H&M, where we found some fabulous bargains as usual, mostly involving fun colored eyeshadow on sale for one Euro. The churches are all gorgeous, and I will post pictures later (either on facebook or a pictures site...and some here, but not until I get to London and have my own computer). In two of the three...or maybe all three, I forget exactly...there were people playing the organs in preparation for a bunch of organ concerts which apparently were taking place today. They sounded wonderful, of course, and I thought of Alec, because I'm sure they sounded much better than the Wurlitzer that is still in our garage. In one of the churches the bones of the patron saint of single women were on display, all jeweled and dressed in a little box. It was very strange, but interesting.
After going to the big outdoor market in the city (I'm forgetting the name and Melanie is in the bathroom so hopefully I'll remember to write it down later) and purchasing some honey wine to try later, we headed off for the beer garden in the middle of the Englischer gardens in the city (which I also don't remember the name of, but it's something about a Chinese Tower, in German). We had beer (helles, or light beer) and ate our pretzel and pretzel roll and chatted for a long time, since the weather was close to perfect under the trees.
We came back to StuSta (the dorm area) around 7pm and checked e-mail, etc until Mel's friend Jessica made us a tasty dinner of pork roast and potatoes a little later. We basically hung out for the rest of the night talking with various people, and I got to try Melanie's favorite German beer, Augustiner helles. It was a nice night but we stayed up very very very late (because of my jetlag and Melanie's sleeping habits) and got up around 1pm today...woops. Tomorrow we'll set an alarm.
Anyway, I'll do today tomorrow I suppose, since we're off to the bbq (can you tell I've been eating a lot, and well, here?) Hope everyone is well!
So I think I left off last time before talking about yesterday, my first full day in Munich (Thursday). We ended up sleeping until around 11:30, since I was quite exhausted from my trip the day before. We woke up and had museli (with chocolate...yum) and yogurt for breakfast before heading out into Munich again to finish the churches and gardens tour. After taking the U-bahn into the downtown area (I'm probably wrong about this, but the more city part of the city, I guess), we stopped at a discount bakery and bought a pretzel, a pretzel roll, a chocolate croissant, and a pastry with something called johannesbeer (some sort of berry that Mel is not sure has an English translation), the latter which we ate right away, and saved the rest for later. We wandered around for a bit stopping at the last three churches on her "tour" and shopping, mostly at H&M, where we found some fabulous bargains as usual, mostly involving fun colored eyeshadow on sale for one Euro. The churches are all gorgeous, and I will post pictures later (either on facebook or a pictures site...and some here, but not until I get to London and have my own computer). In two of the three...or maybe all three, I forget exactly...there were people playing the organs in preparation for a bunch of organ concerts which apparently were taking place today. They sounded wonderful, of course, and I thought of Alec, because I'm sure they sounded much better than the Wurlitzer that is still in our garage. In one of the churches the bones of the patron saint of single women were on display, all jeweled and dressed in a little box. It was very strange, but interesting.
After going to the big outdoor market in the city (I'm forgetting the name and Melanie is in the bathroom so hopefully I'll remember to write it down later) and purchasing some honey wine to try later, we headed off for the beer garden in the middle of the Englischer gardens in the city (which I also don't remember the name of, but it's something about a Chinese Tower, in German). We had beer (helles, or light beer) and ate our pretzel and pretzel roll and chatted for a long time, since the weather was close to perfect under the trees.
We came back to StuSta (the dorm area) around 7pm and checked e-mail, etc until Mel's friend Jessica made us a tasty dinner of pork roast and potatoes a little later. We basically hung out for the rest of the night talking with various people, and I got to try Melanie's favorite German beer, Augustiner helles. It was a nice night but we stayed up very very very late (because of my jetlag and Melanie's sleeping habits) and got up around 1pm today...woops. Tomorrow we'll set an alarm.
Anyway, I'll do today tomorrow I suppose, since we're off to the bbq (can you tell I've been eating a lot, and well, here?) Hope everyone is well!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Munich and Melanie!
Hey everyone! This is my first post from Europe. I am currently staying with Melanie in her dorm (house) in Munich, since she luckily has a relatively large room and two mattresses, of which I have stolen one for the next three days. I got here around 1pm yesterday afternoon, which was very easy because Melanie's class was cancelled so she met me at the S-bahn (train?) station, and all I had to do was find the S-bahn station in the airport and get on the right train and off at the right stop. This was very nice because although I think I got around 2 hours of sleep on the flight from Newark to London, I was starting to get kind of jetlagged by the time I got to Munich.
After we got back to Mel's, I changed into cooler clothing, since it was incredibly hot and sticky here yesterday, and we chatted for awhile before deciding to head into the city. Melanie took me on the "churches and gardens" tour that she gives most of her visitors, which was very enjoyable despite the fact that I slowly became more jetlagged and confused throughout the day, with bursts of energy at random points. We went to the Englischer garden (which I'm sure I spelled incorrectly) and lots of churches. The garden, which is like a huge park, was especially nice, and Mel and I enjoyed watching people float down the stream-like canals throughout the park, which were running especially quickly yesterday, and wished we had brought our bathing suits. We also bought delicious buttered pretzels, which are incredibly tasty, like all of the baked goods I have tried here so far, and ice cream, which was blood orange flavored for me and more like a sherbert than anything else, but also very tasty.
After the "tour," we came back here and made dinner (or rather Melanie made dinner while I watched her), which was zucchini patties. It turned out very good, and we ate with some of Mel's girlfriends here. Then I took a shower and later we made cookies with Melanie's friends, which were tasty chocolate chunk. I totally crashed after that and slept for probably a good 11 hours last night, so I feel much better and more coherent today.
We are now going to eat at Mel's friend Jessica's house for dinner, so I will have to post about today, tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well, and congratulations to all of the Monty HS graduates (especially Alec).
After we got back to Mel's, I changed into cooler clothing, since it was incredibly hot and sticky here yesterday, and we chatted for awhile before deciding to head into the city. Melanie took me on the "churches and gardens" tour that she gives most of her visitors, which was very enjoyable despite the fact that I slowly became more jetlagged and confused throughout the day, with bursts of energy at random points. We went to the Englischer garden (which I'm sure I spelled incorrectly) and lots of churches. The garden, which is like a huge park, was especially nice, and Mel and I enjoyed watching people float down the stream-like canals throughout the park, which were running especially quickly yesterday, and wished we had brought our bathing suits. We also bought delicious buttered pretzels, which are incredibly tasty, like all of the baked goods I have tried here so far, and ice cream, which was blood orange flavored for me and more like a sherbert than anything else, but also very tasty.
After the "tour," we came back here and made dinner (or rather Melanie made dinner while I watched her), which was zucchini patties. It turned out very good, and we ate with some of Mel's girlfriends here. Then I took a shower and later we made cookies with Melanie's friends, which were tasty chocolate chunk. I totally crashed after that and slept for probably a good 11 hours last night, so I feel much better and more coherent today.
We are now going to eat at Mel's friend Jessica's house for dinner, so I will have to post about today, tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing well, and congratulations to all of the Monty HS graduates (especially Alec).
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