I knew it wouldn't be easy

I knew that leaving Germany was not going to be an easy task. But I thought that the difficulties would be more psychological and emotional and not physical. I was wrong. But then again, it wouldn't be right without having one more adventure on my way out.

Last night I caught the last train from Tuebingen to Stuttgart, after spending my last few hours in Tuebingen with Pia. After spending a few sleepless hours on one of the benches it was time to check in for my flight back. I do miss the days of ticket agents that look things up for you based on your passport or some other form of identification.

Now you have to do all the check-in stuff by yourself, and it typically isn't so easy if you aren't able to find you reservation number. Once I finally was able to pull up my itinerary on the kiosk, I noted a slight problem. The ticket said that I was flying back to Memphis, not Springfield.

I quickly spoke with an agent to see what the problem was. She informed me that actually, the didn't have a reservation for me at all. Um, what, excuse me? I definitely had a ticket for today. Study abroad for six months then return to finish college. I had finished the six months and now was the time for the later part of that sentence.

They were finally able to find some sort of document that said that I was indeed supposed to be traveling to Springfield today, but they weren't able to check me in for all of the flights. They could just check me in through Detroit. They gave me the boarding passes that they could and told me that I would have to make things right in Detroit because there was nothing else they could do here.

I reached Detroit without any problems and made my way through customs. It is really a pain in the neck to enter the US. The customs agent essentially told me that I was a bad family member back for my family (I only had to declare a couple of t-shirts and a beer mug). I finally got my luggage and was able to continue onto US soil.

I was surveying the monitors looking for the flight that was supposed to take me from Detroit to Springfield, but it was nowhere to be seen. I went to a help desk and they informed me that there wasn't a flight the flew to Springfield today. Great.

They started to look for other options for me, but because the people in Stuttgart hadn't checked me in there was no record of me in the US computers so there was no seat to be found for Caroline. Finally, we came across an option that involved me traveling to Chicago and then onto Springfield, getting in at 9:30. Not ideal, but at least it is still today.

I got to Chicago and found out that the flight had been delayed. Apparently, there have been storms on the east coast that are causing fits for air traffic controllers across the country. My plane is currently scheduled to leave at ten after ten and get to Springfield at just before midnight. As of right now I have been traveling for thirty hours straight. And while I am utterly exhausted, it was kind of nice to know that Germany didn't want me to leave.

Bodensee 2009

This past weekend I had the extreme fortune to venture to the Bodensee, the big lake in southern Germany that borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with Pia who happens to live there. We arrived Saturday evening after meeting up with some friends of hers who drove us down from the Stuttgart airport. As she was giving me the grand tour of the town she said, "It's like living in paradise." I couldn't agree more. There were orchards evverywhere and as we were strolling along we would occassionally snag an apple to enjoy, the views were unbelievable, the mountains majestic, it truly was like being in paradise.

Sunday morning we woke up, at breakfast and then went to church. The service was held outside in a park overlooking the lake. After church we went to the "beach" for juggling, sunning, and swimming. It was fantastic. That night we went to the house of one of Pia's friends and played cards. To get there I rode a bike and Pia roller bladed. Baller. Did I mention that we crossed a state line as well?

Monday morning we woke up and took a boat across the lake to Austria. Then we climbed a mountain. Yeah, you can just decide to climb mountains on a whim when you are on the Bodensee. You can even decide to climb them in another country. But seeing as how I had already climbed mountains in Germany and Switzerland, Austria was the obvious choice.

When we returned to Kressbronn, Pia's town, Pia and I cooked homemade kaesespaetzle. Basically the german version of macaroni and cheese. But we made the pasta. Well, Pia made the pasta. I made the onions. It was so tasty. After our extremely satisfying dinner, we opted to take a night time swim.

Tuesday morning the first thing on the agenda was taking Kitty, Pia's cat, to the vet. After that excursion we played the guitar and sang a few songs before hitting the beach once again. Jumping and diving from the pier, swimming, sun and general merriement were enjoyed before I caught the train back to Tuebingen that afternoon. It was wonderful to get to spend a little time in paradise as my last trip before leaving Germany.

Depressing

Today I took care of all the unregistering that I had to do. I dematriculated at the University, I told the city that I was going back to the states, I made an appointment with the landlord so that he can check my room over before I leave. I began pulling things out of my closet and off of my shelves in the preliminary stages of packing. I knew that this day would come sooner than I wanted, but this is just ridiculous. I am not ready to leave and the thought of heading back to the states is terrifying to me. Good thing I am heading to the Bodensee tomorrow with Pia. Playing on a lake for a few days should take my mind off of the whole leaving thing.

Characters in Tuebingen

As I have spent more and more time in Tuebingen, I have become familiar with the local homeless people/bums/beggars/lunatics. They provide Tuebingen with a bit of color and their antics are always entertaining.

Der braune Mann

The brown man can almost always be found in the park on a sunny day. He is always wearing speedos, short shorts, or his tighty whities and doing strange combinations of exercises that look like something between yoga and karate. He has been a constant figure in the park since April leading to the name the brown man. His tan is incredible. It is always a big event when someone sees the brown man fully clothed and outside of the park.

Tumor Man

Tumor man has one of the most grotesque growths on his left shin that I have ever seen. It is a easily the size of my outstretched hand and at the bottom there is a chronic wound that is constantly leaking some sort of fluid. He sits on a bench in the park asking for money from passers by. Frequently little old ladies stop and hound him about getting some sort of medical attention.

Dog Lady

There is a lady who constantly wanders around the town center with her fat weiner dog running ahead of her. She uses crutches to walk and her feet are very swollen. She has stringy, greasy, shoulder length brown hair. When anyone tries to catch her dog for her she yells at them, getting mad that people can't leave her well enough alone. One time I was sitting on a bench eating a doener and her dog came over to me and was barking, baring its teeth, and snapping at my feet while I was eating. She told me I should share my doener with the dog. I walked away.

Punks

There is a group of goth/punks that hang around the bookstore in the city center. They are some of the more aggressive beggars. As opposed to just having their cup sitting out they actually approach people and ask them for money. They also have several dogs that they take for walks in the park. This inevitable causes some sort of ruckus in the normally peaceful park. The dogs tend to fight with one another and antagonize any other dogs that they come into contact with.

Hungarian Street Performer

There is a man with a gray, curly mullet at an extremely bulbous nose that typically sits outside of one of the shopping centers. He plays the guitar and has a sign explaining that he is a hungarian street performer and this is how he makes his living. As of late he has joined forces with a violinist and has moved from his regular spot to under the underpass. They seem to be doing pretty well, the guitar case was rather full last time I ventured past. I think it is that people are trying to pay them to stop though seeing as how they really are not very good.

Number Man

This guy memorizes numbers. He memorizes licence plates, bus schedules, times anything with numbers and letters. Then he proceeds to recite the numbers he has memorized to anyone who will even look at him. He does this all while riding the bus, offering people seats and being in general pleased with himself. He likes to give other people high-fives when he recites something and is in general a very happy person.

Tuebingen seems to have a rather high concentration of beggars, bums and craz people for being such a small town. But it is part of what gives it its character.

You're a Chemist ?!?!

In order to fulfill my Social Sciences requirement at WashU, I had to take a sociology class here in Tuebingen. (Because living in another country, learning another language isn't enough of a social science.) The class that I chose to take is called Biography and Gender.

I had my final in that class yesterday. Instead of writing a Hausarbeit, a 12 page paper, like the rest of the students, I opted for an oral exam. That means that I spoke with the teacher about the work that we had been doing in the class so far this semester.

During the exam the teacher was asking me all sorts of questions about sociology in general and how general sociology themes applied to biographies. I didn't know, I had never had a sociology class before. I was almost in tears at points. I had ideas about how to answer the questions, but I couldn't articulate them in German, and when I was able to articulate my thoughts, they weren't the technical answers the professor was looking for.

After seeing my frusteration, and noticing my lack of general knowledge of sociology, my professor said, "I don't know how you have made it this far in sociology without knowing these things, these are basically sociology principals."

At this comment I whimpered, "But I'm not a sociologist, I'm a chemist. This is the first sociology class that I have ever taken." The professor was astounded at this. Apparently, all of the other students in the class were either in their last semester or second to last semester. No wonder I had found the material so difficult, I needed three years of sociology classes to get to that point.

Upon learning that I was not a sociologist, the professer concluded the oral examination and said that for not having had any other sociology classes, I had done remarkably well. Then she gave me a passing grade.

Prague: Revisited

I had the opportunity to visit Prague with my aunt the summer after my sophomore year in high school. Ever since that short visit I have been wanting to go back. The city is incredibly beautiful and I just wanted to get the chance to explore it a little bit better. This past weekend I had that opportunity.

Thursday night I caught the night train from Tuebingen to Prague. I arrived in Prague at 10:30 in the morning Friday and hit the ground running. I got a map from the train station and headed out to find my hostel. Last time, I remember our hotel being more in the downtown, old city area, this time my hostel was about a ten minute walk away from the city center. This was a nice change. The city is very old and has a lot of old, gorgeous buildings. But it also has a modern side that was cool to see.

After finding the hostel I dropped my stuff off and went to the square to get some food. The weather was hot and sunny. I sat down at one of the many sidewalk cafes and ordered some food and a coke. Along with my coke the waiter brought me a full cup of ice. I literally haven't had ice in six months. To eat I had a lovely cucumber salad. The cucumbers were grated and marinated in vinegar with a little bit of sour cream. For dessert I had a pineapple carpaccio with lime sorbet. Quite a tasty treat if I do say so myself.

After eating and getting my fill of people watching I headed out for Charles' Bridge. I crossed the bridge admiring all of the various things for sale along the way. On the other side there were people selling tickets for boat tours. I am, and always have been a sucker for all things water. I went on the next boat out. It was a nice little tour from the river made even better by the ice cold Budweiser that I was served. For some reason I think that the Czech version is a bit better than what they have in America.

After the tour I did a bitmore walking around, I found a park to explore, before heading back to the hostel to get my room. After getting situated in my room I went back into town for dinner. I was planning on staying in town late enough to get some night time pictures, but it stays light so ridiculously late, and I was really tired.

Back at the hostel my roommate and I were in our pajamas by nine o'clock and decided to watch a movie in the hostel lounge. Several other people joined us and it turned into quite a nice Friday night.

Saturday, the weather was quite the opposite from the blue skies, sunny, hotness of Friday. It was pouring down rain and rather cool the whole day, but that didn't stop me from getting my tourist on. I went to the Prague Castle.. I must admit, I didn't do this justice. But the lines were so long and it was so cold and rainy, I just wanted to keep moving.

I also went to the Lennon Wall. This was came about during communism as a way for younger people to express political beliefs. It now contains fewer political sayings and more Beatles lyrics. I got a phenomenal hot chocolate at a cafe nearby.

On the way into the city I had see what appeared to be the Czech version of the Great Wall of Chine, so of course I had to try and see it. I made my way to the distant hill that I had seen the wall on. I was able to find the wall, but I wasn't able to find a way to climb the wall, gain access to it, or find out what it was. Mission: Failed. In my defense, I had been outside in the pouring down rain for several hours at this point, and really had no interest in being in the rain any longer than necessary.

I made it back to the hostel where I did a bit of reading and studying before heading back to the train station to catch my train to Tuebingen. This trip marked my last international trip before returning to the states. The key word there is international. I still have a couple of adventures up my sleeve before I return.

Dachau

This past weekend my friend, Erin, and I went to Munich. While we were there we went to Dachau, the first concentration camp established in Germany. It was a depressing, but worthwhile experience. I tend to think about WWII as being something that happened way before my time, and something that I don't need to interest myself much with. But as I walked around the concentration camp seeing the showers where prisoners were gased, the mass graves covered in ashes, the firing wall with blood still staining it, the atrocities that occurred during WWII were anything but distant.

The memorial that has been set up in the courtyard of Dachau where the prisoners stood for hours at a day at roll call. In the background is the building where the prisoners were checked in and stripped of all their personal belongings as well as their

dignity.

From the outside these letters spell out the phrase "Arbeit macht Frei" -> Work makes you free. From the inside they are meaningless.

The showers where prisoners were lead to unknowingly be gassed.

Where the barracks used to stand.

Escape was almost impossible: the camp was guarded by a fence that consisted of two large trenches, one filled with water, barbed wire, electrical fence, and a tall fence that would take significant time to scale.

As if the fence wasn't bad enough the camp was guarded by seven towers from which guards kept a constant eye on the fence, shooting anyone who approached it. Some prisoners approached the fence so that the guards would shoot them, ending their misery.

Germans are not proud of their history. But it was encouraging to see several german families with children there. The parents explaining about the past. The memorial outside where "Never Again" is written in several languages is a reminder of the mindset that Germans have today.