Prague in Pictures

Hey all! I am almost finished switching from Flickr to Picasa, but I am still trying to figure out the privacy settings so it is easier for people to navigate, hopefully I'll be able to post some links soon. I did finish uploading all of my pictures from Prague, and I wanted to share some of them here. I think the best way to do this is to repost what I wrote about Prague before, but with more detail and the photos added in. So without further ado...

Last weekend was one of the best so far! Thursday (6/11) was another holiday, so Wednesday night I met Greg in Prague, and we had a blast. Wednesday night we just wandered around, trying to figure out the crazy Czech streets.

We found this giant chair to take a break in:


Prague is a strange city, because the Old Town is gorgeous, the most impressive collection of architecture I have ever seen, but it is so overrun with tacky tourism everywhere. It's like Disneyland for Eurotravelers. There is a ton to see and do though, and we tried to fit in as much as possible. Thursday we visited the National Museum, a natural history museum with an incredibly large collection of minerals, animal specimens, and archaeological finds.

The museum:


We also got in a fair amount of shopping on the main shopping drag before heading back to the Old Town and checking out the view from the Old Town Hall Tower.

The tower:


The view, with the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn:


Thursday night after dinner we found the Lennon wall, a stretch of concrete wall that has been a canvas for graffiti since the 80's. People mostly leave tributes to John Lennon and thoughts about peace, love and togetherness, but other people use the wall as a place to air political grievances.

A section of the wall:


Friday rained on and off all day, and we went to the zoo and botanical gardens. The zoo was amazing! It is the #7 zoo in the world, and it showed. The enclosures were amazingly designed, and the cool weather meant most of the animals were up and active, even interacting with the guests.

The giraffes were amazing:


And this tiger was having a great time with lunch:


The botanical gardens were breathtaking, especially the meticulously designed Japanese Garden and the tropical greenhouse. I got a lot of use out of my camera's digital macro taking closeups of incredible flowers.

These were taken in the Japanese Garden:



While these were inside the greenhouse:



Saturday we decided to do the standard tourism things, and took a free walking tour of Prague given by New Europe, a great tourism company for college-aged backpackers. We walked through the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter, ending up by the river.

In the Jewish Quarter, with our guide in red:


Prague Castle from the river:


We also hiked up to Prague Castle, which was more exciting to see from a distance than to actually visit, especially since the main attraction, St. Vitus' Cathedral, was closed.

The palace gates:


We did find a great little cafe to eat dinner in, and chatted with some Americans there who work in a hotel near the Palace. Saturday night we went on a Pub Crawl and had a great time hanging out with other young travelers. Sunday we kicked back, Greg left in the early afternoon and I did some last minute sight-seeing, visited the Alphonse Mucha Museum and then lazed away the afternoon with a book by the river.

My grassy retreat:


I enjoyed one last goulash that evening before catching my ride home at 8, and slept most of the way home! To see more of the pictures I took (this is just a small sample) you can check out the whole album:

Apologies all around, this will be a real catch up!

So it's been a few weeks (again) since I updated. I am going to try to prevent this from happening again by giving the short version of all that has happened in the past few weeks, right now, and then hopefully I can do little updates more frequently.

A few weekends ago, I went to Frankfurt for the CDS Orientation, and I had a lot of fun! Greg and I met up Thursday to explore the city and settle into our surprisingly nice Red Light District hostel. We kicked off Friday with a visit to the Main Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Frankfurt, which awarded us with some spectacular views. I'll try to come back and add some photos later. We also took a quick peek in the Altstadt (old city) before heading off to the orientation. The Friday afternoon presentation was all about bureaucracy and the 'first days in Germany', and I nearly died of boredom, since my first days in Germany had been three weeks previous. Luckily they let us out with enough time to go do something worthwhile, and a group of us UofM kids went and hung out by the Main River before heading to a great little bar district for mead and beer. The Friday morning orientation presentations were too early (9AM...I am so glad I wasn't jetlagged like everyone else! For them it felt like 3AM), and almost more painful than the first day. We did a Q&A while we waited for our cultural trainer to arrive. Yes, cultural trainer. After 10 years of German classes, the last thing I needed was an enthusiastic man telling me all about the cultural stereotypes of Germans and Americans. I made a lot of paper cranes. Then most of the kids took off to their various internship locations. I wasn't heading out until later, and Greg was staying an extra night, so we headed to an art museum and saw a great exhibit of Michelangelo sketches...truly amazing. The train ride back was long, and I was glad I had Sunday to recuperate.

The next week was pretty normal, settling in and going to work, but that weekend was the start of Bergkirchweih (or just Berg), the second largest German folk festival after Oktoberfest. It was held in the north of Erlangen, and Greg came to visit and check it out with me. He arrived Friday night, and we met up with some of my coworkers Saturday night and had way too much fun! We drank a few liters of good local beer, danced and sang, and then headed to a nightclub where one of my coworkers' friends was DJing. We danced until the heat and beer got to be too much, and then headed home. Greg took off early on Sunday for Dublin, and I kicked back for the rest of the day.

The next week I got to try out my German health insurance. What started out as a minor sore throat attributed to too much singing Saturday night developed into a stabbing, throbbing pain that prevented me from sleeping Tuesday night, so I took Wednesday off and walked to the local doctor's office. The experience was great, I didn't wait long, he promptly diagnosed me with a virus and prescribed some numbing lozenges and plenty of tea and sleep, and it didn't cost me a penny. I picked up the lozenges on my way home, and spent the rest of the day in bed. I went to work the next day, but I was still pretty sick, and my boss told me not to come in the next day. I spent most of the weekend in bed and ate a lot of soup. By Monday I was feeling well enough to go back to work, and to head to the last day of Berg with my coworkers that evening.

This past weekend was one of the best so far! Thursday was another holiday, so Wednesday night I met Greg in Prague, and we had a blast. Wednesday night we just wandered around, trying to figure out the crazy Czech streets. Prague is a strange city, because the Old Town is gorgeous, the most impressive collection of architecture I have ever seen, but it is so overrun with tacky tourism everywhere. It's like Disneyland for Eurotravelers. There is a ton to see and do though, and we tried to fit in as much as possible. Thursday we visited the National Museum, a natural history museum with an incredibly large collection of minerals, animal specimens, and archaeological finds. We also got in a fair amount of shopping on the main shopping drag. Friday rained on and off all day, and we went to the zoo and botanical gardens. The zoo was amazing! It is the #7 zoo in the world, and it showed. The enclosures were amazingly designed, and the cool weather meant most of the animals were up and active, even interacting with the guests. The botanical gardens were breathtaking, especially the meticulously designed Japanese Garden and the tropical greenhouse. I got a lot of use out of my camera's digital macro taking closeups of incredible flowers. Saturday we decided to do the standard tourism things, and took a free walking tour of Prague given by New Europe, a great tourism company for college-aged backpackers. We also hiked up to Prague Castle, which was more exciting to see from a distance than to actually visit, especially since the main attraction, St. Vitus' Cathedral, was closed. We did find a great little cafe to eat dinner in, and chatted with some Americans there who work in a hotel near the Palace. Saturday night we went on a Pub Crawl and had a great time hanging out with other young travelers. Sunday we kicked back, Greg left in the early afternoon and I visited the Alphonse Mucha Museum and then lazed away the afternoon with a book by the river until my ride picked me up at 8.

So now I am really, truly caught up. I am going to try to go back through this post and add some photos, and I am trying to switch from Flickr to Picasa to avoid upload limits, so hopefully I will soon have a more comprehensive online photo album to share. Until next time!

Catching Up!

It has been an incredibly busy two weeks since I last updated! In that time I have gone from a jet-lagged hostel dweller to an intern with a futon to call my own (for the next three months, anyway).


I started my internship two weeks ago, on May 11th. I arrived at the Corscience building (featured above) at 9am, and after some wandering found my way to the ground floor Corscience office to find a locked door and a secretary who had no idea who I was. After explaining I was there to see Manuel Seufert, she told me to go to the office on the third floor, and following a very puzzled look on my part, she took me up. Manuel was in a meeting, so she took me to the HR person, Ute, instead. A few forms and one electronic key demonstration later, Manuel was out of his meeting and showed me around Corscience. The company occupies 'Haus 7' in a medical tech building, meaning it has 4 offices stacked on top of each other. As far as I can tell, marketing is on the ground floor, hardware is on the first floor (the floor numbers start with 0 here), software on the second, and administration is on the third floor. Manuel introduced me to everyone on all 4 floors, all of whose names I promptly forgot. I then headed out to apply for housing at the student dorms. They didn't have any rooms available, so I headed back to work wondering where I was going to live. I spent the rest of the day setting up my computer, and at lunchtime my coworkers took me with them to the Mensa, the university cafeteria.

Tuesday I began my housing search in earnest. Manuel had given me the numbers of some landlords, and after calling all of them I made an appointment to see the only available room with (the infamous) Herr Loy, who turned out to be the epitome of a sketchy landlord. The apartment consisted of a room in the basement, with a toilet in a closet down the hall, and the shower two floors up. The real dealbreaker, though, was the one hour walk to work combined with the lack of internet.

At work that day I met my other supervisor, Robert, who got me started on my project: designing sound software for a personal EKG monitor. He also explained that my first assignment was to find a place to live, so I was free to focus on that and leave the software for later.

Wednesday I saw another apartment. Words cannot describe this experience. An "eccentric" Japanese-American woman (referred to here as "Yoko Ono" for its descriptive nature) showed me the apartment, which was not even close to what had been described in the online posting. There was a main apartment, which was cluttered and small (the washing machine was IN the bathroom) and the bedroom being offered was actually outside of the apartment on the next floor up. This room was full of broken furniture Yoko was going to 'fix', the only working piece of furniture being a tiny cot. She barely spoke any English or German, and claimed to be even worse at Japanese, which really made me wonder how she communicated anything to anyone. She was also pushy, tactless and gave a whole new meaning to absent-minded. I wanted to run away as quickly as possible, especially after she asked me if I was "insured" (against what, or why she needed to know, I never found out) but she insisted on walking me back to the hostel, and even threatened to show up at the Mensa the next day to finalize our "deal". I never called her back.

That night was definitely the low point of my stay so far. Alone, with one day between me and homelessness (the hostel was booked the coming weekend and I had no place to go), I seriously wondered why I had bothered crossing an ocean for this experience.

Thursday I made another apartment appointment, and my coworker Kemal also arranged for me to visit his friend who had a spare room. The first place was ok but very small and unfurnished, and was almost impossible to find, one highrise in a maze of highrise buildings, but I was ready to take anything I could get. Then Kemal picked me up and took me to Ahmet's apartment. I knew as soon as I entered the cozy apartment and met Ahmet that I wanted to live there. The room had no real furniture, but Ahmet said I could sleep on the (very comfy) sofa the first night and he would buy all the furniture I needed on Saturday, since he wanted to use the room as a guest room when I went back to the US. I moved in the next day. Below is a picture of our living room and the comfy couch:


Saturday we bought a futon and other Ikea furniture and spent the rest of the day building it. Ahmet's car is pretty tiny, so he actually had to leave me at Ikea to get the futon home, and came back for me and the rest of the furniture. That night, Ahmet's coworkers Aykut and Dehlia came over to watch the Eurovision song contest, and Ahmet cooked us all dinner.


Sunday was beautiful and hot, so the four of us went to a lake and grilled lunch and generally enjoyed the sun. There was an actual swan boat amongst the sailboats on the lake, and later on there was even a real swan! I'm still getting used to the increased lack of clothing here, so it was strange to see little kids with no pants on and very large men sunbathing in nothing but a speedo. My neighbor Tommy also seems to have a fundamental opposition to clothing, most of the time he wears nothing but boxers. He and his girlfriend are about my age and live across the hall, and Tommy comes over a lot to use the dishwasher or watch soccer with Ahmet. In return he is very helpful, and was instrumental the Ikea furniture assembly (luckily this was a task that did not require a shirt, or I'm sure I would have been on my own).

Last week was a short work week because Thursday was Christi Himmelfahrt (the German equivalent of father's day), which is a national holiday, and I had to be in Frankfurt on Friday for the CDS orientation, so I headed out Thursday and met up with Greg. More on that next time though, since this post is more than long enough already!

As always, there are a lot more photos on Flickr, especially of my new apartment and shots taken around town in Erlangen. Check them out! Until next time, here is a picture of my beautiful daisies from Ikea:

In Erlangen!

I am finally in Erlangen! Today is my second day, and I spent it wandering around the city taking pictures. Yesterday I did some shopping and got a cell phone and a few other things. Unfortunately the Studentwerk was closed, so I will have to go Monday to see if I can get a room there for the summer. For now I have a tiny single room at the hostel, which receives a mysterious free wireless signal from somewhere. Here's a picture of my microroom:



I enjoyed a German breakfast this morning, I always forget how perfect they are. Meat and cheese and bread, yogurt and tea...is there a better way to start the day? I found a little Indian place and had some curried dahl for dinner, it was delicious! I found a few different supermarkets, so when I have a more permanent home I can stock up on some snacks and things. I think I am going to sneak some extra brötchen from breakfast until then ^_^.

At the park an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me, and talked about everything from Obama to Westerns (he really likes John Wayne) to all of the different "can't-miss" festivals that happen in Erlangen. Apparently there are a lot of things I have to see while I am here.

And I know you were all wondering, so I am happy to report that there are lilacs everywhere here! I think there are even more than in the US. Here's a picture of some growing on the hostel:



Anyway, I posted all of my pictures so far on Flickr, and added a slideshow of them on the right side of the page. I'll be adding more photos throughout the summer. If you click any one of the photos, it will take you to my Flickr where you can read the descriptions and browse through everything. So until next time, enjoy!

Day of Travel Pt. 3 - Train Time!

5:40 am, Friday, May 8 (11:40 am German time)

On the train from Frankfurt to Erlangen. We are passing some beautiful countryside, all hills and farms and trees. We are somewhere between Würzberg and Nürnberg right now, so I thought I would spend a few minutes catching up.

At the Philly airport I ended up pretty much having to sprint across the entire airport, because my new flight was Lufthansa,
whose terminal is, of course, on the opposite side of the airport from US Airways, and I only had an hour. When I arrived at their ticket counter to get my new ticket, I had a wonderful coincidence. There was a boy my age, Paul, who not only had been on the US Airways flight, but was supposed to have made the same connection as me, AND, it turns out, is a U of M EECS student heading to Germany for an internship. The world is super crazy like that sometimes. It ended up being really fortuitous, because he had done an internship in Erlangen two years ago, so he was a big help with everything from chatting about Erlangen to getting train tickets in Frankfurt.

I'm glad we ended up getting switched to Lufthansa, their planes are so nice. We got dinner and breakfast, and they have the TVs in the seats with free movies. This was a godsend because the cabin pressure was making my ears so sore there was no way I could sleep. I was in the middle of the middle row, so my legroom was almost nonexistent but luckily the people sitting on either side of me were both very kind. When we FINALLY got in to Frankfurt (I was beginning to feel like I had been on that plane my whole life), a woman sitting near to me said she heard I was going to Nürnberg, and wondered if she couldn't follow me to the trainstation, and thus Paul, Joanne and I became an airport trio.

Both Paul's and my luggage survived the change in connection, and customs was no trouble at all, just a quick passport check. Then we headed to the train station, which is connected to the airport. Paul and I got Bahncards (train discount cards) as well as train tickets, everything was very easy (I even managed to conduct my entire transaction auf Deutsch!). Joanne and I ended up on the same train to Nürnberg, and we said goodbye to Paul, who is currently headed for Berlin. We talked for quite a while about all sorts of things, but eventually she succumbed to a nap, which is what she is doing now. We are due in Nürnberg at 12:30, at which point I will catch a connection to Erlangen, and she is being picked up by her daughter-in-law, who she came to visit. Then I will be on my own, for real. I still need to get a cell phone, but that shouldn't be too difficult once I get to Erlangen.

There are so many wind generators here, spinning gracefully in the breeze. Everytime I come to Germany, I forget how much like Michigan it looks. Trees and farms and hills, just with more clusters of red-roofed houses. Now to import all my photos so I can start fresh when I get to Erlangen! Next time I write, I will hopefully be done traveling, at least for a little while. It's been 18 hours since I left home, and there's at least one more before I finally get to a place with a bed. Until then, here are some photos I took on the train!

Day of Travel Pt. 2 - Across the Atlantic

1:00 am, Friday, May 8 (7:00 am German time)

I haven't moved in 6 hours. In that time I have watched Twilight and The Reader, slept for maybe an hour, eaten a surprisingly delicious brownie and a suspicious tasting chicken dish. We're supposed to be in Frankfurt in an hour and a half, which seems relatively short, but I know it will be another eternity before I stand up. Breakfast is being served now.

1:47 am, Friday, May 8

Had breakfast 40,000 ft above Bristol, now we're flying over Belguim. I can't wait to get off this plane, even though a whole mess of challenges await me when I do. First, get my luggage (praying it made it on the plane with me), then to the ATM, then either buy a cell phone or head to the train station. Maybe figure out if there is free wifi anywhere. Then it is off to Erlangen, where I need to check in to my room and (hopefully) find someone at the Studentenwerk to talk to. Then, in all likelyhood, it will be time to pass out, because I am already wiped from five hours of sleep in the past 48 hours.

Day of Travel Pt. 1 - Detroit to Philadelphia

4:09 pm, Thursday, May 7 (10:09 pm German time)

Well I am officially on my way! As I write this, I am somewhere between Detroit and Philadelphia, though I probably won't be able to post it for some time. They should really work on getting a good wireless signal 30,000 feet in the air.

As I watched the ground fall away beneath us in Detroit, I couldn't help thinking about how it was the last time I would see Michigan for almost four months. As long as I've lived there, I've never been away this long. It is just warming up for summer in Ann Arbor, but when I get back it will almost be time for it to start cooling down. At least I got to see the cherry and lilac trees bloom before I left, that is my favorite time each year. I wonder if they have many lilacs in Bavaria? I hope so.

I still have a lot of flying ahead, an hour to Philly and then 8 hours to Frankfurt. Our flight was delayed an hour and a half in Detroit, and I had to get a coffee to stay awake in the terminal. Now I can't sleep at all, I hope this wears off in time to get some serious sleep in over the Atlantic. The woman next to me was out like a light before the plane even took off, at least that means I can stare past her out the window without creeping her out. We're between two layers of clouds, little puffy ones below and a almost solid ones above, with just a little ribbon of blue in the middle. I love the view from airplane windows!



I booked my hostel room this morning, so I should have a nice place to stay for the weekend when I finally get to Erlangen. Hopefully I'll get there with time to go talk to the Studentenwerk about a room for the summer, but with this delay we'll just have to wait and see. Luckily the main office is just around the block from the hostel, and my host company is just down the road from there! If I'm not totally wiped out, I hope to walk around and take lots of pictures of my new home tomorrow evening. There's a large park right in the middle of the town next to the university, maybe I'll take my German copy of Siddhartha over there and start trying to decipher it. I guess I should find somewhere to pick up a dictionary first :P

The pilot has told us that we are only 75 miles outside of Philadelphia, so we'll be landing before too long, then I get to figure out what plane I'll be taking to Frankfurt. The one I was supposed to be on leaves in five minutes, so I'll probably be on the 6:15 flight. At least now I won't be sprinting across the airport trying to catch the earlier one!

The woman next to me woke up, and we chatted for a few minutes. For those of you familiar with the German-American metaphor, she is definitely a peach. All smiles and small talk, and then goes right back to her work like you've never spoken. My professor was right when she said there's no way to learn about a foreign culture without taking a closer look at your own, you can't help noticing the details you would have otherwise taken for granted.

On that introspective note, until next time!