Pfingstenpause (an excuse to Vacation) Part VII

(So the photo was taken the day before, but look, it says "Ole" as a first name, that means I'm in Sweden! I just had to take a photo thinking of Grandpa Fawcett and all the Ole & Lena Jokes)

Thursday
Start the morning looking for a Starbucks as a Frappaccino was the current craving. Settling for their Starbucks-substitute, I sat in the café and read for 1 ½ hours. Now off to the harbor to see “The Little Mermaid”, a metallic statue of a mermaid perched on a boulder overlooking the incoming bay, where I also saw four business-dressed professionals who turned out to be bankers in treasury and capital markets from the United Kingdom. Still I debate what the better sight was, the mermaid or the businessmen…
The walk back included the new opera house and the queen’s castle. Returning to city center with book in hand, I grabbed some freshly-made, very sweet rhubarb ice cream (a recommendation from the “Use it” office) and read along the canal. Moving to the Legislative Garden to continue, I heard loud noise off in the distance. It turned out to be a protest against elementary school budget cuts. I asked a red-haired girl about my age, Tina, and she explained the situation while chatting about herself and her life as a preschool teacher in Copenhagen training to be a Midwife. Depart through town and see acappella group (24 people) that were just singing. I stayed for a bit until they started Justin Timberlake songs in 4-part harmony. Now I had to kill time until my bus at 11:00 p.m. So I found another café and read more of Atlas Shrugged. Then I grabbed a Carlsberg beer from 7-11 to try Scandinavian beer; sat in the courthouse platz and said goodbye to Copenhagen. Then departed to Berlin and chatted with a Polish student, Martin, who just finished his study in Copenhagen and was going home for good.

Back in Germany with more stories,

Later Days,
Rick

Pfingstenpause (an excuse to Vacation) Part VI

Wednesday
Nell Curtis and Paul Ekman, friends from Carlson, have been traveling around Europe for two weeks before beginning their internships back in Milwaukee, so we arranged to cross paths in Copenhagen. Arriving at our meeting point at 9:00 a.m. I wait without realizing the agreed upon meeting time was actually 9:30. For that ½ hour I was so nervous something changed or happened that I wouldn’t see them at all. We walked through the pedestrian street, tried following Paul’s poor sense of direction to a restaurant that we never found, but ended seeing Nyhaven (row of old, colorful houses and restaurants on the port), Guiness World Records Museum (that's the tallest man in history, left), some statues of trash in the Courthouse yard, and landed for lunch at the Hard Rock Café. Paul urged that lunch was “on him” until he realized from me how bad the exchange rate was…what a funny reaction.
After lunch we rush back to the train station so Nell and Paul can catch their connection to the airport and fly home to Wisconsin. And then I went out to find the “Use It” office (a tourist office for students) to use internet and resolve some SAFA and other matters. Next, why not find Ernst & Young? But I never would have realized that it was 40 minutes away by foot, close to nothing but a bad neighborhood where the only advantage that the receptionist could tell me was there were plenty of parking spaces. However, I checked it off my list and fortunately found a grocery store on the way back where I picked up cheap goods for the next few meals.
Next to take up some time I checked out a history museum and then took a long walk back to the hostel for another 3 hour nap. And to remain in the room. This night's roommates were the German and Japanese guy again plus this really weird, and fat Spaniard who sat only in his whitey-tighty’s on his bed staring at the others in the room. The worst was that his fat rolled over his underpants so that they were almost hidden. Only a momentary glance was enough to scar and scare one. He speaks poor English and poor German but finally covered himself with his blanket and went to sleep.

Now for the last day in Copenhagen,
Later Days,
Rick

Pfingstenpause (an excuse to Vacation) Part V

Tuesday

Parting ways, Sven continued along the Swedish coast up to Stockholm while I initially thought I’d stay in Malmö for the day then bus over to Copenhagen. Fortunately another roommate, John, asked if I was going to Copenhagen and offered a ride with his friend and him. Having a very flexible schedule, I changed my plans and first went with John and Alla to a REAL, Authentic, Swedish IKEA—in Sweden. (John and Alla had traveled since January and went, literally, around the world. They shared great stories about following the Cherry blossoms in Japan or fearing for their lives in the back of a maniac taxi driver in Egypt.

So we drove over the bridge to Denmark and parted ways at my hostel.

I decide to stroll around, visit the parliament building with a terribly disappointing courtyard, a much more pleasant garden, and the Royal Library (a.k.a. the Black Diamond). Grabbing a bite at the library’s café, I head back to nap. Unlike in the U.S. where I can control my naps to 20 minutes, European naps overtake me for 4 hours, like in Copenhagen. The only reason I woke up was to find food (what a primal afternoon; hike, sleep, food/eat) and I found the main pedestrian street, grabbed a Sharawah Kyllan (like a German Döner Kebab), picked up a Mountain Dew at the 7-11, and then continued to be sorely disappointed by the European interpretation of American pop.
Early to bed, I start writing my notes and then am interrupted when meeting my roommates; 2 from New York, 1 from Cornell (but London this semester), 2 from Brisbon Australia (but teaching in London), 1 from Japan, and 1 from Freiburg. Til Tomorrow,

Later Days,

Rick

Pfingstenpause (an excuse to Vacation) Part IV

Sunday
(This photo was taken at Skansen outdoor museum. I find it funny, because there are lilacs and bleeding hearts in the photo, both of which are also hardy in Minnesota weather. Since everyone understands Sweden for being cold, what does this mean about Minnesota?)

Last day in Stockholm. After the last night being so late, we didn’t wake up until around 10:00, which was the check out time. So we leave for lunch at a Sushi Bar that Ben & Christine found. They love sushi, like I love pork. I end up ordering something random to find out it’s just cucumbers in rice. Dang it.
We part ways, never knowing if we’ll see each other again. I head out to train station to board for Malmö, located in the Southwest corner of Sweden directly across from Copenhagen, Denmark. After boarding the train, I realize that my seat doesn’t exist—the ticket is fully valid, but the seats go to #80 and I have #83. So I sit in another train car and happen to meet a great girl, Irena, with whom I had a fantastic chat for almost 4 hours from Stockholm to her stop. She is a Polish Swede, who works for the Navy and commutes every weekend.
The best was the inside joke of a market square (a platz) that was the skirt of a cow (like the female cow in the Mickey Mouse cartoons), but purple like the Milka Milk Chocolate cow, who gets up and runs off. But the bell that’s around her neck rings when she runs away, so all the shops around there hear it and change their signs accordingly.
Finally arrive in Malmö and head to hostel, grab dinner, meet my roommates. One is an old Ukrainian and the other is a young man from Bavaria, Germany.

Monday
Sven, the Bavarian who works as a prison guard in Kempten and is 28 years old, and I decide to hang out in the city together. First walking to the North Harbor we follow the shore to see the “Turning Torso”, Sweden’s tallest building. Further along is all park and shoreline, but looking into the sea we unfortunately can’t see Copenhagen and/or the bridge due to the day’s fog.
Coming back to the city we grab lunch at an Imbiss (a stand in the platz selling fast simple foods) in front of the courthouse. Afterwards we check the harbor again, but the fog hadn’t lifted. Next on the list of sights to see we find Gustav Adolf’s Platz, their largest Park (Pildamsparken), the Stadium, and then what we thought was the University (turns out it was simply a hospital). Walking north from the southern part of the city, we pass about four more sights to see and check them off the list. Ending at the river, we rent a paddleboat for an hour to zip around the river running through and around the city. Making it in 40 minutes, the last 20 minutes was a soothing float along the path. To my surprise, one block from where we met the boats we find Ernst & Young’s Malmö office.
Back to the hostel for restaurant recommendations, we head to the first place that ended up taking up 15 minutes of waiting just to get a menu—scratch that. Next is a self-service restaurant where we grabbed steaks in a melted herbal butter sauce. After dinner and a discussion on the court systems in Germany we look for another bar to grab a beer but most were closed (already at 11:00 p.m.). Finally we come across Lila’s Torg where there were a dozen bars still open around one central square.
Heading back to the hostel to call it a day, I realized the entire day was spent speaking German because, surprisingly, my German was better than his English (that’s a first for me). And at the end of the day, we saw 32 of the 34 “sights to see” in Malmö.

Pfinstenpause (an excuse to vacation) Part III

David (med student from Duke now at University California San Diego that was on grad trip before residency in Connecticut studying cancer) and I went to City hall, couldn’t go up because it was closed for renovations (last year someone jumped off).

So we went to Old town (Gamla Stad) and saw the smallest alley (3 ft wide) and the smallest statue in Stockholm. Put hand on statue's head and make a wish. Next as leaving island, we see a royal band approaching—we were just in time for the change of guards ceremony.

We part. I go to the observation deck and buy fruit in the market below. Next buy my ticket to Malmö. Still worried about housing in Malmo and Ticket to Berlin. Also have to take care of SAFA, while on vacation.
Efforts to get to Skansen. Tram out to there and like in D.C. I’m the idiot deciding to take the stalled escalator up from 2 floors (or 3) down. Over 150 steps of climbing and exhausted to find out that I exited just 1 block from where I started. Walk along coast to meet bus to Skansen. Arrive and start the fun.

Gerry & I (Carl Linneaus) went through the park. Good view of city, some fun animals. Head back and run into David (from California) & Christine (from Canada). Decide to go out. David & I run and buy soup and sauce for dinner with free pasta in hostel. (Huge *cheap* dinner). We then went to Pirates of Caribbean in an amazing theater with curtains over the screen from the draped one that scrolls down to the red velvet which open to the screen, not to forget the balconies decorated in crimson linens and stitched artwork. Then we went back to hostel and met up with Ben & Christine. Left apartment at 1:30, grab some pop from 7/11. Made more pasta at 3 a.m. Climb down fire escape at 4 a.m for fun. Chat until 6 a.m.

Since it was already the next day, we'll move on to the next post to finish Stockholm.

Later Days,
Rick

Pfingstenpause (an excuse to vacation) Part 2

Start with a Swedish breakfast in hotel, and upon leaving discover that my Palm Pilot died at one point during the trip up. 11 days to go and no palm to use. This contained appointment details, Ernst & Young locations, contact information, my German Dictionary, and some music to play if bored. Dead. (I can only hope it’s batteries and not water). Walk around, literally aimlessly. Find Ernst & Young, cross that off list of things to do, try ATM to take out cash and nearly have heart attack. Transaction failed and no cash came out, but it said that 1500 crowns was taken out of account—ahhh! (but I checked later and it was okay).
Sweden doesn’t take bottles back like Germany. You sell it, you should buy it back! Gamla Stan (Old Town), saw palace with purple and yellow flowers—Vikings Colors. Kept thinking “if I jump the fence, is that guard going to stab me? Ended up on wrong side of island bridge so I went to the southern city and not the part where I was staying. So I went to McDonald’s, sorry no McSalmon like a friend mentioned. 4 people in the day asked me for directions or thought I was Swedish! 4—cool. Next off to Carlaplan.
(and if anyone can tell me WHY I have multiple chins in this photo...? I could blame it on the german Wurst and Chocolate, but really, am I gaining weight?)


Thought I would find a big park, but just big field. I’ve seen THOSE before. Walk and find
private party at museum-- whoops, not for me.












See big lake, much better. Map says Nobel Park is close, so I’ll go see. Come to bridge ½ km past park and realize I never saw it. Doesn’t exist. Took bus back to random town square—wow great place.
Two deaf women were on the bus signing. They met up with their husbands and they signed too, thought Julie would appreciat that. I bought Swedish candy (cost more than my lunch), read in the park by the library. Checked into hostel. Met roommates and wend to Thai dinner with them (2 from Italy) Met other roommates from Canada—travelers through Europe for 3 months. Went to bed at midnight and was first one in room. (Sleep was at like 2 a.m. b/c I was talking to everyone one by one as they came back.)

(soon these blogs will be a bit more comprehensible and more reasonable in length. Not yet).

Later Days,
Rick

Pfingstenpause (an excuse to vacation) Part 1

Wake up at 3:30 a.m. (after 2:30 in bed). Train from central station to Basel. Then taxi to catch my flight—33 Euros to find out there was a direct bus! Helen, friend from Freiburg, told me so. She, coincidentally, was on the same flight to Hamburg.
Arrive in Hamburg at 8:30. Get to Ernst & young by 9:30. Irem, guide for morning ( told her I was studying in Freiburg so she said “oh, well then, we can certainly do this all in German.”
Hamburg EY office is Huge, gorgeous, and has natural lighting in every office. So 2 hours of Q & A, tour, (slightly awkward around other staff since my German stinks)
I walk through the area around E&Y, it’s quite residential, but then there’s this huge market lining the street. Ends at a large cathedral. Continue 2 blocks and arrive at a splendid park on the shore of the Alster River. Also see this John Deere in the park. Didn't they existed outside of Rural Minnesota--Dad may appreciate this. Noticing the time, I rush back to catch all the trams. I stored my at the airports. I had to go all the way back then back to central train station to catch the bus. I hate RyanAir. We flew from “Hamburg” to “Stockholm” but neither actual airports were witin 1 hour driving distance. There’s more $ gone on a bus. Next is the cool part. I arrive in Sweden (no one checked my passport) and got the bus. That bus ride was great because I started a German conversation with the woman next to me (Teacher from around Hamburg with brothers North of Stockholm, daughter near Stuttgart who just got a job offer!) I could see at points the look of her struggling to understand me, but a whole hour.
Then came the hardest part. I’m at the train terminal, can’t read the signs, don’t know where to go, almost literally lost. BUT, I used my resources, bought a train ticket (good for 3 days), used a map, got to a stop, followed the map and ended up at a hostel. No availability. Next hotel; nothing. Next said nothing, but has ONE room so I took it immediately. It costs as much in one night as 2 at the other hostel, but its comfort and my worry is over. So after a shower, I reserved hostels for the remainder of my stay, bought some dinner, and sit in front of a fountain in a castle square as I write this. What a good day—long; good.

Next comes Stockholm...
Later Days,
Rick

A Constant Translation

I promised some cultural peculiarities so they are as follows: (and just so you know, you can click on the photos or other images for a larger view).
*Germans write notes on Grid paper. Not just lined, but full out grids for everything from their Math Classes (which grids makes sense) to History or Languages.

*Everyone has a 1st grader's pencil bag, a necessity to hold all one's writing utensils.

*CANS of pop= non-existent. I found one place that sells american goodies and the cans have a recycle value of 25 cents= 4 x beer bottle OR =2 liter of soda

*Germans knock on the tables at the end of every lecture. It's a sign of respect and thanks for the professor, meanwhile a terrible hypocracy as they spent the full 1 1/2 hours of the lecture gabbing to one another without concern for the speaker.

*SO many German jobs exist not to increase efficiency, but to create jobs. That in itself explains the maze that is our library. I won't begin to explain because it deserves its own essay.

*Every German follows the law. There are a million opportunities to steal something, but nothing is ever stolen. A friend and I both had instances of losing something valuable in the city, and we both received it back in full without a single thing touched or missing. (I lost studienbuch and she lost wallet-every penny in place)
PLUS, if the street is dead and empty and a German stands at a crosswalk, they do NOT walk until the little sign says it's legal to walk.


Look to the diagram to the left to see how it is trying to translate some hand-writing. It's bad enough translating the words, but first figuring out what word is on the paper is a challenge in itself.

And now for wrap-up: I hadn't mentioned earlier, but I was accepted as a Carlson School Ambassador!

And in about 4 hours I leave for my trip up to Sweden, Denmark, and Northern Germany. So I apologize in advance, but I'll be quite out of touch until June 4th, the date of my return. I will have internet access at cafe's and will use it, but will use it sparingly.

I hope you all have a fantastic Pfingstpause (It's the holiday we're celebrating here--I, and none of my friends, understand why or what it is, but we know we get a week off of school)

Later Days,
Rick

Out of the game, but coming back Fighting!

The absence of any messages is due mostly in part to the unfortunate cold by which I was blind-sided late last week. The one that brought me down for Frankfurt is the one that kept me out of 1/2 my classes this week. Tranlating German is more exhausting then one realizes until the maximum energy level is temporarily thwarted.

Due to that, very little was accomplished this week. (I even cancelled Basel because of health)
I still have the initiatives to
1) Learn more German by creating hunderds of flash cards
2) Reading English textbooks to at least learn the concepts I hear in class
3) Reading english books instead of watching movies or t.v. shows on my computer. I figure that I lose the advantage of it being in German, but it is comparatively more productive than just a blockbuster movie. Additionally, I NEED to read more, i'm so poorly-versed that I have a better time rationalizing all this English while in Germany when I'm at least benefiting somehow. (oh, the first selection is Atlas Shrugged.)
4) Learn German. Read my German textbooks and so forth, but it's tremendously an uphill battle.

Coming up Thursday I leave for my 1 1/2 week excursion around the Baltic Sea. Thursday i'm off to Hamburg, then further to Stockholm. All I know at this point is I'll eventually make my way down to Copenhagen by the 30th and Berlin by the 1st of June.

Oh, and I keep trying to note the cultural stuff about German students...it's good stuff, I swear. It'll come later.

Until then.
later Days,
Rick

The Financial Capital of the Continent

Let's see, what's gone on this past week?.... Honestly aside from going to Frankfurt on Friday I really don't know. Well, yeah there was class, but anything else particularly important...not sure.

Waking up at 5:23 a.m. to get to Frankfurt by early, I rode the train up to the financial capital of the contiguous European Continent. Second to London, Frankfurt am Main (where the main airport is also located) holds the European Central Bank, the Deutsche Boerse Group (The DAX--equal to the New York Stock Exchange), Deutshe Bank Headquarters, and the German National Bank. (In total there are over 300 banks! What a city for me!) Plus, since the city was almost entirely destroyed during WWII, the efforts to rebuild focused on newer buildings as opposed to restoration of the ancient city--as most other German cities have done.

On top of the 7 story Shopping mall, you see me pictured with the Frankfurt Skyline. (Although it's hardly comparable to the States because the tallest building is about 65 stories...which is almost equivalent to Minneapolis. Nothing like Chicago or NYC)

But my first stop on the trip was Ernst & Young's Frankfurt Office---WHOA!--this place was huge, having two 12 story (approx) tall buildings solely for E & Y. When I visited I unfortunately was unable to see anything or meet with anyone because they were all in meetings and I didn't have my American security pass with me--Julie unfortunately took that away at the end of the Internship.

During the day, I went up the Main Tower, which has a viewing platform on the 56th floor. However, it was terribly windy and for safety reasons that was closed. Great. Still, I got to go to the 55th floor and look through the windows for a 200 degree view of the city. Oddly enough, the security guard up there, who was pointing out things around the city, is a HUGE fan of DCI (Drum Corps International)--the same thing I went to Madison to see last summer. He knew all the bands and has gone to the States 5 times--just to see the championship. What a coincidence.

To the left, this beaconing structure standing above the park was my final destination. Recognize the logo? This is Deutsche Bank. Again, not able to go IN because I had no meeting or knew no one, I only saw the lobby. But it was still a remarkable sight.

And of couse, I had to get the photo with the Deutsche Bank logo. Sadly I know so little about the company, BUT how could I not fall in love with it? If it's name is anything like the company, then it'll be great. It combines two of my top loves--Banking & German! (Deutsche translates to German). The largest bank in Europe.

So, all in all, the day was very pleasant. Next time in Frankfurt...and I really hope there is a next time...I'll make appointments so I can speak with a recruiter at Ernst & Young, a recruiter at Deutsche Bank (maybe for an internship next summer), and so I can get a tour of the DAX (stock exchange. They said you have to register at least 1 day in advance). And next time, I'll be healthy. The small cold I've had all week mounted into one to take me out for a bit. But I'm getting through it. Well, that's the story from Lake Wobeg...whoops, wrong one. That was Frankfurt. Coming soon: Basel, Switzerland and a end-of-May trip to Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg, & Berlin!

Later Days,

Rick