Happy Halloween from Köln

Last night Esther, Karina, and I went to the movies. We saw, “Der Jungfrau (40), männlich, sucht” (The 40 Old Virgin). There were no sub-titles. The movies are always dubbed over here. The plot was simple enough that I understood it pretty well, but I didn’t get all the jokes. It wasn’t as good as I had heard it was and I don’t think it was because of the language thing. Esther hated it by the way. Anyway, today I traveled to Köln because I have a few days off before my classes begin again. Here’s a pic from the train.

The cathedral here is every bit as amazing as people say it is. It’s absolutely huge and very gothic. I guess it makes for a nice place to be right before halloween. In fact tonight I’ve seen a few people running around in costumes. Also I think there was a soccer game tonight or something because everybody’s drinking and celebrating and chanting fight songs. But then that’s kind of how every night is in germany. Anyway, here’s a bunch of pictures I took of the cathedral. I got a little picture happy, I know, but I think it was warranted.



Here's one from inside. There was actually a mass going on so they made the tourists stay at the back of the church. It was very pretty and they even had an orchestra performing.

Here's some from the front



and the other side



And here's a couple from at night that look a little spooky.


Auf jeden Fall, finde ich Köln sehr schön. Die Dome ist etwas ganz besonders.

Lg

Frankfurt

Everythings great here in Mainz. It’s starting to get a little cooler here, especially at night. Thankfully I finally have internet in my room! So my german class started last week and it’s ok I guess... aber ein bißchen langweilig. On Sunday I went to a play at the Mainz theater because one of my pathfinders, Karina (who coincidentally studied at KU 2 years ago as an exchange student), has a friend who works there and got her a couple free tickets. The theater is very nice (you can see it in the background of a pic in a previous post) but the play was a bit odd. It was a mondern rendering of ‘Amphitryon’. I had a hard time following it but Karina helped me out.

Today I went with Karina to Frankfurt because she had to pick up some books there. It was very foggy today or else we would have gone up in one of the towers for a nice view of the city. It was so foggy you couldn’t even see the tops of most of the buildings. We walked down to the old square where they have a big christmas market and a big new year’s celebration. Here’s a couple pics of me (fyi, the neat buildings with all the wooden beams are called ‘Fachwerkhaus’).



We then walked down to the river and across an old iron pedestrian bridge. There was a really pretty church on the other side and Karina snapped a couple of pictures. For some reason she’s camera shy and didn’t want to be in any of them.

You can really see how thick the fog was in these pictures.


Here’s a nice picture from the other side of the river which was lined with big trees.

After that Karina had to run over to the university library while I toured the famous Städel Museum. They had a nice mix of modern art, classic art, and midieval art. They had a lot of paintings by Max Beckmann as well as Renoir. There was also a few Monet’s and Rembrandt’s, and a Picasso. It was a really nice museum. Jetzt muss ich meine Hausaufgabe machen -- so tschüss bis gleich!

Die Uni und Der Rhein

I thought I’d update my blog with some pictures of the campus. It’s very pretty and all the leaves are starting to change. It’s still pretty quiet on campus right now since most students are still gone for the break. But I’m told it will be crazy when the semester starts -- especially in the mensa during lunchtime. Here’s a few pictures.



Today Esther and I went to the Rhein and es war am schönsten. She told me that early in the mornings there’s a really heavy fog on the river and it’s very eerie but pretty. Here’s Esther and I.



After that we got something to eat on one of squares by the Dome next to the town theater. You can see it behind Esther.


We then headed into the Altstadt where the streets are too narrow for cars and it’s all winding cobblestone streets. I think it’s very easy to get lost back there but there’s so many cool stores and pubs it wouldn’t be so bad. Here’s a few pictures I took of the Dome and the Altstadt. It was so dark last time I was there my pictures weren’t so good but now you can see the area much better.







Well tomorrow my german class begins. It’s sort of an intensive preparation course for the semester. I do have a cell phone now but it’s pretty expensive and I’m not sure whether someone from the states can call me on it. I know I can call the states but it’s really expensive. I was told my cell phone would work here but it doesn’t. Aber kein Problem. Es ist nicht so schlimm weil jetzt ich ein deutsche handy bekommen habe. Tschüss und liebe Grüsse!

Mainz

So I’ve finally arrived in Mainz. I just got my computer account and password yesterday so I couldn’t post anything to my blog until now. Everything is great so far. I’ve had to fill out a lot of forms and go to a lot of informational meetings for foreign students but it’s all been very helpful and I have almost all of the details taken care of now so I can relax a little. Every foreign student is assigned a few helpers or “path-finders” and they have been terrific. They all picked me up at the airport and helped me get moved in. They’ve also gone to the all of the activities and meetings with me. They’ve been so helpful especially Gabiela and Esther who are my two main path-finders. Here’s a pic of them.

My dorm room is very small but it’s clean and right on campus so for now it’s fine. I may try and find a bigger room somewhere or even get an apartment. I’m not sure yet. Here’s a pic of it.

You can see my building in the background here.

and here’s Esther.

The other night they organized a pub-crawl for all the foreign students and it was fun because we got to see downtown Mainz and some of the local bars. I met some other americans at one of the bars who are going to teach english here at the Uni. Here’s all of us.
Esther, Avery, Gabi, Erin, Jill, and Kevin

Here's Esther, Avery, and I

And then later Esther, Gabi and I went to a club called the Havana.

Gabi and Esther have been so nice and helpful. They took me into town the other day to open a bank account and go grocery shopping. We’ve been hanging out a lot and they’re both a lot of fun. Last night Esther and I went downtown and to the Altstadt and it was so pretty by the cathedral. It was too dark to get any good pictures but there are two large sqaures on either side of the church. I used a long shutter setting on my camera to try and get some pictures so they are a little fuzzy but here is Esther and I on the square.



Esther lives near the Altstadt so we stopped by her apartment. It’s small but it has a lot of character. She told me it used to be a large house but half of it was destroyed in WWII so now all the rooms are much smaller because they didn’t rebuild the whole thing. It’s very nice though because it still has the original wood and old fashioned german architecture. Here is Esther in her apartment.

Later that night we went to a nice restuarant called the “Schiller” where Gabi works. I’ve met so many cool people so far and I think my german has improved a lot just in this week... probably because Gabi and Esther force me to speak german and correct me without laughing (usually) when I say something ganzfalsch. I was also very happy to hear that there is a place I can go to watch football and baseball. My other path-finder named Eva is a cheerleader for the team here and is really into sports. She also studied in Colorado a few years ago so she understands american sports. Anyway she told me that she usually goes with some of her friends on sundays to this golf club place that has a satellite dish and shows football. The only problem is that most of the games are on kind of late here but the early games are on at like 7:00pm here.

Although I have my computer account now so I can get online, my building is just outside of the range of the wireless signal so for now I have to go outside to the courtyard in front. Right now it’s not so bad because the weather is nice but I’m not too excited about the prospect of having to do all my emailing and internet stuff outside in the middle of january. On monday Gabi and Esther are going to help me see if I can get a dicect connection in my room. Right now I don’t have a phone but I will be getting an handy (cell phone) next week. For now there’s a cheap place in the mensa where I can call home but it closes at 4:00 here so I can only call the states early in the morning. Anyway, I’m having a lot of fun and I’m finally over my jet lag. The first couple days I slept from about 6:00pm to 6:00am. I hope everything is fine in the states and I’ll try and report again soon.

Philly Cheese Steak

Today Tim and I went down to south Philly in search of the best philly cheese steak in the city. It was definately an area for good people watchin'. You see all kinds down there and there's lots of street musicians and cool shops. There's still a fair number of tourists down there but not as many as you find in other parts of the city. Apparently Jim's Steaks is the place to get a philly cheese steak but half the city knows this and were there in line. The line went around the corner and I think we ended up waiting for 45min. It was well worth it though... certainly the best cheese steak I've ever had.

Here I am outside aftwards. The line had died down a bit at this point but it was way out the door when we got there.

Here's a nice shot of the Philly skyline on the way back to Tim's apartment.