Life has been the same in Kassel these past few weeks, apart from some mildly interesting distractions. As part of the research project I am working on, I took a two day trip to the city of Karlsruhe, which is in the south-western part of Germany, near the French border. I had a really nice time, for a few reasons.
1) Karlsruhe is a really beautiful, interesting, and lively city. The Schloss and Schlossgarten are stunning, and the city is big enough to be exciting, but small enough to be manageable. Also, the weather was much warmer than Kassel, and sunny. I didn't bring my camera (next time!), but here is a photo provided by the internet:
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| Aerial view of the Schloss and surrounding gardens |
We had a nice time in Karlsruhe, but we learned NEVER to stay in the youth hostel there ever, ever again. Apart from being filthy, it was loud (even during posted quiet hours, such as 4 AM), the bathroom smelled like garbage, we had no hot water, and when the shower was in use there was no water at all. It was irritating, but to add insult to injury, I had to pay an extra €25 because I'm over the age of 27. That is ageism! Why do I have to pay more?? I didn't get a better room or a better bed or hot water (or any water) or decent coffee or quiet during the night!! If anything, I should have paid less because I had to put up with all the idiot young people. I know I'm becoming an old grump, but come on!
Anyway, two days before leaving on this important mission to meet with important people where I would have to make an important first impression, I chose to hack of my own bangs. I don't know why, exactly, but they were getting a little too long and I figured that maybe this time they would look ok if I did it myself. I was wrong.
I managed to make myself mildly presentable, but I ended up going into a hair dresser in Karlsruhe to get them fixed and evened out. She said she could even them out, but boy, she couldn't cut them any shorter; I had already gone so short. I know, lady. Enough with the commentary, just cut.
Last night I went to a show at a place in Kassel called Lolita. Lolita is a cool little bar, on some nights it is low key and chill, while other nights it is packed like a can of sardines, except instead of sardines it's boisterous Germans. (Note: Boisterous Germans are still a pretty buttoned-up bunch.) The show had two bands, the Dead Horse Experience, and the Puta Madre Brothers. The show poster said that the Dead Horse Experience was from the USA, but he was not. He is from Germany, but it currently living in the US. I don't know the gentleman's name, so I shall call him Mr. Horse. Mr. Horse has a strong German accent, but he still put on a fun show. Mr. Horse is weird, that's for sure, but it was in a cool way. His songs were mostly played on the Banjo, and his voice is unique to say the least. Mr. Horse is a little bit country, and a little bit western, and all fun. Here is a youtube video of a show that Mr. Horse played in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The main headliners of the show were the Puta Madre Brothers, billed as "Three men with no mission, direct from Australia", and "hotter than a jalapeño in the desert". They were awesome. They are indeed from Australia, but when they sang, (which was seldom) it was in Spanish. They sit in chairs, each with a guitar, each with a drum, and each with some kind of rhythm instrument attached to their feet. You know what, I can't describe it. Just watch:
Anyway, it was a great night, lots of fun to be out with friends, and enjoying some pretty unique musicians.
So, now that I've shared the fun times from the past few weeks, we can once again jump into the Delorean and go back to November of 2010, and we'll recall the wondrous events of that month.
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| I don't know if Deloreans say "zoom", either. |
However, before I go much further I should mention something extremely important that happened in October. While Hannah 1.0 and I were visiting Jess and Vinnie and baby Hannah 2.0 in New Jersey, we met up with April and went to see the re-released "Back To The Future" in the theater. It was incredible (of course), but even more incredible was that in the parking lot after the movie, we saw a gathering of at least 10 Deloreans! There must be some kind of club, and they all got together and let people take pictures in their cars. Jess had her camera with her, thankfully, and we got some good shots. I'd share some here but Jess never sent them to me.
Jess: send me some pictures.
Jess: send me some pictures.
Anyway, onwards to November!
November was full and busy as well, although not in the same way as October. I didn't have any international visitors, but I went to Massachusetts to meet my sister at my Aunt and Uncle's place. It was such a nice relaxing weekend, and it was great to see them all. We went to a fantastic restaurant for dinner, and went for a hike in a nature preserve near Concord. We watched a movie too, Operation Petticoat, with Cary Grant. it was a fun movie, but totally ridiculous. (My Aunt and sister would beg to differ. They thought it was the finest piece of cinema ever made.)
The following week I flew to Chicago for a few days, en route to a conference in Indianapolis. I was glad to have the chance to see Chicago, as I've never been there, and more importantly, to visit some dumb people I used to know in Boston. Sorry, by that I mean my friends Brandon and Elisabeth. They moved to Chicago about 2 years ago so Elisabeth could go to graduate school, and it was great to see them again.
I did a lot of the typical tourism things in Chicago, like seeing the Magnificent Mile, Wrigley Field, Millenium Park, and the big Bean downtown. I think the Bean was my favorite thing; there were so many opportunities for photos!
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| Millenium Park at night |
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| "The Bean" at night |
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| The same Bean during the day |
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| Chicago Skyline reflected in aforementioned Bean |
I also visited the Chicago Art Institute, which was the highlight of my tourist experiences. There are a number of phenomenal paintings on display there permanently, such as Van Gogh's "Bedroom" and Grant Wood's "American Gothic".
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| "Bedroom" |
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| "American Gothic" |
The story behind "American Gothic" is pretty interesting. Wood was traveling and saw the house, so he wanted to paint the house with people who he thought should live in the house. The people are Wood's dentist and Wood's sister.
Also, the Institute had an impressive collection of American Impressionists (Get it? Impressive? Impressionist? No?) There were a number of painters from the Hudson River School, which I love, and several pieces by Winslow Homer, my favorite painter.
Additionally, the Institute had a piece by Marc Chagall at that point, called "America Windows". I don't know if Marc Chagall always works with stained glass, but I love what I've seen. "America Windows" was a really beautiful piece. It was three large windows, each with smaller panels. Here is a sampling:
So! Chicago's sights and sounds were very cool. Well, I don't know about the sounds actually; there were a lot of impatient drivers, and a LOT of noisy car horns. So I take that back- the sights were cool, but the sounds were obnoxious. Brandon was obnoxious too, but it was lovely to see Elisabeth.
From Chicago I flew on to Indianapolis to attend the ASHE conference. ASHE is the Association for the Study of Higher Education, and the conference was full of all the big shots. Simon Marginson, Jussi Valimaa, Clifford Adelman, oh the list goes on! Of course, many of you have no idea who these people are, so I'll stop. But trust me, it was a big deal. The most important part of the conference (as usual) is what happened outside of the scheduled sessions. We had a project meeting, and I met some of my colleagues for the first time. We were extremely productive, and I felt good afterwards. Of course, I was in Indianapolis, a place which is filled with Colts fans, so it was a little stupid. I survived, but my flight back to Providence was the day before the evil Colts were playing the Patriots in New England, so my plane was full of obnoxious Colts fans. (Is there any other kind?) Thankfully, the Patriots whupped the Colts and sent those obnoxious schmoes back to Indiana. Ha! (Sorry. I really don't like the Colts, or their fans.)
I arrived back in New England in time for the Thanksgiving festivities, which always start a bit early in my family. We had a pre-Thanksgiving meal with my mom's side of the family, which is always tons of fun. I hadn't seen most of the family in a year, so it was heart warming, and belly-filling. The following week was the other Thanksgiving, with my dad's side of the family. We go up to Massachusetts just about every year, and it's always a fun, relaxed time. Also, there was lots of football to watch, so I was happy.
The following week, interspersed with continuing my internship (remember that?), I had a visit with my friend Anke. We knew each other from Boston, but she lives in Rhode Island with her husband and adorable son. Anke is from Germany, and so I would like to say that I had lots of practice speaking, but I didn't. It's a shame, I'm lazy. I had never met her son, and he's a smart and easy going kid. We had a nice time going for a walk around the lake, talking, and playing with Cheerios. Anke and her family are moving back to Germany in the fall so I am looking forward to seeing them again, this time in Europe.
That's about it for November. Stay tuned, and next time we'll re-visit December!
But before I go, I want to make a special mention of my friend Jen, whose birthday is tomorrow. Also enjoying a big day tomorrow is my friend Aimee who is getting married. I wish I could be in the US to celebrate with both of them, but being in Germany is really cramping my visits. So to compensate, here's a picture of me celebrating, and maybe you can hang it up somewhere or something. (I won't be offended if you don't.)
Bis bald!
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