Blogwurst Leftovers, Part II : Marty's Revenge

Hello friends!  How are you?  I am always talking about myself, and I never ask how you are doing.  I hope you're doing well, and feeling good about spring.  Daylight savings has happened in the US, but not yet in Germany.  We'll change our clocks this coming Sunday, and then the fun will really begin.


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:

Aerial view of the Schloss and surrounding gardens

The second reason that the trip was enjoyable was because the interviews that we did went really well.  My colleague Silvana and I met with four researchers, and the interviews were excellent.  We were both nervous, as neither of us had ever done interviews before, but all four of our interviewees were friendly, welcoming, and informative.  It was a great feeling.


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.  

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.  

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! 

Millenium Park at night

"The Bean" at night

The same Bean during the day

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".  

"Bedroom"

"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! 

Blogwurst Leftovers, Part I

Hallo Volker!  I hope everyone has had a nice few weeks, and that the weather, wherever you are, is (check one): improving; or staying nice.  I don't want to scare it away by saying anything, but I think Spring is poking it's head out and looking around Kassel, wondering if it should come out at all.  I'm trying to be unassuming and not look it right in the eye, but still welcoming.  I am treating Spring like a timid puppy.

Anyway, I have had a very good few weeks, especially after getting the wretched geflügelwurst out of my system.  It's not that I have done anything particularly adventurous or exciting, I'm just doing well with my papers, progressing well with the research project at work, and making plans for the future.  I did have a nice girls night out last night with Christine, which was long overdue.  I have seen plenty of the Svensons lately, but it's only when I'm arriving to babysit, or they are arriving home after I've babysat.  It was high time for us to have adult-centered time.  We went to the movies to see "The Kings Speech", in German.  I had already seen in it English, and I thought it would be fun, and beneficial, to see it in German.  If you haven't seen it yet (in any language), I highly recommend it.  Colin Firth earned the best actor Oscar, and Geoffrey Rush is an excellent complement.  Anyway, it was brilliant in English, and also in German.  I didn't understand everything, of course; they speak quickly, and it was often a translation of "stuffy ole British", but I never had a moment where I thought, "Jeez, this is obviously dubbed."  Actually, I was only reminded of that at one moment when the characters are watching a broadcast of Hitler speaking, in German, and the little girl asks her father, in German, "What is he saying, Papa?" and the father answers, in German, "I have no idea."  That reminded me that it was dubbed.   Still, they did an excellent, excellent job.  After the movie we went to the most wonderful and hilarious bar I have ever been to.  I was so happy that it exists, I could barely control myself.  I actually felt afraid that it might close or disappear before I could visit again.  

So after a night of delicious cocktails and adult conversation, I have spent my Saturday cleaning, doing laundry, window shopping for clothes, and working on my paper.  I am actually pretty on my own this week, as all of my friends have abandoned me.  Ok, that's a lie.  I have plenty of friends left in Kassel, but the people that I would see on a daily basis have all gone away.  Two of them jetted off to Bologna for a conference, two jetted off to Chile for a conference, and one has the audacity to have a internship in Brussels.  It's a bummer, but it's given me motivation to be productive.  And also, to update this silly blog with memories from my time at home last fall.  So, let's hop in the DeLorean and head back to October 2010!

(Do DeLoreans even say "vroom"?)

I left Frankfurt on October 1, had a fairly uneventful flight to Toronto (except for my broken tray table and TV screen), and went through the customs and security to get to my flight to Boston.  I had to go through US customs in Canada too, and the officer was kind of rude.  He saw my German residence permit, and took that as license to question why I was coming to the US at all.  He didn't believe that I had family in the US, that I would want to visit them, and that I could possibly have three months to do so.  He also didn't believe that I didn't have a billion dollars worth of smuggled leather in my suitcase.  Still, being the nice guy he was, he let me in and I prepared to go through security again.  The agent scanned my boarding pass again to confirm that I wasn't an illegal stowaway (I presume), and promptly informed my that my flight to Boston had been cancelled.  I was directed to the Air Canada desk to find out why and what could be done.  It turns out that they had cancelled almost all the flights to Boston because it was windy.  Windy.  Now I get it, I'm sure it was  extra windy, and if they thought it was bad enough to cancel the flight, it probably wasn't safe, so I'm glad that they did cancel it.  I'm also grateful that we didn't find this out after we were already on the runway or in the air.  But the matter of fact way that the attendant said this was ridiculous.  "Oh, your flight's been cancelled.  Cuz it's windy down there in Boston."  Seriously?  But to Air Canada's credit, they gave me a voucher for $30 so I could have dinner in the airport.

I should mention that since I was flying on October 1, which happens to be right at the end of Oktoberfest (I know, the timing doesn't make sense), there were a bunch of beer-tourists on my flight.  And since this was supposed to be a normal route from Frankfurt to Boston, most of the beer-tourists were Boston-based.  Do you have any idea what a Boston-based beer-tourist is like?  Do you?  I'll tell you.  They are loud, and still drunk.  Also, they have stupid accents.  (Note: I fully admit that I am a breed of Boston-based beer-tourist, but I don't have a stupid accent.  Also, I'm not always loud.)   There were two Boston-based beer-tourists that were not so drunk, not so loud, and quite nice.  We met at the Air Canada desk, and one of them was kind enough to let me use his cell phone to call my mom to tell her that it was windy.  I ran into them again at the only restaurant in our terminal of the airport, and we had a nice meal together.  

We had all been re-booked on a later flight, but that flight continued to get delayed.  Finally, we boarded, and then sat on the tarmac for an hour.  I had bought a little travel pillow in the airport, and I have never been so glad to have anything in my life.  After 7 billion hours (rough estimate) of traveling and not sleeping, I arrived in Boston Logan airport to see my mom and our dog waiting for me, tails wagging.  I arrived in Providence around midnight, and slept for a week.

Early in October I started my internship at Brown University, which was the main reason that I went home in the first place.  I was working in the Office of Continuing Education, and it was a fantastic experience.  I learned a tremendous amount, and I met some wonderfully friendly (and professional) people.  I got a number of good ideas for some papers, as well as a lot of inspiration for a possible angle in my thesis.  I will definitely  keep in touch with the people in that office, they were great to work with.

Slightly later in early October, I got a visit from the Svensons.  It had been about two weeks since I'd seen them, and we just couldn't bear it, so they came to visit.  Well, they were also going to a wedding in Delaware, but I like to think that was secondary.  We went out to Martha's Vineyard for a few days, and they were with me to celebrate my birthday (that's two years in a row!).  They seemed to have a lot of fun on the Vineyard, and I was so glad to be able to share it with them.

Birthday Breakfast!

The picture-perfect family comes standard with the cottage.

Feeding Cheerios to Maisie

Lena loved the flying horses carousel

Towards the end the month I made a trip down to New Jersey to visit my good friends Jess and Vinnie.  This was lovely because they are nice people and I hadn't seen them in a year.  But forget them... there was a BABY!  Their daughter, Hannah, was born in September and I was so looking forward to meeting her.  My friend Hannah (not a baby) and I drove down together from New England, and arrived in the middle of the night.  This wasn't really a problem since "middle of the night" is baby Hannah's favorite time to wake up and yell.  She is a serious baby, and seemed skeptical, but being only a month old, this is understandable.  And being a baby, she is also incredibly sweet.  I loved her instantly.

Hannah and her aunties, Amy and April

So, that's all for October.  Stay tuned for more adventures on our next episode!

I've been betrayed by the one I love

It was a sad day, this past Sunday.  After all we'd been through together, and the fond feelings I had developed, the devotion, and, dare I say the love...  I was betrayed.

I got food poisoning from a Bratwurst.

OK, technically it wasn't a Bratwurst, it was a Geflügelwurst (turkey sausage).  But that doesn't make it ok!

All day on Sunday, and much of Monday was spent hunched over.  I'm not going to go into anymore detail because this is a family blog.  But you can use your imagination.

Anyway, it was the perfect end to the perfect week, let me tell you.  I spent all of last week in the town of Lugano in Switzerland.  I know it sounds exciting and glamorous, but I'm sorry to say, it was not.  I'm sure that Lugano is a lovely place, but I didn't see much of it.  I spent the entire week in a classroom, from 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning until 6:30 or 7:00 at night.  I did have a chance to wander around the lake a little bit, and it was beautiful, but I wish I had been able to go up in some of the cable cars or something.

Of course, this was not a leisure trip, it was business.  And business we did.  The workshops were focused on qualitative comparative data analysis, and organizational theory.  The data analysis workshop was instantly helpful, as I could see very real ways that the strategies we learned could be applied to my research project.  It was a LOT of new information, and a bit overwhelming at times, but in a good way.  The organizational theory workshop was also overwhelming, but unfortunately I was never able to grasp concrete ways that I could use these theories.  To be perfectly honest, I felt like I was in over my head.  I was the only master student there; everyone else either had a PhD, was working on a PhD, or taught PhDs.  I'm not trying to sell myself short; I don't think I'm stupid, but I'm a beginner.  So much of the conversations were beyond me, so I didn't feel like I had much to contribute.  But I am optimistic that someday I'll understand what they were all talking about, and when that day comes I'll have a lot of notes and articles and drawings of chickens to reference.  (When I'm bored I draw chickens.)

(I never said I was good at drawing chickens.)

Anyway, I left Lugano on Friday evening, knowing I had a very long night ahead of me.  It was 4 hours to Basel, and then another 9 to Kassel on an overnight train.  I was excited at the prospect of sleeping in an olde fashioned sleeper car, in a compartment with 6 bunks.  I was lucky to be on the bottom level, so I didn't have to climb any rickety ladders, and I thought I might actually get some sleep.  Silly me.  The man in the bunk above me snored like an 18 wheeler, so no one else was able to sleep at all.  I tried kicking his bunk, to shake him enough to stop the snoring.  I even woke him up at one point and asked him not to sleep on his back, because he was snoring so loud.  He said, "I'll try. SSZZNNNNNRRRKKKK."  I spent most of the night staring into the darkness, close to crying from sleep-deprived frustration.  

(Cabin shown actual size.)

In any case, I survived, and I have never been so happy to be back in Kassel.  The sun seemed to shine a bit more, people were friendlier, and my bed was the sweetest sight I have ever seen.  

I will update soon with some reflections from my time in the US, even though I'm not sure if any of you actually care about that.  Maybe you do.  Maybe I'll make up some stuff to make it more exciting.  

Until then, stay away from the Geflügelwurst. 

Blogwurst has gotten stale.

Hello loyal (and disappointed) readers!  I'm sorry that I haven't updated this blog in over four months.  I am a bad blogger, and I apologize.  The main reason for this is that in October 2010, I returned to the US for three months, and I just came back in January.  (I know it's February, but give me a break, huh?)   I haven't updated since January because I felt so bad that I hadn't written anything since September, and I was overwhelmed at the thought of trying to remember everything that had happened while I was in the US, and thinking about it just made me tired.  But I'm inspired now for some reason, so here I am, ready to share my adventures once again.  I'll warn you though, my adventures are going to be a lot more tame since I am working on a research project, progressing towards my thesis, and not having much money.  


Also, I'm still overwhelmed when I think about trying to share everything that happened in the fall while I was in the US, so I'm just not going to right now.  I'll write about it, I promise, but in pieces, and later.  


I arrived back in Kassel at the beginning of January, and promptly slept for four days straight.  This wasn't entirely because of jet lag, although I'm not as good at handling it as I used to be.  I also had a flu, and I spent much of my flight hallucinating.  When I arrived home to my bed, I did not want to leave for many many days.   


I anticipated the same dreariness that Kassel always has to offer, and after a month back in my depressing little city, I have one thing to say about the weather: Ha ha hahahaha!!  Suckers!! HAHAHAHHAHA!!   While all of you in the United States are stuck with well over two feet of snow, 

Kassel has had actual nice weather!  I don't really mean to gloat, but I had exactly two weeks of nice weather all of last year, so actually... I guess I do mean to gloat.  Enjoy your snow covered misery!

Anyway, it's been a treat to have pleasant weather for once.  Every morning this week I've sat on the balcony at work and read until the sun passes to the other side of the building.  I couldn't have even done that in July last year.  

So, apart from the weather, life in Kassel this year is much like it was last year.  I come to work, I read, I research, I write, and then I go home to work on my papers, and I read, I research, I write.  It's a thrilling existence.  Still, most of my friends are here again, and we have picked up where we left off with our beer and coffee fueled debates and discussions.  Sometimes I wonder if all groups of friends are as argumentative as mine.  Is it because we're all studying the same thing?  

One new thing for this year is that I have started going to the public swimming pool a few times a week.  It's only 2 euros, so it's pretty popular.  The problem is that it is always so crowded, and Germans are somehow incapable of swimming in a straight line.  There are no lane lines or anything, so it's a free for all.  People want to have their own personal lane, so they end up swimming straight into your head.  Last week, I decided to go later in the morning, to avoid crowds.  Well, there were less crowds, but there were TONS of old people.  They weren't so annoying, and at least there was more space in the pool.  

After swimming, I like to go sit in the warm tub for a bit.  Not the hot tub, but the warm tub.  It's three times the size of a hot tub, has far fewer jets, and is pleasantly warm.  I went over to get into the warm tub, but there was a seniors water aerobics class going on.  I waited until they were done, and got in.  Most of the old people got out, but one old lady stayed in (I'll call her Greta).  Then another lady who had been in the class came back, and got in the warm tub (I'll call her Helga).  Greta started screaming at Helga about something, I think it was about her taking up too much space in the warm tub.  Helga started arguing with Greta, and it got really uncomfortable.  Then a third, REALLY old lady came in (we'll call her Olga), and Greta asked Olga to agree with her that Helga was such a jerk.  Olga told her to shut up and stop yelling, so Greta and Helga keep arguing and Olga keeps yelling at them to shut the hell up. 

It was super uncomfortable, so I got out and went into the showers.  

Now, I should mention that the other crowd of people who come to the pool in the morning are young kids having swimming lessons.  There's a revolving door of little kids, and they were everywhere, but fortunately they have their own kiddie pool to swim and be annoying in.  However, when I got into the ladies shower room, there was a big crowd of little kids, age 6 or 7, waiting to go start their lessons.  They were in there with their female teacher, and they were taking turns pre-showering.  I started my shower, but of course there are no curtains or stalls because this is Germany, and soon all the little boys and girls were staring at me, like 6 year olds do.  I tried staring back at them, but they weren't fazed.  I tried to ignore them, but I could feel their little eyes boring into my bare backside.  I was so freaked out to have such an attentive audience while I was showering.  

I may not go to the pool in the morning anymore. 

Well, that's all for now.  I've got papers to write after all.  More soon, I super-promise. 

Tschüss!

Italy, a canal, and some cueca

Well friends, I'm getting close to the end of my first year in Germany, and this summer couldn't have been wrapped up any better. It feels as though several months of happenings were crammed into one, so I hope I can recall it in a coherent way. This will probably be a long post, so tuck in.

For starters, my sister, Chrystena, came to visit me in August and it was a blast. We spent a few days in Kassel, visiting the Herkules monument, having a barbeque with my friends, and walking through Kassel's expansive parks. The weather wasn't really terrible, just normal for Kassel (read: cold and dreary). Fortunately, we weren't staying long, and soon we took off for Italy! Chrystena visited Italy when she was in high school, but that was years ago, and things and people change. I had visited Italy only once, for two days in Venice, so I was eager to see more.

We landed in Rome, and made our way to our little guest house. It was less of a "guest house" and more of "an Italian woman's apartment". It was PERFECT. Anna Maria was pure Italian, and the sweetest woman I have ever met. She sat us on the balcony, made us tea and coffee, and told us what we should do in Rome. She stayed out of our way when we were in the apartment, but she was always pleasant and available if we had questions. We were certainly spoiled right from the start.

Rome itself was interesting, but not in the way I had expected. As you probably know, Rome is full of old things. It's the cradle of civilization and the first society and blah blah, and there is evidence of this everywhere. When I heard people talk about the "Roman Ruins", I imagined a spot with ruins, surrounded by tourists, informational signs, etc. Well, the official Roman Ruins are just like that, but I didn't imagine that there would be unofficial Roman Ruins all over the dang place. Everywhere we went, we tripped over ruins. In fact, our first day in Rome brought us to a little square filled with ruins, and cats. There was a cat sanctuary tucked into the corner of the ruins, and we spoke with the staff there. I learned that there are over 20,000 stray cats in Rome, and they live everywhere.

After hearing this, I noticed cats every place we went. One of the staff members, an Australian guy, gave voice to my thoughts about the rampant ruins. He commented that in Germany, if some historic buildings or sites are uncovered in the process of building or construction, experts are called in to analyze the findings, and they decide whether a) it's worthless - keep building, or b) this is important - stop building. German efficiency, as always. In Italy on the other hand, when historic buildings or sites are discovered, all work comes to a halt, and both the half finished construction and the half uncovered ruins are left untouched. Considering the centuries of incredible history in Rome, the result is a lot of seemingly abandoned work and ruins. This is interesting of course, when you pop out of the subway and are greeted with Ceasar's backyard.

But to be honest, it's also kind of ugly. There. I said it. Rome is ugly.

Don't get me wrong, on an intellectual level I truly appreciate the history and the magnificence and the importance. And in the case of the Colosseum and the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, I appreciate it on a spiritual and aesthetic level as well.

(The Trevi Fountain is always crowded, day or night.)

But these ruins laying around look like ancient abandoned construction sites, complete with yellow caution tape. Big rocks, laying on their sides, crumbling pillars... sure, I get it. But when you see this on almost every corner, the fascination fades quickly. I realize that part of my apathy towards these relics of ancient civilization comes from my almost complete lack of knowledge about ancient Roman history. Perhaps if I knew more, it would spark some kind of stronger reaction in me. As it is, I don't know much and so I am content to nod and move on. I feel a much stronger connection with recent history, like World War II, and that is why Berlin grabbed me so much more. The history there is tangible, real, and the characters of that history are less foreign to me. Somehow, the sites and histories in Berlin (and Dresden and Munich and, and..) are alive and reachable. It hits me on a visceral level.

Well I've digressed quite a bit, haven't I? What city am I talking about? Ah right, Rome. Well, Rome is neato. We saw the "must-see" sites, took pictures of the Colosseum at night, and rubbed elbows with 456 million sweaty tourists.

I do have to give credit to Rome for owning Vatican city, though. (I know they don't OWN it, but they have it surrounded.) As I said, Chrystena had visited Italy before, and Rome and Vatican City were places she had visited already. When I saw the line to get into St. Peter's Cathedral, I wasn't so keen to go in, but she informed me that you simply have to see St. Peter's. I was skeptical, because an old church is an old church, right? (I may be getting cathedral fatigue from being in Europe for too long.) Well, I was wrong. St. Peter's is a damn impressive "old church". (Can you say that about the Vatican? Well, it is.) The sheer size and detail s breathtaking, and the light was just right to give the whole place a spiritual feel. I don't want to be one of those pretentious people who says things like, "you can see pictures of it, but you don't really knowuntil you've experienced the smell of St. Peter's." That's crap, and frankly it didn't smell like anything except tourists and candles. But I will say that I didn't understand the size and magnificence of it until I was standing in the middle, feeling very very small. My pictures probably won't do justice, but I can try.

Well, we left Pope-ville and after an underwhelming sightseeing tour ("That is an old building and an emperor hung out there, probably") we bid farewell to Rome. We took the EuroStar train to Florence, and all of a sudden I felt like we were on our way to REAL Italy.

Florence is the Italian/European/World capital of art, science, sculpture, food, wine and "give it up, you'll never be as great as Florence". The weather was warm and perfect, the city felt real and vibrant, and it was beautiful. Really, really beautiful. After checking into our lovely hotel, (thanks for the recommendation, Jenna!) we got ourselves on another sight-seeing tour. This one was infinitely better than the one in Rome, and I learned a ton. I couldn't possibly recall everything we saw, but I don't think I'll ever forget the views from the top of the hills, the river, and the tops of the cathedrals poking out from the sea of red roofs.

We took a walk around Florence after dark, and the city was transformed. I love seeing cities after the sun goes down; everything looks different, and there are usually less people around. The duomo is stunning, the river is beautiful, and the city seems to come alive with a different kind of energy. There were musicians and street performers and artists, and I was really impressed with the whole place. It just felt friendlier than Rome.

Chrystena had also previously been to Florence, but we both had the desire to see a bit of Tuscany outside of the main city. In true Ewen fashion, we went for the most ridiculous adventure we could find: horseback riding and wine tasting. We were picked up in Florence and driven about an hour outside of the city to a horse farm, loaded onto horses and trotted into the absurdly serene Tuscan countryside. It was a nice ride, although our guide was the opposite of friendly, and we didn't get to do anything other than trot slightly. Oh, and some of us had extremely unruly horses who refused to stay in line and horse-laughed in our faces when we tried to control them with the reins. Hilarious.

After the ride, we were taken to a local castle/winery for wine tasting. Boy was that incredible and delicious. In the past year or so, I've suddenly become a big fan of red wine, so I was really enjoying myself. We bought a few bottles as gifts, and I promised myself I wouldn't drink them before we got them home. We were then taken to lunch at a beautiful lakeside restaurant, and the food was totally delicious. It wasalso a huge benefit that our fellow riders/wine tasters/lunchers were friendly and interesting people. There were two young guys and a girl from Australia who were absolutely hilarious, and a family from Venzuela (although they currently live in Miami.) There were other groups with us at lunch too, and everyone was friendly and outgoing. It was a really nice day, and despite what we expected, the horseback riding wasn't even the beset part of the day.

We left Florence, and I was a bit sad. It felt like a real Italian city, as opposed to just a "real city", and I truly enjoyed it. We were headed for Venice, which of course is as Italian as you can find, but as I've mentioned before, I'm not convinced that it is a real place.

We arrived in the Venice train station and made our way on foot to our hotel. I knew the general area, as it was in the same neighborhood as the hotel I stayed in last time. We had directions from the website, but they were a bit useless. We went in circles for a short time, and then Chrystena sat with our bags while I went to scout it out on my own. As it turns out, it was across the tiny street from my last hotel, just very poorly labeled.

We checked into “The Best B&B in Venice” (although someone had crossed out “best” on the sign and written “worst, so we should have been warned) and found a very bare bones room with no towels or blankets. We were hungry and cranky, and the disappointing lodging didn’t help, but after a meal and a shower, we remembered that we were in Venice, and we went out to explore.

Chrys had never been to Venice, and so we wandered the tiny streets, bought souvenirs, and took 27,000 pictures. We ended our day watching a monstrously large cruise ship slowly make its way through one of the larger canals, and ate dinner on the water. We sat for hours, just talking, and it was one of the nicest evenings I’ve ever had.

We had to leave fairly early the next morning, so we said goodbye to Venice and caught the bus to the airport. It was sad to leave Venice as well, not just because it’s such an incredible place, but because our trip was coming to an end. We landed in Frankfurt and caught another bus to the main airport where we took the shuttle to our hotel. We unpacked all of our belongings and re-packed them for the impending trips home. I had less concern since I was only taking a train home, but Chrystena’s flight back to the US was the next morning, and so she had to be far more tactical.

We said goodbye at the airport the next morning, and I was truly sad to see her go. It was such an incredible 10 days, and it was important to spend so much time with my sister. We got on each others nerves, of course, but the bonus of being sisters is that you can annoy the crap out of each other, and a bit later you’re over it with no (or few) hard feelings.

Chrys had a successful flight home, while I managed to miss my train and lose my new hat. I suppose that’s about par for the course.

Back in Kassel the weather was positively drab, although from what I hear, drab was a huge step up from what the weather had been the previous week. (A good time to go to Italy, everyone said.) I had lunch, a nap, and then Eduardo and I went down to the Orangerie for an open air symphony concert. We met up with Christian and Christine and Lena, and thankfully the weather cooperated. The concert was absolutely wonderful, and the park was packed. We wondered where all these Kasselarians are on a normal Saturday; the city seems so empty most of the time. I suppose they are inside their homes watching TV or being efficient.

Anyway, since then I’ve fallen back into a routine of working and reading and writing papers. The weather has been up and down, as usual, and I’ve tried to take advantage of it when I could. Last week I went on a boat trip to the small town of Hann. Münden, just up the Fulda river, and while the weather was once again drab, it was a nice trip. The coolest part in my opinion was that we went through a series of four locks (or Schleusen, auf deutsch). I had never been in a lock before, and it was really cool. One of them actually had a change of over 15 meters! It was a hoot.

Another recent fun event was (another) barbeque that we had at my apartment. You may not be aware that Chile celebrated its 200^th anniversary of independence this year, on September 18^th. The best way to celebrate the hard fought struggle for independence and freedom is of course to throw a lot of meat over some hot coals, so that we did. Additionally, I assisted two actual Chileans in the making of empanadas, (which are delicious pockets of dough stuffed with ground beef and onions), and they were mouthwatering. It took hours of dough making and rolling and onion cutting and crying and beef cooking and dough-pocket making, but the results were totally worth it. As a bonus, we had enough leftover dough and beef to make a meat pie, topped with mashed potatoes, and I’m still working on finishing that. Yum.

Anyhow, it was different than our regular barbeques, because we had to celebrate Chile, which meant making the two Chileans dance their traditional dance, the Cueca. I have a video of this event, but it would be far too cruel of me to post it. Instead I will post this video of cueca dancing by two children, and you can imagine it being done far, far worse.

Well, that’s about it folks. I hope you have had as much fun this summer as I have, and I am truly looking forward to getting back to New England in time for fall.

Bis dann!