Europe

So when I arrived in Germany, it failed to flip my mind inside out in the way that china did, so I thought that there would not be much to write about. It is relatively the same as the United States (in comparison to China) as I think most western countries are. However, now I am ending 8 months of University during which I have attended two different German Universities, met and became friends with people from a greater variety of countries that I would have imagined possible, and visited most countries I would have liked to.

I am sitting in Gran Canaria where I will be for five months finishing my thesis, and I dont have anything else to do, so I figured I would write about the past 8 months, people and experiences. Unfortunately again, it is impossible to put this experience adequately into words; to properly introduce all the people and the subtle enjoyable traits of their personalities...simple things that make you laugh...etc. In addition, I have visited so many friends in so many places, none of which I can say I enjoyed more than the other, but all of which exceeded my expectations (which I believe means that one has had a good life), but the point is that some of the places yielded better pictures than others, and while each picture, good and bad means something to me, not all pictures would entertain anyone but me. Therefore, I hope no friend visited takes offense that their home country has less pictures than another.

So here we go, with too much information and a futile attempt to convey a priceless 8 month experience:

Oldenburg (Germany)
I arrived in Oldenburg at 2 am in the morning, on a train from Hamburg, which is the city I flew to directly from Beijing. Can I say that I dont think there are many places more opposite of each other than China and Germany. Things in China are too dirty...and things in Germany are too clean. In China, people fly by the seat of their pants a bit too much...people in Germany are a bit too concerned with the rules. Things in China at times can seem a bit too disorganized...while people in Germany are at times too organized (but it is amazing that they get the busses to arrive exactly at 8: 23 almost every time). One would have to make the same trip I did to feel the way I did (which is the exact thing that make telling all of this a bit difficult...)

Never the less, I got settled and met the class full of approximately 32 students (~15 EUREC students (including me), and ~17 PPRE students) from all over the world, some of the more outstanding home countries were...well, just look at the picture. EUREC students would move to 2 different locations through out their masters program, the PPRE stay at Oldenburg the whole time, but we all start together, so in my mind, it is kind of the same class)

I dont know where to begin with this group, so I will just end it and let photos speak for themselves. Studying with this group in Oldenburg could be considered one highlight of my life. The people, interactions and friendships for this class were unique, even for this program. Teachers asked what it was that make this class get along so well. Andreas, our only german in the class, half jokingly said it was that we partied alot together, but of course its more than that. We partied together, travelled together etc. We of course also studied together because these 4 months in Oldenburg were also some of the more academically intense months of my life. I spent a good amount of time with Roberto, my lab partner from Guatemala.

My bike ride to class in Oldenburg

Georgos (from Greece), Teacher Liz, Georgos (from Greece)

Oldenburg classroom, 6 hours a day, 4 days a week

From inside an old windmill

Lake in a nearby town Bad Zwichenan

Someone notable who was not from class is Cecile, my crazy german neighbor in the dorms...dont know what to say about her but shes crazy (in a nice way), we would often times eat together, and she's one of my best friends in Oldenburg.

Francois and Cecile

I dont want to offend anyone, but the only thing good about german food is the bread...and maybe the food in the south.

Over the 4 months in Oldenburg I was fortunate enough to travel a bit as well.

Went to see Alan on tour with Buble


Copenhagen

I visited Aya, one of people i met from China

Highlights of Copenhagen:

• riding a bike around the city
  

France I

I met Astrid in 2004-05 when she was doing her internship in California for 5 months. We always stayed in touch so I thought that I would abuse the friendship and visit her. And now begins my interest in France. I would like to say that dispite the humorous beef between the US and France, I have found almost all of the french people I have met (4 classmates in Oldenburg, 5 in Kassel, X miscellaneous) to be amazing people with regards to hospitality and education. I think the countryside is absolutely beautiful, and the food as a group is some of the best I have ever had.

I flew to Paris, stayed the night with a friend of a friend of a friend who was so welcoming that he let me share his one room apartment. The next morning I took a train for 3 hours to the small town Astrid is living in...Mayenne I believe. She had a new dog Cooper.

Cooper

It is here that I was introduced to the smelly, but incredibly popular cheese in Europe: Camembert. Its amazing in a smelly french way (but even then, not the smelliest Ive had)

Highlights of France I:

• Meeting a friend of a friend of a friend, and him inviting me to stay in his small one room flat 2 hours later
• Notre Dame
• Wine and Cheese at every fantastic meal
• Character of all the small towns in the countryside

Inside Notre Dame

Berlin - Dusseldorf (Germany)



Luzern (Switzerland)

One other reason I didnt write about Europe, was that I didnt know how to read enough German to navigate the blogspot site in order to start a new blog called craig does europe...but now upon organizing it, it makes sense that I continue on craig does china, because many of the people I visit in Europe are people who I met in China. The next of which is Sabina in her home town of Luzern. Its one of the greatest tourist attractions in Switzerland, but still not spoiled in my opinion. I visited Sabina and her boyfriend Patrick during the mardi gras festival in Luzern, which I found out upon arriving is a really big deal. People show up from all over the area wearing costumes, some of which they spent all year preparing. Fully costumed bands. I also had the pleasure of meeting Sabina's parents (who only spoke Swiss-German...) and eating this gigantic apricot pie for dinner.

5 Cookie monsters are better than 1.

One day we rode two sequential cable cars that went to the top of the mountain (Mt. Pilot i think) showing in the Luzern pictures, which marks the beginning of the Swiss Alps. Then on the way down, I developed my love for long distance sledding: one of the greatests simple pleasures in life I think.

• Highlights of Switzerland:
• Mt. Pilot
• Sledding
• Mardi Gras Festival

Beginning of Swiss Alps from Mt. Pilatus

Mt. Pilatus over Lake Luzern

Kassel (Germany)
The four months in Oldenburg went faster than I could have imagined, and already it was time for the EUREC group to move to the next school. I and four other classmates would be going to Kassel, the others would go to Athens (Greece) and Newcastle (England). Dispite what many Germans I have met say, Kassel was a nice place. Ok the town is not so nice, but the parks and surrounding areas are extraordinary.

The class was only 15 students, all EUREC, and came from different core universities (my core, or first school, was oldeuburg) Loughborough, England; Ecole de Mines, France; Zaragosa, Spain. Again, a really nice group of people. A characteristic of this group was that many liked to play frisbee, therfore my frisbee skills as well as alternative energy.

Allan from Ireland representing the Irish

Mairead from Ireland... sorry Mairead.

Doris (German, not in the program...we have no girls in our Kassel program, except for Mairead)
Jean (Canada), Mariano (Mexico)

Manfred (France), Marc (Spain), Ian (USA)

Mariano and Damien preparing to climb the wind turbine

Ritah (Uganda) with two guys dancing like Hulk-a-maniacs... remember Hulk Hogan?

In a Wind Turbine

The Kassel program was less time intensive than Oldenburg and they were open to shifting certain items in the schedule, so that left more time to travel

Slovakia

The country is developing, but what made the trip a great one was the hospitality of Zuzana (another person I met in China). She lives in Bratislava, and it was the day of her birthday parties upon my arrival, so I was able to meet a group of Slovakians. Before the party Zuzana took me to her favorite indian food restaraunt, which was an old boat on the Danube. We waited for the food for 2 hours, then got up to leave because we had to get to her birthday party. We told the waiter we didnt want the food anymore, then he called down to the kitchen and yelled at the cook who was apparently disgruntled because the owners of the restaraunt stopped paying him, therefore he was working slowly to piss off the customers. We got the food to go, and it turned out to be the best indian food I have ever had, and now every indian food place I go to is in hopes that it will be the same quality as the one in Slovakia.
Zuzana had to work, so I took a day trip to Vienna, Austria. Again, I ended up being delightfully surprised at how nice of a city Vienna was. Art, history, distinct neighborhoods, museums, castles, permanent international open air market, tram system...one could live very happily in Vienna.

Schloss Schönbrunn

Later that day ...man I cant remember everything, I think it was that day, we went to a Slovakian castle and saw a nice birds of prey show. It was one of those things where she asked: ``Do you want to see a bird show?'' and I though, ``bird show? i guess...'' then it turned out to be really entertaining because they had alot of cool birds flying around in their own unique ways (go figure). Something interesting is that the bird...zoo...was manned by high school kids who were training vocationally to be bird trainers. I think its part of the Slovakian history, so they are keeping it alive. Nice huh?
The next day, Zuzana drove me to her family's house in Kezmarok (translated Cheese market) which is in East Slovakia. (Bratislava is in the west). I have found Slovakian food to be really good as well, cheesy and a bit heavy, but tasty and alot of variety...maybe thats just compared to German food (Bratwurst + Schnitzel). Zuzanas dad is the head of the hospital in this town, so he is personal friends with the mayor who gave me a signed book introducing me to Kezmarok. Nice huh?

Halshky (spelling?) and Perogies (spelling?)

The next day we drove to Krakow in Poland. Great drive, nice place.

4 different Borsches...the best soups Ive had.

Then back to Kezmarok to go to a Slovakian mountain.

Mt. Tetra, East Slovakia

Highlights of Slovakia:

• Bird show outside of Slovakian Castle
• Food
• Slovakian Mountain
• Borsch in Krakow
• Kezmarok

Weimar (Germany)
I became quite good friends with a nice german girl named Magdalena (I call her Macarena) who is an aspiring opera student, so one day I went to another German city Weimar, with her because she had an opera lesson in the castle at Weimar. I hung out the the castle and in the hills around the castle while she had her 2 hour lesson.



Milan (Italy)

Talented Group of street performing Gypsies

Again, Alice whom I met in China, was living at home in Milan so I abused the friendship and went to visit her. In addition, Roberto, my former roommate in Hangzhou lives in Milan so it was nice to see both of them again. I stayed with Alice's parents the first night, who made me a nice Italian dinner and invited Roberto.
The next day Alice and I rode the train to her families other house on Lake Como. I didnt know what was special about Lake Como, but then I found out it is the home of the original town Bellagio, and it is also the site where they filmed the villa scene of the new Star Wars. It was absolutely beautiful. Hopefully the pictures can speak, but then they never really speak enough...

Alice (at the entrace to her house)

View of Lake Como from Alices house

The real Bellagio

The next day Alice had other obligations, so I went to Venice by myself for a night.

A shop window in Venice

Plaza San Marco, Venice

Really good Vivaldi String Concert in Venice.

Venice

After that, I went back to Milan to hang out with Alice and Roberto a bit. Roberto showed me around while Alice was busy. He knows alot, after all hes a writor. Later, I met with Alice and then went to the roof of the big cathedral in Milan.

Inside the Cathedral in Milan

The roof of the Cathedral in Milan

Frieburg, Munich, Nurmburg

Mariano with the small back pack...

A couple of my good buddies (Mariano and Manfred) from the Kassel group and I went on a week long trip to Frieburg, which is the gateway to the black forest, then Munich, a famous castle called Neuschwanstein, and Nurmburg. The black forest consisted of a day full of hiking up a hill, getting too tired to carry on, taking the bus down the mountain, then catching a train to our original destination Titisee. Nice huh?

Manfred had to go meet a friend coming into town in Kassel, and Mariano and I continued on to Munich where we met with Anya (from China Tibet) who is getting her masters degree for three years in Germany. Here we got our first taste of the beer gardens, giant pretzels and (contrary to what one would believe) quite expensive beer.

Great street performers in Munich

Park in Munich, naked people there. Saw a short naked german guy walking around sporting his stuff wearing nothing but a white hat.

The three of us then rode the train to the southern border of Germany where the famous castle Neuschwanstein is located. Supposedly this is the castle Disney modeled its castle after.




Then we continued to Nurmburg which is where Anya lives and we looked around the city and went to this beer festival in Erlanger that Anya heard about. She said it was supposed to be big, but we found out that that would be a big understatement. Six bands playing at the same time, Packed with people. Cows on rotiseries, and not a vegitable in the place.

Thats a cow in a rotisseri...a whole cow.

Back in Nurmburg we were eating lunch with the lady who runs the hostel we were staying at, and she told us that the Dalai Lama was coming to Nurmburg that day, and we (Mariano and I...the chinese dont like him) were all, ``no way!'' So we waited outside this place for like 2 hours to see the Lama.

The crowd to see the Lama

Later we went to the site of the old Nazi rallies. Nurmburg was the site of the National Socialist party head quarters. We stood on the same platform that the Furor stood on in those famous speeches. Oddly, there were two akward German kids there who were reading passages from the Furor's book and doing that straight-legged march that the Nazis used to do. As Mariano said, they were just 50 years too late. :)

Highlights:

• Hike in Black Forest
• Beer Gardens in Munich
• Neuschwanstein
• Dalai Lama
• Camping in a country club

Lake Titisee...

Athens (Greece)
This trip was pushing my time and money limits, but I figured that I had to go while I had friends there, so I went for a long weekend. This happened to be the last weekend of classes for the EUREC students in Athens, so I was able to party with all the old people from Oldenburg.

I basically just wandered around Athens for afew days,

Temple of Athena

View of Athens from the Acropolis

Ian (from Oldenburg and Kassel) was meeting his mom for a cruise in Athens so he came seperately, but we all met up. One of my buddies Petros (who is greek) took us to eat Cretian food in a very small restaraunt, the kind you would only go to if a local told you about it. It was all really good, including the snails on the middle plate.

Cretian food. Good

Acropolis at night

Oldenburg Excursion (Germany)
I had to get back for this 2 week excursion with the old group from Oldenburg which took us all around germany on a private bus to various alternative energy sites, companies, pilot projects etc, ending with a hike and 2 night stay in a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps powered with a renewable energy Hybrid system.


There was no hot water in the hut and no showers, so it is at this time that I realized my dream of staying in a room with 18 guys (who have not showered) in basically one big bed.

Solene (France) passing out after a day of hiking

Rania (Sudan) and Anwar (Bangladesh). Both are Muslim.
Thats a beer. Thats whats funny.

Xavier at a Beer garden during one of the soccer games they televise there...he doesnt care about the game, and thats whats funny.

France II
Since I was technically homeless for the month of June, I decided to go from the Oldenburg trip straight to France for a week because Xavier and Solene, two good French friends of mine were going to Paris on their ways home. Astrid was again willing to accomodate me last minute and I had a great time again. This time I met here parents and boyfriend, and Cooper grew up a bit since the last time I saw him.

Astrids boyfriend Alex at Mt St. Michel

Astrids dad cooking in the fireplace

Mt. St Michel Back

Mt. St Michel front