I cannot believe it's been so long since I've written anything about my travels :( I'm going to see if I can't do some summaries just to catch you up.
Last summer, I wasn't able to make it to Germany or Austria. I changed jobs & am now teaching at the University of Alabama full time. In changing jobs, I wasn't able to assist withe Auburn program in Vienna. It was really sad to miss a summer abroad but I did enjoy spending the summer with my family on Lake Martin. I also got to be at Davis' birthday in person so I wouldn't change that for the world.
This summer I'm back across the big pond. I left on June 4th & arrived in Berlin on June 5th. I had a wonderful send off & a nice flight (I had two seats to myself).
Andrea was there in Berlin to pick me up from the airport. From there, we headed to the Baltic Sea. I had never been too far north so we decided to spend some time up there this year. Her nephew & my friend, Marius, studies at the university in Greifswald. That was our first stop! Andrea reserved a small vacation apartment for us on the harbor. It was nice & relaxing. It's the birthplace of the painter Caspar David Friedrich as well as a nice little town. We spent some time walking around that first day before I reached my, "I need a shower", point. After a shower we headed into town to have dinner with Marius. That was enough for the first day. The rest of the weekend we went to various places on the see. We took a ferry ride to see the chalk cliffs on the island Rügen. They are absolutely beautiful! We also went to other various places throughout the weekend: Stralsund, Stettin, Wieck. On Monday, we headed to Berlin to drop off my large suitcase at a friend's, Brigitte, & spend the night with her. Tuesday, we headed out for the long drive back south. Andrea was a trooper. It was extremely hot & the interstate was filled with traffic. We stopped a couple of times to stretch our legs, use the bathroom, & eat a sandwich. It turned out to be a friend of ours, Uwe's, birthday so we stopped in Karlsruhe to surprise him with my visit, wish him a Happy Birthday, & have some good food with friends. From there, it was off to my "German home", Sinzheim.
I was only in Sinzheim for a couple of days but I had a nice visit with my "parents", Melanie & Karl, as well as a couple of good cooking courses. I always love hanging out with the fam. Relaxing on the patio over a glass of wine & some fresh fruit :)
After a lovely but short visit, I left Sinzheim on Thursday headed for Herne in the industrial region of Germany. My friend, Val, has lived there for 8 years & whenever I'm in Germany I have to go visit. The previous Monday there was terrible weather in the area with many trees down. My train was detoured to Dortmund but Val was there to pick me up so no stress. It's always so wonderful to catch up with this college friend & her boyfriend. They are always the best hosts. Werner had to work on Friday so Val & I spent the day in Essen doing some shopping. Don't worry...I didn't spend too much money but we had a fun time goofing off & enjoying each other's company. Friday was also the begin of the World Cup in Brazil. Since I got to decide what we were having for dinner, it was Chinese take out & soccer! Saturday we got up early to head to Oberhausen on the ferry. In Oberhausen there was an exhibition in an old Gasometer. This region was big for coal but many of the old coal thingys are empty. The area has done a great job trying to revive it by turning them into art exhibitions or sport (wall climbing, diving, etc.) things. That way they can attract some of the locals as well as tourist. We saw the exhibition & headed to the tip top for a bird's eye view of the area. Then it was time for a Schnitzel before heading home. Sunday was a sleep in & enjoy a nice breakfast kind of day. The only thing on the schedule was a stadium tour of the FC Schalke 04 team at 2:30. We made it in plenty of time & had a nice tour. It's definitely a different type of stadium as opposed to our college football stadiums but this one was done extremely cleverly. 1st, they have the field out of real grass on a track so they can roll it out into the sun. They save a lot of money by not having to replace the field regularly. The grass gets the sun & rain naturally & lasts much longer. 2nd, by taking the field out, they are able to use the stadium for all sorts of things. While we were there, VW was doing some sort of secret event where they were testing some of the new models. They also have concerts there. 3rd, they have a huge section were you can pay per seat & eat & drink while watching the game on tv. It's like being at a sports bar at the stadium. 4th, they have some amazing lounges (sky boxes) which are really expensive. Once you pay for this space, you can renovate however you want for the year. One of the players has one for his family which is rumored to have a bed & a shower in it. Pretty cool! That was pretty much it for Sunday but there was a lot of chatting, eating, & watching of soccer. Monday, I was headed to Nürnberg & the trains were running from the area again. It was delayed by an hour but I made it safely. It was really sad to say goodbye to Val after a great weekend.
Ok...so what was I doing in Nürnberg? I met my Auburn colleague, Traci, to work on our joint book club. Of course, we also did some catching up. Since I've moved to Tuscaloosa, we don't get to see each other much but we both lead a book club on our campuses. We do the same book & our students answer questions on a blog to help each other our. We decided to meet before she started the Wien program & I started the Berlin program. I ate quite a few of my favorite sausages, Nürnberger. I LOVE those things!! It was also nice to take Traci Erlangen. I studied there, her boyfriend taught there a year, & one of our former students/one of my current graduate students is currently studying there. We showed her around the small university town & took her to one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Of course, no Italian meal is complete without some ice cream. Alicia, the student, & I also had a surprise in the works. Another former student of ours, Rob, is currently doing an internship for Siemens in Forcheim. Alicia & I made plans to meet him for dinner. We didn't tell Traci so it was a nice surprise. It also happened to be his birthday. It was a fun gathering. A couple of other great meetings were with my former "exchange mother", Frau Arneth, & a student who will be coming to Tuscaloosa this upcoming year, Anna. I had not seen Frau Arneth in 12 years so it was so wonderful to catch up with her over a cup of coffee. She hasn't changed one bit. Traci & I got a lot of work done & enjoyed spending the time together. We hope to continue. She left on Thursday night & I left Friday morning headed for Berlin.
My train arrived in Berlin today at 2 pm. I made my way to the Heinrich Heine Strasse to pick up the keys to my apartment. After getting all my luggage in one place, I headed to the grocery store. It hurt to spend the money but I'm looking forward to not having to eat out so much. Not that eating in is any healthier but it's definitely cheaper :) This will be home for the next 4 weeks. The students will be arriving tomorrow & I'll accompany my colleague Rasma to the airport to meet them.
Now I'm off to watch the Switzerland/France game. Still figuring out how to put up pics from my iPad so you'll have to check back later for those :(
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