Last weekend I went to Dusseldorf for Japan Day. Dusseldorf has the largest Japanese community in Europe I think, or at least in Germany. Although there were lots of food booths, music performances, and sports demonstrations, the real show was seeing all the fans of anime and manga dressed up. It was an art show in a way. Though, our common question was: Do they happen to have these clothes already at home or do they go out and buy them for events like this? I unfortunately do not have any photos of them.
It was nice to go to Dusseldorf, since I've never been there. We got a two hour city tour, complete with the history of the Japanese in Dusseldorf with way more numbers and dates that I can remember a week later now. We had amazing weather, which I've concluded is the one factor that makes or breaks the mood. The day was further made enjoyable because instead of hanging out with the UROP students, I decided to stick with the student assistants from the International Office, who had also come. I figured I needed to work on building closer relationships and friendships with people I see at work. In the above picture, I'm with Carlo and Sara. She's actually another American intern. I have no idea what's up with all of our green. Dusseldorf was also great, because it has a river, which Aachen is lacking, making it less enjoyable than any city with a body of water. The day was concluded with an excellent Korean buffet.
Work continues to go well. This past Friday was Carolin, the German intern's, last day. It is so amazing to think it's already been four weeks. Now that she's gone, I imagine I'll be able to fill my time more. I'm hoping I don't get too lonely, since we worked together a lot and always got lunch together. I'll be seeing her again, so I'm not too worried. We actually went to a movie this past Tuesday (it's cheaper then) and saw 17 Again. Now, personally, I wasn't very interested in seeing it, even though I had heard that it was good, but she hadn't read Angels and Demons yet, so we couldn't see that. 17 Again was very funny and indeed well done. I wish I could say more to Efron's performance, but since the movie was dubbed, I didn't hear his voice. Taking this into account, he still managed to steal the show, so that must say something for his acting abilities. Aside from the movie's content, I found the film amusing, because as an American, I know what high school is like and what the common stereotype of American high schools in films is. Germans only see one side. I was cracking up just because so many things hit close to home, but also because I know what is true, and I could only imagine what the Germans must think when watching movies set in high schools.
I often get this type of feeling. The one where someone assoicated with the topic being presented is in the room, but either most other people aren't or they don't know I'm there. For example: This past week was "Go-Out Week". The International Office sponsored it in an effort to get more students aware and active about studying or interning abroad. Every day was devoted to a different continent or so. I attended the presentation on the US. It was so fascinating to hear what the woman had to say about our universities or how things are done ( in a positive and correct way, to boot). I'm always consumed with amusement. I don't know if this is because students don't know what awaits them or because I just love the US and college so much.
This past Thursday I went to an orchestra concert with Sara. It was made up of students and faculty of the University of Maastricht, which is right across the border in Holland. It was really good, though I'm no expert in classical music. One of the pieces featured a pianist, who is only twenty years old. He was amazing!! He ended up playing a ten minute encore just about. The pieces included: 2nd Piano Concert from Rachmaninov, „Russia“ from Balakirew, and Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. Afterwards we went for drinks, and I had a frozen strawberry daquiri for the first time. It was so good, I had to get two. ;)
Saturday we took a group of the UROP students to Maastricht. It's only an hour bus ride away, that costs 5EUR. It's famous for it's shopping district, but it's just a great atmosphere. It's also on a river, as the name denotes. Maas-river, stricht- cross....more or less anyways. The town has a university, further increasing its appeal. When we first got there, we took a two hour city tour. Our guide spoke the cutest English and was quite wonderful. Maastricht has the oldest gate in the Netherlands and has quite an interesting history. It as once a stop for pilgrims. It also played an important part during WWII, though I don't remember those details. Back to the gate: It's called Hell Gate, and they say there are three reasons. The first is that during the plague the sick were taken right outside of it to where they were quarentined and eventually died. It was said that they were going to hell. The second was that there were lots of blacksmiths in that area and thus lots of fire and sparks flying...hell. The third is that the equivalent of the red light district was also located here, and so it was appropriately called hell. Maastricht didn't have a very high literacy rate at one point, so many of the streets have pictures above the establishments, such as a cow above a butcher shop. This reminded me of the book "The Handmaid's Tale", because in that book, if I remember correctly, certain people aren't even allowed to learn to read and write, hence signs. I highly recommend that book too. Since the city used to be so religious, it has 52 churches. The guide pointed out you could go to a different one every week, but that the city is all about balance, and so they also have enough bars and such for you to go to a different one every day. Because there are so many churches and fewer church-goers nowadays, churches have been converted into other things. The bishop has however said that any alterations can't be destructive or permanent in the event that the church need to be used in the future, otherwise it'll just get torn down. They've been turned into stores, restaurants, cafes, etc. We saw one that was a bookstore. Talk about a cool work place.
Later in the day we took a river cruise to the St. Petersburg (mound/hill more or less). Lots of sandstone was mined there, and now you can take tours of the caves created, which we did. There are over 22,000 passageways and hundreds of miles. The caves were once prepared in case locals needed to escape or get to safety during the war. There are even ovens and chimneys that were never used. It also became a common place to hang out or take walks. As a result, lots of artists created art on the walls. They needed porous materials, so most of the work is done in charcoal or chalk, since acrylic paint hadn't been invented yet. Our guide for this tour was also excellent. If anyone is interested in more check out maastrichtunderground.nl.
There was also some weird exhibition in one of the squares.
Later that night in Aachen, I went to a birthday party that my buddy invited me to. There was a never ending supply of booze and food. It was quite impressive. I hadn't been there longer than two minutes, when I found myself with a tequila shot in one hand and martini in the other. Talk about knowing how to have fun... Their supply and variety was so good, I even ended up having spiked watermelon (with vodka), that I didn't realize was spiked when I first bit into it. Let me tell you, that certainly packs a punch. That is also something I think everyone should try at least once in their life. The best drink I had though was with this liquor I'd never heard of: 43. As Wikipedia states, "it is made from citrus and fruit juices, flavored with vanilla and other aromatic herbs and spices, in total 43 different ingredients (hence the name)." What is weird is that you mix this with milk (lowfat). Just that makes me uneasy and watching it, I was very skeptical, but it's so delicious!! I swear you could drink tons of it. It's not a girly drink and it's way better than a white russian.
I went to the church for the first time yesterday, and I'll probably go from now on, provided I'm in town. Mass was at 7:30pm...perfect. And finally, I managed to see the cathedral in the last two weeks. For those of you who don't know, it served as the coronation church for Charlemagne among other emperors. It's actually very small in terms of length and width, but it's got huge ceilings and the detail is exquisite. I didn't take any pictures, since you're supposed to pay, apparently, and I figured I would respect that. Check it out at www.aachenerdom.de It claims to have four relics, all of significant important, though if you ask me that's what makes a relic a relic: the apparel of the Virgin Mary, the so-called swaddling clothes and the loincloth of Christ, and the decapitation cloth of John the Baptist.
50 more days till I come home. I swear I'm not really counting.
As for me, I think I prefer shorter more frequent posts.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the movie theater like? Was it downtown, or out of town? How many screens were there? How many movies were showing? How many German films versus American ones? Were there films from any other European countries?
What sort of food was available? Popcorn? Candy? Nachos? Hot dogs?
Tuesdays are cheaper here too, that's when I usually go to the movies. Do they have student discounts for stuff in Germany the way they do in America?
The shorter and more frequent posts are on their way!! The movie theater I went to was similar to mainstream ones in the US, though maybe not quite as big. I think this theater had 9 screens, which is actually a lot. I'm not sure how many movies were showing, but there are also two smaller theaters in this area, one of which tries to play movies in the original English apparently.
ReplyDeleteMost of the films are American, mostly just because Germany doesn't produce nearly as many movies, but they did have German and foreign ones.
They have all the same food available, including beer...maybe not hot dogs. Their popcorn tends to be like kettle corn, and if they have it, you'd have to ask extra for salty popcorn.
The theater prices are a bit different because you pay differently depending on where you sit: less for the front, more in the back...sometimes it's actually assigned seating.
I think they did have student tickets.
In general this was one of the biggest and nicest theaters I'd ever been to in Germany.