Final Blog

I am grateful for the opportunity to go to Bremen and to have a study abroad experience. I have always desired to do a study abroad but found it difficult as a mechanical engineering student. I hope UCF will continue to seek out programs for students and feel hopeful that UCF and Hochschule Bremen will continue working together for successful student experiences. I enjoyed working with Sandra and Maureen at the universities in the administration of this program and found them to be very supportive. 

        I was very excited to have the opportunity to travel to Bremen and work as a mechanical engineering intern in production at Airbus. It was a dream job and I was willing to do everything required of me to get there. Unfortunately, Airbus did not meet my expectations nor did they have a mechanical engineering job for me when I arrived, even though I had a contract. I worked with the resources available and did as Airbus requested. Even though I had in writing that I would be paid for the two weeks that I worked at Airbus, and it was mutually beneficial that I leave when I did, Airbus contacted me a month later and said they would not pay me. Airbus had broken the work contract. I traveled to work with them and was out time and money due to Airbus’s employment issues. 

Thankfully, Sandra at Hochschule Bremen worked to find another internship for me in Bremen. I interviewed at a thermodynamics lab in the engineering department and was told about work that would be happening in the lab this summer. It sounded like a great fit and an area that I had experience with and something that would be mutually beneficial. I agreed to accept the position and went to work the next week.  Two weeks later, we still had not begun any engineering work, and I was asked to hold on and continue work on editing papers and writing posters for another week. A month into the internship, my lab mate and I approached the professor again, requesting engineering work, but we were told there would not be any due to the lack of work during the summer. I spent the entire internship writing, translating, and editing papers and creating posters.

Like anywhere, there are hard working people and there are lazy people. I think the thing that surprised me the most is how the Germans were late to meetings. I had the stereotype that they were always on time, but for most of my meetings, I was early and everyone else was late. This happened at Airbus, at the university, with professionals, and with students, so I had a decently large sample size.

I visited Scotland, London, Hungary, Amsterdam, Hamburg, and traveled to Berlin. I enjoyed the historical value of the places I visited. Each country and city has much longer history than the United States. I enjoyed the compactness of the places and the ease of traveling to and within each place. I find that Americans seem more personable than people in the other countries. For example, Americans tend to greet people as they pass them on the street, either with a “Hello” or a simple smile. My experience in Hungary was that people are respectful of Americans and are still appreciative of their assistance during/after WWII. In Bremen and London, no one really cared where you were from. In St. Andrews in Scotland, it seemed like half of the people there were American. I am not sure how other countries felt about Germans. However from my friend at St. Andrews, I learned that the Scottish stereotype of Germans was that the students party hard, stay up late, and have a strange sense of fashion – colorful attire that doesn’t necessarily match with our standards.

I went to the Hamburg Harbour festival which was basically like a state fair. There were many people and it was difficult to move through the crowds at times. It had food and drink vendors like a street fair in the states. They also had rides for little children. The rides were similar to those we have at county and state fairs. Also, everything is closed on holidays except for the necessities.

I did not like the herring, fried or pickled; liver and onions that I had for lunch one day; and a couple stinky cheeses. I drank and enjoyed the various beers and fruit drinks such as sparkling apple/grapefruit juice.  I enjoyed all Schnitzel and strudels, sausages, sliced meats, pastries, spargel, currywurst, and even sauerkraut. My favorite German dishes were Kartoffelpuffer – pan fried potato cakes, usually served with apple sauce- and Brezel - soft pretzels. In Bremen, there are many bakeries that I enjoyed. 

My semester pass lets me use all of the transportation in Bremen and Bremerhaven. I use the trams in Bremen almost every day so this is very useful. The trams and busses go just about everywhere and are very fast and efficient. You can just get on and you only have to show your semester pass if there are people on there checking that people have tickets, which only happened a few times to me. My semester pass also lets me get on any regional train in the states of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lower Saxony. If I did not have a semester pass, it would have cost about 30 Euro to go round trip between Bremen and Hamburg. As a tourist, you can purchase a one-way ticket, a day ticket, or a specified amount of time ticket. In cities with subways, they operate just like the trams but go underground and often move much faster. What I find amazing about the trains is that I can show up to the trains station 10 minutes before my train leaves, walk to the platform, wait a minute or two for my train to arrive, and just get on the train when it gets there. There is no security! To get on the monorail at Disney you have to go through security. Also, the airport security that I have experienced in Europe has been very similar to in America. I do not know if they have that airport security and no train station security because of international laws regarding aviation. It is also surprising that there are no ticket turnstiles to go through before you get on the train. While you are on your way, an employee comes and checks that everyone has a ticket. When this happens, I just show them my semester pass. Once, someone asked me to show an ID, even though my semester pass has a picture on it. I just find it so amazing that just show up at the train station and get on a train. It is just so simple. The trains, trams, and busses are very reliable and punctual. There are many city hopper planes. The cost of flying can be as inexpensive as a train ticket but usually cost less than $100 to fly within Europe on discount airlines. Other well known airlines have similar cost to regional plane tickets in the United States. The issues I found with city hopper flights are reliability and delays. I was delayed on many regional flights and saw that some were cancelled and moved to the next flight. Bikes are a very common mode of transportation throughout Germany and Amsterdam. Every resident owns at least one bicycle. The bikes are separated from the road, which makes me feel a lot safer if I am riding.

I was hoping to take in a concert at the Glocke but there were no performances during the month of July and it did not open again until I left the country. The Metropol Theater host a variety of performances and is very popular. I was unable to get tickets to performances while I was in Bremen. Unfortunately, most all performances in Bremen are in German. I did enjoy the museums and the parks in Bremen. Bremen is Germany’s third greenest city. The parks are lush, and filled with flowers and singing birds. Every park has walking and cycling paths and benches for people to use.  People in Bremen are proud that they have so many parks. They feel it leads to a better quality of life. I was fortunate enough to see a musical while I was in London. It was enjoyable to dress up a bit and have an evening of music, dance and theater. The experience was very similar to attending a performance at the Dr. Phillips Center or theater in New York.

I only met one intern from a country other than Germany or the United States. He was my lab mate and is from Kenya. 

Initially, I was amazed that I was the only international student to successful begin an internship at Airbus. The other people hired for the summer semester never made it through the process. After that, I was amazed at having the opportunity to travel with ease to historically important places. The ease of using trains and the frequency airplane travel to other cities within Europe. 

I was contracted to do mechanical engineering in production for Airbus. On my first day, no one knew I was coming because my back up supervisor wasn’t there. Upon arrival (on my second day), I was placed in a position to evaluate staffing for the company. My supervisor was on vacation for the first week I was at Airbus and no one knew what to do with me. When the supervisor returned to work, he informed me that there was no engineering position available. I had been informed that English would be spoken in the facility since it is an aeronautical company. Unfortunately, I had to attend meetings that were held in German and I could not understand how I could do clerical analysis of people that I could not communicate with. I did not have any education or experience in human resources, clerical work, or staffing profiles. I worked hard to present my findings and then worked with the supervisor and human resource department to find a place for me as well as a place for future international students. I recommended they hire industrial engineers with experience with the German language for the opportunities that they were allowed to hire for in the future. UCF encouraged me to work with Hochschule Bremen to find a new workplace for me in Bremen for the remainder of my summer study abroad time. I went to work in a mechanical engineering/thermodynamics lab that proposed work that I was familiar with and I could contribute to. I arrived at the lab and help finish a research paper and create a poster that was due in two weeks. After that the professor said we would begin engineering work. I joined another international student that had been hired for the same project. After 6 weeks in the lab, we had not begun any engineering work, only editing and creating papers and posters for other people. My lab mate and I felt we had knowledge to offer to actual engineering projects but at that point were told we would not be able to conduct engineering work because it was summer and there is little work that happens during the summer. We would only be finishing up loose ends form the year. I believe the obstacles that I over came while doing my international program was having to work with others from a different culture and learning how to communicate respectfully that the jobs I had been told I would do was actually not ever part of the job. I also learned that I can make it on my own and do the jobs presented to me even when they are very foreign. I learned I could quit something that was not beneficial to anyone involved because continuing something that is wasteful is worse than respectfully resigning. I learned that communications is vital. During the first two weeks in Germany, I was told by Airbus that I had to do many government documented things that was not required of other international students. I also did not qualify for many things Airbus wanted due to the semester length. Most requirements involved at least 180 days stay, such as work permit, temporary residency prior to arrival, tax identification numbers and bank accounts. I believe there are many issues Airbus needs to remedy prior to inviting international student to come for the semester. The University was very helpful and was more in tuned to the requirement for semester international students, even though I did not do engineering there.

I had no prior exposure to the German language except for basics from Duo Lingo. I can understand the basics now, but not much more. Most of the German people were kind and patiently worked with me to communicate necessary information. I found it awkward at times when the person I was trying to communicate with and I did not speak the same language. I learned that gestures and a smile will often end with successful communication. Occasionally, I would find a salesperson that wanted to practice their English with me. 

I was unable to gain any knowledge and skills relative to my career because of the repetitive editing and poster creation using photo shop and lack of engineering. I did learn that even though things may not go as planned, respectful pleasant interactions make a difficult situation more palatable. I also learned that if I can not make my experience better, it feels good to believe I may be helping the next person that may follow in my path. 

I went to the Hamburg Harbour festival celebrating 829 years of Hamburg’s port. Because of the festival, there were a lot of cool boats, that I took lots of pictures of. I do not know much about boats, but many of them looked very old. I saw one that was steam powered! Since this is such a big event, I had even seen some of these boats on the local news the night before. I saw a Mississippi type river boat on the news and then in person (I know it was the same boat because it had the same name, Louisiana Star). I walked around the festival area and got some food. It had a state fair kind of vibe. But I was still interested to try German fair food. I got fries with mayonnaise (the best fry condiment), some sausage with a bun that was much smaller than itself, and a fried potato cake with applesauce. I am pretty sure I have had that fried potato cake with applesauce at the German pavilion at Epcot, so I was kind of surprised that it is actually a thing in Germany.

I went to an international student party, which would have been fun if I liked loud music, dancing, or staying up late. I liked talking to people, but I would have liked it better if it was at 6pm in a lounge. But that is not what college students stereotypically enjoy.

I went to The UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage visitor center.  It is situated at the historic marine base in Wilhelmshaven near the Jade bight, an estuary of 190 square kilometres, It is part of the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park. The harbor is also one of the few deep water ports in Germany. It is the biggest naval base for Germany, and so I was able to see many German naval ships.

 I also went to the climate house in Bremerhaven. It is a really cool museum that takes you through the different climates on the same line of longitude that the Climate House is on. It shows the climates of Switzerland, Sardinia, Niger, Cameroon, Antarctica, Samoa, Alaska, and Germany.  It was hot and dry in Niger; it was hot and humid in Cameroon, and it was cold in Antarctica and Alaska. It was a very interesting, immersive experience. While I was in London, I went to the British Museum and I learned a lot about the Parthenon as well as ancient Egypt. The artifacts that they have at the British museum are really impressive. They also have the Rosetta stone, which was so cool to see in person. 

I visited the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art in Bremen. The art was interesting but I learned that I do not understand modern art. I think I just need more experience and knowledge to truly appreciate it.

Meet someone before that is also going or have someone else you can do things with. Bremen is a small area with few students during the summer. Learn basic German phrases because in northern Germany it is less touristy and fewer people speak English even though they are taught English in school. Make sure you have all the proper paperwork done prior to arrival. One student from the United States was not allowed to work once she arrived because Airbus did not give her the proper paperwork before she came (they were even more incompetent with her than with me). Make sure you have a clear understanding of the work you will be doing and have it documented. Have some kind of recourse if the people you are working for lied to you about what you will be doing. At both Airbus and HSB it was in writing what I was supposed to do and what they had me do was not that.

Berlin 2

The second morning we did a walking tour with Harold. We began at the TV tower, a television tower that stands 368 feet tall. We walked from there to Museum Island where many local museums occupy the entire small island sitting between a canal and the Spree River.  We visited the site of the Nazi book burning site, the Berlin Opera House, and Gendarmenmarkt. We saw another section of the remaining Berlin Wall with description of the history displayed. We also visited the Visitors center at the wall, which is a free museum dedicated to WWII and the Cold War. We saw where check point Charlie used to be and the tourist trap for the replicated Check Point Charlie where you can pay some actors who are dressed in military outfits to take photos with. We walked our way down to the site of the memorial to the Murdered Jews (Also known as the Holocaust memorial). We ended our walk at the Brandenburg Gate where the famous columned stone archway stands that separated East and West Berlin. It now symbolizes unity and peace. It is the most recognized landmark in Berlin that represents the most notable history of Berlin. 

Even though Berlin was devastated during WWII and even after the war, East Berlin underwent many decade of neglect, the city has been rebuilt in a way that recognizes its past and also displays the conjoining of old and new.

After another traditional lunch, this time a local sausage and pretzel dish. It was a white sausage served in a white crock of hot water and sweet mustard on the side with a pretzel. It was interesting looking but truly tasted like a hotdog. The one thing that bothered me most was the swarming yellow jackets. They were in our drinks, one our food, swarming our heads and would even land on us. It was very distracting. 

After lunch we made our way back through the town to take a scenic river cruise. The cruise lasted a little over an hour but gave a relaxing perspective of the city’s landscape from the historical way to travel. Of course I had to try the local drink served on the boat, which was a sweet green beer served in a round glass with a diameter of about 6 inches and standing only 6 inches tall.  It was surprisingly good.

We finished the river cruise and made our way back to the hotel to get our bags. We took the S-bahn to the train station and took the ICE train back to Bremen. 

There are so many historic landmarks in Berlin and a nice blend of old and new without removing evidence of what happened to the people of Berlin. I would recommend visiting Berlin. 

Berlin 1

I arrived by train in Berlin late Wednesday evening. On Thursday, we went with a guide, Harold, and did a driving tour around the city.

For many years, the Russians occupied East Berlin and the people of East Berlin were not allowed to leave the area. The people were confined from when the wall was built on the night of August 12-13, 1961 until November 9, 1989 when the wall came down. 

We first visited a section where we could see how the wall had been setup. We could see the wall that was viewed from the people living in the east. It was 15 feet high in some places, with a rounded cap so that you could not take hold and hoist over. Just on the other side of the wall were barbed wire obstacles, land mines, electric fencing, and sand trenches so that footprints could be seen. The area between the walls also had 302 guarded watchtowers and tall bright lights every few hundred feet so that everything could be seen at night. After another set of deterrents there was a second wall. The second wall was on West Berlin’s side. I always thought there was a wall dividing East and West Berlin but it was so much more than that. The wall was setup so that no one could escape and if they tried to, they would be easily spotted and taken care of immediately. West Berlin was sitting in the middle of occupied Germany and people from West Berlin that had the freedom to leave could only do so on 3 specified routes and there were no exits as you passed through East Germany.

Next Harold took us to an abandoned train yard that used to be in East Berlin. The area has been revitalized as a local youth hangout. There are numerous cafes and clubs in one section that do not wake up until the late afternoon and close as the sun rises. The other part of the train yard has been turned into an activity park with rock climbing areas and indoor skating for skateboards.  The entire area had been covered in graffiti art and posters plastered on the old walls and train containers. It is a very abandoned, industrial looking area.

East Berlin had not been rebuilt after WWII except for very basic housing and government building until after the wall came down. West berlin was cleaned and reconstructed from the devastating damage of WWII during the fifties and sixties. Since the wall came down, there has been tremendous construction and rebirth of the area. The city has taken pride in rebuilding but also keeping all evidence of the history of WWII and The Cold War. Today’s Germans believe in acknowledging history and keeping evidence of it to help prevent history from repeating itself.  

We visited several residential communities; both compound style inside the busy West Berlin and renovated communities similar to other German cities where townhomes abut other townhomes. For lunch, we stopped at a food truck to try currywurst. Currywurst is a local cuisine, which is sliced brat sausages with curry powder sprinkled on top and a thick curry sauce on top. I found it to be very good and not as spicy as I had thought. 

Next, we traveled down the main city streets and viewed shopping areas, places where Christmas Markets would be held, as well as visited historic churches that had been mostly demolished during the war and rebuilt. We also went to Grosser Tiergarten and Victory Column, and Charlottenburg Palace. 

After our tour, I had to go back to the hotel to work on application essays. 

After 5 hours of working, we went to a local neighborhood, The Nikolai Quarter, and had dinner at a Germany restaurant that served local cuisine. I had traditional pork medallions with fried potatoes and green beans. I also tried a local unfiltered beer, which was very good.

Plans for the Rest of the Week

Today is the first work day after my internship ended that I did not go to the lab. I stayed in my room and studied for the MCAT, which was not exactly fun, but it was productive. I am feeling good that I will be able to get a 512 or above this time, but I also thought that last time, so who knows. My family is flying in this Saturday, and it will be really nice to see them. I know my sister is excited to come and see some of Germany. I will be very glad when my MCAT is over. That has really put a damper on my entire summer because I have had to spend a lot of free time studying instead of going around and seeing the sights. So this week, I am going to take a sample test and see how I do, which will take a full day and then I will fully review the test which will take two days. I also need to have as many medical school secondary applications written as possible so that when I get those applications, I can go ahead and send them in. I have pre-written some, but I am going to do more of that this week when I am not studying. I should get my first secondary application to fill out by August 5 at the latest. This is all so much more stressful for me than it should be because if I had gotten one point higher on the first MCAT, I would not have to worry about any of this because I would have been guaranteed a seat in medical school. But I can’t change the past and I just need to get one more point on this next MCAT. I am taking two days off (maybe not the full two days) and am going to Berlin with my family next week. I am excited for that, and it should be a lot of fun! 

Taxi Experiences

I have taken a taxi a few times in Bremen, and it is a little different from what I am used to in the States. In recent years, I have gotten an Uber or a Lyft from an app on my phone. Here, however, Uber and Lyft do not exist. There is an app called myTaxi that is supposed to do the same thing, but I have not tried it. My first time with a taxi here was on the way to my apartment from the airport when I had just arrived here. I am just realizing that I have no memory of getting my luggage from the carousel at the airport that day, but I digress. I got my luggage and got into the taxi at the front of the line outside the airport. Thankfully, my taxi driver spoke English. He took me to my apartment at a cost of about 12 Euro. I also got a taxi to my apartment when my flight was very late getting back from London. That taxi driver did not speak English well, but I just showed him where I needed to go on Google Maps, and it was fine. He was not very good at direction, though so he took longer to get to my apartment than he should have and the cost was about 15 Euro. My most memorable taxi experience, though was after the international student party. It was late so I asked the bouncer to call a taxi for me. He did, and the taxi dispatcher said that someone would be there soon. I waited for about 15 minutes and when no one had shown up, I called the taxi company again. He said that someone would be there in 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, I called again. Apparently, I was in the wrong place to get picked up by a taxi. I told him where I was, and he said that someone would be there in five minutes. Ten minutes later, a taxi did show up. I showed him where I needed to go on Google Maps, and he took me there at a reasonable price. The taxi dispatcher was not exactly rude, but he was a little blunt. I have been able to get wherever I need to go with a taxi, but it has not always been as smooth as I would have liked.

The Hanseatic League and Bremen

The Hanseatic League was a strong trading association that existed from the 1200s to the late 1600s. It was Henry the Lion, a 12th century Saxon Duke that began the Hanseatic League. Henry organized several towns along the Baltic Sea and North Sea coasts to enhance trade in the area. Initially, in 1210, an agreement between Lubeck and Hamburg was made to establish common law for trading purposes. That alliance grew to include more towns and communities in the region. The growth turned into the Hanseatic League. The League agreed that the member towns would join together to aid each other, especially when sailing and in merchant endeavors. The purpose of the league was to boost their economies. The need for support and aide was due to Vikings and pirates that dominated the waters. The Hanseatic League, or Hansa, or German Hanse, as it is sometimes called, even developed their own legal system. Initially, the cities were exclusively German but grew to become an international alliance. Cities that were members of the Hanseatic League were Lubeck, Hamburg, Cologne, Osnabruck, Goslar, Erfurt, Berlin, Frankfurt, Oder, Rostock, Stade, Wismar, Bremen, Brugge, London, and Novgorod. The league gained economic growth from tradingfoods such as herring and grain, as well as commercial products such as wood, flax, tar, or wax for salt, which was needed on the coast for preserving fish. It became one of the most influential international trading organizations in Europe. 

Bremen is a port city in Northern Germany that is located along the Weser River. Bremen officially joined the Hanseatic League in the 1300s, but had Hanseatic League privileges before that. I have read several conflicting things on the start of the Hanseatic League, and not even scholars from the different cities agree on the official date. However, Bremen had officially joined by 1358, which is the same year as the first Hanseatic Day, but Bremen was a part of the league unofficially before that. Bremen was a solid part of the league for over 500 years. It was in 1669 when only nine members attended the last formal meeting. Lübeck, Hamburg and Bremen were present and remained as members until its demise in 1862.After the demise, Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck retained the title of Hanseatic cities and reformed the new Hanseatic league in the 1900s. 

Many sources I found while doing my literature review about Bremen and Bremen’s involvement during the Hanseatic League time period comment on how few scholarly papers have been written on the subject. There seems to be no consensus among historians for the Hanseatic League, either. Several references indicate that the time period and activities during that time were poorly documented and there is little to solidify even the slightest speculations of the era. In fact, one of the most often expressed features of the Hanseatic League was its secrecy. It appears that the discrepancies are from how the region gained wealth. Historically, wealth came from power from political parties or from the church. The Hanseatic League was possibly the first organization to see regional economic growth due to an alliance of merchants.Nonetheless, it was an important time in history because many beautiful towns were built and prospered due to the alliance of the merchant league. 

Research shows that Bremen had a shipyard that was known for making Cogs. Cogs were large cargo ships used by merchants during the medieval era. They had large square sails and were used mainly as ocean going vessels. It is not clear as to whether the term cog is specific to the shape of the vessel or to all cargo ships at that time. The Bremen Cog is from a shipwreck in the Weser River that was discovered in the 1960s. It was a fairly intact Cog, which made it a valuable archeological find. It had a lot of local timber as well as timber from farther away. The local timber was used when there did not need to be too much quality control. The farther away timber was timber that was used in important structural components of the ship and had to be of good, uniform quality. This discovery was significant in helping to figure out what the local trade was like in the Hanseatic League. It is difficult to find what specifically Bremen did for the League other than build boats. There is evidence that Bremen had strong, successful merchants because it was always a solid member in the league. In most Hanseatic cities, the successful merchants were highly regarded and were elected onto city councils and given other positions of importance. Even today, Bremen still has a number of grand mercantile houses that were built by the wealthy Hanseatic traders. City streets such as Hanseatenhof in the city center also make reference to the league.

One product Bremen became known for in the later part of the Hanseatic era is coffee. Bremen was, and still is, the coffee roasting capital of Germany. The Bremen coffee tradition began with a Dutchman named Jan Jahns von Huisten. He introduced the drink to the city in 1673 when Bremen city council granted him permission to open the first public coffee house in Germany. Since then, coffee has become a daily staple for almost all Germans. Even today, there is a strong chance that any coffee consumed in Germany has beans or ground coffee that came through Bremen. Most likely, all other coffee drunk between the North Sea and the Alps has its origins in Bremen. In 1903, Ludwig Roselius was the first person in the world to invent decaffeinated coffee. He invented the decaffeination process on the banks of the Weser River in Bremen. He discovered this when he lost a freight of coffee and it accidently became soaked in seawater and lost most of its caffeine but did not lose its taste. Roselius also founded Kaffee HAG, Europe’s first coffee factory. Bremen’s port became a key location for the transshipment of beans from overseas. 

The best way to show the impact Bremen had on the Hanseatic League is to tour around the city and view the buildings, streets, and harbor. Cities that were important to the Hansa and the success of the Hanseatic League had to have money to ensure prosperity. The evidence of Bremen’s medieval prosperity lies in the architecture of the city. Even though Bremen suffered devastating damage during WWII, many building survived. 

Today, the city market square provides the most noticeable evidence of Bremen’s affiliation with the Hanseatic League. I have been able to tour the historic area and walk through the city market a few times. I also was able to take a walking tour with a guide one afternoon to allow me to soak in more details while I listened to the guide tell about the history and the structures. 

In the city market square stands the stone statue of Roland and the Town Hall. The old town hall was built in the Gothic style in the early 15thcentury, after Bremen joined the Hanseatic League. The City Hall is also known as the Town Hall. The large brick building’s construction was finished in 1410 and has maintained its original gothic architecture shown with the numerous archways, soaring spires, and carved figures. The steep green roof really makes the building stand out. Inside the building, there are high ceilings with dark wood paneling and beams. Another feature that demonstrates the significance Bremen had with the Hanseatic League era is the large elegant banquet and reception hall. It is 40 meters long, 13 meters wide, and 8 meters high. On the wall is a large painting of the Judgement of Solomon, which dates back to 1537. The building was renovated in the 17th century, and a new city hall was built nearby in the early 20thcentury. Significant importance relating to the history of the building and the city is that during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire, Bremen had extensive autonomy. During that time period, the town grew and prospered which made the city hall a center of power during the Hansa era. Unlike most powerful European cities, “the town hall was expressly built for the use of the City Council. The architecture and the sculptures do not only carry strong references to the imperial and Episcopal foundations of the city, but at the same time underline the policies of self-government, which had been chosen by the Council. The construction of the Town Hall demonstrated grown self-confidence of the city council and its civic claim to power.” This is evident with the large council room inside the Town Hall. This also gives credit to how important Bremen was to the League, an organization run by merchants and the people, not by a monarchy or by the church. Even though Bremen experienced devastating bombing during WWII, both the old and new city halls survived and left the old town hall as the only European town hall of the late Middle Ages that has never been destroyed. It is considered the most important example of brick gothic architecture in Europe today. 

Also in the City Market Square is the figure of Roland. The statue is a global symbol of freedom and of the trading rights bestowed upon the merchants of the times. The Roland statue is a statue of a knight with a drawn sword, signifying the town privileges of a medieval city. Bremen’s Roland is shown as protector of the city: his legendary sword is unsheathed, and his shield is decorated with the two-headed Imperial eagle. Bremen’s Roland is one of the oldest of the many Roland statues throughout Europe. It dates back to the year of 1404,stands 5.5 m (18 ft.) high, and is also considered the most splendid of all Rolands. 

Bremen is very proud of their 600-year-old town hall. In 2004 the Town Hall and the Roland became a UNESCO World Heritage site. UNESCO's justification for its inscription praised Bremen’s town hall and the Roland statue as "an outstanding ensemble, which bears an exceptional testimony to civic autonomy and sovereignty, as these developed in the Holy Roman Empire." The report also expressly acknowledged the town hall as an "outstanding example of the Weser Renaissance architectural style in northern Germany".

In the basement of the Town Hall is the world famous Ratskeller. It is famous because it is home to some of the oldest wines in the world. In fact, Germany’s oldest casks of wines are kept in Bremen’s Ratskeller. The casts are well protected from light and air and continue maturing undisturbed. The room is only lit by candlelight. It really felt like an old wine cellar as I walked through the dimly lit hallway with the smell of damp earth. When I looked above my head in the cask room, there was a distinguished rose painted on the ceiling. That is when the guide said we were in the heart of the cellar. Directly beneath the rose painting is the rose cask containing a vintage Rüdesheim wine from 1653. It is the oldest cask of wines in Germany. Also, the Bremer Ratskeller was home to one of the oldest wines in the world. The Apostelwein 1727 is from the famous “12 Apostles’” cellar. The wine is from 12 barrels of wine in vintages 1683, 1717, and 1727. Due to evaporation through the years, there was only one barrel left in the 1960s. At that time, the remaining barrel was bottled. Today, the most expensive bottle of the Apostelwein belongs to the Graycliff hotel in Nassau. It is valued at $200,000 and is one of the most rare wines in the world. It is still considered drinkable because of its high sugar content.  

At the end of the Market Square is the Bremen Cathedral. The Cathedral was mostly built as a medieval building. However, the finishing parts of the building are done in the Romanesque style. Around Bremen, the Cathedral is known as St. Petri Dom but has the official name of St. Peter’s Cathedral. It dates from the 11th-century, with additions being made in the 13th and 16th centuries. The cathedral has a large Rosetta stained glass in the center and twin towers that stand 98 meters tall. Inside the cathedral, is a staircase that goes up one of the towers. I walked up to the top of one of the massive towers and then down to the basement of the cathedral where there are crypts and tombs that houses several mummified nobles, bishops and archbishops. 

The Archbishops had much clout prior to and during the medieval era. It is even reported the Archbishop from Bremen had much to do with settling Greenland and encouraging trade in the area to and from Greenland. Much of the trade was initiated prior to the beginning of the Hanseatic League. However, there are few documents to solidify the significance of the relationship. The result of the trade brought by the Archbishop helped build the beautiful St. Peter’s Cathedral. Even today, St Peter's is one of the largest historic brick structures in Europe. Unfortunately, it has too many stone structures to be considered Brick Gothic. 

West of the Market Square is the Langenstraße. It is a historically significant street in Bremen. It was first mentioned in 1234 and is one of Bremen's oldest streets and one of the most important for the city's merchants. One building of importance there is the Stadtwaage. It is a former weigh house, where every trader had to have his goods weighed and then was levied taxes. The Weser Renaissance style brick building was originallydesigned and built by Lüder von Bentheim between 1586 and 1588 and is a good example of Weser Renaissance architecture.It was almost destroyed in 1944, but the city reconstructed it in 1960 to maintain the original façade and gable. However today, the reconstructed building now contains a modern building, which is home to the Günter Grass Foundation and the German Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Bremen.

Back to the market place but moving towards the Weser from the market square is a 100-meter street called Bottcherstrasse. At the entrance to that street is theseat of Bremen's chamber of commerce, the Schütting. Before it was the Chamber of Commerce, it was the merchants’ guildhall. It was built in the Flemish Renaissance style in the 1530s.

Speculation is that the term Schutting comes from another word that means “pour together”. Stories told from years ago gives an image of merchants gathering together to do business and pour their money into one pot. Tying the city back to the port and commerce, the Schütting was home to the first coffee house in the German-speaking world, like I said before. It gained its license in 1673, which makes Bremen the first German town where it was legal to serve coffee. Also on Böttcherstraße is the Roselius-House, which displays the private collection of the coffee merchant Ludwig Roselius.

One of the most fun and significant leftovers from the Hanseatic era is a very popular festival known as the Freimarkt. The first “Free Fair” was held in 1035 but Bremen was first permitted to hold a regular Freimarkt in 1318. It began as a merchants’ market but through time was transformed into a fun-filled festival. Currently, it has more than four million visitors each year and is considered to be the biggest festival in Northern Germany. The celebration is held for 17 days during the last two weeks of October in the central part of Bremen.

Another area of Bremen that I was able to enjoy, in relation to the Hanseatic era, was the Schnoor alley. In this area, I was easily able to get the feeling of what it was like to walk around the street of Bremen during the Medieval Era and the Hansa era. It is a collection of narrow lanes that is home to the oldest and quaintest neighborhood in Bremen. Even today, it still maintains its medieval character. The Schnoor alleys have many pretty timber-frame houses from the 1400s and 1500s. The neighborhood gets its name from the workshops where rigging was manufactured for ships. Today, the area is home to restaurants, galleries, and handcraft stores.

The Hanseatic League was a powerful entity that would even sometimes wage wars on its competitors throughout its reign. Even through times of war and shifts in trading powers, Bremen stayed solid in its alliance with the Hanseatic League. It was very common for strong merchants to send family members out to other countries to help promote their business. By sending family members out and gaining good relations with the other countries, Bremen created a strong family network. This helped promote intensive trading and gave Bremen a solid foothold when trading interest began to shift toward other markets. Many of the family members married into other strong merchant families and that too helped to create good trading relationship. As time passed, countries began to peel out of the Hanseatic League. The last Hanseatic League conference was held in 1669 when onlynine members attended. In 1862, only Lubeck, Hamburg, and Bremen remained members until the end of the era, which was 1862. The one trait that the three cities took with them was the Hanseatic merchant culture. It is a European commercial culture based on respectability, reputation, and trust, which is still valued today in the mercantile world. 

My Lab Mate

My lab mate is an interesting person. He is Kenyan, studying Chemical Engineering at a private university in Philadelphia. He is a fun guy to hang out with, but he is sometimes annoying to work with because he can be a bit lazy. He always wants to have deep philosophical conversations when sometimes I just want to get work done. I think if we did not work together, we would be much better friends than we are now. He does like to go out, though. I watched both world cup matches with him, I went to the international student party with him, and he was at the Independence Day get together. Every time, the next morning at work, he tells me that he had too much to drink the night before and he is not going to drink next time. Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful that he is in the lab with me. I would find it so much more stressful and so much worse if I were the only international student there. Having someone else there helps me to know that I interpreted what people said to me correctly, helps me to make sure I am doing things correctly, and helps me make sure everyone on the same page. He is a very interesting person to talk to because he has an interesting perspective on life and he is willing to share it and he is willing to change his opinion. Because of him, I feel like I know as much about Kenya as I do Germany. It is weird to think that I probably will not see him again. We spent so much time together in this small amount of time, and we shared many thoughts and opinions on things, and because the semester was ending when we both got here, we did not have many other avenues for friends while here. It is just going to be strange, but I am glad that I met him.

Eating at the Mensa

Because I have spent so much time eating in the Mensa, I figured that I should talk about it. Mensa is just the German word for a university cafeteria. The food in Hochschule Bremen’s mensa is typically really good and it is not expensive. If I buy a drink for lunch most days, so it costs a little over 3 Euro for lunch, which I think is pretty good for the quality and quantity of the food. In the mensa, there are three stations for food that change every day. There is also a pasta bar, a salad bar, a set list of fried foods you can get (like schnitzel and fries), a small selection of grab and go sandwiches, fruits, ice cream, and drinks. There are also always vegetarian options, though those are more limited. I have tried a lot of German foods there that I might not have ordered myself if I went out to eat. I tried spargles there, I had liver and onions there, I had a Turkish pizza there, and more. My landlords said that they would go eat in the mensa sometimes because it is cheap and good food. With your meal at one of the stations that changes every day, you get a soup of the day, typically some kind of meat, typically some kind of starch (boiled potatoes are very common), some kind of vegetable, and some kind of sauce on all of it. The people who work in the mensa are always very nice to me. Even if I can’t communicate with them well, I can always point at what I would like. They will always say “danke” when handing me my food and I will say “danke” back because it seems weird to say “please” or “you’re welcome” and not “thank you” when receiving the food. During the brief time when I am not working but I am still here studing for my MCAT, I think I will head to the mensa for a few days for lunch so I will get out of the house and get some good food.

Beer Gardens

It sometimes seems like beer is more plentiful than water in stores and restaurants in Germany. The main reason goes back to when the water was not safe to drink but beer was purified by the hops. On April 23, 1516, the Reinheitsgebot (German beer purity law) was passed, and every year since April 23 is celebrated as German Beer Day. The beer purity law is the (or one of the) oldest food law in the world. It states that German beer can only be made of water, hops and barley. Yeast had not yet been discovered so no one knew that yeast is what ferments the beer and turns the sugar into alcohol. The beer purity law is not still fully followed. There are many small, craft beers that have different flavors from natural ingredients, and yeast is obviously allowed in beers. Weihenstephan Beer, according to the brewery, is the oldest commercial brewery of the world. It is located in southern Germany. However, during that time, the Beer Capital was in northern Germany, near Hamburg. In times of poor water quality, beer was healthier than water, because it was germ-free to a large extent. It was a good food supplement as well. Children drank beer as well at the time (the alcoholic content was significantly lower than today). Today, southern Germany has more beer production. Apparently, the beer garden has its origin in Munich. Since beer needs a specific temperature to ferment, it could only be produced during the colder months of the year since refrigeration was not invented yet. At the Beck’s tour, the tour guide said that they used to get ice from the river and to import ice from Scandinavia to chill the beer. If they did not have enough ice or they did not make enough beer in the winter, there would be beer shortages in the summer.

Walking Tour

The walking tour I took yesterday was really good. I would recommend it for someone coming to Bremen. We met in the old part of town by the Glockenspiel house. At 3pm, the bells started chiming and part of the wall rotated to show famous sea/boat explorers (I say /boat because Robert Fulton was in there and he invented the steam boat, but he did not do much exploring). We had some candy from a local shop, which was very similar to the hard candies that you can get in Harry Potter World at Universal. The tour guide also told us about stories that involved people from Bremen. Robinson Crusoe’s father was from Bremen; in one of the oldest vampire movies, the vampire came through Bremen; and most famously, the Grimm Brothers’ “The Town Musicians of Bremen”, which has a statue depicting the animals, even though the animals never get to Bremen in the story. The tour guide told us about the government and how it works and pointed out the different government buildings. He brought us to a church that I had not been in before (it was a Lutheran church that had been Calvinist and Catholic before). It was interesting because it had a swing inside so you could lay down and feel closer to the heavens. The tour guide also told us that the reason why the key is the symbol of Bremen is because the key is the symbol of St. Peter and the Bremen Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter. We walked down to the river and the tour guide pointed out some boats: one was a boat made at the end of World War II that was made out of concrete, one boat is now a restaurant and theater, and the Alexander von Humboldt was used in advertising for Beck’s so it is famous all over Germany. I know there is more that I am forgetting, especially about specific buildings and places. It was fun to walk around the old part of town, and I feel like I learned a lot.

Bus Tour

Today, I took a bus tour of the city. I realized that I hadn’t taken a tour of the city yet and I thought a bus tour would be a good way to cover a lot of area very quickly. I had bought the ticket online so when I arrived at the bus stop I was able to get right on the bus. I think there were about 10 people who were on the tour with me. I also think that I was the only one who requested English as a language. The tour went through more of the north part of town than the south part, but that makes sense because the south part is newer (the Neustadt). The tour did cover a large area, and it went to places that I would have had a hard time getting to with the public transit. There was not too much history with the tour. Most of it was pointing out buildings and places and saying what they are used for now, which does not make for a very interesting blog. My main complaint about the tour is that the tour guide was hard to hear when the air conditioning in the bus was on. The tour guide would say something in German then he would repeat it in English. From the German that I know, I think he was saying pretty much the same things in both languages. The tour was almost a figure eight tour of the city. We started at the train station, then went to the Übersee and Eurohaven area, then past the windmill and to the Neustadt. We then went by the river and up to the university area and then ended in the old part of town. I think that the tour would have been better if I had done it earlier, but I am glad that I did it.

Art Museum

I went to an art museum after my Beck’s tour. It was essentially just down the street and I had not been to an art museum in Bremen yet so I decided to go. This was a modern art museum, which I have very limited experience with and exposure to. Since it was a Thursday, the museum was open for longer hours than other weekdays. I think that since it was a weekday, there were not many people there. I was going to take a tour, but the tour would be conducted in German, so I decided to just explore on my own. This museum was a lot larger than I had originally thought. There were four floors of art installations and each floor was very large. I think that it was laid out in a way that it was hard to get your bearings, but if you kept going forward, you would get back to where you started. It was laid out lake an IKEA. Many of the pieces were time dependent. There was one that (I have a picture of it) was a talk show set up, but there were green masks in the chairs. Every twenty minutes, the “talk show” would start and the screens would give the talk show performance. I think it was about how people are able to hide their identities when on the internet and will say things that they would not say in person or on a talk show. There was also a large face that looked like a Buddha and was made out of dirt as an exhibit. I do not know what that was trying to say, but it looked like the kind of thing that had to have been made there because it could not have been moved. Some of the pieces were just confusing to me, like the piece that looked like black paint spilled on the floor (it was an actual piece because it had a label next to it describing it). I was not sure if I could take pictures of the art, but I did anyway. I think that being able to read German would have helped me to understand the context of the art better, but it was still an interesting experience. 

Beck's Tour

I went on a tour of Beck’s Brewery. Since it is a working brewery, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the factory, but I was allowed to see it, which was very cool! They started off the tour by showing us the history of the company and what the company is like now. I did not realize that Beck’s was owned by Anheuser-Buschand that the company made over a quarter of the world’s beer. They also showed us the different types of hops that goes into making the different types of beers. They use one type of hops for Beck’s and they use another type of hops for Haake-Beck. I also learned that a lot of the waste that they make is sold to the agriculture industry to be eaten by animals or used as fertilizer. I also learned that the yeast that they use to make their beer is grown in their labs. I cannot remember the exact numbers, but they make a staggering amount of beer in a day. The beer they make there goes to Europe and some of Asia. There are other Beck’s Breweries that go to other continents. After the tour of the production, we went to a tasting room. There, we had Beck’s, Haake-Beck, four new Beck’s flavors, and a beer of our choice. I chose what the tour guide recommended. It was something like the beauty beer (I do not remember the exact translation) because it had some yeast in it which is supposed to be good for your hair and nails). While at the tasting, I talked to a couple who was also on the tour. She was Canadian and living in London, and he was English. They were fun to talk to. He told me about his trips to Florida (to Disney World, of course). She told me about how the US is always mentioned over Canada and how she likes to say she is Canadian and not American. We talked about the world cup and how it is going to be in the US, Canada, and Mexico in eight years. I had a really good time there.

Walking through the Old Part of Town

After I was done visiting the cathedral, I decided to go to the oldest part of town. I had never been there before and I knew I wanted to check it out before I have to leave. It was a short walk from St. Petri Dom and the main town square. Apparently this it is the only part of the town that has survived all of the wars since the middle ages. It really felt like it was built in the middle ages, too. The streets were narrow and crooked, the buildings were not perfectly straight, and the buildings were not very tall. However, it was a lively and busy area. I was there at about 5pm and there were people shopping, eating, and just walking around. It felt weird to me that this place was authentic and real. It felt like I was in Disney’s version of a town in the middle ages. 

After I was done walking around that part of the town, I started to walk back to my tram stop. I saw my tram pulling away when I was just about there and the next one would not come for another 20 minutes, so I went and walked around some more. I went into a Catholic Church called St. Johann. There were not any tourists in there, so I just sat in one of the pews for a few minutes and left. I felt like I would be disruptive to the people actually worshiping if I were to walk around and take pictures. It looked a lot like a Lutheran church that I went to in Hamburg. After I left the church, I walked through a newer (but still old) part of town. Since it was after 5pm at this point, there were many people trying to get home from work and the streets became busier. I walked to a different tram stop and took the tram home.

St. Petri Dom Visit

After work yesterday, I went to the cathedral in the old part of the city. I went on a Tuesday because on their website it said Tuesday was a working day. I bought a small pamphlet and walked around the church. It was what you would think of when you think of a small cathedral. There was more painting on the inside than I expected there to be. Also, the stained glass looked more medieval than what I have seen in other churches. Built around the same time. I climbed up to the top of the steeple. It was a lot of stairs and I was tired afterwards. I personally liked that it was enclosed because it made me feel more secure that high up. However, it was harder to get good pictures of the town and the surrounding area with the grate in the way. After I went back downstairs, I sat down and admired the all of the hard work that had to have gone into creating the building. I also was resting from the climb. After I was rested, I went into the lead cellar. It was advertised online as a cool thing to do and it was only one euro more than just climbing the tower, so I decided to go see it. It was not what I was expecting. It was mostly mummified bodies. It was interesting because they had information about who the people were, but I just was not expecting it. There was also a large coffin/sarcophagus. What I found very surprising about it was that in the Latin text on the back, there was a letter “y”! I have never seen a “y” in any Latin before and I did not think that it existed as a letter in the Latin alphabet. I tried to ask the worker there about it, but he did not understand me. I am going to try to figure out why it had a “y” there.

World Cup Final

I finished studying for the weekend, so I decided to go out to a pub and watch the world cup final. France was playing Croatia. I went to an Irish Pub called Paddy’s that is near the train station. I went there because my lab mate and his roommate were watching the world cup there and lots of people there speak English (and some do not speak German). I was surprised that it was not very busy. I guess it was 5pm on a Sunday, but I thought there would be more people there for the finals. Apparently there were a lot more people there when England was playing in the bronze medal match the day before. It was a fun game to watch. The first goal was an own goal by a Croatian player, which apparently was the first ever in the world cup final. There was also a really good goal by a Croatian player when the French goalie did not just pick up the ball. The Croatian player was able to just get around the goalie and score what looked like such a simple goal. I had a good time chatting with my lab mate and his roommate. His roommate is fully German, so it was good to talk to talk to some German people around my age. I also found out that I could understand what my lab mate and his roommate were saying to each other in German. Since my lab mate speaks pretty basic German, and that is the level I am at, I could actually understand it! I was really surprised that I actually could understand! It also helped that I knew the context of the conversation, which filled in the gaps of the vocabulary I did not know. Honestly, it was just a fun time hanging out and chatting about soccer and more.

German Trash Day

I was concerned about the disposal of trash since I had been told recycling and garbage is very complicated, and accurate recycling is compulsory. I had allowed my garbage to collect for a couple of weeks because they only pick up once every two weeks and certain recycling is picked up one Friday and other recycling and garbage on the alternate Friday. I was also concerned about leaving the garbage outside for animals to get into. However, that was an unnecessary concern since there are not as many animals that would get into the trash in Germany. In the grocery store, there are vending type machine that you can insert plastic bottles and cans into and receive a receipt that you can turn in to the cashier or apply it to your grocery bill. Actually, you pay a .15 or .25 Euro deposit when you purchase a bottle and then you receive it back when you put the bottle into the recycling machine. Glass has a different process than plastic. Bottles and jars have to be separated into different colors before you dispose of them because the containers collect different colors of glass separately.

White glass bottles and jars go into the container for white glass. There are also containers for green glass and brown glass.The bottles that you dump into these containers don't get reused because they recycle the glass, not the bottle, so it doesn't matter if the bottle breaks when you throw it away. Only the bottles that you return to the store are reused. But you can't return all bottles to the store, only some for which you had to pay the deposit. For example, if you buy a glass bottle of ketchup you will not pay any deposit for that, as you would throw this glass bottle into the glass container later on.

Most beer is sold in glass bottles and you pay a few cents extra for the bottle, but you can return it to any store that sells the same kind of bottles and get the few cents back that you had to pay extra when you bought it. You have to make sure that if you paid a deposit on a bottle that you get your refund at the store. If you throw them into the container you lose money. Any kind of non-returnable bottle or glass jar on which you did not pay a deposit, can be thrown into glass containers. For example: wine bottles, jam glass jars, oil glass bottles and juice bottles. It has taken me a few weeks to get this to not be such a mind-boggling process. Sometimes I think I have lost money in disposing of a container that I could have received money back on. 

German Laundry Pt. 2

When I returned, I placed the sheets and towels in the dryer and turned it to an outdoor setting which indicated would take an hour. I thought maybe I should use the cotton setting but it said it would take 3 hours. The german dryers do not vent outside so there is a container that collects water from the clothes as it spins dry. I had to empty the water from the container outside on the ground because I didn’t know where else to pour it. I also had to clean the filter, similar to ours but it is doubled over with the space in between which collects the lint. I had to open the filter to clean the lint, then close it and replace in the dryer. I left again to return to my room where I had to hang all my clothes that I did not put in the dryer. I had purchased a folding drying rack, which is a common household item in Germany. The rack takes up the entire open space in my apartment when unfolded. I covered the entire rack, and hung all my shirts on clothing hangers to frame the rack. When I ran out of room on the rack, I had to hang extra articles in my bathroom. I had wet clothes everywhere. I opened my window and turned on the fan to help with air circulation to aide drying. (I had to do that for 2 days). When I returned to the laundry facility an hour later, the clothes in the dryer were still wet. I dumped the water again and restarted the dryer. After 2 hours, the duvet cover was dry but the towels and fitted sheet were still too damp to use. I put them back for 20 minutes then took them to my room to hang to air dry. 
Beds in Germany only use a fitted sheet and a duvet. Even in hotels, the duvet cover is changed between guest so there are no nasty comforters that never get cleaned. I do like the concept of duvets with clean covers for hotels and think that the states should convert to that for sanitary reasons. 
After 5 hours of laundry, I was able to put the sheet back in my bed and go to sleep. My room was completely covered with drying laundry until 3 days later when I felt it was safe to put the last articles away. 

German Laundry Pt. 1

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that we take for granted. Laundry at school is not difficult. I take my clothes down the hallway to the laundry room, put my clothes in the washing machine, put the detergent and softener in the drawer, close the drawer and door. Press the on button then turn the knob to the program I need and press start. Then I come back when the wash is complete and put the clothing articles in the dryer, clean the lint trap, turn the dial to the desired program, turn the machine on, and come back when the time displayed is up to get the clothes out to take back to my room to put away. 
The process is similar for me in Germany but it seems so much more difficult and involved. 
The laundry facility is down the block and across the street from my apartment. There are 4 different brands of washers and one dryer in my laundry basement. I think that they belong to the different people living in that building, but I can’t remember if there is a specific washer that I am supposed to use. I have been told to not use the dryer for anything that I value because it shrinks everything due to the high heat. The machines there are front load washers but about half the size of the ones that I use in the states. Each machine has different program wording, too. I have used google translate for most everything that I need translated but when I used the camera for google translate on those machines, it is not clear which of the many programs I should use for each type of laundry articles that I had. I had to watch a YouTube video to help me get started. I decided to do sheets and towels first so I could also use the dryer for them. There were 12 different wash cycles I could choose. I chose a program that looked like middle range water temperature. I placed the articles in the machine, closed the door, poured my detergent into the area that I use at home, then pressed on and then start. The machine indicated my wash would be complete in 1:42. I did not think it would take more than an hour to wash my laundry. I then placed my light colors clothes in another washer and my dark articles in a third machine. Each machine was a little different and each gave a different time for completion. I set my phone timer and returned 1:30 later. 

Little European and American Differences Pt. 2

A big cultural difference that I still cannot understand is how much more smoking there is here. Outside of the cafeteria at the university, there are plenty of students and some teachers smoking. When I went to see a world cup match, I sat with my lab mate’s roommates. One of his roommates rolled and then smoked at least five cigarettes while I was there and I came late. 

Another just different thing is that the locks on the doors are upside down. At my house in the US, the jagged side of the key is up. However, for all of the locks here, the jagged side is down. I think that people thought I was dumb because it took me a good two weeks to stop putting the key in upside down.

Another thing that I just didn’t expect was that the papers are longer here. Printer paper isn’t 8”x11”. I honestly do not know the size, but the width is similar and the length is greater. I only noticed it because the European papers do not fit in my American binder.

I swear that the toilet paper is longer here, too. At home, toilet paper sheets are squares, but here they are rectangles. I obviously did not bring any toilet paper with me, so I cannot verify this, but I am pretty sure it is true.

I also am pretty sure that the utensils are longer here. The knives and forks do not fit the same way in my hands. It leads to the utensils being off balance in my hands and me not being able to use them as well. 

Another thing that threw me for a loop a bit is that you cannot know whether to pull or push a door when you walk up to it. In the States, if a door has a handle, you pull, and if a door has a horizontal bar or a flat plate, then you push. However, here all doors have handles that you must turn. This means that you cannot just look at a door and know how to get through it. I do not understand why this is.