Hey everybody! Well, it's 3:40 AM here, but I wanted to let you know that I am leaving for the airport right now and am ON MY WAY HOME!!!!!! YAY! See ya real soon!
Love,
Jacqueline
23 July 2006
08 July 2006
Aufwiedersehen, Leipzig
Ok, just a real quick post this time.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! I am 23 today. Yeah, I'm not real sure how I survived this long, either.
Anyway. Today is the last day of guaranteed internet access for the next 2 weeks (roughly). I might be able to get to an internet cafe, but probably not.
Yeah, I know. It's not like I post on time, anyway, is it?
So, I miss you all (the ones of you that I know. Which is kind of being presumptious, isn't it?). Here's something to remember me by:
MEN IN KILTS!!!!!!!!!
The most beautiful team of men in kilts. "The Little Fat Highlanders".
Just remember: If the kilt is below the knees, you are bragging.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!! I am 23 today. Yeah, I'm not real sure how I survived this long, either.
Anyway. Today is the last day of guaranteed internet access for the next 2 weeks (roughly). I might be able to get to an internet cafe, but probably not.
Yeah, I know. It's not like I post on time, anyway, is it?
So, I miss you all (the ones of you that I know. Which is kind of being presumptious, isn't it?). Here's something to remember me by:
MEN IN KILTS!!!!!!!!!
The most beautiful team of men in kilts. "The Little Fat Highlanders".
Just remember: If the kilt is below the knees, you are bragging.
Ridiculous Speed (part deux)
So, the next day, after being rudely awakened by the Prima Donna of the bird world (HEAR ME! HEAR ME! I AM SO BEAUTIFUL AND MY VOICE IS LOVELY AND PIERCING AND IT'S 5:30 AM AND THE WHOLE WORLD MUST ADORE ME!!), we got breakfast and took a 3 hour bus ride to a town in Poland. I think it's spelled Wrocl'aw. In Germany, they call it Breslau. I think that's easier. Anyway, I'm not real sure why exactly we went to Poland. It was weird walking around in Poland, because you would see a sign, read it, and then realize two things: a) you have no idea what you just read and 2) there are a serious lack of vowels in the Polish language. Observe:
We had about a hour to eat and so, for some reason (I guess it seemed like the thing to do at the time), we decided to eat at McDonald's. Yeah. The food tasted the same, which is reassuring.
The above photo is contraband. I got yelled at for taking it. I thought it was scary getting yelled at in German, but it's way scarier in Polish! So, enjoy the photo of the McDonald's menu in Polish.
Then, we took the LONGEST, most BORING city tour, EVER. It took about 3 hours and the lady could barely speak English. I guess they didn't have anyone who could speak German. Anyway, we saw a lot of old buildings and TONS of churches, but a person can only see so many buildings before one gets bored. That happened around the half way point for me. Here's one interesting picture:
Yes, that is a naked guy with a sword. The story is that he lost at gambling and they took everything but his sword. The moral? Don't show Jacqueline naked statues when she's bored.
But the city tour finally ended, we went shopping (which was cool because the exchange rate was 1 Euro = 4 Slotties (sp).), and then we took a 3 hour bus ride back to Germany.
The next day, we did basically the same thing, but this time in Dresden. I hate city tours. BOR-RING! But, Dresden is cool cuz we completely destroyed it during WWII, and they are still rebuilding it, and whereever possible, they use the orginal bricks, if the survive. They do some kind of scientific scan to find out where the bricks originally went. So, you've got all of these beautiful old buildings, new stones, but randomly they have old, burnt bricks. It's a really cool effect.
Then, back to Leipzig (home, sweet home). The next day, I got to visit the Bach Museum, Schumann House and Mendelssohn House. Let's just say, for a music nerd, it was sweet! I was supposed to go to Wittenburg the next day, but I had a major headache, so I stayed home.
The next week was pretty standard. We went to a BMW factory, which was AWESOME, but sadly, they allowed no pictures and they didn't give out samples.
Then we went to a Brewery, which was REALLY boring. I don't care about brewing beer. We got free samples at the end. (I wish that the BMW tour had been boring, but that they gave out samples. That would have been way better.) I'm not suppsed to drink, so I'd just take a sip and then give the rest to Sierra. I like beer. Or at least, I like what I tried there. :-)
The following Saturday (July 1), I and four friends went to a tiny city called Halle for the 2nd International Highland Games. MEN IN KILTS!!!! (need I say more?) It was one of the most fun days I've had, ever! The games were great. I got to shoot a bow and arrow. I ate bratwurst with mustard, and got ice cream with a Germany flag in it. And there were bagpipes and men in kilts, and men in kilts, and men in kilts. It was great.
This week, we did a boat tour on a small river here in Leipzig. That was really nice - beautiful and calm, and of course, there was Beer.
Last night, I went to a Gewandhaus Orchestra Concert in the Park. It was WONDERFUL!!! 6 Euros to see the GEWANDHAUS and they played American and British composers. It was so GREAT! And, of course, there was Beer.
And that, my friends is a super speedy wrap up of my month here in Leipzig.
We had about a hour to eat and so, for some reason (I guess it seemed like the thing to do at the time), we decided to eat at McDonald's. Yeah. The food tasted the same, which is reassuring.
The above photo is contraband. I got yelled at for taking it. I thought it was scary getting yelled at in German, but it's way scarier in Polish! So, enjoy the photo of the McDonald's menu in Polish.
Then, we took the LONGEST, most BORING city tour, EVER. It took about 3 hours and the lady could barely speak English. I guess they didn't have anyone who could speak German. Anyway, we saw a lot of old buildings and TONS of churches, but a person can only see so many buildings before one gets bored. That happened around the half way point for me. Here's one interesting picture:
Yes, that is a naked guy with a sword. The story is that he lost at gambling and they took everything but his sword. The moral? Don't show Jacqueline naked statues when she's bored.
But the city tour finally ended, we went shopping (which was cool because the exchange rate was 1 Euro = 4 Slotties (sp).), and then we took a 3 hour bus ride back to Germany.
The next day, we did basically the same thing, but this time in Dresden. I hate city tours. BOR-RING! But, Dresden is cool cuz we completely destroyed it during WWII, and they are still rebuilding it, and whereever possible, they use the orginal bricks, if the survive. They do some kind of scientific scan to find out where the bricks originally went. So, you've got all of these beautiful old buildings, new stones, but randomly they have old, burnt bricks. It's a really cool effect.
Then, back to Leipzig (home, sweet home). The next day, I got to visit the Bach Museum, Schumann House and Mendelssohn House. Let's just say, for a music nerd, it was sweet! I was supposed to go to Wittenburg the next day, but I had a major headache, so I stayed home.
The next week was pretty standard. We went to a BMW factory, which was AWESOME, but sadly, they allowed no pictures and they didn't give out samples.
Then we went to a Brewery, which was REALLY boring. I don't care about brewing beer. We got free samples at the end. (I wish that the BMW tour had been boring, but that they gave out samples. That would have been way better.) I'm not suppsed to drink, so I'd just take a sip and then give the rest to Sierra. I like beer. Or at least, I like what I tried there. :-)
The following Saturday (July 1), I and four friends went to a tiny city called Halle for the 2nd International Highland Games. MEN IN KILTS!!!! (need I say more?) It was one of the most fun days I've had, ever! The games were great. I got to shoot a bow and arrow. I ate bratwurst with mustard, and got ice cream with a Germany flag in it. And there were bagpipes and men in kilts, and men in kilts, and men in kilts. It was great.
This week, we did a boat tour on a small river here in Leipzig. That was really nice - beautiful and calm, and of course, there was Beer.
Last night, I went to a Gewandhaus Orchestra Concert in the Park. It was WONDERFUL!!! 6 Euros to see the GEWANDHAUS and they played American and British composers. It was so GREAT! And, of course, there was Beer.
And that, my friends is a super speedy wrap up of my month here in Leipzig.
03 July 2006
Ridiculous Speed (part 1)
(pre-script: if you see 'z's and 'y's mixed up, it's cuz I'm typing on a German Keyboard and those two letters are switched. The symbols are also in weird places, so this post may be all screwy.)
Ok, so where was I?
Ah, yes. Poland. And the trip thereto (June 21-23). It started out quite early on a Wednesday morning. We all met at the Hauptbahnhof for a train ride to Görlitz. This is a German town, but it is on the Germany/Poland border. Our train got delayed on the middle of the tracks for about a 1/2 hour, which meant that we missed our connection. We were stuck in some tiny little po-dunk town for about an hour. We walked around, I bought chocolate, and life was good.
We finally arrived in Görlitz. And then. It began raining. Not sprinkling. No, this was a straight out of the Bible, where is Noah when you need him, the ark is not ready, sort of rain. We raced through the rain, which at one point, was so bad that we had to pile into a little tiny alcove to get some respite. Here is a picture of said alcove. I would have taken one while we were all crammed into it, but, like I said, it was a tad bit wet outside.
Then we ate lunch at this weird little bar. It had a bunch of weapons hanging on the walls and musical instruments
strewn about the place. Our waiter looked like a pirate, and then, in one of the weirdest, most interesting things ever, he became an ACTOR and told us this story about a dude who makes a deal with the devil and loses his soul in the process. I don't know details, because he was speaking German in the weird Saxon accent that they have up here. I like Storytime, though.
During lunch, we made various structures out of coasters and table ornaments:
After that, we had a tour of Görlitz. It was pretty neat. Görlitz, from what I remember, was a major trading city back in the day. Then, the trading route got plagued by robbers and so they banded with 5 other cities to control the problem.....
Ok, so that was probably the lamest history recount EVER.
Here are some pictures that I took during the tour. I saw the coolest statue/fountain I have EVER seen.
Other fountains and statues were cool too:
The have a doorway there, called the Whispering Wall, and if you stand with a friend, one on each side of the door, and one whispers, the other person can hear it like they were standing right next to each other. It was really amazing!
They had some really cool architecture in this city, but I don't know the history behind it or anything special about it. The following was my favorite building shot.
We finally got settled into our hotel. I roomed with Sierra again. This hotel was not nearly as nice as the one in Wernigerode. It was called Pension Pico Bello. The owners also own a little Italian restaurant (called Antica Roma), and he invited us to have a free glass of Champagne there. So we went. All 30 of us. And we were hungry. And it is a restaurant. So we ordered food. TWO HOURS LATER, our food had still not gotten there. He explained that they were not expecting us all to stay and were not prepared. I was NOT happy with the situation. It is a RESTAURANT, after all. They are supposed to make food for people. (wow! my eye just started twitching as I was typing! I must be madder about this than I thought.) Anyhoo. They finally started bringing food and he brought out two Tortellinis. Only one person had ordered Tortellini. Great! The take a million years and they can't even make the right food!!! So he came back out and said, "ok, I have two pizzas and then everybody has their food, right?" But, NO! I DID NOT HAVE MY FOOD!!! My Pasta Combinazione was not there. He said "can you eat the extra Tortellini?" That made me mad. I had waited over 2 hours for food that I hadn't even ordered!?!?!?! But, I ate the Tortellini. And it turned out to be my Pasta Combinazione. And it was o.k. And those two things made me even madder. My food had been sitting there for 10 minutes because the OWNER couldn't tell what the dishes looked like AND the food was mediocre at best?!!?!
(take a deep breath)
So, apparently, I looked really mad about this, because the owner offered me a glass of wine for all the trouble. WHICH, I can't drink! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! We were talking about this kind of thing at the table that night and the TAs said that in Germany a person just waits. Once you've ordered, you wait. I think that's foolish. They also said that I must have made a BIG impression on the owner with my ire, because restaurants NEVER offer wine or other types of apologies, no comps, nothing. That made me feel bad, because, normally I am a very patient person and I don't let stuff like that get to me. I went and apologized to the owner for my attitude. I don't like for people to think I'm evil. (I'm not saying I'm all goodness and light, either. I could very well be evil. I just don't like for people to think I am.)
But, the evening ended on a good note. We went to this sweet little french place and had Crepes. The service was good, the food was Excellent and the waiter was gregarious. (I feel better now).
Moral of Part 1: If you happen to be in Görlitz, don't stay in Pension Picobello, don't eat at Antica Roma and DO eat at Le Tour.
Ok, so where was I?
Ah, yes. Poland. And the trip thereto (June 21-23). It started out quite early on a Wednesday morning. We all met at the Hauptbahnhof for a train ride to Görlitz. This is a German town, but it is on the Germany/Poland border. Our train got delayed on the middle of the tracks for about a 1/2 hour, which meant that we missed our connection. We were stuck in some tiny little po-dunk town for about an hour. We walked around, I bought chocolate, and life was good.
We finally arrived in Görlitz. And then. It began raining. Not sprinkling. No, this was a straight out of the Bible, where is Noah when you need him, the ark is not ready, sort of rain. We raced through the rain, which at one point, was so bad that we had to pile into a little tiny alcove to get some respite. Here is a picture of said alcove. I would have taken one while we were all crammed into it, but, like I said, it was a tad bit wet outside.
Then we ate lunch at this weird little bar. It had a bunch of weapons hanging on the walls and musical instruments
strewn about the place. Our waiter looked like a pirate, and then, in one of the weirdest, most interesting things ever, he became an ACTOR and told us this story about a dude who makes a deal with the devil and loses his soul in the process. I don't know details, because he was speaking German in the weird Saxon accent that they have up here. I like Storytime, though.During lunch, we made various structures out of coasters and table ornaments:
After that, we had a tour of Görlitz. It was pretty neat. Görlitz, from what I remember, was a major trading city back in the day. Then, the trading route got plagued by robbers and so they banded with 5 other cities to control the problem.....
Ok, so that was probably the lamest history recount EVER.
Here are some pictures that I took during the tour. I saw the coolest statue/fountain I have EVER seen.
Other fountains and statues were cool too:
The have a doorway there, called the Whispering Wall, and if you stand with a friend, one on each side of the door, and one whispers, the other person can hear it like they were standing right next to each other. It was really amazing!
They had some really cool architecture in this city, but I don't know the history behind it or anything special about it. The following was my favorite building shot.
We finally got settled into our hotel. I roomed with Sierra again. This hotel was not nearly as nice as the one in Wernigerode. It was called Pension Pico Bello. The owners also own a little Italian restaurant (called Antica Roma), and he invited us to have a free glass of Champagne there. So we went. All 30 of us. And we were hungry. And it is a restaurant. So we ordered food. TWO HOURS LATER, our food had still not gotten there. He explained that they were not expecting us all to stay and were not prepared. I was NOT happy with the situation. It is a RESTAURANT, after all. They are supposed to make food for people. (wow! my eye just started twitching as I was typing! I must be madder about this than I thought.) Anyhoo. They finally started bringing food and he brought out two Tortellinis. Only one person had ordered Tortellini. Great! The take a million years and they can't even make the right food!!! So he came back out and said, "ok, I have two pizzas and then everybody has their food, right?" But, NO! I DID NOT HAVE MY FOOD!!! My Pasta Combinazione was not there. He said "can you eat the extra Tortellini?" That made me mad. I had waited over 2 hours for food that I hadn't even ordered!?!?!?! But, I ate the Tortellini. And it turned out to be my Pasta Combinazione. And it was o.k. And those two things made me even madder. My food had been sitting there for 10 minutes because the OWNER couldn't tell what the dishes looked like AND the food was mediocre at best?!!?!
(take a deep breath)
So, apparently, I looked really mad about this, because the owner offered me a glass of wine for all the trouble. WHICH, I can't drink! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! We were talking about this kind of thing at the table that night and the TAs said that in Germany a person just waits. Once you've ordered, you wait. I think that's foolish. They also said that I must have made a BIG impression on the owner with my ire, because restaurants NEVER offer wine or other types of apologies, no comps, nothing. That made me feel bad, because, normally I am a very patient person and I don't let stuff like that get to me. I went and apologized to the owner for my attitude. I don't like for people to think I'm evil. (I'm not saying I'm all goodness and light, either. I could very well be evil. I just don't like for people to think I am.)
But, the evening ended on a good note. We went to this sweet little french place and had Crepes. The service was good, the food was Excellent and the waiter was gregarious. (I feel better now).
Moral of Part 1: If you happen to be in Görlitz, don't stay in Pension Picobello, don't eat at Antica Roma and DO eat at Le Tour.
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