My whole life I've been underestimating the amazing fortitude, tenacity, and determination shown by any immigrant who's just trying to integrate into society. /Especially/ a society with a language in which he is weak and where he has a limited support network. I've lived in something like 10 apartments since I was 18 (I'm 23 now) and it has /never/ been this hard to find one. I imagine how I would respond to a request to live with me in, say, Spanish back home, where the guy says, "Lo siento, pero no comprendo mucho ingles. Espero que hablas espanol. Tienes un cuarto para mi?" I probably wouldn't respond, either. Well - that's how I'm being treated now.
Also, I just discovered that the laundry room requires some bullshit laundry card. Great. I figure, if you make something more difficult for a guest than it would be in a cheap hostel, you're doing something wrong. Tonight, I shower with my clothes. I hope I'm not allergic to laundry detergent...
(photo of me with clothes)
It seems like my bad luck always turns to good. After I washed my clothes, I heard a sort of thrumming sound, like a party in the distance. I opened my window and it sort of sounded like it came from outside, but above me. I followed the sound through the stairwell and came to a very loud door with pulsing music. Curious, I opened it into a crowd of surprised Bulgarians. Apparently the Bulgarian student association decided to throw an impromptu party... they thought I was upset, and turned down the music. It took a moment for me to explain in English that I wasn't bothered, just curious, and then they pulled me into the party and gave me drinks. Guys - you've never seen a woman dance until you've seen a Bulgarian woman dance. It's ridiculous. So... now my clothes will be wet tomorrow because I just hung them up to dry, and I think it's time for bed.
So now that I'm here I planned to get my room at Steingarten ("Rock Garden"). It's a university apartment... when I went to Sydney I chose to not do Uni housing at first in order to find a better deal myself. After discovering the paucity of apartments in the area I eventually went with the uni anyway. This time around, I decided to save myself the trouble by applying for uni housing from the beginning. Unfortunately, the WG office (Wohnen = "Apartment") is only open for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday. Weird, huh? I guess I'll get my keys tomorrow.
I also met Alex, my VISUM buddy. This "buddy" program is a great idea... they hook you up with a local student who helps you out with stuff, and you actually /know someone/ when you get here. Fantastic. Plus, Alex is really great... she's fun and extremely patient and excellent with English. And she has weird (but good) friends. So tonight we went out with Melanie and Mira and Christoph to a fantastic club in the Jugenburg (sp?) area, "SoHo." I can't vouch for other nights but on Mondays they play a really groovy lineup that makes for great dancing. Average bar. Good atmosphere; gets hot - wear ventilated clothing. The whole Jugenburg (sp?) area is very hip and bohemian... I'd like to live here.
Winding Down
Woke up late with a headache. I begin to see a pattern forming. We met Dustin's best ladyfriend Julie at Zoologischer Garten station. At first I thought she was shy but she's really vivacious; it just took some time for her to acclimate to speaking with me in English, and she's quite good at it. Dustin & Julie used me as an excuse to explore the most turistic parts of their city. Here's Julie in the Beateuhse sex shop:
(Show photo of the sex shop (Beateuhse) w/ Julie)
Later in the night we met up with Richie and ventured to the Bar Der Visionare ("The Bar of the Visionary" - guaya, ya?). Julie drove - stick shifting like something out of the Bourne identity in her tiny little car. This place is a beach bar (sand-filled areas, tiki torches, right by the river) and has the best Long Island Iced Teas I've ever had. Really, I think that's the test of a bar tender: LIITs that taste like delicious iced tea and not some horrid coke nightmare, but still knock you out sip by sip. Met some Americans there - Chris and Suzy. It's great how you meet Americans (/Australians/Canadians) just by speaking English somewhere. They left with us, and then we got lost on the way to the car (somehow) and went dancing at some random 80's bar because Dustin saw a tall girl with nice legs inside. Getting lost turned out to be great (it usually does) after dancing to (examples of music?). Lots more drinking from Dustin & me (Julie was driving) and a really great night out. Eventually we got to Dustin's around 5am, chatted for a while, and fell asleep.
We woke up pretty late today, after hanging out for so long last night. Dustin made a fantastic breakfast of eggs with bacon and tomatoes.
There's a geek conference tonight, the Online Marketing Lounge. This sort of thing is common in places like New York, Silicon Valley, LA, Tokyo, London, Berlin, etc, but not really in Charlotte. Since I'm a professional in Online Marketing I think it would be really cool to check out. Dustin is in a related field, and has some great ideas of his own about web development. We're both looking forward to this thing... problem is, Dustin and Robert (a friend of his, also a geek like us) both have tickets, but I was "at sea" on the ferry while the ticket option was available. Dustin has come up with a scheme to get me in: I'll announce that I'm a big-shot Web Developer from America when we get there, and flash some business cards, and boom: free drinks.
(photo of Online Marketing Lounge flyer)
Catch is, I don't /have/ any business cards. I mean, I do, at home - some quite nice ones... rounded corners, gloss, full color, custom design... the works. I wasn't really planning to pick up business in Germany though so I left them behind. There's a print shop down the road, so I have a sketchbook, Photoshop, and about twenty minutes to make business cards. I think /these/ are actually much hotter than my fancy cards. I plan to replace the design when I get home with my new sketch theme:
(photos)
We got bad information from a quick google search about standard biz card sizing, so it was a little too wide and had to be cut off. Doesn't lose much though, makes it look edgy and artistic I think. We literally printed them on one sheet of card stock and cut them out by hand.
Somehow that crazy German's scheme worked! I left some cards with the girl checking tickets and joined Dustin and Robert for free drinks all night! These Berliners know how to throw a Web 2.0 party: open bar, lots of big digital displays, a kicker (fuseball) table, venture capitalists and angel investors from all over the world. We were pretty young at 23, but the oldest guys were about 35 and there was a steady stream of absolutely stunning women making the rounds. I'm pretty sure they're not developers or entrepreneurs... my guess is the German version of Silicon Valley groupies. It was pretty exciting; the looks they were giving us suggested that they thought we were successful "Online Marketers" rather than a few geeks still in uni with hand-made business cards for somewhat defunkt businesses.
The Train to Berlin. This was my favorite ride yet; first, I discovered that German trains sell very good beer. You can get something like a pint of (look it up... hezestanzle? heizenkeiner?). After a few of those, the train ride seemed quite exciting and I got into an artistic mood. I took out my sketchbook and did a couple illustrations from newspaper and mag photos, and some self portraits in the dark glass of the train:
(photos here)
Eventually I was building up something of an audience in the restaurant/bar carriage. One nice fellow introduced himself: Moustafa Mohamed Hazaa. who runs Moustafa Mohamed Hazaa & Co. out of Tanta City, Egypt. They manufacture automobile parts for Toyotas, Hyundais, and a few other makes. He was a really cool guy and asked if I'd do a sketch of him, which of course was great practice for me. So I did - here they are side by side; I took a quick snapshot on the train before I gave it to him. He was such a nice fellow that he invited me to stay for a bit in Egypt to tour his city and factory. I'm trying to work that into my plans right now.
So, I got to Berlin and Dustin, who I'll be staying with while I'm here, met me at the station. I think he deserves some background - he's quite a character. I met Dustin in Sydney, Spring 2007. We lived together as neighbors for months, except it was something more than neighbors. There was a whole gang of us, and I think Nikki said it best: "(I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her - ask first)." Here's a photo of all of us - Dustin is the two-meter-tall one:
(photo)
It was really fantastic to hang out with him again... we parted ways over a year ago, but I felt transported back to Australia. Dustin immediately introduced me to Doner, which is the famous and popular Germano-Turkish fast food common throughout this country. They slowly cook giant sections of meat on rotisseries and shave off slices into a sort of flatbread, top it with vegetables and sauces, and usually charge about $3 EUR. Later that night we met up with Richie (also from Australia, but Dustin's longest friend) and they gave me the walking & drinking tour of Berlin. I was dazzled by the public drinking and the beer at every shop imaginable. Bars are rendered useless because you can just buy beer wherever you are, and when you finish it you are inevitably standing next to another place with a large selection of beer. It took a while to get comfortable just putting the bottles in random places; apparently they're worth something if you return them, so instead of throwing them away it's common practice to sort of stash them somewhere so people who need the money can collect them.
Katerina
So, I took a train to Rosslare from Dublin, then took a ferry from Dublin to Che...something in France, where I stayed for roughly one hour to eat lunch with some really nice girls I met the night before on the ferry. Rant about ferries and eurail later...
For now, I'm in Paris. Got here last night with enough time to catch a train at 7 to Mannheim, but Katerina is here so I'm seeing a little of her, first time in two years. I don't really like Paris so I'm looking forward to visiting her in the Czech Rep. Catching that train later today after checking out the museum of Erotic Art.
Note to single guys:
I recommend Richard's Hotel in Paris. Don't be fooled by the name, it's a Hostel. In a decent location near some cheap shops, and it's cheap for Paris ($20 EUR/night). Plus, from what I can see, it's the favorite hostel of girls from Spain, Italy, and other parts of France. I didn't realize I booked a mixed quad (as I don't speak French) until I walked in on the 3 girls.
I'm not exactly single right now, but maybe someone will benefit from this.
Dublin, the Nicest City in the World?
Last night was my last in Dublin. The other guys from the hostel were headed out for some pool and clubbing, but I felt a little like being alone. Backpacking around you're constantly around people - you wake surrounded by people, shower with people, go out with people, eat with people, and go to bed with people. So - sometimes, it's nice to take a stroll by yourself.
In this case, I got lost. I wandered south of the river hoping to find some Irish music in a pub at Temple Bar. However, Temple Bar is a place for fun, but not genuine Irish-ness, if you get my meaning. It's become Dublin's main tourist attraction. So I didn't find what I was seeking... instead, I kept walking, hoping for something a little more cozy. I didn't find that either and ended up lost in the eye of a storm at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Charlotte also has a St. Pat's. It's across the street from my parents' house, so I saw it every morning as a child waking up. Being near its big brother made me feel almost as if I were taking a stroll at home, so I sat by it for a while.
I asked a young thirty-ish man walking by to "point me north," because I could find my hostel from the river. He (Glen) asked me where I was headed and, upon hearing I wanted a pint and some food, invited me to have a drink with him. He was on his way to some late work at his office in the city and wanted a walk first, because like me, he does a lot of work alone, indoors, and from home. Of course I followed him and he took me to my now-favorite bar in Dublin: The Lord Edward. The Guinness is cheaper than anyplace I've been, and better, everyone is pleasant, it's very intimate, and the atmosphere takes you back to when England, rather than the US, was colonizing places. Go there.
In any case, we planned on a pint but spent the whole night there - Glen invited his girlfriend Pilar over, and she was quite nice. They're both fascinating people who have traveled all over the world - Glen is a designer as well (I think much better than me) and he builds graphics for an Irish TV station. We kept drinking over stories of African bribes and South American extortion, and eventually Pilar went home. A couple hours later Glen and I stumbled somewhere to get some food and then he led me to a point from which I could find my place. It was maybe the nicest night I've spent with a complete stranger.
I highly recommend it. I've traveled before with friends and girlfriends (and both), and each method has its particular benefits. With a traveling companion, you always have someone to hang out with and someone to watch your back; shared responsibility can certainly ease the stress that comes from being in unfamiliar places amongst unfamiliar cultures. This is the first time I've had to bear that alone.
However, the people who gain the least of the unique benefits of backpacking, hosteling, etc, are invariably the couples or large groups. Especially romantic couples. I've seen many pass through the hostel over just the last four days and none of them have really mixed with the rest of us. And how could you make such a sacrifice?
We played "President's Asshole" (a bad translation), a card game popular with these beautiful French hostelers, with everyone drinking and the languages changing from English to French to Spanish ... and I looked across the room to see a couple chatting quietly and playing solitaire alone.
I get a feeling of complete independence... I'm in a place where nobody knows me, where I have the final say over what I do and when. It becomes a vacation from compromises. For example, yesterday afternoon I ran into Karin at the reception desk:
...and ended up having a fantastic night out with her without trying to work her into my group's plans. The only Swede I've met here is also a viking during the summer!
Dublin is a lovely city. There's a mix of old and new architecture, cobblestone streets and paved motorways. The city is divided north and south by the river Liffey. My hostel (Browns Hostel) is one of the cheapest here at $11 EUR/nightly (if you purchase in advance, otherwise $20 EUR) and is about five minutes north of the river and five east of O'Connel street, which is one of Dublin's main thoroughfares.
Just south of the river is the area around St. Stephen's Green which has my favorite bars and nightclubs thusfar. Nearby is the Temple Bar area that hosts most of the small live music shows.
As a refreshing change from Charlotte, Dublin has mostly pedestrian traffic, and the vehicles show a greater variety and economy than is typical of the US:
One thing that's surprised me is the amount of panhandlers here. Apparently Ireland just saw a great economic boom that is now being followed by a quick recession where many skilled immigrants are returning to their homes, leaving a smaller demand for unskilled workers and putting some on the streets (this is all from locals). I've been impressed with some who find ingenious ways of self-employment and expression.
And this place is fantastic! I love the city. It's compact and bustling, full of pedestrians and characters. Photos and details soon.
Current (flexible) plans: Leave Dublin on Sunday for Carry - Ferry to France - Train to Paris, visit Katerina - Train to Mannheim, drop off my stuff, meet Alex & Eva - Train to Berlin, stay with Dustin - Train to Heidelberg, visit Philipp - Train to Mannheim, start uni.
Last year (Spring 07) UNCC sent me to study at Macquarie Uni in Sydney, Australia. In two days I’m leaving for Mannheim Uni in Germany via Dublin, London, and Paris. Completing a degree takes most American students 4-5 years, but there’s no reason you have to spend all of them stuck in Charlotte. The Office of Education Abroad will send you elsewhere for up to three semesters! I’m here to show you the good, the bad, and the ugly about studying abroad with UNCC.
4 Misconceptions about Studying Abroad
“Studying abroad is prohibitively expensive”
If you play it smart, you can save tons of money by traveling as a student and taking advantage of the deals UNCC has worked out with places all over the world. Normal tuition at Macquarie is AUD $8,600 per semester, or $7,433 USD. However, as a UNCC exchange student, you’re only responsible for the same UNCC tuition you would pay staying in Charlotte. I paid $2,148 in tuition and used the other $5k to learn more about windsurfing and Australian beer. Plus, UNCC offers a variety of scholarships for students in particular fields or with certain destinations. This semester I’ll be spending less to live in Germany and travel throughout Europe than I would spend at home in my ultra-cheap UT apartment eating Ramen.“My GPA isn’t high enough to study abroad”
Grades help. Definitely. But they aren’t as important as you probably think, or John McCain wouldn’t even be a contender. Do you have a 2.0 or better? Congratulations, you’re eligible!-
“Studying abroad will delay my graduation”
UNCC is great, but there are plenty of other places where you can find classes to fulfill your degree requirements. Depending on what kind of crazy scheme you can talk your department chairs into signing off on through your Exchange Agreement (more on this later), you can even give yourself an academic boost. -
“I don’t speak another language, so I can’t go anywhere”
Other than the obvious UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada, plenty of universities offer courses in English specifically for uncultured people like you and me. Also, you might be surprised by places where English is an official national language. Malta, anyone?
