Dachau

On our last full day in Germany, Whitney and I went to Dachau Concentration Camp, or what's left of it. It was by far one of the most eerie experiences I have ever encountered. It was the dreariest day we had on our whole trip; very cloudy and rainy. It fit the mood.

We went on a tour, which was nice because we had a tour guide to give us more information on the camp and was responsible for getting us to and from the camp, but we really didn't have that much time to look through the museum. I'd suggest simply figuring out the S-bahn and buying the 3 euro ticket to the camp.

Something I was unaware of was that Dachau was in fact a work camp, not a killing camp like Auschwitz, its main purpose was for working people. However, killing happened here too, of course. A lot of the camp was burned down during the liberation, but some survivors actually raised money to rebuild and restore the camp so outsiders could see the terror that the Nazis put them through. All the housing bunkers burned down, and two replicas were built, and the mail building of Dachau has been turned into a museum.

I also learned that is it required for all German students to visit a concentration camp during their schooling. A group of students was actually there when we were. I think that is probably good of the German government, not only teach them about history but also make them see it instead of trying to cover up the past.

We walked through the museum and saw the room where the victims were stripped of their humanity and were given numbers. We saw where they were tortured for being different. We saw where they were housed, in bunks 3 high and 9 across, squished like sardines. Finally, we saw the crematorium, where under the false promise of a shower, thousands died for no reason at all.

We had seen these grand buildings and monuments all over Germany, and thought, "look at what humans are capable of: such unique and intricate designs," then walked into Dachau and thought "look at what humans are capable of: such sheer, unwarranted hatred."

I think everyone should experience visiting a concentration camp because no matter how terrible and unfair you think your life is, at the end of the day, you know it could be a lot worse.

(Work Makes one Free)

Hofbrauhaus

We left Rothenburg around 1 the next day for Munich. A helpful hint for those hosteling around Europe: keep in mind that if you only stay in the hostel for one night, but plan on staying the rest of the 2nd day in the city, you'll have to haul your stuff around with you because the hostel will make you check out between 10-11am, unless the hostel has a baggage storage facility to store your things until you are ready to actually leave the city. Rothenburg does not have a baggage storage.
We took a 3 hour train to Munich and got to our hostel which was right across the street from the hauptbahnhof (central station). It was fairly nice, but I still think the hostel in Berlin was nicest.
As it turns out, Munich was the most populated and tourist filled of the cities we visited. The main strip that we walked on was full of high end fashion and American restaurants yet was disguised in the old buildings. I've never been to New York City, but from what I've seen on Sex and the City, Munich is a German version of NYC. People were literally everywhere. It was the place I was most worried about being pick-pocketed.

If you travel to Munich, one stop is a must: the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer hall in the world. It isn't terribly hard to find. It's on Hofbraustaße, if I recall correctly. It was one of the best times I had during our trip. The whole place is just filled with happy, fat, drunk Germans. You go in and just find somewhere to sit, you could be alone or with a table full of old German men depending on how busy it is. Live German music is played by men in laderhosen and by the end of the night everyone's dancing and singing. It's a real hoot.

The food is FANTASTIC. We shared the Hofbrau Original Sausage platter and the Hofbrau Original pork loin with potatoes au gratin. And apple strudel for dessert. One of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life.

I also ordered the Hofbrau original beer. Banking in at 7.50 euros and 1 liter. ONE LITER. Listen, I've had maybe 4 sips of beer in my life, (primarily because of the whole I'm not 21 thing, but still) and have never really taken a liking to the stuff, (I asked if I could get it in a .5 liter and he just looked at me a little confused and asked "Why?" So 1 liter it was.) but when you're in the most famous beer hall in the world and in Germany, you order a beer. Whether you like it or not. It really wasn't that bad either. All the froth on top definitely helped the taste situation and when that was gone it wasn't as good. But overall, it wasn't repulsive, and added a little something special to the night.

Once upon a time..

On Tuesday, Whitney and I got up at 3 to catch a 4am train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was with out a doubt the cutest town I have ever seen. It's a medieval town that was fist built in 970 ad and gained significance during the Thirty Year's War. There is a wall that protects the town. Everything is old timey, and all the streets are cobble stone. It's perfectly adorable. You can even walk in the wall like guards would have done in the day.
When we got there we had lunch at a "snack" place, that offered smaller meals for reasonable place. It was really pretty good. We got a sausage and potato platter for only 3 euros. We then walked the town and went into all the little shops. I bought so many souvenirs here, I don't even want to add up how much I spent. The town is also famous for its cuckoo clocks and Christmas museum. The Christmas Museum/store was giant and perfect. I wish I could have taken pictures of it, but it wasn't allowed. There were lights, and toys and ornaments everywhere. It was basically how I want my wedding to look. It was so fantastic.
After walking the town for the whole day, we ended up going back to the same place for dinner because it was the only thing open. I got a belgium waffle with nutella and it was pretty tasty.
Everyone needs to go to this town for the day. It is a perfect taste of old Germany.

 The littlest dusting of snow made this town that much more perfect.

 These are little deep fried dough things that are a Rothenburg specialty. Really, really good.

Ich bin eine Berliner

On Monday Whitney and I woke up early to see all Berlin had to offer. Because of our train delay, we only had one day in Berlin. First, we took the S-Bahn to the East Side Gallery. It is the longest remaining strip of the Berlin Wall that has been made into an art gallery on the street. You can actually go up and touch this part of the wall. It was a really long strip, and the art was really extraordinary.

After the East Side Gallery, we made our way to the Brandenburg Gate where a free walking tour was starting. We were in a group of about 30 or so and walked around Berlin for about 3 hours. It was really great because we had no idea where to go or what to see and we learned a lot about the buildings and history of Berlin. It started at Brandenburg which is right across the street from the German Parliament building. This building burnt down soon after Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany. He said that the burning of the Reichstag was an act of communist rebellion and was granted more power to suppress the communist rebels, and there we have the beginning stages of WWII.  The Reichstag, of course, was rebuilt. You can go into the dome, but you must register online 3 business days before you plan on doing it. No one informed us of this, so we didn't get to go into it. But it's still cool.

The discoloration on the pillars of the Brandenburg gate are bullet holes from WW2. Really very cool to see up close. I touched some of them because I thought it was just so neat. 

We also saw the Holocaust Memorial to the Jews. A free memorial right outside Brandenburg.

We saw another section of the Berlin Wall that in now having to be protected from tourists and citizens of Berlin. There is a gate surrounding the wall so people don't chisel away the remaining section of the wall.

We also saw Checkpoint Charlie, the American check point station in West Berlin. It's a giant tourist trap now, but still pretty cool. There are "military" men waiting to greet you into West Berlin. I did get my passport stamped in East Berlin then in West Berlin at Checkpoint Charlie. Pretty cool. Best euro I spent.

After walking all over Berlin, Whitney and I found a cute little pub for dinner where I had a fantastic bratwurst, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. Seriously, I wish I could eat it again right now.

For students considering traveling to Berlin, I'd highly recommend the Grand Hostel Berlin youth hostel. It was a really great hostel, very clean and the staff was super friendly and helpful and they are available 24/7 in the lobby. The rooms were also really cheap, and were the nicest we stayed in our whole trip. It's also located right down the street from an underground stop which makes getting around Berlin really easy.

And we're off!

This week, my blogs will be about my trip to Germany! Check back each day for more information about our holiday!

On Saturday 18 February, Whitney and I left for Berlin. We left Clermont at 4:30pm and were supposed to arrive in Paris Bercy at 7:57 and leave from Paris de l'Est at 8:20. 23 minutes to get off the train, change stations, and board the next train. Doable, says the woman selling us our tickets, if you know how to navigate Paris. Luckily, Whitney is familiar with the metro and says she can get us there. While we're on the train though, Whitney is getting nervous thinking that the metro may take too long to get us there, so we decide to go ahead and pay more to take a cab to the next station just for safety's sake. Unfortunately, while we were on the train, the conductor comes on the intercom and informs us that we are running 10 minutes late. 10. Minutes. Late. We did not have 10 minutes to spare. We begin freaking out, because it's impossible to change stations in 10 minutes. By the time we actually arrive at Paris Bercy it is 8:13. We take a cab "très vite"to the other station, hoping that the other train is running late too. Arrive at Paris Est at 8:38. Train has left the station.

We go talk to the ticket people to try and get the situation figured out. Luckily for us, we were dealing with the nicest people in all of Paris. They gave us new tickets to Berlin for free and a free hotel room because the next train didn't leave until the morning. It was a wonderful blessing.

So Sunday 19 February, we really leave for Berlin. We arrived around 5:30pm, bought our train tickets for the rest of the week and found our way to the youth hostel.

Les vacances d'hiver

Today starts our winter holiday. We get a full week off of school so Whitney and I are jumping on a train to Germany! We're going to Berlin, Rothenberg ob der tauber, and Munich with a day trip to Dachau. I think it'll be a really great adventure!

Liberté Sur L'Internet

At Centre Jaude (the center of town where the mall is located) there have been youth protests about SOPA and PIPA urging the youth to participate in a black out they're planning. I knew the French like to protest, and we saw a small protest about taxes but that was amongst older people. I think it's interesting to see the youth out with signs and handing out pamphlets. They seem much more politically aware than the American youth.

Faire la cuisine

At the Residence Phillipe Lebon and Residence Amboise, tiny kitchenettes are places on each floor for the residents to use. The kitchen consists of a stove top with 2 burners and a sink. Whitney has a microwave on her floor and we think someone bought it and left it there (you can get them at Simply Market for about 25 euros). It's small but we've decided to start utilizing them. Whitney happened to have a tiny skillet and a little pot that someone left for her. But we invested in a larger pot and more utensils. Between the 4 us, cooking our dinners has saved us quite a bit of money. Everything so far has turned out pretty well and we end up spending about 1-3 euros per meal instead of 7-10 which is nice and we get a more rounded meal with veggies and protein, not just bread and Nutella. We don't have a freezer, but we each have mini-fridges in our rooms so we can save meat for a couple of days. We just make more trips to the store during the week to buy fresh meat, but that isn't too bad. We've been buying canned vegetables with pop tops and instant mashed potatoes. We've made pasta, shepherds pie, eggs and sausage and fried chicken so far. I recommend using the kitchens, you'll save money and it gives you something to do.

Vin chaud

These are my little friends (Larissa, me, Loviisa and Whitney). We were at a nice little bar where they serve hot wine. Yes indeed, hot wine. I had just watched an episode of True Blood earlier that afternoon so the thought of drinking hot wine made me think that I was drinking blood and I couldn't handle it. But apparently it's a French thing to do when it's cold.

Le jour du mariage

In my class, there are about 15 of us. There's me, then 14 Chinese kids. The speak relatively decent French, but some of their accents are really hard to understand. But I'm learning some of their names and tell them all that I've been to China so they accept me as one of them.

Anyway, today in class we had to break up into groups and were assigned a scenario and we had to create a dialogue about the scenario and act it out. So I was in a group with two other Chinese girls and our situation was "Marie is getting married, she meets with her friends to tell them about her wedding plans." I thought it was on purpose, since that is my life right now, but it wasn't! My teacher didn't even realize I was engaged. So I tell her about it and show her my ring and everything (which she was instantly jealous of). So, the girls are so busy asking me questions that we don't actually write anything down. So when it's our turn to present, we just reenact the conversation we had before and I tell the whole class about the fabulous wedding I'm planning.

One question that the girls in my group (Yuan-yuan and Qinsomething.. I call her Q) were really interested in was my dress. So I told them after lunch I'd bring a picture to show them. Well, we reconvened in the afternoon and I show the 2 my dress, but that turns into the whole class looking at it, including the teacher, then our other teacher comes in and she has to look at it and wants all the details of the wedding as well. Two hours later, class is over, 16 more people are added to the guest list and I effectively got us out of a 2 hour lecture, you're welcome kids.

Tomorrow they want to hear "It had to be you" by Frank Sinatra because I said that was a song I am considering for our first dance. Maybe this level isn't all bad.

Pour ma belle-soeur

One of the first stores that we found in Clermont-Ferrand was a book store called Chapitre. It's right across the street from La Maison de la Culture, which is basically where the "city" is. It's a giant bookstore. Honestly, Barnes and Noble is nothing compared to this. I could probably spend a whole day in there looking at books, children's books especially; I love French children's books. One can also buy Clermont-Ferrand postcards, fancy pens, CDs, movies, and probably much more that I've yet to discover. I have to remind myself that books are heavy and I should not bring home 8 million French books. But I may have to go crazy and buy the French version of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Twilight, pourquoi pas?

A 4 hour meal

Last night at 7:15 we met up with some French friends for dinner at a restaurant at the Place de la Victoire called L'Ougafaut or something like that. But it's an authentic French restaurant serving many authentic Auvergne region meals. I got a "menu" option, that came with 3 courses for abou 20 euros.
First, I had an Auvergne salad, it had nuts, cheese, eggs and ham. The dressing was pretty good. Kinda like honey mustard

Then, I had truffade, a special Auvergne dish made with potatoes, ham and locally made cheese called Tome. It was one of the most delicious meals I've ever had. I want to learn how to make it. I also ordered the red wine that was suggested to go with it, which I think was also made in the region.

For dessert. Creme brulée.

We left the restaurant at 10 til 11. (A very long meal, but that's how the French eat) We went to La Maison de la Culture to see the final show in the Court Metrage Festival (short films) The festival had been going on for 2 weeks and last night was the finalé where they showed the best films in the whole festival.

It was a really fun, French night!

$2 Wine.

Stressful day today. Trying to figure out class schedules and how credits work and translate and what levels mean what. Really hectic. But we learned that for the next several days we can just try classes out and see how we like them before fully committing. So that's good. I was placed into Level 2 French, I'm not entirely sure what that means, so I'm going to a level 3 class with Larissa in the morning then a level 2 class in the afternoon to see which I feel more comfortable with.

We've made a new friend, Loviisa. She is from Finland. She's great. Her English is fantastic.
So, Whitney, Loviisa, Larissa, and I had a little Sex and the City night (Loviisa has also seen every episode of the series, so that was great!) to unwind after a stressful day.