On Saturday, April 19th, Nick and I (the usual traveling partners) took the train from Köln to Frankfurt. On the fastest train this is about an hour and a half ride, however in order to save money, we booked our outward journey with a stop in Mainz, which is about half an hour south west of Frankfurt. Due to this short detour, it took us about 3 hours to reach Frankfurt. We did however have a direct train from Frankfurt back to Köln, which was nice. And even though the trip was a bit long, the sight seeing from the train was well worth it. The train travels along the Rhein River and goes through little medieval towns scattered around the surrounding hills. The nature, namely the Rhein and the green woods, is complemented with old churches and castles. Quite a sight! We were told that it is great to take a ferry from Köln down to Mainz and enjoy the sights from the boat.
Once we arrived to Frankfurt we were disappointed to see that it was raining. We were hoping that leaving Köln would enable us to run away from the constant rain, but apparently we were not so lucky. After asking for information at the Information Center at the Central Station, we boarded a bus that took us to Frankensteiner Platz. Considering the name of the square, one might think of a desolate, eerie place, but it is actually along the banks of the Main river. That’s where we found lodging at the Haus der Junged, which is conveniently located next to the Alte Brücke (old bridge) and within walking distance from the old town.
We left our things and went exploring. First item on the list: a stop at a corner store to purchase a couple of umbrellas. It was a good investment for me since it has been raining quite a bit in Cologne. I am also hoping that my now owning an umbrella will have a reverse effect on the weather and that I won’t be needing it after all….wishful thinking!
We visited various sights, including the Römerberg square, a part of the old town where the Fountain of Justice can be found. In the past, when an emperor was crowned, wine flowed from the fountain to let the Frankfurters celebrate. Only a corner away is the Frankfurter Dom, the old Cathedral. It is currently being renovated. This building was one of the few spared ones during WWII.
Next we walked through more modern part of the city, a pedestrian only street/mall filled with all sorts of stores, restaurants and tourist traps. At the end of the west end of this mall lies the Old Opera house. Today, there are two Opera Houses in Frankfurt, the old and the modern one. Obviously, the Old One has more historical appeal. The city used to be and it still is very artistically refined. After all, Goethe was born here.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant in middle of the Old Town. Going in I thought we were going to pay an arm and a leg for our meals, but it was actually very affordable. And the food was great. All of the waiters and cooks were from Italy, so the level of authenticity was quite high.
We went back to the hostel to relax before going out. Just behind our hostel was part of town called Sachsenhausen. This district is famous for its restaurants, pubs and clubs. We ventured to an interesting pub that showed German Cup Final on the big screen. The interesting part about this place was the artwork on display with price tags, so the pub serves as an art studio; but also on another wall was a display of street culture sneakers, that also were for sale. The atmosphere was pretty friendly. There was one annoying aspect and it had to do with an American girl sitting with 4 German guys. Both Nick and I agreed that people like her give the entire United States a bad reputation. She was obnoxious, loud and very ditsy with her comments. The guys were making fun of her and she was not even aware of it. I wanted to yell at her and tell her not to embarrass us anymore; but I kept my cool.
The next day was dedicated to various museums. We first went to Göthehaus, which is the house where Wolfgang Goethe was born. This was also the place where he began his writing career and wrote the first draft of his masterpiece, Faust. I believe the house was damaged during the war, but remodeled afterwards using its original style and layout. There were exhibits of Goethe’s handwriting, his book and art collection. It was great to have visited this place.
Next stop was the history museum. This museum had a hodge-podge of historical artifacts ranging from Roman era to as recent as 2001. The interesting parts were the aqueduct found in the basement after WWII. In fact there was also the area discovered next to the Cathedral, which used to be an old Roman Spa. Ironically these discoveries were possible due to the extensive destruction caused by the Allied Forces bombing raids to end WWII. From the more recent history, footage of reconstruction of Frankfurt is interesting. The pictures from the bombing aftermath are eye opening. The city was pretty much leveled to the ground, with only the Dom standing tall in midst of dusty rubble.
After the museum visits, we headed to the modern part of the city. One of the skyscrapers, the Main Tower, has an observatory on its roof. We took the opportunity and went up to the 50th floor. This is not the tallest building in Frankfurt, but it still allows you to see the city from high above, and different from many other observatories, this one is an open terrace with a glass fence keeping you from falling down. It is truly quite an experience.
From the Main Tower we walked on Kaiserstrasse towards the train station, which was 6 or 7 blocks away. The walk was interesting as we went through the heart of Frankfurt’s Red Light District. It was an experience. We were approached by a man inviting us into one of the buildings with a bright red sign. Both Nick and I laughed at how forward this guy was, but I bet there are quite a few tourists who look for those kinds of places. We just shook our heads and proceeded towards the train station.
Well that’s all for now folks.
Bis später,
Stasha
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Frankfurt Pictures
Here are the pictures from my trip to Frankfurt last weekend. A written blog to follow shortly.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Bonn, Düsseldorf and Planned Trips
Hello Folks,
I have been lousy at writing more frequently as I had originally planned to do. It’s time for what seems to be another weekly update from your Bosnitaliamerican living in Cologne.
Friday, April 11th:
As I suggested in my last post, I had no class last Friday. I took the opportunity to wander around the city, explore more secluded areas, etc. Friday was also the day I found out about my German Language placement test scores. As I had expected, I wasn’t placed at the lowest level but at level 2. I still feel it might be too low but in all honesty I haven’t had any German for 8 years now and even though I had studied it in the past, it’s definitely not as good as it should be. The good news is that I have finally started speaking it on a daily basis.
Friday night we went to a place called Live Music Hall. The name is a bit misleading for you native English speakers, as this is not a place where an orchestra or a choir holds concerts. To be honest, my first thought was that this might be a place like The Lounge or Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis, which are bars that regularly host concerts, whether they are cover bands or upcoming artists. I was mistaken. This was in a more industrial district of town; it reminds me a bit of the Meatpacking District in Manhattan with quite a few what seemed to be abandoned warehouses and hardly any apartment buildings. When we entered the place, this turned out to be a huge warehouse packed with college students. Memories of college parties I attended while at Gustavus suddenly came rushing through my head. It was mayhem. The music was loud and it was played by a DJ, not a live band. People were mingling around the two main bars, which were serving free beer till 11pm. It hit me that maybe I am getting too old for this kind of establishments when an 18-year-old looking punk stepped on my foot and spilt Kölsch on me. And even though the start did not look promising, I ended up enjoying myself. I ran into a few acquaintances from the University. We chatted, danced a bit and left before closing.
Saturday, April 12th:
On Saturday, Nick and I went to an Erasmus student party. Erasmus program is a popular study abroad program in Europe. This social gathering was in Efferen part of Köln, which is pretty much in the boonies. We had to take 3 separate trams/trains, while missing a few connections. Finally, once we made it to Efferen, we realized that neither of us wrote down the directions to the student housing complex. Somehow we managed to find it without really knowing where we were. This part of the city, or suburb I suppose, is very different from the rest of Cologne I came to know, as it is very quiet, dark and lacking personality.
We found the party house as I said and once we got in I experienced another set of college flashbacks. The great thing about the party was that it was attended by students from at least 20 different countries. The loudest, of course, were the Brits (English and Irish to be exact), only because it seemed they were the majority of students. I chatted with a couple of people from Japan and South Korea. The Korean girl spoke excellent English even though she had never visited an English speaking country. I was very impressed as there are foreigners in the US who have lived in the States all their lives and don’t speak English as well as this girl does. Perfecting a language takes skill, but what impressed me is that I, for example, hadn’t started feeling comfortable speaking English until after having lived in the States for a few years.
We left the party kind of early (us old guys) to catch the train. We were lucky as we caught a 2am tram (another one wasn’t coming for another hour), but our luck was short-lived as our next connection was done for the night and we had to huff it across town. I managed to walk into my flat at around 3am; I must have walked at least 5 miles, I kid you not. The entire way home I kept thinking about a friend of mine, Matt, who once walked from Bloomington to Uptown in Minneapolis area (for those of you not from Minneapolis, this is a good 10-15 minutes drive).
Sunday, April 13th:
I woke up around 11am and saw a message from Nick asking me if I was up to going to Bonn for the day. Even though it was raining, I decided to go since I skipped the organized tour of Cologne’s twin city the previous week. We took the train from the Köln West train station and traveled about 30 minutes to Bonn’s central station. The great thing about this trip was that we got to ride for free as University of Cologne students. Once we arrived, we headed directly into town, which is within walking distance from the train station. We wanted to find a restaurant or café to have lunch. We walked past McDonald’s and Subway as we wanted to have a more meaningful, real German experience. Two minutes into our stroll through town we realized that the city was totally dead because it was Sunday. Two minutes later a torrential downpour started and neither of us had an umbrella, so we started running for our lives and like a thirsty bunch seeing an oasis in the desert, all we could see is a nice, warm shelter, which was none other but Pizza Hut. Now, I am one of those people who wouldn’t set a foot in a Pizza Hut in the US, let alone Europe. Pretty comical that by trying to avoid being a stereotypical American, we were forced by Mother Nature to go into the least German of restaurants in all of Bonn.
But Pizza Hut in Bonn is not your average Pizza Hut. We were greeted by 3 different people on our way in. We were asked which table we preferred and pretty much treated like celebrities. The waitress then came with two plates and silverware and took our orders. Do they even have silverware in Pizza Hut in the US? I wouldn’t know, to be honest, but really one could notice that of the American in this Pizza Hut was the food but nothing else, recognition by this company that their model needs to be altered in Europe for it to work.
We ate our pizza while all of a sudden it was really sunny outside. By the time we left the restaurant, you guessed it again, it started pouring again. We ran to the subway stop and got on the first train that came without really knowing where we were going. We wanted to see a museum and had heard from others that Haus der Geschichte (History House) was the place to go. Like another miracle, I saw a sign at the second train stop that pointed to Haus der Geschichte, so we hopped out the train and followed the sign.
The museum focuses on recent German history, starting with Hitler, so the 1930s and on. Both Nick and I were impressed at how much information about this era Germans are willing to show and therefore admit it being part of their recent history. I think most people deal with it well by not avoiding it but by confronting it as a way not to fall into the same trap again. Some of the images and footage shown on different screens were very powerful. I usually have a hard time with Holocaust images; and even though Schindler’s List is one of my favorite movies, I’ve only managed to watch it in its entirety once. One of my relatives was I believe an Auschwitz victim, while a couple of others managed to escape the Nazis on numerous occasions.
The second part of the exhibit focused on post war Germany, or Germanies. Interesting differences were shown, like the first Mercedes and Trabant (East German) cars. The quality of the two couldn’t be more different, and by only observing the two one could just sense that East Germans weren’t given a chance. Then the exhibit showed pictures of millions of Stasi files; images closely related to the ones described in the movie “Other People’s Lives”. There were also 3 big pieces of the Berlin Wall on display.
All in all the day went ok, but maybe visiting Bonn on a Sunday is not such a good idea, especially when it’s raining.
Monday, April 14th:
Another school week started. On Monday I had 3 classes, but 2 were really extra sessions of my Tuesday class. In Germany, most courses come with an Übung (exercise) and a Tutorium (tutorial) sessions. The first is geared towards working on problems with the TA, the second is more of a discussion session. They are optional sessions, but being the good student that I am (for now), I attended both. The Tutorial session was a case study discussion. This was very different than case study discussion at the U of M. The TA asked a question, when someone answered, she showed the given “correct” answer on the overhead projector and all of the students took their time to write the answers down word by word. In the US, the Professor uses the given “correct” answers to keep himself/herself on task, but lets the students lead the discussion and only intervenes when necessary. The point of a case study is to put oneself in the shoes of a manager and given the data or facts try to come up with a plausible game plan. I am not sure that the German way of addressing these is really giving the students practice; in other words the answers to the case are really a guideline, but the purpose should be to challenge students to identify strategies that might even be better than what the case suggests.
The one real class I attended was “19th Century Germany and Europe and the Economic Development”. I am not sure I will be taking this class, but I went to it to take a look at it. The professor is really young and fun. His approach to class is awesome, by relating current events to events that happened over 100 years ago. He picked on students a bit by asking them questions, but it was all in good nature; I believe he does it to keep you awake and keep the sessions interesting.
Tuesday, April 15th:
Another day in class……….but it was over by 11:30 am. On this day I went to see FC Köln soccer team play. Alex, a German friend with Russian origins, took me to the game. He is as big of a soccer fan as me. During each of Cologne’s games, the city runs an extra Tram Line, named E and only soccer fans board these trams. It takes you directly to the Stadium. Once we got there, I of course bought a little souvenir, an FC Köln scarf. Before the games here is not much different than tailgating before a Vikings game. There were plenty of beer tents and street vendors. The interesting part was when the opposing team’s fans showed up escorted by police on horses. There were no incidents, apparently these two teams aren’t as big of rivals, which is ok, it will make my mom happy to know that this time around I was safe (as a young kid I snuck in a city derby game, which usually is preceded and followed by two fan bases fighting each other).
The game was a lot of fun. The stadium holds about fifty five thousand, but on this night there were only forty thousand in attendance. FC Köln won 2:0 and the fans went absolutely berserk each time their team scored; I of course did the same; as the saying goes: when in Rome….
Tuesday night is a social night at Flannigan’s Irish Pub. Nick, Dieu, Kerstin, Svenia, and I met up there. It was another bar that was extremely packed with students. It was ok to begin with, but as the night progressed it became overwhelming with the number of people and the cigarette smoke. We left around midnight and went home.
Wednesday, April 16th:
My Wednesday classes were either canceled or postponed to a later date. So with no class and nothing else to do, Nick and I (los gringos) took off for Düsseldorf. This is the city about 35km north of Cologne. There is a historic rivalry between these two cities that used to be really heated but now is still kept alive in mutual jokes about each other. The rivalry nowadays is expressed by the two different beers these two cities brew and love. Cologne, as mentioned earlier, is proud of it’s Kölsch; Düsseldorf, on the other hand, loves its Alt. The difference, the temperatures they are brewed at, which makes Kölsch light in color and Alt darker.
Most people in Cologne will tell you that Düsseldorf carries this indifferent mentality and that its people, unlike those in Cologne, are very standoffish. With that in mind we got to Düsseldorf expecting to be spit on or beaten up (haha). The lady at the tourist info center was really nice; but that’s her job so no big surprise there. In reality, Düsseldorf is very business oriented and it shows. There were hardly any people on the streets during work hours (in Cologne there are always people on the street due to its big student population). The city is pretty clean, and it reminds you a bit of an American city. Its old town doesn’t seem or look that old, and its modern part is its trademark. In the pictures I posted earlier you can see a few buildings to get a sense of the modern architecture at work.
We took advantage of the Rhein Turm observatory, which is about 180 or 200 meters high; not quite the John Hancock building in Chicago but still a great view. The windows in the observatory are tilted at a (I am guessing here) 45 degree angle, so if you’re standing right up against the glass and look down, it seems like you’re floating in the air. Not recommended for those of you who are afraid of heights or suffer from vertigo.
After having walked for miles we decided to head to a local spot for some food. Nick brought a tourist book and found a place that is not very touristy (how’s that for an oxymoron?). The place had lunch menu, which was significantly cheaper than its regular menu. We both ordered Wiener Shnitzel mit Pommes und Salat and Alt beer of course. Since it was lunch menu I was expecting the portions to be smaller, but the lady came with our plates full. We both had two big Shnitzels, and basically had a hard time keeping the food on our plates. Definitely a great find!
Thursday, April 17th (Today):
I had my first German course lesson today. It was fun to be exposed to learning a foreign language again. Most students in my class are European with a few exceptions: two girls are from Mexico and a couple of people are from China and Japan.
Also, today I finally received my ATM/Debit card from Deutsche Bank. So now I have an official bank account in Germany with one catch: no money on the account. That will change soon, but it is kind of ironic that a guy who works for the 5th largest American bank has a German bank account with no cash in it (sounds like something from a Seinfeld episode).
I just came back from my IFRS Financial Statements Analysis class. I am actually learning quite a bit about IFRS regulations and how they differ from US GAAP. From what I’ve learned so far, IFRS is a bit more lenient than its US GAAP counterpart, and interestingly enough the US companies will (and some already are) have to adopt this set of standards due to their global operations. During the class I asked a few questions that the professor had to explain the differences between IFRS and US GAAP. At first I felt bad because I thought I was being this arrogant American caring only about rules that pertain to the US, but after the class the professor encouraged me to pose more such questions as the other students have probably not been exposed to US GAAP in the same manner that I have not been exposed to IFRS.
And that’s all I have for last week developments, which leads me into the final topic of this post.
Travel Plans
In the last few days I have pretty much filled my free time and weekends with planned trips. Here they are:
April 19-20 Frankfurt
May 3-6 London
May 13-16 Barcelona
May 16-20 Stockholm
May 23-26 Prague
June 5-8 Amsterdam
TBD – Paris, Munich, Berlin, Brussels
Arrivederci
Stasha
I have been lousy at writing more frequently as I had originally planned to do. It’s time for what seems to be another weekly update from your Bosnitaliamerican living in Cologne.
Friday, April 11th:
As I suggested in my last post, I had no class last Friday. I took the opportunity to wander around the city, explore more secluded areas, etc. Friday was also the day I found out about my German Language placement test scores. As I had expected, I wasn’t placed at the lowest level but at level 2. I still feel it might be too low but in all honesty I haven’t had any German for 8 years now and even though I had studied it in the past, it’s definitely not as good as it should be. The good news is that I have finally started speaking it on a daily basis.
Friday night we went to a place called Live Music Hall. The name is a bit misleading for you native English speakers, as this is not a place where an orchestra or a choir holds concerts. To be honest, my first thought was that this might be a place like The Lounge or Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis, which are bars that regularly host concerts, whether they are cover bands or upcoming artists. I was mistaken. This was in a more industrial district of town; it reminds me a bit of the Meatpacking District in Manhattan with quite a few what seemed to be abandoned warehouses and hardly any apartment buildings. When we entered the place, this turned out to be a huge warehouse packed with college students. Memories of college parties I attended while at Gustavus suddenly came rushing through my head. It was mayhem. The music was loud and it was played by a DJ, not a live band. People were mingling around the two main bars, which were serving free beer till 11pm. It hit me that maybe I am getting too old for this kind of establishments when an 18-year-old looking punk stepped on my foot and spilt Kölsch on me. And even though the start did not look promising, I ended up enjoying myself. I ran into a few acquaintances from the University. We chatted, danced a bit and left before closing.
Saturday, April 12th:
On Saturday, Nick and I went to an Erasmus student party. Erasmus program is a popular study abroad program in Europe. This social gathering was in Efferen part of Köln, which is pretty much in the boonies. We had to take 3 separate trams/trains, while missing a few connections. Finally, once we made it to Efferen, we realized that neither of us wrote down the directions to the student housing complex. Somehow we managed to find it without really knowing where we were. This part of the city, or suburb I suppose, is very different from the rest of Cologne I came to know, as it is very quiet, dark and lacking personality.
We found the party house as I said and once we got in I experienced another set of college flashbacks. The great thing about the party was that it was attended by students from at least 20 different countries. The loudest, of course, were the Brits (English and Irish to be exact), only because it seemed they were the majority of students. I chatted with a couple of people from Japan and South Korea. The Korean girl spoke excellent English even though she had never visited an English speaking country. I was very impressed as there are foreigners in the US who have lived in the States all their lives and don’t speak English as well as this girl does. Perfecting a language takes skill, but what impressed me is that I, for example, hadn’t started feeling comfortable speaking English until after having lived in the States for a few years.
We left the party kind of early (us old guys) to catch the train. We were lucky as we caught a 2am tram (another one wasn’t coming for another hour), but our luck was short-lived as our next connection was done for the night and we had to huff it across town. I managed to walk into my flat at around 3am; I must have walked at least 5 miles, I kid you not. The entire way home I kept thinking about a friend of mine, Matt, who once walked from Bloomington to Uptown in Minneapolis area (for those of you not from Minneapolis, this is a good 10-15 minutes drive).
Sunday, April 13th:
I woke up around 11am and saw a message from Nick asking me if I was up to going to Bonn for the day. Even though it was raining, I decided to go since I skipped the organized tour of Cologne’s twin city the previous week. We took the train from the Köln West train station and traveled about 30 minutes to Bonn’s central station. The great thing about this trip was that we got to ride for free as University of Cologne students. Once we arrived, we headed directly into town, which is within walking distance from the train station. We wanted to find a restaurant or café to have lunch. We walked past McDonald’s and Subway as we wanted to have a more meaningful, real German experience. Two minutes into our stroll through town we realized that the city was totally dead because it was Sunday. Two minutes later a torrential downpour started and neither of us had an umbrella, so we started running for our lives and like a thirsty bunch seeing an oasis in the desert, all we could see is a nice, warm shelter, which was none other but Pizza Hut. Now, I am one of those people who wouldn’t set a foot in a Pizza Hut in the US, let alone Europe. Pretty comical that by trying to avoid being a stereotypical American, we were forced by Mother Nature to go into the least German of restaurants in all of Bonn.
But Pizza Hut in Bonn is not your average Pizza Hut. We were greeted by 3 different people on our way in. We were asked which table we preferred and pretty much treated like celebrities. The waitress then came with two plates and silverware and took our orders. Do they even have silverware in Pizza Hut in the US? I wouldn’t know, to be honest, but really one could notice that of the American in this Pizza Hut was the food but nothing else, recognition by this company that their model needs to be altered in Europe for it to work.
We ate our pizza while all of a sudden it was really sunny outside. By the time we left the restaurant, you guessed it again, it started pouring again. We ran to the subway stop and got on the first train that came without really knowing where we were going. We wanted to see a museum and had heard from others that Haus der Geschichte (History House) was the place to go. Like another miracle, I saw a sign at the second train stop that pointed to Haus der Geschichte, so we hopped out the train and followed the sign.
The museum focuses on recent German history, starting with Hitler, so the 1930s and on. Both Nick and I were impressed at how much information about this era Germans are willing to show and therefore admit it being part of their recent history. I think most people deal with it well by not avoiding it but by confronting it as a way not to fall into the same trap again. Some of the images and footage shown on different screens were very powerful. I usually have a hard time with Holocaust images; and even though Schindler’s List is one of my favorite movies, I’ve only managed to watch it in its entirety once. One of my relatives was I believe an Auschwitz victim, while a couple of others managed to escape the Nazis on numerous occasions.
The second part of the exhibit focused on post war Germany, or Germanies. Interesting differences were shown, like the first Mercedes and Trabant (East German) cars. The quality of the two couldn’t be more different, and by only observing the two one could just sense that East Germans weren’t given a chance. Then the exhibit showed pictures of millions of Stasi files; images closely related to the ones described in the movie “Other People’s Lives”. There were also 3 big pieces of the Berlin Wall on display.
All in all the day went ok, but maybe visiting Bonn on a Sunday is not such a good idea, especially when it’s raining.
Monday, April 14th:
Another school week started. On Monday I had 3 classes, but 2 were really extra sessions of my Tuesday class. In Germany, most courses come with an Übung (exercise) and a Tutorium (tutorial) sessions. The first is geared towards working on problems with the TA, the second is more of a discussion session. They are optional sessions, but being the good student that I am (for now), I attended both. The Tutorial session was a case study discussion. This was very different than case study discussion at the U of M. The TA asked a question, when someone answered, she showed the given “correct” answer on the overhead projector and all of the students took their time to write the answers down word by word. In the US, the Professor uses the given “correct” answers to keep himself/herself on task, but lets the students lead the discussion and only intervenes when necessary. The point of a case study is to put oneself in the shoes of a manager and given the data or facts try to come up with a plausible game plan. I am not sure that the German way of addressing these is really giving the students practice; in other words the answers to the case are really a guideline, but the purpose should be to challenge students to identify strategies that might even be better than what the case suggests.
The one real class I attended was “19th Century Germany and Europe and the Economic Development”. I am not sure I will be taking this class, but I went to it to take a look at it. The professor is really young and fun. His approach to class is awesome, by relating current events to events that happened over 100 years ago. He picked on students a bit by asking them questions, but it was all in good nature; I believe he does it to keep you awake and keep the sessions interesting.
Tuesday, April 15th:
Another day in class……….but it was over by 11:30 am. On this day I went to see FC Köln soccer team play. Alex, a German friend with Russian origins, took me to the game. He is as big of a soccer fan as me. During each of Cologne’s games, the city runs an extra Tram Line, named E and only soccer fans board these trams. It takes you directly to the Stadium. Once we got there, I of course bought a little souvenir, an FC Köln scarf. Before the games here is not much different than tailgating before a Vikings game. There were plenty of beer tents and street vendors. The interesting part was when the opposing team’s fans showed up escorted by police on horses. There were no incidents, apparently these two teams aren’t as big of rivals, which is ok, it will make my mom happy to know that this time around I was safe (as a young kid I snuck in a city derby game, which usually is preceded and followed by two fan bases fighting each other).
The game was a lot of fun. The stadium holds about fifty five thousand, but on this night there were only forty thousand in attendance. FC Köln won 2:0 and the fans went absolutely berserk each time their team scored; I of course did the same; as the saying goes: when in Rome….
Tuesday night is a social night at Flannigan’s Irish Pub. Nick, Dieu, Kerstin, Svenia, and I met up there. It was another bar that was extremely packed with students. It was ok to begin with, but as the night progressed it became overwhelming with the number of people and the cigarette smoke. We left around midnight and went home.
Wednesday, April 16th:
My Wednesday classes were either canceled or postponed to a later date. So with no class and nothing else to do, Nick and I (los gringos) took off for Düsseldorf. This is the city about 35km north of Cologne. There is a historic rivalry between these two cities that used to be really heated but now is still kept alive in mutual jokes about each other. The rivalry nowadays is expressed by the two different beers these two cities brew and love. Cologne, as mentioned earlier, is proud of it’s Kölsch; Düsseldorf, on the other hand, loves its Alt. The difference, the temperatures they are brewed at, which makes Kölsch light in color and Alt darker.
Most people in Cologne will tell you that Düsseldorf carries this indifferent mentality and that its people, unlike those in Cologne, are very standoffish. With that in mind we got to Düsseldorf expecting to be spit on or beaten up (haha). The lady at the tourist info center was really nice; but that’s her job so no big surprise there. In reality, Düsseldorf is very business oriented and it shows. There were hardly any people on the streets during work hours (in Cologne there are always people on the street due to its big student population). The city is pretty clean, and it reminds you a bit of an American city. Its old town doesn’t seem or look that old, and its modern part is its trademark. In the pictures I posted earlier you can see a few buildings to get a sense of the modern architecture at work.
We took advantage of the Rhein Turm observatory, which is about 180 or 200 meters high; not quite the John Hancock building in Chicago but still a great view. The windows in the observatory are tilted at a (I am guessing here) 45 degree angle, so if you’re standing right up against the glass and look down, it seems like you’re floating in the air. Not recommended for those of you who are afraid of heights or suffer from vertigo.
After having walked for miles we decided to head to a local spot for some food. Nick brought a tourist book and found a place that is not very touristy (how’s that for an oxymoron?). The place had lunch menu, which was significantly cheaper than its regular menu. We both ordered Wiener Shnitzel mit Pommes und Salat and Alt beer of course. Since it was lunch menu I was expecting the portions to be smaller, but the lady came with our plates full. We both had two big Shnitzels, and basically had a hard time keeping the food on our plates. Definitely a great find!
Thursday, April 17th (Today):
I had my first German course lesson today. It was fun to be exposed to learning a foreign language again. Most students in my class are European with a few exceptions: two girls are from Mexico and a couple of people are from China and Japan.
Also, today I finally received my ATM/Debit card from Deutsche Bank. So now I have an official bank account in Germany with one catch: no money on the account. That will change soon, but it is kind of ironic that a guy who works for the 5th largest American bank has a German bank account with no cash in it (sounds like something from a Seinfeld episode).
I just came back from my IFRS Financial Statements Analysis class. I am actually learning quite a bit about IFRS regulations and how they differ from US GAAP. From what I’ve learned so far, IFRS is a bit more lenient than its US GAAP counterpart, and interestingly enough the US companies will (and some already are) have to adopt this set of standards due to their global operations. During the class I asked a few questions that the professor had to explain the differences between IFRS and US GAAP. At first I felt bad because I thought I was being this arrogant American caring only about rules that pertain to the US, but after the class the professor encouraged me to pose more such questions as the other students have probably not been exposed to US GAAP in the same manner that I have not been exposed to IFRS.
And that’s all I have for last week developments, which leads me into the final topic of this post.
Travel Plans
In the last few days I have pretty much filled my free time and weekends with planned trips. Here they are:
April 19-20 Frankfurt
May 3-6 London
May 13-16 Barcelona
May 16-20 Stockholm
May 23-26 Prague
June 5-8 Amsterdam
TBD – Paris, Munich, Berlin, Brussels
Arrivederci
Stasha
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Pictures
Ok folks, I know I've promised some pictures and here they are. I am going to write a new blog later today or tomorrow, but at least here are the pictures for now.
Bis später.
Stasha
Bis später.
Stasha
Saturday, April 12, 2008
American Boy
Quick post to let you in on one of the biggest hits on German airwaves, song by Estelle featuring Kanye West titled American Boy. I am not sure if this has made it to the States yet, but I am sure it will.
Tchuss
Tchuss
Thursday, April 10, 2008
First Week of Classes
Ok, it’s time to update my blog again. Let’s see if I can recount the last couple of days.
Monday, April 7th
Beginning of the Semester, the classes start….well for some, I found out Monday morning that my classes really only started on Tuesday. So I took the opportunity to go register with the Foreign Office as I am staying longer than 90 days and open a bank account. I spent half a day and accomplished absolutely nothing. At the Foreign Office the agents working there are just like your typical State Employee who feels empowered to make your life miserable; this turns out is true in any country of the world, even the hassle-free process oriented Germany. So the lady basically indicated that I needed a German bank statement showing that I have €2,500; apparently my Wells Fargo Bank statement, which by the way shows that I have way more than €2,500 was not sufficient. But at least she was kind enough to list down all the various photocopies I need to provide along with the bank statement, and of course not to forget the €50 fee. Well, I am definitely considering plan B: Leave the Schengen States Area for 2 days and get a new stamp in my passport in order to avoid the Red Tape. We’ll see which one I’ll do, but €50 is a good couple of nights out with friends around here, and since my business background tells me that might be too much of an opportunity cost, maybe it’s worth risking more trouble with the authorities for a few nights out with friends….just kidding.
At the bank, Sparkasse, I was informed that my account would be free till June 6th, but then it would cost me a few Euros/month as I will be 29 years old. Discrimination, anyone? Well, just the mere principle I declined their offer and decided to look elsewhere.
The one thing that I was able to accomplish on this day was to sign up for German Lessons, which begin next week. I found out that my first test of the semester would be a German Lessons Placement Test, to be taken on Tuesday.
Monday Night: Nick and I decided to go out walking around town. We ended up in a Cuban bar where I was laughed at while trying to speak German to the bartender, who by the way was obviously neither German nor Cuban……my guess would be he was Turkish. Never going there again…the place was empty and you don’t laugh at your customers buddy….I took it with a grain of salt, I wasn’t even mad, I was just thinking that Germans probably made fun of him when he first set foot here and now he’s looking for his payback.
We left the Cuban bar and headed to Grünfeld Pub. They were showing FC Köln game and we were the only non-Germans at the bar. We watched the 1st Half of the game, as much as we could see as the cigarette smoke was so thick……..we couldn’t handle it any longer after 45 min and headed home.
Tuesday, April 8th:
First Day of classes for me. Throughout my college career at Gustavus Adolphus College I believe I managed not to have an 8 o’clock class. This semester I have two; hopefully being used to getting up early for work will translate into being able to wake up twice a week at 7am to go to class. Wish me luck.
So the first class was Channel Management. And no it’s not about how you flip channels on TV, but about how companies decide to go to market, either by one channel or multiple. The professor is a nice German guy who finished his PhD in the US. He then taught at INSEAD for 8 years, one of the world’s top MBA schools. His opening lecture included a 15 minute bit about how German students in the classroom need to take more classes in English (as this one) because it’s no longer a “nice-to-have” job requirement in a Globalizing environment, but a “must-have”. It is interesting how the US professors say the opposite: “You need more than English nowadays”, and stress the importance of knowing another foreign language.
This class was a two 1.5hrs blocks with a ½ hour break in between. So I was done by 11:30 am. After class I headed home and did some grocery shopping. Paying with a credit card at the grocery store is not an option; only cash or a special type of debit card. Nothing too strange I guess, but when I think of Germany I think of it as one of the top developed Nations in the world, and maybe mistakenly assume that I won’t find too many differences from being in the US. Even though these subtle differences drive me a bit crazy, I am glad that the experience is apparently going to be deeper than I thought it would be.
My German Placement Test was in the afternoon. The administration of this test was really interesting. First off, we needed to go through a check-point before entering the room in order to prove our identity. Second, we had to leave coats, bags, and pretty much everything besides a pen either at the front or the back of the huge auditorium. A little too much overkill if you ask me, it’s not like I am going to be performing heart surgery by scoring well on a German Lessons placement test….or let’s hope that I don’t.
The test was ok. The first part was pretty simple. They read a text about Einstein, twice, and then handed us a sheet of paper with 10 questions to answer. No biggie.
The second part was awful. There were 5 different texts with omitted words, parts of words, etc on it. You had to fill in the blanks. I think I would have struggled with that kind of test even if it were given in English or Italian. Oh well, I just hope they don’t put me at the bottom of the barrel for classes as in the words of my work colleague Colbert “It is going to be suck”.
In the afternoon I went out for a nice run. After discovering the park chain the other day, today I discovered there are hill trails too. Unfortunately I decided I was fit enough to run up and down a few; I thought I was going to choke or cough up one of my lungs by the end of it….but I guess it was well worth it in the end.
In the evening, I went out to dinner with a couple of German friends….well, imported Germans. Alex is from Russia originally but has lived here for 17 years. Dieu is Vietnamese, but has lived here as long. Stefania is Italian born in Deutschland. We went to a Mexican Restaurant. The food was alright; it’s no Pancho Villa on Nicollet Avenue, but I think we’re really spoiled with good Mexican food in the States.
Wednesday, April 9th:
The day started with another 8am class. It was Retail Marketing. Fairly interesting subject, although most things are very intuitive, there are obviously different levels of understanding marketing in general. The professor mentioned how a German coffee chain is now in shambles as they never believed that Starbucks, an American company, could penetrate the German market and threaten its position, because Americans to start out with don’t have good coffee. Obviously, as the professor stated, this company was very wrong and very stupid not to act upon a great opportunity to spread across Europe before Starbucks came into picture.
The second class of the day was IFRS Financial Statements Analysis. This is a good class for me to take because all accounting I have had so far has focused on US GAAP regulations, but IFRS has become a Global Standard for financial reporting and therefore understanding the differences between it and the GAAP will help me out in the future as I believe even the US will have to adopt IFRS as most US Companies are operating abroad.
The last class of the day was Strategic Marketing in Retailing. As you can see, a lot of my work here is focusing on Retailing. The reason for this is twofold: one, I have not taken any such courses at Carslon; two learning about big conglomerates in the Retailing Industry from a European perspective will help me understand ways US companies need to act once they choose a new international market. So far there has been a lot of discussion about Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany.
Thursday, April 10th
No class today or tomorrow. I will eventually have classes on Thursdays but they are optional sessions. I did this on purpose so that I can have long weekends for traveling.
I took the opportunity today to go to Deutsche Bank and open an account. I was helped by an English speaking personal banker. The funny thing is, the process here is so long that it will take at least another week before I can even deposit any money on my new account. That’s very different than the US. Another difference: the funds on your account are covered up to 90% of €20,000 in case the bank becomes insolvent. FDIC in the US insures up to $100,000. In other words, do not put your life savings in a German bank, even though the risks that Deutsche Bank will become insolvent are slim. However, I read in the papers that this was the case with another smaller German bank in recent days.
I think I am going to go for a nice run today as it’s nice and sunny out….first real sunshine since I’ve come here, which is really nice. I was actually hot for once while walking outside and had to take my jacket off.
Well, I think that’s it for now, otherwise this will become War and Peace Part Deux.
Stasha
Monday, April 7th
Beginning of the Semester, the classes start….well for some, I found out Monday morning that my classes really only started on Tuesday. So I took the opportunity to go register with the Foreign Office as I am staying longer than 90 days and open a bank account. I spent half a day and accomplished absolutely nothing. At the Foreign Office the agents working there are just like your typical State Employee who feels empowered to make your life miserable; this turns out is true in any country of the world, even the hassle-free process oriented Germany. So the lady basically indicated that I needed a German bank statement showing that I have €2,500; apparently my Wells Fargo Bank statement, which by the way shows that I have way more than €2,500 was not sufficient. But at least she was kind enough to list down all the various photocopies I need to provide along with the bank statement, and of course not to forget the €50 fee. Well, I am definitely considering plan B: Leave the Schengen States Area for 2 days and get a new stamp in my passport in order to avoid the Red Tape. We’ll see which one I’ll do, but €50 is a good couple of nights out with friends around here, and since my business background tells me that might be too much of an opportunity cost, maybe it’s worth risking more trouble with the authorities for a few nights out with friends….just kidding.
At the bank, Sparkasse, I was informed that my account would be free till June 6th, but then it would cost me a few Euros/month as I will be 29 years old. Discrimination, anyone? Well, just the mere principle I declined their offer and decided to look elsewhere.
The one thing that I was able to accomplish on this day was to sign up for German Lessons, which begin next week. I found out that my first test of the semester would be a German Lessons Placement Test, to be taken on Tuesday.
Monday Night: Nick and I decided to go out walking around town. We ended up in a Cuban bar where I was laughed at while trying to speak German to the bartender, who by the way was obviously neither German nor Cuban……my guess would be he was Turkish. Never going there again…the place was empty and you don’t laugh at your customers buddy….I took it with a grain of salt, I wasn’t even mad, I was just thinking that Germans probably made fun of him when he first set foot here and now he’s looking for his payback.
We left the Cuban bar and headed to Grünfeld Pub. They were showing FC Köln game and we were the only non-Germans at the bar. We watched the 1st Half of the game, as much as we could see as the cigarette smoke was so thick……..we couldn’t handle it any longer after 45 min and headed home.
Tuesday, April 8th:
First Day of classes for me. Throughout my college career at Gustavus Adolphus College I believe I managed not to have an 8 o’clock class. This semester I have two; hopefully being used to getting up early for work will translate into being able to wake up twice a week at 7am to go to class. Wish me luck.
So the first class was Channel Management. And no it’s not about how you flip channels on TV, but about how companies decide to go to market, either by one channel or multiple. The professor is a nice German guy who finished his PhD in the US. He then taught at INSEAD for 8 years, one of the world’s top MBA schools. His opening lecture included a 15 minute bit about how German students in the classroom need to take more classes in English (as this one) because it’s no longer a “nice-to-have” job requirement in a Globalizing environment, but a “must-have”. It is interesting how the US professors say the opposite: “You need more than English nowadays”, and stress the importance of knowing another foreign language.
This class was a two 1.5hrs blocks with a ½ hour break in between. So I was done by 11:30 am. After class I headed home and did some grocery shopping. Paying with a credit card at the grocery store is not an option; only cash or a special type of debit card. Nothing too strange I guess, but when I think of Germany I think of it as one of the top developed Nations in the world, and maybe mistakenly assume that I won’t find too many differences from being in the US. Even though these subtle differences drive me a bit crazy, I am glad that the experience is apparently going to be deeper than I thought it would be.
My German Placement Test was in the afternoon. The administration of this test was really interesting. First off, we needed to go through a check-point before entering the room in order to prove our identity. Second, we had to leave coats, bags, and pretty much everything besides a pen either at the front or the back of the huge auditorium. A little too much overkill if you ask me, it’s not like I am going to be performing heart surgery by scoring well on a German Lessons placement test….or let’s hope that I don’t.
The test was ok. The first part was pretty simple. They read a text about Einstein, twice, and then handed us a sheet of paper with 10 questions to answer. No biggie.
The second part was awful. There were 5 different texts with omitted words, parts of words, etc on it. You had to fill in the blanks. I think I would have struggled with that kind of test even if it were given in English or Italian. Oh well, I just hope they don’t put me at the bottom of the barrel for classes as in the words of my work colleague Colbert “It is going to be suck”.
In the afternoon I went out for a nice run. After discovering the park chain the other day, today I discovered there are hill trails too. Unfortunately I decided I was fit enough to run up and down a few; I thought I was going to choke or cough up one of my lungs by the end of it….but I guess it was well worth it in the end.
In the evening, I went out to dinner with a couple of German friends….well, imported Germans. Alex is from Russia originally but has lived here for 17 years. Dieu is Vietnamese, but has lived here as long. Stefania is Italian born in Deutschland. We went to a Mexican Restaurant. The food was alright; it’s no Pancho Villa on Nicollet Avenue, but I think we’re really spoiled with good Mexican food in the States.
Wednesday, April 9th:
The day started with another 8am class. It was Retail Marketing. Fairly interesting subject, although most things are very intuitive, there are obviously different levels of understanding marketing in general. The professor mentioned how a German coffee chain is now in shambles as they never believed that Starbucks, an American company, could penetrate the German market and threaten its position, because Americans to start out with don’t have good coffee. Obviously, as the professor stated, this company was very wrong and very stupid not to act upon a great opportunity to spread across Europe before Starbucks came into picture.
The second class of the day was IFRS Financial Statements Analysis. This is a good class for me to take because all accounting I have had so far has focused on US GAAP regulations, but IFRS has become a Global Standard for financial reporting and therefore understanding the differences between it and the GAAP will help me out in the future as I believe even the US will have to adopt IFRS as most US Companies are operating abroad.
The last class of the day was Strategic Marketing in Retailing. As you can see, a lot of my work here is focusing on Retailing. The reason for this is twofold: one, I have not taken any such courses at Carslon; two learning about big conglomerates in the Retailing Industry from a European perspective will help me understand ways US companies need to act once they choose a new international market. So far there has been a lot of discussion about Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany.
Thursday, April 10th
No class today or tomorrow. I will eventually have classes on Thursdays but they are optional sessions. I did this on purpose so that I can have long weekends for traveling.
I took the opportunity today to go to Deutsche Bank and open an account. I was helped by an English speaking personal banker. The funny thing is, the process here is so long that it will take at least another week before I can even deposit any money on my new account. That’s very different than the US. Another difference: the funds on your account are covered up to 90% of €20,000 in case the bank becomes insolvent. FDIC in the US insures up to $100,000. In other words, do not put your life savings in a German bank, even though the risks that Deutsche Bank will become insolvent are slim. However, I read in the papers that this was the case with another smaller German bank in recent days.
I think I am going to go for a nice run today as it’s nice and sunny out….first real sunshine since I’ve come here, which is really nice. I was actually hot for once while walking outside and had to take my jacket off.
Well, I think that’s it for now, otherwise this will become War and Peace Part Deux.
Stasha
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Welcome Week was a success.......wait GREAT SUCCESS
So it has been a couple of days since I last posted anything.....I need to think of all that has transpired since the last post.........all I know there were quite a few social gatherings at various establishments on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday night...
Wednesday Night (April 2nd):
I believe our entire crew (40 or 50 people) met at the Grünfeld Pub for a social hour or two prior to the welcome party at the Edel Pink club. It was fun to interact with people from all over the globe. Most people are Europeans (Spanish, French, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Czech, Romanian, Hungarian, etc) but there are some folks from Mexico and China as well. It's awesome to see all of these students speak German with each other, some are really good, some are like me, just trying to get a hang of it.
Edel Pink club was a blast.........there was some good dancing going on and lots of mingling. I met a few German students who were our "hosts" for the evening. They are super friendly and eager to help with getting stuff figured out here. And all of the Cologne citizens are really proud of their Kölsch Bier. One interesting fact about it is that at the bars or clubs it is served in these tiny 0.2 l glasses, and don't make a mistake to make fun of it. They believe beer tastes better from small glass as it's fresh and at the right temperature when served from the tiny glass.
I think I finally made it home around 2am.......not too late, but I had been out since 7pm, so it was a long night anyways.
Thursday (April 3rd):
In the afternoon I went to the City Hall to register as a resident. It is a step everyone staying in Cologne for more than a couple of weeks has to do. The paper they issue there is useful in many ways, as it allows you to open a bank account, join the library, etc. After the registration I had a couple of hours to kill before the next event, which was the Colonia Express. Cologne's public transportation consists of busses, trams, subway, and trains. The Colonia Express is an old tram turned into a tour vehicle equipped with a bar. So the point of this event was to hop on this tram and tour the city for 3 hours while enjoying some more Kölsch. It was so much fun. We literally went all over the city on this tram and got to see the city, plus it was a great way to meet some more folks.
Around 10pm, the tram dropped us off in the middle of the city. At that point there was one thing we could really do: go to a club. Very conveniently, the tram dropped us off in front of Das Ding, a nightclub that everyone around here claims it's terrible but yet people still end up going to. It was ok with us though. We partied till 3am and headed home for some well deserved rest.
Friday (April 4th):
I woke up with the Lufthansa guy knocking on my door. Three days later I finally received my suitcase. It was nice to be able to wear some other clothes finally.
We met again at 1pm for a guided city tour. We first went to Cologne's most famous landmark, the Dom (Cathedral - the picture on my blog's starting page is of this building). I believe the tour guide told us that they first started building it in 1250s but finished it in 1800s. The Church ran out of budget a couple of times, and this being a Catholic Church there was also the stop in construction due to the schism between Catholicism and Protestantism. The legend has it that the bones of the 3 Wise men are buried underneath this church. I must say it is a very peculiar building, very different than anything else I've seen so far.
Later we toured the old city, which is now mostly a tourist destination. There are a few Brauhäuser (Breweries) and they all brew, you guessed it, the infamous Kölsch Bier. We also managed to sneak a peak (from outside) at a couple of museums, which I'll need to go visit. One contains Roman art pieces (the city of Cologne was founded by the Romans, so the mix of architecture and history between the early times and later Gothic period is quite evident and interesting).
The final part of the tour involved visiting a Brauhaus, drinking a couple of Kölsch and eating a Bratwurst mit Senf......sehr gut.....sehr gut
Oh and we did walk through Hohestraße, which is a pedestrian area of the city filled with all sorts of shops. I am definitely going to go back there and check out the stores that we don't have in Minneapolis.
There was no party on Friday night. I went to bed early to recover from the previous 2 days.
Saturday (April 5th):
In the morning I decided to go for a run. I discovered a long series of connected parks in the vicinity. I ran for about 40 minutes, familiarizing myself with the city even more. There were people out running, biking and playing soccer even though it looked like it was going to rain any minute...and it did later on, I fortunately made it home before it started pouring. That's one thing that has been disappointing so far: the weather! It has rained every day since I came.
Saturday night was the Legendary Cologne Pub Crawl. We all met at the student Mensa (German for Cafeteria) where the current German students organized our track. We split into teams and went from station to station. Most involved drinking some sort of weird drink but others involved role playing, story telling and singing. One of our assignments was to go in the middle of the street and ask passerby’s to teach us Cologne Carnival Songs. Fortunately, our group had 3 native German speakers and we were able to gather quite a few songs. People are so easy to talk to in Cologne. Most people we stopped were willing to sing for us, which was pretty funny.
The night ended at Das Ding again as the other club we were going to was too crowded and we decided it was not worth standing in line for.
Dieu (my roommate) and I walked home from the club at about 3am in the pouring rain. I was soaked when I got home.....
Sunday (April 6th):
Well today, we were supposed to go to Bonn for a city tour. Most of us decided not to go, as it was way too early. So I am now sitting at home, writing this post and waiting for the soccer games to start........that's one thing I am going to love about living in Germany, all the soccer games that are televised.
Tomorrow the classes start. The Welcome Week ended with a bang, but tomorrow is another day and finally time to get studious. I still need to figure out where all my classes are. I am excited to begin as I am taking some interesting courses: Channel Management, Retail Marketing, Retail Mgmt, Logistics, and Int'l Financial Statements Analysis.
That's all for now.
Tchuß
p.s. I hope to post some pictures in a while too.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I have landed
So I landed in Cologne yesterday around 5:30pm local time. Of course one of my bags was lost somewhere in London, but besides that everything else went really well. My new roommate came to the airport to pick me up; we took the train+subway back to my new place, about a 15-20 min trip, which is not bad.
I had time to settle in, unpack one of the bags that actually made it to Cologne (the other one they're delivering sometime today, allegedly). And then Dieu, my roommate, and I went for a quick tour of the neighborhood, mainly so that I knew where to go the next day to catch the bus to the University. It turns out, the University is within walking distance, but by bus it takes the whole 2-3 minutes.
After the quick tour, Dieu's friend Stefania came to visit her. Then together we went out to Club Rose. It was fun to mingle with German college students, however I found myself speaking Italian as Stefania is an Italian born in Germany to Italian parents. And of course then we ran into a random guy at the subway stop who turned out to be Italian as well.........
The night ended with the three of us getting soaked in the pouring rain after leaving the club. Fun times, let me tell you, especially after you didn't plan for the rainy weather. Oh well.
Today I am proud to say that I was able to wake up in time for the early morning meeting with the Int'l Student Office. They showed us the campus and the area. Later tonight we're kicking off the "Welcome Week" at a Pub followed by a party at the "Edel Pink" nightclub...
More to come
Auf Wiedersehen
Stasha
I had time to settle in, unpack one of the bags that actually made it to Cologne (the other one they're delivering sometime today, allegedly). And then Dieu, my roommate, and I went for a quick tour of the neighborhood, mainly so that I knew where to go the next day to catch the bus to the University. It turns out, the University is within walking distance, but by bus it takes the whole 2-3 minutes.
After the quick tour, Dieu's friend Stefania came to visit her. Then together we went out to Club Rose. It was fun to mingle with German college students, however I found myself speaking Italian as Stefania is an Italian born in Germany to Italian parents. And of course then we ran into a random guy at the subway stop who turned out to be Italian as well.........
The night ended with the three of us getting soaked in the pouring rain after leaving the club. Fun times, let me tell you, especially after you didn't plan for the rainy weather. Oh well.
Today I am proud to say that I was able to wake up in time for the early morning meeting with the Int'l Student Office. They showed us the campus and the area. Later tonight we're kicking off the "Welcome Week" at a Pub followed by a party at the "Edel Pink" nightclub...
More to come
Auf Wiedersehen
Stasha
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