Posted in Adventure on Jun 25th, 2011 No Comments »
Julie and I headed off to the Bremen HBF (train station) with a tent and tickets to one of the largest music festivals in Germany – but with no real idea of who we would camp with. Four days later we returned home with dozens of new acquaintances, love for a few unexpected bands, and [...]
Posted in Adventure on Mar 7th, 2011 1 Comment »
Today is Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the high-point of Karneval celebrations in Köln (Cologne, Germany). Hundreds of thousands are marching in parades, wearing colorful costumes, singing and tossing candy through the crowds. I experienced just 14-hours of warm-up festivities in Köln this Saturday when Gaven, Mel, Anne, and I joined forces with the city to throw [...]
Posted in Adventure on Feb 27th, 2011 No Comments »
Vienna is the city of the Habsburgs, Mozart, Freud, Klimt, and Falco. Walking through the streets you get a sense of these personalities and others in a vibrant mix of the regal, the rough, the traditional, the modern, and the eccentric. Click each of the pictures below to read more about my group trip to [...]
Posted in Adventure on Jan 3rd, 2011 1 Comment »
In Germany, much like in the US, the entire month of December is spent in a frenzy of holiday cheer and preperation. Cookies are baked, music is played, gifts are bought, and streets are decorated, though I did not (thankfully) see one giant blow-up/animatronic snowglobe in Bremen. The most important day for celebrating is the [...]
Posted in Adventure on Nov 29th, 2010 No Comments »
In my last post I admited that my 4 classes all fall on either Tuesday or Wednesday, leaving me with a much coveted long weekend. Of course I use part of the weekend to read and prepare for my courses, and I have taken up a few obligations in the Bremen community – a UNICEF [...]
Posted in Adventure on Nov 13th, 2010 No Comments »
As it does most days of the year, it rained yesterday in Bremen. So Julie, Doug, and I decided to spend our free Friday afternoon indoors, exploring Polynesian reefs, Bhuddist temples, global perceptions of gender, and a 19th Century Bremen grocery store. Where were we? The Übersee-Museum Bremen – an anthropology museum with a thoughtful, [...]
Posted in Adventure on Oct 28th, 2010 No Comments »
…these were words with which we were welcomed to Amsterdam. This city is enchanting. The winding canals, haphazard buildings, cluttered sidewalks, unusual cafes. You can’t help getting lost in the atmosphere. We spent 3 rainy days doing so, exploring all parts of the city by foot. Walking down the street you hear dozens of languages [...]
Posted in Adventure on Sep 13th, 2010 No Comments »
This Saturday Doug, Julie (both Dickinson students), Mattias (from Sweden), and I ventured to Salzburg, Austria for the day. Salzburg looks very different from any city I’ve seen before, but I can’t quite explain it. There’s something very striking about the size, shape, color, and layout of the buildings here. It’s “stately,” maybe? But not [...]
Posted in Adventure on Sep 4th, 2010 No Comments »
The title of this post, “Grüezi mitenand,” is a warm, colloquial greeting widely used in Switzerland. I had plenty of practice with this phrase when Insa and I went for a hike in the Alps. Our goal was to reach the summit of Ebenalp (translation: “flat mountain”) at 5,381 ft. Wednesday was the first sunny [...]