Well, it’s currently one of the prettier days we’ve had in Trier for a while, so I am sitting in what is known as the Palace Garden, as I have mentioned before, taking in a few cosmic rays. Being that it’s so bright, I can barely see the screen, so we’ll see if anything I type actually makes any sense later.
Typically, I would be with other friends while chilling in the park, but being that finals are coming up and papers are due, most of those I know are being productive inside today. Not me! I do need to do a few things, needless to say, but I know me: on a day like today, I would get absolutely nothing accomplished by sitting inside, so I bought myself a disposable grill, a beer, and a bottle of wine, and am quite content to be as useless as possible.
Maybe I’ll do a presentation tonight. Maybe.
Due to leaving my Verizon (American) phone in Paris last week [and to which the lovely employees of the hostel I stayed in are utterly useless in helping], I’ve been without my radio to listen to Das Ding, the German radio station I frequently listen to when going to and fro in the city. So, I’ve made myself listen to the new Lady Gaga cd out of sheer loyalty, and I must say: I’m addicted. The album isn’t as good as the first two, but I’m grooving quite well to it…
This week has flown by with a series of parties signaling the end of the semester. It’s quite bittersweet; I’m not at all looking forward to the fairy tale ending, yet at the same time I’m not exactly dreading going back to the good ‘ole US of A. If my sister were not moving to Savannah to attend AASU in August, I’d likely be more reluctant to return, but as she is… well, it will be even more fun.
Before I note a few of the events of the past week, I thought I may make a brief list of things I’ll miss versus not in Trier/Europe versus America.
Things I’ll miss:
-The ease of traveling via trains/busses/low-cost airlines
-The laid-back mentality regarding drinking, specifically the ability to walk around the city with a whole bottle of wine in hand
-German [Italian] ice cream
-The ability to grill in public spaces
-The ability to walk virtually everywhere in any city with excellent public transportation; no car needed
-CHEAP cheap cheap alcohol and basic foods (bread, sausage, etc)
-Phands [bottle deposits] returned upon a bottle’s return; forced recycling
-Once-per-week classes
-Most of all: all the awesome people I have met in my travels
Things I WON’T miss:
-The absolute ridiculousness of it being hard to get internet
-The bipolar weather; I should NEVER have to wear a jacket in JULY. Period.
-The lack of a beach within a bazillion miles
-An exchange rate which rapes me with every purchase
-The inability to use credit cards everywhere
-No access to 24-hour stores
-The fact that virtually everyone smokes
-Hideous European-loving hatchback cars… station wagons on crack
-Gas prices equivalent of $8.50/gallon
I’ll keep adding to this list as I think of things to add.
As for the past week: as I said, apparently the theme of the week was parting. Not sure why, honestly, being that we still have three weeks-ish left, but literally every night at the University this week, some form of party was going on. I attended ones from Tuesday-Friday, met many interesting people along the way, and lowered the life expectancy of my liver by a third more than likely. But hey, what else is college for?
Oh yes, I went to classes too. That’s always fun. Actually, I’m lying a bit there: as I’ve said before, I like the classes I take here better than all but one class I’ve taken in America thus far; all of my classes are smaller, and the professors seem to be really engaged in what they’re teaching. I’ve been to four different universities in Georgia, so I feel like I can make that claim.
But, likely, it’s just the fact that taking classes in Germany is a bit exotic, different, and charming that makes me like the classes better. I acknowledge there may be a bit of bias present. That, and this is the first semester of my life where I feel like a true college student; although I have had one semester of not working while in school before, it did not feel like a true “college experience” due to having a steady girlfriend, little money, underage to drink, and no car. In short, it was a bit miserable.
Here, though, my plans from day to day rest solely on what I decide to spur-of-the-moment do without any true responsibilities. It’s a great feeling to be able to do whatever you want whenever you want, all at the same time as hundreds of other students.
Because of Germany’s socialist-styled government, students here have most of their education paid for. This takes the responsibility of paying back student loans [eventually] off of most of their shoulders, and for those that do have to take out loans, many programs exist to cause them to not have to pay any interest on those loans, and often the students only have to pay back half of what they borrow provided they meet a set of requirements in payments.
But, while this sounds awesome, keep in mind it is due to those working paying more taxes than Americans pay. Because Americans are so against taxes for ANY reason, I seriously doubt any similar system would work stateside.
So, due to my consumption of the travel bug while in Europe, I’m going to be in a bit of shock when I get home and realize I can’t just see the world like many of my European counterparts are able to do; a job/jobs and the looking realization that I will have monthly payments to Uncle Sam for student loans for the rest of my life will put a bit of a cork in that bottle of champagne.
Do I regret it? Absolutely not. I feel that I’m doing everything I could ever want to do, within reason, all inside the confines of a specific economic system. That, and I’ve been scheming how to get away with traveling more while I’m young without directly getting in financial trouble…
Idea one: work in Europe after graduation for a few years. Obviously, this would require moving a long way away from America for a long time, but just think: if the dollar stays as weak as it is against the Euro, I could essentially pay back my students in almost half the time by earning money in Euros to pay back my dollar-valued loans. Good thought, eh?
Idea two: drag out school. Either slow down my current graduation date of next may by putting off classes a semester or two, or graduate on time and go straight into graduate school. After all, as long as you are in an American school, you can defer payments of student loans. Not ideal, but if you figure the number of years
it’ll take to pay back all the loans anyway, the point is essentially moot.
Idea three: spend six months out of school, working and/or traveling a bit, then re-enroll in school. You have six months deference after exiting any given semester before Uncle Sam starts harassing you, so that gives a bit of time to draw a few plans up of what to do.
I feel I’m being the ideal citizen by thinking of ways to cheat my government. Well, cheat is the wrong word… thinking of ways to use the system to my advantage. Am I unique in these ideas? Absolutely not. But, if one wants to enjoy the finer points of this enormous world before being too old to appreciate all there is to see, one must think of a way to do it. What’s that saying?
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Anyway, enough social commentary for now. On a whim, I decided to go to Koln [with “o umlaut,” but I can’t remember how to make that character appear] with an American friend to pick up her brother on Saturday [yesterday]. Although I wasn’t expecting the train journey to take a full four hours, I’d say it was worth the trip if even for the brief visit that it was. I didn’t leave Trier until around noon, and we left by 7pm
from Koln to return.
The reason I left so late: a friend when to America with his girlfriend a few weeks ago and brought me back a bottle of Cruzan rum, my very favorite. Needless to say, we had a good time watching 80s movies and sipping St. Croix’s best creation. I’ll leave it at that.
As in many European cities, Koln [in English, Cologne] has a magnificent cathedral. Can it compare to the Vatican? Not a chance. Even so, this particular cathedral [or Dom in German] has a tower that you can climb all 500+ steps to its top. What a view! It was a truly strange climb, though; the entire way up, all stairs, was a very tightly woven spiral staircase. It was dizzying to say the least.
That, and I felt like the most out of shape person ever, sweating on a relatively cool day after climbing more steps than should be allowed by nature. Well worth the view, though.
We didn’t stay much longer after the cathedral, as it was getting late and my friend’s brother was exhausted from traveling from Minnesota to Germany over the last 20 hours or so. But, we did stay long enough for me to find a Dunkin Doughnuts, a personal favorite in America… and I paid 1.30 Euros for ONE doughnut that really wasn’t that good… oh well.
Upon our return in Trier, we had dinner and later I met up with several friends at the Irish Pub to celebrate one of the Irish girls’ family being in town. It’s hard to beat drinking with Irish people, I won’t lie.
That brings me back to today, still sitting contentedly in the park. My biggest dilemma of the day: should I grill some hot dogs or not? Life sucks sometimes, doesn’t it…
One final note: I did buy the tickets to the places I mentioned in my last entry for the same dates, give or take a few days. I still need to figure out how to get to and from all these airports to hostels which I also have not booked, so that’s going to be fun.
But: what I’m most excited about is going to Rhodes, Greece, this coming Thursday! I always wanted to go to Greece, and saw some tickets to the home of the Colossus, one of the seven man-made wonders of the world, on an island which likely resembles paradise. I’m pumped for it… three nights in Greece!
So, until next week… we’ll see what I can get myself into.
**Slight update: I typed this on Sunday the 3rd, but never got around to posting. So, yesterday (the 4th), after sitting through classes all day and finally giving my English Business Presentations speech [which went well, obviously, being a native speaker], a group of twenty or so Americans and other Erasmus students grilled out by the Mozel River until well after midnight.
Having had, shall we say, way too much the night before, I decided a calm night would be the way to go. Even so, after bbq’ing, we went out with some newly-met American students. It is incredible how many Americans are in a random German city smaller than Savannah. The closeness of the US army base helps, but the number of American students is quite baffling. Most of those we recently met attend the local craft/technical school and/or attending 6-week intensive language classes.
Once again, have I mentioned how bad the American military makes America look? It’s truly depressing; one of even the military wives asked my British friend where he was from, and he responded “England.” Her response? “England… you mean, like the country?”
I couldn’t keep myself from hysterically laughing at her lack of intelligence, which promptly pissed her off and her military boyfriend, who proceeded to threaten me. Come on, if anything, your girlfriend should be threatened to invest in a brain you moron.
This is just but one example of the military. I hate to generalize, but most of them I see are only in bars and clubs, and they typically get overly drunk, obnoxious, and threatening. It’s hilarious to watch, though, once the embarrassment subsides. The local Irish Pub typically kicks them all out around 2am, and all of them head to another nearby club, Zapotex, promptly thereafter. Zapotex, which I have friends working at, makes bank on them due to the Irish Pub’s “buttering them up.” Hey, with little living costs and honestly nothing better to do, they blow money like candy and often brag about having the ability to do so along the way.
Nothing truly gets out of hand most of the time; they typically just embarrass the other Americans and annoy the Germans. Still… thanks, Uncle Sam, for limiting the drinking age to 21 and legally mandating men of age 18 to sign up for the draft, allowing them in situations where they can both drink legally, with little prior experience with alcohol, and potentially ordered to kill people.
It just makes perfect sense.
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