- Likely true for much of Europe, the cars are much smaller in Germany. It didn’t fully hit me until I saw, the other day, a taxi standing in the bike lane dropping someone off. Now, the bike lanes are larger here than most in Bloomington, but still…
- Picture me this: a green police car with lights flashing, pulled over on the side of the road. Other cars zoom cautiously by; bystanders at a nearby park, passer-bys, and a bicyclist watch curiously while one of the officers is rummaging through paperwork to write a ticket. Nothing too odd, right? What if I told you that there wasn’t another car stopped in the vicinity? The ticket was actually apparently for the aforementioned bike rider. Something to keep in mind.
- Back in the states, at least in most of the places I’ve swing danced at, it’s considered impolite to “hog” a good dancer by asking for multiple dances in a row. Here, asking “noch einmal” is a not only accepted, but considered a compliment whenever you’ve enjoyed dancing with that particular partner.
- Salsa songs go on forever. Or rather, the DJ at the Palladium mixes the songs in a such a way that unless you pay very close attention, or if the dance style switches, it’s almost impossible to tell exactly when the previous song ended or the current one began.
- Math professors near always run over the allotted time. The only saving grace here is that classes are expected to start 15 minutes late and end 15 minutes early (as academics are always confused about time), so whenever the professor runs 15 minutes late, he still ends at the published time.
- Freiburg is really beautiful in the spring. Too bad spring weather just finally arrived a couple of days ago, and summer will be upon us soon.
- It may just be my skewed perspective as a pre-med (it’s still weird whenever I call myself that, but I suppose that’s what I am—well, pre-mudphud), but it seems like so much less emphasis is placed here on extracurriculars. Maybe it has to do with the fact that med/law/grad schools in the U.S. are graduate-entry programs, while at least med and law school are undergraduate in Germany, and grad school focuses more on research anyways, but it’s an odd sort of perspective to experience, especially for me as someone who’s currently trying to figure out what ECs to cut for my 15-spot AMCAS application in the upcoming months.
- The Germans like to compartmentalize. It may be a grossly exaggerated stereotype, but seems pervasive in their educational system as well. Schoolchildren are separated starting in elementary school, based on talent and career goals: those bound for post-secondary education go to the Gymnasium while there peers have more “practical” education in the Realschule. Even higher education is very divided: only theory and research belong at the “Universität”, while those interested in applied math, teaching, etc. go instead to what might best be described as technical or trade schools, though without the derogatory connotations that such terms oftentimes carry at American institutions, the “Fachhochschule”.
- Speaking of school, I’ve come to realize that there isn’t really much substance to me besides school and extracurriculars. Nearly all of my “life experiences” have been in either academic settings or situations brought about through college (all of Germany included). A sometimes semi-depressing thought.
- Shipping from the United States to Germany is really rather expensive. I recently ordered my copy of the Medical School Admissions Requirements for the upcoming app season, paying a total of $65, $25 for the book, $40 for shipping and handling. Judging from postcards/envelopes—me sending a postcard to the U.S.: 1 € ≈ $1.58; an envelope from the U.S. to Germany: 90¢—this is probably even worse for the other direction.
~William~
During our trip to Munich, we stopped along the way to see Neuschwanstein, a fake-medieval castle built by King Ludwig II back in the 19th century as homage to his friend and favorite composer, Richard Wagner. Despite not being “genuine”, it was still a pretty impressive sight, more so on the inside than outside. Unfortunately, public photography of the inside is strictly verboten.
Munich itself was a pretty cool city as well; we definitely saw out fair share of churches, the English Gardens, and other touristy places. Most significant for David and Tony, though, was our trip to the Hofbräuhaus. When Americans try to picture the quintessentially German, they almost invariably imagine this Bavarian beer house. Interesting fact: Hitler’s first major public speech was given here, not that it’s widely advertised. Anyways, my two companions just had to get a perfect beer clink, pictured to the left.
I swear I’m not usually clueless regarding directions, but I must admit, that though I managed to find my way to the metro system and from there to my desired stop, I got lost within five minutes of getting off the subway. It was a cloudy day, so I somehow managed to mix up west with north, which is never a good sign. Eventually, an hour late around 2 o’clock, I found my way to the FIAP hostel in Paris, where Jenna D. (who’s studying this semester in Paris) and Livy W. (in town from Florence) were waiting on me. After a quick lunch at an Italian place in the area and relinquishing our luggage, the three of us were ready to be touristy.
For the next couple of hours, Jenna, our de facto tour guide, led us on a walking tour of some of Paris’ more interesting sights. We saw along the way some
expensive gardens,
expensive buildings,
and even some expensive statues.
In defiance of the intermittent rain, Erin and I traipsed through the Pere Lachaise cemetery in search of Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde, both of whom were kind enough to patiently wait as we stumbled our way along. Neither Erin nor I have any real sense of direction, so we had our fair share of fun, but ended up managing to find not just one of the two, but two of the two. That’s right, we found both grave markers in less than two hours; quite a feat, I know 
. Stomping our way through the graveyard was hard work, so we decided to get some hot chocolate and maybe some sustenance at a nearby cafe (in front of which the picture to the right was taken). Really quite a fun afternoon, I must say. Sadly, the chains of responsibility pulled us apart thereafter, and I was left to wander the streets of Paris alone for the night.
The Sacre Coeur, or Sacred Heart, the highest point on land in Paris. It’s really cool to glance over the metropolis that is Paris from up high. I must warn though, that there are quite a few tourist traps in the area, and for the first time ever, I fell for one and paid a hefty 5 € price for a piece of yarn. Sad story, I must say.
The Arc of Triumph again, from which I walked to
the Louvre. Unfortunately, the museum closes at 5:30pm on Mondays, and isn’t open on Tuesdays, so I didn’t have the time to actually go through the exhibits, but I can honestly say I’ve been “in the Lourve” (without paying, naturally 
The Notre Dame really is quite impressively large. It’s a lot bigger in person, like a lot of old buildings, or especially
the Eiffel Tower, which I went to go see again at night. The light show they play every hour is really cool. The 4,50 € hot dogs are not.
Tuesday I met up with Jenna again between her classes (silly things, classes are), and we too went through a cemetery, this time the Montmartre. I don’t know what it is with me and graveyards, but it was really quite cool, as I got to see Poincare’s grave site.
Even outside of cemeteries, the next thing we visited was the Hotel des Invalides, an old military hospital, but also where Napoleon was buried. Somehow, Napoleon managed to get a somewhat more expensive grave than Poincare.
Jenna and I thereafter proceeded to have a nice lunch, and then we too parted ways. I wandered around the city a bit more, but then went off to the train station. Somehow, though don’t ask me how, it seemed somewhat fitting for my last landmark in Paris to be the Republique (to the left).