Erfurt Model UN

Aaaah the weekend... It's pretty nice to wear pajamas for most of the day and with plenty of time to do homework. The couple weekends have been very busy, including a block seminar for 8-10hrs on a Friday and Saturday, followed the next weekend by Model UN event that lasted 12hrs on Saturday and 8hrs on Sunday.  But now that they are over with, I think I'm sitting pretty for my upcoming finals.  I'd never done a Model UN event before, but I always kind of wanted to do it, so I signed up for it, not realizing that it would last as long as it did. It was an experience for sure, I can't say exactly what kind of experience, but I did it. I represented North Korea, not exactly the most respected or influential delegation in the UN, so I definitely didn't contribute as much to the activity as other members, but for me that was ok. The topic we discussed was about Israel-Palestine conflict so North Korea did not need to be involved closely with the other groups, but I ended up allying myself with most of the Arab countries. There were about 60 people that participated from several different cities that came to the event, including a large group from the University of Erfurt, so I actually got to meet some other Germans not associated with the Willy Brandt School, which was nice. My other close ally, Cuba, and I ended up talking for a lot of the breaks so I hope to see him around campus some more. Another plus of the event was that it took place in the Rathaus (townhall) which is a really beautiful building with incredible paintings all along the hallways and very nice sitting rooms with awesome wooden carvings throughout. It was pretty awe-inspiring. EDIT: I forgot to mention that being North Korea was pretty awesome. Since I didn't know exactly how to draft a UN resolution properly, I spent most of my time drafting outrageous speeches aimed at attacking capitalism and the West, as well as numerous references to the absolute power of the Supreme Leader.

Slightly blurry photo of me towards the end of the event

Strange painting along the staircase. I thought it would be biblical of some kind, but I don't remember anything with that monster on the right

Close up of the monster with a 3rd eye

 One of the other sitting rooms with enormous paintings along the walls. A classmate told me that they are historical paintings of Germany and that way back in the day Erfurt was much more important, both religiously and politically.

Chandeliers and a grand piano give it a very classy appeal

Beautiful statues. I think Mom and Dad would have liked it here. 

This is the main sitting room we used, it had nice paintings, huge wooden desks and cool chairs for the delegates. And I really liked the massive windows too. 

End of the Model UN so everyone is getting ready to leave. I can find more pictures if anyone wants to see more, but they aren't super exciting, just people sitting around in suits and raising name cards.

Belated New Year's post

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a few weeks! It's not that I haven't had any free time, but rather I've been enjoying my lazy days of Christmas break while they still last (unfortunately I only have a couple days left. On Jan. 6 everything starts up again). But! I did have an excellent Christmas with Erika's family in Friedenweiler, they provided delicious food, good conversation, and were overly generous with the Christmas cookies and gifts. I'm very pleased with the abundance of chocolate in my apartment now, all thanks to her family.

I also thoroughly enjoyed their little town too. It's located in the hills in the Black Forest, nestled in between tall pine trees and narrow gorges with little streams running through. When I first arrived I was amazed at how soft and green everything was for a late December day.

 The day before Christmas it was quite warm, probably around 45F

There's also tons of hiking trails just minutes away from the apartment, you can walk for miles without using the same trail twice. In summer there is space for plenty of mountain biking and horseback riding. A little outdoor lovers paradise (which fits Susanna and Sven pretty well). 

Sisters!!

The day after Christmas was a different story though. It snowed big heavy flakes for most of the morning and we went for a snow hike. 

Thats a public swimming pool right in front of the building there. It looked really nice as we walked by, a kiddie pool, hot tub, and a diving board included. The larger water body is also open for swimming, but not exactly a pool. Apparently nice public pools is common in some of the small towns in southern Germany

Snow for a nice change of pace and color

Tall pines covered in heavy snow

This sign shows the European watershed(?) where one side drains to the Rhein river all the way up to the North Sea, and the other direction drains to the Black Sea. Pretty cool to find in a village hike

New Year's has passed without incidence, amazingly. Germans are pretty crazy about fireworks, and there is very little regard for personal space when launching off explosives. We went to the top of the city, which is actually a historic site to watch the fireworks display at midnight. But I'm still unsure whether there was a professional fireworks display, or if everyone who bought fireworks just waits til midnight to launch their prized explosives. There were rockets going off all around us, people literally lighting rockets at the feet of strangers. No one is safe. Here is a link to a video compilation a classmate made from his experiences on New Years. This is his footage, not mine, but lighting rockets down the tram line, directed at people and businesses... Richard's New Year's video

Also the video clips mixed in with the explosions is another German holiday tradition. It's an old comedy sketch "The 90th Birthday" or "Dinner for One" that for some reason is played on TV every New Years. It's the German equivalent of the claymation Rudolph movie, except it's a 10 minute sketch of a drunk butler. I think the "same procedure as every year" may be pretty appropriate description of drunk Germans on New Years. I'll find out more next year.  Here is a link for the full, original video if you're interested The 90th Birthday

Christmas Break!

Yesssssssss! It's finally Christmas Break! I'm so happy to have a couple weeks without going to class! Though it's definitely not to say I don't have plenty of class work to do, but at least I can veg out a bit before stressing about school again. Here's a list of things I want to accomplish during the holidays:
1. Eat lots of sweets. It's Christmas, and it's Germany. What other reason is there? Right
2. Go hiking in the forest again, we went last year in October and it was really nice, but it's always good to revisit in different times of the year.
3. Find a job for the next few months. Part time/student jobs, or anything where I can use my English skillz.
4. Head start on some projects, to make my life in January a bit less hectic.
5. Bratwursts.

Oh, have I mentioned how excellent the bratwursts are here? Lawdy thems tasty! On Saturday Erika and I have plans to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt again to celebrate the end of her thesis nightmare, and I've heard there is a stand with foot long bratwursts. It's gonna be awesome.

Wish me luck on my checklist!

It's official!

Yay! I've successfully navigated my way through the German bureaucracy! Thanks to all those who've helped, especially Erika for coming to my appointment and making sure I have all the documents ready.  Here is my official German Residency Permit (Aufenthaltstitel) which permits me to stay in Germany for a full 12 months! I'll have to register again next year, but for now I'm happy that I made it.

This is a photo of me from last year. Now I have a new haircut that I self-styled with a little help from Erika. 

Yep it's a selfie, but I wanted to show how well I'm blending in to the Euro culture. There's a few odd spots around the back, but pretty good for a $0 haircut

December Holidays

I always enjoy the Christmas season at home, the cold fresh air is still new and exciting enough to keep you hoping for the first snow, decorations begin to appear, for better or worse depending on the displayer's tackiness, and people are generally in a bit better mood, trying to be fun and friendly in the wind up for Christmas Day. But it's a pretty different story here in the land of Saint Nicklaus. Yes the air is crisp, the decorations are up, but it seems the whole city has changed to welcome the holidays. And O Sweet Baby Jesus do the Germans love their Christmas season! The German Weihnachtsmarkt is a pretty common display in most German towns and cities, and in Erfurt they do it with gusto. Bringing in enormous evergreen trees to plant in the city center, constructing stand after stand that peddle all kinds of sweets, drinks, clothes, decorations, and more.  I think I'll just let some of the pictures do all the talking for now.

Main entrance of the Domplatz market

Massive Weihnachtspiramid

Carousel in the city center

The shopping center is called Anger. Here it is nicely decorated with little wooden stands leading up to the entrance

Other shops selling hot Glühwein at the Rathaus (city hall)

Langos is a delicious Hungarian food that was pretty popular at the Christmas market. It's almost like a really puffy naan dough smeared with garlic cream sauce and cheese. Can also add sausage to it, naturally.

Pretty excited about Glühwein and a funnel of candied almonds. Glühwein is definitely the best way to stay warm at the market. Dozens of places to buy it from, and there are an assortment of mugs to drink from. I liked this one the best.

Yup, it's an open carriage Ferris Wheel at 8pm in December

There were all kinds of games and things for the kiddies, including Bumper Cars and a train ride through the forest.

View from the cathedral steps

Definitely the place to be on a Friday night

This is the big Christmas market, but there are little stand set up all around the city, and another smaller, more traditional market set up a few hundred meters away at the Krämerbrucke. Traditional as in, people dress in medival costumes, serve different foods, and have live bagpipers for some reason. It's a pretty amazing spectacle and I wish there were more things like this in the US, but I think strict drinking laws would prevent the masses from coming and enjoying the hot Glühwein.

November welcome week

This is my class, well, most of my class. The Willy Brandters of 2015. The final tally I believe was 74 students from approximately 35 countries (but whose counting?). This picture is from our Welcome Reception this past Wednesday after more than 5 weeks of classes. It was quite an event, hence the fancy clothes. We had some big wigs of the university, the historical society, and from the major money donors of the school come and give some context to the school and it's icon, Willy Brandt. This was followed with an excellent buffet including salad and dessert and unfortunately only one complimentary champagne. There were a lot of photos taken by a professional photographer and others and they may crop up here later once I find any good ones of me. The professional setting here eventually dissolved as the night wore on, and many of us ended up going to the Kicker Keller, an underground bar in the center of town that features cheap drinks and free foosball (provided you pay 8euros for a year long membership card). It was pretty fun seeing so many people with dresses, suit jackets, and ties at a dive bar playing surrounding a foosball table. It's unreal how good some Germans are at foosball, and they have some interesting rules for each game. For example, when one team scores, they pull the ball out and place it at the feet of the team which just got scored on, to serve as a kickoff like it real soccer. Secondly, there is a pretty informal system of knocking the table with your knuckles to signal your intention to play the next game. This often leads to confusion (especially with drinks in hand) because multiple knock at several different times and then arguments break out for who is actually supposed to play. The quarter system in the US is pretty handy, but doesn't really apply when all the games are free. But damn do they respect the foosball table there- everything was well oiled and felt amazing.

Urgent! Tortilla Update!

In a recent post I sort of went off on how disappointed I was in the Mexican food here, but things are actually looking up and I thought my blog needed an update: I finally found a shop that supplies some pretty decent tortillas, of the Poco Loco variety. They were thicker, softer, and held their own when filled with the standard burrito affair. So for now, I can rest assured that my burrito cravings will go satisfied. Soon I will have to create my favorite recipe, the breakfast burrito. Although I'm probably going to need to adjust the recipe to fit my new environment. Germany is famous for it's sausages, so these might have to fall under the meat lover's category of B.Burrito