Germany

Day 3 GERMANY!

Surprise surprise everyone! You (and I) thought I was going on bank holiday to Switzerland, but guess what?! My cousin had other plans for me, and I got to cross the border!

So, apparently the Switzerland/Germany border is about half an hour from Zurich. It is a natural border created by Bodinsee (a lake). On the German side of the lake is an island called Insel Mainau. It is basically a large park and botanical garden. Felipe, Beatriz, Ashley, and I spend the majority of the day there, looking at flowers and trees and butterlies!





Temperaturewise, it is a huge climate change from Pilatus. I even got a sunburn. And an awkward sandal tan.

After leaving the island, we head over to the closest town which is Konstanz. It is unbearably adorable, so we walk around a bit. It is close to a University so there are tons of young folk hanging out on the banks of the Rhine, which I of course cross (and touch! Gosh I'm such a tourist.)


I am struck by the extreme cleanliness of the major bodies of water here. All of the lakes and rivers we have passed in Switzerland and Germany have been this incredible blue/green color and completely devoid of litter. America, you could learn a thing or two.

After realizing how hungry we are, we go in search of a typical German restaurant. I had schnitzel and pommes frites. I'm pretty sure you can't get much more German than that. We grab dessert at McDonalds. Ok. the McDonalds in Europe are SO FANCY. I don't even understand it. One I was in the other day had chandeliers in it. And couches. And they have gourmet food options! European McDonalds don't mess around.

While we are walking around a bit more in Konstanz, and taking more ridiculous photos, we come across a strange tradition. It looks like halloween, but apparently it is a sort of bachelorette party? Though later we came across a group of guys having a bachelor party. The bride (or groom) dresses up in a costume and all of their friends dress up maching in a different costume. And they walk around downtown in the city they are from selling things and asking people to do silly things for them while they take pictures. At one point, two different groups of girls ran into each other and got all excited. But then the group of guys came up and one of the groups of girls ran off yelling, so I assume that she was marrying the guy.

GERMANY, WHAT?

Dear Germany. Are you training your children to become pirates and rogues?!?! No? This lifesize pirate raft in a moat on a playground begs to differ. WHAT? (note: this rage stems solely from my extreme jealousy at not having my own pirate raft as a child)

Luzern

Day 2 SWITZERLAND +


Today we drive to a neighboring county to scale a very famous Swiss mountain called Mount Pilatus. I think it is technically part of the Alps, but isn't realy one of THE alps. But regardless, it is very tall. After getting a little bit lost, we find Pilatus and board the world's steepst cog-wheel railway to take us to the top. There is still snow on the mountain in some places!

It is really beautiful, and at the top we take some great pictures.

Unfortunately, it gets really foggy, really fast so the view of the Alps turns out something like this:

BUT!!!! Redeeming factor. Pilatus is a DRAGON mountain! With caves!

All of the lore of the region is about dragons. There is a particularly fun story involving Pontius Pilate and supernatural counter-offensives. You should take a moment to read it:

We have a snack at the cafe: Bratwurst and pommes frites (so swiss) and head back down the mountain.

SWITZERLAND, WHAT?

Dear Switzerland. This is the craziest person I have seen since I left Athens. Congratulations. WHAT?

Zurich, Winterthur

So here's what we're gonna do. I'm currently in Switzerland.

Note the cow.

So even though I am behind on my London posts, I'm gonna skip ahead and do my Switzerland posts in real(ish) time and then go back and fill in the missing London posts.

Day 1 SWITZERLAND!

Didn't sleep. Stayed up packing and figuring out how to bathe with a broken shower. At 4:00am, Ashley and I head out on the first leg of our journey, which involves walking down the road to the bus stop. We catch the night bus to another stop where our shuttle to Luton airport is supposed to pick us up. Luckily, we are able to catch an earlier shuttle than the one we booked, because we probably would have missed our flight otherwise. After pretty much passing out for the hour ride, we go through security which is frustrating because a) I forgot to put my liquids in the little baggy thingy and have to figure that out while in line and b) because apparently peanut butter counts as a liquid. You may ask why I have a large jar of crunchy JIF peanut butter in my carry-on luggage. No, I am not crayz.

Ok. PAUSE. I am on a Swiss kezboard. Thez speak German in this part of Swityerland. Notice that the "z" and "y" kezs are switched. Also, a bunch of other random symbols and things are on here making it extremely difficult to type.

So back to the peanut butter. My cousin, with whom I am staying in Zurich asked me to bring him one thing from the U.S: peanut butter. But they threw it away. What a waste of delicious peanut butter.

The flight is rather uneventful, other than an attractive flight attendant named James and a zillion yelling babies. But we get there on time and Felipe is at the airport waiting for us. We head to downtown Zurich to do some sightseeing.

We see the river and the lake (which I learn is "see"in German. So we see the see.)We walk through some cute alleys and plazas and then we meet Beatriz, my cousin's wife, for lunch at an Australian restaurant. We order kangaroo and ostrich to be adenturous. It isn't bad at all.


We ride a tram back to where we had parked the car. Ok. Transportation sidenote. The tram is like a trolley in San Fransisco. Sort of. But, they weave through traffic in their own lanes without warning, so it is really easy to hit them. Like we almost do. Also, the streets and the sidewalks are the same colors here with no curb, so I keep thinking cars are driving up onto sidewalks like it is no big deal.
There are barely any places to make U-turns here, and the roads are not neatly laid out. They sort of make no sense whatsoever and split in weird ways. I would have serious issues here. I can barely drive in America, let's be honest.

We are supposed to go to a technological museum, but Ashley and I pass out in the car so we head home to take a nap instead. Upon waking, we travel into Winterthur, the small town outside of Zurich where my cousin lives. Their apartment is so beautiful, with a gorgeous view of the mountains. I keep expecting goat herds to run out of nowhere. Winterthur is nice; we walk around take ridiculous photos (see below), get some groceries, and head home. According to Felipe, we have seen all there is to see of both cities in a day.

So apparently, for the rest of the days...we'll travel!

SWITZERLAND, WHAT? (Yeah, you thought it would stop. Nope.These people crazy too.)

Dear Switzerland. Zero gravity clubbing? WHAT?

He's really a shoe-eating gremlin crouching in the closet.

Day 10

I want to fall asleep today in class because I still don’t feel well, and we are watching this really funky non-linear independent Christopher Nolan film. It’s cool, but I can’t handle it today, especially not when it is so utterly beautiful outside.

After class, Erin, Ashley, Nick, and I head to the Wellcome Collection for the Incurably Curious. We have no idea what it is, it is a block from our flat, and we are, well, curious. It is a pretty neat place with a fascinating bookstore. If I were a rich girl (do do do do do do do) then I would buy you all souvenirs from that place. But alas, I am not. Most of the exhibits are related to science, medical practices, etc. with all sorts of cool artifacts like Charles Darwin’s walking stick, a lock of George III’s hair, a torture chair, and shoes for bound feet. There’s one room where you draw a picture based on some of the words written on the back of a card and put it up on the wall.

The four of us are now featured artists in a museum. How about that.

Next on the agenda is a tear-jerker extraordinaire, War Horse. George starts crying as soon as the horse comes onstage, aka the moment the curtain goes up. The show is breathtaking in its simultaneous simplicity and complexity. The story is about a boy and his horse during World War I, and the most fascinating thing about it is that the horses are all life-size puppets manned by 3 puppeteers each. They are so well designed that actors even RIDE the puppet horses. The creativity is amazing, employing a minimalistic set and multimedia projections. It is transferring to Broadway this year and is a definite must see. After the show, Erin, Bridgette and I look for the stage door, but George points us in the complete opposite direction, leading us down a dark alleyway at 11pm. Poor life choices. After fearing for my life, I see one of the actors and flag him down for an autograph. He then kindly points us in the right direction. (The stage door was 20 feet from where George had been standing. Fail.)

LONDON, WHAT?
Dear London. Nuns in a tube station? WHAT?

I got us to the money place! ...You mean the bank?

Day 9

Class today involves watching The Queen which I enjoy. We talk about how it fits into the Hollywood screenplay structure. That Syd Field knows his stuff. Too bad his “paradigm” has sucked the creativity out of Hollywood.

After class I head to my interview for my internship. I start walking, get so lost (what else is new) and end up in a mews (an alleyway or cul-de-sac.) Granted, this is where I’m supposed to be, but it certainly doesn’t look like it. All I see are warehouse back entrances and gruff looking construction workers. I told George about this moment later on and he said I was just disappointed that I didn’t get any cat-calls. That must be it. So I finally wander to the right place and have a chat with the lady inside and realize that this is exactly what I do not want to do for an internship. And I panic. More on that later.

I meet the group at the New Diorama Theatre where we see a fringe show called Elevator, directed by Rachel Parish, a UGA graduate. It is about 2 young teens who get stuck in an elevator and die. Spoiler alert! Sorry. It was pretty fantastic. We get a chance to talk to Rachel and the actors a bit after the show.

I’m feeling sort of sickly (like everyone else on this trip. We have all shared this same cold) so I head to bed.

LONDON, WHAT?

Dear London. Why do you have so many rats with wings? WHAT?

What Was Up With the Flying Monkeys?

Day 8

Class with George. They all sort of run together. I think this is the second part to his lecture. I’m trying/not trying to think about this paper we have to write soon. Not excited.

After class, a few of us head to a terrifying yet magical place called Primark. Located on the aforementioned Oxford Street, this place is a department store… but the only way to describe it is to say imagine Black Friday at the mall. Then multiply the amount of people by 5 and exponentially raise the amount of crazy. I fight my way through yelling women and purchase 3 camis for a pound each. Yes. A pound. And sunglasses, for a pound. And tights for 2 pounds. Are you getting the idea? This place is crazy intense. But I love it and have to come back.

At 5:30, we meet as a group at the National Theatre where we saw London Assurance for a tour of the facility. Katie accurately dubs it “the Disneyland of theatre” and I couldn’t agree more. The place has three theatres of varying sizes and runs it’s shows on a repertory system meaning that each theatre has about 3 shows running in it at one time. “How do they do that?” you may ask. Well, in one of the theatres, there is an L shape design so the set for one of the shows pushes in one piece to a storage unit to the left of the stage, another set pushes into a unit behind the stage, and another set is kept in the ridiculously high fly system. But once the wagon is rolled onto the stage for the rolling sets, you can’t tell because the floor is lowered down so that it looks like it is built directly onto the floor. (If all of this means nothing to you, just skip it. If you are drooling by this point, keep reading.) There are various practice rooms with identical dimensions to the 3 stages so that actors can very easily and quickly transfer their work to the actual stage. They have a set construction room and a painting room and a costume room and a props room and a…..

I would give anything to work in this place. They run on a 54 MILLION POUND budget (81 million dollars). And 35% of that comes from the government. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

On the balcony of the National Theatre before the show.

After the tour we see Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women which leaves much to be desired. While the acting was decent, the plot was dry, the language heavy, and the direction a little weak. The last scene however, in which all of the dialogue is cut and about 12 deaths occur in the span of five minutes while the entire stage is spinning and there are black angels crawling all over the set was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen. If the show had had that sort of feel throughout, I might not have almost fallen asleep at multiple points during the 3 hours.

LONDON, WHAT?

Dear London. I understand that you lack rolling hills. But must you create your own by the sidewalks? WHAT?

It doesn't really rain in London

Day 7

Somehow I manage to sleep til 3. Yes, 3 pm. Clearly my body is still not quite over jetlag. Nick and I have been dying to go to a market, so we head to Dover Street Market. Correction: we head to what we think is Dover Street Market. After getting thoroughly lost and turned around, we find the building it is supposed to be in, but it looks like it hasn’t been open in years. On the long trek back to the flat, it starts raining. Shockingly enough this is the only time we have been here where it has really rained. (Blogging from real time Day 15. This statement still holds true. The Londoners are very confused at this lack of precipitation.)

A group of us end the evening watching 10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles on Nicole’s laptop. Rather unproductive day overall. But I got to see Heath Ledger sing "Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You", so that redeemed it.

LONDON, WHAT?

Dear, London. I don't have words. WHAT?

Hummus on a Hula Hoop

Day 6

Considering the fact that yesterday was the longest day known to man, I sleep in until about noon. Nick and I find out that the FA Cup final is at 2:30, so we grap some brunch (bagel with cream cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Why have I never thought of this before???) and head for Fulham. The first pub we try is so packed that I end up straddling the door jam and not being able to see the match at all. Nick says the guy beside him smells. So we move on. A little ways down the street is a quieter bar that clearly converts to a half swanky, half sketch dance club at night. Katie meets us there and we watch the rest of the match. To the extreme joy of all of the blue-clad Chelsea fans, they snag the title and the streets fill with cheering.

Even the police officers record the moment because such fandom must be documented.

I can only equate it to SEC football in fan intensity. Try riding the tube after a match. Then you’ll see.

Later that evening we meet up with Ryan and Bree to tour Tate Modern which is having some sort of anniversary celebration and is therefore open late. My favorite quote of the night is the moment Katie walks into the Andy Warhol Cow room

and says, “I suddenly remember why I hate modern art.” The place is pretty bizarre, but has some really cool stuff. Like a giant outlet plug.

Unfortunately my camera battery dies about a quarter of the way through, so pictures are minimal.

LONDON, WHAT?

In keeping with the modern art thing, we'll go with something postmodern looking.

Dear London. You tricked me. I thought this was a giant coffee mug. And then it wasn't. WHAT?

George, you've been sick for a week!

Day 5

Longest blog post yet. Be ready.

8:30am. Meet in front of the AIFS office and meet Russell, our new favorite man. He is our tour guide for our day trip to Leeds Castle and Canterbury. We couldn’t have found a better guide. Russell is super intense and knows everything about everything and is an all-around funny guy.

This is Russell.

So first he leads us through some of London that we didn’t see on our first trip around. There’s press huddled around parliament due to the hung parliament.

An ominous looking Big Ben clock tower.

And The National Portrait Gallery.

We ride to Leeds Castle first, a beautiful place where all of us ladies have decided to get married. Since we do not have many thousands of pounds each, we have decided to all get married on the same day and be each other’s bridesmaids. We also found a wedding dress shop nearby so all we lack is a groom. Well… 11 grooms. But no matter!

The castle is interesting because it feels like a time warp.

It is so old, but is still in use and was purchased by an American woman in the 1930s, so some of the rooms have memorabilia from the queens of the 1300s who lived there, while other rooms have Lady Bailey’s 1930s decor. My favorite room is the one in which the Camp David accords were signed.

The gardens at Leeds are almost more breathtaking than the castle itself, fully in bloom and vibrant with color.

There are also peacocks. We are not sure why. One of them attacked Nicole! It was quite terrifying (for Nicole) but humorous (for us). She should have read the signs.

Oh yes, vicious geese as well.

The gardens end up at a hedge maze, which is highly infuriating to me because I have absolutely no sense of direction. After getting thoroughly lost, the guy sitting at the center of the maze has pity on us and tells us how to get to the center. The maze then leads to a grotto with “atmospheric lighting” according to the sign, but I just feel like I’m on Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Which of these things does not belong? If you guessed LED lit cave, then you would be correct.

Off to Canterbury! Another hour on the road in our bus and we arrive in quaint little Canterbury.
We grab lunch and head into the Cathedral (where picture are allowed.)
Russell tells us all about Thomas Beckett and how he was brutally murdered
and where his memorial is. (or was...the candle represents where it used to stand.)
He even makes us walk up the stairs on our knees like pilgrims to Beckett’s memorial would have hundreds of years ago.

After the tour, we break to explore Canterbury a bit. I see a sign that I can’t pass up, because my roommate from back home told me she would disown me if I did. So Erin and I sit down to tea and scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam. This is for you, Megan!
Can we say heavenly? Scones in the U.S. and scones in England= totally different.

After a long ride back, one would think that I would be ready to call it a day. False. Ashley and I decide it is time to hit up Oxford Street. Shopping capital of London, baby! This street goes on forever and everything is always crowded! But it is certainly an experience. I don’t buy anything…this time.

My feet are killing me by this time, so I head back to the flat, get something to eat and relax for a bit. ...Until it’s time to go to The Rocket! The Rocket is like home away from home, a piece of Athens across the Atlantic. It’s a crazy little bar with ridiculous American music and a young, rowdy crowd. (I’m technically blogging from somewhere around day 14, and let me just say, the security guard Paul knows all of us by name. He’s a really cool guy.) Since it is a Tuesday, there are not that many people there, so we are the only ones dancing. That attracts attention, and people start taking pictures of our mad dance skills. But mostly Jordan. That boy can move! He’s definitely the favorite there.

LONDON, WHAT?
Dear London. False advertising is wrong. Way to break a southern girl's heart. WHAT?