Posts Tagged ‘europe’

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Travel Recap: Europe

January 27th, 2011 by Manda | 2 Comments | Filed in Travel

It’s about time I started posting recaps of my travels. I never had the time to recap my summer trip to Europe before I took off for China, and then after I got to China I just never had time to blog anything in great detail, period. But I’m fixing this now… four, five months later. These recaps will no doubt be posted sporadically (it takes time to sort through and upload pictures!) but when I’m already several months behind in recapping what’s another month or two?

So, Europe. I stayed with a German host family (the nicest family I’ve ever met) for three weeks. During those three weeks, we traveled throughout Germany and visited France, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. All in all, it was a fabulous three weeks.

Highlights include:

  • Seeing the Rheinfall at the German-Swiss border.
  • Visiting Liesl and Rolf’s gazebo from The Sound of Music in Salzburg, Austria.
  • Spending a few days in Prague, an absolutely breathtaking city.
  • Returning to Strasbourg, France, the city in which I did a homestay three summers ago, and remembering why I loved the city.
  • Absorbing the history of Berlin, and seeing sights such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall.
  • The beauty of Heidelberg, Germany, and visiting the Heidelberg Castle.
  • Being introduced to the wonderful, delicious foods that are spätzle and maultaschen.

Photos behind the cut.

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Right Now In Numbers

August 19th, 2010 by Manda | 7 Comments | Filed in Life, Travel

I just got home from my European vacation and I am so completely scattered it’s starting to become quite funny. It’s not so much the jet lag, because I’ve always been fairly good at getting over that. It’s the fact that I leave for China – for a year of study! – in five days that’s starting to freak me out. I would be freaking out before I left no matter how long I had to prepare for China since it’s an exciting yet daunting prospect, but… five days? If I pull this off, I’ll be Wonder Woman. (Or Travel Wonder Woman. Or Study Abroad Wonder Woman. Or whatever.)

Anyway. The above paragraph alone shows just how ramble-y my thoughts are, so I’ll condense the rest of this entry into bullets. I know there have been a lot of bulleted entries lately (and, unfortunately, I have plans for another bulleted entry tomorrow, but as it’s going to be a book review I think that’s acceptable) but I’ll try and pull things together around here soon.

  • Hours I have been in the US since arriving from Europe: 5
  • Days until I leave for China: 5 (repeating for good measure)
  • Suitcases that I need to unpack… and then repack: 2
  • Hours behind my internal clock is from US Central Time: 7
  • Degrees it is in my house: 85F (the air conditioner broke)
  • Fans there are in my house: 1 miniature one (currently in use to keep the water temperature cool for my brother’s salt water fish tank)
  • Pairs of shoes I bought in Europe: 4 (I LOVE shoes)
  • Weight that I gained (and need to lose) from my time in Europe: …a lot
  • Unread entries in my feed reader: 271
  • Days until my birthday: 4 (!!!)

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No Speed Limit on the Autobahn: More European Cultural Observations

August 16th, 2010 by Manda | 11 Comments | Filed in Travel
  • The rules for the Autobahn in Germany would never fly in the US. Having an interstate highway with no speed limit? Oh please. That is a recipe for disaster in the States. In Germany (or perhaps all of Europe), it works surprisingly well.
  • As Emma commented in my previous European cultural observations post, you have to specify for flat/still water in Germany or else you get carbonated, salty mineral water. I find this very strange, as “water” to me is still water and “mineral water” is the “gassy” stuff!
  • The license plates all state which country the car is from, much like how license plates in the US say which state the car is from. It helps pass the time on long car trips to see which countries cars are from (I’ve always been entertained by license plate games). If the country is in the EU, the license plate will have an EU flag. Letters that tripped me up were E (for Spain, my guess was Estonia) and P (Portugal, PL is Poland).
  • Maybe this is just a German thing, but everything here is loaded with salt. But I could also be the only one that notices it, as I’m not really a fan of overly salty foods.
  • The cost of living is very expensive in Germany (and, I assume, for most of Europe; I remember France being very expensive when I was there three years ago and everyone knows how expensive the UK is). In Germany, there is a 19% tax imposed on all goods (I think, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). When I go shopping, the sale prices here are the pre-sale prices in the US!
  • In Eastern Germany, they kept the walk / don’t walk pedestrian signs from the Soviet era. I was very amused by the chubby figures when I was in Dresden.

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