A Whiff of Cologne

"I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I do not feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent."

- Inscribed on cellar walls during the Holocaust in Cologne, Germany.

No city can and should be divided from its history - taking a look at Cologne, settlement can be traced back almost 2000 years when Cologne was still in the hands of the Romans, making it one of the oldest cities in all of Germany. Despite the 262 air raids during World War II which almost completely wiped out the centre of the city, Cologne was restored and now exists as the fourth largest city in Germany. Just a brief little history lesson to set the scene.

Friday night, Jakob had invited me to a house party which had been fitted out with an extremely inviting cocktail bar. I was having a good time meeting new people when I got a message from Victor pretty much saying "Go home and sleep. We're going to Cologne tomorrow, 0630 train. Be there". I set my alarm to 0500 and trammed it home - kahlua, baileys and vodka each enjoying a swim in my stomach.

Waking up at 0500 on a Saturday morning is something that I will, for the rest of my life, avoid doing EVER again. Despite looking like shit and having minimal sleep, I met with the others at the Haupbahnhof ready for the 5 hour train trip. I was surprised to find a group of 20 of us there, instead of just 5 as I had thought - but hurrah the more the merrier! The boys sung, hummed and screeched some songs for the first 20 minutes or so before everyone collapsed into a deep sleeping coma lasting the rest of the trip.

Sleep is the cousin of death.

Stepping out from Haupbahnhof at Cologne, the monstrous Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) immediately slaps you in the face. I have no idea how to portray in words the sheer size of this cathedral to you guys, because saying that is almost 160m in height doesn't provide that shock factor as it does with seeing it with your very own eyes.

One size fits all... all of Cologne in it.

Exploring the Roman church took us a good 3 hours, which included climbing the 600 step spiral stair case.. and subsequently having to descend the 600 step spiral stair case. In spite of the fact that everyone's legs were noticeably trembling after the successful mission, it was well worth the trip (and exercise), because man, the view really is better from the top.

"Always remember that when you are on top of the world, that the earth rotates every 24 hours."

Despite the euthanasia of our poor legs, we decided to do some roaming of the city which included crossing several of the Rhine River bridges. One of the bridges had a truly unique feature to it; lovers from around the world would come to this bridge and "lock in" their everlasting love. Several locks had multiple names on them which Victor and I insisted were 'orgy parties' and so we had an immature giggle about it to everyone else's distaste. Afterwards, we decided that lunch had been well-deserved, and what better way to satisfy hunger here in Germany than a doner kebab.

Padlocks and no escape - kind of like marriage, right?

Chocolate Factory time! That's right kids, we got to visit the famous Schokoladen Museum where we were shown how Lindt's chocolates transform from tantalising, hot, free-flowing liquid goodness into snappable blocks of cocoa deliciousness. Indeed, we got to sample the end product. Amazeballs.

Disappointment is seeing no Oompa Loompas.

Chowing down some McDonalds for dinner, we had affirmed the satisfaction of our eyes and experience of beautiful Cologne. The rude 0500 wake up, clambering of the Kölner Dom - as well as everyone having to struggle through limited English, Deutsch and Spanish vocabulary - had taken its toll upon our bodies and our mentality, and indubitably, it was time for us to bid the city farewell.

I like to leave my blogs with some kind of theme to keep in mind, and visiting Cologne had refreshed to me as to why I love roaming the world. Summing it up nicely:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain

The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people halfway.

I must, I must increase my bust.

.. and not my thighs and stomach as I have aggressively been doing.

If you are apparently what you eat, then I am the following:

• French Cordon Bleu in spiced salsa sauce;
• A Vegemite sandwich;
• Famous German chocolate bar;
• Four pieces of mini Chicken Schnitzels;
• Mixed vegetables in tomato soup;
• Fettucini Pasta authentically made by an Italian with all ingredients directly from Italy;
• An Americanised stir-fry with chicken chunks, balsamic dressed veggies and rice;
• Bacon, cheese and steak pan-fried tapa-thingos with creamy sauce;
• A bottle of Merlot wine; and
• Finnish pancakes with ice-cream, strawberry jam and 2 chocolate waffle sticks.

.. all within the span of 3 hours. Either I suffer in health or I suffer in soul, the devil really has put a penalty on all things we enjoy in life.

Finnish deliciousness

I must say that I blame Johnny for kick-starting my metamorphosis into the massive tub of lard that I'm destined to become (kidding, Johnny!). He had generously hosted a small farewell dinner for the finnish girls, Ella and Helmi, who are moving to another city in a few days after the language course finishes; Davide (a fantastic Italian cook) joined us for the festivities. Let's just say, the dinner was more than enough for us five .. and the rest of Darmstadt .. for a week.

Preparing the feast of all feasts.

Davide praying that there won't be any casualties from eating an avalanche of food.

Helmi and I mucking around in the shopping centre when we went to pick up the bottle of wine.

Despite eating 5 horses and chasing their jockeys, it was one of the most pleasant nights I've had here in a while. There's nothing like good food, good conversation, good wine and good company. And a food baby weighing 7 pounds 18.

It's a boy!

Oh and just for 'shits and giggles', a boo-boo of mine - pictures of Johnny's housemates flowers after I knocked the jar over and de-pettled the entire bunch of lillies... oops.

For the love of God, keep me away from all things beautiful...

Fake it 'til you make it.

Hola amigos, ¿Cómo estamos?

Spanish 1, German 0.

Ohhh it's begun, the slow take over of any german I've learnt and any I am attempting - and struggling - to learn by the return of español.

The previous Friday night I was invited to Karlshof for dinner and drinks by some of the Spanish (I hate putting them into such ethnic groups but I don't know how else to simplify who I'm talking about!) and instead of the room being peopled with Mexicans, it was filled with Spanish boys instead. I was starting to get a little confused as to why there were just so many boys in this city and so few girls, and it was my roomie who clarified the following. My university is the Technische Universität Darmstadt which, as the title would give away, is a technical university. It goes a little something like:

• Technical University > Engineering and Technology Faculties only
• Engineering and Technology Faculties only > Male dominated industries
• Oversupply of fish in the sea > A social perplexity

Plenty of them where I come from.

Despite the awkwardness of being the only girl for a good hour or so, it ended up being a really enjoyable night. I had the scheiße paid out of me for my beastly pronunciation of the Spanish words, most of which I just cannot for the life of me say without an Australian accent. Notwithstanding, there's nothing like a few beers out on the balcony, pretending like its summer only because the weather has picked itself up a few notches... to 6 degrees.

If Beyonce and I were a boy we'd understand how it feels to love a girl.. and probably not look so awkward in photos like these..

We played a Mexican drinking game which my version of phonics would go something like "ca-rappa-ca-choo-car", whereby each person had to say a word contained in a predetermined topic to rhythmic clapping. Say it out of tune or fail to say one at all, you had to take a shot of some god awful (and extreeemely alcoholic) apple wine. The boys decided to be tricky (trickeh trickeh trickeh trrrickeh) and chose "seasons" as a topic, meaning that the fifth person would endure a predicated death by apple wine. That fifth person was me.

Person 1: "Summer" .. clap clap

Person 2: "Autumn" .. clap clap

Person 3: "Winter" .. clap clap

Person 4: "Spring" .. clap clap

Cat: "Mid Winter" .. clap clap

Person 6: "..WHAT?! Oh uhm.. Mid summer?!" ..

Person 7: "You're OUT! Mid summer isn't a season!"

All: *Chant* DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK!

.. How I got away with "Mid Winter" will forever be God's mystery.

Yo, Buzz Me.

How on this planet did I forget to mention a week ago that Stefan had finally returned home? He's the bees knees. Which I think means that he's the best. Why? Bees carry pollen back to their hives in sacks resting on their legs. It's tempting to explain the phrase as alluding to the concentrated goodness to be found around the bee's knees, but there's no evidence for this explanation.

Stefan in a past life

Anyway, upon his return I realised two things:

1. A lot of the homesickness was because of the empty house - almost immediately after they all came back, I've been so content.
2. I never had a fear of being by myself when I'm older, I now do.

The dorm has been flooded with life. I can't believe how famously we all mesh. Breakfast is now my favourite time of the day, I actually get up earlier so that I can join in on all the morning gaiety. Tonight Clara and Stefan are hosting a fondue party with friends from their class here which I'm super duper excited about. Both literally and figuratively speaking, it should be a messy night.

Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate.

Living next to us are four girls who Clara, Stef and Jakob are tight with (yo). I met a couple of the girls 2 nights ago when they held a BBQ to celebrate the celsius tickling 15 for the first time in 4 months. Barely understanding anything that was going on (they all speak in German on my request, I want to learn pronto!.. schneller!) their demeanour alone cracked me up - the girls are just hilarious. BBQ night: fun, fun, fun!

It's karaoke for the Brazilians and Mexicans on Thursdays and despite the fact that I'm Australian in nationality and Asian in appearance, I was invited - wootang! The Mexicans decided pre-drinks at Gonzalo's dorm in Karlshof. Shucks, I was the only girl there but I felt right at home. These guys are just always laughing and up for a good time. Best part is they don't try to get into my pants -- its fresh*. The whole night, again, I barely followed anything that was going on although I understood a lot more of the spanish than I had of the german so at least I gathered the general gist of the conversation. Few beers downed and no tequila shotting at all (shock horror), we headed to An Sibin for karaoke and met up with the Brazilians and a few of the Spanish for songs, sing-alongs and what else but more beer.

Topped a great night out with Germany's 3am alcohol sponger, a Turkish doner kebab - truly wunderbar!

*I have a pre-conceived idea of Mexican men being egotistical sleazeballs.. for no reason in particular, of course.

The unofficial...

...language of Darmstadt: "Porteuñolish".

Rolled on the floor and laughed so hard when I was told that today. Looks like the whole city knows its true!

Spanish speaking Italians from Brazil in Germany?

There's one thing that sticks out to me in Darmstadt, and that's the number of Spanish, Mexican and Brazilian people living and studying here. That 'Italian Party' I told you about was dominated by the hispanics, so much so that I don't think I even met one Italian sole there. The Spanish students are here in the plane-loads due to close tertiary agreements between Spain and Germany; the Mexicans and Brazilians, I have no idea. It kind of works out amazingly because I've been trying to learn Spanish for quite some time now so passively I'm learning, hooray! Need I mention the men, again?

Here's how most of the night went down..

PRE-PRE-DRINKS: Johnny and I had decided to check out the International Generations Meeting (a sit-down party for students) before heading out, arriving to free beers, wines and champagnes - oh and delicious wraps and pastries. I got to meet a few "friends of friends" which was fantastic, but on the whole it was full of older people and I couldn't understand the German conversations going on to save my life. Johnny and I snuck out, fresh beer in pocket.

International Generations Meeting

PRE-DRINKS: We headed to Karlshof* which is the only other, and much, much, MUCH bigger student housing complex in Darmstadt. We got to meet a lot of Steph's friends, who generally were - yep you guessed it - Spanish, Mexican or Brazilian. Some of the girls had dressed up as the Italian Mafia which was fun to see. The pre-drinks here had reminded me so much of my friends back in Australia - the craziness and hilarity of it all was almost identical.

There's a couple of the 'Mafia'

DRINKING TIME: The Italian Party was hosted in the most random room I had ever seen in my life. It was just that, a room. A big one though. There was no bar, no anything really. Just a whole bunch of people in the one space, dancing, boozing and having a blast. Two of the girls I was with had bought along a bottle of wine to share. In a drunken stupor, we managed to somehow pop open the plastic cork with a fork. Each taking several large swigs, we headed back into the party. I had somehow ended up holding the bottle --"Someone please take it! I look like an alcoholic!" .. "I'm already drunk, you keep it" & "I'm waaaaay drunk". To my girls at home -Laura, Lex, Rach and Rob (okay so you're not a girl but you're as good as one to me) - you guys all know my history with wine bottles in clubs. Not good! ..Yet funny.

Happy snaps

Messiness.

Amazingness.

Viva Spai.. Germany!

*This complex houses over 1000 pupils and is notorious for their wild parties and dominance of the student social life. I'm not one to shy away from parties, but the quieter, cleaner, closer and less crowded nature of Nieder Ramstadter (my student complex, which houses approximately 400 students) works for me. Sharing my dorm with 10 others instead of 4 doesn't sound that appealing to me, nor my liver.

Mitfahrgelegenheit brings all the boys to the yard.

"I want to speak, to sing to total strangers.

It's my way of talking to the world."

A German word clearly excessive in length for "car pool". Mitfahrgelegenheit (okay, lets go MFG for short) is a network where you go online to see if anyone is driving in the same direction you're going, and then request to ride with for a (usually) small fee. Vice versa, if you're the driver, you post to the site and find willing passengers and make some dinero to cover petrol and whatever else. Anyway its a great scheme, popular amongst cash-strapped students, and it's a win-win situation for the most part.

The strange but yummy advertisement for MFG

MFG was to be my means of transport to Karlsruhe which is about an hour from Darmstadt. That is, an hour on the German highways and probably 2 on Australian roads - yes the 200km/h freeways do exist! I headed to the hauptbahnhof which is the "main train station" at 9:38am, 22 minutes early from my 10am pickup*. I say, what's a better way to kill time than to have a good perv?

Nothing overly delicious. Just as I was about to give up, I spotted a McSteamy in the not too far distance. McSteamy was holding an assemblage of flowers (those really eclectic looking ones). The first thing that came into my head was "man, why can't I find a boyfriend who buys me expensive flowers, and he himself be as pleasing as them flowers he holds?" Anyway my attention diverted quickly away from McS.. boys with girlfriends aren't as exciting for the imagination; oh but hurrah, my lift is here!

As I started approaching the car another girl was also nearing the vehicle. I guess they had more than one passenger. Wait, now make that three - yep be it who else but McS himself. They all had a brief conversation in German about where everyone was going (or at least I assumed) as the bags were being loaded into the boot. I just heedlessly nodded when I heard the driver say Karlsruhe.

So is it strange sitting in a car with 4 randoms? ..pretty much. For the first 25 or so minutes the girl was making small talk in German with the driver and his wife, whilst McS anti-socially had his earphones in. The warmth from his leg on mine was unexpectedly arousing though *insert girly giggle*.

A few kilometres further along, McS takes out his earphones, faces me and asks me, "So where are you from?" How random, yet so normal. I've gotten use to being asked random questions here in Germany, it happens on the regular. McS's name is Carlos; he's an exchange student from Columbia and has already been here for 2 years out of his 3 year program. The boy was gorgeous, and I mean that in terms of his personality as well. Extremely charismatic and witty - the exact type that I always and should never go for. The best part was when he told me that he was heading to Karlsruhe to visit his previous host family and the flowers were just a little something as a gift. I knew I was right, good-looking boys and beautiful flowers don't go together!

Peter Parker AND flowers - "it only happens in movies"

Once we arrived at Karlsruhe, we exchanged numbers and he told me to let him know when I was free so that he could show me around Mainz (his city just 20 mins from Darmstadt) and meet his friends - so lovely.

And I'm thinking I might just take him up on that offer..

*You need to be VERY particular with time here, never arrive late - you'll be the only one who does. Rach, I bet you'll like this one - are you sure you're not some closet-German?

Return of the Roomies

The past few days have been the best days of my life in all its simplicity. All week, I had been sitting at the door like a puppy dog, longingly staring out the window waiting for my owners to come home.

I know how you feel, man.

In the midst of my depression* and cries for help, Gamze had organised a bowling night (followed by a trip to the Aussie bar!) on Monday so that Johnny and I could meet another American and another Australian (Josh and Steph) who have been living here for several months now. Steph, who comes from Sydney, is very adorable, and we've been getting along great which I'm so happy about. She's introduced me to a few of her friends as well and the girls act just like my girls at home.. it's complacency like I've never known it.

Gamze and Germany's ridiculously huge cocktails!

Steph and Josh with Monday's half-priced cocktails

The string of good events for me had officially started off with Jakob returning from Spain on Tuesday. I was cleaning my room and when I heard a key turn in the door, I literally ran out to the kitchen and screamed in his face like a madwoman. It went a little something like this:

C: JAAAAAKKKOOOOBBBBB!!!!!!

J: Hallo!

C: I'm so glad you're back, you have no idea! I've been so bored without you guys! The house was so empty. Man, it's so good to see you.

J: Well, I'm not glad to be back. I have work tomorrow.

So that was about the extent of his happiness in comparison to mine. Then for the rest of the night I lingered around him like a bad smell, asking him about his holiday all the while having a massive cheesy grin and stars sparkling in my eyes.. it was like meeting the Backstreet Boys or something equally as incredible.

Wednesday then brought about the return of the showers, and having my first high-pressured shower of hot water was my very own kind of heroin - be gone, red bucket! Once Jakob had retired to bed, I joined a multi-cultural group of students (Australia, America, Brazil, France, Italy, Turkey and Finland attended) to venture out to a Cuban bar for our Ella's birthday and take advantage of happy hour and cheap cocktails - what a great night! Ella has a motorised wheelchair and well, how could we not take advantage of that as well? Fun times were definitely had.

Happy Hour had surely turned into happy hours

Thursday arvo after class I returned to my dorm to find that I had forgotten my keys inside. So I messaged Jakob to see when he'd be coming home - "7pm". Devastating. Determined not to sit outside in the freezing snow waiting for him to come home, I texted Marc (the French) to see what he was doing and luckily he was "doing homework but its not very exciting", which I kind of just took as an acceptance to my visitation. I like Marc, he's one of the very few other foreigners who I think I'd be friends with in any circumstance. He had packets and packets of sour gummy lollies which we annihilated in a matter of minutes, and streetviewed Paris; he was my very own personal tour guide. After that, we lounged on his bed and watched Johnny Depp's romantic motion picture "Chocolat" which I absolutely loved. Cest la vie, oui?

That one's Marc.

Friday also delivered its goods. Clara returned from her vacation and again, I ran to the door but resisted bowling her over in all the flurry. It also meant I had to bid adieu to her plant which was kind of sad. The plant had pretty much been my only friend while my roomies were off having fun, frolicking in the sunnier parts of Europe. Pretty depressing, right? But I'd gladly swap vegetation for Clara anyday.

On a completely random note, check out my snow art from a week ago and then it today!

and now

I'll be meeting up with Steph for a glass of wine tonight with some of the other girls before heading out to "The Italian Party" which sounds messy. Then tomorrow morning I'll be missioning it out to Karlsruhe for the weekend to see Johannes before he leaves to China!

It's nice to be able to say that, things are finally going great.

* I over-exaggerate, I wasn't feeling that bad really. I have a feeling Germany will be fantastic.

España, aquí vengo!

"In Spain, the dead are more alive than the dead of any other country in the world."

It didn't take me very long until I would be jetting off again, did it? You guessed it, I'm off to Spain my faithful blog-readers! This is exciting on so many levels, you have no idea. As many of you would know, I've been itching to go to Spain (Germany was actually second choice for my Masters Degree) - for the love of Sangria, art, history, culture, flamenco, beaches, fiestas, bull fighting and tomato throwing. And well yeah, who am I trying to kid - for the love of Spanish men! "Hàblame en español, baaaby!"

Enrique can never escape my love...

I'll be jetting off in 2 weeks time during my week off before the craziness of Uni begins, joined by my high-school chum and fellow Japan trailblazer, Jessalyn. She's currently studying in Maastricht, Netherlands, so it worked out nicely for us both, namely with the budget airlines that route Europe. Total for airfares from Frankfurt - Madrid - Barcelona - Frankfurt ..? A measly 70 Euros! Amazeballs.

On Germany related news, I was having a hard time settling into the new surrounds this past week. QUT had actually berated me on this, saying that I was going to dip to a low insofar as loneliness and being nigel-no-friends, before peaking and possibly never wanting to leave. And it was demonstrated to us with a parabola diagram and everything, I kid you not. I guess I brushed that off a little too lightly because it's true, and it happens, and it's not nice.

I miss living in a full household and having friends there who I can irritate 24/7 and know that at the end of the day we still love each other long time. On top of that, I was dealing with a weird case of 'break-up' and leaving him was startlingly more difficult than I had thought since I had spent so much time with him over the past several months. But worry not amigos, I'm starting to find my feet as time passes by. Slowly and tediously, I'm finding some diamonds in the rough and it's making Darmstadt feel a lot more like home sweet home.

I promise next time I'll actually let you guys all know what I've been up to because there's so much I want to catch you all up on. For now, I'm tired, I haven't done my homework and my plants need watering.

Shower Your Mercy on Me

Jetlag still hasn't left me yet. I've got a curfew of a 6 yr. old school kid on a school night, and I'm waking up early enough to watch the Americans march during an olympic opening ceremony before watching the sun rise. It's frustrating feeling like a zombie at uni, and being dead to not only the day, but also the night.

However I always knew there was a greater purpose for everything bad that happens to me.

For the past two days, I've had men in clickity-clack boots marching through my dorm, hammering, tugging and cracking tiles in an attempt to restore cold water in my bathroom.. at 6:30am in the morning. Ludicrous! Thank god for Mr Jetlag being my personal alarm, which I can only assume would be much MUCH more pleasant then being woken up by "ish tsha gehnasha shti booshta rashca" and BAM BAM BAM. Oh and did I mention one of the plumbers has the Simpsons theme song as his mobile ring tone?

Here are some awesome before and after photos for your viewing:

to

Okay so I lied, the before photo is of the other bathroom but its basically the same. I just never realised I would've needed to take photos of my shower..

Due to this construction site (favourably occurring on the other side of the wall where my bed lies..), we've had no water coming to either of the bathrooms, except for our kitchen sink and one toilet. As such, I have been surviving like a poverty-stricken cherub. Bathing with a bucket and sponge, freezing my ass off as the water droplets freeze and dry up on my skin the moment of contact. Oh, and the hot water freezes over in a matter of minutes so total showering time? ... 1.3 minutes. FML.