The End of the Blogging Craze
Judging by the activity with respect to both posting and comments on my blog and my sister blogs (Dan, Emily, Frank, and Greg), I think it is safe to say that the Euro-Blogging Craze of Summer 2007 is officially dead. In no way do I blame my colleagues, as it is every bit as much my fault as it is theirs. I remember the first half of the summer when throughout the course of my week, I would consistently think to myself, "This will make great blogging material!" I would eagerly await Sunday nights when I got to compose a nice, witty essay, enthusiastically detailing my experiences, bitching about America, and droning on about my worthless thoughts. The enthusiasm just isn't there any more. I believe part of it is that I spend too much time with my friends, allowing my time and thoughts to be consumed by a social life that, similar to the social life of any person my age, just isn't that interesting to those outside of the group. But alas, I will continue posting weekly, even though there are only two people who are going to read it. So this is for you, Mom and Dad!
I'll Bet That They Looked Good at the Alter Schlachthof
Most of you probably do not understand the parodies that make up both the title of this post and bold heading of this section. In that case, you will probably not be able to share my excitement. Last Tuesday night was, in some ways, the best night of my summer. It had nothing to do with German culture, my wonderful new friends, or the kick ass city of Dresden. What then, you ask? I got to see the British Indie Rock sensation Arctic Monkeys right here in Dresden! For those of you out of touch with my taste in music, the Arctic Monkeys are one of my favorite bands, right up there with Muse; ¡Forward, Russia!; and Radiohead. The show was absolutely fantastic. The Arctic Monkeys do not have much of a stage presence, but both the music and the crowd were amazing. I ended up in nearly every part of the Alter Schlachthof (old slaughterhouse), which was a seatless venue roughly the size of your average elementary school gym. At some points I was within ten feet of the stage, with a crowd so dense that I could just about pick me feet up and be transported around the floor. Mosh pits were common everywhere throughout the house, even as far as half way back from the stage. Once again, a great crowd, and a great show. I can now check off another item on the list of bands that I absolutely have to see live.
Heidelberg Conference
Many of you may or may not be aware of the fact that the people who are funding my stay here, the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) arranged a very nice weekend retread for all of us in the program. The conference took place in the ultra-touristy and university-ish city of Heidelberg.
The City of Heidelberg
I will begin this section with my impressions of the city. In addition to having the oldest university in Germany, Heidelberg is famous for its historic, unbombed Altstadt ("old town," i.e. historic district) and some castle on a hill. Let's get the cynicism out of the way first. The Altstadt was aesthetically appealing, with narrow, car-free streets adorned with beautiful architecture. But, like I said, Heidelberg is a very touristy city. The "different time, different place" feel created by the historical nature of the area, combined with incessant digital cameras, made the Altstadt feel like Disney World to me. As far as the castle is concerned, we have parks in Dresden, too. Only ours are better, because there are no tourists. But wait! I liked Heidelberg! Early on Sunday afternoon, I had decided that I had been around people too much, and I owed it to myself as a self-proclaimed introvert to strap on some headphones and walk around the city on my own terms. I found an area called Neueheim that suited me quite well. The streets were relatively narrow and the architecture was beautiful, but I still got the feel of a city that was relevant to the present day in ways other than tourism. In many ways the aesthetic aspects of this part of Heidelberg reminded me of Dresden Neustadt, one of my favorite places on Earth. Note that I specifically said "aesthetic aspects." Socially, this place could not be any different than Dresden Neustadt. The streets were absolutely deserted at sun fall. I asked a Canadian living in Heidelberg about alternative culture, and he said that it can be found, but there is nothing comparable to Dresden Neustadt. This is the case for most cities, though. Dresden Neustadt is a very special place, and this makes me that much happier.
The Conference
Oh, to be in high school again! Check in was from 12:30 - 13:30. Coffee and cake was then served until 14:30. At 15:00, we congregated in the lobby to walk to a lecture hall. From 16:00 - 18:30, we sat in a lecture hall and learned why Germany needs us, and why we need Germany. Dinner was served at 19:00 for last names A-M, and 20:00 for N-Z. And so on. Here I am most certainly not being cynical. I love this kind of structure! And yes, we were still treated like grown ups: No curfew! This type of event, with this exact amount of structure, is my perfect environment for meeting new people. There was an unspoken agreement amongst us Dresdners that we would do our best to meet other people instead of hanging out with each other, to the point that I found it awkward to be more or less intentionally ignoring people whom I consider to be relatively good friends. Either way, we were all very successful in "branching out." I met many people whom I enjoyed spending time with, but will never see again as long as I live. Of course, this just reminded me how devastated I am going to be in about a month's time from now.
Field Trip
Let's begin this italics sub-heading with a multiple-choice quiz question.
Jeff is spending the summer in Germany. During the course of said summer, Jeff is going on a field trip! His stereotypical field trip is to one of the following locations:
A. A sausage Factory
B. A Porsche, Mercedes, or BMW Factory
C. A John Deere Tractor Factory
D. A Brewery
E. None of the above
If you answered 'C,' you were correct! Really. I'm not joking. On Friday morning, myself and about twenty other RISE participants boarded a charter bus with two chaperons to visit the Heidelberg Printing Press Factory in the morning, and the John Deere Tractor Factory in the afternoon. Once again, I find the field trip environment both fun and nostalgically satisfying. Although I didn't realize this before the Heidelberg Print Press Factory tour, it is ingrained in my personality to be fascinated by a modern-day factory. Given the way I gawk at traffic lights, public transportation conveyances, and interstate highway interchanges, why wouldn't a factory fascinate me? After this first tour, we were given a first-class cafeteria lunch. Do I need to remind anyone how excited I get about cafeteria food (only 13 hours until the Mensa!)? Like I said, the afternoon was a tour of a John Deere factory. At this point I was all toured-out, and just wanted to sit down and relax, somewhere outside of the oppressively hot factory. And no, I was not given a free John Deere hat, crushing my dreams of actually fitting in at Virginia Tech once and for all.
Happy Fourth of July!
So like I said, the conference was a great time, meeting new people, experiencing a new city, and having some nostalgic moments from my field trip days. For the most part I do not feel inclined to go into details about night-time social activities (drinking, dancing... you know us young people well enough to paint your own picture) perhaps with the exception of Saturday, my last night in Heidelberg. About four times a year, the City of Heidelberg lights up the castle in red and shoots off fireworks. I went up to the top of a hill with a group of people I met from RISE, and ended up being joined by a Canadian, a New Zealander, and some Germans. We had a stereotypical European picnic with bread, cheese, and wine. After the fireworks, we went out dancing, as usual. All in all, it was a great Fourth of July celebration, despite the fact that the Germans messed up the date. Silly Germans.
Navin and I got back to Dresden in time on Sunday for an outdoor concert on the Elbe. Fireworks and lit-up castles can be as pretty as could be, but without an emotional attachment to the city, it's just aesthetic beauty and nothing more. Sitting on the Elbe in the midst of a festive atmosphere with live music and a picturesque view of Innere Altstadt, I remembered once more that life is good.
Where are the Pictures?
I think it is about time I come clean and admit the fact that I am simply not a camera person. To put it bluntly, those rechargeable batteries are much more useful to me nestled safely in my portable CD player, where they belong. I have forced you to read an essay which takes place in a beautiful city where I met a crap-ton of people and had a great time. But alas, there are no street scenes for you to see, and no pictures of happy-looking drunk people. I swear I'm not trying to make a point here. I'm too lazy to take pictures, and for that I apologize.
Thanks for reading, Mom and Dad!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Ice Cream with Tom
Welcome and Introduction
Good afternoon, faithful readers. This is the first entry after spending about a week and a half with some combination of Frank, Greg, and my Big Brother Alex. Much has happened over this time period, including an extended weekend in Prague, thus I doubt my ability to remember all of the exciting details. I will do my best to convey to you, my faithful readers, a general idea of what has happened.
Weekdays in Dresden
The Arrival of Frank and Greg
Frank and Greg arrived on a Saturday Evening, and my Big Brother the day after on Sunday. To be honest we really haven't done anything too exciting here, although there has been more alcohol involved than usual. Saturday afternoon began with Jess and I drinking on the rock garden. We starved ourselves waiting for our friends to arrive at the hauptbahnhof, only to be disappointed when they did not emerge from the train they were supposed to have. Considering they had to take a total of about four connections and were basically drunk the whole time, this isn't too surprising. Jess and I walked home dejectedly, sat on the rock garden, and half an hour later saw Frank and Greg stumbling their way up Hochschulestrasse. Once Frank and Greg got their possessions safely situated in my dorm room, we began the long hike towards the Neustadt. Frank and Greg enjoyed doeners at our beloved Team Ararat, while Jess and I just watched. Jess and I each had two doeners the day before and one the day of, so we decided to be reasonable and resist the temptation.
The Arrival of my Big Brother Alex
Despite the fact that we did not communicate whatsoever regarding the logistics of his visit, we managed to greet my brother coming off of his train on Sunday evening with no problems whatsoever. When dinner time approached he insisted on going out for Chinese, but we agreed to settle on Indian. This prompted another long walk to the Neustadt and incessant complaining on the part of my brother. While passing through Innere Altstadt, we saw an opera that was assembled right in the middle of a public square. This made the walk well worth it, in my opinion. Unfortunately we could not stick around very long to listen, as despite the fact that she had just come back from an action-packed weekend in Saxon Switzerland, Emily had agreed to meet us in the Neustadt and we were already running late. Dinner was fun, and everyone seemed to get along very well.
Elevator Lobbies and Buildings Under Construction
Monday night was the stereotypical night of American college student drunkenness. We did not go "out" or anything normal like that. The night began on the rock garden with liter of wine hour. Unfortunately it started to rain, so we stepped right inside from where the rock garden is, into the second floor elevator lobby of the international guest house. At this point we were fairly drunk, and were in no hurry to leave. Between me, Jess, Frank, Greg, Alex, and a friend Alex had met in the Prague, we had a healthy amount of people just sitting on the floor getting drunk in front of the elevator. Back when I was sober, I had invited Emily to come over with the understanding that we would introduce our visitors to excessively large, fancy, alcoholic ice cream. This unfortunately meant that she had to enter the rowdiest elevator lobby in the world completely sober. A subset of us followed through with the original ice cream plans, while others remained behind. I learned the next day that those who remained behind illegally entered a nearby building which was under construction. Judging from the pictures and enthusiasm of their stories, it sounds like they had a great time.
Wednesday's Dinner Party
The next evening in Dresden was very uneventful, other than the fact that I discovered a new favorite doener shop. I have been back three times. On Wednesday, my brother left for Prague at some point while I was at work. We kicked off the evening with a dinner party between me, Frank, Greg, Emily, and Teri. It was very fun, rowdy, and drunken. We kicked off the meal by saying the Pledge of Allegiance for Teri's benefit. She told us that every Canadian school day begins by pledging the flag of the United States of America, and we wanted her to feel at home. A half hour later, after the Pledge of Allegiance and other loud, drunken antics, my new German room mate (who speaks very little English) emerged from his room. Oops. After fifteen minutes of a dance party in my dorm room, we realized that we should probably go out for real. We chose Club Aquarium, which is quickly becoming my new favorite Place of Convenience. We even joined my Friend of Convenience, Jess, who was unable to attend the dinner party due to a date with a horse.
It should also be noted that my visitors have taken a liking to the Mensa as well. The most fun part is getting the student price for everyone, despite the fact that they are not entitled to it. We approach the cash register in a semicircle, and I just start pointing to everyone's trays. The cashier asks for their student IDs, and we just act incredibly confused. Everyone began handing her random, expired American student IDs, and the cashier just looked at them and shook her head in disappointment. We just kept standing our ground acting confused until the cashier eventually gave up and allowed us to pay the student price anyway. This is what I like to call a "language barrier showdown." Each party has a conflicting goal, and tries to state their case in a language which the other party does not understand. Eventually, everyone just looks awkward and starts laughing, and the more confused looking party gets their way. See also: Language Barrier Pictionary, Language Barrier Charades, and Language Barrier $100,000 pyramid.
Prague: The Greatest City in America
Yeah, Prague was freaking awesome. The fact that my brother had lived there for an extended period of time and knew which clubs and stuff to go to didn't hurt. We went out and had a great time every night (expect for the last night, which was just sort of average), and spent every day just wandering the streets and hanging out in parks. No museums allowed. We had such a great time that I even blew off a second day of work to stay longer. I know, this is very out of character for me.
On our first night, we went out dancing. I suppose the music was some kind of dance music. Either way it was very fun, as we were very drunk. The next night was much better, though, as we saw an awesome indie rock band called The Prostitutes. I am going to put much effort into finding a recording of their music. After the live music, there was a mass exodus from the club, despite the presence of a DJ. There were many moments where my brother and I were the only two on the dance floor (especially when the DJ played Nirvana and the Arctic Monkeys).
The third night was awesome because we met Big Rock at an expat hangout far away from the touristy city center. At first we thought he was a huge bullshitter, as he talked about touring with bands and having a princess for a girlfriend. It turned out that he was a bit more legitimate than we thought, as waves of girls came into the bar and greeted him in a very friendly manner. He even has his own plaque on the bar. That's freaking crazy. The bar itself was amazing, as evidenced by the time that I heard both Choking Victim and Neutral Milk Hotel played over the sound system.
Prague is great because you can more or less live like an American life in the city. There are plenty of bars and clubs that are overrun with both tourists and those living away from home for extended periods of time. We even went to a bagel shop--a real, live, American-style bagel shop (there was a section of the menu titled "From the grill...")
I could really write a lot more regarding the weekend in Prague, but I have to meet my brother back home in twenty minutes. I am writing this from work.
Essay Contest - Win a Personalized Post Card!
You guys are doing good with commenting, but not great. I would like to see it kicked up a notch. Thus, I am offering rewards. For anyone who comments in the form of an essay about why they deserve a postcard from me, I am offering one personalized postcard mailed directly from Dresden to your place of residence. This is not an "everyone wins" kind of thing, but there will hopefully be more than one winner. The more effort you put into this, the more likely you are to receive the prize. Please include your mailing address in your essay. If you do not feel comfortable posting your address in this pseudo-public place, you may email it to me at jcsicsek@vt.edu. Good luck, and thanks for playing!
Good afternoon, faithful readers. This is the first entry after spending about a week and a half with some combination of Frank, Greg, and my Big Brother Alex. Much has happened over this time period, including an extended weekend in Prague, thus I doubt my ability to remember all of the exciting details. I will do my best to convey to you, my faithful readers, a general idea of what has happened.
Weekdays in Dresden
The Arrival of Frank and Greg
Frank and Greg arrived on a Saturday Evening, and my Big Brother the day after on Sunday. To be honest we really haven't done anything too exciting here, although there has been more alcohol involved than usual. Saturday afternoon began with Jess and I drinking on the rock garden. We starved ourselves waiting for our friends to arrive at the hauptbahnhof, only to be disappointed when they did not emerge from the train they were supposed to have. Considering they had to take a total of about four connections and were basically drunk the whole time, this isn't too surprising. Jess and I walked home dejectedly, sat on the rock garden, and half an hour later saw Frank and Greg stumbling their way up Hochschulestrasse. Once Frank and Greg got their possessions safely situated in my dorm room, we began the long hike towards the Neustadt. Frank and Greg enjoyed doeners at our beloved Team Ararat, while Jess and I just watched. Jess and I each had two doeners the day before and one the day of, so we decided to be reasonable and resist the temptation.
The Arrival of my Big Brother Alex
Despite the fact that we did not communicate whatsoever regarding the logistics of his visit, we managed to greet my brother coming off of his train on Sunday evening with no problems whatsoever. When dinner time approached he insisted on going out for Chinese, but we agreed to settle on Indian. This prompted another long walk to the Neustadt and incessant complaining on the part of my brother. While passing through Innere Altstadt, we saw an opera that was assembled right in the middle of a public square. This made the walk well worth it, in my opinion. Unfortunately we could not stick around very long to listen, as despite the fact that she had just come back from an action-packed weekend in Saxon Switzerland, Emily had agreed to meet us in the Neustadt and we were already running late. Dinner was fun, and everyone seemed to get along very well.
Elevator Lobbies and Buildings Under Construction
Monday night was the stereotypical night of American college student drunkenness. We did not go "out" or anything normal like that. The night began on the rock garden with liter of wine hour. Unfortunately it started to rain, so we stepped right inside from where the rock garden is, into the second floor elevator lobby of the international guest house. At this point we were fairly drunk, and were in no hurry to leave. Between me, Jess, Frank, Greg, Alex, and a friend Alex had met in the Prague, we had a healthy amount of people just sitting on the floor getting drunk in front of the elevator. Back when I was sober, I had invited Emily to come over with the understanding that we would introduce our visitors to excessively large, fancy, alcoholic ice cream. This unfortunately meant that she had to enter the rowdiest elevator lobby in the world completely sober. A subset of us followed through with the original ice cream plans, while others remained behind. I learned the next day that those who remained behind illegally entered a nearby building which was under construction. Judging from the pictures and enthusiasm of their stories, it sounds like they had a great time.
Wednesday's Dinner Party
The next evening in Dresden was very uneventful, other than the fact that I discovered a new favorite doener shop. I have been back three times. On Wednesday, my brother left for Prague at some point while I was at work. We kicked off the evening with a dinner party between me, Frank, Greg, Emily, and Teri. It was very fun, rowdy, and drunken. We kicked off the meal by saying the Pledge of Allegiance for Teri's benefit. She told us that every Canadian school day begins by pledging the flag of the United States of America, and we wanted her to feel at home. A half hour later, after the Pledge of Allegiance and other loud, drunken antics, my new German room mate (who speaks very little English) emerged from his room. Oops. After fifteen minutes of a dance party in my dorm room, we realized that we should probably go out for real. We chose Club Aquarium, which is quickly becoming my new favorite Place of Convenience. We even joined my Friend of Convenience, Jess, who was unable to attend the dinner party due to a date with a horse.
It should also be noted that my visitors have taken a liking to the Mensa as well. The most fun part is getting the student price for everyone, despite the fact that they are not entitled to it. We approach the cash register in a semicircle, and I just start pointing to everyone's trays. The cashier asks for their student IDs, and we just act incredibly confused. Everyone began handing her random, expired American student IDs, and the cashier just looked at them and shook her head in disappointment. We just kept standing our ground acting confused until the cashier eventually gave up and allowed us to pay the student price anyway. This is what I like to call a "language barrier showdown." Each party has a conflicting goal, and tries to state their case in a language which the other party does not understand. Eventually, everyone just looks awkward and starts laughing, and the more confused looking party gets their way. See also: Language Barrier Pictionary, Language Barrier Charades, and Language Barrier $100,000 pyramid.
Prague: The Greatest City in America
Yeah, Prague was freaking awesome. The fact that my brother had lived there for an extended period of time and knew which clubs and stuff to go to didn't hurt. We went out and had a great time every night (expect for the last night, which was just sort of average), and spent every day just wandering the streets and hanging out in parks. No museums allowed. We had such a great time that I even blew off a second day of work to stay longer. I know, this is very out of character for me.
On our first night, we went out dancing. I suppose the music was some kind of dance music. Either way it was very fun, as we were very drunk. The next night was much better, though, as we saw an awesome indie rock band called The Prostitutes. I am going to put much effort into finding a recording of their music. After the live music, there was a mass exodus from the club, despite the presence of a DJ. There were many moments where my brother and I were the only two on the dance floor (especially when the DJ played Nirvana and the Arctic Monkeys).
The third night was awesome because we met Big Rock at an expat hangout far away from the touristy city center. At first we thought he was a huge bullshitter, as he talked about touring with bands and having a princess for a girlfriend. It turned out that he was a bit more legitimate than we thought, as waves of girls came into the bar and greeted him in a very friendly manner. He even has his own plaque on the bar. That's freaking crazy. The bar itself was amazing, as evidenced by the time that I heard both Choking Victim and Neutral Milk Hotel played over the sound system.
Prague is great because you can more or less live like an American life in the city. There are plenty of bars and clubs that are overrun with both tourists and those living away from home for extended periods of time. We even went to a bagel shop--a real, live, American-style bagel shop (there was a section of the menu titled "From the grill...")
I could really write a lot more regarding the weekend in Prague, but I have to meet my brother back home in twenty minutes. I am writing this from work.
Essay Contest - Win a Personalized Post Card!
You guys are doing good with commenting, but not great. I would like to see it kicked up a notch. Thus, I am offering rewards. For anyone who comments in the form of an essay about why they deserve a postcard from me, I am offering one personalized postcard mailed directly from Dresden to your place of residence. This is not an "everyone wins" kind of thing, but there will hopefully be more than one winner. The more effort you put into this, the more likely you are to receive the prize. Please include your mailing address in your essay. If you do not feel comfortable posting your address in this pseudo-public place, you may email it to me at jcsicsek@vt.edu. Good luck, and thanks for playing!
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