I'VE NEVER BEEN A GAS STATION DRINKER, BUT ONCE IS OKAY

One Friday, I was going about my usual afternoon routine, doing the ice hockey lifting at the McFit gym, playing some street hockey at the Donau Arena, when I nearly forgot that my refrigerator had no milk in it.  I decided that I would see if the gas station that I passed on the bike ride home sold milk.

Setting the scene, whenever I decide to play hockey at the rink, I must ride my bike with my hockey stick in my left hand, making it completely obvious what I am about to/ have been doing.  Anyways, I pulled into this gas station, found the milk, and decided that for double the price of the grocery store, I could wait until the morning.  

As I went back outside, things began to get interesting.  Next to where my bike was locked, there was an ATM machine, and surrounding the ATM machine was a group of five people drinking beers.  The composition of the group itself fit no stereotype.  There was a woman in her mid-30s wearing a dress as if she just left work, three men in their 50s looking a little more worn and scruffy, and the typical German scientist, with his extremely sharp-looking black-framed glasses, short hair, and that almost nerdy getup.  

Quick note on time: it was about 7pm.

I didn't make much of them, until the woman charged at me saying, "Spielst du Eishockey?" (Do you play ice hockey?).  To which I responded, "Ja..." (Yes...).  Next, either my accent or the fact that Germans just don't ride bikes with hockey sticks in their hands, she asked me where I was from.  I said that I come from New Hampshire, but I study in Massachusetts (sometimes only the latter is familiar with people here).  Her face lit up as she told me what I already know, "You are American!"  Yes, she said it in English.  Then she felt compelled to pull my arm over to her friends and introduce me.  "HALLO, HALLO," she said trying to get their attention.  "Hier ist...," (Here is...) but she didn't know my name.  So she asked me,"Wie heißt du?" (How do you call yourself?).  I responded, "Ich heiße Bill." (I am called Bill (lit)).  And as if they didn't hear, she repeated my name to them.

By the time that I entered the drinkers' circle, everybody was a little beyond 'sloshed.'  I asked her if they had been drinking at the gas station all night, but then corrected myself by saying afternoon (again, it was only 7pm).  They said that they had started at the bar and moved to the gas station as if that were the logical sequence of action.  We talked for a few more minutes, and when I felt thoroughly awkward with the situation, I began to get on my bike and ride away.  CUE THE TORRENTIAL DOWN POURING, THUNDER, AND LIGHTENING!!!  Oh geez, I thought.  The woman told me that I could not leave, "look at the weather."  She insisted that I have a beer with them and began scrummaging through her purse for coins to buy me a beer. 

About twenty minutes later, I rejected the offer for more beer, and set off into the sunset on my roommate's father's sketchy bicycle.  To this group of five Germans, I must have looked like a knight.  Only I rode not a horse, but an inefficient heap of metal, and I carried not a sword, but an Easton Ultralite hockey stick.  It was an interesting Friday.

Phi Sigs Travel: Ulm and Stuttgart

The week after Kristen's wedding, the Phi Sig Deutschland squad was planning something fun for the weekend.  We decided that Lawrence, Gleb, and I would spend Saturday and Sunday in Stuttgart, famous for its automotive industry.  The plan was for Gleb and I to meet up in Munich, and since Lawrence had a big conference for the DAAD RISE program (through which he got his university research position at in Würzburg), he would meet us in Stuttgart.

On Saturday morning, I boarded the early train to the Munich Hauptbahnhof (main train station) but was rerouted when some sort of accident/delay occurred on the tracks ahead.  The scheduling was such that I would arrive in Munich at 7:20 am, find Gleb near the tracks, and we would leave on the 7:40 am train to Ulm then Stuttgart.  The only problem was that I didn't get to Munich until 8:30 am, and I had no means of communication.  I checked some of the waiting areas and tracks (there are 28-30 tracks and the station is HUGE), but there was no sign of Gleb.  I assumed that he had gotten on the 7:40 am train to Ulm, and if I got the next one, maybe I could catch up.  About this time, my stomach took over with a reverberating "FEED ME" command that rumbled my innards, and I decided to buy a bratwurt to dim my hunger.  As I took the first bite, I saw Gleb out of the corner of my eye standing in front of me.  "Ohhh hey," I said, completely baffled that we had just happened upon each other.

We stopped in Ulm about half way on our travel to Stuttgart.  It was the birthplace of Albert Einstein and is the home of the tallest church steeple/spire in the world.  Although, there wasn't too much to do after climbing the 768 steps to the top of the church.  We boarded the next train to Stuttgart.

View from on side of the top of the Ulm Münster

Gleb and I waited in the hotel room just outside the downtown for Lawrence to arrive.  About two hours after we had planned to meet, he showed up with another guy doing the DAAD RISE program who happened to be doing his study in Regensburg (go figure).  It was okay that he was late, because he brought another person which made the hotel slightly cheaper.  However, since the Porsche and Mercedes museums were now closed, we went into the city for some dinner and sight seeing.  There were some nice old buildings and a cool park that had a traveling art exhibit--these life-size bears painted to represent the different countries of the world.

Picture of bears from art exhibit

The next morning we started the day with a trip to the Porsche Museum.  The good part was that it was free, but the bad part was that it only consisted of one room that held about 12 cars of various years and models.  Overall, the facilities of Porsche were not as "shiny" and impressive as I thought they would be, but they still make incredible cars.  Also, we saw the construction of a huge building that will be the new museum opening this fall.

The next stop was the Mercedes Museum, and this place was 'wicked cool'.  If you could imagine a museum describable as 'smooth, trendy, flashy, and recreating of the world from Minority Report' (starring Tom Cruise), this was it.  The building itself was architectural eye candy with it's spiraling walk way from the top floor to bottom, 'pod-like' elevators (see picture below), and sofas shaped like flowing liquids.  It turns out, Mercedes also makes nice cars.  I was very impressed with the history of the company (two men, last names Daimler and Benz) and the origins of the name 'Mercedes' (the daughter of a man in Niece, Italy who sold cars, lost a race in his hometown, had a faster model car built, and had it named after his own child).  It was also interesting to see how the museum portrayed Mercedes-Benz role in WWII when it shifted to war mode and cranked out weaponry.

View of 'Pod-like' elevators from first floor of Mercedes Museum

I had a fun weekend, but Stuttgart as a whole didn't grab me.  It seemed mostly like a good place to spend a lot of money shopping.

Kristen and James Get Married

Entering the summer, I knew that the only way this whole Germany thing could work was if I could manage to get home for my eldest sister's wedding to her high school sweetheart James "the Machine" Duncan.  During last semester when this whole MISTI opportunity was in the planning phase, I went back and forth about whether or not to buy a flight while they seemed "cheap" but ultimately decided to wait for something better.  I had written an essay for my Deutsch Zwei (German Two) class called "Wartime," and when I found out about the MIT Lufthansa Prize, I knew what to do.  Basically, I rewrote a few sentences and changed some grammar, and I had my entry.  Now comes the best part--I was one of two students studying German(all levels) at MIT to win roundtrip airfare from the US to Germany (or Germany to the US) and three nights of hotel stay in Frankfurt.

Having facilitated my return home for Kristen's wedding via the Lufthansa Prize and survived my first month in Germany, I left for Frankfurt on Wednesday, June 25 to use one night of free hotel and catch my flight home to Boston.  I arrived in Boston on Thursday afternoon to the smiling face of my girlfriend, Taylor.  It was really comforting to see her face after being so far away and disconnected (I didn't have phone or internet for the first 3-4 weeks).  

We drove Taylor's car to Saratoga Springs, NY where my sister had done her undergraduate studies at Skidmore and also where she had visited time and again for horse racing and her own competitions.  I was a little jet-lagged, but nonetheless excited to be with the people I love most, and I had an awesome but short stay in the US before boarding my flight Sunday afternoon from Boston back to Germany.  The highlights of the weekend included a seriously over-the-top lobster bake (my Dad's style--I think I ate about 40-50 steamed clams, two lobsters, shrimp, and a lot of other food), torrential rain and thunder IMMEDIATELY following the wedding vows at the race track, and a great reception with delicious food and plenty of Near family dancing.

When I arrived back in Regensburg, I was glad that everything had worked out well.  I didn't plan for a delayed/cancelled flight or any other traveling inconveniences, so it was great that none came my way.

Some pictures:

Finding Hockey in Regensburg

Real quick, I have to say that these posts are not up to date.  I had a period of craziness and never caught up on my postings.  Hopefully by the end of tonight, I will be up to the current time.

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In February, at the thought of receiving an internship with OSRAM, I immediately searched for ice hockey.  It turns out that ice hockey in Germany is a big deal, and most say that it is only second in popularity to the mighty sport of soccer (this will never change--TRUST ME).  Then I found the websites for the arena, the Donau (Danube) Arena, and the team, the Regensburg Eisbaren (Ice Bears) in my potential summer home.

Among many missions when I first arrived at Regensburg, I wanted to find a gym to train at and the ice hockey rink.  It only took about two days before I had made the 7 mile roundtrip run from my apartment to the Donau Arena (next to my current gym, McFit) and met some of the local hockey crowd.  The rink is really phenomenal (big, well-built, massive jumbotron, etc.)  I found out that there are actually five professional hockey leagues in Germany.  The Regensburg Ice Bears have been playing in the second league, but last season they had bankruptcy problems, and must now work their way up from the fifth league (GOON LEAUGE).  Because of this, there is no ice during the summer time until August 18th, and I leave on August 16th.  However, there is a second rink within the same building where the pros and hundreds of locals play recreational inline hockey.  Since my arrival day, I have had the chance to play a few hours of inline hockey with club teams and teenagers.

Lately, I go to the rink because there is a equipment shop where I can check out the newest gear and talk with a nice Czech named Peter.  Peter loves hockey as much as I do, and we spend a lot of time talking about professional players and cool equipment he receive.  One day I was there having my new roller blades heated in the skate oven and molded to my feet, when a guy came in with his young son.  He spoke German with Peter, but then a mix of English and German with his son.  I decided to ask him if he was American, because he looked like a hockey player, and might be someone interesting to meet.  He told me that he, like Peter, is also a natural-born Czech, but he has a house in Florida and played in both the IHL and AHL (Rochester, NY) during his hockey career.  He is living in Regensburg with his son for a couple years so that he can pick up the German language, and then they will return to the US.  I usually see him and his son of Friday afternoons when I go to the rink to practice stickhandling and hang out.

Finding hockey here has been a nice release, even though I don't get to play too much.  It has made me realize that I can take myself to completely different parts of the world, and still find ways to fulfill my greatest interests.  Perhaps I will have something more with German hockey in my later life.

EUROCUP SOCCER IN SALZBURG, AUSTRIA

A few weeks ago, I went online and searched for somewhere to stay in Salzburg, Austria so that I could be in one of the cities where this highly competitive soccer tournament was taking place. Tickets were out of the question, but I wanted to be among some crazy fans who had made the pilgrimage to support their motherlands. I found the cheapest room for 34 Euros per night at this place called Fan Camp Salzburg. It turns out, they took a giant warehouse, put up some temporary walls with open doorways, and threw (12) cots in each room. I was a bit hesitant, but I decided to just go with it in hopes of a good story or two about sleeping next to some crazies.

Friday night, I took the evening train to Salzburg, stopping in Landshof, one other town that I forget, and Freilassing before getting me to my destination. The best way to travel on the trains if you are staying within the Bavaria region of Germany (Salzburg is also included) is to wait by the ticket machine and buy a 'Bayern Ticket' for 27 Euros with up to (4) other people heading in the same direction as you. Then, instead of paying 19-30 Euros for your ticket you pay more like 5 Euros. The ticket is also good until the following morning around 6-7am (I'll get to why this is funny later). So I rode with two students from the University of Regensburg who were heading home for the weekend, both really nice, one an education major, and the other a medicine major to become a doctor. We had a really good conversation about different things from why I get to be in Germany this summer to the best things to do in Berlin and so on.

By the time I finally corrected for the wrong directions a woman gave me in Salzburg, I arrived at the Fan Camp 'Suite' at 11pm and decided to call it a night in hopes of an ambitious Saturday exploration of Mozart's hometown. I set my alarm for 6:50am, but slept through it and finally rose at 7:30am. I'd like to note that my rising was less attributable to any form of an internal alarm clock, and more on account of the couple hundred 40-50 year old men that have the same snoring problem we all know too well (for this I would like to thank the Greek and Russian fathers that started my day).

The first place I came to in the city was the famous shopping street that had all the famous brands, some traditional Austrian clothing companies (so expensive), and even a McDonalds. The funny thing is that every shop on this street must conform to an extremely uptight set of zoning regulations set by the city, and thus, each has a magnificent metal-work sign outside. McDonalds' had this intricate spirally structure with a brass lion and other details. In search of cheap food, I resorted to a McCroissant ham and cheese breakfast sandwich. It hit the spot. Then I found a flea market, and spent an hour talking to an old woman (mostly in German!) about her items for sale, their history, and random facts about the area. She tried to weave some sly sales tactics on me, and had I not met some of my grandmother's antique-frenzied friends, I might have fallen for her trickery. Anyways, I didn't have any cash yet, so I had to go back later to buy the few items that I saw as 'must buys.'

I spent the rest of the day seeing the main attractions such as Mozart's Geburthaus (Mozart's birth house), the Salzburger Dom (church), listening to the Glockenspiel bells, getting lost in year-round Christmas stores, exploring the castle that hovers over the town and offers incredible views, and eating Mozart's balls (literal translation of a famous chocolate candy sold all over the town--I managed to buy an extra supply of Mozart's balls that I will be bringing home for my sisters wedding.) At 8:45pm, I made my way into the fan zone where thousand upon thousands of excited Russians and Greeks converged. It was quite a sight and culminated the multiple fan gatherings I had seen earlier in the day. Russian ended up winning 1-0 with a nice goal early on.

Although Fan Camp was a great experience, the current exchange rate convinced me that 34 Euros a night for a cot, which didn't even have sheets or a pillow (I had to buy a cheap sleeping bag from the front desk) wasn't worth it. I boarded the last train to Munich at 11:30pm, splitting a Bayern ticket with two military troops that were in Salzburg for the night playing poker. We got to the Munich train station around 2:00am, and the next train to Regensburg wasn't until 5:36am. Had I not been so tired, I would have tried to stay awake, but I ended up finding a corner next to some ,sleeping elderly tourists on a bench where I caught up on some shut eye.

Now back to the Bayern ticket. So what happens is that a group of five people take the train into the city to dance, drink, party, etc. and they stay up through the entire night until the first train home which is still included on the same ticket they bought the night before (as long as they get home by 7am). This in itself isn't that funny, but when you get on a train, and you feel like the only person who can say their name without slurring, you realize that you are in for a great ride. I spent the hour and a half ride talking to three 19 year-old girls about being our age in Germany. One girl's mother was an American, born in Tennessee, who studied in Munich, got married to her father, and never left. She was especially excited to talk to an American in German, because I share a similar Americanized-German accent. The ride was the best train ride thus far. There were also drunk men in cowboys hats running through the train from the lady who demanded to see their ticket and a verbal fight between a goth and a man that looked like Adam McCaughan (for the Phi Sigs reading this).

It was a great weekend and I slept all day Sunday recovering from this fun.