First off, I want to apologize for my lack of frequent updates on this blog. I could update it more, but sometimes I just don't feel like it after getting back from the field. Nonetheless though, here is another update about my most recent trip to the beautiful city of Heidelberg last weekend.
So last weekend (starting on Tuesday the 19th), I made my way to Heidelberg to attend a mandatory meeting for my internship. I did save a lot on this trip, which was good. Round trip, it only cost me 100 Euros. To think, however, that I would get away nicely with paying that price, think again. Although it was a cheap ticket round trip, the bus trip and long waits in Hannover would make you second guess the ticket. On Tuesday, I left the Berlin Hauptbahnof at 5:30pm to head towards Hannover. This was the easy part of the trip. It was nice, comfortable, and traveling through the German countryside made for beautiful views and pictures. Around 8:30pm, I arrived in the Hannover Hauptbahnof. This is where the journey wasn't so fun. I had to carry my luggage all around the bahnof for almost 4 hours and watch it like a hawk, when I had to get food. It was quite a boring 4 hours. I know in lots of places around America, you can find free wifi at most public transportation facilities, but in Germany, there is no such thing as free wifi. You either have to pay for it, or you have to be a customer at the restaurant and ask for the password. For those 4 hours I spent most of it just sitting in the McDonalds Cafe watching German TV that I couldn't understand. Besides that, I did enjoy some delicious Chinese food! Around an hour before departing Hannover, I preceded to the Hannover ZOB (bus station), to wait for the bus. I was only able to get one picture, but the Hannover ZOB was rough! The place looks like it hasn't been touched in years. I definitely had my head on a swivel there. The bus arrived shortly after 12:30am and I boarded the bus, and gave the driver my ticket. The bus was packed, there wasn't much leg room, and the bus driver forgot to turn on the AC. Also, the passenger sitting next to me didn't believe in using just one seat, as he would often be well into my seat when he leaned on the window to sleep. Thankfully though, I didn't have to sit near him for very long because 2 or 3 stops down the line, a whole bunch of people got off the bus. This opened up some seats, which I took advantage of. There weren't too many bad things about the bus, it was just the beginning of the trip that put a sour note on the whole journey. Sleeping on the bus was non-existent. I think I slept combine 2 hours on the bus. It was just so difficult to get comfortable.
To my joy, I arrived in Heidelberg almost 30 mins late to meet my good friend Victoria. After grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonalds, she drove me to her house so I could catch up on some sleep before starting the day. I was going to go out into the town with her mom, and sister, but that didn't happen because when she knocked on my door, I didn't hear a thing and was sound asleep! I woke up around noon and preceded to get ready to hang out with Victoria. First thing on our list was to go to a cafe. We went to a cafe where they sold big everything! I got an enormous cup of coffee and a large piece of cake (which I didn't finish). After that Tori showed me around the base at Heidelberg. It was a refreshing sight to see so many American things/people after being in the heart of Germany for 7 weeks. I also checked out the bowling alley on the base. It was one of the nicest bowling alley's I've seen. I wish I would have brought my bowling ball, otherwise I would have bowled a few games there! Later that day, Tori, her sister, and myself met her Mom and we went out to grab some dinner in Heidelberg. It was my first time in the city and it was awesome! Heidelberg is a very old city, but also beautiful! There were so many buildings on the hills, and everything has a great feel to it. I'll let the pictures tell the story, when I upload pictures on Wednesday or Thursday. We went to a restaurant that had all sorts of food. I decided to try these chicken strips that were backed with corn flakes! They were amazing. I've decided that I am making those when I get back to the States in 3 weeks! After dinner, we went to a Irish Pub. There, I had my first dark beer, a Guinness, and it was good. It had an interesting after taste, it tasted a little like coffee.
The next morning, I got all my stuff packed and ready for the start of the meeting. Around 1:30pm, Tori got off work and drove me to where my meeting was taking place. We parted ways, and I preceded to check in at the youth hostel. The meeting was an all expenses paid trip to Heidelberg that included a tour at the end of meeting. Around 4 we all boarded a bus to travel to the University of Heidelberg for a 2 hour discussion about DAAD, and our award RISE. We also enjoyed the talk of a keynote speaker. After the lecture presentation, we were served a delicious dinner buffet at a local restaurant, along with good beer! At the conclusion of dinner, we boarded buses back to the hostel where we were given the night to do with it as we would like. I decided, since it was late and I had to be up early the next day, to go to bed.
Friday morning started bright and early at 7am with breakfast. Everyone at the RISE meeting was given companies to tour with while we were here. I was scheduled to go to Frankfurt to see a waste processing plant that burns garbage for energy. It was a fascinating experience and cool to see all the work that the city of Frankfurt has put into recycling energy. After viewing the waste processing plant, we went to hear a lecture on efforts to build a zero energy suburb of Frankfurt called Riedberg. It focuses on constructing buildings that minimize their carbon footprint. An interesting thing about Riedberg is that they not only construct apartments and houses that minimalize the carbon footprint, they also design public buildings such as hospitals and gymnasiums to reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible. All of this sounds fascinating, but they didn't discuss prices. Oh well. After this, we went to view a natural science museum in the heart of Frankfurt. Our tour guide was amazing! He knew so much about his discussion topics, and all the talks he gave were very interesting and thought provoking. Finally, after the museum, we went to the greenest skyscraper in Frankfurt, the CommerzBank (spelling?) tower. The building was focused on providing it's workers a very relaxing environment. They accomplished this through 3 large gardens placed inside the center-frame. This also serves to provide the offices light from not just one angle, but two. The building's primary heating and cooling services are computer controlled, allowing for maximum efficiency. Remember the garbage burning plant earlier? Well that plant provides a good amount of the power that this building uses for heating and cooling. The tour of this amazing building concluded with a trip to the uppermost floor (the roof), of the tower. It provided an unmatched view of the city of Frankfurt. You could see everything from up here; the Hauptbahnof, the stadium in which the world cup was played, and the airport. All three of these were many kilometers away. I'll let the pictures do the talking in my "picture-post" on Wednesday or Thursday. After the conclusion of the tour, we headed back to Heidelberg. When I got back to the hostel, I grabbed a quick dinner and then got ready to go our to see Heidelberg at night. On the way to the city, we met a German local who was looking for something to do. She joined along with us, and we asked her if she knew of any good bars we could swing by. She showed us to a Irish Pub (different one then I went to on Wednesday night). We all sat down and had some very good cider, and laughs. Besides that, I didn't really do much in Heidelberg, unlike a good amount of other RISEers. I heard that lots of RISEers were out very late and had a lot to drink. That wasn't for me, but nonetheless, I returned back to the hostel around 1:30am to grab some needed sleep (our day started early again the next day).
The last day of the meeting started with a short lecture about future opportunities with DAAD down the line. I'm thinking about possibly pursuing one in the future (perhaps my masters), but it would be a lot to give up here in the States. It will require much prayer and thought before I make a decision! After the lecture, students gave presentations of their current research. I went to the Physics presentations, because I thought it would match closely to my major, that wasn't the case. Lots of the presentations were on very complex physics that I did not understand at all! Maybe I should have chosen Chemistry, or the Biology presentations instead. Alas, after lunch, we headed towards the center of Heidelberg to meet our tour guide of Heidelberg. Touring through Heidelberg was incredible! It was Saturday and the city was packed with everything from tourists, merchants, and others alike. We even saw a few weddings when we passed by the churches. Again, the pictures do a much better job of describing the tour than myself. With this tour, the meeting was finished, and my awesome 5 day trip to Heidelberg was concluded.
Sorry if there are errors, it's getting late and I'm going to the field again early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, I am going to Dedelow, remember the Maize a few weeks ago? Well now, it's almost 6 feet taller. I'll discuss this in a blog post on Friday. Hopefully I don't forget!
I miss all of you!!!! See you all soon.
-Wright
