Intriguing People

Today on the train back from research, we heard a guy say, “Sorry” to someone he bumped into and we automatically thought American.  Krista asked the guy if he was from America or Britain.  The man said that he lived in America but was born in Iran and after living in California he moved to Germany and is now working in geophysics as a seismologist and he married a Russian woman.  His 18^th month old is now learning Farzi, Russian, German, and English.  We played with his son and talked to him for the rest of the train ride to Karlsruhe and as we were about to get off another man approached us and told us that he was from Michigan and he composes the music that plays in the short videos in museums.  I didn’t even know there were such people who did that.  He also plays the saxophone and loves Germany more than America because it has a lot operas and promotion of the arts.  He is now a professor in Karlsruhe, too.  It was so cool to talk to other Americans and they were so friendly, which is a definite plus.  I feel like the Germans would be nice too if only I could speak German. All in all today was pretty good and we got to meet some awesome people.

Adios,

~Kiersten

monday and tuesday (27 and 28)

Yesterday was busy so I didn't have time to post anything.  After research we went looking around Mannheim and ended up in a bookstore-- surprise, surprise.  Across from the bookstore were these two guys who were street performers called the Streetles (written like the Beatles).  We spent a lot of the time trying to find a Go Kart place where we were meeting Melanie's family to race go-karts.  We got lost of course- it seems to have become our specialty.  We ended up finding a whole bunch of blackberries and had fun picking them and eating them while we waited for Melanie's father to find us.  As we were about to leave, a guy our age talked to Krista in German and it turns out that he was from Turkey.  We left and went racing go-karts.  I think because it runs in the family (*cough* Dad *cough*) I wasn't half bad if I do say so myself :P By the time we caught a train back to Pforzheim, it was 11:30 and so I had to head to bed.

Today, wasn't terribly exciting...I had to pipet solution into 4,800 tiny tubes all day which was tedious work.  We ended up leaving early and Krista had to stay behind because she wasn't going to get out until after 6.

Bye for now,
~Kiersten

Sunday

Today, I got to go see a horse competition at the stables near the Braun's house.  It was actually warm today (80F) so that was nice and it cool to see the jumping competition.  We toured a monastery today, which turned out to be a lot more fun than it sounds.  I'm reading The Pillars of the Earth and it is a fictional story with action and adventure but also focuses on monasteries and how they are built, so it was interesting to apply the knowledge from this book to an actual monastery.  There was also a Renaissance fair in the square of the monastery and so I got to see sword fighting, Medieval skits, and tug-of-war with four teams and a wheel.  There were a ton of people dressed up and it was interesting to see the different costumes.  I watched the women's soccer game on TV, Germany vs Canada, and Germany won 2-1.  Mexico played earlier today against France in a scrimmage and lost awfully, so it was not a good day for North America, but hopefully Saturday will be better. I had maultaussen for lunch today and flammkuchen (a flat pizza) for dinner.  I'm exhausted so I'm off to sleep.
Ciao,
~Kiersten

German Public Transportation

So the public transportation was not on our side at all today.  We started out the day planning on meeting at platform 4 to take a train indirectly to Heidelberg.  Amy and I both arrived there before the train was at the station and we were waiting for Krista and Erika.  2 minutes before the train leaves at 10:34, I get a call from Erika saying their bus was 15 minutes late and she still has to buy a ticket.  Amy and I decide that we can afford to miss this train, so we change platforms to wait for Erika and Krista.  This train leaves at 10:43 without us and still no sign of Erika or Krista.  We go up the stairs and find both of them trying to get the machine to work and print out a ticket, so that we can catch the next train at 10:47.  It finally prints out the ticket and we run to the platform just in time to see that the train has already left.  We missed all 3 trains to Heidelberg.  A train running at 11:23 would have gotten us to Heidelberg, but Amy's mentor, Jen (who was planning this whole trip for us--going to the castle, having tea, eating schnitzel, etc), called and told us that was a train that would take us straight to Heidelberg.  We had to wait around until 11:47 to take this IC (high speed) train.  We get on the train, find seats, and relax.  We stop at station after station and Krista starts wondering if this is the right train because the stop wasn't listed on the train schedule.  A man comes on the intercom in the train and in German says a bunch of random things and then I hear Heidelberg 12:20 (in German).  We all assume that it's a stop on the way to Nuremberg (the train's final destination).  We all look anxiously at the time as it becomes 12:30 then 12:40...After talking a lot with Jen and trying to find out why our train wasn't stopping, Erika went and asked one of the train attendants who tells her that the next stop is in Crailsheim, 45 minutes away and that Nuremberg in Bavaria is about an hour away (from Pforzheim Nuremberg is a 3 hour train ride).  After a lot of discussion and worry, we finally decide to just go all the way to Nuremberg, go sightseeing and exploring there and then return home later.

Nuremberg was an amazing city that was built for tourists.  There were fortresses, churches, architecture, museums, festivals, open markets, and anything else that might attract people from everywhere.  We walked around and got chocolate, looked at stores, took pictures of the ornate churches, went onto a tall fortress that overlooked the city (gorgeous view and it even had rooftop gardens), played foosball on an extended foosball table and really had a good time.  There were even people painted in all silver acting like statues reminding me of San Francisco.  We headed back to the train station and left Bavaria at 5:30ish and returned to Pforzheim around 8:30.  From there, Krista and Erika got on their bus leaving me to wait with Amy for Melanie's mom to pick her up and then I was going to catch my bus at 9:38.  I headed to my bus stop after Amy left and I realized that she had my phone, which wasn't a problem because I was going to see her tomorrow.  Soon I realized how bad of an idea that was.

When I got to my bus stop around 9:25 I look at the schedule for the buses and saw that I was mistaken about this bus and that the next and last bus was to come at 11 o'clock.  On closer inspection though I found out that wasn't true.  Apparently at 11, the bus didn't stop at 3 stations and one of those stations happened to be the one I had to get off at.  I had to find, try to translate, and use a pay phone to call Dr. Braun and after a lot of trouble with the phone, but I got a ride back to the house.

After that great adventure, it was about 11 when we got back and we headed to the stables to pick up Annalena.  There was a party going on to celebrate the horse competitions that are held this weekend.  I got my schnitzel and there was a band playing that had to be American because their English was perfect and according to Dr. Braun, their German was terrible.  They played songs from Michael Jackson, Pink, Elvis, and also some German songs.  It was fun hanging out their and I got to meet Annalena's friend who has had 9 years of English in school speaks very well.  She was extremely nice and we hung out until midnight.  Tomorrow, we are going to a Renaissance festival and to explore the monastery, which should be fun.  Today was so much fun and quite an adventure.
Hope there are more to come!
~Kiersten  

Amazing

Today was simply amazing.  Research was fun and I got to do the entire experiment by myself, which showed me that my mentors trust me.  After research, we decided randomly to go explore Mannheim.  We now have tickets that will take us anywhere in Germany, so we might take advantage of that later.  In Mannheim, we took pictures around this building that had statues and carvings of Neptune, nymphs, and sphinxes.  It was a gorgeous building with beautiful fountains on either side.  After we finished taking pictures there, we went shopping.  (I will try to see if Amy will post the pictures on Facebook...she likes to play around with them to make them look better).  I didn't get anything, but there were a lot of cute clothes and they were really cheap.  I'm thinking about maybe entering a European style phase and getting skinny jeans or lose black capris, a red tank top, and either a black or beige fitted jacket or a denim one.  Too bad money doesn't grow on trees (: ...Amy got a really cute denim dress and Krista bought an outrageous shirt just for fun.  We took the train back to Pforzheim and we realized that there was a festival going on.  There are festivals every week in Pforzheim and this week it was a car show.  The cars looked really sleek and were a lot smaller than the ones at home.  I wasn't particularly interested in the cars besides their looks, but there was a concert going on in the center so we hung out there.  I went to the Turkish restaurant and got a meat sandwich with lettuce and chili pepper (I usually wouldn't have asked for this, but the employee insisted).  It was delicious and that is now one of my favorite places for food!  We walked around a lot and found a garden on the top of one of the stores's roof.  We had a great time and it was fun just spontaneously going to a festival that just happened to be in Pforzheim.  Tomorrow's plans are to go to Heidelberg, eat Schpatzel for lunch, visit the ruins of a castle, take lots of pictures, possibly drink tea, and shop.  Sunday, we are taking a tour of a monastery and going to a Renaissance Festival they are holding near the monastery.  According to my mentor, it's one of the most attended festivals and there are jousting competitions, people dressed in costumes, and a lot more.  I'm excited to tell you guys all about it.

Night,

~Kiersten 

France

We headed off to France today...It was a church holiday and the priests and their parishes walked in a parade from parish to parish, which was cool to watch because they carried the host underneath a canopy.  We drove an hour and a half to Strasbourg, France and it was so gorgeous especially with all the decorative architecture.  We walked around a lot and went inside the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Strasbourg.  That was my favorite part because the church was TALL and was so beautifully decorated with detailed sculptures, paintings, etc.  It was crazy how striking the cathedral was and every time I saw it, it took my breath away.  I had a common French cuisine at a restaurant though I forgot what it's called but it was three different types of sausages, three different types of ham, and sauerkraut (which I didn't eat...not a huge fan).  It was good though and we went window shopping, too.  Everything was so expensive, but I did happen to buy a pair of earrings for a Euro, which I thought was a good purchase.  Also, we took a boat tour of the River splitting Strasbourg and we got to see the building where the European parliament worked and we got to experience going through a lock...It was an interesting audio narrated tour, but the rocking of the boat almost put me to sleep.  We got stuck in traffic on the way back and it took us three hours to get back to the house.  I'm exhausted and I'm headed off to bed...
(P.S.- Mom, I'm almost done with the Pillars of the Earth, only 100 pages left and it is SO good! Love you!)
Talk to you later,
~Kiersten

Pick Pocketed!

I just realized that I got pick pocketed today! My iPod Shuffle and headphones were taken! : / They were in the back pocket of my bag and they aren't there any more...luckily nothing else was taken because I didn't put my bag down at all today, but I can't believe someone was able to take that without me noticing!