Amsterdam: the bicycles

Ok, words do not even begin to explain how many bicycles there are in Amsterdam. 

Seriously. Our tour guide told us there were 850,000 bikes in Amsterdam for 750,000 residents (however wikipedia disagrees with this figure). But even if it's incorrect, it's still entirely believable. There are so many people riding bikes all over this city. Even through all the tourists. 

Trust me, to get through the hoards of out-of-towners, you have to be a very aggressive rider. And aggressive they are. The clinging of bike bells is sort of a constant background noise in Amsterdam. But if you hear it coming from behind you, you basically need to spring dive out of the way or you will get run over. In fact, by the end of our 3 day trip, we could barely walk down the street without anxiously looking over our shoulder every 30 seconds, just in case! 

Amsterdam also has a really unique selection of bikes. We saw so many different bikes, and I'm not even sure we scratched the surface of all the strange kinds of bikes out there! 


We saw blue bikes

and green bikes

and yellow bikes on a bridge (a personal goal for Katharina).

We saw bikes with built in baby carriages in front,

and (my favorite) even a bike growing a garden! 

So many bikes everywhere! Which begs the question: if everyone is riding their bike and running you over, how are there still so many bike locked up everywhere?!

SO MANY BIKES!!

The final countdown: 8 days till Georgia

Ok, actually it's 9 days till I get Georgia, but since I have a 20 hour layover in Amsterdam, it's 8 days till I leave. But I digress...
 
Things I've learned during my Fulbright year:
#10 - a lot about the English language
#9 - there is such a thing as too much free time
#8 - riding your bike in the snow can be dangerous

No, this isn't supposed to be a Euphemism for something more profound. I really did learn, plain and simple, that riding a bike in the snow is not as easy as it may seem. 

We were warned by our teachers that when it started to snow, we should probably leave our bikes at home.  If you are a religious das Blog reader (hi, dad), you might remember the account of my first (but sadly not final) attempt of riding a bike in the snow. It ended with me covered in dirty road-slush, abandoning my bike somewhere along the way to school. 

Unfortunately, I tend to be pretty persistent. So even though that first ride didn't go well, a few weeks later, after I had gotten my snow-legs, I thought maybe I'd be a little more adept at taking on the snow. Right, so if you're from a place where 1. people don't generally ride bikes as a mode of transportation and 2. it doesn't actually snow (or when it does the whole city shuts down so you don't have anywhere to go anyway), it is safe to say you should not combine the two. Ever. For the more practiced bike-riders/snowfarers, sure, this might be doable (there were definitely plenty of committed bikers taking on the snow all winter here), but for someone like me, who only ever really rides a bike on nice paved paths and plays in the snow like a small child, it just shouldn't be done. 

Although I never actually got hurt, or even got in a real accident, I had enough close calls in my few snow-biking experiences to maintain a proper respect (read: fear) for the possibility of sliding into an untimely and icy death for the rest of the winter season. 

But because I love snow (it's the simple things in life), getting to walk a few miles in a winter wonderland everyday for a couple months didn't bother me too much! 

after not leaving my apartment for 3 days...

Right, so I hate to admit this, but it's true. For three consecutive days - Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday - I did not leave my apartment once. To be fair, I had a couple reasons for being so reclusive and boring. One, I'm poor. Well, I'm not poor, per se, but I will be poor soon and I'm trying to avoid the inevitable as long as possible. And if there is one thing I learned - if you don't leave your apartment, you don't spend money! Also, we had a friend in town. I mean, she's only from Erlangen (it's kind of like saying "I have a friend in Watkinsville for the weekend - she's from Athens"), but together, it made lounging around in pjs, watching marathons of HIMYM, movies or just hours of facebook stalking seem totally acceptable. 
 
But today reality hit, and I knew that I had to get out in the fresh air. So I decided to go for a bike ride to in the Fränkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland) it's a region in Franken really well known for it's visible cliffs in it's hill/mountains (too small for mountains, but bigger than hills). It's got all kinds of bike and hiking paths and pretty nature and all that fun [read: free] stuff!

So I set off towards a small village Gemmani had been to once in the fall called Streitberg. It's got a couple of very neat castle ruins to visit. I didn't really know exactly where I was going (I mean, I looked it up on google maps before hand, but I didn't know if the bike path would be different than the roads), but luckily it was all really well marked and I made it there and back alive (with only one wrong turn, which was quickly remedied).

It took about 1 hour to ride the 15km out there (including a few photo op stops and one wrong turn), then I spent an hour or so in the town hiking up to one of the ruins then stopping to read my book for a little bit. The ride back was much quicker - I think it was about 40 minutes tops. 

It was also really nice to actually get out - and completely FREE! I'll definitely be heading back out into the Fränkische Schweiz, and I also want to try the bike paths up to Bamberg or Erlangen! 

This was my route - nothing too exciting, just there and back, I'll try to be a little more adventurous next time. It was a total of about 20 miles of riding. 

a few of my favorite things...

"What do you like so much about Germany?"

I get this question all the time - from students, from teachers, from friends - everybody seems to want to know what it is about Germany that keeps me coming back for more. Honestly, the biggest factor is the language. After years of studying German, I've become a bit of a language nut. But, still, there is something more...

So I decided to make a list of a few of my favorite things in Germany.

Bike Culture

Having already ridden my bike for 4 years at UGA on the less-than-biker-friendly campus, I was very excited to get to Germany where biking is a common means of transportation for more than just the eco-friendly hipster, poor student, or exercise enthusiast.

In Germany every road and/or sidewalk has a clearly marked bike lane.

Drivers are used to driving along side bikers.

There are more bike racks at school than parking spots.

Biking here is more than just a great transportation option, it's a completely legitimate and acceptable way to get around.

There's always something going on

It doesn't matter if you're in big city or small town, if there is a center or even just a "platz" there will be something going.

In fall you can find special fall markets in Nürnberg or a small festival in Fürth, for example

In December you can't go 2 feet without running into a Christmas market.

Throughout any normal week there are always regular farmer's markets in the city center ready to sell you fresh meats and vegetables.

Whether it's a big event or a normal market, where there is a city center, there is always something going on!

Christmas Markets

Ok, so this one is extremely seasonal, but it is such a great part of German culture!

The entire Christmas tradition and atmosphere is something everyone can enjoy.

who cares about the sub-freezing temperatures, heavy snowfall or biting wind - where there is Glühwein, hand-made crafts, and Christmas lights I'll be there!

Ice cream

Even though it's technically Italian gelato - the ice cream in Germany is a real treat.

Maybe you just want a scoop of Stracciatella (my favorite) or a elegantly arranged dessert cup (like the banana rum ice cream cup I had on Friday).

It's really no wonder the ice cream shops are always buzzing with activity even in the dead of winter.

the drinking culture

Anyone who knows me shouldn't be surprised to see this in here.

And no, I don't mean drinking culture like "YEAH, BEER 24/7 LET'S DRINK!"

(although, from what I've seen it does seem completely normal to order a beer at 11am...)

I actually mean exactly the opposite. I've found here when you go out for the night, or even if you just want to enjoy a beer with friends in the afternoon, you're not surrounded by crazy drunks who only know how to drink 5 beers at a time.

There is no real binge drinking culture here - and I find that refreshing!

(for the record, Oktoberfest is not a good example of the actual drinking culture in Germany)

Of course these aren't the only things I love about Germany - but it's definitely a start! And ultimately, my favorite thing isn't something I can take a picture of or write down. It's just sort of a feeling, a comfort, an atmosphere maybe...

You'll just have to come visit to find out!

The promise for a Vlog of yesteryear

Hello world (or the 3 people that read this...), just popping in to tell you that I haven't forgotten to update about our amazing Thanksgiving festivities last week, I'm just planning on making a VLOG for it! Hopefully I can get it up by the end of the week, but you just never know!

I've been surprisingly busy these past couple weeks. Aside from my rigorous 12 hour work week - which requires little to no planning - I've been working on a 20+ page translation from German to English, enjoying the company of visitors (Gemma's parents came for a weekend), visiting other ETAs around Bavaria, and just generally enjoying life in Germany! But things are calming down before the winter break (exactly the opposite from home, were finals hit right before the holiday and you get so stressed and busy you want to pull your hair out before it all comes grinding to a halt just in time to go Christmas shopping and settle down for a couple days of holiday), so I'm hopeful that the posting will pick up.

I would like to commend Germany on being right on time with its Christmas mood-setting. Like clockwork, it started snowing on Thanksgiving, and by the time we woke up the next day, there was snow on the rooftops and tree tops and hillsides in the distance. Things really picked up this morning when I woke up to at least an inch of snow on the ground - and it's still coming down. I decided I would live on the edge and try to ride my bike to school despite the many warnings against such ideas. After riding my breaks all the way down the hill of our street to the main road (which I take all the way into town) I found the bike lane to be covered with all the snow pushed aside by cars. So I rode on the painted white line, barely visible beneath the sludge, separating the road from what was previously the bike lane. I made it no more than half a block before I was splattered by not one, not two, but three cars! at this point I decided to ride on the side walk, safely away from the cars kicking up dirt and snow slush onto innocent bikers. The rest of my ride proved more frightening than actually dangerous. When I got to the end of this road I had two choices: 1. continue on my bike up the hill and across the bridge, or 2. carry my bike down to the pedestrian walk way under the road and not risk hills and bridges. Having already worn out my sense of adventure for the day, I opted for the latter, carrying my bike down and walking it safely to the other side of the train tracks. When I reemerged from the pedestrian tunnel at the train station I knew I had to decide if I should continue on bike or foot. While standing and deciding I saw several other bikers pass by - if they can do it, so can I! Then I looked pass the bikers and saw the cars. Those fast driving, sludge slinging, road hogging cars. I locked my bike up safely at the train station and continued the rest of the way on foot. It was really a nice walk, I got to take a lot of pictures and actually enjoy the snow, instead of fear it. Looks like I won't be doing much biking till Germany thaws out, but I can't say I didn't try!

But why were you going to school this morning? I'm sure your first thoughts are all concern for my standard three day weekends... Well, I'm swapping my off day this week (Monday) so that I can meet my Aunt and Uncle in Frankfurt on Thursday while they have a 12 hour lay over. I'm very excited! My first familiar faces in almost 3 months!

So keep your eye out for a the next Vlog... and until then, you can find me making snow angels all over Germany!