Friedrichshafen, Germany
This post dates for Sunday, July 1st.
Today has been an amazing day. Absolutely nothing went wrong.
So it started out kinda hectic. I went to bed around 4ish I think last night hanging out with Ani, Michelle, and Bryan and doing stuff on the internet. It’s funny, I have a tendency to say random nonsense when I am on the brink of falling asleep. For some reason I fell the need to say things. So last night they said I was saying something involving Dr. Diller as I was dwindling away. Anyways so Ani and Bryan escorted Michelle back to her hotel where she’s staying with her sister in London while I sat in the hallway on my computer and watched all the drunk people come back.
Ok problem. When I booked my flight for Germany, there was an error while the pay page was loading, so I had to refresh and resubmit my credit card information. Turns out I had book two seats on the plane under my name. Crap. So I tried to call them this morning at 8, but they weren’t open until 9. Bryan, Clair, Rebecca, and I are flying out to Germany today to travel one last time before heading home. I packed all my stuff and said my goodbyes to Laura, Jennifer, Ani, and Kacie. It was sad, I will really miss all of them. The transition from seeing them 18 hours a day to none at all will be hard for me. Then Bryan and I zipped downstairs and grabbed two rolls a piece and stuffed some jam into our pockets before heading out the door. I started to grab a knife to take with me so we could spread the jam and Bryan was like, “Dude, haven’t you learned your lesson?” Good point. I grabbed a spoon instead. Yes I stole it, I am a bad person.
As we were walking over to the Bayswater tube station, I got on the phone and called Ryan Air to sort out my problem. I was afraid since today was the day of the flight I would be out of lucky, but turns out, everything was fine. I was able to cancel it. Nice.
So while we were waiting for the train to get to us, Bryan and I broke bread and had some jam. I don’t know why it was so good. I noticed that I’ve come to really enjoy simple foods and to take what I can get wherever I can. The spoon worked well. So Bryan and I hopped onto the Circle line towards where Rebecca and Clair were staying in Gloucester. We made it to their stop almost exactly at 9:30 am, exactly as we had planned.
I’ve had a knot in my stomach since I woke up this morning because I was afraid of the unknown. For some reason I feel like something will go terribly wrong or that I didn’t plan correctly. The entire trip I have relied on all the girls to plan out where we would be going and which hostel we would be sleeping at, etc. All I had to do was carry their luggage and pay them money. Pretty good deal. But this time around I had to book all the flights and hostels for both me and Bryan, and I’m really hoping that nothing goes wrong on this Germany trip. So far, so good.
We got of the tube at Liverpool street station, where we would catch the One train to London Stansted. I left the spoon on the train. I don’t even want there to be a remote chance of me getting stopped for any reason. The train to Stansted took about 50 minutes. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Eventually we checked in and got a sandwich from Pret A Manger. The flight was fine, I took a little over an hour. Loved the scenery We landed around 4:30 pm and picked up our luggage. Now for the really fun part. We don’t exactly know where to go. And by that, I mean we have absolutely no idea where we need to be going. All we have is the address of the place. But we do have Clair and Rebecca, navigating champs.
This post dates for Sunday, July 1st.
Today has been an amazing day. Absolutely nothing went wrong.
So it started out kinda hectic. I went to bed around 4ish I think last night hanging out with Ani, Michelle, and Bryan and doing stuff on the internet. It’s funny, I have a tendency to say random nonsense when I am on the brink of falling asleep. For some reason I fell the need to say things. So last night they said I was saying something involving Dr. Diller as I was dwindling away. Anyways so Ani and Bryan escorted Michelle back to her hotel where she’s staying with her sister in London while I sat in the hallway on my computer and watched all the drunk people come back.
Ok problem. When I booked my flight for Germany, there was an error while the pay page was loading, so I had to refresh and resubmit my credit card information. Turns out I had book two seats on the plane under my name. Crap. So I tried to call them this morning at 8, but they weren’t open until 9. Bryan, Clair, Rebecca, and I are flying out to Germany today to travel one last time before heading home. I packed all my stuff and said my goodbyes to Laura, Jennifer, Ani, and Kacie. It was sad, I will really miss all of them. The transition from seeing them 18 hours a day to none at all will be hard for me. Then Bryan and I zipped downstairs and grabbed two rolls a piece and stuffed some jam into our pockets before heading out the door. I started to grab a knife to take with me so we could spread the jam and Bryan was like, “Dude, haven’t you learned your lesson?” Good point. I grabbed a spoon instead. Yes I stole it, I am a bad person.
As we were walking over to the Bayswater tube station, I got on the phone and called Ryan Air to sort out my problem. I was afraid since today was the day of the flight I would be out of lucky, but turns out, everything was fine. I was able to cancel it. Nice.
So while we were waiting for the train to get to us, Bryan and I broke bread and had some jam. I don’t know why it was so good. I noticed that I’ve come to really enjoy simple foods and to take what I can get wherever I can. The spoon worked well. So Bryan and I hopped onto the Circle line towards where Rebecca and Clair were staying in Gloucester. We made it to their stop almost exactly at 9:30 am, exactly as we had planned.
I’ve had a knot in my stomach since I woke up this morning because I was afraid of the unknown. For some reason I feel like something will go terribly wrong or that I didn’t plan correctly. The entire trip I have relied on all the girls to plan out where we would be going and which hostel we would be sleeping at, etc. All I had to do was carry their luggage and pay them money. Pretty good deal. But this time around I had to book all the flights and hostels for both me and Bryan, and I’m really hoping that nothing goes wrong on this Germany trip. So far, so good.
We got of the tube at Liverpool street station, where we would catch the One train to London Stansted. I left the spoon on the train. I don’t even want there to be a remote chance of me getting stopped for any reason. The train to Stansted took about 50 minutes. We got there with plenty of time to spare. Eventually we checked in and got a sandwich from Pret A Manger. The flight was fine, I took a little over an hour. Loved the scenery We landed around 4:30 pm and picked up our luggage. Now for the really fun part. We don’t exactly know where to go. And by that, I mean we have absolutely no idea where we need to be going. All we have is the address of the place. But we do have Clair and Rebecca, navigating champs.
I’m not even the slightest bit stressed or worried. I love not knowing exactly where we are going. I really wouldn’t mind getting lost even, as long as we’re together. Besides, getting lost always leads to something funny happening and good stories. So we figured out that the hostel is about 7 kilometers away so we would need to take the train. We bought tickets and got on not knowing if we were even getting on the right one. The train is really packed and I’m worried that we won’t be able to get on before the doors close. Clair made a funny comment. It went something like this; “I feel like I’m in a World War II movie and I’m fending for my life.”So our destination is Freidrichshafen Stadt. It’s pronounced freed-rick-shaaf-hen.
We get to our stop and don’t really know where to go from here. So we sent Rebecca into action and she found where we were supposed to go. Ok about Friedrichshafen. It’s a small town on Bodensee (Lake Constance) right on the border between Germany and Switzerland. Although much of the town has succumb to modern architecture, some of the buildings do still hold a flavor of the town’s history. From where we were, we could see the water and got distracted. We walked down to the shore, which was only about 100 yards from the station. It was kinda cloudy, but we could faintly make out the Switzerland coastline. Random monument
Random artistic sculpture that i liked.
Me
I started to skip rocks, something I like doing when I’m near the water. Everyone joined in. Some good times. Clair
This German girl over heard us speaking English and wanted to talk to us. Her English was actually quite good, I was impressed.
This German girl over heard us speaking English and wanted to talk to us. Her English was actually quite good, I was impressed. Bryan, German girl, Clair, and Rebecca
Ok so somewhere along the way either getting off the airplane or skipping rocks, my Nalgene fell out of my backpack. I am very sad. I realized this while we were walking to our hostel, which was actually quite close to the train station. It was a very nice walk, because we could walk along the shoreline.
Ok so somewhere along the way either getting off the airplane or skipping rocks, my Nalgene fell out of my backpack. I am very sad. I realized this while we were walking to our hostel, which was actually quite close to the train station. It was a very nice walk, because we could walk along the shoreline. Docks
Restaurant near the coast.
Ok so now for our hostel. Rebecca says that the townspeople refer to it as “the youth hostel.” It is very worth mentioning, and may be one of the highlights of our trip. Hostel Graf Soden Haus.
Restaurant near the coast.Ok so now for our hostel. Rebecca says that the townspeople refer to it as “the youth hostel.” It is very worth mentioning, and may be one of the highlights of our trip. Hostel Graf Soden Haus.
Bryan, Clair, and Rebecca about to walk in.
A-mazing. Wow. It’s not that big of a building, and the second we walk in, we get a very welcoming feeling. It was quite home-y. We get there around 6pm and the gentleman running the hostel had been waiting for us. He had our reservations printed out, arranged on the table for us to arrive. Check in took no time at all, and he was very kind. We walked up the flight to our rooms…
The rooms: Wow. I couldn’t believe how nice they were. Clair and Rebecca were in one room, Bryan and I were in the other, right down the hall from them. First the bathroom.
Huge compared to all the other bathrooms I’ve been in. Clean too. I cannot emphasize enough the cleanliness of this hostel. The shower was surrounded by glass and had an interesting door. The door was in the corner of the shower and both slides slid open to let you in. Oh and there was a chair in the bathroom. Not that special except for the fact that there was enough room to put a chair in there.The room itself was so nice as well. Double beds placed right next to each other. It’s definitely not the same as sharing a bed with Michael, but I feel like Bryan and I will be getting to know each other pretty well over the course of this trip. We also had a futon and two chairs in the room.
So we are all really ecstatic right about now, running into each other’s rooms and admiring the quality of everything. I loved how the windows opened up like doors. 
I could have just stayed in their for hours and enjoyed the comfort, but my stomach as usual was calling, so we headed out for food. Then, it started raining. Great. What a great way to put a damper on everything. The clouds looked really ominous and we only had three umbrellas for four people, so Bryan volunteered to get wet. Well actually he didn’t volunteer, he had no umbrella so it was default. Let the record show that we offered him sheltered under our and he refused. In case Bryan’s mom is reading this and gets angry.
The rooms: Wow. I couldn’t believe how nice they were. Clair and Rebecca were in one room, Bryan and I were in the other, right down the hall from them. First the bathroom.
Huge compared to all the other bathrooms I’ve been in. Clean too. I cannot emphasize enough the cleanliness of this hostel. The shower was surrounded by glass and had an interesting door. The door was in the corner of the shower and both slides slid open to let you in. Oh and there was a chair in the bathroom. Not that special except for the fact that there was enough room to put a chair in there.The room itself was so nice as well. Double beds placed right next to each other. It’s definitely not the same as sharing a bed with Michael, but I feel like Bryan and I will be getting to know each other pretty well over the course of this trip. We also had a futon and two chairs in the room.So we are all really ecstatic right about now, running into each other’s rooms and admiring the quality of everything. I loved how the windows opened up like doors.
Bryan and the room. Notice the futon.
Clair and Rebecca with the windows
I could have just stayed in their for hours and enjoyed the comfort, but my stomach as usual was calling, so we headed out for food. Then, it started raining. Great. What a great way to put a damper on everything. The clouds looked really ominous and we only had three umbrellas for four people, so Bryan volunteered to get wet. Well actually he didn’t volunteer, he had no umbrella so it was default. Let the record show that we offered him sheltered under our and he refused. In case Bryan’s mom is reading this and gets angry. Walking
So we were walking, trying to stay dry, but we were unsuccessful. No one was complaining though, the rain was fun and we were all having a great time. 
We took a detour and found this playground or spielplatz as the Germans call it. Oh man it was so fun. We got on the see-saw and did that for a while. It hurt, really bad. We got to much air and I kept slamming down onto the metal seat.
Then we found this spinning play thing that you can sit on or hang from and spin around. I was a little bit worried because I’m not very good with spinning. 
Tangent: When I was younger we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. Everyone wanted to ride the “Frisbee” so I did too. Mistake. The Frisbee swings you back and worth in addition to spinning really fast. When I got off I had to lay down for 3 hours. It wasn’t pretty. Resume story. So I got on this spinning thing and it was awesome. Then we got on this other spinning thing where you sit. 
This was a lot worse, and I had to remove myself from the device. Rebecca apparently loves to spin and get dizzy. I don’t understand it. Keep in mind that all the while, it’s still raining. So we are getting soaked, which made it even more fun. It seems that we’ve been doing a lot of playing recently. Last Thursday in the field and then now in a playground. We left much happier people and I left a little woozy.
It was around this time that I realized nothing could ruin this day. Everything so far has been and I feel like will be perfect. This group is amazing and we make every situation as fun as humanly possible. I was talking to Clair just about where we have traveled thus far and what I have enjoyed the most. I was saying how there’s really not that much to see or do here, and yet I can’t understand why I’m having such a great time. She was talking about how its important to see the big things, but it’s also important to appreciate the smaller towns. I think she’s right. I mean I’ve been to England seen Stonehenge and everything else, Rome and seen the ruins, Colosseum, and Vatican, Paris: the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, Versailles. You get the picture. I’ve seen some of the most amazing sites the world has to offer in about a month. Yet here I am in Friedrichshafen, in this small random town in Germany that probably most the world hasn’t heard about, and I’m having such a great time. It might be too soon to tell, but this might be my favorite side trip.
We stopped near the place where we skipped rocks to look for my nalgene but it was gone. Goodbye UT nalgene bottle, I will miss you. You’ve been a very good bottle. It’s ok though, you cost only $12.99 at the UT Co-op.
Then we stopped at a pharmacy, or apothecary as they call them to get Bryan some shampoo and body wash. That guy really knows the meaning of minimalist. It’s quite impressive. He barely has anything in his backpack.
So we were walking, trying to stay dry, but we were unsuccessful. No one was complaining though, the rain was fun and we were all having a great time. We took a detour and found this playground or spielplatz as the Germans call it. Oh man it was so fun. We got on the see-saw and did that for a while. It hurt, really bad. We got to much air and I kept slamming down onto the metal seat.
Then we found this spinning play thing that you can sit on or hang from and spin around. I was a little bit worried because I’m not very good with spinning. Tangent: When I was younger we went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. Everyone wanted to ride the “Frisbee” so I did too. Mistake. The Frisbee swings you back and worth in addition to spinning really fast. When I got off I had to lay down for 3 hours. It wasn’t pretty. Resume story. So I got on this spinning thing and it was awesome. Then we got on this other spinning thing where you sit. This was a lot worse, and I had to remove myself from the device. Rebecca apparently loves to spin and get dizzy. I don’t understand it. Keep in mind that all the while, it’s still raining. So we are getting soaked, which made it even more fun. It seems that we’ve been doing a lot of playing recently. Last Thursday in the field and then now in a playground. We left much happier people and I left a little woozy.It was around this time that I realized nothing could ruin this day. Everything so far has been and I feel like will be perfect. This group is amazing and we make every situation as fun as humanly possible. I was talking to Clair just about where we have traveled thus far and what I have enjoyed the most. I was saying how there’s really not that much to see or do here, and yet I can’t understand why I’m having such a great time. She was talking about how its important to see the big things, but it’s also important to appreciate the smaller towns. I think she’s right. I mean I’ve been to England seen Stonehenge and everything else, Rome and seen the ruins, Colosseum, and Vatican, Paris: the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, Versailles. You get the picture. I’ve seen some of the most amazing sites the world has to offer in about a month. Yet here I am in Friedrichshafen, in this small random town in Germany that probably most the world hasn’t heard about, and I’m having such a great time. It might be too soon to tell, but this might be my favorite side trip.
We stopped near the place where we skipped rocks to look for my nalgene but it was gone. Goodbye UT nalgene bottle, I will miss you. You’ve been a very good bottle. It’s ok though, you cost only $12.99 at the UT Co-op.
Then we stopped at a pharmacy, or apothecary as they call them to get Bryan some shampoo and body wash. That guy really knows the meaning of minimalist. It’s quite impressive. He barely has anything in his backpack.
Clair and the apothecary
Then we stopped at an ATM to get some cash.
So then we walked around for a bit looking for a place to eat, but apparently on Sundays, nothing is open. Eventually we found this Chinese place and I think to myself: oh great a Chinese restaurant in Germany, this is not going to be good food. Bad assumption. SO we walk up the stair leading to the restaurant and I see like a Buda statue, and I think: ok, Buda statue, might be run by some authentic people. The we go up further and I see a fish tank, not just any fish tank, but a nice fish tank. Ok then, may be classy. Then I see Chinese people. Nice. What are Chinese people doing in Germany, I have no idea. So they greet us. Gutentag. I figure I’d give it a shot and I said hello in mandarin. The older lady who runs the place immediately lit up and I could tell she was excited to meet another Chinese person in Germany. I assume it must be rare. So she leads us to our seats. From what I can see, the restaurant is very nice. I made a bad snap judgment.
Then we stopped at an ATM to get some cash.So then we walked around for a bit looking for a place to eat, but apparently on Sundays, nothing is open. Eventually we found this Chinese place and I think to myself: oh great a Chinese restaurant in Germany, this is not going to be good food. Bad assumption. SO we walk up the stair leading to the restaurant and I see like a Buda statue, and I think: ok, Buda statue, might be run by some authentic people. The we go up further and I see a fish tank, not just any fish tank, but a nice fish tank. Ok then, may be classy. Then I see Chinese people. Nice. What are Chinese people doing in Germany, I have no idea. So they greet us. Gutentag. I figure I’d give it a shot and I said hello in mandarin. The older lady who runs the place immediately lit up and I could tell she was excited to meet another Chinese person in Germany. I assume it must be rare. So she leads us to our seats. From what I can see, the restaurant is very nice. I made a bad snap judgment.
Stained glass.
The old lady then brings us over like tiny wine glasses with pineapple and some sort of wine cooler inside. I didn’t see anyone else with them, so I would like to think that she gave it to us on the house, basically because I’m awesome. Ok so we ordered our food, I had some soup and fried noodles, and everyone else had fried rice. Rebecca noticed that every table ahs these heating stand with candles in them. We don’t have this over in the states, so I found this a bit unusual. So the lady eventually comes over and starts talking to me in Mandarin. It was funny. Rebecca dn Bryan can both speak a little German, but not much, and Clair and I know hardly any. Here we are in Germany, and I’m using Mandarin to communicate. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to communicate with her very well, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was doing great. I don’t think I’ve ever been more happy to know Chinese in my life. It was seriously our sole means of communication with this lady. So she asked about why we were hear and how long we were here for. She also told us about the town and why things close so early on Sundays. Oh and the hot plates. Apparently, they are very common here in Germany. The German people prefer it so that they can keep their food warm while they eat.
I think I finally appreciate the whole irony of the situation. Growing up as a kid, my parents always spoke Chinese and English to me at home, so I know the language, but not well. My parents put me in Chinese school four about six years and I absolutely hated it. They let me quit when I reached middle school. But my mom and my cousin Richard, and pretty much everyone told me that I would regret not knowing Chinese better when I got older. I didn’t believe them until now. I really do wish I had more time to learn to the language better, especially reading and writing. Are you happy universe? You won.
Over dinner Bryan was talking about how he had been to Barcelona before the Cambridge program had started and how he partially regretted not going back because he loved it so much. But then he sort of feels the same way I do. He’s having a great time too and I think it’s mostly attributed to the group. I know I’ve said this before, but it really is what you make it.
So the food was delicious, but it wasn’t enough for me, as usual on this trip.
I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but I’ve noticed how the portions in England and the rest of Europe are much smaller than in the US. They just eat less over here. This of course has been a major problem for me because I need two meals just to get full. I know I have definitely lost weight while I’ve been over here, but that could be attributed to not working out. So I asked the lady if there was anywhere we could go like a supermarket to get food. She said everything closes at around 4pm on Sundays. Out of luck. So we paid, thanked the lady for her hospitality, and left.
Ok so in Germany, everyone is extremely polite. Danke here means thanks or thank you. Shon means much. So basically everyone around here says much thanks or thank you very much to everyone else. Your welcome is Bitte. Everyone here says Bitte Shon. So Danke Shon, Bitte Shon. Literally everyone we have encountered whether asking for directions, eating at a restaurant, or ordering kebabs, has been so kind and polite. The older Chinese woman thanked us probably 4 or 5 times as we were leaving. I really like this about Germany.
From the Chinese restaurant, we just started walking back, looking for a place to buy food. We tried a gas station, but even they were closed. Eventually in the neighborhoods we found this Doner Kebap/pizza.
Doner is the certain type of meat they put in kebabs, or kebaps as the Germans call them. So Bryan and I went inside and we ordered a pizza. The family that worked there was really nice and trying to communicate was fun because they weren’t getting impatient at all. We took our pizza back to our hostel and ate it in our room. The girls came to our room and we watched Wedding Crashers on my laptop, I have it downloaded onto my portable hard drive. Good movie.
Now we are about to go to sleep. Tomorrow we are thinking about taking a ferry over to Switzerland for a day trip since we are so close. It should be awesome. I’ve also been here once before, but I don’t remember where. We are thinking Romanshorn.
The old lady then brings us over like tiny wine glasses with pineapple and some sort of wine cooler inside. I didn’t see anyone else with them, so I would like to think that she gave it to us on the house, basically because I’m awesome. Ok so we ordered our food, I had some soup and fried noodles, and everyone else had fried rice. Rebecca noticed that every table ahs these heating stand with candles in them. We don’t have this over in the states, so I found this a bit unusual. So the lady eventually comes over and starts talking to me in Mandarin. It was funny. Rebecca dn Bryan can both speak a little German, but not much, and Clair and I know hardly any. Here we are in Germany, and I’m using Mandarin to communicate. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to communicate with her very well, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I was doing great. I don’t think I’ve ever been more happy to know Chinese in my life. It was seriously our sole means of communication with this lady. So she asked about why we were hear and how long we were here for. She also told us about the town and why things close so early on Sundays. Oh and the hot plates. Apparently, they are very common here in Germany. The German people prefer it so that they can keep their food warm while they eat.I think I finally appreciate the whole irony of the situation. Growing up as a kid, my parents always spoke Chinese and English to me at home, so I know the language, but not well. My parents put me in Chinese school four about six years and I absolutely hated it. They let me quit when I reached middle school. But my mom and my cousin Richard, and pretty much everyone told me that I would regret not knowing Chinese better when I got older. I didn’t believe them until now. I really do wish I had more time to learn to the language better, especially reading and writing. Are you happy universe? You won.
Over dinner Bryan was talking about how he had been to Barcelona before the Cambridge program had started and how he partially regretted not going back because he loved it so much. But then he sort of feels the same way I do. He’s having a great time too and I think it’s mostly attributed to the group. I know I’ve said this before, but it really is what you make it.
So the food was delicious, but it wasn’t enough for me, as usual on this trip.
I don’t know if I mentioned this earlier, but I’ve noticed how the portions in England and the rest of Europe are much smaller than in the US. They just eat less over here. This of course has been a major problem for me because I need two meals just to get full. I know I have definitely lost weight while I’ve been over here, but that could be attributed to not working out. So I asked the lady if there was anywhere we could go like a supermarket to get food. She said everything closes at around 4pm on Sundays. Out of luck. So we paid, thanked the lady for her hospitality, and left.Ok so in Germany, everyone is extremely polite. Danke here means thanks or thank you. Shon means much. So basically everyone around here says much thanks or thank you very much to everyone else. Your welcome is Bitte. Everyone here says Bitte Shon. So Danke Shon, Bitte Shon. Literally everyone we have encountered whether asking for directions, eating at a restaurant, or ordering kebabs, has been so kind and polite. The older Chinese woman thanked us probably 4 or 5 times as we were leaving. I really like this about Germany.
From the Chinese restaurant, we just started walking back, looking for a place to buy food. We tried a gas station, but even they were closed. Eventually in the neighborhoods we found this Doner Kebap/pizza.
Doner is the certain type of meat they put in kebabs, or kebaps as the Germans call them. So Bryan and I went inside and we ordered a pizza. The family that worked there was really nice and trying to communicate was fun because they weren’t getting impatient at all. We took our pizza back to our hostel and ate it in our room. The girls came to our room and we watched Wedding Crashers on my laptop, I have it downloaded onto my portable hard drive. Good movie.Now we are about to go to sleep. Tomorrow we are thinking about taking a ferry over to Switzerland for a day trip since we are so close. It should be awesome. I’ve also been here once before, but I don’t remember where. We are thinking Romanshorn.
Me blogging.
Guten naucht
-James
Guten naucht
-James
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