Christmas Then Utah then everything else: Update

So Christmas was super fun!

Got presents I wasn't expecting, and had a great time with my family and my cousins!

Now we are in Utah, where the snow is HUGE, so much powder!

Yesterday we skiied at Park City, and today we hit up Deer Valley resort, where snowboarders aren't allowed!

The powder today was massive, and basically although I love my boarding friends...it was so nice to still have intact moguls!!

Confessions Before Christmas

As Christmas is just around the corner, I think its fair for anyone receiving a gift from me to know: I cannot wrap.

Whether its nature or nurture (though I'm sure my mom has show me many times how, so perhaps just nature), I cannot wrap a single present in a particularly attractive manner whatsoeveratall.

Most attempt resemble this:

Or this:

and admittedly, at very low point in life, this:

So on everyone's big special holiday, may your presents not be wrapped by me. 

Merry Christmas!

(all photos are taken from google)

Home again, Home again

Back home finally, and rode my horse Crackerjack (FINALLY, I missed him so badly!)

I finally saw Chris and Brian as well, it has really been such a while!

I am happy to be back with everyone I missed in Jersey (yes that means I am still sad that I haven't seen my other lovely americans quite yet).

In the holiday spirit, however, I did stumble upon a most curious holiday oddity:

Before you ask, yes these baubles of...coke, are in fact filled with coke soda.

But I really have no idea what exactly you are supposed to use them for...

is one meant to drink then hang one?

Neither Brian nor I knew : /

well at any rate happy holidays!

Countdown

As sad as it is to think of leaving Lüneburg while its all snowy and magical-looking as it is now, I can say I am very excited to go home and see family, friends, and horses.

Here are some examples of what I mean by snowy and magical:

Heidlburg!

This weekend I spent the weekend with Nina W's parents in Heidelburg, a very gorgeous city in Baden-Wurttemburg 

Robisms: Things I Feel the Need to Share Part 1

Anyone who does not have class with Rob, will have no idea what I am talking about when I say I am really going to miss the plethora of 'Robisms' I encounter day to day. Some will call it 'Denglish' some will call it 'madness': I call it a fine mix of both. This section will be adorned with hilarity and pictures from google. Enjoy:

Lüneburger Christmas

If you've been paying attention to the picture used as the background of this blog, this little canal might look a bit familiar!

Of dead computers and snow!

Two things happened this week. One was magnificent. One was...well one was a big bummer.

Lets start with the awesome one!

So today it started snowing, and in fact is still coming down pretty fast. There may in fact be enough for a Schneemann...who knows.

Also, less awesome was that my macbookpro died. I talked to Karstadt's apple store. They are just as confused as I am. It was despite some minor dings, and a major crack...workably fine. I may need to re-write my list to santa this year. A bit.

Anyways, its FREEZING here, but gorgeous. Our teacher Steffi told us that it rarely snows like this here, so we are pretty excited.

For your entertainment, I have decided to share a few hilarious quotes from soccer players in Germany.

"When you look at our programme for the next few weeks, you do not fancy a trip to Oktoberfest." Oliver Kahn

"If we perform as a unit and if every single player gives his best, everything can happen." Oliver Kahn

"A Germany team should not be afraid going into a tournement. History shows that we can raise the level of our game when it matters." Oliver Kahn

"We are Bayern munich and English teams always have trouble as soon as they leave the island." Oliver Kahn

"After a decade in a club it's quite normal and necessary that you seek and take a new challenge." Oliver Kahn

"This match is about sport and I seperate that completely from politics." Oliver Kahn

"Big matches on the big stage are often decided at the back."Oliver Kahn

some are funny, some are odd, some...well are really odd.

also, new in soccer news that might strike a few FC Bayern fans as new and different, Mario Gomez came out as gay. To read more about it, I have tagged the link here for all interested.

till next time, ciao!

Family in Germany Continued!

 Here I am in front of my apartment on Salzbrücker and my messy window haha

 Us at dinner being mildly rediculous and trying to find turkey for thanksgiving (our waitress thought it was pretty funny)

Decorated Kurfursterdamm

no one lets me navigate :( even though I've been here 3 times before

A Berlin Bear

Here we are!

ENTRANCE!

 Click to embiggen and read!

All of us in front of the market

Christmas Pyramid :)

in front of Schloss Charlottenburg

Boys

End of Day 1

Family in Germany

So my family is visiting me this week! Mom and Brian flew in on Tuesday, and my father joined us on Wednesday. We enjoyed the little Lüneburg Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) then all went to karaoke and sang a few songs together.

Untrust Us; Crystal Castles live in Hamburg

Last night Nina and I suited up and went to see Crystal Castles at "Übel & Gefährlich"(evil and dangerous), a club in Hamburg. After a successful trip out, a few beers, and SO much bright neon makeup, we were ready to party.

suited up in neon rainbow and hot hot pink

a fair going on nearby

you see what we mean

The venue was MASSIVE, and we passed it the first time thinking it was a prison! Which would sound silly, except that it was dark and the orangy light made it ominous. However, we found our way back, and soon enough were inside and waiting for the first band to go on.

Rotterdam, in Summary

  So this Friday, I decided to go visit my friend Dan, who I've known for a while and took an ICE to Rotterdam, Netherlands. The way up was pretty smooth, and despite some police presence in Lüneburg (terror threats you know), the ride went smooth til about Amersfoort...at which point I was delayed for 3 hours because my train was halted....and we found out later that there had been a fire on the Ultrecht tracks. Eek.

Weihnachtsmarkt, Rotterdam preview, and Registration from Abroad

   So onwards! This week the first few mentions of Christmas were set up, and by mentions I mean 2 enormous trees, and various little booths with characters which jiggle around and talk to you in robotic German. Each display has some christmas-related scene, and is incredibly entertaining. I will take some pictures when the lights and glittery bits go up.

Castor, one of the biggest topics in Germany at the moment

As you may or may not know, one of the biggest protests against Castor (a nuclear power source that packs a radioactive wallop similar to the devastation of Chernobyl) transport in Gorleben. As a USAC student, I am prohibited from actively taking part in any demonstrations abroad, as it poses a significant safety risk. However, Mowly, one of the Erasmus students at Leuphana was able to go and photograph some of what happened at the Atomskraft (nuclear power) protest!

Köln!

SO! Köln!

The Good, The Bad, The Bus

So far all is well abroad: Lindsay is now back in Spain (I will write up what we did soon enough I swear), the tests are still equally hard (and frustrating) but ok, and so far have not blown anything up in the kitchen....yet.

Lindsay in Germany!

So Lindsay came to visit me in Germany (which was amazingly fun), where she had her first beer and schnitzel !

Sorry for the Delay! Inner German Border

So I apologize sooo much for this being as late as it is, but I realized that my plug doesn't so much work as an adapter for my camera's battery charger (cry cry), and until I can nicely ask to use Zach or Gus's, only half of my pictures will be uploaded. I know its a tad bit sad. I will write the text that goes with this, and I apologize that some of the pictures that help you understand are...missing in action.

Entrance!

This site is what I believe (somewhat confidently) to be a fort used to defend the House of Mecklenberg-Schwerin, a duchy near the wendish (a local minority) are just outside of Lüneburg. Ok more than outside..its roughly near the Heide. 

Essentially this reddened region, you may have heard called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. How nifty! Lets carry on.

Here we see the original coat of arms! Inside there were some much clearer coat of arms with color:

Here we go!

The Coat of arms I found through wikipedia. You will notice that the coat of arms of Bremen, and other nearby areas are missing on this one...making me slowly less and less sure if I am correct....

Until of course I found this variant which is very clearly the same, and is a recognized flag of the House of Mecklenburg

Anyways, there you go. So thats Francis, and anyway, this particular site we were on was a very interesting fort at which there were no weak areas because of a nifty design that allowed every angle to be protected. No sadly I can't seem to find any more information on it, mainly because even though I reamed through the museum and took everything in...I tend to take pictures to help my moderately weak memory...and we couldn't take any inside the Museum:

The museum, the Fritz Reuter Gedenkhalle or 'memorial museum', shoddily translated was filled with military history (I sincerely apologize if you missed out on it) filled with battle plans, sabers, and a wide array of cannons and guns.

One of the many, many cannons stationed outside

A cannonball lodged in the wall.

Very fancy crest

An old watch tow

Add caption

These are all from the view of the 'Drachen' corner I think
Moving on:

 map of where the wall as