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.