A Brilliant Day in Mumbles (Swansea, Wales)

Mumbles is an area that is south and west of Swansea proper. It is the home of the first passenger railway and has absolutely stunning walks along the shoreline of the Bristol Channel (Mor Hafren in Welsh). I spent the morning catching up on correspondence, enjoying a few cups of coffee and generally not rushing to be anywhere. It was such a welcome and unexpected change from every other day of this trip. I can't say I truly took a day off or a day to myself during the ITC portion of the trip.

Beach at Langland Bay

Looking down at Langland Bay on my way to Mumbles Head

 

After tiring of being around the computer I decided to go for a walk, going to the east, with the intent of heading around Mumbles Head and on up into the downtown itself. I started by going down to the beach from Irfan and Farheen's place. It was at low tide and provided so much opportunity to just enjoy the sandy beach. Even got to watch a German Wirehair Pointer playing with his ball in the surf and on the beach. From there I had a great time following the trail and seeing just how rocky the shoreline was. It also had so many brambles and wild rose bushes that I can't imagine anyone would have ever thought this to be a hospitable place to try and land a raiding party.  There was also opportunity to get off the paved trail and up onto the overlooks through relatively easy climbs. I was able to even reach a spot up on Mumbles Head where I got mobile phone service and gave Steph a call. It was cold, clear, and was it ever blowing goats. Steph could hear the wind as we talked briefly (am I ever glad to have a working mobile again). I then got the chance to sit in the lee of the wind and drink a bit of coffee, enjoy an orange, and simply just be for a little bit.

Rock Garden exposed by the mid-day low tide

I even got to wear my sunglasses for the first time since Freiburg. There just wasn't much sunshine to enjoy in Brussels and by the time I would have considered pulling them out on a couple of days, the sun hid behind the clouds as if it knew that I was contemplating sunglasses.

The fingers of the tips of the bays back to the west were part of the later afternoon's trekking with Irfan and Kaivaan. The early walk, I would call it a morning walk but I didn't take off until after 11.30am, hoping to take advantage of any possible warmth that was in existence. It was great that even the daffodils were making their best effort at it in the protected areas on the hillsides. There weren't lots of them, but they did look awfully nice. This set had a protected locale being to the side of Castellamare restaurant. It had a great view of of the lighthouse from there, but it seems like scaffolding follows me everywhere. No matter what I am hoping to see it appears to be covered in scaffolding to foil my best attempts to see it the way it was finished. I stopped there as it was after 1.00pm and I wasn't in the mood for even more orange and coffee. It was actually nice to sit and have a small spicy chicken, sausage, and peppers pizza. I haven't often taken pictures of a meal, and especially when it wasn't phenomenal. It was nice and even better it was out of the cold wind.

As I sat there Irfan called and said he was able to be done at work early so we were able to get out and enjoy a walk together with Kaivaan going west toward Brandy Cove. It was a good additional five miles of hiking after the few miles earlier in the day. Again it was cold, a bit cooler yet when we hit the wind more head on, but it was fantastic enjoying the company and sharing great views. Brandy cove is past the second finger of land as you look at the center of the photo. We thought about trying to make it out to that last finger of land, but high tide was upon us and Irfan had heard that the trail dropped closer to the water's edge, so there was a chance we couldn't easily make it all the way anyway.

All in all, a fantastic day just exploring what was literally just down the lane from where I am staying. We had a simple supper at home and have been enjoying more good conversation and discussion about so many different topics.

Ah to be an American - Rant Warning

In the experiences I have had, especially on this trip, there are a few tell tale signs that apply to being an American abroad. While these could also apply to other groups, my view as an insider to the “Mericn” crowd has led me to see several interesting things.

  

Volume – We are not necessarily the loudest people, but groups of Americans are loud and distinctive. I think there is a multiplying effect of volume; each additional person in the group increased the volume two-, three-, even four-fold. Having taken the students on tours and visits, it is interesting to see the reaction of others and how quickly they recognize them as Americans. Possibly the loudest locale on this tour was the Parlementarium since they had several hundred students of all sorts of ages descend on them all at the same time, our group seemed more boisterous. I say seemed as I can’t say that I wasn’t being conscious of it as we were getting things wrapped up there.

Trust – This is not just about the students; this is about all the wonderful “ugly” Americans I encountered at Belgium National Airport this morning. In what world can you possibly think it is safe to leave your laptop, purses and carry-ons unattended at a table? They were nowhere near their stuff and I sure as hell wasn’t about to assume any guardianship duties over it. They just all took off and it was several minutes before they returned. I saw this on several occasions throughout my travels and it seemed to regularly be Americans most likely to take such a haphazard approach to their belongings. Again, I won’t say it was just Americans, but the most egregious examples of having way too much trust that people won’t wander off with your stuff. In Brussels there were regularly signs in public places warning of pickpockets and theft, yet people paid little attention.

Water – It is time to get over yourselves, you will not die from drinking tap water in Germany or Belgium or the U.K. It is amazing how long people hang on to the idea that the water isn’t of enough quality to just drink from the tap. I have even seen Americans buying bottled water and then emptying it into their re-usable water bottles. Come now, you aren’t fooling anyone and don’t dare say you are being environmentally friendly. First, do you even know what the water source is – hell it could be coming out of the tap in some cute sounding locale? Second, you may be recycling the plastic, but did you really need to buy it in plastic, just to transfer it to something else. Somebody ought to open a water bar where you can go in with your re-usable bottle and have it filled from a tap just like you would get for a beer.

Whining – I am quite jaded about this one as I encountered way too many Americans just whining and complaining at the airport about everything. It just seemed to be an extension of those same grievances most places I’ve gone. It often comes with the “it wouldn’t happen like this back home in America.” I make a point not to say anything back but if you want it only to be like America, stay in America; maybe Disney is a better place for you. There is a wonderful few that disprove this, but all too often there are at least a few. My favorites this trip “ewww there is horse poop, that wouldn’t happen back home,” “why don’t they pave over these cobble stone streets, it would be nicer to walk on, especially in my heels,” and “I need you to say it in English, I am tired of hearing things in French.” The reality check is that you aren’t in the U.S., you’ve chosen to travel abroad and you are the visitor, be nice, be gracious, be patient. The air of superiority just doesn’t suit. Even when I’ve encountered people who haven’t spoken the same language, we’ve found a way to accomplish our interactions with relative ease, ending with a smile and a knowing nod of recognition that we made it work. The students have been pretty good, but they have their moments of this and I think it has more to do with the fact that they are with their fellow students for the whole semester than with an continued overall orientation. I also was blessed by the fact that I caught up with them after they had been over in London, Berlin, and Verona already.

Need versus Want or Would Like - I am very attuned to how much we, as Americans, use the word need inappropriately and unnecessarily. It is funny that what I have come to find that almost always when traveling the start of the sentence "I need . . ." is accompanied by an American accent. I have started to hear it a bit more from younger Brits and Aussies, but it is such a clear give away that you are the foreigner. It could only be more stereotypically American if you started pouting and crossed your arms in front of you as you said it. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identify what is necessary for life and your "need" for a tourist waffle or frites or to have someone speak English is not a dire thing that you will die without having happen. Time to take a bit of a chill pill here, it goes back to being nice and friendly. It is amazing how much better response you receive when you use a phrase like "I would like...".

Merci, danke, s'il vous plait, bitte, bonjour, guten tag, au revoir, and tschuss - Even if not fluent in the native language, it will never be a bad thing to learn at least some basics. I will be the first to admit that I didn't do that well enough my first time in Paris, but have since learned a lot about just how far it gets you to put forth a little effort. While you may not be able to say anything else in the language, I have always gotten a positive response by just providing a greeting in their language. They typically know just from the way you pronounce it that it isn't your language and often they were simply kind enough to switch to English. At worst you ask if they can say it in English. If not they can't it becomes fun to try and navigate the interaction. My German is more rusty than the ancient fence gate that hasn't moved in decades, but over the course of my time there it slowly came back to me in fragments, more being able to understand what they were saying and being able to provide simple replies. Being in these countries should be all the motivation we need to consider freshening up any language skills we may have. I can easily identify that my biggest struggle was switching countries and languages. Day one in new places has led me to speak in the wrong language so often. Even arriving in the UK yesterday I was still slipping into using merci and bonjour without thinking about it. We'll see if that has abated today.

Starbucks - I know Starbucks is comfortable, it is familiar, and often has wifi freely available, but there are many great independent coffee shops in Europe that would love to have your business. Truth be told, it has to be the wireless being freely available that keeps people going there. I will admit that when I first landed I stopped at one because it was the only coffeeshop I could find at the Frankfurt Airport train terminal. I wanted to ensure Steph that I was on the ground safe and was on my way to Freiburg and I didn't have phone service so that became my conduit. Students in the program often went to the Starbucks and bought things just to be able to justify using their wifi for a while. If they had simply spent that money for wifi at the hostel they would have had continual access without riding the tram for half an hour. I searched for coffee shops based on quality rather than wifi so Ken and I spent several afternoons in Freiburg at a place called Ruf's that had been around since about 1900. They had very nice Italian style coffee. In Brussels it was a place right on the Grot Markt and it always had just a small smattering of people, never very full at all called Aroma. They were very kind at both places and had no problems with us just hanging out and talking.

Sometimes It Is The Little Things (In No Particular Order)

Attachment – It is curious indeed that there are things you think about getting rid of and those that you should get rid of, but they hang around. In my case I came on this journey with the intent to purchase a new gore-tex style jacket, quite hopefully from Jack Wolfskin. As it turns out my blue Marmot coat is still with me and will continue to be with me until it decides that it has had enough. I have been through driving rain, sleet, snow, hail, and even a spilled cup of coffee and it has weathered as well as it did on day one. It has become extremely comfortable, I know all the ins and outs of the jacket, and for the students it fit right in as Ken also had a blue outer coat. I can’t lie, the decision was made all the easier by the even higher prices for this type of jacket in Europe.

            On the other side are my shoes, two of the pairs don’t have great tread left and have given all they can. Even so, they made the train ride up to Brussels from Freiburg and they are now getting ready to make it back over to the U.K. For one pair, I think these are hanging around just because there is room for them rather than a true lingering attachment. For the other they hang around because they have been go-to shoes for so long. Even now they are the ones I am wearing for the relaxing portion of my journey. I think the first pair is likely to go if I can find the right bottle of single malt to bring back. The second is likely to remain around for the return trip.

Good Breakfast – It is amazing how one’s outlook improves with the right breakfast. Yesterday for the first time in Brussels there were scrambled eggs offered. Even though the weather was a combination of sleet, snow, and high winds, the outlook for the day was bright and encouraging. Over the past week I have gotten used to having strawberry or cherry yoghurt mixed into granola and a croissant. It has been nice and easy, but having eggs was just such a great change. Our place during the past 8 or 9 days just wasn’t close to any breakfast place, so we just put up with it. In contrast our place for the weekend was a little more central and the breakfast was just right. I don’t think it hurt that I didn’t have a major day planned, but the eggs were definitely a welcome change.

Quick Metro Connections – The slowest train/tram/subway connection was actually this morning on the way to the airport and I will discount that one as we have over an inch of snow and based on the long trip into Brussels I was happy that it was just 8 minutes delayed. Every other time in Brussels, and even in Freiburg, our connection times between rides was five minutes or less. The number of times that I got off one train/tram and went to the other track to just walk onto an awaiting train was stunning. It felt good that it happened that way and I can either attribute it to a great deal of continual luck or I can say that things were efficient. If that was the nature of the good luck here, so be it, but I’m not inclined to think that as the case.

Walkability – Even with the prior statement about good connections, most of the time was spent walking. I have been going all over the place on foot. There are a good number of days where I came back to the hostel or the hotel just wanting to kick off my shoes and just raise my feet, but often there was enough time to freshen up, relax for a little bit, and then go out in search of dinner. That was much more the case in Brussels since our meals weren’t provided, and it was difficult to find a meal that was not overly expensive. It was a journey unto itself every night. Needless to say in both of these places food was such that it was necessary to keep walking about. I got a very good sense of both cities over the time I was here, although in all honesty I saw much more of Freiburg as it is smaller, than I saw of Brussels. In the latter I remained mostly within what would be considered the old city, and while that is sizeable, it still wasn’t as far and wide because it is now a sprawling urban area with a population similar to Minneapolis – St. Paul.

A One Bag Life – I have been living out of my 60 litre duffel back the whole time and even today when I checked it at the airport (thank goodness it was a partnered flight with United – no bag check fees) it weighed only 13kg. I have had students send home that much and more in the way of souvenirs and other junk. In fact on Friday there were about a dozen students who had 8kg boxes full of stuff that was going back home from Brussels. A good number of those same students also sent a similar sized box home from Freiburg. I could actually add even a bit more to my duffel and still have it close easily and comfortably. I do also have my computer bag, but I purposefully chose one that was a bit thinner so that I couldn’t put too much in it. Going back to my original point, I have gone comfortably through the past three weeks with just 4 pairs of pants, 3 dress shirts, 2 quarter zip pullovers (one being fleece), 4 tee shirts, and 3 pairs of shoes. It all easily fits in the duffel, along with a whole bunch of my work stuff. I think the only down side is that I would like to have something else to wear once in a while. It is a fleeting thought, but it does come up from time to time.

Technically it is two, counting the computer bag. Still just one bag of clothes.

Laundry – Funny how good it feels to have fully clean and laundered clothes. In Freiburg I was doing regular mini loads of sink laundry, hung out to dry on the carabineer cord. This worked pretty well but the laundry sheets were never guaranteed to be thorough. On our day off last Tuesday we found a local launderette and finally got a full washing of the clothes done. I have savored every little bit of these clean items throughout the week. I can even identify that I have one clean tee shirt and a fully clean pair of pants that I have not worn since laundry, saving it for that needed moment. The students were driven nearly to panic in Freiburg that there was no laundry in the hostel. A number of them wouldn’t consider doing sink laundry, even though it works when needed. They ultimately had to find a laundry service in town because there wasn’t a readily available launderette. In Brussels I’m not sure any other guests at the hostel could have done their laundry during the length of our stay because the students always seemed to need to do more laundry.

Last Full Day in Brussels

It is amazing to think that just three weeks ago I was arriving in Freiburg to teach the class for the International Traveling Classroom. Tonight the group meal marks the end of my time with the ITC group and the only thing that remains is to grade two sets of papers. The final has been given, graded, and in an ideal situation will be returned tonight. I say in an ideal situation because I would love not to have to travel with these exams as well.

The plan for the last day is actually a simple one - finally head out to the Atomium and take a short visit there. Stop by the national stadium to see if I can find the plaque showing respects to the Heysel Stadium Disaster. Finally a wee wander down to the local brewery for a tour and a tasting. With all of that done it will then just be a simple matter of the group meal at Chez Leon. I suppose my arm could also be twisted for one stop into Delirum Tremens on the wander back after dinner, maybe. No late night tonight, got to be off and running by 6am tomorrow.

Ken did a great job getting us to a different hotel for these last couple of nights. It may take an extra five minutes of walking to get to the train station at an "oh my god it's early" hour tomorrow, but this place is definitely worth it. It is just too bad that there was a medical conference in town last week because the room prices prior to yesterday were crazy, stupid high.

I figure I have some slow time later today and will get things caught up on what the rest of the week was like here. Brussels is slow to grow on you, it just doesn't quickly embrace you. Ken and I were talking that we were finally feeling like we were getting more of a sense of at least the old town elements of the city. It still has a fair number of rough edges, especially during the night time, but it is definitely a place to experience.

Lovely Bruges

Sunday we did a full day excursion with the students to Bruges, giving them an opportunity after a few days in Brussels to experience a very different type of city. The train ride was just over an hour through lovely Flanders countryside. We had a guided tour for a couple of hours describing some of the main character to the city and Pols did a good job leading us along and keeping us involved. We were well ahead of their tourist season, and being a Sunday most of the shops were closed, so it wasn't as busy and crowded as I am sure that the place can be as they get to May and June.

Minnewater

Overall Bruges has such different character from Brussels. The difference in population is definitely part of it, Bruges has only 1/10 the population of Brussels and inside the old city there are only 20,000 living there. We focused our attention on the old city and the differences were quite easy to spot. Bruges has retained most of its green space around the old city moats so there is a feel of nature really holding its own as appreciated element in the city. After the tour of the city up to the city center we were left to our own desires. We just wandered for a little bit before deciding to head back down to Minnewater (a southern part of the old town) to have a lovely slow paced lunch of more traditional northern Belgium food. From there we went up to see Michaelangelo's sculpture, but unfortunately it wasn't available due to the renovation of the cathedral. I would say that was the one real disappointment on the day. It is apparently the only sculpture that left Italy during his lifetime and wasn't initially intended to leave the country either, but a wealthy family from Bruge had been in Italy and saw it for sale and brought it back with them.

Today was a choice between an afternoon climb of the Belfry steps or a tour of the only remaining brewery in Bruges. For the group the tour of the brewery won out and it was fantastic. The guide for De Halve Maan Brewery was wonderful and had a wry sense of humor. It took us through the old part of the brewery and just a few brief glimpses of the modern brewery. Part of what truly makes the brewery unique is that it had been a family brewery, then been sold to one of the conglomerates and it was the decision of the family to buy it back a few years later based on their view of how things were going under the more conglomerate model. The picture at the start of the entry actually comes from the roof of the brewery, giving a wonderful panorama of the old town. They did include a nice full pint of one of their beers at the end in a very nice restaurant space.

The Belfry is iconic, but I didn't feel the complete need to climb it. There was that urge, but it was nice enough just seeing it and enjoying the surroundings. Although if given the chance to go back through, I'd be climbing the 366 steps to it. We were also on the search for a specific chocolate shop that Ken remembered from his trip here in May. We finally had to give up trying to find it and as we had given up, we found it one block further on, but as expected on a Sunday, it was closed. By this time it was nearly 6pm and we stopped for a waffle on a street corner, which ultimately became dinner on Sunday. It was excellent and warm and only the second one I had enjoyed since being here.

We had one last stop I wanted to make and that was the Western Gate into the city. The history of it is that there was a traitor who did not close the gate one night, leaving it open to invaders. He was beheaded and they hung the skull from the gate as a reminder to others of the possible effects of not ensuring the security of the town. Today it is a metal cast of the skull, but the facade facing out of the town gave the prettier view and that was what I included here.

As we walked south back toward the train station it began to rain on us again a second time on our trip here. It rained harder and harder, finally turning to hail as we got close to the train for the trip home. The trip home was quiet, but we did have a group of students who we joined up with for our return journey. All in all it was a fantastic day in Bruges. A number of students have said it is a place they would enjoy staying for a few days, just based on the size of the city, the history of it, and the pace things occurred. A successful trip indeed.

What's the Fascination with Peeing?

Brussels has all of the major urban hustle and bustle, where things seem to always be moving at speed. It has now been a full week that I have been in the city and nothing has changed the view that there is little to slowing down and relaxing. The snow had melted away at the weekend so it is into the low 40s during the day, often a bit blustery, and down into the low 30s at night.

The following is the wrap up of the past week:
Wednesday - Ken and I started on working to get our bearings of the place. He and I are both compass-driven just as much as map driven so getting around has been quite reasonable. We met at the hostel and Sabine, the manager, is quite good to work with. We got all of the questions answered and she gave us a full tour of the place, including the rooms that the students will be occupying. We then spent the requisite time at the information centers, the one for Brussels itself as well as the one for the northern, Flanders, region. We then enjoyed a bit of a wander around the central part of town, taking in the sites, ensuring that we got Manneken Pis out of the way early. Now they also have Jeanneke Pis and Zinneke Pis, and add to that the fact that there are tiled Space Invader art pieces all over, many of whom are also peeing. It is a true peeing epidemic in Brussels and the worst part is that there are no sexy or unusual bathrooms for any of this behavior, it is all just a bunch of Wild Peeing (public urination). Ken's brother also arrived so we split up in the afternoon and met for dinner, having a semi-authentic Belgian dinner at in the restaurant district. We now definitely know just why the city is an expensive place, if you don't go with the fixed menu you might just get soaked on cost.

Thursday - Ken, his brother Terry, and I met again at the hostel and Terry and I went out to get a feel for the E.U. part of town and tour Autoworld, which was to be part of the student experience. The E.U. is a nice area, lots of glass buildings, and unfortunately lots of offices for lobbies of all sorts. The students will get a sense of how and why the E.U. was created by going through their Parlementarium on Wednesday. From there Terry and I made our way up to Autoworld, and it was indeed a bit of an up hill walk. The Cinquantenaire is a lovely area and eastern side held the museum. It is a fantastic museum if you love old cars and the development and history that took place. It did get scratched from the list of student visits because I don't see all of them fully enjoying or appreciating what they are seeing. We came back and had lunch as Les Brasseurs, where Ken and I ate for Wednesday lunch. It just happens to be a true microbrewery right on the edge of the Grand Place. We came back up to the hostel to meet up with the last of the students checking in and dropping their take home midterms with me. We then went for a more classic British Meal at the Six Naitons, with some wonderfully well prepared lamb.

Friday - Bike tour of Brussels. This was a great time overall and took a little over 4 hours. The morning started with snow flurries in the air and a good bit of cold to work in as well. We stopped by the overrated long-time wizzer, then when further south to the justice building before heading east over to the E.U. and then back over to the Cinquantenaire after stopping at a place for frites with any number of sauces added for good measure. The one thing the students want to go back for is something on the menu called "cheese crack". From the Cinquantenaire we headed back past the palace and through a couple of parks on our way back. Everyone made it through great, although it is not the most comfortable of places to ride with the close distances with high density traffic patterns. After it was over Ken and I stopped at a small coffee shop. We found one we liked in Freiburg, and now have ours to enjoy in Brussels. In fact I spent Saturday morning there grading papers and will probably spend some time there tomorrow grading midterms. After that we caught up with Terry and figured out our dinner plans, this time it was Iranian food at a restaurant called The Caspian. It was quite lovely in a small street back away from the Grand Place.

Backpacking Duckman was on the bike route. I think I was the only one to stop and photograph him.

Saturday - As I said previously I spent the morning grading so that students could get back some papers. The afternoon entailed 3 hours of class, focusing on issues of urbanizaiton. As part of the class we watched a great new documentary on the topic called "Urbanized". In all truth after such a long day we tried to keep things simple, getting back to the hotel for a bit before going out for Indian. In all truth I have spent very little time shopping or browsing, have only poked my head into a couple of chocolate shops, but mostly it has been about the classwork. This has been all the busier trying to juggle this class with the three going on back home online. It was not a great night at the hotel as there was an irate guest around 11pm and the police had to be called. Things were safe but it was a bit disconcerting to have all of that happening and the loud groups of young kids.

Sunday - Bruges day. We took a morning train to Bruges and spent the entire day in town. I would be perfectly happy commuting by train to Brussels from there for the remainder of my time here. It has such a different vibe and I will talk about it more in the next blog entry. We kept it low key, trying just to wander around and enjoy ourselves. We didn't get back until about 8pm that night so we had about 10 hours in town to wander and explore.

Today - Six hours of class today, three in the morning and three in the afternoon. Needless to say I didn't get out to enjoy the fantastic warm weather much. I did run down to a grocery a few blocks south to pick up some goat's cheese and bread for lunch. I did though manage to spill nearly half of my travel mug down the back of my coat this morning, so I knew it was going to be a brilliant day. Of course that was brought home by the video I wanted to show them on Darfur not working and even more by the fact that the computer network back home wasn't working properly just on the day that my students in a class back home had to take their midterm exam. Grrrrr. Not a happy day by any means. Thank goodness tomorrow is a day off and I will do laundry after breakfast.

Brussels is quite the expensive town. Meals just aren't cheap so I keep heading back to the grocery to get some things. I'm getting best value there, 10 clementines for 2 euro and fantastic herbed goat cheese for less than 2 euro. Don't expect to go to a restaurant and spend anything less than 15 euro, just for the food and some sparkling water 18 euro seems to be a going rate.

So hard to believe there are just 3 class days left and two of them are wrapped up in tours and museums. Thursday morning I have my last class period for 3 hours and then the final exam is in the afternoon. This whole thing will get wrapped up before spring break is truly over. That said I am looking forward to spring break plans of catching up with friends in the U.K. starting Sunday afternoon. Back to the high intensity grind tomrrow, even with it being an off day for the students. I'd love to get out to the Atomium tomorrow, but that may have to wait until Saturday. I'd also love to go back to Bruges for one more day wander, but I only see Saturday as the possibility for hat and I need to come back to pack up in order to be ready to get out to the airport early on Sunday for my flight. I'll do all I can, but the work is definitely driving what gets done.

Made it to Belgium - Finally

Greetings everyone. It has been a long and interesting day of travel. Amazing what a little snow can do to that much vaunted German efficiency. I reached my hotel for the next couple of nights at about 22.15. We left the hostel in Freiburg at 9.45 this morning and had an 11.50 train to Frankfurt. Well . . . turns out that as we reached Karlsruhe it was snowing, then as we kept going north it was snowing more. Moments before disembarking at Frankfurt the announcement says that those headed to Bruxelles (Brussels) should now stay on the train until Cologne as that is now where you will pick up your connection. Fortunately I can admit that my very bad German did me well in that respect or we would have been stuck in Frankfurt.
Another hour on the train and we reach Cologne, realizing we came into a different station than our connecting train and we have no more than 20 minutes to get to that train at the central train station. We get there and find out that our train isn't leaving, in fact - Zug fallt aus! (train is cancelled). It couldn't have been good even in German as they used an exclamation point. No problem, we just need a new plan now. From Cologne we take a train to Aachen, from Aachen we take a smaller train to Welkenraedt. From there we take a short connector to Verviers. It is only in Verviers that we readily identify that we are in Belgium. Truth be told, we entered the country just to the west south west of Aachen. To backtrack to the snow, there was maybe 2 to 3 inches of snow in Cologne, less than that in Frankfurt, by Aachen there was about 4 to 5 inches and in Verviers there was also about 5 inches of snow. The first train from Verviers to Bruxelles was cancelled, although the Belgians were not as helpful telling us this until the sign on the platform just turned off. Now we have nearly an hour in Verviers, hoping that the next train at 7.38pm doesn't cancel the same way the one at 6.38pm did. The very nice German we were talking to summed up the long day well - "if this train cancels I am taking the train back to Aachen and some true civilisation." He may not have been a huge fan of the Belgians.
Well the train does arrive and it is a slow local train up to Brussels. We reach Brussels Nord at right about 10pm after so many stops at small places with snow covered platforms that look as isolated as the shot of William Macy's character in Fargo looking out over the empty parking lot. Very few board and even fewer disembark at each of these stations. Ken and I are at two different hotels these first two nights as I actually had considered getting to a Champions' League match tonight or tomorrow night in Germany. As a result, when plans changed it meant that he walked down to his hotel and I took a taxi over to mine. It is a nice clean little cozy single room, with all of one outlet and very little lighting. I just don't look forward to packing up on Thursday to move to the other hotel, but hopefully there is more there as far as restaurants. There is nothing immediately in the vicinity so I am in my room eating Hobbits and drinking water. Ok I was eating Hobbits, they are all gone now, but they had a good crunch to them. (We got them from the hostel in Freiburg as part of our pack lunches and can hear nothing but Golem when we say the word hobbittizes.)

My first pack of Hobbits, taken through the Black Forest to Freiburg Altstadt, overlooking the Munster.

I know, whinge, whinge, whinge, or whine, whine, whine, either way it sounds so tough having to endure a long day of travel, when the original trip, including single connection was only to be five and a half hours in length. Let me offset my griping with a very wonderful highlight. In Cologne we were able to take a little bit to enjoy the splendor that is the Cathedral (but it was less than an hour of free time, so it was gawking from the outside). That alone would have been worthy of calling it a major plus to the day, but there is more. I was able to have a Kolsch bier on tap at the train station, which is still technically under the shadow of the cathedral. It was a wonderfully joyous thing, so fresh, so light, and so easily drinkable. I only had a 0.2 liter glass as we didn't have much time, but there is even another wonderful aspect, the free WC. The WC in the station was 1 euro per person. I spent 1.60 euro on the bier and both Ken and I were able to use the facilities. Thus by having a Kolsch in Cologne, under the shadow of the Cathedral, I saved us 0.40 euro by making sure I had a bier.

P.S. - I do want to write a bit about the Schwartzwald, but it will have to wait for tomorrow. I think a few more papers graded and a good night's sleep are my immediate future. Be well all!

Reflections on the Football Match

Saturday afternoon we took the students to SC Freiburg versus VfL Wolfsburg. The most immediate concern we had was the only tickets that were in the budget were those in the terraces. Having not been to a match in Germany I hadn't known what to expect with standing on the terraces for the game, especially with 24 students in tow. One great up-side of the hostel is that the stadium is immediately across the river from us. It meant that we had all of a five minute walk to the match. The atmosphere was becoming electric hours before the match as people were entering the stadium over 2 hours before the game was even scheduled to begin. Our choice was to go over an hour before the game and find spaces to squeeze into the stands. The number of bikes parked outside the stadium was a fantastic site, but most were way more trusting than I think I could be.


Once in we let the students find a spot where they wanted to be at and let them at it. The logic of that decision may not have been the deepest, but I figured we would stand out more as a large group than as smaller groups. It also came down to a decision that there were a great number of people already there and space was beginning to be a premium. In addition to being located in terraces I was not expecting that alcohol could be readily consumed in the stadium and brought back to your location. In the final analysis, the alcohol was not a major issue in the stands and there were not obvious examples of rowdy or aggressive behavior. That was actually refreshing to see as my vision is that the combination of terraces and alcohol drenched fans is not an optimal situation. The terrace opposite us, the north bank, was the much more raucous area to be in, and was vocal and visible throughout the match.


Freiburg were fast out of the gate, scoring within the first few minutes, but did little else productive as Wolfburg took over scoring a couple of beautiful goals and going in at halftime up 3-1. The second half was more evenly matched, but Freiburg could not easily find an opening to bring the score closer until after the 70th minute. In the closing moments with Freiburg pushing Wolfburg put the game fully beyond any grasp at 5-2. It was a great experience and something that the students talked about for the rest of the weekend. I think the biggest complaint came from the fact that many didn't come prepared for rain and it spent a good part of the first half raining down and not being caught by the edge of the roofing so those down lowest got a bit damp.

Looking reflectively back upon the experience, I am glad the students got to experience a match and that they had such a great time. I would never have thought that I would experience a game on the terraces or even be able to enjoy an adult beverage while watching a very entertaining match. It would be something I would see encouraging other students to experience. We even finished up the evening by doing a post-game cookout in the park next to the hostel that evening as the group meal here in Freiburg. The only thing that would have made the day much more enjoyable for them was to have seen Freiburg win, but most walked away with at least having a great time and scarves that they got to wave quite often during the early parts of the match.

Kermit Isn't Always Right

  This group of ITC students are a really good group and that extends to our time in the classroom. Wednesday and Thursday we were in the classroom for 9 hours and they stuck with it well. In fact, they are great about participation and discussion and today I will find out how good they are about the writing assignments. I have been quite pleased with the effort I am seeing from them thus far, having a good deal of energy even with the alternative approaches to classroom time. As always it comes down to my inability to remember names easily that is the hardest. I have got maybe about half of them right now. Somewhere in Brussels the rest will click, at least I hope.
  Kermit says its not easy being green, but Freiburg really makes it seem easy. After the three hours of class yesterday I had the students do walking tours of Reiselfeld and Vauban, both of which are very green-conscious. They are planned communities that have gone to using a lot of solar energy, rainwater collection, high levels of recycling, and efforts to reduce air and noise pollution. Both communities have been around for only a short time, approximately a decade or less. All of the effort is not only visible, but very much supported and encouraged by the city itself. It is amazing what can be done when the effort and financing is put in up front. In addition to areas that are energy neutral in these areas, there are also parts that have become energy positive, producing more energy than they actually use. While we can't speak to the long term for these communities, it is still phenomenal to see what can be done when people are thoughtful about energy consumption.
  I will also give them major thumbs up for the idea that being green and energy efficient isn't just for the wealthy or well-off. Both communities contain a mix of privately market-purchased residences and also subsidized housing. They are trying to be an integrated community and are also backing that up with trying to ensure that a sense of community is created among everyone who is living there. Very few places can be said to have such a diversity of income levels in their neighborhoods. The Vauban even has an old Roma camp on the edges, which looks like it was there prior to the development of the Vauban community as a whole. Rather than shoo them out to further outskirts of town, it seems that it has just become a part of the area itself as well. So much to be impressed with about the efforts that the city makes and I am finding that many of the students genuinely enjoyed the exploration.

Finally Up to First Day of Class

The last couple of days have been so hectic I made a decision to avoid posting to be prepared for class here and to have material up and ready to go for all of my classes back at UWRF. Before I left, I had material for my Criminology and Sociological Inquiry class prepped and set up online so that these three weeks are full of the material they need. The Deviant Behavior class was the last and it was only Monday that I was able to get the video lectures for one of the topics posted. This is all a long way of describing the fact that these aren't free days and that there is a good bit of stress coming into this situation. Vacation this is not! It really is full-fledged work, just done in a different location from where I would normally be. I was up at 6 this morning prepping for 6 hours of class today.

The International Traveling Classroom group is a good one. They are a close knit group overall and you can see the ties they have developed with each other over the last four cities. In a certain sense I am the novelty because up to this point they have only had classes from Ken. For them it is a switch and for me it is a great short term experience. I am able to have them as a small class of 22, compared to having double that number in this class when I am on campus. It is hopeful, rather than assured, but it would be nice to really have lots of discussion develop as we talk about all of the topics and connect the topics to things that are in Freiburg and in Brussels. Last night was great from the standpoint that they were already making sure to do the reading for today's class. I walked into the start of class knowing that they made the effort to read at least 2 sections of material for this morning's 3 hour class and then be prepared with 2 more sections of material for this afternoon's class.

Socially a number of them have identified how much they appreciate being in Freiburg already. Having the chance to be outside a bustling city with a natural environment really outside of their door is a change of pace for them. Even though such things were pretty readily available in Verona, here they don't even have to seek it out, and I think they are enjoying that element of it. They are already hiking the trails, wandering along the river, and exploring their surroundings. There is still also palpable excitement around the fact that we will be going to a football match on Saturday. SC Freiburg's stadium is not even a quarter mile away, in fact we can see the north stand from the hostel. My nerves about having them all there are just from the fact that the stadium has standing terraces behind each end that we are going to be inhabit for the match. I have no doubts they will be fine, but I would be lying if I didn't admit to it being on my mind a little bit.

To all of you in the Twin Cities area, and anywhere else effected by winter storm Saturn (is it really named that, hmmphf) I hope you are all safe and warm and sufficiently dug out today.

Being Nice Provides a True First

Freiburg's old town is a lovely place, but very much a shoppers paradise. I wandered around in the afternoon prior to Ken and Amara arriving from Verona. I found a fantastic little cafe serving Italian style coffee that I now cannot remember the name of, but know just where it is so I can get back again. Ken, Amara, and I set out to find dinner and being true to who I am there were two microbreweries that I had on my list. We wandered by both and then up and around the Munster before deciding dinner could be put off no longer. The slightly less expensive of the two just wouldn't free up, a sign of clientele wanting to enjoy themselves there for a while. The second, Martinsbrau, our eventual location for dinner turned out to not be second choice, but was top notch all the way.

They were friendly and the food was excellent. The kitchen itself, which I had my back to from the table, was a stage show unto itself. The kitchen was open and visible from the dining floor so you could see all of the work the cooks were doing (just one photo came out decently in the darker lighting). They seemed to have a wonderful time doing it as well. The dinner was not too bad considering I would have felt it bad form not to try at least two of their fine beers, the export dunkel and the hefeweizen. All of this was part of a standard evening, but it was upon getting ready to leave that I can bring us back to the title of the post.

We had our coats on and I simply asked one of the hosts whether it would be ok if I took a couple of photos of the inside, including the kitchen area. He expressed more gratitude for my choice to ask rather than just snap photos than I would have considered necessary. He went on to explain that it was probably the first time that he had been asked rather than the person just assuming it was ok to do. After I took a couple of photos he walks up with a small pint of their pilsner on a tray and says this is a thank you for asking. It all had been such a simple gesture and ended up with a fantastic result. There is no doubt that I would recommend Martinsbrau to anyone and everyone based on that friendly and truly gracious end to a nice meal.

Driver, on to Freiburg bitte - mini rant ahead

I am feeling the need to restate my belief that we lost something by ripping out the tracks in favor of car travel. It is funny how we remain enamored by the old west ideals but not the way so many people got out there in the first place. As I sit on the train there is something comfortable and relaxing about being able to just sit back and enjoy the trip. We are going up to 200 km/h (124 mp/h) and the trip from Frankfurt to Freiburg will take just over two hours; even with the few stops in between. There is none of the stress of traffic, bad drivers, or even the possibility of going the wrong direction (unless you get on the wrong train of course). While it could be argued that they have good motorways as well, I couldn’t be typing this or completing some of my other work if I were driving there myself. So I guess we can add the potential for additional productivity to the positive tally for trains. Heck, they even just came by with a tray of frisches kaffe for sale even though they have a bistrokarte just a car further up.

I have also liked watching the countryside rush by and being able to notice so many things. For instance, just outside of Mannheim there were a couple of little solar farms. Fenced off areas that were just filled with solar panels along side the rail line. Coming into Karlsruhe there was a neat little community garden area that had sheds and other structures that were mostly of recycled materials. I do think there were some people living there more permanently, but there were lots of garden plots laid out, with each narrow space fenced off from its neighboring space. South of Karlsruhe we now have the changing terrain with more hills and elevation differences. The hills are still snow covered, but only lightly so now, but it is also neat seeing the little communities tucked into the sheltered sides of those hills. The hills are becoming more identifiable as small mountains, with the clouds hanging around their upper reaches, obscuring a peak or two as we go.

Don’t get me wrong I love to drive. I will confess that even if we had more practical rail service in the U.S., I can’t easily say I would give up having a car. I don’t know whether it is simply the Type A personality or the feeling of freedom to go as you choose, when you choose. It is also an added bonus that you can usually get to your immediate destination a little better with a car. I think a lot of my frustration is because of the lack of an option of which mode of transportation we want to use. Just now do we see areas where trains, trams, light rail, and other options are being put back into place. If we hadn’t been so quick to rule out the value of them originally and remove the infrastructure for them, we wouldn’t have to be spending such large amounts now to put them back into place. I am also not convinced that it was simply an objective decision made by insightful, intelligent public figures. The growing automobile industry had a lot to potentially lose if the trains were given priority locally, regionally, or even nationally.

I am glad that the train ride isn’t any longer today, as I do have to admit to feeling tired. I will do all I can to stay awake until 8 or 9 tonight, but a short nap is a tempting idea. I will meet up with my ITC colleagues, Ken and Amara, in Freiburg this afternoon. It will be good to have a final destination for the next couple of days before the students are to arrive and we get ourselves down to business. The time in advance will allow me to acclimate to my surroundings and, more practically, get down to work on the online components of my classes that continue at UWRF in my absence.

Time to just get there

I toyed and toyed with the idea of staying around Frankfurt for the day seeing as the train to Freiburg is just two hours, but with the long overnight on the plane I couldn't seem to get motivated to manage it. I think the big thing was that for once I was unable to really sleep very long on the flight. On the plus side I got to watch two movies I had been hoping to see, Argo and Ruby Sparks. Both were good movies in their own ways. I can't say I saw really any of the nominated films, but the intensity and period setup to Argo was very good. Ruby Sparks, on the other hand, was just great fun, but to be honest I felt the end came too suddenly without enough set-up. The rest of the movie sets up well but it felt a little rushed toward the end.

A view of the beautiful start of the morning above the clouds. It was such a blanket of rolling clouds you just knew that down below there wouldn't be any sun to be had today.

Well I should be off to my 9.53 train to Freiburg. I just have the disappointment of saying that my first morning cup of coffee here came from Starbucks. It was the only thing I saw at the train station and it had free wi-fi. Have fun all.

One more flight

I have reached Detroit and my flight to Frankfurt leaves in 40 minutes. Technically they are boarding right now but since I checked my bag all I have is my computer backpack. I have to admit that getting off the ground at MSP came with a big weight lifted off my shoulders. I didn't get everything done that I had intended or expected, but now that I am not able to be at work in person I know there is nothing more I can do about.
I will post more as I get settled into Freiburg here in a number of hours. In the meantime, to my friends and family, I hope you are all well and enjoying the first day of March. Cheers!