Spring Photo Blast

I take a lot of photos that I can't always synthesize into one post, so instead, just enjoy this mishmash!

Flowers on the Balcony

A boat named "Christa"

Sophie had a rough day. 

Altstadt

Mülheimer Bridge and Cologne Skyline

Weekend in Frankfurt

Before I started working, we had time for one last weekend trip. We decided to ride the train to Frankfurt and actually visit the city that we normally only connected through in transit. There's an ICE (high-speed) train that connects Cologne to Frankfurt in about an hour, which is very convenient. 

The city's official name is Frankfurt am Main due to its location on the Main River. It's the fifth largest city in Germany (just after Cologne) and is the financial hub of Europe, housing many of the important banking institutions. Few European cities have tall skyscrapers like the ones that are common in the US, but Frankfurt has a beautiful skyline. In its financial district, there are 14 of the only 15 skyscrapers in Germany (Wikipedia). This has earned Frankfurt the nickname of "Main-hatten." 

We did some sightseeing, went to the symphony, and even found a CHIPOTLE! It was so good and tasted exactly the same as at home. Lots of fun!

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof

Outside of the HBF

Financial District

Still a little bit of traditional German :)

Burritos!!!!

Financial District

Frankfurt Skyline

Our very modern hotel

One Year in Deutschland

I missed the exact date, but as of May 11, we have survived one year in Germany! Although I have always been interesting in travelling, Germany was never even really on my radar as a place to visit. Considering that and all things, I’d say our survival is definitely something to celebrate! Here are some reflections on the best and worst parts of this past year.

The Negative:

• Language: Hands down, the most difficult part of the transition has been the language. At first, we couldn’t even do the simplest things, like understand mail that we received, read the products at the grocery store, or understand the announcements on the bus. Even after a year and lots of German lessons for both of us, there are times when we just don’t understand what’s going on.

• Bureaucracy: As would be expected, there was a huge amount bureaucracy, paperwork, and procedures to complete during the immigration/relocation process. It often seemed like there was a separate form that needed to be filled out for everything that we wanted to do and that Germans were less likely to “budge” on issues where Americans might be more willing to relax the rules. As an example, I needed to change my bus pass subscription from one that was valid only after 9am to all day. After going to the customer service desk (where I thought it could be handled immediately), I found out that I needed to fill out a four page form (in German) and mail it to Frankfurt. I had also already missed the “deadline” for that month, so the change would not take effect for six weeks!

• Car Issues: Although the public transportation is pretty great, there are times when a car is just more practical. In July of last year, we purchased a used car. In October, the check engine light came on and we thought the car would need serious repairs. In a combination of both the language issues and bureaucracy issues mentioned above, as well as other misunderstandings, we ended up being without a functional car for nearly six months. Eventually we realized that the issue was not that serious and was able to be repaired rather easily and cheaply. As least we got a lot of exercise from walking!

The Positive:

• Cologne: I don't think we could have asked for a better city. Cologne is gorgeous, with a beautiful skyline across the Rhine River. There are a lot of activities around town, interesting sites to see, and fun restaurants to try. So far, the people that we have met have all been great and we've frequently been told that people in Cologne are the nicest/friendliest in Germany. I guess that can't really be proven, but they do seem to be down-to-Earth, happy people. The city is much larger than Pittsburgh, but is similarly broken down into smaller, distinct neighborhoods, giving it the "small town within a big town" feel. It's safe, clean, has great public transportation, and tons of opportunities!

• Traveling: While we did travel a lot while in Pittsburgh, moving to Europe has allowed us easier access to so many places. In only a 3 hour time frame, we could get to 3 or 4 different countries by train or car. On top of that, flights within Europe can be cheap (our 20EUR roundtrip to Romania) and plentiful. Six weeks of vacation time from work is sure nice too! Our travel wish list for the upcoming year includes: someplace warm and beachy!(maybe Turkey or Greece?), Prague, and Poland. 

• Overall Experience: Although there was a lot to do in the beginning and some bumps along the way, our overall experience in Germany has been pretty positive. Sometimes we'll be talking about how if we were in Pittsburgh, we'd probably want to visit Europe, but now we live here. We have so much available right at our fingertips. It's definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity to be able to dive deeper into a country/culture/lifestyle/language than what otherwise would be possible during a short visit. 

Photo Credit: Our friend, Nadia. Check out her other great photos here: http://www.nadiamianphotography.com/. 

Spring Visitors

The main reason that I have fallen behind on my blog is because we have been running around Europe like crazy for the past few weeks. Shortly after my German program finished, we embarked on a whirlwind tour: hosting six visitors over six weeks and visiting six different countries. After all of that we almost needed a vacation from the vacationing!

Our first stop was meeting up with Will’s parents in Munich. Munich (München) is the capital city in the state of Bavaria (Bayern), which is the source of many German stereotypes: lederhosen, sausage, enormous beer, etc. My favorite part of this trip was getting to see the Alps for the first time!

The Glockenspiel

Neuschwanstein Castle in the foot of the Alps

Next up, one of Will’s friends from Pittsburgh visited us for a week. We took a day trip to Amsterdam (only about 2.5hours by train), which was our first time visiting the city.. After seeing all the sights in Cologne and celebrating Easter with a picnic, we made our way to Brussels to finish up the trip.

Amsterdam Canals

The Anne Frank House

Grand Place in Brussels

From Brussels, we then picked up my parents who were visiting Europe for the first time. We visited Cologne, Paris, and Brussels with them. Hopefully they’ll be inspired to come back. :) 

Cologne at Sunset

Cologne Skyline from the Seilbahn (cable car)

Sacre Coeur Basilica

Eifel Tower

Arc de Triomphe

Belgian Waffle

Last but not least, another friend of Will’s flew to Europe and we met him in London. After a few days in jolly old London town, we flew to Ireland and drove around the Ring of Kerry. It was beautiful!

We rode in the London Eye!

Stonehenge

Rosetta Stone

Ring of Kerry

Cliffs on the Atlantic Coast

Ring of Kerry

Integration Course

Oh my goodness. The time has gotten so far away from me! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve updated anything. Things have been super busy around here and we’ve been running around for the last several weeks.

One of the first milestones that happened was that my German class ended. As part of the immigration process and to obtain work permission, I was required to attend an “Integration Course” for people who had recently arrived in Germany. The course was 600 hours long, which translated to 4 hours per day, five days per week for six months. It was pretty intensive, but it had to be in order to get us from absolutely no knowledge of the German language to a low-intermediate level. I began the class in August and it finished at the end of February. After completing the language portion of this course, we had to pass an official, standardized exam. The exam consisted of reading, writing, listening, and speaking (during a personal interview). Everyone was very nervous for this exam because if you didn’t pass, you would need to repeat three more months of class. To everyone’s relief, the exam went very well and all of my friends and I passed with flying colors. As an interesting side note, the proctor who did my personal interview had visited Pittsburgh a few times for work. Small world!

According to the CEFR, I should be able to do the following at this level of proficiency:

• Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
• Can deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken.
• Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
• Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages)

After the six-month language portion of the class, we then had to complete another month-long course called the “Orientation Course.” This class covered the basics of German history, politics, and culture. A lot of the class conversation consisted of comparisons like “We do A, B, C in my home country, but in Germany it’s done X, Y, Z.” When this class was over, we had to take another test—this one similar to a citizenship exam. Out of a possible 300 standard questions, each student was given 33. We all successfully passed this exam as well!

I am really happy that I attended this class because it gave me a great foundation of the German language. The best part of this program is that the course is subsidized by the government. Depending on financial need, the total cost of the class can range between 0 and 400 Euros (60 cents per hour!). Compare that to US college tuition prices. Many of my classmates were refugees or in some other way had left their home countries under less than ideal circumstances. This class gives them a jump start on a new life in Germany. Just try to imagine such a program existing in the US!

After finishing the class and all of the exams, I renewed my visa and recently got my new visa and work permission, which came in handy when I…..got a job! More on that to come.