disalarming

It’s about time I started posting recaps of my travels. I never had the time to recap my summer trip to Europe before I took off for China, and then after I got to China I just never had time to blog anything in great detail, period. But I’m fixing this now… four, five months later. These recaps will no doubt be posted sporadically (it takes time to sort through and upload pictures!) but when I’m already several months behind in recapping what’s another month or two?

So, Europe. I stayed with a German host family (the nicest family I’ve ever met) for three weeks. During those three weeks, we traveled throughout Germany and visited France, Switzerland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. All in all, it was a fabulous three weeks.

Highlights include:

• Seeing the Rheinfall at the German-Swiss border.
• Visiting Liesl and Rolf’s gazebo from The Sound of Music in Salzburg, Austria.
• Spending a few days in Prague, an absolutely breathtaking city.
• Returning to Strasbourg, France, the city in which I did a homestay three summers ago, and remembering why I loved the city.
• Absorbing the history of Berlin, and seeing sights such as Checkpoint Charlie and the Berlin Wall.
• The beauty of Heidelberg, Germany, and visiting the Heidelberg Castle.
• Being introduced to the wonderful, delicious foods that are spätzle and maultaschen.

Photos behind the cut.

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Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

• The rules for the Autobahn in Germany would never fly in the US. Having an interstate highway with no speed limit? Oh please. That is a recipe for disaster in the States. In Germany (or perhaps all of Europe), it works surprisingly well.
• As Emma commented in my previous European cultural observations post, you have to specify for flat/still water in Germany or else you get carbonated, salty mineral water. I find this very strange, as “water” to me is still water and “mineral water” is the “gassy” stuff!
• The license plates all state which country the car is from, much like how license plates in the US say which state the car is from. It helps pass the time on long car trips to see which countries cars are from (I’ve always been entertained by license plate games). If the country is in the EU, the license plate will have an EU flag. Letters that tripped me up were E (for Spain, my guess was Estonia) and P (Portugal, PL is Poland).
• Maybe this is just a German thing, but everything here is loaded with salt. But I could also be the only one that notices it, as I’m not really a fan of overly salty foods.
• The cost of living is very expensive in Germany (and, I assume, for most of Europe; I remember France being very expensive when I was there three years ago and everyone knows how expensive the UK is). In Germany, there is a 19% tax imposed on all goods (I think, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). When I go shopping, the sale prices here are the pre-sale prices in the US!
• In Eastern Germany, they kept the walk / don’t walk pedestrian signs from the Soviet era. I was very amused by the chubby figures when I was in Dresden.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

The best: that even though there are so many countries with widely varied languages, cuisine, and culture, it’s so easy to zip over to another country and/or major city to do some sightseeing. How cool is it that you can live in Germany and say, “Hey, how about let’s go and visit Austria and Switzerland for the weekend!” Much cooler than living in Chicago and saying, “Hey, let’s go visit the Wisconsin Dells for the weekend.”

The worst: why the hell do they charge for going to the toilet here? I understand paying ten or twenty cents if the toilets are really clean and well kept, but when the toilet is smellier than a public toilet in the summer heat of NYC and I have to pay thirty cents to use it? I do not understand.

It’s hard to type on a German keyboard as the keys are different than what I am used to and I’m so busy going from place to place that I find myself checking the Internet only sporadically. I can’t believe that a week of my vacation has already passed – the remaining two weeks are sure to fly by!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

This summer is going to be the summer of me roadtripping and flying about from city to city, country to country. I’m very excited and have compiled the following countdowns to my respective departure dates:

• D.C.: 8 days
• Minnesota and South Dakota: 36 days
• Pennsylvania and Delaware: 51 days
• Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Czech Republic: 62 days
• Shanghai (WORLD EXPO!): 90 days
• Beijing: 99 days

I have been looking forward for all this travel for months. It’s been a while since I’ve done any extensive travel besides flying back and forth between home and school for breaks, so I am very excited for all of these upcoming trips!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Vegetarian Option has started a new photo project, Interpret This. The aim of Interpret This is to see the different interpretations behind a chosen concept/idea. The concept/idea is usually something that is open to various interpretations, so there is no “right” or “wrong” photo that can be taken – it’s all in the eye of the beholder, really!

May’s theme was “happiness,” and I chose this photo I took of the Eiffel Tower when I was on my France exchange trip. It was a gorgeously sunny day, and the Eiffel Tower is something I had always wanted to see. There were so many highlights of that trip, but I think one of the best photos I took was this one – oh, to be able to go back to France again!

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Last week, I posted an abbreviated list of some of the places I want to visit. Marieke commented on that post and asked, “Are there places that you’ve been to that you recommend to others?” Yes, there definitely are! I have been lucky enough to travel (and in some cases, live!) to some fantastic places, and here are some (but not all¹) of the places I would love to visit again, in no particular order.

• China
  I had been to mainland China a few times when I was little, but my favorite memory of visiting China was when I went on a two and a half week tour of the mainland in June 2008. I visited Beijing, Xi’an, Guilin, Hangzhou, Wu-Town, Suzhou, and Shanghai, and I loved each and every place. The food, the culture, the atmosphere, the people – it was all amazing, and I really enjoyed my time there. Plus, even though this will sound really corny, it was fantastic to be able to go to the land of my ancestors and get in touch with my Chinese roots as I am half Chinese.
• Tanzania
  In May 2008, I went to Tanzania for two weeks to volunteer at a nursery school. Those two weeks were definitely life-changing, and I will never forget the time I spent in Tanzania. The people were so happy, welcoming, and incredibly friendly. I’ve lived a fairly sheltered life and it was astonishing to see people who had so little be so happy and content with life; my experience in Tanzania made a huge impact on me. In addition to working at the nursery school, I went on a short safari trip and saw the most incredible wildlife – it was just like being in The Lion King!² Tanzania is a fantastic place, and I would love to go live there and work as a volunteer.
• France
  I visited in June 2007 as a participant in my high school’s exchange trip, and I loved it. I stayed in Strasbourg with a host family for two weeks, and then spent a week in Paris, and then a week in the Côte d’Azur region. France is really a beautiful place, and it was fantastic to be able to see all the famous sights of France (think of all the places in Paris alone – the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre…) as well as practice speaking French and interacting with the French teenagers that were our hosts. Hopefully I’ll be able to spend at least one semester studying abroad in Paris!
• England
  In addition to the one to France, I participated in another high school exchange trip to England in November 2007. I did a tour of London and stayed with a host family in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. Despite the bleak weather, I loved England. I saw some amazing things in London (Tower of London, the London Eye, Hyde Park, Piccadilly Circus…) and had a great time hanging out with the English teenagers and going to all the places they go hang out at. I had a great time in England; I even managed to squeeze in time to make a day trip to Wales and see Cardiff Castle!
• Hong Kong
  Ah, Hong Kong. Hong Kong, to me, is home. It’s where I was born, and I spent several years living there as well, and I try to go back as often as I possibly can. I have lived in several countries, but no matter what country I currently reside in, I will always consider Hong Kong home. The atmosphere of the city is like no other, and for me, it’s simply the place to be. There’s so much to see, and the juxtaposition of Chinese culture and the long-lasting effects of British rule is evident everywhere in the city. I love the food, the culture, the sights, the shopping… Hong Kong is home, and home is always the best place in the world.

1. Australia was one of the places I didn’t list. I love Australia, and I really enjoyed living there, but about 95% of the reasons why I would go back to Australia are for personal ones, rather than for touristy reasons, so I decided to leave it off today’s list. Still, it’s a place I highly recommend visiting! [↩]
2. I saw every animal in The Lion King, and I was lucky enough to be able to see “the big five” – lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and cape buffalo – on my safari. [↩]

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.