„quadratisch. praktisch. gut.”

apparently all the other classes had an organized trip to the Ritter factory except us. Jessica wanted to get gifts for all her chocolate-lover friends and i thought it would be a lot more colorful than touring a brewery, at least.

apparently we still missed out on the chocolate museum. we thought a factory tour was something else that would cost more money. either way, we found a pretty kick ass art exhibit. natürlich, it was based on squares.

[rotating sphere made of squares]

yeah, yeah, squares are the easy way out. there's tons of stuff from fore like Malevich and what not, but i still enjoyed it immensely. every time you turned your head there it seemed like there was a composition of geometric shapes; formed from squares, though not necessarily making squares.

i also got really slack on my editing because of all the black and white. i think i need to take a break from the blog photos and do some serious work on ones to send as postcards.

[painting with angles based on π]

the squareishness reminded me of M.C. Escher and how mathematical he was. note: my references on similarities between things are very vague, just a product from my train of thought. you can see how far that has gotten me. *rolls eyes at self*

the chocolate shop at Ritter was no Willie Wonka experience, but all the colors were fun. if you're not familiar with Ritter Sport, all the chocolate bars are in squares and the different kinds are distinguished by different colors. my favourite: dark chocolate with hazelnuts. though, i decided i would buy something new from the factory. check this out, white chocolate filled with peach and passion fruit jogurt. crazy sweet. almost an overload.

[inbetween the museum and the chocolate shop]

also, check out the building in the album. pretty freaking amazing. i know, TONS of squares. everywhere. when does one call it over-thematic? i guess the squares are so square that they go with anything. okay okay, i'll stop.

on the walk back to the bus stop there was a random comical fountain. enjoy.

der Schwäbischen Alb

minor Exkursion time! much better in a smaller group. it was basically the same size as our classes, but with new faces to talk to.

Bad Urach was the town where Graf Eberhard (ie: Eberhard-Karls Universität) was born. teeny tiny. BIG church. we hiked up to some waterfalls. very beautiful. not Bridal Veil Falls, but very nice. it was great to be out in the woods, fond memories of many many hikes. i found my teacher for the next course and one of the Tutorium, Clemens, is getting ready to spend two years in Eugene, Oregon. later, he and i had a pretty long discussion about microbrews.

meh, you get the 'picture' that it was just another activity for interaction. successful. here are some PHOTOS.

[playing with water at slow shutter speeds]

following the falls was another hike up to some castle ruins (every town has them, on top of a hill of course). i can't complain too much about the steep hikes. the view is always worth it. we were especially lucky because initially it was supposed to rain all day. die Wolken in der Himmel made the feeling even more dramatic.

[some of our crew on the edge of the ruins]

this place was very peaceful. it kind of reminded me of St. Louis and the Arch. i am still amazed at how that structure can be plopped in the middle of a city and have the same effect. one cannot ignore the history attached to ruins. Germany still has a lot for me to unlock while i am here.

wo ist mein Kabel?!

so, i happened to find some unedited photos on my portable harddrive. for lack of aktuell fotos, here is a tidbit from a roadtrip to Dallas, TX this past April. the Society for Photographic Eductaion had their national convention there during a regular school week. our university had a scholarship that paid for your plane ticket and hotel, but of course we only have money for four undergrads and four graduate students. in short, my buddies Bayardo and Nick were with me in saying "oh well, we're still driving!" and so we went on our merry little way for 20hrs.

i don't know, maybe there is something about being around so many other photographers, but i wasn't feeling too in to it. hence, these photos never really got any attention. shows you have desparate i am to get you pictures from Germany, eh?

ein sehr sehr lang Tag

week2 = big trip to Bodensee. big trip = waking up at 5am to meet the bus at 6:15 and not getting home 'til Mitternacht. not to complain, but i'm not a huge fan of group trips like this. you get all rushed and stuff. still, it was fun.

[morning fog]

first stop was old castle ruins. we had breakfast here on top of a hill looking down on the country side. the morning had a nice bit of fog going on, but by the time we had the nice aerial view, it was all gone. breakfast was nice. waiting a two hour bus ride for it was pretty painful. add 20 minutes on an incline. i ate two bread rolls with cheese, a pint of Joghurt, a Banane, a Bretzel and a cup of OJ, Milche and Kaffee (separately). sehr hungrig!

i didn't get the chance to walk around much, because i thought we were supposed to be hanging out together and would then have more time. nope. breakfast, group picture and then back down the hill. we spent an equal amount of time waiting on everyone to use the bathroom.

[Frühstück at Hohentwiel]

stop two: Konstanz. been here before. very beautiful. the architecture is quite stunning. didn't get a lot of pictures of the stuff i like because we had a group game of treasure hunt taking us to certain points. my group got distracted at die Kirche and took the time to walk to the top. by then we had to find a place to eat before meeting with the big group for the boat ride. let me just say, i love Italians! there is never a dull moment with Alice (ah-LEE-chey), Giorgio, Gianluca, Erika and Dario. fast forward to the bus ride home: everyone else is tired as shit, Gianluca breaks out his cell phone and starts playing Italian electronica while we're basically dancing in the back of the bus.

[Dario, Jessica and Gianluca in Konstanz]

Konstanz brought back a lot of unwanted memories of Asshole-E. on a happier note, i realized how attached to the water i have become living eastern NC. i saw a lot of people afraid of being on a boat and freaked out about me sitting on the railing. gotta love that air rushing off the water through your hair. Bodensee is a very big lake. not the ocean, but kinda close; TONS of sailboats and there always seems to be a Zeppelin in the air. btw, Friederichschafen was the site of the first Zeppelin flight.

[the vineyards of Bodensee]

there was something about the different types of boats. i felt like i got a little glimpse of the owner's character by what type they had. i kept seeing a certain style sailboat that was always leaning rather sharply, yet the occupants looked so at ease with how close the edge was to the water. sehr sexy! where is a man to take me sailing? ...and on a Stocherkahn. ;)

[my favourite sailboat]

we then had a quick stop in Friederichschafen. i was bummed we didn't get to see the Zeppelin museum. we basically just got off the boat and onto the buses for Weingarten. there was the infamous Orgel. 6,666 pipes! Die Basilica was goregeous, but i wasn't impressed with the music, just the organ itself. i instantly felt heartache for the music building and all our amazing professors. not to mention, Colin Andrews when he used to play for my mom's church. i wanted Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" in all it's glory! i've been singing in our little Sommerchor once a week, but it's nowhere near as serious as the SoM. got to get some information on Camerata Vokalis here at Tübingen during the regular school year.

[die Orgel in Weingarten]

the next part was killer. the ride from Weingarten to the Höchsten Berggasthof (for amazing Schwäbish dinner) was through beautiful rolling hills that reminded me of PA, complete with passing through tiny little towns AND at least 50 motorcycles passed our bus! it was the perfect day for riding and there are so many riders everywhere, everyday. all i can think about is how much of my riding knowledge i'm losing. you have no idea. heartbreaking.

the last leg was pretty gruesome. from Weingarten to Höchsten was at least an hour, plus our bus got lost. then it was at least another two hours home. like i said, long day.

der Roman von Tübingen

from my very first day in Tübingen, i noticed the Stocherkähne. think of Venetian gondolas. there is a little platform on the tail end where the Stocherkahner(-in) stands, usually barefoot, and uses a very long pole to push the long, thin boat down the river. it's very shallow and hardly has a current at all. the boats have slots where you slide in a wooden plank to lean back on. just yesterday afternoon there was a group of four boats, one with a string trio playing arias for the others. amazingly romantic. wish i had my camera that moment. =( usually there are a bunch of people in the Stocherkahn with a picnic basket of food and wine, but there are more intimate moments too; a father with his kids or a man with his date.

[another class out on the Neckar]

i was elated to find that our first class Aktivität was a trip on a Stocherkahn. after the episode with Bayardo ;) i was a little nervous about bringing my camera, but it was all gravy. the Stocherkahner was having a lot of fun rocking the boat and hearing the Japanese girls in our class squeal. it seems as though they are really hard to tip, but i don't exactly know why. there's not a lot of the boat showing above the water.

[the Japanese expression of anxiety]

after riding along the Neckar, our class met with a couple other classes at the Biergarten on the river. being the first week, this was our first time with real exposure to the other classes and i really enjoyed talking with new people.

anywho, the Stocherkähne are special to Tübingen and i'm game to learn how to move them around. everyone says it is hard, but as long as it was just me, i think i could do it. it would make for a nice afternoon with any visitors (hint, hint)!

[me at der Neckarmüller, compliments of Giorgio]

es tut mir viel viel leid, aber keine Fotos

of all things in the world, how does a photographer forget the USB cable for her camera? i will add photos as soon as the mail comes. promise.

so, here i am in Germany. for a year.

i had the most awesome last night with my friends possible. didn't leave the bar until it was almost closed; had to pull myself out of one too many hugs and kisses. danced my heart out to Of Montreal while packing the last bit. got two fat hours of sleep. took a shower, loaded up my carry-on, locked the suitcase and headed out the door.

the trip was not bad. i organized my musik and photos in the four hour layover at Charlotte. the movies were good. i was occupied. most of the plane ride i spent thinking about how i wasn't thinking about things enough. perhaps i felt ein bißchen desensitized from traveling my summer away in the States. maybe i was awkward with having everything fall into place perfectly after months of anxiety from the chaotic mess it took to make this happen. it was just another day and it was so normal that i didn't know what to do.

the most miserable part was the train ride. the ICE was packed and i spent two hours sitting on my suitcase with my head resting on the wall, having to move out of the way as people tried to walk by and find seats. on the regional out of Stuttgart i managed to get a seat and held on to it with my life. actually helped a French exchange student understand the train system with my very rusty two semesters of German.

Tübingen: my suitcase is an inch too big for the lockers. this is just about the 24hour mark after minimal, drunken sleep. i have 25€ in my pocket. it is half an hour before the student housing office closes. i walk uphill two blocks with all of my things in the summer heat wearing jeans and a hat (for my airplane hair) before i decide that this is a bad idea. i turn around and go to the youth hostel. i get the key, tuck the suitcase out of my sight and plop my butt on the bed. no roommates. the brilliant high noon sunlight shines it's bratty little rays all over me. i open the huge European window that i love so much, take a shower and set out to find the nearest place to buy Apfelschörle.

i have abandoned the hiking boots for the trusty Rainbows. after a Schokoladecroissant mit meine fizzy apple juice, i proceed to walk to campus, walk around campus, find the international house, find the cafeteria, find the place i must go to the following Monday (it's Friday), inspect the bus schedule at the stop on campus, find a map, find how to get to the Studentenwerk, find out how to get to my yet ficticious dorm, plan my bus route for getting to these places, walk to the Altstadt, check out some of the shops, decide against getting a Dönerkebap, walk past the Kirche, promptly get lost in die Altstadt, walk some more to get myself unlost, walk back to the bridge where i can turn to go back to the hostel... i see a bank across the bridge, walk to the bank, set up the bank account i don't need for another month, walk back across the bridge, debate getting a Bier at der Biergarten, decide against it, walk past the hostel, walk along the river, sit at a private boat dock, walk back to the hostel, inspect the tourist brochures, go back to the room, meet a roommate, she leaves, i look at my suitcase, decide not to open it, read some of my German grammar book, look at the camera i have yet to use, read my camera book, take pictures of the room, play with the flash, make use of the cable Nick gave me, read a little more German grammar and decide that 10pm is a good time to go to sleep.

that was 'day' 1.

[view from the Jungendherberge]

insert two more similar days with more sociable roommates and lots of broken German between an American, Brazilian and two Japanese girls; complete with more getting lost on foot and double the distance getting unlost.

luckily, the first day of Sommerkurs was only check-in and a small evening gathering at a restaurant near your respective dorm. i was glad to discover that the address i used to make the bank account was indeed the address that i would stay at for the Sommerkurs AND the Akademikjahr. i had a lot more paperwork than the other students since i'm staying for the year. my dormroom is very small (just like Umstead/Slay, but no roommate) and the hallway is very dungeon-esque, but i have one big square window and all that i can see out of it is a hillside with cows.

[das Fenster in meinem Wohnzimmer]

omg, what more could i ask for? i keep the blinds shut at night, so the early sunrise doesn't wake me up and my first action of the day is opening the window wide. it is also the first thing i do when i come home. for those that don't know, i LOVE European windows. you can swing it open like a door or crack it at the top, which keeps out the rain. practicality at it's finest. yet, it seems to also make for a fine topic in a senior show. hmmm... =)

[die Kühe]

i'm still feeling normalcy problems. i have been trying to spark some emotion with nicknacks from home. nothing. there is nothing weird about being thousands of miles from my homeland. i love my friends. i would love to talk with them. i would love to hang out. but, i don't miss them. i miss giving them love, for sure. i think of them when i do things they would like to do. i see tons of gifts they would like, but i really really really have to be conscious of money over here. i'm running off of savings. fixed income. REAL fixed. actually, no income at all, really. AND the dollar is not worth as much as the Euro. oh boy.

no worries, i'll get a better idea soon. the Sommerkurs isn't a good example. i didn't realize the big difference between me and people that are only here this month. i get a bit more respect for that. feels good. i've met a few folks that will be in Tübingen with me too.

all in all, stuff goes good. i've already learned so much, language-wise AND culturally. the Sommerkurs is great for giving me a glimpse of TONS of other countries. really, every day, every moment, i learn something new. i definitely dig that! i hope this post wasn't too much; had a lot bottled up for the past few weeks. for some reason i thought this blog was worthless without photos. then i realized how much stuff i would have done by the time i actually got the camera cable. that's not including all the editing i would have to do on top of that. silly Sabrina.

i also hope the blog makes due for lack of individual contact. like i said, we'll see as stuff unfolds. tschüß!

[„Aufwiederseh'n, kleinen Koffer!“]

making the heat of the summer useful

one thing that i did not miss about North Carolina is the ridiculous temps and humidity, not to mention the FLATness! my grade school friend, Charles, thought it was an opportune time to have a water fight for his twin girls, Sadie and Ellison.

a quick history on Greensprings Park: we used to come here quite often with PVC pipes covered in foam and duct tape to look like swords and beat the crap out of each other. i mean, it WAS somewhat organized. we had hit points and such, plus certain games like Village v. Ogre.

basically the girls were our excuse for not growing up.

[Sadie]

[Ellison]

[the twins' mom, Sarah, with her twin, Courtney]

it was baby parade with my friend Dan's nephew, Sam, in with the bunch. never too young to use a water gun.

[Sam and Eva]

Sam's dad, Matt, is an instigator. you might notice in the album that the first picture is him and Katie. go figure. that is definitely how the course of events opened. in this photo, the ladies retaliate.

[Matt, Aaron's girlfriend and Sarah]

here is a very common expression the whole day. granted, one gets used to getting shot with water. i believe Garrett's face is especially agonizing due to someone filling their gun with melted ice water. it was quite the shocker. you never knew who had the cold water, so it kept things on edge.

[Garrett]

and yes, there are people older than us that never grew up. Charles' dad doesn't seem as lovable now. =)

[Eva and Jon]

all in all, it was a very fun day. we kept going long after the kids left. now, Jack and Dan have been notorious for pairing up. this is just a good example. also, Katie never chooses sides. she's basically out to annoy everyone and will turn on you in a heartbeat. poor Charles attempts to be the valiant knight against the Jack/Dan duo.

[Charles, Jack, Dan and Katie]

sorry there's not a lot to write about. i take that back. i'm just sparing you the book that i COULD write if i elaborated any more. the group dynamic is something that just can't quite be explained. insert a myriad of inside jokes that have accumulated over the 10+ years we've all known each other. i hope the photo album is even half the entertainment we had.

home sweet home?

so, here i am. back in Greenville. 3,000 and some odd miles added to my odometer, and my life (my car is a douche and resets the trip at 1,999... as me, Bayardo and Nick disappointedly found out when we drove to Dallas).

[actual mileage = 3,320]

i came back to State College from Glen Hope on Wednesday around noon. my laundry was already clean and there was minimal packing to be done. the Mikes wouldn't be off work for a while, so i parked in the Pugh St. garage and wandered around campus.

the variety of buildings is pretty awesome. i know the album may seem boring, but i was checking out all the different styles of architecture. i kind of made a game for myself out of trying to guess which department was in the building by the aesthetics of the structure. for all you Penn Staters, i tried to keep the names out of the pictures so you can try to remember them all. ;)

[Old Main at Penn State]

i only saw about half of main campus before all the solo wandering got a little depressing, so i stopped and did the touristy thing of amusing myself with all the ducks around the Alumni Center. mind you, half of campus means takes about four hours to cover, which i equal to the distance i walked in Pittsburgh's downtown.

[bunny and ducklings]

i walked around downtown a little more, found a hat shop, had pizza at The Canyon in the Canyon (where all the 'high-rise' apartments are) and discussed They Might Be Giants with the cashier. by the time i got back to the house, Mike and Mike were home. i went with Little Mike to Sarah's for a few goodbye drinks with her and the roommates, Andrew and Alex.

for some reason i am still surprised about the trail of common interests that runs through friends of friends. from Lyndsey to Steve to my 79-year-old grandmother's friends, it's all been a good time and i could easily hang out with these people on a daily basis. hopefully Facebook and all those business cards can keep some of this alive.

anywho, awesome last night with friends, filled the gas tank, good sleep and warm goodbyes in the morning. i was definitely ready to attack an 8hr drive. Virginia was hell-ish as usual, but there were no stops 'til i ran out of gas just north of Rocky Mount. i saw the traffic ahead was almost at a standstill and quickly cut across two lanes thinking 'omg, i'm too hungry to wait getting to the next exit.' then i took whatever road that was just to get away. it wasn't long before i ran into my usual route off I-95, and everything was cake.

[an average meal on the road]

Katie wasn't at the Holly St. house when i got off the Greene St. Bridge, so i headed over to my mom's to pick up my cat. oddly enough, my dad was at her house using the Internet. she came home from work to me fixing potato salad (i think i have been on a cooking rampage ever since i complained to Luke that school took up too much of my time to refine my culinary skills) and her friend Stuart came over, so it ended up being a four person dinner. i stayed talking and drinking beers with Stuart until at least 1am, took Sugi home and barely recognized that i was in my own bed.

well, that's that. i wish i could say that i learned something, but i pretty much just reinforced what i already knew. travel is more 'at home' than actually being at 'home' for me. if 'home is where the heart is,' it only makes sense that MY home is wherever my friends and family may be. doesn't narrow things down much.

oh well, time to tackle the first of my consequences from this trip.

[bugs on the front of my Bug]

for Pap

both of my grandfathers were called George. both were great men, but this is the only one i knew in person and i was his only granddaughter. yesterday my grandmother wept on my shoulder. he married her when she was sixteen. he served in World War II. he worked in the coal mines. he worked building the local infrastructure. he volunteered with the fire department for 29 years. he was the fire chief. he was town mayor. he had a carpentry shop in his cellar. he mowed the grass at the town park. he tended his garden. the last week of his life, all of his children were in his house with him, the house they grew up in.

the family loop

okay, if i finish this post tonight, i will be completely caught up! that's four in one day, thank you. my grandmother is already commenting how much time i've spent on this today. =P

Saturday evening i made sweet tea, potato salad and burger patties in a birthday celebration that the Mikes and Sarah could join me for. Tim had a week off and was in town with his college buddies, so i finished off the Arts Fest partying with them. Sunday we went for a bike ride and kicked it at Greenwood Furnace on the lake. that night was more of my cooking and a little LeBatt.

i need to head back to North Carolina soon, so i decided that Monday was a good day to make my way to Glen Hope to see my grandfather's grave. i have also been itching to drive up Wycoff Run to my dad's old farmhouse and take photos. insert long, useless discussions with photo profs.

[where my father grew up]

the farmhouse is in the tiny not-even-a-town Inez. imagine a Japanese family of seven farming in rural Pennsylvania. well, being post WWII, they couldn't own land without a sponsor of sorts. theirs died with only a year or two left on the mortgage and, since none of the heirs were willing to pick the family up, they lost everything and had to move into Coudersport.

it's easy to see from 872 and we always passed by it driving to Coudy when everyone still lived there. my dad has given me a detailed tour of the former farm many times as a young child, to the point me and my cousins would roll our eyes when him and his brothers started babbling about it. still, the significance runs deep. like i said, long discussions with photo profs. the place has a lot of baggage that i don't feel like sharing with pretentious fine art floosies just yet.

the house is pretty big and, though the roof fell in the front, the inside is still sound. there's a lot of someone's junk, hence the 'no trespassing' signs, but i still climb in the window, of course. i really wish i could have done this with my dad and hear all the stories again; maybe newly resurfaced ones. i have a notebook full of medium format negatives from that house, with tons of tales to be told.

there are some cheesy abandoned house photos in the album that have no importance to be shown on this page.

[my favourite road]

part two: Wycoff Run. this is the summertime route from my mom's family to my dad's. i've prattled about how much fun it is to Tim several times, though it wasn't a prominent memory in his bank of motorcycle rides. he left State College the same day and was headed in the direction of the farmhouse, so he asked for the coordinates to check it out. since i was so close to Coudersport, i had to stop by. my cousin Trevor is the only one still living there and his wife Jen was home, so we chatted for a bit. we really didn't think our timing would match up, but Tim texted me while i was still in town and we ate at a local place. i was very disappointed that Erway's was no longer open. everyone in the family always ate there. even so, the waitress at The Maple Leaf knew my dad. Kuratomis certainly leave a mark.

sorry, back to the road. i typed it in Google to plan my route, but a YouTube video popped up before i even clicked on GoogleMaps. you should check this out!! we only took Wycoff in the summer because the road was closed in the winter. you have to be careful in the mornings and evening due to fog.

[George B. Stevenson spillway]

going away from Inez, the spillway comes up before the Wycoff's real serious curves. Tim and i stopped here before he went off for some serious riding. not that my driving is not serious too. ;) i try not to go over 65mph, though. my theory is: i can handle 30mph over the recommended speed easily and the actual speed limit is 35, so i shouldn't get any bad surprises. fair enough, right?

[wrong-turn landscape outside Karthaus]

after a day of very fortunate events, i winged it on my way to Glen Hope without directions, a map or Garmin. i may get off track, but i know the area well enough that i don't go too far in the wrong direction. hey, i came across another beautiful area. no loss.

after this trip of so many new homes, Glen Hope is the one VERY familiar resting place. Google it. props to you if you've heard of it before. there are definitely people from the same county who don't even know of it's existence.