-Kanye West
I don’t know if this quote describes my experience in Koln (Cologne), Germany exactly, but I thought it would be nice to start out with a quote from a rap star. That being said, I did think similar thoughts when I first walked into our flat. Check it out:
Fully furnished with modern furniture and very nice beds. Washer and dryer, private parking garage (with moving floor [more on that later]), and the best part- its located directly across from one of Cologne’s famous breweries!
Maybe I should rewind a little bit. I’ve been here since last Thursday the 15th. That’s 15.05.08 for you keen on the Euro style. I had a very nice flight on Lufthansa, one of Germany’s legacy airlines. Complementary alcohol is always a nice touch (who knew everyone was ordering regular tomato juice and not Bloody Mary’s?), as well as very nice German stewardesses. “Guten Tag!”
Initially, I was very impressed with Cologne. Already I can tell it is a city that appreciates art. The design of the buildings are very modern with a few left over’s from when Rome owned the city. There is very good shopping here, I’ve been told, and I’ve seen a lot of stores that have modern furniture design and other things of the sort. There are also a lot of nice European automobiles, as well as attractive European women. Don’t worry mom- no die ehefrau yet!
Brandon and I went to Dom on the first day we got here- it is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe. Inside the big gold box are the remains of the three wise men. This is the second highest relic in the Catholic Church (I’m not sure of the first, but I have a few “ideas”) so the three wise men are all over the stained glass.
iGUS (e-goose)
We started our job at iGus on Friday. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the building right now, but let me just tell you- it’s awesome! If you are familiar with Kansas City I think the building looks similar to Bartel Hall with the large pillar- bridge-like things. Inside everything is made from gray plastic with bright yellow or orange highlights, and the workers ride around on Segway like scooters. My department is the youngest and (probably) most fun. They work with all the communication- so everything from PR statements to website advertisement.
For those of you who don’t know, iGus makes plastic machine parts like energy cables and barrings (that’s pretty much it actually). A good example is the huge moving TV screens in Victory Park (where the Mavs play in Dallas, TX). All of the cables and such that run to the TVs are housed in one of iGus’ energy chains. It is essentially an enclosure that protects the cables from the elements and allows for easy movement and flexibility. However, iGus parts are in everything from office chairs to robotic hands. They’ve won awards for their advertisement and promotional design too (go to www.igus.de to get a glimpse of the famous orange color scheme).
On Friday we also received our car for the summer. We were afraid it was going to be a small, foreign, manual transmission car like the interns had last year. Lucky for us (and probably the company) we got a midsized, automatic, Volkswagen. I’m sure we will post a picture of it sometime. I drove it home on Friday and it was quite an adventure. In Germany they have signs with a certain speed posted on the highway. However, unlike in the US where you can’t go over the posted speed, in Germany you can’t drive less than the posted speed. It’s nice to be told I must drive 120 kilometers!
CHOCOLATE MUSEUM
Our first weekend in the city was awesome! Koln really comes to life on the weekends, and in some of the shopping areas it seems to be as crowded as New York City! On Saturday, Brandon and I met up with Caroline Nixon’s cousin who has been in Europe studying. With Eva, we went to the Schokoladenmuseum, or Chocolate museum…delicious. The tour books describe this as Willy Wonka come to life, which I guess is a fairly accurate description, but without the OompaLoompas. Here we are in front of the schokoladen foutain.
I also had a four-dollar glass of water at the café. The price I’ll pay for still waser!
FUNNY STORY
So ever since I first got my passport (about a year ago this time) I’ve developed this weird thing- I refer to it as Ugly American syndrome. I hate that I have it, but I can’t help it. Ugly American syndrome can be a great number of things, but it all boils down to me being an unintelligent foreigner trying to impress the natives but making a fool of myself in the process.
The biggest symptom that I’m currently struggling with is my “default foreign language.”
Whenever I’m surrounded by people speaking a foreign language, I tend to speak in a foreign language. Luckily I don’t try to make up German words (yet), however, I don’t think the Germans appreciate me speaking broken Spanish either!
So all that being said, I pulled out my Ugly American Saturday night at one of the student clubs in Koln. This is kind of how it went….
“Hola, Me llamo Natan” -Nate to unsuspecting German girl
“Hallo?” -confused German girl
“Sprechen sie espanol? Me amigo Brandon y yo donde esta Spain” – spirited Nate
“Oh ya, *insert Spanish phrase*” – German girl clearly not buying it
“Lo siento, ich spreche kein deustch” – Ugly American Nate
That’s how I will pretend the conversation ended at least…
Well this has been a really long first entry. I appreciate you actually reading this far (if you actually did). I probably won’t have a lot to talk about in future entries, so don’t worry.
RANDOM
- The washing machine takes 2 hours and is 1/3 the size of a normal machine in the states
- I turned down a one way street the first time I drove the car
- There’s this German band, Toki Hotel, which every German thinks is huge in the states, and whenever they talk to you about music they think that you’ve heard them on American radio. I’ve yet to hear them, but tell everyone I talk to that their music is one of the reasons I came here.
- No one drinks tap water. They serve champagne in the clubs. Mineral water is carbonated and that is disgusting.
- I’ve spent a lot of money and haven’t even been here 1/8 of my total trip!
Nate
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