Recollection: Germany 2018

Many of you already know, but I got the chance to visit Germany in May 2018.

My trip to Deutschland came into existence through a program at my university. Students, in their third year, are eligible to sign up for two-week trips abroad called W’International. Of course, you just don’t sign up for a country and get to go instantly–it’s a process. A complicated process.

You have to sign up for a semester-long seminar based around the country; if you pass the seminar, you get to go. The details of signing up for this were unnecessarily difficult, so I’ll save you the headache. And honestly, because of this, a part of me didn’t even want to bother. I think I mostly did it for the heck of it.

But surprise, surprise–I got into a class!

I got into the Germany/France class, and I remember being so excited about the prospect of traveling to those countries. I’ve always wanted to visit France–because that’s where my mom grew up–but Germany had never really been on my radar. Until now.

That spring semester flew by; and before I knew it, I was boarding a plane to Frankfurt, Germany. Luckily, the airport we flew out of–Charlotte-Douglas International–has direct flights to Frankfurt; so, it was just a simple nine hours across the Atlantic.

I’m used to periods of extended sitting because my family and I often drive to visit relatives. And I’ve been in cars for 17-hours, so nine wasn’t terribly draining. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a window seat as I desired. However, it was fine; since our ETA was seven o’clock in the morning, I slept most of the time anyway. Or at least, I tried to.

Once we arrived at the airport in Frankfurt, I used the bathroom for the first time and that was wild–who knew bathrooms could be different? After the bathroom situation, we boarded a bus to the hotel. At this time, Germany’s landscape was pretty green and lush; I felt like I hadn’t even left North Carolina. But the moment we stepped off the bus and arrived at our hotel, I realized how truly annoying it would be to lug my suitcase around for the rest of the trip.

Because Europe is so old, and they don’t tear down buildings like here in the US, many hotels don’t have elevators. And if an old building does happen to have an elevator, it literally just fits one person. I’m pretty sure I was aware of this fact before the trip, but I didn’t fully understand just how much of a struggle it was going to be. The hotel we stayed at in Frankfurt had multiple stories–and we were on the second floor.

Not too bad, right? WRONG. In Europe, the first floor of a building is known as the ground floor. So, in actuality, the “second floor” is the third level. You should’ve seen the look on my face. I was shocked–and slightly irritated–that I was going to have to somehow carry my 30-pound suitcase up three narrow flights of stairs.

I mean, obviously, I managed; but the truth is, your girl is weak. It was fine once I got my suitcase to the room and settled–until I realized that once we left the hotel, I would have to repeat this situation all over again. But I had no time to wallow in my self-loathing because our itinerary was packed.

Before this first day in Germany, I had never ever walked so much in my life. I swear you would’ve thought I was training for something. We walked so much that first day around Frankfurt because we did a walking tour of the city–courtesy of my Professor. Thanks, dude. I almost died from a heat stroke, but it’s cool.

Despite the struggle, I really liked Frankfurt a lot. The city is a mixture of old and new–it’s a huge banking city, but still holds a lot of historical value presented via its architecture. It was cool to see how a city could coexist between two seemingly different worlds. I wish America did more of that. Also, the Main River (Frankfurt’s full name is actually Frankfurt am Main, which means “Frankfurt on the Main”) is beautiful.

A random little anecdote: I also got a huge bruise on the first day. We were in the lobby of the Main Tower, about to go up the stairs to some elevators that would take us to the viewing deck. But in true clumsy fashion, I tripped up the stairs (they were also glass stairs, I believe). I naturally bruise really easily–which I hate so much–and yeah, I got an immediate bruise on my lower leg. It was about the size of a baseball. And I swear, it didn’t go away for months.

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We spent two days in Frankfurt before heading over to sweet, little Heidelberg–aka, my favorite city in Germany. But before I talk about the beauty that is Heidelberg, I want to talk about two quick things–people and food. I’ll start with food.

On the first night in Germany, we had a group dinner at this cute restaurant. I can’t for the life of me remember any of the restaurants I ate at during this entire trip–I’m sorry–but I do remember that they preselected a menu for us. I didn’t have–and still don’t, if we’re being honest–any real knowledge of German cuisine. All I knew was that bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer were big deals. But none of that was really on the menu. What was on the menu was this thing called schnitzel.

The waitress explained that it was a pork thing, and I like pork, so I ordered it. I thought I knew what to expect, but what came out was far beyond my preconceived thoughts. I don’t know if there is a standard for how big schnitzel should be, but the schnitzel at this restaurant was huge. Like, so massive that portions of the meat went beyond the plate. I really should’ve taken a picture of it.

Anyway, the schnitzel was rather surprising; however, nothing surprised me more than the people of Germany. I’ll be frank: everyone was so attractive. Not only do the people here dress impeccably well–it’s definitely a European thing–but they just look so good. Everyone was so tall and well-groomed; I was shooketh. It was like I was walking amongst models.

My American self could never.

But the crazy thing was that everyone drinks…a lot. You have to pay for water in this country. Water is more expensive than beer and other alcohol. Germans only drink alcohol at restaurants. And people smoke like crazy. Therefore, how do they stay so fit? How do they look so good? Someone, please explain this to me because it’s been almost two years and I am still not over this.

My favorite city that we visited was Heidelberg. The unfortunate thing was that we were only there for one night–cue the tears. And the day that we were there, it was raining cats and dogs. However, despite the pouring rain, I totally fell in love with the place. Even though it is a smaller city–more like a town than anything–there was so much to do and everything was within walking distance of our hotel (which also did not have an elevator). There were so many cute little bars and restaurants. I wish I had more time to explore; and if I ever go back to Germany one day, Heidelberg is a definite stop I have to make.

After the night in Heidelberg, we made a pit stop in Mannheim. To be honest, we were only in the city for a lecture–the trip wasn’t all fun and daises, kids; we were there to learn. This area was pretty…desolate. But we did stop at the university there, which–plot twist–was the school my best friend ended up at during her study abroad trip a year ago! What are the odds, huh?

And although the University of Mannheim was kind of cute, I was ready for the next portion of our trip.

Our next, and final, stop in Germany was Stuttgart. Since we were going to be in the city for a few days, we actually got subway cards to travel with. And that was a lot of fun. I quite liked using public transportation here, and I thought it was really easy to use. Of course, when it comes to checking tickets and passes, Germans are super strict. Luckily for me, I never got into a sticky situation.

We mainly needed subway cards because our hotel (this one had a big elevator, thank God) was a little outside of the central part of the city. Speaking of the central part of the city, Stuttgart was really pretty too. There was also a lot of shopping here–there was literally an outdoor mall–and many of my classmates took advantage of that. However, the clothing stores weren’t the best thing about Stuttgart. The best thing was the fact that there was a grocery store here.

I’m sure there were grocery stores in the other cities we visited too, but we did a lot fending for ourselves in Stuttgart since we had an extended amount of free time. But it wasn’t the food that made me love the grocery store. No, it was the fact that I could finally buy decently priced water.

I mentioned earlier that water is expensive in Germany, and it is–if you buy water at restaurants. That was probably the biggest “culture shock” for me; the fact that one had to pay for water at a restaurant. And the water you paid for was so so so small. It would come in a miniature glass bottle and cost five euros.

No wonder Germans drink beer instead.

And if people do drink water, it’s the sparkling stuff. All I wanted was normal water, which everyone refers to as still. Your girl was dehydrated, so that’s why I was obsessed with the grocery store in Stuttgart. Every day we were in Stuttgart, I had to stop by the grocery store to buy water. Not going to lie, that water saved my life.

So, kids, don’t take water for granted. You never know when you’ll have to pay five euros for some.

Buying affordable normal water was definitely the best part about Stuttgart, but what was also great was the car museums we got to visit. I’m honestly not too into cars, but The Porsche Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Museum were actually super cool. After getting to sit inside a Porsche, I really wanted one. And I normally don’t care for sports cars.

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All-in-all, I was pleasantly surprised by Germany. The country is gorgeous, the people are quite nice, and the food is okay–I just really missed rice, but that’s a personal issue. I also never fully grasped the German language, but I now realize that I really didn’t use the minimal German I knew. Whether that is a good or bad thing, I’m not sure.

However, my lack of German is fine because I got to use my intermediate français when we crossed the border into France for the second half of our abroad trip (which will come in another post, so keep an eye out for that).