Salzburg, Austria: 12.6.2014

Yahoo! I’m off to Austria. This is my first big solo excursion outside of Darmstadt. I’m pretty excited about that, and it helps to know that my destination is bike-centered. I’ve been watching the World Cup for 5 or 6 years now, and I’m really excited to see how fast these guys and girls go. The track is also of interest to me. TV flattens terrain, so the level of “gnarliness” will probably show just how skilled these riders are. But before all the bike stuff, I’m headed to Salzburg for the day to explore and play tourist.

 Loading up. We had to take a bus across the tarmac to our little plane. It was packed too, but I somehow scored a spot with nobody next to me.

 Just about there. I could see the mountains in the distance, but the rivers and greenery were the features closest and what caught my attention.

Booya! Salzburg, Austria. "Salt Fortress" and Mozart's birthplace.

I did some homework, wrote down the things I wanted to see, and felt prepared for the day. The bus to the airport was simple, and the flight was short and sweet. The airport took my face wash and lotion. Damn it. It was my fault. I had forgotten about the 100 ml maximum. I didn’t think it was a worldwide regulation, but I should have known. I didn’t get pretzels or peanuts, but I did get some good cookies with chocolate and tomato juice. Yum.

I picked up a Stadtplan (city map) and bus map at the info office at the airport because I forgot to print the map I had prepared. Luckily I did remember to bring my written notes. 1^st stop: Salzburg Hauptbahnhoff (train station.) I put my big backpack in a locker, and loaded a small bag with jacket, sweatshirt, and water. The weather was much better than anticipated. Leogang was going to be rainy, but Salzburg is far enough away that it was welcoming me with warm sunshine. It sucked carrying around warm layers for no reason, but it’s better to be prepared, right?

1^st stop: Marabellgarten. OK, this wasn’t on my list, but I was walking toward Stadtmitte when I saw an open patch of green and roses. DETOUR! Shit, it’s hot. Good think I brought sunscreen. Damn it. I lost the hat Mads gave me, so I will have to buy one this weekend. There were a lot of tourists, duh. I already get the vibe that this town is tourist central. Oh well. I’m one of them, so try to blend in or not stand out too much.

 Maribellgarten at Maribell Palace. The palace was built in 1606 and was home to Prine-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau's mistress.  oooooo. Scandal maybe?

My photo's don't quite catch the glory.

I love farmers’ markets, so I headed to one a few blocks away. I like cheese, but I’m pretty sure there are some super gross ones out there. I saw a girl sampling bits of cheese at a booth, so I followed suit. 1^st sample: Ewww, nasty! Ok, moving on. Around the corner I was stuck by an amazing scent. I had turned down the meat row and the smell of roasted meat was amazing. Maybe someone was roasting some kind of meat there on the spot or cooking something for patrons. Either way, it was amazing. I saw all kinds of blackened meat. It looks gross and burnt, but I’m sure it’s all sehr lecker (very delicious.) Even though farmers markets are all pretty similar, I still love walking around seeing all the fresh foods and random goods. It’s expensive, and I don’t buy anything, but it makes me happy to see all the other people buying goodies.

Something was smelling delicious around these booths. Some kind of meat...

Side note: I’m writing this while on the train back to Salzburg from Leogang. The scenery here is spectacular. We passed an amazing lake a few minutes ago, now we’re cruising through a canyon next to a river of teal green water. On the way to Leogang the rain was making the river muddy, but the mist hovering above was quite the scene. I tried to take pictures, but it wasn’t working. Just imaging steep cliffs with trees and vegetation next to a roaring river at the bottom. Open gouges in the hillside expose the rocky core of the region. Mist hangs just above the water’s surface and abruptly tops out a few meters above. I can imagine the water being pretty damn cold. (There are still patches of snow on the steep cliffs high above Leogang.) Now, the scene has changed. The water is a cleaner shade of green, and the sun proves summer is here. I see shades of green and gray. It’s pretty fuckin’ cool.

Seen near Residenzplatz. I gave him 50 cents, he gave me a postcard as if presenting me with a great medal of honor. I love street performers.

I didn’t really plan on taking any long tours or spend too much time in museums, but I ended up in Domplatz, paid my entry fee, picked up the audio guide, and headed into the old state house of the city’s past rulers. This building has housed generations of leaders and has been updated over the years, but now has been transformed into a museum. I saw where meetings took place hundreds of years ago. I saw some lavish pope hats and chalices (what some would today call a pimp cup.) I can’t recall many of the details, but it’s a place full of history and artifacts from the region. I spent more time than anticipated, but oh well. I’m traveling solo and not held to any strict schedule.

Amazing painting on the ceiling in Residenz State Rooms.

Inside the Residenz State Rooms. shhh. don't take pictures....

I hiked up to Hohensalzburg Fortress which worked up quite a sweat. Duh, it was hot! There is a tram that brings people up the super steep hill, but I prefer to suffer and save some dough so I walked up. I wandered around, took a few pictures, then headed back down. A tour would have been awesome, but the line was super long and waiting in lines pisses me off sometimes. I wasn’t in the mood, so I decided to move on and see some other stuff. I didn’t want to waste precious time waiting in line behind a big group of school kids. I’m full of contradictions. I take a tour at Domplatz, but don’t want to wait in line for a castle tour. Hmm. Weird. I’m glad I made that decision though. I spent that time instead checking out a couple churches and a small cemetery.

 inside a small chapel at Hohensalzburg Fortress.

 Just a cool room blocked a metal gate. I'm sure it's part of the tour I didn't take.

Cemetery at St. Peter's Abbey

The cemetery was pretty coo, but the catacombs built into the hillside was something out of an Indiana Jones movie. While walking among the headstones, I looked up and saw people looking out from window in the hillside. What? I want to do that! I thought it may be part of the castle, but lucked out when I found the entrance. I paid my 1,50 Euros (the numbers here swap commas for periods compared to how we write it. One thousand is 1.000) to the woman in the small booth, and I ascended the stairs into the hillside. It’s probably more of a cliff than hill. It’s all rock and almost vertical. The cool temperature was such a relief to the outside heat. Note to self: if I build a house in a hot location, use walls 2 meters thick of rock and concrete.

 I think Indiana Jones was here.

Those little windows at the top is where I saw some people stick their heads out. Behind those facades in the cliff is where I found these creepy chapels. 

The churches I’ve seen so far on my travels have all been of the Gothic style. Gothic churches are characterized by pointed arches and restrained ornamentation. Gothic churches still have a lot of detail, lavish altar pieces, and amazing paintings, but walk into a Baroque one and you’ll see the difference. St. Peter’s Abbey was quite a shock. I wasn’t expecting such a difference to what I’ve seen so far. I sat down for a couple minute and just let my gaze scan all corners of the place.

 St. Peters church

There is still more to see in Salzburg. I did have a good portion of the day to explore, and my feet were letting me know that they’ve had enough walking for one day. Too bad I still had to walk to the train station for my ride to Leogang.

 Cool decoration in Franciscan Church. (I think it was that church. I saw a few of them and can't remember which one. I do know this wasn't in St. Peters.) 

 Another cemetery. This one is at St. Sebastian's Church. The Mozart family tomb is here, but I didn't know that until I wrote this. That would have been cool to see. Maybe I did and didn't know it. These are the things you find when taking the long walk to your destination and get a little lost.

Yum. Vegan vegetable curry and ginger lemonade at Leichtsinn Vitalbistro. Lots of fresh organic and vegetarian/vegan items were available.The girls working here were very nice. I tried to speak German, and they were respectful of my butchering of the language. They spoke English too, and were all smiles. It was very much appreciated because I bet they probably get tourists a lot. It's not in the main tourist area, so it was quiet on this day. Lots of fresh organic and vegetarian/vegan stuff were available.

I already mentioned the train ride to Leogang, but I’ll say it again; the landscape here is gorgeous, beautiful, majestic, a welcome change to Darmstadt. Winding rivers of bluish green water, dense forest, rolling pastures of perfect grass, steep rocky cliffs sprinkled with snow patches at their peaks, and Austrian homes with an architecture style just like you’ve seen in brochures. I wish this trip was about DOING activities, instead of watching one. Rafting (if it’s available,) rock climbing, biking. Damn. Next time (in an ideal world.) 

 Yep, that's a guy wearing Liederhosen. I didn't notice until after I took the picture that the guys were looking at me. oops. Don't mind me; I'm just a creepy tourist.

 It was time to kick off the shoes and relax my feet. I'd been walking a lot. The train was very hot unfortunately. It took a few minutes before it cooled off once we got under way.

 Leaving the flatland behind and entering the Austrian Alps.

Der Hund. He was waiting for me at Backerwirt in Leogang.

Thoughts: 5.6.2014

My mood hasn’t been so good lately. Is it the lack of exercise? Is it the stress of school deadlines approaching? Is it a social life deficiency? Is it expectations of my time here falling short? Am I actually learning anything here?

My last 2 dedicated exercise times were May 3 and May 18.  I did ride a bike for a while in Hamburg on the 31, so that’s 3 workouts in 1 month. The rest of the time I’m sitting on my ass at home or in the design studio. No, I went to the climbing gym May 24. Still, I think I need more. The problem: I’ve told myself to go running almost every day, yet it hasn’t happened. I’m too tired. I just ate. I’m hungry. It’s late. I need to sleep in. I have too much work to do.  I have too many excuses that always win. My eating hasn’t changed, and I can tell by how I look that I’m not where I want to be. There is a triathlon this weekend that I wanted to do, but with no training it wouldn’t be worth it. Yes, my fitness is shit.

I am taking 5 classes: Bionics (design.) Spaces (design.) Solidworks. Sketching. German.

German: It’s the same level I have already taken a year ago at SJSU, so I don’t think it will qualify for credits. It’s the only class with a regular lecture where I take notes. I have specific homework I can follow which is how I like it. I hate the design process where it’s wide open and there are a million things to do all at the same time. When I have homework of pg. 211 exercise 2.2 – 3.4 I can do it. I work best with specific tasks that I can follow.

Sketching: The same holds true for this course. It’s the same as I’ve taken before, but with less instruction, fewer assignments, less feedback. Will it transfer? Probably not.  I suck at sketching so I need to take this course. I just don’t practice. I spend my time working on Bionics. Sam is a very good drawer. He does these quick drawings that put mine to shit. He draws a camera in Photoshop and brags to me about it, making me feel like shit about my skills. Problem; I don’t like sketching. I don’t want to sit down and draw for an hour when I’d rather be sitting in a tree picking at the bark, or banging my head with a hammer.

Solidworks: The pace of this course is fucking slow. The professor moves way too with his demo, then I end up only learning one tiny feature, or an aspect of a feature each day. That’s only one day a week by the way. I figure out more by searching forums online to solve a problem. The tools I’ve learned here are mostly review from what I learned last semester at SJSU. It’s so damn frustrating to see the professor draw something really fast and describe it in German. I can’t follow his steps visually, and I can’t watch my screen and listen because I CAN’T FUCKING UNDERSTAND!

Spaces: I haven’t touched that project in at least two weeks, nor have I gone to the class. Why go if I have nothing new to show?

Bionics: Ok, I have at least worked on this project consistently. I have a Solidworks model completed, even though it’s a very simplified version. I should really add the connections and materials. My mock up is turning into my final model because of time. The problem is that it’s shit. I have two colors of felt, the wood is OSB so it looks cheap and is heavy, and I’ve mixed connection methods. Snap fasteners and Velcro don’t mix well. I want to try both to see which works better, but on the same model it ruins the overall look. The pink and green felt won’t help either. We were supposed to do presentations this week to show our final direction with mockups, drawings, and research. I have it, but it’s not up the quality I would like. It’s my own fault. I need to work better, smarter, faster, more often……

 

Overall, I don’t think I’ve really learned anything. How am I supposed to learn very much when my courses only consist of short chats with the professor, or I have to ask a question about a software tool that I move on from in 2 minutes? I don’t have lectures. Or if I do, it’s all stuff I’ve learned back at SJSU and it’s a review. What’s worse is that I NEED this review. I’m worried that I’ll get back to SJSU and be set back a semester. I’ll get units for this semester, but they’ll be empty units that don’t get me closer to graduation. I’m 29 and still moving through life slowly. People are always surprised when they find out how old I am. It’s embarrassing to answer when asked how old I am. I look at pictures of myself and my balding head makes me feel like shit. I’m starting to LOOK older than my peers. I’m 29 and living in a world 23 year olds. Not only that, but they’re getting their master’s degree.

 

I went out to dinner with some guys to a Mexican restaurant which was super nice. I had vegetarian fajitas and a virgin mojito (Moskito in German.) It just felt good to be out of the house/lab and talk with people. Even though most of the time I was just listening, it was a moment of good times that I needed.

I’m not sure what my expectations were when moving to Germany. It was an option that sounded fun, so I went for it. I think I was expecting to learn some crazy new perspective on design that differs from our views in America. Nope. I haven’t seen any difference aside from the lack of structure in this school. I was definitely expecting to travel, which I’ve done. I’ve had some fun moments exploring areas in Germany. A few churches have really impressed me. A playground in Wiesbaden had me super stoked. The architecture and history in Hamburg was pretty cool. A church in Strasbourg, France was pretty awesome. Just riding around town and seeing back streets and bits of forest around Darmstadt has been fun too. I’ve met some cool people. I’ve spent time with a couple Spaniards and a Hungarian at climbing gyms. I’ve shared the greatness of breakfast burritos with friends too.

It’s hard for me to see the positive in this experience sometimes. This is a “Study Abroad” trip by definition, but my studies haven’t proved to be very successful. I have to kick it into overdrive to get everything done on time. I have about 4 weeks to finish my two design projects: final models, drawings, research, presentations, digital and physical.

My mind has been all over the place: studying, exercising, cooking, social outings, girls. It gets me down.

22.5.2014

It’s been a few days since I wrote. It’s been up and down with school. Slow progress is the theme here. The problem is that deadlines are fast approaching. My mind is still struggling to focus and get work done. I can’t use the tools and machines until the shop foreman shows me how he does things. I’ve learned a couple tools, but still need to learn more. I can’t use the laser cutter without getting someone to help me. I missed the class in the beginning so I must rely on others for that machine. I just can’t seem to make steady progress. My mind wanders, I get distracted, I chose other things over work.

Nadja. I’ve been hanging out with her quite a bit. She asked a few of us to join her at the movie, but everyone else bailed. Nobody else wanted to watch a movie in German, but I didn’t really care. I figured I’d still understand the general story, and be entertained by the visuals. Visuals: a couple pretty wicked fight scenes, and more boobs and I’d expect from a movie back in the States. Aniol and Aina met us after the movie for cruising around town. Michael joined us too randomly. After climbing around Mathildenhöhe and dinner at Café Chaos, we called it a night.

Nadja and I were on bikes so we took the long way home. She would rather be outside at night than in a bar. She does have a favorite bar, but I haven’t been there yet. We rode the pump track in the park, then climbed a tree. Yep, she asked if I knew of a playground nearby but settled for a tree. We hung out in the tree until it got too cold, then headed home.

Our next adventure was a long Sunday bike ride in Marburg. 47 km round trip from the Hauptbahnof to the castle where we picnicked.  After the long day in Marburg, we headed back to her flat to hang out for a bit and relax. She has a pretty cool spot all to herself on the top floor of her building. Exposed beams and good views may cost her a bit more, but it’s worth it.

 These are the roads between downs. Some are dirt like this, and some are nicely paved. It's amazing to have such nice paths that get you out of town.

 

 We crossed a bridge at an old mill. The water mill is gone, but the building is still there.

This area is pretty flat, so we could see the castle on the hill from far away.

Church in Amöneburg; where Jesus wears weird clothing.

Church interior (image found online.)

 Lunch time below the old castle at Amöneburg

 I found this image online because I didn't take many pictures. We sat right there on the grass next to the table for a few hours eating, watching clouds, and watching the gliders take off from the field below.

 This is the view from the ride up on the other side of the hill. It was a steep climb on my shitty bike, and I had to walk the top part.

 We layed out a blanket and hung out on that patch of dry land in the middle of the river. Not a bad place to take a break and give my butt a break from that horrible bike saddle.

 It looks like Jesus is wearing a woman's nightie. Maybe that was the style 2000 years ago.

 We stopped for a while along the river to take a nap and watch the clouds.

Side street in Marburg, Germany

The weather heated up here over the last couple days, and she invited me to go play volleyball at a lake. I invited others again, but it didn’t really work out. Maybe it was too short of a notice. We ended up riding a bit out of town to Grube Prinz von Darmstadt. It’s a small lake outside of town where people like to bathe nude. It’s a really cool spot. As you ride up to the lake from the street, it’s all college people, and past the clump of trees, it’s the nude zone. It doesn’t seem to bother people that there isn’t much separation between the PG zone and the Nude zone. I don’t care. To each his/her own. The water isn’t too clean. It’s no Nacimiento. We swam for a bit, which I didn’t expect. I didn’t bring swim shorts so I swam in my regular shorts. It’s not a problem, but I was cold for a long time afterward until I made a fire.

I had brought a small bundle of wood that I had collected from Karlshof that would make a good fire starter. I took the first run to gather bigger pieces of wood, and she took the next 3. I was very proud of my fire. I brought my knife, thank’s Vin for that awesome gift, and shaved some old wood for tinder. I only used one small piece of newspaper, and not long after the first spark we had a nice small fire going. Of course, I had brought the necessities for s’mores. I didn’t have normal mallows, or graham crackers, but I found decent substitutes. The marshmallows had a slight flavor to them, and they were in all sorts of odd shapes. The crackers were low sugar butter cookies. Still, we made it work. I sharpened a stick, but it was too short, so Nadja took my knife and made another one. She insisted on doing it herself. She doesn’t like playing into the “female” role. I can’t call her missy, and she doesn’t want me to carry all her stuff. Gender roles are a big deal to her, so I have to watch out and not treat her like a girly girl.

Again, we initially thought it might be a group outing, but it ended up just the two of us. I’m not complaining. We stayed out there pretty late and kept the fire burning. We made s’mores and I even heated up a strawberry over the fire. It was pretty good. I’ll be doing that again for sure. I also peeled open a banana, slit it down the middle, and added chocolate. I set it on the top log and let the chocolate melt. Again, the experiment was successful. Next time I make a fire, I’m going to bring all kinds of food; crackers, cookies, fruits, chocolate, peanut butter…. I think s’mores are just the tip of the iceberg.

Nobody does a similar thing here in Germany. They don’t roast stuff on a stick. They bring small portable BBQs and use charcoal. The night before I leave for Austria the moon is at 99%, so I’d like to plan a night out by the lake and invite people for swimming and s’mores. I think it could be super fun. Even if the water is a bit gross, swimming is swimming and it’s just plain fun. The fire will make it all better anyway.

I’m sitting at school writing this. It’s 8:45pm and the lab is almost empty. I came here to do work, and instead wrote this. German class was shitty today, and I could barely stay awake. Nadja says I’m improving, but it doesn’t really feel like it. I messed every sentence in my writing exercise today and on Tuesday. I need to study German more. But I also need to work on Design more. But I hate not knowing German. But I hate studying the material in class. I have my own sentences I want to learn. I want to learn other vocabulary and verbs and common phrases. “Ich muss auf Klo.” I have to pee. Or the less formal “Ich muss pissen.” It is no piece of cake; “Ein Klacks.” I had to ask Nadja those ones. She speaks to me in German a lot, and I feel bad for having to ask her to repeat it, or say it in English. I think she appreciates it when I try to speak German. I ask dumb questions, but I have to.