The Adventures of Jules

This is the end, my only friend, the end :)

The Adventures of Jules

It's almost over! I'm flying home tomorrow. We're meeting up at the airport at 5:30am. Fun. Luckily Herr Stein, the German organiser, is letting me stay at his house, so that makes life somewhat simpler. Especially considering the Bleiers live 2 1/2 hours away from Dusseldorf , and all the hotels there are full. I have told him however that he had to ask his family first. (Call it the Ulla lesson).

So, I'm coming back Australia Day. Hooray. Just in time to start doing the research I've been able to put off in the name of international travel.

So, here are my top ten moments of my trip:
1. Having people who not only let me stay with them, but were happy to have me there (Rudi, Elke and Lea, May and Teo, Juliette). Same goes for people who went out of their way to do things with me (Bummi and Manuela, Lukas and Nadine, all of the above, plus quite a few others.)
2. When Oscar came to stay. Not everybody would fly for two days each way just so they could stay with me for a week. Love you fatty!
3. Being able to travel again. Whilst being subsidised.
4. Being able to watch movies, read books and acquire new music. NOTABLE MENTIONS Movies: The Philadelphia Story, Matchpoint and Mr Deeds Goes To Town. Books: Cloudstreet, The Line of Beauty and Bright Lights, Big City. MUSIC: All my stuff from May and the Bleiers.

5. Seeing Berlin, Copenhagen, Munich, Colmar, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Freiburg, Ljubljana, Koper, Tuebingen, and last but not least, Rottenburg.
6. Shopping. Not my favourite activity at home, but really enjoy it whilst travelling. It kinda feels like exploring.
7. Seeing some pretty amazing social/ cultural/ historical places. (Including some UNESCO world heritage listed ones).
8. Snow and snow sports - Toboganning, snowboarding and snowball fights.
9. Realising that getting along with people and sharing rooms with them is totally manageable. This is particularly the case for my week in Berlin. (In case others were reading too much into it!)
10. Learning to appreciate my life at home.

In conclusion,

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish,

xxx

Jules

Oh, and check out: It's almost over! I'm flying home tomorrow. We're meeting up at the airport at 5:30am. Fun. Luckily Herr Stein, the German organiser, is letting me stay at his house, so that makes life somewhat simpler. Especially considering the Bleiers live 2 1/2 hours away from Dusseldorf , and all the hotels there are full. I have told him however that he had to ask his family first. (Call it the Ulla lesson).

So, I'm coming back Australia Day. Hooray. Just in time to start doing the research I've been able to put off in the name of international travel.

So, here are my top ten moments of my trip:
1. Having people who not only let me stay with them, but were happy to have me there (Rudi, Elke and Lea, May and Teo, Juliette). Same goes for people who went out of their way to do things with me (Bummi and Manuela, Lukas and Nadine, all of the above, plus quite a few others.)
2. When Oscar came to stay. Not everybody would fly for two days each way just so they could stay with me for a week. Love you fatty!
3. Being able to travel again. Whilst being subsidised.
4. Being able to watch movies, read books and acquire new music. NOTABLE MENTIONS Movies: The Philadelphia Story, Matchpoint and Mr Deeds Goes To Town. Books: Cloudstreet, The Line of Beauty and Bright Lights, Big City. MUSIC: All my stuff from May and the Bleiers.

5. Seeing Berlin, Copenhagen, Munich, Colmar, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Freiburg, Ljubljana, Koper, Tuebingen, and last but not least, Rottenburg.
6. Shopping. Not my favourite activity at home, but really enjoy it whilst travelling. It kinda feels like exploring.
7. Seeing some pretty amazing social/ cultural/ historical places. (Including some UNESCO world heritage listed ones).
8. Snow and snow sports - Toboganning, snowboarding and snowball fights.
9. Realising that getting along with people and sharing rooms with them is totally manageable. This is particularly the case for my week in Berlin. (In case others were reading too much into it!)
10. Learning to appreciate my life at home.

In conclusion,

So Long and Thanks for all the Fish,

xxx

Jules

PS: Look at http://leableier.blogspot.com

Sexy Bugatti

Berlin Dome

Installation in the Jewish Museum

Checkpoint Charlie

Hanging with NZ lady friends

The Story of Berlin Museum

Figures on the Brandenburg

The Brandenburg Gate

Jewish Memorial in Berlin

The Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz

At the Berlin Wall

Berlin Sculpture

Funky Danish Cafe

Retail Therapy Copenhagen Style

Shopping with Juliette

What a City Looks Like When It Stays Out of Wars

Changing of the Guard

Copenhagen

Berlin

Hello from Berlin. I currently feel like I'm a teacher on a school excursion. Today we started the day with a session on the history of Berlin. This was followed by what should been a bus tour. However, the bus broke down and we ended up walking around instead. Whilst my feet and hands lost all feeling, I wandered past the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Picasso Museum, and lots of other intestesing places. Berlin is nothing if not interesting and historical.

We had two hours free time (checking out the Gourmet section of KaDeWe and H&M etc.). This evening was a visit to the History of Berlin Museum. Tomorrow the chaperones get some time off, so there's talk of visiting the Film Museum, the Picasso Museum, and possibly the Berlin Zoo. Will be going with my lady friends, three female teachers from New Zealand. I'm the token Australian. And totally outnumbered. Out of approx. 88 kids, 11 are Aussies. Tomorrow night is a visit to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

It's an unusual experience to be supervising so many students. Not to mention getting them in trouble for being too lackdaisical with the rules regarding alcohol during their excursion!

Hanging Around the Mountain

Fun and Shenigans

Well, really not long to go now. 16 days exactly, according one of my students. Am managing to fit in a few fun things to keep me occupied.

Tomorrow I'm going snowboarding for the day. Hooray. Manuela and Bummi are taking me. Really have to work out how to get adopted by the Bleier family. Don't know if they'll have me though. Always a problem.

Then, the next day, I'm going to Copenhagen. A week long visit, crashing at Juliette's. I'm getting very familiar with student accomodation. From Juliette's, it's a week in Berlin to round out the trip. It's been great to have places to stay and play.

Not excited about having to return to Uni work. Love where I live, love my boyfriend and those around me, dislike reality. Doesn't everybody? Now I know why everyone keeps extending their exchanges. I just thought it was cos they didn't like me :)

Slovenia Wrap Up

Alrighty then. Here is my wrap up for my trip to Slovenia from the 29th - 3rd.

Had fun visiting my friend May, and her "European Luffa" (see Sex and the City; Bradshaw, Carrie & Petrovsky).

And for the record, yes I went to bed at 12:05 on New Year's. We all watched Beverly Hills Cop 3 together, before watching fireworks outside, (as Teo so accurately put it, "like Iraq). Guess that's what happens when everyone's allowed to have fireworks.

Although this behaviour is completely justified, because of the night before. We went with Teo's friends to a small farmhouse in the middle of absolutely nowhere. No telephone, everything brought in, surrounded only by snow and woods. Around 30 people turned up, and proceeded to have a great time. All the Slovenians decided that it would be absolutely criminal for May and I, having come all the way from Australia, to have any empty glass at any point during the night. Which was fine, except for their decision to then play Billy Idol, U2, Drum and Bass, and any other loud, thumpy music that made the floorboards vibrate til 1pm the next day. Waking up to 'Rebel Yell' at full volume wasn't the best!

How Time Flies

The photos below are from the Maulbronn Cloister that we visited yesterday. It really was amazing. After seeing a few too many churches in Europe, you become jaded and start thinking that they all look the same. Not so, in this case. The sheer age of some of buildings (1100 upwards), their size, and the intricate detail makes you stop and start looking at things clearly all over again. UNESCO agrees, because it has put a world heritage listing on the place. Even Sean Connery has visited, during the time he filmed sections of "In the Name of the Rose" there.

After visiting the Cloister, we had a lovely lunch in a 'Gasthof' nearby. The surroundings weren't great, but the food was. I had the largest piece of meat I've had a long time. It was beautifully cooked. Didn't expect to go to Germany and cut down on my 'fleisch' intake!