St. Nikolaus

Hey Everyone!!!

I apologize for not writing anything for the past few weeks. I have decided to move to Germany to start a freelance writing business and I've had a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, I've put this blog on the back burner, but I'm back now!

Today's blog post is about a December holiday celebrated in Germany. In case you don't know, I have both German and US citizenship. I grew up in the US, but I am also German. As a result, I've been lucky enough to experience two cultures and their traditions. One German holiday tradition that I never really celebrated though was St. Nikolaus day.

December 6 is St. Nikolaus Tag in Germany. I didn't know about this tradition and had a nice surprise this morning when I found a present outside my door. (Check out my Instagram, @eurofrau , to see what I got!) I was completely confused and thought a relative decided to give me a random gift. When I asked my grandparent about it, they smiled and told me I got a visit from St. Nikolaus. I was excited. Any day I get presents is a great one!!!

St. Nikolaus

I then asked my grandparent what St. Nikolaus day was. They said that on December 6th, St. Nikolaus visits the children who have been good and gives them a gift. Traditionally, children would leave their boots outside their doors for St. Nikolaus to put fruit and nuts in.


There are two characters associated with St. Nikolaus Tag. St. Nikolaus gives gifts to the good children and the Krampus (a devil-like beast) comes by and takes away the bad children. Those are the characters in Bavaria and Austria. St. Nikolaus Tag also involves controversy and racism. In places like the Netherlands, St. Nikolaus was accompanied by a black slave who played the role of Krampus. It's still tradition for people to put on black-face to play the slave role. There have been attempts to change this, but they're not having much effect.

Krampus

St. Nikolaus is a Catholic Saint, and December 6th celebrates Nikolaus's good deeds as a Catholic. St. Nikolaus was a bishop who inherited great wealth and gave that wealth to the poor. He also gave fruit and nuts to the poor every Christmas. He died on December 6 and that is the day we celebrate as St. Nikolaus day in Germany.

Have you ever celebrated St. Nikolaus day? Tell me about your experience in the comment section below!

Happy St. Nikolaus Tag!

The Wonder of Schnitzel!

Hey Guys!

I'm here to tell you guys about the wonder that is schnitzel. Ohmygod, I love schnitzel so much. The first schnitzel I ever had was made by my father. First of all, you have to know that my father is an AMAZING cook. And I'm not just saying that because I'm biased. Everyone who's ever had his cooking is always blown away by his skills. My friends still freak out when they about the barbecue ribs he made us. My dad's cooking isn't the only reason I'm obsessed with Schnitzel. It's a kind of dish that's so simple in taste you can't help but love it.

Schnitzel is pretty simple to make and I've made it multiple times. First, I buy a pork loin. I flatten that the pork with a metal mallet until the meat is flat but not so thing you can see through it. Then I coat the pork in eggs that have been beaten. The egg mixture allows breadcrumbs to cover the pork. I alternate between covering the pork in egg and breadcrumbs until all the pork has been prepared. Then I heat up oil in a pan at a high heat that can be lowered when the pan gets too hot, and cook the schnitzels on both sides until the meat has been cooked through and the outsides are a golden brown. Schnitzel can be served in multiple ways. A Wiener Schnitzel is served simply with lemon juice. A Jaeger Schnitzel is the way most people eat their Schnitzel in Hessen. It's served with a mushroom-cream sauce. I usually eat schnitzel with fried onions (Zwiebeln.) At home I'll eat schnitzel with boiled potatoes. In German restaurants, schnitzel is served with fried potatoes (Bratkartoffeln) or french fries (Pommes.)

My favorite place to get schnitzel in Germany is from Bembelsche. Bembelsche is an awesome restaurant that serves typical Hessich cuisine. (Hessen is a region in Germany where cities like Mains and Frankfurt are located.) Hessen has its own unique culture and dialect within Germany, and at Bembelsche, the menu has items like Schnitzelsche and Bratkadoeffelscher. If you're in Hessen, make sure to check this place out. Make sure to make a reservation in advance. The place fills up quick!

I hope I've piqued your interest and inspired you to try schnitzel if you haven't already!

Hey Everyone!!!!

Although I didn't post something on Thursday, I've been working on a cool project.

Along with traveling Europe and exploring my German culture, I am also obsessed with writing, and my greatest goal is to become an acclaimed writer. I know it's going to be a long and hard process, but I'm up for the task!

I recently wrote a story for a Halloween challenge that I would love for you guys to read! Please click on the link below and READ, LIKE, and REBLOG the story! The more reads I get, the better chance I have to win the writing competition! Thank you so much for your support guys!

https://theprose.com/post/108662/sisters


<3 Euro Frau

EuroFrau goes to Nuernberg (Germany)!

After my awesome week in Austria, I spent a weekend in Nuernberg, Germany.

      My mom has a friend who lives in Nuernberg that she met in college in the USA. They're both German so it's funny that they met and became good friends in the US. We visited the friend and partner and stayed at their house, which is super impressive. It's huge for German standards (in my humble opinion) and has a beautiful garden. We spent the night in the attic which they renovated themselves into a kick-ass guest room with a huge amount of space and beautiful wooden furniture.

View of Nuernberg

     After an amazing breakfast (so much Nutella!) we all drove to Schloss Hohenstein (High Stone Castle.) The castle was bought by local people for about an Euro and they renovated it to look similar to its original form. Hohensteiner was built in the 11th century and was passed on via family as well as bought and resold multiple times. The castle today is pretty much in ruins but there are some rooms that you can walk into to see exhibitions and read information that describes what the castle would have been like in its heyday.

Schloss Hohenstein

     To get to the castle, you have to get a key from a separate place. [The cost for admission per person is two euros.] After you get the key, you walk up a steep hill to the castle. The view from there is great and you can see the city of Nuernberg in the distance. To get into the castle itself, you use the key to open the main door. You have to then lock the door behind you because the owners don't want people going in unless they've paid admission. You can then walk through the castle and see a 360 degree view of Nuernberg. You can also walk up into the highest tower and have an even greater view (warning for people scared of heights. I have a minor case and I was feeling pretty wobbly until back on solid ground. You have to climb a small ladder to get to the top and you are very, very, very high up.) You can also go into a basement. It was pitch black so I used the flashlight function on my phone and then SCREAMED! Behind an iron-bar gate was a sheet draped to look like a ghost. It was a funny trick and left us all in a good mood when we left the castle.

     After the castle tour, we all went to the Hohenstiener Hof cafe. The cafe is famous for its Windbeutels. Windbeutel is a bizarre dessert which is basically a puffed out pastry usually filled with whipped cream. This cafe's Windbeutels are huge concoctions filled with ice cream, syrup, fresh fruit, nuts, alcohol, whipped cream, and pretty much anything else you might desire. I got the larger Windbeutel (there's a small and large size) and I was only able to eat about half of it. 

Windbeutel Cafe

    Although I didn't have a lot of time to spend in Nuernberg, I still had a very fun experience. It's a huge advantage when you have the opportunity to stay with people who live in the place you're visiting because you get an experience you might not know about from travel brochures. If you know people who live in other countries or other cities from you, ask if you can visit! That way you can incorporate a more local experience in your travels. :)

Austria (Klagenfurt)

     I was in Austria for a week and it was awesome.

The beautiful Woerthersee

      Austria in general is a beautiful country. We were in Klagenfurt and could see mountains and were walking distance from the Woerthersee, a huge lake that is a popular tourist spot, particularly in the summer. I was in Klagenfurt eight years ago and it was nice revisiting a place I'd already been. I explored the city even further and integrated myself more in the city's culture.

Breakfast!!!

Our rustic chick hotel room

      Every day started with an AMAZING breakfast buffet in the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was Hotel Roesch, and it was beautiful. Its overall atmosphere is rustic and cozy. It's not in the city so you can relax without feeling like a tourist. It's also walking distance from the Woerthersee and Europark (about 20 minutes) and has a steam room. The buffet options were vast and varied. Lots of fresh fruit, three types of prepared eggs, lemon and mint-infused water, coffee, tea, fresh-baked goods, and so many different sandwich spreads we couldn't taste all of them over the week we were there. Afterwards, it was time to walk off the calories.

Sculpture Garden

       My mom had to work so I was left to find my own adventures. I walked every day (I was so proud of myself. Who would have thought it, I'm active!) in the Europark. Europark is a giant park with huge expanses of grass, lots of trees, a giant spring, multiple flower gardens, a sculpture garden, and a vast variety of playground options for kids. It was beautiful and you can easily spend an hour walking through that park, if not more (if you're lucky, you also get to see couples making out on the rocks, which are smack in the middle of the park.)

Klagenfurt legend says that the city
 used to be home to a dragon.

      The first day I ended up walking to the city from Europark with only my phone and 25 euros on me. I had planned to take a quick look around and then go back to the hotel to take the bus. However, while I was walking around the Europark I kept seeing signs telling me how easy it is to walk to the city and ended up following them. By the time I realized it was a lot farther away than I had thought, I had gone too far to go back. So I ended up walking for about an hour and a half. AND I didn't get lost. Which for me, is a very big deal. (I'm the type of person who will get lost with a GPS.) I took the bus back to the hotel though, and the other days that I went to the city (it cost about 4 euros both ways. Cheap as heck compared to 8 Franken one way in Switzerland.)

    In the city I spent a lot of time window shopping, looking at landmarks like churches and sculptures, and SHOPPING. After being in Switzerland for a few months, my God, everything was so amazingly cheap in Austria. I went a little crazy and H&M was my best friend for a few days. I was also super lucky because one day was some kind of promotion called Women's Day and every clothing store was 20% for women!!!! It was awesome.

Bayerish Goulash

     The food was amazing. The first day I ate a delicious Goulash in a touristy German-Bayern restaurant (that was after I had walked to the city and I was so starved I didn't care where I went.) We also ate a lot in the hotel's restaurant because the food there was FANTASTIC. I had schnitzel with berry jam and scalloped potatoes and cordon bleu. We also had Indian takeout. It was scrumptious even though I had to eat while tears streamed down my face (the restaurant made a distinction between mild, Austrian spicy, and Indian spicy. I got Austrian spicy and vastly overestimated how hot it would be.)

     The trip to Austria also marked the first time I have experienced a season other than summer in Europe. Fall started and I actually saw leaves that had changed color and had to bundle up. (Fall in Florida is still shorts and flip-flop season. And leaves don't change color. They're green until January and then just die.) Every day I wore a long-sleeved shirt, thick sweater, scarf, thick socks, my combat boots, and the jacket I wear to keep warm during a Florida winter. Something tells me I'm into a rude shock for a European winter.

Another View of the Woerthersee

      I hope this post got you guys interested in visiting Klagenfurt or Austria in general. And if you don't have the opportunity to visit, I hope I gave you an intriguing brief glimpse of the awesome country.

Almduddler:
The unofficial soda of Austria
(made from herbs and <<<sugar)

Ride on the Austrian Express

Hey guys! I'm back from my trip to Austria and Germany. It was amazing. The best part was, I got to travel with my mom. She visited me for a weekend in Switzerland and then we took the trip together. It was so good to see her again.
Today's post is about our train ride to Austria. I hope it gives anyone who hasn't traveled via train in Europe a sense of what the experience is like. Enjoy! (I'm back to posting regularly, so look for my posts every Monday and Thursday.) 

THE JOURNEY

-The first step? Buy breakfast! 

My mom and I had to get to the Zurich main train station (Hauptbahnhof) by 8:30 am. Which meant I had to get up at 7. 7-freaking-am. I am not a morning person. Really, really, really not. So I wasn't super conscious for the first few hours of our journey. I do remember that we had no time for breakfast so we bought chocolate croissants at a pastry shop at the train station. (I had to wait outside of the store with our mountain of luggage while my mom bought the food and I tried to avoid eye contact with the homeless man wandering around muttering to himself and approaching random people.) The croissants were amazing!!!!! They were filled with chocolate pudding, something I've never experienced before, and I practically moaned when I ate it.

- Beyond Exhausted
As I said, I was barely conscious during the beginning of the train ride. I wanted to sleep, so badly, but I couldn't because I can never fall asleep when I'm vertical (as I said before on my first blog post about my plane ride to Europe.) After adjusting myself multiple times in my seat, getting up to pee about five times (every single time right as I was getting drowsy), and getting more and more frustrated that I couldn't fall asleep, I somehow knocked off around 9 am and slept for two hours.

-Problems 

Overall, we had great luck with the trip. It's always a tricky business making sure that connections are caught. A lot of times on train trips, I'm waiting for about 40 minutes on a dirty concrete platform trying to avoid anyone who looks a bit dangerous and dying from the weight of my backpack. We were lucky that we caught all of our connections and found our seats with little problem. We did have one crisis. As my mom was working on her laptop, it decided to crash. That was a rough spot, as my mom freaked out that she wouldn't have her laptop for work and we tried to figure out what we could do. (Thankfully, we were able to figure out the problem later that night in the hotel.)


-Overall
The train journey was overall positive. The scenery, traveling from Switzerland to Austria, is beautiful. We always drove past mountains, and I saw snow!!! That's the first time I ever remember seeing snow. There were A LOT of people on the train, but that was fine because we had reserved seats. The ride took all day and we finally arrived at our destination at 6 pm. A colleague of my mom picked us up from the train station and drove us to our hotel. Our room was beautiful. It looked like lumberjack barbie's home, with wood surfaces, pink curtains, cream-colored leather seats, and a giant picture of a lily. We took a quick stroll through a nearby forest and stopped by the grocery store across the street for snacks and quick supplies. We then had dinner at the hotel's restaurant and then went to bed early because we were exhausted.

Tips for Train Travel (German and Austrian): 

1. Get a seat reservation to reduce stress.
2. Try to book a train ticket that has a good amount of time between connections to have sufficient time to get the next train in case there are delays (there will most likely always be a delay.)
3. There is no limit to how much you bring on a train but you have to be able to carry it and stow it away. Try to limit yourself to a backpack and carry-on. For larger cases, you can usually store it in a luggage storage compartment found on IC and ICE trains.
4. ICE is the most comfortable way to travel long distance. The trains are the fastest so you have less travel time, the most space, seats are comfortable, and it's often the cleanest. The bathrooms also look nice and the floors are carpeted.
5. Always have a ticket. The train controller comes by continually and you will be in huge trouble if you don't have one.
6. As a foreigner, you can usually find someone who is willing to help you figure out your connections. If your fellow passenger doesn't know English, the ticket controller or restaurant employees do and are willing to help you.
7. IC and ICE trains have an on-board restaurant where you can buy food and drinks, usually for affordable prices. Just follow the signs on the train to find where it is.
8. The bathrooms either have liquid soap or soap in powdered form. In the latter case, you'll see a star-shaped knob above the sink. Turn it until powder comes out and then run water over it. It will liquidize and become soap.
9. Bring a book, laptop, phone, headphones, whatever. Just bring something for entertainment because a five-hour ride can be super boring if you have nothing to do.
10. Enjoy!

EuroFrau goes to Austria!

Hey Guys!

Just an update that I'll be taking a two-week break from posting. I traveled to Austria today and will be here for a week. Then I'll go to Germany for another week. I'll be busy seeing and experiencing as many things as I can and will have some great things to tell you about later. (Like my hotel here. This place is amazing! Think, Rustic Chick.)

Have a great two weeks you guys!

<3 EuroFrau

Swiss Culturalisms: Part II

Hey guys! Here's another post about Swiss culture intricacies. Enjoy! :-)

• Trash Day: Your first impression is probably, how is trash collecting interesting? This might not be weird for you, but I'm used to having a big black plastic trashcan that I put out on the curb and can continually put trash in during the week. That doesn't happen here. In Switzerland, regular trash is put in a large black trash bag with the drawstrings tied together. That makes no practical sense to me. Why would you choose a trash bag that can be rained in or easily attacked by the dozen cats that wander around here. Also, you have to wait until the actual trash day to collect all of your trash  that at this point is either overflowing in the rooms or collected in a gross pile in the basement. 

• Recycling: this is connected to the previous statement and as confusing for me. Just like there's no trashcan for regular trash, there's no container for recyclables. Instead, people collect paper and plastic containers and carry it to a recycling drop-off place, like at the grocery store, Migros. Also, unlike in Germany, people don't get a Pfand for their bottles which is really annoying when everything is already so expensive here. People are also, compared to Germany, pretty lax about making sure that everything that can be is recycled, mostly because they have to lug the stuff away themselves. 

• Arms on the Table: This really isn't that strange of a cultural tic but it came to my attention after someone saw how I ate at the table. I had one hand on my lap and only used my fork instead of both my fork and knife. Apparently that's a no go in Switzerland. The Swiss expect people to have both arms on the table (no elbows!) and to always use the fork and knife together when eating. 

• Cowbells: Okay, this might be common elsewhere, but I have never heard cowbells before. I've seen plenty of cows. They're not exactly rare in Florida, but I've never seen them with bells on. The bells make the cows look like Heidi is going to jump out from behind them. It's also a surprisingly comforting sound to hear the tinkling of bells as the cows move around pastures and you hear them while walking in a forest. It makes the experience of being in this country feel like a fairy tale. 
  

• Cheese: Have any of you heard the stereotype that the Swiss are obsessed with cheese? Well, I'm here to tell you, it's true. Cheese is everywhere here. Like, everywhere. For someone who's lactose intolerant, it's annoying that most recipes involve cheese or other dairy products. One Swiss meal that heavily focuses on cheese is Raclette. Raclette is the name of the cheese, which is melted on a specific metal pan on a specific mini heating apparatus and typically eaten with potatoes. It's a very simple dish that's usually eaten when it's chilly out and it tastes amazing (I was able to eat some and cursed my lactose intolerance as I did so.) If you have the opportunity to travel to Switzerland, definitely try this dish out. You'll usually see it at a street festival as well. 
  

Homesick

Hey Guys! Today's post is about the things that I miss about home.

     Even though my parents are German I was born in the U.S. and still consider our place in Florida as home. I've been in Europe for about three months now and I'm experiencing pretty strong homesickness and cravings for things I just don't have here. Overall I'm still happy that I have this great opportunity to be in Europe, but that doesn't mean the adjustment hasn't been hard.

• Chipotle: Okay, look, I know what you're probably thinking. "You're in Europe, land of Gourmet food! Why would you be craving American fast food?" Of course I'm thrilled with my food choices in Europe, which are often 10x the quality of food in the U.S. But I am craving Chipotle Guac so hard. It all started when I made myself some guacamole. The whole time I was eating it I was thinking, "This is trash compared to Chipotle." I also miss anything Tex-Mex related, which DOES NOT EXIST HERE. I've really been considering buying a plane ticket just to get a Chipotle veggie bowl with whole wheat rice, black beans, corn salsa, mild salsa, lettuce, cheese, and GUAC!!!!

• English: I'm surprised by this, but I miss hearing English being spoken on a regular basis. This is something you don't realize you'd miss until it's gone. I love learning languages and I'm glad of the opportunity to improve my German, but I miss speaking without stumbling over my words. And Swiss German sounds so different to regular German for me that I can't even associate it with nostalgia of my family. I often watch the British TV channels in order to hear TV shows spoken without German dubbing.

• Staying Hydrated in a Restaurant: Look, I get that it's limiting waste and probably better off for the environment in the long run, a way for people to earn a living, blah, blah, blah. But for the love of God, can't I just have a free refill??? I'm so sick of having to budget my money for eating out mainly based on how many drinks I think I'll need. I also miss my free water. Why is it more expensive than a beer??? And people in Europe, I'm not a freak for wanting ice in my drink. It's fine.

• My Family: I'm blessed to have a family that I love. It's just not the same Skyping instead of seeing them in person. Especially my sibling. I even miss them annoying the crap out of me. Who'd have thought it?

• My Friends: Similar to above but this section is more nuanced. I miss seeing my friends and hanging out with them so bad if I think about it too much I'll start crying. Socially, I'm on my own here, which is difficult for me. I'm someone who needs to have a group of people around me as a source of comfort and happiness. I'm also an introvert and meeting new people not only drains me mentally and physically but also causes me a great deal of anxiety. Ideally, I'd have someone by my side helping me out with socially navigating a new world, but when you're traveling on your own you don't have those resources. And asking someone for help hasn't gone that well. First, people usually tell me that I have to get used to navigating the world on my own so when I ask for help they seem to think I'm asking them to hold my hand. That's not the case. I love being independent, and when my anxiety and past experiences with people doesn't tear my self-confidence to shreds, I love doing things on my own. Unfortunately, I've had a really hard time socializing. And when I know a person is skeptical of my anxiety, I'm not going to ask them further for help. I can't mentally or physically deal with that attitude or opinion towards me. The next section is connected to this.

• Therapy: I've been diagnosed by multiple doctors with generalized and severe social anxiety, accompanied with depression. Without social support and current access to therapy, I'm in a rough mental state right now. And the worse my anxiety and depression get, the less I have the desire to ask for help. It's great being in Europe, but it's hard being here alone when my mental state isn't that great.

     That got deep for the end but it's a large part of what I've been dealing with by adjusting to living in Europe on my own. I have a host family right now, but I either fail to see it or am not having the support I need right now. And it's exhausting to keep on asking for it when you feel that you're annoying people or their solution is to tell me to not let myself get mentally overwhelmed. Like, that'd be great if it was that easy.

     What do you guys miss the most when you're traveling or have moved somewhere new? If you've done it while dealing with anxiety and/or depression, do you have tips for me?

Swiss Culturalisms

Hey Everyone! :)

     This post is going to be a collection of specific things I've observed in Switzerland that makes the country different from the U.S. and Germany. I'm focusing on the Swiss-German culture as that is the culture I have the most contact with currently. (Zurich is kind of like the capital for Swiss-Germans.)

• Don't be late: Swiss people really don't like it if you are ever running late. To them, being on time is already late. If you're five minutes too late, you might as well not go. 

• Stores close early: This annoys me to no end. Most stores usually close around 6:30 p.m. or if you're lucky, 8 p.m. So forget about shopping at your leisure right after work or picking something up at night if you forgot it during the day. Also, I haven't found any 24/7 stores here, something that I find frustrating since I'm used to having at least one shopping option for all hours of the day.

• Swiss-German Dialect: This isn't that surprising, but what I have found to be really interesting is that some people who've spent most of their life in Switzerland and nowhere else would rather speak English to you than High German (if you can't understand Swiss German.) 

• Obsession with brands: This isn't necessarily a specifically Swiss phenomenon, but I've never seen so many people wear the same things and brands. No one here really has their own style either and most people blend in with each other.

• Everything is EXPENSIVE: The rumors are true. It costs sooooo much money to live here. Housing is ridiculously expensive but even stuff at the supermarket cost a lot. For maybe a pound of meat (which is nothing for an average family) will cost you about $13. Produce also costs about that much and products like toothpaste and hand soap usually cost at least $10.

• No Fast Food: This is a bit of an exaggeration, but after living in the U.S. I'm a pretty good expert on what fast food is. That doesn't exist here. You have McDonalds and Burger King but there's no dollar menu and the prices are so high that it makes more sense to just go to a regular restaurant to get some better food. The closest thing they have to fast-food options are Falafel/Kebab stands because there's a large Turkish population here. But a meal from them also costs at least $10. Without a drink.

      That's a good basic list for now. I'll write another post like this later on after I've spent more time here.

P.S. I have a Twitter account now! Check me out and follow me @EuroFrau

P.S.S. Guys, after writing this section, I'm craving a greasy burger and fries for only $5. It's the little things you miss. 

When you travel, what do you miss the most?

Swiss Festivaling!

Hello Everyone! Happy Monday!

       Today's post is about the time I went to an outdoor festival in Zurich. The festival was in honor of an annual Swiss tradition, Knabenschiessen. I went with the mom and one of the sons and his friend to the festival. It was amazing. We did have to walk a bit in the scorching heat to get there but that was fine. It meant I could eat festival treats without having to feel guilty about it!


      Knabenschiessen was established in 1889 (according to Wikipedia.) Basically, a group of 13 to 17 year-olds shoot at a shooting range with a rifle. It used to only be for boys but girls can also participate now. At the end of the event, the Knaben King and Queen are crowned (given to the person with the most accurate shots.) [Knaben is the traditional Swiss word for boys.] I didn't actually see the shooting event but that was fine with me. If I wanted to see children with guns, I could have stayed in the US (yup, that was a shot - pun intended.)


      Going to the festival was a fun experience. Open-air festivals are pretty common in Germany and I've been to a number of them. This one followed the same formula. A street lined with stands selling wares or food that you're willing to sell a kidney for in order to afford the crepes with nutella (it was about $8. Smh.)

        Then there were the rides! There were so many amusement park options! And they all looked terrifying. I'm not a fan of heights and the rides meant for people my age thrust you into the sky. I didn't go on them but watching the people plummet to their potential deaths was fascinating.

     The mom and I ended up buying some food and we found a shady spot on a grassy hill where we could eat, inject much needed fluids, and watch the sweating festival-goers walk by. We bought roasted almonds rolled in sugar and Magen Brot, this delicious baked good that's basically a small spice cake dipped in melted chocolate. A.MAZE.ZING. I ravished them and chased them down with my sprite. (Even though I was dehydrated, I wasn't going to waste $4 on a mineral water.)

Overall, it was an amazing day that made me grateful to be in Europe.

Swiss German

• Greetings:   Hallo vs. Grueezi 

• Goodbye:    Tschuess vs. Ciao

• Thank you: Danke vs. Merci

• Bicycle:       Fahrrad vs. Vello

• Ice Cream:  Eis vs. Glace

Switzerland is made up of a mix of cultures. There is Swiss-German, Swiss-French, Swiss-Italian, and Romansch. In the Zurich region of Switzerland (the part of the country closest to Germany), Swiss-German is spoken. For a native English speaker who has a good grasp of German, for the first few days in Switzerland I had no idea what people were saying to me. As I spend more time here, the language becomes easier to understand but I still have moments where I'm frozen in confusion as someone speaks to me, like a teller at a cash register. Swiss German also utilizes a lot of French words and this is why many common German phrases are said in French instead.

Fortunately, most people here also know high German (official German language without influence from dialects) so I can communicate well with others. I've also been told multiple times that I speak German well, and that is probably one of the best compliments I've ever received, and I was once told by a nun that I should become an actress.

Overall however, I miss listening to Hessich German. I know that the longer I visit here the more I'll understand of Swiss German, but I don't think I'll have the same connection to it as I do with the German dialect I'm used to listening to from my family. But it's interesting to hear how two German dialects can be so different from each other despite deriving from the same language.

I'm still able to speak English though when German gets too frustrating for me. The family that I'm staying with all know English. The younger son usually speaks English with me. His brother mostly speaks German, unless I'm asking a question about something, then he'll answer me in English. Interestingly, the younger son usually speaks high German while his brother speaks mainly Swiss German, even though they both grew up in Switzerland (and were born here). Their parents, who grew up in Germany, speak High German but they have also picked up Swiss-German expressions.

I'll soon be visiting Austria, another country that speaks a specific German dialect. I'll let you know if there are any further differences between high German, Swiss German, and Austrian German!

Tschuess/Ciao!

EuroFrau goes to Switzerland!

Hello followers! Guess where I'm blogging from? SWITZERLAND!

I am currently in Switzerland and staying with family friends. They live about half-an-hour away from Zurich. Guys, this place is beautiful. For instance, from the view in my room I can see mountains, many trees, and idyllic houses in the neighborhood and on the mountain. I'm currently sitting outside in a balcony and the temperature is great right now. It was hot during the day but now there's a cool breeze, just like there is every evening.

Here are some quick things I love about Switzerland so far.
- Free water! (There are beautiful fountains with cold fresh water.)
- People are super friendly here
- Chocolate is available everywhere
- The landscape is gorgeous
- Don't have to pay to use the public bathrooms

I'll keep you guys updated with my experiences here. One of them is my first time ever seeing a live soccer/football game.

First off, one of the sons of the family friends is a professional football player and he plays with FC Wil. He had a game yesterday and I went to see it. Usually, I'm not one for sports, They bore me or I don't understand the rules and have no desire to learn them. But, soccer is one of the most interesting sports for me because I think it's very intense to watch a game where it's likely for there to only be a score of about 1:0. Also, my sibling is a soccer fanatic so I've been exposed to the sport a lot.

My Ticket

Watching the game live was really cool. Not only can you see the players more clearly and hear them shouting to each other, but you get to experience the same moment with hundreds of other people. I always gasped when it looked like the other team was about to score and people would turn around to look at me but then they laughed it off. Also, everything in Switzerland is a lot cleaner, and the stadium was beautiful compared to American football games I've been to. However, I couldn't escape the smoking. Most people smoke here (like they do in Germany) and at the game was no exception. For someone who easily gets headaches from strong smells, that wasn't great but ah well. It was really cool to watch a game where I knew one of the players! The son was really good and he made some amazing moves, like swiftly kicking the ball to fly through an opposing player's legs. I definitely want to go to another live game. As for now, I'm going to go watch one on TV. Go Soccer!

Kassel

Hercules Statue

     Story Time!!! I went with my grandmother to Kassel. To get there, we took a three-hour charter bus ride. The best part? I had to get up at 8 A.M! Yeah, I was basically a zombie during the ride. I also felt really nauseous because I could barely sleep the night before so the ride was three hours of me trying not to throw up.

     Then there were our fellow passengers. Um, well, I was the youngest of the group. By far. By about, fifty years. Yup, I was on a bus ride with a group of retirees. I'm used to taking vacations with my parents, and that can be weird when you'd rather hang out with people your own age. But being in a travel group of only retirees is bizarre. I had nothing to talk about and chilled with my grandma while overhearing people say things like, "When someone is five minutes late, I feel physically ill and my throat closes up."

     We also had a delightful bus driver. He was, in the politest of terms, condescending and rude. Whenever someone asked him a question he acted like they were an idiot and was annoyed that he had to talk to them. H was a bit weird and liked to call out people. Apparently people usually give the driver tips on these kind of outings, but not a single person did so on this trip. My grandma said it was his own fault because he didn't even get out of his seat to say goodbye to people when it was time to go.

     Despite all that, seeing Kassel itself was a nice experience. Like most of the towns I've seen in Germany, it's a combination of idyllic village and industry. Fun fact: the Brothers Grimm lived and worked there as librarians for some time and also collected their stories there. That's what the lady giving us the tour guide mentioned many times. Oh yeah, the trip included a guided bus tour. When we arrived in Kassel a woman boarded the bus and she gave us an audio tour as the bus driver drove around the city. After the tour we had an hour break for lunch and plenty of time to walk around the city, as we were told. Um, no. We had enough time to take a bathroom break and wolf down fish rolls and (for me to drink a coca cola) and then had to head back to the buses.

     








         We then went to a nature park, Bergpark Wilhelmshoehe, known for its man-made and natural water features. And a nude statue of Hercules for some reason. That was interesting. My grandmother and I walked down about 200 steps and had to walk further down a steep hill to get to the main attractions. On our way, we saw natural waterfalls and at the end, the Grosse Fontaine, which is basically a strong jet of water.

Grosse Fontaine

      After our exertion we had, what else? Coffee and cake in a hotel lobby. At this point, after about an hour of physical activity, I was starving and I did not want cake. I wanted real food, like a steak and fries. But that was not meant to be. I tried to swallow the cake, which was apple, (I hate cooked apples), but I gave up after the third bite. Then it was back to the bus for the return 3-hour journey. Ahh, fun times in Germany!