Travel Plans

UPDATED WITH PHOTO!

So I sit writing this in the Computer Lab at Bucerius. Free Internet. It's a wonderful thing. Bar the censoring of web pages based on the number of "illicit materials" on it. I mean, they blocked Salient for god's sake.

I have seven hours to kill before my next class, and I'll be damned if I'll do any readings today. There's more interesting things to do with my time. Like make travel plans for this weekend and next week.

Currently looking at going to Köln (or Cologne for the Antipodeans) for the weekend. There's a wonderful invention by the Germans called a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (Translation is Beautiful Weekend Ticket), which allows travel on any Regional train in Germany for the entire weekend for five people for only €30. Sweet deal. This means that I can be in Köln for the weekend at little expense.

I've been told there's some amazing markets there on a Saturday. Bring on the trinkets. I'd also like to see the Dom without the scaffolding outside and all around it. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to see the little gold box at the back of the church. For those of you who saw my photos from last trip, you should remember the gold box I could only photograph from a distance. I didn't know what it was until just recently. Turns out it's supposed to be the ashes of the Three Wise Men. Cool.

So that's the weekend. Bar a return to Hamburg and some partaking of Volleyball on Sunday night. Elaine played volleyball at College in the US, and in fact had a scholarship to do so. Here's hoping to have some good fun. You all know how incredibly competitive I get, so this could prove very interesting.

With that little side tangent, I'll go on to explain the plans for the week. But first, some background. Next week has a public holiday on the Tuesday. That's pretty sweet. What's even sweeter is that I only have one class on the Monday. Well technically I have two, another one on Thursday being a German language class, which I can fortunately miss.

Now you're all informed of my schedule, I can gloat some more. Rome. That's right, Rome. The plan is to be in Rome for the entire week, leaving Monday and getting back the following Sunday. Should be awesome. Currently flights are looking to only be €40 return. Can I gloat some more?

In other news, the Vis Moot preparation has begun here at Bucerius. Jim has got me involved at the start, talking to interested students and explaining how things go and the benefits to be gained. I've also roped Lauren from Osgoode into help out, and Jim is over the moon. The problem comes out next week, so here's hoping to get straight into it.

Before I forget, I should also gloat some more over my updated timetable for next half. I've dropped Law of the WTO to pick up International Commerical Transactions (which is a full trimester course). Apart from being on the CISG, and something I know inside out now, it has one class a week on a Monday evenings. I know this means nothing to some of you, so I'll put it in another way: I have very little in the way of actual class time in the second half. Bring on the 6 day weekends....

I've also been bugged to put up another photo from Amsterdam, and I will as soon as I get to my computer.
And there you have it. Elaine and I in Amsterdam. Not the best photo, but it'll do for the moment.

Amsterdamned

Amsterdam was by far one of the best times of my life.

First things first, I should be completely honest, as the joys of Amsterdam cannot be fully told otherwise. I've turned into the stereotypical Kiwi boy out in the big wide world - I met someone. And no, for the love of god people stop asking if it's a boy. Her name is Elaine, and she's also on this exchange, coming from Minnesota in the USA. Elaine has been mentioned before, and this time its not in passing. Having spent more than a majority of time in her company has put a large smile on my face, and it's been there for some time. I dare say since the start of this exchange. Thank you.

With that in mind, it comes time to look at the trip to Amsterdam. The train trip there began at roughly 5:30 am on Friday morning. No mean feat. Everyone got on the train safe and sound and the journey began. The weather looked good, and as it turned out, too good.

Upon arriving in Amsterdam everyone else went to their respective hostels and hotels. Elaine and I didn't have anything booked. We were running on luck and turns out we got it in bucketloads. While everyone else was paying €35 to share a room with three other people, a toilet down the hall, and a shower attached to someone else's room, Elaine and I scored a 4 star hotel for €55 each. Sweet deal I'd say. The fact we could shower without decomination suits attests to that. The view from our room was pretty sweet too: The observant will be aware that this doesn't look like Amsterdam, and you'd be almost right. The hotel was on the North Side, over the river. A free shuttle service running all hours of the day and night served us well. Very well.

Now, this took up most of the day sorting out our accomodation, walking round in the stinking heat that we took our sweet time when we found some. Including going to the markets just across the road from our hotel, which was just so much fun filling nostrils with the aromas, and tastebuds with local treats.

Having split from the group for dinner we all caught up again after and proceeded to hit the town - beginning with an Absinthe bar. Bright green drinks are always a great way to start the night.

After sleeping in the following morning, Elaine and myself caught up with Nate and hit the bike tour on offer in the city - www.yellowbike.nl. Great tour, just stunning. It was exactly what I needed. Three hours of seeing sights of the city and hearing little gems was well worth it. The head quarters happens to be right next to the best coffee house in the world. It was mind-blowingly good. I mean it. If you're in Amsterdam, go there. The barista is worth it alone.

After this little bike tour, we headed back into dinner with everyone, celebrating the birthday of one of the people with us - Karen, from Osgoode Hall in Toronto. Was a great little Indonesian place. After which we proceeded to split off again into little groups, with the plan to meet up later at a bar. That was the plan at least. Elaine and I found this fantastic little place on the canal in the Jewish district. It was a tiny little old house turned into a bar. Quiet, serene, and over looking the canal down to the waterfront. It was simply amazing. Quite a stark comparison to the other sights we had seen that night - the Red Light District.

Amsterdam is notorious for its Red Light area, and it lives up to it. I have never seen so many red lights, black lights, and skimpy outfits before in my life. I was actually overwhelmed by it all, and a little squeemish too - I could only glimpse at the girls in the windows, whereas Elaine was staring wide eyed in wonder. We must have made quite a sight. But needless to say the bar mentioned above was a welcome relief. The hordes of people on the strip were just insane - including a large group of eldery tourists being taken there by their helpful guide. Weird, just weird. I feel a little uneasy about the fact these girls are a tourist attraction, being treated more and more like simple objects than they might otherwise be. Anyways, another argument another time.

Which brings us to Sunday. Again, after a large sleep in, we hit the Rijks Museum to see some good old Rembrandt and other Dutch artists. Nothing to say really, other than awesome. It was kind of surreal to see The Nightwatch in real life.

So in short, Amsterdam was just completely mind-blowing, and one of the best weekends I've had in a long while. The sights were amazing, the company superb, the experience sublime.

Surf and Turf

Things have been pretty good here. In fact, they're still amazing. We've had plenty of good times here. The weather has been amazing, and it looks good for the weekend.

I'll start with what you've missed, then move onto what you will miss. I've become rather inpet at keeping you all upto date, so don't count on a full account by all means, but I'll give as much as I can.

Last Sunday we ended up going back to the Lake in the Stadtpart. The sky was bright, and I was brighter. Well, whiter. I did leave my top off for a good four hours only to get a little pink. The water was good, and the card games in the sun were fantastic. There's a group of three of us who end up playing 500 with a fourth ring-in, and we played for a good two hours or more in the sun next to the Lake. There's nothing like sitting on a slight grassy slope, a gleaming lake, and a warm kiss of the sun to accompany some good old fashioned cut throat card games.

The day of relaxation was complete ends to the day before. We participated in a City Rally, which involved walking round the entire city answering questions about Hamburg's history. It was pretty good fun, and I actually got to see some sights I've never seeen before. Like this old old old part of the city, built in 1670.

Last night we ended up going to a "small" brewhouse here in Hamburg. I say small because it's a local business brewing its own beer. Its premises, however, are far from that. Catacombs describes it best. Or Bat Cave. We started with four, and ended the night with seven, which was probably a good thing seeing as we purchased a 10 litre keg of their finest beer. It was good. The fact we played a fun drinking game had no effect on the comsumption, no, of course not. The fact we were loud and having a riotous time doing so didn't either. It was great fun, and we're already planning a large group to head back there again to pillage their 20 litre keg. The beer was that good.

This brings us to the now. Tomorrow morning at the ungodly hour of 5:40 am we head out on a train to Amsterdam. Should be a fun journey, being 18 in total, and most planning to come straight from town. A five hour train trip never looked to promise such....interesting times. We'll be there all of Friday, Saturday, and leave Sunday evening. That leaves plenty of time to visit the Van Gogh museum, not that I haven't been there before, but this time I'll get to walk not run through it (I'll let you know what it's like Kat). Other options include taking a quick train to the smaller cities outside Amsterdam - I hear Rotterdam is good, and the Hague could prove educational. Photos will be supplied.

The only thing concerning me is that we're yet to book accomodation. Well, most have. Elaine and I haven't yet. I'm trusting her experience in finding good places upon arrival. Plus, most places tend to have beds only available upon arrival or booking in person. Smart Europeans taking us galavanting lawyers into account.

So, onto future plans. The following week is a long weekend, with Tuesday week being a public holiday. Some have class on the Monday and are skipping it. I on the other hand will have a longer weekend. My next class is the following Monday, so I get a week long long weekend. Thinking about utilising this to go visit Iceland or Stockholm before it gets too cold, or possibly going to somewhere like Italy or Spain where I can see bucket loads of stuff in a week. The best option is simply to check out www.lastminute.de which provides cheap flights and accomodation in one all inclusive price. I might just gamble and pick something cheap. You will find out I'm sure.

The other thing I'm looking into is the option of doing a Masters of Law somewhere in Germany or the USA. I'm just enjoying this resurgence of comparative studies far too interesting and stimulating. It really tests my knowledge and discussion skills. If I can find something like that out there, I'll think damn hard about it.

Now if you've skimmed through this, you'll pick up some little tidbits here. I've been given free access to the Grand Piano here at Bucerius. Something I've relished. I don't think I've played the piano so much in the last couple of days in a long long long time. And it feels good. Damn good. But with it comes a price. I'm getting bugged to play at the Opening Ceremony here. Something I could do quite easily now I think. We'll see.

Other little tidbit is that I've just made a purchase. I'll leave the wisdom of such a purchase to you. It's a large overcoat. Wool, and canvas outside, lined with a mink-like fur with hood and all. It is the most warm coat I've ever owned, and my god it looks good. Little expensive, but you pay for quality.

Great White Hope

First things first. HSV playing Arsenal in the Champions League at Hamburg was priceless. So the ticket cost €48, but that pails in comparison to the atmosphere. It was beyond electric. It was insane. And the seats. My god they were good. See for yourself. That's Franz Beckenbauer in the lit section. We were in the perfect spot to see Novisky's goal - the curling shot into the top right hand corner. Stunning.

There were 8 of us sitting together, and a total of 12 of us going there together. The only comment I need make is that Germans are far less polite in crowded trains than the Japanese. For starters, they all have the nerve to be almost my height so I feel slightly more crowded. The trains there were packey beyond sardine standards. You could smell the brakes melting because of the weight of the carriages. But man oh man it was so worth it.

The next day, a group of about 12 of us went to the Stadtpark in Hamburg, which has a filtered lake for swimming. I spent the entire day with my top off, and I swear I'm whiter than before. I think my skin is used to having no Ozone layer. Someone actually commented saying that I look whiter. Great, I'm getting bleached from the sun.

But you can see how stunning this place was. We were there for over five hours just swimming, eating, and playing card games. It was amazing. And this weather is supposed to last for September.

Other news is that it's Chinatime in Hamburg. A celebration of its sister city links with Shanghai. So the whole waterfront is done up with Asian themes, Asian markets and Asian food places. It's so good. And there's apparently fireworks coming our way tonight I think. Pity that I have to attend this reunion thing at Bucerius.

Which reminds me, currently getting ready for a networking afternoon with German and European law firms. I'm going to bag me a job here if I can. Wish me luck.

I've also booked a train ticket for next weekend. There's a group of 12 of us (what is it with this number and me this week?) going to Amsterdam for the weekend. Should be great fun. Also looking at trips to London and Dublin. I just confirmed my timetable for next half. I have 5 day weekends every week except for three occasions - once where I get a four day weekend, and another where I have a normal weekend but two days off midweek, and another which I have something on everyday except Sunday.

I'm not complaining, but I'd prefer to have a travel companion. Oh well, lifestyles of the galavanting law student.

Catch up time

So this morning I have a little more time. Mainly because I lost my keys again and now I have oodles of time before class.

Last weekend was great, on Saturday night St Pauli played Bayern Munich in the German League Cup. A division three side against one of the best in Europe. It finished a 1-1 draw, so there had to be sudden death (no boring English replays here). Munich won. But the streets were crazy. Turns out that there were riots of sorts in the Schanze district, but only five people got arrested.

Then on Sunday, a group of 23 of us internationals headed up the coast to St Peter Ording. It's a little village on the Northern pennusiula of Germany with huge long beaches that hit the North Sea. It was a serene little place. We were there from 1 pm until 6:30 pm, being a three hour train ride either way. But it only cost 6.75 EUR a person. Sweet. The Sea was great, it felt so good to be in the water again. Fun and Sun was had by all.

Then rolls in Monday, not much to report really. In fact, it's only yesterday when things pick up. Like the pickup touch rugby game we organised attracted 26 people to play, and more to watch. Turns out everyone liked it. Felt good to get that organised. Craziest thing was having to make space halfway through the game for a hot air balloon.

Then of course, I scored a ticket to tonight's HSV versus Arsenal game. That's right folks, I'm going to a UEFA Champion's League game. Sweet Jesus it will be good.

However, I did lose my keys, and that means a little bit of trouble for everyone. I don't think Jana appreciates me losing them, and there's talk of changing the locks - which would be a good 300 EUR I'm told. Personally I think that's a bit paranoid, there's no identifying features for the keys, just three simple keys on a keyring.

Anyways, I'm going to go get breakfast. Everyone take care, and I'll update with more photos and stories when I can.

Swept off my Feet

I'm so short of time it's not funny.

I will post later with photos and stories of my weekend including the trip to the North Sea, the riots in the streets of Hamburg, and general funny times.

Just hold on for a little longer.

Photos as promised

So this is Jo and me at the Sofa bar in Sternchanse. See what I mean about the slivers of light. It was so good to catch up with her.

Other piece of random news, I met a Vis Mooter here. I was sitting having lunch with everyone, and I turn to Lauren from Osgoode Hall and ask her "By chance did you have an older sister who went to Osgoode?". She looked so familiar, but didn't have the curly hair I remember.

"No I don't" she said, "Where do you think you met her?". My reply was Vienna. Turns out that Lauren was at the Vis Moot, and was the Osgoode girl who sat in on our first moot against the Brasilians. She usually has curly hair. Weird as hell. Even funnier was the fact she was going to ask me whether I knew the guys from the Vis Moot team from VUW, as she thought I looked familiar too. Small world.

Oh, before I forget, here's a quote that struck me dumb:

I had vertigo. I wanted to fling myself off the edge of my confession and somehow, with the force of my passion, with the power and courage of my leap, command respect, understanding, sympathy.

Peter Carey, I thank you.

Personal Device Accessories

I had considered going home to write this up, just so you guys could have the benefit of some photos. All two of them I've taken in the last wee while. But, I decided doing some readings at law school would be a wiser option, and most will appluad that move. The others can be content in the fact that I'm probably still going out tonight, like every night. Although drink may not be involved, a good time can be guaranteed regardless.

As for activities over the last few days, well, Jo's been here. Someone I haven't seen in almost two years. So a little catchup was required. It's been a pretty sweet time. Catching up on good times, having a little fun, introducing her to my new found friends and of course getting her heartfelt advice on a number of issues and vice versa. Had to put her on a train this morning. Little sad, but she'll be back. Plus, with Jo gone I shouldn't have to run to make my classes anymore.

Enough, of the cushy stuff. You want stories and good times. I've started frequenting that Sofa Bar I mentioned previously. It's a great a place during the day as it is during the night. They make damn good hot chocolates, and you can add a little flavour by means of Baileys for the adventurous. Their Japanese Green Tea is also pretty good, and cheap, for those worrying I'm consuming nothing more than alcohol these days. The best thing about this place is that it catches the sun in the evenings, so you can sit there sipping your drink with the dying rays of light. It's a pity that Germans like this too, and every German couple seems to like this place too. Which brings me to my next point.

PDAs. Public Displays of Affection for the uninitiated. Germans have no qualms about starting a pick-up game of tongue hockey anywhere. They don't seem to care that there's a New Zealander sitting across the way looking very uncomfortable. In fact, I swear some of them do it just to get to me. At least my friends get a kick out of seeing me squirm a little and point out the nearest couple going for it. Jo actually had to point out that I used to be much worse, and that now I'm fairly relaxed in comparison. Nonetheless, it provided a good story, even more so as Elaine spent half the time peeping through the hole in the back of her chair at the couple behind her. Little voyuer you.

Classes are brilliant. I'm already the outspoken one in class - who would have guessed... But it's proving a good thing, means I stay focused and enjoy the classes even more. The lecturer seems to like it too, so much so that I bump into him on the street and he gives me a little stick. In that friendly American manner of course.

Language classes started back up again, they're a reall hoot. The level is a bit crazy to gauge, but I'm fairly certain that I'm a cut above most in the grammar front. My Vocabulary isn't as diverse as some though. Good news is that we're covering grammar I haven't done before, so that'll be cool. And it's just good to keep talking in it, I've tracked down some who are pretty competent so we're hanging together.

Anyways, I've killed enough time talking to you. I'll creep on later tonight if I can simply to post some photos for you all. Also, I'll update you on the Soccer front, Italy playing France tonight in the qualification rounds. Should be fun. Pity there's no chance of a Materazzi and Zidane rematch.

The Class of 2006

Here's the class photo of our Exchange. See if you can spot me or anyone else you know.

Dude, Where's My House?

Okay, so we've got a lot to catch up on. There's Copenhagen and the festivities that ensued, and the festivities upon our victorious return and the triumph of starting the exchange programme.

Copenhagen.
It began an early morning, getting on a Bus ride which would take 5 hours, including a one hour ferry ride in the middle. Turns out there's only 6 of us on the bus - our group of 4 and two randoms. We had a great time.

It was a little rainy, as you can probably see from the darkness in the photos, but Copenhagen is an amazing city. It's so pictureseque. Quaint even. To give you an idea of how much this whole thing cost - €55 for the bus (it would have been €39 had we booked last week), and €30 each for the room. That's dirt cheap for a two day trip away.

Anyways, photo tour of the city on the first day:

Here's the Rathaus (The Town Hall), it's pretty cool.








Here's one of the main streets in Copenhagen, a little cosy and quaint. You'll notice how dark it is. We only found out what that REALLY meant later...






Here's the garden just outside the Opera House. There was a whole big exhibition of World Press Photos, mainly based around wild life, and it was cool.



This is a photo looking into one of the many palaces in the city. The Danish love their royal family. The building at the far end is actually a church down the street. And you can clearly see Kat trying not to get run over. The Danish have a knack for these big buildings, and the old and appealing architecture. It felt like the little brother of Vienna.

There's also a plentiful number of statues in the city. I have numerous photos of them all, but there's two I want to share right now. The first is of Hera I presume, but I can't be sure. It's this huge fountain with bronze bulls pulling her chariot and water from the fountain gushes out the back. It looks very cool, and I'd like to think I've captured part of that in this photo.

The other statue you have to go see is The Little Mermaid. She sits down by the harbour, and was a donation to the city by some famous artist after being so moved by the performance of the Little Mermaid he saw at the Opera House. This thing is old, and if you look at her legs, you can see that it's been rubbed smooth and polished simply by the numbers. I couldn't go to Copenhagen without seeing this infamous statue.

The best thing about Copenhagen though, was the night we had there. We found a nice little Italien restuarant on a little side street and had some beautiful red wine with your typical Italien dishes. It was good. We then stumbled into an Irish Pub. Now, in Denmark, it appears there are no Danish pubs. Only Irish and English bars. What made this all the more interesting was that in the bar, a Spanish trio playing covers. They were great, and we ended up staying there well into the night. As memory serves me, we left somewhere round 2 am, on a Tuesday night!

This leads to the next interesting story: Walking home drunk in the pouring rain, and I mean absolute shocking weather. We got soaked head to toe going home, and most of our clothes still required drying while on the bus. But the best part was walking down the street yelling at the top of our lungs in Irish accents. I don't know what the thrill is, but there is one. Trust me. Try it in a foreign country where people can't understand you and you'll feel the good times we experienced. Well, it was either that or the alcohol. I don't really mind.

Exchange Programme
Now this brings me to the exchange programme. It started very well. I met so many new and interesting people from all over the globe. Of course we met the Aussies, and they are a great bunch always in top form. So on Thursday night there was a BBQ at the law school. Beer was provided for free. We stayed until about 11 pm then hit the Sternschanze for the best lounge bars in town. And we found the most excellent place. It's appropriately called "The Sofa Bar", being a gutted out old theatre filled with old ornate sofas and couches. It's wall to wall couches, and it is great. The 5 shots for €6 was an added bonus. So I showed people my flaming Sambuca trick. It went down a treat. After these festivities I managed to find my way home, all the while trying not to fall asleep on the subway.

The next morning, I had no hangover. This is usual for me. And I lauded it over everyone else I met. There were many long faces at 9:30 am yesterday, and I can assure I was the one grinning.

Now these orientation things are nothing special - paper work upon paper work. Except that yesterday we had our placement test for the German Language courses. There's four levels: Basic, Beginnger, Intermediate, and Advanced. Basic being no German, Beginners having a good grasp of German, Intermediate moving onto Advanced materials, and Advanced being a refresher course. So after one month of learning German, I get put in: Intermediate. That made my day. To think I've gone from zero language skills to that high level is astounding. I just can't stop grinning. And there's going to be some wicked people in my class. Downside is that it's at 6:30 pm until 8 pm. Poos.

But last night was good. My god it was good. We had a progressive dinner, whereby groups of two people had to move between houses for Starters, Mains and Desserts so that there was six people at one house any given time. There was a schedule, and it was stuck to. But it was just so much fun meeting so many different people over food and drink.

Then came the drink. We hit the Reeperbahn. Boy did we hit the Reeperbahn. There's a bar called "The 99 Cent Bar". They don't call it that for nothing. So after a couple of starters, the group of Wiebke, Charlotte (from Australia), Philip (from Bucerius), Dong Yung (from China), and me went to the official after party. It was one hell of a party. At 2:30 am we decided to move on to another bar, don't ask me for names, German neon signs are hard to read. We didn't end the night until 6 am, which by then the best idea was to crash at the nearest house. So, we did. And I've only just gotten home.

I've had a great time. And classes start next week, which should be a different experience entirely. I assure you there will actually be study involved in this exchange, it's not purely a cultural experience.

All Apologies

Sorry guys,  I've just gotten in from town after the first day of the exchange, and needless to say I'm legless and finding it difficult to write this in a coherent manner.  You deserve better.  Hence why I will write everything up when I'm sober.