Goodbye Braunschweig

Schimmel Concert Grand 

                On Tuesday, I had the privilege of touring the Schimmel piano factory. I was touring it with some apathetic high school kids, two of which were getting on my nerves because you could just tell they were the “popular” couple that everyone secretly disliked. They were rude and didn’t care about keeping their personal displays of affection to themselves. It was borderline uncomfortable. Mostly annoying. Anyway, there was a young guy giving our tour, who seemed quite nervous. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, either; however, after the tour, our guide asked if anyone could play the piano. Someone’s hand shot up…this girl’s! I was allowed to play on the Schimmel concert grand in what I presume was the showcase room. I played my Rachmaninoff Elegie in E-flat Minor and a Bernstein piece (I believe called For Johnny Mohegan). The touch of the keys was nice, but the sound was a little brighter than I would’ve preferred for Rachmaninoff. Nonetheless, it was beautiful and a great opportunity!

Inside Himmelhoch Cafe 

For the past few days, I have been meeting with two ladies I met off of a website called Couchsurfing. This website contains information on where people live and whether they have a “couch” you can sleep on. From there, you can contact that person and work out the details of how long, if there will be rent, etc. Mostly, it is used by the younger crowd or for people on a tight budget. When I researched living arrangements in Braunschweig, I saw that there were no hostels in the city; therefore, I jumped to Couchsurfing. I worked everything out months in advance with a girl named Maryanne; however, three weeks ago she found out her family was coming to visit and could no longer host me. Dilemma! So I quickly booked a cheap place in Salzgitter. Yes, it was a biergarten and pension, but it was nice. Sometimes, I would come back and the chef would be singing. Him and his wife ran the restaurant/hotel and were extremely nice to me. Both could speak a little bit of English. The waitresses there were also nice. Some nights I would just go down and have some tea while researching or writing my blog, while mostly everyone else was drinking beer. Can’t fit in everywhere!

Braunschweig itself was fairly nice. I loved the old part of town and even the shopping center, which was a renovated castle. This past Wednesday, I met with another lady from Couchsurfing named Sophia. We went to a little café called Himmelhoch and had a nice healthy lunch with some tea. Sophia showed me around some of the old parts of town and even led me to a music store, where I purchased three new books. I eventually did meet up with Maryanne because I had mailed her my Bach tickets and football (gift for a company in my Sustainable Manufacturing program). We walked around and ate ice cream. The weather has been gorgeous the past four days! No rain, sunny, and in the mid-70s. I know that several parts in Germany are dealing with severe flooding, but I haven’t been to one of those cities yet.

Inside of the castle...a mall!

Schloss/Castle 

                For my Sustainable Manufacturing program, the dress for the most part is business casual. Of course, I brought with me some business clothes, but needed a couple more. I ended up going back to the castle and bought me a blouse and dress. It wasn’t too painful to leave Braunschweig. Although, I had a decent time, the city life just isn’t for me. I’m headed to Munich and obviously that’s a big city as well, but I think that meeting up with eleven other young Americans is going to make it so much more fun. The program begins on Sunday, June 9^th and continues until June 17^th. We have a 29-page itinerary so clearly, I will be one busy bee! I may not have time to blog during the program, but certainly afterward.

Cultural Differences to Note:

I’m not sure why I didn’t think about this earlier, but all the prices listed in Germany are exactly what you pay. There’s no additional tax once you get to the register. I love this! It allows me to get my money ready and not be shocked by the total because I didn’t factor in the additional 7% sales tax. Also, there traffic lights are a little different. All the colors function the same; however, in addition, when the light is red but about to go green, the yellow light pops up for a few seconds in addition with the red. It reminded me of the straight track back home, where the lights go red, yellow, yellow, green or whatever. I think I like it. Gives you some time to get prepared for that nice green light.

Fun Fact:

German asparagus 

While in Braunschweig, I kept seeing a lot of asparagus advertisement. I asked Sophia what that was all about and she said that Braunscweig supplies Germany with all of its asparagus and the asparagus season just started. I guess that’s pretty exciting! So if you love asparagus, go to Braunschweig!