My First Week in Bayreuth!

I have had both a busy and amazing first week in Germany. Two days ago, April and I bought tickets for a trip to Munich this coming up weekend. The trip is open to any international students at Universität Bayreuth, and we hope that it will be a good opportunity to meet new people and, of course, see Munich!

On June 4^th, we went hiking in a small town called Alexandersbad. Joining us were April’s colleagues of the Geochemistry department. Everyone came equipped with backpacks, snacks, and good hiking boots. We hit the trails at 9:00am, and worked our way through a labyrinth of trees branches, dirt, rocks, and roots. At some points, we were climbing rocks that were in the formation of stairs. Other times, we had to squeeze through tiny rock caves.

Surprisingly, everyone held up pretty well; we hiked for four straight hours. We stopped for lunch around 1:00pm, when we finally came to the summit of the mountain. We ate at the Hönika Bräu, which had beautiful wooden tables and a breathtaking view looking down on several tiny towns. Here, April and I tried our first authentic German food. She ordered Bratwurst, and I ordered Schnitzel, which tasted and looked like breaded chicken. Everything was delicious! We drank mineral water sans gas.

The next day, April and I walked down Universitätstrasse and found the town mall. It is amazingly similar to an American mall, and has everything I could want. We had a good laugh when we came across a store called the New Yorker, which sold clothes that people presumably wear in New York. We ate dinner at a small restaurant, and I had a wrap with eggs, shrimp, and chicken.

We tried to go to the bookstore the other day, but to our amazement, the student resource center, where the bookstore is located, is only open from 9:00am-12:00pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and from 1:00pm-3:00pm on Wednesday. How inconvenient! Why is the resource center for students only open for three hours a day?! April and I both have to be working during these times. Hopefully, though, we might be able to stop there on our lunch break on Wednesday. We hope to buy some Universität Bayreuth sweatshirts.

On the night of June 6th, we met our Italian friends, Katia, Antonella, and Valentina, and walked over to the Mensa for the “Breaking the Crane Party.” It was amazing how the university had transformed the Mensa (the cafeteria by day) into a huge “Disco.” The lighting was very colorful, and the music was great – with a surprisingly large amount being American music. It was particularly funny when Lady Gaga’s Poker Face came on, and all of the German students started singing in English. All in all, I have never been to a party of this caliber, and I had such a great time dancing. The party began at 10:00pm and ended at 4:00am!

The weather was a bit gloomy this weekend, and it began pouring around 4:30pm on Sunday. However, Katia, Antonella, Valentina, April, and I decided that we would go to our first German mass. Luckily, by 5:30pm, the rain had stopped, and we walked through the scenic Hofgarten to get to the church. The church itself was old and beautiful, having been built in 1753. Minus the language barrier, the mass was very similar to one in the U.S.

Yesterday night was the final night of Volksfest in Bayreuth, which is equivalent to a big carnival. I was amazed at the rides, some of which looked incredibly daunting. I didn’t ride any of these rides, but I did take plenty of pictures. Because it started raining as we were walking around, we took refuge in the carnival’s Biergarten. Basically, this was a giant room with a stage, a band, and hundreds of people. Waitresses were weaving their way through the crowds carrying six or seven large mugs of beer (exactly like I had seen in the Rick Steves DVD of Germany). Half an hour later, the rain stopped, and just in time, too; the fireworks began, and they represented the end of Volksfest, which had been going for the last two weeks.

On another note, something essential to have in Bayreuth is a bicycle. In fact, next to my dorm building is a huge area where all of the residents of the dorm park their bikes; from what I can seen, there have to be at least 200 bikes in there! Thanks to April’s PhD student, Elke, we now have bikes to ride for the next two months. I am very excited because my walk to work in the botanical gardens is quite long. Now, I can make it there in half the time! Until next time, Kim