Ways to Save in College!

Just about everyday, I come up with a way to save something. Sometimes its time or money or effort or even my own sanity. As a result of all of my fabulous saving ideas, I figured I could make an on-going sequence for my blog. So every now and again when I have an saving epiphany I post about it. Hopefully someone out there can use my inspiration and save himself.

Without further ado, ways to save MONEY in college tip #1: Stop drying loads of laundry. My roommate and I were forced into doing this one day when all of the dryers were busy in our communal laundry room., but it ended up working out great. Not only do I now save about $1.25 ($0.75 per load) a week but I do not have to worry about being late to pick up my clothes.As it is common in our small laundry room for wet or dry clothes to be tossed on the floor if the owner is not exactly on time to retrieve them. In addition, I already have the perfect drying rack, my own bed. I use the ladder side to place small items like socks, shorts, and underwear, and then I can hang shirts, pants, and dresses on the bed frame. The only down side my roommate and I have discovered to this method, is that instead of it taking 45 minutes for clothes to dry, it takes around 4 hours. Eventually, I may have to break down and use the dryer again in an eurgent "I need this dry now" case, but for the time being the bed/ drying rack is working great and saving me money.

Snow Already?!

So the good news is I got my computer back and it is 100% fixed (at least I hope it is). Either way it is working great. The other news, I have not determined whether its good or bad yet, is the snow!! It happened last Friday. I came out of my Spanish 303 class and BAM, it was snowing. I loved it! It melted pretty rapidly but it did dust the top of the San Francisco Peaks creating a brilliant view. The snow was beautiful and not too cold. However, the rumor around campus is that we are going to have more snow storms this year than we have had in the past 50 years. Also this was the earliest it has snowed in the past 40 years. So not only will I be experiencing just winter, but it is bound to be an exciting one. Apparently, according to one of my sophomore friends, I looked like a real fool running out of class and capturing these photos. But what can I say? I am a freshmen. So i suppose my worrying about the cold a month in advance was not uncalled for because it is already upon me! 

College Life Begins

I have gotten so far behind with blogging from moving from Germany and now up to Flagstaff, Arizona. College started just over a month ago and it is going great. However one mishap, my computer received a virus somehow, so for now I am stuck using the computer labs and can not post pictures. I am enjoying living in Flagstaff but am deathly afraid for cold season. Traditionally, Flagstaff gets its first bit of snow on Halloween. THAT'S IN 31 DAYS. I am convinced I should be doing something to prepare for the burst of cold that is about to encircle the area, but I have no clue what that something is. I have bought a rain jacket and two wool coats. I have some jeans as well. Does anyone have suggestions for appropriate foot wear? (Please keep in mind that I want to look somewhat attractive in winter shoes:) Never have I had to deal with cold weather for more than a couple of days. I am excited to experience it, but still terrified. I am sure once the weather and snow hits, I will adapt easily and survive. Lets hope!

Day One in Aachen

While Antonia was busy having fun in kindergarten, Sonja, Martin and I raced to Aachen for a short preview. I would later return one the third leg of my journey so they were just trying to get me orientated. We first stopped at the pillars. This structure represents the natural hot springs that Aachen is famous for.

 People have been comming to bathe in the sulfur water for centuries. Of course the hot springs is not located in the center of the town, but this just tells a bit of history under this giant domed area of the structure is where salsa dances occassionally take place. You just have to hope you can dance through the rotten egg smell of the water that comes through these lion heads.

 

After the pillars we wandered through town quickly and came to the great cathedral. As legend goes the great Charlemagne gave Aachen tons of money to build a great cathedral. When Charlemagne left the city, however, the citizens pilfered the money and built no church. Later news arrived that Charlemagne was returning to Aachen and was anxiously awaiting to see his new church. The people panic, knowing that in days time the leader would see how the citizens wasted his money. Then the devil stepped in and offered the townspeople something they couldn't resist. The devil would build the giant cathdral in one night if he could have the soul of the first one that enters the church. The people agreed, but knew the first soul to enter a cathdral is always a bishop. How could they sell the bishop to the devil?

 After thinking of a way to avoid the death of the bishop, they had a solution. The devil spent the night building the cathedral. The next morning the townspeople gathered to marvel at the structure and put their plan to action. They released a wolf into the church. The wolf was instantly killed and the soul was the devil's. Now the bishop could safely enter the church, and Charlemagne wold be pleased with his gracious cathedral. Now a statue of the wolf seats at the entrance of the cathedral to remind the people of the deal they made.

Inside the church was beautiful. The church was originally built in the 800s, so the whole cathedral is a mixture of relics for different time period where parts were destroyed and rebuilt.  The ceiling was amazing. It was an almost entirely hand crafted mosiac tile mural, depicting many different scenes and symbols. The tile however was part of an 19th century remodel. The podium, however was original to the 800s when the church was completed. It is covered in gold and is detailed with precious gems and ivory. It was really quite delicate.

Soon it was time to return to the kindergarten to pick up cute little Antonia. I had a great time doing a mini tour in Aachen, and I was definitely excited to be returning later in my trip.

German Kindergarten

The second day with Sonja and Martin was Antonia's first day of kindergarten. German kindergarten is the same as American day care. The children simply play and do crafts all day while the parents work or just get a small break. A few years ago, the kindergartens were for ages 3-7, but now there is a trend of more moms working. The  majority of kindergartens will now take children at one and a half years. Antonia is three and half and was going for the first time. She was so excited! In Germany there is a tradition that the cild gets a cone for his first day. These cones are made of thin cardboard and come in all different sizes. It is filled with small toys and treats to help excite the child for, in many cases, the first time they will be without their parents. Antonia's cone was themed with Princess Lilifee. Lilifee is a very popular German cartoon character for little girls. Antonia was delighted. She received a stamp kit, some markers and crayons, and some little acessories for her baby doll. Then off to kindergarten she went. She was nervous, but ended up aving a great time and meeting a new little friend.

Antwerpen and Belguim Chocolate

I was only going to be with Sonja and Martin for two and a half days, and of course they had to continue the German tradition of being overly generous. Every family that I stayed with just radiated generousity. I was VERY lucky. Both Sonja and Martin took the day off of work to take me to Belguim. Because of the European Union, once I entered a country in Europe I had free access to any other European country. I could have headed to Italy, Spain, France, anywhere honestly without needing another passport stamp or passing any border control. SO with a quick one hour drive from Aachen, Germany, I was in Antwerpen, Belguim. Of course the sign that you have entered Belguim is the lights. Every few meters of every stretch of Belguim highway has a light. Apparently these lights, which are visible from space, were highly expensive and, to most people, serve very little purpose.

I found Antwerpen to be very beautiful. Sonja had been a tour guide in her early career and had so much knowledge on the history of Antwerpen. The first stop was to the Rubens House Museum. Rubens is a well know and artistic painter. The museum holds many of his original pieces. Obviously, I was unable to take pictures of his work, but many pictures come up on google. I was able to photograph this garden. Rubens had painted this garden and several centuries later, this garden was developed to resemble his painting.

Next we went walking around the town. We saw the first skyscraper built in Europe, well on the mainland. England had skyscrapers before this one.

We also passed through the diamond district. It was Sunday so many of the stores were closed but a few have window displays for viewing the precious jewerly.

After walking we went to the Museum Plantin-Moretus Prentenkabinet. It was a printing press museum. It was amazing. It had so many books. The museum did a great job of showing the history of bound books. First it had many hand written books with delicate designs on every page. Later there were book written on papyrus. Some books had paintings on gold. Then there were some of the first leather bound books, and one of the first translated bibles. Then it opened into the original printing shop. There were twenty four presses that had been preserved. I got to see the individual letters that had to be lined up to create words. After the letters were lined into words, they were covered with a coat of ink and then pressed onto paper. The pages then had to hang to dry and were finally bound. I was able to watch a sort video about how every letter and symbol was sculpted in metal to be used with the press. It was such intricate work. Also creating one book took forever. I guess a printing press would have to be pretty sure the book was going to be a hit before they would be super willing to invest time to print it out.

As my short trip to Belgium was drawing to a close I dashed for some Belguim chocolate. The choclate shop smelled delicious. All of the treats were homemade on the second floor of the building. Let me just say it was all so delicous!

The Next Leg of My Journey

After five short days with Helga and Gunter it was time to say good bye and begin the next section of my journey. I would be staying with Sonja, Helga and Gunter's daughter. She is married to Martin, and they have the cutest little girl named Antonia.

 We all got together for lunch. I was extremely nervous to be staying with little Antonia because I knew she did not speak any English, and I only knew about ten words of German. However, it is amazing how far a little smile and a laugh will go. Although we really didn't understand each other, we had a great time. After lunch at a local gausthaus (a bed and breakfast) we went to the park. Seeing Antonia play, I realized I hadn't seen any other children the entire five days I had been in Germany.

 Luckily I was taught about this issue. Apparently the birthrate in Germany is extremely low. By the year 2030 the population of Germany will drop from today's 80 million to 60 billion. The birthrate is currently rising though and the government has  created excellent programs to benefit parents with children. Some of these benefits include cheap child care and long maternity leaves.

 Anways I hadn't realized how exciting it was to see a little three and a half year old child. We had blast at the park. Then we began to walk around and I noticed the first parent trap. ICE CREAM! Or as the Germans call it eis (pronounced ice). Just about every single eis parlor has a large statue of and ice cream cone standing outside. Of course a child recognizes this single symbol of a tasty treat. And Antonia was no exception! 

Bacharach

While driving along the River Rhine, we passed this ancient town. It was adorable. First you can only reach this town by foot. Helga, Gunter, and I parked along the Rhine and then crossed the autobahn to reach the town. Long ago, many of the German towns built large walls surrounfing the inhabitant's land. In most cities you can see parts of the wall, but most of the time the city has expanded beyond the wall and the wall has fallen. In Bacharach however the wall still stands, and every person must pass through the gates. Obviosly this gates were built only for people and maybe horses so they are too narrow for a car to pass through.

The houses in Bacharach definitely made this short detour worth wild. Today many houses are designed to look like wood beams support them. However in Bacharach, the old design is not just an optical illusion. Many of the houses are actually so old that they have become lopsided. I'm not sure I would want to live in one of the said lopsided houses, but I had a great time looking at them in this quant little town.

Other Schlossen

I am sure that anyone who knows anything about Germany knows that it is famous for its castles. I'm not sure how many there are exactly, but I know there are more than two hundred. Anyways as I was driving along the River Rhine I passed several of them. Throughout history, castles were built along the river so that the families in the castle could tax any ships sailing down the Rhine. Some of these castles are barely standing ruins. Others are functioning hotels and restaurants. Nevertheless here are some pictures from castles that I saw during the drive.

Highlights of Heidelberg

The first house I stayed in was in Leimen, a city right next to the more popular and more tourist-y city of Heidelberg. So on the fourth day in Germany, I got the opportunity to visit Heidelberg.  Overall, Heidelberg was just gorgeous. I love it.The vibe was very relaxed. Everyone walked around leisurely without appearing to have a real itenirary for the day. I am told that it is quite a student city because of the local university, but all I saw was older people. I guess it being summer could be the reason for this. Anyways it was still a great town. The first thing I did when I arrived was take a solar powered boat ride around the Neckar River. The boat is silent and I learned some interesting history and landmarks of the city from the captain.

After I walked along the bridge. Helga and Gunter were the couple I was staying with for four days; they were also the ones showing me the town. On the Heidelberg bridge is where Gunter proposed to Helga. So romantic! Also on the (I believe) east side of the bridge ( I have no idea which way is North or South so I'm not 100% sure it is the East) there are serveral little locks. It is tradition that couples come to the bridge add a small lock and throw the key into the river, so that their love can not be broken. I'm sorry but this is one of the cutest things I have heard of. Who knows maybe one day I will have a lock there too.

On the bridge is statue of Carlos Theodoro. He is the same man  that owned the summer castle I wrote of earlier. He also lived in the Heidelberg castle. It is said that he was such a ladies man that his big nose is all over Germany. Haha

This cute little monkey (no I am not refering to myself) was funded several decades ago by the city locals. They were tired of tourists coming and taking pictures and observing them as if they were a different specie. The monkey is holding a mirror and is supposed to be saying, "Look, you aren't the only one who looks different".

Next we stopped at Kathe Wohlfahrt. This is a huge store dedicated to only Christmas items. The store in Heidelberg is not the largest of the chain of stores, but its enough Christmas to get me in the holiday spirit. Just about everything in the store is made by hand. The store carries everything I could ever image for Christmas.  Apparently, during the holiday season, so many tourists go to this store that they charge a two euro entrance fee. However in the middle of August less people are intersted on stocking up for Christmas so entering is free.

Again Heidelberg was so amazing. It was a gorgeous town with a grest history. I do not know how it is during the school year, but otherwise it is so relaxed and charming. I really had a great time.

The Other Schloss

Wow! I have certainly been on the move lately and have so much to tell. Luckily I found a way to get internet, so at the last leg of my German adventure I should be able to do much more updating. The other castle I visited was the famous Heidelberg Castle. I am told that this is the most famous castle of Germany. Unlike the other schloss, I did not find the gardens impressive but the castle itself was superb. First I took a cable

car up a steep mountain to the actual castle. The view was amazing; the landing I was on overlooked the entire city and the Neckar River. Amazing!

 Then two parts of the castle were open to see. First I saw the largest wine caste in the world. It holds over 200,000 liters of wine. Conneted to the caste is a pipe that distributes wine, I believe, the parlor. On top of the caste is a dance floor that the royality used during dance parties.

The second part of the Heidelberg castle was the old pharmacy. It had several rooms filled with herb and spice jars that were used to cure illness.

Parts of this castle were destroyed during the second world war or the Great War as it is called by the Germans. Later money was donated to restore the castle to its original splender, but someone once remarked that this tower would be more beautiful as a ruin and so it was left alone.

It was great to be able to go inside parts of this schloss and get a glimpse at life without the modern conviences that we enjoy today!

Zwei Schlossen

While in Germany I have visited Zwei Schlossen (Two Castles). In my opinion these two castles could be combined into one perfect tourist attraction. The first had this beautiful garden that extended for miles. It was built as a summer castle for Carloso Theodoro and is know informally as the mini Versailles. The castle itself was not very impressive in my personal opinion, but the gardens were so magnificent. The building was large and pretty, just not what I think of when I hear "castle".

 After viewing the front, I passed through to the gardens, and I was astounded. I would love to know the square footage of those gardens because the just appeared to continue on and on. There were many small maze-type areas hidden in the area for the imhabitants to chase each other. At the furtherest point directly behind the castle laid this lake. I loved the Weeping Willow and the giant carp that were in the water. Just like in the fairy tales this large lake was part of the moat that encircled the entire garden and castle.

 Hidden down a long path was a mosque. Carloso Theodoro never used this mosque but had it built anyways. When he was not inhabiting the castle the Turks would come and use it. I was very gorgeous and romantic. Further hidden to the north of the garden was the badhaus (bath house). Sadly I was not allowed to take pictures inside.

 As I followed a path around the bath house I ran to "the end of the world". There is a vine covered arch that runs all over the garden and ends at this small mural. I am still confused as to wether this painting is really entitled The End of the World or if it is just a name my host family has given it.