I'm awful about keeping up with my blog posts. The following is from two months ago. I wrote it then but forgot to post it...

Three other exchange students (Anna, Michelle, Brendon) and I travelled to Brussels this past weekend. I'm a bit sleepy today since I didn't arrive back at my apartment until 5am this morning (we ran into train delays and cancellations on the way home). 

Brussels has a very different feel from Hamburg. It is a mix of edgy modern cityscape and touristy old city roads. Our trip felt a bit like a Brussels checklist: we of course consumed gratuitous amounts of chocolate, waffle, and beer; we saw the peeing boy fountain and world's fair ball sculpture. Our earlier trip to Berlin felt a little more organic and spontaneous.

I left Brussels with the impression that the tourist's Brussels and the resident's Brussels are very distinct.

On Sunday, we took a train an hour outside of Brussels to Bruges. Bruges is very beautiful. Cobble stone roads pass over canals and squeeze between medieval towers. The old architecture houses alternating waffle, chocolate, souvenir, and lace shops (lace shops are a thing apparently). Anna, Michelle, Brendon, and I strolled through town, stopping constantly for photos and occasionally for more waffles. It was a more leisurely pace than Saturday, and I enjoyed the day more.

Being in Belgium brought to my attention how much I don't know any French. I'd like to learn some before I travel to France in August.

I'm pretty fond of Germany in general. Especially after speaking with Germans about the differences between their country and mine. I know everyone hates the whole "enlightened student abroad" thing, but there's a lot I like about Germany. Something about it that suits my personality. 

Believe me, I'll always enjoy driving my CRV, shopping on Sundays, and having 24/7 access to supermarkets. But I'll miss Hamburg's abundant bike paths, the metro announcer voice, the cool weather, the harbor, lakes, and canals, and (most importantly) the 19-cent yogurts. I'd trade America's high fructose corn syrup subsidy for Germany's dairy product subsidy any day of the week.

And of course the inexpensive beer and wine! Natuerlich.

Anja's project is progressing very nicely. Together we're measuring the potential for cross ventilation in typical Macedonian architecture. To achieve this, we're replicating the narrow streets of Thessaloniki, Greece at the 1:100 scale in one of Hamburg University's massive wind tunnels.

Wind tunnels are supposed to be old news by now, but no can seem to build a computer large enough to satisfactorily reproduce the nuances of airflow across cities. So for now, scientists will continue to build awesome miniature cities, throw them in front of giant fans, and see what happens.

Anja's chosen a particular building of interest, which we've had crafted from metal at 1:100 and loaded with pressure sensors. We will position the building in the center of a mini Thessaloniki and blow some air over it. Then we'll rotate the city, shift its streets, and reorganize its buildings (a la Inception) to see how ventilation in the central building is affected.

Speaking of miature cities: Hamburg is home to the famous Miniature Wunderland, visited by the likes of Kirsten Dunst. Apparently dual US-Deutschland citizen, Kirsten, once spotted little naked figurines having sex in tiny the bushes at Miniature Wunderland. Fun fact.

“Hallo. Sprechen Sie Englisch? I missed my connecting flight and I wanted to phone my friend to say that I’ll be late, but my cell doesn’t work here. Could I borrow yours to send her a message?”

“No.”

All right. Not the best first impression, Germany, but the important thing is that I have a ticket for the next flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg. I’ll get there eventually.

Then I can worry about calling Anja, who’s currently in Terminal 2 of the Hamburg Airport, looking for my face in the crowd at arrivals. Anja is a PhD student at HafenCity Universität in Hamburg; this summer I’ll be assisting her with her thesis on the natural ventilation of Macedonian architecture.

But at the moment, I’m 300 miles from where I’m supposed to be, and I have no phone. I don’t always travel abroad, but when I do, I forget to call AT&T to let them know first, and then I end up 300 miles from where I’m supposed to be without a phone.

And also because that guy wouldn’t let me borrow his. I choose to blame him.

I could pretend to thrive on adventure or claim to be a super chill, relaxed traveler, but the fact of the matter is I’ve inherited my mom’s travel anxiety gene.

01.06.12