Created by ep@cise.ufl.edu on Wed Feb 22 16:12:24 EST 1995
Last edited: Sat May 15 12:02:42 2004 by ep (Ed Porras) on espresso.digressed.net
Pizza Hut Coupon

Culture Shock!

Having a friend who speaks the language can help in smoothing your introduction to the different culture. I, being a native Venezuelan, found out that Germany is very similar to my country. Dave, on the other hand, was freaking out at everything.

German Bratwurst is excellent. I truly recommend you try it. You shouldn't have to worry about it being fattening because you WILL do lots of walking. This was something we discussed a couple of times: In the US, people are always so concerned about what they eat.. An American eating like most Germans do wouldn't live past 30! I think it is because Americans are way too convenient for everything: they never walk, always drive, etc.

If you want to skip the email, you can go straight to the Tips and Gallery section.

What my Friends Heard

Approximate message date: April 15, 1994

hey guys!!!

how's everybody? sorry I took so long to write you guys, but from what follows you'll understand.

ok.. right to the point.... I love this place!!!!!AWWW YEAHH!!! GOOD QWALITY!!!! let me go back and recall most things that have happened:

Bob and Dave arrived on the 31st... Marc and I drove to Eupen, Belgium (~25 min) to take his brother's girlfriend home.. they let us borrow their car... from there we bolted to Düsseldorf (~45 min)...

guys, YOU LIKEE THE AUTOBAHN!!! sweet!!!! the highway system does not look any different from the US, except that we're doing 190 kph and we're getting passed by Benz's, Audi's, and Porsche's like we were old ladies in walkers... anyways.. Düsseldorf is somewhat impressive... I don't really know how big.. I'm horrible at judging that kind of thing... Bob and Dave arrived with nightmare-stories about their flight: some guy stunk to hell, etc... pretty funny.. we had lunch in Düsseldorf, got lost for about 20 min, and then headed to Aachen...

About Aachen: we visited the Charlemagne's CathedralCathedral of Charlemagne which was totally impressive... we even went to easter mass - didn't understand a word, and almost fell asleep because it lasted about 2 hours!!

Aachen is very famous for it's healing-sulfur-(yeech!)-waters. Ever since the dawn of time numerous illustrious figures have traveled to Aachen to drink water from the fountain... there's a list of people dating way the heck back... It's pretty damn old.. we also took pictures of it's town hall (or Rathaus as they are referred to in German), built in the XVI century, and of an actual Roman .. eh .. Roman Remainsthingy that's still standing here. it's like a small section of columns with arches.. you know.. normal Roman stuff.. anyways, it's still here...

In front of the town hall there's a plaza where people just sit on the ground and eat or nap... it's pretty neat.. when the weather is good, people sit outside of the restaurant-bars and just drink and talk... or eat ice cream.. ohhhhh!!! the italian ice cream...! delicious!!

Bob, Marc, and I saw Aachen's red light district (you likee?) which is about a block long.. interesting...

By the way, you can't get traditional German food in Germany... how do you like that? I mean, you can, but it's hard in the cities... so far we've eaten mostly turkish (gyro's), chinese (chinee standee upee - this one place where there's tables, but no chairs, so you stand and eat.. hence our nickname), italian (pizza - interesting toppings here: I had artichoke and tuna.. pretty good actually).. even Mcdonalds (3 in Aachen- no BK yet)

so you want German food... you go to the countryside and pay $$

anyways...

German tv cracks me up... everything is dubbed... I've seen Parker Lewis, Simon & Simon, Alf, Cosby, Dinosaurus.. basically they have it all, but in German... you gotta hear Cosby speaking German.. what a riot!

We did a little clubbing... there's Wednesday techno night at the B-9... sweet!!! awesome stuff...

The university is spread out through the whole city... not like UF, where campus is one big thing.. instead, little parts here and there.

On 4/1 Marc threw a party for us... about 10 people showed up.. and we had 3 cases of beer... not cans.. or bottles like in the US.. these were like thirstbusters of beer... man!! needless to say, Bob was bouncing off furniture again... sometime around 7, Dave was drinking some coke, which is dangerous since he can't take sugar, but Marc didn't know and forgot to buy coke-light (that's what they call diet coke here).

By 8pm (they start early and finish early-in the morning here), Dave was bored and feeling antsy, so he bolted out of the party without telling me, Bob, or Marc... he only told Andi, who was drunk like a fish.. I didn't notice him gone until about 10.. Andi told us that he'd said he was going for a walk... ok... we'll wait for him a little while longer..
We played blow-the-cards-off-the-bottle, but if you lost you had to drink a shot of OUZO.. this is a liquor similar to one that I've had in South America called Aguardiente, which stands for your-urethra-will-burn-when-you-piss-this- stuff-in-twenty-minutes.. actually it means burning water.. needless to say, this did it for Bob...

Back to Dave:
by midnight he wasn't back yet... now, let's analyze this real quick... here's a guy who's visiting EUROPE for the first time, has been in Aachen for A DAY, doesn't speak an ounce.. uhh.. centiliter of German.. does not know Marc's address OR PHONE NUMBER... AND HE WANTS TO GO FOR A WALK AT 8 AT NIGHT, 40 DEGREE WEATHER, BY HIMSELF????!?!??

to top it all, Marc is still listed as living in the US, and his mother is divorced, so she has her old last name, so the cops wouldn't have a clue where he lives.. not that Dave would have a chance of finding the police station ANYWAYS!!

So Pia, Felix, and I went out looking for him.. by 1:30 we still had not heard from him... so we decided to wait... he finally showed up well after 2 am !!! he said that he didn't feel good after the cokes, so he wanted to walk the sugar off... listen to this... here's his itinerary:

  • left the building.. ugh.. I don't feel good
  • headed south on Marc's street..
  • 10 ft ... man.. I gotta walk this off quick
  • 20 ft ... oh boy.. I feel an attack coming
  • 30 ft ... ugh.. I feel really tired
  • 40 ft ... there's a tree .. I gotta rest for a minute
  • 45 ft ... I'll just sit here for a couple of minutes.. hope nobody sees me
  • 45 ft ... ZZZZZ CHCHHC ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz

he fell asleep for 6 HOURS in 30-40 degree weather!!! He made it half a block down the street and passed out on the ground under a tree in the dark... we freaking drove to the train station looking for him!...

We finally picked up the car on 4/2... YOU LIKEE 100%!!!!! 93 golf... tape deck, power sunroof... sweet!!! that day we took off for Amsterdam... the trip was less than 2 hours... interesting things to note on the roads are frog crossing (what??).. there's actually SIGNS indicating frog crossings! ok.. whatever!

The Netherlands looked beautiful!!... Amsterdam was neat.. the crowds of people shopping.. the smell of great food.. the smell of pot everywhere... sex everywhere you looked... let me rephrase that.. Amsterdam is WILD!!! the Amsterdam canalcanals were beautiful, but we opted to walk around. I am not joking about the sex thing... there's postcards with sex written all over them everywhere!!! t-shirts... naked women.. close ups of m&f genitalia: there's something to send to mom and dad!

Then there's the world famous sex museum.. you read right... a museum dedicated to showing you everything about sex since the dawn of time... pornos from the 1800's (what?? I didn't even know people had sex then!! -- haha).. pictures of all the types of sex there is (by that I mean: bestiality, water sports, masochism, and about 20 more). Interesting... well that was fun... again, we couldn't find traditional food, so we had italian... later on we just snacked some traditional pastries from some pretty cool stores.

The red light stuff was everywhere.. the same buildings where people live in and everything.. just on the bottom floor... beautiful and not-so-beautiful girls sitting by the window giving you that look (you know.. THEE look), wearing whatever they feel like and all under the light of a bright red bulb. all I know is that Bob is either blind as a bat or his taste hits rock bottom.

We had parked the car by a canal... we were walking back to it.. Bob and I were talking about stuff.. just looking around. Marc and Dave were right behind us doing the same...

Now, Marc is a guy who can't do 2 things at once.. if he's driving, you can't talk to him because he'll forget two take turns and keep going straight until you hit the coast (guess who was driving in Düsseldorf when we got lost?). Halfway to the car we turn around.. and POOF!! .. gone.. they weren't there... great.. great!!! I can't believe this. We stood there like morons waiting for them.. about 30 guys stopped and ask if we wanted to buy pot in the meantime... we decided to head for the car. maybe they took a shortcut.. (THEM???).. they weren't there.. we hadn't seen them for about 45 minutes.. lost in Amsterdam.. how much worse can it get?

anyways.. we finally found them.. we were about to take the car and start looking for them when we saw them down the street... they weren't even sure where the car was.. they found their way back by remembering the girls on the windows.. nice!!! that night the weather started getting colder, and it started to rain and then my foot started bothering me..

The next day Bob, Dave, and I headed to Brussels, (~½ hr)... the city was beautiful, but it was like a ghost town.. there was nobody there... we spent about an hour and headed for Brugge (1 hr).. AWWW YEAH!! YOU LIKEE 150%!!!! It is a small medieval-like city... incredibly beautiful... honeymoon destination..

Brugge canals through the city and everything... they are famous for chocolate.. (SWEET!!).. every other store sold chocolate.. it was incredible.. the women were gorgeous, of course... we visited the cathedral (what else do you do in Europe?).. impressive too... then we had dinner... this was regional food... I had rabbit (pretty good), can't remember what Bob had but it looked awesome too, and Dave had steak and fries..

Now that day my foot really hurt... we returned to Aachen that night.. the next the we were supposed to go to Paris.. please note the supposed.

It was easter weekend... Monday everything was closed.. and my foot was a throbbing pulsating ball of redness... we went to the emergency room.. they said it was an infection, but didn't do much.. they said to rest. we decided to take the day off.. we were ahead of schedule anyways... Tuesday I went to the doctor with Marc... she gave me antibiotics and said 'no walking for 5 days.. come back if it gets worse'.. nice.. We got home with the bad news.. I told Bob and Dave to leave for Paris.. I rather go south and visit 3 countries once they got back.. (I could go any time in the next 3 months).. so they did..

Marc was studying for his test coming up on the 8th.. I was laying at home reading, and watching TV... Wednesday it wasn't any better.. so we went back to the doctor. Calmly she said sorry, I suggest you go to the hospital.. ok. so we went to the hospital... they looked at it and said.. we have to give you antibiotics, but not pills: IV... you must be hospitalized.

ho.. ho.. hospitalized? I've never been hospitalized in my LIFE!!!.. and my first time has to be while I'm vacationing in EUROPE??? what???

Needless to say, they drew blood (not without poking me with 38 needles because my veins are so bad.. and I think they knew I hated needles too).. and by the time the were done you could see right through me... then came x-rays to make sure no bones were broken... then came my room... and the IV...

I shared the room with 2 older guys... one stunk like rotting intestines and looked like he wasn't going to be able to take a shower in the next three months.. I was looking forward to spending some time here... NOT!

The hospital was very nice.. modern.. they do have toilet paper in the bathrooms.. (this has been a constant joke on Dave because he brought piles of half-used toilet paper rolls because he thought Europeans didn't use toilet paper)...

Fortunately there were 6 female nurses and only 3 male ones... hey, I get to meet some girls at least... I was totally in love with two of them.. they were attractive, cute, funny.. one spoke good english (Danielle-Dani as she wanted me to call her) and the other, Elke, well, I managed to make her laugh a couple of times... and she was gorgeous.. plus they fed and took care of me... this was like a dream...

Now the food.. here's something interesting... my first meal was dinner: salami and bologna sandwiches, juice, and two side dishes... now, I've had rice as a side dish, and peaches as dessert, but never, never have I had peaches with rice ON TOP IN THE SAME BOWL!.. what in the heck is this crap? the other side dish was some purple looking concoction that tasted like fish, but had the consistency of bubble gum... aaaalrighty then..

I gave my two roommates nicknames, Ren and Stinky, and that night I found out a couple more things about Stinky: he snored like a BEAST!!! I was praying for disease so I could get anesthetic!!! with not much sleeping to do at night, I finished reading The Cuckoo's Egg, and moved on to the next chapter in the Star Wars series Heir to the Empire... pretty good..

Next day Marc called to ask how I was doing.. I asked him about the peaches and rice business, and he promised it was not some traditional German thing.. he hadn't even heard of it before.. yeah, whatever!.. he said he would stop by next day when Bob and Dave got back...

Breakfast was bologna and salami sandwiches again, but with coffee, a roll with marmalade, and no side dishes... (good).. Marc explained that they would probably give me cold meats for breakfast and dinner, and real food for lunch... great.. ultra-slim fast, German style.. I confirmed this when they served lunch... they served something different every day, and usually it was pretty good, but never enough..

To my luck (NOT!), they had to replace my IV because it wasn't working, and they put a new one on the same arm...

The next day, Bob and Dave came by with Marc.. I told them what happened.. they said they were taking the day off...they were going to Cologne the next day... my IV went bad again (I set Dani's new IV-replacement career record).. and they capped the evening by taking blood... Marc brought me Red Storm Rising to read... fortunately they decided to start giving me pills because I didn't have any arms left to poke..

The doctor said I had to be there at least five days... so finally on Monday 4/11, 8 salami sandwiches, and 5 sleepless nights later I was getting out even if we had to come up with an escape plan! that day I bought antibiotics (for $85 dollars.. EIGHTY FIVE DOLLARS!!! what the..?), and we left for Munich... the doctor had said to rest 5 more days, but I wasn't about to waste more time.

It was about a 6 hour drive.. Weather was still bad.. we got to Munich, ate, and looked for the hostel.. this place was crazy.. it was nice, but it felt like a freshman dorm... we got our own room with three bunk beds, two sinks, and closets... they said lights would be out at 1am and they weren't kidding. Dave was in the middle of shaving when everything went black (at least he wasn't dumping a big one), so he had to finish with a flashlight...
they said lights would be turned on at 7am, and they weren't kidding either.. (they are very serious about their jobs, these germans.. they are!).. every light came on at 7 sharp... and it seemed like someone had let out herds of wild monkeys outside because these kids made enough noise to wake the dead...

We decided to get up (not that we could sleep, anyways) and we left for Innsbruck, Austria.. this is the place you see in some of the study-abroad thingies all over UF... its gorgeous.. surrounded by the Innsbruck Austrian Alps... and the women seemed to get prettier by the mile of travel.. we had lunch at Chilli's.. Chilli's in Austria, you likee? we also saw a Toys 'R Us..

we opted for taking the train to Venice.. it was unbelievable cheap... $40 round trip... plus you can't drive in Venice anyways... so we left that afternoon... the ride through the Alps was awesome... except for the bad weather.. we arrived at night and ran into some americans at the train station.. they told us about a good hotel, and warned us about a couple of things. the hotel was 3 blocks away... we were thinking of staying at a hotel one night, and then the hostel the next... we got our rooms, and went out for dinner... now, you want to hear about a ridiculous economy? Dave and I shared a room that costs us 40,000 lire A PIECE!!!... ok.. do a little math.. and it turns out to be.. $24...

twenty four dollars...
20.. 4.. dollars...
whhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattt the ..
the exchange rate is .0006 dollars per lire!!! geez!!

The next day we walked through the city.. this is a puny city.. we walked through most of it in the afternoon... Bob and Marc found out about the hostel, and said it was not very high quality.. so we decided to stay in the hotel that night again. We walked to St Marco's Plaza.. gorgeous... and if you're getting the impression that european girls were beautiful, it was insane in Venice.. they were HOT!!! BABELICIOUS!!... OH MY GOD!!.. and they were by the bundles.. the ratio must be 4:1.. it was ridiculous.. it felt like a harem... EXTREME GOOD QUALITY!!!... that's it.. I'm staying here...

Italian ice cream is delicious too... oh man..!!! I've never had so much ice cream in my life.. we were worried about Dave: he had at least 3 within 2 hours... each with 3 SCOOPS!!!...

We spent the whole day there, took pictures, took pictures, sent postcards, By the water took pictures, & looked at women... late that night we watched a little TV: this was hilarious.. there was this game show where there were all these girls and every time that they would take a break for commercials, they would undo their tops!! is that excellent or what? I can handle commercials that way!! no prob!! then there were some people who were like judges, and a girl that was competing would strip totally except for panties and dance and everything.. and the judges would vote!! and then, two guys that were competing would turn around, and there were 3 boxes with ribbons, where a girl would hide.. each guy would have to guess where one of the girls was... he would make his choice, they turned the box around, and regardless if he was right one or not, she would undo her top and show her chest!!! isn't that fantastic? what do we have in the states? supermarket sweep... demented, and sad..

The next day we caught the train back... my foot felt good .. about 80%.. weather started clearing up when we first got to Venice..

We took the train back.. this time it was even better.. with the clear weather we were going through film like it was free.. we picked up the car in Innsbruck (6 hour train ride).. and decided to go home a different way: through the Alps.

We got lost a little (Marc was reading the map... I was driving, so it couldn't be my fault, of course).. and then it started snowing.. AWWW YEAAHH!!! we could not help it... we had to stop... we jumped in the snow, and sunk down to our knees.. we built a snowman.. had a snowfight, took pictures.. it was sweet... then we headed home..

Drove through a lot of German country side... had to take some detours... there was an avalanche on the Autobahn that we were going to take, so we didn't get home until about 1am last night...

Today we are resting.. tomorrow we might either go to Berlin, or maybe head north to Coppenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden.

Well, I think I've already taken enough of your time... get back to work.. and I promise I'll write more often from now on...

Later

Tips

  • Check your options carefully as far as getting around Europe. We had a three to four people which worked nicely for splitting the cost of the car rental + gas. EURORAIL passes are VERY expensive, but if you plan carefully it may work better for you than driving. Many people suggested buying them and just making the traveling at night and for long distances which saves you hotel accommodations. Keep in mind, though, I'm talking $400 - $1000 PER pass PER person depending on the duration. The car rental was $400 for almost three weeks.
  • If you are under 26, get your Hostel card. It is about $25 and you can't stay at a hostel unless you have one. Most hostels are decent, but still check around for hotel prices. To get a Hostel card, contact Hostelling International.
  • Certain things like batteries (specially watch / calculator type) and film you are better off bringing from the US because they are very expensive in Europe. England was the most expensive country that I visited, while Spain and Italy were the cheapest.
  • I'm not much of a beer drinker, but you just have to try all the different beers while you're there.. It's like a rule. Try the weizen beers.. and if they have it, ask for it with banana juice.. it is excellent.
  • Never stay on the left lane of the Autobahn: you'll get killed! It is polite to stay on the other lanes depending on how fast you drive.