Things You Should Know About Bavaria #2---Nordic Walking

If you spend any time walking around Bavaria, you will probably notice some crazy-looking old people with what appears to be ski poles.

It's been a huge fad for the oldies to walk around with these giant sticks. Apparently it's known officially as Nordic Walking. I think it's supposed to be healthy or something, although to me it still just looks like crazy German people holding large unwieldy poles.

I'm just glad it hasn't caught on in the U.S...

Why I'm Glad I Don't Have a Car

Enough said.

Things You Should Know About Bavaria #1---Trachten

So I've been inspired by my friend Sarah's visit to Munich to talk about all the weird different things about Bavaria that I started to take for granted after living there for a year. I say Bavaria instead of Germany, because they really are 2 different animals--but I'll tackle that in a different post. I wish I had written about these things earlier, but when I'm out doing new things I tend to be too busy experiencing them to have coherent thoughts about them, especially not ones that can be written out.

But now that I'm home I'm happy to share :)

Well, the first inspiration for this post was Sarah's amazement at dirndls and lederhosen.

A dirndl (pronounced DURRN-DULL) is a traditional dress worn in Bavaria (southern Germany), Lichtenstein, and Austria.




Lederhosen, much more commonly known, are the male counterpart to the dirndl.



After living in Munich for over a year, I stopped finding these traditional clothes so noteworthy.

The most common time that this style of dressing (known in German as Trachtenmoden) comes around is during Oktoberfest. BUT it is not uncommon to see it during the rest of the year, especially at any of the other beerfests or other formal occaisions. Little kids wear them a lot more, probably because they just look so darn cute in them.

Here's a few things you should know about Trachten:

*The original dress was long, but dirndls now also come in medium and short length, with varying types of blouses, aprons, and colors. Also, the dirndls from Austria are a different style from those in Bavaria. I'm not sure if Lederhosen vary by country all that much, but they do have different lengths and slightly different colors, plus the shirts are different too.

*They aren't cheap. My dirndl was very cheap with everything included for 99 euros, with most costing around 200 hundred to 300 hundred. Lederhosen, since they are made of leather, cost even more. Especially since they have more seperate parts (shirt, shoes, socks, sweater). Dirndls are cheaper when you buy them as a package (blouse and apron included) but the nicer ones usually come in seperates, which allows you more freedom to customize your dress, but also will cost you more.

*Dirndls are a whole fashion trend of their own. There are loads of different styles and every year there is a different Dirndl trends. A lot of people who live in Munich buy a new one every year. And if I wasn't leaving, I probably would have bought another one, because you can only wear the same dress so many times before it starts to get annoying.

*Don't assume that all Germans were Dirndls and Lederhosen. They are only from Southern Germany, and you will tick off a lot of Germans if you think otherwise.

*What Sarah found most shocking is that there are whole stores dedicated to the sale of Dirndls and Lederhosen. In fact, most major department stores have at least a small section devoted to Dirndls and Lederhosen (which is how I got mine so cheap).



*The best and most important thing is that Trachten look good on absolutely EVERYBODY. They are flattering on all body types, and if you are bigger they let you own that in a dignified and snazzy way. Lederhosen looke pretty dignified on Bavarian men with large beer bellys, and pretty hot on nice tall German boys. Dirndls are especially great because they make your boobs look big and show off your legs, while hiding any physical flaws you may have. Plus at least in Europe they are a guaranteed boy-magnet.



Caution: When wearing in the U.S. be careful because the average Joe-dumbass may think that you are dressed as a "beer wench". These people should not be associated with at any cost.

TIM TAMS

Holy Shit!

My diet is in serious danger, given the fact that I just realized Pepperidge Farms makes Tim Tams in the U.S.

What, you may ask, is a Tim Tam? Well it's pretty much heaven on earth. It's this chocolate cookies thing, that I'm not very good at describing. If you've ever been to Australia, you realize they are pretty much the only cookie in the world worth eating. I'm also convinced they are the sole reason I gained 10 pounds when I lived there---but it was totally worth it!

I've heard a rumor you could get the originals at Cost Plus Market (a store where you can get lots of cool foreign imports) but never put the effort in to actually search.

But now that Australia's number one cookie (Australians apparently eat 400 million Tim Tams a year!) is available easily in the U.S. I may be in trouble ;)

Oh and important tips:

-They come in a bunch of different flavors, but the original (or chocolate creme I think they call it in the U.S.) trumps all others by a mile.

-If you see me and bring me some Tim Tams, I will show the secret paradise known as the Tim Tam Slam. All I will say is that it requires a Tim Tam and a cup of tea...and it will rock your world.

Here's a link to the website if you want to start up your obsession.

Oh and this may have happened like a year ago, but us world travelers get a little behind in the times on occaision :)---and I still felt I needed to spread the word.

Ireland

This is a bit belated, but I'd still like to reminisce about my time travelling around the Ireland.

I blogged a bit about my time in Dublin, but I think that Dublin and the rest of Ireland are different enough to merit two posts.

For me, Dublin is really the only real city in Ireland. Or at least the only one with that real city feel to it.

While I think Dublin has a good amount of fun and drinking to offer, my true love is the rest of the country. It really lived up to what I had always thought of as Ireland in my mind----beautiful rolling green hills and majestic watersides.

I've always loved the part of germany that my family is from because of how green the scenery is---I actually felt the bay area was hideous the first time I came home. But this. Wow. I really believe Ireland has to have the most beautiful countryside I've ever seen.

These pictures speak for themselves.









I love that they have all these bogs too. Apparently they use these brick things for fires, although since they are sorta running out from what I understood. They seem cool but I'm not a fan of their distinctive smell, kinda like tar.



There were plenty of cool castles and monasterys along the way.




One of my most favorite places was the Cliffs of Moher. Cool fact for fellow Princess Bride fans: The Cliffs of Moher are the Cliffs of Insanity.





Also I kinda enjoyed going to the Blarney Castle and kissing the Blarney Stone, even though it was totally not what I expected. When they said a stone, I thought they meant it was small. Actually it's this huge brick/boulder thing attached to the Blarney Castle. And you can't just walk up to it, there is this guy who greets you and then hoists you upside down and kiss some dirty old normal looking stone that 5 million other tourists have kissed (thankfully there are bars making sure you don't fall to your doom). Also apparently, what you get isn't get isn't good luck (again I was misinformed) but the gift of gab---which pretty much is the ability to talk a lot and to talk a lot of shit in a convincing way. Despite the disgusting over-touristy aspect of it, the grounds and castle were beautiful and I still enjoyed mself.




Aside of the scenery, I really loved the whole cultural environment. Maybe it's because I spent so much time in Germany or maybe I just had the benefit of being a native speaker of the language, but every seemed much much friendler here. Even getting directions to how to catch a bus into town resulted in more friendly banter than I ever experience in Germany. Plus I also really love the casual pub culture. And the accent still makes me swoon :)

The only real downsides were the cost and lack of mobility. First off, I've always thought Munich and San Francisco were pricey but daaang, this tops it. Paying 4-5 euros (and sometimes more in Dublin) is just crazy. I would have loved to stay longer than a week, but honestly I couldn't afford it.



Also, given the fact that it isn't very industrialized, there's really no cheap and convenient way to get cross country with public transportation. And renting a car, especially when you are under 25 but even when you aren't, is outrageously overpriced. We found it cheaper to go with a tour bus, and ended up choosing the crazy green Paddy Wagon. What I liked about it was that it was cheaper than renting a car, that our guide told us a lot of cool stuff, and that I didn't have to worry about directions or falling asleep on the bus. On the other hand, as to be expected, they tend to cram a bunch of stuff into one day, which after 3 days really gets to be exhausted. Plus you end up being surrounded by a bunch of random wierd people and you don't have that much control about how long and what exactly you want to see, even though they did hit most of the important things. I sort of like to savor a smaller area for longer as opposed to hitting up everything when I travel, so I'd definitely love to go back and see things in a more in depth fashion after already having a lovly taste.

Cleaning Time

Since I've been back from Munich, especially now that the horror known as the GRE is over, things have been going at a slower pace. Usually I keep myself swamped, but since I'm living at home for a little bit and holding off on the job search so that I can put in my first grad app before the too-soon-approaching deadline.

This and the social isolation of the suburbs has given me some time to reflect. Consequently, I have come up with two new life resolutons/directions.

1) To keep up with my current good dieting ways.

I have never been able to diet, mostly because I think I love food too much and I can't put up with being hungry for very long. I found this really cool app for my ipod touch, called LoseIt!, which helps track your calories in a cute organized way. It tells me how many calories I need to eat and the diet isn't super extreme. I've already lost 2.5 pounds, and hope to keep it up as well as my daily exercising.

2)To be more assertive/discerning.

I wouldn't consider myself a weak person, but I've been noticing of recent that I have been putting up with a little bit too much. I know that I naturally have a temper, so I've learned to only make an argument about stuff that I feel is really worth it. Well, not everyone thinks like me and I'm sick of my generosity and willingness to let things slide let people think they can treat me like a doorstop. From now on, my bitch side is going to become a little more prominent.

I'm also extending that to eliminating all relationships (both friend and more-than-friend) that are below my now heightened standards. Narcicists, super avoidant flakes, sleazebags, douchebags, and any other variety of tool are no longer welcome in my life.

Pretty much trying to purify myself physically and emotionally. We'll see how good I am to sticking to it all though :)

Airport Feelings

At 315 AM, Thursday, October 1st ---with four very overloaded bags, I caught a train from Munich to Frankfurt. 3 planes and one car ride later I was back in the good ol' U.S. of A.

I've been MIA from my blog, because I have learned a few lessons the hard way:

1) Although drinking will make your cold feel better temporarily, it is in fact, not a type of cold medication

2) When experiencing a cold, it is not the best idea to head straight from the Wiesn (locals name for Oktoberfest) to a train and then 3 planes.

3) Apparently, flying with a cold is bad. The pressure changes can affect your hearing.

The whole flight experience was pretty much insane, since I went straight from partying in the tents to a train. In all of my ultimate wisdom I forgot to take a shower---so I was pretty much an untouchable, seeing as I smelled like some horrible combination of smoke, beer, and sweat. Nice. Also, as soon as soon as I came down from my first flight, I immediately lost my hearing. I spent most of the time walking around feeling like I had head phones even when I didn't. Annoyingly, every time the plane went in the air my hearing would go back to normal, but as soon as we landed it would be gone again.

On a positive note, I ended up with a 300 dollar flight voucher for volunteering to take a later flight, even though this extended my home journey time to over the 24 hour mark. But now I have an excuse to celebrate my birthday and New Years in New York. :)

For the last 10 days or so I have been home I have mostly been hiding out and trying to rid myself of this horrible head cold/regain some sort of reliable hearing. My GRE test date has also been looming over my head, so I've tried to spend most of my conscious time at least pretending to study. After the 20th, things will be a lot less stressful. I am healing a bit and will try to post more about my summer travels, Oktoberfest, and Germany asap.