About Socks and Sandals June 29, 2008

I only could spend a weekend in Germany so here are just some brief observations:

- The first thing I noticed when I got off the train in Stuttgart was the number of people wearing what we commonly call in France “the German tourist sandals”, it’s those strap on sandals. Although I thought they only wore them when on holidays. However there is a twist, as in Germany they wear them with socks… which I find a bit odd, I don’t mean to be French, but I don’t get the socks part.

- About food, people say that French eat a lot of bread, but honestly, is there anything Germans would not put between two slice of bread? … I tried the … thing that had a name that I could not pronounce which is a bit like a hot dog except the sausage is a real sausage not a knacki, it’s quite nice.

- I now know why Germans are always on time, they’ve got clocks everywhere… you just look above and within 5 meters you’re sure to see a clock hung on a wall.

- In France the churches are usually named after the saint protecting it, Germans call their church… “church”… Ah German straight forward efficiency.

Before the final… German patriotism

Stuttgart

Got the flags

More Flag attitude (with a bucket of beer… yeah got to keep them fresh!)

It’s actually the company’s name… not sure they’ll do too good for export

Tubingen express June 28, 2008

I have never been to Germany, it’s odd in a way considering I’ve traveled a bit, but somehow I never found the opportunity to go to this neighboring country. It’s not for historic reason, I have come to meet a lot of Germans through my different trips and value our friendship. As we have often said, now there is Europe, and people my age feel ready to move on.

One thing that has always strike me is how different French and Germans are, never have I felt such strong culture shock as with Germans. And this has left me feeling quite curious about Germany.

When you travel oversea, you get to meet very nice and interesting people… then everybody moves on to a different place, and for months, for years sometimes you stay in contact and keep making plans of meeting again somewhere, somehow…

I met Julia in Shanghai at Tongji University, the poor thing had come to learn Chinese, and ended up in a class with over 20 french students! Anyways, we just clicked and became friends, both eager to learn more about China and make the most of our time at university and not just spend our time at expat parties.

That was two years ago and since then we never really managed to be on the same continent at the same time. Those holidays were a unique opportunity to meet up once again, so I came to see her in Tubingen where her university is.

It was so nice to meet again especially since we could just get on as though not even a week had passed before our last meeting. She showed me around Stuttgart and Tubingen and in the evening we went to this lovely barbecue. I was really touched to see everyone making an effort to speak in French or English with me.

I had a very good time and definitely enjoyed this brief introduction to germany… Arigato Julia.

Tubingen, public house claimed by young university students

Tubingen – Germany

Julia, definitely one of the prettiest girl I was given to meet