I just came back from my study trip to Leipzig, and it was awesome. I now realize that there wasn't a single moment when I thought about the stuff that's going on back home: tax increases, interest decreases, unjustified fines, delayed student financing, no employment, high rent, and what the heck I'm going to make for dinner. All that was replaced by thinking about fun things, like the excellent Max Planck institute: they have no less than four MRI scanners and labs for EEG, TMS, histology and pediatric psychology all within the same building and a cafeteria where the food is to die for.
We were staying in a hostel divided into groups of six or four, and my group was in a six-person room that turned out to have eight beds in it, so I swiped an extra matress and pillow for myself. Then we unwittingly threw a massive party in that room where I made hexaflexagons for everyone who was interested, and then the bus driver joined the party, and then our tutors joined the party, and when the hostel staff finally showed up to tell us we were being too noisy, they offered to move the party to the bar downstairs, which happened without anybody making much of a fuss. Nothing was broken or soiled in the room, and we were able to clean it up to three shopping bags full of empty bottles which netted four euros in deposit at the supermarket. It basically ended in the best possible way.
In Leipzig we also visited the zoo which has an enormous primate enclosure with chimps, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans. Their living spaces are separate but the enclosure is unified, which means that they can see and hear each other but cannot make contact. The enclosure is also used for ethological study of the primates' social structure and behaviour. Then there was the St. Thomas church, where Bach is buried, and where we attended a choral performance. (By Bach. No, not from beyond the grave.) The opening was an organ piece, which alternated between melodious-sounding bits and toddler-leaning-on-the-keys-sounding bits. Halfway through the programme we sat through a sermon, which made me very uncomfortable given that the theme was 'save the unbelievers'. The singing was enjoyable, I suppose, but on the whole I'd rather have gone somewhere else; I just didn't want to go off by myself.
On the final day we ate dinner and did some dancing at a restaurant/club that was made inside an old bastion. The brickwork and high arches gave it an amazing atmosphere. I haven't had this much fun in at least a year.
Has anyone else spent time in eastern Germany? It didn't strike me as particularly obvious that the region used to be communist; if anything, it seemed more capitalistic, with malls and warehouses filled with big-name shops and brands, with not a lot of local shops that actually had interesting stuff.
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Topic: Re: Blog Thread IIIb : Look Who's Blogging Now (Read 248430 times)