I just came back from Berlin. I decided to go there for a couple of days because I have 4 days of Easter holidays and not too much school work yet. I went alone and walked around the town until my feet were hurting. At some point last night I felt a bit lonely and tired, but when when I got to the place I was staying for the night, there were people home. I ended up having a long discussion with Franza's roommates, who knew surprisingly lot about Finland - the other one had even done a one-semester-exchange in Hanken university in Helsinki and told that there really is an upper-class atmosphere in the school. I slept in Franza's bed in a great commune not far from the city centre. I met Franza in the FYEG Green economics Training in Berlin in December and she was friendly enough to let me sleep at her place - although she wasn't home.
I guess I know quite lot about German history as I went to some memorial sites but they didn't have much new to offer to me. Altough it was impressing to finally see the famous Berlin wall remnants. The weather has been GREAT the last week. Like summer. Today wondered around in the famous Tiergarten park in Berlin, it was full of people.
I travelled to Berlin and back with the wonderful car pool/car-sharing system, which (of cource. This is Germany!) is very well organized and functioning (www.mitfahrtgelegenheit.de). You can search for car rides which the drivers have put on the site and call/email them if you can drive with them. Usually the cars are full but the fare is minimal. Wow! Could this work in Finland..? As long distances make public transport often unprofitable. An maybe the neighbours would finally get to know each other..? The ride back wasn't especially cheap for me though as the time somehow passed very quickly and at some point I realized I have to take a taxi to Franza's place to get my stuff or I'll miss my ride / have to pay 40euros for the train...
Leipzig feels like home. I can already find my way quite easily here. Last week I was in a meeting of the local young greens and it was quite interesting. They seem to be quite active. I asked them about the municipal biking policy as I have been quite surprised about the biking conditons here. They may be better than in Tampere, but still quite dangerous and incoherent with tracks disappearing suddenly. I heard that it's already decided that biking will be denied in the very city centre as people are driving like crazy and organizations of disabled and elderly people have got their message over to city councillors (of whom majority is apparently conservative.) Well, if there were some signs and tracks the situation wouldn't be so bad! GHFHDDHGDHG! Frustrating!! I'm also driving illegally often as I have no idea where to drive. But yes my helmet is protecting me and I even finally bought lights to my bike (after I heard the police can give you a fine of 15-20 euros for biking without lights, and you have to pay it immediately in cash).
Las weekend there was a wonderful jazz festival in town and I saw two great concerts, one with my room mate Saskia. THE place to go out here is Moritzbaskei, a huge night club/restaurant/bar where they have also a lot of cultural happenings and festivals. It's situated partially under the ground and is a part of the old city fort wall.
About the half of the university cources started last week. Damn there is so many interesting courses, I'm just taking them all I think and see how I'll manage with the work load. I'll tell you more when I know exactly when everything has started and settled. Mostly African studies, also some German language and literature. Fridays are free at the moment.
I'm skipping school for one week before it has really even started as I'm leaving for a 10-day political trip on Friday! First I'll go to Stuttgart to an international Local Councillor Meeting of the European Greens to talk about communal politics on an European level. To my surprise I found out there is also the yearly federal conference of the German Young Greens in Stuttgart that weekend. I'll be profiting from their cheap acommodation and surfing between the two conferences, which both have very interesting program. After that I'm free from Monday to Thursday and I'll most likely do some travelling, maybe to Freiburg. From Thursday 23th to Sunday 26th I'll be participating the Spring Conference and General Assembly of the Federation of Young European Greens in Maastricht, Southern Holland. I'm quite excited and really hope that I find some good Mitfahrt-rides as the trains are very expencive. The young greens of Finland pay for my accommodation and food in Maastrich so that's a plus.
So I'll see how the rest of the cources start and then be gone for a week. But that shouldn't be a problem. I already have long texts to read for my cources and will most likely spend most of my free day tomorrow in the near-by park reading.
Keep those emails coming and I'll get back to you! For now, ciao!
sunnuntai 12. huhtikuuta 2009
Tilaa:
Lähetä kommentteja (Atom)
You need to put some photos here as well :) Good luck with the councillor meeting, influence them all!
VastaaPoista