Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Hamburg-ers
This past weekend I took the short hour and a half flight it takes to get from Manchester to Hamburg, Germany. The primary reason for going was to see some good friends of mine, so I hand't done too much research about the city itself ahead of time and didn't know what to expect. Although I didn't find Hamburg to be overly exciting from a tourist perspective, I thought the city to be immensely unique with plenty of attractive qualities.
My friends and I explored many different parts of the city but my favourite hands-down was the Sternschanze area, which is where our rented flat was located. It's a vibrant, trendy neighbourhood filled with young people and lined with cafes and boutiques. Hamburg isn't really somewhere I could ever envision myself living but if I were to move there for some reason, I would definitely want to live in Sternschanze.
One building you can't miss in the area is the Rote Flora, a renowned derelict building that has been occupied (somewhat controversially) for over 20 years. Groups of people could be seen hanging out or drinking there at any time of the day. I don't know how I would feel if such a place existed in my own backyard but as a tourist I thought it added a lot of character to the area.
Another quirky thing about Hamburg was that it was littered with old-fashioned photo booths. Unless they're for taking official passport photos, you rarely find these in Vancouver anymore; I don't think I'd taken a photo in one since I was a young teenager.
Of course my friends and I couldn't resist taking a photo!
Hamburg also had plenty of funky (albeit a tad random) street art. Unusual as it might have been, to me it suited Hamburg's personality perfectly.
Overall I thought Hamburg was (for a lack of a better word) a cool city filled with very cool people (called Hamburgers of course!) It didn't strike me as a fascinating destination for tourists, especially when compared with history-rich Berlin but more as a place to be appreciated for its originality and liveability; in those respects I think Hamburg was indeed a wonderful city.
My friends and I explored many different parts of the city but my favourite hands-down was the Sternschanze area, which is where our rented flat was located. It's a vibrant, trendy neighbourhood filled with young people and lined with cafes and boutiques. Hamburg isn't really somewhere I could ever envision myself living but if I were to move there for some reason, I would definitely want to live in Sternschanze.
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| Sternschanze |
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| Central Park Beach Bar |
One building you can't miss in the area is the Rote Flora, a renowned derelict building that has been occupied (somewhat controversially) for over 20 years. Groups of people could be seen hanging out or drinking there at any time of the day. I don't know how I would feel if such a place existed in my own backyard but as a tourist I thought it added a lot of character to the area.
 |
| Rote Flora |
Another quirky thing about Hamburg was that it was littered with old-fashioned photo booths. Unless they're for taking official passport photos, you rarely find these in Vancouver anymore; I don't think I'd taken a photo in one since I was a young teenager.
Of course my friends and I couldn't resist taking a photo!
Hamburg also had plenty of funky (albeit a tad random) street art. Unusual as it might have been, to me it suited Hamburg's personality perfectly.
Overall I thought Hamburg was (for a lack of a better word) a cool city filled with very cool people (called Hamburgers of course!) It didn't strike me as a fascinating destination for tourists, especially when compared with history-rich Berlin but more as a place to be appreciated for its originality and liveability; in those respects I think Hamburg was indeed a wonderful city.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Friends From Afar
Back in 2009, I was lucky enough to participate in a university exchange program that allowed me to spend a year living and studying (though I'm not sure I ended up doing much of the latter) in the south of France. As cliche as it may sound, it was one of the best experiences of my life. There are countless perks of studying abroad but my favourite part was getting to meet fellow students from all over the world. I made many friends that year but I became especially close with three girls: Christine (from Austria), Sarah (Morocco) and Hana (Czech Republic).
Together we traveled both within France and abroad, grumbled over inefficiencies of the infamous French bureaucracy, learned about each other's countries, lingered in cafes far longer than we probably would have if we'd had any important work to do and watched too many movies on tiny laptop screens (because our low-budget dorms didn't have TVs) squished together on one of our tiny beds (because the aforementioned dorms didn't have common rooms either). Not that I'm complaining - everything about that year was amazing, and these girls were a large part of what made it that way.
After a teary farewell, we were reunited in Canada a little over a year later when the three of them came to visit me in Vancouver. We had an incredibly memorable couple of weeks together catching up and exploring some of beautiful British Columbia.
Fast forward nearly three years later: the four of us came together again just this past weekend in Hamburg, Germany. It was like no time had passed; I felt like I'd been laughing with these girls only yesterday. While I definitely enjoyed Hamburg as a destination (blog still to come) the highlight of the trip was getting to see some of my dearest friends, ones that I would never have met had I not made the decision to study abroad.
Making friends from all around the globe - yet another reason to travel.
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| From left to right: Hana, Christine, Me, Sarah |
Together we traveled both within France and abroad, grumbled over inefficiencies of the infamous French bureaucracy, learned about each other's countries, lingered in cafes far longer than we probably would have if we'd had any important work to do and watched too many movies on tiny laptop screens (because our low-budget dorms didn't have TVs) squished together on one of our tiny beds (because the aforementioned dorms didn't have common rooms either). Not that I'm complaining - everything about that year was amazing, and these girls were a large part of what made it that way.
 |
| La Grande Place, Brussels |
After a teary farewell, we were reunited in Canada a little over a year later when the three of them came to visit me in Vancouver. We had an incredibly memorable couple of weeks together catching up and exploring some of beautiful British Columbia.
 |
| Cathedral Grove, British Columbia |
Fast forward nearly three years later: the four of us came together again just this past weekend in Hamburg, Germany. It was like no time had passed; I felt like I'd been laughing with these girls only yesterday. While I definitely enjoyed Hamburg as a destination (blog still to come) the highlight of the trip was getting to see some of my dearest friends, ones that I would never have met had I not made the decision to study abroad.
Making friends from all around the globe - yet another reason to travel.
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