FREE TIBETan flag

So I finally got internet working in my dorm today which means I can finally blog regularly and upload a slew of new videos of Potsdam and Berlin. I'm finally getting settled in and I've met all the other CA students and we're getting along very well (they're all great people). It's not like the cumbersome task of meeting new people and trying to prove yourself to them since we're a bunch of foreigners and friendship is entirely built upon necessity of getting to know your fellow Americans who are in the same boat. So making friends was purely mechanical and connections with the other students were established pretty much in an instant.

This past week is the week before instruction begins at Uni-Potsdam and we've been doing these seminars that would help get us better acquainted living in Germany. One of my favorite exercises that were assigned to us was this scavenger hunt in which we had to go to downtown Potsdam and interview locals with selected questions on a list. We were also given an apple and an egg in which we had to trade with Potsdamers and this trading would continue until we acquired objects of increasing value. In short we bartered the apple and the egg through several stages of trades which included a brochure, a diaper, a pen, a tin flying pig, etc. The final objects we ended up getting were this Tibetan flag and a huge bottle of wine which we took care of later that night. I felt really good about trading to make something outta nothing, it was a really good hustle, which got me to thinking... I could very much well do this in the states and turn over something really good.

A little backgorund about my campus, which I must say is OMGWTFwayMFcool!! My campus is located in a huge park called Park Sanssoucci (which in French means 'without a care'), but for future reference I will refer to it as DGAF Park. The park is the location of three palaces which served as the summer residences for Prussian kings. My campus is located in Neues Palais:

For future reference, I will refer to this as the Noise Palace. I had an opportunity to check out the residence and everything inside is INSANE. It was like everything that was inside my book for my baroque-to-modern art history class was right here before my eyes. The entire place was stylized in Frederician Rococo and everything was crafted meticulously. Entire rooms were made out of marble, seashells and crystals. The rest of the park also contains gardens and other monuments - everything is very, very green. If I ever get bored of reading or using the internet there's always an abundance of things to do around here.

I feel like I'm in the early stages of a 5 month summer vacation but being abroad for four months I gotta really curb my spending because I'm deathly scared of going broke here. Despite how VISA is supposed to be accepted in millions of locations worldwide, for the most part German vendors only take cash and the exchange rate often slips my mind when I buy things appear to be cheap. I bought plane tickets to London on 4th of July weekend to see my cousin and to catch a blur concert. And if you know me, you know that I am a blur fan as well as Damon Albarn fan. For those of you who don't know, Damon Albarn is the frontman in blur as well as the creator of Gorillaz and the Good the Bad and the Queen.

Blur is having a reunion show in London after being broken up for several years. I figured since I don't see any future posted shows beyond this one, I decided whythefucknot if I was in Germany anyways. For those of you who are thinking, "What is the big deal, who the fuck is blur?" You probably know them for their song - Song 2; if you still haven't got a clue, you probably know the song as the 'Woohoo' song; if that doesn't ring a bell, it was the Starship Troopers theme song way back in the day; and if that doesn't help:

This song is really atypical their style and I'm sure if anyone gave them a listen they'd find a few songs they'd like. But as for me Iamthemostanxiousofthebabies...

Tchuss!

-Solomon


PS - My Skype address is solomon.vu

I wanna fold the world in Hamburger-style

Hey all, I'm currently in Hamburg right now. It's about 325 kilometers or so from where I'm staying at currently in Potsdam. I originally intended to start this blog at the beginning of my trip but not having a proper means of internet kinda makes it hard for me to do so( I have to go to campus a few miles away or leech off the Best Western wi-fi).

Hamburg is the place to be, I'd say cleaner than Berlin but all that doesn't really bother me much. It's a port-city so everything here is geared to to maritime culture. The atmosphere here and German city-centers in general is something I don't see everyday in California. There is as much activity going on during the day as there is at night. People would just go out and sit leisurely doing nothing; lotta bike riding, lotta old buildings, etc. Hamburg, as well as Berlin, seems to attract a lot of expats and there are a lot of non-natives everywhere you go. So there's always an abundance of people from America as well as other English-speaking countries.

These past two days or so I've been exploring all the historical sites, doing a really interesting (and free) tour of Hamburg. I also strolled down the Reeperbahn which is like a mini Vegas-Strip here. It had a very huge carnival that I think operates every night. Very large, very bright, and how a proper carnival should be in my opinion - a lot of rides, very cheap, and a shit ton more activity than throwing a ball in a cup to win a stupid goldfish that will die a week later.

Hamburg is also known to be the birthplace of the Beatles. They formed here and wrote a lot of their music, produced an album in German, and played in here prior to traveling back to England and becoming big. Scattered all around the city, especially on the Reeperbahn are various landmarks and small monuments commemorating the Beatles.

For those of you St. Pauli Girl drinkers, I just made a connection in my head the other night when I realized the Reeperbahn was located in the St. Pauli District. Aside from the numerous strip bars, sex shops, and other various night-life locales in St. Pauli, the place is known for it's red-light district (which I will check out tonight(because I'm curious(not because I want to buy sex))) which is not unlike the ones in Amsterdam where they have nakey grrrls in shopping windows. The beer is brewed in Bremen which is nearby Hamburg. So if you drink or have drank St. Pauli Girl, then you pretty much indirectly promote and sponsor prostitution in Hamburg. Cheers!

This is a hooker.