Adventure in Ikea

Thank God for Ikea.
Or as the Germans would pronounce it - ee-kay-ja.

Although Ikea remains in the US the bastion of  the snooty, "Oh I got this from a foreign company" envy, Ikea is basically the classy Walmart of Europe.  A bit like Target.  But cheaper.

Which makes it the best place ever for a poor foreign student whose room is less furnished than a showroom.  We were all super happy to be at Ikea because:

a) we needed stuff and they had it
b) we are poor and they are cheap
c) we got to use our day-pass on buses and trains!

Here's a tip for fellow travelers in Germany - get a group of about 4-5 people and by the "state" day pass from Deutsche Bahn. It lets you travel all the buses, trains, and trams in the region you're in (ie, we're in Baden-Wüttenberg) for the day for about 30 Euro (about 6 Euro per person).  It's a much better deal than everyone separately buying tickets!

Anyway, we take the train from Tuebingen to Herrenburg and then from Herrenburg to Boeblingen.

Thanks to Emily for the pic!

Now we weren't sure how to get the Ikea from the train station because we didn't quite know where the Ikea was... so we took a taxi.  And we arrived at Ikea!

Our problems began first by going upstairs through the showroom backwards. We later noticed large arrows on the floor and giant signs at the entrance/our exit that directed traffic.  Nevertheless, we found everything we needed - sheets, lamps, cork boards, cheap silverware and dishes, laundry bags, and wastepaper baskets.  We scurried downstairs and purchased everything. 

We were all hungry so we decided to have lunch at the Ikea cafeteria. So filled with the post-purchase euphoria, we all (Although Jake claims he did see them.  I doubt it.) missed large signs on the stairs in German stating that we couldn't go back upstairs with purchases.

Meanwhile, in the Ikea Cafe, we got scolded by the server behind the counter for wanting a kid's meal pasta and I got stuck eating 2 crepes and a salad for lunch.  Let me tell you, getting scolded in German is frightening.

After our unsatisfying lunch we tried to find the way out. First, we took the UP stairs down and we got a lot of strange looks.  Then we realized we couldn't leave on the bottom floor with having to go back through the checkout lane. We dithered around, wondering what to do.  I suggested we "play the dumb American card".  So we then took the DOWN stairs up to get back to the second floor.  Thoroughly perplexed, we took the nearest elevator going down, hoping that this would take us near the exit on the first floor.  Too bad we didn't read the sign:

Keine Fahrt

Which literally translates to "no ride".

But the elevator had two sets of doors - one the left and one to the right.  We figured that one set would certainly lead us to parking garage or some sort of exit.

We got on with a couple and the doors to the right opened.  Right back where we had been originally - the showroom floor which led into the cashier stations.  They gave us strange looks as the doors closed and we didn't leave the elevator.  So we waited for the left doors to open.  They didn't.  So we waited for the elevator to go back up.  It didn't.  So we waited for the right doors to open again.  They didn't.

So we were stuck on an elevator.  Both left and right doors were closed and we had a panel with only two buttons: one with a bell and the other with a door open button.  Underneath both buttons was a sign that said in German - "Only press in case of emergency."

So we waited.  And giggled awkwardly.  And we waited some more, hoping the doors would open.  And we waited.  I wondered to myself, Have I really come all this way to get trapped in an Ikea elevator so that the Germans jaws of life can pry us out and cause an international incident?  And we waited again.

Until Jake finally said:

"How long to we have to be in here for it to an emergency?"

We held our breaths and someone finally pushed the door open button.  The right doors opened and we spilled out onto the showroom floor, bursting out in laughter.  Eventually we gave up and went back through the checkout aisles, finding the friendliest employees, explaining in halting German that yes, we were sorry and we didn't know you couldn't go up to eat after purchasing.  The employees gave us dirty looks while examining our receipts and bags and FINALLY we were freed from Ikea, lesson learned.

Too bad we forgot during this time how we had gotten there: we had taken a taxi.

With no taxis or bus stops in sight, we trudged the 1.2km from the Ikea back to the train station.  At one point we almost walked onto a on-ramp for the Autobahn.  We tried stopping at a bus stop far down the road, but no luck.

The intrepid Ikea adventurers: Jake, Zach, Yours Truly, and Rachel
Picture Credit to Emily again!

Eventually we got back home, exhausted and relieved to have escaped from Ikea.  But our day wasn't over - we took the train to Stuttgart (about an hour from Tuebingen) and we ended the day splitting a victory bottle of 15 Euro wine at the Stuttgart Wine festival.

All's well that ends well!

Oot and Aboot in Tübingen

My parents always joke and say: "Anything you want to see in Europe is uphill."

They weren't kidding.  Tübingen is an especially hilly and rolly city because of the Neckar river that flows through it.  This is something someone should have told me.

Not my pic, but you get the gist.

Despite the hills and the uneven cobblestones, which makes walking an adventure even without a walking boot/cast, Tübingen is an amazingly beautiful city. (Or to use CC language - it is picturesque and scenic.) The Altstadt (literally "Old City"; the main downtown area where I live along with Emily and Rachel) is a tangle of intersecting curving streets.  Needless to say, we got lost.  A lot.

Here are some photos of the downtown area:

 View from the Neckar River

 Bridge over the Neckar River

 Downtown area

 Emily and Rachel downtown

 Pedestrian sign at crosswalk 

 "Stand (on the sidewalk) when red.  Be an example to children." 

So German!

I live on the top a hill in the main part of town. The pictures really don't do the building justice because it's huge.  Even though my room is a 300 number, which you would assume to mean on the 3rd floor (but we know what assuming does), it's actually up at least 7 flights of very, very warped and curved wooden steps.  It's an unnaturally hot summer here in Tübingen.  So here's a quick math lesson:


7 flights of stairs + two pieces of extremely overweight luggage - air conditioning + jet lag + broken foot in boot = one very cranky, tired, sweaty blogger.

Here are some photos of my dorm:

It isn't home yet, but it will be soon! (I hope!)

Just a quick update:
A big blog post is coming up - I just need to get my pictures straightened out! Hopefully it will be up later tonight, which would be early afternoon for all of you Americans.

In the meantime, check out the links to other blogs from my fellow Americans here in Tübingen and (once I get them) other Valpo kids in other places! 

Good Morning Germany!

Let me just say this: staying up for two days straight is difficult.
But I did it!

We left from O'Hare in the early evening and made our way to Heathrow by about 6:30 am.  It was raining. Typical.  The rain delayed us a bit and the British security was a mess - seriously, for the people who invented the word queue, there wasn't one - and I got to have a nice full body pat down when my boot set off the metal detector.  Then it was off to Stuttgart!  We arrived there on time and we were all happy to see the director of the  program in the next city (we don't have one) there.  We got our keys to our apartments and information about the slightly smaller, yet nevertheless annoying, bureaucratic hoops we have to jump through to get everything all for our dorm/apartment/Wohnheim.

It was difficult to get adjusted to the city: a) because none of us have cell phones, b) none of us had internet (thank God I was able to summon up the courage to ask a dorm mate in exceptionally terrible German - I was so tired and cranky by then - for the internet password.

We got lost.  A lot.

Luckily, a former exchange student, Clara, was there to help us find our way.  The Altstadt (The main downtown) is literally like a beehive, filled with nooks and crannies and once we found ourselves walking in a circle.  As Rachel put it, "There is something to be said for city planning on grids."

I'll post more on my dorm and the city itself in a bit.  I just wanted to say, that yes, I made it here! Day 2 is a go (well...wait and see if I can figure out the showers)!

It may be hot here (did I really leave the Midwest, the heat is the same), but I'm sure no one at home has my view:

The Fickle Finger (or rather, Foot) of Fate

Today's entry is a Public Service Announcement provided by Yours Truly.


Did you know you have small bones in your foot that float like kneecaps below your big toe?


Did you know that you can break them?


Did you know that wearing some very cute wedge heels in the winter time can break them?




Neither did I.


I guess that's why they say you learn things the hard way.  Yes, I will be travelling to Germany with a giant Frankenstein boot.  Fortunately, I'm half through my month's long sentence of boot wearing.  Unfortunately, I've been walking on this broken bone for about six months.

Simba sits on Das Boot

I guess you can say this an auspicious beginning.  ( I suppose I should have made a boot pun.)

Welcome to My Blog!

Yes, it's true! My blog is finally up and running! 


You can submit your email address and get updates via email or if you have a tumblr account, you can follow me there as well.  I haven't enabled an RSS feed, because I really don't know how they work, but if any of you would like one, I can create one.


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Thanks for being here!


- Hannah & Simba