Finale

Finale

Museumsuferfest

So, my AirBnB hosts (mother daughter pair) recommended the Museumsuferfest which roughly translates to Museum Bank festival... i thought it would be like semi educational or something, but it's Germany so of course it's just one giant party along the river with food, alcohol, tons of little booths and plenty of music. Pretty fantastic. But also, my airBnB hosts were making crepes and invited me to join (the daughter had some friends over too) and they were high school musical marathoning. I didn't at first but joined them for the end of HSM3 after the festival xD

Wertheim Village

So, I decided that because Frankfurt isn't terribly exciting, I was gonna hop over on a bus and go to a shopping outlet... it was 3 hours roundtrip and I spent roughly 4.5 hours there, but pretty worth. I'm not usually a shopper (most of my clothes are bought by my mom) and that's mostly cause I'm hella indecisive, but shopping alone was actually nice and I actually got a pair of Birkenstock for myself (and one as a gift for my best friend Sumant who definitely won't be reading this) and two shirts for myself, so pretty good day! But also, why would you ever name a store closed? I legit thought the store was closed...

Frankfurt

OK, so Frankfurt isn't actually that exciting of a city... Enjoy some pretty pics!

Chocolate

So, today was my last day at research and my last day in Magdeburg. My PhD student-supervisor gave me this adorable keyboard and mouse made out of chocolate as a going away present so super sweet. And, flashback to two years ago, chocolate baby returns. What looks like an ordinary sling bag is actually an ordinary sling bag stuffed full of 15 pounds of chocolate, hence I refer to it as my chocolate baby. teehee <3

Ok, but also, I'm in Frankfurt now and I'm in the best AirBnB ever. I feel like it would be weird to take pics so not gonna do that (though Troye Sivan did a video from an AirBnB once...) anyways. Lowdown, the mom is super nice and talked to me and told me cool places to go in frankfurt and just great and I'm pretty sure I'm staying in the son's room who just graduated from high school and he has cool speakers, a custom made PC, video games, lots of books, two rubik's cubes, like just overall seems like a cool guy, you know? This place is smack dab near the airport and main train station, super convenient and is costing me $15 a night so like HELLA nice. Anyways, v happy :D

Elabuen Park

So, there's this park in Magdeburg that on google maps showed up as the nature park... While it does have cool nature things and beautiful flowers and a butterfly house that I didn't find. But, there's also a science museum structure called the millenium tower which is super cool, a rock climbing area, and a summer bobsled area so like apparently Magdeburg actually has some fun stuff

Die Lochis

So, German youtube suggested that I watch die Lochis... these 17 year old twins who post funny song parodies... Not gonna lie, they were pretty funny and a fun way to practice German. They apparently are becoming musicians, so they released an album and are going on like meet and greet mini tours before their actual tour... They came to Magdeburg today and I was like, might as well check them out... As Narin warned me, their entire audience is 12 year olds. More specifically, 12 year old girls whose screams can be heard a mile away...

Exploring Magdeburg

So, Magdeburg is far far from exciting, but given that it's my last week here, I've been trying to take the time to explore it. So, after coming back from Hannover, Clara and I went and saw the lake which apparently has extreme water sports like who would've guessed!? And the cathedral which despite not being the biggest or most famous, is the oldest of its style which is pretty cool.

Of course, that was followed by a delicious dinner :) We went to this Japanese place where they had a concept similar to a conveyor belt... except it was boats floating in water with the food on it. Like what. So cool.

Crazy Sense

So, I went to Hannover to attend the Crazy Sense music festival... I got to see a lot of great DJs but the two headlines by far stole the show. Steve Aoki and Robin Schulz (the main reason I came) were absolutely fucking MIND BLOWING. The rest of the DJs were ok... but meh, idk. This was my first time at a pure EDM music festival too.
Did it completely live up to my expectations? No.
Was it well worth the money? I paid 77 euros which I would've paid to just see Robin Schulz...
Yes it was an EDM festival, so did I go crazy and rave? Yeah, fuck no. Sorry :P
Did I have a good time? HELL YEAH

Couchsurfing

So, I didn't take any pictures with my host unfortunately... but I used couchsurfing for the first time this weekend and I had a pretty great experience. My host was super nice (even made me breakfast both days!!), gave me wine, picked me up from the train station, etc. But best of all, he was a super fun guy to chill with and talk to and watch hilarious TV shows (Boston Legal) with. So, overall, pretty fucking great first time with couchsurfing! 10/10

Taunted

Life is literally fucking with me. I came into Hannover for the weekend, and of course, right next to my train platform is a freshly closed bubble tea place. Bubble tea is rare enough in Germany and here I am so close to no avail... I tried to find more in the city and they were all closed >.< *sigh*

Disgusting

So, probably the most interesting thing that happened all weekend besides me nearly having a heart attack from forgetting my DS in London and my flight getting hella delayed...

Bored af

Ok, I'm sure London is supposed to be an interesting city, but besides the queen's wardrobe and the giant stolen diamonds which I couldn't take a picture of, nothing was that interesting... Still, enjoy some pics I guess?

Soren in Yingland

So, my dad was traveling to India and had to take a layover in Europe, so he wanted to meet up. I convinced him to do a weekend layover in London so I had an excuse to fly there and see someplace new... The real reason was I wanted to see my friend, Ying, from math camp. If you know me at all, you know most of my best friends are from math camp and I haven't seen Ying in 1.5 years, so missed him like all hell <3 Got to spend the night for a puzzle challenge with him at Bloomberg (where he's interning) and the place is fucking beautiful...

"I might have been born in Liverpool – but I grew up in Hamburg"

Ok, so I'm standing by what I said before - Prague has definitely been my best trip so far. Absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back and visit again. But, that's the thing - just visit. I would never be able to stay. I left Prague excited to come back again. On the other hand, Hamburg is perfect and I just didn't want to leave. Pics.

Part of the reason I wanted to come to Germany is because I wanted to be somewhere I knew the language (though everyone here speaks English) and be more than a tourist. Hamburg has its tourists, but most things in Hamburg are just fun, great local things to do. The city has its own culture, is an amazing port, and is relatively international. Like, my favorite city in Germany was Köln, but Hamburg has definitely taken over. John Lennon couldn't be more right.

Miniatur Wunderland

This is a place you just gotta visit. This group took inspiration from different countries around the world and, mostly through their imagination but partially through modeling real life things, created this miniature world with rail cars and people and just miraculous detail. Pictures do not do this place justice, it was absolutely fantastic. More Pics.

They had free drinks which is unheard of in Germany...

Their restaurant had seats fashioned like train seats

Building the Colosseum

Sports Arena

Model Switzerland

Model America, Las Vegas

Control Room lol