Pictures from 2006 Ghent IP, Part 3B (or: Brugge:Lace, Blood, and Chocolate)

I keep jumping around chronologically with my posts, and apologize for that. I will do my best to note when and where things happened, because more than one person (myself included) has confused “Ghent” and “Graz”. The following events happened during the Ghent IP in Brugge, Belgium:

After we looked at the depressing Our Lady's Church, it was time for some good ol’ consumerism: shopping. I desperately needed a chocolate fix, and Sarah needed some gifts for friends & family back home. We found a chocolate shop with superb chocolates and sub-par service, but good lace was trickier to find. After checking several shops, we happened upon the most talkative shop keeper I’ve seen yet. More impressive, he was trained by nuns in Brugge at the now defunct lace making school. Going to lace making school ensured that he was the only boy in a class of all girls (woo hoo!). The disadvantage is that he was teased constantly by them. Oh, girls can be so cruel! Fortunately, he survived, and demonstrated his lace-making skills for us: There he is working on one of his creations. Sarah is looking in awe while Kerry is taking a movie. His hands moved so quickly. Here’s a close-up: Each one of those wooden dowels is a bobbin of thread that must not be confused with any of the other bobbins. And look at all those pins!

Now for the blood part of the title: There is a church in Brugge called the Chapel of the Holy Blood. It contains a religious relic, a rock crystal bottle purported to have Jesus’ blood in it. This fascinated me, especially in light of modern genetic technology. We could analyze the DNA of Jesus! We could clone him! We could find out if he was predisposed to obesity! I’ll stop blaspheming and get on with the story.

When we arrived in the church, a priest was standing next to the altar reading in several languages a story about the blood, and how the faithful are allowed to venerate it. Another priest sat behind an altar with this gold-capped glass tube in front of him. Here is the best image I have of the relic: Since I didn’t want to disrespect the Church of the Holy Blood with my camera, that photo is a picture of a picture outside the church. The church was very solemn and quiet, and there weren’t many tourists inside, since the church had just opened for the day. Kerry, Sarah, and I whispered to each other to find out who was going to venerate the relic.

First off, to “venerate” the relic, you had to wait in line behind others. Venerating really just meant standing in front of the relic, however you were allowed to touch it with both hands. As I stood in line, a large sign informed me in several languages that I must show respect for the relic. I had already taken off my coat, hat and backpack, so I was about as presentable as I was gonna get for touching Jesus’ blood. As the line moved and I got closer to the relic, there was a coin box for donations. I figured that I should probably give them some money for their troubles, so I dropped in a few coins, less than a Euro total. The line moved, and I shuffled closer to the relic. Each time a person finished venerating the relic, the priest sitting behind the altar would wipe it off with a small white cloth. Then the next person would take their place in front of the relic, and the process repeated. I didn’t really believe that what I was about to do had any religious or spiritual significance, but I find the idea of relics interesting. And, if it turned to really be Jesus’ blood, I wanted to be able to say “I touched it”. It’s like saying you’ve been to Mount Rushmore or something.

It was my turn. I had been watching the people in front of me to see where they placed their hands, how long they spent touching it, and what they did afterwards. I decided to go with a two handed touch, about 5 seconds long, and cross myself afterwards. Yes, I crossed myself, and it didn’t really feel right since I’m not Catholic. However, I was in a Catholic church, touching a religious relic, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful towards anyone’s beliefs. Besides, venerating a religious relic isn’t a sacrament in the Catholic church, so I wasn’t invading those tricky beliefs.

While looking for some links for this blog post, I found this one, which says that the relic probably isn’t Jesus’ blood at all, but a perfume bottle that came from Turkey in the 11th or 12th century. This leads to all sorts of other questions, such as: if the relic is false, why is it still on display?

This church was incredibly ornate, and I wish we had spent more time in it. Wandering around while people were venerating the relic didn’t feel quite right, though, so we left. On our way out, we ran into Alex and Sara, two students in the Intensive Program from Germany. We waited for them to finish in the church, and then headed over to the Belfry, my favorite part of the visit to Brugge. That post will have to wait, however. I need to get some breakfast!

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A Stroll Around Graz

This morning my mentor, Elisabeth, called and asked if I wanted to do some shopping around Graz today. I said “of course!” and she told me to meet her at Jakominiplatz at 11:30. I really didn’t have much shopping to do, but I wanted to get out of the apartment. I was hoping I could convince her to climb the Schlossberg with me. I have been looking at it, longingly, out my window all week.

I haven’t mentioned Elisabeth yet, and will talk about her briefly. The exchange program in which I am participating assigned me to her, so that she could meet me at the train station, take me to my dormitory, show me the campus of the university, help me find a grocery store, and all those other random things that are difficult when you are in a new country. She has been extremely helpful, and is going on an exchange herself later this year to Canada.

Jakominiplatz is an area in Graz where many buses and trams stop. It is the closest one to my apartment, and a great place to hop on some public transport to go anywhere in town. Walking over there, I saw a pair of cars I had to photograph:

These are called smart cars. No capitalization in the brand name, just smart cars. I love them. For perspective, the parking spot they are in would normally be filled by one American SUV.

When I met Elisabeth and asked her about climbing the Schlossberg, she was immediately enthusiastic, and we started walking over to it. I had no idea how close we were, until we came to a gap between two buildings: There were the steps leading up to the mighty Schlossberg. But alas, it wasn’t meant to be today. The Schlossberg was closed for the winter. I will have to wait a couple of months.

Instead, we walked to some other sights in Graz. The first place was the Murinsel, or Island In The Mur: This is basically a man-made island in the middle of the river Mur. Very funky looking and it contains a café, an amphitheater, and playground. Elisabeth and I talked about coming back later in the day to have a coffee there, but never did.

The next thing we saw, but did not enter was the Grazer Kunsthaus: This photo is too far away to do it justice. All you can see are the odd protrusions coming out of the roof in the background. Click on the link above my photo for some professional photography of the building. This futuristic looking building has been nicknamed the “friendly alien”, and houses the art collection for the city of Graz.

We strolled on a bit further past a cathedral. Elisabeth said something about it, but I told her I didn’t want to see any cathedrals today, because I felt burned out on them after my time in Belgium. We ended up going inside anyway. First we were just checking the hours on the door, next thing I knew we were inside looking at gold covered statues of saints. I wish I had some photos, because it was beautiful. However, Elisabeth told me that taking pictures in cathedrals are frowned on in Austria. I wasn’t about to cross her. We spent about half an hour inside looking around, and almost the entire time we were the only ones there. This is unusual for cathedrals in Europe. It was incredibly quiet, but in some far off room I could hear some chanting or recitation. The winter sun came in low through the windows, and I felt like I was in another world. Or, at least in some movie. Then we went through the doors back to the outside world, back into real life. Definitely my most surreal cathedral experience yet. I really need to take a break from them.

This is where the shopping began. The one thing I did want to buy was a heater/fan combo for my room. I didn’t need the heat, but I needed a fan for some white noise. I forgot what it is like to share living spaces. Also, I forgot how easily sound travels through an apartment. We went to Leiner, my new favorite store. They sell mostly furnishings and home decorations, things that I definitely have no reason to buy here. I just like to walk around it. The store building is this multi-level affair, with a skywalk leading over to the other building across the street. And all their products are unboxed and on display, without the massive shelves of the big box retailers in the U.S. Something about the store was comforting. It reminded me of how stores used to be in the U.S., before retailers abandoned the downtowns of cities to sell in the suburbs.

My irrational love affair with Leiner grew stronger: they had their own restaurant on the top floor! I had a turkey salad while Elisabeth had a cup of coffee. We chatted for a long time about life, and then headed back. It was a good day.

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RAGBRAI XXXIV is coming to Newton!

It has recently come to my attention (thanks jillywib!) that the Des Moines Register has announced the route for this year's RAGBRAI. And the city of Newton, my home in the U.S., is not only on the RAGBRAI route, but it is also an overnight town! This is a big deal for local Newtonians. For those who are unfamiliar with this Iowa tradition, I will give a brief overview:

Each year, during the hottest week in July, thousands of people gather on the Western side of Iowa with their bicycles. Their goal is to ride from one side of the state to the other in seven days. Some make it all the way across, many do not. Either way, they have a lot of fun. By the way, RAGBRAI stands for the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, and is a copyrighted logo of blah blah blah....

Back to business: You don't need to ride the entire week to enjoy RAGBRAI. You can ride one day, two days, or whatever you can manage. This is a great opportunity for new riders to try it out. If you are riding RAGBRAI this year and need a place to camp, let me know. I have a large backyard for tents, a driveway and on-street parking for support vehicles, but most of all, I have a working shower. Start training!

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Pictures from 2006 Ghent IP, Part 3A (or: The Trip to Brugge, Our Lady's Church)

Saturday morning, struggling to get out of bed after the French Soirée, I decided to take a trip to Brugge. I learned that Brugge was a Medieval city with narrow, crooked streets, old cathedrals, and even parts of the original wall built to protect the city from invaders. It was also quite popular with tourists, but that was okay since we went in January, typically the low season when most tourists go to warmer locations. Leaving the hostel, Kerry, Sarah and I walked to the tram stop to take a tram to Ghent's train station.

Side note: Trams are something that I was unaware of when first arriving in Ghent. Prior to arriving, I was given written directions to get from the Ghent train station to the hostel via Tram 1, but I had no clue what a tram looked like. I wasn't sure if trams looked like buses, small trains, subway cars, or horse-drawn carriages. I'll save you all the suspense by saying that trams run on rails in the streets, powered by electrical lines overhead. Here's a photo of a tram, courtesy of Alex:

Note the tangle of wires overhead. Looking back, it seems pretty obvious to call them trams...

Back to the story: On our way to the tram stop, Kerry and Sarah posed for a photo:

You can see the excitement in their eyes. We were going to Brugge! After hopping a tram, then a train, and riding for about 20 minutes, we arrived in the Brugge train station and began to walk towards the city center. The first place we headed was Our Lady's Church, which has an amazingly high tower, 122 meters high I'm told. Fun fact: this makes it the second highest church tower in Belgium. Here are Kerry and Sarah posing in front of tower while we were still several blocks away, barely able to contain their giddiness:Please note also that the church tower is not actually leaning. I am an idiot when it comes to basic photograph composition.

When we got to the church, I got a few photos of the outside:

And then we went in:

This was a beautiful church, like the others I saw in Ghent, but for some reason I found it depressing. Kerry told me I must have been feeling melancholy that day, and he was probably right. I thought the church was beautiful, but the fact that it was (slowly) crumbling into a pile of rocks made me wonder what all the effort to build it was for. Granted, this crumbling is happening over a period of hundreds of years, so I don't know what my problem was. This church has lasted longer than most structures in the United States. I think the next picture shows the decaying beauty of the church: After we finished at the church, we roamed around the town looking for chocolates and Belgian lace. I should point out that Sarah was looking for Belgian lace. I was only looking for chocolates. I will continue this saga in another post. It's time for supper!

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A View From My Window

I will interrupt the recap of activities in Ghent to show you how things look out my window in Graz, Austria:

The mountain (more of a hill) in the top center of the photo is Schlossberg, which (I am told) once held a castle upon it, but now only holds the remains. Apparently, after Napoleon was unable to conquer it, he decided to burn it.

I am staying in my own room on the 18th floor of an 18 story high-rise apartment building in Graz. I share a suite with 4 Austrians, 3 male and 1 female, who have been quite welcoming and helped me immensely in moving in and adjusting to my new living conditions. At some point, I will post pictures of the inside of the suite, and possibly photos of my suite mates if I can get them to pose for one.

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Pictures from 2006 Ghent IP, Part Two (or: The French Soirée)

During the first few days of the IP in Ghent, students from the various schools (and countries) were keeping mostly to themselves. The American students all ate together and sat together, and same for the French, and Polish, etc. I am not complaining about this. I think it is normal. I think that it is human nature to gravitate towards that with which you are most comfortable. And in this case, it was people who spoke the same native language as you, and had similar backgrounds. My concern is that the situation would not change for the entire two weeks, and everyone would go home having met very few new people.

The organizers of the IP didn't set up any social function, or mixer, or obvious time set aside for the students to meet each other. Something that I was used to having in similar programs was the forced (or at least, expected) interaction time set aside for people to stand around uncomfortably and eventually start talking to each other. At first I thought this was poor planning by the organizers. However, things worked pretty well on their own.

Since all the students were staying in the same hostel, we had ample time on our own to meet and talk in the lounge (aka, pub) on the ground floor. It was there that signs were posted for a party on the first Friday night, indicating we would meet in the lounge, and then go out afterwards for dancing, and that this party was brought by "The French students, and the Spanish girl".

That was all it took to get people to come. I took some photos of students in the lounge. Here are the backs of everybody's heads as students began interacting with one another:
The talking, listening, and sharing of ideas increased quickly. Here is Matthieu pausing from a lively conversation to look into the camera, while Aga looks into the distance, lost in thought:
The turnout was tremendous, and many students met each other and talked, having only exchanged awkward glances before. Here two Lithuanian students, Egle and Vida, pause to smile for a photo:
There were so many students in the lounge that seating was limited. In this photo, Kerry from the U.S. sits in a small chair in the center of the circle. He is clearly enjoying his fine Belgian beer:
Students from the U.S. displayed their ability to look and smile in unison at a camera. Some are even holding up their drinks as if to toast the successful evening:
After some time, it was suggested that the party move to a louder and darker location (aka, to go dancing). The group of students left the hostel, and made the most of the night. I have no photos of this, but if somebody has some they'd like to share, feel free to e-mail them to me.

Also, if anyone can give me tips on making links to large images for the photos, I would be most grateful. It would be nice to have some bigger images.

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Fashion in Graz

I'm no slave to fashion, but I also don't want to look too American whilst strolling the streets of Graz. To accomplish this, I may have to alter my wardrobe a bit to fit in:
It's like, ya know, all the cool Grazers are wearing these. And with discounts like this, I can't afford not to buy one!
You know what they say: "When in Rome, wrap yourself in a yellow sheet of plastic."

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Pictures from 2006 Ghent IP, Part One

Finally, I have found some time to post some pictures from my trip to Ghent, Belgium. I went there in early January 2006 for a two week long Intensive Program(me) in Biorenewables. About 40 some graduate students from a dozen different countries attended. For two weeks, we listened to professors from many universities in Europe, and even a few from America, speak on various topics in the field of biorenewables. It was a great experience, I learned many things, and I met many wonderful people.

Now that I'm in Graz and have some free time, I plan to post a few pictures every couple of days to everyone a taste of what the city looked like. In addition, I want to show pictures of the students who attended and what we did during our free hours. I hope you enjoy it.

First we have a picture of Sint Niklaaskerk (Saint Nicolas' Church), which lies at the end of Koren Markt:
As an American who sees only semi-old and ultra-new buildings in the U.S., what often blew me away in Ghent was the juxtaposition of the really really old building and city design with the new (and corporate) influences surrounding it. Check this next photo of the same church, but with the McDonald's on the other side of the street, and Het Belfort (The Belfry) in the background:To set the scene a bit more, here is another photo taken from the same location as the last two, but looking down the street that Sint Niklaaskerk stands in front of. This open area where all the tents are set up is called Koren Markt:Finally, I'll show two pictures from the inside of Sint Niklaaskerk. I don't know much about its history or design, so I won't even bother to comment on whether the architecture is Neo-Luddite or Post-Stupidism. It was the first of several large, old cathedrals I saw while in Belgium, and for some reason I find them fascinating, and also a bit depressing. First, an attempt to capture the entire altar in one picture:Next, a shot of a big pulpit that stood on the right side of the main worship area, about halfway down the row of pews. It seemed strange to me to put the preacher way high above the people, and also behind some of them, where he couldn't be seen. But at the same time, if you want to give a good fire and brimstone sermon to scare the crap out of people, this would be the place to do it. I saw this same layout in other cathedrals as well, so I'm sure there is a specific reason for it:
Thanks for reading. Coming next will be photos from the first Friday night of the IP program, when the French students (and one Spanish girl) organized a party!

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Safely In Graz

I made it Graz, and I'm checked into my dorm room. I have my own bed and my own room, and a shared kitchen and bathroom. I'll write more about that situation later, but before I do I want to post some excerpts from my old-fashioned paper journal I've been keeping whilst in Europe. I'll try and start some tomorrow morning, because it is getting late here and I am still tired from traveling.

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Perceptions

Before going to Belgium, my only experience in Europe was going to London for about 10 days with one of my brothers back in 2000. So, going to Ghent was a new chance to observe things about Europeans (or, at least inhabitants of Ghent). Since I am a list-oriented person, here's a list of my perceptions:

1. Belgian beer is good, much better than what you'll find in the States. And, it's cheap! There are tons of different brews, and they are all delicious. The price is right: 2 to 3 Euros (~2.40-3.60$US) per beer. Trappists, Lambics, Dubbels, Trippels, oh my. I don't even know what some of those terms mean. I do know that I am spoiled by all this beery goodness.
2. Bikes everywhere: I didn't get a picture of it, but if went out in front of the train station in Ghent, you would see what seem like thousands of bikes attached to racks and locked to any other immovable object. In fact, here's picture, courtesy of Aga:
   Like many cities in Europe (I've heard), Ghent has special lanes on the roads for bikes, and many people use them. They are good riders, too. Weaving through crowds of tourists, and making sudden changes in direction without falling off.
3. Dogs are different in Ghent: Other students from America noticed this as well, but the dogs were much better behaved in Ghent than in the U.S. While being walked by their owners, they were very calm around people and didn't go crazy sniffing and/or barking at everything that moved. They barely paid attention to you if you passed them on the sidewalk, which leads me to my next observation...
4. Dog owners in Ghent don't clean up after their dogs: You know what I'm talking about. I repeatedly saw dogs crapping on roads, sidewalks, and grass without any attempt by their owners to pick up their "deposits". It is quite disgusting, and I'm surprised it is allowed in such a tourist-filled city. My first day in Ghent I stepped in 3 different piles before learning to watch where I walk more closely. Ugh.

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More Photo Attempts

In case that earlier photo tantalized you, here are some more pictures of my room in the hostel. The first one is of my bed (bottom bunk!), and the second one is of the toilet. Excitement abounds!

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Picture Post - First Attempt

Below is a look at my room in the hostel in Ghent from looking inside the doorway:
Wow, that looks really good! Not the picture, of course. The photo is crap. But the layout is niiiice!

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Post #2 - Another Attempt

I checked the first post, and it looks pretty good. Not worth reading, obviously, but looks good. And really, isn't that all people care about anyway?

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First Post

So here it is. This is it. My first post of my first blog ever. Let's see if this works....

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