Frankfurt (am Main)

When I’m getting photos sent via snail mail from overseas containing complements to these photos, I know I have taken too long to post. Nearly a month too long, to be precise.

Here’s the Römer Square in Frankfurt; I actually have a (better) duplicate of this image in the form of a free poster I got while in the square.

The other side of the Römer Square. Apparently, the first set of buildings are all the originals, repaired former homes to some wealthy people in Frankfurt. These buildings are all new since the war, but built in the old style (so the square would look authentic? I guess).

In the square, looking for soveniers. I’m guessing you’re telling me not to take a picture of you, aye?

The Main river, after which Frankfurt am Main takes its name. There’s another, significantly less famous Frankfurt on the banks of some other river, but it seems both need to be distinguished.

By the Main River. Aww!

What’s that?

A bird, a plane. A flying dinghy?

The M: “You just took that photo of us huffing up the stairs to blackmail us with later.” Mission accomplished!!

Frankfurt am Main, as seen from a very cool architectural museum we visited. This was not the only reason it was cool.

Kayaks and cathedrals.

And a barge. I couldn’t decide which picture I liked better, so you get both.

A paper flower? That’s what it seemed like. This was in the botanical gardens in the park we visited. There were lots of cool plants, but unfortunately we got to the gardens only half an hour before they closed, so we didn’t get to see too much.

In the botanical gardens.

More pictures from the gardens. This patch resembled the plants you’d see in Texas, with its dry, rocky (or rock) soil. We all wondered how they got these plants to grow well in rainy Germany.

Foxgloves? Cool, anyways.

Space alien giraffe plant!! Truly bizarre.

Sitting in the gardens.

After everyone else left for Greece (lucky people) I ended up taking the slow inter-country (IC) train back to Jülich. This turned out to be a whole lot prettier than taking the express train (ICE) because for most of the trip back the train tracks ran along the Rhein River. Thus:

And:

This reminded me just a bit of the Marlborough Sounds, which is perhaps why I liked it so much.

Well, it was like the Marlborough Sounds, except for, you know, with castles.

Le sigh. Very cool!

Excellent Meetings with Professors

Met with Dr. Padron today, which left me in a great mood for like an hour afterwards. We talked about Germany, differences between the sciences and humanities in terms of professorships, (my) future plans, what have you. He asked helpful things like... Why are you interested in the sciences? Why in Biology? What motivates you in Biology? What questions would drive you to the lab every day? and so forth, which I need to continue to think about. Some of his suggestions, so I don't forget them:

-talk to Dr. Cronmiller about being interested in doing research, and how best to go about that. Or Dr. Garrett.

-drink the wine, eat the cheese, visit the Netherlands/Paris/other German towns when in Europe. But really eat all the food. Apparently, it's excellent.

-go to Germany, see what shoes they're all wearing, and then go buy a pair to blend in and seem like less of an American tourist when visiting places. An excellent idea.

-take pictures/keep a blog! Yeah.

-maybe take a year off school to clear my mind doing something not incredibly stressful and taxing. This will ensure that you have enough time to look around at schools, and also that you're really sure what you want to do.

Excellent.

Irresponsible (Awesome) Weekend Plans

I love my life! Only it leaves precious little time for studying, which may prove to be a problem come Monday.

Thursday:
Class
Teatime - free food and good company
Throw a frisbee around outside the IRC
Run for 45 min
Eat dinner/study for a tiny bit w/ Jamelle
Visit Grey's Anatomy for free food and get sucked into two hours of Guitar Hero (I'm so irresponsible)...
More studying?

Friday:
Class
Work
The Week that Was
Watson Suite Reunion
Soccer game?
Perhaps studying, but that seems exceedingly unlikely. More plausibly, hanging out with awesome IRC people.

Saturday:
Farmer's Market?
Vegetarian Festival
Jeff Soc Tailgate
Random movies are most likely, although perhaps studying (yeah right)

Sunday:
Run
Study like whoa

The Great Outdoors

Kickass day yesterday! Spent most of it outside - went to Barton Springs in the evening and had our longest swim ever there, from maybe 4:45 to 8:30. The water was very murky green, and the visibility was only about 6 feet in front of you or so, but it was still insanely fun. I dived to the bottom as much as I felt brave enough to, and saw lots and lots of fish, (20+ at last count) muddy brown ones and pearly white and maroon ones and so forth. Orange-spotted narkled gudgeons and such :-P. It was glorious just to float in the water and look up at the pecan trees and the bright blue sky. If you kept moving you could stay in the water a really long time, too.

Jessie and I decided that it was so nice outside that we should sleep outside, too. This was also amazing. We set up some blankets and sleeping bags in the backyard, and apart from the M's warnings about the skunk which apparently lives under our deck, we were all set. Although in retrospect, I think I spent way too much time looking at the stars (10-11, 2-3) and reading (and looking out for the skunk). I'm tired now, but nothing a good deal of coffee can't take care of. Woken up this morning by a bunch of dragonflies flitting around overhead :-). What a way to wake up! I don't think I've ever slept under the sky before, without a tent or anything.