Island of Birds and 5 Star Hostels

On Tuesday we shipped off to Norderney to see what this island that Dr. Wasser had been telling us so much about was like.  Ever since our study abroad orientation meetings he’d been telling us about this spa island and how we were going to cover ourselves head to toe in mud and then be “reborn” once it was all washed off.  During dinner with my host family a couple of nights before Joseph and I told them we would be traveling to Norderney for a few days and their first response was “what are you going to do there there’s nothing but sand and water”.  We decided to trust Dr. Wasser and the fact that he has been doing this for years/everything he has taken us to do thus far has been enlightening and tons of fun. 

            So once we arrived on the coast we had to hop on a ferry that would take us to the island.  I didn’t expect this to be as much as an experience as it turned out to be.  Cars, tractors, and 18-wheelers loaded up bumper to bumper for the 45 minute ride across the bumpy waters.  A few of us went to the top deck immediately in order to try and get a glimpse of some seals/wildlife Dr. Wasser told us to look our for.  While we didn’t end up seeing any seals as the waters were covering any sand banks they might be laying on, we did learn quite a bit about the importance of the island for wildlife from Dr. Wasser.  He told us about how certain species of birds use the island as a stepping-stone in their great migration and without it they wouldn’t be able to make the long journey that is necessary for their survival.  Also about how the islands were all slowly moving due to sand being pushed to the opposite side of the island by the current. 

            After 45 minutes we arrived after the captain of the ferry somehow perfectly docked the giant thing into the port.  We immediately went to rent our transportation for the next few days, bicycles.  I assumed everyone knew how to ride a bike but what I didn’t account for was how hard it would be to coordinate 25 students riding side by side on narrow sidewalks.  There were a few minor wipeouts, which were absolutely hilarious after we got the signal that they were okay of course.  Regardless, it ended up being pretty efficient at getting us wherever we wanted to go to on the island.  We took the bikes all around the island and past the mud flats that we would take a walking tour of later in the week.  The whole island was absolutely beautiful from the rolling hills to the explosion of wildlife.  Especially birds and rabbits, I’ve never seen so many rabbits in my entire life.  Thinking back to what Dr. Wasser had said on the ferry I could immediately tell how important this island was for the birds just by taking a quick look around. 

After the tour we headed back to out home base, which was essentially a big summer camp for adults.  We were sleeping in rooms of 3, 4, or 5 with bunk beds.  I liked this a lot more than being so spread out like we normally are with our host family’s houses.  Before the group dinner we went out to a pothole filled field with some sketchy looking basketball hoops and played with a soccer ball.  Even playing basketball was so much fun and made it feel just like camp. I forgot how much I miss playing sports back home.   Afterwards we had a group BBQ where we just enjoyed good company, weather, and stories all night.  The next day we took a trip to the Badehaus of Norderney, which was where the greatly anticipated mud bath would take place.  Although we knew we were going to be covered in mud head to toe at least once this trip, we didn’t really think about the fact that this included being completely naked.   Needless to say all the guys were much closer after the treatment.  The mud was just as cleansing as Dr. Wasser led us to think, I truly did feel like I’d been reborn after the last bit of it was washed off.  We spent the rest of the time exploring different sauna rooms and steam rooms.  The day was just what we needed as we have been traveling every weekend and waking up at the crack of dawn each weekday.  A group of us fell asleep in a room with comfy chairs for about an hour and Dr. Wasser had to come tell us we had to leave.  Apparently we are the first group of students he’s had to use up the entire time allotted in the spa, so kudos to us.  Later in the afternoon we took a mudflat tour with a wonderful guide who knew all about the incredible ecosystem the island holds dear.  We followed her out in low tide and were able to walk really far out into the North Sea without getting wet.  That night a few people in the group including me decided to go take a dip in the North Sea even though it was freezing cold.  We sprinted from the beach entry and dove in headfirst so we didn’t have time change our minds.  At the time I was freezing but now looking back I have no regrets because who knows when I’d get another opportunity to swim in the North Sea at night?? Can check that one off my new European bucket list.  The next morning we took a quick tour of the Inselmuseum and headed to the ferry to say goodbye to our bikes and head back to the mainland.   It was time to head to France for the weekend.

We arrived late on Friday after a long day of transferring to different trains. Somehow we made all of them on time, seems like we’re just now mastering the art of traveling just as we only have a couple weeks left.   One thing we were nervous about was staying in our first hostel.  I was picturing a hospital like, white walled, bunk bed filled giant room with random people.  To our surprise we walk up the first thing we see is a nice restaurant/club on the first floor with tons of young adults our age eating and having a good time.  After checking in we went to our room, which was actually private with all of our friends.  Every bed was equipped with a reading lamp, USB/outlet port, and a shelf.  Security stayed at the front doors all day and night to make sure no one unwelcome could come in, it ended up being a paradise.  That night we were so tired we quickly grabbed a snack and fell fast asleep.  The next morning the first thing I did was head to the Laundromat (exciting Paris stuff I know) since I had been so badly needing one in Norderney but I think they might wash all of their clothes in the North Sea. Just kidding they don’t do that but our complex didn’t have one for us to use.  Not even kidding it was nice going to do laundry while everyone else was still waking up because I got to marvel at the Paris streets by myself for a bit.  The hour of alone time was much needed as I hadn’t had a second to myself for over a week.  Now it was time to stop messing around and actually go to Parisian things.  After all Paris has about a million famous things in and around the city and there was no way we’d be able to hit them all during the weekend with any sleep.  Our group headed to the Arc de Triomph first to marvel at it’s incredulous size.  What was also amazing to see was the absolutely massive round about that is built around it.  It’s constantly buzzing with cars and there’s absolutely no way to get to the Arc in the center except by going underground.

  That night we reserved a table at a restaurant in front of the Eiffel tower, we ended up spending like $45 each but hey when in Paris right?  Then we ventured even closer to the Eiffel and sat down on a field with hundreds of other kids ready to watch the sunset and see the lights flicker every hour.  We quickly learned how annoying the people were that would come around and try to sell us crappy wine for 25 euros.   However we just as quickly picked up that you could haggle them down to dirt cheap prices and ended up buying around 4 bottles for 15 euros.  Even though they saw we had plenty of wine they wouldn’t stop coming so we decided to make a game out of it and just stare at them every time they would come and annoy us.  First person to crack a smile losses the round.  They slowly but surely learned that we weren’t going to buy any more alcohol and left us to enjoy the night. 

The next day we woke up bright and early to head to Versailles for the day.  It was a trek but when we finally got in (after a 2 hour wait in a very long and unexpected line) the place was just as beautiful as I had imagined it.  We walked through the vast gilded hallways and I tried my first macaroon inside of the palace.  We spent the majority of the day exploring around here and were dead tired by the time we got back.

  After a power nap we were back at it and grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the basilica for the best view of the weekend.  There were people playing live music and just hanging out in another fairytale ending to a night in Paris.  The final day came the Lourve museum.  I had heard it was big but it wasn’t until I got there that I realized even if I spent the entire day opening to closing that I wouldn’t be able to walk through and see every piece of art. Since we didn’t know much of what was there besides the Mona Lisa and  The Venus de Milo we looked up the best sights to hit while there for a day. The Mona Lisa was actually sort of a let down with how small and overly crowded it is.  My favorite piece was The Raft of the Medussa which was painted based on a true story of sailors who were lost at sea and were stuck on a raft with nothing but wine to drink.  Murder and mutiny ensued and only 15 of the original 151 survived.  I know its gruesome but it was an interesting story about something that was said to have actually happened.  Plus we didn’t have time to go down into the catacombs so naturally I had to make up for that with another chilling sight right?   Here it is below:

  Finally it came to our last night in Paris and we had all agreed to go and find some delicious French food and eat it while having a view of the Eiffel again.  However…. This isn’t quite what ended up happening. We couldn’t all agree on a place and plus we were short for cash from the weekend so we ended up eating at the chinese place behind out hostel.  Which was weirdly incredible because everything including the drinks were so cheap and the portions were huge.  We had also been talking about missing good chinese food in America and this was about as close as it gets.  I’d say it was an understatement that we were happy with our final meal choice.  We spent the rest of the night hanging out under the Eiffel haggling with the wine guys and playing cards until we had to catch out train at 5 am on Monday.  Once we got back there was no time to go home first because we had class at 10:15 am and we were exhausted.  I don’t regret a thing though because the memories made in Paris were incredible and again it seems like our group of friends just continues to get close with every weekend that passes by.  Next week we’ll be in Bonn for our last week there doing excursions and schoolwork.  Then I’ll be heading to the Black Forest. I’ll cover all that stuff in my next blog, but for now tshüss!