A Trip Through the Alps with K Mau – Part 1

Our friend Katie came to visit about a month ago, and one of the highlights of her visit (besides her glorious presence, of course), was a weekend car trip to Lucerne, Liechtenstein, and Neuschwanstein (aka Cinderella’s Castle). This is Part 1, which includes Lucerne and Liechtenstein, and Part 2 includes Neuschwanstein. I didn’t want you…

Attending German Football Matches

Freiburg is a pretty small city; its roughly 225,000 residents make it the 34th largest city in Germany. A bustling metropolis, this is not. Despite its small size, however, Freiburg boasts one of Germany’s most successful football (soccer) teams. Ok, not successful in the same way as Bayern Munich, where every day without another trophy…

“Kamelle, Kamelle!”

Brian and I were recently in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (this includes Cologne, Bonn, and Düsseldorf, most notably) to celebrate Karneval (or Fasching, or Fasnacht, or Mardi Gras, depending on where you come from), and it was… an experience. Before I delve into our trip specifics, here’s a quick lesson about this holiday,…

Haggling (And Surviving) in Morocco

Last week, Erin and I went to Morocco (Marrakech, mostly) with a couple of friends from college. It was my first time on the continent of Africa, so I was excited and ready to be amazed. Erin wrote more generally about our many experiences in Morocco, but here, I want to write about one of…

Snake Charming in Marrakech

Before our trip to Morocco, I read about the possibility of seeing the snake charmers in Jemaa El Fna, Marrakech’s main square. I know that it’s really just for the tourists at this point, but I still wanted to see it, and was prepared to pay a small amount to take a picture, since this…

Mint Tea and Tajines!

This past weekend, Brian, Britt, Julia, and I took a “4”-day trip to Morocco. I use the number 4 pretty liberally, as we arrived late Friday night in Casablanca, took a 3-hour train to Marrakech on Saturday morning, and then Brian and I headed back to Casablanca early Monday morning to catch an afternoon flight…

Couchsurfing Europe!

Couchsurfing (v.) – “Referring to the practice of moving from one friend’s house to another, sleeping in whatever spare space is available, floor or couch, generally staying a few days before moving on to the next house.” (Wikipedia) Brian and I discovered CouchSurfing (this time it’s an organization, not a verb) while here in Freiburg…