Category Archives: Germany

Into the Current at Richas Digest

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I stopped into Richas Digest, an art space in Cologne for the last day of “Into the Current.” On a rack outside, held a beautiful pink color, which were cloaks. I donned one and stepped inside.

The swirls, the movements of paint, and the fabric it was on reminded me of dancing. As I walked by, the sheer fabric with it’s paint felt the air going by and it showed by not staying still.

I walked around, and suddenly the direction the paint was going was the course of my life, and it was up and up. But, when I looked back through the fabric from the other side I did not like what I saw. The shapes were not as they had been, and frightened me.

I walked the other way, and I zig-zagged, with the white sheets with black paint forming different images from each angle, and I decided the only way to walk through was the way I had first gone.

INTO THE CURRENT

FRIEDERIKE HAUG and MARTHA HVIID

curated by Nina Nowak

Severinstraße Fair: a street party

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Delicious fried fish, endless Kölsch, a variety of wares from clothes to wooden spoons, and even a pianist street musician filled Severinstraße with color and celebration on the third weekend in September.

I had happened to be in town for the 40th annual Severinstraße Fair, or “Dä Längste Desch, vun Köll Severinstraße.”  By day was great, but by night was awesome.

If you also happen to be in Cologne that time of year, I recommend experiencing it!

Walking tour of Cologne

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The photo above represents the architecture before World War II. Across the street, the buildings look much more modern.

I went on a walking tour of Cologne with FreeWalk Cologne at 16:11. Our tour guide was Kristina, and I learned all sorts of historical tidbits about the city from her. (Don’t worry, you will still learn a ton if you do one yourself! Psst…Kristina, if I got anything wrong just let me know, okay? Edit: Kristina has reviewed! Thanks, Kristina!) For instance, there were once 12 medieval gates surrounding the city and three are still standing, including the one that the seal pictured below was on. The three crowns represent the Three Kings, or wise men, who brought the three gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh on the day of Jesus’s birth. The remains of the Three Wisemen are kept in the Cologne Cathedral, which was constructed specifically for this purpose.

I learned of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, and how Cologne girls are said to “have pepper in their butt.” Which means, they get what they want. Agrippina wanted to marry her uncle Claudius, the emperor of Rome. So, they married in 49 A.D. Agrippina also wanted the name of the town she was born in to become a Roman colony. And hence, “Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium” was born, which was shortened to Colonia which morphed into “Cologne” and in German “Köln.”

I learned of Ursula (who’s since been sainted) and how she was having what has come to be known as a bachelorette party with 11 virgin women (which has evolved to thousands in folklore), and decided to go have a chat with the Huns to try to convince them not to destroy Cologne. Well, the Huns leader thought the women were meant as a “gift,” and burned or drowned (hence the flame or droplets in the seal, though some accounts say beheaded) them all and left Cologne alone.

The red and white in the seal represent the colors of the city, and together they make pink! Cologne is full of heart, and is also home to the biggest gay community in Germany.

The street art above by Thomas Baumgärtel  is supposed to symbolize conquering the city with a banana, and was crafted in protest of the local government and business’s attempt to drive the artists out of their former galleries and workshops.

Because Cologne is SO proud of their Cathedral, and it is SO important in Cologne, it is its own sign of protest to picture the Cathedral in the background or as insignificant (as it is above).

The banana has become a “stamp of approval” that the artist paints on the outside of art houses in Cologne.

Above is the inside of a former Jesuit church in Cologne, now home to the Italian Catholic Community here, St. Mariä Himmelfahrt. This church, also featured below, is a block from the Cologne Cathedral.

Cologne itself was hit 262 times by bombs, and 650,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the entire state of North-Rhine Westphalia during WWII, and some are still in the ground. When construction is happening in the city and one is found, the whole neighborhood must be evacuated. Not only bombs are found. The wall featured below was built around the year 50, while a parking garage was being built in the center of the city, right next to the Cathedral. The garage was built around it.

While the Cathedral was being built, the architects went off the rule “as above, so below,” as there were no precedents set for building a skyscraper in year 1248, so the foundation is huge. Fourteen aerial bombs hit the Cathedral (der Dom) during the war. Citizens of Cologne would run out at night with buckets to put the fires out. “Home is where the Dom is” is a common saying here, meaning that the people of Cologne feel a strong connection to the Cathedral.

Construction was nowhere close to completion by the time Napoleon arrived. He thought it would be a great stable for his horses and ammunition. The Prussians offered to finish the Dom even though the Catholic Church had been working on on and off for 500 years… Nowadays, there is always scaffolding, so, it is essentially under constant construction.

Cologne has even added its own goat-gargoyle, which urban legend has it is “Hennes,” Cologne’s real-live goat football (-not American football, obviously-) mascot, as seen below.

Pictured below is the old City Hall. Can you guess who up there suggested taxing alcohol?That’s all for my virtual tour! You’ll have to go on one yourself to find out why it started eleven minutes after the hour. Tschüss!

7 Instagram-Worthy Things To Do in Cologne

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1. Festivities. What makes the time you’re there special? I arrived in the midst of Cologne’s fourth annual Chinese Festival, which took place right outside the Cologne Cathedral. The Cathedral, it so happens, is right next to the Hauptbahnhof where I first arrived in Cologne 24 hours before. I walked around the market and ate vegetarian spring rolls and noodles.

2. Rhine River. It was 76 degrees Fahrenheit on a Sunday in September, which meant the sunlight was swiftly slipping away as the winter months approach. So we walked along the Rhine, one of the major European rivers. It flows in a northerly direction, and right through Cologne.

3. Shopping District. The blocks near the Cathedral are where you will find all the shopping you could want. The roads are flourishing with pedestrians, people just don’t drive there. There’s an H&M, Zara, New Yorker and even an English market. TK Maxx (it’s TK Maxx here) isn’t far either. The Apple store was not home in the modern build often seen in its U.S. stores, but housed in architecture that made its logo almost look displaced.

4. Love Locks. Walk across the Hohenzollern bridge and maybe even lock your own love up there! Tens of thousands of couples have pledged their love this way already, and it is truly an overwhelming amount of love to walk by if you think about it.

5. Cologne Cathedral. It was built to house the remains of the Three Kings (Three Wisemen) and took more than 600 years to build. The foundation was laid in 1248 and it was finally completed in 1880. For those first four years, it was the tallest building in the world.

6. Sunset. With the Cologne Cathedral and the Hohenzollern Bridge, you can’t go wrong. If you stick around long enough, you may even get to see the Cathedral light up at night. I ate with my colleagues across the river at Grissini, a restaurant with walls of windows so you can’t miss the view.

7. Nightlife. The trains run late into the night here, so whether you go out for one Kölsch, the traditional brew of Köln, or twenty (they come in small glasses for less than 2 euros a piece + your server will continuously refill your glass unless you put a coaster over it to signal you are done), you will be able to get home without operating a vehicle yourself. From art exhibits, to brew houses, to karaoke, to opera, techno, jazz and punk, there’s something special here for anyone.

What they don’t tell you about the Immigration Office

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I arrived at the Immigration Office late in the morning on a Monday, so I knew there was a good chance I wouldn’t be able to take care of getting my residence permit that day. The hours are 08:00 to 12:00. The woman at the front desk told me that they open at 08:00.

I thought 08:00 was a bit extreme, but if I arrived before 09:00, at least, I’d be fine. With three more hours until close, how could I not be? I arrived Tuesday morning shortly after 08:30. A friend of mine was already there. As I’m in the elevator on the way up to the fourth floor, she said they just put a “CLOSED” sign on the number dispenser. They would not be seeing anyone who didn’t already have a number.

I decided to wait it out and see what would happen. There were two small waiting rooms. All the seats were full, so people were sitting on the hallway floors. We were, too. Eventually, a couple of seats opened up and we snagged them. A man who had to go, for work or another daily obligation, gave my friend his ticket. His was earlier than hers. She gave me hers. 037. It was around 10. Around noon, my friend went in. She came out empty-handed. She didn’t get it, and the woman was mean and rolled her eyes at her. I thought since I had everything the university told me to provide, and understood a bit of German, I’d be fine. Well, she was nicer to me, but no cigar. Wednesdays they are closed.

I arrived at 07:14 on Thursday morning and was seventh in line. The doors opened at 08:00. I am not going to go into detail about the events that followed between going up the elevator and getting my number (09), but it was not a good look on humanity at all. Looking back, I would have attempted to organize a line. I wish that the people who work there did. In the mad rush up the four floors to the number dispenser, it didn’t matter how early you got there, it only mattered that you were aggressive. I let my friend  who helped me on Tuesday go ahead of me (bumping me to 08), and a woman who was not there early anywhere near as early as us somehow got up there, too (bumping me to 09).

Still, 09 wasn’t a long wait. I went in with everything I was told the previous time that I needed. Plus, I filled out the application I was given the previous time to the best of my ability while I waited.

So here is what you actually need for the Immigration Office:
1. Your number. (Get there at 07:15, and it will go fast. Get there at 7:30, and you could wait for hours.)
2. Your passport.
3. Your insurance exemption letter that says your insurance works for Germany.
4. Your AirBnB receipt or renter’s agreement. (You must have something printed out. Digital copies are not accepted.) The university will say that we need our City Registration confirmation, but this does not suffice.
5. A “biometric passport photo” that is 35 x 45 mm. On photo paper. Cut out. (Note: this is not the same size as a U.S. passport photo.) You can get this done at a Copy Shop. I went to one right by Chlodwigplatz, a stop from TH Köln.
6. Stamped certificate of university enrollment. (The letter that you received when you arrived so you could use public transport.)
7. Proof of sufficient funding. Currently, you need proof of 853 euros for each month you are staying in Germany. I printed a balance letter saying that I had an amount in excess of the amount I needed. If you have Charles Schwab, this letter is easily accessible online. However, it is not likely to be in the correct currency. Do the calculation and write amount of euros your currency equals on the letter.
8. The application, if you have received it before. Plus, the information that will go into the application such as your address, your German phone number, your insurance information. Basically, the things you probably have accessible in your wallet or on your phone.

I brought these things in when my number was called. I was told I need to pay 50 euro and I was ready to pull it out of my pocket. (Note: for my friend, it was 56 euro. Bring excess.)

But, the cash register is at City Registration. So, she held onto my passport, I took the blue form she gave me around the block from Ludwigstraße to Laurensplatz to the person at the desk entitled “Kasse” and paid the 50 euro.

I went back to Ludwigstraße, went up the elevator, knocked on the person’s door who was helping me, and waited. She came from the outside, said “Komm rein.” I followed her in and handed her the blue receipt. She handed me my passport complete with the residence permit inside.

“Das ist alles?” I asked.

“Das ist alles,” she said.

Arriving in Cologne (+ what you need to know if you’re studying abroad)

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I landed at the Frankfurt airport (FRA) at 05:30 on a Friday morning. I had until 09:15 to show up at my AirBnB in Cologne if I wanted to not have to lug my bags around the city until actual check-in time, which was 3 p.m…. I mean, 15:00.

Customs was no problem. I had the documents I needed with me, my acceptance letter into TH Köln and the address of where I would be staying. But, the customs official believed me when I told him, in German, that I was a student and where I would be studying.

Fortunately, I had the learned wisdom (from previously studying abroad) to not have to wait on baggage claim by bringing only 1 carry-on, 1 personal item and a ski jacket. I raced past baggage claim and was the first in line at the train ticket counter. I booked the next ICE (Inter-City Express) train to Cologne Hauptbahnhof at 06:43. I ran to the platform (= Gleis auf deutsch), which was about 70 euros. I had 30 minutes of free WiFi on the train.

I arrived in the center of Cologne, looked at a public transit (Kölner Verkehrs-Betriebe – KVB) map at the station, took a photo of it (actual photo to the right), and caught the line to the stop by my AirBnB. I activated Verizon’s TravelPass for the day with a phone call to the person at the AirBnB, and was let in with an hour to spare.

Things to do when you first arrive in Cologne as a study abroad student:
1. Go to ALDI and pick up a SIM card in the Aldi Talk Prepaid Starter Kit. Find somewhere with WiFi, and start the process of activating your SIM card. This will may take 24 hours.
2. Go to your university’s International Office and pick up the letter that allows you to use public transportation for free as a student.
3. Go to an Insurance Agency to receive an exemption letter that states your insurance will work for your stay in Germany. I went to the AOK recommended by my university and they did NOT give me the document, but THIS ONE DID: Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) located at Habsburgerring Eingang, Pilgrimstraße 2, 50674 Köln.
4. Return, with the letter, to the International Office and pick up your MultiCa (student card). DO NOT LET THEM TAKE THE LETTER — you will need it for the Immigration Office, but nobody will tell you this. They will now also give you the information on the bank transfer you need to make to pay the semester fee of about 275 euros. Paying the fee with Transferwise worked for a fellow student in my program. Do this immediately, as this will take a few days to go through before you can put money on your MultiCa. Some of the Mensa’s (student dining halls) accept cash, but they all accept the MultiCa.
5. Ask your landlord to fill out the form confirming where you will be living: Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung, and take that and your passport with you to register with the city.
6. Apply for a residence permit at the immigration office. This is a whole thing, which requires waking up early, waiting in line at 07:00, and understanding some German. A post regarding this process is upcoming here.