auf Wiedersehen

As I've mentioned a few times now, I'm actively trying to avoid any emotions I'm feeling about leaving Germany. Germany has been my home for the past year, but now that I'm back in the US, I already feel "back at home" despite having not lived her for a full year. I'm sure that over the next few weeks and months there will be times when I'm dying to go back, and times when I'm glad I'm in the US, but I'll take those as they come.

For now, all I really want to say is that living in Germany was one of the toughest things I've ever done. I picked up my twenty-year-old self, moved across the world and started a new adventure. I had some really high highs and some really low lows, but regardless of all of that, I'm coming back to the US permanently changed for the better. I have experienced more of the world than I thought I would at this point in my life, talked to people who have drastically different views than my own, and got to discover more of who I am as a person. It's hard to believe it's over already, but I've made memories that will certainly last a lifetime.

I'm already risking really overdoing it with the cliches here, so I'm going to move into the main part of this post. I spent some time during my last few weeks in Germany taking pictures of some of the sights that I saw on an everyday basis. Even though some of them are really mundane, I wanted to have photos that reminded me of the things that become so second nature to me so that I can look back on them in six months, or six years, and really be able to remember my time in Dusseldorf.

Without further ado, here they all are. Enjoy!

AROUND MY APARTMENT

So this is my apartment building itself. Right next to Andy's Hairlounge. My windows are the second from the top, the ones that are tilted inwards and have the dark maroon curtains. Technically 3rd floor, but American 4th floor (Europeans love their Erdgeschoss [ground floor])

My apartment itself. Please note the two duvets for the double sized bed. Not really sure what it is, but Germans seem to be really concerned with people taking your covers, so there will always be two duvets on a bed that's bigger than a twin. Also, disclaimer,  this was the day I moved out, so it def wasn't always this clean.

This is the view from my living room windows. The U Bahn with a lovely Rewe (grocery store) ad on it, and the shops behind it. The yellow awning on the corner is a printer and toner store, then a bakery, a kebab restaurant, and a mini mart. 

The apartments and trees lining the park that is directly next to my apartment. The park is called Zoopark but is disappointingly very not-zoo-like. Lots and lots of birds, but that's about it.

Inside of the Zoopark. Please note all the birds. A LOT of people fed them which is a really dumb idea because they sometimes got aggressive when you had food and didn't feed them, or when you ran out of food. You know, like birds do. Anyways, this place was great for hanging out on nice days and reading (as I was doing here). Germans take their parks very seriously, and there are multiple large parks in most cities and towns. 

On the edge of the Zoopark is this ice rink, which is home to the local team (the DEG, you can see their logo there), and offers free skate times as well. There's also, strangely enough, a sushi restaurant that is attached to the rink.

This is just a shot down the street I live on. If you were to cross the street straight from where I am standing, my apartment building would be two down on the right. 

THE WALK TO WORK (sorry about the perspective on these, this is put in order as if I was walking to work, but some of the pics were taken on the way home from work) (sue me)

This is Grunerstraße, which intersects with my street, Brehmstraße. This is a very wealthy area of the city, and on many of the streets there are cute (and expensive) boutiques. Also, you can bet that about 90% of all those cars are German made. 

This funky looking grey building is actually FOM Hochschule, which is a brand new college. The building was completed and opened for classes towards the end of my co-op (in around June 2017)

These are the train tracks I would walk over every day. It took me way too long to realize that my stop was basically the exact opposite of where I am standing to take this picture. Like, duh, I'm walking to the train to get to work. These are train tracks. Naturally, I will be walking to a spot somewhere along these train tracks. 

This is if you were to look the other way on these train tracks. "NEU" must be some sort of gang or something because they have tags ALL over. Neu means new in German so not really sure what kind of gang name that is. Seeing "NEU" all throughout the city (and also on new products and ads and things) also really threw me off at first because that's also the abbreviation for Northeastern University.

A cool apartment building just on the other side of the Hochschule.

The road that my S Bahn stop was on. This is a picture of another college in Dusseldorf, namely, Hochschule Dusseldorf.

And this is the train stop I wait at every morning (Dusseldorf Derendorf) to catch the S 11 train to Dusseldorf Flughafen Terminal (Dusseldorf Airport Terminal). Yes, I take the train to the airport every day to get to work. Also, as you can see on the screen, it shows you the name of the train, the time it's arriving, the important stops it will be stopping at, and the platform you're on. If there are any delays or announcements about the train, those will be shown above the stops. Really a great system, despite how much the Germans (and myself, if we're being real) love to complain about it.

Annnnnd this is the graffiti I stare at every day as I wait for my train to arrive.

And this is a really freaking cool graffiti/mural thing at the Dusseldorf Derendorf stop as well. 

This is what the lovely S11 train (and all S Bahn trains) look like. Nothing fancy, but the MBTA should definitely take some notes. Plenty of seats for everyone, even though the Germans will almost never sit down in a seat next to someone unless the train is PACKED. In the cluster of four seats there is usually a maximum of 2 people sitting down. People would rather stand than 'awkwardly' sit in a section where there are already people sitting down. Also, each cluster of seats has it's own mini trash can in it, which is probably part of the reason the trains are so clean. If people have a place to throw their garbage, they won't put it on the ground. Makes sense (@MBTA).

A lot of people don't believe me when I say that I ACTUALLY ARRIVE AT THE AIRPORT DAILY TO GO TO WORK. I thought it was a little weird at first, but now it's just my normal routine. As all the stressed out travelers lug their massive suitcases off the train, I quickly duck around them as I turn left down one hallway, while they head straight up to the departures gates. 

Okay, so I don't actually go into the airport to get to work (there's a separate exit from the train that takes me out to the street), but this is what it looks like. And if I have to take the S1 train, and then the Sky Train (which UGH I try to avoid) because there are cancellations for the S11, then I would have to walk through at least part of the airport. 

This is Airport City in all it's glory. Yes, they really call it that. No, I don't know why. It's basically a business park with tons and tons of different office buildings. Most of the companies are related to the airport (ex. TJX's neighbor is Air Berlin), but not all of them are. It's a super convenient place to have an office, I must say. Since our company is headquartered in the UK, we always have a ton of visitors, and our buyers are always traveling, so it's insanely nice to be right next to the airport. 

This is a picture right across from TJX's building. On the left is Kamps Bakery, which is one of the largest bakery chains I know of. Straight ahead is the Maritim Hotel, which is where the majority of people stay when they are visiting our office. 

And this is it! The place where I spend 8 hours a day. TJX Europe and the German Buying Office occupy the first three floors in the building, and the top two floors are for the company WTS, which honestly I have no idea what they do.

AT WORK

This is the door to get into the floor I work on. Our floor is mostly support functions like logistics (duh), finance/accounting, HR, marketing, and store operations. Since TJX doesn't own the building, we have to swipe into the floor (on the small black box on the right) and then again to get into the part of the floor where all our desks are. Also, our building is called Le Ciel (which means The Sky in French), again no clue why, and each floor is named for a different level of the atmosphere. Ours, as you can see, is the mesosphere. 

This is my badge to get into the building and onto my floor. Really, plz ignore this hideous picture I took on the first day. In Germany (and many European countries) you need to include a professional head shot on your resume, so most people's pictures are really nice professional photos. Not mine!

TJX Europe, as with many other companies, has an open floor plan throughout all of its offices. Unlike the cubicle I had in Framingham, here everything is open. This is where logistics sits; where I'm standing is my team (International Buyer Vendor Support) and across from us is European Buyer Vendor Support. 

And this is my lovely little set up here. I have the dual screen thing going on with my laptop and monitor, and my phone, which used to belong to someone in HR and on which I get multiple calls a week that are meant for him and not me. I've gotten maybe 5 calls total in the last 6 months that were actually for me. 

This is one of our meeting rooms. They are all named after cities, which is pretty fun because you can say things like, "Ready to go to Miami?" when you're just getting on a video conference. 

The little lunch nook complete with HR pamphlets about avoiding conflict and building leadership skills. 

The cappuccino machine that I thought was amazing, but is actually pretty run of the mill in European offices. No Keurigs here. Just this thousand dollar machine that can make me a latte in 20 seconds. Truly amazing. 

FOOD

You're typical bakery bag. Terbuyken is another major bakery chain here in Nordrhein Westfalen.

And just about my favorite brötchen from the bakery. That cheese baked on the top tho 😍

TBH one of the best and most unexpected parts about Germany is the bread. LIKE LOOK AT THIS OMG. And each roll is like 30 cents!!!!! America, take notes. (And for reference, this is just a grocery store. Like a small grocery store)

My favorite gelato in Dusseldorf. Another amazing thing about Germany is that all ice cream is gelato. And Germans take their gelato seriously. Like tons of flavors, cool sundaes, yeah. Really good. Here I have my two favorites, pistachio and hazelnut.

SHOPPING

So this is my view on the U Bahn, the U71 to be exact, which takes me to the downtown Altstadt section of Dusseldorf where all the shopping is. 

The center part of Königsalle, which is the fanciest shopping street in Dusseldorf with tons of high end shops like Prada and Louis Vuitton.

Another shot from Königsalle.

The walking/bike path on Königsalle. If you're every in Germany, be sure to stay out of the bike paths. Bicyclists will angrily ding their bells at you until you move. 

Königsalle

In the Altstadt. There's tons of shopping, restaurants and bars. The area is super popular on the weekends and on weeknights as well. 

One of the most popular bakeries, Hinkel, in the Altstadt. Like....just look at all of that bread. 

Der Markt am Carlsplatz is kind of a mix between a traditional German market, and a trendy hipster farmer's market. And by that I mean there is a literal butcher directly next to a fresh pressed juices stand. 

More in the Altstadt with all of the outdoor restaurants. 

More restaurants in the Altstadt.

I thought this one was particularly pretty. 

The Kalarienberg bei St. Lambertus (a church, basically) which is right on the Rhein. Dana and I stumbled into it and quickly found out that this sort of average looking church turned out to be really beautiful on the inside. 

The view from the Rheinuferpromenade where there are lots of outdoor restaurants and ice cream places. This is the Rhein river that runs through Dusseldorf and Cologne. In the distance is the Rheinkniebrucke and the Rheinturm. This is one of my favorite places to bring my visitors because sitting outside at one of the restaurants is so relaxing, and being on the river is really nice too. There are lots of boats that go up and down this river, and a surprising amount of them are [small] container ships, which was also sort of cool for me as a supply chain major.

This is the Rheinturm a little closer up. I did go up it (my pictures of the view are literally horrible because of the time of day and the blue lights that were inside) and there's a pretty cool (but expensive, obviously) bar and restaurant at the top. Oh, also, it costs NINE EURO just to go up. Like what. All I'm doing is using an elevator. NINE EURO. But anyways, it was a really cool experiences and I think I heard somewhere that it's the tallest tower of its kind in Germany. Not sure how true that is, but I heard it from some unidentified source.

This is the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) in the center of the Altstadt in the Marktplatz. Again, there are lots of restaurants and shops around here, and there's quite often different events that take place on this square. One time I literally ran into a Greek festival here. Most random thing ever, but also kind of cool. 

The gazebo outside the famed new Saks Off Fifth (the first in Germany and a big TK Maxx competitor), and the U Bahn stop I take to get home.

A U Bahn train advertising the 725th anniversary of the city. Some trains are really intricately painted (and not just with graffiti). 

I decided to add this one in here for fun (sorry to whoever I stole this from, it's def not my screenshot), bc I thought it was a funny (and accurate) representation of my last year. Me, chillin, headed off on a new adventure.

And that's about it. I hope you enjoyed seeing those pictures of my every day life in Dusseldorf, and have enjoyed following along on my travels through the past 6 months. Who knows, maybe I'll make some impromptu posts over the next few months as I'm getting back into my life in the states. I suppose only time will tell....😃