I am getting slightly more adventurous in the kitchen and have been trying to use German language recipes to reduce a few unknown factors. Here is my first go at making General Tso’s Kichererbsen (Chickpeas). It was pretty tasty so I plan on making this again.
The sunshine on Friday beckoned me to go on a walk to no place in particular. I strolled for about two hours while listening to podcasts and staring at buildings. This building belongs to my host institution, Hochschule München. I have yet to be inside, but it certainly is appealing from the exterior.
The visual terminus of one street I passed is the striking St. Ursula’s, also known as the “Schwabinger Dom,” or the Schwabing (a neighborhood within Munich) Cathedral. While I wasn’t able to go inside, I hope to return someday to do so.
Our floor’s mascot is a taxidermied fox named Fridolin. He is on our official logo. I’m sure there’s some story about why he is around, but from what it seems, he’s been here longer than anyone on our floor has. He makes his home on top of our kitchen cabinets.
The "Schnitzeljagd", or scavenger hunt, had a wide variety of tasks. Some were trivia based, others were creative assignments. In this task we had to buy a baked good from this bakery and film ourselves giving it to a stranger. Luckily for us the man in front of us in line was happy to play along.
Cooking Flammkuchen highlights one of many small differences between my floor’s kitchen and the kitchens I am used to. Before arriving in Roncalli I had never seen this type of oven drawer arrangement.
Our delicious Flammkuchen lunch was our own reward for running around the dorm and biking around the neighborhood for the Schnitzeljagd.
Our Schnitzeljagd first place prize was, naturally, a Schnitzel dinner! We also got a pass for an online escape room and 10 Euro gift card to a restaurant in the neighborhood.
The “Donauwelle,” or “Danube’s Waves,” cake portrays the beauty of the river in layers of sweet chocolate topping, vanilla pudding, tart cherries, and vanilla and chocolate cake. The Google images of professional bakery cakes do a better job of displaying these waves than our homemade version.

I predominantly occupied myself this week by reading and working in my room, which isn’t at all exciting to talk about. Some notable variations in my work pattern included playing badminton, darts, and zoom-yoga. I did call an English speaking dentist office first thing on Monday morning. While the dentist herself speaks English, the receptionist did not, so I was proud of myself for successfully describing my situation and scheduling an appointment for next week in German. 

On Wednesday I was invited to an INTBAU (International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism) Germany meeting. It was an honor to be included in the meeting, and it was very interesting to listen to the discussion. The meeting was conducted in German, but I was encouraged to contribute in English. It was a great opportunity to begin networking with architects, urban planners, and architectural historians who are involved in promoting Classical building traditions in Germany. 

Friday was sunny so I was compelled to go on a walk through the city during the afternoon, and in the evening some of us watched a movie in the TV room. Since some of my floormates are between exams or even between semesters (since Germany does Winter and Summer Semesters instead of Fall and Spring like the US), many of them are home for a little bit and only about half of the floor is here. 

Saturday was a dynamic day filled with excitement! In the morning our floor competed in a “Schnitzeljagd,” or scavenger hunt, created by student representatives in our dorm. The word intrigued me since “Jagd” means hunt or chase, but “Schnitzel” is a traditional thin breaded and fried meat. It turns out that “Schnitzel” or “Schnipsel” refers to a scrap, shred, or snippet of something like paper, “Papierschnipsel,” which was first used in this namesake game. The competition included a wide variety of trivia, completion, and creative tasks. The teams were evaluated based on speed of completing the tasks as well as the quality of their creative entries. 

After completing our tasks we made Flammkuchen which is a dish similar to pizza, with toppings on dough. We made a few different combinations of which some were savory and others sweet! After our lunch we returned to the Innenhof for the announcement of the Schnitzeljagd winner and to our surprise, WE WON! Our prize consisted of a pass of a virtual escape room, a gift card for a local restaurant, and a Schnitzel dinner cooked for us by the event organizers. Later that night we enjoyed our very delicious meal and celebrated our victory! 

Sunday was a casual workday but a group of us baked “Donauwelle,” which is a cake traditional to the area around the Donau, or Danube, River. The name literally translates to Danube waves, and originates from the profile of the wavy layers of cake which are created by the sour cherries.

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