Bethany Jo Eldred

So I studied abroad in Germany and stayed with a host family. It was a great experience, but that's not the point. So what is? Well, design is . . . German architecture. There were so many things I loved about my host family's house that were just so different from my home here. One of the first things I noticed was the doors. I am not really sure how to describe them, but they are different. Especially the front doors. There are no turning knobs to get in from the outside, just a tricky way to turn the key to get the door unlatched (the trick took my several times to master). I would think this makes the doors a little more secure. You have to have the key to get in. Now I am sure you could still pick the locks, but the fact that there is no working door knob has to make it a little more challenging. Many of the other doors were different too, but that didn't impress me as much.
What's next . . . I think the toilet. I thought the toilets were so cool at my house! Now, these specific toilets were not standard throughout the country, but you did see them around. Unfortunately, I just looked through my photos and I did not take a picture of the inside of the toilet. But this is what was cool. Instead of having a hole in the bottom and back of the bowl, there was a cliff and the hole was at the bottom of the cliff in the front of the bowl. Now I don't really know the reasoning for making a toilet like this, but I thought it as pretty cool. Maybe it is more eco-friendly because there is not a whole bunch of water just sitting in the toilet. Everything was just whisked off the edge of the cliff. But that's enough of the toilet. But there was one more thing in the bathroom I happened to like. The window in the bathroom was kind of like a sky light because of the slanted ceiling. But every time I took a shower I had to crack the window. But there was no crank or anything. You simply unhinged it and moved it down. There was a central axis and no screen, just fresh air. Here is a picture of half the window. You can't see the latch, which is like a bar that you grab which unlocks the window when pulled, and then just adjust to the proper opening. So the part that you can see would go up above the roof and you would pull the other side down. You can also see the toilet, just not how cool it is.

This leads me to my FAVORITE thing about the German architecture in my host family's house. The windows, oh how I long for windows of my own just like them someday. Unfortunately, I don't think the US is savvy enough to have all of the required components. So beyond the type of window like the bathroom had, the rest of the windows that were on the walls of the house were just as cool. Again, no screens (and amazingly no bug issues either) and two ways to open it. There is a hinge on one side of the window, as well as a hinge on the bottom. So depending on how you open the window with the handle (either 90 or 180 degrees), the window would open like a door into the room or tip inwards from the bottom so there is only a gap a few inches wide. So on those nice, sunny days I would open the window wide and let all of the beautiful fresh air in. Or if I was just a little too hot, I would simply "crack" the window.

As you can see from this website there is also an amazing invention called Rollladen (the website spelled it wrong). These are the blinds on the windows. But they aren't ordinary blinds, oh no, they are so much better than anything I have seen covering windows here. First of all, they are outside on the windows, attached to the house or rolling up into the side of the house. There is a strap on the inside next to the window that you use to make the blinds go up or down. Now the real beauty of these blinds is that they close ALL the way. And when they are down all the way, there is no absolutely no light coming through. So it could be the sunniest day of summer, but if you have the Rollladen down, you would never know it. This would be great for everyone who has to work the night shift and needs to sleep during the day. Of course, you could put them down halfway or just enough to cover the window, yet allow some light in through the slats of the blinds. If you look at the pictures, I think you will get the idea.
There are even more advantages that come with these blinds. Most people get window coverings that match their decor. So when something changes or you just get sick of looking at the same old curtains every day, you get new ones. Well the Rollladen are designed to match the outside of your house, which rarely changes. And besides, they are generally only down at night anyhow, so it doesn't matter if they match the house all that much. Chances are you won't see your own Rollladen down from the outside anyway. And one more bonus feature of the Rollladen! They add another layer of security to your windows and house. You can get them to cover basically any window. At my host house they had one large enough to cover a door leading to the patio and the huge scenic window, which is basically an entire wall of a room. They are metal, so they act as a deterrent to any potential burglars. I would really like to know why I haven't seen these in the US . . .