I'll admit I'm feeling a little pressure to write great posts because some people have told me they like my writing--which is great--but now I've got a reputation to upkeep. Bummer.
Lately it's just been class and school work. Nothing exciting is happening except it is the beginning of a festival season here called "Fasnet", or as they say two towns over "Fasching" or if you live a little further north "Karnival"... (I think those are all the names.) I say beginning because it lasts over five weeks and is essentially a countdown until the fasting period of Lent. These Germans must take Lent dangerously serious though, because it is five weeks of intense partying and indulging in vices.
Every weekend there is a parade in a different town with their own costumes, themes, and traditions. The parade is best compared to the parade of fools at Cheeseburger festival. (Yes, for all you out-of-towners, Michigan actually has a festival for cheeseburgers. Really, look it up. We're kind of proud of it.) Only instead of flamingos and obesity they promote witches, drinking, and terrorizing neighbors. A normal Fasnet parade goes something like this: The really intense Fasnett-goers dress up as something. Generally a witch, or joker, maybe a tree, but never an ordinary witch, joker or tree. These are nightmare-inducing masks with full body suits. No one here uses it as an excuse to dress up as a "sexy black cat". The goal is to scare the pants off of small children. Fun fact: They succeed.
So, after donning the unnerving costume and lighting up their torches these people roam the streets in a sort of parade fashion encouraging participation from the looky-loos by bodily picking them up (mostly young women because they're lighter) hoisting them up in cages and spinning the cages. Those are just the lucky ones though, because the others may only be thrown into barrels of confetti, have their shoelaces cut off, have oil wiped over their face and hands, or if your parade is really boring, have candy shoved down their shirts. Remember: this is all done by anonymous, and easily very drunk, masked strangers.
I think it goes without saying that not everyone likes Fasnet. My host family for one, among many of the young women I've talked with, have told me that they hate it. But they always seem to tag on that I absolutely HAVE to go because it's a must see. Elke just encouraged my host brother to go with me instead of alone. Huh.
As I have yet to personally partake in any of these wonderful traditions, these stories I'm telling you have come from the local newspaper (Elke is letting me bring it home as a souvenir. She says souvenir, I say proof.), and a girl at school who, to no avail after screaming "Ich bin Auslander! Ich bin Auslander! *I'm foreign!*" to get away, was confetti-ed and hoisted onto witches shoulders and carried about.
(Note to my very alarmed mother right now: Not all of these celebrations turn out like this. It's just a tradition in some towns and in others it is completely different.)
On that very interesting note, I will leave you all now to get some sleep before classes tomorrow. Bis bald.
Meet Rebecca
- Rebecca
- Amateur blogger (yes, there are professionals) who started with a travel blog that quickly degenerated into blabbering. Along with a life goal of surfing with Eddie Vedder, attending BlogHer is now on my list.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
All there is to Boden-See
I'm trying to update this as often as possible, at least once every two days, but honestly sometimes nothing happens. In that aspect, Altheim and Minden City are pretty much the same. Gotta love small towns.
Every Saturday the Herman-Hesse Kolleg provides a free trip to another city in Germany and this week I went to Konstanz. (Lake Constance, southern Germany) My host brother Pascal was the tour guide for my group and it was a good time. It was a very beautiful city with some interesting spots in it...I may have wandered away from the group once or twice, and I think I learned that's the best way to find all the cool stuff. Don't worry, I was always with someone. It was also very cold. Touring in the cold is not the most fun thing in the world, but I finally got to know some of the people in the group during our lunch.
I find it very funny that we ate at an all-you-can-eat American style Chinese restaurant in Germany. It had a koi pond in the restaurant. A koi pond. Where will the wonders end?
Afterward was just a bunch of walking in a shopping center until the train ride back. Honestly, not much else has happened. I'm sorry for the lackluster post. I think I am just too tired for much else.
Every Saturday the Herman-Hesse Kolleg provides a free trip to another city in Germany and this week I went to Konstanz. (Lake Constance, southern Germany) My host brother Pascal was the tour guide for my group and it was a good time. It was a very beautiful city with some interesting spots in it...I may have wandered away from the group once or twice, and I think I learned that's the best way to find all the cool stuff. Don't worry, I was always with someone. It was also very cold. Touring in the cold is not the most fun thing in the world, but I finally got to know some of the people in the group during our lunch.
I find it very funny that we ate at an all-you-can-eat American style Chinese restaurant in Germany. It had a koi pond in the restaurant. A koi pond. Where will the wonders end?
Afterward was just a bunch of walking in a shopping center until the train ride back. Honestly, not much else has happened. I'm sorry for the lackluster post. I think I am just too tired for much else.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Next time: Facewash.
Not much to update about tonight. I'm kind of tired today and the schooling is catching up with me. We have six hours of school a day and so it leaves very little for other things. Although, I am nowhere near complaining since I have no job right now (that might happen in Tuebingen) and Elke doesn't have many requirements of me, maybe to help load the dishwasher because that's hard for her to bend down on crutches. She even does my laundry! What a crazy world these Germans live in...
I am getting this feeling that my German isn't actually getting better, despite the comments from my host family, but rather worse. I realize this probably isn't so, but when the thought of attending another University completely in a foreign language is looming over your head, you have your doubts.
That is only compacted by the fact that Germans can, without any mistakes, pick out a foreigner. Especially one from the United States. It's like a sixth sense. Or maybe I emit a pheromone and it reeks of McDonald's and fanny packs. I have no idea, but either way on some subconscious level they just know I am not one of them. It is sometimes a hostile feeling that's hard to explain.
For example, today a little kid threw a snowball at me and I felt discriminated against. Honestly indignant: I was thinking, why would he throw that at me? Is it because I'm American? Do I yell at him? Oh crap, how do you insult a seven-year-old in German? Afterward I considered avoiding him and ended up sulking away with my head down and proverbial tail between my legs.
Now let's be real here, the kid probably lobbed a snowball at any mobile object in his range, so I shouldn't be hurt. Then why was I worried? It's a weird feeling, truly and definitely something interesting to think about. (Epilogue: I told Elke and Volker about the incident and they said next time chuck back as many snowballs as I can before he runs away. I take that as permission to facewash him in the snow.)
I believe that's all for tonight. Best to everyone back home and a big thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you enjoy.
Bis bald.
I am getting this feeling that my German isn't actually getting better, despite the comments from my host family, but rather worse. I realize this probably isn't so, but when the thought of attending another University completely in a foreign language is looming over your head, you have your doubts.
That is only compacted by the fact that Germans can, without any mistakes, pick out a foreigner. Especially one from the United States. It's like a sixth sense. Or maybe I emit a pheromone and it reeks of McDonald's and fanny packs. I have no idea, but either way on some subconscious level they just know I am not one of them. It is sometimes a hostile feeling that's hard to explain.
For example, today a little kid threw a snowball at me and I felt discriminated against. Honestly indignant: I was thinking, why would he throw that at me? Is it because I'm American? Do I yell at him? Oh crap, how do you insult a seven-year-old in German? Afterward I considered avoiding him and ended up sulking away with my head down and proverbial tail between my legs.
Now let's be real here, the kid probably lobbed a snowball at any mobile object in his range, so I shouldn't be hurt. Then why was I worried? It's a weird feeling, truly and definitely something interesting to think about. (Epilogue: I told Elke and Volker about the incident and they said next time chuck back as many snowballs as I can before he runs away. I take that as permission to facewash him in the snow.)
I believe that's all for tonight. Best to everyone back home and a big thank you to everyone who reads. I hope you enjoy.
Bis bald.
Monday, January 24, 2011
The do's and don'ts of Deutschland
Good evening,
Today was a very nice day and I promised myself I would use as much German as possible, but you are all an exception. Classes are going well enough. I have two different teachers depending on the day and they are complete opposites. One is slow and loves to have us talk and wants us to work on spoken German while the other is very fast, very complicated and is a grammar freak. My thought is, at least I'm getting both ends of the spectrum and maybe I'll come out in the middle. I think that's pretty logical.
Thinking back to before I came here, I decided I would like help out others that come after me. Because honestly, I was terrified. Remember in my first post I said I was going to try and not make a complete fool out of myself? Learn from my mistakes and let these be some guidelines for Germany or another foreign country.
1. Know how the toilets work: This is very important in "green" countries like Germany and much of Europe because they can be rather complicated in order to save water. Some have different buttons for different settings, as I like to think of it. Do you need lots of water? Use the big button. Just a little? The smaller. And please, only hold down the button for as much water as you need, not more. Or perhaps they don't want you to flush at all, but how are you to know this? The sign is in German. Well, I'm here to help. Perhaps there is what looks like a compartment in the toilet? Yes, that means only flush if you're going to leave something unpleasant in there. If not, go ahead and just wash your hands (please!) and leave happy knowing you're helping save the environment.
2. Why are there so many trash cans?!?: As you may have figured, Europe is very environmentally friendly and their trash is no different. In airports, train stations, houses, even in the middle of the sidewalks there will be many canisters that are color coded; green, blue, yellow, brown and gray. These are to separate your glasses, paper, plastics, bio wastes (don't worry, it's just called "bio" in Germany because it means leftover food items) and the rest of the items that do not fit into those categories. But don't worry, before you get too overwhelmed by all of your options, just let me tell you that each of these has a picture of what should go into where.
3. Be weary of the elderly: Be absolutely certain you know which trash can you're using and don't just absentmindedly throw something away because, although they look friendly, elderly Germans have absolutely no qualms about jumping down your throat for your mistakes. Toss a piece of paper into the bio? Get called a louse by the old guy sitting on the park bench. Cross the street without having permission from the Ampelman? (He's the green or red guy on the crosswalk lights...Not to be trifled with.) Get told by the Oma talking a walk with her grandchild that you're setting a bad example for the children.
All I can say is: You've been warned.
4. Get acquainted with your vocab: This is a personal experience of mine. If you don't know quite what a word means, DON'T use it. Sure, you may have heard it in a very precise context that could not be taken any other way, but that does not mean there may not be a double meaning. It can make for very awkward dinner conversations. Rule of thumb: Until you've heard the word used by at least three different people in different situations, leave it be.
I'm sure along the way I'll find more valuable lessons to be learned, but I think that's all for tonight.
Bis bald
Today was a very nice day and I promised myself I would use as much German as possible, but you are all an exception. Classes are going well enough. I have two different teachers depending on the day and they are complete opposites. One is slow and loves to have us talk and wants us to work on spoken German while the other is very fast, very complicated and is a grammar freak. My thought is, at least I'm getting both ends of the spectrum and maybe I'll come out in the middle. I think that's pretty logical.
Thinking back to before I came here, I decided I would like help out others that come after me. Because honestly, I was terrified. Remember in my first post I said I was going to try and not make a complete fool out of myself? Learn from my mistakes and let these be some guidelines for Germany or another foreign country.
1. Know how the toilets work: This is very important in "green" countries like Germany and much of Europe because they can be rather complicated in order to save water. Some have different buttons for different settings, as I like to think of it. Do you need lots of water? Use the big button. Just a little? The smaller. And please, only hold down the button for as much water as you need, not more. Or perhaps they don't want you to flush at all, but how are you to know this? The sign is in German. Well, I'm here to help. Perhaps there is what looks like a compartment in the toilet? Yes, that means only flush if you're going to leave something unpleasant in there. If not, go ahead and just wash your hands (please!) and leave happy knowing you're helping save the environment.
2. Why are there so many trash cans?!?: As you may have figured, Europe is very environmentally friendly and their trash is no different. In airports, train stations, houses, even in the middle of the sidewalks there will be many canisters that are color coded; green, blue, yellow, brown and gray. These are to separate your glasses, paper, plastics, bio wastes (don't worry, it's just called "bio" in Germany because it means leftover food items) and the rest of the items that do not fit into those categories. But don't worry, before you get too overwhelmed by all of your options, just let me tell you that each of these has a picture of what should go into where.
3. Be weary of the elderly: Be absolutely certain you know which trash can you're using and don't just absentmindedly throw something away because, although they look friendly, elderly Germans have absolutely no qualms about jumping down your throat for your mistakes. Toss a piece of paper into the bio? Get called a louse by the old guy sitting on the park bench. Cross the street without having permission from the Ampelman? (He's the green or red guy on the crosswalk lights...Not to be trifled with.) Get told by the Oma talking a walk with her grandchild that you're setting a bad example for the children.
All I can say is: You've been warned.
4. Get acquainted with your vocab: This is a personal experience of mine. If you don't know quite what a word means, DON'T use it. Sure, you may have heard it in a very precise context that could not be taken any other way, but that does not mean there may not be a double meaning. It can make for very awkward dinner conversations. Rule of thumb: Until you've heard the word used by at least three different people in different situations, leave it be.
I'm sure along the way I'll find more valuable lessons to be learned, but I think that's all for tonight.
Bis bald
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Birthday-filled weekend
Before I start I just want to say that Jonathon, you'll never guess what I'm watching in German--Avatar! (It's pretty awesome.)
Okay. Back to business. This weekend I celebrated the birthday of a friend of mine and Nick's father. Alles Gute zum Geburstag, Mike und Ulrich! There was much cake eating and celebrating; good times were had by all. I got to see many of my German friends whom I haven't seen in near a year and just sit and listen to stories. I say listen because, honestly, I didn't do much speaking.
The next night I went to Ray's volleyball game. That's Nick's 6'9'' brother with a wicked jump serve. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous of his team. The whole gym was packed with fans and there was always a chant or cheer happening, always. People had and used noisemakers: drums, sirens, and the like. I got pretty into it and was doing all the chants too. God only knows what I was saying... But it must have helped because they won in 4 and Ray had 5 aces.
Mom, I thought about you a lot that night. I think you would have loved it.
Well, I seem to have run into a bit of writers block so I think that's all for the evening. Bis bald.
Okay. Back to business. This weekend I celebrated the birthday of a friend of mine and Nick's father. Alles Gute zum Geburstag, Mike und Ulrich! There was much cake eating and celebrating; good times were had by all. I got to see many of my German friends whom I haven't seen in near a year and just sit and listen to stories. I say listen because, honestly, I didn't do much speaking.
The next night I went to Ray's volleyball game. That's Nick's 6'9'' brother with a wicked jump serve. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous of his team. The whole gym was packed with fans and there was always a chant or cheer happening, always. People had and used noisemakers: drums, sirens, and the like. I got pretty into it and was doing all the chants too. God only knows what I was saying... But it must have helped because they won in 4 and Ray had 5 aces.
Mom, I thought about you a lot that night. I think you would have loved it.
Well, I seem to have run into a bit of writers block so I think that's all for the evening. Bis bald.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Das Fenster ist groß
Today, let me just give you a taste of what speaking/learning German is like. (Uncle Brain, you are two steps ahead of everyone reading this post...) There are entire books dedicated to deterring one from the German language written for many reasons. Mark Twain was one of these authors. He has an essay titled "The Awful German Language". He was also fluent in German. That alone should be evidence.
I was discussing this with my host family when Elke quickly jumped up, or as fast as someone in crutches can, and ran off to get a book. (She had knee surgery two days ago.) It's titled Nothing for Ungood... and let me just read you a little of it:
"...The German language is something that must be learned from birth...(I'm translating this from German, give me a break...) In German there are three indefinite articles: der, die, and das. One must know, of these three, every conjugation of the article in every case. For example: German.
Nominativ der die das die (plural)
Genitiv des der des der
Dativ dem der dem den
Akkusativ den die das die
Now let's look at that same chart, in terms of English:
Nominative the the the the the (plural)
Genitive the the the the the
Dative the the the the the
Accusative the the the the the
Do we see the differences?
In all honesty, who wants to learn a language with 16 possibilities for the? There is also 16 possibilities for a (with English only two, a or an) and 32 different ways to end an adjective! In English there is no way to end an adjective. We don't say, "Wow, what a great*interject masculine ending* shed!"
For an English plural you only need stick a s at the end of word. Just slap it on. In German you can add an s or perhaps an e, or maybe two little points above a letter in the middle of the word, or maybe en, or it could be the case that you add nothing at all and you just must know that it is plural. ..."
Sounds fun, right?... Thought so. I bet you're all happy you took Spanish in high school now.
I was discussing this with my host family when Elke quickly jumped up, or as fast as someone in crutches can, and ran off to get a book. (She had knee surgery two days ago.) It's titled Nothing for Ungood... and let me just read you a little of it:
"...The German language is something that must be learned from birth...(I'm translating this from German, give me a break...) In German there are three indefinite articles: der, die, and das. One must know, of these three, every conjugation of the article in every case. For example: German.
Nominativ der die das die (plural)
Genitiv des der des der
Dativ dem der dem den
Akkusativ den die das die
Now let's look at that same chart, in terms of English:
Nominative the the the the the (plural)
Genitive the the the the the
Dative the the the the the
Accusative the the the the the
Do we see the differences?
In all honesty, who wants to learn a language with 16 possibilities for the? There is also 16 possibilities for a (with English only two, a or an) and 32 different ways to end an adjective! In English there is no way to end an adjective. We don't say, "Wow, what a great*interject masculine ending* shed!"
For an English plural you only need stick a s at the end of word. Just slap it on. In German you can add an s or perhaps an e, or maybe two little points above a letter in the middle of the word, or maybe en, or it could be the case that you add nothing at all and you just must know that it is plural. ..."
Sounds fun, right?... Thought so. I bet you're all happy you took Spanish in high school now.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Familie Kohl
I'm going to let the story of how I got to Altheim and my new family stay with the Abele family because no one needs to know how inept I am at life. So, onward.
Here I am. At my host family. They are Elke, Volker, Julian and Pascal. Elke is eine Hausfrau/stay-at-home-mom and Volker works with Mercedes-Benz as something super technical that I don't really understand, Julian is a student, and Pascal is also a student but does not live at home anymore. Julian is about my age and loves to be on his computer. I think he's a little shy; once I got him to speak to me about music but not much more. We'll see what the rest of my stay brings.
Looking back on it, I really can't believe that I was so scared before. This family is great. They've had billions of Gaststudenten before me and they've pretty much got it figured out. Other than Elke having surgery and being a bit out of commission because of her knee, things are about perfect. Thumbs up to the Herman-Hesse Kolleg for the good pick. Oh, I almost forgot. So, they have a parakeet. Wellensittich auf deutsch. His name is Carrie (I have no idea how to spell it, but that's how it sounds.) and is probably the biggest form of entertainment in the house. He gets to fly freely about the house and chatters constantly. I kind of like him.
Right now my brain is semi-befuddled since I have spoken nothing but German so far, and now I am writing in English. Can you get a headache from thinking?
Yes, you can. And I have. Who would have thought that just speaking could be so hard. I mean, you do it every day right? Just talk. Well, trust me. It's a real big nut to crack, but I'm working on it and I've been told I'm doing better than average. Mini-pat on the back.
I had my first day of school here. Interesting stuff. It's set in this older house-ish building with many stories and on top there is a cafe area, table tennis, television and so forth. The students are allowed to kind of just hang out there before/during/after classes since we get breaks and sometimes people don't leave. Today we just took a placement test-which I bombed-and an oral test-which I rocked- so between the two I did pretty average. From there we will be place into groups for our classes. However, for the entire four hour duration today it was purely testing. Then to a bakery for some pretzels for lunch. If you have not been to Germany, let the pretzels alone be a reason for wanting to travel here. It's like biting into a little chunk of heaven with a bit of salt on top. Love 'em.
I would say that so far everything is going good. Tomorrow I have a full day of class and we'll see then how I deal with it.
Here I am. At my host family. They are Elke, Volker, Julian and Pascal. Elke is eine Hausfrau/stay-at-home-mom and Volker works with Mercedes-Benz as something super technical that I don't really understand, Julian is a student, and Pascal is also a student but does not live at home anymore. Julian is about my age and loves to be on his computer. I think he's a little shy; once I got him to speak to me about music but not much more. We'll see what the rest of my stay brings.
Looking back on it, I really can't believe that I was so scared before. This family is great. They've had billions of Gaststudenten before me and they've pretty much got it figured out. Other than Elke having surgery and being a bit out of commission because of her knee, things are about perfect. Thumbs up to the Herman-Hesse Kolleg for the good pick. Oh, I almost forgot. So, they have a parakeet. Wellensittich auf deutsch. His name is Carrie (I have no idea how to spell it, but that's how it sounds.) and is probably the biggest form of entertainment in the house. He gets to fly freely about the house and chatters constantly. I kind of like him.
Right now my brain is semi-befuddled since I have spoken nothing but German so far, and now I am writing in English. Can you get a headache from thinking?
Yes, you can. And I have. Who would have thought that just speaking could be so hard. I mean, you do it every day right? Just talk. Well, trust me. It's a real big nut to crack, but I'm working on it and I've been told I'm doing better than average. Mini-pat on the back.
I had my first day of school here. Interesting stuff. It's set in this older house-ish building with many stories and on top there is a cafe area, table tennis, television and so forth. The students are allowed to kind of just hang out there before/during/after classes since we get breaks and sometimes people don't leave. Today we just took a placement test-which I bombed-and an oral test-which I rocked- so between the two I did pretty average. From there we will be place into groups for our classes. However, for the entire four hour duration today it was purely testing. Then to a bakery for some pretzels for lunch. If you have not been to Germany, let the pretzels alone be a reason for wanting to travel here. It's like biting into a little chunk of heaven with a bit of salt on top. Love 'em.
I would say that so far everything is going good. Tomorrow I have a full day of class and we'll see then how I deal with it.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's.... Becca in heels?
Now I know how classy people feel...
Last night, I attended my first ever opera. (Or, as every German will pronounce it 'Oprah' like the talk-show host/goddess). It was Maria Stuarda. You can go ahead and look it up, I had to.
It was quite a night, I got to fancy-pants it up with my new shoes and dress along with a little help from Bobbi. Carrying the opera glasses, I felt quite the lady mingling with all the rich old people sipping their champagne (that costs extra...) and wearing their furs (those also cost extra). However, since students here are given discounts at literally everything possible, our tickets were cheap and our seats were good.
I had a wonderful time, even though after every act I had to ask Niklas for confirmation of what just happened because the opera was in Italian and subtitled in German. The music itself was enough to tell the story though, and I got the gist of it. My high school band director would have been proud.
Funny how I can do all of this while having so much trouble getting any of my money. And with that, let me tell you another, less fun, tale. For some reason the bank I chose to use for this trip will not allow me to withdraw cash from an ATM. Bummer, considering you cannot pay for anything except train tickets here in credit/debit card. All cash, all the time.
Which is a disappointment considering I chose this bank for the very reason that withdraws from certain ATM are free. Too bad my card will not work at these for some reason. I went into two banks, one being the headquarters, and neither was helpful.
'Perhaps your card is broken after the flight. Or perhaps you are not authorized to withdraw from another country, did you inform your bank?' ...Please people, it's not my first rodeo. The crazy thing is, any other ATM from a different company will allow me to withdraw. So Mom, take a deep breath, I have money. I just had to pay the fee I changed banks for to avoid. Makes perfect sense, right? Trust me, many calls are being made to this bank to get things sorted out.
Now I am off to meet my host family and jump into the German school system. Wish me luck.
Bis bald
Last night, I attended my first ever opera. (Or, as every German will pronounce it 'Oprah' like the talk-show host/goddess). It was Maria Stuarda. You can go ahead and look it up, I had to.
It was quite a night, I got to fancy-pants it up with my new shoes and dress along with a little help from Bobbi. Carrying the opera glasses, I felt quite the lady mingling with all the rich old people sipping their champagne (that costs extra...) and wearing their furs (those also cost extra). However, since students here are given discounts at literally everything possible, our tickets were cheap and our seats were good.
I had a wonderful time, even though after every act I had to ask Niklas for confirmation of what just happened because the opera was in Italian and subtitled in German. The music itself was enough to tell the story though, and I got the gist of it. My high school band director would have been proud.
Funny how I can do all of this while having so much trouble getting any of my money. And with that, let me tell you another, less fun, tale. For some reason the bank I chose to use for this trip will not allow me to withdraw cash from an ATM. Bummer, considering you cannot pay for anything except train tickets here in credit/debit card. All cash, all the time.
Which is a disappointment considering I chose this bank for the very reason that withdraws from certain ATM are free. Too bad my card will not work at these for some reason. I went into two banks, one being the headquarters, and neither was helpful.
'Perhaps your card is broken after the flight. Or perhaps you are not authorized to withdraw from another country, did you inform your bank?' ...Please people, it's not my first rodeo. The crazy thing is, any other ATM from a different company will allow me to withdraw. So Mom, take a deep breath, I have money. I just had to pay the fee I changed banks for to avoid. Makes perfect sense, right? Trust me, many calls are being made to this bank to get things sorted out.
Now I am off to meet my host family and jump into the German school system. Wish me luck.
Bis bald
Monday, January 17, 2011
Starting in Stuttgart
Hallo meine Damen und Herren und Willkommen!
I believe some explanations are in order to those of you who have not talked to me in a while. I will be studying abroad in Germany for the next six months, learning the language, attending classes, and otherwise trying to not make much of a fool of myself (too often anyways) while I am here. This will just be a compilation of my thoughts and experiences, hence the 'Erlebnis' in the title, and it'll hopefully save my mom the burden of repeating everything she knows about my welfare while I am gone and ditto for me when I get back. I do not guarantee the spelling, grammar, or interest level of the content in anyway; nonetheless, you're welcome along for the ride.
Niklas is at school right now and has been so kind as to allow me use of his computer to start my blog.
From the beginning then? I guess I should start out by saying I am safe and sound in Germany. (big sigh of relief) The flight over was a hassle, but no more than usual and I didn't have to spend the night in an airport foreign or otherwise. I am counting myself lucky. I arrived in the morning with Isaac and while he boarded another train to Bela's (another foreign exchange student from Ubly) home in München, I was whisked away to Nick's home for the weekend before meeting my host family. So far, I have to say, so good.
The first day was like everyone's first day in another country after twelve hours on a plane. I slept. A lot. I arrived in the morning and just got settled, showered, napped, ate. The sort of day that would make a cat jealous. The weather in Germany right now is so wonderful. Mom, that winter coat right now would be wasted on forty degree days without snow. Wie schön. The following morning we took a walk, enjoyed the weather and decided what could be better than to go swimming? So we did.
Now, before I go on, let me inform you that Stuttgart has natural geysers in the area and so there has flourished a string of spas and hot mineral baths. This is what everyday normal people do when they want to have fun. It's über-cheap. Crazy as it sounds, high class people go hunting in Germany while the layman goes to SPAS. Awesome, right? That evening we took a train to Mineralbad Leuze and I basically had the best time ever. There's a regime to it: Take a shower before, go into the luke warm bath for a time, then the hot for fifteen minutes and then back. Repeat and then sit out and relax on a pool chair for a while.
The water is so full of minerals that it feels like your skin is oxidizing when you get in. Bubbles cover you and it kind of tingles. When you get out your skin is super smooth and for some reason you get really tired. There's also a sauna--nude, so I steered clear--where after you finish you jump--nude again-- into a tube of iced water. We'll see if I ever get daring enough to try that one out. That night Niklas invited a few friends over to play Wii with and I read. All over, great day.
Sundays are slow days in Germany. Everyone just relaxes at home and eats a fancy meal. Most places of business are closed so Niklas and I took a walk to the nearby stables and checked out the giant bunny statues (pictures coming soon!) before making a nice meal and playing the marble game. Allen, I think Ray is addicted to it... but he cheats!
So that's been my time here so far. As of today I just walked around the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart and ate some Schokolade Eis. Yep, taking walks and eating ice cream in January. I think it's a sign this will be a good trip.
Until next time,
Rebecca
I believe some explanations are in order to those of you who have not talked to me in a while. I will be studying abroad in Germany for the next six months, learning the language, attending classes, and otherwise trying to not make much of a fool of myself (too often anyways) while I am here. This will just be a compilation of my thoughts and experiences, hence the 'Erlebnis' in the title, and it'll hopefully save my mom the burden of repeating everything she knows about my welfare while I am gone and ditto for me when I get back. I do not guarantee the spelling, grammar, or interest level of the content in anyway; nonetheless, you're welcome along for the ride.
Niklas is at school right now and has been so kind as to allow me use of his computer to start my blog.
From the beginning then? I guess I should start out by saying I am safe and sound in Germany. (big sigh of relief) The flight over was a hassle, but no more than usual and I didn't have to spend the night in an airport foreign or otherwise. I am counting myself lucky. I arrived in the morning with Isaac and while he boarded another train to Bela's (another foreign exchange student from Ubly) home in München, I was whisked away to Nick's home for the weekend before meeting my host family. So far, I have to say, so good.
The first day was like everyone's first day in another country after twelve hours on a plane. I slept. A lot. I arrived in the morning and just got settled, showered, napped, ate. The sort of day that would make a cat jealous. The weather in Germany right now is so wonderful. Mom, that winter coat right now would be wasted on forty degree days without snow. Wie schön. The following morning we took a walk, enjoyed the weather and decided what could be better than to go swimming? So we did.
Now, before I go on, let me inform you that Stuttgart has natural geysers in the area and so there has flourished a string of spas and hot mineral baths. This is what everyday normal people do when they want to have fun. It's über-cheap. Crazy as it sounds, high class people go hunting in Germany while the layman goes to SPAS. Awesome, right? That evening we took a train to Mineralbad Leuze and I basically had the best time ever. There's a regime to it: Take a shower before, go into the luke warm bath for a time, then the hot for fifteen minutes and then back. Repeat and then sit out and relax on a pool chair for a while.
The water is so full of minerals that it feels like your skin is oxidizing when you get in. Bubbles cover you and it kind of tingles. When you get out your skin is super smooth and for some reason you get really tired. There's also a sauna--nude, so I steered clear--where after you finish you jump--nude again-- into a tube of iced water. We'll see if I ever get daring enough to try that one out. That night Niklas invited a few friends over to play Wii with and I read. All over, great day.
Sundays are slow days in Germany. Everyone just relaxes at home and eats a fancy meal. Most places of business are closed so Niklas and I took a walk to the nearby stables and checked out the giant bunny statues (pictures coming soon!) before making a nice meal and playing the marble game. Allen, I think Ray is addicted to it... but he cheats!
So that's been my time here so far. As of today I just walked around the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart and ate some Schokolade Eis. Yep, taking walks and eating ice cream in January. I think it's a sign this will be a good trip.
Until next time,
Rebecca
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