Off to the Schwarzwald...

And, today, for featured travel of the weekend, I will be headed to the Black Forest; Strassbourg, France; and Freiburg, Germany.

Tune in again on Sunday for (hopefully) updates!!

Photos from Lyon!

Been busy traveling all month, and am about to embark on a three day excursion to the Black Forest. Will tell the stories at soonest possible convenience. :)

Until then, here are some photos from my long weekend in Lyon!

Voyage à Leon, Part Un
Voyage à Leon, Part Deux
Voyage à Leon, Part Trois

Lots o' photos

Day 1 : Brussels
Day 2: Brussels
Day 2: Brussels: Die Grote Markt
Days 3 & 4: Amsterdam

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving, liebe Americans! I love you and miss you! :)

I'll be spending my Turkey weekend in Brussels and Amsterdam, but will be thinking of krumkaka and Leon's ham gravy.

Thanksgiving

Well, the first Thanksgiving dinner I ever hosted, yesterday, (yes, I know Thanksgiving isn't until next week, but it's very difficult to roast a turkey while you're on a train to Brussels) went beautifully. I spent much of last week planning, preparing, and shopping, made up some side dishes on Thursday night, then cooked from noon to 5 pm on Friday with three other Americans. :) 14 of the 16 people I invited showed up, I didn't burn the turkey or set anything on fire, I was able to make a good resemblance of scalloped corn without creamed corn or corn muffins and by just using my ingenuity, and I got a lot of compliments and thank yous from everyone. It was a really fun night, just sitting around, eating dinner with all the close friends I've made here in Germany, conversing and drinking wine, and really feeling thankful for where I am in life right now.

That said, sitting through a Thanksgiving dinner and just reflecting on last night also makes me a little homesick - Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I feel very weird not being around my family during this time.

It was also a very magical moment right around 8 pm, as we were eating, when we realized it was snowing outside - the first snow of the season in Trier. I bitched and moaned, like any good Minnesotan, but it was actually very beautiful; everything was pitch black, and you could only see the snow as it passed through the halo around each light and as it landed on your coat. Late after dinner, I and two friends wandered around the city and through the Christmas market that is being set up and just watched the snow fall.

This morning, when I woke up, upon opening my curtains, I was greeted by a landscape change; enough snow fell last night to almost cover the grass, only leaving small patches to poke through, and the trees, even at noon, are all laden with wet snow. It is really quite beautiful.

(On Yahoo! News, the main headlines are "Mittens and gloves out: the first snowfall over the weekend will stick around" and "Traffic crises due to the snow" - the spot with the most snow in Deutschland, in the Alps, was about six inches. How strange to actually live somewhere where people do not know how to deal with snow!)

This also honestly makes me a bit homesick, seeing Trier looking so much like home (even though this a view of home I would've had back in late September/early October). On the flip side, I'm certainly glad that I haven't been dealing with this white stuff for a month already... I've realized that the long winters really do affect my mood, and not in the most positive of ways.

Thus, Minnesota has come to Germany for the weekend. It remains to be seen if it will stick around, but I think, if anything, I will just feel a nice reminder of home every once in awhile. :)

+ France!

Holy crap!

Add to the list of awesome traveling I'll be doing within the next month the destination of Lyon, France, the third largest city in France. As previously stated, my friend, Romain, is coming to Trier for a week and is taking me to Die Toten Hosen concert. He invited me long ago to accompany him back to Lyon at the end of the week for the Fête des Lumières, the Festival of Lights.

Thus, if all works out, I'm going to Lyon for December 5/6 through 8/9 to see the city and the festival and of course spend time with Romain!

Oh, how I love being in Europe.

"Yeah, I think I might head down to France for the weekend..."

:D

The holidays are always so busy...

So, there has been some cool stuff happening, and there is soon even more to come!

1) US-Wahlparty

The US-Wahlparty was a pretty super cool event. In a building that is made to hold only 200 people, at one point, there were more than 330 in attendance and more waiting to get in. The audience/crowd was made up of all sorts of characters, from professors to German students to American ex-pats to international students... it was a blast! After some technical malfunctioning (we dealt with microphone feedback all night and some delay in linking up with CNN to display it via projector), the night went really smoothly. A series of interviews and short, interesting lectures were given, with me being the only person onstage more than once besides my boss, the head of the Trier Center for American Studies and the guy in charge of the whole event, and the emcees.

To begin with, I interviewed a master's student, Milena, about her research into American and German media portrayals of both candidates and how this affected their campaign strategies. It was kind of a bummer to meet with her the afternoon of the event and find a really interesting person who is super nice and fun to talk to... only to have her leave for the U.S. six days later. She is currently working on her master's research, which involves linguistic references to terrorism post-9/11 in Bush's speeches and in the media. So cool... she's studying something VERY similar to what I'm looking at! But, we agreed to try to meet up sometime when I return to America and before she comes back to Germany; there is a short overlap period possible, in which she will likely be in Chicago with her American boyfriend. :)

For my second appearance on stage, I was interviewed by my boss about my forecasts and perceptions about the election from a U.S. citizen and Minnesotan's view. After the ending activities, we sat around and watched CNN until I couldn't stay awake anymore, as I had been sick for about three weeks (don't worry, the cough is finally gone, and I am perfectly healthy again!). I went to bed around 1:30 am here, only 6:30 pm Central, not knowing what was going to happen, but having a pretty good idea, only to wake up at 5:30 am Germany time, only an hour after Obama had been declared winner. I unfortunately missed all the speeches, as I have no television and only very limited Internet access, which streaming video quickly eats. It's ok, though; it's very interesting living in a wholly different environment with a completely different way of staying in touch with the world.

Next installment in the "catching-up game": My day in Heidelberg.

Upcoming excitement:

- Amanda and I are planning a huge traditional Thanksgiving dinner for our international friends to show them how Americans celebrate, though it will be in actuality the day after T-Day, as we still have to attend classes all week here.

- Official opening of Trier's Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) on November 27, which will run all the way through Christmas! They've started really setting up for it today, and I am so excited!

- 2 nights in Brussels and 2 nights in Amsterdam from November 27 to December 1.

- In return for letting him crash on my floor for a few nights, my friend Romain from Lyon, France, bought me a ticket to accompany him to Die Toten Hosen concert here in Trier on December 2. Die Toten Hosen (The Dead Pants) are a well-known German rock/punk group.

- I will spend December 12-14 on an excursion in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) with a group of about 60, on a trip organized by the International Center here on the university. Cost: only 99 Euros. Itinerary: a day in Strassburg at the Weihnachtsmarkt (said to be one of the most beautiful in Germany), nightlife in Freiburg, tours of Freiburg and the Schwarzwald, and a visit to Europapark, Germany's biggest amusement park.

- From December 15-17, my former high school teacher and good friend, Nadine, will be visiting me. She is currently teaching in Kuwait and is spending her Christmas holidays around Europe.

- I and a friend are flying to Berlin December 26-29, where we will explore the city and take a side trip to the former concentration camp, Sachsenhausen.

Back to work

If you're interested, I'm also blogging for Hamline now (with a biweekly paycheck involved!).

You can read my administration-friendly version here: PiperBlogs.

DISCLAIMER: I am not the one posting the final versions of my blogs (and especially not the person attaching the photos to each blog), so the weird words and strange incohesion (is that a word?) that don't sound like me probably aren't.

Photos from Heidelberg

Part 1

Part 2

Proud to be young.

What a strange experience it was to watch the U.S. elections from half a world away.

More than anything, though, I was so glad to see and hear how involved the youth are, both in America and around the entire world. I don't know if this is new or if it has always been this way, and I've just never realized it, but I am proud of my generation.

More on this later. :)

Und mehr reisen!

Just thought I'd add:

- Tentative plans for a weekend in Paris.
- Tentative plans for a day in Luxembourg, ending with a concert by the U.K. band, The Streets.
- Definite plans for a day in Heidelberg, Germany (billed as "the most romantic city in Germany," also contains the oldest university in the country) for only 15 Euros, thanks to the International Center at Uni Trier.

You may ask where these funds are coming from. I say, when in Europe... eat as the Europeans do! (That means next to nothing.)

:)

Reise!

Oh, by the by, just to make some of you jealous and the rest of you wonder how I'm going to pay for all this when ATMs eat my debit cards...

• Felix is coming from Frankfurt to visit for Halloween.
• I'm headed to Amsterdam for Thanksgiving.
• I've been invited to Cork, Ireland for Christmas (though I don't yet know if I'm going to go... lots of exchange students are staying in Trier, and that could be a really good time. But, if I don't go then...)
• My friend Paul, from Maryland, and I are going to Dublin for St. Patty's Day!

And this is only what is currently planned. :D

I love Europe.

Money is the root of all evil

Boy, it's been a long and crazy week - already - which I am starting to get used to. (Is that good or bad?) Of course, part of that feeling of being long may have had something to do with last weekend - I really outdid myself this time. Because I have Fridays free of classes, I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in the clubs of Trier. Saturday morning, I was especially proud. I was able to take the bus home after clubbing... at 8:30 am. No worries, Uncle Scott: I was safe and in bed by 9. :) Besides, the evening was well-spent: after the club, I went to a little bar with a group of friends of mine from Mexico City, where I met the cutest little old 72-year-old man who spent the night boogie-ing away to Elvis and The Doors tunes. I also met a dude who looked like he came straight out of the BeeGees - long, straight, gray hair, the beard, the wide-collared button-up shirt and leather vest. He taught my Mexican compadres how to play spoons along with the music.

Throughout this week, a few of my classes got switched around or cancelled for the year, so I am now only taking my German speaking course, Spanish, Literature and Culture of the Weimar Republic, and the German history (Landeskunde) course. I'm also considering adding an intercultural communication class tomorrow, as it would hopefully transfer back to Hamline and count toward both my German and my global studies majors. So far, classes are going beautifully - in two of my courses, my teachers are people I know/friends from my summer course and orientation!

Things are starting to gear up a little more with my job, as I received my first task (critically proofing a summary text about a book... in English) and as our election night event draws near. The Trier Center for American Studies (where I work) is hosting an American election night event/celebration, in which my role is to both be interviewed on my opinions and my current research and also to interview an expert from Uni Trier, who will be leaving on November 8 to America to work on her Master's thesis regarding responses to terrorism post-9/11.

Interestingly (and awesomely), I was also contacted by my boss at Hamline, JacQui, who offered me another job during my duration in Germany. It would involve writing blog posts for Hamline from my perspective as a Hamline student studying abroad. I would get paid the same rate as I earned for my job at home with media relations... which would equal roughly an extra $100 a month for me! This is crazy... I'm just having jobs fall in my lap! I know it won't always be like this... which makes me even more grateful (and disbelieving)! What's even nicer is that the work consists of things I already enjoy doing. :)

So, I had a bit of excitement this week involving money. Yeah, that was slightly sarcastic. Last Friday night, I headed to the ATM near my apartment to grab a little cash for the night. I had recently been using my German bank account, but that night, I chose to withdraw from my American account, as my German account had very little money within. Well, intelligent me, I typed in my German PIN number instead of my American... then, on my second try, made a mistake typing in my American... so, on the third go, the ATM whirred and whistled, then the most beautiful words I've ever seen appeared on the screen:

"We have been instructed to retain your card."

WHAT.

It was true. The ATM ate my card. As it was a Friday night, and Germany does not believe in having anything open after-hours or on weekends, I was pretty much - well, to be blunt - screwed until Monday. So, the second I got back to my room, I started the process of transferring money from one American bank account to the other so I could withdraw from there.

Yeah. I was informed that would take 3-5 business days.

So, I figured, hey! I can always take a cash advance out through my credit card! I plugged my credit card into the ATM (a brave move, considering it was the same machine that ate my last card), punched in my PIN number... and no luck. Not a surprise, considering I'd never used my card for cash advances before (and never really want to), so why would I actually know the PIN number? I quickly withdrew my card after one attempt, not wanting to be out two cards.

So, I went home again and called the credit card company via Skype to change my PIN number. I wasn't aware how to use touch-tones with Skype, so I waited to talk to an operator... who didn't have the security clearance to change my PIN and transferred me to her supervisor... who also couldn't change my PIN, but found out there was a security hold on my card, so she transferred me to security... who took the hold off after finding that it was I who was attempting to take out a cash advance with my own card... but they still couldn't change my PIN number.

After a little playing around, I discovered the touch-tone pad on Skype, recalled my credit card company, went through the game of changing my PIN, and at the end of dialing in 8,457 digits, received the message:

"We will mail your new PIN number to your home address in 7 to 10 business days."

WHAT.

Yep.

Hoookay.

So, Tuesday afternoon, I wandered around for 2 hours by foot, looking for the local branch of Sparkasse (my German bank) to explain my problem. (Germany's roads are worse than Detroit Lakes's.) I had prepared all weekend, learning all the possible words for "The damn ATM/Geldautomat/horrible money machine from Hades stole/ate/retained/took/withheld my credit card [and is evil]." The cashier's eyes grew wide as I explained that it is my only source of cash at the moment, and she took my name and headed back into an office. After a few minutes, she came back out to ask my card number. I explained very politely to her that I only knew the last four digits... the entire number is on my actual card... which was "retained." (In my stress, I had forgotten that I actually have the numbers in safekeeping, just for such an occasion... oh well.) She left again and returned shortly, saying, "One of my colleagues is actually at the ATM right now... you should go back there and meet him." So, I book it schnell back to the ATM (a 10-15 minute walk), where I met the guy from Sparkasse, who checked my passport, returned my card to me, and proceeded to berate me and attempt to browbeat me into getting a Sparkasse account, that it would benefit me so. I didn't even bother telling him I already had one.

Thus, my precious card was returned to me. Le sigh.

Except...

My money is currently somewhere in cyberspace, between my two bank accounts, and is thus: unattainable. Huh. How ironic.

Luckily, when I checked my Sparkasse account today, just to see if I had 10 Euros left to buy bread and milk... I saw the beautiful number of 257,-€. Thank you, Uni Trier, for giving me my stipend at the most beautiful time! :D

But, hey... it makes a good story, right?

Deutschland ist kein kaltes Land

Living here in Germany has taught me these, among many other things:

1) All international students are insane... which makes them a LOT of fun!
2) No matter what you are told, NOT all Germans speak English.
3) No matter what you are told, Germany does NOT have better weather than Minnesota.
4) No matter what you are told, not all Germans are cold-hearted.

Now, to address these assertions:

1) International students are quite a breed unto themselves. Sick? Doesn't matter. Tired? Who cares? Homesick? No money? Plow through it, brother! We don't need health, sleep, well-being, or material items to stop us from going out and having a good time! Class at 8 am tomorrow? We'll still come in at 4 am from the clubs after a long night of dancing and revelry.

Really. I kid you not. These men and women are hardcore. It's really an incredible thing to see and experience.

2) Seriously. If you are one of those people back home who told me not to worry, that a ton of people speak English, it won't be a problem... stand corrected. Most Germans DO NOT speak English. They speak phrases that they've heard through pop culture and films, or enough to make a sale. This, my friends, does NOT count as speaking English. Trust me. When you come here and try to describe contact lens solution or ask how to get to a particular bar with your lack of German and their lack of English, then come and try to tell me that everyone speaks English.

3) Ha. Ok. I might be one tough cookie from growing up in Minnesota, but really... rain every day, weird-ass changes of 30°F from noon to 6 pm, and complete weather changes every ten minutes? Germany's weather is NOT temperate. Don't even try to convince me of that.

4) Not all Germans are cold. Really. That is the biggest complaint I've heard from international students, is that it is really hard to become friends with Germans. Yeah, it might be hard to get close, but they are not all cold people. At the beginning of my orientation, a girl I did not even know came up to me and invited me to her birthday party, simply because I was from Hamline, and she had studied at St. Thomas. She was the same girl who recommended me to apply for my internship, and we are now colleagues.

Furthermore, two days ago, I was walking back to my apartment and passed a guy I only know because he works as cashier at the supermarket at which I usually shop. He asked how I was, and when I replied that I was a little sick, he said, "Oh no! Do you need anything? Tea? Honey? Orange juice? Although if you have... how do you say... a sore throat?... you should not drink anything acidic!" I replied that I was fine, but he showed up a half hour later at my house with a care package of peppermint tea, honey, eucalyptus oil, Vick's Vapo-Rub, and pineapple juice (because he thought orange juice was a little boring). He didn't even know my name! He searched the list at the door and buzzed, as he put it, "the most Anglophone-sounding name"... who happened to be my next door neighbor, another girl from Hamline. Also included in the care package was an invitation to his birthday party in a few weeks.

No, Germans are not all cold.


In other news, my course schedule is even cooler, as I was able to drop two classes that were a little beyond my level (no, I cannot give an entire final presentation in Spanish, and I really had no lust to sit through a really boring history lecture once a week), so now no classes begin before 2 p.m. except for one at noon on Wednesdays, I'm always out by 6 or 8 p.m., and I have only one class on Thursdays, none on Fridays. It's really quite beautiful. :)

Alles gut

So, the first day of classes went really well... especially since I only had Spanish class yesterday, and we discussed vowels, consonants, and "Yo soy..." phrases. (Bore me to death a little more, please...) Today has been a bit different so far, as I am somehow in a course in which we have to make group presentations on linguistic differences in various dialects of Spanish... oh, and the presentation are in Spanish. Well, guess I'll be dropping that course... which is a little disappointing, as the content is really interesting to me. In about a half an hour, I have my second Tuesday class, Jewish History in the Middle Ages. Hopefully I don't have to present anything in Spanish for that class.

It's very strange being here on the university as courses are beginning. After 2 months living here, relatively alone, all of a sudden, there are people everywhere!! It's almost like being back in high school, with random groups of people just standing everywhere, in the halls, outside the buildings, congregating for gossip and cigarettes. In both classes I've been to thus far, roughly double the amount of students who are allowed in the course (and who can even fit into the room) have shown up, attempting to get into the course. I don't know if I like this yet... the total anonymity and strangeness of a 14,000 student university. I guess now I am beginning to know what it would've felt like to go to a public university.

However, even with the complete reformation (again) of my routines and some trouble with courses and stupid online student registration programs, I'm really, really happy this week. I feel very confident, making it to all of my classes without trouble, understanding everything being said in German, and preparing myself again for buckling down and independently pushing through this semester. I have a solid social group already (dare I begin to call them friends?), all of whom are always ready and willing to make something happen. I have a solid support group back home in America... and all around the world, for that matter... who send me letters and e-mails and messages... and boxes full of spices and seasonings and socks (Thank you so much... you have NO idea how happy I was even to get a package, not to mention finding out what was inside!!!!). I am living and learning, I have no classes on Fridays, Felix is coming to visit weekend after next, and things are looking good.

The weather has even been beautiful the past few days... well, until now, as I watch it downpour outside. Thanks again for your crazy weather, Drear... I mean, Trier.


On another note, thank you thank you, all, for the letters, cards, and packages! Know that I'm putting a bundle of stuff in the mail later this week! Watch your boxes!

Noch ein mal

The article's in German, so I'm sorry, dear Anglophones, but here's a photo of my entire IFK group from August, currently on the Universität Trier website.

Clicky!

Fotos!

My birthday and a trip to Bonn.

Karaoke and the international potluck.

Anfang der Kurse

So, today, I start classes, and I have to admit, I am a little bit terrified. All of my courses will be in German, with the exception of Spanisch I . (Yes, I am taking a Spanish class in Germany... I figure it may end up being the most relaxing class, plus, it should help my fundamental German.) Here are the courses I will be taking this semester:

• Deutschlandbilder in Film und Literatur (Mo 14-16h) Pictures of Germany in Film and Literature
• Spanisch I (Mo, We 16-18h)
• Das amerikanische Spanish: Ein regionaler und historischer Überblick (Tu 10-12h) The American Spanish: A regional and historical overview
• Geschichte der Juden im Mittelalter (Tu 14-16h) Jewish History in the Middle Ages
• Mittelkurs II (Tu, Th 16-18h, We 14-16h) A speaking course for German learners: high-mid level
• Landeskunde: aktuell-historisch (Tu 18-20h) Regional Studies: today-historical
• Literatur und Kultur der Weimarer Republik (We 12-14h) Literature and Culture of the Weimar Republic

As you can see, there's a lot on my plate, but it's actually not as much as most of the other international students attending Uni Trier. Instead of the credit system used in America, most of Europe seems to operate on an ECTS point system (European Credit Transfer System). In a given semester, study abroad students are typically expected to take on 30 ECTS-points-worth of classes. For me, I would find this nearly impossible... it would be completely overwhelming. Check it out:

Granted, I've got what I consider to be a great schedule (perhaps minus Tuesday), with courses from 14-18h on Mondays, 10-20h on Tuesdays (with a lunch break between 12-14h), 12-18h on Wednesdays, only one course from 16-18h on Thursdays, and NOTHING on Fridays (woohoo!). However, this is a total of 20 hours of courses per week. Yes, perhaps not as much as a full-time job, but these courses also require work outside of class, not to mention the fact that I will also have to deal with keeping up with new vocabulary in foreign language. Thus, I fully expect the total hourage of my workload to be in the area of 40 hours per week. Yet, for all of my courses, the total amount of ECTS points I would receive is a mere 21. My american Spanish and Weimar Republic courses do not have ECTS points attached. Thank goodness my home university is one of the few who will directly transfer hours in class per week into credits, and not just rely on the ECTS system.

My other worry right now is the fact that three of my courses hinge on how well I performed on a placement test on Friday. If I did not make the B2 level (which was the level I was in for our orientation), I will have to take a different speaking course (the Mittelkurs), and I will be unable to take part in Deutschlandbilder and Landeskunde. However, results are supposed to be available today or tomorrow, and if I don't make B2, that just means I will have to completely rearrange parts of my schedule and find a couple of other courses to take... which will then make ALL of my courses complete integration into the normal student population here.

...Scary.

However, I am feeling very confident about my German comprehension level, and I am excited to see how much I can handle.


In other news, I will begin my job very soon, with a short meeting on Wednesday with the two other newbies from America (both girls, one from Ole Miss and one from Truman State in Missouri) and then a meeting with all of the TCAS interns on Thursday. I'm guessing I'll be jumping right into fun, as our first big event is an American election day celebration... which is coming up altogether too fast!


In fact, on that note, in 8 days, I will have lived in Germany for 3 months. Unbelievable. I really can't get over how insanely quickly time is passing here... I'm 1/4 of the way through my study abroad experience! I get a bit homesick at times, but on the whole, I am not ready to go home yet... though it will be interesting to see how those feelings evolve as more time passes.


Thus, I leave you now to eat soup and shower. I will attempt to post again soon, with a synopsis of the last few months, during which it was so busy, it felt impossible to keep up with blogger life.

Hope all is well wherever you are!

lg, Amanda

Jobb'd!

Frau Amanda Dutcher, Intern
Trierer Centrum für Amerikastudium (Trier Center for American Studies)
Universität Trier
Trier, Deutschland

Responsibilities will include: proofreading, translation, some public relations, and event organizing. Our first event is a U.S. Election Day event, in which I will perhaps be interviewed or do a presentation during an evening celebration while we watch the election outcomes. The biggest event of the year will be a large, multiple-day, university- and country-wide seminar about the 1950s American rebel culture and how it ties into today, sponsored by Harley Davidson Motorcycles.

I will work 3 hours per week flexibly and receive a stipend of 100€ per month.

Happy. :)

Interview'd!

Frau Amanda Dutcher has an interview for a position at the Trier Center for American Studies on Monday at 5 pm!

Going for the Gold

So, this girl still has not had time to sit down and write anything lengthy between classes, orientation, official crap, and socialization, but I just had to share this little bit of info with you:

This girl is currently writing her résumé for an opportunity to work at the Trier Center for American Studies. A tutor/friend of mine who studied at St. Thomas last year told me about the opportunity and urged me to send my résumé to her boss by tomorrow or Saturday. She has only told two other students about it and thought that I would be a good person to add to the candidate pool.

If I get the job, it would involve some translation and proofreading, and I would receive a monthly scholarship/wage of 200 Euros!!

Wow. Wish me luck!

Oh Mann

My goodness, have the last two weeks been crazy. Fun. Weird. Emotional. Wonderful.

Having anywhere between 2 and 5 Americans in my room every night for 14 days. Wow. It was amazing to have them here, a little trying at times when I just wanted my space, and kind of strange and lonely now that they are gone.

I will write more about recent events later, perhaps later today, after I thoroughly clean my room to get the hippie hitchhiker smell out.

So, here goes.

Alles gut zum Geburtstag!

So, it's my birthday! In Deutschland! And so far, it's been awesome.

Only have a few minutes before class, but I just wanted to drop a short line and let everyone know I'm still alive and happy. (And, Scott, no one has stolen anything, ruined anything, or been sketchy.)

Went out to a couple of bars with the crusties, international students, and some Mexicans last night, and am going out dancing tonight with what sounds like will be a HUGE group!! Excited.

Happy day to you all!

They multiply like bunnies

Yeah, the crusties. Like bunnies. Multiply. But not through the same process. Ew.

Last night, four of them crashed on my floor. FOUR! It was a regular cuddle party. I, meanwhile, was snug and comfy in my bed... all by myself! Baha. Only one stayed in the other Amanda's room. Either this means that she has less room than me (true)... she has a bare floor versus the foam mattresses we found in the large items garbage and dragged up to my room (also true)... or she just plain reeks (I believe this is true, too).

Yesterday was a rather good day spent registering for orientation, showing the crusties a little around the city, going to a fabulously fun wine tasting as part of orientation, where I drank much wine, ate some gross ham, and met a butt-ton of other Americans from various states, three Brits, and a bunch of other people. We then brought the Virginian and the Coloradoan back to Amanda's room to meet the crusties, where we feasted on delicious burritos made by the fabulous Jake, who spent a year in culinary school, played dice, and had a few beers.

When it came time for the Virginian (Ann-Marie) and the Coloradoan (Matt) to head back into the city to go home, I walked them to the bus stop, only to talk with a bus driver who claimed that it was somehow a holiday and no more buses were running other than this last one... that was going the wrong direction. Awesome. What the hell holiday is on September 25/26? Srsly?! After a walk back to Amanda's room, I procured a taxi and had it pick them up at the bus stop.

Thus, all was well.

Just took my Einstufungsprüfung (placement test) for this orientation time, and it was surprisingly easy and tied right in to what I learned in the IFK. (I must remember to send my teacher a thank you note again... I really do feel I learned a ton!) Having other students show up here is so strange, but it really makes it sink in just how much German I've learned so far! Now, I'm keeping up with students who have studied German for seven years and speak almost fluently, but I also am glad I can relate to those who are coming here a little lost and uncertain. It really feels good to give back to them and help them along in these first days.

Hope all is well on the homefront and wherever you are! Until next Schreibung,

Amanda

The Crusties have come

Sorry I've been absent from writing lately. The past week has been a complete blur... in a wonderful way.

This weekend went fast, with two nights of clubbing, one in a brand new club in Trier. This thing, called Musikpark A1, is NUTS. It's huge! Amanda and I went there last Saturday night to meet up with our friend Yu, from Japan, and a group from Mexico City who are studying at the Fachhochschule (business school) here in Trier. When we got there, it was complete wonderful chaos (sort of). A giant building, called the Edeka Center, that reminds me of the Target Center. A line of 500 or so people... ALL NIGHT LONG. Amanda and I stood in line with Yu and got through it fairly fast, but there was a slight mishap on Amanda's part, and she ended up not getting in. See her blog for the funny version of her part of the story.

Anyway, Yu and I got in and were immediately confronted by a huge room with a bar, all decorated in gothic style, with gargoyles and columns and Catholic icons and crazy stuff. The club then gave three separate dance floors: one decorated like a saloon that played older but fun music; one like a strip club, that played newer hits, complete with pole dancers; and a smoker lounge/bar/dance floor that played electronica and industrial. The night was long and fun, the Mexicans met us, and I then accompanied them to their place around 5 am for the "after party"... from which I left and got back home at around 1 pm on Sunday to find Amanda alive and well.

On Monday, I received a call from Forehead, a friend of mine from the Twin Cities, who had mentioned to me earlier this summer that he'd be in Europe. I'd told him to contact me when he's here if he needed/wanted a place to stay. Well, according to him, he was here in Germany, hitching down to Trier at the moment from a town only a few hours away! I awoke Amanda and we did a flash cleaning of our rooms, as Forehead was traveling in a group of 5, all friends and friends of friends from the Twin Cities. The next morning, 11 am, I got another call, and Forehead and Brittany were sitting on my university! Yesterday, the other three arrived in two groups, and Amanda and I guided them to the university and picked one up at the train station, and short summary of the story: we are now hosting 5 crust punks between our 2 rooms for an indeterminate amount of time. They are thinking they'll stay at least through my birthday next week, which would be awesome... how cool to celebrate my 21st in Germany with Americans! So far, it's been great having them (other than the unwashed smell), being able to speak and act American, show people around my temporary home, and just have fun with a bunch of people I know and am getting to know better!

Today, I registered for orientation, and tonight is the official opening/wine tasting (yep, another one). Tomorrow, I take my first German language placement test and then have a few activities through the morning/early afternoon. In the evening, there is an international student party, I've heard, and who knows what's in store for the weekend! Perhaps a day of playing tourist, showing the crusties around Trier.

Thus, alles gut, ich bin sicher und froh, and ich werde versuchen, mehr bald zu schreiben! (All is well, I'm safe and happy, and I will try to write more soon!)

Viele Grüße an ihr alle!

Amanda

Reminders that we're here

At least a few days a week, I see (and hear, oh goodness, do I hear) military jets flying overhead as I sit outside on campus, attempting to soak in some Vitamin D. It makes me wonder... are they American military aircraft? It seems likely. The other night, while talking with a friend at the Mexico party, he told me that there is a small town near Trier with a many Americans from a nearby base.

I have to wonder... what are the aircraft doing up there? What is their purpose? Are they going somewhere, returning from a foreign land? Are they merely patrolling or practicing?

Whatever their purpose or reason, they always serve as a reminder that we Americans are everywhere, sticking our fingers in everything. It remains to be decided whether this is good or bad... or in which cases, how I feel about it.

VIVA MEXICO!

Last night, I was getting a little restless, and, as it was a Saturday night, I wanted to go out, preferably dancing. It had rained all day, Amanda and I made a million pierogi, and I was ready to go work off some excess energy. Thus, I called my friend Yu to see if she was interested, but I got no response. I then SMS'd Florian to see what he was up to. He was game for heading into the city, and we were about to take off when I got a call from my friend Miguel inviting us to a Mexican party celebrating the Mexican Independence Day, which is this week.

Holy goodness, is there ever a thriving, vibrant, open, friendly, and welcoming Latino community in Trier! I met around 20 Latinos, many from Mexico City, a few from Spain, and one particularly good-looking one from Venezuela, who has lived and worked in Trier for the past four years. Everyone was super welcoming to the two lost little Americans and their gangly German friend.

The party was a blast, held in the common area of a Studentenwohnheim for the Catholic college in the city. Delicious, flavorful, REAL Mexican food was devoured, including rice, mole, chili con carne, and some delicious taquito-type food. YUM. How thankful I am for the Latino community here! They were also very giving with their tequila, many various bottles and sliced limes lying around, everyone always asking if we had a drink.

After eating, it was around midnight, and one of the Mexican men got on the table and explained in Spanish and Deutsch the reason for our gathering, and we all yelled "VIVA MEXICO!" many times, celebrating Mexico's independence.

Then, oh then... came the dancing.

At this point, people were starting to loosen up a little, and the natural friendliness that is so often found in Latinos really geared up. I found myself talking for hours with four guys in particular, trading topics like one of their recent trips to Paris, one's home in Venezuela, jobs, school, and everything.

Over our conversations was the thump of beautiful bass, the glorious sounds of reggaeton, salsa, and other traditional and new Latin and Mexican music. A few people started dancing, and soon Amanda and I were being pestered to dance, also. I was interested, but I also was enjoying the conversations a lot, particularly with the Venezuelan, Eric. He asked if I knew how to salsa, and when I replied no, he said that when the next salsa song came on, he would teach me how.

And, oh, how he did! Eric is an incredible dancer! Wow! He can break dance, moonwalk, pop it with the best of them... and he taught me the basics of salsa, a little samba, and merengue!! It was SO much fun! I found myself whirling around the room for the next five hours, being grabbed by a different boy for every dance, and even when Amanda and Florian were practically walking out the door at 5 am, I was hardly ready to leave!

But, leave we did, walking outside, Eric accompanying us, and attempting to call a taxi. As the clubs were all emptying out at the time, we got no answer from two different taxi services, so Eric walked with us to the Porta Nigra, where there is perpetually a taxi or four waiting.

Thus, we arrived home, exhausted and excited... but with still enough energy to eat some of our millions of homemade pierogi.

Things are really looking up, guys! I'm excited to hear from my new friends (can I say that already) whom I met last night, and orientation starts next week!! Wow. Even though the weather is, as Amanda so aptly described, like a beautiful November day, the sun is shining, I've eaten REAL food again and danced my heart out (at least until tonight), met some great people who are here for the year (or longer!), and life is just plain awesome. :)

You're not gonna like this one, Mom...

So, Wednesday night, Amanda and I hopped a train at 5:50 pm to Luxembourg city with the express intent of seeing one of our favorite bands, The Faint, perform. We arrived in the city around 6:45 with an hour and room to spare to find the venue (which was supposedly a mere 200 meters from the train station) and also find something for Amanda to eat.

As we had been informed, the venue, den Atelier, was only a ten minute walk from the train station, which meant that we would, as expected, probably have to leave the concert with a half hour remaining in order to catch the last train from Luxembourg back to Trier for the night. We wandered around, found a delicious hamburger, and made it back to den Atelier, an old auto warehouse that had been converted into a venue in 1995 and has since hosted some huge name bands, including the Smashing Pumpkins (twice), with time to spare.

My goodness, was it good to see hipsters again, to see those music snobs who really DO exist everywhere! Luxembourg is actually a pretty cool city... I like that it's bigger than Trier and seems to have multiple genres of people, unlike the fairly static groups one sees in Trier. On the way to the venue, I got sparkled at, and Amanda and I were oohlala'd from a car. (Yeah, maybe a little creepy, but more hilarious and awesome that we were oohlala'd in a French-speaking country!) To pass the time before the opening band, we played Hipster Bingo, picking out such trademark hipster features from among the audience, such as trucker hat, 4 foot girl, Asian hipster, boy wearing girl jeans, and ironic mustache.

The warm-up act was talented, but laughable, mixing a bass, guitar, keytar, and drum machine well, but in a boring manner, and pairing it with lyrics straight out of an 8th grade poetry class. (Who whispers "my father's eyes" eight times during a bridge? Ugh.) But, they were amusing enough... and then The Faint came on.

Holy goodness, was I blown away! I had been expecting a great show, having heard the huge synth noises emanating from the venue during the sound check, but WOW. They are even better live than recorded, and their sound guy is incredible! (His name is Dutch... really, it is!... which apparently goes over quite well in Holland: "Hi, I'm Dutch." "Really. You don't sound Dutch.") They played almost all of their songs that I was hoping to hear including some good stuff off of their newest release, and also had a great show visually. The lead dude, Todd, wore a lab coat and goggles and ran around being awesome.

During the show, we met a chick who sort of "owns" her own media company. Basically, this means she runs around following bands throughout their tours, being a good girl groupie, and trying to get interviews with them. She does things like follow MCR their entire tour (not fucking sure why) and trying to get an interview but getting rejected by their media people, then holding up a poster at their last show and having Gerard grant her an interview.

Aaaanyway... yeah, her first words to me, after "Where are you from?" were, "Are you following The Faint?" Well, no... we're not exactly fangirls. But, I did start a conversation with her, and, after hearing we were from America, offered to see after the show if the dudes in The Faint would want to talk with us a little. This worked out well for us, as Amanda and I had already pretty much decided to say screw the train and stay for the entire show, which meant we'd get the privilege (?) of hanging around Luxembourg until 5:17 the next morning.

Thus, after hanging around the venue for a while after the show, I popped my head in the tour bus door asking if Brigitte was inside. Magically, a bunch of people started coming out of the bus, and Amanda and I ended up spending about four hours on the streets of Luxembourg, standing outside the tour bus, talking with various members of The Faint entourage. They were very nice, particularly the keyboardist, Jacob; the sound dude, Dutch; and the guitarist, Dapose. Their merch girl/tour manager/whoever exactly she is was also super... when she found out we didn't actually live in Lux, but had to wait around, these were her words: "Oh, you don't live here? You want some booze or something?" Ha.

And that is how Amanda and I ended up with a traveler of lime vodka and a huge bottle of Jim Beam, gifts from The Faint. (No, Mom, we did not drink it all. Enough to keep us warm... but we still have half the bottle of whiskey left over, and Jacob was the one who drank most of the other half!)

A good evening was had by all. We caught another train at 5:17 am, made it back into freezing cold Trier at 6:07, bussed back to the Uni, ate tortellini, and slept. We saw a great show, got oohlala'd and sparkled at, and hung out and talked about America and Europe with some great guys from Omaha, Nebraska.


Note to those in the Cities: The Faint are playing at First Ave in November. I highly recommend going... it's a great show!


NOTE: Thanks to Brigitte of TasteItTV for the great photos! Left is lead singer, Todd, right is Jacob, keyboardist.

Further news on the PDA Phenomenon

It's not so much that PDA irritates me or disgusts me, it's that Germans seem to take it just a little farther than Americans do. They really are a more liberal country.

For example, the other day, Amanda and I were sitting outside on a bench by the lake, just surfing the Internet and enjoying the day. A couple were also out enjoying the day... in fact, it is my belief that they enjoyed it quite heartily. They were lying on the ground together in the sun, in the middle of a green space next to a walkway, happily making out and fondling... for about 3.5 hours. They were still there when I finally left.

Another example: many German couples (granted, I see mainly university-age couples), instead of just giving each other a peck or holding hands will happily and completely obliviously grab, fondle, and make out with each other in very public places, such as directly in front of me in a café on the Uni which also currently contains 18 other people.

Do not like. Do not understand.

Is it just the hidden-until-now conservative American side of me? Am I wrong to be a little uncomfortable or offended by this? Is it only because I grew up in small-town Minnesota?


For those of you who are thinking, wow, this girl just has way too much time on her hands to be blogging about this... yes, you are right. Currently taking book recommendations for a massive Amazon order. Have recently been very into memoirs and autobiographies... anything that'll make me think.

Please respond.

An observation.

I'm a little surprised at (and a little tired of) the number of skinny little pale white girls sporting really bad white girl dreadlocks in Germany. What prompts this phenomenon? Is it the manifestation of marijuana and Rastafari culture through self-expression in a country that has relatively few black people to make white girls feel like dumbasses for having dreads?

Whatever the reason, dear white girls, you're not black. While I am all for self-expression and freedom of opinion... my opinion (and advice) is: Your hair does not dread well. Just give it up.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'...

Things are finally starting to gear back up here in Trier. Every day, I notice more students and become more familiar with faces I see around. Mao is coming back to Trier today to pick up her suitcase, which she left in my room as she travels the country, and I hope to spend some time with her before she has to pick up and leave again for her final destinations in Germany before heading back to Japan. Then, this evening, Amanda and I hop a train to Luxembourg City, where we will see The Faint in concert at an old auto warehouse that is apparently only about 200 meters from the main train station. With any luck, they will time everything just for us, so that we can see the whole show and still catch our last train back to Trier for the night. ;)

Miguel, a friend of mine from Mexico who is studying at another school in Trier for at least the next semester, informed me a few days ago that a whole gob of Mexicans is coming very shortly to Trier to study (25 or so!). He just introduced me to the first to arrive, Daniel, and it looks like my level of activity may very quickly rise... which will greatly benefit my sanity. Tomorrow, we are heading to a club in Trier, Forum, which is a pretty typical hip-hop type club. Friday, we have no plans, but I'm certain something will pop up. Saturday, we may make a day trip to Köln or Bonn and afterward hit up the club Produktion in Trier with Yu and Florian. Then, Monday is a Spanish national celebration, so the Mexicans are throwing a bash... with real, delicious Mexican food!! :D

Things are definitely looking up, my friends. Here starts the insane whirl of activity that will be my next year in Trier, I fear.

(How do you like that rhyming? Pretty snazzy, eh?)

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Today, instead of getting a mere 62 cents Euro for every U.S. dollar, I receive 70 cents on the dollar.

Pretty sweet, considering I waited until today to pay a deposit on my apartment. Rock on.

-----

Dear economy,

Please continue to stabilize. It really helps me.

Thanks. I really appreciate it.

Love, Amanda

WELCOME TO MY LIFE.

Oh, fickle weather...

Well, it's official. The weather is part of what has me so irritated and stir-crazy here in the land of Bier and Bretzeln. This morning, the weather was actually warm enough to sit outside on my laptop and take care of my daily project crap, and I actually felt content while doing it, without much of an urge to run into town, or into another town, or into another country.

Thus, dear Germany, please continue having nicer days, or at least days with discernible sun. My sanity will thank you.

I am going to a The Faint concert on Wednesday night in Luxembourg City with Amanda, which I am super stoked about. The venue is apparently only about 200 meters from the main train station, and is located in an old auto warehouse.

I also have an invitation from my friend Lea to stay at her apartment in Munich (with her parents, also!) the first weekend of Oktoberfest, September 19-21. I hope to be able to make that work out... not only will it be wonderful to see Lea, I'll be able to say I attended the REAL Oktoberfest! (Though I've been told I should probably really save my money for this... it's an expensive touristy thing... but, it's THE Oktoberfest!)

Oh, how nice it is to FINALLY be able to sit outside again, listening to music, working on German, and having a beautiful view of a lake, baby ducks, a sunny meadow... and a rather pretty emo boy sitting on a bench, writing. ;)

Auf wiederschreiben!

THE FAINT

For those of you who know and care...

I will be seeing The Faint on Wednesday night in Luxembourg city.

Yes, that's right. Be jealous. :D

I pass!

This morning, I was approached by two youngish, perhaps 12- year-old boys on bicycles as I wandered about the University Forum, looking for a place out of the rain in which I could do some Interneting. (Do recall, NOTHING is open on Sundays, but I can still access the Uni WiFi.)

One asked me, so very politely, "Haben Sie sich verlaufen?" (Translation: "Are you lost?")

I replied, a bit astoundedly, "Nee, bin nur wandern." ("No, I'm just wandering.")

The incredulity, however, stems from the fact that this boy used the POLITE tense with me! Instead of the informal "Hast du dich...", he said "Haben Sie sich..."!!!!

I understand and know that it is polite and correct to use the "Sie"-form with your elders, unless told to use the "du"-form by them, and I am obviously older than these boys... but...

I passed! I am not immediately tagged as a foreigner! He expected me to know German!

(Yeah, he thought I was lost, but that is no matter...)

HAPPY.

Jillions of photos.

My third week in Germany through the last week of the IFK are now up.

View HERE!

Who's got a one-pot wonder?

So. Summer is over. The long socks that make my calves itch are back out, and the beautiful European fall scarves and keffiyehs are more helpful than their thin material implies. (I swear I am going to come home with one in every color... I already have four!)

Not that I really had much of a summer here in Deutschland. Everyone agrees that this summer has been crap.

After being out of the IFK for 16 days now and back in Trier after Düsseldorf for almost a week, I'm finding myself falling into a routine. This routine, I find, is both good and bad; some days I am pleased and content, and other days the routine causes extreme irritation and antsiness. I know very few people in Trier, now that all of the international students with whom I took the summer course have returned home. I have a close-ish circle of 3, whom I see relatively frequently: Amanda, who came with me from Hamline; Miguel, a wonderful boy from the vicinity of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and Florian, a student here in Trier, who was an IFK tutor. There are two others whom I see slightly less frequently: Yu, from Japan, who will be staying the year in Trier, also; and Susana, also from Mexico, but whom is headed home this weekend. Other than that, I have only minor acquaintances whom I have met once or only a few times.

The language barrier I feel and the lack of appropriate contexts in which I could even attempt to introduce myself or approach somebody with the intent of getting to know them constantly nudges me in the back, reminding me that I currently have limited options here in Trier. While there are breaks in my usual routine - the incredible burritos Miguel showed us how to make last night, followed by an incredible dessert, of which I have already forgotten the name, consisting of fried tortillas covered in honey, jam, and sugar - seeing Batman for the second time in German and the fourth time overall with Flo and Amanda - or being lucky enough to be able to reach Yu, who also wants to go to the club tonight - I am starting to go a little stir crazy.

My routine involves, in large part, discovering new grocery stores (oh man, I found the greatest one ever last night!! All sorts of international foods, including spices from Mexico and Asia! Woo! REAL flavor!!), cooking delicious meals, accomplishing things on the Internet, cooking more, eating more, reading, talking and walking with Amanda, and making meals with Amanda. Ha. While I greatly enjoy food and I really am accomplishing things online, such as the beginning of my potential Fulbright proposal and learning about German cities and using my language skills, there is only so much a person can take! I'm actually beginning to feel tired of the simple process of eating, no matter how delicious the food is. Thus, I'm excited for the beginning of orientation, and the arrival of excited and ambitious internationals and students prepared for the new year.

A side note on dancing: I've never considered myself a club girl, but I've discovered dancing to be an amazing release of tensions and a true international language - anyone can dance! Plus, I'm considered a pretty good dancer here, I've come to find. I, personally, find that laughable, but apparently Germans REALLY can't dance. (Please, dear friends in Germany, take no offense to that... it's just what I've been told.)

Anyway, I'm aware I must cherish the vacation I have left, as I will soon have little time for anything relaxing or such personal endeavors as intensive language learning (I am SUCH a dork... I have a HUGE longing to suck up as much of the German language as I can as quickly as I can!). School and change and a flurry of activity will come fast, I will spend time sightseeing and socializing and whirling in circles, and then my year will be over, and I will be back at home.


However, for the sake of my sanity for the next two weeks, I must still send out this plea: those of you who have wonderful one-pot type recipes, that I can make on two electric burners, PLEASE share them! ;)

The RNC...

Being a world away from the Twin Cities right now is relaxing... and weird. I keep reading about all the protests at the RNC, the craziness that is St. Paul right now... and part of me wants to be there, experiencing it, seeing it up close, or at least watching the news on it in the same town.

PLEASE: Give me your perspectives on the RNC, the protests, observations of the state of the Cities, what people are saying! I'm trying to keep up, but media is never as good as what normal people see and think!

Let me know what's going on!

PHOTOS OMGLOLBBQ!!

Here are photos from my second week in Trier, during the IFK and our excursion to Saarbrücken, Germany and Metz, France. Yes, they're a little late, but I'm working on it!

Soon to come: the last week of my course plus excursions to Schengen; Arlon, Belgium; Luxemburg City; and Düsseldorf.

Meine Zweite Woche in Trier!

Also go away...

Dear Germany,

Stop showing me annoying couples making out EVERYWHERE. Yes, maybe that's acceptable here, but I find your people's constant groping and tongue-slinging rather irritating and disgusting. I am tired of pretending to be interested in other things because your citizens are standing in front of me making out when all I really want to do is ask them a question or simply get past them. In the future, a warning: I am going to stare at your people angrily until they stop and then give them a disapproving look, regardless of the cultural consequences.

Thanks for hearing me out, Deutschland.

Kind (but annoyed) regards,
Amanda

Oh, just go away...

Holy jeepers mccreepers.

With the start of the school year in America (but still another two weeks of vacation for me), I've already started receiving annoying e-mails from Hamline. "You have a financial hold. You can't register for classes." But... I'm in Germany. I'm registering at a different school. Do you really have to bother me with this? "Dearest Amanda, I want you to collaborate on pulling together your Fulbright application... like, NOW." Umm... dear advisor... do you know I'm in Germany?

Yes, I know being here is NOT a vacation, but UGH! I'm not ready to start dealing with this stuff again! And in DOUBLE! Hamline and Uni Trier?! Cripes.

However, I'm going to be very German about this. Today is Sunday, and nobody does ANYTHING on Sunday.

So there. Maybe tomorrow.

P.S. Dear Mommy, I will e-mail or call you later to discuss this crap in more detail with you. Love, Amanda

Life's Little Lessons

1) I now understand what Amanda meant about her host family a few years ago in Berlin unintentionally starving her to death. Yes, Germans eat a lot of bread and cheese. But, did they ever tell you that that is ALL they ever eat? Bread and cheese or jelly or honey or molasses (yeah, honestly, molasses) for breakfast. With coffee. Ok, fine. Then lunch is generally the biggest meal of the day. Big? SWEET. I like food. Dinner? Well. How about some more bread and cheese? And ONLY bread and cheese? AWESOME. You want a snack during the day? Too bad. We've got a little bread and cheese, but it's probably rude to eat so much of our food.

And drinks? Are you sick of apple juice yet? Let's put some carbonation in it. Oh, tired of that? How about some beer? Oh god, please no more beer.

Actually, drinks are too damn expensive here. A teeny tiny glass that costs over a Euro? No thanks, I'll just have water.

Wait, shit? You mean you have absolutely ZERO water that does not have carbonation in it and taste bitter and funny? Can't I just have a glass of regular old tap water? That's safe here, right? Hey, stop looking at me funny just because I asked for NORMAL freaking water!!!


2) Upon moving into our apartments and receiving tons of sacks from Sean and Tara, the students who were in Trier the semester before we arrived, I ended up with a bottle of Tabasco. Let it be said that I am almost 100% positive that I have never before used Tabasco sauce in my life. However, since Amanda didn't want it, I took it, thinking it may come in handy.

THANK YOU, DEAR TABASCO, FOR EXISTING. I now understand your entire purpose in life! You make bland German food taste like something!!!! Stir fry?! Suddenly with a zing! Currywurst? Oh man, now I almost believe there's curry in it!

Dear Tabasco, you are now accompanying me everywhere. You have gained a spot of honor in my purse, on the order of importance right above my passport.


Disclaimer: This is all exaggeration. I really DO love the bread and cheese and juice and beer here... I just would love MORE of it. And spicier.

Die Bedeutung des Heimwehs

Oh man. Am I ever starting to understand the true meaning of homesickness. It is so strange really, truly being stuck in a foreign country with people who only sort of understand English. Yes, most people can speak English, but what you are not told is that most people understand and can speak only functional English... what you want to buy or sell, how much something costs, "How are you?" and "I am _____" (but, please, keep it to simple adjectives).

I've come to realize that I am indeed VERY lucky to have Amanda with me on this trip and to have a friend like the Ginger, who, though he has his con list, like everyone on this green (and red and cramped and crazy) Earth, speaks slowly and really attempts to (or does a great and believable impression of) understanding and relating to what I say, and then who offers the appropriate response.

Here, in Düsseldorf, which is nice and all, but is a large city that doesn't particularly suit me. (Thank you so much, Hamline University, for partnering with Uni Trier and sending me to a beautiful little town that understands internationalism and makes me feel comfortable and at home.) I'm really starting to feel the twangs of homesickness, as previously stated, but not yet to go home and jump back into Hamline classes and American living and all my old haunts. What I am missing is the sense of comfort, of being able to know where I am, how to get around, how to function fully in the location I am. I really miss being able to hear and speak English all around me, to be ale to rant out my feelings fully and obtain an American response of full understanding, whether it be empathy or complete uncaring but still full understanding. I have noticed that I've started tuning out when people speak German too much around me, or too quickly, or are discussing things that I may perhaps even have an interest in but which I cannot follow completely and really can't respond as truly as I feel. I just block it out, zone out, lose myself in whatever English song is playing on the radio.

Additionally, damn you, Germany, for playing American music all the time. Do you realize, Germany, how damned hard it is to concentrate on what someone is saying auf Deutsch when I can just enjoy the English language in the background instead? You realize that you are actually driving me to be annoyed when you, German radio, play a German song that I don't know and can't sing along with?

I am already looking forward to and will feel great relief (hopefully) to go back to Trier, where I have a basic understanding of the system and of my surroundings, where I can wander among traditional, kitschy beauty, and where I can have my Toffifee nights with Amanda and discuss our days and feelings... auf ENGLISH.

For now, I will console myself with CNN International (oh, the horrible accents).

Bis bald!

German really wears a girl out

This week, I'm in Düsseldorf with a good friend, Esther, who spent a year as a foreign exchange student in Pelican Rapids during my senior year. I took the train all by myself, set up my own ticket and got off at the right stop and even understood that we were a little delayed due to an accident, of which they didn't know exact details.

(Yes, I know, congratulations on being 13 years old... but it is really harder than you can imagine in a foreign language, and even the smallest accomplishments feel huge!!)

The train ride was a mere 3 hours, during which I studied some German, read a little out of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" (a fantastic book, but a little disturbing... I recommend it), and ate bacon and cheese sammiches that I had made in the morning before I left. P.S. I am going to very much miss the bacon, amazing white cheeses and the BROTCHEN here when I leave... holy goodness, the food here is amazing! My one gripe is that everything is a little bland... but that can easily be fixed with the purchase of a couple of spices. (It's amusing... the favored spice of Deutschland seems to be paprika... everything contains paprika! Weird.) And Esther asked me today if I miss American food yet... I have to admit, not really. Amanda and I often make dinner together, good American meals like mac and cheese (no, not out of a damn box) or hamburgers that are more fantastic than American (can you say caramelized onions, gouda, and brotchen, anyone?), and for an international potluck, I made my favorite Minnesotan rice-burger-carrot-potato hotdish, so I am thus far surviving. I do, however, have to say, that I really miss pizza. I understand my friend Sean now, a fellow student of mine at Hamline who spent the last semester at Uni Trier. He constantly complained that Germany has no pizza, which I originally, upon coming here, found to be ridiculous and untrue. I now understand, though, as I miss just good old, greasy, cheesy, going to give you a stomachache pizza for delivery. I miss Mesa Pizza!!! All the pizza here IS amazing... but in a gourmet, fancy, European way.


Aaaaaanyway...

Upon arriving in Düsseldorf, Esther picked me up from the train station, and we came back to her house, caught up a little, ate cake and coffee with her mom, Barbara, and then wandered around the city a little. We did some window shopping; saw the Königsallee, which is much like Chicago's Magnificent Mile, full of haute couture; and sat on the Rhein River and ate ice cream (my god, the ice cream in Europe is SO GOOD!). We also saw the only tower left standing in Düsseldorf after WWII... sort of. It was covered in reconstruction and advertisement stuff, so we actually didn't see any of it. Ha.

For dinner, we headed to a great little Kneipe (bar) in Esther's neighborhood and met Esther's boyfriend, a friend, and her brother and some friends. Good time. Today, Esther is a bit sick (cough), so we're just lying low to save up for tomorrow's shopping whirlwind and tour of the secret servant passages of a castle. So excited!

Being here in Düsseldorf has really made it sink in just how completely and utterly exhausting it is to constantly not only listen and talk in another language, but to be forced to THINK it. All night, Esther's friends talked politics (the American election, their recently dead mayor, etc.), and it was fun and challenging, but SO difficult to keep up. I am constantly listening closely to fast German speech, trying to just instantaneously understand what I already know while simultaneously attempting to pick up context clues and translate what I don't while ALSO formulating my responses in an understandable German form. It is still much easier for me to understand German than to correctly and efficiently speak it. So tiring. It has really sunk in here, I think, because I simply do NOT have crutches like those who know me in Trier, in which I can speak a trashy Denglisch (Deutsch-English) when I don't fully know how to express myself. Here, I surprised Esther with the amount of German I can now understand, so she told her friends I can understand everything, and I am simply expected to keep up.

However, this is good for me. Even when we came back to Esther's, and I was ready to just crash, Tim, Esther's boyfriend, began casually conversing with me... again, auf Deutsch (in German). Oof.

Anyway, I am learning, and having these reminders that I still can't function in German at even half the capacity I can in English only makes me want to learn more and study harder. All morning while Esther was sleeping in, I spent reading the Düsseldorf newspaper, one article over and over, learning harder and harder words, and also drilling verbs and learning words that I've come to realize I use a lot but don't know auf Deutsch.

Thus, alles gut.

Bis später, dann! Viele Grüße zu euch alle!

Dangerground!

Oh my goodness, I have been crazy busy. The past month has just flown by. My summer course ended on Thursday, and I've spent much of the weekend saying goodbye to new friends whom I've gotten to know well in so short a time. It is incredible how close we've become, even through language and culture barriers, all of us just here for the same reasons: to learn and live and experience Germany, to have an adventure.

Taking off (no worries, only a summary of the important and interesting stuff) from where I left off 12 days ago...

Grilling night was awesome. More than half of the 80 or so students in the IFK showed up, and we played volleyball, talked, ate wurst and drank beer. (There, Scott, are you happy? We're doing traditional German things!) I, Özge, and the Tequila Mädchen (2 Japanese girls... more on the name later) discovered a play place designed for children... on which no child should be allowed. It consists of six or so various play stations, including a giant continuous motion machine (you know, the metal balls dangling from wires that are supposed to move continuously once started) that didn't move continuously; two different tonal things, like upright xylophone-type deals (this made me rather happy, as I could play the Rugrats theme and Jingle Bells... ha), and a spinny roulette wheel. Ok, so these are fine for kids. Great. Love 'em. Fun for the whole family.

However, next on the path: little standing boxes just chilling out there, that, when you jump on them, tip to one side. Ok, fine. Kid's dumb, he gets hurt, his own fault. I can handle that. At least they're not pussyfooting around playgrounds like in America, where nothing is fun anymore. (It's just too damn safe, you know what I mean?)

Next up: A giant top. Yes, a top. The kind that balance on one point and spin around, and when they get unbalanced, tip to one side? Yep, that one. Thing about this one, is that it spins if you stand on top of it and run around in circles. Even better, load an American, 2 Japanese, a Turk, and/or a Frenchman on it and proceed to jump up and down and scurry from edge to edge. Safe for children? Maybe. Safe for 20-30 year olds in a festive mood? Probably not.

Oh, it gets better. Then, we found the slide. This is the most massive, amazing, beautiful, intimidating slide you've ever seen. High in the air is a tower of small logs, stacked haphazardly like pickup sticks. Out of it emerges a daunting chute, slick cold metal like water flying off a waterfall, two nearly 90° bends as it reaches toward the ground. Safe for children? Ha. Safe for me? Apparently not.

Yes, it is amazing to clamber your way up the pickup sticks to be king of the hill, then terrifyingly whiz down only to do it again. The other four stations in this area were contructed with logs in the same manner... except they included no slides, instead were connected together by three ropes, two of which you held on to, the other you tightrope walked.

Of course I was the first to conquer all of them. And, of course, on the last time down the slide, I jumped off and started running... only to roll my ankle. I sat there laughing, but by the end of the night could hardly walk on it and went home rather than wandering around the town with most of the rest of the group. (It turned out better, anyway... it rained on the group, and Florian, Amanda, and I met David and Rhaban - a tutor and his friend - in the parking lot and ate more wurst.

Fast forward: for the next week, I walked around with an ankle the size of a small baseball. However, the coolest part? I couldn't feel it at all.

Moral of the story: Children's playgrounds in Deutschland = fun at a cost.

Nachwort: My ankle is completely fine now. Please do not worry.

ADDRESS CHANGE

As I finally received the key for my mailbox (hooray!!), please send all further post to the following address (the previous one sends to the general foreign exchange student office):

Amanda Dutcher
SWH Tarforst, Haus IV, App. 107
Universitätsring 8c
54296 Trier
Deutschland

Dankeschön!! Hope to hear from you!

The Kraken Chronicles

For those of you who desire a bit lighter and more amusing reading than my dry blog, please check out my bestie Amanda's blog. She is also in Germany for the next year, but sees it through an entirely different (and hilarious) lens.

http://weebleweeble.blogspot.com/

(For those of you who don't know her, here is a detail that only partially describes her: we've decided to chronicle all of her failures in Deutschland. Thus far, they include jumping into a fountain and yelling, "I am the great Kraken of the sea!" ala Juno, somehow managing to look like she's eating people's faces in every photograph, and getting blasted in an Irish pub in the middle of Trier during Karaoke night and singing the dentist song from Little Shop of Horrors. You can thank me for helping her reach the state of uncaring necessary to get her to sing.

...not that I haven't been sassed out by a very tall and intimidating French-speaking Belgian woman for moving empty juice bottles full of bees to a table away from mine, almost had the door to my bathroom stall beaten down by a Luxembourgish toilet sitter who was angry that I didn't pay the 50 cent fee, or had an ankle the size of a large Red Delicious apple for a week because the children's slide was a little too difficult for me <I SWEAR... that is NOT safe for children!!!>...

...we just don't have all that on video.)

Enjoy!

Even in Deutschland, Hamline calls on me...

It's kind of cool to even have my name in Forbes Magazine.

Woohoo! I love being in Germany!

Next weekend, as a group, the IFK is going to Schengen, an uncontrolled border between Luxemburg, France, and Germany, and then to Arlon, Belgium.

My classes are over next Thursday, and then I believe I'm going to take the train to Düsseldorf to visit Esther for a week!

Mao, a friend of mine from the IFK, is traveling Germany for the next month or so, so I may meet her in Stuttgart, Köln, Berlin, and/or Frankfurt.

My friend Naomi, who is also a student at Hamline and is spending a year abroad, will arrive in Europe soon. We're thinking about hitting up Oktoberfest in München!

My goodness... the adventures to come.

This past week has been just crazy busy. I've already been here 12 days, and it feels simultaneously like forever and only overnight. My summer course is finished next week already! Insanity. I have to admit, I'm a little bit concerned; after spending 3.5 weeks straight running, running, running, seeing everything and doing everything, having downtime might not be such a good thing.

But, alas, whine whine... I'm in Germany, right?! Alles ist ok.

Last week, we kept crazy busy. On Sunday, we went on a city tour of Trier, to all the old Roman monuments and buildings. We saw and heard the history of the Porta Nigra, a still-standing Roman city gate in which a monk once cloistered himself. After he died, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church until Napoleon came to power and decided that it was to be restored to its original look, the church façade destroyed. We saw the Konstantinbasilika, which once held the throne of Constantine the Great. At one point, Trier, the oldest city in Germany, was apparently larger than Rome. We also saw the Kurfürstliche Palais, next to the Konstantinbasilika, which, in the 1700s was home to the archbishop in Trier. We then walked to some Roman ruins, the old bathhouses of the Romans. Trier also contains the Römerbrücke, a bridge built by the Romans and still used today, which is the oldest bridge in Germany, as well as many other old Roman Antike.

That afternoon, we headed to the flea market, a monthly event in Trier, at which I met a wonderful old German couple who sold me enough dishes and utensils for almost a full (matching!) set for four, all for only 10,-€! I also had a chance to test out my common sense German skills, as I helped Amanda bargain for German Batman comics (a useful purchase, no?).

Monday, I finally bought a wash machine card, so that I could stop smelling so terrible. Florian showed Mao and me where the little market on the university is, and it's so helpful; it contains a grocery store, office supply store, a couple of restaurants, post office, bank, and physical therapy center... everything one could ever need... sort of. Later that day, I joined a tour of Petrisberg, the newest area of Trier, right near the university, after which a group of us went to a small bar and hung out for awhile.

I'd heard from many people before I got here that the best way to meet people is to keep constantly doing things, trying new things (actually, one person's words were "just party, party, party!"), and they are totally right. Going out a lot not only has helped me to meet people, it's helped me to become acclimated to the city in which I will be living for a year. Additionally, becoming known as someone who is always up for anything is helpful; I'm always included in invitations to go out and am never bored.

Tuesday night, we went to a little fake beach on the Mosel River; Wednesday was Projekttag, in which I joined a group learning about wines in this region and throughout Germany (I'm putting together a PowerPoint with a group focusing on the Rebsorten, the different varieties of wine that are produced in the Mosel River region) and then in the evening, attended an organ concert in the Konstantinbasilika; Thursday visited a former concentration camp in which there wasn't much to see - everything had been disassembled in the 50s - then went strolling through the city with Amanda; and Friday, opted out of bowling to have a quiet night and get a little sleep.

Saturday, we visited Saarbrücken, the capital city of the German state Saarland, and then also visited Metz in France. France is only a 1.5 hour drive from Trier! Pictures coming soon. I found France to be not as interesting as Germany, or at least Metz; all the buildings were the same shade of brown, and it just felt a little more boring and a little more dirty. However, I do admit I've had limited exposure to Europe in general, and this is only one city! I will correct that soon... ;)

After our excursion, a group of 15 or so of us went to the Disco, or club. What fun! I danced and danced and danced... and am still sore.

Yesterday, I visited a museum here in Trier, where they house cool, giant old Roman monuments and remains, beautiful Roman-built mosaics, and other such artifacts that were found in the area. Very cool, although all the information was written in German (naturally! I'd hope it was no other way!), so I irritated a few of my friends by being the slowest through the museum, taking my time to understand all the placards and really appreciate the stuff. We have nothing like it in the USA... these things were made only a few hundred years after the birth of Christ! Beautiful.

Today, I had class, per usual, and later will go grilling and playing volleyball and soccer and whatnot with a group of students and tutors. Tomorrow, we've organized an international dinner, at which I'm bringing the Minnesota state dish - hamburger, rice, carrot, potato hotdish. Goodness, am I ever excited to make that! I just hope these weird German rices and soups will make it turn out ok...

Bis später, dann!

A few infos for you

My mailing address here, at least through the end of August:

Akademisches Auslandsamt der Universität Trier
Internationaler Ferienkurs
Amanda Dutcher
Universitätsring 15
D-54286 Trier
Deutschland

The following are prices for a letter from the U.S. to Germany
Weight not over __ ozs = Price in $
1 = .94
2 = 1.74
3 = 2.54
3.5 = 3.34

Further information can be found here, under "First-Class Mail International":

http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/fh_011.htm#ep1379549

1. and 2. Aug

I know it's only been eight days since I truly updated, but I feel like I have so much to say and not enough time in which to say it! So much happens in a day here... it's incredible and tiring and wonderful.

Freitag, den 1. Aug. 2008

I started classes in the morning, which are held from 9.15-12.30 each day of the week. The IFK students were separated into groups depending on their language level, and I ended up in a lower middle level, which is at times a little too easy for me, but at times a really important review for things that I did not pick up well enough when I first learned them. My teacher, Ruth, is roughly 24 years old, small and cute and super nice. She has graduated from Uni Trier and is a fantastic teacher. In our morning classes, we study grammar, vocabulary, and discuss other seminars and lectures that we attend in the afternoon. There is a lot of speaking, listening and reading comprehension, and, naturally, grammar exercises.

I am in a class with eight other people, three of whom hail from Taiwan, and five from Japan. It is so interested getting to know not only the German culture, but at the same time, amazing people and cultural things from so many other countries! Now I want to study in Japan, too...

In the evening, I met with some others, from Russia, Japan, St. Paul (yes, there's a student here from St. Thomas! Crazy!), Czechoslovakia, and Spain for dinner in a nice little restaurant by city hall. We walked around the city, which is beautiful, and when we returned to the university, I met a guy named Ahmed from Morocco, who lives in my building and who offered to help with anything.

Samstag, den 2. Aug. 2008

On Saturday, we had our first excursion (of which we have 4.5 - the .5 is not an entire city, and yes, this is how I describe it, not the IFK organizers). We had to meet at 9.00 to get on buses and head to Bernkastel-Kues, a beautiful little town on the Mosel River. We had the morning to ourselves to wander the city. Mao from Japan, Özge from Turkey, and I wandered around, sat at a little coffeehouse for an hour or so with Brauni (pronounced "Brownie," for his last name is Braun), the tutor for my group and another older student from Italy, then all of us except the Italian ate in a little pizzeria high in a building overlooking the Mosel.

Afterwards, we took a boat cruise on the Mosel, which was a little long and on which they played terrible traditional German music that almost killed Brauni. (I thought it was kind of kitschy and fun... first we had polka that was beautifully reminiscent of my old bus driver, Mr. Marty, then we had techno, which is such a German phenomenon it hurts.)

The best part of the day was yet to come, though. We all reboarded the bus and took it to another small town, in which we toured a little winery and museum and had a wine tasting with 5 different varieties of white wine, which is the type produced in the Mosel River region, and also throughout much of Germany. We started with a sweet, then a very dry with bread and cheese, followed by a semi-dry (which tasted really good after the dry, though I liked them all), a very sweet dessert wine, and a finish of white wine mixed with cherry liqueur. If you would like more info on where I went and the specific names and types I drank, I'd be happy to let you know. Just say the word. Also, if you come here, I recommend the peach liqueur-infused wine... heilige Scheisse! So delicious.

That night, we just couldn't get enough, so Florian and I decided to visit Weinfest (yes, Wine Fest), which was a half hour walk from the university, down in the city. It was much like Taste of Minnesota or other outdoor festivals; many food booths, and lots to drink. The main difference I saw is that no one was carded, and they give you real glasses out of which to drink! You must pay a small deposit for each glass (only 1 Euro!), but you get it back when you give back the glass. And beer there was only 2 Euros per glass! Beautiful. It was a good time; they had three or four live stages, and the cover bands played almost exclusively American songs (German radio is hilarious... it's all the hits we had a year or longer ago!), of which Amanda and I knew all the words (naturally). Florian had extended the invitation to everyone, and we ended up with a group of about 15 who came down there with us, and we met more throughout the night. Many eventually wandered off; Amanda, Florian, and I, some of the last left, headed homeward around 1.20.

To tide you over for today...

PICTURES!!

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e309/adutcher01/

So much to do, so little time!!!

So, I don't have a lot of time to write today, as I must quickly head back to my room, eat some leftover ravioli from the gargantuan amount Amanda, my Turkish friend Özge, and I made last night for supper, then run to meet Florian and some other students for a tour of Petrisberg, a new area of the university and of the city of Trier.

The past few days have been a whirlwind, with an amazing excursion down the Mosel River, a wine tasting, a visit to Winefest late at night, a tour of landmarks in Trier, kitchen supply buying at a flea market, dinner with friends, and today classes, a lecture by the university president, and now another tour.

Things are crazy busy, but that's how I love it. I'm currently uploading photos to a new site (I've decided Flickr is crap, as their limit is way too low), so I will hopefully very soon have more to show you!

Apologies to all the people I really should call but haven't yet. I have very little time to call, plus, by the time I can get ahold of anyone in North America, it is way past the time I've fallen asleep here. Also, I haven't yet found any phone cards or plans that are worth the money. Rest assured, though, all is well, and I will call as soon as I figure out the best way!

P.S. For those of you who leave comments without a Google account, a profile I can access, or have an ambiguous name ("dutcher," who are you?! Mommy?!?!), please sign at least your first post so I know who I'm talking to!!

Now, off to ravioli and a tour, then who knows what!

Bis bald!

A short summary of Germany thus far:

First day, Tuesday, July 29:

Amanda and I stayed overnight with Felix, a friend of mine, in Frankfurt. Through the day, we fought major jet lag and went sightseeing around the city, through the old city, the Frankfurter Dom (Cathedral), and to the old opera house. Felix's friend, Sebastian, knows a lot of Frankfurter history and was a phenomenal and friendly tour guide. :) For breakfast, we walked to an adorable little bakery not far from Felix's house. In most of Deutschland, people buy fresh brötchen (little sweet buns) for breakfast, and nearly everyone lives near a bakery.

For lunch, we ate currywurst from a stand on the street... es war sehr lecker (it was very tasty). After a lot of sightseeing, we were sitting at a small coffee house atop a building with a gorgeous view, and jet lag really hit me. We headed back to Felix's for a quick nap, which I ended up not taking because I reawoke. It was good to have the downtime, though; Felix and I just sat on the balcony reading, talking, and drinking beer while Amanda slept.

Felix, Amanda, and I went to a beautiful 500-or-so-year old restaurant for supper, and I ate real schnitzel for the first time. My god, was that ever good. Afterwards, we walked to Sebastian's house and then went back to Felix's, where Amanda crashed out, and Felix, his mother, and I sat around and drank beers and had great conversation late into the night. The conversation was almost entirely in German, as Felix's mother knows only a little English... and I understood most of it! It's so hard to believe, but I already feel very comfortable speaking German! Almost more comfortable with the native speakers than the international students, as it is sometimes harder to understand them as they struggle for the right word or phrasing. I still get a little nervous at times when I don't know how to explain something, but thus far, it has been a blast attempting to get my ideas out and understandable through the German language!

A quick note: German driving and parking is hilarious and wonderful. Their driving is a little scary... they make U-turns and take crazy turns almost anywhere. The parking is interesting... the streets are very, very narrow, so most of the time, autos are parked up on the sidewalk or only half in the street. Everyone drives a small car or station wagon, and even Felix admits that no one knows the parking laws (though he claims they do exist). Thus, autos are usually parked up on the sidewalk along one side of the street... but not all the cars are facing the same direction! It's hilarious.

The city planning would also drive many Americans crazy. The streets and buildings are very old (Trier, in fact, is the oldest city in Deutschland, having been founded hundreds of years before Rome). Streets go in every direction, their names change, small Gasse (tiny streets that tend to go between buildings, almost like tunnels) cut off often... one needs a map to navigate, but it's a ton of fun to wander!

Wednesday, July 30

Felix's mom brought Amanda and I to the train station. Amanda's luggage had all broken (three straps were kaputt), so she was in a terrible mood. It was quite the experience leaving her sitting with the luggage and attempting to buy two train tickets to Trier. It was easier than I had previously thought, though, and by 9:40 am, we and our giant pile of luggage were en route. The train ride was beautiful, full of vineyards and castles and rivers and beautiful old buildings. A bit hot, though... most places in Germany have no air conditioning, and it is as hot as and even more humid than Minnesota!

When we arrived in Trier, we hauled our stuff out of the train station, where we met some tutors from IFK (my summer course). Kirsten, a tutor, took us to the Uni in a car (which was greatly appreciated with our amount of luggage... many students took the bus with the tutors) and we registered and hauled our stuff to our apartments. The apartments are small... only a small kitchen, bathroom, and living room/bedroom, but I love having my own space. Also, right now, the buildings are very quiet, which is nice. We live in student apartments named Tarforst directly on campus, which is awesome, considering most student housing is at least a little off-campus.

After unpacking, showering, and having a little time, Amanda and I took the bus into the city, approximately a 10-minute ride from the university, which is up on a hill (but still in a very populated area, as is all of Deutschland) and ate dinner at Kebap Haus, a delicious little cafe with Turkish food, pizza, and pasta. We did a little shopping for food and necessities at Kaufland, a huge and amazing store, almost like Wal-Mart, only way better, way cleaner, way better selection, and less hateful. Then we came back to Tarforst and crashed for our test the next morning.


I already feel very at home here... I am very comfortable, and I can't believe that we've only been here for three days! I just realized that, and it is unbelievable!!! Even typing this, there were many words and phrases for which the first words that came to mind were German, not English. It is wonderful here, and I'm so glad I'm doing this.

Next in the saga: Our first day (test and official opening, followed by fun times in a Kneipe), today (first day of class and wandering in the city with newfound friends), and tomorrow (a boat cruise on the Mösel River!!)

Bis dann!!