Sunday, September 19, 2010

Hamburgers! (And no, not the type you eat.. )

Exciting news.. this weekend two of my friends from Hamburg came to visit me! I was SO excited!  We had this planned since about, oh, July.  They're Patrick and Chris and I met them through my very first German-Bay Port exchange about 4 or 5 years ago.  We've managed to stay all really close since then, so this weekend was just awesome.  It really felt normal and comfortable from the minute they arrived until the minute they left.  It's nice to realize that nothing has really changed between any of us; so many things change so fast in this world its really quite comforting that a friendship which has survived 5,000 miles and years of distance is managing somehow to remain unchanged.  I really actually felt quite at home while they were here.  It is probably because having old friends in my house made me feel more comfortable and just, well, at home.  Yep.  Simple joys of life.  Friday after they arrived we went out to dinner with some of the American girls in my group and Senta at a restaurant in the Oberstadt.  It was good, except apparently my mother wasn't lying when she informed me that I cut my food kind of like a barbarian.  The entire table was trying to teach me how to cut this pizza (Germans don't serve their pizzas pre-cut, FYI) for about a half hour.  It was rather pathetic.  But I would like to blame the really tough crust and slippery plate for my issue.  And besides, Barbarians were loved too... ok, maybe not.  But still.  After dinner we went out to a club and danced for ahwhile (and by awhile, I mean until about oh, 4:30 am...)  and then crashed.  It was so much fun.  The club was really empty at the beginning but by the time we left, the one dance floor was quite full to the point where we had to weave through the crowd.  Saturday we just chilled around the apartment all day until about 3 when we went to the oberstadt and walked around.  We ended up eating at a restaurant I had eaten in before with Sarah and Severin the first weekend I was here in Marburg.  After dinner we went back, got ready and went to a bar where the American group was meeting up, chatted with the other Americans, and then went out to a club again (the same as the night before).  In total, both nights were a ton of fun.  The people really made the nights hilarious and just a genuinely great time.  Patrick is a crazy dancer, but then again, after spending a year in Tanzania dancing with the Africans, how couldn't you be?  This morning after waking up, the boys, my friend Carissa and myself ate "breakfast" (ok, it was technically lunch time, but whatever) and then just went back and cleaned up my apartment a little.  They left around 5 pm for the 4.5 hour ride back to Hamburg, and I came to the library to update the world on my life.  It seriously was just a great weekend. 

So yep.  Those are my boys :)  At one point during their trip Patrick pointed out to me that most German cars are not bright colors; the majority are just a bland grey, black, white, or maybe once and awhile a red.  I guess I hadn't noticed it, but it's really true.  When you see a bright colored car, its like, whoa.  Maybe it isn't the same all over Germany, but if it is like this in both Hamburg and Marburg.. hmm.  Interesting though. 
So I always think of little things I should mention in my blog which are interesting and so different from home, however, when I sit down to write in this dang thing, I forget! It's so completely frustrating.  So, I'm going to quick list some random things to catch you up to whatever I forgot to mention before..
  • My apartment building only allows you to do laundry until 10 pm, so, the ethical person would not put their 3 loads of laundry in at 9:58 with no opportunity to dry them later, leaving my apartment completely covered in a wet ensemble of my wardrobe..
 

  • If you want to look European (and are female), merely find a pair of ballerina slippers, skinny jeans, a fitted coat, scarf and ipod.  The ipod is essential, because 95% of the Europeans using public transit are connected to their ipods as though it were another part of them.
  • I'm beginning to feel as though I don't stick out here like a sore thumb anymore, and it's really a great feeling
  • Special K is about 4.50 for one box of cereal, one box of Easy  mac is about 8 euros and ranch dressing is 7 dollars for a small bottle.  Why?  All imported, all foreign, all completely not worth it.  Well, except the Special K.  I can't give up on my homie. 
  • I received my Visa back from the ... Visa office place?... and I look like a beaten housewife.  I don't know what happened to my photo, but there is a black blotch over my nose and it just looks like I've seriously taken a fist to the face.  I plan to send these extra photos home for my parents to put in their wallets.  I'm quite proud.
  • Bikers are crazy.
  • Construction workers don't wear hard hats, even if there are cranes and fork-lifts involved.
  • Mailing anything home to the USA is EXTREMELY expensive, so I might just wait until Christmas to "send" anything... sorry guys!
  • we had 2 days in a row with no rain.. again with the epic-ness.
  • life is beautiful.  Especially when you're in Germany.
So, I need to go home and write an essay still tonight for tomorrow's class.  This is my address for those of you who would like to send me letters or what not.

Angelina Ernst ( don't forget to mention her name)
z.Hd. Stephanie Tesch
Gisselbergerstraße 2
35037 Marburg
Hessen
Germany

Good night folks. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Homesickness with a touch of Budapest

It's now been three weeks since I left all you beautiful people in the states on my transatlantic flight.  Homesickness was still foreign to me, until yesterday.  It was very brief, though  (Grandma I'm FINE).  I'm not sure if I'd even call it homesickness,  but whatever.  Basically, yesterday in class, my professor asked if any of us had "heimweh" (homesickness) yet, and we all were like pffff noooo we're here and we're loving it! After that, she proceeded to ask us questions such as, "where is home? What does the word home mean to you? What is your family like? Who are your friends? Who do you miss the most? What things aren't available here that you wish you could get from home?".... Jesus lady.  All of us were quite notably agitated with her, and all quite visibly a tiny bit homesick.  It kind of goes without saying here, that if we speak about home, it's brief, and then we move forward.  It's not that we don't like speaking about all of you, but hey, it's another 12 or so weeks, so not thinking about it is the best solution at the moment.  Dang professor.  But oh well.  That small wave did not really effect the great ocean of my travels, so we're good.  And now, moving forward to the rest of this blog!


I'm going to Budapest!  For those of you who haven't brushed up recently on your European geography, that's in Hungary.  The usual question that follows this announcement is ... "why the hell are you going to Budapest?"  Answer?  No idea.  I really have close to no idea what is there, and it's never been really in my mind as a "must see" place.  However, I was dazing off one day in my language class and then from some random point in my brain came the word "Budapest" and well, the rest is history.  It's a spontaneous adventure, but I've heard that those can be some of the best.  Plus, it isn't all that spontaneous since I'm not leaving until the 10th of December out of Dortmund; I'll have plenty of time to plan out my travels.  As for other travels, we're (me and some of my other American friends) are looking into Possibly Lisbon, Portugal, Paris, London, Dublin or Rome.  I'm assuming that everyone is probably thinking, where are you going to get the money for all of this?! Well, flights within Europe can be found for ridiculously cheap.  I mean we're going to Budapest for like 4 days, and our entire round trip with taxes cost us about 60 US dollars.  We found a flight to Rome for the weekend for 14 US dollars, Dublin was around 30, etc.  And these were all round trip.  So, that's my secret.  As for hotels, we found a list of some really nice hostels at the hostel in Berlin, so we're planning on doing those.  They're really not as bad as they have been portrayed in the past.  Trust me!  Especially if you go with a group, because then you'll get like a dormitory room where like 6 to 8 people stay together in one room, but it's all your friends.  Not too bad!  One of my life goals is to travel to all the European countries at least once (yes, that includes Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, etc.) so hopefully I can do the majority this year.  It shouldn't be too trying on my budget, so i'm really quite excited.



^^ That is supposedly Budapest, so if this picture isn't some google scam, then heyyy I'd say I picked pretty well. 

In other news, last night some of my American girls and I got together to make grilled cheese, cookies and watch Peter Pan auf Englisch.  After having listened to German all day long, sometimes you just need an American evening.  So yep.  The cookies kind of failed.. I mean they're edible, but not by freewill.  One interesting note, I'm not sure if it's just the pans in my apartment, or the pans in all of germany, but, they have this engineering flaw in which the pans can be like slid to make it longer or shorter to fit in different ovens.  However, this sucks when you're actually using them, because they often slide together while you're trying to put the already hot pan into the oven with a new batch of cookies, and then it slides together sending cookies everywhere and burning your left thumb... sigh.  Yeah, whoever said that German engineers were the best in the world clearly hasn't been in my kitchen.  But whatever.  Maybe bridges and cool building structures are their forte', not kitchen goods.  Our grilled cheese also tasted a little funny, but that's because we couldn't remember our Cheese vocabulary and just took a wild guess and grabbed a pack of cheese in the deli.  Oh well.  It still beat my pre-made pasta dishes. 


Classes are still going well.  Now that i've moved up a level I find myself way more into the courses and not watching the clock as closely.  I've added quite interesting words to my vocabulary, including how to say the morgue, autopsy, to hang oneself, to kiss madly, etc.  Ok, don't panic.  It turns out we're actually writing mysteries for the course,  hence the creepy words.  That's due Monday.  Plus we watched some Criminal-Mystery type show thing for class too, which is where that all came from.  But yep.  Seems like everything is going well.  I had a presentation in my culture course on Tuesday, it was royally boring, but oh well.  Conversation course is the best; we play games like scategories, tabu, etc. that involve vocabulary.  Also, we meet in cafes' and such instead of just having another classroom course.  Those are every Wednesday.  I'll start having to do interesting events to spice this blog up before it turns into a list of my school assignments and such. 

FYI, if you're coming to Germany, you might want to bring your favorite hard/fruit flavored candies.  Chocolate and gummi things may be in abundance here, but Mike and Ikes, Skittles, Jolly Ranchers?  Heck no.  And trust me, the withdrawals are intense.  The shakes and everything.  So, that's all for now.  I promised you I'd tell you about the rest of my weekend, but it basically consisted of partying in two separate places on both nights.  I'll leave you with a few pictures, and a kind reminder that I have a mailbox that is more than willing to be filled with your snail mail letters from home :) 


Yep.  Both quite fun evenings.  So adios folks.  I'm off to attempt the grocery store again, but not until I find my umbrella.  It's starting to become an additional limb.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Wochenende!

This weekend was my first weekend in Marburg where I could just relax, not deal with luggage, and choose my activities of choice.  This week was so unbelievably long; I was anxiously awaiting this weekend almost as much as Christmas when I was seven.  To make that clear, I really needed a freaking break.  6 hours of German class a day or more is just way too much.  Tomorrow I go back again (sigh), but at least I was able to have 2 days of freedom to refuel my energy towards the program.  On Thursday I was just about ready to book a one way flight home, pending we would have the same intensive classes next semester as well.  However, after some much needed sleep, food and a good run, I'm fine.  No, I'm not homesick.  We're all just frustrated with the program and its extreme schedule.  But enough about that.

This weekend was a blast!

The great weekend actually started with a roll play activity we did in culture class.  Yeah, I know I sound quite nerdy at this moment.  But it's all good.  We were doing a roll play about Germany after WWII and the division of occupation zones, war reparations, fixing other countries economies, etc. etc.  I was playing the role of the French Ambassador (everyone was automatically mad at me.. I had no fighting chance, not that France ever does much fighting.. ha).  People really got into the activity though, which made it super cool.

After class I went home, skyped a little from a building on campus quick and then went out bowling with friends.  Yes, Brittany Perry, there are bowling alleys here!  But the bowling alley here is like, super cute and more than just a bowling alley.  Theres a bar, pool table area, darts area, arcade, and even a haunted house for kids.  At first we were the only people there so we were just being typical annoying americans, but then quite a few other yonger Germans showed up so we began behaving ourselves.  We actually had a really great time doing something so simple for only an hour.  It was only 5 euros per person for an hour of bowling, which is like seven dollars, but it was a really nice alley and it's basically what we would pay at home anyways.  We found out there are student discounts on Sundays and Mondays so we're thinking about starting up a weekly Sunday bowling thing.  Epic, I know.

So, those are the girls I went bowling with.  We're kind of a posse here.  Most of us are from the midwest actually- Wisconsin and Minnesota.  The last picture with just Carissa and I, she's from Waukesha where I go to school! Ok, well I fully intended to write this whole weekend adventure now, but it turns out we're all leaving for dinner.  So I'll finish this later tonight... maybe?

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

So, my internet here has generally been hanging by a thread and the fact that I am able to sign onto this blog site today is nothing short of a miracle honestly. Oh well, I'm going to buy a new internet stick tomorrow. It'll cost me a bit more than the one I have now, but hey, I want to be able to skype you beautiful people. Aka: you're worth it. So, lots has happened in a week; days here seem to be filled with way more activities and emotions than in my normal home life. I suppose this makes sense; we're supposed to make the most out of our time here, which means cramming an ungodly large amount of things into one day. But hey, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. One of the most exciting yet terrifying events of the last week or so was my apartment building catching on fire. I live on the 10th floor here, in an old 70's style apartment building made out of concrete and what not. It's quite ugly on the outside honestly. But anyways, on Tuesdays from 6-7 we can go and buy the coins we need to use the washing machines down on the first floor. So, I went down at 6 sharp (I needed those damn coins.. still do.. ) and the elevator opened to a bunch of firemen storming through the door only to find me, the confused american, staring at them. Of course they started asking me questions in really fast and stressed German, which let me tell you, sounds so unbelievably angry, you have no idea. Ok, maybe you do, but still. My immediate reaction was to pretend I didn't understand German and run up the 10 flights of stairs to my apartment (which had smoke passing my window and balcony.. the fire was on the seventh floor), grabbed my laptop and passport.. yes.. the two most important things, oh and my cellphone, and then ran back down. I ended up going to Senta's for the rest of the evening and just hanging out with her while the situation was taken care of. Apparently a woman's oven was left on and started the apartments on fire. I really don't know much about it, but my apartment is fine, it was just a really confusing situation. But, hey, it spiced up this blog a little!


Ok, so, in regards to my title of this post, I went to Berlin this weekend! The IUSP program which I am in here took myself and 43 other American/Canadian/Australian/New Zealand/Mexican students to Berlin for the weekend to help us all bond and to allow us to see a little of Germany. We only really did three main planned activities with the group, otherwise we were left a ton of freedom. This was a little strange to me, because in any other trips I've taken with school or any programs, we always had a strict schedule with rules and what not, but in Germany, this is definitely not the case. True, we're way older than the high school groups which do these usual trips, and should be guaranteed this additional freedom, but holy man. They really didn't give a crap about what we were doing, except when a few students were late for the bus ride back to Marburg. So yep. I spent my time in a variety of ways.

Thursday night we arrived late to Berlin after an approximately 8 hour bus ride (with two minor stops). It was already about 9:30 when we got there, so a few girls and I went on a short walk around the block by our hostel and then just went to bed. It really wasn't all that exciting, but our hostel was really quite nice. I'd never stayed in one, and was actually quite skeptical before we got there but hey, I'd definitely recommend testing them out! It gives you really the cool, chill, traveling student feel. I don't know how to explain it, but it's definitely ... rad? hmm. Ok well I tried.

Saturday we woke up early, ate a free breakfast at the hostel (which was actually pretty legit.. yay for hot rolls!) and then went on a walking tour of Berlin. We really put on the miles this weekend, walking everywhere. I probably walked across Berlin and back about 5 times over, but hey. I saw a ton of cool stuff that I wouldn't have seen had I been on a bus tour or something. And sometimes, you really find the most beautiful things hidden away in the back alleys or off roads... so in the words of Robert Frost or whoever, take the path less beaten. Ok, thats enough thoughtful advice. But yes, I saw things such as the famous TV tower, the Brandenburgtor, Alexandersplatz, churches, museums, the oldest University in Berlin; a ton of very beautiful, very old and very interesting sites. One of my personal favorites of the stops on our tour was a memorial to all the books burnt in this one square during Hitler's reign. Through a panel of glass in the middle of the square there is an empty library with enough shelves to hold 20,000 books; the number of books burnt on that night. It was really quite a powerful memorial.

On a lighter note, I saw a chocolate shop in which they built the Brandenburgtor, the Titanic, a famous Church in Berlin and something else I can't remember out of pure, German chocolate. Hmm, it's like I can almost sense your mouths just watering over this from about 5,000 miles away. Glorious. Me being not completely in love with this product, wasn't nearly as amused as you all probably would have wished. I attempted to take photos, but they didn't turn out so great. Let me know if you're interested in seeing them though. Or if you want to know more about my tours; if I continued writing about them, you'd be reading a short novel. Here are some pictures though.. what you all reeeeally want to see haha.

These are from infront of the American Embassy ^^ :)

Feet by the Berlin Wall .. well where it used to be, that is. 



So that, in a capstone, is my first day in Berlin.  I clearly didn't post all the photos from that day, so again, let me know if you'd like to see more.  I took approximately 300, so I have plenty to share.  The second day I was extremely exhausted and didn't end up waking up until about 11 am.  At 2 I met up with the group and we went to the East Side Gallery, which is parts of the Berlin wall which have been painted with huge murals.  Before going to the wall, I just figured it would be some graffiti with little impact on me; just some unique artwork to write home to my Uncle John about.  However, to my genuine surprise, the emotion and impact of the art on me was quite strong.  Each painting held so many feelings; both faith and disappointment in humanity, anger, frustration, empowerment, hope, strength.  They were all there, screaming out from the small slabs of concrete with such a power that I am still, almost one week later, totally amazed.  I sound so odd even to myself writing so strongly about what some would call simple wall art, but I guess something about that wall just intrigued me.  If you're ever in Berlin, go see it, and then tell me if I'm completely off my rocker, or at least still on the edge. I apologise for turning this entry into a mini photo album, but hey, I figure you'd like to see at least some of them to gain an image to go with my writings.  Ok so the wall.

(Freedom)


Ok, so maybe my pictures really aren't of the super serious wall art that "moved" me.  But hey, they're still pretty cool.  Some are pretty bold, but oh well.  Welcome to Europe I suppose.  Sunday we basically just woke up and took the bus back to Marburg, which again, took forever.  My Ipod became my best friend.

In other news, classes began here on Monday.  I have German language class from 9-1 everyday, Monday through Friday, and then a German Culture Course from 2-4.  The language class is really long; no matter what spin you put on learning Grammar and sentence structure, four hours is not fun.  Reality of life.  But oh well, I'm learning, which is the most important factor.  It's actually kind of a neat experience, that class, because my classmates are from all across the world, and many don't speak english.  Therefore, we are ultimately forced to converse in German.  It's a new experience for me, but it's forcing me to practice more than I ever have before in my entire 7 years of learning German.  The girl who sits next to me in class is from the Ivory Coast, Africa.  She's definitely interesting.  One thing I did notice about class here though, is that people are very free with their cellphones.  A girl from Saudi Arabia answers hers like twice a day.. in the middle of class.  Like, oh, you  know, whatever.  It's chill.  And the professors just keep going.  At home they'd have a hissy fit and probably complain about not earning enough to deal with us students, but I guess they just really don't care here.  Completely mind blowing. 
It's raining here, almost always.  I should be completely annoyed and burnt out with this city and wishing to be home in the sun and the warmth, but I can't seem to fall out of love with this country, the people, the little cultural differences and the language.  People are always asking me, are you homesick yet?  Granted it's only been two weeks, but considering I haven't had an ounce of homesickness yet, I'm wondering to myself, is this where I've always belonged?  I mean yes, Green Bay will always be my home, and I'm an American no matter how hard I try to perfectly match my outfits.  But, when i'm here, its almost another home to me.  It's comforting and relaxing.  I'm not having a difficult time adjusting to the culture (except figuring out how to keep my shower at one constant temperature...) so everything is just great.  This experience I'm having now, well, I already know it's going to be the time of my life.  This has always been my dream, and I'm so unbelievably thankful that it is turning out to be truly everything I ever wished it could be.  And on that note, I'm going to go sop through the rain, mud and puddles, jump on a city bus, go to my old apartment building, and crawl into my warm German bed fresh from IKEA.  Oh and before I forget, if any of you ever come to Germany, don't buy the prepackaged meals or one step pastas.