I'm back, and I'm not stopping 12/31/07

The blogs must go on. Sorry that I have not written much in the last few weeks... I've been not exactly busy. The wedding was amazing, Sam was gorgeous, everything went relatively smoothly and it was soooo much fun. I want to be a bridesmaid again (just in case anyone I know is getting engaged anytime soon)! Then it was Christmas time, and I had a lot of napping to catch up on. Still working on that one, but I am sleeping like a champion. So now it's New Years Eve, and I am going to hang out with some of my friends in a little while, and possibly see a movie. This break I've seen Sweeney Todd (It was the Count of Monte Cristo with more blood and less plot - better singing though) and Juno. Juno was very cute. I think that tonight we're thinking that it will be the Bee Movie. All I know about it is that there was a review in the New York Times that bashed it for not being scientifically accurate. Should be amusing. So in addition to sleeping and watching movies, I've almost finished my scrapbook from Deutschland (if anyone would like to see it, let me know) and I've come up with a four year plan. But I'll write about that tomorrow, since it's kinda like a New Year's Resolution. Happy New Year's Eve everyone!!!

Back in America 12/13/07

It is soooo good to be back. Not so good on the whole getting back thing, but I suppose that you can't have everything. Amanda and I left for the train station in Marburg at 6:20 AM. Twenty-five minutes later, Amanda handed me off to Ericka so that she could help me get all my luggage to the airport. We were joined halfway through the trainride by Ericka's friend, who very graciously agreed to help. It was a good thing he did- my stuff was heavy.

My flight was delayed slightly going out, so we left around 11:40 instead of 11:10. Full flight, and no window seat for me. It ended up being really fun though, because I was sitting next to the coolest lady. She was an older lady who had studied abroad in Germany when she was in college. And she lives in Virginia. By way of Haverhill, Massachusetts. And she was five months in to an eight month trip around the world. She had done a month and a half of teaching English in China, and then her husband had joined her and they did the Trans-Siberian Railway to Scandanavia, then down through Denmark, to Germany, Greece, Italy and Switzerland. She and her husband were then flying to Guatemala. So cool.

We landed on time, but flights were massively delayed getting out of Newark. After taking about an hour and a half to get through the Custom's lines (I got stamped back into America, which I thought was a little weird- and he stamped over my Ireland stamp. Loser), my flight was delayed by two hours. Not so hot. Then once we finally boarded, we had to wait on the plane for a few hours. Needless to say, I did not get the meatball sub and diet coke that I was craving. Ashby, Troy and Jes picked me up at the airport, and we were forced to Pepsi-providing Applebee's. It was really good though, so I shouldn't complain. I did, however, manage to leave my wallet there. Big fun.

So that was my getting home adventure. I left out the bouts of extreme cursing, but you get the gist. It's very good to be back in the states.

Exchange Rates:

$1=.68 Euro

1 Euro = $1.46

Last Day in Germany 12/9/07

So for the last three days, Amanda and I have been going to Christmas festivals right and left. We went to the one in Frankfurt, the one in Nürnberg, and the one in Marburg. Frankfurt was the best, Nürnberg was the oldest, and Marburg was by far the easiest to get to and from. While we (our friend Maya was there with us) were in Nürnberg we also got to go on a tour of the Courthouse where the Nazi Tribunals were held. That was quite interesting. I was really glad we got to see that.

In general, I find it very surreal that I will be going home tomorrow. I've really settled into life here (and into Amanda's room, thanks to the ResLife policy) and it seems strange to be going back to America. This has been a really positive experience, and I will be sad to see it end. It was so nice to be able to travel around Europe more or less at a whim. Not that I won't be traveling next semester, but it won't be the same as taking off to a country where you don't speak the language with just your best friend. Kinda empowering. It will be amazing to be back in the states and able to see everyone though. Mixed feelings, I guess.

But they're generally good feelings all around. I have very few regrets regarding this trip, which seems to be the best way to come out of it.

Things I will miss: Amanda, Traveling, Pretzels, IUSP, My Economic Policy Tutor, Exploring, Having a Kitchen, Miss Ericka Weissenbeuhler, Maya B, Obsessing over the Exchange Rate (though I suppose I can still do that), German Toothpaste (but I bought a stash), Kids Movies in German, Kneeling Busses, Taking a Nap every day, Capitalizing Nouns, European Money, and, well, Europe in General.

Things I will not miss: Reslife in Germany, Lack of Campus, Lack of Extra-Curriculars, Trains Breaking down, Traveling with Fußball fans (before and after the game), Poorly-behaved children without parental guidance, Busses that only come once an hour in the rain, Sunday closing laws, having no freaking idea what's going on in my classes until I get to the tutorial, Excessive Smoking, Getting to and from Ryanair, Communicating across the Atlantic, and Time Differences.

And then there was one. 12/6/07

Well, I'm down to one final and one class. Yesterday I had a Jewish Life presentation, which I think went relatively well. There were a few questions that I didn't know the answers to at the end, but I was reporting on International Jewish Organizations that are assisting with the Jewish Revival in Former Soviet Countries. There's not actually a ton of literature on that. Oh well.

Then this morning I had an Economic Policy final. My first ever oral exam. That was stressful. I think it went pretty well, except that I mixed up common goods and public goods at the end. He didn't even ask me about my favorite method for internalizing technological effects (it's tradable rights to damage through certificates, by the way... it's the best one). He asked me about negotiations, which isn't as interesting and only works on a small scale anyway.

Later on today I have my Finance final. We shall see. So in and amongst all these lovely finals, I've had to do fun things like de-matriculate and whatnot. One of the things I have yet to do is have my house mother check my room so that I can go and get my deposit back. And guess what? After she checks my room, I can't live in it anymore. And guess what else? I leave Marburg at 7:00 AM on Monday, and she only works on the weekdays. I am effectively homeless (i.e. will be sleeping on Amanda's floor). Later on, when I do lists of things that I will and will not miss, reslife policies will be going on the latter. Oh well, off to study for finance.

Exchange Rates:

.67 Euro = $1

1 Euro = $1.46.

Sweet. I get to change my money tomorrow!

Not only did we make it there, but we made it back too 12/3/07

In thirteen hours. Projected time to get back? Eight-ish hours. So what were the hold-ups, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

First, since it was Sunday, there was a limited shuttle service to the airport, so we had to leave the hostel two and a half hours before our flight left. The shuttle took all of 20 minutes. That was actually okay though, because I got some Jewish Life homework done. Really rough flight (I slept through it anyway) with a group of, shall we say, dipstick boys who dinged the flight attendants every two and a half minutes. Still, this is all fairly reasonable.

Until we land. It's so windy in Frankfurt (Hähn) that the plane is moving on the ground, and it's drizzling too. Basically a miserable day. So we get off the plane and walk towards the building, only to be stopped outside in a ridiculous line. Our flight was detained by passport inspection, and instead of working it out so that we could at least be indoors, we were stuck outside in the elements. Not the nice ones, either. So half an hour later, we finally get our passports checked. By this point, I'm relatively annoyed, and the nice passport checker person making fun of my German language skills did not really help. But he seemed to have a good sense of humor, so I belayed the minor hissy fit that they soooo deserved. As it turns out, we were left out in the cold because Ireland and the UK do not have the full EU Mobility that Amanda and I have grown to know and love. We're planning on writing a protest letter.

Anyway, this lovely adventure caused us to miss our bus, and have to wait another hour or so. This was followed by a two hour bus ride, only to find that we had missed our train to Marburg by mere minutes. So we had another 45 minutes of waiting. And an hour long train ride. Followed by a bus ride. Might I just say that as much as I love traveling (and I do), it will be quite nice to go back to the half-hour rides to Richmond, followed by the hour and a half flight that does not require a passport, followed by an hour drive home. That will be nice. Absolutely loved Ireland though!

Early Morning Thoughts 12/1/07

This was written at 4:23 this morning on my economic policy notebook, which was the only thing within easy reach at the time. "The older gentleman sleeping diagonally below me snores. A lot. To the exclusion of my sleep. This bites." Just wanted to share. Today was an awesome day, but we're going to go watch Beowolf (in English) in a little while, so I'll have to write about it later.

We made it to Ireland! 11/30/07

Things are looking up already. Though it looked gloomy when we missed one of our connections, we still had enough time to get to the airport and after a relatively smooth flight (the flight attendant yelled at me because my camera was on during landing) to Ireland. Our Hostel is quite cute, and the bunk beds don't squeak when you touch them, so all is well in that department. We pretty much dropped our stuff and went exploring, since we still had most of the day.

Killarney is fairly small, so we were able to do a lot of the center of town (which boasts 25+ bars in a 400-yard radius). It was actually sunny for parts of the day, i.e. not during one of the four separate rainstorms that we walked through. Ireland is a very thrilling place, and I'll tell you why.

Every other country we've been in: Coca Cola Light.

Ireland: Diet Coke. Not like in the States, but better. I heart Ireland.

So we walked around for a while and the we took a lovely walk though the Killarney National Park to the Ross Castle, Caislean An Rois in Irish, (at which point the sky opened up and poured) and then went back into town for a traditional Irish meal. By the way, did I mention that we came to Ireland for International Bailey's Day? We ate at Murphy's Pub (I had roast lamb... excellent, just so you know) and then we received complimentary shots of Bailey's Toffee Liquor. Tomorrow we're going on a bus tour of the Ring of Killarney. It should be quite beautiful, except that there's going to be a windstorm and showers. Oh well, we'll dry off eventually. Like back in the States.

Exchange Rates:

$1.46=1 Euro

$1.00=.68 Euro

Off Again 11/27/07

I am down to thirteen days left in Europe. In addition to a three day trip to Ireland (everyone get your fingers crossed and keep them crossed for the next week) I have a day trip to Nuremburg and a day trip to Frankfurt planned. Plus you know, 11 hours of Economic Policy, 10 hours of Jewish Life and four hours of Finance and their respective exams/40 minute presentations. And packing. And deregistering with the city. And meeting with the people in charge of my program. And ResLife. And the House mother. Excuse me while I go bury my head under a pillow and go to sleep for the next thirteen days. Haha, just kidding. it will be fun. Much better than the 17.5 (!!!) hours that I have to spend in transit between Marburg and Richmond. On the way over they showed House on the plane... I hope that it's not the same episodes. Wish us luck on getting to Ireland!!!

Frankfurt and Buchenwald 11/25/07

Well, France didn't work out. Life goes on. Amanda and I decided to go to Frankfurt for a day of shopping on Friday and to Weimar on Saturday. Friday, it rained. We went anyway. And, like the mall-deprived people we have become, were completely over-stimulated by the flashing lights, pretty colors and, well, stuff. So in four hours of shopping we bought... lunch. I got a Christmas gift, and she got a pair of tennis shoes. Fairly unproductive overall. On the way back though, we made a discovery.

When my dad came over, on the way back from the airport, we took the wrong train. Well, as it turns out, we didn't. There were two trains that were connected and then broke apart at Gießen. We were just on the wrong part of the train. We were quite impressed with ourselves for finally figuring this out.

On Saturday we got up and left for Weimar at 7:43. We got to Weimar around 1:00 PM, and had lunch at Subway. Closest I've come to a real diet coke in three and a half months. I don't know how Subway managed to avoid the crap "Coca Cola Light" taste, but it was much more satisfying. The bus to Buchenwald, which was a concentration camp, only came once every two hours, so we had to wait until around 2:30 to get there. Once there, we hit the highlights, because it closes at dark. We were really lucky because it was the first clear, sunny day (freezing) day in ages, and we got to the memorial right at sunset. The memorial is the largest in Germany and was quite stunning. I'll include a link to pictures at the bottom.

Then, from 4:30 PM to midnight, we tried to get home. We took the wrong train and ended up with hour or 45 minute layovers everywhere. So we ended up traveling around 13 hours for 2 hours at the camp. I thought that it was worth it. Amanda lost her phone on the way back, but whoever found it has contacted her, so that's good. All in all, a good weekend!

Exchange rates: $1=.67 Euro, 1 Euro=$1.48.

Photos: http://rmc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011041&l=b59ec&id=81900905

So not so much on that whole France thing. 11/22/07

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I had hoped to say that from France, but no such luck. Here's what happened. Well, we had seven train connections to make, beginning at 4:11 in the morning and ending where we pick up the bus at 8:00. First train, great. Second train swell. Fast forward to the fifth train. There was a mysterious accident. We don't know what happened. I think it blew up. Enter: Bus ride to other train station, followed by a 60 Euro taxi ride, only to discover that we missed the bus by around five minutes. These things happen. To have taken a taxi to the airport would have been another 170 Euro (approximately) bringing our total cost to around 300 Euro before we even got there. So we came back here. And fell asleep. Waking up at 3:00 in the morning tends to take it out of you.

Exchange Rates: Have not changed since last night.

Going to France! 11/21/07

It is now 9:30 in the evening, and in just six short hours, Amanda and I will be leaving our apartment to spend something like eight hours traveling to France. We're going to Montpellier, which is the fifth largest city in France (according to their website... since it's not listed on maps as a major city, we're not sure if we're buying it). It's quite exciting. Today in conversation class we had to fill out withdrawal from the University papers. My goodness. I only have a little over three more weeks here. Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. And there is a ton of stuff to do before I leave. We're going to Ireland next weekend and then the weekend after that we're going to Nuremburg and Frankfurt for the world-renowned Christmas festivals. They're really supposed to be quite something. And around all that, I have to pack (:-/), de-register with the city, meet with my house mother, get my housing deposit back, and, well, pass my classes. Should be a busy couple of weeks. Anyway, Bon Voyage!

Exchange rates: $1=.67 Euro 1 Euro = $1.48

This is pathetic (until I come home and get to change my euros for American bucks. Then it will be okay).

From Sun to Snow 11/16/07

I can't even describe how much I miss Barcelona right now. We spent more time on the beach, had great food, and I got to go to the Maritime Museum and the Picasso Museum. Absolutely gorgeous. We got on the plane in tee-shirts and sunglasses, only to be greeted in Germany by rain, wind and extreme cold. It snowed the next day, and has snowed twice more since then. A bit insane.

Amanda and I have planned two more trips before I get home. The first is to Montpellier, France. We're flying there and spending two nights in a hotel. Total cost: 50 Euro. This will be next weekend. The weekend after that we're flying to Ireland and staying in Killarney for two nights. Total cost: again, 50 euro. It's quite hard to beat that.

This weekend is going to be a lazy weekend, which is pretty awesome. I haven't had one in a while, and I'm pretty excited about it. Yesterday I got my hair cut, and it looks amazing. Ericka did a really, really good job on it.

Exchange Rates:

$1=.68 Euro
1 Euro=$1.47

Ouch!

Hola! (Approximately the amount of Spanish I know) 10/8/07

One ten minute cab ride. Two one hour train rides. Standing around for 45 minutes. A one hour and ten minute bus ride. Standing around for 45 minutes. A two hour flight. Standing around for an hour because the bus was late. And an 80 minute bus ride later.... we made it to the Hostel. In Barcelona. Heck yeah. I'm with Ericka, Nick and Jessica and so far, I love it. Yesterday we explored some, found dinner, and pretty much crashed from all the traveling. Today we got up, walked through the city center and spent something like three hours on the beach in the sun. It was gorgeous. I may have a sunburn. More to come later, I just wanted to let everyone know that we got here okay.

Exchange Rates: $1=.68 European cents 1 Euro = $1.46

Dad, Köln and the power of Visas. 11/6/07

It's been about a week since I last blogged. On Thursday my dad came over. Despite a few problems (like luggage theft) his flights went pretty smoothly. He claims that it is because on both Icelandic Air flights, he put money in the available envelopes for crippled Icelandic children who want to travel. Good karma.

We got back to Marburg in the evening and got dinner, unpacked (Thank you for the presents Mum, Grammie and Aunt Beth!) and more or less went to bed. The next day we walked around Marburg (we went to the castle and the old city and did most of the touristy stuff). Unfortunately for my dad, we were unable to find much by way of hardware stores. We did look though. The next day we went to Köln to see the chocolate museum and the Dom, which is an incredibly large cathedral. The last time my dad and I were in Europe together, we climbed to the top of St. Pauls Cathedral in London. This time we did the Domin Köln. 509 steps. I'm not sure how much my legs really appreciated this tradition. On Sunday he flew out again, and I got to do homework and go to a tutorial at night.

And then yesterday came the genius realization. As of this coming Saturday, I'll have been in Germany for 3 months. And I have not gotten my residential visa yet. And the office is closed on Tuesday. And I'll be in Barcelona on Saturday! Oh no, oh no! I could be detained in Spain! (Totally my fault, by the way). So I contacted the people in charge of my program, and 14 worry-filled hours later, they called back to say that they had gotten an exception for me and I could go get my Visa today. I am now legally in Germany. Yay! What a good day. Off to Barcelona tomorrow at 5:00 AM! Exchange Rates: $1=.68 Euro 1 Euro = $1.44

Happy Halloween/Birthday!

Happy birthday Ben! (Ben is my brother) Actually, today is my culture class professors' birthday as well. So.

Zum Geburtstag viel Gluck! Zum Geburtstag viel Gluck! Zum Geburtstag Ben and Klaas! Zum Geburtstag viel Gluck!

Halloween isn't very big in Germany. I saw maybe three small children in costume, and I've only heard of one party. A few stores had decorations for sale, but that's about it. One wonders where children trick-or-treat. Not a terribly exciting night. Except for the fact that my Dad will be here tomorrow! That's very exciting. We're going to do lots of fun stuff, and he's bringing me American gourmet (Ritz and Goldfish). Apparently Germans haven't discovered the tasty snack that smiles back until you bite its head off. It's quite sad.

Today was my eight hour day. Going into this semester, it looked like I was just going to have one day of classes. Well I thought that would be boring, so I added a Jewish Life in Eastern Europe class. Then we figured out that my schedule was wrong, and Finance meets on Monday and Tuesday. Couple that with my German conversation course and the English tutorials and all of a sudden I have class four days a week. And eight hours today.

I must say, I did have the best class today that I've had since we started real classes. In Jewish Life I got to explain the predator-prey cycle to Germans. I was relating it to soviet repression of Jewish pride. Then we got to illustrate it. It was quite fun. Alas, I must go do homework. For some reason if I write blogs from my computer they don't seem to post with several paragraphs. I don't care for that. Anyway.

Exchange rates 1 Euro=$1.45 $1=.67

Gone to Berlin 10/28/07

Well. First off, Berlin is not as far away as I thought. It's only three and a half hours away by train, which is way cool. The first night we unpacked and walked around as a group as a way to get oriented. We ended up at a very cool Mexican restaurant (I miss you Teca!!!) for dinner and it was quite delicious. Then we walked around for a while more and eventually found our way back to the Hostel (which is entirely Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). We decided to watch a movie as well, since it was relatively early. V for Vendetta. Still love it.

The next day (Friday) our Lehrer, Klaas, took us on a four hour walking tour of the city. We saw Checkpoint Charlie (I got a fake East Germany stamp in my passport... it was exciting) and we saw the Reichstag etc. The weather was pretty crappy all weekend-always just on the verge of rain- but it was still pretty nice. After the official tour ended, Ericka, Nick and I just wandered for another couple of hours, stopping at anything that looked interesting. Then I took a nap for a little bit before dinner. Around seven we went out for Italian. After that it really did start raining, but Ericka wanted to find a Salsa club, so we ended up walking way far across town. And never found what we were looking for. Apparently the 'Berlin Party Map' is a tad bit deceiving. It doesn't do a good job distinguishing between bars and clubs. Oh well. We did find a Ben and Jerry's. That was way cool. We came back and crashed in a major way.

The next day we planned to go to the Jewish Museum, which was really quite cool. There were no right angles anywhere in the building. Ceilings, walls and the floor all slanted in some way, and it was designed in the shape of a zig-zag. It was a pretty cool museum, though they glossed over some things in fairly major ways. Like the Holocaust. That got one corner of one zig in the zig-zag. Ericka and I both thought that we had missed something, so we each backtracked to see. Nope. They glossed over the Holocaust in the Jewish Museum. Oh well. After that we walked around for a while longer. We went to the Sony Center where there was a big party for Kinder Chocolates' 40th Anniversary, and to Legoland.

In the evening several of us, including Klaas, decided to go to a South African restaurant. Well, we got lost twice on the way (oops) and they couldn't seat us togerther anywhere but on couches (which was a little awkward to eat) and the wait was incredibly long. But it was some of the best food I have ever had. I got roast beef and vegetables, which included tomatoes, potatoes and Mangos. It was delicious! And the prices were pretty reasonable too. Maya was sitting next to me and she got pumpkin mango nut soup. That was really really good as well. And I tried antelope... all around, the food was amazing. I now need to go to South Africa. I got icecream at the end... it tasted like cake batter. Soooo good. It was such a perfect way to end the trip. I loved it. After that I came back and went to bed (it was like, midnight-thirty by the time we got back). Such a good trip.

Berlin Favorites:

Traffic lights in East Germany

South African Food

Giant Lego Giraffes

Lots of other stuff too, but we have to leave...

Today 10/23/07

Got an early start today. Kim Cressy (from the office of international education) sent me and Amanda packages, and we had to go to the office of international education here to pick them up. I was able to get several things straightened out there. My phone is now working again and I'll get my stipend tomorrow. Also, the academic director for IUSP was there, so I got to tell him in person that the schedule he gave me was wrong and that I ended up sitting through a very interesting lecture on growth and development (if only I understood more of the German) instead of my finance class. I've now missed three class sessions of Finance, and I'm stressing out about it. I'd like to thank Kim for the package. It was very thoughtful. She sent candy and shells and used popcorn as packing peanuts. All this stuff and the school newspaper, which was... enlightening.

Same depressing exchange rate. On a positive side, my Dad is coming soon...

The Great Library Adventure 10/18/07

Now I know that this is a topic that is important to everyone. Is the Dewy Decimal System universal? I still have no idea. The library system... not so easy here. Each faculty has it's own library. If you want to check out a book, you have to go to the main library and tell a computer that you want it. Then you have to wait a few days while someone goes and finds it and reserves it for you. Students aren't allowed near the actual stacks. Only very special mole-people on skateboards are (or so I've been told). If you just want to look at a book, you can go to whichever faculty library has it.

I am now taking a Jewish Life in Eastern Europe class, and I have some reading to do before next week, so I went to the appropriate library (located on the 7th floor of a building that is charitably 30 minutes away from me) and had no idea what to do. So I talked to the nice guy at the desk, who told me that the book was not in the library. I think that he was spelling something wrong, because when I went and looked up the author and brought it back to him, he found it. So he wrote down the call number for me and told me that the book was one floor up. T-RU 135/1499. So I went to the T section. 10 minutes later, I had determined with relative certainty that the book was not there.

So I went downstairs and asked him what the deal was. Apparently T stands for Territories, and RU means Russian. So look in the Russian section. Okay, fine. I looked in the Russian section. Still a nope. Turns out that Russian and Russian Territories are actually in different parts of the floor. Sheesh. After I finally found the book, I read for a little while and got hungry (well at least I can find the book again) so Amanda and I went for about the best pizza ever. It was excellent. A good day, all around. And tomorrow is the ball!!!!! Yay!!!!!

Exchange rates: I'm too depressed to type it again.

My first day of classes! 10/16/07

Well, sorta. Let's consider that. After I finished my last blog and played around for a few more minutes (ate a pretzel and whatnot) I walked to class. It's really pretty here. Brisk, with the leaves changing and everything. Anyway, I get to class pretty early (especially since classes here that say that they start and end on the hour i.e. 2:00-4:00, actually go from quarter past to quarter to) and I wait around outside for a few minutes. And they're handing out free bags to all the econ people. The bags had business magazines and pens and paper in them. Gotta say, I like free stuff.

Anyway, I finally go into the lecture hall, which I think could fit all of Macon pretty comfortably, and find a seat. Well, half an hour or so later, people start walking out. Yes, the professor had ditched the first class of the semester. Apparently, that's pretty normal here, though, if I were teaching a class that met for six hours a day, I would probably try not to skip the first one. But that's just me. So I went home for an hour or so and came back out for my Economic Policy class, which was in the same room. This time the professor did show up, and even came up to me and talked to me before class. I asked him if he spoke English, and he figured out that I'm the "special" one in his class. He seemed like a pretty nice guy.

I was in over my head in that class. Somehow in nine weeks of intensive German I missed the crucial words for Economic Policy. Almost seems a little bit predictable. I was supposed to find my tutor somehow yesterday, so I waited around for a little bit, but none of the 150 or so other students looked particularly likely, and no one came up to me, so I left. Hopefully, tomorrow I can get his/her email address from Klaas, who is the academic director of the IUSP program.

Exchange Rates:

1 Euro = $1.42

$1.00 = .69 Euro

This is depressing.

On to Economics 10/15/07

Well, today is the big day. It started with the second half of my language class test and will continue with all my other classes. Just to put everyones mind at ease, I did pass my German language class. Yay! I got an 81 on the written part and an 84 on the spoken part. It could have been better, but I didn't study at all, figuring that I would do relatively well and that the grades don't factor into my GPA at home. I think that I did relatively well, so I'm not complaining.

Now for the fun part. In roughly 48 minutes I begin my Finance class. In German. Then I have a brief break before my Economic Policy class. In German. Then I have no break before four more hours of Finance. Still in German. I am going to be so brain dead at the end of the day that it will probably take at least two of my six days off to recover. Once again, I'm not complaining.

I am trying to add another class though. I don't have a ton of options, unfortunately, so we'll see what happens. It would be nice to knock out another requirement while I'm here. We shall see.

And now for the best news ever! I have the internet in my room! Thank you Amanda! No more half-hour commutes to the library in order to check my email. Score!

Exchange Rates:
The same as last time I posted.

The Halfway Point 10/11/07

I have now reached (and passed) the half-way point of my stay in Marburg, Germany. So I thought that I would do a review of what I like and don't like so far. Those are always amusing.

Likes:
Pretzels! Getting mail. Learning German. Free time. Bakeries. Living in an apartment without a meal plan. Traveling all over the place. Sweden. My new friends. Ballet flats (in all the colors of the rainbow). Cheap air-fare. Busses. Wildflowers. Gelati. Trains. Churches. Beautiful Skylines.

Dislikes:
The exchange rate. The lack of syllabi. The lack of one-stop shopping (but I'm getting over that one). Trying to communicate and organize things in the US over email. The time difference. No personal internet. Spelling. Graffiti.

Alright, obviously I have more of both, but I'm okay with accepting those lists and moving on to what's been going on lately. This is my last week of German language class and German Culture class, although I think that I will enroll in another language class if I can find one that doesn't conflict with my schedule too much. Speaking of my schedule, a few posts ago I mentioned that I had class one day a week. Well, I thought that I could probably handle a little bit more (well I could probably handle a few days more, but that's not really an option) so I will be adding another class, Roman Portraits. Now I'll have class on Monday and Tuesday. Ooh la la. It looks like Roman Portraits might fufill part of my art/literature requirement though, so I'm not about to complain (yet... we'll see what happens when I start the class).

Tomorrow is my language test, so I'm going to go study with Ericka, Nick and Jessica tonight. Beyond that, I'm going to take a nap this afternoon, since we don't have culture class today. No complaints on that one either.

Exchange Rates:
$1= € .70
€1= $1.41
Did I mention that I dislike the exchange rate? Good.

Oktoberfest! 10/7/07

It was 3:00 in the morning and my alarm was ringing. I'm not going to lie, it's really hard to get out of a warm bed that early in order to sit on a train for five hours. But I did. When I got to the train station, about half of the group was already there (one girl was already completely wasted from the party she had just left) and we had to wait outside because the train station doors didn't open until 4:00. It was fun. And cold.

Most of us were able to sleep on the train (well, except for the drunk girl, who was busy throwing up, and the three guys who decided to start drinking then) and the ride went pretty quickly. We got to Münich around 10:00 and headed to Oktoberfest, which was set just outside of the city. I slipped and fell on a tomato. It was pretty classic.

Oktoberfest is a lot like a state fair or a carnival. Except for the 12 or 14 giant buildings dedicated to beer, they have the same rides and games and all that fun stuff. So our group picked a tent and got in line to wait. Well, someone bumped me really hard and then said 'Sorry.' It took me a second, but I finally figured out that Sorry is not actually German, so I turned around and started talking to the girl behind me.

She seemed pretty nice, and at one point commented on my RA sweatshirt, saying that she too was an RA. We were in line for another half hour or so, and after a while it was really warm, so I took off my sweatshirt, and I was wearing an Alpha Gam shirt under it. Turns out that this girl is an Alpha Gam too. After we commented on how small the world was, she said that she hadn't been as active with Alpha Gam lately because she had a position in her Community Service Fraternity. APO. Which I'm also in. And we both went to the National Convention in Louisville last January. It was way cool.

Anyway, we finally got into the building, only to find that there was (predictably) no where to sit and an incredible amount of smoke everywhere. So Ericka, Nick, Alex and I decided not to stay too long. It was really cool to be there, but we wanted to see the rest of Oktoberfest and Münich as well.

Between Oktoberfest and exploring Münich, we probably walked around for around eight hours. It's a really nice city - pretty clean and things were easy to find. The food was really good too, and they had giant pretzels (I was soo happy). But we couldn't leave Münich until 8:30 because of our group tickets. So we went to see Ratatouille in German. It was so much fun, and movies for kids are right about at my German level. Well... they're still ahead of me, but these were some pretty expressive rats, so we had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Overall, Münich was really fun. The five hour ride home with all the loud drunk people, not so much, but it averaged out to be a really good day. Walking around with Ericka, Nick and Alex was great, and it will be so much fun to go to Barcelona with them. Quite smashing. And I don't just mean all the beer bottles that broke on the train.

Exchange Rates:
$1= €.70
€1= $1.41

American Food 10/2/07

Dear Loyal Blog Readers,

I'm going to Spain! I just booked tickets and the hostel yesterday, and it is going to be incredibly cheap. I'm going with two of the other people in my program, Ericka and Nick, and we're staying for four nights in Barcelona. Round trip plane tickets were .02 euro plus taxes, so around 25 euro total. The hostel is 17.50 euro per night, so the entire trip is going to start at around 110 euro. Then we add food and presents and whatnot, and this is still way cheap. It's amazing.

Tonight I hung out with Ericka in Studentindorf, which is the dorm that's about as far away from mine as it's possible to be. She is a Mormon, and she was cooking for some of the missionaries here in Marburg, so I came and helped. We had tacos and nachos and cookies. It was sooo much fun, and really yummy.

And my dad is coming to Germany!!! For the first weekend in November. I'm so excited. Tomorrow is Oktoberfest, and I'm excited about that too. Things are just going pretty well in general.

Exchange Rates

One dollar = .695 Euro

One Euro =1.42 dollars

We made it back! 10/2/07

Approximately nine and a half hours after leaving our hotel in Milan (at 4:00 in the morning), Amanda and I arrived safely home at our dorm. This means that not once did we go to the wrong airport, get on the wrong train, miss the bus, or do any other semi-stupid things. Clearly our trip planning skills are improving by leaps and bounds.

On Saturday in Milan we got up and went to this giant marketplace. They had everything there. It was like going to Chinatown in New York, except that everything was in tents that were in quite close proximity to one another and on both sides of an aisle. So it was very difficult to move. We managed it though, and came back with some very cool stuff (most of it is presents, so I won't elaborate). After more pizza, we headed to the castle in Milan, where we were accosted by fake-purse salespeople. Since purses were the one thing that we were really keeping our eyes out for but had been unable to find, we were thrilled. I bought a black 'Prada' for 20€. Not too bad, considering that the starting price was 75€. The castle was pretty cool, but by the time we were done with it, we were both pretty exhausted. So we ate dinner and called it a relatively early night.

Tomorrow is the Day of German Unity, which is when the Berlin Wall fell and East and West Germany were reunited. The treaty to ratify wasn't signed until December, but we'll overlook that. Most people have class off tomorrow, but not me. Since we are still able to get into the building, we're having class. A concession was made however; Andres has said that we can have a party. So later on, I'm baking a cake for the party. Right now, I'm going to culture class to learn more about Germany today.

I'm not sure if I will be able to blog again for a few days, so if I can't, Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Exchange Rates:
$1= € .69
€1= $ 1.42

This just keeps getting better and better.

Greetings From Milan! 9/28/07

Well, we made it. Nine hours of travel to get to Milan, but we're here. The reservations were, in fact, for the correct year, thank you very much, and we got to the correct airport at the correct time. Already this trip is a complete success.

Funny conversation with Amanda on the plane. Ryanair advertises all throughout the cabin for alcohol and whatnot. It's why the flights are so cheap. Me: Did you know that Bourbon is only Bourbon if it comes from Kentucky? Amanda: Yeah, I think Eric or Troy told me that. Me: I wonder what Kentucky had to do to get that distinction. Amanda: I think that it has something to do with the twigs that are involved. Me: ... Because most alcohols intimately involve twigs. We giggled. The timing was spot on.

So our hotel room is awesome and has free wifi! Milan is pretty nice. We started the morning by going to the Doumo, which is the massive cathedral that you see in the pictures. We then climbed up and walked on the roof (246 steps... I counted). It was absolutely amazing. I wish that I could say the same for the Museum of Science and Technology. It's supposed to be really interactive, but you have to book it with a big group. So the interactive stuff was off limits and the layout was rather confusing. Tonight we walked and window-shopped in a large shopping district. Haven't bought anything yet though. Tomorrow morning we're planning on going to a huge marketplace. The food is amazing. I love Italian pizza and gelati! I did try a cocktail. It was a passion 51, which involves rum, pineapple, lime and sugar. Not liking rum or pineapple, this was perhas not the best drink for me, but I don't speak Italian, so I didn't really know what was in it until it appeared in front of me. It was okay. I'll try to do another blog tomorrow! Ciao!

Happy... Tuesday! 9/25/07

One of the things that I love about Germany is that when I go into a store, I'm never quite sure what I'm going to find. For the most part, I have a general idea and maybe a few specific things in mind, but there are always interesting things to find. For example:

Last night I went to Aldi, which is a grocery store near my apartment, for milk and peanuts. Peanuts are very cheap here. Well, i found the milk and I found the peanuts and I also found BOOTS! I got a pair of purple suede high-heeled boots for only €8. Buying more shoes was bound to happen at some point, but I do love it when the shoes are not only absolutely adorable, but also extremely affordable. And maybe I'll be less inclined to look at shoes in Milan on Thursday.

Beyond that, there hasn't been too much excitement in the last few days. In my language class we are learning about the Dative. If you don't know what that is, I wouldn't worry, you and I are probably on just about the same page. I understand how to use it, but I'm not really sure what it is. And having what it is explained to me in German hasn't been as helpful as I might have hoped. When I'm done with this, I think I'll go on Google and see what it says.

Exchange Rates:
$1= €.70
€1=$1.40

Good Morning Baltimore! 9/23/07

Well, the European Central Bank was so much fun. Security rivaled most of the major airports I've been in - they even made us take off any silver jewelry that we had. I set off the alarm, so I got to spend around 10 minutes trying to convince this nice lady that I had not acually sewed a bomb into my pants. It was great fun. Then we got refreshments and little pads of paper and pencils and an hour and a half lecture on monetary policy in the European Union. I thought that it was quite interesting. Most of the other people were clearly struggling to stay awake, but oh well. I liked it. Afterwards we had half an hour to wander back to the bus. So what did we do? Well, Nick, Erica and I took pictures with the giant Euro symbol (this thing was at least three stories tall) and then got lost on the way back to the bus. That was fairly predictable. We did eventually manage to find it though, so I suppose that all's well that ends well.

Yesterday I went to see my first German movie. Amanda and I saw an evening showing of Hairspray! It was so much fun - easily my favorite John Trovolta movie. The dubbing wasn't too bad, thankfully, but a lot of the sexual innuendo got lost in translation. The songs were kept in English, so that made the movie a lot easier to follow. Needless to say, I've listened to the entire soundtrack a whole bunch of times since last evening. And now I must research fun things to do in Milan next weekend!

Exchange Rates:

€1= $ 1.40
$1=€ .70
Man. This kinda stinks. Oh well.

Wow. It's been a long time... 9/20/07

I know it's been a while since I last blogged, but it's been very busy here. Every day I have a language class from 9:00 to 12:45 and then a culture class for two or three hours in the afternoon. Since the culture class is scheduled to go until at least 5:00 three or four nights a week, I have to balance blogging time with say, grocery shopping. But, fear not loyal readers, I have a (now) funny story.

Two nights ago, Amanda and I decided that we could conceivably take another four day trip next weekend, as long as we left in the afternoon or evening on Thursday and didn't have to skip the morning class. Well, she had a test the next day, so she put everything in my hands (including picking the destination). After the learning experiences of the last trip, I was very, very careful. And here's what I came up with. We're flying out of Frankfurt to Milan next Thursday evening. I don't even have to skip my culture course. There's a shuttle that takes us directly from the airport to the center of town, and our hotel provides a map of where it is with regard to where the bus drops us off. I triple-checked the dates, and the hotel is booked for the right nights. So lets talk prices.

Two Round-trip plane tickets: €130
Two Round-trip Shuttle passes from the Airport to Downtown: €29
Three Nights in a highly-rated Hotel: €195
The peace of mind of knowing that I checked all these things so many freaking times that I memorized all of this: Priceless

So I go home and I'm all excited to tell Amanda about all of this, and she's all excited too, because this is a really good deal. And then she says the magic (and hateful) words. "You know that there are two Frankfurt's in Germany, right? The airport we're flying out of is the right one, right?" !!!??? Well, you can guess what happened.

There were, perhaps, a few curses and a little bit of shared panic, until we pulled out Amanda's gigantic map and tracked down all th airports near either one. And it turns out that I did not screw this up. We do not have to first travel to the border of Poland before flying to Milan. Yay for not screwing up! And yay for Milan!

Then, as it turns out, Ryanair is offering a travel special in October. Flights to and from Spain are around a dollar, and then all on has to pay are the fees. So we're thinking that we will definitely be taking advantage of that. Barcelona, here we come.

Exchange Rates:
$1=€.72
€1=$1.39

That is... less than happy, if I do say so myself. Oh well, maybe they'll improve in the next few weeks.