Bremen and Hamburg

Bremen and Hamburg

 

Last weekend, I went to visit Steph in Bremen. Although the train ride was tough (10 hours with a 4 hour layover at the Frankfurt train station), I had a great time. It was awesome seeing Steph again!

 

Bremen is, in many ways, a lot different than Tuebingen. To begin with, it’s a lot bigger than Tuebingen with almost 550,000 people instead of like 80,000. Even though it has a pretty sizeable population, the layout of the city prevented it from appearing that big. Until I looked up Bremen’s population on the Internet, I was going to guess that it would be about the same size as Wurzburg (it has about 200,000 people). The architecture is also a little different in northern Germany. The Altstadt (the old city) seems to be built in a much more gothic style than any of the buildings found in Tuebingen; they are much more imposing than Tuebingen’s historic buildings since they are mostly made out of wood.  While Steph showed me the Altsadt, we actually did not go into too many buildings. After my train ride, I was wiped out so we mostly toured the shopping district and looked at the outdoor market. I was really glad that I brought my northface, however, because it is still really cold in Northern Germany. It rains a lot still in Tuebingen and it can get a little cool but it still feels like it’s winter in Bremen.

 

Hamburg

 

On Saturday, we took the train to Hamburg. It’s about two hours away from Bremen. While I felt Bremen to be a small city, Hamburg seemed almost a little too big for me. It has over a million people.  I was glad that Steph knew where she was going (she went to Hamburg last year) because I would have gotten completely lost if left to my own devices.

 

The first place we visited was the art museum. This particular museum is apparently very famous in Germany and I can see why; they have a lot of great exhibits (almost too many. I think we were there for 2 hours and we only saw the 19^th century and modern art exhibit. There were so many others!) While the modern art gallery was interesting, I really enjoyed the 19^th century art. They had some Monet, Manet, and even some Picasso. They also had quite a few paintings from Casper David Friedrich, including his most famous ones “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” and “The Sea of Ice”. I actually bought a poster of one of his works at the gift shop but unfortunately I accidentally left it with Steph; I will have to get it back from her sometime!  I’m bringing back so much artwork back from Germany that I don’t know what I’m going to do with it all…

 

After we left the art museum, we walked around the city for a while and looked at the Rathaus (town hall) and a few churches. Hamburg was the victim of an air attack in WWII so one of the churches we looked at was, for the most part, destroyed. It is now a memorial rather than a church. The other famous church in Hamburg was also closed for reconstruction when we visited. The put up pictures of what it looked like without all the ladders, dirt, etc but it wasn’t really the same thing. After walking around the city for a while, we ended up crashing at a park that overlooks the river. All in all it was a very relaxing day.

                                     

On Sunday, I left for home (which was another 10 hour train ride) and I actually talked with a few people on the train. It is a lot easier to speak German with northern Germans because they do not use the “slang” German that most people use out here. I’ve been told that it is much easier to learn German in the north and I can see why; they speak exactly like the write. People in the south throw i all sorts of slang and even some swabish into the mix                    

 

Other than my visit to Northern Germany, everything has been pretty routine; I go to class, do my homework, and try to go to some extracurricular activities in order to meet some more Germans. I actually tried belly dancing last week (my friend really wanted to try it) and I’ve discovered (so surprising really) that I really suck. I can’t seem to just move one part of my body….When I try to move my hips, my whole body goes with it. The teacher laughed at me. I don’t think I’ll be trying out for any dancing auditions any time soon

Classes

First Week of Classes

 I’m so confused about the German university system that it is not even funny. I had my first class on Monday, which at the time I thought went ok. It all went downhill from there. During my ethics course, I was told by my professor that there was a online site with all the readings posted on it. I asked him and other people in my class more than once how to find this place and no one was particularly helpful. Instead I went to library to see if I could copy my readings from the actual books and emailed my Mentor to see if she could help me find this particular webpage. The library was a success (after many trials and errors) and I set about trying to read my assignment. All in all I felt pretty good about myself on Tuesday afternoon

 

It took awhile for Carla to email me back because she said that there were multiple websites that the departments used to post readings and such. She wasn’t sure which one I needed so she couldn’t help me until I figured that out. I once again emailed my Professor asking him for help (he gave me the name of the site for once actually. Why he didn’t put this on his Syllabus I have no idea) and I figured out how to register for the site. Today I was able to finally access it and I had a panic attack. On the website he listed questions for the essays we are supposed to write. In class, I thought I heard that I had to write three and we could pick which ones we wanted to do. Well today I started second guessing myself and I wondered if perhaps I heard something wrong and that we were supposed to do one for each reading. I don’t even know how long the essays are supposed to be. I started to freak out because what if I have an essay due tomorrow and I have nothing to show for it. I can’t email him because he wouldn’t even get until tomorrow anyway. I’m so scared that I’m already messing up and I’m going to fail everything. I wrote short answers to all the questions in German to show him just in case but I know it won’t be good enough if an essay is due tomorrow. I don’t want him to think I’m lazy; I’m trying so hard but I just can’t seem to be able to figure anything out in the time I’m supposed to. I’m in way over my head and I haven’t even told you about my other theology class

 

My World Religion course is a Vorlesung, which means a straight lecture. I go to it on Thursday to find that my class is filled with really old people; most of them were between 60-70 years old. I wondered if I signed up for some adult education class until I saw a couple people my age walk in.  So the teacher gave us all an outline and began to talk about the subject matter. He spoke way to fast and I cold only understand a few things. I gave up half way through. I went home and translated the outline more thoroughly and I understood more but I was panicking because I didn’t think I could physically do this course. I emailed one of my RS teachers back home to see if I can be put in the World Religions course next semester; it was full so she put me on the waitlist. So now I think I have to take this course here because I need it to graduate and I’m not sure it is offered in the spring. I don’t know what to do….I’m beginning to wonder why I even thought I could do this.  I haven’t been homesick as of yet but right now all I want to do is go home. At least in the States everything makes sense. 

The Travel Adventures of Mom and I

Mom arrived last Friday and we spent a wonderful week touring the Southeast part of Germany. We not only visited the Hohenzollern castle, which is a half-hour away from Tuebingen, but we also visited Wurzburg, Rothenburg, Fussen, and Schloss Newschwanstein. It was such a wonderful week and it’s hard to believe that it’s already over. Mom left on her plane back to Phoenix today.  We did so much that some of it blurs together but I think I can give you a pretty good description of each of the places we visited.

           

Hohenzollern Castle

            After we drove to Tuebingen from Stuttgart, we decided to go see Schloss (Castle) Hohenzollern. It is a half-hour south from Tuebingen and it is the seat of  (you guessed it) the Hohenzollern family. This family came to power in the Middle Ages and ruled Prussia and Bradenburg until the end of WWI. Although by the time of WWI, they ruled all of Germany not just these two states; this is the family that produced the two German Kaisers.  The castle was originally built in the 11^th century but it was remodeled twice; once in the 15^th century and the last time between 1846 and 1867.

 

The family did not regularly occupy the castle until 1945 when Kaiser Wilhelm II’s son made it his home. Wilhelm II’s great grandson now inhabits the castle. It is still a privately owned building.

 

The Castle is a very majestic-looking place because it sits upon a high hill, which overlooks a small Hamlet on one side and a valley on the other. It would be a long way down if someone fell off the outer wall.  Although Mom and I took a tour of the inside of the place, they only offered tours in German so I only understood part of what he was saying. I translated what I could understand to Mom but unfortunately I’m not sure she really received a lot of historical information from this tour.

There are many special artifacts in this castle. They have, for instance, the crown of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s on display as well as some clothing and a schnuff box from Friedrich the Great. It also has a letter from Baron von Steuben to George Washington and Washington’s reply.  Baron von Steuben served in the Continental Army as a General during the Revolutionary War. The letter George Washington wrote to Von Steuben was his last letter during his time in office.

 

We also found a painting of Sophie Charlotte (I think that’s the name) in the Schloss. She was the wife of Frederick I of Prussia and she was the one who gave Ali (our Turkish ancestor) his freedom.

 

Wurzburg

 

            On Monday, mom and I traveled to Wurzburg. Through mom’s travel book we learned about the “Romantic Road” and decided to visit some of the cities on this trail. The road takes travelers through many old and beautiful towns and ends with the scenic views of the Alps and Schloss Neuschwanstein.

 

            Wurzburg is a very pretty town but it looked like a renaissance Italian city rather than a German one. It also has a very unique history. The inhabitants of Wurzburg were actually converted to Christianity in the 7^th century by Irish missionaries. The most famous one was named Kilian and he has a church today in Wurzburg that commemorates him. This church is the Wurzburg Cathedral (Dom). Although this structure was built in the 11^th century, it was redecorated by the succeeding generations; it was redone in the baroque and rococo style in the 18^th century. Unfortunately, most of the original church was destroyed during WWII but it was rebuilt to look exactly like it did before; it kept all of the same decorations etc. To be honest, I am not a big fan of this overdone type of artwork. Although the church is impressive (it really does look like an Italian Church), I’m not sure how anyone can pray in it. I would get distracted with all the artwork, marble, and gold decorations. Maybe they should have toned the church down when they were rebuilding instead of trying to recreate its past.

 

            There are many beautiful churches in Wurzburg because it was ruled by Bishop-Princes. This type of government only ended in the beginning of the 19^th century when it became part of the state of Bavaria.  These rulers were absolute in every sense of the word since they were both head of the church and the state-government. After visiting the Dom, mom and I were looking for another church on the map that was supposedly very close to the Dom. We were having trouble figuring out exactly where it was when an old woman approached us and asked (in German) what we were looking for; I told her and she said it was closed for construction and then asked if we had seen the Residence. The Residence is one of the palaces of the Bishop-Princes and is a very magnificent building right in the middle of town. I told the woman we had not seen the place yet so she took me by the arm and we walked (very slowly-I think she was in her 70’s at least) to the Residence. She then dropped mom and I off and went on her way. Although we had not planned to visit the palace until later that day, we decided not go back the way we came and to look at places around the Schloss rather than disappoint our tour guide.

 

            The Schloss is decorated in much the same manner as the church; it was completed in 1744. It was also partly destroyed in WWII (I think I remember the tour book saying that 80% of the city was destroyed during that time) but like the church, there has been much work done on restoring it to its former state.

 

The palace looks like it should belong in Italy. There are frescos painted on many of the ceilings and it also actually houses the biggest uninterrupted fresco in the world. The Sistine chapel has the largest fresco but it is also has stucco and plasterwork dotted throughout the work. The palace is very grand and has a huge marble staircase, many beautiful rooms (one is even decorated all in gold) and has very extensive grounds. Napoleon traveled to Wurzburg three times and stayed at the Residence. We were able to see the rooms in which he and his mistress slept in. In all honesty, I’m not sure I could do justice to the Residence in my attempts to describe it. I think it is better just to see it. That being said, I will post some pictures here as soon as mom uploads them onto the computer. The Residence is beautiful but in a very cold and remote way. It would never be a place that I would choose to live.

 

The next day, Mom and I spent the morning in the Market place and we vistied the Kappele and the Fortress Marienburg on our way out of town. The Kappele is a small baroque/rococo style Catholic Church that sits across from the Fortress. Although I don’t really remember the historical details about the place, it is a very beautiful sight. I think the alter was made out of gold (we didn’t stay long as there was a mass going on at the time). The Fortress sits on the hill across the way. It overlooks the entire town and the surrounding countryside. Mom and I didn’t tour the inside since we had to be on our way to Rothenburg but we did have a picnic on its grounds. It was a fort built in the 8^th century but was redone in the 17^th century by the Bishop-Princes.

 

All in all Wurzburg is a beautiful city although you need several days to do it justice. Mom absolutely loved the town and has instructed me to find a husband in Wurzburg so she, dad, and Piper can move there.

 

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

 

            Rothenburg was the next town on our list. It is a medieval town that, for the most part, has been perfectly preserved since the Middle Ages. After the thirty years war, time stood still there since both the population and the economy was destroyed. It was only rediscovered at the early part of the 20^th century and is apparently now a huge tourist site. Only about 40% of the town was destroyed during WWII so much of the town remained intact.

 

We stayed at one of the bed and breakfast places just inside the old wall. The old and new parts of the city are separated by the medieval town wall, which has withstood both the test of a time and an air-raid attack. Mom and I stayed at the top-floor in this little garret and it reminded us both of Cinderella. In truth, the whole town is like a fairy-tale with the old cobblestone streets, the Easter wreaths that are hung throughout the city, and the beautiful gardens.

 

            That night after we finished eating dinner at a local cavern, we went on a tour with the “Night Watchman”. This tour was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. Most of our tours of castles in churches were rather dry. Although these guides always gave us good information, it was usually said in a monotone and they themselves did not seem very interesting. The night watchman, on the other hand, was dressed in full costume and played his part very well. He told us very interesting facts about both the Middle Ages in general and the town itself. He showed us the famous buildings of the place, the manhole in the gatehouse (At night the town shut its gates so no enemy could get in to attack it. The manhole was a small door in the gatehouse that one could pay to use if one missed curfew. It was only big enough to let one person in at a time) and a place called “Hell”. “Hell” is a bar in Rothenburg which is the oldest establishment in town. The foundation of the building dates back to the 12^th century. There is also a tiny gold image of a devil that hangs from the door. No one knows why it was named “Hell” but as the night watchman put it “Go to Hell” is not just an insult in Rothenburg but it is also a good recommendation.

 

            The next day we went to the Reichmuseum there. This museum is built into the cloisters and has a nice collection of antique weaponry, religious items, etc. It also has one of the first German Bibles, which Martin Luther translated.  The most interesting part of the Museum, in my opinion, was its Jewish exhibit. It had many old Menorah’s, Shabbat candles, Torah scrolls from the Middle Ages, and some Jewish Gravestone pieces. The Jews in Rothenburg had a sad fate during that time. They were the victims of a Pogrom and for the most part wiped out. Rabbi Meir also made Rothenburg his home for a time. He was a very famous Talmudic scholar during the medieval ages and opened up his own school there.

 

            Rothenburg, in many ways, is a tourist trap. It is such a picturesque little town that it is impossible to leave it without buying something. Mom fell victim to its Christmas Museum where she purchased its Christmas Ornaments and I caved and bought a lot of artwork there. They are mostly sketches of the town itself but they were so well done that I couldn’t resist. I know I will have them for the rest of my life so I consider the money well spent.

 

Fussen, Schloss Neuschwanstein, and Weiskirche

 

            Our final stop on our journey was Fussen and Neuschwanstein. Fussen is a pretty little town that sits right below the Alps. We were blessed with perfect weather the entire trip but it was especially beautiful on the day we walked up to see Neuschwanstein. It is nestled right into the Alps and if you walk a little further away, you can cross the Marienbridge which sits above a small river and some rapids.

 

King Ludwig II of Bavaria built Neuschwanstein at the end of the 19th century. Because he became a recluse in the later years of his life (although he did die relatively young at the age of 40), he wanted to build a retreat where he could be at peace and away from the eyes of others. He was much inspired by Richard Wagner’s operas and made Neuschwanstein, in a way, homage to them. The rooms (except for the crown room and his dressing room) are all painted with scenes from these operas; the castle itself is dedicated to Wagner although he unfortunately died before he could step into it.

 

The castle is uncompleted since Ludwig died during its construction. Therefore only two of the floors are finished. The throne room is even missing its throne. After he died, all construction ceased partly because Ludwig was heavily in debt due to his many building projects. I bought a biography of him and it said that he was fascinated by architecture and studied it. This is one of the reasons why he started to build so many palaces. He wanted to create his own fantasy world. I find Ludwig II very intriguing so If I write more posts about him on this blog, that’s the reason why; I also really want to learn more about Wagner and his operas now.

 

After the castle, we drove to the Wieskirche. In mom’s travel book, it said that this was a beautiful church not to far from Neuschwanstein but somewhat off the beaten path. Well the way that Gertha (our GPS system) took us was really off the beaten path; we were in farmland on dirt roads. Although there was an easier way to get there, which was on paved roads, we think Gertha was programmed to find the shortest route. This explains why we were on a path with only farmers. The church is in a beautiful location although it seems severely out of place. It is done in the rococo style and it is apparently a pilgrimage site since a women claimed to see tears fall from the face of a portrait of Jesus. Again, this is another site that is hard to describe. I will put up pictures so you can both the beautiful countryside and the somewhat gaudy church.

 

After that we made our way back to Tuebingen. We stopped at Ulm for dinner and Mom got to see the Ulmer Munster.

 

Happy Easter!

            

Ludwigsberg and Esslingen

Trip to Ludwigsberg and Esslingen

 

This week on Wednesday, Deutsche Kompakt took us to Ludwigsberg and Esslingen. Each of these towns are about an hour away from Tuebingen and 20 or so minutes from Stuttgart. This excursion had the ability of being a really interesting trip since there were so many interesting sites on the agenda but the weather was absolutely horrible. It rained all day and was about 20 degrees. That being said, however, it was still a really fun trip

 

The first place we went to was Ludwigsburg and toured the Resident Schloss. This palace is the largest baroque castle in Germany. It was built by Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Wurttenburg in 1709. Although we only had time to tour one wing of the Schloss (we were there for two hours), we saw both the King and Queen’s chambers (The duke’s successor’s were appointed kings, I believe by Napoleon), the throne rooms, the theater, the chapel, which was changed from being catholic to protestant and vice versa several times, and the various portrait galleries. Our tour guide spoke only in German so I might not be giving you fully correct information about the palace. I think I picked up most of what he was saying but he did speak pretty fast and he was swabisch so he sometimes reverted to using their words instead of the regular hoch-deutsch.  Among some of the famous personages that lived there was Karl Eugen who gave part of his name to the University of Tuebingen; its official name is Eberhard Karl’s University of Tuebingen. Eberhard V, the other name associated with the University, was the first duke of Wurttenburg and was the one who actually founded the college in 1477. Karl Eugen was only responsible for its name.

            After lunch, we visited the Film Academy in Ludwigsberg. It is a school, as you probably guessed, dedicated to teaching the craft of movie making. They have directing, sound-editing, animation, and set-building classes.  Two students showed us the campus and some of the short films they were working on; they have a very well-known animation department and win several awards for it in Germany each year. Students remain at the school for a long time; they have to finish making their particular film before they are allowed to graduate, which in many cases (especially with animation) takes 6 to 7 years. While the study of filmmaking seems really interesting, I’m not sure I would have the patience to work on one particular project for that long period of time. The students also have to deal with things like maintaining funding and so forth. I’m not sure how they do this (our tour guide also only spoke in German so I only caught the point about them needing funding) but it seems to be a pretty stressful career path. When we toured the building where they built all their set pieces, however, it was like going down memory lane. I remember doing all of that painting and designing props in high school!

           

            We traveled to Esslingen when the tour of the Film Academy was finished. There are many famous churches and a beautiful Rathaus (town hall) in the town but the rain turned into a downpour so we were forced to seek shelter in a Café rather than take our tour. Fortunately, Chris brought his cards and a couple of us played card games until the rain let up. We then had time to do a quick walk through the city but by that time all the churches were closed (everything closes at 6:45 in Germany except for restaurants). That night, however, we attended a wine tasting. We went to a wine keller where we were served 6 glasses of Esslingen’s famous wine and a cold cut dinner. It was all very good but I don’t think it was good planning on our teacher’s parts to give a bunch of college students six glasses of wine then put them all on a bus for the hour ride back to Tuebingen; everyone was a little tipsy (including me) so needless to say it was a very loud bus ride. The Weinkeller also sold the wine that they let us sample for pretty cheap; I bought my favorite one (a rose colored wine that was sweet but not overly so) for 4 Euros.  So when you come visit mom, you will have to sample it.

 

This excursion was the main excitement of the week. A couple of us sampled the pizza place my mentor recommended to us as the best pizza in Tuebingen on Thursday. The food is pretty cheap and they make great pizza; they have a gorgonzola pizza which is very tasty. We also went bowling on Friday with our teachers and I actually bowled a 126 (weird I know) and the second game I bowled a 100.  Everyone now thinks that I am a great bowler even though I tried to tell them that it was pure luck. I usually don’t make it past 50.

 

I was supposed to go hiking today but I’m not sure the weather will cooperate with this plan. It’s very grey, cloudy, and is sprinkling rain. I’m beginning to think spring will never come.

 

Oh! I also got my class plan for Tuebingen together. I made some changes to it after taking with my teacher. She recommended to me that I take one lecture course at the University and one Grundkurs. The Grundkurs is like the lecture ones except they have smaller class sizes and the subject matter is more particular. I will also have more assignments in this class and actually have to do a presentation at the end. She recommended this course instead of another lecture one because I can more easily find other students to help me in the class and the teacher can devote more attention to me. It has its pluses and minuses and if it is too hard, she said I can always drop it. My class schedule is as follows:

Monday- 8:30am-10:00am Grundkurs:EInfuhrung in die Allgemeine Ethik (intro ethics course)

                2:15pm-3:45pm Junge Literatur (ISP course so one geared to exchange         students)

Tuesday- 2:00pm-3:30pm Konversationkurs (ISP speaking course)

Thursday- 4:00pm-6:00pm Weltreligion (World religions)

Friday- 10am-12:45pm Deutsche Gramatik (ISP grammar course)

 

I might possibly die this semester but hopefully I will come back with very good German skills. This might not be my easy semester after all….

Blaubeuren

A Week in Blaubeuren

 

            So yesterday I came back from my weeklong excursion in Blaubeuren and it was surprisingly very fun.  Before I went, I had images of this being a small farm type area and that we would be locked up in a barn for a week; this was not the case. The hostel, which we stayed at, is owned by University of Tuebingen and the rooms were nicer than the one I have in the college. The food was also amazing since it was all homemade including the cheesecake that they served the first day there. There was never a free moment at Blaubeuren either. We were in class until 12:30 and then we had excursions, presentations, and plays after that. Here’s a break down of what I did and my impressions of it:

 

Monday:

            Monday was the day from hell. Not only did we have a huge grammar test that morning but also it was my group’s day to present our project to the entire Deutsch Kompakt class. We were also casted in roles for plays that we were going to perform on Thursday. All of it turned out to be fine…I got through my presentation (although I was very nervous) and I also did pretty well with the test.

 

During our one hour of free time, A couple of us went on a walk through the town. It is very tiny but by no means rustic or quaint. It is actually a famous town since it has a boarding school there that Hesse attended. The church is also quite famous and we toured both of these places on Tuesday.

 

While we were there, we were expected to speak German the entire day. There was to be no English spoken at meal times or any of the excursions. Although we cheated quite a bit and practiced our “Danglish” skills quite often, I do feel as if my German has improved from this week. I can carry on a conversation somewhat although it is still very simple and my grammar far from correct

 

Tuesday

            On Tuesday, we toured the high school and the church. We started with the school where two students were matched up with four or five of us I was in a group with only my friend Chris and therefore we had (I think) a much better tour than they other groups because we could talk with them more one on one and they were able to show us more places.

            The school is actually built into the cloisters in Blaubeuren. It is directly connected to the church, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I’ll post some pictures of these places as soon as I can!. The school is a boarding school and both teachers and students live in dorms. The girl’s dorms are actually in the cloisters. The teachers have more apartment style rooms since they also have families.

 

Another interesting part of the school is that it also houses a bar for the students. Since the drinking age in Germany is 16,  they can have a pub in a high school. We actually went to this pub Thursday night and tried to talk with some of the students but it is a small place and it was too loud and crowded to really talk to anyone.

The curriculum of the school is also the quintessential classic education. It consists primarily of music, history, literature, and language. This school is supposedly one of the premier institutions in Southern Germany and students have to pass an extremely difficult test to get in; they take Latin, Hebrew, and Greek and have music rooms in their dorms.  I’m not sure how much science or math they took but these subjects were clearly not the focus of their education. all in all, a very interesting place.

 

That afternoon, we visited the church and hiked to see the ruins of an old castle in the black forest. The church was amazing and the alter was made from solid gold. It used to be a Catholic church but it was turned into a Protestant one during the reformation. There is no mass held at this old church, however, because they are afraid about it being damaged. There’s another room in the cloisters where the students and other people in Blaubeuren can attend mass.

 

After we finished that tour, a few of our tutors took us up the Blautopf. This is a beautiful hike through the black forest and the path ends with the ruins of an old castle. It is incredibly difficult walk uphill since there is no pause or flatland but a direct hike up. It was worth it however. I forgot my camera for this trip but my friends took so many pictures that I’m going to nab some of theirs when they post them.

 

Wednesday

 

            We went to Ulm on Wednesday and it is a really neat place. It is much bigger than both Tuebingen and Stuttgart but it has the same feel of an old German town. Ulm is most famous for the Ulmer Munster which boasts of having the tallest church tower in the world. It is a Catholic Church and it is somewhat imposing with its gothic style and somewhat gaudy decorations. It is also incredibly frigid inside but mass is apparently said there every Sunday.

 

The church tower has 768 steps and if you pay 3 euros you can attempt to climb all the way to the top; if you make it, you can see the alps. A bunch of people in my program (including me) decided to try and surprisingly enough we made it up every single one of those stairs. There were two breaks, one when you hit 300 stars and the other at 500. It was exhausting and you get extremely dizzy since it is a spiral staircase with no banister; it would be a hard way down if you tripped and fell. The view from the top is worth the effort. I had trouble breathing however, since the air was so thin. My legs, after I climbed back down again, felt like jelly and it was somewhat hard to walk. I really felt it in my knees and I’m thankful that they didn’t give out since it felt like they were about to buckle at any moment.

 

After we were finished with our tour of the church and the rest of the old city, we tried to find something cheap to eat. Most of the sit down restaurants in Ulm are incredibly expensive but supposedly very good; they have a lot of schwabish food, which is spatzle, etc. Ulm is directly in the middle of Schwabish country. Schwabish people are very interesting since they have their own form of German. Many of the words are different and most other Germans look down on them since they believe them to be lazy or slow. Whether that is true or not, I have no idea but I do know that they are incredibly hard to understand. We met a couple Schwabish  people and there was no one in my group (including the tutors) who knew what they were saying.  My group sampled the cuisine at a German fast food place where we learned that ketchup does not come with the meal but you have to pay extra. They, instead, give you a type of soy sauce for your fries. Kind of weird, but not too bad.

 

Thursday and Friday are kind of a blur. It mostly consists of doing homework, packing, and leaving for Tuebingen. On Friday, we had another potluck dinner. It has sort of become a tradition for us to have one of these every week. Last week it was hosted in Fichtenweg, although not in my particular kitchen and this week it was held at my friend’s Sam’s apartment. She lives in one of the newly renovated dorms and has a very nice kitchen. It’s the beginning of a nice little tradition since people are starting to get to know one another and bringing stuff to dinner is not as expensive as going out.

 

 

Today I meet my German mentor. Her name is Carla and she seems really sweet. We are going to get coffee and she gets to help me with my German while I help her with her English. I’m really excited for this but also somewhat nervous.  Oh well, wish me luck!

 

Tschuss!

 

 

Internet is an amazing thing

so yay! I now have internet in my room so I can post stuff. Here's a description of my first week in Tuebingen!

Stuttgart-first impressions

 

Well…I arrived in Stuttgart on Friday night and basically spent that night crying myself to sleep. I just felt so alone. Even though I’ve moved away from home and live in Memphis most of the time, I still had a hard time adjusting to the fact that this strange place was going to be my home for the next five months. At that moment, all I really wanted to do was go home and cry on my parents’ shoulders.  A couple months ago they asked me whether I wanted them to come with me and spend a week or two helping me to adjust to my new surroundings. I said “no” because I felt that this was something I needed to do myself; I really wish I hadn’t turned down their offer. Here’s a break down of what I have done since leaving the airport:

 

1. After going through customs and getting my bags, I went to get a taxi. The taxi driver was very nice and I was actually able to converse with him in German tolerably well. At first, he was talking too fast and I couldn’t understand him but he slowed it down when he realized I wasn’t following him. I asked him about the size of Stuttgart and the places to see and he asked me where I was from and I what I was going to do in Germany. All in all it was a nice conversation and it built up my confidence. He helped me with my bags into the hotel and I gave him a nice tip. The woman at the front desk was also nice but not as patient as the taxi driver in letting me try my German skills. She quickly reverted to English after letting me stumble through a few sentences.
2.  Since I cried most of the night, I really didn’t fall to sleep until 5am. I had set my alarm for 8am but in the end I actually slept till about 11am. I got ready and ventured out into Stuttgart in order to find an ATM, the train station, and just to explore and see what a German city was like. My day, however, did not begin well. I got directions to the train station and walked over there. Not only is it going to be to far for me to walk with all my luggage but I also did not understand how the system worked; there was no train labeled “Tuebingen”. From the info guide I received, I knew how to catch the Tuebingen train from the airport but not from this particular one. I am going to ask the Concierge later for her advice since she was seeing to a large group of people when I came back to the hotel.

                        After visiting the train station, I tried to find an ATM. Most of the banks I             came across were locked unless you had their particular card that you could insert             into their door. I found the post office, which had an ATM out front but it             wouldn’t take my card! I was getting incredibly frustrated and a little panicked             because I began thinking that I might never reach Tuebingen. After wandering             around for a little bit to get my bearings, I stopped in a café to get a sandwich and             a drink. Again I tried to order in German but the waitress began talking in English             to save me the trouble. I was getting a little flustered because it seemed to me that             most of the people I had met so far were more annoyed at my attempts to speak             German rather than sympathetic or appreciative. I went back to the hotel after this             because I had a blister on my foot and I was getting very upset. I cried myself to             sleep again and ended up taking a two hour nap. I woke up around 4pm and             ventured out again determined to at least find an ATM that worked and a place for             me to eat. My 2^nd attempt was much better than my first. I found a bank with a             door open and an ATM that worked for everyone. I felt much better after that and             after walking around the town square I found a beautiful church and the old             Rauthaus building. Of course though, I forgot to take my camera. I then             stopped at a Subway since it seemed that a lot of places were already closed             except for the more fancy sitdown places which I didn’t want; The man at subway             was very nice and he let me practice my German and when I forgot some of the             words for olives, tomatoes, etc, and I apologized, he said it was ok and I was             doing fine. He really made me feel better and all in all I felt somewhat             accomplished for the day. I had found an ATM, places to eat, and the train station             (I still have to figure out the latter however). I walked back to the hotel just before             sundown; I didn’t want to wander around at night since I’m not sure of what to             expect. In Memphis, its never a good thing to walk by yourself when its dark so I             guess I’m carrying that rule out over here in Deutschland. In conclusion, my first             day here went all right. It didn’t begin very well but I feel better about it now. I             still really miss home and feel alone but not as scared as I first was. I’m spending             tonight going over some basic German and reading more of “Stolz and Vorurteil”.             I really felt today how poor my German actually is.

 

 

First week in Tuebingen

 

            Well, I managed to figure out the train system with the help of some very nice German people and arrived in Tuebingen around 2pm.  Lugging two suitcases, my backpack and a computer bag on and off two trains was hell but now I’m settled into my room and no longer have to cart them around (thank God!).

            I stayed in the hostal on Sunday night and two girls from Deutsche Kompakt stayed in the same room. Both seem really nice and it was good to have someone to talk to. In the search for internet, we also met Todd and Catherine who were other people in our program. We got dinner at the Neckarmueller, which is a neat little pub and met some more Deutsche Kompakt people there. There are a ton of people in this program and they all seem to be really cool. I really hope I’m able to make some lasting friendships here.

            On Monday, I was able to move into my room, which was a pain in the ass. There were so many forms to sign and I had to drag my suitcases up the stairs that lead to my apartment building. I also have 5 different keys that I need to have with me in order to even get into my dorm….crazy Germans. My room is small and I have to use the community bathroom but it works for my purposes; things have been so hectic this week that I really haven’t spent any time in the building. Since its vacation for most students over here, I’ve only met one other person on my hall; everyone else seems to have gone home. I don’t know my hallmate’s name because the only words we have spoken to each other are “hallo” and “chow”. I don’t think he leaves his room very much because I always hear his computer when I’m in my room.

            After I got my room, Erin and I went down to check in with the coordinators of Deutsche Kompakt. Erin is one of the girls I shared a room with in the hostal; she’s from New Jersey and has a great sense of humor. We filled out the forms, opened bank accounts, and took passport photos (the Germans are very particular about their photos. If your passport photo is not exactly perfect, they make you take it again. I had to get mine done 3 times). I didn’t get finished with all the paperwork till late afternoon. We went to get pizza that night, however, at a place called Unkels and it was really good. The Germans actually have quite a few vegetarian options; a lot more than I expected.

            The next day we all took our placement exams and the instructors gave us a tour of the city. Tuebingen is just beautiful. I usually don’t like the mixture of old and new looking buildings but it somehow works here. We got to see inside the Stiftkirche and a couple of us plan to attend mass there on Sunday.  Tuebingen, I noticed, has a ton of bookstores which means that it is basically one of the coolest places ever. They had antique book stores, ones dedicated to nonfiction, etc. I haven’t been able to really explore the book world of Tuebingen yet but its on my list for things to do next week.  I feel like I have so many places to see and things to do that I don’t have time for which is ridiculous since I will be living here for 5 months.

            We started class on Wednesday or Mittwoch and I was placed in the beginner class. My grammar skills were more in keeping with the intermediate class but my speaking abilities were not that good. I was a little disappointed at first but now I think it’s a good thing that I’m in the lower class. There are not as many people and I will get more attention with my speaking.  The grammar portion of the day though is extremely tedious but I guess it is always good to have a review. The weather in Tuebingen up to this point had been beautiful; the sun was out and I want to say that the temperature was around 60 degrees. The rain, however started on Wednesday and turned into snow on Thursday. So it has been incredibly cold the last few days and I have only really journeyed outside my room in order to go to class or grocery shopping.  I also have had no internet so I’ve been going to an internet café to check my email.

            On Friday, a bunch of us from Deutsche Kompakt went to the Neckarmueller to get drinks and that night we went to Top 10 which is a “Disko” or a dance club. It was really fun and it was rather comical to see the European style of dancing. It involves spirit fingers.  We ended up staying till about one in the morning, which, was a bad idea because the night buses run only once every hour. Sarah (another girl from my class) and I had to walk to the bus station in the freezing cold and waited at least a half hour for the bus to arrive. I didn’t get back to the room till about 2:30am.

            Today is Saturday and I decided to be boring and mostly stay in my room. I was really tired from the night before and I was starting to get a cough and a stuffy nose. I also have a lot of homework so instead of going out, I decided to stay in, do some of it and get some rest.  I’ve also been around people constantly the past week and I kind of just need some “me” time where I can read or watch a movie in order to unwind.  I went to the grocery and bought some coldcuts, fruit, and other things and have had a very relaxing day.  By the way, German food is amazing. I bought some turkey here and it is really amazing stuff. The chocolate is a thousand times superior to anything found in the U.S and really addicting.

            Tomorrow, I plan on going to church, getting some lunch with some Kompakt kids and taking another city tour. The instructors are going to take us to some of the more famous historical places of Tuebingen (I think). All in all it has been a good week and I really like it here. I really wish I had some of you all here to share it with and hopefully soon I will see some of you here in Deutschland. Not having the internet has been really frustrating and I don’t know when I will be able to post this but until then Aufwiedersehen!

tut mir leid!

hello all!

so I have alot of things that I want to post but I actually have no internet right now in my room (I'm in an internet cafe). But I will update this as soon as I get internet. Tuebingen is great...everything is still a little confusing but I really like the city and the people.

Cross your fingers that I get internet soon!#

Steph