Until further notice, you shall all see To Be Announced as my new name on this blog, not jamaican sensation. There was no logic behind it, and it was stupid. Now I shall think of something else.
Also, does Radstam work as a stage name? I say 'no,' but I could be persuaded otherwise.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Well then, welcome to my world.
So, I have my oddities. For instance, I like comic books, I like graphic novels, I like (to some extent) superheroes. As it may or may not be known to some, I shall illuminate one of my personal favorite comic heroes: Batman.
Batman is a badass. It's just a fact of life. He is freakin cool.
Why do I write this? because "THE DARK KNIGHT," the sequel to "BATMAN BEGINS," comes out next summer. Long way away? yes. but, irrelevant. I am already FREAKING PUMPED. A new trailer just came out, and OMG I think I had to go change my pants afterwards. So GO, GO AND WATCH IT, for it is glorious.
NEW TRAILER!
Batman is a badass. It's just a fact of life. He is freakin cool.
Why do I write this? because "THE DARK KNIGHT," the sequel to "BATMAN BEGINS," comes out next summer. Long way away? yes. but, irrelevant. I am already FREAKING PUMPED. A new trailer just came out, and OMG I think I had to go change my pants afterwards. So GO, GO AND WATCH IT, for it is glorious.
NEW TRAILER!
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Christmas: what better way to celebrate the birth of christ than with... Chocolate?
A NEW BLOG POST!
I haven't posted in a long time, so this one is gonna be long
Chapter I
Alright, first things first. Last night I went to a cafe' with all the Ultimate people after we had practice as we always do on friday nights. Last night was special though, because I heard one of the funnier things I have heard since I have been here. And this may have just seemed funny to me because I know more about German culture than the average person, but I shall share it anyways. So we were all sitting around drinking whatever it is that we each had, and this one girl, Marie, seems to absolutely FASCINATED by her bendy straw as she drinks her passion fruit juice. The rest of us laugh at her and ask why she is so entranced by her straw, to which she responds, "Was? Im Osten hatten wir nur die geraden." Which means, "What? In East Germany we only the had the straight ones."
With a mix of german cultural commentary and kid like fascination, it was really funny.
Chapter II - Nürnberg
Last saturday I went to the Christmas Market in Nürnberg with 5 French people and a German. Nürnberg has one of the largest and most famous christmas markets in all of germany, and it was REALLY cool. I didn't really buy much christmassy stuff, but I bought 2 candles made out of actual beeswax and I got a lot of food. I also had some Glühwein, which, if you don't know what that is, it is a special type of red wine that the germans drink at christmas time... but you drink it hot... like tee or something. It is weird, but not bad. The rest of the time in Nürnberg was good, but the German girl that had been with us had left earlier, so I was stuck with 5 french people to go home with. Now I have nothing against french people whatsoever. In fact 1 of them is my flat-mate Anna, who is very nice, plus her boyfriend and some friends of hers. The only problem was that Anna's boyfriend doesn't know German, so they spoke french the entire way home. So I got to hear a good 4 hours worth of really fast French, of which I was able to pick out some numbers and maybe a couple small phrases here and there. Regardless it was a very fun trip and I am glad I got to go.
Chapter III- BIG NEWS!
So, on the 21st of december I am leaving Germany. On the 7th of January I shall be returning to Germany. Oh what's that you ask? Where will I be going for those 2+ weeks? ITALY. That's right. I am spending Christmas in Italy. I gave 3 Italian friends who live in Torrino, who I spending the first week or so with (including christmas). I will get to see a Juventus game (torrino soccer team), perhaps go skiing (that is where the 2006 winter olympics were), and all sorts of fun stuff. On the 29th and 30th I will be seeing my friend Giorgio. We get to see Padova (small town outside of venice) and on the 30th I actually get to see Venice! so pumped. 31st-7th I really have few plans, so I need to organize stuff, but here is what I am thinking. 31st and 1st I spend in Balogna. The 2nd and 3rd I spend in Florence. The 4h 5th and 6th I spend in ROME! then on the 7th I go to Pisa, where my plane leaves from and takes me back to stuttgart. Jealous yet? you should be. I am SO FREAKING excited! Granted, when I get back I will be dead tired, but it'll have been worth it.
Chapter IV- MORE big news
Jessica has officially bought her plane ticket to come visit me on her spring break. She will be flying out on Mar. 7th and returning (I think) on the 16th. We will spend some time in Tübingen, Heidelberg, Bonn, Cologne, and then 3 days in Paris (that's in france). Then I think my mom is coming in the succeeding two weeks, but nothing is set in stone yet
Chapter V
I got a package from my dad and Sandy last week. It was really nice. Now I have enough beef jerky and red hot riblets to last me 'til Armageddon. OH YEAH, and nature valley bars. Those were a really nice surprise, cause the germans don't really have those.
Chapter VI
Classes are going OK. I hate my translation class. I really like my Grammar class and my 'reading and conversation' class (the teachers are excellent). Graphic novels is pretty good. I don't always like class as much because of some of the students, the teacher, and the slug like pace we move at, but I am trying to be patient with it. My Kafka class is still kicking my ass, as it will continue to do until the end of February. I just find it so hard to keep myself motivated to just sit down and WORK for massive amounts of time. I just can't do it and I don't feel like I am improving. BLAH. French is getting better. I feel like I am actually learning stuff now, I just need to study and practice more.
Chapter VII - another anecdote
The other day I was standing on the bridge of the Neckar River at the bus stop, just waiting for my bus to take me home, and some little old lady walks up and asks me and the girl, who happens to also be waiting for the bus, if the #5 bus has come. We both reply that it is indeed already past, to which the old woman replies... IN ENGLISH, "SHIT!" Little old german women cursing in english is funny.
Oh yeah, and tomorrow I might get to see Robert Martin. 3 cheers for Rodort!
More later... but remember, "Be excellent to one another!"
I haven't posted in a long time, so this one is gonna be long
Chapter I
Alright, first things first. Last night I went to a cafe' with all the Ultimate people after we had practice as we always do on friday nights. Last night was special though, because I heard one of the funnier things I have heard since I have been here. And this may have just seemed funny to me because I know more about German culture than the average person, but I shall share it anyways. So we were all sitting around drinking whatever it is that we each had, and this one girl, Marie, seems to absolutely FASCINATED by her bendy straw as she drinks her passion fruit juice. The rest of us laugh at her and ask why she is so entranced by her straw, to which she responds, "Was? Im Osten hatten wir nur die geraden." Which means, "What? In East Germany we only the had the straight ones."
With a mix of german cultural commentary and kid like fascination, it was really funny.
Chapter II - Nürnberg
Last saturday I went to the Christmas Market in Nürnberg with 5 French people and a German. Nürnberg has one of the largest and most famous christmas markets in all of germany, and it was REALLY cool. I didn't really buy much christmassy stuff, but I bought 2 candles made out of actual beeswax and I got a lot of food. I also had some Glühwein, which, if you don't know what that is, it is a special type of red wine that the germans drink at christmas time... but you drink it hot... like tee or something. It is weird, but not bad. The rest of the time in Nürnberg was good, but the German girl that had been with us had left earlier, so I was stuck with 5 french people to go home with. Now I have nothing against french people whatsoever. In fact 1 of them is my flat-mate Anna, who is very nice, plus her boyfriend and some friends of hers. The only problem was that Anna's boyfriend doesn't know German, so they spoke french the entire way home. So I got to hear a good 4 hours worth of really fast French, of which I was able to pick out some numbers and maybe a couple small phrases here and there. Regardless it was a very fun trip and I am glad I got to go.
Chapter III- BIG NEWS!
So, on the 21st of december I am leaving Germany. On the 7th of January I shall be returning to Germany. Oh what's that you ask? Where will I be going for those 2+ weeks? ITALY. That's right. I am spending Christmas in Italy. I gave 3 Italian friends who live in Torrino, who I spending the first week or so with (including christmas). I will get to see a Juventus game (torrino soccer team), perhaps go skiing (that is where the 2006 winter olympics were), and all sorts of fun stuff. On the 29th and 30th I will be seeing my friend Giorgio. We get to see Padova (small town outside of venice) and on the 30th I actually get to see Venice! so pumped. 31st-7th I really have few plans, so I need to organize stuff, but here is what I am thinking. 31st and 1st I spend in Balogna. The 2nd and 3rd I spend in Florence. The 4h 5th and 6th I spend in ROME! then on the 7th I go to Pisa, where my plane leaves from and takes me back to stuttgart. Jealous yet? you should be. I am SO FREAKING excited! Granted, when I get back I will be dead tired, but it'll have been worth it.
Chapter IV- MORE big news
Jessica has officially bought her plane ticket to come visit me on her spring break. She will be flying out on Mar. 7th and returning (I think) on the 16th. We will spend some time in Tübingen, Heidelberg, Bonn, Cologne, and then 3 days in Paris (that's in france). Then I think my mom is coming in the succeeding two weeks, but nothing is set in stone yet
Chapter V
I got a package from my dad and Sandy last week. It was really nice. Now I have enough beef jerky and red hot riblets to last me 'til Armageddon. OH YEAH, and nature valley bars. Those were a really nice surprise, cause the germans don't really have those.
Chapter VI
Classes are going OK. I hate my translation class. I really like my Grammar class and my 'reading and conversation' class (the teachers are excellent). Graphic novels is pretty good. I don't always like class as much because of some of the students, the teacher, and the slug like pace we move at, but I am trying to be patient with it. My Kafka class is still kicking my ass, as it will continue to do until the end of February. I just find it so hard to keep myself motivated to just sit down and WORK for massive amounts of time. I just can't do it and I don't feel like I am improving. BLAH. French is getting better. I feel like I am actually learning stuff now, I just need to study and practice more.
Chapter VII - another anecdote
The other day I was standing on the bridge of the Neckar River at the bus stop, just waiting for my bus to take me home, and some little old lady walks up and asks me and the girl, who happens to also be waiting for the bus, if the #5 bus has come. We both reply that it is indeed already past, to which the old woman replies... IN ENGLISH, "SHIT!" Little old german women cursing in english is funny.
Oh yeah, and tomorrow I might get to see Robert Martin. 3 cheers for Rodort!
More later... but remember, "Be excellent to one another!"
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Alrighty, so... New things here in germany: NOTHING
nothing is new. I read. A lot. Everyday. What do I read? Kafka. More Kafa. Analysis of Kafka. Then when I am done with that... O wait, I generally am never DONE with kafka work. So anybody who might potentially miss me and wonders what wonderful new and exciting things are going on here, wonder no more, for there are none. This leaves me with really short conversations with friends and relatives. So if you want to save yourself the time, just read this post, and you will no longer need to call me.
I got really tired of going to parties pretty fast, which is good, because I now no longer have time to go out to parties. I have THAT much studying to do. It is good studying. I am learning a lot. My german reading abilities are seriously skyrocketing. I like some of my classes, others not so much. The ISP courses are pretty much a joke, so they balance out my week quite well due to the obscene amount of time it takes me to read Kafka stuff.
I also go to Ultimate on monday and friday nights, and I think it helps keep me sane. I get to exercise (stay healthy), talk to people (stay slightly socially active), talk to people IN GERMAN (improve german speaking and listening skills), play ultimate (arguably my favorite sport), and just do some good old 'running my ass off' and get some endorphins going (helping me not go crazy and depressed). So that is always lots of fun, plus the people at Ultimate are generally really nice, and some of them aren't actually too bad.
Oddities about myself. ok, so I have this really weird ability to adapt to change quite well. This can often be good, sometimes not. Meaning, not having a car, or even being in a car at all, doesn't bother me that much. Being completely on my own, not seeing my family and friends, being around completely new people, dealing with a new educational system, having new languages thrown around daily, and all that other crazy 'international' stuff that freaks people out and makes them homesick, or lonely, or stressed because of a new culture doesn't really bother me. Sure, I kinda miss seeing my family and friends, but honestly, I haven't really gotten super homesick, I haven't broke down crying wanting to come home, or anything else of the sort. Sure, I guess you could also call that emotional detachment, but I'll stick with "adapts well to change. I have a hard course load, but I study a lot. Most of my focus is, therefore, diverted from home. I have some friends here. I don't mean to say that I just hang out with my friends here and forget that everybody in the States exists, but I don't feel super duper sad that I am not at home either. I know that I would just get stressed and frustrated were I at home anyways. I am gonna be spending a lot of time in the library studying this semester, and I won't have lots of free time. So if I don't get to talk to people back at home much, I am not dead, and I do still love you all, I just have a lot going on.
Also, one things Germany lacks (for me at least)... IS DRAMA. and that is a good thing. I feel like so much of my life back home (especially when at mizzou) is wrapped up in drama, and thank the lord!, cause i don't really deal with that here. and i like it.
Well, back to Franz (Kafka). Adios Amigos.
nothing is new. I read. A lot. Everyday. What do I read? Kafka. More Kafa. Analysis of Kafka. Then when I am done with that... O wait, I generally am never DONE with kafka work. So anybody who might potentially miss me and wonders what wonderful new and exciting things are going on here, wonder no more, for there are none. This leaves me with really short conversations with friends and relatives. So if you want to save yourself the time, just read this post, and you will no longer need to call me.
I got really tired of going to parties pretty fast, which is good, because I now no longer have time to go out to parties. I have THAT much studying to do. It is good studying. I am learning a lot. My german reading abilities are seriously skyrocketing. I like some of my classes, others not so much. The ISP courses are pretty much a joke, so they balance out my week quite well due to the obscene amount of time it takes me to read Kafka stuff.
I also go to Ultimate on monday and friday nights, and I think it helps keep me sane. I get to exercise (stay healthy), talk to people (stay slightly socially active), talk to people IN GERMAN (improve german speaking and listening skills), play ultimate (arguably my favorite sport), and just do some good old 'running my ass off' and get some endorphins going (helping me not go crazy and depressed). So that is always lots of fun, plus the people at Ultimate are generally really nice, and some of them aren't actually too bad.
Oddities about myself. ok, so I have this really weird ability to adapt to change quite well. This can often be good, sometimes not. Meaning, not having a car, or even being in a car at all, doesn't bother me that much. Being completely on my own, not seeing my family and friends, being around completely new people, dealing with a new educational system, having new languages thrown around daily, and all that other crazy 'international' stuff that freaks people out and makes them homesick, or lonely, or stressed because of a new culture doesn't really bother me. Sure, I kinda miss seeing my family and friends, but honestly, I haven't really gotten super homesick, I haven't broke down crying wanting to come home, or anything else of the sort. Sure, I guess you could also call that emotional detachment, but I'll stick with "adapts well to change. I have a hard course load, but I study a lot. Most of my focus is, therefore, diverted from home. I have some friends here. I don't mean to say that I just hang out with my friends here and forget that everybody in the States exists, but I don't feel super duper sad that I am not at home either. I know that I would just get stressed and frustrated were I at home anyways. I am gonna be spending a lot of time in the library studying this semester, and I won't have lots of free time. So if I don't get to talk to people back at home much, I am not dead, and I do still love you all, I just have a lot going on.
Also, one things Germany lacks (for me at least)... IS DRAMA. and that is a good thing. I feel like so much of my life back home (especially when at mizzou) is wrapped up in drama, and thank the lord!, cause i don't really deal with that here. and i like it.
Well, back to Franz (Kafka). Adios Amigos.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Olfactory euphoria baby
So as it may not be known to all, I shall divulge the information concerning my absolute favorite smell in the world. NEW SHOES. Dear lord they smell so good. Yesterday I got a new pair of indoor shoes so I can play ultimate this winter (they play indoors in the winter here. HOW WEIRD), and OMG do they smell amazing. I have put off wearing them until now just so I can go on smelling the pristine goodness until I have to stink them up with my feet. Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him well!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
IT'S STILL OCTOBER!
WTF. It's freaking snowing. No joke. It is 9:20 on Sunday the 21st of October, and it is snowing. Not flurrying, SNOWING. goddammit. This is gonna be one LONG winter. Well it was good knowing you all, if I don't come back, I will probably be found in some stupid snow drift. I better buy some long johns. Oh well. Gotta go get my study on... and my jacket.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
The semester started this week. Although, most of my classes don't actually begin until next week. And I finally have my schedule all worked out. I will probably end up dropping onoe of these classes, but here it is. (OH, and german classes are based on ECTS (european credit transfer system) credits, and i get about .5 US credit hours per ects.
-The works of Franz Kafka (8ects)
-Graphic Novels in American literature (english) (6ects)
-French 1 (3ects)
my other classes are in the ISP, which is the international language department. They offer german classes for foreigners.
-Grammar for the experienced (5ects)
-Reading and conversation (5ects)
-'translation puzzle' (Class for english speakers on translation)(4ects)
Last night I got to have dinner with all of my roomates. This was really cool, since I didn't really know any of them that well. There are 2 german girls, a german guy, a spanish guy, and a french girl. We all cooked something small and sat around and talked for a really long time. It was loads of fun.
Germans are still hard to understand sometimes due to accent and speed of their speech.
So things are good. I am very much hoping the semester starts off well, and assuming my dead corpse doesn't get shipped back to the US because of my dying from stress and overstudying for my kafka class, I believe all will be fine.
-The works of Franz Kafka (8ects)
-Graphic Novels in American literature (english) (6ects)
-French 1 (3ects)
my other classes are in the ISP, which is the international language department. They offer german classes for foreigners.
-Grammar for the experienced (5ects)
-Reading and conversation (5ects)
-'translation puzzle' (Class for english speakers on translation)(4ects)
Last night I got to have dinner with all of my roomates. This was really cool, since I didn't really know any of them that well. There are 2 german girls, a german guy, a spanish guy, and a french girl. We all cooked something small and sat around and talked for a really long time. It was loads of fun.
Germans are still hard to understand sometimes due to accent and speed of their speech.
So things are good. I am very much hoping the semester starts off well, and assuming my dead corpse doesn't get shipped back to the US because of my dying from stress and overstudying for my kafka class, I believe all will be fine.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Numb
6 Million. That's a big freakin number. That is the just over the approximated population of Missouri. That is how many Jews died at the hand of the National Socialists during the third Reich. I don't know about you guys, but 6 mil. isn't exactly an easy idea to grasp. St. louis, gone. KC, gone. ALL of freakin missouri, gone. We have become so desensitized to the idea of the holocaust, that the ideas of what actually happened are just vague gray areas in our minds. We have practically become NUMB. But this week I got to go the jewish memorial in Berlin, and I got to read about the families murdered in WWII. It's some freaky shit. The bible doesn't say: " be a bitch to your neighbor. Oh, and try and exterminate every Jew in Europe while you are at it." But whether you believe in what the bible says or not, the catastrophic extermination of that many people is one of the scariest things I can think of. If you have never actually been to a concentration camp, lemme tell ya, its pretty sobering.
Hate will always brew up more hate, so go sit down and think about if you are making a positive influence. Forget about every shoot 'em up, romantic comedy, and every other fantasy 'never REALLY gonna happen film,' and look back at reality. Because this shit happened.
Hate will always brew up more hate, so go sit down and think about if you are making a positive influence. Forget about every shoot 'em up, romantic comedy, and every other fantasy 'never REALLY gonna happen film,' and look back at reality. Because this shit happened.
Dookie
I always thought that 'dookie' was a cool word
So I have all my classes figured out except one. My french class. The online signup thing didn't get put up when it was supposed to, so now I am on the waiting list. I have been talking to people, even went to the office, but no luck yet. I think I shall have to resort to being petty and playing the germans of game of being a bureaucratical jerk, maybe then I will get my way.
Anyways... BERLIN. So I went to Berlin last week, and IT WAS AWESOME. I had never been to Berlin, so yeah, everything was new and cool and WOW. I got to see so much stuff, I would end up boring myself trying to write it all here. But some of the highlights included:
-the tv tower built in east germany (possibly tallest structure in berlin, not sure though)
-Charlottenburger Castle (Mom might have a heart attack if she saw the landscaping at this place)
-Potsdam (suburb of Berlin). There is an area there with like 3 castle/ palaces, a cool windmill, this "chinese house" building, a gorgeous fountain, and OMG it is some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen in my life. It was breathtaking.
-Olympia Stadium. This is where Berlin's Soccer team (hertha) plays. It is also where the 2006 world cup championships were held, and it was built for the 1936 Olympics, this is where hitler gives his famous opening ceremony speach I believe
-Brandenburger gate. On the east/west border of berlin right at the wall. Big cool structure with lots of history.
- Berlin wall. There are two different parts of it still up, one is small and has a museum under it, the other is 1 km long and has murals and spray painted crap that is real cool all over it.
-Jewish memorial/ museum. There is a relatively new memorial in the center of berlin that is a vast expance of concrete blocks. hard to explain without going into detail/actually being there. It was cool, and there is a museum underneath it about the 6 million jews killed in europe in WWII. Fascinating, disturbing, educational.
We also found this cool little italian restraunt that had really affordable and HELLA good food. I also found a wine there that i really liked. Lambrusco. It's a sweet red wine that is freakin delicious. I also got to have a dinner of pork and spaghetti carbonara... COOKED BY ITALIANS. there were 8 of us on the trip, 3 of which were itialians. Not the most timely of people, but damn they can cook. So yeah, that was Berlin, it was sweet... and big.
So I have all my classes figured out except one. My french class. The online signup thing didn't get put up when it was supposed to, so now I am on the waiting list. I have been talking to people, even went to the office, but no luck yet. I think I shall have to resort to being petty and playing the germans of game of being a bureaucratical jerk, maybe then I will get my way.
Anyways... BERLIN. So I went to Berlin last week, and IT WAS AWESOME. I had never been to Berlin, so yeah, everything was new and cool and WOW. I got to see so much stuff, I would end up boring myself trying to write it all here. But some of the highlights included:
-the tv tower built in east germany (possibly tallest structure in berlin, not sure though)
-Charlottenburger Castle (Mom might have a heart attack if she saw the landscaping at this place)
-Potsdam (suburb of Berlin). There is an area there with like 3 castle/ palaces, a cool windmill, this "chinese house" building, a gorgeous fountain, and OMG it is some of the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen in my life. It was breathtaking.
-Olympia Stadium. This is where Berlin's Soccer team (hertha) plays. It is also where the 2006 world cup championships were held, and it was built for the 1936 Olympics, this is where hitler gives his famous opening ceremony speach I believe
-Brandenburger gate. On the east/west border of berlin right at the wall. Big cool structure with lots of history.
- Berlin wall. There are two different parts of it still up, one is small and has a museum under it, the other is 1 km long and has murals and spray painted crap that is real cool all over it.
-Jewish memorial/ museum. There is a relatively new memorial in the center of berlin that is a vast expance of concrete blocks. hard to explain without going into detail/actually being there. It was cool, and there is a museum underneath it about the 6 million jews killed in europe in WWII. Fascinating, disturbing, educational.
We also found this cool little italian restraunt that had really affordable and HELLA good food. I also found a wine there that i really liked. Lambrusco. It's a sweet red wine that is freakin delicious. I also got to have a dinner of pork and spaghetti carbonara... COOKED BY ITALIANS. there were 8 of us on the trip, 3 of which were itialians. Not the most timely of people, but damn they can cook. So yeah, that was Berlin, it was sweet... and big.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I am not a jelly donut
The Dubl J is glad to tell everybody that he has been in Deutschland for exactly one month! And that he finds it exciting. Things are goin well and he is pumped\terrified for the semester to start. Also, he wishes to thank squirrels all over the world. They are cool... and spastic.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Happy Unity Day! October 3rd 1990 is the day that east and west germany were re-united, so this is kinda the german 4th of july... except that i dont think many people really "celebrate" it. But pretty much EVERYTHING is closed, plus the buses don't run as much, and I didn't have class.
OK, so the Bodensee (also called lake Constance in english i believe) was freaking awesome. We got to walk around constance for a while, go to the most beautiful church i have ever seen, ride a ferry on the lake, go to a basilika in Friedrichshafen, and get this... we got to hear a 20 min organ concert played on the organ that has 6,666 pipes in this church. it was one of the most amazing things ever. It absolutely blew my mind. Then we got to go to an authentic german restraunt and have a fabulous meal.
The next morning I awoke at 5 am to take a train to Munich for Oktoberfest. It was actually a bit of a let down. we arrived at like 10:30, but pretty much every tent was already full. It was crazy. I don't think i have seen a more concentrated group of people that big in my entire life. The people from my group that did get into a tent had to wait at least 2 hours. I ended up walking around Munich for a long time, and then went back to Tübingen early. So in the end I didn't even get a chance to sit and have a liter of beer with all the crazy drunk germans... though i did see A LOT of lederhose and whatever the female equivelant is.
This week is the last week of the start course, so friday I will have a test.
Things are going really well, I have made some good friends in the start course, and there is one australian guy who kinda reminds me of myself sometimes. He is pretty fun. I feel like I am really gonna be able to do this, and perhaps even do it well. I still can't even fathom what my german is gonna like after 10 months of this! i'm really excited.
At the same time, though, I miss home. I miss spending time withy my awesome mom. I miss having dinner with Bum and Sister. I miss playing with Goosey and Retard and snuggling. I miss talking with Smartkid, even if it is about the most random linguistic stuff I have never heard of. I miss reading Bryan's mind while playing spades. I miss going to the best steakhouse in town for dinner with dad and sandy. And I really miss spending time with Oats.
I don't mean to make everybody think I am depressed here, I really am having a great time, I just miss the people I love back home.
OK, so the Bodensee (also called lake Constance in english i believe) was freaking awesome. We got to walk around constance for a while, go to the most beautiful church i have ever seen, ride a ferry on the lake, go to a basilika in Friedrichshafen, and get this... we got to hear a 20 min organ concert played on the organ that has 6,666 pipes in this church. it was one of the most amazing things ever. It absolutely blew my mind. Then we got to go to an authentic german restraunt and have a fabulous meal.
The next morning I awoke at 5 am to take a train to Munich for Oktoberfest. It was actually a bit of a let down. we arrived at like 10:30, but pretty much every tent was already full. It was crazy. I don't think i have seen a more concentrated group of people that big in my entire life. The people from my group that did get into a tent had to wait at least 2 hours. I ended up walking around Munich for a long time, and then went back to Tübingen early. So in the end I didn't even get a chance to sit and have a liter of beer with all the crazy drunk germans... though i did see A LOT of lederhose and whatever the female equivelant is.
This week is the last week of the start course, so friday I will have a test.
Things are going really well, I have made some good friends in the start course, and there is one australian guy who kinda reminds me of myself sometimes. He is pretty fun. I feel like I am really gonna be able to do this, and perhaps even do it well. I still can't even fathom what my german is gonna like after 10 months of this! i'm really excited.
At the same time, though, I miss home. I miss spending time withy my awesome mom. I miss having dinner with Bum and Sister. I miss playing with Goosey and Retard and snuggling. I miss talking with Smartkid, even if it is about the most random linguistic stuff I have never heard of. I miss reading Bryan's mind while playing spades. I miss going to the best steakhouse in town for dinner with dad and sandy. And I really miss spending time with Oats.
I don't mean to make everybody think I am depressed here, I really am having a great time, I just miss the people I love back home.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
I survive everything you got in that chamber, I thrive off of danger
greetings to the world! I got some sweet news comin your way.
Alright, so class is pretty hard and intense, but I am hanging in there and doing well. I have started to get to know some of the people in it, and some of them are really cool. On Tuesday I played ultimate with the group here, and it kinda sucked. There were only like 7 people, and i didnt have cleats, and some of them kinda sucked a lot. 1 or 2 were actually beginners, it got dark fast, and I feel pretty out of shape. Apparently they play indoors for the first semester.... we shall see how that goes. After ultimate I went to "Stammtisch," which is this german idea of getting together with a group and drinking beer or coffee or whatever. My start course has a stammtisch every tuesday at the "Castle cafe´." It was really fun, although I didn´t actually speak much german because I was surrounde by like 5 australians. One of the guys who I have been talking to quite a bit here is australian. We just sat around and talked about whatever. Sometimes we would marvel at the cultural differences and such things. Sometimes I joke about being a stupid American and ask such things in a really eager voice, "Do you also have automobiles?!"
I almost have my class schedule all worked out for the semester, which is very exciting. I am finally getting organisation and a clue about what the hell I am going to be doing this semester. Also, I should be getting internet in my room within the next few days, so hopefully I won´t have to use this stupid internet cafe´anymore.
Alright, so now for the exciting news! Tomorrow (friday) my start course is going on an excursion to the Boden sea. We get to go to Konstanz, and ride on a boat in the sea, go to a wine garten, and get to see some pretty sweet stuff. It is all day, and I am stoked.
What is almost more exciting, is my plan for saturday. Me and a crapton of the people from the start course are taking a train at 6:30 am to Munich to go to Oktober fest for the day! I feel like this is a once in a lifetime thing and I am pumped. I have wanted to go to oktoberfest, and now it is really happening. And yes, for all of you skeptics out there, I will have a beer. there would practically be no point otherwise. Although I am told it is 8euros for 1 liter of beer.... hella expensive. oh well, you only live once.
lastly, I got a cell phone, so if you want to call me, lemme know and I can give you my number and whatnot. CIAO!
Alright, so class is pretty hard and intense, but I am hanging in there and doing well. I have started to get to know some of the people in it, and some of them are really cool. On Tuesday I played ultimate with the group here, and it kinda sucked. There were only like 7 people, and i didnt have cleats, and some of them kinda sucked a lot. 1 or 2 were actually beginners, it got dark fast, and I feel pretty out of shape. Apparently they play indoors for the first semester.... we shall see how that goes. After ultimate I went to "Stammtisch," which is this german idea of getting together with a group and drinking beer or coffee or whatever. My start course has a stammtisch every tuesday at the "Castle cafe´." It was really fun, although I didn´t actually speak much german because I was surrounde by like 5 australians. One of the guys who I have been talking to quite a bit here is australian. We just sat around and talked about whatever. Sometimes we would marvel at the cultural differences and such things. Sometimes I joke about being a stupid American and ask such things in a really eager voice, "Do you also have automobiles?!"
I almost have my class schedule all worked out for the semester, which is very exciting. I am finally getting organisation and a clue about what the hell I am going to be doing this semester. Also, I should be getting internet in my room within the next few days, so hopefully I won´t have to use this stupid internet cafe´anymore.
Alright, so now for the exciting news! Tomorrow (friday) my start course is going on an excursion to the Boden sea. We get to go to Konstanz, and ride on a boat in the sea, go to a wine garten, and get to see some pretty sweet stuff. It is all day, and I am stoked.
What is almost more exciting, is my plan for saturday. Me and a crapton of the people from the start course are taking a train at 6:30 am to Munich to go to Oktober fest for the day! I feel like this is a once in a lifetime thing and I am pumped. I have wanted to go to oktoberfest, and now it is really happening. And yes, for all of you skeptics out there, I will have a beer. there would practically be no point otherwise. Although I am told it is 8euros for 1 liter of beer.... hella expensive. oh well, you only live once.
lastly, I got a cell phone, so if you want to call me, lemme know and I can give you my number and whatnot. CIAO!
Friday, September 21, 2007
prescription drugs- my anti-drug
greetings to all. My statkurs began this week and it has been pretty cool. The first day we all took a test so that we could be sorted into 1 of 4 different classes based on our abilities. I arrived on tuesday only to find out that I had apparently been placed in the 4 (highest) class. There are 20 people in my class representing 13 different nationalities. 4 americans, 2 australians, a british girl, a danish guy, a korean girl, a chinese guy and many more. The teacher is nice, and she speaks only in german. I don´t actually think she speaks english. Plus, with all the people of so many languages, we truly do have to speak german the whole time to communicate with one another. The class is quite challenging; we have gone over some intense grammar stuff this week, lots of conversation, and some colloquialisms used in german. In the afternoons we have some random thing every day. tuesday we got a tour of the practical things in the town (university stuff and so on), wednesday we took a field trip to a monestary on the edge of town (We were not informed of this beforehand, so I didn´t have my camera with me), and on thursday we watched a movie. I watched this movie called "In July," which was this really trippy love story with a surprising amount of drug use.
Anyhow, things are going much better this week. I actually borderling like it here and I am starting to even enjoy myself from time to time. I have been running a couple of times this week, and next week i am hoping to go to an Ultimate practice!! The club sports and activities they have at this school are freaking endless. There are 2 main cafeterias that i will be going to, one of which is right by all the buildings where most of my classes will be... and it blows. It seems that no one really likes the food there, BUT it is about 2,55€ for a meal, which is RIDICULIOUSLY cheap, so I will likely be eating there a lot. The other one tastes a lot better, but it is a bit more expensive and not as centrally located.
As some of you might have wondered about this post´s title, I shall explain. The my anti drug thing just reference this funny commercials that are on tv about the evils of drugs and whatnot, and things that keep people doing constructive things in life. I merely satire them from time to time. The prescription drug thing is beause i started taking adderall again this week. It has actually gone really well. I haven´t been getting headaches in class because I can generally concentrate REALLY well. I haven´t been getting nauseous at all and I even at lunch everyday! So that is exciting.
I think a lot of people (mostly peers) expected that I would go pretty party crazy and do the whole "study" abroad for a year... aka make use of the drinking age being 18 almost every day. However, I think that this shall not be the case, but on the contrary, I feel like it might be more like the spring when I was traing for a marathon and didn´t go out as much, but excersized a lot. I think I am hoping that many of the friends I acquire while in Germany will perhaps come from the ultimate team or something of the sort.
Lastly, as Andrew and I agree on the bit about ticking clocks (PS:I cried from laughter while reading that response), i shall add another tidbit of severe annoying... I HATE SECONDHAND SMOKE. apparently like 30 percent of europeans smoke, and they all do it at bus stops... and it sucks... a lot.
k bye
Anyhow, things are going much better this week. I actually borderling like it here and I am starting to even enjoy myself from time to time. I have been running a couple of times this week, and next week i am hoping to go to an Ultimate practice!! The club sports and activities they have at this school are freaking endless. There are 2 main cafeterias that i will be going to, one of which is right by all the buildings where most of my classes will be... and it blows. It seems that no one really likes the food there, BUT it is about 2,55€ for a meal, which is RIDICULIOUSLY cheap, so I will likely be eating there a lot. The other one tastes a lot better, but it is a bit more expensive and not as centrally located.
As some of you might have wondered about this post´s title, I shall explain. The my anti drug thing just reference this funny commercials that are on tv about the evils of drugs and whatnot, and things that keep people doing constructive things in life. I merely satire them from time to time. The prescription drug thing is beause i started taking adderall again this week. It has actually gone really well. I haven´t been getting headaches in class because I can generally concentrate REALLY well. I haven´t been getting nauseous at all and I even at lunch everyday! So that is exciting.
I think a lot of people (mostly peers) expected that I would go pretty party crazy and do the whole "study" abroad for a year... aka make use of the drinking age being 18 almost every day. However, I think that this shall not be the case, but on the contrary, I feel like it might be more like the spring when I was traing for a marathon and didn´t go out as much, but excersized a lot. I think I am hoping that many of the friends I acquire while in Germany will perhaps come from the ultimate team or something of the sort.
Lastly, as Andrew and I agree on the bit about ticking clocks (PS:I cried from laughter while reading that response), i shall add another tidbit of severe annoying... I HATE SECONDHAND SMOKE. apparently like 30 percent of europeans smoke, and they all do it at bus stops... and it sucks... a lot.
k bye
Saturday, September 15, 2007
running- my anti-drug
The weather here the past couple of days has been GORGEOUS. good weather is one of my absolute favorite things in the world. In the mornings it is a bit chilly. I wore pants and a jacket until about 10, and by noon i was already back in shorts. there is a nice breeze off of the river and the sun shines brightly (but not too brightly). this makes my walks through town (which are quite plentiful) much more enjoyable.
I have finally found my way into Altstadt (old town). It is freaking awesome. it is unlike anything in america. most buildings are 3 stories high all in a row. the streets are cobblestone and cars hardly come through. there are tons of little shops everything (this town has tons of bakeries, pharmacies, eyeglass shops, and photo shops)there is apparently a festival or something this week, because there are little booths set up everywhere in old town and the are all selling lots of types of sausages and wine. So i walked through here for a while on thursday night.
I am becoming even more aquainted with the city as each day passes. I also feel more hopeful about this coming semester. I got a really good night sleep last night, finished animal farm (which i thought kinda sucked) and went for a run. being a natural born runner is a great gift. there are few thinsg that feel more natural or make me feel better when i am down. I listened to some music and ran for about 45 minutes and I am feeling a ton better today. Things are lookin up.
HOWEVER, there are two wall clocks in my apartment that tick... I HATE TICKING CLOCKS. shutting my door blocks out the sound, but if i am anywhere else in the apartment, they annoy the crap out of me.
I have finally found my way into Altstadt (old town). It is freaking awesome. it is unlike anything in america. most buildings are 3 stories high all in a row. the streets are cobblestone and cars hardly come through. there are tons of little shops everything (this town has tons of bakeries, pharmacies, eyeglass shops, and photo shops)there is apparently a festival or something this week, because there are little booths set up everywhere in old town and the are all selling lots of types of sausages and wine. So i walked through here for a while on thursday night.
I am becoming even more aquainted with the city as each day passes. I also feel more hopeful about this coming semester. I got a really good night sleep last night, finished animal farm (which i thought kinda sucked) and went for a run. being a natural born runner is a great gift. there are few thinsg that feel more natural or make me feel better when i am down. I listened to some music and ran for about 45 minutes and I am feeling a ton better today. Things are lookin up.
HOWEVER, there are two wall clocks in my apartment that tick... I HATE TICKING CLOCKS. shutting my door blocks out the sound, but if i am anywhere else in the apartment, they annoy the crap out of me.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
day 3
I showered today. It was nice... because I hadn´t exactly done that yet since I got here. So now I am fresh and clean. Last night I walked around town a bit... and I saw a Ferarri 612 Scagletti. IT WAS AMAZING. I had never in my life seen one of these before. For anyone ignorant of what I am talking about, it is a very fast and gorgeous car. It will also set you back about $250,000. anyways, last night i tried to go to sleep about 10:30, but couldn´t fall asleept until at least 11:30. This was mostly due to restlessnesss, loneliness, and the different sleep cycle than I am used to. But, on a more positive note, I am eating every meal now, I bought some milk, frosted flakes, and bannanas, so breakfast was very good today. One more random thing... I have seen at least 5 people with dredlocks in at least days, so that gives me more confidence about getting them myself, even if it will be a while before i do ( my hair has to grow A LOT).
Most importantly, I seem to have a lot of thinking going on up in my head, but the problem is that the two most common themes seem to coexist, and even grow, simultaneously. The first string of thoughtis that I am in WAY over my head, my german sux, and that I am have no freakin clue how i am going to make it through the next 10 months. I have been reading most of the paperwork and stuff i was given that i probably should have read 2 months ago but didn´t, and I feel kinda overwhelmed. The second string of thought grows as I accomplish more and more, and this train of thought is extremely positive. I have unpacked my stuff in MY OWN apartment, i got some paperwork faxed that i forgot at home, and i have a very good idea of all the paperwork i need to get done within the next week. I also found out where the sport institute is, and this is the place i can go to find out about the ultimate team, or perhaps a swimming group. I think maybe I can muster my way through the courses I will be taking and i won´t actually screw up. regardless, things are getting better and i feel like i have some direction.
The germans have absolutely NO FRIGGIN CLUE what the ADA (americans with disabilites act) or ramps are. They have even less of an idea of what an elevator is. this made carting around 2 50 pound bags and a backpack full of stuff kinda difficult.
Lastly, would like to tell you all how much I LOATHE (my mother always told me that hate is not a nice word) paperwork. bureaucracy. forms. everything here is like the DMV in america. the germans have paperwork out the ass, and it is annoying.
Most importantly, I seem to have a lot of thinking going on up in my head, but the problem is that the two most common themes seem to coexist, and even grow, simultaneously. The first string of thoughtis that I am in WAY over my head, my german sux, and that I am have no freakin clue how i am going to make it through the next 10 months. I have been reading most of the paperwork and stuff i was given that i probably should have read 2 months ago but didn´t, and I feel kinda overwhelmed. The second string of thought grows as I accomplish more and more, and this train of thought is extremely positive. I have unpacked my stuff in MY OWN apartment, i got some paperwork faxed that i forgot at home, and i have a very good idea of all the paperwork i need to get done within the next week. I also found out where the sport institute is, and this is the place i can go to find out about the ultimate team, or perhaps a swimming group. I think maybe I can muster my way through the courses I will be taking and i won´t actually screw up. regardless, things are getting better and i feel like i have some direction.
The germans have absolutely NO FRIGGIN CLUE what the ADA (americans with disabilites act) or ramps are. They have even less of an idea of what an elevator is. this made carting around 2 50 pound bags and a backpack full of stuff kinda difficult.
Lastly, would like to tell you all how much I LOATHE (my mother always told me that hate is not a nice word) paperwork. bureaucracy. forms. everything here is like the DMV in america. the germans have paperwork out the ass, and it is annoying.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
safe, sound, and decently sleep deprived
HEY everybody!
So, here is my first blog post in Germany. My plane to chicago was about an hour and a half late taking off, and my plane to Frankfurt was just as late, which allowed me to acctually make it on time to the plane without missing my flight. both trips were decently unnoteworthy. I did actually some sleep on the trip to Frankfurt. On the plane to chicago i got to sit next to some random girl, who, after talking to her a bit, tells me that she attends college at Harvard. i was pretty impressed, and it was fun talking to her, though i felt kinda stupid next to her. plus she told me that she best friend goes to university of chicago. anyways, I got to frankfurt without much fuss, got off the plane and went to the train station that is connected to the air port. I then bought a ticket to stuttgart and got to take a really sweet 2 hour train ride to stuttgart. Once in the stuttgart hauptbahnhof (train station), i then got a leberkäse sandwhich and bought a ticket for a train ride to Tübingen. I got to Tübingen about 4:30 my time, so i knew i wasn´t going to be able to get my actual room that day, so i went to the youth hostel in town and spent the night there. that was fairly uneventful as well, but by 8:30 i was pretty freakin tired. I grabbed some dinner at a nearby turkish restaraunt. I woke up at about 8, tried to go to the internet cafe´that i had visited the evening before, but it was closed. I checked out of the youth hostel and schlepped all of my luggage to the bus station (same place as the train station) and took a train to the studentenwerk (place where i get my room info). after getting a bit lost, but successfully finding the right way after a bit of searching, i found the studentenwerk. I talked to frau hartman, who was in charge of my area, and i got my room contract and a note to take to my hausmeister. I then took a ridiculious amount of bus rides, but wound up in the "french quarter," which is where i live. I found my hausmeister´s office, which apparently has ridiculiously awful hours. he is there from 9 until 9:30 and 3:30 until 4. that´s it. and i don´t believe he is in at all on fridays. long story short, i chilled out on the front steps for an hour waiting for him, and miraculiously, he showed up at around 2 oclock. i gave him the not from frau hartmann, and then he went and showed me my room. I live in an appartment thing on the first floor in the far southeast corner of town. when you first walk in, there is a common room kind of area. to your left are two bedrooms, to your right is a kitchen area, which is pretty big. further down on the right is the bathroom area. there are two toilets, two showers and 4 sinks. I believe these are divided for men and women. further at the end of the common room on the left are two more bedrooms, and on the right are the last of the bedrooms. My room is in the back right. it is perhaps a little bigger than my room at home, so not too big, but since there is only a twin bed, which reallz isn´t too bad, there is a decent amount of room. I have a wardrobe for clothes and stuff and a really big empty shelf. At the end of my bed is a desk and a fat window, which, to my knowledge, doesn´t currently close at the top. Once i got my room settled in I went to Kaufland, which is a grocery with a little bit of department store stuff too. I spent a while there and got some food and sheets and necessities of that sort. I then took a bus back to room, fell asleep for about half an hour, then came back to this internet cafe´in downtown. when i first got here i was feeling really depressed and alone. even though i had fairly adequetly communicated with everyone i had needed to, i still felt like my geman sucks and I had no idea what the hell i was doing here, plus it is kinda cold, i forgot some paperwork at home, and i didn´t really have anyway of communicating with anybody either. getting settled into my room really helped alleviate a lot of that. I now feel like things are more stable and it seems cool to say that i now LIVE in germany.
The town intself is pretty cool. it is fairly densely populated, and my building is actually pretty isolated. I am in a massive residential district and i have to take a bus to get anywhere. This isn´t so bad since the bus system is pretty easy once you get used to it. they have pretty much everything you need. right as you leave the train station there is a video game store. so fear not bryan, you too could survive here. OH YEAh, they also had peanut M&M´s at kaufland, so i had to get some, if only because i wanted something familiar. Germany really seems nothing like the US, unless you are in the heart of downtown of some place. even in this "town" which really just seems more like a small city to me, everything is pretty dense and compact. Germany has very little grass, but tons of greenery. One of the more interesting things i have noticed is that freakin everybody here drives a hatchback car. wheter it is a car, van, SUVish thing, or what, at least 4 out of every 5 cars are hatchbacks, and of those 5, probably all of them are stick shifts. Germany also has tons of parmacies. mass transit is amaying here. the bus system is pretty good, and once you get used to how it works, you can pretty much go anywhere.
well, that is all for now i guess. I don´t yet have my exact address but i will get it from my hausmeister tomorrow when i tell him about my window problem. I should get internet in my room within the next week, and then i won´t have to trek down here to this internet cafe´every time i want to email people. until next time Gadget!
much love,
Jonathan
So, here is my first blog post in Germany. My plane to chicago was about an hour and a half late taking off, and my plane to Frankfurt was just as late, which allowed me to acctually make it on time to the plane without missing my flight. both trips were decently unnoteworthy. I did actually some sleep on the trip to Frankfurt. On the plane to chicago i got to sit next to some random girl, who, after talking to her a bit, tells me that she attends college at Harvard. i was pretty impressed, and it was fun talking to her, though i felt kinda stupid next to her. plus she told me that she best friend goes to university of chicago. anyways, I got to frankfurt without much fuss, got off the plane and went to the train station that is connected to the air port. I then bought a ticket to stuttgart and got to take a really sweet 2 hour train ride to stuttgart. Once in the stuttgart hauptbahnhof (train station), i then got a leberkäse sandwhich and bought a ticket for a train ride to Tübingen. I got to Tübingen about 4:30 my time, so i knew i wasn´t going to be able to get my actual room that day, so i went to the youth hostel in town and spent the night there. that was fairly uneventful as well, but by 8:30 i was pretty freakin tired. I grabbed some dinner at a nearby turkish restaraunt. I woke up at about 8, tried to go to the internet cafe´that i had visited the evening before, but it was closed. I checked out of the youth hostel and schlepped all of my luggage to the bus station (same place as the train station) and took a train to the studentenwerk (place where i get my room info). after getting a bit lost, but successfully finding the right way after a bit of searching, i found the studentenwerk. I talked to frau hartman, who was in charge of my area, and i got my room contract and a note to take to my hausmeister. I then took a ridiculious amount of bus rides, but wound up in the "french quarter," which is where i live. I found my hausmeister´s office, which apparently has ridiculiously awful hours. he is there from 9 until 9:30 and 3:30 until 4. that´s it. and i don´t believe he is in at all on fridays. long story short, i chilled out on the front steps for an hour waiting for him, and miraculiously, he showed up at around 2 oclock. i gave him the not from frau hartmann, and then he went and showed me my room. I live in an appartment thing on the first floor in the far southeast corner of town. when you first walk in, there is a common room kind of area. to your left are two bedrooms, to your right is a kitchen area, which is pretty big. further down on the right is the bathroom area. there are two toilets, two showers and 4 sinks. I believe these are divided for men and women. further at the end of the common room on the left are two more bedrooms, and on the right are the last of the bedrooms. My room is in the back right. it is perhaps a little bigger than my room at home, so not too big, but since there is only a twin bed, which reallz isn´t too bad, there is a decent amount of room. I have a wardrobe for clothes and stuff and a really big empty shelf. At the end of my bed is a desk and a fat window, which, to my knowledge, doesn´t currently close at the top. Once i got my room settled in I went to Kaufland, which is a grocery with a little bit of department store stuff too. I spent a while there and got some food and sheets and necessities of that sort. I then took a bus back to room, fell asleep for about half an hour, then came back to this internet cafe´in downtown. when i first got here i was feeling really depressed and alone. even though i had fairly adequetly communicated with everyone i had needed to, i still felt like my geman sucks and I had no idea what the hell i was doing here, plus it is kinda cold, i forgot some paperwork at home, and i didn´t really have anyway of communicating with anybody either. getting settled into my room really helped alleviate a lot of that. I now feel like things are more stable and it seems cool to say that i now LIVE in germany.
The town intself is pretty cool. it is fairly densely populated, and my building is actually pretty isolated. I am in a massive residential district and i have to take a bus to get anywhere. This isn´t so bad since the bus system is pretty easy once you get used to it. they have pretty much everything you need. right as you leave the train station there is a video game store. so fear not bryan, you too could survive here. OH YEAh, they also had peanut M&M´s at kaufland, so i had to get some, if only because i wanted something familiar. Germany really seems nothing like the US, unless you are in the heart of downtown of some place. even in this "town" which really just seems more like a small city to me, everything is pretty dense and compact. Germany has very little grass, but tons of greenery. One of the more interesting things i have noticed is that freakin everybody here drives a hatchback car. wheter it is a car, van, SUVish thing, or what, at least 4 out of every 5 cars are hatchbacks, and of those 5, probably all of them are stick shifts. Germany also has tons of parmacies. mass transit is amaying here. the bus system is pretty good, and once you get used to how it works, you can pretty much go anywhere.
well, that is all for now i guess. I don´t yet have my exact address but i will get it from my hausmeister tomorrow when i tell him about my window problem. I should get internet in my room within the next week, and then i won´t have to trek down here to this internet cafe´every time i want to email people. until next time Gadget!
much love,
Jonathan
Thursday, August 30, 2007
I have a place to live!!!!
As most of you surely know by now, I will be leaving for Germany (DEUTSCHLAND!) on september 10th. I will be using this blog to keep people posted on general things that go on while I am over there. This way I don't have to send 9 page emails like andrew did in Korea. I might send out an email every once in a while to say that i've made a post, but most of my emails will be more personal stuff. So make sure you check the blog periodicallly if you want to find out whats happen in Germany.
I will be living in a town called Tübingen. It is in southwest Germany in the state Baden-Würtemberg. It is in the black forest region, and it is about 30 miles outside of the city Stuttgart. It also happens to be about 30 miles above the swiss border. The town itself seems quite a bit like Columbia, Missouri in that it has a population of about 85,000 and a university of about 25,000 I will be living there the entire academic year. I will return sometime in mid july, and during my stay I will be attending Eberhardt-Karls Universität. I will be directly enrolling in the university and taking mostly german literature and introductory french classes.
As some of you may or may not know, I had a bit of a scare as far as my living arrangements were concerned. I was not sure that they had solidified and worked out, but I found out this morning that all is well and I do indeed have a place to live! Now that those fears of flying to germany and having to wash dishes in a youth hostel to earn my keep have been extinguished I am officially FREAKIN PUMPED... and terrified. so yeah, thats the deallio forreallio.
I will be living in a town called Tübingen. It is in southwest Germany in the state Baden-Würtemberg. It is in the black forest region, and it is about 30 miles outside of the city Stuttgart. It also happens to be about 30 miles above the swiss border. The town itself seems quite a bit like Columbia, Missouri in that it has a population of about 85,000 and a university of about 25,000 I will be living there the entire academic year. I will return sometime in mid july, and during my stay I will be attending Eberhardt-Karls Universität. I will be directly enrolling in the university and taking mostly german literature and introductory french classes.
As some of you may or may not know, I had a bit of a scare as far as my living arrangements were concerned. I was not sure that they had solidified and worked out, but I found out this morning that all is well and I do indeed have a place to live! Now that those fears of flying to germany and having to wash dishes in a youth hostel to earn my keep have been extinguished I am officially FREAKIN PUMPED... and terrified. so yeah, thats the deallio forreallio.
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