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!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
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
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