My flight from Berlin left at 6:00 AM Berlin Time Sunday. I figured I should be there by about three, just to be really safe. So, I figured it didn't make sense to sleep, and went to a friend's host's apartment to watch a movie (he's still in Berlin because he's going to Spain for awhile with a friend). After a showing of Pan's Labyrinth, I went back to my host's apartment at 2:00, ate some food, and finished packing. Uwe was nice enough to wake up to see me go, and offered to drive me to my first Ubahn stop, because my bags were heavy. I really appreciated that, especially after carrying my bags while transferring trains.
Uwe's son Paul was around Saturday, which was also the day that I learned that Paul liked me, even though I never had a ton of interaction with him. I hung around with Uwe and Paul pretty much all Saturday afternoon. That night, Paul made signs with sayings in German like "Stehen bleiben! Ich wil nicht, dass du gest!" and "Halt" and "Stop" and "Du darfst nicht gehn! Du soltst nicht gehen!" and pasted them on the front door. They each mean "You may not go!" or "I don't want you to leave!" or "You shouldn't go!", except in little kid handwriting and with little kid spelling errors. It was super cute. In fact, Paul in general is a super cute 8 year old, in the way he acts and talks. Anyways, it was genuinely heart-warming to know that Paul cared enough about me going to make little kid signs. I kept them, and I think I'll hang them in my dorm room back at school.
At Kottbusser Tor Ubahnstation, I said final goodbyes to Uwe. It was a little strange waiting for trains at 2:30 a.m. with two large luggage bags and a backpack full of valuable things and the 2:30 AM types who hang around Ubahnstations, plus minimum 10 minute waits for trains. Also, Kottbusser Tor is notoriously a hangout for various unsavory types. But I made it fine. At about 3:30 I made it to Kurt-Schumacher-Platz, where there's a bus to the airport, but in the middle of the night it only comes rarely. It would've come in 45 minutes, and I didn't want to stand there with bags for that long, so I was forced to take my first ever taxi. All in all, I made it to the airport way early. I was the first one there, and they didn't even open the check-in until 4:30. The flight to Amsterdam was about an hour and a half, during which I slept. After a three hour layover, I got on the flight back to America. It lasted eight and a half hours, during which I watched Transformers (The Movie, which is possibly the worst I've ever seen, and a true disgrace to former Transformers fans, which I can't call myself, but if I were to pretend that I'm one of them and then watch that movie, I would cry or punch something, because it decides to be a bad action movie with constant slapstick and cheap jokes that completely ruin any authenticity the action would have and instead just make it a bad comedy with some high tech animated robots that fight and spout cliches), and Casablanca, which was just good, and didn't try to insert awful jokes into every line, which was essentially the equivalent effect in Transformers. I got to eat cool airplane food, and was subject to this conversation just after we took off, and I had just fallen asleep while reading a German book.:
Flight Attendant: Is he a U.S. citizen?
Lady next to me: I don't know...he must be pretty smart or something, because that book there is a foreign language, I think.
I heard those while waking up, after which I had a sleepy, confused conversation with the flight attendant about a customs form. After learning I was a U.S. citizen, she said "Yeah, I thought you were reading a foreign language" as if to say "how silly of me!" The lesson here is that absolutely everyone who doesn't speak English is smart, and no Americans, by rule, can speak foreign languages.
After a 90 minute wait in Minneapolis, I took a 20 minute flight to Rochester, because the entire flight package cost less if I flew to Rochester than if I had just ended in Minneapolis. There, I met my parents. It's good to be home. Today, I called Kohl's to talk about my impending re-employment in the soul-eating line of clothing folding. Luckily though, my life is more than Kohl's. It's truly good to be home.
Monday, November 19
Sunday, November 11
One Week Left
Last Monday we took a day trip to Wittenberg, the town where Martin Luther lived. It was kind of cold and foggy, but the town was pretty, and I had a good bratwurst, so it was all right. We also saw the two churches in the town, one of which was the one where Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door, starting the Reformation.
We've also finished reading Faust and then yesterday saw it performed in the Deutsches Theater. The book was hard, and really above the level of someone who had just completed 103, but the other 103ers and I got through it. It's still a really good piece, and really pretty writing.
Also yesterday five of us saw another Hertha BSC soccer game, this time against Hannover 96. When I left my host's apartment, it was partly cloudy, and looked like it would be a nice day for a game, but by the time we got to the Ubahn station Olympia Stadion, it had entirely clouded up, and then snowed for the first time in Berlin. Strange, pellety snow. There was also one booming thunderclap, in the middle of a snowstorm, the first time I had ever heard that. The whole game it snowed on and off, which was really beautiful, and made for an interesting game. It was a better soccer game this time. Evenly matched, but still no score until the 86th minute, when Hertha scored and then held on to win 1:0. Of course, more rowdies in the stadium again, who went nuts when Hertha scored, and on the packed SBahn back home, too. The whole Sbahn ride back, the Hertha fans sang drunken chants and beat on the walls and doors of the Sbahn. It was really entertaining.
I also saw the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin, a museum dedicated to 2000 years of Jewish history. It's a really cool museum in a really cool building. Given the clearly hampered Jewish-German relationship over the years, there were a lot of interesting things over the historical relationship of Germans and Jews, especially the parts on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, they had readings from original documents on debates from the 19th century like "should Jews be full citizens" or "can a Jew be a German", in which even the "yes" debaters were awful. the part from WWI on was really well done, with a wall documenting the lost rights of Jews over two years spans after 1933, and emigration attempts, and pictures of Allied soldiers making horrified German citizens walk through the concentration camps directly after the Allied forces had found the camps, and then films over the Auschwitz trials later. It was a really cool museum.
In exactly one week at this time I'll be on my flight over the Atlantic, coming back home. My flight leaves at 6:00 AM local time, which may have been a mistake, but might be kind of fun, too. I probably won't have trouble sleeping on the plane.
We've also finished reading Faust and then yesterday saw it performed in the Deutsches Theater. The book was hard, and really above the level of someone who had just completed 103, but the other 103ers and I got through it. It's still a really good piece, and really pretty writing.
Also yesterday five of us saw another Hertha BSC soccer game, this time against Hannover 96. When I left my host's apartment, it was partly cloudy, and looked like it would be a nice day for a game, but by the time we got to the Ubahn station Olympia Stadion, it had entirely clouded up, and then snowed for the first time in Berlin. Strange, pellety snow. There was also one booming thunderclap, in the middle of a snowstorm, the first time I had ever heard that. The whole game it snowed on and off, which was really beautiful, and made for an interesting game. It was a better soccer game this time. Evenly matched, but still no score until the 86th minute, when Hertha scored and then held on to win 1:0. Of course, more rowdies in the stadium again, who went nuts when Hertha scored, and on the packed SBahn back home, too. The whole Sbahn ride back, the Hertha fans sang drunken chants and beat on the walls and doors of the Sbahn. It was really entertaining.
I also saw the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin, a museum dedicated to 2000 years of Jewish history. It's a really cool museum in a really cool building. Given the clearly hampered Jewish-German relationship over the years, there were a lot of interesting things over the historical relationship of Germans and Jews, especially the parts on the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, they had readings from original documents on debates from the 19th century like "should Jews be full citizens" or "can a Jew be a German", in which even the "yes" debaters were awful. the part from WWI on was really well done, with a wall documenting the lost rights of Jews over two years spans after 1933, and emigration attempts, and pictures of Allied soldiers making horrified German citizens walk through the concentration camps directly after the Allied forces had found the camps, and then films over the Auschwitz trials later. It was a really cool museum.
In exactly one week at this time I'll be on my flight over the Atlantic, coming back home. My flight leaves at 6:00 AM local time, which may have been a mistake, but might be kind of fun, too. I probably won't have trouble sleeping on the plane.
Friday, November 2
Dresden
Dresden has a ton of pretty architecture. All of it was destroyed in WWII and then rebuilt beautifully. The best was Frauenkirche, a church that was only completed two years ago, because it took time to collect the 130€ million or so that it took to build. It's really a beautiful building. Everywhere you turn in Dresden there's some pretty building. It's called "the Florence on the Elbe". Also in Dresden is the new big glass Volkswagen factory, which a few of us toured. It was the most hoity-toity schicki-micki factory in the world. Everything was glass and artfully designed, and they had smooth jazz playing, with wood panelled floors. It seemed kind of like a show factory. You could try out (meaning sit in) a really expensive car, and see on some screens just how high-tech the assembly is (they have self-guided robots that zip around the factory, and other cool stuff). It was all right. Then they kicked us out, because they had a big fancy dinner party coming up in the factory. On the way out, I could have bought a 170€ umbrella.
I also finally got to the Berlin Zoo, where they have the superstar baby polar bear Knut, who was at one time the cutest zoo animal on Earth. Now he's a little bigger, but still cute. He knows he's a star. While the other bears just pace, Knut plays cutely with a toy. Then, he'll walk right in front of the big crowd (and it's overly large), stand up on his hind legs, and strike a pose, which elicits a collected "Ohhhhhh!!!" from the crowd. You can tell he knows that people adore him. Knut is a ridiculous bear. He's also captivated Germany. You can buy an array of Knut books, Knut calendars, Knut dolls, etc. I've even seen a Knut-themed credit card. Otherwise, they had some cool primates, and giraffes, and hippos, and the like. It was a good zoo.
We had a cool Halloween party on the 31st. I dressed as Dan Lojovich, a true character from our group. Halloween exists in Germany, as does trick or treating, but they're not quite as big, and it's hard to trick or treat in Berlin. "Süß oder Sauer" is what the kids say, which means "sweet or sour".
On Monday, we go to Wittenburg for a day, which is where Martin Luther lived. Right now we're reading Faust, Der Tragödie Erster Teil, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is the German literature. Also really hard. But really good.
I also finally got to the Berlin Zoo, where they have the superstar baby polar bear Knut, who was at one time the cutest zoo animal on Earth. Now he's a little bigger, but still cute. He knows he's a star. While the other bears just pace, Knut plays cutely with a toy. Then, he'll walk right in front of the big crowd (and it's overly large), stand up on his hind legs, and strike a pose, which elicits a collected "Ohhhhhh!!!" from the crowd. You can tell he knows that people adore him. Knut is a ridiculous bear. He's also captivated Germany. You can buy an array of Knut books, Knut calendars, Knut dolls, etc. I've even seen a Knut-themed credit card. Otherwise, they had some cool primates, and giraffes, and hippos, and the like. It was a good zoo.
We had a cool Halloween party on the 31st. I dressed as Dan Lojovich, a true character from our group. Halloween exists in Germany, as does trick or treating, but they're not quite as big, and it's hard to trick or treat in Berlin. "Süß oder Sauer" is what the kids say, which means "sweet or sour".
On Monday, we go to Wittenburg for a day, which is where Martin Luther lived. Right now we're reading Faust, Der Tragödie Erster Teil, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is the German literature. Also really hard. But really good.
Thursday, October 25
Wieder in Berlin
Before leaving for Bayern, I bought a soccer ball. Since then the whole group has twice played soccer in a park in Kreuzberg, both times with local kids. That was really fun. These kids were probably about 12 years old. They were pretty good for their age, but we were a lot bigger. No one kept score, and everyone played, even if they weren't soccer-skilled. It was fun.
Bayern and the Alps were incredible. On the 18th David, Dan, and I took the Deutsche Bahn to Munich, a six hour trip. Our hostel that night was a 10-bed room at Jaeger's Hostel. That night we watched the Rugby World Cup consolation match between France and Argentina in the hostel on TV. Somehow there were tons of Argentina fans in the hostel, and no France fans. And they weren't just France-haters, because they all spoke Spanish and sang rugby songs when Argentina scored. And Argentina scored often. They trounced France. I learned a lot about rugby and british sports commentary. The next morning we saw some sights in Munich, like Frauenkirche, Alte and Neue Rathäuser (including the Glockenspiel in Neue Rathaus, a really lame animatronic wooden scene that lasts 15 minutes with figures dancing and two jousters, and a rooster at the end. We only saw about 5 minutes.), and went up in one of the domes of Frauenkirche to get a nice view of Munich from a couple hundred feet up. Frauenkirche is absolutely massive. That afternoon we met up with Hannah R., who had taken a later train, and walked around Englischer Garten, a park twice as big as Central Park. It was pretty. Dinner was had in Hofbräuhaus, a famous beer hall in Munich. I had Schweinwürstl (basically tasty sausages) with Sauerkraut and beer. It was a fun day.
The next morning David, Dan, and I hopped a morning train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a combined village of two little towns in the Alps. The Alps were unbelievable. The landscape got snowier and snowier during the hour and a half train ride, and soon mountains were in view. After some putzing around getting trail food in Garmisch, we hiked to our hostel in Burgrain, another little village nearby. Along the way there were countless beautiful views of mountains. Our youth hostel turned out to be incredibly good. We had a four bed room with individual showers across the hall, friendly staff, and cheap dinner, which I expected to be crummy, but turned out to be absolutely delicious. It was a dream hostel.
Hiking in the Alps was the most beautiful experience of my life. Both days it was lightly snowing and about 32° F. The pictures are beautiful, but they really can't do it justice at all.
Our first day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen we decided to hike over a nearby small mountain, or get as far as we could. We set out with food and six hours before dark. Eventually we came out of some woods, and for the first time got a view of the mountain. It was...mountainous. And that was only the lower peak. There was also a higher peak that we couldn't see in fog. So our goal changed to "get as far as we can". That was still pretty far. We almost reached the lower peak. The views were absolutely astonishing, and got better and better as we got higher and higher. Eventually we couldn't see the ground from where we were, because we were in fog, and it was snowing. The trail got rougher as we went up, and snow thicker, and eventually we decided that we should get down, to avoid darkness and the danger of possible escalating snowfall. Once down, we skipped into Garmisch for a nice pasta dinner, then hiked 20 minutes back to our hostel. I was pooped, but exhilarated from the absolute beauty of the place. It was the perfect winter scene, not too cold and not snowing too hard, with mountains everywhere. My expectations for the Alps were incredibly high, and they were easily easily beaten.
The next morning we ate breakfast at the hostel and got out on the trail again. This time we went to Partnachklamm Gorge, a magnificent gorge carved out by a little mountain river. The hostel lady recommended it. We had originally planned to take a cable car to a high mountain and hike down, but she told us the snow there would be a meter high, and recommended the gorge. I'm very glad she did. It was equally beautiful in a different way. The river was all rapids and a beautiful shade of blue, and the cliffs on either side were probably 60 feet tall, with tons of cool geology. It was amazing. After the gorge, we continued to hike, taking a loop up the side of a mountain, and then going in the opposite direction to the peak of a foothill/mountain called Eckbauer. From the peak we normally could have seen the entire range of big mountains around G-P, but snow limited visibility to about 500 feet. That was totally okay, because the snow was beautiful in its own right. From Eckbauer, the hike was all downhill. We stopped by Wamberg, a tiny town with about 20 buildings, the world's cutest tiniest church (thus making Wamberg an official village), and sheep/goats (we weren't sure), and then hiked back down to Garmisch. Back at the hostel, we had the incredible hostel dinner with pork, spätzle, blaukraut, some doughball things, salad, and chocolate-wafer cake, all as buffet. I ate probably 3000 calories at that meal. I was that hungry, and the food was super well made and perfect for after a hike. Very unexpected, but very welcome. After showers, we played Uno with beer, and got to bed relatively early.
It would be a dream to live in G-P one year, and be able to see the mountains through the changing of the seasons. I've never been anywhere so beautiful, and it was only a sampling of what it can be. During our stay we could have taken cable cars to Zugspitze, the highest peak, for a hefty fee, but with the snow we wouldn't have been able to see anything. Our hikes were better, prettier, less touristy, and cheaper. We had to have hiked over 15 miles over the two days, all mountainous.
With sadness and sore legs the next morning we left Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Munich again. Once there, we checked out the Neue Pinakothek, an art museum with 19th century art, then met up with Hannah R. again and went to the Deutsches Musuem, a gigantic science museum. It must be the largest museum on Earth. It had displays on everything, like mining, metals, ceramics, airplanes, space, musical instruments, etc., and we only saw a fraction. Munich actually has a ton of museums, mostly art museums. For dinner we went to Weisses Bräuhaus, another traditional German restaurant, and then made the obligatory Munich visit to a beer garden. Our choice was Augustiner Keller, where you can drink a Maß (one liter) of beer two stories below ground in a beer cellar. Everything is brick, and they serve the beer out of gigantic wooden barrels. That was fun, and a good taste of Munich culture. Also a good taste of beer.
Munich was cool, and a good way to see Bayern culture and hear Bayrisch (dialect of German, notoriously hard to understand). We saw several examples of Lederhosen, and some absolutely incredible beards and moustaches, which were probably the best part of the town. Especially in the Bräuhäuser, there were some very stereotypically German people.
That night we were back in Jaeger's, but in a four bed room. That was nicer. Jaeger's was a solid hostel, just very busy. We got lots of sleep, and the next morning took the early train back to Berlin. It took six hours again, with a change in Nürnberg this time. It was a fun trip, way better than even my high expectations. Still, it's also nice to be back.
Since then we've seen "Die Hochzeit Des Figaro" ("the marriage of Figaro"), translated into German, in the opera. That was an interesting test of being able to understand German during song. It was hard. The opera, though, was very cool. Very long, but very cool. Tonight we see "Die Physiker" on the stage. It was a really good book, written in the Cold War and concerning scientific ethics (interesting then for nuclear weapons, always for myriad reasons). It'll be interesting to see it performed.
Be sure to check out the photos of the Alps. They aren't the same, but they're still pretty. Tomorrow, I finally go to the zoo, and this Sunday and Monday, the whole group goes to Dresden. It's been great, and continues to be.
Bayern and the Alps were incredible. On the 18th David, Dan, and I took the Deutsche Bahn to Munich, a six hour trip. Our hostel that night was a 10-bed room at Jaeger's Hostel. That night we watched the Rugby World Cup consolation match between France and Argentina in the hostel on TV. Somehow there were tons of Argentina fans in the hostel, and no France fans. And they weren't just France-haters, because they all spoke Spanish and sang rugby songs when Argentina scored. And Argentina scored often. They trounced France. I learned a lot about rugby and british sports commentary. The next morning we saw some sights in Munich, like Frauenkirche, Alte and Neue Rathäuser (including the Glockenspiel in Neue Rathaus, a really lame animatronic wooden scene that lasts 15 minutes with figures dancing and two jousters, and a rooster at the end. We only saw about 5 minutes.), and went up in one of the domes of Frauenkirche to get a nice view of Munich from a couple hundred feet up. Frauenkirche is absolutely massive. That afternoon we met up with Hannah R., who had taken a later train, and walked around Englischer Garten, a park twice as big as Central Park. It was pretty. Dinner was had in Hofbräuhaus, a famous beer hall in Munich. I had Schweinwürstl (basically tasty sausages) with Sauerkraut and beer. It was a fun day.
The next morning David, Dan, and I hopped a morning train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a combined village of two little towns in the Alps. The Alps were unbelievable. The landscape got snowier and snowier during the hour and a half train ride, and soon mountains were in view. After some putzing around getting trail food in Garmisch, we hiked to our hostel in Burgrain, another little village nearby. Along the way there were countless beautiful views of mountains. Our youth hostel turned out to be incredibly good. We had a four bed room with individual showers across the hall, friendly staff, and cheap dinner, which I expected to be crummy, but turned out to be absolutely delicious. It was a dream hostel.
Hiking in the Alps was the most beautiful experience of my life. Both days it was lightly snowing and about 32° F. The pictures are beautiful, but they really can't do it justice at all.
Our first day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen we decided to hike over a nearby small mountain, or get as far as we could. We set out with food and six hours before dark. Eventually we came out of some woods, and for the first time got a view of the mountain. It was...mountainous. And that was only the lower peak. There was also a higher peak that we couldn't see in fog. So our goal changed to "get as far as we can". That was still pretty far. We almost reached the lower peak. The views were absolutely astonishing, and got better and better as we got higher and higher. Eventually we couldn't see the ground from where we were, because we were in fog, and it was snowing. The trail got rougher as we went up, and snow thicker, and eventually we decided that we should get down, to avoid darkness and the danger of possible escalating snowfall. Once down, we skipped into Garmisch for a nice pasta dinner, then hiked 20 minutes back to our hostel. I was pooped, but exhilarated from the absolute beauty of the place. It was the perfect winter scene, not too cold and not snowing too hard, with mountains everywhere. My expectations for the Alps were incredibly high, and they were easily easily beaten.
The next morning we ate breakfast at the hostel and got out on the trail again. This time we went to Partnachklamm Gorge, a magnificent gorge carved out by a little mountain river. The hostel lady recommended it. We had originally planned to take a cable car to a high mountain and hike down, but she told us the snow there would be a meter high, and recommended the gorge. I'm very glad she did. It was equally beautiful in a different way. The river was all rapids and a beautiful shade of blue, and the cliffs on either side were probably 60 feet tall, with tons of cool geology. It was amazing. After the gorge, we continued to hike, taking a loop up the side of a mountain, and then going in the opposite direction to the peak of a foothill/mountain called Eckbauer. From the peak we normally could have seen the entire range of big mountains around G-P, but snow limited visibility to about 500 feet. That was totally okay, because the snow was beautiful in its own right. From Eckbauer, the hike was all downhill. We stopped by Wamberg, a tiny town with about 20 buildings, the world's cutest tiniest church (thus making Wamberg an official village), and sheep/goats (we weren't sure), and then hiked back down to Garmisch. Back at the hostel, we had the incredible hostel dinner with pork, spätzle, blaukraut, some doughball things, salad, and chocolate-wafer cake, all as buffet. I ate probably 3000 calories at that meal. I was that hungry, and the food was super well made and perfect for after a hike. Very unexpected, but very welcome. After showers, we played Uno with beer, and got to bed relatively early.
It would be a dream to live in G-P one year, and be able to see the mountains through the changing of the seasons. I've never been anywhere so beautiful, and it was only a sampling of what it can be. During our stay we could have taken cable cars to Zugspitze, the highest peak, for a hefty fee, but with the snow we wouldn't have been able to see anything. Our hikes were better, prettier, less touristy, and cheaper. We had to have hiked over 15 miles over the two days, all mountainous.
With sadness and sore legs the next morning we left Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Munich again. Once there, we checked out the Neue Pinakothek, an art museum with 19th century art, then met up with Hannah R. again and went to the Deutsches Musuem, a gigantic science museum. It must be the largest museum on Earth. It had displays on everything, like mining, metals, ceramics, airplanes, space, musical instruments, etc., and we only saw a fraction. Munich actually has a ton of museums, mostly art museums. For dinner we went to Weisses Bräuhaus, another traditional German restaurant, and then made the obligatory Munich visit to a beer garden. Our choice was Augustiner Keller, where you can drink a Maß (one liter) of beer two stories below ground in a beer cellar. Everything is brick, and they serve the beer out of gigantic wooden barrels. That was fun, and a good taste of Munich culture. Also a good taste of beer.
Munich was cool, and a good way to see Bayern culture and hear Bayrisch (dialect of German, notoriously hard to understand). We saw several examples of Lederhosen, and some absolutely incredible beards and moustaches, which were probably the best part of the town. Especially in the Bräuhäuser, there were some very stereotypically German people.
That night we were back in Jaeger's, but in a four bed room. That was nicer. Jaeger's was a solid hostel, just very busy. We got lots of sleep, and the next morning took the early train back to Berlin. It took six hours again, with a change in Nürnberg this time. It was a fun trip, way better than even my high expectations. Still, it's also nice to be back.
Since then we've seen "Die Hochzeit Des Figaro" ("the marriage of Figaro"), translated into German, in the opera. That was an interesting test of being able to understand German during song. It was hard. The opera, though, was very cool. Very long, but very cool. Tonight we see "Die Physiker" on the stage. It was a really good book, written in the Cold War and concerning scientific ethics (interesting then for nuclear weapons, always for myriad reasons). It'll be interesting to see it performed.
Be sure to check out the photos of the Alps. They aren't the same, but they're still pretty. Tomorrow, I finally go to the zoo, and this Sunday and Monday, the whole group goes to Dresden. It's been great, and continues to be.
Thursday, October 18
Die Zweite Reise
This weekend is "Midterm Break", which means we get Monday off, which at Carleton is the only break we have during a term, but here is just another break among many, in a program that's a little break-ish to begin with. Anyways, I'm going to Munich with two friends later today. On Friday we'll be in Munich, then Saturday and Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is a little city on the southern border, to see the Alps. Then Monday back in Munich, and Tuesday morning we take the train back to Berlin, where we're seeing a play that night.
I'm extremely excited to see the Alps. I've seen mountains in New Mexico, but if they were to get into a fight with the Alps, they would be pulverized. We're planning on doing some hiking and mountain-seeing while we're in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and in Munich some touristy sights and museums, and Hofbräuhaus.
This past week we saw "Minna von Barnhelm", which was actually extremely good. We've also finished Bertholt Brecht's "Die Dreigroschenoper", known in English as "Threepenny Opera", which expounds Brecht's communist ideologie in Gangster-story format. Now we're reading "Die Physiker" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, which is so far definitely the easiest we've read, partly because it was written fairly recently (1962).
I must pack. The train leaves in about 3 hours. I won't have internet access until Tuesday at the earliest.
I'm extremely excited to see the Alps. I've seen mountains in New Mexico, but if they were to get into a fight with the Alps, they would be pulverized. We're planning on doing some hiking and mountain-seeing while we're in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and in Munich some touristy sights and museums, and Hofbräuhaus.
This past week we saw "Minna von Barnhelm", which was actually extremely good. We've also finished Bertholt Brecht's "Die Dreigroschenoper", known in English as "Threepenny Opera", which expounds Brecht's communist ideologie in Gangster-story format. Now we're reading "Die Physiker" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, which is so far definitely the easiest we've read, partly because it was written fairly recently (1962).
I must pack. The train leaves in about 3 hours. I won't have internet access until Tuesday at the earliest.
Saturday, October 13
die Reise
We just got back yesterday from our six day Weimar-Nürnberg trip, which functioned like a vacation, although the whole trip is kind of a vacation too. A vacation within a vacation. It was cool. See below. Before we left, David and I went to the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, which has art. While there, some girl saw that David was wearing a Carleton shirt, and stopped us. Turns out her brother is a member of the class of 2011. It was very unlikely. I facebook-messaged the guy, which was successfully not creepy.
Also successful was the Hertha BSC (Berlin): Energie Cottbus soccer game on Saturday the 6th. The game was a dudder of a soccer game (0:0, with some absolutely thrilling turnovers and mis-passes), but it was still very exciting to be at a European soccer game, where the fans cheer nonstop and wave flags and have their own drumline. That was in the rowdy section, which is separated by physical plastic barriers from everyone else, for everyone else's safety. Even Cottbus had a strong contingent of hooligans. The game was almost exciting, because there was a PK in the 90th minute for Hertha, but the player shot the ball off the crossbar, fittingly. On the way there and back we were treated to some nice drunk serenades by soccer hooligans in the Ubahn.
The next day we left for Weimar. Weimar has only 60,000 people but a ton of famous former residents, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, and either Beethoven or Bach (I had famous person overload), among others, including Hitler for a little while. The whole city is straight from a fairytale, with all cobblestone streets, and a pretty park, and some horses for tourists, and pretty buildings. We toured the former residences of Goethe and Schiller (Schiller is kind of a big deal at Carleton). What's kind of funny in a sick way is that right outside this fairytale city is Buchenwald, a former concentration camp. We toured it. It was tragically awful in a way that makes non-crying people cry. The gate where prisoners entered says "Jedem das Seine". That means "to each his own". That perversion is what sickened me the most. That, or the people ovens or the punishment wagon that prisoners had to pull or the solitary confinement building or the punishment pole from which people hung until they passed out or the pictures of dead piles of humans or the pictures of live skeletons of humans, which were all truly terrible.
I'm very glad I saw it.
We left Weimar to go to Nürnberg. Nürnberg is over 900 years old, and has an altstadt (old city) surrounded by an old city wall, in addition to lots of traditional German architecture, like Fachwerkhäuser and the like. Phenomenally large and pretty churches as well, like many cities here. Albrecht Dürer lived here around 1500, so we toured his former house. They have yummy bratwurst too, the best I've yet had. Also, the best museum I've seen yet, the Germanishes Nationalmuseum, which had cool exhibits of old weaponry, musical instruments, and scientific instruments, among many other things. One could spend days there. There were a ton of things I could have done in Nürnberg, like an aquarium, Pigeon museum, and even a "Bible Experience House" (actually, several kids from our group went there, presumably in jest, and were actually turned away, because there was a group of 60 people already in there. Jesus wouldn't turn people away, unless things become uncomfortably crowded, or maybe violate fire code, apparently). Anyways, I went to the Toy museum (worthwhile) and the Hat museum (incredibly worthwhile). The hat museum was a museum connected to a hat store, and the guy leading the group of five on the tour was a 4th generation owner. He had a ton of passion for hats. We got to see how hats are made, and got to try on anything we wanted, which we gladly did. I got my head measured (it's big) and at the end, bought a classy hat. In fact, six people from our group bought hats from that guy. He deserved it. Also in Nürnberg, I sleepwalked not only for the first, but then also the second time in Germany the next night, both times waking up my room partner David, because both times I was convinced he was someone dangerous and either ran away from him trying to leave the room (unsuccessfully, because I tried to unlock an unlocked door, thereby locking it, and then woke up), or tried to fend off his attacks by grabbing him (apparently he attacks by sleeping, maybe?). Poor David. Those were two of the stranger sleepwalks I've taken in my years, seeing as both occured in a state of fright that scary David was someone bad. Usually, I just wake up and do something totally irrational or say something comically incomprehensible to my roommate, and then go back to bed. Anyway, I thought it couldn't get prettier than Nürnberg. I was wrong.
The next day we went to Hersbruck, a very small town outside Nürnberg, in the rolling hills of Bavaria. Hersbruck is over 1000 years old. It was really sunny (every day of the trip, actually), and from the top of the hills, you could see four individual little villages nestled in the hills. More Fachwerkhäuser, and little cobblestone streets, and a uniquely tasty local beer. It's the kind of place to which every sane person would want to retire. Absolutely beautiful. Then, we hiked to another little town, had a snack, and hiked back. Sigi, our professor, grew up in Hersbruck. We saw her former kindergarten. It was great.
Then, we took the train back to Nürnberg. The next day, we went back to Berlin. Tonight, we see "Minna von Barnhelm", since last time we tried to see it, the main character was sick. Next week, back to work, and maybe finally the Berlin Zoo.
Also successful was the Hertha BSC (Berlin): Energie Cottbus soccer game on Saturday the 6th. The game was a dudder of a soccer game (0:0, with some absolutely thrilling turnovers and mis-passes), but it was still very exciting to be at a European soccer game, where the fans cheer nonstop and wave flags and have their own drumline. That was in the rowdy section, which is separated by physical plastic barriers from everyone else, for everyone else's safety. Even Cottbus had a strong contingent of hooligans. The game was almost exciting, because there was a PK in the 90th minute for Hertha, but the player shot the ball off the crossbar, fittingly. On the way there and back we were treated to some nice drunk serenades by soccer hooligans in the Ubahn.
The next day we left for Weimar. Weimar has only 60,000 people but a ton of famous former residents, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, and either Beethoven or Bach (I had famous person overload), among others, including Hitler for a little while. The whole city is straight from a fairytale, with all cobblestone streets, and a pretty park, and some horses for tourists, and pretty buildings. We toured the former residences of Goethe and Schiller (Schiller is kind of a big deal at Carleton). What's kind of funny in a sick way is that right outside this fairytale city is Buchenwald, a former concentration camp. We toured it. It was tragically awful in a way that makes non-crying people cry. The gate where prisoners entered says "Jedem das Seine". That means "to each his own". That perversion is what sickened me the most. That, or the people ovens or the punishment wagon that prisoners had to pull or the solitary confinement building or the punishment pole from which people hung until they passed out or the pictures of dead piles of humans or the pictures of live skeletons of humans, which were all truly terrible.
I'm very glad I saw it.
We left Weimar to go to Nürnberg. Nürnberg is over 900 years old, and has an altstadt (old city) surrounded by an old city wall, in addition to lots of traditional German architecture, like Fachwerkhäuser and the like. Phenomenally large and pretty churches as well, like many cities here. Albrecht Dürer lived here around 1500, so we toured his former house. They have yummy bratwurst too, the best I've yet had. Also, the best museum I've seen yet, the Germanishes Nationalmuseum, which had cool exhibits of old weaponry, musical instruments, and scientific instruments, among many other things. One could spend days there. There were a ton of things I could have done in Nürnberg, like an aquarium, Pigeon museum, and even a "Bible Experience House" (actually, several kids from our group went there, presumably in jest, and were actually turned away, because there was a group of 60 people already in there. Jesus wouldn't turn people away, unless things become uncomfortably crowded, or maybe violate fire code, apparently). Anyways, I went to the Toy museum (worthwhile) and the Hat museum (incredibly worthwhile). The hat museum was a museum connected to a hat store, and the guy leading the group of five on the tour was a 4th generation owner. He had a ton of passion for hats. We got to see how hats are made, and got to try on anything we wanted, which we gladly did. I got my head measured (it's big) and at the end, bought a classy hat. In fact, six people from our group bought hats from that guy. He deserved it. Also in Nürnberg, I sleepwalked not only for the first, but then also the second time in Germany the next night, both times waking up my room partner David, because both times I was convinced he was someone dangerous and either ran away from him trying to leave the room (unsuccessfully, because I tried to unlock an unlocked door, thereby locking it, and then woke up), or tried to fend off his attacks by grabbing him (apparently he attacks by sleeping, maybe?). Poor David. Those were two of the stranger sleepwalks I've taken in my years, seeing as both occured in a state of fright that scary David was someone bad. Usually, I just wake up and do something totally irrational or say something comically incomprehensible to my roommate, and then go back to bed. Anyway, I thought it couldn't get prettier than Nürnberg. I was wrong.
The next day we went to Hersbruck, a very small town outside Nürnberg, in the rolling hills of Bavaria. Hersbruck is over 1000 years old. It was really sunny (every day of the trip, actually), and from the top of the hills, you could see four individual little villages nestled in the hills. More Fachwerkhäuser, and little cobblestone streets, and a uniquely tasty local beer. It's the kind of place to which every sane person would want to retire. Absolutely beautiful. Then, we hiked to another little town, had a snack, and hiked back. Sigi, our professor, grew up in Hersbruck. We saw her former kindergarten. It was great.
Then, we took the train back to Nürnberg. The next day, we went back to Berlin. Tonight, we see "Minna von Barnhelm", since last time we tried to see it, the main character was sick. Next week, back to work, and maybe finally the Berlin Zoo.
Wednesday, October 3
Day of German Unity
Happy Tag der Deutschen Einheit! This is the day that Germany was reunited 17 years ago. To celebrate, they had a big free concert in front of the Brandenburger Tor.
To celebrate my sister's birthday, the German women's national soccer team won the World Cup. How thoughtful! I watched the game with my host, which gave us opportunity to talk more about sports. Plus, I found out Uwe has a baseball bat, but only to beat down intruders.
A couple days ago the Carleton group did a theater workshop, which sounded intimidating, but ended up just being fun. The first half essentially consisted of jazzed-up get-to-know-you games, but we all know each other already, so they were actually fun. Then we ate pastries, and came back to play a big improvisation situation where we each had a known role (for example, I came from Finland, had no money, and was seeking a bed for the night) and a secret role (mine was Vater, or Father), and we all mixed in a cafe and talked in German, and waited for hilarity to ensue. It did ensue. The game eventually ended with Jordan (who was in the cafe to meet his gay partner for the first time after 10 years of online chats) pole dancing on the table to music. I'm pretty confident that the lady leading it used to be a hippie (still was?).
Today we saw "Kabale und Liebe" in the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, which is the one that tries to modernize old stuff and throw twists at it. For "K+L" they made der Präsident die Präsidentin, and set everything in modern time, and at the end, cut out a bunch to change the focus. Very dramatic changes in some cases, but they were defensible, I thought. The play was also easier to follow, since we had read the entire book before seeing it. I caught more words than I had at either of the other two plays, but still didn't catch a ton. "K+L" the book was awesome. Love, death, power struggles, vowed revenge, etc. My favorite German work I've read (out of a pool of about four). Action-packed.
Tomorrow we go to the Museum of German history, and Saturday I see my first soccer game here (finally!). Then, we leave Berlin for an entire week, going to Weimar and Nürnberg. Hopefully this time the hotel beds won't break.
To celebrate my sister's birthday, the German women's national soccer team won the World Cup. How thoughtful! I watched the game with my host, which gave us opportunity to talk more about sports. Plus, I found out Uwe has a baseball bat, but only to beat down intruders.
A couple days ago the Carleton group did a theater workshop, which sounded intimidating, but ended up just being fun. The first half essentially consisted of jazzed-up get-to-know-you games, but we all know each other already, so they were actually fun. Then we ate pastries, and came back to play a big improvisation situation where we each had a known role (for example, I came from Finland, had no money, and was seeking a bed for the night) and a secret role (mine was Vater, or Father), and we all mixed in a cafe and talked in German, and waited for hilarity to ensue. It did ensue. The game eventually ended with Jordan (who was in the cafe to meet his gay partner for the first time after 10 years of online chats) pole dancing on the table to music. I'm pretty confident that the lady leading it used to be a hippie (still was?).
Today we saw "Kabale und Liebe" in the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, which is the one that tries to modernize old stuff and throw twists at it. For "K+L" they made der Präsident die Präsidentin, and set everything in modern time, and at the end, cut out a bunch to change the focus. Very dramatic changes in some cases, but they were defensible, I thought. The play was also easier to follow, since we had read the entire book before seeing it. I caught more words than I had at either of the other two plays, but still didn't catch a ton. "K+L" the book was awesome. Love, death, power struggles, vowed revenge, etc. My favorite German work I've read (out of a pool of about four). Action-packed.
Tomorrow we go to the Museum of German history, and Saturday I see my first soccer game here (finally!). Then, we leave Berlin for an entire week, going to Weimar and Nürnberg. Hopefully this time the hotel beds won't break.
Thursday, September 27
Potsdam
In the past week we've been to the Berlin Botanischer Garten, Wannsee, and Potsdam, as well as finished and seen "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers". The Botanical gardens were very beautiful, especially the parts with water. There was one lake that had about a billion forms of life in it, all living in harmony like a disney movie. That's where I got a picture of the turtle you can see here.
Wannsee was also really cool. Wannsee is a big lake on the edge of town, and we went on a really beautiful day, about as perfect as possible. They've got a long beach (with a nude section!), and they've even got a large waterslide IN THE LAKE! You had to swim out to it and everything. Wannsee also had the most amazing jungle gym I've ever seen. It was made of a network of ropes, and rose in a pyramid shape at least 20 feet in the air, and was intended for kids. In fact, four fiveish-year-olds were actively climbing much faster than us all the way to the top, and then swinging from their hands at the top, and such. It would be immediately banned in the States. For that matter, the waterslide in the lake might have been, too. Also easily ban-able in the States is a park in Kreuzberg, a district of Berlin, which has a near-vertical 10 foot climbing wall, a fully functional 40-foot zip line, and a giant spinning four-person ride that wobbles and whirls. All really fun, and probably not allowed in the U.S., where we can't even have see-saws anymore.
Potsdam was an extremely pretty place. It was founded as a retreat for royalty, so it had many things designed to look good, although much of that was destroyed in WWII and then later by the GDR communist government (they were symbols of Prussia, which was considered by the communists to be associated with fascism, so they blew up beautiful structures). Cobblestone streets, a cool Holland quarter, and Sanssouci palace, a really beautiful expansive summer retreat for Frederick the Great ( Wikipedia).
"Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" turned out to be rather difficult to read, but everything has been. Every paragraph of everything we read has too many words we don't know to effectively be able to look them all up and not be reading for 8 hours, so you have to guess with most and hope. In addition, we've been reading old stuff with archaic usages and the like. Then, we have to come to class and discuss the philosophical point behind it all, in German. These are the times when I feel like I speak and read like a four-year-old. On the plus side, earlier today I successfully bought stamps! yippee! "Die Leiden" actually is an pretty cool book, because it explores the reasons for suicide, and whether suicide is a sin and weakness, or whether certain people are predisposed to it, etc., and all written in the 1700s, when it was shocking. We saw "Die Leiden" earlier today in Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, where they throw modern twists at works. In this one, the three actors mixed with the audience, and in the middle of the play, a mirror was installed on the stage, and other strange twists. It was pretty good, though, but it would have helped if I had understood more of the speech. It's still hard to understand speech in a theater setting. Tour guides, news, etc. I can handle pretty well, but theater not so much.
Earlier today the US women's soccer team lost in the World Cup Semifinals to Brazil, which is a shame, because it would have set up a match against Germany in the final if they had won. The women's cup isn't as big a deal as the men's here, but it's still a big deal.
Tomorrow, I go inside the Reichstag, and I plan to go to the Berlin Zoo soon, where they have Knut, the wildly popular rescued polar bear.
Wannsee was also really cool. Wannsee is a big lake on the edge of town, and we went on a really beautiful day, about as perfect as possible. They've got a long beach (with a nude section!), and they've even got a large waterslide IN THE LAKE! You had to swim out to it and everything. Wannsee also had the most amazing jungle gym I've ever seen. It was made of a network of ropes, and rose in a pyramid shape at least 20 feet in the air, and was intended for kids. In fact, four fiveish-year-olds were actively climbing much faster than us all the way to the top, and then swinging from their hands at the top, and such. It would be immediately banned in the States. For that matter, the waterslide in the lake might have been, too. Also easily ban-able in the States is a park in Kreuzberg, a district of Berlin, which has a near-vertical 10 foot climbing wall, a fully functional 40-foot zip line, and a giant spinning four-person ride that wobbles and whirls. All really fun, and probably not allowed in the U.S., where we can't even have see-saws anymore.
Potsdam was an extremely pretty place. It was founded as a retreat for royalty, so it had many things designed to look good, although much of that was destroyed in WWII and then later by the GDR communist government (they were symbols of Prussia, which was considered by the communists to be associated with fascism, so they blew up beautiful structures). Cobblestone streets, a cool Holland quarter, and Sanssouci palace, a really beautiful expansive summer retreat for Frederick the Great ( Wikipedia).
"Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" turned out to be rather difficult to read, but everything has been. Every paragraph of everything we read has too many words we don't know to effectively be able to look them all up and not be reading for 8 hours, so you have to guess with most and hope. In addition, we've been reading old stuff with archaic usages and the like. Then, we have to come to class and discuss the philosophical point behind it all, in German. These are the times when I feel like I speak and read like a four-year-old. On the plus side, earlier today I successfully bought stamps! yippee! "Die Leiden" actually is an pretty cool book, because it explores the reasons for suicide, and whether suicide is a sin and weakness, or whether certain people are predisposed to it, etc., and all written in the 1700s, when it was shocking. We saw "Die Leiden" earlier today in Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin, where they throw modern twists at works. In this one, the three actors mixed with the audience, and in the middle of the play, a mirror was installed on the stage, and other strange twists. It was pretty good, though, but it would have helped if I had understood more of the speech. It's still hard to understand speech in a theater setting. Tour guides, news, etc. I can handle pretty well, but theater not so much.
Earlier today the US women's soccer team lost in the World Cup Semifinals to Brazil, which is a shame, because it would have set up a match against Germany in the final if they had won. The women's cup isn't as big a deal as the men's here, but it's still a big deal.
Tomorrow, I go inside the Reichstag, and I plan to go to the Berlin Zoo soon, where they have Knut, the wildly popular rescued polar bear.
Sunday, September 23
Language
May I begin by posting the letter my host's son sent to him while away on a week-long field trip 9-year-olds do in school here:
which means, "Dear Papa- Is it going well for you? It's not going particularly well for me. It's dumb here. Yours, Paul." He's back from the apparently terrible trip now, and I got to meet him yesterday. So far, I've only said "ich bin Kevin" to him, because he was in his room playing all day.
We finished reading "Minna von Barnhelm" and went to see it performed in the Deutsche Theater two days ago, only to find out when we got there that Major von Tellheim, the main character, was sick and couldn't act. Thus, we saw "Tartuffe", an originally French comedy from the late 1600s, instead. It was an interesting exercise in seeing if your German is good enough to get the jokes (no). I'm proud that I could at least hang onto the plot. It would've been really nice to see something we just read. Still, it was a fun play, even if a little confusing.
In general, there are some days when I feel like I'm an ace German speaker, and others when I feel like I speak at a four-year-old level (which is probably closer to the truth). There are times when I say something to someone, and feel proud because it was a well-said statement, only to realize the errors five minutes later (for example, asking a guy where the S-bahn is, but calling him du instead of Sie, a hard to remember but elementary and disrespectful no-no. There's nothing like it in English). I'm definitely learning new stuff everyday, though, and speaking is far harder than writing or listening or reading, which surprised me. Speaking is much faster, and you have to control the content that falls out your mouth, and saying complex things is far harder than writing them.
Now we're reading "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the giant of German lit. So far, so good! Later today, I'm going to the botanical gardens here with the group. Also, there's new photos. Word of the day is "schicki-micki", which is an negative adjective used to describe high-brow areas or functions, like, "I'm not going to the pretentious, snobby cocktail party at the mansion. It's a little too schicki-micki for me. I'll go to the pub instead to watch the game."
Bis später!
Lieber Papa
Geht es dir gut? Mir geht es nicht besonders gut. Hier ist es doof.
Dein Paul
which means, "Dear Papa- Is it going well for you? It's not going particularly well for me. It's dumb here. Yours, Paul." He's back from the apparently terrible trip now, and I got to meet him yesterday. So far, I've only said "ich bin Kevin" to him, because he was in his room playing all day.
We finished reading "Minna von Barnhelm" and went to see it performed in the Deutsche Theater two days ago, only to find out when we got there that Major von Tellheim, the main character, was sick and couldn't act. Thus, we saw "Tartuffe", an originally French comedy from the late 1600s, instead. It was an interesting exercise in seeing if your German is good enough to get the jokes (no). I'm proud that I could at least hang onto the plot. It would've been really nice to see something we just read. Still, it was a fun play, even if a little confusing.
In general, there are some days when I feel like I'm an ace German speaker, and others when I feel like I speak at a four-year-old level (which is probably closer to the truth). There are times when I say something to someone, and feel proud because it was a well-said statement, only to realize the errors five minutes later (for example, asking a guy where the S-bahn is, but calling him du instead of Sie, a hard to remember but elementary and disrespectful no-no. There's nothing like it in English). I'm definitely learning new stuff everyday, though, and speaking is far harder than writing or listening or reading, which surprised me. Speaking is much faster, and you have to control the content that falls out your mouth, and saying complex things is far harder than writing them.
Now we're reading "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the giant of German lit. So far, so good! Later today, I'm going to the botanical gardens here with the group. Also, there's new photos. Word of the day is "schicki-micki", which is an negative adjective used to describe high-brow areas or functions, like, "I'm not going to the pretentious, snobby cocktail party at the mansion. It's a little too schicki-micki for me. I'll go to the pub instead to watch the game."
Bis später!
Monday, September 17
Acclimation
Ahhh...one week done. It's been busy. We've seen and done lots of stuff. Adding photos directly to blogger in large amounts is apparently very unwieldy, so I made a Shutterfly account to upload photos at: http://www.marktrailforprez.shutterfly.com/ . Also, on Facebook.
First of all, it's worth mentioning that Berlin dogs are the best-looking, most well-trained dogs on the planet. I have yet to see an unappealing dog, and almost everyone I see makes me think "boy, would it be fun/nice to have that dog". Probably half can walk without a leash, even with aggressive drivers around, and I've twice seen dogs waiting for their owners outside grocery stores. Amazing. And somehow, they all look good. This morning, I saw two owners with adorable puppies, and their dogs were meeting each other, and playing cutely as they did it. I swear, that happens every day. Dan Lojovich (another member of the Carleton group) told me that Berlin has the highest per capita rate of dog ownership in the world. That's pretty lofty, but there are a lot of dogs here. It could be true.
Not much culture shock really, except a few minor things. For example, the skimmest milk they have here is 1.5% (Fettarme Milch). I can deal with that. Also, at the grocery store, you have to pay for bags if you don't bring your own, which got me the first time. Also, the checker lady checks your groceries like an unfriendly automaton, regardless of where you go. Today, I went to Tiergarten, a huge park in the middle of the city, and was surprised to see lounging naked people in the park, most of whom were middle aged men. Wasn't really a problem, though. Just kind of a funny place for a nude park. I didn't even know there were any nude parks anywhere.
This is a cool city. There's so much to see and do. Earlier in the week the group went to the Deutsche Komisches Oper to watch an awesome modern ballet called "Alice's Wonderland", based on the story. The dancers were freakishly amazing at their jobs. It was truly beautiful. Otherwise, I've become expert at navigating the U-bahn, and we've found some cool restaurants and bars (since one can drink at age 16 here. Also smoke, which is much more prevalent here). I never liked beer until I tried it here, where it's actually good. Which, mom and dad, does not mean I'm drinking it by the gallon. Don't worry.
We're reading "Minna von Barnhelm" by G.E. Lessing in class, a 18th century comedy centering around the relationship between a former 7 years war officer, his love interest, Minna von Barnhelm, and their servants. It's hard, but I can get the gist of it, mostly. Also, there are archaic spellings and forms sometimes, which doesn't help. A good story, though. We're going to see it performed in the Berlin Theater on Friday. Cool, huh?
On Saturday and Sunday the whole group trekked by train to Hamburg (1.8 million people), the highlight of which was the beautiful churches they have there. There are several with tall steeples, one of which we were able to go inside and climb to the top. The bells were ringing as we went up, which was cooly loud or loudly cool. I was entirely pooped to the point of exhaustion because of some lack of sleep, so while some friends checked out the Reeperbahn, the Hamburg Red Light district (reported it was "interesting", which was backed up by their stories), I got some extra sleep. The hotel we stayed in was really nice, except that it had shoddy beds, in that some of them literally cracked when people laid down on them. Mine was fine, but Alex Higgin-Houser's bed frame cracked in half as he was lying there trying to fall asleep. Sehr lustig. All in all, three beds were broken one way or another, through no fault of our own.
I went running the other day, which was truly incredible. So many things to look at, and the canal outside my host's apartment has a trail that goes for miles, so I'm really set. At one point, I was running under a four-lane street canopied by the huge trees on its sides.
All in all, it's been really cool, and clearly different than anything I've ever experienced. The city is really alive, and it's really a different feeling when the shortest building for miles is four stories tall. Now that I'm a little more settled in, it seems like I'm already understanding people better. I can talk to my host pretty easily (mostly vocabulary problems), and we even talked about American politics and God and other lofty things over beer on the first day. That helped to ease myself into it.
Next up, more exploration, and Minna von Barnhelm.
Tschüs,
Kevin
First of all, it's worth mentioning that Berlin dogs are the best-looking, most well-trained dogs on the planet. I have yet to see an unappealing dog, and almost everyone I see makes me think "boy, would it be fun/nice to have that dog". Probably half can walk without a leash, even with aggressive drivers around, and I've twice seen dogs waiting for their owners outside grocery stores. Amazing. And somehow, they all look good. This morning, I saw two owners with adorable puppies, and their dogs were meeting each other, and playing cutely as they did it. I swear, that happens every day. Dan Lojovich (another member of the Carleton group) told me that Berlin has the highest per capita rate of dog ownership in the world. That's pretty lofty, but there are a lot of dogs here. It could be true.
Not much culture shock really, except a few minor things. For example, the skimmest milk they have here is 1.5% (Fettarme Milch). I can deal with that. Also, at the grocery store, you have to pay for bags if you don't bring your own, which got me the first time. Also, the checker lady checks your groceries like an unfriendly automaton, regardless of where you go. Today, I went to Tiergarten, a huge park in the middle of the city, and was surprised to see lounging naked people in the park, most of whom were middle aged men. Wasn't really a problem, though. Just kind of a funny place for a nude park. I didn't even know there were any nude parks anywhere.
This is a cool city. There's so much to see and do. Earlier in the week the group went to the Deutsche Komisches Oper to watch an awesome modern ballet called "Alice's Wonderland", based on the story. The dancers were freakishly amazing at their jobs. It was truly beautiful. Otherwise, I've become expert at navigating the U-bahn, and we've found some cool restaurants and bars (since one can drink at age 16 here. Also smoke, which is much more prevalent here). I never liked beer until I tried it here, where it's actually good. Which, mom and dad, does not mean I'm drinking it by the gallon. Don't worry.
We're reading "Minna von Barnhelm" by G.E. Lessing in class, a 18th century comedy centering around the relationship between a former 7 years war officer, his love interest, Minna von Barnhelm, and their servants. It's hard, but I can get the gist of it, mostly. Also, there are archaic spellings and forms sometimes, which doesn't help. A good story, though. We're going to see it performed in the Berlin Theater on Friday. Cool, huh?
On Saturday and Sunday the whole group trekked by train to Hamburg (1.8 million people), the highlight of which was the beautiful churches they have there. There are several with tall steeples, one of which we were able to go inside and climb to the top. The bells were ringing as we went up, which was cooly loud or loudly cool. I was entirely pooped to the point of exhaustion because of some lack of sleep, so while some friends checked out the Reeperbahn, the Hamburg Red Light district (reported it was "interesting", which was backed up by their stories), I got some extra sleep. The hotel we stayed in was really nice, except that it had shoddy beds, in that some of them literally cracked when people laid down on them. Mine was fine, but Alex Higgin-Houser's bed frame cracked in half as he was lying there trying to fall asleep. Sehr lustig. All in all, three beds were broken one way or another, through no fault of our own.
I went running the other day, which was truly incredible. So many things to look at, and the canal outside my host's apartment has a trail that goes for miles, so I'm really set. At one point, I was running under a four-lane street canopied by the huge trees on its sides.
All in all, it's been really cool, and clearly different than anything I've ever experienced. The city is really alive, and it's really a different feeling when the shortest building for miles is four stories tall. Now that I'm a little more settled in, it seems like I'm already understanding people better. I can talk to my host pretty easily (mostly vocabulary problems), and we even talked about American politics and God and other lofty things over beer on the first day. That helped to ease myself into it.
Next up, more exploration, and Minna von Barnhelm.
Tschüs,
Kevin
Monday, September 10
Arrival
First of all, did you know that when you go to Germany, Blogger automatically changes all your screen options ("new post" and "save now" are now "neuer Post" and "jetzt speichern")? Amazing. The word for "bold", as in the font type, is "Fett" which is also the word for nutritional fat.
I made it. Flights were long and when I got to Berlin at 10:00 A.M local time it felt like 3:00 A.M. due to the 7 hour time difference, but that was alright. In the Rochester airport, waiting for my flight to Detroit, there was a middle aged man sitting about 8 feet from me, and listening very loudly on headphones to "What is Love" (I think that's what it's called), the song from "Night at the Roxbury". I thought that was funny. He was not bobbing his head as in the movie.
Roch-Detroit I sat by a ph.D. candidate at Michigan State from China, so we spoke about learning new languages. On Detroit to Amsterdam, I sat next to an old guy who happened to have a German-English dictionary out as I sat down, so we automatically had stuff to talk about. He was an astronomy professor from the University of Michigan (U of M, he called it) and had done that for 50+ years, he said. I guess Michigan higher education was a popular seating buddy type for me. Anyways, we talked about German and school and my sister's physics degree. I didn't talk to the guy from Amsterdam to Berlin, but as we were landing, the girl behind me was hurling multiple times grotesquely. Overall, I got to roch. international airport at 8:05 A.M CST and arrived at TXL Berlin at 3:00 A.M. CST the next day. Food was actually pretty good, at least on the int'l flight, and they served me red wine (international flight, international rules, I guess). Also, nowadays you get a personal TV with about 30 movies, some games, and other gadgets. Jinhee Ha, a friend from college, was on my Amsterdam-Berlin flight.
When we got here, we took public transport to Heart of Gold hostel, looking like tourists all the way, and then waited for people. Eventually they got here, we ate, sightsaw, then slept (for 12 hours). Today, we got an orientation and met our host family. Mine is Uwe Scholz, a 40-something music producer with a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship ("eines Tages gibt es Lieb, und dann plötzlich Hass!" he said, or something like that, "one day it's love, and then suddenly hate!". He talks fastfastfastfast, like everyone else. I suppose just as we speak English). He seems like a cool guy. The apartment is pretty big. I showed him where Minnesota is on a globe, and he appreciated and liked the wild rice soup and Minnesota Twins t-shirt I brought him (good call, mom and dad). He lives in the Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain area of Berlin, address Paul-Lincke-Ufer Straße 30. Nice place facing a canal.
Traffic is pretty crazy in Berlin, because streets are small and cars many. Also, even many of the boring buildings are much more interesting than the best Rochester has to offer, and the best buildings are fantastic. Overall, things seem great and exciting. The group is a lot of fun. I had planned to speak only German once here, but with the group, we don't, for practical purposes. That's okay, since I do with everybody else, and they're the ones who will really improve my abilities. The trouble is that English is extrememely prevalent here, far more than I thought, so people know it well. That's good when you don't know a word, but bad because I'm not here to learn English. It shouldn't be much of a problem, though.
I went to the bathroom in a Burger King, and on the way out passed a table with apparently a bathroom attendant and a tray with a few coins on it, and only after I passed it did I realize that I probably was supposed to tip her for doing nothing. I walked faster. Next time, I suppose I'll tip.
I've got some good photos, but will wait to accumulate more. Til next time, Tschüs!
I made it. Flights were long and when I got to Berlin at 10:00 A.M local time it felt like 3:00 A.M. due to the 7 hour time difference, but that was alright. In the Rochester airport, waiting for my flight to Detroit, there was a middle aged man sitting about 8 feet from me, and listening very loudly on headphones to "What is Love" (I think that's what it's called), the song from "Night at the Roxbury". I thought that was funny. He was not bobbing his head as in the movie.
Roch-Detroit I sat by a ph.D. candidate at Michigan State from China, so we spoke about learning new languages. On Detroit to Amsterdam, I sat next to an old guy who happened to have a German-English dictionary out as I sat down, so we automatically had stuff to talk about. He was an astronomy professor from the University of Michigan (U of M, he called it) and had done that for 50+ years, he said. I guess Michigan higher education was a popular seating buddy type for me. Anyways, we talked about German and school and my sister's physics degree. I didn't talk to the guy from Amsterdam to Berlin, but as we were landing, the girl behind me was hurling multiple times grotesquely. Overall, I got to roch. international airport at 8:05 A.M CST and arrived at TXL Berlin at 3:00 A.M. CST the next day. Food was actually pretty good, at least on the int'l flight, and they served me red wine (international flight, international rules, I guess). Also, nowadays you get a personal TV with about 30 movies, some games, and other gadgets. Jinhee Ha, a friend from college, was on my Amsterdam-Berlin flight.
When we got here, we took public transport to Heart of Gold hostel, looking like tourists all the way, and then waited for people. Eventually they got here, we ate, sightsaw, then slept (for 12 hours). Today, we got an orientation and met our host family. Mine is Uwe Scholz, a 40-something music producer with a nine-year-old son from a previous relationship ("eines Tages gibt es Lieb, und dann plötzlich Hass!" he said, or something like that, "one day it's love, and then suddenly hate!". He talks fastfastfastfast, like everyone else. I suppose just as we speak English). He seems like a cool guy. The apartment is pretty big. I showed him where Minnesota is on a globe, and he appreciated and liked the wild rice soup and Minnesota Twins t-shirt I brought him (good call, mom and dad). He lives in the Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain area of Berlin, address Paul-Lincke-Ufer Straße 30. Nice place facing a canal.
Traffic is pretty crazy in Berlin, because streets are small and cars many. Also, even many of the boring buildings are much more interesting than the best Rochester has to offer, and the best buildings are fantastic. Overall, things seem great and exciting. The group is a lot of fun. I had planned to speak only German once here, but with the group, we don't, for practical purposes. That's okay, since I do with everybody else, and they're the ones who will really improve my abilities. The trouble is that English is extrememely prevalent here, far more than I thought, so people know it well. That's good when you don't know a word, but bad because I'm not here to learn English. It shouldn't be much of a problem, though.
I went to the bathroom in a Burger King, and on the way out passed a table with apparently a bathroom attendant and a tray with a few coins on it, and only after I passed it did I realize that I probably was supposed to tip her for doing nothing. I walked faster. Next time, I suppose I'll tip.
I've got some good photos, but will wait to accumulate more. Til next time, Tschüs!
Thursday, September 6
Deutschland!
Hey kids!
I'll be studying in Berlin, Germany from Sep. 9th to Nov. 18th. I'll post pictures and thoughts here from time to time. I fly out on Saturday, Rochester to Detroit to Amsterdam to Berlin. Bis später!
I'll be studying in Berlin, Germany from Sep. 9th to Nov. 18th. I'll post pictures and thoughts here from time to time. I fly out on Saturday, Rochester to Detroit to Amsterdam to Berlin. Bis später!
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