Flash-Mob on Haidplatz

WHAT?!

This flash-mob took place RIGHT on the street of my dorm, while I was HERE, in Regensburg, and I missed it?!?


*FAINTS*

I would have just loved to participate! Flash-mobs are so fascinating! I'm just a little bummed that I missed it. But it's kind of cool that one took place right here in Regensburg, and so close by. I wonder where exactly I was at that time...

EDIT: Argh, I just checked my Google Calendar. I was out walking on the other side of the Danube with a few people I don't even really like. Pity :D .

Stadtmaus Tour - Line Dance

This is a video I finally put together earlier today. Most of the necessary details are already in the video. Hope you get a kick out of it.

'Burgweh - Public Transportation

What I will miss in Regensburg:

Convenient and practical public transportation.
Outside of a small handful of cities, it is virtually nonexistent in the US.

(Back to being stuck and stranded in the VanderBubble again. *weeps*.)

'Burgweh* - Get What You See

(Note: The term 'Burgweh is not an actual word, but a term derived from a combination of the real German word, Heimweh ("home sickness") and Regensburg. Ergo, 'Burgweh represents all and everything that I will miss and pine for once I must leave.)


What I will miss from Regensburg:

Going to stores and supermarkets and paying the exact price marked on each item. Tax is already included here.

That Pointilism function in Adobe is pretty nifty.

Speaking of recent storms and weather here, Google Mail's "Tree" theme (one of the ones I like best) has a pretty sweet background for thunderstorm weather. For those of you who aren't familiar or who have never tried it, this is one of the dynamic themes that changes depending on the weather in your region.



(Another touch that I like about the normal rainy weather background is that the inbox window has little droplets on it. Likewise, when it snows, there are snowdrifts piled on the edges of those windows. Hurrah, Google! How could I have ever survived in the bleak, empty, boring world before you came along.)

Wrath of the Storm

There is this... this... HURRICANE over Regensburg right now... and... and...

... and I'm LOVING IT!!!!!

The rain is a good, clear 45° angle from the ground. It's so violent and turbulent here right now that building walls that never get wet are finding out what it's like to be soaked.

I was the slowest person walking home on the street. Because I LOVED IT!! Aside from arriving home and sneezing out about half of the dirt from all the construction in a three-block radius. Vicious winds, as previously stated. Dust clouds like you only see on the prairies, before the rain started.

It was already brewing when I finished dinner and walked out to the park to spin poi. And it was thick in the air as I was in the park. And finally, I left because I couldn't spin against the wind any more.

I think half the flowers on my windowsill just got brutally decapitated.

I'm too excited to take pictures. And you wouldn't understand how glorious it is anyway.

If I was strong enough to defend myself and destroy large, flying objects in mid-air, like giant, tumbling umbrellas and café chairs, I like to think that I would certainly still be out there right now.

(The Amélie soundtrack turns out to be really excellent for certain storm weather!)

L! is for the way you-- Language

Sometimes, I've thought to myself, Self, you know what would be useful? Having a German boyfriend. People who have partners who speak the language that they're studying always pick up so many little things, and at a faster pace. Sometimes it's very noticeable. And that would be really useful. I'm sure of it.

Unfortunately, the sheer hell and hassle of being in love and romantically involved with someone eventually shoots the whole idea in the face, so I'll still have to settle for the current other methods of linguistic osmosis.

Come to think of it, the only probable relationship that could currently work between me and a guy, in which we cuddled all the time, spent every possible moment together and absolutely adored each other, is if the male in question was a puppy.

(... And they're just as cute, or cuter!)

Ripe Old Age

Although I'm in my third year of college in the States, I'm the same age as the majority of the first-year students here at the Uni Regensburg. Two or three times, I've been asked how old I was and gotten the response, "Wow! So young! And already even out of the country and abroad??" .

But not only do we start earlier for university in the States, we typically go for a shorter amount of time as well. It's 4 years in college, in and out, and your path diverges afterward to either an immediate career start or further study for a Master's or PhD degree. If it's the latter, then you've still got a few more years, but typically, most people are definitely done by, say, age 27 or 28 at the latest. (Not counting certain exceptions like med school, etc., where you could still be going to class, say, by the time you're already walking with a cane.)

This is almost never the case here in Germany. Although there are plenty of people who are about 23-25 who are writing their master's theses, I know almost just as many people who are about age 28-30 who are most definitely still in school. Still students. But this is nothing out of the ordinary here.

Regenbogensburg

Today was a public holiday (Ascension), and as a day itself, it was quite a marvelous one for me.

I spent the morning organizing things, and making yogurt. Yes! I am experimenting with bacterial yogurt cultures. But I forgot to take pictures. But it's okay. I'm planning to try again this weekend. (Because my roommate will be away, and consequently, not here to be too totally weirded out by this innocent experiment to thwart my adventurous attempts).

At noon, I scarfed a quick not-hungry sandwich, and headed out to the large square, Neupfarrplatz, where I juggled and swung poi. It rained lightly for a little while. Some German children came up and stared, completely mesmerized, at my throws and catches, which were mesmerizing. OoooOOoooh. One picked his nose and pulled out a blood-clot booger. Wait! You didn't want to know that.

I left Neupfarrplatz when it started crowding up and went to the Stadtpark ("city park") . Remarkably, I have only discovered this place within the last month. It is now one of my favored haunts of the city. I go there to read, study, stare into space, people-watch, duck-watch, juggle, poi, and as I did today, re-lace my shoes. (*Ask me sometime about my sneakers. I am a unique lacer :P . )

HOWEVER, I do hate adding to the internet's tedious, ever-growing collection of infinite blog posts that are all rant and no photos. And the main point of this post was, indeed, to show some photos.

Today, my dear readers, was most incredible, because one of my very, very favorite types of weather came and graced Regensburg.

Heavy rain in radiant sunlight.


I love this weather with so much of my being. It makes me close my eyes and breathe in deeply, hand to my heart, and want to run free in the open.


But I did not run outside, for Sunlit Rain lasts but minutes.
And I would have burned the frittata that I was making.


But the fantastic feeling will remain with me, as well as a photograph of a faintly shining rainbow over the cathedral of Regensburg. (This one's for you, Michael! :D )


As woefully predicted, the rain vanished soon after, but behind it rolled a sky of grand, darkening, slate-gray clouds..... So beautiful! Elegant and foreboding and unearthly and stately... my camera does no justice...


And a last look at the sky over Regensburg today.


I think I fell into a swoon and couldn't get up for a while.

Today, dear readers, was a most lovely and fantastic of days.



(Oh, and the frittata turned out nicely.)

Vhat the Wuck?

There has always been this little phenomenon with a surprising number of Germans who speak English regarding the English letters "V" and "W" .

Other American friends who speak German and I have frequently noticed that Germans say "willage" instead of "village". Phonetic mix-ups are nothing remarkable in any language-to-language transfer. All languages are composed of a different collection of phonetic ingredients, and basically, some language always has some kind of sound that some other language doesn't have.

HOWEVER.

I find the above example completely bizarre, because the German language has these phonemes (sounds). The only difference is that their "V" is pronounced as a "fff", and their "W" is pronounced as our "V". (Prime example: Volkswagen is pronounced, "Folksvagen," to us.) Despite that, it shouldn't make a difference. The sounds have different labels, but they are still present in both languages. To this day, I still cannot figure out why Germans say "willage" instead of "village".

They have the phoneme. There is no reason to mix them up. They have the phoneme. And might I mention that there are few English-speaking Germans who have any major problems with the "w" in "where" and "when"?

I've asked and discussed this with German friends of mine personally. I've gotten anything from Germans who have no problem saying English words starting with "v", to those who can discern absolutely no difference when I enunciate both the correct and incorrect forms before them, to those who have said, "Well, I actually had a good American friend who helped teach me what exactly to do with your mouth, lips and tongue. So that's why I can do it. However, that's the only reason why I can pronounce it correctly now. As far as sound, I promise you, both still sound exactly the same to me."

Isn't this bizarre?!

Protest

Earlier this week, there was a demonstration at the University. It was more or less a protest of the increased Studiengebühren, or tuition fees. The topic has also come up by chance in several of my classes over the last year.

The sum of the tuition fee against which many students are protesting is around €600-750 per semester, by what I know, which equates to about $800-1000.

Okay. I still know that's a lot per semester, and especially so if it used to be essentially free to go to university here. But in every discussion about it that I come across, I can never bring myself to join in the debate. Even on some scholarship, my family pays exponentially more than that for me every year. The amount that the German students pay per semester covers... maybe my meal plan at Vanderbilt... per semester.

Most students in America have to hurl themselves into decades of debt just to go to school. I do sympathize with the situation in Germany, simply because of how drastic a change it has now become for them over the years of gradual tuition increase. But sometimes, it's hard not to say something against their argument from our side's perspective.

Stand Out In The Crowd

Vanderbilt requires that I have a tutor for each course that I take here in order to get the full number of credits. Once we've found tutors, I then contact them by e-mail and make plans to meet up. Sometimes we manage to find each other on StudiVZ, or the German equivalent of Facebook, and can find pictures of each other, but often there isn't a profile of the tutor to be found, so this doesn't happen.

In spite of this, my tutors have never had problems recognizing me at bustling meeting points because there are so few Asians here.

Here Comes the Sun

I don't usually post things here that are not somehow related to my year in Germany, but I'm making an exception for today's post. My friend Enajane has recently launched a truly awesome t-shirt design on www.threadless.com .

See it. Vote for it. Be amazed. (Clicking the picture will take you straight to the page).


Yes, it is splendid!! Look how fantastic it is!! This, of all shirt designs, undoubtedly deserves its rightful chance. Have I mentioned that Enajane spews creativity like she's the pure fountain of it?