TP

Confound it!

Ran out of toilet paper just four days before departure.
(I was hoping it would last just long enough without having to buy a new roll.)

Eine Woche Bleibt Noch

("One Week Still Remains")

This time next week, I'll be back in the States.

......

*starts crying*

Tag! You're It!

Just now, I learned all the German terminology used in the game of Tag from watching some kids playing it in the street below my window.

Meerrettich

Because of the following story, I will now never forget the meaning of this word.

I've known J. since we were both 5 years old in the same Kindergarten class, and only until college did we go to different schools. Two weeks ago, she and her boyfriend came by Regensburg on part of their vacation through Europe. We walked around the city during the day, and in the evening, I took them to Alte Linde ("Old Linden Tree"), a well-known beer garden in Regensburg situated on a small island on the Danube with a great view across the river. As with most beer gardens, it serves lots of beer and lots of very traditional German food.


The two of them don't speak any German, so we went down the menu and I translated for them. J. pointed to an item under the Brotzeit menu (traditional German meal where cold cuts, cheeses, bread and other spreads are served on a wooden cutting board) that had a long list of sundry items that came with it. One of the few words I simply couldn't remember was "Meerrettich", because I just hadn't encountered it much. But the other items sounded alright, so J. went ahead and ordered it for dinner.

After a while, our food finally came, and in front of her was a big variety of the items mentioned above. We sat there trying to guess what everything was, because I haven't actually ordered Brotzeit much and wasn't entirely sure. Then she scooped a bit from a small white mound, spread it generously across a piece of bread and took a big bite. We were eating when she suddenly sat up in a panic, flailed her hands and desperately started guzzling some beer (there weren't any other options on our table).

The white stuff, Meerrettich, is horseradish.

And German horseradish is strong.

Oops! Sorry!

It won't happen again!

The Beginning of the End

Sorry to sound so Doomsday-sy (that word has got to be too cute for its intention) in the title, but today I have inadvertently taken down a mental landmark of, well... truly the beginning of my last days here.

Why today specifically?

As with second semester, I've simply become good friends with my tutors from first semester, now that they are no longer tutoring me*. Today, one of my tutors from last semester had sent me a text saying she had something to give me. I met up with her briefly at a café where she was with some friends, we greeted, and she handed me a delightful and heart-felt mixed CD. (Yes! Expanding my music horizons!) On it is mostly German music, but also some songs in French, English, (technically some Austrian, because there's a Mozart piece), and Spanish slotted in between the rest.

*FYI: Vanderbilt requires that I have a tutor for every class that I take. But I'm not really complaining. Without them, especially first semester, I would have drowned.

She lives a little ways outside of Regensburg and is going home tomorrow morning, so we hugged 57 different times and said a bittersweet goodbye. We didn't get to hang out as much as I realize we should have, but I'll really miss her. We had a good time, and I'm glad to have met her.


I popped it in and started listening as soon as I got back home. Track #1 is "Adieu" by 17 Hippies, and as I listened, I felt it draw a deep sigh from within me somewhere.

I've come here now to say "Adieu,"
The others have already gone and are waiting...

Click the link and give it a listen. Musically speaking, in certain categories, this is just my cup of tea. I love it.

The music she's given me is excellent, and I'm quite happy to find how much I like most of the tracks. Some are somber and mellow, like "Adieu," while others are purposefully humorous and make me laugh, like "Denglisch" (Deutsch/Englisch, a very well-known term between those who speak both languages) and "Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus" ("My Little Green Cactus"). And still there are a few that I already knew.

Track #14 is "Wonderful World" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I already knew this song because it was used in Juggleville III at Vanderbilt, which I was in last year. I always liked it a lot, but had never actually heard the entire song (just the segment during rehearsals and shows).

Thinking about leaving the people I've come to adore and love here, and then, listening to this track on this farewell CD, I suddenly burst into tears. Uncontrollable tears. I upgraded from Kleenex to hand towel in record time. I had to follow me with a mop.

But believe it or not, that was already the second time. When I was still on "Adieu," I read the small message in red that she also wrote for me at the bottom of the inside cover. It reads in German: "Dear Elayn, your year here has flown by far too quickly. It made me really happy that I got to know you. Best wishes for the future. Maybe one day, we will see each other again."


And when I reached the last sentence, I lost it. I'm sorry. I lost it.

This is truly the beginning of the end.

Coffee... from Togo?

As you all likely well know, countless English terms have been integrated into languages in both Europe and all over the world, and German is no exception.

Although Europe is filled with the traditional cafés where one always goes purposefully to sit and enjoy a cup with company, the characteristically American concept of grabbing coffee on the run in the mornings or around lunch has likewise infiltrated the modern food industry here, and nowadays, it's not uncommon to come across the distinctly English term "Coffee - or "Kaffee" - To Go" in coffee shops and restaurants everywhere.


It's hip! It's modern! And sometimes, it just feels cooler to advertise than "Kaffe zum Mitnehmen"!

Unfortunately for many of the older generations of Germans, it can be often be quite difficult to keep up with the dynamic changes that almost seem to flood in with every passing week.

But it's to my personal great amusement when you overhear an elderly German going up to a counter and ordering "ein Kaffee Togo, bitte". Togo, pronounced with German vowels. Togo, which rhymes with "pogo" of pogo-stick. Togo, like the small west African country. Togo, like only a cute old German would say.

Weigh In

It just occurred to me that because I have no scale here, I have gone for a whole year without a clue as to how much I weigh. This is not so remarkable, but I also suddenly realize that this hasn't happened to me since I was... three years of age? Hehe. Just one of those little things, I guess. Nothing special.

Oh! As it was the last day of class for one of my seminars, the professor had suggested last week that we all meet at a beer garden this evening at around 7:00pm for a final nice chat all together. Not too many were able to show up because it's basically exam week right now, but I took a break from my Hausarbeiten (final essays) and went right at 19:00 . I think the professor was really glad that I did. Everyone else had to get there late and the poor professor would have had to, so to speak, hold the fort and keep our table for 15 or so by himself for a good while.

At any rate, I love, LOVE meeting up with professors outside of class. Every professor is his or her own person too, and I feel that as students, we frequently either forget that or ignore it and don't try to mingle with professors on a casual and personal level outside the class. That's a shame, I find. It's simply developed this way, or perhaps stayed this way from olden traditions. Even professors themselves are often hesitant, of course, though I do know a few who are also of the above mentality and would love for students to talk to them more on a personal basis. But I could go on on that tangent for ages. It's this final essay's topic that I need to go on about for a few ages longer... *sigh* .

Not Amused

*chokes, wheezes, retches and gags at the smell of weed/pot/whatever overwhelming her from the girl sitting at the next computer three feet over*

Uuuaaaghhh.... why, WHY do so many of you here do this??? I think it just rotted through my lungs and diaphragm and into my stomach. I had to think about how to spell "diaphragm" just now. I'm at a German computer at the University, so the auto-spellcheck is useless because it identifies every English word as wrong in German. Page of red underlines. I could spell it die-uhframm and I wouldn't know the difference. "Die! A framm!" Speaking of die, OH THANK HEAVENS, she and her friend just left. Let me just sweep out the pile of brain cells that shriveled up and died in the last few minutes and get back to work on my essays.

Schnecke

It takes approximately 40 minutes for a tiny snail to mope around, poop, eat half of what came out and then go along on its merry way.

I know this because that's how long I watched one yesterday evening on a bench at the University.

Seriously, there are soooo many things I would rather do than write my final essays.

(Did you know it doesn't come out the "tail" end, but rather at the opening of the shell, fairly close to its head if it's curled closer up? I know this post has been utterly disgusting, but I can't help but always be fascinated by biological things.)

'Burgweh - Mosquito-Free

While we still get a lot of bugs during the summer here in Regensburg, especially gnats galore, I'm thankful that at least they are rarely ever mosquitoes. I've only gotten one (and a half?) bites here all summer, and I'm actually not even sure it was a mosquito at all.

I am so loath to return to the southern United States, where it is not only even more humid and sticky and miserably hot, but is also the Nether-Kingdom Of the Not-So-Miniscule Airborne Blood-Suckers Who Bringeth Suffering and The Nights Of Hell.

(When I was a kid, I once remember us counting 97 mosquito bites across my whole body. Nights of Hell).

God Morgon!

("Good Morning!", Swedish)


If only Swedish was more widely spoken (approx. 10 million speakers worldwide). Between knowing English and fairly good German, I feel like Swedish would be, comparatively on the overall language learning scale, merely a skip away for me. I'm no expert yet, but I get the feeling that if you have at least English and German, Swedish doesn't have an overly difficult pronunciation system nor grammatical structure, and there are close cognates all over the place.

Alas. I don't think I've ever even met a Swedish person.

Not to mention the fact that most of them have smashing good English already. But at least if it were more widely spoken, it would be fun to learn!

Supercalifragilistic...

One noticeable advantage of German's frequently kilomenter-long words and its (some say) at times unwieldly grammatical structure is that when you have to write a German essay and you are composing it in your native language first, and you suddenly find that you need more pages, you will - in almost any case - gain page length just from translating it into German alone.


[Ein deutlicher Vorteil der deutschen Wörter, die oft kilometerlang sind, und der deutschen Grammatikstruktur, die manchmal von einigen sperrig beschreibt wird, geht so: wenn man eine deutsche Hausarbeit schreiben musst und die zuerst auf die Muttersprache verfassen möchte, als man auch gleichzeitig findet, dass es einen Mangel an die Seiten gibt, wird man - fast auf jeden Fall - längere Seiten einfach nur durch die Übersetzung in Deutsch bekommen.]

Not really a perfect translation but... see? I told you so. Now think of adding just a few lines to every paragraph over a span of 8-9 pages.

Train Tracks

Yesterday, a friend who I have not seen for a very long time came by train, arriving in Regensburg.

Ironically at the same time, a friend who I will not see again for a very long time boarded that exact same train at the exact same moment, departing from Regensburg.

Here We Go Again

Trying to successfully complete three 10-page term papers and a final exam on German literature after 1945 by 24. July, and preferably earlier than said date.

Blog entries minimal. All you need to know right now for updates is that I was visited by a Dutch friend who flew in from the Netherlands and stayed for a few days last week.

Wait for it.... wait for iiiit....

A FLYING DUTCHMAN!!!

Happy Trails until my return, all.