Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr 2010 !

Ah, this time last year, I remember running headlong through the streets with my German friend Alex, who was nice enough to take me New Year's party-hopping in Regensburg, making it by far the most active and celebratory New Year's in my personal experience. The streets were positively exploding with party-goers, beer bottles, party debris and, almost literally, fireworks. If I hadn't known it was New Year's, I would have been scared senseless to think I was in a real life war zone during a bombing.

We were in the cafe Picasso between the Cathedral and the Danube by this time, and just at midnight, the already enormously raucous streets positively burst, and I dashed outside just in time to see fireworks fill the sky over the river and the Stone Bridge just overhead. I'm very fearful of overwhelmingly loud noise, but I plugged my ears and watched for a while because it was still so spectacular nonetheless. I regret not having footage, sorry, guys.

Pathetic as it sounds, I actually can't think of any other New Year's in my life that wasn't much more than hugging my parents and exclaiming Happy New Year as a child, or later in life just being snuggled up in bed reading a book or writing in my journal and essentially completely forgetting all about it until it's already 0:15 and I suddenly look up and think, "Oh. Now I've got to remember to change the number on homework assignments." So that was a fairly outstanding memory from New Year's in Regensburg. [obvious]--> I'm not really a big party person. <-- [obvious]

Well, it's already long been New Year's in Germany and other countries that have a custom of doing this, but at any rate, here is Dinner For One, which is always watched every New Year's in Deutschland, for whatever reason I don't quite know. But it's amusing! Funnier still is that it experiences a far huger popularity in non-English-speaking countries, whereas it seems to be virtually unknown in English-speaking countries. And now those of you in said English-speaking countries will be one black-and-white comedy skit more enlightened. Enjoy!



"Same procedure as every year, James!"

Video Study Abroad 2008-2009

It's HERE.
The moment you've all been so anxiously, eagerly awaiting.

You know what it is? You know what it is??

My Study Abroad video!!!

In my defense, it took me this long for a number of reasons, primarily including great shortage of time during school after my return, various frustrations with video editing, compatibility issues after the installation of Windows 7, and most of all, waiting on the transfer of several precious clips from Liechtenstein on a friend's camera that still never came and may, possibly, supposedly, apparently, agonizingly be lost to me forever.

But thank goodness my camera battery hadn't died before at least one small clip from Liechtenstein, so let's put that behind and without further ado, make way for!--:

... And Eternity in a Grain of Sand

As of recently, I get this uncomfortable feeling that somehow, I wasted too much of my year in Regensburg. I don't mean that it was a waste to go. Rather, that I had this fantastic opportunity, and though I certainly utilized it, I did not come close to doing even more than that and expanding my world just that much more. I could have traveled more. I could have spent more time knowing even more people who would bring me just that many more new perspectives. There is enlightenment and inspiration and beauty that I missed, and I don't know why or what would have happened. There was just more there that, while one will never get everything, I missed out on too much simply because I didn't try hard enough to get it. I could have had more. I'm not greedy, but it's a confusing and uncertain feeling that I may have pathetically wasted more than I ever should have.

Well, maybe all this comes out of spending only a year there (or 11 months). It really is a very short time, once you come out of it. Those of you considering study abroad, as I have always said... Don't ever give up a full year for a half-year if you have any choice. There is only always more gain than loss.

Pumpkin Head

I live in an international dorm focused on language, where we are split into 7 language halls - Spanish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian. (I live on the German Hall). We have a Halloween party every year, and among the festivities, each hall is given a pumpkin to have at it and try to win our pumpkin carving competition. Preference is given to halls with pumpkins that are culturally related.

Some of you who know me might remember the German flag eagle that I contributed to the hall pumpkin two years ago:



It came out not too bad, but we unfortunately didn't even place.

This year was determinedly different. And though I initially started the pumpkin with no expectation of winning, it eventually came out to be first-place material.



Ta-Daaaaaa. I'm proud of it.

(And I hope my fellow hallmates won't hold it against me for taking all the work... It's difficult for more than 1-2 people to work on a pumpkin, though!)

Oh man, there might be a girl from the French hall who took photos of all the pumpkins lit up. I took some time to shave out the inside on the side with Beethoven's face so that it would shine through distinctly if there was a light inside. I will see if she has those.

Further Update

Unfortunate news.

No skipping of Der German Class I Shouldn't Be In. Will just have to suck it up for the semester, just because the credits don't quite work out to have it already covered. On the plus side, if I just bite the bullet and chew on it on my back molars until December, it will also mean finishing the German Lit. and Language major for good without having to worry about trying to herd in any more requirements in my final semester. For each glass, there is both an occupied and unoccupied side, I suppose.

How's It Goin'?

Nah, I haven't posted much recently. University in America has reared its unseemly head in the last few weeks. And what's currently on my mind right now is a very large amount of class reading to do, and getting out of a German class, Intermediate Composition and Conversation, that is supposed to be required for my major.

Why? Because I just spent an entire year in Germany doing heavy research on and writing 10-page papers in German about things like Der Bewußtsseinsstrom in Leutnant Gustl von Arthur Schnitzler and Metaphoriken des Wassers in Ingeborg Bachmanns Undine Geht and Gedichtanalyse der anakreontischen Lyrik von Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and so on and so forth. And if you had been writing whole essays and giving oral presentations on such topics in front of entire classrooms of native speakers of your 2nd/3rd/4th language, you'd be pretty bored senseless too if you came back and your German class assignments look like this:

Read this one-page, large-print story written for the difficulty level of a German 3rd grader in this text book that's slightly thinner than the width of your index finger but stupidly cost you over $100 (?!).

Then write 10 adjectives regarding this-and-this topic of the story, and compose a 150-word letter from one main character to another.

SAVE ME.

'Burgweh - Knock Knock!

Today was the first day of classes at Vanderbilt. After each class, I keep wanting to knock on my desk, and sometimes I (very) briefly wonder why nobody is doing the same. And I'll admit... I still do it very quietly anyway, knowing that I'm the only who hears it or understands it.

In Germany, that's what you do when class ends. I had always wanted to get a brief video of it, but never did, for some reason. It's kind of interesting... And don't ask me why they do it, I don't know the actual reason.

But it feels SO NATURAL to do it now!! Everyone should knock on their desks upon the end of class!!

Okay... so I realize this is yet one more little thing I miss now. If this seems rather strange to you, then imagine going to normal live performances where the audience doesn't clap at the end of the show, but simply gets up and starts to leave when it's done.

Sorry to Bother

I've heard telemarketing is no longer allowed here, but the Chinese telemarketers either never even got close to getting wind of this, or they casually ignore the rule and pull the No-Speaky-Good-English card. So my Chinese family gets telemarketer calls somewhat frequently from time to time. Despite the No-Speaky-Good-English card, you usually can't fend them off with English either, because they speak it well enough to keep badgering you about great international phone plans starting at just blah blah blah blah....

But since I've been back, I've found that the fastest way to ward off ordinarily relentless Chinese telemarketers is to fight back with none other than a (seemingly) ruthless slew of German.

*phone rings*
Me: "Hello?"

Chinese Telemarketer: [Chinese] "Hello!!!!!! If you please, is Mr. Li there??????"
(你好！！！ 请问，李先生在吗？？？？？？)

Me: "Es tut mir leid, aber ich glaub', er ist momentan nicht zu Hause."
Translation: "Sorry, but I don't think he's home at the moment."

Telemarketer: ..... (timid) "Hello?"

Me: "Kann ich noch was helfen?"
Translation: "Is there anything else I could help with?"

Telemarketer: [English] "Is... somebody can speak Chinese?"

Me: "Leider kann ich Sie nicht verstehen. Gibt's vielleicht eine andere Sprache, die Sie sprechen könnten?"
Translation: "Unfortunately, I cannot understand you. Is there perhaps another language that you could try speaking?"

Telemarketer: ......

Me: "Hallo?"

Telemarketer: [English, horribly awkward] "Oh, sorry, um... sorry. *click* "

I don't care how evil you think I am. These people have been calling us every day for a week.

Turnaround

You know, I think my German is actually better than my Mandarin Chinese now.

(And if Kaci ever reads this, she will not only understand but also instantly fall on the floor laughing at what an understatement this is).

Somewhere Beyond The Sea

Sanni is a friend of mine in Germany. We have a sort of joke of making bad jokes between each other. As I was sitting next to her with a few other acquaintances during my last week in Regensburg, I turned to Sanni and melodramatically sighed,

"Oh, Sanni, of all things to accidentally forget in Regensburg.... I've left my heart!"

Of course, a few days later as a farewell gift, she got me this sweet red jacket with REGENSBURG across the front, and on the left side where my heart is, there is a small, iron-on patch of the crossed double keys, symbol and seal of Regensburg.

I miss living within walking distance of you, Sanni. I'm not even within swimming distance any more.

Cut-ography

I really wish I had taken more pictures specifically regarding this topic while I was in Regensburg (*brief sobbing moment regarding past tense of the sentence*), but we'll just make do.

In Europe, aside from flavor, there are two other distinguished differences between the pizza there and the pizza in America - 1) It is much thinner, and 2) It is typically served uncut.

When going out with friends to one of the 203502395 Italian restaurants in Regensburg, I would always notice how differently everyone cuts his or her pizza.

• There's me, hacking in long, broad slices and then into bite-sized pieces, maintaining a fairly evenly distributed offensive front from my side of the pizza.
  
• There's the Hack Straight Into The Middle And Work Your Way Out.
  
• There's Radial Triangle Slicing, more frequently seen in some of my American friends, for obvious reasons (or for those of you who don't live in America, American pizza is always served sliced radially in typically 6-10 slices, depending on pizza size).
  
• There's the Alien Parasite Breaking Into The Barrier At One Point And Eating Out The Innards From There, Leaving The Crust.
  
• There's Chaotic Random Hack-At-Will, Which Bothers The Author Of This Blog A Lot.
  
• And I've even seen, Holy Heavens, This Pizza Is Huge, I Must Fold In Half And Hack From The Back If I Am To Conquer.
  
• etc. etc. etc.

Ah, so many different varieties. How I only wish I had taken pictures!

I just have this feeling that the way you eat your pizza reflects your personality, which is why I am so personally fascinated by this. If you don't believe me, just humor me.

Home!

Alright. It's a little after 7:00 AM and I'm sitting in my room peeling my eyelids open as part of my plan to counter the jet lag. In the last half year, I've usually woken up around 6:30 - 7:30 AM, so maybe this will aid with getting back into routine. Plus, I woke up at 3:00 AM for absolutely no reason of disturbance, which never happens, so my body is still in a bit of a, "I'm telling you, these Circadian Rhythm orders from upstairs just CAN'T BE RIGHT, it's mid-morning, I tell you!! MID-MORNING!!" attitude right now. Don't worry, you'll be feeling better and back in American Central Time soon enough, Körper mine.

So! For most of you smart cookies out there, you'll know that I'm finally back home now, after a grueling but fortunately uneventful 1-shuttle, 3-plane, 23-hour, 2-in-flight-movie, multiple-bouts-of-crying trip from Regensburg > Munich > Amsterdam > Detroit to HOME. No lost luggage, no significant injuries, no major additional emotional scarring (but I think I made an old lady cry when she saw me pull out a note from a friend and start crying as I read it at the Munich airport). Two thumbs up for uneventful traveling.

Originally, I imagined this blog would come to an end upon my return, since it was primarily focused on expressing and telling what was happening to me in Germany on my year abroad. But on second thought, that's not true. There's experience in coming home itself, and more importantly, I already anticipate the infamous reverse culture shock to come. I'm not done telling stories just yet.

So in a nutshell, there will be some other things to come here. And if you get bored, of course there's always Bloog-a, my other little blog floating about in cyberspace.

Farewell, Regensburg. My heart breaks to leave you, but I'll be back some day to reclaim the pieces.

Empty House

Last night, I finished packing and set everything to be ready for departure this morning. As I crawled into bed under the covers, I coughed briefly, and to my horror, my room echoed!

From Living in Regensburg

Abschied

It's my last night and I can't stop crying.

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.