Home - er, well...

Okay, so it's safe to say that everyone (for the most part) is back at their respective homes by now. At least I would hope so, seeing as we left Germany last Thursday (everyone except Chris, who would probably be content to stay there forever).

I felt pretty dreadful at how I left everyone - we arrived at the airport around 6-ish and everyone was moving so quickly. I was obviously not going with Air Canada, but Lufthansa, to England. I watched as the group pulled on ahead, past the Lufthansa check in, so I really had to choice but to stop. Megan said she would let everyone know I said farewell. It was unfortunate I could not do it myself, but I had a feeling that we would not stop until the Air Canada check in.

I guess this is the last blog, to sum things up about the month I spent in Deutschland.

1. How can I go back to regular bread after living here? Honestly. Every morning, Nutella on stone oven baked, or sixteen grain, or French baguettes.

2. Clothes do not have to be washed after every wear. Or even after four wears. Clothing can last a very long time if you have very very limited laundry services available.

3. Living without a phone is not as difficult as it seems. Phones are usually the first thing that people set up when they move. Most people are semi - to permanently - attached to their cell phones. You can definitely live without one should the situation require you to. Or if the country you are in does not have the type of electrical plug you need.

4. Germany is ten times more romantic than Canada. I don't just mean the romantic atmosphere, what with the castles and beautiful forests, and such. I mean the people - definitely not the place to go if PDAs are not your thing. Even the eldery people aren't ashamed to grope each other, or at the very least, hold hands.

5. When in doubt, use your hands. You are in Germany and you speak mediocre German at best. I think 8 times out of 10, if you can't say what you are trying to, mime what you mean to say. It was almost always work.

6. European money is not monopoly money - it's just not as real as your actual currency. It's pretty easy to spend money when it's not your usual currency. That's usually how you start to accumulate brightly coloured flashlights, and hurricane cocktail glasses. €5 here ... €10 there ... it doesn't seem to matter that much once you've learned to stop converting.

7. There's no point converting. No, you probably wouldn't spend $6.00 on a pitiful glass of orange juice in a restaurant in Newfoundland. But the price says €3.10. So when the shelf price on your generic pot noodles says €1.10, and you're thinking 'I would never, never pay almost $2.00 for a pack oif pot noodles at Sobeys or Dominion', it's your best bet to put that thought out of your mind... or you don't eat.

8. Buses that run on time, at regular intervals of 10 minutes can only be truly appreciated by people in Newfoundland. Karen and I were waiting for the bus near out house one afternoon (another plus: a bus stop down to street from where we resided), and our bus was perhaps five or six minutes late. An eldery woman sitting beside us commented to us that the Number 23 was never on time. This is true, for te Germans, who, as a whole, are a very timely and punctual people. I think if you were waiting at the Avalon Mall and your bus bus arrived five minutes late, you would wonder why it was on time. Then we decided that Germans should spend a significant amount of time in St. John's to truly appreciate their own public transportation system.

9. A month is just long enough to get used to a certain temperature, even if you don't realize it at the time. I got into England and now I'm freezing at normal Newfoundland temperatures. Germany, you have destroyed my sense of hot and cold.

10. Having people who know the area and know what they are doing who can help you are absolutely invaluable. I think having Dr. W, Peter, Sandra, even little Mark along made a world of difference for everyone. We so appreciated having our own guides who could lend their expertise and time to us. :)

We've got Great Big Sea on in the background.

I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that we've all had a wonderful time in Heidelberg, but it will be nice to get to our respective homes. Some will be getting there sooner than others (I know that Chris Ryan will be remaining in Germany for another week or two, and I will be in the UK until the 28th).

We've begun the packing process, and Karen and I are slowly discovering that perhaps a trip to the local travel stop may be in order for us, with the intention to purchase a new backpack to use as a second carry on, or even checked luggage. Funny how one begins to accumulate so much without even realizing ...

I somehow have managed to fill up most of my suitcase, and I still have toiletries, and silly gifts to pack. However will I manage to fit my Joan Armatrading record or my Hard Rock Cafe glass in my bag without breaking them? Or the Goodbye Lenin! poster that I simply HAD to have because you cannot get them in Canada? Let's not even start on the fifteen or so books... they were the first thing I packed. So far I have thrown out all my socks, a pair of pants (they had a hole in them anyways), and I will leave my towel (looks like you're not getting it back, Mom).

We had our BIG TEST today. You know, the one that validates the hard work we've done over the last three weeks. I can't really speak for anyone else, but I found my test to be okay. I'm not sure. There were parts that I think I nailed, but at the same time, I could have been off the mark completely. I know that Jackie, Megan and Adam had problems with their listening component, and they felt that they were underprepared in class for that section.

I didn't have those issues - my main issue was the lack of studying I'd done last night, primarily due to the fact that I got violently ill yesterday evening. I consumed some pineapple that did not mix well with me and, I'll spare you all the details that I related to the others this morning (except Karen, who saw the state I was in after the fact), just saying that I spent a short while vomiting. The rest of the night was spent worrying what would happen if I was this sick during this test.

I suppose all travel experiences (at least, all my travel experiences) are marred by a short, but semi serious illness at some point. I'm sure I have not contracted any deadly viruses.

Yesterday, I did the bulk of my souvenir shopping. I spent a significant amount of time in one of the Gummi Bear shops. These places are wonderful, with so many types of candies, in beautiful displays. I bought some of the Heidelberg beer mugs with gold coloured bears on bottom, and white at the top, so they resemble beer. Also, flags were bought, a watercolour of the Alte Brücke, etc. 

Sunday, I spent most of the day knitting, actually. We decided that a nice "Thank You" gift for Peter and Sandra would be to knit baby hats for Marc, as he continues to lose his. They are quite adorable, although two different sizes. Provided Marc's head is not as big as the biggest hat, he should be able to grow into it. Jackie is making a card, which we hope to give to them tomorrow. Will hopefully update on how that goes.

I'm probably going to go back to packing. That, and finishing the Cranford mini-series that we have been watching. One might think it odd that we are watching a series based on a nineteenth century British novel while in Germany, but I think one can never have too much nineteenth century British fiction.

Tomorrow, we have our last day of class. I find this prospect slightly torturous, as we have already completed the exam, and now we are forced to go over it. The rest of the time will be spent playing games or something like that. I would not mind sleeping in, personally. It has been a month since I have slept in properly, disregarding any sort of time keeping devices. It will be nice to say farewell to our classmates though. I will miss them very much, as we always seemed to have a great time and there was laughter in our classroom every day.

Attack of the bridal parties!

The week is drawing to a close. 

Thursday, Ellen and Robert came to hang out with us for the second day. It was the first time I actually saw her this trip. We took them to the Student Karzer (the prison) where students would be thrown into prison for little misdeeds and bad behaviour, like pranks. It has loads of wicked graffiti. Too bad it officially closed in 1914. I should have like to have been thrown in prison once in my life. Especially one that where I could still go to school, and people could bring me meals. We also visited the Old University Museum. It was interesting to learn about the Universität, especially in the thirties, when the Nazis would rally there.

Thursday night, we once again had CLASSABEND! I quite enjoy Classabend for the most part. Except where we are also always forced to speak in German, but we speak quietly and sometimes get away with speaking English. That evening, my class, and G III C took the train to Handschuhheim (Home of the Glove) and we ate and drank in this beautiful little restaurant. 

Our Lehrerin, Barbara, gave up back out brief letters that we had written, practice for the test we would write Friday morning. Mine was not too bad, as all my mistakes were simple ones (although sometimes that is worse!). 

Philip, who is from the Netherlands, attempted to teach us Niederlandisch (or Dutch). I am now successfully able to say "foot stool" in Dutch. (It's "Fuß Bahn-ki-er" - that's the phonetical way Adam and I learned it.)

I also attempted to learn Serbian, and Hebrew, but decided that Italian would be too difficult. Go figure. 

Yesterday was pretty relaxing. I did nothing, for the most part. I went to class, obviously, had lunch and bought a souvenir or two from the Gummi Bear Shop (yes, GUMMI BEAR SHOP). I just spooked around our house for a bit, cleaning up, throwing away some things I don't need anymore, sorting garbage, etc. Around seven thirty, I went over to Megan's with Adam and Chris to watch Taken. 

Let me just say, I don't remember the last time I actually screamed at a computer screen. But I did last night. Liam Neeson could definitely give Jack Bauer a run for his money, and that means a lot coming from me. It did sort of freak me out though, the thought of walking home alone... until Chris told me that Heidelberg has a lower crime rate than St. John's. So I felt okay.

Today, we went to Schwetzingen again (well, it was the first time for a few people). It was ten times better today because Peter was our guide and sometimes spoke to us in German and English. He also stuck to the shade, and it wasn't 30 degrees outside, like last time. Marc(k?) and Sandra joined us at the Mosque, where Marc turned into the Dread Pirate Marc (he lost his hat and therefore used a towel as a makeshift bandana).

In case you had not realized yet at this point, I completely adore this little boy. I will miss him greatly when we leave. He has stolen all our hearts.

Before the castle, we went for brunch. Apparently the Germans don't have a word for brunch, so I have been calling it frühmittagsessen (early lunch). I didn't really have anything - the combinations of food did not look so appealing to me, as I can't eat egg and egg seemed to be a big part of anything I could read and might have found appealing. Also, reading a menu in German is hard when you are kind of hungry. 

We also got to visit the castle, which is very very nice. I love old houses and castles. They really do it for me. Some people want to see theme parks, I want castles and old houses. Although, the little girl who was screaming, and running around and scratching the floorboards... definitely could have done without.

I think Peter may have said "We are pointing" and therefore Karen and I followed his lead with the pointing. Adam and Curtis did not join in on our fun.

We stopped for ice cream, and I passed the store that thought I was stealing last time. This time I picked up my purchase, walked straight in and just gave them the money. 

This evening, Adam, Karen, Megan and I went on a walking tour of the old city, and heard a bunch of vampire/ werewolf/ ghost tales. I picked up the brochure at the Student Karzer. I didn't understand much, the man had a very strange dialect (Bavarian, perhaps?) It was pretty fun, and Karen translated some of the tales for us: Girls falling out of windows and becoming vampires, dead wives being hauled out of graves, trolls under the Alte Brücke... you know, standard stuff really. We may or may not have made up some stuff we didn't understand. It is the Canadian way. I thought it was pretty good that we immersed ourselves in the language, even if we didn't make much sense of it (well, I didn't).

Walking home, we ran into approximately 11 different bachelor/ bachelorette (stag/hen) parties on the Hauptstraße. Some of them are quite outrageous. They all seem to dress up, usually with the same t0 shirts, although we passed a bachelor party today and all the men were dressed as police men, and the groom to be was dressed as a prisoner. Sometimes they sing to you, sometimes they harass you, and then sometimes, they give you underwear. I tend to run away when I see any of them - I don't like being a feature player in "Attack of the Brides!"

It won't be long, yeah (yeah), yeah (yeah), yeah (yeah)

I'm beginning to feel to consequences of uninhibited shopping sprees. Most notably, books.

Books are my ultimate weakness. Here, I have found so many cheap English books. Books that cost three times the price at home. I came with ten (one of which seems to be missing) and have now in my possession a total of 26 books (German and English of all shapes and sizes!) The problem is, how can you pass up such a good deal - 5 for €10! or €3.99 for one that would cost $15.00 in St. John's.
Now the problem remains - I only have so much suitcase space. And presumably a weight limit. I had this problem as well when I lived in Harlow. I literally filled my entire bookshelf with books that I had accumulated from other people, second hand stores, und so wieder. In the end, I ended up throwing out shoes, socks, underwear, and filled my smaller second suitcase completely with books.
Now I face a similar dilemma (you would think I had learned my lesson, huh?) What's a bibliophile to do?
I think this calls for an emergency mock-packing.

Last night, we caught the final film to be showed at the Universität. It was titled 'Am Ende kommen Touristen', or 'In The End, The Tourists Come', about this young guy who does his civil service at Auschwitz. He works at a youth hostel, and helps out an 85 year old Polish Holocaust survivor. Like every German movie I have seen (with possbily one or two exceptions), the movie ends on a strange note, where you kind of think 'is that it? really?okaaaaaay.' The film itself was good though. I felt really sympathetic towards the old man, because the way most of the other characters acted towards him was just completely fake and they obviously didn't understand, just did not get it.

After the movie, Karen, Adam, Megan and I, along with Philip, Sean, and two people whose names are lost to me went to a little bar for a drink. It was a good time, filled with Denglish (as our teacher, Barbara, called it) and even a little Spanish, French, and my own false British accent. I've been told it's quite good (by a real Briton, no less!)

Today, our friend Ellen arrived. Alas, I have no yet seen her, as I was in the process of checking out some details about possibly visiting a friend while in the UK, and making sure that my flight from Frankfurt is the same time as the group's flight to Halifax (?)

I woke up yesterday morning and I felt like my body had been slammed repeatedly with a purse full of bricks. Except I didn't attempt to mug any old ladies, so where this feeling came from exactly, I have no idea. All I know is that my chest, my left shoulder, and the left side of my neck were virtually immobile. I also ended up with awful leg cramps which awoke me no less than four times during the course of Saturday night, sunday morning. All these things resulted in limited mobility for me for most of yesterday. I did make it to church though. Church for me is a little like a cookie jar for a toddler. I can be displaced in another country, with limited resources, but somehow, I will find out where it is. 

Today we started what I have assumed is the last week of classes. I really have nothing to go on here, other than the fact that we are leaving next Thursday, and we have an actual examination type test on Tuesday. Whether there will be class on Monday, I have no idea. Time seems to be closing in on us, there's really only nine or so days left. We've been here for just about three weeks already. Sometimes it seems like we arrived in Germany lifetime ago, sometimes time seems to be flying by so quickly that I can't imagine how I'm going to do everything I want to do.

Today, a group of us (Chris, Chris, Jackie, Megan, Adam, Karen, Chris's friend Michael, and I decided to go up the BergBahn  to Königstuhl, which is at the top of a mountain in Heidelberg.The Bergbahn is a train that goes straight up the mountain, and it's a little bit terrifying when it stars goes very slowly. Suddenly, all the things that could possibly go wrong in this situation were running rampant through my head and I found myself thinking, "In case of an emergency, the best place for me to be situated would be in the back of the train, underneath the seat. That way, I won't actually go that far, and I'll be packed tightly in a compartment, so I'm less likely to sustain life threatening injuries and/ or death." Despite my slightly morbid thoughts about certain impending doom, Königstuhl is really quite beautiful. It's basically this little Fairy Tale village, with an amusement park, mostly for kids. but Jackie, Chris, Chris and Michael indulged in as much fun as they possibly could in then twenty minutes we arrived before they closed. The rest of us decided to come back one afternoon after classes so that we could optimize our time and money. We do have some awesome photos and videos taken, but if you read this and they are not posted, they will be posted very very soon, so check back.

Adam, Karen, Megan and I decided to go to dinner, and due to the torrential rains, lightning and thunder which suddenly came upon us, we darted into The Dubliner. The Dubliner is an Irish pub that sits nicely on the Hauptstraße. I like eating there - there is something comforting to most Newfoundlanders, I think, about an Irish pub. Tonight, especially, we were treated to the sounds of REAL LIVE IRISH MUSIC, by REAL LIVE IRISH MUSICIANS. Holy heavenly, the sounds of the Irish accent, penetrating our ears! They were a duo, one of whom had a CD for sale, which I purchased. They played "I'm a man you don't meet everyday" by The Pogues.

I was secretly hoping they might play "Galway Girl" or "Fairytale of New York" because they are my two Lieblingsleider (favourite songs), but they felt like we had loitered long enough and left. We did take a video, so we will also post that.

It is late and I still have Hausaufgabe (homework) to complete.

Bis später!

I just changed the settings on the blog so it will allow comments by anyone who wants to, as opposed to just people who have certain accounts. If anyone wants to comment on something, feel free.
I kind of just assume that people are reading this, and that I'm not just sending this out into cyberspace.

I think, for the first time in my life, I'm actually feeling a little bit homesick. I've done the living in another country for a while thing before (some man just told me to be quiet because apparently speaking in a low voice in the library is not quite whispering), but I think the language barrier is finally getting to me.
I'm glad that I am here with people from home. I think I would be batty by now if I didn't. Apparently I#m already having hallucinations of things that aren't there. Too much sun, perhaps. I love the German language, however, it's moreso the little things that are started to make me long for the comforts of my first language.

Zum Beispiel (for example):

1) My brain is always on. If I need to interact with people, I have to always be thinking about what they are saying, and thinking about how to respond, how to properly form a sentence, und so wieter (and so on). Relaxing anywhere but in the safety of my own room is usually not an option. Even just being surrounded by it is reassuring.

2) I'm nervous to talk for the first time in my life. For the same reason as above, and also because my German is by no means fantastic. A man sat next to me on the tram one day and said something to me and I had no idea what he said, so all I could do was smile and look away quickly. Or when a woman said something to me at mass one Sunday, all I could do was shake my head and say, 'Ich verstehe nicht (I don't understand).'

3) Communicating with everyone at home is a lot more difficult. The first time I tried to use a German phone, I was ready to commit phone-icide. First of all, actually finding a phone was one of the biggest problems. When I finally did, I was unable to call collect to home as I had been able to in the Berlin Airport. Then I was not able to find the button which switched the language to English. Now I have use specific phones because they are the only ones that work for me. Seriously, I have to take a six minute bus ride, or walk for 15 - 20 minutes to call my parents, my grandmother, and my friends (when I remember their numbers). When I lived in Harlow, I had my laptop with me, I bought a cheap cellphone because it was an investment, and I was able to talk to someone if I needed/wanted to.

4) I miss chicken! Sometimes I wonder if chicken exists here. Whenever we go out to eat, there is nothing chicken on the menu. I consume as little red meat as possible, but most of the meat dishes are red meat dishes. I ordered ribs the first night in Heidelberg, but I'd never order ribs if chicken was available. I also feel like a moron if I go to ask a waiter or waitress if they have chicken dishes.

Now, I'm not by any means saying that I want to go home (not yet anyways), I just feel like I've been writing about all the wonderful and weird things that have been going on, and I ought to note some of the other realities of being here as well.

I finally have internet access in the library at die Universität (I have also become prone to combining English and German to form Deutschlish sentences. I'll try to prevent this as much as possible, or at least explain the words as I write them. I think Universität is pretty straight forward though.)

Most evenings, the school has some activity planned for anyone who wants to take part. Mostly there seem to be themes - Tuesday are film nights, on Wednesday afternoons there are mini excursions in and around the area, Fridays are more social with dancing and partying.

Last night, in one of the giant lecture halls, they showed 'One Day In Europe', a film about four people in four cities. It takes place during the football (European Football, also known as soccer) championships. These five people all somehow end up getting involved with the local police (they're not in their homelands) because they have either been robbed, or are pretending to have been robbed. It's a comedy, mostly because of all the cultural and language misunderstandings. The movie ends on kind of a weird note - I felt it was somewhat unresolved, but I guess that's the type of filmmaking the director wass going for. End of review.
I managed to find an English trailer (I don't know what the sound is like though, I'm listening to Manic Street Preachers instead).



Today, after class, we had a mini excursion! It is Wednesday, of course. We (Adam, Karen, and I) went to Schwetzingen Schlossgarten (Castle gardens). Today is brutally hot out. It was a little chilly this morning when I got dressed, so I figured it might be okay to wear jeans and a regular tee shirt outside. I've been coming down with a cold (DON'T WORRY MOM), as is usual for me in the summer time. Especially in hot weather. I think it's mostly because I run around in tank tops all the time, and never wear anything on my feet or dry my hair, and just act like a bit of a child of nature. I guess I'm practicall begging my immune system to go kaputt! Anyway, it turned about 30 degrees when we went to go to Schwetzingen. I had to give up on our tour half an hour in. It was in German by my Lehrerlin (female teacher), and I have getting a sun headache, and couldn't focus on what she was saying at any rate. I was also feeling pretty stomach sick from the lack of food intake at lunch. We all had to meet at the Uni Platz at 1:15 and we get of class at 12:45, and what with our daily meeting with Peter.
I ended buying this delicious orange juice popsicle and just spooking around the gardens by myself for an hour. I found a nice little bench, and as all these elderly people walked by, they all smiled at me, and I felt better. I was making notes on a few things:
While I was still with the tour, we passed by a temple to the Greek goddess Minerva. It was beautiful, with carvings of Medusa (at least, I think it was Medusa. I assume Medusa sounds the same in English und Deutsch) on the top of it. Also, as you enter the gardens, there are two foundations - the first one is far bigger than the second, and has three four statues of children and one of a man riding some animal in the center, all spouting water. The spray managed to reach us and cooled us for a brief moment.
I had a kind of awkward encounter with the owner of a small shop selling drinks. I wanted to buy a Coke because my skin was on fire (figuratively), and this shop had a small cooler for drinks outside. So I picked up one of them out of the cooler and then the owner came out and looked at me with a weird look, and said something to me in German. Adam, and one of my classmates, Philip, were with me, and no one seemed to understand what he said. I said 'Sorry?', and it took him a moment to realize we were English. Then he said 'Are you going to pay for that?' or something very similar along those lines. I was a little bit baffled that he was implying that we were stealing, but it was obvious that's what he thought. I managed to say 'Yes, but I have to actually pick it up first.' I'm not sure he understood me. Then he said something to the woman inside the counter about the three of us being English (I had a mind to tell them that I could understand and speak some German, but I held my tongue). It was the first time anything like that has happened to me, not only here, but ever. I mean, I thought the point of having a cooler outside was so that you lure customers in to pick one up, not so that you could angrily accuse them of stealing them. We've done that a load of times since being here, with fruit, especially.
At home, I work in a grocery store, in customer service, and I'm fairly sure that's like the third thing they teach you about customer service.
It makes me wonder if I look a lot like a homeless person who might steall stuff. I don't dress that badly. I hope.

Chris's view

When I started writing this blog, I felt a little bit overwhelmed. Last year, three girls wrote about their experiences and therefore, the dutiful readers had three perspectives to see Heidelberg from. This year, it's me. Only me. I felt like Atlas or something, with the world on my shoulders (suddenly, a vision of Kevin Sorbo as Hercules popped into my head, in the episode where he gives Atlas a break for a bit). I feel like I want to include everyone, at least a little bit of everyone, but a lot of time it's so difficult to do, especially if you don't see them much. This is unforunate, but unavoidable.

However, there is another way you can see Chris McCrowe's p.o.v. He's our photographer, and he's been doing a great job. I really should have posted this link earlier, however, I give it to you now, so that you can see his journey through Berlin und H-Berg.

http://picasaweb.google.com/2009Heidelberg

Check it out!

"I was alone,

I took a ride,

I didn't know what I would find there.

Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there."

Got To Get You Into My Life, The Beatles.

First off, to avoid the confusion, I actually posted this blog on Monday evening (August 3rd). However, I started writing some of it on Friday evening, before Karen and I lost our internet. Therefore, the date above says FRIDAY, but it's actually Monday that I have written this. (And it is Tuesday that I am editing.)

We started classes on Monday morning. It was strange to have to get up at 7 am to go to school for 9:15 after having spent the last week or so just bumming around Germany (yeah, I say that so nonchalantly). I'm been taking courses all summer, but none of the required me to go into school until at least 7 pm, if at all.

My class is Grundstufe III D, which, along with C, is the highest in Grundstufe III. I really like my class. It's so international. There are students from Serbia, Russia, Spain, Israel, the US, the Netherlands, France, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Italy, Brazil, and of course, Canada.

The first couple of days in my class were mostly awkward. No one really wants to embarrass themselves in front of people they don't know. I'm like that, especially with German. I hate having to speak without having to write things down first. Also, I have a huge problem with retention, and it's been four months since I've had to sit in a classroom and SPEAK German with anyone. I definitely felt shy.

Monday afternoon, Karen, Curtis and I went down die Hauptstraße and explored the many stores they have there. I was surprised to see popular North American stores, like American Apparel.

I think for the first part of the week, things definitely took a downturn in terms of my feelings toward the class. I really liked the people in my class, and my teacher, but perhaps it was moreso the actual work. The teachers speak solely in German for the entire class, which is unusual for MUN students. If you don't understand a word, they try to explain it differently, in German, instead of telling you the meaning auf Englisch. It's a harder way to learn, but it could be better.

Tuesday evening, there was a showing of Die Welle (The Wave) at the Universität. I remembered Dr. Buffinga mentoning Die Welle during class when I took German 3001: German post – war, pre-re-unification film 1945 – 1989. He saw it at the Berlin Film Festival sometime in the spring and he gave us a brief synopsis of the film. Since then, I’ve really wanted to see it because, frankly, it sounded fascinating. Basically, it tells the story of a high school teacher who must teach his class about autocracy, and he decides to demonstrate how easy it was for people to submit to Fascism during the Third Reich. He transforms his class from a laid back place of discussion to a highly organized, uniformed collective who develop a mob mentality after they named themselves “Die Welle”.

It’s a super powerful film, and something about it really kind of unnerves you. My minor is European Studies, and practically all the courses I have taken have related to Germany and German culture and history and politics. I can objectively look at the situation in Germany in the thirties and understand why so many followed National Socialism. But this film is set today (it’s based on a true events from California in the late 60s), and it involved teenagers, and demonstrates how easily you can manipulate the situation of almost any group and it can get out of control. It’s spooky.

Wicked Videos, Latest Virals | | SPIKE.com

I think Wednesday was the low point for me, in terms of classes. I felt awkward, knowing that others were having a great time in class, and I was secretly hating it. Not meaning to sound too girly, but I kind of wanted to cry every time I was called on and forced to answer a question that I was unsure of. I knew a lot of what I was saying, but I think I was still trying to adjust to a setting where you spoke solely German, and if you didn’t know how to express yourself in German, you just didn’t. Or I started to sound like a child who was learning to tell her mother what she wanted, not really knowing how to say it, but throwing out keywords and hoping that they would figure it out somehow. There was a boat trip down the Neckar on Wednesday afternoon, and after a grueling day in class, I decided it was in my best interest to take advantage. The band, Blue Jeans, played a load of rock songs, in English. It lifted my spirits so much. I managed to get a brutal sunburn out of it, but it was a beautiful afternoon, exploring the area from afar for two hours. Perhaps I just needed a large and overwhelming dose of sun and Vitamin D, but the boat trip was a turning point for me. I think it was then that I realized that everyone here is unsure of themselves and their skills. The boat trip allowed me to see everyone outside the classroom setting; drinking, dancing, laughing, and enjoying being in a foreign country. I was reminded of Modest Mouse’s Float On.

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The next night, a lot of the classes got together and had their own class party. In class, my tutor, Anja, said we would be going out for drinks. When we met up at 6:15, “drinks” turned into a lengthy walk up the Philosophen Weg (I think I would describe it as a steeper, straighter version of Signal Hill, but much longer. At one point, we came to a flat part and I felt that I should run on ahead of our group a bit, lest I fall to the end again), before we descended and came upon a boat café, for food and drinks. After our teacher, Barbara, left us, we all decided to go to another bar on a street off of the Hauptstraße, with cheesy nineties music and arguable taste in dance music. Most of my class showed up for this, and then on Friday morning, we actually were able to talk to each other about how they enjoyed themselves the night before. Also, our teacher decided to wait until after we had a small test to take us out. Many of the other classes went out Thursday evening, while a test awaited them in the morning.

Friday night, the Ferienkurs hosted a “Disko-Night!” at the Deutsch-Amerikanisches- Institut (DAI). Which means a dance. I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of people showing up. There are people who hate dancing. But then again, there was also a bar, and even those who simply don’t dance will do so with a few drinks in them. We showed up as soon as it started, at nine. Karen, Adam, Megan and I went. It seemed pretty dead at first, but it seemed everyone showed up half an hour or an hour after we did. I almost think there were more people congregated outside at some points than there were actually inside with the music.

I met a number of people, most of whom are actually friends with Dylan, Although, I think it would be difficult to meet anyone at the Ferienkurs who has not met Dylan, honestly. One of the guys, Roman from Paris, is practically a doppleganger of Julian Lennon. I felt like I kept seeing the son of a Beatle. As lame or embarrassing as people sometimes think organized dances like that are, they are actually an amazing way to meet people that you would otherwise not have anything to do with. It’s especially wonderful if you have had a drink or two and everyone becomes a potential new friend. We were trying to make friends with one particular person from Spain, because of his super-cool sideburns. However, this failed terribly.

Saturday, Peter came to Heidelberg to bring us to Mannheim, where he, Sandra and Marc live. It was warm and hadn’t ate much on Friday, so Saturday morning, we went to the bottom of the Kaufhof to buy breakfast – Powerade, and blueberries seemed to be the breakfast of champions, at least for Adam and I, who consumed an entire container each. The tram takes three quarters of a hour to get to Mannheim. I find we do so much walking and wandering around that sitting is always a nice change.

Mannheim, evidently, is a wonderful place to do really cheap shopping. I don’t want to downplay Mannheim as a place where one only goes to shop, but they have pretty much everything. I immediately went to a giant, German Best Buy type store that sold music and DVDs. My original plan was to purchase some Xavier Naidoo Cds (he does a sort of German R&B style, and he’s from Mannheim) and a copy of “Die Welle” and also “Krabat”. Krabat is a really popular novel in Germany apparently, about a young boy and dark magic. Like Harry Potter, before Harry Potter, one might say, without the school and – nevermind. I could find neither, so I made my way to the bookstore across the street. Karen actually found a really interesting CD by a group called 2raum wohnung (2 Room Apartment in English). She says they are quite good, so I might have to borrow the CD from her.

We found Krabat, on DVD and in book form at the bookstore. I decided that it would be a good investment to purchase both, as they are both only in German (the DVD is German with German subtitles, but only play in Region 2 DVD players). I’m pretty excited at the idea that I might be able to read a real German novel.

There were a few museums in Mannheim to choose from. Of course one cannot live on shopping alone, and must also indulge in cultural aspects whilst one is there. Adam, Chris and I went to this art museum called Kunsthalle (literally Art Hall) with an exhibition featuring an artist called Anton Henning. His works are pretty rad, a bit wonky though. He does this thing where he incorporates swirls into every painting. In one, he recreates the most famous painting of Shakespeare and then takes a brush and makes a bunch of swirls on it so that you have to stand back a few feet to actually see what you are looking at.

http://www.kunsthalle-mannheim.eu/cms/front_content.php?idart=129

We watched the film today in Megan’s awesome room (however, I could probably go on forever about how much I belong in that room, with the large collection of classic novels and poetry, but I digress). Surprisingly, we managed to understand most of the plot without the help of English language, or even the German subtitles. Four people were unable to work one German DVD player so that we could have subtitles. What we didn't understand, we made up, and our translation amounted to something along this lines of "Krabat Potter and the Seven Maggots", with a lot of Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings references. There's an introduction by the evil sorcerer - we decided that his narration was actually, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." I was really pleased with the quality of work, though it probably had a lot to do with the two main stars, Daniel Brühl (Goodbye Lenin!) and David Kross (The Reader), who have managed to make somewhat of a transition to English cinema.

Last night, as I wrote this, we experienced our fourth or fifth thunderstorm since arriving in Heidelberg. We have been here about ten days. I definitely look forward to these storms. They take away some of the unbearable heat that I am unable to adjust to. Today was nice after this rain. I think it is a decent trade off – warm days and rainy evenings, for the most part. I’m definitely not complaining.

Heidelberg

Friday morning.

Karen and I met Adam at the University Platz in the late morning. We didn't have any specific plans, which was a pretty big change from the past few days spent in Berlin. It felt so nice to sleep in and hang out. I've been reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and it's about 518 pages long, so having time to sit down and actually get into it has been so nice.

When we arrived at the university, Dylan and Adam were sitting with a random guy (not Canadian. I think we might be the only Canadians here, because all the people we've met seem to know that we're all in a group and wir kommen aus Kanada). The random guy turned out to be named Shawn (Sean?) and we spent most of the afternoon with him. We ate at the Mensa across the street from the university. I really like that one. There's plenty of room inside. The other one has more of a buffet style, hot food selection, but as soon as you walk in you feel like you've volunteered to boil yourself to death.

I found it really queer that we're in Germany, taking a German language course, with hundreds of students here, and the first person we meet who is not Canadian, is British. Sean (I'm not really sure how to spell his name, but this way seems more British, so I choose this one) is actually from Bishop's Stortford, which is about a 16 pound cab ride from the Harlow Campus in MUN. I once took a cab from the Maltings residence to a club in Bishop's Stortford.

We spent our afternoon in search of a grocery store, so that Karen and I could buy fruit, and Sean could buy tea.

Our oral tests were between 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock. I'm not sure that anyone felt too confident about those. I'm pretty sure I felt the least confident. A bunch of us had signed up for Mittelstufe, which is the middle level, assuming that we would be fine because we had taken either Intermediate German or Advanced German at MUN. I walked up to the door where our interviews were supposed to take place, and I knew automatically I was in the wrong place. The woman who greeted me spoke so fast that I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around what she was saying. I'm pretty sure she asked if I was here for the Mittelstufe oral test. My response was "Ja, aber (Yes, but) ..." and then I moved my hand from side (the international symbol for indecision) to side, and screwed up my face at her. She smiled and brought me down to the Grundstufe interviews. That one was still kind of embarrassing. I got the feeling that a lot of people had a weird time with it.

We met with Peter and Sebastian for dinner. Peter and Sebastian are Dr. Warkentin's co-conspirators in his ongoing attempt to show us the culture of Germany. Peter regaled with us a tale of the origins of FANTA (which is Adam's new favourite drink.) Peter explained how FANTA was a creation of the Third Reich in 1939, after international sanctions limited the supply of Coca Cola syrup. He also told us that Fanta is short for Fantastisch. (We were skeptics, and had to snopes this - evidently, it's mostly true, except that the German who created it wasn't a Nazi, and Fanta is actually short for Fantasie.)

Friday evening, a free concert was held in Peterkirche (Peter's church). It was all small "c" classical music. The concert lasted about an hour, and besides the wonky violin in some parts, and the never-ending faux climaxes in the last piece, it was a nice way to spend the evening.

Saturday morning, we all took our written test. Because generally oral exams alone give a very poor idea of what one is capable of. I'm more hesitant to speak than to write. The test took place at 11, and there were a few questions that I had absolutely no idea about. Overall, I must have done reasonably well (though it doesn't matter really, it was simply a placement test.) I ended up in Grundstufe III D.

Karen is in Grundstufe IV, Linda and Dylan in Grundstufe II, and Chris, Chris, Megan, Curtis, Adam, Jackie are also in Grundstufe III.

Immediately after the test, Sebastian and Dr. W took most of us to Ladenburg by bus/ tram, while Chris and Dylan ducked out of this excursion (although we did get to see Chris's sick new tattoo after). It's a little more than half an hour to get there. We met with Peter, his wife Sandra, and their eleven month old son Marc (Mark?).

(On a side note, as I sit here typing this, we are indulging in champagne, cherries and brie. I feel more French than I ever have in my entire life.)

Mark is my new best friend. I won him over when I made a funny face at him. We all had lunch, and were consequently attacked by wasps, who rolled in Megan's Bruschetta, drank from Adam's Fanta, and swam in Jackie's gravy. As a note to anyone who encounters this problem in the future, coasters are the best way to keep wasps (or anything, really) out of your drinks. I am terrified by them, and I made very loud growling noises whenever one came near. I call this "The Dance of the Ladenburg Diners". This amused Marc to no end.

We strolled leisurely throughout Ladenburg, noting churches, and Roman architecture, as well as a set of five brass stones along a side street as a memorial to a Jewish family killed in Auschwitz. We also passed on of Germany's oldest restaurants.

The group split up to visit two different museums: Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz, and the Lobdengau Museum. I chose the Lobdengau Museum, with its collections representing 2000 years of Ladenburg's history. Also, I am not much of a fan of cars, except when they appear on Top Gear. The Lobdengau Museum does not look like a typical museum. It looks more like an historical house than anything.

We went for ice cream after the museums. Ladenburg has the best ice cream in the world. Not even exaggerating at all.

Sunday, we all did our own thing. I went to St. Bonifatius church which is just down the street from where I'm staying. I went inside the church for 10:30 mass, only no one else came in. Then I realized that everyone was across the street in a little platz, having mass outside. It was super weird because I'm pretty sure that Catholics don't ever have mass outside ... ever. But not in Germany, apparently! It was definitely komisch.
Later, Adam, Karen and I went to a theatre workshop, but it was way over our heads. We had no idea what was going on, really. We decided not to go back because performing Monty Python skits in German is not fun when you can barely understand what you are supposed to be saying.

Berlin - Day 2

The second full day in Berlin got off to a weird start. For one, we all overslept, with the exception of Dr. Warkentin. Linda was the first person to get up in the females room, and she woke up 15 minutes after we were meant to be downstairs for breakfast. We still managed to be ready with loads of time.

We took a train to Potsdam and visited the palace Sanssouci (translated from french it means "without worries". You may be thinking "why is a german Palace named in french?" Other that the fact that sans souci sounds better than "ohne angst" as Karen pointed out, Friedrich Wilhelm the Great was all about french. He and Voltaire spoke in pretty french about how great liberty was. I kind of have to disagree with you there, Friedrich II - I think German is plenty pretty.)

(Back Row: Dylan, Megan, Meghan, Adam, Chris McCrowe, Jaclyn, Chris Ryan

Front Row: Linda, Karen, Curtis)

Sanssouci and the grounds are huge. It takes a super long time to walk around it. Of course, royalty had horses and carriages that could take them from one place to another - they didn't really have to walk. It has numerous other large houses, a Chinese Tea House, as well as statues and fountains galore. The Chinese Tea House looks more like the typical eighteenth century European's idea of the East, with peculiar looking golden men and women with pointy hats.

The day was as beautiful as all the days we have spent in Germany, but it's far hotter than it has been in St. John's. The heat had definitely take its toll on many of us. After we left Potsdam, six of us tiredly went to the Pergamon Museum on Museuminsel (Museum Island), which was pretty much just around the corner from hostel. Pergamon Museum had a lot of Roman and Greek art, and sculptures. Megan, Adam, Curtis and I stuck to a little group, determined to see as much of the museum as possible in as little time as possible. You can imagine how unbearable the heat became once we were surrounded by thousands of other museum visitors, also using their entrance tickets as fans. The three things I found most interesting:

The Pergamon Altar. It's definitely different to see a large set of steps in a museum that is actually part of the exhibition. But the columns on top, and carvings make it pop, because it is the first thing you see as you walk in.

Left:

A statue of Athena Parthenos. Karen's rough translation of the card next to the statue is

"a hellenistic copy of the golden ivory statue in the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens.
Found in the north hall of the Temple of Athena in Pergamon." I really like Athena.

The other statue I thought was really cool was of the
hermaphrodite. I thought it was a little bit weird that
it was in a museum, although you really can't be surprised
by the Greeks. I've never seen a form of a hermaphrodite
in art work before and I made Adam take a picture so I
could show everyone.

The museum was followed by brief souvenir shopping. I bought
this shirt with the Leonard Cohen lyrics, "First we take Manhattan,
then we take Berlin."

Curtis, Karen, Megan, Adam and I went to see Harry Potter and
the Half Blood Prince in IMAX. We wanted to see Harry Potter
und der halbblut Prinz, the german version in German, but the
woman who gave us tickets knew that we were English and
automatically gave us tickets for the English one. I think a lot
might have gotten lost in translation anyhow. I'd seen it before,
but no one else had.

We turned our walk home into a photoshoot as we passed the
Canadian Embassy in Berlin.

And again when we found a Berlin bear.

We also found a street called "Georgenstraße" -
George Street, though there didn't seem to be any
resemblance to the Newfoundland George Street.

The next day was our train to Heidelberg. I have to be honest -
I did like Berlin, but I was not sorry to leave for Heidelberg. For me, there's no
comparison between the two. Berlin is gogogo! and everything was fast paced.
It is difficult to be on the go so much in a setting that's unfamiliar to you.

Heidelberg, on the other hand, is not completely new to me. I was there before
in 2006, albeit for only a few days, but it always stuck with me.

Our ride to Heidelberg took about 5 hours. It was pretty relaxing - some much
needed downtime to sleep or read or listen to music. Just to relax, really.

We arrived when it was nearing four o'clock. We took the bus to Bismarck
Platz, and from there, to Heidelberg Neue Universität.

Karen and I went in first to register. We were then told to go out into the foyer
to wait until our names were called so someone could bring us to our
accommodations. Everyone else came in one by one after us, but somehow,
everyone else's name was called before ours. There also seemed to be some
sort of mishap with Karen's room reservation. She didn't seem to exist in their
file. I joked with her that if need be, she could always sleep on my floor.

Eventually we did go in and ask what was going on with our rooms, because
the number of students left began to dwindle until there seemed to be only a
few others left. We were told that we were actually staying in the same building,
however, it seemed our hostess/ landlady would not be home until 7 o'clock.

I think that was when the panic set in. We were supposed to
meet Dr. Warkentin and the others at 7:30 and we doubted
that we would make it there at all. Luckily, we got to her home
at 7 and she was home, so we were able to make our meeting.
We strolled around the Hauptstraße and went to dinner at
Kulturbrauerei Heidelberg. While we waited for our food,
a thunder and lightning storm began. It lasted probably about
twenties minutes, but it was definitely entertaining. I love lightning
and thunder storms. Despite the potential harm they cause if you
actually get hit by it, I felt it was incredibly soothing.

Wilkommen!

We finally have a Heidelblog for the Memorial University students attending Internationaler Ferienkurs 2009! (I have been very anxious to get this thing going). 

I suppose beginning at the very beginning would be a good start. 

We arrived in Berlin on Monday (July 20th). I travelled separately from the rest of the group (thank you, Aeroplan!), and my flight was supposed to fly out of St. John's to Montreal at 6 am on Sunday. I was somewhat looking forward to the thought of a 12 hour layover in Montreal. The rest of the group was supposed to fly later in the afternoon, and we would fly to Frankfurt and then to Berlin together from there.

Sunday morning came, and St. John's was covered in fog. Despite this, neither my parents nor I considered that my flight might not make it out. At the airport, we learned that all flights until at least mid afternoon to Montreal (and probably everywhere else) were either delayed substantially or cancelled. My flight was rebooked to Toronto, and then from Toronto to Frankfurt and Berlin. I was torn between being disappointed at not being able to meet up with the others (most of whom I had at least met briefly) in Montreal, and being very, very pleased that my cancelled flight afforded me six extra hours rest. 

At noon (after about forty five minutes of stressing out), I phoned Dr. Warkentin to tell him that I would no longer be meeting with them, and that I would see them in Berlin.

Cut to:

Hotel BaxPax, Berlin, July 20th.

I arrived safely in Berlin (although that flight from Frankfurt did have me worried for a little bit), and managed to get a taxi from Tegel to BaxPax. I did procrastinate this for about half an hour due to the fact that by the time I actually got through customs and got my bag, it began to pour heavily outside. By the time we got to BaxPax, it was clear skies and beautiful sun once again. At the desk, the girl told me that the group had not come in yet. I silently started to freak out, thinking that perhaps their flight had also got delayed or cancelled and I would be stuck in Berlin by myself. Then she told me that they should be back soon and I began to relax.

We met downstairs in the evening for official welcome drinks and I met two of the people who I had not met yet (Dylan and Megan). I ate in the bar downstairs (it's a pretty swanky place in the evening), and watched some of the Wolfsburg/ Bremen game. A guy from California came over and we chatted for a bit - the generic "Hey, where are you from? Where have you been? What are you doing in Berlin?" type small talk. Then I settled in to our room. (Some of the group went out later that night to explore some of the more interesting sides of Berlin's nightlife, apparently which included hanging out on the roof of a building which should have been condemned, and drinking, and meeting some colourful characters.)

July 21st, 2009.

The first full day, we spent walking around Berlin. We ate breakfast at 8, and then made our way to Sachsenhausen, the concentration camp, in Oranienburg. I was pretty tired. It was kind of a rough night, and sleep threatened to overtake me on the train. I'd been to Dachau a few years ago, so when we got to Sachsenhausen, I didn't suffer the same overwhelming emotional experience as I did before. I knew what to expect, relatively. There were a few things that I didn't recall seeing at Dachau: the first being a pile of stones laid upon the markers for each of the barracks that no longer stand. There are stone markers (almost like headstones) that stand in front of where the barracks would have been. On these markers are stones. Dr. Warkentin explained that many Jewish people often lay stones if they knew someone who lived in a particular barracks. Secondly, the records of all the prisoners are kept in what used to be the kitchen, and are available to read in, I think, three different languages or so. Outside of Sachsenhausen, just outside the bookshop/ entrance, there is a large miniature model of the entire camp. All the barracks look exactly like Monopoly pieces. 

From Saschenhausen, we meant to go to the Berlin Zoo. However, we went one too many stops from our destination, and discovered that certain trains were cut off, so we improvised and found a new route. By the time we got to the Zoo, it was two hours from closing and it was decided that it wasn't worth our time or money to go if we couldn't spend sufficient time there. By that time it was about four o'clock, and my body was threatening to shut down if I refused to feed it. I really only wanted to see Knut, the polar bear at the zoo, and I hear he's a bit of a jerk now anyways (as jerky-ness of the polar bear variety goes, I guess).

Instead, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and ate instead. I ordered a Hurricane sized Sex on the Beach (purely for the souvenir glass), and Linda did the same with two beer. There seems something especially fitting about buying a beer glasses in Berlin. We made our way back to the hostel (Megan, Adam, Karen, Curtis, Dylan and I), navigating our way through the Berlin underground system (it's pretty easy). On the way, we saw the Berlin Skillz Showteam doing tricks on skateboards. One had four skateboards, and piled three on top of one another and laid the fourth on top of that, on its side and then did a hand stand holding onto the skateboard on its side. He went around in a circle, and it was really cool, and looked super complicated. Adam took a video:

Also, on the bus home, there were two buskers (I guess that is the best term for them) on our train, performing Adam Green's song "Novotel". Their English was really quite good, and we decided that we preferred their version to the original. 

Our first full day in Berlin was definitely memorable, but I find with the larger cities, it's pretty tiring after walking around all day. It's a little bit draining, and I definitely wanted to relax and chill out after a pretty long day. We had seen ice cream on a stand somewhere and Megan, Adam, Karen, Curtis and I went on a mad hunt for a place that sold ice cream. It was about 9:30 or so at night, so most places were in the process of closing up. We got back to Friedrichstraße, and saw a sign that proclaimed EIS (which is ice cream in German). It was right next to our hostel. However, we discovered that at this place (Bombay, on the corner of Friendrichstraße and Ziegelstraße) Eis actually meant iced coffee, not ice cream. We got some soft drinks though (and Curtis, a shot of Absolut) and some garlic naan bread and spent an hour and a half there, undisturbed. No one (read: the wait staff) paid much attention to us, and around 11:30, we got a bit antsy and decided to leave. 

That's really only the first day in Berlin, but it's 12:30 in the morning now, and later today we all have to write our placement test. We had the oral portion today and I think most people feel that they are in the place they should be. A few of us accidentally signed up for the intermediate level, which is quite different from the MUN Intermediate level, apparently. I did so, and when I went for my interview, I was so confused before we even started that I told the woman doing the interview, in English, that I was definitely not in the right place. She seemed really understanding about it, actually. I supposed that probably happens with a lot of people. 

There's still quite a bit of catch-up to do, but that will have to wait until another time.

Tschüss!

(photos courtesy of Adam Stevenson and Karen Tucker, videos by Adam Stevenson. :) )

Berlin

Hello from Berlin


Meghan's edit: This is Dr. Warkentin's test of the blog.