Domspatzen

Wednesday was of course our excursion day. I didn't write about last week's, because honestly, it wasn't that fun. We stayed in Regensburg, and went on a tour of the old court house and a Jewish ghetto that had been built over. I did have a really great lunch at an Italian restaurant that day though. This Wednesday was pretty cool. You've probably heard of the Vienna Boy's Choir, but it turns out, Regensburg has a pretty reputable choir as well. It's called the DomSpatzen, which means Cathedral Sparrows. I can't remember what age they said they start out, but they had boys that were as old as 18-19. The German school system is quite a bit different, so students don't go to college until they are about 20.
I think orange must be the school's color, because when we got inside the admin office, the floors were all orange, and several of the secretaries were wearing orange. Or else it was just a really strange coincidence, but we all remarked on it. When we got there, we were kind of in between classes, so we met some of the teachers in the teacher's lounge. One of the teachers, or maybe it was the headmaster, was really excited, and kept wanting to take pictures with us. It was pretty funny. The point of this visit was for us to speak with the students, as they are required to take English. We waited in the teachers lounge for a bit to be assigned to a teacher to go with. A female teacher walked into the lounge and asked us who would like to go with her. She told us she had grade 13, and that the boys were around 18. She also told us that they had specifically asked her to bring girls. (It's an all boys school) Another girl and myself offered to join almost in unison. I thought it would be funny to see how they would act. I was afraid they would be typical highschoolers and do nothing but joke around. They did at first, of course, but they actually were interested in asking us questions. Another one of the groups was not so lucky and got a group of trouble makers that weren't too interested. They asked a couple of silly questions, that I don't really remember, because they were mostly talking amongst themselves at first until their teacher said, "Come on boys, we talked about this yesterday...and you had a lot of good questions to ask". They finally settled down a bit, and I think one of the first questions asked was why we started to take German. We introduced ourselves, it was Kate,Ted, and myself, and told them our majors. They asked a lot of questions about the elections, and one kid in particular was really interested in Michael Moore's movies. I felt kind of bad because he seemed to be really into them, and wanted to talk about them, but none of us had really seen any of them. I think Ted had seen bowling for Columbine. One rather funny moment was when one stupid asked us what we thought of Obama, and the three of us agreed we were for him, and Ted said that he loves Obama. Apparently you can't say you love something in Germany unless you really mean it....because all the boys started to snicker. I explained to them that Americans say they love everything from their new pair of shoes to ice cream...but they kept laughing anyway. Typical boys. I asked them what they thought of as the typical American stereotype, and strangely enough, they really didn't hit us too hard. They all laughed when I asked the question, but the wouldn't really say anything too negative, I was impressed. I'm sure they had plenty of things to say!! And I thought Germans were really honest!! They asked us the same question, and I told them that a lot of my friends at school said I should be prepared because Germans are always mad, and everything they say sounds angry. I have to admit, from the exposure we get to the German language, I completely concur. Once you here it in everyday setting, and realize how infrequently you really hear anyone yelling, German is actually a much softer and subtler language than I had originally thought.
Sidenote...We were talking about movie dubs...and one of our professors, who is fairly young, said something like, when movies are translated into German, it just looses the punch of the English language. He said something about a bad guy in a movie being confronted by the good guy, by saying "MR Smith!!" Apparently he doesn't think "Herr Smith" sounds anywhere as strong as it does in English. Which is funny, because probably all Americans think Herr sounds much more strict and rigid. Anyway..
The first group of boys were pretty cool. One guy was really into music and asked a lot of questions about bands and stuff. It was pretty cool though, because he had been to the states, and had actually been to St Louis...wow?! How is that possible. Kate is also from St Louis. Normally though, if a German has been to the States the have been to : Florida, New York, or California. Always. He asked us about Blueberry Hill, which is a cool bar in St Louis! He said he wanted to get in, but couldn't, as he was underage.
I wish I could remember more of the questions that were asked with the first group, but at some points, it got to be more of a discussion in general than questions and answers. The class ended for this group of boys, so the three of us headed back to the teachers lounge. We finished up before most of the others, so we went to another class. This time, it was a male teacher, and he told us he would be taking us to a group of..I think 5th graders. Most of them looked a tad younger than Sam though.
First, the teacher handed back the student's tests that they had taken a few days before. It was kind of strange to me though, because they were all pretty open about what grades they had gotten. It was funny to see them interacting in this way though...looking at each other's tests, some of them looked a bit disappointed, some of them looked pleasantly surprised.
Then the teacher asked us to come to the head of the class and we introduced ourselves again. He used our last names as a teaching method to show his students how diverse the US is. Ted and Kate's last names are both German, which he knew right away of course, and I had to explain to them that my last name is Croatian. He thought this was pretty cool.
Again, the first question one of the kids posed was what we thought about Obama. It was really strange to me to see how interested these kids are in our elections, and it was even more shocking when McCain's running mate got brought up, and one boy actually knew what her name was!! Of course, this was also the boy that asked us if it was the Lehmen Brother's fault that our economy is the way it is right now. At least, I think that's what he asked, because his English was a bit broken, but considering they had only been taking English for a year, I was really impressed. Hell, kids in the states don't know who the Lehmen Brother's are!!!! I Think he must have some very aware, and loquacious parents. That's awesome though. We got into a bit of a discussion about the economy, and I feel bad because I wonder how much they understood. At one point I felt like we were talking more to the teacher. I don't remember exactly how it got brought up, but he started to ask about our economical situation, and loans got brought up. Ted tried to explain the mortgage loan crisis, and credit rates got brought into the conversation. It was really funny though, because the teacher was like, "No, no, I don't think you understand the question. I'm not asking about credit. I'm talking about loans. Here, you have to have 30% cash to back up the loan you are asking for, otherwise you won't get it. Is it 30% in the States too?" I was like..no, no YOU don't understand. That's why we're in the mess that we are!! And I explained to him that in a lot of cases, the loans that were given out were given to people who couldn't actually afford them and that is why they are all falling through. Somehow though, I think he still didn't quite get it. But then....neither do we. It's hard to believe we're in the mess that we are in.
There were of course some sillier questions as well. One boy asked us what was bad about the States, and the three of us just looked at each other like..........................uh? I tried to think of a simple way to ask him to ask a more specific question, so he rephrased the question, "What do you not like about America". The teacher laughed and said, you need to ask them something like, What type of foods do you not like in America, or what do you not like about the media, or something like that. Another kid asked us what was easier to do in the States than it is in Germany. We were all kind of lost on that question too. Then, somehow we got onto crime in the states, and I told them how in some neighborhoods in St Louis, it's a bad idea to stop at stop lights or stop signs. My host mom told me how they had gone on vacation for a few days and had forgotten to lock the door..so. yeah. I don't know if they just live in a good neighboor hood, but that's kind of how these kids reacted to my statement as well.
I really enjoyed talking to the younger kids...they were really funny. A guy in one of the other groups told me about some of the questions his group asked. He said one boy asked him what airline he flew in on, and he told them Lufthansa, which is a German airline, and they all cheered. He was so confused...as am I. I can't imagine a group of Americans getting cheering for Delta or something. He told the kids he was from Columbus, Oh, and one of them asked him if Route 54 goes through Columbus. There were a lot of really funny questions though, I wish I could remember them all.
There were some sillier questions too though.
We finished up with this class and then headed back to the teacher's lounge. We were then treated to a choir rehearsal for a very young group of boys. They sounded really good, but the teacher was very precise and stopped every few seconds to critique them. It was kind of funny to see the exaggerated faces they have to make to create the right sound with their vocal chords, but then I've never been too musically inclined. I'm sure my cousin Natalie (woo, shout out to my GURL!) knows exactly what I'm talking about. They were learning a piece of music in Latin, and I was pretty impressed.
We talked to the music teacher for a little while after the class was over, and we found out that a lot of boys come from all over Europe to study here, and that it's the only school in Germany that is both a boarding school and a regular school. The students who come from very far away live on campus. She told us that the boys are required to wear special indoor shoes, and that if they wear them outside, they have to pay 1 Euro, and that it normally only happens once!! We also found out that they students have a one year hiatus, during puberty, where they only study, while their voice changes. This excursion day was quite a bit shorter than every other one we've had so far, and we were finished around lunch time. We all decided we had had enough of Schweinehaxe and Reiberknödle and we wanted something NORMAL. So where did we go?? A Chinese restaurant. How Ironic. Their buffet was no where as big as even the smallest buffet in America. There wasn't as much to choose from, but it was very good. No crab rangoon though!! I got a terrible craving for Mandarin Garden, and then Allison and I argued over which Chinese restaurant was the best in Evansville. I don't know if I've mentioned that or not. Allison went to Sig School and is several years younger than me, so I wouldn't have ever really met her, but we know a lot of the same people. She goes to Murray State now though, but it will be nice to have someone to hang out with in E'ville again!!

Minor disaster

I've gotten pretty adjusted to getting where I need to go by bike. At first, I was really intimidated by riding in traffic. It's not a problem for me anymore, in fact, I find it exhilarating. Riding a bike in the rain has turned out to be a problem in and of itself. On my way to school, I rode with one hand on the handlebars, my other hand holding the hood of my raincoat over my head. Surprisingly enough, that was not when disaster struck.
I went to the mall after school to look for something for Fabian's birthday which is on Thursday. As I started to brake, I put my foot out to help skid myself to a stop. Didn't work so well. It was so slick that I ended up slipping and falling on my ass, in front of the mall, in front of quite a few people. Well..what else was there for me to do but laugh it off? Strangely enough I actually cracked through a German's stoicism and someone came over to my rescue. All I could do was say between laughing at my self. "Nein, nein, danke, Ich bin Ordnung". That should mean I'm okay. Lets hope!

Still trying to fill in the blanks...

It's getting to be that time of year, folks. Midterms. Luckily they are a bit spaced out, for me anyway. Last week, I gave a 10 minute presentation, in German of course, over a 1920s German playwright, Bertolt Brecht. I think I did pretty well, but I haven't gotten a grade back on it. Then, that evening, I was able to go to his musical, Der Dreigroshenoper , The Three Penny Opera, with my host parents. It has been a bit reinterpreted for the times, aside from the dialog, so that was actually difficult given it was language from the 1920s, and they were singing. So I didn't understand a lot of what was being said, but I could understand enough from the action of the play. I really enjoyed it, but the rest of my class went to see it on Thursday, and I don't think any of them really did. I thought it was really cool, but a bit risque.
On Wednesday, we took two tours of Regensburg, but honestly, I wasn't really that into them. I'm not sure why...Allison and I went to this delicious Italian restaurant during our lunch break though, and that was great! It was great to having something other than brats and schnitzel.
On Thursday, we had an oral test with our conversation prof, which, of course, was a conversation. We had to come up with a topic to talk about. Since I had already talked about Bertolt Brecht, I figured I'd reuse it, and I could talk about the play that I had gotten to see. I got a 100% on this, so hopefully I did almost as good on the other speech..

More than a week late: Wednesday's Trip to München

If you've ever seen, read, or heard anything about München, you've probably heard of Marienplatz. It is the hot spot, and it's most well known for the Glockenspiel. The Glockenspiel is a set of bells, complete with marionettes, set on one of the spires of the München courthouse, or Rathaus. The verb raten means to advise, so there you have it. Every day it chimes at 11 am, and gives a short reenactment of two popular 16th century stories. One of the stories has to do with a Duke's marriage, and the knight joust went on to celebrate the marriage. Everyone cheers when the two knights cross paths. The other story harks back to the days of the plague. The plague really struck München pretty hard, as did the war. There are virtually no older buildings in München because everything was so bombed out, but they rebuilt over the older buildings, since they didn't have enough money to completely start over. München is definitely not one of the prettiest cities in Germany, because of the fact that everything is fairly modern. In all honesty, I think I prefer the quaint, cuteness of Regensburg. It was interesting to be here again, period, and I thought about my visit with Ray and Ben. I think I had more fun with Ray and Ben, but I might have learned more this time. I also remember where I had my first Fanta, in München, which is actually very close to this courthouse.
We ended up taking a tour with this strange tour guide. She had an interesting accent, and really liked to roll her "r"s. She was weird, but I think I understood her well enough. She took us by some strange stores, but I think maybe the stores pay her tour guide company to advertise for them. That would be my guess. She took us to this lingerie store, where you could buy "pretty little somethings". It was just awkward. None of us knew why we were there. She also took us by this gelatto shop, and told us it was the best in the city, but I wasn't that impressed. I can't really describe why she was weird, but everyone thought so. We ended our tour at a Baroque church, and we were all glad to be rid of her. Even Orlando.
The outside of the church was a bright yellow,
and really Baroque, with lots of curves and swerves. I thought it was really pretty from the outside, but you would never guess what it looks like from the inside. Our guide told us before she left that it's known as the creepy baby church, or something like that, because all the sculptures inside have the proportions of a baby. She was right. It was odd, but I liked it. Normally Baroque churches have lots and lots of gold on the inside, but this one didn't. It was all completely white, I think something to do with the fact that the church was built in thanksgiving that some Duke or something finally had a child. Which is why everything looks like a baby. I thought was really pretty and different, despite the strange babies. A lot of people don't like Baroque art, because it's pretty over the top and a bit gaudy with all the gold, but I kind of appreciate it. The architects paid a lot of attention to light sources and made sure to put lots of windows near objects that they wanted to illuminate, to create an emphasis. They'd do this with a statue of one of the holy family, or a the patron saint of the church, for example. They still did this, but it was just a lot different since it was all white.

After the baby church, we all went to the HofBrau Haus for lunch. The München HFB is pretty famous, and we were excited to go there, even thought there is one in Regensburg, too. Well, we were all very disappointed by our visit. First off, we had a horrible waiter. After waiting for at least ten minutes before anyone even came to our table, our waiter walked by and literally threw some English menus down at us, even though we already had several German ones on our table. None of us needed the English menu. It took him forever to take any of our orders, and then we waited a lot time to pay as well. The food and the beer also wasn't that great. Even Orlando was really mad at the waiter. He told us the best beer was at the Augustiner brauerei, so we'll have to go there later I suppose. And then, Allison and I were looking for the bathroom, and we asked a waitress, and rather than saying anything she just stuck out her arm, palm open, and pointed in the general direction. All without saying a word. Germans are just weird sometimes. For example, if you are trying to go into a building, and someone else is exiting, people almost never do the courteous thing and let the other person go first. Someone always barges through. I just find it odd, and a tad annoying. Also, I don't think I've ever seen a man open a door for a woman, or even help her put on a her coat. Those are just standard occurrences in the US, but that never seems to happen here.
The next part of the trip has been one of my favorite things we've done so far. We went to an exhibit over the influence of Europe over Walt Disney's work. I had never really thought about it, but whenever you talk to an American, they will say that pictures of Europe look like a fairy tale. Well, now I really understand why. Almost all of our experience with fairy tales has been dictated by Walt Disney, and he strove towards the beauty of the European landscape. It was really interseting to see other artwork that Disney took influence from. There were three works there that really just made my mouth drop open. Here's one most of you probably haven't heard of, but there is a artist named Piranesi that MC Escher also took a lot of influence from. I had just studied Piranesi last semester, so this was pretty cool for me. MC Escher is the guy who did all the tangram artwork.
Here is a work by Piranesi..I don't think this is the exact one that was on display, but I think it is a very similar study.



And here on the left is MC Escher, maybe you'll recognize it.






Next, I saw this, which I didn't previously known the painter's name, John, Grimshaw, but had seen his work many times on notecards. This photo is not very good, but the painting was absolutely stunning. It encapsulated everything that it should in regards to a fairy. The paint literally sparkled. It was breathtaking.





But then, as I was walking past some other paintings in the room with the above, I noticed a painting in the next room that literally made my jaw drop. I didn't even bother with the rest of the stuff in the room I was already in. Lets just say, John William Waterhouse is kind of a big deal to me. I was in awe. I still can't believe I got to see one of his paintings. This photograph does it no justice. I stood in front of it for a good ten minutes. It was fabulous!



There was also some work by Edward Burnes-Jones, which I was excited about, but apparently I was just too in awe over the aforementioned, because I can't remember what it was. :) All in all though, it was a pretty great trip!

Suspense makes the heart grow fonder.

So I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles for the latest installment of my adventures abroad. They haven't been quite that adventurous (well okay, maybe a little), but it has been a bit busy. Last Tuesday was of course my birthday, which was a whole lot of fun, and one I will remember for the rest of my life.
The day started out of course rather normally, and I was quickly assimilated to the stand German birthday greeting. Alles gute zum Geburtstag which is "all, or everything good on your birthday. I think this is a typical Bayrish, because I think I remember learning it differently, however, I don't remember what it was. Most of my professors were very nice and greeted me this way, and then later, since my host dad left for work before I did, he greeted me with a hearty handshake and the same phrase. School was normal, other than that my Literature class sang Happy Birthday in German, which is just Zum Geburtstag viel Gluck sung repeatedly, I think.
When I got home, I helped my host mom make the lasagna and the apple strudel that we would be having for my birthday meal. Since there were ten people coming in addition to my family and myself, we had a lot to make!! Renate is a really good cook, and I think that her mother ran some sort of catering service or something, which is where she learned to cook. We did have a bit of problems separating the layers after boiling them. Lasagna isn't really the easiest thing to cook. We also made a veggie lasagna because one of the guys on the trip is Muslim, but actually, I forgot he can eat ground beef, just not pork. Whoops. I think there are a couple of picky eaters anyway though, so it was okay. I had some of the veggie lasagna as well and it was wonderful!! Fabian and Werner even helped make the lasagna, although Fabian more so that Werner. I believe Werner is terrified of the kitchen. He tried to separate the lasagna layers though. It was quite a bit of fun though, and a good way to spend time with the family and get to know them. My family should cook together!! Well, my dad and I made eggrolls before right before I left, and that was fun!
Then we made the apple strudel. The dough, or teig had already been made my Renate, so we just needed to cut up the apples from the apple trees outside, and then roll out the dough. We mixed the apples with chopped almonds mandeln, rum, sugar zucker, and raisins rosinen. I don't normally like raisins, but it was good! But then, I normally don't like mushrooms "Pilz, not to be confused with Pils, the type of beer", but I have started to like them here!! They're yum! Renate showed me how to roll out the dough, but the first time didn't work so well, so she showed me that I needed to roll out and the put pressure on the rolling pin. The second time worked well! We laid the dough on a kitchen towel, sprinkled the apple mixture, and then used the towel to roll up the dough and then put it on a pan. Fabian helped a bit with this as well.
After that, I went to go get ready for everyone to come, which involved showering, and getting gussied up. Luckily it doesn't take me too long. After I got ready I went back downstairs to wait on my guests, and saw the crates of beer that had been bought for the party. There were three crates of beer with about 16 bottles each.. Hell, Dunkle, and Hell-Weisse..a lot of beer! Everyone got here, although one of the girls some problems getting here, and even Orlando, one the directors came. His girlfriend Leonie, one of the other directors, wanted to come, but couldn't because she was working on her thesis, and the other one, Andi, was sick. One of the highlights of the night was when I discovered the huge beer mug that the family has with a picture of the present pope with his hands outstretched over the city of Regensburg. I need to take a picture of it. Talk about a pimp cup..
We all had a lot of fun, and it was loud and boisterous (but not too much so) and I think everyone really had a good time. My host family gave me a black scarf, some red gloves (to match my new red coat), and a head massager thing. My friends Bo and Allison gave me a french manicure kit, which I've been having fun with, and Leonie and Orlando gave me this cute little beer mug with a picture of Regensburg on it. Little, as in the size of a shot glass, so its really funny! It was my birthday, so I had a bit more to drink than normal, I think four beers, and by the end of the night I was pretty happy. Renate and I talked for quite some time as we cleaned up after everyone had left. The best part was when we were loading the dishwasher Geshirspull machinae, and there wasn't enough room. I couldn't think of what else to say, so I ended up saying something like, the dish washer doesn't have enough seating places, sitzplatz. She knew what I meant though, and we had a good laugh over it.
But it still isn't as funny as her saying, "I become a soda!" instead of "I receive a soda" at a restaurant once in the States. The verb for to receive in German is bekommen...so it makes sense.
I didn't take a lot of pictures this time, I was too busy having fun. The day after, we went to München, for our week excursion, but I'll have to write about that later.

Boat trip!

Yesterday was quite a bit of fun. I got up early, for a Sunday, I think about 9 or 10 am. Yes, that is early for me. I can't remember what I did in the morning, so it must not have been too important. I had plans set for Sunday though, and I didn't want to rush out the door, so I mad sure to be up and ready.
The group met at the bus stop near the train station, and then we took the bus a ways out. Bo and David's host parents have some sort of access to a boat, so they offered to take us all out on it. It is a fairly small boat, but it was a lot of fun. At the beginning of the day, the weather was pretty dismal, but eventually it turned out nice. We were on the boat for a couple of hours, and went up and down the Donau. We were able to take some great pictures of Walhalla, which I was really excited about. The host parents were really nice, other than the fact that they are apparently hippies and have neither TV nor internet. Whatever. I can understand TV, but internet seems a little out there too me. They were cool nonetheless. Micheala, the host mom, made some sort of baked good that looked like biscotti when you take it out of the oven, but it wasn't hard. It was quite tasty. She also brought lots of little sample sized Ritter Sport chocolate, some lemon cookies, some drinks, and some Haribo gummies. The drinks and the gummies were a bit odd. One of the drinks was some sort of sports drink that was cherry-lemon- and something else flavored. I decided that was a bit much for me. The gummies were also strange...a lot of them looked like licorice, and a lot of them also looked like marzipan. I'm not too fond of either, but I did try a gummie that looked like a berry. It was okay.




Havin fun isn't hard. When you've got a boat.

Fog and the Forbidden Forest

Wednesday was our field trip day again. I'm late uploading this, but whatev. I always am. Consider yourself privileged.
The trip by train really didn't take very long at all, which is extraordinary. It usually takes us at least an hour. And it didn't even take that. We had maybe thirty minutes by train and then twenty minutes by bus. So not bad at all. Somehow I deleted all my music off my Ipod, but not the games, so there you have it.
The first part of the trip involved a hike, which I really enjoyed.
I thought I was in the Forbidden forest!! The hike took some time, but I enjoyed it. There were crazy looking mushrooms growing everywhere. Apparently it's kind of a big deal to go out into the forest to collect fresh mushrooms for dinner, but that would make me a bit nervous. So we were actually up in the mountains a bit here, which I of course enjoyed. It made me think of NC and of course I wanted to go back. Another girl on the trip worked at a camp too, so we shared some camp stories. I ended up talking to Leonie for quite a while about the art classes that are offered at Regensburg Uni, and that I might be able to be a guest. That would be really neat, but I think that I might have some schedule conflicts. I also asked her about her expereience in the States. She studied near Boston, and wanted to stay longer, but ran out of funds. I told her about camp, and that they often hire foreigners.
We eventually got to what we were hiking towards, which was Befreiungshalle near Kelheim. The fog really obstructed our view. I took a picture but ended up deleting it. Since we couldn't really see the building, we took a group picture with the fog. We were only a few hundred meters away, and we really couldn't see it at all. I thought it was awesome though, and an interesting story to tell. It would have been nice to be able to see the view from the top of the building...but it was still really great. The inside was really cool as well. There were an awful lot of stairs though. It seems to be a recurring theme. We did a bit more hiking, and I took a few more cool pictures of the fog.
After that we took a boat across this tiny portion of the Donau to get to the monastery. They make their own beer there! I thought we'd get a tour or something, but we didn't. We ate lunch at the monastery, and I had some tasty lamb ravioli, but it didn't taste much like lamb. I had another dark beer, which I liked a lot. I tried the boch, but the alcohol content is something insane, and I didn't want to be ridiculous for the rest of the trip.
Next, we went to the monastery church in all of it's Barocked out glory. I didn't know I liked Baroque art. It was pretty awesome, for being such a tiny church, especially since it looked so small and unassuming on the outside. Inside. Wow. The thing that was really strange to me though, was that there was only one depiction of Jesus. A woman started singing some sort of hymn in latin, which was unexpected, but cool. We also did a bit of walking around the place afterwards. Actually, we found a really beautiful spot, and we basked in the sun for a while. That was the best. Everyone got really quiet and we just enjoyed the moment. It was amazing. We got back to the bus with the little boat we came in on, but took it for about 20 minutes this time. I got some really amazing pictures of the Donau, and Befreiungshalle. Which was good, since the fog




covered most of it before.

3, 2, 1, Contact

So I mentioned earlier that making friends here seems difficult. I think I forgot to mention why. Our very first day here, the directors explained to us the difference between coconuts and peaches. Coconuts have a hard outershell, but are soft and mushy on the outside. Peaches are opposite. Of course this was a metaphor for Germans vs Americans. Germans are the coconuts. So after this introduction, things because a little more daunting.
Today, however, I made an attempt with the German world of students. IT is very common to sit at a table with people you don't know in the school cafeteria. I ate without the rest of the KIIS group, so I made myself comfortable. Shortly after, a group of guys sat down next to me. Now, let me just say that getting food at the Mensa is something like Russian roulette. A week or so ago, they had something labeled as "American Schnitzel". I honestly didn't know there was such a thing. And if there was, I certainly didn't think it would be covered in a gravy that had corn and beans. Moving on. Today, I got what I thought was some sort of pasta with vegetables and sauerkraut. Well, it wasn't pasta, so I attempted to ask the guys sitting next to me what it was. The guy sitting directly next to me gave me a side long glance and said nothing. The guy opposite me asked me if I spoke French, which was actually pretty cool, and better than him thinking I'm American, I think. He gave me a very brief description, and that was that. No other conversation. It was some kind of potato thing, any how.

Funny Little Things

I need to remember to write these things down. They are priceless.

So I prefer ice cream in bowls, instead of a cone, but I can never remember the word for cup. When we went to München for Oktoberfest, I overheard part of a discussion my hostmom was having with some friends as we were riding on the train. I was kind of half asleep, but I heard the word "becher", which I remembered means bowl. So I woke up and said, Becher, that means bowl right? My hostmom started to chuckle, and said, well it's complicated. Apparently I had missed the rest of the conversation, because they were talking about EierBecher, or egg cups. But not the kind for breakfast. Apparently that's what Germans call a jock strap. It was interesting.

Also, I almost wrote a second ago that we were driving the train, rather than riding it, because there is really only one German verb for riding/driving a car, train, bus, or bicycle.

Today I explained to my host mom and host sister what going commando, or "free balling it" means. They were really surprised anyone would do that, other than Brittney Spears, of course.. Or Lindsay Lohan. Or Paris Hilton. Yes. They mentioned all three of them.

A week or so ago, we realized that a very large spider had made a web on one of the windows. Isabella and I looked at it with some trepidation, and she asked me what the English word for web was. She nodded her head, and then a few seconds later, a look of recognition came across her face, and she said.."OH! WWW!! I get it now!" (As in the internet..) It was pretty priceless.

Also, Germans never wear white socks. I think it's considered tacky here. I can personally validate this, as I don't think I've seen a single white sock in the house, except for mine. Also, wearing socks with ballet flats, sandels, etc, is perfectly fine.

Another Gorgeous Day

The weather was absolutely perfect today. Too bad it wasn't on Friday, when we went to Augsburg. None of us really enjoyed that trip. Friday was a holiday, which was why we went then instead of Wednesday. That way we wouldn't have two free days last week. None of us were that pleased about that considering all the other students had the day off. Eh.
This weekend Renate was gone... I THINK to a Yoga retreat, but you know, I never can tell. That is I never can tell if I really understand. There's a good chance that's what she was doing though. So Werner cooked. One night neither Fabian nor Isabella ate, so it was just he and I, and he told me he hates to cook, it makes him nervous (or something), and everyone complains about his cooking and doesn't eat it. Considering we were the only ones eating that night..well..yeah. I thought it was fine! It was grilled fish, rice, and steamed broccoli. I mean, it wasn't gourmet or anything, but I'm not complaining!! I don't have to cook!
The family seems to like to go out for lunch on Sunday, we have every Sunday so far. Fabian didn't come with us though, because I guess he put off his homework until today. Isabella, Werner, and I went to a restaurant out in the country. It was a really gorgeous drive, and I believe we went on the AutoBahn. It took us maybe 15 minutes to get there. I had this ridiculously huge piece of pork leg. It's called Schweinshaxe. Actually, I just looked that up in my German dictionary, and it says that that means pork knuckle. I guess maybe I just don't know what a pork knuckle looks like. Either way, it was quite tasty, and it came with Reiderknödle (Potato dumplings) and was smothered in gravy. It was funny though, because Werner and I ordered the same thing, except his came with soup and desert and my pork knuckle thing was about twice as big as his. I should have traded, but then again, I don't think he finished his either. Isabella and I decided we should get some ice cream. However, the kind I wanted came with egg liqueur on top...which is not so appetizing. I successfully ordered my ice cream sans egg liqueur in German..and I got a standing ovation from Werner. Well, I think that has been the first time anyone has told me that my German is "getting always better" which is the direct translation. So to me, that was as good as an applause.
After we ate, the three of us went to this woodland preserve thing and took a short hike. I'm telling you what, Germans are into outdoor recreation. I know that I would have not been particularly excited about going hiking on a Sunday afternoon when I was 16, but Isabella was really perky. Maybe she's just really good natured and I was a horrid teenager. Well, I already know the answer to the later... :) There was an interesting little kiddie play ground, with a bunch of musical instruments made out of wood. Isabella and I got really into them. I think we could have formed a band..
We came home from that around 3 or 4 pm, and at first I thought about laying down for a bit. I still had a headache from the night before. I really think German beer must be quite a bit stronger. I only had three beers, and it was over the course of several hours. Speaking of which, Allison, Bo, Kevin, and I met up with some Erasmus students. Erasmus is the typical study abroad program for Europe. Bo had met one of them on campus a few days ago when she was asking for directions. The girl of course knew at once he wasn't from here, and asked him where he was from and they struck up a conversation. There were about 20 or so of them. As far as I can tell, they've only been here a few days. I talked to a Hungarian girl that as really cool, and either she's only going to be here for a few days, or she's only been here for a few days. I hope she's staying for the full semester, because she was pretty cool. I also talked to a Czechoslovakian girl, and I'm pretty glad I struck up a conversation with her because it turns out, she didn't really know anyone in the group she was with either. At first I was intimidated by all those people, but a little beer will do you wonders!! So, you know, it has it's pros and cons.. We ended up going to a disco afterwards, which was surprisingly fun. I stayed out later than I should have though.
Luckily, I didn't stay up too late so that I couldn't enjoy Sunday. I went for another bike ride along the Donau, and you should be jealous. Fall is absolutely gorgeous here. I think it's fast becoming my favorite season. Next time I go, I'll have to remember to bring my camera with me. I can't explain how happy this evening made me though. It was beyond gorgeous. I sat by the river for a bit as well, contemplating the people that passed me, and thinking about how lucky I am to be here. I honestly wonder if maybe I enjoy these type of moments more than anything else..

What??

There is a bathroom in the alcove where you take off your shoes and jackets in our house. A few days ago, as I was heading out for the day, I attempted to take a pit stop. I'm pretty sure Fabian tried to dispose of his cereal in the toilette. It was really strange..