Monday, September 29, 2008
Captian's Log #5 Stardate 842157
Oktoberfest 2008
Friday, September 26
7:00 PM Sandwiches prepared
8:30 Attempted Bed
9:30 Only Stage 1 and 2, leading to interesting, but forgotten dreams
10:30 Repeated
Saturday, September 27
12:30 AM Awoken from fitful sleep, as well as floormate blasting reggae at a volume I thought impossible for dorm speakers. . .
3:30 Alarm goes off, groggily awake, shower, dress, retrieve sandwiches
4:30 Set off to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station)
5:08 Train to Basel, Switerzland departs, first of four trains
All together there are 10 of us: Nico, Sam, Andrew, Kyle B, Heidi, Brianna, Joanna, Becca, Emma and Myself. There is a ticket option for the trains referred to as "Schönes Wochenende" (Beautiful Weekend), where you can take as many regional trains as you wish, and works for up to 5 people. And it costs 35 euro. Normally, a train to Munich costs around 60euro, one way, so this was a ridiculous deal (even is go time was a little early...)
From Basel we go to Ulm, and then from Ulm to Munich. The last train was packed, but luckily we managed to get 4 seats (the ones that face one another). But it was still 4 chairs for 10 people.
And then the snack man came through. And we all became that much closer :) (The Germans laughed at us, I think it was more at the situation)
We got into München around 12:30, and decide to eat the lunches we packed in a park. It was both beautiful and delicious.
Then we wandered in search of Oktoberfest for an hour. (Fun!)
And we find it, and it was glorious.
Its on this field in München, and unlike, say, the Summerfest, everything is supposably collapseable. The most surprising thing was how much like a carniveal it was. There was your tilt-o-whirl, your pirate ship swing, a ferris wheel, vendors with delicious and terrible foodstuffs. There were also a ton of children, which was unexpecting given the drinking connotations attached to the fest.
What was wonderful is that pretty much everyone was wearing traditional Lederhosen and Dirndl. Like Halloween, if everyone decided to wear similar costumes. Are there any such events in the USA? Where people don national outfits, and celebrate? I kind of wish there were. . .
(Also, Lederhosen are DAMN sexy)
Eventually we found our way into the Biergarten of a tent, and the 10 of us manage to fit together at a table. Remarkable. Promptly, Maß (~1 liter of beer, pronounced mah-ss) were ordered, and we settled down to drinking and merrymaking. At one point someone pulls out a mini-trumpet and starts playong songs, and others got up on the table to dance, and the rest "sang." Truly Oktoberfest.
At the biergarten I had 2 Maß, and the group had broken into 2. With some lovely New Zealanders my group wandered to the Paulner(?) biergarten, and we all had another Maß.
Ultimately a poor decision.
Around 11:30, 11:45, we decided it was time to leave, and to regroup at Burgerking!
Don't get too excited, its pretty much exactly the same. More expensive though.
Then three of us- Sam, Heidi, and I- decided to sit out the next couple hours at the Hauptbahnhof while we waited for out 5:30AM train back. The rest went on a wonderful, drunken adventure through München were, apparently, quite a bit of hallucinating took place. Horray lack of sleep!
We get on the train, and everyone promptly sleeps. We switch trains in Ulm, sleep. Switch trains in Basel, then back in Freiburg where everyone pretty much showered, and slept.
For the times I was awake on the return, the landscape was super foggy. Think of every epic morning battle scene (I'm thinking especially Civil War films) and THATS how foggy it was. Something about it fascinated me at the time.
So that was my Oktoberfest, as incoherent as the renditon is!
Also, Valerie, I got your letter. Thank you!
Friday, September 26
7:00 PM Sandwiches prepared
8:30 Attempted Bed
9:30 Only Stage 1 and 2, leading to interesting, but forgotten dreams
10:30 Repeated
Saturday, September 27
12:30 AM Awoken from fitful sleep, as well as floormate blasting reggae at a volume I thought impossible for dorm speakers. . .
3:30 Alarm goes off, groggily awake, shower, dress, retrieve sandwiches
4:30 Set off to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station)
5:08 Train to Basel, Switerzland departs, first of four trains
All together there are 10 of us: Nico, Sam, Andrew, Kyle B, Heidi, Brianna, Joanna, Becca, Emma and Myself. There is a ticket option for the trains referred to as "Schönes Wochenende" (Beautiful Weekend), where you can take as many regional trains as you wish, and works for up to 5 people. And it costs 35 euro. Normally, a train to Munich costs around 60euro, one way, so this was a ridiculous deal (even is go time was a little early...)
From Basel we go to Ulm, and then from Ulm to Munich. The last train was packed, but luckily we managed to get 4 seats (the ones that face one another). But it was still 4 chairs for 10 people.
And then the snack man came through. And we all became that much closer :) (The Germans laughed at us, I think it was more at the situation)
We got into München around 12:30, and decide to eat the lunches we packed in a park. It was both beautiful and delicious.
Then we wandered in search of Oktoberfest for an hour. (Fun!)
And we find it, and it was glorious.
Its on this field in München, and unlike, say, the Summerfest, everything is supposably collapseable. The most surprising thing was how much like a carniveal it was. There was your tilt-o-whirl, your pirate ship swing, a ferris wheel, vendors with delicious and terrible foodstuffs. There were also a ton of children, which was unexpecting given the drinking connotations attached to the fest.
What was wonderful is that pretty much everyone was wearing traditional Lederhosen and Dirndl. Like Halloween, if everyone decided to wear similar costumes. Are there any such events in the USA? Where people don national outfits, and celebrate? I kind of wish there were. . .
(Also, Lederhosen are DAMN sexy)
Eventually we found our way into the Biergarten of a tent, and the 10 of us manage to fit together at a table. Remarkable. Promptly, Maß (~1 liter of beer, pronounced mah-ss) were ordered, and we settled down to drinking and merrymaking. At one point someone pulls out a mini-trumpet and starts playong songs, and others got up on the table to dance, and the rest "sang." Truly Oktoberfest.
At the biergarten I had 2 Maß, and the group had broken into 2. With some lovely New Zealanders my group wandered to the Paulner(?) biergarten, and we all had another Maß.
Ultimately a poor decision.
Around 11:30, 11:45, we decided it was time to leave, and to regroup at Burgerking!
Don't get too excited, its pretty much exactly the same. More expensive though.
Then three of us- Sam, Heidi, and I- decided to sit out the next couple hours at the Hauptbahnhof while we waited for out 5:30AM train back. The rest went on a wonderful, drunken adventure through München were, apparently, quite a bit of hallucinating took place. Horray lack of sleep!
We get on the train, and everyone promptly sleeps. We switch trains in Ulm, sleep. Switch trains in Basel, then back in Freiburg where everyone pretty much showered, and slept.
For the times I was awake on the return, the landscape was super foggy. Think of every epic morning battle scene (I'm thinking especially Civil War films) and THATS how foggy it was. Something about it fascinated me at the time.
So that was my Oktoberfest, as incoherent as the renditon is!
Also, Valerie, I got your letter. Thank you!
12:28 PM
0 commented
Monday, September 22, 2008
Captian's Log #4 Stardate 6741
Three weeks have gone by, and the days past have started to blur together. Now, whether this is a good thing or not is debatable, and I', not quite sure how I feel about it.
Second week of class was much like the first, only with midterms on Thursday and Friday which turned out well. I'll have to study harder for the finals though (I do want an A). We're delving into modal verbs currently, and if they're not a breeze then I'll be a bit ashamed of myself.
As for after-class activities, I've began expanding and have been hanging out the Händelstraße people, who are pretty much awesome. Only draw-back is that they are, in fact, American, and as such my German is not improving. We watched the 4 episode mini-series beginning to Battlestar Galatica, which I heartily enjoyed, and'll be continuing the series throughout the year. I did not attend Stusie shot not, and opted instead to study for my test. . .what else? BG was Friday night, I made everyone Amaretto Sours, as they are tasty. Before BG I stopped by a concert hall called the Jazzhouse to inquire about a job, got told that they currently weren't hiring, but would take my name and number and call if anything came up. I don't think they'll be calling though, since he made it out to be very intense and was dubious as to my grasp of the German language. Oh well. Hopefully I'll get the babysitting job instead (ideally, both!)
Let's continue with Saturday, shall we? It started at 8:15 AM (aka 7AM wake-up), were around 30 of the AYFers board a bus bound for. . .France! Elysass to be exact. After about a 45 minute trip (We chartered a bus paid for by our program fees), which consisted of far to many round-abouts (they're literally every 5,10 minutes or so, gesus), we get to the bottom of a very large hill, and begin the ascent to visit a castle called Hohkönigsburg, originally built in the 13 hundreds, and then rebuilt in early 1900s by Wilhem II. In its rebuilding it was remodeled to be more fanciful, and it was definitely gorgeous. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed free-reign inside. There was a set path, although if I had been a little more adventourous/less consious of rules I would've stepped over the bars and climbed to the top.
Must be sweet to work there though, right? You could clamber about willy-nilly before and after hours. . .
The castle also really made me want to watch Knight movies.
At 11:30ish, we reconvined on the bus, and drove to the cutest little town. I've forgotten the name, but it still had its Medieval wall! Unfortunately, it was a very popular tourist attractions, so at lunchtime the resturants were packed, and the bus elected to continue on to our next desination: Colmar.
Colmar was nice, not as cute as the other city, and similar to Freiburg, but there were small difference such as the style of Houses. We went to a place similar to Za's for lunch, only it was only pasta and not as tasty (but still delicious), and we had a fun time ordering:
Cashier: "ojflja poewiprn?"
Me: "Ja, ich hatte gern Pesto" (I'd like pasta)
Cashier: "iaje afkljjedsla?"
Me: "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Do you speak German?)
Cashier: "No. How about English?"
Me: "I guess that works too. . . "
After that we went to the Colmar museum (Called the Unterlinden), which is host to a beautiful alter piece ( le Retable d´Issenheim) with some pretty amazing pyschadelic colours to it. No kidding. One of the pieces to the Retable is Jesus ascending to heaven, and I kept looking for a unicorn. I've added the image to the left, the it doesn't fo it justice.
The museum itself was once a Convent, and the hallway around the courtyard SCREAMED of Harry Potter. I do believe it was the same arch designs and everything.
After getting back from France, I had dinner, then headed to Händelstraße for S1 Ep1 of Battlestar Galatica, thereafter we went to what is my favourtie bar-club: Elpi. Turns out, on Saturday night theres a cover charge of 3,5 euro, so most of our group decided to go somewhere else. I stayed. Turns out again that you got a Drink-card worht 1,5 euro making the cover only 2 euro.
Not a bad price for the amout of dancing I did.
Saturday was an excellent day indeed.
More of my Mitbewohneren (floor-mates) have moved in, and tonight we played a game called "rummiesweg," which was similar to Rummy. It was fun, and I won both games, despite never having played it before, so that pretty sweet.
Other than that, the weathers been averaging between 55-65 degrees.
Next update tentatively Monday.
Second week of class was much like the first, only with midterms on Thursday and Friday which turned out well. I'll have to study harder for the finals though (I do want an A). We're delving into modal verbs currently, and if they're not a breeze then I'll be a bit ashamed of myself.
As for after-class activities, I've began expanding and have been hanging out the Händelstraße people, who are pretty much awesome. Only draw-back is that they are, in fact, American, and as such my German is not improving. We watched the 4 episode mini-series beginning to Battlestar Galatica, which I heartily enjoyed, and'll be continuing the series throughout the year. I did not attend Stusie shot not, and opted instead to study for my test. . .what else? BG was Friday night, I made everyone Amaretto Sours, as they are tasty. Before BG I stopped by a concert hall called the Jazzhouse to inquire about a job, got told that they currently weren't hiring, but would take my name and number and call if anything came up. I don't think they'll be calling though, since he made it out to be very intense and was dubious as to my grasp of the German language. Oh well. Hopefully I'll get the babysitting job instead (ideally, both!)
Let's continue with Saturday, shall we? It started at 8:15 AM (aka 7AM wake-up), were around 30 of the AYFers board a bus bound for. . .France! Elysass to be exact. After about a 45 minute trip (We chartered a bus paid for by our program fees), which consisted of far to many round-abouts (they're literally every 5,10 minutes or so, gesus), we get to the bottom of a very large hill, and begin the ascent to visit a castle called Hohkönigsburg, originally built in the 13 hundreds, and then rebuilt in early 1900s by Wilhem II. In its rebuilding it was remodeled to be more fanciful, and it was definitely gorgeous. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed free-reign inside. There was a set path, although if I had been a little more adventourous/less consious of rules I would've stepped over the bars and climbed to the top.
Must be sweet to work there though, right? You could clamber about willy-nilly before and after hours. . .
The castle also really made me want to watch Knight movies.
At 11:30ish, we reconvined on the bus, and drove to the cutest little town. I've forgotten the name, but it still had its Medieval wall! Unfortunately, it was a very popular tourist attractions, so at lunchtime the resturants were packed, and the bus elected to continue on to our next desination: Colmar.
Colmar was nice, not as cute as the other city, and similar to Freiburg, but there were small difference such as the style of Houses. We went to a place similar to Za's for lunch, only it was only pasta and not as tasty (but still delicious), and we had a fun time ordering:
Cashier: "ojflja poewiprn?"
Me: "Ja, ich hatte gern Pesto" (I'd like pasta)
Cashier: "iaje afkljjedsla?"
Me: "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" (Do you speak German?)
Cashier: "No. How about English?"
Me: "I guess that works too. . . "
After that we went to the Colmar museum (Called the Unterlinden), which is host to a beautiful alter piece ( le Retable d´Issenheim) with some pretty amazing pyschadelic colours to it. No kidding. One of the pieces to the Retable is Jesus ascending to heaven, and I kept looking for a unicorn. I've added the image to the left, the it doesn't fo it justice.
The museum itself was once a Convent, and the hallway around the courtyard SCREAMED of Harry Potter. I do believe it was the same arch designs and everything.
After getting back from France, I had dinner, then headed to Händelstraße for S1 Ep1 of Battlestar Galatica, thereafter we went to what is my favourtie bar-club: Elpi. Turns out, on Saturday night theres a cover charge of 3,5 euro, so most of our group decided to go somewhere else. I stayed. Turns out again that you got a Drink-card worht 1,5 euro making the cover only 2 euro.
Not a bad price for the amout of dancing I did.
Saturday was an excellent day indeed.
More of my Mitbewohneren (floor-mates) have moved in, and tonight we played a game called "rummiesweg," which was similar to Rummy. It was fun, and I won both games, despite never having played it before, so that pretty sweet.
Other than that, the weathers been averaging between 55-65 degrees.
Next update tentatively Monday.
1:47 PM
1 commented
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Captian's Log #3 Stardate 6741
X posted on facebook
This'll probably be the only time I post on facebook, from here on out I'll post at kpdeutsch.blogspot.com (I'm just to to lazy to open it up on this computer). As most know I do not as of yet have internet on my laptop, I've been having to go to the library( (die Bibliothek, to be cool).
At a week and a half into my adventure in Germany, I started to feel a little settled in, which is wonderful. Flying in wasn't too bad, but I did give up my window seat so that two elderly Germans could sit next to each other. Unfortunately for me the price of chivalry was only a total of about 2,3 of sleep. Needless to say I arrived in Germany rather tired, and certainly disorientated. But I got onto the train a-okay, and made the transfer at Mannheim with ease (thanks to a nice middle aged German lady who I never caught the name of). HOWEVER... I misunderstood the train announcement and ended up exiting in Oppenheim, and not Freiburg. It turned out for the best, despite feeling foolish, as I was then able to meet a group from Michigan. Turns out they're all with the same program as mine.
I get into Freiburg, have a mini-orientation, and then discover I have to take a streetcar to my dorm. O_o. 'sokay though, 'cause I had a new Michigan buddy to go with me. I get to my dorm, love it (bigger than the rooms in Adams, and with a sink!), and promptly take a shower. Then sleep. Then orientation, then more sleep.
Day One was done.
The rest of the week's morning and afternoons were spent doing paperwork and getting a feel for the city, and also picking up the items I purchased off the flohmarkt (although I still can't find my hair dryer >:( ). The nights though. The bars and clubs here are fantastic. There's just so much character to them, and Germans know how to dance (although I still need to actually dance with them, and not just with the Americans I know).
Wednesday night was probably the best night. Its 50 cent shot night in the bar in my living. . .complex...and I pretty much danced for 2 hours straight. No swing dancing yet though, I still need to figure out more about that...
On Sunday I went to Basil, Switzerland for free, and just kind of bummed around the city, went to a festival on the Rhein, and an art museum for free. When I get internet I'll definitely post some pictures, 'twas a beautiful place.
This week class started, and its from 2-5 each day, with a 15 minute break at 3:30. Not a bad schedule at all.
So thus far there are two big difference I've noticed in the culture. One is the graffiti, and how its friggin' everywhere. And its not offensive at all, mostly just "How's life? Its good." or '"Smoke Weed" or "Life is wonderful."
The second is paying for food. You usually don't tip, and when you do you say how much you're paying, not how much you want back. So, if something cost 4.20, and you gave a 5, but want to tip 20 cents, you'd say "4.40" not ".60 back." Maybe thats how you're suppose to do it in America too, but I've had some problems ^_^.
Oh, and there is one more thing. There aren't any screens on ANY windows, including my room, so I've been on the warpath constantly with the fight against bugs.
If you finished reading this, well done. I should update about once a week, but at kpdeutsch.blogspot.com
Or I might get lazy and just post here. Either way, yay blogs?
Tschüss!
(This weeks goal: Speak more German!)
This'll probably be the only time I post on facebook, from here on out I'll post at kpdeutsch.blogspot.com (I'm just to to lazy to open it up on this computer). As most know I do not as of yet have internet on my laptop, I've been having to go to the library( (die Bibliothek, to be cool).
At a week and a half into my adventure in Germany, I started to feel a little settled in, which is wonderful. Flying in wasn't too bad, but I did give up my window seat so that two elderly Germans could sit next to each other. Unfortunately for me the price of chivalry was only a total of about 2,3 of sleep. Needless to say I arrived in Germany rather tired, and certainly disorientated. But I got onto the train a-okay, and made the transfer at Mannheim with ease (thanks to a nice middle aged German lady who I never caught the name of). HOWEVER... I misunderstood the train announcement and ended up exiting in Oppenheim, and not Freiburg. It turned out for the best, despite feeling foolish, as I was then able to meet a group from Michigan. Turns out they're all with the same program as mine.
I get into Freiburg, have a mini-orientation, and then discover I have to take a streetcar to my dorm. O_o. 'sokay though, 'cause I had a new Michigan buddy to go with me. I get to my dorm, love it (bigger than the rooms in Adams, and with a sink!), and promptly take a shower. Then sleep. Then orientation, then more sleep.
Day One was done.
The rest of the week's morning and afternoons were spent doing paperwork and getting a feel for the city, and also picking up the items I purchased off the flohmarkt (although I still can't find my hair dryer >:( ). The nights though. The bars and clubs here are fantastic. There's just so much character to them, and Germans know how to dance (although I still need to actually dance with them, and not just with the Americans I know).
Wednesday night was probably the best night. Its 50 cent shot night in the bar in my living. . .complex...and I pretty much danced for 2 hours straight. No swing dancing yet though, I still need to figure out more about that...
On Sunday I went to Basil, Switzerland for free, and just kind of bummed around the city, went to a festival on the Rhein, and an art museum for free. When I get internet I'll definitely post some pictures, 'twas a beautiful place.
This week class started, and its from 2-5 each day, with a 15 minute break at 3:30. Not a bad schedule at all.
So thus far there are two big difference I've noticed in the culture. One is the graffiti, and how its friggin' everywhere. And its not offensive at all, mostly just "How's life? Its good." or '"Smoke Weed" or "Life is wonderful."
The second is paying for food. You usually don't tip, and when you do you say how much you're paying, not how much you want back. So, if something cost 4.20, and you gave a 5, but want to tip 20 cents, you'd say "4.40" not ".60 back." Maybe thats how you're suppose to do it in America too, but I've had some problems ^_^.
Oh, and there is one more thing. There aren't any screens on ANY windows, including my room, so I've been on the warpath constantly with the fight against bugs.
If you finished reading this, well done. I should update about once a week, but at kpdeutsch.blogspot.com
Or I might get lazy and just post here. Either way, yay blogs?
Tschüss!
(This weeks goal: Speak more German!)
11:50 AM
0 commented