Bierdusche

9. Bierdusche die [beer shower]: the German word for getting beer sprayed all over your face when opening a bottle; commonly done to coaches after Football (the real football) games; even the German Chancellor Angela Merkel got one (refer to youtube, if you so desire); and finally, I accidentally got one, commemorating my official inaguration to being officially German- as a traveler, as a speaker, and finally, as a student. 

At Lutherstadt Wittenberg

Well, here I am again, behind with my blog. The best solution I find is to simply touch on what has happened this past month in two categories: my travels and my studies (yes, the school part of my study abroad has actually started).

To start with my travels is obvious. I have been somewhere in Germany nearly every weekend, deepening my grasp of the language and culture that I am studying. After being in Freiburg for a week, I get restless, just itching to see what else Germany has to offer. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely in love with Freiburg, but variety is good for me now. For 70 Euros, students can buy a Semester ticket that covers all buses, streetcars, and trains in the region in and around Freiburg for the entire summer. A friend and I decided to take advantage of that and on a rainy Saturday afternoon, we took the Regio-Train to Kirchzarten, a small village just outside of Freiburg. We walked around the town, exploring the history, and then enjoyed some “Kuchen und Tee” at the local café. I love the freedom to just take the train and go to explore a new town. It’s a very addicting opportunity here.

On another weekend I took the train to Hannover, about a six-hour train ride. For some reason, taking first class was cheaper than second, so I gladly took advantage of living a luxurious life that weekend. First class on an ICE train is a privilege (I now realize after also traveling using second class), because you have so much more space and comfortable seats, and the train cars are a lot quieter. Free coffee and tea were served and I was always offered Kinder-Schokolade (the best German chocolate), which I gladly took. Second class feels like you’re in a cattle car, because there are so many people crammed into one car and actually finding a place to store your luggage is like landing on Boardwalk when playing Monopoly. So anyway, the ride was very enjoyable, but the company I had in Hannover was even more enjoyable. A very dear friend of the family, Carola, lives there and I stayed overnight at her darling apartment. Hannover was almost completely bombed during the war, so many of the buildings are new, but it still didn’t really give off a real “big-city” vibe, despite being the capital of Niedersachsen. Sunday afternoon was Carola’s birthday party and I got to meet other German Professionals, which was very interesting and inspiring. It was so great to get another perspective on German life, as we talked about the education system, German and world politics, health care, etc.

One of the first Bibles in German

And then came Easter break. I took the train (unfortunately, second class this time) to enter what used to be the former East Germany and definitely got a history lesson that week. Over Easter weekend, I stayed with friends of my family, the Enders, who live in Oranianbaum, a cute, little town by Dessau and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. The family was so warm welcoming and it was so great to see an ordinary German family at work, especially since the four children of the family are my age. On Saturday, they took me to Wittenberg, where Martin Luther lived, studied, taught, and hung the famous 95-Theses on the door of the Schlosskirche. I spent hours in the museum, devouring the history of the founder of my religion. A combination of rain, sunshine, snow, and hail kept us on our toes the entire day. That evening we went to church, for an Easter Eve service. The service was very untraditional, but very powerful. We entered the cold, dark church and were surprised the lights did not go on even after the service began. Candles slowly lit the sanctuary, creating the feeling as if we were in the tomb with Jesus. Bible versus were read and the choir sang hauntingly beautiful chants and by the end we were invited to communion, making a big circle at the altar. Actual grapes and pieces of bread symbolized the blood and body and then we were given candles. A wooden cross with grooves laid flat in the middle of the circle we made and each person had to say a little prayer before lighting his or her own candle and placing it in a groove on the cross. By the end, the cross glowed beautifully with candles, the flame of each candle making it’s way up to heaven. Very moving. After the service there was an “Osterfeuer” (Easter fire), basically a traditional big bonfire and there was a cheap beer, brat, and glühwein stand. The congregation stood by the fire after midnight, talking and drinking and eating brats. So stereotypical German, it was hard not to smile the entire time.

Leipzig

Store in Leipzig that sells left over "stuff" made during
the DDR time period.

On Monday, I went with Charlotte to Leipzig, where she is studying and stayed with her for a week. It was so great to see another University town and I fell in love with the city. So much history and culture, and I was especially fascinated to learn more about DDR history. East Germany is so much cheaper than Freiburg, so that was also nice.

My studies have also started back in Freiburg. The week after my long Prague and Dresden trip was the start of the IES (my program) courses. All of the courses are taught in German, but my classmates are those participating in the program, meaning they are American. The classes remind me of normal German classes at my home school, because when we’re not in discussion, many students talk in English, which is very frustrating for me. If you always speak English, why the heck are you here!? This is always a problem for me with the other IES students. I feel like a translator, rather than a study abroad student, because I am always surrounded by English when I am with fellow IES students. My determination grows every day to find non-American settings in Freiburg. But anyway, I am taking three courses at IES. The first one is a German grammar course. There are three levels of this course and I am in the middle, which is absolutely perfect for me. In this class, we are just tweaking our grammar and learning more vocabulary words and also learning about the German culture. My other class is “Medieval Mindset,” which is a very fascinating class, because I get to learn about the European Middle Ages in Europe. But the class itself is a little hard, because I have never studied this time period before and do not know a lot of the historical vocabulary words from the period. Every class gets a little easier, though. And my last IES class is “German Foreign Policy and International Relations,” my favorite class. The professor is so stereotypical German: super sweet and tiny, wears the same all black outfit, and pixie-cut, dyed red hair. The really great part about taking IES courses is that we go on excursions. Very soon I will go to a Monastery from the Middle Ages in France and for my other class, we will go to Strasbourg, France and go to see the European Union Parliament in action. Super excited!!

I also have the option to take classes at the school where students learn to become teachers. It is separate from the University with smaller class sizes and supposedly easier. Well, I sat in on the “Third Reich” class, really excited to learn about WWII from a German perspective, and was surprised to get a visiting Professor from the US, with embarrassingly poor German, so that took care of that class. But he was very passionate about his subject, so I would love to just have coffee with him and talk history, because the other German students didn’t seem to really care.

International students also have the option do to a Praktikum (Internship) somewhere in the Freiburg region. We had to take the initiative to find a firm that would be interested in taking in a foreign intern. I found a number of interesting possibilities and wrote a resume and cover letter in German for a number of firms. Last week I heard from the Freiburger Rathaus (City Hall) and they are willing to take me in! The local government system runs a little differently than the United States. As far as I understand, there is an “Oberbürgermeister,” or rather, the Lord Mayor, who is the head of the city. Then there are “Bürgermeister,” or mayors, who are the heads of various departments (Dezernate). My internship will be with the mayor who runs the “Dezernat II,” Department II, which deals with “the environment for forest and waste management, youth, school, and education.” I will meet with the mayor later this week to talk details, but the internship will probably start in the middle of June and then end at the end of July. It will be full time, so I will definitely be like a working professional for a month. I am super excited to start the internship, but also, naturally, a little nervous, because I will be completely surrounded by Germans and the German language. But that is exactly why I am here- to improve my knowledge of the German language and culture- so an internship at the city hall will be perfect!

Wednesday is the start of my one and only University class. The course is “Das Deutsche Kaiserreich 1871-1918,” so we will see how that goes.

At the Auerbachs-Keller.. 2nd oldest restaurant in Leipzig. Goethe ate here often as a
student and was described in his popular play Faust (which I unfortunately read).

Okay, I actually have some reading and writing to do for my class tomorrow, but I promise to be better updating my blog! Much more exciting events are on their way!