As a Matter of Course, of course

Nothing too new is going on in Germany besides the fact that the snow seems to have stopped (except yesterday), but the temperatures remain in the 30s and the sun still struggles to shine. The German class continues to refresh my memory of... German. I believe I have adapted to the German Life. I have a much greater respect for private transportation, albeit the ease with which one can travel throughout the city is unparalleled by automobile. Bread (or the German "Broetchen") and cold cuts seem to be the food of choice (I'm not sure if I have mentioned that before or not) and, of course, Beer is the drink of choice for the most part. I have decided that Doener Kebabs are an excellent food choice for lunch and are rather cheap (comparatively). Also, croissants with chocolate are delicious and they have become something of a cornerstone of my bakery visits.

The massive amount of Australians that attend the Winter University celebrated Australia Day yesterday and, naturally, us Americans had to join in the festivities. While they indulged in their Australian ways, we found it necessary to announce our presence by singing the Star Spangled Banner. It was all in good fun and it was quite an enjoyable evening.

This weekend we will be visiting the Swabian Alb to see German nature. That's about all I can think of for now.

Bis spaeter!

Munich

This past weekend the group went to Munich to visit the Science Museum and, of course, the Hofbrauhaus. The Science Museum was really interesting, the Biology and Physics areas were of the most appeal to me. They also had a section on nanotechnology which was way above my head, but some of the displays they had were very cool. We intended on spending the night in Munich so we went to find the place we were staying at after we left the museum and it took us a little while, but eventually we found it. We were running pretty late getting to the Hofbrauhaus due to a certain individual's navigational skills which caused us to speed walk in the opposite direction at first, but then we got our coordinates right and started going in the right direction. We ran into other people in our group that were just as late as us, so we didn't feel as bad. At the Hofbrauhaus I had to try a liter of the Hofbrauhaus Original which was very good. The chicken I got as my meal was also very good and was quite a filling meal. After the Hofbrauhaus we explored Munich some more and then got some sleep.

The next day we decided to visit Dachau Concentration Camp. It is very difficult to describe what it was like being there. To be aware of all the things that happened, it is just unbelievable.

Afterwords we headed back to the main station and had a while before our train so we decided to go find a place to eat. We saw a Vietnamese Restaurant that had a sushi advertisement on the outside and we were craving sushi (yes, in Germany) so we went inside. We asked for the sushi menu and they told us they actually didn't have any. So we continued to search for food and went to a place that served pizza. We had to wait a while for our food and ended up only having about 15 minutes to eat, so we all devoured our pizzas and got back to the station. The train ride back to Stuttgart took us 4 hours which seemed a bit absurd, but we had purchased a "Schoenes Wochenende" ticket which allowed up to 5 people to split a ticket for 37 euros so it was a pretty good deal. Overall, it was a pretty fun weekend.

Snow, snow, snow

Well, I've been told it doesn't snow a lot in Germany... the exception, of course, being the time I visit. I believe it has snowed on consecutive days since last Tuesday or Wednesday. Hopefully this weather takes a turn for the better, because I would really enjoy being able to walk on the sidewalk without stepping in slush. Regardless, the cloudy skies cast a dismal shadow over the city. Though, it would probably provide an ideal backdrop for Universitaet Stuttgart campus, the rationale being that the buildings do not possess the originality inherent in the buildings on KU's campus and, moreover, resemble factories. Yet I have been told by my Australian companions that this is what would be found on an Australian University campus. Odd.

Not much new has been going happening in Germany as of late. Saw the Mercedes-Benz museum this past Saturday and discovered a real good pizza place on Koeningstrasse. I can start to tell my German is improving day by day, eventually I might be able to eavesdrop on conversations and understand all that is said.

Bis bald!

Current Events

Well, thus far the trip has been a lot of fun. Took the placement test on Tuesday and am in the 2nd level which I'm okay with because I don't want to have to do an insane amount of work and I'm also still trying to remember all the German I learned 6 months ago.

It's kind of funny here at the apartment in which I live. The rooms are kind of pressurized, like the doors seal very well. So at night before we go to bed and in the morning after we wake up we have to air out the room because condensation builds up on the windows. It's just a technique I'm not used to seeing. In terms of meals, lots of meat and bread. Classes start at 8:45 am and we have to take a bus and two trains to get to the school so we leave the house at about 7:45 and get up at 6:30, something I am not used to, so I've been going to bed a lot earlier than I normally do.

At the Winter University, it is about 20% American and the rest Australians with 2 Brazilian students, so it's been a lot of fun getting to know them, and plus I really dig the accent. So the past few nights we've been going out with them for a few beers. I'm trying to keep a brief diary that I just jot a few things down that I did on the day so I can hopefully recollect all the stuff we do.

The highlight of the past few days is when we discovered a street named "Kansasstrasse" eventually when I load the pictures into my computer I'll post a picture of that. That's all for now I guess, tschüs!

Arrival

Well I arrive at Frankfurt Airport at roughly 8:20 am German time and was planning on taking the train to Stuttgart. The train station is inside the airport so it should not have been too complicated, except the subtle fact that most stuff is written in German. After passing through customs and picking up my luggage, I proceeded to the Hauptbahnhof (Train station) help area and ordered a ticket and proceeded to go up and down stairs multiple times before I finally found the track for my train. I called my host family from a pay phone so they were ready to pick me up at the Stuttgart train station at the planned arrival time of 12:08. My train was 25 minutes delayed so I had plenty of time to sit and do nothing. I arrived at Stuttgart a little late, but I was now at least with someone who knew what they were doing. We went to their apartment ate lunch (A dish with a lot of meat and noodles and sauce, kind of like spaghetti but with much more meat) and then went to the store for groceries and then to the airport to pick up the second person staying with us (also from KU). There were a few people from Purdue that had been visiting my host family because they were traveling through Europe and one of them had stayed with the host family before and their train to France had been full so they were staying the night. They decided to go out for the night, but I felt sleep was a little more significant, and so that's what I did.