"Je ne parle pas de francais..." "FRANCAIS!!!"

I have to stop doing so much here, I'm having a hard time keeping up with it in my blog.  It was enough just catching up on the week before classes, but that was followed by my most eventful weekend yet since I've arrived in the Fatherland, and the subsequent first week of class....mother of god, which is nothing to say of the minute nuances of day to day life, of which there are plenty.

For one thing, I'm feeling right now just a little too much like I don't fit in, and it's a frustrating and multilayered sensation.  Obviously, I'm an American in Germany.  Weird.  But the past few days have been frustrating in the amount of awkward moments and frustrating language exchanges.  This sounds really paranoid, but I've been catching people looking at me when they think I'm not paying attention.  I'm not going to flatter myself by thinking they're admiring the view, but in the past few days I have stared down more than one person who got distracted by my presence.  Maybe it's something that's more common in larger cities in general and I'm not used to it because I'm a small town boy (living in a lonely world, took the midnight train going anywehre...wait what?).  It's hard to completely explain....I don't want to just conform and be like every one else, not here or elsewhere, but I'd rather just not stick out in public even before I open my mouth.  

For another matter, I simply do not have the money to purchase a new wardrobe while I'm here in Germany, and I'm definitely not up to the style specifications that I see on the streets.   Which can go either way....some style here is really nice in my oppinion; it's simply classy.  On the other hand....there seems to be this "street" style that's popular with youths which I find ridiculous.  Mullets are really popular with them.  Yes, that's right.  Mullets.  And not just any mullet, but what I like to call the "action mullet"  which is dyed in many colors and highly gelled and styled.  But it's still a mullet.  

In all due respect, I really don't like the style that's worn by the youth culture immedieatley preceding my own back home in America.  

Oh clothes, so overrated.  

So I'm working it out, I think it's just growing pains right now.  I've been in Germany for about a month and a half, and I'm starting to get time to experience new things or to notice stuff that hasn't come up before.

But now for the life and times....

Last Saturday I took a day trip to Liege, Belgium with my friends Jessica, Jennifer, and Maggie.  It was actually a great adventure...I bought my ticket the night before (30 Euro!  not bad) and we left early early staurday morning.  The train ride lasted only about an hour and half from Koeln (Cologne), most of which I spent sleeping.  I awoke about five minutes before we arrived in Liege, and was greeting by a lot of french writing.  Hmm.  We're not in Germany anymore....

Once we got to Liege we came to a few important realizations, the most important of which is that we had no idea where we were going.  Right....we came to Belgium without a plan, and without a map.  It was overcast, threatening to rain, and there was a prostitute in the window of the first building we walked past.  Score.  (don't read too much into that.)  We stopped in a few bookstores to try and find maps, but to know avail.  My year of french class paid off a little bit in that I was able to tell people that we didn't speak french and ask for really simple things (biere ; )).

However, once we finally got a map, things really started to take a turn for the better.  We found the city center, which was really thriving for a saturday morning.  Liege is about twice the size of Bonn, and the downtown was full of cafes and little shops.  We had breakfast at a little restaurant, and then proceeded to find Belgian waffles, which were fantastic.  Right off the city center was a gorgeous church which we toured through.  We spent a lot of time just walking through the area and trying to find Sehenswuerdigkeiten... things worth seeing... and came across a lot statues and churches.  Two of these churches were over a thousand years old!!!  The Belgian food and beer was fantastic....my opinion on the latter is probably blasphemous considering what country I'm in right now, so I'm not going to write it out ; )  but it was definitely enjoyable.

At the end of the evening we were sitting in a tavern waiting for the train, a homeless dude stumbled in with an arm full of flowers.  He started babbling to me en francais and shoved the flowers towards my face.  It was pretty obvious he was trying to sell me some floral arrangements for the ladies that were present.  So keeps on talking to me in French, and I couldn't understand anything so I told him "Je ne parle pas de francais."  Which is I don't speak french.  I was hoping that would help, but his eyes just lit up and he thrust the flowers back to my face and said, "Francais!!!"  Apparently he missed the memo : )  We did make it out without buying flowers, so it was good.

Jessica and Jennifer giving new meaning to seeking direction in God's house.

Hello Belgium!

Four hundred stairs....for the sake of stairs.  Hardcore!

There's really a lot that happened in Belgium that I haven't written about, and I'm not going to from the standpoint that it's a lot minutia, some of which I will try to cover in pictures.  Rather I'd like to say some of the things I observed or took away from the trip to Belgium.  One of which is was that it's okay not to fit in some place (I know I know...).  We were blatantly not Belgium (but not obnoxiously...) and people were really nice to us.  We were at a tavern, and none of the waitstaff spoke english or German, but our waitress went and found a patron in the restaurant who spoke German so that he could translate for us (he had a great time).  It was super cool.  

Another thing is that our German turned out to be really useful.  A lot of people didn't speak English, but many times we were able to communicate in German with people, and it was a really cool feeling.  A lot of times here in Bonn, I feel like our German amuses people, many of whom can probably speak almost fluent English.  In Belgium it was a vital means of communication, with out which we would have never been able to order french fries, let alone find the cool french fry restaurant itself (true story ; ))

Something a little more personally significant though is that I realized I'm really trepidatious about using German sometimes because I'm afraid of screwing up, and screwing up bothers me because I have a lot of personal pride, and it's embarrassing to sound dumb.  I get so frustrated sometimes that I sound like a slow third grader auf deutsch, but I'm able to study Chemistry at the college level.  The Belgium connection is that I had one year of french in college, and therefore no expectations of myself.  When I tried talking to people in french, I had no fear of sounding dumb, just because it would be ridiculous for me to sound otherwise ; )  I just put myself out there.  With German on the other hand, I've studied it for 7 years and now I'm living in the country; I feel like it shouldn't be a problem anymore.  It's an unreasonable thought process, but it is how I react to the situation, so it's what I have to deal with.  I'm trying to be more casual with my outlook on my language skills, but I still have a lot of expectations of myself.    I think because of that I tend to take for granted the situations that really do go well, or the conversations that happen without a hitch (seldom ;  )).  I suppose that's why I'm here.  Massive learning process.  I love it, but it sure puts me through the ringer.  

So Belgium was one of the best days of my life...it was incredible, and I came home being entirely satisfied with life at the moment....we went to a foreign country, spoke in a foreign language, found our way around, entertained ourselves, didn't get raped or killed, and avoided purchasing unnecessary flowers.  It was great, and I have a box of chocolates next to me from Pierre Marcolini chocolatier, which is utterly delectable.  Mmm.

Not to slow down at all, Sunday found me at the Russian Circus (oh, it's true)  with Jessica and Jennifer.  It was an entertaining experience....all of the acts were entirely wrought with sexual tension.  Everything.  It was ridiculous....it was like, "Watch me juggle three diablos at a time with a woman in spandex wedged in between my legs."  Wow.  I was hoping the tigers would escape and start eating people, just for the excitement factor, but they were pretty chill.  After the circus was All You Can Eat Schnitzel at our favorite microbrewery, Boennsch.  We had to order four times to three different before our food was actually served...it was absurd, but man was that good schnitzel.

So the Monday of last week was our first day of class, but I didn't have any courses scheduled for that day, so I just laid low.  At night, however, Jennifer, Jessica, Matt and I made our way to Cologne to see my favorite band, Coheed and Cambria, play in concert.  Oh man, they were so good!  It was so unreal....it was like a dream come true.  We got there really early and captured a place at the head of the line to enter the building.  Once the doors opened, we scurried to the front and anchored ourselves at the front of the stage right against the guard rail.  It was the perfect vantage point, and the concert was just a fantastic experience.  I loved it!  Wow.  

So after the concert is when my last post took place...the bathroom experience ; )

Tuesday was my first class...Organic Synthesis  at the chemistry institute.  I happened to get myself pretty turned around on my way there (I was riding my bike) and even though I left with plenty of time, I got to the class 15 minutes after it started.  Way to go Jon.  The whole time I tried to talk myself out of going, but at the moment of truth I walked in and took a place.  Am I ever my worst enemy, jeez.  So that was fine, and at night I had my first theater workshop class, and that was a lot of fun.  There's good people in that class, and we're going to really work well together, or so I believe.  

Wednesday.  Oh dear.  Wednesday I had my two humanities classes....Intro to Germanic Linguistics, Historical, and Luther and the New High German.  So hard.....I felt like my brain was going to detonate!  There was so much German being spoken, it was overwhelming.  I had both classes with my friend Jessica, and we did a good job of cowering together.  Again, language frustrations...I'd love to participate, but it's hard to talk about the proliferation of Martin Luther's writings without talking about the printing press, which I don't know how to say auf deutsch.  And because I have too much damn pride, I just don't try instead of sounding incompetent.  Errr.  The thing is, both of the classes are really interesting, and I know that if I stick through it, I can learn a lot.  It's really a matter of me not letting myself get the better of me (oh english)....  So it will come.  

I woke up Thursday morning feeling ridden with cold symptons, so I didn't go to my Organic Synthesis class, which I have decided to drop in order to work in the lab instead.  I did have my first NMR for Advanced Students  (that's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy).  It's going to be a brutal bludgeoning of scientific themes, but it's only a lecture, so I don't have to actually do homework for it.  The readings that go with it are mostly in English, which is really encouraging.  

After Thursday class I met with the chem professor who will be advising my work in the lab.  He's so nice, it makes me really comfortable to know that I'm going to be working for him.  I'm going to be doing labwork for his PhD students, who are really excited to have another set of hands helping in the lab, especially the hands of someone who can help them practice their english.  I sat in the lounge, had coffee, and talked for an hour with Susanna, Jens, and Jens, and left feeling pretty good about life.  I will be starting on Monday morning, and I have a really good feeling about it.  We'll see where it goes!

Friday was pretty restful for the most part.  Jennifer had a friend who's studying in Budapest, Hungary, come visit, so a bunch of us went out to coffee.  Afterwards I met with a German, Julia, with whom I was going to be cooking a meal for the upcoming running dinner (essentially a large scale progressive dinner or round robin).  We took care of grocery shopping and then went back to her small apartment to prepare our pasta Bolognese (meat sauce).  She was really cool and was patient with my German skills, and I really enjoyed being able to meet someone new and interesting.    The Running Dinner was a great success....we had salad and beer for our appetizer, then our pasta for main course, and were fed tiramisu for dessert.  Afterwards many of us went to James Joyce (an irish pub) for drinks.  The whole evening was a lot of fun, but it lasted about 8 hours, and by the time we were at James Joyce, I was tired and a little overloaded about being surrounded by so many people.  

All right, to close, a couple of anecdotes.  

If you recall from about halfway up, I got really confused trying to get to my first class.  I spent a lot of time biking back and forth trying to catch my bearings, and I spent a lot of time standing on the street looking at a map and looking bewildered.  The entire time people were walking by, and no one stopped to see if I needed help (granted, I could have asked. I realize this.) I did find my way and everything was fine.  Later that afternoon, however, I was walking home after class, and I came across a man standing at an intersection holding a map and looking around confusedly.  I was pretty fresh on the feeling of being disoriented, so I approached him and asked if I could help (auf deutsch), and I was able to give him directions to what he was looking for.  He was really appreciative, and I felt really satisfied that I was living in a foreign city and could still help out in some capacity.  

Story number two....a group of us went to Koeln yesterday to show Jennifer's friend the Cologne Cathedral, and while we were in the city we stopped at a cafe for refreshments.  When our waitress brought us our drinks, she told us that a man who had been sitting next to us and had since left overheard that we were students and paid for our drinks. He said that he had once studied abroad, too.  We were really touched that he did that for us totally out of generosity.  He didn't even stick around for us to thank him...he had just paid and left.  Stuff like that does not happen very often no matter where you are, and we left the cafe feeling a little warmer about the world. 

At the Vendree II in Belgium....House of a Thousand Beers!

*ahem* excuse me

To open up this post, I offer for you consideration several observations of the German "Privatsphaere" or privacy sphere.  Yes, we're talking about personal bubbles here.  There are definitely some differences between American and Deutsche privacy spheres, and I've already mentioned a few in previous posts....there's the awkward elevator silence, all the room doors are always closed (ALWAYS! so different from an American dorm), people do not acknowledge you on the street....unless they're homeless and want money....and the person sitting against you on the bus who doesn't acknowledge your existence for the ten minute ride.  And the list goes on...it's not a bad thing, it's just a cultural difference....

...a cultural difference that I experienced last night in a McDonalds restroom in Koeln (Cologne).  Men from back home will agree me on this:  there is a certain set of unspoken rules that follow the use of urinals in the the bathroom.  For example, if there are three urinals, man shalt not conduct his business in the central urinal.  It's unspeakably taboo.  No.  And if someone is using a urinal, and there are multiple urinals available including one that is not directly adjacent  to the one in use, man shalt not place himself unnecessarily close to the other party.  SHALT NOT!  That means if there are five urinals, and you're the first to enter the situation, you take the one on the far right, and the next person take the urinal on the far left, leaving a moderately comfortable space of three urinals between you.  This is man law.  

So I enter the McDonalds bathroom and survey the situation: three open urinals.  No problem.  I honored the man law and do not even consider taking the one in the middle (see first example).  However, no sooner was I ready for action when another man entered the bathroom...no cause for alarm, it's a common occurrence....I didn't think anything of it until he passed the urinal on the far left and placed himself at the urinal directly next to me...a clear violation of man law and apparently my own personal bubble, and didn't that he was singing to himself a little.  I was really working hard not to smile or laugh...I think if you noticed someone with a bemused smile next to you at the urination station, you'd start to wonder.  One way or another, the situation was awkward enough that I was having difficulty completing the mission that I came in to do, which meant standing there longer....and apparently my neighbor wasn't having much success, because the situation held for several minutes, until I finally couldn't take it any more, chalked up the bathroom run as a failure, and left.

Cultural difference?  Personal situation?  Random experience?  There's insufficient data for me to make a good conclusion, but I think it's one research project I'll skip : )

Cheers!

Warum isst der Mensch?

I've done an inadequate job of keeping my blog up to date the past week, and I"m really going to have to bite the bullet now and write everything out....my dear readers, I hope you find the patience and the time to read a slightly longer post!  I wouldmuch rather write on a regular basis than a lump sum per week, but I have been pretty occupied by this whole living and studying in Germany thing.  

First and foremost, I have now been in Germany for more than a month, and I'm not really sure where the time went.  As I look back, I can see the progression of my German experience from arriving the first day with no luggage and losing my camera, having no dishes or pots, being overwhelmed by the surrounding presence of German culture, and not having food.  I've slowly added things on to my livelihood here....plates and bowls, silverware,  eating habits, friends, cleaning supplies....and now I'm finally starting to find myself pretty comfortable here.  Each day is kind of a mini adventure, as is each conversation auf Deutsch.  Especially conversations auf Deutsch...man, sometimes it feels like each sentence is trying to push a boulder up a hill.  I have had a few comical run ins where I've butchered a simple phrases.  Zum Beispiel (i.e.), when Bryan was here we sat down at a table in front of a restaurant to figure out his cell phone, and a server came out to see if we wanted anything to eat.  I meant to tell him that we were just sitting there and that we didn't want food.  Instead I told him, "Wir sitzen nicht hier," which is "we're not sitting here." Hmmm....go Jon, use the Force.    At any rate, it's getting much better, but the more I learn, the more I realize I don't know!  And it's so easy to get caught up with the other Amis (Americans), who tend to just speak english, or at least are not native German speakers.    

So last week was one of the most significant weeks since I've arrived in the Vaterland...it marked the end of my introductory course (Einfuehrungskurs) and my registration on the university.  I was definitely feeling a bit of stress, and fortunately mums was able to give me a few pearls wisdom to help take things in perspective (who knew that my parents would still know things that I don't know....I tell you, they're full of surprises ; )). Anyways, my mom told me not to worry about it too much and just take simple courses, considering the only thing I'm here to do is acquire German credit.  I'm not used to having so much flexibility to my course selection (I just registered for next semester at Ripon and just went down the list of chemistry classes).    

There's a lot of options available as international students as far as taking courses while we're here....there's courses on the Auslandsamt (international center), and then University Courses, but then there's a scad of types of university classes.  We could sign up online for the Auslandsamt courses, but for anything on the university, we had to write the professor teaches the class and request entrance.  It supposed to be a pretty sealed deal; we have special privileges as international students.  Alas, complications arose early in the registration process, and I thought that I was not going to be able to make it through with my sanity.  My Einfuehrungskurs Professor had recommended that I take these two classes on the auslandsamt, and I was able to register for one, but I was put on the wait list for another...and things came to a screetching halt in my head as I tried to figure out a plan for a semester while being on a wait list....I spent a lot of time turning it over in my head and trying to figure out what kind of courses I wanted to take and arrange them all together.

The big dilemma was that I wanted to get involved with the chemistry department here, and I had emailed a professor regarding working in a lab on monday, and then again on tuesday or wednesday about taking a class of his....and he didn't get back to me at all....it's important stuff!  I needed to work my schedule around working in the lab...so finally on friday, I bit the bullet, and I traveled to the land of chemistry (The Kekule Institute for Organic Chemistry.  BAMF) in order to personally confront the man who held the keys to my destiny.  W

The adventure begins.  I awoke relatively early friday morning, dressed, ate, and embarked out on the bus to find the chem department.  It was a 20 minute bus ride from my dorm complex, and when I finally arrived at my last bus stop, I realized I had made a potentially fatal mistake....I just new what bus stop to go to, not where to go afterwards.  Hmmm.  Well played Jon, well played.  I walked back and forth down the street a couple times, and then finally decided to pick a direction and just walk till I hit another street and see if I recognized it.  And what do you know, it worked.  The whole time I was trying not to talk myself out of backing out and taking the path of least resistance....I was so intimidated about just showing up and trying to communicate to an important person in a language that I'm not entirely comfortable with.  

So I find the building, approach and enter at the main doors and immediately witnessed what appeared to be massive rennovations of the ground floor.  A little voice inside my head said, "See, they're rennovating, no one's here, go home."  But no, I read the wall board indicating where the offices of the professors were,  and headed to the elevator.  The door was closing when I got there, and I did what I would do with any other elevator:  I put my hand on the door to stop it and continued to walk through....which apparently doesn't work with elevators here, because the door kept closing, which resulted in me gracelessly running into the door then the wall, as the door finally closed without granting me entrance.  Fortunately, there was someone inside, and she pressed the "door open" button and let me in.  Even after watching me get totally owned by an elevator door, we rode in the elevator in typical German fashion....no words, not looking at each other, and departing with a polite "Tschuss."

I leave the elevator and enter a very utilitarian looking hallway with white walls and broad blue stripes....and doors.  Lots of doors, with no distinct markings.  Great.  I looked around for a while, and finally ran into someone who was kind enough to take me to the office of Herr Professor Doctor Luetzen....which turned out to be one of the doors I had already passed.  I knocked on the door and was greeted by the Herr Doktor, who I recognized from pictures.  He welcomed me in English, and asked me to sit down in a room adjacent as he finished a meeting.  It turns out that this other room was the office of another professor, who comes, looks at me with a quizzical expression, and asks me if I'm there to see him.  I explained I was waiting for Dr. Luetzen, and he sat down started making phonecalls.  So I'm sitting awkwardly across the desk from this professor, and then someone comes in to have a meeting with him...I look at the professor and ask if I should leave, but he just relocated me to the corner.  Sweet. 

The whole time alarms are going off in my head, and there was the voice continuing to try and convince me to bail out and go home....but finally Prof. Luetzen finished his meeting and brought me back to his office.  And everything went really well....he was really excited to have me there, was more than willing to have me not only take his class but work in his lab as well.   He was very friendly, and I left the Chemistry building feeling pretty good about life in Germany.  I had to meet with the advisor of our program to discuss classes, and she told me that I didn't have to worry about taking classes on the Auslandsamt, which removed my fears about being on the wait list.  So in the end, everything fell into place, and I'm really thankful for it.

I ate lunch on Friday with one of the few German friends that I've made so far.  It was a really good experience for a plethora of reasons.  For one, we had potatoe pancakes at the Mensa (cafeteria), which are no where near as good as what we make at home, but it was a good meal that reminded me of my roots.  Mmm food.  The company was really good though, and it really made me feel a sense of fulfillment about being in Germany....it's kind of hard to explain entirely, but being in a foreign country and trying to speak a foreign language, but only having Amis as friends make the experience seem  kind of unreal.  It was really cool to be able to talk about the differences and similarities about stuff in our respective countries (education was a major topic), and for that matter, it was good to converse in German with a native speaker.  It makes having studied the language for 7 years some worthwhile....

After being kicked out of the mensa because they were closing, we went for a walk to the Botanische Garten (the botanical garden), which I had not yet seen.  Let me tell you, it was amazing.  I wish I had pictures of it, but that will come with time and better weather (it's still constantly rainy here).  It's just this beautiful garden tucked into the city, and it has a fantastic assortment of flora, both outside and then inside the greenhouse.  I'm really excited about being able to go there this summer.  

So thanks for a great afternoon Des, it really made me feel good about being in Bonn!

All right, I'm going to wrap up this puppy up here, and start a new post about my more recent and exciting adventures with Belgium, the Russian Circus, and all you can eat schnitzel...

P.S.:  I want to really thank everyone for all of the comments and emails that I've received.  It's really cool to know that my blog is being read and enjoyed.  It means a lot!  Keep the peace.

A beautiful Bonn sunset as seen from the outside staircase on the 15th floor of my dorm ; )

  Yours truly and some of the crew from the International Club at our final dinner.  Thanks for a great month of orientation!