Sunday, March 29, 2009

I have finally danced to Rammstein at a German metal club.

The weather continues to put a grey curtain over everything we do in Germany, but that never stops us from having fun! I compared the weather forecasts of Dortmund and Iowa City, and this week they both look identical...beautiful weather for everyone! :D

This upcoming week is our final week of language class. We have a ten day break until classes start, and Wendy and I are having difficulties deciding on where to travel. We thought about backpacking around southern Germany or going to Amsterdam, but haven't made any decisions yet. Man, we need to be more decisive!

But, I have decided on some classes that I will be taking this semester! I will be taking two language courses, one for conversational German, and the other for understanding literature and culture. I will also be taking a few classes in English, one being an international crime novel class, German film, and an international journalism. OH speaking of journalism, I think I will be writing for the student newspaper, Pflichtlektüre (Essential Reading)! I got into contact with the layout editor, and he said that they would love to have an exchange student on board! Whee, I am excited!

Tuesday the exchange group all went to see the movie Die Vorleser (The Reader). It was a very good movie, even all in German!

Wednesday night I went to Bottrop (a city about 40 km away from Dortmund) to hang out with my friend Alexander. He was an exchange student at Valley in 2004, so it is really cool having a friend here to visit. His mom cooked us all dinner, and then me, Alexander, and his sister Katarina went to a shopping mall in the neighboring city of Oberhausen. Unfortunately I forgot to grab money AND my ATM card, so we all just window shopped.

I really love talking to his mom! She doesn't speak any English, but when we speak in German together she is always really patient and helpful. She is very friendly, inviting, and always wanting to give hugs, which is EXTREMELY rare for an older German person. The older generation of Germans are usually quite rude to youth, German and non-German. I have witnessed and experienced this several times. So I have been told it is best to just stick with talking to the younger people.

Friday I went to an old coal factory with my group. The place was interesting, but our tour guide was pretty worthless, so I didn't really learn anything. But afterward a small group of us went to a laid-back student bar called Platz an der Sonne. We all drank beer and cocktails, and took shots of Jägermeister. It was a wonderful way to end the otherwise dull evening.

Saturday we went to Düsseldorf. First we took a boat tour down the Rhine, which was pretty fun, and then we had a few hours to just wander the city. We then all got a glass of Düsseldorf's special beer, Altbier. It was very dark and very odd tasting. Even the Germans in our group didn't really care for it. Luckily all of the other beers I have had here are fantastic! Of course I am partial to Dortmund beer, though :)

Saturday night I went into the neighboring city of Essen with a few of the other girls in my group. There were five of us, two from the US, two from Turkey, and one from Latvia. Antra, the girl from Latvia, was really wanting to go to a hard rock/metal disko (club), and she asked me to go because she heard about my experiences with the goth bar. So after wandering around Essen for half an hour, we finally found the place, Turock. None of us fit in, but we had a great time dancing anyway! First they started out playing lots of metal music, so all of the people with long hair went out on the dancefloor to headbang. Then the normal hard rock music started playing -- Rob Zombie, AC/DC, and of course, Rammstein. Similar to the goth bar, my group didn't really fit in with the normal crowd. That didn't stop us all from dancing our butts off! I even found myself headbanging a few times.

Getting back turned out to be extremely complicated thanks to Daylight Savings Time. Because we lost an hour, we were all sorts of confused about how to read the train schedule. So finally after waiting at two different platforms we caught a train back to Dortmund around 4.30 am (or was it 3.30??). All in all, a good night.

A side note, I have discovered that my ability to speak German goes down the drain when I am drunk. You'd think that drinking German beer would enhance my language skills!

Phew, that was long! I will update more times during the week so these posts won't be so damn long! I will also post a separate photo post (sadly no Turock pictures...we all forgot our cameras!)

Aufwiedersehen!

Monday, March 23, 2009

so this is what godzilla feels like....

the past week was pretty laid back compared to the previous. i'm finally starting to get the hang of the important things...the train system, my way around town, where to get food. it is finally starting to feel more like home.

the exchange students go on several "field trips" during the week. there are about 30 of us from about 10 different countries. on tuesday, we went to downtown dortmund and visited the Steinwache. it is a small prison from WWII. unfortunately our tour guide didn't speak any english at all, so it made the history very difficult to understand. it also made it very difficult to pay attention...

this weekend we went to cologne(köln), which i think is one of the most beautiful cities i have ever been to. it sits right on the rhine river, and it as much more color and attitude than dortmund or düsseldorf. first we visited the kölner dom, which is a gigantic cathedral in the middle of the city. initially i didn't think i would be that impressed with old churches, but it was completely stunning. the sheer size and detail of the cathedral was hypnotizing! unfortunately my camera battery died right after we got into the city, so i will have to steal some other students photos later so i can show you guys. there is a wonderful view of the city from the top of one of the towers, but the catch is that you have to use a narrow set of stairs to get up there....509 stairs to be exact. it took about 10 minutes of climbing up a narrow, cement winding staircase...roughly 33 stories, 515 feet. the workout made the beautiful view a little more rewarding. by the time i got to the top, i was so exhausted that i couldn't tell if it was the view or the 509 stairs that took my breath away. one of the german students asked what i thought of the view, and the only thing i could think of saying was, "so this is what godzilla feels like."

then we went to the Lindt chocolate museum. i was a little disappointed by the extreme lack of samples, but it was still interesting...and at least they had a chocolate fountain. that's about it. then later in Köln me and three other students went to a pub to try the local beer. then we met up with the irish students for a drink at an irish pub while they watched a very important rugby game.



THINGS TO GET USED TO IN GERMANY:
1. the toilets....they all have two buttons, and some of them have buttons ON TOP OF buttons. i hear that it has something to do with different kinds of flushing (one uses less water?), but it doesn't quite make sense yet, because the small button usually gives you a big flush and the big button gives you a small flush, but this isn't always the case. i like the idea of small flushing for small volume, but i still haven't gotten the hang of it yet.
2. the tipping system...i haven't gotten used to this one at all yet. i think you're supposed to just tell the server straight out how much you want to tip them. leaving a tip on the table is apparently very rude. more on this later...
3. the school system....in germany, you can go to as many classes as your heart desires. then you can choose how many finals you take. if you don't like the resulting grade, then you can choose not to put it on your transcript.

well i need to go to class. will update more later. hopefully i get internet in my room soon. i'm getting sick of going to the library.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I saw the sun this morning!

Yes, the title is correct! I actually saw the SUN this morning when i was waking up! I swear we only see the sun once every four days...and it's only for a couple of hours. Other than that, its cloudy and rainy. Oddly enough, I don't quite mind it.

Oh, i have pictures now! I posted them on facebook already, but i want to post a few on here.

This is a picture of my old sheets. Cute, eh? Basically it was like putting on a very large pillow case, so it was EXTREMELY tough! I had to pick up the mattress, pretty much dance around with it to get that stupid thing on! After I had it completely on the mattress, I realized that it wasn't supposed to go on the mattress at all...it was a comforter cover. So I decided to just leave it on there, and I bought a new blanket cover. I can still see the red tiger through the white sheets, so I have a reminder of my stupidity.

This is my cute kitchen. Everything in it is small and reminds me of one of those children's Playskool kitchens. The stovetop doesn't work very well, and I don't understand the different pictures on the oven knobs. A few days ago, my double Stephanie made us Pfannkuchen, german pancakes. They were extremely delicious (even though she said her mom makes them 10xs better than she does). She topped them with cinnamon and sugar, and then put applesauce on top. Yum!

The entire campus is covered with dirt mounds, and I have heard it is because of a mole problem.









This is my room now. Nothing on the walls yet, but I have my amazing plant, wonderful bedspread, and trusty lamp. The green theme was all accidental, but it turned out to be a good idea because green is the official color of Techniche Universiät Dortmund.



This is the city of Dortund from the top of the Fernsehenturm. I think it is about 200 meters tall, and the view is great. Too bad it was windy and cloudy that day...






So those are some pictures.

Monday, March 16, 2009

second post - adjustment

so the first week and weekend have ended, and i am still loving germany! the intermediate language class is going very well. it has been a lot of necessary review for me, and it's a relaxed environment. the people in my class are also very fun to work with!

so last week i spent a lot of time with my doubles, stefan and stephanie. they are both extremely helpful with anything that i need! they both brought me german movies to watch, and german music to listen to in my spare time.

there is a very efficient train system in dortmund, but i have been having a tough time figuring it out! i just need to spend an afternoon riding different trains to used to where everything goes.

the weather has been pretty crappy all week. i think we saw one afternoon of sunshine, and then the rest of the days have been cloudy and drizzly, so you need to have an umbrella with you at all times.

although i have only visited one of them, there are apparently lots of different student bars on campus. there is one at each residence hall, but they are all open different nights of the week. apparently tonight is the night for my res. hall, so i think i will be there later with some of the other exchange students.
speaking of bars, last friday i went to an australian themed bar with a bunch of the exchange students and their doubles. and yes, the beer in germany is great! i had a dortmunder beer called Brinkhoff, and then cocktail hour came around and everyone got really delicious cocktails.

saturday i met up with my friend alexander (he was an exchange student at my high school, and he lives here), and we went back to his hometown of bottrop. the train ride was about an hour long, so it was nice catching up with him and telling stories. after we got into bottrop, alexander, a couple of his friends, and i decided to go eat some dinner at a döner kebab restaurant. there are a lot of turkish immigrants in this area, and everyone here eats a turkish specialty called döner kebabs...they arent like shishkebabs, they reminded me of gyros. they are soo good! they are made out of lamb meat that has been shaved off of a spit, and topped with kraut, goat cheese, tomatoes, and a spicy sauce, and then wrapped in grilled flat bread. they are extremely delicious.

after we ate the döner kebabs, we decided to go out to some bars. there is a large goth scene in gemrany, and the first place we went to was a gothic bar called the cage club (because apparently goth bars are known for having cheap drinks). it ended up being my favorite place i have gone all week! i have never been to anyplace like it (probably because im not goth). you had to walk down a spiral staircase and into a dark, strobe-lit stucco basement full of dancing, black eyeliner and fishnet wearing teenagers. and where would the cage club be without a few cages for select goth girls to show their dance skills? what shocked me the most was the music they were playing. it wasn't metal or hardcore or anything -- it was 80s new wave music! they played a mix of different 80s synth-pop hits ('i wear my sunglasses at night') and also a few movie and television show electronica remixes (scooby doo and ghostbusters theme songs). so we were all dancing along with the goth kids even though we didnt fit in at all. it was a lot of fun!

i havent planned any weekend trips yet, but i will hopefully do that soon...and i also need to post pictures! but that will all occur after i get internet in my room, which will hopefully be within the next day or so. and with the internet, i will also use skype to talk too all my loved ones back in the united states.

as they say in germany, bis später!

first post - finally here

soo i'm in germany and all settled in! heres a lowdown about my first two days (without apostrphes...they are positioned differently on the german keyboard so it takes too long to type them.)

the flight went fine, very uneventful. another Iowa student left Des Moines with me, so i had someone to talk to on the plane the entire time...and no, i didnt accept any strange packages from a stranger at the airport.

my first day i got my things settled into my dormroom. i also got assigned two 'dortmund doubles.' they are uni dortmund students that help show me around the city, and their names are stefan and stephanie. they took me to town and we went out to eat an an 'american' restaurant, and i brushed up on my deutsch a little. then the rest of the evening, i just napped and then drank tea with two of the other exchange students.

today i had my first day of language class, and i was placed in the intermediate language class, which is the class i was hoping for. we have students from ALL over in our program...from Korea, Ireland, Mexico, Latvia, France...

today was extremely fun! after language class, i made some lunch and then stephanie picked me up so we could run some errands. i got an umbrella and some school supplies, and then we went to Ikea so i could buy some 'wohnheim' stuff. the sheets i was given by the Hausmeister were extremely ugly (some sort of red tiger/desert theme?), so i got some new sheets for my bed, and and a small lamp.

after Ikea, we went to a flower shop. i was going to buy a small pot of flowers, but instead fell in love with a small palm tree! it was difficult yet comical getting the 7 foot plant into stephanies small european volkswagen, but we got it home safely (and with palm leaves dangling in near our faces). it looks awesome in my formerly stark and depressing room.

now i am just at the library using the internet. i do not have internet access or a cell phone yet, and i think i will be getting both later this week. i will post pictures when i can. i miss all of you very much!

ohhhh and my address is:

97 Ostenbergstr.
Rm. 323
Dortmund, Deutschland 44227

and i <3 mail! i will send everyone something small when i figure out how to get stamps and find where the post office is