My life has changed quit a bit since I have been living here in germany. It is nothing like the Summer University Program I was apart of last summer. I am beginning to realize how much I cannot relay on my english. Last summer I was taking a german course like I am now, but I could always use english. I had many Canadian and American classmates. In fact, most of my classmates spoke fluent english. Now that I am going to enroll into a german university, I know I will have to be using, speaking, listening, and writing in german. I have met several other students that are taking german also. But the thing is, they may be from Egypt, Iran, France, Holland, Denmark, or India, and they only have a small understanding of the english language. There are not that many American exchange students here. I, and the other Americans, are beginning that learning to speak german is crucial to our survival here in Stuttgart.
So I am been learning as fast as I can. I ask all the germans I speak to, to talk to me in german. Even if I have to resort to english for some words, I want to keep hearing german. So far it is working great. My listening skills have almost doubled in the past four weeks, but there is so much more I have to learn.
As for experiances I have had resently, they are slim to none. I have mainly been sticky to myself and keeping my nose clean. I am trying to get a job at the Boddschamber (a small student run bar on campus) as a bartender. Many of the bartenders know me and would like me to join their ranks as a bartender of the Bodschi. For this, I am very excited.
Hopefully, I will be traveling soon, and stories will start to weave themselves out of shinanigans. But as of now, like I said, I have been keeping my nose clean. Cheers to all :)
Friday, September 24, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
So Germany has given me quite a few suprises so far. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, but I have been having a fun either way.
So I left for the airport from San Diego at 7 a.m Sunday morning. My flight was for 9 a.m so I had time to say good-bye to Bear. After a tearful and sad departing, I got on my flight and flew four and a half hours to Atlanta. There I found my gate for the flight from Atlanta to Stuttgart. I had sat down for ten minutes when someone ran up beside me and hit me in the face. I couldn't believe that Luke McClelland and his parents just so happened to be on the same flight as me. Luke is a friend of mine from Rose-Hulman and is in the same study abroad programme as me. I didn't know he had the same flight as me out of Atlanta, which was a godsend. I didn't have a whole lot of money when I left for Germany and was really worried about finding a place to stay the first night while in Stuttgart because they don't let you move into your rooms until Tuesday. So After nine and a half hour flight we land in Stuttgart. The weather was nice, for me at least. I had spent all summer in San Diego where it is sunny all the time. So when I landed in Stuttgart, it was cloudy with rain going on and off all day. I loved it. From the airport (Flughafen) we took the subway (S-Bahn) to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in the middle of Stuttgart to find the hotel Mr and Mrs McClelland had already booked. So I got to drop off my luggage in their room at the hotel. I was still going to find a place to stay at this point with only 21€ (Euro) in my pocket. But at the time, I was suppose to show the McClelland family around some of Stuttgart, which I happily did. It was Monday and rainy so nothing was open. We did go to the Schlossplatz (Castle square) and sat down at one of the outdoor restaurants. It was pretty fun. There was a german choir eating there and they were all singing some german songs while we had out food and beer. After all this, we were exhausted, so we went back to the room and they said I would be able to stay with them that night, so I would have a place to stay. I was more than happy. Not only did they let me stay the night, but they paid the front desk so I could get breakfast in the morning. And that was day 1.
On Tuesday, Mr and Mrs McClelland went to the porche museum, while Luke and I went to the university to move in and get our paperwork done. So we got up at six and had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and went to see Luke's Resident Assistant (Hausmeister) to see if his room was ready to move in. It was, so we went back to the Hauptbahnhof and to the hotel to grab Luke's luggage and head back to the university. We got back to the university and dropped off the luggage and then went back to the hostel again to grab the rest of my and Luke's stuff. Then I talked to my Hausmeister and got the keys to my room to move in. Then we checked in at the international affairs (Internationales Zentrum) to have a meeting with Laura Lakaff about everything we had to do. So we went and sat down with Laura and she gave us a ton of things to do. We had to get a german bank account with BW Bank Stuttgart, get german health insurance, register with the city of Stuttgart, then the country of Germany (Deutschland), register with the university, fill out several concent forms, found out we got a scholarship for 600€ a month and had to concent to that, and a bunch of other little things. So me and Luke were running around all day. Other than getting all the things I need to get done, I havent had much excitment.
I have more to do in the upcoming week and I will start classes on Monday. We will see how next week goes.
So I left for the airport from San Diego at 7 a.m Sunday morning. My flight was for 9 a.m so I had time to say good-bye to Bear. After a tearful and sad departing, I got on my flight and flew four and a half hours to Atlanta. There I found my gate for the flight from Atlanta to Stuttgart. I had sat down for ten minutes when someone ran up beside me and hit me in the face. I couldn't believe that Luke McClelland and his parents just so happened to be on the same flight as me. Luke is a friend of mine from Rose-Hulman and is in the same study abroad programme as me. I didn't know he had the same flight as me out of Atlanta, which was a godsend. I didn't have a whole lot of money when I left for Germany and was really worried about finding a place to stay the first night while in Stuttgart because they don't let you move into your rooms until Tuesday. So After nine and a half hour flight we land in Stuttgart. The weather was nice, for me at least. I had spent all summer in San Diego where it is sunny all the time. So when I landed in Stuttgart, it was cloudy with rain going on and off all day. I loved it. From the airport (Flughafen) we took the subway (S-Bahn) to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) in the middle of Stuttgart to find the hotel Mr and Mrs McClelland had already booked. So I got to drop off my luggage in their room at the hotel. I was still going to find a place to stay at this point with only 21€ (Euro) in my pocket. But at the time, I was suppose to show the McClelland family around some of Stuttgart, which I happily did. It was Monday and rainy so nothing was open. We did go to the Schlossplatz (Castle square) and sat down at one of the outdoor restaurants. It was pretty fun. There was a german choir eating there and they were all singing some german songs while we had out food and beer. After all this, we were exhausted, so we went back to the room and they said I would be able to stay with them that night, so I would have a place to stay. I was more than happy. Not only did they let me stay the night, but they paid the front desk so I could get breakfast in the morning. And that was day 1.
On Tuesday, Mr and Mrs McClelland went to the porche museum, while Luke and I went to the university to move in and get our paperwork done. So we got up at six and had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel and went to see Luke's Resident Assistant (Hausmeister) to see if his room was ready to move in. It was, so we went back to the Hauptbahnhof and to the hotel to grab Luke's luggage and head back to the university. We got back to the university and dropped off the luggage and then went back to the hostel again to grab the rest of my and Luke's stuff. Then I talked to my Hausmeister and got the keys to my room to move in. Then we checked in at the international affairs (Internationales Zentrum) to have a meeting with Laura Lakaff about everything we had to do. So we went and sat down with Laura and she gave us a ton of things to do. We had to get a german bank account with BW Bank Stuttgart, get german health insurance, register with the city of Stuttgart, then the country of Germany (Deutschland), register with the university, fill out several concent forms, found out we got a scholarship for 600€ a month and had to concent to that, and a bunch of other little things. So me and Luke were running around all day. Other than getting all the things I need to get done, I havent had much excitment.
I have more to do in the upcoming week and I will start classes on Monday. We will see how next week goes.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Final Days
It is August 25th, and I only have four days of America left. I had a going away party on Friday, and it finally hit me that I am leaving all this behind. Am I nervous? I think I am. That happens though, but I know that I will have Bear by my side even though she is staying in California.
Luckily, thanks to her new job, she will be able to visit me quite often. Well, at least as much as her job will allow. She works for a company called Pre-vent Feeders. It is a horse feeder that prevents sand colic, choking and feed waste. So she is basically being paid to go around the world to be the face for this feeder. She gets to go to Britian to see the Queen's horses, Australia for a horse event, the World Equestrian Games in Lexington Ky, and Germany to see me :) !!! Also, she gets to meet famous people: William Shatner, Katie Couric, and Kathryn Bigelow. As horrible as I am with popular and current culture here in the U.S, I do know that Katie Couric is on some news team, William Shatner played on Star Trek and that Big Deals commerical for price line, and Kathryn Bigelow is an influencial and accomplished director (One of her movies is 'The Hurt Locker'). Not only that but by the grace of God I got a job through her.
I am being unofficially hired to be a german translator and "public relations" to germany. I was paid to translate a brochure from english to german. It was alot harder than I originally thought but I got it done. There might be a few mistakes, but all in all I think it makes sence. Plus, I had native speaker proof read it for me. Hopefully they will hire me to translate the website next. Also, I will be going around Germany to sell and spread the word about these amazing feeders. I am a horse guy, and I know that these feeders are the real deal. Either way, I will be able to put this on my resume. I don't know yet, how well this job is going to work out, but I have a good feeling about it. Both me and Bear have very high hopes, and are both thanking God for looking after us. When I find out more, I will be sure to post it.
Luckily, thanks to her new job, she will be able to visit me quite often. Well, at least as much as her job will allow. She works for a company called Pre-vent Feeders. It is a horse feeder that prevents sand colic, choking and feed waste. So she is basically being paid to go around the world to be the face for this feeder. She gets to go to Britian to see the Queen's horses, Australia for a horse event, the World Equestrian Games in Lexington Ky, and Germany to see me :) !!! Also, she gets to meet famous people: William Shatner, Katie Couric, and Kathryn Bigelow. As horrible as I am with popular and current culture here in the U.S, I do know that Katie Couric is on some news team, William Shatner played on Star Trek and that Big Deals commerical for price line, and Kathryn Bigelow is an influencial and accomplished director (One of her movies is 'The Hurt Locker'). Not only that but by the grace of God I got a job through her.
I am being unofficially hired to be a german translator and "public relations" to germany. I was paid to translate a brochure from english to german. It was alot harder than I originally thought but I got it done. There might be a few mistakes, but all in all I think it makes sence. Plus, I had native speaker proof read it for me. Hopefully they will hire me to translate the website next. Also, I will be going around Germany to sell and spread the word about these amazing feeders. I am a horse guy, and I know that these feeders are the real deal. Either way, I will be able to put this on my resume. I don't know yet, how well this job is going to work out, but I have a good feeling about it. Both me and Bear have very high hopes, and are both thanking God for looking after us. When I find out more, I will be sure to post it.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Before Traveling Thoughts
Getting ready to leave is not as difficult as I first thought. I don't own anything besides the clothes on my back, so packing was easy. What is impossible is just putting my life in the United States on hold. I have so many people in the states that I care about. That is when I realized, it takes courage and drive to committ to something like a year abroad. I know that what I get out of this endeavor will be priceless, so there is no way I am going to back out now.
The reason I am creating this blog is for both me and the people I care about. I want to really examine what I do and learn in Germany and document it. At the same time, I will have my findings posted to this blog so everyone will know how I am doing without going onto facebook for six hours and messaging people and telling them what is up.
My flight leaves San Diego Airport on the 29th of August. I will be traveling for 18 hours before landing in Stuttgart, so that means it will be the 30th when I get there. Then I have to find a place to stay because I am not allowed to move into the student dorms until the 1st of September. I might just leave my luggage at the airport and go camping or something until the 1st. Then classes start on the 2nd, for the first five weeks of being in Stuttgart I will be going to an intensive german course. It will be like FTC of German: FTG! I will be in class from eight in the morning, to four or five in the evening. It might be hard, but who knows. My next blog will hopefully be shorly after I arrive in Stuttgart.
The reason I am creating this blog is for both me and the people I care about. I want to really examine what I do and learn in Germany and document it. At the same time, I will have my findings posted to this blog so everyone will know how I am doing without going onto facebook for six hours and messaging people and telling them what is up.
My flight leaves San Diego Airport on the 29th of August. I will be traveling for 18 hours before landing in Stuttgart, so that means it will be the 30th when I get there. Then I have to find a place to stay because I am not allowed to move into the student dorms until the 1st of September. I might just leave my luggage at the airport and go camping or something until the 1st. Then classes start on the 2nd, for the first five weeks of being in Stuttgart I will be going to an intensive german course. It will be like FTC of German: FTG! I will be in class from eight in the morning, to four or five in the evening. It might be hard, but who knows. My next blog will hopefully be shorly after I arrive in Stuttgart.
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