Quatsch

"My ancestor, King George IV, founded that University. And the bus you're talking about hasn't run in years."

Many times, talking to strangers can be a great way to get directions in an unfamiliar city. This is what my Midwestern roots told me as I walked out of the Rosslyn Metro Station in Washington DC. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind.

Being the techno-savvy 20-something that I am, I Googled directions from Reagan Airport to Georgetown University before I left. The last 3 miles, Google said, I would have to walk myself with 55 lbs of luggage. This was clearly unacceptable. I searched around and found out that Georgetown runs a free shuttle bus to the nearest subway station. I figured this knowledge would be enough to get me to my destination fairly quickly. I was right...more or less.

Ok, restart.

I walk out of Rosslyn Metro Station and immediately see mounds of construction. I realize that this could derail my whole plan, so I go back into the station to get some water and ask directions to be sure. I set my luggage down and spot an older lady in the area. She says, to no one in particular, "Two more minutes and I'll leave without her." I'll admit right now that I'm a terrible judge of character...and mental health. But, I rationalize, Rain Man can give awesome directions; maybe she can too. I ask her across the room, "Do you know the best way to get to Georgetown University from here?"

What followed was a speech that lasted nearly as long as my flight to DC and covered all topics ranging from Obamacare to the (alleged and mistaken) closing of American University to this woman's (alleged and mistaken) family history with Georgetown University. She suggested I walk or take a tangle of "red buses" to get "near there." To clarify, I asked her about this shuttle I'd heard of and I got the opening quote for this post as a response. I thanked (cursed) her and left. I was unconvinced, but I decided that a native, even a crazy one, probably knew more than me about public transit. I started walking to get my bearings and trying to find this "red bus."

As I meandered I saw this woman no less than three more times. She didn't recognize me. This, right here, should have made me doubt her mass transit advice. At this point I was getting a little frustrated, it was approaching 105° and I was hungry, so I starting walking toward a nearby McDonalds, and be damned if I didn't stumble on that Georgetown shuttle! On the shuttle I met Sergio, who I learned was a cosmetologist from Tuscon. He will also be joining me in Germany. I had made two friends already!

The rest of the day has been tiring. Mostly lectures on the State Department, Germany, and alumni of the program. There are a lot of faces to memorize, but I'm doing well. Tomorrow should be more relaxed especially since it's a half day.

Today's German word is an interjection that means "nonsense" or "bullshit" and you should use if after someone tells you that Georgetown doesn't run a shuttle bus.

Musik auflegen

I have been putzing around at home listening to German music and wanted to share it with you all. Today's phrase means "to put some music on." One of my goals for my time in Germany is to attend Rock am Ring, an enormous concert on the Nürburgring.

And this brings me to my first real taste of German culture: Music! It all began with a mixtape (doesn't it always?)

Julia, an exchange student at my high school, made me this CD and it is still solid gold! To this day 1 in 10 songs on my iPod is in German. Credit should also be given to my first German teacher who forced us to translate songs in class. I hated it. I should also mention that my high school German teacher was...well he's dead, and my tiny sense of decency tells me not to speak ill of the dead, so I'll stop right there, but he taught me that I'm really not into dissecting a song for 5 hours. I'd rather enjoy my music.

As far as learning German goes, listening to the music has helped me learn how to pronounce the words, where the stress falls in a word, how the sentences are strung together and lots of other stuff that you don't really cover in class. Strangely, the vocabulary of a gansta rapper and the vocabulary of a high school German teacher don't have much overlap. I thought it was weird too.

Now before you snub your nose at German music with its unshaven women and lyrics that sound like a angry badger coughing, you should know that Germany has a banging music scene. I'm always collecting new music, so if you know of any German bands you like or if you want a recommendation, hit me up in the comments. Also check out some of the songs listed above. A handful are English songs by German bands, the Beatsteaks for example.

An astute blog reader of mine (my mom) also pointed out that teaching German words is next to useless if people don't know how to say them. Luckily, German words are pronounced almost always like they are spelled. I found a pretty good explanation of the rules, including how to pronounce the Ü and Ö.

das Wanderleben

German has this obsession with compound words. Today's word, Wanderleben, is a combination of the words Leben, which means life, and Wander, which pretty obviously means wander. Wanderleben translates as something like "an itinerant lifestyle" or "vagrancy."

I mentioned before that I'll be moving around a bit when I'm in Germany. My program has three distinct phases. The first phase is language school. The 75 participants are divided among 4 cities for a two month stay at a language institute. My language school is in a town called Radolfzell. Right! That Radolfzell, with all of those famous...erm...things and...events. I've never heard of the town and it turns out, I traveled through it once.

Honestly, I was kind of bummed that I didn't get a bigger city, but this one is in the Alps. And it's on an enormous lake. So I'll shut my damned mouth.

The second part of the program is a semester at a university, and the third part is a 5-month internship with a German company. For both of these parts, I'm assigned to a specific German state. I can leave, but my job and university have to be in that state. I found about about 2 months ago that my state is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MVP). I know, again with all these famous and popular places...they spoil me really.

Chances are good that I'll have to move between my university city and my internship city, but they could be the same. I'm excited though, because MVP is right next to Denmark (where LegoLand is) and Poland (where my people are from).

From May 2011 until July 2012 I will have slept in 11 different beds. Not counting sleepovers.

jemanden auf Trab bringen

Hey friends, family, and complete strangers!

I'm starting a blog because I'll be in Germany for a year and god knows I fear genuine personal contact like herpes. I'm not sure of my writing schedule yet, but hopefully it'll be frequent.

Every time I write I'll include a tiny German lesson that relates to the post. Today's title is an idiom that means "to bring someone up to speed," which is what I'm gonna do right now!

Ten months ago, when I was on the verge of growing up, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and apply for the Peace Corps and also for the CBYX program to Germany. Fast forward past two interviews and a lot of waiting, and I ended up getting both of them. Looking at two years in Tanzania or 11 months in Germany, I decided that this growing up think was for suckers and replied "yes" to the Germany program.

Starting in 8 days (...Jesus, really?!) I'll be flown to DC and then kicked out of the country to Germany to start my exchange. The program has distinct phases and I'll move around Germany for each one.

Here is the timeline of the program we got from the company that coordinates the exchange program. It's kind of vague, but other than that language school the dates will be different for everyone on the program since we will mostly have different universities and different internships.

I get the feeling from the people in charge that they are working really hard to find host families for all of us. This part gives me mixed feelings. I really want a host family so that I can practice my German and so that I have stability and don't feel like a student dicking around on study abroad. The last time I was in Germany I loved it, but I really didn't interact with as many Germans as I would have liked. Having a host family would almost certainly solve that problem. The downside is that I've lived on my own for 5 years now and I hate being accountable to someone (this probably explains why I'm chronically single). Having a host family also means having host family rules. The alternative is living in a dorm or apartment, and given the option I'd take a host family.

Comment below if you have any questions!