der Ausflug

der Ausflug is one of German’s many words for vacation related travelling. By definition, an Ausflug takes place in one day or less and is generally to a place you can reach fairly easily. For instance, if I lived in New York, LA would not qualify as an Ausflug. Newark would be an acceptable Ausflug.

Before I get much further, I have to first say that Radolfzell, which by the way, is pronounced RAHD-olf-TSELL, is very charming. My language school is right by the city garden, which my host Oma explained used to be the city cemetery. It’s sort of an eerie thought, but the garden being a former cemetery is the least of my concerns. I said earlier that my host Oma has had 200 students here. She has one spare bed. Ergo, I’m sleeping in the same bed as 199 other people. Somehow the garden looks prettier now.

But as pretty as Radolfzell may be, the grass is always greener on the other side of the Bodensee. The Language School planned a trip to Zürich for a day and anyone in the school could go. Our tour guide would be a teacher at the school who lived in Zürich for a year after high school. Good enough for me.

We left in the morning and were in Zürich before noon. We had to change our euros to francs, because the Swiss can’t stand to be the same as anyone else. Never mind that Italy, Germany, Austria, and France all use euros, the Swiss Franc will never die. In addition, the franc looks hilarious, like a colorblindness test.

There are so many things to say about Zürich. Zürich is rich, there is a main drag of stores there and its got everything from a flea market to an Armani store with a guard. A friend of mine considered fake puking outside the Louis Vitton store just for the irony, but he didn’t, and that self discipline is why we were chosen for this trip. I did get some chocolate for my host Oma from the most expensive (and ostensible best) chocolate store in the world. I don’t know if I should brag about paying more than is reasonable for chocolate, but Sprüngli is fantastic chocolate. Even though Zürich is rich, it doesn’t seem large like DC, New York, Chicago. It is very much a European city with winding streets connecting unexpected open areas. Another cool thing about Zürich is that all of the city’s fountains are filled with potable water. We didn’t believe it at first. Actually that’s a lie, when out guide told us this, we trusted him like sheep. But eventually we did see other people drinking from the fountains too. I also saw a pigeon stick its head in the fountain, so potable water or not, the water can’t be that clean.

After a few more sights we climbed back onto our train. But our trip had one last surprise in store for us. On the return trip, we passed the Rhine river, which is no different from any other river, except that it has a gorgeous waterfall on it. I had my camera (sort of) ready.

We arrived in Radolfzell just in time to grab dinner and hang out on the beach.

die Abhängigkeit

The grammarian in me could talk for a long ass time about the word Abhänigkeit, but I’ll skip that and just say that the word means “addicition.”

My name is Alex and I have an addiction. I use several times a day usually and when I do I’m in a trance and I don’t care about friends or family or responsibilities. Any place I go to I can find a hook up. Most of my friends use too, so they’ll always help me out. I’ve used until 3 o’clock in the morning sometimes. My addiction is (among other things) the internet. Lemme describe where I’m at in my addiction. So put down your Big Book, grab some stale coffee, and listen up.

I arrived in Radolfzell about a week ago from Eppstein and I’ll be here until October. It’s been a whirlwind so far. The city is located on the largest lake in Germany, maybe in Europe, I’m not sure. It’s called the Bodensee. My town’s real name is actually Radolfzell am Bodensee. The first night we got to the Carl Duisberg Centrum and met the director, Petra. She’s fantastic and hilarious, but still very German. Imagine if Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus were actually Frau Frizzle. Seriously though she’s very helpful and I like the class.

That same night, I met my host mom. She’s actually in her seventies, so she’s more of a host Oma. When I got there, she and I had a glass of wine and got to know each other. I could not have asked for a more perfect lady. She has two guest books FULL of letters from past exchange students so she’s a veteran at this. I’m hesitant to say too much about her; Germans are very private people. Out of respect for her, I’m not gonna post any pictures of my room or her house, but know that it’s very pretty. This does however, bring me full circle to my addiction. Her (very nice) house does not have an internet connection. I’m getting the shakes just thinking about it. We were told this was a possibility. Hell, I’ve told people this myself when I worked in the Study Abroad Office, but reality is a kick in the teeth.

Other than needing a shot of Naltrexone in the morning, coming back to Germany is like riding a bike again. You totally suck at first, but you get good quickly. It’s all coming back: the weird pillows, the stunning castles, a train system that works, carbonated water instead of real water, döner. My German is much better. I can talk more readily and easily with the people around me. I even managed to get a cell phone plan without too much hassle. The CDC classes are good, but really the best German practice is to go to the store and ask a ton of questions. I walked into a tee shop in Radolfzell, and the owners asked me if I needed help finding anything. I hate tee, but it was an excuse to talk. Butchers and bakers are like fish in a barrel. Normal Germans don’t talk to strangers, but shop keepers and salesmen can’t ignore you.

I’m still in the honeymoon phase, but I like it. I’ll try to keep posting regularly; I need to find a dealer. I’m only gonna use the internet this one time, it won’t hurt anything. I just need to check Facebook too. And Twitter. Oh, but what about the news? You know, if I got mobile internet on my phone…

das Dorf

I’ve made it to Germany safe and sound. We arrived in Frankfurt Monday morning and then drove to a small town nearby called Eppstein. I really don’t think “small town” does justice to what Eppstein really is. Eppstein and many other places in Germany are technically called Dörfer, one of them is called a Dorf. The real translation is “village,” but I don’t think calling it a village does it justice either. Maybe this is just me, but I think of villages as something medieval or at the very least things that don’t exist anymore. Like with thatched roofs and horse-drawn carriages. Plus I just like using the German word Dorf whenever possible.

To illustrate what I mean by a Dorf and the weird position I think it deserves, let me tell you about Eppstein a little bit. Eppstein is where we stayed for two days after arriving, and it has some sort of training academy for bankers, I think. It’s a hostel with bank logos everywhere, but it’s a nice hostel. The dorf also has a castle and a ridiculous hill to climb in order to reach the castle. There are some really cool cars there and the place is very pretty. Now, when I left Kansas, I forgot to back a belt and have been using a bundle of embroidery floss as a make-shift belt since last Friday. I went up to the ladies that work the front desk and said (in German) “Is there anywhere nearby where I could buy a belt?” And the ladies instantly laughed at me. I was a little bit nervous about this conversation to begin with. For one, my German is rusty, and two I never learned the word for belt, but a friend told my it was “Gürtel” and I trusted him. So when the ladies laughed at me, I thought that Carl had told me something hilariously wrong, like when my mom told me that the past tense of squeeze was squoze (her joke lasted for 15 years though). It turns out that Carl didn’t lie to me; the ladies were laughing because of course there is no place to buy a belt in Eppstein; it’s a dorf. Maybe I could find a belt in Frankfurt instead. I guess I’ll have to keep my MacGuyver-style embroidery floss belt for a few more days.

This sort of shows the weird place that a dorf occupies in geography. Most of the people in a dorf would have to commute to another town for basic services like groceries or shopping or work, but the town itself isn’t necessarily old and it’s not cut off from civilization. A dorf is more like a suburb that lives on its own. Logistically I don’t think this is really that different from American cities. Imagine if you took an area like Phoenix. You have Phoenix proper and then you have the Phoenix metro, which sort of sprawls around Phoenix, but doesn’t really have distinct borders for places like Glendale or Sun City. Glendale and Sun City have center points though. Now if you took out all of the parking lots and condensed the neighborhoods toward the city center like in Germany, the distance between Phoenix and its suburbs would still be the same, but there would be a large buffer between them. This is basically how German cities are arranged, fundamentally the same as American ones but with less parking.

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!