My Favorite German Videoclips

Here are some lustige deutsche Videos that I've been watching on YouTube:

- Loriot Macht Nix (Loriot Do Nothing with English subtitles): an old man gets pestered by his wife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejW56aK3JaI

- Das schielende Opossum Heidi (Heidi the Cross-eyed Opossum)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_qIVl3zDSQ

- Schwanzvergleich im Kika (Tail Comparison in the Kika): this one is only funny if you know what "Schwanz" means in German slang. :-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkWQtKcNx0

- Nein Mann Official Music Video: a catchy club hit with cool neon effects. The pictures also make it really easy to understand. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n-P8BsgdPk

- Der Oktopus Orakel Paul (Paul the Octopus Oracle): this octopus could predict the outcomes of German World Cup games, until he predicted Spain would beat Germany and everyone decided he would taste good as sushi (jk!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzymTNaVnEo

Final Remarks

Handmade Woodwork Booth in the Dresdner Striezelmarkt

Sorry I didn't post sooner.  I've been busy with family and Christmas and just catching up on sleep and TV. :-)  After my flight to Frankfurt on Wednesday morning, everything went pretty smoothly.  I had to wait in the airport all day and then fly to New Jersey at 5 pm.  I got into NJ at about 9 pm their time, and luckily my dad had already booked a hotel room for me.  They were out of normal rooms, so they upgraded me to a suite for free!  I was able to spend a little time in the room jacuzzi before going to bed. :-)  I had to wake up early the next morning, and I caught the 7 am shuttle to the airport just because I didn't want to risk being late.  I had a lot of hassle moving luggage around in my bags and getting to the 52 pound mark, but I was able to finally do it by checking my carry-on too.  The flight to Detroit and then transfer to Milwaukee were on time, and then my dad picked me up from the airport.  I finally made it home on Thursday evening!

Me with the Egyptian dancers at Fun Parc
in Hamburg.

It's nice to be home, but there are a lot of things I miss too.  I'm stuck on a farm in rural Wisconsin, so of course there are no clubs in the area and no one knows what techno music is.  I also miss hearing German, although it's much easier to get things done now that I can talk to everyone in English.  I miss Oli a lot too, but he'll be coming to Boston in February, and until then we've figured out a way to text each other for free.  I had a great last weekend with him in Hamburg.  We saw two of my favorite DJ's (I talked to one of them in person and got a free shirt!), I went to a job interview and got a feel for what to expect with teaching English, and I got to check out the Hamburger Weihnachtsmarkt.  I can really see myself there someday.  Maybe I'll have to start up this blog again... :-)

Thanks for reading, and feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions.  It's been a long journey since that first class of German 1 where the professor only talked to us in German, but it's definitely been good!

Tschüss!

Germany doesn't want me to leave!

I'm at the airport now, a day after the scheduled flight.  I'm too sleep deprived to go into much detail about the stress of the last day, but let's just say I hope I can call myself a survivor of the Euro-Airport-Snowpocalypse!  I spent last night in a plush 4-star hotel paid for by Lufthansa, so I feel pretty lucky compared to those poor people who've been camped out in Heathrow for days.  My hotel even had a fitness studio!  It was no Fitrec, but it kinda made up for the loss of my day in Boston.  I was really looking forward to my Dunkin Donuts muffin for breakfast and Pita Pit for lunch though... Oh, and seeing my friends! :-)

My current plans have me flying to Frankfurt in an hour (7 am), and then I have a flight to Newark at 5 pm.  At least I'll have plenty of time to make my flight (if it runs), and I can even survey the "apocalypse" scene and pretend it's from a zombie apocalypse.  Yesterday while waiting in line for 2 hours, Anthony and I spent a good 30 minutes planning out our Zombie Contingency Plan for the Dresden Airport.  Besides the lack of any good weapons, I think we're completely prepared if (or when) it happens!

Travel delays suck, but they're a lot easier when you're with other people.  Although in this case, I realized that trying to fly with the group really screwed me over.  The Travel Agency that planned our group flight was completely incompetent.  I would complain to BU, but my Dad's been talking to them, and I consider that punishment enough! haha  After the flight to Frankfurt got canceled, we had about two hours or chaos while the RA's tried to reach the Travel Agent and other important people (not much luck.)  We couldn't change our flights or split up because we were all bound on the same ticket.  Then the RA's were able to dissolve our group flight, so we were on our own to book new flights.  Most people are flying into JFK on Thursday morning, but I somehow managed to get an earlier one, even though I was last in line.  I feel bad because there were some girls ahead of me who live in NJ and wanted a flight to Newark but were told they were full.  Maybe one opened up right before I got to the desk?  I wanted to just fly directly to Chicago instead, hoping to avoid a day stuck in JFK or Logan, but they wouldn't let me pay extra to change my final destination because I was still bound onto this group ticket. Lame!

My back-up plan was to take a train to Hamburg and spend Xmas there while I waited for the mess in Frankfurt to clear up.  If I can't get out of Frankfurt, that's where I'm going.  No nights in the airport please!  But the way things look now, I think I can get home sometime on Christmas Eve.  That means my holidays will probably be spent sleeping, but at least I can be there for all the family traditions.  I have so many presents to hand out too!

Best of luck to all the other Dresden kids trying to get home!

Fertig!

I just finished my last final!  Time to relax, do a bit of partying, get some more Xmas shopping done, and do my packing!  I'm also heading off to Hamburg tomorrow to spend my last weekend in Germany with Oli.  It's been long distance this whole time, but pretty soon we're going to have some serious distance between us. :-(  He's planning to visit me in Boston in February, so I don't have too long to wait!

Amanda and me at American Night in the Gutz
Club (yes, she's wearing my Wisconsin Cheesehead
and Kanye West America sunglasses!)
Photo by Kate Patrick

If I make it there in time tomorrow night (weather permitting), we're going out to the H1 Club to see ATB and the Kontor Party.  I realize that those names probably mean nothing to most of you, but I've been an ATB fan for over 5 years now, and I'm really excited for this!  The night after that we're going to see House Rockerz at a club by Oli's parents' house, and they play one of my all-time favorite songs ("Nur Tanzen"), so I'm really getting spoiled this weekend!  If I'm extra lucky, we're going to drive to a nearby town, Dörpen, on Saturday night to see Rob & Chris, my favorite German DJ's who are from Hamburg but have only been playing in Austria until now.  Before I came to Germany I didn't realize that all of my favorite artists come from the same general region, but now I have even more motivation to move to Hamburg!

On Friday I also have a mini-interview/tour of an English school in the outskirts of Hamburg.  I'm just going to introduce myself, explain my situation, and leave my CV and Coverletter with them.  I've been in touch with members of the American Club and the American Woman's Club, and they've all been extremely helpful with giving me advice and offering to help me get my information out to employers.  I'm starting to feel less scared and worried about my future, but there are still so many uncertainties.

My grades for this semester aren't as good as I hoped.  I got the 1,0 (A) in Middle English, which turned out to be a lot more impressive than I originally realized, now that I've compared it to the other grades I've received.  I got a 3,0 (B) in my Word Building Patterns in German class, but that was because the formatting on the paper was all wrong.  I think the teacher should have cut us a break because we don't know German formatting procedures that well (we asked a few people here, but they said there isn't anything special).  She said we could correct the format and turn the paper back in for a better grade, but of course that's not possible since BU needs the grades by Monday.  At least I can be happy knowing that she thought the content was good, and a B for a research paper written entirely in German is still something to be proud of.

I got a 2,0 (A-) in my Teaching English class, which I'm happy with.  The test was just oral question and answer, which isn't my specialty.  I would have done much better with something written, but the professor had to do an impromptu exam with me since I'm leaving before the semester is over.  He's a nice guy though, and he offered to write me a Letter of Reference for when I apply to jobs.  I haven't gotten my grade for Deutsch als Fremdsprache yet, but I don't think I did too badly on the test (I mostly just struggled with the verb-preposition pairs.)  The reading and writing were easy at least.  My German has really improved since I came here.  I can read and listen with almost full comprehension now.  Fluent self-production is next on the list...

By this time next week I'll be in Boston!  First stop on my list: Fitrec.  I love Turbo Jam, but after a month with aerobics as my only exercise option, I'm ready to go back to my 4-story gym!

Birthday Abroad!

Yesterday was the big 2-2 for me.  Not a very special year, at least not when compared to the year before.  I still had a good time though.  I was able to sleep in, I got some very nice presents (like the new Armin van Buuren CD's that I've wanted forever - thank you Oli, I'm listening to it right now!), and Christine even had some Baumkuchen (Tree Cake) for us to eat during our coffee break at the library.  I had a very small party at the Gutz Club that night.  I invited a lot of people, but everyone was busy studying for finals and working on papers.  That's how it is every year though.  At least I got to hear Polish kids singing American karaoke songs!

22 will be a big year for me.  I'm going to graduate, find an apartment, and find a job.  I might even become a self-sufficient, independent adult!  Since I like it here in Germany and things are going so well with Oli, I'm currently planning to move to Hamburg after graduation and try my luck at finding full-time work.  My job opportunities are limited because of my lack of German skills, but hopefully I can find some work teaching English or doing secretarial work for an American or British firm, at least until my German becomes more natural.  The idea of answering phones in German also really scares me. :-/  I also have T.K.Maxx as a back-up too.  It's under the same parent company as T.J.Maxx, so maybe I can find some part-time work there while I get on my feet.  Next semester I'm just going to be studying and working - gotta save up some money!

I'm finished with two classes here already.  I got a 1.0 Schein (grade) in Middle English, the equivalent of an A, so I'm feeling good about that!  It's really stressful when your entire grade depends on one presentation.  I'm also glad I could use a Powerpoint for it!  Transparencies are just so dull.

On Friday I had to give a presentation in Deutsch als Fremdsprache about Business Greetings in America.  I could only use a transparency (which I didn't even know the word for in English until last week), but with pictures and diagrams it didn't look too boring.  I did find it annoying that I had to figure out how to print it and pay for it myself though.  A powerpoint would have been much more fun.  I could use notecards with bullet points, but I was so nervous that I just typed up a script and memorized it before my presentation.  At least I got all the grammar and vocabulary right!

The only point I lost was for my accent, and that's the hardest thing for me in any language.  One-on-one with a German speaker I think I can pronounce my words pretty well, but whenever I'm nervous (like presenting in front of a class), my accent gets really strong.  I won't deny it, I'm basically just speaking American English with German words.  Well what can you do, it comes with practice.  The teacher did an imitation of my accent though, which I didn't appreciate much.  I realize that I speak German with "American r's", but as a Linguist I also know that r's and l's are the most difficult sounds to adopt in a foreign language.  Oh well, only one point off is good.

I have all of my written work done for my classes now, so I just need to study for my Deutsch als Fremdsprache final on Monday and my Teaching English final on Wednesday.  Neither should be that difficult.  Then it's time to start packing and preparing to move out!  Bittersweet.  On Thursday I'll be going to Hamburg to spend one last weekend with Oli.  If possible I'm hoping to look at a few job opportunities there, but I haven't heard back from any of the English Schools yet, and since I'm not actually able to work there until this summer I can't apply anywhere yet.  I'm in contact with the President of the American Club of Hamburg, and he's being really helpful about offering to send out my CV to jobs I qualify for.  I know it'll all work out in the end, but this is my first time stepping out into the real world, and I'm so paranoid that I won't be able to find any work!

This is getting pretty personal for a travel blog!

Week with my Family

Sorry it's been awhile!  Dad and Zion showed up in Dresden on the 20th, and then Mom came two days later (her passport had expired and she needed a new one.)  It worked out well in the end because Monday and Tuesday are my busy days for classes anyways.

I gave Dad and Zion my Dresden maps, and they found their way up to Neustadt on Monday.  My dad found some old Deutschland Marks from the 1920's and a bottle of real absinthe (although he only wanted the bottle because it had a skull on it.)  On Tuesday we met Mom at the airport.  She wasn't even that jet-lagged (not like me on my first day here), so we were able to go to a really nice German-Czech restaurant that night.  Mom got so excited to see our namesake, Klöße, on the menu!   I was also able to introduce the family to Glühwein, a hot spiced mull wine and one of my new favorite drinks of all time!

On Wednesday we took a day trip to Prague.  Luckily it wasn't that cold, but we only had about 6 hours there.  We got traditional Czech food for lunch (which of course meant a huge plate of food with a shot of strong liquor for dessert and digestion).  We went to a few shops, but since we had to exchange money we didn't have that much to spend.  I bought a miniature Beerstein and a Beerstein magnet/bottle opener.  We went to the Absinthe-Slushie shop, but of course they were only selling hot drinks by this time.  I tried some traditional Czech Grog, which was good but not as tasty as Glühwein!  We did a city bus tour, and since it was rather late in the day we were able to see Prague lit up at night too.  Such a beautiful city!  I need to plan a weeklong trip there next time.  It was also nice to see some of our ancestry because Mom made a Family Tree and it turns out that we have quite a few relatives from then-Bohemia.

We also have family from Chemnitz, which is right next to Dresden, but most of the family is from the Bavaria area, so of course we had to make a trip to Munich.  Thursday was only shopping in Neustadt and then going to the Striezelmarkt (Christmas Market) that had just opened in Altstadt that day.  Oli arrived on the train, so he joined us at the Market.  We drank so much Glühwein and spiked eggnog, but I was just trying to stay warm!  Mom was able to find a lot of traditional Christmas souvenirs to bring back to Wisconsin, so everyone had a good time.

View from the Hotel in München/Munich

On Friday we rented a car and drove to München (Munich), which ended up being a lot cheaper than buying roundtrip train tickets for 5 people.  Zion drove the whole time because the one thing he wanted to do in Germany was drive on the Autobahn.  I don't think it was as exciting as he'd hoped though, especially with a minivan instead of a sports car.  We stayed in a really nice hotel that night with a jacuzzi and sauna, and Zion, Oli, and I went to a nearby club that played Minimal Electro House.  Zion said that he wanted to experience a "true European club," and this was definitely a good example of one.  The bass was so loud that the Coat Check actually sold earplugs for a euro.  I'm guessing that Jägermeister comes from Bavaria, because pretty much every drink sold at the bar was mixed with it.  Oli and I stayed until about 2 am, but Zion said he kept dancing until 5 or so.  He was doing a lot more fist pumping than everyone else there, so I gotta commend him on his energy!  Oli let him wear his scarf so he would look more European, even with his Carhardt (sp?) pants.  Zion said that he thought the scarf helped him with the ladies, even though they were all German and wouldn't let any guys touch them or dance with them.

Augustiner Cellar/Biergarten

On Saturday we went to the Augustiner Biergarten/Restaurant.  My mom's grandpa was named Augustine and had moved from Bavaria to Wisconsin to be a tavernkeeper.  We figured that he'd probably gone to this famous Biergarten a few times, so we counted it as family history. :-)  Then we walked downtown and saw some of the famous churches, like the one with the huge Glockenspiel in front.  Munich had also just opened their Christmas Market, Christkindlmarkt, but everything was pretty much the same as we'd seen in Dresden.  We bought some traditional German cakes and roasted nuts, but we couldn't find any Schwarzwälderkirschetorte (Black Forest Cherry Cake!)  It was Dad's birthday, so we enjoyed five different kinds of cake that night.  The drive back was nice because we still had some light for part of it and were able to see the snow-covered mountains.

Famous Church with Glockenspiel in front

Everyone had the same early flight the next morning, so they stayed in a hotel by the airport and we said goodbye on Saturday night.  Mom got all her cheese and Stollen through customs, and Dad was even able to get his absinthe through too!  They all got home safe and sound, although Zion hit an elk and totaled his truck on his drive from the airport back home.  So besides a few setbacks, it was a fun week and a good place for a family vacation (although next time I would prefer to travel in summer!)

One More Month

Wow, only one more month here.  I can't tell if it's gone by slowly or quickly, just like I can't tell if I'm excited or disappointed about going home.  I've had a lot more free time than I'm used to, especially with having no job and most classes only once a week.  Not having much money has also been a big strain.  It's disappointing to have so many travel opportunities but not being able to afford much.  If I do come back here after graduation and get a job, hopefully I can fix all that.

It will be nice to go back to the States and see my friends, my family, my favorite TV shows and food, and of course to be around English speakers again.  I'm also dying here without Fitrec or a gym of any sort!  I'll be super busy next semester with a full course load and two jobs, but I think I'll be happy with that.  Of course I will miss all of the time for naps that I've had here!  I'll also miss my friends here and of course Oli.  He thinks he can come visit me for a week or two in Spring, so at least I'll have something to look forward to.  It'll definitely be hard to go from a 4 hour long distance relationship to an opposite-sides-of-the-world LDR though.  At least we have Skype!

My family is coming to visit me tomorrow and staying for a week.  I'm looking forward to a chance to go to München (Munich.)  I think we might go czech out Prague too! (get it? lol)  I'd better clean my room tonight.  I still haven't figured out where to find a good, working vacuum in the dorm.

I just finished writing my first Referat (research paper) in German.  Wow, talk about a brain wipe.  I had to do research on the different kinds of Composite/Compound Words in German, and then find 10 examples in student newspapers and translate them into English.  Doing the research was probably the hardest part because I had to look up so many words and try to paraphrase what the book said.  Usually I paraphrased into complete sentences because I don't know how to take shortened notes in German, so all I had to do was copy and paste a lot of my notes into my paper.

Finding and translating the words was fun, especially since I found some wordplays (Last-Minute-Weihnachtsstress - Last Minute Christmas Stress) and some words that couldn't be translated into English without long accompanying explanations (Glühweinlotse - lit. Mull Wine Airport Controller, but it was referring to the Student Council's use of Glühwein to bribe students into voting in the S.C. elections.)  I also got to draw binary structure trees for each of the words, which is normally pretty easy, except that now I had to do it on the computer.  One of my Ling professors in Boston sent me a link where I could draw trees, but it was all done in open- and closed- brackets.  For example, this is what I had to program for the Glühweinlotsen tree: [Wort [Stamm [Stamm [BM [glüh]] [Wurzel [BM [wein]]]] [Stamm [Wurzel [BM [lots]]] [WBM [dat.pl.-en]]]]],  but this is what it turned out as: stgraph.png.php.  Sorry I couldn't get the picture in here directly.

It was cloudy out this morning when I went for a run and came to the library, but my Dashboard is telling me that it's currently sunny outside (hard to believe when I'm two stories underground.)  Guess I should go check it out!