Ein Amerikaner in Deutschland

Back in the USA

2006-03-12T06:19:00.000+01:00

I'm back in the USA now. And yes, this blog did kind of die half way through my study abroad.

The German Door Shutting Sense

2006-01-23T07:56:00.000+01:00

It's about 8am and I had to wake up this early for morning class. I went into the kitchen to grab some bread before I left, and forgot to shut the door on my way back out of the kitchen. Now I know I wasn't loud, because all I did was take bread out of a bag. On my way out, my roommate came out of her room, and she was obviously sleeping saying "Shut the kitchen door!"

Where have I been?

2006-01-22T16:31:00.000+01:00

Over the course of December and the beginning of January I did quite a bit of traveling with my parents. They came over mid-December and we went through Cologne to Munich, back up to Osnabrück for Christmas, and then down to Rome for New Years. After getting back and still having a week of Weihnachtsferien (break) left, I pretty much just hung out with Christine and waited for everyone else to get back.

After this whole trip I got to see another German city: Bielefeld. I got to see an old castle (more for the defense of the city than royal grandeur) and it was quite cool. Pictures may eventually come.

The language department here decided to attempt to rectify their crap German course by offering a tutorial for the Americans and Swedish who have been dissapointed with the course. As far as I am concerned, though, it's too little too late. The final is next week and we'll have had 2 tutorials before the final, and before we leave the total number of tutorials will be roughly 4.

Amsterdam: Part 1

2005-12-13T22:13:00.000+01:00

I was going to write a lengthy post about Amsterdam, but Alec managed to sum it up brilliantly: http://alec.typepad.com/alecs_digital_peephole/2005/12/amsterdam.html

For those too lazy to click, here is a teaser:

"Han ordered us some Chinese specialty. Twelve plates of food later we were ready to dig in."

Weihnachtsmarkt

2005-12-04T18:31:00.000+01:00

The Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) is an important tradition throughout Germany. Nearly every city, it seems, has some sort of outdoor market with numerous booths selling German chocolates, Christmas trinkets, sausage, Glühwein, and other warm drinks.

In Osnabrück, the market spans a few streets and parts of the Fußgängerzone (Walking-only street). Booths crowd the small cobblestone streets between the old buildings of the Altstadt, the only part of the city that lasted through World War 2. Large Christmas trees tower over the booths in some parts of the market, with long strings of lights coming off of the tree and continuing down the street. The whole place has a unique smell of pine tree, wine, chocolate, and sausage.

Despite the cold weather and snow on the ground, it's fairly easy to stay warm off of the Glühwein (Warm, spiced red wine) or Lamumbas (spelling may be wrong, it's hot chocolate with rum).

The whole affair has an atmosphere that isn't a Christmas-y baby-jesus type of feeling. It is one of tradition and simply having a good time in the holidy season, one I find very easy to enjoy and feel a part of.

Thanksgiving in Germany: Part 2

2005-11-27T13:52:00.000+01:00

At 9am we had to begin the cooking. We were lucky enough to have a class from 10-12 that normally we would be okay skipping for one day, but this week we were being assigned a project due at the end of the semester. Naturally it seemed like a good idea to go. We managed to get the stuffing finished and stuffed into the turkey before class started, and I was also able to complete the gorey job of hacking off the turkey's neck.

Turkey's in Germany just aren't the same as in America. There were no giblets, just a large cave. However there was a gigantic neck still stuck to the turkey that had to come off. The rest of the turkey was the same as in America, no more surprises.

Well, until we had to seal one side of the turkey up. Normally large metal pins are used to cover up the front of the turkey. We didn't have any of these and definitely didn't have the time to go find them. However, Brittany did have metal forks. It did the job.

When cooking the turkey, we forgot to add water to the pan. This meant we had relatively little broth to work with for making Brittany's noodles. We were worried that not only would the turkey not come out ("Where's the broth? There's no liquid!") and also worried that we'd have to eat the noodles plain. Normally her noodles soak up the broth and they use them instead of gravy. But now we were stuck without the ability to make gravy or noodles.

Jäger sauce to the rescue! We were kind of embaressed about using it with our study abroad advisor coming and all, but we had no choice. For the purposes of Thanksgiving, Jäger sauce has been temporarily renamed to "American Hunter Sauce." This "hunter sauce" did prove to be an excellent substitute for gravy.

And finally, after about 5 hours of cooking, we were ready to actually eat. The turkey came out with incredible skin thanks to my frequent buttering. Overall the meal was nice. Alec brought beans in a lemon sauce, Chris brought ice cream and whipped cream for the pie, and HP brought some nice white wine.

But I am never cooking thanksgiving in Germany again.

The Great (ongoing) Blizzard of Osnabrück

2005-11-26T15:58:00.000+01:00

It was only about 3:50 pm when the blackout started, but it was already getting dark (as is the norm here in Osnabrück). It was over as suddenly as it started, leaving me barely enough time to light a few candles so I could see.

And then the power was back out. This process repeated every 5-20 minutes, for the next few hours. I simply unplugged my computer and read a book, switching between candle light and actual light every few minutes. The internet remained down for the next 24 hours or so.

It was the first snow of the year and it came down hard. Osnabrück doesn't get too cold, which probably made this snow even worse. It was rougly -4ºC, which is about 25ºF. The flakes were huge, sopping wet balls coming down from the sky. The snow started yesterday morning and finished sometime overnight.

This naturally made for some fun with snowballs and also problems getting cars out of driveways. (After much effort, I was able to help Christine get her car out of the snow). Some people built snowmen and had some fun with the snow, but nothing anyone did compared to Alec's brilliant idea.

Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out perfectly for this idea as someone had shoveled half of Heger Tor before we got there. Nonetheless, we had a good time in the snow. Before I explain his idea, Heger Tor is a large wall that used to surround the old city (Altstadt). Now there is a piece of it left that has some stairs leading up to it that are all slanted downword. When snow is evenly applied to these strange stairs it creates sort of a ramp going down quite a ways.

Alec's brilliant idea was to create a large snowball at the top and roll it down this ramp to create a massive ball that normally would be impossible because 2 people simply can't roll such a massive ball. A great idea, right? Hey, what the hell else do we have to do on a Saturday. Unfortunately for us, our ball was so squarish that it didn't end up rolling down. So we managed to leave a giant snowball on the steps up to Heger Tor and that was the extent of our accomplishments.

Wetter.de claims that it is going to continue to snow on and off this week. Hopefully there will be more snow-mischeif that is a bit more successful.

A German Thanksgiving: Part 1

2005-11-25T08:13:00.000+01:00

It all started out with an ambitious goal: Thanksgiving in Germany. We planned to have the traditional foods that would require us to labor all day in the kitchen, breaking only to attend class. It ended up being the most unique Thanksgiving ever.

Brittany and I held a planning session. We wanted Thanksgiving and knew without some major initiative by us it wouldn't happen. The deal was set and Thanksgiving would happen: I was responsible for a turkey, she would make an apple pie and noodles, and other people would bring/buy something for the dinner. Even better was the fact that our study abroad coordinator/advisor/leader from the US, Dr. H. P. Bischof was here for the week and could attend the dinner.

Having been in Germany for a while now, my German has improved quite a bit. I ordered a 5 kg (~11lbs) turkey in the Fleischerei (butcher shop) without too much of a problem. There did seem to be a bit of a disagreement over whether I wanted Puten or Truthahn, but it turned out that they are really the same thing.

On Wednesday I picked up the turkey from the butcher and was dismayed that they gave me a nearly completely clear bag to carry the turkey in. Then charged me ?33.31. Turkey is rarely eaten in Germany except in cold-cut form. Here I was carrying a giant, slightly blood, bird down the street in a plastic bag. I got quite a few odd looks and the kid on the bus across from me was certainly amused by its size.

Brittany prepared a pie crust for apple pie on Wednesday as well and going into Thursday we were ready to cook...

L'auberge Espagnole

2005-11-18T23:44:00.000+01:00

Continuing on the line that AEGEE is cool, they had a showing of three movies this week. While I liked the 2nd movie No Man's Land, mostly missed the first, Buena Vista Social Club, the best of the three was by far the one tonight: L'auberge Espagnole.

It's a French film about an economics student who travels to Barcelona from France on erasmus. I don't know if there is an english version- it seemed that it only had German and French subtitles. The movie pretty much covers the changes one can undergo on a study abroad with tons of comedy thrown in. After almost two months in Germany, I can say that study abroad definitely changes you in so many ways and gives a huge new world perspective and that this movie portrays this well. It is definitely now one of my top 10 favorite movies.

AEGEE

2005-11-17T01:41:00.000+01:00

Since I am trying to keep this blog at a 1-2 posts per week schedule, I am almost overdue for a post. So here is one about my life in Osnabrück that doesn't involve around bashing Germany's socialist university system.

I think one of the greatest things I have found in Osnabrück is AEGEE. This organization spans all of Europe and has the goal of "european integration." This, when applied to university students, means that AEGEE has parties all over Europe so europeans can meet other europeans and have some fun. They also have some serious discussions such as one in Heidelberg that I will be attending regarding EU/US relations. (The email described the US as a hegemon. I'm looking forward to this and am sure I'll have a good post about it when it happens in January.)

AEGEE has lots of events in Osnabrück too, including a triple film screening this week of films in various languages, all with german subtitles that I can actually understand a bit now. As a member of AEGEE I can also go to Summer University, which tends to have complex topics such as dancing and drinking as the main subject for a 2 week stay in some random european city. I'm sure I'll be participating in this in the coming summers if possible. There are also some really interesting, although possibly dangerous, activities through AEGEE like election observing in Azerbaijan. (Which turned out to be quite necessary)

And probably the greatest part of AEGEE is that almost everyone in it is studying European Studies, which is kind of political science and international relations thrown together in a specific geographical perspective. Although I don't debate against them much (I'm surprised at how much we agree on) it is nice just to have a bunch of people who follow news and current events closely.

Americans and their cars

2005-11-11T14:06:00.000+01:00

Today in my German class, which has people from numerous nations (China, France, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Japan, to name some) the subject of global warming was in the book. Eventually the teacher asked who owned their own car.

Out of about 20-25 people in the class, the results:
5 Americans
1 French girl

And everyone had a good laugh. We love our cars.

Then I said the Kyoto protocol sucked.

Champions League Soccer!

2005-11-03T15:07:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday night I traveled to Bremen (A city in Northern Germany) with Alec to watch Werder Bremen play Udinese Calcio. We had some awesome seats about 16 rows back from the field in the back right corner. Soccer in Europe is just a lot of fun- go to the game, eat a couple brats and listen to the crowd's fight-songs. I have pictures up:

http://herrkevin.myphotoalbum.com

Seeded Grapes Suck

2005-11-01T22:25:00.000+01:00

I was looking at the grapes, and the super market I frequent doesn't have any labels for fruit. And if it does, I sure as hell didn't see it when I bought these grapes. They looked so big and juicy... but they have seeds. So now I am eating them, picking out damn seeds. This completely defeated the purpose of buying grapes- a sweet tasting fruit I can quickly shovel into my mouth. I actually think the speed at which I am eating grapes right now isn't sufficient to outpace my increasing hunger. If I were to only eat seeded grapes for the rest of my life, I'd probably die of starvation.

Language barriers suck sometimes.

I am a "Typical American"

2005-10-31T01:29:00.000+01:00

At a party on Friday night I was encourged by a girl to kiss a man. I refused. She even upped the anti by saying she would make out with a girl if I kissed a guy. I still refused.

I was then called a "typical American" for not wanting to kiss a fellow man.

So, yeah, go America?

The Münster Adventure

2005-10-30T14:18:00.000+01:00

Münster was by far the greatest trip so far.
Yesterday Alec, Brittany, and I traveled there on the train. We arrived just before 12 and walked around the Innenstadt to find some food and things to do. (Naturally, we didn't plan any schedule for the day) The Innenstadt reminds me of Osnabrück's füßgangerzone except much larger. We visited a church and then the city's main cathedral. I am kind of tired of going to these cathedrals. All they do is make me think of the institutions that allowed the Nazi's to rise to power. And they all look the same- dead Jesuses hanging everywhere with a few of Jesus's grouppies. Yawn.

Alec and I wanted to go to the Allwetter Zoo on the outskirts of the city, but Brittany decided to stay behind and check out the fest (market) that was going on outside the Dom. The distance to the Zoo on the map didn't seem all that long. We ended up walking for about 50 minutes. We even left Münster by about 500 meters. (Picture proof coming soon) But it was worth it, the zoo was cool. I always enjoy watching monkeys... be monkeys. During the time we were at the Zoo Brittany got bored and went back to Osnabrück. (bad decision)

This is where the trip truely takes a turn for the best:
We decided to take the bus back into Münster since we were pretty tired from all the walking. On the bus we had the luck of sitting next to a few people who were talking in English. I asked them why they were talking in English (All of them had accents) and found out that 2 were from Uni. Münster (Kai and Beate) and 1 was from Moscow State University (Nina), so english was their common language. We talked with them for a while and they invited us to have a traditional Westfalian dinner with them at a nice restaurant. This was perfect as we had been hoping to find some local food to eat.

A trip to Starbucks and a little ice cream later we were at the restaurant. (Desert has to come first for us- dinner starts at about 8) The food we got was truely unique, here is a list of the foods we tried:

My dish:
Salty, prosciutto-like ham over a buttered piece of bread. A fried egg was thrown on top along with a pickle and there was potatoe salad on the side.

Alec/Nina's dish:
Various types of wurst (sausages)- one was a "blood sausage." The thing was charred to hell because apparently its a very bloody sausage. It tasted great, though.

Kai's dish:
Tötchen. This dish was definitely the weirdest thing I have eaten in Germany, but it tasted great. I was somewhat nervous about it in the first place since the direct translation is something like "Little death." The dish had various parts of a cow's face along with some intestines in a kind of beef-stew broth. It's apparently a Münster specialty. I was very apprehensive about trying it, but man was it good. I would even order it next time despite the weirdness of eating unusual parts of a cow.

Beate's dish: Zweiblefleisch. This translates to onion meat. Now, I hate onions, but this dish was amazing. I didn't taste the onions even though I know I had quite a few. The meat was actually a lot like a corned beef.

We also had some great Münster brewed bear (Pinkus). I usually hate beer, but this was just a really nice lager.

Dinner took so long that we finished around 11:20 or so. Alec and I thought the last train out of Münster was at 12:04. Well, it turned out the last train out of Münster was at 11:04. Oops. Luckily Kai offered us a place to stay at his appartment so we had no problem being stuck in Münster. We hung out at Kai's place for a while and then went bar hopping through Münster with two of Kai and Beate's friends. Finally returning at about 4am we got to turn the clocks back to 3am for daylight savings- which was absolutely awesome. An extra hour of sleep!

This morning we woke up, had a good old German breakfast, talked to Kai about all of his trips around Europe and the world and took the 13:04 train back to Osnabrück.

This isn't the old Germany.

2005-10-27T09:35:00.000+02:00

If there was any doubt that Germany is a much different place than it was back when killing Jews was the name of the game, simply take a look at the International page of today's New York Times.

There are two articles on it:

Signs that Anti-Semitism is alive and well:
Iran's New President Says Israel 'Must Be Wiped Off the Map'

But signs that it has very much moved to the Middle East:
Germans Convict 4 in Plot to Hit at Jewish Sites

Scheißwetter

2005-10-24T16:21:00.000+02:00

According to the Osnabrückers we've finally gone from fall to winter here. The weather was amazing for a few weeks with nearly no rain. Now it rains nearly every day at some point. Apparently it just rains and rains on and off almost every day throughout the winter, with a little bit of snow and slush mixed in. I am a little surprised at the lack of snow since Osnabrück is so far north that it is on level with the top of Maine.

However, I'll take relative cold over the snow, wind, and cold combo of Rochester any day.

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

2005-10-22T23:03:00.000+02:00

Today I visited the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, a camp between the villages of Bergen and Belson about 3 hours from Osnabrück. I have been told about the holocaust my whole life, been to several museums/memorials in Israel, but nothing could possibly prepare me for the actual camp itself.

Even days before I was nervous about even going and even considered not going, but I knew it was something I had to do at least once. Everytime I thought about the camp, I'd look around Osnabrück and know that there used to be jews who walked down the street in the old city here, saw the same buildings we see today. They walked past the Lager Hall and down by Heger Tor. They looked up at the German kings and dukes sculpted on the city hall and walked on the typical european cobblestone streets.

Then they were in Bergen-Belsen.

This camp was somewhat untraditional in that it was meant for prisoners of war, and housed several thousand Soviet soldiers until the Nazis began to lose the war on both fronts and had to move Jews and others from concentration camps near the front lines further into the heart of Germany. This camp had no gas chambers like many of the more famous ones, but it didn't need them. The SS simply didn't feed the camp inhabitants enough for them to survive. One survivor said that the daily ration was a piece of bread only 3.5 centimeters large. That's less bread than they give you for free with a curry wurst in the city center.

We were shown a film before a tour taken by the British soldiers who liberated the camp. It was the most disturbing holocaust film I have ever seen by leaps and bounds. Many films show the emaciated bodies, but few go as far as this one to capture the horror of the camp. Bergen-Belson, in its final months and weeks, began to kill so many people through starvation and disease that they were not able to bury all the bodies. They simply piled up around the large camp. When the british got there, they saw mountains of starved, naked bodies. A few people greeted them, those who were still able to stand.

The SS were forced to bury the bodies and local towns people were forced to watch the guards bury bodies and bear witness to the atrocities at the camp. But the SS had killed so many people that it wasn't possible for them to bury all the bodies and British bulldozers had to be used to move the bodies into holes. The footage of the bulldozer is possibly the most disturbing in the entire film.

Today, there are no buildings from the camp left. The British destroyed them because they were so disease ridden- although they regretted it because there was then only pictures and memories of Bergen-Belson. Today there is a large Soviet cemetary with the remains of about 20,000 Soviet prisoners of war who died in the camp. Another 80,000 Jews and various other groups of people (gypsies, homosexuals, political prisoners) died in the camp.

As we walked into the camp, there is a small stone walkway around the entire field where the camp was. It was built where the fence used to be. The field was desolate save for a jewish monument depicting the 12 tribes of Israel and various graves. One grave of note is Anne Frank's, who is burried with her mother at Bergen-Belson.

On the left and the right of the pathway through the field are giant mounds with a dull brown bush covering it. Each one has a large stone slab reading "Hier ruhe 1,000 tote" (Here rest 1,000 dead). Some have 800, some have 2,500, some have an incredible 5,000 people.

The entire field is landscaped perfectly. The grass that grows is an ugly shade of brownish green and the plants are all a drab brownish color. There is not a single thing that is good looking in the entire field. But on the edges of the field lay the beautiful forest.

Stones dot the graves of various jews and gentiles alike. And what was very touching, despite the fact that it flaunts Jewish tradtion, were roses and other non-planted flowers on Jewish graves. While I like rocks better, this shows that there were non-jews who cared enough to put those there. And it's good to know that it isn't just the Jews who go and remember.

I took no pictures of the place. I didn't even bring my camera, because I know I won't need it, and my pictures won't have the impact that acutally going there has. The pictures do not
compare to the power of the actual place, the mass graves all around you.

Even worse than all of the mass graves was seeing the commander. His picture is in the small museum beside the field in a life size image. Knowing he was hanged along with many of the other SS here is little solace. He has a small scowl and an incredibly evil look in his eyes. His stare had a force to it, like he was never really able to leave the place, and that he will never be able to escape the wrongs he committed.

As we left, I stopped at the edge of the camp fence. I was stood there, looking out at the vast German forest in front of me. Countless people looked out at the same forest possibly even from the same spot, longing to get out, but never did.

In the guestbook for the camp, there was only one thing I could write:

"Am Yisrael Chai"
The people of Israel live.

New Pics

2005-10-20T17:54:00.000+02:00

Updated with my trip to Köln, some pics of Osnabrück, and a couple pics of me getting ready to go clubbing.

http://herrkevin.myphotoalbum.com

Dear Waiter, Please Do Your Damn Job

2005-10-18T23:14:00.000+02:00

Waiters in Germany are not tipped more than 30-90 cents, if that. The reason is they actually get paid reasonable amounts so generally people just round the check up to the nearest dollar and let the waiter have a very modest tip (5.60 --> 6.00).

And I believe this is the best example of why tipping is important. A waiter who needs tips to make money is going to make sure that he visits his tables often so that his customers are happy. In Europe, getting your waiter to even pay the bill is a challenge. You usually end up simply yelling Entschuldigung (excuse me) across the restaurant to get the attention of the waiter and only then can you pay the bill. There is no checking up on tables "Is everything ok? Good" and then leaving. A good waiter in America knows that if someone wants to leave and they have to shout excuse me across the restaurant to pay the bill, the tip is going to be much lower. So far, I'm pretty sure I'd rate the service at almost every restaurant I've been at as fairly poor.

At least the food is good!

The Metric System

2005-10-16T13:11:00.000+02:00

It's hard to get used to the metric system, but it is clear that I am. I was reading the New York Times today and read that in Pakistan "the temperature is expected to drop to 37 degrees, and up to 2.5 million are homeless. Many are in tents with little heat." I said to myself after reading 37 degrees "Holy crap that's hot, so why would people want heat? Oh yeah, the New York Times uses fahrenheit!

Oh and PS. More pictures are coming as soon as I get my camera's usb cable in the mail. Topics include:
My appartment
Osnabrück
Me "looking like a German" and going to a club

The Real Cost of a Socialized School System

2005-10-13T15:29:00.000+02:00

I was going to wait a little while longer to post something about the German University system, but I feel like the time is right after my class today and thinking about various topics.

In a socialized university system such as Germany's, the burdon weighs much more heavily on the student to facilitate learning than on the institution. It is believed that professors should put the information out and if the student gets it, then excellent! If not, oh well, they probably weren't cut out for it anyway. In the US, a most professors take their student's progress in learning as a reflection on their own abilities and thus try to ensure that everyone does their very best, and many professors will go the extra mile for a student. Consider the following two examples of this attitude at the University of Osnabrück:

In two of my classes now the professor requires us to utilize a book of some sort. However we don't need to buy the book, as the professor would rather we just had a copy of the material. In the US, a professor would simply use the copy machine to make everyone a copy. Here, the material is dropped off at a local store (Copy Point) and students are told to go there and make copies of what they need. Some of these materials are made available over the internet, but others are not due to copyright issues or just the fact that the professor doesn't feel like scanning in pages and pages out of a textbook.

In my coursed entitled Text Mining, we are learning through the German Seminar style of class. Essentially, everybody in the class gives a presentation on a topic from the text book. This is a good idea, except that in our class it counts as 100% of our grade. One. Hundred. Percent. So once you do your presentation you could pretty much not show up to the class at all and receive a reasonable grade, or at least a Schein (passing certificate). The incentive to actually learn the material is left completely on the student's shoulders. How can you say someone has passed a course on text mining if all they actually know from the class is one small area? Does someone deserve an A in Calculus for knowing how to take a derivative? Luckily the class is incredibly interesting (It essentially deals with the underlying algorithms with which Google operates, as well as other cool topics like Bayesian filtering) so I will have no issue learning all of the material. But then this does raise the question: If I am very busy and have to prioritize my work, will I actually end up learning that much in Text Mining? If you know you don't really have to do much for the class then you won't continue working on the subject after doing a few hours of homework. Good thing my classes here are easy!

The Economist had a long piece on how schools in Europe need to adopt a more American model of education in order to become higher quality institutes of education. I have to agree with them from what I have seen so far. (Which, admittedly, is quite limited. That's why I hesistated to even post this yet. We'll see if I still agree with this sentiment in 6 months.) When the burden of education is on the institution, the institution will do whatever it takes to become better and better at educating people. When the burden is on the student, the institution can stagnate because it is ultimately the student's responsibility to better themselves, which is only possible to a certain point when you don't have all the tools a professor can give you to learn.

Nettebad

2005-10-12T17:32:00.000+02:00

I went to a couple bäder in München last summer and finally got to experience one of Osnabrück's fine schwimmbad's (Swimming pool/bath place). Osnabrück has a few and the one I went to is called Nettebad. The place was pretty sweet- two large hot tubs, 2 giant indoor pools (One for laps, one for screwing around), 2 large water slides, 1 small water slide, a wave pool, and various other cool little things. It cost a mere 3.70 euros, and then you get 2 euros back when you leave for not losing the little magnetic key they give you, meaning the place costs an amazing 1.70 euros. That's pretty cheap. The sauna is a bit more expensive (13 euros) which is kind of dissapointing. But it's a good deal anyway, so I'm sure I'll hit up the sauna a few times.

Why can't America have places like this? JCC, YMCA, and various pool clubs don't come close to this place- And this isn't even one of the best. I believe the one I went to on München was better if only because the steam sauna wasn't extra money. And I love a good steam room.

I went to minas morgul at Köln

2005-10-11T23:54:00.000+02:00

All of the study abroad people took a trip to Köln (Cologne) on Saturday that was really cool, except for one glaring Cathedral (this comes later). Köln has an amazing Chocolate museum, which I figured would be somewhat lame, but actually was really cool. The process of making chocolate was really interesting to see, and especially to taste. One of the "tutors" (Essentially a study abroad guide) had at least 5 of the free samples and it is easy to understand why: It was a wafer dipped in a giant fountain of chocolate. I already want to go back to that museum.

Now, this really pissed me off: In Germany, water and beer often cost the same price. I didn't know that. I ordered a water, which to make things worse came with gas, and it cost ?2.10. Someone else ordered a beer which also cost ?2.10. That just isn't fair, especially when I had to drink gased water. That stuff sucks and they can't get enough of it in Germany. I carry around my own, non gassed water now.

Köln is famous for its Dom Cathedral. This thing is just absolutely huge. You can see it in my pictures (In the post below). My main issue with it is that it is right near a Jewish part of the city. Now whether the Jews were there before the Cathedral or vice versa really isn't the issue so much as it is so imposing and evil looking that it really says something about the religion that built it. And if I tinted the picture green I think it would bear a surprisingly resemblance to Minas Morgul...

Pictures

2005-10-09T19:05:00.000+02:00

I am starting to put up pictures from my trip. So far I have München and Zürich up. Köln is next, followed by some pics of Osnabrück when I finally get around to going around the city and taking pictures.

http://herrkevin.myphotoalbum.com

The Small Things

2005-10-07T17:53:00.000+02:00

There are quite a few small things that are different between America and here. They aren't deserving of their own posts, so I am going to list them with a quick explanation. Next time I will post some bigger, overarching differences.

Bedding. Now I'm sure it is possible to find this in America, but I'll be damned if I have ever seen them: the Bettdecke. It translates to bedspread, but I really don't think it is the same as a bedspread. The bettdecke is a comforter with changeable colors/textures. Essentially, you can change the sheet on it like a pillow to wash or for different seasons. I like it much more than an American comforter simply because you can't really wash American comforters. Well, okay, you can, but it takes a pretty big washing machine. With these, simply take the sheet off of it and wash it! Easy. And you can have a ton of different colors since the sheets themselves are fairly cheap.
Sidewalks. In New York, people drive on sidewalks with the sole goal of running people over. Here, people drive on sidewalks out of necessity or due to a lack of parking spots. It is really weird watching someone pull directly onto the sidewalk for temporary parking, but that is how it is done.
Your own bag at the super market. This really pisses me off. Environmentally I don't doubt that it's a good idea, it probably reduces the amount of plastic being thrown away considerably. However, it's incredibly annoying. If you forget to bring a bag, you can buy one for 0.15 cents, which is thankfully cheap. On the first day here, 2 Americans forgot that you had to bring your own bag and bought a ton of groceries. They ended up just taking the shopping cart because it was easier to steal it than to attempt to carry everything. (It was put back eventually)
Dorm privacy. When I was asked what the dorms were like in America, people were surprised to find out that two people live in the same room. These people love their privacy. It is obvious from the dorm layout here: Mostly singles, and if you live with other people, you all have your own single. It's nice, however it is at the sacrifice of a lounge area, which sort of says that roommates tend to be in the same apartment out of necessity rather than friendship. My apartment at 59-5 is such a polar opposite of this one it is amazing. Contrast parties, loudness, living in the living room with this: Quiet, closed doors. My roommates are also really old, all 3 about 10 years older than me. Oh Germany and it's school system...

Well that is enough for now. As I see small things I will post them. Until then, tschüss.

Day 2 in Deutschland

2005-09-30T09:56:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Munich yesterday. I am staying here for about 5 days at my friend Ivan's place and then going up to Osnabrück. Some of the other study abroad people are coming here tomorrow and Sunday to check out Oktoberfest, which will surely be deserving of its own post.

I now know exactly why Americans are fat, and anyone who visits Germany or probably any other European country will see why that is as well. Our food sucks. Now, my opinion on this matter may change when I go to college, but at the moment, I have never eaten healthier at any time in my life. Sure you can eat healthy in America, but it is generally at the expense of taste. To analyze one meal, lets look at breakfast in America and breakfaster here:

Typical breakfast at home in America:
Some kind of cereal and/or eggs, maybe bacon and pancakes.

Typical breakfast at college:
Loads of cereal, french toast if I feel like cooking it.

Today's breakfast in Munich:
Semmel mit Käse (cheese bread), Croissant, Peach, and some green tea.

The difference in health is clear. I'll probably compare lunch and dinner once I get up to Osnabrück and have a better idea of what food is commonly eaten.

--------------------------------

Deutsch kommt bald

Thanks for the paperwork

2005-08-03T06:05:00.000+02:00

I have finally received papers from the University of Osnabrück! I am living at 6-16 Sedanstraße (Sedan Street). You can see my street in relation to Osnabrück here. Supposedly it is on top of a hill and has good access to the center of the city. More information, such as roommates, will come when I learn about it.

My main annoyance with the paperwork so far has been that it is entirely in German, except for one paper which merely states the importance of the acceptance letter they sent. Now, my German isn't terrible, but considering that I have only taken German since January, it isn't easy to read these documents. Thankfully two Austrian girls out on Block Island helped me understand the important parts.

My current travel plans: I found a great fare on www.studentuniverse.com for a direct flight from Boston to Munich. I'd recommend that site to anyone in college who wants cheap rates- they were lower than anything else I saw. ($350 one way after all taxes and such) After visiting my friend Ivan in Munich and experiencing the tail end of Oktoberfest (Which takes place in September...) I will travel to Osnabrück on October 3rd or 4th. The only question that remains is whether I am going to take a plane or a train.

My next post will be from Deutschland.

Danke für die Büroarbeit!

Endlich hat Uni Osnabrück meine Papieren gesandt. Ich wohne an 6-16 Sedanstraße. Du kannst meine Straße in Osnabrück hier sehen. Vermutlich ist es oben ein Hügel und ist bei die Stadtzentrum. Mehr Informationen, wie Zimmerkameraden, kommt bald.

Die Büroarbeit ärgert mich. Es ist alle in Deutsch! Nur war ein Brief in Englisch. Mein Deutsch ist nicht furchtbar, aber es ist schwer Papiere lesen. Ich lerne Deutsch nur da Januar. Zwei Österreicherin haben mir übersetzen geholfen.

Mein aktuell Riese pläne: Ich finde eine sehr billig Fahrpreis an www.studentuniverse.com für ein direkt Flug von Boston nach München. Ich empfehle das Seit für Uni studenten. Ich besuche mein Freund Iwan in München und gehe ich zu Oktoberfest. Dann fahrt ich nach Osnabrück am Oktober 3 oder 4. Die Frage ist ob ich ein Zug oder Flugzeug fahre.

Main nächst blog kommt aus Deutschland.

A brief introduction

2005-05-16T07:11:00.000+02:00

My name is Kevin and I attend the Rochester Institute of Technology and will be studying at the University of Osnabrück in Germany from October 2005 to February 2006.

I have only had one blog before, and it was only for about a week. I'm just not a huge fan about writing about nothing. And lets face it, blogs tend to contain nearly nothing. So then why make a blog now? Just take a look at the title of this blog. If you can't guess it, here's the english translation: An American in Germany. This blog's purpose is to document my time in Germany so that people back in the USA can find out what I'm doing in Europe, so that people interested in studying abroad in the future can get a sense of what it is like, and so that I have a small record of my experiences in a written form. To summarize, this will not be your ordinary blog. There will be no emo talk here.

Note that all of my posts will be in English as well as broken German. If you know German and see errors in my posts, please contact me about them. My goal is to learn German, and I would greatly appreciate help in fixing my errors (Because if I posted it, I probably do not realize it is wrong!) One note, however, is that the German will not be an exact translation. Since my German is fairly weak, the german post will be a translation of the meaning of the sentence, not the words in the sentence. [...] means that some part of the post was cut out because it is meaningless in German. Generally, this is when I am translating a German specific term for non-German readers. [*] means that my German translation of the preceding sentence may make no sense, and I apologize in advance.

Ein kurz Einführung

Ich heiße Kevin Tierney und ich studiere am Rochester Institute of Technology. Ich studiere vom Oktober 2005 bis Februar 2006 am Universität Osnabrück.

Ich hatte bisher nur einen Blog und das auch nur für eine Woche. Ich bin kein großer Anhänger davon über nichts zu schreiben. Seien wir ehrlich habt blogs nichts. So warum mache ein Blog jetzt? [...] Dieses Blog dokumentiert meine Zeit in Deutschland so meine Freunden kann mir Machen in Europa wissen, künftige Austauschstudenten kann über Europa lernen, und so ich habe eine Akte über meine Erfahrungen in Deutschland[*]. Zusammenfassen ist dieses Blog nicht alltäglich. Hier ist kein "Emo Sprechen."[*]

Alle mein Internetstellen sind in Englisch und kaputt Deutsch. Ob wissen Sie Deutsch und finden Sie Fehler in mein Stelle als Sie mir bitte ein Email senden. Mein Ziel ist Deutsch lernen und ich bin dankbar mit Fehler reparieren. (Wiel ob stelle ich dann ich keine Fehlers es haben) Aber ist mein Deutsch eine genauTranslation. Wiel mein Deutsch schlecht ist, ist mein Deutsch eine Translation von den Begriffsinhalt, nicht die Worte in den Satz.

(Danke Iwan für deine Hilfe).