This Is the Easy Life. This Is the Simple Life, Baby.

As much as I will be teased about having a field with grazing cattle as my backyard, I don’t care. I like them! I enjoy sitting by my window sipping coffee in the mornings and just watching them. There’s something very peaceful and calming about it. From my bedroom window I see only grass, trees, flowers, and cows. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Perhaps it is a similar Anblick to that which my German ancestors had so long ago? Oh, happy German cows… :)

There are many things about living in Germany that make me feel like I’ve stepped back through time. Some of these things are very subtle, others not so much. Obviously, the buildings give you that feeling. There’s also the fact that there aren’t many microwaves, garbage disposals are nowhere to be found, and many Germans don’t use things like dryers or dish washing machines. (Yes, I realize hanging my clothes to dry would be easier, more European, and cheaper, but there is nowhere in my room to easily do that.) The streets have farmers markets and bakeries around every corner, and something about German culture and behaviors simply seems old fashioned. I’m not able to pinpoint many of these differences, but they’re there.

This week has gone by very slowly and uneventfully for me. I haven’t met up with any of my German friends all week (schedule conflicts), and my classes have been making me want to rip my hair out. My literature class, for example, consists of an hour and a half of discussing a chapter from a German novel. All that time for ONE chapter. My German vocabulary doesn’t allow me to discuss things for that long without repeating myself over and over. In fact, I don’t think I could do it in English either. It only makes me more frustrated that I can’t hear the professor half the time. She barely speaks above a whisper and has a very weak and unsteady voice. It’s as if she is going to burst into tears at any moment. I don’t know... Then of course there are all the other foreign exchange students. Some of them have very good German vocabularies and grammar, but I can’t understand them because of their accents! I have to try really hard to understand German when it is spoken by anyone other than Germans or other Americans. zB: I get extremely irritated with the girls from Poland and The Czech Republic that speak WAY too softly. If you think I speak softly sometimes, just listen to these girls!

My history class is hard to follow because we have no book or handouts during class. He doesn’t do a Powerpoint either. He just stands up there and guides the class in discussion over…not really sure? It’s impossible for me to follow without anything to look at or read. I’m a visual learner, so this format is difficult for me even if it were taught auf Englisch. It takes every ounce of willpower in me to focus and keep myself from drifting off into my own thoughts, planning where I would like to travel, doodling, etc.

Half of the time I’m intrigued by my speech training course for international students, and the other half of the time I’m almost bored to tears. We spend too much time on warming up our voices and preparing for speech in my opinion. Every class is the EXACT same thing for the first 20 minutes. It is very tempting arrive late just so I don’t have to go through the warm up exercises. The nice part of the class is when I am able to tie the lesson into the things I learned in American Phonetics. I also soak up any speech therapy related terms he throws at us. Many of them are the same/ very similar, but it still makes me happy. I have already discovered several things that I have been mispronouncing in German thanks to that class. I guess all in all, the “speech therapy” class is my favorite despite the fact that he moves too slowly through some of the material.

At least my long week is going to end on a fun note. Tomorrow I’m going to a small town near Kaiserslautern. I was invited to visit Monica’s hometown Saturday-Sunday! This is exciting for me because it will be my first visit to a German home! Her parents don’t speak a word of English, so it will provide me with more German practice. Well, it will actually FORCE me to speak German, but you know. lol. I wish I could hang out and travel with Germans all the time. I enjoy spending time with them far more than spending time with my fellow exchange students...

I Hate These Machines with Every Fiber of My Being

So… I just got back from putting a load of laundry in one of the washing machines downstairs. I absolutely dread doing my laundry here because I get ripped off at least 30% of the time and it takes FOREVER! Really now, what year is this? Shouldn’t dryers be able to do their jobs in less than an hour and a half??? Worse yet is when you wait for the hour and a half only to find your clothes are still extremely damp! (Then you get the joy of paying yet again.) What gives Neuhalde???

Today I may have gotten a little angrier at the machine than necessary, but this is getting ridiculous! I paid the 1.50 Euro for the wash cycle only to have the machine refuse to start! That pretty much sent me flying of the handle. I yelled a few nasty words at it and proceeded to kick the machine repeatedly as hard as I could. I know that never actually helps, but it was as close as I could get to destroying the machine Office Space style…

Now, the logical thing to do would be to complain to Neuhalde’s Hausmeister, but A.)He scares me. B.)I don’t actually know if he has any control over such matters. C.)My German skills are not good enough to file a complaint. Grrr! So yeah, if I were keeping track of the amount I’ve spent on laundry in Neuhalde with NO results it would be 7.50 Euro. If I were keeping track.

Somewhere Along the Line, I Developed a Liking for Brezeln

Guess what. I have been in Tübingen about two months now! That means I am a third of the way through my semester abroad. CRAZY! I now have 15 stars on my Germany map marking the places I’ve visited. (I will get to add more this weekend when I go to Kassel and ??mystery??) I suppose it’s time for the good ol’ “what do I like better about Germany VS what do I miss” blog.

The most obvious one to start out with would be the food -Oops! I mean family and friends! ;) But honestly you guys, that’s a given! Anyway, I desperately miss full home cooked meals. Yes, I have a kitchen here, but very limited kitchen supplies. Not to mention the fact that when cooking for one, you end up wasting a LOT of food. Seeing as how everything is so expensive here, I can’t afford to waste food. My typical diet consists of mini pizzas, fruit, and deli sandwiches. I don’t get even close to the right amount of meat and vegetables that I should be eating… The only “real” meat I ever get is by eating out. (and of course that is rare because of the cost)

A little known fact about Germans is that they actually drink more coffee than beer! You would think that would translate to having a HUGE selection of coffee and coffee products- WRONG. Germans typically drink their coffee black and with no added flavor or sugars! Basically, the only place you find the kind of coffee I like Starbucks! I do love Starbucks, but Tübingen doesn’t have one and people should be able to make „fun“ coffee in their own homes!

Water… omg. It should NOT be this difficult to get good natural water! The water in Germany’s restaurants typically isn’t free and it costs a lot. I hate ordering water only to be given the WRONG kind of water! I do NOT want any carbonation or sulfur taste to my water; why is that so hard to understand?? Also, there are no water fountains to be found… I could rant about water for an entire blog, but nobody needs or wants that. Let’s just say I almost always have a water bottle with me everywhere I go. If I forget my water, I get pretty ticked.

Hmm… now that I just whined about the food/drink for three paragraphs, I should point out that there are German foods and such that I will REALLY miss when I am back in the States. 1.) Döner!!! 2.) Schoko-croissants (3. German Brezeln with Apfel Schorle (Brezeln weren’t that high on my list until just recently. I just realized today that I have purchased 5 in the last three days! Don’t worry; I haven’t gotten to the point where I want them for breakfast. That’ a common German thing, but so is Nutella for breakfast. That is much more me. lol) 4.) the Eis. Particularly, Nutella Eis. (ice cream) 5.) the Bakeries on EVERY corner.

Transportation. I love how the train system in Germany is incredibly efficient and can take you virtually anywhere. In the states on the other hand, I wouldn’t dream of traveling all over by train. Amtrak is so SO inferior that it doesn’t seem like it should be considered the same mode of transportation. The trains and busses here are almost always exactly on time. When they aren’t, I’m tempted to take a picture of the sign saying the train is running late. But hey, at least you are informed that the train will be late and by how much. Psh, Amtrak fails again! I wouldn’t go so far as to say I prefer everything about transportation in Germany. Public transportation, yes; but I miss having my own car to drive sometimes. It is a pain to have to switch bus lines multiple times just to go visit friends living on the other side of town.

Germany is far more environmentally friendly than the U.S. There are recycling bins EVERYWHERE! In Germany I don’t have to deal with digging through the trash after my roommates to recycle their water bottles and such. The German recycling system just suits me. Also, the Germans really love their flowers, gardens, and parks. They also spend quality time relaxing in those beautiful parks. I will definitely miss that when I’m in the states. I’m getting really spoiled by the fact that everything is so beautiful and CLEAN in Germany!

Shopping is entirely different in Germany. You bag your own groceries, rent shopping carts, and there is a noticeable lack of customer service here. (That is especially true in restaurants.) I wish the stores would stay open later than they do. I still haven’t quite gotten used to everything closing around 7:00pm. And of course nothing is really open on Sundays. Aside from the crappy hours and lack of customer service, I prefer clothes shopping in Europe. I really like the European style of dress, and there seems to be more to choose from here. Before I go on, I need to clarify that I like the European styles for females. The males over here dress so… metro? I will never be a fan of the Man-pris or Euro mullets! Eww! Ew, ew, ew, EW! Those fashions should have died long ago! Scratch that- they never should have existed in the first place!

Now for a few more random things I miss about home: Skating. Full showers where you don’t have a curtain constantly blowing in on you! The ease of doing laundry… here it is SUCH a pain and (here’s a shocker:) expensive! The availability of affordable things and places like Target. The ease of signing up for classes at MU. The fact that MU provides you with easy access to computers and other technology that is included in your tuition. Being able to PRINT things!

Of course, let’s not forget one of the top reasons that Germany is AMAZING: The language! I love the German language and the fact that I am constantly surrounded by it. That doesn’t mean, however, that I always know what is going on. It’s just fun! Even though I’m in Germany; English books, music, and movies are readily available. If only the United States would have decent access to things in foreign languages… America’s low level of interest and attention to foreign language is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! I hate telling people that I only speak one language. Monolingualism is overly common for Americans, and I think our country should be ashamed of that!