Last week was busied with studying for finals on Thursday. The weekend before we got down to working, my friend Mark and I took a train 30 minutes out of Freiburg into the Black Forest to “Titisee.” We hiked around, chatted with some friendly and some unfriendly people, and found a spot on the beach to camp out. We made a little house of it: a wood oven kitchen under one canopy, an open sandy foyer, and a bedroom under canopy two. We had class the next morning, so we got up early got back early, wrote our essays, and that was that.
Tests were tests, and in three and a half weeks I had magically earned three credits. Wonderful.
Thursday afternoon brought exams. Friday morning brought me a train that carried me quietly and quickly to Aix-en-Provence, Southern France. Within the first hour of my flight on rails I’d been through three countries (Germany, Switzerland, France). That was pretty cool. The realization came when all of sudden German and English were dropped from train announcements. Germany, Switzerland: internationally accommodating. You are bound to hear a language you understand when announcements are made. France: you either know French or you suppose what is going on, but it’s simply a guess. I stayed in Aix with my there studying friend Nick for four solid days. We drank lots of coffee, lots of tea, took a day trip to Marseille, got a good amount of walking in. We also had lots of conversations that went somewhat along the lines of “oh you have that problem too? Cool. I thought it was just me who had lost all basics in communication.” France always amazes me because it is so French. It’s very easy to bunch all the European countries together simply as Europa. False. France is absolutely a different country than Germany. And the others.
I took an overnight train back to Freiburg Tuesday morning. That was fun, though the extremely reclinable chairs didn’t really serve their purpose. Tuesday day I slept and slept in preparation for a German heavy night. I went to a dinner party with my roommate and eight or nine Germans. They are all some of the nicest and friendliest people here I think. I was quite happy and content at the start of the evening. Then we sat down for dinner and I swear for 90 minutes I didn’t say one word. Not one. Topics at the table were foreign, sometimes entirely not understandable, and always fassst. My silent bought slung me into a lonely depression on the porch. A breath of fresh, silent air, no misunderstanding there. People joined me on the porch and I could finally click into conversation. That’s what it took that night. 90 minutes of dejection. Completely worth it. No doubt. We went to a party later and the entire night I could talk talk talk as much as I pleased. I had a wonderful evening.
Today I took care of some logistical matters and met with one of my teachers from my language course. I tried to translate a piece of creative writing from English to German and my teacher was more than happy to swim through seas of completely nonsensical expressions with me. I certainly improved my translation.
I still have two weeks before classes start. This week I will register for my classes. Friday I have an appointment with an advisor to figure stuff out.
Fall is most certainly upon us. :)
Ah! I forgot about Critical Mass. For those of you who don't know, every month there is an international bike ride that takes place where ever the population is large enough. Any commuters/bike enthusiasts get together and ride slowly through the streets "celebrating bikes as transportation." It's a blast. I rode with Freiburg Critical Mass this past week. I had a bike out of the 30's, before they used brake cables. It's built with metal rods with joints to operate the brakes. The ride was great. I met a few people who took me to a camp after the ride. I really don't know what kind of camp it was. There were a good amount of people, lots of Turks, it was a raise racial awareness camp (sort of). Lots and lots and lots of Turkish children who loved to breakdance. Right when I got there I took up salad duties and prepared food with a few people. I met someone else there and she invited me to a punk show. After the camp we went to the show, I was incredibly pleased with how good the music was. The first band was out of Freiburg. The headline band was from Pittsburgh.
It was really just Mark and I at our camp spot. But there were also a dozen ducks, and they were fearless. One tried to bite a tortellini off of marks fork, but it's beak wasn't strong enough.
View from our beach.
We brought and set up candles for light, in addition to our fire.
The Kitchen.
Living Quarters.
Yay! Nick and I in Marseille :)
Marseille.
Beautiful Park in Aix (Nick and his friend Mark)
Tea House.
Cafe.
Marseille.
Marseille.
Aix. :)
Tests were tests, and in three and a half weeks I had magically earned three credits. Wonderful.
Thursday afternoon brought exams. Friday morning brought me a train that carried me quietly and quickly to Aix-en-Provence, Southern France. Within the first hour of my flight on rails I’d been through three countries (Germany, Switzerland, France). That was pretty cool. The realization came when all of sudden German and English were dropped from train announcements. Germany, Switzerland: internationally accommodating. You are bound to hear a language you understand when announcements are made. France: you either know French or you suppose what is going on, but it’s simply a guess. I stayed in Aix with my there studying friend Nick for four solid days. We drank lots of coffee, lots of tea, took a day trip to Marseille, got a good amount of walking in. We also had lots of conversations that went somewhat along the lines of “oh you have that problem too? Cool. I thought it was just me who had lost all basics in communication.” France always amazes me because it is so French. It’s very easy to bunch all the European countries together simply as Europa. False. France is absolutely a different country than Germany. And the others.
I took an overnight train back to Freiburg Tuesday morning. That was fun, though the extremely reclinable chairs didn’t really serve their purpose. Tuesday day I slept and slept in preparation for a German heavy night. I went to a dinner party with my roommate and eight or nine Germans. They are all some of the nicest and friendliest people here I think. I was quite happy and content at the start of the evening. Then we sat down for dinner and I swear for 90 minutes I didn’t say one word. Not one. Topics at the table were foreign, sometimes entirely not understandable, and always fassst. My silent bought slung me into a lonely depression on the porch. A breath of fresh, silent air, no misunderstanding there. People joined me on the porch and I could finally click into conversation. That’s what it took that night. 90 minutes of dejection. Completely worth it. No doubt. We went to a party later and the entire night I could talk talk talk as much as I pleased. I had a wonderful evening.
Today I took care of some logistical matters and met with one of my teachers from my language course. I tried to translate a piece of creative writing from English to German and my teacher was more than happy to swim through seas of completely nonsensical expressions with me. I certainly improved my translation.
I still have two weeks before classes start. This week I will register for my classes. Friday I have an appointment with an advisor to figure stuff out.
Fall is most certainly upon us. :)
Ah! I forgot about Critical Mass. For those of you who don't know, every month there is an international bike ride that takes place where ever the population is large enough. Any commuters/bike enthusiasts get together and ride slowly through the streets "celebrating bikes as transportation." It's a blast. I rode with Freiburg Critical Mass this past week. I had a bike out of the 30's, before they used brake cables. It's built with metal rods with joints to operate the brakes. The ride was great. I met a few people who took me to a camp after the ride. I really don't know what kind of camp it was. There were a good amount of people, lots of Turks, it was a raise racial awareness camp (sort of). Lots and lots and lots of Turkish children who loved to breakdance. Right when I got there I took up salad duties and prepared food with a few people. I met someone else there and she invited me to a punk show. After the camp we went to the show, I was incredibly pleased with how good the music was. The first band was out of Freiburg. The headline band was from Pittsburgh.
It was really just Mark and I at our camp spot. But there were also a dozen ducks, and they were fearless. One tried to bite a tortellini off of marks fork, but it's beak wasn't strong enough.
View from our beach.
We brought and set up candles for light, in addition to our fire.
The Kitchen.
Living Quarters.
Oye I forgot about this too. I live next to a squatter camp/"wagenplatz" (car place) where people live. They have built their own community. They have a theatre (every wednesday and Saturday at dusk, free chai, free movie!). They throw festivals often, including this one. I played table soccer with a group of kids that was fun. I also watched this man and his two friends juggle fire, classy entertainment.
Yay! Nick and I in Marseille :)
Marseille.
Beautiful Park in Aix (Nick and his friend Mark)
Tea House.
Cafe.
Marseille.
Marseille.Aix. :)
Hey Ben, it's Henry.
ReplyDeleteI read the whole thing and I love it. Especially the camping part.
It reminded me of "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. In no small part because it is a novel about Europe. Moreover, if you wish to discuss said novel during our next skype sesh, you should visit your local library and pick it up. It might be a good candidate for a German read-through because Hemingway's language is so simple, but I would recommend reading it in English first because there is truly a lot going on that you would likely miss in German. One of the best books I've ever read, and it's basically your life.
Please update frequently.
tmorr21 and I are waiting.