Sunshine, IKEA, Rats

Happy Sunday and welcome back to being six hours behind me again. We finally sprung forward an hour last night here in Germany, and I am excited to welcome in longer days. It's finally starting to warm up around here. When the sun is out and it is not raining, it is really nice. I'm really looking forward to days without any coat at all, but it might take another month until we get there.

The last week was quick and busy, which seems to be the status quo for how time works abroad. My time here is constantly filled up with being stuck in the classroom 30 hours per week, the regular trips to Kaufland and Ghetto Netto for groceries, and getting enough sleep to make it through. Getting enough sleep to actually function is one of my favorite parts of being in Germany as opposed to being at Transy. At home, I am used to having to get through everyday on 5-6 hours a night, whereas I almost always get 7-9 everynight here. I think this is a concept I will attempt to take back to Transy, although I think it would fail immensely.

Monday morning our morning professor, Bianca, told us we would be having a test on Friday. Luckily I took this to mean that I should wait until Thursday night to study, so the good news is that I didn't let a silly thing such as a test worth a quarter of my grade get in the way of my good time. The bad was that I had to study all day Thursday and might have made a few silly mistakes for that reason, but I'm sure I will survive. Other than not studying for my test all week, my friends and I took a much-needed trip to IKEA to pick up some treats for our room. I've only been to IKEA once before when I was in Finland, but I still marvel at what a wonderful place it is. Not only do they have everything you would ever need to have a cool house, but they have delicious hot dogs (1 euro for a hot dog+drink!) and free cinnamon rolls. The cinammon rolls might have been intended to be samples, but we helped ourselves to at least 7 throughout our two hours at the store. In the end, I bought new bedding, a mirror, and two stuffed rats. I would tell you more about the rats, but my friends would make fun of me.

For some reason I am halfway blanking out as to what I did the rest of the week. School takes up so much of the day that most of the time there is really not much else that can be packed into the day. I will be so relieved when this Sprachkurs will be over (only 14 more days!) and I can have a much less intense schedule. I have definitely enjoyed being here at the University and meeting other program participants, but I am pretty critical of the class. I might be used to the luxury of having classes that are regularly less than 15 people at Transy, but I find it idiotic to place 25 people in one language course and expect that anything will get done. That takes me to my next complaint, which is that I have learned absolutely nothing thus far from the class. The course gives us extremely limited opportunities to speak or write. We spend most of our time going over the useless workbook homework or doing absolutely nothing. I actually think my German abilities have decreased since getting here. I would be much better off spending the six hours of my day that are currently being wasted being out and about in the town actually communicating with people, not starting at a textbook.

My University... or as we know it "Concrete Central"

But anyways, enough complaining, I'm in Germany! I've really enjoyed getting to know all of the new people. Friday night a lot of us went out again and it is so nice to hang out with everyone NOT at school. We met up at one of the bars in town for awhile and then I stayed up until 5:30am watching UK beat Ohio State. Go Cats! Tonight I get to watch them beat up on UNC (I hope Rudy reads this!) and then start another week at school. I am currently making my spring break plans (Mid-April through the third of May) so if anyone has any great ideas, let me know! So far we are thinking Prague, but not sure otherwise. I'd really like to go to Greece.

Auf Wiedersehen,

Ashley

Weimar, Nuernburg, and SWEET SIXTEEN!

First of all, GO CATS! I have been lucky enough to watch the games all the way on this side of the ocean, and though Princeton was a scare, it was great to see us back in the Sweet 16! We have a bracket competition going here in Regensburg with a few KU fans, and you can only imagine who they've picked to win it all...

The past week cannot be described as anything other than completely hectic. First off, my German professor from Transy, Dr.Weber, is also our program director for KIIS. He was here this week checking in on the program, since this is the first year for the new Regensburg program. Every night we had some sort of activity or something he asked us to come along on, so that time combined with 6 hours of class led to not a lot of free time. However, we had a great dinner, watched a good movie, and got free ice cream and tiramisu. Not a bad deal! But in any case, I didn't sleep a lot all week because I had a presentation that I had to give in my Sprechen class that was on Friday. I spent a lot of time preparing for it and I'm so glad it is over! While Dr. Weber was in town, he discussed our options for our Summer classes. The classes begin May 1 or so and run until the weekend that I go home. I am only taking three classes, and what is even better is that two only meet once per week. All in all, I only have three day of class, which will give me a lot more time to spend actually DOING things.

While the week went well, this weekend was pretty awful. Friday night we went out with a lot of people on the program and had a lot of fun (maybe too much?) and then got home at a pretty indecent hour. This was probably a bad idea, considering we were supposed to be on the bus at 6:10 to head to the train station. We had planned on going to Weimar, which is about a 5 hour trip. Needless to say, we didn't make it. We ended up taking a slightly later train around 8. The trip was so long and confusing, and we had to transfer around 35 times, but finally we got to Weimar. You might think that trip sounds like the bad part, but it only was the beginning. We stepped out of the train station in Weimar... and we were practically the only ones in the city. It was a ghost town and most of the city was completely closed down and boarded up or empty. We walked around trying to find a place to eat and finally settled on a Doener place. It was delicious and cheap because the store guy gave us a secret discount, or so we believe. After that, we tried to find something to do. Long story short, there was absolutely nothing. We got back on the train, rode five hours to Regensburg, and went to bed.

This morning there was a group excursion to Nuernberg (English lang. calls it Nuremberg), which is a little over an hour away. We met at nine and spent the morning exploring the old Nazi constructions of the city. The Nazis made Nuernberg the main convention center for the Nazi rallies and it played a crucial role in expaning the Nazi party across Bavaria and all of Germany. This is also the place where the Nuremberg trials took place after WWII. A city with a lot of interesting history! We had a lunch break and then in the afternoon we went on a city tour. I love traveling and I love spending time in new cities, but for some reason I absolutely despise guided tours. Unfortunately, this one was one of the worst of the worst. It lasted over two hours, was completely outdoors in the freezing weather, and involved hearing some of the least exciting information I have ever learned. When it was over, we headed straight back here and I am now cozy in my bed. I hate the cold.

This week will be a lot more low-key, which I am really looking forward to. Hopefully I can get to IKEA and buy some things for my room! Hope everyone has a good week back home!

Love Ashley

Time, Bayerische Party, and No Money

I can't believe that I have only been here two and a half weeks. When I think back to my first day in Regensburg and especially the flight over from the US, it feels like months ago. However, day to day the time seems to fly by. Part of this, I think, is that I'm now in class six hours a day. It really does make the day a lot shorter when you don't have a life until 3pm.

Though class is long and occasionally really boring, I know it is benefitting me a lot. Reviewing all of the things that I haven't seen since two years ago or so is helping me a lot. Some days go better than others with regards to German-speaking. My friends here and I daily report to eachother as to whether it has been a "good German" or a "bad German" day. Last night our tutors at the University held a Bavarian Party for the 60-odd Intensive Language Course students. It reinforced what I already knew about the relationship between alcohol consumption and language ability: It's always a positive correlation. It was like we were fluent or something. It was definitely a great night and I got to know a lot of the other ILC participants a lot better.

Unfortunately, we stayed out a bit later than we planned to, which had negative consequences for our planned 7:00 wakeup to get to the train station. Morgan, Liz, and I had planned on going to Freiburg on the French border this weekend. However, I slept until 7:30, as did both girls. We miraculously made it on the 8:00 bus, wet hair and all, and were at the train station on time for the 8:30 Freiburg train. That's when things started falling apart. When we got there, Morgan and Liz realized they hadn't brought their passports (necessary when you use a BahnPass) and then I ran into the first real logistics problem I've had over here. Before the trip, I needed to withdraw some money. When I got to Berlin the first day a few weeks ago, I exchanged just a little cash and then withdrew 300 Euros to get me through the berlin week and to get set up here in Regensburg. No problem. However, today when I put my card in the machine, it wouldn't let me get money. It turns out Chase just kind of freaked out a little bit and has frozen my account. This was bad news for me, considering I have all of 6-8 euros on me currently. So, the trip to Freiburg was cancelled and Liz and morgan decided to go ahead and just do a day trip to Munich. I stayed behind because I have one less trip on my BahnPass, so I figured it would be good just to save my four remaining for the next two weekends.

Today has been nice and relaxing. I spent the early part of the day exploring Regensburg on my own, which I hadn't yet gotten the chance to do. It was a nice, warm day and there were a lot of people out on the streets in town. Then I came back and did what I have needed to do for three weeks: Nap. It was the most glorious nap ever taken in the history of naps. Even better than that accidental 4 hour snooze during a crucial point in Finals Week 2010. Now I feel much more refreshed and ready for a big week. This week I have class everyday and I also have to start getting ready to do a ten minute presentation (all in German!) for my Sprechenkurs. Also, tomorrow Dr. Weber (my German professor from Transy for those of you who don't know) will be here in Regensburg. He is the program director for my KIIS program, so he is coming just to check in with how everything is going. If only Karrie could come too!

Tschuess and have a good week!

Love Ashley

I'm really alive!

Hallo from Regensburg on this lovely Faschings Dienstag.

I still don't have internet yet, but our program directors have told us that we will have it tomorrow, so I will be more able to Skype if anyone misses me too terribly!

It has been a really crazy week here. Despite the holiday, I started class yesterday morning. We took the placement test on Saturday and I am in the B1 class with my friend Morgan. Liz, our German whiz friend, is in the more advanced class. Class is conducted quite different here. If I thought sitting through a day of class in the US is tough, I was mistaken. I am up at 7 to shower and eat breakfast before we have to catch the bus at 8:08. We get to our class right about 8:30 when we have the Sprachkurs from 8:30-10, followed by the Schreibenkurs from 10:15-11:45, then lunch hour until 1 when we have the Sprechenkurs from 1-2:30. I still haven't exactly figured out the difference between the courses despite their different titles, but the work isn't terribly difficult. The awful thing about our class is that we do not move classrooms the entire day. The teachers rotate into our room to teach the lessons. It is so hard to sit in the same place the entire day long. I feel like I am in middle school again (or General Psychology I) as I watch the clock a lot. Also, many of the students are rather rude in our class. They are either difficult to work with when we have something we must work on in pairs, or else they talk the entire time the professor is attempting to teach the lesson. Very different from being in class at Transy.

Our dorms are interesting to say the least. It's really not so bad. My room is probably a little over half of my room in Forrer at Transy, but I have the entire thing to myself. There is a ton of storage space. I share a kitchen and two bathrooms with my five roommates. I have only met two of my roommates, but they are pretty nice so far (except one of them leaves kind of scathing notes laying around about her disapproval of my light habits) The only real complaint I have about the lifestyle here so far besides the cold is the diet. I feel like I have been eating horribly. It's really expensive to eat and drink out, but buying food isn't too much cheaper and it's pretty hard to survive on a diet of Nutella, waffles, and Brie cheese. However, my friends and I have gotten pretty good at trying to eat well at home. The first night we made an absolutely digusting pasta with brocolli, but this weekend we made a fresh, homemade baked ziti that even got approval by Morgan's Italian roommate.

I am really enjoying being here. Class is tough to get through, but I know this language course will really benefit me once the semester has begun. I have a lot left to learn, but what better way than by being here in Germany. Sometimes I feel a little bit lonely, but that was probably more due to having all of the free time we had before class began. Once I am into the routine of things a bit more, I think that I will enjoy it even more. I have made a lot of new friends, many who come from outside of Germany and the U.S. It is so interesting to learn German with other students who haven't yet even mastered English. A few of the girls we have been hanging out with come from France, Italy, and even Finland!!! I always knew Hyvaa Paiiva would come in handy one day.

Summary= Germany is good, I have internet soon, I am learning how to cook, beer is cheap and more delicious here, and class is going well. Also, a few new pictures on Facebook.

Love,

Ashley

Regensburg!

It was a crazy last few days in Berlin and at last we are here in Regensburg! I dont have internet yet at our Studentenwohnheim, so I cant give a good update yet, but hopefully soon. I will say that Regensburg is absolutely amazing. We love it already! Being in huge Berlin really makes it seem nice to be in a city that is a lot smaller and a lot easier to navigate.

We spent the last day in Berlin doing absolutely nothing besides eating Bratwürst and getting ready to leave. We bought overnight train tickets to Regensburg with our Bahnpasses and that ended up being the worst decision ever. The train was supposed to be 10 hours to Regensburg overnight, which we figured would be great because we could sleep. Wrong. The seats were horrid and uncomfortable, and not only were we surrounded by snoring men, but the train sounded like the noise that you hear when you are trying to stuff the lid on a styrofoam cooler. We slept little to none the entire way. Then the train broke down. That was awesome, because we ended up getting to Munich late, meaning we missed our train to Regensburg. Luckily we ended up getting on one and here we are! We have been here a few days now and we absolutely love it. We have made a lot of new friends and now I cant wait to start class. Like I said, no internet yet, but Ill give a better update later.

Tschüss!

Ashley