Eurotrip with Eric!

So I've spent the last two weeks traveling around Europe with Eric, which has been really, really fun! We met in London, then proceeded to Paris and Rome, and he left this morning after spending a few days back in Konstanz with me.

I got to spend the afternoon in Zurich before leaving for London (my flight left from Zurich Airport so early in the morning that I had to spend the night in Zurich to get there on time). Zurich is really a beautiful city! I actually preferred it to Geneva or Interlaken. I didn't see very much--my hostel was in the old town so I spent the afternoon walking around there. But the old town is beautiful. There are two big churches, the Grossmunster and the Fraumunster, facing each other across the lake. Zurich is a big financial center now, apparently, but you wouldn't know it from the old town. So I wandered around for a few hours before having dinner and heading to my room to watch Hannah Montana in German (thought of you, Megan) and go to bed early. I had a taxi waiting at 4:30 am the next morning. My taxi driver didn't speak much English so I got to practice my German! We managed to hold a short conversation, which I was proud of myself for, since it was so early in the morning. I got to the airport (a ridiculous taxi fare later...why is Switzerland so expensive?!) before the ticket counters even opened, and had plenty of time.

So next stop, London! I had about two hours to wait before Eric got in, so I had breakfast, and then I started hearing people talking about flights from the US being delayed because of some bad storms around NY, so I got worried. Luckily Eric's flight was only a few minutes delayed and he zipped through customs and met me on time. We took the tube into London and started off our trip with a double-decker bus tour! We sat on the open top, which was great at first since it was about 70 degrees and sunny. The tour got stuck in traffic and took a little longer than expected, and 4 hours and some rain later, we were pretty cold and wet. But it was really fun to see so much of London right away! We ate dinner that night in a pub that had been there since 1723. Day 2 in London started out in Notting Hill, at the Saturday market on Portobello Road! It's a huuuuge flea market with tons of delicious food and funny stalls. We of course stopped at the travel bookshop featured in the movie, and ate delicious street food for lunch. Then we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, where the admission fee is so high that your "free" audioguide is an iTouch. Both the church and the view from the dome (523 steps later...) were gorgeous, however, although the audioguide was a little too much religious stuff for my taste. We spent the end of the day wandering around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, one gigantic park in the center of London.

Day 3 began rainy, unfortunately, so the Yeoman Warder tours at the Tower of London were canceled, much to our disappointment--apparently the Yeomen don't like to get wet. But we spent several hours seeing all the exhibits in the tower--Eric really liked the armor one. The last time I was in London was mid-November, so I was shocked at all the crowds for everything. The line to see the Crown Jewels was so long we didn't bother. Then we headed off to the British Museum, since it was still pretty gross and rainy. It was insanely crowded! We started our final day in London by walking through St. James' Park to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Apparently it was the queen's birthday celebration, so we were treated to an hour-long performance by the royal band. Selections included a long Beatles medley (which was great, the whole crowd sang along) and the theme from the Incredibles. After that, we went to St. Martin in the Fields' Church for lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt--a cafeteria style lunch in a real church crypt! The food was delicious and it was certainly an interesting atmosphere. Next up was taking pictures with the lions in Trafalgar Square, and then Westminster Abbey, still my favorite part of London (and now Eric's too!). We ended the day at the National Gallery. Dinner was at a delicious fast-food place called Nando's recommended by my friend Ramya--their chicken was amazing!! Apparently they are coming to the US soon--here's hoping!

So the next morning it was off to the train station to take the Eurostar to Paris. After about two hours, we were in Gare du Nord and I felt like I was home again! We rented an apartment in Paris, the cheapest non-sketch lodging option, which was in the Latin Quarter, one of my favorite neighborhoods. We could see the Pantheon from the tiny balcony. After dropping off our things, I took Eric on a tour of the Latin Quarter: starting at Notre Dame, we saw the church and climbed the towers; then Sainte-Chapelle (Eric's favorite); then a nice walk down the Blvd Ste-Michel before dinner (I finally got to have escargots again!). We ended the day sitting in the Jardins de Luxembourg in gorgeous weather. I also enjoyed watching French TV in the evening. Day 2, I made Eric walk a lot. We started at the Arc de Triomphe, climbed up, then walked down the Champs-Elysees to the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries. Then we did a quick Louvre visit--it was intensely crowded but we managed to see some exhibits I wanted to show him. Next, we went across the river to the Marais. We started at the Centre Pompidou, and then walked from there to the Place des Vosges while I took him on a little tour of the district, Paris' oldest neighborhood and now the Jewish/gay quarter. We finished the day on the Ile Ste-Louis at Berthillon for ice cream! After all that walking, we were exhausted, and we went home to freshen up before going to my host parents' apartment for dinner! I missed them so much and it felt so good to be in the place I used to live again! They were as kind and pleasant as always and after a few minutes my French came back with ease. After dinner and seeing some pictures of their two new grandchildren, my host dad took us on an abridged version of his famous "Paris par nuit"tour--we arrived at the Eiffel Tower just in time to see it sparkle! We were out late that night but it was worth it!

On Day 3 in Paris, we started at the Musee d'Orsay--unfortunately it's under construction so a lot of it was rearranged, but it was still beautiful. Next up was the Musee Rodin and Les Invalides, Napoleon's tomb. We kept it short so we'd have energy for Day 4, which was Versailles! Unfortunately it was INSANELY crowded and much colder than forecasted. We got all the way out into the gardens, as far from the chateau as you could be, when it started pouring rain (we hadn't brought umbrellas either). So we ran the mile back to the castle and the other half-mile to the train station, and headed back home to dry off before dinner with my old friend Orlando! He showed us around the Jussieu area of Paris, and the part of the Seine where they do salsa dancing classes! I saw some things that were even new to me, which was exciting. On our last day in Paris, we started in Montmartre, which I correctly guessed would be Eric's favorite (except for the harassment by street vendors, of course). We saw Sacre-Coeur and then wandered some of the tiny windy streets, and ate lunch at a bakery, protected by an awning while it poured again. Next up was the Opera Garnier--we got there just as a rehearsal was ending so we got to see the sets on stage! Then I got to do a little shopping on the Rue Sainte-Honore--we saw a wedding at La Madeleine before stopping at Laduree for macaroons and at the Longchamp boutique! We capped off our stay in Paris with a trip to La Tour Eiffel. My one regret about Paris in June (although the weather was gorgeous), other than the crowds of tourists, was that it doesn't get dark until almost 11 pm, and Paris is most beautiful at night, I think. So we ate dinner and then went up the Eiffel Tower to wait for sunset. We stayed until about 10:30, when it was semi-dark, to enjoy the lights, and then came down in time to see the 11 pm sparkling from Trocadero. (The Eiffel Tower sparkles at night on the hour for five minutes)

The next afternoon we arrived in Rome. It was really, really hot. London had been rainy and in the high 60s; Paris, sunshine and clouds and in the low to mid 70s. Rome was easily mid-80s, persistently sunny, and humid. I did not like that. After dropping our things at the B&B we were staying at, we spent the end of the afternoon at the Coliseum before resting up for the next day. We started Day 2 (just as hot and sunny and humid) at the Roman Forums, which Eric really enjoyed--it's all the archaeological ruins of ancient Rome. After a few hours there, we headed down the Via del Corso to see the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We ended the day in Trastevere, eating at La Cisterna, a place where my parents ate on their honeymoon! La Cisterna means "the well" in Italian, and it's called that because of the excavation of an underground well underneath the restaurant, which they take you on a tour of after dinner! I was proud of myself because we got directions to the restaurant in Italian and I understood them--the street is really hard to find and not on maps so we had to ask people, but we found it! We spent our final day in Vatican City: the museums and St. Peter's, then back into Rome to see the Catacombs of San Callisto and the San Giovanni in Laterano church. Vatican City was so crowded that I was getting really uncomfortable in the museums, since I'm claustrophobic. I was glad to be out. I've now been to Rome twice and don't plan to go again. The weather in summer is terrible (in my opinion) and the city is dirty, smelly, sketchy, poorly maintained, inefficient, and CROWDED. The train from Termini Station to the main airport is actually programmed to tell you how late it is upon arrival. There's a lot more of Italy I want to see, but Rome I am completely done with.

So the next day we spent all day traveling back to Konstanz. We flew from Rome to Vienna, Austria, where we had a layover before flying to Zurich and taking a train back to Konstanz. Four countries in one day. We arrived home in time for dinner in the pouring rain. The next day was a national holiday I'd had no idea about, and I had literally no food in my apartment since I'd been gone for two weeks. So we tried some restaurants in Konstanz and walked around the city a bit, but everything was closed. We had German food that night with my friends Thorin and Alessia! The next day we went grocery shopping and went to Meersburg with my language partner, Ulf. We walked around the town a bit and had some gelati! On Eric's last day here, I showed him Konstanz, since everything was open--the harbor, the funny statues, the shops, etc. We tried some Turkish food for dinner and then he got ready to leave. He started his trip back to the US a few hours ago, and now it's back to work for me!

The challenges of learning a new language

So my reasons for being in Germany are twofold: first and most ostensibly, to do research on the political culture of discrimination against Muslim immigrants in Western Europe, to the extent that I'm able at this point in my academic career. Secondly and probably more importantly at this point in said academic career, to learn German in order to further my research later on.

However, due to the fact that private language schools are insanely expensive and I arrived at the wrong time to take a language course through the university, I've been learning largely on my own. I've used two online courses (busuu.com and Deutsche Interaktiv, for anyone interested), and have added in a combination of grammar workbooks and websites, watching dubbed American TV shows, and translating Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, as well as my language exchange partner, Ulf! So essentially I'm not only teaching myself the language but designing my own curriculum. The Internet's a wonderful thing, isn't it? I don't think it would work nearly as well if I wasn't physically in Germany hearing German every time I leave my apartment, though.

I literally had no German background at all prior to arriving here--when I knew I was coming I made it a point to learn greetings and numbers, and then all of a sudden I was on a plane to a country I'd never been to where they speak a language I couldn't say ten words in. If there is one thing I hate, it's being dependent, and the second I got here I hated being dependent on other people's English-speaking abilities. So I've worked as hard as I can to make that less of an issue. It's very different from my semester abroad in Paris. I had about 7 years of background in French (even though American methods of teaching second languages are awful), I was living with a family, I was with one of my best friends, and even arriving I wasn't dependent on people speaking English--fluency happened pretty quickly and almost without me realizing it.

Here it's very different. Not only because I arrived all by myself to spend the summer working on my own with no background in the language. I feel like every day I am flooded with hundreds of new bits of information--new words or verb conjugations that I learn and immediately forget, cultural notes, ways to phrase or pronounce things. While in Paris I was shooting for big goals, like watching a movie without subtitles, or having a phone conversation, or understanding song lyrics, here I'm happy with little victories. After going to Geneva, where they speak French and I could communicate easily, I came back to Konstanz intensely frustrated. I can think in French, I can switch from French to English at a moment's notice, and I can understand what people say to me. My grammar may have a lot of mistakes but I can do very well without any assistance in a French-speaking place. Thinking of how to say things in French comes very quickly. Coming back to a place where I couldn't understand a word anyone said anymore was disheartening.

In Konstanz, I have to think of what I want to say. Then I have to break it down word by word to figure out the words I know and the words I don't know. If I'm out and about, I have to look up the words I don't know in my phrasebook. If they're not there I have to figure out another way to express what I mean. Then I have to make a guess at word ordering and verb conjugations. And if it's not in the present tense, forget it. I thought doing everything in French could be exhausting sometimes, but it's nothing compared to this. Imagine shopping for food or toiletries when you can't read anything that's on the labels. Or trying to get daily tasks like buying a bus ticket or making a deposit at the bank accomplished. Every time I leave my apartment it's difficult.

Obviously you can't become fluent in a language overnight, or in a month, or even in four months, particularly without formal instruction. So I'll just keep up what I'm doing, and in August see where I am!

With that, here's to the little victories of the past few days:

-ordering gelati in multiple flavors in a cone or a cup--kugeln im becher (scoop in a cup)!

-making a deposit at the bank in German...einzahlung (the deposit)!

-explaining to the woman waiting with me for the (very late) bus that there had been a car accident near the Konzil Theater so that was why the bus was late--der Unfall (the accident)!

-paying my rent and spelling my last name in German--bezahlen (to pay)!

hopefully there will be many more!

SeeLife and Stoplerstein

So it's been a pretty quiet week since I got back from Switzerland. I've been trying to get some work done both on my Deutsch and on my research. I met with the professor supervising me while I'm here, and he made some suggestions, so I may be taking a trip to Ludwigsburg, a city near Stuttgart, in July to visit the Deutsch-Französisch Institut. My newest language-learning strategies include regular viewing of American TV shows in German (the easiest to find are the Simpsons and Scrubs so far) and trying to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to learn new vocabulary. I'm not making sentences as fast as I'd like, so I think I'm going to add in studying verbs from my verb book every day, and finding a way to study prepositions.

After I got back from Switzerland, I went to get ice cream with Thorin and he showed me something really interesting that I want to share. Apparently several years ago in Germany an artist was commissioned for a project called the Stolperstein (literally means stumbling-stone in German). They are golden stones that are placed in front of buildings where deported Jews lived or worked prior to deportation. They list the person's name, date of birth, camps deported to, and then date of death and/or liberation, where applicable. There are several scattered around Konstanz, Thorin showed me a few, and apparently they are now in every German city. I included a link to the Wikipedia article on them here if anyone is interested in reading more, and my pics of two of them are at the bottom of this entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein

I also went to SeeLife with Ulf, my language partner! SeeLife is the aquarium in Konstanz. It was small but still really fun to see! It was really well put-together, the exhibits were nicely done. For some reason the fish were SUPER active and excited, I swear the penguins were showing off for the little kids. Then we went to Cafe Aran for ice cream, after looking around a bookstore in Lago (the mall). Apparently my German pronunciation is good! yay! except for that darn -ch sound, I can't quite seem to get it right. And I said my longest German sentence to date trying to explain that my mother was proud of me for traveling alone! Grammatically correct sentence, no, but hey, I'm just happy to be stringing seven or eight words together.

Today is a holiday in Germany, Ascension Day, and EVERYTHING is closed. I'm assuming Ascension Day as in post-Easter ascension, but I'm not a very observant Catholic, so I went for Turkish food! Thorin and I went to a little place near the harbor. I had yufka with meat--it was kind of like a burrito? but it was yummy! Then we walked around the city, which was crowded because everyone was off today, and climbed the Munstertur and walked around some more. It was much nicer to climb the Munstertur on a clear day.

Turkish food

at SeeLife

one of the Stoplersteine; I think this one was for someone liberated

a bad picture of the Schnetztor, one of the remnants of ancient city walls surrounding KN

another Stoplerstein, this one for someone murdered in the camps

Geneva and Interlaken

This week I took my first ever solo trip! I figured Switzerland was a good place to start my travels for the summer, since it's so close by. So I went to Geneva and Interlaken for 2 1/2 days.

I started out my trip with Geneva. All my traveling was done by train--I love European trains. They're fast, comfy, and on time. Much more than you can say for Amtrak or NJTransit. I don't think they're terribly expensive, either, considering the distances traveled. So it took about 3 1/2 hours to get to Geneva from Konstanz, I had to change trains once. I got there about noon on Tuesday. After eating lunch and checking in to my hostel, I set off exploring. It was SO hot--over 80 degrees, which I was unprepared for. I was happy, though, because Geneva and I have a language in common--chocolate...I mean French! It was so fabulous to hear French again! I could actually understand everything going on around me for the first time in a month.

Geneva seems like a pretty small city and almost everything there is to see is clustered in one really walkable area. So I walked around and saw the Rhone River and Lake Geneva, which are a beautiful turquoise color. The Jet d'Eau is at the spot where they meet--it's the tallest water fountain in the world. It was pretty cool to see. Then I wandered into the Vielle-Ville, or old city, walked around a bit, and went into the Cathedrale Sainte-Pierre. Geneva was a big hub of the Reformation, John Calvin used to hang out there. While Protestantism is all well and good, I have to say, their churches really aren't any fun to visit because they're so boring to look at. But the cathedral in Geneva has a tower you can climb, plus it's on top of a hill. So of course, because that's what I do, I climbed the tower, and the view of the lake was lovely. I went back down to the ground and went to a nearby art museum. By this point I was limping somewhat--my flats are super comfy for my feet but not so much for my heels--they tend to rub them a little raw and also rub off any band-aids I put there. So I was moving pretty slowly for the rest of the day. After the art museum, which was pretty unremarkable but nice, I headed back down towards the river to get a view of the Jet d'Eau close up, as well as to see the famous flower clock. Being in the main section of Geneva is like being on 5th Avenue in NY. Everything is designer and everything is insanely expensive. A meal at McDonalds, for example, costs about 10 Swiss francs, which is a little more than $11. So I passed a lot of expensive stores, looked at the flower clock, and the Brunswick Memorial, which is a famous person's burial place. Then it was time to look for dinner, since I hadn't really had anything filling for lunch and my feet were killing me. Unfortunately, it was about 5:00 and Europe doesn't really do dinner that early, haha. I finally found a relatively inexpensive pizza place that was open, and then headed back to the hostel and enjoyed French TV while doing some work-I think the best part was seeing what American shows the French choose to watch. That night it was 7th Heaven, and then a French show that had to be from the 80s or early 90s, judging by the outfits, and then in the morning I was treated to a French episode of Phineas & Ferb. The downside to traveling by yourself is that evenings can get a little quiet.

So in the morning I woke up and headed off to see the gigantic broken chair and the UN. Then I walked around a little more by the river before heading off to Interlaken on the train. I got there around 1 pm. The train ride from Bern to Interlaken was beautiful because you could see the biggest mountains of the Alps, still covered in snow, the whole way. I dropped my bags off at my hostel and started walking around. There's not tons to do in Interlaken unless it's in the way of adventure sports, so I was able to see the town pretty quickly and have a traditional Swiss dinner of cheese fondue. Interlaken may be a small town but it is beautiful. The mountains that overlook it are lovely--I wish I could come back in winter when the whole thing is snow-covered and not just the tallest peaks. There are people everywhere para-sailing, and you can watch them land. I saw another flower clock, guess the Swiss have a thing for those. The one in Interlaken has musical dwarves that chime the hour, though, which was cool. It depressed me a little to be back in German Switzerland, where I once again have no idea what's going on. Had a few problems with my hostel but they lowered my rate by a ton without me even asking, so can't complain. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE so every little bit helps...I also got to watch The Simpsons, Grey's, and Private Practice in German, lol. Educational, I suppose?

So Thursday morning I got up, ate breakfast, and hung around awhile before heading out of Interlaken on a boat cruise across Lake Thun. It took about two hours to get to Thun, the town on the other side. The ride was incredibly scenic--got a little boring by myself but it was gorgeous. From there I got a train that went straight to Zurich, where I could get a train back to Konstanz, and here I am. I'm really tired but I had a great week!

Thoughts on traveling by myself...it was really great until the evenings, then it got a little lonely, but I did get some work done! However, evenings are really long when you're by yourself, because tourist sites close around 5 or 6, and it doesn't take that long to eat dinner alone, and then you're stuck for several hours. I wish I'd brought my laptop, but then I would have had to worry about keeping it safe. Watching foreign TV was fun, though! Overall I enjoyed it, and never felt unsafe, although I was also in well before dark both nights-I think I wouldn't have felt so safe had I been out at night. Then again, it's not hard to be in before dark when dark isn't until 9:30 or 10 pm...ah, Europe.

Pfannküchen, rain, and the Alps

So since I last wrote I've had some more social activity and experienced how gorgeous Konstanz can be!

The weather has taken a turn for the worse, but overall is still pretty nice--I was supposed to go to a barbecue Saturday that unfortunately got rained out. So Sunday Thorin, my new friend, invited me to go to Cafe Aran, a popular cafe here, with some of his friends. We walked all the way across town to get there, but it was a nice walk! We hung out in the cafe and then checked out a street fair on the German-Swiss border. The best part was this thing they had for kids--it was like plastic hamster balls but in a kiddie pool! It was so funny to watch. I was excited because I had learned weather words that morning and everyone was talking about the terrible weather and I could actually understand some of what people said! Unfortunately, then it started raining and buses don't run very often on Sundays because it's Europe and nothing is open on Sundays. So we only got a bus part of the way home and then proceeded to get soaked. But it was fun!

I spent the early part of the week with some more meetings, and I finally a) have a residence permit and b) am registered as a student! So I can start my research, once they clean the asbestos off the books for me...the library here has a lot of great resources but most of it is closed due to a little asbestos problem, so they have to clean the books before they let you take them out. So it takes a few days. I've been working on some stuff I brought with me in the meantime, and keeping up with my German lessons.

Wednesday I was really excited because the haze over the Alps finally lifted (as it does rarely, apparently) and we could see them! I could see them from my balcony, but decided to take myself on a walk around the lake and the center of town to get a better view. It was absolutely gorgeous--the pictures don't even do it justice. It made me really excited for the trip to Geneva and Interlaken I'm planning for next week. In the evening, Thorin invited me to get German pancakes with some of his friends who are from Russia. The pancakes (Pfannkuchen) were delicious! They were like French crepes, very thin, but not folded, so they were pretty much the size of a pizza in America. I got mine with Nutella, of course. It was a really fun evening.

Thursday I had lunch with Alessia, one of my Italian friends! We had a really nice time and hopefully I can learn some Italian from her when I get settled into German a bit more. I met two of her friends, one of whom was giving a presentation in English that day, so he was excited to practice. His class was on 9/11 literature, which I found fascinating. I saw him today and we had a longer conversation about it. I personally can't believe that there's enough 9/11 literature to make an entire class on it, or that it's been long enough that there can be a class already. But it was really interesting to hear him speak about it.

Today I met my language partner, Ulf, for the first time! The university has a tandem conversation exchange through which you can learn various languages--Ulf is a native German from outside Stuttgart who wants to refresh his English before taking the TOEFL to study abroad in Toronto. We mostly spoke in English today because I still don't know a lot of German verbs. But he's very nice and next week we are going to meet in the city so he can show me around a bit more! I'm excited to learn some more verbs so we can alternate speaking German and English.

Right now what everyone in Germany is talking about is Eurovision: it's kind of like the European version of American Idol, except that each European nation sends a competitor. Azerbaijan won and this came as a shock to many people, apparently.

So now that I have library privileges, this weekend I'll probably prepare for my trip to Switzerland, start my research, and keep up with the German!

My GIANT Pfannküchen!

zoomed in on the Alps over the Bodensee

the lake and the Alps

kids in the hamster pool

Altstadt und Meersburg

So I finally finished up grading and finals on Wednesday evening/Thursday afternoon (a few latecomers...), and decided to celebrate by doing some exploring!

Thursday I went to the Altstadt, the "old city" area of Konstanz. Unfortunately, although it was gorgeous weather the entire time I was stuck inside doing work, it rained a lot yesterday. So I wandered around the old section of the city. It's full of windy streets and tiny shops, a lot of clothing boutiques but a little of everything. The buildings date back to the 13th and 14th century. Since Konstanz is on the Swiss border, it preserved much more than many German cities during WW2, since the Allies didn't bomb it for fear of bombing Switzerland. I visited a German bookstore (and an English one as well!) and got myself the first Harry Potter in German to motivate me to learn faster. I was looking for some books to help me with German grammar, which I'm finding impossible without instruction, but no luck yet.

I also got to see the Münster, or church. It has a hugely tall tower, which I of course climbed. All by myself--like, no one else was even on the stairs. Possibly one of the creepier things I've done so far. But the view from the top was nice--apparently on a clear day you can see to Austria, so I'll have to go back.

In the evening, I met up with Alessia, a friend of one of my friends at Rutgers, Kelly. She is from Italy, and we went to a pizzeria and had a very nice evening talking and eating,despite the pouring rain. The downside was trying to come home: buses run on very limited schedules after about 8:30 pm in Konstanz, so it took forever, we were waiting for ages for a bus. But on the way home we met a friend of hers, Thorin, who lives in my dorm complex! So it was nice to meet someone who lives here, since I didn't know anyone before.

Today I decided I was going across the lake to Meersburg. It's a 15-minute ferry ride (and I'm pretty sure I succeeded in getting sunburned during that 15 minutes-need to buy sunscreen), and Meersburg features an adorable town area and the oldest castle in Germany. There are two castles there, the Altschloss and the Neuschloss. I wandered around and ate fish and chips at one of the only cheap places in town, recommended by my guidebook (I'm sorry, I don't really like German food! I don't do red meat), and then went up the hill to the castles. Meersburg is known for wine so the hills are covered in vineyards. The Altschloss was cool, I made friends with a guy dressed as a knight. It was very old, and the woman gave me a guide in French (I guess they ran out of English), and I kept awkwardly running in on tours in German. The Neuschloss is bright pink and under renovation. So I wandered the adorable little German streets for awhile and came across a brass band that played "When I'm 64", by the Beatles. They then almost got run over by a truck that was trying to back up in the narrow and windy streets. So since they stopped playing, I decided to get some apfelstrudel! I'd seen signs for it all day and it sounded delicious. So I sat outside and ate apfelstrudel with vanilla ice cream, and it was very, very yummy. Overall, I really liked Meersburg--it was quite charming.

After that, I headed back to the Altstadt in Konstanz to take some more pictures, since it was so nice out! I got to see the Imperia statue, the most scandalous part of Konstanz...it is a statue in the harbor, of a prostitute. She has a naked man in each hand, the emperor in one and the pope in the other. It's a metaphor from a Balzac short story about church reform, apparently. Then I came home to relax! It's been a long two weeks since I arrived, but hopefully on Tuesday I'll get to start my research. I know I'm settling in and getting used to hearing German because I can finally pronounce the German word for "excuse me"-entschuldigung. I had a lot of trouble with it when I first got here. But today I tried to only ask for things in German and mostly succeeded--when I need something explained I need to ask for English, since I understand very little, but I was able to order food and ask for tickets without using English!

My latest language-learning strategy has been to find American TV shows dubbed in German on Youtube. I found the pilot episode of Friends, and some episodes of the Nanny, so I'll have to look for more.

Imperia statue in the KN harbor

my delicious apfelstrudel--are you jealous, Dad?

my first view of Konstanz, except 12 days later

me and the Altschloss in Meersburg

main street in Meersburg

one of the building murals in the Altstadt of Konstanz

odds and ends

sunset over the mountains from my balcony

So I've spent the last several days mostly hibernating in my apartment writing final exams. Just finished the exams and moving on to grading 80-odd undergrad papers!

Interesting events:

- Butterbretzels, or buttered pretzels, are amazing. yum yum.

- when I went to the grocery store on Saturday, my cell phone thought I went to Switzerland. It sent me a text in German, the only part of which I understood was "Wilkommen aus Schweiz!" (European cell phones text you when you leave the country to let you know you're roaming.) I mean, it was only a few miles off, but I'm not sure it knows it's back in Germany yet, haha.

- I found pancake mix at the grocery store! I spent about five minutes trying to determine what was flour and what was sugar, and eventually turned around and discovered shake and pour pancake mix! it was fabulous. I had pancakes for dinner Saturday night.

- on the downside of my shopping adventure, I bought turkey breast when I meant to buy chicken, and celery salt when I wanted table salt. Oh well, almost the same thing...it's difficult to shop when you don't speak the language, but everything you successfully find does feel like a victory! (my kitchen is pretty much fully outfitted now and I feel great about it)

- Swiss chocolate makes finals ten times better.

- I'm still having some issues with jet lag, but maybe those will be better when finals are over and I can actually have a chance to leave my apartment.

- my online German course is going well and I feel like I know a few more words now. Still way more nouns than verbs, but we'll see. I can now identify vegetables and various body parts, as well as all the layers of my bed linens. Useful, no?

-I now have health insurance so I am free to get run down by insane German cyclists.

-realized the other day that I can see Switzerland from my apartment. Then I kind of felt like Sarah Palin.

-planning a fun weekend once Thursday hits and I'm done with everything remaining at Rutgers! Exploring Konstanz and also planning to check out Meersburg, the town across the lake.

German words of the day:

-Genau!---Germans say this literally EVERY 5 SECONDS. I haven't even been around that many German people and I have already noticed this. Thanks to Alex I know that it means "right" or "exactly"

-Tschuss!--"bye". Again, thanks to Alex, I now know what cashiers are saying to me when I leave stores.