What-A-Ditz

Ditzy moments.
Bike riding is the way to get around Bamberg. Everyone has one, but not everyone knows how to ride one! I could probably be considered one of those people, since I already fell off once and probably pissed off a lot of car drivers. First of all, let me give a description of my bike. I felt like I got a steal for 75 Euro with a bike lock. It's red with gears! It is so nice to have gears! It looks like it is in good condition compare to the other 'things' that people consider bikes around Bamberg. Now that I gave the description of my bike, let me tell some stories about bike riders. They are basically the 'jay-walkers' of the city. They go at their own risk, even though the light will be red. This obviously pisses off car drivers, because sometimes the bike rider will stop ongoing traffic, or even worse, cause an almost accident. Bike riders are priveledged too, for they always have the right away. With me being here, I have seen already two accidents. One was a girl crashing into a person who was in the bike path at night. The other was just today, when another girl crashed horizontally into another biker.
When I got my bike, I felt pretty confident. I could go over any curb and any around all construction. That definitely has changed since a couple of days ago. First of all, I noticed that my bike is making 'strange' noises, since I have been going off of curbs and such. I am hoping that I didn't lose a piece or anything. Maybe I just loosened some screws, who knows. Anyways, so I was riding to my friend's apartment. I was behind these two girls that weren't really paying attention. One of the girls realized that they were suppose to turn left, so she made an abrupt left. The other girl turned left a little while later but stopped in the process after noticing that I was right behind her. She was trying to let me go around her, but she was taking up the entire path. My only option was to go off a curb, which was no problem. But than me and my confidence decided to try to get back on the path over the big curb. It didn't work out so well, and I definitely took a fall. It wasn't too bad, but my left knee has begun to hurt again. (For all those who don't know, it is the same knee that I think I internally bruised from a fall down the stairs over the summer.) Wonderful!
Another ditzy moment.
I was at Angela's apartment, and we were getting ready to go out. I used the bathroom, and when I tried opening the door...I couldn't. So embarrassing! I locked myself in long enough for everyone to realize that I was stuck. I think I am becoming accustomed to giving people laughs. It's all fun!

Glueckliche Tage

October 29, 2006




This evening, I have just returned from seeing the play Glueckliche Tage. The play is based off of the works of Irish writer Samuel Beckett. Before I give you my opinion, keep in mind that Beckett is an abstract writer. I appreciate the uniqueness of the play and the talent of the two Schauspielers. Yes, there was only two! There wasn't much movement in the play or acting. It was more speaking through different melodies of language and facial expressions. The girl was stuck in mound of dirt the entire play. The first half, you were able to see her upper body; but the second half she was buried up to her head. The guy had a very 'unusual' role. He was facing away from the audience on the other side of the mound of dirt. The first half, you could only see the back of his head; by the second half, he was able to walk around, but he only climbed up the mound of dirt and stayed in one position the entire time. I couldn't really give you a plot summary of the play, because there wasn't one! There wasn't even an ending!


Personally, this play did not appeal to my interests. I like a little more acting and having an actual plot. Don't let my opinion stop you from seeing this play if you have the chance. Afterall, it began in NY! I have once before seen a play like this, and I have learned to keep an open mind when viewing plays. When one does this, you can see the unique talents and creativity of writers.

Classes

I finally have started settling down in Bamberg. We just finished our second week of school, and I believe my schedule looks pretty decent. As of right now, I am taking: Germanistik Grammatik (grammar course), Phoenitiks (speaking course), WirtschaftDeutsch (business German), Strategische Management (strategic management), International Management, and a course about literature 5 years after 911. I am really excited about the literature course and to hear what other people felt, saw, heard about 911. This may seem like a lot of courses, but the classes are only once a week. However, the teachers do give plenty of homework.

Evolution of Dance

Pumpkin Carving!

Trying to keep with traditions, a group of us carved pumpkins at Angela's apartment. The carvers consisted of Angela, Molly, Shawn, and myself. My pumpkin didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to. I was really hoping to have these huge buck teeth in the front, but I made an error and ended up having two slim, crooked teeth instead. We were not wasteful of the pumpkins' wastes. Naturally, we saved the seeds and cooked them in the oven. They were so good! We also saved the gooey, disgusting stuff for the Belgium girls to make pumpkin soup...interesting.

The Plan

So supposedly Angela's roommate does not think highly of Americans, because he will occasionally make comments to Angela. Because of this, we decided to leave our beautifully carved pumpkins in the kitchen of Angela's apartment. Hopefully they will be lit for the true effect when he sees them. I think sooner or later we and our American/Canadian traditions will grow on him!

USI macht Musi

Friday, October 20

Feki is normally a business educational building. In fact, I have a considerable amount of classes held in there, because I am a business major. However, this particular Friday night, Feki was not a place to go to classes. It was the place to go for a HUGE party! I know...this was so strange to me as well! We had a lot of fun, even with the 'oldie' music selection. There were two dance areas, a bar, and naturally the DJ area.

I didn't realize how well remembered the Erasmus students would be. As I walked into Feki for the "USI macht Musi," I had about five people come to me and tell me that they 'knew' me. Later I learned that I was in their English speaking class for business. (Yes, I am in Germany and still managed to be able to take an English speaking business class. It is one of my favorite classes, for I understand everything.) After mingling with the other students, I joined my International possie on the dance floor!

OMG Shawn was being attacked! He totally enjoyed it...haha! While Shawn was dancing amongst us all, a girl started coming up from behind him. It looked as if she was going to fall over if Shawn had moved out of the way. Shawn is such a good sport though, he held her up and kept on dancing with her!

USI macht Musi Album

Ramstein

Clemson University offered the Clemson students a wonderful opportunity. The university paid us $400 a piece to go to this military base for a college fair. Basically, we (Katie, Katrina, and myself) had to sit their for a few hours and answer prospective students' questions. Overall, I think we did a really good job in making a good impression of Clemson on other students and their families. It was pretty easy to talk about the University, because my two years there have given me some of my best memories and life long friends!

The Ramstein air base was kind of awkward to see at first, for it was like a small America within Germany. It was a fairly big base, and everything was written in English. It also had some of America's favorite fast food/ groceries on the base that you would not find in Europe typically. I was shocked to hear some of the teens say that they have been abroad since they were 2 years old!! It could be an interesting, educational lifestyle...but not for me. Personally, I wouldn't be able to live in other countries for 3 years etc. in many different countries. I would miss my family and friends too much! The military family's response to this is: "You learn to make new friends and stay in touch with your family." UNBELIEVABLE

Even though the military lifestyle...living in different countries for a period of time based on deployment...is not for me, I believe I would like to live/travel the world more. I am enjoying my experience so much here at Bamberg, and there is so much more to see!

Monday, October 16

This is Pierre and Blandina. They are the Frenchies! I was fortunate enough to be invited to their dinner party, where they made us French crepes. They were deliteful!

Tuesday, October 17

So Bamberg is known for their first semester party. Basically if you go to Bamberg University, you will be at this party...or you will attempt to get in. It is held in two clubs that are right next to each other in the town. Once the club reaches its capacity, they shut the doors, so you have to get there early. It was a lot of fun and quite the experience!

In this picture Left to Right: Molly, Shawn, Lieselot, Hannah



A.K.A. Partycipate Semester Start-Up

Classes

The first week of school began Monday, October 15, and it is going TERRIBLY. First of all, I have the issue of making sure the classes I am taking transfer to Clemson University credit. This is a long process. I have emailed about 4 different people and have yet received any response back. Because I am not sure if these classes will transfer or not, I just attend to them all. Today is Wednesday, and I have had only one class. REASON: The teachers don't show up for classes. For three of my classes the teachers never showed. This is typically something all students look forward to, that is teachers cancelling class, but not for me. Being in a foreign school system, I need to know how the class is and if the teacher will even let me take his or her course. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, but until then I will be emailing people like crazy!!

Weekend of October 14-15th:

The 'group' went to Salzburg. The 'group' includes: Angela (Canadian...not American), Lieselot (Belgium), Molly (Coloroda), Shawn (Georgia), and me (Illinois). Yes, this group might seem strange, because my Clemson girls are not with me; but I think we have all made our own group of friends here in Bamberg, although Katie and I are still considered sisters (long story). The weekend at Salzburg definitely made us all a lot closer. It was great!

We left on the train from Bamberg at 9a.m. Saturday. After changing trains twice, we arrived in Salzburg around 2:30p.m. Yes, it was a long train ride!! The trains aren't that bad though. They kind of remind me of the trains in the movies with Harry Potter, for they have the concession carts filled with drinks and food going through the carts. The first thing that we attended to after arriving in Salzburg was the hostel reservations. Staying in hostels is definitely the way to go when travelling through Europe. For starters, you meet many other foreign people. Secondly, it is really cheap. For one night we paid 19 Euros a piece. We honestly didn't do too much Saturday. We did some window shopping, went to the famous cafe, ate dinner, and then had a wine night. The only problem with our wine night was that we had no cups at first.

Solution:

We had dinner at this Japanese restaurant. Of course I ordered Sushi, because I love sushi. Anyways, Shawn ordered some rice dish and was brough out a interesting looking cup for his rice. As we were looking at the cup, it hit us: There is our first wine glass. So we walked away from the Japanese restaurant with our new 'party cup'. We then walked to the world famous McDonalds and ordered hot chocolate, which became our other wine cups.

Wine night was held in our Hostel room, where two other beds were occupied but some other foreign travellers. We were waiting around hoping that we would meet our other 'roomies,' but they never showed up. We were taking guesses where they could be from. After looking at the worn down sandals next to the bed, we ruled out any European nationality and assumed American. There names were Benjamin and Matt. (The next day we found out one was John and the other was actually a girl...never caught her name, but both were from USA.) So after having the cheap, frizz wine in our hostel room, we went into town. Salzburg doesn't have many bars/clubs, so we decided to continue our wine night in a wine bar. The waiter was really nice, and recommended Austria's well-known wine. It was deliteful! We then left the wine bar and bumped into some native Austrian teenagers. We ended joining them in one of the clubs, but soon left because it wasn't too fun. Basically, people were standing around drinking while watching a group of people dancing. I have to say, their was one particular guy that was dancing very interesting; it was like he was on speed or something...I never saw anything like it.

The next day we did more tourists type stuff. We went to the famous cemetry, where many films have been filmed including 'Sound of Music'. We also went to the trick water game castle called Hellburn. This castle was owned by a bishop, who liked playing tricks on his guests with water. The tour guide called upon Molly, Liselot, Angela, and myself to come down and help him demonstrate one of the water tricks. However, Molly and Liselot were the only ones that were brave enough to participate. (I was once at Hellburn before with my mother, so I knew exactly what was going to happen. I definitely did not want to get wet.) It ended up being one of our favorite places in Salzburg, and no one walked away dry. We also visited some gardens and the Mozart chocolate shop.

Overall, I still love Salzburg. Like I said previously, I was once there before and even after the second time, I would go again. If I do ever go back, I would definitely do the 'Sound of Music' tour. Afterall, that is what Salzburg is known for! I have included some pictures of this trip...ENJOY!

SALZBURG ALBUM

This is what happens when someone takes a picture of you and you aren't looking...
terrible!

I am looking in this picture...woohoo! We are at the first Stammtisch, and I am with one of my good friends from Clemson! Pierre is sort of in the picture.

Update

In need of...
bisquick and diet coke!
I decided to make a pancake dinner for a few of my close friends here...and it's just not the same without bisquick. Unfortunately, Germany doesn't believe in bisquick. Also, they have NO diet coke! At least I have yet to discover it. They do have coca-cola light...which sucks.

New news:
I decided to join a dance class for fun: Salsa! It shall be interesting!

It's beautiful, but....

My complaint:

Coming to Europe, I knew that smoking was a popular habit here. However, I did not know it was going to be this bad. Just walking around town I feel like I have to wash my clothes, because I reek of smoke. It doesn't matter how many times or how much soap I use to wash my hair...it still smells like smoke! It's ridiculous!!

Today we celebrated Canada's Thanksgiving Day! NO...we didn't celebrate just to celebrate; Angela is from Canada. We weren't able to throw together a traditional meal with the short amount of time that we had, but we still had fun hanging out at the pub. Hopefully for ours 'the American Thanksgiving," we can throw a decent meal together. Here is an interesting discovery. They do not have yams or sweet potatoes in Germany. It's very tragic especially since that is one of my favorite food items at Thanksgiving dinner.

My room has brightened up a little, because now I have flowers! It's amazing what a little color does, but still my room needs something...maybe pictures! It's terrible. I left all my pictures at home, because I didn't have enough time to pack them. I seriously felt like my whole summer flew bye! The good news is, besides a few clothing items, I didn't forget anything necessary.

I am starting to become a nervous wreck. Next Monday my classes will begin. Unfortunately, I still don't know what classes I will be taking. Germany does this whole registration for classes thing differently. Even after you register, you have two weeks to decide if you want to finalize your schedule or not. After the two weeks, then it is finalized! Ich habe ANGST! Hopefully all the classes that I need to take will be offered by Bamberg, and I will be able to transfer them to Clemson. All these things that one needs to worry about when studying abroad.

Besides celebrating Canada's Thanksgiving, the second most interesting thing that I did today was buying a bike! As some people might already know, everyone rides a bike. It is definitely a plus having one here in Bamberg. You get everywhere so much faster...maybe I will stop being late to everything.

MISS YOU ALL!

***Check out my albums...they will be updated ever now and then!


It seems to be that it would have been a good idea to bring my 'boot.' I was walking the other day, and well my clutzy self just rolled my other ankle. It is a little swollen but managable to walk on. Don't worry, i did bring braces and ice packs for this reason. Overall, this week has been really hectic for me. I just finished my Erasmus course, which is a course for international students to help prepare them for German classes. Overall, the course was a success. It focused on grammatics, which I still am poor at. I think I struggle at it so much, because it is so different from the English grammar; but as they say, practice makes perfect! So besides keeping busy with studying for the final exam, I have been walking around town looking for odds and ends for my 'wohnheim.' I am quite dissappointed with the shopping here in Bamberg. I guess coming to Europe I had higher expectations for the style and accessories. However, I think it may just be Germany, or maybe this area, because the Italians and French say shopping sucks here as well. Personally, I think the clothes are way over priced for their quality. Some of the shirts look like someone just threaded some string together and put a price tag on it. Besides clothes shopping, I am also disappointed on finding regular items that one would use in a household. I have been looking everywhere for a long mirror and an area carpet. Obviously they have both of these items, but they aren't the right size or they are too expensive. Currently, I have one spoon, fork, knife, plate, and bowl...and that cost me 12 Euro! It's crazy! I could have gone to Wal-mart or Target and got a pack for $5. This sounds terrible, but I am starting to get adjusted to the high prices and almost expect it.
This week, the regular German students shall be moving in. It shall be interesting to see how Bamberg becomes when it is filled with students, for it is already a busy place. I have already met some German people. They are really nice, but like I was expecting, we always END up talking in English. This is a problem, because I don't want to become too comfortable talking to everyone in English. It especially doesn't help when I hang out with Australians, Irish, English, and American people. On the other hand, it is nice speaking English especially when I have been in class all day speaking and hearing German. It does take a lot of work and energy to learn another language. But the only way I am going to learn is by practicing...this I do know!
It is already starting to get cold here. No more sandal weather and you would be lucky to get by wearing only a sweater and jeans. I am really nervous about the winters here, even though I have experienced the Illinois' winters. From the Bamberg residents, I have heard that you NEED boots and a long jacket. Some people even suggested wearing tights under your pants, because the cold temperature plus the wind is horrific. This might be an exaggeration, but I am still nervous. I especially feel sorry for the people from South Carolina and Georgia, where they are lucky if they have seen snow at all!
I am not going to lie; I have gotten a little bit homesick. I miss my friends and family. I can't just pick up the phone and call YOU! I really do miss my phone. I never realized how attached I was to it...sorry about those high phone bills mom and dad. However, I did invest in a handy here; but even so, I can only call people in Germany, and if I call outside Germany, it is 1 Euro a minute...gah! The best way to get over your little bit of homesickness, is to hang out with people or got out. NEVER just sit it your room! People keep asking me if I could see myself living here; I honestly don't know yet. Give me a little more time, and I will let you know.
This next upcoming week, I will be busy once again, finishing the registration process for both classes and residency. I do think that Bamberg's registration process for school is out-dated. It took me three hours to wait in line just to to have them put me in their computer system and give me my i.d. In the States, we are able to do this registration process online; no line waiting. In Bamberg, there were only two people working behind the desk! Hopefully they work on a more efficient system soon, because supposedly I am going to have to go through this process again next semester.
That is it for now...until later BIS SPATER!

So let me explain how it is like living in Bamberg and in my Wohnheim...a.k.a. living arrangement. I was pleasantly surprised to find out on my arrival that I would be having my own room, kitchen, and bathroom. I was expecting to have my own room but share the kitchen and bathroom. After seeing how the rooms are set up, I can not even imagine sharing those essential rooms. First of all, the bathroom is so small. There is nothing separting the shower from the toilet or the sink. Basically, when you are taking a shower, expect the floor to be like a pond when you are done. The kitchen is not really separated from the rest of the room. In my room, the kitchen area consists of a sink and a counter top with burners. I also have a table for eating, but I use that more as a shelf unit. I hardly eat in the room. Lately, I have been making a meal in my room and then I will meet some people in the main kitchen down the hall. The main kitchen does have a stove/oven, but no microwave. I have yet to see anyone have a microwave, which is very different from college life in the states. When I was in Clemson, I basically made all my meals in the microwave.

I would have to say the biggest difference between here and the US living is that in Germany they have no air conditioners. I now know how Carol lives...haha! Every room has two big windows so that helps a little, but leaving the windows open=lots of bugs. I probably kill about 4 flies a day! It is so annoying. Also, my room is right in front of the bike rack. This is a problem at night, because people like to hang out at the bike rack and chit chat...I NEED MY SLEEP! During the day you really need to leave your windows open, because if you don't, your room will get this really distinct smell. Trust me, it is not pleasant. I am still getting adjusted to people just coming to my window and having conversations with me, but it is nice.

Fortunately, I have yet met any rude Germans, but I can't say that goes for everyone. I find that if you try to speak their native tongue, they appreciate it and will overlook any bad grammar. I have run into a few Germans who looked at me once and started speaking English to me. I guess I scream American! For example, the other day I walked into the gas station to get something to drink and the guy at the registar started speaking English with me. Naturally I responded in German, because I am here to learn. Guess what he did: he laughed! Geez...that was so encouraging.

So yesterday I was at the Oktoberfest all day. I didn't know really what to expect except lots of tourists, people dressed in traditional German outfits, and lots of beer. This idea wasn't completely run, but let me explain how the experience really was. As I was walking down the street towards the main entrance of the event, I saw many people passed out on the side of the road. I found this quite hilarious, but soon found that people were passed out everywhere. There wasn't one street where there wasn't someone on the ground passed out from alcohol. We finally came to a tent where there are hundreds of tables where people, strange and familiar, sit around and drink beer until they can't consume anymore. The group I was with, which was 6 people including myself, walked around for awhile, getting pushed in the back and beer spilled on, for about 30 minutes when we gave up on looking for a table. There were so many people there, that it was impossible to find room to even stand and not get pushed. So we decided to take our liter of beer and go outside and sit somewhere. We ended up seating across this hill where it was covered by people either sitting or sleeping. As we were consuming our first beer, we were soon fortunate enough to be accompanied by a few guys from Amsterdam. They were hilarious to talk to. This one guy was talking about German girls and how they don't shave their armpits for about 15 minutes. Sean and I decided to leave the group afterawhile to get another beer and see if we could find anyone else from our Erasmus group. As we were waiting for our beer, we learned that the waiters and waitresses were quite strong and forceful. They would carry about 10-15 liter mugs at one time filled with beer, and ram them in your bag until you got out of the way. They would yell 'vorsicht' and you knew to get out of the way. It was a surprise the first time when I got beer rammed in my back, but soon it became pretty funny; Sean and I just started yelling 'vorsicht' whenever we saw a waiter or waitress. We did end up finding some other students, who didn't look like they were having much fun. You really have to like crowds and drunken people if you want to attend Oktoberfest. Sean and I finally went back to our original group and we decided to leave the festival and just walk around Munich. Munich is so big! I definitely would like to go back to visit the city another time! Basically how I feel about Oktoberfest, I have seen it, done it, and tasted it. I don't plan on ever going back, but I am glad that I was able to experience part of this well-known festival.

Deutschland Party Album

Scenary Album

Oktoberfest

As soon as I arrived, I had a full schedule. For the first week, I probably left my room around 9a.m. and came back around 11p.m. One thing nice about Bamberg is that you can walk everywhere or take the bus. The first week I was in Bamberg, I had to take a German test so they could assign my to a class. I love my class! Right now I have met many international students, but very few German students since they are still on their summer vacation. On my hall, I have a few Spanish students, who are quite interesting. They can speak no German and very little English. Their communication with people is typically whistling and clapping. However, they are great people to know, because they have a party about four times a week. Because of them, I can do the flamingo dance...haha! I have met people from France, Italy, Hungary, USA, Czech Republic, Ireland, Greece, Thailand, Poland, and Canada. I was amazed to find out what people thought about Americans. The students who have visited did not get much out of the USA and were greatly disappointed. They felt Americans were dumb, lazy people. For example, this one guy from Germany was referred to as Hitler in New York. Another guy from Ireland was asked by his host mother in Nebraska, "Does your mother make your clothes?" It seems like many stereotypes that Americans have of other countrys are not true.
This is an amusing story from my friend Pierre, who is from France. He studied abroad in Ohio for a year. He said the family drove pick up trucks and listened to a lot of country music. There wasn't much to do, but the corn fields were a fascinating attraction. Before he left the US, he was given a goodbye gift which was....a GARTH BROOKS CD!
The other Americans here are from Colorado, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, and West Virgina. We have been speaking a lot about how different the parties and music are in Germany. The classic 'white trash party' was brought up, which now all the international students want us to throw one. If you don't know what a white trash party is, let me explain. Basically you wear a white t-shirt, preferrably a 'wife beater,' and dress up as white trash. Then at the party you take markers and right on everyone's white shirt. It's a fun, theme party! It will be interesting to see how that goes.
School wise, it is going pretty well. Right now, we are going over a lot of grammatic stuff, which I needed because German grammar is so different from English grammar. A couple days ago I had to give a 10 minute speech in German of course; I spoke about 'Wicked.' I think it went pretty well. This weekend should be fun for I will be attending Oktoberfest! I will be sure to take lots of pictures!

My way to Germany was an adventure, and I hate to admit it, but I was almost ready to take the next flight home. To begin with, when I arrived at the O'Hare airport, I learned that my flight was overbooked. Fortunately, the airline worked with me, and I was upgraded to business class. I was really gracious until I arrived in Frankfurt. After finding my way through the airport and going through all the security, I was told that I couldn't get on the flight even though they had me in their computer system. Unfortunately, when I was upgraded to business class in O'Hare airport, they took all my paper tickets and did not return my connecting flight ticket. I was really upset, because I had the same connecting flight as two of my friends, and we were suppose to take the trains and taxis together to Bamberg. I was now all on my own...and I had no idea where my luggage was. So I went back to the airline I arrived on and spoke with the representative. He was very rude and not very helpful the first time I spoke to him. After running around the airport for about three hours, I was told that my luggage was found and I would have to wait another hour for it. I must say, if my luggage was missing...I would have gone back home. So then I get my luggage and decide to take the train, because the flight was about 277 Euro and the train was only 67 Euro. NEVER AGAIN. I had to take two trains to get to Bamberg, and I had with me two 70 pound bags, my backpack, volleyball bag, and my winter jacket. People were helpful with helping me lift my luggage on and off the train, but I broke a few finger nails and toe nails. I was a mess! I finally arrived in Bamberg at about 10p.m. I was suppose to arrive at 1p.m. by the way. I had no idea where I was going to stay. I was suppose to pick up my key before 6p.m., and after talking to some people, I realized that I had a really slim chance of getting a hotel room with it being tourist's season in Bamberg. Fortunately, my taxi driver was really helpful and had 'some connections.' He had the phone number to my dorm in Bamberg and I was fortunate enough to still get my key. After bringing my luggage to my room, I ran into the familiar faces of my friends! I was so relieved but so ready to crash. I found out that they also encountered many problems on their way to Bamberg. International travel is NOT easy!