Tri-lingual

An interesting experience tonight supplied. I went to a pizzeria with my Spanish friend Eva this evening. She is a 27 year old Spanish girl. She came to Germany to study more German at the school I currently go to because apparently the job market is not as good as it could be in Spain and she has an engineering job set up out here after she finishes her German classes.

The interesting thing about tonight was the way in which we communicated. Early on in the night we decided to speak "nur deutsch" (only German). I believe that the two hours that we spoke in German were more valuable than the past week of class. Pushing one's self to speak conversationally in another language is extremely helpful to improve on the spot speaking skills and we both learned new words from each other. Another interesting thing was that when we didn't know a word in German we would use either a Spanish or English word to make the statement understood, more Spanish than English. I'm thankful for those painstaking days back in the states taking Spanish classes. Spanish has also proved to be useful in situations when I want to stealthlike with what I say.

On another note, I made a Hungarian friend, Andor,  this week in class. Hopefully I can visit him out there at some point during the year. Tomorrow is Freiberg so I'll take pictures and report back. Over and out.

Burg Hohenzollern, Bier Garten, and the Titisee

A good week it has been. The new instructor really made an effort to teach us and I learned way more this week than the week prior. On Thursday my teacher, Nathanael, his sister and girlfriend, Emily and Lisa, drove the 11 of us students in three cars to a few different places instead of class. Our first stop was a very quick one, the Atomkeller Strasse, where the Germans were trying to develop the atom bomb back during WWII. We were able to look inside through windows, a very small laboratory it was. Next was the Burg Hohenzollern. This was a large castle about 20 minutes from Horb. I posted pictures below. It was cool wandering around, but I find museums to become boring after a while.

After that we went to some Roman ruins that date back over 2000 years. We had a BBQ there and looked around. For some reason I was getting antsy so I decided to ditch the group for a while and wandered into the forest by myself. The adventure in the forest I found to be the most exciting part of the day. I wandered for about half an hour and ended up in another town, at that point I decided to head back. Wearing shorts wasn’t the best plan because the plants irritated the hell out of my skin, but oh well, when in Deutchland. By the way, that night when I was going to sleep there was a thunder storm with lightning and heavy rain, sweet.

On Friday after class a group of us Californians met at a beer garden to drink and celebrate Orlando’s 21^st birthday. The beer garden overlooked all of Horb. After a few hours we decided to walk down into Horb, I’d estimate 2km. I have a hard time sticking with a group when walking because I walk so fast, I definitely got this trait from my Oma. So I went on down the hill into Horb ahead of the rest. At one point I decided to just start jogging because it was so steep.

Once in Horb and after waiting for the group to make it down, we entered a pub and ordered some drinks. The pub was very small and one could smoke inside if so desired, and many had that desire. As time went on more and more Californians showed up. We had the pub packed, probably 30 of us, bringing America wherever we go. At one point I sat down and just so happened to lean up against a candle that spilled over, all of the melted wax befriending the back of my black T-shirt. I took off my shirt and pulled out my knife to try and scrape off the wax, it was no use. Damn.

With the mixture of my shirt getting ruined and my lack of interest in spending more money on beer, I made a decision. Outside I was with Eric and Dana. At that point I had already told Eric that I was thinking about walking home (a 12km walk, at night, in the rain). He suggested we have a cigarette before my departure and I obliged. Once my smoke was out I bluntly said “aite late” and as I was leaving Dana said something I couldn’t completely make out, but I think it was “you’re going alone” and all I said was “yup” and then I was off. Not looking back I began to jog up the hill into the darkness of the night.

A long, strenuous walk it turned out to be. I believe it took me around 2 and a half hours to make it home. Though my feet were sore, my throat was dry, and my clothes were wet, I enjoyed the alone time that the walk provided me. Once I arrived home I wasted no time and immediately fell asleep.

The following morning I woke up and went with Wolfgang and Erika to buy a bike that Wolfgang found for me on ebay. We had to travel 180km and once we arrived at our destination the husband wasn’t there and the bike was not what it appeared to be online. Long story short, I didn’t buy the bike and then we headed to the Titisee. The Titisee is a lake in the Black Forest. It’s a very touristy spot with a lot of shops and koo-koo-clocks. I put some pictures below.

After a while we decided to leave and then I passed out in the car. I woke up and we had just arrived at an Asian buffet. Man was I hungry. At the buffet one could pick out different meats and sauces and then they would cook it for you. All I ate was meat, mussels, clams, beef, and even kangaroo. The kangaroo was great and I have a new goal for the year, to try a bunch of different animals and perhaps some human as well.

Fortunately last night Wolfgang found another bike on ebay 5km away for only 30 euro and we went this morning to check it out. I ended up buying the bike.

Life update complete, my camera died when at the castle so I don’t have any pictures of the Roman ruins.

Titisee with Erika

Titisee with Wolfgang.

 En route.

 

Inside the Burg Hohenzollern.

Outside the Burg Hohenzollern.

Horb Heat

Damn, today was ridiculously hot. I felt like I was going to pass out in class. My classroom, no air conditioning, top floor (6th floor). I was literally dripping sweat in class. Today I had a new teacher and he's rad. His teaching style is what I had expected, intensive and a lot of work. Unlike last weeks teacher in which I was disappointed with.

Not much new going on other than that. Hopefully an Abenteuer (adventure) will come soon!

By the way, working on a mustache. This picture really does not do it justice.

Weekend adventure- Stuttgart and Heidelberg

It was a half day at school on Friday. After school I hopped on a bus with the Erics and met up with Jonathan (he had decided to skip class that day) at the bus stop in Weitingen. Our mission was Stuttgart for the day. We had a 2km walk from Weitingen to the train station in Eutingen. Looking at our watches we decided we might miss the train so we ended up running the last half mile to Eutingen. Once we got there we had troubles understanding the machine to buy our ticket because it was all in German. Luckily a German girl helped us and we ended up boarding the train on time.

After about forty-five minutes we arrived at Stuttgart and started walking around. It was a huge open air mall right next to the train station. We had no plan so we walked aimlessly as my blisters continued to get worse. Walking around for miles in Vans is not the best idea I have realized. Finally we found a market so we could by beer and food. With supplies in hand we asked different Germans what people do in the area for fun. There was a big park that we ended up hanging out and drinking at. Good times commenced and bottles were finished. Back to the market we went to resupply.

Night came and we continued to hang out at the park and ended up chilling with a group of Germans. It’s great language practice to go out the meet random people. The hand of the clock continued to turn and it became time to go back to the train station, 10:25pm. We got there around 10:15 and waited for about half an hour, but no train. After a while we realized that we were going to be stuck there until 6am. Leaving the train station we went out on the town and socialized. At around 2pm we were getting tired so we tried to sleep on some chairs in the train station. Not the most comfortable sleeping arrangement. So for four hours we tried to get some shut-eye. I was in and out of sleep the whole time.

Finally the time came to board the train and we headed back to Eutingen. The Erics got off in Horb. Once in Eutingen Jonathan and I walked the 2km to Weitingen. Back at the house I only had ten minutes to spare before catching a bus for Horb at 7:55am. With speed I brushed my teeth, put a fresh shirt and socks on, and decided to wear my running shoes because I felt like I could barely walk, the blisters on my feet giving me pain with every step. The running shoes made a remarkable difference in comfort and I hopped on the bus.

Arriving in Horb I met up with a large group of CSU students. We were all supposed to meet at the train station there to go to Heidelberg for the day. Tired, I laid down on a bench and tried to rest a little. With the clock nearing 8:45am (the time of the train) Dana informed me that Eric Perez (one of the Erics that I was with in Stuttgart) was in Kaufland (kind of like Walmart) buying some food. One of the directors told me that there were only 3 minutes until the train left. I decided it would be a good idea to not leave Eric behind so I went in to get him.

Eric and I walked into the train station as we saw our train leaving. Damn, not again. Luckily the ticket we bought earlier that morning was good for the entire day in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg. We hopped on a train an hour later. The train stopped in Stuttgart and we had an hour until our next train to Heidelberg. Back to where we were but a few hours before. To the market we went for beer and food.

On the train to Heidelberg we ate and started drinking. An hour and a half later we arrived in Heidelberg and hopped on a bus bound for the castle. Once we got off the bus it was about a ten minute walk up a steep hill to get to the castle. When we finally made it was saw all the CSU students and they had just finished a guided tour. All in all we were only about an hour behind them. They didn’t seem to be having much fun and there was a sense of jealousy coming from them about the way in which Eric and I had been traveling rather than being stuck in a group of 50 people and guides, not being allowed to stray from the group. I’d have to agree, traveling in a group of two is great.

Eric and I left the other students and cruised around the castle taking pictures. Once at the top we had our victory beers and started talked to an older German guy that spoke extremely fast. I could only make out about 50% of what he was saying. After a while we got over the castle and headed back down into town. The town was cool, very old European style. We walked around for a while without shirts and drinking a beer. We stuck out like a sour thumb.

We ended up sitting on a bench by the river and had another beer. The clock reached 5:30pm and that meant we had to make it back to the train station. The walk was longer than expected so we started running. Once at the train station, breathing heavily and sweating profusely, we watched our train leaving. The third time!

Discouraged, we figured out the next train back to Stuttgart because we would them have to hop onto a different train at Stuttgart to get back to Horb. The situation wasn’t as bad as it had seemed at first and we made it back to Horb about an hour behind the rest of the students. I was in and out of sleep on the train, exhausted as hell. It sure was a good thing we had the all-day train pass that day.

Back in Horb we met up with a group of students, hopped into a taxi-van and headed for Emfingen where a techno fest (rave) was taking place. One of the girls didn’t want to go in so I went back with her to Dana’s host family’s house in the same town. Thank God she didn’t want to go in because neither did I. Raves always have been, are, and always will be for losers. Back at Dana’s, Lauren skyped her boyfriend and I immediately passed out on the floor.

At around 4am Dana got back and woke us up giving us that bad news that her host parents had informed her that she wasn’t allowed to have people sleep over. Damn. Lauren and I walked back to where the rave was and met up with a few students. We got a taxi and I finally made it home around 5am.

Today (Sunday) was good. I went out to lunch with Erika and Wolfgang and we got Schnitzel that was as big as our plates. Other than that I swam and sun bathed today, a necessary recover from my two day sleepless adventure.

An adventure it was, here are some pictures.

The walk to Eutingen from Weitingen.

Train station in Stuttgart.

 Outside look of the train station in Stuttgart.

 Statue in Stuttgart

 This is the park where we hung out in Stuttgart.

Heidelberg, statue before the ascent to the castle.

 View of the Neckar River from the castle.

 Castle wall.

 Another castle wall.

 Yeah dude.

Very top of castle.

 Zeus.

 Church.

Sportplatz

The Sportplatz is where the public soccer field is in Weitingen. I purchased a soccer ball today for 20 euro and decided it would be a good idea to try out my new cleats and ball. Altogether 70 euro, a good investment for the year I believe. At the Sportplatz I tried to get back into the game, I'm a little rusty, but for the most part still got it. Kicking with my left foot felt slightly foreign though. When I was there some German dude asked me if I spoke German and I talked to him for a moment. He told me that he was looking at me for the club team in town, but I told him that I'd only be here for another 5 weeks. So much for that. Perhaps in Tuebingen.

Tomorrow is a half day at school. We get out around 12:30 and then I'm going to Stuttgart by train with Eric and Jonathan for the day. I'll make sure to take some pictures.

Last night I thought of this: if you were the North Star, my boner would be pointing in your direction.

Good, right?

Ergenzingen, Germany

I had a lot of energy in class today which made the day quite enjoyable. A girl in my class, sitting next to me, became so frustrated when the teacher kept trying to help her with pronunciation that she started crying. It was definitely a surprise to me because she is 29 years old and I don't find it to be frustrating that pronunciation is difficult. Either way, I understood a lot more of what the teacher was saying today. A step in the right direction.

After class we had a meeting with everyone and the main International Affairs coordinator, Anita. She spoke about responsibility and drinking. Apparently someone came home drunk and the host parents put in a complaint. It's interesting to see how the younger kids (under 21) are responding to there newly found freedom in Germany. I have two theories: either what Anita talked about actually happened, or she says that every year to the study abroad students for good measures. I'm kind of 50-50 on where I stand.

When I got back home Erika, Wolfgang, and I ate dinner. It was a "Swabish" dish called "Linsen und Spetzle." "Swabish" is the term out here for the people in Baden-Württemberg (the state in Germany where I live) that speak a certain dialect. Basically, the meal consisted of noodles, a soup kind of thing, and "Winerle" (kind of like a hot dog). It was a good meal.

Once my food digested a little bit I hopped onto a bike and headed north to Ergenzingen, another small town about 6km from Weitingen. The ride was fun, going through paths in between cornfields and also riding on the road. I was on a mission to find a store called "Kik" so that I could buy a soccer ball. To my dismay Kik  did not have any. Damn. On my way back I stopped at a swamp like place and hung out for a moment and then continued my journey. It really is quite an experience riding around in an unknown land.

Back at the house I enjoyed the luxury of swimming in Erika and Wolfgang's pool and did some push-ups, dips, and squats while simultaneously drinking a beer. Who needs protein powder, right?

In the evening I went to a pizzeria/bar with the other Jonathan (he's from CSUCI as well and we're the only California students who live in Weitingen, the 60 students are spread throughout various little towns in the area) which was only a two minute walk. While there we drank, ate, and sat with some Germans near in age and conversed in the Mother tongue.

Englishless

Today was the first day of actual class in Horb. A mentally draining day it turned out to be. Five hours of German class in which the teacher only speaks German and we’re not allowed to speak English, period. For the most part I understood what she was saying and what was going on, but at times I felt like I was in an upper level chemistry class without ever taking an intro class. All in all I think the challenge is good and that I’ve been placed in the right class level. What I have just described will repeat five days a week for six weeks. I wonder when I’m going to lose my mind. Fortunately Friday is a half day and every Saturday we go on a free trip, this coming Saturday we go to Heidelberg.

The pictures below I took today in Horb, enjoy.

A Free Day in Horb

I woke up this morning around 7am, ate some breakfast, did other morning routines, and then headed out to the bus stop. Weitingen, the town in Horb in which I reside, is around 10km from school. There was a placement test that was ridiculously hard and then the rest of the day was free. To Kaufland (kind of like Walmart) we went in a large group. Beer was a necessity and then to the Neckar river we went to hang out. It was kind of cool, there were these hamick like things that we chilled on and drank. The beer is quite inexpensive and relatively tasty, though usually warm.

Yet another good day with some tropical rain around 6:30pm while waiting for a bus. All in all Horb is a nice place to be.

Photos of house in Horb

Today was a nice, warm Sunday full of swimming, dart playing, eating, and sunbathing. Here are some photos of the host family's house.

This is my room.

 This is my other room (connected).

 Wolfgang's father put this ship together.

 The weather is nice so we've been eating outside regularly.

 Barn/storage area.

 The garden. Currently with tomato, zucchini, lettuce, and some other things.

 Pool area, went swimming today.

 Played some darts with Wolfgang today.

 Swimming with Erika.