Wintersemester 2005

I'm almost 1.5 weeks through my first semester here in Germany. Everything has been going well so far and I only dropped one class because I couldn't understand anything and the topic was boring. Here's a list of my current classes:

1. Banned Books in American and Germany in the 20th Century
2. Comedy on German and American Stage
3. Hörverstehen, Leseverstehen, Textproduktion
4. Postwar and Reconstruction: Germany under Allied Control
5. Listening Comprension
6. Conversation
7. Theory of Social Democracy

Don't be alarmed, because in Germany classes only meet for about 1.5 hours once a week so this is a pretty light load because I will be starting an internship with a local Social Democrat representing Dortmund in the Nordrhein-Westfalia Bundestag.

Since I'm getting back in the grove of things here in Dortmund, I've also had some more time on my hands. I'm back to reading some Harry Potter (trying #1 auf Deutsch) and watching some German movies. Tonight its student bar night at Eastend, where drinks are always 1 euro.

Great news this week: Tom and Mike have booked tickets to come see me over their Spring break! I'm sure we'll go castle hunting and see the beautiful Rheinland in southwestern Germany.

I've also updated the site and more updates are to come. Let me know if you have any ideas!

POLSKA!

Just the day after I arrived back from Belgium, which was again after Spain, I left with Miguel (classmate at Uni DO) to Poland! After just a quick hop of 2 hours through the air, we landed in Krakow, where Marlena (another classmate) greeted us at the airport.

The first day, we toured around Krakow, where we found most things to be pretty cheap with the Polish Zlotys. Krakow was a beautiful city with a lot of older buildings from the middle ages that were unabstructed by WWII. The best sites included the main square, the cathredral where Pope John Paul II was, and a castle along the bank of the Wista River.

Following Krakow, we visited Auschwitz, which was the location of the largest Nazi Concentration Camp. Over 1.5 million Jews, Gypsies, and Pols died at this camp alone. Following return to Krakow, Miguel and I parted from Marlena and went to Zakopane, a winter tourist resort for skiing and skijumping. Without much time we were only able to have a quick ride up the cable car and hike for about an hour after checking out the town the day before. The highlight was staying with a random Polish family (met the guy at the train station) and having shots of Polish vodka!

Finally, we visited Warsaw where we had an entirely historical tour of the town including sites rebuilt from royal times, the ghetto wall, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Museum, and the old city center. Its amazing to believe that 88% of the city was flattened by the Nazis in late 1944.

Early Sunday Oct 16, we made our way back to Dortmund via train. Via Posnan, Berlin, Magdeburg, Braunschweig, Hannover, and Bad Oeynhausen. A total of 14 hours!! See photos here.

Amo España... ¿por qué no?

The same day I finished my Intensive German Course, I rode out to Belgium to meet Bart and begin our exciting trip to Spain. First though, we had a late night at the local club Illusion. Times were especially good when Bart, the "hi-roller", decided to have champagne delivered to the floor.

Then we were off to Spain were Ines, Maria, and Maria's Mother, picked us up from Madrid and took us back to Jumilla. We got settled quickly before the Spanish pregame at midnight then head to the clubs until 6 in the morning. Its amusing see highschoolers get drunk in the parking lot of the public swimming pool!

Later, we drove to Murcia (Maria's hometown) and later to the beach at Cabo Roig, were we stayed at Maria's beachhouse. Then we went to La Manga del Mar Menor and swam on a beautiful protected beach along the Mediterranean! Then we were off again to Murcia, where we enjoyed a night in a heated swimming pool at a local Spa. The trip ended by touring Madrid and staying with another one of the girls' aunts. See photos here.