Alles klar, I'm finally back. Just a few interesting, day-to-day revalations to report, so I won't divide up the entry in any specific way. I must say, I'm in disbelief as to how misguided most people (Americans, that is) are about what "speaking a language" actually entails. Although my German will be quite good when I leave, I can't help but feel like a phony when I say: "I speak German." At this point, I can hold a conversation about any topic and understand what the native German is saying almost fluently, but I can't get over the feeling of not [View Full Entry]

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I always begin my entries with the following, but -- I apologize for the wait. I tend to find this, that and the other thing to do before writing in my travelblog. Rather than dividing my entry up as I normally do, I'll divide this entry into Berlin and Magdeburg happenings. Berlin (June 12th-15th): On Friday afternoon, I headed to Berlin to start my mini-vacation with Alicia. That night, I had dinner with a professor from the department; the evening was a much-needed break from 24/7 Germany. We had a great Indian restaurant, and I had a *gasp* spicy dish! Crazy, [View Full Entry]

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I deleted some of the more "sensitive" information from my entries. I (finally) signed my contract with the government, and my director said that I need to be careful about what I tell friends and family. Not that I published anything particularly sensitive, but I would rather not chance it. This blog is public, after all. That said, I still plan on "talking politics." I just can't talk about what I hear in the Committee meetings. As I only sit in on Committee meetings once per week, I still have plenty to talk about. Bis später! Christine [View Full Entry]

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Whew, keeping updated is difficult. By the time I leave work around 4pm, find something to do for an hour or two around town and make dinner, all I want to do is take a short walk and read. Funny how something so simple, i.e. this travel blog, can be so exhausting. I say this frequently, but where to begin? I'll start with... Politik (Politics): What more can I say about my internship? I love everything about it. I learn something new every day, as I am rarely just sitting in my office. Even when I am sitting in my office, [View Full Entry]

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So, have a difficult time getting motivated to write in this journal -- which is likely because so much happens to me every day. In order to organize my thoughts, and so as to accomodate those who might be disinterested in certain portions of my experience, i.e. I won't hate you for not wanting to hear about the ancient ritual of German handshaking, I'm going to divide each entry into themes. Kultur (Culture): This is not necessarily related to culure, but it's a segue into what I'm about to say: Magdeburg is cold during the summer! I asked my director, Herr [View Full Entry]

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I'm finally back and ready to start "blogging" for real. I finished -- or at least am in the editing stages of -- my human rights paper and now have time to focus on my Fullbright application, reading German newspapers, acquiring German friends and...updating this blog, of course! Where do I begin? So much happened since I lasted updated. First, my internship is wonderful, and my directors are still more accomodating than necessary. They let me pick what I want to do every day -- by implication, I choose to tag along with representatives to small German village almost every day. [View Full Entry]

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First off, I can't believe that I've been here for 9 days already. I still feel like I'm trying to find my way in the (little) city that is Magdeburg! In any case, as most of you know by now (or, at the very least, have figured out), I found a room! I live in the heart of the city -- right next to Hasselbachplatz and only a few blocks away from where I work. The apartment is absolutely perfect, decently inexpensive and in a beautiful location. As of right now, the only 'downer' is that my roommates are a little [View Full Entry]

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When I was 16, I started an online ‘livejournal,’ which seems silly now - the entries, that is. I do, however, miss writing in it regularly, as it was oddly rejuvenating. As I sat in my hostel without internet or telephone capabilities, I thought (a lot): “Maybe it would be a good idea to start the journal up again!” Perhaps out of boredom, or perhaps because this is actually a good idea, I plan on logging my trip as much as possible. So, where do I begin? As I told many of you, Magdeburg does not have an airport. When I [View Full Entry]

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So, the apartment fell though. Here’s the story. I left for my 11am appointment at 9:45am, so as not to be late. I waited for the bus for 1.5 hours; it is extremely unreliable on Sundays. Then, nobody knew how to get to Walter-Rathenau-Strasse, so it took an additional hour on top of that to find the building. Long story short: I was ridiculously late for the appointment. I rang the doorbell anyway, and the student let me in. He was not pleased with my tardiness. Turns out, only students can rent the apartment. Not only do I not have an [View Full Entry]

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