Advertisement
Published: March 8th 2009
Bild11
RadolfzellAfter a month, I am finally connected to internet, which means I am finally starting my blog.
Last month I was living in Radolfzell with a German host family and attending an intensive German language course at Carl Duisberg Centren. It was all good, ol' fashion fun. But now, I am so thankful to be in Konstanz with my own living space.
It was a really interesting experience living with a German family. They were nice enough but I have to say I was a bit miserable for the entire month of February. Upside: I got to eat traditional, home cooked, German cuisine! Yum Yum. Downside: No space to myself, uptight German mannerism, and 1 bathroom between 5 people. The town was insanely small, which didn't help. Without a bike, a buss pass, or any form of transportation other than my feet, I was pretty much left to going to school and then home. You would think I would have put my free time to good use and do a lot of German studying, but I didn't. I brought a big CD case of DVDs and within 3 weeks I watched about 20 movies. Jealous, aren't you? My host
Bild16
The church in Radolfzell mother didn't like me using her computer and I couldn't get internet on my own computer because apparently Germany hasn't caught on to WLAN. She also wouldn't let me use their phone even though I had a prepaid phone card, so I also made nightly walks down the street to a payphone to make calls back home. Whoo hoo 8 hour time difference.
The last week I was in Radolfzell, the German festival called "Fasnacht" began, which was absolutely amazing! Every town has their own festival that lasts for one week. The first night, the entire town comes to the center of town dressed in white pajamas with red handkerchiefs and parades around making a bunch of noise. The festival is celebrating the black ghost of Winter leaving, so I assume that is where the white clothing comes into play. The rest of the week, the whole town dresses in ridiculous halloween costumes. There are a group of people that have traditional German costumes and on the first day of the fest, they go to the Rothaus (town hall) and take the key of the city away from the mayor. Then, they go around to the schools and free
Bild19
More church the kids for the week. The schools close, but the bars stay open; for one whole week the bars never close.
Each day they had some kind of event. One day a group of guys go into the forest and cut down a huge tree, bring it into the city center, and raise it using only these long wooden sticks. It took about 2 hours but was amazing to watch! Bands walk around the streets every night playing music so it was interesting waking up at 3 and 5 in the morning to an entire band outside my window.
The last night of Fasnacht, they made a huge witch out of straw and had a "hexen fire" in the city center. After that, the guys that raised the tree came back to cut it down. I forgot my camera that night so don't have any pictures of it but that was probably my favorite night of the week. Watching that tree fall was like a mini earth quake, I've never seen anything like it!
But alas, I am in Konstanz now. I moved here a week ago and am finally starting to feel settled in. I was very nervous
Bild20
Radolfzell to move here because I didn't know anyone. My mom, grandpa, and step grandma came with me to Radolfzell and stayed for almost 2 weeks so I felt comfortable and had help with everything, but here, I actually felt on my own. It was nerve racking. I've slowly made my room more a place of my own this week, I've met a lot of people through the intensive language course and orientation for international students that started this past Wednesday, and I've been exploring the town a lot.
Things I love about Germany:
1. Kaufland (It's a grocery store in Germany and I am obsessed with it. I can walk through it for hours just trying to figure out what everything is and exploring different foods.)
2. The beer (I liked beer before, but now I am sold. Kaufland has 2 isles of single beers you can buy for 60-70 cents and they are all amazing...well, I've only tried about 15 of them but my goal is to try all of them.)
3. Transportation (The buses here are so nice and convenient...I actually like not having a car here and just being able to catch a buss. Also, the
Picture 006
Hemdglonker (The first night of Fasnacht) train systems are awesome and I wish we had them back home.)
4. The history (I am fascinated with the culture and history of Germany...or Europe in general I guess. I think it's so cool to live somewhere that has buildings that are 700 years old and have so much history to them. Konstanz is one of the few towns in Germany that didn't get bombed during the war, so the buildings here are AMAZING.)
5. The Bodensee (Konstanz and Radolfzell are towns right on the Lake of Constance. It's absolutely gorgeous. Although it's freezing now, and even in the Summer I'm sure the water will be cold, I love walking places and just being able to look out to the Lake.)
Things I miss about home:
1. My family and friends
2. Sunsets
3. The stars (It's always cloudy here, but even if it does clear up for a night, there aren't many stars and I don't know why. Konstanz is a small city, too; way smaller than Tucson...but has 1/5th the stars.)
4. The sun and warmth (It's a given that Germany is freezing. But on top of the coldness, I live my a lake so it
Picture 009
Hemdglonker is always cloudy, depressing, and rainy. Blah.)
5. My bed (I love my bed and am probably going to lay in it straight for 3 days when I get home. Beds here are ridiculous and it's like Germans are vampires and never sleep because I don't know how they do on these excuses of a mattress. They aren't even mattresses, they are couch cushions. If I'm going to spend 1/3 of my life in something, I want it to be heavenly.)
6. Mexican food (I love a lot of the food I have found here, but I can not live without Mexican food. I actually found one Mexican restaurant in Konstanz, but a burrito was 17 Euros. WTF?! Then I tried to go to Kaufland to put together my own Mexican dinner, but there is no such thing as real salsa or re fried beans in Germany. I give up.)
7. Being able to communicate with people when I have a question. (I'm slowly learning, but it is the most frustrating thing in the world to live somewhere that you can't speak the language. If you have a question in a store but don't know how to say it, you're
Picture 017
More hemdglonker screwed.)
8. My closet (I only got to take 2 suitcases with me, which means 4/5 of my clothes and shoes are in Tucson. They are greatly missed. I wake up every day and just think "this shirt AGAIN". It's my worst nightmare.)
9. Driving (I actually miss driving. I don't know why, but I do. Just the stress relief of it sometimes...)
10. My cell phone (I have one here, it's prepaid, which means if I have to send a text or call someone I cringe)
I'm going to be making several trips this month that are included in my intensive language course, including the Black Forest and Rothaus Brewery, Freiberg, and Stuttgart. I will post updates and pictures and all of that funness! Sorry this was extremely long, but I had a month to catch up on.
I miss you all!
P.S. I have made the decision to return home on July 16th (depending on my professors decisions on letting me take my finals from home - but I hear they are really lenient with international students because Germany has weird semester months). What is the first thing I'm going to do, you ask? Well,
besides getting some mexican food, laying in my bed for a while, and showering in my lovely own bathroom, I will be going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter (which is also the striking hour of my 22nd birthday). YEY! You are all invited.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0228s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Sister
non-member comment
Hooray!
I'm so glad you have this now. I love hearing about everything...