Ende des Sprachkurses

So yesterday (Friday) we had our last day of class. Now I'm on vacation until April 14, when my semester at the university finally begins.

For our last day of class, we took another tour of Constance. This time we only hit up historical sites, including the Bismarck Tower and old French military housing from the days when Constance was part of the French Zone.


another historical site, The Bus


This is where we eat lunch.


And here I am with my wonderful (ex-)professor, Hilde.

Last night four of us (two Americans, a Turk and a Russian) took the bus to Switzerland. We got coupon books with our residency permits and wanted to use one to get into the planetarium in Kreuzlingen. But here's the deal: We finally get there, and so far everyone's been really nice (especially the bus driver, who even pointed out exactly how to get to the planetarium). Then we arrive at the actual planetarium, and the guy working the counter there is … hmm, what's a nice word for it… it starts with an "as" and ends in a "shole." Anyway, unhelpful Herr Ihateyouall tells us that we have two choices. Either we don't use the coupon, and we pay the student price (€5,00) or we use the coupon and take off €2 off of the adult price (€8,50 - therefore we'd pay €6,50). So our "coupon" would actually cost us an extra €1,50! Unbelievable.
Obviously we didn't go. Instead we wandered around Kreuzlingen and walked back across the border into Germany, where we bought gelato and then shared a bottle of wine in one of our dorms.

Then today I had a massive hassle with reserving the train back from Paris to Constance. My teller was from Korea, didn't speak especially good Germany, and was truthfully one of the least helpful people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I spent an hour with him. It ended with his drawing a picture of a train full of people. This was supposed to explain to me what I would have understood with the word "ausverkauft" (sold out). He also smiled condescendingly the entire time - as if my German wasn't better than his. Anyway, then I spent an hour on the internet in McDonald's (remember how I don't have internet in my room), and then went back. I got a different teller who said he spoke English, but didn't really. We spoke German again. He was very confused by the whole mess, but in the end was very helpful and nice. The trip back won't be ideal (four transfers and a total of about 12 hrs of transit), but it'll take place, and that's all that matters at this point.

And tomorrow I'm off!

Saras Besuch und die Schweiz

This will be a short post since I just updated the blog a couple of days ago.

Sara Thatcher, a friend from college, came to visit me. She stayed in my room and made use of my snazzy extra mattress. The first day she was here, we walked across the border into Switzerland! Check off another country from your list, Sara!

We actually spent a good amount of time in the neighboring town of Kreuzlingen. I hadn’t been there before (unless you count just driving through), and it’s actually quite pretty. It’s also right on lake Constance, ergo a similarly attractive landscape.


In this little bay area there were about fifty billion birds: ducks, gulls, cormorants, and lots of other birds I don’t know the English names of.


Look at how sea green the lake is! I love it.


Say cheese[y photo op]!
Sara poses with wild swans near a petting zoo.


I believe this building is Hotel Seeburg.


crossing back into Germany

and a couple post-scripts:
I am now officially a resident of Germany! I’m also officially (finally) a registered student at the University of Constance.
And lastly, I leave on my trip around Germany on the 30th (i.e., this coming Sunday). Sara’s been traveling around Europe now for a couple weeks (she’s on Spring break), and she told me most hostels will have free wireless, so I just might finally be able to get on Skype. My Skype address is colinhalverson, so add me and ring me up if you see me come online!

meine liebe deutsche Familie!

So I spent my Easter break with my amazing German relatives. It was very nice to be with family for the holiday – especially with such wonderful family! Rolf, a distant uncle or what-have-you on my mother’s father’s side of the family (Egenberger), picked me up in Constance, and thus began yet another string of adventures!

We crossed the border into Switzerland and drove to the Rheinfall, a huge waterfall in the city of Schaffhausen.


me, in case you couldn’t tell


This is why I love this region.


We drove up and down between high- and lowlands. As soon as we passed a certain point, everything was green, and then when we reached a higher altitude, everything was blanketed in fresh snow.

We stopped briefly at a Roman Empire-era farmstead. There wasn’t much left, just the stone bases of various building, but the landscape was gorgeous! We were in the flatlands between dead volcanoes, so you could see for miles and miles.


While we were walking back to the car, Rolf and I saw this larger bird chasing the smaller one. They zipped around us for a few minutes before flying off.


Then we drove to Singen to see this famous castle called Hohentwiel. It’s way up there on top of the mountain. It was a long hike! I made Rolf climb all over the place, and although he insists he’s no sportsman, I’m pretty sure he’s an Olympic contender ready to head off to Beijing!


Here we are on top of the world!


Hohentwiel ruins


another view from Hohentwiel
The lake in the background is Lake Constance: home, sweet home!
Oh, and on the left side you can even see the Alps (not well, I warn you, but they’re definitely there)!

Then toward evening we drove to Constance, grabbed some food, and headed off to Augsburg, where those lovely Egenbergers live!


Hermann and Anita, the relatives at whose house I stayed, recently built this Wintergarten. This is where we had breakfast each day.


In Augsburg they were having a big festival called Volksfest (said in the local accent with loads of “sh” sounds). We got there at 10:30 am and had ourselves some Hasenbräu beer. Oh, this is Easter day now, by the way!


Then we went back to the house to have Easter dinner/lunch/brunch/so much food that I don’t think I’ll need a full meal again for a week! From left to right: Walter, Hannah (I’m not sure I spelled her name right), Anita and Hermann. All absolutely gracious, wonderful people!

As I’m typing this, I’m riding back to Constance on the train, and I’m reading this hilarious article Hermann gave me by Mark Twain. It’s called The Awful German Language. Here’s a sample that you Germanophiles will get a bang out of:

“An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; […] it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects […] after which comes the VERB, and you can find out for the first time what the man has been talking about; and after the verb – merely by way of ornament, as far as I can make out – the writer shovels in ‘haben sind gewesen gehabt geworden sein,’ or words to that effect, and the monument is finished. […] German books are easy enough to read when you hold them before the looking-glass or stand on your head.”

They say if you laugh once a day you gain a year in longevity or something like that, so if you have the time, check it out and live an extra decade or two!

In closing, the following transgression: I searched “Easter” in my iPhoto, and found the following picture. It cracked me up so much, that I decided I needed to share it for humanity’s sake.


above: another Easter spent with another lovely set of relatives
Even though I’m off living the good life, traveling the world, I’m still thinking of all of my family and friends on the other side of the globe. Hope all is going well!

Exkursion Meersburg

I've got more photos!

I've had free time recently to doodle a little!

This one you might recognize from somewhere. Anyone? I've also painted a little, but no photos yet. Here's a shameless plug: If you haven't checked out my website yet, click here to see more of my loverly art!

On Wednesday we went to Meersburg, a small touristy town only a 15 minute ride by ferry (Autofähre) from Constance.


This photo is of Kirsten and me on the Autofähre. It was chilly on the ride. It was probably only 40°F that day. It's not a very good photo, but I know you all like seeing my smiling/grimacing face.


Here's a photo of Burg Meersburg, a somewhat redundant name. In English it would be "Castle Castle on the Sea." Here is where our tour of the ridiculous structure began. This time the German tour was led by this hilarious man. It was a blast. He teaches one of the sections of the language course. The tour itself was much better, but the subject of the tour (mainly these two castles in Meersburg) was really trashy.


So this is what I mean by "ridiculous" and "trashy." This young man was dressed up in what is apparently supposed to be garb from the Middle Ages. He was also wearing jeans, and that sword is definitely plastic.


These are skulls of very, very small deer. The Burg had skulls and animal heads all over, but they were very poorly kept up. There was also this moose head whose hide was almost completely decayed off. It was sort of disgusting.


Then there were these bizarre putti-babies with antlers for legs. (It's a chandelier, too!)


Here I am in a room with just suits of armor. And yes, that is the infamous Sir Pumpkinhead on my right.


Did I mention Meersburg is actually really pretty, tho?


This is the shoreline on the way back to the ferry. Five seconds after I took this photo, two swans swam up. Swans are all over Lake Constance.


And this one is for Teri. Not only is the region warm enough for magnolias, but also for palms. But yeah, I concede, it wasn't very warm at all during our tour of Meersburg.


And here's a photo of Germany giving the finger to political correctness.

Well, happy Easter all (or Frohe Ostern, as they say in my country)! Rolf Egenberger is coming down from Augsburg to spend the day with me in Constance this Saturday, and then I'm probably going back with him for an Egenberger family Easter celebration! He told me they're having something like a "small Oktoberfest" in Augsburg for the holiday.

So my language course is almost finished - only one week left! Next up is my tour of Germany, and then back to "real" life: The semester begins April 19! Expect another post after Easter holiday is over, and things open up again (ie, so I can use wireless).

Exkursion Freiburg

So yesterday (Saturday for me), a bunch of us from the language course went to Freiburg in the Black Forest. The weather was perfect; the town was pretty. Here are about a thousand pictures from the trip.


Freiburger Münster (Cathedral of Freiburg)


I went on the German language tour (there was also an English one). The tour guide was nice, but very bad. She always talked insanely quietly, so no one could hear her. Then after she was done talking she would yell at us to catch up with her. Then when we actually got somewhere, we'd have to wait like a year and a half for her to start whispering again.


While we were in the Münster, they were having Youth Days or something, so there were a bunch of teenagers singing and leading service. The singing was terrifyingly bad.


So it was really loud in the cathedral, but our tour guide still wouldn't speak up. She did complain a bunch about how the children were ruining the Münster atmosphere.



This is inside a different church. It's Franciscan. I took this photo for you, mom - check out the icons.


We ate lunch at the Mensa in the University of Freiburg. It was a huge meal. This university, by the way, was founded before Columbus landed in America!


magnolias, apparently


They were having the weekly farmers' market on the Münsterplatz. That was a lot of fun. We got to wander around. I had gelato (€0,70!).


Rathaus (town hall), farmers' market (you can see an umbrella), fountain, and Münster


street musicians (I like this photo a lot. The guy with the head scarf or whatever reminds me of a Dürer painting. Or maybe a Vermeer.)


graffiti


photo of Erika and me


This is what the sidewalk in Freiburg looks like. Seriously, all over!


Do any of you remember the movie Miss Potter?


advertisements on the Münster
Three of us went back to see if the Münster had cleared out a bit.


It hadn't. Now they were having mass. Bad English cracks me up (and reminds me of my German).


last one - me in front of the Münster
This is number 6 in a series of about a dozen failed photos.

Rothaus Brauerei

A few days ago I went down to Egg (pronounced kind of like "Ache"), a small neighborhood in Constance. It's really quaint and exactly how you'd picture a small German town. It's also right on the lake, so I got to walk along one of the beaches.

Here are some of my pictures from the brief trip:


mailbox


A bunch of the houses in this region of Germany have these huge rain shelters full of firewood.


Lake Constance as seen from Egg - Unfortunately, this is not one of the angles from which you can see the Alps.


more of Lake Constance
Although you can't see the Alps, you can see basically everything else! You can see the entire way across the lake into Switzerland!

Alright, since there seems to be an enormous amount of interest in my living quarters, below are photos of The Room. I swear I didn't clean before I took the photos; it's actually stayed that clean! (And if you don't believe that, how about "I only cleaned a little bit"?)


before shot
I took this my first night (March 3rd). This isn't the worst view (eg. you can't see the spiders!).


after shot
I did a fair amount of cleaning, buying and decorating.


view of my sink and a chair I sniped off the side of the road - It's actually pretty comfortable.


last shot - I'm sure you've seen enough photos of my room now.


Yesterday on our way to class it rained a little. The result: a full (180°) rainbow looks like it's arching out of the town. Ever ask yourself what's at the end of the rainbow? Now you know: Constance.

After class yesterday we went to the Rothaus Brewery in the Black Forest. It smelled gross everywhere. Even outdoors, which is actually quite the accomplishment. The first thing we did when we got there was watch this heinous movie that was supposedly about the "history of the brewery." Think Clockwork Orange style propaganda. "Rothaus is the best in the land!" It was really cheesy, too.

Then we toured the factory. It's was almost interesting, but you couldn't really hear the tour guide because of all of the machinery noise. Plus she was speaking German.


shot of the inner workings - They make thousands of bottles an hour. I forget the exact amount. I'm thinking 90,000 or 60,000.


This is me next to some huge copper things that I'm pretty sure are used in the fermenting process. (What else would they be used for?)

Overall, tho, I'd have to say I LOVED the trip to the brewery. Want to know why? It was free! Everything. And at the end as a part of this free trip (kostenlose Reise), we got a huge meal with as much beer as we could drink! And the beer was all really good and chilled. Plus I got lots of bread rolls and sausage. Mmm! How much more German can you get? Beer, sausage and pretzels in the Black Forest?

Oh, and PS ANNALIESE - HOLY COW HAVE A GREAT TIME IN JAPAN! I wanna see photos and an email with stories from your trip!