These colors don't feel very german to me, but they're pretty so whatever. I like Germany, probably since I like the German language a lot. "Fahrvergnügen" is just awesome. Compound nouns are my favorite things (along with da compounds) but unfortunately I never know what ending to give the nouns that I am trying to smush together. It's very sad. Berlin is just a wonderful city. There's so much to do that I know I'll never get to it all. I'm having a lot of fun because the real semester hasn't started yet, so I have tons of free time. How will I adjust to being back at Swat? I really am a little concerned. I can't really think of non-lame and non-boring things to say today, probably because I was out late last night enjoying the nightlife. Hence the sleepiness.
I know my German is getting better (I finally have internalized adjective endings) but my spoken German is not as good as it was in its heyday at the Deutsche Schule at Middlebury. Or at least it doesn't seem like it's as good, although it probably is. Going to France messed it up, and it doesn't really help that we pretty much always speak English in the program. *sigh* Is fluency too much to ask? Really now.
Spring Break we are going to other parts of Germany. Maybe I'll have more to say when I get back? To be continued... right about now. We traveled around in Thüringen and it was pretty cool. We stayed in Weimar (highly recommend the kick-ass Liszt Hotel, if y'all are ever there), which is a little town chock full of history. Goethe, Schiller, the Weimar Classics, most of you probably only have a feeble idea about what I'm talking about, but I'll scan my pictures and explain. While we were there we saw a production of Faust at the national theater. Very cool. Faust himself was rather a spaz and the actor shouted a LOT more than was strictly necessary. I thought Gretchen was crazy to sleep with him. Dude was way old. We were in the front row, so I know what I'm talking about. And let me tell you, Mephisto was HOT! Yum! I want one for my birthday. Hee. His name is Marek Harloff, and he is so talented. His performance was mesmerizing. Any scene that didn't have him in it was flat by comparison. His body language was excellent and he was just perfect in the role. Plus, as I said, he was HOT!!! Those exclamation points are no hyperbole.
Anyway, we went on side trips to Wartburg (blah blah Martin Luther, Reformation, blah blah) and inadvertantly took a hike through the woods and sorta scaled a mountain to get back to the town (not fun), and we went to Erfurt, and Jena and Leipzig, and I will explain more when I have pictures. Until, then it won't be interesting.
I'm trying to think of why I don't have more to say about Germany. I mean, it's an entire country, so I should be able to fill a page about it. Part of it is that the real semester has started and I'm tired as I write this. I think part of it is that I have been in Europe for about a year now, and I miss America. I love Berlin, but I want water without carbonation, infinite varieties of candy, television with more than 6 channels, user friendly libraries, and liberal arts. I just found out that the 15 page paper I'm supposed to write for my lit class is supposed to be mostly from secondary literature, not primary. I have close read the book many times, and I was finding a thesis and supporting evidence, but that's not what the prof wants. What I think about the book doesn't matter. I need to read assloads of secondary literature and talk about what other people thought about the book, and use said thoughts to back up anything I might have to say. And that's bullshit, in my opinion, and so not liberal arts. First of all, I hate secondary literature in German because it's hard to understand even when I know what all the words mean. Second of all, it has a base of reference that is not my own. The articles talk about books I've never read by authors I've never heard of, and it means nothing to me, whereas if somebody references Joyce, even though I've never read him, I have a clue to what they're talking about. Not so in german. And the library system in Germany is very different, and they don't care about having helpful staff or convenient hours. Or air conditioning. All in all, it makes my pending paper very unpleasant. Grrrr.
There are things I will miss, though. Ernie and his french fries (ask Tiffany), the public transportation, the nightlife, the street cafés, the little dogs everywhere, and the bread. These sprung to mind, although I'm sure there are others. I'll think about this somemore.
OK, so wanna know something funny? German people, almost without exception, don't jaywalk. There's not even a word for it. Me, on the other hand I jaywalk on a regular basis, and I really enjoy the looks of disapproval the upright german citizens give me. Now, I'm not advocating going out and getting run over by cars, but I think it's reasonable to cross the street when there are no cars coming even if the crosswalk thingy is red. As I commented to a friend, "I`m not afraid of the little red man!" Jochen, my program director in Berlin, explained to me that they don't jaywalk because of the bad example it sets for the children. I asked him "So, they all think I`m a bad influence on their kids?", and he said, well, yeah. I laughed and I thought that was great, but you know what? IT`S TRUE!!! The other day, there were a bunch of people and I waiting to crossm and everyone was waiting patiently, but I saw there were no cars coming, so I started to cross. Two german preteens looked at me, looked at each other, and then started to cross, too, much to the horror of a little group of grandmas. :) I laughed so hard! No thanks necessary, that's just me doing my job of corrupting Germany's youth. :)