Bavaria is a mostly catholic region of Germany, which means they have many holidays throughout the year and they take them very seriously. All stores and businesses are closed, which means that we don't have class. Thursday was one and we celebrated by spending the day at the Deutsche Museum. I woke up early, as I have been, in order to Skype a bit (with my college friends it works best if I wake up early, since 5am here is only 11pm on the East Coast). Afterwards I still had quite a bit of time before our 10:00 departure for the museum, so I continued investigating the various activities available in Munich. Some of the most interesting possibilities I found included the UFO-looking BMW museum (including potential tours of the factory!!), the firefighting museum, a puppet museum, a paleontology museum with lots of dinosaur bones, the "Crystal-rich" museum containing precious stones, and the "Center for Unusual Museums" which sounds just plain fun :D Most of the museums cost around 3€ and there is often a 1€ discount for students. I don't know how many I'll have the time or energy to visit, but I'll certainly tell about them when I do. In any case, the Deutsche Museum was fascinating enough in itself. It's more of a "touch and do" museum than a "look and read" museum - and it covers six floors!! WAY more than can possibly be seen in a day, as I found out. We got there around 10:30 and I was one of the last to leave when the museum closed at 5 (in fact, I had to be practically ushered out by the museum staff), and I probably didn't REALLY experience half of the exhibits. The museum is so large that it takes up an entire island all to itself. There is a main building, which we stayed in, but also several side museums and special exhibits in other buildings (for instance, a transport museum). There is just an overwhelming amount of knowledge in that museum. Fortunately many of the exhibits have explanations in both German and English, for although my German is good for everyday communication, it soon became apparent to me that I lacked any significant technical vocabulary of the kind that is used in a museum. There were entire exhibits where the plaques were all in German, with a few titles translated if I was lucky, and I felt helpless as I stood and looked at the various displays without the faintest idea of their significance. Just a sampling of the exhibits I saw in the museum (and remember, this isn't nearly everything) follows: electricity, motors/engines, power machinery, airplanes, space travel, shipping/sea travel, metalworking, lasers, welding, locks throughout history, mining, musical instruments, optics, magnetism, physics (yeah MAE!!), the "best of" 50's technology, the winners of the "German future" prize for the last ten years, nanotechnology, "new" technologies, tunneling, model trains, robotics, and wind/water power. Just a few of the exhibits I didn't get to include paper, glass-blowing, ceramics, textiles, photo/film technology, computers, microelectronics, agriculture, food technology, chronometry, astronomy, and the environment. I could spend a week in that museum and STILL not see everything, forget reading everything and understanding it (as I said, some exhibits have no English translations for the displays). My favorite exhibits would have to be mining, musical instruments, air travel, optics, and physics (of course). Mining was especially interesting because it was located two floors under the museum in a long, winding tunnel that made you feel like you were in an actual mine. The exhibits consisted of wax- or wood-figure reconstructions of miners working in reconstructed mine tunnels, and the exhibit covered everything from the ways the tunnels have been dug over the centuries to the various methods of extracting different valuable materials (coal, oil, precious metals) from the earth. I really prefer these "experiential" exhibits to a white room with displays lined up neatly in a row, so even though this was one of the places where there were no English display translations, so I can't tell you much more about mining now than before, it was definitely one of the highlights of the day. The musical instruments were interesting just to see the vast variety of ways in which people have made music over the centuries, from stringed to wind to percussive instruments. There was even one display that explained the making of a violin, which is quite complicated (I could have realized that but I had never really thought about it before). Aviation was cool just because of the massive size of the exhibit - but of course it would have to be that large in order to house so many airplanes from the past and the present! There were helicopters, gliders, and even a section of a 747 passenger jet!! I took lots of pictures in this exhibit for my dad, who is an avid WWII fan and especially of the battles fought in the air. That was one interesting thing about the Deutsche Museum - pictures were allowed everywhere as long as they were for personal use, in contrast to the museums in Russia where pictures were either forbidden or one had to purchase a ticket in order to be allowed to take them (which I never paid attention to, as it wasn't very strictly enforced ;]). Optics was cool because I've always liked optical illusions, but that was one of the exhibits that I encountered near the end of the day when I was just trying to cover as much ground as possible, so I only skimmed it. They did have a couple of chambers with mirrors at many different angles so that when you stepped into them a dozen yous appeared at once, and that made for some really interesting photos :) Physics of course was particularly intriguing because so many of the experiments were replicas of the famous, landmark research that we had talked about in so many of my classes. They had exhibits on drag and lift, tension and compression and torsion. It is so unfortunate that I arrived here at 4:30! There was enough in that one exhibit alone to keep me occupied the entire day, and I was loathe to leave. I don't know whether I'll even have another chance to go to the museum, and this time it will have to be on my own bill (Princeton bought our tickets for this day), but I just might... as I told you, there was much that I didn't have a chance to see.
The only other event of note this day occurred on the way to the Deutsche Museum. As I've said, the security on the trains is fairly lax, especially for the Germans' reputation. Members of the group speculate that it might be worth it never to buy a ticket, since the police (or inspectors) are seen so infrequently on the trains checking for valid tickets, and none of the entrances to the train station REQUIRE that you have a valid ticket to come through. However, as luck would have it, we were about halfway to our stop when a couple of uniformed men boarded the train and started asking to see tickets. A couple of the girls in our group had forgotten theirs (after all, we had only gotten them the day before) and they were quickly escorted off the train with one of the graduate students following behind to make sure all was communicated clearly. I imagine it would be quite terrifying to be pulled off the train in such a manner, never mind the sting to the pocket of having to pay 40€ for your neglectfulness, so I don't think the risk is worth it for me this summer - that's just the kind of adventure I hope to avoid. Not to mention Princeton bought our monthly passes that will take us just about anywhere we could ever care to go, so why be foolish?
Friday it was back to classes, and it's really starting to hit me how much vocabulary we really need to learn in order to become truly well-versed in German. I should be taking time to memorize at least several dozen words each day, but when you don't use them they quickly slip again out of your memory, and the necessary motivation isn't always there. Lunch all week for me was an apple and a cheese-and-butter sandwich, but I'm often hungry by the 10:30 break and eat it then, so I need another little something after classes to tide me over until suppertime. This day I bought a yogurt-filled pastry that was especially delicious, if a bit sweet to be called lunch. I think that's the thing I've liked the most about German food so far is the pastries, though I don't think I would have thought of that as a typical German food before I came here. They're also not too expensive - you can easily get a cinnamon roll or Danish as big as both hands for only 1,50€.
Friday's activity was a visit to the store "Globetrotter" - a kind of giant German L.L. Bean that sells everything from climbing gear to canoes, sleeping bags to sightseeing guides. Like the Deutsche Museum, this is a "try it and see" store - there is a cold room for testing out jackets, a rain room for wet-weather gear, a tightrope and climbing wall on the third floor, and even a pool where you can test out a kayak or canoe! The structure of the store is a giant donut with the pool at the bottom of the hole and railings around the hole on each floor. The climbing wall is the glass surrounding the hole of the third floor, which makes it a little unnerving when you look through the wall that you're climbing and see the water four floors below. Naturally I looked at everything and climbed and tightroped (I was the only one out of the group to make it all the way across - twice!!), and though I didn't enter the cold room, rain room, or pool, some of the group members did. I was most interested in the hiking boots, and felt quite satisfied with myself when I saw that the prices hovered around 150€ as I remembered my new Vasque boots, bought on Amazon for $85 just the month prior. In the boots section there was a device with several different types of terrain (rocky, shale, smooth) at different inclinations so that potential boot-owners could test out the feel of their new footwear on different types of ground. There was also a display where several of the different kinds of boots sold at the store had been sliced in half so that the different layers of the boot structure were visible, from the thick outer sole to the stiff shank to the padded insole. Even though there was so much to see and do in Globetrotter, it didn't take me too terribly long to satisfy my curiosity, so Dan H and I walked back to the train station and returned to the Wohnheim together. Along the way we discussed the pros and cons of cooking with the group (he tends to cook with several other Princeton students, while I always prepare my food alone). The way he described the propensity of people to show up when the food was prepared and disappear after eating a bit of it made me glad that I was so independent, though I do sometimes wish for company while I prepare my meals, if only to have another source of ideas for food (even wandering the grocery store hasn't tended to yield very many inspirations). By the time we reached the Wohnheim again I was sweaty and ready to take a shower in preparation for my excursion to the ballet. One of the incredibly nice things about our living accommodations is the fact that they are cleaned by the staff once a week, and Thursday is the day for the third floor, where I live. However, since Thursday was a holiday this week, they had the day off and instead were cleaning the third-floor rooms when I returned. They were a few doors down from me and by a quick inspection of my still-full trash cans I determined that they had not yet reached my room. After deliberating I decided that I could most likely take a shower and be safely finished by the time they came to my door. I was unfortunately mistaken, as I had no sooner climbed out of the shower and reentered my bedroom, wrapped in a towel, when I heard the buzzer sound and a key in the door. My desperate cry of "Moment, bitte!" thankfully stopped them from entering and I quickly threw on a dress, grabbed my dinner supplies, and retreated to the communal kitchen so that I wouldn't feel awkward watching them clean my room (no one but myself has ever cleaned any room that I've lived in; my mother stopped vacuuming my carpet at home once I was old enough to push the machine myself and I have always tended to be one of the cleanest people in any group of girls that I've lived with).
While I was reheating the last of the leftover pasta-chicken-corn-spaghetti sauce casserole of a few days prior for my supper, I began to wonder about the healthiness of my diet. In particular, for any of you who have been watching the news, perhaps you have heard about the E.coli epidemic that's going around. The CDC isn't yet sure what the cause of it is, but several dozen people either living or traveling in northern Germany have contracted the bacteria, and a few have even died from complications that arose. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce are most suspect, so much so that they can hardly be found in most restaurants in Germany at present. Being responsible for my own food (not to mention well-being), naturally I was a bit concerned about my risk of encountering the bacteria, although we are in one of the most southern regions of Germany. I have since spoken with my mother (who is a Physician's Assistant and my general go-to for all questions medical) and she has assured me that as long as I am meticulous with washing my vegetables with hot water before eating them raw, or cooking them, and I keep my cooking area/utensils clean, I should be fine. This becomes a rather interesting question in a student-inhabited dorm with communal kitchens which are never as clean as I would like them, but I'll pray hard (and ask you to, as well) that I am spared that particular bit of excitement during my stay in this country. As some of you may have also figured out, my internship is in a small town in North-Central Germany; however, there I will have my own kitchen as part of my living arrangements so the cleanliness will be to a much higher standard and more under my control. All in all, I think I have relatively little to worry about, but a bit of spiritual protection never hurt anyone, so if you happen to think of it, pray for my health and safety, please.
Another reason why I hurried back to the dorm so quickly on Friday was that a group of four of us had tickets to the ballet that night. We went to see Dornröschen, which means "Little Rose Thorn," better known in America as Sleeping Beauty. The ballet took place at the Bavarian State Opera House, which, while not nearly as grand as the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, was nonetheless impressive. I was very pleased and a little surprised that our tickets only cost us 7€, until I saw where our seats were. We had standing places in the fourth balcony; however, we still weren't the furthest away from the stage; there was one balcony above us and we were fairly near the center of the audience so we had a good view of the entire stage. Standing up for three hours is one thing; doing it at the end of a long day while jet-lagged and having spent six hours standing and walking through a museum the day prior is quite another and is many times more demanding, trust me. The ballet was beautiful, I recognized the music from a holiday CD of Tchaikovsky that I have, the costumes were fantastic, and though it was a bit warm in the theater with so many people there, it wasn't unbearably so, so all in all the evening was anything but a waste. This was my second ballet, the first being last summer seeing "Swan Lake" at the Mariinsky, and I tried to appreciate the art for what it is, but I did find it a bit difficult, which I attribute to my lack of exposure to fine art (growing up in Brewer, Maine our cultural options were always limited, and my parents would much rather take a family hike than a night out to the theater). The young boys and girls who took part in the performance (the boys couldn't have been older than 5 or 6) particularly delighted me with their grace and precision, and a seat so far away helped me really appreciate the coordination of the entire picture, all ten to thirty dancers who would be on stage at any one time. I was, in any case, quite happy to return to the Wohnheim at 10:30 after the performance, and I slept very well that night.
Saturday we had class again, because of the holiday, and it was certainly the toughest day I've had here yet. After class I was tired and bored and cranky and didn't really want to do much of anything. No one had any specific plans for the afternoon, so I returned to the Wohnheim and tried to muster up the motivation to study without much success (especially since we didn't have class on Sunday, at least). The weather was much improved from the clouds and rain of earlier in the week, and I felt that I should really take advantage of the sunshine while we had it, so I decided to go exploring in a nearby park. The park contains one of the many palaces belonging to the Bavarian royal family of the latter half of the 1800s, Schloss Nymphenburg, the birthplace of King Ludwig II, whose other palace-masterpiece I would visit the next day. I grabbed my iPod, put my camera and German reading-book in my backpack, and set off. My mood was immediately lightened by listening to my favorite songs and getting some exercise, and as a particular bonus I also discovered where the closest grocery store to the Wohnheim was located. The park was beautiful and though I really had no desire to go inside the palace (I saw enough palace interiors while in Russia) the grounds were becoming enough. I took several pictures, especially of the fountain in front of the palace (beside which a large male swan was obligingly standing and posing for the tourists, though not without hope of a morsel or two of bread) and the sundry cool green paths through the woods that cover most of the park. I eventually found a bench in a sunny spot and sat down to do my reading assignment (we're reading Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis, and unfortunately I'm really not getting into it yet, but more on that later), which took only about an hour since I determined to do it without any vocabulary aids to see how much I could understand from context (I underlined all of the unfamiliar words and looked them up later). By then an ominous-looking cloud bank had rolled in to cover the sun, so I quickly wended my way further through the woods to an exit and returned to the Wohnheim, stopping on the way at the grocery store to pick up a few items, including some carrots from Israel (in the interest of a more balanced diet I'm willing to take my chances with E.coli). The beautiful and tranquil woods paths made me long more than ever to have a bike with which to explore them, though I have determined with some certainty that it will be both less expensive and more convenient to wait to purchase one until I arrive in Clausthal for my internship, so I will just have to deny myself that pleasure. One extremely interesting thing about this park is that it is completely surrounded by a wall, with occasional gates to allow entrance and exit. However, these gates remain closed even during the day when the park is open - one must approach and open them oneself. It sounds simple enough, but I found in myself a strange reluctance to approach a closed gate, as though the presence of a door automatically in my mind signified a closed way. I think this is an American thing, though I could certainly be mistaken. The locals certainly didn't have a problem with walking up to and trying the gate, but when I saw that all of the entrances LOOKED closed my first instinct was to keep walking past them, even though upon closer inspection none of the bolts were drawn. I never realized what a law-abiding citizen-sheep I am!
Much encouraged, I finally returned to the Wohnheim in the evening, prepared my supper, and worked on my long-overdue blog entries. I also Skyped my mother again, though the connection was still poor (I haven't had nearly as many problems Skyping my boyfriend, I don't know whether it's the slow internet on my mom's end or the choice of timing that makes the difference) and we had to finally resort to text. Afterwards my outlook was much brighter and I hope that the bad mood was just a combination of jetlag and too much activity and a passing phenomenon. Overall my transition to Germany has been much smoother than that of last year in Russia, which is probably due to several factors (most of which you can probably guess if you read that part of my blog) and I really am enjoying myself here and feel that I'm taking much better advantage of the culture. Let's hope I can keep it up!!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Finding a Routine
So, I'm starting to settle down into a daily routine here, which is always good. I tend to get tired early and therefore go to bed before 9 which means that I can wake up between 5 and 6am, which is nice because it gives me ample time before class to do things like check email, blog, do my homework or Bible study, and perhaps Skype my more night=owl-ish friends. Class is Monday through Friday 9-12:30 with a 30-minute break at 10:30. I eat breakfast in the Wohnheim, usually cereal (so far it's been cornflakes but I'm looking for inexpensive alternatives), yogurt, and sometimes also toast with butter. I also pack my lunch, a cheese-and-butter sandwich and an apple, though I often also supplement that with a pastry or something after class (I know, I'm eating so healthy, right? :P). There's usually a group going somewhere and doing something in the afternoon, and depending on their choice of activity and the weather I either go with them, go shopping, or just go back to the Wohnheim to do more homework/email/blogging until suppertime. I've made my own supper every night thus far, and it's usually pasta something. I try to get all the food groups in by cooking chicken to go in it or adding canned vegetables, but pasta is one of the cheapest and easiest things to prepare, so it's a staple for this poor college student trying to save her money for more exciting things like museums and day trips. The nice thing about preparing my own meals is that I eat when I'm hungry, a strong contrast to last summer for those of you who have read the first part of my blog where meal timing was a frequent complaint. After supper I go back to homework and such, unless there's an evening activity planned, which I tend to participate in much less frequently than the afternoon excursions. Finally around 8 or 9 I'm tired enough to go to bed, and what time I go to bed generally determines how early I set my alarm for the next morning. I try to get a solid 8=9 hours of sleep every night; it doesn't make any sense to get overtired and not be able to fully enjoy all of the opportunities we have here in Munich.
So, Tuesday was the first day of class. The group is split into three classes: one group of German 105 and two of German 107. In my group are some from my German 102-5 class in the spring (whom I already know) and several from the other class whom I had never met before, a good mix. In total there are twelve people in my class, though there are supposed to be thirteen - I'm not really sure why one of the students never ended up coming. The most interesting story within our group was one girl whose passport apparently expired a couple of months ago without her realizing it...? She had to expedite a new passport and catch the next possible flight to Munich, whether at her own expense or the arranged ticket was able to be cancelled I'm not sure. I'm still a little confused as to how, when planning to travel out of the country, one neglects to notice the expiration date on one's passport, but I suppose it's a simple enough oversight especially if you don't travel often. She's here now, in any case, but I don't envy her having missed two days of class and traveling here alone.
Our teacher is a grey-haired man, probably in his sixties - actually, he reminds me startlingly of Mr. Girodet, my French/Spanish teacher in high school, although he's German and not French. If you took Mr. Girodet with all his quirks and teaching methods and exchanged all the quintessentially French qualities that he has for equally stereotypical German ones, I'm pretty sure you would have Professor Földeak. (Though that would be a substantial difference, considering the obvious contrasts between French and German personalities...) Professor Földeak is a linguist and he studied English in college, a refreshing contrast from my PiP professors who barely spoke anything but Russian. He is very interested in the etymology of the vocabulary we are using and often links the German history of a word to its English counterpart, which is quite helpful for understanding and remembering what we're learning. His method focuses more on learning words in context rather than giving us lists of vocabulary to commit to memory, which isn't the way I've learned most languages, but I see how it would be helpful. We have pieces of yellow paper on which we are supposed to write important new vocab in the sentences he gives us. Our homework every night is to memorize these sentences so that we learn the new vocabulary, and every day we spend the first hour or so reviewing these sentences. It works most of the time, but for some completely new vocabulary the simple sentences he gives as examples aren't enough to cement in my memory the meaning of the words, so I also keep a notebook in a more traditional "dictionary" style where I write down the new word and its English translation. I tend more to make flashcards on Alek and study them instead of memorizing the sentences, though I do make sure to familiarize myself with those as well. On the first day of class we started reviewing basic things like common verbs and question words, so that Professor Földeak could get a sense for our knowledge level, and I realized just how much that we had studied during the academic year I had already forgotten in the intervening month, particularly the past-tense forms that we don't tend to use so often in conversation (a surprising proportion of conversation refers to the present). If I was really motivated I would go through the reference book that I brought with me and review all of the grammatical topics with which we are supposed to be familiar, but if you can keep a secret, this "intensive" language program really isn't so much, and I could and possibly will squeeze by with knowing the bare minimum and bluffing the rest. Call it a sacrifice for the sake of cultural education - I can't very well experience Germany if I'm always in my room studying, right? This is, after all, an immersion program... Overall the work is not too much and the class is interesting, though after coming off a hard year at Princeton I'm a little burned out and I sometimes find it hard to muster the motivation to study in the evenings. Hopefully either this will pass or I will find a good balance so that I don't resent my studies, but can keep the end goal of becoming fluent in German in mind. I would say the most advanced of us are basically conversationally fluent in that we can say most of the banal, ordinary, everyday things we want to say to each other in German, but there are all kinds of things we don't talk about because we don't have the vocabulary, and reading instructions or understanding native speakers is still sometimes difficult if you don't know what they are supposed to be saying (context clues save my LIFE, which I'm pretty sure is the only reason I ever thought I could speak Russian to any degree).
One big example is Christian vocabulary - having grown up in a churchgoing family, "religious" words were such a part of my life that I never realized how much specialized vocabulary we use until I started trying to think about it in another language. My very best friend gave me a German version of the Bible last Christmas, so of course I brought it along, and I've been reading Colossians. Even though I know basically what it says I was really shocked by the number of words (mostly nouns) that I didn't recognize, so I started making a list of them and discovered that they are mostly very basic words that I would use in any discussion of religion/faith - hope, love, faith, sin, forgiveness, grace, gospel, minister, etc. I'm really enjoying studying this vocabulary, though, and hope to have the opportunity to attend a German church one of these Sundays to see how much I can recognize. I researched and unfortunately all of the several Calvary Chapels (the group of churches I attend, and one of which I was fortunate enough to find in St. Petersburg last year) in Germany are at least an hour's drive from both Munich and Clausthal, where I will be for July/August doing my internship. The leader of the Princeton in Munich program, Jamie Rankin, is a strong Christian who plays the piano both at PEF and Westerly Road Church back in Princeton, so of course he knows of a good church here in Munich, but since most of the group is (naturally) not interested in attending church on a Sunday morning we've planned an excursion to Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired Disneys' trademark Sleeping Beauty castle) which leaves at 7:45am, and next week we'll be in Berlin for our mid-term excursion, so I'll only get to attend once at most. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good Bible-preaching Evangelical Christian church in Clausthal-Zellerfeld to attend.
Let me tell you about my first week of classes, and then you'll see what I meant about there being excursions or activities of some type every day. Tuesday was the first day of class, and afterwards I had a couple of errands to run, primarily equipping my cell phone with a German SIM card. Unlike PiP, PiM does not make cell phones mandatory for everyone, which I still haven't decided how I feel about. On one hand it's easier because not everyone has to buy a $30 cell phone that they'll only use for a month and can spend their money more freely on what they want, and it certainly makes for more adventures, but on the other hand it makes communication between members of the group difficult if not downright frustrating. This was especially true during the first three days before our monthly passes went into effect (now we are basically independent, which I like very much as most of the time I prefer to do my own thing rather than stick with the group). In any case, I both wanted an opportunity to use the phone I bought in Russia again and wanted to be able to communicate with other members of the group/the group leaders, so I went to vodafone and bought a pre-paid SIM card. When it comes to cellular phone service, the Europeans know what they're doing. Instead of pricey and confusing monthly plans, cell phones can be as simple as buying a SIM card for 10€ and adding money to your account whenever you need to. Calls within the network are 0,05€/min and to other networks 0,15€/min. Texts cost 0,19€ each, and I'm not sure if vodafone works like the Russian networks in that incoming calls are free (but I rather hope so). In any case my Russian phone was unlocked (thankfully) so I bought a SIM card and put 15€ on my phone, which will most likely last me through the whole summer (and it's nice to have a cell phone just in case of emergencies, especially since I usually do my own thing and will not be with a group during my internship). So after successfully navigating that purchase (by myself and in German, I might add, though not without many blank stares and pantomiming...) I returned to the Wohnheim to meet the group for our next adventure. Since Tuesday was the last day of the month and our monthly passes were only good for the two inner zones of the city, I suggested that we visit one of the two large lakes in the region (Starnbergersee or Ammersee) while we could without purchasing extra tickets, and especially because the weather was very nice here on Tuesday. So a majority of us decided to take a trip to Starnbergersee, which was only about 30 minutes by S-Bahn from the Wohnheim. It made me glad I had brought my swimming suit (I considered leaving it since I only swam once while in Russia last year). The lake was nice as promised, and the snow-topped Alps were faintly visible at the southern end, but any visions we had of sandy beaches lined with umbrella chairs were sadly disappointed. The only swimming area we could find was a stretch of rocky shore with a dock that stretched a few dozen feet into the water, a mile or two down the shore from the train station. However, the important part was swimming, so most of us (mostly boys) eagerly derobed and rushed into the water. In some strange lapse of forethought I had neglected to put on my swimsuit while still at the Wohnheim, and changing at the swimming area was an interesting challenge. There were no easily-accessible changing rooms and the nearest bathrooms that I knew of were nearly a mile down the road back toward the train station. However, there were plenty of trees and walls and buildings around, so I just had to be quick and creative about it. Unfortunately my 16x30" travel towel was of no use in this matter, so I borrowed a female friend and a full-sized towel and snuck off behind a tree. I had an interesting close call when another member of the group unwittingly wandered over, but crisis was averted and I was soon running down the dock into the water, safely and modestly covered. The water was cold!!! And this is coming from a girl who lives in Maine, so I know what cold water is. I've been swimming in the ocean in May and in snowmelt rivers in April, so I have felt cold water. This wasn't nearly THAT cold, but it was certainly chillier than expected. I half-heartedly paddled a few hundred yards away from shore but the ominous-looking clouds on the other side of the lake and the lack of willing company discouraged me from a true long-distance swim. So I contented myself with standing in the shallows and observing the multitudes of small fish which swam around me in circles, occasionally venturing close enough to brush me with a tail. I had my goggles, of course, and a few times I dove under and swam amongst the fish, which always kept just out of reach but didn't seem otherwise too bothered by my presence. Soon the rumbles of the promised thunderstorm reached our ears and we (I, at least - most people were shivering) reluctantly clambered out of the water and dried off. We trotted back to the train station rather more quickly than we had come and returned to the Wohnheim without getting wet, if barely. I then turned my attention to making supper, which was an improvised combination of instant potatoes and instant soup (but still pretty good ;]). I was surprisingly tired, so though I had grand ambitions of writing long emails and blogging and doing my homework, I ended up going to bed at 8 and planning to do it all in the morning when I would be fresher and more efficient.
I did end up getting up at 5 and getting a great deal done before class, almost at the expense of my punctuality. I posted my blog entry at 8:33 and rushed off to the train station - it takes a little more than 20 minutes to get from the Wohnheim to the Institute on a normal day and Wednesday was gloomy and rainy all day. The most interesting part of class was when our professor offered to buy us ballet and opera tickets and claimed that he could do so in about ten minutes - whoever had interest gave him 10€ for the ticket and in the middle of class, after setting us to begin a grammar exercise, he slipped out to buy the tickets. He tends to do that - disappear with little or no explanation in the middle of class, almost in the middle of a sentence - usually he comes back right away, because he just has copies to make or something. This time he said ten minutes, but he actually didn't return for FORTY - and by the time he did, class was nearly over so all he could do was give us our homework for the next day (I didn't really mind). After class I went to explore a store near the Institute that had caught my eye - it was called "Euroshop". Turns out it is just what it sounds like - the European equivalent of a dollar store. EVERYTHING is one Euro - and there's some pretty good stuff there! Not just because 1€ = $1.42, either. I'm sure I'll be back to that store many times this month. :) Then it was back to the Wohnheim, where I spent the rest of the day in frustrated attempts to call home - the weather being bad both here and in Maine, my Skype calls with Mom were nothing more than an exercise in frustration, and other friends whom I tried to contact weren't available. I eventually gave up and began researching activities in Munich that would potentially interest me, in hopes of not leaving this city feeling like I had wasted my time here or not seen all the things I wanted to see. The best discovery which followed from this exercise was that most museums in the city are quite inexpensive for students, and a few are even free! Now I have lots more ideas for adventures, and whether I can find companions with which to share my experiences or not, I will be sure to at least inform you well of the ups and downs.
So, Tuesday was the first day of class. The group is split into three classes: one group of German 105 and two of German 107. In my group are some from my German 102-5 class in the spring (whom I already know) and several from the other class whom I had never met before, a good mix. In total there are twelve people in my class, though there are supposed to be thirteen - I'm not really sure why one of the students never ended up coming. The most interesting story within our group was one girl whose passport apparently expired a couple of months ago without her realizing it...? She had to expedite a new passport and catch the next possible flight to Munich, whether at her own expense or the arranged ticket was able to be cancelled I'm not sure. I'm still a little confused as to how, when planning to travel out of the country, one neglects to notice the expiration date on one's passport, but I suppose it's a simple enough oversight especially if you don't travel often. She's here now, in any case, but I don't envy her having missed two days of class and traveling here alone.
Our teacher is a grey-haired man, probably in his sixties - actually, he reminds me startlingly of Mr. Girodet, my French/Spanish teacher in high school, although he's German and not French. If you took Mr. Girodet with all his quirks and teaching methods and exchanged all the quintessentially French qualities that he has for equally stereotypical German ones, I'm pretty sure you would have Professor Földeak. (Though that would be a substantial difference, considering the obvious contrasts between French and German personalities...) Professor Földeak is a linguist and he studied English in college, a refreshing contrast from my PiP professors who barely spoke anything but Russian. He is very interested in the etymology of the vocabulary we are using and often links the German history of a word to its English counterpart, which is quite helpful for understanding and remembering what we're learning. His method focuses more on learning words in context rather than giving us lists of vocabulary to commit to memory, which isn't the way I've learned most languages, but I see how it would be helpful. We have pieces of yellow paper on which we are supposed to write important new vocab in the sentences he gives us. Our homework every night is to memorize these sentences so that we learn the new vocabulary, and every day we spend the first hour or so reviewing these sentences. It works most of the time, but for some completely new vocabulary the simple sentences he gives as examples aren't enough to cement in my memory the meaning of the words, so I also keep a notebook in a more traditional "dictionary" style where I write down the new word and its English translation. I tend more to make flashcards on Alek and study them instead of memorizing the sentences, though I do make sure to familiarize myself with those as well. On the first day of class we started reviewing basic things like common verbs and question words, so that Professor Földeak could get a sense for our knowledge level, and I realized just how much that we had studied during the academic year I had already forgotten in the intervening month, particularly the past-tense forms that we don't tend to use so often in conversation (a surprising proportion of conversation refers to the present). If I was really motivated I would go through the reference book that I brought with me and review all of the grammatical topics with which we are supposed to be familiar, but if you can keep a secret, this "intensive" language program really isn't so much, and I could and possibly will squeeze by with knowing the bare minimum and bluffing the rest. Call it a sacrifice for the sake of cultural education - I can't very well experience Germany if I'm always in my room studying, right? This is, after all, an immersion program... Overall the work is not too much and the class is interesting, though after coming off a hard year at Princeton I'm a little burned out and I sometimes find it hard to muster the motivation to study in the evenings. Hopefully either this will pass or I will find a good balance so that I don't resent my studies, but can keep the end goal of becoming fluent in German in mind. I would say the most advanced of us are basically conversationally fluent in that we can say most of the banal, ordinary, everyday things we want to say to each other in German, but there are all kinds of things we don't talk about because we don't have the vocabulary, and reading instructions or understanding native speakers is still sometimes difficult if you don't know what they are supposed to be saying (context clues save my LIFE, which I'm pretty sure is the only reason I ever thought I could speak Russian to any degree).
One big example is Christian vocabulary - having grown up in a churchgoing family, "religious" words were such a part of my life that I never realized how much specialized vocabulary we use until I started trying to think about it in another language. My very best friend gave me a German version of the Bible last Christmas, so of course I brought it along, and I've been reading Colossians. Even though I know basically what it says I was really shocked by the number of words (mostly nouns) that I didn't recognize, so I started making a list of them and discovered that they are mostly very basic words that I would use in any discussion of religion/faith - hope, love, faith, sin, forgiveness, grace, gospel, minister, etc. I'm really enjoying studying this vocabulary, though, and hope to have the opportunity to attend a German church one of these Sundays to see how much I can recognize. I researched and unfortunately all of the several Calvary Chapels (the group of churches I attend, and one of which I was fortunate enough to find in St. Petersburg last year) in Germany are at least an hour's drive from both Munich and Clausthal, where I will be for July/August doing my internship. The leader of the Princeton in Munich program, Jamie Rankin, is a strong Christian who plays the piano both at PEF and Westerly Road Church back in Princeton, so of course he knows of a good church here in Munich, but since most of the group is (naturally) not interested in attending church on a Sunday morning we've planned an excursion to Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired Disneys' trademark Sleeping Beauty castle) which leaves at 7:45am, and next week we'll be in Berlin for our mid-term excursion, so I'll only get to attend once at most. Hopefully I'll be able to find a good Bible-preaching Evangelical Christian church in Clausthal-Zellerfeld to attend.
Let me tell you about my first week of classes, and then you'll see what I meant about there being excursions or activities of some type every day. Tuesday was the first day of class, and afterwards I had a couple of errands to run, primarily equipping my cell phone with a German SIM card. Unlike PiP, PiM does not make cell phones mandatory for everyone, which I still haven't decided how I feel about. On one hand it's easier because not everyone has to buy a $30 cell phone that they'll only use for a month and can spend their money more freely on what they want, and it certainly makes for more adventures, but on the other hand it makes communication between members of the group difficult if not downright frustrating. This was especially true during the first three days before our monthly passes went into effect (now we are basically independent, which I like very much as most of the time I prefer to do my own thing rather than stick with the group). In any case, I both wanted an opportunity to use the phone I bought in Russia again and wanted to be able to communicate with other members of the group/the group leaders, so I went to vodafone and bought a pre-paid SIM card. When it comes to cellular phone service, the Europeans know what they're doing. Instead of pricey and confusing monthly plans, cell phones can be as simple as buying a SIM card for 10€ and adding money to your account whenever you need to. Calls within the network are 0,05€/min and to other networks 0,15€/min. Texts cost 0,19€ each, and I'm not sure if vodafone works like the Russian networks in that incoming calls are free (but I rather hope so). In any case my Russian phone was unlocked (thankfully) so I bought a SIM card and put 15€ on my phone, which will most likely last me through the whole summer (and it's nice to have a cell phone just in case of emergencies, especially since I usually do my own thing and will not be with a group during my internship). So after successfully navigating that purchase (by myself and in German, I might add, though not without many blank stares and pantomiming...) I returned to the Wohnheim to meet the group for our next adventure. Since Tuesday was the last day of the month and our monthly passes were only good for the two inner zones of the city, I suggested that we visit one of the two large lakes in the region (Starnbergersee or Ammersee) while we could without purchasing extra tickets, and especially because the weather was very nice here on Tuesday. So a majority of us decided to take a trip to Starnbergersee, which was only about 30 minutes by S-Bahn from the Wohnheim. It made me glad I had brought my swimming suit (I considered leaving it since I only swam once while in Russia last year). The lake was nice as promised, and the snow-topped Alps were faintly visible at the southern end, but any visions we had of sandy beaches lined with umbrella chairs were sadly disappointed. The only swimming area we could find was a stretch of rocky shore with a dock that stretched a few dozen feet into the water, a mile or two down the shore from the train station. However, the important part was swimming, so most of us (mostly boys) eagerly derobed and rushed into the water. In some strange lapse of forethought I had neglected to put on my swimsuit while still at the Wohnheim, and changing at the swimming area was an interesting challenge. There were no easily-accessible changing rooms and the nearest bathrooms that I knew of were nearly a mile down the road back toward the train station. However, there were plenty of trees and walls and buildings around, so I just had to be quick and creative about it. Unfortunately my 16x30" travel towel was of no use in this matter, so I borrowed a female friend and a full-sized towel and snuck off behind a tree. I had an interesting close call when another member of the group unwittingly wandered over, but crisis was averted and I was soon running down the dock into the water, safely and modestly covered. The water was cold!!! And this is coming from a girl who lives in Maine, so I know what cold water is. I've been swimming in the ocean in May and in snowmelt rivers in April, so I have felt cold water. This wasn't nearly THAT cold, but it was certainly chillier than expected. I half-heartedly paddled a few hundred yards away from shore but the ominous-looking clouds on the other side of the lake and the lack of willing company discouraged me from a true long-distance swim. So I contented myself with standing in the shallows and observing the multitudes of small fish which swam around me in circles, occasionally venturing close enough to brush me with a tail. I had my goggles, of course, and a few times I dove under and swam amongst the fish, which always kept just out of reach but didn't seem otherwise too bothered by my presence. Soon the rumbles of the promised thunderstorm reached our ears and we (I, at least - most people were shivering) reluctantly clambered out of the water and dried off. We trotted back to the train station rather more quickly than we had come and returned to the Wohnheim without getting wet, if barely. I then turned my attention to making supper, which was an improvised combination of instant potatoes and instant soup (but still pretty good ;]). I was surprisingly tired, so though I had grand ambitions of writing long emails and blogging and doing my homework, I ended up going to bed at 8 and planning to do it all in the morning when I would be fresher and more efficient.
I did end up getting up at 5 and getting a great deal done before class, almost at the expense of my punctuality. I posted my blog entry at 8:33 and rushed off to the train station - it takes a little more than 20 minutes to get from the Wohnheim to the Institute on a normal day and Wednesday was gloomy and rainy all day. The most interesting part of class was when our professor offered to buy us ballet and opera tickets and claimed that he could do so in about ten minutes - whoever had interest gave him 10€ for the ticket and in the middle of class, after setting us to begin a grammar exercise, he slipped out to buy the tickets. He tends to do that - disappear with little or no explanation in the middle of class, almost in the middle of a sentence - usually he comes back right away, because he just has copies to make or something. This time he said ten minutes, but he actually didn't return for FORTY - and by the time he did, class was nearly over so all he could do was give us our homework for the next day (I didn't really mind). After class I went to explore a store near the Institute that had caught my eye - it was called "Euroshop". Turns out it is just what it sounds like - the European equivalent of a dollar store. EVERYTHING is one Euro - and there's some pretty good stuff there! Not just because 1€ = $1.42, either. I'm sure I'll be back to that store many times this month. :) Then it was back to the Wohnheim, where I spent the rest of the day in frustrated attempts to call home - the weather being bad both here and in Maine, my Skype calls with Mom were nothing more than an exercise in frustration, and other friends whom I tried to contact weren't available. I eventually gave up and began researching activities in Munich that would potentially interest me, in hopes of not leaving this city feeling like I had wasted my time here or not seen all the things I wanted to see. The best discovery which followed from this exercise was that most museums in the city are quite inexpensive for students, and a few are even free! Now I have lots more ideas for adventures, and whether I can find companions with which to share my experiences or not, I will be sure to at least inform you well of the ups and downs.
Settling In
My first impressions of Germany:
- clean - amazingly so, for a city. There is NO litter. Anywhere.
- organized
- everyone follows the rules religiously - a couple of examples: when the crossing light is red, you don't cross the street. Even if there are NO cars coming and the light is about to turn green in a couple of seconds. Also, there are no gates in the train stations - if you wanted to get on the train without a ticket, you totally could. Although if you get caught doing it, the fine is 40€, so I don't suggest trying it. Even if I've only seen the police on the train once in five days.
- uncrowded (compared to St. Petersburg)
- less diverse than NYC or basically any other large American city, but more so than Russia
- friendly but businesslike - most storekeepers tolerate our mediocre German rather than trying out their English on us (especially since even if they switch to English, we insist on responding in German)
Monday was our first full day in Germany. We didn't have class but only an information session at the Institute that began at 10. I really like that on our first day they showed us where the institute was so there was no question (they didn't do that for PiP and Latalia and I had to go searching for it on our own). Since we all had group tickets until Wednesday, we met at 9:15 to all travel over together, grabbing breakfast along the way. I bought a cheese-covered roll-pastry at Müllers, a small bakery located in the train station closest to the Wohnheim, for 1,30€. Food here is surprisingly cheap, which is very good seeing as it will be my main expense.
Transportation in Germany is quite interesting and deserves a paragraph to itself. There is quite a system of interconnected S-Bahns (aboveground trains) and U-Bahns (underground trains, aka subways) throughout the city. Since we live on the last station in the city center, seven S-Bahn lines come through our station. They all take the same track through the city center and only diverge at the outskirts to travel to various places around Munich. This means that there is a train heading towards downtown approximately every 2 minutes, so you never have to worry about "missing" your train. Any of the trains heading to the city center will stop at the Institute station, so it hardly even matters which one you board. Our monthly pass allows us to travel an unlimited number of times on any S-Bahn, U-Bahn, bus, or tram in the two innermost "circles" of the city, which is basically anywhere we would want to go for museums, parks, concerts, etc. On the way back to the Wohnheim at night there is only one of the eight S-Bahn lines which diverges before our stop, so we have to be a tad more watchful, but in general the public transportation around the city is absolutely stellar and I've not yet had a problem with it. Everything is exceedingly well-marked in true German style and there are clear maps of the immediate neighborhood, city, and region in every station. Although I will to some degree miss the wild adventure of taking a marshrutka through St. Petersburg, hoping that it is traveling in the direction that I want to go in, I am mostly very glad for the high level of organization. Another thing that makes Germany stand out from both the US and Russia is their attitude on bikes. They are obsessed with them over here, and bikers are thus given a much higher priority. Every sidewalk in the city consists of two lanes of bike traffic as well as places for pedestrian traffic, but if there is not enough room, the bikes take priority. And all of the Germans know not to walk in the bike lanes, because they'll just ring their bells angrily at you and then run you over. There are ample spaces for locking up bikes at the train stations and bikes are even allowed on the S-Bahn, with special places on each car to put them out of the way. I think I'm in biker heaven. Of course, one of my first questions to our German assistants (who are serving their civil service requirement with the Goethe Institute as opposed to a military service requirement, one of which is required for every young person in Germany) was "where in Munich can I buy a used bike?" I haven't seen him again to ask whether he found a good place (he answered that he knew there were shops where that was possible but would have to research exactly where in the city they are located), and I am debating whether it is worth buying a bike here that I would then have to transport on the train to Clausthal or whether I would be better off waiting until I got there to purchase one (the thought of trying to transport a bike along with two heavy suitcases and a backpack makes me shiver).
Getting back to Monday, after the information session (which only lasted an hour or so), in which we learned about the course organization as well as received our internet usernames and passwords, we were let free until 2pm. I quickly joined the group that was going shopping with the intention to end up back at the Wohnheim, and we traveled first to DM (a chain much like Rite-Aid or CVS) for shower supplies, then to a grocery store (Tengelmann) on the way home, which is when it really hit home how inexpensive groceries are here. I was able to buy a loaf of bread, butter, cheese, yogurt, milk, cereal, chicken, pasta, instant potatoes, applesauce, spaghetti sauce, 5 apples, and some instant soup mixes (much like Raman) for only 20€! Granted, I sought the cheapest items and my shopping cart didn't display the most balanced menu, but it was still a lot for what I paid for. Rushing back to the dorm, we quickly connected our computers to the internet and sent off hurried emails to parents assuring them of our safe arrival (or in my case, a terse Facebook status update to kill as many birds with one stone as possible) before heading off to the Olympic park to meet the group. The big attraction that we were all gathering to see was the Olympic tower, by far the tallest building in Munich, which provided an excellent opportunity to view the entire city (and yes, take lots of pictures). The park itself is quite interesting, however; it has several hills, but none of them are natural: they were formed from the rubble of Munich directly following WWII, then covered in dirt and planted to create a park. This sort of enormous reconstruction project happened all over just after the war as many German cities were almost completely destroyed by bombs.
Once we were all at the top of the Olympic tower, the grad students Hannes and Mareike unveiled their treat - a scavenger hunt (Schnitzeljagd) about Munich! We broke up into groups of five and received a paper with several questions on it, which we were charged to answer before 6 when we should all meet at a particular ice cream store which they pointed out on a map. My group consisted of four other people from my German 102-5 class: Dan H, Olivia, Claudia, and Nathan, so I knew we would have a great deal of fun no matter what the outcome. One of the challenges was to take 10€ given to us by Professor Rankin and spend it in the most creative way. Earlier I had seen some paddleboats on the lake and suddenly I was struck with an idea: why not spend our money on renting a paddleboat and paddling around the lake? Finding this to be the best idea anyone had, we promptly followed through with it. One of the boats was shaped like a giant swan, so of course that was the one I wanted to take. Olivia and I clambered into the swan and Claudia and the boys in the other, and we cheerfully paddled around the lake for a half-hour. The most exciting part came when we tried to follow the other boat (which was just a normal paddleboat) under a low bridge and found out that the head of the swan was too tall to allow this - we almost got stuck until Claudia suggested "lean forward" and the shift in weight tipped the boat forward so that the head was lower. (Who's the engineer, here?) The rest of the hunt involved dashing around Munich on the sophisticated U-Bahn and S-Bahn network to various sights in the city to take pictures and gather souvenirs. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the ice cream shop in time, but we had a blast so it didn't really matter to us.
We got back to the Wohnheim at about 6:30, and I promptly made myself a scrumptious supper of tortellini before hopping on Skype to talk to my sister Emily for her birthday (this is the second year in a row that I have been overseas on her birthday). Before I knew it, the clock read 11pm and I was more than ready for bed, especially since the next day marked the first day of classes.
We got back to the Wohnheim at about 6:30, and I promptly made myself a scrumptious supper of tortellini before hopping on Skype to talk to my sister Emily for her birthday (this is the second year in a row that I have been overseas on her birthday). Before I knew it, the clock read 11pm and I was more than ready for bed, especially since the next day marked the first day of classes.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A New Adventure Begins
Travel. Quite remarkable how quickly one becomes accustomed to it.
It really didn't hit me that I was leaving until about Friday night at the PEF Alumni event. Which is a little strange, because I had been packing slowly for nearly a week and by Friday everything was ready to go. But it wasn't until afterwards when I was talking to people that I really realized that I wasn't going to see any of them again until September, and some of them perhaps never again. I don't cry at these sorts of things, but it was a sobering thought. Evidently no one else realized it either, because I got texts from two separate people later that evening as I was moving the last of my stuff out (a very unwise idea on the Friday night of Reunions, mind you) and getting ready for my last night in an American bed for three months to the effect of "WAIT A MINUTE! YOU'RE LEAVING?!?!??!" They asked when they could see me and I truthfully said that the only way I could guarantee it was if they hung around with Joe. I knew at least he would take pains to make sure I said goodbye before I raced off to my summer exploits. I should probably also mention that I worked 19 hours for two different jobs in the three days leading up to my departure, including the morning we left for the airport (I actually had to pass off a shift to someone else because it wouldn't have finished in time for me to make the shuttle bus ;]). So I wasn't just moping around saying drawn-out goodbyes and waiting to leave.
The only people I ended up seeing on the morning of my departure were Joe, his roommates, and a close senior friend of his that I had also gotten to know this past semester. I hope I see them (the seniors) again, because I had become very close to some of them during the course of the year. Last year the seniors graduating meant very little to me, because I only knew a couple of them and didn't even have very many friends anyway. This year it really hit home how much I will miss them, and I begin to wonder again whether studying abroad my junior year spring semester is such a good idea, since it will mean missing the class of 2012's graduation. But I have all summer to decide that, and we haven't even started off on the adventure yet! So let's get going.
The bus was scheduled to leave at noon on Saturday, but because of one of the group members' unfortunate unforeseen circumstances we were delayed about 30 minutes. Not that it mattered - we got to the airport in plenty of time to check in and wait around for another couple of hours. The theme of waiting on people would continue through the next few days, however, and without cell phones (which were mandatory to purchase in Russia but aren't obligatory here) communication can be quite frustrating at times.
As opposed to last summer, when I went home for a week before traipsing off to Serbia and Russia, this year I chose not to go home at all in May and merely pack for Germany from what I had brought to college. This brought up the interesting question of storing what I wasn't bringing out of the country, which turned out to be quite a lot. Mom was (understandably) unwilling to drive down and pick up my stuff if I wasn't coming home (a 1000 mile journey with just all of my stuff to keep her company? Granted, I have plenty of stuffed animals, which make fine conversation partners but they can't share the driving ;]). However, she and my sister were planning a college visit trip during Emily's April vacation and she (conveniently) wanted to visit some colleges in Pennsylvania, so she decided that they would come visit me on the way and bring as much of my stuff as possible back home with them. It was unbelievably difficult to pack everything I thought I didn't need for the summer in April, and though I planned to basically live out of a suitcase for a month, I ended up having quite a bit of stuff that needed to find a home for the summer. Thankfully the wonderfully generous PEF staff and some close friends who live in the area made it possible for me to store everything I didn't need without having to pay exorbitant prices for it all. However, since I didn't want to burden them unnecessarily with all kinds of stuff, and I packed so hastily in April (there were a few things which I accidentally sent home which I later needed, and I kept at Princeton FAR more than I intended to), I ended up bringing much more than I needed to Germany. Problematic, when one considers luggage weight limits on planes which are becoming ever stricter as each additional pound means extra fuel costs. So it turned out that BOTH my checked bag and intended carry-on were above the limit, and I didn't even try to weigh my backpack which contained my laptop and sundry other items which I intended to be my "personal item." Thankfully the woman at the check-in counter was wonderfully gracious and didn't ask about the backpack, but only made me rearrange so that the carry-on bag said 8kg (it was originally 10kg, and the checked luggage was 25.5kg, when the limit is 23kg). When I tried to weigh my big suitcase again to see how much over it was, she waved me away and strapped the tag to it before I could protest. I suppose if she didn't see how much over the limit it was, she couldn't charge me for an overweight bag? In any case, my prospects for souvenirs seem dour. I hope everybody will be content with postcards, because unless I leave a significant chunk of my luggage in Germany, that's about all I can afford to bring back, and that's only if the German luggage-counter attendants are as gracious as the one in New York, which I somewhat doubt. While waiting for the plane in JFK I began thinking of how much I was bringing to Germany that I could spare: which clothes weren't my absolute favorite, which books wouldn't I need again, which things I had brought that I would use up over the course of a summer (painfully few, as I planned to purchase most such disposables upon arrival). But again, I have all summer to decide that.
Finally the call came to board and we eagerly crowded onto the plane (the second-longest in the world - the bathrooms are actually downstairs from the main cabin!!) only to wait another 60 minutes or so on the tarmac before being cleared for takeoff. I didn't mind particularly - I was excited for Germany but not so-excited-I-can-hardly-stand-it. While we waited I watched The Green Hornet which seemed to be about the only interesting movie option - I'm glad I had nothing else to do with that time, because watching that movie would certainly have been a waste of it. And I usually like superhero movies... I do, however, tend to despise movies where the main character is a jerk - though Dan H may kill me for saying it, I really didn't like Rushmore either. Finally we took off, which is always one of my favorite parts of a plane ride, and soon we were cruising up the New England coast (which I knew not because of my stellar sense of direction or knowledge of aerial geography, but because the plane had one of those nifty GPS-maps that shows the route and position of the plane, as well as sundry other information about the flight - if you are curious, go read my blog entry about my trans-Atlantic flight to Zurich last year, where I first encountered this useful bit of technology. I probably spend a paragraph and a half describing it :P). In true German style the plane was clean, all was orderly, the flight attendants were crisp and businesslike, and the food was stellar (well - for airplane food, anyway). I had "asian chicken" for supper and breakfast of a roll, granola bar, and fruit salad (if you can call two slices of pineapple, one of watermelon, one of cantaloupe and one blueberry a fruit salad). I slept around 3 hours in between, not bad on a 7-hour flight (I don't usually do well trying to sleep sitting up). Because of the northernly arc of the flight trajectory (presumably to stay over land as much as possible in case anything should go awry and demand an emergency landing) I got to see both sunset and sunrise on the same flight from my window seat on the left side of the plane. This is probably my favorite part of flying, even more than takeoff/landing. We landed at about 8:30am Munich time, which is 2:30 EST due to the 6-hour time difference. Upon deplaning I promptly took a wrong turn in baggage claim and almost got lost in the airport - not a fortuitous start to the summer, I must say. In addition I discovered that whether in the airport in New York or on the plane, I had somehow misplaced my better pair of sunglasses and was now constrained to my big bug-glasses for the summer - at least I brought two pairs!
As soon as we deplaned, the Princeton in Munich program unofficially began - we were from that point on constrained to speak only German from 9am-9pm. (I don't count blogging because I'm not technically *speaking* English, and I hope my professors and classmates will forgive me the exception in the interest of preserving my memories). To my great surprise, I could do it! In stark contrast to the rocky start of the Princeton in St. Petersburg program in which I participated the summer prior, when I was unceremoniously dumped off at my host mother's apartment to find that she spoke not a word of English and my Russian was lacking to the point that I could barely understand what she was trying to communicate, much less respond (again, for more on that traumatic experience, go read the post titled "First Impressions"), I found that most of the vocabulary I wanted to communicate with my classmates was easily within my grasp! Not that my grammar is perfect or that I don't pause and stumble (and make up German words or use English substitutes quite frequently), but I can understand and be understood, and that is a huge relief and confidence booster. Granted, I am speaking with my classmates and professor who are intimately acquainted with both my accent and vocabulary level, and I have found that speaking with native speakers is significantly more difficult, but not impossible. There may be hope after all for me being at least conversationally fluent by the end of the summer, if I work hard these next 12 weeks.
After waiting around a bit more in the airport (another student's bag had been lost and Prof. Rankin had to buy the tickets for us to travel on the train to our apartment), we were finally ready to set off, all 38 of us. Now, anytime you have a group of this size you run the risk of losing track of everyone, and sure enough, that is what happened. Prof. Rankin had bought group tickets (for up to 5 people) which were good for three days, which was exactly the time needed to last us until June, when we would receive individual month-long passes for all public transportation systems (local trains, subway, buses, trams...). Amazingly this, like so many other aspects of the program, is covered in the program fee. Now I can't believe that PIM costs only $2500! PIP was also $2500, but we were individually responsible for our plane tickets, transportation around the city, and so on. However, with PIM we have to pay for all our own food, and the program is only half as long, so perhaps the advantage isn't so much as I make it out to be. In all honesty, it probably isn't fair to continuously make these comparisons between PiP and PiM, but I can't help it, and so far PiM is coming out ahead by a long shot. Anyway, back to the airport. As was bound to happen, 13 of us didn't make it onto the train in time and it zoomed away, carrying Professor Rankin and all of the tickets with it. Evidently he thought that we were all on the train together because he had handed out all of his tickets, but obviously not everyone had had a group of five and in the chaos, quite a few of us had been overlooked. All was not lost, however. I was one of the thirteen left behind, but I was in a group of five with a ticket. Our group had gotten off the train to seek a less crowded car just as the doors closed and locked (train doors in Germany don't automatically open and close - you must push a button to open them that deactivates when the train is about to leave). The other eight, however, were stranded. We finally decided that the five of us should follow the group and inform Professor Rankin of the predicament of the others, since we didn't know whether or not he was aware of so many missing, no one had a way to contact anyone in the other group (since none of our American phones worked in Germany) and having one ticket between thirteen people wouldn't do anyone any good. We caught the next train into the city and dutifully got off at our stop, but then paused, confused. We started off in one direction, but when we didn't find the correct street as "the first street on the right", as described, we turned around only to be met by Nathan, one of the most energetic participants in PiM, who had been sent back to train station to meet and guide us back to the dorm building. Finally we arrived and told Professor Rankin of the other eight (and confirmed that he had no idea that they had been left behind). While he dashed off to return to the airport and retrieve them, we received our room keys and set off to unpack a bit before an informational meeting. My room for the summer is number 309, which is on the fourth floor by American accounting (since Europeans count the ground floor as separate from the first floor). We all have very similar singles furnished with a bed, a desk, two bookshelves, a large shkaf (a Russian word for a free-standing wardrobe for which there is no good English equivalent), a refrigerator, a nightstand, and a private bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower. Ironically it is larger, newer, and nicer than my academic room in Princeton from last year. Every Wednesday we have the opportunity to change out our pillowcase/sheets and towels, and the rooms are cleaned weekly. There is a kitchen on every floor where we can cook our meals if we prefer that to eating out (which I certainly do, to save money - this summer is going to be expensive enough!) and the basement has a game room, music room, TV room, and laundry room. The internet, laundry, game room, kitchen use, and just about everything else here is free - it doesn't get much better than that. :) The doors, windows, and light switches are as I saw in Serbia and Russia (the windows open either out or tilt down, with no screens, the doors have a strange lip, and the light switches are large and flat) but that's all old hat to me now (such a worldly-wise traveler have I become ;P). Bedding in Germany is done a little differently - they have a big pillow with a pillowcase, but there is no such thing as a "fitted" sheet - a flat sheet tucks around the mattress and additional bedding is provided by a comforter with a washable cover instead of additional sheets. Pretty intelligent, if you ask me, though it takes a bit of getting used to when one is accustomed to several layers over oneself.
The weather here shouldn't be as terrible as Russia - more like a Maine summer with many rainy days around 50˚F as well as a few hot ones closer to 80˚F. After the trauma of last year's persistent 90˚ heat without any air conditioning, I welcome rain and cool. I've also changed my philosophy on clothing and brought a fair sampling of my American wardrobe, everything from hoodies and jeans to tank tops and shorts - though the proportion of sundresses in my closet is certainly higher here than back in the States. According to my classmates I look fairly German already (well I am about as white as they get), but to me the more important thing is being able to SPEAK the language rather than LOOK like I fit in.
After having a bit of time to unpack and get our bearings, and having been well-oriented to the Wohnung (apartment) - in German, nonetheless - we set off back for the city to meet one of the graduate students who was coming from Princeton. Unfortunately her train was late - more waiting. When she finally arrived, we wandered the city center for a bit, but most of the fun was taken out of the excursion by our over-tired and jet-lagged state. I understand the sentiment of wanting to give us something to do so that we don't all go to bed at 2pm and wake up at 3am, but it wasn't very enjoyable. We split up a couple of times and though we gave clear instructions for when and where to meet again, we inevitably ended up waiting for people again - and tempers were short. We found a Deutsche Bank ATM (Bank of America has an agreement with them whereby fees are waived, which could potentially save me quite a bit of money over the summer) and I withdrew 200€ before I realized how much that was in dollars - being abroad had put me back in Russian mode, where the exchange rate is 30 roubles to the dollar. I had to remember that here it was the other way around, with 1.4 dollars equalling one Euro as of a few days ago - I'll have to be even more careful with my spending this summer. Anyway, I shouldn't have to visit an ATM again for awhile (although there are always many more expenses up front, so I shouldn't expect that any spending trends this week will continue), and there is a small safe in the room at the apartment so any extra money as well as my passport, debit card, camera, iPod, etc. should be much safer. Unfortunately my laptop won't fit in the safe or I would keep it there too, but the rooms lock automatically and I'm not too worried. That's one big difference between Russia and Germany - I brought my laptop Alek this year, which means many things. Perhaps most importantly, I won't *have* to wait an entire week between blog posts, which means that each one may not be a novel. I'll also be more connected to America and the world in general, more reachable by email, on Skype more often, etc. Friends from home can even text me on my Google voice number and I can check it from either Alek or Sebastian (my iPod which is also here with me and connected to the internet), though from this distance I can't imagine that there is anything that you would want to text me that couldn't be better said in an email. On that note, please know that I'd love to hear how you are doing - I can't be the only person having an exciting summer! :)
So, back to Sunday. Since it was Sunday, many stores were closed, including nearly every Apotheke we ran across (most of us hadn't brought liquids such as shampoo/conditioner/soap, etc. and we were in desperate need of showers). But, we wandered around and got a feel for the city center, ending at Marienplatz in time to see the famous cuckoo clock which plays every day at 11am, noon, and 5pm. Then we finally returned to the dorm for the night, where I organized my few belongings to my heart's content (I'm not happy unless my room is clean and organized), calculated my budget for the month, and made lists: to do, to buy, lists to make, etc. ;) Finally at 8:00 I was too exhausted to do more and fell gratefully into bed before even the sun had gone down. My room has east-facing windows, and I look forward to being woken up by the sun every morning - that is one of the main reasons that I picked my room at Princeton for next year. And so I slept the sleep of the weary traveler, happy to be in a made-up bed once more (my bedding had needed to be packed a couple of days before I left so I spent my last two nights in America huddled on a bare mattress with a sweatshirt for a pillow - miserable even when it is too hot for blankets). And here my saga ends until another day.
It really didn't hit me that I was leaving until about Friday night at the PEF Alumni event. Which is a little strange, because I had been packing slowly for nearly a week and by Friday everything was ready to go. But it wasn't until afterwards when I was talking to people that I really realized that I wasn't going to see any of them again until September, and some of them perhaps never again. I don't cry at these sorts of things, but it was a sobering thought. Evidently no one else realized it either, because I got texts from two separate people later that evening as I was moving the last of my stuff out (a very unwise idea on the Friday night of Reunions, mind you) and getting ready for my last night in an American bed for three months to the effect of "WAIT A MINUTE! YOU'RE LEAVING?!?!??!" They asked when they could see me and I truthfully said that the only way I could guarantee it was if they hung around with Joe. I knew at least he would take pains to make sure I said goodbye before I raced off to my summer exploits. I should probably also mention that I worked 19 hours for two different jobs in the three days leading up to my departure, including the morning we left for the airport (I actually had to pass off a shift to someone else because it wouldn't have finished in time for me to make the shuttle bus ;]). So I wasn't just moping around saying drawn-out goodbyes and waiting to leave.
The only people I ended up seeing on the morning of my departure were Joe, his roommates, and a close senior friend of his that I had also gotten to know this past semester. I hope I see them (the seniors) again, because I had become very close to some of them during the course of the year. Last year the seniors graduating meant very little to me, because I only knew a couple of them and didn't even have very many friends anyway. This year it really hit home how much I will miss them, and I begin to wonder again whether studying abroad my junior year spring semester is such a good idea, since it will mean missing the class of 2012's graduation. But I have all summer to decide that, and we haven't even started off on the adventure yet! So let's get going.
The bus was scheduled to leave at noon on Saturday, but because of one of the group members' unfortunate unforeseen circumstances we were delayed about 30 minutes. Not that it mattered - we got to the airport in plenty of time to check in and wait around for another couple of hours. The theme of waiting on people would continue through the next few days, however, and without cell phones (which were mandatory to purchase in Russia but aren't obligatory here) communication can be quite frustrating at times.
As opposed to last summer, when I went home for a week before traipsing off to Serbia and Russia, this year I chose not to go home at all in May and merely pack for Germany from what I had brought to college. This brought up the interesting question of storing what I wasn't bringing out of the country, which turned out to be quite a lot. Mom was (understandably) unwilling to drive down and pick up my stuff if I wasn't coming home (a 1000 mile journey with just all of my stuff to keep her company? Granted, I have plenty of stuffed animals, which make fine conversation partners but they can't share the driving ;]). However, she and my sister were planning a college visit trip during Emily's April vacation and she (conveniently) wanted to visit some colleges in Pennsylvania, so she decided that they would come visit me on the way and bring as much of my stuff as possible back home with them. It was unbelievably difficult to pack everything I thought I didn't need for the summer in April, and though I planned to basically live out of a suitcase for a month, I ended up having quite a bit of stuff that needed to find a home for the summer. Thankfully the wonderfully generous PEF staff and some close friends who live in the area made it possible for me to store everything I didn't need without having to pay exorbitant prices for it all. However, since I didn't want to burden them unnecessarily with all kinds of stuff, and I packed so hastily in April (there were a few things which I accidentally sent home which I later needed, and I kept at Princeton FAR more than I intended to), I ended up bringing much more than I needed to Germany. Problematic, when one considers luggage weight limits on planes which are becoming ever stricter as each additional pound means extra fuel costs. So it turned out that BOTH my checked bag and intended carry-on were above the limit, and I didn't even try to weigh my backpack which contained my laptop and sundry other items which I intended to be my "personal item." Thankfully the woman at the check-in counter was wonderfully gracious and didn't ask about the backpack, but only made me rearrange so that the carry-on bag said 8kg (it was originally 10kg, and the checked luggage was 25.5kg, when the limit is 23kg). When I tried to weigh my big suitcase again to see how much over it was, she waved me away and strapped the tag to it before I could protest. I suppose if she didn't see how much over the limit it was, she couldn't charge me for an overweight bag? In any case, my prospects for souvenirs seem dour. I hope everybody will be content with postcards, because unless I leave a significant chunk of my luggage in Germany, that's about all I can afford to bring back, and that's only if the German luggage-counter attendants are as gracious as the one in New York, which I somewhat doubt. While waiting for the plane in JFK I began thinking of how much I was bringing to Germany that I could spare: which clothes weren't my absolute favorite, which books wouldn't I need again, which things I had brought that I would use up over the course of a summer (painfully few, as I planned to purchase most such disposables upon arrival). But again, I have all summer to decide that.
Finally the call came to board and we eagerly crowded onto the plane (the second-longest in the world - the bathrooms are actually downstairs from the main cabin!!) only to wait another 60 minutes or so on the tarmac before being cleared for takeoff. I didn't mind particularly - I was excited for Germany but not so-excited-I-can-hardly-stand-it. While we waited I watched The Green Hornet which seemed to be about the only interesting movie option - I'm glad I had nothing else to do with that time, because watching that movie would certainly have been a waste of it. And I usually like superhero movies... I do, however, tend to despise movies where the main character is a jerk - though Dan H may kill me for saying it, I really didn't like Rushmore either. Finally we took off, which is always one of my favorite parts of a plane ride, and soon we were cruising up the New England coast (which I knew not because of my stellar sense of direction or knowledge of aerial geography, but because the plane had one of those nifty GPS-maps that shows the route and position of the plane, as well as sundry other information about the flight - if you are curious, go read my blog entry about my trans-Atlantic flight to Zurich last year, where I first encountered this useful bit of technology. I probably spend a paragraph and a half describing it :P). In true German style the plane was clean, all was orderly, the flight attendants were crisp and businesslike, and the food was stellar (well - for airplane food, anyway). I had "asian chicken" for supper and breakfast of a roll, granola bar, and fruit salad (if you can call two slices of pineapple, one of watermelon, one of cantaloupe and one blueberry a fruit salad). I slept around 3 hours in between, not bad on a 7-hour flight (I don't usually do well trying to sleep sitting up). Because of the northernly arc of the flight trajectory (presumably to stay over land as much as possible in case anything should go awry and demand an emergency landing) I got to see both sunset and sunrise on the same flight from my window seat on the left side of the plane. This is probably my favorite part of flying, even more than takeoff/landing. We landed at about 8:30am Munich time, which is 2:30 EST due to the 6-hour time difference. Upon deplaning I promptly took a wrong turn in baggage claim and almost got lost in the airport - not a fortuitous start to the summer, I must say. In addition I discovered that whether in the airport in New York or on the plane, I had somehow misplaced my better pair of sunglasses and was now constrained to my big bug-glasses for the summer - at least I brought two pairs!
As soon as we deplaned, the Princeton in Munich program unofficially began - we were from that point on constrained to speak only German from 9am-9pm. (I don't count blogging because I'm not technically *speaking* English, and I hope my professors and classmates will forgive me the exception in the interest of preserving my memories). To my great surprise, I could do it! In stark contrast to the rocky start of the Princeton in St. Petersburg program in which I participated the summer prior, when I was unceremoniously dumped off at my host mother's apartment to find that she spoke not a word of English and my Russian was lacking to the point that I could barely understand what she was trying to communicate, much less respond (again, for more on that traumatic experience, go read the post titled "First Impressions"), I found that most of the vocabulary I wanted to communicate with my classmates was easily within my grasp! Not that my grammar is perfect or that I don't pause and stumble (and make up German words or use English substitutes quite frequently), but I can understand and be understood, and that is a huge relief and confidence booster. Granted, I am speaking with my classmates and professor who are intimately acquainted with both my accent and vocabulary level, and I have found that speaking with native speakers is significantly more difficult, but not impossible. There may be hope after all for me being at least conversationally fluent by the end of the summer, if I work hard these next 12 weeks.
After waiting around a bit more in the airport (another student's bag had been lost and Prof. Rankin had to buy the tickets for us to travel on the train to our apartment), we were finally ready to set off, all 38 of us. Now, anytime you have a group of this size you run the risk of losing track of everyone, and sure enough, that is what happened. Prof. Rankin had bought group tickets (for up to 5 people) which were good for three days, which was exactly the time needed to last us until June, when we would receive individual month-long passes for all public transportation systems (local trains, subway, buses, trams...). Amazingly this, like so many other aspects of the program, is covered in the program fee. Now I can't believe that PIM costs only $2500! PIP was also $2500, but we were individually responsible for our plane tickets, transportation around the city, and so on. However, with PIM we have to pay for all our own food, and the program is only half as long, so perhaps the advantage isn't so much as I make it out to be. In all honesty, it probably isn't fair to continuously make these comparisons between PiP and PiM, but I can't help it, and so far PiM is coming out ahead by a long shot. Anyway, back to the airport. As was bound to happen, 13 of us didn't make it onto the train in time and it zoomed away, carrying Professor Rankin and all of the tickets with it. Evidently he thought that we were all on the train together because he had handed out all of his tickets, but obviously not everyone had had a group of five and in the chaos, quite a few of us had been overlooked. All was not lost, however. I was one of the thirteen left behind, but I was in a group of five with a ticket. Our group had gotten off the train to seek a less crowded car just as the doors closed and locked (train doors in Germany don't automatically open and close - you must push a button to open them that deactivates when the train is about to leave). The other eight, however, were stranded. We finally decided that the five of us should follow the group and inform Professor Rankin of the predicament of the others, since we didn't know whether or not he was aware of so many missing, no one had a way to contact anyone in the other group (since none of our American phones worked in Germany) and having one ticket between thirteen people wouldn't do anyone any good. We caught the next train into the city and dutifully got off at our stop, but then paused, confused. We started off in one direction, but when we didn't find the correct street as "the first street on the right", as described, we turned around only to be met by Nathan, one of the most energetic participants in PiM, who had been sent back to train station to meet and guide us back to the dorm building. Finally we arrived and told Professor Rankin of the other eight (and confirmed that he had no idea that they had been left behind). While he dashed off to return to the airport and retrieve them, we received our room keys and set off to unpack a bit before an informational meeting. My room for the summer is number 309, which is on the fourth floor by American accounting (since Europeans count the ground floor as separate from the first floor). We all have very similar singles furnished with a bed, a desk, two bookshelves, a large shkaf (a Russian word for a free-standing wardrobe for which there is no good English equivalent), a refrigerator, a nightstand, and a private bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower. Ironically it is larger, newer, and nicer than my academic room in Princeton from last year. Every Wednesday we have the opportunity to change out our pillowcase/sheets and towels, and the rooms are cleaned weekly. There is a kitchen on every floor where we can cook our meals if we prefer that to eating out (which I certainly do, to save money - this summer is going to be expensive enough!) and the basement has a game room, music room, TV room, and laundry room. The internet, laundry, game room, kitchen use, and just about everything else here is free - it doesn't get much better than that. :) The doors, windows, and light switches are as I saw in Serbia and Russia (the windows open either out or tilt down, with no screens, the doors have a strange lip, and the light switches are large and flat) but that's all old hat to me now (such a worldly-wise traveler have I become ;P). Bedding in Germany is done a little differently - they have a big pillow with a pillowcase, but there is no such thing as a "fitted" sheet - a flat sheet tucks around the mattress and additional bedding is provided by a comforter with a washable cover instead of additional sheets. Pretty intelligent, if you ask me, though it takes a bit of getting used to when one is accustomed to several layers over oneself.
The weather here shouldn't be as terrible as Russia - more like a Maine summer with many rainy days around 50˚F as well as a few hot ones closer to 80˚F. After the trauma of last year's persistent 90˚ heat without any air conditioning, I welcome rain and cool. I've also changed my philosophy on clothing and brought a fair sampling of my American wardrobe, everything from hoodies and jeans to tank tops and shorts - though the proportion of sundresses in my closet is certainly higher here than back in the States. According to my classmates I look fairly German already (well I am about as white as they get), but to me the more important thing is being able to SPEAK the language rather than LOOK like I fit in.
After having a bit of time to unpack and get our bearings, and having been well-oriented to the Wohnung (apartment) - in German, nonetheless - we set off back for the city to meet one of the graduate students who was coming from Princeton. Unfortunately her train was late - more waiting. When she finally arrived, we wandered the city center for a bit, but most of the fun was taken out of the excursion by our over-tired and jet-lagged state. I understand the sentiment of wanting to give us something to do so that we don't all go to bed at 2pm and wake up at 3am, but it wasn't very enjoyable. We split up a couple of times and though we gave clear instructions for when and where to meet again, we inevitably ended up waiting for people again - and tempers were short. We found a Deutsche Bank ATM (Bank of America has an agreement with them whereby fees are waived, which could potentially save me quite a bit of money over the summer) and I withdrew 200€ before I realized how much that was in dollars - being abroad had put me back in Russian mode, where the exchange rate is 30 roubles to the dollar. I had to remember that here it was the other way around, with 1.4 dollars equalling one Euro as of a few days ago - I'll have to be even more careful with my spending this summer. Anyway, I shouldn't have to visit an ATM again for awhile (although there are always many more expenses up front, so I shouldn't expect that any spending trends this week will continue), and there is a small safe in the room at the apartment so any extra money as well as my passport, debit card, camera, iPod, etc. should be much safer. Unfortunately my laptop won't fit in the safe or I would keep it there too, but the rooms lock automatically and I'm not too worried. That's one big difference between Russia and Germany - I brought my laptop Alek this year, which means many things. Perhaps most importantly, I won't *have* to wait an entire week between blog posts, which means that each one may not be a novel. I'll also be more connected to America and the world in general, more reachable by email, on Skype more often, etc. Friends from home can even text me on my Google voice number and I can check it from either Alek or Sebastian (my iPod which is also here with me and connected to the internet), though from this distance I can't imagine that there is anything that you would want to text me that couldn't be better said in an email. On that note, please know that I'd love to hear how you are doing - I can't be the only person having an exciting summer! :)
So, back to Sunday. Since it was Sunday, many stores were closed, including nearly every Apotheke we ran across (most of us hadn't brought liquids such as shampoo/conditioner/soap, etc. and we were in desperate need of showers). But, we wandered around and got a feel for the city center, ending at Marienplatz in time to see the famous cuckoo clock which plays every day at 11am, noon, and 5pm. Then we finally returned to the dorm for the night, where I organized my few belongings to my heart's content (I'm not happy unless my room is clean and organized), calculated my budget for the month, and made lists: to do, to buy, lists to make, etc. ;) Finally at 8:00 I was too exhausted to do more and fell gratefully into bed before even the sun had gone down. My room has east-facing windows, and I look forward to being woken up by the sun every morning - that is one of the main reasons that I picked my room at Princeton for next year. And so I slept the sleep of the weary traveler, happy to be in a made-up bed once more (my bedding had needed to be packed a couple of days before I left so I spent my last two nights in America huddled on a bare mattress with a sweatshirt for a pillow - miserable even when it is too hot for blankets). And here my saga ends until another day.
Prologue, if you can call it that
So, back again. And by "back" I can only mean "back away from America" because Germany is really nothing like Russia, though I can't help but keep comparing them. I guess that's how life with a human brain works, though - you take all your new experiences and compare them to everything familiar and go from there. I've been seeing that more and more in my life over this year through a few circumstances, and the Russia vs. Germany thing that I keep returning to just drives the point home.
For all of you who are just joining me for whatever reason (you didn't know me or know about this blog last year or you're here in Germany with me and frankly don't give a sweat about my Russian travels), welcome. I hope you find this at least entertaining, if not too relevant to anything you're doing. I tend to write mostly stream-of-consciousness, though it is a bit more organized than my thought life. The posts are long, though hopefully they'll be shorter and more frequent this year than last. Yes, I write about what I do on a daily basis, but I also try to incorporate and draw out any lessons on travel/life that I think can be learned from my experiences, because in the end, who really cares what I ate for supper every night? Feel free to comment on any posts, I love feedback of any kind. If you're a friend from home, please know that emails (no matter the length) are always welcome and read eagerly and often. Disclaimer for my fellow participants in the Princeton in Munich program: I will use your names unless you specifically request that I refrain from doing so. However, I will restrain myself to only your first name and last initial if there are multiple people with the same name here, so that only people who know you will know who you are (i.e. future employers won't be able to find incriminating evidence against you here when they Google-search your name). If you read any of my posts and believe that what I have written paints an unfair or unflattering picture of yourself, please have the courtesy to let me know via email or Facebook and I will immediately attempt to remedy the situation by editing or deleting the offending post.
Phew, now that all that unpleasant legal stuff is taken care of, let's get down to the exciting part.
So, this is ostensibly a travel blog, but it's all about my adventures, so I think it would not be completely out of place to put in just a paragraph about the 10 months that have passed since my last entry. I've now survived two years of Princeton, which is not exactly a small feat. This year was full of many more core classes (in the MAE department) than last year, and was therefore more intense and concentrated. I pulled through with pretty good grades, all things considered, though I've finally had to let go of my high school dreams of all As. I got quite busy as the year went on between studies, paid employment, and extracurricular activities. I upped the ante significantly this year by jumping from one to four jobs, but honestly didn't feel like that was a significant contributing factor to any feelings of being overwhelmed. I got a LOT more involved with PEF, the Christian fellowship group on campus, and am so glad that I did. I finally found my niche and made a TON more friends, including some that I have a feeling may be around for quite a while after college :) I got into KS, the Christian a cappella group for which I tried out at the beginning of my freshman year and was rejected from, which was definitely one of the high points. And yes, for all of you from home who have been asking, I finally found a boyfriend. He's perfectly lovely, and I could talk about him all day, but this definitely isn't the place for that, so you'll just have to inquire by email. ;)
Now before we completely move on to my German adventures, I was looking back through my journal of last summer (basically a condensed version of my blog) I found a page labeled "Things I've Learned in Russia". Some of them are relevant, others less so but quite amusing, so I thought I would include it here with minimal commentary as a segue into my next adventures.
Things I've Learned in Russia
I should probably preclude this with the information that I brought almost no "American" clothes to Russia last year upon the information that looking American would make me a target. So my wardrobe consisted of sundresses, skirts, blouses, and heels, which (for any of you who know me) is drastically different from my normal dress of a T-shirt, jeans and Tevas or sneakers. Thus the several statements pertaining to clothing.
For all of you who are just joining me for whatever reason (you didn't know me or know about this blog last year or you're here in Germany with me and frankly don't give a sweat about my Russian travels), welcome. I hope you find this at least entertaining, if not too relevant to anything you're doing. I tend to write mostly stream-of-consciousness, though it is a bit more organized than my thought life. The posts are long, though hopefully they'll be shorter and more frequent this year than last. Yes, I write about what I do on a daily basis, but I also try to incorporate and draw out any lessons on travel/life that I think can be learned from my experiences, because in the end, who really cares what I ate for supper every night? Feel free to comment on any posts, I love feedback of any kind. If you're a friend from home, please know that emails (no matter the length) are always welcome and read eagerly and often. Disclaimer for my fellow participants in the Princeton in Munich program: I will use your names unless you specifically request that I refrain from doing so. However, I will restrain myself to only your first name and last initial if there are multiple people with the same name here, so that only people who know you will know who you are (i.e. future employers won't be able to find incriminating evidence against you here when they Google-search your name). If you read any of my posts and believe that what I have written paints an unfair or unflattering picture of yourself, please have the courtesy to let me know via email or Facebook and I will immediately attempt to remedy the situation by editing or deleting the offending post.
Phew, now that all that unpleasant legal stuff is taken care of, let's get down to the exciting part.
So, this is ostensibly a travel blog, but it's all about my adventures, so I think it would not be completely out of place to put in just a paragraph about the 10 months that have passed since my last entry. I've now survived two years of Princeton, which is not exactly a small feat. This year was full of many more core classes (in the MAE department) than last year, and was therefore more intense and concentrated. I pulled through with pretty good grades, all things considered, though I've finally had to let go of my high school dreams of all As. I got quite busy as the year went on between studies, paid employment, and extracurricular activities. I upped the ante significantly this year by jumping from one to four jobs, but honestly didn't feel like that was a significant contributing factor to any feelings of being overwhelmed. I got a LOT more involved with PEF, the Christian fellowship group on campus, and am so glad that I did. I finally found my niche and made a TON more friends, including some that I have a feeling may be around for quite a while after college :) I got into KS, the Christian a cappella group for which I tried out at the beginning of my freshman year and was rejected from, which was definitely one of the high points. And yes, for all of you from home who have been asking, I finally found a boyfriend. He's perfectly lovely, and I could talk about him all day, but this definitely isn't the place for that, so you'll just have to inquire by email. ;)
Now before we completely move on to my German adventures, I was looking back through my journal of last summer (basically a condensed version of my blog) I found a page labeled "Things I've Learned in Russia". Some of them are relevant, others less so but quite amusing, so I thought I would include it here with minimal commentary as a segue into my next adventures.
Things I've Learned in Russia
I should probably preclude this with the information that I brought almost no "American" clothes to Russia last year upon the information that looking American would make me a target. So my wardrobe consisted of sundresses, skirts, blouses, and heels, which (for any of you who know me) is drastically different from my normal dress of a T-shirt, jeans and Tevas or sneakers. Thus the several statements pertaining to clothing.
- Well-fitting shoes are the key to happiness.
- Pack more Band-Aids and way less clothing than you think you need. Didn't follow this one very well this year, but my philosophy on clothing has also changed drastically, as I'll explain later.
- Knee-high pantyhose are the greatest invention ever.
- You only use about 500 words to communicate - really. But not the ones you're taught in language class. Expressing my frustration with arriving in Russia not having learned all the necessary grammar or having covered certain vital topics such as telling time. The German department prepared us much better for day-to-day communication.
- Russians don't snack, they just drink.
- As long as you look confident and walk quickly, people won't (usually) bother you. A reference to my (very stupid) midnight tour of one of the seedier neighborhoods of St. Petersburg. It's a pretty good story - I recommend you go read about it at the end of my July 16, 2010 post "The Fatalist".
- I look like a good person to ask for directions. This happens ALL the time - in America as well as other countries, evidently.
- Wearing shoes without socks makes them stink.
- You can get used to anything... even 95˚ heat. Compared to the unbearable heat of last summer, Germany feels downright cold!
- 8 weeks is way too long to be intensely studying. 6 weeks was about the limit for our group - the weather may have had something to do with that.
- You can never play too many games of iPod Solitaire. Yeah, I didn't really take advantage of St. Petersburg most times - far too many afternoons were spent sitting at my desk, making flashcards and playing Solitaire.
- Cold showers are the best thing in the world (when you're roasting), but they don't really cool you down. I've heard tepid water does a better job, it's less of a shock.
- People in cities walk more than people in small towns.
- You can never be too careful in a crowded place. Since my purse got stolen last summer I'm SUPER paranoid here, but I guess that could be a good thing...
- You shouldn't keep all your valuables in one place, and NEVER carry around something irreplaceable.
- You never want something as much as when you don't have it.
- Go to museums as a student - it's way cheaper. In Russia at least - Germany seems to just do the child/adult split.
- Barter ruthlessly - if they won't go cheaper, someone else will. And they all sell the same stuff.
- The more expensive the souvenir is, the bigger discount you can get.
Let's hope some of these lessons help me out in Germany!!
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Dog Days of Summer
Firstly, I'm terribly apologetic that this post is so late in coming. I know I should have written it as I went in Moscow, but things got... well, you'll read about it. At least I'm finishing it, right?
Moscow. The only other city in Russia that anyone knows anything about. Well, I guess I can say I've seen Russia, now...
Moscow. The only other city in Russia that anyone knows anything about. Well, I guess I can say I've seen Russia, now...
- Since we had had our Grammar final on Thursday, we watched a movie for most of class on Friday. The film we chose was a Russian one (of course) made in the 70s: Иван Васильевич меняет профессию (Sometimes translated and sold in the states as Ivan Vacilevich: Back to the Future). It is a Russian classic about a kooky engineer who invents a time machine in his apartment and accidently causes the floor manager of his apartment to trade places with the Russian Czar of the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible. It was a good experience in bad cinematography - the chase scenes were filmed in fast-forward and the acting was stiff. Worse yet, it took the stale science-fiction cop-out: at the end of the film, the engineer wakes up and it is all a dream. I understood about 60% of the dialogue, since they spoke quickly and mixed modern Russian with the language of Ivan the Terrible's time. But, it was good not to have to think too much.
- After classes we all gathered in the cafeteria for a small celebration in honor of finishing the program. There were small Russian pastries and cakes, as well as cold iced tea. It's very hard to believe, after 8 weeks, that we're really done. After the celebration and catching up on my blog, I set off home to take care of my last few things before Moscow. I was already packed, and there was really only one more thing I wanted to do in St. Petersburg, something I had been thinking about all summer... changing into jeans despite the heat, I traipsed down to the park and found the women who bring the ponies every day to give rides to the children. I was turned down at the first two ponies, being informed that they were for small children only (although I did my best to look small and unimposing). Not to be deterred, I walked over to where the woman who always rides her horse over here (and whom I saw texting and riding my first day in St. Petersburg, which instantly made me like her) and repeated my inquiry. Looking a little askance, she nonetheless went over to the horse and unbuckled his reins from his saddle, indicating that I should mount. I did so and she proceeded to lead me in a large circle around the park. It felt so good to be back on a horse, although I didn't dare to do much to direct him myself since I didn't know how he'd react. At the end I got a picture of myself on his back (my first picture with my disposable camera), payed out my 250 rubles, and returned to the apartment, satisfied. (I would have been happier with a picture on one of the ponies, even if I didn't ride it, but was too timid to ask).
- After this successful foray, I reviewed the contents of my suitcase one last time (it only made sense for me to bring just my carry-on instead of all of my luggage) and set out to meet my traveling companions at the Georgian restaurant that we had visited earlier upon Anna B's recommendation. Since I had yet to find my sister an appropriate souvenir (she had requested a tie-dye shirt with cyrillic writing on it, which proved a singularly difficult thing to locate in St. Petersburg) I decided to spend the hour-plus before our meeting-time in remedying this situation. Since I couldn't fulfill both the tie-dye and cyrillic requirements, I decided that a white shirt would serve just as well, and we could tie-dye at home. Unfortunately, there is a strange dearth of nice white T-shirts in any size between youth Medium and adult Xtra-Large at the end of July in St. Petersburg. After scouring every souvenir stand between my apartment and the Hermitage without success (at least 20 stands), I resigned myself to the necessity of returning to the souvenir fair, as overwhelming as I knew it would be, in order to find what I was looking for. Finally, my search was rewarded, though I had to settle for an orange shirt instead of a white one in order to get one in Emily's size with appropriate lettering. It wasn't a complete waste, however; I was also able to find another perfect souvenir for a good friend, as well as a fan (a last-minute idea which turned out to be the best one I'd had while in Russia). By the time I reached the Georgian restaurant (right on time, might I add) my poor suitcase was much the worse for wear, but I was happy, albeit thoroughly tired out from wandering the city for 90 minutes. As it turns out, I needn't have been so meticulous about time - the rest of my group didn't arrive for another 40 minutes after telling me to go into the restaurant and get us a table (since the restaurant was nearly empty, I just ended up looking quite silly, sitting alone at the big table for such a long time). They claim that they got lost, which made me rather more reluctant to follow them once we left the restaurant and our opinions differed on the direction of the train station. But, since we still had over two hours until our train left (I never understood why we agreed to meet and eat at 6:30 when our train left at 10:40), I decided that getting lost wouldn't really cost us much of anything, in the long run. So, we meandered towards the train station, consulting maps and signs and intuition along the way, and arrived well before 9:30.
- While we were waiting for it to be time to board our train, Tatyana called me one last time to see me off (since she hadn't been home from work yet when I left at 5). We exchanged pleasantries, reconfirmed my plans for my return on Tuesday, and said some of our last goodbyes. I noticed with pleasure the ease of our conversation - I guess the program does teach you how to speak Russian, although it certainly isn't easy… Finally, at 10:10 we heard the announcement for our train and proceeded to the platform to board. Emily, Aryeh and I had been able to book a 4-person compartment together, and found that we would be in quite comfortable accommodations. Overnight trains don't seem to be very popular in the US (at least, I had never traveled on one or heard of anyone who had, but I'm not exactly the most traveled person…), but I thought it was a quite sensible and comfortable way to travel. Emily and I took the top bunks, but soon reconsidered our decision when we discovered that the window in the compartment didn't open and the air at the top tended to be hot and stuffy. However, as soon as we began moving, we made the glorious discovery of the ventilation system: from a vent in the ceiling blessed cool air was pouring out, and it turned out that we had the better bunks. Since we were only three and it was a four-person compartment, we spent a bit of time getting to know the last occupant - a young Russian woman named Alina. She was very nice and (as most Russians have been, in my experience) quite impressed with our feeble attempts at communicating in her own language. After visiting with her for awhile, we were contacted by the remaining member of our group, Molly, who hadn't been so fortunate as to book with us. She was in third-class, which consisted of open compartments, and requested that we bring her her share of the perogies we had purchased for the journey. Emily and I promptly set off to deliver the goods, passing through a total of 30 doors in 5 wagons before we finally reached her berth. Seeing her surroundings made me very glad that we had booked a closed compartment, even through we had had to pay a bit more for the ticket. It really was a roll of the dice who you ended up bunking by, and the cooling system wasn't nearly as evident in the third-class wagons. (Emily and Aryeh booked third-class on the way back to St. Petersburg - as far as I know, they made it back safely…) After this adventure, we hunkered down for the night, although I'm not really sure how much I actually slept in the next 7 hours. But it was quite a blessing to be cold enough to curl up in my sheet instead of sweating out the night as I had for the past few weeks. Emily even used one of the provided wool blankets, but I preferred to savor the sensation of cold, as I knew it would be the last time I would feel this way until I left Russia.
- Around 7 the next morning we got up, changed back out of our pajamas, and ate our ration of perogies for breakfast (some mushroom and some cherry - I decided to pass on the salmon in the morning :P) The train pulled in right on schedule at 7:40 and we promptly detrained and sought out the entrance to the nearest Moscow metro station. Now, although the Moscow metro system is much more extensive than the one in St. Petersburg, has an ingenious ring line that encircles the city and connects the other lines like spokes in a wheel, and some of the metro stations are more like museums because of the Communist initiative to beautify public spaces, I don't like it nearly as much as the St. Petersburg metro. I felt that it was dirtier and more run-down, probably because it is older. In fact, I didn't like Moscow in general nearly as much as I did St. Petersburg, and not just because of the smog (caused by the nearby wildfires that were burning down entire villages) that clogged up the air and obscured even the buildings across the street from the hostel. St. Petersburg has a much more open and European feel (as it was designed to have), and though being situated on the Gulf of Finland means that the humidity is always higher, I really grew to love the rivers and canals that ran through the city with its 400+ beautiful bridges and its White Nights. Okay, maybe not the White Nights. I will admit that I was quite relieved when in Moscow it was dark by 10pm, like in decent places. :] But anyway, it certainly wasn't dark at 8AM as we parted ways with Emily and Molly (who would stay with an acquaintance in another part of the city) and made our way to Godzilla's hostel, which happened to be located across from the police headquarters of Moscow. In America, this would have been a much more comforting thought, but I still felt that we wouldn't have much to worry about as far as safety in our immediate neighborhood. Otherwise, Aryeh and I were very impressed with the hostel: it was very professionally run and the staff were as helpful as possible, and fluent in English although some of them were evidently native Russian speakers. We checked in (which involved paying the key deposit - somehow only Aryeh got a key, but our door ended up never being locked, so it wasn't a problem - arranging for the hostel to complete our registration with the police station, and being shown to our room so that we could put our bags by the beds we chose), and as I looked around the 10-bed mixed-gender dorm, I remarked to Aryeh, "Why do I feel like this is going to be 9 men and me?" He responded pragmatically, "Because it is. How many girls do you know who would volunteer to sleep in a mixed-gender room?" Thinking about this, I decided that he was right. I didn't know any, including myself. Originally, Emily was supposed to be in the room with us, but when the opportunity arose for her to stay with Molly, she jumped at it. It ended up being all right - we were only in the room to sleep, and we didn't even do much of that during our stay due to the heat and certain other circumstances which I will vaguely relate later.
- After finishing at the hostel, Aryeh and I set off for Red Square, armed with a map and cultural guide of Moscow generously furnished by the hostel. On the way, Aryeh placed a call to the US and we quickly discovered how abominably high the roaming costs are for Russian cell phones - it wasn't 5 minutes before his phone ran out of credit, and he was using an international phone card that should have kept the rate at 1 ruble per minute. This was to prove a constant source of hassle for us over the duration of our visit, prompting Aryeh to eventually purchase a Moscow SIM card just so that he could avoid the roaming charges. I was able to escape this by only using my phone sparingly - since I had had to replace it only three weeks before and almost never used it, I still had 250 out of the original 300 rubles of credit left. It was frustrating to finish a short call and see that your balance had just dropped by 20 or 30 rubles. Costs in general ran about 10x higher than they would have in St. Petersburg. After we grew wise to this, we tried to minimize use of the phones, which meant that our communication with Molly and Emily was less than consistent, which led to additional frustrations. As did their tendency to run late, although mentioning this is really the pot calling the kettle black - I'm notorious for my inability to be on time. When they arrived, we toured Red Square and took the obligatory pictures by St. Basil's Cathedral, then got in line to visit the mausoleum and file solemnly past what is ostensibly Lenin's mummified corpse. No one (except perhaps Prime Minister Putin) knows whether or not it is real. It looked awfully waxy to me, but that might have been the dark interior that my eyes were trying to adjust to or the strange reddish light that was cast upon the corpse. We couldn't stand and gawk for long, however; any sign of hesitation on our part and the imposing, expressionless guards blew their whistles at us, glared, and motioned for us to move on. It was quite intimidating and none of us wanted to test our luck with Russian security guards. (We all wanted to get back to America in one piece and on schedule :P)
- At this point, though it wasn't much past noontime, it was almost unbearably hot in the city center, so we took refuge in the GYM department store complex that lines one side of Red Square, where we sat at an umbrella'd table and sipped flavored lemonade. Then we returned to our respective dwellings to wait out the hottest part of the day, determining to reconvene for supper. Unfortunately for Aryeh and I, our hostel wasn't much cooler than outside, but at least we could sit down out of the sun. We ended up having peanut butter sandwiches for lunch (courtesy of Latalia who had the precious spread shipped from home since it is a thoroughly American food) and then watching Saving Private Ryan in the lounge on the TV that has something like 200 Blu-Ray movies attached to it. It is undoubtedly one of the best and most intense movies I have ever watched. That took us well into the afternoon, so by the time the movie finished it was time to meet up again. We decided to explore Arbat St., the souvenir center of the city. I insisted on walking there although Aryeh doubted that I could manage the trek in the 30 minutes until our meeting time. I got there more than 5 minutes before Aryeh, and well before the girls. They had quite a time finding us (three metro lines converged at our meeting place although the exits were quite a distance apart) and we had to use quite a few of our precious cell phone units in giving them directions to where we were. Finally we were together and we set off down Arbat St. We stopped at a Sbarro's for a reasonably priced and quite tasty supper of real, American pizza, then toured a souvenir shop so that Aryeh could buy his brother a soccer jersey (to his chagrin, he later found the same jersey for less than half the price at the outdoor market at Red Square) and finally returned to our hostel at 10. It turned out to be a good thing that we didn't come back any earlier; as it was, even with a cold shower to rinse off the sweat, I couldn't sleep until almost 1AM because of the heat. Aryeh gave up on trying to sleep early and watched Inglorius Basterds in the lounge - in retrospect I wished I had joined him. I tossed and turned and suffered until about 6:30 when the heat from the 10 sleeping bodies raised the temperature in the airless room beyond bearability. I awoke Aryeh around 7 and asked what he wanted for breakfast, then walked to the nearby produkti to buy yogurt and juice for the both of us. This became my sole breakfast during our time there, but at least it was cheap (I was spending far more than I planned to in Moscow between eating out twice daily and the cell phone roaming charges).
- After breakfast, Aryeh and I watched the news until 9:00, a time we deemed reasonable to rouse the girls. After obtaining their promise to meet us at 10 at Red Square, we set out to be there at the appropriate time. However, we should have learned from our experiences the day before - they were an entire hour late in meeting us, wasting the preciously cool morning hours. They apologized profusely, explaining that their hosts had offered them breakfast and they couldn't politely refuse. Thinking of our own meagre breakfast, Aryeh soundly reprimanded them for their inconsiderateness to us, their traveling companions. Our grievances aired, we set out to explore the Kremlin, the fortress that forms the heart of Moscow. Several buildings house active government agencies, but the cathedrals and the Armory are open for public viewing. Fortunately, tickets were fairly inexpensive with our student discount cards, but it was quite a hassle getting in to the fortress. When the guard at the entrance saw that we had timed tickets for the Armory, he told us to go there first, even though our ticket time wasn't for a good hour. When we got to the Armory entrance, Aryeh was told that he would have to check his bag, which necessitated traveling nearly all the way back to the Kremlin entrance to find the purse check. Then when we got there, the guard looked askance when we said we were trying to enter the Armory - he asked Molly if she understood Russian and when she modestly replied "A little," he informed us in broken English (direct quote, now) "Lady bag okay in Kremlin." It was probably the best quote of the trip. Anyway, we finally got into the Armory at about the right time, and it was well worth the hassle. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed there (for good reason) and I only had my disposable anyway, but it was quite awe-inspiring to see the actual coronation gowns of some of Russia's most famous Czarinas and the carriage collection of Elizabeth the Spender and some of the most elaborate icons and Bibles that I've ever seen, as well as more gold and other precious metals than I've ever seen gathered in one place. I could have spent all day there walking around with my mouth hanging wide open :]
- After the Armory it was well past lunchtime, so we walked back to Arbat St. to a "fast-food" chain called MooMoos for another delicious and relatively affordable meal. The larger-than-life cow statue out front which I mounted, despite Aryeh's naysaying, was a definite plus. Then we traipsed back to the Kremlin to check out the old cathedrals, which was definitely worth the trip back. They were impressive and towering and covered with ancient portrayals of saints inside. Most importantly, they were filled with cool air - they must be unbearable in the winter, but in the 40+ heat they felt marvelous. Aryeh only went into one, then opted to sit down outside while we explored the rest. This was my first of many indications that something wasn't quite right. My "leader radar," as we OA Leaders call it, told me to keep a close eye on him from then on…
- We finished the Kremlin by midafternoon and decided to once again seek shelter from the heat. This time we went to the Euromall and watched a movie - Salt, the new spy movie featuring Angelina Jolie. Russians have a serious love affair with Angelina, so the anticipation for the movie was high. It couldn't have been the premiere, however, because the theater didn't end up being very crowded. In Russian movie theaters, they have assigned seating that you choose when you buy your ticket, as well as ticket checkers at the door to each theater - an interesting way to make sure no one sneaks in to the movie. The movie was very good, and although the plot was rather intricate I was able to understand around 85% of the dialogue and follow the action fairly well (ironically, in case you don't know, Salt is about a Russian sleeper agent who has infiltrated the CIA, but no one really knows whose side she's on - very appropriate on many levels). I was, once again, proud of the progress I had made even since watching Twilight near the middle of my stay :] However, although I saw the movie in Russian in the middle of Moscow, upon walking out of the theater I had to remind myself that I was in Russia, not America, that's how obviously American the film was. Incidentally, it was a strange experience to hear the character of the President of the United States talk about Russian spies - in Russian. XD
- Supper after the movie was taken at Шашлик-машлик, a restaurant in the mall that specialized in shish-kebabs. I ordered a nice, simple, inexpensive chicken shish-kebab. Molly and Emily, on the other hanse, decided to be a little more adventurous and ordered shish-kebabs with - I'm not joking - sheep testicles. They described the texture as "spongy" - and I'll leave it at that. We must have presented a strange order to the waitress - in addition to Molly & Emily's experiment, Aryeh ordered rose-flavored soda. (I'm amazed at that man's ability to do the most feminine things and still retain his masculinity - mostly because he just doesn't care.) After supper we headed back to the hostel. Unfortunately it was only 8:30 - though it was cooler this night, I still couldn't sleep until 10:30 and I was up again before 6:30. The lack of sleep was beginning to tell on me a bit. Breakfast was yogurt and juice again, then I decided to watch another movie before starting out the day. I chose 2012, a movie I had been wanting to see since it came out. It wasn't worth it - it was one of the cheesiest and most predictable movies I've ever seen. Another American watching the film with us aptly commented, "I could have written a better screenplay." Unfortunately, I underestimated the length of the movie and when it came time to head out to meet Molly and Emily, there was still a good 40 minutes left of the film. Well, I hated to leave without seeing the ending (and considering how they had treated us in the past couple of days, I didn't think it was too much to ask them to wait for us for once - for all I knew, they would be late too.) With that in mind I decided to stay and watch the rest of the movie, texting Molly with an estimate of how late we would be. However, Aryeh didn't see it in the same way that I did and eventually just left. Although the movie still wasn't over (I found out later that I hadn't missed much in the last 15 minutes :P) I followed him, not keen on navigating the Moscow metro by myself. We ended up arriving just when I said we would and I did feel guilty about making them wait for such an unimportant, selfish reason, although they didn't seem too fazed by it. Once together, we set off to visit the Tretyekov art gallery. After 15 minutes of searching we finally found the entrance, only to discover that it was closed on Mondays (as are many museums and places of business in Russia). Since it was by now 11:30 and our morning was gone, they decided to visit the apartment-museum of author Bulgakov (I had never heard of him, but he wrote Master & Margarita, which the other three evidently loved). Since it didn't open until 1:00, we made a detour for lunch at a Штолле that we found just down the street. The atmosphere in this restaurant was much more refined and enjoyable than that of their locations in St. Petersburg and the waiter was very friendly. I ate one pirojok with meat and one with творог for dessert. The house-apartment was small and would have been much more interesting if I had known who the author was or been able to read any of the display plaques on the various artifacts. The highlight of the museum was the big fluffy black cat named Behemoth (presumably after a character in one of Bulgakov's books). Needless to say, the museum didn't take us long, and though I really wanted to go to the Gulag Museum, it too was closed on Mondays. (If I were to do something like this again, I would plan it much more beforehand so that we wouldn't get nasty surprises like this. It wouldn't have been hard to find out what days which sights were closed. :P) So, since by this time it was again scorching hot, Emily and Molly suggested that we go to a celebrated park and play in the fountains. It was yet another disappointment when we arrived only to find one row of fountains opposite a scorched grassy ridge, and every one of the refreshment stands were closed. As we learned later, it was paratrooper day, so there were drunk soldiers everywhere. Nonetheless, we readily jumped in the fountains (all but poor Aryeh who was wearing jeans and sneakers) in a desperate attempt to cool off. We couldn't stay long, however; since Aryeh wasn't in the water he had to sit in the blazing sunshine and it was quickly taking its toll on him. Emily and Molly suggested that we walk to their place, which they didn't think was very far, although security was tight and they weren't sure whether they would let Aryeh and I in. I didn't think much of this idea, but didn't have a better one, and I was too concerned about what the others would think of me if I protested. Aryeh was in no shape by this point to walk the distance, but we nonetheless set off. As he dropped farther and farther behind, I stayed with him, but the girls seemed hardly to notice as the distance between us continued to grow. The "easy few-minute walk" turned into an agonizing half hour of struggling through the heat with no sign of respite. Occasionally Molly or Emily would turn around and call "we're almost there!" but by the third time they did this, we stopped believing them. Finally we reached the apartment, and we fortunately didn't have any problems with security. The apartment where they were staying was spacious, and nicely furnished, but most importantly it was cool. We each drank two tall glasses of cold water, then sat in the comfortable living room and munched on watermelon while we waited for our body temperatures to return to normal. As it was already past 4, I hinted broadly that I would be more than happy to be done for the day, for us to each find supper in our own neighborhood, and reconvene early the next morning. With the way the day had gone, I couldn't imagine the drama of trying to agree on a restaurant and find our way to it separately. Although I was loathe to leave the coolness of the apartment, I was quite eager to return to the comfort zone of the hostel and put this trying day behind me, spending the evening watching movies in the lounge or catching up on my blog from the "internet cafe" (2 computers in the main lobby). Alas, it was not to be. As we struggled back to the hostel, it became more and more apparent that something was seriously wrong with Aryeh - he could barely walk by the time we neared our destination.
- Now, if it had been me who had been so sick, I would have described to you everything in all its tedious and embarrassing details. But I wouldn't want someone else writing about what happened to me in a foreign country, because it's not really their business. In fact, this whole thing is only my business in how it affected my night, so I'll stick to that. Suffice it to say, my leader radar didn't fail me. After we finally made it back to the hostel around 5:30, I bought fixings and made us a nice supper of chicken пельмены covered with сметана. It was quite delicious, if I do say so myself. I also fulfilled another of my desires that I had had for a while - to buy and eat a watermelon. I picked the smallest one they had at the fruit stand, but it was still a significant piece of fruit. I sliced up a quarter of it for Aryeh and I, but since he didn't want any I was forced to eat it by myself. I finally left what I couldn't eat for the other guests of the hostel. :P Aryeh, meanwhile, was finally worried enough about his health to call International SOS, our health plan, and they were very helpful. However, the roaming charges on his phone were so high that he was literally burning through his money, so he went to take some more out of the ATM and discovered, to his horror, that he had lost his bank card. This was adding insult to injury. We finally decided that it was necessary to buy a Moscow SIM card (without the roaming charges, incoming calls would be free and outgoing would be a mere 1 ruble/minute instead of 10), which was an ordeal in itself to find an open store and explain what we needed. The adventures of the night culminated with a midnight taxi ride to a European medical clinic, since SOS decided that Aryeh's situation needed to be taken care of sooner rather than later. We had no idea where we were going, the taxi driver only spoke Russian, I had been woken up to come along and was still quite groggy… it was certainly an adventure. But we made it through and one hour and 700 rubles later we were back at the hostel and everything was taken care of. I'm glad everything worked out in the end, but it isn't something I wish to repeat in the near future.
- The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit longer (which probably had more to do with our exhaustion than anything else). Breakfast was even more meager than usual - neither of us had much money or energy to spend this morning. I ate another quarter of the watermelon and a peanut butter sandwich. We then packed up our belongings and checked out of the hostel (they kindly allowed me to store my bag there for the rest of the day until it was time for me to head to my train), then set out for Emily & Molly's, where we would leave Aryeh's bag for the day. I was very pleased and relieved to see that Aryeh was nearly back to normal this morning. After stopping by Emily & Molly's, we headed back to the Tretyekov gallery (although, to be frank, I had had my fill of art museums and galleries in St. Petersburg). We looked at more Russian art that I didn't understand or grasp the significance of, including some very impressive mural-paintings and the famous scene of Ivan the Terrible after he has killed his only son in a fit of rage (okay, that one was pretty cool). Afterwards we went to a food stand that specializes in baked potatoes (how perfect, that my last complete meal in Russia should be potatoes) for lunch - I got mine with chicken and sour cream on top and it was very satisfying. Afterwards, Aryeh, Emily, and Molly wanted to do some final souvenir-hunting, but since I was out of money and had had my share of shopping in St. Petersburg, I decided to split from the group and do my own thing until it was time for my train to leave. The other members of my group were skeptical about this, which surprised and peeved me a bit. Did they not think I could take care of myself for three hours? I had been accustomed to roaming St. Petersburg by myself, since my roommate's desires rarely coincided with mine, and I had somehow managed to keep myself out of any serious trouble ;]. A little insulted, I took my leave of them after assuring them that I had adequate plans for the interim. I walked several blocks over to a place labeled "Sculpture park" on my map, since I couldn't visit the Gulag museum as I really wanted to and didn't relish wandering around Moscow for three hours. It was somewhat interesting, but most of the sculptures were rather abstract, and as such, not very appealing to me. There may or may not have also been a movie being filmed there - at one point I was confronted and shooed away from a group of people by a sour-looking man in uniform. Fortunately the admission price was only 10 rubles for students, because at this point I was dangerously low on money. The park was large and I easily spent two hours there, then walked to the nearest metro stop and returned to the hostel for my bags. This also required taking out some money in order to pay for the two separate metro rides, much to my dismay. Each time that I took out money, I was charged a $5.00 surcharge by Bank of America, so taking out only $15 (500 rubles) wasn't a very economical option, though it was my only one.
- After retrieving my bag, I proceeded to the train station. By the time I arrived at the correct metro station, it was much closer to the departure time of my train than I was comfortable with, and to make matters worse, I couldn't remember which building was the Ленинградский вокзал (and they certainly weren't well-marked). I ended up having to timidly request directions from a group of милиция (policemen) - the first and only interaction I had with law enforcement during my entire stay in Russia. Once I found the train station, I had to ask again to be pointed to the correct train, but at least I was able to board on time. It was a very nice 4-hour journey that seemed even shorter than that. The seats were comfortable and the wagons were air-conditioned - and it should have been comfortable for the $100 I paid for my ticket… Once I reached St. Petersburg once again, I called Tatyana to let her know that I had arrived and would soon be back at the apartment. I'm glad I did, for she informed me that she was laid up at her dacha with a mild fever and wouldn't be coming back to the apartment that night - Olga would come instead. (Although I had keys to get into the apartment, Nevsky had arranged for a taxi to take me to the airport - at 3AM for a 6AM flight :P - and they would call when it had arrived with the number and color of the car so I knew what to look for, and I needed someone fluent in Russian to be there to answer that phone call and get the pertinent information.) So, once again in my comfort zone in St. Petersburg, I took the metro home, stopping on the way for some food and last-minute purchases. I arrived home at 9:30 and Mom called soon afterwards to double-check travel arrangements with me, which was quite welcome. Then I set about to pack everything up, a more daunting task than I first suspected. Olga didn't arrive until 11, at which time she made some tea and we sipped that and snacked on watermelon (that I had successfully brought all the way from Moscow) and chatted until midnight. Then I dragged myself off to bed for a too-brief respite, albeit the best sleep I had gotten in several days. I was suddenly and rudely awoken by a loud noise - I believe she turned the television on full blast - and a pounding on my door at 3 AM. My taxi had arrived. As I was stumbling down the stairs with my bags, Olga asked me about money, informing me that the charge for the ride would be 950 rubles. My blood froze - I had barely 300 rubles on me!? My only partially-awake brain tried to process everything - I had thought that Nevsky would pay for the taxi!! As it turns out, I was right, but it made for a very nerve-wracking taxi ride. The city was beautiful at night, though, with all of the lights on and the bridges up. The White Nights are solidly over, though by the time we reached the airport I thought I could detect the faintest hint of light in the East. The taxi driver had bad techno music blaring on the radio - I assume to keep himself awake. Although I had heard far too much bad techno this summer. These thoughts and many others were swirling through my head as I looked around the Venice of the North for the final time. It has been a good summer, I concluded, but I am ready to go home.
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