North American Tour

I will begin my tour of the North American continent today. I start with 6 days in KY, then 6 days in Seattle, followed by 6 hours in cincinnatti, then Frankfurt on January 6th. Perhaps the many plane rides will give me a chance to catch up on blog posts.

In other news, I just returned from a brief (28 hours) trip to Berlin and I can now report that I can not wait to go back and visit the city again, its a pretty cool town. See you on the other side of the pond.

Weihnachtsmarkt!

The Germans looooooove Christmas and celebrate it well. Every Saturday before Advent, nearly every city turns a (or many) pedestrian square(s) into a city of wooden stands for an event called the Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market. Unlike christmas markets in the states that stay open for a few hours on a weekend, German Christmas markets are open every day, even on Sundays when traditional shops are closed.

The Christmas market is more than just a place to shop, its a place to connect with other people in the city. You meet up with friends from across town over a steaming glass of Glühwein (mulled wine) and a freshly cooked bratwurst on a warm Kaiser roll. Instead of sitting by a warm fire, you stomp your feet in freshly fallen snow and warm your hands with the stone Glühwein mug. I have never experienced anything like it in the US and I doubt that I ever will again.
The Germans tell me that every Weihnachtsmarkt is different. At first I didn't believe them because Andy and I visited 7 Weihnachtsmarkts in Germany and all we saw were the same ornaments, the same offers of Glühwein mit suss (hot wine with rum) and the same crowds. Now, after taking the time to visit the Marburg Weihnachtsmarkt twice a week, I realize that the markets really do differ greatly, even markets within the same city! Each market designs different stalls (Nuremberg has cloth and wood stands while Bonn has singing animals) and features a special food or treat that distinguishes it from the rest. (Berlin features currywurst) Some markets, like the Kölner Weihnachtsmarkt in front of the Cologne Cathedral, are placed in absolutely stunning locations.

Marburg has two Weihnachtsmarkts, one next to the 600 year old Elisabethkirche and another next to the 500 year old Rathaus (city hall). The market next to city hall draws college students to the only Glühwein stand open after 8pm while the Elisabethkirche market draws families and the over 30 crowd. The stands in the lower part of the city are mostly made of logs while the stands in the other market are mostly planks. Both markets are charming and beckon me to visit often. Even though the Marburg Weihnachtsmarkt is small and somewhat pathetic when compared to the great tourist attractions of Nuremberg and Cologne, I find that it has a charm unequaled by any other. I love visiting the Weihtnachtspyramid (shown to the right with Maria) and I love visiting the Rathaus at night. I will be really sad to see these markets leave in one week. :-(

I am a horrible blogger

Hi readers,

I am soooo sorry for taking so long to post another entry. Many ideas for a blog post have come to mind, but I never developed the post to fruition. I promise to do better. Since its been a while since I last posted, let me give a few updates.

Update 1: Doctor's visits
Over the course of 8 weeks I had 6 doctor's appointments, 4 ultrasounds, two rounds of blood tests, and an endoscopy and still no idea what is going on. All tests came back showing that I was in perfect health. The first doctor I visited said that the stomach pains and nausea were most likely physcosomatic and told me to take a vacation. The second doctor thinks that I have stones in my ears that cause naseau and the stomach pains were completely unrelated. He told me to come back when the nasuea returns, except not on Wednesdays because his office isn't open on Wednesdays. The nausea has only returned twice in the last month but of course it only comes on Wednesdays (or weekends). For the time being, I am feeling 100% better. In fact, I started feeling better the day before my last appointment. Hopefully whatever affected me is gone for good but if it comes back I now know that I have two (english speaking) doctors I can talk to. In addition, one of the doctor's offices is right across the street from the best bakery in town, so if I HAVE to visit the doctor again, I can always treat myself to a yummy cake.

Update 2: Watching the election in Germany
Like most Americans (and many Europeans) I stayed up all night to watch the election. I started a blog entry (with pictures) but never finished it. I will finish the post later tonight and post it to this blog, just one month late.

Update 3: Andy and Clair visited
My fiance and another very dear friend visited me in Germany during the last half of November. I hope to post a blog entry about the highlights of their visit. It was really nice to have a taste of home.

Update 4: Christmas is here!
The German Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkts) are now open. So far I have been lucky enough to visit 7 of them! I hope to visit at least 3 more before Christmas. I will post pictures and thoughts about this fantastic German tradition.

Update 5: I am going home for Christmas
My family had hoped to come to Germany for Christmas but due to the fact that both of my sisters and myself plan on getting married next year, my family can't come. Instead, I will be traveling back to US for two weeks over the Christmas break. Perhaps the break will give me time to catch up on my blog. :-) It also means that I only have 15 more days to soak up all the German Christmas spirit I can.

I should get back to work now as I have a very important paper due in 2 days and 12 hours. I promise to post more often now.

Fall comes to marburg

Fall is my favorite time of year in Kentucky. The weather cools down and the trees begin to change color, changing boring drives into spectacular view after spectacular view. I never thought anything could compare to a Kentucky fall. I was wrong.

Marburg is a city of tree covered hills. The hills are extremely steep so when you look from the city center, you see nothing but a rainbow of trees around you. In addition, many city paths lead you on golden trails, covered with freshly fallen leaves. The effect can literally force your mouth from a smile to a frown. I posted some of these pictures on facebook. You can see the photos from the public link below.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2477929&l=f5b2e&id=1920556

As I told one friend earlier this week. "Don't hate me because Marburg is beautiful!" ;-)

First doctor's visit

I had my first experience at a German doctor this week. For the last few weeks I've felt a bit (or more) out of sorts. I've had nausea, but I never threw up. I've had stomachaches, but nothing that kept me awake at night. But after changing my diet, sleeping more, and avoiding spicy foods, the symptoms continued. So I said to myself, "if the symptoms persist for one more week, I will go to the doctor".

I said that 4 weeks ago.

After one week, I still didn't feel better, so I said, I'll go to the doctor tomorrow, after I look up the German word for nausea (der Brechreiz). The next day, I woke up and felt bad, but I said, I don't know remember the word for stomach (der Magen) so I can't go yet. The next day I woke up and said, I have an essay due next week, so I don't have time to go to the doctor. On the fourth day, I realized that I forgot the word for nausea (hasn't changed, still der Brechreiz), so I didn't go. You get the idea. I kept finding reasons that I couldn't go to the doctor.

Now in the US, everyone gives reasons on why they should not to go to the doctor, but trying to go to the doctor in a foreign country is a completely different issue. For one, you have no idea where to find a doctor, and if you do find a doctor, how do you know that the doctor is good? Does your host country have high standards for doctors? Second, you find a doctor, but you end up misdiagnosed because either you don't explain your symptoms well enough in the local language or your doctor doesn't understand English as well as he/she thinks. Third, and probably the most intimidating is, how am I supposed to pay?

For me, the answer to the doctor and language questions were easily answered, I just contacted another Fulbright fellow who had already visited an English speaking doctor in town. The third question was also easy, the German Fulbright Kommission bought private health insurance for all Fulbright fellows. Since private insurance covers all none pre-existing conditions all I had to do was show my letter of insurance.

But the process was intimidating. It was hard enough for me to find the courage to visit the doctor, even though most of my questions were answered. I can not imagine the fear in a new immigrant when faced with illness. How do they know who to trust? How will they pay? How will they explain their symptoms when they can barely order bread at the supermarket without making grammatical mistakes? What if they say the pain is in their toe when they meant to say their hip hurts? At the very least, the Fulbright experience thus far has given me the opportunity to understand some of the struggles facing people new to a country, which I know will affect my decisions in the future.

As for the doctor's appointment. I finally visited the doctor this past Monday. After some tests, the doctor (fluent in English), gave me some medicine and scheduled another appointment for the following Monday. The medicines have not helped yet but I'm holding out hope that they will. I will update with more information as I have it.

paperwork and blah

I feel like I've been in a fog ever since I returned from Austria. For one, I was completely exhausted after the trip so it took a few days to recover. Second, all the Fulbrights left last week so I've been at a loss as to what I should do for fun. Third, Marburg has been under fog or rain for most of the last week. Because of the fog, I have a very very very difficult time waking up in the morning, which means when I do wake up (typically 2-3 hours later than I intended), I ended running around like crazy to get to place I wanted to be at 2 hours earlier. It stinks. (and my room stank for a little while after I spilled some machiato flavored soy milk on a pair of slippers, it took me 3 days to figure out the cause of the smell, phletcht)

In addition, my days have been rather boring. The highlight of the last 4 days was going to the registration office in the middle of town (20 min bus ride each way) to try to find Frau H., the Foreign student person (secretary, adminstrator, your guess is as good as mine). The first two times I visited the office with Frau H's name on the door, I was told (in german of course) that Frau H. was in orientation. When Frau H. returned, she would be in the office next door, the office with someone else's name on it. I tried to ask what day Frau H would return only to receive no response. The third time, I visited the office that did not have Frau H's name on the door. I start shoving paperwork in her hands and she looks at me like...what are you doing here? I show her my acceptance letter and said, I am new. She looks at me and says (in german of course), you need to visit Frau H, who is in the office with her name on it. My german skills were not too the point that I could explain that I went to her office because the person in Frau H's office told me that Frau H would be in the office without Frau H's name on it. Thus, she looked at me like I couldn't read (I can read a little German) or I was a rude American (I try hard not to live up to the stereotype).

So, I left the 'wrong' office to stand outside the office for Frau H. The door opens and out walks the lady who told me that I needed to go to the office next door. Guess who this lady is, its none other than Frau H! Frau H was in her office the whole time! The lady should be glad that my German was not good enough to start explaining my grieviences. Plus, I'd spent over 2 hours in the last week trying to finish this paperwork, so at this point I just wanted to finish the paperwork and get back to my room to shower (I woke up late, again, so I had to rush out of my room before showering) and then return to lab. After 10 minutes, my accounts were arranged and I finally received my semester ticket, which enables me to travel all over Hesse (including Kassel and Frankfurt) for free. :-)

So, that's how boring my life is right now. The highlight is succesfully filing my German university paperwork. Now that I have my semester ticket (and money in my German bank account), I can travel. Anyone want me to come visit? (preferably on the European continent)

Quick recap of my birthday and Austria

Last Friday I had an amazing opportunity to celebrate my birthday in the Austrian Alps. After sitting through a quantum chemistry lecture in German on Friday morning, I decided to skip out on two sessions of talks to explore the hiking trails around the city. After 1.5 hours of hiking uphill, I reached a trailhead. As much as I yearned to explore more, I knew that I needed to return to the conference, so I snapped a few pictures and then walked back down to the conference site.

I sat through a few more hours of conference that day, then left for the Conference excursion to Dachstein Sky Walk, a restaurant and sky walk located 2700m (nearly 9000 feet) above sea level. When we arrived, the entire area was indunated with snow, so my hopes of seeing an alphine sunset were quickly diminished. However, I took the time to enjoy the snow and test out the winterproofness of my new jacket by falling in the snow a few times. I took the time to make a fun video showing my Wurzburg companions and I exploring new and exciting ways to fall in the snow.



I snapped a lot of pictures over the weekend and posted the best ones to my picassa site.

Austria - STC 2008

I hope you enjoy the photos and video!

be afraid or be wrong

Or...don't be afraid to be wrong. I've noticed that I have two choices while studying here in Germany, I can speak in German and probably say something wrong, or I can be afraid of making a mistake. My mood fluctuates between the two. Sometimes I spend 10 minutes trying to come up with the grammatically correct sentence only to see the person walk away before I can use it. Other times I just blurt out a sentence that makes the German speakers go "huh?". When I think about what I just tried to say, even I go "huh?" I am afraid because I don't want to be labeled an idiot, but if I don't speak, I could possibly be labeled as rude.

This week is the first week that I've been completely surrounded by Germans. The last 6 weeks I've had the ability to fall back into American English with other Fulbrighters. At this conference, the official language is English (ironic considering that the conference is a meeting of German speaking countries) but most people slip back to German during breaks and lunches. Sometimes I understand the German but most of the time I understand about 25% of what they say (similar to my understanding of all the current theoretical talks). If you've ever been to a conference with me, you know that I love to use breaks to network. I smile and make sure that I talk to all the interesting speakers that I meet (which leads to very exciting opportunities). At this conference, I'm often too intimidated by the German (and quantum chemistry) language of the speakers to say anything more than hello.

German, like scientific research, requires that you make a lot of mistakes before things turn out right.

After two days of this behavior I'm sick and tired of it. Why am I so afraid to look like a fool? For my research, its in my best interest to ask as many questions as possible, even if they are extremely simple. Its so much better to look like a fool now when I'm just learning the subject than look like a fool when I try to give my defense. For German speaking, I'm the only person who thinks that I should be fluent in German quantum chemical terms.The language of science is English, so I've had to remind myself that its okay to speak English with other scientists. I also can not expect myself to speak perfect German (or Quantum) after just short study. So I have to overcome my natural shyness (yes, believe it or not, I am naturally shy) and start making mistakes. So today, I stopped forcing myself to talk only in German and embraced my natural desire to network. So far, nothing amazing has happened other than I don't feel as stressed out, but I'll keep you updated if a Nobel Laureate invites me for tea. :-)

Sprachkurs ist fertig!

I completed my language and culture course requirements today!

3 page long essay on German extremism - done
language test - done
language proficiency - still working on it
poster for Austria conference - done
packing for conference - done
sleeping - um...can I sleep in the car?

It feels weird to say that I've finished the first hurdle of my time in Germany. I now only have 90% of my time in Germany remaining. Wow, time flies fast. I know that I've learned a lot of German, but I still lack fluency. I can carry on simple conversations, but once the conversation moves to more complicated terms (read, anything that is not my family, weather, or where I'm from), then I become quickly confused. If the conversation contains a preposition or past participle, then my mind starts to explode.

But in reality, I've learned that German is not all that different than English. Sure, German uses specific words to indicate direct and indirect objects while English relies on word order, but the fact remains that the Germans still think in terms of direct and indirect objects. The idea behind the language is still the same. I just need to learn which preposition goes with what idea. i.e. uber dem Tisch versus auf dem Tisch...one indicates that the item is flying over the table and the other indicates the item is on the table. (Imagine the expression on a German's face when you say that the flowers flew over the the table.)

Learning German has also forced me to think about how I use my own language. I become frustrated with Germans because their verbs don't conjugate in a logical manner. But then I remember the verb....being.

I am
he, she, it is
he was
I was
they were
they are.....

There is not a trend, I just became accustomed to English phrasing so I never thought about strange conjugation. I have no reason to yell at Germans for creating a difficult language. English can be just as illogical, if not more so than German! I hope that as I hear German spoken around me, that I will eventually pick up on the correct forms of verbs, the correct prepositions, and the correct sentence structure (verb at the end!).

Perhaps in a few months time, English will seem just as odd and German will feel more natural.

P.S. - I visited McDonalds today. Sometimes I'm glad that a little piece of the US can be found in nearly every country you visit.

still alive...just busy

I'm still around, just incredibly busy with language class, recovering from illness, packing for Austria, and spending time with other Fulbrights. I'll try to catch up sometime next week. In the meantime, know that I am safe. I leave for Austria on Tuesday morning and will return the following Sunday.

The conference takes place in Ramsau am Dachstein, a small Austrian alp village.
http://www.ptc.tugraz.at/stc2008/indexE.html

In addition to meeting lots of colleagues who work on similar project, I will enjoy some beautiful Alps. :-) On Friday, September 26th (my favorite day of the year), I will join other participants on an outdoor excursion to the top of a mountain where I will climb through an ice cave and watch the sun set over the Alps. :-)

I promise to post pictures and blog as soon as possible.

New Beverages = New experiences

One of my favorite things to do in a new place is to visit the local grocery store. Nothing will help you understand the culture more than to figure out what they like to eat. Germans like food, and they like fresh food. Most Germans buy food to last 1-2 days, not 1-2 weeks like Americans do, so grocery stores are happening places. Today I decided to pick up weekend groceries at Tegut, a local German grocery and I came across Mojito flavored Pepsi Light. That's right, Diet Pepsi with lime and peppermint flavoring. As a 1.25 Liter bottle (no idea why they picked 1.25L) cost only 59 cents, I decided I had to try it.

First impression....its not that bad. It doesn't have any sugar but the lime flavoring tends to mask the aspartame aftertaste. Its not my favorite soda of all time (that title still falls to Diet Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper) I can see how this would taste good on a warm summer day. That's my cultural food note for this week. If you come and visit me, I'll try to save some of this interesting beverage for you.

I hear a picture

I heard a picture in German today. No, I'm not mixing up English words because I've studied German so long, I really heard a picture in German today. My Sprachkurz teacher was telling a story about a dog and a child in German. Instead of hearing the German word then translating back to English, I created a picture just from the German words. To me, it signals that I'm starting to think in German. I still struggle to understand German spoken much faster than a snail's pace and I often have to ask the speaker to repeat a phrase but I can often respond to the words spoken (albeit with poor grammar and sometimes the wrong verb).

I also reached another significant milestone today, I felt German. Numerous multilingual speakers have told me that their personality changes when they speak a different language. Since I've never spoken another language fluently, I ussually smiled and nodded when others told me of the change, thinking that they were a little crazy. Today, I felt the beginnings of the change. Well, I actually felt the change when I switched back to English after speaking and listening to German for nearly 2 hours. While speaking German, my posture and mannerisms became more deliberate and I spoke more precisely. When I switched back to English, I noticed how my posture changed and I began to speak more loudly (even though all my companions spoke fluent English). The experience was quite uncanny. I hope it happens again soon. :-)

A Real Storm!

I'm soooo excited. Last summer, I said that I really missed a good old midwest storm. I wake up this morning to thunder and lightening! Yeah! Now I understand why I had such a horrible migraine yesterday. (My migraines predict the weather at times).

decorating my room

Now that I've officially signed the lease for my room, I decided that I could finally add some color to the white wall and brown decor. On Saturday afternoon, I hit all the local stores that I could find to obtain colorful and useful items to make my room a bit more homey. I hit success at two different stories, Woolworth (yes it exists in Germany) and Kik. Woolworth had some basics like a desk organizer and tape but Kik had the best bargains. I found a duvet cover (a blanket that you use to cover a comforter), dishes, candles, and sheets for under 20 Euros. All items are brightly colored to counteract the bland walls. Its amazing how much a difference a simple duvet makes. The first picture was taken before I added the duvet cover.
Even with Bamu and Buster (my travel companions), the bed still looks pretty lonely. The next photo is after I added the sheets and duvet cover.
My room looks completely different! Instead of feeling like a prison cell, it feels like a freshman year dorm room. To decorate the rest of my room I have to think back to college times, how did I make my room homey on a college student budget? I'm open to any suggestions you may have. I have two completely blank walls to fill.

Dorf Sweet Dorf

Now I have a place to call my own for the next year. The month of living out of cars, suitcases, or a backpack has ended. I signed the lease for my room today. Instead of moving to an apartment in the old city, I decided to stay in the Studentendorf. Here I will pay less than 200 Euros a month for a bathroom cleaned daily, access to a shared kitchen (also cleaned daily), free internet, water, heat, and electricity. My private room may be quite small (approximately 5 square meters or 50 square feet), but its the closest student building to my chemistry lab. I can see the bus stop from my window if I glance through the forest (in fact, that's all I see my from window) and the students in the dorm will force me to speak German so I should gain proficiency sooner.

I had my heart set on a one room apartment in a 600 year old house, but rents for such a room started at 250 Euros and climbed. Apartments started at 400 Euros a month plus utilities. I just couldn't justify paying twice at much for decorations. I can visit the houses anytime I want. With the money I'm saving each month, I could travel first class to Berlin and back (using my 50% off Bahn Card of course) or dine in the best restaurant in town 3-4 times each month.

My room and kitchen really aren't that bad. The people on this floor really care about their kitchen so they do their best to make it feel like home. The kitchen area is a virtual winter garden with an orange tree (forefront of picture), pepper plants, and various herbs.

I share a fridge and the stove and oven with the other students. I can use my own dishes and store them in a locked cabinet or I can use the dishes of previous residents (some of the pots are missing handles and none of the plates or bowls match). I don't have a picture of the rest of the kitchen yet but I will include one soon.

I will include picture of 'mein Zimmer' after I make it homey with some decorations other than the white washed walls.

The Simpsons, auf deutsch

Traveling while American is probably the easiest way to travel. American culture and tv shows can be found all over the world so finding a piece of home is often only a tv away. While cooking dinner tonight, one of my housemates (I have at least 10 on this floor) reminded me that a good way to practice German comprehension is to listen to the TV while cooking. While waiting for the water to boil, I turned on the tv and found The Simpsons, in German. I taped a bit for your language enjoyment.

What a difference a video makes

This morning, I finally had a chance to talk to my fiance on Skype. I bought him a webcam a few weeks ago so we could talk face to face. Although we've been able to type with each other nearly everyday for 5-10 minutes, being able to see his face made my day much brighter. When you are slightly homesick, its amazing how little things like a picture help ease the pain.

sadness and general malaise

The past few days have been a struggle physically and emotionally. I haven't been eating dinner because I haven't felt like cooking dinner for one and did not have the energy to trek back into town (a 25 minute hike downhill then uphill each way) to purchase a cheap dinner. No dinner for a week = very unhealthy me, so my body finally protested this weekend and forced me to sleep. In addition, I spent a lot more time in my room than I should have. My computer/internet connection have kept me anxiously awaiting phone calls and messages from home. Its extremely hard to stay away, especially when I haven't talked to some family members in over 10 days.

As a result of staying in my room all weekend, my German comprehension decreased to the point that I only understood 50% of the what the teacher said today. Needless to say, today was not the best of days for me socially.

After traveling many times, I know that the worst way to combat homesickness is to sit at home waiting for messages from your home country. Instead of holing up in my dormroom, it would have been much more advantageous for me to study in the dorm common room or even a coffee shop in town. Perhaps over the next few days I will endeavor to explore new parts of Marburg or even just study in the parts I already know about. This means I'm even less likely to post on my blog, but at this point, German language is my most important focus.

language course and blog absences

Every weekday, I take a language course at the university. I really love my language course. From day 1, we spoke only German in class, which forces me to think in German. At the beginning of the course last week, I spent a lot of time thinking of a sentence in English and then translating to German. Now, however, I think of the question in German, albeit it very grammatically incorrect German. However, its improvement. Last week, I understood about 30% of what my instructor said. Now, I understand about 80% and I sometimes can even understand his jokes (something I ussually can't even do in English).

All this German learning is quite taxing on the brain. Class starts at 8:45am every morning. However, I have to leave my apartment by 8:15am in order to arrive in time (those of you who know me can guess how rarely this happens). I typically wake up around 7am, shower, then do chemistry research (I'm still on stipend in the US so I have to work on chemistry as well), catch up on email, then take off for German class, ussually rushing out the door around 8:35 or 8:40am. I think speak and think in German for 4 hours, take a lunch break, then return to study German or German culture (in English) from 2-4pm. Even if I'm able to return home immeadiately, I ussually don't arrive again until 5pm. (the trek to the class is downhill while the trek away from class is uphill so it takes longer to get home). Ussually though, I have to run errands in town so I don't return home until 6 or 7pm. By that time, I'm ussually too exhausted to think about dinner (hence why I don't really eat dinner any more). And even less likely to write blog posts or chemistry scripts. So I'm not trying to ignore you, I'm really just too tired to think about anything in English or German.

I'm going to try to do better. Now that I'm in a schedule, I hope to get more work done next week. I still have German homework and Chemistry scripts to write so I'll be on the computer more today. Feel free to im or call me if you have the time. I'd love to hear from you. (you can leave posts on the blog as well).

1 meter long bandage

I saw this bandage at the store and thought, wow, that's a neat idea. I didn't realize that the bandage is nearly 4 shoes long (and I have big feet)! I guess I have enough bandages to last a while.

its only a flesh wound

I had my first (I'm sure of many) falls in Marburg today. While admiring the view of Marburg castle from my hill,
I backed into a drainage ditch next to the road.
I then proceeded to topple downhill for 5 meters, puncturing a hole in my jeans and scratching my knee.

I then had to return to my dorm on the 4 floor to bandage myself.
I'm now preparing to leave again, hopefully with no falls this time.

Teaching a German to speak Southern- a followup

In my last blog entry, I mentioned that I tried to teach one of my German lab mates how to speak Southern. I tried to emphasize the idea that people in the south often refer to others as Dahling, sweetheart, or honey. I will now followup with a slightly awkward situation that followed this event.

When I left the German's apartment at 10pm, I was so tired that I walked out without my jacket, or my mobile phone, but the German promised to bring the item to lab the next day. So this male German brought my jacket and handy into the lab and left them on my desk. I thought nothing of it. Later that day, when I left the lab to leave for Fulbright orientation, the German said "Goodbye Darling." Two other labmates in the room looked rather surprised at this salutation, especially considering that this lab mate brought in items that I 'forgot' at his house. In fact, their jaws seemed to drop. I realized that the salution and situation seemed to suggest that something other than talking happened between myself and this male labmate. I quickly talked about how Southerners refer to each other as darling, sweetheart, or honey. I demonstrated by calling another labmate sweetheart, which received another blank stare.

Now perhaps I misinterpretted the silence and blank stares. But at the very least, I how now explained a strange Southern custom to other German people.

If this labmate reads this blog. I wish this German labmate all the best in Houston! Veil Glucke!

readjusting to German life...and Marburgs hills

Location: dorm room, Studentendorf (student dorms), Marburg, Germany, Europe

Listening to: birds chirping in the forest hills and cars trying to drive up the steep Panoramestraße less than 30 meters away, accompanied by the occasional voice speaking an unknown language.

I finally have internet access in my room, which means that I can start regular blog entries again. A lot has happened in the last few days, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to even describe the events of the last week. Instead of listing everything in this blog entry, I will try to break the blog into various parts such as first day in Marburg, language course, living with multiple cultures, walking in Marburg, my shrinking pant size, meeting other Fulbrights, running late in precise germany, saying goodbye to family, and any other titles I may think of.

I won't waste precious cyberspace describing my rather uneventful trip overseas other than to say that I sat next to a German who like Harley Davidson motorcycles. We talked a bit but I actually tried to sleep for most of the trip. I will also add that United airline food is nowhere near as good as the food on any other European airline.

I arrive in Marburg around 13:00 (1pm in the US) after boarding the correct train to the Frankfurt Main station, then to Marburg (I told you my trip was rather uneventful). I spent most of the train ride trying to remember how to call the US from Germany so I could notify my parents of my arrival (I eventually figured it out), then trying to remember how to call German handys (mobile phones) from my German mobile number.

Just a note for people not familiar with my phone habits. When traveling in Europe, I use my US phone, but I switch out sim cards so when I visit Germany I have a German phone number, which means that Germans can call me for rather cheap. When I am in the US, I switch back to my US number. I also have a UK sim card. Sim cards in Europe are rather cheap, so its easy to buy a different card for each country. All my European cards are also prepaid, so I just buy more minutes when I need them.

Anyways, I arrived in Marburg in early afternoon, where my host drove me to my new home for the next 6 weeks in Losomonov Haus in Studentendorf. The dorm room is identical to the one I had last year in Carl-Ludwig Haus, except that this room has an internet connection. :-) The room is quite small, only 9 feet by 9 feet for the bedroom part and 9 feet by 3 feet for the sink/closet part. I'll try to take some pictures to post later. After dropping my stuff in my room, showering, taking a quick nap (15 minutes), I caught the bus to the Chemistry building to meet with Prof. Frenking and the research group. I stayed for about 1hour, long enough to find my desk and reintroduce myself to the group. I then rushed back to my dorm to drop off my laptop and buy some groceries before the stores closed downtown.

Afterwards, I met with a Frenking labmate who is preparing to move to the US. He offered to make me dinner while I borrowed his internet connection. :-) We spent the next 4 hours discussing US and southern culture (he is preparing a move to Houston). I also tried to teach him some Southern terms (y'all, dahling, etc) before he gave me a ride back around 22:00. Instead of falling back asleep, I was wired for the night so I watched two of the 48 movies that I brought from the US. I finally crashed around 4am, only to wake up 5 hours later at 9am.

I'm going to stop this entry now as I realized that instead of discussing my journey in Europe, I'm just listing all my activities. I believe that my mind is a little too overwhelmed with new sights, smells, tastes, and experiences so I'm going to take a break, then try to explain a bit more about my time in Germany.

safe arrival but no internet...for now

I write this blog entry on a German keyboard so please excuse any strange characters you may see.

I arrived safe in Marburg on Monday afternoon where I met with the Fulbright advisor for the day and reconnected with the research group. Before I left Champaign, a lab mate in Marburg configured my laptop for wireless access in Marburg, or so we thought. We have not been able to configure my laptop for wired or wireless access in my dorm or even in the lab. :-( I write this post from the imac the lab provided for me to use (its very nice). Until my laptop decides to work (it worked for about 10 minutes earlier today then stopped), I will not be able to answer skype phone calls or may take a while to answer emails.

Marburg in the News!

I was browsing through the international herald tribune this morning and I came across an article titled

German townsfolk wonder: Is it possible to be too green?

The townsfolk hailed from Marburg Germany, which will soon be my new home. Apparently the city adopted an ordinance requiring that all homeowners add solar panels when they renovate their homes or fix their roofs. I'm all for green activities but requiring people to add solar panels is a little excessive. According to the article, most people in town support the spirit of the resolution but don't necessarily support the ordinance. You can read the article using the link below.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/07/europe/journal.php

In the picture from the article above, you see solar panels in the foreground with Marburg Castle in the background, illustrating how Germans have created a vibrant forwarding-thinking economy while embracing their long and storied past. I can not wait to experience this culture and hopefully embrace my own Germanic heritage.

more luggage issues

no, American did not lose my carryon bag. The bag agent was sympathetic to my plight and sent the bag on the very first flight from Dallas to Louisville. My luggage arrived at 11am on Wednesday. I then drove to my parents house in rural Kentucky (town has two stoplights) to unload the car from Champaign (packed nearly 10 days prior) and repack for Germany. I hoped to pack everything for Germany into a large suitcase and use my red carryon for books. Around midnight last night I realized I had a problem. My large (26 inches tall) suitcase was half full and already 5 pounds overweight. My free baggage allowance is 100 pounds, or 50 pounds per suitcase, which sounds like a lot, but have you ever tried packing a year's worth of stuff? With my books, the red carryon is already 50 pounds so I can't add anything else to it without going over. Plus, do I really want to haul over 100 pounds worth of stuff from the airport, to the Frankfurst train station, then from the Marburg train station to my place of residence? After sleeping only 6 hours the night before? This afternoon I just have to sit down and repack the entire suitcase. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :-(

Offers to ship items using teleportation will be accepted eagerly. :-)

Adding to the long list of airline gripes

....besides the fact that I was delayed 3 hours! on Thursday due to weather somewhere in the United States, (a butterfly probably flapped its wings in Utah which led to flight cancellations in Chicago)....I arrived in Louisville airport today, only 30 minutes late (that's early on airline time). I decided to check my luggage today so I wouldn't have to deal with the 3 ounce rule on baggage rules. I began to regret that decision when I visited baggage claim to pick up my luggage and my luggage never appeared. The gate service agent said that weather was bad in Dallas (cloudless skies = bad weather in airline lingo) so my luggage didn't arrive in Louisville. Thankfully, I always carry one change of clothes and toiletries in my carryon, so I have some underclothes to wear for tomorrow. But my pajamas and sandals are in the bag. Thankfully I'm staying with my grandmother and she immeadiately took me to target to get a pair of pajama pants.

Now normally lost luggage would not be a big deal for me but when the baggage claim specialist asked me for a shipping address, I realized I had a serious problem. I kindly explained to the agent that I have a mailing address in Louisville until 11am on WEdnesday, then an address in rural Kentucky until Thursday, then Louisville until Sunday. If my luggage didn't show up by Sunday, they would have to send it to Germany. I seriously hope my luggage arrives sooner rather than later as I planned on using my smaller bag to carry books and heavy items. I can probably fit all my stuff into one suitcase, but I will have a to pay a lot in baggage fees. :-/

For now, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for a phone call from American at 8am tomorrow morning. :-/

Mount St. Helens

I started my transient phase a little over a week ago. After Bloomington, IN and a short sojourn to Louisville, KY...and many hours delayed on or near planes, I finally arrived in Seattle, where I'm visiting with my fiance. Andy's parents and sister were here for the first two days so we spent some time visiting Pike's Place Market and downtown Seattle. Then Andy and I took off to explore more of town. On Saturday, we just visited downtown Redmond and watched a movie. Then we took off early on Sunday morning to visit Mount St Helens.

The view was amazing! We hiked close to 9 miles that day, mostly over volcanic ash. I posted pictures to my picasa website.

Lufthansa Strike!

After my last post, I read a quite alarming article.

Lufthansa strike to hit Frankfurt and Hamburg

According to the article above, over 52,000 Lufthansa employees will strike this week, disrupting air travel in many airports around the world. Lufthansa has already cancelled over 100 flights for Tuesday with even more cancellations expected.

My flight for Germany is actually on United but my United flight would be serviced by Lufthansa in Frankfurt. For those of you not familiar with airline alliances, Lufthansa and United are both in the Star Alliance, which is one of the largest alliances in the world. (and my favorite) The airlines are so close, that sometimes they seem indistiguishable from one another.


My United flight doesn't leave for 12 more days so the union and airline have plenty of time to resolve their differences before my flight and the Frankfurt airport can return to being one of largest airports in the world. However, I'm not convinced this strike will end soon as the airport employees are demanding a 9.7% wage increase for all employees to counter inflation. Nearly 10% !!!!! Who gets that kind of money?

I guess I should prepare for strikes at airports. My daily phrase German course even devotes an entire lesson to preparing for train strikes. Since my flight is nearly 2 weeks out, I guess I just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best.

On the road

I said goodbye to Champaign on Sunday. Parting was much harder than I thought it would be. I didn't leave Champaign until after 7pm, nearly 4 hours later than I intended as I kept finding reasons to stay a bit longer. It was hard to leave the town that I chose to call home for 5 years. I will greatly miss my friends and roomate of 5 years.

But enough sadness. I arrived in Bloomington, IN for the 20th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. http://bcce2008.indiana.edu/
In less than 24 hours I reconnected with my chemical education research advisor, professors from various universities that sabbaticalled with said research advisor, and even former graduate students/postdocs from UIUC. I'm very grateful for going to a school with such a robust alumni unit. I love coming to conferences because I love reconnecting with people and making new connections. Its been very therapuetic.

As I drove away from Champaign, I began to fear that I would not be able to make friends in my new home. However, this conference reminds me how its much more likely that I'll make so many friends that I won't be able to feel lonely again. Only time will tell.

1 more day left

Wow, only 1 more official day in lab and then I leave for a year. This week has been incredibly productive for those tiny things that you always need to get done before leaving town, but incredibly unproductive for actual work. I learned a valuable lesson this summer, write all papers and take care of work that needs actual thought at least three weeks before you leave. By the time the last three weeks arrive, you are too caught up with saying goodbye and tying up loose ends that you can not concentrate for more than 10 minutes at a time. On Wednesday I had to practically lock myself to my computer to write a 2 paragraph abstract for a conference. Now the abstract is 'nearly' done. I just have to make one picture and then submit it.

As one of my final acts before leaving, I had a very detailed meeting with my primary advisor today where we discussed a timeline for my graduation and the work I needed to do in Germany. I was completely surprised when he not only supported my accelerated timeline (graduating within 2 months of returning from Europe), he even considered the possibility that I could even schedule a 'virtual defense'. I would give my final defense in Germany while my thesis committee watched me on a computer screen. :-) As interesting as the idea sounded, I decided that it would probably be easier to visit Champaign for a few weeks and finish up all details. Earlier this year I though I needed a 6 month lease, hoping that I could graduate by December 2009. Now it looks like I may not even stay long enough to justify anything more than a hotel room for a couple of weeks!

I am extremely excited about graduating sooner than expected, but I am saddened by the finality that today's meeting portended. Now when I take the bus home for the night, I realize it may be the last time I take the bus 'home'. My next bus trip may only be to a hotel for the night, or more likely to a friends home to sleep on their couch. I wrote this post on the bus, and now it appears that my bus ride is over...another last moment, gone.

Details make the going tough

26 days until I leave for Germany.

It seems like I still have a while before I leave, but perhaps these numbers make more sense

3 days until I move out of my house
12 days until I leave champaign for a year
21 days until I bid farewell to Andy on US soil

Time flies quickly when you're busy. My desk at home and in lab is covered with post-it notes, detailing all the things I have to do before I leave town. The sheer number of post it notes is overwhelming and causes me to lose motivation. Add in the fact that I'm also trying to sell out my stock of Mary Kay before I leave (help me out by visiting www.marykay.com/chariteach) and give 30 free facials before July 22nd, it makes for one very busy person.

Preparing to go overseas for a year is very very stressful and exciting at the same time. So far, I think I'm managing but I think its because I'm procrastinating. I still haven't even started my presentation for a conference in two weeks and I still have to draft 3 papers before I leave town. I have a draft of one paper, the other two have outlines. I keep thinking that time will just appear out of nowhere or that I will somehow become ubermotivated before I leave. So far, motivation eludes me.

One of the hardest parts of leaving is that I don't know what is going to happen. If you know me, you know that I love to plan and plan for contingencies if the first plan fails. I have no idea what my expenses will look like next year, how I can find time to visit the grocery store when the lab is on the top of the hill, or how I'm going to learn Quantum Mechanics in a language I can barely understand! I try to remind myself that I will survive, even if I have to eat Mensa food for lunch every day (2 Euros for a 3 course meal) or if I fail Quantum Mechanics (my grade will not transfer back to the University anyways).

My research advisors obviously think I can handle a year abroad or they wouldn't have written the application letters. My fiance is convinced that next year will be absolutely amazing, despite the fact we will be seperated by an ocean for another year. Deep down, I believe them and I believe that the next year will be exciting as well. I could continue more on that thought, but the army of post-it notes is threatening to invade unless I start taking them out one by one. Hopefully next time I post, the army will be reduced by a battalion or two. :-)

Travels begin again

Oh my, I haven't posted in quite some time. I've haven't had the heart to post to my blog since I passed my prelim...but its not because I haven't traveled. In fact, I've traveled a great deal. From a spring conference in New Orleans to a grand American Road Trip along I-70 to a summer conference in Vegas. (BTW: a rather exciting event occurred on the road trip to Seattle. Check out my Picture website for details.) I've earned over 10000 frequent flier miles this alone, which brings me halfway towards my goal of elite status on a major airline. My next three flights will be on different carriers so it doesn't look like I reach that goal this year.

I should explain why I'm resurrecting my blog. After returning from my CESRI travels in Central Europe, I decided that I wasn't content to study in the corn fields of Champaign anymore so I spent two weeks preparing an application for the Fulbright program. If you aren't familiar with the Fulbright program, I will give you a short summary (and of course a link to the Wikipedia article).

The program was created in 1946 by an act of Congress. Named after US Senator J William Fulbright, the program seeks to forge ties between nations through intellectual and cultural exchange. Every year the US government send students and faculty overseas to study the culture of their host country while also acting as an intellectual ambassador for the United States of America. (Note: the program also brings foreign students and faculty to study and teach at American Universities). This year, nearly 7000 people worldwide were selected as Fulbright Scholars. In mid-April, I found out that I was one of those people!

I was awarded a 9 month student fellowship and 6 week language training to Germany. I will be returning to work with the Frenking Group at Phillips-Universitat in Marburg, Germany. I leave for Germany in less than 7 weeks. In the meantime, I'll try to keep you posted on all important travel items, including the mounds of paperwork to fill out.

I am deeply honored and incredibly excited to receive the Fulbright this year. I hope to learn a lot of German and a little bit of chemistry along the way. Auf Wiedersehen!