I am beginning to write on the backlog of posts detailing events that I never discussed on my blog. Tonight, I will begin with a discussion of Election Night 2008.
I was really curious about how the election would be covered in Germany. Would Germans know that the US was electing a new president? How would I watch election night coverage? Would I need to camp out in my lab to enjoy the privilege of streaming video? Would people be offended if I wore red, white, and blue?
Anyone who red the news knew that not only did Germans know we were electing a new president, they were counting down the days until Bush is gone. Not surprisingly, most Germans were fans of Obama and would shout out "Yes we can!" anytime they saw an American. (I liked to respond to these exclamations with Nein, wir können nicht!) In the days leading up the the election, the energy became noticeably more powerful. I often overheard "Obama" and "McCain" in the school mensa (cafeteria) and saw signs for Obama in the hallways. The day of the election, however, felt suprisingly normal. I kept wanting to scream, hello, my country is electing a new leader today! Lets get excited! But in reality, the real excitement would not start until midnight my time, when polls started closing on the east coast.
I tried to find information about an election night party from the large American contingent in Marburg (large but invisible for the most part, but that's another post) but I found no information. So I decided to have my own little election night party in my room. I borrowed a large lcd screen from my lab, trucked it back to my dorm, and hooked it up to my laptop for a two screen election night experience, as you can see below.
I was really curious about how the election would be covered in Germany. Would Germans know that the US was electing a new president? How would I watch election night coverage? Would I need to camp out in my lab to enjoy the privilege of streaming video? Would people be offended if I wore red, white, and blue?
Anyone who red the news knew that not only did Germans know we were electing a new president, they were counting down the days until Bush is gone. Not surprisingly, most Germans were fans of Obama and would shout out "Yes we can!" anytime they saw an American. (I liked to respond to these exclamations with Nein, wir können nicht!) In the days leading up the the election, the energy became noticeably more powerful. I often overheard "Obama" and "McCain" in the school mensa (cafeteria) and saw signs for Obama in the hallways. The day of the election, however, felt suprisingly normal. I kept wanting to scream, hello, my country is electing a new leader today! Lets get excited! But in reality, the real excitement would not start until midnight my time, when polls started closing on the east coast.
I tried to find information about an election night party from the large American contingent in Marburg (large but invisible for the most part, but that's another post) but I found no information. So I decided to have my own little election night party in my room. I borrowed a large lcd screen from my lab, trucked it back to my dorm, and hooked it up to my laptop for a two screen election night experience, as you can see below.
I attired myself in red, white, and blue and sat down with some pretzels, fruit, and cnn.com to watch the results come in. (I am on this healthy food kick, unlike my fiance) The results start out pretty boring, Kentucky was called early for McCain (big shock there) and around 2am, I seriously regretted my decision to stay up until I had a new president-elect. However, as the returns continued to come in, the list slowly started to tip for Obama, and you could feel the excitement building through the TV screen. When they finally called Ohio (and the race) for Obama at 4am, I started dancing and jumping up and down.
I ran into the hallways, expecting to hear whoops of joy. I ran onto the balconey, expecting to see fireworks. Instead, I was met with silence. Not the nervous, scary kind of silence, but the calm and restful silence experienced at peace. I was very sad to hear my whoops of joy met with such uter-nothingness, and that's when it hit me. Of course its calm and peaceful here. A new American president won't make a difference to how the Germans sleep at night. The real excitement lies with the Americans. Oh how I wished to be with friends and family in the states, reveling in the excitement of the election, but instead I was here in Germany, celebrating my joy secretly.
However, I did not celebrate completely alone. I called one of the other Fulbrighters in Frankfurt (where she actually found a party) and was able to share a brief moment of joy with an American voice. I stayed up to watch McCain's consession speech and then Obama's acceptance speech, BOTH of which filled me with pride to be an American. I finally forced myself into bed around 5am. I woke up the next morning from a horrible nightmare, that the election continued like the 2000 election. :-) However, when I woke up, I realized that the election was not a dream. I smiled and began the day as an American with a new president.
Here are some pictures and videos from German and Turkish news programs that night.
I ran into the hallways, expecting to hear whoops of joy. I ran onto the balconey, expecting to see fireworks. Instead, I was met with silence. Not the nervous, scary kind of silence, but the calm and restful silence experienced at peace. I was very sad to hear my whoops of joy met with such uter-nothingness, and that's when it hit me. Of course its calm and peaceful here. A new American president won't make a difference to how the Germans sleep at night. The real excitement lies with the Americans. Oh how I wished to be with friends and family in the states, reveling in the excitement of the election, but instead I was here in Germany, celebrating my joy secretly.
However, I did not celebrate completely alone. I called one of the other Fulbrighters in Frankfurt (where she actually found a party) and was able to share a brief moment of joy with an American voice. I stayed up to watch McCain's consession speech and then Obama's acceptance speech, BOTH of which filled me with pride to be an American. I finally forced myself into bed around 5am. I woke up the next morning from a horrible nightmare, that the election continued like the 2000 election. :-) However, when I woke up, I realized that the election was not a dream. I smiled and began the day as an American with a new president.
Here are some pictures and videos from German and Turkish news programs that night.
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| Election 2008 - Germany |
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