Days #212-216

Better a combined post than no post... Right? Hopefully? 

So! Monday!

Oh yeah. Let me tell you all a little story about the famous "German Efficiency".  My friends and I were signed up for the later German language class, which was supposed to run from 6:15-8pm on Mondays and Wednesday's. This Monday, the first Monday of class, they were going to post a sheet of paper in Max Weber Haus (an academic building in Heidelberg) saying where each language class would be taking place. I got to Max Weber Haus around 4:30, figuring that almost two hours would be an ample amount of time to get wherever I needed to be for 6:15. BUT ALAS! The school had other plans. Apparently they had cancelled the later language class without telling anyone, and my friends and I were now I a language class that started at (you guessed it) 4:30. In another academic building about a 45 minute commute walking/busing away. I panicked. We emailed people. We met with people. We emailed some more. Eventually it was all okay, but MAN was that scary. 

...and that was my Monday! Also I went for a run in the morning and took more beautiful pics of Heidelberg:

Tuesday!

I finally had my class Slavery in the Medieval Mediterranean! There are not one, not two, but SEVEN Americans from my group of friends who all decided to take this class independent of each other which is pretty funny. After class I went to a hipster coffee shop and drank some coffee and did some homework and avoided the paparazzi, as per usual.

I got some noms with friends at this delicious restaurant where I got noodles with sautéed veggies in a spicy sauce and I think died and went to heaven. More homework when I got home, and I called it a night.

Wednesday!

MARATHON CLASS DAY! My first class was Anthropology of Violence from 9-11, then American Fictions of Violence from 11-1, then German language class from 4:30-6. All good, all interesting, and I made it to all of them (though the bus ride between both violence classes was super scary because it took FOREVER and I thought I would be so late)! 

After my German language class, my friends and I had a family dinner in our lovely graveyard home. I made banana bread and, since it was our friend Carlos's birthday, we turned it into his cake!

All of the food was so. Delicious.

Thursday!

LAUNDRY TIME! Then I had my American Fictions of Violence class and learned a lot about German reeducation. I also was apparently the sole voice of America in my class so I should probably brush up on my American history. I went straight to softball practice which was exciting because we had scrimmage and I batted third in my team's lineup (whoop whoop!). We went out for a bit, and Tom drank his beer with all of his friends.

All in all, a successful four days.

Day #212

Today was the day. Sunday, that is. And also the day I got to see my former high school choir perform all the way over here in Germany! So, basically, the single reason I came to Munich.

They did not disappoint. I woke up early to catch a train and then walk a bit through suburban Munich to find Herz-Jesu-Kirche, the church in which Lyrics was performing. It's an incredible space, and, according to Mr. Fontes, only about 15 years old. It's made from lots of glass squares that let in natural light all around the church, and wooden panels that filter that light towards the alter so that the most illuminated part of the church is right up front, the light streaming in from all corners of the church. I got there early and was able to listen to Lyrics warm up, which brought nostalgic thoughts to mind and perhaps maybe even possibly a tear to my eye. Or maybe it was just something in my eye. Something very much like a memory.

I listened to the mass in German (and understood some of it!!!), interspersed with their beautiful voices. I have absolutely no idea if this blog will let me add audio, but I recorded four of their songs and will try desperately to include them in this post.

I missed these people and the music we make together.

This also means that my Lyrics trip to Italy was over 4 years ago HAHAHAHAHHA WHAT.

I walked back through little suburbia, found some Frühstück, and walked around some gardens before heading back to our hostel to pack up and get on our 5:30 train home. Even though we miscalculated juuuuust a little and took the tram back to Heidelberg from Mannheim (that leg of the journey took us over an hour, even though Mannheim is the next town over, because it stopped at every. Single. Stop.), we got to listen to some great Freakonomics episodes and bond over the ridiculousness of eating bread and cheese and salami and grapes on a train and finishing our leftovers at 10pm because, like normal people, we got hungry again. BUT we got back safe and sound, and Heidelberg feels like coming home.

Day #211

Saturday was all about the brunch. So much brunch. Brunch for miles and miles. I think the song 500 Miles was written about brunch. I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the person who walked 1000 miles to have brunch. Those are the lyrics, right?

Just take a gander at this sweet piece of edible artistry:

Yeah. That's what I thought. We were München on heaven. (GET IT LIKE MUNCHING)

It was a little Italian place and the shop owner told us about how he grew up near Venice and lived in Cleveland Ohio for a year and just came to Germany last year. On the plate, you'll notice four types of meat, two of which are sausages and two of which are ham, four types of cheese, butter, homemade honey and jam, freshly squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs with cheese, and a garden salad with carrots, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic dressing. Not pictured: the basket of fresh bread. In the very appropriately themed words of Lizzie McGuire, "hey now, hey now, this is what dreams are made of." (Get it? Because in the movie she goes to Italy and sings this song and this was an Italian bakery? I figured I'd include this tidbit of clarity on the slight off chance that someone reading this is unfamiliar with the Lizzie McGuire Movie and all of its nuances.)

Our other less important adventures (though still extremely important; it's just that brunch is always the most inportant, see?) included Marienplatz, which is in the altstadt (literally "old town" in german), where there was, of course, incredible architecture, including this cathedral:

And the Deutsche Museum, which is a science museum that has literally everything- from glass blowing to motor-powered Lego cities to old fashioned musical instruments to creepy 3D pictures to pendulums to cross sections of airplanes to engines to hominid caves to paper making... We're talking everything. 

After lots of walking (both around the altstadt and the museum and Munich in general), we headed back to our hostel before meeting up with our friends again. I sampled some kaese spaetzle (these things that are like teeny tiny dumplings and it usually has cheese and this particular one had a kind of hot sauce and veggies and caramelized onions so UM YUM FOREVER), plus some sausage in a baguette. Life was good. 

I headed back relatively early so that I could wake up early to see MY OLD CHOIR PERFORM ON SUNDAY!!! 

~*~[stay tuned for next time]~*~

Day #210

Friday! No classes means MÜNCHEN! (That's "Munich" in German for all of those who don't speak German or didn't recognize how close the letting is). My friend Ali and I boarded our bus around 1pm and readied ourselves for the 5 hour bus ride, complete with Freakonomics Radio and TEDtalks. (I highly recommend the TEDtalk "Love Poem for Lonely Prime Numbers" for anyone who likes puns or slam poetry or humor or british accents or just general happiness.)

5 hours and a nap and a rain storm later (which we got to watch cozily from the comfort of our bus seats), we had reached Munich! We made our way to our hostel by around 8pm and readied ourselves for dinner and Fruhlingsfest, which is basically a big spring carnival in Munich. Rides, food, costumes, all th wonderful things. Ali and I met up with two of our friends from Heidelberg at Fruhlingsfest, one of whom is actually Mary Poppins.

Tired from our long day of travel, we settled into our hostel for more fun exploring Munich the next day!

Day #209

THURSDAY! I was an A+ dingus and spilled my water bottle all over my mattress last night right before I was going to sleep, so I had to wait a bit for my mattress to dry before going to bed. You know what that meant? MORE SERIAL! And then when I woke up? Serial. I finished all but 28 minutes of the 12th episode on this day. It's good. You should listen. 

SO in my groggy state I got my stuff together early and left for my last class of the week... Not realizing that it was from 4-6 instead of 2-4 like I had originally thought. The result? NAPTIME! 

This class was the bee's knees, the fly's thighs- get ready for this never-ending title: "American Drama in the 1940's in the context of German Re-Education: Miller, Wilder, etc."

A mouthful, but super interesting. Theater, literature, history, what more could a person want?

I sprinted to the catch the bus and make it to softball practice at 6:30, which was lovely as ever. Ugh, softball really is the best. And apparently next weekend we have a tournament! WOO HOO SO EXCITING YEAH

There was a welcome bar crawl put on by ESN (the Erasmus Student Network) (Erasmus is the word for study abroad within Europe) (so I'm technically "exchange" and not "Erasmus", but that's just a tiny detail) and because I had gone straight from class to softball to the bar crawl, I carried around my nice giant red backpack filled with lots of things and big enough to know people over to every single bar. Total mom move, I know. If only I'd also had my fanny pack with me...

Because I don't have any pictures for today, here's one of me holding a cat in the Black Forest on the umass trip because it's adorable:

To Munich tomorrow!!

Day #208

Wow wow wow Wednesday. I started off the day with the first episode of the podcast "Serial", which my mom recommended to me back before I started backpacking. Unfortunately, she also told me that it was a podcast about investigating the murder of a girl only a few years younger than me, so I decided to wait until I actually had a home and knew people to start listening. There are 12 episodes, and I'd like you all to know that I listened to the first 6 over the course of this day. It's good. Go take a listen.

After about 2 1/2 episodes, I left for my class, and was sitting outside waiting in the sunlight when three women from India came up and started asking me questions about Heidelberg. They were extremely pleasant, and the third question they asked me (after where I was from and if I was a student here) was if I had a boyfriend. When I chuckled and laughed and told them no, they looked confused and asked why not. We chatted for a little bit longer, and when they left, one turned to me and said, "it was very nice to meet you, and I hope you get a boyfriend because at your age it is very nice!" Another corrected her, saying, "at any age it is very nice!" I got some nice lawls out of that.

Then, my class: American Fictions of Violence. Everybody, I am very excited for this class. The professor was super enthusiastic and happy about his subject and life in general and also for the class we get to read Poe and watch Kill Bill. That's pretty much the coolest class ever, if I'm not mistaken.

One Mensa later, I headed over to the Neckar again. Because beautiful weather = sit by the river. Since it reached 80°F on Wednesday, I did the smart, responsible thing and invested in SUNSCREEN! Look at how adult I am! We even brought some bubbles with us and had a grand old time.

Oh yeah also that's Ian really enjoying putting my sunscreen on his face.

A couple of my friends and I did a family dinner which was a delicious curry with broccoli, peppers, chicken and rice. Though the food was delicious, the highlight was definitely singing all of the high school musical songs while we cooked. You know why? Because....

Day #207

Okay so this day was ACTUALLY my first day of classes. I went to "Visual and Material Culture" from 11-1... It was okay. Not a top runner, and since I only need to take 15 credits and am currently signed up for 6 classes, this might be the one I drop. Too much philosophy for my taste. But the day was beautiful, I got to see the Heidelberg Car, and everything was still great.

By the way, this is the Heidelberg Car that drives around the city and parks in random places so that people (like me) can take pictures with it!

I did a few errands and finalized my trip to Munich this weekend (to meet up with Lyrics, the choir I sang in while in high school) before going on a run and rediscovering my love of podcasts. I listened to a few TEDtalks and finally (finally) downloaded Serial, the podcast my mother has been recommending for about 4 months. MORE REAL CLASSES TOMORROW, YEAH!!

Day #206

I know most of you university students back in the old U S of A have roughly a month of classes left, give or take a few days or a week, maybe even two. Here in Heidelberg, we just had our first day of classes. And I didn't even have any the first day!

My only Monday class will be German (yes, I will be continuing this beautiful language so stay tuned for more lessons as I attempt to do my homework via this blog), and the German language classes don't start until next week. Instead, I headed into town early and found all of my classrooms and buildings! I felt like a freshman again with my nice pocket map all marked up with all of my class details. It was a grand time. 

After lunch a few friends and I checked out a bike store... Which happened to not have any used hikes, so we skedaddle'd out of there real fast, clutching our wallets. 

Grocery shopping is a thing that took place, and GUESS WHAT I FINALLY GOT A UKULELE. It's beautiful and was inexpensive and now my friends and I can perform in the streets and make money hopefully! Unless we need a permit! Even though we can't understand the laws because they're in German!

Then, the most exciting thing ever happened. I got to play softball.

Here in Heidelberg, we students have this friend named Patrick. He's a 23 year old grad student who studied abroad atHeidelberg during his undergrad (he's from California) and liked it so much that he came back! He also works in the international office, which means he can answer every question we have ever. But most importantly, he plays in a softball league and invited everyone to join! I was the only one who showed up, but it was absolutely fantastic. We did throwing and grounders and soft toss and batting practice and just general splendid things that were the best. Oh softball, how I've missed you.

And because there is a real lack of pictures in this post so far, here's the beautiful sunset I saw on the tram back:

 

Oh, Heidelberg. U da best.

Day #205

Universität Heidelberg is awesome for a lot of reasons and one of the reasons is BRUNCH. We all feasted and it was lovely. Although they seem to have something against normal bread (you know, on which to put your eggs and cheese and such) but it's okay because it was all delicious and my tummy was happy.

I got to hang out with some of my friends who have been in Prague for the past 5 days and relive the beauty and happiness that is Prague (with the exception of the Czech Crowns because that currency is whack). I opted for a run later in the day while listening to some Freakonomics radio, and I was rewarded with this lovely new addition to my Instagram:

Not too shabby for a beautiful day.

Other exciting news: I finally got my plane tickets to Greece!! HERE I COME, ANCIENT GREEK MYTHOLOGY! Oh yeah and I guess it's pretty beautiful there too or something.

 

Day #204

This was an important day because it April 11 marks the anniversary of the birth date of one Mr. Michael Brown, aka my lovely father. Here's a pic of him being the most adorable ever:

Like he's more adorable than that sheep. And sheep are very adorable. 

This is us being adorable up close and personal.

The force is with this one.

He's the coolest person around and also he came to visit me in England because he's the bomb dot com. I got to Skype with him yesterday, and I can't wait to see him and the rest of my family when I get home :)

The less important things I did today were: Laundry laundry laundry and now I have lots of clean clothing and clean sheets and clean blankets and everything is clean YAY!!

After some figuring out of classes and general figuring out of life, I grabbed some noms and headed to a welcome party in the room next to the Mensa (our cafeteria) and it was basically a middle school dance because there were ten billion throwbacks, including (but not limited to) the Backstreet Boys and Call Me Maybe. Lots of fun was had and lots of new people were met.

Day #203

Apparently it's National Siblings Day? Didn't that already happen this year? Maybe it's not an annual thing? I mean siblings are pretty important so like did they all get together and decide they were worth an entire extra day? In any case, I shall commemorate this day the only way I know how:

...by embarrassing them. Nolan, be glad I didn't include Noleen in this post. 

Seriously speaking tho I brag about these two literally all the time to everyone here and my bros have actually been responding to the group message I created (it only took a few texts along the lines of "I'm playing a game called How Long Until My Brothers Love Me") which is totally rad. I'm gonna be honest, it's been rough without them but at least I can channel them by singing Chimpanzee Riding on a Segway every time I see a Segway go by.  

BUT BACK TO TRAVELING I have been rather sedentary these last few days and I gotta tell you all it feels great. It's nice to have a home again and I don't think I want to leave. I turned in a sheet this morning that will allow me to take German as a second language this semester (wish me good luck because seriously all jokes aside I'm not kidding I am actually the worst at learning languages ever). I then did a little work and research and emailing before heading to the lovely river again. 

Our huge friend group of people who were here early for the language course is slowly expanding in a wonderful way. Today there was juggling, a hand-stand contest, more frisbee, lots of snacks, a little bit of football (or soccer, for all of you Americans), and a lot of sun and smiles. 

Last but not least, I cooked up some DELICIOUS broccoli and mushrooms and walnuts and cheese plus sliced apples and peanut butter and toast and... Wait for it... ORANGE JUICE because that stuff is amazing and I haven't had it in forever. I put it on a pretty plate and took a pic and filtered it, just for all of you:

Not too shabby, eh?

Day #202

IM GOING TO REMEMBER ON TIME ONE OF THESE DAYS

I got a hair cut yesterday! More like I got them all cut HAHAHAHAHAH.......

After more unhelpful orientation information, my friends and I headed to the Neckar again and played a mean game of frisbee. Which means we were pretty bad and quickly cleared out a space for ourselves because we kept accidentally hitting everyone around us with the frisbee. But it was all in good fun and eventually we got better!

Also look at this cute little window shop:

After some class changes and Friends episodes, I attended a welcome night for international students where I felt a little less awkward than I did a month ago. Even more helpful was the fact that some people have just arrived, so I am no longer he least knowledgable person in all the land, hooray!

Day #201

I almost forgot, BUT I DIDNT!

Orientation today was... Well, an experience. Basically it was everything we already knew with an unfulfilled promise of pizza. Also, we accidentally found ourselves in a room with freshman where people from the Heidelberg ipo (international programs office) were trying to convince people to study abroad in English speaking countries. On our way out, we bumped into an extremely helpful woman, to whom I owe a lot since she actually knew how to register for classes and such. 

After finally eating some food (since yay whole pizza promise was a dirty filthy lie), I ate at the good old Mensa before my friends and I headed out to the banks of the Neckar River to sit in the sun and catch up. 

What a wonderfully gorgeous day it was. 

Day #200

Hello all I am alive I am well and I am German. What better way to get back into my blog than with day 200? Actually, that's incredibly terrifying to think about. 200 is a very large number. Imagine if you had 200 gorillas in one zoo exhibit. Or if 200 bees were chasing you. I'm not sure why I have animals on the mind, but in other news Heidelberg does have a Zoo which I have yet to visit but it looks, as the Germans say, "sehr toll" (aka "very awesome sauce"; look at all this knowledge you're gaining from reading my blog again!)

I'll have you all know that I am older and wiser than I was when I last posted. Here are a list of my recent accomplishments, just to recap:

- I finished my month-long German course and now know how to order things from cafes and sometimes people accidentally think that I can speak some German because I can say "Meine Deutsch ist neicht so gut" and then they begin to reassure me (in German) that my German really is good! But what they don't know is that I've been practicing that specific phrase for a month and really can't speak much else. So I smile and nod a lot. But here's a picture of my adorable class and our adorable teacher:

- I have traveled to Metz, France; Strasbourg, France; and the Black Forest in Freiberg, Germany on three of my four past weekends

Metz

Strasbourg

Black Forest 

- The name of tram stop for my accommodation is Bergfriedhof, which literally translates to "Mountain Graveyard". Which is frustratingly fitting, as I live across from a graveyard. On a mountain.
- Although I am in Germany and not Austria, I have taken Julie Andrew's advice and climbed every mountain. By every, I mean two. One was in the Black Forest, and I've climbed the Philosopher's Trail mountain in Heidelberg twice. The Philosopher's trail mountain is coolness because there's a playground halfway up and an old abandoned Nazi Amphitheater at the top.

- I have learned how to salsa dance at a free class in the rec center.
- I have gotten stuck in two trees and needed assistance getting down. Thanks, Tom.

- I have gone to a carnival and ridden THE SCARIEST RIDE IN THE WORLD and it was terrifying. But look at all that friendship!

- I have, yet again, been deemed the mom of my friend group. And am shockingly okay with it.
- GOTTEN THE KEYS TO THE PIANO ROOM IN MY ACCOMMODATION SO I AM NOW ONE HAPPY CLAM
- I have successfully given directions in German!

So now that you're updated, here are some other important things that are not necessarily accomplishments, but I think deserve honorable mentions:

- My package from England (you know, the one that had all the stuff I didn't bring backpacking aka basically my entire life) FINALLY ARRIVED
- I got to pet a lot of dogs (this one is particularly important)
- I set up a German bank account and everything so I guess that means I'm a real adult now or something?
- I had to register for my Fall semester classes at UMass before I registered for my classes this semester in Heidelberg
- I have survived two minor colds aka the plague
- German bread is better than your bread, sorry not sorry but I'm right
- I HAVE WIFI IN MY ROOM THANK THE LORD

Some un-Germany related things:

- I now have a job at UMass for the Fall semester working as an international orientation leader for incoming international students! Basically what I said in the interview was that since I've studied abroad twice, so therefore I have twice the experience and am twice as poor, so I am twice as qualified and need the income twice as badly as everyone else applying.
- Remember that creative writing class I accidentally took in England? Well my midterm and final have both been accepted into a HFA Art Expo at UMass this spring!
- MY SWEET KAYLA SHEA IS COMING TO VISIT ME ON HER WAY BACK FROM JAPAN!!!! Backstory: Kayla and I fell in roommate love when she was my roommate last year. She's currently at the tail end of her year abroad in Japan, so she decided to make her layover back to the States be in GERMANY!!! The excitement is overwhelming and she is da bomb dot com.
- I got to skype-search for Easter eggs this past Sunday because my family is better than yours.

Here are some other pictures because you all know I'm really good at taking pictures:

We had a break for Frühstück every day to break up our three hours of German class. Ich liebe Frühstück!

Lol this is what one of the university rooms looks like

I am in the Black Forest and may or may not be an inspirational elementary school poster

HAHAH THIS IS HEIDELBERG LIKE I LIVE HERE!??!?

I will try to be better at updating. Honestly, I will. I pinky promise. And I take my pinky promises very seriously. Auf Wiedersehen!