**NOW WITH PICTURES! Herbst ist meine Lieblingsjahreszeit (Autumn is my favorite season)

Hello again! True story - I think about what I want to write about on my blog every single day. When I'm riding my bike to the train station in the morning, when I'm walking to school, when I'm sitting on the train, when I'm in class...seriously all the time. Believe me, I have great ideas :) But then, I get busy and don't write as often as I would like! I'm taking advantage of the time I have right now. I just got home from school and the gym. I'm dirty and need to shower. I also need to pack for my weekend trip to the Netherlands, and I also need to eat. Too bad, I'm writing this post.

I thought of a few more "differences" between home and Berlin/Germany:

1) Beer on the train and on the street. It is legal to drink from an open bottle in public. So that means I see people drinking beer on the train at all hours of the day. I actually think it's "against the rules" to eat or drink on the train, but that doesn't stop these people. I joined in and drank straight from a champagne bottle when I went out with Jakob. I suppose it's a way of "pre-gaming" on the way out to a bar or club. Anyway, enough about alcohol.

2) Not that it's super interesting, but light switches and toilet flush buttons are different from at home. To flush a toilet, you press a big button that's on the wall, not on the toilet. Even at home!

3) I still can't get over some of the things people wear at the gym. Guys wearing swimtrunks. Guys wearing pants with belts! Shoes of all sorts. Fascinating.

4) Fanny packs are cool here. 

5) The calendar week starts on Monday instead of Sunday.

6) Everybody seems to work by the 24-hour clock (what I know as "military time"). Last night I tried clearing the microwave display because I wanted to know what time it was (it said 00:33), and so I thought someone had just failed to clear their leftover seconds from the latest nuking. Nope, it was 12:33 am. Ha, I felt dumb. 

7) Instead of using indoor curtains/blinds to block out sunlight in the morning or keep the peeping Toms away at night, German houses have outdoor blinds that you can control using a pulley system from inside. Strange, but they work great!

8) Milk comes in a small cardboard box instead of a huge plastic jug. The milk is like butter (1.5% fat). I love it!



K, can't think of anything else at the moment. What the heck have I been up to? I'm so glad you asked!

Last weekend I visited Stefan and Sara in Erlangen - a 4 hour cruise on the fastest type of train in Deutschland. I had a very relaxing and fun weekend. We went out to dinner, caught up with fluent English conversation (so unbelievably refreshing), and toured the city of Nürnberg. The city is very old and has beautiful buildings along a river. We also went into a large church and then played in the leaves :) I am so grateful to Stefan and Sara for letting me stay with them (let's just say it was a tight squeeze in their one-room apartment) and showing me around the area. It was fun to kick back, relax, and reminisce about the good ol' days in Mankato ;) **I also found a kind of candy that I don't like! Sara had me try her Swedish "salt candy", and I found it absolutely disgusting. Candy is supposed to be sweet! I felt like a cow sucking on a salt cube, and then the inside kind of tasted like black licorice. Never again. An important learning experience nonetheless :)

I arrived back in Berlin on Sunday night, which happened to be the final night of "Festival of Lights", which is an annual 12-night illumination/light design festival where Berlin's most famous landmarks are lit with amazing colors and some buildings feature light projection "shows". I guess it's a little hard to explain, but it sounded like a big deal so I wanted to make sure I experienced it.  There were SOOOO many people there, it was unbelievable. Unfortunately, I only had time to see the Brandenburger Tor. It was neat!

When Monday rolled around, it was back to school for me. Boy this week I learned so much grammar that I think my head is going to explode! I took a test today to see how much I actually managed to comprehend, and I'm a little scared to see my score. Needless to say, I'm learning A LOT. But it is fun. 

I really like my class. We are beginning to become a little family. We went out to lunch together a couple of times this week. Well, not everybody from my class joined in, but it was me and 3 people from Switzerland and a girl from Italy. 

On Tuesday after lunch with my classmates, I went with the girl from Italy (Sabrina) to visit the Reichstag - Germany's main government building. We got to walk in the big glass dome at the top of the building and overlook Berlin. Best of all, it was free! And I got an English audio guide, which I always appreciate. I get tired of reading sometimes :)

What else? Ah yes, and then last night (Thursday) I went to Humboldt University to a stammtisch for international students. Let me explain. Humboldt Uni is where Anne goes to school. She recently got a job working in the international center there. Part of her role as a student employee is to help organize events for the international students. Stammtisch is a popular concept in Germany. It's basically a regularly-occurring gathering of people. For example, my school has a stammtisch every Monday night at the restaurant/bar on campus. It's an organized opportunity to meet new people. Anyway, Anne invited me to the stammtisch for international students at Humboldt (even though I'm obviously not a university student). It was yet another great opportunity to try my luck with my ever-evolving German proficiency. I even got a free glass of wine! Oh, right - enough about alcohol.

Tonight I embark on an international adventure! I'm taking a bus to the Netherlands to visit my good friend Hylke. The ride will take 8 1/2 hours. I arrive at 4am. Ha! This should be interesting...Hylke got us tickets for the largest theme park in the Netherlands, and we are going to ride rollercoasters! I'm excited.

Thank you for continuing to follow along with me as the details of this adventure gradually unfold. I have heard from several people that they really enjoying my writing, and I honestly feel honored that anyone would want to read about my day-to-day activities and find them thrilling. Ok, so maybe nobody used the word "thrilling", but I'd like to think there's something that keeps you coming back for more ;)

As a reminder, you can contact me any of the following ways:

1) Comment on my blog.
2) Write me an email to cmd928@gmail.com
3) Skype with me: christine.dornbusch - I'm always on!
4) What'sApp. My number here is +49 152 556 91401 (if you don't know what I'm taking about, just ignore it).

Peace. Love.

Quick update before bed

I am quite settled into my routine here now. I have been in Germany for over one month already! Since I last posted, a few interesting things have happened:

1) I went up to the top of the famous Fernsehturm (TV Tower) at Alexanderplatz to view Berlin from up high.

2) On Friday night I went out to a club with some people from school, and the club had a silent disco room - it was great!  For those of you who don't know what a silent disco is, everyone wears headphones and can choose between different stations to decide which music they want to dance to (while everyone is on the same dance floor). It's hilarious because it's quite common to sing along when you're really into a song, so if you take your headphones off, you hear random words being shout out (off key of course), and everyone is dancing to a different rhythm. Not the best environment for dancing "with" others, but it was great fun. I thought of it like driving my car alone, when I can change the radio station as many times as I like when I'm getting sick of a song or just want to check what is on the other stations ;)

3) I went on a nice bike ride with Barbara and Lutz last weekend, and it was basically a long English lesson on wheels :) 

4) On Sunday morning, I went to Jakob's soccer game and froze my toes off! They lost (and didn't play very well in my all-sports-knowing opinion), but I know he was glad I came to watch.

5) On Monday after school I hopped on the train for a little historical adventure. I visited Checkpoint Charlie, which was the famous crossing between the East and the West during the time of the Berlin wall.

 And then I went to the Mauer Museum (Wall Museum).  It was an overwhelming collection of floor-to-ceiling texts and pictures from the time of the Wall. There were also displays and videos showing the various escape attempts from East to West (people hiding in car hoods, homemade hot air balloons, tunnels, squeezing into speaker boxes, and even a welding machine!). 

6) On Wednesday after school I went to the East Side Gallery, a 1.3 km-long painted stretch of the former Berlin Wall in former East Berlin. It is the largest open-air gallery in the world with over one hundred original mural paintings by artists from around the globe.

In addition to the things listed above, I have been staying busy with school, going to the gym, trying to teach English, and homework. I'm aware this is quite a superficial post (void of any described sensations, perceptions, or opinions), but I am really tired and wanted to be sure and post something before I fall asleep :)

Tomorrow I am taking the train to Erlangen, a city in Southern Germany, to visit my friends Stefan and Sara. Stefan studied at MSU in Mankato all of last year, and Sara was an exchange student there last fall. Stefan is German and Sara is Swedish. I am excited to see a different region of Germany and also visit the university in Erlangen where MSU has an exchange partnership. I'm also excited for the high-speed train :) Getting there is half the fun!

Next weekend I'm going to the Netherlands! I will visit my friend Hylke who studied on exchange at MSU last spring. Therefore, I will also get the chance to see the university in Arnhem (NL) where MSU has an exchange partnership.

Brace yourself: I'm also going to Vienna at the end of November! My dad has a friend who lives there, and he and his wife have generously offered to let me stay with them for a weekend. I have a lot to look forward to :)

School is still pretty hard, but I am learning so much every day. The content moves very fast! I am proud of how far I have already come, and I still have 6 weeks of classes left.

I've also been trying my best to research my ancestry and piece together my family tree. It turns out that I have great-great grandparents on both my mom's and my dad's side of the family who were born in Germany! If really want to know more, but I'm waiting on some responses from people (attention: Grampa and Dad!).

Thank you so much for following my adventure. I am going to bed now. I love sleeping :)  Gute Nacht.

Ich bin ein Berliner

Monday and Tuesday were rough days - I was overwhelmed with things like insurance, my new phone contract, and paying for my gym membership (it's amazing how confusing these things are when it's all in another language). And on top of all of that, school was kicking my butt. In fact, on Tuesday I was convinced I needed to drop down a level...

Rest assured, everything is good now! My host family helped me work through the paperwork and finances, and Lutz even made a phone call to Egypt to talk to someone for clarification about my phone plan! And then on Wednesday I totally dominated in my German classes :) I feel a huge sense of relief. Whew!  Don't get me wrong - school is still quite difficult, but I'm not doing as bad as I thought.

My experience at school today was a bit different than normal. Usually the teachers lead us through exercises in our textbook while we take turns reading aloud, work with partners, and stumble through our speaking. Some times we sing songs or play games and move around...But today, in my second class, we spent the entire hour and a half focused on one German rap song. My teacher brought in his speakers, and first we practiced our listening/comprehension to see what we could pick out from the song. He then handed out the lyrics and we went through every single word of the song (there were many)! I learned "street German" for a change. In other words, I was introduced to slang terms and shorthand ways of saying common phrases.  It was actually very interesting.

The song is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yphwzD1XaBY
I don't understand the monkey masks, and the video doesn't really match the lyrics, but it's still Berlin :) The words illustrate a dramatic image of a "typical" early morning in Berlin. It got me thinking about the culture here that I have come to accept as "the norm".

**This is meant to describe Berlin, not Germany as a whole.

1) Everybody smokes. (exception: my host family)

2) Dogs can go everywhere. They are in restaurants, on the train, in the mall, and are often walking on the sidewalks near their owners without a leash.

3) Graffiti is on every building, every sign, every train station platform...everywhere.

4) People don't bother each other. I don't really know how best to put this...It's not common to talk to strangers here. You don't say "hi" if you make eye contact with someone on the streets, and it's silent on the train. People don't push or shove when it's crowded and they are trying to catch their next means of transportation. It makes sense. Everyone just follows their own agenda and doesn't get in the way of others' agendas. I like it. It's not that way back home. I always feel very safe. No "bad places" to avoid. No obnoxious people. There is nothing to be scared of.

5) When it comes to fashion - anything goes. It's refreshing that there is such an eclectic idea of "style" here. At home, most people are obsessed with fads/trends, and therefore everyone ends up looking nearly the same. I never really noticed it until I came here and saw that there are so many ways to dress yourself! I am honestly impressed with the variety of outfits I see each day.

6) No one wears sunglasses. I seriously feel like everybody is looking at me weird when I wear mine. It's bright, and my eyes hurt!

7) When you just want some water, you always have to make a choice: still or "with gas" (bubbles). Drinking sparkling water is so much more interesting than still water, so that's my default now.  There's no free water here. Oh, and there's no drinking fountains at the gym! NONE. You have to bring your own (you wouldn't imagine the enormously-sized bottles people carry around here) or you have buy it at the gym. That was a surprise.

8) Speaking of the gym and interesting fashion sense, I can't believe the things I see people wearing while they work out here. There are guys in cargo shorts, shorts that look like swim trunks, and some people wear just normal (non-athletic) shoes. It's hideous, but who am I to judge :) I guess it just gives me more flexibility when I am low on clean clothing choices!

9) Everything is closed on Sundays. No shopping on Sunday :(

Ok, I can't think of anything else really "cultural" right now. The street lights go from green to yellow to red and then back from red to yellow to green...that's different from home. The toilets have like no water in them (probably a good thing for sustainability of the environment). Most of the streets and sidewalks are cobblestone. Cars are small. Roads are small (besides the Autobahn). Oh - we go fast on the Autobahn! If I did my conversion correctly, we got up to 130 miles per hour on our way to/from Dresden. 

That's all I know right now. Here are the popular songs in Germany that I hear on a regular basis:

Of Monsters and Men -- "Little Talks"
Cro -- "Du"
Lykke Li -- "I Follow Rivers"

And here's a song that everyone seems to know...

"Schatzi schenk mir ein Foto" Think "Sweet Caroline" in USA. It's the song you hear at every event, and everyone sings along :)

Bis später!

Back from holiday!

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. This train has got to slow down! I can barely keep up with my life here. Ah - before I forget, here's a picture from the lovely dinner with the neighbors from 2 Sundays ago:

Alright, here's what I was up to last week:

Montag (Monday) - I was a farmer! After hiding out in my room all morning to write my last blog post, I told Barbara to put me to work. So she handed me a shovel and I sifted the compost soil from the last year (or two). Fun stuff! Lutz was very thankful that he didn't have to do it ;)

Dienstag (Tuesday) - I voted! That's right, I'm way ahead of all of you :) I printed and mailed my ballot for the next President of the United States and voted NO on the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in MN. Hooray! Then I went on a bike ride with Lutz, and it was nice to chat with him to really challenge his English and my German (we are both beginners). After the bike ride, I met Anne and her friend at the gym for a quality workout. When I got home, I watched Hangover 2 with Jakob - what a relief to hear English on the TV! I fell asleep on the couch before the end of the movie (surprise, surprise).

...Don't worry, it gets more interesting I promise...

Mittwoch (Wednesday) - Happy Tag der Deutschen Einheit! Like I said in my last post, this is a national holiday to celebrate the unity of Germany as one nation. Lutz, Barbara, Jakob, and I headed to Berlin to experience the many festivities in the big city! First we visited a Berlin Wall Memorial, including a train station that was formerly known as a "ghost station" since it was completely blocked off to East Berliners during the time of the Wall. Of course we also had to go to the Brandenburg Gate to see all of the hustle and bustle there - it was just like the MN State Fair!

We visited the Schlossplatz (which I had already seen with Anne) which is all decked out for Berlin's 775th birthday this year :) We had some drinks at a bar on the river,

 Posed in front of the Reichstag,

and the Fernsehturm (TV tower)...

And walked through Oktoberfest at Alexanderplatz.

It was a busy day of walking and site-seeing. And then Wednesday night, I went out to a club with Jakob! We got home at 6:30am - I'm so proud of myself for staying awake :)

Donnerstag (Thursday): Alright that brings me to Thursday morning, bright and early (I only slept for 2 hours), we were headed to Dresden! Dresden is a beautiful city about 2 hours away from where I live. It has amazing reconstructions of old churches and castles that were destroyed during WWII air raids on February 13, 1945. I felt like I was in a different country - it's very different from Berlin! It was stunning. 

After an impressive visit to the "green vault" where an old king kept all of his precious jewels/artwork (described as one of the richest treasure chambers in Europe) and a few church walk-throughs, we had dinner at a cute, authentic German restaurant in the cellar of a castle.

 

After our hearty meal, we hopped back in the car to drive to Pirna - the town we would call home for the next 3 days. Our flat was honestly too good to be true. It was so adorable. Here's a panoramic view of the living room (where Jakob and I slept).

 

We finished off the night with onion bread (apparently it's a staple German food) and cards. It was fun :)

Freitag (Friday): It was windy and rainy, but we were determined to make the day count! We visited a mountain fortress called Festung Königstein that dates back to the year 1233. It was fascinating to read about and see things that are so old and yet so majestic and intimidating.

After the fortress, we headed back to Pirna to check out our cute little town.  

Pirna is located on the banks of the river Elbe, and was majorly flooded in 2002. We found signs on various buildings showing the water level from past floods (2002 is at the very top).

 
Barbara and Lutz went to the theater (there were only 2 tickets left and I wouldn't have understood it anyway), while Jakob and I enjoyed the running race and competitive relay that were taking place by torchlight throughout the cobblestone streets. I even bought us both ice cream cones for the special occasion :) We laughed at the cheerleaders, and I danced to Nicki Minaj.

Samstag (Saturday): Probably my favorite day of our holiday! We hiked for 3 hours in the Saxony Switzerland (the name of the region where we were staying), which is famous for its fantastic climbing rocks and scenic hikes. We even encountered a group of blind hikers - amazing. I could barely manage the steps and ladders and crevices, I simply can't imagine how a blind person would perceive the hiking experience. Nevertheless, it was breathtaking (both literally and figuratively). I loved it!

I have way more pictures (thanks to Jakob and Lutz for sharing theirs!), but it is nearing midnight, and I want to go to bed - this is super late for me :) 

Sonntag (Sunday): We visited more castles in the area and then headed home. I promise I will post more pictures at a later date (and perhaps share my perspective of the hilarity of driving and constantly being lost with my host family). All in all, it was a holiday to remember. Once again, I am so grateful for my amazing host family. They are so welcoming, generous, kind, and patient with me. I love them.

And good news - my iPhone finally works here! I got it unlocked (thank you Ryan!!!) and bought a SIM card and the whole shebang, and now I am officially a smartphone owner and user.

This week I am back at school, and it is harder than ever. I really need to devote some serious studying time to get to where I want to be with this complicated language. SO - it's bed time. Thank you for reading!

 

Wow, I am tired!

Oh boy, I feel like so much has happened since I last posted...Good thing I have plenty of pictures and videos to share!

This past week was my first week as a student at GLS Sprachschule (German language school) in Berlin. I had class everyday for 3 hours - 1 1/2 hours with one teacher and 1 1/2 hours with a different teacher, but I stayed in the same classroom and had the same students in my class. My class had 12 students coming from all over the world: Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, Israel, Russia, Japan, and Croatia. The language school is an interesting environment because there is really no easy way to guess where someone is from, how old they are, or what language they speak. My classes are instructed entirely in German, and they are not easy! In fact, I really had a hard time understanding my second teacher, but I think I like the challenge. I ended up signing up for 8 more weeks of classes (expensive!), which will take me through the end of November. In addition to obviously offering classes, the school also coordinates after-class activities every day. On Tuesday I went to a seminar/lecture about German rap culture. Now THAT was difficult to understand. I guess I didn't really anticipate being in a discussion group with other students who were basically fluent in German. Needless to say, I contributed nothing and had a headache afterwards. Maybe I will wait a month or 2 before I attend any more seminars...

This week, however, I am taking a break from school (I know, I know, I just started!) because I am going on a trip with my host family. Wednesday, October 3rd is a special day in Germany. It is a public holiday that celebrates the unity of Germany as one nation. Lutz, Barbara, and Jakob have the entire week off from work/school, so we are "going on holiday" from Thursday-Sunday to the Saxony Schweiz.  I honestly don't know much about it. It's a mountain area in East Germany...I don't know what we will be doing, but I'm looking forward to an adventure!

I stayed quite busy after school each day doing my homework. (Google translate is my new best friend.)  

Friday was my 25th birthday! Lutz and Barbara had breakfast prepared for me before I left for school :) In the morning, they greeted me with hugs and well-wishes, and I even had gifts to open! They gave me a scarf (my addiction) and a stack of discount cards/vouchers for attractions around Berlin! I also got a box of chocolates from Barbara's parents :) Too cute. 

On Friday I had 2 tests! My test from my first class went very well; however I can't say the same for my second class. The test included topics we had never even talked about! Ugh. Oh well, it's not like I am graded. I am just frustrated because I really want to learn the language and keep up with the rest of my class and the teacher's expectations. I am lucky I can come home to native German speakers and ask for their help :)

After school on Friday I met with a man who coordinates my host family placement program. I thought we were just going to meet briefly and he would ask me if I had any questions. Instead, he talked to me for an hour about the history of Germany! He talked about migration patterns of society, regional dialects, the "pecking order" of who makes fun of whom, and also encouraged me to do some research to track down my family's German roots. I know there is a town in Germany called Dornbusch, and I know my name is very German (I've only heard that 100 times since I got here), but I don't know when my ancestors came to the US. I need help! Maybe my Grampa will know where to start - he loves researching those kinds of things. Apparently one of the previous English tutors was able to visit the cemetery where his ancestors are buried. Now that would be cool.

Ok, so then Friday night my host family took me out for dinner to a nearby Greek restaurant (we walked from home). Anne and her boyfriend, Sandro, also joined us! The most intriguing thing about this place was the amount of alcohol served. As soon as you sit down, the waiter brings everybody a shot of cold, clear liquid that smells a bit like black liquorice. Alright, fine. Then I had wine. And more wine. And those clear shots kept coming. In a matter of maybe a half hour, I seemed to think I was fluent in German ;) The food was delicious - I had like 20 pounds of meat on my plate! By the way, I can't really read the menus here, so I always just trust someone to pick something for me. Good thing I'm not a picky eater!

Once our plates were cleared and we were all blabbering away auf Deutsch (or maybe that was just me), the lights in the entire restaurant dimmed and a familiar tune started blaring over the speakers. Before I knew it, I was presented with a dish of ice cream complete with flaming sparklers and a flouncy Happy Birthday hat :) Jakob was kind enough to capture this wonderful video of the momentous occasion. 

Pictures from the evening!

All in all, it was a very nice and memorable birthday. I am so lucky to have such a kind and generous host family.

That brings us up to Saturday (oh yes, there is more). After our night of celebration, we all needed to be out the door by 8am Saturday morning for our next adventure: Draisine fahren (riding bike-type things on railroad tracks) with a group of Barbara and Lutz's friends. I will let the pictures and video do most of the explaining...

It was a fun and long day! We started biking around 9:30am and ended around 5:00pm. We stopped often for food. There was SO MUCH food! It was delicious. There was also a lot of alcohol. Champagne for breakfast. Shots of home-made cherry liquor for dessert after breakfast. Wine along the way (yes, while riding the bikes). Then we stopped and walked through the woods a bit to try and find a little church. We couldn't find it, and then someone whipped out a bunch of little bottles of vodka and we took more shots! You get the idea.

 

I had a good time. But boy, was I exhausted afterwards...In fact, I was supposed to go out to a bar for Anne's birthday (she turned 22 on Saturday), but I couldn't manage to get out of bed. Some things never change. I need my sleep and have no control over my chronic fatigue :(

So, I slept for 12 hours straight Saturday night. Sunday I woke up just in time to join my family for breakfast. Lutz and Barbara mentioned that there was a large marathon happening in Berlin that day. It sounded like a pretty big deal. Lutz told me that the event attracts 1 million spectators. So, I hopped on the train to see what all the fuss was about!

HOLY COW - turns out the Berlin marathon is a massive deal! Berlin is one of the 5 World Marathon Majors (along with London, New York, Chicago, and Boston). From what I could understand, there were participants from over 120 nations and many world records have been set (and broken) in Berlin. I arrived just in time to snag a spot right next to the street barricade near the finish line (I was at the Brandenburg Gate) and saw the first place runner arrive with an incredible time of 2:04! Dang they were running fast. 

 

The first place man was from Kenya and the first place woman was from Ethiopia. The biggest cheers from the crowd, however, came with the first German man and woman German finishers :) The girl was only 22 years old. I have never been to a marathon before - it was so exciting! The loud music, the cheers, the flags, the smells of concession stand food all around :) It was truly inspiring to watch so many people approach the finish. I was standing near the photographers who were sitting in the middle of the road and capturing victory shots from the runners, so it was amusing to see what they chose to do for the camera as they made their final sprint towards the end. Here's another glimpse of the action ;)

 

As if that wasn't enough excitement for the weekend, there is more! Sunday night Barbara and Lutz had their neighbors over for a BBQ. There were people my age, but the majority of the evening was spoken in German so I was very quiet. Our guests even gave me chocolate and wine as a belated birthday present! Side note: I have been living off of chocolate and gummy bears since Friday. I got the box of chocolates from Oma and Opa, Anne gave me a chocolate bar and bag of gummy bears, and then the chocolate from the neighbors. AND all of the nonstop eating on the draisine and last night's feast. I think I should visit the gym this week...

So, back to the title of this post. It has been a tiring (but wonderful) past few days. This post took me nearly 3 hours to put together. I hope you enjoy it! Now I'm going to go try and make myself useful as the rest of my family has been slaving away with household chores, insulation installation, and yard work. Until next time...

Oh, and my latest thing is trying to plan my travels. Let me know if you have any great tips! Or people I could stay with ;) Danke!