So, to celebrate Easter, I decided to my friend  Pam in Paris. It  was my first time in France’s capital and a trip that I had been dreaming about since I was a kid. When I was younger, one of my favorite book was called Little Jeanne of France  by Madeline Brandeis and told the story of a girl named Jeanne and her adventures in France. And so, France, and Paris in particular, became somewhat of a destination for me. I was dead set on visiting France someday, made my mother start teaching me phrases in French, and even tried to turn in an assignment in first grade written in what I thought was an accurate written representation of the French language, only to have my teacher think that I was struggling with spelling.  My favorite book growing up was the account of a British ex-pat’s go in Southern France, A Year in Provence.  I continually attempted to add small french phrases into my vocabulary and dreamed of Time’s  fashion issue where there was sure to be a number of French fashion designers. Until I reached middle school in a town that offered no French classes, I had fully planned on taking up study of the French language and happily moving to France in some far-off future. But, as with all things in life, plans changed and I ended up in a German class which eventually lead me to my year in Tübingen.

Despite having less of a connection to French language and culture, I still have enjoyed visiting the border cities to Germany and enjoying the delicious food and drink, never fully making it to Paris.  So when I found out that Pam was going to be studying there and in nearby Cergy, I jumped at the chance of avoiding costly hotel fees and getting to see the city with someone who knew their way around.

The trip was short, but totally worth it to see some of the most beautiful sites that the city had to offer and to get to experience some of the things that I  had so long dreamt of.  It was a culmination of a lot of what I had wanted for such a long time and definitely a place that I will come back to explore further.

The best experience was visiting the Tuileries.  I think that the best introduction to my visit is summed up with a quote from Brandeis herself:

“The little girls passed through the Tuileries, which are like fairy gardens. They are a children’s paradise and part of the dream that Paris is”(140).

It was a beautifully sunny day when we visited the Tuileries and the lovely weather helped to highlight the  well-manicured park. We walked around and  got café au lait and drank it whilst sitting in some chairs. Now, I am no longer a child and a bit too old to believe in fairies, but the magic of the Tuileries still existed for me. I especially liked the long rows of bushes at the far end that  seemed like a great place to get away from the world and relax and enjoy good weather.

I also adored riding the metro. I am huge fan of public transportation, so any time that I can use a system in a major city, I could basically spend the entire day riding around.  The name of each stop was repeated twice during the approach, which sounded like  a language instruction tape to me and provided a good opportunity to practice my pronunciation of the French language.

Reenacting Amelie at the Sacre Coeur

On Easter, Pam and I went to the American Church (since, unfortunately, my French vocabulary is limited to foods and swear words) and ate lunch next to the Seine.  We also saw a lot of the classic tourist attractions, which I think aren’t necessary to mention here. However, we did find a café  that is a bit of an inside joke:

A cafe that is what it is.

Bis bald!

A link  to an electronic copy of Little Jeanne of France  via Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/40806/40806-h/40806-h.htm

So, in the 48-hours that I spent visiting my friend Paula in Bratislava, Slovakia this past week, I am positive that I ate just as much as I would have in a normal week. It was all delicious

When I arrived in the evening, I was greeted with vegetable croquettes and a potato-vegetable salad that my friend’s grandmother made. Then, I was given a large glass of Kofola, a less sweet Slovakian soda that was very delicious.

On the next day, we went sightseeing (or better put, sight eating) in downtown Bratislava. First, we ate a hearty traditional breakfast of bread, egg, cheese, tomatoes, peppers,  tea and coffee.  Then we went to downtown Bratislava and ate a delightful pastry filled with walnuts.

Street food in Slovakia

After that there was a brief pause in the eating whilst we saw the castle in Bratislava and the Parlament building. After that we headed to a Soviet era WWII memorial located on a hill and on our way back to the city center, we ate some cookies that we purchased at a  convenience store.  After seeing a bit more of the city center, we headed to lunch. We ate at a restaurant called Slovak Pub and it was honestly one of the best restaurants that I have been to all semester. There we each drank a large mug of Kofola and split a samping platter of halušky, a potato dumpling served with sheep’s cheese and onions. This dish was fabulous, I absolutely loved it and was thrilled to have found a traditional dish that could be prepared without meat.  We also had the dish in pierogi form and with cabbage, which were both equally delicious. The pub was covered in traditional Slovakian folk art and clothing and had information about Slovakian historical figure Jánošík, a real life Robin Hood figure from the 1700s. Later after realizing how  tired we were, we headed to a tea room and enjoyed some delicious freshly made chai tea.

The castle in Bratislava, where Sissi was crowned.

After the tea room, we headed home and were greeted by Paula’s grandmother with pasta in a mushroom sauce. Equally delicious we enjoyed it, but were able manage only a bit after our day full of eating.  On the final day, I ate another hearty breakfast and was sent off with a bag full of bread, cheese, Kofola, and many other Slovakian sweets.

They say that the best way to first get to know a new culture is though the food, and based on that I was lucky enough to get to know a lot about Slovakia.  Ďakujeme to Paula for showing me her city and a bit of her culture!

Bis bald!

So, a few days ago I went to Vienna to visit my friend Melissa and to see a new city.

On the first day we went to the Naschmarkt, an outdoor food market, for breakfast. I had ful a bean based dish with flatbread and hummus (which, it should be noted is definitely not an  Austrian dish).  I was especially excited because hummus is sometimes difficult to find in Europe. Then we went to the Ringstraße, which used to be the city wall of Vienna, but was torn down to make way for a new promenade in 1865.  It was a great place to see a surprisingly large number of monuments and famous historical buildings.

A photo of the Wiener Rathaus (city hall) on the Ringstraße

On the way, we stopped by the Albertina museum and saw exhibitions from teh archives of the Mussee d’Orsay. Nearly every major artist from a variety of time periods was represented. From Degas to Picasso to Warhol to Roy Lichtenstein to Monet, it was a great collection and overview of art history.

The Kunsthaus Wien

On the next day, I went to the Friedensreich  Hundertwasser musem at the Kunsthaus Wien. Friedensreich Hundertwasser is one of my favorite artists because his work combines art with everyday objects and promotes an understanding of the connection between person, living space and nature.  The museum dedicated  to him was full of colors, irregular shapes, plants and water elements. It was really as much of an experience as it was a work of architecture and a museum.

The Hundertwasserhaus, an apartment complex.

The trash processing center designed by Hundertwasser

I also went to see some of Hundertwassers practical installations in the form of an apartment complex and a trash processing center.  I even found out that he designed a building right in Baden-Württemberg that i will definitely take the opportunity to visit.

Overall,  it  was lovely to get to see a new city and visit an old friend as well!

Bis bald!

So, one of the events that I most looked forward to this year was Fasching. Fasching is a celebration that takes place before the beginning of Lent, much like Mardi Gras.  In the different regions in Germany, it has different names and a slightly different character. Where I previously lived in the Rheinland, it was called Karneval. In Rottenburg am Neckar, a small village near Tübingen, it is called Fasnet and has a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, and because of this I choose to visit Rottenburg to learn a bit about Fasching in the area.

There was also Fasching right at home in Tübingen, but it is a somewhat new tradition, since Tübingen is historically Protestant and Fasching is historically Catholic. The history of Fasching is also a lot better documented in Rottenburg than in Tübingen. I was able to learn a lot from  the website of the group that organizes Fasching in Rottenburg and the link is below, although the information is only in German.

Fasnet consists of a large group of activities mostly directly before the beginning of Lent. The parade (Umzug) is lead by Queen Mechthild in Rottenburg, who is temporarily in charge of the city during Fasching. Both historical figures as well as a whole cast of characters specific to Rottenburg are portrayed by people dressed in costumes and carved wooden masks.

The characters include:

Ahland: a medieval depiction of the devil it is the main character of the Rottenburger Fasnet.

An example of an Ahland, with an inflated bladder.

Pompele: a spirit that makes noise and carries a large noisemaker

A Poppele figure in the Rottenburger Narrenzunft.

Die Hexe (The Witch): the witches are the leaders of Rottenburgerfastnet and help to usher it in after Three King’s day

A witch at Fastnet

The final character is a jester/clown figure called Bogges, of which I unfortunately did not catch a photo.

During the parade the characters walk trough the city and play jokes on the bystanders. My friend Ingrid was standing at the front of our group and fell victim to the face-painting, hair-pulling, shoe-untying and inflated animal bladder-swinging antics of the various characters.

Ingrid after the parade

There is always something magical for me about Fasching because it is a time in which so many peope choose to come together to just have a good time regardless of social standing or (historically) station in life. It is a time of happiness and joy to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of Lent as well. I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my favorite time of year in Germany.

Bis bald!

Link to more information to Rottenburger Fasnet (in German):

http://www.narrenzunft-rottenburg.de/NZ/Zunft/Gruppen.html

So, as the title of this post might suggest, my recent break in posting is due to the occurrence of finals. My exam period here in Germany has been quite a bit longer here in Germany than any that I have had at Valpo and are definitely of a bit of different format. So, here is a quick look into my experience with German exams.

The folders from this semester are different colors like the many different classes I had this semester.

I had a total of 6 courses this semester, each with a slightly different type of examination. The first type was the Klausur. This is a type of written exam, and in my opinion the most comparable to any of the exams that I have had in the U.S. It consists of extended response questions about various topics having to do with the course. This particular one consisted of a shorter and longer section, each with a variety of choices of question to choose from. I have to admit that this was probably mid-difficulty mostly because I chose to write in German (the language of the material in the course), which made the 90-minute time limit seem much shorter than usual. And overall, I think that I liked this format well enough.

The second type of exam that I had was a multiple choice exam. This sounds like it would be the easiest, but in Germany instead of giving multiple choice exams with one correct answer, there are multiple correct answers, and only if you answer with all of the correct answers do you get the points for each answer. I was not exactly expecting this going into the exam, which made it seem much more difficult than it probably was.

The third type of exam is an oral exam. Oral exams are, in my opinion, the heart of the German education system. I had a few when I was in Gymnasium and this semester I also had a 30-minute exam for my theology class. This was by far the most difficult exam because it consisted of the professor quizzing me for 30 minutes straight with no notes whatsoever. I also spent the most amount of time preparing for this exam, but overall I think it went okay.

Another type of exam isn’t really an exam at all, it is called a Hausarbeit, and is a type of research paper. I currently am finishing one for my anthropology class. Instead of having to turn it in for the  end of the semester, you can write it over the semester break as well in order to have more time to research and rework the paper. The one that I am currently working on is about 15 pages and most range from 10-20 pages.

The final type of exam was the portfolio that I completed for my class on intercultural communication, which was both my favorite class and my favorite type of exam. It was something that I was able to work on throughout the entire semester and I really enjoyed being able to see the fruits of my labor for this course. I thought that it was a really great format, because it had such open parameters and is something that I can continually work on as I continue to learn about intercultural communications.

A look into my portfolio, happily a work in progress.

It was definitely a learning experience to work on so many different types of projects at once, but in the end, I am glad that I got to have a taste of a different academic experience.

Bis bald!