Events GaLAUR

Welp, here we are. It's the end of June, which means two things: (1.) this is blog post is on time (go ahead, you can applaud me now) and (2.) this is probably my last blog post before coming home. According to the countdown I have on my phone, I have just 24 days left here. But don't worry, I'll spare all the sappy stuff for the next post though - no need to get out the tissues yet.The past few weeks have been filled with cool events that have left me feeling like a very classy and cultured recently turned 21 year old, so I see it only fitting to report about some of them in this post.

While these sort of events are usually attended primarily by people a bit older than I am, I still like going to them and really enjoy learning outside of classroom (what a dork, I know). It's so much more fun to learn by "going to an event" than cracking open a textbook or my laptop. One event was  called "Deutschland Post-Migrantisch: Wer Gehört zum "deutschen Wir?"" (Germany post-migrant: Who belongs to the "German we?") where research results that answered that very question were presented. It was fascinating, albeit a bit discouraging as a foreigner. About 98% of the respondents believed that in order to be German, one should be able to speak German as well as have a German passport. Okay, fair enough. What I found to be really not okay and not fair at all though, was that 40.8% of the respondents believed that the ability to speak German without any accent was important to being German. If you ask me, that is a little unfair to demand in a country where many dialects (*cough* Bavarian *cough*) are spoken. The presentation really got me thinking... and a little worked up... but I think that was the goal: to point out some of the more shocking (yet real) results. At the same time though, the goal was to present reasons for hope for the future. In most cases, the younger generation was much more tolerant and welcoming to others - it's a sign that things already are changing and did leave me feeling a bit more optimistic. It was a very thought-provoking event to say the least. I left the presentation wondering who belongs to the American "we." I wonder if such a study has been done in the US...if not, I think it's time to do one.

The TTIP "Pro-Contra Discussion"

About a week later, I went to a pro and contra discussion about the proposed TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) between the European Union and the US. It's not very beloved by a lot of people here, and as an American, I thought it would be interesting to attend. It turned out to not be much of a discussion at all though, as I had expected it to be. Rather, it more closely resembled a kindergarten classroom: there were a lot of interruptions, "he said"-"she said" type things, and a lot of finger pointing (literally) from the adult audience members. It was a very interesting event - but not in the way I had expected it to be interesting.  I didn't learn a whole lot about the TTIP, but I did learn a few cultural lessons - mainly, about how political "discussions" can function here. I think I may have laughed more at all the antics that night more than I would laugh during any given I Love Lucy episode - and that's saying a lot. I'll summarize the highlights of this educational-turned-comedic evening for your enjoyment. First observation: people in the audience felt they had the need to respond to what members of the panel were saying throughout the entire evening. Here's an example: a favorite expression of the man representing the US and who was for the TTIP was "Ihr seid am Verhandlungstisch!" ("you are at the negotiating table, Germany!"). To this, a small yet very opinionated woman behind me exclaimed, "Ja, wo LIEGT der Tisch? Ich sehe keinen Tisch!" ("Oh yeah, well where's the table? I don't see a table!"). I found this hilarious. This, along with the bouts of applause that frequently followed contra-TTIP statements and the occasional "boo!" to some of the pro-TTIP statements (some well-balanced pro-contra discussion, eh? ), led me to question from time to time whether I was in an auditorium in Germany  or in a Baptist church somewhere in the deep south where every statement is warmly embraced with a jubilant "Hallelujah!" or an "Amen!"

The real show wasn't until the end though - the Q and A session. It was kind of like the bonus clips at the end of a funny movie - if you can stick it out to the end, you are awarded profusely. Anyways, some people were so desperate to have their opinions heard that they stood up when it came time to pick those who would get the chance to ask questions. One woman near me pointed desperately at the man in front of her, as if to say, "Pick him! Pick him!" I think that last time I saw such behavior was in elementary school. The same woman had the chance to ask a question of her own, too. She was passed the microphone while the panelists were still discussing the previous discussion though...which turned out to be a big mistake on the part of the moderators. The panelists said something that she disagreed with,  and I could see the discontent in her eyes as she tightened her grip on the microphone. She was like a pot of boiling water about to boil over, and I knew she was the one to keep my eye on - not the guys in the suits on stage. Sure enough, I was right to do so: she slowly, sheepishly  inspected the microphone to see if it was already on, discovered that yes, sure enough it was on, and realized that this was her real chance to shine. After a brief moment of hesitation, she gave herself the liberty of using the microphone to voice her discontent as the panelists discussed. I was in shock as struggled to suppress my laughter. Apparently, some people just can't handle the power of microphone.

Tapping like a pro

After my evening spent back in Kindergarten, I went out for a much-needed beer with Christy and Flo (my other conversation partner here), who also attended the event, at a place called StammBar where you have to tap your own beer. I say "have to" like it was a chore - really, it was quite the opposite. I had a grand old time. You know how at frozen yogurt shops you get to pick your favorite flavor and dispense it yourself? Maybe even mix a few if you're feeling adventurous? Well that's exactly what you do here, except it's beer:  you pick what type of beer you want and tap it yourself. It was so fun for me - I'm definitely a DIY kind of gal. (Not sure if DIY can apply to tapping beer like it applies to doing arts and crafts and home improvement projects, but I'm taking the liberty of using it here - just like the woman with the microphone.) 




I also recently had my birthday here! Turning 21 in Germany was exactly as uneventful as I was expecting it to be when I imagined it back in the US last year. I have been able to legally purchase alcohol this whole year, so basically the only thing that changed with the coming and going of June 23rd is that I now have an expired driver's license that I will need to renew once back in the US. Tack that one onto the high-pri to-do list for when I am back home.

Classy and Cultured  at the Philharmonic 

Usually, I am at home for my birthday and am reminded of the special day by waking up to loving family members verbally wishing me a happy birthday. This time though, I knew I would be waking up in my little StuStadt room and wanted to make sure I fully acknowledged the special day for myself. So what did I do? I put up sticky notes around my room the night before wishing myself a happy birthday: "Happy Birthday!," "Your'e finally 21!," and "Smile, it's your birthday!" It felt a little lame and partially pathetic - kind of like playing a board game with yourself because no one is around (for the record I have not done that...yet) - but I am so glad I did, because it made me start off the day with a smile (albeit because I was laughing at myself for putting up the sticky notes in the first place, but it started off the day right, which was the goal). If I have gotten nothing else out of this year of living alone, it's that I am responsible for my own happiness, and if I want to do something that I think will make me happy, no matter how crazy or strange it might be viewed as by others, there's absolutely no reason not to do it. And it worked! Starting the day like that set the tone for the truly wonderful birthday I had: I met Corinna for breakfast (I LOVE going out for breakfast, have I mentioned that yet?), attended two classes that I really like, treated myself to a little shopping, and went to the Munich Philharmonic with Christy that evening.

Munich Philharmonic

Workin' it at the Silent Disco

I also went to a silent disco this past weekend to celebrate. I wasn't sure what to expect at all, but it ended up being weird, funny, and fun, and thus basically the perfect thing for me. Everyone got a pair of wireless headphones that had two channels of music and a volume control. You could decide which music you wanted to listen to and how loud you wanted it to be. And of course, you could take off the headphones at any time, observe everyone else, and just laugh out loud about how silly everyone looked dancing "without music."  I think this idea could start trending at colleges in the US - seems like a great way to throw a party without running the risk of any noise complaints!









Other recent highlights include: hiking Jochberg and swimming in the frigid, crystal-clear waters of Walchensee afterwards, going strawberry picking with some colleagues from the RCC which was of course followed by the consumption of the German equivalent to strawberry shortcake, and seeing films that are playing right now as part of the Munich Film Festival.

Above: View from the summit of Jochberg
Below: Swimming in Walchensee (I'm the second from the right)

Strawberry Picking 

Kaffee und Kuchen done right

I think it's pretty clear that it's been a great, action-filled past couple of weeks. I am now gearing up for the heat wave we are about to get, and I'm ready. Equipped with every trick in the book for staying cool and a new fan, of which I am a big fan, and I think I will survive and be able to push through studying for final exams writing a term paper. It's the home stretch!

Days and Days of Holidays / Feelin' Hot Hot Hot / "Scottisch"

Recently I’ve been feeling like I have fewer and fewer funny stories to share on the blog. While this slightly disappointing, as I personally live for the awkward moments in life, I think it might be a sign that I’m pretty darn well adjusted to life here. The cultural mishaps are few and far between (knock on wood), and awkward situations just don’t fluster me anymore (in fact, they’re to be expected). 

This past month was a busy one for traveling, as I visited two countries I’ve never been to before: Switzerland and Scotland. The trips to those two countries were the last two outside of Germany I had planned, and I plan to spend the rest of my remaining time here (less than two months!) in Germany.

My Dad came to visit at the beginning of May, and it was great to show him all the sights in Munich that were much less attractive at the end of December when the whole family came to visit. Some highlights were: having dinner and then ice cream together with Ana and Christy; finding the zipline near Alte Heide and each taking a few rides on it (it was the perfect time, according to Dad: “after the kids are in bed and before the gangs come out.” Not sure how many gangs come out in a small neighborhood near Alte Heide in Munich, but hey, better safe than sorry I guess); meeting Corinna for breakfast at Café Rischart overlooking Viktualienmarkt, me attempting to give my presentation on the Frauenkirche in English for my Dad (it’s such a struggle to talk about something in English when you only know the vocab words in German); checking out some of the more well-known churches in Munich; having a beer and pretzel at the Chinesischer Turm beer garden; lots and lots of walking; and of course our weekend trip to Switzerland.

Lake Zurich  Complete with  Rainbow

We were in Switzerland for no more than 36 hours, and I think we really made the most of it. We took the ferry out onto Lake Zurich in the evening on Saturday and enjoyed the beautiful sunset from the boat. The weather was very unpredictable that evening, but the mix of rain and sun made for some beautiful pictures – we were even treated to a rainbow at one point! Dad enjoyed checking off each and every stop the ferry made (there were a lot) and tracked out progress the whole way with his four-color pen. Perhaps one of my favorite things about traveling with Dad though was getting to be so silly and touristy together – I can’t really open up an arm span-width map in Munich anymore without feeling sheepish, but it was perfectly acceptable to be doing that in Zurich. On Sunday morning, we had breakfast in a Café near the hotel where I ordered a Kaffee Crème (a black coffee that comes with cream on the side). The small, brown container that the cream was different than what I am used to though – I’m used to getting a small, thin-walled plastic container, usually with a peel-off lid. This container though, seemed to have a thicker brown wall holding the cream in, and was served without a lid. Being the curious, touch-sense-oriented person that I am (I always have to run my hands over all the interestingly textured pieces of clothing in stores as I pass by), and guessing (incorrectly, as I would soon find out) that the cream container was made out of a bendy rubber material, I gave it a pinch to test my theory. Bad idea. All of a sudden, cream flew in every direction possible – it spewed onto my black sweatshirt (the cow look is in, right?), got on my legs, in my hair, on my face, and on the floor.  Pretty impressive it got to so many places on or around me, considering there really wasn’t that much cream in the cream container that was, well, made out of CHOCOLATE. Dad quickly passed me all the napkins available as I silently shouted, Bridemaids-style, “Look away!” and managed to get it all cleaned up fairly quickly  before anyone saw. I felt rather dumb, but I guess if splashed creamer is the worst thing that happens to you traveling internationally, you’re not doing too badly for yourself. The rest of the day went smoothly, and after checking out Rhein Falls (apparently the biggest falls in Europe, although Niagara Falls really puts them to shame), we did a hike through some vineyards in the nearby towns. We nearly got lost multiple times, but we made it back in plenty of time to catch the bus back to Munich. It was so peaceful hiking through the open fields and vineyards of Switzerland, probably especially so because it was a Sunday, and we could even see the Alps in the distance as we hiked – very picturesque, indeed.

Lake Zurich

May (and early June) have been filled with holidays. I had off pretty much every Catholic holiday because Bavaria is very Catholic: I had off two separate Thursdays (and thus ended up with two four-day weekends, since I never have classes on Fridays) and also had one five-day weekend due to Pentecost and the days off we were granted for that. A five-day weekend - funny concept, right? Even funnier though, is that it made for a two-day week immediately following it. :D

 Trotternish Peninsula on the Isle Of Skye

Anyways,  knowing that the long Pentecost weekend would be my last chance to do a long trip somewhere in Europe, I booked a trip to Scotland. Many people have asked me, “Why Scotland?” and I guess it’s a fair question - usually I have very concrete reasons for most things I do in my life. But this time, I really can’t say why exactly I went to Scotland - somehow, I was just drawn to it. Perhaps it was because of my childhood, spent watching the movie Brigadoon instead of the Disney classics. The movie is about a magical town in Scotland that only wakes up every one hundred years and is made up of lots of singing, dancing, kilts, etc. – can you see how that could enchant five year old me? Or maybe I felt drawn to it because I have a little Scottish blood in me. Who knows - I think it’s probably a mixture of both. Regardless, the country was all I expected it to be and more. It was magical, just like in the movie (gotta love it when reality mimics fiction). After staying in Edinburgh one night, I went on a three day guided bus tour into the Highlands to see Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye. The tour was designed for young people, ages 18-30, and was led our tour guide/bus driver Tim who wore a kilt and played Scottish music on the bus’s speakers as we rolled through Scotland's hilly landscape. We saw far more sights than I would have ever seen had I planned a trip like that on my own, and I learned so much. I especially loved learning about all the symbolism in the jewelry, textiles, etc, and by people watching, I determined that it's probably fair to say that the Scottish kilt/tartans can be compared to Bavarian Tracht (Lederhosen, Dirndl, etc.): some people wear their traditional outfits on the streets just for fun, some don't, and both are fairly normal occurrences.

World Peace Tartan (Photo:
 http://princeofscots.com/news/wp-content/uploads/
2013/10/World-Peace-Tartan-Ad.png)

After the trip ended, I stayed in Edinburgh one more night before I had to fly back to Munich, which gave me the chance to check out the textile mill near my hostel.
I got to learn a little more about the tartans and see the weaving machines at work, and learned that there is something called the world peace tartan, which "was created to promote a global message of peace." Here's the explanation as to what the colors represent: "the striking light blue in the design is representative of the presence, hope and potential of the United Nations. Scotland is represented at the heart of this enterprise through the purple and green of the Scottish thistle. The red and black in the design represent and remind us of the realities of war and violence and the great need for a new living culture of nonviolence with the white running through the pattern proving a counterbalance in being symbolic of peace and light"(http://www.heritageofscotland.com/world_peace_tartan).  I think it's a really beautiful idea, as well as a beautiful tartan.

Edinburgh at Sunset (which was around 10 pm,  due it being located so far north!)

The stage in front of my building, Orange House,
 for StuStaCulum. I live on the other side, luckily!

Last but not least, this past weekend was StuStaCulum (StudentenStadtSpektaculem),  which took place over a four-day weekend that ended up being filled with unending sun, lots of humidity, and a severe lack of AC (or airflow in my room in general, for that matter).The long weekend's beautiful weather was fun for a while, don't get me wrong: I spent time reading in the English Garden, listening to live bands perform right in my apartment complex, dancing to the music of an great a Capella group, and swimming in the Eisbach. (The Eisbach is what I would call Mother Nature's hop on/hop off lazy river located in the English Garden, aka my backyard: you float/paddle down the river with the help of its very strong current and then hop out at a good stopping point, walk back to where you started, and do it again. Sound like fun? It is!

Starting the ride down the Eisbach

The problem with the sunny weather is that my room bakes in the sun from approximately 4 pm to 10 pm, making it hard to function and, more specifically, breathe. Luckily, it rained this morning, clearing out the air a bit, but I am certainly doing the rain dance and not the sun one. I have to admit, I really miss the brutally cold air conditioning of the U.S. 

I suppose it won't be long now though 'til I open the garage door into a freezing cold American house, my house. I just calculated it - I only have six more weekends here, and then I'll be home. It's going to be bittersweet, that's for sure, and the adjustment perhaps a wee bit harder than I initially thought: I realized while writing this that I don't know how to spell "Scottish" in English anymore (I kept typing it as "Scottisch," because I am so used to the "sh" sound being spelled as "sch"). I also discovered that I don't know the English names of everyday kitchen utensils anymore - while making a list of things that I want to sell to incoming JYMers, I had no choice but to google image search "everyday kitchen utensils" (complete with labels of course), because I, try as I might, could not think of the word for "spatula"(a super advanced word, I know, I know).

So maybe there's hope for the awkward, cultural struggle stories that I miss so much. I think they'll be back in a month or two - in English in the U.S. Do have patience with me, if so.

Ciao Ciao for now!

Blog Post Written for the RCC's Blog "Seeing the Woods"

As part of my work at the RCC, I had the chance to write a blog post that related to the environment and society, and it was recently published on the RCC's blog "Seeing the Woods."
It's not written in my usual style, since I wrote it for a more academic, professional blog and it was edited by one of my co-workers, but I encourage you to check it out here!

And, not to a worry, a new post for this blog should be up soon - I realize it is long overdue!