The Previous School Week

Hallo! In this entry I will update you on everything that happened last school week, which as usual was plenty.

On Monday, we had class at 9 as usual, so there's not much to report. During the break between class and Interaktive Praxis, we went to the campus shop in the Schloss for some Uni Mannheim merchandise. They had plenty to choose from, and I bought a navy-blue university shirt. Almost everyone from my class will have one by the end of the trip, and since most of us will be in Advanced German next semester, I believe we're planning on all wearing them on one day in the fall.

During Interaktive Praxis, we did more preparation for the film party the next day, and Frau Hamann also returned our tests from Thursday. I got an A, but she said she was generous with her grading. I did well on all the grammar and reading comprehension, and even the listening comprehension. My weakest area was the written section, because even during the test I wasn't quite sure of what we were supposed to do. I did manage a 10/10 on the speaking part, which I was especially please with. Overall, I was content with my performance and I could be more certain of what to expect on the next test. After class my friends and I went out to Kaufland for groceries, including supplies for the party, which everyone had contributed a couple euros for. The hardest part was lugging everything back on the Strassenbahn, but we made it somehow.

For Tuesday's Interaktive Praxis, we had our much-anticipated (not) film party. No one not from our class whom we invited came besides Dr. Futterknecht, so it was kind of a lost cause. I did a brief film introduction- the film was supposedly a story made for Mannheim's 400th birthday, which was in 2007. Here was my introduction:

Meine Damen und Herren,
Wilkommen zu unserer Filmvorstellung! Es freut mich sehr, einen passenden Film vorzustellen. Der Film heißt Traumhafte Zeiten- Erzählung einer Stadt. Der Film feiert Mannheims 400. Geburtstag, der 2007 war. Traumhafte Zeiten ist von Michael Kötz, Direktor des Internationalen Filmfestivals Mannheim-Heidelberg und des Festival des deutschen Films. Nach dem Film können wir essen, trinken, und Pantomime spielen. Vielen dank, dass Sie heute gekommen sind, und genießen Sie den Film!

Unfortunately, no one could understand the film and it was not very exciting or well-made. The more enjoyable part of the afternoon was playing charades auf Deutsch. It was quite funny, and some of the words were pretty difficult to act out, for example, "Das Klima," which means climate. "Das Wetter! Die Temperatur! Die Sonne! Der Regen!" were all guesses before someone finally got it right.

On Wednesday was our final organized group trip to Strasbourg. It was originally supposed to be to Strasbourg and Colmar, but a girl from MEMS ended up collapsing in Strasbourg and had to go to the hospital, so Colmar was taken out of the agenda. We arrived in Strasbourg after about 2 hours on the bus, and it was a very beautiful city, I would like to go back! First we went with Dr. Futterknecht to the famous cathedral there, where there is also an astronomical clock. We happened to get there during the lunch hour when the inside was closed, so he allowed us to disperse, to meet back up in a couple hours. Our group decided to find somewhere to eat, and we found a cute crêperie nearby. We ate down in a cellar/basement type area, where curiously the music consisted solely of Barry White, to such a high volume that I had to request for the group that it be turned down. I ate a Galette Niçoise- a galette is similar to a crêpe, but it is thicker and with buckwheat. On the inside there was a kind of cheese, tomato, anchovies, and tuna. It was delicious, as anyone who likes anchovies would have agreed. After the restaurant we had to meet back up with the group, and we went inside the church. One of the interesting things was that all the signs inside were in English, French, and German. It had all the usual church stuff- stained glass, beautiful wood, high ceilings, but the most interesting part was the astronomical clock. It had many dials and decorations that indicated astronomical and calendrical functions, including what is thought to the be the first mechanization of the computation of Easter. Since we were no longer going to Colmar, we had a few hours to kill before we headed back. Our group, having bought pastries from a bakery, ended up just walking around the city and sitting comfortably by the river. We also went to a historic wine cellar in the basement of the Strasbourg hospital, which was quite cool, and the men working there helped us pick out an inexpensive white wine from the region. That was our last event of the day before heading back to the bus for our trip back to Mannheim. I really enjoyed it, and it seemed like a very genuinely French town, even more so than Paris. Paris was so international and touristy that we heard English all the time, but Strasbourg was much more homey. I would almost say that it's like a Mannheim of France, except for being more like Heidelberg in terms of beauty. That night in Mannheim the four of us drank the wine that we had bought, while watching the storm of the century happen outside our windows. It was the hardest rain we had ever seen in Mannheim, and our Studentenwohnheim is such that we hear extremely loud wind gusts and whistling. Our windows were literally opening themselves, and when we got up the next morning there were rain drops everywhere.

Thursday's Interaktive Praxis was held during our Mittagessen, at one of the oldest restaurants in Mannheim. I have unfortunately forgotten the name, but it was a good experience. We all got soup, salad, and fries with our meals- mine was an onion schnitzel dish, which I didn't finish, but was able to take home. Thursday night our group watched a movie online. For some reason we had been talking about The Others, the scary movie with Nicole Kidman, and so after our homework we sat down around the computer and watched. Otherwise, Thursday was not a very busy day, although we had to study for another test on Friday.

So, on Friday was a second chapter test. This one at least in my mind went smoother than the first. All the sections were relatively easy, and it was similar to before- there was listening comprehension, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and a speaking section. Cait and I are almost always partners, and we have been so ever since German I, so we have grown quite accustomed to speaking which each other, which is good. For the Zertifikat Deutsch it is possible also that we will get to choose our speaking partners, and if so we will also be able to be together, which will make that part a little less unpredictable. Otherwise, class that day was uneventful, and in the afternoon we headed off to Munich, but I will save that adventure for my next entry. However, there are a few more miscellaneous things I will mention:

1. Google Analytics- I have installed Google Analytics on my blog, which is a javascript program that allows me to see tons of stuff about who's visiting my blog. I can see how many hits I get on a certain day, how many unique visitors I've had, how long they stayed, where my visitors are from, down to the city (Canada! Sweden! Hong Kong!), and all kinds of interesting stats. My maximum views on a single day was 12, and I've had 135 visits from 26 different visitors, although I only have data from July 14th on. So, if you visit my blog, I'll know!

2. The heat. It has been deathly hot here! It can get quite disgusting, and there is no air conditioning anywhere, including our dorms and classroom, which of course makes it hard to concentrate. Fortunately Cait's and my room was blessed with a fan from the getgo, so we've been using that to the greatest extent possible.

3. My knee- sometime in Paris, I think, I twisted it or something, because once I hit Versailles I had some sharp pains going down stairs- it's in my right leg, sort of the right of my knee and behind. Sometimes it gets stiff and hurts to walk for a few minutes, but I have noticed it especially going down large numbers of stairs. I'm hoping that it will just get better with time, and I already think it's improved since Paris.

4. A victorious Deutsch moment- we were at the Hauptbahnhof, standing by the map of Mannheim, and a couple Germans came by who had just gotten into town, and asked where to find the Jugendherberge. Unfortunately I didn't know, but we were able to carry on a quick conversation about it. They went of the ReiseZentrum to get some information, but meanwhile I found it on the map. They came back, and this time we were able to direct them, even giving them all the Strassenbahn information auf Deutsch. We were quite proud not only to be able to navigate the conversation, but also to give them information about the city we've lived in for this month.

5. The bear- sometime last week a mysterious small yellow-brown stuffed bear appeared on our bathroom shelf. It was quite the source of wonder- whose bear was it? Why was it creepily perched in the bathroom? Had some stranger lost it there? Mel and Yen? No one knew. The eventual conclusion was that the maid had left it in there as some sort of gift, because some MEMS kids had gotten one as well. Still, the bear continues to be a source of horror and humour, as people put it in unexpected places- notably when the boys left it in our bathroom with a huge knife in its hands. It also seems to change location on its own. It is as of now unnamed.

6. The buses. The bus system here has been very nice and predictable, except for only a couple instances of the bus coming early or late. There are various buses that come on our route on a regular basis. Each bus has a particular character and voice giving the stops, and we have given them their proper names:

Little and Big IKEA- These are the yellow and blue buses. They are the newest of all, with nice air conditioning and TV screens illuminating the next few stops (and interestingly, we have learned that Teufelsbrücke, the stop before ours, means of course, Devil's Bridge). Little IKEA is the bus with only one section, and Big IKEA has another half that is attached with an accordion-like bridge.

Red Danger- this bus is one of the oldest and grossest ones, with dark red seats. They're also known to go around the corners most violently, and it's extremely hot and stuffy on the inside. The display indicating the stops is almost always out of order.

Wonder Years- this is also an old bus, but the seats are a golden brown plaid pattern, reminiscent of the 70's. We've gotten this bus many times, especially in the morning on the way to school. No air conditioning, but not as hot as Red Danger.

The Rainbow Connection- we haven't seen this bus in a while, but we're sure it still exists. A middle-aged bus, this one has charter-bus-like seats, which are grey with a sort of rainbow pattern. We generally don't mind riding this bus.

That's about all I can report on for now- look forward to my next entry, in which I will detail our trip to Munich. Tschüss!