All the world’s a stage...

Apologies are boring so I shall not excuse myself for my lack of communication via the blogosphere. Actually, you should be grateful for the opportunity to hear from such a witty, beautiful and insightful person...

ANYway, how to catch up on the last few weeks. I suppose I should begin by chatting about the academic side of things. Although I am sure many of you think I am doing no work at all here, that’s only partly true. :P I have enrolled myself for 6 courses: 2 from the ‘German as a Foreign Language’ department, 2 from the Musicology Department and 2 from the Slavistic department. This week was my first ‘full’ week of lectures. Full in the sense of comprising all my courses, but perhaps not in terms of hours... In any case it has been a challenge! The mere task of making notes during a lecture entirely in German is no easy feat. Last week at an introductory lecture to Ballet Music of the 19^th and 20^th centuries I understood about one word. Even more bewildering was the surprise of a lecture-room of students banging the desks with their fists at the end of it. Seems to be the done thing here... I suppose it’s better than the awkward silence at the end of lectures back home! Russian conversation class is also not particularly straightforward after a month or so of concentrating solely on German. :S But I’m sure it will all become easier shortly.

My free slots in the day are gradually being filled with fun things. I am now singing in University’s ‘Academic Choir’ on Tuesdays and participating in an international theatre group on Thursdays. I’ve also been going along to the local Christian Union meetings on Wednesdays. I’m starting to have the pleasant experience of bumping into friends on Wilhelmstrasse (the main street where the uni canteen, library and law buildings are situated) and stopping for a chat.

This past weekend was rather random, so I should probably write it all down now before I forget! On Friday night, I and some friends went along to a party in the Stuttgardia, the building belonging to the ‘Studentenverbindung’ (loosely translated as ‘student fraternity’) of that name. These ‘fraternities’ are not without controversy, the more conservative of which, called ‘Burschenschaften’, are exclusively male, promote fencing as the sport of choice and are sometimes associated with right-wing parties. In any case, the party was fun and I was required to do any fencing- so all in all not a bad evening.

On Saturday I participated in a 24 hour theatre workshop. Some writers got together on Friday night and wrote 12 short plays. At 9am on Saturday morning, actors, volunteers and technicians arrived. We (the actors) had a quick warm up and then were assigned plays to act in. We then rehearsed for most of the day, with an hour break for lunch. The curtain went up at 8pm, and we performed what we had cobbled together in that time. It was such a fantastic experience, and one I won’t forget for a while. Having done no theatre since school, I was a bit nervous about going on stage again. But the energy and creativity of everyone involved soon got rid of any doubts about signing up. I was in 3 plays, the first two in English and the last in German. In ‘Hamlet with Zombies’, I played the part of the zombified Rosencrantz, with the thought-provoking line ‘BRAAAAAAIIIINNNNNSSSS’. I hope I did it justice.

Now it is Tuesday night, and my busiest day of the week is over with a Musicology lecture followed by a Russian conversation class followed by a German history class. This was all very interesting but a bit overwhelming for my very small brain. I reckon I need a few more weeks to get into the swing of things... hey ho!

Ooh highlight from today: Bumped into my flatmate on the bus, who said I looked tired. I agreed, but said a cup of tea would do me good, as all English people know that a tea solves every problem. An older German woman chuckled to herself and as we got off the bus told me that she had lived in England before and so understood my strangeness. TEA RULES SUPREME. I think I am tired so shall stop here. Tschüss! (Bye!) x

Becoming Edgy

OK so I have failed again to keep to my word of regular updates. I do hope you can forgive me. This time I thought I would give you a random summary of strange/funny things that have happened in the last week or so.

First of all, an update on the edginess front. Yesterday there was a random ‘alternative’ night right by my flat, with rapping, graffiti art and vegan food. I didn’t actually go, or even spend any time there... but I took a video from the bus stop. DOES THAT MAKE ME COOL?

I have now experienced two karaoke nights in Tubingen. Rapping Eminem numbers by heart seems to be the done-thing here, something I am obviously extremely good at. Video to follow... JOKES!

The number of bakeries may well kill me here- so many delicious carbs. Hopefully my over enthusiasm in signing up for Florball (what I think is indoor hockey) and Lacrosse will go some way in rectifying any damage I have already done to my health. Although according to a friend who has played Lacrosse before I may well lose all my teeth and die in the process of playing it. At least I would die super-toned?!

Travelling back from Munich during Oktoberfest season at rush hour is not a good plan but does result in a perfect opportunity for photos featuring looks of horror and dismay (see facebook...). And for playing the ‘is that man over there asleep or unconscious’ game.

I have now sampled Russian borsch, Hungarian goulash and Polish pirogi whilst here in Tubingen. I fear that my turn to wow and amaze my international friends with my culinary prowess is drawing closer. Any tips for the perfect roast/ how not to poison people would be greatly welcomed.

The ‘Christmas tree’, now my signature dance move, is gaining fans abroad (ok well maybe one fan, and probably only out of pity). I am deeply grateful to whoever it was that taught me it at a wedding reception a while back.  

Oh, and it is SOOO COLD HERE. It is apparently now colder here than in Moscow!! I shall persevere and try and resolve the issue by wearing increasing layers of clothing and pretending that it’s a fashion statement.

Sorry for the randomness of the post, probably representative of a slightly random week. I start lectures on Monday which is a bit terrifying but I will then have a bit more of a routine which should be good! J

Settling in

I have just bought a kettle. This is significant for several reasons. The first is that it replaces the rubbish one that currently lives in our flat, which constantly leaks water and has to be emptied every time water is boiled. This is not ideal, particularly as I am partial to tea and am therefore constantly boiling and emptying the kettle. Yet for me buying the kettle is also a sign that I am beginning to settle into my new habitat and claim it for my own. That sounded less pompous in my head, I promise! In all seriousness I do feel like I am starting to get into the swing of things a bit more here, whether that be timing it perfectly to sprint to the bus station (which is about 5 seconds away from my front door) or remembering that NOWHERE is open on a Sunday.

It is now Friday, and the official end of the German pre-term language course I have been doing. Tonight we are having a farewell meal with our teachers and saying an emotional farewell... OK well not quite but I have really enjoyed the past few weeks. It’s been such a ‘soft’ start into uni life, as the course has helped us matriculate and explain a lot about the German uni system. For example, one doesn’t just waltz into to a professor’s office, or even arrange a time to meet. No, the done thing is to turn up during the ‘Sprechstunde’ (Contact Hour) which is generally only once a week. Seems a bit mad to me but hey ho.

Yesterday was the ‘Tag der deutschen Einheit’ (German Reunification Day). I spent it in Stuttgart with some friends from my course. There were special tents up to represent each of the ‘Bundesländer’. For those of you who don’t know, Germany is a federal republic and is divided up into 16 Länder (or ‘states’). I would explain the intricacies of how administration and politics are affected by this but I know you don’t care and I don’t know anything about it. 

On Tuesday afternoon we took a trip to Bebenhausen, a smallish village which (according to Wikipedia, my main source of information for my blog so far...) is about 5K from Tübingen city centre.  Our tutor took us round Bebenhausen Abbey, a monastery dating back to 1183/84. One interesting fact was that after the Second World War, fro 1946-1952, the local ‘Landtag’ (parliament) met there. It was also pretty.

Now I have a week or so to wait before the real adventure begins and I attempt to understand lectures and seminars which are entirely in German. Eek... My main subject is down as ‘Slavistik’ (i.e. Slavonic languages i.e. Russian) but I also plan to do some Music and German-as-a-foreign-language courses. I have to sign up to everything online very soon. I am not the most decisive of humans so let’s see what happens!