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 19th and 20th 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
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