Free Advice... Minimal Charge

So, I kept busier upon return than I had anticipated. Between visiting old friends, relatives, handling paperwork, looking into job, and more I completely forgot about writing this blog. Just as a warning, this post is going to be somewhat longer than the others but I plan on filling it with different kinds of useful information. I will start by discussing some of the differences between studying abroad and an international exchange program. Then I will move onto a few simple bits of advice that should make any experience that you have more enjoyable.

For anyone that has been reading my blog, either during my stay or any time after, I went on an International Exchange Program. This is a kind of agreement between two schools that allows free exchange of students. I went to sister school of the University of Wyoming which had some very interesting benefits. I was still enrolled as a UW student and paid UW tuition. From my understanding, this hold true no matter which of the sister schools you go to in any of the countries. I do not know if all exchanges are only with sister schools or if the tuition arrangement is true for all sister schools, but that was how my travels worked.

For anyone that has an interest in traveling abroad, there are some things that you should be aware of. The first is that you have options. At the University of Wyoming, you have three main options. You can go on an exchange as I did, you can participate in a Study Abroad Program, or you can go on a Faculty Led program. If you are a UW student, you can see the different kind of programs here. There are several determining factors that should be considered when trying to choose which experience you want to persue. Before you can really consider that, you need to know where you want to go and which options are available at the desired locations. You can also approach it the opposite way, first choosing the type of experience you want and then selecting a location from there. As I don't know what you want, i will begin by informing you about the differences in the experiences.

Part of the reason that I originally chose an exchange program is because I wanted to be put outside my comfort zone, to stand on my own, and to be forced to adapt and grow. Well, I certainly chose the right course of action for that. On an exchange program, you are very much on your own. Sure, you can always contact people at home for guidance and assistance, but all of the paperwork, planning, and follow through are on you. There will be people to help you where ever you go but you are the one in charge. You are responsible for finding housing (the university will likely have dorms or apartments available), selecting and applying for classes, filing for a residence permit, managing the transportation systems, acquiring health insurance and liability insurance, and filing for your transcript of records are all your responsibility. There are people to help you and places to go, but none of this will be taken care of or planned for you.

A Study Abroad Program is something very different. These programs are hosted and planned by some kind of 3rd party. This party may be independent of the University or it may be a program that is provided by a University, it really makes little difference. In both cases, the party running the program will handle the vast majority of the planning and execution. Housing is provided, the have people to help you and walk you through all of the steps once you arrive. In addition to this, you will also be part of a larger group and instantly be able to make more connections more quickly than would otherwise be possible. These programs also tend to be more expensive and are always paid directly to the part running the program, but for a more organized and less stressful experience, the cost balances out.

The third major option available for most students is a Faculty Led Program. These are very similar to the Study Abroad Prgroam but they are with people from your home university and are much shorter in duration. All of the Programs available at the University of Wyoming are during breaks in or between semesters. There are programs during summer and winter break as well as trips during spring break. These are very similar to the Study Abroad Programs in the fact that there is much less effort required on your part. Your major responsibilities are to get all applications turned in on time, be prepared for your trip, and to have your passport ready to go.

Which of these options you choose should be heavily influenced by the kind of person you are and the kind of experience that you want. As I said, I wanted to be greatly challenged, really develop my language skills, and be thrown into a situation as much as I could handle. I wanted to take responsibility and be able to stand on my own and have the pride that I accomplished something that few others even attempt. It was rough, it could be brutal, you know, it was life, just with an added spin to it. I was greatly challenged mentally and emotionally during my time abroad and even now I am still dealing with difficulties in logistics on both ends. If you thrive on challenges or this sounds interesting, an exchange program may be worth considering.

I have no personal experience with the other options but from the people that I have talked to I think I have a good idea of the result. If my experience sounds like it was a bit to intense for you then you might want to consider a Study Abroad Program. You will be away for a good length of time but you will have much less stress and logistics to manage. With everything already organized and with someone there to support you, you can focus on learning, growing, and having fun. There are very few people that I have talked to that did not enjoy their study abroad experience. I think the few that did either did not research where they were going and were completely surprised, or they were just not the kind of person suited for international travels. These things happen, and in order to get the best experience you can, you need to be honest with yourself and gather the facts.

The final option is very similar to the Study Abroad but much more low key. The main difference in the Faculty Led Programs is the duration. These trips tend to last anywhere from 2-8 weeks. As with the Study Abroad Program, almost everything is lined up for you. All that is really left is to research your options, be prepared, be smart, and have fun. I have not talked to anyone that regretted going on a Faculty Led Program. This may be a good place to start to see if you are interested in a longer experience. If you are, then it is easy enough to move on to one of the other two options.

Here is my biggest recommendation to improve your time abroad. Do not go alone. Now, I am not saying this for safety reasons (though depending on where you go, that may be a factor to consider), it is a connection home and makes things much easier. I am fairly independent person by nature, and I thought I would be fine alone. By the end of the trip I was wishing that I wasn't. I am not saying that people there were not polite and friendly, but it is a form of support that often goes undervalued. This is automatically taken care of if you participate in a Faculty Led Program or a Study Abroad Program. In a Faculty program you will be surrounded by students from your university and in a Study Abroad Program they people might be much more varied, but they will still be people you are connected with.

To be perfectly honest, I would not recommend an exchange program to most people. For many, I feel that one of the other two options would be a better choice. I needed to be challenged, I needed to stand on my own, and I needed to be pushed. Even with it being exactly what I wanted, I would have had a much harder time without the support from my family. This is very important if you plan to go on an exchange. Make sure that you have a support structure back home and that you have a way to access it. I was using skype frequently in order to communicate back home and gain support when it was needed. Without this, you will have a much harder time.

Throughout my trip I have run into logistical problems with my home university again and again. I do not know if this is due to a lack of research on my part, if I have not been clear in my intentions, if I made assumptions I was not aware of, or what the source of the problems has been. I do have a recommendation to help with anything that happens. Keep your emails. All of them. Every email that involved anything with your time abroad, save it. That may sound obvious, but there will be things you thought unimportant that may become very important at a later time. If fact, don't just keep them, back them up somewhere else as well. I have had several emails that have been corrupted, accidentally deleted, or otherwise misplaced. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my journey and that I have, in at least some way, helped you prepare for yours.

No Returns Once Opened

Hey everyone, I am back in the USA and in one, relatively, functional piece. This will just be a short post this week, but I should be able to write more frequently once everything has settled a little bit. This post is mainly to let everyone know I am alive and none the worse for wear. There were no problems coming back, it was just a very long journey. After a good nights sleep and some good food, I am ready to start getting back into the swing of things here. That primarily means readjusting to the USA and getting everything squared away so that I can graduate and get a job.

I did not experience any difficulties but I may have just been lucky. For anyone traveling internationally in the future there is something you should be aware off. If you did not already know, most countries will permit you a 90 day stay with your USA Passport. Any longer than that and other arrangements have to be made. In my case, I had to file for a residence permit in the city of Braunschweig. Now, none of this is new information but here is the part you may not know., because I sure didn't. Upon your return to the USA, they say I was gone longer than 90 days and requested my paperwork. For me, I simply showed them the residence permit that I had received upon completion of all the paperwork and processing. I had no idea that they would want to see that, so I was very glad I had decided to hang onto it. So, just be aware that you may need your visa information on the return to the USA and not just during your stay. That's all for today. See you later.

Last Stanza

So I am back, punctual as ever. Things got really crazy for a bit there when some of the places seemed to have lost my reservations. I am just glad that I called ahead to double check. Today I thought I would rant a little bit about the classes and tests that I took here in Germany. I hope that this might help others in the future make a more informed decision about their schedules.

I regret nothing in my choice of classes and schedule during my time here in Braunschweig, but it certainly was difficult. What it really comes down to is what you want to get from your semester, because I had already completed all of my course requirements in Wyoming, with the exception of the time abroad, I only need to transfer three credits in order to graduate. A brief side note here, the credit system in Europe is different from that in the USA. Every two credits at Braunschweig is worth a little more than one credit at UW. I honestly think that having several classes in German was a huge help and speed up my language development quite a bit, but I did not think it would be so difficult. It was very hard, even when they were topics that I was fairly familiar with.

It was hard to follow in the classes but I was shocked when I got to the tests. I had a really hard time with even the simplest of my classes during finals. I was really not expecting that. Apparently, the language gap was large enough that I was not able to truly understand the points that were being emphasized during the lectures. There is also the matter of the Tutorials. I was lead to believe, once informed about them at all, that they were optional and of little import. Turns out that only the first statement is true. They are optional, but in the Tutorials they go over practice problems, old tests, and complete exercises to build on the students knowledge. There is also a place on campus, I learned 3 days before my last test, that you can go and get old exams for your classes.

Now, this was really hard for me to come to grips with, but you should not expect to pass all of your classes. Especially if you are taking them in German. I am not saying that you cannot pass. If you are more fluent in German than I, then this might be another matter entirely. I was just floored by all the difficulties I had with my classes and their exams, even though they were subjects I had previously studied. To anybody using my blog as a guide, I would not recommend taking classes in German unless you are really looking for a challenge. I am not saying that it cannot be done. I think that the levels of stress that it can add to an already strange time and place might be more than it is worth.

That is it for today. In fact, this might be the last post until I get back to the USA. Today I am heading back down to Bavaria and checking into a Hotel a little east of Munich. This weekend I am attending a Knights Tournament at Kaltenberg, Monday I return to Braunschweig and check out of my apartment, and on Tuesday I am in the air on the way home. If I don't get a chance before then. Thanks for reading, and see you on the other side.

End of the Tunnel

Well, there are now only seven days before my plane back to the USA, and I cannot stress how excited I am to be going home. Honestly, it is hard to believe that I have been here for almost 5 months now. There have been some really good experiences and some rough patches as well, but it has definitely been an eyeopening experience in my life. It has been very interesting experiencing another country and culture first hand like this. I am not saying that Germany is drastically different from the USA, but it is different enough to be very challenging at times. More than anything else, I feel I have developed a much greater respect for the international students visiting the USA and the challenges that they face.

There is no way that I could have truly appreciated the difficulties that International Students go through without my time here in Germany. Even with my German skills vastly improved, there are days where it is just a massive drain to deal with everything in German. There are many times where you cannot help but feel alienated and alone. I think that I have done well and prepared the best that I could, and even so there were some very hard times. For any students reading this in the future. I do not care where you are from, but take the time to introduce yourself to someone you know to me an international student. They are often great people and would love to be invited to hang out. Many will be eager to learn about you and just as excited to talk about their home. They seem like small things, but that is how you make friends around the world and it can mean so much to them.

During the last week I had a sudden realization. I had been having a really rough day with my language skills. It was just one of those days where my brain did not want to find the words, form the sentences, or pronounce words properly. I was sitting on the bus headed for my apartment when I noticed a couple speaking sign language from the corner of my eye. I watched them for a moment before it really hit me. All of these feelings and small bits of depression I had experienced during my time here were do to the fact that I could not properly communicate and I could not always understand people or make my self properly understood. That single fact is what cause most of my homesickness and loneliness that I experienced while in Germany.

I thought to myself, the hearing impaired suffer from this everyday. It does not matter where they are from or what language they speak, the can have a hard time with basic communication with the majority of the population. I am not trying to say that these people are crippled and should be pitied, my goal is not to offend anyone. Once I was home, I did a little research and found that I was right. Many  people with hearing impairment of one kind or another feel alienated and separate from the rest of society. It is not unheard of for a person fall away from the majority of their friends simply because they have a hard time hearing. I do not mean to climb onto my soap box and start preaching about how everyone should live their lives, but this just does not sit right with me.

I have always wanted to learn sign language, but that conversation that I saw on the bus has really lit a fire in me. This is something I cannot pursue full tilt immediately upon my return, as I have to finish my schooling and begin the next chapter of my life, but there are steps that I plan on taking as soon as I get home. There are multiple sources online that can be utilized, a number of books that can be purchased online, sign language classes at community colleges, and there are entire communities online to help people develop sign language online and connect with chat partners. There are many options and I am excited to start looking into them.

tI know this blog does not have any kind of a following, but I would like to pose a challenge to anyone that follows me this far in my journey. Take at least a single step towards learning sign language. Even if you never get past the research phase, this will give you a better understanding of what the possibilities are. Even learning to say hello and ask how someone is doing could mean the world to someone. It is not difficult and I think it is a worthwhile goal. Now that I have ranted for the entirety of this post, I will be ending it, but fear not. I have finished my last exam and will now have ample free time to write several more posts before my return home. I do not know if this will make a difference to anyone but myself but I'm doing it anyway. Tomorrow I plan to discuss finals and ex-matriculation.

. Gute Nact.

CHAOS!!!!

So there are just three weeks left for my time in Germany. It is unbelievable that I have been here almost five months. Anyway I think that the next few posts will, in all likelihood, be short like this one. I know, finally he has run out of things to say. Nope, just less time to say it in. I am neck deep in the paperwork and studying necessary to end my time here at Braunschweig. I am doing my best to stay sane and enjoy my time here. I am getting more and more excited to return home. If fact, it has become a bit of a problem. I am having a harder time falling asleep and staying asleep and my concentration is in ruins. I thought end of semesters in the US were bad, well now I know better. All I can do is keep working and do my best. Until next week. Gute Nacht.

A Few Points of Interest

So things are starting to move very rapidly here again as I approach the end of the semester, finals, and the end of my trip. It is very hard to believe that I halve already been here for nearly four months and that there are only five weeks and counting. I m also trying to get things settled enough to report. Anyway, as things go I will be providing information on the ex-matriculation process here at Braunschweig, but for today, I just wanted to point out some things that I have found interesting during my time here that I never would have considered before.

One thing that I have found truly amazing during my time in Germany is the wide number of languages that you encounter on a daily (or semi-daily) basis. It may just be the people that I have been around during my stay, but I am regularly hearing Chinese, Russian, Spanish, and Italian being spoken around me. I do not claim to have learned anything about any of the languages, struggling enough with just German, but I have gotten to the point where I think that I can identify Russian when it is spoken. That may not sound like much, but when you combine those languages with the other people from Korea, Japan, Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, Iraq, and several others that I have forgotten (not to mention all of the different dialects of German that you can encounter at a University) it all just become a giant jumble of incomprehensible sounds. I feel that being able to identify any of that is cool.

Continuing on the topic of the languages, the variety of the German language has really surprised me. It was the biggest problem while I was down in Munich for my language course. I would be doing just fine in my classes and then the second that I stepped out the door, I couldn't understand what people were saying. In the end, it was good for me because it has made it easier to understand some of the different dialects I have encountered here. Oddly enough, the place where I have the hardest time understanding people is not in my Chemistry lectures (which is a discussion for another time), but it is actually in my German Language Classes.  It is hard to understand fluent German speakers when they really get going on a topic. For me, it is even harder to understand students with a heavy accent speaking in halting and incomplete sentences. We are all here to learn, but I just never foresaw such difficulty communicating in the classroom.

I am just going to discuss only one more thing on this post (for the sake of any poor suckers reading this). I am going to talk about weather. That's right, the weather. Well more specifically about some extreme weather. In the past few weeks there has been some serious flooding in middle and lower Germany. I thought this was worth mentioning, because while I was in the USA I never considered things like that happening. Yeah, it is a natural occurrence, but we don't hear about that kind of thing on the other side of the world unless it is REALLY extreme. We don't here about the occasional flooding. Th only reports that reach us are those about massive hurricanes. I knew this was happening, but it never really hit me until I had to cancel a weekend trip due to canceled trains. This was a strange experience.

 Every day I get a dozen small reminders that no matter where they are or what language is spoken, people (for the most part) are just people. The old generation complains about the younger, everyone is complaining about taxes, and everyone likes watching TV. Unfortunately for us, the rest of the world has no way of learning this. All that they get to see are the news reports about the Bad, the Violent, and the Crazy parts of the US. I hope that I have done my job and gotten you to think a little bit today. With such insights, I think I should be paid more.... or anything really. That's all for now. Guten Abend

This Post was supposed to be up earlier, but I have been struggling with Blogger this week.

Returning to the Regular Schedule

So I had not realized it had been almost a month since I posted on my blog. Oops. Time can speed away from you. So I was sick for a bit there and then I spent a great deal of time helping my family plan their trip to Europe, and once they arrived, I did not have much time for anything. Anyway, here is a short summary (I hope) of what I have been up to the past few weeks.

My mother, brother, and aunt flew into Copenhagen Denmark because we have distant family in that area. It was wonderful to see them and everything was made much smoother by having a place to stay with our relatives. Unfortunately, due to the time it that was spent in Denmark, my family only got to be in Braunschweig for about three days. To top things off, the weather was cold and rainy for all of them. At that point, my brother and Aunt flew back to the US and my girlfriend arrived. Naturally the weather became a thousand times better and we had nothing but sunshine the whole time that she was here. While she was here, we all had a wonderful time exploring Braunschweig together and I was very sad to see them leave.

I am trying to keep this short until I can get back into the swing of blogging. What I really want to relay here is how wonderful it was to have family visit. It really did help me deal with some of the homesickness that I was experiencing and gave me part of my old life back. Also, it was a very helpful reminder of just how much I have learned and how far I have come. I may be far from fluent and even further from professional fluency (Chemistry and Engineering talk), but the extent of my skills really hit me while I was showing my family around, helping them order, and helping the understand random signs around the city and in the parks. They also arrived at the ideal time during my trip, right at the three month mark. I could already tell that I was worn out and that the three month dip was going to be a bad one. My last post was just as I was starting down into it and it would have been much more difficult alone.

If you can manage it. You should find a way to have friends of family visit, and if it comes at the three month mark, all the better. That is all for now. See you next week.

Momentary Motivational Malfunction

Yes, I know, I did not blog as per usual last week. There were a lot of reasons, but the most significant was I had nothing that I felt like reporting. The first thing that I want to start with was a very serious point of frustration during my stay here. When you are accepted as an exchange student at TU-Braunschweig you will be give an Area Coordinator to be your point of contact at the University. This person is also who you will likely need to work with to get a handle on classes, your learning agreement, and probably more. I did receive any such help until it was too late to matter, but (and I want this to be clear) this was not the fault of anybody present. As it turns out, the best way to contact your Area Coordinator will be to use the email that you have on the TU-BS website. Any other emails that you use might be sent directly into the persons Spam folder. I spent several weeks thinking that I was being ignored, but it was just a stupid spam filter. This is very frustrating because things seem to be in a poor order. You do not get the password and ID necessary for your account until you have become a registered student, and (naturally) you need to complete a lot of complicated paperwork first. So again, I recommend that you sign up for a Peer student. It might be worth having your Peer Student contact your Area Coordinator before you arrive to get some things worked out.

Now for a little bit of a buzz kill. I have tried very hard to keep this blog positive and appropriate for all readers as I want to encourage others to spend a semester abroad, but you must be aware of something. It is not easy. It is more than just the struggles with the language and the paperwork, though those are significant, it is a struggle to be so completely cut off from everyone you know and everything that is familiar. It is not as bad for me as it could have been as the differences between the USA and Germany are not as drastic as with other countries. It doesn't happen too often but this last week was very difficult. Motivation, brainpower, and confidence all suffered a severe blow. I wanted to sleep, watch movies in English, or just go home; I definitely did NOT want to study German or do homework. This was only exacerbated by the fact my brain seemed to have lost it's ability to process Human Speech. I could hardly understand people or speak in either language and that just grated further on an already worn spirit.

I hope that nobody misreads, I am not regretting my choice to travel, nor am I miserable with no fun experiences. It just turned out that, sometimes, it is a lot more difficult to cope than I had expected. There are several very easy ways to deal with this. Probably the simplest is to go on a organized study abroad program instead. For the most part, these programs are all organized and planned in advance so there is less (not none, but less) of the paperwork flood to handle alone, and you also have people that you know from day one. From my discussions with other people and their travels, a Host family is also another wonderful way to handle this. When talking with friends, their host families were able to help them with all of the day to day struggles as well as knowing how to plan trips that you will never forget. There are several other options, but it all comes down to making friends, and while friends help a great deal, you just need to be prepared for one simple fact. It is not easy. As such there will be hard times and you will become stronger because of them.

Too Fun for Words

Okay, today is all about fun! I am currently in Bad Bentheim Germany for their Medieval Festival, and it has been worth every cent of the trip. Before I start running into my experiences here, I would like to give some advice to anyone reading this interested in international studies. Find something that you love doing at home (water skying, rock climbing, juggling, rock music, or whatever) and search for similar events in the country you are visiting. Given my own experiences working at the Colorado Renaissance Festival in Larkspur Colorado, well worth a a weekend to visit, the medieval festivals held the greatest appeal. Do not misread, being on my own in Germany was very exciting, but I could barely contain myself when I started to find different festivals that I could attend here in Germany. I now have some many things that I want to do, there is not enough time in my trip for me to see it all, especially if I plan to continue learning at the University. I am not too proud to admit, I am more than a little homesick, but planning these trips has already made the time pass faster and kept me excited.

For all students attending TU-Braunschweig, there is something important you should know. With your student ID you can travel through all of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) on the commuter trains completely free (yes, free). When planning a trip, just make sure that the train you are taking does not cross out of Lower Saxony and that you are the right kind of train. Now that that has been said, here is a wonderful resource that I have used to find many different and interesting  events, like the Fireworks Competition in Hannover. The place to go is this link right here. If you are interested in Medieval Festivals like I am, or just want to give them a look, you will have to do some searching. Here are some links to the Bad Bentheim festival and Kaltenberg.

I would also like to give two more simple bits of advice from my own experience on this trip. Check your plans and be able to laugh at your mistakes. When I originally planned for this weekend, I found a Hotel that was less than a 15 minute walk from the festival. Apparently, that is not the link I clicked on, because when I arrived, I found out that my Hotel was actually about 8 km away. Instead of a 15 minute walk, I had a 1 hour 20 minute walk. This kind of thing will happen, just laugh and keep going. The festival was in the park right next to the Huge Castle, very hard to miss. Given how cheap the tickets were, there really were some top notch performers at the festival. It was just so wonderful that I could hardly wait to blog about it, and now that I am here, words are just failing me. I think I will just leave with very strong encouragment for others to seek out similar experiences and some pictures. Guten tag.

Applying for a Visa in Germany

This is (unfortunately) going to be another boring post for most of you following this at home (if any of you actually are *stare*), but there is good news. If you were told about this blog, found it yourself, or are simply      completing some sort of sadistic bet, there is going to be some great information for your time abroad. I will specifically be discussing the process of getting a Visa in Germany. If you are a citizen of the USA then you gain a few privileges with your passport that are not available to everyone. Do not be confused, this does not mean that you have the rights you normally would in America, because you do not so do not get in to much trouble. Your passport does permit you to enter the country without first having a Visa, and you can stay for a total of 90 days in (I believe, please correct me if I am wrong) a 3 year period. Students from many other countries must have this taken care of before the can set foot outside of the airport. That being said, a semester is longer than 90 days and you do not want to wait to long to get started.

As always, the International Office and your Peer Student (if you do not have one, I highly recommend it) are your best friends. There are two major forms that must be completed and turned in at the Emigration Office. On your first visit, make sure that you have enough time as there can be a lengthy wait involved, and bring someone fluent in German if you are not. While the people at the office were very friendly and helpful, they do not speak fluent English, especially in a situation such as this. That being said, I did not have any problems getting everything worked out. It is also worth noting that, while the office does not open until 9:00, the main doors are open earlier. You want to get their before the crowd. As soon as the doors open, you need to rush up the stairs imediatly in front of you and to the terminal at the far wall (I am not responsible for an future construction or process changes). This is relatively easy to manage, simply run through in English, say you have not made an appointment, and that you are a student. Once your ticket number is called you will meet someone and take the first real step of the process. They will take one of the forms that you have completed (this one is to register specifically with the city of Braunschweig) and check your Passport. Well they may not check your passport, but you should always have it with you anyway. They will then set another appointment with you and tell you what you will need to bring.

The first thing that you will need is the second completed packet that you were given by the IO. There is also an additional form that you will need to get from the IO. This is more important if you are staying longer than I am and are participating in an internship. If (like me) you are only there for one semester of just studies, then the document simply needs to state your reason for study, your field, and length of stay. You will also need proof of Health Insurance during your stay in Germany. I simply showed them the acceptance packed that I received from DAK via email and that was enough. I do not think it was necessary, but they also made a copy of my health insurance card that I received in the mail. They also require you to have some proof of finances, just making sure you wren't planning on living in a box, and a simple bank statement is enough for this requirement. As a note to the security conscious, there is no need for any of your account details to be visible, simply white out your account number and copy they paper. They have no problem as long as it is a real bank with real money. They are quite picky about that last part. That is all of the actual paperwork, but there are some additional things that you will need to have with you.

So I fibbed, you will also need your sheet with all of your matriculation (don't panic! words that big have sight based on movement) information. This is something that you will receive in the mail once you have registered as a student at TU-Braunschweig and it contains, among many other things, your student ID. At some point (maybe tomorrow) I will also tell you the wonders of that little slip of paper. Your ID is not what they need but the large sheet of paper it was attached too. Lastly (almost), you will need a photo for the to take. They paint a clear picture of what they want here. The size should be roughly 3.5cm wide by 4.5cm tall and you want your face to be the vast majority of the photo. Also, you cannot be showing your teeth, smiling, looking way, have anything in your eyes (hair or glasses), no hats (unless for religious reasons), with your head held straight, and your hands cannot be in the picture. They also prefer to have your eyes in the center line of the picture. I know this sounds crazy but I am not making this up. You can try and get all of this worked out at home, or simply use the conveniently located photo booths that walk you through the whole process and only cost 6 Euros. Small note, the will only take 5 Euro Bills or 1 or 2 Euro coins. Take a deep breath and stay calm. I am now going to reveal a secret that I sincerely wish I had known. 

There is a fee that comes with the processing of your Visa. 100 Euros. Now the secret, you can get around this fee! If you bring in proof of Scholarships, they worker has the right to wave the fee. I do not know why, and I do not know if this is true for all of Germany, but here in Braunschweig it is a very real and useful thing to know. I am currently trying to find any proof I can in order to circumvent this charge. Never saw anything like this in all my searching about German Visas, so I hope that people with questions about getting a Visa in Germany will be able to find this blog, even if it requires that I use the words Visa, Germany, and other combinations (such as German Visa, Visa in Germany, or Residence Visa in Germany) more often that would otherwise be natural. Hopefully, anyone searching for information on the process for a German Visa will be sent here. Now after all of that, I was told that the process would take approximately three weeks. I was given a sheet of paper that states I have applied and that the application is being processed so that I will not be deported before it arrives. Fortunately, because I was unaware of the potential benefits of my scholarships, I was told I did not have to pay until I picked up my Visa in three weeks. I hope I can find what I need. Oh, and German Visa Application Process.

For those of you who love checklists, here is a bullet list (almost the same thing) of what you will need.

• City registration paper work
• received from BS IO
• Visa application packet
• also received from BS IO
• Reason and Duration of stay
• Upon request from BS IO (I think there is a pattern, just not sure what)
• Proof of Health Insurance
• Proof of Finances
• Bank Statement
• Photo
• 3.5*4.5 cm
• No hat, no smile, nothing in front of eyes, and centered in frame
• 100 Euros
• Bring proof of Scholarships to circumvent this charge!!!

Well, I hope that someone out there finds all of this usefull. Das is Alles, Gute Nacht.

First World Problems

 I know, I have not written a post in over a week now.Things were busy yes, but mostly, I didn't have anything that I was burning to report about. It was a relatively standard week. Now that I am beginning to settle into a rhythm, I think that the time will start passing much more quickly. That being said, you will probably have some rough days every week. For me, that is going to be every Wednesday and Thursday. Both days are just packed full with classes and activities and by the end my brain is whimpering in the corner of my head twitching at every Germanic word. At least the weather is nice. I am so glad that I came during the season that I did, if I had come during the winter I would have been a great deal more miserable. Spring and Summer weather help lift my spirits and let me take walks in the park to help center myself. For example, yesterday I rented a canoe with one of my roommates and his girlfriend and spent about an hour on a small river near the shop. Actually it was a mini golf course that rented boats. Extremely relaxing and I forgot my camera so I will just have to go again. Darn.

Speaking of roommates, just because you are in Germany does not mean that the people are radically different. I am still having some of the same problems with my roommates here that I had back in the states. Nobody wants to take out the trash, dirty pots that are left overnight, and who knows what else will come to pass. My point is, do not be surprised and just deal with it the way you always should. Talk to people and try and get a system worked out. It won't always work, but hey, nothing ventured nothing gained.

There is something else that caught me a little off guard. I came here knowing it would be different and that I would miss my home, but I was a bit surprised at some of the other things I miss. Naturally, I miss my family and my girlfriend, but I never thought that I would miss Taco Bell. A few days past, I had a real craving for tacos and they are nowhere to be found. There are dozens of Turkish and Chinese restaurants in the area but  absolutely no texmex. Shouldn't be to surprising but it sneaks up on you. Here is a little bit of warning for those of you coming from the states. Not all of the soda is the same. If you like Orange Fanta or Mountain Dew, do not, and I repeat, DO NOT try it here. They are radically different and the Mountain Dew jut tasted terrible. Anyway, short post this week. Be sure to post any questions you have in the comments of the blog and I will see you later. Guten Tag.

Facing the Inevitable

So the unavoidable has finally come to pass. I am sick. In all honesty, I am surprised that this did not happen soon but there it is. I am am currently feeling much better than the past few days but I want to be well recovered before reemerging in the world of the living. I was originally going to break this post into two shorter posts but that just did not happen. As I really don't feel like waiting for another week to explain all of this, this will be  a long, dry, and picture less (maybe) post about classes here in Germany.

This was another very big hurdle for me because I was given no information on when or where my classes were or how to find out. In fact, the learning agreement that I had written up previously was made by looking at the courses that had been offered the previous year. Once it was explained to me, it really was not that bad. I am not sure exactly when the information is added, but by simply going to the following link  you can find your classes, when they are meeting, where they are meeting, and who your professors are. Then I hit the second hurdle, the scheduling conflicts. I had been repeatedly informed by people (both in the US and her in Braunschweig) that many of the classes only meet one time a week. When I saw multiple times listed under the class, I just assumed that they were different time slots. You know how it is. CHEM 1060 is offered at two different times three days a week, so this is just their version of the same thing right? Wrong. All of the classes that I have looked up are only offered as specific times and all times listed are the times you should go.

This immediately shot my previous plan to pieces. Here I was, in Germany, partway through the first week of classes with no idea where to go. With help, I was able to find someone to guide me through this mess of planning and come out with a shaky schedule. Now here comes the next thing to take notice of. At home at UW, most classes are just class with the lab being listed separately for timing issues. Here they function in what are called "Modules". Many of these modules consist of several different parts. The main components that I saw were the "Vorlesung", the "Ubung", the "Seminar", and the "Praktikum". The "Vorlesung" is the standard lecture that we all know and love with the teacher at the front and the horde of eager minds (well hopefully at least awake minds) in the seats. As far as I can tell, a "Seminar" is very similar to the lectures except they are with different teachers and in smaller groups. Bear in mind I only had one full week of classes , but these seem to be much more interactive than the lectures. I do not have any of theses, but as far as I can tell, the "Preaktikums" are just like our lab work at UW. I have no experience here, so you are on your own. Now, the "Ubung" is most similar to the "discussions" that we have with some of our classes at UW. During the week, the professor will give out a sheet of problems for the students to work on, and everyone works through the solutions during the Ubungs. There are also rumored to be these things called "Tutorials", but I have yet to experience one.

Here is the warning label. It seems that each Institute at the University handles their classes slightly differently, so be sure to check with someone who will know how it all works.

Now here is a little more information about me, or, more specifically, about my course preparations. I believe I mentioned this earlier, but I only need to get 3 transfer credits in order to complete my International Engineering Concentration and, thus, graduate. Small note here. Here at Braunschweig they use what are called ECTS credits, and, as far as I can tell, are worth about half of the credits at home. This means I need to pass 6 credits here to transfer 3 credits home. Anyway, back to me. As I have already completed all of my course work at the University of Wyoming except for my time abroad, I do not need any of my courses here in Germany to transfer as specific classes. The idea here was too simplify the transfer process. Normally, there is a great big nightmare of you sending them all the information on the class to the IO office in UW so that they can compare with the corresponding department in order to determine if you are learning the same material you would at UW. More than a little confusing, I know. I do not yet know if this will actually simplify things, but I am holding on to hope.

The reason that I mention all of this, is that it has been an incredible help, even in just my first week of classes. Because I have taken all of the classes, there is no new material, it is all just review. Maybe a review of five year old material for me, but a review none the less. While I do not know if this will help me learn the language faster, it has certainly helped me feel more comfortable with what I am attempting to do here. I may not understand everything the teacher says, but just the simple fact that I know what he is trying to explain pushes back the panic. That being said, I had no idea how much we depend upon our language for higher order mathematics. I have attended a couple of classes using more complicated mathematics and while the mathematics was all familiar, I could not follow what I was supposed to be doing. This could just be me though. I always picked up much faster on the Chemistry side of things than on the math side of my degree. I do not know if this will be an option for those of you looking to spend time abroad in the future, but it has been great for me. After getting sick, I cannot tell you how much every little familiar thing helps me feel more comfortable with my situation. I hope that this post will be helpful to students in the future, but I need to rest some more. Guten Tag.

Just a Short Post. I Promise

So I think this will actually be a short post. I know I have said that before but today there are just two things to discuss. The first was something I knew but did not quite appreciate until the other day. I was just going about my normal day when I broke a dish that was balance on the edge of the counter in our apartment. For some reason, this made me mad, and not just mad, furious. I mean I wanted to piece the plate together just so I could smash it again, and then set it on fire. After I was finished picking up all of the pieces, my anger suddenly morphed into intense depression and self loathing. All of this over a single cheap plate. Now the point of this little anecdote is very simple. When you are stresses, you become very fragile and spontaneous emotionally  This is something I already knew and have had plenty of experience with in th process of surviving my engineering coursework. This time it really caught me by surprise, and made me realize just how stressed out I was. Now being stressed is not a bad thing; it simply means that adjustments need to be made and you should be aware of it. Now that I am, I can work to make it better. For future travelers, beware of this little gem and take it as the warning it is designed to be. Don't panic, just keep moving forward. That is exactly what I am trying to do.

On to a more logistical problem. Coming from the USA, expecially Wyoming, I have had little to now experience with public transportation. In Munich I was spoiled by the train system under the city. Here in Braunschweig is a network of Trams and Buses. The schedule is not consistant either. The transports are scheduled more frequently during the busiest hours of the day and become less frequent through the night. In fact, most of the buses stop completely around 8 pm. Seeing as many of my extra activities start at around 8, another form of transportation became necessary. Introducing a wonderful invention known as a bicycle.

Braunscheig is small enough that if you are in almost any of the student housing, you can travel to the University in under 30 minutes. Some of the places I wanted to go were even further away and would have been awful to walk, especially at night. There is a great little store called DiDi's Fahrrad located at Cellar Strasse 5, Braunschweig Germany. This store is a little hard to find but well worth the effort if you are only in the country for a few months. I was able to purchase a previously used bike and lock for only 50 euros. Sure the brakes squeak loud enough to drown out the approach of Freddy Kruger, but it functions and gets me where I need to go with ease. Plus, with brakes that loud, all the drivers are sure to hear me even if the cannot see me, so hey, extras safety measure. Best of all, when I am ready to leave the country, I can sell the bike back for another 15 euros. So by the end of my trip, I will have spend less money on my bike than I have on soda! That's all for today. Gute Nacht.

Just a Few Paper Cuts

I know I promised to discus the differences between the classes here and in the USA, but I want to wait a week so that I can attend all of my classes and, hopefully, gain a better understanding of the distinctions. Instead, I would like to talk about another very useful tool available for anyone studying in Braunschweig. I have already thrown my vote towards the Goethe Institute and I would now like to take a moment to support the Peer Student Program. This is an option incoming exchange students can take when coming to Braunschweig. You simply sign up online by providing information about your length of stay, home country, hobbies, major, and a few other things, and they assign you another student to help you. From what I have seen, these students were often exchange students themselves. Their purpose is to help guide you through the maze of paperwork, confusion, and buildings so that you will settle in more smoothly. My Peer Student has been an enormously helpful. She has helped with the paper work, shown me around the city some, told me where to buy a bike, and been a friend in a new place.

Now I must discuss the bad, which actually has nothing to do with my peer student. The application process is far from perfect. I arrived in Braunschweig thinking that I would be given information once I was here. Then I found out that my peer student should have contacted me weeks ago and set up a time to meet me once I was in the city. This information came at the worst possible moment in the day and quickly sent me into a downward spiral of fear and panic as I wondered what else was not as it should be. I was fortunate enough to meat a very nice girl in the International Office who was already a Peer Student for some other exchange students and was willing to be mine as well. We still do not know why I was never contacted. I was on the list and for some reason, I was just never assigned to anyone. The lesson for anyone attempting this is simple. If you do not hear from a peer student shortly, then email them until you get a response. If nothing works, then try asking at the International Office upon your arrival. You might luck out like I did.

I mentioned before that the University offers a wide range of extra activities. These vary from rock climbing to yoga and even to archery, but, as always, their system is a little different. Here you must choose the classes you would like to attend in advance and register for them online. Once you register you receive an email with a verification number and bar code that you are supposed to print off and bring with you. This will be more important for some events, *cough* *Yoga* *cough*, but even if the even is full, I was told to attend and see if they have any last minute openings. I cannot recommend these activities enough. Last Thursday I found my way to the Karate group here. It was a great physical outlet, I get to work on my German in a new setting, I met new people, and I can continue to develop my skills. Many of my best friends  in Wyoming were people that I met in the Karate club; I see know reason why the same cannot happen here. If you don't have anything like this, choose something you were always interested in. Most of these classes are free after paying the student fees and the few that do charge are not very expensive. There is nothing to lose and so much to gain.

I would also like to take a very brief moment to discuss the importance of staying connected with home. You don't realize how much you depend upon those around you until they are gone, and it is very helpful to talk to them from time to time. Here is another thing to consider. Yes, you are very busy and yes, you are surviving just fine, but the people have no idea what is going on. They are no busier than normal and have all the time in the world to worry and wonder if you are safe. Find a way to let them know, even if it is just a blog, and I know they will appreciate it. You might be surprised how much it helps you too. I am working on getting more pictures. Been very busy and I don't know if I can keep up. Das ist alles. Gute Nacht.

The Tide of Paperwork

Alright, here we go again. It has now been one complete week at the Technical University of Braunscheig Germany, not that I would really know because most the week was spend running around and doing paper work. Unfortunately, this blog, and probably the next are going to be very boring but filled with good information for anyone planning a semester at Braunschweig. Not that this blog is overflowing with titillating content, space battles, suspense, or daring escapes anyway, but this will still be very dry. Unfortunately  I don't know if anything more could have been done with respect to several of these problems, but being informed is always beneficial.

One important thing for any incoming Braunschweig students to understand is that, just because you have received your letter of acceptance does not mean you are enrolled. There are several other steps that you must first take before you are enrolled as a student. The first thing that you need is to sign your living contract. If you are living in student housing this is a very simple process that is completed at the International-studies Office (IO). This is not directly needed to be enrolled but it is necessary for your health insurance. You must have a local address for your health insurance ans you must have you health insurance before being enrolled. By careening down that chain of logic, you therefor need your housing contract. After that, assuming I am remembering everything, all you need is to pay the student fee for the semester.

 The trick here is that they will not accept this money in cash, it must be a bank transfer, and you must therefor have an International bank account of one form or another. It is not so difficult to set up a bank account once you are here in Braunschweig but (as always) there are some pitfalls to be wary of. Fortunately  student accounts at the Deutsche Bank in Braunschweig are free to open and free to maintain, they do however have a minimum duration of 6 Months. I found this out the first day when I went in saying that I would be returning to America at the end of July. Do not lie, but this is a case where, by recommendation of the bank employees, it is better just not to mention it. After the transfer you are enrolled, you will receive a temporary student ID, and they will mail you the next step. I will let you know when I get there. Point of interest, there are several things that are included with the semester fee. There are a very wide number of activities that are completely covered by your fees and with your student ID (or temporary ID as the case may be) you can ride on any of the public transportation within Braunschweig for free. This makes it very worth while to get this taken care of as soon as you possibly can.

During the first week, you should expect to spend a lot of money. There is the student fee (roughly 200 euros) and the rent for April (roughly 300 euros), both of which must be payed for electronically  There is also the housing deposit that is equal to one month of rent but must be payed in cash on campus. Also, be aware that the office to pay at is only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-11:00 am. Never forget that you need to eat and there will inevitably be expenses to make you housing more comfortable. Blankets, bed sheets, dishes, rat poison, office supplies, and whatever else you need. The housing is actually very nice. Seriously, there is no need for rat poison, it was just a joke. Next time (hopefully tomorrow), I will be talking about the difference between the setup of classes in Germany and the USA as well as some of the extra activities.

"Happy Easter" is Politically Correct. Right?!

Happy Easter everyone. It is Sunday March 31st 2013 and, in case you have randomly found your way to this page, I am Clark Newbold writing from Braunschweig Germany. On most Sundays, the majority of the stores would be closed, but on this Sunday it is a little different. I mentioned earlier that Easter is a much more important here in Germany that it is in the USA and this just goes to show it. Everything, and I mean everything (with a few exceptions) is closed; it will be the same tomorrow. Fortunately for me, there are a few places open so I do not have to starve in my Hotel room, for two days for which I am very thankful.

Because there are no life shattering changes going on at the moment, I can take a little time to give some advice and talk about some oddities I have noticed here. The hardest thing for me to get used to has actualy been ordering drinks in restaurants. I know, it sounds insignificant even to me, but it was more than a little irritating. Here in Germany there is no such thing as a free drink or "unlimited refills". You pay for everything (yes, even water) and you pay by the glass or by the bottle. It is very important that you pay attention to the size of the drink that you are ordering or (like me) you will be disappointing with this tiny little bottle of water. Another small note, sparkling water is much more popular here than it is in the states, so if you order a mineral water do not be surprised when it is bubbling. If you like beer, than Bavaria is the place to go. While  everyone is legaly required to sell at least one drink that costs less than beer, that does not mean the drink is the same size as the beer. While I was in Munich, beer was by far the most economic drink to purchase while eating out. To bad I don't like beer, not even German beer.

I would like to mention some possibilities that are open to those studying abroad. I highly recommend buying a portable DVD player and some DVDs once you arrive in Germany. The player can be a little expensive but most drives are set to function with a particular system and Germany's system is different than that in the USA. As such, you are required to change the settings on any US DVD player before it will work properly and even worse, you are only allowed to change this setting a maximum of 6 times. As for the DVDs, I suggest going to a second hand DVD/Music store. I purchased the first two Lord of the Rings (Der Herr Der Ringe), Shrek, Rush Hour, The Emperor's New Groove, and the first season of Friends for just under 25 euros. Just be aware that they will be talking very fast and it will be very frustrating. I suggest LOTR because they speak surprisingly slow and clearly in the German dubbing.

I am also going to take a moment to talk about the Amazon Kindle. I do so much advertising for their product that I really feel they should pay me, but what can you do? If you have never looked into a Kindle, I highly recommend it. In my opinion, it is by far the most superior eBook reader on the market. I do not want to devolve in a long discussion on the perks of the Kindle (of which there are many) but here is the shortest summary I can manage. If you want a mini computer, then you are looking for a Tablet and should search elsewhere. If you want a miniature library that can easily fit into your pack or purse, weighs less than 250 ounces, can buy new books from anywhere, has an amazingly long battery, is really cheap, hell it even...... sorry about that. The Kindle is nice alright. It also has a few incredibly useful but little known features.

Normally, the Kindle will only link up to the amazon site corresponding to the country it is purchased in, but it is possible to switch to a different country, say... Germany. This made it possible for me to find some of my favorite books in German providing very difficult but helpful learning material. It also has a built in dicitonary feature that is sooooo cool, I use it all the time to help learn new words and..... Sorry. you simply move the cursor before a word and it automatically searches the dictionary and displaces the results on the top or bottom of the page. It is also possible for you to change the default dictionary that the Kindle searches in. I purchased the Collins Concise German-English Dictionary at have not regretted the purchase at all. Now, when I read German, I simply move the cursor in-front of a word and it will show me the pronunciation and the English translation for the word!! One word of caution. This is by no means perfect, what with separable verbs, different dialects, diminutive forms of words, and flat out made up words, there is no way to recognize everything. I am glad that I brought mine, and if you love reading, I suggest you bring yours on your travels as well.

Here is another little oddity for you. They love eating cheese here almost as much as they like bread products, but you will very seldom see any cheddar or other yellow cheeses. It is difficult to even find some to by unless you go to a specialty cheese store. It never really occurred to me until I was eating at a Burger King here (one of the few places open for a few hours) and noticed the cheese on my burger was white. Weird huh? To account for all of this cheese I should probably go for a walk. In all seriousness, I try to go on daily walks to keep from going too stir crazy. While I am often only meet with marginal success, there are some very nice places to see here. It would only be better if Wyoming hadn't followed me to Europe. When I looked closer, there were indications that spring is on the way. I do not know when I will be able to post next so enjoy your Easter, and I will see you next time.

A Nice Change of Pace

Alright, so where to begin this time. I have survived both the intensive Goethe language course and the trip from Munich to Braunschweig and am now sitting in a hotel writing the blog. So I think that is about everything so good night.

Okay, maybe not, but that is the short version. The last week at the Institute was very exciting, interesting, and sad. The exciting part was that I had finished the first major step in my journey and was about to start on the next. The interesting part of the week revolved around our visit to the Deutsch Museum in Munich, which was just filled to the brim with cool stuff. We were there for over three hours and it turns out we only saw a very small portion of the Museum. There is a section on Music, Physics, Nautical Travel, Air Travel, Oil & Refining, Material Sciences, Nanotechnology, and I am sure there are several more I am either forgetting or never saw. I am trying to keep this blog short because there is a lot for me to cover but I needed to at least mention this. If you are ever in Munich and enjoy such experiences, set aside a day (or two) for this place. I just wish that I had time to go back before moving on. I hope that I will find a way.

As I said, there was also a sadder portion to the ending.  The sad part was leaving my new friends behind in order to move on. By the recommendation of the Study Abroad Office at the University of Wyoming, I brought several T-Shirts and some of my homemade jewelry to give to my friends in Germany; I am very glad that I did. Now there will be some UW shirts in Thailand, Switzerland, Ireland, and Canada. I also have my own shirt from Thailand. It was very satisfying to know that my friends will have something to remember me by in the years to come. I cannot endorse this experience enough. Yes, there were some very frustrating parts of this experience, it was completely worth the money. Not only did I get to really help develop my German before Braunschweig, but I got to make friends as well. Looking in the long term, this trip was a great move because it gave me the time I needed to pass over the different highs and lows I have been talking about. I cannot imagine how much worse it could have been if I had hit that three day low while I was taking classes only in German in a new country and city. Manageable but not fun at all. So, month long language course is defiantly receiving superior recommendations from all sources.

Now, all things considered, the trip north was very easy but here are a few tips to help make things better. As always, buy tickets and reservations early. No special anecdote to prove my point, but it takes some stress off of you and that is always good. This does however bring me to my last point I want to cover in this post. Be sure you know about the Holidays in the country you are visiting. Simple right? You also need to make sure you know how important the holiday is in that Country. I knew that they would celebrate Easter here but I had now clue how much they would celebrate it. If I had waited much longer, my tickets easily could have been twice the price. Not to mention the huge easter eggs that were strewn throughout the shopping mall in Braunschweig.

Now the Very last thing I am going to say is this. I cannot wait for spring to arrive. I left Munich in the above condition and arrived in Braunschweig in the condition below. I thought I could escape winter by leaving Wyoming, but boy the universe sure proved me wrong. That's all for today. Gute Nacht.

Some Witty Comment

The weather continues to be very strange indeed. We are almost finished with March and it is still snowing as I write this blog. This is not so strange for someone from Wyoming, but I am told that here, it is very odd weather this late in the season (sorry. no pictures). The worst part is that we were having such nice weather right until I went on the long awaited trip to the Dachau Concentration Camp. I would like to start by saying that making jokes and trying to laugh is how I deal with certain situations. I do not mean to upset anyone with any of (attempted) lighthearted banter.The unexpected weather turn, what would have been, a depressing but interesting place into a bleak, draining, and inhospitable place. Yeah, what was I expecting right, and I was just a tourist.

I do not have any pictures of the camp even though they were permitted. I simply forgot my camera after painstakingly assembling my pack and getting everything charged and ready. The trip with the Goethe Institute included a guided tour through the camp that was to be entirely in German. This would have been difficult on most days, but circumstances made it all but impossible to understand. Our guide, while a very nice and polite young woman, spook incredibly fast (even for a German) and with (what I am told) is a very heavy southern accent. When these two things combined with the numerous and varied vocabulary of our guide, it was able to understand maybe 2%. I mean, 2%!! Come on. I can usually get at least 3%. In retrospect, I am actually very glad that I did not have my camera and could not understand most of what was being said. The things that I read about were bad enough.

Now, I am not going to go into great detail about the camp and the things I learned  I don't think anybody wants that, and if you do, I recommend finding a way to visit yourself. I will say this. It was a very humbling experience to be that close to, what has to be, some of the darkest aspects of human nature. More than anything, that is what bothers me. Don't get me wrong, what happened there was sickening and terrifying by itself. What realy gets me is that not all the people involved started that way. Humans are incredibly adaptable creatures and it is very frightening what we can be adapted into.

Sorry that this post is so depressing. Life here is actually going very well. I am now going to pause for a minute, watch some Monty Python and Louis CK before I finish this.

Back again onto a slightly brighter topic. I have mentioned several times the hills and valleys you are supposed to experience while traveling abroad, and having just finished with the three week dip, I would like to share my perspective.  Each of the drops I have experienced so far have been very different. The three hour dip was similar to crashing after a long day of work. More than anything, I was just dead on my feet. The three day drop was much more difficult to handle. I felt like I was in over my head, that success was impossible, and I wanted nothing more than to go home to America. This time, it was not my emotions or my body that was effected so much as my brain. It felt similar to the burn out you get after a very long and difficult semester of study. There seems to be no motivation and no brain power. In short, my brain was full.

This should not have come as a suprise at all. I am spending 4 hours everyday in the classroom learning German and close to 4 more on my own studying German. The brain can only process so much. As a result, I participated in a great deal more English indulgences and studied less. I actually think that helped. After only three days of admiring the intelligence of goldfish, my brain had congealed to a semi solid mass and began racing. Not only that, it seemed that a it was working much better than it had before. More of the concepts were making sense and certain conjugations and structures were taking place automatically  Point being, it does get better. Das ist alles für heute.

Approaching Maximum Capacity

This time I need to start with a bit of an apology. I was wrong about Dachau. The trip is this weekend and not last weekend. On the plus side, there is no way that anyone following this blog can be more disappointed than I was when I realized the mistake. Oh well, it will still be there on Saturday.....I hope. This was a rather uneventful weekend for me. I didn't go out much because I was a little sick for a few days, but I got lots of studying in. I also purchased my train tickets to Braunschweig and reserved a Hotel room for the five days I need it. After that, I am hoping, it will be easy for me to move into the student housing that I will be living in for the next 4 months.

As a quick break from the regular program, if you look to your right you will see the famous Munich Micheal Jackson Memorial. This is a very impressive memorial that was started and is maintained by MJ fans here in Munich. Okay, so it's a picture of flowers. The were growing right at the base of the Memorial so technically they could be construed... never-mind  I found the flowers more interesting than the Memorial. Sorry MJ lovers.

Back to business. Now I have been told by several people that my emotions will go through some natural and predictable ups and downs during my time abroad. The first crash is three hours after arrival  once your body has lost the adrenaline. The next is roughly three days later, which I most certainly experienced. I bring this up only because I am starting to feel really burned out. It is more difficult to learn new material, I am forgetting familiar words, and my brain feels as though it will collapse under the weight of the endless stream of new words, verb conjugations, and noun declensions. This is making even simple interactions very frustrating and I am hoping that this is just the three week dip and that I will rebound over the weekend ready to tackle the last week and, finally, Braunschweig. Tension is high, moral is a little low, but hope remains. As always, feel free to leave comments and any questions you have. Tschüss