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.