Tag Neunzig (Day Ninety)

Having my sci-fi tutorial cancelled today gave me a lot of time after my conversation class for work. My conversation class today was the last one for this term, and we had a final exam composed of conversational German roleplay situations.

Tag Neunundachtzig (Day Eighty-Nine)

Our British literature teacher seems to be striking nerves with more and more of the class as the semester wears onward. So far, mine has not been one of them, but I think that a lot of people are ready for the term to be over for the holidays. It is strange to write semester when I am so frequently used to talking about going to school in quarters.

In other news, my presentation today went well, and I managed to only go over the forty-five minute time allotment by fifteen minutes, though this extra time might have been from the discussion questions laced into the presentation, which was part of the assignment. This evening was spent going grocery shopping and studying for an oral exam in my conversation course. It should be easy.

Tag Achtundachtzig (Day Eighty-Eight)

First day back from what was sadly the last big trip while here in Germany and I am again working on this presentation for British literature class. It is nearly done.

Our conversation class was supposed to go to a “blind café” tonight. Marburg has a school for the handicapped, which here are predominantly those with vision problems. The city itself has many features built-in to assist the blind, including special paths crafted into the sidewalks, tactile guidance arrows at crosswalks, and special tactile paths in some grocery stores. This café is open three times per month and allows patrons to experience what it would be like to be sightless during the meal. Sadly, there was a mix-up with the reservation, so we ended up visiting Marburg’s very small Christmas market instead.

Tag Siebenundachtzig (Day Eighty-Seven)

Driving back to Marburg…working on presentations…it is a good day for sleeping.

Tag Sechsundachtzig (Day Eighty-Six)

Today began with a delicious Bavarian breakfast…pretzels and cold cuts and tea for me. Deliciousness was embodied in this morning meal. Our first tour of the day was to go to the Documentation Centre/Former Nazi Party Rally Grounds. This huge museum complex is part of what was previously planned to become a massive rally ground complex for the Nazi party. The enormity of the project’s scale is hard to describe by words. However, most of the construction was never finished, and a good deal of it was never started. However, a building that was intended to be a congress hall for fifty thousand people now houses a museum detailing this grand construction plan of Hitler. In all honesty, it was very impressive.

After this, we went on a tour of the courthouse where the Nuremberg trials were held for a group of the leaders of the Nazi regime. These included military leaders, propaganda ministers, and others who were instrumental in promoting Hitler’s Third Reich. The courtroom in which the famous Nuremberg Trials were held is still in use today. An interesting aspect of this courtroom is that there is a large crucifix hanging in the middle of one of the walls. This, we learned, is a common sight in Bavaria, an area of Germany that is still in a large part Catholic. 

Following our tours, we spent more time at the Christmas market and then hanging out at the hostel (as opposed to hanging out in the low-thirty degree Bavarian winter).

Tag Fünfundachtzig (Day Eighty-Five)

After waiting around for over half of an hour for one late person to show up, our bus finally left Marburg, Hessen. Destination: Nürnberg, Bavaria! Four and a half hours later…we had arrived. Our first activity was a walking tour of part of the old city, around the market square. Our tour guide showed us a lot of really neat sights, including several old churches, some Albrecht Durer statues and paintings, Nürnberg’s castle, and the Christmas Market. Nürnberg is famous for their Christmas market, and this evening was the “official” opening. Every year a girl is voted on to become the “Christmas Angel” for the opening ceremony, a job that includes visiting a lot of locations around the city for Christmas events. The opening ceremony is comprised of all the lights in the Christmas market (called “Christkindlesmarkt” in German) going out, spotlights coming up on the church at the market square, pinpointing the “Christmas Angel,” on a balcony high up on the front of the church, who then recites an opening speech. This is followed by several traditional Christmas songs being sung by a choir, and with that, the Christmas market is officially open for the year. I spent several hours walking around the market with friends. Since this was the opening night, it was very full with people. I tried Glühwein, the traditional German Christmas drink, as well as Lebkuchen, the traditional German Christmas cookie, tasting a lot like gingerbread. After coming back to the hostel, I worked on some reading for class and called it a night.

Tag Vierundachtzig (Day Eighty-Four)

Happy Thanksgiving to those in the United States! During this morning’s sci-fi class, we got the opportunity to watch the movie Bladerunner, which is based on the book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. I think that if I had seen the movie before reading the book, perhaps I would have thought other than what I did, but as it was I had read the book first, and my expectations for the movie were high…and were crushed. It was a mediocre movie, the soundtrack was nice, but the acting and the adaptation of the book were a bit lame.

More work on my presentation followed the sci-fi tutorial, where we had discussed Contact. Then I met up with my tandem partner for a few hours before dinner.

Dinner was fun. More or less traditional Thanksgiving fare: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, bread, corn, green bean casserole, apple pie, and, of course, tea! There were fewer people than we had expected, but it was still a good time. After dinner, I went home and finished packing things for the trip to Nürnberg. We leave at eight o’clock tomorrow morning from in-town, so morning is going to come very early.