This semester

So we are currently hiding in our rooms from our Stocksprecher (Austrian form of an RA) because we have a floor meeting that none of us want to go to. Basically we sit there for an hour and sort of become his audience as he enjoys explaining to us for the 5th time how to properly seperate trash among other simple things that would take a normal person 5 minutes to say or type up in a sign to post on the door. We all told him we would be at our weekly Gemeinsamenes Essen, our dinner all night and we wouldn't be able to make it. It was a true excuse but we're all back and OH now he's knocking on our door now!

...

Phew, good, he went away.

He's nice but I feel like they think we're lazy or something because we're American and tend to be almost condescending and strict to us. Like the time they told us to take out the trash on the floor a few days after me and my roommate's trash week was over because there was still some trash in the bags when the week was over. It's a trash schedule, not a rental car. I secretly retaliated by correcting the grammar on a sign they made sure to include an english translation on a sign telling us to lock the kitchen when we leave "even on day."

So maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills but we really hate going to those meetings. Anyways while I am exhiled in my room, I thought it would be a great time to give my impression of the scolarly aspect of the semester thus far.

We are 4 weeks in and already halfway through this short semester as we finally finished our midterms at the begining of this week. So here are my classes:

German: Prof. Giacomuzzi
Pretty much the same as last semester, early in the mornings three times a week. He is just about as dead and bored as us in this seemingly everlasting 1.75 h class. This semester we are reading a book and while I enjoy the fact that I can read it without having to refer to a dictionary every two seconds, I do not enjoy the fact that the book is unbelievably odd. We also have to give a 45 min long presentation on a subject having to do with our major. I did mine on the evolution of sex which sounds a lot worse than it is (my intention). I was discussing the benefits of sexual organisms vs. asexual at the genetic level.

Psycoanalysis: Prof. Kennedy
Another repeat professor, but this time the course is much more interesting both by the subject matter and by the things our prof (a priest) tells us he believes (ie his great aunt being a witch???). But he is really a fun prof and is one of the classes I probably look forward to the most. While I find it hard believing everything he says to be exactly true, such as every dream being a disguised important message from our subconscious, its still an interesting subject. We have also discovered that he's cured cancer at least once by having the patient talk to him.

Philosophy: Prof. Loeffler
Professor Loeffler is a huge intimidating man with a "I just killed a puma!" look always on his face. But after talking to the man and learning about the impossible subject he teaches, I see it more as a "I just read some 18th century Austrian philosophers and actually kind-of maybe understood what they were talking about!" kind of look. Class is humorous since the subject is extremely difficult to comprehend he will often jump back and forth between english and german so that we understand the difficult aspects of the philosophy. He often does this many times in the middle of a sentence so class is usually taught in Deunglish. His english is excellent but we spend most of class between giving ourselves anurisms in trying to comprehend what he is talking about and stifling giggles on the hilarious english phrases he comes out with ("Why do cows make moo?"). As you can tell, I really do not enjoy the subject matter and find Austrian philosophy often very pointless and unnecessary and also very self inflated. This makes this class very difficult for me. I also am really missing taking natural science courses.

Habsburg History: Prof. Guertler
So the Guert decided to don some professor pants this semester and teach us about the history of the country in which we are residing. I am also having a few problems with this course since I was never very apt at history, find the history of this family often boring (mostly marriages and treaties), and I am so used to tuning out this man when he talks since he is famous for repeating himself about 50 times that I find it difficult paying attention in class, not to mention the fact that it starts at 6pm. Class though can be hilarious since Guertler gets even more excited when talking about his favorite subject (if that was possible) and he enjoys jumping around the room, giving us bug-eyed stares as he explains the intricacies of the royal family. He also likes bringing large maps in of Europe over which he'll run to and point out countries in a very good Vana White impression, "BOEMEN!!!" I did write one of the most difficult papers I can remember writing in this class as I had to write 6 pages in german about Franz Stephan who was only famous for being married to Maria Theresia (famous emperor queen). He is mentioned briefly only a few times in any history books about the family.

Economics: Haigner and Sendelhofer
Randomly our econ class is seperated into two parts taught by two teachers, Monday is Haigner and Friday is Sendelhofer and both are teaching entirely different aspects of the subject. Haigner assumes we are grad students of economics, even Katy, our econ major walks out of class confused sometimes. Luckily the class is taught in english but a dialect I am unfamiliar with since it is filled with economic terms I have never heard before. He also enjoys putting complicated equations on the board without explaining what the variables are as well as graphs with unlabeled axies (killing me as a scientist). Sendelhofer is much lighter. He explains more the history of European economics (namely the EU) and has clear slides that he follows pretty well so that when you stop paying attention to what he is saying since you are so amused by how much he sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you can easily catch back up.

So those are my classes for the semester, nothing too too exciting but I am looking forward to taking some science classes again next year.

Not much has happened since my last post. I went skiing on Sunday (rather than study for econ) and it was really nice. I went to Stubai Glacier which is the only place still open around here (its a glacier so you can ski there year round) and everyone else in Tirol thought it was a good day to ski too so it was a bit crowded and though I was skiing on mushy moguls by the end of the day, I was still happy to be on the slopes again and I realized I am going to miss it a lot next year.

Only 44 days left and I am already missing Innsbruck.

Fön with Fünferschlag and ...COOKED OATMEAL???

I am so happy that week was over. Here is what I have been up to the past three weeks:

Fön
Yes, he came again in full force and whenever this dry wind decides to rip through the city, every time I feel its affects worse and worse. It started with insomnia and headaches, but this last time it culminated to vivid day-dreams that would last minutes and by the time I finally snap out of them I find myself somewhere with no recollection as to how I got there.

Concerts:
My host family and I have been having trouble finding times to meet since our class this semester is rather wacky (class begins at 6pm on Tuesdays), so rather than dinner they have been inviting me to some strange events, most of them being concerts in some form. First, two Monday's ago, my host-brother's band Stichprobe, had a concert at the Weekender. While their experimental rock music wasn't to much to my liking, it was fun to finally see him play. I had never been to the Weekender before and really liked it, but it strangely reminded me of an Austrian Legends. Then last Saturday, as we were having a group Knödel dinner (traditional Tirolean bread dumplings the size of pool balls with cheese, bacon, or spinach) my host mom gave me a call to see if I wanted to see a band at Triebhaus (concert venue) with her because she couldn't convince anyone in her family or her friends to come. The band sounded interesting and it turned out being really fun. They were called Fatima Spar und die Freedom Fries and they played a really interesting mix of dixeland, swing, baltic folk, pop, among others. Plus the trumpet player of the group harmonized with himself by playing two trumpets at once, one of the most amazing trumpet feat's I've seen! Then the next day my host mom's cousin in law (???) who was in a chior had a concert of Haendel's "Messiah" which she invited me to. I said yes regardless of the two mid-terms and 6 page paper in german about one of history's most boring figures I had due that week. I did enjoy parts of the symphony but 2.5 hours is a long time for me to sit still.

Oatmeal
I have been eating a lot of it lately since its cheap and filling. About three times I have been asked by curious Austrians in the kitchen what I was doing when I was cooking it. I was really confused why they were asking since they sell large bags of it in the store, they must also eat it, but apparently they don't ever cook it... One time one girl was really interested and I told her what I was doing and then she announced to several other very interested Austrians in the kitchen, "So you add milk and water and oatmeal and you cook it, then add sugar, cinnamon, and fruit!" And everyone was very amazed at this fascinating looking grey mash I was consuming and I now feel very self conscious when I eat it.

Schuhplatterl
So a few of us signed up for this weekend-long dance course at the university sport institute. I was looking forward to it all month. It's called the Schuhplatterl and is the hysterically nerdy bouncy slap dance that they do in Bavaria and Tirol. There were about fifteen other students in the class and our tiny southern tirol teacher and his accordian-playing sister in law taught us about six different dances. The dance itself is suprisingly difficult, and after doing 8 hours of it that weekend, my thighs were extremely raw from all their slapping, and my hamstrings were worn out from all of the "hochsprungen" (high kung-fu-esque kick jumps) we had to do. The entire experience was really fun and we ended up making a lot of Austrian friends, but I often find myself jumping and slapping myself around the streets of the city to practice.

Search for Lederhosen
So I was greatly inspired after the above course and decided that it would be fun to own a pair of lederhosen, the only accepted wear when doing the Schuhplatterl. I was starkly against buying these when I first arrived here since they were unbelievably expensive - 300 euro for the cheapest pair - but I've grown a liking to them in the past 7 months. I went to one of the really nice places just to try on a pair and see how they felt and when I put them on, it felt like I was born to wear them and I became obsessed. I started checking Austrian Ebay as well as the the poor excuses for second hand shops they have in town and even visited a giant flea market and I came across almost nothing. I had every Austrian I knew (Host fam, Guertlers, teachers) helping me out with this search. Finally my host mom pointed out that a Trachtengeschaeft (traditional clothing store) in town was having a sale with lederhosen half off). A lot of boring things you dont care about happened and then I found myself paying only 99 euro for a brand new pair that fit me perfectly. It was over my budget (I told myself I wouldnt pay more than 60 euro) but they fit me, were exactly what I wanted, and weren't unreasonable. And now I have no remorse whatsoever, I'm obsessed, and even though the Austrians in the kitchen are snickering at me, I can't stop wearing them, I'm actually wearing them right now.

I think that's all the interesting things that have happened recently.

Spring Break (woo!) parts 2 &3: Die Verrückte Verwandten and French Fries, Waffles, Chocolate and Sprouts

Wow, time is really flying by this semester. Finally I have time to sit down and update my life. I was unable to document the rest of spring break during the spring break because of the amsterdam hostel we had had one internet and I barely had enough time to check my email until the angry spaniards behind me in line for it started making impatient angry grunting noises that I was already taking too much time on the computer making for a very awkward and uncomfortable blogging session.

Well I was able to use my unbelievable skills in Microsoft Paint and create the complex map of my very busy two week travel schedule:

Note: Blue is Airplane, Red is Train, and Green is Driving in some sense

Where did I leave off last time? Oh yes. When we got off the airplane in Cologne, there were my two relatives (who, I just looked it up, are my 4th cousins, once removed) Mannfred and Mechtild waiting for me at the gate. Luckily I recognized them from my visit with them 3 years ago. Immediately they were extremely friendly as Mannfred, jolly as the head Kiebler elf, started chatting away as Mechtild, kind as ever but still with a typical German frankness, tried to calm him down. They are too young to be my grandparents but too old to be my parents. They drove me (and Aaron who was on the flight but taking a mighnight train to meet his parents in Munich the next day) to the city and started to show us around, and then they took me (and kindly invited Aaron too) to their son's house for dinner. There I had one of the best home-cooked meals I have ever had this year. It was Sauerbraten, or litterally sour-roast. Its a typical Rhineland meal where horse flesh (we ate pork) is marinated in vinegar for days then cooked in a sweet and sour sauce. So delicious. Aaron's and my embaressingly low alcohol tolerances were revealed that evening as they kept producing various sorts of alcohol to drink and us being polite guests refusing to refuse. The limits of my bladder were also tested that evening on the hour long ride to Aachen.

The next few days were really fun as they excitely took me around Aachen, Cologne, and the Sauerland (where the earliest records of my family come from in the 13th century). Some highlights include:

-Aachener Dom- My favorite cathedral in Europe, a collage of Romanic, Gothic, and Baroque and with some of the most vivid mosaics I have seen, plus the remains of another great Charles, Karl der Grosse (Charlemagne).

-Cologne Chocolate Museum- Interesting but a dissapointingly low amount of free samples

-Coincidental swastika patterns in a 2000 year old Roman Mosaic in the Roman-Germanic Museum

-Visiting the spot where Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands all come together

-Holy Saturday seeing the blessing of the Semmel, a special double fish-tail shaped bread in Attendorn, after which you go home and eat with butter and ham. As well as witnessing the post semmel blessing lumberjack contest. The young men of the town split into 4 teams and pick 4 large trees to cut down and have a mini competition on who can fell theirs first. The trees were used the next evening for their easter fires (shaped like burning crosses?).

-A delicious Easter Dinner in Cobbenrode, in the Gasthof where my great-great-grandfather, Josef, was born before emmigrating to America.

-Seeing the exact spot the where an ancestor had a farm in the 1300s, named by the locals "Home of the Birds"

-Learning just about everything to know about that finger of my heritage

-"Improving" my German by speaking it nonstop for 5 days straight

-Being able to relax and take it easy

Some lowlights include:

-Catching a cold from the constant rain/hail/thunder/lightning/sleet/snow/wind

-Constantly playing "the guest game," one of my least favorite social traditions where you are required to argue on who will pay for your dinner/museum ticket/cough drops

-"Improving" my German by speaking it nonstop for 5 days straight

On that last note, I just wanted to say that it was really interesting coming back here. I had visited these relatives about 3 years ago in high school and it was this trip which actually inspired me to take German in the first place at ND which was where I was inspired to come here to Innsbruck. It was really cool that I could effectively communicate with them this time around (their english is very slim). Also, you would think that my German would improve after speaking it nonstop. Well, no, it didn't. First of all, it was kind of hard to understand what they were saying at first since they speak a different dialect, and I am so used to trying to decipher Tirolerisch (English's equivalent would be a Scottish person with turrets). I will admit that my comprehension did improve by the end. Then having to concentrate so hard all day, at the end of the day, I was so exhausted I could barely communicate in any language. Finally I think my subconscious was so fed up with having to tolerate this foreign thought pattern that it started slipping in small semblences of English in my German such as adding an "s" when I wanted to plural a word or even just speaking in English when I meant it to come out German, it was so dstrange. The worst part was, when I met up my friends in Belgium after leaving my relatives, I couldn't even really speak english to them. I remember staring at the lady's face at a Brugges TI for 30 seconds when I couldn't remember how to ask for a map in English or German.

Unfortunately, in all too short of time, I had to say "Auf Wiedersehen!" to my relatives and hop on a train to Brussels to meet my friends.

Part III

I called Katy (with Monika and Kevin) on the way to Brussels and we decided to meet at the Mannekin Pis (18 inch tall peeing boy fountain, you know the kind of fountain that is naturally seen as a symbol for a european nation) at a certain time. I wanted to see two things in the city before meeting up and taking the train to Brugge: the building shaped like an atom (Atomium), and the worlds largest Art Deco Church, also the Basilica of Brussels. They didnt care for either so I had to see them before our meeting. Getting off the train, I discovered that in everywhere but America, they seem to celebrate the day after Easter as much as if not greater than the holiday itself. As such, no TIs were open, and I had no map. With no help from the 6 euro guide to Brussels from the one newsstand that was open, I managed to find both. Being a huge Art Deco fan, I found the basilica to be a real treat, like some sort of space-port ripped from a 1920s Sci-Fi comic book. The Atomium building, built for a 1970s world expo was also amazing. It looks like a giant atom model (shaped like an iron crystal). I was standing among the amazing chrome structure, taking in its scientific beauty when the ice that started raining from the sky reminded me that I had to meet my friends soon. A series of events fell into place including, my cell phone running out of money, a delay on the subway, meeting two nice Americans on the subway, and my friends not being there 15 minutes after our meeting time that resulted in me finding myself in some stranger's house. I later discovered that they decided to book it to Brugges without me and not to wait in the raining ice when I called them on Skype 5 minutes later in a really nice flat owned by the afore-mentioned Americans. I really dont know how I find myself in these situations.

So, long story short, we ended up meeting in Brugges (miracuously since I did not have any directions to the hostel [called 'Hostel Snuffel' btw]).

Brugges was fun, we ate a lot of chocolate, waffles, and french fries as well as some of my favorite beer in Europe, each in their own specific glass goblets. While there, we decided that Flemish was our favorite European language. It was also nice being in a city for once that was not almost completely destroyed in a recent war (Unlike Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Cologne, and Aachen).

The crappy weather unfortunately followed us from Belgium up to the Netherlands as we went to Amsterdam. We found the city overall to be extremely dangerous. There was so much to see but you could never look up at the distractingly quaint old buildings or disturbing prostitutes because you might wander into the street, fall in a canal, tread on the streetcar tracks or (God help you) tread on the bicycle path. After 48 hours in the city we had been Pavlovianly trained to get a surge of adrenelane when we heard the jolly (or in this case, life threatening) chime of a bicycle bell so that you could sprint to the safest bicycle-free location in the area. I also did the Amsterdam things like walk through the red light district in which I was informed that I looked ready for sex, as well as meeting up with two goons (Al and Mary) for a trip in a coffeehouse. Because of poor planning, (and a fast-pass sort of ticket distribution system) our stop after the coffeehouse was the Anne Frank house (sobering in more ways than one) which I was overall a little dissapointed with. It was so empty (no furniture left, just the rooms). It was a good presentation but I've never read her diary which I think would give the place a lot more meaning to me.

After a few days in Amsterdam, we headed over to the west side to Haarlem (namesake of the neighborhood in New York which was once called New Amsterdam), to relax in a B&B in the Dutch countryside. Besides running around the city pretending to be in a gang, we took a day trip to Keukenhof, which is supposedly the most photographed place in the world. It was what would happen if the Rose Parade had a bastard child with Disneyland after a messy one night stand. Its a giant garden, open two months of the year in spring when all the daffodills and tulips begin to bloom. Although we were there a little early and there wasnt as much color as there were in the postcards, there were tons of flowers out and it was really pleasant (even sunny for a few moments). We were able to go crazy in hedge mazes, tiptoe through tulips and play giant chess. When traveling I find that spending day after day in the major cities can get old, fast, so it is nice to mix it up with some nature. Note that Kevin refused to go and is forcing me to read "The Dictionary of Manliness" because I decided to pay to see some flowers. Oh and the Dutch know how to do it: chocolate sprinkles on buttered toast for breakfast. And I found out I slept in the same bed as Rick Steves.

Well we had a pretty painless flight back (direct to Innsbruck, so easy) and started classes again this Monday. After a week, I can tell this semester is going to be tough (I already have 3 projects due by Tuesday) but not impossible. I'll give a review of my classes soon.