Day 0 -- Travel
I'd never flown internationally before and never knew quite what to expect for the transatlantic flight. I was surprised by the quality of the dinner presented and finished a book. Besides that, it was like any other flight. I wasted time with the on-flight entertainment and we arrived after 8 hours. The rest of the trip was to consist of trains and this proved to be a much more confusing and hassling experience. Having to catch trains and move from one to another with construction going on in 2 of the train stations was moderately annoying and the train rides were mentally more taxing. Alyssa, Tucker, and I spoke and formed plans with a German girl studying at the University of Munster, Marcela. The conversation was quite insightful, thanks to the prodding of Dr. Kleine, and we learned that German culture of the young is not quite so different from our own with the exception of travel.
Something else quite noticable during the train rides was the landscapes full of hills, castles, the Rhine, towns, peoples, and most interestingly to me was the huge assortment of graffiti we encountered. I've accustomed myself to it now that I see it everywhere, but it was quite shocking. I was surprised at how unintimidating it was to be in a completely foreign culture where I spoke nearly nothing of the language.
Meeting our mentors Verena, Tatiana, and Sara was relatively interesting. Something I wasn't used to was the sparkling water that's quite popular here; I found it intolerable. But they are nice girls and have sinced proved invaluable. I was rather unimpressed with my quarters but I was antsy about the coming days. The jet-lag didn't really hit me until I hit the sheets. I found the bed quite good and got a nice long sleep after the many hours of travel.
Day 1 -- Introductions
We had met our three organizers the previous day but the real introductions began today and we learned about them and them about us. After the basics of the program, we learned received a tour of the Campus and nearby area in the city thanks to Tatiana. Afterwards, we received a thorough lecture on the history of Osnabruck starting at it's founding. I felt a number of us found it rather boring and at parts, it was. However, it was very eloquent and his social critique (which became more apparent through his tour and later through the Night-Watchman's tour) really allowed me to paint a vivid and realistic picture of medieval society in Germany. After our tour, we received our introduction to the German-only Germany language class. We all received some basics on pronunciation and a simple phrase. For dinner, our hosts took us out to Rampendahl for a small buffet. Having never had Radler, it was something new to experience and I quite liked it. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the rest of the meal.
Day 2 -- Let's get dirty
The big thrust of today was the service we would be providing to the "Balu und Du" program. I was involved in the mural painting of the Jungle Book scene but most of the time today was spent on working on the pond in the side yard. There came such a unity of purpose and dogged determination when it came to the pond, taking nearly 4 hours to complete the project to our satisfaction. Ripping up the base of the pond down to the lining proved to be quite the bonding experience for all of the students. There was no yelling, only support. Despite the hard labor, we managed to stay positive and united. Jokes and laughing were common. Fabio, Verena's man, later told us what a stark contrast there was between our work style which had elements of play in it and the solemn and serious work environment he had experienced during his 6 years in Germany. After the work was done, we all washed up and went out to Club Caliente and after to Zoning Deck with Fabio as our guide and chaperone.
Day 3 -- Tours, Tours, Tours
I did not feel I gain anything of much value from The Remarque Peace Center. None of us had read his most famous novel but some of us had seen the film. While an important piece of literature, the museum guide did not seem to convey Remarque's pacifist values or have any insights beyond facts of the man's life.
The Cathedral Treasury was marvelous. The rich history and our articulate guide made the tour fantastic. Seeing all the pieces and hearing the related history of Osnabruck allowed me to build a historical frame of reference in relation to the lecture on Monday and prepared me for the Night Watchman's Tour to follow that night. The medieval age was full of artisans and had a rich history of religious art in architecture, sculpture, painting, texts, fashion, and music. There were many innovations and some of the most majestic art is to be traced to this period. It was disappointing that we could not photograph the exhibits as they were beautiful and I think everybody needs to see history come alive infront of them like that. At the same time, our guide seemed rather unbiased and presented a lot of negative aspects of the Catholic institution and this provided a good balance to the tour.
We got to have a class with our other German professor, Renate, who everybody seems to prefer in the classroom. It's a more traditional style of learning but still taught solely in German. I may be prejudging as we had only had one class with Elke so far.
The Night-Watchman tour that night was very popular as we had a native English speaker take us around the city to view a couple towers/dungeons, a hidden tunnel through a bridge, the Cathedral tower, and various old streets in Osnabruck. The picture he painted about the dungeons reminded me vividly of the Three Musketeers and allowed me to envision exactly how these places would have looked hundreds of years ago. This is the European history I've been missing. Seeing these places in person has added such depth to my concept of what society was like back then and then being thrust into reality minutes later makes one realize how exceptionally radical the passage of time affects the evolution of our societal institutions.
Day 4
The 3 hours of German was rather informative but my German is very elementary and I still cannot form sentences. There doesn't seem to be an emphasis on practical grammar or phrases but numbers and family vocabulary are important I suppose. "Too little too late" seems apt in reference to the German class. Those who took the time to study or have been taking German at USF are leagues ahead of the rest of us.
The rest of the day was spent at Piesburg, a local coal mine, with the Balu's and their Moglies. The planning didn't quite work out as our group remained segregated throughout the tour and so all bonding was internal. The tour was fine as we got to go underground and walk in the dark and all of that and saw the open-pit mine. It was neat and something to brag about back home but I didn't feel really fit in with the rest of our schedule. The ride back some of us spoke with the Balu's and through them formed connections to the Moglies. Once arrived at the place where Balu and Du is set up, we played soccer and jump rope outside until it began to rain. In preparation to leave, it promptly decided to rain as we ran to the bus-stop where we had to wait for quite a time, freezing. After a stop at Aldi's, it had ceased raining and we walked back for a group dinner of spaghetti and fruit salad. Afterwards, we packed up for our trip to Berlin the next morning.
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