This That and The Other Thing :)

I wanted to continue a little about Aachen before I update you on life here so far. I mentioned before that Aachen seemed really random. I found out that as a result of Aachen being the first city in Germany to be liberated on the western front, it was completed destroyed, although the cathedral is still original. (The glass is not.) It was decided to rebuild Aachen as it was with the original layout. Thus, whereas some cities were rebuilt as grids, Aachen's streets are all in the original layout. All of the buildings that were rebuilt, were built to scale compared to the originals.

Work has been going well. One thing I have noticed is that my boss is a little nervous or stressed a lot of the time, at least it seems so. She continually repeats herself, emphasizing what needs to get done, using time that I could actually be doing the task. She's a very nice person, but what we do is important and I can understand why she wants tasks completed and how. Luckily there is a German intern here for a month, just to check things out, who I have become close to. She, Carolin, accompanies me for lunch, excursions, helps plan, besides other work my boss, Beate, gives her. So far the break down of what I do is as follows: update the Access activity bank online where students register online, create participant spreadsheets, add to the Excel agenda sheets, send any emails that need to be sent to the students, research possible excursions. This means excursion info, reminders, responding to personal questions, etc. I've basically been put in charge of all correspondence, most likely because it's always in English. It's kind of nice being able to sign my name and put my number down as contact info for some events. We, the interns, also have led excursions, i.d. will lead them, have attended the intercultural training, and some of the German classes. We always create a list of pros/cons, things to be changed for the following year and report our observations back to Beate. I go to work about 9 or 9:30 most days and will work anywhere between 30-40hrs a week. I get two days of vacation per month, 6 total.

Yesterday some of the students, Carolin, and I went to the Three Country Point, where Germany, Belgium and Holland come together. It's designated by a wheel and some metal marker. There is something to designate the highest point in Holland, apparently. I've uploaded pictures of both. This requires a short busride to the start point (kind of undescript) and anywhere from 35-60 minute walk through landscape and forest. We were expecting it to take us an hour, but it only took 35 min. At the top there is a tower you can pay to go atop and get a better view (didn't do this), a labryinth, and some small restaurants, etc. We did the labryinth and finished it in 50min, a little longer than expected, but at least we got our money out of it.






Since Monday is a public holiday, I'm going to Brussels and Ostende, Belgium this weekend. Ostende is a few hours by train from Brussels and lays on the sea. With good weather, it should be a great weekend to lay on the beach. I have no idea what I'll be doing yet, but as I'm going by myself, I should probably figure that out. Hopefully I'll practice at least some French. Next weekend I'm going to Cleves, Germany (where Ann of Cleves is from) to meet up with a friend, who's been studying abroad here all year.

Life here in the "Hilton" is going swell. There's a bar in the basement that's open every so often for students to hang out or to host events. This past week there was an cocktail class and then an open bar to try everything out. I was planning on going, but it was nice that my apartment mate, Marcel, thought to ask me as well. I met quite a few people, all extremely nice and complimentary (mostly guys somehow) and ended up being there for about 4.5 hours. I tried quite a few interesting drinks including a Whiskey Sour, Brasilian, even something with egg yolk-which I would never recommend doing, besides just trying it, and more. I've found that not only have a lot of people been to the US, but many have been to MI, and indeed right in the area where I'm from. It's incredible.

Impressions, Revelations, and Logistics

Today I went to pick up my scholarship money and get a cell phone. When I got to the university cash office, they told me they were closed for two days due to renovation, but when they further asked while I was there, they decided to get the stuff from the back to write me my check anyways. I can't tell you how amazed I was. (Especially when later on I talked to a German who had tried to go, and they didn't do the same thing for him.) I'm getting paid in two installments. They write me a check and then I have to take it to the bank to cash out. I found it extremely interesting and kind of unsettling that the university office asked for my id to write me the check, but when I went to the bank and gave the woman the check, she never once asked for id. You might ask who cares, but when someone's requesting 1200 Euro in cash, you might just think to make sure you're giving it to the right person. The great thing about this was that I also managed to pay my rent. I've noticed that everywhere I've gone so far to get things taken care of, even though Germans may not seem very friendly and ask you outright what you want in kind of a harsh tone, they've all known exactly what I was talking about and had everything in writing. It was so nice to get things done easily.

I also have a cell phone now, which makes me feel a bit less estranged. I was able to call my host family and now have numbers of some of the people I've met. Things look promising!!

I'm going to tell you a little about the university where I work and this program I'm helping/part of. The RWTH Aachen University is one of the nine best universities in Germany. It was founded in 1870. It consists of 1/6 international students/staff and is 2/3 male. There are more than 30,000 students. Germany had an intiative in 2005-2011 for universities to achieve a label of excellence and earn grant money, in order to encourage them to become more internationally competitive. The RWTH Aachen won that in 2007 and with some of that money, the UROP program was est. in the International Office. It's an undergraduate research program for American/Canadian students. Many if not all students have scholarships, and that's also where my stipend comes from. There are 36 students in the program this year. About 20 of them have never had German or are beginners. These students have a language course for at least two weeks, more I'm not sure, excursions, and then their research projects, which they start first in two weeks. I'm not actually in the program per say, rather I'm going to be advising them as well as doing anything else I can in the International Office; we'll see what that is. It looks like I might only be working around 20hrs a week, so I'm going to need to get my act together and figure out what to do the rest of the time. I've started looking at fitness classes and such. I should look into getting a library card too.

In terms of realizing differences between Germans and Americans, quite a bit occured to me, but I'm not sure I remember it all. The first is that they are organized about everything and don't like to rush or stress. I started working at about 1:30 for an event at 5. This seemed fine at first, but the stuff we had to do did not take that long: hang up signs, get drinks ready, get name tags ready, etc. It's not so much that we were so far ahead schedule but that the one German girl who works in the office kept saying how if we had started later we wouldn't have been able to do everything and it would have been very rushed. Maybe we would have, but I don't think most of us Americans see that as something unexpected. Germans also have EVERYTHING in writing. Not only did they have a copy of all my paperwork that I came to them about today, but my boss at the IO had the contract for something for our event today. ( maybe like taking tables away or something) And we called to verify that they would be cleaned up tomorrow. The person on the phone said that wasn't what had been agreed upon, and then my boss whipped out the written contract where is said exactly what she had been saying. It was incredible.

I still get the feeling that Germans complain more than Americans or at least more than I do, since I tend not to complain.

One thing that was brought up at the orientation in Frankfurt was that Germans don't jaywalk and it's so true!! We wait at red lights all the time and only at the crosswalk. If someone else walks across, it actually feels kind of awkward.

It's super warm here- high 70's-80's and humid.

My bike and of course the obligatory basket


The view from my window


In Frankfurt on a bridge

Ankunft/Arrival

I'm finally here in Aachen, after spending about a day and half in Frankfurt. I'm glad I was in Frankfurt, since that was the longest I've ever been there and thus the only chance I've ever had to see the city. The weather was great, so some other students from the group and I sat on the riverbank before we decided to explore Sachsenhausen, the district where there are the most bars, clubs, etc. The first place we went to was very medieval in appearance and served all sorts of malts. I don't remember exactly what kind I got, but it was very good. Afterwards some of us basically decided to go bar hopping, going wherever we saw advertisements for 1Euro shots. :) Needless to say we had a good night and made a good use of our short time in Frankfurt.

At the orientation in Aachen, we a had a cross-cultural trainer who talked a lot about the differences in German/American business behavior, culture shock, etc. This is always interesting to me. Not because of the general content, but because I've been here so often and sometimes so long now that it's always hard for me to highlight something innately "German" or things I noticed on my very first visit. I also sometimes think that I had an advantage of first going to Germany when I was young-ish (15), because I wasn't as opinionated. I kind of just took things as they came and accepted them. I'm not saying that not questioning things is good, but somehow I feel like my experiences, especially the later ones, are not always in accordance with what this trainer was trying to get across to us.

The trainride to Aachen was mostly uneventful. Although on my second train this woman overheard that I was American and told me that she was a native Aachener-in and had just returned from living in Iowa for five years. Having gotten her address and such, I have to say it was nice to have a contact already by the time I got to Aachen.

My "Buddy" Sandra and her sister met me at the train station, and I have to say they really were wonderful. They had thought things out so that I could go buy bedding and groceries before dropping my stuff off at my apartment (but was able to drop it in their car before we went shopping), etc. Sandra is definitely a help and she doesn't make me feel like I'm hanging on her. Last night after I arrived there was a casual gathering of the students in RWTH Aachen's UROP program ( the students I'll be advising) and their buddies. It was great to meet some people so soon and the time flew by. I have to say I didn't talk much to the exchange students but rather more with the Germans. I'm glad I'll be seeing most of them again because our conversation was rather enjoyable and definitely amusing. I'm definitely able to hold my own and I'm glad they take an interest in what I have to say.

My German hasn't been a problem. I feel myself misspeaking sometimes or pronouncing things oddly, but for the most part it's just fine. I speak German with the Germans ( thankfully), and I'm not too nervous to ask questions in stores, train stations, etc, which is good...ususally I'm reserved when it comes to that.

Today I got a little bit more of tour of the area with Sandra. It seems very random but once one starts walking around, it becomes clear that everything is very connected and it's actually quite small. There was a used bike market where I was able to buy a cheap bike (40 euro) and also a basket and lock. I feel pretty much set here, except for a few living things/logistics and getting my cell phone.

Pictures and more interesting posts to come!