Baby it's cold outside

Well, it's been a while since I've last done this. Whoops.

Yesterday I was on the phone with my mom. As per usual, the topic turned to the weather.

Mother: Has it snowed up there yet?

Me: (just a little bit indignant) Uh, no, it's still pretty warm here, It's not going to snow for a while.

Mother: Well, Detroit got a lot of snow lately.

Me: Yeah, well, it's not as cold here as it is on the other side of the Atlantic.

Well, either God had enlightened the woman or she had checked the weather report for tomorrow, because I woke up to a dusting of snow.

Sorry, mom. I was wrong.

Now it's 2 inches, and it's still falling. In Kiel. In November. What?!? At least it's better than rain. And now I have an excuse to binge on hot chocolate and read in bed for hours.

The strange thing about Kiel is that it is very far north but does not seem to be prepared in any way, shape, or form for actual winter weather. Case in point: the roads here are white. Not plowed, and definitely not salted. The one perk of not having salted roads is that my leather boots did not get ruined on my way to the library, but I think that perk is largely outweighed by the fact that I was skidding/falling the entire time on my bike. Even Texas, which is arguably the worst state in the continental US when it comes to winter (if it might snow the next day, good luck finding milk and bread at the stores), has plows out there. So this...indifference, we'll call it...strikes me as super odd.

And, dear Germany: Don't argue that you're all out of salt. I know you have extra.  I taste it in your soups. Maybe you could put it on your roads instead every once in a while. Less hypertension and fewer car accidents. Everyone wins!

Living with Germans

This week has been my first in the new WG. I have finally moved from the student accommodation into a real apartment! This is something I have been looking forward to since about October 10th. The move-in was pretty hectic: lots of bus rides with obnoxious amounts of baggage, trips to IKEA, and carrying heavy compressed-sawdust IKEA furniture. But I have a bed, a desk, a kitchen with a plethora of spices and a microwave, and wifi. I am a happy girl.

The two girls I am living with are both German. Thus, when I'm here, I speak German. It has been an adjustment to go from speaking barely any German during the day to only speaking that in the apartment (that is, outside of phone calls). Before, the German conversations I'd typically have would go as such:

A: "Hallo"
B: "Moin"
...
A: "Kassenbon?"
B: "Nein, danke"
A: "Schönen Tag noch"
B: "Gleichfalls, tschüss"

And now? Well, today, I tried to explain how Federal Pell grants work, did my best to describe what a townhouse is because I forgot the word (I didn't do very well), and talked about the terms of my lease. These are obviously not things that we learn when we're trying to get our language credit in college. I'm also trying to figure out what a suitable response is to "Naaaah?"when I see someone. So basically these first few weeks or months are going to involve a steep learning curve. But I really think it'll be worth it. Thankfully my roommates are super patient with my terrible speaking ability.

In other news, studying for exams is not going as well as I'd hope, the weather is still cold (we had snow here today! Feels like Michigan.), and two weeks ago I made some Texas chili that was able to make (almost) everyone either 1. sweat or 2. cry. There are also some other Aggies in the country! At least for a while. So I've got to get back to studying so that I can actually see them a bit over the weekend! Tschüüsssssss

New year, new post, same old same old

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote, so maybe it's time for a quick little update. Weather continues to be cold and dreary. We've finally gotten some snow, which is nice. Fun fact: when I first got back to NC for the holidays, I couldn't open my eyes entirely while outside. It was either because I was sick or because my eyes were too well adjusted to 100% cloud cover. I tend to believe the latter, but that's just because it's the more dramatic option.

The master's program is still going. Exams are coming up. German universities have made exam time one sick joke. They claim that you get a "break" but then cram all your exams in during said break. Which is nice, I guess, if you need time to study, but it is absolutely awful if you plan on doing some serious travelling. Needless to say, my travel will be short and not serious. Sometimes I need to remember that I am not actually on a study abroad program, but that I am here and need to get a real degree at the end of 2 years.

Also, fun fact, my English is now horrible. Horrible and slow. My turns of phrase have become foreign. I completely blame all the people I've met here for getting me to say "we were four" when I mean to say "there were four of us" and, the bane of my existence, "that is how it looks like." UGH. I wish I could say that my English is getting worse so that my German can improve, but I really don't think it has. I don't know if it's just because I have to use it a lot more often, so learning little phrases doesn't seem as big of a step as it did in Texas, or if I've actually stagnated in the language. Luckily, though, at the end of next month I'll be moving to a new apartment where the lingua franca will be German. Not easy, but hopefully helpful. And then there'll be that whole boat trip with like a bazillion other researchers, all German. They'll all be fluent in English, but if there ends up not being a lot to do on the ship, who knows? Maybe learning the language could kill time.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! First I need to pass these classes and quit procrastinating on reading this barrier layer paper. Tschüsssssssssss


But, before I go, my culture shock, part 4:

1. Germans would rather wait for you to notice their presence and act accordingly than say "Entschuldigung"/"Darf ich bitte mal durch" to let you know that you are in the way. They seriously do nothing- no coughs, no friendly shoulder taps, no tapping of their feet- if anything, they just judge you for not realizing that they need to get through (and I'm so sure they do this). The only explanation I have is that Germans can secretly read each other's minds and they just have no idea about how to interact mit Ausländern. 
2. ^^^But seriously guys, this happens every friggen day. Getting on the bus. Getting off the bus. Picking out bread at the grocery store. Looking at books at uni. I know your mothers taught you not to talk to strangers, but this is a bit ridiculous.
3. ^^^But if you're not going to change, at least don't whoosh by the person and sigh like they've caused you this huge inconvenience. No. You've done this to yourself. 
4. I cannot and will never be able to pronounce the ch sound this language has. Please stop trying to make me say "tschechische Streichholzschächtelchen," kthx.