School Section
The 18th of March marked the first day of school for me. I realized after some digging that 2 of the classes I want to take are more block schedule, so they occur on 2 weekends during the entire semester. That left me with 4 classes that I would take every week. It just so happened it worked out to one class a day with Fridays free. The classes I am currently attending are Lean Six Sigma, Beginning German, Sustainable Product Engineering, and Special Geotechnical Problems.
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| Paper Helicopter |
Lean Six Sigma may prove to be fun, there is no final (which I love), but there is a 20 page report instead (not so much love), but this report is about optimizing a paper helicopter (which is awesome). The kid inside me was super excited for the activity and made me think immediately of SWE and how this would be a super easy and cheap 4th Grade Day Lab for next year. Most of the students there are exchange, and the first day the teacher went on about how we should already know the basics like statistics and other techniques to quantify our results. What he wanted to stress was that we use the time to learn the culture, and proceeded to ask who wasn't 21 in the class. The three people that raised their hands were all from Germany so it defeated his message of go out and drink! Then listed some places and activities we shouldn't pass up while we are here. I recognized one of the girls from the St Pattys Day parade, so I was excited to have a friend in my class already.
Sustainable Product Engineering has the ability to be interesting. The teacher is very passionate about the topic and wants us to like it just as much. The class is about reducing waste in a product design process and thinking about the overall impact. By the end we will have designed a drill in our international groups. It turns out this class involves a decent amount of technical drawings, which will be interesting... The last class (3.4.13) one guy wasn't taking notes and since there were only 6 of us who showed up to class that day, the teacher called him out and it was super awkward but funny at the same time. I felt bad for the teacher because that guy just didn't seem to care, and still didn't take notes after. So when the teacher pointed it out again and that they should have a talk afterward to figure out what was wrong, the guy disappeared as we were all packing to leave. I don't think he will be back. Bless the teachers heart, he only wants the guy to learn something! And th test is open notes, so why note take notes! I may be bored at times but I smile, nod, take notes, and the teacher likes me! They only want some respect :(
Special Geotechnical Problems was a whole new concern though. It was on a different campus, one that took me about an hour to find. (While I am getting much better at the U-Bahn system, and if I am lost all I need to do is find a station and I can make it home. The bigger problem is at the large stations there are just so many exits! And they put you out on different streets and that is where I always get lost.) Back to class, I had predicted my problem and I found the room the day before. It was a strange building that I walked around looking for the correct room. I was relieved at one point when I saw there was a picture of a waste water treatment plant framed in the stairwell... After walking for ages it was nice to know I was at least in the Civil Department building. Lame, I know, but anything familiar is a nice change when you are lost.
So the first class I arrived there way too early since I planned to get lost. Then I watched as people came in and sat and started chatting. This was one of the classes that they don't see too many transfer students. I could just imagine what they were talking about in German, if they are like our ENVE department we would all wonder who the new kid was since you essentially know everyone in your classes. I was already unsure if I was capable of taking this class. It is Special Geotechnical Problems, and I was going to try and have this transfer for basic Geotech. I was already at a disadvantage of not taking their prereqs, and sure the class was in English, but that doesn't mean it was good English. All of these thoughts racing through my head as we wait for the teacher. If it seemed like too much, I would just not come back. Then the teacher finally arrived and class had begun. I don't think I have ever been so scared in a class before. He just started talking in German and went on for about 10 minutes before he asked (in German mind you) if anyone didn't speak German. When he asked it again in English I was the only one to raise my hand. His response "Oh, this may make it more difficult." I almost walked out then. He asked what languages I knew, and once again I was embarrassed to only know English. He seemed excited to have a "native English speaker" and asked where I was from. Upon learning I was from California he asked how was the weather, looking out the window as the snow fell I cold only say that it was much warmer. Then he talked to the class about what to expect as he switched between German and English. During the break we talked and discussed a little what the class was about and if I would be able to manage. He seemed confident enough, and the topics have the ability to be very interesting. It seems to integrate the calculations of the basic geotechnical engineer and then goes on to what we can actually do to fix the problems in the construction phase. So if I am able to stick it out, I think this class could be very beneficial. There is a presentation aspect that in pairs we are to give a 15 minute report on a special geotechnical project. The first day in class I think everyone paired up essentially and signed up for their topic. I still didn't even know what a special topic was exactly! If anything, the teacher said I can do the presentation alone, which I sad and depressing. But it was still funny how they all beelined to sign up, the teacher said its because they are German and want to get it out of the way now! He also recommended I wait to see the level of the presentation I would have to give. I think that is fair advice. Random side story, during the last break in class the teacher starting talking to me asking if I kept up on news in America. He then brought up the whole North Korea thing and I am pretty sure he said "Barack should just send a few seals in like they did with Osama and finish it." Fun piece of advice.
German class was very slow, and we shall see how it goes. We spent about 30 minutes waiting for the guy, then 30 minutes with everyone saying "Mein Name ist Jessie. Ich komme aus Amerika." And he pretty much said everything in German which is good, but he didn't always tell us what we were actually saying. We have only had on German class so far, so we shall see how it goes later on...
Activities Section
I guess that wraps up the school portion of the last few weeks. We had "Holiday" for Easter, so no school 28.3-2.4. Once I found out about it, I immediately wanted to travel, but making plans, trying to find travel buddies, booking modes of transportation and hostels are all really hard to do in about 5 days. The argument that won me over to stay was also that the weather is still gloomy and cold. I might as well save my money to travel when it is actually nice out. So I stayed in Munich for the break. But I will go through my activities in order.
On a rare and sunny Tuesday (19.3) with no classes (German hadn't started yet). Jennifer, my new friend from Wisconsin, and I went to the Olympic Stadium. It was really nice, spacious, great indoor pool (I love the smell of highly concentrated chlorine in the morning!), lake-ish areas (for crew), it was just huge. It was nice to be able to see a landmark of Munich on such a nice day. After that we went across the street to BMW Welt (or World). It was pretty cool. New and old cars in display, gift shops, and it was free! You could get a tour around the exhibit hall, but it seemed unnecessary since they had signs and such. You are also able to sign up for a tour of the production plant. That is on my list of things to do, but I may wait to see if my dad will make the trip out to visit, because that is definitely something that is new, exciting, and different!
On that Thursday (21.3) I had signed up for a tour of the city center through the student housing people. They seem to be like RAs for the entire community of housing and put on events. The tour was interesting, walked around a bit, saw a few new things, or saw new things with the history and back story explained. I was excited when I showed up to find that Jennifer also signed up for the event, so I had a walking buddy. One of our last stops for the tour was to check out one of the malls. It was interesting because since it used to be a courtyard, they integrated greenery into the building. They had vines hanging from the ceiling which was new. What was more interesting was that they seemed to be celebrating their 10 year anniversary. How do they celebrate in Germany? By giving away free champagne to anyone in the mall that's how! It was just so strange walking around a mall drinking champagne. It could prove to be a very valuable technique though. They should do a cost analysis on the cost of alcohol in relation to how much more they sell when they have drunk people shopping in the mall! After the tour ended Jennifer and I grabbed dinner and then headed out to the next student housing event, a simple gathering at a student housing bar called the Manhattan. I was on the 19th floor of the building where some of my friends lived, so we convinced them to join as well. It seemed odd again that the student housing set up an event at a bar, but then again, having bars in student housing to begin with is odd to me. Over all it was a really fun day, which is what I needed after the stressful morning of my first Geotech class.
Friday Gwen and I celebrated the end of the week with Weißwurst. It is the traditional Bavarian breakfast. Back in the day you had to eat it before noon, or else the meat would spoil. Now with fridges you have to eat them before noon because they will just stop serving them. The proper way to eat this white sausage is to have it with a pretzel and beer. Before noon. In Germany it is acceptable to drink at anytime, or anywhere it seems. It is awesome. I saw a group of moms pushing their strollers when one suddenly stops, bends down and opens her beer bottle using a bike rack. I hear Germans take pride in opening a bottle with anything. After that the moms just kept walking as they drank. Priceless. After breakfast Gwen took me to the dirndl shop where I bought my authentic dirndl! Now I just have to find a place to wear it!
Saturday the International Club (I-Club) hosted a trip to Regensburg. It was a 1+ hour train ride. First we walked around the cathedral, it was big and old. I'm sure the history of the place made it exciting, but nothing really stood out. Afterwards we went out to lunch. Lunch was interesting, this place was Italian, Mexican, and American. I had a calzone, and it was really good. Someone else had a bacon cheese burger and was disappointed. Another had the chili and I guess he wasn't used to spicy food because he had watery eyes almost the whole time. In his defense though, he finished like a champ tears and all. Afterwards we had the option to go on a tour of the old city hall. I passed on it with Gwen and 4 other guys since you would have to pay and we were still waiting on the check at our table. After waiting about 30 minutes... we were finally able to pay and leave. It would have taken them ages to realize if we left without paying. They cleared our plates promptly, and all of the other tables paid, but no one came back for us. So we had to hunt down the servers multiple times to get them to finally come over. They were lucky the pizzas were so good. We knew the tour was about an hour long, so we decided to go find the place we were supposed to meet them. After some wandering we found it and went inside. Shortly after the main group was switching rooms on the tour and half of us just slipped into the tour group. I felt like such a rebel, but then when we were in the torture room the guilt started to get to me... either way we got the cool half of the tour!
Monday (25.3) Brain (one of the 5 others I live with in my flat, only one living with me at the time) and I decided to throw a small party at our house! Brian was leaving soon for Greece for a physics conference, so we wanted to have a hoorah with our friends. Stasia graciously left behind her red solo cups with Gwen so we had a night of flip cup and beer pong! It was a lot of fun, and everyone got to visit my place (everyone seems to live far away from me). One of the hardest points in the night was getting the beer. I have a liquor store about half a kilometer away. Never have I missed my red wagon as much as when I was trying to carry 30 sturdy bottles of beer in a crate, in the snow, wearing shoes with no traction. It felt like the walk home took ages. Not to mention I spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out which beer to buy, there are just too many choices!
From our party, Brian's friends invited us to a birthday party on Thursday that turned out to be a bunch of people going to their student housing bar. One thing I realized that will take the most time to get used to is smoking indoors. While smoking in bars is banned now, it doesn't really matter for the small student places. There was just so much smoke, when I eventually got home I felt like I just reeked of it. Even after taking a shower I still couldn't get the smell out of my hair. I left that bar just feeling dirty. While the drinks are very cheap there, my costs in shampoo and conditioner will spike if I go to places like that too often.
Saturday night (30.3) I met my Tandem Speaking partner, Isabel. She had invited me to go out with her to RockStudio, one of the local rock clubs. I was excited to go since there are no real rock places, and the night proved to be interesting. A wide variety of people were there. I don't think I have seen that many guys and be envious of their hair. I didn't dress properly in my gray jeans and light colored top. Almost everyone was in black. Luckily one of the guys in our group had a red sweater on which made it seem better. The club was fun, I knew and liked most of the songs, I could watch people head bag (always amusing) (those people must have necks of steel), and it was just a totally different atmosphere.
On Wednesday (3.4) the I-Club had another gathering. We basically just go to beer halls and eat and drink it seems, more meetings should be like that. I was ordering dinner off the English menu and just picked something cheap with sausage. When I got the food a friend told me the name of the dish in German, wurstsalat. Literally sausage salad. Picture a salad with chunks of cheese and some tomatoes, now switch all the lettuce for pieces of sliced sausage. Glorious.
Thursday after class, a friend and I checked out a secondhand English bookstore. It was pretty cool, you can buy the books and then sell them back for 40% store credit to buy more books! I will definitely go back soon since I already finished the book I bought 4 days ago, all 700+ pages...
Thursday night we went to the Tourism Opening Semester Party. It got to be really packed by the end of it, saw two fights almost start, pretty amusing night. Then I got to take the night bus home which was new for me, since it was the awkward time the u-bahns didn't run as much. Friday I hung out with Gwen at her place since her hall mates were throwing a game night. They moved desks into the middle of the entry way, and played games between all of the rooms.
One thing that is foreign to me is how late everyone stays up here! Back home bars close at 2am so you go home then. Here bars and clubs don't close. There are night buses and u-bahns that run almost all night. If you miss the u-bahn at 3, that just means you wait till the 4:30 one. I am not used to staying up and being out this late on such a normal basis. You see people asleep in the u-bahns because it is just too early/late! Walking home I hear the birds singing as they wake up! Then I get hoje and sleep till 2pm. Horrible sleeping cycle. Kills me on Wednesdays and Thursdays when I have 8am class. Then I go home and take a nap and this never ending cycle continues.
Well, that has caught you up with my last few weeks here. I will go through and add related photos soon, but honestly I have been typing this for a few hours and I am tired of it. So enjoy!
