During the month of April, I did yet another month-long German language course from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm every day. The other students in my class were from Brazil, Hungary, Italy, and the US. It was awesome being in a class where people had been learning german forever because they had such a broader vocabulary than me. The course was a B2 course, only one level before you are considered fluent. I have bene studying german for less than 2 years and I'm almost fluent. This is really the first time that I've really celebrated that fact because normally I just got caught up with the fact that I wasn't good as everyone else in German. 2 years and almost fluent....damn that sounds good though.
Also during the month of April, I made a trip to Prague and my mom visited me for Easter.
The Prague trip was unbelievable. I didn't learn anything about the city really. All we did was walk around during the day and go out at night. What a ridiculously gorgeous city! The reason for going to Prague in the first place was to see Beethoven's 1st and 7th, two of the symphonies that I hadn't seen yet. As of now, I have seen 3 out of the 5 Beethoven symphonies that I wanted to while in Europe. Not too shabby.
It was on a Friday that we made our escape from language class. During our lunch break, Lucas (from Idaho) and I went to the train station to see if we could get the bus from Nürnberg to Prag, but it was already booked. Damn. So I was in the last hour and a half of class when my teacher said there was a Regional Train strike today. I asked her if I could leave early to figure out how we were going to get to Prague, she agreed, and I was going to but.....I got caught up in our debate in German class. The discussion - whether it should be mandatory for kids to take a class about the language of neighboring countries - got way too intense and time flew by. You realize how well you know a language when you can communicate your opinion about a controversial topic, not just food or a movie.
I rushed home in record time (9 minutes), quickly packed, hopped on the webs, and found out our route to Prague. I met Lucas at the train station in Eichstätt and the Holy-Shit-we-are-going-to-PRAGUE!-feeling was already setting in. We met Megan and Emily (Tennessee) at Ingolstadt and caught the train north to Nürnberg. They just made it because the doors closed less than a minute after they got on. An epic beginning. We went from Nürnberg to Schwandorf near the border and then from there to Prague. There was an AWESOME castle city near Schwandorf that I can't find on any map and I NEED TO GO TO THERE!...just saying.
So, the trip there was pretty crazy. There is an inside joke now of "Prague Syndrome." We were all in a stupor or something because all I remember doing is laughing the whole trip. Once in Prague we walked to our hostel, but Lucas had gotten another one. I went with him on the search for his and we couldn't find it. We went back to my hostel and Google street viewed it and found it. The only sign for his hostel was a piece of scratch paper with the name of the hostel in 12 pt. font on the window next to the door. Sketchy. So Lucas couldn't get in because the caretaker said they needed 24 hour notice or something...whatever. There were extra beds in our hostel room so he stayed there with us and yet some more annoying french hostel roommates (See Kitzbühel trip post).
That night, we went out to the 5 story club which was pretty dang awesome. We woke up the next day to the knowledge that our whole ceiling was a skylight and that there is no way we can sleep in. Thus, we got up and walked around Prague, got lunch at a pirate themed restaurant, and then went to the Beethoven Concert.
Pics of the Day:
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| Charles Bridge Statue |
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| The Charles Bridge |
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| Prague Castle |
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| Their Sidewalks = Giant Chess boards |
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| Amazing architecture |
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| Prague Castle Church |
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| Dvorak, my bud |
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| The White Tree of |
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| Dvorak Hall after the concert |
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| Mimosa time |
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| So many bridges |
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| The original and good budweiser |
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| Astronomical Clock |
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| Dvorak Hall |
The concert was magnificent. I got the most expensive ticket, which was $24. The first symphony was nothing but grand. The old Czech man and his wife next to me definitely knew the pieces because they were both moving their hands and anticipating the next notes. This allowed me to not feel weird getting riled up over Beethoven. The concert really was a rock concert though. The amount of musicians was way more than a Beethoven Symphony required - e.g. there were 8 Contrabasses. It was, in fact, louder than when I listen to them with my headphones.
The conductor, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, was a tiny, old Japanese grandpa looking figure. He was so happy up on the podium and his version of the symphonies is different than the one I have - he played with the dynamics a lot more...probably more Beethoven-ish. At the end of every intense movement he would wave his baton to cut off everyone like a signature, giving the musicians his approval. Like the concert I saw in Munich, the applause at the end was deafening, long, and made my hands raw. These Europeans must have hands of leather or something if they do this every time.
I actually did my Referat, a presentation, for my language class about the symphonies and the trip to Prague. It was fun speaking about something that I love in a language that I also love.
We did get bus reservations from Prague to Nürnberg, which was awesome because that trip is only 3 hours and 40 minutes. After getting the reservations, we ate at a Chinese restaurant, where they gave us brandy at the end of our meal. I thought it was hard liquor so I took it as a shot. I got no class.
Then, after a day of walking and listening, we hit up a pub crawl. That was awesome.
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| Free booze for the first hour |
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| Crazy band we saw at one pub |
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| No guns, strollers, or dogs. |
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| A lot of crawlers |
The next week, I went to the Audi Museum in Ingolstadt and spent the night there. The next day we just hung around the Danube (Donau in German) and soaked in some sun.
Pics on Picasa:
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| Prague and Ingolstadt |
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| Audi Museum |
Then Easter weekend came and Mama Cronin came up to visit. She had been on a hiking adventure in Tuscany and met me in Munich.
While in Munich, we went around to my favorite places. After going to the Residenz 2 times before, I went again and finally got to see the whole thing. I missed out on the best rooms before - as in all of the Emperor's rooms. I took her around Englischer Garten to the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten and we had a blast there listening to the German music and meeting the people at our table.
Online I found a concert playing at Frauenkirche at 9:00 pm. We showed up a little after 8 and found ourselves at a 3.5 hour easter vigil mass blocked on either side by 10 Germans. No escape. It was cool seeing the whole cathedral light up in that easter tradition of pass-the-candle-light. There was some pretty awesome music too, but I don't think 8 readings and a Psalm in between each are needed.
We then took the train to Eichstätt and we walked around the castle, went through some of the museums there and ate one of those dinners that only a mom would pay for. Unfortunately, we couldn't hang out that much because I had to prepare for my presentation. Here are some pics of her stay:
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| My University's Royal Garden |
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| The trail I take up to my apartment |
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| Eichstätt and the castle in the background |
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| My mom bought me a traditional jacket! |
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| Exploring the castle |
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| Haha. Castle puke |
So now the semester has officially started and I have figured out all my classes. The list:
1. History of the Weimar Rebuplik
2. Overview from Old to Modern English
3. History of Latin America
4. Dialects of the German Language
5. Psychology 101
I've been getting my books via amazon because Germans don't really believe in used books...I guess if they are only paying 500 Euro per semester they can pay for new books. I've been reading up on the history of the English language and the German Dialects simply because ALL of these classes are in German and those are the first books I've gotten. While reading, I open my doors and the coolest little distraction comes in....meet my neighbor Katze:
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| My room mate trying to make her go on the chair. She's not listening |
She's a cool cat. Oh yeah...I have a room mate too. He warps his accent to high german so I can understand it and he studies a the Fachhochschule, which is college for people who are going into very specific work. I always though Germany was a little stuck in the 90s, and my room mate being in a Ska band just confirmed it more. It's cool because his friends come over and eat in our room because we have a kitchen. Even more German practice!
So life is good. I'm currently illegal in Germany....but life is good. Cheers to y'all in the US! Congrats to all the Seniors and all my friends with finals!
...you're illegal?
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