Language Course and Orientation, teil II

Part II


09:18, Freitag, 16 Maerz, 2012 - I'm sitting here at my desk listening to music. My room is a mess. I have laundry, dishes, and tidying to do. Today I don't have class; none until Montag! There's been a slew of events over the past two weeks. Mostly, I've just been getting to know the place. I've got a bank account, I've been registered with the town  (almost) and soon I should have a visa. Soon after I have those two things I should be able to matriculate to the University of Konstanz. German is certainly nothing if not a totally bureaucratic place.

My grasp of German is stronger than ever! It's all organic in its development. It's cool. I just had an easy language test yesterday.

I'm trying to limit my spending however I recently just purchased a Garmin 910XT with heartmeter and footsensor. It arrives in hopefully less than 4 days. The price tag on such a thing is not cheap. Somewhere between tophat and guitar. Can't wait to train with it! Today and tomorrow are 16km runs, a day break with stretching and icing, and then 20km runs. After this marathon I'm going to working on building muscle again. Personal fitness goals are important to have!

The weather is sunny and about 19! It's feeling very spring like. Time to air out your houses and throw away winter junk. Just throw it in the infinitely deep landfill down the road. Shame on you, you dirty scoundrel! Buy less, reuse more!

Will put pics up later.

20:01, Freitag, 16 Maerz, 2012 - I 've been wanting to do this all day, calculate my speed of my run. 17.432km in 1hour 30minutes. Including the water break halfway through at home. That gives a nice pace of 5:09minutes per km or a Marathon in 3 hours 36 minutes! I hope I can run that pace the whole time. I could do better if I had regular rehydrating every 15 minute as will be the case during the Marathon. Tomorrow I go to Freiburg. Now I go to a party and try not to drink too much. Or at least equal parts water to alcohol to stay fresh.

Pub Crawl

18:34, Mittwoch, 7 Maerz, 2012 - Konstanz is a conservative town. That is, conservative for an 80% student, German, beer-brewing town. It full of old and new culture brought by buildings and young people respectivly. Tonight I will meet hopfully a lot of young people out front a fountain in the old town at 19:30. That means I need to shower, as I just got back from a run, dress, catch a bus.  I'll also grab a beer from a store on the way since I'd rather pay 0.33 euros for the initial buzz rather than 2.50 which a normal beer costs in pubs. Bye, I'll try to grab a few pics.

00:13, Donnerstag, 8 Maerz, 2012 - See made it home safe and early dispite taking a gigantic detour and a long walk. Luckily Konstanz isn't too big. Full moon helped light the path and give me a sense of direction in twirling European streets. Got pictures and will post.

Language Course and Orientation, teil I

Part I

Me and some Frauen who are also doing language/orientation. 

The map of Uni Konstanz. It's a total labrynth! Full of
twisting stairs and halls. Much like European towns.

17:46, Montag, 5 Maerz, 2012 - The first day of language course and orientation arrives and I'm nervous. Things are about to cost a lot as I pay fees and register for various things. I still need an alarm clock. The phone I am borrowing from Oskar won't work until I get a SIM card in it. Speaking of which, I should go for a walk to Kaufland and get that done now. I will choose the 9.99 euro per month plan with O2. With that comes 200 minutes to any deutsch network, 150 texts, 50 MB, and free calling to any other O2 phone. Extra texts are 0.09 euros and extra minutes are 0.25 euros. It is an unwritten agreement that all students use O2 so that calling is free here. I like that. Anyway 9.99 is fiddlesticks compared to Canada.

A view from Mensa (cafeteria) window. Food sucks, but
view rocks!

About my money woes: Waking up I was nervous. Arriving late because of my alarm, albeit with Oskar and Jowalkheim, I was nervous. When a man stood up and said that here was here to distribute Stipendiums I was anxious. A Stipendium is a scholarship. When he called my name I was super happy! 2000 euros! Suddenly, worries becames foolish things of the past. I hate money and how it can twist the mind. If only freedom and happiness were free. Well it seems in Germany these things are closer to free than most place. Vielen Dank Baden-Wuerttemberg Stipendium Fund! Ich lieb dich!

I needed the walk home. Time to take it all in.

I also found on my way home from the orientation two flower pots and some decorations for my room.

I'll explain what happened during orientation later. Now I must leave you and return beer cans for a deposit which should pay for my SIM card.

Tschuss,

07:10, Tuesday, 6 Maerz, 2012 - After making my way to Kaufland last night, where at I found O2 is only open 09:00 to 19:00, I figured out how to return my beer can deposit and used the cash to buy food. Watermelon from Costa Rica was only 1.29 euros per kilogram. It's an unusual comparison to Canadian dollars per pound which is how most things are stupidly advertised in Canada. We use metric! The comparison is (1.33CAN/EUR)/(2.2lb/kg)x(EUR/kg) = 0.60CAN/lb. So that watermelon from Costa Rica is costing me 0.774 Canadian dollars per pound. Can someone clarify if this is a good price back in Canada. Also, for red peppers.

So with still no SIM and thus no alarm I came home. I was greeted by Oskar and Jowalkheim. We went to another persons place to pre-drink and then out to several bars in the Altstadt. Many were smoke filled. When we came to the last one I did not feel like buying a beer. The old man who ran the place gave me one for free. I humbly accepted. I am thinking that I will writing him a thank you card and buy him some flowers. He had fresh flowers at every table. It was quite empty last night in most of the bars. Funny for a Montag (Monday) night. Most patrons were old white haired men wearing nice clothing, chattering amonst themselves, and watching the German female fussball (soccer) team kick Sweden's ass. Oskar and Jowalkheim cared not that their fellow Swedish girls were getting tromped.

So this morning I allowed myself to rise naturally and here I find myself at a nice and early start. I was a tad worried as I fell asleep since I had drank so much beer.

Today I can expect some of what I did yesterday: form filling (immigration, school registration, random no purpose papers, eye color, height, how often I think strange thought,...ect). The Germans love bureaucracy just as much as Hermes! It makes me laugh outside, though I cringe inside at the mountain of paper I have to fill in. However, today I expect that we will begin learning German at our respective levels. Yesterday we had all taken a placement test before the guided tour.

Not too much time here, must be there for 09:00 and I'd like to visit the garden first.

Auf den Strassen, Bei den Leute, und Im Garten

My favourite plant from today!

 On the streets, among the people, and in the garten.

I finally have a bed sheet! And a borrowed Kissen (pillow)
from Wiebke.

14:23, Sonntag, 4 Maerz, 2012 - As a general rule, one must explore to learn and so have I done. My german is even bordering on intelligent sounding. I'm sorry if what I write comes out in weird sentence structure. I'm thinking in german grammar now and it is peculiar.

Oskar and Jowalkheim from Sweden.
Good guys, I live near them.

Freitag (Friday) Oskar, Jowalkheim, and I travelled around Konstanz Aldstadt (Oldtown) and met a Frau (Woman) named Wiebke. We bought utensils and got coffee and walked along the harbour. It was beautiful though I sense that the summer will make it more beautiful.

Wiebke, Jowalkheim, Osakar, and I got coffee (Osakar also a Doener) 

and sat at the harbour to relax in the sun. 

Wiebke fell ice skating two weeks before. 

Yes, there was ice only two weeks back!

Later that night I visited a bar with the two Swedish guys, Wiebke, and her friend. Beers were 2.50 euros. Sehr teur (very expensive). I think I prefer buying them in store for 0.33 euros per 500ml can. I'm building a tiny collection beer cans and bottles. Each is worth about a 0.25 euro deposit. Yes, the beer can deposit is worth nearly as much as the beer within.

Vladmir (no picture of him)
and I walked much of Konstanz.

Then, yesterday, which was Samstag (Saturday), I met up with Vladmir, a guy I met on Thursday while looking for my residence. We covered a lot of ground of Konstanz on foot, finding Netto (a cheap grocery store), and Kaufland (a poor Walmart equivalent). We also made dinner together, Kaesespaetzle and beer: Made with Spaetzle (a type of egg noodle), ground beef, speisequark (greek yogurt), pesti sauce, onions, carrots, and garlic. It was good.

Some infected plants in the Garten.

Every night I've been going for a run in preparation for the Vienna Marathon on 15 April. The altitude in Vienna is roughly 500m. Here it is roughly 400m. In Toronto it is roughly 100m. I don't feel too much out of breath but I know it will impact my performance when it comes to running a full 42km in little over a month. I am trying to push my volume per run to about 20km at a steady pace of 12km/h and cadence of 180 strides per minute. I am pretty good at keeping the high cadence even on hill climbs (and there are plenty of hills in Konstanz!), but the 12km/h is tough to keep. My toe shoes naturally cause me to land on the balls of my feet instead of the heel and so my calves are getting super workouts. They are always sore so keeping 12km/h is difficult.

I received eine Fuerlung (a guided tour) from Birgit Albert.
She said I might be able to plant a plant in the green house,
though they are usually only for endangered species.

Today I made a trip to the Konstanz Botanical Garden. Therein I found lots of beautiful things. As an ambassador of the Occupy Gardens movement in Canada I am proud to say the Uni Konstanz Garten supports our cause and would like to learn more about what we are doing in Canada to propagate freedom of food and nature. If you'd like to learn about Occupy Gardens (a play of words on Occupy Wallstreet) visit the Toronto chapter's facebook page. Hopefully, I can set up a chapter here.

The Picture Repository is full of garden photos I took today.

Stephanie is pollenating vanilla because there are no bugs
or bees to do it for her. She's from Berlin.

Today and tonight: get ready for tomorrow, as I start language camp. 30 grulling days of German vocabulary and grammatic structure crammed into my skull. Seeing as it's worth a semester's credit back in Canada it should be difficult. Good news, I don't have to study, just go out and drink and talk to people :p

Also, tonight I won't eat 20minutes before running. My spleen felt like it was going to split open last night, and that would be messy!

You know what I see here Jacob? Soldiers lined up and nearly ready for battle come Fruehling (Spring)!

From Missing Baggage to Made It

This is a guitarboard. It consists of a gentley packed guitar with
extra blankets for protection and a longboard strapped to it.

14:26, Thursday, 1 Maerz, 2012 - If anyone wishes to find me I'm at (+47.681071,+9174841). That's a GPS coordinate and google maps can help you place that. I made it all in one piece and I have all my stuff that I packed. Having said that, last minute packing tends to make it easy to forget things and I can think of at least one thing I'd like to have. Hey look at my friend "die Maus"!

Die Maus! GruB dich, wie geht's!

The weather is beautiful, and Helsinki has some competition here. Things are beautiful here.

Mein Fruhstueck (my breakfast).

10:13, Freitag, 2 Maerz, 2012 - Today, like yesterday, the morning started off foggy with dew on the ground. I woke up at 0800 without an alarm, a good sign. First things, I made breakfast which consisted of Speisequark, a banana, cinnamon, and coffee for an appetizer and then pork steak and onions sauteed in brautwein, a type of cooking wine. It felt hearty. I bought these things yesterday afternoon. I'm taking every opportunity to practice my German, this blog aside, so I walked to an old part of town to get my groceries at nice local Lebenmittelsgeschaeft.

Das Lebensmittelgeschaeft (grocery store)!
Aktion = good price!

Much of my afternoon consisted of searching for haupthausen Teller, or general home dishes. Everywhere I looked either they didn't sell pots and pans or it was outrageously expensive. I ended up buying a pan for 17.99 euros, a mokka maker for 7.99 euros (espresso coffee beans for 3.99 euros), and plate and cup for 4.97 euros.

In the process I met two guys from Sweden, who don't know German very well either, and we had a grand time drinking beer and walking around the Altstadt (oldtown).

So altogether the last day has been great! Things weren't so smooth but one day before, when I left Canada.

British Airlines: So smooth even the babies sleep.

Let me take you back to Tuesday morning. I woke up around 0700, quite excited, yet still unpacked. As a student I naturally work better under last minute pressure so things started flying together, almost magically, at once. In the space of five hours I managed to write two letters to OSAP asking for more money, and reassuring them that I am indeed a poor student, I packed all my belongings, and reasoned out all my last minute affairs. Perspiring slightly, and confident in the completeness of my packing, I loaded myself, backpack, and guitarboard into the car.

Off we drove to the airport, und so fing mein Flueg nach Deutschland an (and so began my flight to Germany)! Arriving at the airport, a nice one and a half hours later, I open the trunk of the car only to realize that my suitcase is missing! All 31.8kg, gone!

Uh oh is right, Josh you fool!

Uh oh! Name calling almost broke amongst the family but keeping cool heads we made quick decisions. Dad's going home at once to get the bags. Can he make it there and back in two hours? Did I mention we had left the house a little later than we planned and arrived at the airport at 15:15, my flight being at 18:30. Anyway, dad left because all we could do was either try or give up.

Meanwhile, my mom and I made our way inside to talk to British Airlines. Long story short, we must have had some feng shui going for us because in the end I was able to squeeze my way onto the 21:20 flight, even though the flight was booked full. Ironically, it worked out for the best because leaving the house late I wouldn't have been able to go out for dinner with my parents one last time. Switching flights made this possible.

Cheers mom! See you in August!

British Airlines: I like their service and I'd fly again with them. Lots of leg room, food was on par with normal in-flight food, and they served drinks four times over the course of the flight. Das steht mir gut (That's good with me)! Layover was three hours in London and I finally arrived in Zurich ahead of schedule at 15:50, 29 Februar, 2012. Happy Leap year all! And happy birthday aunt Lisa!

Luggage arriving. Thanks so much dad. It would suck to
miss Germany. Actually, I pretty much had all the necessities
for life with me. Guitar and music would have provided.

After landing in Zurich (spelled Zuerich in German), I got my true backpack out of my luggage and swapped it for the school bag I had used for carry on. I visited the info desk and got my first taste of the local dialect. I was schocked to find that my one and a half years of German class was nearly useless when faced with this accent. Their words seemed to be spaced differently and they made sounds for letters that weren't there! I think the long air travel and lack of sleep made things worse.

Train to Konstanz fro Zurich.
Utilizing reflection.

I pondered my options: stay in a Jungenherberge (youth hostal) in Zurich, stay in a hotel closer to the airport, travel to Kreuzlingen to a B & B where the owners actually may be off skiing in the Alps, travel to a tiny village to a B & B owned by a friend of the information desk lady's friend, or just take the train to Konstanz and look for something there. The Jungenherberge in Zurich was farthest from the airport and would have been 45 CHF (Swissfranks), or about 38.5 euros, plus transportation. Hotels were at least 80 CHF, or 68 euros. Villages and B & B's would have been fun but I wasn't feeling it at the moment. I decided to just head to Konstanz and look around there. It was 20:00, 1 Maerz, 2012 at this point. FYI free wifi is hard to find here but McDonalds always supplies it free for about 30 minutes.

McBeer and energy bar.

Train to Konstanz from Zurich was 27 euros. I'm sure it would be cheaper if I got the fare as a student but the option wasn't there. Arriving in Konstanz I met some beautiful sights, der Bodensee (lake Constance) for one. It was warm and the sky was clear. Firstly, I awkwardly made my way over to McDonalds carrying about 50kg of cargo. There I enojyed a lovely McBeer for 2.70 euros, and energy bar. From the crowd I saw in there I think McDonalds is considered a hangout for students.

My and Lars before we part ways, for
now at least.

From there I found that I should take the line 4 Bus to a Jungenherberge. But the bus was taking much too long so I took a taxi costing 10 euros. Konstanz's Jungenherberge is very cool for many reasons. Firstly, it's a massive tower placed on a hill and from the top you can probably see hundred of kilometres. I got a room on the first floor however with a guy named Lars from Belgium. He bikes everywhere and currently he is heading to Austria to visit some friends. He had some awesome stories and after a fittful sleep (the energy bar was too energizing) I had a plentiful and wonderful breakfast: bread, nutella, oatmeal with fruit and chocolate, yogurt, coffee, fruit, cheese, and meat. I needed the bug meal as I now had to walk and try to locate my residence.

My guitarboard!

Konstanz is a hilly place. I must have walked up twenty hills on my journey. But going down was easy. That's right, I rode my guitar board down hills dragging my suitcase behind me. I startled quite a few healthy Germans who were out for a morning run or walk as I zoomed past luge style. Laughing the whole while of course!

After what felt like hours, though it was only one and a half, I found my room. And my friend die Maus. I waited around for the Hausmeister (Housemaster or guy who maintains order around the residence). And you know the rest: groceries, met some Swedes, went out for dinner and looked for cutlery. Did I mention that things are beautiful here?