I flipped an overeasy egg in the pan today without breaking the yolk!

Totally one-handed chef style.

Great things are happening here...

Whitman

All truths wait in all things,
They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon,
The insignificant is as big to me as any,
What is less or more than a touch?

Logic and sermons never convince,
The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul.

Only what proves itself to every man and woman is so,
Only what nobody denies is so.

A minute and a drop of me settle in my brain;
I believe the soggy clods shall become lovers and lamps,
and a compend of compends is the meat of a man or woman,
And a summit and flover there is the feeling they have for each other,
An they are to branch boundlessly out of that lesson untill it becomes omnific,
And untill every one shall delight us, and we them.

I found five Euros today!....Should have dropped in the church mailbox like I was tempted to do.

Why is it that I so often hesitate when I have impulses to do something good when it involves money...must be security...curious...

Things are going a bit better. I was surprised by how many responses I got to my last post, I guess I didn't reallize how down it sounded. I went to London for 3 days and had a great time. My audition went pretty poorly, I didn't crack or forget any words, but my voice suddenly stopped turning over correctly so anything above a D pretty much was swallowed and a little flat. Running stuff beforehand with the accompanist however (which I did too much of and tired myself out with) went really well.

I had an interesting moment on the Underground Friday. We had played a game in Szenische etuden where we paired up and had to look at our partner intently for about 3 minutes, imagining what their face felt like. Then, one of the pair closed their eyes and the other walked somewhere in the room. The partner whos eyes were closed then had to seek out their partner only feeling faces to see if the people they bumped into were their partner. One of the goals was to make people notice their barriers and such, but another was to really look at people. When you really look at someone, almost without fail you reallize how beautiful they are. Not sexy in a movie/magazine beautiful, but truly beautiful as a miracle of creation. Anyway, riding the Underground Friday night, I caught a glimpse of that any in the strangers riding the tube with me.

"Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
Not an inch nor a paricle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less than the rest."
-Whitman Song of Myself

After reading this section, I literally stopped the next time I showered and thought "darn...I am beautiful" (Such Vanity!)

80's Music, Jazz, and James Brown rarely fail to make me jolly.

I can finally do a brittish accent that doesn't turn into Scottish again.
One of the other big adventures of my trip to London was a BACKSTAGE TOUR of the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE! Really, it was rather unextraordinary. It was a big nice theatre with some amzing singers backstage. However the view from the stage was something else I must say. Ultimately, this has been a good trip for unmystifying places like the Met and famous singers. They are all real people with real passions and fears. Anyone who pretends to be something else isn't worth worrying about.

Hearing Katie was great too. She is still sounding amazing and was a real contrast in the 3rd act to the earlier ladies. The show was Tales of Hoffman with Rollando Villazon. He was actually in tune almost the entire time! Supposedly they were making a recording and everyone was a bit more conscious than usual. All in all it was an awesome show. Gidon Saks, who sang the villians was monstrous, definitely enjoyed him. Not sure how healthy his singing was but it sounded great.

Katie and I had a good time together. It worked out perfectly. The people she has been staying with left on Holliday a few days before I got there so I was able to stay with her! Saved so much money! It is amazing how nice it is to talk to another American when you are living on your own in Europe. Things you normally despise like Starbucks and McDonalds seem somehow like sinful pleasures when you have them with another American in Europe...haha. That was the fourth time I have eaten Mcdonalds since I have been here (far more than all together in the US) I did have it once in Mexico as well though. Still, I have never suggested it..haha. Movies like Rocky and Rambo are also frighteningly entertaining.

All in all I made it to London for 3 1/2 days and back for under $200. To accomplish that I did have to travel by streetcar, Regional train, Bus, Taxi, airplain, and shuttlebus. (thank you Semester Ticket!).

Regina and Freya left for Prague today so I have the Apartment mostly to myself. Iris, my other roommate, lives in a room through the common hallway and isn't around much, so it should be pretty quiet the next few days.

Can't wait to go home for Christmas, I have literally been getting butterflies and occasional chills thinking about seeing Miriam again. I just wish this week were over.
And most importantly....I hope the Lakers win christmas day...My holliday season depends upon it!

Nobody said it was easy

Living abroad, with hardly a soul you have known more than 4 months, is hard. One moment, I feel completely blessed and fortunate to have met such awesome people here and to have learned so much, and other days I feel stuck in a cold (literally) and foreign country away from the people I love. I guess in many ways that is life, but things seem a bit exagerated here.

I am not really enjoying singing much. I sometimes feel I have completely destabilized my voice, which I know ultimately will allow me to rebuild without so much artificial control. However, away from my normal supports and encouragement, I have honestly been wondering a bit what I am doing singing.

I have been thinking a lot lately about pride. What I do and what I believe from religion to music and how it relates to my pride.

Redlands may be just what I need next year. I don't imagine I will be stable from top to bottom in 6 months which makes me think a program really isn't important for me at this point. CCM has an amazing program, but if I am not able to sing full roles healthily and correctly, I don't think it would do me much good. However, I will still need a good voice teacher who truly supports me and makes me a priority. I shouldn't feel like I need to apologize when we schedule a lesson. I don't think that it shold be a voice teachers job to feed a singers-selfesteem, but they should be a friendly and encouraging companion. Simple math coupled with German culture seems to be obscuring that in my life at this moment. I don't think that would be the case with Sahuc (my potential teacher at Redlands).

Plus, I am in love. I mean I got it bad. and (when I am 1000's of miles away) that ain't good. I have long known that my career in music can't ultimately make me happy, and that I would make sacrifices some day for happiness. This year has been for me and without sacrifice and I find on the whole that something is missing. I just didn't think I would be ready to sacrifice so soon. However, I honestly am coming to think that Redlands really would be best for me. I can tune pianos and have a network in music already. Plus, with our currently unpredictable economy, the potential to live at home really is a good safety net.

The biggest downside to all of this, seems to be my pride. That is a terrible reason.

I will be singing Herr Reich in the Opera School production of the Merry Wives next semester and I actually am a little sad to give up that much time. However, I know I would regret it if I did not take part. In fact, it may be just what I need.

Still, daily life here is simply tiring. I feel like I am just waiting....which is a terrible way to live.

On a happy note...this comes after perhaps my two best weeks here. I really have bonded with my roommates and got to see all my amazing Fulbright friends. I also got to meet up with an old friend from highschool who I connected surprisingly well with.

No matter what my temporary outlook and current emotional swing....I am learning a ton.

This has ended up being a more personal post than I anticipated...oh well...haha

The picture is of my flat. My apartment is the second building from the left with a slightly darker ground floor. My window is the one furthest to the left. I often wake up to Italian or Turkish outside my window. My flat is in Neckarstadt, a portion of town with a rep for being mostly immigrants and it is mostly true. All in all, I think it is quite nice despite its accompanying rep for being dangerous. The wind smells most days of burnt chocolate from the factory over the neckar. I always imagined I would see Heidelberg again. I never thought I would live 20 km away for a year.

Red onions really are better than white

I am touching G's! I have not done that in a long time. I am finally having some success keeping my damn larynx down without using my tongue to overdo it. I made a point of really stretching it yesterday and today E's are nothing and even starting on F is not hard. Not terribly pretty, but it is getting there.

In other news...toast with cream cheese and Lachs is much better with a bit of thinly shave red onion than with white...yes...much better...white are merely offensive. I can use them all you want in coocink...delicious...you need that biting flavor...but raw...red really does make a difference.

Please click on the picture...

Last week was an interesting one. In some ways awful. in other ways pretty good.

I attended a week long masterclass in Northern Germany in a little town called Osnabrück. It may seem a little odd since the masterclass was with Herr Piernay, but seeing as it is the only time I had or will have had lessons with him this month, it was a bit necessary. It was also the first time I got to see him work with other students and that was certainly an invaluable experience at this point. Unfortunately, my lack of German skills allowed me to not realize the course was twice as expensive as I thought (an experience shared by my Korean friend...a goofy girl with the most beautiful high A I have ever heard and surprising communicative abilities).

I learned a lot this last week. I have a much clearer picture of what to practice and how to practice as well as a good idea of where my voice is sitting at the moment. Now that my tongue is getting out of the way, I am discovering what natural darkness I have and thinking bass-baritone.

I also got a good sense of how Professor Piernay teaches. I guess it is understandable that a teacher who remains a valuable resource for some of the most successful singers around would always have some criticism to say, especially with intermediate level singers. It is a very different approach to teaching that I am used to. While not the greatest for ones self esteem, it definitely also has its values. In a surprising number of instances, he does not offer advice. Rather, Piernay asks in a sometimes mocking tone why one simply does not sing an interval cleanly, in tune, in tempo, or with the proper technique. What is also surprising is that the results are usually quite good (after an attempt or two). With Piernay, you come to a lesson to learn what can be improved or what is wrong. He tells you in a usually very efficient though often painfully direct manner. The benefit of this, aside from the obviously learning involved, is that one must separate their identity from their voice.

I have definitely discovered this year that music cannot be what makes me happy. I had a hunch about that last year and started to delve into poetry for my artistic enjoyment and maintain that this is a good idea. I will always love music, but my happiness cannot be tied to it (and especially not my success).

The course was set in a house in Osnabrück, a beautifully gray and uninspiring town with a lovely steel factory. Fortunately there was a very pretty little nature park near the house that I spent most of our breaks in. Nonetheless, I started to go a little crazy. The close quarters of the house (my room was also a smallish attic with a sunroof through which the full moon prevented me from sleeping well) mixed with the stress of hours of masterclass with Piernay made it a lond week.

The train ride home was a disaster as well. My train ride was supposed to be 5 1/2 hours. An hour delayed by the time I got on. Then, and hour from home, it hit some sort of animal. After 3 hours of sitting in the middle of nowhere, we finally rolled to the next station. 1/2 of more repairs later, we were finally on our way again. However, for some reason with the schedule all messed up, the train did not stop in Mannheim. In stead, it rolled straight through to Heidelberg. I then had to catch a train back to Mannheim (fortunately only a 10 minute ride with the ICE). Anyway, it was 2:30 in the morning by that time so there was only one Streetcar per hour, which I had just missed, so I walked/jogged the half hour home. I was definitely glad that I had packed only a backpack for the week.

Arriving home at 3:00 am I did have some consolation, as Miriam and I spoke for 2 hours...ending the day at 5:00 am.

This picture is from an abandoned hotel in Heidelberg that I explored last time I was here and revisited with some friends a few weeks ago. 2 years ago, you ha to climb onto the roof and out to a window to get in. Now, all the doors are open. It has obviously been inhabited by squatters as last time I was there there were mattresses and cloths drying on a line. There is also a lot of spray painting saying things about squatting, you can't stop us, and this one I photographed. It's duality seemed good for a week filled with good discoveries and learning and some great new friends, and also one of the most frustrating, expensive, and emotionally challenging weeks I have had yet.

On a happier note. My brother won Met Western Regionals! I couldn't be happier for him :-)

I have an audition at the Guilhall Dec 10th and I am not looking forward to it. I did not get the Marshall Scholarship so unless money falls in my lap, it is kind of pointless. Who knows. Maybe some good will come of it. Nice thing is I will get to see some friends in London and maybe a backstage tour the ROH! That and Tales of Hoffman. Yummy...there is a good bass-baritone role in that...

I started playing viola again!

Regina hat auch ein Braccio und ich habe es heute noch mal gespielt! We are going to play a quartet together. Freya and Regina on violing, me on viola, and our friend Carolin on Cello. I am not terrible. It took a bit of getting re-acquainted with and I still need more practice, but it was echt cool.

Piernay hat gesagt "It is going quicker than I thought it might". He is always so direct and serious that that was a big triumph to me. I am definitely discovering a lot.

Today I met Kyle Ketelsen. Nice guy. Very to the point personality. I have noticed a sort of steely calm confidence in all of the young basses I have met. It is a curious phenomenon.

I have hiked the Philosophenweg schon 3 Male. Altogether, that makes about 10. haha. I will never get tired of it.

I discussed with one of my colleagues the difference between the woods in Marburg and Heidelberg. Heidelberg is so alive and sobright and cheery. Marburg woods were truly erie. It is fun that Goethe wandered through Heidelberg philosophizing and the Grimm brothers wrote dark stories in Marburg. It is not surprising the difference. I never reallized woods could ahve such different spirits about them.

Edible epiphanies

two nights ago I cooked a delicious meal of spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce, balsamic reduction (thanks to a fellow Fulbrighter) and cheese bread. However, I was devastated by my discover that a clove of garlic is too much for some people, namely my room mate, who was reduced to picking schunks out of my incredible invention.

I have long that that it is utterly important to know when to keep ones mouth shut. Today, I learned that opening my mouth is sometimes more important. Standing in the kitchen of my apartmen doing dishes this afternoon, I finally found and executed the direct correlation between singing through the passagio, and opening your darn mouth. The result, some surprisingly good and easy high notes.

As of yet, I have been unable to incorporate Piernay's lessons into my high voice. I don't know if this is what he has been trying to get me to do, but it feels and I think sounds pretty good. I will have to wait to Friday to see what he says, if I can reproduce it in the lesson.

I have been putting off posting for a time I could really write all that I have wanted to, but instead I have waited untill I can't remember everything I wanted to write. Haha. Oh well.

I have been incredibly lucky here. I have made some wonderful friends, my room mates included, as well as a student from Peru, with whom I speak a mix of Spanish, German and English. Other friends come from China, Italy, Poland, and Canada making my time here more international than I even expected.

I was starting to go crazy not having any poetry here. Fortunately, someone sent me Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. Wow. I read a little bit of it about a year ago and aparently was not in the right mood. I definitely am now. I look forward to reading it over the next weeks.

It is curious. I have rather little that I must do here. I am taking a few courses: Italian, foundations of speech, Feldenkrais, a theatre games course, vocal technique, voice lessons and coachings. Still, I only have about 10 hours of class a week.

Fortunately, that means I am able to read and spend time along the neckar or practicing.

Lessons are going well, but I am changing a lot to take artificial darkness and tension out of my voice, so I have a few holes in my voice.

This picture is from the top of the Heiligenberg in Heidelberg. I rode my bike there a few days ago and returned to hike the philosophenweg with my peruvian friend. Heidelberg is beautiful in Herbst. This pic makes me think of a picture frame filler.

It is funny. One minute here I will be following everything in a conversation and the next I am completely lost. It is frustrating, but keeps me motivated to continue studying German.

post a week after written

pretty ood...tired...but god
and so it goes when your keyboard is not terribly sensitive.
Today begins yet another new chapter in my Deutschland experience. Today after three weeks of living with a guest family and riding an hour by streetcar to school each way, I finally move into my WG! (apartment in Mannheim, only 10 minutes by bicycle from the school) And may I say that cruising through a completely flat city at 10:30 at night on the way to a party is a pretty awesome time. In fact it was better than the party itself, though i finally was able to salsa dance a little without being entirely self-conscious.
In spite of the inconvenience, the homestay has been a good experience. It is funny, as I have been in Germany, I have eaten more Mcdonalds and heard more American pop music than I did in probably 22 years of life in America. Anyway, it has been interesting living in Fußgönheim (as the sound of the ever relaxing voice of the street car pronounces the name beautifully in my head with a slight emphasis on the Füß). The town is surrounded by agriculture and it is not uncommon to get stuck behind a tractor on the main street where my family lives. They are right across from the church and ever 1/4 of an hour the bells chime, along with a furious display at various important hours throughout the day. Benjy, my families dog, never fails to howl in misery.

This picture is from Speyer, a town near Fußgönheim.

Wachenheim

Today I rode my bike 10 km to a town named Wachenheim. It rained, blew like the dickens and was ultimately rewarding. It is quite funny though, the beautiful little European towns....with huge farming vehicles hulking through the streets.

The dog who bit me and a new home

I am free! Free of that cursed application! I just hope I make it to the interviews….

I had a truly German cultural experience yesterday. I went to Ikea. While strolling the vast warehouse of housery, with Ricky Iglesias playing over the speakers, I had a epiphany. I was in one of those dreams where everything is the same, but you can’t understand a word anyone is saying. Really though, I have had a surprisingly good time the last few days doing terribly ordinary things with my host family. It is a really cool experience and very different from anywhere else I have lived in Germany. My host family lives in a little town called Fußgönheim. It is about 15 km out of Mannheim, 50 minutes by S-Bahn, and you can walk from one end of the town to the other. The family lives across the street from the one church in Fußgönheim, making it remarkably easy to find, as the point of the steeple is the highest point in the town.

My host mother teaches guitar and my host father works at a chemical factory which seems to be one of the largest employers in the area. My room is comfortable and thank the lord I have internet (it is sad how dependent I am, but in my defense, enrolling in a school in a foreign country requires particular access to information).

My newly made American friends are now dispersed throughout Germany, though a decent sized contingency is in Heidelberg, 25 km from my flat in Mannheim.

Speaking of new friends, my new roommates seem really cool. They threw me a birthday party and are so cool that I was sad to move out for the three week home stay. Fortunately, My guest family is really nice as I have already said.

Today, I also had my second lesson with Piernay….man….stressful…but good. Then I got bit by a dog (several times in fact...not bad....just a split knuckle), ate spaghetti, and went to bed. Im allgemeinen, it was a pretty good day.

Marvelous Mannheim

I have reached Mannheim and once again have a working computer with internet, at least for the next two days untill I start my homestay. I believe I am going tom Mannheim tomorrow for a festival, and then having a party at our flat for my birthday. I have already met several more cool people here, and it looks to be an awesome year. Everyone says Piernay is a good teacher as well, in fact one of them joked about calling me sie instead of du when he heard I was studying with him.

All in all, I am exhausted from a bonfire in the woods last night and a day of travelling. But very content. The bonfire was pretty funny. Two eagle scouts, a Cameroonian Medical Student and I all huddled around a pile of damp wood, trying for hald an hour to start a fire...It went eventually. Sorry...german translation. Ghislain turned out to be our best German friend in Marburg and it seems we made quite an impression on him as well. Really is encouraging when we are able to see how we have promoted intercultural understanding and making potentially lifelong friendships. The picture is of him.

Mannheim looks to b pretty relaxed, though riding a bicycle is rather hairy at times. Joes bike (the fellow whose room I am renting) is a touch to big for me, but functions none the less. I jut feel like I am riding a horse when I am on it.

Deutsch is going well, though my pace of comprehension is still a little slow. Still, I can enjoy listening to a conversation and contribute when asked directly.

I am sleepy...yes....

I miss my Marburg buddies already though. What a great group of people. Just meeting all of them was a once in a lifetime experience.

Dead Computers

I have been forced to take a break from blogging by a dead computer. Today I move to Mannheim, I will really miss all of the Fulbrighters here, but it will be nice to start really singing again. I sang at a little concert the fulbright musicians gave last night and it was nice to bea ble to integrate the things I have been working on with the little bit of singing I have been able to do here.

Will write more when settled into Mannheim.

Effortless F's

Well....It is has been 4 days since my first lesson with Mr. Piernay, and I am singing effortless resonant F's and even rather easy F #'s and we didn't even work on my high range. I think that taking a break this summer was a good idea. My instrument grew a lot. Now having had some time to step back as well as develop some more of the physical goods, I think I am ready to start fixing some of my vocal "tricks" as I would call them. Finally free up my larynx and tongue and really start using my breath. It is wonderful, I think all my lessons, coachings and Alexander Technique lessons have really prepared me to embark on a journey in more technically correct singing. Already many of the concepts explaine while at Pepperdine are becoming clearer and I am finding how to utilize them. So far this year looks to be exactly what I wanted: A time when I didn't have to worry about singing an E or F in performance next week and can truly explore, discover and free my voice.

I definitely have been artificially darkening my sound and in the wrong way. I was manufacturing my sound so much in my throat and with so much subglottal pressure that I was never able to truly utilize my breath. Hence, when I would try to use my breath support or increase my breath intensity, I would end up doing 1 of two things: 1. Continue to use my throat to Control the sound sabotaging my breath and use subglottal pressure and muscular manipulation to overly rotate or 2. increase my rate of breath expulsion hence pushing too much air between my strained chords resulting in a very unpleasant and I believe unhealthy sensation.

I now am finding (I believe) a true application for the inhibition of the Alexander Technique which is allowing me to utilize what Dr. Price always taught me. That coupled with my new attention to overtones and resonance (thanks largely to Dr. Lofquist) is enabling me to explore and appraise new methods of singing which are free and definitely utilize my breath.

In my lesson with Piernay, we spent most of the short amount of time singing exercises doing one the same exercise Dr. Price started with. Establishing the independance of the tongue from the jaw singing ia ia ia. Man Alexander Technique is helping with that. It is gonna be really good for me to start at square one again and hopefully this time avoid the traps I fell into over the last four years in spite of my teachers warnings.

I wonder if I may get into the baritone range? That would be unexpected but fun :-D

Intense...

So....I have met Mr. Piernay! I am afraid he was just what I was hoping for, and now I hope that I can take it. He is in many ways, very German. Very to the point and exact. I think I will grow a lot this year, but I think I will also truly be tested. I just have to believe that if he is willing to work with me he thinks I have real potential. Now he is a bass...haha...speaking of which, I very well may be a bass-baritone...time will tell.

Turns out he had heard my CD. Nice thing was I managed to sing a darn effortless F in the first few minute in Vi Ravviso though I was quite nervous. Next lesson is October 1st. Long ways away, but at least he is willing to see me when he gets back...haha.

In other lighter news...I met the folks I will be living with! What a blessing! I think this will be a really good year. Communal food and chores...and a bike! yes! that saves me so much hastle and money. My room is totally furnished and then some. This housing arrangement literally fell in my lap and it looks to be one of the best parts of this grant. I actually started thinking in German today...and after 3 hours auf Deutsch...it feels easier...haha. yes! They all speak English, but are totally patient with my German, which has improved soooooo much in three weeks.

All in all my excursion to Mannheim today was a bit terrifying, definitely mixed things up (like my insides and my pride), but all in all quite successful.

Oh yeah, the Mannheim Music School is right next door to the theatre some of us tried to see X-men at...so wierd that I could walk by something that would become rather important in my life 2 years later and never know.

The hardships of the Fulbright life

It is sometimes hard to believe that two governments are paying us to do this. This weekend we made a trip Saalburg, an ancient Roman outpost on the Northwester border of Roman Empire. Wile there we shot bows and arrows as well as threw spears for about an hour. Granted, 6 hours of German Every weekday is a bit tiring, but still!

In other news I have finally found a room to practice after hiking 20 minutes into the woods to the to an enclosed forest grove to practice as before. It is interesting to see the loggin practices in a foreign country. all along the trails deeper in the woods here there are evenly space gaps with deep tire treads and all of the trees remove in a column the width of a logging truck I found up there as well. It makes me think of Fern Gully.

Logistics are working themselves out as I now have a bank account, have gotten in touch with Mr. Piernay again and have my room pretty much squared away. It is funny what a triumph even a seemingly trivial task can be, such as mailing a letter, when you are in a foreign country. Especially when you utilize you newly learned vocabulary and grammar and people clearly understand you more easily. German Diction sure has paid off as well. I have been told several times I speak good German (even when I sometimes am guessing!).

All in all, this has and continues to be a great blessing.

Mittelaltlichermarcht

Haha...that is not even a particularly long German word. Yes....the things we do in foreign countries we would not otherwise do...like for to Ren fairs. At an authentic castle somehow doesn't seem as nerdy, no offense to my ren fair friends, and like any hope of not being a nerd. Above and to the right are Marco and David, a chemist and Pianist from Yale Respectively. I thought I had something to say...but am now unispired. Have met several German Students and my German is getting much better. I will probably delete this post later. heh....I need to go to bed....

A Grimm Experience and some sacreligious sarcasm

Two nights ago, I set out on a jog in the woods around 8:00. One thing led to another and I found myself in the forest, in the dark without a flashlight. Fortunately I have a respectable memory for trails and was able to find my way out to the highway and back to the dorms but nonetheless it was a truly unsettling experience. For anyone who may not know, the Grimm brothers both study law in Marburg and wrote many of their stories here in a tea room we actually visited on a tour.
Having been alone in the woods in Marburg at dusk, I got a taste of the inspiration behind the Grimm brother's tales. If ever I believed in woodland nymphs and spirits, it was in these woods. I am not sure why, but there is something mysterious and erie about them, and also very beautiful.
The tombstones above are from the graveyard in Christenberg. I hope the second does not offend anyone, though thankfully, I was not the only Fulbrighter who found these to be funny.

an embarassing moment feels like home

Today we went on a tour of a little mountaintop called Christenberg. It was an old celtic site/ millitary post/ church and we had a lovely BBQ with Wurst and Steak. We through the forest and saw the old fortifications and ended our tour in the Church there. A modest little chapel with the usual cavernous acoustics. Halfway through the tourguide's talk, he made some joke in broken English and a few of us Chuckled. I unfortunately let out a small bellow and the entire group of 40 Fulbrighters and our liason with the university turned to look at me and giggle. Strangely, it felt very much like home.

German class is going well. It is difficult but I was actually told by a german sales representative that I spoke good German! Of course they were trying to sell me something. Nonetheless, I have set out to read Prince Caspian in German and am so far very capable of following the plot, the needless to say many of the words are foreign to me. What an incredible group to travel with, though I really can't wait to get to Mannheim and be completely immersed.

Ich bin da!

I have now been in Germany for three days and finally have my internet up and running. In spite of getting only 10 minutes of sleep, waiting over an hour for my baggage and thinking that the timer on my watch was actually the correct time of day (miraculously only 12 minutes behind the hour) I caught both my connecting trains to Marburg and got here without a hitch.
We began our language program today and to my surprise I am in the 3rd highest of 4 but do not feel out of place. I should learn a lot in the 6 weeks and even more in the following months. It is a remarkable group here with 40 Chemists, biologists, historians, writers, composers, pianists, photographers and singers. The scientists definitely compose the great share as there are only one or two of each of the artistic fields. Nonetheless it is an invigorating gathering. It is so nice to take a language class with people who want and are able to learn.
Anyway, I should write my mother and go to sleep. Bis Spaeter.

oh bother

Sad...but true...I miss my girlfriend a lot. I have spent the last 5 days almost never leaving my house trying to organize the mayhem of returning from 3 months in another state, graduating from college, preparing for life in a new country with a 44lb limit on luggage and breaking in a new computer. Sadly, this monotonous mayhem leaves much time for missing Miriam (my girl) yet still stresses me out to a darned near depressing degree. The good thing about leaving is that I will be in a new place with plenty to distract me, but not too much.

And so I begin blogging.  A potentially peculiar pursuit wrought with wierd and wacky words wanting for wisdom and lacking in luster.

My intention is to document my deutsch daring deeds and disaster, though the latter will most likely outnumber the former.

It is two weeks a almost to a T untill I take-off and I have a ton of tasks to perform prior to my departure so I should surely stop pointless printing and publish this post.