Du bist die größte fick Giraffe in die dum-dum Salat

Germany at its finest.

So Germany is a whirlwind of Deutsch sprechen, Leute kennenlernen, etwas machen, und schlafen (aber nur ein bisschen). Since Deutsch Kompakt began, every day is class from 9 to 3:30, with an hour and a half break for lunch, which thus far, I have spent getting Döner or some other delicious German food with either the Tufts kids or other people in the Deutsch Kompakt program. 

I guess, I will start with Deutsch Kompakt. So I did the placement "Test" (nicht eine "Prüfung"), which was fine, I guess. At least not as bad as I would have thought. Particularly the speaking part. (Spoiler: I got placed in the intermediate class, wooo.) Afterwards, we went to the Mensa (cafeteria), and had a very mediocre but cheap lunch. Instead of starting class or letting us go, the Deutsch Kompakt leaders had a walk around Tübingen, but we--the Tufts crew--decided against going, because it was largely showing them things that Ute had already showed us, and getting a September bus ticket, which Ute had already done. Moral of the story: Ute is awesome. Instead of the walk, we went back to Froschgasse and chilled up 2:30, when we met up with the Deutsch Kompakt at the Neckarmüller Biergarten. I held off on ordering a bier and just talked with some of the kids in the program. It's funny. Despite Americans (which, unsurprisingly, have a majority), the predominate place that kids are from is Scandinavia. We have a lot of Scandinavian people in the program, which is cool. So yeah, talked with the group, and then went back to Eugenstraße (where I am living in case, I neglected to mention that) to nap and make dinner. 


Later, I met up with my Tufts groupies (and two German girls who live next to Theron) again at the Neckarmüller Biergarten, but this time we were there to watch "Fast Eddy" play some classic rock and folk music. It was actually the greatest time. I wasn't exactly sure what "the dream" was when people--my uncle--say "living the dream," but I found it. Sitting in a Biergarten, having a bier, and listening to chill live music. It doesn't get any better than that. 

The Man, the Myth, the Legend

In any case, Julius and I spent quite a bit of time wondering where Fast Eddy's accent came from (forced Southern, a little British...he said 'holidays' and a little something else). Eventually, his set died down, but Anita, one of the German girls, had dared Theron to dance with her in front of all the folks in the Biergarten. He agreed, and that was pretty funny. What was funnier, however, was an old hippie's reaction to it. This hippie, who is pictured below and has been described as a "paunchy Bono," quickly ran up and tried to hug (? not sure if it was an attempted hug or assault or what) Anita, but she very quickly ran away. Thus, it was Theron and Paunchy Bono left to dance in front of the crowd of aging Germans. Which was hilarious. Paunchy Bono kept on saying things in English, namely "love the one you're with" (Fast Eddy was playing the Stephen Stills song) and "I'm not gay!"  The dance ended and Paunchy Bono went away, only to come back and tell Yasmine that she's always naked and her kidneys are going to get sick (which apparently is something old German women say when your t-shirt rides up and exposes your lower back...old German women and Paunchy Bono). So yeah, after that we went home, because you know...9AM class...BLAH. 

So yeah, I've had 9AM class for the past few days.  A lot of German being thrown at me, which is good for me, and my German is improving and all. But it's so goddamned early. And my desire/will to do my Hausaufgaben is nonexistent. 

But enough about class: as far as after class goes, last night, I went with my Tufts people and the German girls to a club called Top 10 for students' night. Fun fact: in Germany you need your passport to go clubbing. I was surprised, since in Ireland they would accept my drivers license as a valid form of ID. But yeah, the club was fun. Really packed and hot and sweaty, but fun. They actually played a song off the Great Gatsby soundtrack, which was great and it was hilarious hearing the DJ yell things in German. 

And now tonight. Again, the Tufts folks were hanging out with the German girls, but this time we decided to go to a climbing wall. A really awesome climbing wall. To all my climbing friends: I think you would love this. It's a typical top-rope rock-climbing wall, but it's predominantly outside and huge. It's lovely. Unfortunately, the lady wouldn't let us climb, because not enough people knew how to belay and it was not really like Metrorock where they have people there to teach you. So instead, we went to get gelato, sat on the Neckarmauer, talked in German and English, and sang various songs. It was quite a lovely evening. 

Which I guess brings me to my realization: it's my one week Tübingen anniversary. Wooo. It feels like I have been here so much longer than a week but in a good way. I still feel like I have the speech of a 2 year-old (I do), and I usually make an ass of myself when ordering anything in a restaurant or food stand or just talking to Germans in general. BUT it's getting better.

So yeah, at some point, I shall elaborate on the funny differences between Germany and America, but I'll leave that for some other time. Jetzt bin ich so müde, und ich muss so früh aufwachen. Oh, also, the Deutsch Kompakt program is going to a lovely little place called Blaubeuren for a week-long retreat thing-a-ma-doodle on Sunday. In all likelihood, I will not have the interwebz. I guess what I am saying is peace out for a while kiddos.