Ich habe gestrugglet (meist mit dem Kopierer).

Hi gang, so this week didn't involve any travelling. Now that classes are picking up, it's starting to look like I might actually have to do homework--on the weekends, oh God. How quickly I have forgotten my Tufts study habits. But regardless of my remaining in Tübingen, it has still been a very fun week. (Sidenote: that's actually one of the perks of staying here for a year. You don't have to constantly feel like you should be travelling and seeing things every weekend, because if worse comes to worst, I'll get to see it during the two months we have in between semesters. For now, I can just enjoy Tübingen and the surrounding area some weekends. And it's quite a bit easier to meet real Tübingen folks this way as well.)

In any case, this week involved a lot of school. Tuesday and Wednesday always feel like marathon days, because all of my classes (with the exception of my seminar on Thursday at 8AM) are within the span of those 48 hours, and they start rather early in the morning and end rather late. And when I am not in class on these days, I, by and large, live in Brechtbau, which is the foreign language building and was probably really cool once, like maybe in the 1980s, but is currently just falling apart and its basement bathrooms look like dungeons. But it has a decent café-type thing and the wifi is far better than in the Uni Bib, so there's that. Also there's a new doughnut shop that just opened right next door. So studying there has a lot of attractions. In any case, despite the packed two days and living in the Brechtbau, it's awesome starting class at 8AM on Tuesday and finishing with them for the week on 10AM on Thursday. Happy ~5 Day Weekend every weekend. :) 

Riding the Struggle Bus

So those are the class schedule things. There's also the "Oh my God, we have a test in this class in 2 weeks" freak out on Thursday morning. Yeah, that was really cool, and it was this freak out that led me to the top of the Hegelbau on Friday morning to figure out 1) how the Zeitgeschichte Seminarraum (one of Tübingen's many random libraries) works 2) where my Zeitgeschichte (the aforementioned freak-out class) reading is and 3) how in the hell to use a German copier. All of these are the reason for the post title: an English-ism that, according to a friend of mine, has been adopted by the Germans. I also want to make "mit dem Strugglebus fahren" a thing. So on Friday morning, there was a lot of confusion, asking people what in the hell this whole "German library" thing is. Eventually with the help of the librarian I figured out where the Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte archives were (in a side room on the main part of the library, kept in encyclopedia looking books, instead of the magazine I was expecting). I grabbed a few of the relevant anthologies and then made my way downstairs to the copier (naturally after asking where that was--I really looked like a helpless idiot, if that wasn't already apparent). I then came with my large anthologies back downstairs to the woman who had my ID. (Here you can't bring any backpacks into the stacks part of the libraries, because they don't want you to steal books. So I had to borrow a lock, give this sweet little old woman my ID, and take my stuff downstairs to the lockers in the basement/dungeon.) She gave it back so I could use the copiers. However, German copiers are not immediately apparent as to how exactly they work. So after a minute or so of looking confused, this sweet little old woman came over and showed me exactly how to use it, and then again after I wanted to double-side the sheets and couldn't quite figure out how. (1 seitig>1 seitig, 2 seitig>1 seitig, 1 seitig>2 seitig, and 2 seitig>2 seitig got a little bit confusing .) So there was that. I eventually got the hang of it. So just like everything in Germany, I have to look rather dumb before I can actually get things right. 

Which leads me back to both fun things and, unchronologically, to the start of my week. I didn't really do much during the day on Sunday besides print out some reading for my econ and poli sci classes. However, that evening, Hannah invited me to go to Wohnzimmer and watch Tatort with some people from this student group that we're becoming a part of. (It's kind of in that awkward stage where we are either still becoming a part of it or are already a part of it and I just don't know.) So to backtrack: Tatort is a German crime show (translated to English as Crime Scene), which comes on every Sunday. Each episode is set in a one of a few different major location in German and the actors in each are associated with the place. It's been running since the 1970s. And from what I understand, Germans love it. This past Sunday's was set in Erfurt and handelt von the murder of a teenage girl. (Sorry not sorry for the Denglish...it was really the first thing that came to my head...I'm starting to talk kind of funny.) So Hannah, Erin (an American who works for Unterwegs), a German guy named Max, and I watched Tatort in Wohnzimmer sitting at an old sewing table. (More background: Wohnzimmer is a sort of hipster-y bar in Tübingen. It's set up like a living room, hence the name, with couches and random tables--ie an old sewing table--, has a large projector to watch football matches, Tatort, etc, and has tons of board games. It's pretty cool.) Now here comes the struggle part. I went up to the bar and asked for a Paulaner. I didn't specify Hefeweizen, because I figured everyone's first assumption when they heard Paulaner was beer. Well, nope. I went back to the table with a bottle, I didn't really pay too much attention to it. However, when I opened it is tasted like Coke mixed with Sprite. That's because this Paulaner was called a Spezi. It's a weird, but still pretty good soda drink. Most certainly not a beer. When everyone was done laughing, Max's response was "I have never seen someone fail to order a beer in Germany." I have a talent. (Although Max did reassure me the same could have happened to him, as most humans would assume that, when one is asking for a Paulaner, a beer--and not a weird soda drink--is desired.)

In addition, this week, I did zumba with Unterwegs people on Monday and began my English conversation group-leading with the local high school students on Tuesday. That was really fun, and the 7 girls are cool. We played some games, and they told me they are going to teach me Schwäbisch. So I might come back talking really funny. (Schwäbisch German, in addition to having completely different words for things, has a really hilarious accent.)

Then on Thursday, there was Donnerstag Abend with Unterwegs, which was great fun. It's cool to becoming part of this group. The people are super awesome and funny, and they feed me free food every other Thursday, so that doesn't suck. Each Donnerstag Abend involves a dinner, some kids in the group playing music, a speech, dessert, and great conversation. During this one, I learned from Max that "ich habe gestrugglet" "(at least amongst him and his friends) is a thing. A thing that I am now going to use a lot. So yeah, Donnerstag Abend, great fun. 

She's a beaut.

Nothing too much happened on Friday besides me making a bomb avocado, tomato, Landschicken (similar to bacon) and Swiss cheese (although not called Swiss cheese) grilled cheese andthe copier struggles and then 4 hours of "intracultural communication" nonsense. Ute asked us to go to this workshop with this woman, who basically told us to reflect on our experiences and told us not to assume that the Germans will act how we think they will. I'm being bratty. The stuff was pretty interesting. But 4 hours with this woman (who was nice when she wasn't doing her job, but was rather condescending when she was) and no food (it was 12:30 to 4:30, as in right over lunch) made me rather cranky. Afterwards, we had a lovely dinner of ribs and Kartoffelsalat at Marlena's place. That was awesome and delicious. I also made 6 and a half avocados worth of guacamole again, to use up the rest of the cilantro in my fridge. So I definitely ate at least 2 avocados yesterday. Then later, Hannah, Louise, Lisa, Anna, and I went to see Thor 2...in German. The movie was surprisingly understandable. Especially given the last time I saw a movie in German (The World's End). It wasn't really just having to get the gist of things most of the time, but I actually understood each entire sentence. I don't know if that's because Thor's screenplay was simpler to understand, or my German is getting better. I liked it, but I don't think I will know whether or not it's a good movie until I see it in English.

So yeah, that's a very extended summary of my adventures this week. Big news for the upcoming weeks: I'm going to Prague next weekend! Team Spain and Friends and myself (to name everyone: Dani, Julius, Luiza, Parvati, Chichi, Gonzalo, and I) are leaving on Thursday for the lovely city that is Prague. This time, we're going to find the John Lennon Wall. Then a week after we get back, Tufts is taking us to Leipzig, Jena, and Weimar for a week. Which is awesome for two reasons: no school for a week and I get to see Max! Finally, SCHWEDEN IST IN 26 TAGE!! In any case, I should probably stop procrastinating and start doing my homework. Bis später, Kinder.