welcome back

Well, I am back in Germany, back to the rain and back to the daily routine, but also back to my old keyboard which I like much more than that in the Belmont library...
After the exhausting journey and my first day back in school (which was quite chaotic as expected) I am now left with a lot of memories to mull over and a sunburn which seems totally out of place in this cold and rainy country...
The bed is definitely better and more cosy - not very difficult considering the plastic matresses that caused contact paranoia in some of us and the thin blankets that were in the hippest see through look. Unfortunately, I can not really enjoy my cosy bed because my body tells me all the time that it's not time to sleep yet - I hope the jetlag will pass soon.

The flight was horribly long, but there was plenty of sleep - so I could sleep well. The last day was rather quite after the others had left to go on thier fabulous road trip. At least I could conclude my reading of Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country which turned out to be a really good read that definitely fitted the journey. It was particularly interesting to read about American idionsyncracies while sitting beside a typical American on the plane who, although he had lived in Ireland for 4 months, did not have a clue where Dublin is... There you go, thanks for pointing all of that out to us, Bill. But the ignorant American was as nice and frinedly as almost all the people I have met during my stay and that is something that really got me and which I will definitely keep in mind very positively.
A lot of my prejudices abotu America were actually confirmed and I certainly gained more as well, but what striked me was the warmth and openness of the people we met. Although it was superficial in most cases I still appreciate the positive American attitude and the way people approach you. It makes so many things much easier and your day just that little bit brighter...


I envy the others who are still on the road and have possibly had a glorious day in Memphis, who are now probably sitting down to lunch while I make myself ready for the first Volleyball training in weeks - something I have really missed. Frisbee could not quite compensate for that ;)

I also want to tell you about our last night out which was a bummer in most respects becuase it did not turn out to be the biggest party ever as most of us were tired or just not in the mood. Still, it was worthwhile and, as every experience in a foreign country, immensly interesting. Three American girls took us out to one of Nashville's tourist magnets: The Wild Horse Saloon. We were supposed to learn line dancing there. But because the prices were rather high and the dancing did not turn out to be very taxing or entertaining we soon changed sites. In Jackson's, a typical student bar, we got well fed and we then moved on to grab some more beer in another bar. Thanks to our American hosts we did not only get to know those places, but also a portion of America. First impression of the evening: all American students drive huge cars, in our case a huge pick-up, a SUV and a Mercedes. Can you believe that? And they did not borrow them from mummy for the night, they dirve that car every day, even the 400 yards to uni.
second impression: if an American asks you anything, do not taqke it serious. Most of the time they do not really want to know tha answer. But they will frequently react with outcries of "awesone" and "how cool". Do not get too intimidated by that. This is just a way of saying that someone is not really interested. Anyway, they usually ask the same question again a couple of minutes later.
Impression no. 3: Do not expect young Americans to know what they want. Usually, their parents work it out for them. They take up some subject in uni (who cares what) and then study for 4 years, basically enjoying there time... Others, especially girls, (and I swear, this is not a joke) come to uni for the sole purpose of finding themselves an appropriate husband - the so-called MRS degree. I was really shocked by that because even after asking several times and trying to find out more about our American friends' motives there still was a huge void. I do not want to sound too rude, but most of them really expect that everything will work out or be worked out for them. To put it in a nutshell, I think they are terribly spoilt. But well, I guess that is a side-effect of their parents being rich enough to be able to afford to send them to uni at all. I don't know, but the gold digger phenomenon is somethign completely strange to me. And seeing a living example of this amde me really wonder.

Not that I think Germans are better in a way. To be honest, we are far too sure of ourselves when comparing us and our very high culture to America, but German students to me just seem more mature and independent than the American ones.


Well, I have to be gone because I yearn for some nice German food, fruits and fresh vegetables and stuff. Wow, how I missed that. The best food I had in America was actually all the nice sushi - thanks to PM. I will always remember that lovely place - not just for the sushi!
So now I will have some lovely bread and cheese and an apple. How does that sound? Boring? No, definitely not - the best fed for a while...


Then I will take out my bike and cycle to the gym (although it is raining!!!). It will take approximtely 5 minutes, I could be faster by car, but I do not own one and I do not need one as my bike and public transport get me everywhere I need to go to. So good bye America, thanks for the good time and all the nice experiences, thanks for Johnny Cash and Elvis, but thanks also for making me appreciate some bits about German culture just a tiny bit more!!!!