Two Month Reflection

Wow…the two month reflection. I can’t believe it is only two months – I seriously had to double-check on a calendar because I swear I have been here longer. I decided I want to do one of these every month, because it’s a good way for me to look back and think about the bigger picture, and since this blog is also quasi serving as my own journal in addition to a communication tool, it’s time to reflect. And I’m going to be honest.

I dubbed my month in Frankfurt as “the hardest month of my life” – but actually, I think this month takes the cake. As hard as it was in that city, I knew it wasn’t permanent – and maybe that was part of why it was so hard. I knew I couldn’t settle in and get comfortable. But since I’ve been here, and I know I do need to settle in and get comfortable, and try to actually start making a life for myself because I’ll be here for a while, I have had more roadblocks than successes. And it’s easy to get frustrated and worn down when you have an open canvas and no paint to fill it, and no matter how hard you look, you can’t find paint to start your artwork.

I’ll let you go back on your own and read the various entries where I chronicled all the frustrating situations I have dealt with, but I’d like to think that I have done a reasonable job in attempting to get myself in the right places at the right times, and using available resources to do the best job I could. Coming up on the fourth week of school and fifth week in Dresden, I don’t feel like I know much more than I did when I first got here. And I’m not satisfied with the artwork that is forming.

What’s really the problem, as broad and general as I can make it? Am I homesick? Am I lonely? Am I frustrated? I know I don’t like the university, but why?

Depending on who you are and when we last talked, there are several different states of being I have embodied in the past month, with varying degrees of extremity, most of them centered around one theme – I’m just not happy here.

But how unhappy is “just not happy?” And how long is it ok, both logistically and healthily, to be “just not happy?”

I think the main problem, the concept that I can’t seem to get out of my head, is most days I really just feel like I’m wasting time here. I only have a handful of classes and I don’t enjoy most of them because (in my opinion) they are poorly taught and aren’t really worth the energy to come to class. It’s a shame, really, because the classes I have in mind in this description are my German-as-a-foreign-language class and my music history classes. I chose these classes to help me learn the language AND material, but unfortunately I’m not really learning either thus far. It is four weeks into the semester and I want to completely revamp my schedule, again, just to find activities that seem worthwhile to me, but four weeks in, can I really join new classes? I’m not taking them for credit, anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

It doesn’t really matter.

With every door that slams in my face, or every roadblock I try desperately to overcome, I just have to keep repeating that phrase to myself. Because in the long run, what am I really doing over here anyway? None of this really matters. And anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I don’t like to waste time.

I chose to take a year off school and delay my graduation for a year in order to do this, in order to have this experience of living overseas for a year. So far my “living” consists of not much to write home about – literally – and as much as I am trying to get out of my room and explore, and see things, and really live, and paint my canvas, there’s only so much I can do, or want to do, or is safe to do, by myself. In the cold and in the rain. And in the midst of train strikes on the national railway system.

By myself? Gosh, I’ve been here for a month already, don’t I know anyone? Read this post in order to answer that question. East Germans aren’t exactly warm and welcoming to Americans, or new people at all, and most of the international students are here in groups and also aren’t really open to meeting other international students who don’t speak their native language. Emily commented on the aforementioned post and said “well, the Swiss can’t ignore me for the whole year!” But I think the Germans can. They’re not mean – they just can’t think of any good reason for me to register on their radar. And until I “learn how things go” I can’t seem to get myself to register, but I can’t “learn how things go” until someone lets me in enough to learn. I’m not giving up yet, but there’s a reason my only real friends over here, after a month, are another American and another Rotary scholar.

Do I see things improving? I have no idea. I can’t speculate on things I don’t know anything about, including this university and the German people, and it’s hard to accurately judge this situation – do I base it on the current state of things, or things as I want them to be or hope they work out to be?

I think I got in over my head. I think Rotary was right in the first place when they said I was too young and I should come back later – after all, I am the youngest Ambassadorial Scholar I have met or seen thus far. I’m the only one who has not yet finished college, who is not doing some sort of graduate degree or graduate work, who still has so many ties to “the life I left.” In the end, they did end up giving me this scholarship. Maybe I shouldn’t have left, but I did. I accepted the scholarship, I chose this city and I chose this school. I can’t really change any of that now.

So what do I do now? I really want things to work out here and for it to be an amazing experience, but is it better to have a mediocre experience here or get one more semester at UGA? I don't want to give up because it's hard, but if it is going to turn into bad a situation that isn't worth my time, I need to be smart about it. Is it still a great opportunity that I would be walking away from, or am I just realizing how screwed up this system is? Can I really do this for another 9 months?? Should I keep trying to break through barriers, just keep fighting and keep my fingers crossed, in hopes that eventually something might work out? Or should I get out while I can still repair some of the damage, and still get out of college in a decent amount of time? I have to do some serious thinking and weigh my options. What really is the most beneficial place for me to be? And what decision will I regret more in the long run?

Depending on the day, my answer is always different.

I know that technically speaking, my scholarship is to be a cultural ambassador, not necessarily a student. But my full title is “Academic Year Ambassadorial Scholar,” and the purpose is to be here and study and learn. There is a separate 6-month long scholarship to purely do cultural activities. I know they still want me to be a cultural ambassador, and the school thing should be on the back burner, but I’m having a really hard time supporting that idea.

But I haven’t forgotten that I do need to soak up as much culture as I can. Every time the weather is nice, and sometimes even when it’s not, I kill time walking around the city and seeing what there is to see. I traveled to Leipzig last weekend, and hopefully can get out and travel more. This weekend I attended a concert and city tour as part of the Jewish Culture Week. I sign up for as many university-sponsored cultural events as I can.

I can’t let myself walk away until I feel like I have exhausted every opportunity and still can’t build anything that is worth it. After all, school is still new. But if I want to come home, I need to make that decision soon because the UGA semester is more than halfway over.

I guess this “reflection” ended up being a lot longer than I intended, but I wanted to put all that out there. In case I do decide to take drastic action, it won’t be a new idea and it won’t be a surprise. But if I decide to stick it out and see what happens, it’s just another battle along the way that makes the experience what it is.

Actually, this is really the first “big girl,” adult, life-altering decision I have ever made. Yes I applied for the scholarship, but it didn’t take any courage or long thoughts to apply, and all I did was say yes when they gave it to me. But the decision to stay or go - that’s one that carries a lot more weight.

Any thoughts or opinions you may have, I’d love to hear them.

Darkness falls

We switched back from Daylight Saving Time today....one week earlier than the U.S. It is currently 6pm....and completely pitch black outside. It's gonna be a long winter.

GO DAWGS!!

Last night I got to watch the Georgia game!!! And it wasn't just any Georgia game - it was FLORIDA. And we WON!!!!!

Friday night I went to the "American Bar" to ask if there was any possibility that they would show the game - they subscribe to an American sports channel via satellite, so seeing as it was a 3:30 CBS game, I asked if it was on this channel. Sure enough it was, so they told me if I came on Saturday they'd turn the game on!

So of course I came on Saturday. All decked out in Georgia stuff, with my friend Jordan (from Clemson) for company, we parked ourselves in this bar and I soaked up every second of the game. It was wonderful.

It's amazing how much that kind of thing gets under your skin - I have really missed the Dawgs this year and really missed football. After three years of Redcoats and attending virtually every game (except for the Derbies-only away games when I was an underclassman), an entire season when I have been so far away and unable to watch anything at all has been really hard. After years of participation, and eating-breathing-sleeping-living Georgia sports for so long, it feels like a part of me is incomplete without any connection to it.

And sitting there in the bar last night, I realized why.

It was a very surreal experience, watching this game on tv from halfway across the world. Especially because I knew that if I hadn't been sitting in that bar watching, I would be sitting in that stadium experiencing it live. I never got my "last Florida trip," and if I hadn't been here, I would have been there. And I knew exactly what it felt like to be there. Three years in a row I had been in that stadium, sat in those seats, celebrated wins and mourned losses, been on that field, worn that uniform. And everyone I went through it with was still in that stadium, still doing it one last time, and I was watching it from satellite tv in Germany. I knew exactly what it would have felt like to be there, celebrating with Katie and Carmen and Katie and Gabe and Matt and the others, screaming so loudly you're hoarse the next day, jumping up and down, playing Glory so loud you think your lips will burst, and so fast the drum major can barely keep up, and everybody's crying and shouting and celebrating and taking pictures and we can all hardly believe that the experience is real. For them, yesterday, it was. For me, it was a memory of how it used to be. When I went through the season last year, I didn't know it would probably be the last time.

I chose to leave. I chose to forgo my last year of that in order to do this. But that's what makes it hard - I know exactly what I'm missing. And I saw it last night on tv.

Once a Dawg, always a Dawg. How sweet it is.

Check it out

Organ concert in the Kreuzkirche!
Sorry they're sideways...I can't figure out how to turn them.
Also - click the play button in the bottom left corner, not the one on the screen, or else it will reroute you to youtube. Enjoy!

Shining happy people?

I just had to briefly share this experience as a followup of yesterday's post:

My parents sent me flowers last week - ordered them via internet I guess? The delivery lady showed up at my door and handed me a big bouquet, but I needed something to put them in - I had no vase since a vase wasn't on my list of necessities to buy as soon as I moved here, but I found a quart-size measuring cup in the cabinet that was big enough.

Roommate Phillip knocked on my door today asking if I knew what happened to a missing measuring cup. The conversation went something like this:

P: Have you seen a measuring cup that was in the kitchen?
R: Oh, yeah, sorry - (briefly explained story and why I taken it). I'm really sorry! They're pretty much dead now, so here, I'll empty and wash the vase and put it back in the cabinet now. (proceeds to empty and wash)
P: Well, I needed it last weekend and I couldn't find it.
R: I'm sorry! I didn't know you were looking for it!
(meanwhile, P followed me into the kitchen and is watching me wash the "vase")
R: Oh, well, do you need it now?
P: No, but I might this weekend. You know, if you're going to keep flowers, you should buy a vase.
R: Well yes, I know that, but I didn't know I was receiving these flowers, so I didn't have a vase ahead of time. I didn't bring one with me from the U.S. Sorry I took your cup when you needed it.
P: Well why did you use this measuring cup?
R: I didn't have a vase and I had nothing else to put these flowers in. This cup was the biggest thing I could find. Sorry!
P: Well, I asked everyone else if they knew where it was but you were gone this weekend so I didn't ask you (my reaction: but it's Friday! that was six days ago!).
R: Yes, I was out of town. Sorry I had your [stupid] measuring cup!

Geez! What else do you want me to say? If no one is ever around, how am I supposed to know and ask what I can use?

What are the people like here in Germany?

After living in this apartment for almost four weeks I just had the first conversation ever with one of my roommates. It prompted me to write an entry about what the people are like over here - and that one statement pretty much sums it up. The end.

No but seriously - I live in an apartment of five people, and I never see any of them. Not even Phillip, the guy I hung out with a few times in the beginning. It is so hard to get used to, especially after living with my best friends in Athens to living with total strangers here. Doors are always shut, no one makes noise, and I think they all even eat in their rooms, because I never even see anyone in the kitchen - which should be the communal spend-time-here-place. Tonight I went to wash some of my dishes in the sink and stumbled upon Paul cooking some pasta. I struck up a conversation and started to actually get to know who this guy is who lives on the other side of the wall - and when his pasta was done, he picked up the pan off the stove and brought it all in his room. Just like that. Didn't even take the pasta out of the pan first.

That is what most of my experiences with Germans have been like - they're not mean, but it really doesn't occur to them to talk to people they don't know. They don't see the point in getting to know new people or exchanging courtesies or even initiating conversation for the first time. You can sit next to someone at a table in the dining hall and never even make eye contact - and that's totally normal.

That's why they are always so put off when I ask for help - because they are taken aback that someone actually had the nerve to talk to them and interrupt their life to ask a foolish question. Same goes for being in public places - don't dare bump into anyone, and if you do don't try to apologize, because then you have interrupted them twice - the first time when you got in their way, the second time when you talked to them.

In my classes the people haven't necessarily been unfriendly to me - just generally disinterested in pursuing any sort of dialogue. Every now and then I'll meet someone who talks back, but then after class when I turn to ask his/her name, they're already halfway out the door. It's such a different philosophy than what I'm used to from being an American college student - everyone at UGA is generally very friendly, and constantly exchanging cell phone numbers and emails, and asking if you want to join them for lunch, meet them downtown on weekends, etc.

Slowly but surely I'm starting to make some international friends and realizing that we're all experiencing the same unintentional cold shoulder from the Germans - and it's almost become a joke that we live here in Germany, but don't actually know any Germans. I had to learn how to laugh about it and how not to think that it was a fault of mine for not having success and not knowing how to make friends. Chris likes to laugh at me because I get so excited every time I actually do have a conversation with someone - but it's the small victories that (hopefully) eventually lead to actual friendships.

I'll figure it out eventually, but I just really hope I don't return to America cold and distanced like the people I live with. I just have to keep in mind that fifteen years ago this place was a communist country, and that history helps explain a lot about why things are the way they are. These people have known life in such a harder and coarser way than I have, and they chose their manner of coping and living - I'll learn what they have to offer, then figure out what works for me.

Pictures!

I know you are intelligent people, dear readers, but I do want to take a moment to discuss the link to the right of the page entitled "Pictures."

A while ago, before the days of Facebook photo albums, I kept up with a Webshots page to share all my pictures. Luckily the account still exists (and still has my old pictures still on the site), so I brought it back to life to share pictures that are better quality and easier to access for everyone.

I linked the site over there to the right on this page, and it will take you to my pictures page, which contains several albums within the site. That means no more "click this link to see my pictures from this album, and that link for that album, etc."

Sometimes I may forget to write when I post new pictures, so check it periodically to see if anything is new. I'll try to remember to say something, but odds are, if I did something cool I'll post pictures of it.

Like now - I posted pictures from my weekend in Leipzig! Check 'em out!

If you're too lazy to move your mouse to the right, here's the link :-)

Slow but steady wins the race

I don't really have much to write, but I'm just checking in to say that things are, actually, fine.

I went to Leipzig this weekend to see my friends Anne and Raul that I met in Frankfurt. We didn't do a whole lot - I went to see them, not the city, so we just took it easy. We did walk around the city before I headed back on Sunday, and I got to visit the Thomaskirche and see Bach's grave. That experience was pretty amazing - it wasn't just anybody, it was Bach. The guy who pretty much invented music theory, the guy I studied and researched intensively last year, the guy who wrote so much music we perform and listen to daily. And this weekend I just hopped on a train to the next city over, and visited Bach's grave. Pretty cool.

This week so far has actually been a pretty average school week. I may retract this statement later in the week, but I think I have my class schedule mostly figured out. I have a music pedagogy and a music history class at the university, plus a German-as-foreign-language course. I have another music ed course at the Musikhochschule, and maybe more there - we'll see.

Yesterday I went to my first class at the Musikhochschule - and as it so happens, the director of the school teaches this class. He was really cool and pretty much told me I can do what I want and take what I want. There are only twelve people in this class, so there's no hiding in the back corner and no way the other students can't notice me - but so far they all seem really nice and welcoming. Unfortunately I had to talk to the professor after class instead of talking to them, but the class feels promising.

Other than that, not much is really happening - I'm just letting things go and am glad that they are starting to slowly fall into place.

More Random Observations

The Germans sell yogurt in jars, so if you’re like me and eat a lot of yogurt, you can buy it in jars that contain about 3-4 cartons’ worth of the stuff.

I found out the hard way that you can’t open the dryers to check how close to done your clothes are….unless you want them to be done right then and there because the dryer won’t start back up without more money. Or else your room will end up looking like this:


The way most of my initial conversations with people go:
“I can hear you have an accent, where are you from?….You’re American? How is it that you speak such good German?” (Does that mean most Americans speak poor German?)

No one eats while they walk. This practice is all too common in America, and I still fully participate, so I often get funny looks here when I stand at a bus stop or walk down the street eating a banana or granola bar or something. This difference is compounded by the fact that they don’t sell travel coffee mugs here – it took me literally hours and hours to finally find one.

Ikea gives free refills! It is the only such place I have seen since my tenure in this country. They had to advertise it like crazy with red signs everywhere reminding people that they could actually refill their drinks when they were finished. I was a pro, and took advantage of it a few times, of course.

Text messaging in German is really awkward. And yes, my phone has predictive text in German.

I bought “American” salad dressing the other day, just to see what “American” salad dressing is. I figured it would be Ranch, but it is definitely some sort of tomato-basil-ish type thing, that I certainly haven’t ever eaten in the States. It’s good though.

Snow is in the forecast next week.

In a conversation with a Rotarian who spent some time in America, he asked me what my least favorite part about Germany is. I told him it was the bureaucracy and how long it takes to get anything done over here. His least favorite part about America: he thought the people were too friendly. “I don’t want anyone at the cash register to talk to me, or on the bus, or in the elevator – Americans talk to each other too much!” I laughed and told him that’s one of the things I miss most about home - the people are nice and actually approachable.

Musicians > Bureaucracy, vol II

After another long emotional battle of "what am I going to do next," I finally heard back from someone at the music school. He told me to come by and talk to the secretary about getting permission to sit in on some classes.

I went there today, and guess what? I now hold in my hand a piece of paper that gives me permission to take pretty much what I want at the music school, provided the professors sign off on it (but the secretary said they always will). I have to pay 50 euros, but I get my own student ID and everything! They also gave me the school handbook with the class registry, teacher directory, and how to do everything. If only the university had their stuff together like this.

Next I went to the International Residence Office to attempt to get my student visa, Take 2. They sent me away last time because it was too soon after I registered as a resident, and my face was too small in my passport pictures. I got new passport pictures, and painstakingly went through all my paperwork for the second time to make sure I had everything right. Didn't get it again. This is why:

-Instead of the financial guarantee letter from Rotary that tells them I have a scholarship and will be financially secure, they need the actual printout of my bank account statement showing that there is money inside.
-Instead of my admissions letter for the university, I need my enrollment certificate from the university (even though the paperwork said the admissions letter was fine).
-Instead of a form from the insurance company that says I registered for the plan, I need a piece of paper showing that I am covered - not just registered.

Oy vey. I bet they secretly laugh about all the people they send away for such ridiculous reasons.

Goodbye Warmth

So the past few days here have been gorgeous - sunny and warm (relatively speaking - it was mid-60s!).

I checked the weather today - tomorrow it will rain all day, followed by a plummeting of temperatures.

The highs for the next few days:
Today (Wednesday): 68
Thursday: 47
Friday: 43
Saturday: 43
Sunday: 41

Brr.

Strike 5

They say music is a universal language, but apparently the language of oboe doesn't translate.

I had my audition today with the university orchestra. There was one spot open and two people auditioning, and I figured that three years of college music major playing experience would hopefully give me a leg up on the non music major competition.

The audition came and went, and considering the circumstances (i.e. just moving to a foreign country and not having a lot of practice opportunities amidst the chaos) I played decently and I was satisfied. It was a weird setting - there were approximately 20 people sitting in the room listening to my audition.

Just a few minutes ago I got an email from the orchestra - summarized and translated, this is what it said:

"We're sorry to inform you that you didn't make the orchestra. As you well know, the American and German concepts of oboe tone are very different, and we feel that your tone will not blend in with this oboe section in the orchestra. It was a decision purely based on tone, not playing ability."

So there it is. The Technology University of Dresden Campus Orchestra, at a university without a music school, doesn't want me because I play like an American oboe player (imagine that). So now what are my options for decent ensembles if this orchestra won't even take me? I don't take it personally at all, and that's what makes it worse. It would have been easier to stomach if they said I didn't play well or the other guy outplayed me, but it is just because of cultural differences in the concept of sound.

Luckily I happened to meet the concertmaster of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra today because he happens to be a Rotarian. I'll call him tomorrow and ask him about options. In addition, according to my music pedagogy professor they're gonna work it out so I can take classes at the Musikhochschule, but as of now no one has actually contacted me about it. Assuming that works, I'll see if I can get another foot in the door there.

But right now, I'm really not happy.

God Bless America(ns)

I had a great weekend. I deliberately forgot all about the mayhem from school for three days and made a distinct effort to just enjoy myself in the city, relax, and have fun. It worked!

I went to Ikea, walked ALL OVER the city, ate lunch at a cafe on the river, got myself acquainted with stuff. Sunday I slept late, read some, and watched some "tv" (the internet is a great tool).

But I think the greatest thing that has happened since Thursday is I now have friends! That's right - and a lot of them too.

I met this kid Jordan at the first international student meeting - we happened to randomly sit next to each other, struck up a conversation (in German of course), and it turns out he's from Pittsburgh and goes to Clemson - at which point we promptly stopped speaking German and resorted to our mother tongue. He is on a DAAD scholarship, which means he's kind of in the same boat I am - on his own and here for a year. A few days later he found me on Facebook, and thus became the only person I have seen/talked to more than once.

Jordan happened to be placed in the international dorm with all the kids on the exchange program from Boston University - there's 30 of them, here for 4.5 months, taking classes in English and not really at the university - because none of them speak German. Friday night Jordan invited me to go out with this group of people, and it was wonderful. (It's very interesting - they are jealous of the fact that I speak German and have the opportunity to meet other non-American people, but I am jealous of the fact that they're here together and have each other.)

Every single person who was with us that night was so excited to meet me, made an effort to have a one-on-one conversation with me, exchanged emails and cell phone numbers, and made plans to see me again. They have two "counselors" with their group who told me to call them if I ever needed anything (but I don't know how much they can do with the university because they're not really affiliated).

They also have a Sunday-night ritual to go to an "American" bar every Sunday night because they show NFL football - Jordan and I went by ourselves last week because they were all out of town, but several of them came this Sunday night. I have plans to see them on Tuesday too! I don't want to be one of those international students who comes here and just makes friends with other Americans, but right now it's really good to know that this whole group of people exists and they want me to feel comfortable here.

Germans are very introverted people and are very hard to meet or have initial conversations with, or to try to see again. I know I will make friends in time, especially once I actually have classes to go to, but it felt really good not to have to pretend I also have an introverted personality in order to meet these people. I don't feel "myself" when I speak German - I feel like I'm pretending to be somebody I'm not and I am only telling half-truths. I know that will also improve with time as I get more comfortable with expressing myself in the language, but it's a weird concept that never crossed my mind before I started only speaking German. We'll see.

But as far as this week goes - I get to go to my first Rotary meeting tomorrow! And still no response from the second round of emails I sent, and it's getting almost too late to do anything about all of that, because this week classes really START. *shrugs shoulders* Not really anything else I can do....

Musicians > Bureaucracy

That is the lesson I learned today. It had the potential to be another disastrous day, but I have now learned to sidestep all the "official" people who are "supposed" to give me answers and advice, and know that musicians take care of their own.

My day started at the Musikhochschule in an effort to find out how to fix my broken oboe (and see if I could get my foot in the door). The problem is, and the reason I ended up at this university in the first place, is I found out too late that the School of Music is its own separate entity, not affiliated with the university, and my scholarship is for the university. But I needed an excuse to show up, and a legitimately non-functioning oboe is a good reason.

(It's having a temper tantrum because of the climate change I bet....the pads won't seal and I think it's because of the sudden cold and dry air here. How convenient, especially when I have an audition on Monday!)

But back to the story - I got there this morning and just wandered the halls for a long time, remembering what it feels like to be in a music school, and promised myself I would try every avenue to somehow become associated with this place. I asked the secretary where I could find the oboe professors (they have 4!); she said no one was in at this time but I could come back between 4-6 and someone would be here. Cool.

I then headed to "my own" school to meet with another Rotarian professor who said he'd help me make heads or tails of this mess called taking classes. He said he'd be in his office between 11-2. I came at 12:45, his secretary said he was gone for the day.

Next I went to the International office to speak with the lady who hadn't emailed me back yet. They had open office hours this afternoon, so someone should have been there. Unfortunately the lady I wanted to talk to was out sick today. I talked to someone else, and she said that this office couldn't really help anyway, so she suggested I talk to the student adviser in my department. I told her I tried and it was worthless.

I had an appointment at 2:30 with the music pedagogy professor, and thankfully she was there and I had a great meeting with her. I thanked her about two dozen times and told her she was the only professor who had responded and shown up when she promised, and made sure to let her know how much I appreciated it. She sat with me for about half an hour, talking about options, classes of hers I could take, how things work, and more people to talk to. That's what I needed about a week ago - but unfortunately she could only answer specific questions about her own department, so I have to go talk to different professors to find out about music history and education stuff.

Apparently, up until last year there was a full-size music education program at the university - but the professor left and they never replaced him, but all the students were still here - so she's really not a full professor, she just teaches all the classes. But........the good (hopefully) news is that they have a partnership with the Musikhochschule so that their students can take some ed classes there - she gave me a name of a person to contact to ask. That would be great. I emailed him this afternoon.

Excited and high-spirited from this meeting, I headed back to the Musikhochschule (it's about 25 minutes away by streetcar, unfortunately not close to campus). The secretary directed me to where the oboe teacher was. I found the room, knocked, and a man holding an oboe answered (always good!), but he was in the middle of teaching a lesson. I immediately apologized like crazy and said I'd come back later, but he said "no, no! Come inside! What can I do for you?"

I told him my situation and how I had no idea where to go except to come here, and he said "well of course I'll help you. Go ahead and get out your oboe and we'll take a look...while your reed is soaking do you mind if the student and I finish working on this passage?" (Are you kidding? It's her lesson! She was absolutely phenomenal, by the way.)

Sure enough, he couldn't fix the problem, but told me where I should bring it to get it fixed. He was lovely and chatted with me for a while, as long as he really could while putting this girl's lesson on pause. I wanted to ask him about lessons (I don't really care who teaches me, just as long as I can have one every now and then) and playing opportunities, but this wasn't the time. But now I've established a contact and I can follow up on it soon!

Like I said, musicians take care of their own.

At this point, I have seriously emailed every single person I can think of or who has been recommended to me, and the ball is in their court. If all else fails, I can take music history and a few pedagogy classes and call it a day. Classes only meet once a week here, for an hour and a half each, so keep that in mind while imagining my schedule.

I think I deserve a break. I have decided I am intentionally ignoring school tomorrow and spending the three-day weekend having fun exploring the city and going to Ikea. :-)

Strike 4

I just got back from what I thought was going to be a music history class. I was really excited about it, because it was the only class I knew I was allowed to take and I knew what it was, plus I had planned on cornering the professor after class to talk about all this other stuff and see if I could get some help.

Class was set to start at 9:20. I got there a little after 9, sat down in the room, and waited. And waited. And no one came. Finally a girl stuck her head in the room and said "oh, are you here for the music history class? Those lectures don't start til next week." I asked her how she knew; she said there was a bulletin board upstairs that had it all listed.

I'm so glad I am finding all this information in adequate time to actually DO something about it. Not.

I guess you're wondering what strikes 2 and 3 were. They were the two classes I attempted to attend yesterday, both of which were completely inappropriate for me, and both of which I was supposed to sign up for last week, neither of which I knew before I got in the door. Class 1 was a "just for fun" class - "Influence of Jazz and Blues in African-American Literature." Yeah....but when you're an American musician in a room full of German literature students who are trying to study American music, it's not as fun as it sounds. The class is taught in English but none of them speak it very well, so a lot of the time was me being puzzled trying to figure out what the people were trying to say, even though it was in my native language. I made a couple comments during class discussion, but I didn't speak enough to give away my lack of accent and the fact that I'm American. I'll admit, they speak English better than I speak German, but if they won't sit in on my German classes I won't sit in on their English classes. I also noticed a lot of interesting cultural stuff about how they seem to view the black/white relationship in the US, but I'll post about that another time.

Class 2 was an education class - I emailed the professor the day before asking if I could attend, but I hadn't heard from her, but I decided to just go anyway. It was a freshman intro seminar in a lecture class, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. But then when I got there, the teacher called roll, then called another list of names of everyone on the "waiting list," and said if we weren't on either one of those lists then there wasn't room for us in the class, too bad so sad. So I, along with about 20 more people, just got up and left. She has an email in her inbox from me, whether or not she chooses to read it and respond to it.

Still no word from the other professors and people I emailed, either. I do have an appointment with the music pedagogy professor on Thursday, and am trying to make an appointment with someone in the international office whenever she responds to my email. I have attempted to go to 4 classes in 3 days and none of them have been the right classes or the right times - I obviously need help, but I can't find someone who will help me.

The sun will come out tomorrow

Ok....feeling a little better. I just spent the past several hours researching, reading, sending emails, making lists, and devising plans. A few days ago, a few hours ago, I didn't even know where to start, but I think I'm starting to at least figure out how to tackle it all. That's the first step.

I had some good pep talks and some good words of encouragement and some good reality checks and I'm armed and ready for Day 2. I'm not going down without a fight.

Day 1 Part 2

Even though class #1 was a bust, I was able to get a map, hop on a bus, and make it to class #2. It was way out there, and not entirely in the direction I had headed in earlier, so no wonder I was so lost. But now I have found this complex and won't have to search for it again.

So class #2, really class #1, was entitled "musical influence in cultural studies." It is a class that I would love...if it were taught in English. There were about 25-30 people in the class - they all knew each other, and the professor knew all of them - except me. I prayed he wouldn't single me out and ask me questions, because I knew right from the start I didn't belong in that class. The students here were at the end of their bachelors or into their masters degrees; yes I know I am technically a senior in college, but I don't think I can handle this upper-level coursework in another language. There was a LOT of reading on the syllabus and I think I would make myself crazy trying to keep up. In addition, there was a prerequisite taught last semester that was an introduction to this subject area, and this class was a more in-depth look into last semester's introduction. I don't think I'll be going back to that class.

See....since there aren't really any records, from what I can gather, of which classes I take, my strategy was to just go to a bunch of them this first week and see what is interesting enough to keep going to.

But anyway - I'd picked out another class this afternoon, on the view of education as reflected in the media, but I decided it would probably be like this one and I was too exhausted to try again. After sitting through that first class I changed my strategy - I think I will re-take music history I, and maybe re-take theory III. I already know the material, so I can focus more on learning the language and comparing how it's taught in two different settings. Plus, the review will probably do me good.

I checked the bulletin board for the music pedagogy area, and found out that they had already had separate sign-ups for their classes - last week. I need to email the professor and see what I can work out. Hopefully I will be a little more comfortable in that subject area.

Next on the list was to go to a meeting for the international student office, that was a continuation of last week's orientation. I had my piece of paper with the information about the meeting, went to the building I thought it was in, went to the room I was supposed to, but it definitely wasn't the international student meeting. There were just a bunch of German guys sitting around and talking, rather than a room full of international students that I recognized from last week. I have no idea what happened, but I never did figure it out and never did get to that meeting.

I've decided I need to storm the international office tomorrow and refuse to leave until they give me answers. I need to know so much about what I'm doing here and no one has bothered to make sure we have all the information we need. How many classes is a "full load?" How do they keep up with our grades and classes? What should we expect from the end of semester tests? Does it even apply to me? How do I know which classes I'm "allowed" to take, and am I "allowed" to take classes outside my subject area? Even within my subject area, how do I know what classes are available and don't need prerequisites, like this morning? What's the difference between a seminar and a class? What, if anything, are the attendance policies? What do all these symbols and codes mean all over the course lists (just telling me the word the symbol stands for doesn't help...describe to me what it means in reality)?

Shouldn't all of these things been told to us in orientation?

But the good news is, I found out there is a campus orchestra, and I can audition next Monday. Now I just need to find a place to practice - easier said than done.

Day 1 Part 1

So right now I'm sitting on the steps to some big building/auditorium on campus...I don't really know what it is. I should be sitting in class right now.

After scrutinizing my schedule and deciding last night on the classes I was going to try out this week, my first class was to start today at 11:10. It was an education class, and luckily the education and music departments are near each other - but nowhere close to campus. They're on their own little area several blocks away.

I had to force myself out the door this morning because I was terrified and really didn't want to go. I finally got up the courage, and gathered my things to head out. It takes me about 10 minutes to walk to campus, so this morning I allotted myself 40 minutes to walk to this place, look around a bit, and figure out where I was going before my class began. I got to the main campus, the point at which I didn't know where I was going anymore, and reached in my pocket to get my map - and realized that somewhere between my apartment and that street corner my map had fallen out of my pocket - in addition to the piece of paper where I had written down all of my classes, room numbers, times, and professors, in addition to the professors' office hours for whom I wanted to talk to today. Awesome.

I hoped I would be able to find this place anyway, because I had found it on the map and had a general idea of where it was, so I just kept walking. It soon became very obvious that I'd missed a sidestreet somewhere, I was way out of the way, and there was no one else out on the street for me to ask and even if I could find it, I was going to miss my class anyway.

So now I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do. Some of the information was saved on my computer, so I can get that, but some of it wasn't. I can go to the international office and get another map so I can find these buildings, and just hope to everything holy that this day starts getting better soon.

Too Bizzare to Think of a Creative Title

I stayed up a little late last night "watching" the Dawgs game (i.e. reading the play-by-play online) and acting out/describing in broken German the concept of American football to my roommate Phillip.

Once I finally got in bed, it was unusually noisy outside because there's a student club on the bottom corner of this building. As I drifted off to sleep I thought I heard sirens, but I am a heavy sleeper, so I didn't think anything of it.

Later (I don't know how much) I was halfway awoken by a knock on my door, I think. It didn't get me all the way up, but I rolled over a few times and realized that there was still a lot of noise outside and what sounded like big trucks sitting outside my window, and flashing lights, and I thought I heard my roommates talking and saying "she's still asleep!" My heart started pounding. I looked outside and there are several fire trucks sitting there, and all I could see was smoke coming from somewhere at the bottom of the building.

I opened the door to my room, and the lights in the rest of the apartment were on but I didn't see or hear anybody. My first reaction was "oh #@$% did I sleep through ANOTHER fire alarm?" and like the good American I am, I threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed my shoes, and headed toward the exit to evacuate the building.

As I opened the door from my apartment into the hall I was immediately met by three suited and masked firemen and a hall completely full of smoke. I was expecting to get whisked away and taken outside into safety, but to my surprise they told me to go back inside and shut the door. So much for my years of fire drill training.

I then realized that our own apartment too smelled like smoke and our own kitchen was a little hazy, and on my way back inside I realized that Phillip was definitely sitting in his room the whole time. I told him about my encounter with the firemen and asked him if he knew what was going on or what we should do, and we decided that as long as they were telling us to stay here we must not be in danger, so I shrugged my shoulders and went back to bed.

By this time it was pushing 2:30, and I have no idea what time they finished and I haven't heard anything about what happened. All I know is that this morning our kitchen still smelled smoky and from my window I can see red tape outside blocking off the area. Hmm.

I've got to admit it's getting better

So since my last update, things have been a little more up and down but mostly on the upward slope. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and although nothing has gone RIGHT yet, at least nothing else has gone WRONG. I have been told that I can finally get internet today, so after five weeks of unreliable connections I will finally have my own!! I’ll put up more pictures when I have a better signal too, because it won’t take so long to load.

(By the way the problem with pirating a wifi signal from my window means that right before I began to type this it began to rain, so I had to wait until the rain stopped to actually post it. The weather had been warm and sunny, so I had been able to use it, but sadly not today.)

I went to my international student orientation yesterday, and sadly it was exactly what I anticipated – completely unenlightening. I have concluded that the problem I am encountering is yet another cultural difference. The Germans only explain the simple base amount of information without providing details, but Americans like everything explained and every detail spelled out. In addition, the university systems are so different that they don’t realize that they have to give us (me) these details they may find insignificant and self-explanatory, but then it results in making me feel lost and in the dark.

For instance – no one has actually told us how to register for classes and get grades. From what I understand, I just look up what classes I want in the course registry and just show up. There is no registrar’s office or OASIS system to keep track of who is where, and I can’t find any information that tells me otherwise. And I think grades are only given once a semester, sometimes, for an end-of-course project – but not every class has one of these projects, I don’t think. I don’t really know. I bought my course registry yesterday (for 4.50! geez!) and will sit down with it today and really figure out what I’m doing. I don’t even know what a “full load” of classes is considered to be. I’m just worried that because things are so loose, I won’t find out that there is something specific I actually need to do until too late.

In addition, I finally have some roommates, as of 7pm yesterday! There is a girl from Korea who speaks no German and no English, and I don’t speak Korean, so we’ll see how that goes. She seems very nice, and she’s not actually studying at the university – she’s just taking a 6-month language course. Good. There’s a guy next to me who is “real” German and he’s my age, and he seems nice so far too. He and I chatted for a while last night and he showed me where all the stuff is and how to recycle all the trash. The Germans use this cool water-boiling contraption – it’s a pitcher that plugs into an outlet and heats up water for tea. I don’t know the name of it, but I pointed to it and asked if I was allowed to use it. He said “of course, sure – but out of curiosity, what’s it called in English?” I told him we didn’t have things like that, we use tea kettles to heat water, and he said “wow, but don’t tea kettles use way too much energy?” I love how they’re so concerned with all of that.

Apparently there are 2 more roommates on the way who will be here this weekend – another guy and a girl from Poland, both of whom lived here last year. The guy who’s here already said they’re cool people, so I sure hope so!

Room’s coming along ok. My suitcases are unpacked and everything’s put away, for the most part. I finally bought towels yesterday (I’d been using one of those microfiber camping towels since Monday), but I still need curtains and rugs and colorful things so it doesn’t look like a prison cell. Also, I need to buy a mirror – yes there is one in my room, and one in my bathroom, but in neither one can I see myself above my nose.

I still don’t know what I’m doing today or this weekend, either. I don’t have a whole lot to do at this point, and so much is contingent on the weather – for instance I chose to stay inside this morning, drink coffee, and type emails in my pajamas rather than venture out and get caught in the cold and the rain. I do think I will be social, though, and attend some of the international student events that are happening tonight and tomorrow.

Depending on who you are and when you’ve most recently talked to me, you’ve probably gotten very up-and-down reports of how I’m actually feeling and doing. But as of 10:15 on Friday morning, morale’s on its way back up. Doug was absolutely right when he said “If you think about it, it's good you have something to miss.”

And by the time this gets posted my Grandma will be on her way to Atlanta and everyone in my family will be headed to Las Vegas without me. Happy birthday Uncle Steve!

German American Football and Sightseeing with a Rotarian and a 6-year-old

Wednesday was a national holiday, but Mark and Chris played in a – get this – American Football game. They invited me to go but said “well you probably won’t be interested…it’s not anything like the pictures you’ve showed us, it’s not a big deal, the teams aren’t good…” and I responded by saying “are you crazy?? It’s football! Because I’ve been over here I haven’t seen a football game since last season, and I’m going through withdrawal!”

So I gladly came along. It was a youth league, so of course the kids are small and the stadium is small, but it was funny because the game is still so new over here that a lot of the fans didn’t really know what was going on. Clemens and Monika kept asking me questions about the calls (“what is a block in the back?” “what does that signal mean that the ref just made?” “why did they make them back up 5 yards?”), and were absolutely astounded and excited at the concept of a 2-point conversion. They even had recorded textbook explanations of some penalties/calls that were played over the loudspeakers, so the crowd would know what was going on. All in all, it was great.

I also received word from another American I met a few days ago that there’s a group of Americans here who meet every Sunday at 6pm to go to an American pub and watch football. I’m so there.

After the game, I met up with the Rotarian (Wolfgang), Miname, and Wolfgang’s 6-year-old son Tom to go see the sights of the city. We went to this panorama thing kind of like Atlanta’s Cyclorama, a pretty castle on the river, and drove around a little bit. We then went back to their house to cook dinner. Wolfgang’s wife was out of town on a business trip and Tom was excited for the new playmates, and especially excited at the fact that I speak English, and Miname and I were glad for the company, so it all worked out great.

Wolfgang is a professor at the university, but is on sabbatical this semester to finish up a research grant. He’s pretty much a genius, and has a degree from Harvard and is a guest professor at Columbia. And he’s incredibly nice and is technically located within my department at the university, so he’ll be a good contact to have. At least he can hopefully help me figure out this mess of getting settled.

My Host Family

Ok, finally time to tell you about my host family and some of the good things that have been going on!

My family is great. They consist of my actual host counselor Rotarian, Clemens, his wife Monika, and their three kids – Carin (20), Mark (19), and Chris (15). Carin is a student at another university about an hour away, but she was in town this weekend so I got to meet her. She majors in German and English and lived in New Zealand for 6 months in high school. Mark just graduated high school but has to do one year of mandatory army service before going to college (it’s a German law), and he also lived in Canada for one year in high school. He’s your typical pretty boy jock, but he’s cool. Chris is still in high school and just doing his thing.

Clemens and Monika both work in the financial world, doing something or other with all that. Clemens works at the savings bank, and I’m actually not quite sure about Monika. Their house is absolutely gorgeous, and quite enormous, and – they have riverfront property. The Elbe River runs through Dresden, and it’s breathtakingly gorgeous, and this family lives on the river. They also have the property bordering a ferry that goes 2 minutes across the river to a castle and a vineyard, so it takes approximately 5 minutes to get to this castle. It’s pretty much amazing.

This weekend Clemens and Monika took me around and showed me all the nature stuff around the outskirts of the city, including the aforementioned castle and vineyard. We climbed a couple mountains and saw some beautiful and tiny little villages. We shared American and German music, and showed each other pictures of home, vacations, and family. I was totally fine with the language and we laughed a lot as I figured out how to say things better or not as awkwardly, or how to correctly respond to things.

Tuesday night Clemens took me along to a meeting at the Savings Bank, where they had a guest speaker who is a tv news reporter who spent a long time in China. When he found out I had been there too he got excited and said “of course you have to come with me to this meeting!” It was interesting, and I understood about 75% of it, except I was sick with a cold and awfully drowsy through it all. There was a huge buffet afterward, so I got to brush shoulders with all the big wigs of the company and attempt to keep up with conversation. It went pretty well, and the men were nice and understanding. I met another Rotarian who is also a professor at the university (but I couldn’t figure out what he was doing at this meeting), and he invited Miname (the other Rotary student here) and me to some sightseeing and stuff the next day. I broke it up into two posts for easier reading, so keep going! ---->

I'm alive!!

So again I am stuck with no internet, and am literally hanging out the window of my apartment in order to get a weak signal. I just wanted to let you know that I am alive, even though it's been a while since I've posted and all that jazz. Hopefully the internet thing will be fixed soon, but until then I have been keeping up with what I've been doing in a Word document, so now all I have to do is copy/paste.

But before I do that, I will briefly say that my host family is amazing and I love them, and I totally hit the jackpot with them. At a later date I will post info about them, but I don't have any of that pre-typed - so it will have to wait until I'm not hanging out of a window.
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Day One at the University - they should call this place "dead end alley"

On task for today was register for housing, move into my dorm, and enroll for the semester. Mark was nice enough to come to campus with me and help me do all this stuff, just in case I needed someone to translate and explain stuff or whatnot. It was also great to have the company and have someone there to stand in line with me so I wasn’t completely on my own.

We got to the Studentenwerk (the “student organization,” kind of like the Food Services, Housing, Student Government, and whatever else all combined into one) a little before 10, and it was a madhouse. We then realized that they were only calling German students, and didn’t even start serving the international students until every German student had already been helped – not until almost 11:00. Needless to say I was slightly irritated – if they weren’t going to call us until t 11 they should have told us to come at 11, not give us a window starting at 9:00 - but there were dozens of international students there in the same boat. Once we were called back to talk to somebody we were met with another line – awfully anticlimactic, because this lady asked “do you want to buy the bedding/kitchen starter kits? Yes? Ok good, now go upstairs and pay your housing deposit and money for the kits, and come back down here.”

Then, yep – another line. This time it was to get to the cashier desk, because they only had two cashiers working for hundreds of ready-to-pay students. After I paid I went back downstairs to the first lady, signed the rental contract, and went on my merry way. Wait time: almost 3 hours. Time spent interacting with people: 5 minutes. No exaggeration.

Next, we went to my building to put a few things in there before going to matriculation. I have had a slight problem with the Germans thinking I am a man, because apparently the name “Robin” is exclusively a man’s name over here, and most emails I receive are addressed to “Mr. Sch@ps” until I respond and drop hints that I am female. This had happened also with the housing people, and I had hoped that they would just read the form where I checked “female” and put me in the right place. Unfortunately all the paperwork I got today said “Mr. Robin Sch@ps,” and honestly I don’t know yet if I am in the right place or not. None of the people who live in this apartment are here yet, or at least they haven’t surfaced yet and I haven’t heard them – but the kitchen is full and it is obvious that people do live here. By the way it’s “decorated” and by the names on the mailboxes, I am concluding that it is mostly, if not completely, male-inhabited.

But then I found out that some of these apartments are in fact co-ed, so I don’t really know what this situation is.

But let me tell you how awkward this place is – I feel like I’m moving into someone else’s house while they’re on vacation…I guess because that’s exactly what I’m doing. I don’t know how they share kitchen stuff and what I’m allowed to use, what space is mine, how they divvy up goods and space, etc – but no one’s here to tell me otherwise, and I don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes when they return to find this random new American girl suddenly inhabiting their apartment. The room itself is nice – it is very big by UGA standards, probably just as big if not a little bigger than my own apartment was, and I have it all to myself. I have a desk, a floor-to-ceiling shelf, a wardrobe (outside of the room so it doesn’t take up more space), a night table, and of course a bed. It is very cold and stark and badly in need of decorations, but that will come in time. It is definitely livable.

So back to the story – next item on the list was matriculation/enrollment for the semester. I had my piece of paper that told me to go to XYZ building from 9-3, and bring my admissions letter and passport, so that’s what we did. We waited in line, again, and when I sat down at the desk and handed the lady my papers, she said “ok so where’s your health insurance certificate?” I told her I hadn’t bought it yet, I had just gotten to Dresden and hadn’t done it yet, and she told me I couldn’t enroll without this certificate. I told her ok, fine, but why didn’t it say that on the sheet, so I could have taken care of it before I came to the office? She didn’t have an answer for me other than “well I’m sure it said it on another sheet” (it didn’t – I checked all my paperwork afterward), so there was nothing else to do except go back downstairs. By this point Monika had left work and came to meet us, so she went with me to talk to the people to find out 1) if I needed this insurance in the first place because I already have insurance that Rotary required, 2) if I do need it where can I buy it, and 3) why the bloody hell didn’t it say it on the sheet? (Ok so maybe I added that last one).

We ended up buying their insurance plan because it sure enough is required for all students, at an extra 55 euros a month, and went back upstairs to the same lady to finally enroll. She took the certificate, gave me the paper, and said “ok great, but it’s too late today - you have to come back tomorrow at 2 to finish the process.” What time was it at this point? 2:15pm. What time did my sheet say registration ended today? 3pm.

I am suddenly learning that even though I had studied all my paperwork through and through to make sure I remembered and understood everything, even if it says so on paper it doesn’t necessarily mean it is true. So much for trying to be prepared.

Monika and Mark took me back to the dorm, and after getting settled in a little bit I did a quick grocery shopping trip and surveillance of the area. I made sure to return by 6 because that was when the internet guy was supposed to be available, because signing up to get internet is an entirely separate process as well. 6:05 I was there knocking on the door, and no answer. I returned every 15 minutes, and at 6:45 I met two other people trying to reach him too. This time someone finally answered the door, but it turned out that the guy was out of town and wouldn’t return until tomorrow, but we should try some other guy somewhere else in the building.

So we headed off to find this other guy, only to find a note on his door saying he was out and people needing internet should return that night. The three of us decided to meet back at 9 and try again together. When we finally got in touch with him, he told us he couldn’t help us because we live in a different part of the building and he only has access to a certain part. So much for that, but what’s the difference to go ANOTHER day without internet when I’ve done it for over a month already! It’s just another city where I don’t know anyone and don’t have any means to access to anyone I do know.

But the good news is, those two people and I ended up hanging out and chatting for a while after the internet fiasco. They are both first year students and are very nice, and I really didn’t have any problems at all with the language. They were very nice and told me I actually speak very well – but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still terrified.
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Day Two of the University – more dead ends

This morning I headed to the residence office to officially register myself as a resident of Dresden. Monika drew me a map of where it was, and as I was about halfway there it started to rain – and I was umbrella-less. They were doing construction on the building so I missed the sign, but I finally found it and got myself registered. The lady was nice, and after I was done she told me to go upstairs to the international office to finish the process.

So I headed upstairs to the office, waited in line, and finally was called back to see the angry and irritated secretary. I told her I had just been to the residence office and gave her all my paperwork, that I had painstakingly gone through and made sure everything was there and everything was correct and in the right order, only to have her stare at me blankly and tell me she couldn’t do anything for me today. Apparently they can’t process all the paperwork the same day, so I have to come back Thursday so the residence papers will have time to be processed. (So why did the first lady send me here?) Oh, and by the way, all the passport photos I got made in the States won’t work here because they are not zoomed in close enough to my head – apparently German standards are different than in the US. So the 10 photos I had made before I came….unusable, at least for this office. Now I have to get more made before I can get my visa.
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ok that's all I had pre-typed, but I got registered and have my student ID, and today's a national holiday (their version of July 4) so nothing will happen toward getting myself more settled in at the university. Hopefully I will get my own internet soon, but now at least I know I can hang out the window and get something!

And by the way, I don't know what my teacher was talking about when she said that daylight savings time ended this weekend. It definitely doesn't change until the end of October.

It's always something

In the words of my dad, it’s always something.

My day of travel began at 6:15 this morning when Ashlee and Jeff came knocking on my door. The bus to the airport was set to depart at 6:22, and they wonderfully volunteered to come to the airport with me to see me off.

6:15, and they helped me stay sane and gather all my stuff and throw it into suitcases. I was thoroughly freaking out because I was terribly worried about suitcases being to heavy and me not clearing the weight limit for intra-Germany domestic flights. Then I was worried about making the 6:22 bus, but luckily we got to the bus stop just as it pulled up. Whew.

Now would be the opportunity to tell you about what happened to suitcase #2 and why I was so worried. On the way over here I was allotted 2 checked bags, weighing 50lbs each, and then I found out when I got to the airport that they weighed my carry-on bag too (but conveniently forgot to notice that I had a backpack too – I don’t think I was “supposed” to have it, because I was the only one who had two bags). I have been really careful since I arrived about not buying any “stuff” if I can help it, because I knew I’d be pushing the weight limit again, but having emptier bottles of shampoo, etc and wearing heavier clothing should allow me to scrape by.

Thursday afternoon I found out that intra-Germany flights have different regulations than international flights. Rather than 2 bags weighing 23 kilos (50lbs) each, I was only allowed one bag at 20 kilos (44 lbs). Anything extra costs 5 euros per kilo – meaning my second bag would cost 125 euros ($175) to take on the plane with me. I checked the price of a train ticket – two days in advance a train ticket would cost 80 euros, and I’d be able to take all my bags with me – but what about this flight that is already booked? Weighing my options (figuratively), I checked how much it would cost to ship a suitcase to Dresden – probably pretty expensive, because it cost 12 euros to send a tiny package to Athens, so sending a gigantic 50-60lb suitcase has got to be crazy.

Actually, the German postal system has a special luggage shipment program. I guess this problem happens a lot. It worked beautifully – I packed my suitcase to the brim, brought it to the post office, they slapped a sticker on it, and for 14 euros it will be at my apartment on Monday. Amazing.

So back to the original story. We made it on the bus ok, but I was a nervous wreck because I was worried they wouldn’t let me on with two carry-ons like last time. I didn’t have a backpack this time, just a messenger bag, but it was relatively heavy with my computer and oboe inside. My bag is black, my jacket is black, I was wearing a red scarf – maybe they won’t notice it? And my carry-on suitcase still has the “Lufthansa approved baggage” tag – maybe they won’t re-weigh it?

We get to the airport, and after 3 different people sent me to 3 different lines, I finally for some reason ended up at the “special services” counter. They weighed my one bag and it was fine, gave me my boarding pass, and said “have a nice day!” Never even asked about my carry-ons.

Nothing more eventful happened on the flight, and I made it to Dresden safe and sound!