The view from my place. It doesnt look like this anymore.

Jelly

As some of you know, the day before yesterday there was an enormous soccer match here in Germany. At least it was enormous here. The German National team played the US in a pre-world cup friendly game. The Germans were coming off a disasterous 4-1 loss to Italy, so they needed to salvage their pride and the coach, Juergen Klinsmann, needed to salvage his job - they were saying that if Germany lost to the US, he might be fired only a couple months before the world cup. We tried to find a spot in the city to watch the game, but all the pubs were packed to the gills with anxious Fussballfans. Well, Juergen, there is no need to worry. Germany won 4-1. I was pretty dissapointed and heard it from my friends, but the German goals were amazing. We were, however, missing several quality players including our captain. I (think) im still confident for the Weltmeisterschaft. I dont know what to make of the Ncaa tourney. I have no team left to cheer for and my bracket is the worst I have ever filled out - I am in the 11th percentile nationwide. Oh well. Tommorow we are going on an Ausflug to Freiburg. I need to do laundry. wish me luck.

Some new friends. Snezana, Nicolas, and Jillian at the Piano.

Here is a picture of the University. This is one side of the main buliding - you can see about 30% of it here. It is ridiculously large, very modern and very ugly. Inside is a labyrinth of staircases, elevators, unpredictable doors and confusing signs.

Sport treiben in Deutschland

If you have seen me in the last couple weeks, this is probably what I looked like. Thankfully the snow has since melted and today, the first day of spring, is turning out out to be the nicest one yet. This is the first day i have seen here without fog and I can see the swiss alps across Lake Constance. On a more sour note, needless to say I was a bit disappointed to see the result of yesterday's game. I have been able to follow the madness on the internet and watch the highlights afterward, but that just doesnt cut it. I am definitely missing college hoops. Last week I had the chance to play some basketball here at the Unisporthalle. There were some guys there who could really play, but they left and another group came in to play a game. I was glad to play along with them, but it was a bit weird for me for a couple reasons. One: many of them appeared to have never picked up a basketball in their lives, and two: they didnt really pay much attention to some of the fundamental rules of basketball like travelling, fouls and double dribbling. Oh well. I later found out that the group that I played with was indeed the 'beginning basketball' class. This week Ill try to find a different group to play with. Later in the week I went to the table tennis session and the players there were a bit more impressive. Ping pong here is not quite the recreational, play with your friends and family in the basement-type deal. I played several games with my swedish friend, Frederick. He beat me soundly. We'll see how I do in football (no, the other one) tonight.

Rage against the machine

It has come to my attention that pretty much everything here in Germany is automated, whether it be the button that opens the door to the bus (sometimes) or the box that takes my plastic bottles into its conveyor belt mouth and gives me ten euro cents back for each one. These things are designed to be user friendly, but mastering the art of robot-to-human relationships has not been an easy task for me so far. In fact, it has come to the point where I come into contact with at least one machine a day that makes me look like a fool when I use it. Although I usually prevail in the end, on more than one occasion it has taken me several minutes to get a sandwich out of the vending machine and I have frequently required the help of some native germans who have lived among these things for years. Hopefully it will come more naturally to me in the coming months.

I still like people better.

There will be pictures coming as soon as I can get internet access on my laptop.

-Tschau

One more thing...

Tar Heels.

Willkommen in Deutschland

Despite all of the snow, bird flu, and german bureaucracy I am alive and well here in Konstanz. I am finally getting settled in to my tiny little single room, although as of yet I am not an official student here at the Universität Konstanz, I have no residence permit to live in Germany, I have not yet recieved internet service, and I cant really do much without signing my name at least ten times and giving away three copies of my vital documents. Not to worry, though. Everything is going great. In the building I am living In the mutual language is German, so that is all I speak at home, with most of my friends here at the uni, and in the language class that I just started last week. Even after the first day I noticed a huge improvement in my german skills. word.

This past week has seen the German snowfall records for the past twenty years shattered. It has snowed every day that I have been here and even the Germans, as proud of their cars and driving skills as they are, are staying off the roads when it gets really bad. My first adventure here in Germany came last weekend when myself and a group of new international students (they all hang out together here, too) went to an authentic german diskothek complete with thumping bass, skin tight clothes for both genders (especially the men), deutsches Bier, some of the worst american music possible and random english phrases provided by the dj via loudspeaker. Im pretty sure he yelled "lumberjack" at least seven times. Anyway, after the place closed at five in the morning we waited outside and tried to call the taxi service for a good hour or so and we found out that all of the taxis in the city were either full or had crashed into a snowbank and were out of commission. We walked home with the help of a couple native Konstanzers and a bus that was picking up stranded people in the city. All in all it took a good three hours and I didnt find my way into bed until well after dawn. A good night indeed.

Last night I went to to pub to watch the Champions league game between Werder Bremen and Juventus on the big screen with a bunch of raucous (wasted) german soccer fans. It was great to see so much enthusiasm for a sport that doesnt get enough credit in America. Tonight Bayern München plays AC Milan and it should be much the same.

Bis Bald--