The first weeks

I would like to apologize to all the people who are reading my blog for not updating it for a while. As you can imagine the first couple of week kept me pretty busy. Well, a couple of weeks ago I arrived at my university in Tuscaloosa. Two things struck me immediately within the first couple hours. A: the southern hospitality (everybody is so friendly over here), which is sort of confusing when you used to live in Berlin where people yell at you for no specific reason. B: people are addicted to air condition. Indeed the weather in Alabama is something to get used to. Just imagine a Finish infusion sauna which has the size of Germany and you get the idea. So much for the weather in Alabama.

The biggest thing around here of course is the football team. The Crimson Tide are #2 in the nation and pretty much everything in Tuscaloosa revolves around the football team. This however, is not something that is entirely new to me since I went to High School in Green Bay where we have pretty much the same deal with the Packers.

I had sort of a bumpy start at the University because all the classes I intended to take were already full and the international office didn’t really make an effort to help me out. After taking to each of the professors I finally got into the classes that I had planned to take. The orientation days were, as expected, pretty boring. However, I’m glad that I’ve moved into the German House on campus. Not only did I have immediate contact to a bunch of people, it is also probably the most liberal place in Tuscaloosa County, in which by the way it is prohibited to by beer on Sunday’s.


Well, I guess we’ll find out pretty soon to how many more things I’ll have to get used to.

Best,

Eike

Think Big

If there is one thing that is typical for America it is definitely the fact that everything is big and that some things are even bigger. The country is big, the cars are big, and most of the people are even bigger. Although German citizens were recently rated number one in Europe’s obesity ranking, there is no way that we will beat the USA which is ranked number one in the world.

While still in NJ my friend Chris was kind enough to show me a grocery store which might be normal for American standards but definitely falls into the category “ridicules” from a European perspective.



But decide for yourself.

What a day

Back in America! Landing in the United States is always different but you really know that you hit the right country when you walk your way to customs and you walk on the cheapest industrial made blue carpet you can think of.
Having friends who can show you around town really helps a lot especially when it comes to a city like NY. Driving through NYC in a nice Cadillac already made the eight hour flight from Germany worthwhile. Since my friend Christian and I are super Seinfeld gigs we went to the coffee shop which always appeared in the TV show. After having a decent meal (probably around 1200 calories) and a freely refilled coke--in Germany this practice doesn’t exist--we took a walk through the campus of Columbia University (which, by the way, I wouldn’t mind attending after my Bachelors.)
Although NY is a wild city, and when you drive through it you immediately get the impression that none of those people can possibly have a driver’s license, I fell in love with the city right away. This also had to do with my friends Chris and Chris who really showed me a great time. If you have the chance, try it out yourself, I can clearly recommend it. There is one thing you have to keep in mind when going to NY though: “don’t take no shit from nobody”

Stay tuned.

Eike

Leaving Germany

Today is the day. I’m leaving Berlin, the coolest city in Germany, maybe even in Europe, to spend one academic year at the University of Alabama in America’s Deep South. Although most people’s reaction to this is: “Alabama! Why in the world would you want to go to Alabama?” I’m pretty excited and I think it’ll be a great year. Whatever it will turn out to be, it will definitely be a great experience when all’s concluded. What I’m not too excited about is the eight hour flight that lies ahead of me. Sitting in a tube that is not bigger than a medium sized movie theatre, with 300 other people who probably all have swine flu, is not my idea of having a great time. What happened to this idea of “Beaming” people from one place to another? Well I guess if you want to have an omelet you have to break some eggs.

PS: To all of you who are wondering why I decided to write this blog in English. A: because a great amount of my friends do not speak German at all and I wanted them to have the opportunity to read my blog as well. And B: my German grammar skills are probably weaker than my English grammar skills, plus when it comes to grammar or spelling mistakes I can always refer to myself as a non native speaker. Pretty sneaky hmm?

I hope you are ready for more, because I am.

Soon,

Eike