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Baggers und Apfelmus

Hi, I’m the Dork and I like food. Like, alot. And food is a big part of a culture, too. Every country, state, city, even individual families have their own ‘traditions’ about food, what you eat, how you make it, and who you eat it with.

Basically I’m excusing the fact that I talk about food so much. Bear with me here.

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I’m a Yankee!

I got called a Yankee at school last week in one of the classes I was observing- but it wasn’t because I’m from America.

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Cooking American in Germany: Meatloaf Edition

So if you’ve talked to me face-to-face/screen within the last week you probably heard me say that I need a hobby that I can do that doesn’t involve stuffing my face. Because let’s be honest, I could eat 24/7. I did buy a second-hand bike earlier this week, and it’s been really nice to have so far, even though the brakes are basically shot. (I can slow down… and that’s about it. Enter the Flintstones braking method.)

Otherwise, until I can get to into a library, start teaching, and perhaps join a choir, I’ve noticed that I have a lot of empty free time on my hands, especially when my roommate works nights. Maybe even after all three of those things start happening, I may still find extra time that I don’t know what to do with. I can’t travel EVERY week, because I’m keeping an eye on my budget, particularly as I likely won’t be paid for another month. The choir class, if I get it squared away, doesn’t begin until mid-October. I don’t start teaching for another two weeks.

SO, introducing a new section of my blog, where instead of eating food…. I write about it. That’s right, recipe time. Read the rest of this entry »


Fulbright Orientation

On August 31 140 university-age Americans met each other in the Cologne Hauptbahnhof. We didn’t know each other, but we found each other by the DB Info Stelle and picked up like we were old friends, introducing ourselves (re-introducing, for those of us who recognized names from the Facebook group), comparing travel horror stories (apparently several incoming flights had been cancelled and trains were late) and all in all relieved to have found other people in the same English-speaking, luggage-dragging boat.

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Was essen wir in den USA?

On the weekend I went to a big shopping center with my roommate (essentially a mall) that had a big grocery store (kind of like a Super Target). It’s a bit farther away than the other smaller grocery stores I’ve been to, but it was worth it because I bought the makings of guacamole, french toast, one-eyed sandwiches (egg-in-a-basket), and meatloaf, ‘typical’ American dishes I wanted to introduce my roommate to. Read the rest of this entry »


Quick Update- Orientation and Köln

I’m alive! It’s almost midnight here and I just got ‘home’ to Nürnberg from Köln/Cologne (aka the place where there’s a big cathedral and Karneval and that’s about all anyone knows) and the Teaching Assistant orientation (aka how not to get deported from Germany) in Wermelskirchen (aka the middle of nowhere). I spent most of the day running around the Domplatz (cathedral square) in Köln, being accosted by pigeons, and puzzling over a modern art museum.

 

For now, here are a few pictures- more detailed thoughts about orientation coming this weekend.

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Kölner Dom

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Jackson Pollock painting

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Wermelskirchen

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Kölner Domplatz


 


Hey new Fulbrighter!

So you’ve gotten through the application process and the long months of waiting and have been accepted as an ETA in Germany, have you? You have all summer now to plan and freak out and tell everyone you’ve ever met and their dog that you’re moving to Europe for 10.5 months, but the real question is- now what?

The next few months are exciting. They are also scary. You get it? Well, you will.

Here are a few suggestions for how you could spend the summer before you move across the ocean. Read the rest of this entry »


My Tips For Traveling In Europe(Germany)

This is a bit (ok, alot) belated, as I’ve been home from study abroad since July, but better late than never! After spending five weeks in Germany, Austria, and a short time in the Netherlands, these are a few things as inexperienced college student might be able to offer in the way of traveling tips.

1. Bring an umbrella. Seriously. Everywhere. Read the rest of this entry »


TheDiaryofaDork and the terrible, horrible, really scary honors thesis

A last-minute decision last December- and a flurry of advising appointments-  settled it; this is my last semester as an undergraduate. Since I had such a head start in my German classes and took on average 20 credits a semester, I have just enough credits to graduate a year early, so I am.

Of course, there was one hiccup to that plan; the honors thesis. Read the rest of this entry »


Last Week

This is the last week of our prorgam. My roomate and I were in Amsterdam last weekend, and now we’ve got lots of stuff to do for our classes this week. Also, my internet contract in the hotel has terminated, so I will have to post the remaining blog posts I want to put up later when I’m at home.

Here’s a pic from Amsterdam until then!
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