Ein Ganz Woch

Jetzt! Heute habe ich Freizeit ins Blog zuschreiben. I've finally got some time now to do some writing in my blog. I always find that when I actually get time to go online I never have enough to update the blog so I don't even bother. So be prepared for a long read. This post is going to be chucker-block full of things I did this whole week. I'll probably start with Monday, since thats where I left off.

So! We started our German classes this week and finally had, for the most part, a set schedule. Everyday this week, Monday through Friday, I had German class from 2:30 to 5:45. It's not too too hard and actually its quite fun. We're learning the basics, but also we made a list of topics to talk about and learn and we've actually stuck to it. There are only 4 other people in my class. I'm in the intermediate class. All the other students in the program are in the beginners level program since they've never had any German. My favorite part of the class is our "Kaffepause" - coffee break.

We've only had one other class during the day this week and they didn't start till 10:00 AM so thats pretty nice. Monday and Tuesday morning we had History class from 10-12. These classes are held at the Freie Universitaet and taught by a German professor. Hes pretty funny and WICKED smart. He's published over 30 books and is a well respected professor in Germany. His name is Wolfgang Wippermann. There are sometimes only 3 people in the class with as many as 5, depending on what the 2 visual culture students have for class. Wednesday and Thursday I had an Art History seminar from 10-12. This class has 5 students in it also, us 3 area studies students and the 2 visual cultures. Our classes are held at various art museums and is quite interesting. The classes are so small that its almost like private tutoring and the setting is so unique. Having classes in a museum is really remarkable. I've taken an Art History class at RWU, but nothing compares to this. Instead of looking at slides of famous art and architecture, we're actually staring face-to-face with the actual original pieces of art and architecture and analysing them in the perfect museum setting. We examined them out on the floor of the museums but we've also done so in special rooms. Tuesday we looked at original sketches done by several artists about WWI and the impact it had on Germans. It reminded me of the scene from Dan Brown's book "Angels and Demons" when they're analyzing texts in the sealed rooms for the Vatican Archives.

Friday morning we didn't have any classes until 12:30. We had our photography class then of course German. We had a photo project due Friday. It was a Photo Essay of our neighborhoods and/or living space and mine came out quite good. The professor, Mark Simon, was impressed with my work for never having any photography lessons or training. I actually even had one photo, it was my favorite too, that tricked him. The way I had shot it made it look like a black and white, which he thought it was, but it was actually in color. Mark also set us up and explained to us the upcoming Berlinale Festival and what movies we were going to watch that night and the weekend.

When I wasn't in class that during the week, I was either catching lunch in Potsdamer Platz or a cafe with some of the students or spending some time at the mall because we had to get our photos printed. Friday morning I went to the 1Euro store near my apartment and picked some things up, made some, lunch, then headed to a cafe to get some work done before class at 12:30.

The first film we saw for the Berlinale was My Winnipeg. This was a documentary done about Winnipeg, Canada. It was surprisingly good. It was a rather unorthodox documentary; mixing the traditional filming style of documentaries with movie style filming. It was also narrated live by the director, which I really liked, and was the European premier. We also witnessed the a "teaser" of the European premier of Green Porno. These were shorts about insect reproductions made by Isabella Rosellini.

Saturday we were supposed to see two Films. I got up around 10 or so and made it to the theatre and got tickets with the other students to see our film at 12:30. We viewed a film made in the 80's called "My Brother's Wedding." This film was rather boring, with no plot and the problem only appearing until the last 20 minutes of the film, but it also had some decent acting for amateaurs and I liked the aspect of viewing a really old film. Later that night, at 20:00 we were supposed to see a film called Leo. This was a Swedish film but we didn't get to see but because it was widely popular and sold out really fast. Instead, myself and some of the other kids met up with my roomate and another student, Meredith at a bar in our neighborhood called Slumberland. This was a pretty cool bar with very good beer. It was a rege bar (spelling), with good music and the floor was all beach sand - pretty cool huh. After that we called it a pretty early night at mitnacht (midnight).

Todayyyyy was a really good day. The sun was out in almost full force and it was really warm. It was about 11 degrees celcius (low 50's F). I slept till about 11:00, made some eggs for breakfast, which I had been craving then grabbed my camera and some things and headed out. I had decided earlier that if it was going to be nice out I wanted to go roaming and taking pictures. Ever since this photography class started I've been pretty interested in taking pictures and getting good at photography. Soooo I went out and just walked around my neighborhood and Potsdamer Platz snapping pictures. I also stopped at a cafe to get a Tassee Kaffee and do some people watching for another assignment. I got some great pictures I think and it was a lot of fun. I did want to do some laundry today too, but I needed to get detergent and NO stores were open so that fell through. Hardly anything is open on Sunday, except for the stores in the business and tourist districts.

So I'm getting pretty hungry now and I know this is long and I have some other things to do, sooo I'm going to wrap it up. We have another movie to see tonight at 20:00 so I gotta get ready for that too. I'll try and update more often. So check back later or just send me an email. Miss everyone.

Biss Spaeter