Changing Political Landscape

The United States is not the only country where political turmoil is happening - the financial crisis has people unsettled the globe over - well...at least in the major "first world" countries, that is.

Germany tends to be center-right country, and the current government reflects that. It is governed by coalition of the conservative CDU and the more liberal FDP. The FDP is a rather small party in the whole scheme of things in German politics, but in the last election at the end of last summer, they pulled off almost 16% of the vote - categorically making them kingmakers in a system where coalition building is more or less necessary in order to form a governable majority. In elections since the one at the end of the summer in several states across the country, the FDP has lost significantly...but so has the CDU. The other major party - the SPD - has lost as well, but it has been polling better than it had at the end of the summer. Enough about that...it's confusing, and I don't understand it all that too well to begin with. I just know that Germans are upset with the status quo...much like a lot of other people in the world too (cf. USA and Great Britain).

Last week political history was made in the state of Hessen when governor Roland Koch stepped aside.

Ex-Hessian governor Roland Koch

It was a blow to Berlin since he was a member of the governing CDU party. Like a lot of politicans, Koch wouldn't admit that it was because he had lost the goodwill of the people that he was quitting, but "'The time was ripe for Koch to resign,' said Oskar Niedermayer, political science professor at the Free University in Berlin. 'He was too much of a polarizing figure to make it further. And after losing his absolute majority in 2008 but managing to hold onto power, he was afraid about the next election.'" Read more here.

Today, another blow comes for Chancellor Angela Merkel when President Horst Köhler announces his resignation. Although the office is largely ceremonial, it's just another series of setbacks for the government in Berlin. One more issue that Merkel has to deal with. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Thirty days from now, Germany will have a new president, even though it doesn't mean too much in the whole scheme of things. The Chancellor is the true leader of the country. Nonetheless, it livens up the news a bit and makes life a bit less boring!

Seemless in Germany...Problematic at Home

So...things have been good as far as Germany is concerned, but "regular" life problems seem to have cropped up. It goes without saying that my current life situation will affect areas of my academic life in Millersville, but as of the present, things are slightly more complicated than they should be - as far as I'm concerned.

I filled out my FAFSA when I was home at Easter, and because Frank changed jobs a few times and got unemployment, and because my mother started to work this year, it wasn't as simple as it had been in previous years. That said, it was not new that the school wanted to audit my FAFSA since they've done it the past three times that I've filled it out. My inclination is that if your "Expected Family Contribution" (EFC) is below a specific amount, then you're automatically "randomly" selected to be audited. I can see that - we don't want people to cheat the system. It's just the fact that I didn't like being lumped into the "possibly dishonest" crowd simply because my family's income is a bit less than might be considered enough to foot the college bill. I wonder how many other people get audited...anyhow, that has been an ongoing project and has continued since I've come back to Germany. I forgot to sign paperwork for the audit - had to mail that from Germany. My parents needed to send specific stuff in - had to explain that to them. The school realized something else was needed - had to talk with my parents again. When all is said and done, because Frank receive unemployment income this past year, his regular income seemed inflated...and that makes my EFC higher...no matter it was unemployment income...it was income...and that's what is used to compute the EFC - my income and my parent's income.

More school problems related to study aboard have arisen as well. Directly after getting back from the US to Germany, I took care of my grades from last semester. The Office of Global Education at Millersville sent me an email a few days later to indicate they received my transcript. That was more than a month ago, and as of yesterday, there is no change to reflect this on my transcript at Millersville. I talked with the Registrar's office yesterday, and they weren't sure what's happening. They entered some grades from Germany a few days ago, but don't know why mine weren't entered. At any rate, mine aren't posted yet, and that bothers me because this affects my financial aid because I need to make "Academic Progress" in order for my aid to come through...if the grades don't get posted, that just means more paperwork for me.

But...life really is going well here in Germany. This semester is going a lot better than last. I'm busier, which is a huge plus and a huge positive! And the weather has massively improved - for the most part. Last Saturday, Elisa - a friend from Italy - and I went to Göttingen for the day. It rained the whole time we were there - of course. It was a nice trip though even though it rained for the second time that I'd been in Göttingen. I did take a picture of a fantastic pastry shop while I was there. It's not unusual for Germany, but the picture turned out better than most when I try to photograph through the glass.


A Konditerei in Göttingen

I trust and pray that everything is going well for people at home. I keep in touch my parents, sister, and - of course - Grandma regularly, and they haven't reported anything too horrible, so I assume that the little world of central Pennsylvania hasn't fallen to pieces without me to there to hold them together!!

Back to Class

I had the past two weeks off from classes. As it is, I only have classes on Mondays and Tuesdays. The classes on Mondays are in the theological department, and as it was, all the classes in the department were canceled due to a special presentation about gender-equality. Classes on Tuesday were canceled across the whole university to give the students the opportunity to protest in Wiesbaden (the capital city of the state of Hessen) that the government was cutting funding for education while at the same time charging tuition fees. I have a hard time sympathizing with German students wholeheartedly about the tuition fees because they pay a very, very small fraction in comparison to what I pay for my education. Granted, I get better conditions for my eduction than they do, but I also pay for it. And with the state of things right now, funding for education has been cut in Pennsylvania for education as well - and our tuition fees keep going up each year anyhow. The thing is, that Germans come from an education system that was, until recently, wholly publicly funded. Anyhow...today I'm headed back to class after a two-week break. It's kind of odd after such a long time without doing classes.

On June 2, I'm flying to Milan to visit Matteo, friend from last semester who's not here now. I'll be there until June 6. Then on July 7, I'm flying to Rome to spend a few days there as a tourist. After returning on July 11, I'll spend the remainder of the time before July 19 in Marburg, at which time I'm flying to Venice until July 22. Then I'm flying home on July 24...The way things are looking, I'll also be heading to Oberammergau with some friends on June 26-27, so I should be busy traveling about the continent before coming home.


Cities where I'm traveling in relation to Marburg

Traveling will make the time go by quickly, I'm sure. That's a mixed blessing. I'm looking forward to seeing people at home again, but I don't want to have say goodbye to the friends I have here, knowing that I'm not going to be coming back in three weeks like I did at Easter. Kate is planning on going to the airport with me when I leave so that we can say our final farewells, and I hope that I don't get too emotional. I never can predict these things, though. We'll have to just wait and see how things play themselves out.

Pictures from Marburg

I'm posting this today after having posted yesterday. If you didn't read my blog since getting the email from April 30, make sure you read the next post too; it's new as well.

I took some pictures today in Marburg. Click on the picture of the Elisabeth church to see all the pictures. When the little thumbnailed pictures come up, just click on one of them and keep clicking the pictures to move to the next picture in the album.