Una visita a casa del mio amico Italiano Matteo!!

(Translation: A visit at home with my Italian friend Matteo!!)

This past Wednesday, I departed on an adventure - namely, on a little excursion to Milan, Italy to visit my friend Matteo and his family. Summed up simply, the experience was phenomenal, but I'd surmise that you all might like to know a bit more about what all Matteo and I undertook while I was on the other side of the Alps!

Adventure it was! I flew for the first and the last time with Ryanair...it's a discount airline based in Dublin, Ireland, and it's not known for it's customer service. I had a lot of stress predeparture (in Marburg!) that I had already made up my mind before even setting foot in the airport that I wasn't going to fly with Ryanair again. But anyhow...my flight was scheduled to depart at 8:35 PM from Frankfurt-Hahn, which isn't Frankfurt International Airport. From Marburg, I have to take the train to Frankfurt and then take a bus from the main train station to Frankfurt-Hahn. The bus ride is scheduled to take only one hour and forty-five minutes (That's longer than the flight from Hahn to Milano...), but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The first problem happened pre-train-departure in Marburg. I left my room - after having a comfortable morning with friends in Marburg - with plenty of time to buy a stamp and put a postcard in the mailbox at the train station. I was strolling along thinking about what Italy might be like when it hit me - I had forgotten my camera. I thought, "Well, I guess I won't have pictures of Milano," but then I thought how much I'd hate myself for that in the end, and - more importantly - how much my father would wring my neck if I didn't document every moment. So...I turned around and bolted (This I really did...) back to Studentendorf. This means something because I had already descended the Pasternakstraße - a street that goes maybe a tenth of a mile at a 90-degree angle (okay...I exaggerate a bit there, but it is very, very steep...), and I did this all carrying my backpack and pull-along suitcase...My heart felt like it was going to explode when I got to the top of the hill, and then I had to climb up the six flights of stairs to my room, grab the camera, and get back to the train station...even when I'm going quickly and am unencumbered by luggage, it takes about 20 minutes to get to the train station from my room. I had 15 minutes left...God was with me though, and at the gate to Studentendorf there was a Minicar - a sort of taxi. I jumped in and made it to the train station in time...and the train was even 5 minutes late.

Everything went smashingly to Frankfurt. I found the bus to Frankfurt-Hahn, paid my €12 ticket, and boarded. Traffic was horrible - we were already late when we picked up the remaining passengers at the second stop in Frankfurt, and the traffic only got worse as we headed toward Hahn. And then things went still farther south...the driver takes the the bus into a rest stop, gets out, and doesn't tell us on the bus what's going on. We're all already worried we're going to miss flights because of traffic, but now we're stopped for no apparent reason - at least to us, that is. Someone gets out and asks what's going on and is told that the bus ran out of water...a replacement bus came about 20 minutes later, and we made it to Hahn just as the gates were closing for my flight...there were people who were on the bus for flights whose gates had already closed, and I don't know what happened with them. I was so shook up from the excitement about being almost late that the plane ride was making me sick - the interior of a Ryanair plane is a bright yellow, and it wasn't helping things either. And then we when we were starting our initial descent into Bergamo, the plane started to hit turbulence...and I was happy I hadn't had anything to eat for a couple of hours because I was really feeling sick. I'd never felt so happy to be out of a plane as I did that day. I normally like to fly...

After that series of mishaps, I met Matteo at the airport, and he took me to his home to meet his family and drop of my stuff. We went for pizza - original Italian pizza. It was great just to talk to him again, and his family was more than gracious. I can confirm that the stereotype about Italians being gracious hosts.

The following day, Matteo and I explored the city of Bergamo, the city where Matteo actually lives. In the evening we went for a walk (taking the opportunity to eat gelato..!) around the city at night. It's quite a site from the citta alta, which translates into Oberstadt, or "upper city."

The citta alta in Bergamo, Italy
I point out what it's called in German because Marburg has an Oberstadt, which makes it somewhat special in the whole scheme of German cities. The citta alta does the same for Bergamo.

On Friday, we took the train to Milan to see Matteo's university and to see the cathedral there. The cathedral is much nicer from the outside - inside it's actually rather drab, dark, and - for a Catholic church - barren.

The cathedral in Milano, Italy
I had gelato again while in Milano before heading home to have dinner a fresco with Matteo's family and his cousin who brought - guess... - gelato(!) for dessert.

On Saturday, Matteo and I took it easy in the morning, having exhausted ourselves in Milano the day before. In the afternoon, we went to the mall in Bergamo. People come from all over Europe to go shopping in the this particular mall. While I was there, I found some nice shoes with the stamp "Made in Italy" that I might have to look up online to get myself. It'd be nice to have something "classy" for my wardrobe "Made in Italy."

Sunday was my departure and return for Germany. The flight home was uneventful - Thanks be to God! The bus trip to Frankfurt main train station and the train trip back to Marburg were as well. When I got back to my room, I was so exhausted, I took a nap for about 2 hours...(Such isn't really much of a deviation from my normal Sunday activities, but this time I really needed it!)

You can see more pictures of the trip here. Just click on the image and the next one should come up automatically!!

Having spent time staying with Matteo and his family, I can say that I have a better idea of how Italians really live. A much better idea than I would have had I stayed in a hotel or hostel. I'm blessed to have had this opportunity, and I thank Matteo and his family for their kind hospitality in welcoming me into their home!

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.

Alltägliches Leben in Marburg

The second semester is now well underway here in Marburg, and there really isn't too much to report. As I promised though, I want to keep my blog updated at a more frequent rate.

I've had two meetings of my classes so far, and it seems like things are going to be a bit more challenging as far as work goes this semester. This is good! Last semester I had tests at the end of the semester, and otherwise there wasn't much going on in between. This time around, I've got to write a 10-page paper about the psalms that Luther reworked into hymns, a 15-minute presentation about a group in the New Testament (this hasn't been selected yet, but I'm leaning towards looking more closely at the Pharisees or Sadducees), a personal essay, and then only one test at the end of the semester. I'm pleased about that. I started working on the paper about Luther, and it's rather demanding, but I'm feeling good about it. It's nice to be busy doing paper-writing again.

My advisor from Millersville is doing a sabbatical semester in Munich this semester, and she came to visit me and the other Millersville students here this semester this week in Marburg. It was nice to see her again. We took care of course equivalents for Millersville, as well as lining up some logistics for next fall. It wasn't all business though! We went out to eat on Monday night and had ice cream last night before she and her husband left for Munich again this morning. From what she said about Munich, it would most likely be worth a visit there, but I'm not sure when I'm going to fit that into my schedule.

I booked a plane ticket for Rome last night for July 7th to the 11th. I got a great deal from Lufthansa and had to take advantage of it. Granted, Ryanair would have been a few dollars cheaper, but for the headaches that I would have had when flying with them, it was worth it to fly from Frankfurt International and directly to Leonoardo Di Vinci and spare myself all the hassle. I'm becoming - okay, no I'm not, but still - quite a frequent flyer of Frankfurt. I like to fly, and I'm looking forward to heading out again from there. Before that, though, I'll be visiting Matteo in Milano, Italy. He's a friend I made last semester who isn't in Marburg this time around. It'll be good to see him again, and I'm looking forward to spending some time with him and his family. Maybe while I'm there I can pick up a little bit of Italian!

Speaking of friends, it's become clear to me that I did after all make some friends while I'm here. God has blessed me truly - it makes me think of Psalm 46, where God tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God!" Too often I try to figure things out and plan for every possible contingency that could go wrong, but I invariably either things don't go as badly I plan for or something that I didn't plan for happens. Being in Germany has helped abate some of this need to forefend distaster, but it hasn't gotten it out my system completely. But being still and remembering that God has things in His hands has become something that I've thought about more often during my time while I'm here.

That's about it for now. Tomorrow is a holiday in Germany (Maitag >> May Day) and everything will be closed. That means grocery shopping for Sunday and Saturday today, since everything will be closed on Sunday as well. Perhaps if the weather is nice tomorrow, I'll do a little picture taking around Marburg and post the best here for you to look at!

Inter-Semester Break

So...it's been a while since I've written something for the blog - too long, really. A lot has happened in the time since my last post(s), and I'm sure - well, I'm not sure, but I assume, at any rate - that some of you might be "concerned," or at the bare minimum, somewhat curious as to what I'm up to and what's new. I'll deign to expound on that.

On Feburary 24, I took the ICE - InterCity-Express - to Berlin to visit Angie, a chat friend who has helped with my German more than words than can describe for about the past six years. She works in the Tierpark, or basically zoo, in the section of the city that is the former East Berlin. The time I spent with her was terrific. She made me feel at home while I was there. I didn't stay with her in her apartment, though. I had to stay in an apartment of my own which was in the Elefantenhaus, or elephant house.

My room in the Elefantenhaus.

While I was there, I visited - of course - several museums, but perhaps the biggest and most exciting part of my time there (as far as site-seeing was concerned) was the day that Angie and I went to Wittenberg together.

If you don't already know, Wittenberg is the city in which Martin Luther spent most of his adult life - the city where he posted the 95 Theses;

The doors of Castle Church, where Luther nailed up the 95 Theses.

the city where he burned the papal bull;

The tree that is planted on the spot where Luther burnt the papal bull.

the city where he preached, taught, and simply lived.

The church where Luther preached every Sunday.

I cannot find the words to describe the feeling I had walking down the very streets that Luther walked down or when I strolled through the monastery that he he eventually bought and made his personal home.

The monastery where Luther lived in Wittenberg and eventually bought and made his family home.

It was a fantastic experience, and now I can "check off" yet another Luther-site from my list of places to see.

On March 17, after returning from Berlin for a few days in Marburg, I flew home for the remainder of my time between the semesters. While I was home, I was so busy. In the beginning, the experience was quite surreal. It was hard to believe, after five-and-a-half months, that I was actually back home. Everyday was booked with something to do or someone to see, but in all that was probably a good thing. At least that way I didn't waste my very little time there. After having spent Christmas away from family and friends, it was nice to at least spend Easter with them.

I am back in Germany, and the new semester has started here in Marburg. This semester I'll be taking these following classes:

• Literature of the German-speaking World after 1945
• Intensive Study of Grammar, Vocabulary, and Writing and Speaking for Foreign Students
• Basic Course - Old Testament
• Basic Course - New Testament
• The Bible as Literary Inspiration
  

I think this is going to be a good semester - The German literature class and the Old Testament class are only ones with major tests at the end; the others have papers due, so I'm feeling more confident about them already - not that I couldn't do a test, but rather that I'm feeling less stressed about the passing/failing the course. I feel better about papers as opposed to tests.

I'll try this semester to do a better job keeping the blog updated. Bug me in emails so I stay on top of it!!!