As I’ve said before, there’s a lot about being in Germany that isn’t all that different from being in the US, especially since I’m in a large (half a million people, roughly the population of Toledo) university/tourist town. Even many of the folks I meet, shopkeepers and such, speak some English. Sometimes I even find it hard to practice my German, since many people hear my American accent and immediately start speaking English to me!

That being said, there are a few things I miss. The similarities make some differences jarring. So here is today’s list, “Top 10 Things I miss about the USA”… Continue reading →

On Tuesday I started my “Intensive German Course” to prepare for taking classes in German in October. After the placement test on Tuesday, the students were all divided into seven classes by abilities. I’m in the highest of the seven classes, the high B2 / low C1 group. I’m the only American in the group, and the only native English speaker. There’s a girl from Brazil, three from Japan, and the rest are from Europe: Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary. Continue reading →

The Nürnberg Altstadt “Fußgängerplatz” (the area where cars aren’t allowed, reserved for walking and bikes, shops, etc.) is usually full of musicians, living statues, and peddlers hawking handmade trinkets. Yes, they’re all wanting money, but some are more creative than others—and you don’t typically have beggars approaching you, but you will see their cup, or hat, or open instrument case. These two living statues were pretty cool—dressed and made up to look like cast bronze, they would move into another pose whenever someone put a coin in their pot.

Rob Paravonian is a really funny comedian with a grudge. His YouTube video “Pachelbel Rant” takes on all the popular songs which rely on the melody from Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major. We found this link stumbling through the interwebs a couple weeks ago (if you’ve never used StumbleUpon, I highly recommend it!), and Kev, Sheridan and I all loved it. If you haven’t seen it, watch it now so you’re up on the backstory…. Continue reading →

Saw this on the way out of the Bärenschanze U-Bahn station the other day, and had to snap a picture!