Toga Toga Toga!!!

So the first few days of class were great. The first weekend hanging out with everyone was a perfect way to end it.

Friday class was alright, but I could feel the energy of everyone knowing it was the weekend. The first new thing that happened Friday was my first Rotary Meeting in Schwäbisch Hall. Oskar, my Rotary contact, picked me up a noon, so I missed the last 45 minutes of class. He drove me to the meeting at a fantastic restaurant by the train station of Schwaebisch-Hessental, which is the main train station. He drove me in his Audi—it is a sa-weet car. A lot of sports cars here are awesome, but Audi, Mercedes, and Porsche are all based close to here so it makes sense.

At the Rotary meeting, I was both terrified and fascinated. Oskar introduced me to everyone that we met at first, and I said hello. A lot of them greeted me in English once he introduced me, but I responded in German. They then asked if I spoke German, and I laughed, saying only a little bit and that I’m here to learn more. But then we sat down at a long table and started small talk with everyone. One thing that I did notice was that everyone that came in made an obligatory round to every person at the meeting to say hello. It was kind of strange, but also cool that they went to shake every person’s hand. I say “person”, by the way, but really I mean man. Rotary is separated by gender here, so there is a Rotary Men’s and Rotary Women’s.

Sitting at the table with all of these German business men, I was beyond intimidated. I wanted to make sure I was a good representative of everything I stood for: Forest Acres Rotary, Rotary in general, USC, KY, and the US. I did my best to understand everything that was going on, but it wasn’t easy. Then I had one of the guys sitting across from me ask me what I thought about Obama. My heart jumped in my throat. That’s a challenging question to answer in English, much less German. As I did my best to explain my views and the views of the country, all I could think about was how much of an idiot must sound like. And then the single most embarrassing moment of my Germany experiences happened. I completely blanked on the leaders of Germany. I had studied them before so I would know what to talk about if asked or put in a conversation where I needed to discuss it. But I guess the stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue of nothing but German since 8:15 that morning + meeting all of these new German businessmen + the Obama conversation just caused my brain to shut down for a second. I completely blanked and had to just ask him what he thought about Obama compared to “the leaders” of Germany. I was so completely embarrassed. Oh, and I was doing all this while trying to politely eat the (delicious) salmon and rice we were served for lunch.

When I thought I could not feel more embarrassed, I then was introduced as a guest when the meeting officially started. I stood up and tried saying a few words about myself. I knew that I was going to be asked to give a brief introduction, so I had planned a few things to say. Of course, I was already flustered from the previous events. I definitely muffed it. Things I knew I was going to talk about: Thank you for having me here, hello from the Forest Acres Rotary Club in SC, where I go to school in the US, my majors and career hopes, where I am from, where I am studying here in Germany, where I’m living now, why I like Rotary, why I want to study and learn German, and what I enjoy doing in my free time. What did I actually say? Well, I successfully thanked them for having me at their Rotary Club, said my name, where I am from, where I go to school, and what I like to do in my free time. And then I awkwardly stopped talking, said thank you again, and took my seat. My heart was beating so quickly and I’m sure I was completely flushed. I sat down and another wave of embarrassment hit me. Oskar then stood up and spoke for a few minutes about what I was supposed to say, making sure to inform everyone about my studies here and how long I would be here. Of course, the whole time he was talking, I was cursing myself for forgetting all of this. After he finished, I quickly stood up and apologized for forgetting all of this, saying I was nervous and still not to great with my German. I sat back down as the rest of the meeting went underway, thankfully giving me a chance to slide out of the spotlight and have someone else talk for a while.

I understand that even being able to get up in front of these men was a huge step from my abilities and courage even from the first few days I had been in Germany. I had gone from being afraid to speak to people in the bakery to order food to talking in front of a group of businessmen. I definitely learned a lot from it, and it was a good experience for me to have. However, it was such a frustrating experience for me. I am not one who normally feels comfortable talking about my talents, but I know that I have an ability to talk my way through many a challenging situation. I have always been one to use my words to my advantage, and I can usually say what I need to say in an impressive way. I have had practice with speaking in front of large (and sometimes intimidating) crowds, too, through Orientation Leader and Team Leader, Ambassadors, Homecoming King, and all the other opportunities I have to fall back on. I am not used to being flustered or having trouble communicating. It was so embarrassing and frustrating being able to not eloquently introduce and explain myself. I guess that’s part of learning another language. But at least I have that experience so I can do better next time. My friend Kaleb told me that if I don’t come back with several bundles of utterly embarrassing moments, then I haven’t truly experienced the country or learned the language. Well, Kaleb, if you’re reading this, then know that I am definitely experiencing Germany and learning German to the fullest.

The presentation was about the economic and market situation in Russia. I could understand it for the most part because there was a power point presentation to compliment it. After the presentation concluded, the meeting was adjourned and we started saying goodbye to everyone. A few men came up to me and asked me about some interesting things. One gave me his business card and said if I ever wanted a tour around Frankfurt, I should give him a shout. I might just do that, because I definitely want to see Frankfurt. Another asked about volleyball. While I had completely screwed up my speaking earlier, I had mentioned what I liked to do in my free time. I mentioned volleyball as one. He asked me about that, and I told him I play for the club team at USC. He said he had a recreational team and would love for me to come out to play with him. I didn’t get his contact information, but I hope to get in touch with him at some point because I really would love to go play. Also, another guy mentioned that he was like the owner of a sports complex or something and that I could play basketball there. So I really need to look into those opportunities. I also need to look into joining the football team here. I found out they are called the Unicorns. How threatening. But, the quarterback is from Michigan, so there are some Americans on the team. It would be awesome to play football here.

I apologized to Oskar for not speaking well while we were on the way back to the house, but he said it wasn’t a problem at all. He said the club will be excited to see how I grow and improve with my German as I keep coming back. So that was encouraging.
Once he dropped me off, I ran up to my room, changed into athletic clothes, and rushed off to the Goethe Institut. It was our first Friday of Goethe-Sport! Goethe-Sport is the weekly sporting event put on by Goethe. That Friday it was soccer. We took the bus to a sports complex and played indoor soccer. It was a lot of fun, even though I am terrible at soccer. I wasn’t the worst, so I didn’t feel too bad. I just said, “I’m an American” and that was enough explanation. After like an hour and a half of soccer we switched to dodgeball, which the Americans dominated. We then headed back on the buses. The best part of the Goethe-Sport was again getting to know people. That day I met Andrew, an Australia guy who doesn’t actually attend Goethe but has lived here and worked here for about a year. He is friends with a lot of people who go to the Goethe Institut and is always hanging around. He’s a cool guy, and we got to talking when he noticed my rugby jacket. He played rugby in Australia, and we talked about rugby for a really long time.

After Goethe-Sport we all went back to shower and then met up in Wohnheim 2. There were just hanging out while everyone cooked different things for dinner. I hadn’t eaten yet, but I just planned on getting something later. We started drinking a few beers and then Andrew the Australian (there are three Andrews here so we always have to distinguish) decided that we need to have a Toga themed night. At first we all laughed at him as he came in with nothing but a bed sheet and boxers on. But slowly, after he encouraged us to go with the toga, we all ended up in togas. It was priceless. Of course, the girls refused to do it, so we had about 12 to 15 guys all dressed in togas. Then we headed to the Goethe-Party. Every Friday night Goethe holds a party for the students where it sells cheap beers and has music. They even have a happy hour from 9 to 10 when the drinks are all 0.50 Euros cheaper. We showed up to the party in togas, and all Nassim could do was shake his head. We had a blast dancing and being ridiculous, and everyone there seemed pretty entertained by it.

Soon though, I was pretty hungry, since I hadn’t eaten dinner. It was only like 10:30, so Ben, Derek, and I (I guess you could call us the Döner Drei—which would be the German word for three) went out for a döner from Bali’s. So there we were, strolling through Schwäbisch Hall in togas. Something I never thought I would say. We were wearing our coats though, because it was definitely cold. We passed a few German teenagers on the street and they definitely laughed at us. We just looked at them and said, “What? We had a toga party,” and kept walking. They seemed satisfied with that answer and turned their conversation elsewhere.

When we got to Bali’s, we met up with about 7 German guys our age. At first, they started making fun of us, asking if we were Roman and all. We just laughed back and said no, we just had a toga party, but we are Americans. Immediately, they seemed to love us. It was actually pretty funny to witness. I know a lot of Europe isn’t too pleased with America over all, but it seems when people meet us, they are fascinated by our culture or something. Most people love us. But I have definitely met a few who don’t. Anyway, they started asking us all of these questions in English. The three of us ended up talking to different groups of them. The two guys I talked to were both asking me stuff in English. I kept asking them to speak in German because I wanted to learn. They laughed and said they needed the practice with English. So I said fine, speak with me in German until I have trouble, and then we can speak in English. So we had about a 15 minute conversation about who they were and why they were in Hall, and the same info about me. One was from Freiburg and studying economics while another came from Stuttgart and was studying philosophy. They were pretty cool guys. Then they told us that we HAD to go to the disko. We told them that we were planning to head there after the Goethe-Party.

So we headed back to the party, fulfilled from our delicious döners and the conversations. There we continued to dance around with our togas and talk with people. All of us, about 20 in total, headed to the disko (dance club) around 12:15. There, we were definitely greeted by strange stares because of the togas. Yes, we even went to the dance club in the togas. We hit the dance floor and just acted ridiculous. I’m sure the Germans were cursing all of us international students. I noticed that the togas worked efficiently as German repellant. No one wanted to come near us for a while, but as people acclimated to our presence, they slowly let us mix in with them. It was blast, and we stayed there until about 2 and then headed home.

The next morning, I woke up early to meet Laura, Kelsey, Andrew K. (not the Aussie), and Ben at the bus stop at 8. We headed the train station for a day in Nuernburg. Unfortunately, that train was delayed for a couple of hours. We decided to head to Stuttgart instead and took the next train there. It was an awesome choice because Stuttgart was awesome to see. When we first got there, we grabbed some food at Kamps, a famous and delicious chain of German food. After our quick meal, we walked down the huge outdoor mall and into the city square. After exploring some and finding a cool Saturday market, we headed into the Ländes Museum, a museum about the country. We spent a good deal of time in there, seeing everything from the history of the royal family to the Roman presence in the area to the medieval times. It was pretty cool to see all of the history around us.

After that museum, we wandered around the city a little more, just trying to see what we could see. We definitely saw a lot, from cool parks to more markets to awesome buildings. Then we headed to the Porsche museum. Now that was cool. Got a lot of good pictures from that. The building had an awesome design, too. After grabbing some food and trying the Stuttgarter Brau (delicious), we headed back home. Saturday was also Laura’s birthday, so we had to get home for the celebration. We obviously had a great night Saturday night, celebrating her 21st birthday in Wohnheim 2 and Olli’s.

Sunday morning greeted us with more prospects of a good day! Sunday was Hallia Venezia. That is a celebration that is related to Fasching and Karneval (basically Mardi Gras by our terms) and it comes from Venezia in Italy. This is the Schwäbisch Hall version, hence the Hallia part. People spend about 6 months making their own costumes, and then they walk around the town from noon to 2 pm. People flock to see them. At 2 pm, the people in costumes all converge to the steps of St. Michael’s Church (the one right by my house) and they parade down the steps. It was definitely awesome to see.

Sunday afternoon was pretty sweet too because the Haugs invited my for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake). Frau Haug had made a sauerkirsche (sour cherry--the cherries aren't actually sour, it's just a type of cherry) cake and we drank coffee while we ate the freshly made cake. It was definitely delicious, and it was good to catch up with the Haugs. I hadn't seen them in a while, so it was good to sit down and discuss the week with them. It was also a good confidence booster because I could definitely converse more easily with them since classes had started than I could before classes started. It was a good standard to measure my growth in a week of class, and they both commented that my German had greatly improved, especially my comprehension abilities. My speaking has improved, too, but it is definitely the hardest to master.

After that, we all just kind of hung out until a few of us grabbed Chinese for dinner. I was definitely some of the best Chinese I’d ever had. Gotta love Germany. What a good weekend.