Boulder Trip and a Potluck Thanksgiving

The day after returning from the hustle and bustle of Berlin, I received an invitation from some friends in the rock climbing community for a trip "outside" (you could also say "outdoors:" rock climbing language for going to climb out in nature instead of in the gym) the next day. I was really excited to get outdoors after having just spent a week in Germany's capital, so I gladly took the invitation. It was also mentioned that it might be the last outside trip until Winter ended, so I definitely wanted to go before it was too late! I tagged along with Cody, his wife Chantelle, Simon, Sash, Anne, and Guillermo for the day. It was about an hour's drive south, but we held conversation the whole way there, talking about Thanksgiving plans, Thanksgiving football (Cody is a Dallas Cowboys fan), and the like. We arrived to Glees with a few hours of sunshine left. It was unusually warm again this Sunday, but we weren't complaining! For my climbing inclined readers: the bouldering problems and hiking trails are all in the valley of a once-active volcano whose lava run off created a sheer wall of climbing problems. Over time, the wall eroded and chunks of rock fell away leaving standing boulders for crazy people like us to climb on. We were climbing inside the valley the whole day with little sunshine actually reaching us, but once we popped above the lip of the drop-off and went for a hike, we were drowned in warmth and sunshine.

Hiking along the trail above the valley. Not pictured is the volcano off to the right

The valley floor was still beautiful in its own right with little remnants of Fall still clinging on for dear life before Winter came and made everything gray.

Valley floor with red and mauve colored leaves littering the ground

The climbing problems were challenging but rewarding, and in the end of the day, it didn't really matter (to me at least) how successful I was. It was a great way to unwind after a week in Berlin, spend some time in the outdoors with friends, and get one last trip in before getting locked in for Winter.

A few days later me and a group of around 30 or so other international students celebrated Thanksgiving, potluck style, on a student budget. The majority of the group came from the US, but we also had several students from France, Spain, Ireland, the UK, and Taiwan celebrate their first Thanksgiving with us. It really went on to show that, despite putting the event together under a budget, what was most important was the company. Each student from the US had stories to share of past Thanksgivings with family, and it of course brought back great memories from the Thanksgiving I have come to love and appreciate with my grandparents. I was lucky enough that my parents and younger sister (the Skype guru in the family) were visiting my grandparents the night before Thanksgiving, so I was able to Skype with my grandmother for the first time all year long! It was fantastic to hear her voice and catch up with the happenings in her town.

The spread at the Thanksgiving potluck had everything you could wish for. I prepared a mashed sweet potato side dish (interestingly enough with pears that were sauteed in white wine....yum!) with added cinnamon and it turned out great. I can't list or explain everything that we had, but suffice it to say that it was also atypical; the foreign students celebrating their first Thanksgiving brought foods typical of their homeland and it was all delicious. In fact Claire, one of my LSU classmates who is studying here, brought jambalaya!

One table's spread of our potluck Thanksgiving. Not pictured is another table with just as much food!

The above picture was also taken when only about half of the people had arrived, so we had plenty  of food. It was an especially great Thanksgiving, albeit nontraditional, spent with friends old and new. Although cliche, it helped me appreciate everything I've been blessed/lucky/fortunate to do over this past year. Studying abroad has been the best life-changing experience and I'm saying this with only 4 months under my belt!

From left: Eduard (France), Deirdre (Ireland), Claire, John, Marius, Megan

Academic Update
All of my classes are still going well! Due to the 6 day Berlin trip (and subsequently missing an entire week of classes) I have had my work cut out for me trying to play catch up, but slowly and surely I'll get back on track.

My two Economics classes (Behavioral and Game Theory) are proving to be challenging with the math-heavy presentations, but the topics of the courses are things I couldn't be more interested in. I'm having to find the right balance between academics and leisure (sometime they overlap!) so that I can dedicate the necessary time to staying on top of the subjects, but other than that things are still good.

In my English literature class "Green Utopias/Dystopias" we just wrapped up our third book on the reading list: Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake." We also read Kim Stanley Robinson's "Pacific Edge" before that. The class discussions are very interesting and help me appreciate the literature in a different context. What might be interesting for my peers back in the US to learn is that we had a pop quiz in class on whether we had finished reading the book prior to class. Many of my classmates here have many other books to read for their English classes, so they don't usually all get around to reading the books in time for class. This set off a debate of sorts between my peers and the professor, with the students decrying this act of "high school nanny-ism" as unfair, while the professor noted that this was not graded, but for his interest. The students that were crying out obviously hadn't read the book, but I write this example to illustrate the perceived differences among high school and the university here as compared to back home in the US. As a student from the US, I give the professor the benefit of the doubt to grade us at his/her choosing (in fact, I expect it!), but here in Germany, the university is viewed more as a "Life of the Mind" environment where grades and routine assignments are deemed unnecessary in favor of electrifying discussions and debates.

My Republican Party class is still going well, although class discussions are becoming dominated by the professor, myself, and one other student. I feel bad about always putting my two cents in, and I do wait to see if other students would like to speak, but because the students might feel uncomfortable speaking in English, the discussions aren't as lively as I would like. I am trying to find time each week to meet with the professor individually to discuss the readings, so at least there is that.

Things here in Germany are great and I couldn't ask for much more! I have had so much fun travelling, seeing new places, meeting new people, and in general, exploring. The next post will be a recap about the unbelievable weekend I spent in London, so check that out!