A new chapter

I'm finally in Göttingen! So much so quickly, where to begin? My last few days in Kiel were fabulous. I finished my German course and of course spent lots of time with my friends. I think everyone from our close group was feeling apprehensive about losing our little community, but at the same time we all have cool projects to look forward to all over the country, and hopefully plenty of opportunities to visit with friends in new places. I’d love to see Berlin, the Dom in Köln, and more of the southern part of Germany. My group already has plans in the works to meet up and celebrate Thanksgiving together. Leslie had a fabulous idea and we spent time after the last dinner before Andrew left writing little notes to one another for moral support. I’m saving mine for later.

We had our farewell dinner with the teachers and staff from the Lektorat Wednesday night. The department secretary decided that we couldn’t leave Kiel without sampling a local “treat,” so she sent the restaurant staff on a quest to find echt Kieler Sprotten. Apparently if you grow up in Kiel you consider yourself a Kiel Sprott. The name comes from a local delicacy… small smoked herring. Whole. And when I say “small,” I mean about five inches long. To eat them, you pinch off the head and munch your way up to the tail fin. Very crunchy, since they aren’t de-boned. Also very fishy, although I guess that’s to be expected. I had two, and as much as I respect Frau Dico and admire her taste that’s about enough for a lifetime.

After the meal the plan was to go to a local bar for their Jazz jam session night, where Amanda and Jacquelyn were going to perform. (I can’t express how awesome the both of them are… I could listen forever.) By the time we got there the playbill was pretty booked up, unfortunately, and the place was so smoky and crowded that waiting two hours plus for a slot just wasn’t possible. We thought we’d go back to the Burse and get a little concert or have a party in the downstairs bar, the plans kind of fizzled. Disappointing, but I’m sure we’ll hear more fabulous music at Thanksgiving and at the Fulbright meeting in Berlin this spring. And I won’t be in total withdrawal, since I bought Amanda’s CD. You should too.

I got home and finally got to bed after 2am… and then woke up at a little after 6 to throw my last stuff together and check out of my dorm room. I made my train with no problems, although wrangling all my stuff is always a challenge. I read and slept during the 3-hour trip… and then we got to Göttingen.

Ahem. Traveling by train is different from other modes of transportation in a few important ways, one of which is that you’ve only got a couple minutes at the stop to get off, and other people only have a couple of minutes to get on. So, I get up from my seat when the train finally stops, and by the time I have my luggage halfway together the walkway is clogged with incoming passengers and I’m blocking their way. Then the train starts to move. After a brief panic and some rather frantic attempts to communicate, a helpful fellow passenger calls an employee over and I find out that I can get a trip back from the next stop. So. Unexpected detour to Kassel, but I finally get to the proper place only an hour and a half late. My host-mother had called that morning while I was traveling and arranged that her son would call my cell when the train had arrived and tell me where to meet him… but for whatever reason his calls weren’t going through to my phone. Even so, we found each other as soon as I got off the train, which was a huge relief.

Göttingen has prettier architecture than Kiel, and I can’t wait to get a bike and start exploring. I’ll take some pictures, but right now I have no idea whether I’ll be able to post them. Supposedly the family has dial-up, although we haven’t talked about internet access yet. That might have to wait until I get into my dorm room… but hopefully there we’ll have DSL or something equivalent. I can’t live without e-mail!

The house is old (200+ years) and beautiful, and the family seems wonderful so far, very social and fun. The mom, Christina, is a nurse. The son that I met today, Martin, will be moving to Berlin in the next couple of weeks to start his new job at a hospital there. He got his M.D. yesterday. I haven’t met the rest of the family, but the dad, Wolfgang, and the other son are also both doctors. The older daughter is a teacher, and the younger is studying to become one. I’ve set up my little room… not quite sure where I’ll put the suitcase-full of other stuff or the box of cold-weather clothes that’s coming later this week, but I think I’ll figure something out. I took a few pictures, but I think an internet connection with greater bandwidth is required before I can post them.

Plenty of adventures coming up shortly… officially getting my dorm room, touring the lab on Monday, finding a new church, registering for classes! Compared to all this, the course in Kiel really was a vacation. Still, I can’t wait to get crackin’!