I think the trip to Berlin also served to reinforce the feeling. Biking around in a big city is VERY different. I admire Andrew's ability to navigate traffic (honed to almost superhuman skill, I'm sure, by life in D.C.) but I am humongously relieved to get back to a smaller place! Not only do I feel safer on the road, but I like knowing where streets go, and feeling free to wander a little bit without a panic attack if I get a little lost.
I think it just speaks to my personality; I never once felt claustraphobic in Gambier. I didn't inherit my Dad's perspective on being lost in a city: that it's actually fun, not to mention the best way to learn shortcuts and new routes, or find little-known attractions. Poor Mike has seen firsthand what happens to me when I feel lost, and it's really not pretty. It isn't that I have a bad sense of direction or can't read a map... I just want to have a plan, and know exactly where I'm going and how I can get there at every stage along the way. I was really good at delegating the planning for Cornerstones tour in part because the thought of being solely responsible for our trip filled me with paralyzing dread. Funny then, that I'm on this massive adventure to begin with!
Hmm... Maybe it's really a good thing that I'm forced to exercise my spontaneous, adventuresome side over here. It makes next year in Chicago seem a little less scary. I know that I'm capable of dealing with things like train schedules all by myself... in German, no less... and I'm getting better about forgiving myself for making mistakes.
Anyway, here are some nice views from around Göttingen!
The Gänseliesel platz in front of the Altes Rathaus, with just the beginning stages of decorations for the Wiehnachtsmarkt.
The statue at the Nabel. Nabel literally translates to "belly button," which basically means that this is in the middle of town. (Actually it's a little north, but maybe this was the middle when it was installed?) I'm not sure of the actual title of the piece, but it's also called The Dancers, mostly because if you squint really hard you might think the figures are dancing. They actually appear to be ripping masks off one another's faces, and the child is hanging on to the woman's skirt and seems to be rapping the man across the knees with a fan.
More art: here is the Georg Christoph Lichtenburg statue, which stands in front of the Altes Rathaus. We learned in my vocab class that Lichtenburg was a famous professor of Physics at the University. He was very popular despite his small stature and hunchback; his main contribution seems to have been encouraging professors to publicize their research so interested students could actually find someone they wanted to study with. I still find the German University system hard to navigate, so I guess it's good to know that it was once much worse!
The Aula, where I have choir practice, was built between 1835 and 1837. We meet up on the top floor, at the back of the building.
Wilhelmsplatz, in front of the Aula.
I was just wandering around taking pictures at the Wilhelmsplatz when all of a sudden there were cops everywhere and a protest against atomic waste came through. I think there are protests here all the time, since it's a college town. Last week one of my German teachers told us that she was surprised that so many people came to class, since that night there was a protest against the Studiengebühr (a tuition payment for public universties that Germany is instituting this year, about €1000 a year.) Anyway, the place was suddenly overrun with kids with mowhawks carrying banners and chanting. Wild.
Some street decorations, of which many more have been put up since... and the front of the protest march, with cops on motorcycles keeping the route clear.
Now that the Christmas market is officially underway, I'll have to wander back into town and get some pictures of the festivities. There is even a Christmas-themed merry-go-round! I have some great pictures from Berlin too, so expect those in the near future.
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