I'm officially German now...

Ok, not really but I am feeling a little less like a lost tourist and a little more like a Hamburgian (Hamburger? Hamburglar?).  Plus, people can't stop talking about how German I look, which I'm going to take as a compliment.  It's a compliment, right??

This week I have conquered:

• The transit system: with my school pass, I can ride all of the buses and trains (U-Bahn is the underground and the S-bahn is the above ground train).  To get anywhere other than school, this is the much easier/necessary choice.  However, all of the station names are typical German names, which both have an insane amount of letters yet seem to look all the same. The bus stops are unusual from those that I've used before (granted, I've only ever used UNC buses) in that the stations are not necessarily intuitive in their location versus their direction.  It took me a while to realize that the bus I take one way is a half block away from the other bus, but both stations are in the median, as opposed to the side of the road.  Nevertheless, I am an expert now at public transportation. I can get to most of the major attractions and meeting spots with ease.  Soon I'll be able to answer those questions I keep getting in German!
• The biomarkt: after my original encounter with grocery shopping, I decided to email the girl from whom I am subletting and ask where she shops.  She did mention the one place I went before, but also that a biomarkt was nearby.  Bio is the designation for organic foods, so this place is essentially the Hamburg Whole Foods.  Knowing what that entailed, I shopped there the other day and saw the most beautiful sight so far:

 Note: grocery stores here close insanely early so it is sometimes required to scavenge at the gas station for acceptable food instead of actually grocery shopping.  But stocking up on things from this aisle will hopefully ensure I will not starve

• Taking out the trash: Yes, this may not seem like an accomplishment, but all of the trashcans are hidden in cute little sheds so I was clueless for a while.
• The banks: Money management here is interesting, since I of course don't speak German, and also I can't use most of the money in my American account without extra charges.  I found the cheapest way to fool the system, however, by using the Deutsch bank ATM to get out money with my debit card (no fees from BoA this way) and depositing it immediately into my HASPA account which the school set up for us.  This way I can wire money to my subleasor easily and add money to my school card as well.  Successfully doing all of those transactions made me feel like I had taken a huge leap into seeming like a native.  Even if I did do the whole thing in English.
• The mail system: Ok, this is not completely true since I haven't yet mailed anything, but I did put my name on the doorbell and mailbox so the postman could find me.  There aren't apartment numbers, at least in my building, so I'm guessing had I not done that, I would not have received anything ever.  My landlord said the handwritten, carolina blue post-its I used didn't look "so nice" but also didn't help me fix it. I'm taking that as his tacit approval.
• A week of classes: Funny, I suppose there's actually studying in this whole study abroad thing.  The law classes are not too difficult thus far: since we have half the time of a normal semester before we change classes, we really cannot get into too much depth.  The professors also don't expect us to have done the reading before class, or perhaps ever.  This strongly contrasts with the fact that they FAIL people here.  So yes, I'm reading before class.  I'm hoping that having English as my first language will help a bit, but there's not actually a curve at all so I won't rely on that fact too much.  The hardest class is German language, since I got put in the basic instead of beginner class.  It deals more with actual language instead of learning numbers and colors (my friend said it was kindergarten all over again).  I'm not taking it for credit anyway, so I think I'll stay in it and be challenged a bit.  I have decided that it requires the constant use of google translate while in class, and the teacher (the wonderfully-named Kathrin) does not seem to mind.  I'm also taking comparative law, intro to intellectual property law, and white collar crime - all of which are quite interesting subjects.  3L year is starting out well, class-wise.
• The German cell phone system: Another thing that makes me feel very German is the fact that I now have a German cell phone number to my name.  Not even halfway through September, I was getting the feeling that I had already used all of the texts and data that I signed up for on my American phone.  International overages are insanely expensive, so I knew I needed a new solution.  I headed to Vodafone for a German phone that comes with a data plan.  This way, I can google the closest restaurant or look on a map where I am, away from school or my apartment.  I will keep my American cell nearby, for the info that is stored on it.  But the best way to contact me is email, gchat, or if you really want to feel like you're texting me, I'm using an app called WhatsApp that you can download for free on Android or for $.99 on iPhone.  My new phone is an adjustment, with a smaller keyboard and different ways to do things, but they were nice enough to put my name on the phone to see every time I turn it on!

• A cold: This is another that is not fully true, but close enough.  Luck would have it that within my first week of classes I came down with a knockdown, drag out cold.  It stretched over my entire respiratory system at various times, and threatened to keep me home from Malente (see below).  I nipped it in the bud, though, with major amounts of steam, saltwater, vitamin c, and some extra sleep.  I still have a bit of a runny nose but nothing close to what I felt like before.  Take that, time change.
• My walk to school: What I mean by this is that I've found a much better way to walk to classes.  The city is tearing down a building that was on my other route (see below for more on that) and the detour sent me through a park that the school owns.  I realized on the way back home that I could actually go further back through the park, cut a bit of time out of my walk, and have a more scenic route to boot.  This is what my view is now, nbd:

 Note the fountains in the background, they are more impressive than my camera phone captured

• International cooking: Our first planned social event was an international dinner.  We got together with our buddy families and made dish(es) from our native country(ies), then shared them with the rest of the families.  What a delicious bonding event! In my family, Marie from France made crepes, Aslan from Sweden made Swedish Caviar (a hard-boiled egg and caviar on top of a piece of white bread), and I made some potato salad (technically American AND German, but I used a Paula Deen recipe so it counts).  Some pictures:

Marie and her crepes

Aslan shows how to make the caviar to Abraham (from Mexico) and Lital (from Israel)

 Aslan tries his hand at flipping crepes

• The German Going Out Scene: After the international dinner, we all went to the Reeperbahn, the main going out location in Hamburg.  I'm learning how, ahem, interesting European music is.  The songs I knew at the first place we went to were old to very old American songs, and the rest were German hip hop songs.  The age range on these songs went from The Roots circa 2002 back to Hit the Road, Jack circa 1960, which for the first time was not used to kick us out of the bar.  We have since been to other places with newer music, but for some reason all of the songs have what sounds to me to be the same techno interlude in the middle, even if it was a dance song to begin with.  Who knew Usher needed a remix? In case anyone was worried, Call Me Maybe has made it here, in full force.  The remix is even more terrible than the original, with only half of the chorus being repeated to that techno beat again and again.  But everyone gets into it so if you don't pay too much attention to the song, it can still be fun.

Glow sticks and crazy straws!

New friends!

• A weekend in Malente: It is a Bucerius tradition for the second-year class to invite both the international class and the incoming first-year students for a weekend (eh, 24 hours) of team building, sports, and drinking festivities at a summer-camp-style hostel outside of a town called Malente.  Since the first-years are 18-19 years old, this being their version of college, it can get pretty crazy (ambulance crazy) for them.  But everyone made it back alive and besides the 19-20 year old second-year students directing us (including a 7 am wake up call for a 10 am bus), I'm glad I went.  It was a bonding experience that I'm sure people will be sharing stories from for a while.  I have no pictures from that since they informed us that was rule #2 of the trip.  Rule #1 was what happens in Malente, stays in Malente, and Rule #3 (clearly broken) was don't go to the hospital.

Random Observations:

• Construction: I don't know if this is a German thing, a Hamburg thing, or a tourist thing, but whenever I see construction (mostly the aforementioned demolition of the building near school), I also see a handful of people standing and watching.  I'm not sure that I've ever seen this happen in the U.S. to such a great extent.  We're talking five-six people every time I leave the school, just watching.  Today, the equipment wasn't even moving and they were standing at the barrier, looking at it.  It makes me want to ask them why they find it so interesting!
• Paying Extra: I'm now prepared to spend more than the purchase price of a certain item if I want certain other accompanying items.  Bags at the grocery store were the first thing, but also condiments you typically think of as coming with the food.  This includes pommes sauce, their term for mayonnaise.  It's half in French and means fries/potato sauce. Apparently that's all they use it for.
• Punctuality (warning: broad generalizations exist here): Since the program includes people from all over the world, I have found it fascinating to watch different peoples' punctuality.  The Germans are always on time: the administrators, professors, and other students are ready to begin/leave right at the moment they said they would be, not a minute before or after.  The Americans/Western Europeans typically are 5 to 10 minutes late, 15 if its a morning activity.  The Mediterranean students are typically 30 minutes to an hour late.  They manage to always be the last ones in the room, even if the class just took a 20 minute break.  Watching different cultures' views on the importance of time is so interesting!
• Weather: I have stopped looking at the weather forecast because, at least for another month or so, I can accurately predict it.  The temperature calls for layers constantly because if the sun comes out a bit, it can be t-shirt weather, but if the wind starts up, its sweater weather immediately.  There are only three states of weather in Hamburg: just finished raining, currently raining, about to rain.  I am practically a boy scout now with how prepared I am for all sorts of climate.  However, the people here don't feel the same way I do about walking around.  If it's sprinkling to lightly raining, they don't put on a rain coat or put up their umbrella, it typically has to be the full driving rain for any kind of protection.  No one wears sunglasses, ever.  And the women walk, bike, and practically run in heels.  It's like they don't even realize the weather is not ideal. I love the heartiness that must come from this northern climate.  Our bus tour guide from the first week told us that it will soon start getting dark at 3 pm and the wind will make it extremely cold, so I'm hoping to gain that heartiness before that point.

• Food: I'm still not sure I've had actual German food outside of the cafeteria (mensa).  For some reason, whenever we go out, its impossible to find a place that actually offers the country's own cuisine.  Everything else is represented, however.  The Turkish influence is strong, as apparently is the ex pat culture since certain restaurants offer real American or Californian (or Texan or...) cuisine.  The other night a group of us went out looking for hearty German food but the rain went into full-on monsoon mode so we went into a tapas place instead.  We just ordered the variety plate (two versions, three of each) and pitchers of sangria and walked out full, happy, and only out 20E each.  All of the dishes were individually so delicious! I love when I stumble across good food :) 

 One of each of the plates -- the best were the bacon wrapped dishes on the right plate.

Until next time, Auf Wiedersehen!!