"Looks just like the sun..."
Things have generally been going better for me lately.
I still have my ups and (break)downs now and again, but how can I stay
down all the time when about 25 friends have done everything in their
power to not let me stay that way? I’ve
gotten random e-mails and text messages from people I haven't heard from in a
long time; I've gotten telephone calls from friends just making sure I'm ok;
I've even gotten visits from friends
and a package filled with music, a movie, a book, peach tea and chocolate.
Friends are still reaching out to me and it hasn’t yet failed to
surprise me or make me smile. It’s
weird to see so clearly and unmistakably the impact you have on people.
It’s really quite scary as well.
but I’m breathing, thinking on...
When it began to sink in that I’d be leaving Germany earlier than expected I got really depressed since there was so much I had planned to accomplish while I was over here and so little that I actually have achieved. Other than learning the language, what I wanted to do more than anything else was travel. I had planned that within the two years I was going to spend here, I’d see cities in Germany I missed the first time around, make my way east to the Czech Republic, Estonia, and of course Poland, take at least one of the ferries from Kiel to Scandinavia, bike through Denmark, visit the Netherlands and finally make it to Ireland. I’ve already made attempts to get to Amsterdam and Prague, and those didn’t pan out. I’m just worried that I won’t get a chance to come back to Europe for a long while after this. And since I feel like I’ve just been wasting a lot of time, I wanted to at least be able to look back on this year and not see it entirely as a loss.
ship is sailing in the west, flower that could be his fun...
When everything more or less just crashed, I instinctively turned to two of my biggest comforts: music and my bike. I lucked out on both -I had just written a new song about a month ago, and the weather has been nothing less than remarkable for the past two weeks here. So I recorded the song, and hopped on my bike. I’ve made my way along the Kiel Canal, North just above Schilksee and South just below Flintbek. I’ve packed sandwiches and apples, maps and a camera -stashed them in a bag slung over my shoulder and just rode.
keep going
On Easter, I made one of these random excursions South and came across an open-air museum in Molfsee. I know it’s just a silly open-air museum, but it started to remind me what I like most about Europe and Germany. I don’t even know how to put it into words...I guess more than anything it’s the little adventures to places I’ve never been to before -seeing the cultural things I couldn’t see elsewhere -the little things particular to a region or city (like the steep thatched roofs of Frisian architecture that you can’t find in the South.) And this need to travel more -at least through Germany- just reached a fever pitch inside me. I know I lack both time and money (the latter really in extreme), but I started thinking of what I could do to at least get out of Kiel and see what else this country has to offer.
here we go
I learned the hard way that train travel can be quite expensive. But it doesn’t always have to be. There’s still a ton of places I want to go to in the North -in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Niedersachsen. The mostly evil Deutsche Bahn (Germany’s Amtrak) offers a 21 euro ‘Schleswig-Holstein Ticket’ which entitles you to travel within S-H and M-V for an entire day during the week, and the 28 euro “Schönes Wochenende Ticket” which lets you take any regional train throughout the entire country on a Saturday or Sunday. Spend another three euros and you get to take your bike with you.
gold and red the colors change as you can’t forget...
Not that traveling like this still isn’t expensive. But these tickets do have one plus to them: they’re the same price for one person as they are for five. Thus, if four of my friends feel like spending a Friday in Flensburg or a Saturday in Göttingen, then instead of paying 21 or 28 euros (24 or 31 with bike) I’d end up only spending 5 or 6 (8 or 9 with bike). I doubt I can find four people to go on these little adventures with me, but I’m hoping at least that sometimes I’ll be able to enlist a friend or two to do this with me on occasion. Besides, not that I don’t like traveling alone, but traveling with friends is more fun anyway. (What can I say, I love my friends!)
it’s obvious to everyone
And I know the dangers of making plans. I learned that the hard way as well. But still, making plans gives me hope. So I’ve been trying to think of what I’ll do when I get back -what I’ll eventually get my masters in. It’s a tough decision -especially since it requires me to pin myself into a certain path that I may decide later I don’t want to take. But looking at these different programs enables me to look at my life and see that there is possibly some future there -not the one I had always envisioned, but perhaps even one that was close? I know of one program in the twin cities that offers a twin doctorate in German and Scandinavian Studies. And if I eventually do end up becoming a professor -even a non-tenured one, I could theoretically slowly work on a second degree while teaching and researching. Both of my parents got masters degrees rather recently. My father, the engineer, used his adjunct faculty position to get his in history. Who knows -plans like these probably won’t work -but it could, and that gives me some hope. That’s all I need for right now, at least.
you better check your watch, I think it’s time you left...
But for now, I’m done moping about everything. It’s time to start making life happen for me. It’s like summer here and I live in Germany. I got a bike, a bag, a guidebook, a camera and apples and sandwiches to spare. So who’s with me?
but I’m breathing, thinking on...
When it began to sink in that I’d be leaving Germany earlier than expected I got really depressed since there was so much I had planned to accomplish while I was over here and so little that I actually have achieved. Other than learning the language, what I wanted to do more than anything else was travel. I had planned that within the two years I was going to spend here, I’d see cities in Germany I missed the first time around, make my way east to the Czech Republic, Estonia, and of course Poland, take at least one of the ferries from Kiel to Scandinavia, bike through Denmark, visit the Netherlands and finally make it to Ireland. I’ve already made attempts to get to Amsterdam and Prague, and those didn’t pan out. I’m just worried that I won’t get a chance to come back to Europe for a long while after this. And since I feel like I’ve just been wasting a lot of time, I wanted to at least be able to look back on this year and not see it entirely as a loss.
ship is sailing in the west, flower that could be his fun...
When everything more or less just crashed, I instinctively turned to two of my biggest comforts: music and my bike. I lucked out on both -I had just written a new song about a month ago, and the weather has been nothing less than remarkable for the past two weeks here. So I recorded the song, and hopped on my bike. I’ve made my way along the Kiel Canal, North just above Schilksee and South just below Flintbek. I’ve packed sandwiches and apples, maps and a camera -stashed them in a bag slung over my shoulder and just rode.
keep going
On Easter, I made one of these random excursions South and came across an open-air museum in Molfsee. I know it’s just a silly open-air museum, but it started to remind me what I like most about Europe and Germany. I don’t even know how to put it into words...I guess more than anything it’s the little adventures to places I’ve never been to before -seeing the cultural things I couldn’t see elsewhere -the little things particular to a region or city (like the steep thatched roofs of Frisian architecture that you can’t find in the South.) And this need to travel more -at least through Germany- just reached a fever pitch inside me. I know I lack both time and money (the latter really in extreme), but I started thinking of what I could do to at least get out of Kiel and see what else this country has to offer.
here we go
I learned the hard way that train travel can be quite expensive. But it doesn’t always have to be. There’s still a ton of places I want to go to in the North -in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Niedersachsen. The mostly evil Deutsche Bahn (Germany’s Amtrak) offers a 21 euro ‘Schleswig-Holstein Ticket’ which entitles you to travel within S-H and M-V for an entire day during the week, and the 28 euro “Schönes Wochenende Ticket” which lets you take any regional train throughout the entire country on a Saturday or Sunday. Spend another three euros and you get to take your bike with you.
gold and red the colors change as you can’t forget...
Not that traveling like this still isn’t expensive. But these tickets do have one plus to them: they’re the same price for one person as they are for five. Thus, if four of my friends feel like spending a Friday in Flensburg or a Saturday in Göttingen, then instead of paying 21 or 28 euros (24 or 31 with bike) I’d end up only spending 5 or 6 (8 or 9 with bike). I doubt I can find four people to go on these little adventures with me, but I’m hoping at least that sometimes I’ll be able to enlist a friend or two to do this with me on occasion. Besides, not that I don’t like traveling alone, but traveling with friends is more fun anyway. (What can I say, I love my friends!)
it’s obvious to everyone
And I know the dangers of making plans. I learned that the hard way as well. But still, making plans gives me hope. So I’ve been trying to think of what I’ll do when I get back -what I’ll eventually get my masters in. It’s a tough decision -especially since it requires me to pin myself into a certain path that I may decide later I don’t want to take. But looking at these different programs enables me to look at my life and see that there is possibly some future there -not the one I had always envisioned, but perhaps even one that was close? I know of one program in the twin cities that offers a twin doctorate in German and Scandinavian Studies. And if I eventually do end up becoming a professor -even a non-tenured one, I could theoretically slowly work on a second degree while teaching and researching. Both of my parents got masters degrees rather recently. My father, the engineer, used his adjunct faculty position to get his in history. Who knows -plans like these probably won’t work -but it could, and that gives me some hope. That’s all I need for right now, at least.
you better check your watch, I think it’s time you left...
But for now, I’m done moping about everything. It’s time to start making life happen for me. It’s like summer here and I live in Germany. I got a bike, a bag, a guidebook, a camera and apples and sandwiches to spare. So who’s with me?