by Madison Elkins
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
http://deutschlandandme.wordpress.com/
You would think that a German dormitory, being located in a country known for its excessive efficiency, would have WiFi instead of ethernet cables. Or ethernet cables that worked. Or a replacement cable for the one that doesn’t work. Or some sort of accelerated Morse code system. Ah, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Although I’ve had a very atypical German experience with my landlord in trying to wring some spare internet access out of him, and although I still don’t understand how avoiding WiFi is beneficial to him, being without internet the first two weeks was actually a very good thing. I imagine that at first, I probably would have preferred the refuge of contact with familiar people. But since that wasn’t even an option, I was sort of forced to establish my ground within the first week. It’s funny how industrious you become when you truly have nothing to do.
And I’m sure you’re wondering, how is it? What’s it like? That I can’t answer in one blog post, and probably not in 90. The differences are in the little things, and it all combines to create a very different daily experience; but on paper, it is very much like home. There is wind, and there are sidewalks, there are people in coats.
Except today, I saw a man on a bicycle. And in his water bottle carrier was a beer bottle, opened, just as if it were standing in for the water. That, I feel, did have Germany written all over it.
I do love it here. Hannover is but a small part of Germany, and I can’t wait to see more. If it is anything like the U.S., each city is as different as night and day.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
http://deutschlandandme.wordpress.com/
You would think that a German dormitory, being located in a country known for its excessive efficiency, would have WiFi instead of ethernet cables. Or ethernet cables that worked. Or a replacement cable for the one that doesn’t work. Or some sort of accelerated Morse code system. Ah, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Although I’ve had a very atypical German experience with my landlord in trying to wring some spare internet access out of him, and although I still don’t understand how avoiding WiFi is beneficial to him, being without internet the first two weeks was actually a very good thing. I imagine that at first, I probably would have preferred the refuge of contact with familiar people. But since that wasn’t even an option, I was sort of forced to establish my ground within the first week. It’s funny how industrious you become when you truly have nothing to do.
And I’m sure you’re wondering, how is it? What’s it like? That I can’t answer in one blog post, and probably not in 90. The differences are in the little things, and it all combines to create a very different daily experience; but on paper, it is very much like home. There is wind, and there are sidewalks, there are people in coats.
Except today, I saw a man on a bicycle. And in his water bottle carrier was a beer bottle, opened, just as if it were standing in for the water. That, I feel, did have Germany written all over it.
I do love it here. Hannover is but a small part of Germany, and I can’t wait to see more. If it is anything like the U.S., each city is as different as night and day.