Nathan's Babbles: DAAD Conference in Mannheim and Going the Distance

The weeks and weekends have been flying by. I recently re-read a few of my old posts from when I just arrived in Germany and was commenting on "how much time I had." I would give anything for that to be true, honestly. The University started during the first week of April, and already it feels like just yesterday I was reading the syllabi for the courses. Since I haven't posted much of anything about the new semester, I'll first write about my courses and how they are going.

I'm enrolled in 6 courses this semester and I'm finding all of them very interesting. Like my first semester here, and unlike LSU back home, the majority of my classes meet once per week for 2 or 3 straight hours. There are pros and cons to this system: a pro is that I have more free time to do what I want, and can spend my remaining time abroad in Germany bike riding or hanging out with friends. A con is that frequency and repetition help me retain information, so by only looking at the material once per week, I often play catch-up with readings and assignments. This semester I am doing much more assigned reading that last, but I'll get to that in a bit. All in all, still a great semester.

1. European Integration: This is a class offered only for international students at the University of Bonn and through it we learn about post WWII Europe from the perspective of West and East Germany. One or two students every class period give a 15-20 minute presentation about a different topic relating to the subject and then the professor gives a more detailed presentation afterwards. It's a really great class in understanding the other side of post WWII life.
2. Focus on Scotland and Ireland: This course was chosen to really just learn something I know little about. My aunt and uncle once traveled to Scotland for a vacation and brought me back a t-shirt with the flag on it, but other than that I know relatively little. We break down Scotland into different spheres like Religion or Education and peer present the topics after some research. The professor is actually a Florida native but is a huge geek about kilts and haggis. The class is taking a week long trip to Edinburgh in June.
3. Behavioral Economics: Similar to last semester I decided to enroll in Behavioral Economics, but this semester it's the Master's edition and not the Bachelor's. Same subject matter more or less but a bit more in depth.
4. North American Popular Culture: Initially I thought this course would be something else; from the course description it seemed like we would be learning about popular radio and television programs in the US, celebrities, etc. In reality we are taking a hard academic stance on defining just what 'popular culture' is. It's kind of boring. In defense though, we had a weekend seminar for the course where we had to come prepared by having watched episodes of Mad Med, Two and Half Men, Louie, Modern Family, and the Daily Show and then be able to discuss their relevancy to popular culture. That part was fun, although the class was 7 hours long.
5. Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century: This class falls under the umbrella of International Relations and discusses the future relationships of the US with Germany, specifically. Our professor for this course is a retired US diplomat (who at first frequently mentioned his robust resume, but has since gotten in the groove of leading discussions), and definitely comes across as such: he is reserved, speaks slowly and quietly, and is always looking to bridge topics of conversation into a compromise, somehow. This class has me reading maybe 6 or 7 newspaper articles a day along with a few long reports per week. It's my first real IR class, but I'm enjoying the intensity it brings. Each session we present a developing topic (past examples include Ukraine and NSA) and then discuss the implications of certain 'solutions' for about 90 minutes. The sessions get better every week, so although the course started off slowly it is something I really look forward to.
6. African American History post Civil War: This course actually has me taking a train once a week back to Cologne, as the course is offered at the University of Cologne instead of in Bonn. Besides the fact that it's nice to explore new university settings, the course is through the Master's program, so I'm surrounded by students who really know their stuff. What is most interesting though is recognizing the perspective I have: in middle and high school in Louisiana, I grew up learning about slavery, the Civil War, the movements of 1964 and more, but for many European students, learning about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad requires intensive study. I take it for granted. During many of the lectures I'm recalling instances when I was 12 years old, sitting in middle school, and writing out vocabulary words on index cards for this, and here I am again learning it in a Masters program in Germany. It's really interesting.

Once again I'm having a great semester filled with interesting classes, cool professors, and great readings and assignments. I guess the one downside to the semester is that it doesn't end until mid-July, but on the upside we have many public holidays (hand it to Germany) and a week break at the end of May.

As mentioned in one of my first blog posts, I am a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Scholarship holder this year. Starting in the second semester DAAD began hosting a series of conferences for all scholarship holders from around the world. I was grouped into the "Economics, Law, Political Science, and Public Policy" conference and would be driven out, housed in a hotel with all meals paid for, a bit spoiled, and then driven back to Bonn all in a weekend's time by DAAD. I got back a few days ago and I cannot really put into words how great of an opportunity it was. In only the short 48 hours there I met so many people from all over the world, attended a handful of lectures which sparked interesting debates and conversations, and just, I don't know, had a great time! I never wanted the conference to end. I was surrounded by tons of students just like me, students who are galvanized by meeting people from other countries, hearing what they have to say, what they study, what their interests are, and where they want to be in the future and what they want to be doing. It was a great eye-opening experience. Although I think this was my last opportunity to meet other DAAD-ians this year, I am still keeping in touch with a few friends I made at the conference and also plan on getting together with a group that lives here in Bonn.

Now that the weather has turned into true Spring warmth and sunshine, I set out the goal of riding my bike as often as possible, trying to find new villages and landscapes that I didn't cover in my first semester. I got back from the DAAD conference humming with energy and a 'high on life' kind of attitude, and with the great weather I couldn't ignore, took the bike out for a spin. In October I discovered that only about 90 minutes south of Bonn, along the river, the landscape opens up into valleys with rolling hills and castles overlooking the river. I never really much explored into the landscapes, so this ride I went uphill, through some small villages whose churches dominate the city square, and found huge fields of yellow blossoming flowers. It was awesome. The most fun might have been speeding down hill through the fields and then through the villages back towards the river. Just another day on the bike.

And then, as if my 'high on life' attitude from the weekend still hadn't expired, the next day I took my bike out with a 20 pound pack filled with my tent, sleeping bag, and other essentials and rode south to Koblenz, a city which was on the "Place to Ride" list for quite some time. My friend Anne also tagged along for the 70 km ride along the river. Filled with funny moments, sore butts, and salvation in the form of chocolate milk and peanuts from a grocery store, the ride was fantastic. I camped out along the river, across from the Deutsches Eck and Festung and rode back the next morning. Quite a week!