To my family, and my wonderful family Christmas holidays and holiday traditions. I'm already missing them even though Christmas is 2 months away. I would love to ship some of this home for the holidays, but I think it's too heavy and fragile for trans-Atlantic shipping.

That was only two weeks?

Orientation for the MPP program ended last week and I'm pretty much finished with my first week of classes and I wanted to mention just a few key points that my leaders have used to describe the program. The first and foremost is so obvious it is impossible not to notice, like that very special mixture of odors, the stinging, nasal cavity opening smell of piss and bleach that reminds you you have entered a men's public bathroom. It's that same kind of unmistakable clarity that we are a very diverse group of people. I've met many of my 70 person class, we stretch from about 30 different countries spanning 4 continents (no one from Australia or Antarctica). As unique as the people is their previous education and training- we have people with backgrounds not only in political science or international relations, but also philosophy, theology, architecture, social work, education, law, English, European studies, human rights, computer science, and engineers of all varieties. I would be a fool to say there is a boring, or uninteresting person among us. After two weeks I feel like I can make some very interesting and long lasting friendships, and it's exciting to be around them for another two years. I will get to know some more so than other, as there is a significant amount of group work involved in the courses.
My greatest deterrent at the moment is 8am class 3 days a week, which means waking up before dawn to have enough time to press some hot coffee through my body before heading to the bus stop. The traveling is worse now because there is major construction through one of the main thoroughfares from the south, where I live, to the north, where the school is. I take a 5 minute bus, get off, take a 10-12 minute walk through narrowed, fenced in passageways next to construction workers dressed in orange and blue, to rush to my tram that faces the enormous cathedral on the hill nearby, only to take another 5 minute tram ride to the university complex. Fortunately the walk is through one of the nicer cobbled streets in the downtown district and as a result, I've gotten much more familiar with some of the streets.
Today Erika and took a walk through the more historic section of town, known as the Krämerbrucke. This involved a trip through some narrow streets lined featuring original Thuringen restaurants, jewelry stores, and various other arts and crafts. I'll have to take pictures to show better details, and I have the feeling that these sections of town own a completely different atmosphere at night, perhaps with snowflakes falling...

Tomorrow is the first day of orientation for the Willy Brandt School class of 2015.  It's a full schedule from 9am to 4pm with an assortment of activities, including the typical welcoming speeches and get-to-knows, as well as a campus tour. I'm pretty excited because I haven't been to the campus yet, so everything will be new for me. I don't expect the buildings to be spectacularly beautiful or interesting, unlike American universities, German schools are cheap, meaning they don't get a lot of tuition money to pay for brand new things all the time. When there are 25,000 students, with many of them paying $15k or $20k a year for school, one could expect fancy new buildings, indoor training facilities, buffet style cafeterias and the like. But at a little more than $4,000 a year, the education is the main focus.

I'm not only interested in seeing the school, but also getting to meet some of my fellow classmates. I've met a few of them already, but just briefly. I went out to have a drink with some of them on Friday, including people hailing from Canada, Nepal, India, China, Austria, Egypt, Brazil, Jordan, the Philippines, and more Canadians. So far everyone was quite friendly, and I'm excited to get to know them better. I think it will be a pleasant change of pace working with people who are genuinely interested in the school, unlike many of my undergraduate classes at University of Iowa. Here I imagine that I will spend a lot of my time in class listening to intelligent conversation with people from all over the world, and with varying degrees and work experiences. Being younger and inexperienced, I have a lot to learn from my new classmates. I'll be happy not being the only one to drive discussions and shaking my head, silently cursing the multitudes of bad comments from the girl with the sweatpants and Uggs and too much foundation, or the dude with the backwards Chicago cubs hat, a football t-shirt, and basketball shorts.

But I must rest now, I have to wake up early and traveling by public transport is slightly more time intensive than my usual 1 mile bicycle commute.

Deutschland Runde Zwei!

Whoa, whoa whoa... I'm back in Germany, nearly 10 months after leaving last year. This time will be a bit more permanent, most likely for 2 full years. There are quite a few differences between then and now, all of which seem to be major positive changes. First and foremost, I have a purpose here already as I will be a full time student at the Willy Brandt School for Public Policy beginning next week. Studying, will keep my mind active and force me to get out of the apartment everyday for classes. Last year I spent several days in Freiburg without ever leaving the apartment. Idle days and hangovers were a common occurrence.  To remedy my headaches and dry mouth I turned to döner kebabs, soda, and kräuter liquor.  Combine that with a Super Nintendo emulator, and I pretty much failed to do anything good for myself.

Another positive is that Erika and I have our own apartment a little outside of the downtown district of Erfurt. It's small, ahem, cozy, but after a trip to Ikea and a few other stores downtown, things are beginning to look more like a home, rather than a hotel room.  The final homely touch was a French press coffeemaker, nothing is more homely than fresh hot coffee when you wake up. We still need some decorations and a better closet, but most of the essentials have been met. Needless to say, I'm very excited to be here in Erfurt with Erika. It's a new city for us both, and so far it has been enjoyable. The main shopping area is very historic looking, with an enormous cathedral on a hill overlooking the city center, and old castle grounds from over 1000 years ago still preserved. As an American, I'm slightly overwhelmed by the age of some of the buildings around here. I'm always amazed at how well history is preserved in German cities, surrounded by modern niceties and despite a violent history. When Erika arrived, we took advantage of the nice weather and walked through the city and discovered a carnival going on in the Domplatz, near the city center.  As a result, we got a great view of the city from on top of a ferris wheel. Some of the pictures actually do justice to how pretty this place is.

 A view from on top of the ferris wheel

The carnival celebrating Oct. 3 Reunification Day

Another view from on top the ferris wheel

Domplatz Cathedral

Reunited and it feels so good

East Germany has the best walk lights: a man with a hat walking purposefully. The Do Not Walk signs are less exciting, just a red man with his arms sticking straight out, he still has a little hat though!

Some pics of our little apartment

This little Ikea shelf will serve as a clothing rack for now

And a nice little courtyard below

That's all I have for now, I plan to continue writing on this blog more frequently than before. More pictures and updates to come!