Michael Vick '10 - The past week and a half has been similar to the first one in many ways. I have spent countless hours sharing stories with the other students: I listened to students on my floor discuss the pros, cons, and even methods of the preservation of famous artwork and buildings, spent an evening talking with three other Americans and a Norwegian student in a bustling Turkish restaurant, and I tried to explain the Greek fraternity system to an actual Greek.

I also spent a lot of time alone exploring Goettingen and its museums. While walking around the city atop the Wall, or hill-rampart erected to defend Goettingen in the early Middle Ages, I sat beneath the boughs of a tree planted before the founding of the United States. Although the trunk is splitting under the weight of its branches, it has nevertheless stood through the trials of time, weather, and war, and it will likely remain for my grandchildren to relax under if they visit this city.

The sense of insignificance I felt while sitting there was only magnified by the hum of activity as more than 200,000 people packed into the inner city to participate in the Mission: Olympic sports festival. Yet I wouldn't describe this as a bad feeling; it helped me to continue putting these experiences into perspective, and I almost felt carefree as I sat there.

Even though rain kept me inside throughout most of the following week, I was able to go for walks up the mountains to the east of the city. Paths snake through the forested hills: some follow the ridges and valleys made by streams coming down the mountains, some meander through the forest with no apparent destination, and still others take one to monuments and man-made sights scattered across the mountain.

The Bismarckturm (Bismarck Tower), despite requiring three attempts to find, provides an excellent view of the entire valley in which Goettingen lies, while the Eulenturm overlooks a small, ivy-covered clearing near the base of the mountain. Plenty remains for me to explore in the following weeks, though. I have only visited one of the eight large churches in the city, and I have not even ventured into the old Rathaus or to Georg-August University north of the city center.

Although it was nice to explore my surroundings, the real adventure in the past week, and the break from the first week, has been exploring the nearby city of Kassel-Bad-Wilhelmshoehe. On Saturday I ran into two other students on the street outside the train station, and we went together to the Orangerie. This building, formerly a summer palace and now the home of a natural sciences museum, lies in a beautiful English garden along the Fulda River.

But even more impressive was Bergpark Wilhelmshoehe, which I visited on Sunday. Words can hardly describe the plethora of sights there — it is the largest hillside park in Europe and took about 150 years to complete all of the buildings and gardens. Had my camera battery not died, I would've spent much longer than a mere four hours exploring the shrines, mock-ruins, and artwork scattered over the estate.

Whether wandering through the museum in palace Wilhelmshoehe, hiking up to the statue Herkules atop the mountain, or touring the “ruins” of the Roman Aquädukt and castle Loewenburg, there is an interesting mix of history and beauty nestled on the forested mountainside.

(As a fun little side note: the aqueduct and castle were purposely built to appear as ruins, as this made the refined nature of the palace even more impressive to visitors.) Although the statue lies only about four kilometers away from the train station, the park covers a mountainside that slopes up away from the city, and so it takes quite a while to climb. However, the view from the top — Wilhelmshoehe lying at the base of the mountain with Kassel stretching out behind it, and Loewenburg peeking from the trees to the southeast — is simply awesome. However, I'm switching gears from the baroque and Enlightenment eras as I prepare to travel to Berlin this Friday, where I'll visit a number of museums detailing German history and life in the 20th century.

Bis später!

In Photos: Top Right, a view from the tower. At left, Michael Vick at Kassel. Next, "The view from the base of Herkules is amazing; it provides the best view of Kassel and the park, and it certainly provides a sense of accomplishment when you see just how far you've traveled to reach that point.," Michael writes. Bottom left: "Loewenburg (Lion's Castle) was constructed as a Medieval-style castle ruin, though it still possessed a chapel, kitchen, living quarters, and a garden behind it. Though it's primary purpose was to impress visitors at Wilhelmshoehe, it could also function as a retreat point in the case of attack."

Posted by Howard Hewitt at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Michael Vick '10 - Looking back at past Rudolph bloggers for guidance has left me with one question: how, amid the jet lag, culture shock, and sheer amazement of actually being in a foreign country, were those men able to write so clearly about their experiences? For me, the experiences of the past few days are still overwhelming. This marks my fifth attempt at writing this blog entry; each time before, I've become completely lost in my thoughts.

From the uncertainty I felt when I stepped out of the airport and onto the busy sidewalk of Frankfurt, to the joy of hearing the German language all around me and learning the history of Goettingen, the past few days have been left me with a head full of thoughts and hardly any time to consider them.

Now that I think back to conversations with Wabash students who spent time studying abroad, I realize that I can't remember a single one talking about how interesting his classes were. Although I can't complain about the classroom instruction here, I am finding, as others no doubt did, that the experiences that have been most amazing thus far have come outside of class. Whether through conversations with other students, some of whom I must speak with in German since we share no other common language, or while hearing about the city while being showed around by the student workers,

I have encountered cultures and individuals that I never even thought about at home. For example, on the first day of class, I got to know a Libyan doctor who is improving her language skills at the Goethe Institute so that she can work in Germany; a Japanese student, who has been preparing for a test that will allow him to study at a German university, has struck up a conversation with almost every time we've seen each other.

Yesterday, during a break in the middle of class, the students shared stories of life in their homelands, their experiences here and elsewhere in Europe, and their hopes for the future. Perhaps the atmosphere here encourages not only conversation to improve one's ability to speak German, but the sharing of life stories, too.

Although I miss home, I hope that the next seven weeks don't pass too fast. I've walked around Goettingen a little bit each day, but tomorrow will be devoted to visiting the history museum and churches in the city, and if time permits, exploring the monuments scattered through the pedestrian zones and city gardens. This is assuming that I can get around the city, as tomorrow marks the beginning of Mission Olympic, where residents will try to prove that Goettingen is the most sports-oriented city in Germany by participating in a myriad of athletic events ranging from bicycle races to bed jumping.

The Institute offers a day trip to Eisenach, the home city of Bach and place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German; my class will also travel to Goslar, a city whose buildings survived World War II intact and that offers a glimpse of authentic medieval German life. I also plan to visit Paris and Normandy, Berlin, Weimar, and Braunschweig before I have to return home. But for now, it's time to take another walk around the city and try to digest the experiences of the past few days.

Auf Wiedersehen!

In photos: Top right, This is a glimpse of the front of the "old house" of the Goethe Institute, so named because it occupies the former residence of a textile magnate who sold the estate to the city after the depression in the early 1930s. Most students attend classes in the rooms opening into the Great Hall on the first and second floors, and some students live in the remaining rooms on the second and third floors and in the lower levels of the tower.
 

Lower Left: Behind the Althaus lies a garden, volleyball court, and shaded pavilions where students can grill out and relax after class.

Posted by Howard Hewitt at 08:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)