One week into the semester

I have officially visited all of my classes now, and can officially start getting into a routine. Yay! So far this routine involves lots of bike riding (now with working hand brake), jogging, reading in the library, and volunteering for the first assignments. I can't stand it when assignments and presentations are divided up the first day of class, and everyone knows they have to do one.. and no one raises their hand. Somehow, everyone manages to want to do the very last one. This sounds like a terrible idea to me. I want to get it over and done with, asap! Now, one could make the argument that it's because so many of my classes involve the history of literature, and that means the last ones are the most modern, and therefore easier to understand. Word to the wise: this has clearly never been the case, the last reading is never easier - and you're always totally busy and stressed out at the end of the semester, why make it worse?

So, of course, the first day of class last week I volunteered for the assignment that was due today - in spite of not being in town all weekend. Fortunately, two other classmates were strong-armed by the prof into helping me, and it went really quickly. I have to complete 4 assignments this semester - two smaller presentations, and two papers. So by handing out a worksheet today, one of my 4 assignments is already done. In the first week. Did I mention how much I love being in school here?

I was also accepted as a member of the Unichor - the university chorus - last week, and will be singing two Bach cantatas and the Mozart Mass in C minor that I sang last spring with the Vanderbilt Community Chorus. I took it as proof that this was the right decision when I made friends at the audition with a student in sociology department, only to discover that she knows Sten from when they were in school together in Leipzig. Die Welt ist eine Dorf - a sentence that has usually brought me luck in the past. Or at the very least, keeps me from feeling disconnected, even when I'm far away. The chorus looks like it will be a good opportunity to meet people, since after most rehearsals at least some of the group go get a beer at the bar next door. So at least one night a week, I can sit around and just talk, if I want to.

Speaking of getting to know Germans, I spent the weekend in Storkow, with some of my best German friends. I had a wonderful time, and after a month of traveling and adjusting to Göttingen it was a delight to see truly familiar streets, buildings, and faces (and weather! the first grey day I've had since being here was Friday). I stayed with my teacher friend Ines and her family, and although I never made it to her house while I lived in Storkow, we had a great visit over the weekend. Saturday night Rayk invited us over for a cookout, and the weather cooperated enough for the food to cook on a grill, even if we mostly stayed inside. Rayk and Heike were already there, with Moni and her twins (now about 2 years old, and still completely identical). A little after we got there, Klaus and Marlies arrived from the Baltic Sea, where they had spent the week with Marvin, who proudly showed us all of the rocks he collected on the beach. While there, Marlies made some phone calls and arranged for me to get to have coffee with some friends from Chorus before leaving Sunday afternoon. I couldn't have counted on seeing so many people, and was so pleased to find that we could all pick up where we left off, talking as comfortably as ever.

One person was conspicuously absent, although she popped up in most of our conversations. This was my first visit to Storkow since my good friend Gitti died of cancer last summer. We visited her grave first after getting there, but kept talking about her off and on through the weekend. It was good to get to be there and remember her, but would still be better to have her still with us.