Week in review, Term 2 Classes

Hello everyone!
Would like to apologize for my lack of blogging in the last couple of weeks.
Nothing hugely exciting has happened since my return to Manchester following Christmas break.
I spent the week of the 9th finishing critical essays for classes from last term. Ugh!
But now I'm back and things should be picking back up quite soon again!
Leading into February, January will end with a flourish of hockey training.
And then February itself will be filled with hockey and Within the Ruins coming to the UK!

I digress...

I set up my timetable this term to allow for maximum travel time.

Fictions of the American South - ***
The first of my Tuesday lectures (10am-1pm) is receiving a 3 to 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. I have sat thru two lectures already and I will say it is an entertaining class listening to how the British analyze and view certain aspects of American literature, particularly in the Southern United States. I do find the class to be a bit hooky in the fact that I feel I am sitting thru another U.S. history course. Granted, I know little of British/English history, and I'm sure it works the other way for the peers in my class, I wish I could take a British history course to learn more about their history -- rather than relearn my own history in a different accent. That and I was a little confused as to why Edgar Allan Poe was so heavily looked at in terms of his relation to the Southern Gothic and how his work presents the southern home, ect. I've always been used to analyzing his work in terms of manic & insanity, and madness, so I guess it is interesting to look at it in a completely different way, I'm just not fully sold on it yet. Regardless, I find myself amongst a few people from lectures from last term who I find their company to be very nice.

20th Century American Poetics - ****
My Tuesdays resume at 2pm for the first of my poetry courses. The lecturer, Nikolai Duffy, is very open to running his class as unstructured as possible. I definitely like that aspect because I feel poetry is one of the most difficult subjects areas to teach as it covers such a wide range. Again, I picked this class as I wanted an outsiders take on the way American literature is analyzed. I think Nikolai Duffy will be an outstanding lecturer because of his knowledge and accomplishments in the subject. He is also an accomplished poet and creative writer himself, so he will be a great resource to listen to. I look forward to furthering my understanding of poetic themes, motifs, ect.

Poetry Workshop - *****
After two days of, I return for my final lecture of the week -- the second of my poetry courses. I am giving Poetry Workshop 5 out of 5 stars because it is going to be an excellent way to work on my skills in analyzing other people's poetry as well as hear feedback on my own poetry. I think it will be a really unique class as it is not a seminar, nor a lecture. It is strictly a workshop that deals with building skills/poetic techniques. The 'lecturer', Jean Sprackland is also an accomplished poet. She has published several collections of her poetry since 1997 and is looking to publish another collection this year. Her 2003 collection Hard Water earned her a spot on the shortlist of the T.S Elliot Prize in poetry. Amongst her accomplishments is a 2007 Costa Book Award for her collection entitled, Tilt. She, like Nikolai, will be a useful resource in helping to building my poetic/creative writing techniques. I am very fortunate to have two wonderful and accomplished lecturers so easily available for questioning.

Hamburg Day 3 & Day 4

Day 3

Wednesday was a bit of a lazy day.
After breakfast, everyone headed to the mall for a bit of leisure shopping.
Thorben and I's leisure shopping included spending €4 each in total.
€2 for 10 minutes on a massage chair and €2 on ice cream.
The ultimate lazy.
Sorry there is no picture, but we were too lazy to take one!

The day continued basically as is, until about 9.15pm when we set out for bowling.
We met up with 2 of Milena's friends, Ronja and her boyfriend Lucas.



This is Thorben's concerned bowling face. He hopes he's still in the lead, but will he be?...



Lucas was a tad disgruntled over the fact his girlfriend had a higher score than he did.
He couldn't bare look at her, let alone talk to her! xD



Poor Thorben losing by a point to Milena in the last frame!



Group photo :]



I really need to have bowling night's in Manchester.
I've been twice here in Germany and both times have been a whole lot of fun. :]

Day 4

Thursday was quite similar to Wednesday; a lazy start.
But we were all quickly in gear and on the bus into town to catch the train into Hamburg.
Finally a BIT of sightseeing.
Although the weather, like everyday before, was not cooperative at all.
It was literally pouring down rain.
And it would be difficult to see the 2nd largest city in Germany in the rain, let alone one day.
Since time was limited, Milena decided the best spots, mainly within the harbor area.











I thought Hamburg's city hall was absolutely stunning.
The architecture was amazing.



Hamburg is a really nice city.
I like the suburbs/boroughs and how the city centre is simply a metro away.
I highly suggest visiting Hamburg if you are planning to visit Germany!

Hamburg Day 1 & Day 2

This past Monday was a rather unwanted goodbye to the Wiese family.
Thorben's parents had been such good hosts that I could spend the rest of my time there without hesitation! :D
But it was onto the next city and luckily Thorben was there to lead the way.
We were heading farther up north to Hamburg to visit other friends who went on exchange to Westfield as well. (Milena, Jale, and Mona)



After arriving, it had already been decided we were making pizza that night.
No problems there!
Although my culinary expertise got a little into it.
As you can see, I added a pinched crust to my tomato, mozzarella, and ham pizza.



Apparently I added a little "English" to the weather as it was rainy and dreary our first day out.
But that didn't seem to stop us from going into Hamburg for food & drinks.
We ate an Asian place called Bok Restaurant.





I found the delicious chicken and broccoli to my liking!



Thorben with his duck meal.



And my newest acquisition: this knitted hat from Urban Outfitters :D



Outside of that, when we arrived in the city, it was too dark to see much of the sights.
Hopefully in the coming days I will get to post pictures of the city!
But it has been really nice catching up on old memories :D
Which is definitely what this visit has been about.

Hannover und Neues Jahr

Thorben's dad is able to bring 4 people for free on the train on Saturdays.
To use up a little time before myself, Thorben, and Valts went to Thorben's friend for New Years, Achim took Thorben & I to Hanover for a few hours.

King Ernst August of Hanover. His son was George V, the King of Britain.



The new city hall of Hanover.



The stadium of Hannover 96.



The old city hall of Hanover.



Classic style buildings.





Achim, Thorben, and I returned to Minden around 7.
By 7,30, Susanne (Thorben's mom) was driving us to Thorben's friend's house for New Years.

We watch "Dinner for One," a British sketch from 1963.
It is apparently a tradition to watch it, so it was actually my first time seeing it.
Its German name is Der 90. Geburtstag.

After everyone we arrived, we settled in for our own dinner.
I dunno what it is called, but the name was I was told it was called is "raclette".
It is a process of heating your own food on a griddle or underneath the griddle.
The concept originated in Switzerland.





Thorben's main goal of the night was to make feuerzangenbowle.
It is a typical German New Year's drink made of red wine and rum.
It was meh, the smell of wine is gash in my opinion.



As midnight and a new year neared, we head outside for fireworks.





Luckily those 3 went straight up into the air.
One wasn't so lucky as it shot down the street towards a neighbor's car!
Fortunately no one was hurt, so once that was settled, everyone had a good laugh. xD
Champagne is apparently supposed to be sipped every so often.
I took it all in one go. Mmm...

The party moved into the second room of the house.
Music, games, ect.
One in particular was new to me.
One person was blindfolded and given a spoon and had to find a bucket that was set somewhere on the ground. They were given the directions of "warm" or "kalt". (warm or cold)



Once you found the bucket, how did you celebrate? A shot of Heydt.
(Weck den Waldmeister - Wake up the wood master.)



The morning after:



For a first New Year's outside of the US, it was very exciting!
I wish everyone a Happy New Year and the best wishes for 2012! :]