Note: This post was actually written on 17. Juli 2008.
Oh joyful muse! It finally happened. For the first time in my life, I was reasonably coherent and articulate in an intellectual debate with native German speakers in their mother tongue. This morning in my polysci class, after the Referat, they tried a new debate format, wherein everyone was assigned to one of two groups, either arguing for the need for increased democratization of the World Trade Organization or against. We had about 10 minutes or so to prepare, after which a spokesperson from each group put forth our arguments in a relatively informal exchange. Somehow, I ended up in that role arguing against the need set forth above. Though any member of the group could assume the office of spokesperson at any time in the debate to respond to our adversaries, as is wont to be the case in such situations, most people weren’t jumping at the opportunity. In two separate stints, I ended up speaking probably about 80% of the time for my group! Not spectacular, by any means, but definitely a milestone.
So what caused things to finally click? I’m not entirely sure, but I think it was due to the 8 hour long Blockseminar the class held on Saturday. As we were combining with another class taught in English to discuss the merits of the latest DOHA round draft for the WTO, the entire Saturday was held by and large in English. I think that sometime in the past couple of months, I forgot how to be articulate. I mean, not really forgot, per se, but I just learned to limit my thoughts to what I could express with my limited German. Even after my language skills improved enough to permit some deutlich conversations, I was just so used to speaking simply that it took arguing for a day auf Englisch to get me thinking again. Definitely a marvelous feeling 
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Anyways, Re-Entry. It’s a bit odd that we had a “Re-Entry Session” over a month, for some people two months, before we’re returning to the U.S., but apparently, as I learned during my trip to Strasbourg to see the EU parliament with the IES German program, they have the option of taking only IES classes and finishing up in just a week (Note: the EU parliament wasn’t very interesting, just someone reading out proposal numbers and then the parliamentarians raising their hands and hitting a button. Strasbourg itself was an interesting mix of Germany and France, and had some nice architecture, but didn’t end up meriting a full post of its own). It mostly consisted of warning us that of the possibility of reverse culture shock and how to deal with it. There was a really nice worksheet with 10 questions to get us thinking about the study abroad, which I’ll be using for a later entry immediately before I return to the U.S. I have thoughts on it now, but have a feeling they’ll be changing as the study abroad nighs to an end.
Well, that’s about it, for another text heavy post. Happy summer-ing, everyone!
I love coincidences. As a mathematician, of course I know that they just happen to be the natural consequence of finite probability coupled with iteration, but it was still amazing to run into two of my favorite people, Kate S. and David S. from the Collins LLC, at breakfast the next morning. We’d planned on meeting up beforehand, but hadn’t counted on happening upon each other so suddenly. Definitely one of the highlights of the weekend, though there were admittedly many.
Tate Modern was considerably different from the Graz MoMA, in that at Graz the entire museum was designed as a piece of artwork while Tate has a more traditional museum-like feel, but it was still plenty intriguing. I’m afraid, as I earlier admitted, my knowledge of modern art is fairly limited, relegated only to that which I learned on the Fine Arts Squad in Academic Bowl back in high school (primarily, Pollocks Newmans, and Rothkos); luckily, Kate and David are far stronger on that count than I. In addition, though, the second water-fountain I’ve seen in Europe resides there 
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As it so happens, Tate modern resides next door to a less conspicuous, but no less recognizable figure: Shakepeare’s Globe. Almost my entire Saturday was spent there, with workshops on speech and movement, an shortened story-teller version of King Lear, and a sword fighting demo in the morning, and no less than a full production of King Lear in the evening! I must say, there’s nothing quite like experiencing one of Shakepeare’s plays in the venue (albeit reconstructed) it was designed for.
Though not quite matching the glamour of the Globe, the British National Museum, where I spent the afternoon, had its fair share of sights. After wandering about London for about an hour or so, I finally meandered my way over. Unfortunately, I have this really bad habit of reading the texts on almost all of the artifacts, so I had barely made my way from Egypt to the Mycenaeans before it was closing time. Luckily, as mentioned earlier, King Lear beckoned.
The next morning I mostly spent wandering around town, seeing such sights as the Camden market (what a market should be, btw: merchants clamoring for customers, half a dozen different accents at any one time, the sound of metal clanging, and colorful wares being hawked. None of that faux-bucolic feel you get in Bloomington ;-D—just for reference, I really do like the Bloomington farmer’s market), Platform 9 ¾, etc. In case you haven’t already noticed, London has its fair share of sights.
Later that evening, all four of us got together and just had a nice get-together. After a walk in the park, it was just Collins as usual, that is to say, staying up until the wee hours discussing nothing and everything all at once. I like to think the photo to the left captured the group dynamic well. More I dare not reveal ^_^
Sadly, I had an early morning flight back for class in the morning, so I took my leave of London soon thereafter. All in all, a pretty wonderful trip, though I certainly will not miss seeing CCTV cameras everywhere. Well, I guess that about sums it up. Hope no one’s been expectantly waiting for this post, and I’ll try to catch up a bit on blogging in the near future.
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