Off the Map

Erfurt and Weimar Continued (and other notes)

[Ed. This is part 2 of 2 - see below for the first installment]

Many of you know that Youth Hostels are great places to meet other kids to party with. Such was the case this trip. The room of guys I was in meet up with 2 rooms of German girls and went out to a crazy student Club the first night (there is a pic from that on my site). Entirely too much fun - but watch out: don't set your beer down somewhere unless you are finished - someone else will probably drink it...

By far the most dramatic experience was our visit to Bucherwald, a Nazi concentration camp outside in the hills near Weimar. It was host primarily to Political Prisoners (from Germany and POW's from Russia), but a few other "Undesireables" such as Homosexuals. You really can feel the ghosts in the buildings. Its absolutely disquieting to walk to a tiny room (just bigger than a toilet stall) only to learn that through a slit in the wall, over 8,000 Russians were shot in the nape of the neck whilst thinking they were being measured by doctors. Just as sickening was the "Strangle Room" - which had 60 or so hooks on the walls for the express purpose of strangling over 2,000 men, women and kids (as young as 8). It took lots of conversation with my peers after the tour to regain my bearings and my stomach (I feel sick just writing about it).

Then it was back to Regensburg. German rest stops are ludicrously expensive. The food is usually pretty good, but b/c they don't have the kind of fast food presence that we do, you usually end up in a kind of roadside store/restaurant. As there is little competition in the area (usu. a gas station at most), you get a good feeling for the phrase "Price Gouging".

This week I am messing around with my first set of classes. I found out that I did indeed pass my giant German language test, with good marks too! I landed an A on one half, and a B on the other. Considering I was taking the class mostly with students who had had at least 1 more year than me, I'm feeling pretty set :-). This means that I have the "All Clear" to do what I will academically this semester.

Wish me luck getting everything sorted!

posted by Jason @ 5:12 pm