Deutschland und ich...

So, in 2005, I obtained my A.A. degree from Manatee Community College in Bradenton, FL. In celebration, my current girlfriend & I went to Europe in celebration. I saw 10 countries in 5 weeks. In retrospect, it was probably too ambitious... With only a few days in each country, most of the trip was spent on trains (countless), planes (3), ferries (2) and a Chunnel. The upside is that I can say that I saw, in slightly more than 1 month:

Anne Frank's House
Amsterdam's Red Light District
The Van Gogh Museum
what remains of the Berlin Wall
The Brandenburg Gate
Checkpoint Charlie
The St. Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle
The Concentration Camp "Theresienstadt"
Heroes Square in Budapest
The Buda Castle on the Danube
The Acropolis and corresponding Parthenon
The Greek Islands while crossing the Ionian Sea by ferry to Italy
The Colloseum
The Vatican
The Trevi Fountain
St. Mark's Square and the nearby canals of Venice.
The world's biggest Toblerone bar (4.5 kg) in a chocolate shop in Bern, Switzerland, and the surrounding Alps
The Eiffel Tower
The Louvre
The Arc De Triomphe
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
and Dublin.

By Dublin, I was too tired and travel-weary to do much of anything, which is a shame. That is one of the reasons I am making Ireland a top spot on my "List of Countries to Re-visit."

But this post is not going to be about my European adventures in the summer of 2005.

It's about the 2nd destination of my trip: Berlin, and Germany.

The first thing I noticed about it was how clean it was. I have been to NYC and Boston and other huge cities... but Berlin was/is the cleanest I've experienced. The language intrigued me too, though I couldn't understand any of it. I had never been very good with languages, despite the machinations of my mother (who sent me to a language summer camp at Duke when I was 14 years old to study Japanese). I took the minimum requirements at my high school in French, (ending in 9th grade with French II). I took 1 semester of Spanish at MCC and got an A, but didn't care.

When I got to FSU, I was told that I would have to take 3 levels of a language to get my B.A. degree. My advisor advised me to sign up for Spanish II, as I had already started studying Spanish at MCC. But I said, "What if I want to take a different language, instead?" He was baffled. "Why would you want to start over?," he asked. Why? Fuck Spanish, that's why! I hold no grudge against Hispanics, Latinos, Mexicans, Spaniards, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, or the team of underpaid non-English speaking immigrants with whom I work. But, I have been to Mexico, and I don't really want to go back. The place is depressing. And the parts of Mexico that aren't depressing, drip with the venom of consumer luxury tourism.

Spain, however, is on my "List of Countries to Visit."

Thus, I began my career in FSU's German Department. The head of the department actually wrote the book that we used in German I and II. Her last name is Adolph. {insert remark on coincidence or irony here} She is an American national who got her PhD in German and married a German dude a long time ago (he was also one of my teachers, a computer geek whose class consisted of me creating this website).

Because of the lack of spots in the meager amount of Elementary German 1 classes offered, I could not start until my 2nd semester at FSU, in the summer of 2006. Elementary German II followed in Fall of '06, and German III in the Spring of '07. Finally, the language barrier in my mind had been torn down. Despite finishing the University's requirement of 3rd level competency, I decided to push it a step further and make German my Minor. (Behind History as my Major, with which I focused mostly on German studies -- even in my "U.S. Civil War" class, for which I wrote my major research paper for the class on 'the effects of German Immigrants from the failed Revolutions of 1848 in Europe' had on the war.)

The Minor required 12 credits (4 courses) BEYOND the first three levels. I took the website/computer class in the summer of 2007.

During the 3 weeks in between Summer07 - Fall07 semesters, I went back to Europe for the 2nd time. I was in a quaint little town called Lutherstadt Wittenberg where the Protestant Reformation began almost 500 years ago (9 years until 2017, when it will have been 500 years since Luther nailed his '95 Theses' to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.)

That was the first time I had traveled alone, and it was 3 weeks in 1 place instead of 10 places in 5 weeks. Obviously, a completely different experience. I was in class all day Monday-Friday. I made friends, both native Germans and other foreigners like myself. I never spoke English, because nobody really knew much of it. I revisited Berlin for a day, unaware that I would be staying over twice as long in the following summer (this summer, 2008) in most bad-ass capital I've ever been to.

Nevertheless, that is when I fell in love with the place.

I applied for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, which was -in itself- a worthwhile endeavor, and ultimately I was named as "an alternate," which really meant "Sorry, you're on the standby list buddy." I did not get the fellowship, but I did not let that stop me from going back.

After 7 courses, and over 2 full years of study (including my study abroad experience in August of '07, for which I received no college credit), I signed up for a 6 week semi-Intensive course at the Freie Universität Berlin. Aside from having the best summer of my lifetime thus far, I also realized that at this point, it was no longer a choice. Germany was in my future, no matter what.

I've heard inspirational sayings to the effect of: "If you want something badly enough, you can make it happen."

Well, it's happening... in 42 days.

I am leaving America (in good hands) for an indeterminate amount of time, with plans to eventually return. I hope to take the TestDAF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache or "German as a foreign language") on April 22nd, 2009. Between the beginning of January through the test date, I will be in intense language classes to prepare myself for study at a German University (hopefully one in Berlin!) with the eventual goal of obtaining a Master's Degree.

Sadly, now that we are talking about the future, I cannot say what will happen. But, I'm optimistic.

Lastly, I will say that the past 4 months following my return to America have -for the most part- sucked. I appreciate and love my family and friends but...

...the idea of giving up/temporarily leaving everything I own, including my cat, car, friends, family and culture, seems like the best thing that I can do for myself. I am elated. I am excited, and I am terrified.