This past weekend I switched dorms, since my previous room was assigned through the pre-semester language program and this new one will be my permanent semester room. Unfortunately, when I moved in the internet jack was twisted the wrong way, so I was left without internet for a few days. I'm really not having much luck with this over here.
Nonetheless, the "Hausmeister" was able to fix it for me, not before telling me that my old room had not been cleaned sufficiently and I needed to go back and mop it again, otherwise I'd be charged 50 Euros. There had been black streak marks on the floor when I moved in, so hopefully that wasn't what he was referring to since that was not done by me. But, I suppose I should have mentioned it upon moving in. Still, 50 Euros is a plane ticket.
Sunday was Baden-Württemberg's election, with the outcome of SPD, a more progressive party, and Die Grüne, the mainly environmentalist party, tying. Combined, they hold a stronger standing in parliament than the CDU, Angela Merkel's more conservative party, which has held power in this state for about 50 years. It was definitely a historic event, and many believe a great deal of it was the result of Japan's nuclear crisis. Here in Germany "die Grüne" are actually a pretty big party, compared to the Green party in the U.S. As I mentioned before, since there are more than two major parties smaller ones still can have representation without causing the downfall of one major party or the other. But it's clear that environmental concerns play a large role in determining the future of the country.
While on the topic of the environment, I explored an area of Freiburg called Vaubaun on Saturday, which is supposedly one of the most eco-friendly places in the city. It was very quaint, With a boardwalk that went along and over a creek, and lots of parks and playgrounds that were built right into the landscape and trees. I don't see those being legal in the US anytime soon. There were also rolling green hills that (as cliché as it sounds) looked like something straight out of "Sound of Music." One of my friends actually started singing. It's also apparently very affordable, so it might be a potential home for me after graduation.
There are also a lot of arts and music festivals going on in Germany. Stuttgart is hosting it's yearly "International Cartoon Festival" as well as "FMX" animation festival the first week of may, unfortunately that's also the week that I start classes. I'm looking in to getting just a weekend pass perhaps - this is something I do not want to miss. There's also an animation studio called "Studio Film Bilder" in Stuttgart, which is somewhere I may want to intern/work at in the future.
http://www.filmbilder.de/en/index.html
For now I'm going to go enjoy this beautiful day by the Seepark. Till I find something else interesting to say,
auf Wiedersehen.
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