Upon a bit of reflection, I think this song, from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas really sums up my experience in Germany. For those not familiar, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, is tired of the same old same old and suffers from a lack of inspiration. It is not until he stumbles upon Christmas Town that something in him is awakened and he plans to take over Christmas, 'cause, well, gosh, it's just so great. However, Jack and the townspeople of Halloween Town don't quite replicate the original Christmas, reign a bit of terror on the world once Christmas rolls around, and Jack's sleigh is shot down by the US Army. However, the whole experience, though it didn't go smoothly, was worth it in the end - Jack returns to the Town of Halloween with some new ideas and a renewed idea of who he is.

Poor Old Jack

What have I done?
What have I done?
How could I be so blind?
All is lost, where was I?
Spoiled all, spoiled all
Everything's gone all wrong

What have I done?
What have I done?
Find a deep cave to hide in
In a million years they'll find me
Only dust and a plaque
That reads, "Here Lies Poor Old Jack"

But I never intended all this madness, never
And nobody really understood, how could they?
That all I ever wanted was to bring them something great
Why does nothing ever turn out like it should?

Well, what the heck, I went and did my best
And, by God, I really tasted something swell
And for a moment, why, I even touched the sky
And at least I left some stories they can tell, I did

And for the first time since I don't remember when
I felt just like my aold bony self again
And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King
That's right, I am the Pumpkin King, ha, ha, ha

And I just can't wait until next Halloween
'Cause I've got some new ideas
that will really make them scream
And, by God I'm really going to give it all my might...




Germany has been full of a ton of embarassing moments, times where I got shot down and wanted nothing more than either to disappear or magically speak better German ( neither of which happened ). Midnight lectures about speaking schwarzwaldisch, having people talk throughout my whole presentation, almost any time I speak German, and so on and so forth.

But in the end my German's definitely gotten better all across the board, though my reading skills are better than the rest and I know that I definitely want to spend a bit more of my life living abroad, absorbing new ideas and habits, and meeting new people. If there's anything that I'll take with me from Germany to the US it'll be an intensified love of my bicycle ( Germany doesn't get all the credit, but it has helped to solidify the habit of biking everywhere ), better organisational habits ( this is not because the "efficiency" of Germans rubbed off of me, but because this year I absolutely had to be organized or surely I would perish ), and already, as I type this, I am confusing the Y and Z keys on the keyboard. Thanks Germany.

In other news, I was at the library today and heard drums outside, which turned out to be another protest against Studiengebuehren ( fees for attending university ). I saw a classmate, so I joined along in the march, which ended at the Wiwilli Bruecke. Starting this semester there have been Euro 500 fees for enrollment each semester, whereas it only used to be about Euro 100 ( or less, perhaps ) and even then you could get a BAFoeG, basically federal aid, of which only half you have to pay back, without interest. I don't know if the BAFoeg will be extended to cover the knew fees.

On one side, universities over all of Europe are introducing fees to remain competitive with American universities ( or so I've read through the New York Times ) and indeed, universities do need funds to update libraries, technologies, and whatever other supplies, as well as pay their professors and staff.

And perhaps I am ignorant, but it seems like up til now the Uni Freiburg has done pretty well without Studiengebuehren, so I wonder what, if anything, has changed to warrant the introduction of fees. And, in my view, if anything makes studying in Europe ( at least for Americans ) appealing is that there aren't high enrollment fees ( although if you go through a study aborad program you'll still be paying just as much if not more for tuition back home ).

One of the concerns addressed at the protest was transparency and "taxation without representation" - the university has created several new bureaus which these students find useless because they weren't demanded by the student body and that they have no idea exactly where their 500 Euros will be going.

You know where part of my $16,000 a year goes at MSU? Into building a new football stadium, errecting several statues ( our very own Siegesallee ), and tearing down old student apartments ( that were built on a floodplain, whoops ) to replace them with more expensive, luxurious ones. I'm sure some of it goes to my professors and university staff, as well as new materials, but I wonder just how much.

Anyhow, back to the books.