Week 2 in Halle...from the school computer lab.

Week 2 in Halle was a good combination of work and play. Beth and I worked in the studio Monday-Friday and really got a lot done. I am working on a series of hybrid houses which are metaphors for my ancestry. Each house is based off the house of one of my family members, but I am including more German influence in the design since my family originally comes from Germany. When they are done I plan to leave them behind (most likely outdoors) as a representation of my family’s return to it’s place of origin. So far I have made 5 houses, although I am planning to go back and remake several of them as I observe more German architecture.
It is has been interesting to work in such a different atmosphere. Many of the students are away at other classes during the day, so many afternoons are fairly quite. Unfortunately the language barrier has made it very difficult to get feedback from most of our peers, and it seems that the professors are rarely in the studio. It has been very hard to not be able to talk through my ideas (with anyone other than Beth of course, who is probably sick of hearing me!) but at the same time it is a growing experience. It definitely makes me thankful for my O.U. family of critics though.
Friday evening Beth and I were planning to attend a party being thrown by several other students, but we lost the invitation and ended up on the opposite side of town from where we should have been. Instead we decided to go to Object 5 (a restaurant/concert hall/ discotheque) to see if we could hear some good music. We only caught the last 10 minutes of a French gypsy band, but were just in time for dancing. I was surprised to find how many French people had come to see the band, as I often forget how easy it is to travel internationally in Europe. Dancing was a lot of fun though.
Saturday Beth and I went to the Renaissance festival being held at die Burg. It was really amazing to see a Renaissance festival in an actual castle, since all the ones I’ve been to in the US have just been in a field or forest. There was lots of great food, crafts, and even a bagpipe band to enjoy. To top it all off I bought a really cool scarf too. Afterwards we followed our new friend Merium to Lydia’s (another keramic student from Russia) where we spent the night eating home-made sushi, drinking French wine, and enjoying wonderful conversation. It was the first time we had really been able to just sit and talk to people, so I really enjoyed it. Merium’s English is very good since she was an exchange student in high school, although Lydia’s is more basic. We still were able to learn a lot about each other’s pasts and Lydia told us about growing up in Russia. Lydia’s boyfriend Bert (which is pronounced more like Beart) was also there. He works in the German film industry, which was also very interesting to hear about.
Sunday morning we were invited back to Lydia’s apartment for a traditional Russian breakfast of creap-like pancakes. It was sooooo tasty! After more wonderful conversation Beth and I drug ourselves to the studio to try and get some work done, although with the Renaissance festival happening all around us and the beautiful weather we weren’t able to keep ourselves there long.
Overall it has been a really wonderful week. I am finally feeling very accustomed to my new life-style and am enjoying myself greatly. Between walking sometimes up to 2 hours a day and having minimal stress I feel better physically and mentally than I have in a long time. I am really looking forward to the rest of my time here.

An action shots of Cha Cha- my roommate's friend's dog who likes to randomly run into my room and roll around upside down on my floor (this happens almost daily).
Spring is comming to Halle!

Internet's down!

This is just a quick post to tell everyone that the internet at my flat has been down for 3 days. My room-mate Jenny gets back in town tomorrow, and I am hoping that she will be able to get it back up and running, but in the mean time Beth and I have very limited internet access. We are able to use the school computer lab, but I am not sure that either of us know enough German to be able to load pictures onto their computers and figure out how to post them. Their keybords are also different from ours so it is very frustrating to type long messages. As a result our weekly blog entry may be delayed a few days this week. We will keep you posted. In the mean time know we had a wonderful weekend (dare I say the best one yet?). There will be many details soon!
Audry

First week in Halle.

Yesterday marked our first full week in Halle and things have been going quite well. Spring has finally come to Germany and the weather has been BEAUTIFUL! It has been the perfect temperature and everyone has been outside taking full advantage of it. Beth and I have been taking lots of walks to explore the city.
Our week started with some more time off since "the Burg" was closed for Easter and the next Monday. It was nice to have some time to really settle into our new flats, do laundry, etc. We also were able to really start to learn our way around town and find some fun areas. One of my favorites so far is an island in the river that has a little train for kids to ride. Of course Beth and I rode it too.
Tuesday we got up early and finally started working in the studio. It felt good to get clay under my fingernails again, although it did take a while to get used to working in a new place.
The Burg is really amazing. The lay out is like a giant square of buildings with a huge court-yard in the center (as can be seen in the picture to the right). The court-yard is beautiful and has rosebushes that line most of the sidewalks. Apparently they will all start to bloom while we're here! We've had so much fun sitting out there for lunch and seeing everyone who walks by.
The other main part of the Burg is actually the remains of an old ccastle that is way up on a cliff. The only part left is a large square tower that has a look-out area and a bell at the top. There is a really great view of Halle from the top and it was really fun to walk around all of the old foundations. Some of the other students told us that after 6 you can jump the gate and sneak up to this area at night to see the sun set, which is definitely on our to do list.
Wednesday Heidi Grew and her husband Scott (who we met in Berlin) came to give an artist talk, which even though it was in German was fun to see. We also went to a pub with them and the other professors afterwards which was a lot of fun. It was really nice to get to know them all a little better. We're fortunate to have such nice people to work with.
The rest of the week was mostly spent in the studio until Friday evening when we went to a cook-out thrown by some of the Burg's former students who graduated. It was across the river in a side of town we hadn't been to yet so we had fun seeing a new area. We also found out when we got there that the hosts of the party had actually studied in Athens through our exchange program several years ago! It was really cool to hear about their experiences and they were curious to her how things had changed since. After people started leaving we were invited to another party by another ceramic student from the Burg, Hannis. It was great to meet other young people, and many of them were very excited to try their English out on us.

Saturday Beth and I slept in, then got up and went to the market area of town to check out some of the stores. Unfortunately, we didn't realize how early stores close here (between 4 and 6 on Saturday), so our time was cut a bit short. Even though it's a little hard to get used to, I really like how things close early and are closed all day on Sunday because it really forces people to spend time with their family and friends. People seem to really value time to relax, which is something many Americans need to work on. I know the trip has already been a great change of pace from my usual "work-a-holic" lifestyle. Speaking of...I think it's time to go relax a bit. :)the front of "the Burg"another "Burg" buildingthe church at the end of the road I live onthe water-tower at the other end of my street!This one's for Carolyn.

Berlin!

Wow...I don't even know where to begin. Beth and I just got back to Halle last night after an amazing trip to Berlin. I can't believe we did so much in so few days! Our trip started with Martin (one of the keramic professors) driving Beth, Andrea, and I through beautiful countryside up to Berlin. It was great to see all the small towns and farms. The land in this area of Germany is very very very flat, so you can see for miles. I was really suprised to see how many wind-turbines there were!
Every direction I looked I could see at least 4 or 5 of them spinning in the wind. It really excited me and made me wish America would take advantage of these more. Germany clearly has environmental issues in mind more than we do. It was very interesting to see how the turbines changed the landscape though. There was a very interesting contrast created between the old towns in the distance, the crops and trees, and the modern, almost surreal giant twirling machines. (Funny side note, I noticed that many of the turbines were made by General Electric...haha.)
After about 2 or 3 hours, we finally reached the city. Berlin is very beautiful. Even though most of the city was destroyed in the war I was suprised how many old buildings had been repaired or rebuilt, which made the city feel very historic and old. Our first stop was the Germany National History Museum's courtyard which is where "The Burg" was having their art show. We stayed there for most of the afternoon and helped carry boxes of work in, then Beth, Andrea, and I all took the train to another part of the city to Belle's flat where we were going to stay. It was a really neat part of town, and Bella's building just happened to be across the street from the Algerian Embassy (at least I think it was Algerian....). Her building was very old and in the process of being renovated. Her apartment was already mostly done, and it was very very nice. That night we went to a party thrown by some of Belle's friends then came back and went to bed.
The next day we went back to downtown to explore some more, and Andrea took us to the Fernsehturm tower, which was built by the GDR (German Democratic Republic). Apparently there is a look-out place at the top and a revolving restaurant, but the lines to go up in the tower were so long we just decided to stay on the ground. There was also a very neat fountain at the base that had big bronze figures and animals. Beth and I had fun taking pictures with them (also see the first picture at the top of this post). After this we went back to the History Museum and Beth and I went through the history exhibits. It was an amazing museum with so much information that it was really quite overwhelming! We saw everything from paintings of kings and queens to Roman helmets and armor. There was also a really cool exhibit of Art as Propaganda. This had WWII posters from Germany, America, and other parts of Europe. I had already seen most of the American propaganda posters, but it was especially neat to see the other country's.
After that Beth and I went exploring on our own and walked around many of the other buildings on "Museum Island" (an island formed by the two rivers that was once all palaces and other government buildings which are now museums) and some of the surrounding areas. That evening was the opening of "the Burg's" exhibit, so we met our friends again there and were introduced to Heidi Grew and her husband Scott who.......get ready for this.....got her MFA in ceramics from O.U.! It was crazy to meet other people who knew our school and faculty thousands of miles from home! She is in Berlin doing a residency at the Keramic Center which is run by Kija Witt and Thomas Hirschler (where Belle is also doing an apprenticeship). It was great to talk to them, in fact Scott talked to us for almost the entire night! I think he was really excited to speak English again--he's not fluent in German like Heidi is.
After the opening, Heidi and Scott invited us to go to the Boda museum (which is an amazing museum of art history) since the museum is free every Thursday night. Unfortunately we got there just an hour or so before it closed, but it was still great to look around and especially great to have Heidi to translate the German signs for us. Of course the art was amazing, but what suprised me most was the setup of the museum. Nothing was behind glass or velvet ropes. Viewers could get right up next to a piece and look at it from 2 inches away if they wanted. They even allowed photography as long as you didn't use flash! I couldn't believe it! After that Beth and I found our way home on the tram and got a good night's sleep.
The next day Beth and I went downtown again and were disappointed to find that most stores and business were closed since it was Good Friday. We got a snack at a cafe and tried to figure out what we should do with our day since we had planned to go to stores. The cafe was really pretty inside (everything was red!) and we had some delicious carrot cake. Afterwards we walked around town aimlessly looking for something to do and happened to stumble upon a free walking tour of Berlin IN ENGLISH! It was fabulous! Our guide, Chris, told us exactly what all of the buildings we had already seen actually were and we learned so much more about the city's history. Afterwards we met Andrea, Belle, and her sister and all went to get Indian food with Belle's Dad. The food was delicious and Belle's Dad was a lot of fun to talk to. Then Belle took us to the Keramic Center to see Thomas and Kaja's studio and gallery. It was a really cool place! Their home and gallery were in an Italian Villi-like building and the studio was across the yard. It was a really amazing set-up, in fact I'd say it was almost too good to be true! I hope someday I have a studio like that.... That night we went back to Belle's and were all too tired to go out, so we stayed in and watched Life Aquatic in German. Granted, it's silly to be watching American movies in Germany, but Belle only had American movies. I guess Germany doesn't have as big of a film industry as we do. It was still quite an experience though. Ha ha!
The next morning we all went back to the History Museum and Beth and I again went exploring on our own. Our first stop was the big Lutheran Cathedral near by. It was really spectacular. Of course the interior was gorgeous, but on our way we discovered a stair-way going up. We took it and went up, up, up, up, and up some more (which considering we were carrying heavy backpacks was exhausting!). We finally ended up on the roof on a walk-way that went around the big dome! We could see all of Berlin! It was definitely worth all of the stairs. Beth and I spent the rest of the afternoon looking at stores, then met Belle and Andrea back at the History Museum again so they could take us to find a train back to Halle. It was an absolutely amazing trip! Beth and I definitely want to go back to Berlin again before we leave.

I've landed!

We’re here! The last 24 hours have flown by. Our flights all went well, with the exception of our long flight over the ocean being an hour late. Lucky we still had enough time in Frankfurt to transfer planes, although it was a little close, and we arrived in Leipzig on time. Andrea and Dana, two students from our school, picked us up and drove us to our apartments. Andrea was especially fun to meet because she was the last German student to come to Athens through our exchange program several years ago.


I am living in a very very very old building that has had very few renovations. The doorways are all at least a foot thick and there is still plenty of chipping paint. Many of the buildings around my area of Halle are being restored, so since the renovated places are so much more expensive, all of the students live in the more original ones. The neat thing about this is that many of the students have painted them bright colors inside and added their own personality. My bathroom is bright blue with little birds painted around the sink and all the rooms have colorful trim. I have two rooms, a bedroom and a workroom, which are both pretty big. I was also delighted to find out that I do have internet connection in my apartment and hot-water!

A quick bit of history I learned about my building:
During Communist rule, all personal property (including my building) was possessed and owned by the government. After the wall fell however, the state faced the problem of finding the decedents of landowners so property could be returned to families. In the case of my building, and many others, when this happened there were already 20 or so decedents that were equally eligible to be given the building. Since no one had the money to buy any of the others out, the land is shared between all of these people. Because of this, we don’t really have a landlord or repairman. Rent is very cheep, and split 20 ways amongst the owners, but it is up to the students to fix things when they break.

After Beth and I dropped our bags off, Andrea and Dana drove us down to the castle so we could see the school and our studios. The Burg (our school’s nickname) is absolutely gorgeous. We were not there long enough to have a chance to take good pictures, but there will be images of the Burg on here very soon. The building is mostly stone with some yellow stucco segments. The ceramics area is quite large and Beth and I will both have tables in shared studio rooms. The other students and professor all seem very nice.

On the way home, we explored a little and picked up some groceries. Grocery shopping in a foreign country is a very interesting experience. It took us forever to make our minds up on what we wanted to buy, but I think as we learn more German and taste more foods shopping will get easier in the future. We also found a nice little market that has lots of healthy organic food. This was of particular interest to me since I am a vegetarian and they had many alternative sources of protein. When we got back to the apartment, Jenny my roommate was there so we talked for a while before Beth and I made dinner. She seems like a very fun person and I think she and I will get along very well. She is also fluent in English, which is always an added bonus.

Tomorrow we are already being whisked away to Berlin with one of the professors and several other students to see and exhibition from “The Burg” there and stay several nights with their friends. It should be a lot of fun, although I hope Beth and I are over jet-lag by then! Expect to not hear from me for several days since I am not taking my computer to Berlin with me. Auf Wiedersehn!

To the left is my work-room

my kitchen and my bedroom









Below is the view from my bedrom window.


Below is the coal furnace in my room.


Below is the church at the end of my road.
This church is important because all of the roads in
Halle run towards it and form a star shape