Alles gut.

>>Bram wearing his new festive hat at the xmas market<<

Today is a good day. It's sunny in Germany! We found the winter red wine ritter sport chocolate at Plus on the way home from class. Delish! The winter edition of everything is popping up everywhere here.. chocolate, soup, wine, tea, markets.. it's so festive! Today the Christmas market in Darmstadt opened. A bunch of us went to check it out. There are all these adorable wooden huts all lit up in the center. I had candied nuts, Glühwein (mulled, spiced wine) and a sausage.

Class was really great today too. I think Amanda and I both had and a ha! moment as we finally understood everyones' concepts. The past couple of weeks were a little confusing, but today everyone had more work finished to show. Also our professor really made an effort to speak to us in English to make sure we understood each one and asked for our opinions. Some of the concepts were really interesting. One guy is designing packaging for tobacco. (It's popular to get the bags of tobacco and roll your own cigarettes here, but if you want them pre-rolled, our school cafe sells them! ha) Anyway, he created a snapping pouch in black with a white dot pattern. When you open the flap, the pouch is abstractly the shape of lungs and the dots symbolize the "bubbles" in your lungs. After using this pouch for awhile it will eventually start to wear. The white bubble pattern will begin to get dirty symbolizing the effects of tobacco on your lungs. –Cool! but my favorite part is always seeing him leaving with a cigarette behind his ear when we have a break. haha. My presentation also went well. I'm starting to feel good about my concept 1 for hot cocoa packaging and am beginning concept 2. Concept 1 revolves around the idea of gemütlich. As I explained before, it's the feeling word unique to the German language roughly meaning cosiness and cheerfulness. Two packets are connected by a string (like mittens). The tactile feel will be the contrast of flocked (fuzzy) graphics on cold translucent paper. The contents are poured in to the two cups, then the packets can be used as coasters. Because they are connected by string it encourages the users to get cosy. I'll put up pictures as I the production progresses.

Updates on my last 3 weekends of travel to Prague, Zürich and Berlin coming soon!

Tschüss!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time to be a cheesecake as David called me last night.

Thanksgiving this year could not be at a better time to reflect on all that I have to be thankful for. First I would like to give thanks for my wonderful family which I'm unable to spend the holiday with. I realized I have not been home for Thanksgiving in 4 years now. I miss them everyday in Ohio, but being in Germany has made it even more difficult to keep in touch. During the week or 2 I'm able to spend with them here or there I'm always reminded what I am missing out on while I am away. My little siblings are all growing up so fast! I miss my silly sisterly moments with Kayla, Nic's humor, Cody's dorkiness, Taylor's inability to be quiet :). I miss you Mom and Jon. Thank you for your continuous support in all that my heart desires. Dad, Grandma, Duskie, Dale, Ryan and Ranie. I love you all :)

Aside from my family, my biggest thanks this year is the opportunity I have been given to live and study in Germany. With 3 months down, 1 month to go, the end to this dream that is Erasmus seems more real than ever. Laura came to visit us from Würzburg the other night and said Do you feel like you are reflecting on life all the time here? Do you feel like you are sentimental all the time? We agreed that everyday we are filled with pure joy, so much we might even burst. It's a dream land we are living in here. Filled with the most amazing, interesting new friends from around the world, new cultures, new experiences. I'm am so thankful for this opportunity. It truly been an amazing experience that I will never forget and always be thankful for.

Because I have so much to be thankful for this year, I have decided to have not 1 but 2 Thanksgiving dinners :P. Yesterday Amanda, Jo and I all cooked Thanksgiving dinner for several of our Erasmus friends and my flatmates. America is a new country with less history and traditions than the countries surrounding us now, but I think Thanksgiving is a very nice meaningful tradition. It was so sweet last night how enthusiastic everyone was to just be there sharing our tradition with us. A grand total of 22 eager feasters crammed into my little flat!

Amanda, Jo and I spent the whole day preparing. Finding the appropriate ingredients and tools is tricky in another country, so everything was created from scratch. Amanda and I baked the most beautiful apple pie. Jo made 2 pumpkin pies and homemade whip cream. We also had applesauce, mash potatoes, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, turkey breasts (we thought attempting a whole turkey may be a bit much), and stuffing. Our lovely guests supplied us all with plenty of wine and desserts. Everyone loved the food. We were so proud of our work. (Mom I hope you are impressed!)

We had told Bram that before we eat we go around and say what we are thankful for, so he prepared a whole speech! It was very sweet. He said we should realize how lucky we are for our happiness, health and the friendships surrounding us. At the end we said:

"goce de su comida… (espana)
bon appetit (vive la france)
smakelijk eten (belgium/holland)
guten appetite (germany)
have a delicious meal (USA!)

and let’s say all together now: PROST!!!"

By the end of the night nothing was left over and everyone was stuffed. It was a good night spent with good friends. Several even stayed after to help clean!

Tomorrow I head to Berlin to celebrate Thanksgiving again with all of the OSU design students living in Europe. I'm really looking forward to seeing them all. It will no doubt be a good time. Updates on my recent travels to Prague and Zürich coming soon! 

Tschüss!

geography lesson

The other night we were hanging out in Exil when we decided a geography lesson would be appropriate.
Belgium by Bram

Spain by Julio


USA by Jo, Amanda and I

Newfound German love.

Schnitzel and Glühwein.

Naturally, grilled cheese Monday has been replaced with schnitzel Monday. I must say, schnitzel is really starting to grow on me. Every Monday at Exil, the bar in our student complex, we make the choice between 10 different types of schnitzel. To add to the fun, our friend Holly is usually working which means I get 2 biscuits with my cappuccino instead of 1. Before the schnitzel extravaganza tonight, the 6 design students, our student advisor, Linnea, and our Prof. advisor, Philippin, all went out for a drink. After critiquing the menu, we discussed how classes were going. Philippin asked how our design schools differ from Hochschule Darmstadt. The biggest difference is that we are given less guidance and encouraged to be more experimental at H da. Which is why I found it interesting that Philippin said he thought Hochschule should be even more open. He explained how schools in England are this way. Anyway, I had glühwein, which I have fallen madly in love with since my flatmates introduced me. Glühwein, a traditional German winter/Christmas drink, is a tasty, warm blend of mulled red wine and spices. It's like the deliciousness of wine meets the cosiness of hot cocoa. This combination sums up everything I could ever want in a drink. :P

Nikole in Marburg, Germany

Nikole in Marburg, Germany
Originally uploaded by atlaswoof

I am happy to be here.

For more of Katie's marvelous photos from our trip to Marburg click the "atlaswoof" link.

thoughts...

The first couple weeks of class here has made me really appreciate what I have at home. I love my little design community at OSU. I am so comfortable at my school. I know the professors and my classmates are like siblings. The studio is a place where I can always go and know my classmates will be there to bounce ideas off of, to distract me, to have fun while working until the wee hours of the morning.

Here it's all new. I love being surrounded by new things everyday. It is challenging to figure out the workings of a new school, city, country, especially in another language. But it's the excitement of the new and the challenge that make this experience so amazing. Going to a new school in another country is great experience, but it's the details that go into this that I have learned the most from. Learning how to get around when you speak little of someone's language, figuring out what you are buying at the grocery store, learning the bus system, understanding what is going on in class. It's being able to do these everyday things that make me feel like I can now do anything. I realized lately I have become much more comfortable here, things that were strange before go unnoticed now.

Class is going well. Today I had my favorite class, letterpress. Our jolly, grandpa, professor could not be more kind. I can imagine it is not easy to teach students who don't know your language. Which is why I really appreciate his constant effort with us. As I said before he speaks no English, but he is always speaking slowly and conscious of our understanding. It's exciting to be forced to use our German and be able to communicate with each other. I also really enjoy working with the type. Today I was in my own little world of lead letters constructing the alphabet out of 12 punkt Garamond.

It's November! Time is flying by. I plan to continue to make the most of each day here, so my calendar is filling up quickly with exciting events. This weekend we have a day trip to Wiesbaden. Next weekend Laura and Alicia are coming from Columbus. To kick off their Euro adventure, they will travel with Amanda, Holly, Joanna, and I to Prague for the weekend. Then Sunday we are coming back across the country to Köln (Cologne) for the start of Carnival. The following weekend I hope to make it to Zurich with Amanda and Grace to see Katie. Thanksgiving weekend all the OSU kids (I think 15 in Europe?) will head to Berlin to celebrate. :)