Germance: SNL’s amusing take on the Eurozone’s financial troubles

According to America’s Promise Alliance, a foundation created by Colin Powell in 1997 to help children and youth from all socioeconomic sectors in the United States (Wikipedia), Prosser, Washington is one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People in the country.

I’m so proud of my tiny town of 5,714. It was great when I lived there, but it seems like it’s become even more youth-oriented since I graduated three years ago. They’ve started all sorts of programs for young people and raised the graduation rate to 77.3%, which is higher than the national & Washington state averages.

My suggestion for a next step - add a bowling alley and a movie theater!

My sister sent me this NYTimes article four days ago. I was supposed to read it right away and be super surprised that she’d found an article featuring the research institute I worked at this summer and tell her how awesome she was for finding it.

But I had two papers to write and a Bible study to prep for, which means I didn’t read it until just now. I still think it’s really cool, though, so I thought posting it on my under-used blog would make up for my initial lack of enthusiasm.

Here’s the main gist of the article:

“Human society is based on collaborative activities,” said one of the authors, Yvonne Rekers, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “We engage in collaborative activities all day long, whether it’s pushing carts or building skyscrapers.”

Chimpanzees also cooperate with one another — for instance, they work together to patrol the borders of their social group’s territory — but “the degree and range is less than humans,” said Ms. Rekers, who performed the study as part of her doctoral research.

Pretty cool stuff.

I just wrote this piece as a reflection on my experience with the Krupp Internship Program. I thought I’d share it here, as well, since I haven’t really written in depth about my time in Leipzig.

I had a wonderful experience in Leipzig. It is a beautiful, historically rich city that is easy to get around and filled with fun walks and cute cafés. Leipzig is known for a few different things. First of all, it was the home of Johann Sebastian Bach for 27 years starting in 1723. He worked in the local churches, which still exist, and composed dozens of pieces, which are still regularly played in those churches. Secondly, part of Goethe’s Faust takes place in a really old restaurant in Leipzig called Auerbach’s Keller. The restaurant is still open and serves very traditional German food. There is also a gigantic war memorial called the Völkerschlachtsdenkmal in Leipzig to commemorate Napoleon’s defeat by the Prussians. It looks like a giant thimble outside and feels like a temple inside. In recent history, Leipzig is most known for being the center of part of the reunification movement before the Wall came down. Peaceful protests began in Nikolaikirche, one of Leipzig’s main churches, until people were staging regular marches around the city in support of reunification.

Leipzig also has some beautiful parks, and there is a lake within biking distance of the city that is popular on hot summer afternoons. In terms of going out at night, I did not participate in the nightlife scene very much, but I understand that Leipzig has a few clubs that are very cool, and there are many bars and restaurants all over town. I did, however, go to church in Leipzig. Leipzig English Church is an awesome Anglican church that has a lot of young people and is sensitive to people who are only there for a short time. Finding housing is pretty easy because Leipzig is a university city, so there are a lot of WGs and there is university housing, as well. Having a bike is really helpful for getting around, way better than the tram system for most things, and a good place to find cheap bikes is Das Schwarze Brett. I bought a bike for €35 and sold it for €25 after using it for two months. Leipzig is also close enough to Berlin that is it fairly easy to visit for a day or weekend, especially if you have a BahnCard. 

I did my internship at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in the Developmental and Comparative Psychology Department, specifically in the ChildLab. The entire organization functions as a well-oiled machine, and the people at the very bottom of the totem pole (i.e. the interns/Praktikanten) are treated with respect because many of the higher ups used to be in their shoes. Interns are expected to do a mix of mundane, organizational activities, but they are also given the opportunity to assist with research. I helped with two main studies, one that looked at social norms in child-child interactions and one that looked at the effects of ostracism on adult viewing patterns. My work with kids took me into kindergartens all over Leipzig, allowing me to see a range of economic and social situations. My work with adults helped me better understand the planning process of a study and how things change at each stage. Both of these studies, as well as my daily interactions with my coworkers were influential in my German improvement. While I had used quite a bit of German in Berlin, I was not totally immersed in German culture until I moved to Leipzig, a city without any other Krupp interns. I forced myself to only use English when absolutely necessary, even when I wasn’t exactly sure how to say what I wanted to say, and this allowed me to develop very useful improvisational skills. My coworkers were also very patient with me, which allowed me to take my time and make mistakes when otherwise I might have been nervous or self-conscious about my German.  

Overall, my time in Leipzig was amazing. It was so different from my experience in Berlin, and my understanding of Germany would not be the same if I had not moved a little away from the rest of the Stanford crowd. I highly advise participating in the Krupp internship program, and if you have the chance, try living outside Berlin. I love Berlin, and it is a lovely city, but living somewhere else for a few months truly allows you to get a better feel for the country as a whole because each area of Germany is so different from the next, each interesting and beautiful and worth discovering in its own way.

This is where I’m living this year. Roble is one of the oldest dorms on campus and looks quite majestic. Every year the dorm staff comes up with a new theme which is used as the inspiration for hall decorations, t-shirts, and videos such as this one. This year’s theme is HaROBLE Potter.

Fun Fact: the dorm I lived in last year was actually called Potter, but our theme was not Harry Potter. It was Mr. Pototter Head.

This is an awesome slideshow I found on BBC.com this morning. It features comparisons of early Oktoberfest customs and their modern interpretations. Based on my experience there three years ago, I agree that Oktoberfest lives on in the spirit in which it was originally intended.

I have been playing this video on repeat for the last couple of days. It in no way speaks to any past personal experience of mine; I just like singing it while I do the dishes.

This is what I do for fun in Leipzig. Okay, well I’ve only done it once, but it was totes fun. This picture was taken on my second trip to the zoo here in Leipzig. In total, I’ve been there three times. Three times, and I still haven’t seen Heidi, the cross-eyed opossum! She’s super shy.

I’ve recently begun watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report in order to keep up with US news. I figure it’s not as good as reading the New York Times but a whole lot better than just checking PerezHilton.

This is a great analysis of the debt negotiations in Washington. The lady in this clip uses some semi-real German, but her pronunciation could use some work.

I just got on my computer to finish a really long post I wrote at work today, and even though I saved it multiple times, it’s not in my drafts folder. Sad, sad day. But if that’s the worst thing that’s happened to me in a while, my life is pretty good.

I just wanted to let you (Mom & Dad) know that I tried to update you on the specifics of my life, but the evils of spotty technology prevented me. Good thing Skype still works. :)