Let the classes begin!

Guten Morgen everyone!  I trust you had a lovely evening back on the western hemisphere.  Here, it's 9-ish and my first class starts in an hour.  The university here in Gießen employs two primary types of physics classes-theoretical and experimental.  Both are lecture classes but I assume just a different take on the physics.  I signed up for the 3rd semester experimental physics class, which focuses on atomic, nuclear and particle physics.  I've taken some of this before, but I didn't think I would do to well in the 5th semester EP class which was titled core and particle physics (but a different word for particle, go figure).  I am also going to take the electromagnetism course this semester with plans to take the quantum mechanics class next semester.  I haven't actually gotten into the EM class but that kind of thing happens all the time at UW too.  In the meantime, if our calculations are correct, we will be needing a third class and I am hesitantly thinking of trying for a masters level nuclear astrophysics course, which covers the beginnings of the universe through the formation and death of stars.  Relativity, thermodynamics, and quantum mechanics are key players.  I'm scared but it's the only astronomy related class.  So in the meantime, I'm going to read a quantum mechanics textbook I brought along.  I'll learn it myself dangit!

Additionally, I sure hope to find the motivation to learn a programming language on my own this semester.  What I really need is a project (like homework) to focus on, otherwise I'm just learning the language and never using it in practice.  When I took a computer science class, they had us doing projects every week and gradually increasing our abilities.  So, it sounds like I need another text book with homework problems in the back. ;)  I'll just keep you posted I guess.  

I have to admit, I'm nervous about taking classes in German.  Yesterday we went to the department's meet-and-greet which turned out to be more like "let's go over the schedules and what's coming up just so you all know."  Naturally it was in German and I understood less than none.  This is probably going to be very bad.  I can only hope the homeworks are straightforward and not word problems. 

The Real Oktoberfest...

...was absolute chaos. Our journey began in Gießen around 5:40a when Jeff, Rachel and myself walked to the Bahnhof (train station) in order to catch a 6:20a train to Frankfurt am Main. Once there, we changed trains to go to Würzburg. Once there, we again exchanged trains for one that was going to Nürnberg. And finally, there we decided the next thing to do was to change trains for one going to München. At last, we made it to the Bahnhof in München after about 7 or 8 hours of traveling. The reason it took so long was because we wanted cheap tickets and on the weekend, a "happy weekend" ticket is good for up to 5 people and costs only 37 euros. The catch, is that you can only take the regional, i.e. slow, trains. Regardless, we got there. And now let the madness begin.

Being an introvert, I have a hard enough time with groups of people exceeding 10 persons, even if they are my friends. So when I heard that weekends at Oktoberfest draw in millions (please note the plural) of people, I naturally grew nervous. But not to worry! The recent announcement by terrorists about possibly attacking Oktoberfest the weekend I was going helped to shy away many of the masses. Only 2.4 million people showed up. HA! (sorry for the histerics.) We weasled our way through the fair grounds, deftly avoiding medical personnel as they rushed to some poor soul lying on the ground and narrowly missing the hordes who didn't know which way was left or right. After seeing the main sites and popular, old tents (which as an aside are not 'tents' but are in fact solidly built wood structures), we took a chance on getting close to a table in an outdoor beer garden adjacent to a particular tent. 40 minutes later, after standing and watching more people than I thought existed pass by me, the beers had not arrived. We cut our losses and moved to other feeding grounds. By now all 3 of us were just wanting to have a beer in our hands. We didn't care if we were actually sitting at a table. Plenty of other people were wandering the fair grounds with their beers, why can't we?

Victory came when we arrived a second beer garden, this time we squirmed through the masses to a table on the outskirts of another outdoor beer garden. Jeff leans over and in German, which I will translate to English, gets this far -- "Hello, my German is not so good, but could you..." -- before they were sliding over and inviting us to sit down. Jeff's intention was only to ask if they would order us beers but an invitation to sit was not something we could refuse. For the next 3 or 4 hours, we sat with the individuals from northern Germany, specifically the Köln area.

We practiced our German and they practiced their English as litre after litre passed us by. People came and went at the surrounding tables. I believe a con artist was also in the area. Sounded British when he spoke English and had some underlying dislike of Americans which only alcohol would bring out. I was scared yet terribly amused at the same time.

Anyway, after wandering a bit more when I was confident in my legs again, Rachel went off and rode the Ferris Wheel and ate some Ox. Yes, ox. It was getting late and the tents and fair were closing down. We made our way back to the Bahnhof with the knowledge we had come and seen the real McCoy. The next 5 hours would involve waiting in the Bahnhof for the 5:04a train that would mirror our trip here. The Bahnhof was filled with people doing the same thing we were doing, that is waiting. Jeff and Rae were pretty tired and I seemed to be on my second wind so we all sat down and I watched over their bodies. I'm laughing just remembering back to the scene. I should also mention that we got Burger King at about 12:30 or 1:00a along with more people that were dead on their feet. The next four hours passed slowly and steadily and we eventually got on the train and headed for home. We arrived in Gießen around 11:30 and were back in our dorm rooms by noon. All in all an exciting 30 hour day.

I just want to say that I will never go again unless I have a reservation at a table that has at least a meter clearance on every side. I have gone and seen. I'm afraid it kicked my ass. But at least I've been. Prost!

Oktoberfest

Tomorrow I'm going to Oktoberfest and I have nearly no idea what I'm about to get into.  Saturday morning, at a time I like to call bright and early, we are leaving for a 3 leg, 6 hour trip.  Upon arrival we will spend the rest of the day at the festival grounds until the tents close up around 11p.  Then we will stay up all night for our return train at 5:45a PDT+9, which also happens to be a 3 leg and 6 hour trip.  It's going to be a little crazy I expect and I will keep you posted....