Alpine Summer

O, the horror! Unfortunately, I don't get to traipse around Germany every day of this trip. I'm here to take a class or some crazy thing like that. I wish I could just tell Dr. Norwood, "Actually, I think I'm just going to go roam the countryside today, OK? Classes are for losers." But at least the course I'm taking is something I like. Literature!!

Honestly, the class isn't bad. It's just like a normal literature class, with a few exceptions: 1) The class is tiny. I think there are eight students. 2) Not everyone is a Lit major. In fact, I'm pretty sure Luke and I are the only Lit majors in the class. 3) When we look out the window, we don't see CSU. WE SEE GERMAN HILLSIDE. (( and some construction work, but I think we can overlook that )). The class is really relaxed; it's interesting because we're talking about books, plays, poems, and stories that we've already read. Usually you run into "Well, I read part of it, but I'll read the rest before the test." That's great and all, but the test is in week one.

















For seemingly the first time, I'm able to put the stuff I've learned to use. I'm able to answer the questions about the literary eras and styles, etc. It seems like I should have been able to do that sooner, but no one really asks "What is the Romantic period all about?" in Romantic British Lit. I mean, that's what the class is.

Friendships are really starting to develop. As one person noted, "the battle lines have been drawn." OK, nothing that dramatic, but the groups are pretty obvious. To be blunt, Group A is "Frat boys that like to get really drunk and loud every night and the girls that love them," or for short, "the drunks". Group B is "People who have better things to do than get really drunk and loud every night". There are a few people that kind of hang out in the middle, but the best part about it is that no one is mean or rude to anyone else -- we just don't really care to hang out together.

Since today was the least eventful but most relaxed day so far, I want to talk about slumpf (( long U sound )). While we were at the ice cream shop in Schwäbisch Hall yesterday, we took some time to examine the flavours. Some were obvious, some became so after a little bit of guesswork / asking someone who has taken a German class for help. The man working the shop didn't speak any English, so he wasn't much help in the translations. But, after all, we deciphered all but one flavour: next to a tub of bright blue ice cream, in big bold letters, was the word SLUMPF. No one was quite adventurous enough to ask for it. But then . . . since Luke had only had one scoop the first time, while most of us had two, he went back to try this mysterious slumpf. Most all of us in our group had a try of it. I thought it tasted like blue raspberry candy. One guy was sure it was bubble gum. Someone else offered cotton candy. Luke declared that it tasted like slumpf. Nothing was definitive other than our liking of the word.

This afternoon, curiosity got the best of us. At lunch, Philip asked Dr. Noll what the word meant. What we learned confirmed what most people thought but no one was brave enough to suggest: a slumpf is a smurf. The ice cream is a flavour simply meant to entice kids and is a vague sweet candy taste. Apparently the slumpfs are popular here, so the blue ice cream is a big seller with the children. Also, smurf-flavoured ice cream is very amusing.