Are you a ‘Faschingsmuffel’?

fachingI always feel like a stranger in my hometown Füssen in the Allgäu. The reason for this is simple: Fasching, the traditional carnival in southern Germany. But thankfully, the Fasching euphoria in Füssen is rather moderate compared to the villages surrounding it, like Buching, Hopferau and so on, which you most certainly don’t know if you’re not from the area.

Reasons to dislike Fasching

But why is that? I simply don’t get it. Okay, some of the costumes at the parades are in fact quite funny but – in my opinion – the majority aren’t. Most of the costumes are even worse! Hordes of badly-dressed cowboys and Indians! For every creative costume produced after hours and hours of work, there are hundreds of boring Wild West reenactments. And then there’s the horrible music. Every year, the same tasteless Schlager playlists penetrate my ears and leave me speech- and breathless (“Atemlos”…)! But for most people at Fasching, it doesn’t matter, since the majority of people just need a reason to get drunk and – even fasching.worse – they can’t cope with being drunk and behave aggressively.

Any chance of escape?

You might be wondering if it’s possible to escape from this madness. Well, if you’re living in one of these previously-mentioned Fasching strongholds, there’s only one way to do so: build yourself a soundproof air-raid shelter. Sorry. If you’re lucky and you live a safe distance away from these danger areas, take advantage – stay away and let the others have their fun. Tastes differ and so do ideas about what a good party looks like.

By the way, in case you have to hand in a seminar paper or something similar by the end of February, see the positive side of it: in the library, you’re safe from drunkards in fancy dress and Helene Fischer.

Authors: Thomas Kienast, Sebastian Reimann
Pictures: Noemi Hehl

“Mir schwätzat Schwäbisch” on International Mother Language Day

Herz-Schwäbisch“I hol mer zerscht mol en Kaffee in dr Kafede, sonschd schlof I glei wieder ei.” If you hear this at university in the morning, you might not understand it as a non-Swabian. Of course, there’s a wide spectrum of dialects in Germany, some of which aren’t easy for outsiders. Since our noble institution is located in the Swabian part of Bavaria, some of the residents speak Bavarian varieties (“Boarisch“), whereas others „schwätzat Schwäbisch“, with the river Lech as a linguistic border. Augsburg, as the capital of Swabia, has its own Swabian variety: Augschburgerisch. In fact, you will be easily detected as a „Zuazogner“, if you say Augsburg instead of Augschburg.

Regional dialects mix due to people moving within Germany and Augsburg is a city with a lot of transition, which, in turn, contributes to an individual’s own dialect, or idiolect. For example, I didn’t like hearing the answer „A Ebbserl und a Nixerl“, after coming home from school and asking what my father had prepared for lunch – as it literally means „ein Etwas und ein Nichts“, therefore nothing.

As a student of the University of Augschburg, the following sentences might be useful and help you not to be detected as a “Zuazogner” in the first place. When asked to take part in a Saturday afternoon class, every Augschburger teacher will accept the excuse “Do ka I leider eda, am Samschdag spielt dr FCA dohoim”. Other important sentences are “D Schdroßabah isch leider zspät komma” or “Auf dr B17 war mol wieder die Hölle los” to excuse yourself for being late.

Unfortunately, dialects are nowadays often smiled at or its speakers ridiculed. The Swabian dialect, because of the foreign and strange quality some people perceive in it, is particularly favoured for parodies of popular films (e.g. Star Wars: check out Virales Marketing im Todesstern on YouTube, where the Swabian dialect of the Imperial officers is infused with Business English) or even a new synchronisation of meetings of the Bundestag.

Held annually on 21 February, the International Mother Language Day was announced in 2000 by UNESCO “to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world“. As dialects are varieties of a language, which differ in vocabulary, pronunciation and even grammar, they can sometimes be difficult to understand, even for native speakers. So we invite everyone in Augschburg to protect their local dialect and the words that are special in their own family! Dialects are something we inherit, they’re part of our cultural identity; we learn them from our parents and grandparents, neighbours and friends, so we should do anything to keep the tradition, even if it’s just a “bissle”.

Authors: Ariane Scheuer & Elena Mayr
Picture: Elena Mayr

Jackaroo / Jillaroo Down Under

jillDuring my backpacking time in Australia, I decided to do some real Aussie stuff and get an insight into the jackaroo/jillaroo lifestyle. A jackaroo/jillaroo is somebody who lives and works on a sheep or cattle station – and well, there are about 70 million sheep in Australia, but only about 23.6 million people! Online, I found this horse breeding and sheep station farm near Bingara, in the northeast of New South Wales, called “Garrawilla”. After I had contacted John and his girlfriend and helping hand Natusha, I booked my train and bus tickets, packed all my stuff, and was definitely ready to go on an adventure!

I was warmly welcomed at the bus stop by John with “Hello, my little German!” and after we had had dinner together with Nat and Jorjah, a jillaroo-to-come, we drove to his farm, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The next day, after a good long sleep, I finally saw where I would be living for the next few weeks. Surrounded by large fields, hills, and about 400 horses scattered everywhere, Garrawilla began to make me feel tiny, really just like the “little German” I was/am?, apparently – it was just so huge! After our typical porridge and coffee breakfast on the terrace at about 8am, John and I usually started work (which didn’t feel like work at all) by driving the horses to the yards with his ute (a four-wheel drive pickup), his not-always-working motorcycle or quad. You know, it takes quite a lot of courage to stand cramped together in between 30 horses, only holding a stick to guide them to different places (I think my heartbeat was about 200 the first few times!).

JohnsUteBy telling me all his stories about his family and friends, his various jobs on the farm and all the bloody Germans he’d met, John taught me many useful, important things about how to treat horses properly. He always illustrated his wisdom with real-life examples: often myself. I can tell you, getting dirt smeared in the face or being poked in the bottom with a pencil is not the nicest way to start your day! For the next few weeks, we would make young horses used to wearing a halter, teach them to lead and give and also get them to have a saddle on for the first time. Breaking in horses was one of the main tasks on the farm. Apart from that, we did some fencing (a pretty hard job, really), drove in and sheared sheep, fed all his working dogs and rode the horses, of course!

John also offers tourist rides in town along the Gwydir River, but we also did a lot of horse riding on the farm itself. Not only to check on the horses in the fields and hills, but also to drive them in or teach them to be ridden. But the greatest feeling was cantering across the Gwydir River, water splashing everywhere and the wind blowing in my hair.

jack.

Then, at some point, I didn’t feel touristy or foreign anymore, but I had found a place that felt like a second home. My inner cowgirl had found her own level. On Garrawilla, you get that once-in-a-lifetime experience with great people and amazing things to learn, and, as John told me when we went on our first ride: “As long as you don’t break your neck, you’re gonna be fine!”

If you want to collect memories like these yourself, visit their Facebook page: Jackaroo Jillaroo Down Under.

Author & Pictures: Rebecca Pichler

Treating your inner geek

Everybody has that one movie- or TV-series they’re crazy about – whether it’s Harry Potter, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, or The Walking Dead – just to name a few. And once you watch one movie or episode, you can sometimes barely stop yourself from binge watching the whole series or season. But actually why shouldn’t you?

The planning

First of all, you need a suitable partner: he or she has to be at least as crazy as you are about what you’re going to watch, and you have to like them enough to spend a long time with them (sometimes not as easy as it seems). Then you need to consider where to watch. You might have to talk to your roommates if you plan to block the TV for several hours (or simply force them to participate), or you can take your own laptop. You also need to set a date: a weekend is probably the best idea, because after you’ve been watching TV the whole night, you might not be very productive the next day. Depending on how long the marathon is going to be, you might want to start in the morning, so you don’t lack a night’s sleep right at the beginning.

Getting closer to the big day

You should calculate the time you need to watch – which can be anything from “only” about 4 ½ hours for the first season of The Walking Dead (well, you can still watch more than one if that’s not enough – you can’t really stop after a finale anyway, can you?) over 8 ½ hours for a season of Game of Thrones, and up to over 20 hours for all eight Harry Potter movies. And don’t forget to include pauses to go to the bathroom and to prepare food! Depending on how long you’re going to be watching that might include breakfast, lunch and supper, plus some snacks and coffee or energy drinks to stay awake.IMG_6798-001

It’s showtime!

When the day has finally arrived, grab your Hogwarts House scarf, the One Ring to rule them all or your Jedi (or Sith) outfit, or whatever else you think is suitable for the occasion and enjoy the show!

Author: Sophia Brandt
Picture: Noemi Hehl

Happy ho ho holidays

Dear_Santa

It’s Christmas Eve and I’ve only wrapped two presents. I arrived home not even half an hour ago and already I’m completely stressed out. Everyone’s in a happy-go-lucky mood and I’m sitting here, trying to do at least a halfway decent job at wrapping up presents that nobody needs, nobody wants but everyone will  act grateful for. That’d be alright if every five minutes someone in the family didn’t want something from me. I’d love to get some sleep. Just a ten-minute power nap but Noooo! My niece wants me to play house with her, my dad needs help getting the firewood inside, my mom wants us to decorate the Christmas tree together, just so that she can complain to me that my dad has, once again, bought a spruce instead of a fir tree. My nephew is simply a pain in the ass and my brother wants to play board games. Because he’s bored. To make matters worse, my cousin threw up all night long and while everybody is playing it down, I can already see me bending over a bucket full of half-digested roast beef with potatoes on the side. They all say he just ate a bad piece of stollen but I know an immune response to E. coli bacteria if I see one.

So while they’re busy throwing up, busy playing house and decorating the tree, I’m still in my room, still wrapping presents and still stressed. But now I’ve also pissed off half of my family for not participating. The only two who are not angry with me are my nephew, who is now arguing with my brother-in-law about the meaning of the phrase “no chocolate before dinner”, and my cousin. ‘Cause well, you know… He’s too distracted to care much about what I’m doing right now. Meanwhile, my mom managed to clog the kitchen drain with two days’ worth of leftovers and while she was busy scrapping soggy peas and carrots out of the sink, the turkey in the oven spontaneously combusted, which is why the smoke detector went off. Nobody knows why exactly it beeps the melody of deck the halls but they’re too occupied with getting cousin Denis out of the room, who in an attempt to help my mom putting out the flames threw up over the fire extinguisher, the coffee machine and my nephew, who is now giggling amusedly at the sight of his father’s agonizing groan.

After all these calamities, someone has to walk the dog, someone has to sweep the kitchen floor, which is now completely covered in foam and stomach acid, and someone really ought to consider taking a shower before the festivities. This someone has now wrapped three and a half presents and is sitting here seriously considering immigrating to Sweden. At least I’d have a white Christmas there. So in the spirit of the annual nightmare: happy holidays! I love all of you.

Author & Picture: Yo Vogel

Christmas in the Park

100_0354When visiting California, USA, there are a lot of different things to see that come to mind. Whether it’s San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge, the Victorian Houses and Pier 39, Los Angeles with its famous Sunset Blvd., Beverly Hills and Hollywood, Monterey with its great Monterey Bay Aquarium and Whale Watching Tours or national parks like Yosemite or fun parks like Disneyland, these sights are all well known and you already know about these tourist magnets I’m sure. But what you mightn’t already have heard of is “Christmas in the Park”, which takes place every year for about five weeks in San Jose.

Festive displays and brimmed trees

Christmas in the Park (CITP) dates back to the 1950s. Free to the public – donations are appreciated – every year there are around five 100_0365hundred decorated Christmas trees on display in the park, which is located in Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park in Downtown San Jose. The trees are decorated with different kinds of ornaments by school classes, kindergarten classes, local companies and community organizations. Every tree is very unique and shines with all its really individual embellishments. In addition to firs, you’ll find a set of displays that are set up lovingly. There are, for example, elf woodcrafters, a candy store, a Little Swiss Clockmaker’s Shoppe, a melting snowman and let’s not forget Santa’s booth. Of course, there are also vendors – food or other merchandise – so everyone will find a way to spend money, if they want to.

Not only for kids

100_0363Obviously, Christmas in the park is a well-designed family venue, as it offers a lot for kids to discover. They’re bound to love the fact that Santa’s actually sitting there in his booth and they can tell him about their dearest wishes for Christmas, while their parents are taking snapshots. For those who prefer to have professional photos, there’s even a photographer. The quality pictures can be picked up a few minutes later. But not only are the youngest among us bound to enjoy the decorated park. The festive trees might also give adults some new ideas for trimming their own tree at home – or they can simply enjoy the park.

“Christkindlesmarkt” is different

100_0367What I really liked during my visit was the special atmosphere. You can walk around the park with all the nicely-decorated trees and the other festive displays. It can’t be compared to a “Christkindlesmarkt” that we’ve been very familiar since we were small. While you’re surrounded by the holiday glitter, you se e the large palm trees in the Californian setting, which gives you a unusual kind of experience, especially if this is the first time you’ve spent the holiday season away from the usual “Let’s hope there’s snow at Christmas” thinking. Don’t hope for snow in San Jose because, you know, it’s not gonna happen.

Address: Plaza de César Chávez, 1 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose, CA 95113, USA

You need more information? Go to www.christmasinthepark.com

Author & Pictures: Angela Czygann

New York City – aftermath of the election

One of the most vicious elections in history, the biggest story of 2016, the gaudy circus, the bitter fight for the White House or the mud-slinging Clinton vs Trump – whatever one may choose to call it – resulted in reactions all over the world. In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election as the 45th president of the United States, New York seemed to be in turmoil. Hundreds of people marched to protest against Trump’s election. The streets were filled with people chanting slogans, traffic jams, honking cars and police officers. Three students from University of Augsburg sum up their different impressions and experiences on their study trip to New York with Prof. Dr. Middeke right after the election…

posters

Carolin

You couldn’t pass a television or newspaper kiosk without seeing Trump’s face. The election was omnipresent – you heard people discussing the recent event everywhere. Once a young woman and two cab-drivers wanted to know what we Germans thought about this topic. We all admitted that we’d never expected Trump to win, and that we thought his victory was a bitter pill. I only talked to one older man who voted for Trump and claimed ‘Trump has no experience and no experience means good experience. He’s neutral and powerless.’ The conversations I had really made me think about people and their attitude towards democracy.

Michaela

I thought we’d see more riots and more upset people, but the New Yorkers seemed relatively calm, even though almost none of them really support Trump. But I saw a protest on Time Square, with people marching on the streets, shouting ‘Not my president!’, and holding up signs of protest. My personal favourite was one that said ‘This P*ssy grabs back!’ right in front of the Trump Tower on 5th Avenue. And while I was eating a burger on Broadway, a girl handed me this note…

protestLaura

Visiting New York was an amazing, surreal experience. One thing was always present on the trip – the US elections. When I heard the news, I was shocked and also tense about what visiting New York after such an election would be like. When we were eating breakfast, the election and its consequences were all over the TV screens. As we walked out of a shopping mall, the only thing we heard was countless people yelling NOT MY PRESIDENT’. Walking past the Trump Tower meant walking past a huge amount of security. One homeless man wore a Trump mask and held a shield that said ‘Trump is our president. Need money to leave the country’.

Author & Pictures: Stefanie Frank