A little bit of culture/panic

Culture!  Yesterday the family and I went to Hannover briefly, even though the weather was super shitty.  We walked around, found the neues Rathaus (new city hall), and took the crazy elevator all the way up to the top of the towers to see out.  The elevator tilted and slanted and did all sorts of fun things, and, needless to say, the two-year-old was not pleased.  Then we tried to have a picnic, but due to rain, wound up relocating to the trunk of the car, which was rather fun actually.

On our way back to Celle we stopped at Siebensteinhäuser (seven stone houses), which are the stone-age gravesites of Really Important People who were too cool for being dumped in the river, and instead got rocks put on top of them.  You can only visit on Sunday because all the other days the army blows shit up there.  I was super excited initially, thinking I could check "go to the British military base" off my bucket list, but as it turns out, only pieces of the site lay on the base, therefore, it does not count.  Apparently the site used to be the blowing-shit-up place of Hitler's armies, and now armies from all over Europe come there to practice the blowing up of said shit, as evidenced by the bombed-out tanks chilling out all over the field.  While we were there we ran into a few officers from some country, France, Belgium, maybe Luxembourg. At any rate, they spoke French, wore berets, and probably did not have souls.  But it was a pretty neat time.

I also learned that Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where Anne Frank died, is nearby.  Sort of.  Because the British burnt it to the ground when they liberated it, so you can't actually see anything, but there is a memorial and an exhibit there, I think.

Panik!  So before I can start school in the spring, I have to take a German language test through my uni of choice, to prove that I can survive in the university setting. Unfortunately, the test is ridiculously hard, and you have to take a prep course or else you are generally screwed.  However, the prep courses are all really expensive, and located in Hannover, which would mean daily trips to the city, which are also expensive.  But I would make friends.  My other option is a private tutor which is not (as) expensive, closer to me, but minus the added benefit of coming with friends.  So I had a complete mental meltdown earlier this morning, about whether or not I even want to do this degree in the first place.  But I wasn't sure if I was intimidated by the language test, or really just having a change of heart.  Then I thought about my time in Konstanz, and came to the conclusion that I really do enjoy being a student, making friends, getting into trouble, and bitching about schoolwork.  So all is well again.  But I am not looking forward to this test, or the prep dafür.

After taking to the internet, I found a mini practice test for the easier of the two foreign language test options that I have, and decided to take it.  I scored a 66%, which I felt terrible about, until Host Dad pointed out that that's pretty good considering I only got here on Thursday.  Then both Host Parents took the test, and Host Mom scored an 88%, which made me feel better about my life.  HD, however, got a 93%, so maybe I should bribe him into being my private tutor.

In other news, HM has arranged for me to meet up with the daughter of a family friend on Thursday.  She's my age, and has offered to take me to a bar, so maybe by the end of the week I will actually have a friend.

In other, other news, I have made it my plan tomorrow to find the Hannoverian breeding farm.

In other, other, other news, Marina is coming to visit in two weeks, for the whole weekend, and I am beside myself with excitement.  Saturday we're just going to run around Celle, but Sunday, we are going to the nearby town of Hameln, where the Pied Piper is supposedly from, and where, every Sunday, they dress up like rats and reenact him saving the town.  Yes.  You can be jealous.

As a random sidenote, living in Germany is like being in some alternate universe where angry harpies have come from the sky and swooped up most of the population, leaving only the tall, skinny adults, and the children whose hair is so blonde, it's practically white.