Varanasi

I'm currently writing a paper on Varanasi, which said to be the most holy city in all of Hinduism. Varanasi was the first city I visited in India. It was unbelievably, indescribably hot and stressful! I had a love/hate relationship with it. However, there was something about it that I can't quite put my finger on, and it's the city I think about the most. After doing this research, it turns out I'm not alone! I want so badly to go back there now!

Varanasi was discovered by the Hindu God Shiva when he was looking for a place to live with his wife Pavarti. He stood at the top of the Himalayas and chose the spot where Varanasi is. He created the city when there was nothing else in the world, and now it is said that the universe will also end in Varanasi. It is the center of the universe in Hinduism and the city itself is said to float above the rest of the world.

Every year, millions of Hindus visit the city and some feel such a strong sense of attachment there, that they can never live anywhere else ever again. Along with Shiva, the 330 million other Hindu gods also live in the city, and there are religious depictions of them all over the place. The religion is clearly an important aspect of the every day life in Varanasi, and there are thousands of temples located all over the city.

The most significant part of the city is that the Ganges River runs through it, which is worshiped as a goddess. Every morning there are people at the banks of the river bathing, washing clothes, washing their animals, and swimming. People come to Varanasi to die, be cremated, and have their ashes thrown in the river because here it is promised that they will be liberated by the Lord Shiva, no matter what religion or caste they are, where they come from, or how they have sinned. There are cremation ceremonies taking place twenty-four hours a day at the river. Foreigners are allowed to watch, but pictures are strictly forbidden.

The picture I put with this blog entry is one of my favorites. I took it at 5 in the morning when we went on a sunrise boat tour of the Ganges. Even though it was so early, you can already see how many people there are bathing and beginning their day. To the right, you can see the religious artwork painted on those pink things, but in the center there are ads for Vodafone. It's interesting how old mixes with new in Varanasi, the hub of the universe.

Check out what my German professor had to say about being an East German when the wall came down in 1989!

PS
his response to the last question is what makes him one of my favorite professors ever.

Oh Freiburg, Freiburg, how I miss you so. This semester, while I am struggling in two of my economics classes, I like to think about last semester, when I had the greatest economics professor of my life. Dr. Klaus Kammerer vas totally crazy. He took us on a wine tasting field trip in Kaiserstuhl, a city just outside of Freiburg so we could see what a real German business was like for our Business Cultures class.
After dinner, consisting of a pig that "vas alive two veeks ago" Klaus decided to share a story about his experience in a nudist camp in the south of France during the 1970s. The story was so good in fact, that I spent hours adding subtitles to it the other night. Completely worth it.
Mom and Dad, this is what you sent me to Germany for.
This video is rated PG-13 for doggie related material.

Judging Books by their Covers

As part of my job as a DJ at WMHC, I have to complete committee hours every semester in order to get a show for the following semester. For the first time, this semester I'm on the reviewing committee, meaning I have to review 6 hours of CDs between now and the end of the semester. This means I listen to the CD in its entirety, check the lyrics for swear words, then type up a short blurb about the band and the music so it can be placed on the required shelf, which contains all the albums that the DJs have to play.

Yesterday I went and picked up 10 CDs from the station to write reviews. They opened up a huge bin full of them and told me to pick whatever I liked. Since it's all new bands, I had never heard of any of them, so I judged the albums completely by their covers. So far I've listened to 8 CDs and I've discovered that it's actually really really fun because every time I pop a new one into my computer, I have no clue what I'm going to get. After I listen to a song or two, I Google the band to find out some background information and I've been learning a lot. Five of the CDs I've listened to have been awesome, 2 have been terrible, and one I was completely indifferent about, but burned on to my laptop anyway in case I change my mind later.

Some German Thangs

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was very exciting, and I especially felt some pride as a German major. As a treat, one of my favorite professors of all time came to visit my German seminar last night and showed us a powerpoint of her experience as an American visiting East Germany for a teacher's conference in 1987. It was really interesting. My favorite picture was one that she showed of a sign on a restaurant taken on July 14th saying that the next Pizza dinner would be served on August 31st. My German professor, an East German, explained that this happened because there were never enough fresh ingredients to make pizzas in East Germany, so they only had "Pizza Parties" once a month. Unbelievable!

She also complained about how everywhere in the news (in both Germany and America) they talk about the Berlin Wall falling. The wall did not, however, fall on November 9, 1989, it simply opened up. Very good point.

I also had my last (!!!) academic advising appointment yesterday with my economics advisor, also a German man. It was the first time I had seen him since I returned back from Freiburg and he asked me about the classes I took. I told him that both of my economics classes were in English because they don't really offer economics classes in German at the Uni anymore. He was very excited by this and told me he thought it was wonderful that German universities are becoming so globalized and seeing the importance of being active in the world market. I thought it was very interesting to get a German's opinion about more classes being taught in English. Personally, I think it's sad that German students can no longer really take any classes in business or economics in their own language, but I guess my advisor had a good point as well. It will be interesting to see what role language plays in the future as the world becomes even more globalized.

Freiburg Reunion I

The first Freiburg reunion in Madison, Wisconsin was a major success and more fun than I've had since I've gotten back to the United States. We drove/flew in from 5 different states all over the country and it didn't seem like 3 months had passed at all.

Halloween was a blast and it's hard to believe it was a whole week ago. Spending so much time outside in chilly Wisconsin, along with a combination of too many flights and lack of sleep has caused me to become a little bit sick (no swine, though, I think) and this weekend I'm locked inside my room trying to get through a 3 page paper (done!), a 5 page paper (not started), and a 20 page paper (7 pages in).

I had so much fun in the midwest that I've already booked a ticket for my next big adventure: Freiburg reunion II in Chicago!