Settling In, Part II

The City

So far, I can say that I really like Hamburg. Where I live and where I work is nice, and friendly and clean. The middle areas I see as I ride the city train everyday… well maybe not so nice pretty and clean… but at the same time they graffiti words like, “IKEA” on the wall… clearly that person got a “build it yourself” bookshelf with a screw missing.

One of the first things I noticed in getting here is that its always daylight. I fell asleep on my first day here, and woke up at 9:30pm and it was still all sorts of sunny outside. It doesn’t start getting dusk until about 10:30, but even at 11 you can still see light on the horizon… And then when I wake up at 5am its already blazingly sunny. Due to having one night where I just couldn't sleep, I learned sunrise is around 4:30am. This is completely opposite of Cambodia where it was dark by 6, and really just promotes staying out and about and doing things the whole day. The weather here is shifty. It was super hot when I first got here, then about 3 days later, the temperature plummeted, and its only just started to get a bit warmer.

The people here are all very nice. Apparently I blend in a bit more than I thought though, as people are always asking me for directions (I think, I can't always understand them). This actually happened my first day on the way to work, when I was completely lost and wandering around aimlessly.

The Neighborhood

I live in an area called Gross- Flottbeck, which just has huge houses, and little village areas. It is quaint to say the least, but also super expensive. There are tons of little restaurants and things like that, but they tend to be out of my price range. There are also a bunch of mom and pop stores that line my street. Lucky for my wallet, I'm never home when these things are open. When asked, I usually say that I live in Othmarshen, since that's the train station, which is only a 5 minute walk from my place. The tracks are actually the dividing line between the two areas, turn left, you head towards my place, turn right you go to Othmarschen.

The Apartment

I live at Beselerstraße 15a, 22607 Groß-Flottbek, Hamburg... you know, in case you want to send me things while I'm here.

Größere Kartenansicht

That there is the mapped route between where I live (A) and where I work (B)

The apartment is perfect. While not the mansion I had last summer, it definitely works for me. As with all places that I live, its is located on the the third floor of my building (for those that don't know this is my 4th residence in 4 years where i've lived on the 3rd floor, which is usually as high as you can go). It has a bed that folds into a box on the wall, a small telly that only shows things in German (I've been watching cartoons in German, since its the easiest to follow, but MTV has family guy, american dad, and south park that i can follow along w/ as well-- in the video, the background is south park's lord of the rings episode). And then across the street there is this house that has things on the roof that spin... you better believe that when I'm tired, I sit and watch these things go for hours (see video). The pictures below are of my view, and the video is just a quick look at the place.

Information Overload

2957… that’s the number of purely just legal journals I have access to online through MPI. This doesn’t include their paper journals; this doesn’t include journals under any other subject heading. This is JUST law.

Sifting through mountains of books and stacks over the last three days, filling my brain with a surplus of information concerning torts, harmonization of civil and common law systems, and wallowing in the depths of my information overload, I’ve somehow or another landed on a topic of interest. As predicted, just looking at tort law is a bit overwhelming, and a bit behind in what has already developed in the EU. So I’ve been looking over the Rome II statute on non-contractual obligations and I came back to something Prof. Basedow had mentioned my first day. They (referring to EU member states) were able to agree on everything except for defamation and privacy issues.

Now one of the first things I remember from last year were the defamation issues coming up in Cambodia, where defense attorneys were being charged w/ defamation of character when they went up against judges and prosecutors. Now there isn’t quite the same issue here, but what they do have are issues concerning what nations rules should be used in defamation suits, whether such regulations would violate national freedom of the press rights, and whether it would lead to forum shopping and things of that nature. So that is going to be my project for the next 2 months… Yes there is a bit more to it than that but I’m trying to minimize the boring details, while actually answering everyone who has asked, “So what are you researching/working on/doing over there?”

Settling In, Part I

Just real quick, I want to apologize the upcoming lack of order of things. I've just kind of been writing things down as they pop in my head throughout the day resulting in sort of a haphazard collection of thoughts... so while "settling in" was supposed to be one long post, it will now be at least two, but the first part is necessary in order to move on to another post I've written, and so I can get around to taking/loading pictures for the other stuff... really it all boils down to whatever attention span I do have is spent trying to actually do work, rather than thinking through my blogging.

The Job

In a great change of events for me my job involves me sitting in a library for 11 hours a day doing research and writing a paper, something I wouldn’t have any experience in whatsoever. ;-) But before I get into the details I guess I should rewind a bit for those people that don’t know what I’m doing over here to begin with. I’m currently researching at the Max Planck Institute (hereinafter MPI) for Comparative and International Private Law (http://www.mpipriv.de/ww/en/pub/home.cfm) as a part of the Nordenberg Fellowship. The fellowship basically promotes me learning a lot about European law through the internship, classes, and lectures, etc.

The MPI is an incredibly nice library for the most part (trying to actually use the stacks [stacks= term used in reference to the normal shelves of books you find in a library] in the basement is a little scary and I’m sure at some point I will be squished between the rows). In the courtyard there is a pond with a waterfall. There’s also a silent enclosed waterfall in the lobby area. We all have assigned desks and mailboxes, and we have little key cards for getting into parts of the library other people can’t get to. No bags are allowed in, there is no food and no coffee in the main library section ( though there is a coffee area, I can’t imagine doctoral students surviving w/ out it). There’s lockers to store bags, and a self check out system that you use whenever you take a book off a shelf. You can’t take anything home, so it just stays on your desk. As with all libraries the temperature is about 20 below freezing.

The library opens at 8am and closes at 7pm. I don’t really have a set time to be here, but I think most people don’t come in till after 9 (I got here at 9 this morning and was maybe one of 3 people here)… but then they all seem to stay till 7 (which seems to fit my library habits). I don’t really have a boss or any set projects to work on, its more that I’m here to do my own research and writing… being an academic and what not.

Most people here are doctoral students working on their thesis. From the few I’ve talked to, this is the high standard for legal libraries in Europe and they tend to think its below what I’m used to… I find this amusing… considering Barco (Pitt’s law library). Unfortunately everyone speaks German, and not so many speak decent English. This is awkward b/c apparently I don’t remember very much of any of the very little German I used to speak, something I didn’t realize until I tried to actually talk to someone. And what is worse is that I don’t seem to understand what they say. Now I joked about this before I left, and had been warned about it a little before, but I don’t think I realized that it would actually be an issue. Its an accent problem… I learned German from someone who spoke Austrian German and then studied in Austria… Hamburg is about as far north as you can get… its like throwing someone who learned to speak English in Alabama into New York City. Oh well, I can still read a bit which is nice… until I’m trying to look up material and understand the Title of a book, know its exactly what I need, but can’t get through more than a sentence or so when I actually look at it.

But I digress… I met a few people on Monday night; we watched the Italy v. Netherlands football (soccer) match. I’ve decided few things are more awkward than being a jet lagged new person, on your very first day, in a group of about 15-20 people who don’t really speak English and all know each other really well. I intend to bring beer next time as my “take me as your friend; all we need to understand each other is beer and soccer” move… (Europe is in the middle of the Europe Cup 2008, Germany is doing pretty well so far… beat Poland 2-0 on Sunday, I know this as there was loud cheering in my fairly quiet neighborhood followed by fireworks before the game was even done—and I only knew it was on as I could see it through my neighbors window on his big screen tv).

And that’s all for the initial settling into my job.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Planes

Airports provide one of the best places to sit and go people watching because, well, people in airports are actually interesting. Unfortunately this trip was not fruitful in people watching entertainment… with the exception of the 10 minutes spent with about 7 20 something Irish guys. The main reason for this is because I didn’t really spend very much time in any one airport. By the time I sat down in Norfolk, the flight before mine had been postponed for about an hour, and it was looking like my flight was going to be postponed too, but rather than have us wait, those of us that got there early got to jump into the empty seats on the earlier flight. During this flight I learned that I could get sunburned from reading a book on an airplane w/ the window open. The next flight gave me just under an hour to get from one terminal to the next in the Philly airport; lucky for me there was a Philly soft pretzel stand across the way which I stocked up on and then survived on for the next 24 hours or so.

Now this next plane got delayed because it overheated, and they had to replace a vent or something like that. So when they loaded the plane we sat in 98 degree heat for an hour as the first engine wouldn’t start so they needed a new part. I feel there are some things people don’t need to know about their plane. These things include “We have engine 2 running but engine 1 won’t start and we need a new part.”… I’m also not too keen on things like, “For the first hour and half to 2 hours we’ll feel some turbulence”… but that’s just personal opinion.

The flight wasn’t half bad. I sat next to an air force kid, maybe a year or two younger than me, finally got to see Juno, and had pretty decent airplane food. The coolest part was opening the window flap and not being particularly sure if the sun was rising or setting, or maybe doing both. There was a thick yellow strip along the horizon that immediately changed to a dark blue (no subtle change in color), which then faded into space black with stars. The only true description would be to say it was looking at both night and day at the same time. A couple of hours later I flipped open the window again to see a color rich sunrise. Again the colors didn’t fade one into the other, rather they were striped along the sky, separated by thing grey clouds. On the horizon was a smoky red, then orange, then yellow, to green, to blue. I don’t know if you have ever seen a green sky before. I haven’t. I’ve heard stories about how if you watch the sunset over the ocean at the last minute on a clear day it will flash green, but this was actually a whole strip of Kelly green streaking through the sky.

Trains

When I hit the train station in Frankfurt, it was about 7:50 in the morning. Upon finding the ticket office, it was about 7:53. The woman asked if I wanted the next train, at 7:58… I’ve never seen a ticket person move so quickly… I hauled ass to the train, w/ luggage. There was a 7 minute delay.

Automobiles

We grow up our entire lives with certain basic rules in our minds. One of the most fundamental of these rules is, “Don’t get into a car with strangers.” But for whatever reason we have no qualms jumping into a taxi. And really, we do this at our most vulnerable times… like when you’ve been flying on a plane for hours w/out sleep, and your suddenly in another country, w/out a clue where you are going, or even how to tell the driver where to go. I didn’t do this once, but twice actually during my trip. The first time was between Frankfurt airport and the train station. It was during this point in time that I originally came up with this idea, as we hit the highway and I was like, this guy could totally just take me anywhere he felt like. By the time I grabbed the cab in Hamburg I really didn’t care. Which was amusing as the cabbie tried to talk American politics with me, and I was a bit out of it.

I was dropped off at Beselerstrasse 15; oddly enough it looked nothing like the picture online. It was the only run down looking place on the street with lotto and betting stores on the first floor, and no one there to let me in. Eventually, I ended up walking a bit. The house next door did in fact look far more like where I was supposed to be staying, and turned out to be 15a. We won’t discuss my feelings on having the same street number on two houses. But eventually I found my landlady and her Spanish speaking husband (he’s the only person I can understand around here, which I find amusing), and now, I’m just settling in…

Testing Testing 123

Guten Tag and Hey guys for swinging by my new blog!
As you might notice as you poke around, I've become far more blog interactive than last year... this does not necessarily mean that I will be any better about updating my blog. But since you are all here, there are a few things that need done.

First and formost, you should subscribe to my blog. What this does is sends e-mails to you whenever I update my blog so you don't have to keep comming back online and checking it yourself. To do this type in your e-mail on the box to the left, follow the directions, and respond to the conformation e-mail. Yes, I tested this out before sending it out to y'all.

Second... I haven't exactly settled on a name for the blog yet... so, you all have until the 11th to vote for the name... the first idea is "Hamburgers and Vodka" as I will be living in Hamburg and traveling to Russia... the second is "Vikings and Vodka" as I'll be treking viking area... the third is "Sprockets" based of the SNL Mike Myers skit, which shall run as a theme throughout the blog no matter what ("Would you like to touch my monkey?)... yes i'm serious, here's the only youtube link i could find on it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-fLW-QNy4I [note the monkey to the left]. And the last option is to just e-mail me an idea you have, in which case, if it's good, I'll overide the voting, b/c I like exercising dictatorial power (Dictators and Commrades was vetoed as a blog title).

Last of all, please as usual, e-mail me your address for post cards and what not... and any requests you might have for things to bring back.

I check out of the U.S. on Saterday, so if you need me before then, call me. Things to look foward to: The plane flight/train ride, New Apartment, Time to Dance, Starting work come Monday!

Tschus!
-robs