Monn, Alexa // SLA Profiles (2014) // Blog Network // University of Notre Dame

Name: Alexa Monn
E-mail: amonn@nd.edu
Location of Study: Cologne, Germany
Program of Study: Carl Duisberg Centre
Sponsors: Nanovic

A brief personal bio:

Hi! I’m Alexa Monn from Rosemount, Minnesota. I am a freshman business and German major with interests in history, music, theatre, and psychology. I am involved in the FTT department here at Notre Dame and I spend a lot of my free time hanging and studying with friends. I absolutely adore dogs and I currently have a job at a boarding kennel. I enjoy going to concerts and movies and trying new and novel things.

Why this summer language abroad opportunity is important to me:

The SLA Grant is important to me because I hope to live my life within an international scope and this summer will be a great place to start. I hope to study abroad in Berlin my junior year and this shorter experience will give me an introduction to life abroad and strengthen my language skills. Someday, I hope to practice either international law or business and I believe that this early exposure to functioning independently in Europe will impress employers and help me learn to adjust to new situations quickly. I am very excited to improve my language skills and be able to effectively communicate with a whole new culture of people.

What I hope to achieve as a result of this summer study abroad experience:

I hope to achieve a higher level of cultural and language knowledge than you can learn will in America. I want to learn by experience and force myself to discover words, phrases, and customs that I never otherwise would. I want to learn very specific sets of vocabulary, like dog care and musical terms, but I also want to be open to learning everything around me. I want to find friends, German or otherwise, who will cause me to try different things. I am excited to help out at the local dog shelter and get to know German people in their everyday life. I hope to build a connection with my housemates and hopefully trade a few recipes. I want to learn to live outside of “the bubble.”

My specific learning goals for language and intercultural learning this summer:

At the end of the summer, I will be able to communicate in German with native speakers about general ideas, music, and culture.
At the end of the summer, I will have acquired a new set of vocabulary, including terms dealing with animal care, music, and social media.
At the end of the summer, I will be able to navigate the city of Cologne on my own and give directions to basic landmarks.
At the end of the summer, I will be able to read, speak, and write in German at a level at least a semester higher than I currently do.

My plan for maximizing my international language learning experience:

I plan to start right away in the airport, no longer falling back on the crutch of English and trying to communicate with the locals in German. I will join my host family on the first day, so I hope to get to know them early and try to adapt to their cultural expectations. On Friday, I hope to go to the Staff and Pitt Bull rescue and figure out how exactly I will help the organization while I am there. I hope to go to the Cologne Opera on Friday night (if tickets are available) and get early exposure to German people and theatrical culture. Basically, I want to try a lot of things in the first few days so that I force myself to adapt to the culture and language quickly, making the rest of my stay easier.

Reflective Journal Entry 1:

Day 2: Elephants, ButterCheese, and Fake Canadians
Hello Everyone!
My journey was long, but I’m finally here! I arrived at my host-house bright and early Thursday morning and was in complete awe of the place. I have a spacious room with an absolutely breathtaking view of the Rhine from my window. My host, Ingrid, is a very kind older lady. She speaks a bit quickly for my travel-dead brain, but she has been extremely accommodating.

I spent my first day mostly sleeping and planning, but I did go out and explore the surrounding area a bit. I found a nice little Mediterranean restaurant bout a mile away with a set of tennis courts in the back. Although I ordered my meal in German, the waitress began speaking to me in broken English about halfway during the meal. My accent must be awful…
My first glass of Koelsch
I also noticed the Germans are a bit obsessive about cleaning up dog poop. These are just 2 of the signs that I found:

This morning, after a lovely breakfast with Ingrid, I set out to visit the Cologne Zoo. The biggest issue was figuring out the trains. I have ridden the Lightrail in the Twin Cities a handful of times, but it is nothing in comparison to the Germans and their trains. The trains are always on time, nearly to the second, and they are seemingly always full. Luckily, I have a train station only a half mile or so from my host house, so getting around should be easy (emphasis on should because I will probably end up screwing something up).

The Zoo was absolutely awesome, but you’d have to be pretty bad to mess up a zoo. I realized as I walked in that even though it was a nice 70 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course) I was nearly the only person not wearing some sort of jacket or sweater. Anyway, there was a wide variety of animals and a lot of information about conservation efforts. I especially like the Hippodom and Elephantdom. We visitors were in for a surprise when two of the Elephants started… playing piggyback in plain view of a large playground. That made for some hilarious conversations with small children. Another rather odd thing was that people love one very peculiar animal: the Raccoon. For some reason our common pests are adorable to the Germans.

After the Zoo I took the train back to the main station and decided to explore the Galleria. It was kind of like a small, weird shopping mall with a grocery store and a few random shops, but it was very interesting. I visited Lidl, a grocery store kind of like Aldi, and found some rather odd things. First of all, no wonder the rest of the world thinks we’re gross; their idea of an American style pizza is this soggy, gigantic bagel-like thing with an assortment of random toppings. I also found “buttercheese” which I come to find contains no butter; I feel like I’ve been tricked. I then went to the center of the Galleria to find a line of shoppers outside a store called Primamark. The store itself is nice, comparable to Forever 21, but the shoppers were nuts. This was far more a zoo than where I had been earlier.
scary
I finally got a bite to eat (where the server told me he thought I was Canadian and I let him believe it) and went off the the train station to head back. Apparently I have a trustworthy or knowledgeable face, because 4 different people came up and asked me for directions or advice on which train to take. I often didn’t even have the skills to respond correctly, so I just kinda did what I could. That was terrifying.
But now I’m back, trying to sleep but being distracted by the internet. And every single Youtube ad is a German Beer ad and some of them are quiet funny. I’m shocked.

Reflective Journal Entry 2:

Day 6 & 7: I can’t Think of a Creative Title
Yo Yo Yo

I’m exhausted! having to constantly think about how to say everything tires me out very quickly.

Yesterday I had my lessons in the morning. We began a project to create a fake company with advertisements and job postings. I was in a group with all women, so naturally we chose to make a company that crafts roses out of chocolate.

After class I went to the City Hall, only to find that it closed at noon! But that was fine because when I was in the area I discovered a fantastic Gelato cafe called Marco Polo. The selection was fantastic and it tasted like heaven.

After that I visited the animal shelter I had contacted. Unfortunately, after 3 months and a few e-mail confirmations, they told me that they didn’t need my help anymore. I was super disappointed, but I got to see some adorable dogs and a few horses, so I guess that was cool

Today I began the day with class again. Then afterward, another student and I went to the Town Hall (my 4th time trying to find it) to register as guests of the city, only to find out that we didn’t need to! So, to make the trip worthwhile, we naturally went to Marco Polo.

I went out this evening to find a bite to eat and I found a few Turkish restaurants in a row. I stopped into one and tried their doener. It was amazing. That will definitely be my go to food here in Germany.
Nothing but deliciousness

On the train home I met a very nice nursing student just returning home from a 10 month training session in Frankfurt. It was nice to be able to speak to a native German who is around my age. I think I’m becoming quicker at understanding German (especially when people speak so quickly) and hopefully a bit better at forming complete and sensical answers.

I have to study and sleep now. Tschau!

Reflective Journal Entry 3:

Day 8-10: Cheers to the Freakin’ Weekend
Howdy ho!

I’ve been spending the last few days learning and chillaxing (Chillaxen is a real German verb, but I have yet to hear anybody use it). On Friday we had morning class again, complete with a test and tons of grammar practice. But it wasn’t too bad and I am beginning to feel more comfortable expressing myself in German. After that I just explored the town a bit more, going a little further east than I’m used to.

Yesterday I got to sleep in, which was pure bliss! I headed out on the train at about 11 for a museum day. It was pretty hot, like 88 degrees, but people here are pretty obviously not used to the heat. Also, there was a large portion of families dressed up as if they were going to some sort of formal event, but they all got off at different stops so I have absolutely no idea what that was about.

I visited the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in the Neumarkt area. The building itself is an intimidatingly giant block of stone and glass situated alongside far less cubist architecture. The entrance fee was fairly cheap, only €3,50, so I was happy. To begin your tour, you walk into a room with a giant projector showcasing videos of typical greetings in dozens of different languages and cultures. After that room, you walk directly into a bright red room with brass gongs and shadow puppets adorning the walls. Other exhibits included a giant display of African and Pacific Island art, a Turkish greeting room, a Blackfoot Native American teepee, a walk through fashion, and a whole room dedicated to burial rituals.

The 2 things about this museum that really stood out to me were the interactivity and the connection between past and present. One of the first things you see as you walk into the Africa room is a giant gray box full of projector. Stepping inside, you see that each of 6 or so projectors focuses on a negative African stereotype, showing artifacts and films from the 18th century to today. Somewhere between art piece and infographic, the exhibit was particularly stirring. I also enjoyed the integration of technology throughout the exhibits. Many of the smaller rooms dedicated to one ethnicity had interactive video screens with short video clips of people from that culture talking about the past and how their culture has changed and developed over time. It was interesting to see the similarities between Blackfoot Native Americans and men from New Guinea as globalization and technology has developed so quickly. This anthropological museum was a bit different than any other than I had ever visited before, but was fantastic.

After spending nearly 5 hours at the museum, I headed out to Neumarkt to see what was going on. I went to a few shops just to see if there were any good sales (there weren’t) but I did happen upon a costume shop in the area. I was in heaven! The shop had a bunch of Koln and German gear in the front, but the fun stuff was upstairs. They had thousands of theatrical-style costumes of all different cultures and eras. My favorites were the giant renaissance dresses and the dirndls. I had to seriously talk myself out of buying a Karneval mask (Karneval is HUGE in Koln. It’s like Mardi Gras, except way more German). Everything was too much. I loved it.
I need to go to Karneval!
After that I made my way back to my host house.

Today I didn’t do all that much because nothing is open here on Sundays, like, at all. I went on a walk down the Rhine for a bit; unfortunately, I forgot to bring my phone with, so I have no pictures. Someday.

Anyhoo, tomorrow I will hopefully head to the Flea Market and find something else to do!
Bis später!

Reflective Journal Entry 4:

Day 11: Stairway to Heaven or Highway to Hell?
Hello again. Long time, no see.

Anyways, so after I saw all that golden stuff, I thought to myself, “Hmmm… What’s the worst possible idea ever?”
And Eureka! I found it.

The highest part of the Dom is the Belfry, about 330 feet high at the top. Naturally, no sane person would ever go up there, cuz that’s really high. Oh, but I am not a sane person.

To get to the Belfry, you must go outside and around to the side of the Dom. The entrance is underground, completely unnecessarily making the trek up slightly longer. You walk into the entrance area to see happy, smiling faces. Do not be fooled! These are imposters! People who just come in to look.

The entrance itself is super cool. Köln is a very old Roman city and much of the Dom was built upon Roman ruins. The entrance area showcases an old Roman Cellar, more than a thousand years old.
But I quickly forgot about that. Not only do people choose to endure this climb, you must pay for it! It translates to about $2 to walk up steps. A lot of steps. 509, to be exact. And not only are these steps, oh no, these are 19th century spiral steps. And it’s 95 degrees out. And the staircase is only 3 feet wide, barely wide enough for the naive people going up and the older and wiser people coming down.

I was off. About 1/3 of the way up, I started questioning my sanity. Why would I possibly pay to walk up stairs? Who am I? What is happening. I got about 1/2 way and took a minute long breather.
Halfway Selfie: Not Amused
Then I began again. A young woman came down the steps and said “Only a few more!”
She lied.
I got most of the way up and reached the actual bell house. But I couldn’t stop then. I had to get to the top!

When I finally made it to the top of the staircase, I was met with 5 seconds of relief before a flood of frustration came over me: there were more steps.
Selfie of a Girl who ain’t havin it.
6 mre flights of stairs cuz why the hell not?
So after counting down from ten slowly to avoid swearing in a church, I began the final set of stairs. These were not nearly as bad, mostly because they weren’t made 200 years ago.
But then, oh joyous day, I was at the top. I was so high in the air that I was nearly at eye level with the Televison Tower! Only a few people were up there, mostly young people and those old people who look like they could easily beat you up. But I made it.
I swear, they should make a movie about this. I felt like Rudy or something.

The photos aren’t the greatest quality because of the chain fences around everything, but I pretty much just wanted proof that I made it to the top.

After 15 minutes at the top, I decided I should probably go back down. The decent was a jillion times easier, plus I stopped in the Bell house, which was a lovely break. The hallways were ridiculously narrow.

And then I went the rest of the way down, feeling pity for the poor souls near the bottom. So young, so niave.

At the bottom, you can see more Roman ruins or even buy liquor made by the Dom, but I was done for the day. I snapped one final pic of the Tower stats.
And then I got gelato because 509 steps.

The End

Reflective Journal Entry 5:

I Stopped Counting the Days
Note: I started writing this on Sunday evening, but then finished on Monday because the editor was driving me nuts. Sorry for the awkward time shift. #sorrynotsorry

Hello.
Sorry I haven’t updated in a little while. I’ve been kind of busy but also just lazy. Whoops.
Anyway, I have not done all that much since Monday. I went out to eat a few times with some people from my class, explored the commercial areas, and just generally bummed around the city.

On Friday my class took an excursion (a grown-up word for field trip) to the Altstadt area of Köln. I had already visited and explored the Old City, but it was still a very enjoyable way to learn a couple new things about the history of Köln.

Then yesterday I visited the Museum Schnütgen, a collection of artwork from the Middle Ages. Although it isn’t technically a religious museum, seeing as almost all northern European artwork from the Middle Ages was Christain, it kind of is a Christain art museum. The collection is housed in an old church building that was partially destroyed during World War II and is connected by a foyer to the Rautenhein-Joest Museum (idk if I spelled that right). While there were a lot of shiny things, I think the most interesting parts of the collection were the stained glass windows and the wooden and stone sculptures.

I had a lovely little existential crisis when I saw this sculpture. Created around 980 AD, this wooden crucifix is over 1000 years old. That is so old. If I live to be 100 years old, which is unlikely, I still will not even be a tenth of the age of this piece of wood. This is too deep. I think the security guard was worried about me because I was just sitting in front of the crucifix in a weird trance for like 5 minutes. So yeah. Fun stuff.

Cut to Sunday, the greatest day ever.

I started with a lovely walk along the Rhein from Heumarkt all the way to the Gondolas, which is like 2 miles or something? IDK. It was a super nice day, so it didn’t really matter.

But later in the day I met up with my friend Feda from class and we visited the Chocolate Museum!!!
Super cool, right? Right. Except for how ridiculously sad and racist the history of chocolate production and marketing in the colonized world was. Did you know that 75% of cocoa bean farmers have never tasted chocolate. Like, this museum made you think quite a bit for a museum about chocolate.

After the harvesting section came the actual chocolate production. So much shiny metal and delicious chocolate! The museum is a functioning, albeit tiny, chocolate factory.

Up on the top floor, Feda and I bought some awesome (and not super expensive) chocolate sculpture thingies. She bought a soccer ball, a frog, and a few assorted bars while I bought an elephant, a few bars, and a bottle of Kölsch made out of chocolate. Yeah. Bier and chocolate. Welcome to Germany.

Finally, at the very end we visited the little chocolate cafe in the foyer. I ordered a trio of different chocolate ice creams from different places along the African coast (it was so delicious) and a chocolate beer. Yep, a real chocolate beer. So German. (It was ok. But really weird. 3 out of 5 stars)

Yes. So that was my weekend. Lovely.

Today was the first German game of the World Cup. The train stations were completely empty. It was cray. Germany won 4-0. So yay! Soccer is so weird.

Reflective Journal Entry 6:

Dusseldorf: Not Just a Funny Word

So, it was Monday and I was headed back to Cologne to pick up my luggage and say goodbye. Honestly, it was truly difficult to say goodbye to the city. Although it isn’t the prettiest city, it is a great place to live. The people are friendly and there is always something new to do. I really hope that someday I can go back to visit because I feel like Cologne is a good city for me. Plus, I would love to see the town during Karneval.

I took the train into Dusseldorf HBf and from there walked to my hostel. It was odd being almost done with my German trip but having to figure out the layout of a whole new city. I arrived fairly late, so sleep was all I really needed to see in Dusseldorf that night.

The next morning I awoke bright and early to begin my Dusseldorf adventure. After getting lost for 20 minutes trying to find the right train station, I was off to my first stop of the day. I decided to visit Neandertal, a small valley outside of Dusseldorf for which the Neanderthal Man was named. The museum, located 7 miles outside of town, is in a secluded area of the village, surrounded by woods and a stone-age nature preserve. The forest was breathtakingly beautiful.

When I reached the museum, I was greeted by this smiling face:
The museum was definitely worth the trip. The Museum houses originals and replicas of hundreds of ancient human fossils and artifacts. It also features exhibits about religion, violence, families, and societies within both human and Neanderthal cultures. I was quite fond of the audiotour, which was much more entertaining than any other I had ever heard.

After the museum came the really cool part. Located a ten minute walk away from the museum is the Neanderthal founding site. Lost for over 100 years, it was rediscovered in the early 2000s and is maintained by the museum. When I arrived, I was surprised to find that I was completely alone. It was a really amazing feeling to stand in a place that changed the course of scientific knowledge.

After the founding site, I headed back into town to wander around for a bit. Exploring the old city, you find fun historical sites around every corner. Unfortunately, nearly all of the roads were under construction, so it was fairly difficult to get around. But either way, the city was very nice.

After hours of walking around, I headed back to the hostel for a good night’s sleep before my long day of flying.

…………….

Saturday, July 5, 2014
Hi! This is My last post. Whoops.
Hello friends. I have now been back in the States for a few days so I thought I should write a nice little blog post to wrap things up.

First of all, I would like to thank The University of Notre Dame and the CSLC for funding this trip. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I could not have done it without their support.

I had such a great time this past month that I cannot adequately describe it in words. Exploring a new country without the safety net of a group of classmates is a great way to learn about a different culture, in my opinion. To anyone considering applying for a CSLC grant, I highly suggest that you do.

I don’t really know how to finish this blog up, so I thought I’d entertain y’all with a little rundown of my experience, quantitatively. (All quantities are estimated, but very close to the actual.)

My Trip in Numbers:
Countries Visited: 4
Museums Visited: 8
Restaurants Visited: 22
Football (soccer) Games Watched: 5
Churches Visited: 5
Minutes on Train: 1,850
Minutes Waiting for Train: 544
Times Identified as American: 6
Times “Identified” as British: 4
Miles Walked: 276
Kilometers Biked: 14
Paintings Seen: So Many

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog. If not, sorry. Jk, defs not sorry.

Reflection on my language learning and intercultural gains:

Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Reflection on my summer language abroad experience overall:

How I plan to use my language and intercultural competences in the future: