Keine Panik! = Don't Panic!

Have I mentioned lately that it's STILL THE FIRST SEMESTER in Germany?

Sure, we didn't start until October 20th, but it's almost February. I have zero desire to show up to any of my classes at this point.

I have to write a 10-page term paper in the next two weeks. I think I'm going to write about how German immigrants to America held onto the German language, and when and why they lost it, and what that says about something. No, I have clearer plans than that. What I actually want to research is how the newer German immigrant groups, that came in the thirties fleeing the Nazis, integrated and/or assimilated, and how much of a 'German community' still exists in America. That's what my teacher really wants to know. So far, I haven't found much information on that, though. Maybe I need to search 'Jewish' instead of 'German'...

I have to add 5 1/2 pages to my history paper in the next two weeks. It's on the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, and whether or not there was really a resistance to the Nazis. Or to what extent. A question that is also strangely difficult to find answers to. So far I've got: the Kanzler tried. But he tried to buy time and then it was too late. The communists and socialists called for solidarity with Austria and the Austrofaschists against the Germans, because it's hard to create a communist Austria when Austria no longer exists. And there were supposedly resistence groups, but none of my sources said what they did or what they were called or how effective they were. My further question is: why so vague? I don't know that I'll be able to answer it.

And then, I get to add 5 pages to my essay comparing Frühlings Erwachen by Frank Wedekind to the adapted performance currently at the Freiburger Stadttheater. In the next three weeks. I've seen the performance twice, but I'm still not sure what its message is. All I can confidently say that the modern version is less optimistic.

I also have a presentation, article summaries, reading, homework assignments, and a linguistics test of some sort. Meanwhile, there are movies I want to see, photos to post, letters to write, people to see. I have to pick which courses to take next semester—as well as figure out which ones to take next fall. My registration appointment is going to fall sometime during my six-week trip.

Of course, this is when I decide that I need to come up with a concrete post-undergraduate plan.