As a student at Georgetown University I had had a language requirement. Reach the intermediate level. That meant four courses. Not sure what intermediate means after only four courses, but then again much in the United States is inflated. Way back then. And certainly today. I took the entrance exam … Read more

Blaubeuren. A sleepy little down in the schwäbischer Alb, Swabian hills. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it: “Blaubeuren lies in the Swabian Jura, in a valley surrounded by wooded limestone hills, giving it a very picturesque setting of half‑timbered houses and narrow streets. It has around 12,000 inhabitants … Read more

I got up the next day, threw down some breakfast, then headed off to the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station in Ulm. Destination? Blaubeuren, where I would begin a ten-week intensive language course at the famed Goethe Institut, named after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Here’s what our good friends at … Read more

I recall being very excited. The real kind of excitement. A mixture of expectation and anxiety. Of imagination and wonder and possibilities. Of Germany. The landscapes. The cities. Food. People. History. Language. What would it all be like?  But also of anxiety. Is that the right word? Not fear. Not … Read more

Washington, DC. End of May 1981. Graduation weekend at Georgetown University. I was twenty-two years old. I can’t remember who was in the conversation. Someone must have asked me what my plans were. I’m sure that I didn’t have much of a response, because I didn’t have any plans. That’s … Read more