Learn to Roll your R's

One aspect of a Bavarian life is learning to deal with the Bavarian accent; indeed, many times Bavarians are speaking an entirely different language (simply called Bayerisch). While I can understand most people speaking Hochdeutsch, the language we were all taught in school and the language used for official and public speaking, each region of Germany has its own dialect. People in Hamburg (in the north) can't understand people in Dresden (the east), people in Berlin can't understand the people from Koeln (in the west), and nobody at all can understand the Bavarians except themselves. This is all without even mentioning the strange varieties of German found in Austria (Oesterreich) and Switzerland (der Schweiz). This all comes into play for me when it comes to understanding locals in Regensburg (Rrrregschbouurrg). It truly feels like a different language, much much more so than any dialect difference in the United States.

Regensburg is this way because its a smaller city. When we visited Munich as a group last Saturday, nearly everything was in Hochdeutsch and nearly everyone spoke English well. Munich is (I believe) the third or fourth largest city in Germany and as such is very international. It is also very touristy. We visited the Pinokotek der Moderne, a modern art museum, to start our day. It is one of the largest museums I've ever been to, and we spent barely 2 hours there. We then went into what remained and was reconstructed of the Altstadt - most of it was totally destroyed in the Second World War (ausgebombt - bombed out. An awesome german word). Half the people there were tourists, and prices were double what they were in Regensburg. Lesson: you want to visit Bavaria, don't go to Munich. Its an awesome city, but its not Bavaria. Bavaria is in the small towns (kleiner Dorfs) that you pass on the Autobahn, and is in the people living a slow, full life in these small towns. Regensburg is a wonderful mix, because its not touristy or large enough to lose its culture, but is big enough to have everything you could need.

Cultural note: Germans, or Regensburgers at least, love dogs. Dogs are welcome many restaurants, and it is hard to walk through the Altstadt without seeing at least one person out walking their dogs. Even in the little cafe I was in for nearly 2 hours this afternoon (studying vocabulary....fun times) there was a little dog running around and laying on the windowsill.

Vocab word of the day: das Streichholzschachtelchen - a small box of matches