Cologne and Paris

So I've been back from Cologne (Köln) since Sunday but my regular posting schedule has been thrown off in the last couple of weeks. I usually find the time to post on weekends, but I was away last weekend and am going to be away this weekend as well.

Meeting the whole group of exchange students for the weekend in Cologne was great. It really is a fantastic group of kids. Although I've been able to meet with many of them during the year, a group of my friends live in Augsburg, Bavaria, and I hadn't seen them since the orientation. It was a blast.

But just because we had fun doesn't mean we didn't learn a lot as well. After comparing our experiences, we really did learn a lot about the diversity of Germany. Just being in one host family gives you the view of the country through that family's perspective. But talking to a friend who lives in a family with Polish heritage or someone who lives with a family who generates all of their own energy and produces all of their own automobile fuel will definitely show you different perspectives.

There's definitely a lot more to talk about as far as diversity inside a country goes, but I'd really like to get into it more in a more specific post. Just to start: how would you divide up the regions of the United States, taking into account social/cultural, political, and economic aspects of the regions?

When I talked about regions with the cultural studies class, I divided the United States up into 5 regions. I'll talk more about it later, but I'd like to hear your opinions.

This weekend I'm going to Paris with my host brother to visit my host sister who's studying abroad there. After we come back, I'll be celebrating Karneval (also called Fasching, a lot like Mardi Gras) in a nearby town with German friends. It's safe to say I'll have a lot to report.