UMBC student found dead in dorm room - The Retriever Weekly

2 News
04.29.08
foreign desk
Obey the law or get Das Boot
Randi Leyshon
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
One thing in Germany that I have
had to perfect, besides my German, is
my patience. Ask my mother; I was
not born the most patient of young
ladies. It seems that this country is
trying to teach me that virtue.
Let's talk about stoplights. In
America, as soon as traffi c starts to
slow down, you cross the street, preempting
the change of the little man
from red to green. It makes sense;
you save time and will probably even
be able to cross the next street before
traffi c starts fl owing again.
You would think that Germans and
their obsession with punctuality and
effi ciency would help them appreciate
the 20 seconds saved by a minor case
of jaywalking. This is not the case.
Instead, I am forced to stand in awkward
anticipation for the rest of the
crowd to cross the road, even though
there are no cars in sight. On the several
occasions that I have ignored the
little red man and the waiting crowd
of obedient Germans, I have received
such stares of distaste and rebuke to
frighten me enough to obey the law.
Besides, my law-abiding friends are
still on the other side of the road and
I have gained nothing because in the
end, I still have to wait for them.
Let's talk about university courses.
On my schedule it says that history
starts at 9 a.m., so I get there ten
minutes early. To some Germans, if
you are not fi ve minutes early then
you are late. I can respect that, so I
arrive early, especially on the fi rst day
of class. I am alone in the classroom
for 20 minutes. I start to worry that I
am in the wrong room, that an email
was sent and I was the only one who
didn't get it, or that I failed to understand
what the email said. I start
biting my fi ngernails. Then other students
start coming in and I ask if they
are all there for the same class that I
am. They are, phew.
Apparently, for some classes in
Germany it is implied that, even
though the schedule says 9-11, it really
means 9:15-10:45. Who knew?
But what keeps me on my toes is that
all of my classes are not on that weird
schedule. So, I arrive on (American)
time for each class. And usually end
up sitting by myself, wishing I had remembered
that I could have slept for
15 more minutes that morning.
Let's talk about actually speaking
German. I am sure that it requires a
lot of patience for the people listening
to me stutter my pre-thought-out
phrases. My teachers must be saints.
But I get so impatient when I am trying
to make a point in class. I have
MAGGIE LEBHERZ — TRW
> Maggie pauses for a picture at the mouth of the cave.
> The Sonnenschiff (Sun Ship) is a completely solar-powered building in Freiburg.
intelligent thoughts and ideas that are
either impossible for me to articulate
or just take a really long time to express.
As I slowly speak, I think out
each syllable, each word placement,
and each verb tense. Yes, this is the
right way to speak when learning a
Are we there yet?!
Maggie Lebherz
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
In continuation from last week,
we arrive at the mountain where we
are about to go cave diving. Now, we
get here expecting to see the cave entrance
and walk inside, but oh no! We
actually have to walk up the mountain
in front of us in order to get to
the entrance of the cave. So we start
hiking.
At fi rst, it is fl at and mild, slowly
winding up the hill. Claire and I, relieved
at the minimal amount of effort,
start saying things like, “Well this
sure isn't bad!” or “I'm not sweating a
bit! I don´t need this extra shirt!” At
one point, we actually have to get on
our hands and knees to crawl under
a barbed wire fence, which we think
is pretty hard! Then we trek through
mud up to our shins, so it’s a good
thing we wore hiking boots like the
other guys with us—oh wait, we
didn't!
So, two kilometers later, we’re sure
we are there because we are at the
base of another mountain, and sweat-
language, but it is also time consuming
and frustrating.
After two months of waiting to
cross the street, waiting for class to
start, or waiting to be able to utter a
complete sentence, I am starting to
feel O.K. moving at a slower pace. If
ing like crazy. Now, I have a bone to
pick with whoever created caves at
the tops of mountains, because we
literally have to now climb vertically
up a rocky mountainside in order to
get to this damn cave. Just picture fi ve
girls in space suits with muddy Keds
on, clinging to the side of a mountain
without ropes or anything. The bachelor
party goes ahead of us climbing
like spider-men, and there’s one guide
behind us to catch us before we fall to
our death.
So we literally grab onto anything
we can to pull ourselves up this
mountain. We are sweating through
our shirts--thanks Juan--and I unfortunately
have Julie in front of me.
We latch onto anything we can to get
higher up the mountainside: a branch,
some grass, prickly roots sticking out,
thorn bushes, the leg of a passing
mountain goat... Julie rips her pants
in the butt, right in front of my face!
This is going so well.
Twenty-three years later, we get
to the top. Everyone else is sitting
comfortably having a cup of tea and
crumpets because the Americans
took so long. There goes all hope of
The RetrIever Weekly
RANDI LAYSHON — TRW
it is patience that I need to acquire in
order to become more like my German
neighbors, then patience it is.
Randi can be reached for comment
at randi.leyshon@gmail.com.
impressing our future Spanish husbands.
Juan hands us gloves, puts an
oxygen tank on his back, briefl y goes
over what not to do so we don't die
(in Spanish), and we head into the
darkness.
Now I’m freakin’! We have to
squeeze through openings about as
big as my head--not to mention I
don´t know how I will get my hips
through there! At some points we have
to put one arm fi rst, then our heads,
and then our other arm to squeeze
through. I’m actually really terrifi ed
because we keep going farther and
farther down. I’m sure he will never
be able to fi nd his way back, and we
will perish like skeletons stuck on
spikes you fi nd in ancient caves like
in the movies. Well, minus the spikes
because I would assume it would be a
slow, painful death of starvation…
Maggie Lebherz would appreciate
food sent to her current address:
101 Cave in the middle of nowhere,
Spain. Thank you. Tell her what
ya think at mal2@umbc.edu.