So, here’s something no one will be surprised by: almost everyone in Germany HATES President George W. Bush. And not in a Howard Dean anguished sort of way. More like in a Fidel Castro, total disdain sort of way.
But a surprise is the second most hated U.S. politician. It’s not a conservative stalwart such as Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld. And it’s not a moderate iconoclast like President Bill Clinton or Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

It’s…Arnold Schwarzenegger. And that’s despite the fact that he is from Austria and SPEAKS GERMAN.

But despite his (un-)popularity in Europe today, the Terminator made his case for global love. The fear is that his real leadership on the issue of carbon emissions will be lost when the rest of the states end up following California’s lead.

Look, I am not saying Schwarzenegger is the best Governor ever. I am just saying that people, even Democrats and teachers, should give him credit for making a real difference on an issue of real importance.

So, the weekend’s here in Germany, and it is incredible to think only a week has passed since I arrived here.

Language classes at Christian-Albrechts-Universität started on Thursday, and there are four different levels of language learners: Grundstuffe I, II, III, and then Mittelstuffe. That’s like Beginner’s I, II, and III. And then Intermediate.

I am in Beginner’s II. Which is great, because it’s exactly the level
I’m at, I really like the other students in the class (of which there are only three, so that’s pretty sick intensive training) and I am very glad that I decided to take my German classes in Los Angeles.

If I were in the basic training class, I think I might be a little discouraged and worried that at the end of September I’d still be struggling. Although the people in that class are very cool and they make it sound like the class may fast-forward them to a good level by the end. For their sake, hoffentlich!

Another thing I’ve done is buy the first ‘Harry Potter’ book in German and although the sentence structure is WAY past my level, the reading will hopefully give me some good supplementary vocabulary instruction.

I am a bit restless from not actually getting to settle into my new life and apartment in Berlin. But the good thing is that I will be there soon, even though at this point a month does seem like a long time away. I hope the language class keeps me occupied during that time!

The people on the program are very cool. (In fact last night we had a little jam session in the basement, which was rockin’. I think when you have four music professionals in a room — that’s what can happen.) But I still feel like I haven’t begun to actually work/report from Germany yet, and that is frustrating.

The weather continues to remind me of Oregon, which is awesome. I really do enjoy a good drizzle now and then, and Kiel hasn’t let up since we got here.

More fun in Kiel!

Originally uploaded by ethanlindsey.

The city of Kiel is the capital of the northernmost state of Germany’s federated republic.

I learned that and many other fun tidbits on a tour of the city yesterday. Check out flickr for more photos.

Isn’t it interesting that no matter how virtual and digital we get, as a society, we are still going to be focused on the physicality and nearness of the place we live in. For instance, news that two weeks ago seemed unavoidable — and really very interesting — such as Joe Lieberman’s primary loss in the 2006 Connecticut Senate race, become trivial and seemingly pointless when viewed from across a big piece of water.
Whereas now, stories in Germany, about Germany, seem to be everywhere. And are far more interesting than I believe that would have seemed before. Even stories that only touch on a bit of Germany (say the linkage between a small social-networking business deal and a big German VC arm) now have real reasonance with my news judgement.

Are you kidding me? It’d be like catching a terror suspect in Eugene, Ore.

So, I traveled from Frankfurt to Kiel by bus on Saturday. The bus ride took more than six hours, and as great as they say the autobahn is…it sucks while stuck on a six-hour bus ride. We arrived at Christian-Albrechts-Universtitat, in Kiel, at 5:30 p.m. which was about 3 hours later than we had planned.

Language instruction begins Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. So I’ve spent the past few days getting to know the other Fulbright scholars in Kiel with me. There are 14 of us, I believe, and I think we’ve been getting along pretty well.

Eight scholars are living in the Dutsch-Nordische-Burse, a “frat” house for university students from Scandinavian countries.

It’s a pretty eclectic group - a photographer, an oboeist, a dermatologist, a photo historian, a college lecturer on children’s literature, a theological historian, a vocalist, and myself.

I have to say that’s what has impressed me the most about the Fulbright — the diversity of the scholars. Racially, it’s very white. But in most other respects — geographical, area of study, educational background — the mix of people is incredible.

On Sunday, we walked along the water to downtown Kiel, and even though almost every store in Germany is closed on Sunday, the town seemed like they were out in full force, enjoying the day.

I put a lot of the pictures from the walk on my flickr page, so try to check them out.

The fact that I could put them on flickr was a real accomplishment, because much of the past two days has been spent worrying about — and then dealing with — getting onto the Internet. It’s incredible that five years ago, that would have been the farthest thing from people’s minds. Now it’s the dominant concern.

But, we got high-speed in our rooms — wireless tomorrow — and I am good.

Bis spater!

The movie comes out nationwide today, my short morning story aired yesterday.

(Photo thx, flickr: no3rdw.)

A day after I post about my experiences with wi-fi in New York City, Google makes some news.

And, in related news, the wireless superhighway isn’t nearly as ubiquitous in Frankfurt. At least not yet. More on that later.

…Wireless Internet will be a public utility. It just seems silly for it not to be, especially with cities like Philadelphia and San Francisco already moving ahead on this.

This isn’t totally a good thing. For instance, just ask yourself this question: are you happier with your local power utility — or your wireless company? Most would say wireless, despite crap reception. And the reason is because competition is good for things. And if wi-fi becomes a municipal utility, that means no competition.

Philadelphia’s case is especially apropos, because the city has such a large population of people staring across the digital divide from the wrong side. And the state of Pennsylvania is so in the pocket of Verizon that for Philly to have busted the cable monopoly and lobbying power is instructive everywhere.

In San Francisco’s case, I think Google believes public wi-fi is a good thing. Not just because it may get into the ISP game — but also because a growing Internet means a growing Google, and thus a growing price on GOOG.

New York is getting there, piecemeal at least. The city’s public library has Wi-Fi reading rooms, and the gorgeous Bryant Park is wireless (although today the connection was spotty at best). And no matter where you are in Manhattan, you can spy on at least five wireless networks, some secure not not-so-much.

(In fact, this post was written at a Starbucks in midtown, which usually means its not public wi-fi, because the ‘bucks tries to lock down all its locations with pay-for-play T-Mobile air. But in NYC that seems to be a difficult task, and here I am on an unsecure network.)

On Weekend America (a public radio show on arts and culture) this Saturday, I came pretty close to telling the whole country I am a total geek. A five-minute interview about Computer Camp.

And today I move out of the country. These events aren’t connected — I swear.