Stanford

Dear parents, 

I’m real sorry that I didn’t get around to writing you sooner, but I thought a good, long, objective look at the set up was in hand before I reported. But on with the story. 

You’ll be encouraged to learn (if he has not already told you) that Bruce got off at Visp with no trouble, and I have high hopes that he made it to Andover with no serious mishaps. All my train switches were successful, although each time the switch seemed to be the most difficult possible in the respective station. I was in the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof by 10 that evening, took a Schnellzug to Beutelsbach, where the Stanford microbus met me, and was comfortable in the sack before midnight. The plane had arrived about six that evening in Stuttgart, so I was, of course, the center of attention. The next day, Thursday, was the first of the four intensive orientation days, and a real thriller. The most important item, chronologically listed for your convenience, were:

a. Breakfast at 8 AM.

b. Information meeting at nine. We were given lists of the other students, names, interests, aspirations, etc..

c. Red tape meeting at 10. We filled out information cards for the secretary's use, alien cards for Baden-Württemberg’s used, and hostel cards for our own use.

d. Lunch at 12 noon.

e. Tour of the Beutelsbach winery and kindergarten, speech by the mayor of Beutelsbach.

f. Dinner at the Berg at 7:30.

After dinner I and a few others hit the local pub, met some families, and got a few invitations to visit homes over the weekend. Friday was just as rigorous. Besides the three meals, we had a German placement test at 9 AM, and a visit by the Dresdner bank for money exchange at 10. Most important was a bus to Stuttgart in the afternoon for shopping. I spent the evening at the home of a very nice Beutelsbach couple, mangling their language. Then came Saturday, the biggest day of all. We were free to do what we liked with it, but unfortunately, it was Dreikönigstag, a Württemberg holiday, so all shops were closed. Even the museums, art galleries, etc. were shut. Sunday was again free, but, again, nothing was open, so little was accomplished, except a bit of twisting and reading. Classes begin bright, and early Monday morning.

That, and it’s entirety, is the four day pre-instruction. I was required to attend. The only item of any importance, which I could not have done on my own was the German placement test, which took about 30 minutes, and which could have been given to me at any time (it was written). I’m so burned up at the Administration that I can barely sit still. My letter to Miss Blumenthal, the Director, the dean, etc., is forthcoming. Don’t worry, I’ll think it out; I just think that it’s about time somebody says something against the program just once. It’s too much of a secret cow for me.

Other than these four days of horror, things are looking up. You complained that Beutelsbach was too far from things. Your complaint is ill-founded; in fact, it shouldn’t be a complaint at all. I have classes from eight until 10 and from two until four. This screws Monday through Thursday for sightseeing of any sort. Were Stanford in Germany right in Stuttgart, I would probably get no studying done at all of these days, and studying is half my life here. On the other hand, weekends, beginning Friday morning, are long enough to make the 30 minute trip into Stuttgart hardly noticeable. I’m all for having the Burg where it is: remember, I’d rather live by then in San Francisco.

Beutelsbach itself is a blast of a dorf. About half its population has always lived in the area, while the other half came from eastern Europe (Yugoslavia, Huingary, etc.) after the war as immigrants. As a result, the town is pretty much a mixture of Hoch Deutsch, Schwäbisch Deutsch, protestants, Catholics, and other sorts. The people I have thus far met and talked with, either in their homes, or in their beer halls, or about the friendliest people I have met in a long time. They have absolutely no discrimination: after five minutes, they insist I address them in the personal form, and after 10 minutes, I have another invitation to visit them – any time - at their homes. They are so friendly. I sometimes feel myself getting nauseous. But I’ll adjust, never fear.

Stuttgart is also a blast. I have thus far found it similar in many ways to San Francisco. Because of the Schwarzwald in the west and south, and the Neckar river on the north east, Stuttgart has been forced to grow up, and not out. So far, thank goodness, it hasn’t grown up very far, but it still manages to house about 600,000. The city proper is so small that you can easily walk through it in a half a day. I like that.  But doesn’t have many hairy landmarks, owing to the effectiveness of bombs (except, of course, for the 211 m high Fernsehturm TV tower, but it does have a lot of gorgeous, modern buildings: the Liederhalle, where the ballet and some concerts are put on, the Opera House (where I just saw a lousy light opera last Friday evening, but am coming back for Rigoletto and Carmen this coming Saturday and Sunday), the City Hall, and numerous new stores. I like the place very much.

The rest of the kids seem OK. We have a few gungho-ers, who are out every night to far off places and mysterious, once in a lifetime sites, and a few bubblers, who want to bring Beutelsbach and it’s inhabitants home with them, because they just love Germany and the German people, but otherwise we’re normal. The girls seem a little better than average, which accounts, I think, for the presence of more and more German students (male) on our Berg, and I really like the guys. The food is just what I had hoped it would be: real German food, cooked by a German, and served by Germans. Variety, too. I may gain a few pounds.

My courses are so far also OK. Europe since 1914, four units a week, barely worth the three units, which means I’ll have plenty of time for reading. The course itself is pretty direct so far: has to do with Europe since 1914.  Modern German literature may really be a blast. Our texts include All Quiet on the Western Front, Stalingrad, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Death in Venice, The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (Rainier Maria Rilke), and We Are God's Utopia (Stella Andrus). Others are on the way. The teacher, Börninger, is another blast. This course may be it. History and Lit occupy the morning hours of eight until 10. Afternoon from two until four or spent with about eight other students around a table, conversing with each other, and a German teacher about all sorts of things German, naturally. All the other groups in the group have had at least two years of Stanford German, some have had three. I feel encouraged.

I have pretty well marked out my plan of action for the next few weeks. Monday through Thursday, I go to classes from eight until 10, book from 10 until lunch, book or see Beutelsbach for haircuts, paper, etc. from lunch until two, speak Deutsch until four, read on my own subjects, or visit my favorite German family until six, eat dinner, and do what I wish in the evenings. This coming weekend I’m hitting a ballet and two operas, with seats in the middle lodges (equal to the grand tier, first row) for peanuts, visiting the galleries, observatory, etc. of Stuttgart for the first time, and buying an overcoat. Next weekend it’s Innsbruck for skiing, and from then on, I don’t know. From January 26 to and including February 2 the entire group hits Rome (which may not recover), and from February 22 through 25. We visit Prague. Also on the agenda for the group are visits to the Daimler-Benz factory at Sindelfingen (why we don’t visit the factory in Stuttgart I don’t know), and a visit to Tübingen Fraternity, whatever that is, and two day visits, each to the carnivals at Rottweil and Munich (the Munich Fasching).  So you see, we really don’t have that much school after all.

I finished The Last Temptation after agonizing hours, beset on all sides with temptations to give it up in the middle. I didn’t like it very much, but at least, now I can say I’ve read something by Kazantzakis.  Other items of interest: Stuttgart has a big deal of a music house, so sheet music, here I come. I have found, after some sleuthing, the address, but not yet the name of a woman who gives flute lessons in Beutelsbach: I’ll play this one by ear, but, if I do continue lessons, I’ll be sure to let you know. Finally, I have decided it is a good idea for me to buy a car, the sooner the better. my reasons: (1) makes for easier traveling in the winter and summer, around the burg and further away. (2)  enough leeches exist, so that the expenses of keeping it up will be less than the expenses of taking trains. (3) I need a car at Stanford at Stanford anyway. (4) Volkswagens are cute. I think I’ll try to get a used one, and plan on taking several German friends, who profess to know all about Volkswagens, along, so I get the right change back. I also know just what is needed so that the car can be legally driven in the United States. All I lack is a written permission slip that I may buy and drive the car in Germany, signed by one of you, and money. Yeah. My budget, as it stands now, is $380 in my pocket ($50 from good old dad), and $150 or so to me via income tax return, $70 or so in my bank account at home, and $250 hopefully winging its way from the travelers check place, making a grand total of $850. I think a good used Volkswagen will cost me about $700, probably less. I hereby apply for a loan. The sooner it is sent, the sooner I can buy the car, and the less I have to wait in cold railroad stations. Thank you.

It as cloudy around here as I know it is where you are, but, of course, much colder. If I may quote a well-known author, after the recent rain “only soggy glub and great gobs of mucky gump" now to be seen from my window. Other letters are forthcoming, so I must get the hell out. Lots of love to both of you people...

The world traveler, 

Big Sam.