Ian's Blocker Blog 2022

I've gotten into the habit of writing my way into these posts; and while I have attempted not to do that presently, my point, and the topic at hand, is ultimately far too broad not for me to be a bit speculative and indulgent. I want to talk about die Kultur. Admittedly, that is impossible in a blog post. In fact, the point of these Blocker-blogs is to peel back the layers of die deutsche Kultur from an American perspective—so saying this weeks post is about Kultur is a little bit like saying today I am writing about Germany. More specifically I am going to talk about Tübingen's recent "Kultur Nacht," a citywide celebration of the arts and culture, which in my experience, felt quintessentially German.  So what is "Kultur Nacht"? "Kultur Nacht" is an annual event put on by das Kulturnetz Tübingen , a regional organization and intermediary for the arts, which for one spring night converted downtown Tübingen into a a display. With well over 100 differ...

       As a lifelong runner and nature-lover finding new places to run, and hike, was the my most anticipated part of moving to Germany for the semester. There is no better way to discover a place than on foot, and Tübingen has not disappointed by offering up the most extensive and stunning network of trails I have ever lived near in the form of Schönbuch Naturpark . While this post could easily go in the direction of me gushing over my love of this space and recounting in far too many words how I have been truly alone here, without the sound of a car or plane to keep me company, I want to instead focus in on the concept of Wanderung , or w andern gehen as a facet of German identity.      So what is Die Wanderung? For most English native speakers, the word offers up images of wandering, an almost aimless journey, but to the Germans it suggests something completely different. The most direct translation of wandern would be "to hike" but in many way s ...