Uprooted

Now that I'm entering my second full week of living in Augsburg, early adventures are now becoming part of my everyday life. Although I still don't know the city entirely, and a wrong turn can lead me into a back alley, I'm sure that now I'll be able to lead myself back home. This city's larger than the ones that I've previously lived in, so there's still much to discover - especially in terms of finding a new favorite falafel joint or a special coffee shop.

Dome in Munich

In this being my third stay in Germany, I'm surprised to realize how much I've changed, or rather, grown more accustomed to a particular way of doing things. A trip to the grocery store no longer has entertainment value (because where can you find jarred meat in the States?), rather it has become a constant reminder that I am in a different place. After spending a day (unsuccessfully) running around the city looking for a few odd grocery items, I am confronted with either keeping my preferences and constantly searching for ‘that one thing’ or moving on and finding a new norm.

Munich and, more importantly, Alps in the
background

However, I welcome this unexpected push to find a new equilibrium. I’m forced to explore what Augsburg offers and relish in random exchanges with strangers. I’m excited to see where curiosity will take me and how my roots, that were so entrenched in American soil, will adapt to to their new, German environment.

Early evening Munich

Feeling uprooted, it was also nice to see Munich with a familiar face yesterday.

Greetings from Germanland!

So I’ve almost been in Augsburg for a full week and I figured that I might as well clue everybody in to what I’ve been up to.

Just your average picture of a German city (Augsburg) from a vantage point - I have tons of these from previous times abroad

Sleep deprived and exhausted, I arrived in Munich early Saturday morning and managed to drag all of my stuff (100 lbs in total) through the airport, on a few trains, and to my new flat. Saturday was almost a blur for me as I deliriously tried to purchase bedding and food, in German nonetheless, before falling asleep at two in the afternoon. When I awoke around 9pm and had just resigned myself to suffering from jetlag, my new roommates surprised me with a cake to celebrate my birthday.  

Me, my gnome, and famous Augsburger graffiti

This week I’ve been lying low as I’m trying to ward off jetlag as well as getting my head back into speaking German. To prevent me from just sleeping all day, I’ve given myself little tasks to get me out of the flat and explore the city. So far I’ve managed to get myself terribly lost, but with that I’ve also successfully registered with the city, opened a bank account, and bought my fair share of pretzels (the soft, Bavarian kind).

Today, I’m headed off to Munich to attend a conference on Sustainable Economies with one of my roommates, tomorrow Oktoberfest. When in Rome, right?

Why Environmental Ethics

My interest in Environmental Ethics was a long time coming and is undeniably the result of many unforgettable experiences while studying at the University of Michigan. However, I feel as though one event in particular precipitated my draw towards ethics. 

In May 2011, I worked on a project for the class ‘Sustainable Neighborhoods’ in Detroit, Michigan. The main part of our project was to talk to residents in the Delray neighborhood and develop ways in which the community could ask for benefits (such as neighborhood improvement) when a bill for the New International Trade Crossing is passed in Michigan’s state Legislature. What I found most surprising in my two weeks was how the environment so severely affected Delray’s residents. 

Surrounded a busy freeway, oil refinery, cement factory, waste treatment center, and steel/coke plant, Delray’s air quality left much to be desired and many were suffering from various respiratory illnesses. Even one of the neighboring communities was ranked to be one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the Michigan, if not the U.S. I found it particularly hard knowing that my chosen profession (engineering) supports a lot of these industries. Even more, being an asthmatic, I saw how a whole community was suffering from an illness that could have been entirely preventable. 

In studying ethics, I want to explore some of the questions I’ve asked myself over the last year, mostly regarding concepts of regulation, economic gain, and progress. For me, it seems like a dichotomy still exists between industry and the environment; engineers can make decisions to promote economic growth, but do we (can we?) fully realize the costs?

Welcome, welcome!

I am Cassandra Ballert and I will be writing for the Roger M. Jones Journal this year. Please- take a seat and enjoy the ride!
 

My traveling friend

 Here’s a little background on who I am and what I’ll be doing:

I am from Commerce Township, Michigan which is seated in the north-east corner of the sprawling Detroit suburbs. In December 2011, I graduated from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) majoring in Chemical Engineering and German, minoring in International Engineering, and scholaring with the Graham Sustainability Institute. My academic path may seem a little disjointed, but trust me, it works (and I’ll get into that in another blog post). Between graduation and now, I had a quick stint working as an Environmental Engineer, but (alas!) I found myself going back to school to add yet another area of study to my collection: Philosophy.

Starting in October, I will be studying Environmental Ethics at the University of Augsburg in Germany.  Why specifically Environmental Ethics is a topic I plan to cover in my next post, as the reasoning is long and involves a story.
 

Sign poetry in Tahquamenon Falls

I will be using this blog space for a myriad of different things: reporting on experiences abroad, capturing feelings of a lonely traveler, developing my photography and editing skills, and keeping my brain fluid in English. :) My goal is to also keep the readers engaged, so I’m hoping to maintain short, but frequent posts and I genuinely encourage commenting. (So please do!)

Let’s take this trip together,
Cassie