After four months in a foreign country, you're bound to pick up a few things to remember the experience by. Such as:
Law books. Well, not books, per se, but readers of xeroxed materials. It made my books for the semester cost about 1/4 of what I would have paid in Boston. However, I think they may be almost as heavy, to say nothing for creatively collated: some are missing pages, and others are paginated backwards...
German dictionary. For future reference, buy the foreign language dictionary in the US. Not that it is hard to find a German-English dictionary in Hamburg, but they are all written for Germans learning English. Meaning that all the verb tables in the appendix have all the strange English ones. Which I already know; It's the German ones I really needed... Fortunately I was able to find one at a language school bookstore, but I think I would have found a better selection had I shopped for it in the US.
Huey Lewis and the News stuff. But of course. I got a new version of the extended CD version of Sports to replace the one I'd lost. (In addition to the regular album it also has a bunch of extra tracks: live songs, and two session outtakes.) I also got a couple of 45s: a German one from 1984 with a nice picture sleeve I'd never seen before, and one from a pre-HLN band some of the Newsmen were in (although technically I picked this up in California). There was also a promotional poster I've been looking for for 15 years that my friend gave me his extra of. Definitely worth the trip to Germany for that!!!
Indoor soccer sneakers. I ended up playing indoor soccer more than outdoor, but I'd only had cleats and my other sneakers had marking soles. Fortunately I was able to pick up a pair of Adidas ones for only about 25 euros. Wearing kids' sizes in shoes can be pretty handy.
Shirts. Both from WHU: one was a t-shirt from the event (although the cryptic slogan on the back gives me some concern about wearing it), and the team uniform. A teammate had bought some pink(!) striped(!) polyester(!) collared(!) shirts from H&M(!), and then ironed on our names, a number, and the word "Pehrle" on the back. What they didn't tell me until after I'd been wearing it for several hours was that "pehrle" was a condescending term used to address women... But the reason they used it was because there's a famous pop song about Hamburg, which calls the city, "Hamburg, meine Pehrle." (Hamburg, my pearl.)
(I also have a few other souvenirs from WHU, including the little backpack that all the shwag came in and the condom therein...)
Bucerius stuff. A sweatshirt to show off school colors (which unfortunately are red... though the sweatshirt is grey), a mug that they gave all the international students, and a key cord. In Germany lots of people seem to like to attach their keys to the end of these ribbon lanyards, and then carry them around in their pockets with the ribbons hanging out. I think this is a dumb idea, but when in Rome... (I also got another one from WHU.)
Books. Various people gave me some really cool ones: a big one on the history of Jews in Germany, a biography about Gerd Bucerius (who began the ZEIT-Stiftung foundation that later endowed the school), and a book about Chinese papercraft. I really appreciate how thoughtful these gifts were.
Mortar and Pestle. Because I've always wanted one. In fact, when I lived in Provence I was sorely tempted to pick up one at one of the many farmers' markets. Yet I never did. Finally, at one of the Hamburg Christmas markets I saw a nice handmade one and finally decided to get it. Yet I found it amusingly ironic, after the clerk handed me my purchase, when I asked where in Germany it had been made, and she answered, "France."
Stuff from Budni and Rossman . This includes about a dozen extra tissue packs bought to treat my cold (I hadn't meant to buy that many, but that's how many were included in the cheapest package of pocket packs, and it seemed like too many to waste), bandaids from the Period of the Great Blister (I ran out of the really neat gel ones, though, that hung on for days - even when wet - and simultaneously protected and healed the blister), nail polish and a roll of bandages from the Halloween costume (and not an attempt to go "fem," or heal some larger injury...), a four euro umbrella I brought back to New Jersey only because I thought I might need a four euro umbrella before I can get up to Boston and find my better one, and some toothbrushes (really cool ones with plastic spikes).
Stuff from Wal-Mart. Mostly stationery stuff that I'd already used, since I could return what I hadn't. Like mechanical pencils (Wal-Mart was the only place in Germany where I could find disposable ones) and sticky pads (3M knockoffs that aren't as good, but did come in apple and smiley face designs). I also brought home some really horrible German pens, but only because I forgot to throw them out. I did, however, bring home the nice pen I got from the Warsaw hotel and used to write all my exams.
Postcards. From Poland and Ireland.
Gloves. I had neglected to pack some, so I bought some that would be good for biking. Waterproof and windproof, they claimed. Liars.
Bike stuff. A patch kit, tire irons, and a wrench kit. Bought in preparation for long-range bike trips that never happened.
Skat cards. This was a mistake. I meant to buy regular cards and apparently failed (stupid German language...). I did not realize I'd failed, however, until I was trying to teach my friends how to play poker. I may not be a great card counter, but even I began to notice a lack of 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 6's... (An absence which drastically changed the contours of the game of blackjack we also tried...)
November 2005 Games Magazine World of Puzzles. Not only is it fun to do, but a friend of mine had a puzzle of hers published in it!
Cell phone. Since it was such an ordeal to get I decided to keep it. Unfortunately it's sim-locked, which means I can never get it to work on another network. Also unfortunately, the alarm goes off even if the phone is not on, which is something I discovered at a most inconvenient time...
Pictures. I got a lot of them developed and the photo shop also burned them onto a CD for me. Unfortunately, they burned them all upside down...
Anyway, it didn't seem like all that much, but somehow it resulted in an extra suitcase-full of stuff...
Written 12/21, posted 12/22.
Edit 12/22: Oh I forgot. I also got a really nice wallet. Or at least one that was very suitable for my needs, and more so than any I'd seen anywhere in the US.
Edit: 12/31: And a bottle of honey wine, but I couldn't mention this earlier since I brought back another as a present.
Also edited 1/1.