The Promised Epic Post

Hello again!  I'm sorry it's taken me such a long time to write this post.  I got back to Oregon on Wednesday night after a 24-hour trip; needless to say, I was really jet-lagged and exhausted for a few days after that.  I did, however, manage to post some pictures on FB, which you can see here in case you missed the earlier link/aren't on FB: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31077321&l=a3d38b4b4b&id=1451700239


So, Sweden.  Was beautiful, though a little boring.  Jasper compared it to a painting–lovely to look at, but quiet.  Very, very quiet.  I don't think crickets or flies or frogs exist in Sweden, and if they do, they're much like the Swedes themselves: extremely well-behaved and with an aversion to making loud noises.  I think they must have gotten all their violent and disruptive impulses out in the times of the Vikings.  I'm not sure I have any particularly interesting stories to tell; the country is best summed up in my photo album.  It's funny how I've posted more than 160 photos of Sweden, where I was for a week and a half, and only half that of Berlin, where I lived for 2 months!  Of course, the interesting things in Germany were for the most part experiences, not visuals, which may help explain why I have so many more blog posts about it than Sweden.  And don't get me wrong–Sweden was lovely!  It was a wonderful relaxing vacation, and I had a marvelous time with Jasper and his family.  As someone a little lacking in energy (just tried to capitalize that, thanks a lot, German), I appreciated the chance to lay back and enjoy the views.  My last night there we had a delicious dinner of steak and chocolate mousse cake (in addition to other things, and not at the same time!), which helped fortify me for the 3 hours of sleep I got that night thanks to a 7 am flight to London.  Side note: London LHR airport is the devil's creation.  The terminals are 10 minutes apart by crowded bus and the gates are spread out ridiculously, and require a significant walk to get to, with moving walkways that don't always work, and no food in sight!  All the food and shops are clustered together, to which you might think, hey, that's pretty smart!  No need to wander for variety!  But that means that those of us who arrived at our gate early (due to confusion about our flight time–no judging, I'd gotten 3 hours of sleep, remember?) had to settle for an overpriced tiny sandwich from the one deli that wasn't 20 minutes away!  As someone who likes her food but lacks in excess energy, I did not appreciate it.  The flight from London to Dallas was fine, especially since I got to switch with a girl who was sitting at a window seat, because she wanted to sit next to her brother/boyfriend (I don't know which), so I had a wall to sleep against.  Customs in Dallas was an experience; the conversation with the first customs official went something like this:
Him: Hi, how are you.
Me: Really tired.
Him: Oh, that's good.
Me: ...
Him: So where were you?
Me: Well, I was in Berlin for 2 months and Sweden for a week.
Him: And how long were you there?
Me: ...Um...2 months?
Him: Here, have a nice day.
Then, on my customs form, I declared $50 worth of souvenirs, a $30 sweater, and $3 hair mousse.  The second customs guy was like, "...Did you actually declare hair mousse?"  I said yes, I wasn't sure how specific I should be, and then smiled and said, "you're welcome!"  I'm hoping it made his day a little more surreal.


We spent the night in a hotel near the airport, because Mom had gotten a free night there the last time we stayed thanks to shoddy service.  I took a glorious shower and promptly passed out, though I apparently spent the night twitching wildly.  The next day we drove back to Eugene and I went to sleep at 5:30, though I did wake up from 3 to 5 in the morning, and slept until 10 the next morning.  I managed to go a whole 12 hours without sleeping that day, though I did get 13 hours of sleep that night, after which I began to feel a bit more among the living.  One major disadvantage of studying in Germany, or anywhere in Europe, is the time (not to mention money) required to get home, and the days of hazy recuperation after.


So now I am home and taking the GRE this Thursday.  I think I'll go up to Portland next weekend for a night to stay with Aunt Karen and Uncle Tracy and McKenna and Laura, and then from Sunday to Tuesday Mom and Kev and I are going to the coast.  We might stay at the Coos Bay Casino for a night because it's cheap and has a pool, and then I can play 21!  Since I'm 21!  Oh, the power and privilege that comes with that birthday... I'm headed back to school on the 27th and classes begin on the 30th.  I can't believe I'm going to be a senior, much like I can't believe I actually spent two and a half months in Europe.  I feel so blessed to have been able to go and study there, and to get to come back and finish my career at Swarthmore!  Thank you all for reading this blog, and I hope it brought you some measure of entertainment.  This is probably my last post, at least for the foreseeable future (though I may post about the GRE if it was particularly traumatic).  I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your summers, and happy lives to come.


Tschüss!

Back Home

I got back to Oregon yesterday, and back home this afternoon.  I am extremely jet-lagged, but I will post epically in the next few days.  Now I need to take a nap!

Birthday, Departure, Sweden!

So much has happened the past week+ that I can't even hope to include it all.  Add in that I'm super sleepy, and you get a meandering, incomplete blog post!  At least, that's what I expect it will be.  We'll see how it turns out at the end!
Birthday: mostly awesome.  Got to eat a surprise cake for breakfast, courtesy of my roommate Veronika (which was incredibly nice of her, since we weren't really good friends and she'd only known me about a week!), though no one was awake to enjoy it with me.  Went to class and got a lovely bouquet of flowers from Miriam's (my teacher's) garden, and she gave me a chocolate egg to boot!  Ate a delicious mixed berry pie/torte in class, topped with awesome curlicue candles (which I blew out in one breath!).  Received a super cool Berlin t-shirt (see album for details).  Had a low-key afternoon, except when Veronika (different Veronika; this one lived on the 4th floor and was in Ric's class, from Russia) brought over a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which was awesomesauce.  Pre-gamed in the apartment with Ric, Peter, Elodie, and Russian Veronika (other Veronika was out), then took the U-bahn out to Warschauer Straße to visit Monica's bar.  We were, of course, very late; I didn't realize we had an actual reservation so made no effort to get the guys to move a little faster.  Elodie ended up getting sick on the street, I think because she wasn't used to Ric's style of bartending (the more alcohol the merrier), so we ended up waiting for her to feel good enough to head back home at 3 or so.  Unfortunately, Ric had made plans and reservations at a couple of clubs, which we did not get to go to (major sadface).  On the upside, we got broccoli pizza (delicious when tipsy) and a taxi ride with the best taxi driver ever.  Not a perfect birthday, but very fun nonetheless!  That weekend I had to pack things up and say my good-byes to Berlin, which was super-sad and a pain in the butt.  Did some crazy last-minute souvenir shopping, though, and got some little things for people!  Keep in mind, everyone, that I was on a budget, so don't have high expectations...

Sunday I had my last döner of 2010, but got an awesome picture, and I had to eat it in subway stations along the way to the airport.  It was a pain to lug my two suitcases and computer bag, but it was so worth it when I got to the airport and the woman behind the checkout counter didn't charge me for my bags :-)  Then I got to sniff perfume in the duty free store before settling down to wait for my plane and discovering Tegel has free internet!  I slept most of the way to Sweden, and was oh so happy to see Jasper and his family on arrival.  The house is a little ways outside of Stockholm, overlooking the water; it's open and beautiful and the views are superb.  The next day we went on an adventure to a hotel in rural Sweden, on a lake.  The setting was truly gorgeous (see pics!), though the rooms themselves weren't anything too exciting (hence our staying only the one night, not the two that had been reserved). It was a 4 hour drive there, but I slept for a lot of it.  That night we went to an extremely delicious and classy restaurant with a beautiful view of the countryside; though it was only a few miles from the hotel, it took us more than half an hour to get there, due to the annual American classic car rally/parade taking place the next town up.  It was rather entertaining to see a bunch of blonde Swedes driving in perfectly-restored American cars, and even more entertaining to see the crowds gathered to watch the circling cars.  Wednesday Jasper and I did basically nothing, which was a nice relaxing time.  Yesterday we took the ferry to Vaxholm, an island on the archipelago, and wandered around for a couple of hours.  It was so picturesque!  I'm constantly astounded by how perfectly presented everything is here.  It's kind of ridiculous.  I apologize for all the adjectives synonymous to "beautiful", but there's really no other way to put it.  This morning the whole family went to the Vasa Museet, a museum centered around a sunken warship (the Vasa).  It was the pride of the Swedish navy in the 1600s, but sadly it sank after a mere 20 minute voyage, due to being too top-heavy (64 guns!).  It was near-perfectly preserved, thanks to the low salt content and cooler temperature of the Baltic sea.  The excavation took several decades (well, only 3 years to dig the boat up, but 30 years after that to restore and preserve it), and the result is an enormous 400-year-old ship with 95% original pieces.  After we ate lunch at the nearby organic garden, Jasper and I peeled off to go subway station hopping.  The subway stations in Stockholm are freaking awesome; they are still shaped like caves, and the interiors are painted and decorated, earning it the honor of being a 110-km long art gallery.  We weren't able to get to them all, but we went to a few stops, including the one I really wanted to visit (water lilies on the ceiling!).  It was a very enjoyable day, though the train back to the house was really really hot.  Pictures from all the adventuring will soon be uploaded to FB (I'll post the link once that's done!).

I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I shall take pictures and report back!

Good-bye Berlin, hello Stockholm!

Okay, so, I know it's been ages since I posted, and I will again soon, but for now, you will have to get by with some Facebook photo albums.  Here's the one from Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051338&id=1451700239&l=55101b9484
And here's the one from Sweden, so far: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2051348&id=1451700239&l=15e64ca5eb
Enjoy!

Stadtmitte

Guten Tag!  Yngvildr (my blog, see the first post for an explanation) has been bugging me to post some more pictures.  Fortunately, I actually visited places that were worth taking pictures at, so both you and Yngvildr get to reap the benefits!

Yesterday I finally made it over to Mitte/central Berlin.  I went to the Jewish memorial first, which is a square block of different-height pillars; none of them are even, and the ground ripples and dips, so the whole thing is pretty surreal.

It's commemorating a tragedy, but yesterday it was sunny and there were a bunch of families with kids there, who were running around playing tag and hide-and-seek.  It's apparently a pretty controversial installation, since it's right in the center of the city, a block away from Brandenburger Tor, within sight of the Reichstag and Fernsehturm, and some people argue that it shouldn't be so prominently displayed.  Personally, I see no problem; it provides a space for people to confront Germany's past, while not being limited to morbid thoughts.  It's something that certainly can't be overlooked, just as the Holocaust cannot (or at least should not) be overlooked, but it also allows for healing and moving past.  The children who were running around certainly appreciated it, though obviously without realizing the painful reasons for its presence.

After that, I walked to Brandenburger Tor, which was huge and awesome, but the sun was behind the gate so the picture isn't super, though it hopefully gives an idea of how pretty it is.

The statue on top is meant to commemorate the triumph of peace over war, after the German war against France in the early 1800s.  Walking east away from the Tor puts you on Unter den Linden, one of the major streets of the united Berlin.  There's a ton of restaurants, cafes, hotels, and stores, which makes it an enjoyable walk.  I walked along there with the goal of finding a delicious chocolate place I had heard of, but wasn't entirely sure what the street was.  I walked along one for awhile and came across Galeries Lafayette, a French department store/gourmet grocery, similar to KaDeWe but much smaller.  They had a lovely dessert display case, though nothing caught my eye that wasn't an entire cake, and I managed to take two pictures before one of the ladies working told me no pictures were allowed (yeah, I have no idea what they're worried about).

I apologized and then she was nice and said it was no problem, but I took that as my cue to head out (well, that and the fact that I'd already seen all the food).  I ended up meandering over to Gendarmenmarkt, which is reputed to be one of the prettiest squares in all of Europe.  After visiting, I can tell you that it probably is!

There's 2 churches on opposite ends of the square, one donated by some French king or something in the 1700s, called the Französischer Dom, and the other built soon thereafter by some German king, called the Deutscher Dom.

They look almost identical, and are quite lovely.  There's another epic building on one of the sides of the square, though I don't know what it houses.

After being a tourist and taking lots of pictures, I headed to the chocolate place.  It was awesome.  And huge.  Kinda like Brandenburger Tor!  Of which they had an enormous chocolate replica, as well as ones of the Reichstag, Fernsehturm, the Titanic (??), and Gedächtniskirche, which was the coolest one:

I went up to the second floor, where the cafe is, and sat by a window overlooking Gendarmenmarkt.

I got a delicious Johannesbeere Törtchen, which was moist and creamy and cakey and the perfect ratio of sweet to sour.

And a hot chocolate with whipped cream to go along with it, since I couldn't go to a chocolate cafe and not eat chocolate!  Blasphemy, indeed.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.  I'm going to go back to the area today so I can go to Operncafe (65 different desserts!) and get some more souvenirs for people.  I might make my way to Checkpoint Charlie, too, though I don't have any particular desire to go there, beyond just being able to say I went.  But first, I definitely need a nap.

I really can't believe I only have 5 days left here.  It's so surreal that I've been here almost 2 months!  It seems like I just arrived a few days ago (while also feeling like forever, go figure).  I'm really excited to see Jasper and Sweden, but also really sad to be leaving my friends and Berlin.  I'm annoyed with myself for not getting out more and seeing more, but I also realize that I've been so busy learning and hanging out with Ric and Peter and the girls from my class, that between that and needing more sleep than a cat, I haven't had a lot of energy/time!  Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll be back before too long.  I just need to find a good program here and get a grant (yeah, "just", like that's so easy).  And hopefully next time I can visit Peter in Italy and check out the beautiful vineyard and drink legit coffee!  Today in class we were talking about un-real situations (in connection with Konjunktiv II, one of the German subjunctive tenses) and I said that I wished I could go on a world dessert tour, though I would happily expand that to include all types of food.  Now I just need to win the lottery!  And have a magic metabolism.  Okay, what was I actually talking about before I got distracted by food...post-grad, right!  I'd like to find someplace in eastern Germany, especially Berlin, because it's a fraction of the cost of the other big German cities (Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt).

Also I AM SO EXCITED FOR MY BIRTHDAY!  Only 2 days to go!  They're saying it may rain, but I'm going to ignore those haters and insist that it be sunny but not too warm, thank you very much.

Until next time!

GRE Prep and Birthday/Germany Countdown

Hello, friends, family, and possible poor souls who stumbled across this blog!  I hope everyone is doing relatively well.  I have been attempting to soak up as much Berlin as possible before I have to leave.  Only a week and a half left!  I can't believe how long it's been.  I haven't really been up to anything too interesting, mostly just wandering and hanging out.  Friday we went to the Pub Crawl, which is 12 euro and includes free beer for an hour (we were, of course, half an hour late, thanks to my perpetually-tardy roommates) and 1 euro shots and free cover for 3 bars and a club.  I drank just enough to be happy to be out and meeting people, which spared me any painful morning-after hangover.  I met some interesting people, including a lot of Americans.  I got hit on some, too, which was flattering, but fortunately everyone was very understanding when I told them I already had a boyfriend.  No crazy persistent people, yay!  I spent the rest of the weekend sleeping, due in part to a slight cold.  It actually got chilly enough to need a sweater on Sunday!  It was so thrilling.  Now it's back to being 33 degrees (~91), but it's only supposed to last through tomorrow and then it's getting cold and rainy.  Super excited for that!

I went to Leysieffer the other day, which is a chocolate store.  I discovered that they had cake and basically had a seizure right there.  I was like, "Oh mein Gott, ich LIEBE kuchen.  Das ist mein Lieblinsessen" ("Oh my God, I LOVE cake.  It is my favorite food"), and the woman behind the counter was both impressed and a little frightened.  With her advice, I managed to decide on a delicious chocolate-covered piece of orange-infused cake.  I ate it with great relish in front of the guys, though I was generous enough to let Peter have a bite (Ric didn't want any, the weirdo).  Then today I went to a different bakery near school and got an enormous piece of chocolate cake and ate that for lunch.  Don't worry, Mom, I had a good breakfast and I'll eat something healthy for dinner.  Sometime soon Peter and I are going to go to Brandenburger Tor, the symbol of Berlin, and then to Operncafé, which is rumored to have the largest cake selection in the city.  YUM.

In other exciting news, it is only 8 days until my birthday!  I am hoping to go the whole day only eating desserts.  It's my birthday, that should be allowed, right?  If only there were a Voodoo Donuts here, then I could have a bacon-maple bar and call it protein.

In less exciting news, I have started studying for the GRE.  This is, quite frankly, a bummer.  Especially since, if I go to grad school in Germany, I won't have even needed to have taken the test.  On the upside, however, I get to discover a whole buttload of words I have never heard of, and will never use.  Some of the notable vocab they may have on the test include (this is a very limited list, since I've only gotten through part of the a's and the first half of the most commonly found words, out of 3500 total, so there will be more to add as time goes by):

grandiloquent, which means "pompous, bombastic, using high-sounding language", an adjective that could be used to describe anyone who would use "grandiloquent"--this one is one of the most commonly appearing words on the test, which should tell you what a douchey test it is

adjutant: assistant to a senior officer; who really needs to know this?

anneal: heating and cooling metal or glass to improve its durability

phlegmatic: calm; not easily disturbed.  It's a positive descriptor that sounds exactly like gross mucous.  Who thought that was a good idea??

problematic: doubtful, unsettled, questionable, perplexing.  Also: the most common word at Swat, after heteronormative.

I have also seen two references to Eugene Lang, a Swarthmore alum (after whom LPAC [Lang Performing Arts Center], Lang Music Hall, and Eugene Lang Center for Peace and Social Responsibility are named, as well as the Eugene Lang College) whose granddaughter is in my class, under "altruistic" and "magnanimity".  There may be more that I haven't gotten to yet...there have also been at least two references to Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice, though I can't remember which words specifically (things related to "sycophant", though I haven't gotten to the S's yet, so that's not it).

I've gotten better at the analogies; now all I really have to do is learn all the vocab.  The whole GRE is a joke.  It doesn't measure intelligence or critical thinking; it measures how willing you are to devote untold hours of your life in preparation.  Which, sure, probably comes in handy in grad school, but I wish they would at least be upfront about it.  I'm seriously considering grad school in Germany, now it's just a matter of figuring out what I want to study and where.  I'll apply for a DAAD grant, which will provide 750 Euro a month, plus insurance and 1000 Euro for travel, but I definitely need to do some more thinking about what exactly I want to do.  And then I have to figure out how to apply to German universities...ugh.  It's all too complicated for my poor anxious brain.  However!  I still have time, and I will simply think about the fact that my birthday is almost here and that I had chocolate cake for lunch to cheer me up.

Now I ask, how are YOU?!  I feel like I haven't talked to anyone from home/school for the longest time!  I hope you're all having a wonderful summer :-)

Until next time!  Which will hopefully include pictures, at the very least of cake.  Tschüss!

Pergamonmuseum and Post-Grad Musings

Hello, all!  I hope you had a lovely and relaxing weekend.  It was 100 degrees here, which was frankly quite terrible, but I went to the Pergamonmuseum, so it wasn't a total bust!  Sadly, the museum was not completely air-conditioned, though it was cooler than outside.  In spite of this major shortcoming, I had an enjoyable time.  The Pergamonmuseum is home to several reconstructed gates, altars, and statuaries from the ancient Middle East.  The Museum of Islamic Art is in the same building, as are (supposedly) ancient Greek statues and coins, though these sections were either closed to the public, or I just failed to see them.  Most of the descriptions were in both German and English, so I read them in the latter when available and stumbled through the German well enough to get the gist.  Visitors can check out headphones with audio commentary, available in several languages, but I didn't want to spend too much time in any one place, and didn't really care about the more precise historical facts.  My self-guided tour took me through the museum in under 2 hours, and I was exhausted by the end, not least because you're not allowed to drink water in the museum for fear of ruining the exhibits (even though they managed to survive 2500 years in the bare elements...).  Here are too many pictures for your enjoyment, some taken from online sources due to the internet being super-slow to upload my pictures:

The Pergamon Altar, after which the museum is named (way more crowded the day I was there).

The Ishtar Gate, taken from Babylon and reconstructed using original bricks and modern recreations (originals are nearer to the ground)

Some of the super-fierce lions that decorate the Ishtar Gate (I would put up a close-up of the dragons too, but I'm sending Jasper a postcard of one and I don't want the awesomeness to be diluted by his having previously seen it)

I had some really lovely pictures of Arabic calligraphy and some frightening stone lions, but 5 minutes after starting to load, it was still working on it, so I'll just have to put them up on Facebook.  I'll post the link once I've got it!

I have been working on post-graduation stuff the past few days.  I registered to take the GRE a week after I get home (and won't that be a pile of fun!), and have started typing in Qwerty again (for those of you who don't know, I have been typing in Dvorak, an alternate keyboard layout, for the past couple years, in part because I find it easier and linguistically cool, and in part because I love watching people try to use my computer and have no idea what's going on).  It's easier to learn this time than it was the last, but I really have to concentrate if I want to do it by memory, so I've been having to look at the keyboard.  I wouldn't bother to practice, except that the GRE is on a computer in Qwerty, and I would like to not have to worry too much about typing fails when writing my essays.  I'm using Dvorak right now, though, because I don't have to think extra, which in this heat is a definite plus.  I also ordered a prep book to have delivered to the apartment (free shipping, here within 2 days!), after much research into what the best options are.  Hopefully I'll be happy with the one I picked, since it was almost $40.  Gross.  I've also been thinking about what to do after graduation; I know I want to go to grad school at some point, given what a gigantic nerdball I am, but at this point I don't know what I would want to study, or where.  I'm going to be ready for a break from linguistics after this year, and I've realized I don't want to spend a significant amount of time studying religious texts, so pursuing my minor is out now, too.  There are several options for fellowships I can apply for, though many require a very clear idea of what you want to do (Fulbright, for example, or Watson), which I am lacking.  There are a couple promising possibilities, but I need to look more into them, and other options, before making any firm decisions.  The Peace Corps would be awesome, of course, but there's no way I would get accepted with my health, and 2 years is longer than I would probably want.  I'll just have to try and keep an open mind and have faith that something will somehow work out.

Yesterday it was pleasantly warm, but today it's back to being "who left the oven door open?!" kind of hot.  It's apparently going to be high 90s on Friday, but then over the weekend it should cool down somewhat.  Peter has put forth the idea that he will cook an awesome Italian feast soon, but he'll probably have to wait for a cooler day so we don't all die in the kitchen.  Beforehand we'll go to KaDeWe and browse the food floor to get the necessary ingredients, which I am considering a field trip of delights.  I made more flan yesterday and topped it with sliced strawberries, but I didn't let the caramelized sugar cook long enough, in part because I did not want it to burn horribly and let off noxious fumes like last time.  Still yummy though!  I had half of one for breakfast this morning, along with a piece of toast with Nutella.  Shh, it's totally a healthy way to start the day!  When we go to KaDeWe I'm going to buy some peanut butter because I am missing it like whoa.  And it could help upgrade my breakfasts from cavity-inducing to artery-clogging.  But peanuts are healthy!  Sort of.  Speaking of food, I am quite hungry and it's approaching dinnertime, so I'm going to end this post here and head home to make some food.  Bis bald!

End of the week!

Good news: it's the weekend!  For me, at least.  Probably not for you quite yet.  Bad news: it's a gajillion quadrillion degrees here. Other pros and cons:
Pro: I got my student ID today so now I can get into (air conditioned!) museums for half price, which I plan to do tomorrow and Sunday.  I want to go to the Pergamonmuseum, which has the ancient Greek and Roman collections, on Museuminsel (Museum Island), where 5 excellent museums live, inluding the Bode-Museum, with ancient coin collections and Byzantine art, and the Neues Museum, where the ancient Egyptian collection resides.  I'll probably be able to manage one a day Saturday and Sunday.
Pro: Saturday I'm going to the bar to watch the last Germany game, and three girls from my class are coming with, which I'm very excited about.  Elodie is from the French part of Switzerland and lives in the apartment next to ours, Galina is from Estonia and speaks 4 languages (Russian is her mother tongue, as it is for 40% of Estonians [who knew?!], and she also speaks Estonian, English, and German), and Julia is from Moscow and is very sweet, though a little socially awkward.  The only language we all have in common is German, and since we're all moderately competent, it's great to talk all together and practice!
Con: It's going to be 35+ degrees (upwards of 95) for at least 3 days.  This is a tragedy.
Pro: I kept my window open only at night the past few days so that just cool air got in, and then closed my shutters during the day so it doesn't get warmer, which means that my room is significantly cooler than the outside, or the rest of the apartment.
Con: It's dark and a little stale.
Pro: I found several Indian restaurants that are cheap and have gotten good reviews!  Peter and Ric and I are going to go sometime next week.
Con: I left my adapter in Starbucks yesterday and it was gone today.  This is the SECOND TIME I have done that.  So I had to go to Saturn and buy a new one for 8 euro.  Blegh.  (Nana, I felt so terrible that I lost the one you gave me, but then I decided that you probably wouldn't want me to be upset about it so I ate some cookies and tried to let it go.)
Pro: It's only money, and now I can use my computer again!
Con: We ate the rest of the flan I made yesterday (by which I mean we ate it yesterday, not that I made it yesterday), so now I have no delicious cold sweetness to come home to.
Pro: I've decided I'll make it again and slice some fresh strawberries to put on top, which will be delicious!
Pro: I feel smart again!  Class is easier and I understand most things.
Con: Now I sometimes construct my English sentences wrong.  My brain is like, "No!  Verb in second position!  What are you doing?!" and I end up thinking things like, "I must in the store (to) go" or "I have hunger" or "Now construct I sometimes wrong my English sentences."  Okay, that last one is a little bit of an exaggeration, but I definitely had to fight the alarm in my brain yelling VERB IN SECOND POSITION!  Sheesh.  We're doing sentence structure this chapter, so it's not exactly surprising that it's on my mind.  I'm grateful for Swat for drilling into my head the general rules of word order (Wortstellung!), because it means I'm more inclined to do it the correct way.
Pro: There's a tiny little boy in here who's walking with his mom.  It is adorable.
Pro: THIS: Adorable Marines Rescue Adorable Kittens in Afghanistan

Okay, this post was much longer, but then Blogger lost a lot of it and I'm way too lazy to attempt to recreate it.  Fortunately, I'm pretty sure there was nothing at all vital or probably even interesting.  So I shall now go search for good places for cake in Berlin, and wish you all a very fun and relaxing weekend!

EDIT: Con: I love Berlin, I want to come back here and study for Grad School, but a) it's far from home, b) the application process is confusing and overwhelming and c) the application process for grants to finance my study is confusing, overwhelming, and extremely competitive.  And d) I have no idea what I would want to study here.  TOO MUCH TO HANDLE!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

New Post!

Hello, my pretties!  Sorry it's been more than a week since my last post (though those of you reading this via Google Reader are probably glad for the decreased spamming!).  Most of last week was supremely boring so I didn't have anything to report, but this weekend I actually went places and did things!  I know, it's so exciting.  I guess I'll go in chronological order?

Thursday Rick and I were planning to get me a German cell phone.  This was stalled somewhat when Ric's key broke in the lock of his door.  Since we needed the paperwork that was in Ric's room, not to mention his wallet, books, clothes, and bed, which would all be necessary later, we plotted to somehow open the door.  After attempting to turn it using bobby pins, tweezers, a knife, and a crochet hook that gave its life to the cause, we were frustrated.  It was also, mind you, about a bazillion degrees out and humid as anything.  The windows in the apartment open in two ways; they can either swing open and in, or they can just be open at the top.

Ric's window was, unfortunately, in the latter position.  While one might think this precludes crawling in through it, one would be mistaken.  After he boosted me up (we live on the first floor, but it's still a few steps up to get into the building, and I was not nearly tall enough to jump up), I proceeded to try and reach through the open slit to turn the knob that allows the window to swing open.  I sadly discovered that my arms are neither long nor thin enough to manage that, so I had to use my brain (I do that sometimes, you know).  I sent him in to the kitchen to look for tongs or something I could use as a grip, but we didn't have any.  Then I remembered that scissors exist, and that we had a big pair somewhere in the kitchen.  I managed to weasel my arm down far enough that, with the scissors as a nightmarish claw-hand, I was able to reach the knob and very slowly and painfully twist it open.  The window swung in with a creak and some jubilant hoots from myself and Ric.  Needless to say, my ninja cred went up 1000%, so much that I may feel ready to participate in Ninjagrams next Valentine's Day.  Tragically, this triumph was followed by the discovery that the door could not be opened from the other side, either.  After many sweaty minutes of effort, we gave up and crawled back out, grabbing the paperwork and Ric's wallet on the way.  When Peter got home, we regaled him with the epic/tragic tale, and Monica came over to offer support.  Ric called Monika (different person), who runs the apartments for the Akademie, who said that they could send over a locksmith in the morning.  Until then, they would just have to climb through the window.  So ended an epic adventure.  The next day, however, on my way out to use the free internet in the parking lot like a hobo, an angry old German man accosted me and started yelling about the marks on the wall outside the window.  I attempted to explain what had happened, but he interrupted and said he knew we'd been climbing through the window.  I never got to tell him that, hello, it was not by choice, because he kept going on about how we had to clean it and that the apartment building had recently been repainted and blah blah blah.  I understood about 75% of it, mostly because I already knew the words for "to clean", but wasn't about to ask him to slow down his rant.  Get yelled at in German: Check!  Good thing I can take that off my to-do list.  I told the guys to wash the wall because I did not want to be confronted by an angry neighbor, though they have yet to actually do it.  

Friday it was unbelievably hot, but I managed to alleviate it somewhat by spending several hours in Starbucks.  Saturday was even hotter, somehow.  I went to the Kunsgewerbemuseum, the Arts and Crafts museum, for a couple of hours in the early afternoon.  It was wonderfully air conditioned and full of various arts and crafts spanning from the Middle Ages to the modern day.  I spent most of my time with the older stuff, and got to see lots of 500-year-old carpets and furniture, as well as a truly impressive collection of religious artifacts.  

A lovely carpet from Belgian, approximately 1540.

There was a beautiful ring with an asymmetrical cluster of rubies that I would totally wear, and I was shocked to see that it was from the 7th century.  Some things really are timeless, it would seem!  There was some really gorgeous furniture with exquisite carving, and it was so weird to think of a person making it hundreds of years ago.  

A different carpet, from the late 1500s, with a beautiful carved chest from the late 1300s.

Seeing all the art and crafts felt like a very personal connection to both the creator and the user/wearer.  It's amazing to imagine how different their lives must have been.  There was pretty much nobody else in the museum; there were more security guards than visitors.  The descriptions were all in German, and I'm glad I waited so long to start going to museums, because I can understand way more now than previously.  They had one-page, double-sided summaries for the various collections, but they charged 10 cents apiece!  So I took one, read the first page, and put it back.  Not like they would have checked my bag when I left, though.  Germans are very law-abiding and by-the-book, and most would never think of taking a copy and not leaving the 10 cents.  I was offended that they charged for take-home knowledge; it was 8 euro to get in (I had to pay full price because I couldn't find my Swat ID, grr), and I'd like to think that covers things like copies of information!  Such was not the case, though :-(  So I can't tell you many facts or histories, but I had a fun time nonetheless.  

Afterwards I headed to Ric's bar for the Germany-Argentina game.  It was a bajillion degrees, but the game was good: for those who didn't watch, Germany scored in the first 3 minutes or so, and then there was nothing for another hour, and in the last 25 minutes they scored three more times, keeping with their recent beat-downs of opposing teams.  Argentina was left goal-less, which was undoubtedly embarrassing for them.  I then had to endure 3 hours of honking, screaming, singing, and general chaos, before it finally calmed down around 9.  

Here are some very very drunk guys who were singing the German anthem and other pro-Fußball songs very loudly, first in the subway station and then on my subway car.  I encountered others like them at the other subway stations I got off at, as well as on the street in front of the apartment, where there was a traffic jam of crazed soccer fans tooting their flipping vuvuzelas (unbelievably annoying horns).  Good times, my friends, good times.  It's better when they play during the day, because then the celebrating has usually stopped before I go to sleep!  So Germany is in the semi-finals, along with Uruguay, Spain, and the Netherlands.  If they keep playing as fantastically as they have been, they'll win the World Cup.  Fingers crossed!

Sunday was the 4th of July which is, of course, not celebrated here.  I slept in late then spent most of the day in a haze of suffocating heat and wet towels, and did not do anything remotely patriotic.  I did wish I could eat some potato salad and baked beans with the family, though.  Last night we went to an all-you-can-eat rib place near Potsdamer Platz, which I retroactively applied to the 4th of July.  It was delicious, as long as I pulled the gobs of fat away.  Then last night we watched The Hangover, which they'd never seen (horror of horrors!), and ate strawberry crepes, which have become my standby numminess when I get tired of döners (sadly, it is possible).  

So I hope that all was worth the wait!  I promise to write more often, not least because of my increased museum-stalking, and hopefully I can actually impart some knowledge next time.  Happy belated 4th of July, and I hope you all ate a corn dog for me (except you, Mom, I know how you hate corn/hot dogs)!  Tschüss!

Weekend Events

Hello, all!  Happy Monday (as if there is such a thing).  I should be in class right now, but I had a panic attack (no, I don't know why) so I'm writing this at home instead.  I am venturing out later to skype with Mom and Jasper, though, so I won't be a complete hermit.

On a cheerier note, I had a lovely weekend.  Friday I went to bed super early and got lots of sleep, which was of course awesome.  I also had epic dreams; in one of them, I had a tiny pet bunny who was so small that she got blown into the pool with a gust of wind (this took place at Nana and Papa's old house, for some reason).  Lots of sleep + bunny dreams = a good night.  Saturday Ric and Peter and I went to O2 to get me a German SIM card, which would be awesome except that my stupid AT&T phone won't accept it, contrary to all the information I was given before I left home.  I am not super pleased about that, so I'm hoping that there's some way to make AT&T unlock my phone or something, though it's possible I can find a very cheap cell phone here.  If it's not one thing, it's another!  Sheesh.  [EDIT: The SIM card works in Peter's phone, so he's going to buy it off me.  Then I can hopefully go to O2 again and get a prepaid phone, not just the SIM card.]  Ric had to go to work at 6 so Peter and I went to a park and hung out there for a little while.  There was a guy there who was either extremely crazy, or tripping on something, because he talked to himself non-stop for the half hour or so we were there.  It was not ideal.  Then we went back to the apartment to take a little nap (which ended up becoming a big nap for me, surprise surprise) before going out to Ric's bar.  It's about half an hour away when the subways are running frequently, but yesterday they were not, so it took us 45 minutes or an hour to get there.  The bar is named El Paíz and serves Mexican food and sushi (completely random combination, I know).  I had a couple of strawberry daquiris and a shot of grenadine and a teeny bit of vodka, and only had to pay for a daquiri!  There are definite benefits to knowing the bartender.  However, we had to pretend that we'd just met him, because we wanted to act like very satisfied customers so that he would officially get the job (mission accomplished, btw).  I was extremely excited that he spoke English, and Monica was just as excited that he spoke Spanish.  I imagine his coworkers think something is up, since we've gone and visited him every day he's worked and left only shortly before the end of his shift, but hopefully they don't care.  We got back really late Saturday, and stopped by McDonald's on the way to get a couple of cheeseburgers (1€ each!).  By the time we got home, the sun was well above the horizon.  

We slept 'til early Sunday afternoon, and then Ric headed back to the bar, because Germany was playing England in the World Cup and literally everyone in Berlin finds a TV to watch the match, usually in a bar or restaurant so that there's endless beer to celebrate with (or to ease the pain of losing, if that's the case).  I ordered some Nachos con Pollo because I've been wanting Mexican food so badly, and they were really tasty and salty and delicious.  The game was also truly epic.  Germany won, 4-1, and every time they scored, there were big fireworks and honking and screaming and high-fiving all around.  The mass of people wearing German flags, either literally or in a painted-on fashion, was truly impressive.  Here's hoping that Germany goes all the way!  Otherwise, I've had to put up with the raucous noise for nothing.  While soccer is big in all of Europe, it's especially popular in Germany.  After the war, most Germans didn't have much pride in their country (go figure, right?), but then Germany won the 1952 World Cup, giving Germans a reason to fly their flag and feel that they had regained a place in the world.  Given how secular most Germans are, like most Europeans, soccer is something that connects people of all ages, genders, cultures, and credes.  I believe it was on Jezebel that I read that every religion has its High Holidays--Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur for Judaism, Christmas for Christians, Ramadan for Muslims, and the FIFA World Cup for every country in the world except the US.  Being here, it really does seem like that's an accurate assessment!

The number of luxury cars here is mind-boggling.  There are so many Mercedes and BMWs that I have completely lost any sense of excitement I might once have had.  In the last 3 days, I've seen a Maserati, a Ferrari, an Astin Martin, and a Lamborghini.  That's more than I've seen in the rest of my life combined!  I think a lot of people here spend money on expensive cars rather than expensive houses.  And with universal health care and unbelievably cheap universities (something like ~200€ a semester at the public unis, and ~600€ a semester at private ones), not to mention absurdly cheap food, most Germans have a lot of disposable income.  Not that most of them could afford a Ferrari, but still! 

Saturday I wanted to bake something, but I couldn't find any baking soda in the grocery store (this may be because I don't actually know the word for baking soda [just looked it up, it's Backpulver, but according to my dictionary, that's also the word for baking powder, so I'm not really sure what's up with that).  I did, however, find a pancake mix for 70 cents.  Pancakes here are not like American pancakes; they're actually crepes.  I got the mix, some créme fraîche because Nah und Gut (the closest grocery store; the name means "near and good") didn't have any sour cream, and a pound of strawberries, which altogether cost me 3€.  Ric doesn't eat refined sugar (yeah, it's a bummer), so Peter and I had to eat it all ourselves.  I made the crepes, spread some créme fraîche in the middle, laid some sliced strawberries on top, and rolled it into an adorable little burrito.  It was truly fantastic--only way it could have been better would be with Oregon strawberries, like Mom makes at home, but I guess I have to take what I can get!  I still have half the créme fraîche left, so I'm thinking I'll have to make them again…oh, what a burden!  My life is so hard.

The weather this week is supposed to be stiflingly hot again, ranging from low 80s to low 90s.  Yuck.  So I'm going to go to museums on the hottest days!  I need to research which ones have air conditioning, but I imagine many of the art museums and antiquity museums should be climate controlled.  Yay for that!

I think that's all I have to report for now.  Bis bald!

Fehler and Progress

I am happy to report that my German is definitely improving!  I went to Schloßstraße yesterday to look for Birkenstocks (finally found some, goodness gracious) and, over the course of the afternoon, managed to interact with several salespeople and communicate my needs and desires, mostly in German!  I went to Saturn, which is a big electronics store in Germany (think Best Buy), to look for smaller headphones with a microphone that I could use for Skyping, and when I was there I ran across prepaid cell phones.  It took a fair amount of time to figure out what I wanted, but a helpful salesperson who spoke some English offered her advice, but unfortunately I needed to have proof of residency to register my phone before I could buy it, and I didn't have that with me.  But Rick said if he's not working tomorrow we can go then and register the phone under his name.  I ended up just buying a headset, which I discovered does not fit into my headphone jack--I guess it's just for cell phones.  I'm not sure I'm really up for trying to take it back, but maybe in a week I'll feel more confident.  But it was oh so exciting to be able to interact with real live German people!  And have them respond in German!  One shoe store I went in to had the kind I wanted, but not in the size I needed, but the saleslady and I had a nice little conversation (about shoes, but whatever) completely in German.  It was thrilling!  Class yesterday and today was really good, too; the more comfortable I feel, the more willing I am to make mistakes (Fehler, pronounced like "failer", which is a nice bit of cognate-hood!), which means I can then be corrected and learn more.  So all good on that front!


I can't believe I've been here almost 3 weeks.  I'm glad I've still got 5 1/2 weeks left, because there's so much more I want to do!  Now that I feel a little more confident with my German, I'll be able to get more out of the museums, which I'm looking forward to.  Still not sure when I'm going to go where, but I have a very detailed Google map that I can work off of.


Ric has a job!  As a bartender in Friedrichshain, which is in East Berlin and 35 minutes or so away by subway.  He started yesterday and said it was super fun and that everyone was very nice.  Everyone went to visit him last night, but I was too sleepy.  However, I took a nap today to make sure I'm awake for it!  We're heading over at 10 or so.  He said they have wireless, though he couldn't get it to work on his iPod so I'm wary, but if it works, I will officially have a new living room!  Wifi and free drinks (eventually; for now we should probably pay--but they have a coffee machine so I can drink decaf cappuccinos and help Ric practice his coffee-making skills) and a flatscreen TV would definitely trump the tiny table in the kitchen that's my current "living room".  He said the drinks are pretty cheap but the food is more expensive; we'll see how much out of my price range it is!  

I'm going to go to the grocery store and get some baking supplies; we have no cake pan, but we do have a cookie sheet, so until I can find a cheap pan, I will stick to cookies and scones.  But yaaaaay!  Baked goods!  Yummmmm.


I'm using the internet in Ric's room to post this; if you sit in the right spot on his bed, you can get one bar of free wifi.  It's unbelievably slow, but will hopefully suffice for my immediate needs!  

Gay Pride and Other Musings

Plans for this weekend fell through again, unfortunately; I think Rick and Peter are often too drunk to follow through on anything.  But it's okay!  I went to Idee, a craft store, to get something to make for Jasper's family as a thank you for Sweden.  I'm crocheting a table cloth--classy, classic, and pretty easy.  It may end up being more of a table runner than a complete tablecloth, given how expensive a big one would be (the thread was 7 Euro for 50 g!), and how time-consuming, but I'm going to make it large enough to not be awkward on their dining room table.  The gay pride parade was along the same street as Idee, which I had not realized, so I stayed and watched some of it.  It was so surreal to have these huge floats with flamboyantly dressed and sexually provocative people, sponsored by everyone from "stop aids" to sex shops to the liberal political party.  The same street is where Gedächtniskirche is, the war-bombed church, which made it even more crazy, to see this relic of a war of intolerance behind all these floats of gay pride.  There were all kinds of people there, including grandmothers and little kids (who were all wearing ear plugs, wisely).  It made me fall a little more in love with Berlin.  Especially since there were no anti-gay protestors!  


I got to know my russian roommate a little more yesterday.  I think she misses her family a lot, because when she found out how old (/young) I am, she was like, "Oh, my daughters are a little older than you!  So young!" and then she gave me a hug, and I was a little weirded out but I rolled with it.  And then a friend of hers, a man from Kyrgystan, came over and did some translating between us because he speaks very good German and he said that she would like to go out to coffee with me or something and I was like, okay, sure, why not.  So that will probably happen at some point.  And I was working on my tablecloth last night and she came in and saw, and told me what crochet was in Russian (starts with a t, don't remember the rest) and that her daughters crochet also.  It was a great bonding moment.


Rick and Peter have spent the weekend at a friend's house, Jose.  I haven't met him, but it was kinda nice to have the apartment relatively to myself.  On Friday, Bernat, the Spaniard who's in my class, had a going-away party, which I managed to weasel out of through sleepiness and not calling.  I feel a little guilty about it, but he gives me an uncomfortable feeling in my belly, so I don't feel too terrible.  Geoffrey's going-away party is Tuesday, which I'll definitely be going to.  it's going to be a dinner with traditional Le Reunion food (a French island off the coast of Madagascar), and we're supposed to dress in a tropical theme.  Rick said he's going to wear a speedo (oh dear), and I'll probably wear a swimsuit and my sarong.  i'm sad Geoffrey's leaving; he's incredibly nice and friendly and it's fun to practice German with him because we're at a similar level.  But who knows, perhaps I will go to Le Reunion sometime!  That's totally not out of the way.


I woke up at 10 today because I'd set my alarm for then (I have no idea why I thought waking up so early was necessary), but then I pretty much just laid in bed and read my Berlin tourist book and planned out where all I want to go before I leave until 1:30, when I took my shower and finally got my butt out the door.  The McDonald's near my apartment is open on Sundays, and has internet (though not completely free, sadly), so I'm making use of that and drinking a not-bad cappuccino.  I also had a chocolate muffin, which was not as good as I had hoped, not that that stopped me from eating it all.


I'm loving Berlin, though I do wish I knew more people.  I'm excited to start exploring some of the more cultural things here; there's, like, 15 museums that I want to go to.  I need to talk to the school and get a student card from them so I can get discounted (usually half-price) admission to museums!  I'll let Rick and Peter know where/when I'm going in case they want to come, and Peter has been saying he wants to go to a gallery on Potsdamer Platz that's having a Dalí/Frida Kahlo exhibit, which would be fun to go to.  There are several awesome handcraft museums around the city, which I am of course looking forward to going to!  And berlin has a lot of ancient Egyptian and Byzantine art and sculpture, so there are a few really nice museums with that.  After the war, the Russians looted a lot of stuff, including Priam's Gold which was found in Turkey and originally thought to be from Troy (it's actually much older than that), and after they finally put it on display in the early 90s, Germany ordered them to give it back, but Russia claims that it's payment for the "war of aggression".  I think it's funny that Germany is angry that Russia stole the gold, when it was, of course, initially stolen by Germany from Turkey.  


It's supposed to be really beautiful here the next few days, partly sunny and highs in the high 60s/low-mid 70s.  Most of the museums are closed tomorrow, so I think I'll head down to Rathaus Steglitz and continue my search for shoes, because my German professor Miriam said that there are a lot of shoe stores along Schloß Strasse up to the Rathaus.  Fingers crossed!


EDIT: I woke up majorly fatigued this morning (Monday), so I didn't go to class and am definitely not feeling well enough to go to Steglitz, tragically.  I think instead I'll head back to the apartment soon and take a nap, probably after eating a Döner (so yummy).  I made it to Starbucks to use the internet only because of the promise of hot chocolate that was awaiting me.  I need to go by Netto and get some stuff, including laundry detergent, but fortunately it's on the way.  Blergh.  (End EDIT)

I hope everyone's had a fun and relaxing weekend.  And if I haven't Skyped with you, I would still really like to!  Berlin is 9 hours ahead of the West Coast and 6 ahead of the East Coast, so I'm pretty much available anytime between 1 and 8 pm Berlin time, or 7 am to 2 pm East Coast time, though I could do later than that too (it's just a matter of finding someplace that's open!).  So let me know here or via email when/if you're available!  

Kreuzberg, finally!

Yesterday, I went into Kreuzberg with Geoffrey and we had dinner at Knofi, a Mediterranean place.  Kreuzberg is much younger than Wilmersdorf/Charlottenburg, and also much poorer, which means there's a ton of delicious, cheap places to eat and fun places to shop.  I'll post more about it after this weekend, but here's stuff from the adventures yesterday!  The food was SO good, oh my goodness.  I ate way, way more than I should have.  For 6.50E, I got hummus, black olive spread, and baba ghanoush; artichoke and olive salad, mushroom and carrot salad; three grape leaves, and gobs of bread.

After we ate, we bought a couple beers and walked over to a bridge where all the locals congregate.  It was sunny and warm and there was a guy playing guitar, and we sat and drank our beers while watching the swans in the river and talking about politics and gay rights and tropical fruits.  


Today I went to Kant Straße and wandered around there.  I found a fantastic place called Back-Factory, which is a bakery with super cheap and delicious bakery-type items and sandwiches.  I got a croissant, which I think must have been brushed with salt water or something because it tasted exactly like a pretzel, a Pfannkuchen (known everywhere else as a Berliner, hence the hilarity than ensued when JFK included the article "ein" in his statement "Ich bin ein Berliner", lending the meaning "I am a jelly donut") which wasn't actually that tasty, but was decorated to look like a soccer ball in keeping with soccer fever, a weird sausage-pastry thing, and a fantastic Nutella-esque croissant which, of course, I ate first.

I also made a startling discovery: TJ Maxx is in Berlin!  The weirdest part: It's called TK Maxx.  What the what?!  I have no idea why the name is different.  I went in to see if they had any sandals I liked, but sadly, they did not.  My search continues!


Class is going well, though I find my lack of vocabulary frustrating.  I have 3 pages of vocab words to learn (mostly for my own benefit), but my brain seems to think that since I'm not at Swat, it doesn't actually have to retain any information.  WRONG, brain.  Get it together.


I think that's all for now!  You can look forward to further pictures of Kreuzberg and tales from the weekend in my next post.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Status Update

So, no adventures in Kreuzberg to report.  By the time I got back to the apartment on Friday, everybody had already left, without leaving me a note or anythng.  I didn't see or hear from them until 5 or so on Sunday; they said they hadn't thought I was coming with them.  Oh wells…needless to say, I had a rather boring and lonely weekend.  But!  Monica finishes exams on Friday (7-hour exams, isn't that terrible?!), so we're going to celebrate this weekend, and they definitely know that I want to come with!


We have a new roommate.  She's Russian, 50 years old, and speaks no English and very little German.  It's a slightly unfortunate situation, to say the least.  I'm not really sure what's going to happen with that, but hopefully she'll learn German fast!  Or move out soon.  


This week, the weather is what I was expecting originally: high 60s/low 70s, chilly at night, and occasionally quite windy.  Today it's beautiful and sunny without being too warm, which is awesome.  Here's hoping it lasts!


Class seems to be in a general upward swing, though that is probably due in part to me getting used to being clueless and/or wrong.  Still, I feel like I'm making progress, though I'm really glad I have 2 months here and not just the 1 I had originally planned.  I may actually be mildly competent by the end!


I'm currently in a different glamorous McDonald's; this one is near Alexanderplatz, in Mitte. I came out here to look at the Birkenstock store, which sadly did not have the style I wanted in the size I need.  I shall continue my search though!  I'm meeting Geoffrey for dinner tonight; he lives near Nollendorfplatz (U-bahn station) so we'll meet there and then take the train to Kreuzberg and eat in a Mediterranean restaurant there!  I'll take lots of pictures, never fear.


Until tomorrow!

One week down!

Hello, my pretties.  Happy Friday!  I hope you're excited for the weekend.  The World Cup starts tonight, for those of you who don't know, which is a huuuuuge deal here.  Mexico and South Africa are playing tomorrow (everyone in my household [by which I mean Rick, Peter, honorary members Sofia and Monica, and me by default since I don't care at all] is rooting for South Africa), and then Germany is playing Sunday.  I have no investment in the games, though I guess if the US or Germany do well I'll be happy, but I imagine I'll end up watching at least part of every one.  We're spending at least part of the weekend at Sofia's apartment, which is apparently huge and gorgeous and is in Kreuzberg, part of East Berlin (about 45 minutes away from my apartment).  We're going to watch the games, make dinner, and then go out Saturday night to experience Berlin nightlife, which, while not my cup of tea, the others say is very fun.  Bonus: Sofia's apartment has internet!  She agrees that living without it is well-nigh impossible.  And sometime next week we're going to go to the Rathaus (City Hall) to get the paperwork for a SIM card worked out, since Peter needs one too.  It'll be free for me when you call, though regular international rate will apply for you.  I'm hoping it's not too expensive!


I Skyped with Mom and Jasper yesterday, which was hugely fun.  It was lovely being able to see and hear them (though Jasper's microphone was acting up, so all I heard was a faint "hi" at the beginning of the conversation).  I'm pretty sure all the people in Starbucks thought I was completely insane.  I'd managed to find a somewhat quiet corner, though, so I hope I didn't disturb anyone too much.  The Starbucks is the same afore-mentioned one near the school, and it is most definitely air conditioned.  I spent a couple hours there after class yesterday because it was 30 degrees (Celsius, ~88 F) and super humid, and decided to return there when it was time to Skype, in spite of it being rather inconveniently far located, just so that I could take advantage of the climate control.  The same barista was there as when I had come earlier, and she gave me a weird look, not that I can blame her.  Mom joked that I might have to start paying rent, but I always buy something when I go, which is trés expensive and should count as rent!


Class yesterday was harder again.  We talked about modal adjectives and what effect they have on the sense of the sentence, and it took a while for me to even realize what we were talking about because I didn't know the vocabulary.  It's really complicated and one of those things where it can't fully be explained and you have to just get used to how it's used, but Miriam (the teacher) tried to give us a rough idea of a few, which ended up just making me super confused.  And since I hadn't understood the vocabulary, I hadn't done the exercise right (though I did manage to fake my way through most of it).  And by the end I had a better idea of how to recognize the implied meaning, etc., but I doubt I could accurately use them in my own speech or writing.  This is very frustrating!  I feel like it's futile to be studying something that I will never have a real grasp of, and the more I learn, the less I feel I know.  And I'm still terrible at actually speaking German with Germans; today some teenagers asked me where the nearest McDonald's was and I very slowly, with poor grammar and incorrect word order, told them it was a few blocks away.  And then they asked if I there was anything closer, and I tried to say "I don't know of any" but I had no idea how to so I just awkwardly shrugged and looked pained and said "not the I know".  It was embarrassing, to say the least, and I wouldn't be surprised if they went on to ask someone else a little more competent.  I need to practice speaking German more, but I feel so awkward and nervous when I try, which makes me not want to interact, which means I wouldn't get any better…so I continue to try, in spite of the burning discomfort I get from failure.  I'm working up to going into a store and buying new Birkenstocks, since the only real summer footwear I have is flip-flops that are getting mighty dirty (I brought two pairs of tennis shoes, but it's been too hot to wear anything that enclosed!), but I want to feel like I'm a little more on top of things before I attempt that.  I went into Karstadt, a department store, today to look for Birks, and was pleased to see that they have all their shoes out in boxes so you can try on the size you want instead of having to interact with a salesperson, but they didn't have the kind I wanted.  So I am still sandal-less, but I will try again soon!  My goal by the end of my two months here is to feel confident enough to interact with strangers in German without feeling anxious bile in my belly, and hopefully with that will come the (moderate) fluency I know I can achieve with more vocabulary and some relaxation.  


Class today was much better.  We did some work with zu + Infinitive sentences, which we'd done at Swat, but we went into more depth and I have a better understanding of some (though by no means all) of the complexities.  And then we reviewed the irregular past tenses, and I knew almost all the correct forms (with the exception of the verbs I hadn't encountered before), thanks to my obsessive repetition last semester.  So I got to feel super on top of things!  And then Sofia and I talked in German instead of English, which I think will help get me more comfortable speaking the language, since I know her and we're at a similar level; she's much better at speaking, though, since she's been living here for 2 years.  It's really warm again today, though I think it's cooler than yesterday was, and there's a nice breeze.  I'm still sitting in a/c in Starbucks, though!  I went into a bakery on Ku'damm and got German cheesecake (drier than American) and a chocolate croissant, which was cheap and delicious.  I could post pictures, but I don't have my camera, and you'll get the same effect if you go to a bakery and look at their croissants and cheesecake.  Which you should then order and eat and think of me.  


I'm excited to spend some time in Kreuzberg this weekend and explore around there.  There's supposedly a lot of cheap delicious food, which I will undoubtedly indulge in.  And hopefully Sofia and Monica and I can go shopping, since I think it's cheaper there than in Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf.


I'm planning on doing some museum exploring next week.  Most museums are closed on Monday, but many are free on Wednesday and the last few open hours on Thursday.  Now I just have to convince Rick to come with!  Geoffrey promised to take me to a good, cheap Mediterranean restaurant next week, so I'll definitely post about that.  


So, that's all for now.  I'll post again after this weekend with pictures and tales of Kreuzberg!  I hope you all have wonderful weekends and get to eat delicious food and enjoy some sunshine!