After 14 hours, three plane rides, and so much anxiety, I finally made it to Germany. Sunday was absolutely ridiculous, what with all of my nerves, jet lag, and my fear of being all on my own. Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to go home, and I cried for pretty much the whole day. Pretty awesome way to start the trip, I think.
Since Sunday, things have steadily been looking up. Monday, I made friends with some of the nice girls at school. Two of them are from Switzerland, and one is from Slovakia, and the only language all four of us know is German. It is frustrating for me when I can’t adequately express myself, but still we’re able to communicate – hand gestures are a reliable back-up.
My classes at DID are pretty legit. I go from 9:00-10:30 then 11:00-12:30 MWF, and TTh I have an extra lesson from 1:00-2:30. Coming from the US, and more specifically, the South, I’m something of a curiosity for most of my teachers. All of them were quite familiar with the perception of Nashville as “the country music capital of the world,” all cowboy hats and line-dancing. One even asked me if I spoke “kommisches (weird) Englisch” – my goddamned accent never fails to give me away.
But with all my free time, I’ve been doing a lot of walking, lots of bahn-hopping. The first day, I walked around Potsdamer Platz, one of the big tourist stops in Berlin. Not that I am at all familiar with big American cities, I have been told that it is akin to Times Square or downtown Chicago. With it’s modern architecture, chic hotels, and soaring office buildings, Potsdamer Platz is pretty impressive to walk through.
I’ve seen taken a trip to Alexanderplatz and the Fernsehturm in all its glory. The thing is, though, that the tower is visible from nearly everywhere in East Berlin, making it a pretty awesome point of orientation.
Emilie and Amelie (my two Swiss friends) and I went to the Jüdisches (Jewish) Museum Wednesday. Surprisingly, it wasn’t all about the Holocaust and their disenfranchisement, and the exhibits were really awesome. However, the parts about the Holocaust were really striking. The Daniel Liebeskind-designed monuments to Jewish exile and the Holocaust were impressive in their scale, and the way the architecture itself influenced the viewer’s emotions was pretty profound. It’s definitely a museum worth visiting – when you have a spare 5 hours or so. We went through it in about 4, and we rushed.
I’ve been watching a lot of soccer since I’ve been here. The Euro is huuuuuge here, and tons of people turn out for every game - it’s like the Super Bowl every time someone plays. I made it out to a biergarten for the Italy-France game, and it was madness. Even though France didn’t play so great, the three beers and fun friends made up for it. I think Germany plays Turkey soon (tonight maybe?), and that should be interesting. Soccer is everything here, and with so many Turkish people in the city, here’s to hoping things don’t get out of control.
Coming to Germany was definitely something that I needed to do, if for no other reason than the awesome bread. Brötchen, I do so love thee. I like finding the little differences between here and home – more on that later.
At any rate, there are always new things to see, and I’m trying to cram as much as I can into these remaining 5 weeks. I’ll have pictures up from my day-trip to Dresden soon, and updates to follow.
it's almost time!
saturday, i'm jetting off to the motherland for a 6-week stint in berlin. the german department at sewanee graciously gifted me a scholarship to take a language class at did berlin, where i'll be taking lessons to lernen besser zu sprechen.
basically, it's a 6-week vacation during which i train-hop, sight-see, and consume as much hefeweizen as i can.
| Depart | Sat, Jun 14 11:30a | Nashville, US (BNA) | ||
| Arrive | Sat, Jun 14 02:27p | Philadelphia International Apt, US (PHL) | ||
| Flight Time | 01hr 57min | Economy | |||
| Aircraft | Canadair Regional Jet | |||
| Depart | Sat, Jun 14 04:15p | Philadelphia International Apt, US (PHL) | ||
| Arrive | Sun, Jun 15 06:10a | Frankfurt International Apt, DE (FRA) | ||
| Flight Time | 07hr 55min | Economy | |||
| Aircraft | Airbus A330-300 | |||
| Depart | Sun, Jun 15 07:30a | Frankfurt International Apt, DE (FRA) | ||
| Arrive | Sun, Jun 15 08:35a | Berlin Tegel Apt, DE (TXL) | ||
| Flight Time | 01hr 05min | Economy | |||
| Aircraft | Airbus A321 | |||
| | ||||
this past weekend was a big one at sewanee, with the vast majority of the senior class taking their comprehensive exams. it's a pretty big deal - sewanee is one of three (maybe?) universities that still require comps to graduate. on one hand, it's badass to be able to say you know your major, but on the other, the pressure is ridiculous. condensing four years of college into a 5 hour test is daunting at the very least.
friday and "super saturday" are great. massive groups of people gather outside the different academic buildings with copious amounts of beer and champagne, waiting to greet the test takers as they emerge. everyone is anxious, waiting for their friends to come out, watching the door and jumping each time someone exits. when each person leaves, there is a burst of cheering as friends rush up to hug them and force drinks into their hands. tradition is tradition, after all.
part of the tradition involves "comping" the person's car - covering the windows with clever puns on their major, inside jokes, little witticisms. at least, that's how it's supposed to be. this year brought no creativity, as each car was guaranteed to have at least one poorly veiled sexual innuendo or reference (see: attached photos). it's unfortunate that i didn't take these pictures sooner, or i could have documented the SUV with "call me a cum guzzling whore" painted across the back window. classy.
it's pretty embarassing, considering these people are soon to graduate from one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country, with 4 years of higher education behind them, and the best they can come up with is a dick joke? i'm fairly ashamed to admit that i will share a major with some of these people, many of whom will be regarded as something like experts in their field. and the best they can come up with is a dick joke.
damn sinners.
Show us a picture of you when you were a baby.
indeed.
this was at my grannygran's house. i was showing off my new shoes. velcro shoes.
my head was funny shaped.
i wish that i could get away with wearing outfits like that now. too bad the polka dot and bow thing got worn out reeeeal fast. but back in 1990, fashion forward.
also, lindsay, joseph, and i just bought radiohead tickets for the three of us plus andrew. radiohead tickets. there are no words to describe how excited i am about this.
lindsay and i have been up since 7:30 this morning. what is going on.
p.s. my high school has a wikipedia page. what the fuck?
lindsay showed me this little treasure. based on questions about your experience with martial arts and fighting swarms, this very scientific test determines exactly how many five year olds you could take in a fight. lindsay got 17 and joseph got 30. 25 is a whole kindergarten class. i think that's pretty impressive.
How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?
i made cupcakes for valentine's day. they're pretty glorious.
most people have a nice dinner or get flowers or a nice letter or something. and i mean, i guess i can use the excuse that i made them for joseph. but i really wound up giving them to marge, claudia, blount, and bentley, too. joseph and i celebrated valentine's day a month ago, when i bought him a labbit and he bought me some cactus pups. makes the real valentine's day a little pointless.
also, i would like to take this opportunity to document another bag-wine-and-internet moment.
i am a waste. but sometimes, it takes that to make me less uncomfortable, sitting in my own room, which was full of people that make me... well, uncomfortable.
as i said before, wine makes it better. living the dream.
Share a song you recently realized you can't get enough of... no matter how many times you listen to it.
whatever.
we listened to it in my german seminar today. i like how my professor works really hard to think of original ways to get us to remember the language. little did he know, i find german songs quite novel, so i latched on quickly. it doesn't help everyone around me that i enjoy singing it loudly and off key at every opportunity. namely, standing at the cereal line or while waiting to use the toaster. or as lindsay and i set here at our respective computers reading the innerwebs drinking wine.
anyway.
i have some scintillating supreme court reading to catch up in. who would have thought that i would look forward to reading and briefing these cases each week.
i think it's because i secretly crave the recognition from my professor, who is currently my biggest girl-crush. i asked her to be my advisor last week, and it was one of the more nervous moments i've had as of late.
should've had a cup of bag-wine before, i guess.
Show us what you look like when you just wake up.
waking up at my mom's house is great. lots of little luxuries like TV and central heat and air. i've been watching a lot of old school nickelodeon shows like legends of the hidden temple and figure it out. it's been pretty glorious. does anyone else remember figure it out as fondly as i do? i liked how it made the kid the center of attention minus the chance of failure, but i was always jealous that i didn't have a talent cool enough to get me on the show. like the kid who could play any song he heard. all i did was take flute lessons. having a really good flute tone was not cool enough for nickelodeon.
scratch that. apparently, you could get on the show for being gross. again, something i couldn't (or wouldn't) do.
last weekend, lindsay, henderson, joseph, and i took a trip to chattanooga. mainly to get off the mountain for the day. also, to eat a meal not from the dining hall. successful on both fronts.
there is a really nice hill that leads down to the riverfront, and we sat and watched two little kids box-sled down that hill for quite a while. it was the best idea that i've seen in a long time, and the kids were the best thing.
Show us a musical genius.
oh. my. god.
i would marry zach condon so fast. excepting the fact that i think he is gorgeous, he is so goddamn talented. actually, i don't think i could be married to him, because his greatness would constantly remind me of my mediocrity. but it's a nice dream nonetheless.
p.s. "nantes" has been my ringtone for months. i'm not tired of it.
p.p.s. "interior of a dutch house" added for posterity, a song he recorded to accompany calexico's cover of "the guns of brixton" for their tour together. awwww.
Heh. We had cows like that, but bears are cuter. read more
on No, really. Everywhere.