La Vie...

Woohoo! I got through Libertine without a mistake! 14 points! And I finished Breaking the Common too.

This morning I woke up at 5 and then couldn’t go back to sleep until 7. So in that time, I played some games on the internet. And then I woke up at noon. The day was a fine day until class tonight where I was greatly annoyed. Life sucks.

“Just days after the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers met in the World Series, their hometowns find themselves atop a list no one wants to lead: the most dangerous cities in the United States. St. Louis ranked first, Detroit second and Flint, Mich., third in the annual ranking of the nation's most dangerous cities, compiled by Morgan Quitno Press.”

I Am Missing

I was forced to do homework today. First, I read the first act of Othello and then I began writing my paper. I ended up writing three sentences and then deciding that that was enough to justify an hour break. But then I completed even more of while talking to Tina and mostly finished it while watching the Simpsons. The Simpsons was fun because it was a ton of Halloween episodes in a row… and in German, of course.

“I am not bound to please thee with my answers.”
- William Shakespeare

“Divide and rule, a sound motto. Unite and lead, a better one.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Science arose from poetry--when times change the two can meet again on a higher level as friends.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.”
- George Bernard Shaw

Beware of Greeks Bringing Gifts

McDonald’s in Germany now has a €1 menu. Maybe they had it before, but I saw the commerical for it today. And is Burger King’s extra long cheeseburger in the US too? Probably. I had macaroni and cheese for lunch. It certainly filled me up.

The plan was to make a piñata today with friends at 3, but then they called at noon and said that they had decided to make it before they went hiking, and so I didn’t go. Yeah, it was another day in front of the TV…

EXCEPT for my walk in the afternoon. I went for a walk around the lake near StuSie. It was fallish and beautiful. There were a ton of yellow leaves on the path and the air smelled like fall.

Just so you know, computers bounce a little. Well, at least mine did when I accidentally knocked it off my bed.

"Americans will put up with anything provided it doesn't block traffic."
- Dan Rather

"I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American."
- Daniel Webster

"An Englishman is a person who does things because they have been done before. An American is a person who does things because they haven't been done before."
- Mark Twain

"There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."
- Michel de Montaigne

"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth."
- Lillian Hellman

The Neighbors Are Still Alive

Last night I had a dream about a huge tornado. The dream contained so much and the title is from the dream.

I got out of bed at noon today. I was tired. Life is tiring. After I took a shower, I put my laundry in the washer, made some lunch, and watched TV in German (The Nanny, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, The Cosby Show, ER, JAG, the news, Spongebob, Without A Trace). At one point I cleaned up my room. Many of my piles have disappeared.

“Sex is one form of entertainment that will not go out of style… unlike Pogs.”
- Mary during a train ride in Italy

Me and my Pole

Waking up this morning was not pleasant. I had a class at 8:30 a.m. Arg. But I got there and saw a bunch of the people from the StuSie bar last night. That was cool. Richard from Canada and Kate from Australia remembered me. We went in the class and sat down. Jacob from AYF came in and sat next to me. The room filled up. And 15 minutes after the class was supposed to start, there was still no instructor. As it turned out, she was sick and so class was canceled. Wonderful. But something good came out of the class this morning. I made a friend from Poland! His name is some form of Michael. I was sitting there listening to him talk to someone else and I noticed an accent, so later I asked him if he was from Russia. We started talking, and then when we found out the class was canceled, we went to a café. I got really really good hot chocolate. Mmm… you don’t even know.

My class through the University, Language and Gender, was today. It was… ok. At least it was in English. But it made me miss UM.

After the IH class, some of us went back to Vauban and made dinner. It was, as always, excellent.

And now I’m completely tired.

English, English, English

Hi. Tonight I went to the StuSie bar with Alex. He had met some people from Australia and such in one of his classes and was meeting them there. The people were definitely fun. There were a few from Australia, a couple from Canada, a girl from Belgium, possibly some from the England, and a guy from Northern Ireland. Later another random English speaking person showed up. The guy from Northern Ireland asked if I had a blog. I said yes, and he then said that he had actually possibly seen it when looking for things about Freiburg and StuSie. Wow. So apparently there could be other people reading this too. I guess that happens when you put stuff on the internet.

Anyone ever heard of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!... Oy, oy, oy!”?

Today was ok. The instructor of my class this morning was cute. Oh, and I think I’ll enjoy the content of the class.

It’s fun when German words pop into my head before English words. For example, when I was typing the sentence before, I thought of the word ‘Inhalt’ before ‘content’. And as I was typing this paragraph, I thought I misspelled ‘English’ at first because it’s ‘Englisch’ in German. And today in my IH class, I forgot how to spell ‘elephant’ in English (it’s ‘Elefant’ in German).

Sorry if this is weirdly written. I’m a little buzzed. And I’m tired and have to wake up early tomorrow morning. Way too early. It’s a good thing I read through the first few paragraphs.

“You’re like a pretzel!”
- Alex after seeing the position of my legs on the train ride back from Assisi

“You look nice tonight.”
“Yeah… no clean clothes.”
- conversation between the N. Irish guy (Jim?) and someone else tonight at the bar

“I like the beaver.”
- Isabelle, the Belgian girl, at the bar

"You smell like an American"

said Mary. Apparently that was a compliment…?

Ah, kites… what I wouldn’t give to be a child again…

When people here leave a waiting room or an elevator, they almost always say “bye” (in German). It doesn’t matter if not a single word has been said previously. It’s just apparently right to say “tschüss” to the random people as you leave, or “wiedersehen” if it’s a more formal area. Sometimes they also say “Guten Tag” or something along those lines when entering.

Well, today was better than yesterday, thankfully. I took care of some things this morning, met some people randomly here and there, ate a pastry (mmm), ate a Döner (it wasn’t as good as the one yesterday and she didn’t give me the right change), vented my class troubles to Professor Mittman, and drowned my sorrows in cookies (Doppel Keks). Yes, I have no classes on Tuesdays. Ryan and I played some intense FFR this evening.

My room is still one big mess of piles. I need some organizational materials, such as folders, a 2-hole punch (that’s apparently what they use here), 2-ring binders, and maybe a lighter. I think I’m going to take a picture and post it just to show you what my room is like at this moment. Here I go…

First, we have the pile in front of my shelves. This is one of the oldest floor piles in my room, dating from around the middle of September. It contains various artifacts, including computer paper (size ‘A4’, not to be confused with ‘letter’), an issue of Der Spiegel (a magazine similar to Time or Newsweek), two notebooks, a 2-ring binder from my September IH classes, a Münsterkonzert poster and program and ticket, letters from Technischer Krankenkasse (my health insurance), and many other things (including candy).

Next, we have my shelves. The shelves themselves are not a pile, but they contain many examples of piles. On the bottom shelf (which can be better seen in the previous picture), there is a collection of pop bottles, many of which are glass. To the right of the pop bottles is a pile of papers of unknown origin. Moving up to the 2nd shelf from the bottom, we have a pile of random things that have shown up in my mailbox. In the middle is another letter from my health insurance, which is on top of at least one envelope and some other unidentified papers. To the right are things which have been folded and presumably in my pocket at one time or another. The 3rd shelf from the bottom is not exactly a pile, but it’s a mess. It is the home of various good (left) and bad (right) batteries, my phone, a mostly eaten chocolate bar, a book of Sudoku, Kleenexes, and plug adaptors. Shelf #4 has a lovely pile of AYF/study abroad information on the left. On the top, there is a pile of at least 30 postcards on top of chocolate from Switzerland. Although you can’t see it, there are a ton of coins and small things scattered randomly throughout the land of the top shelf.

The desk is next on our tour. Now, don’t let the empty space deceive you. Normally my computer and my large fan would also be on the desk, but I prefer to type on my bed. The pile in front of the TV did not used to be so compact, but when the TV moved in, the natural inhabitants were forced to relocated. This pile contains lists and office supplies, and the pile has recently been migrating to the top of the TV.

Here is the pile at the end of my bed. This is the result of coming back from Italy and being too tired to unpack nicely. There are Italian bottle labels, bandaids, an Italian newspaper, bags, batteries, and souvenirs here.

And here is my bed. These are all things I have taken out of my backpack today (notice the backpack on top of the pile). Then, naturally, this pile has homework, a notebook, and cookies. Farther down the bed you will see my computer on it’s side. On the screen is actually today’s blog in it’s unfinished state. And this completes your tour of Sarah’s mess.

Anyway, I plan to watch Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy tonight in German while I do my German homework.

Es gibt nicht nur Wolken im Himmel

Ugh. Today was incredibly frustrating. It all started with it just not being a good morning. I had had disturbing dreams last night about today, and I just didn’t wake up feeling good. There were various issues throughout the morning involving no mail whatsoever, the time being changed for one of my classes (to 8:30 a.m.), and issues surrounding a couple of appointments, not to mention that it was dark, rainy, and cold. The next thing was that I wasn’t in the 400-level International House class. I need stupid 400-level classes! I was originally put there, but now I’m not. AND to add insult to injury, like pouring salt on the wound, there are people from my first IH class who got worse grades than I did who are in the 400-level class. ARG! My theater class was ok, but I was in too bad of a mood to even attempt to try and enjoy it. Then I went to find a class that I might possibly take. After about 15 minutes of looking, I finally figured out where the room was. But in order to get there, I had to leave my coat and backpack behind in the lobby area unattended. Yeah, I wasn’t too keen on that idea. That along with my apprehension about the class and my frustration from the day thus far persuaded me to just leave and go home.

At home, I IMed Kalli (my German advisor at UM) to ask if there was any point in taking a Vorlesung (simply a lecture). He said yes, but his reasons weren’t reasons that really mattered to me. I need 400-level credit, and I need at least 3 at a time. This would get my probably neither. So I kind of inconspicuously complained to him about my class situation for a while. To ease my pain, I left early for my class that goes from 6-8 (could that be any worse?) and bought a Döner. Mmm, that was good. They have Döners in Italy, too. Being in the class frustrated me because the topics to be covered were all things that I had already learned multiple times. And so all the class is to me now is memorizing random words and all the random stuff that they do, which isn’t really learning. A dictionary would serve me about as well as this class. I liked the instructor and the people in the class, but I about blew an aneurism during the class because of excessive frustration and annoyance.

Then on the way back from class, I divulged some information that I wanted to keep secret. That actually made me feel less annoyed and frustrated, but I’m not entirely happy that I told it. And there are other things that are stressing me out… concrete things, philosophical problems, and oh so much more.



On a better note, I got to see fireworks from my window tonight. They had a fair and the fireworks were for the last night of it. The fireworks were better than the 4th of July ones at home.

Speaking of Independence Day, as I was watching the fireworks, I was thinking that the Germans really don’t have any special day to light off fireworks for. The USA celebrates the creation of the country. But Germany really doesn’t have anything like that. And the USA has a fairly good history and has actually been a country longer than Germany. Being in a foreign country has surprisingly made me more proud of being an American and made me appreciate certain things about the USA more, but it also has made me dislike America more. I don’t know… it’s weird.



According to the internet, the statue in the foreground from yesterday's post is called "The Rape of the Sabine Women". It was one of my favorite statues there.

Contradistinction

I’ve been very nostalgic these past two days.

Friday night in the S-Bahn, I had a weird eye-contact experience with a guy with glasses and blueish eyes. I was looking at him and instead of turning away when he turned towards me, I held eye contact. It got weird after a few seconds and I broke away.

Our hostel in Florence was a room with six beds. But there was a sort of upper story balcony thing where two beds were. Alex and I slept up there and the other four slept below. We had a balcony looking onto a street, a couple chairs, some drawers, a TV, and a safe.



My room is currently made up of random piles of stuff. One of these days I’m going to have to clean up. One of these days… meaning not today.

I made a ton of food tonight and then ended up eating way too much… followed by chocolate. Ugh. It was vegetables in curry powder with rice. The food was fairly good, but it didn’t have as much flavor as last time.

Oh, and yay for UM being awesome.

Besser zu gehen als zu stehen...

Well, after about 14 hours of sleep last night, I think I’m ready now to continue my blog.

Wednesday we journeyed 2.5 hours by train to Assisi where St. Frances lived. We saw another cathedral, but this one was a double-decker. Then we walked up the huge hill and explored a castle on the top of the hill. It was so cool! I would love to just spend hours walking and climbing around that castle with no restrictions. To end the day, we caught a bus and a train, and were back in Florence. I must admit, I was still grumpy at the beginning of this day, but the castle really cheered me up.



On Thursday, Alex and I went to the Uffizi. We only spent about an hour in line and then about 2 hours inside. I saw The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and some other cool ones. I really liked the Botticelli stuff. We were finished early, and so we walked around for a while and I had an interesting encounter with a street vendor. Alex asked how much a sweatshirt was and the guy said €20. Alex put the sweatshirt back and the guy said, “Wait! Wait! You can have it for €15!” Alex kept leaving and I asked about a different sweatshirt and he said I could have it for €15 also. He went to get the color I wanted and a second guy started saying something to me in Italian. He then asked in Italian if I understood Italian, and I said no. He had me try on a sweatshirt and I said it fit fine, but he said it would shrink and the other guy had gotten a bigger size. I tried on that one and said it felt smaller, and so he had the other guy get a different size. As I was taking off the sweatshirt, my other shirt was coming up and the guy offered to hold it down. Then as I was waiting for the other guy to come back, it was sprinkling and the guy touched my arm and told me to stand under his tent thing. So I stood there, and tried the other shirt on when the other guy came back. As I was taking that sweatshirt off, my other shirt started to come up. The guy made a noise, and ran over to me to hold down my shirt. It was cute… and so was he. We met up with the rest for dinner and then went back to the hostel.

We woke up at 5 a.m. on Friday in order to get to Pisa and have enough time to see the leaning tower. The train ride was sleepy. And then we went home to Germany. It was a nice week.



Today was boring and sleepy. I slept until 12:45 and then napped in the afternoon while ‘watching’ German TV. I also bought €10 worth of groceries, which is a lot. I bought milk, 2 packages of bread roles, eggs, cheese, butter, jam, pasta sauce, Pringles, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, and müsli.

Oh, wow…

When in Italy, speak as the Germans do.

I was so hungry that I just ate an entire plate of rice, and I would eat another one if I wasn’t too impatient to wait for it to cook.

So, yeah, I was gone for a week and it was as if time stopped while I was away. There were no new posts anywhere, no comments on my blog, and nobody was online when I finally returned to my computer. Bah humbug.

But, yes, I am home from Italy (home being Germany, of course). I’m really tired and I have a headache, so this post is going to be a little slackerish.

It all started in Freiburg on Sunday, October 15, 2006. Alex, Joslyn, Mary, Beki, Sarah, and I all met outside the Reise Zentrum at the Hauptbahnhof. Three trains, two taxis, one plane, one bus, and 12 tired feet later, we were finally in Florence (a.k.a. Firenze). We ate at a pizza place near the train station. It was pretty good although expeinsive. But, as we soon found out, everything is expensive in Italy. When we got to our hostel (which was quite nice), we picked our beds and settled in for the night. My foot had oozed during the day and stuck to my sock. And, yes, that was a very important detail that I had to include here. The plane ride was nice. I thoroughly enjoyed it again.

Monday was another full day. We bought things, went in an old cathedral (the 3rd biggest in the world), climbed up the dome in the cathedral and saw Florence from high above, ate, explored, had a picnic on a random hill, watched the sunset, and went back to the hostel. It was at this time that we realized that 6 pairs of feet in shoes for 12 hours does not produce a good smell when they are all released in the same room. Beki was the first one to point this out when she suddenly exclaimed, “Sarah [McDole], I can smell your feet!” Similar exclamations were made throughout the week and Joslyn’s socks were officially declared a biohazard.

On Tuesday, I began to get more annoyed with people. After much unneeded pessimism (which annoyed me… they were not being realistic), we woke up early and went to the Academia where Michelangelo’s famous statue, David, is being displayed. In the line, we met two Australian guys who were in the process of traveling the world. They were funny. The David was impressive, and afterwards we had lunch and got in line for the Uffizi, a famous art gallery. By this time I was completely annoyed and generally irritable, and so I tried to just keep my mouth shut as much as possible. I was tired, sore, and really did not want to see anymore art that day, plus the line was incredibly long. Thankfully, Alex suggested we go to something that we had found the day before. And so Alex, Mary, and I did that while the others ended up waiting in line for at least 2.5 hours. We went to a beautiful garden and walked through a museum thing. It had old clothes from a few hundred years ago and also some really cool cut-stone artwork. Later in the day, the others were unfortunately 30 minutes late to our scheduled rendezvous. That did nothing to ease my annoyance. We ate at a Café across the street from the hostel. The guy there (presumably the owner) was incredibly nice and gave us discounts and kept bringing around more and more food. It was only €6 for a large delicious meal. Gelato and win ended the evening.

Italy is full of motorcycle things. It’s crazy. And everyone drives like a maniac pretty much. We arrived in Florence during rush hour or something, and there were vehicles everywhere. The mini motorcycles were weaving in and out wherever they could and the rest of the traffic was basically one big blob. Sarah commented, “It’s nice that they are pretending that there are lanes.” Which was funny because the road did have lanes, but the cars paid almost no attention to them.

The landscape looks a lot different in Italy than in Germany. They have the tall pointy trees… I don’t know. It’s different.

I spent about €390 this week including accommodation, travel, food, entertainment, and souvenirs. It’s a lot, but it really isn’t that bad considering what it could be (easily over $2000 when coming from America as an adult).

I prefer speaking German in Italy. Speaking German in Germany is too intimidating.

“Romance languages: buy one, get four half price.”
- Alex commenting on the many similarities between Italian and Spanish.

More to come tomorrow… You know you’re on the edge of your seat in anticipation.

Requiem Sempiternam

One day on FFR I got a 181 combo on FF7 Battle and got 9 points, and one day I got through a different song without breaking the combo and ended up getting 98% of the high score. And today I got through Spontaneous Hydroxide with only 2 Boos and 1 Miss.

I'm going to Italy tomorrow. Woohoo! So by tomorrow evening, I will have been in more countries than states in the U.S. States: Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Countries: USA, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, and (tomorrow) Italy. The only other two countries that I absolutely have to go to while in Europe are UK and Ireland. But I would like to go to others, such as Greece, Spain, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium... Yeah, I just want to go everywhere.

This afternoon I watched the new episode of Grey’s Anatomy, an old episode of Grey’s Anatomy in German on TV, and then an old episode of Desperate Housewives in German on TV.

This evening I went to a concert in the Münster. It was Mozart’s Requiem. The Freiburg Orchestra performed it along with a boys choir. It was really cool, especially since it was in a church that is over 400 years old.

Well, until Friday then, unless I find some internet access in Italy!

"My aunt is a geographical retard."

-Alex, whose aunt once asked if Ireland was close to New Zealand.

Ugh, I've been awake since 6:30 a.m. Gross. It’s funny to think that I got up before most of you went to bed. I had an appointment at 8 a.m. and I had to take the Straßenbahn there, which meant I had to catch the 7:30 one. And then I ended up getting lost anyway because I was an idiot. I had been to the place before but, stupidly enough, I simply assumed that I knew what the S-Bahn stop was called. By the time I realized my mistake, I was at least 2 stops past my desired stop with only 8 minutes left until my appointment. I ended up being about 5 minutes late. Oh, and at one of the platforms that I found myself standing on throughout the morning, I saw the mean receptionist from yesterday and I glared at her.

Then I had another place to go to, but I had never been to this one before. And once again I almost got lost because I was an idiot. I had looked on an online map yesterday and had seen where the street was, and I thought, “Oh, that’s that one street that I came to that one day probably… ok…” and then never looked at a map afterwards. Well, I went to ‘that one street’ and found out that it was not the street I was looking for. I sheepishly got out my map and, to my great annoyance, found out that I had gone in the complete opposite direction of where I needed to go from the Straßenbahn stop. But once I got that straightened out, I found the place easily enough.After all of this, I bought about €15 worth of stuff to relieve the stress from my idiocy. And, it’s true, ‘idiocrity’ is not a word.

I just realized that it’s Friday the 13th. I think my sister was born on Friday the 13th.

By the time I actually get out of this country, I think I’m going to have acquired enough German postcards to equal my IQ score, whatever it may be.

The German dogs are insanely obedient. I’ve said it before, but it’s so true. Many of them don’t even need leashes.

This evening: nap, cooked dinner, got a call inviting me to dinner, put dinner in refrigerator, went to Vauban, laughed a lot. We talked a lot about idiots... I guess today was just the idiot day.

Und Swing Your Partner!

When I was waiting for the Straßenbahn, there was a lady with her small son. The son kept saying “Gib mir! Gib mir! Gib mir! Gib mir! Gib mir! Gib mir, Mutter!”, which basically is “give it to me, mom!” So then she relented and gave him the Coke, and he said “Danke”. It was kind of cute because I could understand the German child, but it was kind of annoying too.

This afternoon I watched The Nanny, Step by Step, Kim Possible, Sponge Bob, and Still Standing in German.

Today was a rough day. There was a lot of walking around, running errands and only running into the so-called brick wall, drowning my sorrows in French fries, and way too much stair climbing.

I keep having weird disturbing dreams.

This evening I went Scottish dancing again. I find it hilarious watching Germans dance Scottish dances.

...Like a dog walking on his hind legs...

I had my advising appointment today. As of right now, I’m taking Theater in Freiburg (AYF course), AYF 402 (International House course), Deutsche Gesellschaft, Geschichte und Kultur (SLI course), Sprachgeschichte des Deutschen (University lecture), and Language and Gender (University course in English). I’m also planning to take some French. When I asked about it, the advisor (who is American) said I could not get credit for it because I hadn’t had any previous experience with it and also it provided problems for students because of cognitive confusion or something. When I said that I really couldn’t care less if I got credit, she practically encouraged me to take it. So basically “as long as you’re not going to bother us for the credits, go ahead and confuse yourself all you want”.

Afterwards, I had to sign up for some classes. One was online, but the other was in a building. I had to find the professor’s office and put my name on a paper on her door. She actually showed up when I writing my name. It was frightening.

Then Joslyn, Beki, and I went for a short hike in the Schwarzwald. It was nice. We made dinner later and worked on my homework.

That was my day. Exciting, I know.

Die Stimmen im Kopf

Yesterday I went looking for a TV at a location on Escholzstraße. So I got off the S-Bahn, and walked down the street a while before coming across the store. Unfortunately, they were closed. But that was ok, because I had stuff to do until they reopened in the afternoon. Around 3:30, I went back to the store… and they were still closed. Grr. I was annoying. They were supposed to reopen at 3, but did they? Of course not.

While I was wandering around town, Alex chased me down and so I ate a Berliner with him before I had to go meet Ulli. By the way, a Berliner is, in this case, not a person from Berlin. It is a deep-fried delicious sugar coated doughnut with (sometimes) jelly filling inside. Ah, it was delightful.

I made dinner last night. Mmm, spicy and good. It was rice, onions and mushrooms with garlic in curry powder and crushed chilis, and Brötchen with spreadable French cheese.

Sonny called me while I was eating and asked if I wanted to come over to his apartment. I said sure, and he picked me up at the door of my building. When we got there, he began making dinner for him and his temporary roommate. He had me try some, and it was really good. It was some kind of salad thing. Then we all had a beer and watched the last hour of Mona Lisa Smile in German.

Today had an interesting beginning. I had originally woken up at 8:30, but went back to sleep on and off for about 3 more hours. So then I was laying in bed at about 11:15 when my phone rang. I was naturally still half out of it. When I picked up the phone, I almost dropped it and then I croaked a little ‘hello’ into the receiver. It was Stephane and he asked me something (I think it was if I was sleeping) and I responded in English. I didn’t even realize it until I had finished my answer and then I said, ‘Oh wait… German’. He laughed and started talking about something which ended in him asking me if he could borrow €10. He then came to get it, he saw my pictures of Ann Arbor, and we had a long discussion about the curse that comes from stepping on the ‘M’.

This afternoon, I called a number about buying a TV for €30. He answered and said we could meet later at the Stadttheater. And so I met him, went back to his apartment, and bought it. And now I’m watching it. It’s exciting! The voices of the Simpsons are crazy.

Tonight I had another ‘date’ with Ibrahim, though I really didn’t want it. He’s nice and all, but he’s still creepy-ish and annoying.

It's [always] GREAT to be a Michigan Wolverine!

Yay for MICHIGAN! I am quite happy. 6-0! I didn’t stay up to see the conclusion of the game because it was 31-13 with 3 minutes to go, so I went to sleep because I was tired. :D It’s quite exciting. But, I must admit, they’re only doing well because I’m not there. I’m bad luck. Seriously. They need to throw me across an ocean to win consistently. But I can still enjoy it from afar.

Last night my Mitbewohner invited me out to the bar with her and her friends. At first I didn’t really want to go. I was comfortable in my room with my book and my computer. But around 10:15 I decided to go. It was quite interesting. People came and went, but overall there were 7ish people from Spain, 2 people from Germany, 1 guy from France, 1 girl from Bolivia, and me from America. The only common language was English and that didn’t even work that well. So I was sitting there listening to these people babble on in Spanish and sometimes my Mitbewohner or the girl from Bolivia would translate for me. It was fun though (but I can’t remember many names).

After finishing my book this afternoon, I had planned to call Stephane and see if he wanted to do something. But then as I was working up the courage, my phone rang. I answered and it was Sonny. He wanted to know if I wanted to go for a walk, and I said sure. The walk was nice, but we didn’t have much to talk about. And, as it turned out, it was a good thing I hadn’t called Stephane in the afternoon because he was probably sleeping.

I saw hot air balloons today (look at previous post for a picture).

There’s an ad that says ’50,000 people can win Green Cards for the USA! Fulfill your dream and live and work in the USA!’

When I went to the Münster yesterday, I picked up a brochure thing and on the back it had a poemish thing:
Wenigstens nachts
lass dein Herz ruhen…
Wenigstens nachts
hör auf zu rennen;
besänftige die Wünsche,
die dich verrückt machen;
versuch,
deine Träume schlafen zu lassen.
Gib dich preis,
Lieb und Seele,
gib dich preis,
endgültig,
ohne Rückhalt,
in Gottes Hände!
Which, when translated, is roughly something like:
At least at night,
let your heart be at rest…
At least at night,
Stop running;
Calm the wishes
That make you crazy;
Try
To let your dreams sleep.
Relinquish,
Love and soul,
Relinquish,
Finally,
Without reserve,
Into God’s hands!

Some Recent-ish Pictures

Taken from my window during a storm:


Me and a cat that sometimes shows up at the International House:


Candles in the Münster:


Hot air balloons seen from my window:

Here we go again...

So the guy in Kaufhof yesterday… I was looking at DVDs that were 4 for €25 when a 30-something year old guy came up next to me and started looking. I looked over at him briefly and for that brief moment that I had looked at him, he made eye contact with me. I was slightly weirded out. Then he said something to me about the movies quickly in German. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was saying, so I said ‘ja’. Then I kind of got an idea of what was going on, and I attempted to say something in German. As soon as I had gotten the first half of the sentence out, he said ‘oh, you’re not German’. And I agreed. Then he started talking to me in English and asked if maybe we could split the deal in half: he could get a couple and I could get a couple. I said sure, and so we did that. While we were waiting in line, we talked. He was really interesting. He had lived in Berlin during and after it was split, but then was tired of all the clouds. So in April he went to Freiburg, saw how beautiful it was, and simply never left. He’s a geologist or something.

And yesterday evening, I helped a German with the automatic S-Bahn ticket thing. Yes, I felt cool.

Last night, we made Spaetle (little noodle things), sautéed vegetables, zucchini salad, and Brötchen. It was good. We started cooking around 7 and were sitting around the table then until after 10. It was really fun. But after the day was done, I only had €2 to my name.

The slightly entertaining thing from yesterday morning:
Professor Mittman was saying that, yes, it would be intimidating to go to a German professor’s office hours and speak German with him while there were a bunch of other German’s hanging around. Then Ulli, who is German, made a funny face, shivered, and said “Oooooh, Germans…..!” It was quite hilarious.

This morning I made eggs with mushrooms, onions, and cheese. Mmm, it was good. This evening I made chicken with vegetables and potatoes.

Müsli is basically dry oatmeal, other grains, and whatever is in it to make it taste good (mine have been fruit, but there’s also chocolate and other things). There is also crunchy Müsli. So, yes Tina, a thing like a granola bar could very well be another representation of Müsli.

One time I had gotten on the S-Bahn at Bertoldsbrunnen, and I noticed a guy who had just missed it. He ended up running in front of the S-Bahn until Stadtteater, the next stop.

Döners are good.

Oh, and I received Jenny’s Lion King postcard, Ellie’s card, and Tina’s postcard from New Zealand recently. Thank you!!! They’re on my wall making me feel happy. I also received the nice letter from Ross! It also made me happy.

This afternoon I went into town in order to find a specific building. I ended up going into the Münster and then climbing the many many stairs to the near-top of the tower. Ugh, my legs are incredibly weak now. They were trembling on the way down. But now I’m sitting comfortably on my bed, so it was worth it.

At the market on Münsterplatz, I stopped to look at some stuff and the seller recognized me from 4 weeks ago.

I’ve finally gotten into Obsessed by Ted Dekker and I fully realize why that is its title.

Ibrahim called me again tonight. I was not at home yesterday when he tried to call. He wants to meet on Tuesday at 8 pm, I think. We’ll see.

Sleeping is my Dream

When I type these up, I always forget the little instances from my day that made my day interesting. Maybe tomorrow when I’m all alone and not incredibly tired I will tell some of them from the past few weeks.

So last night Stephane called me and I ended up journeying down to his room at midnight. He was watching some weird late night show where they showed clips from really outrageous (in a ‘I can’t believe there are people that stupid/redneckish/pathetic/superficial who actually exist’ way) clips from other talk shows. There were a few from Maury and Jerry Springer. I just had to cover my eyes and shake my head. At one point I said, “Warum muss ich Amerikanerin sein?” (why do I have to be American), but a more appropriate response would’ve been “Why do they have to be American”. I was there until about 2:30.

This morning we had more AYF stuff. There was one entertaining thing that happened, but I'm too tired right now to do it justice. I’m afraid of the university courses. I’m afraid of all of the courses. And I really want to take French. If you think about it, it makes more sense to take French in Germany than it does to take it in the USA.

This evening six of us went to Vauban again and made dinner. It was really fun and really good, like always.

Oh, and I met a cool guy in Kaufhof, but I’ll save that story for tomorrow.

And So It Ends

Yesterday it was interesting reading a Mexican menu in German.

My International House classes are done. The last test wasn’t bad at all.

Tonight we booked our hostel. Exciting!

After dinner, we went to an Irish pub for Scottish dancing. I only danced one dance, but it was really fun. I left early because I was tired. Yes, five Americans in an Irish pub dancing Scottish dances with German instructions.

Being interrupted is annoying.

My new suitemate smokes. I don't like that.

I would be hard-pressed to care less about this specific test.

I gorged myself on Mexican food tonight at one of the two Mexican restaurants in Freiburg. Ah, it was good. Spicy… mmm.

The test I had today wasn’t bad at all. I had to make up a few words, but one might have actually been almost right.

I don’t like teenagers (the high school variety). They bother me. A lot of the German teenagers here act or at least dress like little punks. I’m so glad I’m not in high school anymore. I’m so tired of idiocy and attitudes.

My new Mitbewohner moved in today when I was gone. I’m not sure if it is a guy or a girl, but I’m leaning towards girl (because of the size of the shampoo bottle). And I’m also not sure if it is a German or a foreigner. But I’m leaning towards foreigner because of the Spanishy writing on the shampoo bottle. Shampoo bottles really can tell you a lot about a person (watch it be a German guy… which I certainly wouldn’t mind). I hope she/he isn’t stupid or annoying. [Later in the evening] Well, SHE has moved in. And yes, she is a foreigner. She can hardly speak English or German. In fact, her English might be better than her German. But she seems nice.

I got an email from my mother this morning. Practically the first thing she talked about was alcohol consumption in Germany. Thank you, mother. (Note the sarcasm). My gosh, I’d wish she would knock it off. I am not 12. I can make good decisions without being told what they are and I can still make bad decisions even after someone lectures me about what to do. And actually, the more she goes on and on about it, the more I just want to go out and drink, not because I especially want to, but because she keeps telling me not to. It’s as though if I don’t, I would submitting to censure and the demands of others. And, as we know, I am too stubborn, hot-headed, and rebellious to do either of those. But also in my email, she commented that Manuel is cute. Eww, do not say that, mother. I don’t want to know who you think is cute.

I finished Final Fantasy 7 Battle and received 6 points! Be afraid, Ben. Be very afraid! Muwhahahaha!

We played that game in my grammar class that I think we refer to as 'I never'. It's the second time we've played it in one of my classes here. It's fun, but a few of my toes got beat up.

A Blustery Fall Evening

Alex and I were talking about hiking up to the windmill things today, but it rained. Sad.

One of my instructors wrote “You write very well!” on my last paper. That makes me smile. Stephane also made some positive comments on my writing.

It’s incredibly windy here tonight. It rained all day and now it’s insanely windy. The wind in the trees is as loud as the waves on Lake Huron on a very windy day. I just looked at the weather and it says that the wind is from the south at 22 mph. It’s fun. I opened my window so I could listen to the wind. I love the wind at night when it’s cool. It reminds me of something good… good times past. It reminds me of winter as a child going to Riverside for church on Sunday nights. I remember the cold, the snow, the sky, the wind, the crisp feel and smell of the air. There was the thought and memory of Christmas, the simplicity of it all, the pure joy, the innocence. All of it enhanced by the winter’s crisp, cold night air and the innumerable white stars in the black sky. It reminds me of Friday night football games as a spectator and as a band member. It reminds me a little of walking to class in Ann Arbor with the wind blowing my hair and the brown oak leaves falling around me. It reminds me of halloween, elementary school, deer season, jumping into piles of leaves, walking through the woods. Memories of a different time.

Yes, so I did nothing today. I barely even left my room/kitchen. In fact, I didn’t even open the door until 8pm. My two attempts at cooking weren’t bad, but I’ve made better. I studied for a little bit, but I’m sure it wasn’t enough. I watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. It was kind of choppy, but at least I got to see it. I started reading another book. Yeah, today was a bit uneventful.

Yesterday I saw orange leaves on the street. It’s definitely fall. I think fall in Germany will be nice.

The Time is Today

I downloaded the first two episodes of the 3rd season of Grey’s Anatomy today! AHH! I’m excited. I can’t wait to watch them.

This afternoon I had a Döner for lunch. Mmm, it was sooooo good. The pita bread was luscious. The sauce was incredibly tasty. And the meat and vegetable filling was indescribable.

I have a test on Wednesday and another on Thursday. Blah. I don't even care anymore.

Tonight we made delicious food again while looking at youth hostels in Italy.

The guy whose number I got yesterday is named Sonny. He was nice. The whole thing is kind of funny. Beki and Joslyn sure get entertainment out of it.

My tooth hurts a lot suddenly. Odd.

It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.

It’s October 1st! Somebody wake-up Green Day. Ah, the memories. I already explained this memory before though. I’ve been here a month already. Wow.

Today I studied with Joslyn and Beki. Before that though, I got another guy’s telephone number. The three of us made dinner. It was really good. I can still smell the garlic in the room. We then watched Pirates of the Caribbean in German. While we were watching it, Stephane called. I returned his call after they left and then went down to his room where I saw the last part of Ocean’s 11 in German.

Yesterday I downloaded the new iTunes and also Switchfoot’s CD Nothing Is Sound. I think I’m going to download the current Grey’s Anatomy season.

That is all. Good night.