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Why Going to Concerts Can't Be Bad

2012-01-31T14:14:00.000+01:00

Last week, I came across this excellent article from the AV Club about the "importance of catching the music while you can." Writer Keith Phipps points out that it's not only the threat of a musician's death that should send you to concerts, but also retirement, the musician's strength varies from year to year, and inspiration may just fade. Personally, I couldn't agree more.

Paul McCartney in Cologne (16/12/09)

I have seen Paul McCartney four times (1x in NY, 1x in London, 2x in Cologne) and I still constantly wait for him to go on tour. My boyfriend and other friends always make jokes about it and can't understand why I spent about 230€ on tickets the last time I saw him two days in a row by myself. But there's something magical about seeing an artist you particularly love and every performance is different. I figured that he was in Cologne and nobody wanted to come with me (imagine that), so why not spend the 160€ on one ticket? When else would I ever be able to spend that much money and be that close to one of my favorite musicians of all time? I also went to the following night's performance but paid for the cheapest seat; the experience was different than sitting up front, but all the same, it was amazing. I know that Paul McCartney will not live forever and seeing him is one of the few chances I ever get hearing a real Beatle playing Beatles songs. For that reason, I also went to see Ringo Starr last year, even though I'm not a fan of his solo work.

Oddly enough, I seem to have reached a point in my life where I realize how many acts I have not seen but wish I had, even though I don't see myself as particularly old, nor have I missed many shows. One of my biggest regrets is not seeing George Harrison while he was still alive, even though I had been old enough to see him. On the other hand, I guess that's why I've been shelling out money to go see big-name acts; recently I went to see Eric Clapton with Steve Winwood, Bon Jovi, and in May, I will be seeing Bruce Springsteen. I never considered myself huge fans of any of those artists, but seeing Clapton on the guitar was an unforgettable experience. Regardless of his age, he can still let it rip.

I have also gone to great lengths to get tickets to certain shows. Two in particular come to mind: Weezer at Irving Plaza back in the summer of 2002 (I think) when Mikey Welsh was their bassist and the White Stripes' "secret" show also at Irving Plaza (changed to the Fillmore) back in 2007. In the case of Weezer, their roadie/friend Karl Koch had posted on their website that the band had a surprise for fans that waited outside the MTV TRL studios that day. (Yes, this was that long ago that TRL actually was important) It turned out that people in the TRL studio audience got tickets (even though the majority there were 'NSync fans b/c the band was there via satellite or something); otherwise, there was an opportunity to win tickets at a store near Radio City Music Hall. I wasn't in the audience and had to try my luck winning (which in the end, I miraculously did), but I also ran around Times Square trying to find people with tickets to buy off of, went to Irving Plaza to try to beg my way in, and everything else. That was the first time I ever saw Weezer and what a great show it was. However, it's not just the show I remember -- it is the craziness of running around New York City trying to convince someone to let me into the show and how much fun it was bonding with other Weezer fans. I didn't keep in touch with them, but the camraderie on that day and the pure joy that music could bring will always stay in my mind.


The White Stripes at the Fillmore (19/06/07)

The same goes for the White Stripes' show in 2007. I had just graduated from college and didn't really want to buy tickets for their arena tour. I knew they were playing Madison Square Garden, but I couldn't bear the thought of seeing the White Stripes for the first time in such a huge place. Luckily, they announced a 'secret' show that I found out about reading the Brooklyn Vegan. Tickets were to go on sale only at the box office at around 10 in the morning on a weekend or something like that. I decided to take the first bus out from Jersey at around 5-ish and by the time I got downtown, the line went around the block to the Toys R Us on Union Square. I had told a White-Stripes-crazy acquaintance about it and luckily, he had been in line much earlier than me because he lived in the city. So I got in line with him and managed to get tickets. The show was spectacular and we managed to get close to the front. But again, it's not necessarily the show that I will remember, but the fact that it was the one time I saw one of my favorite bands before they disbanded in a small, intimate venue. Sure, my parents thought I was nuts for waking up early and waiting 4 hours to get tickets, but I have no regrets.

For me, going to see concerts is certainly about the music, but it's also about the experience. Whether it is Paul McCartney for the umpteenth time or a newly discovered band I think might be great live, I'm always up for going. In this day and age, music is ubquitious and yet highly individual, whether it's on YouTube, the radio, someone's cell phone, or an mp3 player. We cram our headphones into ears to block out everything else and we try to disappear into our own musical preferences. A concert brings us out of these shells to share the experience with one another. There's nothing like turning to the stranger next to you and grinning because your favorite song is being played live.

Why I Have Yet to Switch to E-Books

2011-10-05T15:31:00.005+02:00

With the release last week of Amazon's new Kindle Fire, I thought about the reasons why I haven't switched to e-books. People who know me would think I would've jumped on that bandwagon already. I love reading (see: my Goodreads page for all the books I've read and reviewed), I love technology, and I love gadgets. An e-reader would seem to be the perfect fit.

But alas, no. I might sound like one of those militant audiophiles who prefer vinyl to CDs or God forbid digital music, but having a book in hand gives me a great sort of satisfaction. There are several factors why I like books and brick-and-mortar bookstores:

1. The smell of a new book can't be beat. The fresh, crisp pages and the ink have a very specific smell to them and I love that when I read.
2. I like sticking a bookmark in the book and seeing how much I've read and how much I've got left. This is especially applicable to really thick books that are more than 500 pages long. There's a certain pleasure that I get when I see how much I've read that I don't think is the same with an e-book.
3. The amount of space that books take up on my shelf also makes me happy. Maybe I'm a snob in this regard, but I love being able to show off the books I've read. It doesn't make me feel more intelligent (I wouldn't necessarily call Harry Potter reading for intelligent people), but it's more of a feeling of accomplishment. I know some people don't give a rat's ass about how many books I've read in my life, but it's important to me.
4. Going to the bookstore and having a conversation with a salesperson is incomparable to getting an impersonal recommendation based on a few algorithms. Talking to someone about why they loved or hated a book and having a good discussion or debate about is far better than just pulling up a review. Yes, I'm on Goodreads, but for me, it's something that can start a discussion.
5. Going back to the smell of a book, the smell of a bookstore is also just heavenly. I prefer the smell of new books to old musty ones, but either way, it's something you don't get with an e-book.
6. Browsing in a bookstore is not the same as browsing books online. I know you can "look inside" books on certain websites, but not all pages are viewable. I also like to just browse the shelves and walk through the store without having anything specific in mind. It's a little harder for me to do that on Amazon or Barnes & Noble's website.
7. I can loan out physical books I have or borrow books my friends have read without any problem. I don't think you can share books with people on the Kindle.

Getting an e-reader would be excellent for traveling, of which I do a fair amount. I remember I read all three of the books I had with me within the first week I was in Jordan with Christian. It was a pain having to find an English language bookstore and when we did, I was lucky to find something I wanted. It would've been much more convenient to just say, oh, I'm done reading everything, let's buy something else. *click* And it would've been much nicer sticking an e-reader in my bag instead of having four books taking up space in my suitcase.

However, e-books can be just as expensive as a physical book and all you get is a PDF or some other file. Why should I have to pay as much as a physical book when there's less involved? There's no printing, shipping, or store costs. The middleman is cut out, so you would think it would be cheaper. If I knew that the author would get a good cut of the cost, then I'd pay it. But based on some author interviews that I've read, I doubt that the author gets a decent pay from each book he or she sells. I really don't think I want to pay $18.99 for Ken Follett's Fall of Giants for the Kindle when I can buy the paperback for $15.85 on Amazon. With the paperback, I can loan it to people and I don't have to worry about the file getting corrupted or whatever. Sure, you could argue that I could lose the paperback by leaving it in the train, but you can do that with the Kindle. And then your whole library would be lost. I realize that there are now clouds where you can backup your books or just get a hard drive and there are ways around losing files or your Kindle, just like a real physical book.

I will admit that I used to be adamant about not buying an e-reader. However, the new Kindle's price is very attractive. But I'm still hesitating because I just don't want to have to pay the same amount of money for an e-book when I could just buy the physical one. If Amazon or Barnes & Noble or some German store had a package deal combining the e-book and the physical book, I'd certainly be more willing to buy an e-reader. Even if the package cost more, say, $20 for Fall of Giants, but I got the e-book and the paperback, I'd definitely pay that. And then if I wanted to buy the hardcover version with the e-book, just charge a little more, like $30. Granted, I'm just throwing out rough prices here for a specific book, but I really would do that.

I think I'm just holding out to buy one because I really am a bibliophile. I swap books with other expats here in Germany and I end up reading stuff I never would have otherwise. If e-readers made it easier to loan books and/or changed the pricing, I think I would be more willing to have one just for traveling (especially with the new Kindle prices), though I don't think I'd ever give up physical books or going to the bookstore altogether.

Two new music videos: Björk & OK Go

2011-07-31T19:23:00.004+02:00

There are two new music videos that were released this week: Björk's collaboration with Michel Gondry for her song "Crystalline" and OK Go's HTML5/Google Chrome extravaganza for "All is Not Lost."

Let's start with "Crystalline." I'll be honest: I am not a Björk fan and I do not like her music. Creatively, she has so many ideas and executes them well (I mean, everyone remembers her swan dress from the 2001 Oscars, right?). But the music itself just rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't excite me, it doesn't make me want to sing along or dance, it doesn't put me in a good mood. For me, that's what music is supposed to do. Björk's music makes me want to fall asleep or rip my hair out; it's similar to hearing fingernails on a blackboard.

But her music videos are always something to behold (see: collaboration with Chris Cunningham for "All is Full of Love" and her work with Spike Jonze for "It's Oh So Quiet"). And her latest music video with Michel Gondry is also admirable, though I have to disagree with Jezebel who said it would "blow your mind." I like the frame by frame shots and the squiggly lines of color. The little beams of light that hit the surface of the moon remind me of the fight scenes in Jason and the Argonauts from 1963. Don't get me wrong, I love the analog feel of it, but "blowing my mind" is not how I'd describe it. Gondry has more memorable videos than this one, as does Björk. It's a cute, interesting video, but nothing super memorable. Again, maybe this is because I don't like Björk's music, but this is not something I would immediately forward to someone and say, "Check this out."

If we want to talk about minds being blown, OK Go released a new interactive music video on Tuesday for their song "All is Not Lost." You can go to the interactive video at the website they created for it, though here is the standard, non-interactive video:

Similar to Arcade Fire's "The Wilderness Downtown," OK Go uses technology to make the music video come alive. I'm not even sure I would necessarily call these approaches "music videos" anymore, not in the sense of what used to play on MTV. I think Arcade Fire's video is also really amazing, but OK Go's is also visually a lot more complex. I can't imagine what it must've been like to have to choreograph a dance from below and then making the windows work in time with music.

The music video in this case doesn't just work on the visual and aural levels. It's not just music, text, and visuals anymore because the viewer is now also a user and controls the experience of the video. Every view is unique to the audience. Of course, the video can be viewed multiple times with the same message (or address in "The Wilderness Downtown"), but the overall concept is that the audience is helping to shape the experience.

What Björk's "Crystalline" video and OK Go's "All Is Not Lost" project show is that there are still different approaches to the music video. "Crystalline" is perhaps a little more traditional, though it leans more towards the artistic. In the footsteps of "The Wilderness Downtown" "All Is Not Lost" is pushing the video towards something different and what that is, we'll see if other bands follow.

It's been far too long.

2011-07-23T23:59:00.004+02:00

I realize I haven't written on my blog in forever. I think part of it is that I feel like I've gotten settled here in Germany and nothing is as surprising or as new as it once was. Looking back at my entries from 2005 make me laugh, especially if I wrote something in German. I've noticed my written German and grammar in general has improved. That's always a plus. Another part of not writing on the blog so often is that I feel with the growth of other short social media forms, especially Facebook, it's been a bit unnecessary to write longer entries. Lastly, I still write in my handwritten journal that I've been keeping since the first grade, so writing this seems perhaps a bit superfluous. (I mean, let's face it, does anyone actually read this?)

On the other hand, since I stopped writing I've gone back to studying and I'm almost done with my master's. I just need to write my thesis. It's refreshing right now to take a step back from it and just write about writing it (if that makes any sense whatsoever). I've been reading a lot, but I found it surprising that very little material is available on my topic specifically -- music videos and YouTube. It probably isn't a shock that that's the topic I've chosen to write about, especially considering that:
1. I am a child of the 80s.
2. I love watching music videos.
3. I'm always online and I love the fact that I can watch old music videos that I haven't seen in years.

My hypothesis is that with the rise in YouTube and technology like iPods, iPads, and smartphones, music videos are seeing a renaissance. Two artist have inspired me so much that I'm going to dedicate a whole section to their videos in my thesis: OK Go and Lady Gaga.

OK Go seemed like the obvious choice because I've been a fan of theirs since 2004. Seeing their videos go on viral on the internet was exciting and fascinating. How is it that this little known band came to be so popular purely through the use of the internet? If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's their video for their song "Here It Goes Again:"

OK Go - Here It Goes Again from OK Go on Vimeo.

Since then, their music videos aren't just music videos; they are works of art. (Check out their videos for "This Too Shall Pass", "End Love", and "Last Leaf")

For me, I wasn't ever a huge Lady Gaga fan and I certainly never considered myself a Little Monster. Then I saw her video for "Telephone":

I still don't consider myself a huge Gaga fan or a Little Monster, but I don't know what it is about this video. I can watch it over and over again without getting tired of it. There's just so much material in it: Jailhouse Rock homage or maybe Chicago, the weird ad placements (Virgin Mobile, Wonder Bread), references to Tarantino movies (most blatant with the Pussy Wagon) and Thelma & Louise, the fact that it's a continuation from her "Paparazzi" video. But "Telephone" isn't Lady Gaga's only interesting video; they're all really highly produced, well-polished spectacles and they're the complete opposite of OK Go, who tends to do more low-production stuff. Neither is better than the other, but that's why I want to look at both artists. How do they use YouTube/developing technology to their advantages? Are their music videos more relevant to developing their image because the videos are actually accessible and visible? It's questions like these that interest me in particular.

So with that in mind, I guess that's where I'll be picking up this blog again. It's not so much a blog about being an expat in Germany, though there will still be observations about that. Maybe then I'll actually keep up with it.

Reflections on a Decade: The 2000s

2009-12-12T00:27:00.004+01:00

As a reminder that the decade is going to be over in less than 20 days, let's review what this decade was like.

We started off with Y2K (hooray! We all survived! And the coming of Web 2.0 has made it possible for me to write this and share it with you!) and then there was the whole Napster shenanigans, two elections in the United States that left many people scratching their heads, 9/11, iPods and Apple took over the world, a lot of political stuff I don't really feel like getting into, the blur of the mid-2000s, and ok, let's bring it up to now: a black man was elected to the highest office in the United States, we have one of the biggest recessions in recent decades and global warming is on the rise.

Hmm...it looks like this decade for me could be summed up into two categories: politics and technology. I know I glossed over a LOT of stuff, but just pick up any news magazine and I'm sure it'll go into it for you. Let's move on to the less serious stuff, shall we?

I've picked out 20 albums of the 2000s that are significant for me for some reason or another. Here they are with just a sentence or two about why they're on this list:

20 Albums of the 2000s

1. 'N Sync - No Strings Attached (2000) - I was 15. End of story.

2. The Living End - Roll On (2000) - My penpal introduced me to The Living End with this album. I just loved the mix of rockabilly and punk music together and have been a fan ever since.

3. The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (2000) - For me, "Hate to Say I Told You So" was really catchy and the album was a return of rock the way it should be: loud, fuzzy guitars that are fun to dance to. Not only that, I was impressed with the matching suits.

4. Weezer - The Green Album (2001) - It took Weezer long enough to put out an album after 1996's Pinkerton. I liked this album when it came out; I'll admit it. A bit pop-y in comparison to Pinkerton, but hey, Weezer was back!

5. Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies (2002) - By far, Flogging Molly's best album. I think I had gone to the Vans Warped Tour in 2002 and they played stuff off Drunken Lullabies. It was perfect for that and it still hasn't lost its charm.

6. The Donnas - Spend the Night (2002) - Three words: "Take It Off." Not to mention this was The Donnas' breakout album, but it was really fantastic seeing a girl punk band I could see myself relating to if I hadn't been a teenager (aka awkward).

7. OK Go - OK Go (2002) - OK Go's debut album. Most people would pick their album Oh No since they made it big with "Here it Goes Again," but I discovered OK Go with their self-titled and no, I'm not just saying that, I really did. I immediately fell in love with the album because it was fun, catchy, danceable, and smart.

8. Kylie Minogue - Fever (2002) - There are so many good songs on this album: "Come into my World," "In Your Eyes," "Love at First Sight," and of course, "Can't Get You Outta My Head."

9. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2002) - I just remember seeing the video for "Fell in Love with a Girl" and thinking it was the coolest video in a long time. This reconfirmed my belief that loud, fuzzy guitars were back (see above, #3, The Hives' Veni Vidi Vicious).

10. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (2002) - Dave Grohl was the guest drummer on this album, I think. I loved the bass line for "No One Knows." Also the video for "Go with the Flow" was pretty awesome.

11. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003) - Two albums at once?! Why not. There were 3 songs in particular that will never, ever get old, even 6 years later: "Hey Ya!," "The Way You Move," and "Roses."

12. Ratatat - Ratatat (2003) - I saw Ratatat perform on Middlebury's campus. They played this album in its entirety in about an hour. And they played it again. And again. Mostly because everyone was so into it. It was a ton of fun and the best thing...it was free! (And before everyone on campus started listening to it so the show wasn't overrun.)

13. Green Day - American Idiot (2004) - Ok, so their album Warning came out in 2000 and I had liked it. It was different. But American Idiot was just a completely new level. Who else could've pulled off a punk rock opera other than Green Day? And that is exactly why this album is on this list.

14. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (2004) - Fun, danceable, catchy rock. And if music could be described as "sexy," yes, this album is definitely sexy. This album still hasn't gotten old and I remember comparing it to The Strokes' Room on Fire. To say the least, Franz Ferdinand is such a better album and they're such a better band. Hence why I still like them.

15. Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway (2004) - Kelly Clarkson is probably my guilty pleasure of the decade and this album had a lot of really good songs on it. "Since U Been Gone" is probably my favorite.

16. Foo Fighters - In Your Honor (2005) - Admittedly I couldn't decide which FF album from this decade should go on here, especially considering that their best is still The Colour and the Shape (which came out in '97). So I just arbitrarily picked In Your Honor because it's got two CDs, the slow stuff and the fast stuff. However, FF have put out some really great music in the last 10 years.

17. Wir Sind Helden - Von hier an blind (2005) - This was the first German album I purchased living in Germany. Alex and I first heard "Nur ein Wort" in a Berlin Dunkin' Donuts in Zoologischer Garten and we turned to each other, agreeing simultaneously that the song was super catchy. It defined my year abroad.

18. The Killers - Sam's Town (2006) - In comparison to their debut album Hot Fuss, Sam's Town is just a fantastic record because it works as an idea. I'm not even sure it was a concept album, but that's what I got from it. It's a lot tighter than their first release and they really seemed to fine-tune their presence with it.

19. Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006) - Another fantastic pop album. I don't even really know what to say, except I find myself listening to this every once in awhile.

20. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007) - This isn't on here for its content; rather, In Rainbows is significant because it was the first album to be released on the internet by the band themselves and then people were allowed to choose how much they wanted to pay for it. Even nothing. Good job Radiohead for trying to change the digital music industry.

It seems like after 2007, there wasn't anything significant on my list. That's not true; there are some bands I would've liked to put on, but hey, I needed to keep this list short. On the other hand, everything released after 2007 that would be on this list are just other albums from artists already on here.

As for movies, I can't really make a list because I don't own a lot movies from the last few years and it's not as easy to look at as my music in iTunes. (Yay sorting by year.) However, I think for me the most significant movie(s) this decade has to be The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I don't think I've met anyone that hasn't seen these movies.

On a more personal note, this decade is probably the first that I can remember in its entirety. I remember exactly where I was and whom I was with when I rang in the new millenium. This decade, I got both my high school and bachelor degrees, started working on my master's, and have lived in Germany for a total of three years. In essence, I've become what some may consider an adult, which is a bit strange to think about.

Who knows what will happen in the next decade, but I do have my guesses....Let's get ready for the 10s!!! (teens? tens? How will we even say them?)

Soundtrack 2009

2009-12-10T14:29:00.003+01:00

As the end of the year draws near, a lot of reflection is usually done. My sister Tracie wrote an entry on her blog of the same title and I thought it a good idea. I haven't made a yearly soundtrack since I left college, but I got inspired from my sister's entry. So here are some songs that represent 2009 for me:

1. Franz Ferdinand "Ulysses" - This song kept me going on the S-bahn platform at 6:30 in the morning quite often when it first came out. I had been anticipating the release of their album "Tonight: Franz Ferdinand" and it didn't disappoint. Not to mention that I won tickets for their show in November and I was so excited to hear this live.

2. The Living End "Hey Hey Disbeliever" - The Living End came on tour to Europe and their album White Noise was finally released over here (still hasn't been released in the U.S. to my knowledge). Too bad I didn't see them on their second go around, but I gave up that opportunity to save money for Paul McCartney. (More on that in a bit) But The Living End was still amazing live, though I hadn't seen them in quite a bit. This song just rocks.

3. Green Day "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" - I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that Green Day's audience gets younger and younger while I get older. I was disappointed that they didn't play this song when I saw them, in addition to the fact that they didn't sing "Welcome to Paradise." (C'mon, Green Day!) I'm not sure I would say the album 21st Century Breakdown was a highlight of this year, though I had been excited for the album's release. There was certainly better music released, but Green Day's music has developed into a style that's definitely better for arena shows. And they definitely are a good arena show.

4. Katy Perry "Hot n Cold" - Yup, a pop song. This song for me was really infectious. The link I put up is to a Twilight parody with "Hot n Cold" in it. It's pretty hilarious. I'm by no means a Twilight fan (actually, far from it. I hate it), but somehow the song is super-fitting. "Hot n Cold" was also everywhere here for awhile.

5. Calexico "The Crystal Frontier (Widescreen Version)" - Ok, this song is old. And yes, I saw Calexico in October 2008. Doesn't matter. This song is just pure awesomeness and it was on my iPod on repeat.

Besides these five songs, this song was actually dominated by The Beatles. Sure, their last recorded album, Abbey Road, was released 40 years ago, but this year was almost like 1995-1996 when the Anthology was released. For one, the digital remasters were released. Admittedly, I haven't heard them yet except for Abbey Road and Let it Be (which I bought separately since they were released only in stereo) because they're waiting for me at home in the U.S. unopened, so I can't tell you if they're good or not. But there were so many reviews about them that it was as if new Beatles albums had been released. According to some, these remastered CDs were like experiencing the albums for the first time. The Beatles: Rock Band was also released, but I haven't bought it nor played it out of fear that it will destroy my perception of the music. Maybe we'll see about that in the future.

In addition to the remastered CDs' release, I went to Liverpool, home of the Fab Four. And finally, I'll be seeing Paul McCartney in a week in the Köln Arena. So besides the five songs above, I'd have to add these particular songs:

6. The Beatles "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" - I think this medley is just amazing, especially because The Beatles knew that this was the last album they would record together. It's a pretty good ending, isn't it? (Ok, if you don't count "Her Majesty.")

7. The Beatles "Maggie Mae" - Until I went to Liverpool, I didn't realize how this song is sung with their Scouser accent. I think I have a better appreciation for it because of my trip.

8. Paul McCartney "Only Mama Knows" - Because I'm seeing Paul next week, I bought his album Memory Almost Full. When it first came out, I was originally against it because it was released through Starbucks, but after a first listen, I actually really liked it. I'm pretty sure he'll be playing this song next week, so to say the least, I'm excited.

I cannot wait to hear the mono remastered CDs when I get home in a week and a half.

Liverpool, England: A Pilgrimage

2009-09-18T13:05:00.004+02:00

Liverpool. Liverpool? I needed to get out of Germany (sometimes it happens) and having been to London several times before, Liverpool seemed perfect. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge Beatles fan. Christian had to go to Munich for a few days for work, so going by myself seemed ideal; I wouldn't have to drag anyone only vaguely interested around with me doing Beatles-related stuff. Plus, I had been to London so many times before, but I had never seen any other parts of England. Lastly, I just wanted some time by myself (again, sometimes it happens).

I spent a little less than 72 hours in the city on the River Mersey, but I did everything I could, whether or not it related to the Beatles. I really loved Albert Dock; it's so beautiful and just cool. It doesn't exude an air of poshness (for crying out loud, it was a dock used for industry), but somehow it's very elegant, tranquil, and charming. The restaurants there are surprisingly very affordable, the Tate Liverpool is free, as are the other museums. And I just absolutely adore the red brick stone with the black paneled windows. It would be really fantastic to live there, though I can only wonder how much apartments there cost. The Liverpool Cathedral is the fifth largest in the world (depending on the criteria, because it could actually be the largest and one of the longest) and when you enter it, it's really breathtaking how huge it is. I thought it was far more impressive than the Cologne Cathedral and it's much brighter, too.

Slightly north of Albert Dock are the Three Graces at the Pier Head (the Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building, and Port of Liverpool Building). They're also really very impressive and make for a gorgeous skyline, albeit completely different than the towering skylines of New York and Hong Kong. And that's the thing: Liverpool isn't a big city, but it's incredibly pleasant, laid back, and has a lot of personality. It's a mix of old (Three Graces, Albert Dock, Liverpool Cathedral, little English houses) with the super modern (Liverpool ONE, Chavasse Park, new developments) and the people are really super friendly, though if you come across someone with a really thick Scouse accent, it's a bit harder to understand. I certainly heard some people that reminded me of Brad Pitt's character in Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels. However, when I've been alone in London, people seemed to pity me or think it was weird. Not so in Liverpool. Nobody seemed to think twice of it, though they were first surprised. Maybe it's because they get so many crazy Beatles fans coming by themselves, ha.

On Wednesday, I took a Fab Four Taxi Tour thinking that because I was by myself, they'd probably stick me with a group of two or three other people. Nope. I got a private tour all by myself! My tour guide, Alan, picked me up at my hotel at exactly the time I had requested and we drove all over the city. He was extraordinarily knowledgeable and informative and not just about Beatles things. We talked about how the city was a European City of Culture last year, how it changed a lot of things (real estate prices, for example), what the city is really like. We went everywhere: John, Paul, George, and Ringo's childhood homes, Brian Epstein's apartment where he let John & Cynthia stay after they married, Penny Lane, Strawberry Field, the place where John & Paul met for the first time...It was really a pilgrimage of sorts for any Beatles fan and it really gives you a new perspective.

After the tour, I did the Beatles Story Museum, which long story short, is not worth it if you're a hardcore fan. Nothing new was presented. Afterward, I went to the Cavern Club. The original Cavern Club was torn down years ago, but a few doors down is another Cavern Club that recreates the original. Admittedly, it was a bit strange to go alone and have a beer by myself since it was the first time I've ever been to a bar without anyone, but I chatted to a guy old enough to be my dad who worked for the Conservation Society (or something along those lines...preserving buildings in Liverpool). He was also alone, but seemed to have had a bit much to drink. But the anonymity of talking to a complete stranger and leaving it at that is one of the thrills of traveling alone...these acquaintances you make for about an hour or two and leave it at that.

However, being in the Cavern Club, or a reproduction of the original, was really exciting. I could just imagine how sweaty, stuffy, smoky, and loud it must've been. Sitting in the corner, I could imagine the Beatles on stage as the Quarry Men with a gaggle of girls in front of them, screaming their support and encouragement. Today, there's no smoking allowed (as in all English bars) and the place is filled with mostly picture-taking tourists eager, like me, to experience what it must've been like. Instead of the Beatles (or Quarry Men) on stage, there was a John Lennon impersonator dressed with the "New York City" shirt and "granny glasses" singing Beatles and Lennon songs acoustically. He did a pretty good job and looked the part, except for the fact that he had a beer gut and was a little heavier than John ever was (at least based on pictures I've seen, even in comparison to his "fat Elvis phase" during the filming of Help!.) Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and being with oodles of other Beatles fans belting out tunes and drinking beer.

The only thing I hated about Liverpool was the fashion. I'm not sure if this is just in Liverpool or if it's taking over England, but dear God, the 80s are back in full force. I saw sequined dresses with big shoulders, neon colors like nowhere else, animal prints in non-animal print colors (for example, green zebra stripes, dark blue leopard print), blazers with a horrible cut, girls wearing their hair big and with bows in them (I kid you not), horrible colored make-up that is very heavy, big t-shirts being worn with only leggings with stirrups. I went shopping thinking I could find some interesting clothing, and interesting is a word you could use to describe the fashion, but I would describe it more as "vomit-inducing." I really hate 80s fashion. I really hate animal prints (especially leopard print). I really hate neon. And so, sorry, Liverpool, but I hate the fashion at the moment. Terrible.

However, I know I'll be back in Liverpool someday. It's such a lovely city and the people are so open. Plus, I still need to go to the Casbah Coffee Club and see where John, George, and Pete Best decorated it and played there as the Quarry Men (Paul included of course). However, for the non-Beatles fans, Liverpool is a much more affordable city than London and has a lot to offer in terms of shopping, eating, and site-seeing. Well, the shopping options are there, but the fashion is something else entirely. Hopefully that'll change. Otherwise, it was a well-needed break from Germany.

And here are a few other pictures that I though were relevant for the trip or that I liked, though you can see them all on my Flickr set:

The walkway on Albert Dock along the Mersey in black & white

A statue of Billy Fury, another famous Scouser, at sunset on Albert Dock

Me at Strawberry Field, or what remains of it

The place where John & Paul met for the first time.
A plaque on the wall commemorates the event that changed history.

Visiting the Troops in Landstuhl Medical Center

2009-07-30T21:18:00.005+02:00

Although I've lived here for three years already, there's always something new to experience, even if it has to do with my own country. On July 18, I went down to Kaiserslautern with some fellow members of the Democrats Abroad to visit the soldiers in the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. We wanted to do it to show them our appreciation for their sacrifices and hard work that they've done, plus it's always fun to spend the day with some fellow Americans.

Nine of us went down and I was the only one who had ever been on an American base before (I found this strange, but then again, I never know what to expect from people anymore). I think it might've came as a surprise that security is so tight even for American civilians trying to get on base. Our guide, Staff Sergeant Griffin, had been on call because a plane full of soldiers had arrived earlier in the morning at 1 a.m. By the time we got to the base at around 1:30 p.m, she was obviously exhausted but nonetheless cheerful and informative.

We got a basic but in-depth introduction from a Navy Sergeant Griffin (no relation to our guide) who informed us of the inner workings of the Landstuhl Medical Center. To my astonishment, the majority of soldiers are not there due to "battle injuries" (gun shot wounds, being burned after an explosion, etc.), but because they got sick on their deployment or because they have regular every day injuries (breaking an arm playing football, dropping a pan of hot oil or something while cooking, etc.). Landstuhl is also the first stop for anyone "down range," that is, in Iraq or Afghanistan, though people stationed in other parts of the world (the Balkans, eastern Europe, Africa) may also end up there. If soldiers are well enough to be transferred, they won't stay in Landstuhl long; the majority only stay for two or three days up to fourteen days and then are brought to hospitals in the States. If they recover (from illness, for example), however, they will be sent back to their place of deployment.

We then got a tour of the facility itself and it's no different from any other hospital you would see in the U.S. They even have a maternity ward! OK, maybe there were a few obvious differences, like the fact that many of the people walking around have some sort of camouflage clothing on. Even some of the doctors and nurses worked in camo-scrubs. Additionally, there were some signs that were in both German and English, but for the most part, it's not super noticeable. The hospital also didn't have a very hospital-y smell to it and frankly I don't know why that is. But the cafeteria served American food, there was a convenience store with American goods, even the vending machines only accepted dollars. (We actually had to ask Staff Sergeant Griffin if she had any extra dollar bills since none of us had any on us and some people were dying to get to the Reese's Pieces.)

The highlight though was being able to talk to some of the patients. I had the opportunity to speak with two soldiers: an older man suffering from pancreatitis and a young 19-year-old suffering from pneumonia. Both had been stationed in Afghanistan; the former had been in Landstuhl only a few days and could barely get any sort of food or water in his system and the latter had just arrived the morning we got there. What was really interesting was that both soldiers were really sad, even disappointed, that they couldn't be in Afghanistan. They felt that they were actually helping the people there and making a difference. The first soldier's job was to help locals get electricity (I think) and the second searched for improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Though the jobs were quite different, both soldiers believed that they were helping improve lives in Afghanistan little by little and that the media's portrayal of the situation focused too heavily on the negative. And they're right: why couldn't the media focus more on the positive aspects? The obvious answer is that nobody cares about good news and that it doesn't sell; however, I think it would really give people a different perspective of things if we got these personal stories out there.

The soldiers seemed to be appreciative of our visit and bringing them (German) chocolate and toiletries seemed to brighten them up a little bit. We also thanked the nursing staff for all that they do and they were really excited to get some chocolate as well. It was truly a perspective-changing experience to know that soldiers aren't going there for mostly battle wounds at the moment; the situations in Afghanistan and Iraq are not nearly as bad as we think they are. The soldiers were also just glad to know that there were people in the outside world thinking of them and that they haven't just been forgotten (especially since the withdrawl of American troops from Iraqi cities). I think it's really important for their morale to know that and it's quite obvious from the fact that everyone who was there when President Obama visited in June was completely pumped to talk about the experience. It wasn't even when he had been in Germany when he went to Buchenwald with Angela Merkel; it was a separate visit with no media, no cameras, not even the remotest hint of planning. It was simply just to visit the troops and say thanks. And because of the way it happened, I think it really made an impact on the soldiers.

Besides visiting soldiers who were confined to the wards, we also had the opportunity to visit a little building run by the USO. There, soldiers who could move around and get around on their own could watch movies, play on XBoxes or Wiis, play cards, cook, check their email, video record themselves reading a book to their children, read books, or call home. Essentially, it's to make the soldiers feel a little closer to home while being away. We donated a poker set and the volunteers were so excited because they could now hold a Texas Hold 'Em tournament with more people. It was really wonderful to see what the USO does for our troops to make them as comfortable as possible, so if you want to do something for our troops, check what the USO needs...they always could use something!

The last thing I want to say about the Landstuhl visit is that it really did change a lot of our perspectives. The wars (missions, jobs, whatever you want to call it) in Iraq and Afghanistan are far from over and there's a lot of work still to be done. Though the events don't make really big headlines like they used to, we can't forget that people are still over there risking their lives trying to improve the lives of others. Normally I don't like being super political with my blog, but I think it's something we really need to be more aware of.

Free Music: The Rheinkultur Festival in Bonn

2009-07-05T14:20:00.005+02:00

July 4th weekend was the Rheinkultur Festival in Bonn, which is one of the biggest free open air festivals in Germany. If you want to see a full list of bands, you can see it here. I went with Christian, his friend Nils and his brother Titus and met up with Felix, Claudia, and Freddie. Because the festival was free, the crowd was an incredibly colorful motley of people: parents with their baby carriages (no joke), teenagers, older people, punks, wiggas, skaters, hipsters, techno enthusiasts, etc. Additionally, people were more willing to spend money on beer and food, as well as not staying for the entire length of the festival. It was probably very good exposure for any of the bands that don't have a huge following and probably just plain fun for any of the more popular bands. The only band I actually knew was No Use for a Name and we didn't actually stay for them since we needed to drive back to Düsseldorf. For a free all-day music festival, I had a few observations.

First, each stage was pretty much divided up into genre. The blue stage was probably the most diverse with more mainstream hip-hop and some rock, the red stage mostly appealed to the alternative/punk crowd, the green stage was for jazz enthusiasts (I think...we didn't go), the "Tanzberg" was for techno junkies, and the last little stage was definitely for hip-hop and rap people. Because the stages were divided, the types of people were also quite obviously divided through fashion. For example, the techno stage had all half-naked people dancing around in some sort of trance, whereas the hip-hop stage was pretty much just a bunch of wiggas with their flat-visored baseball caps, oversized t-shirts, and low-hanging pants. I don't want to just describe stereotypes, but really, that's what it was. Additionally, it was also funny because you could almost see or know what drugs were being taken at each stage. The red stage's drug of choice was most likely just alcohol, perhaps with speed, the Tanzberg stage was most certainly ecstasy, and the little hip-hop stage was quite obviously weed. Because the blue stage was the most diverse stage, you couldn't really say one particular group of people hung around there and therefore, the drugs there were also probably a mix.

Another observation is the sheer number of parents that brought small children with them. We definitely saw several baby carriages and parents carrying their kids in their arms. Maybe a stupid question, but seriously, who brings babies and small children to music festivals? I suppose the answer lies in the fact that it was free because otherwise, I would think no parent in their right mind would pay to bring a kid to a music festival. However, despite the fact that it was free, I personally wouldn't want to schlep my kid all over the place on a hot day where there are lots of inebriates. Not only that, I would think it would be tedious bringing a little person around from stage to stage. At some point, I'm sure they will just say they've had enough and you certainly can't force a child to do something like you can force your friend (then again, some friends are like 5-year-olds anyway.)

Oh and my last comment is about the picture above...In Germany, it's actually illegal to jaywalk/cross on red. People will yell sometimes yell at me if I cross the street without waiting, especially if they are a) old people or b) parents with their children. I've gotten old people yelling at me saying that young people are a disgrace to society. With parents, I get that I'm a bad person because I cross and that the kid shouldn't follow what I do. They shouldn't follow what I do anyway because I'm a stranger, though, right? However, in Bonn, they have these signs all over the place: "Nur bei Grün den Kindern zum Vorbild." A rough translation would be, "Only on green. Be a role model for the children." We were all laughing at this because, hey, don't cross on red because it's illegal, just don't cross on red because you should be a role model for kids. These are the things when I think to myself, "Ha ha, I live in Germany. Only in Germany would you find something like this!"

Germans, Concerts, Soccer, & Awkward Silences

2009-04-26T15:11:00.005+02:00

Last night I went to see The Living End in the Gloria Theater in Cologne. I've gone to a whole bunch of concerts since living here, but it only occurred to me last night that Germans turn everything into a soccer game. Well, I suppose they turn everything into a soccer game only if there is chanting and large groups of people involved. Certain cheers don't really transfer well from the soccer field (err, football pitch?) to a concert environment. For example, "Olé, olé, olé, olé, olé, olé." I'm sure you've heard it if you've ever seen or been to a soccer game, but seriously, people. How does that cheer work for a band?? It doesn't.

Additionally, Germans love to clap. I may have mentioned this before, but they'll clap to a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. Whether it's your "typical" German music, what's called Schlagermusik (here's a link to an example and you can actually hear the clapping with it), pop music, or in the case of last night, punk, clapping can be heard. Of course, they even clap in sync with each other at soccer games. I don't know what it is, but clapping is everywhere except at the university. Instead of clapping after a lecture is done, students knock on the desks. But back to last night...sure, there are points when the band encourages clapping in sync to the beat, but then other songs where there really isn't a beat to clap to, Germans manage to somehow clap. I've heard the excuse for this is that parents will clap out syllables for their kids to learn new words because German words are so long (like Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung, meaning speed limit, which is actually longer than the longest English word, antidisestablishmentarianism). So, for the word meaning speed limit, they'll clap out "Ge-schwin-di-keits-be-gren-zung." I'm not sure if that has to do with listening to punk music, but sure, why not.

What was also funny about last night that doesn't necessarily have to do with soccer is the crowd itself. It was so strange because every time the Living End would finish a song, people would clap and cheer for about 5 to 10 seconds before stopping completely. And then it'd be kind of quiet while everyone waited for the band to start the next song. I thought this was a little awkward because almost every other I've been to, people will continue clapping and cheering until the next song starts or the band says something. Even the lead singer/guitarist Chris mentioned it, saying the last time they were in Germany, the crowd was a little rowdier and noisier. Funny enough, everyone booed to this comment (I cheered because I was glad that someone said it), but I wanted to say, people, it's your own fault!

I think this might have to do with the fact that Germans are ok with awkward silences. I know as an American, it's kind of weird if you meet someone for the first time and then there's a lull in the conversation. It's almost as if you're saying, "Well, we don't have much to say to each other, so that's why we've run out of things to say. Therefore, we probably won't be great friends." Or in the case of a date, you probably think you've run out of things to say and you're not compatible. So as an American, I thought it was strange last night to have a break in cheering and clapping. It was almost as if the crowd was saying, "You're good, but not good enough for me to keep showing my appreciation for you." However, Germans are ok with awkward silences when you're talking to someone for the first time. They don't really think anything of it. I was thinking that perhaps the audience last night wasn't not appreciative, they just deemed it not necessary to have to exaggerate or anything like that (if that makes sense).

A video of The Living End rocking out.
Not sure if it was improvised, but very awesome nonetheless.

Although I've been here in Germany for almost 3.5 years, there are still things I will never quite get and will still laugh at. I suppose as much as I am well-integrated (or like to think so, at least), there are still things where I'm super American.

Asia Trip Week 3: Singapore

2009-04-19T18:40:00.005+02:00

The final leg of our trip was in Singapore where we stayed with my aunt, uncle, and cousins in the heart of the city near River Valley Road. Considering that Beijing had been hardcore culture and Hong Kong hardcore shopping with a touch of culture, Singapore was a week of relaxation and enjoying the sun (which we don't have too much of in the winter in Germany).

The last time I was in Singapore was in 2000 as a 15-year-old that didn't eat much besides typical American cuisine. This time around, I was psyched to try (almost) everything. I still don't eat seafood at all, but we went out with my aunt and uncle to get some Sri Lankan crab and other seafood for Christian. I got some tofu and lamb instead which was also delicious. One day we went out for lunch at a hawker market, which is very typical Singaporean. It's pretty much like a an outdoor food court with a bunch of little food stalls serving various dishes between $3 Sing and $10 Sing (about 1.50€ and 5€). I got some laksa, which is best described as a curry noodle bowl with a coconut milk based soup, but Christian, my aunt, uncle, and their friend Robert got a whole slew of other dishes: oyster omelet, crispy pork, some noodle dish, some sort of sandwich, and Singaporean shaved ice which is a hell of a lot brighter than American shaved ice.

Singaporean shaved ice

Some stalls at the hawker market

One day we also went out for high tea at the Shangri-La Hotel. I think I had been there 9 years ago on my second trip to Singapore, but again, I was more keen this time around to try different foods. My aunt said that you could definitely see signs of the recession because the buffet there was scaled back a bit. Additionally, there weren't very many people there in general, whereas a year or two ago, it would've been packed.

We did some typical tourist things for Singapore: the Night Safari, the Zoo, Jurong Bird Park, a day at the beach on Sentosa Island. The Night Safari was probably a highlight because we saw tons of animals prowling around. The last time I had been to the Night Safari was back in 1994 when it had just opened. I remember Lannie and I were more fascinated by the geckos at the tram stations than any of the animals because a lot of the animals weren't actually visible (kind of like the dinosaurs on the dinosaur tour in Jurassic Park). Fifteen years later, the Night Safari really has expanded a lot and there were animals everywhere. I also really liked how they urge visitors to be mindful of wildlife and how they are trying to get people aware of threatened and endangered animals. I think Jurong Bird Park also expanded in comparison to the first time we were there 15 years ago, and again, the park is done really well and for the most part, the animals have enough free range or run around free (er, fly around).

It was a nice week being able to relax and enjoy the sun and recharge our batteries. We also did a little shopping (more like Christian did), went to the movies and saw Fanboys, and basically, enjoyed our last week of vacation. Though it was my third time visiting, I still think I couldn't live in Singapore because of the climate. It's still hot and humid and probably will always be and it's just not my favorite climate at all. If you want to see more pictures from Singapore, you can see them as a Flickr set here. (And there are a lot of food pictures!)

Asia Trip Week 2: Hong Kong, China

2009-04-13T15:19:00.012+02:00

I've been really terrible about updating my blog about what happened on our Asia trip...but here's what happened in Hong Kong:

We stayed with my friend Derek (who I think I actually starting talking to more post-college than during) in the heart of the city, Causeway Bay. The first impression of Hong Kong was that it is definitely more westernized than Beijing and the people are more, well, sophisticated. I got the feeling that the majority of women there only wear heels and rarely wear flats and definitely not sneakers (even ones that might be considered "fashionable" like Converses). Derek's guess was that the women are short and therefore feel like they need to compensate for their height deficiency. Additionally, the women are just plain fashionable and I felt out of place in skinny jeans and a black t-shirt, which in most other places is just kind of neutral. Not in Hong Kong. The men there aren't noticeably different than in western countries, but in comparison to Beijing, men weren't spitting on the floor everywhere. Lastly, in terms of sophistication, everyone there has the newest, sickest, most modern cell phones possible. Christian and I thought that cell phones there are more of a status symbol than anywhere here in Germany. The iPhone is everywhere and most likely all are cracked, but cell phone technology seemed more prevalent in HK than it did in Beijing.

I really liked Hong Kong because I felt like it was one of the few places on Earth where I felt like I truly fit in, in terms of way of life. It's this strange mix of Chinese and Western culture and the majority of Hong Kong people speak a mix of Cantonese and English. So if I didn't know a word in Cantonese while speaking it, I just threw it out in English, but people didn't hesitate or give me a second look. The attitude was more, "Sure, whatever, I get what you're saying." For example, we got ice cream at Ben & Jerry's and I know how to say, "I want one..." but I didn't know how to read or say the flavor (coffee, coffee, buzz, buzz, buzz). I just said, "Ngoh yiu yut goh coffee, coffee, buzz, buzz, buzz." And it worked. (And I apologize if my Romanization makes no sense to anyone who can actually read the Romanization of Cantonese.)

The symbol of Hong Kong at a flower show in Victoria Park

Additionally, I started picking up words and phrases really quickly and making connections between things I had never done before. For example, everywhere you go, there are warnings to mind the gap, mind your head, mind the wet floor, etc. In Cantonese, they just say "siu sum" which I always thought to mean "be careful," which it does. However, translated literally, it means "little heart" and I hadn't associated the words "siu" with little and "sum" with heart (which is also the same "sum" as in "dim sum"), even though I know both "siu" and "sum." I'm not sure if my explanation makes any sense whatsoever, but I've never thought about what "siu sum" literally meant. I guess the best way to explain it is the word "Frühstück" for Germans. It means breakfast, but the two words "früh" and "Stück" mean "early thing," but Germans never think of it as an "early thing," just as "breakfast."

In terms of tourism, Hong Kong doesn't have nearly as many historical and cultural sites as Beijing. Notable things were the Victoria Peak (where all the British colonists went when the heat got unbearable because it's cooler there), the Tian Tan Buddha run by the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, and some of old colonial buildings leftover from the British. A lot of people say that the New York skyline is impressive and don't get me wrong, it is, but the Hong Kong skyline keeps on going for what seems like forever. We went up to the Peak at night and the skyline is really a sight to see. There aren't really words for it, so I'm just posting a picture.

We also went to HK Disneyland (which is also out on Lantau Island) for a day because I've been to the two in the U.S. and the one in Tokyo, so I figured, hey, I just need to go to Euro Disney and HK Disney to have been to all of them. The park was rather small and we did it in a half day, but it was still fun and just nice to be able to not really do anything super intense. I actually convinced Christian to ride Space Mountain (which is more modern than the Space Mountain in Orlando). He doesn't like roller coasters at all and when we got off, his hands were shaking and he just kept saying, "Nope, I am NOT going on it again!" HK Disneyland is definitely more for little kids than it is for people of all ages like Disneyworld in Orlando and I don't think I'd go back.

The main thing to do in Hong Kong, however, is shopping. Hong Kong people love to shop and an attestation to this is the copious amount of malls and stores. We did a good amount of shopping ourselves in some outlets out in Tung Chung, around Causeway Bay, and the Times Square Bazaar. When we went to the Times Square Bazaar, there was an outlet sale of Diane von Fürstenberg and Kate Spade stuff, so I got some really good deals on some DvF dresses. However, there were these "bazaar" sales all over for HK. We also went to one for "young fashion," where they had stuff like Miss Sixty and Carhartt (the fashionable stuff) for cheap. If you ever go to Hong Kong, you just need to look out for signs for them.

The Hong Kong skyline from Victoria Peak

The other thing to do in Hong Kong is eat. We had dim sum a lot because it's not readily available here in Germany, plus it's fun just to see the carts go by and order what you want. There were some restaurants where you have to order everything on a piece of paper and it'll be brought out, which for me was sometimes difficult because I can't read anything. I know in one restaurant I told the waiter in Cantonese that I can't read Chinese and he laughed in his puzzlement. That day, Christian was also sick and didn't eat anything, so I ate three little plates of the dim sum and 3/4 of a noodle dish by myself. The same waiter proceeded to tell me he was super impressed about how much I ate and wondering why Christian wasn't eating. He asked if he was a picky Westerner, to which I told him what was wrong. And all in Cantonese. Again, I was impressed about how much I could say and understand.

We also went out to Macao (also spelled Macau) on our last day. It was really crowded leaving HK and went by boat. The ride was about an hour and once we got to Macao, we had to go through Macanese customs. All I can say is: What a pain. We waited in line for an hour and had to deal with mainland Chinese shoving everyone and getting into fights with the Hong Kongers about who was in line first, etc. Once we got to the city, we went to see São Paulo's Cathedral (or the remains of it) and the old Portuguese fortress at the top of the hill. But other than that, the only other thing to see in Macao are the casinos (useless for us since we don't gamble). The city isn't exactly what I would say pretty. There are corners where there is a clear mainland European influence as opposed to Hong Kong and everyone has a scooter like a Vespa, but really, Hong Kong is much better and more interesting.

I think all in all, Hong Kong is definitely a place where I can imagine living and definitely more so than Beijing. It's a high-paced city like New York and we were lucky to have good weather. It's not overly expensive (though in comparison to say, Berlin, it is), the quality of life is good, and it has a lot to offer for the people who live there. Here are more of my Hong Kong/Macao pictures on my Flickr page.

Asia Trip Week 1: Beijing, China

2009-04-05T13:22:00.010+02:00

During the month of March, Christian and I took a three week vacation to Asia and the first stop was in Beijing, China. Rather than detailing everything we did since that can be found on Wikipedia, I'm just going to write my impressions of each place. In Beijing, we stayed with my friend Zach from college, which was really great since he was able to show us places where we wouldn't normally go and ordered very local dishes. The first thing he actually did was give us a roll of toilet paper, saying, "First rule of living in Beijing: Always have a roll of toilet paper with you. You're going to need it and you'll be grateful that you have it." This wound up being very, very true and we were thankful that he had given us the tip. Many of the public restrooms don't have toilet paper in them at all, even at some of the more touristy spots.

Our first day was mostly dealing with bureaucracy and getting the correct paperwork to register at the local police station, saying that we were residing with a friend for a week. All visitors to China are required to do it, but if you stay at a hotel, the hotel usually does it for you. Afterward, we walked around a little bit around his neighborhood where there are a lot of embassies, as well as Russian businesses. It was interesting because where he lives is almost like Little Russia; the Russians are the biggest minority in Beijing and all of their businesses have Cyrillic writing on them. We decided to take the first day easy since we were jet lagged, but it was also good just to get a sense of what the city is like.

The next day, we woke up early and went out to get breakfast with Zach. He got us these things called "jian bang," which was a crepe-like thing with (maybe) hoisin and a spicy sauce on it, a crunchy bread thing, an egg, some sort of seeds, and cilantro all freshly made and wrapped up for a mere 6 RMB for the two of us, about 0.60€. It was so delicious and cheap that we ate this almost every morning and realized that Zach was right: eating out in China is so cheap that it's not worth it to cook for yourself. The three of us could go out and eat a full, well-made meal for about 100 RMB (about 10.80€) and that would be considered on the expensive side. Most of the time when we ate with Zach, it definitely cost less than 100 kuai (that's like saying "bucks" or "quid" in China) and we of course had no qualms about it.

The highlight of being in Beijing was probably Wednesday when we went on a hiking tour with the Beijing Hikers to the Great Wall, Jiankou to Mutianyu. Zach works for the company and suggested we do it, even if the tour was rated a level 4 (more difficult). I had brought my running sneakers for the occasion, and man, was I glad! We started out in a small village, hiked up the side of a mountain (or extraordinarily steep hill) where we had some great views of the surrounding area, and finally reached the Great Wall that was about 1100 meters above sea level. The part of the Wall where we began was completely unrestored, overgrown, and wild with trees and grass poking up between the crumbling bricks. After taking a break at a lookout, we hiked along the Wall to a part called Ox Horn's Ridge that was super steep, almost a 90º angle, then had to climb down the ridge. To say the least, it was good that we had hiking sticks from the Beijing Hikers, though they weren't much use on the way down because the steps were worn away and it was more helpful grabbing onto sides of the crumbling Wall (I slipped and fell on my butt). At some point, we finally reached a restored part of the Wall called Mutianyu which made things a lot easier, though there were still tons of stairs to climb down.

Along the restored parts, there were locals selling drinks to tourists, consistently asking, "Beer? Coke? You want drink?" One man stopped us, asking where we were from, and Zach, as tour guide, conversed with him. The old man asked specifically where Christian's from and laughed upon finding out he is German. He said that Christian looked too "stupid" ("saw" in Chinese) to be American like the rest of us there at the moment because he didn't look like he would vote for Bush. It turned out that the old man was a Bush supporter because he believed Bush did a lot of good things for China, whereas Obama wouldn't be good for the country. So to him, Christian didn't look smart enough to vote for Bush.

By the end of the 12 kilometer (8 mile) hike, our legs were tired and we were hungry for lunch. Everyone paid to take the tobaggan down the mountain, which was super fun. I tried to make a video of part of the way down, but at the same time, I didn't want to be so involved making the video that I would miss the ride. Afterwards, we took a short bus ride to a small restaurant still in the countryside where we had everything pre-ordered for us. Though the restaurant was outside and very unassuming, the food was great (not to mentioned included in the price of the tour). I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Beijing to do a hike with the Beijing Hikers because it was something we wouldn't do normally and we saw things we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Other than that, Beijing is at times a modern time city where it's a free-for-all with traffic, but at the same time, still sort of backwards. Then again, "backwards" is a bit subjective. For example, I had been told that little kids run around with slits in their pants so that they can urinate and defecate easily in the street when necessary. I thought this couldn't be true, but we saw this in action at the Summer Palace when a little boy with said slit was allowed to pee on a tree in the middle of the path. Additionally, squat toilets are common, which I have no problem with. It's when there is no privacy between the holes in the ground that's problematic. Even worse is when there are stalls with doors on them and then women pay no regard to the doors, squatting down and going. I was appalled that this actually happened, but their attitude towards this sort of privacy is completely indifferent.

Beijing is also very polluted and we were lucky to have good weather while there. There were one or two days when we couldn't see buildings in front of us because of the smog, but when we looked directly up, the sky was blue. The day we went to the Forbidden City was incredibly windy, which made visibility very clear, but also the day was really, really cold. I got a bit of a sore throat from the air, as well as a rash from the undrinkable water. Though it sounds much worse than it really was, it's apparently normal when people move to Beijing and get a throat infection within the first month of living there. All in all, however, the city was definitely incredible to visit and there is so much cultural stuff to see. The food was great and cheap, the people friendly (though they tended to laugh once they figured out I couldn't speak Mandarin), the public transportation easy, and in general, the city was also cheap by western standards.

And, as I said earlier and because people often say that a picture is worth a thousand words, you can check out the 365 pictures from Beijing I took as a set on my Flickr account.

Wetten, Dass...The Ultimate TV Show

2009-03-01T17:57:00.006+01:00

Anyone who's ever talked to me about German television has heard of Wetten, dass... You can read about the first time I saw it here. Long story short: It's this crazy show with weird talents that celebrities bet on and it's on once a month. It's also the most popular TV show in German speaking countries here in Europe. I've been applying to get tickets for the show ever since I got back to Germany with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program, even if the show was being taped in cities like Mannheim or Leipzig, where I have no connections.

I finally got tickets for last night's show here in Düsseldorf, where the guests were Jennifer Aniston & Owen Wilson promoting Marley & Me, Boris Becker and on-and-off-girlfriend Lilly Kerssenberger, the Oscar winner for best animated short Jochen Alexander Freydank, and German actors Heike Makatsch, Andrea Sawatzki, and Heino Ferch. The musical guests were some band called Reamonn, German comedian Hape Kerkeling as his (female) singer-character Uschi Blum, Duffy, and Oasis. Christian and I had seats in the third from last row, but I was nonetheless super excited to be there.

The first bet was a woman who said she could recognize which of her 30 dogs was drinking from a bowl solely from the noise the dog makes when drinking. She only had to name five dogs, but Owen Wilson said she wouldn't be able to do it. Because she could, he had to eat a dog biscuit and split it with Jennifer Aniston. She kept insisting, "But I said she could do it!" Host Thomas Gottschalk's reply was simply, "Well, you're a team, so too bad, you have to eat the half." Only on German television could you get an American celebrity to do something like that! The entire time that the two were there, Jennifer Aniston kept looking around in disbelief (like the most American celebrities do when on Wetten, dass...) At one point, Thomas Gottschalk actually just said to her, "See? This is what we do on German television...every week!" To say the least, she looked shocked, confused, and in disbelief. It was pretty amusing.

The highlight of the night had to definitely be the Außenwette (outside bet), which was held on one of the runways at the Düsseldorf Airport. The bet was that while a man rode his motorcycle on the back wheel, his partner could change the front tire. I've been watching the show for about three years and I have to say, this had to be the best outdoor bet that I've ever seen. Check out the video:

The motorcycle weighed around 400 kilograms if I recall correctly and to say the least, definitely one of the most dangerous bets I've ever seen.

If you want to see the highlights of the show, you can go to the ZDF Wetten, dass... site. The show lasted three hours, though it's usually only scheduled for two. It was certainly a good time, but considering the cost of the tickets (30€ per person) how early we had to get to the Messe where they were taping and then the show time itself, I don't think I would go again.

Karneval: Round 3

2009-02-23T17:24:00.006+01:00

In a way, holidays are a good way of keeping track of how long I've lived here in Germany. This past weekend was my third Karneval, though admittedly I don't think my first one will ever be topped. I also finally bought a costume (flight attendant), so I guess it will be my costume for years to come if I end up staying here in the area longer.

To say the least, Karneval has certainly lost its appeal to me. It's not as exciting as it was the first time around and in fact, I actually think it's really stressful having to get dressed up and party for five days straight. (I guess this is perhaps a sign of getting older, as well.) Oddly enough, I still don't know any songs except for Viva Colonia, which is actually only sung in Köln. It'd be practically blasphemous to play that here in Düsseldorf (imagine someone screaming about how great the Yankees are in front of Fenway Park in Boston when the Yankees aren't playing). However, it's nice now that I actually live here because if I get fed up with the drunken costumed crowds, I can come home by myself and be left in peace.

Though I didn't really celebrate Karneval last year, I have definitely noticed a change between my first one and this year. Some of our friends, Christian, and I stood at the same Platz that we did three years ago, but it was much quieter this year. There wasn't nearly as much singing and there weren't any speakers blasting traditional Karneval music. As a joke, I said, "Ha, it might be due to the recession," but then I thought about it, and perhaps that really is a reason. In Germany, if you want to play music in a public space (ie: a club, in the street), you actually have to pay for the rights to the music. If you don't, you may end up paying huge fines. I'm not exactly sure how the law works and how they check it, but I could imagine that with the economy the way it is, whoever usually sponsors the music might not have been able to afford it this year.

Another difference is attitudes towards American politics. Three years ago, we were in the middle of President Bush's second term and to say the least, he was not seen in a positive light. Here's a picture from 3 years ago that I also posted on my first blog entry about Karneval:
As you can see, President Bush is depicted as an ape holding a sign that says "Evolution ist eine Irrlehre," or "Evolution is heresy." Obviously, this was making fun of Bush's association with the religious movement in the U.S. and the desire to teach creationism in our public schools. It doesn't help that Bush is shown as something that hasn't evolved. (As a disclaimer, this does not reflect my political views whatsoever, I'm just giving my analysis of it.)

This year, I wasn't expecting anything different. I was actually thinking that there would be a float mocking Obama, whether for his appointment choices and the tax problems that his appointees have had, or for the stimulus package. To be honest, that's probably a little too deep into American politics, but I wasn't disappointed; this float was in the parade:
What a difference, right? I mean, Obama as an angel with his campaign slogan written on the wings?! Not to mention that there was a smaller angel with the EU flag on it behind Obama with the words, "We too!" on it (You can see a picture of that here). It's as if we're being welcomed back to the world with Obama as our president. But Obama as an angel? I suppose one could say that I'm looking way too much into the meaning of these floats, and I do realize they are supposed to be satirical, but I feel like there is always some truth to it.

On the less analytical side of Karneval, it was more interesting this year because I know more people than the past two years I've celebrated. And when I say "more people," I mean Germans who have celebrated Karneval since their births. It wasn't as if I was an outsider observing this tradition; I was actually there to celebrate with everyone. Though I do have to say it was pretty funny on Thursday night when I went out with Christian and his friends and one of my friends, Alison. Alison had the same flight attendant costume as I did, but just in a different color. We had decided independently that we wanted to be flight attendants, but we got the costumes together. Anyway, it's also really funny because Alison is Filipino by heritage and she's from a town only 15 minutes away from my hometown. When we were in this club/bar, there were guys coming up to us thinking we were alone and trying out pick up lines like, "I like Singapore Airlines!" and "I've been to Hong Kong; it was a great city." It's like, "Uhh, ok, great?" It certainly looked like we were by ourselves since we were dressed up the same and we're both Asian, but honestly, what kind of pick-up lines are those? Oh well. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me to take a picture of Alison & me as flight attendants, but I think Alison had her camera, so maybe I'll get the picture from her. But back to the pick-up lines, I guess I will never escape cheesy lines like that one.

If you want to see all my Karneval pictures from this year, you can see them here.

Germany & Minorities

2009-01-14T15:52:00.005+01:00

With Barack Obama's election in November, many Europeans are asking themselves if their own countries could ever have a minority in the same position. NPR is doing a series on this European self-reflection featuring countries like France, Italy, and Germany. You can read or listen to the story about German minorities here, which I would also like to add my insight from my own experience.

One person featured in the story, the son of a German mother and an African-American father, said, "White Germans do not perceive themselves as racist at all. The idea is there are no other races in Germany. Germany is a monoracial country so we can't be racist..." To a point, I have to agree with this comment. Germans really don't perceive themselves as racist and do not quite understand the concept of "cultural (in)sensitivity" the way Americans do. The events of World War II have created an attitude of atonement, accepting what happened, and trying to come to terms with it. Perhaps this is why Germans do not see what is racist; they see what happened in the past and that they are trying to learn from it. This is all with the best intentions in mind, but perhaps this is why Germans "do not perceive themselves as racist."

Another comment is from the son of a German woman and an exchange student from Cameroon, who was born in Leipzig when the East was under Communist rule. He speaks of "rassenschande" or shame of race, and how "having relations with nonwhites — and particularly with blacks — was taboo and considered shameful to a woman's entire family." The story also mentions how "since the fall of communism, an outbreak of racist violence in the former East Germany has made it an area that's too dangerous for minorities, so Eichler won't let his children take school trips there." Luckily, I have not encountered any such problems while I was in Dresden, Leipzig, Weimar, Potsdam, or Berlin, though I can understand the fear of being in the East.

In response to biracial relationships, I can personally say that I haven't had any problems or encountered raised eyebrows. This could be due to the fact that I am Asian-American, the keyword perhaps being "American" and living in the west. However, I have seen other biracial couples here in Düsseldorf, many of them German men with Japanese women. (There are a lot of Japanese here.) I wonder if the stereotype of Asians being hardworking and college-educated has to do with this more accepting attitude of these biracial relationships, or if it has to do with the fact that it's western Germany.

There is also a lack of exposure to other cultures and thus a cultural sensitivity is not learned at school. When I look at Christian's high school yearbook, there are two Korean students (siblings, nonetheless) and perhaps one or two students from Russia, whose names make it obvious that they are not German. I know that as a kid in a very white, mostly Russian-Jewish/Italian-Catholic school, I was taunted with comments like "ching chong ching!" and "Chinese, Japanese, look at these!" I also remember one student slinting his eyes at me in the fifth grade and I went to a teacher visibly upset, who promptly scolded him and told him why that was not acceptable. I'm not so sure this would happen in schools here; the minorities probably just stick together or are invisible. Not only that, most of the teachers are probably German and probably have never dealt with many minorities either, so they themselves don't get P.C.-ness.

I can't speak for the entire U.S. because I'm sure there are places that are not as diverse as my schools were, but I learned being P.C. at a very early age. I know I had to tell Christian once or twice why he upset me with his un-P.C. comments about Asians (mostly regarding the infantile comments about what Asian languages sound like), but the vast majority of Germans don't have someone telling them things like that. I have had to explain black face to Germans and why Americans think it inappropriate (yes, it has to do with our history, but honestly, people painting themselves a different color to represent someone of a different race to me is just an absurd idea, especially when it's done to caricature) and they just don't understand why. During Karneval, I have seen people dress up as "Africans," "Mexicans," and "Asians." I put these terms in quotations because they are stereotypes: the "Africans" will wear black-face and outfits that look like they were made out of some sort of animal skin or plant, "Mexicans" are normally a Mariachi band caricature, sometimes with skin painted brown, and "Asians" with vague Asian clothing and makeup to make them "slantier" eyes. It never ceases to appall me, but Germans see it as being all in good fun and don't really mean anything.

On a slightly different note, the German-Cameroonian mentioned the often asked, "Where are you from?" and the unspoken "When are you going back?" The question "Where are you from?" is also often asked of me in the U.S., and people aren't looking for my answer (New Jersey), rather they should be asking the more fitting, "What is your heritage?" or "Where is your family from?" My first question there would be does that mean people are racist in the U.S.? For me, I just think people need to learn how to phrase their question properly. Here in Germany, people often ask me "Where are you from?" as a "What is your heritage?" question as well and I have had people not believe me that I'm American. They think that I obviously must be from an Asian country. How can I be American? I am not your white nor black American, and those are the only two types of Americans that exist for these people. For these people, understanding that people can be American and not white or black is something they have never considered. Extending this idea to German minorities seems impossible if they can't accept American minorities, doesn't it?

In the end, the question is if Germany will ever be able to elect a minority to chancellor like how the U.S. elected Obama president. My answer: Not in the near future. Racism here is sometimes subtle and sometimes not, but regardless, I really don't see a Turk becoming chancellor in the near-future. There is still even a divide between West Germans and East Germans (Angela Merkel being the first East German elected chancellor). When they can't figure out Germans from Germans, how are they supposed to figure out minorities too?

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T16:30:00.008+01:00

Happy New Year 2009! This was my third Silvester spent here in Germany and it never seems to get old being able to set off fireworks in the city. Christian and I went to Bonn, where his friend Felix and his girlfriend Claudia had a party. It was a small, intimate party where we did raclette for dinner (I ate something like 10 potatoes). Due to my eating tons, I was good to go in terms of alcohol, but also I didn't want to drink too much since we drove back to Düsseldorf. (Christian didn't drink anything and drove, but I hate being in cars with a ton of alcohol in my system.)

What I mostly wanted to blog about was that I finally partook in "Bleigießen," literally "lead casting." It's not actually lead that we cast, but some other sort of cheap metal. It's tradition on New Year's to melt lead (or rather, this cheap metal), then drop the liquid quickly into water. You take the lump of lead (cheap metal) out of the water, examine the shape and its shadow, and using your imagination, determine what it looks like. There's a little booklet with possibilities in it and according to what you think it is, that determines what your year will be like. Obviously it's probably as accurate as a horoscope, but nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. I had always heard of "Bleigießen" but I had never done it before this year. It was also amusing because nobody could decide if we had to do it before or after midnight. Here are some pictures of the Bleigießen:

This is Felix melting his little metal piece over a candle. Mine for some reason seemed to take forever to melt, though there were some others who took longer. At first, everyone was joking that the American couldn't do it correctly and hence the taking forever. Once other people started having difficulties, they didn't say nearly as much.

Claudia is in the background probably examining someone else's piece of metal. We decided to do the Bleigießen after midnight once we got back from setting off fireworks on the Rhein.

Here's me with the finished metal after I melted it and threw it into the cold water. I personally thought it looked like a drumstick from KFC or perhaps a jellyfish. To be honest, I don't remember what we decided it was. Not that that was super important because it's just for fun.

And then here are some pictures from setting off fireworks on the Rhein:

Agnes, Nils, & Grischa look at the firework we set off. Grischa bought a whole pack of fireworks for 6.99€ at the supermarket. Usually supermarkets start selling them right before Christmas and they're up front next to the cash register. I'm not sure if there's an age restriction, but yeah, you can set off fireworks anywhere in the city, though it seemed like the majority of people were on the riverbank.

None of these fireworks are professional. They're all set off by people. And admittedly, most of them are probably drunk. What I find surprising is that not many things seem to get burned down, nor are there many injuries. Granted, you have to be smart about it, but I think because Germans are used to setting off fireworks in the city every new year's, it's not much of a challenge for them.

Here's one of the few pictures that Christian and I took together. We hadn't bought any of our own fireworks, but it wasn't necessary since Grischa and Felix had a bunch. It was kind of cold going outside, but it's not as bad as the time I went to Times Square and waited hours in the cold. What we did was nice and we spent about 45 minutes to an hour outside, which was bearable, but nonetheless it was a relief to get back inside.

Other than that, not much else is going on over here in Germany. I start training for teaching English at Berlitz on January 19th and hopefully I'll be able to get some hours working as a freelancer. I need money and something to do. But other than finding a job, my new year's resolution this year is to keep in better touch with people and if that requires me calling people, well, so be it. I realized nobody ever calls me, so I have to call everyone else. So is life.

Change is in the Air

2008-11-25T23:39:00.005+01:00

Continuing what I mentioned in my previous post that it seems that Europeans were excited to fly back to the U.S., I have to say, I'm surprised at Obama's presence everywhere. While I was on the subway, a homeless (black) man got on and basically said this: "OBAMA! I am a Vietnam Vet! Hey, you're gorgeous! OBAMA! Can you spare some change? Change, yeah, ha ha! Obama!" That's a new way of getting money, I suppose. However, here are some visual examples that I found:

Tracie and I ate at this restaurant yesterday. As you can see, there is an Obama '08 sign in the window. I've noticed that many businesses actually have similar displays of support like this. When I visited Tracie at her Brooklyn apartment on Saturday, many barber shops that I passed by proudly displayed their Obama signs. There was one shop that had a poster that said "American Heroes" or something like that as a headline and then a picture of JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. with Obama's picture bigger than either. The comparison was clear.
Driving into Manhattan using the Holland Tunnel, there was an unmissable large Obama/Biden '08 billboard on Route 9.

I took this picture on Grant Street in SoHo. Unfortunately, I didn't actually look at what they were selling, but I'm pretty sure it was t-shirts and stuff. (Fashionable, of course) You can sort of see some merchandise through the window where Obama's neck is. Tracie told me that a store nearby had been selling mugs during the election season and keeping a tally of how many McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden mugs were sold. She said the McCain/Palin ones totaled perhaps 10, while the Obama/Biden ones filled the window tally and actually extended elsewhere in the store. I feel like Obama has become a recognizable icon whose face will appear on shirts like Che Guevara. Political fashion icon? Perhaps.

I saw this children's book about Barack Obama at my local Barnes & Noble while shopping with my dad. All I could think was, "Seriously?" The title is Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope and the opening page basically told of his biracial heritage. Now, I think it's great that the book wants to talk about biracial families, but a children's book about Barack Obama? Don't get me wrong, I supported the senator, but I thought that this was a bit much. Granted, I didn't read through the entire book, but I couldn't get past the fact that it's a biography for children. The man hasn't even become president yet and still has a lot in front of him. Yes, he has achieved a lot and yes, he is inspiring, but couldn't we wait for a book like that to come out?

This brings me to something I discussed with my friend Zach, whose French roommate asked him if he thought it was strange that the US is the only country where people will wear clothing with their presidential pick on clothing. It's a good point, but I think I've also become a little German in this sense. I question whether or not it's a good thing that people are so zealous about a political figure. Part of my questioning is also due to the fact that I'm reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein right now and I feel like it's making me paranoid about everything. However, I am also excited about Obama's presidency; I think he has some fantastic ideas and I think it's great how he wants to use the internet as a means of accessibility. The past 8 years have not been very good for the U.S. or its image abroad and Obama's presidency definitely symbolizes a change in direction. I am eager to see what he will do and what he will achieve, but I also have reservations about what will actually happen. Call me a pessimist, call me a realist, call me what you like, but that's just how I see it.

On a completely non-political note, what's up with Uggs?? I know I wrote about them before and how much I really, really, really despise/hate/loathe them, but yesterday I went shopping with my dad and there were waaaaay too many people buying them or wearing them. They're so fugly. Why would anyone wear them? If you have an answer, please, do explain. Thanks.

The Ting-Tings & Back Home

2008-11-15T23:40:00.003+01:00

On Tuesday (11/11) I went to Köln with Christian and David to go see The Ting-Tings live. If you haven't heard of them before, they're a two-person band whose song "That's Not My Name" is a huge hit in Germany. It's a pretty catchy song and their debut album is a lot of fun, so I thought it would be great to see them live.

Unfortunately, I thought the gig was (musically) disappointing. The night started off well and the crowd was pumped up and dancing, which is always great. However, as the short 45-minute set went on, I began to take notice little things that made me go "Huh?" At times, I wasn't sure if Katie White, the singer, could actually play guitar. I don't think she can, not well, anyway. Then there were points where there were definitely filler tracks. I always find filler tracks a letdown, especially when it comes to rock shows. The point of going to see a band live is to see how they perform and hear the songs differently. Sure, fillers at a pop concert are ok (like Madonna, who for the most part is dancing around frantically on stage), but at an indie rock show? Sure, the band only consists of two people, but the White Stripes are also only 2 people and they are simply amazing live. Plus, they don't use pre-recorded stuff and their songs sound completely different than what's on the album. To say the least, my enthusiasm for The Ting-Tings waned throughout the evening. I knew the setlist would be short since they only have one album, but they did not play all that well (again, my problem is the filler tracks). If the set was short and rocked, I would've been more impressed. My verdict: Don't go see The Ting-Tings live for more than 20€ until A. they come out with another album or B. they stop using filler track. However, if you're just looking for a great time to dance to a live band and don't mind spending the money, then go for it.

Thursday I flew back home to New Jersey, where I'm currently writing this entry. My flight from Düsseldorf to Amsterdam was late, so I had to run through Schipol Airport to catch my connecting flight. Luckily, I got to the gate as it was closing. On the plane, I noticed that most of the other passengers were Europeans, but they were chattering the entire time about how great it was to be able to fly to America. In comparison to my flight back to the States in July, I thought people were actually excited to fly to the U.S. I'm not exactly sure why this was the case, but I have a pretty good guess that it has to do with Obama's election last week. Every weekly news magazine and several gossip magazines (like the equivalents of People or Us Weekly) had the president-elect or him and his family on the cover. There were several special editions about him. And Europeans love Barack Obama. It's almost as if they were saying, "Welcome back to the world, America!" The plane definitely had a more positive energy about it. Another reason for it could be that I flew on a KLM/operated by Northwest flight, whereas in July I flew Lufthansa (whom I despise). Who knows?

Being back home is still strange, especially because I know I'm here for only such a short time. Cars are big, there's no poo shelf in the toilet (hooray!), I noticed the Jersey accent much more than before, and people are louder. I think I'm slowly being Germanized and I'm not sure if that's good or bad...

The 2008 Election - From Germany

2008-11-07T16:07:00.005+01:00

It's been a few days since Election Day and I've been holding off writing about politics, but after the outcome, I felt the need to comment. This is the first year that I've been a fervent supporter of any candidate. It was the first time I contributed money a campaign, despite the fact that I have very little money to begin with (still unemployed) and I joined the Democrats Abroad and helped them register Americans living here to vote. It was fantastic meeting the different types of people living in Germany and seeing how this election inspired so many people. One man I met had been living abroad for 20 years or more and hadn't voted since he left the U.S., but he thought the presidential election was too important that he couldn't not vote. There were several people my age that just had no idea how to get an absentee ballot. Then there were Germans who were just amazed at the fact that there were Americans here trying to get the vote out, regardless of party association. (We registered people as a non-partisan act, but if asked, we would respond that we were part of the Dems Abroad.)

During the last three weeks before Election Day, I could be found obsessively checking polls, the NY Times, Washington Post, Fox News, and YouTube. This NY Times article described me perfectly. Leading up the election, I was also interviewed by the Westdeutsche Zeitung (a local paper), though the article misquoted me (I do not and never did think that American papers were more pro-McCain than German papers; rather, McCain got more coverage in American papers than in their German counterparts.) To say the least, German media kept a close eye on the election, reporting on the debates, "Joe the Plumber" hitting the campaign trail, etc. German friends would ask me about the election, what were my thoughts, if I thought Obama had a good chance of winning.

Election Day finally rolled around (and the weekend before it could not have gone any slower). I baked "Obama cookies" from scratch, from the cookies themselves to the frosting. Granted, my first batch was rock hard and I threw them out and made a second batch (shown here), but I was definitely excited about them. A friend from my program last year, Rob, who lives in Pforzheim came up just for the election because he wanted to watch it with some fellow Americans. We went to a small party at this guy Frankie's apartment, whom I had met through the Democrats Abroad. The group there was pretty diverse considering the electorate at home: a Jew, a black man, two white Catholic guys, a Filipino Catholic, a German who had lived in D.C. for awhile, and me. On top of that, we had a three person crew from WDR (West Deutscher Rundfunk, one of Europe's biggest media companies) filming us for a story. We hadn't felt like going to Cologne for the big party there, but we had a great time anyway.

To make a long story short since everyone knows what the outcome was, we were celebrating victory at 6 a.m. Though our party was not big, emotions were running high and our WDR crew definitely woke up a little more at that point. (They were the only ones showing any signs of getting tired in the early hours of the morning) Going home on the train was slightly funny because we moved against the flow of traffic and thought it was almost like a walk of shame, except that the walk of shame was a walk of victory. (Or "wictory" as some Germans might say?) If you want to see the video that WDR made of us, you can see it here (it also covers the bigger Dems Abroad party in Cologne).

On Wednesday, I got calls from some Germans congratulating me on the new president. Everywhere you went, you could hear Germans talking about Obama and the U.S. I felt that I could say, "Hey, I'm American!" and be proud of the fact, rather than sort of mumbling it and being embarrassed. Because of the time difference, the newspapers didn't come out with the story until Thursday, but every single paper had a picture of Obama and/or his family, with headlines like "The dream is finally true" and "The new hope for America." It was impossible to doubt: The U.S. did well in the eyes of German media. We proved that we can change, that we are flexible, that we are a nation of hopes and dreams and the impossible is possible.

I'm sure that people living in the U.S. have seen articles about the world rejoicing, but I can say that it is really true and not exaggerated. We just turned a page of history and I, along with the Germans I know, are looking forward to the future.

Another Tale of German Bureaucracy

2008-09-05T15:38:00.003+02:00

It's been a rather long time since I updated my blog. The reason why I decided to finally write something again? Because I'm sitting at home in Düsseldorf, barred from working due to the fact that I have no Arbeitserlaubnis (work permit).

Now, if you heard me talking before I left Germany in July to go to the States, I had planned on applying for everything at the consulate in New York. Well, I tried and the consulate told me I should just do it when I got here to Germany. I'm guessing that they didn't want to try processing the paperwork because they said they had to send it to Germany anyway, or someone really just didn't feel like doing their job. (Eh, it happens.)

After coming back here, I didn't have enough time to collect the extra paperwork required to apply here in Germany before I left for Salzburg for a short weekend trip with Christian. (Yes, the hills were alive with the Sound of Music, and yes, I made him go on a Sound of Music tour with me.) We came back to Düsseldorf for a day before jetting off again to Berlin for a few days since Alex and Elise were in town. When I finally got back to Düsseldorf, I had all the necessary paperwork from my (hopefully) future employers and was able to apply last Friday.

And now comes the wait. I went to the Ausländerbehörde (Aliens Department? That sounds too science fiction-y...let's say Foreigners Office) and handed in my stuff there. In the meantime, I received a "Fiktionsbescheinigung," which I don't have an English equivalent of, except for "fictional certificate." Obviously, this sounds like a joke, something that should only exist in my imagination, but it is pretty much a temporary residence permit for 3 months since the day I applied for residence and work permits, not since the day I entered Germany. (So I bought myself, literally, an extra two weeks time for 20€.) The man in the Ausländerbehörde said that the Arbeitsamt (Labor Office) could take anywhere between a few days and 10 weeks to approve my work permit, but until then, I'm not allowed to work. Fantastic. A few days versus oh, 70 days?

Because I'm not allowed to work, this has been my daily routine:

-wake up at 9 a.m. since I would have to wake up at 9 for work.
-turn on the computer at around 9:20 and read the news for two hours or more from various sources, like the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, NPR, BBC, Der Spiegel, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine. I tend to start stressing about world events at this point.
-once done with the news, I switch to TheDailyShow.com and watch the previous night's episode of the Daily Show in order to relieve some of the stress.
-after the Daily Show, I watch the previous night's episode of the Colbert Report.
-at this time, usually around 1 p.m., I finally get hungry. I scrounge around the kitchen for anything to eat because I'm a bit lazy and don't want to go out while it's raining to the grocery store.
-the afternoon is spent either playing Guitar Hero, reading a book, or brushing up on my Cantonese. "Brushing up on my Cantonese" means me trying to use a book my mom gave me to learn to read (the characters are kind of small) and/or watching a Chinese soap opera called The Drive of Life.
-the afternoon at some point will also consist of me coming back online to talk to all the people at home just arriving at work. This pretty much ends up occupying the rest of my time before I get bored and go back to any of the three activities listed above.

So that's pretty much my daily routine until Christian gets back, when we'll cook dinner and then sit around watching trashy German television. (Admittedly, it's pretty funny.) The evening usually goes by pretty quickly because I'm actually talking to someone rather than just IMing with them. I might read some more, do some more Cantonese.

I know a lot of people say that I should enjoy the time while I wait for my work permit to get approved, but at the same time, I feel absolutely helpless. Of course, the situation is out of my hands and if the Arbeitsamt feels like rejecting my application, then I need to find a plan B pronto. Additionally, because I'm sitting around reading the news all day, I tend to get stressed out about the upcoming election, which, like the work permit, is also out of my hands. It doesn't help that I get infuriated by both sides when I read articles, op-eds, comments under the articles or on YouTube that are misinformed about either side, skew the facts, sexist, racist, etc. etc. It makes me just want to scream, "Can't we just focus on the policies here? Who cares if Barack Obama is black?! Who cares if Sarah Palin is a woman?! Get the facts right and move on!"

I usually don't like being political in my blog, but I guess since I have time, I will devote some of it to writing about that the next time...but for now, I'm just hoping that I get a work permit soon.

Wir sind im Finale!

2008-06-26T13:46:00.002+02:00

Unless you live under a rock or in the United States, you would know that the European Cup (for this little sport called soccer) is happening at the moment. It's probably the biggest sporting event here in Europe after the World Cup and similar to two years ago, there are flags of every country hanging from windows and flying from cars. Interestingly enough, I think Germans are showing their national pride more than they did two years ago, even though the European Cup is taking place in Austria and Switzerland. It's probably a result of two years ago that they actually showed pride and now feel like it's OK.

Last night Germany played against Turkey and it was intense. In order to understand why, it's important to know that the Turkish population in Germany is extraordinarily high. When I lived in Berlin, my neighborhood Kreuzberg was pretty much a Little Istanbul. Interestingly enough, Turkish families can live in Germany for generations but never get German citizenship. To make a comparison, Germany playing Turkey would be similar to the United States playing Mexico in a sport that everyone cared about (I don't mean soccer, I just mean it generally). Even then, I don't think the comparison even comes close to what the game meant. I will definitely admit that I probably don't comprehend what exactly it meant because of the deeper political and cultural issues that exist between Germans and the Turkish population, even if I have spent 2 years living in Germany.

Turkey scored the first goal of the night, but not too soon afterward, Germany brought the score to a tie. During the second half of the game (around the 59th minute, I think), the TV feed suddenly went dead for a good six or seven minutes. Everyone was shouting, complaining, and wondering why the feed wasn't working. (Apparently a transponder or something was struck by lightning) Luckily, the Swiss television station kicked in and their feed was shown instead. Two more goals were scored by each team and it looked like the game would go into overtime, but then Phillip Lahm from the German team made an incredible shot in the 89th minute for a German win. It was really amazing and considering that the Turks have made some seriously awesome comebacks during the Euro Cup, I was a little nervous that they would score, but there wasn't enough time.

After watching the game with Greg, Megan, and Megan's roommate, we went over to Zülpicher Platz because we knew that everybody would be out on the street partying. It was total chaos, everyone cheering, cars honking, people dancing in the street and waving flags around. My three companions left because they needed to go home, but I found Johannes and Matthias from work and continued partying with them instead.

So Germany is in the final on Sunday against either Russia or Spain, depending on who wins the game tonight. It'll be extremely exciting because Germany is in the final and if they played like how they did against Portugal, I think they have a good chance of winning. If they play like they did last night against Turkey (even though they won), I'm not sure if they would have a good chance at all. My dad arrives in Germany on Sunday and I'm going to bring him somewhere to watch the game. It's called culture.

For the time being, I can't upload any photos...but I will once I transfer them to my computer.

Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-05-22T16:09:00.002+02:00

First off, I promise I am not giving ANYTHING away. I am discussing no plot points whatsoever...so it's ok if you read on. :)

Last night, I saw Indy 4 and it actually wasn't that bad. If you think about the other movies and how absurd they are (I mean, c'mon, the Ark killing everyone? The dude taking the heart out of the other guy? The Holy Grail?), it's not that bad. Sure, you think, "Wait, wtf?" but then you realize, at least it sort of has to do with archaeology and it's better than Temple of Doom. Shia LaBeouf is not nearly as annoying as Shorty, though he does have some points where you just want to slap him.

There are definitely way more kitschier moments than in Last Crusade, but the absurd is pretty comparable to Raiders. Some of the jokes were necessary in some way because Harrison Ford is (much) older. The special effects could've used some work, but I don't think they were going for reality...I think they sort of wanted to keep with the cheesiness of the original movies and how the effects weren't 100% convincing. The "phobia scene" was pretty good, though. I definitely thought, "Ew, gross" like in the other movies.

Also I think the audience that I saw it with was not as into it as my family and I are. They definitely missed a ton of jokes and references to old movies. They also 100% missed the homage to Star Wars when Harrison Ford says, "I've got a bad feeling about this!" I laughed a lot at that, but no one else seemed to. Silly Germans. It could be due to the fact that perhaps they hadn't seen the movies in English and thus missed a ton.

All in all, I would say that I was entertained and got my 5€ worth. I hope that a fifth movie will not be made because honestly, an Indiana Jones movie is not an Indiana Jones movie without Harrison Ford. He can't possibly make a fifth movie and being relegated to the role of sidekick next to Shia LaBeouf would just be an outrage. This movie doesn't let down like the last three Star Wars that came out and definitely does not suck as much as Jurassic Park 3 did. Though one thing definitely did suck: The Communists are not nearly as bad ass as the Nazis. It doesn't ring..."Communists...""Reds..." blah blah. Nope. It's always going to be "Nazis...I hate these guys!" As much as I love Germans, they're very good at being bad...at least in Indiana Jones movies.

Forever and a Day

2008-05-18T18:59:00.003+02:00

I do realize that it's been forever since I last wrote an entry, but after entering the 9-5 world of having a job, life abroad tends to be a little less exciting. Working at Clipfish has been a lot of fun and I've been learning about internet media. I've decided that it's not exactly where I want to go in life...I'll leave that to other people. My coworkers are all very friendly and we can all have a good laugh together, but because I generally tend to avoid Köln (aka my apartment) on the weekend, I don't go out with the other interns nearly as much as I would like to.

On the other hand, I have spent pretty much every weekend in Düsseldorf with Christian and his friends. David (friend and fellow participant in my program) moved to Düsseldorf in March or so, so I see him on the weekend occasionally as well. The weather last week was amazing: sunny, warm (70 degrees Fahrenheit, 22 degrees Celsius) and summery. The sun goes down now quite late at around 9-9:30. Last Friday was Christian's birthday and we spent 8 hours outside with his friends.

Other developments that have happened since my last entry is that I'm officially moving to Germany after my program is done. I managed to secure another internship in Düsseldorf at a small editing house called Pirates n Paradise. They edit commericals for TV for products like Schwarzkopf, Chio Chips, Cab Beer (actually any kind of beer that is with the Krombacher group), etc. There might be a job at the end of the internship which would be pretty sweet, but I'm not banking on it. I'm just sort of using it as a way to get a visa in order to stay and keep searching for a job I want. I have decided, however, that after this internship, I can't do any more, otherwise, I will be stuck doing internships for the rest of my life. I need money! The good thing about them being in Düsseldorf is that it means I can move in with Christian. I'm definitely looking forward to that instead of having to take the regional train every weekend.

I've also finally started up my website/guide to living abroad in Germany. If you want to check it out, you can see it here. I had written way more articles for it, but unfortunately, my computer broke last week. I'm not sure what's wrong with it except that the screen won't come on and it doesn't work when I hook it up to an external monitor. Bleh. I wrote a few articles and saved them on there but didn't post them, so they'll have to wait. Feedback would be greatly appreciated...just remember that it's very barebones and I still need to add links and photos. I think I'll probably get a lot of work done on it when I'm at home for a month before I come back here. I'm currently using Christian's laptop since he just bought a new desktop. It isn't worth it really to pay to get

Other than that, not much else has been happening. I already have tickets to go see Indiana Jones 4 on Wednesday evening, so for all you guys in the U.S. : HA! I get to see it before you. (And of course in English) Hopefully it'll be good. Saturday I'm leaving for Berlin because we have our closing seminar and I'll be there for a week. Then 4 weeks left working at Clipfish, Ba comes to visit at the end of June, two weeks in July free (one of those weeks will be spent in Berlin with Ba), and then I'm back in the States. Time flies.

German Porn Law in Practice & Bombs

2008-02-10T16:28:00.000+01:00

It's been a rather long time since I last wrote in my blog, but to be perfectly honest, nothing extraordinary has happened. Christmas was fun because Tracie came to visit and we celebrated with Christian and his family. We mainly kept busy doing tourist stuff, drinking Glühwein, and visiting Christmas markets. It was a good Christmas. Then I spent another New Year's in Berlin with Christian and friends Timm and Patricia, which of course, was a blast.

In January, I was in Dresden for a week for my program's mid-year seminar. There were 24 other people there and it was really great seeing some familiar faces again. Dresden is a beautiful city and we were also in Leipzig for a day, where I would've liked to spend more time, but that will be for the future.

Two weeks after I was in Dresden, I went with David and Paige (two friends not in Köln, but they were for the language course phase) to Valmeinier, France, to go snowboarding for a week. It was my first time outside of Germany since arriving in August, and it made for a very relaxing, fun trip. We had some really good powder because one day it snowed a bit and the visibility was really poor. However, the next day, one mountain was fantastic with really wide, long runs. I also finally realized riding a board the right size for me is a lot less strenuous (I mean, this is a huge "duh," I know, but I like my board at home) and therefore, I will have to get a new board for next year. For the week, I think I spent less than 650€, all expenses included, even the fondue (the best fondue I've had in my life) and raclette that we had.

To make a long story short, fast forward to now. Last week, the final phase of our internship started. I had to start work on Monday, even though it was Rosenmontag, the biggest day for Karneval. If you don't know why this is significant, let's just put it this way: Köln is THE city to celebrate Karneval (Mardi Gras over a few days) and when I told people I had to work Rosenmontag, they all asked, "Spinnst du??" (Are you crazy??) For a better description of Karneval, read my blog entry from two years ago in Düsseldorf.

The company I work for is Clipfish, a German competitor of YouTube and subsidiary of RTL, the biggest TV, radio, and production company in Europe. Unfortunately, you can't access the website if you're living in the U.S., so you can't see the stuff that I deal with. The reason for it is that there is a "Sexy Videos" category that would be considered pornographic at home and I guess it's easier to just block the entire site, rather than having to make sure everyone consents to the content.

This actually brings me to an interesting point about my internship. One task I have to do is read through complaints, whether they have to do with copyrighted material, videos that might be considered "too brutal," videos that are "damaging" to your person, videos that are considered "immoral" or "pornographic" by some users, etc. I have to sit and watch the videos that people complained about, deciding whether or not they should be taken down or not. The pornography complaints are interesting because of the fact that most of the "Sexy Videos" offend my American sensibilities and I would just automatically write them off as pornographic in the U.S. However, because I am in Germany, I usually ask the other intern if they're a little more extreme and always attach "Sorry to ask you again, but as an American, this is porn, but what do you think?"

Now, if you know me personally, you know that the main topic of my senior thesis was comparing pornography law between (the former) West Germany and the U.S. during the Sexual Revolution. You would think that this would help me with my job sifting through the videos. Yes, it does, but putting pornography law into practice on the internet is much different than with film and printed material today. Additionally, the fact that I grew up in a society where pornography is easy to spot makes it difficult to say if something here is or isn't (basically, boobs are a good indication and anything below the belt is definitely porn) . For example, German pornography law states that if a sexual organ is portrayed in a way that emphasizes intercourse (whether it is actual sex or masturbation), then it is pornographic. However, the important thing to know is that you can see a vagina or a penis on television if it's in a documentary, even if it is a documentary on sex drive, masturbation, or having kids. For me, the area that gets really gray is when there are videos that have a girl stripping down naked and shows her crotch, but it's not a close up or anything. As I already said, that's definitely porn in the U.S., but here, it's pretty difficult to say yes or no, and that's when I ask the other intern. (The picture I posted is a screenshot of the "Sexy Videos" page I made for those of you who can't access Clipfish from the U.S. It'll give you a vague idea of what I am talking about and it's probably NSFW if you click on it to make it bigger. I made sure to make it small enough if you're reading this page that you don't get in trouble.)

On a completely different note, I had an interesting experience on Friday when the building had to be evacuated. The reason? "Bombenentschärfung," or in English, a bomb needed to be defused. Have no fear, it wasn't a terrorist looking to blow up RTL's offices. Instead, construction workers nearby found a bomb from World War II not too far away from the offices that had never exploded during the war and therefore, needed it to be defused because it could theoretically still explode even though it's more than 60 years old. I thought it was a completely crazy idea, but apparently this happens now and then throughout Germany and for Germans, it's nothing new. In fact, it was just a pain in the ass, a disturbance to the normal work day. We had to stand outside the building for about 2 hours (the other interns and I sat around talking and played word games) and then were allowed back in.

All in all, an interesting first week...

Concerts to the Max

2007-11-29T01:27:00.000+01:00

This past week has been rather ridiculous with shows. In the past 8 days, I have to been four different concerts: Die Ärzte, The Donnas, Die Fantastischen Vier, and The Hives. Two weeks ago I was also at the Kaiser Chiefs, but I won't really go into that because I was by myself and didn't take any pictures. To say the least, they were all very different. So just a quick review and some photos (but you can see all of them on my Flickr page) from this week:

Die Ärzte (The Doctors) are a German punk band from Berlin. They rock. The show was in the ginormous Kölnarena, which holds about 40,000 people, I think. Despite the monstrous venue, it was still a fantastic show. They played a mix of their old and new songs for three full hours and no opening band. Granted that I do not know a lot of their music, I had a good time with Kari and her boyfriend who came down for the show. Unfortunately, our seats were way up high and pretty far back, but even so, awesome time.

On Saturday, I went to go see The Donnas with Christian at a small club called Underground, which has a capacity of 350 people. Quite the opposite of Kölnarena! I'd like to point out the fact that this show was my 50th concert ever (I think). If it wasn't my 50th, one of the 4 this week definitely was. The Donnas were amazing and the new songs are killer. Of course, I was the most psyched to hear "Take It Off" since Stiny and I named our radio show after it. It was weird because the Donnas would say they were playing something "old school," which meant it was from the album Spend the Night (which came out in 2002). They played nothing off any earlier albums and only "Fall Behind Me" off of Gold Medal. I was a bit surprised to realize that I am an "old school fan," but proud of it. Oddly enough, the majority of the people there knew only new stuff off Bitchin'. Slightly sad that they only played for about an hour and a half, but nonetheless, that hour and a half was fun. Definitely better than when I saw them perform with Jet on Halloween a few years ago, except for the fact that they played no super old school songs.

The following day, Sunday, was back in the Kölnarena to see the German hip-hop group Die Fantastischen Vier (The Fantastic Four) with David and Zach. They're pretty much the Beastie Boys of Germany. Anyhow, the show was definitely really well thought out with lights and background and well, just plain frickin cool. I knew way more songs from Die Fanta Vier than from Die Ärzte, so I think I enjoyed myself a lot more. Not to mention our seats were much farther down. Die Fanta Vier also played for a long time (about 2.5 hours) and played a lot of old songs, like "Geboren," "Der Picknicker," and "Hausmeister Thomas D." Favorite songs of the night had to be "Take It Back" and "Was Geht." All in all, I have to say that the show was so good, in fact, that I think Die Fanta Vier are definitely in my top 5 arena shows, definitely over Madonna. One encore they did had a stage come down from the ceiling and then three of the four came out and rapped on it. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

Finally, to top it all off, I saw The Hives tonight. Now, I've seen The Hives before, and they rocked then, and they still do. I managed to squeeze my way to the front against the barrier, which was really fun, but at the same time, not super fantastic because I got super squashed. It is interesting, though, that I felt really old in comparison to everyone else there. All of the girls were really flat and not curvy at all, and a high school student hit on me (sort of). The other thing is that I wasn't in the middle of the action like I was 3 years ago. That's when you know I'm getting old(er), when I think to myself, "I'm getting too old for this shit to jump around with teenagers." The show, of course, was indescribably amazing. Pelle really knows how to work the crowd into a frenzy (literally), his brother Nicholas Arson has the craziest expressions (and yet somehow they are kind of sexy), drummer Chris Dangerous is way hotter than I remember him being, and Dr. Matt Destruction and Vigilante Carlstroem rock really hard. The first three definitely have the hot rocker thing about them. (The other two are just not my type) Unfortunately, I had to go to this show alone because nobody wanted or was able to come. (Hence the high schooler hitting on me...sort of.) Despite this fact, I rocked my ass off and must say, The Hives win for best show of the weekend/month/year.

On a completely different note, I don't have to worry about finding an internship anymore because I found one, woo! It's with a German company called Clipfish.de, which is a subsidiary of RTL, the biggest entertainment channel in the country. The website is unfortunately inaccessible within the U.S. because it's blocked, but to put it simply, it's YouTube for Germans, with music videos from Sony BMG (they have a contract), some stuff that Americans would consider soft-core porn, etc. I'm really excited about it because it'll be a great opportunity to learn about new media, woo.

Christmas in Köln Kommt (You like that alliteration?)

2007-11-15T21:28:00.000+01:00

Christmas in Köln (and the rest of the world) is fast approaching. One difference, however, is that Christmas goods have been available here to buy since about mid-October. At home, we have Halloween and Thanksgiving to keep the Christmas stuff off shelves a little longer, though not by much. The one thing, however, that makes Christmas here way better is the traditional Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets), which are getting built up in almost every free space around the city. I've already been snacking on Spekulatius (ginger bread cookies), but soon I'll be able to enjoy Glühwein, the smell of baked goods, and Christmas lights everywhere in the markets. Here are some pictures of the Christmas markets being built around the city:

This will be the Christmas market in Heumarkt. Only on Sunday was it full of people celebrating the beginning of Karneval season (which I didn't go to because of the pouring rain), and soon it will be full of people looking for Christmas gifts, drinking Glühwein, and snacking on warm baked goodies.

Here is the Kölner Dom (Cathedral) with the Christmas market being built up. I wonder if it will beat the Berliner Christmas market around the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche for being pretty. The markets open up in about two weeks.

On a different note, the locomotive drivers (uh, conductors? Lokführer in German) have been striking on and off here since we've gotten here. The reason is that they want to get paid more, which I don't blame them before. Without going through a long explanation, it's been a little inconvenient for people who take trains everywhere, especially if they are living in the eastern part of the country. Today I went to the main train station here in Köln and it was a lot emptier than normal. For one, the platforms were almost completely empty, even though about 70% of the trains were running here in Nordrhein-Westphalia. For another, I only saw one train on the tracks. And lastly, the Service Point's line was a little longer than usual. I can only imagine what it's like in the east. And some pictures from the train station today:

This is the train station from the outside. Usually people are rushing in and out and the plaza in front of it is full of people. I went at around 2 pm, which is obviously not rush hour, but at the same time, is a pretty busy hour for the train station.

All of the trains that say "Zug fällt aus" means it was canceled. Luckily a lot of the trains in Nordrhein-Westphalia were still running. In the east, it's probably just lines of "Zug fällt aus."

Here you can see how empty the train station is. The platforms are usually full with people waiting and the tracks usually have a train approaching, leaving, or standing. It's almost like 28 Days Later, but just not so extreme.

Germans Are (Generally) Really Tall

2007-11-06T00:35:00.000+01:00

Ok, so the title for this post might be a wee bit obvious. However, it pertains to the fact that I hate it when there are a bunch of really tall guys (and girls!) standing in front of me at a concert. I went to see the Kaiser Chiefs by myself and somehow, I wound up behind at least 10 people that were all 5 feet 10 inches or taller. I thought perhaps that my observation two years ago at the Franz Ferdinand show was just nonsense because we got to the show late. I thought, hmm, maybe all the tall guys are standing in the back because they're being courteous. No, that isn't the case. Germans are generally really tall, so it seems, or at least, the ones who always go to the shows that I go to.

To comment on the Kaiser Chiefs' performance, I must say, I was a bit disappointed in comparison to the last time I saw them. However, this probably has to do with the fact that I saw them my first time at the Stone Pony and that has a capacity of 775 people. The venue I saw them this time, E-Werk, has a capacity of 2,000 and I think the effect is that the lead singer did not have as much energy as in the smaller place. Not to mention, I went to the show by myself, so that always has an effect on how I enjoy it. Anyway, all that said and done, it was a very fun show from the aspect of the band and music.

On the other hand, there were some really annoying people in my area. If I were to make the rules for going to concerts, this is what they would be. Call me mean, but damn, I'm coming up to my 50th concert, so I have some sort of backing to it.

Concert-going Rules According to Me

1. Hey, tall people. It'd be nice if you stood all together and let the shorter people in front of you. I'm not necessarily saying that they should all stand in the back, but tall people should group together and fight it out which tall guy (or girl) gets to be in front of all of them. Then all the people under 5' 10" can stand in front of the taller people.

2. Concerts are not a place to make out with your significant other. I don't care if your special song is being played live. It would be much appreciated if you did not make out and block my view or someone else's view. Also, stop grabbing your significant other's butt/boob/hip/etc. Think of it this way: It makes it that much easier for someone else to cop a feel.

3. If you have long hair and put it in a ponytail, be aware of what you do with it. Even if it's not in a ponytail, be aware of what your long hair is doing. I hate being at a show with a girl in front of me with long hair jumping around. I do not like having your hair in my face. How do I know you don't have lice or something crawling on your head? Also, a mouthful of someone else's hair is just nasty in general.

4. If you can't jump or clap to the beat of the song, please stop jumping or clapping. You're just going to screw up everyone else. Plus, you're just going to look silly jumping/clapping on the 1 and 3 instead of the 2 and 4. (If you know what I'm talking about, awesome. If not, hopefully you just do it because jumping/clapping on the 1 and 3 is just unnatural.) If the song is not in 4/4 time or you don't know what I'm talking about, just jump/clap to the downbeats and make it easy on yourself. Yeah, thanks.

5. If you push/kick/shove/punch me, you are fair game to be pushed/kicked/shoved/punched back. Simple as that. Just because I am smaller does not necessarily mean I can't push/kick/shove/punch back. Oh, and that goes for being a girl, as well. Everyone is fair game in the mosh pit.

6. Stop staring at me because I am the only Asian (or oftentimes just plain non-Caucasian) there. What's the big frickin' deal?

But yes, for now, I think this is a good list of concert-going rules.

Also, I'd like to comment on the fact that Germans love clapping. I've noticed that quite often at concerts or on television. Germans love clapping to the rhythm of the song, although tonight, there were a lot of people who didn't know how to keep a steady beat. Christian and his sister commented on this, too, but honestly, Germans will clap to anything, whether it's a slow ballad, an upbeat dance theme, a loud rock song, or Volksmusik. They will clap their hands off to a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. In the U.S., I feel like not so many people clap willingly. I know I definitely went through a phase in life where I thought, "Wow, clapping to this song is an old people thing to do." Maybe that's just me. But seriously. Germans. Clap. To. Everything.

Ich bin ein Sonntagskind (but I was born on a Tuesday)

2007-10-17T11:03:00.000+02:00

There's a saying in German that someone is a "Sonntagskind" (literally a Sunday child, or a child born on Sunday) because children born on Sunday supposedly have luck. I was born on a Tuesday, but I am definitely pretty lucky. Classes at the university started on Monday and to be honest, the fact that I am done with my bachelor's has made me care even less about picking courses. I am less motivated than when I was in Berlin and my motivation level here is incomparable to that which I had in Middlebury.

The reason for my Sonntagskind title is simple: I showed up to a class today where I could learn some practical, hands-on stuff for film. However, about 80 or so other people also decided to show up and it turned out that the class had only 15 slots. The professor handed out slips of paper where we wrote our names and put them in a bucket, then picked out the 15 people who would be able to take the class. At this point, I thought about leaving because my chances were slim and I thought it was a terrible system, but at the same time, forced myself to stay since I was already there. To my great surprise, my name was picked out. It almost felt like a Golden Ticket type situation like in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory and many people went home disappointed. One girl showed up late and hadn't even put her name into the drawing. She begged and begged to be let in, but the professor had to say no because if he made an exception for her, all the other people would also want the opportunity. This isn't the only time that I've had my name picked for something so coveted, either, and that's why Christian said that I'm a Sonntagskind. (Another saying that he taught me about being lucky: "Die Sonne scheint aus deinem Arsch." Literally, the sun shines out of your ass.)

Another sort-of-lucky, but also educated-guess thing yesterday happened in this course, The Differences Between British and American English, which is taught in English. We were allowed to ask our professor questions and someone asked her where she was from. She had us guess and the first guess was "Arkansas?." That was wrong and the second guess was "New Orleans?," which was also wrong. Now, I have a good feeling that the German students made these guesses because the professor is black. So I finally just blurted out, "Washington D.C., but you've spent some time in England." I had to explain why I thought that, so with all 200 pairs of eyes on me (and I turned bright red), I said, "Well, you say certain things like a Southerner, others like a Northerner, but you definitely have a British accent thrown in somewhere there." It turns out I was right: The professor is from New York, but her mother is from Maryland and her father is British English, but she went to University of Maryland. Admittedly, I felt pretty good about myself that I had (educated-ly) guessed correct.

On a completely different note, I am finally posting pictures of my apartment because I finally took them and uploaded them. So here they are:

This is my room with the sun shining in. Christian's mom got me the bed and mattress from friends, Christian's old roommate gave me the TV, and Christian gave me the lamps, speakers on the floor, and the TV stand. I bought the rugs and the chair from Ikea, all for less than 50€. I also got a wardrobe (a "Schrank") for 30€ but that's not visible in this picture.

This is the kitchen. It's bigger than my kitchen in Berlin, but we don't have a massive cabinet here. However, it is nice to be able to sit in the kitchen and eat at the table. We had a table in Berlin, but our bread box, toaster, and water cooker thingie took up a lot of space. I wouldn't say that this kitchen is conducive to having Christmas or Thanksgiving here, but it's cozy enough for get togethers.

The bathroom is set up in an interesting way. The toilet and the sink are in one room together and then the bathtub/shower is in another room. It's pretty handy in the morning when one of my roommates wants to shower and I need to use the toilet or sink. It makes sense. Sort of like the bathrooms in the LaForce suites back in Middlebury, and unlike the bathrooms in the Atwater suites. Intelligent!

The last picture I am going to post is of the smalled Ikea that I have ever seen or been to. Christian and I went to pick my chair and larger rug up there because it was near his house and they had my chair in stock. It took us 20 minutes to find the chair walking through the entire store, pay for it, and get a little bit of food. I couldn't believe how small this Ikea was and that's why I had to take a picture of it.

Lastly, if you are reading this on Facebook, the spacing and everything is probably all messed up. So you should have read it on my blog.

2 Months in Köln in a Nutshell

2007-10-04T21:47:00.000+02:00

It's been a long time since the last time I updated due to a lack of internet. However, I moved out of my host mom's place and moved into a shared apartment (WG) where I have two 28-year-old German roommates, Volker and Stefanie. Both seem to be really friendly and do their own things (I hardly see Volker), so I've been cooking for myself.

Although I've moved into a WG, it's a bit sad because it marked almost everyone else's move from Köln to their permanent placements. The only people left here in Köln are Daniel, Greg, Jason, Aldous, and me, which I think actually makes up a really good group. However, there are other people who are not too far away, like those also in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Frankfurt. Hopefully I will be able to see those people once in awhile.

The past two months flew by and a lot happened. In order to condense everything so you can read it if you want to or skip over it, I'm writing a commentated list:

1. People had birthdays and a few of us discovered a jazz club. I don't have any pictures from Lara's birthday because Daniel, Kari, and I had no desire dealing with a large group and bounced. However, I do have photos from Justus and John's join celebration in Flanagan's (this Irish bar that caters to the international student population). However, Megan, Daniel, Greg, and I wanted to go to a jazz bar we had seen, so we did and had a really great time. The mood was perfect, the music was fun, and the beer pricey but worth it because the money went towards the musicians. We went another time and saw and old man from our language school who wound up buying us a round of beer and CDs from the performing group. I had heard from my teacher that the old man smoked cigars, so Greg ran out and got some to smoke with him. It turned out that the old man had quit smoking cigars two months previously. My face turned red not from beer but from embarrassment that I had been the one to suggest getting cigars. (How was I supposed to know?!)

2. Nine of us went to a friendly soccer match, Germany versus Romania. It was really fun even though we had seats stuck up in the corner and it was pretty much the B-team playing. We got to hear this cheesy song, "Viva Colonia" multiple times. This song is for the local Kölner soccer team, 1. FC Köln, but they played it at the national team game anyway. Who cares? Besides which, Lukas Podolski used to play for FC Köln. I managed to guess the outcome of the game correct; Germany won 3 to 1.

3. We all finished two months of "intensive" language courses and took tests for them. Pat and I had been in Level 8 in August, but passed the test at the end to move up to the next level. However, the Oberstufe (advanced class) consisted of people in Level 9 and 10, so we just did Level 10 stuff. In essence, Pat and I skipped a Stufe. ("Jaaaa!" is what Pat would always say) Now we can say we're supposedly fluent in German because we passed the Oberstufe exam.

4. I went to Brühl and Bonn on separate occasions. Daniel, this Korean girl from Tajikistan (Tajik?) in our class Lena, and I wanted to go see the Schloss in Brühl, but unfortunately the Deutsche Bank was holding an event there, so we couldn't go. Then our class went to Bonn on an excursion to the Haus der Geschichte (House of History) and the Beethoven Haus. It was really interesting and I will have to go back to the Haus der Geschichte. Daniel and I now have a joke that whenever we're in Bonn (or more like whenever Daniel is in Bonn), we're partying with Beethoven. (Daniel wants to do orchestral conducting and likes classical music, so it makes sense....Party mit Beethoven!)

5. I went to Berlin twice to visit Christian and we saw Wir Sind Helden. While in Berlin, I also saw Andrea once, but managed to miss Devin somehow. It was surreal being with Andrea in a smoky club in Berlin, but it was definitely fun. As for seeing Wir Sind Helden, they were really good and I enjoyed them, but I don't think I'd pay to go see them again. They played a lot of their mellow songs, which are nice to listen to when I'm at home chilling, but when I'm at a concert, I want to dance. Or jump. Or mosh. Ok, admittedly, everyone was jumping in sync when Wir Sind Helden played "Denkmal," but that was strange. Best songs of the night had to be "Heldenzeit," "Nur Ein Wort," and "Guten Tag." Well, I suppose "Endlich Ein Grund zur Panik" was good, too...any time the horn players got some good time was pretty much kick ass.

So that pretty much sums up the last two months. I actually updated my Flickr page as well, so there's a whole bunch of new pictures up if you want to see them. Hopefully I will be updating this a little more regularly, now that I have regular access to the internet.

Changes in Berlin

2007-09-01T18:57:00.000+02:00

As I write this entry, I am sitting in Christian's apartment in Berlin. Last night, we went to a party in *gasp* Zone B from his coworker at the Canadian Embassy. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Berlin is divided into three zones (A, B, C) for public transportation. I can't remember who agreed with me, but someone and I said that if you live in Zone B, you live out FAR. Almost everything is in Zone A; the exceptions are the airports Schönefeld and Tegel. So we were only one stop further into Zone B, but even so, I still laughed. After the party, we went to Rosi's (my favorite club on Revaler Straße in Friedrichshain) and met up with Andrea, the German exchange student who was in Middlebury last year. It was rather surreal seeing her in a club in Berlin because Vermont is just so completely different. Not to mention she could smoke inside.

Today, Christian and I walked around the city and went shopping a little bit (but didn't actually buy anything). I noticed some changes in the city since the last time I was here in March with Alex on spring break.

1. There is a new big ass mall being built in Alexanderplatz that is absolutely ugly as hell. This mall is called "Alexa" and will be opened on September 12, 2007. Maybe when I'm back here in two weeks for the Wir Sind Helden concert, I'll go take a look. I mean, that IS the Jersey mallrat in me being curious.

2. There is a new big ass stadium being built across from the East Side Gallery in Friedrichshain. It's being built mainly as an ice hockey stadium, but I'm sure there will be other uses for it.

3. There is a new (but not big ass) pedestrian bridge being built between the U- and S-bahn stations at Warschauer Straße. I guess this might make the walk between the two less hell-ish as Ashley always said. There was a party going on near the construction at 5 in the afternoon under the existing bridge. So Berlin.

4. The pedestrian crossing lights (the Ampelmann lights) are taking over in Kreuzberg and probably the rest of the city, too. Tourists find this light amusing and it had been used in East Berlin before the Wall came down. Now they are being placed everywhere in the city and not just the old east because the Ampelmann has sort of become an unofficial mascot of the city. It looks sort of weird in Kreuzberg, I'm not going to lie.

5. There are babies everywhere and really super pregnant women. It's like there was a baby explosion and everyone decided to get it on. It's probably due to the World Cup last year.

And the most important change:

There is now graffiti on Cam's apartment's door. Christian and I were walking along the Simon-Dach-Straße and I saw Cam's apartment door. It used to be so clean and new and renovated, but because it IS Berlin, it could not escape the graffiti that is everywhere. Ok, I'm kidding that this is the most important change and I know most of you reading this will probably have no idea what I'm talking about. But yeah, it just shows you that nothing can escape graffiti here.

The other change in Berlin is not a physical change on the cityscape. Instead, it is the way I view it and relate to it. Because of the fact that I have been living in Köln (Cologne in English, but get used to me saying Köln), Berlin somehow seems a little bit foreign, a little strange. I've forgotten some of the station names. The people seem different and I feel like I seem out of place, although that could never be true in Berlin. The U-bahn trains are louder, the S-bahn is wider, and there are just generally more people (which makes sense since Berlin is bigger than Köln). I feel like it's easier to be anonymous here and it's easier to get lost. I don't get nasty and funny looks for speaking English. I suppose that Köln has made me realize these things about Berlin, and why Berlin is Berlin. I don't love Berlin more or less. It's just that I see it differently and it's not the same. Could you say that this is somewhat like reverse culture shock? Is that even possible, even though both cities are in Germany?

Oh yeah, I also noticed that there are fewer people in wheelchairs here in Berlin than in Köln or Düsseldorf. I don't know why that is. Perhaps it's because Berlin is full of young people popping out babies. There are fewer babies in Köln, too, so it seems. Christian and I joked that it was because Köln has all the gay people and older people, so that might be the reason. Am I becoming un-PC?

I'm Not Dead Yet...

2007-08-18T19:34:00.000+02:00

Well, I have internet because I'm at Christian's parents' apartment, so I figure I should update my blog. If you have been to Germany before, you will know what typical German weather is like: cloudy, rainy, unpredictable. I can't say that it has been any different, although, the weather has been good recently. Some friends (David, John, Becky, Maggie, Ben) and I went grilling in a park the other day. Of course, we grilled some wurst, I brought some corn and made pork burgers, and there was Kartoffelsalat (potato salad, very German). And the key point to grilling wurst in a park in Germany? Drinking beer with it, obviously. That's one thing I definitely had missed when I was at home: being able to drink in public, whether in a park or a walking beer. Then we all somehow became really amused jumping off rocks and taking pictures doing it...ahhh, Köln!

Another thing that I missed while at home was watching Fußball (uh, soccer). Today I went with Christian to a bar in Düsseldorf and met his friend Sven there. Today's Spieltag was pretty sweet: Werder Bremen (my favorite team) vs. FC Bayern München, Schalke vs. Dortmund, Hertha BSC vs. Stuttgart, Wolfsburg vs. Duisburg, and some others. Man, the Bremen/München game was ridiculous at a 0-4 loss for Bremen. I still don't like the fact that Miroslav Klose is playing for München now. He should still be in Bremen...But anyway.

On the same note, 8 friends and I will be going to a Germany vs. Romania game in Köln on September 12. Who's psyched?? I've also got tickets to go see Die Fantastischen Vier (they're like the German Beastie Boys) and then Die Ärzte (German punk band from Berlin) in November. And next month is Wir Sind Helden in Berlin, woohoo! (Alex, I'll be sure to take pictures and send them to you)

Lastly, does anyone know someone who lives in Köln that needs a roommate starting October 1? I get to look for my own apartment, but I have to live with Germans and my program needs to approve of it. I don't have any desire to do it really, but I know in the end, it'll work out. This year is probably going to fly by, especially considering that I've been here for 3 weeks. (Yeah, I'm not writing very clearly...I'll admit it...German television is distracting...)

Oh yeah, and check out my pictures here.

Finally, a real blog entry from Köln

2007-08-08T15:13:00.000+02:00

I typed this entry the other night at home because I have no internet, but yes. Enjoy.

I guess the solution to not having internet at home is to write my blog entries at home on Word and then copying and pasting it. And so, I write at home. Unfortunately, Flickr seems to load rather slowly when I attempt to upload photos. I suppose they will have to wait until I find a day when the internet is not so slow.

We arrived here in Germany on a beautiful day. The people with me, those who will be in Köln for the first two months of this program doing the language course, were all exhausted when we got to Bonn and saw the InWEnt headquarters. InWEnt is the company that runs the program here in Germany. We all attempted to stay awake, had a little breakfast, and chatted a little, eager to move on to our home for the next two months rather than listening to a boring video that was quickly putting us to sleep.

The ride to Köln from Bonn was tough; I tried not to sleep because I knew if I did, it would be difficult to wake up and not be groggy or grumpy. I managed to do so, although many other people took the time to take naps. I can’t really say what we did when we got to Köln because it all happened rather quickly, but at the time, it couldn’t have gone any slower. At around 4 pm, we were finally put in shared taxis and sent to our guest families.

My guest mother, Barbara, is a very friendly, 68 year old woman with two daughters that live separately in Köln. To say the least, she is a hippie. Not the let’s-smoke-up-and-believe-in-free-love type of hippie. The first thing she said to me when I arrived was, “Oh! How wonderful of you to show up! Let’s sit outside and enjoy the sun!” She’s more of a I-really-enjoy-life-and-do-everything-and-love-the-earth-and-wear-really-flowy-dresses type of hippie. She makes jewelry that she sells in the market on occasion, claims not to be a smoker because she only smokes by herself in front of the TV late at night and ironically smokes Marlboro Reds, and has lots of stars and moons all over the place. I think the best thing about living here is the lamp sitting in the window of the living room. Barbara turns this lamp on every night and it’s shaped like a goose. No joke. I will try posting a picture of it (as well as the rest of important bits of the apartment) on here. But it’s awesome. Especially because the apartment is on the ground floor. I’m sure anyone who walks by can definitely see it.

The language courses have not really begun yet, but we did take a placement test on our second day here in Köln. We got our results today (as I write this, it is Monday, 6 August) and out of ten levels, I placed into the eighth. I think there is only one person who got into a higher level and two other people, so I have heard, have also placed with me. I think I can safely say I have a pretty advanced knowledge of German. We will know our definite placements by the end of the week, so I may move up or down, as other people will, too.

In comparison to Berlin, Köln feels like a much smaller and more mainstream city. There are fewer punks and fewer people wearing crazy, colorful outfits. Köln also feels cleaner and less graffiti-ed, and perhaps due to this, appears less edgy. It is, however, full of gay people. When people say that Köln has a lot of gays, they weren’t lying. It’s pretty cool because the city has an air of acceptance about it, similar to Berlin, but in a very different way that I cannot put into words. Köln, like the German capital, is very multi-cultural (“multi-culti” as they say in German). Yesterday there was a very large game against two Turkish soccer teams and it seemed like all the Turks in the city and beyond were on my train (which goes to the stadium here). I have also noticed many more interracial couples, especially Asian girls with German guys. I guess that seems to be the thing…?

On a very different note, the people in my program are very diverse. There are those who don’t speak a word of German and have never left their towns, those who are on the intermediate level and have visited, then the more advanced who have lived here. Majors range from culinary arts, masonry, pre-law, business, and history. I’m the only person actually doing film, though there are some other people doing “communications” or “media.” I have gotten to know a good range of people that I am sure I will end up writing much about as the year goes on.

In addition to the people I have met up with, I have seen Christian twice. I went out to Düsseldorf and went to a party with him at his friend Stephan’s apartment. I surprisingly knew several people because I had been there during Karneval: Sven, Oliver, “Ossi,” and Stephan. The funniest moment had to have been when I was asking the difference between Altbier (the local Düsseldorfer beer) and Kölsch (the local Kölner beer). It is important to understand a few key points about this moment beforehand. First, Köln and Düsseldorf have always been rivals, much like the Yankees and the Red Sox, New York and Boston. Second, Altbier is closer to ale, whereas Kölsch is more pils-like, mostly because Altbier, like its name indicates, is brewed longer. Düsseldorfer do not like Kölsch and Kölner do not like Altbier. When this super old man from Düsseldorf was explaining the difference between the two beers, he claimed, “Lass ein Pils eine Stunde stehen lassen und dann wird es ein Kölsch.” Translation: Let a pilsner beer sit for an hour and it will become a Kölsch. I think this is only funny if you really know what I’m talking about. So if you come to the Rhineland, try both Altbier and Kölsch. For now, I prefer Altbier.

Being in Düsseldorf gave me the chance to see where Christian grew up. It’s a really cute town that’s actually a part of the city of Düsseldorf, but it has cows, sheep, and cornfields. You can look it up on Google Earth; it’s called Kaiserswerth. I also got to meet Christian’s parents, both of whom are very friendly.

If you’ve actually gotten to this point of this blog entry, congratulations. I don’t expect anyone to actually get this far, but so much has happened in the first week that I don’t think I can actually write everything. I also don’t want to bore you to tears, so I will stop here. But as I’ve said, I don’t have internet at home, so updating my blog frequently these first two months is not going to happen. I’ll try updating at least once a week. Until then…bring it on, Cologne!

Going Back to Germany

2007-04-14T00:14:00.000+02:00

Another long period has passed when I have not updated my blog. However, I feel like it would be appropriate to do so now. The title of this entry, "Going Back to Germany" has two significant meanings: 1. I was in Berlin for spring break and 2. I am officially going back to Germany after graduation.

Alex and I went back to Berlin for spring break and it was a good time. We did everything we hadn't done, like finding the rest of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, going clubbing (Alex hadn't really done much while we were there), and trying to get into the Reichstag (Alex had also not done that). We even got into a slight brawl in the middle of Skalitzer Straße over by Schlesisches Tor. I kept bunching Alex and well, she took her revenge by taking me down. I was just so shocked that she was actually attacking me that I automatically gave in.

The weather was gorgeous while we were there, especially in comparison to the cloudy, rainy/snowy stuff we're having here at the moment in Vermont. We did a lot of walking like we used to. We even walked through Tiergarten with our iPods turned on, not talking to each other. (Yeah, it's a sign of our generation.) We also went to the EU's 50th birthday party in front of the Brandenburg Gate, although the party there did not even come close to anything that had happened during the World Cup. Oh, and we saw the polar bear cub, Knut, which was absolutely ridiculous. Germany loves its bears. Seriously. First, there was Bruno. Then there was Knut. And then the panda bear Yan Yan died. Oh, bears. Stephen Colbert would hate it.

Going back to Berlin was also a good time because I got to see all the people that I knew there before, like Christian's friends, Pablo (he came up from Köln for the weekend), and Devin. (Devin is still kicking in Berlin with her band, Italoporno) It was as if I had never left.

The second reason why this entry is titled "Going Back to Germany" is because I got a call this morning informing me that I was taken off the Alternate list for this scholarship, the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX), and actually chosen to participate. It was rather funny because the call woke me up, which is also interesting since I never leave my cell phone on. Last night, however, I forgot to turn it off. Anyway, the call woke me up but as soon as the woman on the phone said, "There's an open slot for the CBYX program. Do you want it?" I was pretty much wide awake.

So that settles it. Next year I will be somewhere in Germany (I don't know where exactly yet) starting on August 1. I'll be studying for 6 months and then doing an internship for 6 months. I'm not allowed to travel back to the U.S. for Christmas or anything like that, which for me doesn't really make much of a difference, so that means everyone's going to have to come visit me. And now the senioritis can kick in for real.

I'm done with my thesis!

2007-02-28T00:31:00.000+01:00

I am officially done with my thesis. Forever. I did my defense for it today, thought I screwed up, but Joanna (my thesis advisor) told me later in her class that they're leaving the grade as it was. The defense did not lower the grade in any way, shape, or form. What a process it's been...but I never once got stressed out about it. (Thank God I have time management skills in which if I do anything late, I am just incapable of doing anything at all, and hence why I work really far ahead.) The fact that I am done with my thesis defense now means that I can actually have a little bit of senioritis and not feel guilty. Well, not quite. I just have to maintain my GPA (should be easy enough) and maybe find a job.

But after doing the defense and knowing my grade is not going to change, this means that I'm going to be graduating with high honors (I think that might be magna cum laude, no?), hopefully. That is, if nothing gets screwed up. (Such as they suddenly change the GPA minimum on me or I fail miserably in the one class I need for the semester).

And now the job search begins...I actually sent out another job application today for my dream job (that is, if that included the fact that it's in L.A.). Hopefully I'll get an interview with them. We'll see.

The Sounds of Silence

2006-11-09T18:07:00.000+01:00

After just eating lunch with some friends, I've noticed that I have nothing new to say to people...ever. I told Alex how I felt and she's right; it's a complete overexposure to the people I am friends with because we all live together. Topic conversations are pretty much limited to the following:

1. Schoolwork & how much it sucks.
2. Your weekend plans.
3. How tired you are and how much you want to nap.
4. What you've already done for the day, what your plans are for the rest of the day.
5. Ideas for parties sometime in the future.

I think that's a pretty comprehensive list of topics. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather sit in silence and enjoy it rather than chit chatting about stuff that I'll re-hash out with someone else later. For example, this morning I was repeating stuff that I had told Elise already on Tuesday. I felt stupid, so just apologized.

I feel like that is one thing I learned while I was abroad. It's OK to sit in silence with someone and not have it awkward. Why is it that we're so used to constantly talking? Why can't we just sit and say nothing? I don't understand it. Elise also told me that every third word out of my mouth is "thesis," which she's probably right about, but I have nothing else to say except, "Hmm, I should go work on my thesis," or something along those lines. Nothing in my life is currently that interesting. There is nothing new to report to people, nothing newsworthy. I feel like I myself am just a boring person at the moment because all I do is eat, sleep, exercise, go to class, and do classwork. How monotonous.

Back in the U.S. (of A)

2006-10-25T22:49:00.000+02:00

So I haven't updated my blog in awhile for many reasons. The main reason is that I left Berlin on September 3 (the Wir Sind Helden concert was cancelled and I was livid), came back Stateside, was at home in Jersey for a week, then came up to Middlebury. Since being at Middlebury, I've been thrown back into the world of academia, stress, and social obligations.

I'm actually only taking two classes (Reasonable Doubts, a.k.a. German course about the Enlightenment and reading classic texts like Faust and then my senior film seminar about Fellini & Antonioni) and my thesis. It leaves me a nice schedule with classes only on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as Wednesday evening. I work in the mailroom Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in order to earn money so I can get back to Berlin.

Speaking of which, I will be going back to Berlin in March for spring break with Alex. You may be asking yourself, "Already?" And the answer is YES. I still am not sure if I love it here as much as I once did, hence booking a flight already to go back. By "here" I mean the U.S. in general, but I also definitely mean Middlebury. Middlebury is not what it once was. It is no longer my home away from home. It is no longer a place where I feel comfortable as I had been. It has become a place where I have to be in order to continue on with the rest of my life. It is basically just a pause in my life, the life that I discovered while I was in Berlin and the life that I want to get back to. I am obligated to be back here, to get that piece of paper saying I went to college, to finish my studies.

Being back has also made me realize I am taking a new direction with my life. That direction is steering me back towards Germany. I feel like I was much happier there with the lifestyle and who I was, who I became. I don't like the people here as I did before I went abroad. Things have changed, people have changed, I don't know any of the underclassmen. (Not that I really care because I just go to the dining hall whenever I please, not caring if I'm alone.) Relationships have evolved: I see that people I once cared about, I now couldn't care less about, people I once barely knew have become better friends, and people I never knew seem to be better friends than those I thought would always be there.

Nothing really excites me about studying anymore. It makes me irritated to have to sit down and read a text about a film. I think the only thing I'm vaguely interested in is my thesis, only because it is my own project and I can do what I want with it. It's rather sad, but I suppose this is one of the changes in myself that has happened.

On a completely different note, my oldest sister Tracie got married a few weeks ago. That was a real jolt. I suppose it was a sign of growing up, of letting go. Tracie will always be there, of course, but "letting go" of childhood, of silly jokes, of immaturity. It's hard to explain because obviously those things will still be there, but it's not the same. Don't get me wrong, I love my um, brother-in-law, I think he's awesome. It's just strange to think Tracie as a married woman. (I think that's it: She's a married woman, not a girl anymore...who the hell is ever called a "married girl" anyway?)

But that is my life in a nutshell thus far. I plan on applying for jobs to get back to Germany. I hope that I will be there again someday soon. Right after college would be nice. But yes...getting out of Middlebury will be a great relief, as much as I will miss it. It will be a place that I will always remember, but right now, I am ready to move on.

Reflections on a Year Abroad

2006-08-15T17:21:00.000+02:00

Yes, indeed, I haven't updated this blog in quite awhile. Between this entry and the last, things that have happened: I turned 21, went to Munich with Ashley, the World Cup came to an end (with Italy winning the title, unfortunately, but nonetheless, Germany put up a good fight), the end of the semester (had to write 3 papers, 1 exam), went to Croatia with Ashley for a week and tanned, and most of my friends have left for home already.

Due to the fact that hardly anyone is left (with the exceptions of Cam and Zoey who are both busy anyway), I have had much time to myself between research for my thesis and napping to reflect upon this year and how I have changed. For one, I am not looking forward to going home as much as one would think I would be. Instead, I think I'm more upset about the fact that I have to leave this wonderful city and go back to really studying (ie: classes meeting more than once a week for only 1.5 hours at a time).

This year has been a life changing experience to put it simply. I have learned much about myself: I am more independent than I thought so, my academic limits were pushed (writing academic papers in German, anyone?), I'm more open to new experiences (drum 'n bass, foods, beer), and I have a passion for Fußball (um, soccer). I think the independence factor is what surprised me the most. Looking back, finding an apartment was probably one of the most challenging things I've done, but look how well that turned out. I made friends through and with them, had tons of fun, learned tons of vocabulary (very useful stuff, too, like, "Es geht mir auf die Eier!"), and had help on papers.

I'm not quite sure what I will miss most about Berlin. Drinking beer on the street. The U-bahn announcement, "Einsteigen, bitte. Zurückbleiben, bitte." The annoying street musicians on the U- and S-bahn. The Turkish market on Tuesdays and Fridays. The dogs running around without leashes. The nightlife...And then there are the specific people and places that I will miss, like my roommates, the Oberbaum Brücke, Rosi's, crazy Julian (although I haven't seen him in awhile), Görlitzer Park, Wannsee. Going back to Middlebury will be a huge change.

If I had to choose ten songs to represent this year, I know what they'd be. Of course, many of them are World Cup songs, but it played such a prominent role during second semester. (Hence why I had to stress out at the end of the semester to finish my papers on time because I watched 58 of the 64 games) I would choose these songs, but not in any specific order:

1. Wir Sind Helden - "Nur ein Wort"
2. Sportfreunde Stiller - "'54, '74, '90, 2006" (or 2010, both versions)
3. Nena - "99 Luftballons"
4. Bob Sinclair - "Love Generation"
5. Seeed - "Ding"
6. Oliver Pocher - "Schwarz und Weiß"
7. Texas Lightning - "No No Never"
8. Tocotronic - "Meine Freundin und ihr Freund"
9. Farin Urlaub - "Zehn"
10. Franz Ferdinand - "Do You Want To"

In reality, I've actually made a playlist on my iPod like I do every year and it has 40 some odd songs in German and English. I know that when I hear these songs all together, it will remind me of the times I've had here.

Although I am leaving in 2.5 weeks, I know I will be back. I've already started looking for jobs here in Berlin for after college (if anyone knows of any job in the music or film/TV industry here, drop me a line.) and hopefully it will be just as much fun, if not more so.

'54, '74, '90, 2010 + München

2006-07-13T21:58:00.000+02:00

Now that the World Cup is officially over, it seems like I have absolutely nothing to do with my life. I'm estimating that I saw between 52 and 58 of the 64 games that happened between June 9th and July 9th. As you can see, I became slightly addicted (ok, "slightly" is an understatement) to football. To say the least, I now have a bigger appreciation for the sport.

In the quarter-finals, Germany beat Argentina in a penalty shoot-out after overtime. I'll admit it: I was pretty nervous the day of the game because I felt that Argentina had a better chance of moving on. After making all of their penalty shots, it felt like the whole country broke out into one huge party that would continue until the semi-final game. We all know how the semi-final ended. Germany unfortunately lost to Italy (who plays dirtier than flies on a pile of poo) in the last two minutes of overtime. If only they had held out, they probably could've beat the Italians in a penalty shoot-out.

Even so, Germany managed to place third after beating Portugal in a game that was probably better and more interesting than the final itself. Third isn't bad at all, considering there were 32 teams at the beginning of the World Cup. And the Germans have acknowledged that, praising their team, thanking Jürgen Klinsmann (the coach), and essentially, being a graceful third place winner. On the day of the final, the whole team came to Berlin to the Fan Mile in front of Brandenburger Tor to thank their fans. Ashley, Mike, and I went because we all have our favorite players (Podolski, Friedrich, and Ballack, respectively) and thought it would be a once in a lifetime thing. Indeed, it was, but it was hot as all hell.

Berlin, Berlin, Wir fahren nach Berlin

2006-06-23T22:03:00.000+02:00

Unless you live in the United States or under a rock (or as they say in German, "hinter dem Mond leben"), you would be aware that the biggest sporting event in the world is currently happening right here in Germany. This sporting event is this phenomenon called the "World Cup" (Fußball Weltmeisterschaft in German, or WM for short). As an American, I never thought that I would get completely absorbed into the football culture outside our dear, dear country, but oh Lord. My life in the past two weeks has been taken over by football, football, football.

The opening game was June 9 and was Germany against Costa Rica. Since then, I have watched about 40 of the 45 games that have already happened. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Three games a day until this past Tuesday and living with Germans that are really into it...well, I've found myself wasting away in front of the TV. However, I'd like to point out that the Germany vs. Poland game was simply amazing (only goal made in the last minute of overtime? Awesome), the goal that Joe Cole made in the England vs. Sweden match was fantastic, and it's a pity that the US is out of the Round of 16. (But Beasley is still the man.)

Ashley and I have decided that we are in favor of Germany winning (naturally). We also have "claimed" German players...meaning, we've dubbed them hot. She likes Podolwski and I like Ballack. We've been typical women sometimes; we watch the games and comment on how hot players are. I do that with Heike as well, though.

The atmosphere here in Berlin is indescribable, but I'll try to explain it: Electrifying. Exciting. Loud. Energetic. Crazy. Chaotic. You get the point. There are fans from every corner of the world coming to enjoy the atmosphere, whether or not they have tickets to games. Every restaurant and cafe (or almost every) has a TV on which customers can view the games whenever they're on. And when games aren't on? Customers can still watch commentary on past games or predictions on who will win the next.

In addition to the excess amount of TVs everywhere (including huge Jumbotrons at major sites like Brandenburger Tor and Treptower Park), the German patriotism is unbelievable. I don't think I've ever seen this many German flags before in my life. They're on cars, buildings, shirts, people's faces, the U- and S-bahn. Everywhere you look, you can see Schwarz-Rot-Gold. In Der Spiegel (a magazine equivalent to Time), there was an article saying that the German flag is sold out nearly everywhere and production in China is having a tough time keeping up with the demand. Additionally, four times as many Deutscher Fußballbund jerseys have been sold as in the last World Cup in 2002.

I've been to various screenings of various games. For the US vs. Italy game, I went to the Brandenburger Tor Fan Mile with a few other Americans: Mike, Dan, Drew (visiting from Tübingen), and some of Drew's friends. We were in a vast sea of Italian fans who didn't understand Dan yelling profanities. However, Drew and Dan understood the Italians whenever they said anything about us. I also sat in Treptower Park and watched the Brazil vs. Australia game, as well as South Korea vs. France. Yesterday I went to see the US vs. Ghana and Czech Republic vs. Italy game there, too.

However, today was probably a highlight of the whole WM experience for me. I had tickets to the Tunisia vs. Ukraine game and Hugo came with me. It was pretty exciting and you could feel the tension in the air. The Olympic Stadium was completely full with the 72,000 spectators chanting, screaming, booing, and clapping. Unfortunately only one goal was made by the Ukrainians (number 7 Shevchenko) and the game could've been more exciting, but I can't complain. How many people can say they went to a World Cup game during their study abroad year? (Besides Ashley and Cam, I'm sure others can, but still...that's not my point.) I don't know what else to say, but it was definitely more fun than the hockey game I saw in Turin for the Olympics. (Even if I saw my own home team there.)

My support currently is with the German team for many obvious reasons. They play again tomorrow against the Swedes, which should make for a thrilling game. Tomorrow I'm also turning the big 2-1, but how anticlimactic since I can already legally drink here. I can even drink on the street! But even so, I think I will celebrate by watching some more football...

Lastly, "Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin" means "Berlin, Berlin, we're going to Berlin." The Germans keep saying that, but other teams have their translations too. I've heard "¡Berlin, Berlin, vamos a Berlin!" and others, which I'm sure is the same. Who will make the final? God only knows, and I can only look forward to July 9.

I will update this later with pictures at some other point...

"The Irish Sea is crap!"

2006-06-09T11:45:00.000+02:00

It's been yet another long while since I have updated my blog, but Dan just recently made his big trip around Europe and came to visit. Before that, I was working diligently on one of my papers and have completed 10 pages already. Just another 2 pages and 2 more papers to go.

Dan got here to Berlin on the 30th. We didn't do too much before we left for a nice 4 day trip to Dublin. When people said that Dublin was expensive, they weren't lying. Even so, it was a nice break from Germany, German, and Germans. The first day we got there, we went to Phoenix Park, saw the Wellington Memorial, watched some Irish people playing football in the park, and went to the Guinness Factory. Everyone who visits the Guinness Factory gets a complimentary pint, and oh, did we drink it. We actually went and drank our pints first and then did the tour, only because the bar was closing early. My verdict: I still don't like Guinness. It's too thick and it's like eating a loaf of bread or more.

For dinner, we decided on this restaurant in Temple Bar serving traditional Irish boxties, which are these potato pancakes with stuff wrapped up inside. It was incredible and rather expensive, but completely worth it. As we were finishing up our dessert, a familiar face came up to us and said, "Hey guys, what's up?" It was none other than Mark Hemley, our friend from Middlebury whom we haven't seen since leaving the States. (So about August or so?) He was so casual about seeing us, saying, "I knew I was going to see you guys today! I thought I saw a guy that looked just like you, Dan, and I thought I would run into you." The weird thing was that Dan and I didn't know that Mark was going to be in Dublin, and he didn't know we were going to be, either. What are the chances that we run into each other in a little restaurant in Dublin? Dan and I were completely shocked beyond belief to see Mark, but he passed it off as if it were another day in Middlebury.

He and his girlfriend were just getting their dinner as we finished, so we decided to meet up an hour later. Mark's girlfriend didn't end up coming, so the three of us went to the nearest Irish pub, grabbed some pints (which were expensive), and then headed over to the Temple Bar. (The actual pub named Temple Bar) Mark and his girlfriend were only in Dublin that night and were travelling around Ireland after that, but it was nonetheless really amazing to have run into him.

The next day we went to the Irish Writers' Museum (well, we had to because of our Contemporary Ireland class!), took a tour of Dublin Castle, and then saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. Somehow it ended up taking up the whole day, but we also did a lot of walking. In fact, we didn't take buses anywhere while in Dublin. We just walked everywhere, even though we were staying rather far from places like the Guinness Storehouse and Jameson Distillery. The weather was incredible and we figured we'd save a little money by walking. Not only that, but getting exercise is always good.

On Saturday, we took a guided tour outside of Dublin called "The Celtic Experience." A bit cheesy, I suppose, but it was a great way to see the Irish countryside. Our tourguide, Paul, was really knowledgeable and really had the art of Irish storytelling down pat. He was pretty funny, too. The best lines were when he said that the Irish Catholics are the "guiltiest people on Earth" and then compared Jesus to Communism. (Long story, but just think of how an Irishman might do it. That's how he told it.) He also informed us that on any day when you're looking out of your window, you can see at least 40 different shades of green in the Irish countryside. I wonder how many there are in Vermont?

The tour only had 14 people total and it was very private, very personal. We got to see a whole bunch of places whose names I can't remember, but that's why a digital camera is so useful. If you go to my pictures here, you can see the labels for each place. I took pictures of each place's name so I could remember because I know my memory sucks. There was a family from Texas there and they were so ridiculously Texan, but in a good way. It was kind of amusing since I've been away from Americans for so long, and it was really refreshing to just be with people who are so obviously American but not obnoxiously so.

The tour lasted the entire day and when we got back into Dublin, there were a bunch of rubber ducks in the Liffey River. The World Record Duck Race had taken place earlier in the day. Children and adults can pay about 5€ a piece for a rubber duck with a number. All of the rubber ducks go floating down the Liffey, and the one to get to the end wins a big prize of some sort. There must've been at least 100,000 rubber ducks and you could just see a sea of yellow. Because the race was done, people were collecting rubber ducks and throwing them up to people standing along the river. Dan and I each managed to snag one, although I told him I'll probably end up throwing it out someday.

Our last day in Dublin was spent at the Jameson Distillery, where, much like in the Guinness Storehouse, we got complimentary whiskey. We went a little early so we were drinking whiskey at about noon or so. My verdict: Still don't like whiskey much, either. Then we took a DART train out to Howth, which is this town that is still in County Dublin, but on the edge of the Irish Sea. There were beaches and steep cliffs, lots of Irish children running around. It was a really beautiful day to go out there and we climbed some of the cliffs, walked out to the lighthouse, and listened in on conversations. Our favorite, by far, was between an 8- or 9-year old boy and his younger 5- or 6-year old sister. You could tell that their parents had planned a weekend family excursion and the little boy just didn't really want to be there. On the other hand, the little girl was completely enchanted by it. This is how the exchange went:

Little boy: The Irish Sea is crap!
Little girl: No, it's not! It's full of sharks and stuff!

Yes, it's a short exchange, but imagine it with little Irish accents and the two of them just being very blunt with each other. Another good one was when a little boy, perched upon his father's shoulders, dropped some sort of lid for some snack he had. Here's that exchange:

Little boy: I don't need it.
Father: Well, you need to put it in a bin, dontchya?

Like I said, it was probably much funnier when we were there because of the accents. We also decided that the Irish seem to be very matter-of-fact with each other. But mainly, it was probably because of the accents.

We flew back here to Berlin at the asscrack of dawn (our flight left Dublin at 5:55 a.m.). The weather was not so great when we left: foggy, gray, cool. Paul had told us that we had lucked out because before we showed up, there had been about 3 months straight of rain. Dan actually had gotten sunburned on his face and I got a "driving" tan. (My left arm was tanned, while my right was not) Who would've thought in Ireland?

Our time here in Berlin was pretty laid back. When we got back on Monday, the Karneval der Kulturen was still going on over by Hallesches Tor. It was basically another street festival with all the minorities celebrating their cultures. Other things we did included going to the Museum für Naturkünde (Natural History Museum), but unfortunately they were restoring the huge dinosaur hall. Therefore, we weren't able to see the world famous brachiosaurus skeleton. On Wednesday, there was a huge fan party for the World Cup in front of the Brandenburger Tor and we went to that with Ashley and Dan. There was a country band from Mississippi that played a bunch of covers (including a country rendition of "Hey, ya!" but it worked). Ashley and I were having a lot of dancing but I think all the people around us thought we were completely nuts.

I guess there isn't much else noteworthy to tell...the details here are vague, yes. I really don't feel like writing every little thing, but if you want to see pictures from Dublin, I took about 200 or so. (Oh, the joys of digital) So, go to my Flickr page, check them out.

Today is the opening game for the World Cup with Germany playing against Costa Rica. Dan left today to go back home (with a short stop in London), so I will be going to see the game with Christian, Heike, and a bunch of his friends. It should be really exciting because Germany has a really good chance of winning, and well, it's the opening game. Opening game, host team playing...what could be better?

Mein Neuer Zimmer (und Neue Mitbewohnerin)

2006-05-11T16:34:00.000+02:00

As the title of this entry indicates, I have a new room and a new roommate. No, I didn't move out of my apartment. Instead, I switched rooms. On April 30, Valentin (aka Das Phantom) moved out, I switched into Valentin/Pablo's room (which actually belongs to Krischan), and Heike moved back. Here's the complicated story: I was subletting Heike's room because she had to go to Koblenz to do some sort of law course. Pablo was subletting Krischan's room, but moved out at the end of February because Krischan was supposed to come back from doing a semester abroad in Austria. However, Krischan got an internship in Bavaria (southern Germany) and didn't come back at the end of February. Pablo didn't want to stay, so moved in with his friend Julian, while Christian and I found another subletter, Valentin (das Phantom/der Vampir/Rasputin), for two months. We didn't communicate with Valentin at all, or rather, he didn't talk to us. Hence all the funny nicknames. At the end of the two months, so the end of April, Valentin moved out, I moved into Krischan's room, and Heike is back into where I was sleeping. And now the apartment consists of Heike, Christian, and me. Complicated, right?

To make things simpler, I am in a new room and got a new roommate. I really like Heike and the dynamic of the apartment has changed completely from when Pablo was here. Two guys and a girl is very different from two girls and a guy. For one, I am no longer "self-made bitch" as Alex called me. Heike washes the dishes more than I do, probably cleans a little more than I do, and cooks as much as I do. She baked an Apfelkuchen (apple cake) for Christian's birthday while I did nothing. You can also tell the difference between our ages: She bought Christian a cookbook and I got him the new Chili Peppers CD. The apartment has skewed older now, too, (Heike is 30, Christian is 27, Pablo is 22), although Heike doesn't seem like she's 30.

I also didn't update about Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day) on 1 May, which is famous for demonstrations and riots. This year was no different. The day before, I went out with some friends and we just relaxed in Viktoriapark over by Mehringdamm. By "relaxing," I mean drank large amounts of alcohol while listening to people playing guitar, watching people play with fire, and enjoying the spring weather. I didn't go anywhere else really after Viktoriapark because I admittedly drank myself silly, but apparently there were other things going on in the city, like in Mauerpark in Prenzlauerberg (where the first stone is traditionally thrown) and Boxhagener Platz in Friedrichshain. (The picture on the left is our "Workers of the World Unite!" picture from Monday)

On Monday, 1 May, there was this huge street festival outside my apartment on Oranienstraße called MyFest. The festival went all the way down to Oranienplatz, extended to Mariannenplatz, and was also in Heinrichplatz and Adalbertstraße. I suppose this doesn't mean anything to those who have never been to Berlin, especially Kreuzberg, but it's a pretty sizeable area. There were bands of all types playing for MyFest, from traditional Russian music to hardcore ska and punk bands. The streets were full of people drinking beer, eating döner and falafel, singing, dancing, and enjoying the spring weather.

I went and enjoyed the day with Zoey, Mike, and Ashley. Mike was wearing a Blaumann, which are these bright blue overalls that construction workers and such wear, with an orange t-shirt. It was pretty ridiculous but made him it easy to find him in the crowds. We saw many bands, ate falafel, sat on the street and people watched, and sat in the park. It was a good day, but unfortunately I had to leave early to go see a film for my Taiwanese film class. When I came back to Kreuzberg at around 11 pm, the party was still going on. Apparently, the festivities went on til 1 am, but Christian and I didn't notice because we were watching Armageddon on TV til 2.Throughout the day, there were demonstrations going on for every little thing you could possibly think of: People against domestic violence, against the Iraq War, Communists demonstrated, there were some demonstrators for anarchy, etc. etc. I didn't partake in anything. Ashley, Zoey, Mike, and Dan were out very late at night while I had come home, and apparently the riot police were right outside my apartment on Oranienstraße trying to control people and a huge bonfire, according to what they said. The funny thing is that the next day, everything was back in order and it looked as if the previous day had never happened. Another reason to love Germany: Things get cleaned up fast after a huge party like MyFest or Karneval. And every day I still come to the conclusion that I'm so glad I came to Berlin for my year abroad.

Sommersemester Woche 1, Drew Visits, & Die Wannsee

2006-04-23T19:50:00.000+02:00

Whenever I don't update for awhile, one of two things usually happens. First, absolutely nothing happens. Literally, nothing. Orelse the time flies by, I've done so much, and I just don't know where to start. This time, the latter has happened.

To sum it up quickly, my friend Drew from language school came up to visit from Tübingen (near Stuttgart) last week. Last week was also the first week of classes for Sommersemester, which in English would just be known as second semester. On Sunday, Drew left and I went to the Wannsee for a picnic with Rob, Cam, Ashley, Dan, and some kids from Rob & Cam's program. That's the short version of events. Read on if you want to know the longer version.

Drew came up on a whim and didn't know when exactly he was leaving. So I let him stay. During the day, I would go to a few classes and then come back. On Wednesday evening, we went with Ashley to see Dropkick Murphys and Less than Jake in concert. It was pretty chaotic, to say the least. We were up front for Less than Jake and the crowd went wild. We were moshing and ska-dancing around, so much so that I basically pushed Drew over (even though he's at least 5 inches taller than me) and broke my bra. Yes, people, I broke my bra from moshing and yes, it was a first for me. Hey, it happens.

We moved to the back for Dropkick Murphys because you could feel the anxiety in the air to just go crazy. We were pretty beaten up from Less than Jake, and not to mention that there was a creepy bald guy trying to hit on Ashley and me by staring at us with a look he probably thought was seductive. (It was just plain creepy.) The acoustics were pretty crappy, but even so, I sang along to "The Workers' Song" and "Barroom Hero," amongst others. Stiny, if you're reading this: I wish you had been there! You would've had so much fun.

On Friday evening, I chose a club in Prenzlauerberg, Icon, to go to because I had seen an advertisement saying that one of the guys from the Propellerheads was DJing. Ashley and Drew came with me and the selection of music was pretty good. It was electro, so it was a surprise to see Pablo with his friends Alex and David. Sure, I had invited them to come with us, but I didn't expect them to go. Pablo always goes to drum & bass parties, which, unsurprisingly, he went to afterward. Anyway, that was basically Drew's visit.

Last week was also the first week of classes. I realized that I'm not as stressed out as last semester when I had to pick them out, and it's probably because I know the rules of the game. It was pretty funny today because Ashley, Cam, and Gergana (Mt. Holyoke student in the Midd Program) came to a Vorlesung (general lecture) that I went to last week. At the beginning of the class, the professor said that he had to speak to the one American student afterward. I was the only American student last week, all the others were Austrians. (Short digression: Can I just say, Austrians doing their 'abroad' year/semester in Germany is a little ridiculous? That'd be like Americans going to Canada for an 'abroad' experience.) Anyway, Ashley, Gergana, and I discussed writing a Klausur (written exam) for the course and Cam asked if he could take a 2 hour one. The professor said the Klausur would be around 45 minutes, so Cam can't take it (not enough for his program), and Gergana asked, "Wait, are we allowed to do that?" On the sheet we give to professors, it says the Klausur has to be 1 hour and a half long. I wanted to just nudge her really hard and say, "It doesn't matter!" I explained later that it doesn't matter because as long as we're writing a Klausur, the program director doesn't need to know the tiny little details. It'll say on paper that we did an exam and that's all that matters. It's learning the rules of the game.

Dan on the jungle gym at the Wannsee. No, he didn't knock little kids off.

I'm almost done choosing classes...I'm definitely taking Massaker in der Frühen Neuzeit (Massacres in the Early New Time), Das Kino aus Taiwan (Taiwanese Cinema), and Geschichte der öffentlichen Kommunikation: Der Nationalsozialismus und die deutsche Gesellschaft (History of Open Communication: National-Socialism and Germany Society). Das Kino aus Taiwan is actually a Hauptseminar, a.k.a. graduate level course. However, it's being taught by an American, so his German is actually really easy for me to understand. Even so, I'm probably crazy for taking a grad level course in German!

Last thing to mention is the trip to the Wannsee. Cam thought it would be a good idea to go out to the lake, have a picnic, play a little Fußball. That's exactly what we did. A bunch of students from his program came and Ashley, Dan, and I were there representing the Midd program. We played an impromptu game of Fußball (Ashley's shoes acting as one goal, two empty bottles of Beck's being the other), which was not too bad, considering most of us playing are American. The only Germans playing were Cam's roommates Anna and Joanna. However, some Turkish kids wanted to play with us, so we let them. They weren't half bad. It was really amusing, too, because Cam would urge them on, saying, "Ok, Ahmed!" and "Gut gemacht, Aqbar!" (however you spell it). Ashley thought he was being mean and making up names for them, when in reality, those were really those names. We also 'adopted' a German girl, Sammy, who was pretty brutal, and then a little German boy whose name I didn't hear. All in all, it was a very active day.

And this has to be the most scatterbrained entry I've written in awhile.

Oh, but here's a joke that Ashley told me that I really enjoyed. But first, the background story to why it's so funny to me. A lot of Americans I know here have been adopting German grammar. In German, you would say, "Kommst du mit?" in order to say, "Are you coming?" However, the literal translation of that is "Are you coming with?" What I mean to say is, many of Americans are just tacking on prepositions to the ends of sentences and questions, where in German it would work. Obviously, it isn't grammatically correct in English. And now, the joke:

There was a prospectus walking around the Princeton campus, admiring the buildings and wandering. He wanted to know where the library was, so he stopped a student and asked, "Hey, do you know where the library's at?" The student blinked at him and replied, "Yes, I do. In the English language, ending sentences with prepositions is grammatically incorrect. I know where the library is." The prospectus paused a second and rephrased the question: "Do you know where the library's at, asshole?"

Ashley and I found this joke quite humorous because we're ending sentences with prepositions now and we both have a small dislike for Princeton. The End.

Oh, and sorry for all of the pictures from the Wannsee. I just didn't take any pictures really when Drew was around. And I don't have any pictures from my classes, obviously.

A random assortment of thoughts

2006-04-14T13:12:00.000+02:00

Not that I have much to write, but I'd like to say that I never know when holidays are. Because I never know when holidays are, I never know when stuff (ie: life sustaining establishments, a.k.a. supermarkets) is closed. For example, today. I thought, "Wow, it's a lovely day out! I'm going to bring back some of those beer bottles sitting in the kitchen." I stuck 30 bottles into a backpack and 20 more in two separate canvas bags. I walked around the block and to my dismay and annoyance, the Getränkmarkt was closed. Already feeling like a dumb ass, I noticed that the supermarket next door was also shut. At that point, I just wanted to drop everything, fall to my knees, and scream, "Nooooo!" I forgot: It's Good Friday. Translation for me: Good Friday = everything closed in Germany. (And Easter = some holiday about some guy named Jesus returning.) Unlike in the U.S. where everything is open no matter what (with the exception of Christmas, which is the only religious holiday I can remember the date of), everything shuts down here. All I can say is I hope that everything is open tomorrow, otherwise I will be sustaining on plain pasta, bread, tomatoes, and what little cheese I have left.

Oh, and just to let you know...that's actually an older picture of the bottles that accumulated in our kitchen. (I took most of them back in a two day period) They really do accumulate. After about 5 or 6 bottles per person per week (on occasion more if we go out), times three people (well, not with the new roommate, but that picture was taken before Pablo moved out), plus times we have friends come over (add on another 3 bottles per visitor, I'd say)...it adds up. Even if we didn't have people over, that's about 15 to 18 bottles per week, and I take the bottles back maybe once every month. Just to let you know, there are more than 100 bottles in that picture. Yup...100 bottles of beer on the floor, 100 bottles of beer...

Doug enjoying a Paulaner Hefeweißen Bier in Görlitzer Park...but out of a can! *gasp*

On another note, Doug and his friend Chris (and Chris' brother) were here last week in Berlin visiting. We met up for the day and I showed them parts of Berlin. (We took the scheiss Bus 100. How many times have I taken it?? It's not your fault, Doug.) It was such a lovely day out that we decided to sit out in Görlitzer Park near my apartment and drink some beer and soda. People were out and about because of the weather, walking around, sitting and playing music, enjoying a cup of something outside at a cafe, biking, running, etc. While we were in Görlitzer Park, you could see the colorful motley that makes up Berlin: punks (Punk is NOT dead by any means), hippies, hipsters, goths, students, Turks, fashionistas, fashion victims, old people, young people, gay people, straight people. Everybody doesn't give a damn what everybody else thinks of them and for this reason, I love Berlin.

The summer here is supposed to be extraordinary and you can tell that it will be. In addition to the World Cup (WM, as the Germans call it, short for Weltmeisterschaft), it's going to be wonderful to see everybody out and about enjoying the weather. Even yesterday when the weather was more on the downside (gray, colder, a little rainy), people were fishing along the Spree, walking dogs, or still biking. I myself went for a walk in Treptower Park, even though it was probably a better idea to stay inside.

In addition to walking in Treptower Park, I made a small trip to Platz der Luftbrücke, where the Berlin Airlift took place. In addition to a memorial to the Luftbrücke, Berlin's biggest airport, Flughafen Tempelhof, is also there. For those of you, like me, that are huge fans of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the airport where the zeppelin takes off and where Indy says, "No ticket!" is Tempelhof. Yes, I am a dork. I never would've thought of it, though, had Christian not said anything while we watched the movie. Of course, I had to take pictures. I'll actually go inside it when Tracie comes to visit me, since she's flying in there. (The thing on the left is the memorial to the Airlift, and the building behind it is Tempelhof.)

Lastly, classes (finally) begin on Tuesday. I have a list of about 15 or so to go to. I'm just hoping that my schedule works out advantageously like it did last semester so that I can travel on the weekends. My goal for this semester: München, Hamburg, Heidelberg, and Wien.

Spring break in Japan

2006-03-27T11:33:00.000+02:00

I haven't posted in awhile for two main reasons: First, Alexandra was here in Berlin visiting. We had tons of fun imitating statues, imagining my new roommate as Batman, climbing the Siegesäule and getting lightheaded on the climb down, and eating lots of Kartoffelsuppe. If you want to see pictures (which I must say are pretty hysterical), go here.

The other main reason why I've been M.I.A.? This tiny little archipelago in Asia called "Japan." I was there visiting Dan for the week and we went to Tokyo and hung out in Kyoto. We made a pretty funny couple since everyone assumed that I knew Japanese, though the extent of my Japanese is "Arigato" (thanks). People would direct questions and comments to me, to which I would just stare at them blankly or just give a puzzled look, say, "Um, Dan...?" and Dan would answer in Japanese. I think we confused quite a few people. On the flight to Osaka Airport, the flight attendants assumed I was Japanese and passed me by when handing out landing cards, even though I raised my hand indicating I needed one. D'oh.

The first day I was there, we went to see a light festival that was being held in Gion. I was surprisingly not dying of jetlag and we walked all over looking at temples and shrines. It was really beautiful despite the fact that it was lightly raining. On Sunday, we went to Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is this huge shrine with tons of torii (gates). If you've seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, it's the place where the little girl runs under all these orange things. There was a lot of climbing up stairs and hills, wandering on paths that took us through clusters of bamboo trees, and we got to see Kyoto from above. We wandered off a path a little too far and actually accidentally left the Fushimi Inari Shrine, so we had to climb back up a large hill and find the path again. It was a beautiful day and much walking/hiking/wandering was done. By the time we were done discovering the shrine, we were beat.

Sunday evening after the Fushimi Inari Shrine, we took an overnight bus to Tokyo. The 8 hour ride itself sucked because neither Dan nor I could really sleep and the bus was ridiculously hot. When we got to Tokyo, it was too early to do anything, so we ate breakfast in Tokyo Station (we found a McDonald's). Once the city began to wake, we walked to the Imperial Palace, which wasn't actually that interesting. We saw the big wall surrounding the palace and everything was closed. It was a bit disappointing, but Dan said that the Imperial Palace in Kyoto was far more impressive. On Dave Ly's recommendation, we went to Odaiba, this district near the Rainbow Bridge.

We went to Decks Tokyo Beach, which is this weird cluster of malls. Why weird? Well, we found Little Hong Kong on the top two floors of one mall. It was strange and a bit cheesy, but we managed to find a good Chinese restaurant. (This made me pretty happy, considering I can't find Chinese food here in Berlin to my liking.) We then went down a few floors and crossed to a mall that was directly next to the first. It was even more bizarre than the first; it was as if someone transported us to 1950's Tokyo. All the stores sold nostalgic goods or just plain strange Japanese things. For example, we found this store that sold all this crazy stuff with cats dressed up like humans (samurai, ninjas, students, etc.) Check this website out if you don't believe me. Although it was a bit strange and foreign to us, we enjoyed walking around nonetheless.

Tuesday was Dan's 21st birthday, but instead of doing the usual let's-get-drunk-because-you're-legal thing, we went to Tokyo Disney instead. We chose to go to DisneySea instead of the main Disneyland park and we spent the whole day there. You would think that it wouldn't be so different than Disneyworld or Disneyland in the US, but oh, is it. Besides lots of crazy little Japanese girls running around, the stuff they sell is different, everything is in Japanese (even the characters talk in Japanese, obviously), and the atmosphere is very, well, Japanese.

The rides there were pretty sweet. I was most psyched about the Indiana Jones ride, since I'd been on the one in Disneyland in California. It was pretty much the same, except Indy speaks in Japanese. (I definitely made a video of that.) Our other favorite ride was Journey to the Center of the Earth, which seemed a little boring ("What is all this colorful stuff?"), then suddenly there's this big ass monster ("What the fuck is that?!" was my reaction), and finally, a big ass drop and you zoom along really fast. I convinced Dan to go on Raging Spirits, a roller coaster that had one loop, and he actually enjoyed it. We also went on a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride that made me claustrophobic and motion sick (it didn't help that the ride simulated being under water), a small roller coaster that was Little Mermaid themed, and some others that I can't recall. Of course, we also saw some shows. One was really weird and trippy (I fell asleep for a little) and the other was a live performance of Little Mermaid songs. The songs were in English, but when the characters spoke, it was in Japanese.

I'm not going to detail the whole day in DisneySea, but it was a really good time. Dan and I were both amused that we were kids for a day instead of being legal and getting drunk. We just had a beer each when we got back to our hotel. Oh, and I would like to say that I bought the best hat ever from DisneySea, which is super Japanese. I look Japanese. Here's a picture of me in it imitating a Japanese tourist:
Yeah. So the next day, we wandered around a cemetery and then went to Shibuya. Shibuya is the part of Tokyo with tons of bright lights and ads and tons of people. People will collect waiting for the pedestrian lights to change, and when they do, there are just swarms of people crossing every which way. It's a bit intimidating and chaotic, but at the same time, it's what you think of when you think "Tokyo." We met up with Dave for dinner to have shabu-shabu, which is Japanese hot pot. There is a small pot of water and sauce that sits on a stovetop on your table and you continually add vegetables, tofu, and meat. It was sort of strange because Dan kept saying, "More meat!" I suppose it was strange because the entire trip, I would hear, "More meat!" or "Mmm...meat" or something along those lines from him. Newsflash: Dan eats meat now. It was probably the weirdest thing that happened in the week I was in Japan. More so than the crazy Japanese people.

We left Tokyo on another overnight bus ride back to Kyoto and Thursday, we slept at Dan's host family's. At night, we met up with Dan's friends Sam and Mason, Sam's visiting friend Clay, and Mason's Japanese girlfriend whose name I can't recall. We had dinner at a sushi place that had a conveyor belt with all the dishes just rotating around the room, and yes, I did try sushi. However, I still can't get over the texture of fish, and thus, I still don't like it. But I tried it!

After dinner, everyone but Mason's girlfriend went to do some karaoke. We got our own room, had some drinks, and did tons of songs from Weezer's "Buddy Holly" to Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" to Madonna's "Like a Prayer" (Dan, Sam, and I were all about Midd Pride!) to Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" (Jersey Pride!). It was lots of fun. I even did Nena's "99 Luftballons" in German by myself. I'll admit that it's too bad I don't do karaoke more often, even though I think I'm pretty awful at singing.

My last day in Japan was spent with Dan wandering around near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. Tourists and ordinary folk aren't actually allowed within the walls of the palace, so we walked outside it. The cherry blossoms ("sakura" in Japanese) were starting to bloom and were extraordinarily beautiful. Too bad the sakura festivals are a little later. Nonetheless, I took tons of pictures. Dan and I sat under the sakura enjoying our time together, watched some mothers struggling with their children, and relaxed in the amazing springtime weather. We also went by his university where the Japanese students were starting second semester and then returned to his host family's house to have dinner. Dan's host mom cooked a Japanese feast of tempura and other goodies. It was pretty delicious.

On Saturday, Dan and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. so that I could catch a train to Osaka Kansai Airport. It was a good week all in all, we sorted things out, and we're still going strong. This trip was actually the first trip where I didn't think, "Thank God! I'm going back to Berlin!" When I got back here, all I could think was, "Hmm, I miss Dan, I miss the food!" I have nothing to do for the next two weeks before classes start up again except watching movies, planning my next semesters (this coming and fall back at Midd), and basically, just bumming around. Even so, I'm looking forward to relaxing and time alone since the past month has been filled with visitors and visiting. It's time to recover.

If you want to see more pictures from my trip to Japan, go here. I'm warning you, though, there's 283 pictures!!

Karneval & Prague

2006-03-05T17:00:00.000+01:00

The lack of updates has been due to the fact that I was in Düsseldorf and Köln (aka Cologne in English) for Karneval and then in Prague. Ethel, my friend/supervisor from my internship at Fuse, arrived in Berlin last Friday, and on Saturday we flew to Düsseldorf for Karneval. Why Düsseldorf, of all cities, you ask? Christian had invited me (or us) to celebrate Karneval there with him and his friends since it's his hometown. I figured it would be a great experience, especially with a local. He and Pablo repeatedly told me that I had no idea what to expect and they were completely right.

After walking around the city, Ethel and I met up with Christian and his friends and went to their local pub, Schaukel Stühlchen. Everyone, from old couples to teenagers, was on the street dancing outside the pub to music blasting from speakers when we went in. We spent most of the night there, where Ethel and I (and everyone else) drank a lot of the local Schlösser Alt bier, although I had been warned to not drink it. (My verdict: Not bad.) The music was a mix between traditional German Karneval songs (which Christian and his friends all knew and sang along to), 80s pop songs, current dance hits, and indie rock. After a considerable time at Schaukel Stühlchen, Christian, his friend Sven, Ethel, and I went dancing at a club called Stone, where the music was mostly indie rock and German pop. We danced through the night until we got kicked out at about 4:30/5 a.m. and Ethel and I took a cab back to our hostel and tried not to wake up the other people in the room. It was a bit difficult for me because I was on the top bunk, and after having a lot to drink, let's just say it wasn't an easy task climbing up.

Sunday we woke up at 9 a.m. and working on four hours of sleep, Ethel and I took a local train to Köln to see the Karneval festivities there. I would just like to say that the cathedral (Kölner Dom) is probably the most impressive cathedral I've ever seen. Besides that, the festivities were quite obvious with costumed people lining up on the street to watch the parade. The parade basically was all the schoolkids dressed up marching around and it felt like it lasted forever. Ethel and I got tired of watching and were cold, so wandered the city in search of anything but the parade. That mission seemed to have failed, mostly because everything was closed. We did, however, sit in a Burger King drinking tea (since it was about the only place open) observing some teenagers drunk to the point of passing out. This was about 4 in the afternoon. Because we had partied late into the night before, we couldn't bring ourselves to drink the local beer, Kölsch, nor really party. We went back to Düsseldorf and went to sleep relatively early in order to be ready for Rosenmontag.

Rosenmontag is apparently the biggest day of Karneval and we spent it in Düsseldorf. We met up with Christian and his friends again to watch (yet another) parade. However, this parade was much better than the one we had seen in Köln because it was just float after float. Much like Jackie and Doug observed with their Karneval experiences, it seemed to be a day of not being politically correct. Then again, people were dressed up as Mexicans and Indians that would've given Middlebury College a heart attack. There was even one float of "Africans," a.k.a. Germans dressed up as Africans and wearing blackface. I was slightly shocked, but got over it relatively quickly. (There is, afterall, no real word for "PC" in German, except for "PC.")

Watching the parade was an experience in itself. Everyone was drinking beer, whether they had bought it from a stand or had brought it in a wagon, bag, etc. The floats that went by ranged from political humor (making fun of Dubyah or Angie), to local humor (which Ethel and I didn't get), to just plain fun. There were also several marching bands that made me really excited. By the end of the parade, everyone was ready to hit up the bars, and so, we did. We went back to Schaukel Stühlchen and continued to drink and party from about 4 pm to 9 pm or so. It was pretty much like Saturday night except for the fact that more beer was consumed at an earlier hour.

We left the bar to go to a club where there were not that many people there. It actually didn't matter at that point because everyone was pretty much drunk and having a good time regardless. At one point, a whole drum line came into the club and played some traditional German Karneval songs. It was a very good night and was especially great because we got to do as the locals did. My conclusion is that Germans really know how to party and we need to bring Karneval to the U.S. However, it would probably never work, just because there's such a stigma against drinking and we are always concerned about being PC.

On Wednesday, Ethel and I flew from Köln/Bonn airport to Prague. I'm not going to spend much time detailing what went down in Prague, because frankly, not much happened. We actually wanted to try to change our train tickets to come back a day earlier, but unfortunately, it wasn't possible. Prague is a beautiful city, unlike many German cities, since it was basically untouched during the World Wars. It is definitely beautiful in the sense of being a romantic European city and it made me miss having someone with me to just walk through the streets admiring it.
The people we met at the hostel all said the same exact thing: Once you see one thing in Prague, you've basically seen everything. In my opinion, this is true. A good metaphor: Prague is the beautiful woman with no personality. Berlin is the average-looking woman with tons of personality. We explored Prague Castle, saw the Franz Kafka and Toy Museums, and an Alfons Mucha gallery. (Not the museum) To make a long story short, I appreciate Berlin even more now and I'm glad to be back.

Ethel left this morning and I have five days to myself before Alexandra comes to visit me here in Berlin. We'll probably stay here in Berlin and then a week after she arrives, I leave for Japan (when she goes home). More adventures to come.

You can see pictures from Karneval here, but I warn you, there are many drunken photos.
You can see pictures from Prague here.

2006 Winter Olympics: Torino, Italy

2006-02-21T14:34:00.000+01:00

This weekend actually started off here in Berlin when I told Pablo that I'd go with him and his friends clubbing on Friday. Apparently it was the best drum & bass party of the year at this club called Watergate, which overlooks the Oberbaum Brücke, and the entry fee was 10€. (Expensive by Berlin standards.) I'd said that I would only stay until 2, the latest at 2:30, because I had to wake up early to get to the airport. Well, go figure, I stayed longer and actually enjoyed the drum & bass floor more than the "mainstream" floor. To my complete surprise, I was pretty much dancing (or rather, bouncing) the entire time, whether because I wanted to, or to avoid some people (whose names will not be mentioned, but Alex, you know who I mean if you're reading this).

I left Watergate at around 4 a.m, walked home, got in the shower (couldn't go to sleep all gross!), and went to bed by 4:30-5 a.m. I woke up at 8:45 a.m. in order to eat breakfast, make sure I had all my things packed, and got to the airport. I had a layover at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and the weather was pretty crappy, but all went smoothly and I got to Torino on time where I met up with Hugo and his friend Elizabeth.

As soon as we got into the city, we rushed off to pick up our tickets and then rushed off again so that Hugo and I could get to our hockey game on time. When we got to the arena, the game was only 4 minutes into the first period and it was already loud, packed, and full of energy. Hugo and I kept exclaiming to each other that it was unbelievable that we were actually there in Torino at the hockey game. We had been planning the hockey game for over a year already!

The game was pretty awesome, mostly due to the energy from the fans. There were lots of, "Settle down, boys!," "Stop being so sloppy!," and "What the fuck?!" from the Americans. (I didn't understand the Slovakian fans) From me, I kept shouting in German: "Nein!!!," "Was macht ihr?!," and "Verdammt Scheiss!" (I concluded that it was much more expressive, and well, it just came out in German, except for the times that I was shouting, "Yeaaah!!") I have to admit, both teams seemed to be a bit sloppy, but especially the Americans. There were times when it seemed that players forgot they had the puck, just didn't look up to see a pass coming, or just passed it way out yonder or to the Slovakians.

Too bad there isn't a website "overheardattheolympics.com." (If you don't know what I'm referring to, check this website out now. It's hilarious.) At the hockey game, some of the best quotes included a guy on his cell phone ("Dude! Are you watching TV now? The US vs. Slovakia game? Yeah! I'm there, man! I'm AT the Olympics! I'm behind the American bench! Well, no, farther up. But I'm there, man!") and another guy behind us ("Um, I'm already drunk. It's only the first period, isn't it?"). I'm sure some of the stuff that Hugo and I said were pretty ridiculous. We tried doing some Middlebury cheers (Tiny Bubbles and the one when we win), but we couldn't remember all of Tiny Bubbles. (Beer = cheer, Gin = win, that's all we remembered).

After the hockey game, we went to meet up with Devin, except that it didn't really happen. Hugo got us really lost and we wound up near the Olympic Village for the athletes, when Devin was by the Sponsors Village. Two hours later than we had said, we finally met at the train station Porta Nuova. We were supposed to meet up with Hugo's other friends who were in 2 other groups, but that just didn't happen. Time went by rather quickly, and by the time we knew it, it was too late to get the last trains and too early to get the first trains out to Sangano, where we were staying with a family. I was exhausted and admittedly cranky since I was running on 4 hours or less of sleep. Hugo, Devin, and I decided to just sit and hang out in the train station for a little bit, then we met up with one group of his other friends. We finally got a train at around 5 a.m., got back to where we were staying and went to sleep at 7 a.m. (Yup, a 23 hour day for me.)

Porta Nuova, the train station, with the Olympic Rings

Devin and Hugo had said they were going to wake up early, but I knew it wasn't going to happen. We ended up getting up at 1 p.m. and getting into Torino by around 2:30/3 pm, where we tried figuring out train tickets out to Sauze d'Oulx, where the freestyle skiing was taking place. (It's rather close to the French border.) That took up more time than we expected, so instead of wandering the city as we had planned, we grabbed some food quickly and got on the train.

The ride out to Sauze d'Oulx was about 45 minutes, and then an additional 30 minutes by bus up the mountain. When we got there, it was snowing pretty hard, and when neared the actual venue, we were told that the event was postponed until 8:30 pm. We found a small bar that was relatively empty and drank some hot drinks, but then heard that the event was postponed even more. Finally, we actually got word that due to the heavy snowfall, the event was to be rescheduled for Tuesday, 21 February. It was disappointing, since Devin and I were flying back here to Berlin on Monday, and Hugo and Elizabeth had to go back to Ferrara for classes. Elizabeth and I trekked back down to the venue to see if anything could be done about a refund, where we got the last forms in English to get it.

Everyone had to leave the mountain since almost no one was staying there. It was rather chaotic trying to stay together and not get seperated, but we managed. (Devin's quote: "I think we just got seperated from our peeps.") The buses were boarded and people were in lines for the next buses to come, but nothing was moving. No traffic was coming or going. Word got around that the climb down the mountain was only 30 minutes. Devin, Hugo, Elizabeth, and I decided that we might as well walk, since the traffic wasn't moving and it didn't seem that we were going to get a bus.

First of all, the walk down was way longer than 30 minutes. It took us 2 hours to get walk to the train station. What we didn't realize was the mountain was 1,509 meters high (or 4,950 feet). Additionally, it took a little longer than expected because there was snow and nobody wanted to fall. The whole experience felt like a disaster movie with loads of people walking by stuck cars, or it felt like a zombie movie because there were points where there just lots of people walking in the dark. Then suddenly there would be one shining light, and everyone was just surprised to see there was light.

It was pretty beautiful walking down. The mountains eerily rose out of the darkness and were these huge gray masses with very little light. Looking up from where we had walked from, there were bright lights illuminating the whisps of cloud and outlining the crowds of people walking down. Additionally, we walked through one or two very small mountain towns that were very rustic and Italian. I have several pictures up on my Flickr account and you can view all my pictures from Torino as a slideshow, if you want.

So all in all, Sunday was spent trying to get an event that didn't even happen, but it still made for a fun experience. On Monday, we actually woke up early (7 a.m.) and got into Torino by 9:30 so that we could explore. We first went to go see the Shroud of Turin at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. We had kept making jokes all weekend that this was the one damn thing in Turin that we had to see, and it had better not be a disappointment, like a giant piece of toilet paper or something. We only could see a replica of it with pictures of it x-rayed underneath, and then way up front, the Shroud was in a case of aluminum and glass lying horizontally. I could see how it sort of looked like Jesus, but as an atheist, I wasn't that convinced, though it was pretty remarkable to see. (I personally thought it looked like a big tablecloth with a big coffee stain on it that happened to look like Jesus. Not that I'm saying it's real or not. That's just my perception of what it looked like to me.)

After the Shroud, we went to go see La Mole Antonelliana, which was a synagogue at one point and is currently the highest point in Turin. Unfortunately, the elevator to the panaromic view was closed because it was Monday. La Mole is basically that thing that you see in all the Visa ads with a ski jumper going past it. Devin and Hugo kept saying that it looked like a large stump coming out of a dome. I suppose that's one way you could describe it.

La Mole Antonelliana

Next, we went and got some food near the Sponsors Village, where this huge plastic thing that Devin described as an Aggro Crag. (Yes, that thing from that show Guts on Nickelodeon.) I forgot to take a picture of it. After lunch, Devin had to leave to catch a train to Milan, where her flight back was leaving from. Hugo, Elizabeth, and I went into the Sponsors Village to see if we could buy anything, but it turned out that the huge Olympic store was in some plaza a bit farther out than I could go, since I had to catch a bus to the airport for my flight. However, we did see past Olympic torches on display there. The three of us departed at the Sponsors Village and I walked back to a smaller Olympic store closer to the Medals Plaza. I came to the conclusion that there wasn't anything worth buying, so I didn't spend any money.

I was actually awake for part of from Torino to Paris. The view from the plane was stunning and I had to take some pictures of the Alps. After that, I actually fell asleep so deeply after not getting much sleep in Torino that the only thing that woke me was when the plane landed. I had to admit that I was relieved to get back to Berlin, if only because the public transportation here is so much more reliable.

The view of the Alps from the plane from Torino to Paris

The rest of the week will be devoted to resting up from the Olympics and getting ready for Karneval in Düsseldorf and Köln. From what I hear, it'll be.....interesting.

Die Berlinale, Olympische Spiele und andere Ereignisse

2006-02-16T22:11:00.000+01:00

Right now I'm feel exhausted even though I haven't done anything extraordinary today. However, I am finished with all of my papers and classes, so I can finally say, "The semester has officially come to an end." Technically it ends tomorrow when I email all my papers in, but whatever. I haven't been doing anything for the past two days.

Actually, there is one thing that has been going on since 9 February, which is the Berlin Film Festival (aka "Die Berlinale"). Christian, Pablo, and I wanted to go see V for Vendetta and Syriana, but both sold out before we got tickets. I wound up seeing Roman Holiday on my own and it was pretty lucky that I even got a ticket. I had gone to the ticket booth over in the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden expecting that it wouldn't be sold out, but I was wrong. I decided to go to the venue (which was literally across the street) and see if I could somehow get a ticket there. I was standing on the line when a guy approached me and asked, "Willst du eine Karte für Roman Holiday?" to which I answered, "Ja, gern! Danke schön!" I bought it off him for the same price he bought it for (7€) and got the chance to see the movie on a real movie screen. Additionally, there was a guy from Paramount Pictures who had helped do the digital restoration of the print that was being shown and he introduced the film. That was really fascinating.

This weekend I'm flying to Turin for the Olympics. I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, I'm a bit nervous. I don't know why, but I'm just crazy like that. It's kind of sad because I haven't really been able to watch the Olympics. Ok, I'll admit the reason why is because I can never find them on TV. (Call me stupid.) Plus, I never watch TV, so I never know when they're on. If you're watching the Olympics this weekend and watch a hockey game (USA vs. Slovakia) or women's quarterfinals for aerials, I'll be there.

"Andere Ereignisse" that have been going on: Christian and I found a new roommate to take Pablo's room when Pablo moves out. It turns out that Pablo isn't moving back home to Köln, rather, he's moving in with Julian (his friend) and staying here in Berlin. It makes me a little sad because Pablo and I have had some good times recently, having a good laugh. He asked if I could make pancakes (last night I made brownies from scratch) because apparently he likes pancakes, so I did. But yeah, he moves out on February 28, when I'm in Düsseldorf.

The new roommate that Christian and I "chose" is named Valentin. The reason why I put chose in quotes is because we chose him by default. Three people came to see the apartment, the two that we liked better took other apartments, and that left Valentin. When he came to see the apartment, Christian and I agreed that he seemed to have no personality. But whatever, it's for two months when Heike comes back and then I'll move into Pablo's room (which is actually Krischan's). I still haven't decided if I'm going to stay through August or not.

The last thing that happened is that last Friday Alex and Meredith left to start spring semester at Middlebury. I helped Alex pack up her life into some bags and shit, it was a lot. I'm posting a picture of Meredith and Alex's stuff combined at Tegel. It's been really bizarre this past week without being able to constantly call Alex and say stupid stuff, such as, "You need to see this mullet on the U-bahn right now," or, "Oh God, I just ran into (insert name here) and it sucked." Additionally, I've been over by Meredith's U-bahn stop and it's strange to think, "Wow, I don't know anyone that lives here anymore."

The other thing is that when Alex and I were taking a cab to the hotel that we all stayed in near the airport, I thought to myself how I am so incredibly glad that I am staying here for the year. I was filled with various emotions, from jealousy (dining halls, classes in English, familiarity) to sadness (no more rolling over and making calls on the weekends to hear that I'm not the only one wallowing in bed) to content/relief (that I'm staying the year).

Right now I think it's just readjusting to the fact that I have fewer friends here and have to wait until the other MiddKids get here. Then again, I'll be traveling for the next five weeks (which means I will be updating my blog less frequently).

Oh, and another event (but completely mundane) is that I cut my own hair. It turned out really well, even though it was my first time cutting it myself. Just thought I'd like to tell everyone that. Go me.

Currently listening to "Tremenda Expectativa" by Dan Den. Yes, Latin music rocks.

Computer Problems, Deep Frozen Hot Dogs, Mushy Stuff, & Weimar

2006-02-02T17:22:00.000+01:00

Well, I haven't updated this thing in awhile, mostly because my computer has been out of commission for the past three weeks. I had given a presentation for my comics course and used my computer for a Power Point presentation. It started to freak out in the middle of the presentation (to which I muttered, "Fuck!" Not good.) and then it just stopped working. The screen would remain black while the rest of the computer whirred normally. I had to take it to the Apple Center here and damn, they suck in comparison to the service in the U.S. Just a tip, kids: If you want stuff done here in Germany, it'll take a long time. "Service is a desert" (Dienst ist eine Wüste) is one of the sayings they have here that Christian told me. I concur.

Anyhow, that's the first part of the update. To explain the "deep frozen hot dogs" part really quickly: Pablo bought these deep frozen hot dogs from Plus two weeks ago. They're disgusting. It's a frozen hot dog on a frozen bun with ketchup, cheese, bacon, pickles, and possibly some sauerkraut frozen on top of it. I was in disbelief that he would actually eat it and his reasoning was, "But I want to try it at least once!" (They came in packs of two.) I know the picture is blurry, but I had to take it without a flash, otherwise you wouldn't be able to see the glory of the disgusting frozen hot dog. I also told Pablo, "Man, Americans put a lot of junk into their bodies, but you wouldn't be able to pay me to eat that!" To top it off, he threw it into the microwave to heat it up. Microwaved stuff is always mushier than if you put it into the oven.

Speaking of mushy...My embarassing moment of the week. I had made a tiramisu this past weekend using a recipe from my sister and it turned out really well. We ate it only after it sat in the refrigerator for an hour or two and put the rest back into the fridge. The next day, there was enough that Christian and I were just like, "Well, we'll just eat the rest out of the pan." (Actually, there was a lot, which I, the fat ass that I am, mostly ate.) I pulled the pan out of the fridge and said to him, "Hey, the tiramisu is firmer as yesterday. It's not as mushy." He looked at me and said, "What did you say?" I replied in German, "Die Tiramisu ist stärker heute. Es ist nicht so....um, mushy. Wie sagt man 'mushy' auf deutsch?" He started snickering at me and said, "Weisst du, was 'mushy' auf deutsch bedeutet?" I probably looked utterly confused because he started cracking up. I repeated myself, "The tiramisu isn't so mushy today!" He laughed even more and through his laughing, managed out the reason why it was so funny: "Mushy in German is slang for a woman's vagina!" I was so embarrassed, but hey, how am I supposed to know that? So to make things better, I just repeated myself. "The tiramisu isn't mushy....auf deutsch oder auf englisch!"

Statue of Goethe and Schiller in front of the theater in Weimar

The last order of business to tell about is our little trip to Weimar two and a half weeks ago. It was the trip to hell. Seriously. Weimar is a cute little city as you can see by the many, many photos I took there. However, there is nothing to do after 4 pm when the museums close. There is no nightlife whatsoever, probably because Weimar is filled with little old German people. And even with the museums open during the day, they're tiny. Devin and I went to the Bauhaus and Schloss Museums and we managed to go through both of them in their entireties (is that a word?) in about 4 hours total.

I have to say, though, that the highlight of the trip was Friday night dinner in a restaurant with almost the entire program there, including those from Mainz (meaning, one student and Oliver Strauss, our TA from freshmen year). We sat at these round tables that were brought together and it was a bit strange because down at one end of the table, Kevin, Zoey, Meredith, Alex, and I were having a very nice conversation. In the middle, Oliver, Franziska, and Devin were having a nice chat. Then at the other end, it was just awkwardly silent. Dessert came around, and while reaching for her dessert from the waitress, the Mainz student knocked over Bill's tall half liter glass of beer which shattered and spilled beer onto Heike, the program director.

One other highlight of the excursion worth mentioning was that we went to Buchenwald, which was a concentration camp only 8 kilometers from Weimar. It was ridiculously miserable weather: cold, gray, cloudy, snow, and wind. We walked around while Heike told us some information, but pretty much everyone was miserable because of the weather (and the fact that it's not exactly a happy place to be). Devin, Zoey, Meredith, Alex, and I ran off as soon as we could so we could get back to Weimar and sit in a warm cafe. We felt a little guilty for leaving earlier than everyone else, but we were not pleased at all to be standing around in the cold. I think Meredith was the only one who had two pairs of pants on, too.

Alex, Meredith, Zoey, Devin, and me looking miserable after spending too much time outside at Buchenwald.

So now it is nearing the end of the (first) semester and I am definitely looking forward to it. I've finished writing one paper, which I actually wrote by hand because I didn't have my computer. I have to see one more film for film history and write my paper for my French Revolution course. (And frankly this paper is going to kill me. It just doesn't want to be written.) At the end of it all, I will be going to Turin, Italy for the 2006 Olympics (what what!) for a weekend, and then Ethel is coming. We're going to Düsseldorf and Köln (Cologne) for 3 days for Karneval, and then we're heading off to Prague. It'll be a busy month. Oh, and then Alex and Meredith are leaving next week. Time flies.

I also have a ton of pics up on Flickr from Weimar if you want to see more of them.

Frohes Neues Jahr!

2006-01-05T21:27:00.000+01:00

First off, Happy New Year to everyone, even though this is a little late in the well wishing. It's still a new year and will be for another 359 days and hopefully, 2006 will be a better year than 2005.

Lannie and Chris arrived in Berlin on Silvester (December 31), but there wasn't much to do since it was a holiday. They came by my apartment later in the evening, as did Marisa, Liso, and of course Alex. Brad, a grad student in my program, also came because I had invited him. Anyway, we all managed to get one game of beer pong in and it was really great because I got Lannie to play. But whenever Liso or Alex got a ball into our cups, Lannie took a shot of tequila instead of drinking the beer because she doesn't like beer. Hardcore. I'll be getting those pictures from her that Chris took later and I must say, although we lost, it was pretty funny playing beer pong with Lannie.

I wasn't the only person who had people over; Pablo had 3 friends staying over for a few days and then for the party, there were countless others. They stayed in the living room while we were in my room (Americans vs. Germans, I guess?), but then at around 11:20 pm we all left the apartment to go to the Oberbaum Brücke for fireworks.

All I have to say is that it was frickin CRAZY. First off, people were setting fireworks off in the middle of the street because they're legal here. You could just buy them in the local supermarket and set them off anywhere. Walking over, I felt like I was going to get my head blown off by someone. Pablo had suggested that we go on the bank of the river rather than going on the actual bridge because the view would be better and he was completely right. There were fewer people, less smoke from fireworks, and way more room to scream "Happy New Year!" to each other. It was pretty incredible and I have to say, it was probably by far the best New Year's I've ever had. Sure, I've been in Times Square to ring in the new year with Dan, but that sort of sucked because we had to wait out in the cold for God knows how long without any sort of reassurance that we could go pee and find each other again. This was just awesome how you could just go out 40 minutes before the new year and get a great spot. Lannie and Chris went back to their hotel since their flight had arrived really early that day and wanted to get some rest, but everyone else stayed for a little while longer.

Much sekt (champagne not from Champagne, France) was drank on my part because I had bought two cheap bottles for everyone. Unfortunately nobody was drinking them, so I drank practically an entire bottle to myself and Brad drank the other. Alex, Liso, Marisa, and I returned to my apartment with Brad and two German guys (a friend of Pablo, Julian, and a friend of his, Mathias). We didn't do too much, though I did make a few drunken calls to wish Dan, Jenny, and Ken happy new years. Liso, Marisa, and Brad left soon afterward and Julian and Mathias convinced Alex and me to go clubbing over in Görlitzer Park, which is about 2 blocks away from me. I didn't want to go, but Alex convinced me to go and paid for my entry fee.
To make a long story short, I came back to my apartment at 7 in the morning really drunk, so that when I woke up, I was still slightly drunk and then had my first hangover ever. Weirdest part of the night was when a girl in the club was dancing behind me and pawing on my Fair Lawn PD sweatshirt that Chris had given to me for Christmas. She was looking at the tag for some reason, whether it was because she lost her own jacket and was looking for it or because she thought it was a cool-looking sweatshirt, I'm not entirely sure.

So all in all, it was a very good start to the New Year. The rest of the week I was busy showing Lannie and Chris around Berlin. I think I gave them a pretty good variety of stuff to see and they went on their Trabi Safari, which I thought was pretty funny and cheesy. I hope they had fun, even though poor Chris was sick most of the time. It was really great to see someone from home and the next person who will be coming from home is Jackie, though I won't see her for long, and then Ethel. Then the entire month will just be busy with her and then Alexandra (from Fair Lawn) coming, and then I'm off to Japan and then maybe my parents will come. (Wow, that was a horrible sentence I just wrote, but I'm sick with a cold and it's killing me.) I figured it out: During the month of March, I will have 6 days completely to myself. Time seriously flies.

Currently listening to OK Go's album Oh No with "A Million Ways" playing.

Weihnachten ist am 24. Dezember...Wait, what?

2005-12-24T16:16:00.000+01:00

As I write this entry, I am sitting ganz allein in my apartment. Pablo went home to Köln and Christian went home to Düsseldorf, so I have the apartment to myself. It's actually not too bad, but I really don't go into the living room or their rooms. I cleaned the other day so the whole apartment is spic and span clean. Hurrah.

I discovered that Germans celebrate Christmas (Weihnachten) on December 24th. Weird, right? I found out from Pablo one night when we were watching TV together and there was an ad that said something about the "1. Weihnachtstag." I asked what that was, he answered that it was the day after Weihnachten which is the 25th. I was like, "What are you talking about? No, Christmas is the 25th! You're shitting me!" I had to check a calendar to make sure, and sure enough, Arsenal (the cinema where I have to see films for film history) is closed today, the 24th, but not the 25th. Talk about getting culture.

Liso and Marisa came from Prague and will be here in Berlin for the next few days, along with Alex's family. It's been interesting so far because Alex has been grading Marisa on her performance in front of her parents. This means that Marisa is not allowed to swear (any words, such as "sucks," "crap," and anything worse than that), talk about sex in any form (including nudity), talk about drinking or drugs, and basically, just not saying anything that could offend Alex's parents. Last night Marisa got a B, mostly because she started going off on how some woman had "propositioned her" and then the first time she had tequila. I'm only wondering what is going down right now, since Liso and Marisa went touring with Alex and her family. I didn't go because I'll have to do the same things next week when Lannie comes.

It doesn't feel like Christmas at all. So, I'd just like to share some random thoughts:
1. Christian just called to wish me a Frohe Weihnachten, and I felt really stupid on the phone. I still hate talking on the phone in German because it's still really difficult. I also felt even more stupid because I didn't notice the little tree in the corner of his room that he wants me to water. I was like, "Wait, you have a little tree in your room?" Sometimes I think he must think I'm the stupidest person he's ever come across. Oh well, such is life.

2. It's amazing how the Stella McCartney H&M stuff hasn't sold out here because I read some articles and heard from my sisters how bad it was in New York. Let's just put it this way: I found a crapload of stuff for 30-70% off, which is unbelievable that it's still there. I bought the wide leg pants and the jean jacket. Couldn't resist.

Dinner with the Romeros last night

3. I called all my friends last night because they were at Matt's house. I'm sad that I'm not at home in New Jersey to spend the holidays with all of them since we always get together during the holidays. But it also felt good because they haven't forgotten me.

4. I've come to the conclusion that I really, really love it here in Berlin. There is no other city in the world like it. I'd seriously consider moving back here after college to work if I could find a job. Sure, I get anti-Americanism once in awhile, but it doesn't come across a shock (though it always still sucks when it happens).

5. I have discovered listening to Radio Eins here. It's awesome and I must thank Nils for recommending it. They play everything from Franz Ferdinand to The Beatles and then have news, as well as callers. Since I have nobody to speak in German to, it's been helping me out with listening comprehension so that I don't become completely retarded (as in my first observation) with German. And I'm listening to Radio Eins right now as there is a reading of some Christmas story. Excellent.

The Top of the Reichstag Smells Like...Döner.

2005-12-16T11:37:00.000+01:00

After mixing up military time (16:00) and regular time (6:00), causing me to be 2 hours late, Nils showed me around the area where he interns, walked through a historical Friedhof (English: cemetery), and then went to the top of the Reichstag. I found it interesting that the building he works in is outfitted with solar panels on top, so that the electricity produced can be sold. I asked him how was it possible to get a lot of electricity if it's always cloudy in Berlin, but apparently it just works. Although Nils is not from Berlin, he's like my personal tour guide and knows a lot of handy little facts about the city, as well as history. It sort of makes me think, Wow, I wouldn't be able to pull out handy dandy little factoids if I showed someone around New York or Washington, D.C. But anyway...

Surprisingly, we didn't have to wait too long to get into the Reichstag. It was a five minute wait, so I suppose being 2 hours late might've paid off, in the fact that we didn't have to wait in a long ass line. Nils said people can wait about 2 hours just to get in, but we were lucky. All we had to do was walk up to the entrance and go through a security check (which both of us set the metal detector off).

The inside of the Reichstag dome is really cool and very practical (typical German engineering). There are mirrors that catch the sunlight so natural lighting can be used down below while discussions go on and of course, everything is controlled by computers. However, there is a large rotating shade that moves as the sunlight moves, so that the sunlight isn't too strong on the mirrors. Practical, environmentally friendly, and efficient. What you would think of Germans, right? In my opinion, the inside of the dome reminds me of the Death Star in Return of the Jedi, when Lando Calrissian flies the Millenium Falcon to the center to destroy the reactor. (And yes, this is dorky, but seriously, just look at the picture!) People who like Star Wars will probably agree with me. (Speaking of Star Wars and going on another digression, Nils said that Germans don't say "Herr Vader," meaning "Mr. Vader," rather, they just say "Lord Vader" just like in English.) I tried finding a picture of the Death Star to put it up here, but I can't find one at the moment. You'll just have to go watch the movie or trust me.

To explain my title for this post, the funny thing is that as soon as we got to the top of the Reichstag, I sniffed and all I could say was, "Es riecht wie....döner!" (It smells like döner!) Go figure. Berlin smells like döner, I swear. Not that it's a negative thing or anything, I just found it amusing that even the top of their government building smells like it. Ironically, it's a Turkish import.
Yet another tangent: Right now I've got an Ohrwurm, Nerf Herder's "Nikki Webster." I don't know why. And Ohrwurm is such a great word. It literally means "ear worm," but it means a song that you've got stuck in your head. I'll probably use that when I get home because saying "I've got a song stuck in my head!" takes more effort than "I've got an Ohrwurm!"

The Final Draw - WM 2006/Wetten, Dass...

2005-12-11T16:02:00.000+01:00

So Friday was the final draw for the Weltmeisterschaft 2006 (World Cup), where basically they chose which teams would play against whom. I had gone out to eat with Alex, Zoey, and Meredith, and came back to my apartment to find Christian, Pablo, and some of Christian's friends ("Matze," Sebastian, & his girlfriend) sitting in the living room around the TV. Of course, this was not nearly an important event to me as it was to them, especially since I know nothing of which teams are good and which are not.

I decided to sit down and watch, and all I can say is it was a pretty European moment. Every so often, someone would either receive or make a phone call on his cell phone to say, "Kannst du es glauben?!" or something (Can you believe it). Basically, the whole program was a bunch of guys standing in a crescent, picking balls out of these large bowls with team names and games on pieces of paper within the balls. It wasn't all that intriguing, but at the same time, I thought it interesting to watch the reaction of the people around me. Everyone was hoping that the U.S. would end up in a game against Mexico, but it didn't happen. Schade, because that would be fun to see.

It was also pretty cool that Germany was picked for the opening game. I'm sure it's going to be crazy and I'm really looking forward to it. Germany will also be playing a game here in Berlin, so I'm hoping to get tickets for that game...at least I will have some sort of association rather than blindly cheering for a team I have no sort of feelings for. However, I wouldn't really care if I wound up seeing a game that I don't care about either team, because it would just be an experience to go to a World Cup game.

Last night before Alex and I went to a movie with Meredith and Zoey, we watched TV with Christian, Pablo, and Sebastian. It was this program called Wetten, Dass...(Bet That...) which I think we need to import to the U.S. To put it simply, it's Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks but an entire show. The twist to it is that they have all these celebrities on, and then they bet the celebrity about the stupid trick.

Stupid tricks last night included a guy who could name any Beatles tune being played by three guys with brooms and a kid, when blindfolded, who could tell you what stuffed animal was in front of him by feeling it with his barefeet. I'd like to comment on these, um, "talents," if you will. First, the guy & The Beatles songs with brooms. How the hell do you figure out you have a talent like that? Do you practice Beatles songs with brooms? And why would you do either? I guess it could be a pretty interesting pick up line: "Yeah, so I can name any Beatles tune that is played with brooms...how many people do you know that can do that?" Regardless, I guess it was a pretty unique talent, and ziemlich geil.

Then the kid who could identify his stuffed animals by feeling them with his feet. Um, three words: What. The. Fuck. Seriously! What sort of child sits around and feels his stuffed animals with his barefeet? Does he have any friends? Or do his friends indulge in this strange behavior as well? Christian, Alex, and I were definitely making fun of him. I mean, what kind of "talent" is that? If I were the kid's mother, I would be worried if he just sat at home all day feeling stuffed animals with his feet. That's just weird.

The last thing I would like to comment about last night's episode of Wetten, Dass... is Robbie Williams. He was on performing, and God only knows why he is so popular here. The people in the audience were going NUTS for him, as if it were just like Beatlemania. I mean, girls were crying and screaming and tearing out their hair practically. I'll admit it wasn't nearly as maniacal as with The Beatles, but it was pretty close. He walked around the audience while performing, singing "to" people, taking pictures with their cameras, etc. During the performance, I just had to say, "Ich verstehe nicht, warum Robbie Williams so populär ist. Er ist SO langweilig!" (I don't understand why Robbie Williams is so popular. He's SO boring!) Everyone just sort of laughed and agreed.

So for anyone who is coming to Germany any time soon, be warned: Robbie Williams is EVERYWHERE. He's taking over Europe, apparently. I keep thinking, "Robbie Williams...he's that dude that sang that song 'Millenium' and 'Angels.' Why is he so great?" He's on posters, advertisments, commercials, etc. He's even playing the Olympiastadion here in Berlin, which would be the equivalent of playing Giants Stadium at home. If Robbie Williams had a concert in the U.S., I feel like he would be lucky to fill Jones Beach Amphitheater. It's so strange to think that Robbie Williams is actually popular...

Currently listening to Nerf Herder's "Pantera Fans In Love"

Christmas Time is Here....Again.

2005-12-01T20:32:00.000+01:00

Once again, I have some more pics to post, and stuff to say, so here goes. This weekend I went with Nils to a flea market over at Prenzlauerberg, where Alex met up with us. It was really great because you could find every and anything you could think of, from old German board games to ugly furniture from the 1970's. I managed to get a Christmas present for my dad, which I hope he likes, but I'm not going to say what it is here in case for some reason he actually does end up reading it. It's really a hit or miss, but I guess you can't really go to a flea market ("Floh Markt") with anything super specific in mind. Apparently this market runs year round, but I'm not so sure about that, considering that it gets really "Arschkalt."

I'd just like to digress on the word "Arschkalt" for a second. Christian taught me it, and it literally means "ass cold." Basically, it means it's fucking cold out. I didn't believe him when he said it and thought he was totally bullshitting me, but it is now one of my favorite words. I try to use it whenever possible: "Is it Arschkalt outside?" "I think it's going to be Arschkalt tomorrow." "It's Arschkalt now." Of course, it doesn't sound nearly as great in English.

Topographie des Terrors & part of the Berlin Wall

But back on track: Other things I did this weekend included going to the Topographie des Terrors (aka old SS headquarters) with Alex, but it was just so Arschkalt (see, there I go again) that we couldn't read everything. More pics are up on Flickr. I also went to a party with Christian where it was slightly awkward for me because I didn't know anyone and my conversation topics are limited by my languge skills. So then that's when I just got up and danced with the other four people that were dancing. Good music, though: Hot Hot Heat, Weezer, Le Tigre, Modest Mouse, Violent Femmes, etc. It was like a WRMC party in German.

As for Christmas time, I've mentioned that the Weihnachtsmarkt over on the Ku'damm is amazing. And that, it is. I finally got around to bringing my camera around and taking some pictures. The best way to describe the atmosphere is like a carnival without the huge rides (ferris wheel, salt & pepper shaker) with a holiday spirit and the scent of alcohol on the air from the numerous Glühwein stands. Glühwein is a malt wine, I think, and sort of tastes like a warm Sangria minus the fruit. That's the closest I can describe it, and I should be bringing home a bottle or two.

Anyhow, yeah, the Weihnachtsmarkt doesn't really have anything super exciting as Christmas gifts, in my opinion. (The flea market was probably better and more unique) But the FOOD. I shared some zeppolis with Devin the other night walking through it. (Zeppolis or fried dough, whatever you call them, are called "Quarkbälle" here) I actually haven't walked through the market during the day, but I really love it at night because everything is lit up and it's a little colder, so you just feel so comfortable all bundled up.

As always, there are more pics up on my Flickr account. It's sort of hard putting them up on the blog and trying to put the ones that are most representative of what I'm talking about. I'm just sticking a few on here at the end just because I really like them, and in case you don't want to look on Flickr. I'd also just like to add that I'm really getting into the holiday spirit and I'm looking forward to when Lannie comes to visit me. Yay for Christmas!

Thanksgiving...German Style.

2005-11-25T18:39:00.000+01:00

I wasn't sure how Thanksgiving in Deutschland would turn out, considering that sometimes "normal" ingredients are hard to come by (like brown sugar). However, everything fell together wonderfully; Alex and I made great mashed potatoes, Rob and his friend Dave made interesting sweet potatoes (marshmallows? What?) and Cam...well...Cam was absolutely brilliant. He made the turkey, green beans wrapped in ham, stuffing, corn pudding, carrots, and pumpkin pie. One of his roommates, Joanna, made the cranberry sauce and apple pie, which were both delicious. I was certainly impressed with everything because not only did it look good, it tasted amazing. I know, all the pictures that I have are of empty plates rather than how good the food looked, but that just means it was really tasty.

Today I went over to Cam's again so that we could make soup out of the leftover turkey carcass. We didn't finish it by the time I left, but we did manage to make a tasty turkey broth, which is a good start. I'll probably end up going to Cam's pretty often between now and whenever we finish the soup. After all, he does have my large pot to use. And there is always turkey soup at the end of Thanksgiving, which always signals the beginning of the Christmas season.

Speaking of Christmas season, today was the first day it snowed and it was gorgeous. What a great way to wake up the day after Thanksgiving. I'm posting a picture of the view outside my window with the low cloud coverage and snow, though you can see more snowy pictures on my Flickr account.

I think this weekend I'm going to some markets with Nils. The Christmas markets here are simply amazing and there just isn't anything like it that I've experienced before. Sure, the Macy's windows in NYC are fantastic, but just walking through the Weihnachten Markt on the Ku'damm is the embodiment of Winter Wonderland. Everything just seems so bright and cheerful. I should take pictures of it, and when I do, I'll be posting them. Oh, and still on the topic of pictures, I went to London last week and there are pictures up from there. Nothing super interesting, except for the fact that there was a food stand in Stansted Airport called "Lovejuice." (I kid you not)

I'm posting some other random pictures on here because I thought the buildings/art was interesting. That's one thing I absolutely love about Berlin: You can find art everywhere...street art, performance art (though Cam has a great story about that), etc. The graffiti is not just graffiti, and I find myself stopping to look at walls with stuff on it. Take for example this building on the left that I saw walking around Friedrichshain with Cam. I'm also posting another picture which I took on the way walking to his apartment. I really need to walk around the city more because there are so many nooks and crannies, just like Thomas's English muffins.

I know anyone who is reading this is most likely too lazy to post a comment (which is perfectly ok), but I took some pictures that I posted on my Flickr account that I think might be worthwhile seeing. So, if you're not doing anything after reading this sort of pointless post, look at my pictures. I'm lazy enough that I'm not going to post them anywhere else (ie: Facebook).

Sometimes, firsts aren't that great.

2005-11-16T11:21:00.000+01:00

As my last entry was my first time in a German club, this entry will entail yet another first. However, it's not a "Yeah, it was great my first time" type story. No, my friends, this is one of those firsts that I'd rather not have happened. And what is it? I missed my flight to London. Yes, for all of you who know me, I'm always punctual, usually showing up 15 minutes before necessary, but this time, I missed my flight!

I woke up 2 hours beforehand and left my apartment with an hour to spare to get to the airport. Christian and Pablo (my roommates) said that it shouldn't take me more than 30 to 40 minutes to get to Berlin Schönefeld. I figured I'd still be early. Well, I was standing at the Warschauer Straße S-bahnhof when the S9 to Schönefeld shows up at a not-so-great-time of 8:25 a.m. My flight was at 9:40 and I started to panic. Final check-in closed at 9:00 a.m. Would I make it? I hoped so.

I get to the airport at around 9:05 and try to find the check-in desk for RyanAir. All I saw was German Wings. RyanAir? Anybody? I finally just cut the X-ray line, mumbled a panicked and rushed, "Es tut mir Leid" (Sorry), and ran to the counter, blurted out to the guy behind the desk, "I know I'm late for my flight, but can I still get on???" He shook his head and said, "London Stansted? Sorry, final check-in closed 15 minutes ago." I asked if I could get on the next flight and he directed me to the RyanAir office on the next floor down. He added, "You're not the only one who missed the flight" and gave me this sorry look.

I went downstairs and saw absolutely NO office for RyanAir and I had to ask Information twice about what they meant. The "office" was really this door that said "Virgin Express" (as in, Virgin Atlantic, which confused the hell out of me) and there were four of us that had missed the flight. One German, two Brits, and me (the American). I wound up paying an extra 60€ for my flight out tonight, and the woman behind the desk really stressed, "Check-in is at 7:55 and we highly recommend that you check-in two hours beforehand." Thanks, you don't need to rub it in.

So it's about 9:30 a.m. when I have my flight rebooked, and I'm thinking, "Hmm, what should I do?" Well, I might as well go home. I called Chris to tell him I missed my flight (did I feel stupid? Just a wee bit), and then I called Alex and bitched to her about my life. Yesterday public transporation wasn't working for me, either, but that's a whole different story.

I got back onto the S-bahn and sat down, and this guy a few seats away says, "Missed the flight to Stansted too?" I moved my seat across from him and we had a nice chat back into central Berlin. Turns out he's taking the flight tonight, too, so I'll probably see him later. He's also only been learning German for about 2 months now, so we conversed in English.

The weirdest thing happened on the train, though. This little old lady boards and says to me (in German), "I want to sit there." I thought she meant the empty seat next to me, so I got up so she could sit down. Instead, she took the seat that I was sitting in! There was an older German man who said to her angrily (in German), "There are other seats on the train! Why do you have to take the one she's sitting in? What's wrong with you? Look at how many seats there are!" (Which was true) I was like, ok, whatever, lady, take the seat. I sat down next to Miko (the British guy) and we continued talking in English. He left at Ostkreuz Bahnhof, which was one stop before I wanted to get off at Warschauer Straße, and once he got off, the little old lady (who was now sitting across from me), was eyeing me with really narrow eyes. Eyeing my shoes, the bottom of my pants, my coat, and finally she was just staring at me.

I got off with my very tiny luggage at Warschauer Straße, brought it up the stairs, and started rolling it. The little old lady had apparently gotten off at the same stop and as she walked by me, I think I heard something along the lines of "Verpisst dich!" (Fuck you) or something else. I didn't even know what to say...I was going to say, "Arschloch" (Asshole) or, "Hast du ein Problem mit mir?" but I was just speechless. What the hell did this woman have against me? I didn't do jack SHIT to her. I mean, c'mon, lady, you took my fucking seat, not the other way around. And the other people on the train thought it was rude, too.

Anyway...I guess that is just another asshole person just giving Germans a bad reputation. I came back to my apartment where Christian asked in German, "Uh, aren't you supposed to be on a flight?" I told him the whole story, including the little old lady, and he was like, "Yeah, crazy people in Berlin, can't really do anything about them." I told him she knew what she was doing (she seemed intent, not as if she was some crazy just being), and he apologized for it. Not that it was his fault.

So now I have almost 10 hours until my flight to London. I'm looking at it positively, saying that I am spending less money for the 60€ than what I would pay for by being in London. And I can be productive by doing some reading for class. Berlin's not that bad...it's just one day short of time in London, and considering it's my fifth time there, not a HUGE loss. At least I'm not missing Harry Potter, and at least I didn't get tickets for Guys and Dolls.

My German Club Virginity Has Been Lost

2005-11-06T05:16:00.000+01:00

As I write this, I would like to note a few things. First, it's 5:20 am and I got home about 20 minutes ago. Second, the adrenaline is still running, which leads me to my third point of why I'm writing this now.

The night started off relatively quiet: I cooked dinner for Nils (my "tandem partner," aka language partner) and my two roommates. It was pretty simple; I just threw together some pasta sauce by adding some garlic, tomatoes, chicken, and some spices. Alex came over but didn't eat anything (she hates tomatoes...Schade!), and we all watched some crazy German TV together. There was this little kindergartner who could recognize single puzzle pieces, so the host of this show just pulled random puzzle pieces and asked him, "What's this from?" It was something you would see on Letterman as a stupid human trick, and all the little boy would say is "Ja." I said to Alex, "Hey, that's like us! Just 'ja' and everything is good!" to which she answered, "Yeah, now I can understand him!" Sad, but true. (Ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but nonetheless, close to the truth.)

Alex, Nils, and I left my apartment at around 10 and went to Cam's housewarming in Friedrichshain. We met some other Americans there (Zoey and Devin came later), a few Germans, and a weird Croatian. This Croatian guy was just all over the place and I know Alex, Zoey, and I just wanted to say, "Dude, chill out...calm down..." Nils left early, and then Zoey and Devin went to a club in Friedrichshain.

I went with Alex to Club 103 in Kreuzberg and met up with some people from my film history class, Julian, this-girl-whose-name-I-really-need-to-see-to-remember, and Julian's friend (a guy, but also named) Alex from Nürnberg. Alex's feet were hurting from the silly shoes she was wearing, so she only stayed for about a half hour before she left. The rest of the night, however, was chock full of dancing to techno and speaking German.

I didn't mind the music selection and I must admit that it grew on me as the night went on. I think the highlight of the night was a techno version of the Kaiser Chiefs' song, "Every Day I Love You Less and Less." It was especially cool because only a few minutes before, Julian, Alex, the girl, and I were talking about how we liked the Kaiser Chiefs. So it made it that much more exciting. Another musical highlight of the night was this techno band (?) of three guys that played a lot of stuff. Can't tell you what exactly it was, but it certainly was very danceable.

We managed to sit down and have a nice talk about various things, ranging from favorite movies to experiencing anti-American sentiments. I think the most interesting topic was when they asked me about 9/11. At that point, I just couldn't truly express what happened due to my lack of vocabulary. I think they understood me, and even so, I think they were really interested in what I had to say. I also found it interesting that they think Germany may be the next target for terrorism, after the bombings in Madrid and London. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

So all in all, I must say it was indeed a very good night. When we left the club at around 4:45 a.m., the music was still going strong, the dancing was still happening, and the drinks were still being sold, but we found ourselves in the crisp, clear night sneaking back home into the warmth of our beds. (Though I'm still not in mine yet) I never thought I would say this, but I really enjoyed clubbing. A lot of dancing was done, a lot of German was spoken (and in my opinion, not too badly!), and a good amount of alcohol was consumed. My eyes are growing heavy, and the adrenaline is coming down, but I will say this: I think a lot more clubbing will be done this year than previously thought.

Endlich: Ich habe eingezogen!

2005-11-02T18:59:00.000+01:00

So I finally moved into my apartment yesterday with the help of Meredith and Alex. (Pic on the left is the view from my window with the U-bahn going by.) I don't think it could've went any easier, either. We took the bus one stop to Schlesisches Tor from Meredith's, then took the U-bahn one stop to Görlitzer Bahnhof. We walked the block or so to where I will be living until April 30th, when I have to move out. The room I am renting belongs to a 30-year-old law student, and I think she is away for the 6 months because she has studies to do of some sort. I'm living with two German guys, Pablo and Christian, so it will be good for using my German. I feel as if within the past two days that I've been here, I've used my German more than the whole month that Alex and I were in the hotel, but even so, it's a bit awkward still since I'm the "new roommate." Not to mention that I've been completely retarded and can't manage to open the damn door to the apartment. It's pretty difficult and I am determined to be able to open it by tomorrow evening on my own. (Yes, Pablo & Christian have both had to let me in, even though I have the key)

The past few days have been relatively uneventful otherwise, to say the least. I went to Ikea with Cam today and bought sheets and a pillow for my bed. I kept telling Christian that I was going to Ikea (pronouncing it "eye-key-ah") and seeing that he was confused, I said, "ee-key-ah?" which solved the problem. Oh, Ikea. No matter where you go in the world, as long as there is Ikea, there is cheap furniture and bedding to be bought. This other picture is of my room, but the furniture came with the room. It's not mine, obviously...But yeah. Ikea went well and Cam helped me pick out which pillow. I never realized that there were so many to choose from, but apparently there is.

I also went real grocery shopping and spent 20€ at Plus. I probably could've spent less if I hadn't bought bottles of shampoo & conditioner, but whatever, 20€ is still pretty good. I still find it really strange to have to bring your own canvas bags if you don't want to pay for another canvas bag or for a plastic bag. Germans are super environmentally friendly, I noticed, with the exception of my roommates who don't seperate their garbage like everyone else. The canvas bag I have says "Schützt unsere Umwelt!" (Protect our environment) with a turtle and a frog kissing under a rainbow. (And this next picture is the living room)

Some random observations about Berlin that I've made within the past month:
1. Everyone at home has a twin here. I've seen numerous people on the street almost thinking that they were someone from home. I'm not sure why this seems to be the case, but seriously. Both of my roommates strongly remind me of students at Middlebury.
2. Berlin is the smallest big city. I see the same people all the time on public transporation (ie: U-bahn, S-bahn), and it's not even at the same time. How is it possible? I have no idea. It's also really easy to run into people you know on the street. Doesn't happen often in New York.
3. People are really cuddly and openly affectionate here. Call me a prude, but I don't want to see people making out on the U-bahn (which has happened lots of times before). Seriously, whether it's a heterosexual or gay couple, there will be a lot of kissing, ass-grabbing, really intense eye contact, etc. involved.

So that's it for now. I've made other observations, but nothing worth writing about. I found these interesting.

Breaking Down Stereotypes...or not.

2005-10-22T12:57:00.000+02:00

So as I am here in Berlin, I am learning where the German stereotypes come from. Some of them have been broken down. For example, everyone thinks that Germans are highly organized and efficient. My thoughts: Yes, this is true, but only to an extent. Take a look at the whole system of signing up for classes. In my opinion, I don't find it efficient at all, nor do I find it organized. Showing up to a class that has been cancelled until November 4 and having no prior notice is not what I would call efficient.

Another stereotype is that Germans can be very cold people, or rather, very rude. I suppose this is true for just about any nationality (Americans are loud & obnoxious, the French are pushy, the Chinese are pushy in a different way, etc. So it all is some form of being rude), but for the Germans, I am understanding why it seems to be true in some instances. When Alex, Cam, Rob, and I went to the movies, we had to pick our seats when we bought the tickets. (I met Rob through the Middlebury Language School and met Cam through Rob here.) When we got to the theater, our seats were occupied, and the woman there was snippy, to say the least. She basically told us it doesn't matter where your tickets say you sit, but it was in a very abrupt manner that came off as being, well, bitchy.

I think last night epitomizes what someone would think of "German rudeness." I don't mean to offend anyone, but the guy we encountered last night was just a dick. I don't usually use that to describe people, especially in writing. However, read on.

Alex, Cam, Devin (she goes to Sarah Lawrence but is going through the Midd program), and I were standing outside this bar, The Pip's, waiting for Zoey and Meredith. Alex had a beer in her hand and was finishing it before we went inside, so the 4 of us were just standing around talking. Devin said, "Hey, there's a guy standing in the window giving us looks." Cam, Alex, and I turned around not so subtly to see this man giving us dirty looks from a second story window. (Which is actually considered the first floor here, but regardless.) He left the window and we continued to chat.

And suddenly water just fell out of the sky. Not rain, but a bucket's worth. We all turned around again to see the guy in the window, and indeed, it was a bucket's worth of water. When we looked, the guy threw another bucket of water on us. As if one wasn't enough? He hadn't even shouted anything to the extent of "Shut up" or "Go away," and it wouldn't have even mattered if it was in a foreign language because we would've understood the tone. No forewarning of any kind. After the two buckets were thrown on us, other Germans walking by just shouted, "Arschloch!" and whatever, which was very kind of them.

See, so this just furthers the stereotype of being rude. I realize that this guy was just a total asshole anyway, but who seriously throws 2 buckets of water on people, when it is only 11 pm on a Friday night in a neighborhood that is filled with bars? Additionally, he didn't even say anything! Could we get more passive aggressive? If you don't want to hear people outside talking at night, don't live near a bar, jack ass. Perhaps I would be a little more understanding if it was 2 am and he gave some sort of forewarning, but it wasn't the case.

However, on a completely different note, I suggest that everyone read Alex's blog entry for today (Oct. 22, titled "Honestly, wouldn't one bucket have sufficed?"). She wrote out some funny stories that Cam told us last night and they are pretty funny. I've come to the conclusion that Cam is probably one of the most quotable people, orelse he just has the most ridiculous stories. I'm not sure which.

Oh, How I Miss Bannerweb

2005-10-20T16:45:00.000+02:00

I have come to the conclusion that I miss that P.O.S. software called Bannerweb that we use back at Middlebury to sign up for classes. Yes, it crashes sometimes. Yes, it may lock you out so that you can't get that class with Mark Southern. Yes, it can be slow when you need it go faster. But damn, those are the things I miss and now can fully appreciate. Bannerweb does this amazing little thing called a "practice round." You can see what classes you want to sign up for, where they are, how many spaces are available, who teaches the course, when it is, how often it meets, and everything you basically need to know about classes.

"Shopping" for classes is nearly as stressful as finding an apartment. I don't know how many credits I'd be receiving and the course catalog isn't the least bit helpful. For example, I didn't realize that all the film courses come in mandatory pairs. All I know is that I need to get 4 credits from the Middlebury Schools Abroad...but, as it turns out, I can take the mandatory pair of film courses and get 2 credits for it. Sweet. Makes my life a little easier...but...the problem is not just with getting credit, but if it will count towards my major.

I may not be able to get credit for taking Film History here, even though the course here entails more work than at Midd. I emailed the current head of the film department, and he said that he is not willing to give me credit. Thankfully, I had emailed the department head (good ol' Ted Perry) last year and had asked him if I could take film history abroad. And thankfully, he said yes, and even more thankfully, I kept that email. So I can tell the current department head, "Well, Ted Perry said I could do it, so there. Ha!" Which I might actually (not) do. In the end, to make it simplified, I may be taking 5 courses this semester (though 2 count as 1 in Middlebury's eyes).

Some building at the FU that I don't use, but I took the picture because it says Freie Universität on it.

I've already picked 2 classes: Political Culture in the French Revolution and Comics in History --History in Comics?. Both of the professors are really nice people and easy to understand, and of course the topics sound really interesting. I'm taking the one on the French Revolution because the professor seemed chill and I don't know that much about the topic. The comics class just seemed really different and something I wouldn't be able to take when I get back to Midd. (Yes, Bennigans, I know that you took a class on cartoons, but that was during J Term, and well, I don't think I have a J Term class left, especially if I do a thesis...scary.)

So all in all, this week has been a bit of a bust because of the film courses. Oh, and they start next week, too, unlike the rest of the university. (Who knew? Bannerweb would know that...I miss Bannerweb) Nobody told me that the 8 film courses I took start next week so I should've been attending history or politic or some other subjects' classes. Totally sucks. I also sat in on an art history course by accident that I wouldn't take even if I was interested because it was the same exact course I took back at Midd, just in German. In conclusion, I would just like you all to know: Appreciate Bannerweb. It does a lot, even though you may think it's a huge piece of crap. Alex and I started a Facebook group called "Going Abroad Made Me Realize Bannerweb is the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me," so feel free to join.

Der Erste Tag

2005-10-17T18:02:00.000+02:00

I survived. The first day of classes. Well, ok, it was one class´about the French Revolution. I probably will not even take it because I will most likely end up taking more film courses. The professor was really nice and the class already has a 10 page paper built into it already (Hausarbeit), so it's not a problem that I will have to write 12 pages (of course, depending on if I take the course).

Before the class started, I was unbelievably nervous. My hands were shaking and I just kept reminding myself to breathe. I mean, I know it's just another class, but it's in another language. The first thing the professor asked was "Was ist politische Kultur?" I could possibly explain myself in English, but in German? Good question. Was IST politische Kultur? Got me...in German.

The class felt very much like a discussion class back at Middlebury: There wasn't more than 12 students, we sat around desks set up in a large square, and the professor was laid back and sitting, too. What the professor talked about mostly was a very brief introduction to the course and just answering his one question of "Was ist politische Kultur." I was surprised at the amount that I understood and as forgetful as I am out of nerves, I had forgotten my English-German pocket dictionary, so it was even better than I thought. Out of the entire class, there were only 3 international students including myself. The other two were two French guys (the only reason why I knew was because they whipped out a French-German dictionary that had a large French flag on it) who I am sure know a lot about the Revolution. Maybe.

After the class, I had to approach the professor and ask him if it was ok that I write a 12 page paper instead of a 10, introduce myself, and tell him that I am with the Middlebury program. I was so nervous that I used the informal you form (du instead of Sie), which I was later kicking myself for. I asked him if he was familiar with the Midd program and he just sort of gave me this look, then asked, "Is that in Vermont, between the mountains and in the really pretty valley?" Apparently he was there last summer. Perhaps with the Language Schools, I didn't ask. He was very nice and didn't seemed fazed that I used the wrong "you" form (Thank God, otherwise I would definitely NOT take the class).

So hurrah, the first day is over. It's always the hardest. Tomorrow I have three classes to go to: 2 film ones (both are taught by the same woman) and 1 history one (which I'm excited about the title: "Comics in History - History in Comics?"). No idea what ones I will take, but regardless, I am glad that the first day is over.

Oh, and for the Fair Lawn people reading my blog...I just heard that a certain Vicky from the class of 2003 has become a stripper. With her best friend that is a year younger than us. I'm not giving specific names, just in case this is googled or something. All I can say is I can't wait til 5 year reunion.

Remembering Germany's Past

2005-10-14T19:56:00.001+02:00

I am deleting everything that I wrote the other night because it was so ridiculously scatterbrained. However, I will leave it on here that I downloaded Skype on the unreliable wireless I am mooching off of. So, feel free to add me.

Today I went to the Deutsches Historisches Museum by myself. I actually could only figure my way to the part of the museum that I.M.Pei designed because I didn't see any maps to lead me around. (Picture on the right is where I was) I'll eventually figure my way over to the Zeighaus, which is the older part of the museum. The part the I.M. Pei designed houses the temporary exhibitions, so I stayed in this one exhibit titled Der Krieg und seine Folgen 1945: Kriegsende und Erinnerungspolitik in Deutschland (Translation: The War & Its Consequences 1945: The End of the War and Politics of Rememberance). It was absolutely fascinating because it dealt with how Germany changed after the end of World War II, from 1945 until present day. The exhibit was actually only supposed to last through August, but it's been extended until October 23.

I get the feeling that many Americans think that the Germans sort of try hiding the past, but that's not true at all. The Germans were affected by Hitler's regime just as much as any other country and they, too, had to deal with the aftermath. Much of the country was left in ruins, many women were left husbandless, children were orphaned, and the country was split into quadrants. Seeing it from this perspective has really made me realize that Germany has struggled with its past in the sense that they could not really be patriotic like Americans, because the rest of the world saw it as coming too close to Nazism. I suppose it will only be a matter of time before that is all changed with younger generations, but the past will surely not be forgotten.

The picture on the left is one I took while walking on Unter den Linden, one of the main roads here in Berlin. It is where the Deutsches Historisches Museum is, along with Humboldt Universität, the Deutsche Guggenheim, and a good amount of other museums. It's the Fernsehen Turm and I have no idea what the other pretty building is.

On a completely different note, I am beginning to feel more comfortable here. Granted I have not been speaking nearly as much German as I should be, but considering classes will be starting on Monday and I will be moving into my apartment in about two weeks, I feel like I'm getting to know the city better. I am remembering the U-bahn and S-bahn systems better and I don't constantly have to pull out a map. Tomorrow I will be going back to the FU to make sure I know my way around on Monday. I'm including a picture of the Silberlaube in this post, which in my opinion is extraordinarily ugly. The Silberlaube is essentially the student center, I think. (Dan, if you're reading this, I think the Doshisha University is probably a million times prettier than this one building that is central to the FU.) Isn't it awful looking? David, another MiddKid who was here in the past, described it as the "big, ugly, silver building that you can't miss" in a packet he wrote for us on where to go look for housing advertisments. I think he is completely right.

My last thing that I would like to post about today is regarding beer. Yes, I am in Germany, and yes, beer is part of the culture here. Like I have said in an earlier post, it is strange to see prepubescent kids on the streets urging each other on to chug a half liter bottle of beer. Today was my first experience buying beer from a supermarket because I offered to bring some beer to my friend Rob's place tonight. Alex and I went to Kaiser's in Wittendorfplatz, which is down the street from our hotel. When people at home told me, "Yeah, beer is cheaper than water over in Germany!," I thought they were kidding. No, everyone who told me that was in fact 100% correct. And to prove it, I am posting my receipt for the three half liter bottles of beer that I bought. One can see Hasseroeder (0.59€), Holsten Pils (0.55€), and Paulaner (0.60€), with an 8 cent deposit on each one. The last item on the receipt, the DW Tasche, was a canvas bag I bought in order to carry the beer back with me. (That is one thing that is very different here: You have to buy the plastic bags for your groceries, or buy canvas bags and reuse them. Canvas bags are useful, so I figured I should buy one.) And yes, you can see that the canvas bag cost me 1.00€, which is more expensive than one bottle of beer.

Conclusions:
1. I will be trying a lot of beer this year and there are a lot of beers to try.
2. Beer is in fact cheaper than water, but of course not healthier.
3. The Germans are really all about saving the environment with using canvas bags for everything.

Berlin photos

2005-10-12T22:54:00.000+02:00

Due to the joys of wireless, I am able to post some pictures that I've taken over the past few days. (Basically, I turned on my computer to listen to the new Franz Ferdinand CD, and lo and behold, my computer picked up a wireless signal.) So here on the left is a picture from when Alex and I stopped by Checkpoint Charlie, which was where you could cross into the American sector of Berlin into the Russian sector. I have more pictures by it, but I thought this one is just one of those things that you always see in history books. It was pretty surreal seeing it in real life, but at the same time, it was a total tourist trap and there were a ton of people just everywhere buying postcards, replica hats, etc. There is also a very different feel between the two sides. You could definitely see the buildings on the eastern side were newer because the old ones were knocked down. Even today you could feel the difference although it is now one city.

Here on the left you can see a picture that I took of part of the East Side Gallery, which is a lot of street art on part of the Berlin Wall that was left. I think I took 50-some odd pictures over at the East Side Gallery, but you can check them out on my Flickr Account. I didn't load all of them yet, and I also am lazy, so I didn't rotate some of the pictures that should be rotated. You get the general idea, though.

Then below is a picture of a bridge that Alex and I walked across to get to the East Side Gallery from the western side of the river. (Not sure which river it was...sorry.) It's a bridge you cross from Kreuzberg to Friedrichshain, which are two neighborhoods that are the equivalent of the Lower East Side and the Village. The detail that some of the buildings and infrastructure here have is truly amazing and it is very unique. It makes me wonder why we couldn't have stuff like that at home, but I suppose that's what characterizes Germany and the U.S. as the U.S. I have more pictures from the bridge, too, and I think they are also on my Flickr account. The last picture is also of Checkpoint Charlie. I apologize that there really isn't any sort of order to the pictures that I am posting on my blog, but oh well, you will just have to deal.

Oh...and if you're actually reading my blog...post a comment...I feel as if nobody reads it. I'll admit my thoughts are a scatterbrained, especially in comparison to Alex's (God, she takes forever to write her entries)...but...just post so that I know whether or not I should even continue to update this thing! Even if you just say something ridiculous...

Die Universität

2005-10-10T15:36:00.000+02:00

Today was the orientation for students going through the Middlebury program. We essentially sat around for a long time reviewing what we had already read through in the handbook (the only difference was that it was in German) and eating in this Italian restaurant in the Student Center. (Or something.) I can't say it was honestly helpful because I felt as if I missed a lot of what was said, orelse I already knew what was being said because of the handbook. So either way, I still feel quite confused about the whole process of finding classes. To be perfectly honest, and I never thought I would ever say this in my life, I think I miss Bannerweb. For those of you who do not know what Bannerweb is, it's what we use at Midd to register for classes online which frequently has crashing problems as you register. Bannerweb is easy, though it may kick you of the system at a crucial time or the like, and it is straightforward. I'm not so sure about having this process of "shopping for classes."

I don't think I was the only one to feel confused, as we all looked at each other and asked, "Did you get that?" or "Wait, is this what was meant?" To sum it up using Zoey's quote:

"I am SO over this Deutsch bullshit."

Which is funny, especially because I am going to be here for a whole year. In the end, putting it into perspective makes the year not seem TOO bad. I will be confused, scared, and intimidated throughout first semester and second semester I will hopefully be confident and comfortable.

The university is HUGE, especially in comparison to Middlebury. I feel like I will get lost every day, and there is this whole system of finding rooms which confused me even further. (Apparently there are addresses within the buildings...sort of.) The buildings are pretty ugly, especially when you look at the cute little quaint buildings of that School on the Hill. Founded in 1948, the Freie Universität looks like something out of the 1960s with bright colors popping out everywhere. For those of you from home, I think it is way uglier than Fair Lawn High School's B-wing. (Didn't think possible, but it seems the possibilities here are endless.) I found it humorous that there was a JFK Building, as well as a Henry Ford Building.

On the up note, we got a catalog of "Hochschulsport," which is essentially just a bunch of workshops and classes that are for sports. I think I really want to do a swing class (as in, swing dance, not playing swing) or perhaps a salsa class. I already took ballroom dancing during J Term with Dan, but I think taking it in another language will be ridiculously embarassing (and thus make for good stories) and at the same time, loads of fun. They also have a gymnastics class which I am very tempted to take, but considering I haven't done any gymnastics since oh, junior year of high school, I probably shouldn't. (And even then nobody could spot me because I was too big.)

So in retrospect of today, I think it was a good day. Alex and I will have eaten 3 meals by the end of the day and this is awesome because we've been cutting meals out to save money. And Middlebury is paying us to eat out. Always good. Thanks, Middlebury. I got the course catalog on CD from Katharina, one of the assistants, so Alex and I will have a good look at that. Hopefully I will not be class-less by the time we actually have to choose classes. And seeing the university...well...yes, I am intimidated, scared, and nervous, and it feels worse than being a freshman all over again at Middlebury, but it will be a life experience I can put under my belt and say, "Yes, I actually accomplished something in my life."

Put simply, I am still taking one day at a time.

Burrito In My Pocket

2005-10-08T17:05:00.000+02:00

No, this post has nothing to do with burritos in my pocket, although Alex and I did have a discussion about that. (I did do that while I was at Middlebury though, last semester.) We had lunch at a Mexican place in Prenzlauerberg, which was surprisingly good. I didn't think I would find any Mexican restaurants on this side of the pond, but, well, we did.

Most importantly to post on here is that I have FINALLY found an apartment. After emailing nearly 90 people and making at least 30 calls (no exaggeration), I have found a place in Kreuzberg, which is similar to the Lower East Side in New York City. I will be living with two German guys, Christian and Pablo. Yes, Pablo. Alex and I have discussed what cracked out German would give their son a Spanish name, but I will probably figure that out in the not-so-distant-future. I won't be able to move in until November 1 because Heike, whose room I will be occupying, is not leaving until then. I believe she is going abroad and will be back in May, when I will have to move out.

I'm not too concerned about having to move out because I've got it all figured out. I can live on my own for the last two or three months while I am here in Berlin. It won't be too long nor will it be too short, and people can't say, "Well, you should try living with people." Of course, plans can change, but for now, I'm not thinking about that. I think I will have to worry more about the fact that I am starting classes in 10 days and will be living in a hotel for the first three weeks.

On the note of living in a hotel, I think that it will probably delay the culture shock which is sure to come. I feel like a tourist rather than a student, and people still talk to me in English rather than German. It's a bit frustrating, mostly because I feel like my vocabulary is slowly dwindling, even though I am here in Germany. However, once classes start, German will be in full force and I will probably talk mostly in it.

So besides de-stressing because I have found a place to live, Alex and I went to Checkpoint Charlie and the East Side Gallery today. It was bizarre seeing Checkpoint Charlie swarming with happy tourists, but I suppose it can be seen as two different symbols: a symbol of freedom and a symbol of division. I guess when I think "Checkpoint Charlie" I think symbol of division, so I didn't take any pictures with Alex or me in them. On the other hand, I took a ton of pictures over at the East Side Gallery, which is basically this long stretch of the Berlin Wall which has been left with lots of street art on it. It was very powerful seeing some of the artwork and I think much more interesting than Checkpoint Charlie. (Not to mention we didn't have to pay to get into a museum or anything, plus it was a gorgeous day outside.)

If you want to read something more eloquent on what we saw today, I suggest reading Alex's blog. She's a more eloquent writer than I am.

So things I have accomplished so far in Berlin:

1. Finding an apartment, after seeing about 12 and having more than 90 emails sent out.
II. Went to the Brandenburg Gate on the Tag der Einheit Deutschlands, having wurst, and drinking beer. (And no, I have not gotten drunk. Just red.)
c. Discovered the joy of döner kebabs. And Alex has made many a joke on that.
Four. Begun to master the public transportation system of the U- and S-bahns.
Fifth. Been in an internet cafe more than I would like to admit.

And on that note...I guess I should end it here. But yeah, I am not moving into my apartment until November 1, so I can't receive any regular mail until then.

I am still Obdachlose.

2005-10-07T11:21:00.000+02:00

I am still sitting in this beloved easyInternetcafe in the Zoologischer Garten and I am still homeless. I have yet to find a place, but I am still looking. I counted the number of emails I have sent out, which is 40 only in my Gmail account. This doesn't count the number of emails I sent through websites themselves, so I guess the total would be around 90 or more. And I've seen a total of 11 places, I think. And not one prospect.

I have decided that it is frustrating that my fate is being decided by complete strangers, whether they want me as a roommate or not. I am coming very close to the decision that I should find an apartment by myself, although it would be lonely, and I'll be here for the entire year. It might be easier, and I suppose I could just better my German in class.

I was talking with Alex, and I've also come to this conclusion: There really isn't much time to live on your own. Many people say, "You shouldn't live on your own, there is plenty of time to do that after college." This might be true, but this is my thinking. After college, it seems extraordinarily likely that one will move out and into an apartment with friends or with total strangers. Perhaps a significant other. And then after that, marriage forces you to live with your significant other, unless I am otherwise mistaken. So when are you supposed to live on your own? This is why I think it wouldn't be too bad living in an apartment by myself.

However, the other thought that came to my mind was this PBS program I saw on why humans have this emotion called "empathy." We are very sociable creatures, and empathy stems from the fact that we can imagine ourselves in someone else's shoes. The fact that we are sociable creatures creates this desire to NOT be alone, to live with other humans. So this is the downside of living by myself. As much as I might think it'd be a great idea, in the end, I'd end up lonely. On the other hand, I won't be homeless.

It has been a frustrating process for me and I am still pushing on to find somewhere to live. I know a lot of other people might have given up by now and decide to live in the Studentenwohnheim (dorms), but I really don't want to do that, especially because I am here for the year. I am just hoping that where ever I find a place, I will be happy there, and that the people (if there are people) will be friendly.

I am also looking forward to finding a place to live because then I can actually eat properly. I feel like I haven't eaten a proper vegetable in almost 2 weeks. I don't think in the past I would ever think this, but man, I miss vegetables. And fruit. Alex and I have been living on doener kebabs (read her blog, I'm sure she mentioned kebabs somewhere), which aren't bad, and actually are really dirt cheap and filling, but I just want some broccoli or something.

And the search continues....

I live in an internet cafe.

2005-10-03T13:15:00.000+02:00

So today is my fourth day here searching for an apartment or "Wohngemeinschaft" (WG) in an internet cafe. I feel as if Alex, Zilai, and I are just living here. I think we stay here for about 4 hours or more per day, emailing, calling, and running around the city to see various places. I am starting to get accustomed to the keyboard here (like remembering the y and z are switched on it from the U.S.), but even so, I still make some mistakes.

The weather is still basically cloudy. I don't understand it, but it seems like Berlin really does have worse weather than London. Didn't think it possible.

One other observation I've made is that nobody here jay walks, as in, everywhere is clear, but the Germans wait until the pedestrian signal goes green. I've jaywalked (I'm from the NYC area, what do you want!) and gotten heads shaken at me. I guess everyone is not nearly in as big of a rush as they are back home, but even so, it will take some time to get used to.

Today is actually a national holiday here: Der Tag der Einheit Deutschlands. 15 years ago today the two Germanys were reunited into one nation. I heard from our host that there might be stuff going on by the Brandenburg Gate, such as beer drinking (surprise, surprise) and eating (wurst, perhaps?). I think we may try to go over there later after some appointments.

Other than that, there really isn't so much to say. The 4 places I saw yesterday were really nice and the people are friendly. Two of those places spoke in English with me (well, actually, one of them we spoke in English, German, and Spanish in one period of time!), and the others were completely in German. It is still a process, but I am sure it will sink in in a few weeks.

The car with the Midd sticker still hasn't seen our note yet. It's been sitting there since...Friday?

Pictures!

2005-10-01T16:24:00.000+02:00

I'm sitting in a Starbucks paying 8€ an hour because Alex and I thought we could get free wireless here. But no, you have to put in a credit card number...but we figured, eh, we trekked here with our computers, might as well just do it. And now I can post pictures because they're on my computer, while normally I would be in an internet cafe.

The search for an apartment is only going ok...Alex is having better luck with getting appointments. But it's only the second day we've been searching. I'll just keep pressing on, I suppose. It still scares me though because I don't want to end up in some crappy neighborhood...maybe I'll just end up in an apartment by myself. We'll see.

Im posting pictures from the past few days, including the car with the Middlebury sticker on it.

New Beginnings

2005-09-29T19:35:00.000+02:00

First off, Im going to apologize ahead for anz punctuation and what maz appear to be tzpos. I'm on a German kezboard in an internet cafe, and well, I am trzing to maximiye mz time while Im here, rather than worrzing about punctuation and spelling and all that good stuff.

Mz time in London went well, and seeing Ken and his friends and Chris was reallz great. We went to a comedz club in Leicester Square, which was quite fun, and we got some pints to drink (This is England we're talking about). We also went to a pub afterward, and I think the result of that night is prettz much a given of what happened!

I also went to see Ewan McGregor in Guys and Dolls in the West End, and all I can saz is that it was FABULOUS. I love the music and of course Ewan being in it helped a lot. The worst part was probablz the imitated New York accents, but what can zou do? I thought it ironic that I went to London to see a musical about New York...go figure!

So as I said, I'm in an internet cafe with Alex sitting here next to me. She is updating her blog too but she seems to keep typing and then deleting everzthing. But anzwaz, I showed up in Tegel and thank goodness that Zoey and Alex were there, otherwise I would've had a major panic attack (which I had onlz a few dazs ago anzwaz). We took the bus to the Zoologischer Garten, where Alex and I picked up a (Mercedes) cab and got to our B&B, which is actuallz in a residence.

Alex took a nap since she's been awake for a few hours (let's saz, 28 hours??), and then we left to walk around. Funniest thing ever: We walk outside and there, very close to where we are staying, was a car. And not just anz car. But this car had a MIDDLEBURY STICKER ON IT. I know it's rude to type in all caps, but honestlz, what are the chances that we're here in Berlin, and a car has a Midd sticker on it? I had to take a picture of it, and I promise I will post it when I get on mz own computer and all that.

So how am I feeling through this whole experience thus far? A few words: Apprehensive. Scared. Nervous. Doubtful. And yes, mazbe even a little excited...but honestlz I think mz apprehension is overshadowing all other emotions. I also feel like nobodz will understand me when I trz speaking in German because mz American accent is so thick, but granted that I will be here for a zear, mz German SHOULD be getting better.

Oh, and first impressions of Berlin:

1. The weather is worse than London. Whz? Well, I show up in London expecting prettz bad weather, but it was prettz decent. I show up here and its cold and raining, which causes everzthing to be this graz color. Mazbe it has something to do with how I feel.

II. There are ridiculous amounts of H&Ms. Alex and I saw what...4 in a row? We were thinking that thez were possiblz the same building, but no, thez weren't. Thez were seperate H&Ms on perhaps 2 blocks. What the heck do zou need all the H&Ms for?

c. It seems like everzone loves their pizza. Alex and I have found numerous pizzerias. We haven't eaten any....yet.

Four. Considering that I've onlz been here for 8 hours, I don't think I can actuallz have a fourth observation. Especiallz because we haven't reallz walked around that much...we went through a bunch of residential neighborhoods.

Oh, but I do have to say, it will take me awhile to get used to people being able to smoke just about everywhere. So just as a warning to any family members reading this: I'm probablz going to come home smelling like cigarettes, the way Tzeh did when she came home from Florence.

So, for now...I guess I'll be ok. I'm hoping to buy a cell phone within the next two days (I'm going to ask Zoey for help), and hopefullz I will find an apartment within the next 6. I'm not forcing mzself to find anzthing in this time period, because I realiye that will just make things harder. All I reallz need is a good location, internet, a kitchen, and a bed. Not too difficult, I don't think.

So I guess that's it for this edition of mz adventures in Berlin. Perhaps the next time I write I will have mz own place bz then..........

New York, New York

2005-09-07T05:19:00.000+02:00

Over the weekend I went to see Back to the Future with my sister Tracie and her fiancé Wayne in a theater on the lower East Side. But after dinner, we had time to kill. We decided to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, so when we were in Brooklyn, I took this picture of the Manhattan skyline. I love New York, and damn, I'm going to miss it when I'm in Berlin.

Isn't it pretty? I took it with my Canon SD400 Digital Elph and had to hold really still by placing it on a banister. I also had to change the shutter speed. I must say, it came out really nicely.