Die Berlinale, Olympische Spiele und andere Ereignisse

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

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.