Hi everyone, Phew. I just finished emptying and cleaning my ENTIRE room. As you can see above, everything is astoundingly white. However, this does not mean that my life very neatly boxed up at this point (at least where I will make a weight limit anyways...sigh). At any rate, I am enjoying the last hour or so I will be spending in this room. At 5 some good friends are coming over to help me lug things over to Eric's - where Claudia is making the last Sunday Dinner. Unfortunately this seems like it will be time to say "Goodbye" to a lot of the best friends I've made here. This will probably result in tears. As I'm not much of a crier, I'm hoping they won't be mine. We will see.
My last several days have been low-key, to say the least. I've been slightly in denial, but now am starting to get excited about traveling (knocking on wood against Lufthansa...). I have been trying to cram things into my bags, along with last minute purchases of German chocolate and tiny souvenirs. Fortunately, most people got something at Christmas, so I was able to fit about 90% of my clothing in - the rest will be donated. Sentimental feelings fade somewhat after 10+ hours of cleaning, and I went into "toss" mode.
Anyhow, some of my people are here, so I'm pulling the internet plug (I have to somehow electronically close my internet account). So, think happy thoughts and hope I get home all right!
Hi All, While I'm not trying to take it personally, the chain of events that has occurred over the past few days has made me wonder exactly what horrible deed I've committed to deserve such special treatment.
Washing Machine...? Last Thursday they removed our washer and dryer...and that was exciting - because everyone knows that if you remove something, you're planning on replacing it quickly. Oh right, that's just a common mistake in reasoning that the optimists in the world embrace. So, really, I shouldn't have been surprised that it took them a WHOLE week to replace the darn thing (and she's a beaut- and cheaper) - the week before 30-40 students would be flying home. Not to mention all the German students leaving as well. Grrrrreat timing guys. At any rate, I have my last load (ever!) in the dryer right now, and then I'm free of the scary dungeon.
Rocky Horror Picture Show So, I know that this is kind of a big deal to people who are in to it - and so my first time probably shouldn't have been in Germany. It was in English however, and some Germans went the whole nine yards. I heard I missed the hotdog throwing - but let's face it, the German's aren't the type to waste any type of food -especially their nationally acclaimed wurst. However, getting there took a good 40 minute hike, thanks to a very wrong map that I tried to use. However, a good long hike and one long, dark scary road later and Sara and I were there. Definitely an experience I'll have to do in the US!
Insurance...Covered...Hahahaha So, no, I haven't suffered any atrocious injuries lately requiring me to test my insurance policy. However, Eric and Brady (who flew back today) stopped by with Yulia to sit me down for some bad news. Now, most of the times this has happened, someone has died...so I was a little freaked out. Apparently, my insurance hasn't been covering this past month. Also, they take out the insurance for the previous month on the first of the next month (ie, April was taken out May 1st). Now, one would think "Perfect! Steph closed her bank account, but since she wasn't actually covered this month, it won't be a problem". However, you'd be wrong. Apparently, we still have to pay for the protection, that we weren't under on this month. I don't understand it either, but they can apparently bar me from re-entry into Germany if I fail to pay the 50 some euros. So THAT'S going to be a fun mess to untangle on Monday.
Lufthansa Strike Isn't "Strike" an ugly word? In fact, I'm beginning to draw an unfortunately strong correlation between the word "Germany" and "Strike". This is the second time an airline has gone on strike in Germany (plus the post, public transportation in Regensburg, the Bahn, etc). The best part is that the strike starts on Monday, and we fly out Tuesday. See?! I told you we're being singled out! So, once again, that should be a barrel of laughs. Apparently they have an "emergency plan" ready to put in place, but it's very likely we could be made to take a train to Frankfurt and re-routed through another company (with likely much lower baggage allowances...sweet...not). So yeah, I'm kinda feeling screwed over here.
A Little Light Now, I love pessimism as much as the next person, but I'll leave you with this little ray of sunshine that fell into my life. After finding out that no, I couldn't actually sell my bike back to the shop Vaso bought it at, I was able to sell it. Not for a whole lot, but for something. That made my day. That, and the AMAZING lemon cheesecake I made.
So there, that almost overshadows the negatives, right? Sigh, I hopefully will be seeing you soon...cross your fingers for me! Hope all is well, Steph P.S. Here's a youtube video made from my theater group. However, it's in German...
Hi all, If you know me remotely well, you will know of my deep hatred for the "textbook conspiracy". This is a phenomenon where large greedy book companies pump out new edition after new addition of essentially the identical textbook and con professors into using them for classes by giving them the teaching guide for free. Next, the campus bookstore (whether individual or a corporate giant such as, Barnes and Noble, for example) will give you only a pittance for the book when you sell it back - or refuse to take it at all if another edition has come out. Regardless of whether the Professor will be using the new edition.
I, however, full-heartedly loathe this system and through some website hopping (the official college book store link meant so that you can order the book-although they never give you the ISBN- to Amazon to get the ISBN based on the edition number to campusbooks.com for an automatic price comparison) I have managed through the last 2 years in the US to buy very, very few texts from the Campus Bookstore. Once, I even cheated the system, but that's another story.
At any rate, the whole point of this segue was to tell you why I am slightly crazy and to explain why I got up at 4:45AM this morning to bid on e-bay for a textbook. Unfortunately, I didn't "win" the book, and so I feel like my sleep was wasted. Especially since I was due to be at Eric's at nice for....
Painting! The girl who lived in Eric's room before he moved in had moved out without painting the walls, so the task fell to him. Naturally, Claudia and I wanted in on the action. I got to Eric's at about 9:30, a half an hour late as I had difficulty waking up - but I brought bakery goods along so all was good in the world. It took us (Eric and I, since Claudia had a final at 8AM) just over an hour to empty his room of everything in it/on the walls. This included taking his bed apart (thanks IKEA!) and moving his dresser and desk and other things into the other rooms. Later, after Claudia came, Eric and Claudia went to go and buy the supplies. This left me to do the taping. As you can see in the slideshow, I think I did my mother proud. Since we were painting the walls white on white (harder than it sounds), my fastidious taping was probably a little over-kill, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment. We finished painting around 2, although Eric has to do some touching up tomorrow.
Selling my Bike Or not, as it turned out. Vaso had assured me that I'd be able to sell my bike back from the place where the other Vaso had bought it at. If that's confusing, don't worry - it's all Greek to me because they are. So I've been working on getting the receipt from the Vaso that went home, with no avail. So Vaso volunteered (my friend Vaso, the one still in Regensburg) to go with me in case I needed back up. Then we discovered that this was all a moot point as they wouldn't buy it back. So...yeah. Now what? I'm not really sure. People suggested selling it at a flea market, but at the one Eric and I went to, I didn't see anyone selling theirs. So, yeah...not so good. At any rate, a back-up plan will simply have to be found.
So, another long day with mixed success. 8 Days left people, are you ready? Hope all is well, Steph
Hi all, I'm pissed. Enraged is actually a more accurate term, really. Throughout my stay in Germany, I have endeavored to stay clear of the "Ugly American" tourist stereotype. I have been pleasantly surprised that I had not run into any...until tonight.
Claudia's older brother and father came to visit this weekend. So, naturally, Eric gave them a city tour today and after dinner called me up to come and be social. We met at Bismarckplatz, a nice square with two fountains that is surrounded by a few bars. Naturally a college student hotspot. Claudia's dad had been wandering around on his own for a while and met up with us a little later. At around 10, we went on a trek to search for ice cream. Our first choice was unfortunately closed, so we went to the little place by my dorm. Andreas (Claudia's brother) wanted to go to the stone bridge and see the Danube. So Eric led the way, taking a little side trip to see the Don Juan statue. Afterwards, we cut through a side alley (really just a narrow, but well lit street with restaurants and pubs on either side). There were two guys in suits that I guessed to be around their mid to late twenties. As we approached, happily licking away on our ice cream cones, we heard one guy telling the other guy:
"Shit...MAN! We're supposed to stay at their hotel with them tonight!"
They were both at least tipsy and obviously aggravated. Since it was a narrow street, Andreas took the lead, with Eric and then Me, finally with Claudia's father at the back. Suddenly, and without any provocation the same guy starts hurling insults at Andreas. Now, he had a deep south accent and among other things called him a "lollypop licking faggot", and then threw out the "N" word (excuse my appalling language, but it's impossible to express the crudity and hpow appalling the situation was otherwise). Eric and I stopped dead in our tracks, shocked by this outbreak. Andreas completely tuned them out. However, Eric said (in a very mild mannered and non-antagonistic voice)
"Excuse me?"
The guy replied: "You speak English?!?!?!"
"We are Americans."
At this point, his friend stepped in and told either him or us to just let it go. I had kept my mouth firmly shut, as the last similar incident I experienced to this drifted through my brain (the slightly infamous mini-golf fiasco) and Nate's (my older brother) advice echoed in my mind. He'd basically told me that I should simply shut up, as anything I say is bound to make a male not take anything out on me, but instead on another guy; essentially picking a fight for him. Since a confrontation is the last thing we wanted (although I'd sure as hell be in on it), we just kept on walking.
Awkward and embarrassed silence hung thickly for a few minutes until we bumped into Kayla on her way to a bar. Still not saying much we made it to the stone bridge where Eric broke the silence by expressing his embarrassment over the situation and for the Americans who give others a bad name. Andreas shrugged it off saying that it didn't matter to him - no matter what nationality people are, he just chooses to ignore it. His father pretty much agreed with him.
However, I still find it deeply shameful and I almost wish I would have had the opportunity to help kick their asses. I hope that they weren't military guys (although I slightly suspect they were), because as a direct representation of America their actions were appalling. Equally so if they were civilians, and inexcusable either way. However, since we handled the situation in a mature manner, I am expressing my rage to you.
