Hello all!
Sorry for the lack of recent updates, but the past two weeks have been a bit stressful and busy. Anywho, here's a quick summary of my life...
Monday June 6 (Happy Birthday to Simba!)
Went on a very superficial/cursory/not very well done tour of the Jewish museum in Berlin. It was fun to explore on my own afterwards though, and then Jen, Kuba and I rode the subway partway together, and with the help of a convenience store worker managed to put more money on our cell phones. I then went home, had dinner, and then things pretty much went downhill from there. To keep things short (and not publicly posted on the web for all to see, since that wouldn't be a very gracious action), things came to a head with my host parents, and I had to move out the next day.
Tuesday June 7
Missed afternoon class to move into a student dormitory suite with four other suitemates- three German, one Italian, went to the grocery store, and got settled in. My suitemates are nice, and so far, things are working out well with them
Wednesday June 8
Went to the Wannsee Conference house, a Holocaust museum where the "Final Solution" was discussed and planned. There were a lot of interesting exhibits on camps, deportations, and Nazi propoganda, and I stayed awhile to look at things before going back to my new home.
Thursday June 9
Went to the Fernsehturm with Dan after class, which was fun. The view from the top was pretty good, and true to form, I took far too many pictures than was really merited. Ah well. That's why I went digital :-). We then had lunch at a cafe down at the foot of the tower, and I had bruschetta and apple juice. The waiter took so long to bring the check though, that I was hungry again by the time he got there. That says something about German restaurants :-p. I then went home to pack for the Weimar weekend, took a shower, and went to bed.
Friday June 10
Got to the train station almost an hour early, so I trooped over to the ATM across the street to further impoverish my savings account (I usually feel rather guilty about spending money), grabbed a doughnut at the good old D&D (though their doughnuts tend to be softer here- I think it may have to do with slightly different flour or something), and bought a couple of postcards to send to people. I even ran into a Polish classmate from my language class in Berlin on her way to buy tickets for a train leaving in 10 min. I love Poles :-p. The train was more or less on time, and was a fairly pleasant ride, though things were kept lively buy a bunch of German friends going to Munich (I think), beer bottles in hand and singing songs I could only partially understand. I spent most of the ride trying to read a German cultural magazine, writing postcards that I now need to remember to send, and talking. Once in Weimar, we had a tour of the city and visited Goethe's house, where I bought another book of his poetry. The tour guide was excellent- informative, interesting, and enthusiastic, but not overly so. That night, we all went out to dinner at an italian restaraunt where I once again ordered bruschetta, and ate all but two pieces of my pizza. The guys helped me out with what was left over :-). We then went out to the local opera which was performing Salome that night. I enjoyed myself, though I didn't much care for that particular opera- too weird for me. The orchestra and singers were all excellent, but we all pretty much agreed that the choreography needed a bit of an overhaul. After that, the group disintegtrated even further, and Josh, Lindsay, and I went in search of a cafe, and in desperation, made the mistake of entering a mexican restaurat in Europe. Four words: don't do it. Ever. Nuff said. Then, twas back to the youth hostel and into bed.
Saturday June 11
An ok breakfast at the youth hostel, then off to Buchenwald. It was ironic, and almost eerie to be driving up the road that most prisoners had to walk, and in taxis no less. We watched a short movie before going on a tour of the camp. After awhile, you almost become numb, unable to absorb any more atrocities. Most of the camp was dismantled after the Soviets left, since they wanted to cover up the fact that they had continued to use the Nazi concentration camps after the war, and not a single prisoner barrack remains today. I don't feel that I have the words to convey what it was like to be there, or to shed any more light on life there. All I can say is that it was informative, and impressioning. After returning to the town, it was time for lunch and book shopping, of course. I somehow got a German translation of The Notebook for free from a lively old German bookseller who hates e-books with a passion, then went across the street to a much more corporate German language bookstore, got a copy of Anne Frank's diary, and found out that the new harry potter book (which my parents have hopefully NOT forgotten to order, hinthint) is not coming out in German until October, so I'll have to pay ridiculous shipping charges, grumble, grumble. I was then slightly late to the tour of Schiller's house (much less ostentatious than Goethe's), after which I bought a small book of his poetry. Then, lured by the promise of a "surprise," we opted for a Turkish restaurant for dinner (on the program's tab), and I had a feta cheese pita which was very tasty indeed. Dinner lasted almost three hours, which was actually rather pleasant. European schedules are rather enjoyable if you have enough time on your hands. The nonsmoking contingent then left the smoking crew with their hookah and went back to the hostel before heading out to one of two clubs, loctaed in a former defensive tower from the middle ages. Even though I don't drink, can't dance, and have very sensitive ears, I still had fun, and didn't leave all that insanely early. Most of the people didn't get back to the room until rather late, so I was woken up a couple times, but oh well.
Sunday June 12 (Happy birthday Kate!)
To be continued...
Kate, I love the new background, and will get all requested info to you soon! Can you show me how to set up different security levels, etc.? Thanks, and take care!
Monday June 6 (Happy Birthday to Simba!)
Went on a very superficial/cursory/not very well done tour of the Jewish museum in Berlin. It was fun to explore on my own afterwards though, and then Jen, Kuba and I rode the subway partway together, and with the help of a convenience store worker managed to put more money on our cell phones. I then went home, had dinner, and then things pretty much went downhill from there. To keep things short (and not publicly posted on the web for all to see, since that wouldn't be a very gracious action), things came to a head with my host parents, and I had to move out the next day.
Tuesday June 7
Missed afternoon class to move into a student dormitory suite with four other suitemates- three German, one Italian, went to the grocery store, and got settled in. My suitemates are nice, and so far, things are working out well with them
Wednesday June 8
Went to the Wannsee Conference house, a Holocaust museum where the "Final Solution" was discussed and planned. There were a lot of interesting exhibits on camps, deportations, and Nazi propoganda, and I stayed awhile to look at things before going back to my new home.
Thursday June 9
Went to the Fernsehturm with Dan after class, which was fun. The view from the top was pretty good, and true to form, I took far too many pictures than was really merited. Ah well. That's why I went digital :-). We then had lunch at a cafe down at the foot of the tower, and I had bruschetta and apple juice. The waiter took so long to bring the check though, that I was hungry again by the time he got there. That says something about German restaurants :-p. I then went home to pack for the Weimar weekend, took a shower, and went to bed.
Friday June 10
Got to the train station almost an hour early, so I trooped over to the ATM across the street to further impoverish my savings account (I usually feel rather guilty about spending money), grabbed a doughnut at the good old D&D (though their doughnuts tend to be softer here- I think it may have to do with slightly different flour or something), and bought a couple of postcards to send to people. I even ran into a Polish classmate from my language class in Berlin on her way to buy tickets for a train leaving in 10 min. I love Poles :-p. The train was more or less on time, and was a fairly pleasant ride, though things were kept lively buy a bunch of German friends going to Munich (I think), beer bottles in hand and singing songs I could only partially understand. I spent most of the ride trying to read a German cultural magazine, writing postcards that I now need to remember to send, and talking. Once in Weimar, we had a tour of the city and visited Goethe's house, where I bought another book of his poetry. The tour guide was excellent- informative, interesting, and enthusiastic, but not overly so. That night, we all went out to dinner at an italian restaraunt where I once again ordered bruschetta, and ate all but two pieces of my pizza. The guys helped me out with what was left over :-). We then went out to the local opera which was performing Salome that night. I enjoyed myself, though I didn't much care for that particular opera- too weird for me. The orchestra and singers were all excellent, but we all pretty much agreed that the choreography needed a bit of an overhaul. After that, the group disintegtrated even further, and Josh, Lindsay, and I went in search of a cafe, and in desperation, made the mistake of entering a mexican restaurat in Europe. Four words: don't do it. Ever. Nuff said. Then, twas back to the youth hostel and into bed.
Saturday June 11
An ok breakfast at the youth hostel, then off to Buchenwald. It was ironic, and almost eerie to be driving up the road that most prisoners had to walk, and in taxis no less. We watched a short movie before going on a tour of the camp. After awhile, you almost become numb, unable to absorb any more atrocities. Most of the camp was dismantled after the Soviets left, since they wanted to cover up the fact that they had continued to use the Nazi concentration camps after the war, and not a single prisoner barrack remains today. I don't feel that I have the words to convey what it was like to be there, or to shed any more light on life there. All I can say is that it was informative, and impressioning. After returning to the town, it was time for lunch and book shopping, of course. I somehow got a German translation of The Notebook for free from a lively old German bookseller who hates e-books with a passion, then went across the street to a much more corporate German language bookstore, got a copy of Anne Frank's diary, and found out that the new harry potter book (which my parents have hopefully NOT forgotten to order, hinthint) is not coming out in German until October, so I'll have to pay ridiculous shipping charges, grumble, grumble. I was then slightly late to the tour of Schiller's house (much less ostentatious than Goethe's), after which I bought a small book of his poetry. Then, lured by the promise of a "surprise," we opted for a Turkish restaurant for dinner (on the program's tab), and I had a feta cheese pita which was very tasty indeed. Dinner lasted almost three hours, which was actually rather pleasant. European schedules are rather enjoyable if you have enough time on your hands. The nonsmoking contingent then left the smoking crew with their hookah and went back to the hostel before heading out to one of two clubs, loctaed in a former defensive tower from the middle ages. Even though I don't drink, can't dance, and have very sensitive ears, I still had fun, and didn't leave all that insanely early. Most of the people didn't get back to the room until rather late, so I was woken up a couple times, but oh well.
Sunday June 12 (Happy birthday Kate!)
To be continued...
Kate, I love the new background, and will get all requested info to you soon! Can you show me how to set up different security levels, etc.? Thanks, and take care!