Well I Guess Vacation had to End Eventually

After spending around three and a half months off from school, I can say I am having some mixed feelings about classes starting up again. More than not, I am definitely ready for classes to start and to finally have a set schedule with plenty of things to do. My days have been a blur and it feels like I have just completed the world's longest weekend. Don't get me wrong, it has been great and I am very well rested. I have been waking up to the sun without an alarm (some days it's not as welcome as others) and I take my time in the morning by leisurely eating breakfast and reading the German newspaper. What a life!

But of course, this cannot continue and it won't. Starting on Monday I will head to Humboldt University to have a four hour orientation where I will meet my fellow program (hopefully) soon-to-be buddies. Besides Nick, Julian and myself, our classes will mainly be made up of Euromaster students that are completing a similar program that began in Bath, England. I can only hope these students will be as interesting and as wonderful as my TAM-ily, but I will say that no one will ever replace my TAM-ily.

Following this orientation on Monday, we will begin a two week course, our "mini-module," where we will have class 4 hours a day. The one great thing about our class is that it will be located right off of Unter den Linden, across from Bebelplatz and only a little ways from the Berliner Dom, my favorite building in Berlin. It's very amazing to think that I am right there near all of this and that is one of the aspects of living and studying in Berlin that I was really excited about. Another great thing about these upcoming semesters is that the professors I will have or that are teaching at the university are awesome. This is not to say the ones at UNC were not great, but a number of these Berlin professors are scholars that I have read, cited and read about in my other readings. I think Nick, Julian and I have already found professors that we have used in our bachelor's theses and that is just so cool to me (this is why I am in Grad School, that is my nerd moment).

The one big aspect I am nervous about is that my classes are in German. Granted, I think I know more than I give myself credit for, but it is still nerve-racking. I have a terrible habit where I will zone out in class (something I think we all suffer from), but if I zone out in a German class, then I have an even bigger hill to climb because I am even more lost than I would be in a regular, American class. I know that our professors will be understanding and I think I will be fine, but until that first day of class I don't know what to expect. Plus this semester is like August all over again. I am meeting all new people and I am in a new city again. Last semester worked out quite well, so I'm thinking this semester will too, but if you know me, you know that I tend to get unnecessary jitters about these things. I will keep you all updated with how it goes (I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seat).

Besides these upcoming events, things have been going very well in Berlin. Nick, Julian and I took a weekend trip to Prague to visit part of our TAM-ily and that was fun. Sadly the weather didn't really cooperate, but we did get to see everyone there and see the city, even if it was in the rain. It was a nice trip to get away from Berlin and to see a new city. We have also been doing a great deal of exploring throughout our city. The weather has been great, so it's nice to be outside and walk around and see Berlin. I have been seeing areas where I have never been and it's so great to know that I will be here for a year and will have the time to see even more of Berlin. It is a great city and I hope that if people have the time to see it, whether I am here or not, they should take full advantage and see the beauty of Berlin for themselves.

To the Fat German Man Behind the Desk

Dear Fat German Man,

Why do you have to make my life and my time in Germany so complicated? All I wanted from you was for you to sign my forms and give me a German visa! I made an appointment on your stupid bureaucratic website, I trekked all the way over to the other side of town, and I had all of my documents that you asked for. Instead, you tell me that my health insurance letter certifying that I have American health insurance that covers me in Germany is not enough, you tell me that I need to have more proof that I am enrolled in a German university, and you tell me that I need more money in my German bank account. Lets just go down this laundry list of items to express how I truly feel.

First, the letter that I have from a German public health insurance firm should most definitely be enough to prove that I have adequate health insurance. You gave me a form that I'm supposed to fill out according to you asking all of these questions about my supposed health insurance even though right on the first page in bold letters it says that a letter from a health insurance provider will suffice! WTF! Can you not even read the exact documents that you hand out?! Are you that lazy and so bored with your job that you don't even take the time to see what it says on the very first page of what you're handing me?

Second, why would you say that two letters that state I am enrolled/accepted into two universities not be enough proof that I am a student? Just because the semester has yet to begin does not mean that I am pretending to be a student in the near future. I am clearly a student now, I am working to become enrolled into the German university here and therefore I am not lying to you about being a student!

Third, these requirements for a German bank account are just ridiculous and you know it. I understand you don't want anyone living in your country that cannot support himself or herself. Well considering that I brought you a bank statement that clearly states that I have plenty of money in my account, you decided this was not enough. I told you that I was waiting to receive my German bank card, but that I had opened it, but no, still not enough. Instead you tell me that I have to come back and show that I have 7800 Euros in my German bank account at my next appointment?! Are you serious? That is over $10,000! I definitely don't have that kind of money and I don't know of many students that do have that kind of money right now. When I was here two years ago there was never any mention of needing to have a certain amount of money in my bank account and honestly, most of the time I had nothing in my German bank account. WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS CHANGED NOW?!

You sir, have truly added more unnecessary stress to my life and instead of giving me my visa, you are making me come back in a month at 8am to try this again. I can only hope that I will never have to see you again and that I will actually get someone who works there that has a real brain and isn't a complete idiot. You should realize how lucky you are that I don't know how to really yell in German like I would if I could talk to you in English.

You really suck!

Emily

Finally Feels Like Home

After 5 whole days in my new apartment and almost non-stop work, I think I can say with 95% accuracy that we have finally finished moving in. There is about one big thing left to do and that is just putting in our shower curtain. You may ask yourself why we haven't completed this task yet since in most situations you could easily assume that it just requires us to hang up the curtain on some rings and attach them to the pre-existing shower rod. Sadly, in this case, you would be wrong. According to Julian, when he asked, the former tenants did not have a shower rod or any sort of apparatus to surround the tub. Instead they said they just took baths. I really don't know why, what we believe were 3 adults, would only take baths. We are living in the 21st century when that is just the normal thing to do once you reach a certain age and I am definitely certain these three adults have reached this point (we do live on the 5th floor with no elevator so we know they could walk and therefore stand). Either way, we are living without a shower curtain, which I have come to realize is really an invaluable thing to have.

The first shower I took I had to just hold the shower hose and that was not an enjoyable experience because 1) I had to continuously turn it on and off while I was washing my hair, etc and 2) I did not feel extremely clean afterward and my hair still felt greasy and like there was conditioner left in it, which I am pretty sure there was. After our second trip to IKEA and Bauhaus (German version of Lowe's), we found something that we could use to hang the shower hose on the wall and make it more like a shower I was used to. When I tried it out the next day, still without a shower curtain, I pretty much covered the floor in water. I left the water running like a typical American shower and I think that led to the flooding of the floor. It was like a mini-lake on our bathroom floor and I knew this wasn't going to work without the curtain. My third shower, which I just completed, was a combination of shower 1 and shower 2 (I will say that more showers have been taken, but these main showers I am referring to are about "big" showers in which I washed my hair). With my third shower I had the shower hose hanging on the wall, but I would turn it off in between washing my hair, etc in order to have minimal flooding of the floor. Luckily this worked out and I managed to not get any major amounts of water on the floor and I feel very clean. Even though it was a success, I will say the sooner we get a shower curtain installed, the better. We are just waiting on the former tenants to tell us who was the handyman they used to install their kitchen counters.

Besides the shower sitch, everything else is pretty much good to go. We completed all of the painting and I must say it looks very nice. The hallway was covered in marks on the wall from different things and the walls were in general just dirty. We put a fresh coat of Polarweiss (polar white) paint on them and now it looks as good as new. Julian was also brave enough to install some lights in the ceiling and so we no longer have to depend on floor lamps and desk lamps to light our kitchen while cooking. My curtains have been installed and all I need is just one more curtain since my windows are so big (we forgot to take that into consideration while at IKEA). At least I can now change in my room without too much worry that the old couple living across the street will see me naked. The counter top in the kitchen has also been finished and thanks to my Habitat for Humanity caulking experience I was able to help caulk the sink. It was a bit tricky and worked out okay overall, but the caulk was a bit messy and weird.

With all of this work this past week I think we can say that we now have a nice place to live and I think Julian and I are going to be quite happy living here. The area is fairly quiet, at least at night when it really counts, and I don't really hear the people living next to us. I did hear someone practicing the saxophone, but after last semester and the outrageous cougher that lived right above me, this saxophone player is a walk in the park. We also have a lot of space in our apartment and it doesn't feel cramped at all. My initial concerns of not having enough space in the bathroom have been subsided and thanks to Julian for not having much bathroom stuff, I have plenty of space (no joke, I have about 5 bottles on my corner of the bathtub for the shower and he has 1).

The grocery stores have also been found and I know that soon enough I will have figured out where everything in the store is so that it won't be a stressful situation running around the mid-sized grocery store. I also know where there is a Kaufland if I feel the need to enter a large, American-sized grocery store that can offer me a ton of selection. For every day I think we will be sticking with Niedrige Preise since we don't have to really cross the street to get to that one unlike if we want to go to Kaiser's.

After these first 5 days I can still say that I am happy and I see this semester going well. The next big hurdle will be getting my visa, which will hopefully happen without a hitch on Tuesday. I'm sure that will be quite the experience and I will most likely have a nice blog just about that fun bureaucratic adventure. Until then, schönes Wochenende!

2 Years Ago: Freiburg, Now: Berlin

In my wildest dreams I would have never expected to be sitting in an apartment in Berlin awaiting to start my second semester of graduate school knowing that I will be here for at least a year. I went to Freiburg, Germany two years ago with a ton of butterflies in my stomach and a feeling of nervousness like I had never felt before. Now, I am sitting in Berlin with a strange feeling of calmness and sense that I can do this and I will be just fine. This is what I am supposed to be doing.

Last week I arrived in Frankfurt to meet Julian and spend about a week at his house with his family. My flight went just fine and I was lucky enough to have the seat next to me empty. Sadly though, I just couldn't fall asleep for a long time and probably only slept for about an hour. I did watch quite a few movies and at least had some form of entertainment to help pass the time. Once I landed I was super excited and just hoping that all of my bags would arrive without any problems. I made it through customs and baggage claim pretty quickly and all of my bags were there too. Julian greeted me and then we drove to his house, which was about 2 hours away. His parents were already at home and were making a hot lunch. For the entire day I was out of it and in a sort of traveler's haze. Julian and I walked around the town a bit and even tried the different natural mineral waters that his town was known for. Little to my surprise they were all pretty gross and not something I ever want to drink again no matter how good they are for you.

After sleeping for 12 hours that night, I felt just fine the next day. For the next few days, Julian and I did some sightseeing around the town and a few of the neighboring cities. We saw all of the local castles and many of the churches. The weather was great and it was surprisingly warm for February in Germany. I actually saw the sun every day! I will say that eating meals with Julian's family was like my German class come to life. In class we always had that one unit on German food and eating. Well, we were taught that it's normal for everyone to go home for lunch and have a nice hot meal. Then for dinner they would just snack on things like bread, cheese, and lunch meats. Whenever I have come to Germany that hasn't really happened, but this time it sure did. Every day, Julian's parents came home from work, had a nice hot lunch, and then at dinner we had a lot of bread and cheese. I actually got used it and started to find the things that I liked. I got pretty excited though the first two days this happened because I was seeing my German class in reality.

Moving to Berlin wasn't too terrible like I had suspected. I did have a great deal of luggage, but thanks to Julian, I was able to maneuver everything and arrive safe and sound to our new apartment. I was delighted to see my new place, have real German windows, a cute German kitchen and a very German toilet (it's not a shelf toilet though, thank goodness). After a day, we have completed putting all of our furniture together that's from IKEA and we are slowly getting things organized. Our trip to IKEA involved having 4 carts of stuff, which was just a pain to move around. I honestly think that was worse than all the luggage. Thankfully, IKEA has immediate delivery, so our stuff was delivered the same day and I didn't have to carry it all up 5 flights of stairs (the elevator is supposed to be done sometime in March, go figure).

So far everything is going well though and I can't really complain. I will do my best to continue to update this blog and write about what I've been up to and random things I notice in Berlin/Germany. I have already decided that one of these posts will be about the German stare :)