"Why would you trust a hairstylist in a country where half the kids are running around with mullets?" - Liz

Much has transpired since my last blog entry. The semester is well on its way, Easter has passed, spring has sprung, I now have a German visa, and my hair has survived a long journey. We are in week 3 of classes and thanks to Easter, I only have one class this week, which means I also had a 6-day weekend. I don't think in terms of my schedule I can really complain. I had applied for an internship that would be during the semester for about 10-12 hours a week because I thought I would need something to do besides sit around my apartment and read. Unfortunately I didn't get it, but I think it's still for the best because even though I don't spend all day reading, I do need more time to read and make sure I understand all of the German texts. It's definitely a roller coaster while I read them though because I can tell when my attention is going in and out. There are points where I realize how much I am understanding and following along and then there are moments where I finish a few sentences and think to myself how I have no clue what was just said. It's pretty much like when I read any text for class and at least with the German texts I can attribute the lack of understanding to the language barrier. With English there is no excuse except I was just not paying attention any more.

The weather here in Berlin has been amazing and I really can't complain. We had our first thunderstorm last night and luckily I didn't have to go anywhere yesterday. I know that back home people are just swimming in all of the rain and I'm glad I don't have to deal with that. For Easter, Nick and I went to Julian's house and spent time with his family at their lake house. Every day was a perfect warm sunny day with no clouds in the sky. We all sat outside to eat, played some basketball and sat around and read. We even got to go sailing with his dad and I thought it was great. The only thing that freaked me out was when the boat would lean really far on one side and you felt like you were about to tip over into the water. That water wasn't warm enough for swimming, but I know that when we go back in the summer it will be great.

Easter was a fun day though because I got to experience a traditional German Easter. Like most Easter celebrations a big meal is had and there is plenty of chocolate to go around. Unlike any Easter I had ever had, the family started the morning by going on an Easter hunt and not just for Easter eggs. Everyone that was there hid gifts for each other in the yard and everyone had to search for them. Julian's uncle's mom was there and she was near 90 and even she hid things! At one point, Julian's aunt had to climb up part of the tree to reach one of her gifts. It was a lot of fun and something very different from what I was used to. When I was a kid all I ever looked for were colored eggs and I was really good at finding all of the different colored eggs in the yard. I needed some assistance in finding the few gifts that were there for me though and Julian had to turn it into a game of hot and cold to help me find them.

It was a wonderful weekend though where we got to leave the city and go back to the quite countryside. I didn't realize just how quiet it was there until we came back to Berlin and I heard all of the police sirens again (I didn't miss those at all). I love living in Berlin, but there is definitely something to be said for having a place outside of the city where you can go to escape for a weekend. It's a nice break and I feel much more relaxed now.

In other recent and wonderful news, I have my visa. It was quite an uphill battle with trying to figure out all of the insurance issues and making sure I had the right letters to prove I was receiving financial aid and that I was enrolled at the university here. When we went, my appointment was at 8am, which meant we had to leave our apartment around 7:20 to get there on time. There was a long line as people waited for the doors to open because I think most of those people didn't have appointments. My number was already on the board when we walked in and of course I got to see my favorite fat German guy behind the desk again. This time he liked everything I had and we were probably done in about 15 minutes. That includes the time it took to give him all of my documents, wait for him to print out the visa, pay and then get my passport. I was so relieved to have all of that done and it was the day before we left for Easter break too, so that helped make the break even better!

The other big event that happened a few weeks back was my haircut. I had found a great deal on Groupon for a 20 Euro haircut (originally 44 Euros) and so I finally decided to use my coupon. I had some serious issues trying to find the place and ended up running around Alexanderplatz because I was afraid they would skip my appointment if I was late. Luckily I got there and they weren't ready for me at all, so I ended up sitting there for a bit. When the hairstylist finally came over she explained how at this salon they are all about trying to figure out what they think would be the best cut for your type of hair based on your face shape and all that jazz. She ran her fingers through my hair for a good five minutes and kept picking it up and letting it fall to see how it would fall. By the time she had figured things out, my hair was in my face and pretty poofy. The actual hair cutting part was fine and even though it seemed like she was taking way too much off and doing way too much texturizing, I was okay. Then they suggested we try some highlights just in the bangs (bangs=Pony auf Deutsch) and around my face. I figured that it couldn't be that bad and I am always wanting to try new things so I agreed. When she came at me with the color, I originally thought it looked very orange, but I figured it probably wouldn't be so bright because my hair is so dark. After they washed the coloring out and sat me back down in front of a mirror I had to really make sure I didn't gasp from how bright the color was. To me, it looked quite orange and more like an orange red when I would have rather had something more red or red orange (that color distinction may seem ridiculous, but there is a distinction, look at some crayons). Amazingly all of that only cost 20 euros, but I was definitely not a happy camper. When I got home I put on a hat until Julian made me take it off. I was reassured by a few that it didn't look as bad as I thought it did and it definitely wasn't orange. I waited a few days hoping it would get better, but finally I realized that I didn't like it and I never would. Only 3 days after the cut, I went to another hair salon that was right around the corner and I had them fix it. They were able to dye it and make it darker and I can definitely live with it now. I really don't know what I was thinking when I agreed to let those women color my hair and I have definitely learned my lesson there. That will never be happening again. So unfortunately for me, my original 20 Euro haircut turned into a 60 Euro expense once you add in the second haircut. Lesson learned.

And They're Off!

Today was finally the first day of the summer semester. We only had one class today that didn't even last over an hour and a half. This particular class is about variances in governance and the decision-making process in Europe. It seems like it will be an interesting class, the only major hesitation I have is with our professor, which I will go more into in a bit. Tomorrow I am going to check out an elective course on immigration and citizenship. It's at 10 in the morning until 12, but what that really means in German speak is 10:15 until 11:45. Then on Wednesday I will check out yet another elective that's at 8:30 until 12 (every other week) and is about Islam in Europe. After that class I will have our second required course from 2-4 on the external relations of the EU. With any luck these will all be solid classes and I will be quite happy in them. But if it's like any other semester then I will just be super excited for about a week about classes and then quickly realize they aren't as great as they seemed and I don't truly like any of them.


Even though the semester is beginning today, let me assure you that I haven't been a complete bum these past few weeks. Two weeks ago, we started our mini-module course and had orientation. Orientation turned out to be pretty quick and simple and we just introduced ourselves and learned about the university. When I say we learned about the university, I mean we really learned about everything, including the history of the building orientation was being held in (they didn't have a lot of material to work with). The actual course wasn't too terrible, but I definitely wasn't a huge fan. We had three different professors and I only really liked the guy from France. He was very well organized, had things for us to do, and clearly explained what he expected of us and had planned for his three classes. Our first professor, who is now our professor for the class we have on Mondays, wasn't too bad, but she didn't seem overly organized and I couldn't read her handwriting to save my life. She showed up to class with a laptop she borrowed from the university, but she didn't know the password to log in. Then she didn't have a cell phone so that she could call to ask what the password was. Instead, Julian let her borrow his computer and Nick lent her his cell phone so that she could call someone. It was a bit ridiculous. As for her handwriting, it literally is just scribbles. I know that most of what she writes corresponds to what she says, but even if I listen, I still don't know what she writes on the board. I'm not trying to nit pick because any professor/teacher that has terrible hand writing should work on it if they plan on writing on the board, but I just get super frustrated when I have no idea what she's writing. Thankfully though the mini-module is over and we are now doing the real stuff.

Unfortunately for me that means getting back into the swing of doing serious work after pretty much a 4 month vacation. Currently I'm writing this blog in order to put off reading for class (the reading is in German which is even more of a turn off because that requires even more thinking). Once I get settled into my schedule I think I can handle this, but we'll see. It'll be an uphill battle for at least the first two weeks.

One thing that I have noticed, which I was warned about, is this "us" versus "them" feeling in our group. Our group is composed of the TAM kids (Nick, Julian and I) and then the 20 kids from the Euromasters program. They all seem nice and like great people, but they all already know each other. Unlike last semester when TAM began, the urgency and the need to make friends isn't as pressing. We all have people we know and we're not completely alone in the city. There has been some mingling, but nothing too extreme and I can only hope this changes as the semester moves on. I can't blame them either and I know that we say that if new people came into TAM we would welcome them with open arms, but that's really easy to say when we're making assumptions. If we were in this situation I would like to think the best of TAM and that we would make sure to welcome everyone, but you never know. It's not easy making friends though and I almost feel like the new kid that moved to a new elementary school. We all just look at each other, but no one wants to make a move. We just want to be accepted and not look stupid, but fear of rejection and embarrassment are standing in our way from extending the branch of friendship first.

We shall have to wait and see how the semester progresses. I will definitely have more stories to share as time goes on and if this procrastination continues at all, then there will be plenty of blogs to read!

My Berlin Apartment

For those of you that didn't see the video tour of my apartment, here it is again: