wherever you go, there you are
Its Saturday afternoon and I still haven't really started on homework. I had just been digging into some articles we read in class yesterday (but I am rereading before I start my paper on them, because, surprise surprise, I didn't really grasp much information the first time around) when Jacky showed up at my door around 2 this afternoon. We had planned to go to the flea market this morning, but we both slept in due to the rain and our own prolonged exhaustion. We ended up riding our bikes (this continues to be a great adventure for me) into town to get some groceries before the shops closed (most shops close around 4 on Saturdays, and aren't open at all on Sundays). When we made our way back home through the tree-lined streets, the rain hailing down softly, our rickety bikes laden with groceries, I felt like we were in some European movie. It just seemed all too idyllic.
What does not, however, seem so idyllic is all the work laying in front of me. This weekend I need to read some articles, write a paper (on them, I think?), dig into the 200 page novel that we are supposed complete a week from now (I haven't started), and either go over all the information we've covered in class this past week and figure out what the heck it all means, or otherwise somehow educate myself on German government and current politics. I don't even understand this stuff in English.
What has been a spot of sun in the past few days of my life was last night's happenings. Recently I have been kind of down about my birthday being this weekend. I have a lot of work to do and I'm homesick and the few people here I would like to celebrate with are for the most part out of town this weekend (Jacky is here, but a lot of people went traveling this weekend... namely Steven and Keinst to Hannover, and Rita and Emily to Koeln to see the Pope). Tomorrow is my 21st birthday and apart from it happening to occur in Europe I felt like there was going to be nothing special about it. So after a Friday afternoon of shopping downtown and spending all my energy doing my best to feel optimistic about Life as it stands, I was relieved to hear that we were all just going to hang out and watch a movie in the lounge of Haus 12 (where Keinst lives). I had just hopped out of the shower when Jacky came by to get me, and so when I walked into the dark lounge that joins Haus 10 and 12, among my first thoughts were "Oh no, these pictures are going to look wretched." A terrible first thought to form when you realize that the mass of huddle figures in the corner are your friends who are throwing you a surprise party, but what can you do. It took me a good minute to register what was going on, but lots of cameras and then the lights on and just feeling very, very surprised. It was a small affair, but I was still surprised with how resourceful my friends had been without me ever having the slightest idea. There was some alcohol (off of which everyone seemed to get drunk except me), and Steven and Rita had procured a apple streudel-esque cake from some tiny bakery somewhere. There were probably around 20 of us there, all folks from the UC's except for two of my floormates, Sajjad and Mannfred, who had somehow gotten taken along for the ride (apparently they thought we were just going to watch a movie too). I continued to feel very surprised and so glad that my birthday would not just go off without so much as a whimper. We all sat around and talked and Keinst gave out massages, and eventually people started trickling out to go fufill their late Friday evening adventures. Eventually a group of us left to go into town, first for Doerner and then to a pub. We never made it to the pub, just because it had been such a long week for all of us, but it meant a lot to me that people had put effort into something like this for me.
Walking back home last night from town, L-R: Neesha, Kai (who is Japanese... nothing like a Japanese girl who speaks English almost as well as you and German far better than you to make you feel like you've missed the boat), Steven, me, and Keinst.
What does not, however, seem so idyllic is all the work laying in front of me. This weekend I need to read some articles, write a paper (on them, I think?), dig into the 200 page novel that we are supposed complete a week from now (I haven't started), and either go over all the information we've covered in class this past week and figure out what the heck it all means, or otherwise somehow educate myself on German government and current politics. I don't even understand this stuff in English.
What has been a spot of sun in the past few days of my life was last night's happenings. Recently I have been kind of down about my birthday being this weekend. I have a lot of work to do and I'm homesick and the few people here I would like to celebrate with are for the most part out of town this weekend (Jacky is here, but a lot of people went traveling this weekend... namely Steven and Keinst to Hannover, and Rita and Emily to Koeln to see the Pope). Tomorrow is my 21st birthday and apart from it happening to occur in Europe I felt like there was going to be nothing special about it. So after a Friday afternoon of shopping downtown and spending all my energy doing my best to feel optimistic about Life as it stands, I was relieved to hear that we were all just going to hang out and watch a movie in the lounge of Haus 12 (where Keinst lives). I had just hopped out of the shower when Jacky came by to get me, and so when I walked into the dark lounge that joins Haus 10 and 12, among my first thoughts were "Oh no, these pictures are going to look wretched." A terrible first thought to form when you realize that the mass of huddle figures in the corner are your friends who are throwing you a surprise party, but what can you do. It took me a good minute to register what was going on, but lots of cameras and then the lights on and just feeling very, very surprised. It was a small affair, but I was still surprised with how resourceful my friends had been without me ever having the slightest idea. There was some alcohol (off of which everyone seemed to get drunk except me), and Steven and Rita had procured a apple streudel-esque cake from some tiny bakery somewhere. There were probably around 20 of us there, all folks from the UC's except for two of my floormates, Sajjad and Mannfred, who had somehow gotten taken along for the ride (apparently they thought we were just going to watch a movie too). I continued to feel very surprised and so glad that my birthday would not just go off without so much as a whimper. We all sat around and talked and Keinst gave out massages, and eventually people started trickling out to go fufill their late Friday evening adventures. Eventually a group of us left to go into town, first for Doerner and then to a pub. We never made it to the pub, just because it had been such a long week for all of us, but it meant a lot to me that people had put effort into something like this for me.
Walking back home last night from town, L-R: Neesha, Kai (who is Japanese... nothing like a Japanese girl who speaks English almost as well as you and German far better than you to make you feel like you've missed the boat), Steven, me, and Keinst.
posted by Meredesu at 2:51 AM
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