Top 5 Things I Miss About the US

In the spirit of my recent stream of guest aus den USA, as well as High Fidelity.

1. Screens. After a year of killing steadily larger and larger bugs who find their way way into my room and butt their heads endlessly against my light fixtures, I've realized what a simple yet necessary luxury window screens are.

2. Free water. I am a fan of bubbly water, but I am not a fan of water that costs two euro.

3. Air conditioning. Generally, this one isn't a problem, at least in my own room. But the feeling of walking, sweat-moistened, from the muggy outdoors into an equally muggy and considerably smellier classroom is not a good one. And if Oma admitted to liking the a.c. then I can too.

4. My stuff. Shallow as it is, I really miss my assorted crap that now resides in the attic at my parents' house. Every morning when I get dressed, I think of all the wonderful ensembles I could be putting on if only I had my massive clothes collection. When I'm bored, I remember the boxes upon boxes of books and movies and jewelry-making tools. These are basically the only things I own, so it could be worse.

5. Family holidays. I've managed to do some exciting things for the holidays during my time abroad, but there's nothing better than hanging out with a bunch of people you like and eating amazing food.

Another month gone by.

It's now been three months since I arrived, and I'm officially over the half-way point of my time here in Germany. The past weeks have been fairly uneventful but nevertheless enjoyable. I've been settling into school again, though admittedly the beautiful weather has distracted me from my work on more than one occasion. This week especially is pretty heavy-duty, but we are off next week, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

I can't believe it's almost June. It has been ten months since I last saw Charleston, more than eight months since I arrived in England, four since I left, and only two more to go until I'm back at College of Charleston for my final year as an undergraduate. This past year has been a whirlwind for so many reasons, both good and bad, and now that I'm approaching the tail end of my time abroad, I'm able to see just how different everything is now. Until recently I really thought I hadn't changed a bit, and though I don't think I'm a completely different person, I'm definitely not exactly the same as I was a year ago. I can honestly say that the in the past twelve months, I've gone through the worst times of my life, but also some of the best. It has been incredibly contradictory, confusing, brilliant, heartbreaking, beautiful, and so many other things. Maybe I thought I hadn't changed because, despite all the things I've gone through, I haven't found resolution. But now as I look forward to going back to my old life, I've realized that the pieces are in place, and while I don't know what will become of them, they are not going to go away. These memories and experiences will be a part of me for the rest of my life, and all I have to do is figure out how to fit them all together.

I've talked before about the anxiety I have about going back, and after all this time, I am better able to understand just where that comes from. It's actually pretty simple. For almost a year, I've gone on and lived my life without Charleston, and Charleston has gone on without me. I love and miss my friends, but I know none of us are exactly the same as we were back on 27th of July, 2008 when I left. We've changed independently of one another, and now we're going to have to navigate those changes and find out through trial and error how to relate to each other again. I find that daunting. It won't be a natural progression either, but rather a reconciliation of who we were and who were are now. It may be hard to understand for those who haven't really moved around a great deal -- I don't know. But I think, at least for a little while, it's going to be weird. Because on top of being super excited to be back in Charleston with my wonderful friends, I'm going to feel out of place among them. And I'm going to miss everyone I've become friends with this year. And I'm going to be far away from my family, and without them, Charleston just doesn't feel quite as much like home.

The Digs.

I never actually took pictures of my awesome room, so today I did just that:

The side you can't see is just windows and the door to my BALCONY. And it's even a in color scheme that I can get on board with, unlike the horrid peach and navy blue of Broadgate Park. Have I mentioned I love Germany? So basically, if any of you want to visit, I have plenty of space.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I have some time to kill before I have to catch my bus for class, so what better way to pass the time than announcing my 21st birthday to the world? Anyone who's ever met me knows I'm a fan of my birthday, so this shouldn't come as a surprise.

Over the past few days I've been reflecting on birthdays past, and I've had something of an age-crisis as a result. Nothing major, but with more than two decades of birthdays under my belt, it's starting to seem excessive. This year especially has gone by so quickly, and so much has happened that I feel like I need to take a moment to breath this week just so it all has a chance to sink in.

I've thought about my twelfth birthday more than any of the others lately, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that I spent that birthday not too far from Tuebingen. That week that I spent in Berchtesgaden was one of the best times of my life, and it's where I made a lot of decisions about the direction I wanted my life to take. Ever since coming to Tuebingen, I've felt a sort of communion with my twelve-year-old self, and it's wonderful to know that at least in this one way -- coming back and learning German -- I've lived up to my younger expectations of my older self.

For Mom

The after-shot. Aren't you proud?

Basically the entire month of April...

So clearly I haven't updated in a while, but I'm going to go ahead excuse myself, given that I've been keeping pretty busy. And with that said, this post is going to be of the newsy variety, so hopefully no one objects.

Deutsch-Kompakt

My month-long immersion course came to an end at the beginning of this month, which was a little bittersweet. I can't say I'm not glad to have these gorgeous spring days free, rather than spending them in a stuffy classroom going over impossibly complicated grammer rules that I could learn a hundred times without really understanding. But during those classroom hours, I met and became friends with some really awesome people, and that's been a huge part of how happy I am here. We finished our course with a day in Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Ballet.

Spain

The next stop was Spain - five days in Madrid and two in Valencia. Despite some inclement weather, I had an amazing time. Kathleen and I got to wander around together for the first time in two months, when we braved the Great Snow in London. Both cities were so beautiful; even the gray skies couldn't diminish that. We ate some amazing food, drank a few bottles of wine, bought some great, cheap clothes, and got to spend hours just sitting around and chatting (and watching bad, bad movies). We even cooked Easter dinner for ourselves! It's like we're grown-ups or something. And on my very last day, who did I run into but Rick Steves! Now I feel like a real traveller.

In the royal gardens.

Eating a tasty paella.

Springtime in Tuebingen!

After a month and a half of sporadic wintry weather, it's finally spring here. Everything is beautiful and green, and I've been able to put my winter coat away for good!

Sommersemester

Also, real school has finally started. I've actually only had one class so far, but it was lovely. I have high hopes for the next three months.

Fruehlingsfest

So what should we do to celebrate the arrival of spring in Germany but drink lots of beer? Yesterday I went to Fruehlingsfest in Stuttgart, with is the springtime equivalent of Oktoberfest. It was good and hot, perfect for a fair and/or large amounts of icy cold beer. We drank good German beer, ate delicious German food, and even joined in a few German drinking songs. Immer spass.

One month later... (Vol. II)

(Vol. I can be found here: http://sashmo.blogspot.com/2008/10/one-month-later.html)

For some reason, being in places for a month seems like a big deal to me. Maybe it's because this is the point, especially for studying abroad, that it ceases to feel like a long vacation and it starts to sink in that this is real life. At least this time it actually has some basis in fact; my Deutsch-Kompakt course comes to a close on Wednesday, and soon afterward I begin my actual classes. (I'm also signing up for next fall's classes on Monday, and I'm in the process of writing the proposal for my bachelor's essay, both of which are indicative of even real-er life.)

A month in, and I'm feeling really good. For the first time since last summer, I feel like myself, and a better version of myself to boot. The people are wonderful, the city is beautiful, the food is amazing... everything just fits. Nothing really monumental has happened, but it's better that way. I'm not looking for anything big and crazy to happen, I'm just enjoying each day and all the little things that come along with them. Whether it's a low-key night out with friends, a really good doener kebab, the sound of rain on my windows, or just understanding what people say to me (auf Deutsch, I mean), I feel like I'm in a place to just sit back and appreciate all of it without worrying about what it means or where it's going.