computer virus

i am sad to report that my computer got a virus this morning. it has been at the IT desk all day, and i've been in-and-out checking on it. very frustrating, but at least i had no real plans today (or tomorrow for that matter) to get it sorted out. if not... sigh... who knows.

trying to plan a little weekend trip to cambridge, being that the tickets sold out for the trip this saturday when i went to get it this morning, but i'll figure something out.

better news tomorrow, hopefully (from all ends)

happy monday :-)

not too sure where to begin, but im happy to report that my long day of the week is over :-) and by that i mean that i had class sporadically from 10 to 5 today, 4 hours total. I'm getting a bit more excited about my assignments, and am interested in doing this research for my architecture class - as of now it s the Victorian Era country house. The presentation isnt for 9 weeks, but I really don't have anything else to do...

I'm feeling so much better about being here! Classes going well, meeting new people, making travel plans, and getting my endorphins going has really helped. I went to the women's basketball gym time yesterday, and sadly to say, but I don't think I'll be playing with them for the semester. Its not worth it to me. They practice on the weekends, and I'm planning on traveling then. It would also set me back $100 for the semester, plus a new pair of shoes. And, the level isn't anywhere where it would be beneficial. So, I'll just keep in shape the best way I know how (good ol' cardio equipment, a track, jumprope and weights), and see where that takes me through December. Dad, you and your key to the gym will come in handy when I get back :-)

Tomorrow is a research and work day, and laundry (in the sink, perhaps?). Getting my crocieries delivered on Wednesday, if that works out well I'll be so happy - no more heavy carrying fro the bus stop to my room 15 minutes away!

Its finally getting cooler - fall weather is here!

getting better...

well, as my first full week here has come to an end, i am happy to report that it has gotten better, im finally settling in. all of my initial frustration came when things didn't go according to plan, or at least the plan that i imagined would occur (the plan that everything would be ready for me once i got here, which is a very unrealistic and quite selfish perspective to have). but, i was finally able to get my gym membership, which made me the most happy, i think. i've been meeting new friends along the way, lots more foreign students (mostly from the states) and i've been getting to know my flatmates better as well. the weather has been beautiful, sunny and warm! (i thought i was going into the depressing cold and rain for 4 months, but that hasn't been the case so far). i guess i just bring the sunshine with me :-)
had my first mini-adventure yesterday - took an afternoon trip to blickling hall, one of the Boylen (sp?) houses. The grounds were beautiful, and it was nice to see some of the Norfolk countryside. Aside from that, I've just been planning little trips here and there ... Ireland, Bath/Stonehenge, London. Hopefully I'll get some serious work done this week with the papers that I have due later in the semester - my little plan (me and plans, i know) is to do school work intensively mon-thurs, and then go have fun fri-sun, we'll see how well i do

off to church, not sure how long its going to take me to walk there, but its a nice day out so i dont mind it at all.

miss you all dearly!

Mid-week vacation, week 1

oops, accidentaly posted nothing with that last one.

but, i haven't been up to much the past 2 days. yesterday Justine and I went into town to get groceries and some school supplies. We also booked a weekend trip to Ireland for Oct 10-12, which im really excited for! I stopped by the student travel office and was able to get a million and a half brochures about different options, which I'm getting excited about. I need to travel as much as I can while I'm here (because who knows when I'll be back), so hopefully it will all work out. Some musts on my list: Bath + Stonehenge, London, this mini-cruise thing across to Amsterdam or Rotterdam or Bruges... any suggestions?

Attempted to go for a walk into town this morning, I've been curious to see how long it might take. Only it started to pour down rain 20 minutes into it, so we turned around and came back, a little bummed about it, as that was going to be my "big exercise" for the past few days. the rain of course stopped when I got back to my room, with the bottom half of my jeans soaked, and my hood dripping with water (and I was using an umbrella). Oh well, I still love the rain! (we'll see how i feel about it in a few weeks).

International student party, Icebreaker thing tonight, which should be fun. Hopefully the rain will subside for that as well, because that wouldn't be fun...

My accuweather says its sunner and 85 at home, jealous a bit...

Mid-week vacation, week 1

dont have time to write much at the moment, but i just wanted to let people back home know that my old roommate, Gill's, mom passed away yesterday morning, if you all could keep her, her sister and her dad in your prayers....

i'll talk about my life later...

over due berlin

Final Day, Berlin

Elke and I had a good final day today. Got an early start from the hotel, but neither of us were in quite a hurry. We first went back to the center of town, “Mitte” and walked through the streets there. We walked through checkpoint Charlie, which was the border between the East and the West during soviet occupation. We both wanted to go back to the Holocaust Memorial and walk through the grid with a labyrinth-esque feel. Then, it was a short jog over to the Parliament building to walk through the transparent globe that overlooked the entire city. Our guide yesterday gave us a good tip to make a reservation at the restaurant at the top of it so that you don’t have to stand in the hour+ line to get in, so we were able to get up without waiting at all! In the middle of the Parliament building there is this massive globe with a ramp that you walk up to get to the top. If you look down into the center of it you see the main Parliamentary chambers, and looking out you can see the entire city! From one side the Spree River that runs through Berlin, from the other the Tiergarten where the Prussian Kings would hunt; to yet another the Brandenburg gate, TV tower of East Berlin and several other century old domed buildings and cathedrals. After our afternoon snack, for which we had TERRIBLE service (you would think that the servers that cater to members of Parliament would be decent at their jobs, but think again…), we walked through the city on “unter den Linden” – the main street of the city. We quickly had made it to our last destination of the afternoon – the Hofs that Elke wanted to visit on the East side. It was comprised of several connected courtyards which once served as apartments, but are now being used as boutique shops and restaurants. Definitely wish I had more time to spend there! It was really relaxing being there and one could easily spend a day there window shopping, looking through art galleries and sipping on a coffee… Ate dinner at this little bistro in one of the courtyards and had the best meal of our trip, a great way to end our short stay in Berlin!

Off to England in the morning!

Tschuss!

deep breath....

i keep telling myself that, to just take deep breaths...

i can not even begin to describe how ludacrious the system for registering, finding classes, class schedules and the entire organizational system is here. it makes no sense, and its impossible to figure out. i thought that i would thoroughly enjoy today, being that i am no longer disconnected from the meager world of UEA, but instead my mind if flying at 1000 miles per minute and i don't even know where to begin tackling frustration and all that i need to do today. include eat. that may be my current problem... anyways, i will try to write this with as little subjectivity as possible, to be fair to UEA and my experiences thus far.

oh, but it would have been nice to have been told by the school of psychology that i was actually supposed to reguster on friday, as opposed to today and showing up and them saying ''why weren't you here on friday?'' and it would have been nice to have been told that i had a class this morning at 10:00, instead of walking into the art building at 9:55 simply to enquire about the class as opposed to having to walk over to the seminar room completely unprepared to have a class and being overwhelmed by the professor and his architectural lingo.

no more ranting, im sorry, all.

so....this weekend was entirely uneventful, had very little to do both saturday and sunday, and ended up reading most of the afternoons, which was quite nice. met some more americans (large group from dickenson and the UCs), and all of my flatmates arrived. went on a Norwich city bus tour which gave me some better bearings as far as where things were in relationship to one another in the city, etc. would have loved to have been able to use the athletic facilities, but alas! i couldnt because i dont have my campus card, which i couldnt turn the paperwork in for until today because i had to get my registration information first, but i'll be getting the card in 3 days so then i can actually go to the gym (why they don't have students register AND get the cards on the FIRST day is beyond me... crazy, illogical Brits...)

so, classes ...
i have 3 classes - 2 psych classes (lecture + seminar) and one architecture class about the english country house. i have classes on monday and thursday only, 2 hours for each. oh, and i dont have any exams, just papers and presentations. i suppose i'll spend my tuesdays and wednesdays working on school stuff and hopefully i'll be making little weekend or day trips around the UK and neighboring countries.

i hope my day gets brighter and takes an uphill spin, and im sure it will...

last bit - experienced my first english rain today, and i would be wearing flip flops (we've had nice weather the past few days, so i figured i could continue the trend, but i have been mistaken)

disconnected in the UK

so, i seem to have made it in one piece to Norwich! I've written a blog post on my computer about my last day in Berlin, but I can only use an internet cafe for now because I wont have access to UEAs internet until after I register for classes which will be on Monday morning. So, it will seem quite outdated when I post that in a few days, but it will be there, nevertheless.

Got in to UEA yesterday evening and it was such a strange feeling being on a confusing campus, in an unfamiliar place, all alone. I got to my room and unpacked as well as I could, but I soon realized that I was lacking in several necessities - like towels and food, etc. I decided to venture into the cinty center to get some groceries, which I did successfully! too bad it took a while... I got back late, at around 10 and realized that I was all alone in my flat. The few people that were here already were out having a good time, and I was just wanting to be comfortable in my new ''home''. The walls are pretty thin, and my room is right next to the kitchen, so every time someone walks through the hall or into the kitchen I can hear it. The room itself is a decent size, but the bed is tiny!! smaller than a twin... i have a huge window that overlooks a lake, or a river, or something facing west, which is nice to see. Oh, and my room's heater is perminently stuck on 85, too hot!!

Today was orientation, and I sat through a few hours of talking heads telling all of the international students about the student resources available. Made a few friends, Justine from Australia and Mathide from France and we went shopping in town together. Which brings me up to date, as i sit in an internet cafe in the center of town above a chinese restaurant, wishing that i could use the internet from the comfort of my own room, but i'll have to make the best of this for now.

So, until I am able to register I can't do much. I can't use the internet, i can't go to the library and i can't use the gym. one would think that upon arrival students would be issued their ID cards, but instead i get to wait 4 days... lovely.

more orientation stuff in the morning, i think theres a karaoke thing tonight (something to do, i guess), and sunday a norwich city tour.

as of now, just trying to get situated, catch myself up on somr R&R, not get sick and step outside of my comfort zone and be social with complete strangers... yay!

time to head back to the bus stop, and then hopefully take a run by the river,. but we'll see.

catch you all up again in a few days!

Berlin

1spending yesterday in Berlin was great. We went on a bike tour of the city, 16km, 4.5 hours... we were able to see all of the touristy stuff - parliament, the brandenburg gate, the TV tower, victory tower, the tiergarden, the house of the president, checkpoint charlie, part of the wall, the "memorial for the murdered jews of wwii" (yes, that is the name and by far it was my favorite thing we saw), ate lunch in a biergarden, and of coursei several old buildings and cathedrals. for only being here for such a short amount of time it was perfect for showing us the necessities and the guide was super knowledgeable about so many things about the city. and it was in english (yay!)
too bad it was 45 degrees. i was FREEZING. i dont do well in cold weather... so i really need to learn how to keep myself warm in England. Elke was having a grand old time on her bike while i was peddling along with this slight breeze pushing my hood off my head, with my fingers wrapped in my sleeves so i couldnt really control the brakes. quite funny to picture im sure....
after that tour we went on a little shopping excursion in search of a new coat. we first went to this KaDeWe place and had a little snack at the restaurant that overlooked berlin, then browsed around there for a while. too bad they didn't sell an article of clothing for less than 200euro, which is about $300... pass! Found a great coat at united colors of benneton, its red :-) and wool :-) and has a hood :-) and did i mention that its red :-)?

throughout this entire leg in berlin all that we have wanted was something freshly made for a meal - SALAD. but that doesnt exist here. its like, lettuce? what is lettuce? you dont want a cup of milk fat, i mean dressing with that? So we ended up searching online for a place, and found one in the middle of town that we thought would suit our needs. but of course, it didnt. we ended up wandering down the street and found this little place called "good choices" and they had salad :-) so we sat down, and the food was great! exactly what we wanted! and i was thoroughly entertained by the gay bar atmosphere that was brewing 20 feet away... i was watching these guys through a mirror on the wall the whole time. im such a people watcher.... oh, and then there was the prostitute standing outside the restaurant. i wanted to see her get picked up, just to be able to say that i had and i was curious about the way the transaction would go down, but no takers....

and as for today, beautiful sunny skies! and we've got a plan to go into the parliament building because they have this glass globe thing that you can walk through and have great views of the city (and its free), and then elke wants to go and see this "hof" thing and some art galleries. we'll be leaving for hannover as late as possible, and we'll be on our merry ways to london and la in the morning.

can't wait to finally be settled in england....

tata!!

Berlin, day 1

got to berlin late in the afternoon. internet, finally!!!

had a fun busride to get to our hotel, which is really nice :-)

ekle got sick from our lunch today, her body doesn't like meat :-/

getting plenty of exercise running around with this 50 lb suitcase, loading it on and off trains, carrying it up flights of stairs (i.e. up 3 flights to our room in this hotel. not going to lie, was a bit winded by that).

elke is now curled up in her bed, still feeling really sick. both of are bodies are freaking out from the amount of sugar and fat in the diets of rosie and others. they wonder why everyone is dieing of cancer...

we had plans to go out to a jazz club tonight, but we'll see how she's feeling.

PS - you all should get skype! let me know if you do, my username is nkolodinski

recap....

Disclaimer: This is a post that recaps a lot of what I’ve been doing while in Münster with my dad’s friend Kai and his family, and in Volkse with my dad’s family, i.e. Tante Rosie. It is quite long, but if you do decide to read it all don’t complain that I didn’t warn you J

Recap: Münster, Germany

Dad, sorry I wasn’t able to post this on Friday when we left Münster, but I didn’t have access to the internet to post a blog about all of my adventures. But, here it is!

Münster was fantastic! It is a relatively small city, in both population and kilometers, but it is such a great place. Elke and I stayed at a hotel within walking distance from the Haupbahnhof in one direction and the center of town in the other. Good sized room, apparently a large bathroom for Germany (so Elke told me). Münster is a university town with 50,000+ students there a year. It is also a very mobile city with a 2-1 ratio bikes to people. It was really easy to get around via foot, bike or car – there was equal space for people to walk (in the Fussgangerzone), ride bikes (via bike trails on every sidewalk and through all of the public places – to the Alstadt.

Kai and Marion were such good hosts for Elke and me! (Kai was my dad’s teammate from ’84 when he was in Germany playing professional ball in Gottingen) On Wednesday evening Elke and I went over to their house and met the family and talked. I spent Thursday with Kai and Marion around Münster to lots of the shops and old buildings in the city. On Friday I went for a run around the Promenade, and got lost, went to breakfast with Kai and Marion and then hopped on a train to Braunschweig where Rosie and the relatives live.

I am amazed at the friendliness of everyone and the generosity that I have been welcomed to here in Germany. Like Anja and Wolfgang, I have not seen Kai and Marion since I was a child and they are practically strangers to me. Needless to say I was a bit nervous about my time in Münster, but it turned out to be great! I felt very at home in Münster with the Limburgs. Both Kai and Marion speak English, which made it all so much easier for me. Kai showed Elke and I some watches in transit from the jewelry store he manages (where Rolexes are the cheapest watches they sell) and was able to take me on a bike tour of Münster on Thursday afternoon all around the city. We biked through the suburbs, down by the Aasee, through the center of town, down to the canal, past the castle, through some gardens and back (it took 2 hours!). Everyone in Münster is very active, and I think that that was one of the things that I liked about it the most.

So, that is Münster in a nutshell. Mom was right, that I’d love it, and I would definitely want to go back soon! Now, if only they all spoke English/I wasn’t intimidated to speak German…

Moving on to my next leg: Family in the countryside.

So far on this trip I have visited one of the only cities not destroyed in the war, Celle; an eco-friendly, active, modern and young town rated as one of the best places to live in the world, Münster; and now, the countryside in a village with only 200 inhabitants in it, at a little farm house in Volkse with my Tante Rosie, my dad’s (and Elke’s) aunt (Opa’s sister). Rosie doesn’t speak English, nor do most of the relatives that I have met while here in Volkse.

Elke and I took the train from Münster to Braunschweig on Friday and arrived in Volkse late Friday afternoon, just in time for “Kuchen und Kaffee”. The other Elke Kolodinski (my Elke and dad’s cousin) picked us up from the train station and drove us to Rosie’s. We passed through several towns on the way, one of which was Wolfenbuttel, where Connor is playing basketball right now (I think…), as well as one of the VW plants.

It has been a very eventful weekend for both Elke and I, but more so for Elke. Tante Rosie doesn’t speak English, not do most of the relatives. So, I’ve have a relatively mute few days with not really being able to communicate with anyone without the assistance of Elke or just talking to a few people, which has been very frustrating for me. As for Elke, she’s been getting plenty of practice with her German, which is so good! She has been complimented by nearly everyone for how well she speaks German, and in her modest way says thank you but disagrees. I on the other hand, can’t speak it to save my life and get by with the “spanglish” version of German and English only when necessary.

On Saturday there was a little family reunion of sorts with over 20 people. It was nice to meet several of my dad and Elke’s cousins and aunts and uncles. Dorothea and her father-in-law came down from Hamburg (the one with the book for my dad), Elke and her two sisters, their families and mother were there, Herta’s daughters and families and a few others. I kept wanting to make a family tree to make sure that I had it all straight. But, with all of the time that I had to sit there and think about it, I think I figured it all out J I know that it made Elke really happy to be able to see people that she hadn’t seen for at leave 15 years, and I know people were happy to see us as well. I kept getting requests to come back with my family (Andrew, Jon and Tovah and parents) next summer! I wish that were the case (maybe to purchase a BMW or VW, perhaps …ha).

That night Sabine, Elke and Berbel took Elke and I out to Braunschweig for a night on the town. We went to 2 different restraint/bars and had a really great time! We went to the tallest building in the city (with 17 stories) and had a great view of what was around the city and of the sky (full moon, stars to see and a few clouds, sehr schn!)

Sunday morning Elke and I slept in a bit, ate a late and small breakfast and went for a good walk with Rosie around the countryside through some farmland. Rosie made a big Mittagessen – roast duck, rotkraut, boiled potatoes and baked plums and apricots (like stuffing). It was so good! Rosie is suh a good cook! She has made so much food these past 3 days, and I’ve eaten so much! I didn’t think that the day would come when I would reject the idea of cake, but sure enough it has come. My body can’t handle this much sugar, or coffee! But, I’m only in Germany once and it is all al good, so my body will just have to survive.

After lunch we went to the Flohmarkt (Flea market) in Gifhorn. It was pretty much a 2 mile long garage sale. Elke was looking for this one song “Eine Mu, eine Meh” (sp?) on an LP or CD or something but was unsuccessful. We went with Rosie, Elke’s cousin Rhea, her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Josephine (this little girl can scream like no other! It’s so high and ear-piercingly loud). Got back around 4:30 and of course it was time for more Kaffee und Kuchen. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.

The funniest thing about this place is Ronja, the dog. She is a hunting dog, but she is so mischievous and a terrible listener! Gerhardt will yell at her “RRRRRRRRRRonjaaa! AUS! RRRRRRRonja!!” its like a TV sitcom. And the dog will stop what she is doing, look and then keep doing whatever it is she wants to do. This morning we were sitting at breakfast and she was lying there, and then just got up and chased her own tail for 5 minutes straight! She never got it, but it was hilarious to watch! Growling at this little wagging stub that is a part of her….haha Elke has been trying to get a video of Gerhardt yelling her name, but she has been behaving today so she is a bit disappointed.

Rosie is quite the German country wife! She has an insanely beautiful garden with nearly everything in it; makes her own marmalade and honey to sell in the markets; has geese and chickens (sells the eggs); cans nearly everything that she grows (she has rooms of equipment in this house and shelf after shelf after shelf of storage space in the cellars); and makes this amazing Schnapps liquor with Quintin (a type of fruit that she grows in her garden, we don’t have it in the states I don’t think). Rosie has been very generous with Elke and I, giving us both some marmalade, honey and this fantastic liquor, as well as giving Elke a fur coat (she’s pretending that it’s not) and me a necklace.

Visiting Rosie has been really great, and I know that she really enjoyed Elke and I coming to see her (probably Elke more than me, I can’t really talk to her, and I’m a bit farther removed). But, I’m glad that we were able to come and stay with her and I couldn’t be more grateful for Elke being here with me! I could not have done this without her!!

Done for now… next post about Berlin!

Celle, Germany

Needless to say, my 24 hours in London were eventful. Took the tube all by myself across town (took about an hour or so) to meet up with Katie and G. Hung out with them that night (what a trooper I was ;-) )
The next morning I got up and took the tub to Heathrow to catch my flight to Germany. It was a short flight, and I was met by my mom's friend, husband and two sons (8 and 12). I haven't seen Anja and Wolfgang in 16 years, so I was a little skeptical about how the visit would go, but it has been so amazing! We visited the Fussgangerzone (town shopping center) on Monday with Elke, saw the castle in Celle with an amazing chapel, looked through some of the shops, etc. I felt like I was at Disneyland (and I told them that) because of the cobblestone streets, the old architecture and buildings ( a castle ... ?! need I say more), the miniature cars, the art...
Cultural note: kids are done with school at 1 everyday, and so their lunches (Mittagessen) is the biggest meal of the day, unlike the US, and dinner is snacky-sandwiches.
had soom great Reisling Eiswein last night (thanks, Elke). New favorite :-)
Today I went to Gymnassium (which is like junior high and high school, but only for the higher end of the selected school population) and sat in on Wolfgang's 12th grade history-in-english class about the Arab-Isreali conflict. Lots of questions about politics and social climate in the US. Then I went to a 6th grade class (Georg's, their son) and the kids really liked that. It was their English class, so they got to practice and I didn't have to pretend to speak bad German. some of the girls wanted my e-mail address and wanted to know when I'll be coming back (maybe for another visit later this semester).
After Mittagessen today, which was take-out from Mai Thai (hearing a little Thai woman speak German in a trip...) we went into Hannover to look at the old Town Hall (more amazing architecture and views from the tower) and at the Gardens of the old Palace of the Hanoverian king. Again, more beauty...

We've had great weather so far! Really pleasant and warm. Hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same as I move on to Münster to reconnect with Elke and to visit Kai and Marion, more parental friends.

Sorry for the length of that one, Tschüss!

Leg 1, complete

Made it to London Heathrow today. The flight went well, shorter than I had expected and it went by quickly. The taxi driver got lost trying to find the place I'm staying at tonight, granted he did give me a bit of a discount, but it was still outrageous! I'm currently trying to get my cell phone to work, and the lady wouldn't just tell me the number over the phone for some reason, which was frustrating. Off to try to get in contact with Katie (and G) ....

Pre-Departure, countdown 50 hours

Test run blog post, just to see how all of this works....

Getting really excited about leaving! I feel like I've just been preparing to leave for 4 months, and I'm getting so anxious about it all (in a good way).

A few more things to do before I leave - exchange money, finish packing, say my last good-byes to everyone.

Gotta get this day started, peace!