well all, the time has come to say goodbye to UEA, Norwich and England!! Its 4 am here... just got up from a little nap - thanks AJ for the wake up call!! I'll be getting on a bus in 20, headed for Heathrow! Flight is at 11:15 here, so 3:15am in LA, arriving at 2:45.
Can't wait to be home!
Just worried about this luggage that I have - SO heavy! and SO much! and its super windy outside! Its howling!! and I think it's starting to rain!!
Goodnight all, its been real!
Peace
signing off, Natty K in the UK
Friday, December 12
the bus was fully booked!!
so, now i have to catch one at 4:30 in the morning!! what am i supposed to do for 10 hours?! ahhhh
my biggest fear is luggage... its weight, how much i have, getting through check-in... once im on that plane i'll be great! but thats not for another 16 hours or so! ahh
said goodbye to justine today - it was so surreal!! who knows when i'll see that crazy and fun aussie again!
seriously, i'm staying up til the bus comes, so skype away for the last time! it'll keep me occupied!!
my biggest fear is luggage... its weight, how much i have, getting through check-in... once im on that plane i'll be great! but thats not for another 16 hours or so! ahh
said goodbye to justine today - it was so surreal!! who knows when i'll see that crazy and fun aussie again!
seriously, i'm staying up til the bus comes, so skype away for the last time! it'll keep me occupied!!
Thursday, December 11
last days...
feel asleep and woke up to the pattering of rain on my window last night/this morning... its such a relaxing and soothing sound! that is one thing i will miss - the rain... i love it! the more i think about it, the stranger i think it will be to just jump back into life in LA again in a couple of days. there will be things and people i've missed from this experience, but i think that my desire to be back home with the people that i love far outweighs any inkling that i could possibly have to be here for much longer (although, now that i'm FINALLY used to it here, i feel like i could be ok here for a bit longer... hehe)... its just strange to be packing up my suitcases, an entire room of stuff accumulated from my adventures (and clothes to keep warm!) knowing that all i'll be leaving behind is the empty room that i found myself overwhelmed with in september and all i'll have to take away are the memories, pictures, this blog, my journal and the nick-nacks i've acquired.
what will i miss... i will miss the rain, and when it snowed! i'll miss train trips to london. i'll miss germany! i'll miss haribo!! i'll miss justine and ben and gioia, and margaret, and james and the other brits and americans i've met along the way (now i just have more people to visit!). i wont miss the people downstairs being ridiculously loud 4 nights a week til 2 am... i'll miss the old buildings and the cobblestone streets. i wont miss driving on the wrong side of the road and being paranoid of being hit by a bus!! thats a satisfactory list for now, don't need to bore anyone with more details than that!!
but, had a christmas dinner tonight with justine and her entire flat. i've never seen boys get so in to cooking!! they even made a turkey!! in the microwave!! like, a real stuffed turkey (i found it at the grocery store, such a superstar... hehe), and yorkshire pudding, and potatoes and veges and all of the other fixings. it wwas fun!! granted, its nothing compared to real christmas eve and day dinner, but it i was shocked at how good and festive it actually was!!
justine is leaving tomorrow... i'm going with her to see her off at the train station. after that, my last trip to town (searching for something for dad), packing, gym (just to thoroughly exhaust myself so that i can fall asleep on the uncomfortable bus ride). in LA, it will be 6pm Friday that I begin my journey home. I'll get to heathrow around 10. and i'll be hoping on a plane at 3am sat morning. lots of time to kill there!
the past 3 months seem to have flown by, but i'm so looking forward to being home and seeing everyone again!
wish me safe travels tomorrow!!
what will i miss... i will miss the rain, and when it snowed! i'll miss train trips to london. i'll miss germany! i'll miss haribo!! i'll miss justine and ben and gioia, and margaret, and james and the other brits and americans i've met along the way (now i just have more people to visit!). i wont miss the people downstairs being ridiculously loud 4 nights a week til 2 am... i'll miss the old buildings and the cobblestone streets. i wont miss driving on the wrong side of the road and being paranoid of being hit by a bus!! thats a satisfactory list for now, don't need to bore anyone with more details than that!!
but, had a christmas dinner tonight with justine and her entire flat. i've never seen boys get so in to cooking!! they even made a turkey!! in the microwave!! like, a real stuffed turkey (i found it at the grocery store, such a superstar... hehe), and yorkshire pudding, and potatoes and veges and all of the other fixings. it wwas fun!! granted, its nothing compared to real christmas eve and day dinner, but it i was shocked at how good and festive it actually was!!
justine is leaving tomorrow... i'm going with her to see her off at the train station. after that, my last trip to town (searching for something for dad), packing, gym (just to thoroughly exhaust myself so that i can fall asleep on the uncomfortable bus ride). in LA, it will be 6pm Friday that I begin my journey home. I'll get to heathrow around 10. and i'll be hoping on a plane at 3am sat morning. lots of time to kill there!
the past 3 months seem to have flown by, but i'm so looking forward to being home and seeing everyone again!
wish me safe travels tomorrow!!
Tuesday, December 9
T minus 3.5 days!
thats what Virgin Atlantic is telling me, I promised I didn't calculate that myself!
But, I turned in 2 of my papers today! Its quite a complicated process... trying to find a computer in the lab to use, putting money on my card to print, getting the printer to work, going to the office, filling out the form for anonymous grading, getting my recipt... it took forever!! but, I'm glad to say that I've gotten those 2 things out of the way!
Attempted going to a gym class tonight, but then I got there late, so I couldn't go... so I decided I'd just go running. It wasn't too cold, I was wearing proper attire, I felt up for it, the sky was clear... when I started. Decided I'd run to town, and I was almost there when it started to pour!! It was kinda cool at first, but then my ears started to hurt! Like another ear infection! It wasn't so much fun anymore...but now that I'm dry and inside (and I can just enjoy the rain for the sounds it makes on my window, not for drenching me and seeping through my shoes), i'm not worried about the ears anymore.
Decided against finishing my last paper (not sure why though, once its done I'm done for good!!). So, i opted for packing and listening to Christmas music :-) I'm pretty worried about the weight of these bags though, and I don't have a scale to measure them. And I'm more worried about the suitcase I just bought because i dont know the brand, and for all I know it could bust on me! but, that wont happen! thinking positively...
even though my bags are nearly entirely packed, my room still has stuff all over it! Im not sure what I'm going to do!! I just hope the airline people don't give me a hard time about it all... fingers crossed...
enjoying my last few days here, and the rain because I do love it, and I wont get much back in LA!
cheers!
But, I turned in 2 of my papers today! Its quite a complicated process... trying to find a computer in the lab to use, putting money on my card to print, getting the printer to work, going to the office, filling out the form for anonymous grading, getting my recipt... it took forever!! but, I'm glad to say that I've gotten those 2 things out of the way!
Attempted going to a gym class tonight, but then I got there late, so I couldn't go... so I decided I'd just go running. It wasn't too cold, I was wearing proper attire, I felt up for it, the sky was clear... when I started. Decided I'd run to town, and I was almost there when it started to pour!! It was kinda cool at first, but then my ears started to hurt! Like another ear infection! It wasn't so much fun anymore...but now that I'm dry and inside (and I can just enjoy the rain for the sounds it makes on my window, not for drenching me and seeping through my shoes), i'm not worried about the ears anymore.
Decided against finishing my last paper (not sure why though, once its done I'm done for good!!). So, i opted for packing and listening to Christmas music :-) I'm pretty worried about the weight of these bags though, and I don't have a scale to measure them. And I'm more worried about the suitcase I just bought because i dont know the brand, and for all I know it could bust on me! but, that wont happen! thinking positively...
even though my bags are nearly entirely packed, my room still has stuff all over it! Im not sure what I'm going to do!! I just hope the airline people don't give me a hard time about it all... fingers crossed...
enjoying my last few days here, and the rain because I do love it, and I wont get much back in LA!
cheers!
Monday, December 8
for Sean...
I promised Sean that I would update this thing when I finished my paper, and I'm done with it so here I am!!
Not too bad, I got that done relatively quickly, but time passes by so much quicker when you are actually doing something productive! Granted, its the first draft, and I have 3 more days until its due, but it feels great to have it done! I got my presentation grade back today as well... an A- at the very least (it might be an A... the scale is very strange, but above 60 is A-, 40 is passing, and they will have to convert it all for me). But, not too bad considering the horrible state that I was in that morning with my ear infection! I couldn't think well enough to answer questions directed at me! The more that I thought about it, the more worried I got, but getting that grade back is very reassuring, considering that it was 50% of my overall grade!
But, lets see...
I need to turn in my Nature Nurture paper tomorrow by 3, but I'll do that in the morning. And then look over this paper a few more times, and then format my last one and I'm done!! Then I can just have fun the last few days! yay!!
Its really too bad that it took so long for me to half-way like it here and get over being away. Now that I'm in the groove of things here, its not so bad (and now that I actually have something to keep me busy and give me a bit of purpose, i feel better).
BUT, HOME IN 5 days!!
i think thats all I wanted to say at the moment... yeah
peace!
oh, but it has gotten cold here now! icy cold!
Not too bad, I got that done relatively quickly, but time passes by so much quicker when you are actually doing something productive! Granted, its the first draft, and I have 3 more days until its due, but it feels great to have it done! I got my presentation grade back today as well... an A- at the very least (it might be an A... the scale is very strange, but above 60 is A-, 40 is passing, and they will have to convert it all for me). But, not too bad considering the horrible state that I was in that morning with my ear infection! I couldn't think well enough to answer questions directed at me! The more that I thought about it, the more worried I got, but getting that grade back is very reassuring, considering that it was 50% of my overall grade!
But, lets see...
I need to turn in my Nature Nurture paper tomorrow by 3, but I'll do that in the morning. And then look over this paper a few more times, and then format my last one and I'm done!! Then I can just have fun the last few days! yay!!
Its really too bad that it took so long for me to half-way like it here and get over being away. Now that I'm in the groove of things here, its not so bad (and now that I actually have something to keep me busy and give me a bit of purpose, i feel better).
BUT, HOME IN 5 days!!
i think thats all I wanted to say at the moment... yeah
peace!
oh, but it has gotten cold here now! icy cold!
Saturday, December 6
Thursday, December 4
Blog Post – Post Germany
I have arrived “home” to Norwich, only an hour behind schedule! I had decided to take the bus from Stansted instead of the train because it required the least amount of changes, and there is a drop-off point right on campus, a quick 2 minute walk back to my flat. However, I wasn’t expecting a 50 minute delay, changing my ETA to UEA from 11 to midnight. But, what can you do?! I found some busy work to do in the meantime (like writing this, as though I had already experienced the drive to Norwich, not sure why…), uploaded pictures from my last mini-vacation within a vacation and composed a nice e-mail to Anja letting her know that I made it safely back to school and relentlessly thanking her for her hospitality and her generosity over the last 4 days.
Why is it that when looking for something, or scoping out the shopping scene (no matter what it is for), 9 times out of 10 you end up right where you started?! Aside from seeing Connor play and visiting the Marquardts again, I had a goal of finding another Christmas Pyramid – to replace the one that I carelessly left in the Hannover Airport bathroom in September – and lo and behold the Karstadt Christmas store in Celle was my first and last stop!! But, I must say that I am very pleased with my purchases (prices in Euros converted to US dollars ignored)! At first I had decided just to get one for Jon and Tovah as a unique wedding gift, but then I realized that if I like them so much, why don’t I get one for myself?! So I did. A 40 minute shopping experience in one tini-tiny store making decisions (with the lovely help of Anja), 2 boxes packed and secured, and a trip to the DeutschePost (with a hefty air mail fee for each), I am ecstatic about getting it all done!! Jon and Tovah, you should have a box arriving within 6 days. Mom, the box going home will take a bit longer (it was heavier, so I just sent it non-air mail so it’ll probably get there the Monday I’m home… even though I wrote you a lovely explanatory letter inside, but now it is insignificant as I’ll be there to receive the package myself!
I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed Germany. If I had only started learning it earlier (freshman year) or if SOMEBODY taught me growing up, I could have studied there. England was a default location – and don’t get me wrong, I HAVE enjoyed being here despite all of the negativity that comes out of my mouth and fingers – but, had I gone somewhere that I really had my heart set on, I do believe it would have been a different experience in a positive way. But, how true is it that we always want what we don’t have?
I have 9 more days here, and I really can’t believe that the appropriate time has come to start thinking about coming home (as opposed to me thinking about it and be excited about it in October…). But, this next week will be busy! As I have really waited to do my work (I work better under a bit of pressure. Enough to get me motivated, but not so much to stress me out and make me pull all-nighters). Between work, a bit of shopping left to do (some of you people are hard to shop for, even if they are souvenirs!), and as much social fun and fantastic Norwich nightlife as I can fit in with all of the fantastic people I will probably never see again (and while I can still legally drink until March – but don’t worry, I’m always responsible), I think I’ll be plenty busy until my bus ride at 4am next Saturday morning.
I think that is enough update for now! I might get into what I’m actually thinking and get a little too contemplative on such a broadcast...
love and miss you all!!
xoxo
I have arrived “home” to Norwich, only an hour behind schedule! I had decided to take the bus from Stansted instead of the train because it required the least amount of changes, and there is a drop-off point right on campus, a quick 2 minute walk back to my flat. However, I wasn’t expecting a 50 minute delay, changing my ETA to UEA from 11 to midnight. But, what can you do?! I found some busy work to do in the meantime (like writing this, as though I had already experienced the drive to Norwich, not sure why…), uploaded pictures from my last mini-vacation within a vacation and composed a nice e-mail to Anja letting her know that I made it safely back to school and relentlessly thanking her for her hospitality and her generosity over the last 4 days.
Why is it that when looking for something, or scoping out the shopping scene (no matter what it is for), 9 times out of 10 you end up right where you started?! Aside from seeing Connor play and visiting the Marquardts again, I had a goal of finding another Christmas Pyramid – to replace the one that I carelessly left in the Hannover Airport bathroom in September – and lo and behold the Karstadt Christmas store in Celle was my first and last stop!! But, I must say that I am very pleased with my purchases (prices in Euros converted to US dollars ignored)! At first I had decided just to get one for Jon and Tovah as a unique wedding gift, but then I realized that if I like them so much, why don’t I get one for myself?! So I did. A 40 minute shopping experience in one tini-tiny store making decisions (with the lovely help of Anja), 2 boxes packed and secured, and a trip to the DeutschePost (with a hefty air mail fee for each), I am ecstatic about getting it all done!! Jon and Tovah, you should have a box arriving within 6 days. Mom, the box going home will take a bit longer (it was heavier, so I just sent it non-air mail so it’ll probably get there the Monday I’m home… even though I wrote you a lovely explanatory letter inside, but now it is insignificant as I’ll be there to receive the package myself!
I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed Germany. If I had only started learning it earlier (freshman year) or if SOMEBODY taught me growing up, I could have studied there. England was a default location – and don’t get me wrong, I HAVE enjoyed being here despite all of the negativity that comes out of my mouth and fingers – but, had I gone somewhere that I really had my heart set on, I do believe it would have been a different experience in a positive way. But, how true is it that we always want what we don’t have?
I have 9 more days here, and I really can’t believe that the appropriate time has come to start thinking about coming home (as opposed to me thinking about it and be excited about it in October…). But, this next week will be busy! As I have really waited to do my work (I work better under a bit of pressure. Enough to get me motivated, but not so much to stress me out and make me pull all-nighters). Between work, a bit of shopping left to do (some of you people are hard to shop for, even if they are souvenirs!), and as much social fun and fantastic Norwich nightlife as I can fit in with all of the fantastic people I will probably never see again (and while I can still legally drink until March – but don’t worry, I’m always responsible), I think I’ll be plenty busy until my bus ride at 4am next Saturday morning.
I think that is enough update for now! I might get into what I’m actually thinking and get a little too contemplative on such a broadcast...
love and miss you all!!
xoxo
Wednesday, December 3
Germany, Aufweirdersehn... almost
well, its been a great time here at the Marquardts'!! On Monday Anja met me at the Celle Haupbahnhof and we made it back for Mittagessen with the boys and Wolfgang. In the afternoon, which quickly turned to evening, Anja, Rolf and I made our way to check out the Celle Weinachts Markt... no porchases (aside from the mass amount of candy for a particular cousin) and some Eiswein for Christmas Eve... Elke knows what I'm talking about :-)
I feel a bit bad 'sleeping in' in the mornings - but waking up early with everyone only to have not much to do in the morning seems pointless, and sleep is always nice :-)
Tuesday morning I went to 3 classes at the Gymnasium (Middle/High School). I went to an advanced English class (9th graders), a 12th grade History-in-English class (taught by Wolfgang) on the Arab-Israeli conflict and to Georg's english class. I really had a great time, and all were very different, which made it really fun! The girls in Georg's class all screamed my name when I walked in the room... lol... and I think they really enjoyed seeing me again, as much as I did them! We'll see if I get some email coorespondance out of it within the next few days...
In the afternoon we all went to the Braunschweig Christmas Market, driving through the countryside between Celle and Braunschweig we passed the turn off for Volkse and Leiferde, and I prayed that by the slim chance that there was, that I wouldn't run in to any Kolos, and I seem to have made it out safely! I continued the hunt for Christmas Pyramids, and came out empty handed, but I found some other things along the way, which was great! oh, and had some Glühwein... SO good (Mom, you know what you are talking about), and it warmed me right up!! I was beginning to lose feeling in my toes despite the 4 layers covering them...
Today the boys got out of school early (which may be the #1 reason why they secretly love having me around) and we made our way to Bremen for another Christmas Market. We went to this great little restuarant underneath the town hall in the vaults, and Wolfgang took us to see these ridiculously narrow streets, which was really cool to see. EVERYTHING IS SO OLD HERE! but its great! houses built in the 1500s, cobblestones everywhere, mini doors and narrow streets... its great! but then theres the free flying Autobahn to connect it all :-)
The market in Bremen was nice, big... lots of food stalls and carnival rides. The boys won a soccer ball from some game they played, which was a fun treat for them.
Back to the Celle market in the morning to get some last minute things that I saw and was interested in before but didn't buy out of impulse, and then back to England in the evening! Not sure what I'm going to do about luggage space, and shipping... but I#ll figure it all out I guess!
All in all I've really had a great time here! Anja and Wolfgang have both been so great!! and the boys are fun and funny in their I-don't-understand-English-but-am-silly-and-still-a-kid sort of way (as i come to think of it, I dont think ive ever really been with kids for an extended period of time since i was one, and vacation in Hawaii doesnt count because then i only got to hangout of the fun stuff, not for the not so fun stuff)
so, that is Germany in a nutshell! I'm so glad I came back! Even though I have a paper due monday and wednesday and another to finish by friday! its been freezing here, though. and i think england will be a bit better (and by better i ONLY mean warmer, by no means is England actually better than Germany, I've decided). and LA will be heaven! 9 days!!!
I feel a bit bad 'sleeping in' in the mornings - but waking up early with everyone only to have not much to do in the morning seems pointless, and sleep is always nice :-)
Tuesday morning I went to 3 classes at the Gymnasium (Middle/High School). I went to an advanced English class (9th graders), a 12th grade History-in-English class (taught by Wolfgang) on the Arab-Israeli conflict and to Georg's english class. I really had a great time, and all were very different, which made it really fun! The girls in Georg's class all screamed my name when I walked in the room... lol... and I think they really enjoyed seeing me again, as much as I did them! We'll see if I get some email coorespondance out of it within the next few days...
In the afternoon we all went to the Braunschweig Christmas Market, driving through the countryside between Celle and Braunschweig we passed the turn off for Volkse and Leiferde, and I prayed that by the slim chance that there was, that I wouldn't run in to any Kolos, and I seem to have made it out safely! I continued the hunt for Christmas Pyramids, and came out empty handed, but I found some other things along the way, which was great! oh, and had some Glühwein... SO good (Mom, you know what you are talking about), and it warmed me right up!! I was beginning to lose feeling in my toes despite the 4 layers covering them...
Today the boys got out of school early (which may be the #1 reason why they secretly love having me around) and we made our way to Bremen for another Christmas Market. We went to this great little restuarant underneath the town hall in the vaults, and Wolfgang took us to see these ridiculously narrow streets, which was really cool to see. EVERYTHING IS SO OLD HERE! but its great! houses built in the 1500s, cobblestones everywhere, mini doors and narrow streets... its great! but then theres the free flying Autobahn to connect it all :-)
The market in Bremen was nice, big... lots of food stalls and carnival rides. The boys won a soccer ball from some game they played, which was a fun treat for them.
Back to the Celle market in the morning to get some last minute things that I saw and was interested in before but didn't buy out of impulse, and then back to England in the evening! Not sure what I'm going to do about luggage space, and shipping... but I#ll figure it all out I guess!
All in all I've really had a great time here! Anja and Wolfgang have both been so great!! and the boys are fun and funny in their I-don't-understand-English-but-am-silly-and-still-a-kid sort of way (as i come to think of it, I dont think ive ever really been with kids for an extended period of time since i was one, and vacation in Hawaii doesnt count because then i only got to hangout of the fun stuff, not for the not so fun stuff)
so, that is Germany in a nutshell! I'm so glad I came back! Even though I have a paper due monday and wednesday and another to finish by friday! its been freezing here, though. and i think england will be a bit better (and by better i ONLY mean warmer, by no means is England actually better than Germany, I've decided). and LA will be heaven! 9 days!!!
Monday, December 1
Ich bin ins Deutschland, again!
hello one and all!!
disclaimer: if there are z´s where y´s are supposed to go, and random ß ö ä ü inserted, i apologize - the keyboards in germany are different than english ones!
but, i seem to have made my way back to germany, again, and am loving it all the same! i think that if i really had a completely open choice of where to study this semester it would have been in germany (the language issue pending, of course). its far more interesting - the english kind of hate americans and are pretty resistent - the germans are much more friendly, and the small-old-town feel of germany is really nice. that, and they go crazy with christmas stuff here, and christmas is myfavorite holiday!!
i spent this past weekend in Wolfenbüttel with some Oxy friends. We stayed with Connor at his apt both nights. And contrary to what I had imagined it to be, it was actually really spacious. Connor is living with the other American player on his team (the guy who took Sam Bettys place last year) and a New Zealander. Both guys were really cool, and fun to hang out with! We went to the Hergözes game on Saturday night, which was so much fun! They ended up losing, which was a tad depressing, but it was still fun to go!! The gym was relatively small, but packed. The other team just got this American who had 41 pts, and shot 56% from the field, ridiculous! I guess you cant really compete with that...
Wolfenbüttel itself it a nice little town - lots of buildings from the 16 and 1700s, a couple whose walls were literally angled outwards with the roof lines slanting in one direction or the other from the foundations not holding...haha
Yesterday we ventured into the Stadtmitte to look at the Weinachsten Markt, which was so cool! there was a mini ferris wheel with 4 carriages for kids, and there was lots and lots of amazing German food, beer, mulled wine, crafts, Christmas decorations, etc.
The one down side to all of this - its freezing!!! LITERALLY as we were walking around yesterday I stopped being able to feel my toes for a while, and my nose... and my hair wasnt competely dry from washing it (BAD idea...). But, I can put up with the bitter cold for a few more days here in Germany, and it'll possibly be a bit milder in Norwich, and then back to SUNNY and WARM cali in 12 days!! (I can't believe it!!!)
Made it back to Anja's today (Mom, Dad and all, she sends her love). She's so hospitable and nice! And I get a real kick out of her boys, and Wolfgang, her husband, is good company as well. We are going on a Christmas market tour (thats what I'm calling it) over the next few days - Celle, Braunschweig, maybe Lüneburg, and possibly another. They will all have similar things, have a similar Disneylandísh feel, but I'm pretty excited about it! I'm also planning on going back to the Gymnasium for a few classes - to Wolfgang's class on the Ar-Israeli conflict (which I need to know a bit about as far as the US perspective so I don't make a fool of myself being completely ignorant to it, even though I honestly don't know much - Dad, Elke, your summaries please... haha); to Georg's English class (where he pretends to not know me because I'm really a friend of Mr. Marquardt and no kids know that his Dad is a teacher at the school); and to the advanced English class. So, that is the basic plan for the next few day - and trying not to completely overeat and gain weight the way I think I did in september with all of this amazing food around and the lack of real (purposeful) exercise...
but, thats the update of the last few days, and a brief glimpse into my future!!
and Cambridge was cool to see last friday - the entire place is colleges - there are 31 different ones!! its one of the oldest towns in England, and the roads show it! they are tiny, and windy and there is no city planning... a fun place to visit!!
Tschüss!
disclaimer: if there are z´s where y´s are supposed to go, and random ß ö ä ü inserted, i apologize - the keyboards in germany are different than english ones!
but, i seem to have made my way back to germany, again, and am loving it all the same! i think that if i really had a completely open choice of where to study this semester it would have been in germany (the language issue pending, of course). its far more interesting - the english kind of hate americans and are pretty resistent - the germans are much more friendly, and the small-old-town feel of germany is really nice. that, and they go crazy with christmas stuff here, and christmas is myfavorite holiday!!
i spent this past weekend in Wolfenbüttel with some Oxy friends. We stayed with Connor at his apt both nights. And contrary to what I had imagined it to be, it was actually really spacious. Connor is living with the other American player on his team (the guy who took Sam Bettys place last year) and a New Zealander. Both guys were really cool, and fun to hang out with! We went to the Hergözes game on Saturday night, which was so much fun! They ended up losing, which was a tad depressing, but it was still fun to go!! The gym was relatively small, but packed. The other team just got this American who had 41 pts, and shot 56% from the field, ridiculous! I guess you cant really compete with that...
Wolfenbüttel itself it a nice little town - lots of buildings from the 16 and 1700s, a couple whose walls were literally angled outwards with the roof lines slanting in one direction or the other from the foundations not holding...haha
Yesterday we ventured into the Stadtmitte to look at the Weinachsten Markt, which was so cool! there was a mini ferris wheel with 4 carriages for kids, and there was lots and lots of amazing German food, beer, mulled wine, crafts, Christmas decorations, etc.
The one down side to all of this - its freezing!!! LITERALLY as we were walking around yesterday I stopped being able to feel my toes for a while, and my nose... and my hair wasnt competely dry from washing it (BAD idea...). But, I can put up with the bitter cold for a few more days here in Germany, and it'll possibly be a bit milder in Norwich, and then back to SUNNY and WARM cali in 12 days!! (I can't believe it!!!)
Made it back to Anja's today (Mom, Dad and all, she sends her love). She's so hospitable and nice! And I get a real kick out of her boys, and Wolfgang, her husband, is good company as well. We are going on a Christmas market tour (thats what I'm calling it) over the next few days - Celle, Braunschweig, maybe Lüneburg, and possibly another. They will all have similar things, have a similar Disneylandísh feel, but I'm pretty excited about it! I'm also planning on going back to the Gymnasium for a few classes - to Wolfgang's class on the Ar-Israeli conflict (which I need to know a bit about as far as the US perspective so I don't make a fool of myself being completely ignorant to it, even though I honestly don't know much - Dad, Elke, your summaries please... haha); to Georg's English class (where he pretends to not know me because I'm really a friend of Mr. Marquardt and no kids know that his Dad is a teacher at the school); and to the advanced English class. So, that is the basic plan for the next few day - and trying not to completely overeat and gain weight the way I think I did in september with all of this amazing food around and the lack of real (purposeful) exercise...
but, thats the update of the last few days, and a brief glimpse into my future!!
and Cambridge was cool to see last friday - the entire place is colleges - there are 31 different ones!! its one of the oldest towns in England, and the roads show it! they are tiny, and windy and there is no city planning... a fun place to visit!!
Tschüss!
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