The First Week is the Wurst Week

Saturday June, 6th
This trip has not exactly started out as I had hoped. It’s been one hell of a Saturday. Air India canceled a flight Friday which caused complete and total chaos for my flight day. I stood in line for 4 hours before being told I had to be through security and at the gate in 15 minutes…LIES. I’m still sitting at the gate and it is 8:04. I’m running on about 3 hours of sleep. I’m sweaty, greasy and I’m sure a bit smelly. All I want to do is shower and maybe eat something. Something that’s not Indian food. Fat chance that’s on the menu.

Sunday June, 7th
Alright, I’ve gotta hand it to Air India. They pulled it out in the end. Wound up with 3 seats to myself so I flipped up the armrests and made myself a bed out of the 3 pilfered pillows and blankets. They kept throwing food at me… well not literally, though that would have been more enjoyable than the stewardess’ blatant hatred of me. She was all smiles and nice comments until she came my way. Don’t know what was stuck up her bum. Na ja.

I landed in Frankfurt at 10:40 AM with a burning sore throat from the recycled airplane oxygen and breezed through immigration (take that stewardess! I’m SO not suspicious). My bags were waiting when I got to the carousel, ukulele blissfully intact and then…oh and then I had to find a freakin’ train. Mind you, it wasn’t nearly as confusing as I imagine the LIRR must be for tourists, but it wasn’t exactly a cake walk either. We’ll make this long and not so interesting story short and say I wound up spending more money than I wanted to, but it was alright because it was a direct high-speed train and other than running over my toes with my suitcase it went smoothly as soon as I was on. I need to mention the toddler I was sitting next to though because she was the most idyllic little cherub I’ve ever seen and I’m pretty sure that at 2 years old she spoke better German than I do. Nixing Asian baby adoption, German tots are where it’s at.

Host Mom (or Corinna I haven’t decided what I’ll blog her as yet) met me at the train station in her brand new ORANGE compact car. At that very moment I knew everything was going to be just fine, lol. It was cemented when I saw a picture of her in my room in which she is wearing a leopard print gown. We got home to an amazing meal made by Host Dad (Wolfgang) who is home for the weekend I guess? I’m not too sure on his deal, it sounds like he lives and works in Frankfurt. Regardless, it was delicious, Host Brothers (Julian and Jascha) made an appearance before scurrying back to their videogames and Host Dad went bonkers over my Blackberry. Now, between his lack of English, my lack of German and Host Mom’s uncertainty in translating, the discussion about US calling plans and SIM cards was just ridiculous. He seems intent on buying it off of me when I leave though, lol.

Camila, my Brazilian Dialog-Institute compatriot has been living here for 7 weeks now and she’s absolutely brilliant. She’s a German language teacher and is using this to finish her degree. Wanna talk about intimidating though, her German is …mind blowing. We’re the same age and she is pretty much Quinna’s doppelganger, in looks and mannerisms. How this happens I don’t know, but it’s the truth. Scouts honor.

Wednesday June 10th

I have been so busy I can barely stand up straight. I was late to school Monday morning thanks to Camila being way too nice and not telling me to get a move on. What a way to make an impression, eh? Oy vey. Anyway, I get there, I take my placement test, meet the other Hunter students and get right to class, thankfully with Professor Kuhn-Osius. There’s another group of students from the Massachusetts here, but they’re boarding school kids and barely 16. Andrew tends to gravitate toward our group seeing as none of his friends are here and the girls from his school are annoying as sin. Poor kid. So, after class and lunch, Prof. Kuhn-Osius took us on a bit of a walking tour of the immediate area. I can’t wait to start exploring more. We stopped off in one of the millions of museums around this city, this one housing original manuscripts. I’ve officially seen my first Guttenberg Bible. Monumental.

I’m rather shocked by the extent I’m able to understand German. The only time I hear English these days is between my peers, but it really hasn’t hindered me too much. I am however shocked by how hard it is to speak. I’m so intimidated that it’s ridiculous. I’m slowly getting over it, but now I’m just frustrated and that’s equally as dangerous. I also need to remember that I’ve only been here for 4 days.

Tuesday I not only managed to get to school on my own, but I also managed to be on time. Of course first thing in the morning we start covering a topic that I couldn’t comprehend back in the states when it was explained in English let alone now that it’s in German so that wasn’t fun. At lunch Andrew found sanctuary with us in the Mensa (cafeteria) and regaled us with stories of boarding school hazing. Stories of Korean kids and ball grabbing, how can you go wrong? We then gathered to go to Wilhelmshöhe with the Concord Academy kids and once there Prof. Kuhn-Osius toured us around the art museum that is housed in the former palace. He’s probably one of the most brilliant men I’ve ever met. I don’t think that there’s anything he doesn’t have at least some working knowledge of. The views at Wilhelmshöhe are absolutely phenomenal and I’ll definitely be back before I leave. Clarissa and I then made our way back to the school in order to get on the interwebz since no one other than my parents had heard from me and before long it was time for us to go to the good Professor’s for a party of sorts.

Prof. and his wife live in exactly what I pictured a German apartment to be, right down to the smell. Three floors, one apartment on each, name plates on the door denoting who lives there, skeleton keys to get into every room… I was about ready to just pretend I was Sally Bowles and call it a day. Life really is a Cabaret here in Germany ol’ chum. We were all hella awkward with each other all of a sudden and sat in his living room staring for a good while before beer starting doing its job and Prof. busted out his guitar. Who knew he would turn out to be a freakin’ amazing classical guitarist? Sam busted out some Johnny Cash while Caroline told stories about Brook Shields’ mom and I didn’t wind up getting back to Bromeisstrabe until about midnight.

Today started off rainy. Oh yes, have I mentioned I might as well be in the North Pole? It’s freakin’ FREEZING here. Cold and rainy though if I understand German well enough, it’s supposed to get nice again next week. So, I got to the corner as the tram was coming down the street allowing me just enough to cross. Schön, ja? NEIN! Just as I’m going to cross, the little old German Frau next to me slips off the curb and falls. Wunderbar. Now what? There was no one around, I don’t know the German 911 equivelant, she’s spouting German at me a million miles an hour and I’m about ready to just faint and join her on the concrete. Oh yeah…and now my tram is gliding past me and down the street. So…I was late again to school. The Frau is fine, I got her up and going and my day was able to get progressively better until pronunciation training. I’ve never felt so stupid in my entire life. German’s hard dude.

Sunday June, 14th

I promise that after this entry I will try and blog more regularly so you’re not reading novels all the time. The rest of the week continued to be super busy and I’m proving to be rather allergic to Germany… or just Kassel… or just the trees in Kassel. I’ve been so freakin’ sick and paranoid that I have Swine flu, especially since it reached Germany 2 days after I did and from NY no less. I start coughing, then I start sneezing, then I can’t breathe… oh it is miserable, but I braved a pharmacy and came out with the German equivalent to NyQuil…or so I’m assuming because I woke up close to 20 hours later and feeling quite a bit better.

On Thursday we went to Paderborn since it was Corpus Christi and we had no school. The problem was that it was Corpus Christi! The entire city was pretty much shut down and because it was raining and there were practically sub-zero temperatures there wasn’t even the church procession. So after a miserable tour in which I only understood about half of what dear Thorston was saying, the group of us somehow managed to find an open coffee shop… which oddly enough stamped all of its plates with “New York Café.” I’m sure it is beautiful on a nice, non-holiday day, but that is something that I shall never know.

Nothing too spectacular has happened between then and now. Corinna is in Spain with Wolfgang until Wednesday and Camila has been in France, she gets back tonight though. The boys have been back and forth to their father’s so I see them here and there. I did a little shopping yesterday and got some souvenirs for my YA-YA sisters back in NY and “Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen”. They have the British Harry Potter’s all over the place too and it’s taking everything in my power not to buy another suitcase so I can come home with both versions.

Mr. H. Potter
Im Schrank unter der Treppe
Ligusterweg 4
Little Whinging
Surrey

That shouldn’t make me LOL nearly as much as it does, nor should the fact that Hermione’s name in German is Hermine. Man, I’m such a dweeb. Über dweeb even. Hmm…Wie sagst du Dweeb auf Deutsch?

AHEM, okay, moving on, SO, today is Sunday and they sure do like to ring Church bells here in Germany. I’m so used to St. Malachy’s version of recorded church bells that play “Give My Regards to Broadway” that hearing the real thing just makes me think of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. They’ve been going for a good 10 minutes now too.

Thanks to this German NyQuil helping me to finally get over jetlag and making me feel a bit better, I thought I was well enough to go jogging this morning. Not so. Wheezing like an old Asthmatic man I was. I’m apparently living at the top of a hill though because I turned a corner toward a clearing and the view just took my breath away. I was overlooking Kassel and directly across was a clear view of Herkules and Wilhelmshöhe, I’ll have to walk back later with my camera. Anyway, I managed to jog to the bottom of the hill, which is pretty much a mountain in my Long Island opinion and decided I most definitely had to walk back. I can’t run uphill on a good day, let alone when I have the pseudo-Swineflu.

Julian, the older of my host brothers delivers newspapers on Sunday’s so I’ve been watching him go back and forth all morning with his wagon full of newspapers. Looks like a lot of work to me. If I understood Corinna correctly he has over 600 papers to deliver every Sunday and he’s been going at it for hours already. He makes bank though. You don’t get taxed if you make less than 400€ a month and he’s just under that mark. He looked like he was about to fall over on this last cartful though.

RANDOM BABBLES:

German Reality T.V.

German reality television is simply the best. It’s so much more provocative than anything we have in the States and over all it is just more amusing. Mission Hollywood is my newest addiction. Til Schweiger (Mark from SLC Punk!) hosts it and apparently he really is the German Tom Cruise (pre-Katie Holmes/Scientology craziness). I really want him to just break out with one good, “SINK YOU FOOL!!”, but I’m content with his mere presence as he creepily licks his lips and tells skanky German wannabe actresses that they suck.

German Birds

Birds here in German are super friendly and kind of stupid. They approach you out of sheer curiosity and as if to simply say, “Hello human.” They’re much more vocal and the crows walk like little humans. Shortly before I left NYC I questioned why you never see pigeon road kill on the streets. You most definitely see pigeon road kill here in Kassel. They walk in front of trams, they walk under peoples feet… Caroline almost stepped directly on top of one the other day. It’s all rather bizarre. Summation: pigeons are a nuisance no matter the country, but at least they eat them here in Europe and small German children also really like to chase ducks.

German Bums

German bums are just as crazy as you’d imagine them to be. One happened to find me and kept asking for 10 cents. I’d tell her no, she’d cross to the other side of the tram tracks and 5 minutes later she’d be back asking for another 10 cents… in English mind you. She then found Clarissa and I a few days later and repeated this routine. There was another rambling on about Nazis stealing his cake and there’s a lot of homeless young people chilling on the streets, very Berkeley, CA style except that they’re more dirty Punk than dirty Hippie. By “a lot” I mean like…3 and they all seem to have dogs.

MAY

The month of May has come and gone with such speed that I'm not sure it even happened.

Bamboozle ushered in the month and subsequently, a lot of life goals were achieved. I saw Journey, No Doubt, The Ataris, GWAR, Anti-Flag, Gavin Rossdale & Edna's Goldfish. I got so sunburned I was sick for a week as my skin literally peeled away from my body. I took out one amazingly annoying 14 year old girl with an expertly swung elbow, went on my first ferris wheel & had a general blast with Becky & Falcone & fannypacks. ->



<- Memorial Day weekend found me back in New Jersey for Juan's Super Kwanzaa spectacular. After not drinking for weeks I decided it was a good idea binge; soon I was stealing flowers from outside of Shop Rite and having to figure out how to alleviate the spins when already on the floor. Don't get me wrong, it was one of the best times I've had in a while but the ensuing 2 day hangover nearly sent me to an early grave.

Interspersed was massive amounts of school work, my friends all graduating from Pace, finally meeting Katieboyce's family, a Schmidt family babyshower and I'm sure a plethora of other things that are well documented on my TWITTER page. It's called micro-blogging for a reason, afterall.

I should probably also mention that I turned 23. What a terrible age, but it was definitely the best birthday I've had in a really long time. Odd because it was coupled with bon voyage, but good none the less. Cosmic Diner on the 26th with my Ya Ya sisters followed by birthday cake we didn't even bother to cut, just took forks to was absolutely brilliant and I hate that I'm leaving them for most of the summer. On the 27th (my actual birthday) I had a delicious nap on the LIRR as I made my way out to Long Island to go see some regional theatre with my parents. The show was an absolute trainwreck and making fun of the poor falling tap dancers provided endless entertainment. Saturday, my parents threw me a family party that left me feeling pretty loved. To think, I still have birthday shenanigans with Stacey to look forward to this week.

I leave for Germany on Saturday and I am BUGGING out. I can't believe this is all happening. I have so much to get done still, or at least I feel like I do. My host family got switched last week and I'm now in a 4 person household and they have another host child from Brazil staying with them as well. BRAZIL!! She's bloody Brazilian. Great. She's going to be gorgeous and fluent by the time I arrive and there's not going to be enough Euros in all of Kassel to pay for the therapy I'll be needing.

ROCKBAND

Last I left you all, I was going to play RockBand with Carrie and Lauren last night. Ridiculous.

Perhaps I need to preface this with the information that I do not play video games. The only gaming consoles I've owned were Atari and Sega Genesis. I've never gotten past the first level of Sonic the Hedgehog and I preferred to spend my gaming hours playing Monopoly. There's no controller skill required to play Monopoly. In fact, upon reliving my Sonic days not too long ago, I discovered that I still move my entire body with the controller in a feeble attempt to move the hedgehog (this is especially true for jump sequences). Apparently my motor skills short circuit in regards to gaming.

That being said, last night I decided to succumb to peer pressure like some pubescent teenager and play RockBand. Mind you, I was whinging about not wanting to do it for a good 15 minutes as I cut out strips of paper to make a countdown chain (as seen in entry below). Regardless, I did it. I said to myself, "self, you play the guitar. This can't be too much different." OooHooo, I've never been more wrong in my life.

I can't even tell you what song I was playing, the moment was so traumatic I've apparently blocked the details from my mind. It started slow; a succession of green buttons, syncopation slightly wonky. Not so bad, I could do this, but then the fraction-of-a-second-off red and yellow buttons started in. Now I'm starting to sweat, literally. I'm subconsciously holding my breath and my heart's beginning to palpitate. I'm feeling lightheaded from lack of oxygen and terribly self conscious because I've grossly underestimated this stupid plastic guitar that doesn't even play music. Apparently you're supposed to upstroke on certain tabs and down stroke on others, but my "gaming is second nature" friends neglected to tell me that and I'm losing points. See, that's the thing though, I'm not losing points really... I'm essentially losing fans. FANS. For someone who thrives off of people liking her, losing fans is serious business...

I can't even finish telling my tale of woe. It was all too much.

Spring Break

I had an odd Spring Break this year. It was as though I got sucked into some weird time/space continuum and just existed for a week and one-half. I'm now having a difficult time adjusting to my very scheduled and rushed school and city life. Humbug.

Stacey's birthday party was great fun. Intellectual conversation and humor really turns me on in the naughtiest of ways and it was in abundance. I also spent most of the break just making music which was very, very stimulating. This paragraph has become rather dirty. I'm going to move on now.

I've been taking care of myself more than I ever have and it's a mind trip. I've never felt so in tune with my body and the earth. I know that sounds insanely new age and annoying, but it's the only way to describe...things. I stopped drinking, stopped eating meat, I can't remember the last time I had a cigarette --now if only I could give up caffeine. I almost think the Hare Krishna's aren't so off their rocker. I'm pretty sure the drinking thing won't last long once I'm in Germany, but I like to think of German beer more like a food product more than alcohol. You can survive off of it for a good while, after all.

Speaking of Germany (what a lame segue) I'm absolutely overwhelmed by how close I am to my departure. Perhaps I'll add a countdown... or make a CONSTRUCTION PAPER CHAIN! Paper chain indeed, that sounds like a splendid idea. I'm beside myself with excitement and anxiety. I can't believe I'm actually getting out of this country, going to see my family on their home turf, seeing the world... good grief, my dreams are finally becoming a reality.

I plan on bringing a uke and praying that inspiration strikes. What I'm really hoping for is a bit more direction on the children's book I've been struggling to sort out. I hate that I didn't take more classes in pedagogy. They'd be really helpful right about now.

Here's a VLog about my hellish night last night:

I'm kind of stoked, I got a 92 on my modern Middle Eastern history midterm (the 2nd one). Seeing as I got a 70 on the 1st one this is monumental for me. Now off to play Rockband with roommate and Lauren.

SHINE ON.

THE MONDAYS

It was just another manic Monday today... yes, I wish it was Sunday because that's my fun day. I also wish I could take that back, but I've already put it forth in the universe. EMBARRASSED.

Seriously now, it was indeed another gloomy Gotham day. This April showers nonsense is getting old and fast. I have one more day of school before I hop a train to Speonk for break and it just hit me how close to the end of the semester I am. Frightening. I have so much to do that I'm going to sit here and not think about any of it while I eat frozen corn nibblets like M&M's.

I booked my flights to and from Frankfurt last night. I'm flying one of the worst rated airlines, but it saved me $400. Au Revoir United States, I'm Deutschland bound. June 6th - July 16th, Frankfurt, Kassel, Hamburg & Amrum... as of right now. Itinerary could change. I just dropped a frozen nibblet down my shirt... typische Amerikanerin.

All things good.

GLOOMY

The past few days have been rather gloomy here in Gotham. A deluge fell from the skies yesterday and today was terribly overcast and windy. Katie and I stupidly decided to walk around SoHo on a Saturday and had to reward ourselves with cannolis in Little Italy for all the pain and suffering. Yaffa was overrun with teenagers calling it "funky" and the streets were lined with tourists. There are just someplaces we should know better than to go to on the weekends.

I really need to get on finalizing my Germany plans. I'm going to go and spend some time with my mother's family there after the program is over. I was originally planning on a week, but they all think I need to spend more time there. I suppose it will all be contingent on how much money I can get pawning my instruments. So ist das Leben! I have a gut feeling I'm never going to want to return to the states. I'm so completely over American economics and governmental policy.

PROMPT #7
Electricity is a recent discovery. Think of 12 things you can do when there's no power.

1. Organize a Pick-up Sticks tournament
2. Use eyeliner to draw on curly mustaches and speak to each other in French accents
3. Read a freakin' book
   
4. Reenact classical pieces of theatre with uncultured friends
5. Paint portraits of beloved family pets
6. Break out the ukulele and write a pop opera
7. Knit a tea cozy
   
8. Build a bonfire, make s'mores and reenact the end credits of D2 "GOLDBERG!"
9. Hold a memorial service for the Internet, no power sucks! "What do you mean I can't Tweet?!"
10. Finally get around to reading Russell Brand's Booky-Wook
11. Practice yodelling
12. Take a nap and pray the powers on when you wake up

All things good.

DRIFT

It's so close to Spring Break I can smell it. Freshly cut grass, slightly moist soil and decaying leaves are what I imagine freedom to smell like. Another school week over, another month begun, I'm wondering where time goes. Youth definitely is wasted on the young. We do not appreciate it nearly as much as we should.

I was reading "The Cholera Years" between classes today and one of the footnotes made me laugh aloud. The chortle that erupted from my body actually startled me. Then I burst into a fit of giggles thinking about My Obsession and her habit of chuckling over similarly dry books. She plagues me so and she has no idea. What a strange concept. I wonder if anyone feels that way about me. If my piquant habits fascinate anyone to the verge of unhealthy obsession. I hope not.

Creative Writing Prompt, GO!!
(I don't think I've written a poem since I was a moody pre-teen)

Prompt #5
Pick a poem that you like. Take the last line and use it as the first line of your own poem.

"City Dusk"
F. Scott Fitzgerald

"One Poncey Poem"
B. Schmidt

We'll drift like summer sounds upon the summer air,
Oh! That sweet, sweet music,
That familiar vernacular of sinners and saints,
Storm-tossed and star-crossed.

Lovers built for dreams alone,
Celestial, ethereal, mercurial,
Too precarious,
For our mere mortal selves to catch hold.


I'll meet you my Love,
Somewhere across the astral plane,
Where skylarks will chirrup to our reunion,
And we'll make love in the summer rain.