2 down 3 to go in a country still dealing with WW2.

Monday, December 8

I had two finals today which ended up being harder than I thought. Luckily, I studied alot for them (which I hadn't planned on doing) so they weren't bad at all. It was nice to finally have them over with and to be that much closer to home.

Afterward I went to the Neue Synagoge which is only about a block from IES. I have been meaning to for a while now but have never gotten around to it. And seeing as how I'm running out of time I thought I should stop by. I did a presentation and a calendar page on it for my Germans and Jews class and I at least wanted to see it...

It turned out to be pretty cool. Like most things in Berlin its morphed into a museum but there temporary exhibit "War hier eine Synagoge?" (Was there a synagogue here?) was really cool. A polish man went around Poland taking pictures of old synagoges and showing what they had become today. Many of them were abandoned while others had been turned into grocery stores, bars, and homes. Weird to think and see but really really interesting. The permanant exhibit was all about the history of the synagogue and the Jewish Gemeinde (there's not really a good translation, think parish). It's amazing what the synangoue and the people of the area went through and really neat to see some of the things they were able to recover after it was set to fire and bombed.

This carpet is outside the entrance of the synagogue. It reads "Morality is of the highest important for us, not for God."

I then decided to do some shopping since I'm starting to get stressed about all that I have to accomplish in NO TIME! So I knocked some things off the list which was really nice. When exiting the Friedrichstrasse Bahnhof I noticed the new memorial they set up. It's for the Kindertransport to England during WW2. I'm not sure what the english name for it was when England accepted alot of German Jewish children to get them out of Germany. It's hard to believe that they are still putting statues and memorials up but its alot of history to deal with and I think this is just one great example of how far Germany still has to go.

The new Kindertransport Memorial.

But I came back and watched 4 hours of Amazing Race (now before you judge, I watched one 42 minute episode. It just a 4 hour process trying to get the STUPID internet to load - I can't wait for fast internet!!)

My host and her son got back from a trip to see grandma which they said was great. I had a great conversation with Max tonight and I think I've finally gotten the hang of his mumbling 10 year old accent. :) I also got the chance to talk to my host mom about the last 4 months. I'm not going to get sappy here or anything (I'll leave that for later) but it was fun to talk to her (and to hear that I've been one of her favorite students).

I always knew I was a nerd.

Sunday, December 7

Well, after waking up and having a productive morning of laundry I headed over to Rosenthaler Platz (in Prenzlauer Berg) to study in St Oberholz (best cafe ever) for my Portable Roots and Film finals that were Monday. Now, did I really need to study? No. But did I love curling up in the back of a coffee shop all day? Absolutely.

And I was actually REALLY productive. I got alot done and felt really good about my tests and even made a couple new friends (Irish guys who worked on Obama's campaign and own a bar in Berlin). I know, I don't understand either...and I can't even blame this one on my good ol' "lost in translation" excuse.

Anyway, a group of us headed over to the famous Rosenthaler Platz doner place and had a quick dinner before they headed back to studying and I went home for some sleep. One Grey's Anatomy later I was curled up in bed and so ready for some sleep.

Out of bed after the sun went down.

Friday/Saturday December 5/6

After being up late and not getting any good sleep on Thursday night I ended up being in bed until 4ish on Friday. Don't worry the sun sets in the 3 o'clock hour these days so I missed the sun...haha oh well!

I got out of bed and went to Kaiser's for the LAST TIME and to the Turkish Market for the SECOND TO LAST TIME and then came back and got in bed again.

I coaxed myself out of bed to make dinner and take a shower and then went over to hang out with the girls. We met up with some other people from IES at a club/karaoke bar in Prenzlauer Berg where we had a GREAT time. It was an Erasimus party (international student party) which made it alot of fun!! I headed home around 3:30ish and obviously went straight to bed!

I woke up late again on Saturday and went to Alexanderplatz to do some shopping at H&M (can you believe this was the first time I bought clothes!?!?!?) and purchased a handful of things including a dress for semi-formal. Don't judge. I also bought a picture book of Berlin and the first gossip girl book...IN GERMAN! haha, i have to practice somehow. right?

I came home and cleaned up my room. made dinner. talked to the fam. and then the girls were supposed to come over which sadly fell through but it gave me a chance to catch up on some MUCH NEEDED SLEEP!!! I can't believe my last full weekend in Berlin is almost over!

Tipsy. 10am. In Class

Thursday, December 4

HAPPY LAST DAY OF CLASS!!!

And to celebrate I came to class 30 minutes late (haha! i love not caring!) and we had a 2 hour party in German. We started with a table full of chocolate and a huge tub of Gluhwein. We played Christmas music, sang Christmas music, and ate and drank more than i thought I could eat at that hour!! Then we played a white elephant type game with all of the presents we brought which was so fun!! (and i got to use my Monopoly/Game vocabulary!!! We sang some German Christmas carols and went caroling to the 4 IES offices!! We has a blast!!

Me and Erica enjoying the party!

Corinna, our professor, explaining the typical German sweets!

Corinna passionately singing Christmas Carols!

We watched Rosenstrasse, a movie about the Rosenstrasse protests in Berlin, and then I had a two hour break where I watched Private Practice and vegged and then had my LAST CLASS OF IES!!!

Afterwards I ran home to make a quick dinner before going to see Kabale und Liebe (a play) at the Berliner Schaubuhne. It was an interesting ride over there on a new bus line I found and a very interesting interpretation of the play. But with an incredible migraine I headed home, got in bed, and called it a night!

Snowklakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Wednesday, December 4

It snowed all day today which was so fun but it wasn't quite cold enough for it to stick which turned it into this ever so delightful slush (please note the sarcasm). However, while walking to class snowflakes were sticking to my nose, eyelashes, cheeks, hair, hands, and anything else it could find! I felt so Sound of Music!!

Today was another long day! I locked myself into a small back room in IES (much like the 8th floor in ZSR) and finished everything! But I had my last tutor session and have officially printed EVERYTHING out! I am officially done with everything, except those small dinky little things they call finals, and I couldn't be more excited!!

After theater class I went home took a nice hot short shower, cooked some noodles and then headed to bed. Tomorrow is the last day of classes! WA-HOO!!!

Christmas Cookies to welcome December!

Monday/Tuesday, December 1/2

Well, monday was long as expected. I had class all day, a two hour tutoring session for my MANY papers and then my night class. Long and miserable. Especially since I hadn't even bought the book we were supposed to have finished for class. I came home, went to bed, and tried as hard as I could to block the day out of my head.

Tuesday was MUCH better than Monday. I had class in the morning and procrastinated most of the afternoon. I've been having internet trouble at my apartment so things go SO SO SO slow which stinks and was my "excuse" for not accomplishing anything.

BUT, once Max got home from school we made Christmas Cookies!! Aloisia made the dough the night before so when Max got home we dumped tons of flour on the kitchen table and rolled the dough, getting flour EVERYWHERE. Then we broke out some seasonal (and not so seasonal) cookie cutters which as always we turned into foreign language class making sure Max knew all of the shapes in English and that I knew them in German. After we baked them we DECORATED, which is SO my favorite part! Pounds of icing and sprinkles later we had filled a HUGE tin of the most delicious cookies!Max got bored part of the way through, much like Zach during gingerbread house making, so he played some Christmas carols for us on his trumpet! So cute!! At one point he looked at me and told me "Tonight I'll have to brush my teeth a little bit better tonight." right after having told me "I'm just cleaning it up" with his tongue on the table licking off icing!! Enjoy the pictures!
I stayed up later after that nice 4 and a half hour break to finish page 5 of my last paper! So close!

write write write

Saturday and Sunday, November 29 and 30

Courtney and I woke up at 4am on Saturday to get to the airport for her 7am flight. YUCK!! We made it the airport with plenty of time but spent FOREVER in line before I figured out that we needed to check her in at a computer kiosk and drop her bags off. Dear AirFrance, there MUST be a more efficient way.

But we had our sad goodbye and I hopped back in a cab to get back into bed. With a sketchy turkish cab driver, I watched out the window as Berlin passed me by. It's weird to think that I have 2 weeks left and that the next time I'm at the airport I'll be saying goodbye to Berlin for who knows how long. I don't mean to be sappy but its kind of weird to think about. I'll be back, I'm not worried. But the graffiti will change, new buildings will be built, and I'll be back as a tourist and not as a Berliner.

But anyway, I woke back up after another handful of hours of sleep and wrote. ALL DAY LONG! And then I went to sleep and woke back up on Sunday to write for another FULL DAY while Aloisia and Max decorated the apartment for Christmas! But alas, I'll have to wait for Houston to decorate.

20 pages in German is alot alot alot to write. So, back to writing...