greetings from berlin!

Hello all.

I made it safely to Berlin! The plane ride was so long and hot, and I was stuck in the dreaded middle seat instead of the window seat I requested. I was seated next to some ridiculously tall man who had at least 5 drinks during our flight and stumbled out of the plane, but the girl to my other side was really nice and we had some decent conversations. I didn't sleep a wink on the plane...so much for that. My hotel for that night (because I am a moron and made a plane reservation for one day earlier than I was supposed to) had a shuttle but, for the life of me, I could not find it, so after wandering around the Berlin-Tegel airport for a while, I gave up and took a cab. I absolutely crashed once I hit that hotel bed.

Oh, and for future reference, never use plane outlets. They just might blow out your computer power cord.

The next day, I took a cab to the IES center. I was the fourth person there - I had woken up at 3 am that morning, and hadn't been able to go back to sleep since then - so I was desperate for 10 AM to roll around. We had some orientation crap, but it just felt so long because we were all so jet-lagged. Our hosts came in that evening to take us back to their places.

My host, Katja, is a 26-year old Economics and Scandinavian studies student. It's hard for me to think of her as a host mom because she really could be my older sister. She had mini-pizzas ready for me when I got there, and we talked over schedules, where everything is. They had told us to expect tiny apartments, so I was kind of surpised at how spacious it kind of was. The kitchen is tiny, but my room is really a good size. It's so cutely decorated - very Ikea esque. I'll have to take pictures of it. She also has a cat, Mausi, who likes to rub herself all over your legs. Mollstraße, where I live, is in former East Germany, so the buildings all kind of look the same. I don't know what I expected East Germany to look like, but it is now the heart of Berlin. I love the area - it's beautiful and down in the heart of Berlin. There is a park in one corner and it's only a short walk away from the Alexanderplatz. I haven't done anything super touristy yet, but I will eventually. I did take a picture of a gorgeous Synagogue, but then I realized that there's a light pole ruining the frame. I'll try again soon. Anyway, there's a Straßebahn stop about a block away from the apartment and I can walk to it and it's close to the IES center. Which is good because I've gotten lost already.

Anyway, Katja took me around the neighborhood, showed me were the grocery store and the stops for the tram were and then I ran some errands with her. The Hauptbahnhof is so huge and beautiful and amazing. It's not like any train station I've ever seen, it's made of glass and it has so many shops and restaurants. I want to go there again so bad. Once we got back to the apartment, Katja started making dinner for us and her boyfriend. But I was so tired, I fell asleep, and she woke me up for dinner - I ate in some kind of sleep comma, before I passed out again.

Last night we went out to the bar with some of the people and it was so much fun! German beer is le good. Apparently, if you don't look at people in the eye when you toast, then you are doomed to 7 years of bad sex. We ran into a drunken German guy while waiting for the tram, who kept telling us how much he loved the Dallas Stars. I got off at a Mollstraße stop, but not my usual one, so I had to walk a couple of blocks in the night. Alone. It was scary but Berlin is extremely safe. It's kindof hard to reconcile that with having grown up in Barranquilla, which is not safe at all.

I'm running out steam, so here's a few random thoughts:

• Berlin has an amazing public transportation system! There is the U-Bahn (subway), buses, the S-bahn (metro) and the Straßebahn (the latter two which I thought were the same thign and was the source of much confusion). It's so different from Tulsa!
• Germans recycle EVERYTHING; it is the law. Katja has trash cans for biological trash, "groenepunkte" (apologies for my crappy German), paper, non-recyclables, glass, etc. Diane would love it.
• German people talk at me and I stare at them because I panic because my German is so bad and they must think I am incredibly stupid.
• One of the student assistants here at IES is incredibly hot. Do you think there are rules against them getting involved with students? ;)
• Germans like their yoghurt, a lot.
• I had my first dönner today and it was delicious
• I had heard that Germans were not patriotic and had hard times expressing it due to World War II, but I get here and there are flags all over the place. The reason? Soccer. The Euro 2008 starts on Sunday and it is everywhere. Germans are going nuts.
  

More to come, and hopefully pictures, on Monday.

From the airport...

I will be in Berlin in approximately 9 hours!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I'm excited yet completely terrified.

Quote of the Day

From an interview with Alizé Cornet:

"Least favourite opponent

Anna Chakvetadze without a doubt. She put me down before our semi-final in Rome. She said that I was a good junior even though I was No30 in the world at the time. I was furious. And she doesn’t even say hello. She’s not a nice person."

I don't know who I love more know, Chaky for being a bitch or Alizé for telling about it. I'm having flashbacks to Anna's quote on the WTA Year End Championships: "All of the girls will be hard, even maybe Hantuchova" and her infamous Chak Attack at that Fed Cup tie with Israel earlier this year. After Alize's comments on Jelena Jankovic before the Rome final last week, I'm thinking Jankovic/Chakvetadze is not Alizé's favorite doubles team.

Not having internet can have positive consequences. I now have an 11 game winning streak on free cell and upped my winning percentage from under 20 to over 50%. Not as good as in my old laptop, but we'll get there.

Sometimes when my cousin is having a 30 minute crying jag, I play this game called " Who is smarter: My cousin or my dog?" And I swear, my dog wins every time.

Posting this from Border's, because I don't have internet access at the moment:

1.) My aunt insists New Jersey is the ugliest state in the Union and, after a day here, I am inclined to agree.
2.) I am sick as fuck and I am calling it a New Jersey allergy.
3.) Did I mention I have no internet? I am going crazy.

That is all.

Will you love me with love like a man loves a woman?

Or, How I am reliving my pre-teen years, part I.

So I know that I last wrote a mere 3 or so hours ago, but since my last entry I've stumbled upon the YouTube goldmine of Mexican soap episodes. I jumped on it, like a ten dollar hooker, or a fat kid on cake. I was addicted to these things when I was about 11 - 12 years old. I took them very very seriously. Now I watch..and Lele mocks me because I can't stop laughing. It's so hard not too. They take themselves so seriously.

Someone has been kind enough to upload clips of every single episode of "La Usurpadora" - not the whole episode, just ten minute clips of the eventful parts of every episode. I know I just complained about how sexist it was, but this way I get to skip around to the parts that I like. I watched clips of the last five episodes and the post-finale special.

• The dialogue in these things is so remarkably awful. I know, I know, it's a Mexican soap and it's supposed to be that way, but in one scene, when Carlos Daniel, in complete seriousness, tries to get Paulina back he says a line kind of like this: "You're a good woman, isn't that enough? Can't we love each other with love, like a man loves a woman?" Love each other with love?! How else is someone supposed to love? And furthermore, why aren't' these shows marketed as comedies? They say things like that and expect people to keep straight faces. I can't believe I took these so seriously when I was 12.
  
• Gabriela Spanic is really bad. Actually, she's really bad when it's a sad, dramatic moment which is like 99% of all the scenes Paulina is in. She's much better at happy scenes or scenes where she can show personality or be somewhat evil. But Paulina is a void of personality and happiness, and so are a lot of the characters I've seen her play. Still, why do I keep liking her so much?
• One of my favorite games to play when I watch these things - though I should really should make up some drinking games - is "Spot the Accent". Spanic is really bad about letting her Venezuelan accent slip out. Libertad Lamarque (RIP) mostly slips up with "y" sounds (Also, Abuela Piedad is totally one of the only likeable characters in this thing. Along with Patricia, Rodrigo's poor wife, but I digress). Juan Pablo Gamboa is not bad I think; but you can definitely tell he's Colombian.
• One for the shrinks: I only find Fernando Colunga hot when he's an asshole. When he's playing the hero, he's dead to me. This probably explains my luck with men.
• Everytime I hear the "Mas alla" inserted into the theme song for the special, I LOL.
• Does Chantal Andere ever play good characters? I like her. Though I hate how her mental illness is represented in the last episodes. Is a decent representation of the mentally ill too much to ask of a late 90s cheesy soap? ;) I'm glad she ends up relatively normal - and with better hair - in the end.

This stuff is crack, I tell you. I'm going to find episodes of "Por Tu Amor" (More Spanic, please. Nothing beats the last scene with the cross floating in the air), or "La Mentira" (tequila farming and spousal abuse) or "El Privilegio de Amar" (what didn't happen in this one? Tamara going crazy and shaving her head personal favorite). Aaaah, good times.

Forgot to mention...

1. I watched the live feed of Eurovision today and oh my god, CAMP GALORE! I could not stop laughing. Ukraine's Shady Lady was my favorite, closely followed by the Latvian pirates. Anything that involves singing pirates needs immediate watching, at least that is my theory. Portugal looked like Ursula the Sea Witch and I have no idea how that went through. Same for Georgia's Piss, I mean, Peace Will Come. I wonder if the singer was blind? I guess that made her fortunate enough to see how awfully she was dressed.

2. Roland Garros starts on Sunday and I am sooooooo excited! Ana and Rafa will conduct the draw tomorrow. Ana Ivanovic had her own segment on the Eurovision broadcast today, and she is so inhumanely gorgeous; it's just not fair. Can I look like her in my life? Anyway, back to tennis. My picks: EDIT: I had to take them out; because I'm afraid they won't win now. I'm a superstitious freak. I hope I didn't ruin it.

3. I leave for New Jersey tomorrow. Wooo, 10 hour drive, at least I have books.

Housing assignments and how my aunt and uncle probably think I have an eating disorder

I got my housing assignment today. My host "parent" (and I use the term loosely, because this person hardly seems like a parent by her description) is named Katja. She is a twenty-something student who enjoys jogging and the tango. She leaves in an apartment near a park and the building has a trolley (?) station in front. Another student will be living in that same building. She also has a cat, so I hope my allergies are okay.

She seems cool and a athletic and I hope that she doesn't mind if I join her for a jog, because I don't want to gain weight from the German pastries and beer. I think I've gained some weight already this summer. Usually, I lose weight without even trying over the summer because I go to Colombia and I could write page upon page on how unhealthy American eating habits are but I'll spare you the drivel. I love my aunt and uncle, and I think they are amazing, but honestly, meal times with them is a total pain.

Basically, my aunt and uncle serve huge portions that I am completely unable to eat (and most normal people shouldn't eat, either). My aunt will make a comment on how I eat like a bird and then I'll feel really guilty. My aunt and uncle are extremely religious, and believe that throwing any food away is a sin. However, I was never raised to believe that I had to eat everything on my plate - I was taught just to eat until I felt full and I'm honestly physically unable to eat more than that. I have a really sensitive stomach (just ask anyone I've been out drinking with, jaja) and I'm also lactose intolerant, so I'm really wary of eating too much because I get sick so easily. Anyway, my aunt will ask me how much spaghetti I want. "A scoop", I answer. "A scoop? Only that? Here, have a little more" and she scoops about twice as much as I am physically able to eat and inevitably asks surprised when I eat exactly half of my portion.

So with all these habits, I think I've given my aunt and uncle credible evidence to think I have an eating disorder:

1. They already think I don't eat enough.
2. I don't eat at regularly scheduled hours.
   
3. One of the signs of bulimia is that the bulimic often goes to the bathroom after finishing a meal (to throw up). I do the same thing...for totally different reasons. If you've ever lived with me, you'd know that I brush my teeth more often than anyone else I know. I'm extremely obsessive about dental hygiene. I can't stand the feel of dirty teeth or the taste of food in my mouth. My instinct to go brush my teeth kicks in before I've finished swallowing my last bite. It's that strong of a habit. Mock me if you must - but I've never had a cavity.
   

So anyway, I won't be surprised if they make awkward comments about it.

On a final note, I've been watching Mexican soap opera classic La Usurpadora on one of the Latin channels. This one has everything...evil twins, alcoholism, hot guys, Gaby Spanic's hysterical overacting even for a Mexican soap - it's ripe for a spoof on The Soup. I used to LOVE this soap back in the day. However, I've been really disturbed by the blatant sexism it spouts! It's not an uncommon trend in Mexican soaps or Latin TV in general, but it's really sullied my memory of it and I find it very hard to watch now. Wednesday's episode left a really bad taste in my mouth and I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it again.

I still love Gaby Spanic though.

Not yet in Berlin and other blabbity blab

The main purpose of this journal is to chronicle my study abroad experience in Berlin. The wise people at IES recommend that students keep a journal (even if you normally don't), so this is mine. I'd write, but, let's face it: I'm lazy and I'm a much faster typer than I am a writer. I am also an insane perfectionist and it's easier to delete stuff when it's typed.

Obviously, I'm not in Berlin yet. Currently, I'm in Hilliard, Ohio, staying at my uncle Julian and my aunt Lele's house, along with their totally adorable 16-month old, Samuel. I'd be at home in Barranquilla, but the German consulate had my passport, so I couldn't leave the country. My uncle is getting transferred to Jersey soon, so we'll be traveling there on Friday. Julian and I will be driving and my aunt and the baby will be flying, because you can't attach car seats to trucks or some other reason like that. This will be my third move in as many weeks - I packed up my entire room almost two weeks ago, flew here and now I'll be heading to New Jersey.

I got my visa on Friday but it's only for Germany and not a Schengen visa. So I don't know what I'm going to do about that. Supposedly I have to go to the Aliens Affairs office in Berlin and solve that issue. It's a big mess; I knew things were going too well lately.

I bought a new camera today - it's a Fujifilm Finepix Z20 and it is PINK! I was going to buy a Sony one originally, but the Finepix has more or less the same features, it was on sale and it has glass lenses instead of plastic. Oh and did I mention it's pink? :) I have to read the manual and try it out later (probably pics of Samuel!). I've also bought my textbook, a notebook, a money belt, a camera bag, a lock for luggage, a guidebook and phrasebook and some other stuff I can't think of at the moment. My uncle is lending me a backpack so I don't have to buy that (yay $$$ saved).

Before I leave, my aunt and I are practicing my driving skills. As those who know me will tell you, I don't have a car and the only time I drive is when I am home. I never really practiced driving much, so I'm a little rusty, but it's getting better. Hopefully by the end of the summer, I'll have a valid American driving license instead of an under-18 Colombian one. I'm terrified of highways; they make me nervous because Americans drive so fast. I also have a ridiculous fear of a.) stepping outside the lanes and b.) car accidents, so driving near huge trucks makes me nervous. I think for that particular reason driving a big car would make me feel more confident, but at the same time the whole "driving outside the lines" and the fact that I learned to drive on a small Mazda makes me feel a lot more comfortable in small car. Tickets make me nervous, police cars make me nervous, 18-wheelers make me nervous; it's a wonder I don't have an ulcer already. But I really need to do this, because I'm going to have to get a car in order to drive to my internship at Gilcrease next semester. I would really like a Honda Fit or Civic or a Toyota Yaris or Corolla, because they're so small and cute. I drove to Barnes and Noble yesterday and to Walmart and Outback today, and tomorrow I'm practicing parallel parking a.k.a my idea of hell.

I'm terrified of packing also. How am I supposed to live out of two suitcases for the next two months? For a week-long trip to Cartagena, I once packed 7 pairs of shoes. I honestly don't know how to pack light. Ack! I need to go through my makeup and sort what I actually need. And buy small bottles of body lotion.

More to come later.
Ciao.