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Thursday, May 13, 2010

14.05.10



28.04.10

I went with my community representative to her university, and got to sit in on a lecture. It was interesting, and something unexpected happened. I heard something. It was an accent. An American was sitting not too far from me.

After the lecture I talked to him for a really long time about colleges... I had been wanting to sort of just apply to whichever school I know would accept me, and avoid having to stress out too much about going somewhere out of state, or somewhere expensive. He had a really good point though. Why not at least try?

30.04.10



I met up with the exchange student from Switzerland after school, and we rode our bikes to the Heilandskirche (a church) on the side of the Havel river. No one was allowed to go there during the Cold War, because it was a part of the wall. Literally. One of the walls of its bell tower was used as a piece of the Berlin Wall.



But, it is a beautiful church. And it's really on the water's edge, so you go down a small staircase and wade in the river, or walk along the church's outer wall, which juts out into the Havel.

Another fun thing about the trip, is that I didn't know 100% how to get that. What I like about navigating along a river, is that all you really need to know is in which direction something is. Then you follow the river until you get there. Berlin itself is turning more into a huge maze that navigate through without fear. I can just be somewhere, and I'll always figure out by myself how to get home. Whether it be by bike, bus, subway, tram, train, boat, or foot, I'm getting there. Ironically, that's something my mom was afraid of before I came here. She didn't want me to get lost in Berlin. But to me, that seems impossible to do.

01-02.05.10

I went to the Baltic Sea again with my host family, but my host brother stayed home this time. We went on huge bike rides through the forest, and I got rained on really badly, but I also managed to find souvenirs that don't cost a fortune! I also went to a city called Wandemünde, and it was really nice there. An interesting thing about the Baltic Sea, is that this one type of ancient tree grew there, and only there. Now, when we find the remnants of this tree, it's called amber. And guess what? You can only find it at the Baltic Sea.

06.05.10

I saw a beautiful movie with my host cousin. It was called "The Last Song", and you really shouldn't read what I'm about to say, unless you want a spoiler. So, do you really want to know what happens? Really? 100% sure? (This is your last chance to skip this paragraph!) Ok, here goes. The father dies from cancer. But there's sea turtles. Why is this important? Because the sea turtles are eggs. The daughter (who is visiting her father), protects the sea turtles for the first half of the film, and then they hatch. As she and the rest of the people (you know, the cast that I don't want to explain right now) watched the sea turtles go into the sea, her father collapses. Basically, the ideas of new life (the sea turtles) and death (the father and cancer) are always there. But they're not fighting for camera time, no, they're coexisting harmoniously. As if life was just a cycle. As if there will always be new life, and there will always be the ending of old lives, but it must be like that. A 'death' is just a new opening on this Earth for more life, and there wouldn't be any room for new life, if the old life didn't cease. It's a cycle. A circle. No beginning, no end.

08.05.10

I ran a marathon. And I didn't die! There's an annual Avon marathon in Berlin to fight against breast cancer, and everyone who participates gets a bag of makeup. It goes through the Tiergarten and ends and begins at the Siegelsäule. And the marathon I took part in was really only 5 kilometers, so it wasn't really that bad. But I ran it with some friends, and it was fun. I was happy that I wasn't the last person over the finish line, even though I walked a lot. And even though I walked a lot, at least I did it. That's a lot just by itself.

09.05.10

I went to see a theater with my host mom and host grandma. We saw it in Friedrich The Great's palace, in the room he saw it in (it was a newer take on an older piece), where only he and his noble guests went to enjoy amusements. I was really frustrated at first, because almost the whole thing was in Italian, and at first I didn't understand that the jesters were giving summaries about what was going to happen in the next scene before the people starting singing in Italian (did I mention it was half opera?). But it was entertaining.

13.05.10

I watched Germany's Next Top Model at a friend's house, and we made crêpes with Nutella. Then we watched another TV show, and I was a bit tired, but not too bad, so I didn't realize how late it was. No mom, I didn't get home at 11pm. I got home at midnight!

It's really interesting to think about all of the freedom I have here in comparison to how it was before in my life. My mom wouldn't have allowed me to stay out until midnight, and I wouldn't be able to do a lot of the stuff I do normally now. But I'm also not the same person I was before. It'll be hard to adjust to American culture again, and no, I don't mean the rules by that. I'll have to talk the whole time in another language too... I'm used to German. I speak different in German. I learned how to express what I want in German, and forgot how to do it in English. And the worst part? I can't translate German into English, and vice versa. I didn't know what my own German blog's title was in English.

This will probably not make any sense to you though.

But I'm on school break, and I'm sick, and I really hope my mom doesn't send me more cough drops after reading this, because I already have two bags, and I found tasty Wasabi beans. They really open up your nasal canal.



(Unrelated note: my exchange program is having a photo competition, and I entered three photos. I'm not really sure what I sent is what they wanted, but oh well. I like my photos, and at least I'm trying!)

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