The Mules

Hello all! I don’t know when this post will actually get posted, but it was written on Sunday April 31^st at 4:54 from my new room in Potsdam.  Happy Easter to all from a snowy Potsdam.  I can’t say that it is a white Potsdam, because the snow has been melting, so though it is a bit white, it isn’t an even blanket of white.  However, as I sit from my quiet room, I can still see snow falling! It isn’t stickying, but it is (and has been) falling consistently!

Today started late than expected… for two reasons. 

1.     I tried to make use of my last night of internet for a while, and I watched German shows until about 2 am.

2.      I really watched German television until 3 am, because the German daylight saving springing forward business was apparently scheduled for today. 

I woke up at around 10:15 and quickly messaged Colby, because we were actually supposed to be meeting at 10:00 outside of this café called “butter.”  Whooops! He had overslept a bit too, I think! So we ended up meeting a bit later, but it was fine! Once at butter, we picked a table and were then asked kindly to move to another smaller table, because a group of 3 needed ours! Hahaha! Today was my last day waking up in Berlin… Tomorrow, I will be waking up in Potsdam!!!! That being said, our goal was to have a lovely brunch (less awkward than the first we had on my first Sunday in Berlin).  We achieved our goal and ate way too much… as expected when one has an incredible buffet... At one point, I am talking to Colby and out of the corner of my eye I see something black run across the room.  A RAT! I think! Oh my gosh!!!!! I tell Colby to turn around and we both lay eyes on the tiniest dog I have ever seen.  He was just running around.  If I had stepped on him, he would have died, no doubt about it! His owner picked him up and proceeded to sit at the bar with him and then sit down and a table and feed him some of her food while she ate… WHAT? Crazy!!!

(Ok--- so around the time I was typing this part, I fell asleep yesterday. So this part I am writing today (April 1^st). )

After finishing brunch, we headed to my apartment to grab the 5 huge ikea bags and my backpack, which was packed to look like I was going hiking for a month.  Upon arriving at my apartment, we were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of things that needed to get to Potsdam.  My landlady was on the phone, and I didn’t want to just leave without saying goodbye… So we waited until I heard her off the phone and walking around.  She came to my room to say a quick goodbye and I pointed out the little something that I was leaving her (so she wouldn’t think I left it by mistake).  Two minutes later the mules (Colby and I) were on their way to Potsdam.  The bags were soooooo heavy! Colby kept saying, are you sure you couldn’t live without any of these things for the first week??? My answer= no! As a matter of fact I knew there were some things that I left off the list that I really needed!!!!

You know how in some movies one sees a rich couple climbing at machu pichu or somewhere, and they pay a little indigenous man to carry their stuff (I can’t name how many things are wrong with that situation), that is how we felt and looked.  The first S Bahn took forever… Since it’s Easter weekend, the whole city is packed with tourists, not crazy people transporting a house in 5 IKEA bags and a huge hiking backpack.!!! Oh well, after 2 trains and a bus, we made it to my apartment!  It felt so great knowing that I had most of the essentials and I would be spending the night in this apartment/dorm. 

After moving my bed

My view

After Colby helped me set up everything, I rode the train with him to the main train station, because I wanted to see if anything was open where I could buy laundry detergent and maybe some dishwashing detergent.  Sadly… nothing was open. So I grabbed some junk for dinner and returned to my quiet room.  It was awesome! I have no internet, but I do have movies I brought from home! It is kind of like being secluded in the middle of nowhere with no phone or internet, but I love it! (for a little while anyway!)

So once at home at around 5 I laid down to watch Baby Mama. In about 30 minutes I was asleep!!! This is huge, because that movie is one of my favorites, so for me to fall asleep… I must have been that tired!! At 8:45 I woke up thinking two things: 1. Crap, I’ll never fall asleep tonight, 2. Why is my throat soar, I can’t be getting sick!!!

I immediately took a little pill I had from home for colds, and I proceeded to watch another of my favorite movies, Pitch Perfect.  I stayed awake through the whole thing, but around 11 I fell back asleep…. And I slept until 11:45 today!!!  What??? I hadn’t been able to sleep in at all since I got here!!!!! Must be this awesomely quiet room!!! (disclaimer: students aren’t back yet, so I’m sure it’ll get louder).

I felt great!!! I quickly got dressed and went for a run.  It was my first run in exactly a month, so I knew it would be rough, and it was! But I am planning on doing this often, so I’ll get back in the swing of things.  My running route was planned so that I could stop on campus and check my emails/show signs of life. But after 2 minutes of that, the cold got the best of me and I had to run back. 

I really can’t tell y’all how great it is to be in this apartment.  I am a bit anxious about when my roommate will appear, since the door to her room has been shut and there isn’t much around to let me know if she has even been here.  Oh well… soon I will find out.  Either way, I love this place!!!! After my run I got to take my first comfortable shower!!! It was awesome!!!

Then… I got to cook my first meal while in Germany, soooo excited! It was simple: lentils.  Since I forgot to buy sea salt and lemon, it wasn’t the tastiest meal, but it sure was tasty! Top it off with a fresh apple and I am thrilled!

After the healthy start to my day… which I remind y’all started at 12:00… .I fell asleep at 4:00pm!!!! I took a 3 hour nap.  I really must have not been sleeping as well as I thought in Berlin!!!! After my nap, I watched a couple of movies and then read (yes mom, read) until 3:00am. 

I guess this is probably the reason that this morning was kind of rough.  I woke up at 10, and at 10:30 I was at the bus station ready to head to campus.  I had to accomplish a lot today.  First I went to the AOK to validate my health insurance… man I must have fooled him, because he spoke as if I were a local! Bhahahahahah.  Then I went to the ZEIK to sign up for internet in my room.  The line was out the door so I headed to my apartment to check the mail to see if my bank information had finally come in. 

On my way to the bus stop I ran into Paul, my buddy.  He is just soooo sweet.  We talked, I struggled with my German and he struggled with his Spanish, until we got to our dorms.  There, I quickly checked my mail and hopped on the next bus back to campus.  Before checking ZEIK again, I wanted to grab some quick lunch, and there I ran into Renata (a Hungarian girl from our German class) and I went to lunch with her.  After we finished, Anastasia (Russia), Marika(Czech), and Martin(Marika’s Czech boyfriend that is visiting from Munich, where he studies) joined us and we figured out how to register for classes.  I registered for the classes that were available, and now know which ones I need to wait until tomorrow to register.  After there, Renata and I both headed to ZEIK.  

She has internet but her signal is too low.  So I let her go before me and watched her struggle as they made her make an appointment over the phone with a technician that will come to her room tomorrow.  I would have died… Thankfully I only had to fill out a contract and now… (WAIT!) for a long time…. Maybe a week, maybe longer until my internet starts working…..  Oh well! After that Renata and I headed to Kaufland (a supermarket) because we both needed to buy a few essentials.

My list:

-       dish detergent

-       paper towels

-       sea salt

-       olive oil

-       broom

-       kitchen towels

I got everything I needed and then took the very slow bus back to my dorm.  Once I had unloaded everything, I headed right back out.  Next goal:  figure out why I still haven’t gotten my credit card, my pin for my debit card, my pin for online…. ANYTHING. Ugh.  I took the bus to campus, used the internet to see if Colby needed me to help him move today, and then caught the next bus to town.  I’d like to point out that I have heard all sorts of languages today, this I guess is because today was the official day for foreign exchange students to arrive.  While I talked to Paul on the bus I could hear a group of Americans talking behind us.  AVOID AT ALL COST ! Not because they are American, but because I HAVE to make sure I keep speaking German.

Once at the bank, I was quickly helped by a very sweet lady, Frau Roll.  I still don’t know whether she realized I was foreing.  I must be getting really good at acting like I get what people are saying, because she didn’t once slow down or act like she doubted that I got what she was saying.  She was incredibly helpful and resent all of the info, and even helped me make a transaction, since I legitimately have no way of doing it, since I only have pins for cards I don’t have and cards for which I have no pins.  Hahahha. Oh well, my semester fee has been paid! Now I hope to get my pin soon so I can pay my rent/internet! I  was thoroughly pleased with the outcome though, because I found out that I have indeed received the money from the DAAD!!! Whoooo!!! I can no officially pay my taxes in the US!!! Yaaay! I have never been so happy!!! Ok.  Well now I’m sitting at a Starbucks that is in Potsdam’s pedestrian street.  It is one of 3 places that have WLAN (what German call their WIFI)…. So now I am about to call Hannele to set up a meeting for this week.  After this, I’m off to my lovely room to eat something for dinner and probably hit the hay… Well, if there’s still light I might run some, but definitely not in the dark.  We shall see!!!!!  Bis bald (till soon)!!!