Foreigner Searching for a Bathtub

I'm dedicating today's blog to my lovely friend and faithful follower Emily Kate!! Happy Birthday to you!!!!

Today has been a VERY long day! To tell you the truth, I don't even remember when it started!! But it started at 8:00! Because at 10:00, I had to be at the doctor's office!!! Today the wait was a little bit longer, but when I went in... he basically just asked me how I was doing.  I told him it was still hurting and he prescribed me what I understood to be bath salts.  He also told me to make sure I use ibuprofen until it goes away.  Still no break, bruising, or swelling... so it's not going to fall off !

After the visit at the doctors I got back on the bus and headed to campus for my class.  On the bus I found a pre-k or day care class.  SOOOOOO PRECIOUS!!! I miss kids! I love babysitting and getting to play with happy kids, and here... I haven't really gotten the chance to do that.  Oh well.. these children were adorable.  Three in particular were sharing a seat that faces an older lady.  She was talking to them and they were thrilled to speak to her.  After about 3 minutes I found out the lady was visiting from Stuttgart, the kids were getting off at Kastanienallee, and the kids had just been to a park.  Each of the children was carrying wild flowers that looked to have just been picked.  After a few more minutes, one of the little boys gave the older lady a flower and said, "here this is for you, since you aren't getting off at the same station as us."  Then he turned to his teacher (who had more lip piercing than anyone I've ever seen) and told her, "here, I picked this one especially for you!" Soo incredibly adorable!!!!

Once on campus, I realized how hungry I was! In the rush of the morning, I had forgotten to get one of my vegan breakfasts ready!!! Oh no!!! So there I went... straight for the amazing little cheese and tomato breads.... UGH! Next, I rushed to the library to print off my homework for my next class, but as is usually the case when one needs to print something for class... the printer wasn't working. UGH.  Oh well!!! Luckily it was just my German language course! This course is a bit of a confidence booster, because I don't have to try too hard and I can understand it all! I know this might mean that I could go to the next level of the class, but I am ok!! I can barely handle my work load as is!!! The teacher speaks spanish, and she always tries to clear up unknown words in Spanish for the people that speak Spanish... Then she looks at me and the Australian girl for English clarification... Today, the word that came up was "Stimmung," which means mood.  Well the teacher could not remember the word in Spanish and it was driving her crazy! So after letting her think for a bit, I busted out and said, "estado de animo."  She was so confused that I could hardly stop myself from laughing.  The Spaniards gave me the most confused look and it took them all a while to process or remember the fact that I actually learned Spanish before English... It was pretty funny!

After class I took the bus to the middle of Potsdam and again failed at my attempts at vegan... the smells were just too amazing... So one Bratwurst later.... I was headed to Starbucks to sit and wait for Hannele and her daughter to call me.  At 16:00 her daughter found me and led me to the cafe where Hannele was waiting. Turns out, their favorite cafe is also the cafe that Christiane took my mom and I to in 2009. Tooo  funny!  We had an incredible time! They treated me to some amazing tea and coffee and I really enjoyed talking to them.  I really can't explain how thankful I am for them.  They were so concerned about my foot, that is all they wanted to  hear! After the 3 hours with them, my main concern was my horrible German.  I shocked myself with the amounts that I understood, but my speaking... man oh man have I got a LOT to learn!!!! I guess that's why I'm here...

The conversation could not have been more entertaining.  The both of them gave me a lot of insight on my research and even mentioned things that really made me think about everything differently.  Hannele mentioned the past... the ability to leave it behind and move forward to build a future in Israel... And at that point I also realized that Oma was stuck in the middle of times as well... She lived in the past (Germany), the present (Uruguay), and the future (the Zionist movement and Israel)... Sooo much to think about! Hannele also shared some stories about her family and how her cousin survived hidden in basement and attics... At that point she also told me that she really can't talk about these stories anymore.  She says she can't... She said she was lucky enough to leave, but the memories she has of Berlin before she left... most of them are horrible enough that she doesn't want to talk about them.  I truly can't begin to imagine... As I waited with her standing on the sidewalk, while her daughter got the car, I was so struck by her words.  She and her daughter are just so kind to welcome me into their lives...

Out conversation quickly shifted to her hatred for the noise that young people listen to now a days... She said, "we were different... I guess it was different before us too, but I didn't live back then!" During coffee the conversation also drifted toward the fact that the U.S. Senate blocked the laws to extend background checks...  Both Hannele and her daughter were just shocked... they both spoke of the horrific things they have seen happen in the world, and they just can't understand why a nation wouldn't make sure that crazy people can't get a hold of a gun... From there, we moved to the food processing situation in both America and German... Obesity... air pollution... and finally Mars.  Hannele showed such concern for this world.  She couldn't stop saying, " I don't know a time where the whole world has been at peace, where no one was killing another group because of hatred."  She kept expressing her concern for overpopulation, pollution, etc... but she said... "but yeah... I guess if we find water in Mars, we could try to live there if everything here runs out..."  I felt sad at her statement... I know all generations feel like the next is ruining their world... but it made me sad to see someone who survived the persecution that her family endured during the Holocaust being sooo disappointed at the current state of our world...

On another note, these incredible ladies drove me home after our coffee/cake date!  Since  they needed to use the restroom I invited them in.  Man was I not ready for that!!!! Friday is my cleaning day! And today is Thursday!!! Which means... my room was anything but clean!! At first I thought I would just let them in my kitchen and bathroom, but then I felt bad... So I apologized for the awful room and showed them in.  They were appalled!!!!! Not by the mess, but by the apartment itself.  When I told them how much I was paying and that I had to buy sheets, plates, towels, etc... they couldn't believe it! Her daughter kept repeating "and this is how we Germans treat our visitors? Horrible!!!!" They were so concerned for me... They wanted me to have more lamps, to be closer to the city, to pay less... It was sooo sweet of them... They felt bad that I didn't ask for plates, etc (but I didn't know them back then!!! ... 2 weeks ago) Hannele even offered to give me money... They are just sooo incredibly sweet... as they say, we are carrying the tradition of being close family friends.  I just adore them!  Hannele's daughter is leaving with her boyfriend for Spain next week, but I will get to see Hannele, because she is staying here alone!! But she says she loves living alone and is very excited to get a few months to herself.

Hannele and  I 

After they left I started sautéing vegetables (pepper, mushrooms,onions) and chopping (tomatoes, avocados, and feta cheese) to make a delicious cous cous to last a few days! While doing that I talked to Colby and tried to figure out if we could make a day trip to Dresden this Saturday.  After a bit of investigating with hours and trains, we decided  to wait for another weekend.  And I decided to call mom.  While on skype I showed her what I thought were my prescription bath salts and told her I would have to buy a bucket tomorrow to use to help my foot.  While reading the instructions to her, I realized that it is NOT bath salts... Instead it is a prescription type of muscle relaxant that one uses with a BATH!!!!! Like 2 drops per 10 liters of water!!!! Well that means I can't just use a bucket.... AAAHHHHH.... So I don't have a bath... So I start thinking... I can't call Hannele and ask to use her bathtub... I just can't! It's her daughter's last week here and they already told me how crazy it is... Well, Colby doesn't have a bathtub and neither do my friends here... So now what!?!?!? While on the phone with mom we considered renting my room in Prenzlauer Berg back for the weekend or getting a hotel room here for the weekend... How dumb would that be! If I'm going to rent a room... why not do it in Dresden???? Sooooo... I called Colby. A hotel would solve our train time issues...  It would also get me a bathtub!!! So we searched for hotels in Dresden that advertised a bathtub in their bathrooms, and once we found one that was in a central location.... we booked it!!! So I'm going to Dresden this weekend!!!! My first trip and I am soooo excited!!!! I will take my bath salts (or whatever it is) and take a LOT of baths! I will also take my ibuprofen and try to limit my walking (as not to overdo it!).  Anyway... basically we are going to Dresden... because I need a bathtub! I know that's stupid and there were a million easier solutions, but this one is going to be a blast!!! Can't wait!  Now I'm off to bed!! Goodnight lovely people!!!

Spring nights!

Brandenburger Strasse

Where did I leave off?  I think Monday afternoon... Well Monday evening I met up with the two other Ole Miss students studying in Potsdam.  We met up at around 8:30 at the pedestrian street in Potsdam, Brandenburger Strasse.  It was sooooo pretty!!! It was finally the perfect temperature! So no coat! Just a sweater and a scarf (only as an accessory though, definitely not needed)!

We decided on a place called "Matador" and I had a delicious chili, which was more like a really spicy goulash with beans! Haha it was still delicious! Our plan was to get ice cream on the way back, but since we didn't leave until 10:30ish, all the places had already closed... sad day! (Not really)  I ended up having to ride to the Hauptbanhof (Main station), which is the complete other direction than my dorm... but my other option was waiting 50 minutes for a bus, and I just wasn't feeling it!  So at the main station I took a train to the train station at Park Sansoussi.  From there, it is about a 10 or 15 minute walk to my apartment... the last time I made this walk was the night of Saturday 6th... the night my foot started hurting.  Haha I thought about that as I made my way home.  However, I was wearing my NISOLO shoes and they turned out to provide the perfect support for my foot, so it was barely hurting!!!! 

Tuesday I woke up a little later and headed to campus to do my homework for my only class!!! Whooo! I love Tuesdays!  After class I met the Argentinian girl that is in my class.  She is actually here doing her master and will at least be here until 2015! She studies languages and loves them! I think she moved here for her boyfriend... but they broke up 2 days ago... YIKES! However, she says she loves living in Germany and she's hoping to stay after she graduates... So maybe she did the breaking up... Hahah... 

Anyway, after grabbing a quick to go bite from the cafeteria I headed downtown to the Moses Mendelsohn Zentrum, which specializes in Jewish studies.  There I found a lady that directed a project focusing on family histories through letters... they worked on digitalizing them.  I was really excited to get to meet her, and I naturally got there about 45 minutes too early.  However,  it is located in a beautiful place, so I sat outside enjoying the sun and reading some of the million things I need to read! 

At exactly 15:00 pm I headed up the stairs and asked where the lady was.  They told me what I though meant 1/2 story deeper... I was like... "WHAT??" So I assumed I misheard and headed upstairs... so the lady repeated the same thing from the other room and I repeated oh yeah you said "tiefer..." Thinking to myself... I know that means deeper.. how do I go deeper into a building... So I thought, that must mean further back, but she said no you have to go outside.... So I did... And then I found an unlabeled door halfway down the stairs.. certainly that wasn't it.. Oh wait, it was!!! After going to the library and having a nice lady lead me to the door, I realized (like an idiot) that tiefer also means lower... so half a story lower... like just go halfway down  the stairs bright one!!!! Anyway... the lady was very nice! 

I am still struggling trying to find a guiding main idea for my thesis and was hoping she would help me come up with something.  Instead, she helped me figure out a way to organize my archives of letters... Which would be great, if I was at home with the 700+ letters... Instead, I have digital copies of the important years... And organizing digital copies, will take me ages... ages that I don't have.  I asked for titles, and she told me that there are a million! Jeeeeez thank girl! Haha all kidding aside, she pointed me to their library (like my professor had) and suggested one author who writes about Jewish identity.  We talked over some main ideas: comparing the structures she describes to what I find today (not too interesting..), how her identity changed (as in what she kept) but also how she used some german, Jewish, and Uruguayan parts to become this person split in three worlds... etc.  I'm still not a hundred percent on anything, but I'm back to the idea of identity... Now if any of you out there have an awesome concrete source that I can use as my basis for analyzing identity... PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! I think of her transformation and I can see how I can compare what she saw as a child and how she described it vs. what she saw in her journey back in 1961... BUT I have to have some structure that I use to analyze the changes! UGH... that is SOOOOO not my thing.  I just want to write her story... And use all the letters to tell about how her life that she was trying to start in Uruguay was plagued by continuos horrifying news from home... I'm waiting for this light bulb to go off... but it is just not happening yet and I'm starting to get worried....

After meeting with the lady yesterday, my awesome shoes that were giving me perfect support, were also rubbing sooo many blisters on my feet that I could barely walk... SOOOOO.... I rushed to the pedestrian street, went into H&M and bought some cheap comfy shoes! But darn all these cobblestones!!! I hate them!!!! If it wasn't for them, my foot would be back to normal, I just know it!!!! 

  

New comfy shoes and some darn cobblestones

Mother teaching child to blow bubbles

Anyway, after that I headed to the bank to ask them to send me a new pin, since i never got it. Turns out they can't do that. So they took my debit card and are now going to send me a debit card and then a pin. Good lord, if I don't get it, I don't know what I'm going to do... probably cry. (no not really, it is actually totally fine for now) 

After that, I knew I had to find a place to change shoes or I would loose my feet to blisters.... So Starbucks here I go!  One of the only 2 places in Potsdam with wifi!!! Whooooo!! So I spent about 2 hours there catching up on some reading, re-reading about ethnic enclaves (deciding that is definitely NOT what I want to write about), and enjoying some people watching! 

At one point this mother spent about 30 minutes teaching her little boy (around 3) how to use his new toy to make bubbles... There were bubbles floating around for the next hour, super precious!!!   

At some point I decided to head home, but first!!!! I got some delicious ice cream!!! 

This morning started earlier than I wanted it to... but I had an 8 o'clock class...

My class is really great! This is the first semester in a while, where my classes actually interest me! That being said, my German classes are a bore... But the ones with context... they are awesome!!!! I know someone will point this out in about 2 weeks when I am beyond sick of school, but for right now... I am pumped.  In my first class we discussed how to use accounts from people in order to create a work of history (thesis, dissertation, etc).  She talked about how to validate, how to disprove, how to research, etc... It was incredibly helpful and I wrote down many tips for my thesis!  Comprehension isn't at 100% (since it is in German), but I'm getting better (I think....) The second class was in English and will be discussing Talmudic culture... Sadly I barely know what this is, so I have a lot to learn! But the professor is awesome and today's lesson taught me a lot already!! Can't wait!!!!! The magic here is that we use the whole class to learn from the teacher and they have a lot of interesting things to teach! Thus far, I love it!!! I had a 2 hour break after this class.... so I figured out printing on campus and how to load money to my student ID!! Big day!!! 

After that, I picked up some food from the cafeteria and sat down under a tree to read for class! Love this weather!!! 

I sat under one of these! 

Me looking ridiculous under my tree... Attempting to get the Asian tourist behind me without them noticing... FAIL

My German grammar class is overwhelming... it is definitely not fun.  There is sooo much I have forgotten... so much that I learned for a test and never applied... Ugh.... this is going to be frustrating, but I really need it, so I am going to have to suck it up.  After class I dropped off my backpack at my dorm and headed to the BIO supermarket to stock up on organic products.  I was officially out of food, so tomorrow starts my veganish diet back (cheese is my downfall, but other than that... no animal products!)! I felt great while I was doing it at home, and now that I am finally settling into a routine, I have noooo excuse!  We shall see how this goes! 

Back at home I have been reading letters! I reread everything I have transcribed, and realized how little it really is... I need an army to help me do this!!! I am meeting with Hannele tomorrow, so I might mention getting together to see if we can decipher them together.  For now, I think I've done enough for today!  Tomorrow I will be waking up too early to go back to the doctor to see if he has any helpful tips for my foot! I'll let you guys know tomorrow!  Bis dann! 

Nom nom nom

This post goes out to my incredible mother, whose birthday is today!!!  Happy birthday mom!!!!!

So as predicted, the weekend was pretty uneventful.  I stayed in my room, watched some movies, and thought A LOT about what my thesis to my thesis will be... No brilliant lightbulb moment yet, but I will keep working on it!

One thing I did get to do this weekend was cook! It all started with Colby, but thanks to the inspiration, it continued for the rest of the weekend.  On Saturday I made use of the final tablespoons of the incredible pesto... again, it was delicious!!!! On Sunday, I wasn't planning on eating anything other than the leftover cous cous (food so good they named it twice!) and cheese and olives! Sounded delicious to me! But then... I was skipping home and they were raving about my mom's pasta she made with vegetables... So I got inspired!

Yummy!!

Thirty minutes later, I had a pasta with sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, feta cheese, and parmesan cheese. Soooooo incredibly tasty! I shocked myself!

Nom nom nom....

Today, was a bit more eventful!! I woke up late and took the bus to school.  First observation: SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!! The weather is awesome!! There are people wearing shorts and t-shirts! It is amazing to see a blue sky after soooo many grey days!  The plan this morning was, if my foot felt as good as I expected it to, to walk slowly and get it moving a bit.  But my foot wasn't feeling entirely normal, so I decided to stay on the safe side!

Campus! 

I went to my first class on 19th century Jews in Europe and I am getting really excited about these classes.  I am more than aware of how hard they will be, but the information is incredibly interesting! So refreshing!!! After class I made a pit stop at the cafeteria and bought a delicious mini baguette with tomatoes and mozzarella (delicious breakfast!) When I left the cafeteria I noticed that there were people everywhere outside! I remember Martin and Colby telling me that in Germany when the weather gets nice, everyone goes outside! It's true!!! There were people laying on the grass, every bench was taken, and the campus looked alive!

I headed off campus and hopped on the bus and headed to the main terminal.  My goals were: A. buy a card to do laundry, B. go to Kaufland and buy laundry detergent, a drying rack, tape to wrap my foot, and some other things.  Once the card was purchased, in the same office where the ogre works (but I didn't run into her), I headed to Kaufland, but first.... I made a huge discovery!!!! Downstairs, I found an incredible Bio (organic) store with everything I could every dream of wanting to eat!!!! Since I still have a lot of food in my fridge, I decided that once I run out, I will only buy food here!!! Can't wait!!! At Kaufland I was disappointed not to find the drying rack that I've been looking at for 2 weeks now.... It is sold out! My luck! I haven't had the need to do my laundry since I moved to Potsdam, but now that I want to, everything seems to be telling me to just go get it done! After Kaufland I headed straight back on the bus.

It is great to go home for lunch, especially when the weather is this awesome! I opened up all of my windows and aired out the place, while listening to the kids having their recess in my backyard.  By the time I was done eating lunch (my delicious leftovers from yesterday), the classes had gone inside, and there was just one left... They were having their Physical Education class outside today!

My view!

During my break, I cleaned up around the apartment in order to make it smell clean!  I also went downstairs to check out the laundry room.... I wish I had taken a picture... There is ONE washing machine!!! For all of us!!!! And it is soooo old and dirty!!!!! I don't know exactly how I will do my laundry, but I don't know if this will be it.... At around 1:30 I headed to campus for my first class in English! It was a complete success!!!! The professor is incredible!!! He makes the subject sound sooo interesting, and he is from Massachusetts, so, for once, I am not struggling to understand!!!! Yay!!!! The rest of the class in another matter.  A really nice guy sat beside me at the beginning of class and we talked.  He was shocked when I told him I was from the States and then tried to tell me that I didn't have an accent... Poor guy... I had said the two sentences that I know how to say without making grammatical errors... As soon as the professor came in, I breathed a sigh of relief.  Though I knew the class was supposed to be in English, I had this fear that it would just be the readings, but no!! As I relaxed, I felt my new friend tense up... and the rest of the class as well! Their English was great, but I know this feeling of uneasiness, because that's how I feel in my classes that are in German... Oh well, they will get over it, just like I am! Overall, the class was incredible and I can't wait to see what the teacher will do! Wednesday is my other class in English, and I actually think that one is more in German than English, but we shall see!! After class I hurried back to my apartment to rest my foot.  I bought new shoes to try to help my foot, but they were clearly not the right ones! I think I found some that work though!! We shall see what the doctor recommends on Thursday!

In a little while I will head out to get some dinner with the other two students from my University, but in order to make it through the afternoon, I made a delicious snack!! I cut up a fresh cucumber, a fresh tomato, some brie, and some olives! DELICIOUS!!!!!! The vegetables are sooo fresh here!!!!!

Well I'm off to get ready for dinner!

A sprint to catch up!

So due to the fact that this week was incredibly eventful: first week of classes and first visit with a German doctor, I have not been updating my blog.  So here is a long summary of my week in Potsdam. I left off on Wednesday, so here it is:

On Tuesday I realized that after going to four classes, 1 sounded good, another one had a professor that didn't show, and the last two were too complicated for me to stay in.  Great... not.  The other realization I had was that the contact ours would not add up to what I needed. So Tuesday afternoon was a mad dash at home to figure out what other courses I could take.... I settled for a course focusing on 2 witness accounts of life in the concentration camp in Oranienburg and another that is in English and focuses on the Jewish Talmudic culture.  So early on Wednesday morning I was once again in a class taught by the lady who shares her name with my mother.  This class is harder than the one on monday and will require me to write between 15 and 20 pages.  But it was very interesting!!! She had me tell the class a little bit about my research too! After this class I headed to the cafeteria to meet with another Ole Miss student where we got our frustrations out about the difference in expectations that we need to live up to (from our University back home and from our classes here).  There is a lot of discrepancy... the students studying abroad here are mostly European. All they need is a certain amount of ECTS points, which means they do not need grades.  This also means that they can take as many classes as needed, do minimal work, and meet the requirements.  That goes for a lot of the German students as well.  The American's however, need a grade. Actually it is just the Ole Miss crowd.  It is really hard to get that thought through the professor's head, because they are not used to worrying about grades... they just want to know how many ECTS points we need.  Another rule of thumb that I learned this week is that when they do give grades, a "1" grade is unheard of.   The grades here go from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest.  1 would be equivalent to an A in the states, but... professors don't give a "1" here... most will tell you they've never given a one.  So our issue now is that we have to make sure we keep our grade point average at home while using two sets of expectations that don't agree with each other on any level.  I've heard so many generations of students complaining about this issue when returning to Ole Miss after studying abroad, but until now, I didn't really understand the true issues... Oh well... just like all the other students before us, I guess we will just have to deal.

After a quick rant session, I headed to my second course in English. And again... the professor didn't show!!! UGH! I later read the small print online and found out that she did not plan to teach the first class... well then.... I had a class at 2, but I didn't really want to go anywhere that would require me to walk. So I just waited around, had coffee with some students and then at 12:30 headed to the Mensa to meet Christiane, who was there with the group of Welsh students that she brought to Berlin for the week.  It was lovely to see her and we got to talk for about 45 minutes until she left with her students.  Their next stop was a tour of campus! I would have joined in, but I decided to sit and rest my foot.  At 2 I headed to class... Grammar! Finally I class I was super excited about!! It was great to see familiar faces in there, and I am thrilled to be re-learning German grammar.  I legitimately don't remember hardly any rules!!! And that is really not acceptable now that I'm going to be speaking in front of other Germans...

After class a group of us headed to the Mensa and had an early dinner together.  It is really great to have already made all of these friends! After dinner I headed to Aldi to buy some food to fill up my fridge! I hadn't been prepared for some foot rest, and I wanted to have enough so that I can recover in peace in my apartment without having to walk anywhere to eat.  Nothing extreme happened to my foot, I am not now tied to my bed... but since you HAVE to walk everywhere from where I live, in order to let my foot heal, I need to stay in for a few days.  

On Thursday morning I spent most of the morning calling doctors, until I hit the jackpot through an email and the doctor called me to set up an appointment.  After the visit (which I described already) I went to my German class.  This was a bit complicated, because since there was not a bus stop, I had to speed walk for 2 kilometers.... Not a big deal, unless you are trying to get your foot better! But I can't do much about that, because since Potsdam is a bit small, there isn't public transportation covering every kilometer here. Once in class, there were a few familiar faces there too! And a lot of different nationalities (even a girl from Argentina and a guy from Chile!).  That class is going to be easy (I think) but it is going to help me so much with vocabulary and sentence structuring.  After class I made my trip to the hospital for X-Rays and then I made a short walk to a Kaisers.  I know, I know... I had just been to the supermarket... but once I get close to Kaisers I have to go buy my favorite things.  The other supermarkets, like : Kaufland and Aldi, don't carry the things I like! So I bought enough salad, cream cheese, and organic pasta/pesto to last me a good while! When I got home, my foot was incredibly happy to rest and my mouth was soooo pleased with my visit to Kaisers.  I had the most delicious dinner!!! The pesto I bought is really to die for! And the ravioli were too!!! Since it is all natural, the pesto has to be used within 5 days, but I will not be having any issues doing that ! It is soooo good!!!

Deliciousness!

Friday morning I woke up at 7:30, because I had to go back to the doctor and he was only open between 8-10.  Once my foot was wrapped up and I had gotten my appointment set for next Thursday, I returned to my dorm to grab my documents and head to campus.

My awesome wrap!! 

Between 10-11 I was supposed to report to an assigned room with my passport, a copy of my proof of registering with the city, proof of payment of semester fees, proof of validated health insurance, and my matriculation number. All of that to get my student ID!!! This card will now serve as my semester ticket (making trains, buses, trams, etc free within this state (Brandenburg) -- not really free since I paid 200 Euros for it). I can also use this card to check out books at the library, pay for lunch (after loading money on it), and pay to make copies or print on campus.... Now.... I had all the documents ready, except for the COPY of my proof of registering with the city.  Why not? Because I don't have an ID to make copies on campus.  Once at the room, a lady sent me to another building where there is ONE copier that takes coins.  Once I got to the other building, I looked for the machine for a few minutes and was then joined by one of the Australian students who was also looking for the machine.  After about 3 minutes, I gave in and asked someone... She told us it was on another wing of the building and pointed us in the right direction.  Once there, we waited for our turn and were told (at printing services) that they no longer had that copier, but that the library now had one.  Well... the library was way closer to the original room we were in...UGH! Oh well, on the way to the library we crossed a Czech and a Portuguese student, who were also headed to printing services to make that copy! We informed them about the library and all headed there together.  Once at the library we were told that we had to first take our stuff downstairs and leave our backpacks in the lockers there.... Ok... Great.... Once back upstairs we climbed the stairs to the second floor and found the copier.  1 euro made 20 copies... all together we just needed 3!!! We all laughed about our situation and headed back to our original assigned room to pick up our cards.

Once I had my card in hand I stopped by the cafeteria to buy some water for my room, and then I headed home! I felt very accomplished! For my first week, I did pretty well!  Once back in my resting position, I talked to Colby and we decided that it was a perfect day to cook! So my sweet friend came to join me in the middle of nowhere to cook! First he went to Kaiser's and bought all the necessary ingredients.  OOOOOOHHHH!!! I forgot to mention one important thing, it was raining Friday morning!! Which is good and bad... Good, because it means it isn't cold enough to snow, and bad... because I got wet! Hahha.  By the time Colby got here with the ingredients, the sun had come out !  Yes, you read that right! The clouds were gone!! I had my window open and the birds were chirping! It was so lovely!!!  My window faces the playground/sports ground for a Montessori school, so anytime I get home during the day and open the window, all I hear is kids talking, laughing, screaming, and playing! Yes it is absolutely delightful! All Colby and I could think was... "man, if I didn't need to take it easy on my foot, now would be the perfect time to explore the trails across from my dorm!!!"

Add caption

 Oh well!  Instead, we moved my desk by the window, put on some Mozart, made some tea, and ate some cookies and chocolate!

My own little cafe! 

At some point we got up and began our cooking adventure!

Colby isn't used to cooking... As he says "I don't know how to cook." But I love to cook!!! I think it is where I use my artistic energy! Hahaha. I love the challenge of finding substitutes for what I don't have, and when living in an apartment that has no oven and is equipped only by the purchases of ONE trip to IKEA... finding substitutes is a must. Our goal --- quesadillas, which quickly turned into burritos!  First things first, we cut the mushrooms, the peppers, and the onions.  This was a little tricky because I only have serrated butter knives... but, hey! We got everything chopped up and no one got hurt!! Then we made our simple version of guacamole: 1 mashed avocado, half a squeezed lemon, and some salt! Next step, while the veggies were cooking on a sauté pan with a little bit of olive oil,  I chopped up 2 chicken breasts and mixed in some of the delicious pesto!!!! I let it sit for a few minutes, and then I cooked it in the pan!  The next step was making some cous cous, which we then also dumped into the pan that used to cook the chicken, so it would get some of that flavor.  Whoooo!! Cooking process complete!  We set up our table by the window and took out some olives, goat cheese, cheese, sour cream, some wine, the tortillas and some brie cheese, which we never even touched!





It was soooooooo goood!!! We could not stop eating! Well... we didn't !!! The good part was that my bed was waiting for us when we fell over, because we were so full!!! After washing the dishes we watched Mean Girls and then.... we ate some ice cream! Hey! You can't skip dessert!!!!!

At around 11 Colby headed home and I headed back to bed!

This morning I got to sleep in and then proceeded to look at my to do list.  I say "look," because I'm not in the right mind to start doing things and checking stuff off.... I am too lazy right now! I have no excuses, just not feeling it!  Tomorrow, I will get more done, but for today... I read the first pages of my book about the concentration camps.  It is going to be sooo hard, because it takes me soooo long to comprehend what I'm reading (you know... since it's in German and all).  It took me about an hour to get through the introduction, but it is a wonderful day outside, so I had my window open and could hear the birds chirping as I read and listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons! I did also look at my assignments for my German class and my grammar class, so I kind of know what I need to get done for this week.  But for now, I am choosing to have a movie marathon instead! Not much to tell there, except that I finally watched "The Breakfast Club."  Well, I'm off to watch some more movies! Hope to update more often this week, but for now... y'all are all caught up!

Foot, still hanging on

I wanted to quickly tell my foot stories so far so I can move on to funner and better things!
Thus far, this is how I have discovered things work here:

- Hospitals:  well... they leave much to be desired when dealing with waiting times.  The students that cut his finger as was bleeding a lot had to wait 2 hours, the student who is highly allergic to peanuts and ate peanuts had to wait for 2 hours and finally decided to go home after taking a pill.

- How to actually get help: Hausartz.  These are just general doctors who have practices and then when your issue does not fall under their specialty, they direct you to whoever you may need.  So my goal was to find one of these, make an appointment, and see what he suggested.

 So, Wednesday, I wasn't able to go to the doctor because I had classes until 2 and doctors close at noon here on Wednesday. So Thursday I woke up and called the University clinic, which didn't have appointments until April 23.  Figured it wasn't worth the wait.... So then I called 8 different clinics and all of them were booked this week and 2 told me to just come in on Friday morning (today) and wait for a free slot.  My last shot was a doctor's office close to here, that didn't answer the phone but had an email address. So I attempted writing an email.  Thirty minutes later, I got a call that said if I came right now (10:30 am) the doctor could see me. Sooo... I flew out of my room and went straight to the doctors office.

The office was in just a regular apartment building. Very cute, well organized, and not too full, but with enough people to know that they clearly weren't  killing people! Haha.  So I gave them my insurance information and less that 10 minutes later one of the 2 doctors called me in.  He was super nice and though I think he speaks English, we spoke in German.  He asked me what had happened, to which I answered... "um.. I'm not sure... maybe it was the AWFUL choice of boots I made when I ran 3 times up stairs trying to catch 3 different trains..." After looking at my foot, he told me I would have to go to the hospital to get an X-ray.  So I left his office and was handed a slip at the front desk.  The slip was what I needed to present at radiology at the hospital.   Since I had class, I couldn't go straight to the hospital.  After class, I found the hospital and its radiology department... and this is where the fun began.  Up to that point, I hadn't had to fill out any forms... but here... I got one with 7 questions... The only one I understood was "are you pregnant?"  So... I just checked no for all of them and hoped for the best.  Before I was done filling out my address to get the bill, someone was already calling me in!   I got 2 X-rays done, and waited 5 minutes to get the CD with the pictures.  It didn't take more than 30 minutes all together.  

This morning, I was told to return to the doctor with the CD.  I showed up... 5 minutes later I was called in and a lovely lady wrapped my foot.  Then, the doctor came in and said he looked at the pictures and the foot isn't fractured (he actually said fractured in English, that's why I say he must speak English). He did say that it was probably something pulled or bruised (I think). But he was not very concerned and said he would look at it carefully this week with colleagues and gave me an appointment for next Thursday morning.  For now, the sweet lady gave me another wrap to use when this one is overstretched (she told me to keep it a secret because they weren't allowed to do that). Too sweet!

Anyways, my foot is fine, still hurting a bit but manageable and NOT broken or fractured!!! For now, rest, ice, compression, and elevation! I will post on the lovely details of my first week later today or tomorrow.  Bis dann! (till then)

First attempts at German classes

First I want to make sure to address the foot situation.  No, it is not feeling a lot better.  Yes, I will go to a doctor.  I am still figuring out what my best option for a doctor would be... so for now I am following RICE (rest ice compression and elevation).  My foot is not swollen or bruised, so I am convinced I am not dying.


Now... back to yesterday morning.  After hobbling to class, I sat in a classroom with less than 10 people.  I'm not going to lie, I was mortified!!!! But my professor's name is Irene, so I convinced myself she would be as nice as my mom.  Turns out she was pretty nice! I don't know if as nice as my mom, but she's a hard one to beat.  The class has less than 10 people and 2 of us are exchange students! I was thrilled to hear it and she assured us that she would make the class doable for us!! The topics we will be discussing seem very applicable to my understanding of the life that Oma's family had prior to her birth, so I am very pleased!  After that I went and grabbed a quick coffee with the other exchange student and then headed to the main station.  My foot was really bothering me when I walked, so I wanted to buy something to wrap it with and a cooling pack.  I also needed some food! After a quick trip, trying not to overuse my poor foot, I headed back to my dorm and rested my foot for a bit.

At 2 I headed to  my class. My only class in English!!! Whoooo!!! I was pumped... then I sat in class and heard everyone speaking German. I (we) waited for an hour and the professor never showed up!!! I was so shocked, but we later got an email explaining that he was in the wrong room or something. Oh well! My 4 o'clock class did not go so well... The professor was a bit awkward and assured me and the other Dutch girl in the class that we had to perform at the level of the class.  So a 1-1:30 hour presentation on a topic and a 15-20 page paper in German.  I really don't think I can keep up ... and though the class is on Nazi Berlin, I can't sacrifice my other classes for this one...

After class I hurried (not really.. hobbled) home and iced my foot some more! This morning I made it back to campus for my one class... the other got cancelled because the professor is sick.  The class: main problems of european Jews between 16-20 century.  FAIL! The topics were interesting, but not applicable and again the expectations are a little above what I am capable of.... Oh well! There really wasn't any information that I expect would have been too applicable to my research, so I'll live.   I signed up for two new classes tomorrow and we shall see how those go! Now I'm back in bed RICEing and researching where I should go to the doctor... exciting, I know!

Requesting a new foot

You know when you have a car.... and you don't need it... it works great! And then when you do need it... it doesn't.  Well I don't have a car... but my equivalent is broke.

So it all goes back to Saturday... which really felt like Friday (since I'd slept 2 hours), which really felt like Thursday (since I'd slept 3 hours).... Why so little sleep you ask?  RebelTHON!!! No... I wasn't there helping, but my nerves/excitement didn't let me sleep Thursday night and my amazing friends that skyped me from the event on Friday night were the reason I had slept a total of 5 hours between Thursday and Saturday.  But!!! I had to get up and make it to Berlin, because I was getting to have breakfast with Christiane!!!

Christiane is a family friend, who we met in Oxford when she was teaching/studying at the University. She is German, but also lived in Argentina, and is now living in Wales... In short she is here this week and is going to be very busy... Therefore, I met up with her on Saturday. We met up at Karstadt and headed to a turkish supermarket and a turkish market to buy breakfast.  I can't really name any of the things we bought, but I can tell y'all that they were delicious! I was sooooooo glad to see Christiane, but a little appalled at the effects that my lack of sleep was having on my German.  At her apartment, we had the incredible breakfast with her roommate Jule and their cat Maia/Maja/Maya... Not sure how you spell it.


I feel so bad about how tired I was, but I couldn't help it at that point.  After a few hours I left (Not only because I was tired!!!! But also because they were heading out to a movie!). Since it wasn't 2 yet (which is 7 am back home, also known as the end of RebelTHON and the reveal of the money)... I didn't have enough time to get back to Potsdam to see it, so I rushed to Prenzlauer Berg to a little cafe that  I knew had starbucks.  There, I face timed my incredible friends that were there and they shared the reveal with me.  $25,409!!!!! About 375 people attended and over 150 stayed the whole 12 hours!!! Now that is an impressive first year!! I was soooo happy to see our little dream become a reality, that I just started crying sitting outside a cafe on the streets of Berlin.  People must have thought I was crazy, but I was sooo thrilled, proud, humbled, and ecstatic, that there was no stopping the tears!

My first instinct after watching the end was
1. Go to Potsdam and sleep (but then I would mess up my sleeping schedule)
2. Go to a museum (then I figured I'd be too tired)
3. Do something with Martin and Colby (they texted me right when I thought of them)

I waited for them at the coffee place and we headed to get burgers.  (please don't try to follow the amount of times we ate Saturday).  After lunch, we headed to a cafe for cake and coffee. (Saturday was the first time I drank coffee since January....)

Then we headed on a witch hunt to find the little stones for Hannele's parents.. That was a fail, but we killed time until Alexandra made it to Berlin.

At that point we walked back to Prenzlauer Berg and ate dinner at our Italian place.  I was stuffed and exhausted, so after just eating a little bit and having a lot of great conversations, Alexandra and I headed back to Potsdam.... or so we thought. It was already 10:00.

I took the same S bahn that I took for 2 weeks straight to get me to Potsdam.  But that night... it went the wrong way and had a sleeping homeless man that smelled horrible... which meant the whole cart was nearly empty. After 3 trains we were back at the first station and had to take the UBahn... it was already 10:45 and I was exhausted.  Alexandra got off at her stop and I rode to Potsdam's main train station.... It was 11:45.  There were no buses or trains to get me home until 12:45!!!!!!!! It was cold and I sat outside in the dark by myself for 30 minutes.  By this point, my right foot was really killing me.  I don't know exactly when the pain started, but it was somewhere between the 3 trains and Potsdam. Once I made it to my stop, I had a 15 minute walk... No big deal, except it was dark and my foot was REALLY killing.  By the time I got home it was 12:45 an I was exhausted, still trying to figure out why I couldn't put pressure on my car... I mean my foot, I mean my only source of transportation while in Germany... get my drift!

Yesterday was spent in bed... my food was KILLING me and I barely made it to the kitchen to make some lentils and couscous.... I know it's not broken... but I could barely put pressure on it.  When laying down or sitting it feels perfectly normal.... especially when the people next door are whistling Pippi Longstockings!

This morning I woke up feeling great! I didn't think my foot was hurting and I felt prepared for my first day.  Half way down the stairs I realized I was very very wrong.  My foot started killing me again.... so I slowed down my pace and opted for the bus instead of a walk this morning. Oh but those darn cobble stones.. I just hobbled at 1 mile per hour.... trying not to look like I was in pain... hahaha Tomorrow I will continue writing about how my first day went, for now I am exhausted and need to go ice my foot!! Goodnight!!!