Berlin als ein Fremder

So I get a week to spend in Berlin without the burden of classes and finals! Like I said earlier, goodbye's have been difficult but touring Berlin has helped keep things positive. I've crammed so much into the past few days! Here's a highlight recap since the day of my last final.

Thursday: Trip to Peacock Island and then the end of the semester banquet. Here's two pics of Peacock Island






Friday:Krumme Lanke then to a Beer Garten with Jonathan's family, and finally our party




yeah, the water was REAL cold...


We all had a LOT of fun at the party...I'm sorry Tom, I just had to add this one


That's it for now. More updates later! Today I have to pack up my whole room and get ready to move out tomorrow :-/

Time to say goooodbyyyyee (just imagine Sarah Brightman's voice singing that)

Hello hello! I realize I haven't written in a long time. I think I've been busy surviving finals and goodbyes, two things that I hate. The finals have been rough and the goodbye's rougher. I think I am not dipping as deeply into the sadness of goodbye as I usually do. I am not sure yet if that is denial or if it's me just not trumping up the feelings. Regardless of the right or wrong, I'm doing it. I think sometimes there are things in life you just gotta do, and the doing is more important than the how. Anyway, here are a few "last" photos

Susanne is one of the most special, unique women I have ever met.







My two fellow OG dinner buddies. 60some dinners later, I'm gonna miss those two



The Bretzelbrotchen filling station. I will miss the Kaufland bread :-/

Wow, apparently I can post from Picasa

 

I was organizing my photos and saw the "Blog This!" button. This is really cool. Really cool how Google connects everything. Your email, photo manager, blogs, and I am sure countless other things I don't even know about, can all be easily synchronized!

I took this photograph while out on an expidition. Carrie, LB and I tried going up to the top of the Victory Column to watch the sunset but it closed right when we got there. We walked through the Tiergarten and came round to Unter Den Linden. I thought this shot was worth taking :-)

Amazing Productivity

I have had such a productive day so far. I stayed home from school sick, and got 11 hours of glorious sleep. I am worn out from all the chores so am soon returning to bed, but not before writing a quick blog about my productivity. Can you tell that I have a black & white person? I'll go almost a month without writing a blog entry, and then when I get around to it I end up writing 4 within 24 hours. Oh well, at least I'm writing again. So check out this amazing productivity :-)


Last night I...
Emailed a possible employer
Emailed two German professors from back home, asking course advice
Signed up for classes for the Fall
Shortened my 14 page paper to the required length of 11 pages
Emailed said paper to my chief editor...Mom

This afternoon after waking up from 11 hours of sleep I...
Washed my dishes
Swept the entire apartment
Cleaned the tile of my kitchen
Scrubbed the counters and stove
Cleaned off and scrubbed the table
Scrubbed the floors
Started packing for Paris/Amsterdam
Scrubbed down the bathroom tile, toilet and sink
Wrote three blog entries (not even including this one!)
Hung up laundry and jackets lying around
Hung up a poster
Handwashed the socks & underwear that aren't worth the 3 Euro for a load of wash
Took shower
Discussed my paper with my cheif editor
Organized backpack
Sent several important important emails
Took my professors' advice and adjusted my Fall courses
Made ammends with the person I lost it on the night prior
Talked to my sister on Skype(she saw Weird Al in the ATL Airport!)

The day has been a success. Tonight I need to get some packing done for Paris/Amsterdam this Friday, and finish editing my paper for Dirk's class.

Off to take a nap!

My Academic Plan :-)

The picture above shows my tentative schedule.

I want to explain what it would look like, but first let me give you some background info:

I talked with Kenny and he helped me map out what all I have left to take. While I only have 21 credits left before hitting the 120 credit mark for graduation, I have 31 credits worth of core business classes left to take for my major. While it is possible to take 16 of these credits in the Fall and 15 credits in the Spring, that would make for a ridiculously difficult Senior year. Not only would all those classes be core classes with no electives, they would include the Terrible Three. Business Law, Finance, and Managerial Economics are the upper three classes of my major, and advisers strongly warn against taking any two of them within the same semester. I would have to take two of the courses together in the Fall, and the third course along with Operations Management my final semester. The kicker was that I would not be able to take German courses anymore without petitioning to take more than 18 credits, taking 18 credits one semester and 19 the other.

So here's my plan:

I am delaying my graduation and taking an extra semester. This will spread out the Terrible Three into a manageable one-per semester set up. Operations Management, the class that can only be taken and completed once all other core classes have been taken/completed, would fit in that last semester nicely. I would be able to spread out my other core classes along side the Terrible Three accordingly. I'd also get to fill the rest of my workload each semester with 1 or 2 German courses each semester! This would allow me continue in on in German, pick up a minor, or even possibly double major in German as well! While I was still reluctant to take an extra semester hearing about the incredible workload, the fact that it would be infeasible to take German courses alongside business, and impossible to take enough for even a minor in German, made up my mind.

Three semesters it shall be!

As to what this Fall will end up looking like, here is my tentative schedule

GER3234: Reading German Texts
GER3413: German Listening Comprehension
GEB3218: Professional Speaking
MAR3503: Consumer Behavior
FIN3403: Business Finance

I signed up for one more course than I am planning on taking. Business Finance and Consumer Behavior are pretty much set. If I need to I can change out Finance for one of the other Terrible Three, and the same with Consumer Behavior with one of the other core Marketing classes. I tentatively signed up for two German courses. If I end up keeping both I will go ahead and drop Professional Speaking. Both plans put me at a comfortable 14 credits.
My classes won't be easy but they will be what I want to be taking and put me on track for a possible double major. I find that the most important thing. The fact that I'll have no classes on Mondays or Fridays isn't bad either :-)

Managing Conflict in Business and in Life

In each of our content courses we have to write three short papers. While other classes have set topics, our business course is still in its experimental phase, and so we were allowed to choose our topic. We'd just had a major miscommunication with our professor regarding our midterms, and I decided I would incorporate how I felt about the situation within the paper. A colleague of our professor came and spoke on conflict resolution, and I used this as my platform. I figured I'd include it in the blog.

Managing Conflict in Business and in Life

Birgit Permantier came and taught us about conflict management. She gave us many important tips and pointers, as well as an overview of how conflict management plays its role in an individual’s life. Each and every person comes from a different background as it relates to conflict resolution. Mrs. Permantier shared how she had grown up in a home where her parents did not fight at all. For a short period of time they started fighting, and soon later were divorced. She learned from this that conflict is not a good thing, and should be avoided, lest it ruin the relationship. I grew up in a home where conflict management was very important. My father was a professional counselor, so his children were taught from an early age to work through conflict. Within our family, this strategy worked out very well. We learned the importance of working through issues as opposed to avoiding them. Growing up and going out into the real world, I found that this was not at all the norm. In fact, many of my friends would see my attempts to work through an issue with them as “overanalyzing” or being “oversensitive.” This caused me great distress, as the skill set I had been given and taught to utilize was actually seen by my friends as a negative quality in my personality! I found myself reverting to passive aggressive tactics. For instance, instead of sharing how I felt hurt and seeking to resolve a conflict with one who had hurt me, I would simply make a sharp cut back at them, letting them know what they’d done or said to me was not alright with me. This was not optimal, but it felt “safer”.
In life I find it important to examine one’s own way of doing things and the ways others do things to see what works best. I have a friend in the program who had some friends come stay with her. She was very excited to see them, and thus very hurt and crushed when it turned out they were only interested in staying with her a few days of their week long trip. Instead of staying with her like planned, they wanted to travel throughout Germany. Instead of bringing up the issue with them, she “rolled with it” and kept her hurt to herself. I was there to observe the few days they stayed with her, and the time was filled with impatience and bubbling resentment. It was a great learning experience for me, as I was able to see and confirm that my original way of doing things, being sure to work through things with those I am at odds with, is indeed the best way to deal with conflict. While I may be seen as “overanalyzing” by others who have not learned the skill set of conflict management, I am happier and better adjusted when using such tools.
Another example of how conflict resolution proves to be the best way of dealing with things can be found in our very own classroom. A few weeks ago a conflict arose regarding our midterm exams that I understood to be a mixture of misunderstanding, cultural differences, and flat-out poor choices. Our teacher was greatly affected and brought the issue to the class for us all to discuss as adults. I did my best to bring about as much understanding as my part was concerned, but found I could not speak for others. What baffled me was that the very people who had the most to explain, clarify, and/or apologize for kept their mouths shut. While Michaela and I did our best to carry the load, the rest of the class stared at the teacher like silent sheep. I felt resentful and frustrated with the rest of the class, but decided not to voice this, as I discerned it would just cloud the issue. In this situation I was able to use my conflict management skills to hear from the teacher how he would like me to improve, to make my writing more legible and to spend more of the allotted time on my essay. While these two factors are not the most focused upon in America, each teacher has his or her own teaching style and expectations, and it is my required task to perform to these expectations. I find it a shame that those who could benefit most from resolution and learning from the situation in class seemingly chose not to use this skill set and reap the resulting benefits. This entire situation was further confirmation of how conflict resolution proves the better choice.
I see the relational destruction caused by holding back hurt. I see the opportunities and advantages missed when the decision is made to keep quiet. I see the type of friends, rare but invaluable, who are attracted by my style of resolution. For all of these reasons, I choose to continue to “overanalyze” and be “oversensitive.”

I am that man.

Today I stayed home from school, sick. I had a test yesterday and so forced through the sickness and went to school. I made it through the whole day, at my own detriment. I am still learning how to take care of myself. Not that I did it wrong and directly hurt myself needlessly, more so that I’m still figuring it out. While the test was important to show up for, today’s class wasn’t as much so. Whether or not I needed to stay the whole day yesterday, therein lies the grey that I am still figuring out. This applies to more than just being sick. I am still learning to navigate what I need to show up for and what I can hold back from. I find that I struggle often to figure out what battles I should fight and which ones I can let pass me. Last night our business teacher, the same one who flipped out at us due to a major cultural miscommunication, took us out to a very fancy Italian dinner. It was a pleasant time. Side note-*My next entry will be the short paper I wrote in the wake of the debacle in class over our exams. While it doesn’t explain everything explicitly, it does give my stance on things, and since it is being turned in to the teacher, I think it was done fairly diplomatically, all within the context of our third short paper, on which I wrote about conflict resolution*.

The pasta dish that we all shared. Hadn't had authentic italian in awhile and it tasted amazing!


Getting back to my story, by the time the dinner was over, I had pushed myself through the entire day and I felt miserable. My head felt like a balloon full of cement. We were heading back with the S-Bahn, and as we got onto the platform, I misread one of the screens as “Sudkreuz” when it really said “Westkreuz”. I shouted out “this is our train guys!” and it took a moment of confusion and getting half onto the train for us to realize my mistake. One of my friends made the comment “what a *$%# moron”. Normally I let these things roll off my back best I can. This night I had significantly less patience. I used very strong language dismissing what she'd said, and walked away. While part of it was just my angry reaction, I’d also responded to a challenge that I hadn’t needed to. I could have chosen to let her words pass me. Instead, I viewed her words as a direct attack on my intelligence and character. I took the bait, making myself out to be just as foolish and immature as she in that moment. Clearly I have a ways to go in the area of letting things pass me by instead of taking them on.
I was talking with another friend who struggles to accept that she needs grace. She splits the dichotomy between those who murder and rape and those who are ‘good people’. In her mind, those who commit such atrocities deserve no grace, and those who abstain from such crimes need no grace. Thank God that such dichotomy does not exist. Grace is needed by all and none are beyond its reach. I am that murderer. I am that rapist. I am that impatient broken man with the cutting tongue. I am that one that’s loved by a Love that makes a difference, and extends the saving grace I so desperately need.

One Amazing Burrito

I just wanted to share with you all this amazing experience. After a feildtrip, we went to a burrito joint that was a cross between Chipotle and Moes. So I chose the burrito option...
chose mild tomato as my salsa
picked spanish rice over regular rice
went with the black beans
sprung for the sour cream
indulged in some lime chicken
topped it all off with guacamole


I'm having a moment...just thought I'd share

Getting back and getting adjusted

Just got back from Stockholm yesterday. Don't have a whole lot of time to write, but I figured I would at least leave a short entry. I am in danger of feeling too overwhelmed with the task of giving my 11 days in Greece adequate coverage, and thus not writing at all. So I will get my feet wet by writing a "coming soon" entry. I had a REALLY good idea for a blog entry last night...that I forgot. Anyway, if you read this the week of, shoot a prayer off for me, since I'm doing my best to A) catch up, B)connect with Linda, and C) set new habits for the second half of the semester (getting back into shape, regular quiet times, etc.) These will require more time than just a week, but the first week says a lot about how new habits are going to go (or not go). Talk to you all soon :-)

Creative title...Dan goes to Santorini?

I write to you all from a smokey couch in the back of a comfy internet bar. This is the place that has random cats lying around on the furniture. I have taken a liking to the Greek coffee, which I think is very similar to Turkish coffee, grounds mixed in. I fund it by tapping into my "money saved by not buying alcohol" drink fund. I'm wiped out from a day of ATVing so my thoughts will not be flowing. I'm in Greece by the way. After spending a few days in Athens and Agina, Tom Kenny and I came to Santorini. We leave tomorrow for Paros. Most college students would hate it here, as 95 percent of this place is closed down for the offseason (almost all bars, ALL clubs, etc). I am really enjoying it. Obviously the beauty remains year-round, and being literally 3 of the...(counting) 10 tourist we've seen on the entire island, has been real nice. We go to the bars the locals go to, get to do our best to fit in. We ended up in the same bar last night that our cab driver was in, that's got to count for something. For being all but shut down commercially, the beauty here is breath taking. We rented ATVs today and took them up the mountain in South Santorini. We parked them and hiked along a ridge of a spur of the peak. We sat down among the rocks and ended up taking naps. It was great. I ended up getting a sunburn, which I was fully thrilled with. We then went on, eventually finding ourselves down on the black sand beaches of Perivolos. I threw up my hammock and had another nap. After that we went to see the site of prehistoric Fira. It was really cool to see the ancient caves and homes in the cliffs. After that we booked it to Ioa on the other end of the island to catch the sunset. The greeks say it is the best sunset point in all of Greece. It was partially cloud covered but beautiful even so. I have really enjoyed my time here in Santorini. The culture is SO laid back. We've spent well over an hour in each restaurant. So laid back. They let you sit until you mention the check. They then bring you out some sort of free dessert (often baklava), and then much later bring the check. MUCH LATER they come to collect the money. It's all very laid back, and Kenny and Tom and I have enjoyed taking it easy. The night prior we'd gone to Ioa to try and see the sunset even though a storm was brewing. It poured rain on us and we were having a sort of miserable time until we found this random book store that was open and went inside. You'll have to wait for my return to see pictures and understand how it was, but it was amazing. Sort of like a hostel. A book store where the person manning it comes and stays there free of charge, for the cost of running the store. I bought Steinbeck's The Old Man and the Sea in both German and English. I would encourage you all to check Facebook for the album and videos concerning the bookshop. It totally redeemed getting chilled and soaked in the rain. Anyway, my internet is about to go out, I'm sure I'll write more when I get the chance later on. Athens was really cool too. I'll fill in the gaps later. Till then


Dan

Cultural Submersion

Today's my work day, as a part of a Pre-finals birthday sandwich weekend. I'm taking tomorrow off from test prep to celebrate my birthday, and so today and Sunday are designated workdays. I like to start off my workdays with exercise to boost my brain productivity later. I went swimming today (this time without a "strike out" :-)!). It felt so good to be back in the pool after so long. At UF there's free swim but it's difficult to find space, impossible to find your own lane. You usually have to jump in with a few other swimmers. While it forces you to get in a good workout, the fact that most swimmers in the UF pool are hard core training makes it very hard to find your own pace and keep it. Here it was very much the opposite. With the exception of 3 or 4 20 somethings in the entire place, I was the youngest adult by a good 25 years. There were more decades of age in the pool than square mm's of spandex. Needless to say the single lane they devoted to "Sportschwimmen" was rather crowded with slow moving vehicles. Vehicles that you REALLY do not want to bump into while trying to pass. While it did cost 3 Euro for an hour, it was well worth it. The way from my place to the pool and back wasn't too long, and although it was pretty cold the sun was out, so I just went in shorts and long sleeve underarmor. Walking to and from and riding the train I got so many stares. Some were more of a "oh look that's kinda funny" while some people were a little more obvious with their "HUH?". You'd think the locals would be more used to and resistant to the weather than a Floridian but they were all bundled against the cold way more than they needed to. After I was done swimming and ready to clock out, I asked the lady what I needed to do. She incredulously asked me if I was ready, and motioned to my clothing. I told her the distance home was not so great. She allowed me through, but busted up laughing (very loudly for Germans) with her colleague as soon as I passed the turnstile. I was thinking about it, about how their laughter didn't really bother me, different from some times I am laughed at or made fun of. I think it's because I am secure in my decision. The object they find humorous, my decision to be colder than I could be, isn't an emotional issue for me. At the same time, it is quite an experience to pass a group of 15 elementary school kids and hear a bunch of little voices raise words such as "cold" and "why?"
I think this is a valuable exercise that I would recommend others take part in. Find something that is not morally wrong, maybe not even socially taboo, but rare to see nonetheless. Something that will attract stares and whispers in your direction. Go about your day and do your thing. It ends up as great practice with making the conscious decision not to let what others think bother you. It is a specific decision one can make, and there's not really any better way to grow in this area than to simply jump into real life practice. Just a few thoughts :-)


Ups and downs of the day:
Up: Swimming workout for only 3 Euro
Down: The laundry machine eating my THREE Euro wash coin, raising today's laundry trip's pricetag to 6 Euro (7.80 US Dollars)
Up: Being at Kaufland bread section right when the bread lady brought out the new batch of freshly baked and still hot rolls.
Up: Having already purchased (so in some ways free) jam to go with the hot rolls
Down: Having internet that doesn't work too well in the apartment
Up: Not being in my apartment while I write this.
UP: Lying in my hammock, relaxing suspended between two trees, bundled up and happily enjoying my internet's mobility.
THE UPPEST OF THEM ALL: Realizing that one week from now, I will be on a Grecian island, soaking up the sun in my hammock. All my fellow UF hammockers can eat their hearts out!

The Head and Heart Club

This morning I rediscovered the joys of stretching. Today's the second day in a row I went to bed giving myself the option of getting up directly at 7, and no other. I did my best to dig back into old wrestling warm ups and stretch routines. I ran a few days ago, and that compiled with a lack of stretching in months (possibly years)made the going pretty slow and painful. I'm thinking it would look a lot like if the Scarecrow and Tinman both decided the Wizard of Oz was full of crap and abandoned their quest with Dorothy, turning instead to a joint fitness venture, calling their workout tape "The Head and Heart Club: 5 Minute Yellow Brick Abs"

It wasn't all that bad though. It's not every day in the States that you can wake up and stretch to Michael Jackson's 'Beat It'. I love the way German's are selectively in love with American culture. In my first week, a German mentioned that Hollywood was our major import. I'd add that the Germans eat this export right up. Setting aside the way the Germans eat up our movie stars (See the Berlin Film Festival entry later, or the Facebook album), the Germans love our music as well. More than 50% of the music on the radio is in English. It may not be American, or at least not recognizable, which is ironic because they only play "The newest music from the West", but it is in English. The most ironic though is the American apparel the Germans will wear. My favorite is the guy from the bar that tried fighting a group of us. The group hadn't done anything to him but he had a chip on his shoulder. "F America! I hate Americans! F Americans! F you! I think it'd be a little more intimidating and less funny if the joker wasn't wearing a New York Yankees beenie :-)

Catching up and Mean Mr. Mustard (throwback to my familal peeps

So I tried the whole "hold off until you get a chance to write in order all the things you've been meaning to write" thing. Doesn't work. So I've decided just to cut my losses, move on, and write about certain thoughts and experiences when I get to them. I've decided this is the only way I'll ever end up writing blogs, even though this out of chronological orderness is killing my perfectionism (obviously my perfectionistical tendencies have nothing to do with grammer or proper diction). At first I tried doing this whole 'slap a date on here until I can catch up thing' which didn't work at all. So now what I'll do is just write when I get the chance, and if it works out for me to write about something that happened further in the past, so be it. Maybe I'll slap a "Throwback to earlier this semester" note in the title, maybe not.

Anyways, Today was a long long Monday. I actually got to bed at a decent time last night and was able to wake up promptly at 7 this morning, giving myself an hour to get ready this morning. I was able to get online and make a few Skype calls before heading of to school. Now the people I called were totally sleeping (as opposed to partially sleeping. 1) 1-2 AM in TOTALLY sleeping. 2)See The Princess Bride for more details on the difference betwen partially and totally. AnywayS, it felt good to start the day rested and relaxed. I think I'm gonna do the same thing tonight. I have some homework which I'll attend to after this, and then turn in. Even WITH all this rest, German DRAGGED today. For me, learning new concepts or pushing myself to perfect my understanding of review concepts really helps pass the 3 hours of instruction we have each morning. This morning was one of those times where I had to pay attention but the subject wasn't factual/structural enough to hold my interest. I spent the classtime bored out of my mind. Litterally, the last 5 minutes were crawling so painfully that by the tail end 2 minutes of class, I told the people sitting next to me that I'd pass the time by attempting to hold my breath until 12. I succeeded in hoding it for the required minute 20 seconds left, but the far greater success was the passage of the last few minutes.

I spent the afternoon catching up on reading for Business Cultures, only to get to class and find out it was canceled due to a sick professor. I'd be bummed that I was needlessly at BrentanostraBe all day when I could be at home...goofing around on Facebook? Ok the end of that last sentence shows exactly why I am glad I didn't know about the class being canceled. I ended up reading for this week's class and for the class the week prior (I'm...behind). This leaves me with just 3 more weeks of reading to catch up in...in this one class...until next week's additional reading...ok that's depressing moving on.

Today Michaela, Tom, LB, Kenny and I went to Kaufland (like Wal-mart but ten times better because of Proverbs 27:7) today to pick up a few things. We were making our way through the expertly planned store (in the shape of a horseshoe, funneling all customers through the majority of the store) when I came upon the mustard section. In america, section equals some shelf space. In Germany, the mustard section would better be described as a 'Mustard Shrine'. I knew their mustard is equivelant to our ketchup, but this blew anything we have out of the water. This was an entire aisle's shelf display to at least 40 different brands of mustard. Organic mustard, grey, yellow, sharp, mild, etc. I pointed it out to the others and Michaela had a conniption. After drawing the attention of some more frumpy Germans with her exclamations(your everpresent 65 year old lady standard model), she explained that she'd been looking all over for this. I dunno how you can miss a such a golden shrine as this one (yeah, I did just make a pun, that's right), but I went ahead and decided to be glad for her. The odd thing was she was so grateful for my pointing it out to her that she gave me a big hug. We pondered over it later that that was the first and only time that we'd ever hugged. We pondered later over the fact that our only hug was over a condiment, and whether that was A)frickin sweet, or B)really pathetic. Jurie's still out.

At Kaufland I only had 75 cents with me but borrowed 10 Euro from Tom. When it came time to check out I told LB and Michaela (Tom and Kenny had already had enough of woman shopping speed, and consequently left) that Iit was a big deal for me to be checking out with possibly not enough money for all my purchases, since it's always been an anxiety of mine to be shortchanged and embarassed at the checkout counter. We all took guesses of how much my total would be, and Michaela guessed 10.43. LB did our best to pull the strategic yet douchesque Price is Right move by trapping her into a 5 cent window, me getting open ended up and LB getting open ended down. My exact bill...10.43

Michaela would have walked out the glowing victor. Subjunctiive because she soon after had to pay for her own groceries and tipped her change purse, scattering 1 cent and 2 cent pieces all over the floor in all directions in the middle of the checkoutline at the front of a long line of scowling Germans. :-)

Dan discovers Google Maps (The way Germans are)

Hello,
Today I took the day off to spend with God. I had a lot rattling around in my head and one of the best ways I clear out all the distractions is through exercise. I'd earlier scouted out a swimming pool two S-Bahn stops North of here, and I thought laps would be a great way to clear my head. I went online and made sure they were open on Sundays (something that, in Germany, is very important to do. It saves you a long trip home disappointed...usually). Surprisingly, the swimming pool IS open Sundays. I got up early and went all the way up to Lankwitz so I could swim. I arrived at the parking lot and was assaulted by an elderly German woman shouting something in German. The only word I could recognize at first was "STREIK!" Well, I didn't need to hear a whole lot more, but figured I'd make sure so i walked closer. I'm happy to say my German kicked in and I was able to understand the rest of what she was saying. Apparently the German Bathhouse worker's Association or something like that were on strike today and there would be no swimming for me today. I went up to the building and saw the nice little note explaining "we are on strike today. See you later. Thank you for your understanding." GERMANS! They are so arbitrarily rule bound! When there are no cars coming for 3 kms, and I cross the street, you could swear I punted a newborne, but when it comes to cleaning up after their dogs ("Only a Berlin problem" Germans swear) it seems I can't walk that same 3 kms to the nearest car without stepping in 4 different kinds of dog shit. (For my offended christian friends, it's "dog poop" until you step in it and have it all in the grooves of the sole of your shoe for the next week, and then it's "dog shit"). On one hand, Germans take certain breaks from the rules as "the way it is" and see anyone who has a problem with the switch up as a "tourist". On the other hand, when being shown a short film in a business presentation, we are informed that we are about to watch "a 2 minute 18 second film about..." If the train just doesn't come for an extra 20 minutes due to an unknown issue, it's the emporor's new clothes to point it out, but heaven forbid the DVD player tack on an extra second, making it an entirely different, 2 minute and NINETEEN second film! It's a weird mix of ruleboundidity (hey Will) and rule breaking...hood. This is the same with the strike. In America, it seems like the strikers would simply not show up that day, or maybe be around the building with signs. Here, it almost seemed like a scheduled inconvenience. "Thank you, come again soon" sorta thing. Now this politeness did NOT save me the long trip home disappointed (thus the "usually" mentioned above), because the strikers neglected to post this small detail on their website, of which I posted a photo. Regimented, orderly, and wrong.

So I went home disappointed and decided to go running. My goal was to follow the s25 tracks south to Lichtefelde Sued, and possibly even Teltow Stadt. Unfortunately I didn't realize that CelsiusstraBe curves, and so when I came to the end of Celsius, and had to go either right or left, I figured taking a left would keep me parallel with the rail line. Since CelsiusstraBe had taken a curve, this was actually taking me East away from the rail. You can see this on the map. The green is my run along Celsius, and the squiggled is the curve I was unaware of. The blue is the route that I thought the train was taking, and I thought I was running right next to it. The next hour was me trying to make my way "West" to cross the path of the train. The other blue line is where I thought the line must be, after continuing "Westward" along my route and not crossing or even seeing the tracks. This whole time I thought i was headed South and slightly West, I was really heading Very East and slightly south. Curse you stupid 90 degrees of directional error! So anyway, you can see the route I took, all movements South representative of me attempting to make my way West, thinking that the road right after CelsiusstraBe (the beginning of red on the map) was really roughly parallel with the s25 line (blue). Man was I wrong. I'd passed Lichtefeld Sued long ago and wound up kilometers away from Teltow. Exercise: check. Navigation: fail.

Tut mir leid! Entshuldigung!

So it's been at least 3 weeks and no posts. Sorry about that. I guess this is where what I said about my goal just being to get posts onto here actually comes into play. I write this write after finishing up the second of two papers I had to write for European Business Cultures, which was on the heals of a German Language exam which was in turn on the heals of a 10 minute Referat (public speech, nur auf Deutsch). Things here have been much more academically busy. I find myself coming home from campus after the day's courses are over and wanting nothing more than to go to bed. Of course I stay up so I can get some dinner and get through my homework before turning in, but this leaves little time and energy for A) making Skype calls back home, B) journaling/self time, and C)blogging.

What I'm doing/have done about this problem:
I dropped my Architecture of Berlin class, dropping down from 15 to 12 credits. hopefully UF and Bright Futures don't flip one and decide to crucify me.

I am making a schedule so that I can get into a pattern of making calls and getting work done and taking personal time.

I am going to bed earlier...ok I lied. It's 5:01 in the AM right now...I'm going to bed.


Dan

14.1.09

Today was a third long day. Thank God tomorrow all I have is German. So today for my blog entry I am gonna explain the courses I am now taking through the use of fruit. If you are one of my friends who A) does not like word pictures, or B) attempts to track with me but ends up getting lost somewhere between the analogies and the extended metaphors, feel free to skip this entry. A headache benefits neither you nor me, so save yourself the 5 cents in aspirin (.5 cents if you buy in bulk) and move on.

That said, here is my best attempt at explaining the many phases that I went through that led up to me attending 5 different content courses this week, even though I am only taking two. First, let me give you a key for quick reference.

Strawberry=European Business Cultures
Orange=Berlin: History, Memory, Literature
Pear=Themes and Issues in Transatlantic Relations
Grape=Contemporary Germany in European Context
Apricot=Architecture in Berlin
Placing a fruit on the counter=adding a course
Sampling a fruit=Attending a course


For our purposes, I am not including the German class I am in (Pineapple) in my fruit example. Assume the Pineapple is sitting on the counter the whole time.

1. So in the very beginning when we applied for this study abroad program, they had us number our classes we wanted from 1-10, and had us mark how many classes we wanted to take. I wanted two fruit, and I chose Strawberry as first, Orange as second. As a backup for strawberry, I chose Pear, seeing it as a similar course to strawberry. I put some other fruit as a backup for Orange. What I tried to explain to them was that if I did not get Strawberry, to move down and give me Pear instead, and in the case of not getting Orange, for them to give me whatever fruit #4 was. What I didn’t want is for them to give me Strawberry and Pear, or to give me Orange and its backup. Fruit on counter: Desiring a strawberry and a pear.
2. While waiting for them to get back with me, I decide, for strategic reasons, I want to take a third fruit. Fruit on counter: Desiring a strawberry and a pear and one more fruit.
3. They get back to me, and tell me I have Strawberry and Pear. Orange wasn’t available and so they moved right down the line and gave me Pear, even though it was the backup for Strawberry, which I got. Fruit on counter: A strawberry and a pear.
4. I am told by the director that I should wait until I get to Berlin to straiten it out. I head out to Berlin planning on dropping Pear, since I saw it as a backup for Strawberry, which I got, and adding two more other courses so that I could have my three fruit. Fruit on counter: Still a strawberry and a pear (that I plan on removing for another fruit)
5. I get to Berlin and, from doing research, find out that Pear is not at all the same category, and wouldn’t be a repeat of Strawberry at all. Fruit on counter: a strawberry and a pear (looking much more desirable at this point)
6. However, I see that Orange has opened up, and decide to drop Pear and pick up Orange. Fruit on counter: a strawberry, a pear (soon to be removed) and an orange
7. I am encouraged to still sample the pear before removing it from the table, and upon sampling, really enjoy it, yet keep my decision of Strawberry and Orange. Fruit on counter: a strawberry and an orange
8. I sample the strawberry and find it to taste way better than I expected it to. I love my sweet strawberry. Fruit on counter: a very sweet strawberry and an orange
9. I decide on an apricot for my third fruit, and even though I won’t be able to sample it until Wednesday, I go ahead and add it to the counter as my third fruit. Fruit on the counter: a strawberry, an orange, and an apricot
10. I sample the orange with much anticipation, expecting it to be a certain sweet flavor, but find out it is actually not a orange at all, but in fact a sour grapefruit. Fruit on counter: a strawberry, an apricot and a newly discovered grapefruit.
11. I wrestle with the fact that I fought so hard to get the camouflaged grapefruit onto the counter, and am thus reticent to take it back off the counter. Fruit on counter: See 10
12. I decide to add a grape to the counter, so that I can see if the grape is any better than the grapefruit. Soon after placing the grape on the counter, I sample the grape and find it really good, even having a hint of orange in it. Fruit on the counter: a strawberry, an orange/grapefruit, a grape, and an apricot.
13. I sample the apricot, and while finding it hard to swallow, find it fully nutritious, tangy, and also holding a hint of orange within its taste. Fruit on the counter: See 12
14. I make the decision to ignore sunk costs, and end up removing the orange/grapefruit from the table. Fruit on counter: a strawberry, an apricot, and a grape.
15. I happily make the realization that the grape and the apricot compliment each other, and sort of each cover a different aspect of the originally expected orange flavor. Fruit on counter: See 14


Turns out the counter ends up having on it a sweeter than expected strawberry, a complimentary and orangesque grape and apricot, and a lack of grapefruit or pear. 

If you are a close friend and followed that, thank you. If you are an eligible female between the ages of 19 and 29 and followed that, call me.

13.1.09

Today was a long one as well, but went significantly better than yesterday. I went into German and worked hard to be humble, working within the station where I was placed. As it turns out, a girl who just finished semester 5 (I’d only had 3) of German back in the states is only in intermediate II, so that shows me that the level system differs between here and in the U.S. I got through the 2 ½ hours of German, and ate a quick lunch in the Mensa (Cafeteria), adding quick trips from FU-BEST (where our classes are held) to FU’s main campus to my repertoire. This is useful for lunch, as the Mensa is very cheap for students. They have the closest thing to those government subsidized meals for $1.40 that you can still vaguely remember from 5th grade. “Tray lunch” they used to call it. The difference is that, even with the cultural differences, the food in the Mensa actually resembles food. Not at all like 5th grade, where you weeded through the brown muck slopped onto your tray before deciding only the chilled chocolate milk was salvageable, very much in the same way rescue workers pick through the rubble of a collapsed building before calling off the search. Today we had some sort of friend potato cakes with a side of potatoes, but it wasn’t half bad. For less than 2 Euro, 3 items on a tray is a very good deal. I fought so hard to get into the ‘Berlin: History, Literature, Memory’ course, and now that I am in I am wondering what I am getting myself into. Starting next week, each week a student has to present a 15 minute presentation on that week’s history subject, and it comprises 30% of their final grade. Being that the midterm exam AND the final exam TOGETHER add up only to that same number, I’d say it’s pretty important. I have decided to stick it out and soak up all I can in that class, insane workload or not. Maybe I can take the extra energy I would have spent in intermediate German II and apply it here. I got to talk to a few people on skype today, and that was really nice. I felt out of it though, and I think it is a sort of headtrip to be able to finally talk to and even see (in Dad’s case) loved ones again, yet not be with them. I am better with black and white, and sort of ‘half getting my loved ones back with me’ was difficult. So after evening classes (my Berlin course was in the afternoon ((1:30-4)) but I hung out till evening class got out ((4:30-7)) so that I could use the internet) I took the initiative and formed a potluck dinner at my place. 5 people came and we pooled what food, drinks, and silverware we had. We’ve even made plans to do this multiple nights a week, continuing on tomorrow night at another’s place. I very much appreciate God teaching me how to assertively take/form what I need to take care of myself, and tonight, Death Cab, Helen Keller jokes, and three different types of lukewarm pasta were exactly what I needed.

12.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

12.1.09 What a day. Exhausting. This entry isn’t for my readers, it’s for me. I need to process all that went on today. So if humorless, forgive me. I finally fell asleep about 3 hours before having to get up, and had to run off that. I got to BrentanostraBe about an hour early, hoping to get a few things done before starting class. I realized the night prior that I felt very nervous and hesitant about the following beginning of classes and my placement in German class. I got there early and was able to take the last open spot in the architecture in Berlin class, one of the two I was trying to decide between for my third class. ( I chose it over the art history course). This gave me my business class, my transatlantic relations class, and architecture. What was cool was, later in the day I saw that two people had dropped the ‘Berlin; history, literature, memory’ course, and only one person had picked up the vacated seat, so I hopped in just in time! This means I ended up with my original first pick (business), my original second pick (Berlin), and my newly added architecture class. I chose to drop the transatlantic relations course, but was advised to attend the session just in case the transfer did not go through (the kids dropping the course I wanted to get into hadn’t actually dropped it, etc.), so I attended the already dropped class anyway. It was very fascinating and taught by a very experienced retired German diplomat who has been assigned all over the world, including Tel Aviv, Ireland, other places, and lastly Las Angeles. I enjoyed his first lecture, and was half sad to have to leave a class that would have taught me so much. I was not, though, willing to take 18 credits, and so chose the Berlin course over that one. I get ahead of myself though, that class, like all the other content courses, was held in the afternoon (and also the evening, the content courses that is). At a later time I will write about my amazing business class that I had this evening. At the moment, I will back up to the morning. That was the really difficult part. As I expected, we were given an examination for placement within German. I just finished German Intermediate I and was really hoping to do well enough to be placed in Intermediate II. They started us off by asking us to write an open essay in German, and while we were writing that they called us out one by one to do interviews. During my interview I felt rusty, foggy, and misrepresentative of my skill level. Since I was called out of the room halfway through writing my essay, I returned once my interview was over and wrote about how I feared that my interview hadn’t gone as well as I would have liked, and how I feared being placed back in Intermediate I again. Kenny, a fellow Gator and friend of mine, reassured me that I was much better than he, surely at least 2 levels above, and that since he was most likely going into beginning III, he was fairly positive I would get into Intermediate II. I got into Intermediate I. So did Kenny. Logic time. My undergrad advisor already told me if this were to happen I would most likely still get credit for the “repeated” Intermediate course, on account of the different and more rigorous program in Germany. Logic. I can use this to get a firm grasp of the first half of the semester before testing up and moving on to Intermediate II (double course German semester, remember?). Logic. The course surely is different than the one I took, and I won’t be stuck relearning all the same things. Emotion. Failure. Emotion. Goal set, worked towards, mark missed. I could not explain away or rationalize myself out of feeling despondent. I had to listen to and comfort the part of me that was hearing I didn’t do good enough. No, that’s not quite it. My voices line up with “I was not good enough.” Identity mixed in rather than objective action. I will take the appropriate action tomorrow morning. I will go in tomorrow and start Intermediate I with my head held high. I will take the appropriate action for tonight as well. I will remind myself of the truth, that nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake.

1.10.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

I am pretty sure that when people want to use an analogy for some action totally not fitting the context, they would refer to my actions on this first Saturday. After sleeping in and getting a slow start, I went out with Sonya to explore. It was a lot of fun, kind of making our own tracks. We came to this vast expanse, a whole square city block’s size, and it was covered with these boxlike pillars of varying shapes. Being in a playful mood, I tap Sonya’s shoulder and say the magical words. “Tag, you’re it!” and I’m off into the grid-like maze. I’m not saying you have to be depressed and glum when seeing memorials, but maybe next time I’ll have enough wherewithal to realize playing tag in the Holocaust Memorial isn’t such a good idea.

9.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

09.01.09 One of our first ‘visits’ was to the underground bunker system in Berlin. It was really cool we were each allowed one photo, which I included above, but the real adventure began a good bit earlier that day. We had a tour of the school, for which I had to leave the apartment at 8:30. Too bad I got back from the Gator game at 7:30 that morning…Ridiculous. Meticulous. Defibrillous? When we were riding back from Upper Berlin, people were riding the S-Bahn to work, and when we were nearing CelciusstraBe, shops were opening up for the day. I set my alarm for one half hour later, but had not had the ‘it may not be a good thing to have my alarm clock right next to my bed’ epiphany yet, and so woke up at noon with a vague memory of waking up and pressing some button on the clock, and an anything but vague sinking feeling in my stomach that I was very late for our first tour. The night prior I had asked God to help me accomplish my goal of getting a handle on the public transportation system, as the prior days I had just been following the lead of others. Well here was my golden opportunity. I hurriedly dressed and rushed to the bus stop. I had to catch a bus, make one bus change, and figure out how to get to Freie Universitaat. I had noticed that the Germans had been, without exception, very nice to me when I stopped and did my best to strike up a small conversation. Even the times that I initiated for a silly reason, like “what does that word on that sign mean to you?” in German. This morning I was so rushed and in a panic that my brain was not in translation mode. To give background information, we’d just been given a talk on attendance, and how crucial it is to be there, how detrimental it is to be absent. I did NOT want to burn one of my absences already the second day. When I stopped off for my bus change, I was not so sure what bus I needed to take, and my brain was a tad fuzzy still, and so I wasn’t able to fill in the gaps in my understanding as I usually do. I saw both a girl my age and an elderly man who looked sort of like a washed up Ron Jeremy. As to not look like I was merely asking her to get the chance to talk to her (wouldn’t really be ALL that untrue but whatever), I turned and went to go talk to Ron Jeremy. First fail: waking up late. Second fail: choosing Ron Jeremy. As I struggled to ask him which specific bus I needed to board to get to a specific place, I debated on just walking away. It went THAT bad. He had this way of just staring at me in a way that dripped of “Are you natural or are you trying to be this dense?” which he gave me every time I asked for clarification. He continued to try to help me, but not without many scowls. In the back of my head I was thinking, “so long to my perfect record!” and then he says it. He looks at me as if pondering some great complexity, and says, in English, “Do you have an education?” I answer that I do. He responds with, “We call it ‘Abitur’ here…It makes you special”

I am 4 hours late for a program that just had its talk on prompt attendance.

I am running off of little sleep.

I have just been insulted by a guy who makes scowling Simon from American Idol look like Mister Rogers putting on his coat and asking you to be his neighbor.

What’s my fitting retort? The first thing that comes to my mind, “Danke.”

8.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

Ticket to the 2009 NCAA National Championship Game- $175
Ticket for a flight to Berlin- $487
Randomly finding a fellow American who was willing to spend over 3 hours trekking all over Berlin so that we could eventually watch the game on a laptop with a 3X5 window-Priceless

After class on Thursday, Kenny, Layne and I all went out to SchloBstraBe, the shopping district, desperate to figure out a way to watch the game. We’d been looking into different leads since we arrived in Berlin, but everything was turning out to be a dead end. Our first direction was to find out a place that would broadcast the game via television. We found a few leads, American sports bars mostly, but none of them were open from 2 AM to 6 AM, the time in Germany the game would be airing. This was a long drawn out process in itself. We then turned our eyes to trying to find someway we could watch it via the internet. We tried all sorts of internet bars, such as the special Dunkin Donuts upstairs room (closes well before midnight) and even considered sitting outside one of the hotspots after it’s closed (couldn’t confirm the internet would keep flowing when they shut off the lights…and it was REAL cold that night). Fast-forward to me sitting in the internet considering buying an O2 internet stick (way overpriced, and just didn’t feel good about buying it without researching other places first) and asking a student aged girl in German if she was done using the in-store laptop (I was gonna use it for internet to try and FIND a place WITH internet) and she responded to me in English! As it turned out, her name’s Mimi and she’s going for her doctorate here in Berlin, at the Technical Institute in North Berlin. She offered to us to use her O2 stick, which was extremely trusting on her part since she just met us. She went with us to get my laptop (First trek across Berlin) and then to her apartment to get the O2 stick (Second trek across Berlin), only to find out that the stick doesn’t pick up internet fast enough to watch streaming live video. We were about to make the trek back to a 24 hour internet bar we passed on the way to her apartment (not an ideal place to watch the game) when Mimi realized that we could go watch it at her school, where they have an internet lab, to which she has a key for. Enter our third trek. After hiking through the C O L D for a very long time, we get to the Institute. This was close to our sixth hour of searching and trekking. Mimi, the one who speaks close to the least German out of all of us, had to convince the security guard that she was there, at 2 in the morning, with three random Americans, for official business. The two six packs Kenny held under his arm didn’t really help our case. Anyway, we finally got in, and got the loaded the game on a computer, only to find out the computers lacked sound! AGGGHHHH! Now realize, for every obstacle I detail, there were probably two or three that I left out. Luckily Mimi had access to her own laptop, and we were able to pull that up. Now as you may or may not know, Mac’s have horrible maximum sound, so we realized we wouldn’t be able to cheer after the plays without missing what the announcer said, and the screen being so small, we wouldn’t be able to jump up and down without missing the replay. Well, we got a cure to both these problems, in a way… Apparently Fox had this “Enhanced” way of watching the game, where one can watch 4 or 5 different camera angles at once. This seems like it would have been a pretty cool experience, if we could have gotten more than one camera view, and if that view was anything but the quarterback camera angle. No replays, no commentary, no sound but the sound on the field. Not even any commercial breaks. We got to see what it looks like for the players during these breaks. They often just stand around waiting for that guy with the red hat to get back off the field so they can resume. So, with no replays and with no commentary, our problem of “missing it” due to celebration was, in a way, fixed. We got around this next problem by loading the Itunes broadcast of the game and listening to that, only about 90 seconds delayed from our visual. We eventually fixed that too by delaying our visual by roughly the 90 seconds, to where it was within maybe 5 seconds. Other than the inconveniences of a micro screen and trying to stay awake with jetlag and the fact that we were staying up all night for a second time that week, the most difficult obstacle to overcome/accept was that the camera angle was…unique. If Tebow bombed it down the field for an amazing catch by #1 Percy Harvin, we would get the pleasure of seeing…Tim Tebow’s facial reaction to the play. The camera angle was such that it wouldn’t attempt to follow the ball more than 10 yards from the place of the snap. So watching the game was…less than we thought it would be. Honestly it was really hard to get into it at 5 in the morning with only one other person awake (sorry Kenny, the world has to know). Layne and I would attempt going crazy after a play, but it felt lackluster. So, what are my conclusions? What are my main thesis points?
• It is much easier to be a Gator when it is convenient. The whole “Gator Pride” thing only extends so far. I hate to be the downer on all those who would like to see themselves as die hard Gator fans, but a large amount of this fervor comes from the ease of being a fan. Now, some would argue that they were Gator fans even before Florida was a powerhouse, but I’d argue that this point actually makes my case. When “oh man my team isn’t that good but I’m gonna stick by them” is all it takes to be “hardcore”, being a Gator is still largely ruled by convenience. Let’s take Kenny for example. He’s pretty die hard. Painting your room orange and blue would qualify as “hard core” behavior to me. Kenny gave up trying to find a place after just two or three hours of searching. I started to get really frustrated with him because his actions were so not matching up with his “oh, I’m the most hardcore fan” attitude. I’m not bashing Kenny, because I must admit getting stopped every time we thought we had a viable option was SO disheartening. I realized that Gator fans’ excitement is largely based on things like pack mentality and access to background details of the game. We lacked both in Berlin, and thus I was able to see this. I found myself fighting to get into the excitement of our win since I wasn’t able to access info on the specific details, something that I always enjoyed at UF. Most of my fellow Gators can relate to the enjoyment of a good copy of The Alligator after our victories on the football field.
• My sense of accomplishment came not from seeing the game (it wasn’t much of a game to be honest. It came from, as my mother put it, finding success in an endeavor in a foreign city. After being successful in such an undertaking, I feel I can take on other tasks that involve both a complicated problem and a complicated solution.
• God is in control of things, even down to the relatively small things, like a football game. If we hadn’t have gotten to see it, He would still be just as much in control, but our getting to see the game against all odds confirmed that WHEN God wants something done, He gets it done. Now to just learn to rest in HIS control and HIS decision making on what He wants done and what He wants left undone.

7.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

First breast sighting, right off the bat. I’m sitting at my gate waiting to board my second flight, and I notice the back of the paper of the man across the aisle from me. Apparently, “Anne loves the Nature” and is showing it with a fully topless half page photograph article. Looking away gave rise to the realization that this was not some adult subscription, but the common daily newspaper. With everyone around me reading the frontside, the paper’s backside (and Anne’s FRONTside) was multiplied and right in my face. In the States, often my plan of action was merely to get away from the objectionable material, forgetting to take it to God and failing to surrender the matter to Him. This half method ‘seemingly worked enough’ that I wasn’t forced to take it to the next level, surrendering my circumstances over to God. What I realize is that there will be some situations in Europe where the objectionable material is not fully avoidable, and I will be thus forced to first and foremost take the matter to God and seek His guidance for how to navigate. Wait, what’s it Linda is always telling me? “Hooray, another chance to grow!”







So listen, Jesus, if this whole savior of the world thing doesn't work out...

6 1/2.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

"We flyin' first class, up in the sky. Drinkin' champagne, livin' the life”

-Fergie, Glamorous.

Okay, so I wasn’t in first class, but I was in the sky. I wasn’t drinking champaigne, but I was living the life! Before I boarded my plane to fly to Germany there had been some confusion with my seating. My mom swore she had picked out a seat from the only remaining seats, in the very back of the plane, yet my boarding pass had 11C on it. I showed the stewardess directing passengers and she, looking almost surprised, pointed me not to the right, with the steady flow of passengers, but through the curtain and to the left. Before continuing, I’ll pose the question: If I had no business sitting in the seat they gave me, but pulled it off with class, can you figure out where they put me? For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son. For God so desired to remind Dan of this love and concern with even the smallest details of his life that He gave Dan a rocket ship cockpit to ride in on his flight over to Germany. Or maybe not a cockpit, because how many pilots get back massages while flying? There was a remote for my seat with more options on it than I had fingers to push, controlling seat parts that I didn’t know could move. They served us drinks several times, and the meal was a three course deal. I included a picture of the dinner’s appetizer course, skipped the second course picture, but resumed with a picture of the dessert, and finally the next morning’s (a relative term) breakfast. There’s also a picture of the seat/bed. I wouldn’t pay an extra $1,500 for the experience, but it was well worth the extra wasted battery life on my camera.

The remote, the chair, and the appetizer course of my dinner!

6.1.09 (dated this way until I catch up)

So I’m sitting here in the airport, just got through the security check point. Right before that I saw my mom onto a bus to take her home, my brother and dad having taken the car home hours earlier. It was really nice to have her there with me for support and interaction before she headed home and I headed on.
I don’t like transitions.
Why? Mostly because transitions are a combination of known and unknown. The known is what is being left behind. The unknown is what is ahead. This causes me to fear that I will make the necessary jump from my current circumstances, and find out what I was hoping for or expecting lay ahead actually doesn’t exist, or isn’t as I thought it would be. This is where faith comes in, trusting that God actually cares and is watching out for me. Yeah, I’m still working on that part.
I think one big area that I am afraid of transitioning is relationships. I am afraid to branch out relationally in going to Berlin, afraid my friends here will go on without me, afraid I won’t make friends over there…
So I’m in the security line, having freshly bid farewell to my mother, realizing I am truly off on my grand adventure into the new, the unknown. In front of me there is an elderly lady who is hard of hearing and keeps ducking her head and talking to me about allergies and Florida palm fronds. Asmall Indian man behind me leans in and starts muttering about how slow the line is going, how he only has a few minutes to catch his plane, how there should not be only one person checking passports since there are three or four more just standing around. I listen to his complaints and do my best to sympathize with him, offering him my spot in line, which he turns down. He continues to go on about how everything with the security is ‘screwed’ and it is all ‘spit’ and on and on. We eventually get up to the podium, which is such a bummer because moments before he had attempted to tell his woes to the lady in front of me, and since he refused to speak up, choosing to respond to her “WHAT”s with leaning further and further in, I was really curious to see if he’d end up nuzzling her neck. With my money belt, actual belt, boots, laptop and 1 ounce bag of potentially flammable toothpaste, it takes me quite a bit off time to get through security, and I decide to tease the attendant who is me down. “Favorite part of your day huh?” He smiles, shrugs and says something indicating that favorite part of his day or not, its part of his very LONG day. After redressing, I walk to my gate. I notice the people I am passing. The newly hired newsstand employee getting chewed out by her manager, the man looking around embarrassed after spilling his water, the new parents making absolute fools of themselves repetitively while attempting to get their infant’s bright eyed reaction on film. I realize, they’re all just people. Whether they’re patting me down and this is their job, or they’re travelers just trying to get to their destination like me, they’re just people.
A large part of my fear is that the fellow students in my program won’t like me, that they won’t be compatible, that they won’t be accepting of my decision not to drink alcohol while overseas, that they’ll not want to be my friend. Then it clicks. They’re just people. Just like me. Just people.
This is when the commandment, “Fear Not” flashes through my brain. I think God made that statement because He’s able to back it up. If we choose not to give in to fear, He CAN and WILL take care of us. He won’t leave me friendless over in Berlin. Somewhere in between the tired janitor, the geeky money belt that I’m wearing as a fanny pack, and the fellow students I have yet to even meet, I get the sense that God’s taking care of me, and maybe, just maybe, I’m gonna be alright.

Entry Numer Eins

Hello all,
Starting off with giving credit, I did get the name for this blog from my well traveled and even more well documented roommate, Will. He, an English major, wrote his first blog about his adventures in China, and continued blogging about his college experience. Very witty, and always grammatically correct. That was his blog, and this is mine. I'll be focusing on actually getting around to writing on here, and less on exactitudeness of grammaticalness and stubbornity of using actual real words. However, I will do my reader's a huge facor and do my best to avoid the 'lol's and the 'like's that permiate chat speach. Anyways (my favorite nonword), I'm in the season now of American football and European preparation. My time is split between the Rose Bowl and preparing online banking connections for when I get over there. I have Wachovia but I recently found out that they would charge me 2% of every transaction AND an exorbitant 5 DOLLARS per ATM transaction. Instead of getting washed for the cost of a subway footlong sub every time I need to withdraw money, I opened up a Michigan State Credit Union account and they only charge me 1% and a 1$ fee for ATMs. I'm learning that it costs more money to use your own money. With Wachovia, they charge me three dollars every time I want to transfer money out of my account into another account. Nuts to that, I found a way to get around that and have my MSUCU account 'take' those funds and avoid that fee. I would kill to find a bank that would just use my money on the market in an advantagious manner for their own profit and not charge me every time I want to use MY money; a bank where I take out $5 and it only takes out $5, all of which I RECEIVE. You'd THINK that since Wachovia just got bought out and is going down the tubes, they'd realize they're not in a position to live up to their nickname, "Walkalloverya". Apparently their precarious position only makes them not give a crap, kind of the way soon-to-be-former presidents seem to act towards their responsibilities the last few months of office. Now that that vent is over, I am switching as much of my funds to a better institution, and moving on.

Before I go, I would be amiss to close out without welcoming a very special lady into the world!

Genevieve Noel - Born Dec 30, 2008 at 8:15pm. 9 lbs 6 oz and 21.75 inches long!