BERLIN!!!

Ok, so its been a while- many apologies. But on the bright side, now that I have to summarize such a long period of time in one post, you don't have to slog through tediously detailed accounts of everything I've done! Most of the first week was spent settling in, getting to know my host mom, trying not to get lost (and failing miserably) and finding every Ethiopian food restaurant within 30 minutes. My night life excursions were limited to a large but rather uninteresting club and the discovery of a few extraordinary bars (one of which just BEGS you to sit back with a nice glass of wine and a cigarette and talk philosophy). Speaking of philosophy, I went to an amazing jazz club and ended up talking with the Chicago-born performer for more than 4 hours- in addition to being a fantastic guitarist/singer, he is now the first person who has recognized Nietzsche's eternal recurrence by name when I brought up the concept! Kudos, Andy.

Most of my other exploits involve getting lost and starting conversations with strangers (auf Deutsch, natuerlich), or browsing the erotic stores in the Red Light District (which I live immediately next to) for appropriate attire for one of Sini's and mine planned excursions... I've also met most of my host non's family (her sister died young, so she raised three kids in addition to her own)- they're wonderful and loud and funny. We play German games and have delightful Danglish conversations that often last for hours! Furthermore, it turns out Britta (my host mom) and I share common guilty pleasures- so whenever we have free time together we sit down in from of a German soap opera with either gummy bears or chocolate and talk about how good looking Scandinavian men are. We really get along quite famously.

I also did some work yesterday.