alles gute, meiner!

Conrad, one of the Quenzel's sons, turned thirty this week, so today is the big party. This is the moment the whole family has been waiting, for, apparently, b/c it's the debut of the renovations they've been doing in the "garden house." I'm realizing now that I've posted like no pictures of their house. Sorry.

Anyway, basically, their house is one of those that line the city walls, with big front doors to garages and bigger gardens. These were originally built for the city-dwelling peasant class, who needed to pull carriages off the streets, house horses, etc. So, we've got an awesome three-tier back yard - the main "Hof," a terrace, and the garden plot that sits right up next to the city wall and what is now the lowest part of the park. The Quenzels have lived here for a couple hundred years, and the house has taken on a couple different financial endeavors. The house in the garden was built during the time that Louisa had a brewery and bar here. When Christoph's grandfather became a doctor they cut out the brewing, but the house is still there, and has mostly been a workshop/storage space since Ruth and Christoph took over. Originally, they thought that when they got old and one of their children moved into the house they would move out to that second house, but it's fairly impractical since the ground floor doesn't have real living space, and they're worried about not being able to use stairs (although I know very few old Germans that can't tackle stairs), and are now planning on living in the first floor that is currently my apartment. So now, the garden house has become a party house. First Conrad's birthday, then Ruth's (next week), and Phillipp and Marion wanted to have their Polterabend (the party the night before their wedding) there, but have now changed their plans.

Well, I never saw the upstairs of the house before they started fixing it up, b/c it required climbing a scary looking ladder at least 15 feet and then doing a pull-up into the window, but it looks awesome now, and since the building was built just before the civil war, I'm thinkin' they had a lot to do. They built a new external staircase and porch on the back side, and it stays sunny up there until about 21:30 at this time of year, even though it's pretty shady in the garden by 20:00. We've been hanging out up there every evening this week, and tonight I think there's supposed to be 40 people or something coming to the party.

Been a while since I posted a recipe. I've basically been eating the same things over and over, or else I've been out of town and therefore not cooking for myself. SO.... The Quenzels asked me to bring a salad, which is not a big deal except that then they started saying how they're going to tell all the guests it's an American delicacy, and I felt pressured to make something quintessential. I thought about making homemade ranch dressing for a regular tossed salad, but I've never even thought about that before and it seemed like a daunting task. Then this salad was born. The Quenzels really like tex-mex, and I started off thinking about a bean salad because of that. The white limas (which, here at least, don't have that sweet taste the green ones do) take away from that a little, but I was trying to add color and size variation, and I think that although not typical tex-mex, I'm pleased with their addition.

Kat's "Ach, LEUTE!" Bean Salad
1 large can sweet corn
1 large can red kidney beans
1 small can jumbo white lima beans
2 small red onions
juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 head iceberg lettuce
cilantro, white pepper, sunflower oil to taste

Rinse beans and corn thoroughly with cold water. Combine beans, corn, onion, lemon juice, and spices beforehand to give the spice a chance to soak into the veggies (yes, I know beans are legumes but w/e). Let stand one hour. Chop lettuce in strips, wash, and add, with oil, just before serving.

I'll add pictures later, but I haven't made this look especially pretty yet, so I'll take pics of the final product. It's not ready yet b/c the party's not for a couple hours.

well crap.

I really did mean to do this more often. But that last post, I have to admit, kind of wore me out. Well, here goes again anyway.

I spent a good deal of time recuperating from the Americans. You know, watching junk tv, knitting, vegging out, the whole deal. And then, suddenly, I realized time was almost up. So I took off. Spring finally came to Germany (in its own little European way), and I was in Berlin when I feel like it finally happened. One of the kids from the youth group here works for a popular German band, Tocotronic, and got me in free to their concert in Potsdam. It was pretty cool, but I'm admittedly not the hugest Tocotronic fan, and so it was also a little awkward. Most of the people there knew all the words, and apparently they're more alternative than I had gathered from their music, b/c although I showed up all cute in my bright yellow dress, everyone else had on black. Exclusively. With the minor exception of the lime green screen print on their just-purchased merch. Nice. Anyway, I was basically there by myself since Katha had to work, but I made friends with a couple guys while I was trying to just find the damn place, and so at least the waiting for the concert wasn't totally lonely (but once the music started, Martin went off to mosh and I stuck to the outsides). I've developed a little bit of claustrophobia, it would seem, and I can't do crowds the way I used to. Maybe it's something about not being certain of how to express panic, but I really need to feel like I always have two ways of walking out of a situation, and that is simply not possible at a concert once people get going.

WARNING: I feel like this post is semi-picture-heavy. But I had a ridiculously hard time deciding which pictures to put up. Please see my flickr page for more.

Anyway, I stayed with Uli (my first-ever host sister from Bavaria) that night, and spent the weekend with her and her roommates. Since I was not really excited about the Berlin I had experienced so far, we decided not to do anything touristy, but rather find something to make me feel like it was a pretty cool place. We ended up in the trendy hipster neighborhood (still can't figure out the name of it?) where everyone was gorgeous and I wanted to buy all the clothes they were selling but couldn't afford the air in those stores. So we ate ice cream and took off, with a quick stop at Sonnenallee, the famous street that ran straight into the Berlin Wall, but weren't sure exactly where the wall was, so didn't exactly get to that point... Oh well. Then we headed back and while Uli baked a cake, I cut Felix's hair with a rusty pair of scissors he found in the back of the kitchen drawer. Brave soul. But he was pleased with the outcome and I'm not too embarrassed to say that I am responsible for it. Saturday night we went to a party that was nothing remarkable.
Sunday I got up and went to the only Quaker Meeting in Germany, which was nice but made me miss my Friends (ha! get it?) in Columbia. Saturday afternoon, we sat up in the park in Uli's neighborhood, Kreuzberg, with a cheesecake, coffee, and no silverware and just... chilled. It was nice. I really liked Uli's roommates, and not just because I miss young people and not living alone. They were genuinely awesome. I was really sad that I had to come back to Eisleben that evening, but it was okay because...

First thing Tuesday I got on a train to Regensburg, and seven hours later I got there, and hung out with my old host parents and Uli's sister, Maria, who I don't think I ever met, honestly, before then. It was nice and Bavarian, but considerably colder than it had been in Berlin which was sad. We went and wandered around downtown Regensburg on Wednesday, and although I confirmed the fact that I do like the city, I don't know if I'd keep it on my top five favorite German cities list anymore. I think I was mostly excited about it that summer I was there because I was seventeen and had never been to Europe and it was big and exciting but not so crowded and touristy as Munich. What I mean is, it's cute, and I could live there probably, but I'd much rather hang out in Erfurt. Then again, maybe I just can't get over how much money they have in Bavaria and Phillipp has been getting to me with his East German propaganda.
[mom and dad, I'm sorry, but I didn't take a single picture of the Schäfers. However, they got these knew "garden gnomes" and I thought you would like them, ma.]

Uh-huh. Well, Thursday I went on a 13 hour train ride to Rome to visit Audra, who lived in Preston with me and is an awesome girl. Her exams started on Monday so it was another laid back weekend, but I did all the main things, some with her - Vatican, Trevi Fountain - and some while she was in class or studying - Coliseum, Palatine Hill, the Parthenon. My general feeling on Rome, however, was indifference. The phrase that kept coming to my mind was "TOO MUCH!" There was so much stuff to see, but Rome is infuriating with its lack of explanations. Even though almost everyone who works anywhere public in Rome speaks English, all the museums were exclusively in Italian, and there are few directional signs for the major events. Don't even get me started on the way everything is built like a maze that has no right or wrong directions, so that you can wander and wander and have no idea where you are until you think "I've been here before," but don't know which way you left so you don't know where to go this time. I liked Palatine Hill, mostly because it was largely an outdoor park and I have gotten to where I really like places where people lay around in the grass, but I apparently missed an archaeological dig site b/c it was Roman and confusing and I didn't know there was a way into that part. But the Coliseum is significantly more impressive from the outside (except, of course, for the idea that people stood there so long ago - but that's true of the whole damn city), the Vatican Museum looked like some grandma had shoved as many of her trinkets into one room as possible, even though they rarely made sense next to each other (and I was so frustrated that we waited 4 hours and paid 8euros for the damn thing with so few actual important pieces of art that were usually hidden behind some other, equally old but significantly less well-known), and the Sistine Chapel was over crowded and smelly and even though they obviously don't use the space for worship anymore - it's an empty room with an undressed altar - they kept trying to make people be quiet. What for? So everyone can hear themselves think, "That's it?" in their own heads instead of letting them say it out loud? Alright Vatican City, you got me on St. Peter's Basillica. I don't think I had my mouth closed the whole half hour we were in there. It's huge and ornate and oh so catholic, which is only a little sad because the Pieta gets lost because of its simplicity (it, too, was smaller than I imagined). But my all-time favorite thing there was what Audra and her friends had decided they weren't going to go see at all - the Mouth of Truth. Old movie fans will definitely know it from the Hepburn film Roman Holiday. It's basically an old stone tablet with a giant face on it, the mouth and eyes of which are holes. Legend has it that anyone who lies with their hand in the mouth will have it bitten off by the stone jaws, but either my skin is green or it's not true. So that was a cool thing to see, a little more off the beaten path, but then the exit takes you through the church, which has the relics of St. Valentine, and it's just a cute, smaller chapel that looks, unfortunately, like all the money got spent on the cathedrals. The frescoes around the tops of the walls were in disrepair, the ceiling was raw and didn't look like it was very well taken care of. But something about it was more real than the rest of the city. Then, of course, they went and proved me wrong by putting a souvenir shop in the damn corner. Whatevs. I had a good time being with Audra, reliving the good ole days of Preston gossip and politics and eating gelato (every day! shh...). But now I miss that place and those people more than ever.

I signed my contract for Border Servant Corps today, though, so hopefully that roommate situation will work out as a good substitute for being on campus. I'm starting to get really excited about being out there - I found a couple forums and such, and have been getting good tips on yarn shops, book stores, and farmer's markets. There's if not two at least one Quaker Meeting, and I simply cannot express my excitement about that, and three Jazzercise centers. I can't stand myself.

Well, I've got less than two weeks here now. The only place I haven't gotten to travel to that I thought would is Prague, but Franzi can't go, and I don't think I want to go alone. People keep telling me to just suck it up and go alone, but I don't want it to be a half-ass experience because I'm by myself. Also, maybe it'll be more incentive to come back if I don't make it there. I'm also quite simply worn out from spending the last two weeks on the road, and there are several parties going on here, so I think I'm just going to hang out in Eisleben until it's time to go home, unless I run to Köthen one more time. Because I thought I would see Franzi again, I didn't really feel like I said goodbye to them, and I didn't even see most of my other friends last time I was there because I decided so last minute and they were all out of town. hmm...

Anyway, I will probably post again early next week since this weekend should be exciting, but if not it'll most likely be when I get home...

phew.

Well, that was exciting.

All the groups are home (more or less without incident), I'm back in Eisleben for a quiet little week of recuperation, and spring has come! [knock on wood]. Yep, that's right, although it snowed less than two weeks ago, I've been running around in shirt sleeves and skirts for the last three days. Well, running around may be an exaggeration. I've been wearing them. I haven't been running anywhere, and really haven't left my apartment much except to fraternize with my host family in the garden. I can't tell you how excited I am. I'm a little mad at myself for not sending more of my bulky warm clothes home with my parents, but whatever. It's like, 12*C!! Good times.

Hokay... Catch up.

Erfurt is pretty much my favorite place on earth right now. Alright, that's an exaggeration, but it was the only place I got to breathe for the last month, and so I have a little bit of an attachment. It's also just a cool place - big enough that stuff is going on, but very laid-back at the same time. Additionally, it has the best street art/graffiti I've ever seen. I actually "collected" it, it was so cool. Dang, I need to get that up on flickr.

With the UniLu group I got to go to Weimar, a place that everyone in this region raves about. It's been a center of German culture, art, and intellectual thought for a long long time, and in many ways is considered the "heart" of Germany. Buchenwald, a Nazi and later Soviet work camp, is just outside the city walls, which means less to us, maybe, than it does to Germans. It was a shock to many people, after the war, that such a thing was happening so close to an important city. In reality, much of that shock was probably about being forced to look at the things they had been ignoring for such a long time, and its proximity to Weimar was just the salt in the wound. Buchenwald was not a death camp in the way that Auschwitz was, and housed more political prisoners and dissidents (including Ernst Thälman and Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Elie Wiesel was also here, but not because of politics) and than Jews. I feel I need to write much, much more about the experience of going there, but it may be better suited for another post.

I finally got to spend an afternoon in Berlin, again with UniLu, but I still haven't gotten to see the things I wanted to go back for. Mostly, right now, I want to go to the Käthe Kollwitz Museum. But of course I still have time.

Travel plans: Prague/Dresden and Italy are pretty much certain, but I need to talk to Franzi and Jon about when. I could go to Sweeden with some people from the JG and Scott, but I don't really have any particular interest in going, and I think I'd rather spend my money seeing something I'm dying to see. Will invited me to Spain, but that'll be a matter of when he could host me. I'm currently toying with the idea of going to Barcelona and Paris, then to Ireland, and flying back. Dang I wanna go to Ireland so bad. Problem is that I don't know anyone there, and I really don't want to go by myself.

The job with BSC is definite. I'll be getting my contract in the mail soon, and then I suppose it'll be time to look for a plane ticket? Man, that's weird. I may have mentioned before that I have a Rosetta Stone program for Latin American Spanish, or maybe not. Either way, I do have one, and I've been feverishly trying to learn enough phrases to not sound like an ass when I show up on the border. It's coming along, only very very slowly.

Anyway, I've decided to stay home for the summer, unless something pretty serious changes. It's just too expensive to fly back here for two more months of wasting my time. If I'm in the states, I don't have to pay rent, I could maybe earn some money, and at the very least, I'm blessed with friends who enjoy having fun for free, something that doesn't work out real well here. Best case scenario, I can split my time between the mountains and the beach and I won't get sunburned too bad. Also, re-acclimating to heat is sounding pretty pretty good right now. The prospect of leaving 18*C for a desert is not so great if you ask me.

Not a whole lot to say. I'm settling into the groove of these tours, having to think and worry less and less as things go along. So, that's exciting.

It's also finally getting warmer. It's possible of course, that it's just the Orkan we've got going on up in the north sea, but all the same, the last few days have been warmer, and I'm excited.

Just wanted you to know I hadn't forgotten about you. I just haven't had a lot of time for thought or reflection on anything, which makes for much less interesting posts. I also haven't cooked a thing in three weeks, so no recipes. I'll post soon w/ some of my craft projects, though...

call me butterrrr.

I'm on a roll.

Yeah, okay, the brussel sprouts were a bit undercooked, but it was the first time in my life I have ever even eaten fresh brussel sprouts, I think (and even frozen ones I might've had five times ever), and I had to google for half an hour before I felt confident even pretending to cook them. I was pretty happy with this stuff.

Confession: I cheated. So, I'm not going to post a real recipe. That pork was delicious, but it was pre-cooked and pre-seasoned. All I did was set it in the oven for five minutes so it was a little above room temperature. And that rice? Uncle Ben's Minute rice. I heated it up and put it in a pot. The brussel sprouts, however, I boiled with a cup and a half of water, a spoonful of butter, and one garlic clove, sliced ultra thin. Added salt and pepper. Not bad, if I do say so myself. And it sure as hell looks tasty, even if I didn't cook most of it.

Busy, busy getting ready for the American invasion of Sachsen-Anhalt. Realized last night, after working for at least ten hours on the very very detailed itinerary that we couldn't take half the trains I had planned on, so I was up till 5am fixing it (thanks, OCD!). Pretty tired, and releasing my frustrations in vanilla-hazelnut pudding (also amazing) and paprika potato chips. But as for now, I'm going to eat dinner with one of my youth and her family in ten minutes. Write more later, maybe?

edit: Check out these shoes! They're not real comfortable, but how awesome are they? Possible for Jenn's wedding, maybe? Gotta decide in the next two days if I wanna return them, though.

kindertage

Mann o Mann am I tired!

Monday - Today we had Kindertage up at Sankt Annen. It was kind of like vacation bible school, only German. Our theme was "Kunterbunt," which means both "chaotic" and "colorful" at the same time. So we talked about creation and how there were all these different creatures created, and how we're the body of Christ and we all have different talents, and etc. etc. Anyone who ever went to Sunday school ever probably knows what went down. I'm sure it was fun--at least, the kids all seemed to enjoy it. Only, here's the deal. The dialect here, is super mumble-some. Then even more people mumble because they're too lazy to talk right (which is not an attack on this region. It's true of people everywhere). Then they speak fast. And their kids speak faster and more mumbley than they do. And kids don't pay attention when you say "oh, I'm sorry, what was that? I'm not a native German speaker so you're going to have to slow down." They either repeat themselves just as fast and unclearly as before, look at you like you have three heads, or go ask someone else for whatever it is they need (it's usually a kleenex). My brain is just about ready to explode.

I know I said I would dish, but I just can't. I even tried to post something exciting three times today already. I just... can't. I'm going to watch scrubs and fall asleep.
xoxo

i'm sorry. seriously.

I know that I promised all of you I would be updating this blog when I arrived. I'm sorry that I didn't do a good job of that. I will try to do better in the next month.

Yep, that's right. I've been here about a month, now. I won't lie to you. It's been a rough transition. Although we knew, statistically, that there were very few young adults running around Eisleben, before I came, nothing could have prepared me for the reality of that experience. EVERYONE leaves after graduating or finishing their practical training. That's not true. Most people leave. The others resigned themselves at the age of 16 to a life financed by generous German unemployment benefits and alcoholism. After living in a college town my entire life, this is a world I never imagined. It's difficult to find things to talk about with the majority of the people I meet. The students from the youth group are a welcome change--as Gymnasiumschüler, they all expect to go to college--it's weird that the closest thing I have to friends are all 17 years old. True, German kids grow up faster. But then when you sit in a bar with them, and they talk about their 18th birthday party like it was yesterday, not because they're swept up in nostalgia, but because it actually WAS yesterday... and then, inevitably, someone mistakes me for a 19 year old and I have to say, no, actually, I'm 22. You wouldn't believe the blank stares. What the hell is a 22 year old doing in Eisleben hanging out with us?

I guess I should address my apartment somewhat as well. After I got over the jet lag, this apartment started to creep me out. I mean, you saw it. It's huge. I've spent the last four years sharing a tiny room with someone. Before that, I lived with my parents. On top of that, I hated the feeling that no one would be looking for me immediately if anything happened. The people who've lived here for a while all talk about Eisleben like it's the perfect town. People walk around at night by themselves, down alleys with no lamps (granted, it does get dark at 5pm, so you don't exactly have an option all the time). But no matter what I did, I was creeped out. So, my unbelievably awesome "host parents" that didn't really sign up for host parent duty let me sleep upstairs in the attic for about a week. I've been back downstairs for 3 1/2 weeks now, and I'm doing considerably better. But this house is nearly 350 years old. It creaks. It whispers. And I'm alone. It's a weird feeling.

I went to Erfurt last week to check things out for the spring break trips. I also visited the son of the people I live with, Philip, who is finishing up his studies there. He's becoming an elementary school teacher. I had a lot of fun, and I promise I'll write more details soon.

This week we have a vacation bible school type thing going on up at St. Anne's, and Thursday I'm going to Wittenberg to scope out the city tour situation. Next Sunday I'm going back to Köthen to visit with Steffi and Franzi. I cannot even explain my excitement.

Tonight I hosted youth group at my house, since Scott is on vacation. Since I was missing home, I hosted my own little pancake supper (which is a fat tuesday tradition in my family/at CU campus ministry). It went fairly well, although all the Germans wanted to eat jam on their pancakes instead of syrup and I had to eat all the bacon myself (YEAH I FOUND BACON IN GERMANY WHOOT!) because they refused to mix sweet and salty at dinner time... Oh, German culinary rules. Will you never fail to ruin my parties?
Anyway, the point is that I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to sleep now to get ready for our last day of Kindertage. I will do my best to write more tomorrow, or at the very least this weekend.
xoxo

ps. THANKS to everyone who's sent me mail. I got 5 letters today and was so excited, I ran upstairs to show the Quenzels. They think I'm weird, but I say, keep 'em comin!

ho-o-o-o-oly crap!

So, I'm here. I'm speaking German. I have an apartment and I cook meals for myself. I went to the Metzgerei (kinda like a butcher, but with lots more gellatinous options) by myself today and I bought some kind of animal product (yep, not sure what it was) that I ate and it has not yet made me sick. I have discovered I can buy bread and vegetables--in German--and even though it quickly becomes evident that I'm an Ausländer, I get what I need. I am starting to encounter Mansfelder (the God-awful dialect of German that's spoken here) without getting completely confused. I registered with the city and got a checking account today, too. Gah, crazy stuff. Anyway, I'm kinda tired and I still have stuff to do tonight. I'll post again when I can. Meanwhile, if you want to get in touch with me, you can email me and I'll send you my snail mail address.

Seriously?

I keep wondering if this is really happening.

I graduate in 18 days--which is now closer to two weeks than three--and in just over one month I am getting on a plane and flying to another country and staying there for some time. I'll have a job and no homework. I'll have an apartment and no roommate. I'll be 22. There will be snow on the ground and I'll be much more than an hour and a half from an ocean. I will primarily be speaking a language that my parents don't understand more than five words of. I will pay for things in Euros (and I will want to cry when I think about how many dollars each one is worth). When I walk out of my room in the morning there won't be these people around me that have been there for the last two/four/seven/twenty years. I'll have to find a new coffee shop to hang out in--if there even is a coffee shop to hang out in. Will I sit in a bar instead? In a church? In a museum?

On the one hand I'm grateful to be able to leave all the things I've been bitching about for as long as I can remember--can we talk about the fact that it's almost December and I can still wear short sleeves outside?--I'm glad the break will be complete. I won't have to walk that line between being a graduate and still wishing I could go to college parties or worrying about bumping into people in five points who will ask "Wait, I thought you graduated?" I've been watching my friends who finished last spring (and those who should've finished years ago but still haven't) sit around, unable to get real jobs with their liberal arts Bachelor degrees and I'm glad I don't have to do that, to walk into a temp agency just to pay the rent. But they're all still here, in Columbia, together, trying to make it work and to figure out what it means that there's no more papers or tests or projects to do. Will I have to do that on my own? When I call home on Wednesday nights at 10 pm, will my Preston friends be too busy eating cereal to answer? Will they understand that I know exactly what time it is and yeah, that's why I called from my quiet apartment where I can't eat Lucky Charms because Germans believe in healthy breakfasts? Will they think about me over spring break in their flip flops and sun dresses and laugh because they know I'm still wearing my parka?

This post feels self-indulgent and I'm sorry. I think I thought it was some kind of game until now. That I would wake up one morning and we would all look at each other and go "PSYCH!" and laugh because, no, of course I'm not leaving, we'll be together forever... The truth is, all I've ever been is a student. All I've ever known is eating dinner with the same people every night, ordering the same coffee every day, climbing to the third floor of the same building for the last three years. I'm worried I won't be able to forget all those things I wish I could be doing. Maybe I'm more worried someone else will too easily forget that I did those things with them.

germany?

I'm sorry to be away so long. I feel like very little is happening in way of my plans, and so I'm rarely reminded of anything to write about.

Of course, it's not entirely true that nothing is happening. I'm doing well this semester and am fully confident that I will in fact graduate from USC on December 17th (which, by the way, is also my birthday). Everything seems to be in order for my move to Eisleben. I'm in the process of getting a plane ticket, housing is set up, and I get my visa and insurance settled after I get there... Kinda exciting. Kinda scary.

I'm also working on applications for Border Servant Corps and Lutheran Volunteer Corps so that I can spend a little time back in the states before running off in the Peace Corps. I've discovered that it's possible to earn a Master's degree while in the Peace Corps as well. That's an exciting prospect. If only I knew what I wanted to study next...

I still haven't fully processed what I experienced in Tanzania. I'm feeling nostalgic about it and wanting to go back, and trying to make myself remember that it was also a difficult experience. I'm not the kind of person who takes orders easily, and although I have no doubt that I have found my calling in social justice (particularly as it pertains to international concerns), I wonder how I will deal with a lifetime of Bishops looking at me and telling me where my place is within a new social order.

I guess I still haven't said anything about working at camp, either. That was also a mixed experience. I'm grateful to have learned a lot from my co-workers about living in community with people unlike myself. I also met a lot of people who are much much better than any other college students I know at separating out people's beliefs and the words they say from their being. That sounds vague, I know, but I can't find any better way of saying it. At the same time, it was a difficult job, and I often felt unprepared, inadequate, and unappreciated. I keep asking myself if I'd do it again... I think that I'm glad that I did it, and if I were to go back in time, I wouldn't take back the decision to spend my summer at Agape, but I also know I will never go back to camp...

Well, that's all for now. Homework calls.

change of plans

Right. Well, I found out this weekend that it's not as affordable for my family to send me abroad as I thought. And my dad realized (for the millionth time) that I only need three more classes to graduate. So I'm not going to Ireland next year. I'll be in Columbia, graduate in December, and hopefully move to Germany for the remainder of the year and be able to travel around.

I'm kinda bummed right now. Yesterday I was excited about it. Either way, it takes a lot of stress out of the next month. Only problem is I need a place to live. So if you know anyone who's got something small from August to December, hook me up, please? I think I could live in Preston as long as I tell them by Friday, but I'd really like my own space that I can kick everyone else out of.
No, I'm really really bummed out about this. I've been planning for Ireland for the last two years! Dad keeps saying it's feasible, we can totally make this happen, I can go, but it really is a pain to do it. There's tons of paperwork and I'd be afraid things wouldn't come back for graduation... I know that I'm making the right decision, but...

I started running away from all these unknowns where I couldn't make decisions because I was waiting on someone else to make them for me, and now I have to make tons of big decisions ultra fast and not when everyone else is making similar ones... ::pout::