es tut mir viel viel leid, aber keine Fotos

of all things in the world, how does a photographer forget the USB cable for her camera? i will add photos as soon as the mail comes. promise.

so, here i am in Germany. for a year.

i had the most awesome last night with my friends possible. didn't leave the bar until it was almost closed; had to pull myself out of one too many hugs and kisses. danced my heart out to Of Montreal while packing the last bit. got two fat hours of sleep. took a shower, loaded up my carry-on, locked the suitcase and headed out the door.

the trip was not bad. i organized my musik and photos in the four hour layover at Charlotte. the movies were good. i was occupied. most of the plane ride i spent thinking about how i wasn't thinking about things enough. perhaps i felt ein bißchen desensitized from traveling my summer away in the States. maybe i was awkward with having everything fall into place perfectly after months of anxiety from the chaotic mess it took to make this happen. it was just another day and it was so normal that i didn't know what to do.

the most miserable part was the train ride. the ICE was packed and i spent two hours sitting on my suitcase with my head resting on the wall, having to move out of the way as people tried to walk by and find seats. on the regional out of Stuttgart i managed to get a seat and held on to it with my life. actually helped a French exchange student understand the train system with my very rusty two semesters of German.

Tübingen: my suitcase is an inch too big for the lockers. this is just about the 24hour mark after minimal, drunken sleep. i have 25€ in my pocket. it is half an hour before the student housing office closes. i walk uphill two blocks with all of my things in the summer heat wearing jeans and a hat (for my airplane hair) before i decide that this is a bad idea. i turn around and go to the youth hostel. i get the key, tuck the suitcase out of my sight and plop my butt on the bed. no roommates. the brilliant high noon sunlight shines it's bratty little rays all over me. i open the huge European window that i love so much, take a shower and set out to find the nearest place to buy Apfelschörle.

i have abandoned the hiking boots for the trusty Rainbows. after a Schokoladecroissant mit meine fizzy apple juice, i proceed to walk to campus, walk around campus, find the international house, find the cafeteria, find the place i must go to the following Monday (it's Friday), inspect the bus schedule at the stop on campus, find a map, find how to get to the Studentenwerk, find out how to get to my yet ficticious dorm, plan my bus route for getting to these places, walk to the Altstadt, check out some of the shops, decide against getting a Dönerkebap, walk past the Kirche, promptly get lost in die Altstadt, walk some more to get myself unlost, walk back to the bridge where i can turn to go back to the hostel... i see a bank across the bridge, walk to the bank, set up the bank account i don't need for another month, walk back across the bridge, debate getting a Bier at der Biergarten, decide against it, walk past the hostel, walk along the river, sit at a private boat dock, walk back to the hostel, inspect the tourist brochures, go back to the room, meet a roommate, she leaves, i look at my suitcase, decide not to open it, read some of my German grammar book, look at the camera i have yet to use, read my camera book, take pictures of the room, play with the flash, make use of the cable Nick gave me, read a little more German grammar and decide that 10pm is a good time to go to sleep.

that was 'day' 1.

[view from the Jungendherberge]

insert two more similar days with more sociable roommates and lots of broken German between an American, Brazilian and two Japanese girls; complete with more getting lost on foot and double the distance getting unlost.

luckily, the first day of Sommerkurs was only check-in and a small evening gathering at a restaurant near your respective dorm. i was glad to discover that the address i used to make the bank account was indeed the address that i would stay at for the Sommerkurs AND the Akademikjahr. i had a lot more paperwork than the other students since i'm staying for the year. my dormroom is very small (just like Umstead/Slay, but no roommate) and the hallway is very dungeon-esque, but i have one big square window and all that i can see out of it is a hillside with cows.

[das Fenster in meinem Wohnzimmer]

omg, what more could i ask for? i keep the blinds shut at night, so the early sunrise doesn't wake me up and my first action of the day is opening the window wide. it is also the first thing i do when i come home. for those that don't know, i LOVE European windows. you can swing it open like a door or crack it at the top, which keeps out the rain. practicality at it's finest. yet, it seems to also make for a fine topic in a senior show. hmmm... =)

[die Kühe]

i'm still feeling normalcy problems. i have been trying to spark some emotion with nicknacks from home. nothing. there is nothing weird about being thousands of miles from my homeland. i love my friends. i would love to talk with them. i would love to hang out. but, i don't miss them. i miss giving them love, for sure. i think of them when i do things they would like to do. i see tons of gifts they would like, but i really really really have to be conscious of money over here. i'm running off of savings. fixed income. REAL fixed. actually, no income at all, really. AND the dollar is not worth as much as the Euro. oh boy.

no worries, i'll get a better idea soon. the Sommerkurs isn't a good example. i didn't realize the big difference between me and people that are only here this month. i get a bit more respect for that. feels good. i've met a few folks that will be in Tübingen with me too.

all in all, stuff goes good. i've already learned so much, language-wise AND culturally. the Sommerkurs is great for giving me a glimpse of TONS of other countries. really, every day, every moment, i learn something new. i definitely dig that! i hope this post wasn't too much; had a lot bottled up for the past few weeks. for some reason i thought this blog was worthless without photos. then i realized how much stuff i would have done by the time i actually got the camera cable. that's not including all the editing i would have to do on top of that. silly Sabrina.

i also hope the blog makes due for lack of individual contact. like i said, we'll see as stuff unfolds. tschüß!

[„Aufwiederseh'n, kleinen Koffer!“]