februar, 2. woche

Hello!

Spring is on its way. Thanks to my dad for his countdown- but I noticed it most the other day when I woke to rain and opened the window, felt warm, warm air rush in and heard birds. Birds! Welcome back!

I am experiencing a period of extreme, nauseating and aggravating idleness. I have 16 more pages to write (6 for one paper 10 for the other) and cannot move further. I sit down at my desk and the stupid, stupid internet somehow distracts me from my work for hours and hours until it's 8:30 and I decide I'm better off calling it a night, eating dinner and going to bed early. I would turn off the internet completely or go somewhere without wireless but I need the dictionary online to type. So... Catch 22. I'm bound to wallow in idleness until 3 days before all the 3 papers are due. Wonderful.

But the cause for the sitting around on my ass is reasonable, I think- I am on vacation (sort of)! School is out in Germany for the next two months, but not really. Teachers assign papers at the end of the semester to be handed in at the beginning of the next one, so there really is no break. Students get around this bastardization of vacation by taking courses with exams at the end, but my beloved future alma mater wants to see my thoughts on paper before it awards me credit. So I get to type my vacation away in romantic Heidelberg.

The other reason I feel as if I am doing breastroke through a pool of milchreis is because for all of last week I had visitors, and did nothing remotely related to school and academic thinking. Liz came for my concert last week, and Kathryn came from paris to visit last weekend. Highlight of Liz's visit was a hike we did with no goal in mind but just to get fresh air. The air was wet, thick, heavy, and we simply headed up into the hills. We somehow found our way towards the castle and made it back in about 2 hours, and I just felt so relaxed and calmed and in touch with my surroundings. Liz and I celebrated 5 years of caring for each other with spaghetti and tomato sauce. I love her.

And Kathryn came, met all my friends and we partied quite well. Saturday night I hosted Schnitzel night, and it was a rousing success. I cooked for 6, and even threw in some pan-fried eggplant for Hanna the veggie! My schnitzel came out well, thanks to my sous-chef Kath. My mom would be proud. And I'm even more happy that Kathryn got to meet Hanna's friend who was visiting, a sort of unbelievable mashup of German stereotypes- "Moritz", the German brewer-in-training and heavy-metal (Rammstein) fan. Perfect. Thank God for realized stereotypes.

If all goes as planned I will be done with paper #2 and well into research for #3 by the time I leave for Köln next Saturday for Karnival. Karnival is the German Mardi Gras and Köln is the epicenter of the party. I also can't wait to see my relatives again.

But I'll be back from Karnival around the 25. Februar, then be here in Heidelberg finishing up my papers for 1.5 weeks. I've been invited to a brewery tour (Moritz's) in Uelzen with Hanna around the 11. März, so I'll hop up to Norddeutschland for that. But after that, I have three weeks of freedom until the man forces me to take class again. I need/want to do something great then.

I threw around the idea of doing an Athens-Istanbul trip for about 2 weeks. But I've gone cold on the idea. I really really don't like the idea of traveling to a country where I am completely clueless of the language. I know, I speak the lingua franca of the 21st century quite proficiently, but every experience I've had in foreign countries where I don't know the language has been very unenjoyable. I feel like an intruder, a nuisance, and plus I am clueless as to the interesting bits and nice places to go. I would just follow the tourist crowds and, I'm afraid, be dissapointed. I want to make a rule for myself- Unless visiting a friend or acquaintance, do not travel to countries where you don't speak the language at least 50% proficiency, unless traveling with someone who meets said requirements.

And so that leaves me with these ideas so far. If anyone has suggestions or advice, please comment!

- a walking tour in Scotland. Scotland is full of beautiful hills and landscapes- I'd call it a cold, rainy, less amazing New Zealand. But it's close and I speak the language.
-London/Dublin/Edinburg trip. Hit up the UK's big cities and drink some bitters/guiness/whisky.
-bike tour of the Bodensee. A HUGE lake (150 miles circ) in the south of germany, also borders Austria and Switzerland. I can take my bike down there with the train and ride short distances each day, staying in pretty B&Bs along the way.
-bike tour HD- Tübingen. A friend is studying in Tübingen and I could make it in 2 days, stopping in Stuttgart. Then come back.
-Leipzig/Dresden/e. Germany trip- visit the former e. Germany and see its purported hidden beauty.

Maybe I could do two of these... But let me know. (meyera@uchicago.edu)

German national soccer starts back up tonight. Friendly against Norway. I've got the over on 5-0.

Love,
Al