Beriln! Berlin! Wir fahren nach BERLIN!

Sieg gegen Argentinien - Deutschland ist im Halbfinale!

Our Nation's Independence Day Is Almost Here...

...and this is how Congress celebrates. MSNBC called this failed bill and other related measures "getting into the Fourth of July spirit."

I'm sickened.

It Goes A Little Something Like This

So of course Monday means rowing class day. And today, since I did capsizing training last week, I got to really row in a single for the first time.

Holy crap. I don't EVER want to row in a team boat again. Rowing in a single is way too awesome. It took me a couple minutes to get my balance on the thin boat and get a feel for the oars, but then I took off and rowed down the river. I soon realized, with a small amount of prideful satisfaction, that I had a knack for this. I've never considered myself very "athletic." But back in high school, when I ran cross country and my stepdad came to watch one of my meets, he said, "You know, people have told you that you aren't athletic, and sports have never been your main thing. But I don't care what anyone says - I saw you run today and you are an athlete." I'd shrugged it off then, but now a few years down the road in a rowboat on a lazy river, pulling the oars to my chest, I realized he had been right. It's always a good feeling to realize that you are something you thought you couldn't be.

For a blissfull 40 minutes it was just me, the boat, the river, and the sun. No coxswain shouting orders, no drills, no people messing up my technique. Just me, gliding inches above the water's surface. I had all the time to concentrate and focus in the world, and it was amazing. My craft, the Neckarfröschle (Neckar froggie), cut through the water like a knife through hot butter, splitting the Neckar at the bow, and my wake spread out in an arc behind me. The sun beat down and warmed my arms and face, and the only sound was the eeeeeek of the seat when I rolled forward and the psssssshhhh, pssssshhhh of the oars as I let them skim the surface of the water to help with balance, preparing to take my next stroke.

Eventually I got confident enough to really put some power into it, pushing with my legs against the river and getting enough speed so that I could actually lift the oars from the water on my backstroke without risking capsizing. You'd never think it, but rowing is primarily done with your legs, not your arms. You push against the boat and thereby pull yourself against the oars. It's hard to get that down, especially in a single, but when you do, it feels amazing. You feel strong, powerful. The river is so smooth you might as well be flying. The rhythm is soothing. Screw rowing in teams - give me a single and a lazy river that stretches for miles.

I didn't want to stop when our time was up. I could have rowed up and down that river all night. I'd still be out there if I had anything to say about it. Someday, if I have the money, I want to buy a single and move near a river. Then, on warm summer afternoons, I'll take my boat on the river and row for hours.

On a totally unrelated note: lately I have gotten into the habit of taking notes in pencil instead of pen, and I'm loving it. It's even better for books, because instead of using a highlighter or underlining with pen - both of which permanently scar the book - you can write all over the pages in pencil and it doesn't make you wince. At least, it makes ME wince to mark up a brand-new book with highlighter, but that's just me.

Check That Off The List...

My hotel for my overnight stay in Frankfurt the night before I fly out of Germany is now booked. I scored a pretty sweet room in the center of downtown next to the train station; shouldn't be a long ride from there to the airport via the train or a taxi.

It's funny; when I arrived in Tübingen last August it was really important to me that I arrive by train because that was so "European." I ended up taking the bus because it was faster and cheaper and less complicated. Mostly I was worried that I wouldn't be able to figure out how to get to Tübingen by train, and I really didn't want the extra stress of trying to figure that out after an 18-hour journey.

Now, at the end of my stay, I will be leaving Tübingen the way that I wanted to arrive: by train. I'll journey 3 hours north to Frankfurt, check into my hotel, and spend the remaining daylight hours that I have in Germany wandering around downtown and trying to soak up as much of Germany as I can before I leave again. It will be a very sad, very lonely afternoon, I'm sure, and will likely be spend mostly in a cafe somewhere. Or I could go American and find a Starbucks, which Frankfurt MUST have, being as big as it is.

The Thunder Rolls

The warm, muggy day that we've had today is quickly yielding to the storm rolling in from the northwest. The wind is picking up, the sky is darkening as the cobalt clouds approach, and you can feel the electricity in the air.

What is it about nights (especially nights with thunderstorms) that make one all introspective? Here I am sitting at my desk, my window is wide open so I can feel the cool air and hear the rain pour down, and I'm drinking a Stuttgarter Hofbräu Pilsner. And I'm thinking about why it is that I am never happy just being somewhere; meaning I have to move every few years to keep myself happy. If I stay in one place too long, I begin to miss another place and I can't think about anything else but how much I want to go to that place. When I'm in Seattle, I pine for either Phoenix or Germany. When I'm in Germany, I pine for Seattle or Phoenix. It's a very nomadic existence, and it's irritating.

So why is it that I can't seem to stay put? Feedback welcome.

You Are What You Eat

Showcasing the fact that I occasionally have a day where I wreak total havoc on my body, here is a list of the things I have eaten today, in chronological order:

1. Half a jumbo bag (150g) of M&Ms. (breakfast)
2. 1/3 a can of Sour Cream & Onion Pringles (brunch)
3. Two cheeseburgers from McDonald's (dinner)
4. 1 glass of coke (drink for watching the WM game)
5. 1 bottle of beer (Stuttgarter Hofbräu Pilsner, dessert)

And you know what? I don't feel guilty. I treat my body very well, thank you very much, and my junk food consumption has dropped to nearly negative levels since moving to Germany. Today was a moment of regression and isn't at all representative of my normal diet.

The Home Stretch

According to the countdown on my computer, I have 39 days left in Germany before it's time for me to get on a plane and go back to the States. People on both sides of the pond keep asking me how I feel about it, and I can honestly say that I'm split about 60/40. I am definitely more excited to return home than I am to stay here, but leaving Germany is not going to be an easy thing to do.

Life in Germany has pretty much slowed to the dull pace that frequent studying for classes dictates. Since our summer semester is shorter than the winter semester, the amount of work we have to get done is much greater (or at least it seems that way) than it did before. I have no time to travel if I'm going to keep up with classes, which means my last month in Germany looks like it's going to be pretty low-key (and by low-key I mean I'm pretty much just going to be working). Which is fine with me, because once I get back home life is going to quickly gain back up to breakneck American speed.

Whenever I talk about wanting to come home, people keep telling me to enjoy the time that I have left here and make the most of it, to not think about home. Of course I'm trying to enjoy my time, but it's much easier said than done. If I was on vacation, I would certainly be trying to squeeze the most out of my last days. But this is not a vacation. I live here, and have for 10 months already. It's not a huge deal. And frankly, Tübingen is getting boring. I cannot imagine having to spend 4-6 years in this town at this university. Tübingen is such a weird mix of old and new that after a while its character begins to grate on you. It's this medieval town with all the great old architecture and a fascinating Altstadt, but the university livens it up too much. The result is that you feel like there's no real equilibrium. Tübingen doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind whether it's got the soul of a big, young city or a small, traditional village.

I think that I would much rather be in a small, isolated village or in a huge, interconnected metropolis than somewhere in between. This is probably why I like visiting Matze's family in their small village in Niedersachsen and why I prefer Seattle over Tacoma.

The truth is that, for now, I am done being in Europe. You know that you're "done' with Europe for the time being when a castle on a hill is just another big hunk of stone and the medieval city you live in no longer excites you the way that it did before. After a while cobblestone ceases to be fascinating and starts to be irritating.

It's interesting how living in a foreign country makes you appreciate your own country and culture so much more. I feel comfortable in German culture and with the German language, but it's nowhere near the comfort of my American homeland. Germany is great in its own way - but it's different. After a while, the novelty wears off and you begin to miss your own culture, language, and country not because they're better in some way, but because they're different.

And so I find myself counting the days, knowing that, inevitably, the departure date will sneak up on me faster than I know and that I will find myself doing things "for the last time" here with a deep sense of sadness. I don't think there's any way around that. It will be bittersweet to board that plane, take off, and then sit back and spend 13 hours reflecting on what it is that I have done this year, what I have seen, and who I have become.

Done.

It's 2:15 am and the term paper is finally finished. Nine pages of blood, sweat, and tears. Good grief, and that was only nine pages. I hope I never have to write another literary anaylsis paper again.

This brings the total number of hours spent writing this paper today to 8.5. I am totally brain-dead, and lucky me, I get to get up in 5 hours to go to class. I hate you, Neuere Deutsche Literaturwissenschaft. Why on earth am I double-majoring in German anyway when I hate the classes? Just gimme the frickin' degree already! GOSH! Haha Napoleon...."I see you're drinking 1% milk. Is that cause you think you're fat? Cause you're not. You could be drinking 2% if you wanted to."

I watch a lot of Scrubs now, and I really like the way that Elliot always says "FRICK!" instead of the real F-word when she gets angry. Cracks me up because I used to do the same thing. I think Elliot is going to bring it back into style for me. Just as emotionally satisifying as the real thing, but with none of the guilt.

...wow, that came out wrong.

Aaaaand Matt is a weeeeeee bit loopy so he needs sleep.

I Hate Papers.

This paper on the tragic responsibilty of father figures in Lessing's dramatic plays is really making me want to pull my hair out. Really, I don't give a rat's butt what their responsibility is, and I consider it a waste of my life to write literary analysis papers like this. I really hate this sort of academia. It's nothing but professors sitting around reveling in their own brilliance and it makes me sick. Tell me, what relevence could this POSSIBLY have to my life??

This is why I'm a business major. I consider it FAR more important to be able to tell you whether Intel is playing Hide-The-Ridiculously-High-Executive-Perks-Expenses somehwere in their Annual Report than being able to tell you why a man named Odoardo who is a character in a play and doesn't even EXIST has an emotionally incestuous relationship with his equally imaginary daughter.

GAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Why don't universities just let you study what you WANT to anymore?!?

Thunderstorm!!

I think these summer thunderstorms are one of my absolute favorite things about Germany right now. I have the window wide open, the rain is coming down, and the sky is a pinkish lead. Awesome.

Da Kannste Nicht Klagen

Today, things are going well. Rowing was an absolute dream today. Last time I felt like a complete spaz in the boat -- this time, it was like it just CLICKED. Technique, timing, everything was perfect....except for the guy sitting in our #1 seat, who was somehow rocking the boat wildly and making it hard to keep the oars out of the water and my hands level at the same time. But oh well. Wednesday I have Kenternübung, meaning I will be learning what to do if the boat capsizes and get to take a little swim in the Neckar -- and after I do that, I can finally row in a single! Wooooo! Hopefully next Monday I will get to do that.

Work on my paper is going well, I am collecting ideas and writing the outline piece-by-piece. As long as I am finished planning it out by Thursday morning, I can get it written by Friday no problem. Planning it out is the hard part, but it makes the writing go wicked fast.

Today also marks a sobering occasion: I shipped home the first two boxes of things. Two small boxes of books are now on their way back across the Atlantic and will beat me home by a couple weeks. I relieved that it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. only 25 € for both boxes. Still, I'm sure my book shipping costs alone are going to be over 100 €. It was definitely weird to ship those off. I only have about five weeks left in Germany.

The other night I decided to wash a small throw rug I've had in my room for a little while for the first time as well as the bathroom mat. I was foolish enough to throw in a beige bedsheet along with them, wanting to get my money's worth out of the load. The rug and bathmat are still blue and green, but the bedsheet is now olive green. Ironically enough, I like the olive green better, and had I known it was going to come out like that, I would have thrown in the rest of the bedding with it.

USA and Italy Tie 1-1!!!

Well folks, tonight was the big night: USA against Italy in the World Cup. Everyone was sure this would mean the USA was out of the running for good, but NO -- we TIED! Granted, our goal wasn't really OUR goal - an Italian player kicked it into his own net by mistake while trying to deflect it. But really, that only makes the tie all the sweeter. In any case, the USA is still in the running and we have one more shot next week - against Ghana - to make it into the quarter finals.

It was so awesome, we watched the game at a bar called Africa which of course has an African theme and was packed full of Ghanans who were celebrating their country's unexpected victory over the Czech Republic, if I am not mistaken, in the previous game. A very big deal, since the Czech team is one of the best.

We Amis, of course, got ourselves all decked out as best we could - painting 'USA' and American flags on our cheeks and waving the one mini-sized flag we had wildly. The game was a real nail-biter, full of foals, yellow cards, red cards, injuries, and one goal that - had it not been called offsides - would have meant that USA would have WON the game! We were SO close!!

The World Cup and the outburst of national pride on the part of all countries involved has really gotten me thinking lately. As I sat there, with my country's flag on my cheek and a miniature one in my hand, I could not help but be completely overcome with an incredible sense of pride. I love the USA, and I love being an American. I am so proud of my country and all that we have achieved, and I am proud to be a part of the world's first constitutional republic. Every nation on earth is different, but I truly believe the United States is special. It was once called a unique political experiment, and it is still very much unique. As we marched through the streets of the Altstadt after the game, proudly cheering and being our wonderful loud, boistrous American selves, not even the jeers of anti-American Germans we passed could put me in a bad mood. I'm an American, and win or lose, I fly and wear my nation's flag with the utmost pride.

News Links

North Korea has developed and assembled a missle capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.

Bill O'Reilly demonstrates yet again why he's awesome, and Matt Liar demonstrates yet again how he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.

Ann Coulter takes on so-called racial profiling.

In what has been called 'a step forward' in the negotiations surrounding Iran's nuclear program, Iran has issued a statement saying it will suggest amendments to the perks package offered to it by the Western powers.

Microsoft's Chairman, Bill Gates, has announced he will soon step back from his position and focus on charity work. Amazingly, Seattle didn't sponaneously combust.

In other news, I burned my hand on the oven today and now have a blister the size of a small peanut on my thumb. Haven't had one of those since I was like 6 years old.

Friday Night

Fun times tonight at Neckarmüller with friends. A half liter of glorious Hefeweizen and a slab of Flammkuchen really hit the spot.

Tomorrow: library to work on my paper from 10 - 3, and then to Reutlingen to hunt for a full-size American flag that I can drape around myself for the USA-Italy game tomorrow night!

Work for this semester is really starting to pick up pace. I've got one week to finish my paper for Friday, which makes me nervous. Funny, because back home I was lucky if I started a paper more than 5 days in advance - here I freak out if I don't have a good start more than 2 weeks in advance.

I can't believe it's almost July. I'm excited to go home, but the closer the departure date gets the less I enthusiastic I am about leaving Germany.

Funny story. I have noticed that, despite the fact that Tübingen seems to be overrun with Americans, these same Americans all seem to think that no one will understand them if they speak English. This is not only ridiculously foolish considering that many Germans speak at least a little English, it leads to a lot of interesting moments when people say less-than-positive stuff about people that are right next to them thinking that they won't understand.

So anyway, the funny thing: I was sitting in the park reading today and there were these two American girls sitting near me talking about the guys sitting in the park. They were complaining that "none of the German guys around here are good-looking." And then I see one of the girls out of the corner of my eye nod her head toward me and go, "Well, HE'S cute."

I had to fight the temptation to turn and say, "He also speaks English."

Hope Is Emo

Quite possibly the funniest podcast I've ever seen in my life. I was laughing so hard I was almost in tears. Couldn't resist putting it up here.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Your Mommy Is Katie Couric

What You Call Her: Momma What people say about yo momma: Yo momma so stupid she noticed a sign reading 'Wet Floor'...so she just did!

Who's Your Mommy?

Say it ain't so!

Summer in Germany

It's warmed up considerably here in Germany, and we're enjoying weather that is poking into the 80s. It's beautiful. A little humid for my tastes, but it feels good. The trees are in bloom, the sky is blue and dotted with white, puffy clouds, and the city is a bustle of activity.

Summer in Germany reminds me of why I love it here so much. Today, as I walked through the Altstadt (old town quarter) toward the park, everything I saw made me want to smile. People licking gelati ice cream cones. An outdoor market, rich with lush fruits and vegetables. The owner was discussing the World Cup (what else?) with one his customers, laughing. "Did you see the game yesterday? Amazing! Oh, that makes 3 euros, please! Oh, and if you're interested in some fresh strawberries, we just got these in this morning!" As the warm sun beats down on me, the churchbells all over town begin to ring. It has just struck two, and the deep, resonating dong, dong of the huge bells in the towers echoes all over the city.

I sit down in the cool, green grass in the park, shaded by a huge oak tree. The park is packed with other relaxers and studiers such as myself, whether enjoying the weather, enjoying someone's company, or enjoying a good book. Off to my right another musician is playing a cheerful, upbeat tune on his accordian and setting the mood for this scene perfectly. I can see the steeple of the Stiftskirche, Tübingen's main church, over the red rooftops of the Altstadt.

Days and moments like that remind me of how lucky I am to be here, and of how much I enjoy this country, its culture, its people, and its language. Yes, I have sacrificed a lot to be here; time with friends, time at my university, time with my family. But yet here I sit in this green grass, with a cloudless sky, a warm breeze, and a vibrant, medieval Europe all around me. I am, quite possibly, the luckiest guy alive. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the fact that I dropped that stressful class - but today I am so burden-free, so relaxed despite my work. It's wonderful.

It's also on days like these that I am truly content here, when I am reminded of how much I want to live here for a longer time period. It has been difficult at times to be away from home, away from ASU, for this long, but now that my stay is quickly beginning to draw to a close the reason that I came here is being reinforced ever stronger in my mind. I came here, more than anything else, to discover the German life. To see what the effect on me would be if I tried to live in Germany for a year. To see if I could indeed STAND living in Germany for a year. This year has been, above all, a trial run for my future.

And I've discovered that my love of this place has only grown, and my resolve to spend even more time here in the future has also grown. The closer the end of my stay approaches, the more that my excitement to come home grows - and the more my regret at having to leave this place grows as well. I can definitely imagine myself moving back to Germany after graduation, and if I get my way, I will do just that.

My family and friends are surprised and even indignant that I would think of moving back here so quickly. "How long will you stay there?" they ask me. The truth is, I don't know. I'll stay as long as I want to. That could be two years, it could be twenty. I can imagine both scenarios. I just don't know. I do know that I am determined to make sure that Germany truly becomes my second home in every way.

I am already dying to get back to Europe after spending a year at ASU. That's the plan, anyway. Spend one last year at ASU, watch my friends graduate, and then fly back to Germany for a good 6 months or so. Do an interrnship. Then finish the last semester up at ASU. I have tasted studying in Germany - now I want to taste working in Germany. I don't feel like I've really gotten the language immersion experience that I wanted out of this originally, and in hindsight, it was naive of me to expect that from a university study abroad experience. That is part of the drive for me to return and do an internship.

It's funny - every time I come to Germany I discover a different part of it, and every time I come I only fulfill a part of what I wanted to accomplish. So Germany keeps calling me back, drawing me back into its wonderful European lifestyle, culture and language. I love it, and I hope it never stops.

Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I have decided to drop my Production & Marketing course here in Tübingen, even though we are about halfway through the semester. The reasons for this are many, but mostly because:

a) It's not at ALL like Supply Chain Management would be at ASU, which is what it's SUPPOSED to be equivalent to;
b) It's so boring that I actually consider skewering my eyeballs out just for some excitement;
c) It's better if I concentrate on the remaining classes I have left over and ace them with flying colors, especially considering that it's summer in Europe, you only live once, and I'd actually like to have some free time this semester instead of ripping my hair out like I've been doing.

The best part about dropping a course in Germany is that "dropping" simply consists of....not going anymore. No mark on your transcript, no nothing. I feel much better. Now I can give American Foreign Policy and German Literature my full and undivided attention, which, let's face it, they were pretty much getting anyway.

It was a great morning and afternoon spent studying in the park today. I am going to have to do that more often.

Love & Hate

I Love: the fact that Iran got its Holocaust-denying, nuke-building butt handed to it by Mexico yesterday in the World Cup. Way to go, Mexico. Trivia fact: Iran's president could not come to Germany to support the team; he would have been arrested immediately by the German govt if he set foot on German soil because he claims that the Holocaust is a myth - which is a punishable offense in Germany, and I am so not even kidding.

I Hate: the fact that Google is going ahead with its heavily-censored Chinese search site, Google.cn. They should be sanctioned for this. Terms like "democracy" and "Tianamen Square" will be erased from the Chinese site. It's widely known that China censors the internet for its 1 billion + citizens, but the fact that an American firm would compromise democratic values and freedom of information, the fact that it would support a government like that of China with so little hesitation just for the greenbacks sickens me. Shame on you, Google. Shame on you.

Postcards from a Plane Crash (Wish You Were Here)

Best song title. Ever.

So last night, as I am attempting to motivate myself to sit down at my desk (again) and start reading (again), wanting to skewer out my eyeballs because I'm so sick of studying, I get an IM from Kyla suggesting we form a Coalition of the Willing to invade the Stuttgart Starbucks. (okay, so that's not exactly what she said, but it sounds exciting and dangerous if I say it that way). Predictably, it took me about 0.80 seconds to get out the door.

It ended up being Kyla, Ronda and I heading up there on Kyla's leftover Schönes Wochenede ticket, and I found this quite fitting for a Stuttgart Starbucks run because, let's face it, no one appreciates Starbucks like three Washingtonians. Funny thing was that we arrived in Stuttgart around 10pm and were worried the Starbucks, which was about a mile away, might be closing. So we were pretty much half-walking, half-running up Königstraße while dodging other pedestrians trying to get there in time. Stupid us, we got there and it was nowhere near closing. When we left at around 11pm it still hadn't closed.

It was a warm night, so we all decided to get cold drinks. I enjoyed my first coffee frappucino in a long time. I usually don't get frappucinos because I know how much the people that work at Starbucks absolutely hate making them, but when the girl asked me my name and wrote "Math" on the cup, I didn't feel bad anymore. Seriously. I even SPELLED it for her.
M-a-t-t. Oh well, they messed up Ronda's too (she became Franka), and I have to admit that the holy-crap-what-kind-of-a-name-is-this expression on the drink maker girl's face when she called out my drink was priceless. "Ein grande Coffee Frappucino für.....*scrunched up face*....Math?" Ah, if only the camera had been handy.

Side note: it's probably in my best interest that there isnt a Starbucks in Tübingen, because Starbucks in Germany is ridiculously expensive. That grande frappucino, which would maaaybe have cost me around $3.50 in the States, cost me 3,90 € here. That's almost $5.00. So, when I go back home and people complain that Starbucks is "too expensive", I'm just going to grimace and tell them to shut up.

Anyway, on the way back to the train station we stopped at a World Cup Fan Shop that was having a sale to search for American flags. Unfortunately, none were to be found. How are we supposed to cheer for our nation's team tomorrow without Stars and Stripes? I have yet to see fan shop here selling American stuff. It's all Brazil, Germany, England, Czech Republic. It's bloody favoritism, that's what it is. Or it could just be because we suck.
Of course, at that hour of the night it was inevitable that we get a craving for Burger King, which we satisfied once we got back to the station. Mmmm....crispy chicken and fries on the train. Yum.

Yesterday I also made the fatal mistake of walking into the bookstore on my way to the bus stop. I made the even bigger mistake of checking out their politics section. 25 € later I walked out with a new book: The Cold War, by John Gaddis. The justification was that if nothing else it will be a good help on my upcoming Referat on Vietnam. Maybe. Okay, okay, I'm a big nerd and I just wanted to read what looks like a good book on the Cold War. Knowledge is power, people.

It remains to be seen whether today will be spent doing the level of studying that I feel like I should. I am flat-out sick of reading, and I'll be darned if I'm going to spend a 5th consecutive day doing nothing but homework.

Also: I like orange juice.

Quote of the Day

"A democracy is peaceloving. It does not like to go to war. It is slow to rise to provocation. When it has been provoked to the point where it must grasp the sword, it does not easily forgive its adversary for having produced this situation. The face of the provocation then becomes itself the issue. Democracy fights in anger - it fights for the very reason that it was forced to go to war. It fights to punish that power that was rash enough and hostile enough to provoke it ... Such a war must be carried to the bitter end ... I sometimes wonder whether in this respect a democracy is not uncomfortably similar to one of those prehistoric monsters with a body as long as this room and a brain the size of a pin: he lies there in his comfortable primeval mud and pays little attention to his environment; he is slow to wrath - in fact, you practically have to whack his tail off to make him aware that his interests are being disturbed; but, once he grasps this, he lays about him with such blind determination that he not only destroys his adversary but largely wrecks his native habitat."

-George F. Kennan,
former ambassador to the Soviet Union, in American Diplomacy, 1951.

Ummm...What?

Mmmmm...my Starbucks on Mill. In just a couple months I will be back there drinking my coffee and working on my wonderful American university schoolwork.

In other news...while mom was here we had the Moving-Back-Home-After-College talk. It was kind of odd because we were talking about my after-college plans and she just was like, "Yeah, so after you've lived with us for about 6 months and saved up enough to buy a place, where do you think you're going to live?"

Ummmm....what?

She wants me to move back into the house for 6 months and save up to buy a place. I am not okay with that in any way, shape, or form. The LAST place I am going to want to move once I get done with school is back into my parents' house. I don’t even have a room of my own there – and I am NOT sharing a room with my brothers. I’ll be a college graduate, for heaven's sake! I can’t believe she would even think of asking me to move back in. It’s ridiculous.

I would CONSIDER moving back in with Dad only because there I have a room of my own. But even that doesn't make sense, especially if I end up working in Bellevue or Seattle (which is pretty likely). I’d have to commute north every day. That’s just insane, especially with gas prices skyrocketing. With the gas money I’d save I could have an apartment somewhere else.

Mom's argument is twofold:
1. You should always have 6 months of your salary socked away in case of emergency.
2. How are you going to pay the down payment/first and last month's rent on an apt right out of college?

First off, I'm sure that it will work out somehow with the down payments and such. Second, when you're right out of college and making next to nil, there's not much saving that goes on in the firrst place. Like it or not, for the first few months I will probalby be living paycheck to paycheck. And frankly, I'm fine with that.

I would rather scrape by and nearly starve while making my own way in the world than continue to be financially dependent on my parents after graduating. That's just how I see it. Am I crazy? Is that so unreasonable? It just seems like a step backward to me to move back in.

-edit-

Did I mention I love Amazon? The first of the two books I ordered already arrived this morning. Freakin sweeeeet.

Amazon.de Is Going To Be The Death of Me

I need a 12-step program. I just orderd two more books on American history/diplomacy off of Amazon, bringing my total count to five (for that subject area), and baby, I'm just getting warmed up. I can't stop. I love books too much. NEW books are even better. The smooth feel of the pages that have never been turned, the crisp cover, the fresh smell of recently cut-and-printed paper...it's my narcotic, I tell you. It's a drug.

The worst part is that every month here in Germany, 650 € magically appears in my bank account (aren't scholarships great?). I couldn't spend that much in a month if I tried. And what is the consequence? A seemingly bottomless bank account that fuels my book binges on Amazon. The best part is that, unlike in the U.S., books actually arrive here in less than a week. Europe is such a small continent that the books I ordered less than 10 minutes ago will be in my hot little hands by Saturday. This just amplifies the effects of this book narcotic: now, to add to the thrill of new-bookness, there's near-instant gratification.

This could get ugly.

I better enjoy this bliss while it lasts, because when I get back to the States money will once again officially cease to grow on trees.

Back in the Grind (Sort Of)

It has been a very lazy day since getting back to the room and dropping bags on the floor. I have done nothing but watch movies, episodes of Scrubs (which I have recently gotten addicted to and is quite possibly one of the funniest shows ever), talk on iChat, and play computer games. Honestly it's sad what a lifeless hermit I can be when I am in the mood.

We are on break from university this week, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be doing much relaxing. I have a ton of work to do (read: catch-up) and will be spending the rest of the break (starting tomorrow) working on that stuff. The further I get in school the less I actually get to USE my "breaks" and the more I realize that - little by little - the real world is catching up to us and college won't last forever.

And now, it is time to change out of these sweats, put some jeans on, and go to the grocery store because I have no food. Then I need to write a few emails. Aaaah, Inbox, you are always full of things to do. Such is the life of a student in the information age.

And I'm Back!

Back from the trip around Germany with Mom. Here are some pictures, and I will just let those do the talking since I really dont' feel like writing a huge trip summary here. It was great to show her around Tübingen and show her my home away from home!

And We're Off!

Tomorrow the great road trip goes underway. Mom and I have rented a car and we are going to be driving up to Hannover to visit Matze and his family over the weekend. Then we are heading south to the Bavarian Alps. I will be back in Tübingen on Wednesday afternoon, and though we will have Wi-Fi at our hotels along the trip I may or may not be updating. We'll see. Maybe I'll just post pictures or something.

I leave you all with this: