Eid Mubarak! (like two days ago but whatever haha)

So I've been sick these past few days, which really sucks, but the highlight of my day today was going to the Eid celebration on campus that all the Muslim students threw. Even though Eid was technically like two days ago, it was really cool to learn about it. They had music, food, dancing, and shisha -- it was so much fun! It was also really cool just being there, thinking about how different my life here is than my life in the US. I don't even feel like I belong to any country in particular anymore, I just feel like a Jacobian lol. Everyone's individual cultures melt away a bit to form one, big, all-encompassing culture and community -- it's really cool.

Being sick has really sucked though. This morning I woke up and I couldn't breathe. Tomorrow I have to try and find some medicine because I can't sit through many more classes like this :(

Not much else is new. I spent like all of last weekend with my host family, which was actually really nice. I really appreciate that they always plan something to do. Sunday afternoon I went with them to their grandparents house. My host dad's brother and his wife and her parents (who are from Mexico) were there, and it was a lot of fun. I even got to use a bit of my Spanish, which was nice for a change. We all had coffee and tea and cake, but it was really nice. I played with the boys which was so fun. Jann Okke was building a "house" in their garden made out of sticks. He had planned it all out and had weaved the sticks together -- it was actually really impressive! But that's just the kind of person he is. Afterwards I went back to my family's house for dinner, and then we all sat together and played UNO which was also really fun. Enno wanted me to be on his team, and he was teaching me the colors and getting so excited...it was so cute! I really felt like a part of the family, which is so nice being so far from home.

My classes are still going pretty well. I got "kicked out" of my USC Ethics course though which sucks... There were too many people signed up so they had to kick out the people who signed up late, I guess. I'm kind of bummed but it's not a huge deal. Yesterday we had a debate in my International Institutions class which was really interesting. It was about whether international law works or not, so it was cool. I'm also still really enjoying Social Psychology. I have it again tomorrow, and it's really the only class which I actually look forward to.

No plans for this weekend yet. Actually on Sunday there is supposed to be a workshop for MUN for all the new people (me) to get to learn how everything works at the conferences. And I believe there is going to be a practice conference as well, which would be good to see/participate in.

Other than that I really don't have too much news... Lots of love to everyone at home!

Thinking, Drinking, Sinking Feeling

These past few days I've done a lot of thinking, especially with yesterday being the eighth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. I've been thinking a lot about America and its role in the world, and how that role has changed over the past 10 or so years. It's been interesting being here in Germany to get a lot of different perspectives on America as well.

I always get really emotional on September 11th. It's the only day where I'm really ever patriotic. I think a lot about how it completely changed our country, but how it also changed my life. I really don't think I would be the person I am today had I not lived to see my country attacked. It's one of the reasons I started informing myself about what was going on both in our country and in the world. I never wanted my world to be shaken like that again. It's weird though because I was so young. I was just 10 years old when it happened, and I didn't really fully understand what was going on. It's weird to go back and to look at what happened now. It's weird to think about how one day such an enormous event in my life will be forgotten.

I've spent as much time reflecting about America as I have spent ignoring it. Yesterday was the first day in a while that I actually cared what was going on at home. Part of my decision to come here was because I wanted to get away, I wanted to leave my American identity behind. I was so sick of the petty politics and the inefficiency of our representatives. It was the first time since Obama was elected that I was actually losing hope. I wanted to get away from that. But yesterday I actually cared. And it's just disappointing for me to look back and to see what's happening to our country. I can really understand where all the European criticism comes from now. It's pathetic, honestly. And I just keep losing hope. I don't want to. I want to believe in my country and I want to be patriotic and I want to believe that things will get better there, that someday we will be respected as a legitimate world power again. I want our country to be strong, I want us to move forward, but it's just so disappointing when I see all those who are trying to prevent any kind of progress, just for the sake of doing so.

I feel like I'm rambling now, and this isn't really what this blog was meant for, so I'll provide you all with an actual update on how I'm doing.

Things have been going alright this past week or so. Classes are really getting going now, and I have a lot of reading to do. But it's not too bad, and my classes are interesting for the most part. I decided to drop my Theories of Development class. I just could not understand what was going on. I might try it again next year when I have more of a basis for the class. I think I'm going to take a Bio Ethics class instead. It's supposed to be kind of interesting: a combination of ethics in medicine/science but also an exploration of the philosophical side of ethics and morals. So it should be OK.

Lately I've been a little homesick, but not too bad. I've been pretty busy, so it hasn't really bothered me too much. Skype helps as well haha. It's great, it's almost like being at home with my family :)

Last night my friends and I went out in Bremen which was fun. We didn't end up doing what we had planned, we just went to a bar in the Viertel which is where all the students hang out. It was really fun. I really like my friends here, they're all so nice and chill and fun to hang out with.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to Hamburg with my host family which should be really fun. I'm really excited. I'm not sure exactly what we're going to do, but, as always, it will be nice to spend time with them. I had so much fun with them last weekend at the block party. I really do feel almost like a part of their family.

That's all for now, folks!

Hectic few days

These past few days have been really busy for me. Classes started this week which has been exciting but also stressful. I have no cash right now, so I haven't been able to buy the "readers" (photocopied textbooks) for my classes and thus haven't been able to do the homework. Luckily it's all due next week, but it's still stressful.

Why do I have no cash, you ask?? That would be because the lovely ATM at Deutsche Bank ATE my card. I tried to get money out and it "retained" my card for unknown reasons. I told Mom about it, and she tried to ask them why this happened, and Bank of America is basically clueless. So I'm really happy about that.... The good news is that I was still able to open my Deutsche Bank account, and my card should be here hopefully today. I also still have my bank card from People's (we never closed the account) so I'm going to try and see if I can take money out with that card. But it's just been really, really stressful (word of the day?).

In other news, I did finally switch my major and register for my classes. At the moment I'm taking 6, but I might join another because I need more credits. Right now I'm taking International Institutions, Introduction to Empirical Research (blech, required), Introduction to Social Psychology, Comparing Political Systems, Academic and Professional Skills (also required), and German. The 7th class I'm considering is called Theories of Development, which I actually attended yesterday. It's what we call a USC, or "University Studies Course". It's supposed to be a transdisciplinary course taught by two professors--one from the humanities school and one from the school of natural sciences and engineering. Jacobs requires that all students take a certain number of courses in the other school during their undergraduate career, and these "USCs" count for that. Although this class I went to yesterday really isn't transdisciplinary, lol. It seems like the course material will be really interesting, but my friends and I didn't understand about 80% of what the professors said. One is from India and has a REALLY, REALLY strong accent, and the other is from Germany but is just so impossible to understand--he talks in circles and mumbles. So I'm going to go again next week after I've done a reading before class. Hopefully that way I'll have a little more background for what we'll be talking about and I'll be able to understand more....but we'll see.

Otherwise my classes seem to be going well. It's a little hard to tell at the moment if I'm going to like them or not because it's hard to get a feel for the professors if you've only had one class where they talked about the course, requirements, grading, etc. So I'm going to hold judgement for now until I've had some "real" classes.

The good news is that I don't have class on Fridays!! So last night my friends and I hung out. We had a couple beers, watched a movie (Role Models, lol), and then headed over to the campus bar to check it out (it was the first "rock" night). Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of my friends had trouble getting up for their 8:15 classes this morning hahahahh. But it was a lot of fun.

Today I'm going to go see if I can get cash. I also received a package which could either be really exciting, or really depressing--it's either my cell phone, or a textbook lol. So I have to go pick that up. A couple of my friends were also talking about going to Ikea today (one of my friends is from Bremen so her parents were going to take her), which would be fun. I can't say I really need anything from there, and considering my current financial situation I'm not sure I'll buy anything, but it will be fun to go with my friends.

This afternoon there is also some kind of an annual fair in Vegesack, and we're all supposed to march there from campus wearing whatever traditional dress we have (lol). It's supposed to be sort of a typical German town fair, so it should be cool. I'll probably go for a little bit.

My friend Fabian (I lol every time I hear his name haha) invited me to have Arabic coffee with him today, and then go to some kind of rock concert/festival thing in Bremen. He was the kid I met on Facebook who was spending a year in Israel. He learned some Hebrew, and we had talked about checking out the language lab here at Jacobs to see if they had Hebrew and Arabic. He's also kind of interested in learning Arabic, so it should be fun. He seems like a really cool guy. I was talking to him for a while last night at the bar, and he was telling me all about his (mis)adventures in Egypt, etc. It sounded so cool and fun. He just seems like a really interesting person.

I'm really loving my friends here at school. We have so much fun together, and we've really gotten close. I'm loving dorm life as well. It's so cool to just wander up to the common room, meet up with friends or even people you haven't met, strike up a conversation, play some pool, etc. It's just really chill and everyone's so nice--I just really love it.