I'd rather die of fun...

This past weekend was one of the best I've had while here at Jacobs. It felt so good to just let go and have fun with my friends.

Friday night there was a "cheer-up" in CIII (one of the other residential colleges). During exams, all the colleges hold cheer-ups to get everyone out of their rooms and to get rid of some of the stress of studying. The best part is, they all have different themes. So far there have been cheese, chocolate, waffle, British, Halloween, milkshake, restaurant, and game night cheer-ups. Friday night was the cocktail cheer-up in CIII which my friends and I went to. It was really fun, although they ran out of alcohol real fast (free alcohol on a Friday night? come on lol). It was really fun though. Afterwards, we went to the bar for a bit, but it was pretty dead, so we decided to go to one of our friends birthday parties in one of the other colleges. It was a lot of fun, and just nice to relax and have a good time with my friends.

Then on Saturday a bunch of my girl friends and I went to Hamburg for the day. We walked around, shopped a bit (I bought really cute flats for 5€!!), and went to a really nice cafe by the river. It was so much fun! We were goofing around and took lots of pictures, and, again, it was just so relaxing. We got back to campus around 19.00, had dinner, and then went back downtown to go to the Freimarkt (like a carnival). I hadn't been at night, but it was so much fun! We went on a bunch of rides which was really fun too! We bought a large, heart-shaped cookie that said "Opa ist spitze" (Grandpa is awesome) and took turns wearing it and taking pictures hahaha.

Yesterday I finally met up with my host family again! We went to Freimarkt in the afternoon as well, but it was the Kinder Freimarkt (with smaller rides for little kids). I had fun riding the mini ferris wheel with my host brothers, and just being a part of the family. Enno was so cute--he kept waving to me while he was on the merry-go-round :). On our way home, we had to run a bit to catch the train. I was pushing Rea in the stroller, and while we were all running and worrying about missing the train, she was laughing and having a good time--she thought racing in the stroller was the greatest thing ever....so cute!!

Next weekend should be fun too--we're planning to go back to Freimarkt Friday night (a few of my friends weren't able to come this weekend) and I also think I'm going to make dinner for my host family one night! I'm thinking tacos, haha. I just have to get through this week first...I have too much work to do, ahh! But I'm looking forward to Mom visiting in less than two weeks!!

Jasmin went home this weekend, so it was pretty quiet. She got back this afternoon, and right now her whole family is here. They are so nice, I didn't really have too much of a chance to meet them on move-in day before they left. Her mom brought me a gift! She brought me coffee and a tin to put it in, some chocolates, and jam that she made herself! It was so sweet of her, I couldn't believe it! Plus they brought all kinds of Halloween decorations for our apartment--currently there is a skeleton with glowing eyes hanging in the window next to our door haha!

This week I should be getting some of my exams back--yikes! I can't say I feel good about all of them, unfortunately. But I'm trying to stay positive, and I'm not too stressed. I keep telling myself it's my first semester of college and no one does well.....but we'll see.

Otherwise, there's not too much else going on. Everything is still going really well, and I'm loving it here despite some troubles I've had. (But I will still be honest and say that I'm looking forward to Christmas break! xD)

Happy Diwali!

This weekend I had two really fun and interesting cultural experiences. The first was on Saturday night, when all the Hindu students on campus threw a special Diwali event. They had workshops (how to wear a sari, cooking, henna, etc.) a presentation with traditional dances and a skit, and dinner (my favorite part!)! It was so much fun, there were so many people, and the food was delicious!! I haven't had Indian food in so long haha! Afterwards there were fireworks and a guy on campus who works with fire--twirling flaming batons and fire-breathing, that sort of thing. It was so cool! Then at the campus bar they had a Bhangra/Bollywood party which was also really fun! It's always really exciting for me to learn about and experience new cultures, and it's a unique opportunity that I have right here on campus :).

Then yesterday I went with Jasmin, Savannah, and a few other people to the Freimarkt (which actually opened Friday but the weather was terrible). It's basically a big, traditional German carnival, with lots of games, food and rides! It's right behind the train station (Dad, if you're reading this, remember we walked through the train station one day to the other side? That's where it is.). They even had rollercoasters, and water rides (mind you the temperature yesterday was in the 40s!!)!! It was so much fun and really cool to see! I would like to go back with my host family, maybe this weekend--it would be so much fun to go with the kids!

Midterms are pretty much over for me, thank god! I've been locking myself in my room to study and trying to stay away from the computer, which also explains my lack of updates. But I really only have one exam left--German--which I don't really count because that class is a joke. It was nice though because I had what I thought would be my hardest exam on Friday, and it ended up being not so bad after all. But I'll wait to see my grade first haha!

Love to everyone at home!!

Diplomacy is in the air...

Tonight was probably one of the best nights of my life. I was chosen, along with maybe 9 or 10 other American students, to have dinner with the American ambassador to Germany tonight! He came to my school to hold a sort of "town hall meeting" to discuss Obama's foreign policy (it ended up being much more than that) and invited a few of us to have dinner before hand. We ate in one of the other serveries, but we had a special table and really nice food and got to speak to the ambassador in a relaxed, candid way, which was so cool! I felt so special and honored. It was truly an amazing experience.

The ambassador, Philip Murphey, has only been ambassador for 7 weeks! He's so American, and very East-coast (originally from Boston). He's really friendly and down to earth, but smart and definitely right for the job. He spoke to us about his music preferences (HA!) but also about more serious issues in the US like education. It was really interesting, and such a unique opportunity.

After dinner we all headed over (an entourage of around 40 or 50 people including security lol!) to the meeting hall. We got to sit in the first few rows (I was right in front...so cool!). He spoke a lot about current global problems, not just American ones. He talked a lot about US-German relations over the past 40 or so years, and how this relationship has changed and strengthened. He talked about Afghanistan, Iran, human rights, climate change and alternative energy. The greatest part about his speech was that he engaged the audience and really made it interesting. Afterwards they opened the floor for questions, and I asked about his opinions on the changing role of NATO in the 21st century. We were short on time and I would have liked to have heard a little more about his thoughts in depth, but he gave me a pretty good answer. He mostly talked about how although NATO's role is definitely changing from it's historical one, the defense part of it (article 5) still plays a significant role, and that it's hard to really tell where NATO will go from here. Afterwards there was a reception where he came up to me and told me it was a great question (!!!!). I felt so sophisticated (wearing my new business clothes lol!) and smart and special haha. I'm really so thankful that I was chosen to participate...it was truly a unique opportunity :)

Deutsche Wiedervereinigung

Firstly, I know I've been bad about updating this, but it's getting close to midterms so I've been trying to focus on studying... keyword: trying lol.

Anyways, yesterday was the anniversary of the reunification of Germany. It's really not celebrated, with the exception of a few events in Berlin maybe. Mostly stores are just closed. You would think the reunification would be a joyous day, something to celebrate, but it's really not. As with any other events or holidays, Germans are wary of anyone who feels too much pride or patriotism. I can understand why, but it's still kind of weird to me.

What's even more weird is how people in Germany can still be outright racist. It blows my mind. I say this because Friday night I went out with some friends for my friend's birthday. We were trying to go to a club downtown. The bouncers let me and my white friends in without even looking at our IDs. But when my two friends from Zimbabwe tried to get in, they checked their IDs and said that they weren't valid. Now I wouldn't have thought this was racist if the bouncers had also checked the IDs of me and my other friends, but because they simply waved us in and said it wasn't necessary, and then made a big deal about my friends from Zimbabwe, it's clear some racism was involved. And this isn't the first time that this has happened. Anyone who looks even slightly ethnic, even if they have proper ID, doesn't get in. As my friends and I stood bewildered inside, we looked around and saw that everyone inside was white. I could not believe it. I could not believe that something like this could happen in Germany, given the history. But it can, and it does.

Otherwise things are going well. We managed to have a good time, despite the troubles with the club. We just decided to go to another bar. Last Thursday was also another friend's birthday, and we had a big party just here in the college which was really fun. But today I'm all about studying. I've been putting it off for too long, and now it's crunch time. I can't say I'm terribly worried about my exams, but I will be if I don't study haha!

Not too much else is new. Thursday was Rea's (my little host sister) first birthday, so I went over to my family's house to celebrate. Both my host mom's and my host dad's parents were there for the party, so it was really nice and a lot of fun. My family is now in Bavaria for the next two weeks, which actually isn't necessarily a bad thing because I need the time to study lol!