Saturday, November 14, 2009

Need to write an essay? What better time for a blog update!

So yes, I am continuing my tradition of procrastinating on all major assignments. But to my credit, I focused all this morning up until now, so I deserve a break lol!

This is also a very delayed update...I meant to write this a week ago, but, oh well.

Last weekend Mom was here. She arrived Friday morning and left Sunday afternoon: a very short visit, but it was still really nice. She was working in Frankfurt so she decided to come up for the weekend. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and just really nice to spend time with her again, since I hadn't seen here in nearly three months. Friday morning she couldn't check into her hotel yet so we dropped her bags and I took her to a cafe where we had a nice late breakfast and a really nice conversation. It was so good to catch up: talking over Skype or email just isn't the same. Afterwards we walked around a bit more, I showed her some of the main tourist sights (Marktplatz, Dom St. Petri, etc.). Once we were able to check into her room we both took a nap since we had both gotten up very early. Afterwards we got a quick lunch at a bakery and caught the train to head over to my host family's house. We went with them to the boys' kindergarten for a lantern walk (a fall tradition here for young kids). It was actually really nice, and the boys were so cute, as usual. We just walked around the neighborhood and sang songs (in German! I tried my best lol!) and afterwards they had sausages and hot cider which was good. Then we went back to my family's house and just hung out, had some cheese and wine, and talked for a looong time. Mom and I got back to her hotel pretty late (by then it was around 12:30am) but we were still kind of hungry so we grabbed some döner and headed up to her room where we ended up having a pretty long conversation about the Cold War and fall of the Soviet Union (Mom brought me magazines, and I read an article about nuclear arms in the 21st century lol). But it was really nice, it was the first conversation I had had about politics and history in a very long time (I miss it a lot!!). The next morning we slept in and got a very late start, but we got some lunch and I showed Mom Schnoor and Böttcherstraße, which she really liked. Then that night I took Mom to a really nice experimental Asian restaurant that I had gone to with Dad for dinner. It was really good and just a really nice, relaxing meal (plus, much better than food on campus!!). After dinner we met my two best friends here, Rose and Jasmin, for drinks at a bar nearby. It was also a lot of fun, not awkward at all, and my friends really like Mom (I think she liked them too lol). Then Sunday Mom and I slept in a little, and had a really nice breakfast/brunch at the hotel. Afterwards we went for a nice swim in the hotel pool. Afterwards we went back to Schnoor and Böttcherstraße so Mom could get some souvenirs for Dad and the boys. Then I had to take her to the airport and to say goodbye, which was sad (it always is for me). It was a really nice weekend, but I'm looking forward to going home and spending even more time with everyone! I think it was nice for Mom though because she (and Dad) always like to have an idea about where I am, what it looks like, because it makes it easier for them to picture it when I talk to them over the phone. It's really great that both Mom and Dad were able to see Bremen now, and I really hope they'll make it here again!

This week was really uneventful. I've been really busy with this essay for my Comparing Political Systems class (ughh!) so I didn't really do too much. Yesterday I went to Vegesack though to look for a used bike. There is a shop not too far from campus which I went to, but the old woman there spoke no English, and I couldn't understand what she was saying to me but she seemed upset/frustrated that I didn't speak German. So it was kind of awkward, but at least I got an idea for the prices, and Jasmin offered to go back with me another day. Then last night I went downtown with Rose and some other kids to see a Shakespeare production of a combination of Julius Caeser and Cleopatra. It was organized by this guy on campus who is trying to get a theatre program started (he's currently building a theatre on campus!) and he wants to start making like monthly trips downtown to see plays. So anyway, the play was entirely in German, but it was also a weird/crazy interpretation, so it was really difficult for Rose and I to understand. But it was still entertaining, and some parts were really funny. Afterwards we got to meet the director (who is British) and some of the cast at the bar/cafe that is attached to the theatre. It was really interesting to talk to the director and hear more about his interpretation and opinions about modern productions of Shakespeare in general. Overall it was a really fun night, and I enjoyed it a lot. I always like going to see plays, even if I don't understand them haha!

I'm thinking I should probably get back to work now that I have had my cup of wonderful french press coffee (thank you a thousand times for it, Dad!). :)

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