Blink once. Very good.
That went fast didn’t it? Now you know just about how fast this entire month, albeit
only 28 days, has seemed to go by for me.
I’m starting to get
the sinking feeling that my return date of July 23rd is going to
sneak up on me in a similar fashion to how my ornery, yet loveable, brother
August sneaks up on me at home. I always know he is there…somewhere…when all of
a sudden—“AHH!” *jumps out of chair, or off of ground if already standing*—there
he is! Hopefully my date of
departure will not be as shocking to me as August’s sneak attacks are, but July
23rd, I am keeping an eye on you!
This month, I started
my internship at the Rachel Carson Center; had the pleasure of a visit from my
dear, old friend Alanna and saw Bryan too; spent a wonderful Galentine’s Day
with my gal Christy, plenty of chocolate, and some nice German red wine; and
even got to see Kira, my fellow German major from UNH!
The internship at the
Rachel Carson Center is great so far. I am part of the editing team, and thus I
would like to direct your attention the nicely placed em dashes I used above, which I have learned about while
familiarizing myself with the Chicago Style Guide (no, this is not some fashion
magazine about what’s hot and what’s not in Chicago—it’s essentially a guide
for how everything in the English language is supposed to be written and how
sources are to be cited). I’ve learned the difference between a hyphen (-), an en dash (–), and an em dash (—), and the perfectionist in me is seriously loving
knowing how to use these correctly.
At the internship, I
have the privilege of working with inspiring, interesting, and intelligent
people, as well as the privilege (yes, it is a privilege) of access to free coffee
(no, not just any coffee—I’m talking latte macchiatos, cappuccinos, espressos,
etc.) all day long. I’ve been able to limit myself to no more than two
caffeinated coffee beverages a day, and given the glutton in me, I think I’m
doing pretty well for myself. I’m getting to proofread articles about the
environment and sustainability, help international fellows with their works in
progress by editing for language issues, and even try my hand at translating a few smaller projects. Though the working language at the Center is English, I’m
still getting opportunities to use my German, which makes me very happy!
Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly to me, and I am so lucky to be
getting such great work experience while here in Munich.
Since pictures are
worth a thousand words, here are a few smile-filled photos from the past month:
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| Bryan, Alanna, and I at the TUM Cafe in Munich So lucky to still be friends with these amazing people :) |
 |
| Notice the opposite matching going on (Christy's maroon shirt, my maroon sweats; my black shirt, her black pants). It was unintentional, I promise. |
 |
| Happy Galentine's Day to us! |
 |
| Kira, my UNH German major buddy, and I at Viktualienmarkt. A rainy Sunday, but lovely nonetheless! |
I will close this blog
post with a Laurianne in Awkward Situations tale, of which there has been no
shortage this year. This one is hot off the press:
I went to the library
today to study for the DSH Prüfung (German language test) I am taking in March.
I was feeling pretty good about my trip to the library—I had found a free table
and caught myself smirking when people talking in what I was pretty sure was a
no-talking zone were shushed by the “library police” (that’s how I like to refer
to the black suit-wearing, grumpy old men who enforce such trivial rules in the
library here). I felt even smugger when the library police told the guy sitting
next to me he had to put his water bottle on the floor, while mine was already
on the floor—I’m so good, I thought. My
water must have been good too though, because later, when I glanced sideways at
the guy sitting next to me as he took a dramatic, final swig of his water
bottle, I realized it was not his water bottle he was finishing off, but mine, which,
unfortunately for him, I have been refilling for about a week or two and probably
was pretty gross. He placed it back down on the floor between me and him, and not
knowing what to do, I packed up my things (except the newly nearly empty water bottle)
and left. I was ready to go anyways, right? I was not so keen on the
possibility of having to explain to him in a no-talking zone of the library
that he had drunken out of my water bottle, so this seemed like the best
solution. I left my (now his) water bottle where it was, and walked all the way
to the U-Bahn station smiling, just imagining the look on his face when he
realizes he drank a water bottle belonging to a stranger who probably knew what
he did and left it there for him to realize.
Could this perhaps be
an example of Schadenfreude, a German
word meaning something along the lines of taking pleasure in someone else’s
misfortunes? I think so. I suppose some things never change about a person; there’s
definitely still a little bit of ornery in me, just like my sneaky younger
brother, and I don’t think I ever want that to ever go away. I guess it's fair to say: “there’s a
little bit of devil in [those] angel eyes.” ;)
(^Because no blog post
should leave you without a catchy song in your head. Thanks Love and Theft—I
think—for this catchy country tune.)
