My ten week long
vacation between the semesters is nearing its end and I’m not really sure how
it went by so quickly. While I am sad it is almost over, I am so excited for the
next four months of warmer weather, new courses, and even more traveling. And
of course, more time with friends—I’ve missed my traveling friends during the
break!
The end of March
brought the end of my internship at the Rachel Carson center, but since I will
be staying on as an editing assistant for the remainder of my time here, there’s
not too much of a transition to make. I’m excited to have been offered the
opportunity to stay on, and I will be working six hours each week—very ideal, I
think. I’ll still have to time to focus on my classes and more importantly,
have enough time to enjoy Munich as the weather gets nicer and nicer. I foresee
many a picnic in the English Garden in my future!
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| The clouds on the right were not so friendly. |
The weather hasn’t
really been behaving lately. Some days have been warm and sunny and made me
want to stay outside all day and do some “Sonne tanken” (roughly translates to soaking
up some sun so you have it all stored up for cloudy days) I like the image that
expression creates in my mind of me filling up my sun tank with energy. Other
days though, have not been so lovely—the weather we’ve had past few days has
left me feeling just plain confused. In the course of three days I think I saw
every sort of weather pattern imaginable: light rain, downpours, hail, snow,
and thunder and lightning, and, thank goodness, a little bits of sun here and
there that managed to restore my faith in Mother Nature. That’s what the first
few days of April looked like at least, and when I asked the old woman I visit if
that was normal, she, a longtime Munich resident, replied with a twinkle in her
eye, “April ist gefährlich” (April is dangerous). Here’s hoping I make it through
this month in one piece. Armed with an umbrella and jacket, I think I’ll make
it.
On St. Patrick’s Day,
while tons of people across the ocean in Ireland drank the day away, I took the
DSH (Deutsch für Hochschulzugang) Prüfung, a German language exam for entrance
to universities. I spent five hours of a gorgeous sunny day in a dim lecture
hall that reeked of body odor. Sound like fun? It gets better. We only had two
ten-minute breaks between the three sections. I often use the phrase “I’m just
gonna run to the bathroom real quick,” when in fact I am actually going to walk
to the bathroom at a leisurely pace. It doesn’t translate so well, and on one
occasion I said “ich gehe schnell aufs Klo,” to a German, to which they replied,
“lass dir ruhig Zeit” (take your time). It was a little awkward, and needless
to say, I’ve taken to not using that expression in Germany anymore. However, during
this exam, the expression couldn’t have been more fitting. Never have I ever
“run to the bathroom real quick” like I did during one of the breaks. I literally
sprinted down the down the three flights of stairs in LMU’s main building to
the bathroom. And back up afterwards. I
did make it, with plenty of time to spare, and panting, wiping the sweat from my
brow (okay, that part may be a bit exaggerated), I was ready for the last part
of the exam. I got the results for the written exam one suspense-filled week
later and then was given my appointment for the oral exam—I had to go in for
the exam on the day that I called for the appointment. I just love surprises!
(Not in this case). I took the oral exam, which wasn’t too bad, and then got my
final results a few days later. I’m pleased to announce that I passed the exam
with the highest level. Hooray! I’m so happy that it is over and done with. I
am now the proud owner of a sheet of paper certifying that my German skills are
at a C1.2 level, and it is valid for life and will allow me to enroll at German
universities in the future, should I decide I want to do that. It’s definitely
something I might consider for a master’s degree, but I don’t want to think
about that right now… too much planning for the future is scary.
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| Majestic Mountains |
A definite highlight
of this month was my trip to Italy in mid-March to visit Alanna. During the
flight I flew right over the Alps, and it was certainly the most beautiful view
out of a plane window I have ever had. Upon arriving in Pisa, I had to make my
way to the PisaMover (get it? it sounds like people mover)—I was nervous at
first, having just arrived in a country where I don’t speak the language at
all, but I channeled my Amazing Race energy, and, playing the show’s exciting theme
song in my head, overcame my fears, rushed to the ticket counter, got my
ticket, and made my way to the next stop in my race around the world: the Pisa
Train Station. I never realized that watching the Amazing Race would help me in
my own travels, but it really does. As soon as that song starts running through
my head in a stressful travel situation, I feel like I can do anything. Alanna
came to meet me a half hour later than expected, which at first caused me to
panic. I didn’t have any way to contact her, since my cell phone wouldn’t work
there. So I just kind of paced around, trying not to look too much like a
vulnerable female American tourist at the Pisa train station. I’m sure I
failed. Luckily, I was able to reassure myself that she was probably just on the
next train from Florence, and sure enough she was, we hugged, and lived happily
ever after. Glad I didn’t get let my worries get the better of me.
We made our way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and we were sure to get the obligatory “Make it look like I’m
touching the Leaning Tower of Pisa” pictures. It was quite humorous—if you were to stand
with your back to the Tower without knowing it was there, you might think you
had just stumbled upon an outdoor Tai Chi class. We went back to Florence later
on in the afternoon, where I spent the rest of the weekend with Alanna. In the
less than 48 hours I was there, I had the best cannoli of my life (I had so
much fun watching the guy fill up the cannoli shell with that cannoli cream), ate
an amazing pizza paired with plenty of house wine, managed to consume a huge
panini, enjoyed the most delicious dark chocolate gelato I’ve ever had, had some
lasagna, ate tiramisu for dessert, got a piping hot Nutella croissant from the
secret bakery at 1:30am, and had biscotti and coffee on my last day. If it
sounds like a lot of food for such a short amount of time, well, it was. Gold
star for the weekend goes to my stomach for helping me enjoy all the delicious food
that Italy has to offer. The trip was really memorable—it was so nice to spend
time with Alanna and so cool that I could just hop on a plane to Italy for the
weekend. That’s Europe for you, I guess. Here are a few pics:
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| Tai Chi class, or posing for a pic with the Leaning Tower of Pisa? |
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| I'm sure I looked just as ridiculous as all the tourists did though... |
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| So happy about those canollis |
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| Alanna and I at Piazza de Michelangelo. Florence is in the background |
Well, it looks like March was more productive than I thought it was. Sometimes it takes these blog posts to remind me just how much I am doing. And now, because I am such a sap, I want to end this blog post with a story that I hope leaves you with a smile:
Last weekend I went to
Nordbad on my own to relax a little. I was lounging in the outdoor pool,
reclining, looking up at the sky as the moon came out and day turned to night, waiting
for the jets to come on. I began eavesdropping on a conversation happening next
to me: an older German woman was talking with two younger men about the
upcoming Easter holiday. The men, who I later found out were Muslims, were
asking the woman what the story of Jesus on Easter is, according to her religion.
These strangers were comparing notes about their religions’ views of Jesus. Wrapping up the conversation, the woman said, roughly translated, “well, I
don’t think it really matters what exactly it was that happened to Jesus on
Easter. Jesus is Jesus, no matter what religion.” The men, like me, thought that
response was really nice, and they replied “Sie sind wirklich nett!”(You are really
nice!). I couldn’t help but smile—what the woman said was so beautiful and
simply put. I believe that respecting people’s varying beliefs and acknowledging
the good in everyone is so important, and I gained a lot of faith in humanity that
night in the Schwimmbad—I’m telling you, magical things happen there. May there
be peace on Earth!
