June Bugs

It is less than two days until my departure. I've been working on getting everything together for several days now, and I still don't feel like I have everything. I am only slightly nervous about the trip, and greatly, enthusiastically excited, although I will miss everyone in Alabama. Tomorrow (Friday 10), I will travel from Birmingham to Atlanta where I will stay with my aunt and spend the night. My flight from Atlanta to New York leaves at 7:30 (from henceforth, all times will be written from a 24 hour standpoint-- like the Germans do it), and from New York, I will arrive in Berlin at 9:20 local time where my host family has graciously agreed to pick me up.

My host family consists of three members. The adult is Frau Susanne and her two seventeens year old kids are Antonia and Leonhard. Frau Susanne and I have been emailing back and forth for a few weeks now. She seems very nice and is indeed very helpful. It seems that all three of them can find their way around the English language, and she tells me that her kids are looking forward to having the opportunity to practice more when I'm around.

The day I arrive, Frau Susanne tells me that there will be a world culture festival happening right outside the front door of their apartment. Here's the link: https://mail.ad.uab.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=0e5863118f7f4f6f92d2ab0b5721e1de&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.karneval-berlin.de%2fde%2fumzug.15.html

It looks pretty awesome. It apparently goes on for four days. Music and food and acrobats and stilt people and magicians and everything you can think of. There are people from all over the world who come to this festival. My host family was hoping that I would be interested in going after I arrive. Um... yes!!! I know I'll be tired from the trip and everything, but to adjust to the time change (Berlin is 7 hours ahead of Birmingham, thus 2:00 Bham is 9:00 Berlin) I should stay up until time to sleep on Germany's schedule. And why not experience a world of culture why I'm adjusting??? Talk about culture shock. 

I think I have everything I need.... I'm still throwing things in my suitcase. I hope I don't forget anything important. I'll be glad when I'm on the plane to Berlin. It still seems so weird that this is actually happening. It feels more like a dream... But it really is happening. Less than 32 hours until departure!

May Days

This is my first blog. So.... hi. It is May 7th. Today, I will play my last performance as a UAB band member: spring commencement. I took my last exam of the spring semester on the fourth which I dominated with a 98. Thank you, Dr. Pruett.

Now, I have a month off. May is my boring, sweet, editing, vacationing, relaxing, chilling, beaching, planning, preparing, English-speaking month. I shall elaborate.

Boring: For some reason, although it has only been three days since my last final, I find myself sitting on the couch, staring at the TV bored out of my mind. What's wrong with me?

Sweet: Mother's Day is Sunday. Mom is coming up from Enterprise to go to the Anniston Museum of Natural History with me. They are having a special exhibit about chocolate. She doesn't know what kind of exhibit it is yet. I hope she likes it.

Editing: My cousin Chris has this great job that pays really well, so guess who has a great connection to a well paying job? Yep. It's just proofreading. It takes me on average seven minutes per two documents. I finished over 80 in 8 hours. I am pleased with it so far, although I haven't gotten paid yet. Having a job, even though it's somewhat temporary and irregular, makes me happy.

Vacationing: What is this exactly? Dictionary.com says that a vacation is a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity,usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday.
So I will be involved in a few vacations this May. This Mother's Day pow wow will be sort of the first vacation that happens, albeit a short one. The first long vacation will be with my boyfriend at a Florida State Park. We'll be staying for ten days at St. Joseph's peninsula. Then, we will head north to Enterprise to stay with my mom and grandparents for a few nights. Then to his parents who will be staying one night in St. Augustine before they head towards their condo in Daytona. We'll stay there for a few days. Then leave June 1 for Birmingham, where we'll meet my Dad and stepmom at the Alys Stephens Center for a Herbie Hancock concert. During all of this, there will be great amounts of relaxing, chilling, and beaching.


Planning and Preparing: Now onto what this blog is really about. I will be studying abroad in Berlin, Germany from June 11- July 9. May is the month to plan and prepare. I have recently received the final amount of funding I needed for the trip, so I'm set on money. Now, we just must work out the details. I bought a plane ticket with the assistance of my mother a few days ago, and I have paid all the money to the program for housing and school costs. What I'm focused on now is the details. I need insurance. A way of contacting someone in an emergency situation. Transportation through the city. What to pack. Converters for electricity. A credit card. Euros. The list goes on. My main method of communication will be skype, and I'm switching computers with my mom during the trip. There are many details that must be worked out this month.


English-speaking: I want to learn German. May will be my last time of speaking English for a little while. From what I've heard, though, most people in Berlin speak English. In a way, this is comforting, but in a different way, I want to be forced to speak German. I want everyone around me to be clueless as to what I'm saying in English. I want to be the foreigner who doesn't understand, who begins to understand, who does understand. This is what I really want. 


So, let the May Days commence!