So I think I left off on my variety of international incidents on Monday. So I return to my history of Germany from Tuesday:
Tuesday was mostly a stay near the Munich area day. I went to Dachau early in the morning. I made the stupid mistake of thinking that my Tageskarte only worked on the S-Bahn in the area, so I figured that in order to make it to the KZ, I would have to pay yet again for a bus. Given my experience with boats, I really did not want to repeat again. So I decided to look on the map at the bahnhof and walk to the KZ. Unfortuantely, I really did not study the map, and so I got lost in Dachau. The other unfortuante thing was that I ate NO breakfast whatsoever. I did manage to down my last Clif bar (note to self, take like 30 to Ireland) while I was lost in Dachau. I also did not realize the distance that the KZ is from the Bahnhof. So I ended up walking like 6-7 miles that morning on like 200 calories from Tuesday and about the same from Monday (easily spent in the two hours of walking around Munich at night...). Suffice it to say when I reached the KZ, I was terribly tired, but I figured, "how many thousands of people had to go through worse over years in Dachau?" How many people died horrible deaths there? And me, I wanted to bitch about having not much food and walking what was not really that many miles.
So Dachau was cold. Really cold. It had that eerie nature about it, especially the area cordoned off by the creek. Most of the original barracks are gone--only two remain out of more than 40. But to see lines of foundations, each of those holding how many people who met their end at Dachau was frightening. To see the barbed wire, the towers, and the surrounding trench. To be that close to society, that all those people thought you were a legitimate prisoner, that you deserved to be separated from society. And what were you? A Jew? A political opponent? An emigrant? A Soviet? A gypsy? Gay?
The trench was frightening. There was a little sign that said that anyone caught in the trench was immediately shot. In 1944-5, so many people jumped into the ditch deliberately so that they could die easier deaths. Some Germans would push people in so that they could shoot them.
Crossing the creek, one comes upon the two crematoria. The first one was around from about 1938-1942, and had two ovens. The other one though is more frightening, with the sterilization chamber for the clothing, the gas chambers for the prisoners, the four chambers to burn bodies 2-4 at a time, and the stark emptiness of it all. Outside, there are two graves that hold thousands of bodies burned, and an old earthen wall stands where Germans would shoot, execution style, political prisoners, from Soviet soliders, to British female special ops soldiers.
The worst part of all though was the exhibit of the scientific experiments that the Germans did. There was this series of pictures of a Jewish prisoner who was brought in to test what happened to a person when air got into the brain. In the series of pictures, there is this face of innocence, unaware of the fate coming to him. Despite his position, his eyes were somehow full of life, that even though fate had deigned his death soon to come, he was alive.
The next picture shows him in incredible pain, as the injected air bubbles work his way into the brain. His eyes and jaw are clenched shut.
The last shows him, tranquil, dead. His jaw is loose, the pain gone, his life over.
This was the most that I saw Dachau destroy. Sure, there are crematoria, barracks, and monuments to the dead, but this series showed explicitly what the Germans did. How fundamentally evil these people were.
Perhaps what was even more disturbing was the nonchalence of the German high school students there. Many of them were cracking jokes, and acting like this was something they've seen so many times. I desperately wanted to yell and them, and make it clear that this was something that their grandparents and great-grandparents were complicit in. How they disgraced the 12 million people dead because of Nazi hate.
The US has a similar dark past in slavery, but I don't have the personal connection to it that many whites do have. Most of my ancestors came to the US after 1865, and those that were here before then lived in free states only (Illinois, New York). I get why African Americans feel disenfranchised, ironically after Dachau.
After Dachau, I went back into Munich central, heading into the English Gardens, the largest city park in Bavaria after a quick lunch. Surprisingly, I made total sense when I ordered my lunch, which included the amazingness that is Gluhwein. Anyone who has never had this amazing beverage must remedy the situation as quickly as possible.
English Gardens was gorgeous, and I have pictures on facebook to attest to this nicety.
Wednesday was a spontaneous decision to go to Salzburg. I tried the pay-yourself-for-ticket machine for a ticket to Salzburg, but I guess I boarded the wrong class of train, so I ended up having to pay more money on the train to ride to Salzburg. Whatev.
Anyways, I get to Salzburg, and it's definitely the tale of three cities. On the first hand is Neue Salzburg, which is hideous, dirty, and clearly a place not designed for tourists. Alte Salzburg is split between the posh, shopping tourist district, which disgusted me, and the historical section of town with the gorgeous old churches, the fortress, and old buildings. Obviosuly, I vested most of my time in the old section of town, and for the first time in Europe, I DID NOT GET LOST. This was a rare accomplishment. It took forever to climb up to the fortress, but inside, it felt like I was back in 1400, waiting for Turks to come pouring in from the East, or of the Teutons of the North. Apparently, thousands of people in the town could hide in the fortress for months on end.
Head back from Salzburg that afternoon, and buy my first collection of pretzels, of which I eat like 5 in less than 24 hours.
On getting back to Munich HBF (Hauptbahnhof), I got my dinner of tomato-mozarella sandwich, more pretzels, and Guinness. Suffice it to say, it was a much needed meal. I actually ate breakfast that morning in the hotel for a lovely price of 12 euro. OUCH. All I had was coffee, tea, and like three Brotchen. Ok, so I had a little cereal, fruit, and jogurt too...
But my dinner was so much better.
Thursday was not as exciting for me, because my cousin was supposed to come back into town like at 12 noon. I slept in until about...9 ish. I went back to English Gartens to get a good pic of Munich in the morning and then went to Marienplatz/Viktualienmarkt. Neither of which I found terribly impressive, but because they were settling up for the Kristmaskindlmarkt, the plaza was mostly filled. I did go into a few churches and such, ate lunch (more pretzels), and bought some of the touristy stuff for my fam. I had far more Gluhwein also, which ultimately made me incredibly tired. My cousin was supposed to call at noon, and she didn't. After waiting until 1, I decided to ride all through Munich on the S-bahn for an hour, and when she still hadn't called, I went to my hotel room, as the Gluhwein was REALLY knocking me out. While waiting for her to call, I had the interesting experience of watching Spongebob Squarepants, Pokemon, and Yugi-oh in German. Interestingly, I understood about 75% of Spongebob, and 30% of the other two.
My cousin finally called at like 2:30 and we arranged to meet at my hotel room at like 430 because I needed to know if I owed the hotel anything before I left in the morning.
We then went out to dinner and dessert, parting ways at about 10 at night.
Unforutantely, I decided to be an idiot at this point. I had forgotten my alarm clock in COS, so I bought this cheap ass Chinese one in Munich, which was so cheap that it frequently stopped. Hmm...
I had a cab coming for me at 4 AM, so I decided not to sleep. STUPID. Whatever. So I was entertained by late night German/CNN International, which was this sad mix of Mumbai terrorism and an excessive amount of German breasts. Because I've been in a hospital and around breast feeding women so much, I don't get the perverse thrill at titty that many other men get (they're just portals of milk, people, nothing else), but I was amused by the total fakeness of their attempts at alluring men. It was clearly cheap porn, and I found it more funny than anything.
So I stay up till 4 AM, leave my hotel, and get to the airport far too early for my own good.
Friday:
Munich-London: Again, I set off security alarms in Munich, but avoid the much unneeded frisking. British Airways this time provides breakfast (bacon and tomato sandwich, ick, but it was food, so I ate it), and tea. Heathrow was not as painful this time, and I avoided being extensively frisked. However, I did have the annoying problem of being asked a million questions about what I bought in Germany. Whatever. I then found this book (Dear Fatty, by Dawn French, the most hillarious woman ever) in Heathrow that I've been waiting for forever. So I spent a few hours reading, avoiding the desire to collapse into a coma.
London-Houston: I think I actually slept, although I missed lunch service yet again. Of the 10 hours flying, I don't remember at least 5. The other five were spent trying in vain to focus on something--TV, music, movie, book, whatever. As we flew over Arkansas, they came by for another food service, and promptly (stupidly) refused all food and beverage. So I get into Houston, and have to go through customs (total waste of time), but the problem is that going through customs means that you have to go through security again. And YET AGAIN, Ray sets off the alarm. Fortunately, they just waved the wand, and it was my jeans that set it off. I then pay ridiculous amounts for McDonalds and a bagel to try and hold me over for an hour.
Again, Houston demonstrated why I hate Americans....or maybe at least Texans. I dunno, there's something genuinely fake about Americans. Definitely a shallowness that I can't stand, but also a totally different culture that annoys me. The second I get out of customs, I'm greeted by Evangelicals wanting the save the soul that I don't even think I have. We had an interesting short discussion that got no where:
--Would you like some litterature about JC and how he saves?
-No, thank you.
--Why not?
-I don't believe in souls, so I don't really need saving.
--But you'll go to hell
-I can't go to hell because I have no soul, when I die, I stop existing
--Yes you do, and you'll go to hell
Whatever. Those minutes made me wish I was still in Europe.
So I barely stave off sleep long enough to make it on the plane, which is the exact mimic of the hobbit plane that I got on from COS to Houston. More Americans on it--and I was stuck near two southerners who complained about how the seats were small. And they were like 300 pounds each....
So that was my amazing trip to Europe.
Now I have to look forward to the next 19 (NINETEEN???????) days until I graduate. NINETEEN.
This is my list of things left to do over the next 19 days:
Greek Final
German Final
Piano pieces
Finish Thesis
Do Avicenna Paper/Presentation
History of Medicine Final.
It looks like this semester I have no in class finals the week of finals. My first five things are going to be done the week after this one, and then my final is take home.
Shit, folks, it's coming down to the wire....
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
LIFE!!!
So, I did live on my fantastical journey to Deutschland and Osterreich. Below chronicles everything I did and looks ahead for the next 20 days:
Friday, Nov 21:
Flew from COS to Houston in a tremendously small plane. A hobbit plane, because it was designed for short people with small feet. I am the opposite. Fortunately, it only lasted two hours....
Flew from Houston to London. Again, the problems with the feet. Basically, I was wearing boots, size 13, in a space designed for size 9 feet. Due to my utter terror at causing anyone else any kind of discomfort, I refused to lean my chair back, thus leaving me in the impossible condition of not sleeping on an 8 hour flight upon which 6 time zones were crossed. I also was stuck next to the make out couple from hell, which was quite annoying. In one of my feeble attempts to sleep, I apparently missed dinner. I had my eyes shut, head aside, and I heard the trays coming by, but I was too tired to try and actually awake from my demi-comatotic state. So make out man pokes me, to which I make no response, and then the flight lady says "Don't worry about it, we'll feed him if he wakes up". Dear flight attendant: I am NOT an animal at the zoo that you feed, and I did plan on waking up.
Whatever. I was incredibly distracted the whole flight, unable to do any homework whatsoever, but also inattentive to the plane's attempts at amusing me: movies, games, music, all were pointless. Basically I spent 8 hours in a stupor.
Saturday, Nov 22.:
I finally pull myself out of a stupor at about 4 AM. I checked the flight map (which the plane also apparently provides on screen) and we were about 200 miles from Ireland. My mind finally was gaining some focus, but not a whole lot. I COULD have worked, either on German or thesis, but again, turning on a light might have disturbed some cosmic element. I was damn thirsty, and fortuantely, I had bought water in Houston that kept me afloat. So I listened to my iPod, and unfortuantely returned to my stupor until we flew over Ireland, at which point I got INCREDIBLY excited. Unfortunately, it was pitch black, and cloudy. So I spent the hour we were over Ireland looking for lights to no avail.
We at 5 AM promptly received "breakfast snacks"--this croissant-like thing and five pieces of fresh fruit, and my ever beloved coffee. I know this sounds strange, but that breakfast snack was treasure to me. I knew I wasn't getting food in London (the whole pounds thing) and I heard British Airways provides no food for continental flights, so I absorbed every ounce of what I ate. This is coming from someone who normally has 3 meals a day. I can't imagine what it's like for people who might get that many a week...
Anyways, London. TERRIBLE airport. Never ever ever ever ever ever land into Heathrow. For anything. I got frisked thoroughly for setting off an alarm. When I say thoroughtly, I mean every square inch of my body, bits and all. When they waved me over for frisking, I actually went to the woman first thinking that frisking by a woman wouldn't be all that bad (hey, I don't indulge in horniness, but I know I would rather be frisked by a woman than a man). No luck. Creepy guy instead.
Heathrow also has this annoying habit of not announcing your gate until ten minutes before boarding starts. So I get to my gate and it's delayed (joy). I now know why Heathrow is the most delayed airport in Europe, by the way. While waiting, I am absolutely exhausted, nearly falling asleep several times in my chair.
So ya ya, flight to Munich. British Airways provides everything, but I get an exit aisle, and am harrangued by the staff, insisting that everything not on my body goes into overhead, even the coat I had as a blanket. I spend the rest of the flight trying to ignore bitchy make out, breat rubbing with head, Brits next to me. When the flight attendants came for food and snacks, I turned everything down, again harking to my obscene personal thing with not inconveniencing anyone unless desperate. I tried my French with one of them (who had a French flag), and I ended up speaking so softly that she didn't understand, so I had to ultiamtely say she was the first person I ever met who was not in school who spoke French, betraying my inherent Americanness, and desperately I spent the rest of the flight looking at the badges of the attendants, assuringmyself that none of them spoke Spanish, giving me one source of consolation of not being totally ignorant.
Landed in Germany at like 3 PM, took all of 5 minutes to go through passport control (no customs). Desperately hoping for practice with my German, I insisted on using it with them. When asked "What is your purpose in coming to Germany" I said "Ferien" which was responded with "how long?" "eine Woche" "Very good, thank you and welcome to Germany". I was highly discourgaged.
The rest of tha afternoon was spent desperately trying to stay awake and being a gracious visitor. My cousin met me at the airport and took me to my hotel, where the keeper spoke atrocious English, only terrible enough to match my German. When I got to the room, it was incredibly small, but perfect sized for me. Seeing the bed, I desperately wanted to sleep, but my cousin promised an eventful night at Munich's most famous restaurant. So we went to the Augustiner (est. ca. 1400, I think). Hard to imagine I went to a restaurant that historically is older to Europeans than the continent on which I live.
Anyways, ordered in German, and was totally understood, thank god. We shared a table with these two Americans who spoke absolutely no German, and although my cousin asked for menus for them and such, I was glad to know I could have done the same had she not been there.
Dinner was pretty good. German beer lacks something that Irish beers have, so I was not terribly impressed. I have a tendency to like very strongly tasting things, and Irish beers are the best there. The food, while good, was bland, meaty and fatty, which is again different than what I am used to. It was only 20 euros for both of us, so that was good.
We then marched to this subway cafe had had ridiculously overpriced coffee and cake (like 3 euro for one of those tiny cups!). I had the traditional obstkuchen that we have here for birthdays and I found ours far superior. Theirs had this gelatinous top that left much to be desired, and I wished I ordered what my cousin got.
We walked through a few shops of clearly overpriced tourist items, and then went back to my hotel room. I slipped into a coma.
Sun. Nov 22:
I got up at about 6 AM and found that it had snowed most of the night. I decided to show myself some of Munich before I was supposed to meet Mary at 10. So I shower and get cleaned up, and go out, teaching myself the S-Bahn (absolutely AMAZING invention. We absolutely must get S-Bahns in the US). I then went to Theresawiese, a park dedicated to this Bavarian queen. It was a nice park, and had a statue of the Bavaria, some old Germanic goddess of war. I got a few shots, but I was more alarmed by the German people than anything. Here in the US, it's considered rude not to say "good morning" or "hello" to someone when they walk by. There, I mustered up my courage to talk to the first person I came across, and as I was about to say "Guten Morgen," her eyes averted. The next ten people did the same thing.
This is something I found in all of Bavaria and Salzburg. People just don't say hi at all. I don't do it with people I do know, but I will say it when I'm just going for a walk. But there, no one talks to each other. At all. It makes me wonder how they survive....
I did manage to say it to a couple of people whose eyes averted towards me, and especially the older people lit up when I said it. I think it's a WWII thing. The Germanic peoples know they were responsible and they lost, and no one ever told them the obvious. Before Hitler, Germans were probably more open people, but now, they are in a position of second rate power, torn between the ideological war of US and Russia.
Speaking of which, there are almost NO German flags that fly. Shipmen all flew their Bavarian and German flags proudly, but very few buildings have either flag. Same in Austria...
Anyways, I did my walks, and went with my cousin, slightly late (nearly causing an international incident). We first went to BMW Welt and The Olympic park there, both of which were nice, obviously tourist, but still quite nice. We did the tour in German, and I understood about 10-15% of what she said. Absolutely amazin architecture on BMW Welt, except for the utterly stupid thing where they have these deep recesses in the roof where water collects. We headed up to the Residenz, which was the Palace of Ludwig I, and was an incredibly overpriced venture to see a terribly small national theatre, but also an incredibly interesting national art museum. I wish I had pics, but alas, the lighting was TERRIBLE, and no flash photos were allowed.
We followed that up with dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, which is young than the Augustiner, but more of a tourist place. I actually found it loud and and annoying, and my German was nicht so gut there. Afterwards it was cake and coffee again, where I slaughtered German, trying to go with making accompanyment with what my cousin said, yet I failed. The Apple cake was amazing (despite the seeds?), and the coffee, again, overpriced.
Having finished all of that, we parted ways for several days, she with the Luftwaffe to Sardinia, me to survive Germany alone.
Mon, Nov 23:
Train ride to Prien a Chimsee. This was probably my most confident German speaking day of the tour. I forgot which train stop my DB left from, and I successfully asked "Welche ist die Gleis fur Prien" and understood perfectly the response. I again attempted cordiality with the ticket collector, but again, spoke too softly, and had to repeat my requests of "Wie geht es Ihnen" several times. All in all, not bad. The train ride itself was gorgeous, and anyone who hasn't seen Southern Germany yet must make it a priority. The Alps are just STUNNING in contrast to the rolling flatlands of central Bavaria.
Getting into Prien, I successfully not only asked for directions in German, but understood everything I was told. (Geh zum bahnhof zuruck und wander etwa 5 kilos zum See--something like that) The docks were gorgeous, the lake was moreso with the dramatic drop over the Alps, and with the old Augustinian convents on the two islands. Major downside: massive group of 20 rude and loud Chinese people on the boat, irritating my serenity by non-stop photography, throwing food (like whole apples) at the birds, and preparing themselves to see some old palace that a crazy 19th C. king built for himself. Getting to Herrenchimsee, I asked for the German tour in not so good German, if only to separate myself from tourists. Unfortunately, my German was so bad that I could not understand what the tour guide was telling me to do after I fed my ticket into the machine. She started yelling at me in English, and I had to tell her that I didn't speak English either, but rather Spanish, and that my German was far better than my English. She was unimpressed, and treated me like an American anyways. So I went on this German tour and understood again, about 15-20% of what she said. Back in the palace coffee shop (I'm sure Ludwig did not have a coffee shop in Schlossherreninsel, but that's another thing). I nearly created another international incident. The waiter asked me if I thought everything was ok in German (I though he asked if I wanted something else, the way he was gesturing with his hands), and when I said no, he started speaking to me in English, aware of my total ignorance of German.
Here, I was starting to get discouraged, but I went to the monastery. Frustrated with German, I asked for an English written guide to accompany me, even though I understood most of what the signs said. Oddly, despite the fact that this monastery was the base of the conversion of Hungary and Poland to Catholicism, very few people visited it, yet odder still was the scarcity of middle age artifacts. My guess is that most of them lay with the brothers, of which, I saw none because they stayed in seclusion.
Anyways, this monastery housed Ludwig I and II for some time, and they left their mark. Most interestingly though was that it was the sight of the signing of the modern German constitution. History was in those halls, and less than ten percent of all people who came to the island went there. Sad.
The sort of security lady was amazing, and she and I had amazing conversations in Deutschglish. She knew quite a bit of English, and could fill in when I could not understand, but she was very complimentary of my German.
We then sailed to Fraueninsel, which was very private. No people were out, and the nuns, like the brothers, stuck to seclusion. I bought a few things, butchered more German (coming across as rude, I think), but then sailed on. Again, I caused a near-international incident. Apparently, one was supposed to pay for tickets on the boat, but the ticket stand, when I first boarded, was closed. I took a second boat to the other isle, so then I was back on the original, and as we reach shore, all these people pull out tickets. Oh shit.
I didn't get off the boat, butchering more German to assure myself that it returned to my original port of call, which it did. On the way back, I tried to buy a ticket, but they asked where my original was. I somehow had to say that I dropped it on the first island (total lie), which took like 15 minutes with my shitty German book. The boat man was very nice at my terrible German and told me I didn't have to pay for another. Well, since I never paid for one, I left money on the counter when I got off the boat.
It then was time to return to Munich, and I had to find my second hotel---loads of fun. I got lost, and wandered through the city for almost two hours. The whole incident started when I got off the S-bahn and got to the outside. I checked my map for directions, and as I was checking street names, this guy started coming up to me with evil in his eyes. Desperate to no look the tourist, I just picked up my bags and went in the first direction that came to mind, and unfortunately, it was the wrong one. I had heard not to stop walking in the city at night for risk of being pocketed or assailed in some way, so I just kept walking, looking for the street name I needed. Turns out I walked almost a mile to the north when I needed to go south, and about the same amount East when I needed to go west. So that was loads of fun. 7 PM, made it to hotel, INSTANTLY went to sleep.
My diet for the day was half a bag of carrots and a chocolate bar. By night, my confidence in German was gone and I didn't want to ask for any food from a restaurant.
I'm getting tired, so I'm going to finish the rest of my trip tomorrow methinks.
Friday, Nov 21:
Flew from COS to Houston in a tremendously small plane. A hobbit plane, because it was designed for short people with small feet. I am the opposite. Fortunately, it only lasted two hours....
Flew from Houston to London. Again, the problems with the feet. Basically, I was wearing boots, size 13, in a space designed for size 9 feet. Due to my utter terror at causing anyone else any kind of discomfort, I refused to lean my chair back, thus leaving me in the impossible condition of not sleeping on an 8 hour flight upon which 6 time zones were crossed. I also was stuck next to the make out couple from hell, which was quite annoying. In one of my feeble attempts to sleep, I apparently missed dinner. I had my eyes shut, head aside, and I heard the trays coming by, but I was too tired to try and actually awake from my demi-comatotic state. So make out man pokes me, to which I make no response, and then the flight lady says "Don't worry about it, we'll feed him if he wakes up". Dear flight attendant: I am NOT an animal at the zoo that you feed, and I did plan on waking up.
Whatever. I was incredibly distracted the whole flight, unable to do any homework whatsoever, but also inattentive to the plane's attempts at amusing me: movies, games, music, all were pointless. Basically I spent 8 hours in a stupor.
Saturday, Nov 22.:
I finally pull myself out of a stupor at about 4 AM. I checked the flight map (which the plane also apparently provides on screen) and we were about 200 miles from Ireland. My mind finally was gaining some focus, but not a whole lot. I COULD have worked, either on German or thesis, but again, turning on a light might have disturbed some cosmic element. I was damn thirsty, and fortuantely, I had bought water in Houston that kept me afloat. So I listened to my iPod, and unfortuantely returned to my stupor until we flew over Ireland, at which point I got INCREDIBLY excited. Unfortunately, it was pitch black, and cloudy. So I spent the hour we were over Ireland looking for lights to no avail.
We at 5 AM promptly received "breakfast snacks"--this croissant-like thing and five pieces of fresh fruit, and my ever beloved coffee. I know this sounds strange, but that breakfast snack was treasure to me. I knew I wasn't getting food in London (the whole pounds thing) and I heard British Airways provides no food for continental flights, so I absorbed every ounce of what I ate. This is coming from someone who normally has 3 meals a day. I can't imagine what it's like for people who might get that many a week...
Anyways, London. TERRIBLE airport. Never ever ever ever ever ever land into Heathrow. For anything. I got frisked thoroughly for setting off an alarm. When I say thoroughtly, I mean every square inch of my body, bits and all. When they waved me over for frisking, I actually went to the woman first thinking that frisking by a woman wouldn't be all that bad (hey, I don't indulge in horniness, but I know I would rather be frisked by a woman than a man). No luck. Creepy guy instead.
Heathrow also has this annoying habit of not announcing your gate until ten minutes before boarding starts. So I get to my gate and it's delayed (joy). I now know why Heathrow is the most delayed airport in Europe, by the way. While waiting, I am absolutely exhausted, nearly falling asleep several times in my chair.
So ya ya, flight to Munich. British Airways provides everything, but I get an exit aisle, and am harrangued by the staff, insisting that everything not on my body goes into overhead, even the coat I had as a blanket. I spend the rest of the flight trying to ignore bitchy make out, breat rubbing with head, Brits next to me. When the flight attendants came for food and snacks, I turned everything down, again harking to my obscene personal thing with not inconveniencing anyone unless desperate. I tried my French with one of them (who had a French flag), and I ended up speaking so softly that she didn't understand, so I had to ultiamtely say she was the first person I ever met who was not in school who spoke French, betraying my inherent Americanness, and desperately I spent the rest of the flight looking at the badges of the attendants, assuringmyself that none of them spoke Spanish, giving me one source of consolation of not being totally ignorant.
Landed in Germany at like 3 PM, took all of 5 minutes to go through passport control (no customs). Desperately hoping for practice with my German, I insisted on using it with them. When asked "What is your purpose in coming to Germany" I said "Ferien" which was responded with "how long?" "eine Woche" "Very good, thank you and welcome to Germany". I was highly discourgaged.
The rest of tha afternoon was spent desperately trying to stay awake and being a gracious visitor. My cousin met me at the airport and took me to my hotel, where the keeper spoke atrocious English, only terrible enough to match my German. When I got to the room, it was incredibly small, but perfect sized for me. Seeing the bed, I desperately wanted to sleep, but my cousin promised an eventful night at Munich's most famous restaurant. So we went to the Augustiner (est. ca. 1400, I think). Hard to imagine I went to a restaurant that historically is older to Europeans than the continent on which I live.
Anyways, ordered in German, and was totally understood, thank god. We shared a table with these two Americans who spoke absolutely no German, and although my cousin asked for menus for them and such, I was glad to know I could have done the same had she not been there.
Dinner was pretty good. German beer lacks something that Irish beers have, so I was not terribly impressed. I have a tendency to like very strongly tasting things, and Irish beers are the best there. The food, while good, was bland, meaty and fatty, which is again different than what I am used to. It was only 20 euros for both of us, so that was good.
We then marched to this subway cafe had had ridiculously overpriced coffee and cake (like 3 euro for one of those tiny cups!). I had the traditional obstkuchen that we have here for birthdays and I found ours far superior. Theirs had this gelatinous top that left much to be desired, and I wished I ordered what my cousin got.
We walked through a few shops of clearly overpriced tourist items, and then went back to my hotel room. I slipped into a coma.
Sun. Nov 22:
I got up at about 6 AM and found that it had snowed most of the night. I decided to show myself some of Munich before I was supposed to meet Mary at 10. So I shower and get cleaned up, and go out, teaching myself the S-Bahn (absolutely AMAZING invention. We absolutely must get S-Bahns in the US). I then went to Theresawiese, a park dedicated to this Bavarian queen. It was a nice park, and had a statue of the Bavaria, some old Germanic goddess of war. I got a few shots, but I was more alarmed by the German people than anything. Here in the US, it's considered rude not to say "good morning" or "hello" to someone when they walk by. There, I mustered up my courage to talk to the first person I came across, and as I was about to say "Guten Morgen," her eyes averted. The next ten people did the same thing.
This is something I found in all of Bavaria and Salzburg. People just don't say hi at all. I don't do it with people I do know, but I will say it when I'm just going for a walk. But there, no one talks to each other. At all. It makes me wonder how they survive....
I did manage to say it to a couple of people whose eyes averted towards me, and especially the older people lit up when I said it. I think it's a WWII thing. The Germanic peoples know they were responsible and they lost, and no one ever told them the obvious. Before Hitler, Germans were probably more open people, but now, they are in a position of second rate power, torn between the ideological war of US and Russia.
Speaking of which, there are almost NO German flags that fly. Shipmen all flew their Bavarian and German flags proudly, but very few buildings have either flag. Same in Austria...
Anyways, I did my walks, and went with my cousin, slightly late (nearly causing an international incident). We first went to BMW Welt and The Olympic park there, both of which were nice, obviously tourist, but still quite nice. We did the tour in German, and I understood about 10-15% of what she said. Absolutely amazin architecture on BMW Welt, except for the utterly stupid thing where they have these deep recesses in the roof where water collects. We headed up to the Residenz, which was the Palace of Ludwig I, and was an incredibly overpriced venture to see a terribly small national theatre, but also an incredibly interesting national art museum. I wish I had pics, but alas, the lighting was TERRIBLE, and no flash photos were allowed.
We followed that up with dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, which is young than the Augustiner, but more of a tourist place. I actually found it loud and and annoying, and my German was nicht so gut there. Afterwards it was cake and coffee again, where I slaughtered German, trying to go with making accompanyment with what my cousin said, yet I failed. The Apple cake was amazing (despite the seeds?), and the coffee, again, overpriced.
Having finished all of that, we parted ways for several days, she with the Luftwaffe to Sardinia, me to survive Germany alone.
Mon, Nov 23:
Train ride to Prien a Chimsee. This was probably my most confident German speaking day of the tour. I forgot which train stop my DB left from, and I successfully asked "Welche ist die Gleis fur Prien" and understood perfectly the response. I again attempted cordiality with the ticket collector, but again, spoke too softly, and had to repeat my requests of "Wie geht es Ihnen" several times. All in all, not bad. The train ride itself was gorgeous, and anyone who hasn't seen Southern Germany yet must make it a priority. The Alps are just STUNNING in contrast to the rolling flatlands of central Bavaria.
Getting into Prien, I successfully not only asked for directions in German, but understood everything I was told. (Geh zum bahnhof zuruck und wander etwa 5 kilos zum See--something like that) The docks were gorgeous, the lake was moreso with the dramatic drop over the Alps, and with the old Augustinian convents on the two islands. Major downside: massive group of 20 rude and loud Chinese people on the boat, irritating my serenity by non-stop photography, throwing food (like whole apples) at the birds, and preparing themselves to see some old palace that a crazy 19th C. king built for himself. Getting to Herrenchimsee, I asked for the German tour in not so good German, if only to separate myself from tourists. Unfortunately, my German was so bad that I could not understand what the tour guide was telling me to do after I fed my ticket into the machine. She started yelling at me in English, and I had to tell her that I didn't speak English either, but rather Spanish, and that my German was far better than my English. She was unimpressed, and treated me like an American anyways. So I went on this German tour and understood again, about 15-20% of what she said. Back in the palace coffee shop (I'm sure Ludwig did not have a coffee shop in Schlossherreninsel, but that's another thing). I nearly created another international incident. The waiter asked me if I thought everything was ok in German (I though he asked if I wanted something else, the way he was gesturing with his hands), and when I said no, he started speaking to me in English, aware of my total ignorance of German.
Here, I was starting to get discouraged, but I went to the monastery. Frustrated with German, I asked for an English written guide to accompany me, even though I understood most of what the signs said. Oddly, despite the fact that this monastery was the base of the conversion of Hungary and Poland to Catholicism, very few people visited it, yet odder still was the scarcity of middle age artifacts. My guess is that most of them lay with the brothers, of which, I saw none because they stayed in seclusion.
Anyways, this monastery housed Ludwig I and II for some time, and they left their mark. Most interestingly though was that it was the sight of the signing of the modern German constitution. History was in those halls, and less than ten percent of all people who came to the island went there. Sad.
The sort of security lady was amazing, and she and I had amazing conversations in Deutschglish. She knew quite a bit of English, and could fill in when I could not understand, but she was very complimentary of my German.
We then sailed to Fraueninsel, which was very private. No people were out, and the nuns, like the brothers, stuck to seclusion. I bought a few things, butchered more German (coming across as rude, I think), but then sailed on. Again, I caused a near-international incident. Apparently, one was supposed to pay for tickets on the boat, but the ticket stand, when I first boarded, was closed. I took a second boat to the other isle, so then I was back on the original, and as we reach shore, all these people pull out tickets. Oh shit.
I didn't get off the boat, butchering more German to assure myself that it returned to my original port of call, which it did. On the way back, I tried to buy a ticket, but they asked where my original was. I somehow had to say that I dropped it on the first island (total lie), which took like 15 minutes with my shitty German book. The boat man was very nice at my terrible German and told me I didn't have to pay for another. Well, since I never paid for one, I left money on the counter when I got off the boat.
It then was time to return to Munich, and I had to find my second hotel---loads of fun. I got lost, and wandered through the city for almost two hours. The whole incident started when I got off the S-bahn and got to the outside. I checked my map for directions, and as I was checking street names, this guy started coming up to me with evil in his eyes. Desperate to no look the tourist, I just picked up my bags and went in the first direction that came to mind, and unfortunately, it was the wrong one. I had heard not to stop walking in the city at night for risk of being pocketed or assailed in some way, so I just kept walking, looking for the street name I needed. Turns out I walked almost a mile to the north when I needed to go south, and about the same amount East when I needed to go west. So that was loads of fun. 7 PM, made it to hotel, INSTANTLY went to sleep.
My diet for the day was half a bag of carrots and a chocolate bar. By night, my confidence in German was gone and I didn't want to ask for any food from a restaurant.
I'm getting tired, so I'm going to finish the rest of my trip tomorrow methinks.
Monday, November 17, 2008
MUST PUSH ON..................
Ugh, I have senioritis so badly right now. I just want to splooge into a puddle of ooze until Friday, which I cannot afford to do. Pretty soon I have to go to work again on my thesis (something I have not done since last Thursday.....). Then I also have to finish all the rest of my homework for the week (Deutschtest morgen, HOM readings, etc.). That will put me at just thesis to do between now and Wednesday. Come to think of it, it may be easier not to deal with my thesis right now.
In good news:
1) I have finished my Greek children's book. I realized just now that I didn't exactly do it right, but I'm ok with taking a hit. I've got about 40 extra credit points that I haven't used (and will now).
2) I exchanged my money--got 750 euros for 1000 dollars. Not too bad, but not wonderful either. Next, I must start packing......
3) I GOT MY GAELIC BOOKS TODAY. Totally exciting. You have no idea, actually, how much I want to just get started on them (not yet Ray, too many things to do). Listening to liveireland.com doesn't help.
4) This week marks the end of my work as setter-up of lab resources for the course I co-teach on and don't get paid for.
5) Um, doods, I'm leaving for Germany in LESS THAN FOUR DAYS.
In bad news:
1) THESIS
2) Trying to finish this Thomas Jefferson award
3) I'm apparantly listening to the Irish version of NSYNC right now (OMG, it is....)
4) I have senioritis
5) I am now tragically poor.
In good news:
1) I have finished my Greek children's book. I realized just now that I didn't exactly do it right, but I'm ok with taking a hit. I've got about 40 extra credit points that I haven't used (and will now).
2) I exchanged my money--got 750 euros for 1000 dollars. Not too bad, but not wonderful either. Next, I must start packing......
3) I GOT MY GAELIC BOOKS TODAY. Totally exciting. You have no idea, actually, how much I want to just get started on them (not yet Ray, too many things to do). Listening to liveireland.com doesn't help.
4) This week marks the end of my work as setter-up of lab resources for the course I co-teach on and don't get paid for.
5) Um, doods, I'm leaving for Germany in LESS THAN FOUR DAYS.
In bad news:
1) THESIS
2) Trying to finish this Thomas Jefferson award
3) I'm apparantly listening to the Irish version of NSYNC right now (OMG, it is....)
4) I have senioritis
5) I am now tragically poor.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
No school in..........33 days
Amazing joke:
So an Orangeman falls in love with a Catholic woman and realizes that he's a Catholic too. The problem is that he doesn't know about being a Catholic. So he goes to the priest and says "father, I know you have to bapitze me and all, but how do I still know that I'm a Catholic?" and the priest says "whenever you aren't sure, just keep telling yourself 'I'm a Catholic, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Catholic'".
The Orangeman and the Catholic get married. One day, the priest walks into Maire's house and smells something he shouldn't smell on a Friday in Lent. He goes into the kitchen and sees the Orangeman over a huge slab of steak. And the priest asks him "what are you doing eating meat on Friday in Lent?" and the Orangeman says "I'm eating trout, I'm eating trout, I'm eating trout."
Good classic Irish humor. hear it meself on Midwestern Irish radio tonight.
I'm been infected. With senioritis. Shit. I thought I was doing so good avoiding the whole plague, but then I realized I don't care anymore about anything but surviving the rest of the semester. Schitze...
Well, I am almost done with my Greek kids' book. I have like 6 more illustrations to do (maybe I'll do them tonight?) and then I'll be done with ALL the take home work in Greek for the semester.
This week=
1) German test Tuesday
2) FINISH THESIS DRAFT
3) Try to finish HOM resources
4) HOM Readings
5) lab junk
6) Thomas Jefferson award application
7) submit PC app.
8) Finish greek book
9) get ready to go to Deutschland.
So an Orangeman falls in love with a Catholic woman and realizes that he's a Catholic too. The problem is that he doesn't know about being a Catholic. So he goes to the priest and says "father, I know you have to bapitze me and all, but how do I still know that I'm a Catholic?" and the priest says "whenever you aren't sure, just keep telling yourself 'I'm a Catholic, I'm a Catholic, I'm a Catholic'".
The Orangeman and the Catholic get married. One day, the priest walks into Maire's house and smells something he shouldn't smell on a Friday in Lent. He goes into the kitchen and sees the Orangeman over a huge slab of steak. And the priest asks him "what are you doing eating meat on Friday in Lent?" and the Orangeman says "I'm eating trout, I'm eating trout, I'm eating trout."
Good classic Irish humor. hear it meself on Midwestern Irish radio tonight.
I'm been infected. With senioritis. Shit. I thought I was doing so good avoiding the whole plague, but then I realized I don't care anymore about anything but surviving the rest of the semester. Schitze...
Well, I am almost done with my Greek kids' book. I have like 6 more illustrations to do (maybe I'll do them tonight?) and then I'll be done with ALL the take home work in Greek for the semester.
This week=
1) German test Tuesday
2) FINISH THESIS DRAFT
3) Try to finish HOM resources
4) HOM Readings
5) lab junk
6) Thomas Jefferson award application
7) submit PC app.
8) Finish greek book
9) get ready to go to Deutschland.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Five Weeks Left, Gente
So for over 20% of the rest of the semester, I'm going to be on another continent. In one way, that's incredibly exciting, right? I'm not going to be here in the middle of a school semester, going and having fun in Munich (and we're thinking Switzerland too...). I'm freaking out right now about it, because of all the deadlines I have left in the semester. This is everything left, due dates and all:
Greek:
Kid's book (right now worth 10% of grade): Wednesday
Final: Early-ish December
German:
Exam 3
Exam 4
Homework for CH 4
3 more vocab tests
Final Exam
Piano:
Who knows how many more pieces? Maybe ten?
Final
Thesis:
THESIS. Speaking of which, I historically got up to 1688 last night. I need to explain the history of the Jacobite/Williamite conflict, and then I have all the event stuff done. Then it's integrating the rest of my primary sources into my thesis. Due December 9
HoM:
Essay 2 (now due December 11--WOOT!)
FINAL
Ugh. It's too much. I'm going to get all of my Greek done over the next couple of days, and then I'm going to try to have a full draft of my thesis done before I leave for Germany.
I'm kind of tired right now...at work, need to do school work. Will write more laters.
Greek:
Kid's book (right now worth 10% of grade): Wednesday
Final: Early-ish December
German:
Exam 3
Exam 4
Homework for CH 4
3 more vocab tests
Final Exam
Piano:
Who knows how many more pieces? Maybe ten?
Final
Thesis:
THESIS. Speaking of which, I historically got up to 1688 last night. I need to explain the history of the Jacobite/Williamite conflict, and then I have all the event stuff done. Then it's integrating the rest of my primary sources into my thesis. Due December 9
HoM:
Essay 2 (now due December 11--WOOT!)
FINAL
Ugh. It's too much. I'm going to get all of my Greek done over the next couple of days, and then I'm going to try to have a full draft of my thesis done before I leave for Germany.
I'm kind of tired right now...at work, need to do school work. Will write more laters.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Three days and counting...can I make it?
So I have to try to get a rough draft done by Friday...shit. Over the last three days, I've written 27 pages, gotten some pretty good stuff between 1641 and 1649, and some okay stuff for between 1649 and 1660. I have almost all of my English primary source material to add, and I'm realizing that I probably should have more Irish primary sources...especially between 1649 and 1688...
Basically, tomorrow=writing on Ireland 1660-1691 historically speaking and trying to analyze some of the events that happened, why it's 1691 when we really see a unified Irish people and not 1660. I'll try to drag in some more Irish poetry too. My best guess is that I'll have between 10-20 more pages tomorrow...hoffentlich.
The unfortunate thing is that I have a Greek quiz tomorrow too, as well as a MASSIVE amount of staining and running flow on some cells. I've kind of neglected my work for the last couple of weeks, and I think it's high time to get back on the experimentation boat and finish as much as I can in the next 8 weeks before I leave for Ireland (angelic choirs sing). Seriously people, I'm going to IRELAND. Jan 21. Mark it.
Anyways, I have two cell lines that I'm finishing with my notorious four chemos today and tomorrow, leaving me with just TWO cell lines on my four chemos. Then I'll have 80/140 tests done. Sounds like not that much, huh? I have five lines thawed right now, and I'm going to go ahead and do all of those five with my next two drugs, assuming that I can find one of them that was supposedly ordered, but may not have been. I dunno, I've looked all over the lab, and I can't find the goddamn drug. Whatever. I need to be done with these experiments ASAP though. My goal is to be done with 120 tx out of 140 by the time Jan 21 comes around, but my guess is that I'll be closer to 100.
A lot of that will be dependent on how far thesis gets done in the next two weeks. Next week is REALLY going to suck, because I have my HoM paper on Avicenna due (still haven't started it....) and my little kid's book in Greek. Plus, there's a notorious German exam on Tuesday. Basically, if I have any free time Thursday, I'm going to write my sentences and try to come up with some ideas for a kid's book...somehow?
If I can get two of these huge projects out of the way by Saturday, I'll be immensely relieved. If I can get it all done by next Tuesday (doubtful...) then I may explode with happiness.
I ordered two Irish Gaelic books online. The one that I have now assumes that you have some idea about pronunciation, of which I have very little, and also assumes a LOT of vocab knowledge. I know inis=island, go=to, aran=bread, agus=and, atharda=fatherland, and Eireannach=Irishman. I'm starting to get how to conjugate the verb "to be" also, but given my vocabulary knowledge thus far, I would be better off learning "to go". Then I could say something like "Go I (Verb comes first in Irish) go athardha agus inis (of) Eireannach agus aran. Something like that?
I'm so excited about Ireland--if you couldn't tell--that I'm kind of forgetting about Germany, which is in NINE days. Shit.
Thankfully, the dollar gained 1.5 cents on the Euro today. I know these changes seem small, but if I exchange $300 to Euro yesterday, I would have gotten 238 Euro. Tomorrow, it would be 240 Euro.
ugh, right now I hate work and wish I could focus on school. If I could, I would put off all of my classes except Greek, just finish Greek by the end of the week, and then be down to just 12 hours.
Basically, tomorrow=writing on Ireland 1660-1691 historically speaking and trying to analyze some of the events that happened, why it's 1691 when we really see a unified Irish people and not 1660. I'll try to drag in some more Irish poetry too. My best guess is that I'll have between 10-20 more pages tomorrow...hoffentlich.
The unfortunate thing is that I have a Greek quiz tomorrow too, as well as a MASSIVE amount of staining and running flow on some cells. I've kind of neglected my work for the last couple of weeks, and I think it's high time to get back on the experimentation boat and finish as much as I can in the next 8 weeks before I leave for Ireland (angelic choirs sing). Seriously people, I'm going to IRELAND. Jan 21. Mark it.
Anyways, I have two cell lines that I'm finishing with my notorious four chemos today and tomorrow, leaving me with just TWO cell lines on my four chemos. Then I'll have 80/140 tests done. Sounds like not that much, huh? I have five lines thawed right now, and I'm going to go ahead and do all of those five with my next two drugs, assuming that I can find one of them that was supposedly ordered, but may not have been. I dunno, I've looked all over the lab, and I can't find the goddamn drug. Whatever. I need to be done with these experiments ASAP though. My goal is to be done with 120 tx out of 140 by the time Jan 21 comes around, but my guess is that I'll be closer to 100.
A lot of that will be dependent on how far thesis gets done in the next two weeks. Next week is REALLY going to suck, because I have my HoM paper on Avicenna due (still haven't started it....) and my little kid's book in Greek. Plus, there's a notorious German exam on Tuesday. Basically, if I have any free time Thursday, I'm going to write my sentences and try to come up with some ideas for a kid's book...somehow?
If I can get two of these huge projects out of the way by Saturday, I'll be immensely relieved. If I can get it all done by next Tuesday (doubtful...) then I may explode with happiness.
I ordered two Irish Gaelic books online. The one that I have now assumes that you have some idea about pronunciation, of which I have very little, and also assumes a LOT of vocab knowledge. I know inis=island, go=to, aran=bread, agus=and, atharda=fatherland, and Eireannach=Irishman. I'm starting to get how to conjugate the verb "to be" also, but given my vocabulary knowledge thus far, I would be better off learning "to go". Then I could say something like "Go I (Verb comes first in Irish) go athardha agus inis (of) Eireannach agus aran. Something like that?
I'm so excited about Ireland--if you couldn't tell--that I'm kind of forgetting about Germany, which is in NINE days. Shit.
Thankfully, the dollar gained 1.5 cents on the Euro today. I know these changes seem small, but if I exchange $300 to Euro yesterday, I would have gotten 238 Euro. Tomorrow, it would be 240 Euro.
ugh, right now I hate work and wish I could focus on school. If I could, I would put off all of my classes except Greek, just finish Greek by the end of the week, and then be down to just 12 hours.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Headlong into the Night
So basically, these last two weeks before my mini-vacation are going to be the two bitch weeks from hell. This week, I have yet another quiz in Greek, which shouldn't be too terrible, but you never know, then worst of all, I have a complete draft of my thesis due this FRIDAY. So far, I have ab out 10 1/2 pages done, but as I have previously mentioned, I am only through about 1636 ish. Basically, my goal for tomorrow is to finish up the lieutenancy of Thomas Wentworth and include a bit more on Irish poetry before 1641. Then, once I have that done, I'm going to go ahead and put in my background of historical events from 1641-1660. If I have that done before about 12:30, then I'm going to go ahead and work on fundamental changes in English policy in Ireland based on their swelling of paranoia. Then finally, if I get that done, it's onto the Irish view in the same time period. This is the bulk of the thesis---my guess right now is that this is going to be between thirty and forty pages...probably closer to 30. Once that's done, I have the rest of the week to go from 1660 to 1691, which isn't a hell of a lot, and then my conclusion. The final time period is basically a solidification of the lines drawn by 1660, in part because there's absolutely no political power between 1666 and 1688 in Ireland (i.e. Parliament never is called).
I do have to say that this thesis has definitely invigorated my interest in learning Irish. Reading the translated poetry and seeing it right next to the actual Gaelic makes me desperately want to know the language of my ancestors.
So that should be fun. Today I finished up 7-beta in my Greek book, leaving me only two sections (8-alpha and 8-beta) for the rest of the semester, which is about 19 pages in the book, then I have my children's book for that class due next Wednesday. I think that I'm going to spend the time that I have off in the LTC this week working on finishing those things off, thus reducing my load of hours to be concerned about to 12.
Next week I also have my fun fun fun fun fun history of medicine essay #2 due. Speaking of which, I did manage to get a 98% on my first essay for that class, bringing my overall average to about a 95% on about 50% of the course work. I guess that makes cool beans.
I also have a ton of German to do in the next week and a half. Monday right after my LTC tenure is going to be working on getting my Arbeitsheft done for Kaptiel 3 and my lab hour and a half. This next Tuesday is yet another test in that course....
Basically, I have a ton of stress over the next two weeks, and very little time in which to cope with this stress. On top of this, I should mention, is the nagging problem of work. I have 16 cell lines done with 4 chemos, and I would really like to finish all 20 before I leave for Germany next Friday, but right now, I can only guarantee that I'll be done with 18 lines. Suffice it to say, that once I finish all this school stuff, work should be a lot easier to do, especially since I will soon be done with all the distracting stuff. It looks certainly feasible that by the time I leave COS, I'll be done with the damn project.
Well, I'm tired, and going to bed.
I do have to say that this thesis has definitely invigorated my interest in learning Irish. Reading the translated poetry and seeing it right next to the actual Gaelic makes me desperately want to know the language of my ancestors.
So that should be fun. Today I finished up 7-beta in my Greek book, leaving me only two sections (8-alpha and 8-beta) for the rest of the semester, which is about 19 pages in the book, then I have my children's book for that class due next Wednesday. I think that I'm going to spend the time that I have off in the LTC this week working on finishing those things off, thus reducing my load of hours to be concerned about to 12.
Next week I also have my fun fun fun fun fun history of medicine essay #2 due. Speaking of which, I did manage to get a 98% on my first essay for that class, bringing my overall average to about a 95% on about 50% of the course work. I guess that makes cool beans.
I also have a ton of German to do in the next week and a half. Monday right after my LTC tenure is going to be working on getting my Arbeitsheft done for Kaptiel 3 and my lab hour and a half. This next Tuesday is yet another test in that course....
Basically, I have a ton of stress over the next two weeks, and very little time in which to cope with this stress. On top of this, I should mention, is the nagging problem of work. I have 16 cell lines done with 4 chemos, and I would really like to finish all 20 before I leave for Germany next Friday, but right now, I can only guarantee that I'll be done with 18 lines. Suffice it to say, that once I finish all this school stuff, work should be a lot easier to do, especially since I will soon be done with all the distracting stuff. It looks certainly feasible that by the time I leave COS, I'll be done with the damn project.
Well, I'm tired, and going to bed.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Master of Chaotica
Ugh, my life is such chaos right now. There are quite a few reasons for this, but essentially, I have absolutely no clue what the hell I want to do with my life. Given my recent lab frustrations, I've been wondering if science is really what I want to do with the rest of my life. On the one hand, I really like science in and of itself, but I HATE my experience working in a lab. Then, I've been having all kinds of success with history recently, and I absolutely love history.
My current idea right now is that I'm just going to do Peace Corps without the affiliated master's degree, because it's something that I really want to do.
Then, I think I'll get master's in both history and a science, at which point I should know which path I want to follow. Whichever one I choose, I'll get the Ph.D. in.
Making life decisions is so frustrating.
Speaking of frustrating, I did want to wonder why people are still talking about the elections. My God, we just ended two years of non-stop campaigning, and people STILL want to talk about the voting? I mean, this morning, I heard on the radio someone putting forth ideas for who should run against Obama in 2012. Seriously? Have the last two years so changed things that we now have to campaign non stop?
If you're that interested in politics, keep your eyes on 2010 for the following 3 reasons:
1. Single party rule almost NEVER lasts more than two years. Americans hate the idea of unrestricted government historically, especially since the end of Roosevelt's administration. Divided government works, because it's inherently self-opposed.
2. While the Republicans have more Senate seats to defend in 2010, their seats are generally more secure. In fact, looking ahead, the only contentious seats will probably be Illinois (special reelections do NOT list candidates by party), Colorado (assuming the Republicans can put forward a non-psycho for a change), and Florida.
3. The 2010 census is again going to rip all kinds of house and electoral seats out of the northeast again, and transfer them to western and southern states. Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona are in line to pick up at least one seat each, while New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts can all lose seats. The reapportionment of congressional seats will in the long term hurt Democrats as electoral votes shift away from reliable democratic states to more conservative states.
By the way, it is neither the end of the world nor is it the dawning of a new era of history. This election is nowhere near as significant as ones like 1800, 1844, and 1860. If you want that kind of talk, read some history books. At best, this election will have a moral victory, in knowing that we aren't all a bunch of racist bastards (implicates Europeans, by the way, who by and large are far more racist than we are...). No matter who won, there is not going to be any monumental change in the next four years.
My current idea right now is that I'm just going to do Peace Corps without the affiliated master's degree, because it's something that I really want to do.
Then, I think I'll get master's in both history and a science, at which point I should know which path I want to follow. Whichever one I choose, I'll get the Ph.D. in.
Making life decisions is so frustrating.
Speaking of frustrating, I did want to wonder why people are still talking about the elections. My God, we just ended two years of non-stop campaigning, and people STILL want to talk about the voting? I mean, this morning, I heard on the radio someone putting forth ideas for who should run against Obama in 2012. Seriously? Have the last two years so changed things that we now have to campaign non stop?
If you're that interested in politics, keep your eyes on 2010 for the following 3 reasons:
1. Single party rule almost NEVER lasts more than two years. Americans hate the idea of unrestricted government historically, especially since the end of Roosevelt's administration. Divided government works, because it's inherently self-opposed.
2. While the Republicans have more Senate seats to defend in 2010, their seats are generally more secure. In fact, looking ahead, the only contentious seats will probably be Illinois (special reelections do NOT list candidates by party), Colorado (assuming the Republicans can put forward a non-psycho for a change), and Florida.
3. The 2010 census is again going to rip all kinds of house and electoral seats out of the northeast again, and transfer them to western and southern states. Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona are in line to pick up at least one seat each, while New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts can all lose seats. The reapportionment of congressional seats will in the long term hurt Democrats as electoral votes shift away from reliable democratic states to more conservative states.
By the way, it is neither the end of the world nor is it the dawning of a new era of history. This election is nowhere near as significant as ones like 1800, 1844, and 1860. If you want that kind of talk, read some history books. At best, this election will have a moral victory, in knowing that we aren't all a bunch of racist bastards (implicates Europeans, by the way, who by and large are far more racist than we are...). No matter who won, there is not going to be any monumental change in the next four years.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Desperate, Tortured, and Bewildered
Shit. So I just finished the first season of The Tudors, and despite several grossly inaccurate historical events (Cardinal Wolsey did NOT commit suicide), the series is totally amazing for its entertainment value.
Prudish people would hate it because there's so much sex in the first season that it's hilarious, especially since the women get stripped down to nothing and the men normally take nothing off (I'm still trying to figure out how that's possible). But yeah, the rampant sex is hilarious. Especially when in the next scene Henry gets proclaimed a defender of the faith. I'm also a huge fan of knowing the history, especially with Anne Boleyn almost there on the getting married part, I know that Thomas More is finally going to get his head whacked. I actually hate him historically and fictitiously. He has this smug arrogance and absurd level of piety that is actually incredibly bizarre at this time. While I get why humanists were so revered, I also understand why they were universally loathed.
The unfortunate thing is that season two doesn't come out until December 30!!!! Damn. I have to wait that long for rampant sex, tons of gore, and the occassional historical fact thrown in???
Besides that, I am now only three sections away from finishing all of the material I'm supposed to learn in Greek this semester.
I also have about half of my history of medicine test done. I have my thesis set for my long essay and I know what sources I'm going to use.
That's tomorrow. Also to be done is that gdf outline....
But, alas.
Prudish people would hate it because there's so much sex in the first season that it's hilarious, especially since the women get stripped down to nothing and the men normally take nothing off (I'm still trying to figure out how that's possible). But yeah, the rampant sex is hilarious. Especially when in the next scene Henry gets proclaimed a defender of the faith. I'm also a huge fan of knowing the history, especially with Anne Boleyn almost there on the getting married part, I know that Thomas More is finally going to get his head whacked. I actually hate him historically and fictitiously. He has this smug arrogance and absurd level of piety that is actually incredibly bizarre at this time. While I get why humanists were so revered, I also understand why they were universally loathed.
The unfortunate thing is that season two doesn't come out until December 30!!!! Damn. I have to wait that long for rampant sex, tons of gore, and the occassional historical fact thrown in???
Besides that, I am now only three sections away from finishing all of the material I'm supposed to learn in Greek this semester.
I also have about half of my history of medicine test done. I have my thesis set for my long essay and I know what sources I'm going to use.
That's tomorrow. Also to be done is that gdf outline....
But, alas.
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