Tying Up Loose Ends

SO much has happened in the last several weeks that I'm going to revert back to my beloved bullet points to get it out in a timely manner.

-First and foremost, my gallbladder: I had a marvelous three day, two night stay in the luxurious Brake Hospital where they determined that the best thing for me to do would be to remove my gallbladder. However, my insurance wouldn't pay for the surgery since it wasn't an emergency (despite being deemed medically necessary by the doctors) so I didn't have it. I went to Germany with my gallbladder, and I left with it, too.

-Something that I decidedly omitted from my blog posts was the state of my relationship with my host family. For the last two months, things have been... rough. Although things seemed to be fine most of the time, there were times (including one huge blowout in March) where things were not fine at all. I'm not sure if it's a cultural issue or if I'm just daft, but communication was once again an issue... apparently. Once again, this family (mother) was irritated/frustrated/angry with me for this/that/the other but didn't talk to me about it. Instead, she acted irritated/frustrated/angry which was only furthered by my lack of knowing why. We had a second blowout the day before my contact with them was over, and she told me (among many other things I don't care to go into) that she had thought a lot about the situation and couldn't come up with a solution- at which case I pointed out that she had never once tried to work it out with me. Every time she tried to talk to me about something, she was talking at me in an irritated/frustrated/angry manner... and then she was further irritated/frustrated/angry because I reacted defensively to such confrontations. So. That's that.

-I had a lovely time in Hamburg with my friend/former teacher from Olaf Sarah. Hamburg was having a celebration for it's harbor that weekend, so there were a bunch of booths by the river selling assorted goods (mainly of the beer and food variety). The weather was cold and cloudy, but we didn't have too much rain. We saw a good amount of Hamburg - including the Red Light District. For the life of me, I can't see why it's a tourist attraction, but c'est la vie. We climbed a church tour which made me feel as fit as couch potato and as spry as my 90 year old grandmother, plus it irritated a knee injury I haven't felt for almost a decade now... so that was good. It was nice to see the city from way up, but the legs-like-rubber feeling once we had climbed down wasn't quite so pleasant. My knee is still giving me a little pain, but it was especially bad the first week after.

-I then headed to Berlin where I was nervous to be alone for three days. Almost immediately upon my arrival, I befriended one of my hostel roommates (a nice German fella) and we went about town together. I kind of went to Berlin as an after thought, but am so grateful that I went. The history in Berlin is truly incredible. I think of history as being something in the past, something that happened generations before me. Although I'm aware of "history in the making," as it were, such as the War in Iraq, President Obama, the World Trade Centers, it isn't quite history yet because it's all still happening (or at least happened recently). However, to think about the role that the Berlin Wall has played in history and to know that it's defeat happened during my lifetime is truly amazing. There is a double cobblestone line that represents where the wall stood in Berlin, and now cars are parked over where this symbol of division and hopelessness once was. That, to me, is baffling. Anyway- I took a site-seeing bus tour and got an overview of the city, and then went back to a few spots. I saw Checkpoint Charlie and went into the museum there (the wall went up in '61, and the museum started in '62- so amazing) plus made my way to the Holocaust Memorial and museum. I've been to one Holocaust exhibit before (in London), and I was really glad and impressed to have learned so much new information. I wasn't sure if all exhibits of this kind would be the same, and maybe outside of Germany they are... but to see the perspective of the German's from after the war is really quite something. Not necessarily more profound, but at the same time more meaningful. The World Wars are apart of our history, too, but in such an incredibly different way. It's interesting to see a non-American perspective, especially that of the Germans. Moral: history in Berlin = fascinating.

-When I returned to Berne, I only stayed one night. The next day, my friend (and non-sacrilegious savior) picked me up to come stay with him. It was strange to say such a hasty goodbye to Linus, especially since I know he couldn't possibly have known that's what it was. Jakob didn't really understand either, since when I said I was leaving he just said "Tschuess!" from the other room. Once I got a proper hug and goodbye from him, I shook the parents hands and simply left.

-I spent my last few days in Oldenburg staying at my friend Jonas' house. He and his parents were so kind to me, and being away from my host family really made my last days in Germany more relaxing. I had to get a lot of things done, including close my bank account - which did not go smoothly - but it was much easier being in Oldenburg. I got to spend some time with my friends, and I of course cried when I had to say goodbye to them. I had a mild/moderate panic attack the night before leaving, thinking "what have I gotten myself into" and "I can't possibly go through with this once more" and other such things. Sleep helped, and before I knew it I was saying goodbye to Oldenburg.

-I spent almost exactly 48 hours in Copenhagen, where I stayed with a third cousin I had never met before. He was an extremely gracious host, and I was both shocked and impressed by the fact that he talked just as much and just as fast as me :) He wasn't able to take off work to show me around, but his roommate had Tuesday free so she took me around and showed me parts of town I would never have been able to find as a tourist. Fun fact: the Danish language sounds ridiculous. Seriously, it sounded like they were speaking Klingon or something. The only words that even sounded like words were the English ones thrown in. It's bizarre. Anyway, we had really great weather that day and after lunch she said "If you really wanted to do something Danish, we would go sit on the wall by the canal and drink beer..." So we did. The weather, again, was just perfect so it was great to just sit out in the sun. I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I had a couple ciders. A couple of her friends joined us as time went by, and eventually Karim (my cousin) met us after he got off work. We ended up sitting there for somewhere between 3-4 hours (I may or may not have gotten a sunburn). We then went to get dinner, and they all decided I needed to have a proper Danish meal. They took me to what they said was one of two places in town that made a great traditional meal (some sort of pork with potatoes and white gravy). We were the only people in the restaurant, but the food was quite good and we talked - rather loudly - about many different (politically related) subjects. Day Two involved me wandering around aimlessly for several hours before meeting up with Karim for dinner and then heading to the train station.

-I took an overnight train from Copenhagen to Munich. Word to the wise: even if you pride yourself on being able to sleep just about anywhere, don't count on getting too much sleep on a train. Small "beds" and frequent stops throughout the night do not a good night's sleep make. After 13 hours on that train plus another three hour train, I finally arrived in Schladming, Austria where I met Roman's mom, Margarita. I've been with the Royers here in Ramsau (am Dachstein) since Thursday, and will stay through Wednesday... but I'll update on that another time.

After Ramsau I head to Vienna for a few days where I hope to catch either the Philharmonic or an opera or really any sort of musical experience to satisfy my soul. I will arrive in Italy this coming Saturday, and I am getting more and more excited for it every day (although I do anticipate a mild/moderate breakdown approximately 24 hours in advance of my arrival).

Well, it seems as though my idea of getting this done in a "timely manner" turned into an hour and twenty minutes... so if you thought this took forever to read, just realize it took even longer to write. But, there you have it- an official update. Now go forth and prosper- I sure intend to :)

Alles Liebe,
~Julia~