Hello again my lovelies!
Today is one of those great days where you feel so content. After a prodigiously bad summer Hamburg has come through with a gloriously beautiful autumn. Today was sunny and at least 25 degrees (celcius, duh), and the good weather is supposed to continue during the long weekend. Monday is a holiday - something like the "Celebration of German Unity" - so we finally are having a long weekend. To further sweeten the deal this afternoon is super quiet at work, so I figured rather than kill time on facebook I'd kill time catching up on my blogging: lucky you!
As you'll likely be aware, last weekend I went to Munich (known within Germany as "München") to experience Oktoberfest in true Bavarian style. Things kicked off bright and early Saturday morning when I headed off to the train station to begin my six hour long ride. The train was clean, fairly new, and comfortable. My only real complaint regards how it is labeled. The trouble is that each compartment is covered in numbers, and to the uninitiated it can be next to impossible to figure out what number refers to what (class versus compartment versus wagon versus seat). On the line I was traveling with the train's designers had decided that the most important number to display was the "class" number, which appeared not only on the side of each compartment but also on the doors, where it could be very easily confused with the actual wagon number. These were the hardest to figure out, partly because it would seem that there were two wagons per number and this number was not prominently displayed. So, there were two "3" wagons, two "2" wagons, etcetera. After significant bumbling around with my suitcase looking for the right seat I finally found it and got settled it. I was extremely pleased to find an electrical outlet by each seat, so for much of the trip I entertained myself with movies. The countryside in Germany is exceptionally beautiful, and luckily it was also a sunny day so this were looking especially picturesque. The towns are all very similar: nestled in valleys or on hillsides, each is dominated by a large centrally-located church and surrounded by little white houses with red tile roofs. From the train you could admire all the winding country roads, the meandering rivers and the sprawling farmland bordered by neat tree-lined lanes.
Most of the ride was quiet, though I noticed a neighbouring rider catch my eye several times. Shortly after the seat beside me was vacated (we stopped many times over the course of the trip) he approached and asked whether a water bottle under the seat was mine. I told him no, and then he started asking about my accent and where I was from. I answered politely, and I suppose that was enough for him because he promptly collected his bag and sat down beside me, which I found highly amusing. I don't recall his name, but I do remember he was almost seven feet tall (I'm serious! I asked and he said he was 6'9").
When we arrived in Munich I met up with my hosts and we parted ways. I was staying with an old school friend of my aunt's who I had met in Hamburg earlier that week. Her husband and son came to gather my luggage and then the son and I headed off to meet his friends at Oktoberfest.
I'll confess things got off to an unsteady start. My host's son was quite young (17) and I wasn't sure how mature he or his friends would be. When we got to the fest we didn't have reservations at a table and so that meant a lot of waiting in lines. Not everyone was comfortable speaking English, and I figured it would be a little too patronizing to ask everyone how they were enjoying highschool and what kind of extracurriculars they engaged in. Furthermore, I was shocked by the rampant and overt drug use that seemed to be occuring everywhere. Call me a naive country girl but I wasn't expecting that. I was, however, determined to enjoy myself so I decided to turn a blind eye to everything I didn't like and just enjoy it for what it was.
And it's a good thing I did! Once we overcame initial language shyness my host and his friends turned out to be a friendly enough group who were easy to get along with. While waiting for ticket business to get sorted we realized that I had become something of a stranger-magnet. Maybe it was because I was still in casual clothes (everyone else was wearing a drindl or leiderhosen), or maybe it was my natural Canadian friendliness, but I made lots of friends. First, it was a couple of mid-thirties Italian guys who were taking care of their too-drunk friend nearby. One of them just sort of strolled over and started chatting me up (too bad he wasn't my type). We chatted for a few minutes before I found an excuse to leave. Shortly afterward I was approached by an American wearing some kind of sports jersey. He happened to speak fluent German, and was so drunk he kept forgetting that I don't. So, he would start a sentence in English and halfway through switch to German, at which point I would have to say "Ich spreche nicht Deutsches! Ich bin Kanadierin!" Which is pretty much the only German I can speak.
Anyway, eventually he stumbled off and after what seemed like hours we made it on to the patio of the Fischer tent. As we entered I was hailed by a group I can only assume were Eastern European (you come to recognize regions after long enough in Europe), and one member pointed to his friend going "Eh? Eh? Ja!" His friend was gangly and supremely goofy looking so I just smiled, shook my head and moved on. Once inside things were a lot of fun. The benches were crammed with people and everyone was friendly and talkative, which is an environment in which I thrive. The servers moved around with up to 4 or 5 litres of beer in each hand, just as you might imagine. After a short time I wound up making friends with the gentleman seated behind me, who owned a gym in Munich. Our table was also joined by a group of Poles, though I didn't get a chance to speak to them much.
Just as a matter of interest I may as well tell you that the beer served at Oktoberfest is ONLY served by the litre. Additionally, it has a higher alcohol content then you will find anywhere else, and so is especially deadly. For this reason the tents close at 11:30 each night, though even before we had gotten in we saw at least three First Aid crews rushing off to deal with what could only be alcohol poisoning cases.
So, when 11:30 rolled around we stumbled our way home for a much-needed rest.
The next morning I was up surprisingly early and changed into the borrowed drindl I would wear that day. It was a little loose but would get the job done. Drindls are supposed to be worn very tightly, and the place you tie your apron bow communicates a message. If you tie it at your left hip then it means you are single; if you tie it at your right hip then it means you are married; if you tie it at the back then (apparently) it means you are widowed, though apparently no one does this. There is a huge variety of styles when it comes to drindls and liederhosen, which I found very exciting and fascinating. the white undershirts can have long, short, or capped sleeves, often with lace or ribbon, sometimes puffed and gathered and sometimes tapered. I was surprised to learn that the undershirts only extend to the bottom of your bust, which I gather is to avoid bunching beneath the very tight drindls and also to avoid excessive heat. The collar selection is very broad, with the more traditional styles featuring an almost Elizabethan-style ruffle with a low-cut neck, and more modern styles that can button all the way to the neck but that are worn open. Those are just two examples, and there are many many more. The overskirts also come in many styles. Some dip below to hit underneath the bust while others rise higher to hide most of the undershirt. I wished I could've gotten more pictures because there were really so many beautiful dresses. The liederhosen were just as elaborate. The trousers were made of a soft embroidered suede, that could be worn with or without the suspenders. The undershirts were just as varried as those worn with the drindls, and sometimes then men wore beautiful wool jackets as well. These had such an interesting cut to them I would have murdered to get my hands on one, but unfortunately the opportunity never arose. Quite a few of the men wore stockings or wooly socks as well, and I even saw two men sporting clogs as well.
Shortly before noon my host-family and I headed off once more to Oktoberfest, where this time we had tickets to the Ochs tent (ox tent). When I say tent, however, you must imagine huuuuuge halls with white canvas ceilings, swathed with blue and white (the Bavarian colours) strips of silk like something out of a Medieval tournament. Anyway, we settled ourselves at our table and then got to the serious business of eating and drinking. If you've never tasted German food I feel the need to warn you it is overwhelmingly salty. Whether in the North or the South they salt EVERYTHING, and enthusiastically so. The servers were a truly impressive sight as they would carry table-sized trays with a dozen different meals stacked on them - often with large entrees such as an entire chicken! There was a big bandstand in the middle of the tent, and the band would play all kinds of music regularly punctuated by drinking songs. The absolute favourite went something like this:
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit,
der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
der Gemütlichkeit
Then everyone would go "eins, swei, drei, suva!" and take a drink. I'm not sure about the spelling of that last word, as the Germans pronounce "w" as "v", "v" as "f", "s" as "z", and other such nonsense. It sounded like "zufa" so who the hell knows how it's spelled. Also, in case you're curious the German word for "cheers" is "prost".
Anyway, the families stuck around for a few hours, but around five in the afternoon the parents and children headed off and once again I was entertained by the 17 year olds. While on Saturday night we had meet up with some of my host's acquaintances on Sunday night two of his better friends came by, both of whom were friendly and easy to get along with. We moved from our table on the balcony down to the thick of the action near the bandstand. Here we joined a random Polish family and continued the serious business of drinking.
It was SO. MUCH. FUN. Oktoberfest is everything you imagine it to be. It is over a thousand people crammed into one tent all set on having fun. Everyone is in a great mood, everyone sings and dances and it doesn't matter where you're from or whether you speak a different language. As the afternoon wears on people climb up on top of the benches and the singing continues. Strangers become friends and you simply soak up the festive atmosphere.
The Poles we were seated with were a pretty hilarious bunch. The father was in a grand mood because he had just won a thousand euro on a football (soccer) bet, and he was there with his brother (?) and his daughters. None of them spoke much English but through a mish-mash of French, German, and English we somehow were able to communicate. Behind us sat a group of Italians, one of whom was impertinent enough to try and lift my skirt while I was standing on the bench. As it so happened it was was the Munich folk call "Italian weekend". "Italian weekend" is a particular weekend of Oktoberfest which the Italians have a kind of unspoken agreement that it is the weekend they will all attend. As it was explained to me, "they have to do everything together." True to their reputations they are a grabby bunch, which is made worse by crowds. When you're walking around to have to be mindful to guard your chest or else they will take absolutely any opportunity to grope you.
Anyway, we stayed in the tent until closing, at which point we agreed it was time to enjoy the fair. What I hadn't realized before coming to Munich was that Oktoberest isn't just the beer tents: it's also a big fun fair, with merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels, rollercoasters, etcetera. During the day families and children the rides, but in the evening people leave the tents and enjoy the rides. Contrary to what I expected, which was that going on a ride while drunk was a recipe for vomiting, in actual fact drinking just makes you bold enough to try the rides you would never attempt sober. The end was result was that I had a huge amount of fun.
The next day I was up again early as I was dying to find a drindl of my own before leaving and I wanted to see just a bit of Munich before leaving. I went down to Marienplatz, which is the central square of the Altstadt, and was able to complete my drindl mission quite quickly. I wound up getting a very traditional one. It hits just below the knee and comes up under the bust. The dress is navy blue and white, with plaid on the skirt and a floral pattern on the bodice with a subtle plaid ruffle. The bodice laces up corset-style in the front, and the apron is green and white in the same floral pattern as the bodice. The white undershirt is a traditional style with puffed sleeves coming just above the elbow and a low ruffled neckline. I am totally in love.
After finding my drindl I explored the exterior of the Neues Rathaus (I understand Munich has two Rathaus), a giant piece of Gothic architecture. I got to see its giant dancing clock chime the hours, and then moved on to see the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), the final resting place of King Ludwig II. Both of these (the church especially) were completely awe-inspiring and I wish I had planned a longer stay in the south - there was so much to see! I should also add that all weekend the weather was beautiful - 26 degrees and not a cloud in sight. Munich is so different from the North, both in culture and in appearance. During Oktoberfest the city swells from its usual 1.2 million to close to 7 million inhabitants, which may have been a little deceptive culturally speaking. However, southern Germans have a very particular look about them. Many of them have deep brown tans and a sandy blondish hair that is a far cry from the fair-skinned residents of the North. It wasn't easy coming back, I'll say that! But come back I did, after an unforgettable weekend.
This week at work has been fairly quiet, with most of my attention being alotted to my travels rather than any particular project. With only a few weeks left in my stay here my schedule is filling up fast. This weekend I intend to absorb the last major sights of Hamburg (and hopefully get some rest). Next weekend I'll be off visiting family in Lyon (to the South-East of central France), which will be followed by a very brief stay in Paris. I'm hoping to visit the Musée du Louvre, and could hardly be more excited. The weekend after that I will likely be headed off to visit Berlin, and the weekend following will be my trip to Dublin. The next Monday (Halloween) will mark my return to Canada, though I may be making a detour to Toronto to investigate a career opportunity.
Speaking of work, today is my last day with the crew in Design. On Tuesday I will be making my last (maybe) department change and moving to spend two weeks with the Online team. I am a little nervous as I don't have much experience in this field, but it's an important part of this business and I'm glad I'll be getting to sample what goes on: the more I know the better.
I'll do my best to update (probably during the week after my weekend advertures) but it's going to be insanely busy so I'll make no promises.
With any luck the next time I write it'll be to say that I've met a prince in Paris and am engaged. A girl can always dream.
20.9.11
Fast track to Type 2
... Diabetes, that is!
Hey kids, long time no posts - I know. The reason I'm finally getting around to it now is because today's diet consisted mostly of coffee, diet coke, and chocolate, so I am super hyper. Hence the diabetes remark. Anyway, since it's been so long since I updated I'm going to have to attack this by topic rather than chronologically. I guess if you don't give a shit about my career then it'll make it that much easier to skip the boring part and get to the gossip, but otherwise you're just going to have to put up with some minor jumps in the narrative.
Work: Okay, so nearly a month ago I moved from the Advertising department to the Design department called Ligalux. As it turns out Ligalux is waaaaaay more like what I've done before, so my transition has been really smooth. We mostly deal with logos, brochures, and, well, design. I wish I could explain better what "design" is, but you kind of have to do it to know it. A further improvement is that while in Creative we worked predominantly with Photoshop but in Ligalux we are more reliant upon InDesign and Illustrator, which are old friends of mine. Yessssssss. Work continues to be impressively fun as most of my days are spent enjoying my favourite music while doing some glorified doodles. Doing layouts is less familiar to me, but creating logos is a really enjoyable challenge so they balance out nicely. This week I've been working on creating gift cards, and I have an idea I'm pretty excited about - let's hope it gets picked up by the client!
As for the people they're all pretty nice, but I haven't gotten to know them as well as I got to know the Advertising guys. I think part of it is because I actually know what I'm doing now and so I rarely have to ask for help. Also, while we get together for lunch fairly often we don't do it every day so I have had fewer opportunities to get to know them. On top of that Ligalux has a wider age range and the employees are more into doing their own thing, and finally I'll be with Ligalux for several weeks less than I spent in Advertising. Ohhhh well. I've stayed in touch well with the Advertising crew though, who as per usual are a pretty hilarious bunch.
Having said that, let's move on to my social life....
Adventures: Alright, so I suppose it's time to think waaaayyyyy back. Last time I updated was after Düsseldorf, so we'll start with the following weekend.
For many years now I've nurtured a love of Classical music and opera. I'm familiar with Puccini (who doesn't love La Boheme?), but it actually wasn't until I saw 2009's Quantum of Solace that I looked into Tosca. Though the music played for only a short scene I was instantly hooked, and swore that if I ever got to Europe I would see Tosca live in Germany. I am happy to say that after checking out the Hamburg Opera's Autumn lineup Tosca was set to start September 4, so I bought a ticket and waited impatiently for the day to roll around.
Things got off to a bit of an imperfect start. I wasn't thrilled to be going solo, so waiting for the performance to start and during the intermission I was a little bored, lonely, and depressed. Also, the theatre itself is a relic of the '80s, possibly my least favourite era of architecture. The libretto (a translation of what performers are singing that appears at the top of the curtain during the show) was in German, so I couldn't understand it. Luckily the program included a short English plot-summary so I wasn't completely lost. Finally, apparently not even Europeans know how to dress properly for the opera. To add some context, this was a Sunday show and the first showing of Tosca this season. And yet, there were still waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many people in casual clothes and even jeans. If you are into opera enough to be attending Tosca on a Sunday then you should know better than to show up wearing that. And no, I don't care how elitist that sounds, it's just proper etiquette!
However, all these things ceased to matter as soon as the show started. Opera in any setting is moving, but opera performed live is totally overwhelming. You get swallowed up my music, and I found again and again I would get goosebumps and chills during my favourite sequences (notably "Tre sbirri... Una carrozza", "Vissi D'arte", and the piece before/after the murder [I don't recall the title of that part just now]). It feels as though all of a sudden you have muscles in your ears you never noticed and they're all flexed at once. That description sounds uncomfortable but I assure you it's completely exhilarating. I didn't cry, but it took a decent amount of effort not to, which I consider a good measure of how good the performance was.
The following weekend wound up being a busier one. On Friday night some of the ladies from work (the secretary and one of the girls from Accounts) invited me out to Terrace Hill again for a Rockstar themed club night. After work I wound up having drinks and playing darts with the Advertising guys. It seems my darts skills have improved drastically since arriving - after two months here I finally won my first game! We had a really good time but eventually I had to home so I could get ready for the night. Unfortunately the rest of the evening wasn't as totally awesome as the start. It wound up being one of those nights where you spend all your time waiting in lineups: waiting to get into the club; waiting to check your coat; waiting to get a drink; waiting to get your coat again. The crowd at the club were a little on the obnoxious side, and unfortunately none of my group seemed very into the scene. I spent most of my time on the outdoor terrace enjoying the view of Hamburg and the fresh air. I won't lie, it was a little depressing though, and I was missing home a lot and mostly brooding about the language for the millionth time. For all the complaining I do you'd think I'd get around to doing something about it but German is NOT an easy language.
Anyway, the next day was pretty fun. I went boots hunting for the eighth (?) week in a row. I only brought ballet flats, sandals, and high heels to Europe because boots are bulky to pack and I thought I'd find something I liked here easily enough. Not so. I'm pretty picky, and everything here was all wrong: the toe was the wrong shape; they didn't hit at the right place on the leg; the sole was awkwardly cut; the fit in the calf was wrong; they had weird buckles or accessories. The list goes on... At the start of September I had found ONE pair that I liked, the perfect pair.... but they also happened to be wildly expensive. I decided to keep looking, but after checking high-end, low-end, and mid-range stores I still found nothing I remotely liked except for the one amazing pair. Anyway, I concluded that after having searched all of Hamburg and a good part of Düsseldorf I wasn't going to find anything so I caved and got the pricey ones. Sigh. Anyway, in case you're wondering they're exceptionally simple: black, just below the knee, with a loose fit to the calf and no tapering at the ankle (ew). They have an almond toe and no adornments whatsoever. You'd think that these would be easy to find anywhere but apparently not. But enough about shoes.
After a supremely self-indulgent day (much of which I spent hanging out at the canal next to the Alsterarkaden, a very beautiful area) I was just stopping for coffee when something caught my eye. There's an open area in a place called the Gänsemarkt where vendors often set up on weekends or brands hold promotions. Just as I was sitting down I noticed a group of 15 or so people all dressed in white shirts and black trousers. One woman was dressed as Marilyn Monroe in a white dress with blond curls and red lipstick, and two gentlemen were wearing no shirts but little white collars, bow-ties and fedoras. I was very curious so I went over and asked what they were selling. As it turned out it was white-dress-woman's bachelorette party and they were all out celebrating. They were a very friendly bunch (unusual in Germany) and so I wound up getting pictures with the two guys and a couple of the whole group. In retrospect I wish I had chatted them up more - opportunities for meeting people here are so few and these guys were very receptive (haha) and friendly to boot. But I didn't want to bother them and had plans to get to anyway, so off I went. That evening I had plans to meet up with my Advertising crew in an area near where I live called the Shanze.
At the appointed hour I headed out, but everyone seemed to be on their own timeline as it took a while for us to all get together. The evening was a little more on the mellow side, which I didn't mind. We were at the same bar we went to waaaaay back when I first arrived, the one we like to call Sofa Bar but has some other name. Anyway, it was a crowded night so we wound up sitting with two strangers, one of whom was exceptionally handsome and who made eye contact right away. He was typically German looking, with good bone structure, blonde hair, blue eyes and an athletic build. I was just plotting how I was going to strike up a conversation with this conveniently close hottie when our group swelled, and to my great dismay the two who we had joined wound up leaving. Just my luck. I spent the rest of the evening having forced conversation with a friend of my coworker, brooding about how I would much rather be chatting up a different guy and could have been had I not been such a coward. I left earlyish (around 1am) and spent the rest of the weekend beating myself up for missing two great opportunities to meet people.
Which brings us to this weekend. A friend of mine from University is spending a semester in Mannheim, and to my surprise he got himself together and visited this weekend. When he arrived on Friday we spent the evening catching up and then getting to bed early in preparation for a loaded day on Saturday.
On Saturday we started things off by taking a free walking tour (Sandeman's New Europe tour, in case you're wondering). One thing I found totally bizarre was that one gentleman on the tour (a German) wore no shoes. At all. For the whole time. I began to think of him as the "shoeless wonder", as he would walk down the cobbled streets (broken glass everywhere) without batting an eyelash. I wondered if he was allowed in stores like that - "no shoes, no shirt, no service".... right? Anyway, I never did find out what his deal was, but it wasn't high on my agenda.
We went around to at least four or five different churches, each of which was interesting in its own way. One was set at the highest point in all of Hamburg (a tiny hill to my Western Canadian eyes), another held what was once the world's largest organ. Johann Sebastian Bach had wanted to work there, but they had rejected his request as this was prior to his major successes. Later Napoleon used the same church as a munitions storehouse when he occupied Hamburg. We then moved on to see several of Germany's famous "contour houses" (it might be "kontur haus", I'm not sure). These are basically just interestingly designed old buildings. We saw Chilehaus, Afrikahaus, and we saw the building where Zyklon B gas was manufactured during the second World War. We went to St. Nikolai church, of which only burnt bricks and a single tall tower remain. We went right up to the top, which had a great view of the city. It felt like at any moment Nosferatu could walk out behind a pillar, which was pretty fun. After a coffee break the group headed on over to Hafen City, which is down by the docks of the Elbe. It's Hamburg's major industrial/storehouse area and quite the sight. We saw the new building for the Hamburg Philharmonic, which will have cost close to half a billion dollars by the time it's complete. We also visited the Dutch portion of Hamburg - the oldest part of the city - and also where the great fire of the 19th century started, which destroyed much of the city. We walked along cobblestones that had been there for nearly a thousand years, which was pretty damn cool.
Once the tour was over my friend and I went to the Hamburg Dungeon, which is a really elaborate haunted house type thing. Basically you move through something very similar to a haunted house, but you'll be stopped in various rooms by people in costume who will tell you the darker parts of the city's history. Unfortunately it was all in German, so I didn't understand any of it but it was still really cool. Toward the end you go on a boat ride and then to a ride where you're raised up and then dropped without warning - you'll be familiar with these rides from any amusement park.
By the time we left the Dungeon it was closing in on evening, so we trekked back to my apartment to eat, rest, and get ready for a night on the town. The same group that organized the walking tour also does a pub crawl in the Reeperbahn, Europe's largest red light district. After such a long day I wasn't sure I was all that ready for a night out as well, but I didn't want to pass up a good opportunity so off we went.
We met up with the group at a 99 Cent bar, where - you guessed it - everything was 99 cents. The others on the tour were two Australian guys, two Brazilian guys, an American man, a Bulgarian guy, two German girls, and I don't recall who else. My friend and I immediately got along with the Australians, and throughout the night there were many toasts to "The Commonwealth!" It wound up being a spectacularly fun time. One of the earlier stops was to a bar with live music playing the likes of ACDC and typical American rock, so we got our dance on and had a glorious time. I asked the Aussis about amusing local sayings, and my stand-out favourite is "we're not here to fuck spiders". It basically means let's do what we've got to do. On the whole it was pretty perfect, though my guest managed to (unknowingly) proposition a prostitute and then get on the wrong side of her pimp, which is the type of thing that would only happen to him.
In a disappointing conclusion both the Aussis were leaving Hamburg the next day to continue on a Contiki tour. I begin to suspect that Europe is conspiring to ensure I have no lasting friendships... ever. Anyway, we spent all of Sunday recovering, and yesterday it was back to work as usual.
Travels: Yesterday evening an old friend of my aunt's was in Hamburg, so we arranged to meet up for dinner. Luckily we got along well, so this weekend I'll be visiting her family in Munich and attending Oktoberfest, drindl and all. I'll be departing Saturday and returning Monday, and I'll be using the train for the first time since getting to Europe.
I've also just made plans to visit my extended family in Lyon (France) during the second weekend of October, which I'm very excited for, especially since I can actually speak functional French.
Perhaps what I'm most excited for though is Ireland. I've finally thrown caution to the wind and will book flights tomorrow to go during my last weekend in Europe. I've had a mysterious but nonetheless powerful attraction to Ireland since I was about 16, so I am beyond excited to fulfill a dream I've had for the last six years. Hopefully I'll be seeing one of the Irish guys I met in Düsseldorf, providing he's not too busy with school. But regardless I think it'll be pretty amazing. Then, before I know it, it'll be back to Canada.
My initial plan had been to return straight to BC, but I'm now contemplating a stop off in Toronto. There's a job opportunity I'm very interested in (more on that later), and I'm also dying to see my family, who I haven't visited in nearly five years. Tooooo long.
Romance: Ugh. I feel like that pretty much sums it up.
Things had briefly looked up with my Düsseldorf fling. We connected via facebook (of course), and not long after my visit he and his girlfriend split up, which was wayyyyy more than I had expected out of that. Unfortunately since then things have hit a serious lull, and I'm fairly certain the end of things has come and gone. He returns to school soon, and I have no idea whether he'll be visiting Hamburg. Even if he does my schedule is now so packed I doubt we'll be in the same place at the same time. I guess it wasn't "meant to be", but that hardly makes me feel any better.
Apparently my life's narrative has turned into a broken record though. I don't know how well you read between the lines but you may have inferred that I was leaving some details out of this past weekend's pub crawl. I got along especially well with one of the Australian guys, who of course had the cute accent (I'm a terrible sucker for accents), the blonde hair, the tan, and - what do you know? - a girlfriend. Not that that stopped a dance floor make-out session from taking place. Seriously though, WHAT THE FUCK?! Why does EVERY guy I meet have a girlfriend? And why hasn't that stopped me recently??? Before I got to Europe I had never cheated on a boyfriend and I had never been involved with a guy who had a girlfriend. But all of a sudden I get here and manage to have this happen twice in what? three weeks time? I mean on the one hand I'd like to think that I'm not the one in the relationship and therefore it's not my responsibility to ensure these guys are faithful (also, in both instances it was only kissing), but then again once upon a time I had a lot more compassion for these guys' girlfriends. For some reason that has recently totally evaporated and been replaced with a complete lack of remorse. 'Bye moral compass, it was nice knowing you.
Once again I find myself irritated that I've met someone interesting and fun who I have great chemistry with but zero future. I suppose it's ridiculous to expect any kind of future seeing as I'm leaving the continent in just over a month, but human beings are so irrational.
Alright, I've been writing for close to three hours now, and I think this update is officially long enough. Bravo if you made it to the end all in one go.
Hey kids, long time no posts - I know. The reason I'm finally getting around to it now is because today's diet consisted mostly of coffee, diet coke, and chocolate, so I am super hyper. Hence the diabetes remark. Anyway, since it's been so long since I updated I'm going to have to attack this by topic rather than chronologically. I guess if you don't give a shit about my career then it'll make it that much easier to skip the boring part and get to the gossip, but otherwise you're just going to have to put up with some minor jumps in the narrative.
Work: Okay, so nearly a month ago I moved from the Advertising department to the Design department called Ligalux. As it turns out Ligalux is waaaaaay more like what I've done before, so my transition has been really smooth. We mostly deal with logos, brochures, and, well, design. I wish I could explain better what "design" is, but you kind of have to do it to know it. A further improvement is that while in Creative we worked predominantly with Photoshop but in Ligalux we are more reliant upon InDesign and Illustrator, which are old friends of mine. Yessssssss. Work continues to be impressively fun as most of my days are spent enjoying my favourite music while doing some glorified doodles. Doing layouts is less familiar to me, but creating logos is a really enjoyable challenge so they balance out nicely. This week I've been working on creating gift cards, and I have an idea I'm pretty excited about - let's hope it gets picked up by the client!
As for the people they're all pretty nice, but I haven't gotten to know them as well as I got to know the Advertising guys. I think part of it is because I actually know what I'm doing now and so I rarely have to ask for help. Also, while we get together for lunch fairly often we don't do it every day so I have had fewer opportunities to get to know them. On top of that Ligalux has a wider age range and the employees are more into doing their own thing, and finally I'll be with Ligalux for several weeks less than I spent in Advertising. Ohhhh well. I've stayed in touch well with the Advertising crew though, who as per usual are a pretty hilarious bunch.
Having said that, let's move on to my social life....
Adventures: Alright, so I suppose it's time to think waaaayyyyy back. Last time I updated was after Düsseldorf, so we'll start with the following weekend.
For many years now I've nurtured a love of Classical music and opera. I'm familiar with Puccini (who doesn't love La Boheme?), but it actually wasn't until I saw 2009's Quantum of Solace that I looked into Tosca. Though the music played for only a short scene I was instantly hooked, and swore that if I ever got to Europe I would see Tosca live in Germany. I am happy to say that after checking out the Hamburg Opera's Autumn lineup Tosca was set to start September 4, so I bought a ticket and waited impatiently for the day to roll around.
Things got off to a bit of an imperfect start. I wasn't thrilled to be going solo, so waiting for the performance to start and during the intermission I was a little bored, lonely, and depressed. Also, the theatre itself is a relic of the '80s, possibly my least favourite era of architecture. The libretto (a translation of what performers are singing that appears at the top of the curtain during the show) was in German, so I couldn't understand it. Luckily the program included a short English plot-summary so I wasn't completely lost. Finally, apparently not even Europeans know how to dress properly for the opera. To add some context, this was a Sunday show and the first showing of Tosca this season. And yet, there were still waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many people in casual clothes and even jeans. If you are into opera enough to be attending Tosca on a Sunday then you should know better than to show up wearing that. And no, I don't care how elitist that sounds, it's just proper etiquette!
However, all these things ceased to matter as soon as the show started. Opera in any setting is moving, but opera performed live is totally overwhelming. You get swallowed up my music, and I found again and again I would get goosebumps and chills during my favourite sequences (notably "Tre sbirri... Una carrozza", "Vissi D'arte", and the piece before/after the murder [I don't recall the title of that part just now]). It feels as though all of a sudden you have muscles in your ears you never noticed and they're all flexed at once. That description sounds uncomfortable but I assure you it's completely exhilarating. I didn't cry, but it took a decent amount of effort not to, which I consider a good measure of how good the performance was.
The following weekend wound up being a busier one. On Friday night some of the ladies from work (the secretary and one of the girls from Accounts) invited me out to Terrace Hill again for a Rockstar themed club night. After work I wound up having drinks and playing darts with the Advertising guys. It seems my darts skills have improved drastically since arriving - after two months here I finally won my first game! We had a really good time but eventually I had to home so I could get ready for the night. Unfortunately the rest of the evening wasn't as totally awesome as the start. It wound up being one of those nights where you spend all your time waiting in lineups: waiting to get into the club; waiting to check your coat; waiting to get a drink; waiting to get your coat again. The crowd at the club were a little on the obnoxious side, and unfortunately none of my group seemed very into the scene. I spent most of my time on the outdoor terrace enjoying the view of Hamburg and the fresh air. I won't lie, it was a little depressing though, and I was missing home a lot and mostly brooding about the language for the millionth time. For all the complaining I do you'd think I'd get around to doing something about it but German is NOT an easy language.
Anyway, the next day was pretty fun. I went boots hunting for the eighth (?) week in a row. I only brought ballet flats, sandals, and high heels to Europe because boots are bulky to pack and I thought I'd find something I liked here easily enough. Not so. I'm pretty picky, and everything here was all wrong: the toe was the wrong shape; they didn't hit at the right place on the leg; the sole was awkwardly cut; the fit in the calf was wrong; they had weird buckles or accessories. The list goes on... At the start of September I had found ONE pair that I liked, the perfect pair.... but they also happened to be wildly expensive. I decided to keep looking, but after checking high-end, low-end, and mid-range stores I still found nothing I remotely liked except for the one amazing pair. Anyway, I concluded that after having searched all of Hamburg and a good part of Düsseldorf I wasn't going to find anything so I caved and got the pricey ones. Sigh. Anyway, in case you're wondering they're exceptionally simple: black, just below the knee, with a loose fit to the calf and no tapering at the ankle (ew). They have an almond toe and no adornments whatsoever. You'd think that these would be easy to find anywhere but apparently not. But enough about shoes.
After a supremely self-indulgent day (much of which I spent hanging out at the canal next to the Alsterarkaden, a very beautiful area) I was just stopping for coffee when something caught my eye. There's an open area in a place called the Gänsemarkt where vendors often set up on weekends or brands hold promotions. Just as I was sitting down I noticed a group of 15 or so people all dressed in white shirts and black trousers. One woman was dressed as Marilyn Monroe in a white dress with blond curls and red lipstick, and two gentlemen were wearing no shirts but little white collars, bow-ties and fedoras. I was very curious so I went over and asked what they were selling. As it turned out it was white-dress-woman's bachelorette party and they were all out celebrating. They were a very friendly bunch (unusual in Germany) and so I wound up getting pictures with the two guys and a couple of the whole group. In retrospect I wish I had chatted them up more - opportunities for meeting people here are so few and these guys were very receptive (haha) and friendly to boot. But I didn't want to bother them and had plans to get to anyway, so off I went. That evening I had plans to meet up with my Advertising crew in an area near where I live called the Shanze.
At the appointed hour I headed out, but everyone seemed to be on their own timeline as it took a while for us to all get together. The evening was a little more on the mellow side, which I didn't mind. We were at the same bar we went to waaaaay back when I first arrived, the one we like to call Sofa Bar but has some other name. Anyway, it was a crowded night so we wound up sitting with two strangers, one of whom was exceptionally handsome and who made eye contact right away. He was typically German looking, with good bone structure, blonde hair, blue eyes and an athletic build. I was just plotting how I was going to strike up a conversation with this conveniently close hottie when our group swelled, and to my great dismay the two who we had joined wound up leaving. Just my luck. I spent the rest of the evening having forced conversation with a friend of my coworker, brooding about how I would much rather be chatting up a different guy and could have been had I not been such a coward. I left earlyish (around 1am) and spent the rest of the weekend beating myself up for missing two great opportunities to meet people.
Which brings us to this weekend. A friend of mine from University is spending a semester in Mannheim, and to my surprise he got himself together and visited this weekend. When he arrived on Friday we spent the evening catching up and then getting to bed early in preparation for a loaded day on Saturday.
On Saturday we started things off by taking a free walking tour (Sandeman's New Europe tour, in case you're wondering). One thing I found totally bizarre was that one gentleman on the tour (a German) wore no shoes. At all. For the whole time. I began to think of him as the "shoeless wonder", as he would walk down the cobbled streets (broken glass everywhere) without batting an eyelash. I wondered if he was allowed in stores like that - "no shoes, no shirt, no service".... right? Anyway, I never did find out what his deal was, but it wasn't high on my agenda.
We went around to at least four or five different churches, each of which was interesting in its own way. One was set at the highest point in all of Hamburg (a tiny hill to my Western Canadian eyes), another held what was once the world's largest organ. Johann Sebastian Bach had wanted to work there, but they had rejected his request as this was prior to his major successes. Later Napoleon used the same church as a munitions storehouse when he occupied Hamburg. We then moved on to see several of Germany's famous "contour houses" (it might be "kontur haus", I'm not sure). These are basically just interestingly designed old buildings. We saw Chilehaus, Afrikahaus, and we saw the building where Zyklon B gas was manufactured during the second World War. We went to St. Nikolai church, of which only burnt bricks and a single tall tower remain. We went right up to the top, which had a great view of the city. It felt like at any moment Nosferatu could walk out behind a pillar, which was pretty fun. After a coffee break the group headed on over to Hafen City, which is down by the docks of the Elbe. It's Hamburg's major industrial/storehouse area and quite the sight. We saw the new building for the Hamburg Philharmonic, which will have cost close to half a billion dollars by the time it's complete. We also visited the Dutch portion of Hamburg - the oldest part of the city - and also where the great fire of the 19th century started, which destroyed much of the city. We walked along cobblestones that had been there for nearly a thousand years, which was pretty damn cool.
Once the tour was over my friend and I went to the Hamburg Dungeon, which is a really elaborate haunted house type thing. Basically you move through something very similar to a haunted house, but you'll be stopped in various rooms by people in costume who will tell you the darker parts of the city's history. Unfortunately it was all in German, so I didn't understand any of it but it was still really cool. Toward the end you go on a boat ride and then to a ride where you're raised up and then dropped without warning - you'll be familiar with these rides from any amusement park.
By the time we left the Dungeon it was closing in on evening, so we trekked back to my apartment to eat, rest, and get ready for a night on the town. The same group that organized the walking tour also does a pub crawl in the Reeperbahn, Europe's largest red light district. After such a long day I wasn't sure I was all that ready for a night out as well, but I didn't want to pass up a good opportunity so off we went.
We met up with the group at a 99 Cent bar, where - you guessed it - everything was 99 cents. The others on the tour were two Australian guys, two Brazilian guys, an American man, a Bulgarian guy, two German girls, and I don't recall who else. My friend and I immediately got along with the Australians, and throughout the night there were many toasts to "The Commonwealth!" It wound up being a spectacularly fun time. One of the earlier stops was to a bar with live music playing the likes of ACDC and typical American rock, so we got our dance on and had a glorious time. I asked the Aussis about amusing local sayings, and my stand-out favourite is "we're not here to fuck spiders". It basically means let's do what we've got to do. On the whole it was pretty perfect, though my guest managed to (unknowingly) proposition a prostitute and then get on the wrong side of her pimp, which is the type of thing that would only happen to him.
In a disappointing conclusion both the Aussis were leaving Hamburg the next day to continue on a Contiki tour. I begin to suspect that Europe is conspiring to ensure I have no lasting friendships... ever. Anyway, we spent all of Sunday recovering, and yesterday it was back to work as usual.
Travels: Yesterday evening an old friend of my aunt's was in Hamburg, so we arranged to meet up for dinner. Luckily we got along well, so this weekend I'll be visiting her family in Munich and attending Oktoberfest, drindl and all. I'll be departing Saturday and returning Monday, and I'll be using the train for the first time since getting to Europe.
I've also just made plans to visit my extended family in Lyon (France) during the second weekend of October, which I'm very excited for, especially since I can actually speak functional French.
Perhaps what I'm most excited for though is Ireland. I've finally thrown caution to the wind and will book flights tomorrow to go during my last weekend in Europe. I've had a mysterious but nonetheless powerful attraction to Ireland since I was about 16, so I am beyond excited to fulfill a dream I've had for the last six years. Hopefully I'll be seeing one of the Irish guys I met in Düsseldorf, providing he's not too busy with school. But regardless I think it'll be pretty amazing. Then, before I know it, it'll be back to Canada.
My initial plan had been to return straight to BC, but I'm now contemplating a stop off in Toronto. There's a job opportunity I'm very interested in (more on that later), and I'm also dying to see my family, who I haven't visited in nearly five years. Tooooo long.
Romance: Ugh. I feel like that pretty much sums it up.
Things had briefly looked up with my Düsseldorf fling. We connected via facebook (of course), and not long after my visit he and his girlfriend split up, which was wayyyyy more than I had expected out of that. Unfortunately since then things have hit a serious lull, and I'm fairly certain the end of things has come and gone. He returns to school soon, and I have no idea whether he'll be visiting Hamburg. Even if he does my schedule is now so packed I doubt we'll be in the same place at the same time. I guess it wasn't "meant to be", but that hardly makes me feel any better.
Apparently my life's narrative has turned into a broken record though. I don't know how well you read between the lines but you may have inferred that I was leaving some details out of this past weekend's pub crawl. I got along especially well with one of the Australian guys, who of course had the cute accent (I'm a terrible sucker for accents), the blonde hair, the tan, and - what do you know? - a girlfriend. Not that that stopped a dance floor make-out session from taking place. Seriously though, WHAT THE FUCK?! Why does EVERY guy I meet have a girlfriend? And why hasn't that stopped me recently??? Before I got to Europe I had never cheated on a boyfriend and I had never been involved with a guy who had a girlfriend. But all of a sudden I get here and manage to have this happen twice in what? three weeks time? I mean on the one hand I'd like to think that I'm not the one in the relationship and therefore it's not my responsibility to ensure these guys are faithful (also, in both instances it was only kissing), but then again once upon a time I had a lot more compassion for these guys' girlfriends. For some reason that has recently totally evaporated and been replaced with a complete lack of remorse. 'Bye moral compass, it was nice knowing you.
Once again I find myself irritated that I've met someone interesting and fun who I have great chemistry with but zero future. I suppose it's ridiculous to expect any kind of future seeing as I'm leaving the continent in just over a month, but human beings are so irrational.
Alright, I've been writing for close to three hours now, and I think this update is officially long enough. Bravo if you made it to the end all in one go.
8.9.11
Eargasmic
Okay, it's late and I have a packed day tomorrow, but I couldn't resist throwing this up. I recently watched The Lincoln Lawyer, which was an alright film with a very well-chosen soundtrack. Included on the list was this track, Nightcall, by Kavinsky featuring Lovefoxxx. I haven't heard of either before, but you can believe I'll be doing some investigating promptly. This just so happens to be the perfect track to make my Friday flash by and to pump me up for Friday night. Too good.
Also, how rad is this album cover?
Secondly, the New Division has been on my radar for a while, but I just recently came across Saturday Night, an intoxicatingly mixed beat that will get you dancing no matter what. With that, I'll leave you to the music and simply say have a great weekend!
Also, how rad is this album cover?
Secondly, the New Division has been on my radar for a while, but I just recently came across Saturday Night, an intoxicatingly mixed beat that will get you dancing no matter what. With that, I'll leave you to the music and simply say have a great weekend!
29.8.11
It's a mixed bag
It's been a long time without posts, I know, but this one is extra-long and ends with a surprise.
Last night I returned from my weekend in Düsseldorf, which wound up being incredibly fun. Coming back to Hamburg has been consequently rather bittersweet. When I arrived at my hotel on Friday evening they informed me that my room had been upgraded free of charge. It turned out to be this big suite with two levels and giant floor to ceiling windows. I had a comfortable amount of time to shower and change before meeting up with my host, the friend of a friend's ex-boyfriend. In cases such as these there's always a decent chance that the person you'll be meeting will be boring, obnoxious, awkward, or in some way totally incompatible with you. Luckily for me, my host was both courteous and friendly, and pretty handsome as well. We met up with four of his friends at their favourite local bar, and as it turned out his friends were pretty fantastic too. Amusingly enough (given we're all in Germany), not a single one of them was German. Two are Irish, one is Swedish, one is a European mutt, and my host is Danish. The best part about this array of nationalities was that each of them would make ruthless fun of the others for accents and quirks that were unique to their homelands. It was some of the funniest conversation I've ever been party to, and I don't think I've laughed so hard since arriving here.
After hanging out for a while at the bar we decided to go to another, starting what would becoming something of a pub crawl. The European-of-ambiguous-descent wound up heading to a club, but our party of four was no worse off for good times. The bar was a combination of brewery and bar, where the beer was served in these little glasses that can't have been more than half a pint, if not less. Waitresses would come around carrying a tray of these glasses, and would keep count of how many you had had on your coaster. We half-joked we would try and fill the whole edge of the coaster but wound up making it just under halfway, which was probably a better idea. I'm pretty sure we may have taken some shots as well, but I won't pretend that I was paying close attention. Once we had finished enjoying ourselves there we moved on to another place that was well-known for it's Friday nights. However, once we arrived it was completely empty. And I do mean completely empty: besides the staff we were the only ones there. So, we each had a beer and then promptly moved on. I think the next place we went was also the last, a little Irish pub. We set up camp in a corner, at which point I switched to water, though that hardly helped, since until then I had been keeping up with the Europeans who are truly prodigious drinkers. Hmmm... come to think of it I think we started chatting with some North Americans, but I can't really remember the specifics. Anyway, that doesn't particularly matter. After staying there for however long we all piled into a cab and called it a night around what I assume was 5am, because no one leaves before then.
I slept a few hours, and then ventured out to explore a little of Düsseldorf. Unfortunately my late night had me rather tired, so my heart (unusually) wasn't into the shopping. Also, in typical German fashion I got caught in a downpour wearing nothing but a cardigan and a sundress. Magnificent. Nonetheless I wound up getting some super cute shoes, and super cheap coat which I've come to the conclusion is ugly-pretty. Saturday night I met up with the same crew as Friday but larger. This time there were several more Swedes, an Italian, goodness knows who else and maybe even one or two genuine Germans. It was a little intimidating to begin with as the whole group had gone to high school together and the evening was something of an informal reunion for them, but luckily I was able to chat with the boys I had met on Friday night and not feel too awkward.
After everyone had arrived, settled in and had a few drinks we all migrated to a (different from Friday) Irish pub a couple of streets away for some more drinking. I can't say I totally grasp the necessity of moving around so much but I wasn't complaining as it's excellent fun. We didn't stay there overlong before heading to a popular club, SUB. Once there we bought a table and good times ensued. The music was a mix of techno and hip-hop, and was fun but not didn't leave a lasting impression as there was so much else to be distracted by. Dancing was great and everyone had a good time, but I saw the most ridiculous thing! Inside the club there was a man carrying a bouquet of roses that he was trying to sell. Apparently these guys are all over the place, because nothing spells romance like "Hey, I didn't think about this ahead of time or put any effort in whatsoever, but do you want a flower? Yes, in the club. Why wouldn't you want a flower while dancing?"
We stayed at SUB until probably 3 or 4, at which point the group started to split: my host needed to get home for an early morning, while the Irish lads and some others were set on staying out. After a little debate I decided to stay out, since there's no way of knowing if or when I'll ever see these people again. We all headed off to some other club, dancing and chatting with equal frequency. Our last stop of the night was to the same Irish pub we'd been to last on Friday night, but I don't recall staying very long. When closing time finally came around it was getting light out, and so I convinced my escorts (there were only two at this point) to show me the Rhine river. This was probably one of my favourite parts of a fantastic weekend: despite that it was effing cold and I was wearing a summer dress, and despite that it was about 6:30 and I'd had no sleep, it was still something like magic. In true European pastoral style the far bank of the Rhine had a flock of sheep on it, baaaaing away happily.
When I finally got back to my room it was 8am, and I had only two hours to sleep before it was time to pack in preparation for check-out. Once that was done I left my suitcase with the front desk and went in search of some Chamomile tea and somewhere comfortable to lurk while waiting to meet up with my host. He was kind enough to come and collect me from the hotel, after which I got to see his home and meet his family and hang out for a little while before he dropped me off at the airport. The flight back was short and I slept on and off for most of it.
And now I am back. I wish I could just appreciate having had such a superb visit, but honestly right now I just feel awfully bitter. I feel like I could be having just the same amazing times in Hamburg, but I just haven't met the people yet. It is so damn difficult meeting people here. Honest to god it is no myth that northern Germans are aloof. While I know many lovely people at work they all seem to be in a different mindset or leading their own independent lives. We work long hours all the time and I suppose what little free time is left is allotted to responsibilities and relationships. Because hey, everyone here is either dating or married, even though much of the company is very young. Today was particularly frustrating. The people I met in Dusseldorf had all attended an International School together and so their common language was English. Additionally, they were supremely inclusive and so friendly that I may even be visiting one in Dublin. The switch back to constant, incomprehensible German and German... formality is just beyond depressing. While I still without hesitation acknowledge that I'm incredibly lucky to be here I can't help but feel that this is my own fault for picking somewhere so unfamiliar and culturally different.
In Germany's defense, my coworkers seemed to pick up on my depression so one of them made me a Mountie poster for my desk. It has this slightly rotund RCMP officer on it, and above him it says "Just like home" in letters filled with the Canadian flag. To my embarrassment my eyes welled up and I nearly cried, but sometimes the little things can mean so much.
Come September 1st I'll be relocated to a new department called Ligalux, which primarily deals with design, though honestly this is such a vague description I have no idea what to expect. I'd like to hope that moving will mean expanding my group of friends, but now that I'm more familiar with German ways I'm just worried I'll feel even more lonely and that it will be hard getting to know people. It also means reintegrating, which last time was stressful, embarrassing and frustrating. On the plus side I'll be learning more about this business, and I certainly won't be bored. For the last couple of weeks we've been pressed for an important pitch, and for me it has meant long hours and late nights filled with odious and seemingly arbitrary image searches. I won't be so sad to leave those behind.
Sigh, I suppose there's a fairly important part of this that I'm leaving out: namely romance. The trouble is it's so very complicated, and I'm never certain how much of those details I want shared with both the wide world and my readers who also happen to be related to me (hi mom and dad!). Well, suffice it to say I met someone. We're both history majors and talked for a while about our studies, and he actually liked that I'm intelligent. It was refreshing to have some academic discussion without backlash, as twice previously I've had gentleman I've dated remark that I'm too smart and it's inconvenient for them (of course not to my face). After history we bonded over music, and the night carried on with discoveries of many such shared interests. The night ended with a shared kiss as the sun rose over Düsseldorf and the Rhine. But on to the problems: he returns to school off the continent within a few weeks, whereas I am firmly entrenched here until my return to Canada, at which point I will be even further away. While this would be enough of a romance blockade all on its own, he - like every other worthwhile man on this godforsaken continent - has a girlfriend. Tony Bennet may have left his heart in San Francisco but apparently I left my morals in British Columbia. This of course turns what would otherwise have been a promising encounter into something tinged with guilt. I suppose everyone has their own definition of cheating, but if you count a kiss then I guess that makes me the "other woman", a role I was never interested in playing. I don't envy him though, for whom this will be much, much worse I imagine. It's just frustrating. I'm not saying that I'm currently stuffing my face with Ben & Jerry's while crying along to P.S. I Love You (though the thought has its appeal), but it sucks to meet someone you really click with but to so immediately have little hope of any kind of continuance. The most rational part of my head is telling me that given that things have started with pseudo-cheating they would probably be doomed from the start, but right now the louder part of my head is the part shouting "But he was so CUTE! And had an accent! And was tall!"
In all likelihood he woke up the next day feeling guilty, and no matter how much he liked me will probably do his best to forget it ever happened. The sooner I accept this and give up on any future communication, the better. In the meantime, maybe I'll get some of that Ben & Jerry's after all... if I can find it in this ridiculous country.
Last night I returned from my weekend in Düsseldorf, which wound up being incredibly fun. Coming back to Hamburg has been consequently rather bittersweet. When I arrived at my hotel on Friday evening they informed me that my room had been upgraded free of charge. It turned out to be this big suite with two levels and giant floor to ceiling windows. I had a comfortable amount of time to shower and change before meeting up with my host, the friend of a friend's ex-boyfriend. In cases such as these there's always a decent chance that the person you'll be meeting will be boring, obnoxious, awkward, or in some way totally incompatible with you. Luckily for me, my host was both courteous and friendly, and pretty handsome as well. We met up with four of his friends at their favourite local bar, and as it turned out his friends were pretty fantastic too. Amusingly enough (given we're all in Germany), not a single one of them was German. Two are Irish, one is Swedish, one is a European mutt, and my host is Danish. The best part about this array of nationalities was that each of them would make ruthless fun of the others for accents and quirks that were unique to their homelands. It was some of the funniest conversation I've ever been party to, and I don't think I've laughed so hard since arriving here.
After hanging out for a while at the bar we decided to go to another, starting what would becoming something of a pub crawl. The European-of-ambiguous-descent wound up heading to a club, but our party of four was no worse off for good times. The bar was a combination of brewery and bar, where the beer was served in these little glasses that can't have been more than half a pint, if not less. Waitresses would come around carrying a tray of these glasses, and would keep count of how many you had had on your coaster. We half-joked we would try and fill the whole edge of the coaster but wound up making it just under halfway, which was probably a better idea. I'm pretty sure we may have taken some shots as well, but I won't pretend that I was paying close attention. Once we had finished enjoying ourselves there we moved on to another place that was well-known for it's Friday nights. However, once we arrived it was completely empty. And I do mean completely empty: besides the staff we were the only ones there. So, we each had a beer and then promptly moved on. I think the next place we went was also the last, a little Irish pub. We set up camp in a corner, at which point I switched to water, though that hardly helped, since until then I had been keeping up with the Europeans who are truly prodigious drinkers. Hmmm... come to think of it I think we started chatting with some North Americans, but I can't really remember the specifics. Anyway, that doesn't particularly matter. After staying there for however long we all piled into a cab and called it a night around what I assume was 5am, because no one leaves before then.
I slept a few hours, and then ventured out to explore a little of Düsseldorf. Unfortunately my late night had me rather tired, so my heart (unusually) wasn't into the shopping. Also, in typical German fashion I got caught in a downpour wearing nothing but a cardigan and a sundress. Magnificent. Nonetheless I wound up getting some super cute shoes, and super cheap coat which I've come to the conclusion is ugly-pretty. Saturday night I met up with the same crew as Friday but larger. This time there were several more Swedes, an Italian, goodness knows who else and maybe even one or two genuine Germans. It was a little intimidating to begin with as the whole group had gone to high school together and the evening was something of an informal reunion for them, but luckily I was able to chat with the boys I had met on Friday night and not feel too awkward.
After everyone had arrived, settled in and had a few drinks we all migrated to a (different from Friday) Irish pub a couple of streets away for some more drinking. I can't say I totally grasp the necessity of moving around so much but I wasn't complaining as it's excellent fun. We didn't stay there overlong before heading to a popular club, SUB. Once there we bought a table and good times ensued. The music was a mix of techno and hip-hop, and was fun but not didn't leave a lasting impression as there was so much else to be distracted by. Dancing was great and everyone had a good time, but I saw the most ridiculous thing! Inside the club there was a man carrying a bouquet of roses that he was trying to sell. Apparently these guys are all over the place, because nothing spells romance like "Hey, I didn't think about this ahead of time or put any effort in whatsoever, but do you want a flower? Yes, in the club. Why wouldn't you want a flower while dancing?"
We stayed at SUB until probably 3 or 4, at which point the group started to split: my host needed to get home for an early morning, while the Irish lads and some others were set on staying out. After a little debate I decided to stay out, since there's no way of knowing if or when I'll ever see these people again. We all headed off to some other club, dancing and chatting with equal frequency. Our last stop of the night was to the same Irish pub we'd been to last on Friday night, but I don't recall staying very long. When closing time finally came around it was getting light out, and so I convinced my escorts (there were only two at this point) to show me the Rhine river. This was probably one of my favourite parts of a fantastic weekend: despite that it was effing cold and I was wearing a summer dress, and despite that it was about 6:30 and I'd had no sleep, it was still something like magic. In true European pastoral style the far bank of the Rhine had a flock of sheep on it, baaaaing away happily.
When I finally got back to my room it was 8am, and I had only two hours to sleep before it was time to pack in preparation for check-out. Once that was done I left my suitcase with the front desk and went in search of some Chamomile tea and somewhere comfortable to lurk while waiting to meet up with my host. He was kind enough to come and collect me from the hotel, after which I got to see his home and meet his family and hang out for a little while before he dropped me off at the airport. The flight back was short and I slept on and off for most of it.
And now I am back. I wish I could just appreciate having had such a superb visit, but honestly right now I just feel awfully bitter. I feel like I could be having just the same amazing times in Hamburg, but I just haven't met the people yet. It is so damn difficult meeting people here. Honest to god it is no myth that northern Germans are aloof. While I know many lovely people at work they all seem to be in a different mindset or leading their own independent lives. We work long hours all the time and I suppose what little free time is left is allotted to responsibilities and relationships. Because hey, everyone here is either dating or married, even though much of the company is very young. Today was particularly frustrating. The people I met in Dusseldorf had all attended an International School together and so their common language was English. Additionally, they were supremely inclusive and so friendly that I may even be visiting one in Dublin. The switch back to constant, incomprehensible German and German... formality is just beyond depressing. While I still without hesitation acknowledge that I'm incredibly lucky to be here I can't help but feel that this is my own fault for picking somewhere so unfamiliar and culturally different.
In Germany's defense, my coworkers seemed to pick up on my depression so one of them made me a Mountie poster for my desk. It has this slightly rotund RCMP officer on it, and above him it says "Just like home" in letters filled with the Canadian flag. To my embarrassment my eyes welled up and I nearly cried, but sometimes the little things can mean so much.
Come September 1st I'll be relocated to a new department called Ligalux, which primarily deals with design, though honestly this is such a vague description I have no idea what to expect. I'd like to hope that moving will mean expanding my group of friends, but now that I'm more familiar with German ways I'm just worried I'll feel even more lonely and that it will be hard getting to know people. It also means reintegrating, which last time was stressful, embarrassing and frustrating. On the plus side I'll be learning more about this business, and I certainly won't be bored. For the last couple of weeks we've been pressed for an important pitch, and for me it has meant long hours and late nights filled with odious and seemingly arbitrary image searches. I won't be so sad to leave those behind.
Sigh, I suppose there's a fairly important part of this that I'm leaving out: namely romance. The trouble is it's so very complicated, and I'm never certain how much of those details I want shared with both the wide world and my readers who also happen to be related to me (hi mom and dad!). Well, suffice it to say I met someone. We're both history majors and talked for a while about our studies, and he actually liked that I'm intelligent. It was refreshing to have some academic discussion without backlash, as twice previously I've had gentleman I've dated remark that I'm too smart and it's inconvenient for them (of course not to my face). After history we bonded over music, and the night carried on with discoveries of many such shared interests. The night ended with a shared kiss as the sun rose over Düsseldorf and the Rhine. But on to the problems: he returns to school off the continent within a few weeks, whereas I am firmly entrenched here until my return to Canada, at which point I will be even further away. While this would be enough of a romance blockade all on its own, he - like every other worthwhile man on this godforsaken continent - has a girlfriend. Tony Bennet may have left his heart in San Francisco but apparently I left my morals in British Columbia. This of course turns what would otherwise have been a promising encounter into something tinged with guilt. I suppose everyone has their own definition of cheating, but if you count a kiss then I guess that makes me the "other woman", a role I was never interested in playing. I don't envy him though, for whom this will be much, much worse I imagine. It's just frustrating. I'm not saying that I'm currently stuffing my face with Ben & Jerry's while crying along to P.S. I Love You (though the thought has its appeal), but it sucks to meet someone you really click with but to so immediately have little hope of any kind of continuance. The most rational part of my head is telling me that given that things have started with pseudo-cheating they would probably be doomed from the start, but right now the louder part of my head is the part shouting "But he was so CUTE! And had an accent! And was tall!"
In all likelihood he woke up the next day feeling guilty, and no matter how much he liked me will probably do his best to forget it ever happened. The sooner I accept this and give up on any future communication, the better. In the meantime, maybe I'll get some of that Ben & Jerry's after all... if I can find it in this ridiculous country.
13.8.11
The fine line between dream and nightmare
Sorry for abandoning you for the last week, unfortunately events conspired to restrict my internet access and disposable time.
The rest of last weekend wound up being just as fun as Friday evening was. I woke up Saturday morning feeling chipper and energetic, so I decided to finally do some tourist-y things in Hamburg. One of the city's main attractions is its Rathaus (Parliament), an impressive baroque building in the downtown core. I managed to find my way there without too much trouble (though it turned out I took the long route there) and got to go through some parts of the city I haven't explored yet. I joined the next English-language guided tour, and while waiting for it to start I took in the sights in the Rathaus' breathtaking courtyard. The baroque style is one of my favourites, and the building was most impressive. It was the first time since getting here that I've really felt like I'm in Europe. Luckily Saturday's weather was gloriously sunny and beautiful, which also added to my overall enjoyment of the adventure. The tour was fairly informative, though for some reason one genius couple decided to bring their squalling infant along with them. Honestly, the thing was less than a year old and very obviously did not want to be there. I don't know what they were thinking but it annoyed the hell out of me. For the most part my tour group was composed of elderly, overweight, and therefore slow-moving people, which I thought wasn't nearly as exciting as it would have been had they all be tall, dark, young and handsome potential dates.
After the tour I went on to explore the Alsterarkaden, a collection of shops looking out over the city's canals. Just as I was entering this area I happened upon a large crowd enjoying the antics of a street performer. This was perhaps my favourite part of the day, because he was absolutely hilarious. He was set up in the middle of the pedestrian avenue with a sound system, a marionette, and a small piano. I don't know how it worked, but with a remote he would change the songs playing so that the lyrics serenaded passersby. So, for example, when a woman all in black passed by, a song came on that sang about a woman in black. Often the lyrics (from what I could understand) would make a comedic point about whoever it was, and I must have stood there for at least a half an hour. He even played a song at me, which I gathered was some kind of love ballad. After having been thoroughly entertained for quite some time I approached him and donated some money, at which point he played the wedding march and got a hearty laugh from the crowd. I hope I have a chance to see him perform again, because it was fantastic fun.
After a brief stop at my favourite Starbucks I headed back to my apartment, after which I moved on to the more mundane weekend activities of cleaning, chores, and grocery shopping. I'm pretty sure I spent the better part of Sunday watching movies or reading, because nothing much stands out.
Unfortunately the week wasn't quite as awesome as the weekend had been. It was one of those weeks where you're constantly tired and there's always another issue to deal with. Also, the weather has been appallingly bad, especially given it's midsummer for Christ's sake! Rain nearly every day, and miserably cloudy. My phone still wasn't set up, my internet was being inconsistent, and I was getting increasingly stressed about my travel arrangements for this weekend.
Depending on how much attention you've been paying to these updates you may be wondering why I'm writing today - wasn't I supposed to be in Düsseldorf? Well, yes, I was. But thanks to a series of unfortunate events and faulty communication it turned out that this weekend wasn't going to be a good time to visit, so I had to reschedule my flight for two weeks from now. This was fairly disappointing for a couple of reasons. The visit is so that I can see an old school friend, and I was really excited to see someone from home - it's no secret I've been mad-homesick recently. Also, I was looking forward to seeing more of Germany and getting a break from Hamburg, whose weather has been ridiculously bad lately. Well, like I said things didn't work out so I rescheduled my flight, but of course it turns out that the weekend I am now supposed to be going down is no good either: my friend won't even be in Germany! So now I get to call the airlines again (they'll be laughing all the way to the bank about this) and reschedule again. One begins to feel as though this visit will never happen. To his credit though my friend called me (my phone would get incoming calls but wouldn't make calls) which went a long way to cheering me up and helping with homesickness. It's still going to be a while before we visit I think but I suppose I'll just have to be patient.
For a reason I have yet to determine when I arrived at work on Friday I felt awful. I had a terrible headache (+ light and noise sensitivity) and felt slightly nauseous. Luckily it was a fairly quiet day so after completing my first assignment of the day I mostly just sat and waited for my pain killers to kick in. When I still didn't feel better by lunch, my coworkers told me to go home, get some rest, and feel better. I did, and wound up sleeping for most of the afternoon, but I wish I had felt better and could have stayed at work: it was my coworker's last day with us and so that afternoon we were going to have a goodbye party, which I expect was rather fun and would've liked to have attended. Oh well. On the bright side before I left work we FINALLY sorted out my cell phone, and I can now make and receive calls! I tested this out by calling home, which was probably exorbitantly expensive but totally satisfying.
In other good news I've finally gotten around Germany's inadequate English book selection. After trudging through a thoroughly awful Nicholas Sparks novel (what was I thinking?!) - it was so bad that I actually wished bad things upon the female protagonist - I decided I needed to find an alternative source of literature. So, when talking to my padre on Friday night he told me to download the Kindle reader and start buying ebooks. Glorious ebooks! Cheap (even in Canadian dollars), immediately accessible, a wide selection, and I won't have to leave them behind when I finally return to North America! The first ebook I've started is the first book in the Game of Thrones series. I managed to catch a few episodes of the HBO series and was curious as to how the books measured up. Also, the books are ridiculously long, there's tons of them, and they're escapist lit that can distract me from the fact that I'm totally isolated. Bonus! So far it's pretty good, and I'm thoroughly impressed with how closely the TV series stuck to the books.
Today, like every Saturday, I went downtown to run errands and shop. I have been on a quest to find boots (I brought only flats and sandals with me) lately since the weather has been so awful. Unfortunately I have found nothing that I like for anything close to a reasonable price or a good fit. Either they're exorbitantly expensive or they will pinch my toes. So, no boots for me. However, I may have a new favourite store. It's called Mango, and I think they have it in the US but nowhere I've seen in Canada. I would compare them to Forever 21 or Zara. The stock is trendy and reasonably priced, so it was fun to have a look at what they were offering. I also picked up a scarf I've been eying at a local boutique for weeks. It's cashmere the colour of seafoam (or Tiffany blue), and it went on sale, which made my mind up quickly. Once I got home I returned to my now-standard routine: grocery shopping, dishes, and cleaning. But you probably don't care about that.
Today - like last Saturday - was brilliantly beautiful and sunny. On these days I love Hamburg and am delighted to be here. But, unfortunately, these days have been quite rare. The weather here frustrates me endlessly because it's so unpredictable. It can go from sheeting rain to clear skies to ominous clouds and powerful winds all in the course of an afternoon. I find it impossible to dress for and am always either dying of heat and too many layers or woefully under-dressed for the weather. I wish the city would just make up its mind what season it's going to be and then stick to it!
Hopefully this week will be easier than last week, but somehow I suspect this is unlikely. I am supposed to be visiting some family in Lyon (Southern France) this weekend, and so I expect the planning for this will work me into some kind of stress-fest. This Friday the firm is having their summer party though, which I'm really quite excited for. Besides that it's just work as usual and I suppose I'll need to sort out what to do with my Düsseldorf flights. Sigh.
Anyway, my book calls and I've covered about all I can think of. Until next time!
The rest of last weekend wound up being just as fun as Friday evening was. I woke up Saturday morning feeling chipper and energetic, so I decided to finally do some tourist-y things in Hamburg. One of the city's main attractions is its Rathaus (Parliament), an impressive baroque building in the downtown core. I managed to find my way there without too much trouble (though it turned out I took the long route there) and got to go through some parts of the city I haven't explored yet. I joined the next English-language guided tour, and while waiting for it to start I took in the sights in the Rathaus' breathtaking courtyard. The baroque style is one of my favourites, and the building was most impressive. It was the first time since getting here that I've really felt like I'm in Europe. Luckily Saturday's weather was gloriously sunny and beautiful, which also added to my overall enjoyment of the adventure. The tour was fairly informative, though for some reason one genius couple decided to bring their squalling infant along with them. Honestly, the thing was less than a year old and very obviously did not want to be there. I don't know what they were thinking but it annoyed the hell out of me. For the most part my tour group was composed of elderly, overweight, and therefore slow-moving people, which I thought wasn't nearly as exciting as it would have been had they all be tall, dark, young and handsome potential dates.
After the tour I went on to explore the Alsterarkaden, a collection of shops looking out over the city's canals. Just as I was entering this area I happened upon a large crowd enjoying the antics of a street performer. This was perhaps my favourite part of the day, because he was absolutely hilarious. He was set up in the middle of the pedestrian avenue with a sound system, a marionette, and a small piano. I don't know how it worked, but with a remote he would change the songs playing so that the lyrics serenaded passersby. So, for example, when a woman all in black passed by, a song came on that sang about a woman in black. Often the lyrics (from what I could understand) would make a comedic point about whoever it was, and I must have stood there for at least a half an hour. He even played a song at me, which I gathered was some kind of love ballad. After having been thoroughly entertained for quite some time I approached him and donated some money, at which point he played the wedding march and got a hearty laugh from the crowd. I hope I have a chance to see him perform again, because it was fantastic fun.
After a brief stop at my favourite Starbucks I headed back to my apartment, after which I moved on to the more mundane weekend activities of cleaning, chores, and grocery shopping. I'm pretty sure I spent the better part of Sunday watching movies or reading, because nothing much stands out.
Unfortunately the week wasn't quite as awesome as the weekend had been. It was one of those weeks where you're constantly tired and there's always another issue to deal with. Also, the weather has been appallingly bad, especially given it's midsummer for Christ's sake! Rain nearly every day, and miserably cloudy. My phone still wasn't set up, my internet was being inconsistent, and I was getting increasingly stressed about my travel arrangements for this weekend.
Depending on how much attention you've been paying to these updates you may be wondering why I'm writing today - wasn't I supposed to be in Düsseldorf? Well, yes, I was. But thanks to a series of unfortunate events and faulty communication it turned out that this weekend wasn't going to be a good time to visit, so I had to reschedule my flight for two weeks from now. This was fairly disappointing for a couple of reasons. The visit is so that I can see an old school friend, and I was really excited to see someone from home - it's no secret I've been mad-homesick recently. Also, I was looking forward to seeing more of Germany and getting a break from Hamburg, whose weather has been ridiculously bad lately. Well, like I said things didn't work out so I rescheduled my flight, but of course it turns out that the weekend I am now supposed to be going down is no good either: my friend won't even be in Germany! So now I get to call the airlines again (they'll be laughing all the way to the bank about this) and reschedule again. One begins to feel as though this visit will never happen. To his credit though my friend called me (my phone would get incoming calls but wouldn't make calls) which went a long way to cheering me up and helping with homesickness. It's still going to be a while before we visit I think but I suppose I'll just have to be patient.
For a reason I have yet to determine when I arrived at work on Friday I felt awful. I had a terrible headache (+ light and noise sensitivity) and felt slightly nauseous. Luckily it was a fairly quiet day so after completing my first assignment of the day I mostly just sat and waited for my pain killers to kick in. When I still didn't feel better by lunch, my coworkers told me to go home, get some rest, and feel better. I did, and wound up sleeping for most of the afternoon, but I wish I had felt better and could have stayed at work: it was my coworker's last day with us and so that afternoon we were going to have a goodbye party, which I expect was rather fun and would've liked to have attended. Oh well. On the bright side before I left work we FINALLY sorted out my cell phone, and I can now make and receive calls! I tested this out by calling home, which was probably exorbitantly expensive but totally satisfying.
In other good news I've finally gotten around Germany's inadequate English book selection. After trudging through a thoroughly awful Nicholas Sparks novel (what was I thinking?!) - it was so bad that I actually wished bad things upon the female protagonist - I decided I needed to find an alternative source of literature. So, when talking to my padre on Friday night he told me to download the Kindle reader and start buying ebooks. Glorious ebooks! Cheap (even in Canadian dollars), immediately accessible, a wide selection, and I won't have to leave them behind when I finally return to North America! The first ebook I've started is the first book in the Game of Thrones series. I managed to catch a few episodes of the HBO series and was curious as to how the books measured up. Also, the books are ridiculously long, there's tons of them, and they're escapist lit that can distract me from the fact that I'm totally isolated. Bonus! So far it's pretty good, and I'm thoroughly impressed with how closely the TV series stuck to the books.
Today, like every Saturday, I went downtown to run errands and shop. I have been on a quest to find boots (I brought only flats and sandals with me) lately since the weather has been so awful. Unfortunately I have found nothing that I like for anything close to a reasonable price or a good fit. Either they're exorbitantly expensive or they will pinch my toes. So, no boots for me. However, I may have a new favourite store. It's called Mango, and I think they have it in the US but nowhere I've seen in Canada. I would compare them to Forever 21 or Zara. The stock is trendy and reasonably priced, so it was fun to have a look at what they were offering. I also picked up a scarf I've been eying at a local boutique for weeks. It's cashmere the colour of seafoam (or Tiffany blue), and it went on sale, which made my mind up quickly. Once I got home I returned to my now-standard routine: grocery shopping, dishes, and cleaning. But you probably don't care about that.
Today - like last Saturday - was brilliantly beautiful and sunny. On these days I love Hamburg and am delighted to be here. But, unfortunately, these days have been quite rare. The weather here frustrates me endlessly because it's so unpredictable. It can go from sheeting rain to clear skies to ominous clouds and powerful winds all in the course of an afternoon. I find it impossible to dress for and am always either dying of heat and too many layers or woefully under-dressed for the weather. I wish the city would just make up its mind what season it's going to be and then stick to it!
Hopefully this week will be easier than last week, but somehow I suspect this is unlikely. I am supposed to be visiting some family in Lyon (Southern France) this weekend, and so I expect the planning for this will work me into some kind of stress-fest. This Friday the firm is having their summer party though, which I'm really quite excited for. Besides that it's just work as usual and I suppose I'll need to sort out what to do with my Düsseldorf flights. Sigh.
Anyway, my book calls and I've covered about all I can think of. Until next time!
5.8.11
Shmammered Freitag
Hey y'all. I am writing to you - for the first time - totally hammered. You may be asking yourselves, "Why was that fact necessary?" Well, my friends, it was. And whether or not it becomes obvious to you why this was an important part of this narrative depends entirely on how astute you are. Did I use that word correctly? I don't know, how about you tell me?
Anyway, let's get on to some updates.
The last time I wrote you I'm pretty sure it was Sunday, which is a shame because that means that I now have to cover like five days of material while I'm clearly incapacitated. I'm not going to lie - I can't really remember a damn thing that happened between Monday and Thursday, so I suppose it wasn't anything important. I would guess it's mostly boring stuff like "I worked" and "work makes me feel super fulfilled" and "my family discouraged an impractical purchase (the purse)". This is really the only stuff worth knowing, because everything else is not memorable enough for even me to recall.
You may be wondering to yourselves, "why is she writing on her blog while drunk? Isn't that the worst idea ever?" And for the most part, I would agree with you. The trouble is that when I was in my second year at University a special thing happened. I forgot about an essay, went out with friends, proceeded to get inordinately "influenced", returned home and then remembered that "oh hey, I have an essay due tomorrow!" It was only at this point that I began my Primary Source Analysis. After having written it while practically incoherent, I then handed it in, and several weeks later it was returned to me along with my Professor's remark that "This was so original! It was such a departure from the other students' lines of thought!" Wow! Maybe that's because none of the other students got drunk and wrote their papers. Just saying. Anyway, the point of that sort-of-long and probably pointless narrative was that apparently some of my best writing happens when I've had a few drinks too many.
So on to the story. While I'm sure Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were fascinating I can't really remember anything about them right now. Only that they were rainy and humid, like the majority of Hamburg's weather. As for Thursday.... eugh, it's like a test I haven't studied for. This will take some thought. Ummm.... Okay, this week the guy who was on holiday in Romania came back, so they have relocated me to a different desk (I was using his computer) and now have me on a trial version of Adobe CS5.5. This is in some ways an improvement and in some ways not: for starters, finally everything is in ENGLISH THANK GOD. But, unfortunately, the screen is pretty much the size of an 8.5x11, which when you are trying to accomplish some graphic design seriously impedes your ability to judge the look of something.
No, I still haven't bought the purse, mostly thanks to the obscene degree of parade-raining that my family has engaged in. However, I make no promises that it will not be mine by the end of the weekend: technically this afternoon I had planned to go to the grocery store, but I blew that off for drinks with my coworkers. I don't remember the conclusion I was trying to arrive at, but it had something to do with unspent money and irresponsibility... I think. Whatever, clearly it didn't matter.
That reminds me though: it would seem my coworkers are finally comfortable around me. I have deduced this from the fact that Canadian jokes are now the primary source of entertainment in the office. Whether it's looking up clips of Robin Scherbatsky (Germans LOVE How I Met Your Mother) and "Canadians afraid of the dark" or "Canadian Idiot", my coworkers derive a particular kind of joy from poking fun at Canada. They especially love Mounties. Not anything in particular about them, just the idea of them. I guess Due South was a big thing here or something. But you get the idea. For the most part I just find it funny, because honestly what else can you do in this situation?
I don't remember much about yesterday, but I have a vague feeling it was frustrating. I think this had something to do with rain (surprise!) and generally not knowing what-the-fuck was going on with work. We are working on commercials at the moment, which I have ZERO experience in and am clearly not good at creating. The silver lining is that Thursday is now over, and it is Friday!
Today was a pretty good day. It started out pissing rain (of course), but once I got to work I go to do vector illustrations and sketches, both of which are within my acquired skills. This meant that I didn't have to ask a lot of questions and for a while I got to feel like not-an-idiot: this is rare. At lunchtime my coworkers (The Boys) invited me to join them, which I consider a total rite of passage and an exciting phenomenon. The one girl who works in our office had a wicked hangover today, so she just chilled inside to recover. The point is I feel like little-by-little I am fitting in in this bizarre land of different people. Lunch was good, and The Boys even invited me to join them for after-work drinks at the pub this evening, which I of course accepted. I managed to spend the entire afternoon being productive, and when the day finally ended (late, of course) we had several beers and played darts together. A particular highlight was TWICE this afternoon members of different departments came by to have me check their English writing. I loved it! At last, something I've studied and am good at! It was a refreshing change to feel sure of myself. I wish I could find the words to describe how totally awesome this set-up is right now, but words are failing me so you'll just have to use your imagination.
A group of us headed up to the pub, and two post-work beers were quickly followed by 1 long Island Iced-Tea, 2-3 (I lost count) shots of "Mexicana", 1 shot Tequila, 1 shot Sambucca, and God knows what else. I had been told not to try and keep up with the Germans before getting here but it's a lot more difficult than it sounds. What ensued was a rather hilarious evening of getting to know my coworkers better. I won't hesitate to say that I like them all very much, though the "friendship" process here is much different than it is at home. Mostly it just takes longer. Plenty of jokes were made about the learning process and the culture differences, and hopefully on Monday things will be better and more awesome rather than slightly awkward.
In other good news I managed to book a ticket to visit my friend in Düsseldorf today, so next weekend I'll be off to the airport to have more adventures. I am super excited about this since the prospect of seeing someone from home conjures up the kind of excitement usually reserved for chocolate. Hopefully I'll also get some sight-seeing done, as Düsseldorf is apparently quite lovely. Mostly I'm just happy I'll be seeing someone from home, who understands my personality and who I don't have to "tread lightly" around.
The remainder of this weekend will hold the following for me:
- Find an English-German textbook
- Grocery shop
- Look for some shoes that AREN'T flats
- Sort out trip to France
- Respond to emails
- Return fire-alarm clock
- Do some sight-seeing
Super exciting, I know. Anyway, I am super tired and ready to pass out, so hopefully this is an adequate update for now and you'll be sated until my next post. Good luck understanding any of this.
Now, the German word for "cheers": Prost!
Anyway, let's get on to some updates.
The last time I wrote you I'm pretty sure it was Sunday, which is a shame because that means that I now have to cover like five days of material while I'm clearly incapacitated. I'm not going to lie - I can't really remember a damn thing that happened between Monday and Thursday, so I suppose it wasn't anything important. I would guess it's mostly boring stuff like "I worked" and "work makes me feel super fulfilled" and "my family discouraged an impractical purchase (the purse)". This is really the only stuff worth knowing, because everything else is not memorable enough for even me to recall.
You may be wondering to yourselves, "why is she writing on her blog while drunk? Isn't that the worst idea ever?" And for the most part, I would agree with you. The trouble is that when I was in my second year at University a special thing happened. I forgot about an essay, went out with friends, proceeded to get inordinately "influenced", returned home and then remembered that "oh hey, I have an essay due tomorrow!" It was only at this point that I began my Primary Source Analysis. After having written it while practically incoherent, I then handed it in, and several weeks later it was returned to me along with my Professor's remark that "This was so original! It was such a departure from the other students' lines of thought!" Wow! Maybe that's because none of the other students got drunk and wrote their papers. Just saying. Anyway, the point of that sort-of-long and probably pointless narrative was that apparently some of my best writing happens when I've had a few drinks too many.
So on to the story. While I'm sure Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were fascinating I can't really remember anything about them right now. Only that they were rainy and humid, like the majority of Hamburg's weather. As for Thursday.... eugh, it's like a test I haven't studied for. This will take some thought. Ummm.... Okay, this week the guy who was on holiday in Romania came back, so they have relocated me to a different desk (I was using his computer) and now have me on a trial version of Adobe CS5.5. This is in some ways an improvement and in some ways not: for starters, finally everything is in ENGLISH THANK GOD. But, unfortunately, the screen is pretty much the size of an 8.5x11, which when you are trying to accomplish some graphic design seriously impedes your ability to judge the look of something.
No, I still haven't bought the purse, mostly thanks to the obscene degree of parade-raining that my family has engaged in. However, I make no promises that it will not be mine by the end of the weekend: technically this afternoon I had planned to go to the grocery store, but I blew that off for drinks with my coworkers. I don't remember the conclusion I was trying to arrive at, but it had something to do with unspent money and irresponsibility... I think. Whatever, clearly it didn't matter.
That reminds me though: it would seem my coworkers are finally comfortable around me. I have deduced this from the fact that Canadian jokes are now the primary source of entertainment in the office. Whether it's looking up clips of Robin Scherbatsky (Germans LOVE How I Met Your Mother) and "Canadians afraid of the dark" or "Canadian Idiot", my coworkers derive a particular kind of joy from poking fun at Canada. They especially love Mounties. Not anything in particular about them, just the idea of them. I guess Due South was a big thing here or something. But you get the idea. For the most part I just find it funny, because honestly what else can you do in this situation?
I don't remember much about yesterday, but I have a vague feeling it was frustrating. I think this had something to do with rain (surprise!) and generally not knowing what-the-fuck was going on with work. We are working on commercials at the moment, which I have ZERO experience in and am clearly not good at creating. The silver lining is that Thursday is now over, and it is Friday!
Today was a pretty good day. It started out pissing rain (of course), but once I got to work I go to do vector illustrations and sketches, both of which are within my acquired skills. This meant that I didn't have to ask a lot of questions and for a while I got to feel like not-an-idiot: this is rare. At lunchtime my coworkers (The Boys) invited me to join them, which I consider a total rite of passage and an exciting phenomenon. The one girl who works in our office had a wicked hangover today, so she just chilled inside to recover. The point is I feel like little-by-little I am fitting in in this bizarre land of different people. Lunch was good, and The Boys even invited me to join them for after-work drinks at the pub this evening, which I of course accepted. I managed to spend the entire afternoon being productive, and when the day finally ended (late, of course) we had several beers and played darts together. A particular highlight was TWICE this afternoon members of different departments came by to have me check their English writing. I loved it! At last, something I've studied and am good at! It was a refreshing change to feel sure of myself. I wish I could find the words to describe how totally awesome this set-up is right now, but words are failing me so you'll just have to use your imagination.
A group of us headed up to the pub, and two post-work beers were quickly followed by 1 long Island Iced-Tea, 2-3 (I lost count) shots of "Mexicana", 1 shot Tequila, 1 shot Sambucca, and God knows what else. I had been told not to try and keep up with the Germans before getting here but it's a lot more difficult than it sounds. What ensued was a rather hilarious evening of getting to know my coworkers better. I won't hesitate to say that I like them all very much, though the "friendship" process here is much different than it is at home. Mostly it just takes longer. Plenty of jokes were made about the learning process and the culture differences, and hopefully on Monday things will be better and more awesome rather than slightly awkward.
In other good news I managed to book a ticket to visit my friend in Düsseldorf today, so next weekend I'll be off to the airport to have more adventures. I am super excited about this since the prospect of seeing someone from home conjures up the kind of excitement usually reserved for chocolate. Hopefully I'll also get some sight-seeing done, as Düsseldorf is apparently quite lovely. Mostly I'm just happy I'll be seeing someone from home, who understands my personality and who I don't have to "tread lightly" around.
The remainder of this weekend will hold the following for me:
- Find an English-German textbook
- Grocery shop
- Look for some shoes that AREN'T flats
- Sort out trip to France
- Respond to emails
- Return fire-alarm clock
- Do some sight-seeing
Super exciting, I know. Anyway, I am super tired and ready to pass out, so hopefully this is an adequate update for now and you'll be sated until my next post. Good luck understanding any of this.
Now, the German word for "cheers": Prost!
31.7.11
1. Watch 2. Learn 3. Repeat if Necessary
Well hello strangers! Plenty to get to today, I promise.
Friday:
Friday wound up being super awesome, despite having an entirely inauspicious start. That was, specifically, waking up in the pre-dawn (this seems to be happening a lot) sobbing after having a terribly realistic dream my mother died of some drawn-out illness. I can't help but appreciate the thoroughness of this particular cruelty - my dear old subconscious withheld the dream until I was conveniently on the other side of the world and can hardly call my family without jumping through hoops of fire. Thanks subconscious! Doing me another solid, one day at a time. Anyway, enough brooding.
When I woke up for the second time I was inexplicably chipper, and headed off to work with a grin perma-pasted on my face. I think this was partly because it was sort of sunny out (a major achievement for Hamburg) and because I can't believe that my job is actually sitting around drawing and trying to be creative all day... for the most part. I spent the morning in exactly this manner while blasting Girl Talk and The White Panda in my headphones. Oh yeah, we get to wear headphones at work too.
During lunch I went out with a couple of coworkers who I haven't eaten with yet, and got to bond with one of them over our shared love of the delightfully eccentric Werner Herzog. I was surprised to learn that Herzog isn't that well-known in Germany, despite his total awesomeness. If you ever get a chance you need to see some of his films. Most people have heard of Grizzly Man, but my favourites were My Best Fiend, and his version of Nosferatu. I've been accused previously of over-selling My Best Fiend, which I suppose you could call "niche-humour", but I find it totally brilliant.
After lunch I mostly sat around getting Photoshop tutorials, then everyone ended the day early with a beer, which felt entirely European and super awesome. Come to think of it, I think that was the first beer I've had since arriving in Germany. But that really isn't important.
After work I had just enough time to get changed and make myself presentable before it was time to head out to a coworker's place for dinner before clubbing. In North America the practice seems to be to have a light dinner or no dinner so that 1) you don't feel bloated while dancing, and 2) you get a buzz more easily. Here in Europe it is quite the opposite: you have a solid dinner so that you can drink all the more while out. Just a fun fact. The place we went to was called Terrace Hill, and it's located in - this is the COOLEST part - an old bomb shelter. It's this giant concrete affair with towers and a large patio. To get in you're ferried up in an elevator, complete with an Operator. I confess one of my favourite parts of the evening was right at the beginning while we were in line. I was saying something to a member of our group when a gentleman ahead of us in line asked if I was American, to which I of course replied that I'm Canadian. Well, it turns out he was from Minnesota, but was familiar with British Columbia after having lived for some time in Seattle. But really I was just delighted to hear someone with a North American accent. Of all the things I thought I would miss I had never even considered accents, especially since everyone knows foreign accents are hot. But meeting someone from sort-of-home just made me feel a tiny bit less lonely and far from home. Now as for the two questions I know you're all burning to know: 1) Was he hot? and 2) Was he single? Well, 1) yes, he was exceptionally good looking, but 2) he had a boyfriend, because of course every man I find attractive is either in a relationship, gay, or both. I wish there was a way of letting Mother Nature know she's wasting her time weeding me out of the gene pool - I already chose not to have kids, so can I please get a date now?!
But I digress. The club night was lots of fun, and it was a novel experience to have people remarking about my accent all the time. But this brings me to a Europe-rant that's been brewing since my arrival. Everyone smokes here. And they smoke everywhere. All the time. While it's illegal to do it indoors, many people at the club just lit up inside anyway, which drove me crazy. Smoke gives me terrible headaches, and it makes your clothes smell like a homeless person (my club outfit is now quarantined in the cleaning closet). Off the top of my head I can think of..... one person who doesn't smoke. There are a few I don't about, but the safer bet on this continent is that they probably do. It certainly isn't stigmatized here the way it is at home. Grumble. Let's just hope I don't get lung cancer from second-hand smoke, because if I do I'll be PISSED.
One possible consequence of all this smoking, however, is in general the women here are all skinny and are often also tall. This was entirely apparent at the sports-themed club night, where most girls were in some form of spandex and a sports bra. Obviously not everyone looks like a model, but obesity and extra fat are not nearly the problem they are States-side. Not feeling short and fat may be more of a challenge than usual, ugh.
Anyway, true to their reputations the Germans' party stamina was faaaaaaar superior to mine (we didn't even get to the club until 11:30). Goodness knows how long they stayed for, but despite liberal consumption of vodka redbulls by quarter to four I felt like I was going to fall over and decided it was time to go. My friend accompanied me to the metro station and got the ticket for me, then pointed which way I was to go. If only things had stayed so simple! Sure enough I got on the train, but after getting on was convinced that I was headed in the wrong direction. After giving it some thought, I got off at the next station and caught the next train in the opposite direction while feeling frustrated at my bumbling. However, after four or so stops I - of course - realised that I had been mistaken, and that now I was truly going in the wrong direction. Damnit! So, once again, off I got and climbed on to the train going in the right direction. I finally got to the stop I wanted, got off, and then tried to find my way out of the Underground, planning to walk home. As it turned out I just wound up at the stop off for the other line that ran through that station. For once my luck came through and as it happened this train would take me practically to my doorstep. So on I got, and at last I crawled into bed around 5am.
Saturday:
Despite the exceptionally late night I woke up around 10am. Since I still hadn't gotten an alarm clock I decided that I would use Saturday to figure out how the metro worked and to go find an alarm clock. After studying their website for a short while I deduced which line to use (only one train this time!) and how much to pay the ticket machine. The ticket machines, thank god, had a nice and obvious British flag at the bottom so you could view the menu in English, after which things became pretty simple. If you're ever coming to Germany, there are three important things to know before you take the metro. The first is (obviously) which line you need to get on to. The second is how many zones you'll be moving through, and the third is the name of the direction you're travelling: it is really easy to lose your sense of direction underground. If you know these three things though, you're set. So my travels on Saturday wound up being about a million times easier than Friday night and much easier than my travels last Saturday too. Just like last Saturday I started the trip off with some Starbucks. Even though it's not amazing coffee it reminds me so much of home I can't resist it. Also, the interior of the one I was at yesterday was absolutely stunning. It's right next to the Hamburg lake, and it had a balcony level above main floor, much like the dome of a church. The walls, pillars and ceilings are all painted in a Rococo/Baroque type style, and next time I go I'll take my camera so you can all have a look. After my dose of caffeine I hunted down some home-accessories type place I FINALLY FOUND AN ALARM CLOCK. It is bulky and ridiculous but it was both a clock and alarm and therefore I bought it. Setting the alarm was a fairly simple matter, but I have discovered that turning the alarm off is quite a different matter. It's one of those old-school clocks with two buttons and zero directions. I have concluded that I must turn on my alarm in the late evening, and simply turn it off when it fire-alarms me into wakefulness. Oh yes, that's the other thing. It sounds like a goddamn fire alarm. I can just imagine how fun this will be.
Anyway, because alarm clock shopping is about as fun as sweater lint and I had an entire day to kill I decided to have a good wander around Hamburg's shopping district (a dangerous pastime for my credit card). I had had my heart set on finding some lilac coloured trouser shorts after falling in love with a look I saw on College Fashion a few days ago:
I absolutely love everything about it. I already have the shirt, the belt, and matching shoes; the only missing piece was the shorts. Unfortunately, despite bright trousers' popularity this Spring/Summer I couldn't find these anywhere. Finally I found some trousers that were the right colour (and even on sale) at Urban Outfitters. However, these had flaws. They weren't quite Jodhpurs but they were close: slim in the calves, fuller at the hip. The fabric was also on the flimsy side, to the point of transparency if you weren't wearing the correct undergarments. All in all, I felt they made my ass look big and my legs look short, which was waaaay too much to overlook. I don't like adhering to strict fashion "rules", but one I do try to follow is no matter how much you like something on someone else, if it's not equally fabulous on you then DON'T BOTHER.
This isn't to say I went home empty-handed though (bahahahahaha imagine!). No, instead I hit the cosmetics counter at Chanel, who I have discovered does makeup unlike anyone else (a post on this to follow), and then got some aviator sunglasses - an item I've wanted for a long time but have had difficulty finding an adequately light and flattering pair.
Now I'm going to introduce a debate that has me quite conflicted. About two years ago I became friends with a girl in a class I was taking. She happened to have a purse that I admired every time I saw it and I made a point of finding out the designer, who turned out to be a British brand called Mulberry. They make beautiful, understated, classically-designed handbags in staple colours. The purse stuck in my head, and I don't exaggerate when I say I had a dream about it once. However, being a student I had never had the kind of money necessary to invest in one of these bags previously, and I've never even seen them sold in Canadian stores. And then it all changed. While I was out last Saturday I was exploring a big high-fashion department store and there, in the corner, was a Mulberry collection, and amongst it was what I've come to think of as my bag. Now I hardly need to tell you this, but I'm one of those people who can justify just about any purchase, no matter how ridiculous and/or expensive. Therefore it is nothing short of miraculous that entirely-without-self-control me managed to make it out of the store without this purse. What stopped me, of course, was the price tag, which works out to be about 1/6 of the budget for my entire stay in Europe. Were this the end of my trip I would get it without hesitation, but since there are still three months and countless adventures ahead I am hesitating to spend that kind of money. The thing is, it's not often that any purse holds my attention for two years, which I would consider a good indication of lasting love. Furthermore, it's a classic design and classic colour from a reliable label, so it stands to reason that this would be an item I'd buy once and own forever. Everyone knows one good purse is worth five "meh" purses, which is probably why they cost so damn much. As I mentioned earlier, I don't know whether these purses are sold in Canada, which means now would be a good time to get one and it also means I'm not going to have to look at it on the arm of every woman I see once I get home (I hate the omnipresence of brands like Louis Vuitton). If I get the purse, it will always be a reminder of this trip; something special I got in Europe. Finally, it turns out I'm going to have much less time off from work than I had anticipated, and so I won't be doing the kind of moving about I had thought I would. So, there isn't going to be quite the financial drain I thought there would be. So would it be so very bad to buy the purse? I can't decide!! Votes please???!! To aid in your decision making, this is the much-discussed purse:
So, having (arguably needlessly) spent money, I headed home and went to bed nice and early.
Sunday:
Today it poured rain, so I did the sensible thing an lazed about in bed watching movies, cleaning, and getting some laundry done.
Friday:
Friday wound up being super awesome, despite having an entirely inauspicious start. That was, specifically, waking up in the pre-dawn (this seems to be happening a lot) sobbing after having a terribly realistic dream my mother died of some drawn-out illness. I can't help but appreciate the thoroughness of this particular cruelty - my dear old subconscious withheld the dream until I was conveniently on the other side of the world and can hardly call my family without jumping through hoops of fire. Thanks subconscious! Doing me another solid, one day at a time. Anyway, enough brooding.
When I woke up for the second time I was inexplicably chipper, and headed off to work with a grin perma-pasted on my face. I think this was partly because it was sort of sunny out (a major achievement for Hamburg) and because I can't believe that my job is actually sitting around drawing and trying to be creative all day... for the most part. I spent the morning in exactly this manner while blasting Girl Talk and The White Panda in my headphones. Oh yeah, we get to wear headphones at work too.
During lunch I went out with a couple of coworkers who I haven't eaten with yet, and got to bond with one of them over our shared love of the delightfully eccentric Werner Herzog. I was surprised to learn that Herzog isn't that well-known in Germany, despite his total awesomeness. If you ever get a chance you need to see some of his films. Most people have heard of Grizzly Man, but my favourites were My Best Fiend, and his version of Nosferatu. I've been accused previously of over-selling My Best Fiend, which I suppose you could call "niche-humour", but I find it totally brilliant.
After lunch I mostly sat around getting Photoshop tutorials, then everyone ended the day early with a beer, which felt entirely European and super awesome. Come to think of it, I think that was the first beer I've had since arriving in Germany. But that really isn't important.
After work I had just enough time to get changed and make myself presentable before it was time to head out to a coworker's place for dinner before clubbing. In North America the practice seems to be to have a light dinner or no dinner so that 1) you don't feel bloated while dancing, and 2) you get a buzz more easily. Here in Europe it is quite the opposite: you have a solid dinner so that you can drink all the more while out. Just a fun fact. The place we went to was called Terrace Hill, and it's located in - this is the COOLEST part - an old bomb shelter. It's this giant concrete affair with towers and a large patio. To get in you're ferried up in an elevator, complete with an Operator. I confess one of my favourite parts of the evening was right at the beginning while we were in line. I was saying something to a member of our group when a gentleman ahead of us in line asked if I was American, to which I of course replied that I'm Canadian. Well, it turns out he was from Minnesota, but was familiar with British Columbia after having lived for some time in Seattle. But really I was just delighted to hear someone with a North American accent. Of all the things I thought I would miss I had never even considered accents, especially since everyone knows foreign accents are hot. But meeting someone from sort-of-home just made me feel a tiny bit less lonely and far from home. Now as for the two questions I know you're all burning to know: 1) Was he hot? and 2) Was he single? Well, 1) yes, he was exceptionally good looking, but 2) he had a boyfriend, because of course every man I find attractive is either in a relationship, gay, or both. I wish there was a way of letting Mother Nature know she's wasting her time weeding me out of the gene pool - I already chose not to have kids, so can I please get a date now?!
But I digress. The club night was lots of fun, and it was a novel experience to have people remarking about my accent all the time. But this brings me to a Europe-rant that's been brewing since my arrival. Everyone smokes here. And they smoke everywhere. All the time. While it's illegal to do it indoors, many people at the club just lit up inside anyway, which drove me crazy. Smoke gives me terrible headaches, and it makes your clothes smell like a homeless person (my club outfit is now quarantined in the cleaning closet). Off the top of my head I can think of..... one person who doesn't smoke. There are a few I don't about, but the safer bet on this continent is that they probably do. It certainly isn't stigmatized here the way it is at home. Grumble. Let's just hope I don't get lung cancer from second-hand smoke, because if I do I'll be PISSED.
One possible consequence of all this smoking, however, is in general the women here are all skinny and are often also tall. This was entirely apparent at the sports-themed club night, where most girls were in some form of spandex and a sports bra. Obviously not everyone looks like a model, but obesity and extra fat are not nearly the problem they are States-side. Not feeling short and fat may be more of a challenge than usual, ugh.
Anyway, true to their reputations the Germans' party stamina was faaaaaaar superior to mine (we didn't even get to the club until 11:30). Goodness knows how long they stayed for, but despite liberal consumption of vodka redbulls by quarter to four I felt like I was going to fall over and decided it was time to go. My friend accompanied me to the metro station and got the ticket for me, then pointed which way I was to go. If only things had stayed so simple! Sure enough I got on the train, but after getting on was convinced that I was headed in the wrong direction. After giving it some thought, I got off at the next station and caught the next train in the opposite direction while feeling frustrated at my bumbling. However, after four or so stops I - of course - realised that I had been mistaken, and that now I was truly going in the wrong direction. Damnit! So, once again, off I got and climbed on to the train going in the right direction. I finally got to the stop I wanted, got off, and then tried to find my way out of the Underground, planning to walk home. As it turned out I just wound up at the stop off for the other line that ran through that station. For once my luck came through and as it happened this train would take me practically to my doorstep. So on I got, and at last I crawled into bed around 5am.
Saturday:
Despite the exceptionally late night I woke up around 10am. Since I still hadn't gotten an alarm clock I decided that I would use Saturday to figure out how the metro worked and to go find an alarm clock. After studying their website for a short while I deduced which line to use (only one train this time!) and how much to pay the ticket machine. The ticket machines, thank god, had a nice and obvious British flag at the bottom so you could view the menu in English, after which things became pretty simple. If you're ever coming to Germany, there are three important things to know before you take the metro. The first is (obviously) which line you need to get on to. The second is how many zones you'll be moving through, and the third is the name of the direction you're travelling: it is really easy to lose your sense of direction underground. If you know these three things though, you're set. So my travels on Saturday wound up being about a million times easier than Friday night and much easier than my travels last Saturday too. Just like last Saturday I started the trip off with some Starbucks. Even though it's not amazing coffee it reminds me so much of home I can't resist it. Also, the interior of the one I was at yesterday was absolutely stunning. It's right next to the Hamburg lake, and it had a balcony level above main floor, much like the dome of a church. The walls, pillars and ceilings are all painted in a Rococo/Baroque type style, and next time I go I'll take my camera so you can all have a look. After my dose of caffeine I hunted down some home-accessories type place I FINALLY FOUND AN ALARM CLOCK. It is bulky and ridiculous but it was both a clock and alarm and therefore I bought it. Setting the alarm was a fairly simple matter, but I have discovered that turning the alarm off is quite a different matter. It's one of those old-school clocks with two buttons and zero directions. I have concluded that I must turn on my alarm in the late evening, and simply turn it off when it fire-alarms me into wakefulness. Oh yes, that's the other thing. It sounds like a goddamn fire alarm. I can just imagine how fun this will be.
Anyway, because alarm clock shopping is about as fun as sweater lint and I had an entire day to kill I decided to have a good wander around Hamburg's shopping district (a dangerous pastime for my credit card). I had had my heart set on finding some lilac coloured trouser shorts after falling in love with a look I saw on College Fashion a few days ago:
This isn't to say I went home empty-handed though (bahahahahaha imagine!). No, instead I hit the cosmetics counter at Chanel, who I have discovered does makeup unlike anyone else (a post on this to follow), and then got some aviator sunglasses - an item I've wanted for a long time but have had difficulty finding an adequately light and flattering pair.
Now I'm going to introduce a debate that has me quite conflicted. About two years ago I became friends with a girl in a class I was taking. She happened to have a purse that I admired every time I saw it and I made a point of finding out the designer, who turned out to be a British brand called Mulberry. They make beautiful, understated, classically-designed handbags in staple colours. The purse stuck in my head, and I don't exaggerate when I say I had a dream about it once. However, being a student I had never had the kind of money necessary to invest in one of these bags previously, and I've never even seen them sold in Canadian stores. And then it all changed. While I was out last Saturday I was exploring a big high-fashion department store and there, in the corner, was a Mulberry collection, and amongst it was what I've come to think of as my bag. Now I hardly need to tell you this, but I'm one of those people who can justify just about any purchase, no matter how ridiculous and/or expensive. Therefore it is nothing short of miraculous that entirely-without-self-control me managed to make it out of the store without this purse. What stopped me, of course, was the price tag, which works out to be about 1/6 of the budget for my entire stay in Europe. Were this the end of my trip I would get it without hesitation, but since there are still three months and countless adventures ahead I am hesitating to spend that kind of money. The thing is, it's not often that any purse holds my attention for two years, which I would consider a good indication of lasting love. Furthermore, it's a classic design and classic colour from a reliable label, so it stands to reason that this would be an item I'd buy once and own forever. Everyone knows one good purse is worth five "meh" purses, which is probably why they cost so damn much. As I mentioned earlier, I don't know whether these purses are sold in Canada, which means now would be a good time to get one and it also means I'm not going to have to look at it on the arm of every woman I see once I get home (I hate the omnipresence of brands like Louis Vuitton). If I get the purse, it will always be a reminder of this trip; something special I got in Europe. Finally, it turns out I'm going to have much less time off from work than I had anticipated, and so I won't be doing the kind of moving about I had thought I would. So, there isn't going to be quite the financial drain I thought there would be. So would it be so very bad to buy the purse? I can't decide!! Votes please???!! To aid in your decision making, this is the much-discussed purse:
So, having (arguably needlessly) spent money, I headed home and went to bed nice and early.
Sunday:
Today it poured rain, so I did the sensible thing an lazed about in bed watching movies, cleaning, and getting some laundry done.
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