I'm vaguely annoyed right now, for some reason. I think because at lunch I asked some question about what our professor dude meant about using lexical/encyclopedic information, 'cuz he mentioned that we shouldn't use/need such sources in our seminar papers, and so then I had the table telling me that I don't need to site things that are common knowledge (but then, I have trouble with that anyway, because what is common knowledge to one is not common knowledge to another), or public record, (which I suppose I knew). Anyway, I got irritated with the condescending tone some members of the table were using, regardless of the fact that I am in fact an accomplished writer, with perhaps a penchant for over-citation in academic works because g'damn, I wanna cover my ass against any kind of accusation of plagiarism. And I think maybe it's a bit late in life to be waving things like standardized test scores and AP things around my head like a flag, but specifically aimed at the painfully non-literary scientist, what the fuck does she know? And then someone said something about school shootings, which just always gets my goat (so to speak).

Is is the season of festivals here in Germany... practically every weekend or even weekday there is some kind of celebration of some stupid thing in a neighboring area. I hardly ever know what the actual purpose of the fest is, but it doesn't matter, because whether it's about a sports team or a founding father, they all look the same, just in varying sizes. They set up a bunch of picnic tables, sell some beer and sausage-related or other food items, maybe have some carnival rides if it's a big deal. There's a really big one going on all weekend in every public area of Eichstätt, so that'll be fun. I'll get some roasted nuts, wander around and see what people are selling...

Polish test next week shouldn't be too taxing... Marta basically told us exactly what we need to study, and Elisabeth has decided to take the test even though she doesn't need a grade for the class, so at least I won't be the only one. Hooray!

Commas, commas, commas. Can it be any other way? Must be the book I'm reading, affecting my grammar.

I sat at the coffee shop last night for like 2 hours and read part of a book that claimed to be about jewish stereotypes, but was really about the same in like, 17th century england. So that was of little assistance, except it did get me to thinking about the dualism of some of the traditional stereotypes, and I think I can use that in my paper, if only I can find the word 'juxtaposition' in a dictionary. Ha!

Success: Nebeneinandersetzung.

And then I wrote like a page (ish) of nothing but commentary, and a plan of how many pages I'm going to write about each thing. With suppporting quotes, that could be like 2 pages, maybe. Hoot! Writing papers might not be so terribly bad after all. Although I was looking at the notes that I took on what the professor said right after I gave my referat, and he mentioned that the depiction of Herr Wendriner, a sort of stock Jewish character, was 'not at all satire.' So, I'm confused a little bit. What is it? Irony? Little help here, folks.

 
Tests weren't bad. I think I wrote some really beautiful sentences, actually. I've really got a handle on this German thing now, in my humble opinion.

I was looking at the class schedule of stuff at KU next semester, and though I think I'm going to keep my enrolled hours as they are, I'm going to audit Polish. I really enjoy it, and I think I could be good at it and it could be useful. Some grad programs require you to have two foreign languages anyway, or at least a reading knowledge of the second, so I could just cover my ass with a couple semesters of Polish. I was thinking about it... and maybe I won't go to grad school immediately. Maybe I'll teach English somewhere in Europe, and then get a master's degree in comparative lit from a german university. For comparative lit, you reeeeally need the extra two languages. At least. More would be even better. Jon was telling us how his brother Chris was supposed to have a third language for grad school, but since he speaks both German and English, he took the wussy way out and took the test in Dutch (which is like a bastardized version of the two of them. I can read Dutch very well, also.) Anyway, this is what we talk about at the bar. That, and Hegel and Adorno and Benjamin....

And, UGH, isn't it bizarre how stuff happens and you're not there for it, and you have the feeling that when you come back home, whereever home may be, or even if it's where evers, that nothing will be the same at all? (just got strange news)

 
I have two finals this afternoon! the first one in an hour and a half! Have I studied? Not really. But my first one is grammar, and I was reading a novel last night that really is good about the informal past and passive and indirect speech forms. So, maybe reading a racy novel was like studying.... ish.

 
MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR TODAY:

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY ALLISON!!!!!!!!!

 
math is hard.

I wrote the following thing to myself today:

MATH PROBLEM (as a double entendre):

Given :

I have had approximately 14 years of math instruction, including, in the last 7 years:

2 years Algebra
1 year Geometry
.5 year Trigonometry
3 years Calculus
.5 year Statistics
.5 year Differential Equations
.5 year Regression
1 year Linear Algebra
.5 year Number theory

AND I CAN'T DO MY FREAKIN' MATH HOMEWORK.

Conclusion: I am a moron.

But then I figured some of it out, and didn't feel quite so dumb. (operative word: quite.) And I'm freaking out about that test next week.

Tomorrow I have two exams that I am much less freaked out about, but I will study for nonetheless.

E-mail box today=sad. Only ads, and people who think my member isn't large enough already. Then I consider, and realize that maybe it's my fault, as I am myself behind in correspondence.

Soon, soon.

 
Booked my ticket back from London, have solidified travel plans. I'm flying into Dusseldorf, where I will wander around the city fora few hours, meet Anna, and take the train to Freiburg. We're staying at her German professor's place for a couple days (yaaaaaay, free lodging!) and then we'll make our way back, probably stopping at the Bodensee for a day or two. See, perfect! That does mean, though, that I'm going to be gone for like, 10 days. And i'm taking a very small suitcase, come hell or high water.

I walked over to the bookstore after meeting agnieszka (to buy some books...) and I saw Tony, my bartender. He was wearing man-pris and a sleeveless shirt, and I wave and I say Hi, and he was getting something out of his STATION WAGON (oh, how sad I was that he didn't have a cooler car) and I laugh and say, "Wow, it's like you're a real person." And he grunts and goes back to doing whatever. He's probably not friendly until he's drunk, poor fellow.

Off to think about eating something.

 
Meeting Agnieska in a few minutes....

Feeling oddly pensive or something. I'm ready to be done and gone, I think. Gone from Eichstätt, anyway. I'd like to stay in Germany, but this tiny community is getting oppressive.

We tried to go canoeing on Saturday, but since Jon and his brother were late getting there, we just missed getting the last boat. So we sat around and drank coffee, then we hung out, then we went to eat some falafel. They went up to the castle while I went to read a book and ended up falling asleep. I later woke up, read more of the book, went to eat dinner with Kay, and hung out at the beer garden with Kay, Jon, Jon's brother, and Jon's brother's wife. It was a good time.

Sunday I was at the train station at 7 am because at some point on Saturday Vincenzo woke me from my nap and asked me if I wanted to go to Munich on Sunday. I was confused and agreed. He had to look at some stuff at the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, and Anna had to do something, I don't know, mostly hang out with him, and I had DAY OF MODERN ART and went to the Moderne Pinakothek and the Lenbach house and oh my crap, those are some amazing collections. I was feeling like such a little art student, wearing a denim skirt and tennis shoes, black v-neck shirt and turquoise cross necklace, hair in disarray, glasses instead of contacts... I think it was totally worth the day of homework that I sacrificed to do it. I think I learned a lot, even if it's not crap I'm ever going to be graded on in my life. It is hard work to be well rounded, you know that? Especially if your discipline is outside of arts and humanities because everyone is supposed to know things about art and music and literature, but no one expects a non-mathemetician to know anything more complicated than the Pythagorean theorem. Maybe it's just that I hang out with artists and philosophers and writers...

Heh, try not to let me be snotty, hmm? I might need a little outside help, lest I start referring to things as 'fromage' and beginning every sentence with, "Well, in Germany..."