VACATION!!!!!!

I feel as happy as I look on this picture!

I feel like a 14 year old who gets to stay home alone for the first time when her parents leave for the weekend.

My boyfriend left this morning for his first day of work in another city. Wish him luck with his new job!!

I miss my long hair! now I have it only down to the shoulders


It's 4 pm and I've cranked up the music, I'm dancing in my pyjamas in my living room and will eventually start thinking abour making myself a radler.

What have I done today ? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Bad Weather...

It's raining again, and not too warm outside. Yesterday I went for coffee and shopping with a friend. I didn't find anything, but it was still a lot of fun.

Friday night was pretty cool. It was the going-away party for a friend of mine who will be in Seattle for one year. First we had Cuba Libres at a really cool bar a friend of mine owns, and then around 2 or 3 we decided to go dancing. We ended up in a club not far away, we were 3 girls and 2 guys... We payed the cover fee, got on the dance floor, and I realised we were in a gay club, and it was a ladies'night... I've never seen so many women kissing before!!!

It was pretty cool though, got home around 6:00 am, slept until noon.

Last night was a milder party, the Polterabend I wrote about. It was cool, a bit quiet, got home early, around 1:00 am.

Tonight I'll be taking it easy, cooking dinner for my boyfriend, having a nice romantic evening ( our last one nefore he leaves for Cologne on Tuesday.

Next weekend a girlfriend and I will be organising a bachelorette party!!

Now THAT is going to be fun!

Vacation!

Wahoo! Exams are over! No uni til mid october!

I don't even have to work until wednesday!

My schedule for tomorrow:

morning: appointment for a massage and some fango
afternoon: shopping!
evening: party! (a friend of mine is moving to Seattle and we're having a last big get together)

Saturday:
morning: sleep in
afternoon: meet a friend for coffee
evening: polterabend*

* remember the movie "poltergeist"? Well, a "Polterabend", or "polter-evening", is a German custom that people have before a wedding. One evening before the wedding, all the friends of the future married couple gather and through all the old dishes they have on the ground. The goal is to make as much noise as possible, to scare of the evil spirits, or "poltergeist" which might haunt the wedding. Funky, huh?

Sunday and Monday are still open, I think I'll work out, ride my bike, relax.

One Hour

In one hour, I will be writing my last exam... That means that in three hours, I will officially be on vacation!

Great weekend

We went canooing, paddling from lake to lake through the canals and stopping on some beaches to have a cold drink... ahhhh

Then we decided to do some wild camping. From the boats we had spotted a cool beach where it would have been great to camp. Finding the exact area with the car was another thing... We were driving on the little road going around on the lakes (keep in mind we're way far on the countryside) and at one point, the only possible road that leads to the little beach we saw is actually forbidden.... But, there isn't any fence, and it's getting late, so we just decide, what the hell. Bad idea. after driving through the woods for what seems an eternity on this little path (it really wasn't a road), we come to a point where the path has been washed out and there's no way the car can make it through. The path wasn't great before, and we can't turn around, we can't drive back... So we had to construct a mini bridge out of rocks and wood...



And finally were able to drive over it, but half of the path caved in under the weight of the car and we barely made it. The car isn't young either (1991 Mercedes) andthe water in the motor started boiling ( you could HEAR it boil when we turned the motor off) so anyways, we arrived to this mill and finally got back to a normal road ( Iwas so grateful no one saw us arrive with the car from this forbidden path, and that we were actually able to get to the road) we finally couldn't find the beach, and settled for a little spot off the road in the woods.

It was getting dark, and putting the tents together was no easy task. We get the grill going, open some wine, put some meat on the fire and can finally relax after all this comotion when... we hear some scratching noises in the dark and something rumaging through our food box, meters away from us.

Here is the culprit:


after eating, we went to bed for a good night's sleep.... and were woken up around 5 or 6 am by afull force thunderstorm... We had of course left the pick-nick blanket, clothes and towels out. We hoped it would stop raining in a couple of hours... Well, around noon we gave up and packed everything completely wet into the car.

as we were all pretty wet, we drove to the first coffee shop we could find, dried off and had café au lait. mmm

It was a funny, adventurous, crazy weekend.

Thursday will be my last exam day... yippee!

You know your Berlin friends really like you...

when they bake a cake with the flag of your province on it on St-Jean-Baptiste day... Now that, people, is true friendship!

Mon cerveau vomit!!

Yet another exam was written today - 90 minutes, 10 questions, answers were to be only in keywords... hopefully the professor will understand my german!

two exams left! Next week, one on wednesday and one on thursday. I still have to study a bit, but the "break" in between is more than welcome.

In other news, bike riding in Berlin is definitely a dangerous sport. After my two accidents in June, I must say that I really watch out now and am extra careful - my friends are thinking about buying me knee and elbow pads, but hopefully the madness has stopped.

I have a really good feeling about this exam period... The last semesters, I always just hoped to pass, and always did, but this time I actually feel like a have a pretty good chance of getting really good marks on all my exams. It's probably a sign of me finally being fully adapted to the german university system.

I also have to say, that as the semesters go by, I deeply feel that I have found my calling. I'm in the right field of studies! Yay me!

AND one of my really really good friends is going to be working in Switzerland for... FOUR MONTHS! I am SO HAPPY! I am so going to fly down there, or take the train, or hitch hike - hell, I'll even ride my bike there if I have to, but I'm finally going to see her! We've been planning for years to go hiking in the alps... It's going to be one crazy party. (She's the friend who flew to Berlin for my Birthday last year and brought me to Paris for three days - no comment!)

I can't wait to see her!!!!!

I kinda have no idea precisely what I'm going to do during august and september (no uni) but I do know I have 6 weeks of paid vacation I still have to use (okok, paid part time, but still) and will make the best of it... I think I'll just let life surprise me.

;)

Weight loss update

I found a new gadget to keep track of my weight loss!




cute, isn't it?

Well, all that studying has paid off!!

Guess what I did today?? I had an oral examination in history of english, dialectology and sociolectology. 20 minutes alone with the professor, having to answer tons of questions. I have been having nightmares about this exam for months. Guess what?

I got 100%, A+, 1.0, whatever your grading system is, ALL MY ANSWERS WERE RIGHT!!

I still can't believe it!

I was a bit sad though, cause a friend of mine who was also in my classes and with whom I studied for the exam got a 2.3 (I guess it would be a B-, but I'm not sure...) and she definitely knew more than I did...

I am so relieved!

Yesterday I had a written, today oral, thursday written again, next week wednesday oral and thursday written. If I survive until then, I should be ok...


In other academical news, last semester I had to give in a paper in french lexicography. Now mind you, the professor knew that I've been speaking german for only a couple of years, but still insisted on my writing it in german, not french. He also suggested a structure as an outline of my ideas, which I of course followed. I gave in the paper beginning of april...

Get this 1) he decided he didn't like the structure (uh, you kinda suggested it to me...)
and 2) he thought my german didn't sound scientifical enough (um, HELLO? I'd really like to see you write a paper in french!)

so basically I had to rewrite it completely. ugh. Thank god one of my classmates who happens to be the best in my program offered me to help me rewrite it. The poor guy sat down with me for FIFTEEN hours and rewrote the damn thing. I gave it in last week, and really hope I get a good mark for it...

Of course, just like last year, the exam weeks come and it's 37 degrees in Berlin

ok ok enough complaining, I did a GREAT job today! Yay me!

Can't wait to go camping this weekend!

ps. The bf is finishing his studies and will be living/working part time in Cologne, 6 hours away, starting in august, so I think I'll be back to posting more often by then !