Just because it's SO CUTE!!!

I have nothing to apologise for, but this was just too cute!

Bachelorette party

We had my friend's bachelorette party on saturday. It was my first ever, so I can't really say if they're different than what we have in Canada, but this is how it went.

We surprised our friend with a pick nick in the park. We were eight girls, had oppened a bottle of the bubbly stuff and were wearing these really cute head bands with hearts on them - she really laughed when she saw this. Then, we got her really drunk and then told her she actually had a mission to accomplish - she had a "letter" from the heavenly council, and she is the lucky winner of a place on cloud 9. The only thing is, she has to finance her way there. She is awaited on August 25th (wedding day). Then, we gave her a basket full of stuff she had to sell on the street to men (home made cherry and chocolate muffins) and we dressed her up as an angel (it was really funny, she had golden wings and all). Since she was really drunk, she seemed to have no inhibitions at all, and not only sold all the muffins, but also all the fruit we had brought along and one of our headbands for a grand total of 50 euros!!

This financed the second part of the evening. We went to the Ballhaus in Berlin Mitte, which is a cool bar where you can dance, and they also serve food. They mostly played eighties music and my friend kept her angel cosutme on - it was really funny. After a few hours of dancing and drinking we then went on to another smaller cosy bar where the waiter offered us cherry vodka shots on the house...

I was tired on sunday!!

But I still went kayaking with the bf on the Tegel Lake, which was great.

Yesterday I discovered a new location close to my home - on top of a mall close to my appartment, they turned the roof top parking deck into a beach bar - complete with palm trees and sand. Last night I went there with the boyfriend to watch the sun set, barefoot in the sand. It was really cool, and there were so many planes taking off from Tegel airport. I wonder if any were leaving for Montreal...

The results are in!!!

I got my results for 4 out of 5 exams....


(drum roll)

Well 2 of them were "A"s and two were "A+"s


yahoo!!!!!!!!!

Happy dance...

The waiting game

By this morning, yesterday's euphoria had worn off. Dancing alone in your living room is fun, but waking up and having breakfast alone? Not so much.

I also have to wait a couple of weeks before I get the results of my exams, and even though I know they can't possibly be there yet, I still am already checking on the university's website...

I am one impatient little person!

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 !

What a ride!!!

Well, the past two weeks here were way cool. First of all, two weekends ago I was in Rostock for the G8 summit. I camped in "Camp Rostock", a piece of land given by the city for people who wanted to participate in the demonstration against G8 and needed a place to camp. It was great, so many people with a lot of diferent political opinions, but everyone getting along really well. The grounds were on the side of the river and there was aspontaneous rave that lasted the whole weekend. There were organised "kitchens" where the camp organisation cooked three meals a day. The Demonstration on Saturday was really super, but it got ugly and violent at the end. I am completely against the use of violence in demonstrations. Saturday night was a bit scary, because the police surrounded the camp and had a helicopter circle over us the whole night. All in all, it was a great experience and I had the chance to express my opinion.

Last weekend, I was in Dresden on Friday night with a couple of friends, it's really a beautiful city. It was weird cause on friday night we were in this cool neighbourhood, having fun until we realised that there was an alcohol ban for this neighbourhood, because certain political groups ( the same which turned violent in Rostock) tended to start riots in the streets. (Normally you are allowed to drink alcohol on the street in Germany) So we were allowed to go to bars, but not take our drinks to the street...

Saturday we went hiking in this beautiful rocky area in Saxony. The trails were so steep at many places you had to climb. There were metal bars sticking out of the rock to help you climb. It was a rough way up, but so worth it!!!

Sunday we found an old quarry that had turned into a lake and went swimming. There was this spot that was 4 or 5 meters high where you could run off the cliff and jump in the water. I did it!! ( I'm really afraid of heights, so the whole weekend was kind of challenging to me)

The next weeks I kinda have to stay put, cause I have to start preparing for exams in July... ut I can't wait till August to go explore more countryside!!

Tagged: 7 secrets about me

okok, it had to happen at some point: I have been tagged by Dino, and I have to tell you seven secrets abouts myself... Read at your own risk!

1) I get up EVERY night between 2 and 6 times to go pee. This has been like this my whole life.

2) I am a compulsive eater.

3) I care way too much about what others think of me. I want so badly everyone to like me.

4) I like to meditate every morning for 10 minutes.

5) I tend to worry a lot and am afraid of lots of stuff, but challenge myself, test myself, push myself.

6) I love to watch reality shows.

7) I loooooooooooove cooking

I won't tag anyone, whoever would like to do this can do it.