Um...well....CRAP!

So naturally, I wrote my last post admonishing myself for not writing on my blog more. And what do I do? Wait another couple months! Hooray for procrastination!

Since my last blog post was on June 8th of this year, I'll give you all an update on what has happened since then.

-I finished working for the Lichtenberger Sprachinstitut (the children's school I worked for) on July 15th. That job was filled with its ups and downs. I had to deal with a handful of psychotic German, a sometimes psychotic management, and the pains of driving 450km a week. All in a car just a little bigger than the desk your computer is sitting on. There were positives to the job though, and ironically enough, for as much as I bitched about the job and the travel, I felt myself getting just a bit emotional saying goodbye to the kids. Sure, there were plenty of kids (mostly my 8 year olds) that hated the very idea of English and tried to make my life a living hell for 6 months, but for everyone of them there were 2 or 3 genuine great kids, who came to class each week excited to see me, excited to learn english, and excited to act like a goofball just like their teacher. On the last day, they were crying, and some had death clutches on my leg as they hugged me and wouldn't let go. A good experience nonetheless, and I learned a little bit about German life that most Expats in Berlin never get to see.

-I've also done a bit of traveling in the last 6 months. In May, my sister paid a visit for 10 days and we took a weekend trip over to London. Great city. Had the opportunity to do most of the "tourist attraction" type stuff such as Westminster Abbey, Parliament, etc. But considering how much of a history buff I am, I didn't mind. The only downer of London was that it was so god damn expensive. Just eating out cost me and my sister an arm and a leg. And Don't even get me started with transportation.

In June, I took another weekend trip, this time to Rome. My mother was here to visit this time, apparnetly as part of the Stanton Family Tour. Of all the cities I have visited so far, Rome is perhaps my favorite. History literally surrounds you everywhere. It was surreal. I know it is odd (and perhaps a bit nerdy) to try to visualize the city and its inhabitants thousands of years ago, but while wandering the streets, and seeing both the Colosseum and Palatine Hill up close, it was hard not to. Italians are also an interesting bunch. Super Friendly, extremely helpful, but also doing just about anything to try to rip you off. Whether it was food being mysteriously added to our restaurant bills, or the hotel trying to add an extra 30 euro to our hotel bill for no reason, it seems like they try to squeeze every last dime out of you. I did manage to hear one of the worst (and yet awesome) pick-up lines used in quite a while. As I left the Colosseum, a vendor trying to peddle his merchandise saw a pretty girl in front of me and said the following:

"Hey Baby! Where you come from? Paradise?!?! aaayyyyyyyy!!!!"

All I could think about for the rest of the week was the creepy Italian guy from 'Eurotrip'.


In the last of my travels, I actually came back to the United States in August and spent some time with the Blanchet family. We took a 7 day cruise to Mexico (Cabo and Puerto Vallarta) which was a great time and relaxing, before I went back to Michigan for 10 days and spent some time with the family. I definitely took advantage of the euro-to-dollar exchange a little too much as I was a bit broke when I got back to Germany.



I'll leave it at that for now. I'll go into my internship with the ICD and Graduate School in another post.

Cheers.