New Layout

I changed the layout of the blog, sorry if it’s incredibly confusing for anyone! I’m hoping having the posts show their full content on the front page will make it easier to read.

As for me, I’m getting hungry and need to run some errands so I’m going out for a while. Tonight is the party at the school for all the students to hang out, but I’ll be back before then.

Back in Berlin

I’m busily editing photos to be posted soon. I took lots of Naumburg, and of the boarding school Miriam used to attend, Schulpforte, and a bunch of people dancing after the wedding last night.

Also have a post from yesterday that will publish later.

Pictures

I’m editing and preparing a whole bunch of pictures from the Stasi-Museum to upload to Flickr in a few minutes. The light was really bad, so I’m trying to see what I can do about it. I’ll put some of the best ones in the next blog post.

First Day

I’m waiting at the school for my classes to start. Petra tried to convince me to sleep more this morning instead of going to class, but I wanted to come. I’m still tired, and don’t have much of an appetite, so it’s been a weird morning. Petra and I took the tram to the school this morning from her flat. It is not far, but I’m not sure I’ll remember how to get back this afternoon. Since I haven’t had a chance to change my money to Euros yet, I’ll owe her lots of money this afternoon when I finally do.

They’re going through a heat wave here in Berlin. Petra keeps saying that it is very hot, but it’s wonderful compared to what the weather is like at home. It’s only hot inside places with no air conditioning, and even then it’s only because it’s also humid.

 I need to grab something to eat and drink, and, in a few minutes, I will meet with my class and teacher.

Shopping and Such

I looked at the packet for the program today and realized that I’m supposed to have a German-English dictionary. Great. Of course, I don’t know anyone who would have one, so I had to buy one. Now, this is the cool part – Bookman’s. I found a compact German-English dictionary for $2.20. Now I have quite the collection of books and notebooks to cram into my bag.

In other news, my iPod’s battery life is supposed to be long enough to get me all the way to Berlin. That’s good, since I’ll probably be rather bored.

I think I’m all packed and ready to go except for my carry-on bag. I also have a very short list of last-minute things to buy or do tomorrow morning before we make the drive up to Phoenix.

In the meantime, I need to get some sleep. I won’t be sleeping nearly as well tomorrow night on the plane.

Time To Start Packing

My check has gone through at Language Liaison. I have made contact with my host family, and they will pick me up from the airport. It is even possible that I may be able to meet up with an old friend while I’m in the country. What’s left?

I haven’t even thought about packing yet. Or cleaning my room, which also really needs to happen, but that’s another story.

I have a big bag to put stuff in, and a list of stuff that I absolutely cannot forget to put in it, but that’s about it. I should also do laundry soon so I can pack clean clothes.

I have been preparing in other ways, though. I’ve been taking pictures with the new camera, getting used to the way it works. I also spent quite a while trying to decide how best to put photos online, and still haven’t reached a decision.

Speaking of taking pictures, I’ve been experimenting with the macro mode on the camera, and really like the effect. For example:

 

Pink Flower

Pretty.

A Week to Go!

I have just about a week until I leave for Berlin. I have the information about the family I will be staying with. It appears that they live just up the street from the school (on the tram line!) and that I will be living with a mother and daughter. The daughter is just a little bit younger than me. I’ve tried to email them, and will have more info when they get back to me.

Next week, I will have to focus on getting everything in order: getting photocopies made of important documents and getting packed; that sort of thing. I’m making a list.

I’ve ordered the City Notebook – Berlin by Moleskine to keep a log of my trip. One suggestion I saw regarding this notebook (as it is mostly empty – its primary purpose is a journal) is to fill in all the information from different guide books before arriving at the destination. This way all the relevant information is easily at hand, and I won’t be pulling out obvious tourist guidebooks all the time. It includes some maps and brief reference information, but not much else. This will also be a perfect reference if I ever get the chance to come back to Berlin: I can look back at the information from this trip.

I set up a travel plan with my bank’s fraud department this morning. I’m not planning on using my credit or debit cards while I’m there, but in case I need to, my bank now knows that it’s ok to let me do that. They also gave me the international toll-free number so I can reach them in case of emergency.

I’ve got my health and travel insurance taken care of as well, so I’m feeling pretty well prepared. Actually, I can’t wait!

Want My Money?

Language Liaison told me they were going to send me an invoice last weekend, but I still haven’t gotten it. I’ll give them money, I just need to know how much. I’m starting to get worried, and may send them an email this week to ask what’s going on. 6 weeks and counting!

So Far

As it stands right now, I have plane tickets booked, and my application fee paid in full.

And that’s all.

I’m leaving on July 26, and will return on August 23. I haven’t heard from Language Liaison since they sent me a receipt for my application fee, but honestly, I’m not too concerned about that. I signed up for housing with a host family, so they should be orchestrating that. I usually tend to subscribe to the theory that “no news is good news” and assume everything is fine. If I don’t hear anything by the end of the month, though, I’ll probably email them and make sure everything is in order.

After all, I’m leaving in 2 months.

Now that school’s out, this trip is the next thing that I really have to look forward to, and I definitely am. I’m starting to get very excited about going, and I’m starting to think about what I’m going to need to bring, and the fact that I have to work a lot this summer to save up spending money.

I realized yesterday that (I think) I’m going during the down-time for the symphonies and other cultural things, so I’m going to miss that sort of stuff. Guess I’ll just have to go back after I graduate and do it again.

I think it’s time to start collecting a list of “Things I Have To See/Do While I’m In Berlin”. School is out, as I mentioned, so I have the next two months to get prepared.

And I’m ready to start.