Hello, again. It's been a while.

In the time that I haven't been writing, I've been getting to know the bus and train system here in Mainz, been running to and from the store, been spending HOURS in Ikea, a few hours in transit to and from Ikea, and then several, several hours putting together the things we BOUGHT at Ikea. I'm now very familiar with all the wooden bits and wonky screws that come in those plastic bags. I've also learned how to iron wax out of a new placemat (from Ikea). :)

I've also been marveling at the uncanny nature of dishes to get dirty time after time, and been pleasantly surprised at the ability of a cup of tea to get rid of almost any bad mood I'm in. I've helped to hang up curtains, gone to the bank, and talked to my family in the past week. There's been plenty to do, and there's still plenty more.

I chose to upload the picture that you see above because it represents the two main things that are going on right now. In my one hand, you can see my keys to this apartment along with the adorable little sheep charm (bought that today!) that I've hung on it, and the keys represent all the things that are still in the works that have to do with the apartment right now. In my other hand, I hold a deck of Sopio cards (if you don't know what Sopio is, go check out the channel called 'nerimon' on YouTube. ;-) ) which was a fabulous gift from my friend Erin, whom Claudia and I will be visiting next week. This deck of cards represents all the things that are going on in life right now or will be going on soon that have more to do with me and the fun plans that are ahead -- less to do with wonky screws and flimsy Ikea lamps that leave sawdust all over the living room floor.

So, on the keychain und so weiter front (I can't help but think in German part of the time these days, so bear with me), things are looking rather okay. We've put together two lamps, one and a half bedside tables, a small table to go in front of the couch we don't have yet, and one very lovely office filing cabinet thingie. Still left to go is the other half of the second bedside table and (gaaah!) the ginormous dresser. We'll see how that goes. Also, in a lovely twist of fate, on the way out the door this morning to hop on a bus (reluctantly) and go buy a >200€ washing machine, we saw a sign on the door of one of the other apartments in this building that the person living there was moving out and couldn't take her washing machine with her, though it worked quite well, and she wanted to sell it for 60€. We called her and met with her this evening, and it all looks pretty fantastic, except that we will have to carry it up the last five flights of stairs, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow.

The downside to this meeting with our fellow apartment dweller was that she told us about some rather unsavory characteristics about our landlord that one would only come to know when one was about to move out of this building. We'd heard a few reports like this before, but they came from a person we've deemed "The Crazy Lady" who lives below us, so, as you can imagine, we didn't take them too seriously. However, now we're reconsidering, and I don't want to go into detail here, but we have a plan and I'm confident that it will all work out well, although the news did put a damper on our evening for a while.

Now, on the other hand (literally - like in the picture! :D), there's some fantastic stuff going on. We're going to see Erin in Scotland next week!!!! I have never been to Scotland, and neither has Claudia, and I haven't seen Erin since May, which is FAR to long to be without her witty, charming, intelligent and tea-loving presence! I'm THRILLED to be getting to go see her, and to get to see Scotland and be overwhelmed in lots of fun accents. I may have to put a leash on Claudia to stop her from running off with a Scotsman, but - eh. What can I say? I'm pretty sure she'll stay. ;-)

The other exciting things are 1) We found a really charming, pleasant pub the other night called 'Nirgendwo', the German word for 'Nowhere', which seems to be a brilliant name for a pub, and I'm quite excited to go there again sometime! 2) After the trip to Scotland, my first week with all the other Middlebury students will begin, and it's a week full of 'Cultural Activities' among more academic things, and I think it'll be good fun! And finally 3) I'm making a video! I am in the editing process right now, and it will be up soon - I think it'll be a great way for you all to see some of the area around my apartment, in the city a little, and - yeah. Just to hear some of my thoughts. A great opportunity for me to practice my video editing skills as well, and I hope you all like it!

(If you think this Erin person sounds intriguing ((which you should!)), go check out her youtube channel! Here!)

So many THINGS.

It's incredible how many things one needs to purchase when one first gets an apartment! Claudia and I have schlepped an astounding amount of suitcases, backpacks, and ginormous shopping bags full of groceries, clothes, cleaning supplies, kitchen tools, and who knows what up those six flights of stairs, and we still have a list of things to buy! Today is a very adult day - I opened up a bank account here, and we are also planning on going to look at washing machines today. We've decided the price of a washing machine is worth NOT having to carry the laundry down the six flights of stairs, down three and a half blocks sitting at the laundromat, then back up the six flights. It was inconvenient enough yesterday, and it's not even freezing cold yet. :) So, we'll get a washing machine and just not turn on any other appliances while it's running, and the electricity should be okay!

In other news, I'm sitting at the university now, partaking in the internet (yipee! a luxury we do not yet have at our apartment...), and everything seems pretty dandy. Soon I'll put up some pictures of the college as well, and once we have a properly furnished living room (Ikea, here we come. Not only do we need a couch to sit on, but being able to see at night would be a good thing!) there will be more pictures of that! After that, of course, it'll be pictures of the fun things I'll get to do here.

(I'm a bit scatter-brained today, but I hope this post still makes some sense!)

Living Room/Bedroom

Finally, our place!

More pictures...

First, you come to the bathroom on the landing just below ours (not so different from a dorm, except that Jimi Hendrix watches over you on the toilet...)

Mini-tour.

Sure you want to come up all those stairs?

Alright! To start off a bunch of pictures, I thought I would show you the view from our living room window which shows the Mainz Hauptbahnhof, or main train station - where anyone who wants to visit us would probably arrive! (there's a very nice, fast train from the Frankfurt airport to the Mainz train station - only takes about a half hour. ;-) )

Airport Life

Traveling always makes me notice CORDS and CABLES – all the electric strings in plastic we seem to find invaluable these days. I reach into my bag to listen to some music and sift through the contents to find my headphones – of course, first I come across my computer charger, my cell phone charger, my iPod charger… somehow, the cables always make me more aware of the technological influx than the actual devices do.

I won’t pretend to be superhuman, though. Man, if someone offered me an iPad to use on this transatlantic flight – EVEN THOUGH I already have an iPod nano and a MacBookPro – I would SO take it. Damn Macs. So seductive!

I wasn’t intending to debate the pros and cons of technology in this entry – I’m not really informed enough to do that. But I did want to write about the things I notice while traveling, and technology sure is one of them.

I also notice shoes a lot when I travel. Maybe it’s because I’m paranoid ever since I learned that only American wear garishly white tennis shoes everywhere, but I look at peoples’ feet a lot when I travel. Lots of leather shoes, and some flip flops today (my friends from Hawaii say it’s embarrassing to call flip flops flip flops when you’re in Hawaii. If you’re ever there, say “slippers” instead.) and the occasional daring high heels on the high-powered-looking woman tearing up the escalators in front of me…

The really interesting thing to notice in airports is

(AAH! Mini-break in writing this entry - I was being a bad person and eavesdropping and realized that a Thai family is sitting behind me – I DO still understand some Thai! Oh man, I’m so happy now! Oh dear… reminiscing time!!!!!)

Anyways, the other really interesting thing to notice in airports is the way different people deal with strangers. Because there’s NO way to avoid strangers in airports – even if you’re traveling with friends or family, you’ll still go order a coffee or some French fries or at least be standing awkwardly in line for the bathroom with people you don’t know. And that’s just neat. I tend to smile at people – I know it’s weird. Well, it’s weird in some cultures to smile at people you don’t know, but I tend to do it anyway. Especially – hihi- especially when other people are getting grumpy, I tend to do it. In a weird reversely-proportional way, the more grumpy a crowd gets that I’m in, the happier I tend to be! This is especially true when I’m in a line of people waiting to GO somewhere – like on to the plane. People jostle and swear and glare and shove and cut other people off with swift suitcase moves, and I just can’t help but laughing because I know for the next EIGHT HOURS none of us will be moving much at all! So why does it matter?? It makes me smile, what can I say. J So, yeah. The strangers here probably think I’m rather, well, strange. ;-) I’m okay with that.

Also, I gave into the advice of some friends and decided physical appearance doesn’t matter when I travel, so I’m in sweatpants and so very very comfortable! Thanks, C!

Now just an hour until takeoff, 8 hours on the plane… I still don’t quite believe it!

Music!

Hey!

So, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but near the bottom of this page is a cool playlist feature thing where I'm going to be putting music that I either think is relevant for the day or has been recently shared with me - either way, it's cool stuff!

So, I just wanted to draw attention to that - I'll be putting up some more songs soon.

BTdubs, if you have music you think I'd like, PLEASE share it with me! :)

Pre Departure Day

So, the plan for today is:

Leisurely breakfast with lots of tea and (it turns out) playing cards -- I whomped my father in Gin (six times), Casino (twice), and Rummy (twice), all the while eating chocolate chip banana bread. Excellent morning!

Then, out for a shopping trip ('cause you can never have enough socks, and sometimes comfort food from the good ol' US of A is a good idea - a.k.a. Trader Joe's chocolate chips, favorite coffee, etc.), then to the gym (or at least out for a walk with the dog), and finally horseback riding with my mother and then dinner with both of my parents.

The suitcase is mostly packed, except for what I'm wearing now and will be wearing tomorrow, but my backpack isn't packed in the least, so there's still some work to do. I also may try to find a digital camera today so that I can put up some pictures from this trip without having to carry my computer around to take those pictures...

Also, speaking of mediums other than text posts, I will be making some youtube videos about this trip and be putting them on my youtube channel (ThaiAmL - see link to the left of this post) but there are no study abroad related videos yet. Feel free to go and watch old, embarrassing videos of me with my guitar, but I will let you know when relevant videos are there!

Just wanted to keep you updated, and I hope everyone is having a spectacular September 14th!

119 Hours Until Takeoff

It's raining in Meadville, PA. Does that surprise anyone?

Not really, but what is actually surprising is the fact that in 119 hours, I'll be boarding a plane in Erie, PA, headed for Frankfurt. (Obviously not a direct flight - even though they call themselves the 'Erie International Airport' I'm convinced they only get that title for their annual flight to Toronto)

Until then, I have to do things like talk to various banks, see various family members, visit various doctors, and collect various foods that I'd like to have with me in strange, strange Deutschland. I'm going to enjoy the familiar for these next few days. But really, the familiar doesn't stop when I get on the plane. I've made this transatlantic flight at least four times before and have certainly gotten to know a few special places in Germany. I've gotten to know them so much that in a way, this also feels like going home. When I was growing up, I never thought the word 'home' could be relative, but now I think I understand that it really is, and I kind of love that.

I hope this post is appropriately grand for starting a blog but also not TOO pretentious - I haven't written one of these in a while. I'm sure it'll only get easier.

Thank you so much for coming and reading, and I will be making some video posts along the way if I figure out all this linking-my-blog-to-my-youtube-account-business. Bear with me!

Thanks again for reading, and I'll post again soon!