Episode 5: Yes, there is a hangover after a Caffein Rush; BBQ and Soccer Crazyness in good ol' Germany!

It’s weekend again!
Not that that means anything, but oh well…

The last week I have done some more research and written a term paper. (The one that I had to hand in the 17th… When Alli and Eric still have been here in Bamberg I already felt, that I couldn’t get it done in time so I emailed the Professor who gave me a little more time so I could finish it…) It’s a history paper (ancient history) and is about the “ Imperial Madness of Julio-Claudian Family; Research on Caligula”… it sounds a bit weird but actually it was quite interesting and I’d tell you more if I wouldn’t already know that nobody wants to hear about it ;]
Anyways..if you are interested it is 28 pages (in German..haha..sorry)!

A dead Kat (working for 13 hours in a row)

A little digression: Don’t give caffeine to your Kat

I’m not sure if you know, but I totally hate coffee – the taste of it makes me …. Ewwww!! – so while I was writing the paper I had some difficulties in staying up late to get (lots and LOOTS , I mean LOOOTS and lots of ) work done so I went to the grocery place to get energy drinks (Red Bull and Effect) and Coffee Stuff (Esspresso, Coffee, Cappuchino.. –grossness!!!).
So I came home and had an energy drink at about 8pm. An espresso at 9.30. Big cup of coffee 10.45. A bottle of Coke 11. Cappuchino 12.30.

-> I usually don’t drink coffee because of caffeine making me hyper.. Maybe I should not have consumed so much stuff with caffeine, but I could work until 5.30 am and after that couldn’t sleep :]

Next day I felt really nervous and shaky.. I learned a lesson.

CONSUME CAFFEIN AND YOU CAN WORK LIKE CRAZY!!

very much awake.. and shaky...

I shouldn't be too happy about that though, because that's just the 'Beginning' of more stressfulness..argh!

To Do list for the next week and half:
- English Presentation on Wednesday (STATUS: 15% done)
- Another Term Paper (for which I sadly don’t have literature) till Thursday (0% done)
- Studying for 2 Exams on the 13th of July (0% done)

- Go to 3 teachers office hours and work out exam schedule with them
- My birthday on 7th of July (won’t have a party though.. not in the mood)
- CAFFEIN?



So on last Sunday Hannes, my parents and me wanted to have a BBQ in the evening, but in the morning the sky was all cloudy and getting darker and darker.. It felt really eerie when at some point a weird strong wind shook all the trees and birds and leaves were flying through the air… Then suddenly one could hear a low rumble and cold wind swooshing around. I went outside to see what happened and then in about 15 minutes the sky got really REALLY dark ( it was only like 3pm) …

Weird eerie storm outside (and dark like 10 pm, but in the afternoon at 3pm)

After 2 hours everything was over – a thunderstorm and some heavy rain, but laters, mysteriously the weather was fine again and we could have our BBQ (crazy weather just like in PA..haha)
So here we are having BBQ.. nom nom nom!!

A very interesting close up.



NOM NOM NOM!! I know that this doesn't look like stuff that American People would put on their grill - (at least I was told that American PPL put other stuff on) - there is Brats, Steaks, Chicken Breast, Bacon and laters we put vegetables on..yum yum

Mom: :)

Dad: nom nom nom

I made a strawberry pie for dessert; Hannes at the whole thing!

He really ate the entire thing.. .. sigh...

Tomorrow (Sunday) :

there is going to be the final of the Fussball Europameisterschaft (Soccer Championchip) in which Germany is playing Spain!! Woot woot! I’m going to Bamberg with Hannes because there is a public viewing, for which about 10.000 – 15.000 people will be expected to come (at least!).
I’m not the mega soccer fan, but for Hannes’ sake I’ll be coming, too (not that he is going to notice me around, because he’ll be screaming, cursing and stuff like that) but he complained that I’m not a good Germany fan and I’m not supporting my country blabla so I will be like the ÜBER Germany fan and surprise Hannes… (I’ll take pictures!)

My Germany eye - makeup stuff.. from last time I went to the soccer game with Alli and Eric

I’m pretty stressed at the moment (and I know that you know, so I don’t want to complain about all that stuff too much!) but at least I got little nameless, that Susan wants to be called Hase II ..(which is a good name in my opinion, but my brother doesn’t want it to be called like that, so I just call it like that .. other ppl can give it other names..)

I think she already grew a bit - no wonder.. she's always eating..

A bunny ball :)

I said eating. EVERYTHING.

Where is the Bunny?

THERE is the bunny!!!

Teehee,.. sometimes she goes crazy and runs around jumping in and out of her cage :]

And sometimes she does other weird jumping stuff.

I have a video, but I'm not sure if uploading that thing would work...

Hai!

Okay,... so I think I'm just going back to work a bit more on stuff - flipping through books and seeing if there is something interesting I could use ( I guess not..but oh well)...

Tomorrow for lunch I'll cook Thai!

(Pad See-Ew (Thai Stir-fried Soy Sauce Rice Noodles with Broccoli, Chicken, and Eggs))

I know that it is going to be dreadful and I think we should go to a restaurant when I'm done cooking because I'm not good at asian cooking :/

(there shall be pics for your amusement!)

Hope everybody had a nice weekend! *hug*

What did you guys do and how is the weather in PA and everywhere else you currently are :D

I'll put up another blog about soccer and thai food on monday or tuesday night!

ps. Just two random pics of Bamberg, when I came out from class on thursday, 8pm :D

(I like the sky in this one...)

Episode 4: A new family member without a name and some random soccer crazyness

So, last week Eric has been here in Bamberg to visit Alli and here are some pictures from the soccer match we went to.
It's very common to either go to a public viewing place, like we did (one can also go to a smaller place like a pub, restaurant, cafe), to watch it with friends at home (and consume beer and chips) or to just watch it alone - but always be sure to be very emotional, meaning screaming, cursing, jumping up and down, swearing, threatening players although - of course - they can't hear it .. etc).
For the Germany - Austria match we went to a public viewing (where they supposedly hat the biggest outdoor LED screen of Franconia) in the heart of Bamberg. Looots and loooots, I mean Looooooaads, of people in ridiculous germany outfits and colours, hats, wigs, and so on..
(I was wearing a Germany flag as a cape and Germany colors makeup because Hannes was complaining that I'm not supporting the team and blabla)
- Oops, nearly forgot to mention that Germany won.. haha

This is "Maxplatz", where we went to watch the match. Lots of people. Lots of beer and food.

Eric with an awesome Germany shirt being enthusiastic :)

Alli and Hannes - also very enthusiastic (also having some beers ..haha)

Everybody who came to the public viewing got one of these fan like thingies that one could use to make gartuitous amouts of noise (when you slapp it on someone, on yourself or on your hands..)

Hannes and me (with very Germany - esque makeup: black - red - yellow)

This actually was supposed to be a nice pic of Hannes: I was standing in front of him and he smiles at me and suddenly he looked up to the screen and there was a foul play or something and instantaneously he began screaming and cursing like hell (and that moment I snapped the pic..haha)

Eric being sneaky (just like someone who knows how to SPAGETT!)

I might have mentioned to some of you guys that I always always always wanted a pet at home because I live in a little 'attic' apparment and I'm lonely (boohoo)...

The last three years I was trying to get my parents, namely my mom, to allow me to have a bunny rabbit in my room, but all the time she was against it (it's smelly, noisy, annoying, blabla). Everyday since I'm back home from the states I have mentioned how much I'd like a bunny; this now might have annoyed her so much, or heaven knows what made her allow this, but yesterday I mentioned, that after we went grocery shopping we should stop at the pet store...
I was standing in front of the bunny cages like forever and suddnely she said something like " Come on, pick one, I'm not standing here for hours waiting for you!"...

Of course, I couldn't refuse this offer and tadaaa... here it is.. or rahter SHE is!

It's a dwarf-lionhead bunny, she is black, fuzzy and lively! The only thing is that she doesn't have a name yet! So if you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free to let me know :D

She's so curious and eager to explore.

The lady at the pet store told me that in Germany, you can sell bunnies in a store only when they are 6 weeks old. She said that she got the bunnies only yesterday! (so she is only 6 weeks old now!)

It's so funny and cute to watch how she is cleaning herself.. hehe

Namless bunny and me

Studywise I still have a lot to do.. like a loooot ..loooaads, .. lots and lots and lots of studying and papers! But at least I now have a nice little cute (nameless) distraction!

Tonight, there is the first quarter final match for Germany, which they have to win, or they'll be kicked out... It is against Portugal, which should be rahter difficult because, as Hannes, my brother and my dad explained, they are a very good team and have some exceptionally great players (my brother wanted to name the bunny after a player.. grrr..nope..no option!) I'm not going to go to the public viewing to see the game, but I guess maybe I'll study and feel like just having it on tv as a background noise or so.. I hope we win, or Hannes shall be VERY dissappointed.

I hope everyone is doing fine! Miss y'all!!

Episode 3: A dramatic twist

For the weekend I was trying to get a big chunk of my papers done, but unfortunately, as always something stopped me from working...

Friday morning I woke up and with my voice nearly gone (coming back during the day) but feeling sick and tried, although I didn't even do much.. Couldn't conentrate too well either, so I hardly got anything done...
I was still hoping for to work on my paper on sunday but - dun dun duuuunnnn - a fever kept me from doing any work.. :(

That also sucks because Eric and Alli are still here in Bamberg and I cannot do anything because I get dizzy when I stand or do anything except lying around in bed.
It's a bit better now but nevertheless I will go to bed soonish (although it's only 9.30 pm).
If I wasn't feeling really sick I would be so scared of that paper deadline, but luckily the fever is keeping me drowsy enough not to worry too bad.


This is all going to be like back in the Sates... (as if I hadn't known already..haha... ) The difference this time is: not procrastination is keeping me from working but being busy and sick.
I know that I can write 5-6 page history paper in one night, but I shall see if I can write a 20 page research paper in 2 nights :]



Also, recently I feel like I'm daydreaming a lot without even noticing it.
Just sitting somewhere, lying in bed, sitting in front of the computer, showering, eating, no matter where, I kind of drift off until somebobody sais something or I realize that I have been lost in thoughts...., weird.

So here are some of the other pics from when Melissa, Denise, Alli and me went to see stuff around Bamberg (thanx, Dad, for being our driver that day!)

At "14 Heiligen" (= 14 Saints Church): Everybody is looking at all the

christian stuff that is sold at some sort of market behind the church

At "Schloss Seehof" in Memmelsdorf. Melissa called it the Hufflepuff castel..haha

At the "Sommerrodelbahn" in Pottenstein! Having good ol' fun like kids ;)

Now I shall go back to the land of daydreams and dreams... and hopefully feel better tomorrow.

Also tomorrow there is going to be another football game in which Germany is playing, which means that we (with Hannes) are most probably to be found at the public viewing thingy in Bamberg city... how thrilling.

Episode 2: Four hectic and eventful weeks that end in trying not being kicked out of university

The last weeks have been pretty eventful anf stressful, but nevertheless I'm still alive... So here a brief update of what happened since I am back safe and sound on german ground!



The first two weeks I had a lot of running around and organizing to do. It was a lot harder then I thought to get all the permissions, approvals, stamps, signatures and paperwork done to be allowed to enter the classes 3 weeks later. (3 weeks late, because I missed the first weeks of the semester in Bamberg, because I still was in Williamsport)



After getting everything half organized I finally realized how difficult this term would become with my upcoming Zwischenprüfung (a "mid studies exam" in history and english; about everything I have learnt the past 2,5 years...)

I found out that I would have to write my term papers (which usually are written during the semester break - after semester ended) during the semester. I was assigned topics but couldn't start working right away because i was missing some important literature.. but oh well..



Then the 30th of may Allison came to my place to stay for the night and go to London the next morning... but as we found out she forgot her passport in her suitcase which still was standing in Berlin so she couldn't go to London...

I was planning on using that time she went to London to write on my termpaper (because the deadline to turn both in is the 17th - and I will be kicked out of Bamberg University if i will not make it) but now it was hard to get time to write on my paper or even read the literature..



We did a lot of stuff in Bamberg and around Bamberg till Denise and Melissa arrived the night of the 4th of June. We picked them up from the train station at 2.10 am and retuned to my place and talked about everything and anything till about 6.15 am!

The next day Melissa neede/wanted to get her hair permed, so Alli, Denise and me did our best in doing her hair! (we were so afraid of doing something wrong, to burn her hair - or make it all fall out, but in the end it turned out great .. woot woot)

Us trying to do Melissas hair :)

A picture of Alli taking a picture

Bamberg Tour: Altenburg

From what I was told by Melissa and Denise Alli is always eating. Another proof of this theory!

Names engraved on the top tower of the Altenburg

Daisies can be eaten, but do not exactely taste yummy.. eww

´
On our tour around Bamberg with my Dad we stopped at a Church called "14 Heiligen" devoted to 14 Saints.





Alli described the inner of the church as yummy..the pillars looking like candy..haha






Another stop on our Tour with my Dad: Schloss Seehof






Random picture of the weather the night Alli arrived in Bamberg.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain.. but after Alli arrived the weather was very nice :D


So now that Melise and Denissa (that is what i said half of the time, being totally confused) are safely back to the USA , Eric has arrived in Bamberg on Tuesday afternoon Alli and him live in an appartment just around the corner of my house in Bischberg!

During the time Alli, Denise and Melissa have been here I didn't get mich of my uni - work done (Ithought i could get more done) and I have to try hard to get everything done till the 17th.
Unfortunately I woke up with bad headaches and some sort of tummy flu yesterday morning so I lost all morning and noon studying because I went to the doctors office.
I don't really feel well and have problems concetrating.

More than that ,I canot really sleep the last 1 and a half weeks because I get so scared and axious when I try to go to sleep becaue I'm scared to fail and have to leave bamberg...

I got 5 more days to complete two papers, which absolutely positively won't work.
I asked one of my teachers if I can hand in the second paper 5 days late. I hope he will be okay with that..

I'm going to be soooo relieved when that stuff is over...


Also at the moment there is the EM (= Europa Meisterschaft - european championship of soccer) going on. Meaning that Germany is totally going crazy!
One can see flags and ppl in germany colours everywhere! And this is about the only time that you can see germany flags in our country and people being pround of their country, because when germans would be pround of their country other times they would be called bad things again .. it is hard to explain but being patriotistic in Germany was never really easy after WWII...

More pictures of our Bamberg and Sourrounding trips, soon!

Now it's time to go to bed!

Episode 1: Back home

Woot!

I'm back home safely and by now completely, but it didn't go as smooth as I could have whised for...

But before I arrived at home, Hannes and me still had 2 weeks at Lyco left..
The first week we went to Fort Lauderdale in Florida for a little relaxing, because there would be no chance to do so once we're back in Germany.
I cannot say anything about the city of Fort Lauderdale, because we never made it there (didn't have a rental car, so it was hard to get around) , but it's said to be really nice and similar to Venice with canals and a lot of water. We went to the beach every day, mostly only for 2-3 hours (it was too hot and we got red quite fast ... grrrr) and then went to this little place to eat. Actually we did pretty much nothing except eating, sleeping, beach, reading, TV,... (which was very nice nevertheless).




someone sleeping on the flight from Williamsport to Philly.., haha 





beach in the evening



the beach through Hannes' eyes (dirty glasses)



a portrait of my feet



no lifegurads :)






 leaving Fort Lauderdale in the morning



The day we came back to Lyco we had to move to Rich for 4 nights.
When I carried all my stuff from Williams to Rhich I already felt that it would be hard to get all that in 2 suitcases (each 50 pounds) .. This proved to be true when I started packing on Wednesday : One suitcase was totally overweight with nearly 70 pounds and I had to ask Hannes to put some of my things in his suitcase. Also I had a carryone which must have weight one zillion pounds..

Since there wasn't anybody at Lyco left to get us to the airport the morning of the 9th of may we had to call a taxi (even after having made bad experiences with Williamsport Taxi companys). We made the reservation for the taxi to pick us up for 11.15 am (the flight would be leaving 12.45) ... The stupid taxi didn't show up till 12 and the guy answering the phone of the taxi company has been angry and yelling at me to be patient or they wouldn't pick us up at all. (ooh.. very good customer service...)
So Hannes and me...

a) arrived late at the airport
b) were selected for additional screening
-> Williamsport airport doesn't have an x-ray machine


THIS means, that they had to unpack our suitcases.. completely.. totally take everything apart. After they tried to get everything in again (which didn't work in forever) everything was squished and chaotic ..
Also the flight was delayed because of severe weather over PA so we didn't leave Williamsport till 4.10 pm..  In consequence we missed out flight to germany which left Philly at 4.15 pm.

So in Philly they had us booked for 2 flights to Germany but not as a reagular passenger but as "stand by" (meaning if there is a seat left in the plane we could fly if not we had to stay in Philly overnight..) That made me very angry (which I let the ppl know) and finally they got us a flight to Frankfurt leaving at around 6pm!
(couldn't sleep on the flight, but watched Juno and read a book, haha)

So the next great surprise was arriving in Frankfurt but our luggage missing... We went to that office for missing baggage stuff and they told us they couldn't even locate our luggage AT ALL because apparently they forgot to put that little barcode tag thing on our suitcases .. So they were practically lost and they told us to be patient and maybe they would be found somewhere..

So on one hand I was totally happy because my Mom, Dad and aunt were standing in the arrival hall with a hand drawn poster for me and flowers and food and something to drink and I was happy. But then all my stuff in the suitcases was gone and I really needed it.
Well, in the end, 3 days later they found the luggage in Philly and send it to Frankfurt, to Nünrberg and then brought it home to me ..

Anyways, I'm done stuffing all my crap in drawers closets shelves and under other things and this is where I live at home:



this is what my room looks like


the other side of the room


the room in which there is that sleeping sofa and more crap


the bathroom


So this is it for now because I have to get ready to go to class, which should not be very interesting but it has to be done.. afterwards maybe going out somwhere in Bamberg...

Sorry for not being very active online (Facebook/Deviantart/Flickr/....) but I'm basically running around all day to get signatures, permissions and doing paperwork like crazy.. I hope this weekend I will have some time to do all that stuff that is piling up on my desk and update my other pages, answer facebook messages and so on!

*sigh*




I miss everybody like crazy.. it is so weirs alone here and no noises and no spagett, no Susan and Kelley *meow* no Alli sounds and no Heather electronic music base...

I'll tell you more about my first confusing week here on saturday or sunday!




SPAGETT!!



Happy (belated) Birthday, Eric :)