//end blog here//

I was going to have a tear-jerking last post about how my study abroad experience in Germany changed my life... but I wasn't quite sure when one chapter ended and another began.

When I returned to Madison, it sort of felt like I never left. Like I suffered from amnesia and slept Rip Van Winkle-like through the whole last year. Friends were still friends, State St. was still State St. and Science Hall still shown brilliantly as I approached it from Langdon.

Yet the hardest fact to face for me has been easing up on my expectations, not of how America or Madison should be with me in it, rather what I should be like in Madison. I had high hopes of being an exotic breed who cooked, read, studied and exercised like a responsible cultured adult... however the wild college kid has not been tamed. It is a somewhat confusing time for me. What I can say though is that I have so much more perspective and control over my life than I have ever had before.

Clarity through writing...? yea right. For now, please follow the continuing random thoughts and adventures of Genevieve Schaad in my new blog:

Blog of a Madison Girl

Check Check Check

My papers are all done. Grades are very acceptable.

Clothes donated to Red Cross. Various items sold to next year's AYF kids.

Bags almost packed, walls unusually bare.

Rollerbladed one last time -- last minute exploring. As I glided around I quizzed myself on Freiburg neighborhoods, recited them out loud, did pretty well.

It's weird. As the end approaches (tomorrow), the beginning feels so vivid. The emotions, sights, smells, tastes are so fresh. It was so awkward, so scary -- now I couldn't feel more comfortable.

Emotions I've been encountering as I close this chapter and anticipate the next:
excited
dread
entralled
overwhelmed
calm
free
lonely
happy
scared
excited
numb.

I don't know how to sort out my emotions right now, maybe next post will be more clearer.

Colmar / wunderschoen Breisach

On Saturday, I went to Colmar (in France) for a day adventure with Andrea, Chris and Gabe. It often amazes me how easy it is to get to another country from southwest Germany. Yet once we cross the border Rhine, things change drastically. You go from slightly knowing what's going on to having no idea. I'm pretty used to being limited by the language barrier that resorting to body language is quite easy for me. Pointing, smiling and trying your various phrases (bonjour, sil vous plait, oui) can get you by no prob. The city was quaint, cute, clean, wonderful; the list goes on. Musicians on the street playing little French tunes while people chat at little (ancient) cafes. We strolled around the city for a couple hours, bought ice cream, chatted.

While we were waiting for our bus, we enjoyed a little Frisbee tossing. The game got more and more active and an hour into it, poor Andrea reached too high and completely dislocated her shoulder. It was kinda scary to find someone to call the ambulance to take her to the hospital, but luckily we found someone. The emergency response team in France is much faster than in Italy, I can say that for sure. Only Chris could fit in the ambulance, so Gabe and I waited in the park for further instruction.

Our best option was to continue back to Germany and wait in Breisach for the other two (the trains from Breisach am Rhine to Freiburg continued later). Gabe and I decided to explore Breisach and stumbled upon the most gorgeous views of possibly my whole european trip. The sky was exploding with bright sun beams from the evening sun filtering through the fluffy clouds. The french and german hills were unbelievably clear and we climbed up the hill to this old church and looked over the shining Rhine. A double f**king rainbow appeared in the sky. I clearly don't understand fate, but something magical existed in that moment.

(credit to Gabe)

Tomorrow I plan to do a little camping this week and I'm super excited! Paper, what paper?

Check Check

At least I can say I'm happily busy. I think I've been scheduling play dates with friends as much as possible because 1. many are leaving and 2. I don't want to finish my essay, and 3. it's summer for christ sake.

Europa Park! Kat and I finally went. The day was a blast. We got there around 10:30 and before we knew it we were running for the 6:30pm bus. We went on rides, walked through various countries and laughed are butts off. Speaking of butts, never jump on a dinosaur statue for a picture in your shorts, unless you have checked the temperature of metal... ouch!! The picture is of me in agony :P

But the day wasn't over. I stopped by my friend Brittany's BBQ, and chatted in our strange Denglisch. Das ist sorta an odd mixture of Deutsch und English, pretty lächerlich stuff.

I finished the night with the Vauban crew (Vauban being another neighborhood where kids from my program can live) The LAN Party was finally on. We played a little Warcraft3 but it wasn't long before I stopped to play... can ya guess it?... counter-strike. Oh wow, now I remember how much I love this game! I hope my internet really sucks next year, or else I'll be tempted to play more and more... wuhahahah!

Now it's Thursday with plenty of productive time on my hands. I know the essay is calling, do me do me... but I have some other projects I'm working on and good books to read... and those sound more fun. Over and out.

A random post by a Modern Hippie

Maybe because I'm in the middle of my 10-page final essay on "Freiburg: grüne Politik" and all I can think about is environmental protection and green philosophy, I stop to consider my actual thoughts on the subject. Are the Greens and the Green Parties really on to something here? Why can't we strive for lasting peace, a healthy earth and grassroots-democracy?

I wiki it.

It also surprises me how much energy the U.S. wastes on pointless items like SUVs, non-insulated/badly designed houses and light bulbs/huge monitors. Not to mention Americans have no transportation system to brag about. And education in the States? don't even get me started. <-- This actually seems to be my common 21-year old rant these days: how the Man and the ignorant folk get me down... and why can't we all just be open... and smart... and get along?

I google it.

Ok, ok, I do know that the Green Party certainly isn't the ideal party to be with and I also understand the economic/energy crisis, along with other worldly news about why those countries just can't get along, HOWEVER I'm optimistic about the human race (if we can survive the meteor in 2012). I've decided to term myself as a "Modern Hippie".

A "Modern Hippie", in my opinion, is a youth in the counterculture of the Information Age. One who can easily access the exchange of information online to better themselves and the world around them. The networks they create enhance human connection and broaden the reaches of music and art. In this border-less/reckless world, the "Modern Hippie" still cares for a healthy earth, a healthy body and a healthy mind.

I thought of this term when I was laying baked in the sun with my long flowy hair and short-shorts, listening to Bob Marley, researching how Freiburg is so umweltfreundlich.

I blog it.

Check

Yesterday: roller blading adventure to Sankt Georgen (5pm).

Interesting Sites:
1. A large group of old German men playing Bachi Ball
2. An old tradional house on Blumenstrasse
3. 15 Campers/trailers all in a row (must have been a lot)

Recap!

Lots has happened. The last week plus some has contained my continued quest to conquer the Black Forest, my last big European trip and a plan formulated to fully understand Freiburg. For the sake of ease, I'm going to do a day by day summary.

Friday (June 27th... I know, we are starting a while ago):
At 6:30pm, I met Kat and Schlimpi at the train station. They had invited me to a music festival in Memmingen, a town on the border of Baden-Würtemburg and Bayern. Our plan was to stay the night at Schlimpi's parents' house in Schönwald and then head out early to Memmingen on Saturday morning. The visit was wonderful. Sometimes I forget what it is like to have a warm meal, a cozy clean bed and parents around. I must say it was one of the most German experiences of my life thus far.

Saturday (28th):
Yummy Brötchen and coffee for breakfast and then we were on our way. We had to cross down to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) before heading back north, a total three hour drive. Since the Rents visited, I'm quite the pro at backseat road trips. I even sat in the middle seat with my shoes off, despite crappy memories. Schlimpi's friends drove in another car, and I've concluded that European boys driving is a scary thing and if I calculate kilometers to miles right, they were going damn fast.

The music festival was fun: food, beer, music. The music was a local blend of Reggae, hiphop and indie, and I really liked some groups.

That night, instead of pitching a tent, Schlimpi drove us home. He ended up getting a little lost and we found ourselves in Austria... how often can one say that, though?

Sunday (29)
More pleasant memories at Schlimpi's parents' house. That night Germany lost the Euro2008 cup to Spain, oh well.

Monday (30)
Had my Literature class. I decided I'm going to write my final essay on the generation crisis found in the books "Frühlings Erwachen" and "Die Ratten". Quite a mature and challenging topic, shows just how far my German has come this year... which makes me really happy.

Tuesday (1)
Flew to Rome! All my trains, buses, planes and taxis worked out wonderfully and around 8pm I was embracing my high school best friend in Rome. In Rome!

Wednesday (2)
Jess gave me a small tour of her neighborhood. She lives right in the middle of everything, so on our tour I saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and old buildings GALORE. It really doesn't matter what you see in Rome I've determined... it's more about feeling the energy of the city. Rome felt like a canvas that kept getting re-painted over and over again throughout the years. One can see the really ancient stuff, with a layer of Renaissance riches, a layer of today's modern international techy gadgets and all the layers in between. Unfortunately it was near 100 degrees every day, so taking a nap in the afternoon is a must.

Thursday (3)
Jess and her friends planned a trip to Tuscany to get out of the city for a while (I know, I just got in -- but no complaints from me!). We went to this city called Siena and stayed at the most peaceful bed and breakfast on one of the rolling Tuscan hills. The place had a pool and Jess and I swam the afternoon away. Then we took a break to soak up the sun and read our books. Current book: "Tortilla Flat" by Steinbeck, I just can't get enough, it's my 5th book from him.

Friday (4)
Horseback riding!! I would have made my auntie Claudie proud of my excellent posture and energy focusing I practiced on my horse Bruta. The horseback riding was offered at a big family's ranch (duh the family was big -- they're Italian!). For lunch I had the true Italian meal, spaghetti and constant Italian chatting. I must say that I haven't always had such an affinity for Italians, but at least from this experience I can say that I enjoy their loud laughs and excellent, EXCELLENT noodle-oodle-oos.

I wasn't a very American day, but in my head I tried to repeat often: america, fuck yea! And the spaghetti did go with delicious bbq meat.

Saturday (5)
Back to Rome, hung out with Jess's friends for the evening.

Sunday (6)
Woke up at 7:30am, on the streets at 7:45am. I had said goodbye to Jess Saturday night, choosing Sunday to be my private exploration day. Waking up early was the best decision ever. As I walked the empty streets, only Italians were up, getting ready for the masses. I climbed the steps to the capital and looked out on the ancient ruins of the Forum. The world seemed so quiet and I was in the busiest city. I have to recommend trying this early tactic when in huge cities like Rome, you'll feel like the grand city is yours.
Then I went to a museum and saw some old statues. When I got out, the world had repopulated, there wasn't a person in sight without a camera in their hands. I made my way to the Colosseum and from the metro station there, I said: Let's go home.
Metro to metro to bus to plane to bus to train to Strassbahn to home.

Monday (7)
Lit class, kinda boring. Although I have a clear idea for both essays I must write (7 page and a 10 page), it feels close to impossible to actually start them. For the rest of the day Monday I procrastinated... I'm not even sure what I did.

Tuesday (8)
Cleaned my room and ran some errands. In the evening I met my friends Alex and Gabe and we went to the Weinfest going on at the Münster. We all "Prost!"ed to experiencing Freiburg before it is too late. Then listened to the old men sing German folk songs and drank some fresh delicious wine.

Today
Gotta go to class, like now.
Later I have planned two Freiburg-based walks. One to Zahringen with Andrea. One to Rieselfeld with Alex and Gabe. It should be a fun day :)

Zähringen

'I know!' Gen thought with a smile, 'I can stroll through Freiburg with my roller blades and cover 4 times the area!' And right she was. Today roller blades enabled me to go all the way to the neighborhood on the far south side of the city, Zähringen. Definitely an awesome name, the Zähringen family was a ruling German clan at the turn of the first millennium. Konrad of Zähringen (and his brother Duke Bertold III) established Freiburg (1091) as a free market town, lying on perfect location between the Mediterranean and North sea trading routes and on the Rhein and nearby Danube rivers.

Despite that Konrad's son, Bertold V died childless and that was the end of the Zähringen family, the favorable market location and the close silver mines made Freiburg a very influential town by 1200. With this excess money, the cathedral (Münster) construction was started, only to be finished 300 years later (1513).

The Zähringen neighborhood I explored today, I'm not too sure on its history. It had many old houses of course, and a couple cobble-stoned streets (which are scary scary on roller blades), a nice biergarten where I ate Käseschnitzel and drank Apfel-Schorle and a pretty wall mural.

A special moment came when I rolled into the next town Gundelfingen and over this cute small wooden bridge... and on the other side were 6-8 closely designed houses evenly spaced out on either side of the street... and for a second my mind travelled back to a rainy day in Seattle. Sebastian and I were bored and ended up building not only (playing-) card houses, but a card city. My mind replayed the exact moment when I showed Sebastian my card suburb: a cute small card bridge and on the other side were 6-8 closely designed card houses evenly spaced out on either side of the street. The memory at that moment felt so fresh... hmm, I should call Sebastian, I haven't talked to him in a while.

Or I'll lay down because I am pooped!

On the Right Path

I haven't written in a while, there's a reason to that. Lately I've been rearranging my life, my priorities. I have less than 2 months here in Germany, and I really have to focus on what I want my remaining experiences to be like. I discovered I was sad and that my violently bouncing mood swings weren't the result from too much school work or loneliness, rather something deeper down. It was like I was on the wrong path and I was trying to bush-wack through the dense forest to the path I wanted to be on; instead I finally decided to trace back my steps and get on the right path indefinitely. Someone wise once said to me, "Find out what food your soul likes and feed it only that. Even if you die overweight, you'll be full of enlightening experiences."

What do I want to accomplish this year? I asked myself. I'd like to understand the culture and history of the Black Forest region and Freiburg. I'd like to read more. I'd like to gain a sense of self-worth and confidence to take home with me. It was all talk before, now I'm finally acting on my goals. I dropped my stressful classes (I'm not a full time student now, but that doesn't matter in the long run) and I take walks almost every day.

On Tuesday, I boarded a regional train and took a small outing to Waldkirch (about 15 km away). I didn't know much about Waldkirch, but I was determined to find out. Waldkirch is nestled in dark Black Forest hills, broken up by huge vineyards. It has ruins of an old castle owned by knights who bought the area from, I believe, the Zähringen family in Freiburg. They have a strong sense of tradition in Waldkirch, every year going all out for carnival and their bizarre Organ Festival. I went to the zoo and organ museum, had some apple juice on their old market street and climbed up to the ruins on the hill. The town/city (pop. 20,000) totally enchanted me, and I feel a small step towards understanding this area that I have called home for the past 8-9 months.

I feel good these days, a feeling that doesn't seem temporary.

Erasing Awkwardness

High School was just plain uncomfortable. Kids at that age don't know how to act in their own skin, let alone know how to act around other people. Emotions are tested, beliefs are tested. If you look back, doesn't the whole time period just seem bizarre? I often don't understand when I hear people speak about High School as these glory days of the past that can never be lived up to... blech! Coincidentally most of the close friends I have did not enjoy their High School experience, but all agree how wonderful college is.

Lately (past 2 years or so) I've been trying to erase "awkward" from my life. I've lived too many days where I felt "awkward", that I am downright done with it. There are many situations one needs to be reminded. I find talking with people you've met but don't remember their name, sitting next to someone in class with nothing to say and elevators to be the true test to my mission. The worst one is riding an elevator with someone with a forgotten name with nothing to say... in Germany. Sometimes I try to pretend I have a text message and fiddle with my phone until my floor comes up. Mostly, I just take the stairs.

I bring this topic up because as summer approaches, I began to realize I don't have many friends here to go on walks outside, play Frisbee with, explore Freiburg, etc. One friend studies excessively with a boyfriend, another with a girlfriend, one who would rather watch TV show after TV show who might be allergic to the sun, and others who live just too far away. I'm in my make new friends phase, and there is no time for "awkward" to get in the way.

Eyes and Happy

Right after I wrote the last post actually until I woke up this morning, my eyes have been really bad. They were extremely pink and very tender, making it hard to read anything. I think because I don't have a pair of glasses since the accident, wearing contacts for 15 hours of day finally got to them.

Eyes are so precious, take care of them. <--lesson.

I've decided that my parents are going to reward me with lazer-eye surgery when I graduate college, I can't wait! Being able to see the moment you wake up, or jump in a lake/pool/tub/ocean without consequence will be such a wonderful thing I think.

Anyway, I'm quite happy this morning. My eyes feel much better and Yesterday, since I stayed home from class, Seth got handouts and notes for me. He then told me about all the people who had wished me well. He also told me that the class got into a discussion about my accident in Italy and everyone was like, Oh Man! And all caring and chatting... about me. Awwwwwww, makes me smile. Today there is a bbq hosted my favorite seattle program-mate, Julia. Everyone will be there, and I'm exciting to hang with people... I just feel, excited...

*punch!punch!*

Grr! I have such a headache. I am currently in the International House where I take German language courses and I have been trying to work on my referat thema, but there are a group of italiens who are being SO loud behind me. The simple solution would be to ask them to be quiet, but this is a computer room for students to work in, I should not have to tell them! I've resolved to grunting loudly... what I really want to do is get out a can of whoop-ass on them. Hiiiya! Take that! *Round house kick* *punch!punch!* *Karateeeee CHOP!* Then they run away crying and I laugh, oh I laugh. Hahaha! Then shut the door and peacefully get back to work.


sigh, I need a vacation. Oh right, I just had one... I need another.

When in Wien, do like the Wieners

The last week I was in Vienna, Austria with my literature class, wow. I don't know what expectations I had before the trip, if any, but they were definitely off. I had expected a city like Zurich, but in a way it was more like Rome. I got a great sense of the culture and mentality of the 19th century (under Hapsburg rule), and now understand what inspired the works of the authors we read about in class.

The trip was really fun, I liked the size of our group (10), so that when sick of one person, I could hang out with another. One night we saw a play written by Arthur Schnitzler called Reigen. It was pretty funny and halfway through we saw a pair of boobs, which was pretty shocking. Other nights we sat in the park by our hostel and played cards. The weather was perfect every day, and I might have even gotten some color!

Now I'm back in my room, a little tired. I have many tasks at hand, that I'm lazy to start... tomorrow, right?

My to-do list:
-Buy plane ticket to Madison (aug 14/15)
-plan trip to Rome to see Jess -- find couch
-EU reading and struktur politik referat planning
-Literature reading and kubrik referat planning
-Umweltschutz essay, reading, vocabulary and grun politik referat planning... jesus
-grocery shopping
-laundry (washtokens on Sunday, don't forget)
-email professor about independent study
-figure out website... I've been saying that for months...

oy, back to work.

Vienna!

This morning I made coffee before putting my contacts in. I went back to wash some dishes with my contacts in and there was coffee grounds everywhere... everywhere.

/me packing
/me hits reader with a trout
/me :D

Vienna!

Counter-Struck

haha

Self-Discovery through Steinbeck

I finished East of Eden tonight. Oh, John Steinbeck, how you read so clearly. When I can't seem to fit the words to my thoughts, you write them exactly so. When I am frustrated with my sense of place, you have such words of wisdom for me. I guess we are all in some internal struggle, some unsolved riddle. Steinbeck brings troubling issues out for me, so I can stare at them in the open for hours and wonder why they exist. No, wonder why I can't presently solve them.

The worst part are the contradictions. Wanting to succeed with no motivation to do so. Wanting love with no desire to attach or commit myself. It is as though I'm waiting for someone to come smack me upside the head and say, "Snap out of it!" Maybe I'm just waiting for myself?

This age is the worst, for everyone. Steinbeck says, "I am writing it not because I think my experience was unique; quite the contrary." He suspects that we have all had much the same experience -- "at least parallel experiences." he says. It feels to me to be an age where we want to figure out what path to take, but haven't had enough experiences to understand why that path is the one to take. It is so frustrating, so exhausting. I often wish of asking what Gen of the Future want me to do, and do only that... I suppose that produces a paradox because the Gen of the Future is a creation of the wrong paths and choices and right paths and choices of the Gen of Today. Sigh, this literature class and its paradoxical philosophy must be getting to me.

At least I'm figuring some stuff out, I think, I hope. That's all I could really wish for at this point.

"Timshel!"

Mein Stundenplan

Stupid Internet connection. I dislike you immensely. At Ulrich-Zasius-Haus we have the worst cable connection. Tonight I am trying to read several articles for my history classes and I like to look up words that I don't know and wiki names and places I'm unsure about... but when the connection is. so. slo....w, I. get... frustra... /loading/ ...ted.

My classes are very interesting this semester! (Hey let's talk about something else for a while, while my irritation level decreases) I am currently researching the wine-industry/-history in South-Germany for my Freiburg History class, preparing for a Referat on Thursday. I have a European Union class tomorrow, which is helpful because my knowledge on the past 60 years is lacking. Today I had a Literature class and a Environment-Protection language course. My 5th course is a USA-Germany-history and politics class.

The Literature class has been most interesting. The course covers German and Austrian philosophy and literature around the turn of the century (19th to 20th). So far we have read Ein Brief by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, some Wittgenstein and some Ernst Mach. The topics are dense, but I'm very proud of my understanding so far. This Saturday, our class is going to Vienna for a week, to go to museums, Cafés, monuments and the like... :D

Also for the Literature course we have to give a Referat and I chose to present the works of Stanley Kubrik (since we will be watching Eyes Wide Shut, based off the novel Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler, which we will read soon.) It started as a curiousity, but now it has become more of a fixation. I want to know everything. I've seen Dr. Strangelove and Spartacus in the past, not nearly enough. I watched A Clockwork Orange this weekend and have started Full Metal Jacket. Then it will be The Shining, Lolita and 2001... I have books checked out, wiki pages read, Seth at hand... this project is going to be AWESOME. Any discussions on Stanley Kubrik are very very welcome.

OK, back to the boring reading. Sigh.

Brighter side

I just remembered, I did do something that made me happy today! I dangerously cut my own bangs and they didn't come out half bad! I also taught myself a new pretty braid to do in meh hair, that's being productive, right?



:)

whinebitchmoan.

Blech, monday.

My shins have been hurting from too much walking/jogging and I'm afraid of shin-splints.

Today while I was walking to class, a bird flew out from under a car into my leg.

My chicken from the Mensa was really tough at lunch and didn't sit in my stomach well.

I felt really tired all day.

While roller-blading to class, a car took a fast right-turn and we almost collided at the crosswalk (in my favor). He flipped me off.

I haven't been able to get any homework done for the last 3 hours. Instead of doing it, I wrote this blog.

Blech, monday.

I love me my Rents

Hello Reader. Sorry for the pause in blog entries. My parents came for my last two weeks of break and we were so busy with crazy adventures, I had no time to write. Now that life has returned to somewhat of a norm (hmm funny how normal Freiburg feels now, I like that) and I have sat down to crank out these tales, many there are.

They arrived on Tuesday, April 8^th at Zürich airport. They had some delays here and there, but I didn’t mind waiting with my amazing John Steinbeck book, East of Eden. I couldn’t stop smiling when they finally got out of security, mmm I love my mama and papa. We got our brand-new rental car (60km on it, later I’ll describe why we can’t have nice things) and we set out north to the town of Hüntwangen, near Eglisau and the Rhein river, to a childhood friend of my dad’s, Renate, and her family. That night I was surprised to discover that I can finally understand Swiss-German, a strong dialect of German, that always had escaped my ears before. I was so proud of myself that I think I scared this ability away for the rest of the trip because it was never as easy as our first night.

The rest of the week was filled with a trip to Freiburg to get the glasses I forgot at home (oops) on the twisty-turny roads through the Black Forest; a museum visit and dinner with the cousins, aunts and uncles; and soaking in the nearby Zürzach bathes. All was great, but my parents and I were eager to get out on the main event of our trip: Croatia – agreed on because we all wanted to go somewhere south with beaches.

On Friday, our big trip began. We plotted our route straight south through Switzerland. First through Zürich, then to Schwyz and along the Vierwaldstättersee. This area sparked an interesting lecture from my father about the ancient stories of Switzerland that started with three cantons (Uri, Schwyz und Unterwalden) banding together in the protection of the Alps. He retold my favorite story of William Tell and my mom and I were very captivated. Everyone was in great moods because for once my dad was rambling and we were enjoying it. :P

In the Alps my dad also told us of his adventures in military service (all Swiss boys must do military service at age 18/19). After this we entered the longest tunnel of my life, the Gotthart tunnel, that goes under the heart of the Alps, approximately 11 miles long. When we finally exited the tunnel, we were in the Italian part of Switzerland, ergo pizza lunchtime. We continued down this Italian foot until we entered Italy, traveled around Milano and began to get antsy to find a hotel for the night. We ventured off the highway to a small town named Desenzano on the Lake Grada. Our hotel had an incredibly friendly clerk and we ate leftover pizza and watched CNN until retiring. The next morning, Saturday, we decided to stroll through the town and it was sunny and it was nice and wonderful. We bought a Herald Tribune and head on our way to Croatia.

Then it happened. Maybe 10-15 minutes on the highway we got into a traffic jam. A camper reared ended us at top speeds and both cars caught on fire. My parents and I ran from the car, all that was saved my mom’s purse and my dad’s camera and wallet. All we could do was whimper as our car burned to the ground. We were near Verona, so after the paperwork was done, we taxied to the train station and took the next train back to Zürich. Shit happens right?

Side note: That day we bought another Herald Tribune at the train station, only to leave it in the bathroom. We bought yet another one in the Milano train station when transferring trains. We only mention this day, therefore, as the Day We Bought Three Herald Tribunes.

The following three days we picked up the pieces and got on with our vacation. We got another car (duh, gotta have dem wheels), got new contacts for me (my glasses flew off my face in the car and I was blinded) and got new clothes for everyone. On Tuesday, we went to Bern to get new passports. From Bern I think we felt a little more whole. My parents want to show me Lucerne, and we went to every funky little town in between. There was this one town called Fankhaus that cemented my mom’s saying, “You don’t need to go to Disneyland, go to Switzerland.” It was BIZARRE. Lucerne was very very pretty and we got the greatest old hotel where we drank wine and laughed the night away.

From there we went to visit my dad’s oldest brother again for coffee. The next day we were able to have dinner with my Godfather Hansueli (another childhood friend of my dad’s) and his lovely wife and daughters (one of whom, Sereina, is my absolute favorite).

On Friday we went to Freiburg and they found a cute hotel near my apartment. On the weekend, we took a spontaneous trip to Baden-Baden, to go to the bathes (luxurious-luxurious.) Everything that could go right did go right in Baden-Baden including friendly people, great meals, cheap wonderful hotels, and sun sun sun. On our way back to Freiburg, we took the scenic route through the Black Forest again and it was spectacular. Spring decided to go all out for our last European road trip together.


On Monday I went back to class and it was nice to come home afterschool to their hotel and tell them about my day and do my homework on the table like I used to do back in Seattle with them. They only stayed until Wednesday before heading back to Switzerland for the rest of the week. They fly home tomorrow. What a trip.

Birthdays relived, for my pleasure

I was about to go to bed tonight, when I started thinking of past birthdays. I've discovered it is SO hard to remember them. I find it wise to write down the stuff I do remember before I lose that too. Maybe when I'm back home in Seattle, I can look through pictures to fill in the blanks. Until then, here's what I know:

0: Even though my parents agreed not to ask the gender of me, my mom pulled a slick move and peeked at the nurse's charts. She saw a boy symbol and freaked at the prospect of having another trouble-making son. My father consoled her, and they agreed on the name "Nicholas Theo Schaad". Good thing I fooled them wrong, what a below-average name. Turns out, my mother saw the symbol for the 'last born child', way to go mom.

1st: My dad was apparently gone on a business trip and missed my birthday. He has apologized every birthday since then.

2-8: No real recollection. Though I think I remember running around screaming with other screaming children maybe age 4. And I think I remember getting the barbie or the "my little pony" of my dreams at multiple ages.

9: Had a party with school friends Suzuye, Nicole, Kayley, and others at the new house. I remember them sitting around the table while I blew out the candles on my angel-food cake with strawberries and ice cream... a birthday combo I've re-lived many-a-times.

9: Invited Jana, Jasmine and Lizzie, all neighborhood friends to a sleep over. When I wasn't in the room, Jana read my diary out loud to the other two. Thanks Jana.

10: I had one of the first ever boy-girl parties in our grade. We played kick-ball in the street and truth or dare in the basement. I'm pretty sure my elementary school popularity sky-rocketed.

11:/12:/13: God, this is hard to remember birthdays. Family event?

14: Birthday in Hawaii. This birthday Sebastian convinced my mom that I could get a kitty when we got back from Hawaii. That kitty is Gizmo.

15: Eh, family event?

16: I think my parents and I had fondue with the Chamberlains.

17: Another birthday in Hawaii. My birthday tends to land on spring break and we like going to Kauai = good match-up. This birthday we went on a beautiful along-the-coast walk, and then went out to dinner when I got upset at my mom's choices and was also missing my then-boyfriend Bryan. My mom and I got into an argument which now seems completely ridiculous... sounds like being 17, actually. My dad broke the ice by buying me a key-chain with almost my name on it. "Gene" is close enough, right? I still have that key-chain.

18: Byron gave me beautiful flowers and a bag of candy. We had a family dinner with G-ma. Nice night.

19: Had a small gathering with cake in my dorm room. The plan was to play capture-the-flag but everyone was still hung-over from my neighbor's party the previous night, her birthday is Apr. 6th, bummer. I did my geography symposium presentation that day.

20: On the train home from New York for spring break. That morning I went to the Seinfeld diner for breakfast. On the way back I read and napped. The woman sitting next to me treated me to dinner in the diner-car. It was low-key and perfect.

21: This morning I woke up, put on music and danced around my room a little bit. Then I went to my advising appointment with Mark to discuss this semester's classes. Alice and Chase were at the office, so we chatted as we picked out classes. Alice and I had lunch at the Mensa and then walked to the train station so I could by a ticket to Zurich to meet my parents tomorrow. We walked home, I read, napped. Listened to music, went on a long walk in my neighborhood (discovered there is a dojo and mini-golf quite close) and then did some laundry. Wanted to go to bed, then thought about writing this post. Writing this post. I didn't want to do anything tonight since I had a small BBQ last Saturday that was wonderful and I have to get up early tomorrow.

Favorite part of today:
train ticket man translated, filling out a form for me, "what is your birthday?"
"today"
*handshake*

mmmm, I absolutely loooooove birthdays!

Schönberg

Today I went on a very nice hike with my friend, Andrea. Now that the weather is finally warming up, my goal is to get outside more. We decided to hike up Schönberg, a decent size hill to the south of the city. We spoke some German with each other for a while to practice (since it has been getting rusty since break began) but after the conversation got deep and serious, aka boys and clothes, it switched back into English.

At the start of the year I went up Schönberg with Jim and he happened to take a picture of me by a sign. Since I'm such a fan of time-lapsed photos, I got Andrea to take another picture of me at the sign.

How many differences can YOU spot?

Redecorating Makes Me Happy

Today I redecorated my room. It was already pretty pretty, but my parents are visiting next week (yayyyy!!!) and I want them to be like "Wow." Plus there is something so refreshing about rearranging furniture, changing the pictures on the wall, and scrubbing the floor and shelves. I bought a wall tapestry type thing in London when I was there with Kat. I thought of it as a house warming present to myself when I move into my Madison apartment next Fall, but then decided it was silly to keep it wrapped up that long.

It was hard to get a good shot because my room is a little small:

Bed area (the Halloween lanterns are too cool to take down yet):

barcelona por favor

Last Wednesday, Seth and I set out for Barcelona, only an hour bus ride and 2-hour plane ride away. We were both excited, though for separate reasons. I couldn't wait to get out of the cold weather and learn about a country I had barely considered before the day we booked our flight; he wanted to expand his understanding of the Catalonia culture and history, as well as refresh his once-learned Spanish.

We both got what we asked for. The weather was a pleasant 60 degrees throughout our stay. The city greatly reminded me of San Francisco -- Mediterranean climate (duh), colorful houses, laid back inhabitants, early spring. It was amazing how fast my mood and spirits lifted. Frankly, I believe that the winter and cold suck.

Seth got all the culture and museums he could want, and he got me sucked into it too. The first museum we went to was a Joan Miró museum, filled with paintings from his early 20-year-old career to his final masterpieces. His paintings were very intricate and very influenced by the politics of the area, as well as the general feeling of Europe at the time. During the Spanish Civil War his paintings were much more darker; afterwards his work often incorporated the sky or stars, as if he wanted to look away from our troubled, war-ridden earth. I've never focused on an artist in such depth, but now as I am starting to appreciate art more, I agree it's important to understand the artist to gain a better understanding of their art. For example, my Seattle neighbor Todd explained to me once that Pollock's chaotic work isn't from splashing paint all over the canvas, rather carefully dripping each line. Suddenly then his work seemed so much more impressive.

We also visited the Catalonia-history museum. Wow. Columbus set out from Barcelona! And during the industrial revolution, the rest of Spain was uninterested in using steam powered machines or updating their technology, but Barcelona was. Their economy boomed. Then while Deutschland's Kaiser and his generals were dealing with their two front war in 1914, Spain didn't participate and had a type of glorious revolution centered in Barcelona. But then Franco took over and he forbid anyone to speak or learn Catalan (official language of Barcelona) and since his death in 1970s the Catalans have wanted independence from Spain... who knew?? ahem, I got a little carried away there, but trust me, fascinating history.

The last cultural impact I encountered was the architecture from Gaudi. When I was 13, I had this fantasy house that was out of this world. It would have many colors and mosaics and have curves instead of boring lines. Gaudi apparently knew exactly what I meant (61 years before I even existed) because he made the house for me:


Despite the close purse-snatching and often sore feet, the trip went beautifully and I was quite sad to leave. I now have a taste of Spain, and I liked it. A lot.

Terminology Applied

Last week, while Seth was in Prague (lucky sob) I babysat his printer. I had a paper to print out, as well as several scholarships, so I knew I would use it as well as pet it, feed it and tuck it into bed. When I first plugged it in, I received a whole lot of error messages filled with scary technical jargon. One would be turned off at this point, but equipped with my vast IT experience, I simply copied and pasted the message into Google, found many forums dealing with the same issue, followed the steps and voila! -- print baby print!

Of course, it helped to know such terms as port, driver, add, remove... but nevertheless it made me think that the key to being a pro in anything, is simply terminology. For example, football never interested me until I understood what the terms of the game meant.

This may seem like an obvious point, it is. And now I'm about to use this point to figure out the financial world, on stride to my financial independence. Say, what is the difference between a physical delivery option and a cash-settled option...? No really, tell me.

Freiburg girl goes to London... baby!

From Monday, February 25th to Friday, February 29th I took my first real European adventure to London, England to see what the fuss is really all about. The hardest part of the journey was getting to the airport in Frankfurt Hahn (an airport 100km from Frankfurt city) which required 3 trains and a bus = a four hour endeavor compared to the easy one hour flight to London. Luckily, I was travelling with a very plan-precise friend of mine also on the same program: Kat. Kat had our whole travel itinerary down to a T, while I sat pretty reading my strange rabbit fiction, Watership Down.

On Monday, our main goal was to get checked into our hostel, St. Christopher's. On their website, they advertised a cool bar/hangout area attached to the hostel to meet other travelers, when in reality it was a hostel attached to a loud bar... but who can really complain at under $15 a night. Kat and I had an occasional beer in the bar (at least we didn't have to bring our jackets and purses with us), but we were both into our books, so we mostly read and went to bed early.

Our hostel was located in a totally punk-alternative area of London called Camden (you might recognize this neighborhood, it was recently in world news for having a fire in one of its numerable markets.) The markets were so vast and contained so many cool treasures, we spent almost all Thursday walking around shopping. Many shops had wacky sex t-shirts and "f**k the man"/marijuana memorabilia, that we mostly walked around giggling.

Tuesday and Wednesday were our busy touristy days. In both mornings we went on free walking tours. The first was called "Royal London" led by a hilarious Australian guy who could crack every British joke in the book. We saw Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, and so many other cool attractions. I really advise travelers to take tours of the cities you visit because 1. you can almost always find an English tour and 2. you'll see the city thoroughly and learn information about landmarks not usually found in guidebooks. For example, we learned that at Princess Diana's funeral, there was such a big turnout that only the royals could fit in Westminster Abbey and the general population sat on the grass outside watching the procession on big screens. A speaker inside the church made a comment against the Royal family, saying that they are only targeted against and are only turning into haughty celebrities. To this comment, the outside crowd started cheering. The applause was so loud that the Royals inside heard it and, oblivious to why the crowd outside was cheering, starting clapping along politely (the Brits are way too proper) and little did they know they were clapping against their own existence!

The second tour called the Old City of London was a historical tour led by another Australian, who knew almost too much British history. He showed us the famous Tour Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's cathedral, London's wall street, Globe Theatre, and other fancy-dancy attractions. This was also a cool tour, but I, a little bored, had fun cracking corny jokes to Kat about British history (ex. "How bout that Boston Tea Party?...suckas!") as we went along.

(Kat and I apparently wearing the Tower Bridge)

After the tours on both days we had lunch and spent the afternoon in a museum (all were free!) We saw the controversial Greek Marbles from the Parthenon (the Greeks want 'em back), Monet, Picasso, Pollock, my new fav Joan Miro, and also the Rosetta Stone.

As a last personal note to our trip I have to say this: I love big cities. The diversity, the intelligence, the history. Technological advances, human rights movements, political activities. I always feel so rejuvenated going to a big city while others (including Kat) feel so exhausted. London was especially exciting for me 1. because everyone talks so silly, I could never get tired of it and 2. because its like grand New York but cleaner. This trip reminded me about my love for the city of Seattle and hey, I was in London, baby!

It rains in London, what? Parliament Tower and London Eye in the sunshine

Red onions/ red peppers with pasta

I also wanted to use this Blog to update on my cooking development. I might also add book and movie opinions when they strike me.

Wed, 2/20/08
Cooked red onions, added red peppers. Added some tomato sauce and salt and pepper for a very yummy sauce for my noodles.
The red peppers made the onions very sweet.

Map Thoughts

Lately I've had so many ideas for interactive maps I could make! Yesterday I dragged Seth on this path I found by the Waldorfschule where I normally have orchestra rehearsals. At the top (literally top, it was somewhat of a climb) we found a small church and cafe over looking the city. We followed the path further and discovered a very small old castle-looking structure! It is only open in summer, but who knew this thing was even here! I then thought it would be so neat to take pictures of secret locations in Freiburg I find this year and plot them on a map for future AYF students.

I think I could use google maps as a base map... ooo or maybe I could use google earth and make a 3D map. A fellow student last year (Laura) made her final Geography 575 project on google earth and I really liked it because it was so easy to picture the actual landscape where she did her research. Therefore I know it is possible, it would just be the task of researching how to do it properly.

This brings me to my latest fascination on how advanced and convenient websites are becoming. Facebook uses Flash to load pictures faster and write messages in easy pop down boxes. It is my dream one day to discover no more clunky websites. It absolutely drives me crazy when I go to a website and can't find what I'm looking for.

The first post of hopefully many

I like the idea of blogging. I've had several online journals and have greatly enjoyed updating them with my latest rants and raves. However the time always comes when I reread previous posts that I feel outraged at my previous beliefs or feel sheepish of saying too many details. "TMI" as my mom often puts it.

So to try to keep this blog for a longer period of time I've resolved to just not read old posts. And keep the conspiracies and college drunken mishaps to myself.

How's Germany? To sum up: great. I was asked yesterday whether I'm going to come home sporting Lederhosen and speak with verbs at the end of my sentences... it is a possibility... but just because I live in Germany, doesn't mean I'm transforming into a German. On the contrary! I've never read more American literature, listened to more American music, or discovered more about American culture in my previous 20 years put together. There is something about the distance from where one comes from, and the isolation of never truly fitting into another culture (sure immigrants are an exception, I'm more referring to year-long abroad students) that makes one truly grasp their national identity.

It also helps that I have way too much free time on my hands. I wish I could say I'm getting in SO much productivity but come on! I'm young and lazy! Luckily reading has been the most self-growing/learning activity I can do while still sitting on my bums. I'm so amazed how absolutely wonderful reading is... I know, it took me a while to figure it out.

It has also taught me that not having a TV makes me very creative in how to use my time. I've been crocheting, rollerblading, scrapbooking, listening to music, playing games with my german neighbors, walking around Freiburg. Now blogging! I would like to spend less time on this laptop, but baby steps first.

Anywho, traveling season is here (ich hab' ZWEI monaten semesterferien!), but first I must write my last essay on the philosopher Heidegger... in german... five pages... oy, I better get on that.