Monthly Archives: February 2010

Home

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Since yesterday, I have been home in Munich. I am going to spend the next couple of weeks here, before I go back home to Heidelberg. The way I use home to refer to both cities can be confusing at times, but both places are home to me. Munich is my hometown and it always will be. I have my childhood and high school friends here, and we meet up whenever I am back home.

Heidelberg is the town that has been my home (on & off) for the past 7.5 years. I moved there in October 2002, and with the exception of two years, and about 2-3 months per year, have been living there. I have a life there, a job, close friends. I love the town.

But Munich still comes first in my heart. And because the next couple of weeks are going to be the last weeks I spend here before finishing my exams in July (and possibly until the end of August), I am going to try to make the most of my time here. There are really only two things I came here for: to spend time with friends & family, and to study.

So far a trip to the movies has been planned with one friend, coffee with another, and a bloggy date with the tex-pat. (She’s a friend I met via my previous blog! How cool is that?) Next weekend will be one dedicated to birthday celebrations, first my best friend’s (= a road trip train ride to the town she goes to college in), and then my mom’s for which I’ll be testing my culinary skills and making a key lime pie for the first time. I hope I will get to see all of my friends here, as well as my brother and sister, and at the same time be able to keep up (or catch up really) with my study schedule.

But right now? I am just really excited to go downtown for some window shopping tomorrow (and some actual notebook mouse shopping because mine broke) and then meet up with a friend to see Up in the Air. And a trip to the Victorian House for tea and scones or something else equally English with another friend on Sunday.

What are your plans for this weekend?

It's peanut butter jelly time

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I’ll tell you a secret …

Delicious peanut butter jelly sandwich!

Peanut butter jelly sandwiches.

Oh, how I adore them. In fact, there is not much that beats two slices of freshly-bought white bread with a layer of peanut butter on each and a layer of jelly between them. Comfort food at its finest.

And you know, whenever I mention to American friends who have spent some time living in Germany how much I like peanut butter (not just this lovely PBJ concoction, but also in my oatmeal or with a banana), they are surprised because apparently it is very un-German of me to like peanut butter. Supposedly, Germans usually do not like peanut butter if they’ve ever had it at all.

And you know, there might be some truth to that. Peanut butter is definitely not a staple food in German families like it is in American ones. But I actually did grow up eating peanut butter. With jelly. Okay, it was on German bread, but close enough, right? And I never realized that this was anything unusual, but it seems that it is.

In that case, I’d like to thank my parents for not keeping the deliciousness that is peanut butter a secret. My taste buds are forever grateful for having known the amazingness that are peanut butter jelly sandwiches early on.

P.S. I love my PBJ sandwiches best with mango jelly or the classic – strawberry jelly. How do you like your PBJ sandwiches?

A last day

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On Thursday was my very last day of classes. Ever. One of the many lasts I will experience this year.

And for something that extraordinary, it really felt like any other day of classes. But the reality is that next semester I am not taking any classes. And it is my last semester of college. While I have not had any mandatory classes to take during the past couple of semesters, I always took some classes, because the more classes I have taken the better, right? And most of these classes were taken out of personal interest in the topic. But I have realized, especially this past semester, that going to class felt like a chore. As did the reading, even though they were good books. I dropped out of the two classes I took this past semester temporarily in December because I needed to focus on my thesis.

After Christmas I went back to my classes but I realized that if I am going to write my thesis all day I’d rather have my break from writing involve a fun TV show than more reading and discussion about literature. And because this upcoming semester is going to be all studying, I decided that I will use what little spare time I have to watch TV, read a fun book, or go to the gym. Taking classes always involves more work than I expect. I want to do all the reading, and that takes time, because if I don’t, I end up sitting in class not knowing what everyone is talking about, and I end up feeling like I am wasting my and the professor’s time.

So this upcoming semester? I will focus on the things that really matter and fill the rest of the time with distractions. I think that I will need to balance out all the studying with fun activities that distract me from the madness that these exams are going to be. Because otherwise? I think I just might lose my mind.

Over the course of the next five months, I will take two written exams of five hours each – each exam will consist of me answering one single question about an excerpt from one text. I have to prepare each of eight texts for one exam and ten to twelve for the other in detail. My first exam will be on April 10th, with the second following four weeks later. And because during the week, there is a shortage in rooms, we get to take these exams on a Saturday at 8am. (I don’t know which one is more awful.) After my written exams, I have two oral exams of an hour each following. I will have to prepare about the same amount of texts for that (though there will likely be some overlap). Each of the four exams will account for a sixth of my degree grade (with my thesis accounting for a third). The pressure is immense.

And because of the way my degree works? I can do amazingly, and I can completely fuck it up. It’s up to me. And because I want to do the best I can – I want to profit from the system and actually improve compared to the grades I got throughout the past few years, all of which do not account for anything now – I am meeting up with a study group regularly and I will make a study schedule. I will make studying my full-time job. And come July 12th (my deadline for taking all my exams, though I might be done a week or two earlier), I will take a deep breath, thank Heavens for having finished that very stressful last year of college, and do absolutely nothing for a week or two. And by nothing, I mean nothing productive. I am planning to do lots of friends-meeting, chick-lit-reading, bad-TV-watching. And I will enjoy my last summer in this town. My last seven weeks in the town that I called home since 2002.

Give a little

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Give blood!

Last Wednesday, I went to give blood again. And in true blogger fashion, I just almost wrote blog instead of blood. Right …

I have been giving blood more or less regularly since I turned 18. There was a long gap for a few years after I started college when I did not or hardly ever gave blood (only three times in a span of six years), because I was set on only giving blood in my hometown and because I was abroad for two years. Only in late 2008 did I decide that I should give the blood donation center here a try, especially as I was now living so closely to it (it’s at the other end of the campus I live on). Since then, I have been going regularly again, and have given blood six times over the past 1.5 years. I figure it is a simple way of giving back to society. Blood is so important, and it saves lives – yet so many people don’t give blood, at the same time they expect that if they needed a blood transfusion, they would get it. Over the time I have asked almost all of my friends if they want to come along with me sometime, and unless they have an actual excuse (being under the weight minimum for example), they tend to make one up. In all probability, they are just scared, but I do assure them that it’s not bad at all and doesn’t hurt. Yet, not a single friend of mine here has come along with me to give blood. Not a single one. So if you are healthy and are eligible, please consider giving blood when you get a chance. Many cities have blood donation centers and universities and other organizations do blood drives. So many people need blood transfusions every day and they rely on volunteers like you and me to give blood. For more information, you can read up on giving blood here (in English) and here (in German).

Another way in which you can give back is to sign up as a potential bone marrow donor. I did this several years ago. I have yet to actually give bone marrow as it is very hard to find a match for patients in need of a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, but if they ever contact me telling me I am a match for one, I have no doubt in my mind that I will do it, knowing that my stem cells are likely the patient’s only chance of survival. So many people around the world have leukemia and are in need of a stem cell transplant, and unlike with blood, it is very hard to find a match. I also want to note, as it seems to be a common misconception, that your bone marrow has nothing to do with your spinal marrow. Bone marrow is extracted from your hip bone and is not dangerous (except for the usual risks associated with general anesthesia), and nowadays, the way the donation usually works is extracting stem cells from your blood (similarly to giving blood, except that the rest of your blood is returned into your body after the stem cells have been extracted). If you are interested in signing up as a donor, you can read up on it here (in English) and here (in German).

And last but not least, if you do not carry an organ donor ID with you (or have specified on your driver’s license if you are one), consider doing it. Nobody likes to think about their own death, but let’s face it, we are all going to die sooner or later. And many people die young and unexpectedly. No one can promise you that you will live to be 100 (though I personally do hope we will all still be alive and blogging when we are 100, then in the 100something Bloggers network). Organ donation is another way of giving to others when you no longer need your organs yourself. Even if you are opposed to your organs being used to save other patients’ lives after your death, consider keeping an organ donation ID with you that specifies that you do not want to be an organ donor. That way you can make sure that your relatives and doctors will respect your wishes, and more importantly, know them. While the idea of my body being harvested for all viable organs is certainly not an appealing one, I figure that I will be dead and my body would rot away anyway (sorry to be so graphic but you know it’s true), and I know I will certainly not need my organs anymore (nor will I know if I am buried with them or without them). Others, however, may need them, and if my organs can help others live a few more years or decades after my death, you know, I think that would actually be beautiful. So, regardless of your opinion regarding organ donation, please read up on it and consider carrying an ID with you that states whether or not you are an organ donor. You can read more about this topic here (in English) and here (in German).

So tell me, have you given blood before? If you haven’t, I hope that maybe my post will inspire some of you to give it a try. Donating money to charitable causes is great, but keep in mind that there are other ways to give that are just as important.