Well, this hasn't been the best week of Germany so far, but thankfully it seems to be getting better. I started out the week feeling super accomplished because I'd gone running several days in a row, was cooking some fun and healthy dishes, and was getting to know my little town. Unfortunately that went quickly downhill when out of no where I woke up in the middle of the night Monday with hives. No idea where they came from or what I could have been allergic to. I spent the day Tuesday with one of my fellow teachers doing some language exchange and chatting about school. By the end of the day the hives had gotten worse. I tried everything from hydrocortisone cream to taking antihistamine to no avail.
After not sleeping well for the second night in a row, I finally broke down and decided to find a doctor. Unfortunately because it's school holidays at the moment, many doctors are on vacation. Go figure. Thankfully my teaching advisor was super nice and helpful in helping me call around to a ton of doctor's offices to find one that was both open and willing to see me. The doc also had no idea what in the world could be wrong with me, but prescribed me a cream with everything from steroids to anti-fungal stuff. So now I'm doped up on antihistamines and greased up in cream and feeling much better. After much discussion with both my mom and the doc, I think it was most likely my laundry detergent that's at fault here. So I've gone and purchased baby-safe anti-allergen detergent and wash all my clothes on an extra rinse cycle. All in all, aside from feeling like a leper, it could have been worse. I'm hoping this all clears up in a few days. If not, then I probably have the plague...
On the bright side, though, I finally nailed down someone at the International Office of the university in order to register as an official student there. I may or may not visit some seminars. Mostly, I'm in it for the free transportation pass. Fortunately, you don't have to register for specific classes here like you do in the US. You simply register for the semester, pay a very cheap (in comparison) semester fee, and have all the benefits of being a student without actually, technically, having to take classes. So that long-standing problem also has a solution in sight.
School starts back on Monday, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I've missed having a schedule. How sad. I'm such a school nerd.
In other news... I've been mentally planning an eastern European adventure of a trip for early spring: Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Belgrade, Zagreb...who knows where else. Anyone interested in tagging along is welcome! Also welcome are other suggestions for travel destinations.
Love and miss you all!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Herbstferien
Well, I have failed in my efforts to update more frequently... But I'll cut to the chase:
Travel Plans...have mostly all fallen through for fall break. Unfortunately the state of Hessen chose to not pay us our whole paychecks for the month of September, and we don't get paid again until the end of October. So the new plan is "Frugal D-land" which so far has been going rather well!
School...has been going well. The last week went by quickly, and I'm almost at a loss for what to do without having to be there 4 days a week at 8am! Not really. It's a little nice. But it was surprising how quickly I fell into a routine in just 4 weeks. Time feels like it's flying by here. Only another couple weeks of October, and then I've got quite a few plans for November, so I'm pretty sure that month is going to fly by as well.
Other Plans...include meeting up with teachers from my school and getting involved in activities at TUD (Technische Universitaet Darmstadt). Tuesday of this week I'm headed to one of my teacher's houses to do a language exchange. We'll talk a couple of hours in English, have lunch, then do a couple of hours in German, each working to help the other one speak more correctly. I've been a bit disappointed with how little practice my German has been getting. I speak so much English as school, and then much of what I do at home on my own in my apartment is in English. Watching dubbed TV is frustrating, but I do read regularly in German.
Wednesday nights I've started going to a choir group hosted by TUD. It's not just students but also a lot of other people. Last week was my first time, and it was pretty cool. I haven't been in choir or anything like it since high school, so there was definitely some nostalgia attached. The music is okay, and it's nice to have a way to socialize with other people. The choir also does fun things like go on trips and take part in competitions, so hopefully that will be something!
I've also been a couple of times now to an international church in Frankfurt. I started going with one of the teachers from my school who is also American. There's a 20s/30s kind of young professionals group there that I've started getting involved with too. They're actually planning a trip to Neuschwanstein the first weekend in November that I'm going along on. It's a mini-retreat. For those not familiar, Neuschwanstein is a castle near Munich in southern Germany that Walt Disney used as the basis for the concept of the Cinderella castle. So that's exciting.
Also in November, my friend Megan from VTech is coming to visit! She'll be here for Thanksgiving which is super exciting. I'm thrilled to have someone to celebrate with. We'll probably try to get a big group together to have a proper Thanksgiving dinner.
Alright, well that's about it for this brief update. Love to everyone!
Travel Plans...have mostly all fallen through for fall break. Unfortunately the state of Hessen chose to not pay us our whole paychecks for the month of September, and we don't get paid again until the end of October. So the new plan is "Frugal D-land" which so far has been going rather well!
School...has been going well. The last week went by quickly, and I'm almost at a loss for what to do without having to be there 4 days a week at 8am! Not really. It's a little nice. But it was surprising how quickly I fell into a routine in just 4 weeks. Time feels like it's flying by here. Only another couple weeks of October, and then I've got quite a few plans for November, so I'm pretty sure that month is going to fly by as well.
Other Plans...include meeting up with teachers from my school and getting involved in activities at TUD (Technische Universitaet Darmstadt). Tuesday of this week I'm headed to one of my teacher's houses to do a language exchange. We'll talk a couple of hours in English, have lunch, then do a couple of hours in German, each working to help the other one speak more correctly. I've been a bit disappointed with how little practice my German has been getting. I speak so much English as school, and then much of what I do at home on my own in my apartment is in English. Watching dubbed TV is frustrating, but I do read regularly in German.
Wednesday nights I've started going to a choir group hosted by TUD. It's not just students but also a lot of other people. Last week was my first time, and it was pretty cool. I haven't been in choir or anything like it since high school, so there was definitely some nostalgia attached. The music is okay, and it's nice to have a way to socialize with other people. The choir also does fun things like go on trips and take part in competitions, so hopefully that will be something!
I've also been a couple of times now to an international church in Frankfurt. I started going with one of the teachers from my school who is also American. There's a 20s/30s kind of young professionals group there that I've started getting involved with too. They're actually planning a trip to Neuschwanstein the first weekend in November that I'm going along on. It's a mini-retreat. For those not familiar, Neuschwanstein is a castle near Munich in southern Germany that Walt Disney used as the basis for the concept of the Cinderella castle. So that's exciting.
Also in November, my friend Megan from VTech is coming to visit! She'll be here for Thanksgiving which is super exciting. I'm thrilled to have someone to celebrate with. We'll probably try to get a big group together to have a proper Thanksgiving dinner.
Alright, well that's about it for this brief update. Love to everyone!
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