My allergies have been really bad lately. I took an allergy test when I had my ENT appointment at the end of April. Then I had no problems but I could see from the test results that my allergies have gotten worse since the last test a few years ago. Like a week after I took the test my allergies started acting up. I started taking Loratadine (Claritin) which usually helps, but this year it doesn’t seem to. I have been sneezing like mad, and the past few days I have been feeling like I have a cold except I am pretty sure it is allergies, not a cold. I cannot sleep well, because I can’t breathe right, and my eyes get all red and teary when I am outside.

Today I made an appointment with my ENT for Tuesday to talk about other options. I could just try Cetirizin (Zyrtec) and see if that helps, but I figured it might be better to talk to the doctor first to see what he would suggest.

These past few weeks have pretty much convinced me to get allergen-desensitizing treatment but the thing is that I cannot do that for another year and a half. It has to be done during the fall/winter, and this year I will be in Spain. I just don’t want to risk getting asthma at some point because the allergies have been getting a lot worse and who is to say that they won’t keep getting worse until I do develop asthma.

By the way, I will most likely be getting the Nokia E65 (the slider phone), mainly because it has WLAN and that would be really cool, since so many cafés offer free wireless anyway. Well, I need to go to bed. I have not been getting a lot of sleep lately, and I have to work tomorrow morning.

I randomly came across this video on YouTube today… oh my gosh, those were the times. I remember dancing to that with my best friend back when we were in elementary school. And I remember wanting one of those skirts (Tellerrock in German), but my parents didn’t want to buy me one. I eventually got one anyway from my best friend’s mom. But now that I think about it, I can kind of understand my parents. I am sure that song was every pedophile’s dream come true. I never knew the skirt and song were related though. I don’t think I had seen the video before tonight as we were TV-less at the time the song was a hit.

Here is another one, not quite as old, but I remember at this one Abistreich [a few days before graduating the seniors organize a prank where classes are canceled midway through the day and teachers have to play games, complete tasks, etc - it was quite fun, though a lot of times the same thing every year] the entire school danced to it, haha.

Continue reading Blast from the past…

My cellphone contract is up in mid-June. I am going to get a new contract with Vodafone and for that I need to pick a new cellphone. I have narrowed down my choices to two phones, one I have been eying for a few months now and another I just discovered a week ago. Anyway, I cannot make up my mind, as usual, and I would really appreciate input from y’all.

And before you ask, yes, I have considered that I will only be here for another three months before I leave for Spain for 5-6 months (and maybe even 10 if I decide to extend another semester), but Vodafone has this Reiseversprechen, an excellent roaming deal meaning you only pay €.75/call (for calls up to 60 minutes!) extra on top of the regular minute prices in other European countries. I used my phone when I was in Spain last year and I only paid about €5 extra that month. It will allow me to keep in touch with my parents and friends for relatively cheap, also compared to calling cards.

Anyway, back to the original point of the post. I am considering two cellphones, the Nokia 7390 (in powder pink - I do not really like the combination of black and bronze here) and the Nokia E65 (not sure yet which color, both look good to me).

Here is an overview of the features (in German, but the Nokia site should have the same information in English): 7390 and E65. Basic differences:the 7390 is a tri-band UMTS phone with a 3MP camera, mp3 player, radio; the E65 is a quad-band UMTS phone with a 2MP camera, mp3 player, no radio but WLAN as well as Symbian OS.

I like both phones. Originally I only wanted to get a clamshell phone and I usually am not a fan of slider phones but this one actually really appeals to me optically. And both come with a pouch, so they would be protected from scratches anyway. My problem with the 7390 is the colors. I do not like the bronze black one - not a big fan of black cellphones and I just don’t think the black and bronze go together. The powder pink is cute, but that is exactly what is also putting some doubts in my head. Do I really want a cute pink cellphone? I like pink, I can wear pink, but we are talking about a phone here, not clothes. It is not all pink and that is really the only reason I am even considering, but it is still kind of girly anyway. (Though undoubtedly there are more girly phones out there.) The E65 is more grown-up, it is elegant and I like the way it looks (there are many out there that look too … cold or something to me, too angular).

Do any of you have any input on either of the phones? I want to order the new phone in about two weeks, so I need to make up my mind. I know, I am making kind of a big deal about this, it is just a cellphone, but at the same time it is a gadget you use every day, so you want to like it, and not be annoyed with it after a while, right?

Continue reading Oh the choices…

I meant to write again a lot earlier, but often I just keep pushing it back - I want to write about things, I just never actually get around to doing it. But I guess, at least I have something to write about now.

I am still going to Barcelona (of course that is my first topic, and I know by the time I actually go I will have bored you all to death with it, but then I get to bribe you all with pictures once I am actually there). I found out that classes start in mid-September but the university is offering an intensive course for Catalan in the first two weeks of September, so I will have to go there a little earlier than expected. Right now I am looking at the weekend of the 3rd, but nothing is set yet. And here I was thinking I might be able to go to the Oktoberfest if I am lucky, now I will be leaving at least a couple of weeks before it even starts. I am not that upset because I usually go every year anyway, and I don’t see why I wouldn’t be able to go next year, so next year…

My neighbors (next-door) are putting a 2nd floor on their house. They tore off the roof and are now in process of putting another floor on it. Needless to say, it is fucking annoying. During the day I don’t care but in the morning I do. Especially on days I normally get to sleep in, all the hammering and noise wakes me, and I cannot go back to sleep. I hope they are done soon. I want my quiet back!

This past weekend Tina came to visit. Friday evening we went to see Le Nozze di Figaro at the theater with the AJY kids. It was really good, a modern production but really good. It was funny and entertaining (which was a really good thing for a 3.5 hour opera)! Back home we watched the latest Grey’s Anatomy. Yay for watching Grey’s with my best friend! Saturday I had to work in the morning and Tina went shopping in the meantime. After I was done at work (good thing I work right downtown) we met up and continued the shopping. I was also quite successful, I bought some earrings, a necklace, an “Alice band” (no idea if that is the right translation for “Haarreif”, it is what LEO told me, and no I am not back in 7th grade, but it really looks good, at least I think so), and two pairs of shoes (brown sneakers and black ballerinas). Saturday night we had dinner at Café Journal and then cocktails at the Villa, which was really fun. Back home we watched Little Miss Sunshine. Sunday we slept in and decided to go to Karlsruhe. Karlsruhe is quite close to Heidelberg but I had never been there before. We looked at the castle, and walked around town, and had some ice cream. It was really a nice time. I really should do more of these one-day trips to nearby cities, as there are probably a bunch more that I have not been to yet. Tina left at around 2100 on Sunday.

I spent the rest of the night (by that I mean like 2130 to 0300) on the phone with Bea. Gotta love our phone marathon. We really can discuss a whole lot of nothingness for hours. Well, not nothing, but we do not really ever get anywhere, and if there was an award for over-analyzing, we would definitely get it. But it is fun anyway! And thank God for phone flat rates! They make conversations that last several hours absolutely guilt-free.

Yesterday we had our yoga class again. This one was taught by the Master of the Universe (okay, that’s not really his name, it is Master something, but we didn’t understand the something part so that’s what we call him now - he is our teacher’s teacher), and he said to me, “you have problems concentrating; that is what your body is telling me.” Which is interesting, because I do think I have problems concentrating (not just when doing yoga, in general), but how does my body tell him that, and most importantly, how do I fix it? I enjoy yoga but it is really hard for me because I am out of shape. I am sure it will get better but I still am so sore the next day, and probably will be every week for a while. But hopefully it will help me physically and also emotionally and mentally. Tonight after work/class we went to the Grey Stones and had dinner and a drink there. Good times.

Yesterday I found out my friend Colette got engaged. It is so funny, because just on Sunday I saw pictures of her sister Jennifer’s wedding on Facebook, and in November her other sister April got married as well, and I said to Tina, “I bet Colette is going to get married soon as well.” And then she tells me that her boyfriend proposed to her on Sunday! I am really happy for her but it is kind of strange to think she is getting married already. It kind of makes me wish I had already found the love of my life already, but at the same time I enjoy being single. A lot of times a relationship not only adds fun but also stress to your life and I do not miss that at all. But I do kind of miss having that someone… Aaanyway… I was also thinking how I have been back in Germany almost two years now, and that is so long. I lived there for a year, and have been back twice as long already. My friends have changed, I have changed, and I haven’t seen them since I left, and who knows when will be the next time that I will get to see them. And I wonder how things will be when I do. And will I still keep in touch with all of them - I am still in touch with almost all of my friends from Norman, but some more sporadically than others. It makes me kind of sad, but I guess that is how life goes. We all move on, we all have our lives to live, and the time difference of seven hours does not make things easier. I really have to be thankful the internet makes it so easy to stay in touch via IM or Myspace/Facebook.

I am going to end this post with a picture of Tina and me (you can also see the Haarreif I bought on Saturday).

Barcelona

I still cannot really believe I will be living in Barcelona in five months! I am so excited but really nervous at the same time. Living in Spain, in Catalunya actually, will be a challenge. But that is one of the reasons I picked Barcelona. Dealing with two languages (Spanish & Catalan) will be hard, but I love a good challenge, a little competition with myself.
And I will get to live at the ocean. I love the ocean. I am not even the type of person who can lie in the sun for hours doing nothing, but I love sitting on or walking along the beach and seeing the infinity that is the ocean. It isn’t infinite, but it feels like it. It is a great feeling to know that somewhere behind the horizon there is land again but you cannot see it, only the ocean, the waves, the blue of the sky reflecting in the water.
The other day I picked up the DVD of L’Auberge Espagnole, a French movie about Erasmus students in Barcelona. I had not seen it before but I figured now is the time to see it! Next week on Wednesday there is an info meeting for all Erasmus students, and I hope I will find out more then.
I do not even know when exactly I need to be in Barcelona. I know classes start in September, but I do not know when exactly. I will also have to get there early to find an apartment (something I am absolutely dreading).
I have talked to my parents and they also think it will be easier if I just keep my apartment here, instead of moving everything back to Munich and having to find a new place to live after I come back in February. I am really glad about that because finding an apartment in Heidelberg is such a pain, and I really like my apartment and my neighbors, and I would like to come back here next year.

London

I will be going to London August 12-17. I mentioned the excursions offered by the English department before and I talked to my parents, and they really liked the idea, so on Monday I went and signed up for the Shakespeare excursion. The trip is really cheap too. I found out the English department will be sponsoring each student who participates with €300 (paid from the tuition that was introduced this semester), so at least I know my tuition will go towards something I actually profit from. I am really excited about this trip, as the last time I was in London was in 2001, and not only have I grown up since then - I also do not have the best memories from the last trip so I cannot wait to make new better memories of the city.

My new bike

On Sunday I was at my neighbors as they were having a BBQ and mentioned how sometimes I miss having a bike, when they said they actually had a bike in their garage that a former tenant left there years ago, that still looked pretty good and I could have it if I wanted to. I looked at the bike and it was still in really good shape and very solid, so I accepted the offer. The bike did need some work done, and still does, but it is really great, as it basically cost me nothing, and while it does look nice, it does not look nice enough for anyone to steal it. (Knock on wood.) On Tuesday (Labor Day), I cleaned the bike, and on Wednesday I went to the bike store in town with Jenny (my neighbor), and bought two new inner tubes as well as a tire, two new handles and a lock for the bike.We exchanged the tubes and front tire, and put the new handles on the bike, and now I have a functioning bike. We still need to replace the dynamo sometime as the wire leading to the front light was cut, and the dynamo is an old one that we will have a hard time finding new wiring for. So we will probably use the dynamo from another (abandoned) bike in our garage and put that on my bike. I spent €40 total on the tubes, tire, handles and lock so that was a really good deal. I already rode the bike to the library tonight and it is really comfortable and easy to ride. It only took me 10 minutes to the library when usually I walk 30. I will also be able to go to Aldi more often now to buy groceries as it will be much easier to go there now that I can ride my bike. By the way, the bike is from the DDR (Former German Democratic Republic), from Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), how cool is that?! Here is a picture of my bike:

My neighbors

Not traveling-related, but I wanted to write about this anyway. I have really great neighbors. The community in our house is really good. Tuesday, May 1st, we had a BBQ together and we had such a great time. It was Corina, Manuel, Michael, Mira, Norbert, Jenny and me (and two friends of Corina and Manuel whose names I forgot, plus C+M’s kids and N+J’s 3 month old daughter who is so very adorable by the way). We ended up sitting outside until 11pm. When it got dark we made a fire in the BBQ as it got kind of cold, and we just chatted about all kinds of things. I never really had that - such a great community with the neighbors, that we would get together regularly, neighbors you can rely on, ask for favors sometimes (and of course do favors for), and I love it. It is really great that we get together regularly and that we do not just happen to live in the same house. On the right, you can see a picture I took that night by the way. I just thought it looked cool how you could see the sun rays because of the smoke from the BBQ.