The past few days have been incredibly busy. I have been permanently tired, but I have been having a great time as well. I have been hanging out with all my friends, and got to see almost everyone I wanted to see. Saturday I had drinks with Ruben at the Escobar. Fun. And yay for speaking Spanish all evening. I mean, technically I do speak Spanish in Spain a lot, but speaking it in Germany is somewhat different. I am always happy when I realize I do not really have major problems holding a conversation in Spanish. It is not completely effortless but so much easier already and I still have five months to go and to improve.

Sunday I didn’t do a whole lot. I stayed home all day and watched a lot [and by a lot I mean a lot, I think eleven total] of Gilmore Girls episodes. I’m on season three of my DVD sets now. Monday I met up with Bettina for coffee and to catch up, then I went to the movies with Julia and we saw P.S. I Love You which I liked better than the book [just because I think cheesy works better for movies than for books, I do not like cheesy books very much, but movies, every now and then I really enjoy those romance movies] and in the evening I went to Escobar again, this time with Sylvia, and we conversed in German, haha.

Tuesday I went to the movies with Tina, we saw My Blueberry Nights, which was good, too. And then we went downtown a bit, I bought a few books [so I have plenty of reading material while I am in Barcelona for the next five months] and then spent the rest of the evening at home. I cooked dinner for my dad and me [my mom left Tuesday afternoon and won't be back until Sunday so I won't see her anymore], and I booked the trip to Barcelona for my parents [flights & hotel]. Since booking on the hotel web page somehow didn’t work, I had to call the hotel, and had no problems booking a room for my parents there. [Again I was happy because it was all in Spanish, hehe.] My parents will be in Barcelona for about a week before Easter and staying at a hotel right by my house, just two blocks away which is less than five minutes walking distance. I am really excited to show them “my city”.

Then there was today [or technically yesterday] and I had my interview at the Amerika Haus [American cultural institute] for the internship and I got it! I’ll be doing an internship there for three months this summer. It is not paid, but money is not the reason I want to do it, and I do think it will pay off. I was really surprised how “easy” it was, it seems like the lady had already decided to take me before I even got there. I am so happy I am finally getting to do an internship at a cultural institute, and that it is at the Amerika Haus. Because there is no way for me to deny that I am a lot more partial to the American culture than the Spanish culture. Sometimes I think I should like Spain as much, but then maybe it’s just the way it is. After the interview I went back home, and dyed my hair. [Wanted to wait until after the interview in case it turns out horrid, and I wanted to make sure I have the same hair color as in my application picture.] I actually really like how it turned out though! Then I went to my sister’s and hung out with her and her kids (my nephews) and after that I met up for ice cream with Aleks. And in the late evening, Tina came over to my place and we talked and watched The Science of Sleep, which I still love. I also love that my laptop plays all region codes [at least when I use VLC player]. I think I had actually read something about that but then forgotten about it, so I thought, I would not be able to watch my Region 1 DVDs until I move back to Heidelberg.

I also found out tonight that I got a Matrícula de Honor [10 out of 10] in my other English class. I guess the professor did not find my ideas too far-fetched. [Maybe I will even write about those fabulous ideas of mine sometime, hah. Not that anyone will care, but they were kind of awesome, and I do not often find my ideas awesome.] So as of now I got a NT (8.5) and a MT (10) in two of my classes. One will get a crappy grade because I decided not to take the final, and I am still waiting on the other two [but not expecting anything too exciting]. I think I’ll be able to find out about at least one of them once I’m back in town, because the professor said she would post them at her office door [the other two posted them online, and I think the last one will, too].

Anyway, tomorrow [technically today] I am flying back to Barcelona. Crazy how the past few days fly by. It is kind of sad because one week [or two for that matter] never seems enough, and I feel like if I want to see everyone I am at the same time not able to give every person very much time. I also think I should start making appointments [I know, but I swear, sometimes that's what it feels like when you're trying to squeeze in some time to hang out] a few days before I get to Munich instead of a couple of days after I did. [Not that I'll be back here before June, and then it won't matter anyway because I'll be here for over three months. But I should remember that for the future, because when I come here from Heidelberg it is the same, and since I got back in touch with so many people the number of people I want to hang out with has doubled.]

Okay, enough text, now I thought I would post the pictures of my new hair color. I picked a different [darker] color this time, it’s called “Bernstein” [German for amber], same brand as the last time though.

Before & with the hair dye in my hair.

After, with the hair still wet & after I blow-dried it.

Outside: first without flash, second with flash.

A direct comparison: before & after (inside).

I received an e-mail the other day that the company I applied for an internship at does not have any spots left until October this year [I had applied for the summer]. And they asked if I was interested in that. Which prompted me to look up semester times for the upcoming two semesters after I return to Heidelberg [the last two semesters I will be taking classes]. And I realized that they have changed the semester times.

A while back the university in Mannheim [Heidelberg's neighboring town] changed their semester times to coincide more with those of foreign universities [to avoid overlapping semesters to make exchanges easier]. The problem is that Heidelberg students can also take classes at Mannheim and vice versa, and with the semester times moved by about a month, this drastically shortened semester breaks which created a problem for both students taking classes at both universities and professors teaching at both universities.

Now, Heidelberg has adapted the semester times to match the ones of Mannheim, starting this upcoming fall. Classes start about two weeks earlier than usual, and end two weeks earlier than usual:
late October - late January [instead of mid-October to mid-February] for the winter semester and
late March - mid-July [instead of mid-April/late April - late July] for the summer semester.
Semester times have been moved by a month, the winter semester then goes September - February [instead of October - March] and the summer semester March - August [instead of April - September].

All in all, I do not really mind, it will hardly affect me [just for two more semesters, possibly a third if I still take classes while writing my MA thesis] and it will be nice to start the summer break earlier. Having classes throughout the end of July was always a pain, and this will help things a little. I would be bothered by having finals earlier in January [because I hate studying during Christmas break] but I will only have one more final [the rest of my classes, i.e. one or two more, require term papers to pass them] so it doesn’t really affect me either.

As for the internship, since this was my number one choice, as it is at a publisher’s and [a small bonus] it is paid [not very much but at least it would cover my expenses], I will write them back and ask if they still have spots for next summer, that is July - October 2009. I have almost three months [their internships are three months] of semester break, and since I would then not have any required classes left, only my thesis to write, I think it would not be a problem to return to Heidelberg a week later. I would also be able to start working on my thesis in Munich as the state library is excellent and probably better than my university’s library anyway. I really hope it works out.

My interview for another internship [for this summer] is on Wednesday. I haven’t heard back yet from the other two, but I hope I do. I really do want to do something productive this summer. And if I could secure an internship for next summer already, that would be awesome.

On Tuesday Heath Ledger died. Tina told me about it on the phone when I was on my way home from the airport. I would have never expected that to happen to him. He was so young. And it is just so incredibly sad for his family and his little daughter, who will now grow up without a dad and without any [with hardly any] memories of him. I don’t want to imagine what that must be like. It is just kind of scary when someone so young dies unexpectedly. He was just about four years older than me. It really reminds you of how fragile life is. As a young person, I think, one tends to take life for granted. No one expects to die young, and it is just so scary when it does happen. Reminds you not to take anything or anyone for granted. Because life could be over in the blink of an eye.

I think I am in love! A so far unknown cat from the neighborhood came to visit. From the collar we could read the family’s name, and my dad says the cat belongs to the same family as Hobbes another cute cat from the neighborhood. Meet nameless cat L!

My time in Spain will be halfway over in a few days, and I am finally done with finals. I just finished my last one, a take-home final on the computer, and in a little bit I will print it out and hand it in. Then the first semester at UB will be officially over for me.

Tomorrow I am flying home for eight days. I’m really excited but not really looking forward to the cold weather. The weather here has been really spoiling me, but I suppose another week of real winter will do me no harm. Classes here start back up on the 4th of February so I only have a very short semester break of just under two weeks.

By the way, I received an e-mail from Acer today that my notebook has been repaired and that I will receive it in the mail tomorrow or the day after. Phew! So I will have it back in time to return to Barcelona and even while I am in Munich.

Well, that is it for me for now, I’ll write again when I’m in Munich.