I decided to split up one post into two because it was just getting really long. That is what I get for not posting in over a week!

I had applied for an internship with a publishing company in Munich in December - originally for this summer but they had no spots left [in December, crazy!] so they told me to contact them again this fall for next summer. That’s what I did, and now I have an interview coming up in a few weeks. I am a bit anxious if I think about it [but I don't do that too much yet] because I have a feeling this will actually be a proper interview, unlike most interviews I have had so far.

I asked the housing office if my apartment will be all girls or mixed and they told me it will be mixed, two girls, two guys. This can be a good thing as things will probably be more balanced, less drama. But I really hope they will not be messy [and guys have a higher tendency to be messy than girls]. Anyway, I should meet them all in just under two weeks.

I have ordered all my books for next semester. I tried to keep things inexpensive and ordered quite a few books used [but in good or very good condition], which saved me quite a bit of money. I suppose that also means I will have to start reading for class soon. I have been reading more again lately but all leisure, no school reading. I am still reading Atonement which has turned from leisure to school reading, as it will be taught in one of my classes next semester. I also finished The Music of Chance by Paul Auster which I read because I love Auster, but as Auster is a good contemporary American author [which is what I study, 20th century American Literature], I never feel too guilty about reading his books. It was a really good read, very strange though. It left me wondering what the hell just happened, but not in a bad way.

So I think you may be able to guess by now what this will be about … Of course. Twilight. What else? As those of you who also read Twilight may know, Midnight Sun, essentially Twilight told from Edward’s perspective was leaked. Someone who was given a copy of the unfinished unedited draft by Stephenie Meyer scanned all the pages and put them online. S. Meyer reacted to this in a message on her website saying she is very sad and upset that her intellectual property was distributed like this without her knowledge or consent. And that because of this Midnight Sun is now on hold indefinitely. This really sucks. She actually made the draft available on her website, and being the weak human being I am I could not resist an entire 264 pages told from Edward’s perspective, so I downloaded it, and read it. It is amazing. Especially considering it is a rough draft. It will [would?] be such a great book. When I first heard of this project, I was having my doubts - I was wondering how she would make a story we essentially all know so interesting just by telling it from a different perspective, but she did it. And she did it really well. I really really enjoyed reading the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun, it was captivating from the first to the last page. I do not really feel guilty for reading them, after all, there is a chance she might never finish it, so this is all we’re going to get. I do hope, though, that she will finish the book. I have a feeling that once she has calmed down after a little break, she will continue with the book, just because the impression I have of her is that she will not want to leave it unfinished as she seems like the biggest fan of the characters she created. I do understand she is really upset right now [though personally, I find her reaction a bit unprofessional and maybe hasty, but she is a human being like everyone else], but I hope she will let us find out the rest of the story. And from a marketing perspective, I think whoever leaked it actually did her a favor, as Midnight Sun was far better received than Breaking Dawn [which I liked but many didn't], but I suppose that doesn’t change how she feels.

Today I met up with my sister and her kid. We had lunch at her place and then we were going to go to the Isar river to enjoy the sun. Or so was the plan. What I didn’t know was that my sister was planning to cross the river - by wading through it. The water was shallow so that was no problem. I was wearing flip flops, no problem either. Or so I thought. Until I lost one in the current. Luckily I was able to grab it before it floated off. Well, skip to a minute later. When I lost both shoes at once. Clearly I was not able to grab both, so one floated off in the river.

I was pretty annoyed because hello? Not only were these some of my fave flip flops [inexpensive Old Navy ones, but we don't have Old Navy here so they are not that easily replacable], I was also now shoeless. [I still had one but what was I going to do with one shoe.] Also? Wading through a river barefoot? Painful. Very painful. So I decided that instead of crossing, I’d go back. My nephew was already on the other side at this point, so my sister and I discussed what to do. I really didn’t want to cross the river - I was thinking, next thing I’ll probably stumble and fall or something and then it’s goodbye cellphone, mp3 player, digital camera. After a while we noticed this teal something floating about 100 yards from us down the river. Sure enough, my shoe. There was no current there, so it was just floating and not moving. My sister rescued the shoe for me, so I am after all not shoeless, but it was kind of traumatizing nonetheless. So since my sister didn’t want to come back to the this side of the river [as her kid and all of their stuff was already on the other side] and there was no way I was going to lose my shoes again or possibly drown my electronic devices [knowing me there's a good chance I would have], we ended the afternoon early. Crappy but I’ll hopefully be able to make it up to them soon.

Anyway, after this traumatizing event of my shoe going suicidal on me, I did retail therapy which helped me recover from my near-loss. I originally went downtown to get a birthday present for a friend [and I did get that as well] but I also got some stuff for myself. Stuff being three pairs of shoes, a jacket and a nice shirt. Want to see what I got? Of course you do!

Continue reading The shoe that tried to escape…

It’s my brother’s birthday. After working for a few hours and taking an extended nap, tonight we had dinner at home with my brother to celebrate his 23rd birthday. We ordered pizza, which was really good [but took forever to get here, they had said 30-40 minutes, it took them 70 minutes!]. Can’t believe my brother’s already 23. I’ve written about this before, but I am really happy about how our relationship has turned out. We get along really well now and it’s nice to have a brother who’s also my friend.

Happy birthday, Chris! (Yes that’s right, he’s wearing an Oklahoma shirt. Boomer Sooner!)

Another Twilight post. Now that I have finished the series and can carefully browse Twilight websites again, I finally downloaded some music all of the music of the Twilight playlists. For all you non-Twilighters [by the way, you're missing out!], the author Stephenie Meyer put a playlist with songs that relate to certain scenes or chapters for each of the books on her website. And Mrs. Meyer and I have a very similar taste in music. So I spent the past two days trying to find all the songs. Now I got all of them, haven’t had a chance to listen to all of them yet but they’re mostly really good and my taste. [Lots of Muse!] And then I got a few more songs that were posted on fan sites or so. Like this one, which is just beautiful. It is called River Flows In Me by Yiruma.

It will not be Bella’s Lullaby in the movie [I am so curious what that will sound like, I know it'll be something written by Rob Pattinson, the actor who plays Edward], but I love love love this song!

Something else that is really cool is that Earth to Bella (Part 1) by Incubus is on the list for Breaking Dawn. As you all probably know or figured that song is the inspiration for my blog name, and while I had been thinking that it was cool that Bella’s name was … well .. Bella [duh!] that makes the connection even clearer. Of course I didn’t know the Twilight series when I picked my blog’s name last fall but it adds another facet to it which is pretty cool if you ask me.

So, in non-Twilight news, I am by myself at work again. I realize it is not anyone’s fault, but I have pretty much been at the office by myself for five weeks now [noone's fault because my supervisor was on vacation for the first two weeks, but then she was/is sick for three weeks, so it was never supposed to be that long]. It is kind of boring and frustrating because there is not much work to do anyway, and even less when I’m by myself, but I have to stay at the office in case someone calls or e-mails. So I have all this time on my hands and nothing to do. I really hope that next week things will finally go back to normal. I would really like to learn some more things at my internship, as in the past five weeks it has pretty much been stalled.

I have finally signed up for all my classes I am taking next semester. I am taking all the mandatory classes I have left and a few additional English classes. I’m only taking one Spanish class [though the two Italian classes are also for my Spanish major] but that was really the only class that worked with my schedule. Lots of English classes, especially seeing as none are mandatory, but they all sound interesting. Maybe I’ll decide to drop one or two if it ends up being too much.

• Ethnicity in US crime movies
• Communication skills in the business world
• Ageing in American Literature
• Contemporary English Novel: Ian McEwan’s Atonement and On Chesil Beach
• Unreliable Narration
• The Latin-American Novel: From Romanticism to (Post-)Modernism
• Translation Italian -German
• C.E. Gadda: Crime stories, narratives and essays

Last weekend was fun. Friday night, Sandra and I did a girls / movie night at her place. Saturday I met up with Julia and Ruth, a high school friend of mine for the first time in 9 years or so [we just got back in touch recently] and spent the rest of the day and night reading Breaking Dawn. Sunday Tina came over and we watched movies. Tomorrow I might meet up with Aleks, then Friday morning I have to work, and then we’re celebrating my brother’s birthday at home.

The fourth and last book of the Twilight series was released a little over two weeks ago. I had pre-ordered it several weeks before, and from the day it was released until the day I finally received it, I would check the mail every morning, hoping to find the book in the mailbox. I avoided all articles, websites, and blog posts about Breaking Dawn, trying to stay unspoiled. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite manage to do that, and while what I found out about was something I would have never expected [so it would have been a real surprise for me], it was luckily something that didn’t happen too far into the book, so it didn’t spoil the end for me. The book finally came in the mail on Saturday, and I started reading it right away. I had been a bit wary, as, what I knew of how the book was received by fans, many didn’t like it as much as the previous three, and some even hated it. I ended up finishing the book at about 2.15am on very early Sunday morning, so one thing you can definitely say it was just as gripping as the other books. These are my thoughts on Breaking Dawn and the Twilight series as a whole.

SPOILER ALERT +++ DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ALL OF THE TWILIGHT SERIES +++ SPOILER ALERT

Continue reading Twilight addict not-so-anonymous…