Christmas in Cologne (cologne)

I now want to tell you some things about the Deutsche Weihnachsten that are different and that I love!

1. Obviously…..WEIHNACHTSMARKTS! as if I haven’t mentioned them enough. They’re so cute, there’s so much going on at them, they’re so German!

2. Saint Nicholas- on the 6th of December, kids are supposed to put out their shoes and Saint Nicholas fills them with candy. But Santa Clause isn’t really that big here. He doesn’t visit Christmas Eve, because what we generally do on Christmas morning (the opening of presents, church services ect.) they do on Christmas night, therefore Santa has no opportunity to drop in. NO WONDER he flies all around the world in one night!....if he gets to skip Germany, who KNOWS how many other countries he has no obligations too. I can’t believe I never knew!

3. Kuchen, Gebäck, Glühwein, Fruchtbrot etc.
The eats. There are so many traditional German Christmas cookies, cakes, wine etc! Its actually unbelievable! I know we have all kinds of sweets too, but they have so many that are ONLY for Christmas. You don’t just make cookies for Christmas, you make CHRISTMAS cookies for Christmas!

4. I think one of the main things I’ve noticed, that I actually really like is the fact that people don’t seem as stressed out by Christmas. In our culture, Christmas is labeled as the “busiest time of the year”, and I don’t’ really think that’s the way its supposed to be.
At first here, I thought it was just because I, myself, don’t have all the traditions and stuff to do like usual, but I’ve thought about it a lot and talked to my friends and I really think that it different here.

For starters, at home University students have exams in December. That right there is a load of the most stressful stuff in school! I also think that the whole consumption/consumerism part of our Christmas is less here. People buy presents, but you don’t see ad’s EVERYWHERE blaring that you MUST buy this and this and this and this and this!!!!! I think consumerism is less in general.

So those are a couple of my insights, I’m definitly experiencing a different kind of Christmas this year. One that will come with its own set of memories I guess.

SO, treasure your traditions, savor the flavours, love the family that you get to see, laugh a lot and just be merry in general k? MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,
Katrina

Christmas in Cologne (home)

So last night I was out drinking Glühwein (hot wine) at a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) with one of my favourite friends and her boyfriend. They asked me about Christmas traditions I had at home that I was missing this year, and about other traditions we have in Canada. I have to say, it doesn’t really feel like its Christmas for me here……I think due to the 5-7 degree weather (with not even a hint of snow), the fact that I have no family or tight friends around me (but my mom is coming next week!!!!) and just the normal hustle and bustle is not going on.
SO, I wanted to share some of the things that come along with a Deutsche Weihnachsten and also the things I miss at home.

Most of the Christmas traditions I’m missing have to do with my family and my church. I will list them off…..

1. Turkey Supper at my Church. This usually happens the first weekend of December, it’s a big meal put on by the youth. I was in it for 4 years and have attended all the years before and after ☺

2. Candle Light Choir. My church Choir that I usually sing in every year, or on years when I can’t make the practices (like last year) I at least go and see it. It is a definite mandatory part of Christmas.

3. PUTTING UP A CHRISTMAS TREE!!! And this event has a whole other set of its own traditions in our house. (mandatory music, mandatory first ornament on the tree, mandatory ceremony for the first ornament on the tree, mandatory second ornament on the tree etc. ☺ and mandatory hot chocolate in hand while all this goes on!)

4. Then there are a couple Christmas parties with friends that usually happen. Ex. The Doug Hunt Christmas party, last year we did 88 Columbia and Marshal St. house combined dinner-way too much fun!

5. General decorating of the house. General massive cleaning of the house (which I am doing this Sunday here), cleaning and airing out of all blankets, sheets and pillows.

6. Trying to remember which cousin’s name it was that I picked out at Thanksgiving, and then trying to think of something to get them :P

7. Christmas Eve Children’s Ceremony…..always super cute!

8. Christmas Eve Dinner with my Oma and Opa, where we eat a lovely meal, and get to open up one present!

7. Also, I told my friends about general traditions we have like Santa Clause parades, Candle Light Strole,……..

…..and much much more. As I’m thinking about all these things, I have a giant smile on my face. Traditions are awesome! Sometimes they’re so silly, (mandatory first ornament on the tree ceremony) but that’s what makes them so fun!

Sprichst du Deutsch??

The Language.

This is going off a train of thought I had from the last blog. Because I spoke so much German and only German yesterday at my concert day, today I’ve been thinking a lot about learning a language, and being in a country of a different language. Let me try and explain what its like for me on a day to day basis. This is an example of where I began to where I’m at right now….

Stage 1
(the first month I was here)
Pretend you can’t speak. ….yes that is basically the way it was.

(and yes, I know that that’s a bit exaggerated but sometimes its exactly how I feel, I can’t say what I want to say, its like being tongue tied. And also, yes, they understand English, but I always try to speak German first cause I think its more respectful……if I just spoke English it would be like a person coming to Canada from France and only speaking French to you because he just assumed because we learn French in school, that you could understand it perfectly)

SO, pretend you can’t speak. Think about how you would try and express yourself through your actions, your facial expressions etc……think about how much you would just want to say what your thinking…..but are unable.

Stage 2
Next, pretend you can only say every other word in a sentence.
So if you were talking, people could probably guess at what your trying to say…..but they never actually understand you completely.

Stage 3
And this is kinda where I’m at right now. Pretend you could think of 70% of the words that you wanted to say (which is great!) but half of them are in the wrong tense lol. For example lots of my sentences probably sound like this (and this was really hard to come up with a grammatically bad English sentence cause when you know a language, the best part is you DON’T have to think about every word and tense, it just flows)

“Play he more but one instrument?”

Which would mean—“Does he play more then one instrument?”

I have a feeling that that is the way I sound to my German friends quite often. To cut myself some slack, German is a HARD! Language! They all say English is so easy to learn cause you don’t have, male, female and neutered nouns, plus a million other crazy grammatical things.

I like talking German in my head WAY better then out loud cause I can make it flow better. The sounds and the way the words feel in your mouth are different too which makes speaking slow. Every time I think I’m getting better, I say something stupid or am unable to say something at all and I think, when will I finally get a handle on this?!

The greatest test will be when I head back to my relatives for Christmas, cause I havn’t seen them much since my first couple days that I was in Germany and I hope they will see a big improvement!

Ok bis bald! Habt ihr einen ganz guten Tag!!

Choir Mania

Yesterday was a total Choir day! My school gospel choir called “Vocal Journey” performed with an orchestra in neighboring city. We, caught a bus at 9:30am and didn’t get home till 12:30 at night….. needless to say I was pretty tired, but I had a great day!

I had really been looking forward to this, cause my choir is filled with a bunch of really cool people that I only kinda of know from class. I thought that if we spent a whole day together, there would be more opportunities to get to know people better.

The rest of this blog isn’t really gunna talk about the concert, more about what I learnt and am constantly learning about myself, about meeting people, about the amazing concepts of expression and language etc., and to try and give you and myself a better insight into this experience on a day to day basis. (I’ve actually cut it into 2 blogs)

SO, I began this day thinking that I would hang out with the people that I’m already more acquainted with….which happened, but I also talked with a ton more people too. I find myself often in a tug-a-war when it comes to these situations, cause sometimes I just want to talk to people that I’ve had previous conversations with, so I don’t have to explain for the 10 MILLIONTH time where I live in Canada, why I came to Germany, what I’m studying, where I live, how do I like it here, and oh ya,…have I heard about KARNIVAL?! Hahaha oh Karnival, it really is what this city lives and breaths.

Anyway, so I like talking with my friend-acquaintances cause I don’t have to repeat stuff, but I also like getting to know a little bit more about people in my classes and letting them get to know me better.

One of the things I’ve struggled with the most here (especially cause my classes are all small…around 20 ppl) is being the quite foreign kid, who sits in class, doesn’t speak, doesn’t really input, and has a hard time speaking the language. That’s just not usually how I am. I like to talk to people, know what’s going on, tell a joke with the person beside me….but I don’t have the confidence in my speech to do those things yet. I feel like when I talk to people, even if its just for 10 minutes or so, I can show my real personality a bit more an hopefully actually be a real person, instead of the “Corner Mute.”

So, this concert day was really good…met some more people, hung out with some oldies….the concert itself was ROCKIN! We sang with about an 60 person orchestra and band, there were 2 other choirs in the program and the concert went for 3 HOURS! We sang songs like “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough,” “Joyful Joyful,” and “Hallelujah” chorus to name a few…..complete with hand clapping, dancing, wicked solos on piano, drums and voice ect!
By the time it was time to board the bus and go home I was exhausted! Not only from singing, but also cause I had basically only had German conversations ( and lots of them) the whole day, so my mind had been working double time. Anyway, I hope you are all having a great time getting ready for Christmas! Happy Holidays!!

Love,
Katrina

A New Member to our Household

So upon deciding to write you this story, I've realized its actually not as funny as I thought when I have to write it, but I'm half way there anyway so I may as well continue. So,

Here is a little background info first, just cause I think its also somewhat amusing.

My one roomate who plays the violin (Jelena) just started seeing/dating this French viola player from my school (Baptist). (yes she is also the one that used to be dating the Korean piano virtuoso who was always traveling Korea) Baptist travels between Paris and our school weekly to play concerts and practice with quartets there so....as you can imagine, when he is in town they try and soak up as much time as they can together.

Well, somehow it began that because his house here in our town is far from ours, when he only stays in town for a couple nights he just sleeps here. (although a couple nights also equals the last 4 NIGHTS)

Its not like they're really loud or anything, he's super super shy and super respectful, to the point that yes he sleeps on her floor....and when they say bye to each other they barley hug.......and that's only if she initiates it! (Jelena thinks he's scared of her) also, to further the little bit of weirdness that is their relationship right now, he doesn't speak very good German, she doesn't speak very good French, so they sit in the kitchen and speak broken English which I think is kinda cute. (In my opinion, not so sure how long this relationship's gunna last but we'll see.....) ( also when he says hello to me he kinda bows..........should I curtsy?)

Ok so this is why musicians shouldn't date musicians (and I may eat my words someday if I find some hunky musician :P)

Today they were in the kitchen having a little chat.....I went in to get some tea and this is the conversation snipit that I heard.

Baptist: "tomorrow I go to Paris to practice with a cellist I've never worked with before."

Jelena: "oh, what pieces are you playing?"

B: "Beethovens 3rd"

J: "mmm....like da da da da da da da" and she begins singing it

B: "no, like.....da da da da da da da" he sings a different tune

J: "oh right, I only know the first movement of that one"

......I leave the room replaying what I have just heard in my head.

..........
...........
..................


.......These are the nicest people,! but they only know one way of life and that is music.

wow, their children will know every Beethoven, Bach, Mozart sonata ever written!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!

Anyway, so I miss you guys TONS! hope you enjoyed this little tale....its just that if it had happened at home I would have wanted to share it so I thought I'd do it anyway.

LOVE

Katrina

See, "the Sea", by the Sea

Country: England
Town: Newcastle
People: Me, Julia and Nico

1st half of the trip, 2nd part of the blog.

So, lets get started then. Friday, me and Jules took a 2 hour train ride to visit our friend Nico. Nico is a buddy we lived with at Grebel, my residence in Waterloo. He’s studying at a University in Newcastle. He met us at the train station and showed us around his city. Its really close to the North Sea and definitely had the feel of fishermans town.

On our way back to his flat, I got to ride a double-decker bus! Front seat baby! I know we have them here and there in Canada, but this was a first for me in a long time!
My legs loved this bus too, cause again, you are NEVER walking on a flat surface in England, its always either up or down.

Nico lives in a 6 person flat, one Irish guy, one British guy, him, two Irish girls and a British girl. Its always so interesting to be surrounded by people from multiple countries, I really love it! Its opens my eyes to cultural differences (such as accents, we all spoke English as our native tongue, but we were dealing with 3 different accents….I often had to get the Irish people to repeat themselves cause I couldn’t understand them) but I’ve also learned that even though we’ve grown up on different sides of the WORLD, we’re all just people and we have a lot in common!!

Saturday, we slept in (if you can call it sleeping) me and Jules each had a thin sleeping bag and sliver on Nico’s floor. ( I am SO thankful Nico let us stay at his place, but I definitely learned a new appreciation for not only my bed, but ANY bed!!) Our day turned into a trip to the North Sea. The train ride itself was eventful!...complete with a totally drunk English guy threatening to smash a bottle into an Italian guys head if he didn’t let him play his accordion…. ( Don’t worry dad, we were safe the whole time)

Once we were at the sea, we walked along this giant peer, it was absolutely gorgeous! I love being by the water and we caught the 4 o clock sunset! Its crazy how early it gets dark here! I don’t like it! Following English tradition, we stopped for the best Fish n Chips I’ve ever tasted before saying bye to Nico and heading back to Sheffield.

It was really cool to spend time with Nico and Jules. Alot of the time it felt like we were just hanging out in Waterloo and not on the other side of the ocean. Its also really weird that I definitely feel like Germany is a home for me. This was a great trip, but ya know how when you’re traveling you miss your shower or your room or whatever…..I thought about my little apartment in Germany every once in a while and was happy to return to it late on Monday night…..

I’ve added a bunch of new pictures to my photo stream, so check em out!! I miss you!!

Perfectly Posh, and loosing Pounds

I got to visit Jules in England last weekend (Thursday till Monday) and oh what a time we had! I feel like I have so much to say it will go on forever, HOWEVER, I will try to combo it into a nice neat 2 little blog entries. 1st half and second half.

This is the 1st half of the blogs, but it describes the second half of the weekend…..try and figure that one out, its just what I felt like writing about first ☺

Sunday, I got to go hiking in “The Peak District”. This district is exactly as it sounds…..full of peaks! I’ve only been in cities while in Germany and Holland so to walk in the beautiful countryside of England was AWESOME! They have public footpaths that go through farmer’s fields, up mountains, through forests and around little towns. We spent four hours getting lost on these paths, it was great! (Mom you totally would have LOVED this exploring adventure, it reminded me of creek walks ☺)

After our feet were soaked and our pants covered in mud, we returned home to shower and get ready for a French meal!

Julia lives with 14 other exchange student girls from all over Europe. 5 Germans, 4 French, 3 Spanish, 1 Poland, 1 Swedish. They’ve taken turns making meals from their countries and I was lucky enough to get in on the French one. So as you can imagine this living situation is very different from my 2 roommates. At dinner I found myself in a room full of 17 GIRLS from 6 different countries speaking who knows how many languages, but the cool part was that we could all communicate just fine. We’re in England so everyone can speak at least decent English. After dinner, we played a round of Uno with everyone and then me and Jules headed up to her room to have a quite night just the way we like it…..watching Gossip Girl and eating chocolate! ☺

Monday morning we met Leah for breakfast (another friend from Grebel studying at the same Uni as Jules) and went shopping and strolling around town. In general I’d say in England some of the differences are:

1. People dress a bit nicer then Germany (yes, now my comparisons are to Germany not Canada cause that’s what I see everyday)
2. England is definitely POSH! Which I like in some ways….for example, everyone is really polite, they say “excuse me”, their houses, stores and cities have the Victorian architecture feel, it’s a little bit like going back in time.
3. If you’ve ever seen an English soap opera such as “Coronation Street” (which I’ve had the pleasure of seeing many times due to my mom’s previous love for this show) that is a perfect example! Even their soap operas are a bit different.
4. The hills! I had no idea England was covered in hills!...that would be the part in my title about loosing pounds. Everywhere you walk its up and down and up and down…..plus their currency is called pounds (I was trying to make some sort of a pun??.....oh boy)

When I first arrived I realized it felt really weird for me to be able to understand peoples conversations, and all the signs and announcements in the airport and train stations!! I’ve gotten so used to my half understanding, I forgot what’s its like!! That being said, by the end of 4 days really really missed thinking and trying my German! I was real ready to practice again!
So, I had to say goodbye to my friend Julia until we meet again in the home country in the summer. ☹ It was really sad, but I’m happy she gets to go home and see her fam and bf! She was an awesome host and I’ll definitely miss our traveling adventures!!!

Mein Leben (My Life)---UPDATE!

A day in the life

So, I am officially 9 weeks in. I thought I would give a general update ☺

#1. I’m over the homesickness!!! I mean, I still think of you guys EVERYDAY! But I’m no long super sad about it, which is great! I hate being sad!

#2. My foot is FINALLY almost all better. I no longer feel and ache when I walk! After over a month of slight cripple status, I am ecstatic!!!

#3. School is good. I really like my piano teacher now, although she’s kinda too nice. I always do better when I’m scared of my piano teachers, and this woman wouldn’t hurt a fly haha but she’s getting me to thing about music from a new perspective and helping me “look at and feeeeeeellll the phrases…..” lol

#4. I had a great weekend last weekend! It was exactly what I needed! Pretty low key. Friday night I went to a Weihnachtsessen! Which is a Christmas dinner that my friends boyfriend cooked for us! He made a four course meal for four girls (Vera, his girlfriend, me and two others). It was DELICIOUS! Probably the best food I’ve tasted in Köln (not in Germany because I’ve eaten with my relatives and my Tautes could take down even the most famous cheff! ☺) So, he made Menu’s for all of us that we could take home, wrote us each a little letter, and decorated the apartment Christmas style! It was a real treat! I got to spend the night eating, drinking wine and listening and participating in German chatter!

Saturday, I hung out with my exchange pals Ingrid and Freda. We’ve been planning a girls night FOREVER where we dress up in dresses, go out for dinner and then finally go dancing! (none of us have been dancing in Köln yet!) So we made it to the dress up part, made it out for dinner and then…….Ingrid rolled her ankle! So quite easily actually, we opted for chocolate and a movie at Ingrid’s….which turned into a sleepover! It turned out to be a perfect night! Aaannnnnd we decided we’d dress up in the exact same clothes and do the dancing thing another time ☺

This week I’ve had massive Choir rehearsals- WHICH I LOVE! Upon telling Cara this, she gave me the big “I don’t believe you just said that” eyes. Haha Generally I’m not a fan of Laurier choir, but this choir I could sing in ALL day! We do songs like “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” and other rockin pieces, the musicians are so talented, and everyone claps and dances and gets right into the music! Maybe I will try and get someone to post us on YouTube?!?!

#5. Weihnachtsmarkte sind offen!!! The Christmas markets are open!! For those of you who don’t know, in Germany Christmas markets are a huge deal! They are on every Platze and in every Markt that exist almost! I stumbled across one the other day and I want to go EVERYDAY! Haha So, let me describe……picture a bunch of (if we had one of these, it would be trailers, or concession stands) but their concession stands are pretty, they’re wooden, and they look like a bunch of mini houses decorated with lights, tinsel,bows, you name it! From the stands, you can buy ALL KINDS of amazing Christmas goodies, from pastries, to beaver tails to GIANT pretzels, to candied nuts, sausage, Fruchtbrot! (one of my fave’s…fruitbread) etc. the drink of the season ( and yes, Germans basically have a different drink for every season, celebrations etc.) is Gleuhwein. This is a sweet wine that they warm up! So its like drinking hot chocolate except its wine?! Hahaha

As well as food, the vendors sell all kinds of cool crafts that make excellent Christmas presents. When I found this place by myself the other day, I was just about beside myself! I saw so many things that I loved and wanted to get.

I asked one of the vendors “Sind Sie heir bis Weihnachsten?!” (are you here until Christmas!?)….

He replied “Ja”

I said “ Jeden Tag?!” (everyday?!?!)

He said “Ja”….with a bit of a funny look….

I said with a sparkling eyes, like a kid in a candy shop, “ Ich komme züruck, ich komme züruck!!!!” (I’m coming back, I’m coming back!!)

He said “ok, ich bin heir” (ok I’m here)…..with a bit of ---get a load of this weirdo, look

HAHA

Oh, Deutschland, Ich liebe dich!!

Hoooooommmmeeesick!

That’s it, I am officially HOMESICK in a big way! In two days I will have been here for 2 months! I love everything but I miss so much the people that I love!

I’ve got “Miss Independent” and “Miss grown up” down pat! I pay my own bills and banking, cook (or not cook) my own food, make my own friends, find my own doctors, physiotherapists and prescriptions, figure out my own school, plan my own trips, find places and read maps on my own, do my own wash, cleaning, grocery shopping, light fixing and now I do it all (or attempt it all) in GERMAN! I’ve had enough of her, “Miss Independent.” I want to be someone who’s taken care of, I want to be asomeone who’s got people that love her that she can actually see and touch, I want my parents and my family, my cousins and my friends, period! I miss being hugged by people that I know if I were sick, they’d want to take care of me, and I miss being with people that would be excited if I came through the door.

Wow, that is a load from my heart. Now, that being said, I refuse to say I want to go home. If I had to miss out on this awesome adventure or leave now, my level of sadness would be equivalent to what I am feeling now. SO, after post this and have a little pitty party, my chin will be up and I’ll go get my laundry from the laundry mat with a big smile on my face, but please, please pray for me, and know that I love and miss you more then you know!!

Love,
Katrina

So how about.....Amsterdam?!

This weekend was one of the best so far! Julia (my friend from Waterloo who’s doing a semester abroad in England) came to visit!! It was so great to have her here! While we hung out it almost felt like we were back home again and not 50 million miles away.

So, she came in on Thursday night. Since I arrived, I had been thinking of things we could do together in Germany………but the morning of the day she was set to touch down this thought crossed my mind….”We could go to Amsterdam!” I mentioned this to Jules and it was followed by a HUGE smile and “LETS DO IT!”……WOOO HOOO! We had a plan, not it was time to put it into action! We set out booking our rides to and from, as well as finding a hostel close to the centre of town.

This is the first country outside of Germany that I’ve been to since I arrived and I think it will be my favourite! I LOVE AMSTERDAM!

Now, what do I love?

Mainly, all the canals, houseboats, cool architecture and beautiful city scenes…..oh and all the tall people! ☺

We drove there with a Mitfahren-basically if someone is driving to a city they can register with this company and then we can pay to drive with them. We spent about 3 and a half hours in the back of this super nice German man’s vehicle. He, was great! We even exchanged phone numbers cause he wished he had time to drive us around Amsterdam and show us the sites. He said the next time he was going, he’d give us a call lol.

So upon arrival we decided we needed apple fritters!......these were the BEST apple fritters I have ever tasted! We spent all day walking the streets. We toured the main market, the Floating Flower Market (mom you would have been in Heaven! If I was coming home soon, I would have bought you a million bulbs! ☺ ) the inner city, we went on a boat tour of the canals etc.

The streets are super narrow and there’s not a lot of parking cause the city is literally built on water! Because the lack of space on solid ground everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) drives bikes! I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place, and so many different kinds! People with young children have these crazy bikes that they cart their kids around in. Picture a bike with a wagon in front of it, …….but then take off the wheels of the wagon and just put a bike tire out front and you have the regular means of transportation used for moving your family around. Haha

Our hostel was great! So great I think I am going to try and volunteer there during my two month semester break! That way I can hopefully meet people with a houseboat and get to go on it! Haha

Me and Jules were a dynamite traveling team. I definitely learned that it pays to be super friendly when dealing with people, especially in places with heavy tourist traffic. I know what its like to work with stupid tourists and if you ask questions in a polite way and try and make people laugh, they’ll be MUCH more please to help you AND even cut you some sweet deals!!
OK, that’s all for now! Tchau!

KARNEVAL!

What do you get when you combine thousands of adults dressed up like cows, pigs, clowns etc., a lot of German beer and sausage, loud music and beautiful weather?!.....KARNIVAL!

The 11th day of the 11th month at the 11th hour, is the kick off celebration, but that actual week of Karneval is in February. This celebration has been around since before 1341! And going strong ever since! (If you’re interested in a little more details check out this link! http://www.carnaval.com/germany/index.htm)

SO, after I had practiced piano and gone to class I went home to find myself a costume! I was told countless times that the two rules of Karneval are,
1. That you should try to look as freaky as possible….
2. That you need to drink.

My original idea was just to put on all my brightest clothes, lots of make-up and do something wild with my hair….I ended up as a pillowcase superhero! ☺ It actually turned out not too bad (same pillowcase I use as a case for my guitar…..mom, I can’t thank you enough for it! Haha)

My friend Greta came over, (she’s a wicked saxophone player from my school, who studied in England for 2 years, she was dressed as a devil)…and we hoped on our bikes and rode into town.

Although we had missed the official 11 o’clock start, at 3 pm the streets were still PACKED! I’ve never seen so many adults in costume! There was a massive stage with a band playing traditional Kolsch Karneval songs….(which sound a lot like the stuff we hear at Oktoberfest) people as well as garbage everywhere! The garbage was wild! Everyone just throws everything on the ground and when thousands of people do that it equals the equivalent of walking through a small landfill. So, my best advice for you if you ever go to Karneval is keep you head up! ☺

So for the rest of the day we walked around, met new people and danced into the night! If its really true and this is nothing compared to what goes on in the February Karneval, then I can’t even imagine! So, till next time….Prost!

Tourist Time

Today, me and my friend Sarah from Australia, decided we wanted to be tourists for the day. This might sound funny, cause yes, we are foreign people here….but when you live in a city, you never tend to do the tourist things there. ( For, example, I live 15 minutes from Niagara Falls, but I only ever go there when people visit and they want to see it.)

SO, we began by having lunch at this German restaurant called “ Früh”. Its located right in the centre of Tourist mania, close to the Dom cathedral. Just so you get a bit of the sense of this restaurant, the walls were all old stone brick, your cutlery sits in the middle of the table, sticking out of a big beer mug, and at just barley 12 o'clock noon, the waiter comes by and just assumes “two beers?”……..Answer…”Ja, danke!” ☺

Because I was trying to go with the whole, “lets experience a typical German meal” ….I didn’t get meat BUT I have never eaten so many potatoes in my life! And I don’t like them any better either! I could probably go the rest of my life keine Kartoffeln (no potatoes!)

Next, we went to the chocolate museum (which we didn’t actually end up touring cause it was so packed!) but we walked around the gift shop and looked at everything they made.

We continued walking to the other side of the Rhein River (cause I’ve never been there) and there was a children’s fair or carnival going on, with a Fairiswheel and other rides. Its so funny, cause even at a children’s carnival, you still find beer gardens or little bar-trailers everywhere. That along with deep-fried cauliflower, mushrooms, crepes etc.

My favourite part of the day was on our way home. We were walking through the Alte-Stadt (old city) and out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a brass band of about 10 middle aged men warming up on a street corner. I asked Sarah if she minded going to check it out…… we walked over and sure enough, within 5 minutes these men were walking around the street playing together! It was so great!

There were 5 trumpets, 2 tubas, a couple trombones, 2 drummers, all wearing bright orange jackets and ridiculous ruffled shirts underneath. They proceeded to play
a) lying downon their backs on the street,
b) chasing ladies around who came up and took pictures of them,
c) sitting down at peoples tables while playing etc.……
d) at one point they poured beer on the drum so when the drummer hit it, it became this huge spraying fountain!!
They were SO entertaining! I loved these men so much, I could have stayed there forever! Dad I totally pictured you being one of these guys, you would have loved it!

Anyway, so within a couple minutes, there was a big crowd around us dancing, singing, clapping and drinking on the street corner. The servers just came out of the restaurant and started serving people wherever they were standing.

In two days the 11th of the 11th, Carnival begins. I’ve heard so much about this celebration! Everyone, old and young!..... dresses up in crazy costumes and parties in the city centre, I can’t wait! I don’t know what I’m going to wear yet, but I will have to find something! I will write about it in three days!! Hope all is well at home!!

A little bit here and a little bit there.

I miss being able to buy things in bulk…
Today I spent 1 Euro on 12 Bobbypins!!....12 BOBBYPINS! I probably loose that many in 1 week!! At home you spend 1 Canadian dollar on 50 Bobbypins!

Also, the other day I saw a lady at the grocery store buy three eggs. … I laughed.

You can’t buy packs of 6, 8 or 12 yogurts, everything comes in packages of 1. I miss my giant jar of bean salad (88 C. you know what I mean ;)…..I buy a jar of salsa every week cause they are so small……believe it or not, I don’t even bother with hot sauce cause you can only get tiny bottles and I would finish it in one sitting ☺

People don’t cook with the mind set of getting a couple meals out of their cooking either. My roommates NEVER put food in containers and then into the fridge for another meal. If its not eaten in the first sitting, it usually hangs out somewhere on the counter until its gone bad and then is thrown out. I just want to say to them….”hey! ya know if you wrap that sucker up, you could have it for lunch tomorrow….really! no word of a lie!” Buuuut I kinda figure its their business, and it would be a weird convo, so I let it slide ☺

Yes, so next time you’re at Price club, or Wholesales, love the privilege of buying bulk!

Ps-sorry I havn’t been writing as much and I know this blog is real lame….they will get better soon. Promise!

EURO PARTAY!!.....the real deal

I am proud to say I have officially hosted a real Euro Party! Me and my roommates had about 40 people in our flat throughout the night in celebration of mine and my roommate Magda’s birthdays. It was a great time! Now what makes a real Euro party you might ask? Allow me to list some essential ingredients:

1. People from at least 5-8 different countries…from what I know, there were people from Canada! (woohoo that’s me ☺), Germany, France, Latvia, Russia, Usa, Australia, England, Japan, Israel, and somewhere close to Turkey.
2. About 4 different languages circulating the room at all times.
3. Lots of people smoking…mostly in the hallway, but our flat still stinks.
4. Making soup as part of the appetizers and desserts that you’re serving. (I thought this was kinda different. At previous parties in Canada, we’ve had chips, pretzels, cupcakes etc. as party snacks……here they add homemade soup and bread to the list)
5. LOTS of wine! Everybody shows up with one or two bottles.
6. Russian music! I wanted to play our typical poplar music, but it got voted down in favour of Russian music……..I like it, BUT I think in this atmosphere I would rather hear Gwen Stefani singing “lets get this party started” ;)
7. A late curfew. I believe most people were gone by 4am which equaled a late night/early morning ☺

Combine these 7 ingredients and it equals one great night!! I feel fully Europeanized! I can’t wait to host another one.

This was also a very “music kids” party. There were exactly 3 non-music students in attendance and I think they definitely felt like the minority….that is because when you meet people in the “musical studying world” the conversation ALWAYS begins with:

“hi! What’s your name?....and what do you play?”

….this can sometimes be followed by “ok…..and who is your teacher?”

I don’t know why, but for some reason, the instrument you play defines a little part of who you are. For example, if you are a violinist, it means you’re kinda high-class. Violin is very popular at my school and very competitive. You can bet these people practice A LOT! If you’re a piano player its kinda a medium position, cause everyone plays at least a little bit of piano.. Lots of pianist want to become teachers, which means they don’t practice quite as much cause performance isn’t their final goal. I could go on and on with an explanation for every instrument but I think that would be boring. What you need to know is that it’s a different breed of people, oh! An if you would have been here, towards the end of the night you would have been watching music comedians on YouTube ☺…..not joking.

All in all it was rockin though! It took 3 people a solid hour and a half to clean one tiny kitchen the next day so you can imagine what the place looked like. I loved hosting, the turnout was great and I think everyone had an excellent time. Come visit and we’ll do it again!!

Guitar Not So Hero.....

I thought I would share a little story.

So, I am the proud owner of a guitar! Its an acoustic Yamaha (I hope that’s decent), its for my guitar class. We have to practice every week and this girl in my class was selling it for bellig (cheap) so I figured I’d snatch it up! What I didn’t realize is that it doesn’t come with a case, and its really good to have one of those, especially if you have to carry it to and from school in the cold weather. Anyway, I haven’t gotten around to going out and purchasing a case, so this weeks guitar class came and I thought……”well, I can either:

a) carry it without a case (which I did last week and I got a couple comments like, ‘you need a case’ or ‘you’re going to wreck that guitar’ etc) oooorrrrr I could

b) try and make it look like I’m doing the best I can to take care of this instrument until I can purchase a handy little cover for my baby.”

I chose “b)” and proceeded to put the only “case like” item I had over my guitar…..that being my bright green pillowcase ☺ I really had only 2 options, bright green or rainbow stripes and I figured bright green was the better way to go.

So off I went to the professionals music school carrying my guitar half covered in a green pillowcase. Now I was not only trying to hide my limp, but this eyesore as well.

My friend Huw saw me as I walked up to the school and he just stared and laughed at me, I posed as a source of cheap entertainment. In school I got some questioning stares, but I just pretended like it was completely normal Canadian thing to do :P…..ya know, the pillow case, case…….everybody’s doing it! I may just never buy a case now. I think the second and third times carrying it around will be less embarrassing ☺

I have also met a friend at volleyball who has Guitar HERO! Even though I haven’t played it a lot, it reminds me of home and I can’t wait to play it with her! She is a great non-music friend, who also leant me some German books she has from grade 3 for me to read. I can’t wait! I’ll actually be able to understand exactly what’s going on!

So that is all for now…I have to go do some homework booo! Tchau!

Gimpy, Limpy

Mien FuB ist kaput. I have never broken any bones, had maybe 5 stitches in my life a couple solid bruises here and there when I first started snowboarding, but other then that my ability to move around has never really been limited. Why now, when I have to walk EVERYWHERE, when I am so pumped to play volleyball 3 times a week, must my foot go and get itself swollen, and immobile?!

Even though after playing volleyball last week, I felt a bit of pain in my foot,…. I decided it was no big deal, it would get better fast and I didn’t have to worry about it. So I think that was actually happening, but I went and played again last night, and today I have a serious limp. I am now one of those annoying “slow walkers” on the sidewalk that you wish would just move over, or learn how to walk at a proper pace. I try really hard to make it look like I don’t have a problem haha, but its hard when my walking rhythm is
step …LLLLIIIFFFFFTTTT.step.LLIIIFFFFFFFTTTT..step..LLLIIFFFTTT etc (I hope you can hear that in your head ;)

haha, surprisingly though my spirits are at top notch. I’m annoyed by this inconvenience, but Fall is arriving and everything is so beautiful! The leaves are changing and falling to the ground covering the cobblestone roads and sidewalks. The wind is blowing, people are walking around with their boots, scarves and heavier jackets….the city is picture perfect European scene and I love it!

School is fairly familiar now, I have a couple friends in every class which is great! I really like my piano teacher (although this week has been real bad for practicing so we’ll see if she still likes me…..oh boy) I had my first jazz piano lesson last Friday!! (which I absolutely loved!! The teacher was great as well as the lesson ;) I’m looking forward to great weekend too! My roommate Magda and I are having a combined birthday party on Friday! Her birthday is Nov. 1 and mine is on the 4th SO we have 2 great reasons to celebrate! I think it will be a fantastic time! Oh! And today my parents sent me a package in the mail with things I am dying to have from home….I LOVE waiting for things to arrive in the mail! Then everyday there is the possibility of getting a surprise haha….its the little things in life I guess. Anyway, I love getting the updates from you!! Please keep them coming! Miss you!

Eine Deutsche Hochzeit

I am sorry that I haven’t written for 100! This weekend I visited my relatives in a town a 2 hour and 45min train ride from Köln. It was a great weekend! Being taken care of as well as getting to attend a German wedding were my highlights! I wanted to explain this wedding for my friends that are married, are getting married and those who just like weddings ☺

So the day began at 11 oclock. The ceremony was about an hour…very similar to our ceremonies. The bride and groom only have a wedding party of 2 here though. One bridesmaid, one groomsman. After, the ceremony, everyone went into the basement of the church for Mittagessen. A huge buffet! There were 15 different salads! Fish, 3 different hot meats, potatoes, pasta, hot vegetables…..you name it, they had it!

There were no table numbers or lists stating where people should sit. Everyone just sat with whoever they wanted, wherever they wanted on long rectangular tables.

Next was photo time. Here there was a definite lack of creativity. No pictures were taken of the men jumping in the air….girls sticking out their tongues, boys with the girls bouquets etc. Just one pic after another of the bride and groom with basically all 200 guests!

What I have named “Tiny Talent Time” followed…..it was the program part of the day where anyone who wanted could come up and say a poem or speech, sing a song, or whatever they wanted for the couple.

My favourite part of the day came next! Kaffee und Kuchen! (coffee and desert!)….it is its OWN meal! HA….I think at my wedding I will do the same….I mean really, why have it as a small ending to your main meal, when you could wait a bit and have dessert as its own event! There were around 50 cakes, plus cookies, plus fruit, plus, plus, plus……….delicious!

So that concluded the “formal” day BUT, then the couple had all the young people over to their apartment for an after party!! They had a beautiful apartment, totally newly refurbished, new floors, all new furniture, dark chocolate brown leather couches (that I loved!) There were around 25 people at this party and it was so much fun! Friends planned games for the bride and groom that were hilarious and everyone talked and celebrated. All in all a really great day!

I think this wedding was very similar to our weddings in Canada, but the day structure was a bit different. Well Heidi, I’ll have to tell you more about it on the phone, I may try and convince you to go with Dessert supper, instead of a main meal ;) Hope you are all doing excellent!

RANT #2...The German reputation......HA

Germany supposedly has this reputation for being super strict/on time/ they do exactly what they say when they say it!.....well that is NOT the case from my experience with their Bank system!

I have now been living in Köln for almost a month and I STILL don’t have bank account set up. I applied at the Postbank the day I arrived and was told within 10 days I would be sent a card and a pin number in the mail. 12days later with still no card or pin, I went back to them and said I need this account and I need it now. They responded with, “oh, you have to wait one more week.”………I thought, “not ok” and went and started an account at the Deutsche Bank. (it has been almost 4 weeks and I havn’t gotten anything from the Postbank so I’m real glad I made the switch BUT!)

Deutsche Bank said, within a week you will get your card and pin number. It has now been 10 days and I have a card, and online pin number, but still no Pin for making withdrawls. SO, today I went to the bank with all my information and said, can you please explain this, I really need a bank account for my landlord to make rent withdrawls and to get my Residence Permit. They said which I am now becoming VERY accustomed to hearing “Your PIN will come in the next couple days” I only have a COUPLE days to have this thing set up! Throughout the planning of this whole experience I have been very good and “going with the flow” and not worrying too much about little “issues” that arise……knowing it will all work out, but this is a little bit down to the wire. ANYWAY,

Deutsche Bank said I could cash my Travelers checks and deposit that money, and then pay my rent from that while I wait for the pin…..I said “excellent, then I would like to do that”

They said “Oh, no no, you can’t cash the Travelers Cheques here, you have to do that at the Blah blah blah Bank around the corner, and then bring the cash here.”

I said “Ok then…….I will be back in a minute.”

To the Blah blah Bank I went, walked in, said “I would like to cash my Travelers Cheques please.”

They lady replied “Oh no, no, no, we don’t do that here…..you have to go to the ReiseBank in the main train station.”

I said “But Deutsche Bank said that you did these transactions”

She said “Hmmm Tut (the sound of it spoken in English is “Toot” lol) mir leid (which means I’m sorry).”

So I left, definitely more then slightly annoyed with Germany and its Banking system. I walked 15 minutes across town to the THIRD bank of the day thinking “If this bank can not help me, I’m going to “Tut somebody’s Leid REAL soon!”

Lucky for me the Reisebank had no trouble making the transaction, and I walked out with my money (really just in the nick of time, I was down to having only 40 Euros in cash that I could actually access).

I walked BACK across town to the Deutsche Bank to deposit my money thinking “It is 2 minutes after 4 o’clock. Wouldn’t it be such a predictable circumstance if this bank was closed by the time I got back there?”…….Sure enough the door read “CLOSED”. I began thinking of ways I would write to Santa and ask him for a punching bag this Christmas……

So my friends, I do not know how Germany got their reputation of being extremely organized and punctual. I have now dealt with FOUR banks here and have yet to fully accomplish my goal, even though I’m slowly getting closer. Thank you for listening! Hope all is well!

A Coffee a Day

Some things have changed and some have stayed the same……

While I still indulge in my hourly or bi-hourly green tea, I have come to drink a coffee a day. I don’t know how it happened, but I think it is unavoidable here. EVERYONE drinks coffee!

Also, now, bread is not only a staple on my grocery list, but I eat it quite regularly…..who would have though eh?! I really, really miss homecooked meals and tomato sauce though!! Yesterday, for the fist time since I’ve been here ,I actually cooked something on the stove (besides heating up soup). I tried to make my own tomato stew/sauce….I would give it a rating of 5 out of 10. It has some great ingredients but holds a bit of a non-existent taste ☺…Mom, I wish you and your mouthwatering cooking skills were here! I’ve made the decision to eat in the Uni Mensa (caf) for lunch everyday, because its cheap and the food is hot as well as somewhat tasty.

Something I was contemplating yesterday though, was how most Europeans seem to be so slim. This is a bit of a mind boggler because food is a CENTRAL part to their daily lives. You can’t walk 10 steps without passing a bakery, sandwich shop, or restaurant! And these places are not filled with mass amounts of healthy vegetables or fruit….while you can order that if you like, meat and bread are the staples. I’ve come to the conclusion that the European secret is walking everywhere and using NON-processed foods. For example, sandwiches are made with fresh bread, cheese, tomatoes and meat…..none of our popular white fluff bread, plastic cheese and frozen, deep-fried meat (or however they make a Wendy’s “meat” patty).

Another fact that hasn’t changed, but hasn’t stayed the same I just realized is my lack of ability to spell (which my Dad can verify)….its digressing! Many German words are similar to English in sound, but are spelt different. For example, when we use the letter “C” they often use “K” …..Composition is Kompostion, and I can’t think of any better examples right now…but what it equals is both my English and my German spelling to be atrocious! Thank GOODNESS for spell-check!

Well, ich muss zur Schule gehen. Bis später!!

Right now,......the highlight of my LIFE

Can you guess what I did this evening for 2 hours that has made me so glad?!.....

You may think, out on the town?....no no no Perhaps shopping? Wieder das ist nicht stimmt (Again that’s not correct) (although I did partake in a bit of that this afternoon, I’ve decided I need to find a way to make some money living so close to so many AMAZING stores…..yes Dad I do try and budget but, I am my mother's daughter ;) Alas, I will give you the answer if you have not already guessed it……………………….VOLLEYBALL!
2 hours of excellent volleyball my friends!

I ventured to another part of the city, not quite sure what to expect. Online, all info had been in German so I got to play that guessing game, where I take a shot at understanding the big idea.

I found the location but the only people I saw were 2 girls and a guy standing outside a building that did not look like a gym. Anyway I went up and asked them and sure enough I was in the right place!!

Now, I’m going to stray a little bit here….one thing this experience has made me really comfortable with is breaking into circles of unknown people. There really is a bit of strategy to it,….here are some tips/strategies I have come up with:

#1. You have to feel out the friendliness of people.
For example-today. I asked if this was where the volleyball was at, they answered yes and then didn’t talk to me. Therefore, I decided not to be overly friendly OR try and invade their “groupy” with too much vigor, because they would probably get turned off and annoyed…instead I took the silent approach knowing that at some point once inside I’m sure we would have to talk, and hoping that my skills would somehow earn their acceptance.

#2. Its much easier to start a conversation with only one person…
For example today- at the initial meeting, one of the girls left for a moment and the guy was talking someone else, so I jumped at the chance to talk to the girl beside me. Just ask a simple question about how this volleyball works, how long it is, blah, blah blah….at least you’ve made a connection (do this in a friendly manner but not super gushing ☺ Now that I have talked to her, it is easier to talk to her and her friend, therefore slowly integrating myself into the group.

#3. OTHER NEW PEOPLE!
They are you ticket in! As soon as I saw this girl and guy who also looked like they had never been here before, we comprised our own group of “new people” which was almost as big as the group of “old people”…therefore we are no longer alone and helpless in the corner

#4. Smile, smile, smile
Smiling is the key factor establishing new friendships…..even if you are picking yourself up off the floor because the ball was just spiked specifically just out of your reach….THAT is some thing to smile about ☺

Yes, those are my best tips, its kinda cool, I can see a bit of my initial shyness of meeting new people rubbing off. It really is true that the more you practice even this kind of thing, the easier it gets.

Anyway, back to volleyball….everyone playing was pretty good and it was like our rec. sports where you come, pass the volleyball around in a circle with your team for 5 minutes and then play a game for an hour….we did all the actual hitting, serving and bumping warm ups! That was half the fun!

So I can not wait till next week! I think I may sign up for it twice a week actually!! ☺

The Honeymoon Phase

If me and this German Adventure were in a relationship, I would say right now we’re about reaching the end of the “Honeymoon phase”. For the first 3 and a half weeks, I was in love with everything!.....now I still love everything, but its not as new, fresh and exciting as it used to be. I have classes to attend, work to do and things to accomplish. Its like living life at home, except in a different country, with different people, a different language and a different culture. I still feel its where I’m supposed to be and where I belong at the moment, but now I actually have time to think about things and miss the people at home. NOT that I’m sitting here crying or being homesick, its just another set of feelings. For the last couple weeks I’ve felt like everything is new and better here….but now I remember all the things I love about Canada and my heart is a little bit sad.

SO, send me emails! I would love to here any details you feel like sharing!

Extreme Room Makeover

They came, they painted, they cleaned, they fed me and they left.

Today is probably my favorite story to date. The whole morning I was thinking about how I would put today’s events on paper, and do the situation justice. Here is my attempt…..

Let me begin by setting the stage. At the beginning of the week my uncle and cousin called saying, that if they had time this Saturday, they would come and paint my room at 8 AM. I didn’t even know if we are allowed to put paint on the walls, they live 2 and a half hours away and I have put pictures up, so……I tried to say, “please don’t worry about it, my walls are fine” but my cousin simpley said he didn’t understand, and he would call me later in the week to say if they were coming.

Ok, well seeing as the decision was made and they were willing to come here…..I guess the walls could use a little paint. As an afterthought, I also mentioned that I didn’t have any curtains. I didn’t know what to expect, what colour they would paint, if we would have to go buy it etc.

Now, its Saturday morning, 7:35am….I’m rolling out of bed, slightly regretting going to sleep only 5 hours before and anticipating the call from my cousin stating “We are in the near!”

When they rang the doorbell I went to let my cousin and uncle in. ………and my Taunte Lida!..... and her sewing machine, and baskets of food, curtain rods, paint, paint rollers, toolboxes, drills, coffee, tea…..These people come prepared!

We cleared off the kitchen table and set up the swinging machine, took my room apart and started rolling on the paint (it is white!...which is great because as I would like most colours, April mentioned pink and I was just a bit worried). Halfway through we braked for breakfast (my Taunte Lida made amazing crepes, kuchen (baked goods) etc!) Then continued on until about 1 oclock.

Taunte Lida and I putzed (cleaned) the whole room, top to bottom., (including areas I’m pretty sure have never been putzed in their life!) It was kinda fun actually. We worked out a system where she would do the lower half (she is probably 5 foot 1 with her little heels) and I would do the top half of whatever we were cleaning.

Finally, the curtains went up, (I am staring at their beauty right now). They are blue and pink and “modern” as my uncle had joked. One curtain is solid blue with a thin stripe of pink on the bottom (lets go with 98% blue…..this is nice)……and the other is made with the left over scraps of blue and pink material. It is 60% blue and 40% pink, therefore there is quite a contrast between the look of these two curtains BUT they keep the sunlight out in the morning and allow me to put my pj’s on without laying them out, turning off the light, changing and turning the light back on. ☺

I was really struck by the kindness of these people. Even though I’ve only known them for a little while, had diner at their house once and can only speak a broken conversation with them, because I am family, they took a big chunk of their time to come and take care of me. I feel really blessed. Next weekend I’m going to their house and attending a wedding with them! (check out pics)

Crush?!?!

Ok, so yes classes are real hard to understand but I would say over half of them are more “doing” the music then talking…..which is great for me! I am the only exchange student in all my classes, but there are always people who are willing to help me and want to speak English.
The best part of today was……Music warm-ups….half the class was talking, half the class was spent doing some awesome rhythm games! Guitar class- I spent the class learning how to string a guitar!....and my favorite class (it may even beat Gospel Choir) is my Gospel and Blues piano masterclass!!

I have discovered a new passion…..it is called BLUES/GOSPEL PIANO! There were only five people in this class, but it is considered full. This is because it’s a group piano lesson. I asked the prof. if I could just sit in and listen….its not for credits its purely for interest sake. Everyone sat at an instrument, the prof. played a type of bongo drum, I sang and in-between his instructions we jammed. Basically, the best class EVER! I hadn’t been exposed to a lot of blues piano playing but as of today I hope that will change! I want to be these people! No more trills, expressivo, straightforward, see what is written, learn it, memorize it and perform it for an audience that is not supposed to make a sound until the performer has taken a breath after the last note. NOPE! That is not Blues style, and that is also not for me……anymore……..I hope.

You see, I walked away from this class yesterday thinking I have to cancel my classical lessons here and learn improv. from a student if all the teachers are taken. My mother said “don’t close any doors….maybe your piano teacher will be open to you doing some jazz pieces…”
Well today (Thursday) I had my lesson and the hopefully open teacher, shut all my hopeful doors! I tried to break it to Frau Shurmann that I would love to play pieces that aren’t necessarily all classical….for example some dance? Jazz? etc.?......answer from Frau Shurmann herself

“Yes well once you’ve chosen a Sonata by Haydn, Mozart or Bach and completed 2 other classical pieces that will hopefully give you more control of your fingers,…. THEN we could MAYBE make a compromise with some type of dance work”…..I can’t do it….I can not do it!

Perhaps another reason I loved my Blues masterclass was …..Martin? ☺
Now, I’ve been really adamant about not being interested musicians in general and especially at this school….mostly because I think they all take music way too seriously and suck all the fun out of it, buuuuuuuttt I may have to make an exception……..

Martin came in late and sat in the corner. I didn’t really notice him at first…that is until he played the piano! He is amazing! He improvised everything and came up with an incredible performance that had everyone’s feet tapping and head boppin! (the fact that he’s slightly tall…..dark and handsome is just a bonus!) After class I talked to the prof. and asked if he knew any students that would be willing to give me lessons…..his response?.....Martin! So the options here are as follows

1. Take lessons with Frau Shurmann (that don’t count for credits at school) who wants me to play nothing but Bach, Beethoven, Mozart oh and maybe Scarlatti (if I’m lucky)…..oooorrr

2. Take lessons with young piano genius with dark brown eyes…..

Friends may I have some feedback please!? ;)

Wish you were here!!

Tuesdays

I love Tuesdays!...for one reason only….GOSPEL CHIOR! I think after every Tuesday night I will anticipate the next Tuesday right away. Tonight I had my first gospel choir class and it ROCKED! We are singing songs such as “Ain’t no Mountain High enough,” “Oh Happy Day” etc.! and the teacher is an absolutely amazing jazz pianist!

The girl beside me found out I was from Canada….so later on in the class there was a question about how to pronounce the word “crazy”….she volunteered me to read the entire text so they could here how its supposed to sound without a German accent! I did so and it was followed by a whistle from the male tenor section. Definitely slightly embarrassed, I hid my face behind my book while everyone laughed.

After class I got to meet a bunch of my peers. Everyone is so friendly here! I’m always asked where I live in Canada, and I reply with “about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls”….this is followed by…”oh cool!...super!....I’ve been to Vancouver ……or Calgary …..or somewhere out west”….no one ever comes to Ontario!

Today I also found out that I will be having piano lessons here. For a while it was up in the air because all the teachers were full. At first I was disappointed, then I really got used the idea, realizing that no lesson=less practicing. My previous blog where I mentioned practicing 3 hours a day?.... quickly became history and I started dreaming about what kind of job I could pick up. (for those of you who don’t know, I really like having job. To me job=more spending money=not having to budget!!) Well my dreams came to a complete halt. This Thrusday I have my first lesson with Prof. Schurmann and I’m most certain she will rock my piano playing world! I talked with her on the phone today, this is a fragmaent of our conversation…….She politely asked what pieces I was playing right now….

realistic answer-“whatever I feel like”

spoken answer-“ oh well I did my grade 10 RCM exam at the beginning of the year (which she doesn’t know what that is) I haven’t had lessons for the summer (which I’m sure is sac-religious in this place) so I’ve bee working on some pieces…….

Her response-“did you pass the entrance audition/performance?”

Answer-“oh, I didn’t have to do that because my school has an international partnership”

Response- “ok well, I would like to hear you play something on Thursday so I can see what level you are at, and then we will set up a program”

Answer “GULP….that sounds lovely….I look forward to seeing you then!”----Followed by- me hanging up the phone and slowly realizing that I will either crash and burn or have to make the threehourdaysofpractising (tried to do it like the Germans do it there….add a million words together to make a new one :P) a reality. Please, please, PLEASE wish me luck!

Life begins to unfold

This weekend I met a bunch of other exchange students though! I really like them! They go to the University of Köln and are studying things such as medicine, political science, social science etc….everything but music which is a nice change ☺ It was nice to meet these people because they have a similar mind set as me. They are here to meet people, explore, have fun…….oh and study ;) (mom these things are not in order from most important…..OBVIOUSLY school is top priority. Haha)…..oh and speaking of studying, I’ve attended 4 of my 11 courses and am loving it!( I am loving the courses and the fact that class is sometimes followed by a "class beer", which everyone including the prof. partakes in. )
There are so many AWESOME courses at this school! This is my line up

1.German (a necessity!)
2. Old Music (a music history course)
3.Sprecheziehung ( I have yet to have this class, but its going to help me with my speech and accent)
4. GOSPEL CHOIR!! ( I cannot wait for this!)
5. Warmups in Musik (how to teach warm-ups for musicians, why they’re important, which ones are best etc.)
6.Blues/Gospel masterclass (I’m just passively attending this course which means I go, but don’t play cause its full…but I think I will still learn a lot!)
7.Concert pedagogy (how to plan, run and choose pieces for children’s choir concerts)
8.Liedbelatung auf Guitarre (how to lead a class with guitar! So I will be learning guitar as well!)
9.Basic conducting
10. Piano pedagogy (how to teach piano)
11. Piano lessons (where I actually have to play)

SO, this is my course load. Most classes are an hour and a half a week, four are 1 hour. It equals about 20 hours of class plus practicing….I think I will be busy!....(and remember little to no homeworkd and every class I walk away from I love! Its still really difficult for me to understand all the complex academic terms, but after class when I go and talk to the teachers, they’re all so wonderful and excited for me to take their class. I’m excited for this semester!

FREE SOFABED

Had my first Dirigieren (conducting) class today! This was my first real class here in Germany. A class where I was the only foreign kid…..and that was made quite clear.

I arrived just on time so I had a seat sitting next to a very nice girl right by the door. The teacher began by speaking about what we would learn, and then asked that each of say our name (and what I guessed would be our program of study). …I figured I would just listen to other people and copy what they said with my own fill-in the blanks. Not so lucky. Much to my horror she began with ME! So I mumbled out my name, said I was an exchange student from Canada (I learned that I am the only student from Canada here) stated that my German was not so good (which was pretty obvious!) and said I was in Music Education. Phew! So slightly embarrassing, but doable.

I was sitting beside this great girl (Dorthy) who said I could ask her questions if I didn’t understand. Excellent! but I also didn’t want to look completely clueless. Therefore, when the teacher said something looking in my direction and Dorthy kinda looked at me and went to get up, I said “oh, I got it.” And opened the door. … I turned around an sat down, but realized the teacher and students were looking at me with puzzled faces….Dorthy whispered ...”the light switch” and I realized my mistake. The teacher had asked for the LIGHTS to be turned on! I smiled like an idiot, went back, turned ON the lights and CLOSED the door! (why would she want the door open Katrina?) I’m sure if I could read minds I would have heard a lot of “dumb foreign kid” going around the room.

To address the name of this blog, I SCORED A FREE SOFA-BED!! I had made the decision already to purchase a futon or chair/bed from Ikea for 99Euro (roughly 135$) because I really want some more furniture in my room and a place for friends to sleep.
BUT thanks to people leaving old sofa’s out on the street, I can put that money right back into my pocket! This particular couch was sitting right outside my residence when I walked out this morning. At first I took no notice to it because I’ll be honest, it looks like its been around the block a few times,…. but with a little imagination, some cleaning and love, I began to have big dreams for this couch. I later asked my roommate Jelena if she though I could take it. She said “ya! Lets go get it now before someone else does!” this was the challenging part.
Between the two of us we managed to drag it back into the building, into the elevator and into our apartment, but the angle from the hall into my room proved quite difficult! 20 minutes later, and many different angled attempts, I must say that I am the proud owner of a new, used couch! And I love it!

This evening (Friday night again) I was supposed to go out with Huw and friends, but it turns out Huw grew “ill” (as he stated, not sick…haha the English) and it was postponed until tomorrow night. Instead I had a nice roommate bonding evening where Jelena, Magda and I sat in the kitchen drinking tea.

Jelena was working on a painting. Its super intricate. She spent 7 hours matching a colour to a number on the paper. (something I could do for only about 1/2 and hour before deciding it really wasn't worth it.) Magda brought her music out to the kitchen and was writing cues and dynamics for herself when she plays. I had my German-English dictionary and notebook out and was writing down new words I had learned that day. We talked and laughed. Later, Jelena brought out this German musician/comedian and we listened that. Oh what a night! I really enjoyed it though, I think the three of us make a great combo!

So you really do learn new things everyday....

I think here, I learn a million new things everyday….and then re-learn the same things the next couple days because I usually have to hear a word three times before it sticks or take a train a couple times before I know exactly where I need to get off.
Today I learnt:

a) The name for a “grand piano”….which I forget now, but it starts with an “f” and sounds kinda like “flute”…. Wait! I just looked it up and the word is Flügel…and it is a “he” so it is technically “der Flügel”……. I think it is committed to long term memory now. This is helpful to me because when I go to try and reserve a piano practicing room, I no longer have to say “Ich möchte ein Zimmer mit gross/gut Klavier, bitte” which translates into (I would like a room with a big/good piano, please). I think I will now sound more literate….hope at least.

b) That practicing 3 hour a day may be more difficult then I thought because you can’t just go and practice when ever your heart desires….nooooooo no no, that would be too easy! Man (the German word for people in general) must get up and go to school early in the morning to reserve a practicing room in the morning, because they get booked up for the entire day super fast! And Man can only book them for 2 hours at a time…a slight problem for my 3 hour goal.

c) I learnt how to take the train by myself! Up until today I have always been with someone else, but I ventured on my own and it is so easy! The German transport system is sehr schnell (fast) und gut! You never have to wait long and they have signs telling you how many minutes until the next train comes….which is normally no more then 5 min.

Everyday I learn
a) That I really like my roommates, but my favorite thing is NOT listening to both of them practice at the same time (for example right now).

b) The thing I dislike most in life is technical problems involving computers and internet. Today I spent 3 hours taking trains and walking around this one part of the city trying to find this building that was supposed to fix my internet problems…once I found it they gave me a user account that said would work, but alas once again I am in an internet “café” sitting next to a dirty man drinking cheap beer and smoking kindly in my face.

c) That free public drinking is hard to get used to. There are always people drinking as they walk down the street, on the train, as they ride their bikes etc. at all hours of the day and night. It still kinda catches me off guard. I think the city would look a lot cleaner with out it.
d) This is a big growing experience that I’m on. With all this independence comes new challenges.. some which I like and others which I still wish my dad could fix ;)

Living in a German land has been quite the experience and everyday I am trying to keep my chin up, learn lots and have a great time doing it all! Sometimes easy, sometimes the opposite ☺

Saaa laaa laaa SALSA!

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I have experienced the closest thing I have ever seen to the movie Dirty Dancing. Last night me and two girls went salsa dancing! Now let me just set the scene though.

First of all, I have to say that when you don’t speak/understand a language thoroughly it can make life (in one way) interesting, and (in another way) real difficult. I can not count the amount of times that I have “thought” I understood what someone was saying to me, or guessed at what they were saying (so that I don’t look completely retarded). Sometimes it turns out alright and other times not so much. Well last night salsa dancing would be a pretty decent example of the latter.

Becky, one of my six new friends that I had made yesterday invited me and Lilia to go to salsa lessons with her. Before this invite, we had been talking (in german) about Uni-Sports, which are the same as our University recreation teams…..which led me to believe that these salsa lessons would be in some dance room (the kind with hardwood floors and mirrors all around), where everyone wears sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, so I threw my hair up in a bun and left the house in the standard baggy jeans and a polo, brown flats with mismatched black and white socks, gym clothes in my bag and a “just in case” nicer tank-top at the bottom of my bag….ya know “just in case” I misunderstood and we were going to a salsa club.

Well when we met up with Becky I realized, yes, I had once again guessed wrong. She was wearing stilettos, leggings with little jean shorts overtop (yes here people where leggings with shorts…can’t say I really like it) and a cute tanktop. Hhhmmmm, well definitely wished I had clarified the evenings details, but there was no turning back now.
So at the beginning of the night they had a dance instructor teach the basic salsa, cha-cha etc. steps…(most of which I’ve learned before in school or on vacations), but it was fun because they were easy to pick up. I really just wanted to blend in among the short, dark haired, nicely dressed Latino men and women…..not so easy for a 5 10” blonde girl dressed like she’s going to the country bar ☺(ps-miss the RANCH!)….oh and I might add that they had black lights come so my mismatched socks shone nice and bright when me and my partner were looking down trying to get our feet coordinated. Oh boy.

After the dance lessons ended, the place came alive! I’ve never seen anything like it except on a movie screen…these people could dance! I mostly stayed along the sidelines and watched arms fly, foot work flash and women spin till their bodies become a blurr. I really think some of these people should be on “So you think you can Dance!”
It was really cool to see so many really talented people, who obviously love what they are doing, dancing at the same time. I have to watch the movie again and learn how to dance!

A couple new decisions

I have decided (much to my mothers absolute delight) to try and bring my piano practicing up to 3 hours a day. Yes, I know before I was chirping all the musicians for practicing sooo much, but I’ve realized that this is no ordinary University. It’s a University of sorts, but its better known as a Music Conservatory…….which makes A LOT more sense! No wonder people practice so much, no wonder there is much less homework…writing and projects are not the focus here….it is you and your ability to play an instrument.

So, since I won’t have a lot of homework and about 18-20 hours of class a week, (which is only the amount of hours for a part-time job!) I started to worry about what I would do with my free time! (most of you know I don’t like a lot of free time looming over my head) So the answer came to me….I could practice piano more! (now I know what you’re thinking……”but Katrina, you never really like practicing a lot”)…this is true, but I think it will be different here because I can pick whatever pieces I want to play! BUT, I still REFUSE to become one of those music kids who only has an interest in talking about who’s performing what and when, about the unbelievable note that Violet the violinist played in last weeks master class and gossip about how much or how little Bernard the bass player is practicing. That is pushing my boundaries! But I AM going to try to increase my practicing time….especially if I’m supposed to have lessons with some genius piano player who travels the world playing! Oh boy.

Decision #2. I do not like Russian virtuoso violinist father living in our flat! Yes, he is still here and yes, I still don’t know when he is leaving…and yes, he did walk in on my going to the BATHROOM!

The flat was totally quiet, so I didn’t think that anyone was home. I went into the bathroom, closed the door, but did not bother to lock it. Well, you know the rest of the story….there was an awkward exchange of him mumbling something in Russian and me mumbling something in English. …. Before I came out, I cracked the door open to make sure no one was in the hall, then headed straight for my room and closed the door! I would just really like to know, when is the end?

I am loving the adventures and challenges that I am working through here!, but I defiantly miss my people from home! I had another conversation with Internet man today, and he’s looking into my problems. Hopefully I have my Skype up and running asap! I need to talk to you! Sending my love!

The day I made 6 friends

So today was a really good day! To contrast yesterdays below standard performance of how a day should be. I met 6 new friends today and actually have 2 of their numbers in my Handi!(the name for cellphone)

Today was also the first time I’ve met anyone from North America here. I met not one, not two, but three Americans which was really nice. We all agreed its so different to speak to people who have English as their native tongue. Two of them come from California and one guy from Detroit. Cool, so that was good. ….but I have met zero Canadians still!

Next I met a guy from England or from London as he put it….. Because I guess if you come from London, you say you come from London instead of saying you come from England. Perhaps London is more posh?!.....a word that I have been using more because he said it a lot. Ha.

So let me talk about this new friend, because he’s really funny. His name is Huw (Hue, but apparently he spells it the “better” way) Wiggins. Such an English name! Me and my friend Andrea from California ragged on him a lot for his accent. English people don’t say “t”’s if they’re in the middle of a word such as “eating” is spoken “ea-ing” and “sitting” is spoken “si-ing” hahahaha every once in a while we’d try and talk with the British accent and stick our noses in the air….which was always followed by Hue killing himself laughing.

We all went on this guided tour of the city, which we chose to do in German so we could improve our language skills, but we could barley hear the tour guide so we ended up just talking with everyone. I learned that Hue plays classical saxophone, started learning German 2 months ago, sometimes also wonders what the heck he is doing here, has a cottage in Spain! And will perhaps make a good travel buddy! (yes father, a buddy, not a boyfriend ;)

The English are definitely more polite. We were at this reception later with approx 200 foreign students from all the University’s in the area. It was around dinner time, so they had servers walking around with plates of little sandwiches. Well, everyone was starving, so as soon as the servers came out with this food, people started crowding around the servers. Hue had been complaining that he was soooo hungry, but as soon as the food came out he said (with hunger in his eyes)…”We can’t go over there can we? (like he other 100 people were doing at the moment)….We’ll look greedy!”…I kinda looked at him to see if he was kidding…then laughed and headed over to where the food was. The idea that he was worried about looking greedy in a room full of people whom he would never see again in his life, and whom were already chowing down, made me laugh inside.

I definitely got made fun of for the Canadian “eh”. I never realized before how much I love the “eh”. I don’t think any amount of teasing could make me drop it. So please at home use the “eh” proudly and use it a lot! because it is symbol of our country!
In the evening the school held a semester beginning party in one of the small concert halls and throughout the foyer. Can you say high school dance party?!..the whole scene made me laugh!

First of all, my University is very small,…around 1000 people, so it already feels like highschool….then add strobe lights, a DJ and a bunch of people that can’t dance, and you have your first highschool dance! Not gunna lie though, I LOVED IT! ☺
They played a lot of music that I knew (ex. “Surfing in the USA”….yes they did) and some music in other languages that I didn’t know. Me, my friend Lilia and my other two new friends of the day (Becky and I forget her name) rocked the dance floor!
Tonight we’re hopefully going to some salsa dancing lessons?! I’m in!

A very bad morning

So today was a very bad morning. (I feel I am writing a lot of negative posts right now, but that’s because its all new right now. I have a lot of adjusting to do and figuring out to figure out, so its sometimes tiresome) (but also I find that annoying situations sometimes tend to make the funnier stories and I want this blog to be entertaining ☺ ( also also, I have no doubt that life will improve once everything has fallen into place, so)

Today began. 8 o’clock, my alarm went off. I got up and tried to find this office where I’m supposed to apply for my German residence permit. I had been there before with my cousin the first day I got here, but I was missing some papers, so the lady had sent me away and told me to come back with this, this and this. So today I went back with this, this and this glad that I could get this permit so I don’t have to worry about it. Well, when I arrived and spoke with this woman again, I was told that I also need my bank card, which is in the mail. “Come back with your Konto (bank) number.”…..Come on lady……I have 10 papers here for you, you can see that this is who I am, the card’s in the mail, lets just make a deal no?...that is of course what I thought but did not say. I understand that for something like this, everything must be in order, but coming to see her lovely face for a third time is not at the top of my “favourite things to do” list. (and you know that I have a favourite list ;)

Next, I went home to try and set up my internet. I cannot wait for the day that it works! (which who knows when that will be) I called this man who’s supposed to help with problems. He spoke English which was helpful, but I have a Mac. And people aren’t as familiar with Mac’s here aaaaaannnnndddd all my Mac menus are in English so he didn’t really know what to tell me. So we tried this one thing and he told me to call if it still didn’t work. Well of course it didn’t work, so I tried to call again and my phone told me I had run out of minutes! Aaaaarrrrrgggg! I have a pre-pay plan, so when your minutes are up so is your ability to call ppl. Therefore I have a phone that doesn’t work as well as Internet that doesn’t work (yes both are fixable somehow, but at that moment it was just pushing the line on my patience.) So, I said foget it to both and went to school for my first German lesson.

I was signed up for an intermediate class which I thought I would try because I’ve found that picking up and using the language here is a lot easier then at home! Yes well, I definitely miss my German class at home when we could put up our hands and ask her to tell us what something meant in English. My class was filled with people from Poland, Russia, Korea, Italy, France etc. I realized how ignorant I am to think that everyone in my classes would speak English, or that questions could be answered in English. Yes, lets just say it was a bit of an eye opener and lets also just say that I moved a class down ☺ most students in this class had been at this school for a year already. So that was disappointing, but I think I will be able to learn so much better in this other class.

That concludes the morning and the badness of today. I then met up with my professor who told me I wouldn’t really have homework which is excellent, but I’m going to have to do a lot to just understand what is being said in class. I don’t really know how I’m going to do it.

After this, I met up with my friend Lilia for lunch. She is my sunshine! I will have to do a blog on her too. She is German, but we are both new here so both feel the same overwhelm-ment (I know that’s not a word), so we listen to each other and make sad faces and let each other know that we are not in this alone. My favourite line from her is “The world is shitting…everything is shitting”…..hahhahaha

Hope you’re having a good day wherever you are! I miss you all terribly, but my chin is up and I’m taking each day one minute at a time. Love love!

PS-This just in….Jelena (Roomate #1) informed me that her father is coming to visit her today for the first time in 2 years. I thought “oh! How wonderful, ….this will be some excellent bonding time for the two of them!”……uuuhhh make that the FOUR of us!....crazy Russian violin virtuoso father is staying with us in our tiny flat and sleeping on a mat on her floor!!!! Is this really happening?!

The difference between Germany and Canada

Well, I figured I’d better do a comparison of countries before I become accustomed to everything here and forget what used to “WOW” me.
To start off I’ve really felt like there are more similarities then differences actually. I expected to come to a country where I felt totally out of place and would stick out like a sore thumb, but its not the case. When I walk along the streets, I play “pretend I’m a German”, where I do exactly that! As I walk I look at people and in my head think…”She doesn’t know I’m from Canada…..they don’t know I’m from Canada!”…and it gives me great glee!! Now, when I have to open my mouth that’s a whole other story. I stumble over the words and mess up their messed up grammar. (whoever came up with masculine, feminine and neutered EVERYTHING was not a genious) haha
So back to the differences (some which I like and some with I dislike, perhaps I will put an “L” for like or “D” for dislike at the end of each point?

#1. Houses and all buildings are completely made out of concrete. NO wooden frames, walls, doors etc. and also very few carpets (if you fun into these wonderful things that keep your feet from turning to ice, they are usually very small and thin area rugs) this equals everyone owning slippers or Birkenstocks, because if you walk around in your home in bare feet or only socks you will be FREEZING! Trust me! (ps-cara, I wear those slippers that your gramma made ALL THE TIME! Tell her that I love them and I lover her! ;) “D”-that is for dislike-because I’m always cold.

#2. Flushing toilets-here there isn’t just one lever that you push and the toilet does the rest of the work, generally (but not always) there are 2 buttons on the wall or toilet,. You push the one button to start the flush and push the other side to end it once you’ve successfully watched the contents of your visit to the bathroom disappear. “L” and “D”- like that it saves a lot of water this way and it was something different to do. Dislike because, well, there’s other things I’d rather watch ☺

#3. The little streets- they have man streets that are only for walking, and these are all in cobblestone. Its so beautiful! Also on every street corner is a shop that is selling “Brotchin”-which are little sandwiches, usually with cheese, meat, lettuce and tomato on 5 million different kinds of bread. These places also sell pastries and coffee. Big fat “L”

#4. School-yes I suppose I am going to school. I learned something grand today though! Most classes do not include HOMEWORK!....when the professor that’s in charged of me told me this, I looked at her with huge eyes….”you mean, we don’t have assignments?...presentations?....readings?....essays? and on and on!??!?!”….she said, “yes, the school system here is very different then in Canada, because our students are practicing so many hours on their instruments, we do not assign homework very often. Sometimes there will be readings but generally no assignments. However, if students want to do research or a paper or a presentation in the subject, then they can say this to the teacher and he will accept it.”…….in my head I’m thinking (Bitte?! (pardon)….if the student WANTS to create projects for himself then he can do them, is this for real?) I don’t think I will want to leave school! Hahaha JOKING
(now this is the good news, read my next blog when I completely loose it because of the fact that I’ve realized “What was I thinking coming to a school where I can barely understand normal speech let along any kinda of lecture with academic words. Words that I’ve probably never heard in English let alone DEUTSCH!) “L” and “D”-love no homework-dislike inability to understand (but that wil come right…..I am praying ☺

#5. I almost forgot-J-walking!...you know where you check both ways and walk across the street even when the street sign still says “talk to the hand”….yes well, those who have walked with me in waterloo know I am a BIG fan of this!....perhaps its lack of patience, but I just prefer to cross the street if I know I can, rather then wait for the light to turn. Well when my relatives brought me to Köln and we were walking around, I went into my natural J-walking habit. My cousin right away said to me “You better be careful Katrina! If the Polizei catch you doing that, there is big time fines!” So now I’m scared and have been doing much less J-walking. I only do it if someone else is doing it….possibly not the best philosophy in life, but for this I think its ok.

That just about wraps it up for now… There are other things such as a little bit of fashion etc. but I’ve already mentioned those, I’m sure there are more things, but I’ve gotten used to them already, I will add to the list when I remember.

The place that I live in.....

I thought I might share some details about where it is that Iive, so that when I describe where I’m going it will be easier to understand.
I live in a big city names Köln or Cologne-in English. (I’ve heard that this is actually where cologne (perfume) was invented!?) I live right down town! A 5 minute walk to the beautiful Rhine river, a 5 minute walk to the HUGE main Bahnhof (train station, where I can travel to any part of Germany), a 2 min. walk to my school and a 7 minute walk to the innercity where there is TONS of great shopping!!
My home is a Student apartment. Its not a res like our universities at home, its basically an apartment building that students live in…but there are no res events/social gathering. (yes I am going through a bit of social deprivation) lol but I tihink it will change as soon as classes start. There is already talk of a semester beginning party or something!!
So I live on the 5th floor of this apartment building (which is actually the 6th floor in Canadian terms, because they count ground level as floor zero here)…and I am determined to walk the stairs all the time! (unless carrying vast amounts of groceries ☺
I have a decent sized room, and there is a small, small kitchen and a bathroom that I share with my two other roommates. My windows open up to a busy street where I like to look down at people walking along.
So that is my little life’s surrounding area, once I explore more, I will share again!