I am SO bored. All I do is eat, sleep, and watch movies or Six Feet Under. And I'm almost done with season 3, and they don't have season 4 or 5 at the video store here! What will I do?!

Pictures from Rome! (In very un-chronological order!)

The Colosseum at night

Me and Viv in our hostel--it actually looks kind of cozy in this picture!

A "gladiator" talking to a policeman

Pompei: weak attempt to climb the ruins

Pompei: We thought the holes were toilets. We later figured out they were cooking areas.

A park in the area.

The Fontana di Trevi--the first day of (warm!) sunshine made it look really pretty

Hope ya'll like!

I am back from Rome! It was a good trip, barring a few small problems (super-crappy hostel, my friend Jen's wallet getting stolen on the last night we were there).
We were there for seven days, so we basically had enough time to see everything we wanted to, as well as make a day trip down to Napoli and see Pompei, which is about 2 hours away from Rome. Before I left, I really only had heard about the Colosseum and the Fontana di Trevi (the big famous fountain--didn't know what it was called until I got there). So it was really cool to find out about all of these other famous, amazing things! Like Vatican City! Totally forgot that was in Rome. . . oops. I guess it's ok since I'm not Catholic, right?
Photos will be posted soon!

In other news, I watched TWO movies yesterday (already making great use of my time back): Cry Baby and When Harry Met Sally. Let's just say that I understand why I'd never heard of Cry Baby, despite the fact that Johnny Depp is in it--it's a really lame, low-budget spoof of Grease. But When Harry Met Sally was great--it's one of those rare examples of films that are so famous and hyped up, yet still really funny and well-done! Glad I finally saw it, and I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Note: If you want to see some pics from Amsterdam, check out my photo album on Facebook!
I'm off to Rome--catch ya later!

I am in love with Mutts, so here's a pic for the day:

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

ps-I just wanted to thank everyone for the birthday wishes! I got so many on facebook, it was overwhelming! I mean, it's facebook, but it still makes me feel special, what can I say? I went out to dinner with a small group of people for my actual birthday, which was delicious, and then Janelle and Vivian made even more tasty brownies for me.

I have great friends!

I am a new fan of the author Tom Robbins. I just finished my first book by him, Jitterbug Perfume, and I really liked it. He writes in a very descriptive, yet totally unromantic, un-cheesy style, and I often feel the need to underline random sentences in his book. The opening lines, for example:

"The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious. "

As you can tell, Robbins has a very random, unique writing style. I highly recommend his book!

ps-I'm 21 today! But it's not such a big deal, since the drinking age in Germany is basically 10 years old.

I'm back from Amsterdam! It was a lot of fun--the city is gorgeous, the people all speak perfect English and are very personable, they have bikes EVERYWHERE (go Davis!), beautiful old buildings, and canals! The canals were the best part--very European!

We saw the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum (prounounced somewhat like "Rykes" museum--it's the national museum of the Netherlands), Anne Frank's house (a really good museum, btw), the Heineken "Experience" (basically a huge ad for the company, but quite entertaining), and on the last day we fed CRAZY seagulls at Vondelpark, a big park on the outskirts of the city!

The only bad thing about the trip? I got really used to speaking English for some reason...so even though it was only 4 days long, I came back and today said "Thank you" to someone working at a store! Of course I wanted to hit myself--I don't think I've ever done that yet, since "danke" is freakin' the easiest word ever to remember, and you use it all the time! But whatever--I'm going to Rome in a couple days, so the German's gonna be pushed even further back in my brain!

I'll post some pics from amsterdam soon!

Random stuff

I have found an actual use for the beer "stein" stolen from Oktobefest!

Glorius, no?

And then I got a birthday card from my family today (they're on the ball!), a card they apparently bought while visiting me in Germany. I had to laugh at my dad's usual pseudo-German. This is probably funny to anyone who knows even a little German!

MY FINALS ARE DONE!!!

Party tonight to say goodbye to all the "Ami" kids who are going back home, and to celebrate the end of the semester! Yay!
Monday: Amsterdam!

Is this cool or what? I can totally see my cousin Mason growing up into someone who looks like (or is as talented and cool as) Beck! I noticed the resemblance between them today:

You want to know one of my pet peeves, other than shoes on the bed? Of course you do. It's when a big group of people take a picture together (usually girls), and then when looking at the picture, someone says, "Look how hot we are!" or "What a bunch of hotties!" or something like that. I guess the phrase is supposed to be interpreted as something positive and upbeat, but to me it just sounds conceited and desperate. I mean, you might think you and your friends are hot, but can't you just keep it to yourself or let someone else say it?

Ok, that's the end of my rant.

I love Cammy. And I get to see her in a little over a month!

Here are some pics of my awesome German buddy, Ulf. He's 26, and basically the equivalent of a grad student at Göttingen. It just kind of sucks because he never has time to do anything with me! We've only met about three times since December. His English is also practically perfect, which always throws me off--he barely has an accent!

Anyway, these are some pics he sent me of him snowboarding on Friday. Too bad it's hard to tell exactly what he looks like! (He actually looks remarkably like Ben Folds. Coincidence? I think not....)

Hey Hannah, I copied your awesome "Funny Quote of the Day." I hope you don't mind!

You know the "Headlines" section they have on Jay Leno, where they read funny random newspaper articles and ads etc. ? Well I read them quite a lot when I'm bored, and I found this one worthy of posting:

This was run in a local newspaper one week:



And then the following week:

As Jay Leno said, " 'Our sincere apology?!' But he was thrilled with the first one!"

I find myself making really weird typos here in Germany. I guess it has to do with your brain functioning differently than it does back home, with reading and writing mainly in a foreign language, and thinking in the native language while trying to speak in the foreign language; it's really interesting, to say the least.
But isn't it weird, for example, that I meant to write "luckily" at the end of the previous post, and instead wrote "locally"? Where does it come from?

PS-Here's a totally unrelated, but interesting and funny opinion article from the LA Times about why we shouldn't support our troops.

One final down, two to go! I'm kind of sad that my easiest final was first. Now I have to actually start studying. But it's probably a good thing. Just let me watch these two episodes of Six Feet Under and then I'll start, I swear....

But it snowed yesterday! Probably the most snow that I've seen this year! Anyone else tried biking in the snow? It's quite a challenge. Something like trying to ride a wild horse (or at least how I'd imagine it would be)--the bike tries to steer itself, and you have to keep a tight hold on the handle bars and mumble calming words, and maybe you won't be thrown off. I had a few close calls, but locally no actual spills.

Here's the view from my window this morning.

Attention all Davis people that read my blog!

I don't know if you've already discovered this site, but it's really funny if you go to Davis: Overheard in Cowtown

The site consists of funny things that people have overheard on campus, which are posted on this blog!

Some examples I found quite entertaining:

Guy: If I weren't in this major I would have gone to art school.
Girl: Really?? Me too!
Guy: Oh cool. My favorite art is stuff like Dali--
[blank look]
--you know, the guy with the melting clocks?
Girl: Oh I don't know him. I like stuff like.. well do you know [indistinct mumble of a name]?
Guy: No. I don't really know that many artists..

-on Unitrans

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Professor: The Germans have a different way of looking at breakfast displays, and therefore a different way of looking at the world.

-German class in Olson

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Guy 1: I made the best sandwich this morning. I was so excited to eat it!
Guy 2: Sure seems like it!! What kind was it?
Guy 1: Ementhaler, honey roasted turkey and mayo!
Guy2: Wow, that DOES sound really exciting!!

-On the Quad

My newest TV addiction: Six Feet Under. I've only seen the first two episodes. . .but it's like watching a super-long movie, it's so well done!

Today I played basketball for a couple hours with the Germans who live in Cindy's building. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely felt like I was back in elementary school, in the sense that no one was very good, and there really wasn't any strategy/skill involved at all! The game basically consisted of running helter-skelter back and forth across the court, double-dribbling and travelling and all! That might sound kind of mean, but as Dylan put it (he watched them play last week), "They play basketball the way Americans play soccer. It's just not their sport."

And all the better for me to join them, since I really have no basketball skills either! Yay!