Just enjoying a bit of alone time in my apartment and savoring the re-reading of my favorite book. This quote made me happy.
"'People always think that happiness is a faraway thing,' thought Francie, 'something complicated and hard to get. Yet, what little things can make it up; a place of shelter when it rains - a cup of strong hot coffee when you're blue; for a man, a cigarette for contentment; a book to read when you're alone - just to be with someone you love. Those things make happiness.'"
Sunday, June 28, 2009
GRE :(
Due to some sudden developments in my life plans, I will need to take the GRE by October/November of this year. dfkasdkfsdkfksdfksdfkj. blah.
I hate hate hate standardized testing and am dreading SAT the sequel, even though I don't do that poorly on them usually.
Continuing these sort of tests is more annoying, since admissions officers, educators, and the testing people themselves (although they won't usually admit it) know that these sort of tests are not a valid or accurate measure of intelligence or a future predictor of success in graduate or any other sort of education. All they are a measure of is your ability to take a bullshit standardized test.
Yet the majority of universities in the U.S. still use them...
You would think that psychology and education programs at least would be wise enough to not use such a pointless measure in their considerations... but they do. Which means I have to take it...sigh...
Pretty much I have to learn a bunch of vocabulary words I will never use in my life and remember how to do math without a calculator (oh god...). And somehow fit studying into my very important schedule of 3 weeks vacation in August and Oktoberfest (end of september to early october)....oh bother...
p.s. it seems like every princeton review book has a picture of a smart looking asian girl. wtf. weird.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I told you I was freaky...
I absolutely love the Flight of the Conchords. And some of their songs are so darn catchy. This one is especially hilarious and I keep humming it all the time (even better on the cd version because they leave the best part out in the tv show unfortunately, but still a good video).
Also, hope I am not the only one who thinks that Brett is kinda cute...maybe that's because he looks a bit like my boyfriend though :)
Also, hope I am not the only one who thinks that Brett is kinda cute...maybe that's because he looks a bit like my boyfriend though :)
In search of a disorganizer
Why is it that in every freakin' job you have to be a super organized person?!?
What about us poor imperfect souls who have dirty rooms and crumpled papers and lose anything without some sort of homing device attached to it?
Isn't there any hope for us...?
What about us poor imperfect souls who have dirty rooms and crumpled papers and lose anything without some sort of homing device attached to it?
Isn't there any hope for us...?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sardinia=Paradise
So at the end of May my boyfriend and I were able to snag some cheap Ryan air tickets to Algehro, which is on the north west coast of Sardinia (a beachy island off the coast of Italy).
I have to say it pretty much lived up to my expectations. What was nice is that we camped, so it cost only 10 euros a night, and we were right on a beautiful beach. (Although by the end of the trip I was looking forward to a nice warm bed free of sand)
We spent a good amount of time just browning our selves on the beach, but also decided to rent a moped (since the cheap cars were all sold out) and went exploring a bit up and down the coast. There were plenty of windy roads and beautiful ocean views. We went snorkeling and also ate lots of pizza (its a lot cheaper than pasta weirldy enough---you can find a decent sized cheese pizza for €4.50!).
I'd definitly reccommend it as a vacation spot, especially during the off season (we went the end of May), since everything was cheaper (camping, mopeds, and free sunbeds) but the weather is still great (lovely mid 20s to early 30's!).
view from the road
look down onto a small town called Bosa from their fortress
mopeding it up :)
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Back to Reality
So I just got a scary email in my inbox today. It was from the chancellor of UC Berkeley talking about budget cuts.
It's one of those things that totally bring you back into reality. Because living in Germany I am sort of in a bubble. The economic crisis that has hit the US and the UK so hard has sorta left Germany untouched. Well at least comparatively. I have no real worry of losing my job or not being able to find one, so I think I sometimes forget the reality of the situation.
The email said that there would be a hiring freeze at UC Berkeley, all employees would get an 8% cut on their wages, many would lose their jobs and student fees would go up a lot. The governer had even mentioned axing Cal Grants altogether (the only way I was really able to finance my schooling), but thankfully they thought that was totally unfair to poorer students and still want to offer them the opportunity to attend UC Berkeley.
My younger sister is just now entering college and it's interesting to see how different things have become in just 5 years. My sisteer has had to deal with a lot more budget cuts in her schooling and it has been harder for her year to get into schools due to the cuts and now harder to finance as well.
It kind of reminds me of this book I've been reading, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (READ IT!), which talks a lot about how people get successful (or don't) can depend on when, where, and how you grew up.
Interesting to think of the difference, especially since the differences my sister and I may experience. I mostly avoided the budget cut crisis so it didn't affect my college application and experience as much as it will hers, but then again I came out into the job market in a time when there are no prospects, while she may be lucky, and Obama-willing, the economy may have turned around by the time she graduates. I think it will be interesting to look back and see how the times have ended up shaping our career and life decisions.
It's one of those things that totally bring you back into reality. Because living in Germany I am sort of in a bubble. The economic crisis that has hit the US and the UK so hard has sorta left Germany untouched. Well at least comparatively. I have no real worry of losing my job or not being able to find one, so I think I sometimes forget the reality of the situation.
The email said that there would be a hiring freeze at UC Berkeley, all employees would get an 8% cut on their wages, many would lose their jobs and student fees would go up a lot. The governer had even mentioned axing Cal Grants altogether (the only way I was really able to finance my schooling), but thankfully they thought that was totally unfair to poorer students and still want to offer them the opportunity to attend UC Berkeley.
My younger sister is just now entering college and it's interesting to see how different things have become in just 5 years. My sisteer has had to deal with a lot more budget cuts in her schooling and it has been harder for her year to get into schools due to the cuts and now harder to finance as well.
It kind of reminds me of this book I've been reading, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (READ IT!), which talks a lot about how people get successful (or don't) can depend on when, where, and how you grew up.
Interesting to think of the difference, especially since the differences my sister and I may experience. I mostly avoided the budget cut crisis so it didn't affect my college application and experience as much as it will hers, but then again I came out into the job market in a time when there are no prospects, while she may be lucky, and Obama-willing, the economy may have turned around by the time she graduates. I think it will be interesting to look back and see how the times have ended up shaping our career and life decisions.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wetten dass...?
So normally I don't watch a lot of German television (other than Germany's Next Top Model, which is a million times better than ANTM and you can find on youtube with english subtitles here) since I don't own a television.
But a friend of mine showed me clips of this famous show on German television called Wetten dass...? (In english it means like do you bet that?...) and I have to say I am highly entertained.
It's a bit weird because the show only comes on once a month, but it'S still pretty cool. So people have some bizarro talent or skill (I mean like really too, it's creative what these people come up with) and then they bet they can do it in a certain time period or something. If they win they get money and sometimes a visiting celebrity has to do some sort of weird thingy as well. (If they lose I think nothing happens but I'm not sure actually...). There also some celebrity performances and stuff by actually well-known people.
I think the entertainment values though comes from the insane tasks people come up with.
My absolute favorite is this one. A guy bets he can guess a song just from looking at two muscle men flex their moobs to the beat. (I also like that one guy finds the humor in the situation while the other is all serious and german-like).
This guy who is singing an opera type song while 15 cars drive over him is also impressive (and he has really nice abs ;)
I foresee myself yet again wasting too much time on youtube...
But a friend of mine showed me clips of this famous show on German television called Wetten dass...? (In english it means like do you bet that?...) and I have to say I am highly entertained.
It's a bit weird because the show only comes on once a month, but it'S still pretty cool. So people have some bizarro talent or skill (I mean like really too, it's creative what these people come up with) and then they bet they can do it in a certain time period or something. If they win they get money and sometimes a visiting celebrity has to do some sort of weird thingy as well. (If they lose I think nothing happens but I'm not sure actually...). There also some celebrity performances and stuff by actually well-known people.
I think the entertainment values though comes from the insane tasks people come up with.
My absolute favorite is this one. A guy bets he can guess a song just from looking at two muscle men flex their moobs to the beat. (I also like that one guy finds the humor in the situation while the other is all serious and german-like).
This guy who is singing an opera type song while 15 cars drive over him is also impressive (and he has really nice abs ;)
I foresee myself yet again wasting too much time on youtube...
Meeting Germans
My most recent goal is to start hanging out with more German people. Currently I mostly hang out with English speaking people. But since the majority of these people are only here for one-year stints, by the end of the summer I will have lost most of my friend group.
Plus the fact that a big reason that I came here was to improve my german, yet I spend far too much of my time speaking english.
One of the reasons is that I am both shy and lazy. Speaking to a group of people I don't know very well is already daunting, but speaking to them in a foreign language that I am far from confident in is like a fiery hell to me. Although I can understand most conversations, when native german speakers are speaking amongst themselves they tend to speak faster and about more complicated subject matters. By the time I have fully digested the conversation they have already moved on, and any way since my german knowledge consist mainly of conversations to be had with 8-year-olds, my chances of contributing something meaningful/witty/funny are slim-to-nil (although to be fair in English I don't usually fare much better...). Bars and restaurants also make it really hard to hear and understand anyone.
It's easiest for me to talk to someone one-on-one but at best I get a half-german half-english conversation because almost all germans have really good english (those jerks!) so when topics get more complicated it just gets easier to talk in English. *sigh*
Also, another problem is that I've noticed that Germans (and actually I think this is true of other Europeans too) are just hard to become friends with. For newcomers and outsiders like myself it's incredibly frustrating, but then again I tend to find Germanfriendships a lot deeper and meaningful than the American style.
Whenever I meet foreign people from abroad I am always fascinated and am eager to become their friends. I think that's more norm in the U.S., especially if you are from somewhere exciting like Europe.
And it's not that Germans won't be friendly or interested in you if you are foreign, it's just really hard to break into the friend category I think.
To be honest I think it has something to do with the nature of friendships. Yes, it is hard to really befriend a German but once you do the level of friendship is longer and stronger than anything I typically experience at home. Plenty of people around our age are friends for a half or whole decade at least and the bond is something much deeper. Which seems much more comforting than the fickle, flighty, superficial friendships I find myself most often a part of at home.
I'm hoping that by fall though my lack of options will finally allow me to come a little bit out of my shell and finally talk to some cool German, but we'll see...
Plus the fact that a big reason that I came here was to improve my german, yet I spend far too much of my time speaking english.
One of the reasons is that I am both shy and lazy. Speaking to a group of people I don't know very well is already daunting, but speaking to them in a foreign language that I am far from confident in is like a fiery hell to me. Although I can understand most conversations, when native german speakers are speaking amongst themselves they tend to speak faster and about more complicated subject matters. By the time I have fully digested the conversation they have already moved on, and any way since my german knowledge consist mainly of conversations to be had with 8-year-olds, my chances of contributing something meaningful/witty/funny are slim-to-nil (although to be fair in English I don't usually fare much better...). Bars and restaurants also make it really hard to hear and understand anyone.
It's easiest for me to talk to someone one-on-one but at best I get a half-german half-english conversation because almost all germans have really good english (those jerks!) so when topics get more complicated it just gets easier to talk in English. *sigh*
Also, another problem is that I've noticed that Germans (and actually I think this is true of other Europeans too) are just hard to become friends with. For newcomers and outsiders like myself it's incredibly frustrating, but then again I tend to find Germanfriendships a lot deeper and meaningful than the American style.
Whenever I meet foreign people from abroad I am always fascinated and am eager to become their friends. I think that's more norm in the U.S., especially if you are from somewhere exciting like Europe.
And it's not that Germans won't be friendly or interested in you if you are foreign, it's just really hard to break into the friend category I think.
To be honest I think it has something to do with the nature of friendships. Yes, it is hard to really befriend a German but once you do the level of friendship is longer and stronger than anything I typically experience at home. Plenty of people around our age are friends for a half or whole decade at least and the bond is something much deeper. Which seems much more comforting than the fickle, flighty, superficial friendships I find myself most often a part of at home.
I'm hoping that by fall though my lack of options will finally allow me to come a little bit out of my shell and finally talk to some cool German, but we'll see...
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