These streets will make you feel brand new, these lights will inspire you

Yet again I have succumbed to the cardinal sin of blogging: absenteeism. To be fair, I have actually been really busy---not sure how I can be so bored and so busy at the same time. Working two menial jobs, completing applications to grad school, harassing non-respondent recommenders, and Christmas shopping seem to do the trick though.

Thanks to the generosity of the airplane gods though I was granted a 300 dollar voucher for a flight and decided to ring in the new years and my birthday with one of my favorite people. With an 18 dollar flight and free diggs, it's a vacation even I can afford.

Normally people tend to flock to island locations when they want to get away from it all--given the desirability of warmer climates and a slower pace. But I am sort of aiming for the opposite. And to be honest, I think two weeks in New York is the only cure for 3 months in the suburbs. Having spent longer than the week I can normally stomach trapped in an incredibly public transport unfriendly locale sans car, where the average ages seems to be 60, I am more than ready to cut loose in the city that never sleeps.

I have to admit that previously I had a bit of a grudge against New York. I just tend to generally distrust anyone or anything that claims to be the best, and New York is so frequently proclaimed to be best at EVERYTHING, hence my skepticism. But I am now fully open to the idea that it really is as great everyone has been saying.

I am extra excited, because due to an early and unexpected invitation to an interview at UC Santa Barbara (which has an excellent school psychology program btw), my confidence has taken a huge boost and I am more hopefully considering the possibility of attending Columbia next year. I am partly considering this trip a possible preview of next fall.

I am of course mostly excited for the largeness and loudness of it all. The hustle and bustle, the legendary night life, and the amazing art and food scene. I know I will live it up being the typical annoying tourist, of the variety I often love to grumble at myself. Having lived through the confusion and cold of Munich I'm sure I can cut it in the Big Apple, despite my fears of spending too much on a pair of designer shoes or becoming irretrievably lost because of my fear to ask any New Yorkers for directions.

Really though I am stoked to reunite the dynamic S & M duo and embark on more spontaneous adventures in the vein of the shenanigans perpetrated this September.

Only a couple days until I can start feel brand new...

TYSKAB #3- No Lines

Germany is rightly known for being bureaucratic. More so than common sense or imagination would dictate. You have to register your address everytime you move if you want to be able to do anything, like get a library card or a bank account. 60% of all German literature is written about their tax system. You even need to get some sort of a license to have someone ELSE petsit your dog or cat.

Maybe this penchant beuracracy and the common belief that everything must really be done by the rules has led to the anomaly that is lines in Germany. Perhaps it's a rebellious act, or just a general impatience, I'm not sure.

But a line is a foreign and unknown thing here. And I mean everywhere. If you go into McDonald's for example, it's really more about how you can negotiate yourself around the mob. There are multiple cashiers who take your order, make your food, and ring you up (not very efficient I might add), and it's all a matter of making eye contact and squeezing up to a free person the quickest. If you tried to wait in line, you would wait your whole life. To me this is also grouped together with the idea that most German seem to have that you do not need to let people off a train or tram or subway before getting on. Especially on the train (deutsche bahn) you must literally fight your way off.

I really loved Germany, but this was one of the things that irritated me the most. Maybe I'm just a stickler for good manners, but it all just seemed incredibly rude---and it never ceased to irk me. Eventually the pushing and shoving became second nature and I could fight my way through like the rest of them, but the contrast from back home really amazed me. And even though it bugged me, nobody else seemed to be upset about it---so I guess if it works for you then what the hay. Just make sure to bring you're shoving elbows if you visit lovly Deutschland :)

*I feel like this is typical of all of Germany and not just Bavaria, which is why I referred to it as such.