Cleaning Time

Since I've been back from Munich, especially now that the horror known as the GRE is over, things have been going at a slower pace. Usually I keep myself swamped, but since I'm living at home for a little bit and holding off on the job search so that I can put in my first grad app before the too-soon-approaching deadline.

This and the social isolation of the suburbs has given me some time to reflect. Consequently, I have come up with two new life resolutons/directions.

1) To keep up with my current good dieting ways.

I have never been able to diet, mostly because I think I love food too much and I can't put up with being hungry for very long. I found this really cool app for my ipod touch, called LoseIt!, which helps track your calories in a cute organized way. It tells me how many calories I need to eat and the diet isn't super extreme. I've already lost 2.5 pounds, and hope to keep it up as well as my daily exercising.

2)To be more assertive/discerning.

I wouldn't consider myself a weak person, but I've been noticing of recent that I have been putting up with a little bit too much. I know that I naturally have a temper, so I've learned to only make an argument about stuff that I feel is really worth it. Well, not everyone thinks like me and I'm sick of my generosity and willingness to let things slide let people think they can treat me like a doorstop. From now on, my bitch side is going to become a little more prominent.

I'm also extending that to eliminating all relationships (both friend and more-than-friend) that are below my now heightened standards. Narcicists, super avoidant flakes, sleazebags, douchebags, and any other variety of tool are no longer welcome in my life.

Pretty much trying to purify myself physically and emotionally. We'll see how good I am to sticking to it all though :)

Airport Feelings

At 315 AM, Thursday, October 1st ---with four very overloaded bags, I caught a train from Munich to Frankfurt. 3 planes and one car ride later I was back in the good ol' U.S. of A.

I've been MIA from my blog, because I have learned a few lessons the hard way:

1) Although drinking will make your cold feel better temporarily, it is in fact, not a type of cold medication

2) When experiencing a cold, it is not the best idea to head straight from the Wiesn (locals name for Oktoberfest) to a train and then 3 planes.

3) Apparently, flying with a cold is bad. The pressure changes can affect your hearing.

The whole flight experience was pretty much insane, since I went straight from partying in the tents to a train. In all of my ultimate wisdom I forgot to take a shower---so I was pretty much an untouchable, seeing as I smelled like some horrible combination of smoke, beer, and sweat. Nice. Also, as soon as soon as I came down from my first flight, I immediately lost my hearing. I spent most of the time walking around feeling like I had head phones even when I didn't. Annoyingly, every time the plane went in the air my hearing would go back to normal, but as soon as we landed it would be gone again.

On a positive note, I ended up with a 300 dollar flight voucher for volunteering to take a later flight, even though this extended my home journey time to over the 24 hour mark. But now I have an excuse to celebrate my birthday and New Years in New York. :)

For the last 10 days or so I have been home I have mostly been hiding out and trying to rid myself of this horrible head cold/regain some sort of reliable hearing. My GRE test date has also been looming over my head, so I've tried to spend most of my conscious time at least pretending to study. After the 20th, things will be a lot less stressful. I am healing a bit and will try to post more about my summer travels, Oktoberfest, and Germany asap.

Plea from a Serial Loser

So this past weekend, in the typical style of Oktoberfest (well actually, also in the typical Melissa style...), I managed to rid myself of my phone, keys, approx 10 euros, and my driver's license.

I am of the opinion that actually I got robbed, since I definitely didn't take all that stuff out of my purse at any time and my phone was mysteriously turned off. But I went and checked the lost and found anyway, to no avail.

It is nice that that have this sort of thing at Oktoberfest, and also that there is a lot of things that actually do get returned.

That part is sort of heartwarming actually. Sometimes it feels like it's hard to do good in the world, but merely turning someones belongings into a lost and found I think sends a lot of good vibes out there.

As someone who has lost pretty much 90% of things she has ever owned, I can personally attest to how great you make someone feel by doing something so simple. Not to be over dramatic, but it sort of restores your faith in humanity---it's nice to know that someone that doesn't even know you at least empathizes and cares about you a little.

None of my things, other than the 10 euros, were really of value to anyone else, yet as is true of most things, I think we all tend to get a little apathetic. If my stuff wasn't stolen, it was more likely found by someone who was too lazy to turn it in or was not discovered until the hungover person was too far away to bother.

And I totally sympathize. Once I found a driver's license in the bathroom and picked it up intending to give it back, but instead just forgot about it. It sat on my mantel for a while as a guilty reminder. But then again, I also once found a class ring in lecture and turned it in.

But dammit people! Put a little bit more effort in! Make someones day, its not hard.

UPDATE!!!: The angels of Oktoberfest heard my bitter pleas, and when I went back to the Lost and Found a few days later, my keys were there! No sign of my phone or driver's license, although the guy said they would probably show up later. Not sure if I believe that, but all I cared about was the keys anyway. Happy days!

Stollen!

So today I was suprised to see a loaf of Stollen in the Supermarkt near my house. It's traditional German christmas bread, something I usually eat anyway every year since you can get it in the states. It's pretty much sweet bread with different things inside and powdered sugar on top. I think the best kind is when it has Marzipan inside yumm. (FYI Marzipan is a potato paste thing they eat in Germany, often times inside of chocolate. I used to hate it with a passion, but after years of exposure have come to really like it).

And lucky me, this one does have Marzipan inside! It's just funny because since Germany has no Thanksgiving or Halloween to market, they always start up on the christmas stuff ridiculously early. They even had Glühwein out. Kind of ridiculous I think, but at least I get to snatch up some of the best German christmas treats before I leave!

New Hairdo

Yess! After an embarrasingly long time not getting my haircut, I have finally said goodbye to split ends. I even got my first professional highlights too! And the best part being that I got it all for free (pretty much Dennis is the BEST!).

It definitely destress me a bit and I am happy to be no longer mocked by children (its embarrasingly when a children are telling you you have spliss (split-ends) and you should get your haircut Ms. Prince hahah).

New hair-cut, new outlook :)

(photos to come soon!)

Dublin!

The first week of August was my first week of vacation, and I spent it in Ireland. And I have to say that it was everything I had hope it would be.

I spent my first and one of my last days in Dublin, and it's interesting to contrast it with the rest of Ireland.

When I think of Ireland I always think of all the green countryside, which isn't how Dublin is. It is definitely more of an urban center, even though its not so huge. There is a nice park not that far away, but its definitely on the more concrete-y side. It's also interestng, because tourist-wise there's not all that much to do. The main things I did was go to the Guinness factory and check out the pubs, which were both great, even though in places like Temple Bar you can end up paying 5€ (!!) for a pint of beer (in Germany you can sometimes get a whole LITER of beer for that price!).

The Guinness factory was definitely worth a trip though. It is huge and tells you all these cool things about how beer and Guinness and particular is made. Plus you get a free pint at the end!




I had the choice of getting one one top at their cool ceiling bar, but decided to get mine at the bar where they let you pour your own! I even got a certificate for it--how cheesy!



Dublin is definitely has a cool young vibe to it though. Think it would be great to study there, especially because Ryan air is based there, so you could get lots of cheap flights to travel from there---as long as you can put up with the crummy weather!

Camp Lessons 2

4) Crying girls is like the yawning effect to other little girls---it gets them all going.

5) The country sucks because stores close at 6, a bell goes off every morning at 645 AM :( and the mosquitos feast on you everyday.

6) Many children do not know how to control the volume of their voice, especially in the mornings

7) Threating to send them to bed early works amazingly.

8) Despite my complaining I still really like kids, just not 30 of them for a week straight!

Back to normal life (or the closest assimilation) in 1.5 days...