Thursday, October 25, 2007

Wow... that was a quick month

What happened to October? Seriously I swear that last week I got home from Octoberfest. Apparently this is not the case. I spent one weekend just chilling and partying. Which was great. And I spent one weekend being sick. Which was not so great. And last weekend I saw my sister in Heidelberg before she flew home to Canada. Which was fantastic!!!!!

I feel like at the same time so much and so little has happened to me. I don't know how exactly that works out. But let's just say that I am in love with life right now.

Ten Good Things that have Happened Recently

1. I got a new flatmate this month. This probably would be less exciting if I didn't get along with my new flatmate like a house on fire.

2. I am now officially a resident of the Shengen zone. Europe, I am not sure why you decided to let me in. But I sure am happy about it. I mean look at that official document. Who could be bummed about that?





3. I have tickets for the Manu Chao concert tonight in Frankfurt. Seriously I have wanted to see this guy live for years.





4. I seem to be back in the saddle again with my knitting. I haven't said anything yet, but I am knitting Thermal by Laura Chow for my sister. It is holiday knitting but since a) my sister doesn't read my blog and b) she's already seen part of the sweater I think it's okay to talk about it. I have the body up to the armpits and one sleeve (almost) done. I am charmed by the wool I got here in Wolle Roedel to make it and I am charmed by the pattern. But really at this gauge I get the feeling that I could have made two sweaters by now. I have basically tricked myself into being forced to only knit thermal by putting pieces of it on basically all the needles that I have here in Germany with me. I can't cast on for anything new. This has been reasonably successful but has at certain points made me almost mad with the desire to yank out those needles, throw caution to the wind and cast on for anything else. Anything. I'd almost make a nose warmer. And that is saying something. But I am making progress and so I keep going with Thermal.

5. The Scandinavian Party.





























The vodka and sherbet shots were definitely forthcoming. Especially from the girls wearing flags. And then for fairly complex reasons Malin deicided to lick my face. Excellent.














It's alright though because we started this. In case you can't read my stomach (which I have apparently posted twice) it reads : "Avril knows what they say about Readheads". Yup. We're awesome. My friend Guro (who also knows what they say about redheads) had a really good time with her Elk T-shirt. So we decided to kiss her. She deserved it.





6. I saw my sister and Mimi this weekend. It was fantastic. They were in Heidelberg (which is right near here) to drop Maddy off at the airport in Frankfurt. I nearly plotzed when I saw them. We had dinner, we chilled we walked. The only regret there is that it wasn't nearly a long enough time to spend with those lovely ladies.

7. I've been doing much better at acquainting myself with the people in my classes. The German students are very nice. But they do seem to study a lot more than me. I think this is a by-product of the whole study abroad thing. I don't really mind though. I'm having fun. And I am trying to involve people.

8. I got a new phone to replace the one that died an unfortunate death. My new phone is beautiful. And it means that I am not really left out of the loop so much. This is good. In fact this is wicked awesome.

9. Last night I played dice with my flatmates. I don't know why I think this is so cool. Mostly because I actually saw my flatmates. Also because I think that it is so cool to say "I played dice". Makes me feel like some sort of old-timey gangster.

10. It's the weekend (okay not quite yet... but still yay!!)!!!!

I love making lists like this. It makes me realise just how good my life really is.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Oktoberfest may have killed me

Dear Oktoberfest,
I think you are fantastic. You made me have fun with friends and with strangers. But at the same time I think that you are just a little too much fun. You are the friend who gives me too much to drink at a party. Or the one who goes home with a different guy every time we go out. You are trouble. But at the same time you are so much fun it is just hard to resist you charm. The times we spent in the Beergarten were fantastic! I mean Hans and the underwear reading, the masses of beer, the 15 year olds in Dirndls, the strange german men and Allison. Really who could have asked for more amusement? The beer tent, dancing on tables and playing the find Evan a woman game as well as running away from crazy Bosnian waiters... You gave us an excellent time. The downside was the sleep deprevation that ended up in the very very cold München hbf. But at least I had Kate to spoon to keep me warm. The moral of the story is Oktoberfest, I like you but I don´t really want to see you again.
Love
Avril