A free minute!!

Ok!! I have 15 mins to write about the past week. here I go. (excuse the typos, please)

Berlin is amazing, overwhelming, tiring, and exhilirating. So many new things to try...Balkan dancing last night, after a booking at this posh club at the top of a skyscraper. Sadly, I´m miserable at dancing, as I´m sure most of you already know. Today we also started filming our documentary on multiculturalism in Berlin. The group of 25 students split in half, one doing a written publication focusing on multiculturalism in the business world, and the other (my half) working on a video documentary. Two German students and myself spent this afternoon walking around a Turkish sector of Berlin, interviewing families and shooting interesting cultural clashes. How often does one get to do that?? A Russian film producer from Eastern Germany is helping us by reviewing our footage throughout the week and making suggestions. And I´ll have a lovely copy to post on here when it´s finished!! V. exciting.

Breif summary of the previous week:
-Tour of the Bundestag, basically parliament
-Tour and conference at Axel Springer--Europe´s largest publishing company--focusing on Die Welt, one of it´s paper companies
-Berlin Wall
-Modern Art Museum
-National Gallery currently housing french impressionism exhibit from NY--lots of Degas--v. exciting, as he is my current favorite.
-Beer Gardens
-Karaoke Bars
-bike tour through Potsdam---probably my favorite excursion--riding bikes by rivers, over bridges, through old dutch quarters on beautiful old cobblestone streets and stopping for the best hot chocolate i´ve ever had...
-German food!!
-lectures from journalists from all around eastern Europe. international journalism is starting to sound quite enticing...

but above all, the other students are my favorite part. 25 of us--from germany, macedonia, belgium, serbia, czeck republic, bulgaria, poland, romania, panama--and just three of us from the states. and everyone gets along SO incredibley well. we have so much fun together and have the most dynamic discussions. and everyone is very patient with my embarrassing german skills....or complete lack thereof.
anyway, i have to go catch yet another train. I've never ridden so many trains...
I´ll try to write soon!!
take care*

I am here!

There is very limited internet here in Berlin, so my updates for the next two weeks will be very scarce. Just a quick note to say that i made it safe and sound to berlin at 1am after a flight delay, and am managing just fine despite my complete lack of knowledge of the german language. Embarrassing, but not paralyzing! The lectures and discussion tables are fascinating; there are 25 students involved--all from different eastern european countries. Thank goodness the rest of the world commits to bilingualism!! we have bonded quickly though, and all get along really well. the berlin program is much more relaxed than my time at oxford; we have ample time for sightseeing and i rely on my german speaking friends to direct me through the maze of underground transportation! (so actually, most of them are trilingual.) we spend the mornings in round table discussion, the afternoons sightseeing, and the evening discovering berlin's nightlife (which never sleeps, I'm told)
Anyway, i will write more complete entries when i have the time, and when I'm not so overwhelmed by this culture shock! I'm loving every second of it though, rest assured. :)

has it really been three weeks??

First of all, an ENORMOUS thank you for all of the birthday wishes on facebook, on my blog, and in emails.
Fortunately I DID manage to scrounge up a couple random people to drag out to the bars for some birthday drinks... kidding of course.
I've made some insanely awesome friends here, and they made sure it was a successful celebration of the last 21 years.
I know some of you have to be quite curious as to what when down, so here you go!
We all started out in the Merton College Bar--Jessica officially bought me my first drink--I think it was called a Beau-Job. (Trina--a couple of those are in order for you, I think) The whole crew came out to kind of send us off at the bar--professors and everything--so that was really nice. Then Brent, Kortni, Steve, Sam, Jess, Gwyn, Darrell and I headed out to a pub called Old Tom's where I reluctantly experienced a DJodka--not something I'll ever try again. it's exactly what it sounds like--Jack Daniels and Vodka. absolutely horrible.Then we hopped across the street to another pub called St. Aldgates, then onto a really nice bar called Copa, then to a couple nightclubs--the Purple Turtle and The Bridge. And it's crazy because it was a wednesday night, and the clubs were still packed. Oxford is actually a decently sized city--I don't know if I mentioned that already--over 100,000. To be quite brief and cryptic, it was a very interesting evening--very pleasant and enjoyable--and I definitly felt well taken care of.
Ok! so enough of that.

The rest of the week was splendid as well.

I did however, manage to develop strep throat last weekend, so I spent the better part of friday and saturday napping...luckily dad foresaw this though, and sent along a round of antibiotics! So I feel completely fine, thank goodness.

Our term papers were also due on Monday, so the weekend was definitely a struggle. I ended up doing mine on why the romanization of Britain was such a smooth success culturally, and what some of the crucial factors were. Prior to coming here, I had never really been much for history, but I've definitely discovered a new fascination in British history.

We've had a little more free time (not much more) now that lectures have ended and our papers and presentations have been completed, so we've been trying to shop and see everything we haven't seen yet....instead of writing a book, I think a brief, hodge-podged list of highlights will work best:
-Harry Potter movie on Tuesday night!!! (if it wasn't already obvious, i'm slightly obsessed)
-church service at St. Aloysius on Sunday
-high table on thursday...penny wars have an entirely different connotation here than in the US...
-finished lectures on wednesday
-out dancing last night
-visited the Old Bodelian Library
-Divinity School
-Blackwells Bookstore--enormous and built around this ancient pub called the White Horse that refused to move
-Chang Mai--this AMAZING Thai restaurant...Thai is probably my favorite food
-punting again yesterday--much more successful this time
-movie being filmed here at Merton with Emma Thompson--one of my fave actresses
it's called the Brideshead Revisited...based on a novel I believe...
-beautiful beautiful weather...aside from the downpour this morning.

Overall, I cannot believe it's already time to leave, I'm--not hoping, but PLANNING--on coming back, and can easily say that these past three weeks have been some of the best in my life thus far. I firmly believe that everyone needs to have an overseas adventure, and that you haven't experienced life until you throw yourself into a completely foreign one and live amongst a different people. How can you discover your true person surrounded by people with extremely simlilar backgrounds? Living in SD, it's so easy to become insular, and lose the desire to pursue something scary or uncomfortable. It's easy to be happy--SD is a wonderful place to live. But there's this incredible amount of amazing people out there--waiting to make an impact on your life, ready to introduce you to new ideas, passions and experiences. Deep down, we're all people, yes, but the core of humanity is not what you experience on an everyday basis. People here are Very different from people in SD, and I'm sure Germany will hold a whole new set of differences as well.
And there's so much to see in this world. Our lives are so incredibly short, and we only get one chance to do as much as possible. ....hmmm. I'm digressing. Point is, I think I've been bitten by the travel bug. Actually, I was bitten many years ago, over and over, and now I think I'm just permanently infected. I am One with the travel bug. Ha. that was lame, Alison.
I just can't imagine not wanting to have experiences like this one. And I'm also a firm believer that you need to decide what you want, and make it happen. If you want it badly enough, and are willing to devote the required energy, you can have it. None of that "expect the worst and settle for pleasant surprises" mentality. I actually had a great conversation with Dr. Kershaw over some Tetley's at the college bar last night about living mentalities.
Anyway. Enough! Time to head to Blackwells and see if I can sell some roman books to lighten my load a little. I am not sure if I'll have internet at the conference hotel in Berlin. I may have to wander the streets for an internet cafe.
Thank you once again to all of you who have been writing and keeping me updated with your lifes. I know I've been horrible at writing back--please don't take it as an insult--free time is just incredibly scarce. I haven't forgotten, I plan on replying, and I just ask for your patience!!
I love reading your emails--keep 'em coming!! I appreciate them so much.
I hope this finds you happy--and let me know if any of you have any specific gift requests!!
Love, Al

PICTURES!!!

a view from the top of St. Mary's cathedral looking at (i think) All Souls College of Oxford

PUNTING!! That's Ryan from Louisiana in the back, by far the most successful at punting, steve from missouri in the middle, and me looking a little...worried?

On our daytrip to London last weekend--on the Westminster bridge with Ryan (LSU, obviously) and Sam from Oxford. You can kind of see Parliament in the background!

this is what I see when I leave my room every morning!!