Aaahhh, it’s mid-October and I’ve finally moved to my Kreuzberg-flat :) It’s cosy, wonderful view, great location and it’s warm with central heating! G’bye 15°C bathroom, won’t miss you.
The moving itself was somewhat arduous, phew. I didn’t want to spend my money on a taxi, since I was in any case going twice to the Kreuzberg-flat; on Thursday to pick up the keys etc., and then on Friday I could really move in. So I figured I might just as well drag along my belongings. So on Thursday, I loaded my bike with two 29″ bike wheels, two large(ish) bags and my spare bed, aka a gigantic airbed, and with my backpack fully packed I begun my journey through Berlin leading my wheeled load. Of course I didn’t walk or ride the whole 10 km, but used the S- and U-Bahns. Luckily all three stations (S-Schönhauser Allee, S/U-Gesundbrunnen and U-Kottbusser Tor) had lifts, so I didn’t have to drag the whole lot down or up stairs, that would have been a torturous experience. Though I have to admit, I almost thought about it anyway, because waiting for the lifts was very frustrating :D Patience is definitely not one of my strengths, at least not when I’m trying to get things done or get from a place to another, then I(’d) want everything to be quick and efficient!
I received quite a good deal of puzzled looks with my moving load, haha. I’d like to think they were looks of awe and admiration, but probably they were just feeling sorry for me or at least thought I was losing my mind. Very many helpful hands were offered :) But well, comparing to that I would have dragged all that stuff just with my two hands, I would have needed a second round. So I’m actually a bit proud of my bike-moving-idea! And the effort surely paid off, now I’m in my new flat and won’t have to move anywhere until May <3
Mid-October also means that the six-week German course has come to an end. I can’t quite understand how time flies so incredibly fast?! “Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.” The language course really has been very, very helpful, although it has required a whole lot of work. Well, maybe these two things are related... :) But in any case, it’s really encouraging to notice I’ve actually made some progress, especially with my spoken German and vocabulary. It still is a far cry from fluent, and especially when I’m tired I still tend to freeze. But at least I am better understood than six weeks ago, and also I understand better; I can follow TV programmes or films and understand pretty much everything. But I still suck :D But I believe it does me good to really suck at something, and still have to try to cope and get better. It’s quite humbling.
A weird thing related to the process of language learning is that my French has totally degraded. It's really weird, German and French are somehow in the same category in my brain, which is strange since my French is a lot stronger than my German. Or was, at least. Now when I try to speak French, I really have no guarantees whatsoever that I'll actually speak French?! I use German words and even sentences without even noticing (or at least noticing it when I've already blurted it out, and it thus is already too late), and when trying to think of the correct French words, all I can think of are German. Wtf...
Mid-October also means that next week, the academic year starts. I’ve got quite interesting courses ahead: a seminar in social/labour market/economic policy, a couple of courses in environmental policy, a course about politics of memory (i.e., political history), and then a German course. I’ll actually be able to get quite a good deal credited in Helsinki, so also my master degree studies are advancing here :)
I guess everyone recognises the slightly frustrated longing for a change from time to time, a boredom with everything being always the same. But I must say, more than the acute change with all the new things, I like more the phase thereafter, when things aren’t all new and strange to the point of intimidation. It’s exciting but very tiring, and I do, however, need some sort of routine and familiarity in order to feel... well, I guess “safe” or “comfortable” are somewhat the right words. It’s quite a perfect balance: life is not (yet?) in a boring rut, but has a freshness along with a nice familiarity to it :) A long story short: life’s good <3
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