Where's My Silver Lining Dammit?

So, despite my best efforts to attend arguably one of Germany's most revered and tourist-frequented social events, namely Oktoberfest, I have been thwarted. For the third time in as many weekends my social calendar has been destroyed by poor planning, destitution, and Fate. Sigh.

But in answer to the question posed in the title of this blog, all is not lost for our fearless hero. Friday night I went out on the town, fully enjoying the sensation of going to bed as the sun comes up (read: 7 am). Saturday took me to the amazing and historic Olympiastadion to watch the local team and a small gathering of 42,000 fans play some football. Entering the stadium and hearing the roar of the faithful, with the cheering, the chants, the banners, and of course the football made me in an instant one of the converted. Just thinking about the game makes my hair stand on end. Unfortunately, the home side didn't win, but there's always next weekend. It was crazy to notice on the approach to the stadium the 25-30 police riot vans, with the concourse ringed by hundreds of police in full riot gear, as well as the Ubahn stocked to the gills with people going to and from. For all you Bay Area kids reading the blog, imagine the BART and Muni in SF for a Giants game then triple those numbers. And of course, the night simply wasn’t complete without some Ubahn hijinks. (details on request)

And then, as if the weekend couldn't get any better, it did. I just got back from an amazing show featuring the opener, Anais Michell and a personal favorite, Bon Iver. The girl, Anais was pretty awesome, but she played like a 30 minute set! She had some amazing guitar tunings, and did some really awesome songs. Definitely worth checking out. After a short wait, Bon Iver came on, and played pretty much their whole new album, plus two new tracks! Utterly awesome. It was a little awkward, in that Germany seems to suffer from completely awkward, graphic, and blatant PDA’s. Not just handholding, but full-on makeouts. At a concert, in the U-bahn, wherever. All the random couples aside, it was awesome and I can't wait to see more shows here in Berlin!

I’m sure Adam had an awesome time at Oktoberfest, clearly it was a ton of fun. So where was my silver lining? Right here in Berlin where I left it. Life is good.

When in Berlin....Buy a Jacket 'cause it's Freezing

So I realized it's been a month o' Sundays since be done published on this here blog, and I simply must say there is much to report, though its importance can of course be interrogated.

School is going well, other than bashing my head against the desire to have a more comprehensive vocabulary. Nothing can be more humbling than explaining something that is so completely obvious to your historical and analytical mind and being brought to your knees by the word for.....different. (It's Unterschied as noun and verschieden as adjective) Sigh. But the transit system here in Berlin is amazing; I have no problem going to a school some 45 minutes distant.

Bureaucratically speaking, I am progressing nicely in the festering quagmire that is the German political machine. I can safely say that the police now know where I live (a potentially disturbing prospect) but on the plus side, I can also avoid the large fine associated with not registering. (Humorously enough, the police issue the citation) Was faced with the briefest of Catch-22's when I realized in order to register at University I needed to pay my fees, but to pay my fees I needed a bank account for which I needed to register with the police. I then needed all of these forms to get my visa. Lots of fun to be sure.

As the title would suggest, it is outrageously cold here in Berlin. There are actually places in this world in which fall as a season is experienced (oh how I miss thee California). Needless to say the high and low temps forecasted for this weekend hover around 15/8 C (that's 59/46 for you standard kids), which calls for scarves and sweaters, and gasp! layers. Well, that's me in a nutshell for the last week or so, which I must say simply flies by.

I'll leave you all with heartfelt thanks for the reads and comments, and some shots of the Casa de Will/Adam.

Homesickness Op.57 no.6 in E Minor

Yesterday and today more than ever I've been struck by a sudden and gripping wave of homesickness. I miss all the things from back home, I miss going home, the people there, my stuff, just everything. And while I understand that separation is part of the whole studying abroad thing, emotionally its really hard to come to terms with. If only you could mail a hug.
Not much else to report as of late, but if you're still reading this little blog here, I'd love some feedback to see what the four of you think of it.