Last German Blog

It's official. In less than 48 hours I will be leaving Berlin and heading back home (and it feels like, back to reality). Honestly, trying to fathom and reflect upon this experience in its entirety is nearly impossible. There were stretches when I was absolutely miserable, others were I was content, others were I would have given anything to be on the next flight home, and now it's a pretty even melange of sadness to leave and excitement to be home.

It's a shame I have to leave just when the weather is getting nice... we had the coldest winter on record in Berlin (and why wouldn't that be the case--it is my life we're talking about). I spent last night at a beer garten, yesterday bike riding along the Spree River, and Sunday in a park laying on the grass drinking beer. I usually don't like the outdoors, and even though all this outside time has given me a really cool necklace and watch tan line (when I say tan because it's me we all know it means burn) I feel invigorated to see Berlin with new eyes.

Tonight is the farewell dinner, which is a momentously sad and happy occasion. I have tried to come up with funny superlatives for members of IES as a sort of "goodbye, Annie Style". For example one category is, "Most Likely to Have His Girlfriend Stolen by Buddy Holly at a Hop" directed at a guy who dresses like he thinks he's James Dean. It's good natured though, promise. I thought about giving the bitchy girl "Miss Congeniality" but I figured I should be above it (although, who am I kidding, I'm not). But as another, "goodbye, Annie Style" I have compiled in a style, similar to that of Allure Magazine's "beauty by the numbers", a "Berlin by the numbers". Enjoy:

DEUTSCHLAND BY THE NUMBERS
Countries Visited: 6 (Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic, France, Russia, U. K.)
Credit Hours: 16
Classes: 5
IES Students: 25
Host Mothers: 2
Bowls Broken causing the infamous "bowl gate": 1
Irish Stag Partiers whose Stag Party I crashed: 12
Awkward Confrontations in Russia with Bitchy girl: 2
Bitchy comments directed at me by said girl: Millions
Time's Denied Entry to Flam's: 1
Times men masturbated to me on the S-bahn: 1 (too many!)
Former Dutch Prostitutes Met: 1
Novels Read: 5
Novels Read in the Twighlight Series: 2
Times Attended White Trash Fast Food: 4
Strip Clubs Attended: 3
Late Night Doeners: too many to count
Height of New Zealander I stupidly challenged to a drinking contest: 6' 7''
Glass Shelves Shattering Resulting in Stitches: 1
Number of Stitches: 2
Cost to Replace Shelve: 17 Euros
Cost to Replace Foot: 50$ co-pay