TINGS I'VE LEARND THIS WEAK

This long weekend was wonderful and weird and poignant for reasons that I can and cannot disclose. Last Thursday was a holiday called “Reformation Day” and I have no class on Friday. I want to highlight one experience in particular that felt special to me that occurred last Thursday.

On Wednesday night, a couple of my German friends were contemplating an impromptu trip to Leipzig to see Marcel Dettman who is a resident DJ of the (in?)famous Berghain in Berlin. Initially, it seemed that we were not going to go, but upon realizing that Leipzig might be more of an adventure, decided that we should. We left Dresden at 22:00 or 23:00, I don’t remember. On the train, I was introduced 4 German dudes who I would end up hanging out with for the rest of the night/day. In Leipzig we crashed a house party for a bit and then headed to Distillery, where Marcel would be playing. In the club I ended up talking with one of the guys, Lion, for something like two hours about random philosophical/political things all the while listening to super bomb-ass techno. Everything at the club was great and we left around 10:00 or 11:00 to chill in some park before our departure.

At 14:00 we caught a train going back to Dresden. Lion had decided to stay in Leipzig with Españolas and two of the other German guys had passed out. I had been sleeping for a bit and then woke up to find the 4th guy, Falco, awake. Falco and I started talking about random things. I wasn’t a very good conversation partner because I was in a *fucking grog. *Eventually, he brought up American Beauty and described his favorite moment in the movie where one of the characters describes life being so beautiful that it makes him want to cry. After Falco described this, he assumed some sort of sad thinkers pose. I almost fucking broke down and balled right there. I probably not going to describe this well, but there was something about being under extreme exhaustion and the afterglow of the party drug with the saxony countryside rushing by under the autumn afternoon sun that got to me deep in that moment. All the decisions and experiences that had brought me to that point came rushing back and I remembered how profoundly sad it was to leave all the things and people that I loved behind. And simultaneously I thought about all the amazing experiences and adventures that I have already had in this month abroad. And that this is how life is beautiful. It’s adventures and risks and being vulnerable and lost and finding your way continuously. It’s incredible.

• Halloween is sort of a thing here. You can definitely see people wearing all variety of costumes and throwing house parties. It’s just that not everyone is doing it. I didn’t dress up.
• I have my first logic test tomorrow. :(
• Although my trip to Leipzig was free with my student card, I couldn’t ride the public transportation there for free.
• I have the hardest fucking time finding heavy cream, which is “Sahne” or "Schlagsahne". It doesn’t seem like it’s something that most stores carry. It doesn’t come in any package that looks like milk. All the packages that I have seen so far have been different. I just used one that looked like a Yoplait container.
• In bars and clubs and other places, you can turn in your beer bottle for a pretty hefty rebate, like 50 euro cents…which means its pretty easy to get a free beer just by hunting around for empty bottles.
• I had German nannies when I was *really *young and I am going to reunite with one later this week! We had a brief phone conversation the other day, during which she told me that I loved to stare at the ocean in Morro Bay and listen to some buoy that would make a weird howling noise. I’ve always loved to stare at the ocean, so maybe this explains it. I’m excited to learn more about myself.
• Döner, Döner, Döner, Dürüm, Dürüm, Dürüm, yummy and cheap and big.

<3