Yes, definitely the queen!!

Today was a really good day. But I'll get to that later.

Monday was a boring, normal day, but Tuesday evening was a birthday party. It was our friend Antti's birthday. He's from Finland. Katie and I bought him a present that was awesome. We bought him a red sherriff's hat, an 8-shooter gun (the kind that uses those circles of bullets, you know?) and a holster to put the gun in. Then we made him open it and wear it as a special birthday costume. It was awesome. Sometimes you just find the perfect gift fot a birthday, you know? Anyways, I ended up staying at Antti's place until way too late and then walking back to my building (Antti lives in the same complex as I do, but not the same building) with this French guy named Hugo. He's the other boy in the full body picture. We had just met that night, and we only talked briefly at the party, but on the way home I found out that he really likes music, too. So I ended up at his place (same building as me) listening to music and drinking tea until about 6:00am. Fortunately, my class on Wednesday didn't start until 1:00!!

So, Wednesday was a pretty regular day, I went to my class, my Uebung, "worked" at the language lab and then went to my German class. Then I met up with Katie and we went to watch one of my favourite movies of all time: A Clockwork Orange. There is a makeshift movie theatre in the student residences at the Olympic Villiage called Olywood, and they were playing it. The thing is, I didn't know if it would be in German or English; on one hand, we're in Germany, so you'd think it would be German, but on the other hand, all the flyers I'd seen for it said "A Clockwork Orange" and not "Uhrwerk Orange." It turns out that it was in German, but it's okay because I know it well enough that they could have played it on mute and I still would have known what they were saying!! Here's the funny part that's worth mentioning: they had to change the reel after an hour and a bit and here is the sign that they put up during the intermission:

This translates to: 5 Minute pause (durr!) to smoke and grab a beer. You know you're in Germany when! Katie and I were laughing so hard!

Alright, so, the movie didn't end until just before midnight, so it was late when I got home. But I can never go to bed right when I get home, anyways, so I stayed up for a bit. I think I got to bed at about 2:00am, but that's no big deal. I had a class at 9:00am; I could have gotten up at 8:00 and been just fine. Six hours of sleep is not bad at all. I came to at 8:48. I usually leave the house at 8:45 to make it on time for *9:15. I, knowing that I am going to be late regardless of what I do, calmly get up and get dressed - hurredly, but calmly. I ended up getting off the U-Bahn at 9:15 exactly. So I'm not going to be really late. It's a couple minutes' walk to the actual classroom because I have to get to street level, then cross a street and get through the building and I decide that I am just going to walk quickly as opposed to running because, well, I'm going to be a little late anyways. I get to the classroom and everyone is sitting there, waiting. The prof isn't there yet. I think to myself, "What's going on here?" Then I look up at the blackboard and see a note that says the class is starting about 10 minutes late today. Right on!!

The rest of the day went really well, too. Katie and I had a meeting with our supervisor about doing a conversation course next semester, then I did a bit of shopping and came home. After a couple of hours there was a knock on my door. I put a note in the mailbox of this boy down the hall, asking him if he'd want to do a language tandem with me (he studies Anglistik, so I figured that I could help him as much as he could help me) and he was getting back to me, letting me know that he would be thrilled! I am really excited about it. I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to do a tandem and now I have a partner!

Then I went to a concert with Erika. I actually don't think I've really mentioned Erika at all. Erika is me; and I'm her. It's almost creepy, but I have found someone who is so much like me even we can't believe it. I haven't mentioned her, even though the connection is so creepy, because we were introduced one night and hit it off, then we hung out the next night, and the following day she headed back to Halifax for a month. She just got back last weekend (well, the weekend before, but she was really sick on the weekend) and tonight we went to this concert. It was a Spanish musician who plays celtic music, named Carlos Nunez. I realize tonight, after hearing all of his explanations about the songs, that celtic music is very similar from every country that sits on the Atlantic Ocean! There are, of course, differences, but whether it was Spanish, Breton, Irish, etc, it was very similar. It was an incredible concert; he played an assortment of different flute-ish instruments and the bagpipes, and there was a violinist/fiddler, drummer/piano player and a guitarist, but the guitar was one of those ones that are very round with a real, sort of, teardrop shape to the body. Does anybody know what I'm trying to say? Anyways, the concert was great!

I'm going to end this here, but I have one thing to say first: The icing on the cake that was today, is that I found out about a very special concert that is happening in February. Death Cab for Cutie is coming here and I am so excited! I am going to bed with a smile on my face tonight!!

*I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Germans are crazy. I often say in Canada that I have a class from 9:00 till 10:00. That actually means that it starts at 9:00, but ends at 9:50. Same difference. When Germans say that a class goes from 9:00 till 11:00, they mean that it starts at 9:15 and ends at 10:45. I can't explain it. It just seems silly to me. Why have it this way? I get leaving a half hour between classes, but why say it this way? It makes no sense...