last night i rode home on a motorcycle.
also, boys aren't meant to be understood.

i'm not really keeping a count, but i have just short of 2 weeks left.

a little bit of rant, a little bit of an update

Hallo alle!
I hope y'alls' Thanksgivings are going fantastically. We have a short break from the program. Most people headed out to do their last bits of traveling about Europe. I'm staying in Berlin with the intent of working on my finals, relaxing, and basically being a baller.

The word for Thanksgiving (the holiday, not just any old giving thanks) in German is Erntedankfest, which means the festival of thanks of the harvest. neato!

My final project sounds like a pain, but it's really really cool. I hope, anyway. We were told that we need to write a 6-page final, in German. It must include 3 interviews in the research and it is therefore technically an oral history project.
That was all that is assigned. Preferably it has something specific to do with Berlin. Pretty open-ended, right? I freaked out. What do I like? I'm SICK of learning about all this war and then wall crap, where do I go from here?

Have no fear, pals, because I finally thought of something - dance. Researching dance is hella hard. But it's so easy to get interviews regarding the subject. At first I wanted to do ALL areas of dance, including the club scene, female primary education in the 20s and the importance of ballet, whatever Germany's equivalent to Cotillion is, social dance, folk dance... really everything.

My research is a little complicated. I don't carry around pen and paper and I don't let my subjects know I'm giving an interview.

While dancing in a cage at a place called Matrix, shouting to someone dancing with me: "So, how'd you hear about this place?"
"Sorry, I don't speak German!"
much laughter.
(Note: that sounds a lot worse than it is. Of course I've never been to a club at home, but they're fairly tame here, I guess. The cage is 3 feet off the ground and you just hop in whenever there's room.)

I haven't had any decent interviews that way, but I did go to a swing party. Since I went with a guy, I didn't get a chance to dance with anyone else. He told me I could, but nobody would have dared approach since he was sitting right next to me. It was so cool; the "bouncer" talked to us for about 20 minutes, asking where we were from and how our state had voted. We asked what kind of styles people were dancing. It was obvious we were the youngest ones there. The swing party was kind of a letdown. There were Lindy lessons, which was nice. I love dancing Lindy, but I am a woman and therefore a follower in the dance world, and I cannot explain to a leader/man what he is supposed to do. I tried, and the instructor tried, but it really didn't work out well. The DJ was fantastic, people's outfits were amazing. I'd like to call them costumes, but I know they're their regular swing dance dresses. They really were beautiful and quite classy.

Then... drumroll...
I had had enough BS that night of mediocre dancing. So I decided the next day to go alone.
and I went... you ready? CONTRA DANCING. Yup, in Germany.
I was a bit nervous. I had no idea how you'd say allemande left or ladies' chain or, God forbid, hay for four with an explanation in German.

It was terribly difficult to find. I was sure, when I got there, that I was only in the lobby. I asked where the dance was. This is it, a woman said. Oh, was my response. I thought it would be bigger. And not to diss the space, but enormous columns in tiny rooms are terribly inconducive to dancing of any sort, but especially to a dance which involves long lines.

There were so few people that the columns weren't really the problem. Of 20 people, there were 3 men. And one was the caller.
I had to dance as a man most of the time, except for when my monstrously tall female partner had to take a break. Then I danced with the caller.
There weren't exciting moves. One was a reel, which was about as daring as it got. The most exciting thing was a left hand star. No roll away with a half sashay, no young showoffs doing that fast, twirly business on our turn to be out.

The age mix with the women struck me as odd. There were 3 other youngish gals. A woman and her daughter, about my age and my mom's age. Definitely not 50 yet, definitely not boring yet. I approved of them. Another woman was probably 50 but looked younger. Surprise! She's from New Mexico. We chatted for quite a while and I had fun with her. I might use her as an interviewee. The rest of the women, however, were too damn old to be dancing. They ranged in age between 60 and 80. Now I know there are some youthful old folks at the dances I usually go to, but I so much appreciate them now. I don't know how these guys got into contra, but they didn't even seem to enjoy it.

Basically, I learned two good lessons from this.
Never again will I complain about contra crowd makeup in Davidson.
If you want to dance in Germany and have a good time, you either go big or go home. No folk dance nonsense. And bring a buddy who is better than you.

YAY FOR REUNIONS IN FRANCE!!!!!!!!!!

Coucou!

"Coucou" is how the cool French kids say hey...just a little cultural tidbit for your Wednesday.

I hope everyone's doing well! I'm super excited for Claire's visit to France this weekend. Also, I just wrote a new post about some observations of Tours...so I hope y'all like it.

Cheers!

Update!

Hello All!
I have been enjoying reading your posts and emails. :) Promise to respond soon to get a more in depth look of what you are up to and to catch you up on life here at Davidson. Until then though, I just wanted to let those of you who read my blog and wanted it updated ***MORIAH*** to know that I have just updated it! ;) So go check it out. I love you all!
Allie :)

Milan!

So there's more news on the home front than just this, but I promise to do some bloggy blogging in the near future.

I just bought a plane ticket!
to Milan!

I also demand to know what's going on in your lives.

France

Adventures with Caroline & Caroline

Greetings dear friends! I hope you are all well in your far-flung corners of the globe.

Paris is brilliant, not least because I was able to meet up with Ms. Caroline Wood yesterday! I have blogged about it and there are lots of pictures, so you should check it out.

Caroline you need to respond to my wall post

Caroline-- did I see you and other davidson kids at motte picquet or another stop on 10 or 6 on Friday night-- or am I crazy? It's ok if I am; I already knew that. It's bizarre how many people I've run into randomly, like I got an email from my former big brother saying that he works in Paris now and he saw me as he was walking by a cafe in passy. wtf.
Also, Claire, bon courage! you have nothing to fear.

outta here

Leaving tomorrow afternoon. eeeeep. jealous of all y'all who are already settled. love.

I don't exist at Davidson.

Just got back from a weekend visiting campus, since I am *still* here, whoo hoo for late-starting programs!
It was good to see people (Allie, I WISH I HAD SEEN YOU! I AM SO SORRY!!! xoxoxo) but I felt like I was going in 100 different directions trying to find people and fit into their schedules since they also had homework to do. Watched a bit of When Harry Met Sally with Dev/Rieti/Amanda on base belk. My catcard doesn't work which is completely disorienting and it was very very weird to have to ask people to let me into buildings. Lots of unfamiliar faces aka freshmen... also very familiar faces who kept doing double takes when I walked by like "I know you... but I haven't seen you for the past 2 weeks... what are you doing here???" Haha. I sat out in front of the union talking to people and my face got sunburned, it was so freaking hot outside. They had a dodgeball tournament in the union on Fri. night. And there is a full-page Charlotte Observer ad with a picture of #30 along with "30 reasons to get Davidson basketball season tickets". Woot!
Also, Watts and Rich have new lounges and holy CRAP they are gorgeous. They are getting freakin flat-screen tvs!!! and they have really comfy couches... *jealousy!*
So now I am back home and there is nothing else to do except take out insane amounts of money and get ready to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a week. And figure out how to pack tons of warm, thick, take-up-space clothes in two suitcases for 3 months. Hmmm.
Being on campus made me remember how much MORE awesome it is when everyone is there. So even though I am so psyched for abroad, I am so looking forward to seeing everyone, whenever that may be!
Love and positive thoughts (Moriah especially :D) to you all.

oh. my. god.

Hey kiddos, I hope everyone's doing better than I am. I really hate to play the Davidson game and compare who's worse off, but I have a few things that have gone horribly wrong.

My host family is great. I love them dearly. They're marvelous.
They didn't realize I was planning on staying for a year. Which is okay. It could've been an error, but only one such error is really acceptable.

I talked to our program director. He basically said, "huh, that's strange. I could've sworn they were on for the whole year."
...
Then there's an extremely long pause, as if the discussion had ended there. I'm basically steaming and he's not all there.
"Sooo,"
"Yes?"
"WHAT am I supposed to DO?"
"Well, you can tell me in a week if you still like them and if you want to stay with them, and if so, then I'll talk to them. If not, we'll find another family."

Alright, alright.

We've also lost people and left them behind more than once. We don't do headcounts. We don't do anything. I suggested it, and the director said "everyone look around and see if anyone's missing."
Sure, that works for small groups. But come on, there are 30 of us. And we've only known each other for a few hours at this point.
Charlotte was gone for hours. I don't know how she caught up, but she was left on her own for a long time. We were offered a bathroom break, but I guess we didn't look very well to see that anyone had taken advantage of it.

I also have just as much work as, if not more than, a regular Davidson semester. I have no problem with work, but I've really struggled the past 4 semesters and I thought maybe I would finally do alright this time. But guess what? It doesn't even f'n matter, because it's all pass/fail anyway. That's more than frustrating.

I'm hopping on a plane in about 20 hours.

Grateful!

I miss you all and am immensely grateful we are friends. This week has been one of the worst ever this summer and bits and pieces of happy times with you all keep floating in and out of my brain, so I just wanted to let you know what a blessing and light spot in the world you are to others. Excited for 2008-09 yet?!? Love you.
Allie

Depatures!

Hokay peeps,

Clearly, we are rapidly approaching the time for people to ship off, so I decided to start a post on when we are all leaving.

As for me, I'm flying to Paris next Friday (eep!) the 29th of August. So now y'all can add your comments on when your travels will begin. Merci!

Oh, how we'll miss America

http://www.wdtn.com/global/story.asp?s=8825514

We won't see this kind of initiative in France, that's for sure.

12 is the BEST holiday!

HAPPY 12!!!!!!
Tis a holiday that should be celebrated. :D Hope all of yours are extra lucky!

Todavía estoy en Montana.

First of many

Yay, this is so exciting! Thanks Caro! :-)

Because I want to I will now post a wonderful picture. Ta daaaa!

hooray!

uh, that was basically it. Hello all.

Test

So I have no idea what exactly I am doing. Perhaps this message won't even show up... I am extremely attractive.

Here it is, Comrades

Here is a space for all of us to post and discuss our experiences abroad! Feel free to try out a test post if you like.