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I only just noticed that I have posted 150 posts on this blog (well, now 151). I for some reason thought it would be less than that.

I don't really have much that I would like to say today, except that exams are over and I will soon be going on a short holiday. That's really all I have to say right now.

Lots of Uni work makes me something something

Go crazy? Maybe.

I've had an average of one assessment due every 2 days since the end of last week and this trend will continue until the end of this week and because it's the end of semester all of these assignments are big and important which makes the whole study thing more difficult.

The past few weeks have been pretty stressful because of work I've had little time to plan or do anything properly and as a result of that a lot of assignments haven't been as good, or won't be as good as I would like them to be. Which is generally pretty frustrating because I had a pretty good average in most of my units beforehand and it's going to suck if those good marks suffer because of this pile of work and because of my new (now non-existent(I quit!)) job. Oh well, in the great scheme of things i still have 3 semesters to make up for any potential bad marks. Hopefully, I avoid failing anything though. I just can't wait 'til it's all over, I'm pretty stressed out more than usual and it's beginning to show because I keep having assessment related nightmares. Sigh.

Only a few more weeks to go until Uni break!

Historical Linguistics

Today just became my only full day off for the rest of the week, seeing as my new job started yesterday and now I have 3 more shifts this week. I'm incredibly glad they're only short. Yesterday I was at work for 9 hours! And now I'm exhausted and suddenly have no time.

But anyway, on to more interesting things. Today I also realised that I had quite a lot of reading to do for uni and that in fact I couldn't really do anything more productive than try and get some reading out of the way. So this morning I have been reading my Historical Linguistics textbook because I have to for an assignment only to find that it is actually quite interesting to read. The author seems to be fond of adding quirky (I only use the word because I can't think of another way to describe it) afterthoughts. Like for example when talking about the semantic change of car from meaning a cart pulled by animals to meaning an automobile (originally called motor car) the author adds;

"today no English speaker who hears "I've just bought a new car" is going to expect a a shiny new oxcart with antilock brakes and a built-in MP3 player" Trask's Historical Linguistics (2nd Ed.) pp 44


A hilarious image if nothing else. Linguists seem to love making jokes, but then again if anyone could create a perfect pun it would probably be a Linguist. It's just a shame that a lot of the time they're jokes are a little lame. Clever, yes but also lame.

Also I guess you may have noticed that I spelt Linguist with a capital 'L'. It's not a proper noun so I'm not using 'correct' grammar. But I'm a Linguist so I know there is no such thing as 'correct' grammar (Ok, well at least not in the traditional sense). There's actually no particular reason why I've been typing Linguist as such, it's probably just because I've been doing a bit of writing in German and they capitalise their nouns.

A note on capitalisation, since I've brought it up, my friend mentioned that Google was (supposedly) bringing out a laptop which had no caps lock key because of the trend to stop using capitals, probably brought about by the rise IM/SMS-ing general internet/technology. Anyway, studying German as I am my immediate thought was "but German capitalise nouns and personal pronouns (in letters/email), isn't that important?" For some reason I thought this was a good enough reason for capitals not to be dying out. The other day, though I found a blog written in German that uses NO CAPITALS AT ALL, once again reminding me that traditional/prescriptive grammar is only useful if you are trying to learn a 2nd language but not entirely relevant/not at all important if you're a Linguist. Or anyone in the real world at all.

Welcome to my life

BEDA has been an official fail. I haven't even gotten into double digits for the amount of posts I have posted this month. Oh well, it's not like I had any expectations of actually writing a post a day. I have actually been way too busy in the last week to achieve such a desirable goal.

This week I have;
- Gotten a new job
- Finished my first even essay written in German (or any other language other than English)
- Finished my second Grammar assignment
- Fallen even more behind on lectures than I already was
- Spent an awesome day/night with my friends from uni and had breakfast at McDonalds
- Cooked a three course meal for my significant other
- Been to church on Easter Sunday
- Ate lots of chocolate
- Been really exhausted

Tomorrow I'm going to a Wine and Cheese Night.
We so Excited.

Just Stuff

I feel since I haven't blogged in almost a week I should probably write a token blog. Just to see if I actually can make it to double figures this month. I had a pretty productive day on friday; I woke up, went to a job interview, went home, struggled with the Grammar assignment that will never end, made avocado dip, watched Star Trek. After struggling a bit more with my Grammar assignment I then headed into uni to see a friend's band play at the tav. They were good but about three quarters of the way through the set the only people left watching them inside the tav were their friends. They were just too loud!

After that I went to see Karnivool. It was a really good concert, Ian Kenny (the lead singer) has such a expressive voice and is so entertaining to watch. They played a good range of songs and I was up the front on the barrier so I had the best view and didn't get ridiculously squashed in the mosh pit.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner and a movie with the boy I have mentioned before in my previous blogs. Hopefully, this date goes as well as all the others. I'm pretty excited because I have not seen him for a whole week!

Textbooks Galore

I decided that I should probably write a blog to justify all the time I have been procrastinating this afternoon.

It's fair to say that BEDA is about quantity, not quality.

Today I went to the Co-op bookshop which is the textbook/book/stationery store on campus because I needed to buy some new pens. I also then remembered that I needed a small note book and some small post- notes. And THEN as I was lining up to pay for my purchases I remembered that I wanted to buy a German Grammar Study guide that was unavailable on the Book Depository so I went and got that one too. So even though I aimed to go into the Co-op and spend aprox. $7 on 2 new blue pens I came out having spent almost $60. Which is kind of lame but it was all stuff that I needed so I guess it's not too bad. I have bought a huge amount of textbooks this semester seeing as in History of Political Science we are required to read heaps of historical political theories by Hobbes, Plato, Machiavelli and so on. They are pretty cheap books but still I'm running out of space for all of them! And I just placed and order for another three books.

I'm reading so much political theory that I barely have time to read anything else. We actually have midsem on Thursday which I need to study for but I'm procrastinating because I haven't thought of an efficient way to do so yet. I also really have to start my Linguistics assignment which will probably be done mostly on the break.

My cat

My cat's name is Nico. He's pretty adorable and mostly well behaved but lately he's got into the habit of coming into my room in the middle of the night and demanding attention. This would be expected if my bedroom door was left open but it's not. It's always closed. So somehow my cat has figured out how to open the door so there is no way I can ignore him as he simply jumps on my bed and walks all over me whilst I'm trying to sleep. It's a bit annoying but I forgive him because is actually just that adorable. He's sleeping on my bed just now, looking very cute.

Other than the antics of my cat I have little else to say. Yesterday I cleaned my room so now you can walk from the door to the bed without stepping on something like a coat hanger or a book. At the moment I am still unemployed so I have a lot of free time on my hands. It kind of sucks because it means I have more time to procrastinate doing stuff and I hate procrastinating. Hopefully, I'll get a job within the next month or so. I've had a couple of interviews but none of the jobs have been suitable. I'm jealous of my friends who have cushy, well-paid admin based jobs which they get decent pay for not-so-strenuous work and don't have to work weekends. I doubt I'll be so lucky to find a job like that.

Tomorrow though I'm going to see the boy I mentioned in my last post for coffee.I'm pretty excited. I hope it goes as well as our last date.

I can't be bothered writing much else

I went on a date yesterday! That's pretty exciting and it went pretty well. Not gonna lie. We went out for lunch to a decent Italian restaurant and then we just sat and talked in a park which had some very lovely views of the river and then we went back to his house and watch some tv before I went home. It was fairly lovely, I'm going to see him again on Sunday I think so Yay!

And I'm already behind.

It's only the 4th of April and I have already missed a day of BEDA. No surprises there really.

I don't really have much to say at the moment. I had a pretty quiet weekend this weekend which was really awesome. I was just searching through my saved posts from this blog and realised that I have quite a few posts that I never finished writing and that I never published. Most of them have fair uninteresting and outdated ideas in them, which is probably why I had decided not to publish them in the first place. But there are a couple that COULD present some interesting, still relevant blog posts. I think I may set myself a challenge. For at least one blog post this month I will resurrect on of this unfinished blog posts and finish and publish it for the benefit of my lone 3 followers and my sister, who I know also reads this blog.

I hope you all had a great weekend!  

Random thoughts

I started following a German blog which is what I assume a fashion/lifestyle blog done by teenagers. Maybe? I'm not really sure owing to the fact that it's all written in German and I can't really understand a lot of it. It looks kinda cool though.

I'm really excited that I'm not going out at all on the weekend nights this weekend. I'm actually pumped to stay home, sleep and try desperately to feel like I beat the major urge that I have to procrastinate and do something constructive.

I've sent about 50 texts messages in the last day or so. I think that's a record for me.

I really need to clean up my room.

BEDA begins.

If you (or anyone) reads this blog you'll probably have been introduced to B(log) E(very) D(ay) (in) A(pril) before. If you didn't know it's where you blog every day in April. Clear? Yes? Good. Now every other year that I have attempted BEDA I have pretty much failed. This year will probably be no different but you never know, my life might get so exciting and I might suddenly have the urge to write it all down for the interwebs. 

But anyway I am going to kick of this month by stealing someone else's idea, so thanks owlssayhoot!

1. I play on an all-girls indoor soccer team made up of people from my last workplace, it's a lot of fun but yesterday I fell over and bruised my knee so now it hurts. It also always reminds me that I have to do some more exercise, because I'm so unfit.

2. I have had a thing for perfume since I was able 13 or 14. I've been trying to collect all different types that I like but the problem is there always so expensive! At the moment I have Marc Jacob's Daisy, Chanel No. 5 and Chloe.

3. I hate wearing jeans

4. I really enjoy Grammar, that's Syntax aka the structure of language. Not your primary school definition of 'correct' grammar or anything like that. Being descriptive is more fun than being prescriptive 

5. I bought a whole bunch of books recently both for uni and quite a few when I was away in Germany and I have absolutely no where to put them. My room is too small!

6. I actually enjoy living in Perth. It's not always that exciting and I know I'll probably live in other places when/if I get the opportunity. But I don't subscribe to the Dullsville hatin'.

7. I have a subscription to frankie magazine. Possibly the most accessible and relatable magazine I've read. They write about anything and the layout doesn't feel like your senses have been assaulted. There is only so much graphic design you can fit on a page. Also they feature a lot of local and independent creative types which is great.

8. I have an adorable cat called Nico, who enjoys waking me up at 5.30. Which for me is not so enjoyable. But he's cute so I'm okay with it. Kinda

9. My ex-boyfriend's best friend asked me out yesterday. That's the first time I've actually been asked out by a guy amazingly. Guys are just so lazy.

10. I have a mid semester the day after Prosh. If you don't know what Prosh is, it's a fund-raising event for charity that starts with a rave at UWA and then all the students go out into the city/the greater area of Perth selling newspapers filled with (supposedly) satirical, topical articles whilst dressed in fancy dress.

Human vs. Zombies

This week on campus there is the Human vs Zombie competition which basically means that people wearing green armbands and Nerf guns (Humans) get chased by people with red arm bands that want to tag them (Zombies). If a Human is tagged then they become Zombies have to stop using their Nerf gun and go around with a red armband trying to tag other Humans. It's actually pretty intense. The best way not to get tagged by a Zombie is to walk around in groups so there are groups of people walking around carry Nerf guns at the ready (socks as grenades is also an acceptable form of ammo to use of Zombies). If a Zombie gets hit my a Humans Nerf bullet before they can tag them they have to relinquish their Zombie powers for 15 minutes. It's fairly entertaining to watch the people who are stealthily trying to get to class without being tagged.

In other news I have a cold and it's currently preventing from attending uni and being a functional and productive person. I have quite a bit of stuff to do too. It's annoying I was being so on top of everything and then I had to go get sick which makes everything harder. Growl.

The cold is making me this blog entry lame also. Growl.  

Sometimes I wish I was a fashion blogger

To counteract the dullness of the previous blog posts on here I thought I'd post some pretty pictures of pretty things. Namely pretty clothes. These a from an absolutely gorgeous hand-made collection by Nadinoo for Autumn/Winter 2011.  If I had unlimited funds I would purchase at least half the stuff that is in the collection. I'm especially tempted because navy blue is my favourite colour to wear and it features a lot in this collection. It's often so hard to find quality stuff in colours that I like to wear! Not to mention getting the right size, but that's another rant for another day.

 Alas, I remember I am still unemployed and can't really afford to buy any more clothes at this point. *sadface* Lucky there's no price on ogling the pretty!

I'm back!

I've been back in Perth for just over a week now and it feels kind of sort of like I never went. Kind of. Only in the sense that I've gone back to uni and nothing seems to have changed too much. I still hang out with the same people, in the same places, have class etc. etc. Not that I mind at all, I enjoy uni and all the classes that I take and all the people that I see and hang out with (I am also exceedingly grateful for the warm weather here!). It does however make me realise, however, that I'm probably not going to go to all that effort to try and go on a longer exchange programme because I really think that the best thing for my degree is to stay in Perth. I don't want to have to change my major or anything and I would probably have to do that if I go on exchange.  Hopefully though I can find a different reason to go to Germany, I may even look at doing some post graduate study abroad. My under-grad degree is so jam packed that I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that they will still let me do all the units I want to do.

Other than that I don't have much to say at the moment. I enjoy being home it's excellent not to have to live out of a suitcase anymore. I also enjoy being able to see all my friends and attend events and things again. Also being fluent in the official language of the country that I'm in is good too.

Ich bin in Berlin

I am in Berlin. Sitting in the hotel/hostel lobby trying to use their on and off again wifi. Waiting (and hoping ) for the majority of my luggage will be returned, as we paid for, to this hotel. There was a really fun debacle with our luggage but I won't go into it here. Maybe later when it's all over. But onto the more important stuff.

I'm coming to the end of this trip only 5 more nights here in Berlin and then I start the long trek back to Australia. I'm looking forward to going home but I'm also not looking forward to it because I know as soon as I leave Europe I will miss it and want to go back. I want to soak as much of Germany as I can but I feel like I still need to come back and see all the things that I have not yet seen. I feel as if I will come back many more times for longer and for many different reasons. I have really enjoyed my time in Germany and it has made me want to work harder and get more involved in learning the language.

It's a shame that Australia is so far away and it takes so much effort and time and money to travel here. Feasibly I won't be able to come back here for at least another year and a half and who knows what will happen between now and then.

I don't think I have too much more to say. I'm getting nostalgic already. Gosh.

Der Abschluß?

I am coming to the end of my Language Course in Stuttgart, Germany. This time next week I will be (probably sleeping) in a Frankfurt (Main) hotel/hostel like a regular tourist. I have really, really enjoyed my time here in Stuttgart and may even look at the possibility of going on a proper exchange in Germany for a semester although I'm not sure how plausible that would be regarding my degree.

 I have really enjoyed it here, somehow I feel both like a complete stranger in this city and but also very much a part of it too. A stranger because although I understand some of the language when I'm out and about and talking to native speakers (a lot more I hope than your average English speaking tourist) I still don't understand quite enough to think that I am truly properly able to function using only German. Looking at signs and advertisements and instructions I understand enough to get by not to a enough to consider myself proficient. At the same time I feel a part of the city because I know how to use the U-bahn and the S-Bahn and are more than just touristy familiar with stations and places. I am living in an apartment building filled with Germans, with a host family that only speak German at the dinner table and only speak German to me (although I may be guilty of speaking a little English to them *sometimes*). I go to school every day at a German university and I have teachers that only speak to me in German.

If I spent a whole semester here I could see myself reaching fluency in the language and perhaps feeling more a part of this place and language. I would  be lying it if I said I wasn't looking forward to landing in  London Heathrow airport where I will once again by fluent in the native language of the country. I now have a whole new level of respect for people who have to learn any language as a second language especially as adults.

I would really like to write another part to the entry but then I feel it would be too long and I'll probably just end up going on a tangent so I think I'll just make this part one.

Februar

You know, I'm a little disappointed that I only wrote four entries for January it seems like a bit of a cop out since I'm away and all. All I can promise is that I will try and post more about the trip later. I have now only less than three weeks to go before I get home and I think I'm torn equally between being glad to go home and wanting to stay another six weeks. Everybody here I have gotten to know over the past 4 weeks have all been very welcoming and fun and I am definitely having a good time. Especially considering there were times when I was rather apprehensive about the decision to spend 8 weeks so far away from home in such a cold climate and in an alien environment. But on the other hand, I miss home quite a lot. The Australian weather and landscape and all my friends and family. Plus I miss being able to understand what is going on around me, the language barrier is a quite a big thing for me. I mean I don't expect to be able to speak fluent German (or even near that) by the time I leave and my German has improved a whole lot since coming here. But when I'm out on the street/in a shop/public transport I still only understand up to 50% of what people say. It is frustrating. In class and with my host family I usually understand a lot more because of context and the fact they know that I'm still just learning.

Anyway am Wochenende I went to two different towns to see two different musicals namely, Wicked die hexen von Ost und Starlight Express. Both were really good and worth all the train-time it took to get their but Wicked was still my definite favourite. All of the songs and dialogue were in German, of course  but since I had seen the musical in Melbourne before I knew what was happening even if I only understood the actual dialogue 50% of the time. I had really come because I really like the songs from Wicked and wanted to hear them sung again in another language. So despite the language barrier it was really good.

Starlight Express wasn't as good, it was fun to see all the characters try and sing, dance and rollerblade at the same time but I thought the music really wasn't that good. It was all a bit bland and predicable.  The show was easy to understand because there was minimal dialogue and all the songs were in fairly simple language plus it's one of those musics that is basically all about the spectacle  and not about the story so there wasn't a complex plot. It was interesting to see all the characters rollerskating all the time but once that novelty wore of it was a little boring.

Also, now I have a whole bunch of programmes to send home. I'm going to have to send quite a few parcels to myself.

Australia Day in Ausland

(Ausland means abroad for those of you who do not know German)

Yesterday was Australia Day but because I am still in Germany studying there was no public holiday, fireworks or summer sun. There was just snow, German class and coldness. But by a happy coincidence most of the people doing the course with me happen to be Australian, either from Adelaide, Perth or Melbourne. This being the case people turned up to school with pavlova and dressed in green and gold with a whole lot of tacky, Australian flag tattoos.

After class as many people as possible (including a good sum of Americans) went out for dinner + drinks at a German brewery/pub/resturant which was a lot of fun. Ironically we went to a traditional Swabian (the name of the group of people who have traditionally lived in this part of Germany) pub, while there was an Australian restaurant next door. Even though it was really convenience that made us choose this German pub over the Australian one, it seemed like a fitting choice for the celebration that has a very young identity and a whole heap of differing traditions.

 There was a decent number of people there from all the German classes and universities so I got to meet and talk to people I wouldn't necessarily see just during/because of class. I ate some traditional KäseSpätzle and Radler (?) a combination of lemonade and beer to drink. Even though German beer is nicer than most Aussie beers I still don't like it! Watered down with lemonade beer is ok.

After we finished eating we went on a massive trek to try and find another pub/club/bar. After losing some people, gaining a few and contemplating going home at least once, we stumbled on a club. Compared to the standard of clubs I am used to this one was fairly decent, 3 Euro entry with a shot of vodka free on entry. Except that went we got down to the dance floor it was pretty much deserted, it's the most deserted I've ever seen a night club. We thought that this was hilarious but stayed awhile and the club got fuller as the night went on. The music was acceptable I thought I was pretty disappointed they didn't play any German pop music, it was all the same music they play at the clubs at home. Partly because I had to be in class at 8:45 the next day and partly because I didn't want to miss my last train home I left kind of early and ended up getting home at about 12:30.

All in all it was a pretty good Australia Day, probably the best so far but that's not saying much because I rarely ever do much to celebrate.

Snow!

It snowed here in Stuttgart today, it was pretty cool. It start with a tiny bit of snow as I left my apartment building but then by the middle of classes today it was snowing a little bit more solidly.  I'm told by my classmates from Connecticut that it was 'good' snow so I guess that's a good way to be introduced to falling snow.

In other news, yesterday was my birthday! I am now officially no longer a teenager! I guess that's exciting but I don't feel any different. It was weird having a birthday twin-less and in such cold weather. Nevertheless my host family put on a lovely dinner for me and a couple of my friends from Winter Uni plus they also bought me a whole bunch of German-themed presents. Which was sehr schön.

I think that is all for now.

Das Handy ist kaputt

There you go a real German sentence, live from Germany where it is mostly a shade of black or grey.
Mein Handy ist kaputt. My water bottle spilt in my bag. Now this happens at least once a semester, usually more often. I can safely say that all of my bags that are large enough to carry a water bottle have been victim to an incident of this kind. However, this time the bag in question was my new RRP $400 Mimco bag (for the record I didn't bay nearly that price for it) which holds water surprisingly well which was good, because it meant that the outside of the leather bag did not get water stained and the bag itself was unharmed. Unfortunately, this meant that my stainless steel, built-like-a-rock, previously indestructible LG phone drowned in a Mimco-induced puddle of bottled German water.

So then I went to a shop and bought a phone that cost 29 Euro. Except I lost all my numbers so I'll have to do a stupid facebook event to get them back if I didn't remember to save them on my other sim.

As for my continuing stay in Germany it's going quite well, it's quite exhausting I have class most days from 8.45 until 3.30. I'm lucky that I know a lot of the people in the course and all the other people are really nice and non-cliquey.

Hey I'm in Germany

Hey non-specfic blog reader, it's 2011! And I'm sitting next to a heater with a cup of Harrods tea by my side in Stuttgart, Germany. I mean let's face it there are more than a couple of awesome things about that sentence. The being in Germany is probably the most obvious one. I've not travelled a lot so maybe that's why I have trouble grasping the physical idea idea of being away from home. I just cannot comprehend that I am oceans and landmasses apart from my home city. Even though if I thought about it for two seconds then I'd realise that it would take me at least 24 hours to to travel to my home from where I am sitting now I still can't shake the feeling that I'm only a couple of hours drive away, that if I wanted to go home and see my mother that it would take minimal amounts of effort and time to go do so. But, of course in reality it's still approximately 7 weeks and a 24 hour flight until I can walk through my front door again.

Whenever I do start to miss my friends and family a little I can log onto facebook or text message or call them and I am reminded that even some form of home is still accessible to me (almost) anytime anywhere.
Perhaps the only thing I can't have a little bit of is the weather at home. The hot, sunny weather. Here it's like you're permanently in an ice-rink, being outside it is being on/near the ice and being inside is like being in the warm cafe upstairs where you can start to feel your digits again. Another thing about Perth or Australia in general is that I miss is the expanse of space. Places like London may be much much bigger than than Perth or even or Sydney or Melbourne but because England lacks surface area things feels so much more cramped and boxed in, even in open spaces. The sky seems different. It's seems closer to the ground in Europe but in Australia it make you feel like the world goes on forever or something. I don't really know how to explain it properly. It's probably the thing (as well as the weather) that I miss most about Australia and it makes me feel like I would never permanently move to any other country.