Our time is running out...

It just hit me.

Next week is the last travel weekend.
Meaning it's the last weekend we're allowed to travel outside of Germany this semester.

Which means there are only three weekends left.

So, has anybody figured out that whole stopping time thing yet? Because I feel like it only now began to hit me how SOON I have to leave and how much I still want to do.....

Not ready to leave this place yet!

• Neuschwanstein
• Rothenburg
• Rhine River cruise
• stay overnight in a castle...
• explore more castles in general.
• Wartburg
• Speyer
• a lot of other things of which I cannot think at the moment
• explore more of Heidelberg and the surrounding area

And, sadly, I don't have enough time to do it all. And that's only the stuff in Germany! I would also like to go to Belgium (quick pit stop for waffles and chocolate? yeah, somehow that never happened...), among other places. My comfort here is the thought that someday I'll just HAVE to come back and finish my exploring :)

In the meantime, this next weekend I will be going to PRAGUE, and I'm so excited to see the land of my people (I'm a quarter Czech, the most I am of anything, so I'm just going to claim that as my history for the time being)!

And, despite the homework and reading and finals that loom on the horizon (the only reason the reading is "looming" instead of something with a more positive connotation is that it's assigned reading), I will just have to make the most of the time that I do have left. You know, stray from the Hauptstrasse and explore the shops down random alleys. Take day trips on the Strassenbahn or the bus or whatever. Laugh with friends whenever possible. Try new restaurants, but be sure to say goodbye to old favorites too. Hike Philosopher's Way (can you believe I still haven't done that?).

I'm already starting to take a more proactive effort in treasuring what little time I have left, now that I'm realizing how imminent my return to the States is. Thursday night a few friends and I went to stargaze at the castle, and we hung out on this balcony-type area (I really wish I were better at explaining this...) which has a view of the whole Altstadt. It was gorgeous; just like a fairy tale ball: the castle lit up, the navy sky with stars twinkling, the large space perfect for dancing. My friend Genesis indulged my fantasy for a bit by dancing with me, and then we all hung out, looked at the stars, and played games. It was amazing, and I hope to do it more often before I leave.

Today was great as well. I went with 6 other girls as well as our visiting faculty member's wife, Mrs. Lemley, to tea in Mannheim (a town pretty close to Heidelberg). It was SUCH a lovely experience to snack and chat with all those wonderful ladies in a pretty tea room with delicious scones, tea sandwiches, and tea. Plus, I hadn't even been to Mannheim before, which is kind of ridiculous (but I will return soon, because they have an English movie theater, and a few Hunger Games fans and I plan to go there to watch the movie together). Then after that, I went with a few others to an evangelical free service (auf Deutsch, natürlich). The service is every Sunday at 6 p.m., but this was our first time there. This guy that we met there asked us why we hadn't come before if we'd been living in Heidelberg since September. Honestly, we didn't know! But we're planning on going next week... especially since they will have a potluck dinner after the service.

All of this is the beginning of the end, and it's all rather bittersweet. Of course it's only now that we realize how much we want to do that we always thought, "Oh, I'll do it later. I have plenty of time" because now we actually don't have plenty of time.

There are good things about going home, too-- don't get me wrong-- but I'm not necessarily ready for this part of my life to be over yet. I will be happy to be home, but right now I'm not ready to leave. At least the beginning of my goodbye means that I now appreciate and take advantage of so much more that is here.

Mr. Darcy: 200 years old and still making women swoon.

This morning was a typical Moore Haus Friday morning: sleep in to a reasonable hour, mosey on downstairs for breakfast, sit around, and then stay seated when someone undoubtedly decides to put in a movie to start the day.

Today's movie of choice? Pride & Prejudice.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie 3 times already. In Moore Haus alone. And I still stayed to watch the entire thing.

As per usual, most men ran out of the room (or said "this movie's torturous!!" in passing, much to the amusement of those watching) while women flocked to the couch, touching their fluttering hearts at frequent intervals. This is only slight exaggeration here.

All of this makes me wonder, just what is it about this story that is so relevant two centuries later?
I suppose there's a few things that we love to return to time and time again: the twists and turns of love, hate turned to love, an opinionated, intelligent, and (fairly) independent female protagonist (I only say fairly independent because the times restricted the amount of independence a woman could have... however, she was definitely independent for a woman of that time). But definitely, everyone's favorite is MR. DARCY.

So, why does Mr. Darcy never fail to make women swoon?

Because he walks in the morning fog, shirt billowing open, to propose to the love of his life.

• The brooding romantic hero never goes out of style.
• Mr. Darcy is kind and generous, helping save the Bennet family from scandal by paying for Lydia and Wickham's wedding. 
• He dotes on his younger sister.
• He's rich, but doesn't let it get to his head too much-- he's willing to marry beneath his station for the sake of true love, and he doesn't lord his money/station over people (unlike his Aunt Lady Catherine...).
• Modern women long for the gentlemanly manners of eras gone by. If you doubt this, ask one.
• He is in agony/torment over the strength of his love!

 



















































































































































































































 

 

 

 

One of the best scenes ever.

•  He's quite eloquent. Exhibit A: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." This also ties in quite nicely with the whole tormented with love thing. Unfortunately this quote was not in the recent film adaptation, but oh well, c'est la vie.
  
  An equally eloquent quote which actually was in the movie (and not in the book, if I remember correctly): "My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."What girl doesn't want to hear that from a brooding hero?
• His witty banter with Elizabeth. Nothing's better than a man who can think on his feet.

I cannot possibly name all the reasons women love Mr. Darcy, because let's face it: there are far too many. Everyone has her own "Mr. Darcy" in mind, her perfectly imperfect man who will end up with her by the last chapter. Basically, Mr. Darcy is wish fulfillment for every girl who has the patience to sit through a period piece.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure why I wrote this blog post about Mr. Darcy. Maybe because this blog is Daydreaming in Deutschland and there were several girls daydreaming about Mr. Darcy in Deutschland today? Or maybe because I will always love Pride & Prejudice in its many incarnations. It's such a subtle, beautiful, touching love story... and sometimes, that's the kind of story we all need to hear.

Some logistics here...

So, I am aware of the fact that I have a back log of things to write about....

1. My Switzerland trip to Lausanne and Gruyere
2. Our Madrid field trip
3. My trip to Istanbul over the long weekend

I'm not going to write about any of this at the moment, because I'm going to sleep very soon, but I thought I'd put this post up for two reasons:

1. To let y'all know that there is more to come
2. To remind myself/ hold myself accountable over the internet, meaning I HAVE to write these posts someday, now that I essentially told the whole world (though only a very small portion is actually listening) that I am going to. 

 Anyway, that's that.
Today's basically your typical Thursday: I got to sleep in, since I don't have class on Thursdays until 4:25. Today was slightly different, since all the humanities classes sat in for an hour of the fine arts class at 11 am, but that's still sleeping in :) And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing. Especially after a long weekend of traveling (long weekend meaning Wednesday- Sunday). After all the classes were done for the day, a whole bunch of us watched Inception and made dinner... basically, a relaxing day.

Also, in German class this week we started reading Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama ( The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). I've heard how it ends, and I'm not necessarily looking forward to reading that part, but it's pretty good so far and interesting, since it's Auschwitz (or "Aus-Wisch") from the eyes of a 9 year-old German boy. What I find kind of funny is that it's actually an English book translated into German. Luckily, though, it's pretty simple to read (probably because of the fact that it's translated). Anyways, I'm pretty excited about that. It will be my first full-length novel that I've read auf Deutsch.

That's my boring updates for now... the exciting stories shall come later :)

Major Decisions...Literally.

It's interesting to think how much can change within a year and a half. Last year, as I entered college, I was convinced that psychology was the major for me. Halfway through the first semester, I decided that it was actually too science-y and I changed it to a double major in English Literature and Creative Writing.

When I planned my classes for my year abroad, I decided to tack on a German minor since I could complete it in one year by taking two upper-division German classes per semester (which was made possible by my fabulous German teachers in high school-- thanks Frau Mueller and Frau Kaulard!).

Now, I've done it again.

See, it's that time of year again-- registration. With all this important life-planning going on around me, I figured I might as well look into my major requirements again to plan my next semester/next two years of my life. For some reason, I decided to look at the requirements for a German major as well... just for curiousity's sake. Well, it turns out that I only need 12 more units (aka 3 more classes) tacked on to my almost-completed minor (just a few more weeks now!) to make it a major. I did some calculations, figured out what I still need to do for two established major, and discovered that by some miracle I have enough room to fit a German major. Not dropping my other two. Simply adding a third. And rather comfortably, at that.

I definitely didn't see this coming when I stepped onto Pepperdine's campus in August 2010. Really, I didn't even see it coming when I came back to Heidelberg after winter break in January 2012.

Like I said, it's crazy how things change.

This whole year abroad has been ridiculous in the best of ways, and I can tell you for sure that I never would have considered that third major had I never come to Heidelberg. I probably would have patted myself on the back for sticking with a foreign language for four years in high school, labeled it all as a great experience and eventually see my German wither from disuse.

Now, I'm seeing so many possibilities opened up before me. I'm thinking maybe of translating German literature into English, because that requires both German knowledge and some creativity. Of course, that won't be my only job. I'll do that on the side while I work in a publishing house. Oh yeah, and write novels. I'm not sure how I'll have time for all this, but then again, I never would have imagined having time for 3 majors in 4 years, either. I thought two majors and a minor were going to be a tight squeeze and that maybe I was being too ambitious... guess not! God's taken care of all the details so far, so I'll trust that whatever career is in the future for me, be it 1 or 3 or 5, will fit in my life in just the way he intends.

For now, I'll just go on planning and studying (lots of that!) one semester at a time.

And on a slightly unrelated yet still somewhat connected note, I can't believe that my time abroad is now 3/4 of the way finished! I'm flying home April 10... and not sure how I feel about that. Not that there's anything wrong with home, it's just that this is such a unique time in my life (living in a foreign country with 43 peers? what?!) that I don't want it to be over too soon. So now that I realize how limited my time in Heidelberg is, I'm started to linger more on my walks to and from class, walk down streets I always thought I'd explore sometime later, browse in stores on the Hauptstrasse I ignored before, stare at the castle some more, and realize that while life in Germany may now have a "routine," it is completely out of the ordinary and something I should never take for granted-- especially now that my time here has a rapidly approaching end.

It's good to know that at least now I won't completely be leaving Germany behind when I go back to the States. 

Yay German!

It's also good to know I may run into more excuses to wear my Dirndl again.