Here comes the summer

Let me begin by saying that this last month has been a tad overwhelming. School ending, mother visiting, visiting Rachel, going to a Bavarian wedding, getting a job, and like 39576 other minor things have caused me to 1) not leave the house or 2) leave the house, but only with one set goal in mind, not leaving too much wiggle room.

So, visitng Rachel. We may not have hardly ever hung out while living in the same city, but I’ll be damned, now that we are on the same continent thousands of miles away it becomes clear that hanging out needs to happen (while listening to “Eye of the Tiger,” drinking far too much wine, and taking ridiculous pictures). We went to a fabulous market in the north of Paris, which made me feel as if I were in Mexico or Panama, not in beautiful Paris. There were loads of beautiful antiques, which were way beyond our reach financially, once we left the knock-off shoes and apparel. Paris must have something that screams “Eat American food, now!” because every time I am there, McDonald’s just seems to jump into my mouth without warning. We also made our way down to Chinatown, which looked nothing like I had imagined it. It was all Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, or some other Southeast Asian stores in Parisian-style buildings, which kind of sucked the Chinatown feel out of Chinatown. Nevertheless, there was a giant Chinese store, which seemed a mandatory stop. We riffled through all the lychee and sesame flavored treats, buying only the cheapest ones to try out later that night. All in all I think it was a nice visit, including our fabulous stroll in Montmartre on our own little Amelie tour. Nerds.











Rachel, check. On to the Bavarian wedding. It was really nice to finally meet the other side of Andri’s family. Everyone was nicer to me than I could have ever possibly imagined. And did I mention that they’re all German? Well, they are which made for a great language course of sorts. Besides the bride being incredibly gorgeous, the ceremony was beautiful and made me, for only a split second, wish that Andri and I had done something like that. But then I saw drunken Bavarian guys in lederhosen dancing on tables to accordion music, while girls in drindles brought us even more bottles of white wine at five in the afternoon, and I knew that the party is the most important part. Apparently in Bayern it is a tradition to steal the bride after the cake and coffee and take her and get her drunk, or something. I’m clearly not an expert on the details, but it seemed rather interesting. And there was something so adorable about the way all of the bride’s friends so thoughtfully prepared the reception that almost made me cry. They made a wedding magazine, took pictures of all the guests framed in a picture frame, made postcards for the guests to mail to the couple in the future, painted a giant picture, and then performed hilarious skits in her honor. I loved seeing how genuine their love for her was and how thrilled they were for her and Kevin, the groom, on their big day.

The wedding was in a tiny village that was beyond cute.


I forgot to mention how wonderful German food is and how cheap it is compared to Switzerland. Bliss.


Andri’s paternal side of the family is much bigger than I thought. He has lots of cousins and two very personable aunts, but also uncles and the list goes on, as in any other family. But the thing that was most comforting was they were all real people (not that anyone isn’t, but one thing about the Swiss is they don’t show emotion too often). They laugh, complain, sing, and dance, which is something that I miss about my family. They sat around a table drinking and talking and having a good time. I haven’t felt more at home since being here than at this wedding. I didn’t know anyone, but everyone treated me as if I belonged in their family, as if I was a part of their family.



It was a real confidence booster to be able to speak German for almost a full twelve hours in Bayern. Screw German school, just give me some good conversationalists and some wine and I’m fine. After this night I became aware of the fact that maybe I am kind of good with languages, but maybe I just didn’t have the same educational opportunities as people here, language wise. In the whole scheme of things it doesn’t look like I’m doing too badly at this whole language gig, considering I’m 23 and from St. Joseph, Missouri. I’m trying to adapt my attitude for optimal language learning, but it proves rather difficult. The one thing that erks me is that I honestly feel like if I make a mistake people will put a little red X on that sentence as their brains receive the information. One of my biggest faults is that I can’t deal with doing something half–assed (except blogging, of course). It is simply not something I am not wired to do, and language is no exception. I want to be good at everything, but sometimes it is so egotistical of me to think that I can make flawless sentences after doing some grammar exercises, without speaking. So, as of today (and yesterday and last week and so on) I will try my damnedest to speak German with Andri, because how else is my mind going to learn how to cope with making mistakes without actually creating opportunities to make them?

I have also decided that I will be attending German school over the summer. Seeing as there is no money for it I was planning on forgoing this class, but now that I have a job (that can be cancelled by a summer shower) it seems as if we will be able to swing it. So B2 here I come! Hopefully, I will be able to finish every course available, because the more I am involved with the language the more it becomes apparent that I need more of it. More vocabulary, more practice, more grammar, and more confidence. MORE! Call me greedy, but that’s just how it is. The more I learn the better off I will be with my master’s program (that I doubt more and more each day will ever happen) and my understanding of Swiss German, so any amount of money is considered an investment, because it will pay off in the long-run, or at least this is what Andri and I keep telling ourselves whilst shelling out more money for more classes.

German wedding and German update, check and check. Oh yeah, that whole job thing. Complying with the unspoken law of internet etiquette, I will tell you the good things about my job. It is at the City-Beach Bern and is, you guessed it, beach themed. It is, also, extremely influenced by the weather, which may or may not be a good thing. I have only been able to work two days so far, due to the crappy weather. I’m only doing this over the summer, since it is only open over the summer, but I think it will be a good experience. And any experience working in a foreign country works in your favor, because it gives you a feel for the people and how things work, while boosting your CV.

My mother visiting is the biggest thing that has happened in a while, which is why I am going to leave that to an entry of its own. I swear it will come! Please believe and trust me (although following my past patterns I am not very trustworthy when it comes to blogging).