Things I don't like

Some things I recently observed which I don't like include faux leather leggings or as I tend to call them, plastic leggings. To my knowledge these became popular via the Hills (since LC left I am not sad that show is being canceled) and Heidi Montag circa 2008, which is reason enough to hate them. Well, they have recently trickled down to Mannheim and I'm sure they are in all the trendy shops because I see them on someone every time I walk through the city. However, my biggest gripe with these plastic leggings is that they are nearly impossible to pull off without looking cheap. First, you must be tall and have sticks for legs - thigh differentiation is an automatic fail. Second, the leggings must be of a certain quality to not look like, well actual plastic. Third, they are very night time if you are not incredibly trendy or living in a large metropolitan city. Finally, you kind of have to wear them as pants which breaks the leggings are not pants rule but they just don't look good under most skirts (some ultra minis may work). In general leggings should be black and that is the only good thing these have going for them - I've never seen them in another color. Today was the worst sighting thus far, an overweight, unkempt, middle aged woman wore them under a floral dress and I think she was on her way to work.
Overly preppy boys. You know the ones with the constant popped collar, side parted long hair and multiple pastel colored sweaters. This may be surprising because I love preppy boys but there is a strong line that should not be crossed. Generally, dressing like you just walked off the Ralph Lauren runway every day of your life is crossing the line - use discretion when adapting fashion for life. Also, boys who carry LV satchels cross that line.
People who don't use the space bar or punctuations. I can excuse a lack of punctuations online but if you are handing me an academic paper for grading it better be properly spaced and have 95% of the punctuations required by the laws of grammar. While you're at it, please also include your name and the course section so I know where to file the attachment you sent me. Oh and when you ask me for advice, don't answer your own questions because if you do that you're wasting my time and you're going to do it wrong. When you come to class and see an empty seat with a bag, binder and bunch of loose papers, sitting in front of it, it's probably taken, please don't just decide to dump your stuff on top of my papers and sit there.
lick slime.

The Life of a Grad Student

Today I really feel like a stereotypical grad student beginning the moment I stepped out of the house wearing a cord blazer. I proceeded to whip out my binder of student presentations for correction on the Strassenbahn and got through most of my work in time for my stop. Thursday mornings are, perhaps my favorite because, every second week, I get off at a different stop than normal in order to get to my course. This stop is right near my most favorite coffee shop in all of Mannheim. On most days I don't drink coffee but, every second Thursday I allow myself to indulge and it gives me something to look forward to when I leave the house at 7:30. Today I was particularly early and had work with me so I sat inside and had a leisurely coffee while reading case studies. In the spirit of spring, I ordered my first ice blended concoction of the season. You walk in and are always greeted with a chipper hello, usually in the form of Morgan!, by the barrister. Since the barrister(o?) is always the same man, I guess he may own the shop. His accent gives away that he is Italian and the way he foams the milk and pours the espresso into my latte/cappuccino/iced mocha demonstrates his passion. The reason I've never had a bad beverage is because every thing is made to order with love. Maybe I read too many Nespresso cases this morning but I really notice the difference in coffee quality and overall experience. Even if you take your coffee to go, you get the same friendly greeting and service and everyone gets a ciao on the way out the door. Two weeks ago, while waiting for my caramel macciato, a man walked in. The barrister knew him and asked if he wanted his usual cappuccino to which he replied, he would take two today. Apparently this man met a woman on the Strassenbahn and offered to buy her a coffee. As he explained, a giddy expression over took his face and the barrister shared in his joy like an old friend. Clearly this place has a lot of regulars and I long to be one but it is just not close enough to my office or home for daily visits and I don't really need a coffee habit. Back to my day as a stereotype, I put my blazer back on and left the coffee shop, stood in front of a class of bachelor students and proceeded to sit on desks and ask thought provoking questions. Maybe that is not so much of a stereotype. Once the course was over, I headed back to my office for a day of research. As I unlocked my door, I learned from a colleague that we now make more money. Before your celebrate for me, in typical University fashion, it's not a significant change, about 5 EUR per month which results in close to 3 EUR after taxes, but it's enough to buy a coffee.

Travels

I feel like I was just in the US even though I've been here in my new apartment for about a month now. Not that you could tell if you saw my kitchen-less, half painted, still partially boxed up living quarters. However, I'm about to head back to the US next week. It's kind of bitter sweet. On the one hand, I'm super excited to be going and beyond happy that my paper was accepted by a conference. On the other hand I really wish I could get this moving in stuff settled. Not to mention, I have a lot of work to do this week before leaving on Monday. Back to positives, I did work some vacation into this trip. First, a good friend from college who I haven't seen since will be meeting me in NOLA for the 2 days before the conference including Mardi Grais. I'm excited to spend time with her exploring a new city and with a little bit of luck, we may even be able to celebrate the new Super Bowl champions after today! Then after the conference, I'm flying out to SOCAL to spend a couple of days with an old friend who recently moved across country. Initially I was going to spend these post-conference days in RI but my mom pointed out the likely undesirable weather in RI in Feb and I was just there in Jan so I decided to take this chance to see the West coast and hope for a bit of sunshine. My ideal itinerary for my first trip to the west coast would include the San Diego Zoo (I've wanted to go since I saw it featured on Sesame Street as a child), dipping my feet in the Pacific and hanging out by a fire on the beach. above photo is from such a random website I have a long week of work ahead of me then some fun, my first academic conference and a lot of flying but there's also a lot of ocean so I'll be happy.

Wedding Blogging

Since my dad was shocked to find out I was keeping another blog and he was reading this one, complaining about my infrequent posts, here's the link to the wedding related blog (dad you need to click on the words to get the link). I also realized since he does not have a Blogger account I can make fun of my dad on here and he can't even comment ;) Anyway, for now, I'm off writing about wedding related things and chronicling everything that we did last month in RI. I'd love some feedback so feel free to pop over and leave comments.

2010 Goals

As promised, here are some goals for 2010. I suppose some are more easily attainable than others but I'll try my best to reach them all. 1. Get married, 2. try a new sport, 3. visit 3 countries I've never been to, 4. lose 15kg, 5. go in the Pacific ocean, 6. make spontaneous decisions, 7. climb a mountain with P., 8. Finish 2 complete studies/papers, 9. make a new friend outside of work, 10. be proud of myself. See you in a year with an update. :)

2009 Firsts

I lied, I have some things to blog so I'm going to do it. I recently came across a blogger who wrote down her 2009 goals last year and then looked back on the list now to see what she accomplished. It was a nice reflection of where she was and how far she came. Since I didn't do that I thought I would start with listing some things I did for the first ime in 2009 and then follow up with a list of goals for 2010 so I can reflect in a year. 2009 Firsts

• visited Asia (Japan)
• skiied in the Alps
• enrolled in a German course and actually made an effort to speak more German
• began pilates classes
• took up bike riding as a mode of transportation (and a fun summer hobby)
• did not see the Atlantic ocean from RI at all (weird but true)
• did not swim in any ocean (sadly not even while in Japan)
• tried new foods
• hosted my first adult birthday party
• packed up an entire apartment
• drove on the autobahn
• got a German speeding ticket :(
• picked a wedding cake
• shot off a firework

Catching Up

It has been a long time since I've written. I have composed countless posts in my head but somehow none of them made it to the keyboard. In re-reading the last few posts, I feel like I was in a completely different mindset when writing those. It was that time of year when summer quickly turns into fall which fades to winter but is not yet the holiday season and I was eagerly anticipating my visit to the US. Now, it's winter, after the holidays, there's still snow on the ground but the new year has begun, groundhog's day is fast approaching and spring is just around the corner. I recently returned from almost 3 weeks of vacation in the US surrounded by family and friends where we successfully planned a wedding in 20 days. Yet the semester is still a couple of weeks away so I have time to catch up on my research. I'm anticipating a "business" trip to New Orleans which I've added a few vacation days to so I can visit SOCAL for the first time in my life and shortly after I return I will be heading out again for a wedding in the Caribbean over Easter break. Life is good and exciting. My plans for the next couple of weeks are to focus on actually moving into our new apartment and organizing the wedding plans, making sure checks are written, budgets categorized and all tasks checked off our list appropriately. Following up in the world of wedding, I plan to post more on the wedding blog for the next couple of weeks until I have chronicled all that we did in these past weeks. Basically, I'm saying the light to non-existent posting will continue but updates will happen on the wedding blog because that's where my life is headed for now. Happy 2010!