There are only 2 weeks left in Germany, and I am increasingly feeling the Heimweh (homesickness) that I have felt for a LONG time now, but I am also finding myself thinking about what I want to do before I leave. I love this place, but I am ready to go home. There are things I wish I had done more, but there are things I am glad I did. There are places I of course still want to go, but I know I'll get there someday. There are foods that I want more than anything to take home and share with everyone, but most of that just isn't possible. :( Hopefully I'll be able to find little trinkets to take home for christmas presents-- and I hope everyone understands that I just don't have the money to buy awesome presents this year... but I will try as hard as I can!

Two nights ago, we went to Zurich with my Theater class. I have been rather upset about how much commitment has gone into this class, but I have to keep a good mentality to get through it. So we went to Zurich to see a play called "Fegefeuer in der Ingolstadt", which was basically a critique on religion shown through awkward young outcasts who "love" each other but are shunned in society; the girl because an sleezy older man got her pregnant, and the guy because he smells, doesn't practice religion and he is just plain awkward. It wasn't my favorite story, but it was REALLY well done. I was impressed. It was definitely the best play that we have seen yet without being overly critical of society, overly symbolic, or just plain ridiculous. So i was quite pleased! Turns out that I have been talking to a girl in my program who is helping to teach English at a german "Grundschule", or grade school, in Freiburg, and we pretty much had the same motives when it came to "tourism", so we pretty much agreed to just walk around the city and take in the sights and taking pictures. It was cold, but when you are seeing so many cool things and just getting the feel for the city, it really doesn't phase you after a while. ;) So i got some awesome photos (which you can see on my facebook). I'm sorry there aren't more, but it was already 6 pm when we got there (hence, in Europe, everything is closed) and we only had 2 hours before the show to walk around. But I tried my best!

I am increasingly reminded of my time in New Mexico while I am here. It is really kind of something I loved and would do again in a heartbeat, despite not having cell phone service or much internet. Every time i take pictures i think of Ghost Ranch, standing on top of plateaus and just taking in the environment around me as I appreciated the silence that enveloped me. It was wonderful, and sometimes I wish i could go back to that for a day. It is pretty loud here, then again, it is a city... haha. but i mean it is just never dead silent, since I live with my window facing a main street and i go to school in the heart of a medeival city every day, and since i go to school with a bunch of party animals! ha. Yeah. that's fun. I just miss that absolute quiet and calm of the desert. So cool. I also miss developing film... It is definitely relaxing and really exciting!

Well, I should really get to bed (i kind of fell asleep watching a movie on YouTube before), since I have to go to an art museum in 3 hours for Art History. But on that note, you should all try out some German movies if you have time. They may not be kid-friendly OR very happy topics, but they are definitely worth seeing. (While American film tends to be geared towards the entertainment factor, German film tends to lean more towards the intensity of thought and use of controversial/difficult themes.)

Vier Minuten (Four Minutes): a violent, dangerous girl (Jenny) is imprisoned for murder after a rough life when an elderly, conservative piano teacher who lost her lover in world war II comes to teach piano to the inmates. She quickly finds that Jenny is already a proficient pianist, and encourages her to enter a young artists competition, despite the prison's distaste for the offer. The two find themselves finding more in common than they expected.

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others): In 1984 socialist Germany, the government monitors almost everybody's private lives. When a stoic official finds himself getting emotionally involved with his observance of a Poet and his lover, he finds himself torn between doing what is good for his career and what is morally right.

Good Bye, Lenin!: In 1990 Alex's East Germany-loving mother awakes from a long coma. Alex finds himself recreating the history of Germany before the wall fell in order to avoid another heartbreak (and probably death) of his mother.

and, before i came to germany...

Nordwand (The North Face): In 1936, encouraged by nationalism in the Nazi regime, two ambitious young Swiss climbers enter a competition to climb the most dangerous mountain in the Alps: the deadly north face of the Eiger.

I know, I know... movies! Ha. But you can trust me on this one. They are AWESOME and I have a whole new appreciation for film now!

Bis später!