Hey remember that time I almost got kicked out of Germany?(PART 2)

PART 2 check out part 1 here

Hi, I went to the immigration place last Tuesday at 8:00am. There were only a few people in front of me in line. I think the office was actually for work visas and work related things... I waited until the window opened and asked the guy there what I needed to do. Then I proceeded to pull out so many different papers and everytime he asked me anything I would pull out some other random document and look tragic and say 'does this help? I have this random government paper...' He told me that I would need to make an appointment and that the earliest I could schedule one was for November, and then it would be five weeks after that to receive the card that I need to re-enter Germany. I looked sad and he noticed that by then I would already be leaving. So he sent me to some lady and I got some stickers to put in my passport, I don't know why they wouldn't have just suggested that first... They needed a passport photo and I didn't have any so I used the photoshopped christmas card photo I have been using for other documents here and the lady looked at me like I was a freak and asked if I had any options where I wasn't showing my teeth. oh well. got the stickers and she said I would be able to come back to Germany through December 31.

This week I have been planning a bunch of trips because I just realized I only have 9 more weekends here. that is not enough time! Malia and I are going to Vienna in November. I also want to go to: Munich, Poland, Budapest, Istanbul, Belgium, Prague, Florence, Edinburgh. I might have time for them as I have 3 vacation days left. I am going to be soooo burnt out. Everytime I start to look into information about a place I find some other place that also looks amazing. I think I will have to move back to Europe after graduating. Though the current plan is an Australia/New Zealand trip. Which will lead to a South America trip, Eastern Europe trip, Africa Trip, possibly Asia trip. Sooooo busy busy. I really need to find a corporate life sponsor. If any corporations are reading this and would like someone to travel around and casually promote them/ embody their brand... let me know!

I am considering basing my capstone project on becoming a brand and securing a corporate life sponsor. I have no idea if that fits for capstone because for some reason, no one at the school will tell us what capstone is. Might need to find that corporate sponsor sooner than I thought because I will have to drop out of school. Trying to find something to do this weekend, might not be able to go very far because flights are expensive last minute. Does anyone have any suggestions? or know of a good website for discount last minute flights? It seems like some airlines might have cheap seats left if they are trying to fill the flight...

Sorry for the huge delay between posts, I have been watching internet television and planning my life.
Happy wednesday!

-Michelle

making progress

I think I am starting to become a slightly more real Hamburger. Although as soon as one thing starts to improve, I encounter another setback... but that's just how it is I guess.

Last night I got a BED! little victories. Ikea was a hot mess, as it always is. That section at the bottom with all the weird little things gets me every time. David(from work) and I took the train and a bus to Ikea and met Vani/Vany(I really should ask her how she spells that) outside. I was shopping for: bed frame, curtains, mirror, hooks, organizer thing for my makeup and things. I got all of those things plus some elk noodles(must-have). We managed to fit a twin bed frame, full/queen bedframe+mattress, 2 large mirrors, and a bunch of other little things into Vani's smallish car(smaller than Patrick) It was amazing, thanks Pops for the packing lessons on every trip.
We got all of the things back and David helped(did all of the work) to build my bed. Vani and I will try to tackle the roller blind later on, for now the fitted bedsheet I tucked into the window works, even if the light coming through the red sheet makes my room look like a brothel.

Here is my bed:

Isn't she beautiful? Hah. I'll get a picture of my room once I hang the roller blind curtain thing. It will be gorgeous.

The internet provider seems to be incompetent. Last week the man said he couldn't install the internet because he needed a 'special box'. So they sent another person on Tuesday, and apparently they didn't tell him about the 'special box' so he was totally unprepared. Maybe next week.

Going back in time, last weekend was great. Friday night I went out to get Vietnamese food with Nina(lives in Cincinnati, family from Germany originally) and her friend, it was delicious, must go back there. After that we met up with a few other work people and had some drinks outside, must take advantage of nice weather as it is SO rare. I had some German beer and then some Irish cider. PUMPED for Ireland in a few weeks. Saturday I walked around Sternschanze for a little bit and bought some spectacular shoes:

They were on sale. So versatile, I'm pretty sure they will go with everything.

Saturday night I met up with Xenia at her friend's apartment for bruschetta and cocktails before going out to the Reeperbahn where we met up with more people from work. The goal of the night was to stay out late enough to go to the Altona fish market which opens at 5:30am. It was a strugggggle. We made it there and I was too tired to take any pictures, so it doesn't even really count and I'll have to try again. Got home around 8am and slept allllllll day Sunday. Was supposed to meet work people to play pool and I'm pretty sure they thought I was dead.


My German classes seem to be helping. I feel like I understand more of what people are saying, but I can't think fast enough to string together the few words I know into a sentence. Morgen wrote a post about being the new 'quiet girl' and I think that applies to me here too. I go out to lunch with people and they are joking and laughing and I can sort of understand what they are saying and would love to contribute, but my German is just NOT good enough for wit and charm.

Tonight after my lesson I have to do some laundry so I have clothes and things to bring to Copenhagen, then I have to pack up my backpack, I am leaving straight from work tomorrow. So excited! I hope I get a passport stamp. Love those.

To do:
-hang curtain
-learn German
-plan more trips
-get face piercing or hip new haircut to fit in with the CROWDS of hipsters in the Schanze, I have never felt so bland. this website seems to have some great suggestions for how to be hip. Must learn some hip German lingo. Or I'll just buy some more outrageous clothing. I got paid, so now I feel like I am rolllllling in money. I'm not.

Okay, bye!

arrival

Hallo,

I arrived safely in Germany. I am typing this on a German keyboard and the z and y are switched, sorry if I type things strangely. (strangelz looks like it would mean something totally different like strangles in internet meme lingo)

I sat next to a German lady on the plane from Cleveland to Newark, she was nice and warned me not to eat any of the German bread, chocolate or cheese because I would become addicted and could never leave. She said she purposefully loses ten pounds before visiting her relatives in Germany for 3 weeks. she says she gains about 3-4 pounds each trip. As I will be here longer than 3 weeks, I can expect to become MASSIVE. I sat in Newark for about 5 hours and then got on the plane to Germany. My luggage and I made it safely to Hamburg and Xenia, a coworker, met me at the airport. We stopped by the Landor office to pick up sheets for my bed and I met a few people. Everyone here is super nice, like alarmingly nice. I will have to become a better person. After we picked up the sheets, we went to Malia's, cincinnati co-worker in Hamburg. I tried to stay up for as long as possible, but ended up napping for a long time after my shower. We went to work together this morning and at my desk there was a bunch of stuff: notebook, headphones, maps and travel info about Hamburg, candy and flowers! woooo swag.

This office is very different from Cincinnati as there are roughly 50 people here compared to the 180 ish in the cincy office. I went around and met everyone, which would have taken foreverrrrr in Cincinnati and promptly forgot everyone's name. I will try again tomorrow, or creepily memorize everyone from their work photos online.

I need to work on my German, seeing as I don't really have any skills right now because pretty much everyone in the office speaks German to one another and I feel stupid not being able to contribute. Plus their English is better than mine, so I am pretty much losing all around with regards to languages.

I am looking for apartments and will try to contact some people today/this weekend about seeing their places and meeting them. I feel weird about that too since the ads are in German and I will probably have to respond in English. Some of the ads specify that they would like a German-speaking roommate. I will have to win them over with my charm and ability to recite German numbers.

Tasks to complete soon:

-figure out how to get a phone plan with data so I can use maps and stuff
-get an address
-get a bank account
-get friends

Auf Wiedersehen
(still had to look that up for spelling)