long time no update

i hope my loyal readers have not grown too impatient. i haven't posted much because i was down for a while and didn't want to post anything negative online...

going abroad is like being a teenager for me - such an emotional rollercoaster. im always excited to be abroad, so being happy is really really great, and being sad is like getting kicked in the stomach. i was also having angst about what im going to do after this year (because i'd ideally like to stay in berlin, but so do a lot of people), but i finally got sick of thinking about it and will just let things happen.

my comprehension is improving - the good news is that i can understand what's going on in my classes. the bad news is that now i realize how terrible a few of them actually are...maybe ignorance was bliss.

the whole month of christmas (advent) is very bubbly and social. it's a nice time to be in germany. my research (the whole reason i'm here, heh heh) is starting to pick up. i finally have a desk at the konrad adenauer stiftung, so i can stop being lazy at home.

assorted pictures:

partying in a shack in mitte for a friend's birthday. featured in this picture: mein shatz.

i attended a climate change protest. at the actual protest they said 5k people were there, berliner fenster the next day made it seem like it was barely over 1000. oops?

all the people there looked very hardcore. i thought going to the protest would be a nice way of meeting radical young people, but i only chatted it up with an older woman who was actually from around marburg.

mosque near my house. we had a tour for my course on german integration. did you know that at 12 000 residents, americans are the 5th largest group of foreigners in berlin?