I am rapidly becoming obsessed with the idea of giving myself a full, outside-of-any-institution education. I was starting to worry about finding books in English once I finished the pile I brought with me (there's only one left!) but it occurred to me that there are countless books online, if the copyright is old enough (100 years, I think?). So my new plan is to devote the rest of my reading time to the classics of literature and philosophy, with occasional breaks for important things like Patrick O'Brian. :) My O'Brian is almost done! I've finished the 13th book, which means only 7 more! I know 7 books sounds like a lot, but it seems like nothing when you've become so attached to the characters...*sigh*...Hollywood had better get around to making another movie, and preferably not based on the book that rumor has been saying it might be based on. They could do far better, though as long as they include the sloth no film will be a complete failure ("Jack! You have debauched my sloth!").
Both On Beauty and A Brief History of Time are now done, and both still come highly recommended. I've picked up The World According to Garp in their wake, as it's a relatively modern classic and somehow I have managed to skip over it thus far! It's off to a good start, particularly as the characters are currently in Austria and I'm enjoying being able to read all of the German they're speaking. My favorite German word of the moment is "geschlossen," which means "closed." It's hard not to fall in love with a word when it sounds so ridiculous in sentences. The best I've encountered so far is "Weil die Geschafte geschlossen sind" - it only means "Because the stores are closed," but it has such a nice ring to it!
Friday night was the first real night of excitement in Munich that we've seen. We tried our best to go dancing, but it proved to be even more difficult than in New York! I don't recall ever being turned down at a club for anything other than an ID issue (and let's face it - those are few and far between!) but we were rejected several times that night! Private parties, supposedly, at a couple of clubs, and a "members only" night at Baby, the venue we were really hoping to go to. We ending up somewhere else nearby, that was fine if you were just looking to dance, but beyond that the atmosphere was very frat party-ish. It seemed like where all the other clubs' rejects go! There were two rooms - one that played house, and one that played everything else. Germans have extremely random taste in music. We got a little Rihanna, a little classic Green Day, a little "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," a little hip hop, a little "Hey Ya" and a little Backstreet Boys. It was...ecclectic, shall we say?
Oh! And I forgot to mention the best part about Friday! All you can eat sushi. In sushi boats (kind of). Let's just say we did obese Americans everywhere proud. :) I think we managed something like 34 plates. We were actually sort of hoping they would kick us out for eating too much...it would be a badge of honor, really!
Saturday was more reading, more research, and more looking into programs of further study that might interest me. We event went on a little adventure! After getting breakfast and going grocery shopping, we decided to try to work under one of the bridges we cross every day. It was quite the epic journey...Homer would write an interminable poem about it, I'm sure, if he were still alive. First we had to crawl, groceries and laptops in tow, under a wooden walkway. Then we clambered across a stone divider between the two tracts of water. Then we arrived at a part that was a couple of feet lower, where we had to walk across a balance beam-esque plank of wood to the cement divider on the other side. After walking along this for a short while, we came to a wall and had to shimmy down, bracing ourselves between it and the divider, to a small stone ledge. From the ledge we had to jump across a fish-filled bit of river and a few rocks to the bank on the other side. We crossed the bank and journeyed through some tall plants (think Amazonian explorers hacking through the jungle), tiptoed across a line of rocks to get across another bit of river, and finally arrived at the section of dry land beneath the bridge. It was all terribly harrowing, particularly as my bag contained a carton of eggs in addition to the laptop!! Everything survived completely unscathed, and we had the good fortune to find two rocks with perfect sitting spots carved into them. The trip back seemed much easier - though Jon did manage to punch me in the nose as he caught me after I jumped across the water at one point. We also encountered a goose directly at our feet, that was either very friendly or very ready to attack the trespassers invading its territory! Somehow we managed to escape unharmed, and we returned home safely. :)
And in other amazing news: WE HAVE TICKETS TO SEE JOHN BARROWMAN IN "LA CAGE AUX FOLLES" IN LONDON!! Woohoo!!!! *dies of excitement*
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