Top 5: Reasons why I love my host parents...

1.  My host mom makes me breakfast in the morning (rather than just leave me to the pieces of toast I would whip up, left to my own devices)

2.  My host dad asks me if I am going horseback riding every time I put on my hunter rain boots.

3.  My host mom thinks that the internet and computer are the same thing...thereby when I told her that the internet was indeed having problems she insisted she proved me wrong by merely pressing the "power" button. (Luckily that was taken care of when my host dad came to the rescue and fixed said problems)

4.  They have been married 47 yrs (as of yesterday) and still like to sing and play the guitar and piano together on random mornings.

         a. (yes I did just make a subset) She told me that for my upcoming birthday on Saturday they were going to sing to me. 

5.  She brings me chocolate.  (bars? brownies?  you name it.)

Where do we draw the line with tradition?

Much to the chagrin of many of my peers at Swarthmore, I have always found a bit of comfort in the traditionalism that comes with the Judaism of which I have grown up with.  I don't feel comfortable, as a woman, wearing talit (shawl) or a kippah (little circular hat) and I have never warmed to a woman rabbi.  A fact that I am readily prepared to attribute to facts unrelated to gender.  I do think at some point it would behoove me to learn how to cook a tasty friday night dinner.  (More for my sake than anyone else's!).  Tradition and faith, in this case Jewish tradition and faith, has given me something to hold on to as I have grown older.

All of that said, a minyan (the minimum of 10 praying individuals needed for a full service) should account for both men and women and I am consistently surprised by the fact that even in "liberal" synagogues (especially here in Germany) men and women are made to sit separately.  Men are usually in the center, acting as full participants while the women are off to the sides and up on the balcony, are essentially spectators.  This, I have learned, is primetime for the Yentes who take it upon themselves to discuss who is getting a little thick around the edges, whose skirt is too short, who is not married, and of course the pain of their perfect Jewish son's "shiksa syndrome." (With that in mind can you blame them?  The grass is always greener...) I would almost go as far as to claim that I was more familiar with the liturgy than over 50% of the males sitting below me, judging by the chatting and lack of direct participation I observed, so why is it a big deal for me to sit there?  Can one justify the division of genders using "tradition" as an excuse or then does it become discrimination?  Where does one draw the line?

Just some thoughts I had while sitting up in the nosebleeds this afternoon during the Yom Kippur service...

Comments welcome, please!

Saturday night with the Exorcist

So for weeks our German class has been preparing to see the Berliner Ensemble production of Der Aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui by the playwright extraordinaire, Bertolt Brecht.  The play is a parable, almost entirely based on the events leading up to Hitler's taking over of the Chancellory in 1933.  In our class we were supposed to have read the entire play (Okay, I admit that my attempt at reading could have been misconstrued as skimming selectively).  Then we discussed it from start to finish.  Should have been enough to get the general gist of what was going to happen at the actual production.

Should have been.  But it was indeed, not.  I could have read the play in German, English, and acted it out myself and would not have had a clue what was going on.  (Our professor and a majority of the German audience felt likewise) It was described to me as a "post-modern" production.  All I can say was that the man who played Arturo (Hitler) was very adept at making strange noises with his mouth that included but was not limited to breathing like a dog with his tongue hanging out and speaking in shrieky, lispy voice that made his character sound like he belonged in the Exorcist (which I will admit to have never seen but can only imagine) and needed to be exorcised.  Granted, he was essentially playing Adolf Hitler so one could argue that the characterization was not entirely inaccurate. 

I chose to sleep through the second half but found myself suddenly awakened by the sounds of guns being shot.  How rude.

Some ice cream with your sprinkles? Yes, please.

So I always got the impression from my older friends countless facebook updates and loads of stories that it was just simply impossible to miss home while abroad.  I mean sure everyone misses their friends and family but you're having such a fantastic time experiencing new things (which I am!) that you simply can't imagine you'd even have the slightest inkling of desire to sit in Sharples, the communal dining hall which doubles as a ski lodge (not really but it looks like it) and serves the most unappetizing food.  Okay, I admit it.  I miss having ice cream with my cup of rainbow sprinkles on Mondays and Fridays.  Sigh...

Important dates on the horizon:

October 3 - this Nerdy Girl's 21st birthday!

October 16 - this Nerdy Girl flies to Rome, Italy to begin her fall break adventure! (Rome, Barcelona, and Lisbon here I come!!!  Finally some more traveling!)

Back to my paper on the Weimar Republic...

Blaire, give Grandmother back her pearls. K, Thanks.

So I'll admit, I probably should have gotten started on my list of a million and one things that I have to do but c'est la vie...I found that my desire to get caught up on my favorite tv shows was too pressing to ignore.  Especially when I saw the first episode of the new season of...

THE BIG BANG THEORY.  (CBS Monday nights)

Gossip Girl, Shmossip Girl.  While I adore Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard Wallowitz, (the four geeky scientists the show is about) Raj Kouthrapali (sp?) will always have my heart.  There is something so wonderfully sweet about an Indian astronomer who needs tons of alcohol just to be able to talk to women.  And always manages to get a woman in bed.  Bravo!  (I'm assuming it was consensual on both sides obviously.)

As for Gossip Girl?  Here's what I think - Blaire needs to stop dressing like an old lady (you're way too young to be wearing grandmother's pearl necklace), Chuck Bass needs to stop acting like an old man (dressing gown?  really?), Vanessa needs to stop acting like a scorned woman, and Serena?  For the record, people GO TO COLLEGE to find themselves.  Whoever said they "knew themselves" before going off to college was a liar.  Or delusional.  As for Dan Humphrey?  Has anyone noticed just how much hotter he looks?  I think it's his haircut.

Moral of the story?  Never underestimate the power of a good haircut.

How liberal are you?

This is how the synagogue on Rykestrasse would describe themselves:

"We are a very liberal synagogue.  Men and women are in the same room.  But they sit separately. (Obviously)"

Golly, gee whiz!  I hope that I wasn't too much of a distraction!  Breathing the same air can be a little too tantalizing if you're not careful.  Makes me wonder about the Jewish culture that has evolved here with the regrowth of the community and what kind of shape it has begun to take...

Sarcasm aside, the service was nice if a little hard to follow (German garbled over a microphone is not the easiest to understand).

Shanah tovah!  Enjoy the apples and honey!  (Even if you're not Jewish - it's sweet!  ha ha...)

Bauhaus? Boohoo.

So, I know that it's totally taboo for a cultured girl such as myself to admit total and utter boredom when describing my experience at Walter Gropius's Bauhaus but...I really don't have a choice.  I mean to be fair I did not go through the entire thing and what I saw was a special exhibition on Bauhaus furniture.  (I think) My back ached from just LOOKING at chairs that I am 101% sure my grandparents would have a tough time getting out of.  EVER.

That being said, I understand why Gropius and the Bauhaus were so influential and I found it interesting that there was such a disconnect between the identity of the Bauhaus, as modern individuals, and their visions of mass production and conformity of society.  (I will admit that that is a GROSS simplification but it is what I got out of my tour this afternoon...) Sorry Walter, but not all of us are sheep.  Especially if you're chairs are just that uncomfortable.  If it had been a sofa, maybe we'd be having a different conversation.

Was that the beginning of a metaphor?  Well, that is also some food for thought...

Shanah Tovah!  (Happy Jewish New Year!)

Due to popular demand...

Here is where one can find Sven:

Holmes Place Berlin
Friedrichstrasse 68 (It is right off the beautiful French square called the Gendarmenmarkt in the Mitte (aka cool part of town)

In addition, since most people reading this are not moving to Berlin but may come for a short visit, they do offer day passes!  So say hi to Sven for me!

What's in a name? (Part 2)

Okay, so first off I would like to apologize for all of the technical glitches or confusion there has been regarding the new address of the blog.  Silly me, I didn't realize that when I changed the address there wouldn't some telepathic message sent out from my computer to the rest of the world (or at least my world since I am not sure people in Afghanistan are truly concerned with what Joanna has been up to in Berlin...but hey, that'd be cool if they were, not gonna lie.)

Why the name change?  Well it is a little demoralizing when everyone, including your own mother, keeps referring to your blog as "Forever 21."  No, I am not a woman's clothing line nor do I have any association with them.  I also figured that the new name fit ME better and the direction of the blog as it has come into being these past couple of months.  I am a nerdy girl who is currently traveling the world.  Subtlety is a strong suit of mine.  Anyways, from now on there should be no more glitches of this sort.

On a positive note:  I was reviewed by the site "Bloggy Award"!  Here are some tidbits of what they had to say...

"There is something to be said about Joanna’s writing – it makes for a fun read! I have no idea who she is, but I did enjoy reading about Sven, her fitness trainer, among other things. I am sure that more enjoyable posts are to come."

"Nerdy Girl: Around The World has huge potential. Joanna seems to be the type to look at things from a unique perspective, and in spite of the glitches that I encountered, I am positive that this blog can gain wider readership. What do you say to giving this blog a chance?"

Yes, please, do give me a chance.

Off to class!  Ta ta for now... 

Travel advice?

So it has come to my attention that as a writer of a blog that has a large focus on traveling, there should be some posts devoted to travel advice. For those who know me, you know that I have been to my fair share of places and have a lot to say about each one of them and for those who don't know me as well, feel free to ask and find out!

Since most of the questions have been concerning Europe, (makes sense seeing as that's where I am studying abroad and most of my friends here are not contemplating trips to South America - at least this semester), I am putting up a list of the places I have been on the European continent and would be more than happy to talk about!

BERLIN, GERMANY - obviously!
Austria - Salzburg, Vienna
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Belgium - Brussels, Antwerp, and Brugges
Budapest, Hungary
Croatia - Dubrovnik, Hvar
Greece - Athens, Santorini, Mykonos
Istanbul, Turkey
Krakow, Poland
Spain - Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, and Cadiz
Paris, France
Prague, Czech Republic

Email me at:  Jolang13(at)gmail.com (avoiding annoying spam emails!)
or Find me on Facebook - Check out the badge!  (I am getting so tech-savvy...not.)

Up next?  Rome, Italy!

What are friends for?

Other than making sure that your blog succeeds? Beats me.

I'm afraid that I may have started to become one of those annoying individuals who uses any social interaction as an excuse to put in a plug for "Forever 12." (Recently changed to "Nerdy Girl: Around the World"...but more about that a bit later) During one of those interactions last night I was lamenting my inability to remember to take enough pictures. So my friends, kind souls that they are, decided to take matters into their own hands and make sure I had EVERYTHING documented.



Gosh darnit! It just makes me warm inside to look at it and not remember.

And here I am "pre-cat nap"...



Not sure who or where those glasses came from. I just thought they were sweet.

P.S. Pictures of me actually out and about in Berlin are coming soon. I just have to wait until my friends load the pictures up on Facebook. Sorry, but that's the truth.

I now know why Americans are so fat.

They don't have Sven.

"Who is Sven?" you might ask... Well he is the man/superhuman who ran my fitness class yesterday evening. I have to say when my stretchy band thing snapped, filling me with a rush of relief, I was convinced that there was a God and that that God was smiling down on me. Briefly. (And I would hardly classify myself as a couch potato) There is something otherworldly about taking a highly intense aerobics class taught by a tall, brawny but lithe German man (with endless flexibility and energy). One second he is shouting "DREI! ZWEI! EINS!" And smacking the floor with his towel and the next he is smiling and dancing around the room as though we're all at a disco having the time of our lives. My personal favorite? The little air guitar solo he played on his unnaturally flexible leg. I could totally write a blog just on the various "training" experiences I have had and will have throughout my time here.

Psycho step/weight class survived and swim swum, I went off to meet up with two of the girls from my program. Hazelnut ice cream in hand, we went to the Bode museum (my favorite? The interactive kids gallery. Hands down.) And then stopped off for drinks at a cafe. We were CARDED! I will admit that despite my total surprise I secretly loved handing over my ID knowing that I was well (ok almost 3 yrs) above legal age. Only 3 more weeks until the big 2-1!

Half a bottle of wine later, I was a very happy camper. Giggly as well.

Wie sagt man "flexible" auf Deutsch? "Flexibel"

I have decided to use my break time productively so that instead of updating my vocabulary list or writing in my "Tagesbuch" (journal) I am updating my blog. Same idea, different language? Okay, fine, I'm procrastinating any way you look at it.

I have been sick for the past few days and so yesterday I decided that I wouldn't push myself too hard and take an easy yoga class at my gym in the Mitte. (City center a.k.a cool part) Now, I would not necessarily consider myself a yogi but I have been practicing pretty regularly and sometimes intensively since I was fourteen. Let it be known that I have never had an experience quite like the one I had yesterday evening. Yes, I probably should have known, given past experiences, that gyms focused on brawn and a "chi-chi" clientele are not going to have the best yoga programs but I thought I would try it out regardless. There is also that whole language thing - I missed the week where our vocab list included "warrior pose" and "downward dog."

Well, I needn't have worried. The yoga teacher probably knew less German than yours truly AND anything he said was said with what seemed to be a VERY thick New York accent. Not to stereotype or anything. I swear if I, or anyone else in my program, pronounced words like that we would be thrown out. Don't know if I should admit this but I am a fan of the tv show, The Nanny, from the early '90s starring Fran Drescher. Anyways, this guy was Fran Drescher, speaking German, at a slightly lower and more tolerable decibel. I have to say it was not the most zen of experiences just because as I was attempting to twist my body in all sorts of unnatural directions, I was also struggling between feeling an intense attack on my sensitive ear drums and the desire to bust out laughing. Luckily the class ended before I had to decide.

I think I'll stick to activities that don't require dark lights, constant instruction, and meditation.

Being a caring big sister from afar

Is really not easy. Thank god then for BBM! Now even when we do not have time for skype face to face or even facebook chatting I can drop some pearls of wisdoms on his metaphorical lap (aka blackberry).

Zum Beispiel:

"Don't be a fool, cover your tool."

"If you can't cover your rocket, keep it in your pocket."

Do you see a certain theme here? Well, as much as I love young kids I am not looking to become an aunt any time soon.

Photo op!

Okay, so I realized that as witty as my writing is, a blog, especially one that is about traveling really needs to contain pictures...Something that I always forget about. Because honestly, I get so awkward! I mean I know that all of us on some level possess a certain level of vanity but there is a limit to how much you are allowed to put that out there...and asking people to take pictures of yourself? Well, that is usually crossing the line. Even if you say, "it's for my blog!"

Now lucky for me I met some super cool Germans who were willing and ready for a photo op this past Friday. Please excuse the fact that I seem almost entirely unable to keep a straight face throughout the entire experience.

Photo #1 - The "friends out at a party" pose (I cannot take credit for these titles)



Photo #2 - The "serious" pose



Photo #3 - The "myspace pose where you show your cleavage but not your double chin" pose



Photo #4 - The "Right before the party on a boat became full" pose



Photo #5 - The "Cheers!" pose




Anyways, as you can see I am obviously hating life here in Berlin...

Voluntary art projects in college are NOT a sign of regression!

Okay, so today is friday which means that I have officially survived my first week of classes and commuting (well, not exactly commuting since I still have to take the U-bahn everywhere). Now, from the title of this blog post you might be asking yourself, "How exactly has this girl been filling her time when she is not commuting on said U-bahn?" That, my friends, is a very good question. I, unlike many of my peers, relished the opportunity to do presentations during my formative years. No, it is not because I love having everyone's undivided attention as I drop pearls of wisdom one after another. It is because any good presentation requires the presence of a good visual aid. Did anyone hear ART PROJECT?! I sure did!

Here is how I decided the forming of the European Union should be immortalized:

Comic-book style.



I never claimed to be a talented artist.

(I am still pathetically trying to figure out the whole "technology" aspect of blogging so bear with me!)

Swim girl swim!

Gym membership? Check.
Bathing suits? Check.
Stir crazy energy from lack of physical activity while getting "acclimated"? Check. Check. Check.

Getting out that physical energy? Priceless.

(I figured that if I totally copied Mastercard that could be a problem...)

In the words of my new gym: "Have a sporty day!"