Berlin Pixz

Ok so I turned my cammerfone off for the flight from Berlin to Stockholm so I couldn't get any pics while I was there.. (shitty, I know) but here are a few from Berlin- the drive there, the arrival, misc, and some pics of KaDeWe- the giant department store where we ate a f***ing amaye-zing blue-camembert cheese sandwich that still gives me a gastronomical hardon every time i think about it.

The graffiti is something that looks like a Banksy but probably isn't, and a Banana Man stencil which also may or may not be authentic- but WTF, why not? Also included are some pics I (illegally- ooh!) took at the Levis store for my friend Roy, who wanted to write an article about the 'grunge comeback'- even though I tried to argue that in most places where I come from grunge never really left.. Also shown: the Sony Center, the Czech Embassy (which Matt referred to as "Soviet architecture from the future"), the Berlin Wall (floor-plaque), a chocolate liberty bell, Roy shaving in an airport bathroom, Yael and I at the Pergamon museum on some ancient (stolen- as my ironically postcolonially-minded Israeli friends constantly pointed out) stone steps, and Roy 'hanging out' on the hostel room floor after only half a bottle of champagne... bla bla bla

Ok and there are a couple pics in there from the Konstanz Oktoberfest- in which my Danish friend Jeppe (pictured with sunglasses on head) and I snuck into the VIP section up on a balcony, stole a 3/4 full maß beer that was sitting unattended and ate pieces of ham dipped in gravy (which was all that was left of the buffet). And pic of the worst meal I ever had at the Uni Mensa.

Ok.. l8r.

Oh wait! And some pics of Yael and my friend Katya (Russian) playing with hemp that was growing in the Black Forest historical museum site place. And of my friend Jordan from Long Island. I think that's it.

Länge Zeit kein Post...

Sorry. I've been away.

So.. tonight is the weekly dance party up at uni- which I will not attend because it gets sloppy and is too shit-hop/trancy/teuer.
('Teuer' means expensive- which it isn't really, but I am living on the thin lately so it is better if I stay home and do hausaufgabe)
The idea of having a party at the uni is pretty insane though. There were three dancefloors last week all situated in the middle of the university- like right in the middle where all the different parts of the uni come together. It was kind of like one of those dreams you have, and then when you try to explain to someone where it took place you say, for example, 'well, we were at the uni, but it was like, not really the uni because it was this big rave and everyone was piss drunk and...'

When I went to school the morning afterwards I had to make sure it wasn't just a dream because it was 9.00am and there was absolutely no signs of what had taken place only hours before- except this one sticky part of the floor that I stepped in near a corner somewhere.

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In other news, I started classes this week.

I am taking two german courses, one of which I share with a couple of my heeb friends, a nice australian girl I know and an intense romanian who likes to wax philosophical with me (and what can I say, I enjoy it too!). Also, there is an older Aussie fellow who turns out to be an assistant professor at Yale with a CV as long as my arm. His list of published works would rival Anne Rice (well, probably not, but you can understand I am psyched to get this guy out to the 'stube' for some beers)

I am also taking a course about Cities, Flaneurs and 'Easy Rider(s)' which is a 'project seminar'- meaning I will have to create a social documentary as part of my grading in the course. The prof is a timid, elfish Russian who has taught in Germany and in North Carolina. There were three people in the class on monday. Today there were four. IN-TI-MATE. But the course should be pretty awesome- I will keep you posted on cool stuff we do.

The other three courses I am taking is one more german language course, which I haven't been to yet; a course called 'Hybrid Cultures: Monstrous Bodies in the Cinema' which is pretty much the most awesomest class I have ever heard of. If brock doesn't want to give me a transfer credit for it (it will be replacing, *yawn* 'Film Genre') then I will probably just blow the whole department up, or set the registrar's office on fire, or both. The course is in german and I was straining to understand snippets of what were covered in class today, but since I am so psyched to do the course I think it will keep me really engaged and I will learn german even faster.

The other cool-ish course I am taking is called Cultures of Copy- also auf deutsch- and its basically covering just what it says: the apposition of the ideas of 'original' and 'copy', problems with authorship, appropriation, remix culture, etc. etc. I actually was able to understand a lot of the discussion in class- it's like you pick up a word here and there, make some sort of link between them and then just guess outright at the most likely thing that they are talking about:

"Bla bla bla bla bla bla 'Autor'... bla bla bla 'Kopie' bla bla bla 'unterschied' (which means difference) bla bla 'original'... bla bla bla bla bla 'gutenberg'... bla bla bla bla bla 'palimsest'..." etc. etc.

Pretty straightforward. I think. I hope.

In other news, you might have noticed I posted up a mix and a new facebook group for a podcast I hope to be able to put out periodically. Grabbing tons of new tunes has always been a kind of therapy for me, especially now that I am far from home and all my old beloved friends, so this is kind of a way to keep in touch with people (outside of these exasperating blog posts) and have a kind of personal connection that is not skyping or taking erotic pictures of myself.

In case you missed it, the link is here, and this will be the same link for all successive podcasts I do in the (near) future.

Next post I'll put up a bunch of pics from Berlin (but not Stockholm- will explain)...