Moments / Apartment Update

Sometimes a moment can have a really powerful impact. Life has a way of shifting and slipping around so that you lose track of what's happening after a while. Oftentimes I get so caught up in the movement of everything that I can't step back and look at things from a proper perspective. The past few months in particular have been an absolute whirlwind, so with everything that's been happening it's been tough to take those steps back and look around. It's not until I snag up against something and get caught in a moment that I can take a little rest and get a fresh glimpse of where I am. Today I went back and read a blog entry written by my old roommate Ryan, checked the calendar, and realized it's been a whole two and a half months since I moved out of my apartment in Ithaca, NY. We're coming up on four months since graduation this Thursday. That was one enormous moment of realization for me right there, I've been sitting here thinking about it for a while.

I'm not even sure what to make of these little milestones to be honest. On one hand it's sad. I really enjoyed myself in Ithaca, and it still remains as one of the coolest, most vibrant, most unique little towns in the entire world. College was an absolute blast, and it's a little sad to think that all of the classes, Voicestream rehearsals, late night paper writing sessions, and everything else that goes with the whole college scene is all behind me. It's gonna be pretty rare event that even a small percentage of the people with whom I interacted with on a day to day basis are ever going to be in one spot at the same time ever again. It can be a little sobering to think about the post-graduation diaspora sometimes: all of your friends in different cities, doing different things, leading separate lives.

At the same time, though, I've had a number of moments since I arrived in Germany that have forced me to stop and reflect on what an awesome, unique experience this year is going to be (and already has been). This past week Gesche and Manfred's niece, Leifka, had a birthday, so on Sunday the Ketels and I loaded up into the car and headed off to Kiel to the birthday party, which consisted of lunch with Gesche's sister and the rest of the extended family. I was sitting at the dinner table, helping myself to yet another serving of bread, butter, and salami (incredibly common meal around here, I've just about had my fill of it so far), when I sat back and realized that I was in Schleswig-Holstein celebrating a nine-year-old's birthday party and fumbling my way through all-German conversations with her dad on topics ranging from Utah's economy to the difference between private and public universities in the United States. And to think that a mere three weeks ago I was dashing around the house, packing and planning, saying goodbye, stressing out, and endlessly imagining what this whole experience was going to be like, which has so far been absolutely nothing like I anticipated. Nothing like stopping to appreciate those exceptionally absurd moments to snap you out of the overpowering rush of a new experience.

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Apartment hunt still continues, but I'm having more success than I was as of the last post. I've really hustled the hell out of this thing. I've given up on emailing (there's pretty much zero hope of getting answered via email), more and more posts are cropping up with phone numbers, and I'm getting more comfortable and assertive during roommate tryouts. So far I've keyed in on one apartment that seems like a good option. The neighborhood is kinda bleak, but the place has a number of things going for it: it's about a ten minute walk from the center of town, it's absolutely huge (360 square meters), and Marcus, the guy who showed me around, seemed like a really cool guy. I'm meeting up with him again tomorrow evening so I can get a second opinion and get to know his roommates better.