The past week or so has been rather dull. I've had to put my nose to the grindstone and actually study, prepare for presentations, and, well, do nothing exciting. However, things are winding down here. I'm finished with four of my five classes and I've already received my grades for two of them. I took a killer exam today, but I'm taking the class on the pass/fail basis, so as long as I scrape by with a D, I'm fine.
I had to pay the remainder of my rent contract (the two months during which I will not live here) in cash, so my bank account was drained. Now I feel like I usually do at the end of a semester - counting my dimes (um, Euro coins?) and asking myself if I really needed that bottle of wine three weeks ago (I could eat food for a whole day for that price). Anyway, so I've done some math to discover just how much of this foreign currency I need in order to survive while I'm here (which, by the way, happens as the Euro escalates again.) So the next weeks will consist of grocery shopping with that nasty voice in the back of my mind saying "will you have the desire to laboriously prepare this food and eat all of it before you leave?" The answer is usually no, which means I will go back to the subsistence level of my first few days: cereal. Joy.
I've been having some frustrations with the German concept of customer service lately. My internet connection is apparently a 12-month contract (jerkface salesman told me I could end my contract early...liar), so my attempt to end my contract has turned into a nightmare. I thought I would be efficient and go to the customer service center in town (which, by the way, is out in the boonies), but I arrived to find out that it is a place for people to go when they want a new connection, and that is it. I showed up and told them I wanted to end my service, only to discover that I need to do everything over the e-mail. I e-mail the appropriate robot only to get vague answers and broad instructions such as "you need to return your modem" with no hint as to where I should send it. I think (after 4 days of replying with more and more specific questions which SHOULD solicit a clear answer, but only realizing that I continue to receive vague answers) I'm finally getting to the point where I can safely end my internet contract. It would just be nice if I could call somewhere (you know, and not pay 14 cents per minute) and efficiently get stuff done.
So now I'm roasting bratwurst, drinking the fantastic orange soda which I will miss so much (but will gladly sacrifice for Dr. Pepper), and meticulously planning my last excursion in Europe. I'm going to Dresden in the morning (with a stop in Leipzig), followed by a sweep across Germany to Cologne (with a stop in Weimar), and then home (with stops in Mainz and Darmstadt.) Afterward, my available resources will be limited to about 30 or 40 Euros, which need to get me through the remaining 8 days (my train ticket to the airport is already paid for.) The impending task of cleaning lies ahead of me, but I keep putting it off. The internet is just so much more interesting.
So peace out, world (I had a reader from somewhere in Russia - shout out to you. Привет, кто вы.)
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