And then what happened?

A Big Ol’ Mashup
 
I went through my computer yesterday and pulled out all the little bits and pieces of video I’d been gathering throughout second semester, and whacked ‘em together with a bit of a vlog. It’s rather a mishmash, but it was so lovely to see everyone’s faces again here like this. Unfortunately I had to cut down about 45 minutes to just 15, but I think I managed to get the essence of everything…! Anyway, VLOG TIMES, enjoy!

The sun here boils like August’s Tuscany
And burns the skin like September’s Greece
This summer rain falls in Edinburgh
And floods the paths of Göttingen
I crossed this street in Budapest and Amsterdam
I felt this wind in Uppsala and Bruges
The skyline’s lit like Berlin, Athens, Prague
The tides shift in the Thames, a Danish beach

Australian Customs stripped our luggage bare
To check no scraps of foreign lands had gone astray
I ticked the box marked Nothing To Declare
But they smuggled themselves here somehow anyway.

Remember this? I’m reblogging because I’m the kind of person who likes wrapping things up neatly, and while there’s nothing neat about how I feel right now I like to be able to draw a line from then to now and see how far I’ve come. 

Some things have turned full circle - the weather for one, and excessive amounts of walking for another (I haven’t crashed my bike in six months, but I’m not stupid enough to tempt Fate when there’s ice on the roads - even Dinant crashed his last night, and I didn’t even really have the heart to taunt him for it). 

But also, what a different person is stepping onto that same flight on Sunday as the one sitting there in that photo, peering out the window and wondering whether any of the towns she could see below might be her new home. I think I felt just as terrified then as I do now, just as unsure of what’s to come and how I’m going to cope. I seem to be writing a lot of these posts, don’t I? Hey, lighten up, lady! It’s not the end of the world. Yesterday Simon made me dinner, and we talked about my coming back to Germany once my Bachelors are complete. He said, “A lot of people talk about going back to the country they spent their exchange year on. ‘Oh yeah, I’ll definitely be back, you know, I want to live here,’ et cetera and whatever. And then they go home and find that they don’t really actually want to take that step. But you, I think actually you will be back - it’s different.”

That is amazing to me. I always find it amazing when people understand. And I think he’s right, and I think my family are right, and I think I can do this. As long as I have the people in my life who keep me going and shut up those little niggly voices in my head that say, “Who do you think you are anyway, you’re not clever or brave or resourceful enough to do this,” and who are constantly there for me (even when I completely fuck up or disappear for twelve months or more) - well, with people like that, who could fail to achieve even the loftiest of goals?

Now - off to do the million and fifty chores I have to complete before Sunday, including but not limited to finishing an essay, unregistering from the town hall, closing my bank account, packing, redistributing all the stuff I’m leaving behind, and so on and so on. 

cratey:

In Transit, March 2011

A quick post, because I’ve got a long and busy day ahead. So I’m here! In Göttingen! It’s still rather surreal, and the ground is frozen, and I have to wear at least three layers to go outside, and the buildings are amazing, and there are forests!!

Jetlag has been mostly (thankfully) absent, although I’m still prone to blame everything on it. I’ve been doing a LOT of walking, and my foot is not thanking me for it, but my mind is. I’m living in a tiny house with (as far as I can tell) about ten other people in it, although I’ve only really met two. I haven’t been doing much photography, more taking videos of the trip over (vlog to follow, eventually, once I get time to edit it all), so this picture is actually the only one I felt like posting. It’s on the flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt, which was actually quite lovely even though I’d decided at that point that I never wanted to see another plane again. 

I’ve found my sudden burst of organising frenzy at home has really paid off here - I’ve got my visa and registration all sorted, and brought everything I needed with me (although major props go to David for telling me to pack a powerboard, ethernet cable and coat hangers). My luggage may have been over the weight limit and cost my father $66 (thanks Dad!) but boy has it ever been useful. And setting my phone to international roaming for the next month has been invaluable, even though it may turn out to be expensive! Basically, thanks Past Caitlin. 

I’m starving and need to go eat breakfast now, but there’ll be more (much more) at a later date…

Hangover.

And to lighten the mood a little - Michiel visited us this week! And since he wanted a quick lesson in video editing, we threw this together on Thursday. Behold, citizens - you are in the presence of a CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE (with absolutely no clumsy jump-cuts whatsoever!!)

Also, SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW SNOW that is all. 

Pieces, December 2011 - January 2012

I found this little piece of glass on a chilly beach in Denmark. I put it in my pocket and carried it around with me for weeks, back to Germany, to Athens, to Prague, and when I was walking I’d turn it over and over in my hand. One day at uni I was putting on my jacket and it fell out of my pocket and broke. Slightly obsessive hoarder that I am, even I could see the insanity of carting shards of broken glass back to Australia, so I buried the bits under the Tree. It was very pretty even broken; the bits of mottled tumbled surface compared to the smooth and clear lines where it had snapped sent the light bouncing off in all directions.

Melodic Musings, October 2011

During my travels with Mum I spent a lot - A LOT - of time on trains listening to music. I started using a page in my journal to scribble down lyrics, and it turned into this. I started rereading my journals to Lisa and Dinant a while ago, and found this page again. I quite like it, even if it is a bit chaotic. 

Last night I came up with a new photo project, and to do it right I need to get all the images before I leave here. There’s not a lot of time left, but I think it’s enough! I can finish them off when I get back to Australia (which also gives me a good creative outlet to deal with the culture shock, bonus).

Just have to remember to keep carrying my camera with me wherever I go! 

Also on Australia Day - probably the funniest photo I’ve ever seen. From left to right: Adiba, Mika and Michal the Fearsome

If you’ve never had your disembodied face stuck on a chocolate pie in honour of your country’s (slightly dubious) national day, then I’m just not sure what you’re doing with your life.

Australia Day in Göttingen involved a very long lunch/coffee session with Andrew, Lisa and Dinant, shopping with Josh and Lisa (frantically trying to work out if the ingredients for Anzac Biscuits exist in Germany - they do, mostly!), a late-ish grill in the freezing dark, Vegemite on toast, lots of Aussie music (Midnight Oil, AC/DC, Jet, Grinspoon, Powderfinger, Silverchair, Amiel, The Cat Empire, Sia, and so on), long and rather inebriated talks on philosophy and the meaning of life, dancing, bogans, and snow falling at one in the morning. Couldn’t have asked for anything better!

Second Semester and the Kings of Kugel

Ooh-ahh lookit, a vlog! Haven’t seen one-a those ‘round these parts fer a goodly while. Let’s meet some of the Wintersemester folks, more colloquially known as the Kings of Kugels, as they travel to and from Prague by Deutsche Bahn. And gradually lose their minds and end up singing Dutch Christmas carols. Fun for everyone!

A Walk in the Woods I, November 2011

I can’t sleep. It’s 3am. I’m not sure why - I was exhausted all day, and missed my late class (probably inadvisably) because I knew I was going to fall asleep in it. Probably at least four times. When I got home I fell asleep for a couple of hours, and then woke and did a few things, and now here I am at 3am and I can’t sleep and I have a lot to do tomorrow. 

But this morning was lovely - I woke early, had breakfast and headed out into the woods above my house with my camera. I went for a walk yesterday, and was struck by the fact that I’d never been up there before, and cursed myself many times for not having my camera with me. Not so today! Everything’s covered in frost and the air swirls when you breathe. The woods are bright and clear and smothered in yellow leaves. I took a lot of photos, but I think this one is my favourite. I might post some others later, and I’ll definitely put them up on Facebook in the not-too-distant future, but here’s this one for now. Hopefully my reiteration of how I cannot sleep will have had enough reverse-psychology effect to let me get a decent night’s rest now. Bis später. 

And then Koala Skype Fun II, which added Colombia and Hungary to the conversation, though sadly all others bar the Göttingen Aussies had left by this stage. Dudes. I goshdarn just love all these people so much. 

Koala Skype Fun I, 11th November 2011. Group video calling is the shiz, you guys - I just bought a year’s worth of Premium and I’m pretty happy about it! Featured here - people in Germany, Greece, Czech Republic and the UK (and Sweden, although Becks had *just* left when I took this) just casually chatting together like it’s no big deal.

Lightfall, October 2011.

The picture is from when we hiked to Bismarckturm back on the first of October, but this post is from today! One month later.

Things I have done today:

• Gone to a doctor because I have now had the flu for over a month, and haven’t had my B12 shot for five months (instead of three).
• Gone to the Apotheke to get all the drugs the doctor prescribed me and marvelled at the awesome spiral-slide thing they have to send medication from upstairs to downstairs.
• Peer-pressured Becks into buying at least one of her plane tickets for our upcoming Budapest trip.
• Thought about going to Budapest a lot.
• Skyped Kosmas, who is now also sick with flu (it wasn’t me I swear it!!) and got up-to-date-ish on the last few days.
• Browsed (again) all the Hallowe’en photos from the party at the UNSW apartment and missed everyone back home for a little while.
• Stressed that Mum maybe didn’t make it to Frankfurt airport on her own, until I got a text from her and now I guess she’s in Hong Kong or in the air or something.
• Ridden back to uni through Göttingen’s autumn-splashed streets for unexpectedly Koala-Only Mensa Fun, which was unintentional but resulted in two hours of chilling in the sun, a number of ridiculous jokes, and general contentedness.
• Two hours of Sprechen class with Andrew, followed by two hours of Grammatik with Lisa and Clare, followed by walking home with Lisa which always involves excellent conversation.
• Come home to find Josh has cooked me dinner (chicken parmagiana!) because he is awesome, so I chill at his place for a couple of hours with Simon and Maika and watch a German TV-movie about Nanking in 1937 until it makes me too sad and I go back next door to my house.

And that is an extremely normal day for me. I would go so far to say largely uneventful. But when I stopped to think about it, I mean, holy cow. How did I fill hours before I lived here?

Anyway I’m home for a while now. Mum’s gone home, and I’ll settle back into my routine, which is surprising because how do I still even have a routine? I’ve spent a lot of time over the last month tossing the prospect of going back to Australia around in my head, and it makes me kind of queasy and shaken because I’m so torn about it all. But now I’m going to put it away again somewhere in my brain and leave it there to deal with some other time. I will say this though. I know my focus is almost exclusively on Europe right now, and has been for some time, and well may be for some time to come, but I don’t ever - EVER - want that to make any of the wonderful and incredible people back home think that I don’t think about them all the time, and love them very much. It’s extremely important to me that they - you - know that. I never stop being grateful that you’re part of my life, guys. Ever.

Good Morning Deutschland - Göttingen

Everybody’s favourite ERASMUS-based TV show is back! This time the GMD crew welcome you to the town that started it all - Göttingen, our hometown. Be prepared to be educated (cough) and entertained (woooo!), and settle yourself down for our most in-depth episode yet.