Glasgow, sleepovers, & chaos at the airports

It feels like the whole world is freaking out a bit. The airports of the world, at least. The parents and brother left SD yesterday to fly to Edinburgh, but they're not due to land here for another two and a half hours. They had a layover in Arizona, in Philly, and if all went well, in Manchester right now.

I'm in my room. Pretending there aren't a bunch of things I ought to get done before they show up. (post office, clean room, do dishes, Christmas cards, caffeinate myself...)

I spent the night at Berlin's flat last night after spending the day in Glasgow with her and London. It was somuchfun. :) Even though (especially because?) we totally failed at the touristy bits. We wandered around the city centre for a while and ended up going into a mall (which, clearly, are exactly the same the world over. It reminded me a bit of North County Fair, to be honest, though it wasn't nearly so big.) We listened to some carolers then stopped at a cafe for some sandwiches that were not tasty at all. We wandered around a bit--couldn't find the exit, and couldn't go out the way we came in--then I steered us over to a particular shop I've had in mind for a few weeks to buy the Brother a Christmas present.

We didn't really have a plan in mind. London got directions to the cathedral, but he didn't understand them and was too embarrassed to go back and ask again (fair enough). We got everything clarified, but on the way we ran smack into the Glaswegian Christmas market, so we stopped for mulled wine and a ride on the giant swing... ride-thing. I spilled mulled wine down my sleeve. London spent the entirety of the ride shouting, "This is so much better with mulled wine!"

(London and Berlin outside the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art after we left the Christmas market--I'd forgotten to charge my camera, so this is one of the only pictures I've got of the day.)

We took a ride on the subway to a neighborhood that Berlin's flatmate had recommended to her, and the recommended bits turned out to be a dinky little street with pubs and American-style diners. So odd. It was pretty, though.)

I had haggis for dinner. Venison haggis and the tastiest mashed potatoes ever, to be exact. Not gonna lie--I was a little freaked out to be eating (and, I'll admit, enjoying) a deer, but I dealt with it. There was a lot of garlic. And it was tasty.

But venison haggis. Jesus christ.

We hung out at the restaurant's bar for a couple hours after dinner. Odd conversation topics, but we're kind of odd in general, so it fits. By the time we went, "Oh, it's getting kind of late. Maybe we should head back to the train station?" the subway had closed. We walked right by the entrance, then almost passed it again before we realized what had happened. Oops.

So we took a cab to the station, caught our train, and headed back to Edinburgh. We got off a stop earlier than I'd gotten on and went to Berlin's flat for a movie night. We curled up on her couch beneath one of the greatest blankets in the world with ginger cookies and pink-colored wine to watch The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo--I distinctly remember saying, "We could be watching Star Trek!" at one of the more disturbing parts. That movie is one big shudder.

I still almost fell asleep a few times. The only reason I didn't was because London and Berlin kept leaning over to see if I'd passed out yet. Yet! Pffft. So little faith.

But by the end of the movie, London and I were exhausted. Berlin, for some reason, was wide awake, but she was nice enough to let us crash at her flat for the night. Her flatmate was out and wouldn't be coming back for another day or so, so I got his bed and London got the big comfy couch.

I'm a little fuzzy on when I got up to say goodbye to London in the morning (he took a train home for the holidays this afternoon), but he definitely walked into room, took one look at me (asleep), and didn't recognize me. He went to get Berlin, completely convinced that her flatmate's girlfriend had come over during the night, sometime between five and nine-thirty in the morning, and kicked me out.

She didn't believe him, of course. I woke to them standing next to the head of the bed, whispering, "Look! That's not her!" and "Yes, it is! Of course it is! Look at her!"

I turned over and made a face at them. London laughed. "Oh, hello, there. It is you."

Berlin Part IV

Took this as we wandered around between train stops. The dome is a museum. There are a million different rivers and lakes and general bodies of water in Berlin. Coming from SD, I still find water fascinating. I kind of wish we'd gone on some kind of river tour. Not that we would have been able to find one, but still. :)

Brandenburgh Gate (Berlin Part III)

Brandenburgh Gate at night, November 13, 2010

(Yes, we did find it. After I went to the top of the Reichstag and went, "Oh, there it is!" For those of you who don't know what the Brandenburg Gate is, does Checkpoint Charlie ring a bell?)

Berlin Part II

"Just so you know, we are never walking anywhere ever again."

The frustration behind the freakin’ S-Bahn in Berlin was a bit incredible. My friend (codename: Star Command, as per her request) generally knew where we were… we just couldn’t figure out how to get to anywhere we wanted to be.

The first night was, hands down, the worst. She flew in that morning, I didn’t get in until about dinnertime, and then we went to Alexanderplatz to wander around and find something to eat. We hung out, we ate, we told stories about our time abroad so far, and then we got on a train to go back.

The train passed our stop without stopping. We didn’t notice for a while. Finally, we looked out the window and realized there weren’t any buildings around, only some kind of a freeway. And it felt a bit like the middle of nowhere (later, after getting back to Edinburgh, I found out it wasn’t quite the middle of nowhere, but it was the faaaaaarrrrr end of Berlin.)

So we jumped off at Wannsee, spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to get to Charlottenburg (our stop for the hostel) and double-checking so we didn’t end up messing up again. The closest we could get (without waiting for two hours, since it was well after midnight by this point) was two stops too far to the stop for the Zoo (which, coincidentally, is the same stop we’re at in the above video. =P). So we were like, “Yeah, we can just walk from there. It’ll be faster than waiting until two in the morning for the perfect train.”

So we hung out for an hour and basically spent the whole time leaping up from our seats on a bench whenever we heard a train approaching, juuuust in case it was the one we wanted to take. Then we got on the (correct) train, got off at the (correct) stop, and walked.

For an hour and twenty minutes.

I won’t say it wasn’t fun, and that there wasn’t plenty of hysterical laughter and jokes about blog entries (“And then we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and then we went the wrong direction and walked some more!”), but it was exhausting and by the end we were both definitely wishing we had waited for the proper train.

Ode to Insanity

(Inter)National Novel Writing Month started yesterday. (Nanowrimo for short.) During the month of November, from midnight on the first to 11:59:59 on the thirtieth, thousands and thousands of people all across the world live off coffee and craziness in order to jam out a 50,000 word novella. This'll be the first year in four that I won't be participating, and yes, it makes me sad. Last year I wrote a story about a girl who dropped out of university and moved up to Morrow Bay. She met a pair of siblings that turned out to be immortal twins who'd originally been born in the ancient Roman Republic. The brother was a surfer and the sister was just... cool.

I want to participate this year, but I just won't have time. Sunshinebucket is visiting until tomorrow evening, and then on Friday morning I'm flying out to spend the weekend in Paris with an old friend. The weekend after that I'm meeting a different friend in Berlin, and in the midst of all that I still have to figure out how to keep up with classes.

(Classes are exhausting. I'm signing up for reading and creative writing classes next semester, and bully for anyone who can enjoy classes that aren't a part of their major. I miss my school-sanctioned writing time.)