breakthesky.neti'll break the sky, for you and i are going nowhere.

I just got home from my European vacation and I am so completely scattered it’s starting to become quite funny. It’s not so much the jet lag, because I’ve always been fairly good at getting over that. It’s the fact that I leave for China – for a year of study! – in five days that’s starting to freak me out. I would be freaking out before I left no matter how long I had to prepare for China since it’s an exciting yet daunting prospect, but… five days? If I pull this off, I’ll be Wonder Woman. (Or Travel Wonder Woman. Or Study Abroad Wonder Woman. Or whatever.)

Anyway. The above paragraph alone shows just how ramble-y my thoughts are, so I’ll condense the rest of this entry into bullets. I know there have been a lot of bulleted entries lately (and, unfortunately, I have plans for another bulleted entry tomorrow, but as it’s going to be a book review I think that’s acceptable) but I’ll try and pull things together around here soon.

• Hours I have been in the US since arriving from Europe: 5
• Days until I leave for China: 5 (repeating for good measure)
• Suitcases that I need to unpack… and then repack: 2
• Hours behind my internal clock is from US Central Time: 7
• Degrees it is in my house: 85F (the air conditioner broke)
• Fans there are in my house: 1 miniature one (currently in use to keep the water temperature cool for my brother’s salt water fish tank)
• Pairs of shoes I bought in Europe: 4 (I LOVE shoes)
• Weight that I gained (and need to lose) from my time in Europe: …a lot
• Unread entries in my feed reader: 271
• Days until my birthday: 4 (!!!)

• The rules for the Autobahn in Germany would never fly in the US. Having an interstate highway with no speed limit? Oh please. That is a recipe for disaster in the States. In Germany (or perhaps all of Europe), it works surprisingly well.
• As Emma commented in my previous European cultural observations post, you have to specify for flat/still water in Germany or else you get carbonated, salty mineral water. I find this very strange, as “water” to me is still water and “mineral water” is the “gassy” stuff!
• The license plates all state which country the car is from, much like how license plates in the US say which state the car is from. It helps pass the time on long car trips to see which countries cars are from (I’ve always been entertained by license plate games). If the country is in the EU, the license plate will have an EU flag. Letters that tripped me up were E (for Spain, my guess was Estonia) and P (Portugal, PL is Poland).
• Maybe this is just a German thing, but everything here is loaded with salt. But I could also be the only one that notices it, as I’m not really a fan of overly salty foods.
• The cost of living is very expensive in Germany (and, I assume, for most of Europe; I remember France being very expensive when I was there three years ago and everyone knows how expensive the UK is). In Germany, there is a 19% tax imposed on all goods (I think, feel free to correct me if I am wrong). When I go shopping, the sale prices here are the pre-sale prices in the US!
• In Eastern Germany, they kept the walk / don’t walk pedestrian signs from the Soviet era. I was very amused by the chubby figures when I was in Dresden.

• Beer is cheaper than just about any other beverage. I love this, but the weight I’m gaining begs to differ.
• Everyone I have encountered in Europe, whether it be friends or friends of friends or random strangers, have been lovely, with the exception of those I encountered in Prague. They say that if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all, so I will say absolutely nothing about the Czechs I encountered in the Czech Republic.
• I’ve gotten a little more used to paying for bathrooms now, but I still can’t stand those who unabashedly beg for money by the bathroom even if they aren’t the ones who clean it! (This is directed at the old Russian man who hurled Russian insults at me as I scurried away from the bathroom, desperately trying to get away from him.)
• Salzburg might possibly the prettiest city in Europe I have ever seen.
• There is an abundance of fresh bread here, all day everyday. I can’t wrap my head around this. Back in the States, there are bakeries that will try to pass off yesterday’s bread as today’s fresh bread, which is unheard of here!
• Even though I haven’t visited Italy this trip, I have seen more Italian restaurants than any other kind. This greatly pleases me, as Italian food is my favorite kind of food. (My family jokes that I should have been born an Italian, so great is my love for Italian food!)