i have been meaning to post again all week, but somehow time just flew by in the last seven days and I haven't had a chance. i feel like everything is moving so fast here! i've already been here for two months!! something about that astounds me. well last weekend i came down with a cold and around wednesday it seemed to have mostly cleared up, but on friday it turned into a sinus infection which was incredibly unpleasant to say the least. i am almost never sick, and so every time that i come down with something it tends to be a tragedy. this was no exception ... it led to two minor nervy bs on friday and saturday, but i came out on the other side and i feel almost 100% again. i think it's a combination of things, one being an unconscious homesickness at this time of year when everyone in the united states is having this shared experience that i'm missing out on here. everyone gets to go home and either hate or love it for a few days, but remember why they love being in college and see their old friends and i felt really detached from it all and i guess that it depressed me more than i thought it would. add to that the fact that it is already freezing here, and has been freezing for a while but has really started to catch up with me, and the general day to day frustrations of trying to live in a foreign country, with a nasty cold that was keeping me in bed - it all was a pretty bad combination. my roommate had a dinner party on saturday, however, and that lifted my spirits, and then she dragged me down to the bar downstairs from our apartment where we got free drinks all night and played in the snow at 5 in the morning when we left. i couldn't believe the giant snowflakes that were thickly descending on the street and coating the cars and parks, but in the morning it had vanished which is kind of sad. i think this city would be beautiful with a sort of "miracle on 34th street"-esque blizzard.


i have a lot of work and reading to do this week, and then thursday i'm going to london! i'm getting more and more excited about london every day! i'm going to take out a certain amount of money and not spend any more than that. i can splurge a little because i realized that i can't afford to go to italy in december, so i'll be saving a lot. i want to buy myself a nice sweater or hat in london, and maybe a present for kathi. i decided to knit kathi and kiki a pair of mittens each for christmas, and to go small on the rest of my christmas presents. it's hard to believe that when i get back from london it will be december. december also signifies the time when i really have to start working on my final papers and thinking about internships. i made a list of goals to achieve in december - a few museums to visit, another trip to the ballet, a trip to the opera, as well as to finish one of my papers. i'm really excited to be in germany at christmastime because they really do the holiday with flair and style and its everywhere in the city, which surprised me. what i lacked in halloween and thanksgiving will definitely be made up at christmas. there is so much to look forward to in the next few months - london this weekend, then everything that makes the month of december christmas month, including advent and lots of dinners and brunches and parties, then sylvester, aka the german word for new years, and then ben comes, and then its my birthday, and then in february my mom is coming and i'm going to prague!! it almost makes me not miss philadelphia ...