eine Woche im Herbst (a week in autumn)

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, Autumn has come to Berlin. Changing leaves, Kürbiscremesuppen (pumpkin soup), scarves, chilly nights, and shorter days are now my reality, and to be quite honest with you, I like it! For those of you who lost count (or who, probably more accurately, never started counting), week 7 of my program begins tomorrow. Week six included midterms, tests, and papers, which are also becoming part of my reality, and I like that a whole lot less. Lately, my afternoons have looked something like this...

I am in the midst for preparing for the Stanford Overseas Workshop, which is called something like "Islam and the West 711-2011: 1300 Years of Cultural (Mis)Understanding." I'm working with a classmate of mine on a paper about, well, the relationship between anti-Semitism (both historical and contemporary) and Islamophobia in Germany. The workshop is in two weeks (gulp).

Here are some highlights of the week:

• There is an artist who sits in my ballet class on Monday nights. Usually, he does his sketches and drawings then takes them back to his studio to make copies. This past Monday, however, he drew each of us individually and let us keep the sketches. In mine, I am at the barre in attitude derrière, and I love it. Now, it is waiting to be displayed in my art gallery, which is really the wall above my dresser where I keep postcards and pictures and drawings.

• I have decided that I will try to read one chapter a week of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in German. I, therefore, used this as a wonderful excuse to head to my favorite bookstore, which also has a killer English book section, and spend some Euros. I left with a new daily planner for 2012 (made by a Berlin paper shop), Harry Potter, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. I have already finished the latter and highly recommend it.

• It is a very special thing when you have been friends with someone for 18 years. It is especially special when you yourself are only 20 years old. Sydney was in Berlin this week during her Fall Break, and it was quite lovely to have tea in an awesome Tajik teahouse with her and her friends from school and share a little bit about "my" Berlin.

• Last night, I went with a few of my friends to a neighborhood called Neukölln and did some art gallery-hopping. There is one street that has about ten galleries on it, and last night they were all open quite late and had free showings with the artists. It was really interesting to talk to the artists and see their work up close and personal. We then found an awesome bar with a totally chill vibe, cheap drinks and a rocking DJ. All in all, it was a good night.

This week, I am visiting the Sehitlik Mosque with my Jewish and Muslim Berlin class, meeting up with local high school students in my German conversation class, seeing "Desdemona" with text by Toni Morrison, and last but not least, my Dad is coming to visit on Friday!

Hoping that you're all staying warm,

Doria

p.s - I am definitely taking suggestions of what you would like to read about in this blog. If you have anything you'd like to know about, or questions you'd like answered, please feel free to comment on this post or e-mail me :)