Monday 29 August 2011

In Berlin

I know, I know, I promised to get to work and write my stories and choose some pictures. But I have been a very busy young fella. Made some new friends in my last week in Heidelberg so had to engage with the rigorous cycle of party-sleep an insufficient amount-drag myself to class-afternoon snooze-rehydrate-party for a while, which left no time for blogging. But Spanish-Bulgarian-American-English tag team has now sadly disbanded.

I've just written a message to my parents, so I've extracted the descriptivy bits for y'all reading pleasure. I've been reading Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers, which is an epistolary novel, so consider this rich intertextuality, naat.

"I'm staying in charlottenburg tonight [...]. i'm couchsurfing (not sure i've told you about [couchsurfing], but you can guess the set-up) with a guy from bangladesh. he has a career in IT security and has a very nice flat, in one of the poshest areas of the city, 500m away from schloss charlottenburg, a prussian palace, the largest in berlin. he works full time and has given me a set of keys so it's kind of like having a 4 star hotel and for free. but also he's a very interesting and friendly guy with lots to say about berlin and life in germany, so far better than staying in a hotel! going to start house hunting tomorrow and possibly head to the Humboldt to see if there's anyone from the philosophy institute i can talk to. it's actually on pretty much the same road as I'm on now, but about 7 or 8km East - so should make for a pretty impressive bike ride, all the way through Tiergarten, under the Brandenburg Gate, then along unter den linden! I'm feeling very excited to be here - it's not much of an exaggeration to say I've been looking forwards to this for 3 years (set my sights on the humboldt certainly before I sent off my UCAS form in October 2008). had a great last night in heidelberg, have made many german speaking friends from all round the world [...] did a lot of swimming in heidelberg and did some cycling in hills (which are really really steep at times). a highlight was cycling the Philosophenweg (the Philosophers' Path, a beautiful track through the woods which was a favourite haunt of students during the era of Heidelberg Romanticism) in the middle of the night! was a bit cold in my cycling shorts to begin with, but the way up to it is about 15-20% gradient for the first kilometer so wasn't cold for long. it was really pitch black up on the hill away from the city in the thick forest so it was quite a thrill. unfortunately this meant I cycled straight past a monument to one of my favorite poems ("Heidelberg" by Hölderlin, which is more or less an ode to the statue of Minerva on the Old Bridge)I believe it is a column in a clearing next to path with a view over the old town and the castle, and the first stanza of the poem is inscribed on it, but as I say, I never saw it."

Maybe this week I'll do more blog, but if not I'll get on task next week when I get to London. Lucia has got a Proper Job in Camden, so maybe I can sit in a cafe while she's at work and play at being a writer.

ok bubye

1 comment:

  1. Yay, see you ar 6pm sharp at the lock, you can tell me what you've 'Written', and I can tell you about 'Puzzles' xxxx

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