Du Hast

Hello all!
While I'm back from Berlin now, the hecktikness (good word) hasn't stopped. A couple hours after I landed back home safe and sound I met with a friend to work on our final. I also have finals the next couple of days, so i'm studying like mad, and taking a short break now to write and let you all know I'm back, and now with a t.v.! A flatmate of mine moved out, and sold me her t.v. for a good price (it has a remote too!). So, I'm looking forward to improving my dutch through the awesome powers of vegging (once this week is over). Because I don't have time right now to tell you all about my trip and post pictures, I will leave you with some thoughts, my list, that I've been adding to, called...

Of these things I am certain...

---To the British people, theirs is the proper tea, proper biscuits, and proper money. Everything else is rubbish.
---The Dutch keep an afspraak (schedule). You should always be on time. Dinners, drinks, and everything else is to be pre-arranged, even with friends.
---Likewise, to the Dutch everything has a place and proper order. This is not perfectionism, it is merely attention to detail. (i.e. the Dutch are constantly cleaning the streets and sidewalks.)
---To the French, if it's not from France, it's not half as good as what they have back home. And you're silly to think otherwise. (And the rest of the world knows this about them too).
---If you're looking for a party and pot, any one of the Spanish people have one going on in their flat, tonight! just follow the noise. And, are smokin some as we speak.
---People from Hungary are the most caring, and understanding people I've met. And seem to think the same way as I do.
---The streets of Berlin are the most graffiti-ed, most trashed, most unpaved and icy...and their underground is the easiest, prettiest, and quickest (out of London, Milan, and Berlin).
---Turkish food is delicious.
---The best Asian food I've ever had can be found on Warschauer Staße in Berlin, and is made when you order.
---4 out of 5 people will help you if you ask for it. Of those who won't, most don't know where/what you're looking for, the others are tourists themselves. Communication is not a problem. Some will point, others will act it out to help someone lost, with a map, standing in one spot staring at the same sign for more than 5 mins.
---Cycling doesn't get easier over time, it just makes you appreciate heated cars more.
---Not having a t.v., does not make you want to go outside and take a walk in the fresh air with flowers. It simply allows you to fill your time with less entertaining options.
---Using a toilet is not a right, it's a privilege. Using a toilet for free is a luxury.
---About the above: when you need a toilet so incredibly desperately, go to a pub. People come in and out constantly, they don't charge, and no one will remember if you were there before or not.
---Everyone's accents get thicker after a few drinks, if you had trouble understanding them before the liquor, prepare for many many mis-communications and an overall good time!
---Trying drinks from every country is a fun and good idea, trying them all in one night is not.
---In every country you can find either something of Dutch origin, or someone who speaks Dutch. You cannot escape it.
---European milky ways suck. They have no caramel in them.
---Europe is missing out not having sourdough bread.
---Stroopwafels are the best thing in the world. I cannot stress this point enough.
---More museums in the U.S. should be free on certain dates.
---No European knows what a hat pin is.
---The rest of the world is much more environmentally and energy conservative than the U.S.
---Creatively taken & free souvenirs are the best. Coasters from different countries, pieces of the Berlin Wall (I didn't damage it!), weird shaped drink bottles from different countries, random post cards in tourist places & maps.
---The second best are from second hand and/or antique stores.
---Everything is much better in person.
---When approached in a different language, always say, 'Sorry, I only know ____.' (fill in your native language.) Not, "Sorry, I don't know _____.' (fill in the foreign language) and make them guess what you do speak.
---No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get 'London Bridges falling down' out of my head in London, 'Danke Schön, Darling Danke Schön' when in Germany, and 'That's Amore' in Italy. I blame my mother.
---You can never have too much time spent in one place.
---I am so appreciative to be here, travel where I have, and to have the opportunities I've been given, this is not lost on me. I still can't believe I am where I am. I am living my dream. This is exactly where I want to be.
Thanks to everyone who's helped me get here.

Wens me geluk!
p.s. title song by Rammstein