Browsing Tag

thoughts

opinion thoughts August 25, 2019

Should You Visit a Loved One Who is Dying?

This is probably not the greatest title. I left it to the very end and couldn’t come up with anything better but I hope it does the job. The initial dilemma The news of the illness were surprising. They broke the last hope there was that maybe this was just a regular infection gone too far. I had a sudden wake- up moment somewhere between the regular calls and the waiting for…

Berlin Observations thoughts November 18, 2017

Why We Need Libraries to Fight Social Inequality

In a district in Berlin among its Turkish residents stood once the Jerusalem Library, not far from the city’s Jewish Hospital. With a gloomy face, 10 year-old me walked up to the building in search of a book to read, as ordered by my mother. There was a new rule in our house at the time, that at least two hours of my day as a third grader with little to no…

Life Stories Lifestyle thoughts Travel August 7, 2017

A Berliner in Mexico

Two hours before my high school graduation ceremony on Saudi Arabian soil, I met Catherine. I have never been good at talking to random strangers but when constantly traveling from one place to another you eventually realise that, in the big picture, making a fool of yourself is really no big deal. So during my very last hours in the air-conditioned hallway of the science department, the photographs of the past students…

expat blog Life Stories Observations opinion sarcasm Society thoughts June 4, 2017

Dear Coward From Platform 5,

You will probably never read this because you have no idea who I am. You probably don’t even remember what you did but why not just talk about it anyway? I still wonder what you were thinking, sticking your hand up my skirt. You did it in passing. Casually, like it’s something one would just do every now and then. Not brushing slightly against it, not accidentally touching it because you were…

Berlin commentary Germany Life Stories Observations opinion thoughts May 12, 2017

About Poetry

It was a small gathering and to be brutally honest, it was only a matter of coincidence and good luck that I remembered the little note in my calendar. In school they used to tell us that if it didn’t rhyme, it wasn’t poetry so when she told me that in her writing, there was no such thing as a metrical pattern, I was yet again convinced that my whole school life…

German College Life sarcasm student life thoughts December 2, 2016

What Actually Happens When I Try to “Study”

A tribute to what my mind and I are going through when I am at home, trying to get things done and study. 1. Alright, international relations theory it is today. Let’s start reading this 30 page text. (reads one paragraph) 2. Wait a minute…I am still supposed to download all the readings from BlackBoard before they are taken down for good. (downloads all the readings for classes, curses the German copyright system)…

cross cultural stuff memories Observations opinion tourism Travel May 17, 2016

Torn Between Home and Elsewhere

When I walked the narrow, nostalgic streets of Lisbon, listening to the sounds of Portuguese TV programmes escaping through open windows and watching the yellow streetcars pass by, I thought to myself: “This would be a great place for a honeymoon”. When I visited Madrid two summers ago, I started thinking about what a nice idea it would be to come back for an ERASMUS semester. How come I rarely experience such…

Berlin German College Life Germany Life Stories memories Observations thoughts Uncategorized January 6, 2016

End of Term Thoughts

It’s been three hours since I have been sitting inside the Philological library of my university (we lovingly call it “the brain” because of its shape) and I can’t believe that I have another two hours until my French seminar, which I actually can’t afford not to attend and therefore don’t have time to go back home in between. Looking at the bright side of things, my desperation may have been bigger…

Berlin cross cultural stuff expat blog Germany thoughts December 25, 2015

Christmas in Germany

Over the last two days I found out that Russian Orthodox Christians actually don’t care very much about Christmas. I listened to the Russian radio online and noticed that none of the wishes that people sent to each other and had the radio hosts read out loud on air were about Christmas or Christmas Eve, instead everyone was congratulating the rest on the upcoming new year. Some people may wonder, upon reading…

thoughts Uncategorized December 23, 2015

The Smell of Dusty Books

The pile of cardboard boxes has been standing around in my corridor for nearly six months. I postponed the business of sorting the things inside them for as long as I could, giving priority to college and- housework. I just didn’t like moving houses including the acts of packing and unpacking things, especially if they weren’t mine. But once I opened the first box a few days ago and ran my hands through…

Older Posts →

	travelleronamission on Guest Post:24hrs in Riyadh- Fe…
	Katja Roschal on Guest Post:24hrs in Riyadh- Fe…
	travelleronamission on Guest Post:24hrs in Riyadh- Fe…
	Lobsters are Just Fa… on The One Time I was Adopted by…
	The One Time I was A… on Lobsters are Just Fancy Shrimp…