Finnland?

Okay, so here's an interesting story for ya: One day not too long ago we were all sitting in Deutsch class, just chilling, because the teacher is nice like that. :) The only real downside that I can come up with for that period is that I sit right in front of the door. And no, this is not figurative. I literally am squashed between my table and the only door leading in and out of the room. Yeah, great seating arrangement, lol.

Anyway, back to the story... So occassionally the teacher has the students play a game where one will try to go around the room and say the name of all the others. I'm new, which would usually make me the most forgettable, save for the fact that I am also a foreign exchange student, and therefore somewhat exotic, lol. (I'm talking about personality, not looks here, people :P) On this particular day, a boy sitting across the room from me attempted this task of naming everyone. Naturally, he had to start with me. At first I didn't get this, but then as the girl sitting next to me began to pat my shoulder and look at me with a sympathetic and somewhat amused expression on her face, I got it: this dude had forgotten my name.

I sat up straiter in my seat and crossed my arms, attempting (and failing) to smile at this guy. I just find it so amusing how the discomfort that sometimes comes with being the new kid (and a foreigner!) had been completely switched around. The tables had turned, so to speak, and I have to say I enjoyed seeing the apologetic look on his face. Finally someone else remembered my name and whispered it to him, and you would think that that would be the end of the matter. But no.

(I am taking liberties as a writer to edit the next thing that I said so that I use correct German grammar. This is for my pride, thank you very much.) "Aus?" I posed the question. He definitely struggled with that a bit; no one on his side of the room had gotten to know me enough to know that. "Aus... Finnland?!" Yeap, that pretty much sent me, and the rest of the class, into a wave of uncontrollable laughter. Random guy in Deutsch class, you just made my week :D

And now for something completely different! I would like to personally file a complaint against Apple's spedometer feature for iPods. I've taken to walking places a lot, so I decided to use my iPod to track how much. It claimed that I walked just over 1,000 steps, and that I only burned about a hundred calories!! Well, it probably didn't take into account the heavy backpack I was lugging. Hmmm, and here we come again to the swallow-and-coconut conundrum...

There is one thing I need to say to all my fellow Americans. My people, our pretzels are no match for those made in Germany, and neither is our chocolate. It's time that we move on and work toward a better future, one in which we all suck it up and beg our friends in Germany to send us these wonderful foods.

I think I'll add one last thing before I sign off for now. My school has three stories, and the building is laid out so that most of the classrooms have an entire wall of just windows. This can be pleasant, what with the natural light, but NOT when someone from across the room decides to open the window to let in the freezing cold air directly behind YOU. For future reference, the best thing to do in this situation is suck it up and bring a jacket, lol. As a side-note, I've seen these notices on the windows, and I'm pretty sure that they're warning you not to fall out of the window... Yeah... We live in interesting times. :)

Thanks to y'all for reading!! TGWTC, aus Finnland ;) jk, I'm American, we all know that.