In other news K from work lent me a Sea Wolf album (worst band name ever) but it’s actually extremely good and I’ve had that and Pulp on repeat all weekend.

Euro final tonight. Hopp Deutschland!

It chucked it down all afternoon and I walked back in the rain. I love the rain. Today it reminded me of being in Zürich, when T and I were caught in a thunderstorm in the middle of the city centre. It was raining harder than I’ve ever seen it before. Within seconds we were soaked to the skin. At first we huddled under a canopy on a bridge and watched the rain. After 10 minutes it showed no signs of relenting, so we decided to screw it and go on. Then he turned to me and said something I’ll never forget.

He said,

It just goes to show who’s an optimist and who’s not. It’s only a bit of rain and it might not stop for hours. Why bother wasting time waiting?

Stuff to do:

• read all books for uni reading lists
• buy laptop
• finish sorting all photos from travels
• buy new lens
• organise trip to Thailand next Easter
• have a picnic
• have a BBQ

I’ll add more when I remember.

I got up at 7h30 and read one of my German textbooks for a while. At 10h I left the house in my yellow dress from Italy and got the bus to Amy’s house. She cooked us a gorgeous chicken salad for lunch and we had a bottle of rosé. It was great to see her again.

Later on we watched Amélie because we both love that film so so much. It might be one of my favourite films ever.

Then we had afternoon tea and biscuits and played Scrabble. She won. I couldn’t remember whether ‘tower’ was a word or not, because I was thinking ‘tower’ as in someone who tows.

Later on we ate pizza and salad and then strawberries and apricots with cream and I felt so full. We had some more tea. Tea is growing on me. I still prefer coffee, and green tea. Well, any Chinese tea (except the weird new stuff my parents got which has ginger in it). But English tea is growing on me. Slowly.

Then I came home, and tomorrow I’m going into college.

Zwei sind Literatur (ich sollte auch Das Brot wiederlesen…) und zwei sind Praktikum. Kultur, Geschichte, Lebenstil. Ganz Deutschlands. Ganz, was ich mag. Schön.

Vielleicht einandere Grund, warum ich ganz auf Deutsch schreibe, ist, dass es privät wird. Ich weiß nicht. Es ist mir egal. Egal.

Tatsächlich beim Deutsch schreiben, grüssen mir jetzt hunderte und tausende Erinnerungen von Stunden und Deutsch leren fürs Abi. Ich weiß seit vor vielleicht vier oder fünf Jahren, dass Sprachen die Enzigen fü’mich sind. Zwar. Ich glaub’s noch ohne Zweifel. Mit dem Abi war ich ebenso sicherer. Ja sicher mag ich Französisch auch aber nicht sowie als Deutsch. Vielleicht ist es, weil ich seit zwei Tagen zu nichts sondern Stilbruch höre, dass ich es total liebe. Vielleicht ist es, dass neulich hab ich meine Fotos aus Köln organisiert. S’ist schöne Sprache und ehrlich kann ich es nicht verstehen, wenn jemand sagt anderso.

Ich weiß ohne Zweifel, dass in der Kukunft ich mich nach Deutschland ziehen werde. Als ich in Berlin letzte Monat war, kriegte ich dieses Gefühl, dass ich zu hier gehörte. Zwar hoffe ich.

Also genug? Das glaub ich. Ich will mehr sagen aber vielleicht ist es besser, jene Sache in meinem Kopf zu halten. Für’s Moment. Ich glaub, dass was passieren wird, wird passieren. Nun warte ich auf sehen, genau was das ist.

Ich möchte nun mehr Böll lesen. Ich werde mit Das Brot anfangen. Ein Lieblingsbuch von mir.

I can’t stop listening to them.

I feel especially good today because I did what I’d meant to do for ages (but being abroad got in the way…) and purchased a Flickr Pro account for Belen aka not polish, so that made me happy.

At 9h30 I left the house and met Lucy and Ash and we went into town together, as we were getting our hair cut at 11h. In the end Lucy didn’t get her hair cut because her hairdresser was ill or something. Not to worry. First we went to Accessorize because I needed a small purse to fit in the tiny bag I bought in Paris, I got a pretty purple one for a fiver. Then we went to a cafe to kill some time because there’s nothing else to do in town. At 10h45 I went to the hairdressers and I came out at 12h15 with (I think) a beautiful haircut. Ha that sounds weird but I really don’t care! I proper love it:

Then I met back up with Lucy and Ash, who were by this point having lunch with Ben and Emily from school, and it was ace to see them cos I haven’t seen them in like 3 years or so. Emily and I semi-arranged our trip to Thailand next year, as Lucy and Ash are moving there, we’re going at Easter for 2 weeks. I’ll need lots of jabs.

Then we spent ages reminiscing about Orchestra and Band and other music-related things at school. And at 13h30 I came home because the others had to go to work, or in Lucys case, drive up to Scotland.

Recently I’ve my documenting my day-by-day activities. Hmm. Guess I’m still in the habit after keeping a good journal on my travels, I’m used to recording stuff I do and I’m conscious of how I spend time each day.

Well, today. I got up at 7h30 again and I baked a chocolate cake and flapjack with dear Mother. Then I did lots of ironing and I put Sigur Rós on because I am loving Takk at the moment. So beautiful. At 9h30 I got a call from work saying, did I still want my old job back for the summer? To which I replied yes please! So I will start either this Friday or a week on Thursday. I’m really looking forward to going back, in a strange sort of way. I like the nice income.

It’s funny how I’ve only been back home for 4 days so far, I’m really powering through all my sorting stuff out. Only really 2 things left to do: apply for uni accommodation, and organise photos from travels. Most other stuff is sorted, need to send off a form for student loan but that’s waiting on someone else.

Productive.

Anyway later on I read for a while because it’s nice sitting down with a good book and then I got out my German grammar workbook for some random reason, because I felt like perfecting my language skills I think. Why am I studying? I think I miss it too much. I really can’t wait to get to uni. Anyway I powered through most sections, a lot is already filled in from last year during A-Levels, but oh well. Oh and I found the CD I bought in Vienna from a really cool band I saw, they’re from Dresden, Germany, sing in German and English, and they’re called Stilbruch (www.stilbruch-band.de). I love them.

Now I’m revising my German irregular verbs:

fechten, ficht, focht, hat gefochten - to fence
gedeihen, gedeiht, gedieh, ist gediehen - to thrive/prosper
greifen, greift, griff, hat gegriffen - to grasp/seize

My mum returned just as I set off, about 10h30, and as I walked up the road I lost one of my earrings. It fell out. At the end of the road I realised this and I walked back home looking for it. I changed my earrings and my mum and I walked back up the road looking for it again. We didn’t find it, but it’s okay. These things happen and it’s not the end of the world.

At 11h I met Lucy and we got the bus into town (£1.50, what a ripoff). In town we did some shopping in the few decent shops the town has (there’s like 3) and we had lunch at the ace cafe. We decided to make appointments to get our hair cut, so we went off to the hairdressers and booked us in for Thursday morning at 11h. Yay. I almost bought a dress today but it was £30 and I need to not spend. I didn’t actually buy a single thing today, except a fairtrade chocolate bar (and lunch, and bus tickets) from Oxfam because we spent ages in there looking at the books and I felt a bit guilty because the old man on the counter was so nice. I should buy something.

We sat for ages in the lovely sun, talking. It was wonderful. She’s moving to Thailand in September for a year, so I can hopefully go out and see her. Emily and Becky are going to go and visit next Easter, so I will contact them and see if it’s at all possible to join. I’d love to visit. She’s going to have the most amazing time.

I haven’t seen her in so long, so it was great to see her again. And I’m seeing her on Thursday too. And we discovered a random Thai noodle place has opened in town, so we planned a trip there for the next couple of weeks.

Later on I phoned my old manager and enquired about having a job for the summer. He sounded hopeful, but not definite. Fingers crossed.

At 17h I came home and my mum said she asked our postman to look out for my lost earring. Aww. The postman is sweet. Then I applied for a student loan. I sorted out all my bank accounts and I need to go into the bank to sort things out fully. I’ll do it on Thursday, when I’m back in town. I have so much to do, but today has been so productive. I’m going to get up early everyday from now on. In the warm summer sun it’s amazing. I feel amazing. I love this being busy. I love this applying and sorting out my uni life. I can’t wait to begin uni. It’s weird how I will graduate in 2012. It’s so far away. I’m going to enjoy every second of it. I’m going to be in so much debt, top-up fees and all, but I’m good with money. I’ll stay on top of things because that’s who I am.

MARIO VARGAS LLOSA