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Wednesday 19.3.03 | So. Where to start? Last time I updated was about a week ago, as I remember, since which I have managed to find and move into a flat in Berlin, before promptly flying home. It has been a stressful, demoralising but didactic fortnight, and things are looking up. The first week or so was spent in Cologne with Anna, sorting her out there - registering for uni, moving into halls, opening bank accounts yadda yadda yadda, and seeing a little of Cologne and Bonn. I seem to remember writing about this already, so I won't dwell on it. Then, last Monday (seems so long ago now) we got an ICE train to Berlin (these are the new express trains of Germany, and easily outdo anything I have ever travelled over land in) and moved into our very nice, very new, strangely blue-lit youth hostel. We farted about for a few days, bombing around the city and trying in vain to find me a place. We eventually stumbled upon an oasis of gorgeousness that was within my price-range and in the centre to boot. But I dithered too long about living alone, and sadly lost it. However, looking back on it, I'm pleased that I followed the advice of my nearest and dearest and moved into a flat with two others - the lovely Andreas, very pleasing on the eye, and the slightly bizarre but equally friendly Wen Hui. The flat is very, very nice, and central too - all mod cons blah, and very cheap for London standards. I had never flathunted for, and don't want to again for as long as humanly possible, so it was a big relief to find and move into somewhere with decent people. In the course of the week, I saw some quite strange places and met some really odd people, and at one stage thought about becoming a rent-boy and living in another bed each night (joke, promise, although I've never been paid to stay anywhere before ;-)) but stumbled across Andreas and Wen Hui, so that's all OK. As for Berlin, it's a cool place. I like it. I was slightly overawed by it all at first and trudging round the complicated tram-system trying to find this flat there and so forth was not fun. But it's a genuinely decent place, and interesting too - you can tell that it is still really living its history in a way that even London isn't (possibly because London wasn't split down the middle for 30 years, in a divided country - ) so I think I'm going to enjoy living there. Quiet fortnight ahead in Harrow with very little to do, although have apparently 1000 words of German to write, which will now be a lot easier now I've been there and remembered what the language actually...is and how it works. Admittedly the downside of this is that I seem to have already lost the French I learned, but since I'm studying French when I go back I hope I'll be able to juggle the two in some sort of tandem eventually. This, anyway, is the plan. More this week when I've decided what to do with myself. Thursday 20.3.03 Sorry, hello? The war has started and, wrong as it may be, there is no point protesting about it any more. It's fine to exercise a democratic right to do it, but there are limits, and since the government clearly isn't listening to what the protesters are saying, there's little point trying to bring the country to a standstill (unless the protesters suddenly talking about the lack of democracy we seem to be experiencing here, in which case I would be out on the streets with everyone else.) And besides, it seems to have become fashionable to be anti-war, something which clealy degrades the real, idealogical protests taking place. Hmm. On another note, there is someone checking this site awfully regularly, like, twice a day. Care to tell me who you are? Friday 21.3.03 Walking through St. James' Park the other day with Claire, we saw an enormous stork, flapping around down by the lake, scaring all the other birds, not giving a shit, generally making a scene of itself. 'Mark, it looks like you,' says Claire, perfectly straight-faced, 'bony and self-important.' The cheek. On another note, why is it that, when you go into a card-shop (as in Clinton's and the like), there is always crap music playing? Note added later: I heard this morning that, during the 70s, Jacques Chirac sold so many arms to Saddam Hussein that he was nicknamed 'Chiraq.' How brilliant is that?! Monday 24.3.03 Tempted, whilst angling aimlsesly on the net, to look for uni courses in procrastination. I would get the most effortless first imaginable. Meant to work on German project all day today - managed four minutes before finding something better to do. Had wonderful, fantastic, sunny weekend in London. Friday night was gate-crashing the debating dinner with Mich and Alec, Saturday a family lunch celebrating Si's 94th birthday (26th I believe but can't quite remember and then Saturday night a 21st birthday party in Soho. Yesterday was spent wandering around in the sun with Max and Claire, blissfully careless. Was knackered when I finally got back home, but definitely worth it. :-) Tuesday 25.3.03 Ludicrously yet wonderfully unproductive 24 hours. Have set self deadline of Friday to write this piece of wank-German, and haven't really begun to think about doing it yet. So have decided that tomorrow will be the day where things are achieved, as am too lazy today and besides, the sun's out. Sure it...might rain tomorrow. Yes.
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