so in the past few weeks berlin has suddenly started turning towards winter, though it has actually only dipped below freezing a few times and there hasn't been any snow. but it's pitch black out by 4:30pm and what with the gray skies one usually has to start turning lights on by 2:30pm. it's a bit disorienting, but i'm getting used to it, and am continually cheered by all of the intense christmas stuff all over.
first though, thanksgiving! we had a really great friendsgiving here, hosted by lauren and hannah, the same girls who hosted the halloween party. they live in a huge old altbau (redundant sentence for any german speakers, i know) apartment that's just perfect for hosting parties, dinner parties included. they shoved together a few tables in one of the huge bedrooms and with about 7 or 8 of us cooking we held a gorgeous feast for around 20 people. probably two thirds of those in attendance were native english speakers, mostly americans with a few kiwis and an irish girl. i made mama moffitt's candied yams and chocolate pecan pie and roasted cauliflower with red onion and red grapes, inspired by brittany taylor. while i got positive feedback about both the yams and the cauliflower, i have actually never gotten such a good reception for any food i've made like i did for the pie. i made a regular (mom's apple pie recipe) butter crust and then instead of corn syrup i used turkish carob molasses and chocolate flakes. surprisingly, i was able to actually find pecans instead of just walnut, and damn, it was delicious.
so that was last saturday, then starting on december 1st basically all of berlin was suddenly lit up with christmas lights and christmas everything everywhere you look. there are about 60 christmas markets all over the city, ranging from giant corporate things in the big touristy areas to adorable little craft markets like the one i went to in my neighborhood this past weekend. while i can certainly see the downsides to legal public drinking and no open container laws, being able to walk around listening to carols and perusing cute booths of hand-crafted gifts while drinking a warm mug of mulled wine is probably my favorite upside.
i'm going back to potsdam on friday to meet up with my high school friend antje and explore the christmas markets there, which i'm looking forward to. while i am very much in love with berlin, i'm starting to feel like i should see more of "real" germany while i'm here, so i think i'll have to plan some trips for the spring. potsdam is like half an hour away and you can get there using berlin public transport, so it doesn't really count. it turns out that the german academic calendar is basically completely malleable and totally strange, so rather than the 6 week break i thought we got in march, i don't really get a break at all. once i come back after christmas we have about 7 more weeks of classes, and then 6 weeks to write term papers. papers can be turned in at any point during that period, or even while classes are still in session. once turned in, professors have about a month to grade them, and once they're finished they let you know and you go pick up this slip of paper that has your grade and the number of credit points for the class. once you have collected all of those you take them to this woman in the registrar's office, who enters them into the computer. at that point you can submit an application for the master thesis, and a few weeks later the woman sends you an official letter in the mail telling you if your application has been successful, and if so, when your thesis will be due (approximately 5 months after she sends this letter). so, basically, if i just don't allow myself a break and finish all of my term papers within a few weeks of finishing classes and then pressure my professors to actually grade them, i can then get to work on my thesis and receive a due date before next winter. that's my plan right now, but we'll see how it goes.
