Foods I Can't Wait To Eat

I depart for Germany in 63 days, and I'm getting excited to eat food that tastes amazing and I believe is cheap because the Euro is worth more than the dollar.

Here is my list of foods that I will want to eat as soon as I hit the tarmac in Frankfurt:

1) POMMES. Americans don't know what they're doing here, I hate to admit. And for those of you who speak French, Germans have abbreviated Pommes Frites to Pommes and pronounce it with 2 syllables. THEY ARE SO LECKER. (Without anything to compare it to, it's hard to tell that I selected the "groß" photo because I plan to eat it all.)

2) Eis. German gelato. So amazing, and it costs 1 Euro per cone.

3) Apfelschorle. Fizzy apple juice and the apple juice doesn't taste like pure sugar like in the US!

4) A proper pretzel. Although I LOVE American soft pretzels a la Auntie Anne's, German pretzels are something else. Also it's acceptable cut them open and slather them with butter.

5) A McFlurry and a McChicken. It's nice to know that I'm just looking forward to eating a sophisticated meal at a train station...

The McFlurries have TWIX in them there. TWIX, people. I actually haven't eaten at an American McDonald's since before I left for Germany last June...so this could be a thing in the US by now. 

6) German Food. Probably should be higher up on the list, but whatevs.

7) Rittersport and Milka. Available in the US, but I don't feel like paying that much for something that coasts less than a Euro in Germany.

 

8) Bread. Bread that you would give up your first born child to eat again...you get to eat it for breakfast and sometimes dinner and make open-faced sandwiches with it.

9) Delicious spreads for your bread. Nutella, Karamell Zauber, and weird thin peanut butter that you have to stir before using.

 

10) Doener. I ate fake Greek food in NYC and it broke my heart because my two favorite things about Doener are the tasty lamb meat and the bread. Fake NYC Greek gyros are 99% weird veggies (not proper Doener veggies like tomatoes and cabbage) and are on pita, which doesn't even taste good. 

Meeting Arthur Darvill

Ah, New York City. Full of pigeons who don't understand where to defecate and foreign tourists. Although this city also made me feel like a foreign tourist. Anyhow, I went and saw Once and I MET ARTHUR DARVILL!! (I also did many other things, including seeing Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, hitting a guy with our bus, visiting the Empire State Building and MoMA, and eating the best pizza ever in the Village.)

This is how I felt when he walked on stage, then again when he started singing, then when he played the guitar, then again when I saw him, and finally when he signed my playbill:

I did not actually do this because there was a security guy there...presumably to keep the herd of nerd girls at bay. And there was quite a nice, orderly herd that waited patiently for Arthur to say hello to each of us. Our herd was unapologetically nerdy. I'd say it was about 150 people...about 15 people were waiting for Matthew Broderick to emerge from Nice Work if You Can Get It across the street. But we stood and talked and made friends (I mentioned that standing on my tiptoes to get signatures was bringing back my band calves and the guy next to me said "Oh, I miss marching band!"). I also heard a conversation start at "Who's your favorite companion?" and progress all the way to Starkid before the leads came out.

I have no picture to prove that I met Arthur Darvill; I'm trying to live in the moment and not let technology get in the way of my life. However, I did watch him take a selfie with another girl on the trip and it was adorable.

Star Trek: Into Darkness

I finally went and saw the new Star Trek movie today. It was a momentous occasion for me because I'd never gone to see a movie alone before. (I have, however, gone to the theater with my family and gone to see a different movie alone once or twice.) Going to the movies alone is great. There wasn't anyone to laugh at me when I inevitable cringed and jumped because the sound was so loud that they probably heard it in space.

I also feel disposed that expostulate on my view that you don't need other people to be able to do things. Most of my friends went home for the summer; the remainder were working, "busy," or I knew they didn't want to see the movie, so I went alone. You don't need a significant other or a friend to do something that you want to do. I've been to the Farmer's Market alone, I absolutely love grocery shopping on my own, I liked seeing a movie solo, going to church alone is much more fulfilling than going with others (it minimizes distractions), and In the Heights was probably much better because I saw it alone and on a whim.

About the actual movie: Star Trek: Into Darkness is about Sherlock Holmes. He has become a Time Lord, but much like the Master he is bent on revenge. With Mickey as his companion, he destroys many buildings in both England and the United States because he is mad that he is the only one left of his race. Also the regular Star Trek characters are there as well. (Or so I'm told. My Star Trek knowledge comes from pop culture and the first film in this franchise. I also vividly remember my grandparents watching an episode the day my sister was born.)

I was under the impression that the movie was called Star Trek: Into That Darkness for quite some time. I finally realized that Into That Darkness is a biography of a man who was the commandant of Treblinka during World War II and, therefore, not an appropriate name for this movie.

I really liked this movie. I tend to like space-type things (Stargate, Star Wars, Doctor Who, (T)Raumschiff Surprise), so it shoudn't be a massive shock. One thing this movie made me think about was the ethical dilemma. You're not supposed to show yourselves to alien cultures so you don't change their destiny. But actual humans do that all the time. We expose cultures to advanced technology and train them to use it, and then we're surprised when war breaks out there because we didn't think about the consequences of our actions.

I'm Gatsby.

Upon reading The Great Gatsby for the tenth time and watching the film for the second time, I came to a conclusion (and it's not that I am not one of the only honest people I know): I'm Gatsby.

When I was a junior in high school, we read The Great Gatsby and everyone had to make a poster comparing him/herself to one of the characters. Being 16/17 years old, we didn't realize that we could choose a character of the opposite gender, so all the girls but one chose Jordan Baker and most of the guys chose Nick. Memorably, Trevor chose Tom and put a picture of himself with two waitresses at Hooter's on his posterboard and said "Tom had his ladies and I've got my Hooter's girls" during his in-class presentation. I, like most of the girls, chose Jordan Baker because I, like most people, didn't realize how shallow and, frankly, annoying Jordan was upon the first reading. (Fitzgerald is a genius. People like Jordan generally come off as interesting and you just get sick of them over time.)

While reading the book most recently, however, I realized that Gatsby had it right. I'm not into illegal trade, but I do try to give off the aura of being less small-town than I am and believe I'm destined for greatness. Unlike Gatsby, I'm not going to get stuck with some long-lost love. I'm not going to be derailed. This all sounds very stuck-up, but I'm watching all my friends graduate and settle and I don't want to do that. I'm terrified of that, and I always have been.

It's difficult for people to fall neatly into fictional characters, and Gatsby is by no means a perfect fit. (Although I've known a Daisy or two in my time.) All I know is that I'm not going to give up and move home at the end of a long summer. (Figuratively. Literally I'm going to do just that, but I'm moving to Germany afterwards.)

I'm going to hope. I'm not going to smash up people and things and lives. I'm not going to lie and be careless. I'm going to hope.