Déjà écouté

I can’t tell you how many times I have had the following conversation in the past two weeks, because I stopped counting after 10….

- So, when are you leaving?
- July 26th
- That’s not too far off.
- I know.
- What will you do when you get back?
- Study for a year, finish my Bachelor’s, move back to Europe. I want to study in Geneva, in International Affairs.
- Sounds cool. Are you looking forward to going back?
- No. Not at all.
- Why not? Don’t you like the States?
- I miss my family and friends, and occasionally the landscape—I’d like to have a 3-week vacation in CO and then come back here. I’ve got friends, a boyfriend, a lovely apartment, interesting classes, a job, a life, and I live “in a postcard,” as my mom says. There, I get to start over again, find which of my friends are still there, make new ones, move again. I don’t have anything against the US, I just prefer Germany. (today’s addition: even if it does rain all @§&%ing day)
- Can’t you stay?
- No.
- Why not?
- Because there are about 35 good reasons why I can’t: my scholarship runs out, my residence permit, my flight, my maximum leave of absence from CU, my student loan deferment, my apartment….
- Can’t you just finish your studies here? Can’t you transfer credits?
- And lose much of what I’ve done, yes.
- Wow….
- Yeah.
- So what will you do with your boyfriend?
- What is there to do?

Don’t ask me that.

I swear to you, this gets repeated practically verbatim on an almost daily basis. That should take care of 90% of the conversations I will have over the next three months…




Freiburger Webcam



Reflecting my mood and the weather:

Fire and Rain – James Taylor


Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you fire and rain, now