Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr 2010 !

Ah, this time last year, I remember running headlong through the streets with my German friend Alex, who was nice enough to take me New Year's party-hopping in Regensburg, making it by far the most active and celebratory New Year's in my personal experience. The streets were positively exploding with party-goers, beer bottles, party debris and, almost literally, fireworks. If I hadn't known it was New Year's, I would have been scared senseless to think I was in a real life war zone during a bombing.

We were in the cafe Picasso between the Cathedral and the Danube by this time, and just at midnight, the already enormously raucous streets positively burst, and I dashed outside just in time to see fireworks fill the sky over the river and the Stone Bridge just overhead. I'm very fearful of overwhelmingly loud noise, but I plugged my ears and watched for a while because it was still so spectacular nonetheless. I regret not having footage, sorry, guys.

Pathetic as it sounds, I actually can't think of any other New Year's in my life that wasn't much more than hugging my parents and exclaiming Happy New Year as a child, or later in life just being snuggled up in bed reading a book or writing in my journal and essentially completely forgetting all about it until it's already 0:15 and I suddenly look up and think, "Oh. Now I've got to remember to change the number on homework assignments." So that was a fairly outstanding memory from New Year's in Regensburg. [obvious]--> I'm not really a big party person. <-- [obvious]

Well, it's already long been New Year's in Germany and other countries that have a custom of doing this, but at any rate, here is Dinner For One, which is always watched every New Year's in Deutschland, for whatever reason I don't quite know. But it's amusing! Funnier still is that it experiences a far huger popularity in non-English-speaking countries, whereas it seems to be virtually unknown in English-speaking countries. And now those of you in said English-speaking countries will be one black-and-white comedy skit more enlightened. Enjoy!



"Same procedure as every year, James!"

Video Study Abroad 2008-2009

It's HERE.
The moment you've all been so anxiously, eagerly awaiting.

You know what it is? You know what it is??

My Study Abroad video!!!

In my defense, it took me this long for a number of reasons, primarily including great shortage of time during school after my return, various frustrations with video editing, compatibility issues after the installation of Windows 7, and most of all, waiting on the transfer of several precious clips from Liechtenstein on a friend's camera that still never came and may, possibly, supposedly, apparently, agonizingly be lost to me forever.

But thank goodness my camera battery hadn't died before at least one small clip from Liechtenstein, so let's put that behind and without further ado, make way for!--:

... And Eternity in a Grain of Sand

As of recently, I get this uncomfortable feeling that somehow, I wasted too much of my year in Regensburg. I don't mean that it was a waste to go. Rather, that I had this fantastic opportunity, and though I certainly utilized it, I did not come close to doing even more than that and expanding my world just that much more. I could have traveled more. I could have spent more time knowing even more people who would bring me just that many more new perspectives. There is enlightenment and inspiration and beauty that I missed, and I don't know why or what would have happened. There was just more there that, while one will never get everything, I missed out on too much simply because I didn't try hard enough to get it. I could have had more. I'm not greedy, but it's a confusing and uncertain feeling that I may have pathetically wasted more than I ever should have.

Well, maybe all this comes out of spending only a year there (or 11 months). It really is a very short time, once you come out of it. Those of you considering study abroad, as I have always said... Don't ever give up a full year for a half-year if you have any choice. There is only always more gain than loss.