Miami und der ganze Rest.

Since I am writing a lot I got used to the American standard paper format called letter and now all of a sudden A4 looks weird to me... just like the other day when I had a 0.5l bottle in my hand and it looked so small and not, well, normal. I guess this is a sign that I am assimilating pretty well and the things that I found to be different from home now seem more like 'home' to me.

Now that the semester is almost over – not even two more weeks left – I think about how it will be not living here anymore. The last couple of weeks nothing special happened, I guess daily life set it and I feel more and more comfortable with the life here in Binghamton. But then again: it's almost over.

We had a dinnerparty in our backyard this Saturday, we invited all of our friends and everyone brought something special from their country of origin (the Germans made Milchreis with Appelmus und Zimt und Zucker und dazu Bratkartoffeln), since most of our friends have an international background. That's something I really like, you meet native speakers but most of the time their family originated from another country to the US – you get to hear so many interesting (family) stories and realize Germany is kind of boring when it comes to multicultural ethnicity.

I'm going to miss the language(s), the openness, the kindness and interest of the people I encountered. Our house (although I found out, that we have mice) with it's spaciousness and green backyard as well as the classes I am taking with some of the weirdest people, but at the same time smartest, I've ever met.

The longer I stay here the harder it gets to imagine a life differently. 

But before it's time to say good-bye to Binghamton I will do some travelling.

So, tell me, who in this room is going to Miami? Uhum, thaaaat would be me.

Initially Sina and I planned on going to Montreal but then the bus is really expensive so Sina looked up places that we could fly to with that money... she came up with Miami. It took me about five minutes to decide between yes and yes. Flight and hostel are already booked and summer dresses and sunscreen bought.

After Miami I will visit an old friend, Danny, whom I met while working on the Kibbuz in Israel, in Columbus, Ohio. I'm excited to see him again and also to see another part of the US. I am playing with the thought (is that really an expression or should I stop translating literally from German into English?) of going to Chicago after Columbus, but I am not sure about that yet. We'll see.

I'll be back in Binghamton at some point to go camping with Riva, Katharina and some other friends of ours up in Canada (here:
http://media01.bigblackbag.net/27406/portfolio_media/lwsm_halliburton_2009_1068.jpg).
Aaaand if everything turns out the way I am planning now, I'll be visiting Paula in Ecuador. Das Beste zum Schluss.

That's all there is for now.

Ah, but! A picture I wanted to show you for a long time, but I was always too lazy to take it.

seen in the window of the dry cleaner around the corner.



You have to take care of your stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvgN5gCuLac


xxx Astrid

Same old, same old. Or maybe not.

Things that changed after coming back from spring break:

1. The weather. Holy crap! Away with winter boots, gloves and extra layers of clothing. In addition to that I noticed, that as soon as the sun comes out and the temperatures rises, it means summer. I stopped wondering about all the women dressed in hotpants and flipflops. My grandma would say: put some clothes on or you'll get sick!

2. Our moca pot is finally working! One day I woke up and the house smelled like fresh coffee. Which was out of the ordinary, since we didn't have a working coffee machine. So I thought. When I went downstairs to find out where this wonderfull aroma came from I found a note from Riva on the kitchen table which said, that she fixed the neglected moca pot and that it now works fine. I could not have been happier.

3. Time is flying so fast, I have no idea where it went. I am reading and researching for the papers I have to write until the end of classes. Which is ok, I will manage. Although I knew I was right, when I wrote that I would be spending time inside the library once the weather would be getting better.

4. I had a blue screen on my laptop for the first time. Which made me realise I don't have have any backup whatsoever. Bought an external hard drive and now I just keep my fingers crossed that my Toshi will last until I finished writing those papers. Could you do that, too?

Other than that, nothing much is going on in Binghamton. Although I went out dancing for the first time since I got here. To a gay bar - I had a blast. Amy Whinehouse was performing. Her shoulders slightly bigger and her legs stronger than I would have expected them to be...

Just yesterday we went to Pete's birthday party, which was fun. Tequila and rum and sombreros and muchachos and chicas and fake coke made out of sugar and flour. Pete got a cheesecake (which Riva and Sina made by themselves) and was quiet happy about it.

Please check out the large amount of cash (feel free to zoom in on my left boob) that I made selling coke during the night. I bought a mexican dinosaur with it. It was totally worth it.

Business as usual.

And because I know how much you like looking at pictures, here are some more from spring break:

 While strolling around in Manhattan, Riva and I found this place where they sell puppies. Although they are ridiculously cute, they are held in way too smal cubicles and are only able to walk freely once in the morning in the shop before it opens.

 The New York Public Library.

 Philly.

 Washington D.C nice and sunny.

 

Washington not so nice and rainy.

Just because: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4l3w_electric-six-gay-bar_music#.UWsM20qZaSo

and this, because I think everyone should listen to this gem at least once in their life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hujgnX9Koo

abrazos y besos - Astrid

Uff... where to start?

Spring Break was over way too quickly. I had an amazing time during the last couple of days, met awesome people and walked what felt like a hundred miles.
Riva, Sina, Muhammad and I travelled a distance of 814 miles together. Stopping first in New York City, then Philadelphia and ended our trip in Washington D.C.

New York was of course overwhelming. Taking the bus to Port Authority is like being sucked in by this huge mass of skyscrapers and people and houses and cars and smells. New York sucks you in, spits you out with soooo many unforgettable impressions - good and bad - experiences, things you've seen, heard and smelled. I am always at awe at the diversion of cultures the city carries and keeps alive.
The food, the food! We went to eat Carribean food, I never once in my life had yams braised in honey - so sweet I needed a time out. I had Bagel with cream cheese from a corner Deli and it was heaven!
I walked around a lot, had coffee often and just took the city in. I was kind of relieved to not feel the pressure of doing the touristy things, since I did that, when I went in 2009. This time the city felt somewhat more relaxed, maybe because I felt so, too.
But some things I did not want to miss, like the Times Square, or the New York Public Library for example. I did spend way too much money on clothes, though. Spring will see a fashionable Astrid.

We departed for Philly, where a very nice couple, Cara and Haider, and their couches were awaiting us. Philadelphia is nice, but it was good that we only planned one and a half days for it. A full day is more than enough to discover the most important parts.
Personally I found it to be not so charming. I went there without any expectations at all and found it to be quiet rough. It's not very beautiful and for the first time I really saw the gap between poor and rich. A lot of people were begging for money and at some points I felt unsafe. (This may be due to the guy that got peppersprayed in the Starbucks where I was enjoying my coffee). In the end I was glad we left Philadelphia because I could feel myself getting paranoid and checking for my purse all the time and trying to avoid standing too close to strangers on the subway.
Cara and Haider lived a little outside of the city centre and showed us around in their neighbourhood. We went to a bar called 'loco pez' where we had awesome tacos and tortillas with locally brewed beer. It was a fun night.

The most fun part about Philly was the Magical Garden. We walked there expecting an actual garden only to find this:

We left for Washington early in the morning. There we crashed the couches of Glen, who is a very interesting character. He's the son of a former UN-Embassador, which means he's basically been everywhere in the world. He was an awesome host. He owns one of the oldest houses of the city, right in the city centre, so all the important sights were in walking distance. We had a whole floor of the house to ourselfs, which was like staying in a hotel.

Washington D.C is very interesting.
I was overwhelmed by how big everything in the city actually is (and then the White House sooo tiny). We went to the Capitol, walked the Mall to the end with its Monument and also saw the Jefferson Memorial.

Everything is monumental and huge! All of a sudden I felt so tiny next to all those buildings. The Americans certainly know how to make you feel insignificant.
Of course the city was full of tourists which was mainly due to the ongoing Cherry Blossom Festival. While we were in the city very little trees were in bloom. :(

But we had 17 degree Celcius and I got my first sunburn and we had coffee outside of the cafe and were able to sit in a t-shirt! That really felt like being on a holiday. (I apologize for my white skin hurting your eyes :D )

Next to all the important political buildings Washington is full of Museums (I had actually no idea about that and was kind of surprised after I found out).
Since I am in the States I went to the National Museum for American History to get some more information about this country. Unfortunately more than half of the museum was closed because of renovation. I was able to see the part about food and how the relationship between US Americans and food has changed over the centuries.
And I saw the original kitchen of Julia Child! I was so happy. For those of you, who don't know who she is, you must see this movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvJHsJD8ic
You can actually see the kitchen in the movie. Ah, well I'm getting too excited. It's just a kitchen. But still I was happy that I made the discovery.
Here is one thing I found amusing:

Washington is a very clean and kind of sterile city. It felt to me as if it was built just 20 years go and constantly being kept clean for the tourists to feel comfortable. The homeless people are even given blankets by the city so they don't freeze to death. It was a totally different from Philadelphia.
And no, I did not see Obama or Michelle :/ but we had a great time anyways.

Now I am back in Bínghamton. Back to life, back to reality. Five more weeks of University left and snow is still falling. It makes it a little easier for me to bear that I know you guys are also still suffering from ice and cold as well.

So what to do?
Listen to this: http://www.killbodyeatsoul.net/music/fruehling.zip 
and go check out this http://www.killbodyeatsoul.net/ as well and be prepared to spend some time idling.
Thanks, Christian for this really awesome Spring Soundtrack.

I might post some more pictures during the week. So stay tuned.
Astrid

Montréal est un rêve

Only pictures for a change. Credit for most of the pictures goes to Riva, my incredibly talented roommate :)

Ode to the sun

When I woke up this morning I thought I would have the worst day. Headache, my limbs aching and my nose was blocked. Buuut it turned out to be a very nice one in fact. Although we still have very cold weather (not like you guys in Germany, though. Minus 15? Wtf?) the sun was shining. And since I really like the combination of clear blue sky and icy wind I was smiling like a child when I stepped out of the house to get to Campus. See, this is me being happy (something's wrong with my forehead, I hope it's just my camera sucking at taking pictures):

I went to Campus to get some work done for my midterm project. I did some scanning and then went to Walmart to buy a camping mat because this weekend I am going to Montreal and I need it for sleeping. You cannot imagine how happy I am, to finally be able to see something other than Binghamton. Why Montreal you ask? I have this one class (language, translation and colonization) and the professor is really nice. One time after class me and Riva, one of my housemates, got to talk to him and at some point during the semester he told Riva he was going to Montreal for a wedding and that we could ride along with him, if we wanted to. Duhuuu... of course you don't say no if an opportunity like that arises. Riva arranged the sleeping through couchsurfing so that we are now basically staying and going there for free. Which is kind of nice, isn't it?

So I got the camping mat, went back to Campus to go swimming. Really, this is the best thing ever. The swimming pool. I could spend hours in the water swimming (if it weren't for the Asian people invading the pool at times, staying only in the shallow part of the water because they can't really swim). In the beginning I felt like I was the slowest person in the water. But now that I have some practice it feels like I'm finally able to get it right and my body moves more easily through the water. Ha, see, that is how I spend my time here - getting better at swimming.

But no, seriously though, I do learn a lot of interesting stuff here. Take the language, translation and colonization course for example. Just this week I had to do a presentation on La Malinche (the wikipedia article in English is quite good actually http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Malinche). Now that I know of her I cannot understand how I could not have heard of her before. She is such an interesting figure and myth in history of colonization. She was one of the most influential women in Mexican history and shaped national identity in a very strong way. Her relationship to Hernan Cortés, the leader of the Spanish Conquest in the 16^th century, shaped the way men and women relate to each other in todays Mexico. Her story is worth knowing about. Take a look! (Also in relation to that: the Chicana movement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xicana_literature in literature has its very own take on the story of La Malinche, check that out if you are interested in female activism and books and such. Just saying.)

Next week is the last week before spring break and once that week is over the sweet life begins. I finally got my Bafög which made me decide to also go to New York with the other guys and not only Philadelphia and Washington. Spring break starts on March 23^rd and ends on April 1^st – which leaves enough time to travel around. In New York we are staying at the place of Rivas' friend. Which is really nice, since finding something cheap is quite impossible, especially during the holidays. We then proceed to Philly were we'll only stay for 2 days, but as far as we read, two days will be enough to see most of the important things. Washington will be our last destination. During our stay the Cherry Blossom Festival (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cherry_Blossom_Festival) will take place and we are all hoping to get to see the trees in bloom. But that is kind of out of our hands. Now that I am writing this down, it feels too good to be true.

I am really looking forward to see New York again and since I've seen most of the big sights already, I am planning on spending my days just strolling around and taking the city in (maybe do a little bit of shopping, since spring is coming and I, well... I need new clothes, right?!) enjoying the food, watching people. But China Town is again on my must-go-there-list. I was so amazed by it the last time, I have to smell it again :D

Well and after that, April will have already started (I'm not sure if this is the right tense, please correct me. I should have payed more attention in class) and on May 10^th classes will be over. But inbetween a lot of work is still waiting for me: papers to write and portfolio entries to prepare. And I am quite sure, once I started writing, the weather will be nice and warm and sunny and I will be sitting in that damn library all day long. Ah, but I'm drawing the devil on the wall. :P

Yesterday I caught myself reading English and not recognizing it. It felt like I was doing 'normal' reading and just after I tried to explain what I just read to Sina in German I realised I was reading in English all the time. That was nice. Although I do dream, I cannot say wether I dream in English or German or something in between. I usually have a hard time remembering my dreams anyways.

I got a parcel form Lisa. In it was a lot of cute easter stuff and also chocolate from Alnatura (that was gone very quickly, though) The mug was broken when I took it out of the parcel, but it now serves as a pencil holder on my desk. 

 

Just the other day we had a big breakfast with our friends, here is a picture of the set table. And yes, those are cupcakes and pancakes. Selfmade, of course. And awesome.

I hope you are doing well over there and try not to get too frustrated with that never ending winter. Try to imagine the summer that awaits us with its warm nights and park sessions and emptied wine bottles under starry skies on balconies and bridges.

Keep it tight.

Astrid

Ps: ich muss doch noch mal meckern: es gibt hier keine Taschentücher! Alle ziehen die Nase hoch!

 Ach und wisst ihr was hier echt witzig ist? Es ist nicht ungewöhnlich vor sich hinzureden und hinzusingen. Mit dem Singen hab ich schon angefangen, das vor sich hin brubbeln ist mir dann doch ne Spur zu weird. Mal sehen, vielleicht kommt das noch...

pps: ein Song für euch (ich versuchs gar nicht erst mit Youtube) Dredg - Ode to the sun

http://www.myvideo.de/watch/7854617/Dredg_Ode_To_The_Sun

Like the ceiling can't hold us

Sollte ich vielleicht gleich eine Art Warnung voranschicken? Ich habe die leichte Ahnung, dass dieser Eintrag nicht locker flockig wird. Dazu brauche ich auch die deutsche Sprache – mein Englisch scheint für die Schwermut nicht gemacht zu sein.

Sind schon wieder zwei Wochen vergangen? Drei? Es fällt mir schwerer und schwerer die Zeit im Auge zu behalten, da sie einfach viel zu schnell vorbeifliegt. Der März ist da und weil ich es nicht lassen kann mich übers Wetter zu beschweren: wir haben immer noch -6 Grad. 

 

Ich verbringe meine Tage mit Lesen, Schreiben und Sport machen. Zwischendurch ärgere ich mich immer mal darüber, wie teuer frisches Gemüse eigentlich sein kann und schaue mürrisch der Kassiererin entgegen, die mich immer wieder komisch anschaut, wenn ich ihr sage, dass ich mein Erworbenes NICHT in Plastiktüten gepackt haben möchte.

Ich habe den Grund herausgefunden, warum ein Teil unsere Küchendecke mit Pappe ausgedeckt ist: wenn wir im darüberliegenden Bad duschen und Wasser auf den Badboden läuft, sickert es durch die Decke in die Küche. Rätsel gelöst. (Ich versuche nicht darüber nachzudenken, was das über den Zustand der Decke aussagt.)

Hab ich eigentlich schon mal erwähnt, dass die Heizung in unserem Haus mich regelmäßig in den Wahnsinn treibt? Die Rohre der Heizung haben die Eigenschaft sich bei Wärme auszuweiten und das führt zu lauten und nervtötenden, nicht rhythmischen Knackgeräuschen. Besonders nachts sehr einschläfernd.

Am 2. März war St. Patrick's Day Parade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Day_in_the_United_States). Obwohl der eigentliche St. Patrick's Day erst am 17.03 ist, wird die Parade hier zwei Wochen vorgezogen. Ich glaube, es liegt daran, dass am 17. dann alle Paraden direkt in die größen Städte, wie New York oder Boston, fahren um dort zu marschieren. 

Wie kann man sich das Ganze vorstellen? Es ist eine Mischung aus Fasching und Vatertag. Vormittags wird angefangen zu trinken, gegen 13.00 Uhr begibt man sich dann, schon gut angetüdelt (wahrscheinlich um nicht zu erfrieren), in die Kälte um sich die Parade anzusehen. Die Parade besteht aus kleinen Wägelchen (in denen Menschen sitzen und den Kindern Süßes/Chips zu werfen), Tanztruppen, Musikanten und Feuerwehrmännern in Kilts. Prinzipiell geht es jedoch für die jungen Leute darum, sich zu betrinken. Den Menschen, denen man dann Downtown, also wo sich die Pubs und Bars befinden, begegnet, sind super betrunken und wenn man selber nüchtern ist, kommen einem die vielen grün bemalten Gesichter eher wie Fratzen vor. Verzogene Visagen, Kotze in der Ecke, alles stinkt nach Suff und Pisse. Schnell haben wir das Stadtzentrum wieder verlassen und uns auf den Heimweg gemacht. Parade Day ist definitiv nichts für mich.

Spätestens jetzt bemerkt man als Leser den leicht genervten Unterton, der in diesem Blog-Eintrag mitschwingt. Ja, ich kann es nicht verbergen, muss es sogar mal deutlich sagen: Manchmal nervt mich das Leben hier. Ich vermisse Menschen, die meinen Humor zu schätzen wissen, ich vermisse die lebendige Tanzkultur(!) Leipzigs (wird es wirklich noch bis zum Sommer dauern, bis ich wieder zu elektronischen Klängen tanzen darf?), ich vermisse gutes, gesundes Essen (warum kostet in der Mensa Pizza und Cola 2 Dollar und ein Salat mit ner kleinen Suppe 7? Das grenzt hier schon fast an Diskriminierung.), ich vermisse mein Fahrrad, mein Zimmer und vor allem vermisse ich das Gefühl mich zu Hause zu fühlen (ist das etwa Heimweh, was ich da spüre?).

Ach ja: Ich kann die Kombi aus Sweatpants/Leggings und Uggboots nicht mehr sehen! Get out of my friggin' face und zieh dir mal was über deine Leggings, das sieht so aus, als hättest du deinen Rock vergessen! http://elastamomsexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/wheres-pants.jpg?w=500&h=450

Aber, aber... klar ist hier nicht alles so grimm, wie ich es gerade wahrnehme. Gerade erst letzten Sonntag war ich auf meinem ersten Tedx-Event. Wer davon noch nichts gehört hat, der kann sich hier drüber belesen: http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/6498

Ich habe einiges über dunkle Materie, Zombies und künstliche Intelligenz lernen können. Ich fand es faszinierend, dass man durch so ein interessantes Format, viele Menschen für Wissenschaft begeistern kann. Am Ende gabs dann Cookies. Ohne Pferdefleisch.

Ich habe Schwimmen (kleine Sensation: im Bikini!) für mich entdeckt und darf meine Professoren mit Vornamen anreden. Der Metapher-Kurs ist wirklich super interessant und ich freue mich jedesmal mehr auf die Drei-Stunden-Sitzung am Freitagnachmittag.

Ich glaube, so bald die Sonne auch hier mal scheint und die Temperaturen über den Gefrierpunkt klettern, steigt auch meine Stimmung. Aber momentan scheint das alles noch so weit entfernt und unwahrscheinlich, dass es mir manchmal wirklich sehr schwer fällt, mich nicht nach lauen Sommernächten im Leipziger Wald- und Wiesenumland zu sehnen.

Noch drei Wochen und dann kommt Spring Break – 10 Tage Ferien, die ich mit Reisen verbringen werde. Wohin es geht, weiß ich noch nicht genau – aber da die Busse hier überall hin fahren, bleibe ich spontan und schaue, wo es mich hinverschlägt.

So, ich geh jetzt puzzeln.

Ps: und hier mein Beitrag zu 'Wie schön sind die USA':

http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/3470/3955806?title=fire_news

Pps: - Heavy Rotation -
Edgar Wasser - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aErF0wH7RU (großen Dank an Katharina, die mich drauf gestoßen hat) 
und
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnrro0_macklemore-ryan-lewis-can-t-hold-us-ft-ray-dalton_music#.UTQG9TdCqSo

About killing presentations, pregaming, Nemo and busses

I killed my presentation! Just yesterday I did. Remember - the one about the roots of metaphor? I really killed it. (an expression I learned)

But before I could kill it I had to go through every single emotion on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is 'absoluteley devastated to the point of wanting to drop the class' and 10 'absoluteley devastated to the point of wanting to drop the class'.

So what happened? I did pull through with my reading and preparing and worked my ass off. Everybody in class, including the professor, was amazed at how well I understood the texts (for those who are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor) and told me I did a very good job at explaining the topic. In the beginning of the presentation I was nervous as hell but I soon realised, there was no need, since I really did understand the topic and so I got more confident while speaking and in the end I was even able to talk freely without sticking to my notes.

Also the discussion after and during my presentation was very lively. Here students are required to take actively part in the discussion because it's part of their final grade. So everybody is pretty eager to say something and to get their point across. And I can tell you: this is so much more fun than sitting in a seminar where no one wants to say something. Of course sometimes what is being said doesn't move the discussion any further, but most of the time my fellow students had very good ideas and questions, that I will be able to use in my paper. Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, a three hour class leaves a lot of room for elaborate discussions – there is no need to cut them off because there's enough time.

Although I only have three classes I have a lot of reading and preparing to do. So I basically spent the last couple of days studying. Well – that's what I'm here for, right?!

But of course there are these small (sometimes big moments), when I realise that I am actually far away from what I call home. Just like I was waiting for the bus the other day on Main Street, where fast food restaurants are ligned up next to each other like beads on a pearl necklace. We got McDonald's, Subway, Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts and Burger King in walking distance. So I was waiting for the bus, looking at these food chains, and all these big cars were driving on this broad street and suddenly it hit me: ok, this is the States and I'm here.

That is a picture of Laurel Avenue: 

  

I have to tell you about the bussystem: there are two bus systems in Binghamton, one is the public transportation of the county and the other bussystem is run by students of BU. They are called the blue busses, since they are blue. This picture shows the two kinds of blue busses they have. 

The one in the front is the newer model and the one in the back the older model they have. If you want to get off the new bus you have to pull down a yellow line that goes from the front of the bus to the back. Just like in this picture:

 

But if you want to get off the old bus you have to let the driver (which is always a student) know that you want to get off at the next stop. How? By screaming 'Next Stop, please!'. Very weird in the beginning but after that it's kind of fun.

Also fun is having a snow fight with the boys from next door at 3am until the neighbours are yelling: 'Stop it! We're trying to sleep!' This happended last friday after Nemo hid the city under a big layer of snow. This picture shows our street – Laurel Avenue – right before the snow fight and is taken from our front porch. (Thanks to Riva for this very beautiful picture)

 The other pictures show the morning after. But other than the masses of snow nothing much happened here in Binghamton. (The last one shows our backyard)

 Our weekends are filled with houseparties where students don't really do much except playing beer pong and getting drunk: This is the place I was at yesterday.

I learned that what we call 'vorglühen' is called 'pregaming' - maybe because you prepare for playing beer pong? Who knows?! But when we are pregaming it looks like this (and sounds like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiUuL5uTKc ):

 Left to right: Me, Katharina, Chris (also called Linda) and Spencer (both of the guys live next doors), the other ones are Patty (as seen here in the black shirt)

 and HC (handsome Chris):

 Pregaming sometimes also looks like this:

 Or this (this is Riva, me, Katharina and Sina in our basement):

 but most of the time we actually look like this:

 And with these riant faces I will leave you to your own devices. 

Ah, just one more thing: How do you know you actually made it to the States? For me it was the Paris Hilton dream I had last night. o_0 (Although I do have other really nice dreams, including outdoor-parties in Leipzig, since I finally - after four weeks - got over my jetlag.) 

Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite!