Berlin after one week

Hi everyone,

I've promissed to post something on the blog in English for everyone I have shamelessly left behind in Belfast. Let me just say: There are more moments than less when I wish to be back with you guys, bragging about bitchy Germans, bad food, cold rain and strange habits of other nations. Right now I would much rather be back drinking a nice cup of tea and smell the strange odeurs of my Chinese housemates. But, as we all know, no such thing.
Instead, I got 8am wake-up calls from secretaries searching for phone numbers, late shifts in a hospital which changed so much that I barely recongnize the place, the ultimate mental mess-up and lots of angry people in a really angry town. Welcome home!
I've been back for a week now and so much stuff has happened already that it feels like I've been back here for ages. Both good and bad has happened I must say.
The bad news is that my grandmother is in a nursing home now, which is really sad to see. She was granted a place at a rehab hospital but my family decided against it because it was too far away from Berlin. WTF. Seriously...

I went to a few meetings, where a few people were quite happy apparently to see me, others, on the other hand, right out refused to talk to me. But the "good ones" still speak to me, so that's all fine and good.

After pretending not to like any parties at all in Belfast, I am sort of "overcompensating" right now, having attended 4 different venues in two days, with Friday being really rough. And the morning after, shame on me...
I had a dreadful weekend up until late last night, when some things just got solved and much better, so I am back to normal today and I apologize to everyone, who had to put up with me bitching away and being so miserable (Hi to Katha and Oriane...). Thank you for that.

I am back to normal again and I'm back on "networking", just coming back from lunch with one of my professors, checking some things for tomorrow and some meetings next week. It's been real fun, but it's only now that I realize how much benefit I got out of my time in Belfast. I see a few things clearer now, especially after talking to a friend of mine regarding career choices and career crisis issues. It does help if there are people who believe in my capability. That's nice.

So: Don't be alarmed, I'm quite ok right now, I hope this won't change again until I leave for Chicago on the 27th.

Hope you guys are all fine,

thinking of you from Berlin,

Andrea :-)