Fireworks and Schnitzel

As most of you know, I turn into a 12 year old child at the sight of fireworks. Well, last night I had the pleasant surprise of watching fireworks across the river from my hotel room window (I tried to take pictures but all I ended up with was my own reflection). They were awesome with red heart shaped fireworks and some neat ones where each flare looked a bit like a dragon fly. It was a nice way to celebrate my reunion with my suitcase!

I finally got to attend the conference with hair and make-up as well as dress clothes. I'm convinced I received a few appreciative glances, but they could have just as easily been thinking "she's obviously a horribly dressed American". Compared to everyone else at the conference, I'm dressed up as there are a lot of jeans and casual clothes at this conference. I've also noticed that German's like jeans. They're everywhere and never plain, always with a few pieces of flare!

I went to dinner tonight at the restaurant hotel with one of the YSPs. I got pork schnitzel from the buffet line. It's a German dish that I liked, but then again, breaded and fried pork has never been a dish I'd turn away! Yummy! Hooray for schnitzel! Now, before you go and think I'm going to gain outrageous amounts of weight and not be able to fit in my own clothes in the next few weeks, let me say that I've had my fair share of nutrition bars for breakfast and lunch. I've only had time for 1 actual meal a day. Funny thing happened in the buffet line though, an older woman came up to me and said something in German. Now, I'm convinced she must have said "What beautiful hair you have my dear!" but she MAY have said "hey, fat American quit hogging the buffet line!" Now, I don't know about you but I'm going with option #1. Isn't it nice that I don't speak the language? It's been quite a boost to my self-esteem!

And one final anecdote. I went to a talk where I swear the speaker was the spiting image of Einstein. He was from a German university and he kept raking his hands through his wild hair and flinging his arms around dramatically. He also had to talk forever and constantly repeat himself. Funny thing was, ole Einstein was fixated on a research "problem" for the last 20 years of his career that had been dealt with 50 years ago. It took every ounce of strength I had not to state the obvious "solution" to his 50 year old question. Thankfully someone in the back row burst his bubble. Best thing was, she started out with "I don't really know this research area but it seems to me that...". That's what you get for talking too long and constantly repeating yourself in the academic world, someone will take you down!