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February 8th, 2010

03:50 pm - Katie is moe, wat vervelend I started my very last semester as an undergraduate ever today, WOW. ( Insomnia moanings ) Anyway, I think the semester started OK, apart from that. My timetable is quite nice, and Mondays are gentle with no German lessons, only Dutch, which is a nice way to ease happily into the week. Maybe I'll develop a hobby. I might take up knitting again, except I'm not very good and can only really make scarves/toy monkeys. Or I could draw cartoons. I take requests. Current Location: Shef Current Mood: exhausted Tags: insomnia, tired, university

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February 6th, 2010

09:13 pm - HOW WEIRD Sometimes I look at my bloggings from exactly 1 year ago in order to determine to what extent I have become a mature, grown-up and proper person. I have just done this now, and this time last year, I was in the process of going insane (the bad kind of insane) and cycling from Oldenburg until I didn't feel sad anymore. I ended up going way too far, right off my map, and ending up just outside Bremen (I think). This is weird, because today I also did a lot of exercise, taking a trip to the Peak District and just walking about a bit (although just for fun and relaxation, rather than because I was going quickly mad). "Why is this weird, Katie?", you ask, sneering at me from behind your Bond-villainesque CAT. "Just because you did excessive exercise on 6th Feb 2009 AND on 6th Feb 2010, does not justify you rambling about it in your blog, you WEIRDO". What you must remember, however, is that I exercise about once a year anyway, due to the fact that I'm really lazy. SO it is quite a strange conincidence. The PeaK District is lovely, anyway. I feel I should go there more because it's what people always talk about when I mention Sheffield to them ("Oh, you live in Sheffield....the bit around Sheffield is very nice). It was peaceful, a nice way to relax after the horrors of exams, and fingers crossed, I should be able to sleep tonight (TOUCH WOOD)! Current Mood: tired Tags: cycling, peak district, rambling, weird

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February 5th, 2010

01:15 pm - Hideous They shouldn't let you take your exam papers home with you, so that you go over all your mistakes in your crazed mind until you go even crazier and start to throw things. I've come to the conclusion that I know literally no German except for song lyrics, and since I mostly listen to Rammstein, because I'm secretly an asocial 12 year-old boy, all the German I do know is about disturbing topics that Rammstein sing about such as murder and death. Some mistakes I've discovered I made: 1. Refuge is not a German word just because I capitalised the noun 'refuge'. 2. Torment is not best translated as Herzeleid, which means heartache, WHICH I ONLY KNEW because it's the title of a Rammstein album. 3. Mitkriegen and Leute are apparently colloquial and I may never, ever use them in an exam. 4. Lauschen isn't quite the same as the Dutch luisteren, to listen, and is more like eavesdrop. I'm going to put the dictionary down and slowly move away now. I have no revision to do, this is weird. I have a presentation on Wednesday (on the beautifully ironic theme of correctness in the German language) but NOTHING ELSE AT ALL EVER. It means I can do what I want on Saturday. I might stay in bed all day, listening to Rammstein. Current Mood: morose Tags: exam, rammstein, revision

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February 3rd, 2010

05:01 pm - Whalegirl from Whaleshire Oh dear. I am not sure about my new dress which I loved for so long and coveted with all my heart. Maybe I am just oddly-shaped. I dunno. I look like a cross between a whale and a disappointed 5 year-old girl at a tea party, I think. Actually my perception might just be altered because I'm watching Ricky Lake, and that never gives me a positive view about ANYTHING. Also I watched Loose Women. I need to stop watching daytime TV. I made up a way of remembering the prepositions that go with the accusative case (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um) (in all circumstances, regardless of whether movement is involved). Are you ready? SURE? Here it is: Don't Fear German Oranges Unnecessarily It's a statement as profound as it is true, I think. That's all the revision I've done today. Next step is to find a similar one for dative prepositions, of which THERE ARE FIVE MILLION. Current Location: Shef Current Mood: lethargic Tags: dresses, german grammar, revision

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February 2nd, 2010

11:31 pm - Great Big Girl I am some kind of emotional wreck. I will explain. I was just watching something on BBC1 about selective mutism- children who can't talk to people outside their immediate families because they have a phobia- and there was a bit with a little girl communicating with her grandfather for the first time, and it was the first time he'd ever heard her voice even though she was ten, and....*SNIFF* And I'm sitting here, eating cake, in floods of tears. I am hoping this is normal behaviour for a sensitive person such as myself, and I'm not going crazy because of exam stress. Current Mood: embarrassed Tags: adorable children, cake, emo katie

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01:19 pm - Financing Fun I have opened a Special Savings Account. I spent last night reading all about interest rates and other such things (my alternative was revision for a translation exam), and now I have one of those savings accounts. I may only withdraw from it THREE TIMES PER YEAR, otherwise, alas, I get a lower rate of interest. Which is still better than my old rate of interest, which got me roughly 48p each year. I am blogging about interest rates. What have I become??? I have to be all Serious and Financial though. Especially because I googled the success rate of this potential scholarship of mine, and then spent the night bashing my head against my keyboard (which incidentally doesn't work, but that's because I spilt coffee over it a couple of months ago) and weeping softly. HOWEVER, I've found out that there are more scholarships that you can apply for once you're registered with a German university. Which makes more sense, but also makes things uncertain and difficult. Which makes me SCARED, because I do actually have an Inner German, who loves planning, Nutella, and recycling, and occasionally gets very angry when people litter. I mostly supress my Inner German though. Maybe I should give him a name. If anyone reads this and happens to be a Dutch millionaire, or a millionaire of an alternative nationality but one who's dedicated to the study of Dutch, and they feel like paying for my degree at all, would they let me know? I'd reward them. Not in any disturbing way. I'd give them a shout-out on this world -famous blog, which is read, ON A REGULAR BASIS, by at least 10 people.  I am going to do some revision now. Current Mood: crazy Tags: finance, inner german, katie's gone crazy, ma, scholarship

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January 29th, 2010

09:36 pm - *buries face in Dylan the woodlouse* Grrrrrrrr. Exam did not go as well as I'd hoped. Long and complicated story, but the material I'd prepared for the exam clashed with a poem I'd written about in my essay. Becase you're not supposed to repeat stuff you've said in the essay in the exam, this created STRESS because I didn't know whether to risk it or not. In the end I did, but WHO KNOWS if it was allowed? I may email my tutor. I may simply send her a load of sad face smileys. I am worried that because of this I will not be allowed to go back to Oldenburg to study Dutch and the Brilliant Plan, which is almost exactly 1 year old, will CRUMBLE LIKE DUST. Or into dust. Dust doesn't crumble. We had the nicest invigilator in the world though. After I finished, she came to have a chat with me and wished me luck! And she's one of very few adult people I've met who's shorter than me. It is probably OK. I am watching Coronation Street now. WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITH BECKY AND STEVE????? Current Mood: stressed Tags: corrie, dutch literature, exams

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January 27th, 2010

08:02 pm - Delicious exams Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz *fall on keyboard* I am quite exhausted. I have a theory that what's keeping me awake is the boiler outside, because it hums constantly except you don't really notice it by day because you have the telly on, but at night, IT IS REALLY LOUD. So I bought earplugs. The lady in Boots asked me to do an online survey, and I had to say whether my interaction with her 'was the service I'd expect from Boots', 'made my day', 'made my week', or 'CHANGED MY LIFE'. I said that it made my day although to be honest, it probably didn't. I mean, she was friendly and everything, but it wasn't like she embraced me and gave me some wisdom that I could hold onto forever. Anyway, the exam. The first exam I've done in a year, and the first with the university I've done in well over one and a half years. It was OK, really. I mean, I do resent doing philosophy as part of my degree when I applied for German and Philosophy in first year, and then GAVE UP the philosophy bit so I would never have to do it again, but it's my own fault for chosing that module. I am more of a linguistics lady, I think. Dialects are what excite me. I know exactly how that sounds, and I don't care. AND the delicious food after the exam with the very lovely people that I ate it with made up for any bad things that happened in the exam. Like me writing about Nordic and Hindu gods in an attempt to disprove Feuerbach. We'll ignore that. Two more exams to go. I have to do well in Dutch Lit on Friday. Because I'm kind of planning to do a Master's in it. I also have to do a TRANSLATION EXAM INTO GERMAN. As every respectable translator knows, you don't translate that way round- from your native language into another one. It is NOT DONE. It is TABOO. So that's what I'm going to write all over the exam paper. Current Mood: sleepy Tags: delicious food, exams, insomnia

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January 24th, 2010

09:02 pm - TEDIUM I AM VERY BORED OF REVISION. Or more accurately, of thinking of activities to do to avoid revision (dying my hair, watching many, many episodes of Come Dine With Me). I might watch the Godfather trilogy again, and pretend to be Don Corleone. I don't want to be in Britain anymore. I want to go on another cabbage walk. I might do my own one, in my room. I'd need cabbage, and a lot of alcohol.  The looming exams are making me scared. What if I just look at the exam paper and think "What's the point?", and run away, laughing madly to myself? Maybe I shall try and learn another language. That's a good thing to do in times of crisis. OR I COULD ESCAPE SHEFFIELD AND NOT DO MY EXAMS AT ALL. Or make a cup of tea. Current Location: Shef Current Mood: worried Tags: cabbage, crisis, tea

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January 23rd, 2010

09:01 pm - Painful kidneys I am watching Take Me Out, which I first saw in the Netherlands and is one of those 'guilty pleasure' kind of things. Another Dutch import we have, I think. Along with Dating in the Dark.  O vey. Anyway, I'm back in the Shef, which evokes a mixture of angst-ridden emotions. I think it's the transition from being one of six children to just being one independentish adult. If that makes sense. Both Katies come with their various advantages and disadvantages, I suppose, it's just that it feels like there's a massive gulf between them. PLUS I seem to be arguing with my mum on an increasingly regular basis, which is especially BAD considering we got on OK when I was a grumpy teenager, and I'm supposed to be so much wiser now. My kidneys ache, poor kidneys. *strokes kidneys* Current Location: Shef Current Mood: tired Tags: angst, dutch tv, emo katie, kidneys

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January 22nd, 2010

12:01 am - Ready McRead-Read I finished the very long German book I was reading (which is called Neue Vahr Süd)! I read all those German words, with my own eyes! And I understood (some of) them! An unfortunate side-effect was that I became a bit too immersed in German and spoke English, but using German word order (It's nothing with her to do! Outside rains it very!). Also, the reason I chose to immerse myself in this book, which was incidentally a good and recommendable book, was because I didn't want to do any work and I was pretending to myself that it'd be good preparation for my translation exam, although if any of the new words I learnt as a result of this book come up in the exam, I will be SURPRISED. These words include Kram, Schrott and Macker. None of these words will be on the exam. The exam will only be formed of words like congealed and wainscoting. I'm just going to Germanify all the words I don't know. I'm going schopping tomorrow. To buy schoes. Current Mood: crazy Tags: books, german, katie's gone crazy

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January 19th, 2010

02:30 pm - Helaas The revision is not going too well. Revising at home is impossible due to room having been turned into a rudimentary gym, and revising in the library is basically impossible due to the high proportion of IDIOTS who spend time there, loudly. I have developed an unfair, irrational hatred of Georg Lukacs and all his philosophy. And a slightly more rational hatred of my German grammar book. I sat down, ready to take on the dative case. I read this: Er verkaufte mir seinen alten Opel But think I've read this: Er verkaufte mir seinen alten Opa Yes, I think this guy, whoever he is, is selling me his old grandpa. At that point, I gave up on revision. Me and the German language are not designed for each other. I feel like I'm trapped in a very unhappy marriage. To the German language. There are times when I remember why we started this relationship in the first place, like when I'm listening to some very brilliant German music and I realise I love it, but most of the time it's like we hate each other, or at the very least tolerate each other, and I'm having an affair with the DUTCH language because it makes me feel better about myself, or at least, it doesn't make me feel like a total idiot. I am talking absolute rubbish. My sanity is always under a certain amount of strain during the exam period. I'll go and make a cup of tea now. Current Mood: intimidated Tags: german, katie's gone crazy, revision

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January 17th, 2010

08:20 pm - Beloved readers I did one of them statistics-tracking things (the voice in my head currently has a Yorkshire accent, it'll pass soon, I hope) and have made the happy discovery that more than 3 people read this very blog*! In fact, more than 10! It said it was 25 new people today, but I think many of them were people refreshing the page. Even so, ES FREUT MICH SEHR (the voice in my head has become German) that there are people who read this, maybe on a regular basis, maybe of their own free will. Actually, I recently discovered that I'm one of the first Google hits for 'Bodderkoken'. I consider this an achievement. I do feel like I should be more careful about spelling/trying to give the impression of sanity, now that I'm basically the most famous person ever. Or I'll just surrender to my inner (and outer) lunacy. Off to Shef tomorrow for 1 day only. Then off to Shef properly next week. I do not like this. It means I have to do exams, which are very BORING, and which scare me quite a lot. HOWEVER, Kalms sleeping pills work reasonably well for me. Swings and roundabouts. *Not that there's anything wrong with the tiny group of people I knew read this. I am very fond of them too. Current Mood: excited Tags: fame, sheffield, sleep

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January 16th, 2010

04:04 pm - Bakery It is: 1. Cabbage-walk season 2. Exam season The combination of the two led me to avoid any work by creating this ( Culinary delights ) They are called Bodderkoken. My recipe was in Plattdeutsch. I think I certainly win for being able to understand about half of it, and guessing all the rest with reasonable success. I've followed recipes in English that have gone far wronger than that. Current Mood: busy Tags: baking, bodderkoken, cabbage, exam, kohlfahrt

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January 15th, 2010

04:03 pm - Meme theft I couldn't resist nicking one of the plethora of memes floating around LJ at the moment. So I did. It's this, or listen to me moan about how I hadn't really slept in ABOUT 48 HOURS and how I went down to the pharmacy at 7am in the snow, more or less unaware of what I was doing, then got many sleeps due to new and beloved sleeping pills. ( Meme better than moaning )   Current Mood: okay Tags: insomnia, lulgezicht, meme, sleep

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January 13th, 2010

11:05 am - OH STUPID There is little more frustrating than doing battle until the early hours to try and fall asleep, and then being kept awake by the early-morning stupid birds. At least, I think they were birds. I started hallucinating slightly at about the 5am mark. There may have been no birds. It was EVEN STUPIDER because I managed to start worrying about potential oppressive loneliness on my potential emigration to Germany. At 10.56am this sounds very pathetic, but at 4.30am this was one of the most scary things ever. What if there is nobody I can ramble on to? Being lonely in your own country, and being lonely in a different country, both of which I have experience of, are two very different things, and the latter is scarier because there are more barriers between you and everyone else, especially linguisticy barriers, and it's TERRIFYING not to be able to express yourself properly in a different language. At least, it was terrifying a few hours ago before sleep. Now it seems a little bit more like my paranoid ramblings. I think I am going to find coffee, which never fails to make me feel calm and sensible (that was sarcasm).  Current Mood: pessimistic Tags: paranoia, potential emigration, scared katie, scary

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January 12th, 2010

04:49 pm - Oooooh technology I have a new phone. My old phone, which I bought in GERMANY, went insane over the course of the year in which I had it. First it stopped actually ringing when certain people called me, but not others. For other people, it was silent for a bit and then rang once or twice, meaning I had to be pretty quick to answer, otherwise I'd miss their call. Then the call function stopped altogether- whenever I rang someone, they couldn't hear me, but I could hear them. And finally, last month, it stopped being about to receive text messages and just sent me garbled lunacy instead. So under pressure from my dad, who's under the impression that he's Stephen Fry and loves technology (and the fact that despite being very old, he knows more about technology than I do) I bought a Complicated Phone with a Touch Screen. I am really scared. I think I like this phone, but it does so many clever things. Like it can tell you where you are on a map. Like that famous philosopher, Marcuse, I do not like technology that is so much cleverer than me.  I think I am going to do a bit more Marcuse-related revision now. We like Marcuse. Lukacs, not so much. Current Mood: scared Tags: philosophy, phones, revision, technology

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January 10th, 2010

05:36 pm - KrankZiekIll I have been ILL and WEAK and FED UP all day, little potatoes, which is NOT FUN because I was supposed to be learning stuff today. To make up for not doing any work, I've been reading a book in German. I've mentioned it 50 million times before, but I am more or less illiterate in German. My spoken German's probably better than my spoken Dutch, but I can read books in Dutch MUCH easier than in German. Which is a pain, because I generally prefer reading to speaking anyway, and in addition it's hard to improve my German reading skillz as I have found very few German authors I like (I hate Krimis). Anyway, where was I? Yes, books. This one's nigh on 600 pages, I'm currently in the 70s. It might take me millions of years, but if I read a proper book in German I'll be proud of myself. Nevermind the fact that this language has been tormenting me I've been learning this language for 8 years, and should be reading Goethe and Mann every day. WAS NOCH have I been doing? I have sent away the scholarship application. I am scared. They might send it back to me, together with a picture of their sneering faces. Or it might be fine, that might happen too. Tomorrow, in further work avoidance efforts, I'm going to buy proper coffee. Current Mood: sore Tags: books, coffee, scholarship

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January 9th, 2010

06:40 pm - The craziness looms I have gone quite insane, meisjes. I have forgotten how to use English. I was talking to my parents about that wife of the Unionist MP who had the affair* with that young guy. My words: "The Daily Mail said he was Chinese". A slight pause. "I mean, that he was a teenager".  My poor little head. It's because I've been reading Hammer's German Grammar and Usage all day. It has sent me crazy. It may also be the fact that I'm stuck in the house with the massive family.  It might be, actually. Living with 7 other people you're closely related to can create havoc. It's amazing how each of the seven people can annoy you in subtley different ways. I am mostly hiding from them and trying to learn stuff so I pass my exams, but it's not going too well because I get distracted by the Wikipedia entry on Finnish grammar, and 4 hours later, I'm still sitting there reading about grammatical cases I've never even heard of. Chances are I'd find it much less interesting if I was doing a Finnish degree. In fact, I'd probably be looking at the Wikipedia entry on German grammar and thinking about how interesting it was. Here is a snippet of fun grammar for you: Sie strich dem Jungen übers Gesicht (she ran her hand over the boy's face) Sie strich über das Gesicht des Jungen  (she ran her hand over the boy's face, but ONLY if the boy is dead, unconscious or remains for some other reason unaffected by the face-stroking) AND WHY IS THIS???? BECAUSE OF THE DATIVE FECKING CASE, THAT'S WHY!!!!!!! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH DESTROY!!!!!!!! *Irish Catholic family=special kind of unholy glee where such matters are concerned Current Mood: confused Tags: grammar, katie's forgotten english, katie's gone crazy

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January 5th, 2010

01:00 am - Happy New Year To Yooooou Having recovered from my GIANT HANGOVER, I have once again deigned to update my blog. I jest about the hangover, as I learnt my lesson about over-indulging at the New Year when I was 14 and had a hangover which lasted THREE DAYS, because I had drunk Barcardi which had gone off. I was, and remain, a classy lady. Anyway, I am not here to witter on about my sporadic drinking, I am here to list the things I hope will happen this year: -Getting the beloved scholarship which would solve my financial woes and stop me living off my parents, who would in turn be able to put another child through university. -Perhaps experiment with a hair colour other than red. I think my only real option is black. We'll see. -Passing this degree of mine with sanity more or less intact. -Emigrate with great success, remembering to pack ample supplies of tea, and being a wonderful cultural ambassador. -Oooh, perhaps I'll get a hairstyle other than the one I've had my whole life. -I might buy more dresses too. This list has become a silly list because I'm getting distracted by thinking about dresses, SORRY. I will go to bed and dream of DRESSES. Current Mood: contemplative Tags: dreaming, dresses, new year, plans for the future

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