Jahreswechsel

These past holidays were a bit strenuous, but nice overall. I decided that, because I couldn't really afford to go back to the US, I would book a random flight using Germanwings' Blindbooking service and try to beat the holiday feels. I ended up getting a flight to Switzerland, which turned out to be an interesting experience

 

It snowed a LOT. But it was nicer than Berlin snow (which turns grey and gross after about half a day) I met up with a lot of nice Swiss people from Couchsurfing.com. My main takeaway from the whole experience is that Zurich is a very clean, luxurious, and expensive place. My hosts were all lovely and very hospitable, especially my friend who invited me to visit his family in Berne for Christmas itself.
I also got to see the friends that I made in Buenos Aires during a three-day stint I made back to Freiburg between Christmas and New Years. Despite some logistical awkwardness, I was really glad to see all of them after not seeing them since India (6 months ago!)

Now that I'm back in Berlin, I really have to dig in and focus on what I have to do: analyze my interview data, start writing, look for scholarships for my PhD, finish my application for this fellowship in Egypt, and flesh out any other options I might have after successfully finishing my thesis in August/September. Reality is coming, I just have to be ready for it.