Berlin

So next week I'll move to Berlin to begin my internship, and I'm actually pretty excited.  I found an apartment for a decent price within walking distance of my work, which will save me a good chunk of money, and hopefully I have a cool roommate. I still don't know exactly what the room looks like, I've only seen 2 pictures online, and I pretty much took the apartment based on price and location, and because it fit the amount of time I was going to be in Berlin perfectly. I'll start working at the Free Software Foundation of Europe and even though I still do not exactly know what tasks I'll be doing, I'm still quite excited to work. I think the theme is very important and interesting, and most importantly it'll get me some experience working in an digital content related field. And with any luck, I'll be able to find a job or other good work experience somewhere else in Berlin or Bonn.  I think it would great to work at a smaller digital content rights organization, like the Creative Commons or something, but I don't know how likely that is. In reality, I would take any job as long as they pay enough for me to actually make a little money, rather than borrowing from people.

So during these next 3 months of internship, I'll have a lot of applications to write to find a real job for after the internship ends, but I'm optimistic, for now.

Das Auto

One of the nice things about summer is that its warm enough for all the nice cars and motorcycles to come out of winter storage.  While I was in Erfurt, I didn't see, or maybe didn't pay attention, to too many nice old cars except for the old commie, East German car, the Trabant. But since moving to Bonn, especially in my particular neighborhood, I've seen tons of cool cars I've never seen before. I'm a big fan of the old Mercedes-Benz sedans in all shapes and sizes. My favorites have been the S200 or S220 (I think) and there are a couple nice ones on our very street. Like this baby blue one.

There is another one, that is slightly older than this one in dark gray with some big ol' tail light fins. But I didn't take a picture of it because it's not is super great condition. And for some reason both still have a horseshoe stuck to the grill. I read that sometimes Mercedes-Benz will award badges to cars with a certain number of miles on it, but the horseshoe is probably related to some other club or organization.  

Also around the corner from my apartment I've seen this hilarious little 3-wheel transport car, called the Piaggio Ape, that looks just like this picture, but in white. I used to pass by it all the time on my runs and it always cracked me up because it was so little! I can't imagine even sitting in it. I guess it makes sense in some old Italian cities with tiny streets for delivering newspapers or milk or something, but now it is just a novelty car.

Lastly I've seen a few cool motorcycles and mopeds around, and now I really want a moped. When I was biking in the next town over I saw some girl with long blue hair and lots of piercings driving a Simson s50 or s51 which seemed like a super moped or a really small motorcycle. I couldn't catch a picture of it, but I saw it up close and it seemed really really cool. I really like the seat and the size. Fast enough to have a lot of fun, and but hopefully small enough I don't need a motorcycle license if I try to pick one up.  Any thoughts, Nash?

The final cool moped I've seen around a lot is a Zündapp moped. It's exactly like this picture, with that shiny blue finish and rack and all. Of course German automobiles are the best, they are so sweet to look at! 

Post-thesis-post

Yeaaaaaah... we finally made it into August, which means there is approximately 2 weeks of summer left in Germany before it returns to being 50 degrees and cloudy most of the time. I finished my thesis on time with the help from my sister and support from Erika. I don't think it was a super great thesis, but it was good enough. I'm proud that wrote nearly 22,000 words in a comprehensible fashion, and better yet, I feel like I am quite knowledgeable about net neutrality and recent FCC broadband policy. So, woo! Shortly after I submitted my thesis, Erika took a long vacation from work and we got to spend 3 weeks together in a sort of summer honeymooning phase before I head off to Berlin for my internship.  But for lack of disposable income, we spent most our time in and around Bonn, and became much more acquainted with our city.  We spent a lot of that time near the Rhein river, it being a major geographical highlight of the area.  Beaches, picnics, hills, bike riding, people watching, clouds, sunsets, and wine all topped the list of our major priorities and here is some evidence to show it!