Still trying to catch up

[gothikmaus]

I finally have some time to post a short recap of my last 5 days in Berlin. I did a lot of sightseeing with my parents, who had never been there. They loved the city, my dad kept saying "It's so green! And public transport is amazing!" My mum's highlight was the zoo: I didn't want to go at first, because I find zoos very sad, but it was a nice day in the end and I took a lot of photos. The animals weren't locked in small cages and they had a decent amount of open air space, but I still think they looked bored and sad, especially the felines and monkeys.

My dad's highlight was the Champions League final Inter vs Bayern München, which we won 2-0. As I didn't have a TV at home (oh God, it's so weird using the past tense when I talk about my flat in Berlin ._.) we watched it in a pub. Thank God I had booked a table, the place was packed. And we were the only Italians and Inter supporters: you could see my black and blue shirt at once among all those red jerseys. Funny facts of the night:

- whenever one of our players fell down, a guy sitting at the table next to ours shouted "Mailänder Scala!" I wanted to point out that La Scala is an Opera theatre, so people don't really act there, they sing, but that might have been a bit too subtle for a football-obsessed brain to comprehend. :P

- both goals were scored just after I'd ordered something to drink for my dad. His comment: "They're lucky I don't drink as much as I used to when I was younger, if I did, we would've scored at least 5 more goals!"

- after the first goal, the above mentioned guy told the waiter "The people at that table said they want to pay and go away". I heard him and replied "No, we don't wanna go anywhere." Haha, he wasn't expecting that. Just because I speak Italian with my parents doesn't mean I can't speak German.

Other than that, I didn't have much time, but I was able to meet Nicole twice and say goodbye to Eline too. I've already written about the last 2 days, luckily everything turned out well.

I still can't believe I'm back. It feels like yesterday when I went to Berlin to look for a flat in August, but it's been 9 months. Let's see what happens next.

I'm terribly behind with the 30 days music meme, I could as well post all the remaining songs at once. But I won't.


30 days music meme

Day 20: A song that you listen to when you’re angry
"Disintegration", The Cure

This song starts rather quite and grows more and more intense, I find it very cathartic.

Day 21: A song that you listen to when you’re happy
"Himmelblau", Die Ärzte

I always have this song in my MP3 player when I'm going to some concert and I associate it with a lot of positive memories. If I'm happy and listen to it, I become even happier.

Day 22: A song that you listen to when you’re sad
"The origin of love", Hedwig and the Angry Inch OST

This song used to make me cry and since I like to wallow in my woe-is-me feeling when I'm sad, this is the perfect song to listen to and get even more depressed.

Past days and the rest:

Day 01: Your favourite song
"Heroes", David Bowie

Day 02: Your least favourite song
"Ad ogni costo", Vasco Rossi.

Day 03: A song that makes you happy
"Friday I'm in love", The Cure.

Day 04: A song that makes you sad
"Beautiful", Christina Aguilera.

Day 05: A song that reminds you of someone
"We're in this together", Nine Inch Nails

Day 06: A song that reminds you of somewhere
"Free", Ultra Nate

Day 07: A song that reminds you of a certain event
"Traumfrau", Bela B

Day 08: A song that you know all the words to
"Alla fiera dell'est", Angelo Branduardi

Day 09: A song that you can dance to
"Saturday night", Whigfield

Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep
"Lullaby", The Cure

Day 11: A song from your favorite band
"Junge", Die Ärzte

Day 12: A song from a band you hate
"Ma il cielo è sempre più blu", Giusy Ferreri

Day 13: A song that is a guilty pleasure
"Bettina", Fettes Brot

Day 14: A song that no one would expect you to love
"Amore di plastica", Carmen Consoli

Day 15: A song that describes you
"Rebell", Die Ärzte

Day 16: A song that you used to love but now hate
"La mia moto", Jovanotti

Day 17: A song that you hear often on the radio
"Horchata", Vampire Weekend

Day 18: A song that you wish you heard on the radio
"Ziggy Stardust", David Bowie

Day 19: A song from your favorite album
"Pictures of you", The Cure

Day 23: A song that you want to play at your wedding
Day 24: A song that you want to play at your funeral
Day 25: A song that makes you laugh
Day 26: A song that you can play on an instrument
Day 27: A song that you wish you could play
Day 28: A song that makes you feel guilty
Day 29: A song from your childhood
Day 30: Your favorite song at this time last year


And a wallpaper meme I saw on Jenny's LJ.

THE RULES:
- Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal.
- Explain in five sentences why.
- Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!



This is the wallpaper I have on my home PC, not my laptop: Luca e Paolo, two of my favourite Italian comic actors. I chose this pic after seeing their theatre play back in January, "The Passion according to Luca e Paolo", which I loved. They just happened to be in Milan when I was here as well and I thought that lucky coincidence needed some celebration. In this pic they are dressed up as two cockroaches that live in the area around the cross where Jesus died. I used to have my current LJ header pic as desktop wallpaper, but I wanted something new and chose this photo also because it was the chromatic opposite of the old one.

I'm going to change it though and I already know what my new wallpaper will be:

Comments

[angrylogic.livejournal.com]

Hedwig is brilliant :D I love that song!

I thought that about the apes and felines at the zoo when I was there too. It's good to see that the zoo is making a lot of ongoing improvements though, and they're not just leaving it the way it is. The problem with city zoos is that they don't have space to expand, so they have to work around what they have. It's definitely not the worst zoo I've ever seen!

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

It was quite clear the apes were bored, you just had to look at them, their eyes were so expressive. And there was a small feline, about the size of a cat, that kept pacing around restlessly. We also visited the aquarium and seeing the shark tank made me extremely sad: sharks are supposed to have a lot of space and, while the tank wasn't small, it wasn't big enough either.

Seeing wild animals so close is interesting and everything, and the zoo in Berlin is said to be one of the best in Europe, but I still feel bad for the animals.

[angrylogic.livejournal.com]

Zoos are weird places. They no longer suit the reason why they were originally built, but they've not adapted enough to flourish and be good at what they are trying to be these days, whether it's because of money or space. I read a really sad story about a zoo in Kiev where a lot of the animals are being poisoned by people throwing baited food into their enclosures :( The worst part of all is that a lot of people were saying it was "for the best" because the zoo is that bad, it was the only way the animals could get any sort of release from it. I didn't really know what to make of it. It's quite tragic from start to finish.

I think the selling points for zoos like "It's the only place where you will ever see a real life tiger" are pretty bullshit. You're not supposed to see real life tigers in the middle of cities, and if you care that much about seeing one in the first place, you'll pay the thousand and invest the thousands of hours of your own life in trying to catch a glimpse of one. Just like when someone who has been bitten by a shark while pissing about on a surf board, a huge man hunt is put out to kill the beast. WTF, the shark is just being a shark. It didn't do it to be mean, and you don't see sharks on buses. Stay out of its territory and it won't come into yours >:(

[achtanablah.livejournal.com]

OMG, I'm totally using that Du bist DÄOF picture as my wallpaper too. Where did you find that? And which day was?

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

It comes from the DÄOF Advent Calendar, maybe you can still find it somewhere on the DÄOF website? Or I could send you the bigger version if you need it. I don't know on what day the pic was taken, but maybe it was the day when we were in the front row, I remember the guys on the very left in the pic where standing right next to us.

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Awwww, Wuhlheide :')

[schwimmerin.livejournal.com]

Did you go to the Zoo or the Tierpark? I think the Tierpark is a lot nicer, actually, and less crowded.

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

We went to the Zoo. It wasn't too crowded, we went on the Friday before Pentecost and most tourists arrived on Saturday. My mum was excited like a little girl. :)

[gothikmaus.livejournal.com]

Word of the day: attractive! ;)

[achtanablah.livejournal.com]

That would be great, thanks:)