Five Favorites: Post-Exam-Elation!

last lecture of the semester!

It over! Today is the last day of this semester and my last exam is behind me.  Without diminishing or disrespecting the civil rights movement in any way, I would like to sing out: free at last, free at last, thank God almighty I'm free at last! Thanks for bearing with me during my moments of frustration and complaining. Those last few weeks felt like a sprint at the end of a marathon, but all went well and now....

Well. Now....what? The end of the semester always feels a little anticlimactic. Yes, we go out to celebrate but sometimes crossing the finish line still feels like deflating a balloon. So in an effort to really savor the moment, here are five totally trivial things I will especially enjoy doing again now that these exams are over.

1. Doing Laundry. ie, wearing clothes that are truly clean and not some acceptable approximation of the concept.  I have to say, Karl has been a hero on the home front,  keeping the fridge full, the dishes washed, and the laundry basket below overflowing level while I've been buried behind textbooks. Still, the prospect of extending my wardrobe beyond those last-choice-everything-else-is-dirty options will be a joy.

2. Get moving. While I generally try to squeeze a healthy amount of exercise into an average week, I have to admit it's the first thing that goes when I get busy. I insist on walking/biking to school or the library so that I'm active and out in the fresh air at least twice a day, but I'm excited to really get my sweat on and see how my badly-neglected body does after these weeks at a desk (often slumped over. Sorry,  lower back!)

3. Binge watch shows. Don't even tell me what Olivia Pope is up to right now. Seriously. No spoilers.

4. Cooking and eating something that takes more than 10 minutes to make.  Unlike the early years of medical school, I still eat pretty healthy during exam time, but usually it's something veggy and bulgar/quinoa-y that can be thrown together super quickly. I made the mistake of bringing these delicious cookies with me to the library a few weeks ago and Sophie and I cajoled the guys into baking these amazing brownies for us -- on two different occasions. But other than that, I've been good about eating right lately, despite exam stress. I'm so happy with myself about this -- mens sana in corpore sano, and I feel much better during those marathon study sessions when my body is fueled by real food and not bloated from a salt-and-vinegar-chips binge.

5. Catch up on news. I didn't even know there was a solar eclipse today until it was too late -- that's how out of the loop I am. I can't wait to sit down with my laptop and find out what has been going on in the world since I went into library hibernation. Israeli elections? Some kind of magical, color-changing dress? I am waaaay behind right now!

Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Five Favorite ways to welcome spring, things about my birthday, and romantic movies!

Five Favorites: Welcoming Spring

Berlin, decked out in springtime!

There's a freshness in the air around me and I've already felt a couple rays of sunshine soaking the vitamin D back into my skin....my friends, I do believe spring is right around the corner!

In light of all the complaining I did about this long, long winter, I think it's time to be a little more positive and at least enjoy that it's finally ending. Truthfully, it wasn't all cold and rainy and depressing: I loved skiing in the alps, celebrating valentine's day and my birthday, baking up a storm, and spending those long winter evenings having fun with friends.  Actually, when I write it out like that, counting my blessings like ducks in a row, I kind of hate myself for all the moaning and groaning. What are a few frozen toes when life is as lovely as this?!

So now, I'm going to be carpe diem-ing it up a little more.  Here are my favorite "firsts" for spring.

1. The first time you're outside and realize your jacket is way to warm and have to take it off.  Such a little thing, so much joy. This happened two days ago and I swear I was walking down the street wearing a sweater and the hugest of smiles!

2. The first time you wake up on a weekday and it's light outside.  Okay, nature get's a little help from daylight saving time with that one, but still, how good does it feel to get up when it's not pitch black?

3. The first time you voluntarily spend more time outside than necessary. I took the long way to the supermarket the other day, just to enjoy the sunshine a little longer. I haven't taken the long way since October! It's a whole 'nother twenty minutes!  Whoohoo!

4. The first ice cream cone.  Woah, I might be getting ahead of myself here. I haven't crossed this milestone yet but it won't be long now and I can't wait.  It's going to be chocolate all the way!

5. The first time you leave the house in ballerinas instead of boots.  Summer clothes! Skirts and dresses and bare legs!  I tried to explain to Karl how amazing it's going to be to just throw on a summer dress and flip flops and go. He didn't get it at all. Is it just a girl thing to get excited to bust out some summer outfits again?

Zelda in Sicily last summer

Here's Zelda last summer in Sicily, rocking the summer look. At least my sister will always get me, even if the prospect of shorts doesn't exhilarate the boy in my life quite as much as it does me. Sisters always understand!

 

Look up at the Sky!

Zanna

PS. Five favorite ways to procrastinate and ways to save!

Five Favorites: Procrastination

birthday flowers, brightening up my room!

Well, it's exam time again here at our friendly neighborhood medical school, and as always, I am finding time to do everything besides study. That's because I am one of the world's best procrastinators. I eventually sit down and get to it, obviously, because long hours in the library with a textbook are the only path through medical school. But before I pull myself together, I'm fabulous at doing just about anything else.  

Here are some of my favorite ways to push off studying.  I highly recommend them for anyone looking to create an inefficient and frustrating exam-prep experience!

1. Clean room, organize shelves, rearrange desk ect. This is particularity great if you want the feeling of being productive while actually avoiding the task at hand.

2. Spend time researching some rare pediatric mutation in glorious detail instead of focusing on the relevant material. If it's a topic I find interesting, an hour flies by. If it's boring, I look up after an eternity and twelve minutes have passed.

3. Do laundry.  Fold each piece in lovingly instead of just shoving them in the closet like I usually do.  Pinking off lint is also time consuming.

4. Discuss the pros and cons of health care reform in excruciating detail. Always great if you have med school friends who are attempting to avoid studying with as much dedication as you are.

5. Bake cookies! I tried these ones, recommended by Naomi from Love Taza. We brought a bunch to the library with us and an empty tupperware back. Way too delicious!
 

chocolate chip cookies: keeping blood sugar and spirits up since 1938!

Other common pastimes for when I should really be studying include writing thank you notes for birthday gifts, bickering unnecessarily with Karl, spending a lot of time deciding what to make for dinner, leafing through recipe books, wondering why the fridge is empty, and using exam stress as an excuse not to go grocery shopping. I'm a procrastination champ!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Five Favorite Birthday Things, Ways to Save, Romantic Movies, Parlour Games, and Vacation Destinations! 

PPS. Last semester's exam week here!

Five Favorites: Birthday Edition!

 

Blindfolded at my 21st Birthday Party

I love my own birthday. I just do. I know that sometime after you turn twelve, this is supposed to subside. What can I say? I'm immature. 

Today, Karl and I are heading to Berlin to celebrate my birthday family-style. This evening we have tickets to see Igor Levit perform Beethoven's sonatas, and I am so excited! Levit is an incredibly talented, up-and-coming pianist and it's such a stroke of luck he's performing the day before I turn twenty-three! As for the rest of the weekend...I think Karl has a couple surprises up his sleeve (he's the worst secret keeper ever) and whatever we end up doing to celebrate, I'm happy to be spending this day with him and with my lovely family.

Now for my Five Favorite Birthday Things:

1. CAKE. My dad always makes me an amazingly decadent and buttery chocolate tart from the incomparable cookbook, From Simple to Spectacular. Yum!

2. PRESENTS. My style for the year is basically defined by what my fashion-guru of a younger sister gives me for Xmas and Bday. Thanks for that, Zelda! Sorry you had to explain what an ombre is to this trend-ignoramus sister of yours. And my Mom is a pretty amazing gift-giver as well.

3. REFLECTION.  I love looking back over the last year, like we do at New Years and on birthdays, and really taking stock of the grace and blessings in our lives. Too often our gratefulness gets swept away by life's many small frustrations like papercuts and annoying cell phone ringtones. I try to grab any opportunity to put those little things aside and embrace this time as it flies by!

4. FUN PARTIES. When we get back, you betcha we're having a big ol' blow out. Above is a pic from my twenty first, and yes, that's me blindfolded and on the way to god knows what. Whether it's a crazy party or a group of friends gathering for some food and conversation, we love having everyone over for a good time.

5. GETTING OLDER. Nope, it's not my favorite, but in an effort to stop hating it, I'm putting it on the list! I started having serious angst about my birthdays passing when I turned 10 (double digits!) and it hasn't ceased since. But as much as I mourn how fast the years are going by, I know it only feels like that because we are having so. much. fun. every step of the way. So I am going to love every blink of an eye that passes before this time of year rolls around again...each blink is an immeasurably precious gift.

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

Breakfast table decked for a birthday (dark because it's 6:00AM in northern Europe)

PS. Five Favorite Ways to Save, Romantic Movies, Parlour Games (some even work for parties!), and Five Favorite Destinations for 2015!

Five Favorites: Ways to Save

Pete's Christmas gift currently graces our bathroom

This week's "five favorites" post stems from our very student-y budget constraints. Many of the things I love (great chocolate, fresh fruits and vegetables, organic meat, and most of all: trips) don't come cheap. Here are some tips Karl and I have gathered on how to make each Euro count!

1. DIY.  This is a "duh" suggestion that I never really took seriously until I started making my own bread (yum!) and realized how much dough we were saving (terrible pun intended). Now we're all about finding ways to add thoughtfulness and save pennies with DIY. We loved making  homemade holiday cards out of scraps and our low-key  Valentine's Day fit right in with this new philosophy.

2. Turn that thermostat down! Last winter, during the coldest week of the year, our heating broke down. We froze for seven days before it got fixed.  After some bitter complaining and several evenings spent exclusively in bed (the only warmish place in the apartment) we actually kind of...got used to it. To our surprise, we just sort of shifted from breakfast in PJs to breakfast in an Anorak. The couple seconds after a shower were hellish, but beyond that, we learned that when one is ensconced in fleece, cold is actually okay. Although we certainly cranked the heating up when it was finally fixed, we tend to keep the apartment about seven degrees colder than before...and now we save several hundred Euro a year, without minding at all!

3.Stay in! At the Sophie/Pete/Karl/Zanna house, we LOVE games. We've found an evening of poker or a snuggly movie night on the sofa is just as awesome as a fancy dinner out--for a fraction of the price!

4. Meatless Mondays...and Tuesdays...and Wednesdays.  My roommate Sophie is a vegetarian, and though the rest of us identify as carnivores, we only eat meat about once or twice a week. I tend to insist on organic, local, and free-range (for various ethical and health-related reasons) and that's about as expensive as it gets! So we have some morally righteous meat every now and then and enjoy eggs and other protein-laden, purse-friendly alternatives the rest of the week.

5. Car sharing.  It took me a while to warm up to this one, but Karl insisted, and now we use it for every car trip and have never looked back. When we travel as a couple, there are two empty seats in the back and it can cover the entire cost of gas to rent those out! We use the two most popular sites here in Germany, Mitfahrgelegenheit and Bla Bla Car, but we learned during our time in France and Switzerland that there are equivalent sites for most European countries. We're heading down south for some skiing this weekend, and the rides we have lined up will reimburse the whole car trip!

In addition to these tips, we also have a couple general rules, such as: no credit card debt, no bottled water, no magazine subscriptions, no take-out, no ATM-stops at non-affiliated banks, no brand-name products, ect.

One thing we NEVER agree on is handymen. Karl always thinks he can fix it, whatever "it" is, and I would rather just call an expert and not make it worse. We're still hashing that one out!

What about you? What are you favorite ways to save pennies and what's worth a splurge?

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna
 

PS. Very first "Five Favorites" here!

Five Favorites: Romantic Movies

Here's the deal: I love movies. Not so much the cars-exploding-someone-gets-gruesomely-killed-every-five-seconds kind, but the rest of them. My favorite movie last year was Boyhood, and if you haven't found time to see it yet--understandable for a movie with a running time of almost three hours--you MUST see it! Sorry, I hate gratuitous CAPS too, but I feel strongly about this one (see above, re: love movies).
 
When I was a kid we went to the movies almost every weekend (sometimes even back-to-back if Mom was out of town and Papa was presiding) but unfortunately that intensity of movie fandom isn't compatible with a student's budget.  Yes, I know, Netflix and iTunes and so on but its just not the same when its not the big screen!

Still, today, in honor of Valentines Day (which I'm not big into, to be honest, but more on that tomorrow) I have collected my five favorite love-centered movies of all time! 







1. Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968). This film is  beautifully shot, and actually won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Zeffirelli's trademark crowd scenes contrast with the simple, intimate moments in the play which allows the incomparable langauge and dialogues to take center stage. Employing actors close to the actual age of the characters was an unusual choice at the time, and I must say Olivia Hussey's naive but passionate Juliet is my all-time favorite on stage and screen. A perfect Valentine Date classic!
 

2.When Harry Met Sally (1989).  The deli scene is hilarious to the millionth power. As someone whose orders at restaurants can tend towards the picky (understatement of the year) and whose relationship processed in fits and starts while circling eachother warily,  I find a lot to relate to in this timeless comedy.
 

3. Barefoot in the Park (1967).  Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.  Need I say more?! This is a must for anyone who has ever lived in a high-floor walkup or moved in a partner only to discover some unanticipated clash points. Some movies just don't seem to age!

4.Notting Hill (1999). I know, I know, it's sappy (well, this whole list is über saccharine) but this is one of my absolute favorite romcoms. Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant make an adorable pair and the roommate Spike makes for great comic relief!

5. Some Like it Hot (1959). I can't believe it took me all the way to full-on-adulthood to watch this movie! And I can't believe I barely kept control of my bladder when I finally did! This crazy, convoluted masterpiece actually takes place right after the St. Valentine's Day massacre, not a romantic association to be sure, but doesn't that make it all the more appropriate for this special occasion?! I tend to think so...





 



Karl has to work from dawn till dusk tomorrow so we'll be celebrating Sunday night and I still can't decide what film will be on the program...what are your favorites? Would love to get tips and discover some new classics!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. More Five Favorites here, here, and here. 
PPS. Five Favorites inaugural post here.

Five Favorites: Parlour Games

"Set": one of my favorite games!

Yesterday, we spontaneously invited a couple friends over for dinner and ended up having a long and lovely evening with one of my all-time-favorite games: Set!  Playing together has such an invigorating effect on an evening...suddenly there is anticipatory tension in the air, regularly released by raucous laughter. The competitive juices start flowing and it's past midnight in the blink of an eye! I loved playing lots of board and car games with my family as a kid, and I'm so happy to continuing the tradition!

Here are my top five:

1. Set. Easy to set up, easy to learn, and easy to play with any number of players for any length of time.  This is the most versatile and fun game I've encountered in a long time. Its also great brain-training and far more aesthetically pleasing than most games I know (I'm looking at you, Candyland).

2. Apples to Apples. This is great for word-nerds like me! The only disadvantage is that all players must be native or almost-native speakers, which limits its use in our circle. This has always been one of my family's favorites, though. My sister Zelda even snuck our set away when she moved to Rotterdam, depriving us of one of our favorite games during the holiday season. I'm going to have to visit her soon to steal it back!

3. Monopoly. An oldie but goldie. I am incredibly bad at this game despite extensive strategizing. I can, however, hold on to cash for more than five minutes and balance a checkbook. Zelda almost always pulls off a win on the board but maxes out her account every month. Interesting, no?

4. Taboo. I love this because of the hilarious associations people have with random words. The best soliloquy yet has been an attempt by my dear friend Andrew to explain "Body Odor" by invoking Abe Lincoln (?!). Needless to say, nobody guessed it, but that might have been because we were all on the floor in stitches.

5. Charades. This is probably the game we play most often. It's super simple and best of all free! Just divide into two teams, grab a pen and paper, and start thinking of clues (the harder the better!). Things can get a bit racy if it's an all-adult game but lets be honest, that just adds to the fun. Hardest so far have been: 'infinity', 'Meryl Streep', and 'civil rights'.

What are some of your favorite games? I'd love some more recommendations!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna

PS. Karl loooooves Settlers of Catan, but I think its way to complicated!

PPS. More five favorites here and here and here.

Five Favorites: My Christmas Presents!

Well, the holiday season has come and gone and I have finally gotten around to actually enjoying the wonderful gifts that were waiting under the tree! I know people usually post about gifts before the holidays  when the recommendations could actually help someone out. I personally am a great fan of Cup of Jo's Gift Guides, especially this bike bell with fun sound effects which I plan to get my sister Zelda for her birthday (to the eternal disservice of all pedestrians on the streets of Rotterdam). However, being more talented at the gift-receiving portion of the festivities, I thought I'd share my favorites now, in great gratitude to the givers and in the hope they may help you if you ever find yourself in need of present ideas for a twenty-two year old medical student who likes to cook, read, travel, and get gifts.


1. Cartoon-a-day, Medical Edition. Super funny and almost always right on the money. So many of these daily cartoons put a  hilarious spin on situations I experience with patients almost every day. Others are just cool in their random ridiculousness. These exist for lawyers, teachers, and several other professions as well, so whatever your loved one does from nine to five, this is a fun and easy way to brighten their workday.

 2. Citrus press. 
It seems Karl's Mom is attempting to increase our Vitamin C intake! No, in all seriousness, this was one of the sweetest presents we got. A couple months ago, we were having breakfast at my boyfriend's parents' house and I commented that their orange juice was just delicious. It turns out they fresh press oranges every morning with this easy machine.  I always thought juicers were complicated and messy and impossible to effectively clean so I was overjoyed with this thoughtful gift. It's easy to use (even for technologically challenged me) and rinses out in ten seconds flat. Plus you feel fancy having fresh juice for breakfast on a weekday.

Pilgrimage by Annie Leibovitz

3. Pilgrimage by Annie Leibovitz. This is a wonderful gift from my mother which I will treasure forever. It's a beautiful book, a pleasure to leaf through-- and its biographical essence adds profundity to its aesthetic character.  Leibovitz photographs places she visited on her own account, not on assignment, connected to people that interest or inspire her. She travels from Thoreau's Walden Pond to Old Faithful to Monticello, following the footsteps and stories of Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Georgia O'Keeffe, Annie Oakley and Ansel Adams among many others. She captures Virgina Woolf's writing desk and Sigmund Freud's couch, seamlessly connecting the banal beauty of the physical object and the enormous significance attached to it.  Liebovitz herself said of the project, "...it was an exercise in renewal. It taught me to see again." Believe me, once you buy this book you'll also start to see in a whole new way.

4. Awesome Pencil Sharpener Carrot Peeler. Adorable. 'Nough said.

5. You Come Too, by Robert Frost. This was a gift from Papa, who shares my poetic soul. A great find for all Frost fans, this is a collection of his poems selected and curated by the poet himself.  My favorite has always been "Acquainted with the Night" but I've been reading a poem before bed every evening and loved yesterday's ("The Birthplace"), he so eloquently evokes a sense of cozy homes and carefree childhoods. It's great to explore and be exposed to more work by one of my favorite authors. 

What was the best gift you got this year?! I'd love to hear your favorites!

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna


PS. Five Things No One Knows About Me

PPS. More "Five Favorites" here, here, and here. 

Five Favorites: Destinations for 2015

The Eiffel Tower, Paris, April 2014 with Karl on a blisteringly cold, sunny day

As I this blog reflects, I love to travel! So to get me through the cold and gloomy winter we've been having, I like to fantasize about the places I'm longing to go. Some of these are just pipe dreams, some are in the process of being planned, and one or two are already booked! 2015 is turning out to be an exiting year, suitcase-wise.  Since this is my last year of formal medical school, I won't be having as much time off in the near future and I want to put these last twelve months of freedom to good use. So without further ado: my top five destinations for this year!

1.) Gdansk (Danzig), Poland. This was a Christmas gift from my darling Karl. Last year he gave me a long weekend trip to Prague and it was perfect! This year we'll be visiting one of the most beautiful cities in Poland. Right on the shore of the Baltic sea and almost perfectly preserved for centuries, I've been dying to set my eyes on this gem.  Its a bit of a drive from here, so we may have to break our trip in Berlin, but thats just a added bonus from my perspective!

2.) Kruger National Park, South Africa. This one is booked, and I'm beyond excited! We decided as a family to celebrate my parents' 25th wedding anniversary with a trip. The four of us got together to start planning the party and we just realized: this is so dang expensive and its just for one night! we could go on a big huge faraway adventure for the same price! And the decision was made.

3.) The Kingdom of Swaziland. Must start reading about Swaziland, sadly under-informed.

4.) Mozambique. The last stop on our trip. The beaches are pristine, the snorkeling is fantastic (although I always find it weird, the sensation of having your face in the water and yet being able to breathe) and the capital of this former Portuguese colony, Maputo, is supposed to be an up and coming center of African chic! Zelda is sure to find some unique clothing pieces which I will then promptly borrow/steal as sisters are wont to do.

5.) US of A. This one is half planned half wishful thinking. The thing about growing up half on one side of the Atlantic and half on the other is that you always seem to be homesick for somewhere. I miss brownies, skyscrapers, cowboy hats and California highways. I miss the way "have a great day" sounds in an American accent and I miss CHERRIO, which THEY DO NOT SELL HERE, most of all! Also, Karl has never been and it would mean so much to me to show the man I love the country I adore. So let's hope. And we'll see.

Look up at the Sky! 

-Zanna

Five Favorites: DIY Holiday Cards

I'm all done with exams and finally made it to the post office to drop off good wishes to friends and family near and far. Usually I send store bought cards with a photo or whip something up with an easy online template. But not this year! This year I sat down with Karl, my roommate Sophie and her boyfriend Pete and we just crafted our incompetent little hearts out. The good thing is, some very talented DIYers have posted wonderfully simple instructions online and with their help and a few ideas of our own, we were on our way. All our cards were super easy to make, just add the holiday greeting of your choice and drop it in the mail! Here are my favorite five:

Number One

Number Three

Number Two

Number Five

Number Four

Number Five was Pete's very ingenious solution to all the bits and pieces we had at the end of the evening. I actually think the leftover-scraps-card became my favorite one!

 Look up at the Sky!

--Zanna

Five Favorites

So often I get bogged down in all the rainy old busyness of life and start counting my have-nots and my I-wishes more than my many blessings! So I'm going to try a nice easy gratefulness remedy half-lifted from one of my childhood favorites, The Sound of Music: a simple list of, say, five favorite things every Friday. 

Five Activities to Get Out of a Dead-of-Winter Funk 

1.) Take a long walk in the woods, alone or with a somebody. We did this a few weeks ago while visiting Karl's family and even though it was cold and crunchy instead of wintery and wonderland-y, I could just feel it doing me good! There's a lovely quote in one of the Sissi movies that goes: "Wenn du einmal im Leben Kummer und Sorgen hast, dann geh mit offenen Augen durch den Wald." Which roughly translates as: When you have stress and suffering in life, take a walk through the forest with open eyes." And I must say, corny as it is (and corny is pretty much the calling card of all the Sissi Movies) it holds true for me. Something about nature just gets me back on the right track!

2.) Make holiday cards for friends and family! I am not anywhere near as crafty as those amazing DIYers out there but even with our very limited skill set, Karl, Sophie, Pete and I enjoyed sitting down together earlier this week and throwing some glitter and yarn at colored paper. Makes you feel like a kid again and I think recipients appreciate the extra personal touch. (Stay tuned, I may work up the courage to show off our amateur handiwork)

3.) Bake cookies. Duh! Then eat all the dough and have to make a new batch.

4.) Listen to Christmas music...from somewhere else! Whether you discover a new favorite advent tune or have fun hearing familiar songs in  foreign tongues, this is definitely one to try. I love introducing non-native English speakers to Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire. It's not well know outside the US but I think it perfectly captures the Christmas spirit everywhere! I recommend trying Es ist ein Ros Entsprungen, a beautiful Marian Hymn from 1609 and I think of all languages Silent Night is most transporting in french: Douce Nuit, Sainte Nuit.

5.) Write it down! Since I started this blog as a way to keep myself accountable to a diary of sorts, this one is big for me. Have you're family write a one page Christmas journal to be sealed up until next year. Then, you can all open them and see what 2014 felt like in the moment, and what you're hopes for 2015 were. Then rinse and repeat! In a few years you'll have lots of letters to read through and a festive chronicle of the years going by. 

Hopefully I'll get through these favorite five in time for Christmas, or at least start smelling the roses more while trying.

Look up at the Sky!

-Zanna