Oh my, so many things to tell, so little time to tell them. It has been absolutely ages since I posted and so much has happened in the meantime. Well, I guess I will stick to a summary of events. I will post pictures later, because many of the things that happened deserve a picture to be shown!
So, the most important thing that happened was my trip to Milan in order to defend my Dissertation. It went really well and I am now officially Dr. OJ! Obviously, this was very exciting and I am very happy about it. It was also my opportunity to see Fedor again for the first time in about a month, so happy feelings all around! To add to the feeling of excitement, it turned out that my driving licence was finished! So I am not only Dr OJ, but I am now Dr OJ with a patente di guida!
Over the next days, friends and family from the Netherlands started arriving (including my brother and his wife, my parents, and Fedor's mum and brother), in order to attend the GRADUATION PARTY.
Ever since arriving in Milano (well, after realising it was a possibility, I mean), I have been wanting to celebrate my graduation in a tram. In Milano it is possible to rent a party tram which drives around the city and in which you can just party!!! So we did. Of course, as always, there was some bureaucratic hassle involved (including the Transportation Agency calling a few days before asking whether it was okay to postpone the party by a week... Huh? NO!!!), but it was absolutely AWESOME. It was bloody hot, but we had lots of drinks to compensate for that and simpy had an amazing party, with all my friends there!!! Afterwards, we had a serious afterparty at our house (to the dismay of our neighbours of course) and went to bed drunk and happy...
Sundaynight after the party, it was time for me to return to Berlin and to our gorgeous flat there. After another week of work, my parents arrived to see the new Berlin house. They were as excited as I am, and I was happy to be able to show them the great neighbourhood. They also brought some of the presents I had received in Milan the week before (which they had brought to the Netherlands in the meantime). AND I got a really nice new painting that complements our living room very well. The next day, they left again (taking with them the presents for my niece and nephew who are both turning 4 these days). The next evening, the next GREAT event happened: Fedor arrived in Berlin! I was so happy to be able to show him our new house, which he had seen only shortly before. Of course our furniture had still not arrived, but at least the 2500€ spent on IKEA make it all look highly furnished already!
The next weeks were spent waiting for our furniture to arrive. But, Italians being Italians, many excuses were found why the furniture could not be delivered yet. My favourite one was the "Oh sorry, the truck with furniture was stopped at the Swiss border, which caused a 3-day delay". Really, 3 days? Anyway, I was getting very frustrated with them, but finally, last week, the furniture really did arrive. All 86 boxes were accounted for and the great unpacking could begin.
And a great unpacking it was indeed: bloody hell, I didnt remember we had this much stuff! It turns out we are going to have to buy more furniture to be able to put away everything! Oh well, IKEA, here we come. AGAIN...
But anyway, so far, it looks absolutely great, as you can see on these pictures:
Now that our furniture was finally here, it was also time for our HOUSEWARMING party! That happened last Saturday, with a "stock the bar" theme. Well, I can say that the bar was definitely stocked. Unfortunately (well, I guess it is also sign of a good party) most of the bar was unstocked again during the same night! Many, many cocktails were drunk, and lots of fun was had! It truly was a great party, and a great opportunity for Fedor to meet many of my friends here (and the completely random people that were there and that nobody seemed to know).
Sunday consisted of a serious cleaning effort and a hangover-reducing trip to the Sand Sculpture festival at Hauptbahnhof (and a few beers on the artificial beach.....).
What can I say: Life is good!!!!!
Tschüß,
Dr. OJ
PS More pictures will follow. For further pictures of the house, go
here
