Expectations for the Journey: 7, 8, & 10*

With only 15 days until I board my plane, I thought it might be a good time to finish up my expectations for the Journey since I have been dreadful and neglecting this blog for the last month or so. To be honest, I haven't wanted to think about the trip. It's a terrifying prospect. I know I'm going to love it when I'm there, but currently, I'm freaking out! Anyway, moving onto the expectations!

7. Trying New Food
Now, I'm not exactly the most adventurous person when it comes to food. In fact, when I go out to eat, I only pick from about 6 different restaurants, and at each restaurants, there's only one or two things on the menu that I'll order. It's not that I don't want to venture into new flavors, I'm just a creature of habit, and when something tastes good and is cheap, I tend to stick with it! So, for the next four months, I'm resolving to be more adventurous when it comes to food. I'm going to try the local cuisine in every country I visit. I have it on relatively good authority that the food in Germany is awful, and that I won't even be able to find ingredients to make something tasty. This person obviously doesn't realize that my diet is essentially based around toast. And sandwiches. And Chinese take out. Also, food that is phallic in anyway will at the very least amuse me to no end, even if it tastes disgusting.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the food I can look forward to:

 See what I mean about phallic food being endlessly amusing?

 Fortunately, I was raised on meat and potatoes because that's all 

that appears when google-ing "German food." 6 pages of pictures

and not a single fruit or vegetable... 

8. Shopping at Flea Markets

Almost every single book/article/blog/info packet I've read about Germany in the last six months has dedicated a fair amount of space to tell me all about the Flea Markets. Apparently, they are quite spectacular. Now, of course in December I'll have the Christmas Markets to go to (I don't have a choice, my Mum's making me). But, to hold me over until then, there are a bunch of flea markets going on all the time in Berlin. Spot Cool Stuff has a great list of the flea markets, as well as what type of things are sold there, and when the markets are. From what I can tell, the flea markets are open every weekend, typically from 9-4. None of this waiting for the first Saturday of the month, and having to get up at 7 in order to get 8 towns over for a flea market! I'm planning on buying a whole lot of jewelery and props for shoots. As well as taking a bunch of pictures! I'm probably going to have one suitcase just filled with things I've bought at the flea markets :)

If there's one thing I love in life, it's rifling through random crap,

and finding something spectacular :)

This one is right outside of a museum, so when I'm done buying

random crap, I can go check out a museum. Pretty much the best day

ever.

 10. Taking More pictures than ever before :)

Originally, my plan was to start a 365 project on the day I leave for Berlin. But, I realize that I don't want to put too much pressure on myself to do that, seeing as I'm trying to cram so much traveling into 4 months, and keep forgetting that I actually have to do school work while I'm there! (For those of you not familiar with a 365 project, it's a project where you take a picture a day, and there can be limitations for it if you want them, i.e. a self portrait a day) So, I probably won't start that, but I do plan on taking so many pictures! I'm bringing my digital SLR, as well as my super old school film camera. I just bought an 8 GB memory card for my camera yesterday, and have another 7 GB in assorted memory, so hopefully I won't be in too short a supply of memory. The one thing I'm really concerned about is my battery. I've only got the one, and I don't know how available power supplies will be during my weekend trips. Hence the film camera! Which, now that I think about it, I should really get a new battery for too...

So that's it! Those are all my expectations. I'm sure when I get there I'll realize about a thousand things I didn't even realize I was expecting to happen. For now though, I've got 15 days to pack, freak out and say good-bye! Future posts will likely include pictures of me surrounded by clothes, looking sad and pathetic at the camera, as if pleading for someone to take the responsibility away from me :)

*I decided that the ninth expectation I'd written down was lame, and no longer relevant, so it doesn't exist. Not that I imagine anyone was really keeping track of the numbers.