The civilized life.

Seeing as this was my last full weekend in Berlin (and just to warn you, posts and correspondence during this week are going to include a lot of words like "last" and its various relatives), part of me felt like I should be running around, taking in everything that I didn't get a chance to take in during the first nine and a half months here.

Instead, though, I ended up:

- sleeping late the last three days (until nearly 10, which is pretty rare for me)
- having a nice relaxing breakfast without worrying about disturbing (or being disturbed by) other people who need the kitchen - one of my roommates has all but moved in with her boyfriend, and the other is out of town for the weekend
- strolling around aimlessly
- sitting in cafes, drinking milky coffee, reading magazines and thinking about the last few lessons I need to give
- buying about twenty euros worth of chocolate for people at school
- sorting through piles of newspapers, magazines, ticket stubs, and old information from Fulbright and PAD - things that have been sitting around my room for months - and making a pile to carry down to the paper recycling bin
- rereading most of the Harry Potter novels - I met with a friend on Thursday who's doing the same in preparation for the last book, and found that I'd forgotten a lot of the details, especially of the really early books.

So, can't really tick off any items on a cultural to-do list - I might go this afternoon to an exhibit of French paintings on loan from the Metropolitan Museum that have gotten a lot of press here, but that would be it. But then, I don't really feel like there are a lot of things that I wanted to do here and haven't that I could do in a weekend. Instead, I think I have to consider this one last weekend of The European Lifestyle - complete with coffee, chocolate, and recycling - which suits me fine, since this last week will probably be taken up with packing, goodbyes and running last errands.