*This is a long read, explaining some changes going forward… if you just want the TLDR; version, skip to the end! I still have yet to write about Berlin, I haven’t been able to wrap my fingers around coherent thoughts on a keyboard… but there was one moment that stuck with me in regard to […]
Husband arrived in Berlin the day after my program ended so that we could spend a week just enjoying Berlin together. Originally, we’d thought to go to Copenhagen for a couple of days – but a couple of my classmates had tried to talk me into a couple days in Prague during our free weekend. […]
Wishing I were on a #train in #europe right now. #prahatoberlin #memories #summer #bahnhof A post shared by Nikki (@uneflaneuseamericaine) on Aug 15, 2017 at 8:31am PDT
I The Plan I went into this project wanting to study Arabic graffiti in Berlin. Having learned Arabic (MSA) for the past year, I’ve not only fallen in love with the language but, combined with my interest in the politics of public space, have also learned a great deal about Arabic graffiti in Arab countries […]
I’ve got many, many thoughts to unpack regarding my month in Berlin but for now, a couple notes: I didn’t fall madly in love with Berlin as I thought I would. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it immensely, it just didn’t grab my heart the way places like Florence, Lisbon, or any city […]
There are many aspects – sense-wise – that have been fairly universal in my European travels over the years. There’s certain smells or sensations that have been imprinted on me that, whenever I smell them elsewhere, immediately take me back or fill me with nostalgia. When I noticed these things in Berlin, I knew I […]
Another post in my effort to write something in Arabic every day*. (In other news: I’ve gotten quite proficient at switching back and forth from the English to Arabic keyboard. In fact, I’ve been getting confused when trying to type in English sometimes, forgetting where this or that key is! In particular, every time I […]
I have just completed a full academic year of Arabic. !ممتاز I’ve been timid about writing a lot in Arabic, except when we have to write short essays and compositions for tests and the final exams. I sometimes forget that I’m capable of saying quite a bit. So, in an effort to remember all I’ve […]
I had been immersing myself pretty hard into German last Summer and had planned to keep going. But then I made a fairly spontaneous (and pretty fortuitous) decision to jump into Arabic for my language requirement at UW. I’ll need two years of it to fulfill my departmental honors requirement. I wanted something new, obviously, instead […]
This will be the link to all of my thoughts and posts regarding the UW Berlin Honors 2017 Study Abroad Program: Negotiating Identities and Mediating Communities. Stay tuned!
If you’ve been reading along, you may remember me talking about a study abroad program to Berlin that I had been accepted to for last Fall quarter. I wound up deciding to withdraw for several reasons – some that I won’t go into detail here (but quickly summed up as lack of faith in the […]
لحَمْد للها means “Alhamdulillah!” which literally means “praise God!” “God” figures quite largely within the Arabic language, but I (and many Arabic speakers) are atheists so in that case it’s an exclamation of joy, for example: I’m feeling better – Alhamdulillah! The bus showed up on time – Alhamdulillah! I found some chocolate in the cabinet – Alhamdulillah! Or, […]
