Ein Langsamer Abschied / A Long Good-bye

As I sit here enjoying my Palak Paneer in front of my dying laptop whose powercord-lifeline I left at lab (without which this sucker only lasts about 30 min.), I can't help but realize that this will be yet another thing I'll miss about Heidelberg & Germany. The last few months have been a torturous process of coming to terms with leaving a place that is really beginning to feel like home and certainly a place that will always have tremendous meaning to me. The fact that most of the other Fulbrighters & exchange students have left has made it slightly easier - fewer goodbyes that I tearfully await. In my last 2 weeks here, I think I've finally come to terms with leaving and am no longer spending significant portions of my day in utter depression.

It's not my habit to make lists, but I thought I would start with the easier of the list-items that I have to say good-bye to: the non-people things that I will miss. Not in any particular order -

1. Raja Rani on Plöck - Phenomenally delicious Indian fast food about 30 seconds from my doorstep. Has made many a night into something beautiful and appetizing.
2. Cheap & flavorful beer (including Bananaweizen!) - Eric, you're not gonna believe it, but I've finally begun to develop a soft spot (maybe literally) for beer. It's still hard to get over the bitterness, but the other rich flavors are beginning to make up for it. Mmmm...
3. Amazing public transportation - Seriously, Secretary LaHoode, it really is time to step up the US's game on public transportation so that people other than sketchy drunks feel comfortable & can timewise afford to take it. Many of the trams & buses get you to particularly frequented destination literally every 5 minutes. Although evening transportation gets really spotty and is almost non-existent by midnight, it's still not a huge complaint for me.
4. Fast & easy doctors appointments - "Sure, come on in today." "When?" "Maybe in 10 minutes?" "What? I can't even get there that fast." Non-emergencies or semi-emergencies often lands me same-day service. The full payments due are often not much more outrageous than a co-pay. Gotta love the Germans for their ability to take care of the small health things. Which leads to...
5. Apotheken at every corner - The German pharmacy (Apotheke) is this amazing place where one can get prescription medicines, OTC things, and all kinds of health supplements. And they are literally everywhere, each one of them with highly-trained, usually university-degree (a big deal here) pharmacists who are basically like doctors. Truly amazing.
6. Dairy products - The butter & yogurt here are to die for. So creamy, always flavorful, wow. Simply satisfying.
7. Drinking alcohol in public - Alcoholic beverages are more or less like any other beverage here. So pleasant to be able to enjoy a beer or wine (haha, or sometimes some Captain Morgan) while unterwegs (on the go).
8. Kuchen - Cakes = delicious here. Can't wait to try out some German recipes back home when I have a real oven.
9. Responsible treatment of material goods - People are really into not wasting things here. A perfectly-good piece of furniture or houseware has to find a good home, and everyone goes to lengths to do this. People at fleamarkets are astonishingly careful about their purchases, even if it's a 50-cent mini-stapler. And the separation of trash into various categories is also quite refreshing for the environmentalist in me.

That said, there are plenty of things I definitely look forward to upon my return. More on that later...