"Here's your strudel, you... American"

Some random stuff left over from my nearly-Internet-free week:

1) It's not so good to be an American, at this moment in history, who does not speak the language of the country in which she is a tourist. In Vienna, I got to be one of those Americans who never bothered to learn anything but English. (My German is limited to thanking a waiter for handing me apple strudel.) That I know French as well, and can semi-communicate in Italian and now Hebrew, hardly matters. I actually considered going into cafes and claiming to only speak French, just to see if that would get a different reception than speaking English, but didn't bother. The speed-B.A.-writing will offer plenty of opportunity to revive my knowledge of that language...

2) Matthew Yglesias revisits Green Day's "Dookie." That album reminds me of sixth grade, when the cool kids dyed their hair with Kool Aid and when I still bought tapes--my "Dookie" was a tape, and it's probably buried somewhere with beat-up Doc Martens and other relics of that bygone era. Interschool dances were sort of eh, making Green Day a definite highlight of that time. Yglesias also suggests more quinoa-blogging, which is a message that the New York Times, for one, has long-since heard. The audience is out there. Does Marian Burros have a blog?

And, in the What Would Phoebe Do? department:

3) A history class about the left or a cross-listed class about religion and the First Amendment? Much depends on which has space open. But I'm a senior, and, as Rizzo said of being a senior, "we're gonna rule the school," so that may not be the deciding factor.

4) When I finally mobilize myself and get to a nearby coffee shop, should I get a cappuccino or an iced coffee? It's sunny, and warm when you're walking but chilly when you're standing still. Another thing to consider is the temperature inside the coffee shop itself. Can't remember offhand if there's a difference in price (it's been a while since I've ordered things "iced" in Chicago) but that might also be something to consider.