Worldly Pursuits II: When We Last Met Our Heroine...

My my, this blog title really is evergreen.

At least where a freighter voyage to Germany is involved.

Which it is here. To Hamburg specifically, by way of Baltimore, Virginia, Halifax, and Liverpool, then on to Berlin.

"What a curiously circuitous itinerary," you might say.

Huge huge ship!

You'd be right; it's not direct or convenient or sensible at all. That's because I'm traveling on a bloody cargo ship!!!! (And trying to refrain from squealing with glee while I type that.)

It may be the coolest thing I've ever done in my 36 years on this glorious planet. Top three anyway. Or four. Tough competition, what with Ironman, Istanbul, etc. And of course my very first high school exchange program, without which I may not be sitting here at all.

But I digress. Let's start with a quick recap/quasi-FAQ of how I actually did come to be sitting here (where "here" is a conference table in what's basically the passenger lounge of the ACL Atlantic Sea).

Tiny tiny container!

Wait... what are you doing, now?

I'm going to Berlin to spend a semester at Humboldt University, lecturing undergrads in US Business & Regulatory Law.

So you speak German?

I do, but the class is taught in English (to what should be the relief of all concerned). The university has a fascinating foreign language instruction program, where lawyers come from all over the world to teach the law of their home country in their native language. There are lecturers from Brazil, China, France, Turkey, the UK... maybe Russia too... like 9 or 10 countries total.

Oh. Is that full time?

Nope. Four hours per week, which fits in beautifully with my appellate practice at Heitz Legal, which I can do from anywhere (and intend to, as long as my "official" residence remains NY).

So how long will you be there?

What a Q. Well my contract is four months, so at least until the end of July, and after that who knows. I'm optimistic they'll want to renew it, and if they don't I may return to my apartment in Brooklyn, or head off to Ireland and write some briefs there for a while, or pop over to Georgia and overdose on cheesy bread.

Fair enough. But... why the freighter?

Short answer: Why not?

Long answer(s): It's an adventure. It mirrors the trip my German ancestors took to get to New York and I like the symmetry. I get to be on a boat. I get to live on the ocean. I get to work uninterrupted. I get to be pensive and read books.

But the short answer is still the best.