The End

Well friends, it's the end. It's finally arrived. I'll be checking out of my room in about 15 minutes and then heading to the train station. From there I'll take the train to Stuttgart where I'll change trains and keep going to Frankfurt am Main Flughafen. Once there I'll check my bags, go through security and wait for my flight to take off at 2. And then through the magic of television, (and the curvature of the earth and time zones) I'll get to San Francisco at 4. I'll be able to call everyone in my family anytime for free because we're all in. Heck ya!

It's been good, it's been bad, it's been stressful. But if I had to choose whether or not I'd do it over again, I would. And it'd be a blast all over.

I left SFO exactly 4 months ago. Crazy, eh?

Oh, I wrote my Didaktisierung last night and made a meager start on my portfolio but at least it's a start. oh, I need to put my splint in my backpack for sleeping on the plane. whoops. Man, that was almost very painful for my jaw.

I'm sad to leave but farely (is that the right one?) confidant that I'll come back. That's why I'll just say Aufwiedersehen Deutschland. Bis zum nächsten Mal.

BLAH

So I ended up going and turning in my mensakarte. I had like 12 euro on there and then the 5 euro deposite. So that was nice to get back. Then I had to go and print the native speaker judgment tests. It ended up costing 12 euro because I printed more than 100 pages. Yikes. I totally got a receipt and want to see if I can get reimbursed for it.

Now I'm just writing this really quickly before heading off to Stuttgart. Oh that reminds me, I need to look at tariff charges. I think it's going to be cheaper for me to buy a Tageskarte for the whole network than to pay for Herrenberg-Hbf and back. Lemme see... HAHA, ya it is. It's 11.50 for the whole network and 12.60 for there and back. Save me an euro. Wha whoo!!

I haven't decided if I'll stay for institute or not. I want to to be like social and stuff but I have to pack and clean and still write a lesson plan for my class as an example and then also write the paper summary thing. I want to do all that before I leave so that I can just chill while I'm at home but I'll just have to see how things go.

I really hope I can fit everything into my suitcases in such a way that I won't have to pay any charges or throw anything away. And I don't want to have to shift stuff around because it's just a pain. But if I have to get rid of stuff the exercise ball and yoga mat are going first. I'm going to try and have all my books and papers in my backpack so that I can hopefully make weight.

So ya, that's my last day in Germany in a nut shell. Hektisch, na?

Printing

I'm trying to print stuff here at the Uni. You have to like send it to a copy machine that prints it out. Too bad the one in this room has a paper jam and i tried to send it to the other one but it didn't work. I tried to send it again. Now I'm off to the copy room to see if it works. Oh, I'm printing the native speaker judgement tests for the study thing. 21 pages long with 2 pages per sheet for 14 people. you do the math. I haven't. plus, i don't really know how much it costs per page. Oh and I only have 35 minutes to do all this because i need to give my mensakarte back to get my 5 euro deposite and the money off of it back. I gots to run. peace!

Random

So I was just sitting on my bed, like I do like all the time, eating a little Ritter Sport when I realized "Hey, I didn't use to like marzipan" but now I totally do! Speaking of Ritter Sport, Steffi's mom works for Ritter Sport and they get this stuff that's better than Nutella. Yes, I said it. I had it on Saturday and it was amazing. You know the nougat kind? Ya, it was like a softer form of the nougat from the inside. And only employee's get it.

This Time Next Week...

I'll be home, most likely sleeping. It would be 11:25 am. I'm so excited!! I've got big plans for my few days at home. Pretty much a shorter version of what I would have done if I had been home all month: watch Scrubs, watch Burn Notice, watch any other shows I want online (I can't watch shows over the internet from Germany. Kind of lame) and read. Yes, I am obsessed with the Twilight series. But I haven't read the last one yet. Mostly because I haven't wanted to pay for it in euro when I know I can use dollars IN LESS THAN A WEEK!

I'm going to be so tired when I get home. I might not get to sleep Tuesday night. I have to go to Institute early so that people can help me with my research project. I need 10 volunteers to listen and rate stuff in German. We're doing it on Tuesday. Talk about cutting it close. I'll get home really late (This week I got home at like 10:30 even though I got a ride) so I'm going to try and pack and clean in the days leading up to it so that I might actually get to sleep.

This weekend should be good, though. Tomorrow there's a party get together thing with some JAEs in Stuttgart. We're just gonna hang out in the park. I'm going to go if I can get a ride with Steffi. I think she's going. Mal sehen.

Then on Saturday Steffi and I are going to the post to go to the commissary and stuff. That'll be fun. We'll drive, which will be nice.

Sunday will be my last German Church experience for a while. That's kinda sad. I think it's gonna be weird to go to church in English. Let alone my home ward. Especially since all the other BYU people will already be at BYU. Whoops. Whatever. I'll have to play social catch up the next week.

So that's what the last few days of Germany are going to look like for me. I'm so glad I have a non stop flight. I don't worry so much about them loosing my luggage then. And I don't have to worry about missing a connection.

OK, one more thing. I've been on the stretch of train tracks from Frankfurt to Stuttgart so many times that the last time I did it going from Stuttgart to Frankfurt on my way to Paderborn last week, I looked out the window and was able to recognize where I was. Crazy, hu?

The End, Almost

So it's not quite over yet, but almost. I got an email today from my mom saying that she was able to change my flight to the 27th. That's next Wednesday. And it didn't cost anything because we bought my ticket with frequent flier miles. Sweet, eh? One thing that has changed in my English this summer is the use of tag questions. I use them a lot more now.

OK I'm happy to be going home but it will be a little sad because I love Germany. But, I'm ready to leave. I'll say good bye to everyone at institute on Tuesday.

I still have a few things to finish up. I have to finish the study I've been working on. I have to cut some more sound files, create a background questionnaire, and then also an answer sheet for the actual test administration. The scary thing is that I could seriously screw something up or totally forget to do it and ruin my whole project which is actually part of a larger project within the college of humanities. So, I'm feeling a little pressure. And I have to print all of the aforementioned papers out along with the informed consent form. Last time I tried to print something, it didn't work out too well. I'll have to ask my TA how to do it.

Then I have to find at least 10 native speakers to actually take the test. I figure it's gonna take about an hour. Tomorrow at institute I'll announce it and ask for volunteers. I'm hoping to be bale to use the Outreach Center on Saturday. That would be the easiest, I think. Just come to Stuttgart and meet people there. Everyone knows where it is. I need to make some sort of sign up sheet for that. Hm, more printing.

OK, so when I say I have a few sound files to cut I mean I have 50 sentences from 17 people. But I can do it relatively fast once I get into it. Good old Praat.

I've been thinking about it, and I'm not too hot on the idea of grad school. At least not yet. And I also don't like the idea of having a degree that I have to do something extra for just to be able to get a job. So I think I might change my major yet again, back to the German teaching major. That will be my 4th major. I want to teach and now that I'm actually older than high schoolers, they don't bother me as much because when I think they're immature, it's because I'm older. Anyway, so I think I might change back to the teaching major and teach for a few years and then go to grad school. The only thing I don't like about this, is that I'll be stuck in Utah for like 2 more years. And it will have taken me 6 years to finish college. Nice. Not.

Oh, and I have to have a minor. So it looks like I get to take a lot more French. I need to change my attitude because not liking the language makes it almost impossible to learn it.

But anyway, I have to go to bed. My class is going to Stuttgart tomorrow to go to the Klett Verlag. I won't buy anything because I don't need to come up with stuff for my class. Then we're going to the radio thing. Antenne 1. It's a good station, I like it. But, I hope it gets canceled so we are finished earlier and I can go get a doener at Bad Canstatt.

Everything's Working!!

I'm currently blogging in the dark so that I can have my windows open and hopefully not attract as many bugs. I hate when bugs get in my room cause then I have to kill 'em. Now if I only had curtains that would help too...

OK so stuff here in good old Tuebingen seems to be working out nicely. Today I totally got to church on time and sat with Steffi and her family. They're so nice!! I had to call and actually order a taxi to take me to church but it's like in place of a bus so I didn't have to pay for it. I got ready kinda fast and ended up waiting at Hbf for like a half hour. It was good though because this older sister who lives in Reutlingen usually gets a ride with other members but came with the train today and I had already ordered the taxi so we rode to church together.

Church was really good today. Afterwards I hung around and talked with Steffi and this girl Linda for a while. They're both like 26 and RMs. The funny thing about Linda is that she's always convinced that the last time she saw me I could hardly speak German. I met her last summer and could already speak pretty well. Anyway, it's just kinda funny. But while I was talking with Steffi she said that when I get to Paderborn Hbf to just call her ot Esther and they'll find someone to come get me. It's like 20 km to Geseke, where the Tagung is, so like no biggy.

I also found out on Friday that my bus pass can actually get me pretty far. I showed it to Steffi and she said that I can get out to where she lives with it. Awesome! She said that for Institute (which starts on the 19th) I can take the train/bus or whatever out to where she lives and then catch a ride into Stuttgart. That means I don't have to pay to get to Institute! Which is basically awesome. I'm also hoping I can bum a ride off of them after the tagung so I don't have to take the train from Stuttgart.

Also, I'm totally glad that I came to Stuttgart over Christmas because that's when I met Steffi and she's totally been helping me out here in Tuebingen. It's almost like it was planned that way :) But seriously things are working out and coming together.

As for the Tagung, well, I'm still a little nervous for it. After all, I will be meeting Esther's brother, Michah, for the first time. In case you don't know, I've been hearing about Michah almost the entire time he was on his mission. He just got back last Thursday. I get there on Thursday, the day of the big ball, one of the reasons I wanted to stay in Germany so long. Funny thing is that I don't really like dances. This Thursday I get to get up really early to catch my 6 o'clock train. I get to Paderborn at like noon. Hopefully I'll be able to stay up for the dance. OK, that shouldn't be a problem. I can stay awake.

So ya. Everything is working out including me! My yoga mat and gymnastic ball are being put to good use as are my running shoes. Now if only I could make my skin clear up... Whatev. I can't control that.

The Visa Saga Continues

Dude the weather's been crazy here the last little bit. This morning I was awoken by heavy rains and very loud thunder claps. And for those of you who have every tried to wake me up, you know that it's not particularly easy.

So then because of the bad weather, I didn't want to leave early to go get a visa. So I left at the regular time by which the rain had stopped. I went to the Ausländerangelegenheiten (I think that's what it was called. It was something close to that.) Told the lady my deal and ya. She was kinda upset with Berlin because she was like "Why do you need something if you're just going be here for a month?" So I explained that I got to Germany on 28. April and that I got a residency permit while I was in Berlin but they said they couldn't issue it for the time I would be in Tübingen. This didn't freu her. According to her, they were supposed to have issued it in Berlin ("Das hätten sie in Berlin machen sollen. Nein, das hätten die eigentlich machen müssen" is what she said.)

And another difference: In Berlin you have to register with the police if you're gogin to be there longer than 3 weeks. She said that here they don't require it unless you're staying longer than a month.

So what she ended up doing is putting an official sticker in my passport with official stamps that gives me permission to stay in the country until I leave on the 31st. Which is cool because 1. I'm not here illegally anymore and 2. I didn't have to pay another 50 euros for a visa thing. The only condition is that I can't leave Germany and like go to another country or anything. But that's cool. I don't want to go anywhere outside the country. The only trip I have planned is to Paderborn next week. Speaking of which, I have to check on train tickets. PEACE!

Quiz

Ok, So I'm kinda bored. You may have noticed all the posts from today. Now you know why. So I was reading one of my favorite blogs and followed the link to this quiz. This is what I got:

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Great, so I get to bide my time until I go to a ball and lose a shoe and my prince charming finds it and takes me away from a life of servitude? Oh wait, I am going to a ball next week. Hm, this could pan out...

Church?

So I was looking today about how to get to church. It's really far from where I am. I could probably figure out how to get to Esther's ward better than I could the one here in Tuebingen. I looked on googlemaps and it said it would take like 2 hours to walk there. Buses 19 and 32 got there but it looks like 32 is actually a Taxi and I can't find if any of the bus lines up by where I live actually connect to the 19. So basically what I'm saying is that I can't figure out how to get there. I looked on Tuebingen's like travel thing Fahrplanauskunft and it somehow involves a taxi that's numbered like a bus. I have this Monatskarte but I don't know if it's good for all the zones or for in one of those taxis with a bus number things. It just weird.

I ran into a girl (ok, she's not really a girl cause she's like 25 or something) from the ward on Tuesday and we had lunch together and I asked her how to get there but she wasn't sure cause her family lives somewhere around here and probably drives. But she said she'd ask her brother cause he'd know how to get there with the bus. I hope that's the case cause I'm clueless. Ya, I think we're gonna have lunch again together on Friday so I can ask her if she asked her bro.

A brush with Greek

So you've all heard the myth about German almost being the official language in the US but it lost by one vote, right? Well, first of all, that's not true. You can read more about that here. Last night there was this welcome party complete with buffet for all the people doing the Sommerakademie. I was sitting next to this Greek guy named Nikos. He started to recount this myth about the vote to this other American guy and me except that the vote was between English and Greek. I was just like, killing myself inside because I knew that such a vote had never taken place and that the US doesn't even have an official language. Also, as if there were that many Greek immigrants in the US during the founding years. After that he started in on the whole "every word is really Greek" thing. It was just amazing. But he totally doesn't look Greek because he's got fair skin, red hair, and like either blue or green eyes. But ya... I kinda couldn't believe what was happening because it was so stereotypical.

Tübingen thus Far

So anyone that I talked to on Monday knows that it sucked. There are very rare occasions in which I get really homesick and can't stop crying. Monday was unfortunately one of those days. And it usually happens when I'm sleep deprived. Which I was also on Monday. Anyway, point is that most of Monday was really lame. Getting here worked out fine. I had looked online before about trains and stuff from Stuttgart to here but didn't make any sure plans. I had kind of ran around Stuttgart before actually getting here and was exhausted upon arrival. You want to know what sent me over the edge? The internet. I asked the woman who was showing me my room and stuff (who, by the way, doesn't shave her armpits) if I could get the internet here. She said no. And I freaked.

Thankfully, she was just misinformed. I got my ID and Password today then had to go back down and change the password, get all the info and stuff and then I could use the entire-net in my room.

But now after some effort and a phone call to my dad to get some technical help, I'm reconnected.

I still would rather just go home but that's not possible. Like, the course is going to be really good because it's all about learning how to teach German as a foreign language. So, I'm in there with a whole bunch of German teachers.

I really like my class. I've already got some things in mind that I can use that we did today. I think I'm going to have to miss part of tomorrow to go do the ever exciting Visa stuff. That means I have to still fill everything out. Nice. Oh, and my teacher (who doesn't shave her armpits either) knows Dr. James because they studied together at the U. Random, eh?

Oh the Armyness of it all

So today my mom and I got up a little bit earlier than we have been because she had to LEAVE! Dang it! Basically my mom left and it was really sad for me. But I'm ok now watching a chick flick on German TV that for some reason isn't even dubbed. I haven't seen it before but I know it ends badly as far as chick flicks go (aka realistically).

Ok, so here's the crazy armyness. So I had to get registered to be in the system so that every time I go through a gate they scan it and I had to explain and it was just a hassle. So I had to take the bus from Kelly to Patch on to Panzer so that I could register. So I did. And then I had an hour to kill before the bus came back to I went to Popeyes and got some chicken. Next item on my list: get in the health care system. Now for that I had to take the bus back over to Patch. To my utter surprise, I am still in there from last summer. Then I asked to schedule an appointment and got sent to the appointment desk. When I got there the lady said that I had to go see the tricare lady back on Panzer. I waited for the bus and then took it back to Panzer. When I got there the tricare lady wasn't even there. She'll be in on Monday. I leave Monday. I might go back before I leave. Who knows. But it was a total run around.

What to do with German

OK, well today my mom and I went to Nuremberg. It was cool. I totally saw the same restaurant that I went to on study abroad in 2006 and had my first taste of "Chinese food" in Germany. It involved schnitzel. I also saw that they have Vapiano in places other than Berlin which made me happy. (Faap-ianoo) Oh, and tons of Nazi architecture courtesy of Albert Speer. And all these protesters out in front of the church that were protesting German troops in Afghanistan. Every like 15 minutes they played air raid sirens which was kind of annoying and made me want to duck for cover. Plus they were tons of police.

But the real story begins when my mom and I were coming back. We got back to Ansbach and went to dinner at this place my mom had seen. I got 2 Ansbacher Bratwurst with Saurkraut. It was sooo good. Better than the wurst I had in Nuremberg today. So we walked back to the Bahnhof because that's where all the taxis congregate. Along the way we met some missionaries and talked to them for a few minutes. They generally get confused when you call out "Hey Elders." We asked if they knew Jason Henderson, but they didn't. It's not surprising because the Munich Austria mission is HUGE!

Skipping ahead, there were no taxis at the Bahnhof so we called one. As we're driving to the post, a phone starts ringing with this way stereotypical German umpa music. I figured that it was the driver's phone until after it started ringing and he said someone left it in the Taxi. So they called again and my mom silenced it. Then they called a third time. I told my mom they were probably trying to find their phone so she hands it to me and I answer it.

It was totally random but followed pretty much like it would in English. I answered and the guy was like "Hello?" and so I was like "Hello" and then it went to the "you have my phone" to which I responded, "No, you left your phone in a taxi." So then I gave the guy the number of the taxi service but then the driver told me to have the guy call back in 5 minutes.

So what new and exciting things have I done with my sweet skillz now? I helped some random German get his handy back. Oh and the picture is like the same kind of phone that the guy had. Crazy what you can find on google images these days.

My Paper

Ok, I don't think I'm that great of a writer. I don't like writing academic papers. Writing non sense, now that I like. Blogging and journal writing are also fun for me. Well anyway, here's an excerpt from a paper I'm writing right now. Well, not at this moment because I'm writing this but you get the picture. It's my final paper for German 497R. It's due in like 9.5 hours and I'm half way done with it. I just appreciate the fact that I cite a google search I did...

"Gefreut wie ein Schnitzel is the second phrase that teenagers are supposedly using in Germany. This phrase is an expression used to convey the feeling of being extremely pleased with something. A similar problem occurred with this phrase as with the previous one in that no one understood its meaning. I had fully expected that the younger participants would use this phrase sometimes but they responded with "never", as did the older participants which was the expected and desired result. It is interesting to note that an internet search, namely using the search engine google, and this phrase yielded results that show that this phrase is actually used."

I really googled it to see if people used it. It popped up on blogs.

I HATE France

So my mom and I were in Amsterdam. We got there on Saturday. It was crappy weather the entire time we were there. On Sunday we went to church. We got there in time for Sunday school. We went to the English one which was being taught by this guy from Africa.
Sacrament meeting was cool. My mom and I opted not to have headsets. But the translator sat in a sound proof box, which I thought was awesome. So then we left after church and went back to our TINY hotel room. By back hurt so I took some drugs and checked out until like 9 pm.
Ok, Monday morning woke up at 5:23 because it was raining and we needed to close the window. Later when we got up we went to the Anne Frank house and had to stand outside in the rain for like a half hour45 minutes ish. The house was cool but all the furniture is gone. It's a lot bigger than I ever imagined it to be.

Here's where it started to suck: We went to France. So we left Amsterdam at like 2:30 and got to Paris at like 6:30. When we got there my mom made our train reservations to leave and go to Graz, Austria via Salzburg. Then she bought us 3 day transportation cards. She also asked the lady at the info desk how to get to our hotel. We followed the directions to a train station called Bondy. When we got there, we asked the guy at the info thing for further directions. He was really helpful and pulled out a map and everything. Only problem was that he was wrong. We followed his directions and when the bus came we asked the driver if it went to by our hotel and he said no, that he didn't know that street. So then we tried calling the hotel to have them send a taxi. True to the non customer service tradition in Europe, they gave us a number for a taxi and told us to call. The problem with that was that it was for a single taxi and not for a taxi service. Problem: my German phone was almost out of battery and my supposedly international phone wasn't calling France. My mom called on my almost dead German phone to no avail. We ended up callin my dad on my "International" phone. He called the taxi but they didn't know where we were.

At this point, my mom and I decided that we were never going to find out hotel and that we should just head back to the Bahnhof. So we did. But by the time we'd gotten back, all the trains had stopped running. What? When do long distance trains in Germany ever stop?? And then it got better. I mean that with as much sarcasm I can muster. It got worse. THEY CLOSE THE BAHNHOF!!! WHO DOES THAT?? Paris du Nord was the one we were in. Until the security guards showed up with dogs and started telling everyone to leave. So the station was closed from 1 am to 4 am for cleaning. My mom, all of our stuff, and I went to a cafe across the street and got union soup. But by the time we were done it was only like 1:40. The we went and sat in a bus stop thing. That at least kind of blocked the wind. I got so cold wearing just jeans that I put on my stretchy pants over my jeans.

Around 3:30 this Russian guy comes over and started talking to us. He barely spoke English because he was a bad school boy. Good school boys speak English. He's married and has 3 kids. A 4 and a 2 year old and then a baby who was only 18 days old on the 22. His wife wanted to come with him on vacation but he told her she needs to stay home with the kids. Awesome.

They finally opened the Bahnhof again at like 4:20, typical French lateness. The random Russian guy took my luggage inside for me. Oh, I forgot to mention that my mom and I had also draped ourselves with my blue clues beach towel to stay warm. Also looked awesome. After we got inside, we took up residence on another bench. This whole time my dad had been calling us periodically because he was making arrangements for us to stay on one of the military bases in Germany. The ticket office opened up at like 6 and my dad had gotten reservations for us at Ramstein so we came here.

So my mom and I took the 6:58 train from Paris East station (one U Bahn stop away from Paris du Nord) and came back to Germany and to kind of America. With free laundry facilities on everyfloor and they use the dollar and there aren't any overseas charges! HAHAHA!!

Back in Berlin

Dude, I'm back in the Vaterland and couldn't be happier. I have 900 extra crowns though. That's like 35 Euro so I'm going to find somewhere to exchange it tomorrow. So on the last afternoon in Prague, we decided to eat lunch at a TGI Fridays. No joke. It was good, just like home, I guess. I don't usually eat there.
Now I'm in a hostel in Alt Moabit which is kinda ghetto. We're like not too far away from the prison which is awesome. Or not. The hostel itself is really nice in the lounge/lobby thing where I'm sitting now but breakfast isn't included, we don't have a kitchen to use, the room is too small for 5 girls plus ALL of our stuff, and it's not as nice as the lobby upstairs. But, at least it's somewhere to sleep until Wednesday.
On Wednesday I fly to Paris to meet up with my mom and go to a wedding. Cool, eh? I'll get to use my meager French skills. I REALLY want to get better in French. I should take like a conversation lab or something. Hmmm...
So it's like the last 2 weeks of study abroad. I'm stressed because I have a lot to do but I'm also sad because all of my friends will be leaving and going back to the US. Plus, my visa is only good until the 31st and then I have to get another one. But I'm going to miss my friends the most. I hope I'll have the internet at my place in Tübingen. I think I'd die without it. That way I can facebook and skype people. I freaking love skype. If I ever randomly call you on skype, it's most likely because I'm bored and want to just talk about whatever.

Praha

Why Praha? Because the name's cooler in German. That's why. So here's the skinny: I'm in Prague. I want to go back to Germany. I don't like being in a country where i don't speak the language or am not familiar with the currency. i keep having to convert the prices into euros for it to make sense.
today we went to lunch and got the crappiest costumer service ever. then we saw hancock in english because it was hot and we wanted to get inside. when it was done it was raining because it was to humid. so then we went to the ballet and saw swan lake. it was really good. i liked it lots.
Ok, so our hostel is really close to the center of the old part of town. wow, great sentence. um anyway, it's really hot here and humid, the hostel is sans air conditioning. it's really loud outside at night. people in our group keep getting offered drugs. and they're not shady looking. i saw a drunk guy throw up for the first time tonight. that too was inside the hostel.
french. i'm really frustrated with french and wish i could speak it better. i'm going to france next wednesday. ahh!! it'll be fine, i'm just meeting my mom at the airport. i've had three semesters of french and i can order, maybe ask for directions, and speak german with a french accent. yes, be amazed. my point is just that i wish i were better at it. unfortunately, i don't think i'll have more time to devote to it next semester since i'll be teaching. latin languages just aren't my thing, yo.
so tomorrow's the fourth of july. i won't be celebrating because i'll still be in prague. last year i was in europe on the 4th too. fun stuff. aber ohne pyrotechnics.
there are still 3 spots left in my german class. anyone wanna learn deutsch? it's awesome at 9 am.

oh and sometimes i just want to go home!! like, to california and not even go to tuebingen! and sometimes i freak out about not getting my research done. basically i stress about life and the future. stupid impending graduation. ahhh!

ok, well, there are people waiting for the computer. haha. they left.
oh, one more gem about the hostel: my professor is one of the 5 people sharing the room i'm in. and when we get back to berlin on saturday, all the girls'll be in one big room and all the guys in another. breakfast not included. thank goodness i'm going to france and then coming back with my mom. totally going to stay with her. and when i get back from france, i'll be 21. weird!!! ahhh!! i can't believe it's been a whole year!! i'm getting old but not because 21 is still totally young.

Things I don't especially like about Germany

I wrote the first 5 of these sitting in a hot, humid waiting room in the Ausländerbehörde while waiting to get a visa. I'd gotten there at like 6:35.

1. Advertising. Ads here are so skanky. Like porn. It's gross. Totally have to avert your eyes.

2. Registering with the police. so at the Goethe-Institut they do it for you. Only problem there is that you have to give them your passport for a week. A week I didn't have. So I did it the good old fashion way: the Bürgeramt. It took no less than 1 hour which is currently beating the Ausländerbehörde. Now the police know where I live. And they'll know when I move to Tübingen.

3. Getting a Visa. Why can't I just do this in San Francisco? I'd much rather wait in a room there than here. At least it'd be air conditioned. But no, they want you to apply in country. Probably so you can have this great cultural experience. Good thing I have my own wit to keep myself entertained.

Ok, what I really don't like about registering with the police and getting a visa is the signs. Ok, I hate the system. Take a number, sit in a room, and wait for it to pop up accompanied by that little chime thing.

Aufruf Raum (8:45 ish)
969 025
214 012
118 027
968 026
117 027

4. Lack of reduced fat foods. They write "nur 4% fett" on cottage cheese as if it were a good thing or some sort of improvement. I just found cottage cheese with only 0.8% fat last week. I can sometimes find 0.8% milk, but rarely. Skim, I've heard it exists but I've never seen it. As for reduced fat crackers-NO.
There's diet yogurt with like 200 calories in like 8 oz. That begs the question: How much is in the regular yogurt? Ok, maybe it's better just not to ask.

5. No good Mexican food. I might be wrong, but I think this may have to do with a lack of Mexicans.

6. No screens. For the most part, I love the design of German windows. The tilt and swing open all the way. The one problem is that there are no screens-ever. I would really like to open my windo because it's kind of stuffy but it's night and I would definitely get bugs in my room because there is no screen.

Berlin Premiere of Hancock

We went to Potsdamer Platz for the red carpet thing for Hancock. Yes, we saw Will Smith. Talya wanted to jump over the rail and get onto the red carpet. Thankfully, she didn't.
After the thing was pretty much all over, I decided that I wanted one of the banner things that was covering the railing keeping us off the red carpet. So I pulled out my trusty pocket knife and started cutting through the zip ties holding the banner one at a time. At one point I was cutting through one on the bottom and my friends were like "don't get up. just stay down." When they told me that, I stayed down and slipped my knife into someone else's purse. After the coast was clear, I got back up and started cutting. The key was not to draw attention to what I was doing. That meant not letting banner fall where it was already cut. Easy solution: there were like 7 of us so the others spread out and held the banner in place until I was finished cutting. When I was done we passed the news along and on the count of three like two people walked off with the banner and shoved it in Cheryl's purse.
Then I cut off a second banner. Then the employees started to come out and take them away. Kyle tried to bribe one of the guys working. That didn't work. The same guy gave Kyle a banner later when someone else just tried to grab it.
So now I have this huge banner from the Berlin premiere of Hancock that I have no where to put. You see that white thing at the bottom of the picture by Will Smith? It's one of those.

Italy

I went to Italy a couple of weeks ago with four of my friends: Liz, Kyle, Talya, and Cheryl. It was lots of fun and chalk full of those experiences that are totally not funny at the time but you know will be later.

So we left Berlin on Friday afternoon. We got out of out Goethe classes, went home, grabbed our stuff and met at Zoo. Everything ran smoothly until we got to Venice. We followed the directions to our hostel but somehow managed not to find it. We ended up hanging out in a parking lot for like a half hour while we called them. Liz took 2 years of Italian at BYU so it fell to her to call. They gave us better directions and we got there eventually. We checked in and everything around like 3 am. The room was actually a single wide mobile home. That's right, we stayed in a trailer park. It was actually pretty cool because then it was just us in like a little apartment. We were right next to the airport but I was so dead tired, and I live by an Air Force base anyway, that the planes didn't bother me. It was just starting to get light outside when I went to bed. That's never a good sign.

Saturday morning my friends let me sleep in until like 9:15 or something. We had to check out at like 10:30. So we all got ready and packed up our stuff. For breakfast we had snacks that we'd brought with us from ze Tchermany. The hostel we stayed at offered a bus service to Venice. We utilized it. But there was traffic and it came late. Kyle went and sat down on one side of the parking lot and us girls went to the other cause he's got cooties. So this picture is from when a car pulled up. That's his head through the back window.

So then we took the bus to Venice. There were lots of tourist there. Seriously, I think that's the main source of income for that city. Well, there are also like glass and lace production but that's really touristy too. Good news is that it wasn't so hot that the canals were stinky. Cause let me tell you, the last time I was in Venice, it reeked.

Here's the short version:

Saturday we left Venice for Florence. Our hostel was like 45 minutes outside of it but it wasn't a problem because they offered a shuttle service. We couldn't find it. We all ran out of money on our phones calling the hostel trying to get better directions. We never found the hostel that night but at like 8:30 the next morning. I didn't sleep that night. Then we went to Florence. I took a 20 minute nap on a doorstep while Liz waited in line for the museum to see the David. There was an insane beeping noise in the car because there was something wrong and we couldn't figure out what the warning on the dash said. It suddenly occurred to Kyle that it was about the seatbelts. The alarm didn't stop. That was when I was at the end of my rope. Then we went back to the hostel. The next morning I found the problem and fixed it. But on the return trip we got a flat tire in Italy 300 km from the Austrian border. It was a holiday in Italy and everything was closed. We had to drive 50 mph until we reached Innsbruck. That took forever. Unfortunately, we got there after all the tire places were closed. We went from place to place trying to find someone to help us. Finally we called this guy and he came back to his shop and changed the tire. Then we got dinner at Mc Donalds. I saw a guy I swear I met last summer at a Tagung. We got back to Berlin at like 4 am and then I went home and slept for a really long time.

The Bike Race

So you remember like back in May when I wrote that I might have trouble getting to church because of a bike race? Well, I had trouble getting to church because the bike race went right past the church. I left early and got to Zoo at like 9. Church starts at 9:30 and the next bus wasn't going to come for like 25 minutes. That wasn't going to work. While I was considering my options I saw this guy, Kendall, who's doing an internship in Berlin. So I went over to him. He didn't know how to get to church without the bus. It just so happened that I had walked from Hackescher Markt to Zoo following the route of the 100 bus, the bus we needed, a few days before. Hence, I knew exactly where to go. So we walked and made it on time. Downside: I got a blister. It was pretty much the end of the world.

8 Dinge, die ich an Deutschland liebe

Hej Alle, es ist schon wieder die Zeit!

In diesem Eintrag erkläre ich euch 7 Dinge, die ich an Deutschland liebe genau wie es im Titel steht. Die sind in keiner Folge, einfach eine Liste.

1. H-Milch. Mir schmeckt H-Milch genau wie frische Milch. Mit frischer Milch habe ich immer das Problem, dass sie schnell verdirbt, weil ich fast keine Milch trinke. Aber mit H-Milch muss ich mir keine Sorgen machen. Ich habe gerade einen Liter im Schrank neben meinen Haferflocken und auch einen Liter im Kühlschrank. Toll, oder?

2. Das Geld. Ich liebe Euros auf mehrere Gründe. Die Münzen finde ich einfach zu v und auch hilfreich (Außer die 2 und 1 cent Münzen, ich habe einfach zu viele von denen). Mir gefällt das System total gut. Die Münzen sind von einander leicht zu erkennen, nachdem man sich daran gewöhnt hat, was leicht ist. Die Banknoten sind auch gut, weil die verschiedene Werten sich Farbe und Größe unterscheiden.

3. Müsli. Ich habe heute Knusper-Schoko Müsli gekauft und schon ein bisschen mit meiner H-Milch gegessen. Oh ja. Es war wie eine Party in meinem Mund. Früher hat mir Knusper-Schoko Müsli gar nicht geschmeckt. Was war los mit mir?

4. Haribo ist auch eine Party in meinem Mund. Aber diese Party hat in den vergangenen Wochen zu oft stattgefunden. Man muss sich beherrschen, denn alle Arten Haribo schmecken so furchtbar gut. Ich weiss nicht, wie mein lieblings heisst, weil ich es nur 2 mal gekauft habe. Aber, es ist eine Mischung von Konfekt und Goldbären. Hmm, süß!

5. Öffentliche Verkehrsmittel. Ich kann fast jeden Ort in Deutschland ohne ein Auto erreichen, weil die öffentlichen Verkehrsmittel so effektiv sind. Deutschland ist ungefähr so groß wie Kalifornien aber ich kann nirgendwo in Kalifornien ohne ein Auto gehen. BART kann man mit Deutschland nicht vergleichen.

6. Nutella. Ich habe Nutella noch nicht dieses mal gekauft, was gut ist, denn ich konnte eine gnaze an einem Tag essen. ABER, ich habe Nutella trotzdem Lieb auch wenn sie zu viel Zucker enthält. Aber deshalb schmeckt sie so gut.

7. Döner. Was muss ich noch schreiben?
8. Knusper Schoko Müsli

Tingly

OK first, I have a sunburn that's making a tingling sensation on my legs. Hence the name of this entry. So it's kinda been a while since I wrote on here. Um, I'll start with going to the Siegessäule. I don't even remember what day we went. Cheryl has the cool picture where it's us in the foreground with the column in the back. It's pretty much awesome. I had never actually been out to it before and I still haven't climbed up it because it was closed by the time we got there.

And now for last night's dance. It was way the heck out in Spandau. When we got there I remember just being confused because there were like married adults and stuff sitting at tables having dinner. It was a YSA dance. I guess usually it's not like that. But I like expected that they would leave after a while. No. I also thought more people would show up eventually. Also didn't happen. Anyway, this first video is of Kyle and Cheryl dancing. It's awkward cause they don't really know what they're doing. Note how many people are dancing. Not that many. I've decided that unless it's a really big dance like the ones they have in Frankfurt or at a big Tagung, then dances in Germany are lame.

Today was cool. I met up with some people at Friedrichstr. and we took a train out to Brandenburg where we met up with this guy Markus who we know from institute. We went to the beach on a lake. Like a third of the people were clothed and the rest were not. But here's the thing, everyone who gets naked is always really old. And there were some large people there too. Pretty much the objective was not to look to the right because of rampant amounts of old droopy skin. We were at the beach for a very long time. First my arms got burned and started to hurt so I put my jacket on to protect my skin. Unfortunately, I couldn't so anything to cover my legs so they got really burned too. As Kyle put it so delicately, I "look like a candy cane" because I have stripes of red and white on my legs. He's always so aware of others' feelings. After being at the beach forever, the big group of us (ok like 15 people) went over to Markus' house (yes a house) for a barbecue. I missed most of it because I was on the phone with my mom for almost two hours. It was nice to finally get to talk for more than like 10 minutes and find out what's happening with all my siblings and stuff. Plus, when I got back there was already food and I didn't have to wait. But someone did ask "hey, everything alright?" as though I had been wandering the woods for two hours in some sort of anti-social episode. I was just like, "Ya, I was on the phone with my mom." It was lots of fun. The food was really good.

There are some people in our group that have absolutely no problem with drawing undue amounts of attention to themselves. I HATE that. My single objective is always to blend in as much as possible. When I'm alone it's no problem. In groups it's harder but when people insist on singing "In the Jungle" while waiting for the train, it's impossible. I thought they looked retarded, so I made a video.



Here's a picture of us waiting for the train. Note the sunburn. I don't have aloe or anything. I'm just going to put lotion of very often and hope that I don't peel. And people keep telling me that I'm burned. I'm pretty sure I can feel the heat radiating from it and see it myself. It's just kind of annoying. And I don't appreciate getting called a "candy cane" or a "Hummer" (lobster). I just have to wait a few days until it turns into a tan.

Please note Talya's hand on my knee. I can't remember if that was to keep her hand warm from my sunburn or to cool me off because of the burn. Whatever.

So it's supposed to take longer to get to church tomorrow because there's a bike race and the buses aren't coming as often. That should be interesting.

Pretzels

Ok, so this is just random and I think it's funny.

Oxident Bar

OK, es tut mir Leid, aber ich muss jeden Tag 20 Minuten auf Deutsch schreiben und ich wollte dieses Video hochladen und deshalb habe ich mich entschieden auf Deutsch zu typen. Ich fing ganz vom Anfang an. Ich bin erst heute um 5:36 aufgewacht und war überhaupt nicht müde obwohl ich nur 4 Stunden geschlafen hatte. Ich schlief wieder ein und wachte später auf wegen meines Weckers. Ich bin pünktlich beim Goethe-Institut angekommen. Der Unterricht heute war sehr gut und ich habe viel gelernt. Wir haben uns mit Präpositionen beschäftigt. Auch haben wir eine sehr lustige Übung gemacht. Unsere Lehrerin spielte Musik auf dem CD-Spieler und dann mussten wir einen kurzen Text dazu schreiben. Danach haben wir das Blatt an unseren Nachbar weitergegeben, noch ein Musikstück gehört und er musste die Geschichte weiter schreiben. Das haben wir vier Mal gemacht bis wir unsere eigene Geschichte wieder empfingen. Dann haben wir unsere Geschichten vorgelesen und eine davon ausgewählt, die für die ganze Klasse vorgelesen wurde. Natürlich gab es lustigen Geschichten.

Heute war auch der Tag des langen Unterrichts im Institut. Wir sind aber zu spät angekommen aber Dr. Smith war noch nicht da. Wir hatten Unterricht von 2:30 bis 5:00 und das war kürzer als es normalerweise ist. Nach dem Unterricht mit Dr. Smith gingen wir nach Zoo um essen zu holen. Ich aß thailändische Nudeln, die eigentlich gut waren. Wir haben gegessen und gingen mit dem Bus zurück zur Kirche.

Institut war gut. Aber danach ist die echte Geschichte. Eine Gruppe von uns wollte eine Kneipe finden, die "open mic night" hatte. Es hat eine Stunde gedauert dorthin zu kommen, weil unsere Gruppe so viele war und wir mussten zuerst nach Zoo. Die Kneipe war aber am Frankfurter Alle im Osten. Endlich sind wir angekommen aber nicht viel war los. Ich habe trotzdem ein kleines Video gemacht. Die Musik war gar nicht so schlecht. Ein bisschen laut aber das ist zu erwarten.


Es ist nur ganz kurz. Man sieht die Band und Tanner, Steve, Cheryl, Liz, Jon und Kyle.

Das ist schon 20 Minuten gewesen. Plus, we like weren't sure if this place was a gay bar because there seemed to be just guys in it and this one man, who we thought was a security guard was just like totally dancing around. We concluded that it wasn't a gay bar, I wouldn't have really cared if it had been, and that the guard guy was probably just drunk and wearing a "security" shirt. But my favorite person was this dazed (drunk) kind of older fat guy who was wearing face paint and even like on his neck. Yet another reason we weren't too sure about this place. I doubt you can see him in the video but I can see him in my mind. Ya, creepy.

Poland

So today was a holiday so we decided to go to Poland. We consist of me and two other personalities that come out in Germany (one East, one West). Ok, that probably wasn't even funny. Sidenote: my fingers keep getting confused because I switch back and forth between German and English keyboards so often. Anyway, Liz, Kyle, Steve, Cheryl, Neville, and I went to Stettin in Poland today. Well, that's the German name for it. I don't know the Polish one.

It was really cool even though all we really did was eat and walk around. We spent forever trying to find a restaurant but all we saw were like bars and cigarette shops where we could buy junk food. But no, we wanted something authentic. Didn't happen. We went to the mall and wandered around for a while before settling on just going to the food court. Oh, I forgot to mention that none of us speak Polish AT ALL which made everything a little difficult. And even though it was only two hours away from Berlin, not that many people spoke German.

Anyway, back to the food court. I got KFC and so did Kyle. I was too scared to even try and pronounce the other food names. Liz and Cheryl got this Chinese-esque food that was kind of bland. Neville and Steve both got somewhat Polish food but not totally since it was from a mall. After that we walked over to by the river and hung out. There were people from Coke giving out tiny cans of Coke in the park; Cola Light for the girls and Coke Zero for the guys.

Then we walked around some more and ate some stuff we thought was going to be ice cream. I thought I had ordered (and by ordered I mean pointed to a picture of) a kinda tall thing of what looked like strawberry ice cream. No, I got this short thing full of the polish equivalent of Jello. the others didn't get ice cream either, it was like mousse or something.

So then we were walking back to the train station and we see a woman lying in the street, ok the gutter, with a pool of blood around her head and three people standing by her all chill like there's nothing wrong. Well, the guys went over there and Liz, Cheryl, and I hung back for a little bit. Turns out she was drunk and had slipped and hit her head on the curb. The weirdest thing was that the people who had been standing there didn't seemed concerned or had like they had called anyone for help. But, before we left the ambulance had come and they put her on a stretcher. Exciting. And no, we didn't touch the blood. Gross.

The train ride back to Berlin was smelly and slightly warmer than comfortable.

Fellbach Hopf

OK, so this is really a continuation of what happened to me on Wednesday. Since I don't have a car I have to rely on the public transportation here in Germany. That's all and fine because it's really reliable and well planned, unlike at home. (If we had a system like they do here, I'd rarely drive) But there are two main draw backs to this whole thing. 1. It takes longer than if I were to drive. Example: from the Müllers to the insitute takes like 15 mintues when we drive. With public transportation, it takes like 30-40 minutes depending on how the connections work out. 2. If you go out too late, you could miss the last train home.

This second setback was my main fear on Wednesday because I was way the heck out in Freiberg. It all worked out fine and dandy until I got to the Bahnhof in Fellbach. That is when I unknowingly got on the bus for Fellbach Hopf. It was in the place where the number 60 was supposed to be so I got on. Mistake. They made the u-turn like normal but then instead of turning right, the bus went left. I freaked. I still knew where I was and could have walked but I thought it better to stay in the bus.

I got lost after like the 5th stop so then I had to stay on the bus because then I had no clue where I was. I saw some people pull out a map (did I mentioned we were packed in like sardines?) and I saw that this bus would eventually loop around and go back to the Bahnhof. But in the mean time, I was still on an over crowded bus with a whole bunch of buzzed, if not drunk, Germans. Which actually wasn't bad. Everyone was very jovial and talkative, rare for most Germans unless they've had a little something to drink.

So basically what was going on was Hopf was a party spread throughout several bars and restaurants around Fellbach. No one had work on Thursday because it was a holiday so everyone went out and partied.

After being on the bus for who knows how long I recognized the stop as Höhenstraße because I go passed it all the time on the U1. Then I knew exactly where I was and decided to get off at the next stop. So I did. It was Bahnhofstraße right by where Esther's brotehr and sister-in-law used to live. Then I just walked "home" and was there around 1am.

Exciting, I know. I've gotten lost so many times this week. It may have something to do with the fact that I have never, nor do I presently, own or have poession of a map of Stuttgart or the surrounding areas. But whatever, I get by.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

So Esther and I were talking and she started apologizing because her mom had realized they'd already invited people over for dinner on Sunday. But by the way she said it I knew that wasn't the problem, the problem was who was coming. My first thought was "Stephan's parents" and sure enough, I was right. (PS Stephan is my ex-boyfriend) This news is what made me laugh hysterically for at least two minutes. I started out standing next to "my bed" and gradually moved closer to the floor until I was lying on my back laughing my head off. I really don't know why I find this so dang funny. I think it's probably the potential it has for awkwardness. Not only because of the whole ex situation but also because 1. Stephan's dad is kind of different (that's putting it lightly) and 2. I know he didn't like me last summer because I'm American and last time I looked at my passport, it was still issued by the United States of America. Seriously, of all the people in the stake on all the Sundays. But here's the thing, I only met them once at Samira's baptism so I don't even know If they'll recognize me since I've lost 20lbs, cut off 9 inches of my hair, and dyed it light brown. Plus, Esther said that even if they do recognize me, they won't say anything. Neither will I. I'll just be myself and give them nothing bad to say about me, which shouldn't really be a problem unless they talk about Stephan and I say something rude like "Ja, ich hab' gehört er soll richtig dick geworden." ("Ya, I heard he's supposed to have gotten really fat" which I have heard). But, the likelyhood of me doing that is like null percent. I'm making dessert too. Take that to the bank and deposit it!! I really don't know what that was for.

The First Week

OK, so I had this crack pot idea to come to Germany a whole week early to see my friends down here in Stuttgart. It's actually been really cool even though it's totally not how I'd picutred it. Here's a recap:

I got to Frankfurt on Monday a little after 3 pm. The flight was non-stop from San Francisco. Which was awesome PS cause I didn't worry about them losing my luggage (a constant fear when I have layovers) and the flight was only 10.5 hours but felt considerably longer since my stomache hurt most of the time. But whatever. I passed the time watching movies and listening to my ipod.

After landing in Frankfurt, I got my luggage and went through customs and all that then headed to the trainstation. Lo and behold, I had a text but I couldn't respond to it on my American cell phone. Thank goodness I have a German one. My friend Esther had to tutor and couldn't meet me at the train station but her parents were at the institute three bus stops away. I've been to the institute more times than I care to think about (mostly because of who I was with) so it wasn't a problem getting there. They almost didn't recognize me, we had FHE with some JAEs, and played games. It was nice.

I slept through my alarm on Tuesday and woke up at like 10 or something. I went to the Mercedes-Benz museum after getting ready and all that boring stuff. It was pretty cool. I got lost along the way, though. I looked up the address online and saw that it's on Mercedes Straße. Shoke. So then I looked up how to get to Mercedes Straße and took the U-bahn to that stop (aptly named Mercedes Straße). Unfortunately, as soon as we were leaving Bad Canstatt and I could see the museum, I knew I was heading in the wrong direction. I was going straight, the museum was way the heck to the left. So I got off the U-Bahn and went to Bad Canstatt again. After walking aroung for like 5 minutes I found the bus stop that said "Mercedes Museum" as the end station. Next bus: 20 minutes. I had just missed it. I'm good at that. So then I waited.

I'm pretty much positive that I rode schwarz to the museum. This is bad, but I always take comfort in the knowledge that I can act like a stupid American tourist, especially when doing touristy things like going to a museum. Thankfully, I haven't had to see if that works. I'm guessing it won't go over too well. Anyway, I got to the museum and they had all these old cars and history and I got a really bad headache half-way through that I had the rest of the night. From one of the rooms I could see them testing cars out on their test track. A Benz vs. a Smart car. Just guess who was winning. I'd forgotten my camera though so I didn't take any pictures. Lame, I know.

I then made my way over to institute. I walked to the S-bahn station that I knew was there from going through it in December. Since I'd never really used it before it took a while for me to find, but I did it. I got to institute like 15 minutes before it started. Samira was there. I didn't expect that. She was supposed to be on vacation. There was a forum instead of regular classes. I would have preferred the classes. The speaker was this Swiss guy named Francois and he pretty much gave us a presentation about his book Babylon am Abgrund: Der vorgezeichnete Untergang der westlichen Kultur (I can't translate very well but here you go Babylon on the Edge: the Chronicled Destruction of Western Culture). It was less than interesting. And he bad mouthed my country. I don't like that very much.

Wednesday's highlight was the Staatsgalerie. They had a cool Pop Art exhibit that I only had to pay 2€ for because I'm not over 20. HAHA! Then I guess every Wednesday is free admition into the collection. Not bad. You know what I really like though? Jugendstil. They didn't have any. I need Vienna for that. Although there was some Casper David Friedrich, Monet, and Paul Klee that I really liked.

After that I went "home" (aka Esther's) for like 20 minutes before I had to leave for a birthday party. This girl Geli turned 19. It took me an hour to get there. And I didn't even get lost. It's just that far from Fellbach to Freiberg am Neckar. The party was cool. There were like 10 of us there. We hung out, played games. I had to leave early to catch the last S-Bahn at 23:30. What happened next, well look in "Fellbach Hopf" and you'll see.

Thursday was a holiday and therefore very chill. Esther didn't have school, her dad didn't have work so we all got to have lunch together before her parents left for Frankfurt to visit her brother and his family. Esther, Silke, and I went to the gym. YEAH FITNESS!! That'll probably be the last time I go to a real gym for like 4 months. Then we went to dinner at this Restaurant called Woody's. It's like German-American fusion cooking and also German versions of American food that don't quite work. After that we went to the movies and saw 21. Now, I know what some of you are thing "but that's rated R!" Well, maybe in America it is but here you can see it from 12 on up. And I'm not in America anymore. I'm in Germany. So when in Rome, you know? I liked the movie. I don't know that I'd pay 6€ (student price, I love it) to see it again but it was still good. I'm happy to report that I did not get lost on Thursday.

Nor did I get lost today. I did, however, sleep until noon. The Rollladen were all the way down so it was still totally dark in "my room" so I had absolutely no concept of time and just fell back asleep whenever I woke up. I was also home alone so there wasn't noise in the apartment to wake me up. (Esther was at work) So I took my jolly sweet time getting ready and went to the Army Post. I walked from the Bahnhof to the Post. I'd done it once before with Esther last summer so I knew the way. It took like 45 minutes. (I had to get a new ID and I'm no longer registered there so next time I want to bring guests, I have to register first to be in the computer database. They get confused because I don't actually live there.) I made sure while I was walking there to pay attention to the busses so I would know which one to take back and where the closest stop is to the Post. (number 84, incase you're dying to know, which I know you are).

I bought stuff at the commissary, packed it in my Timbuk2 bag (Thank you Tisha, I LOVE IT) and walked to the bus stop. That took a good 20 minutes. I then headed back to the institute for waffel night. No joke. The waffels here are different. They're made with dough rather than with batter. It melts when it hits the waffel iron and then spreds out. And they have tons of sugar in them. I ate like 3 which is why I made sure to walk to Hauptbahnhof. Then I got to walk from Fellbach Lutherkirche to the Müller's apartment, or else I would have never gotten back.

Esther wasn't home when I got back but when she did she told me something that made me laugh for a good two minutes straight.

It's only the beginning

Hey everyone, it's Hillary. So, I've decided to start a blog to let you all in on the various things that happen to me as I wander throughout Europe this summer. Plus I was jealous of Kristin's crazy cool blog. Mine won't be as cool because I'm new to this whole thing but whatever. I hope you enjoy and that it's not too boring.