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.