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why i haven´t been blogging

I´d like to blame why I haven´t written a blog in three weeks on the fact that my computer died on me. However, this tragic event only happened last Wednesday, which still doesn´t explain the other two weeks.Anyway, I´m now at the internet bar \cafe\casino where I accidentally put too much money into the computer so I thought I could write a blog. Since Budapest I´ve done a ton of things but only a handful of them are worth writing about. Amsterdam was last weekend. The trip was awesome, but way too short. We easily spent more time on the train than we actually did in Amsterdam. With that being said, I didn´t get a great feel for the city. It was really interesting though to see legal prostitution and legal marijuana. Everywhere. The other really cool thing that I did was go to Colmar (a city in France that was only about two hours away from me) to see the tour de france finish. That was such an amazing experience. I got to stand about 10m away from the finish line in the front row. It rained all day, so standing there wasn´t always the most fun, but I met some really awesome people and obviously, I got to see the tour. So awesome. Lots of other things have happened, but they´re all seeming to blend together. I feel like things are starting to slow down here seeing as most of us leave on Friday. I´m sure this week will be lots of fun though :)

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Budapest

Without a doubt, this past weekend has been amazing. The trip was an adventure right from the start when at 7:30 we found out that our train didn't leave at 10:30 like we thought it did, but rather at 8:30. We were given about 20 minutes to pack all of our stuff and head on over to the train station. This was an especially difficult task for me because I spent the entire afternoon sleeping because I had a terrible headache. Once we got to Stutgart we had to take a taxi to the train station because it was too late for the strassenbahn. Our ride was hilarious and the driver even told us where to get beer 24 hours a day incase we got bored sleeping in the airport. We arrived at the airport around 1 a.m. and found a sweet spot with some benches that we could sleep on. The flughafen schlafen (airport sleeping) went a lot better than I thought it would. Inevitably, I would wake up every so often to the click click click sound of a suitcase rolling against the tile floor, but other than that it was well worth the wonderful price of 0 euro. The flight left at 9:30 and by noon, we were in our hostel in Budapest! We stayed at "Tiger Tim's Place", which was operated by people who speak english. The place was awesome and they even took us out at night. We also met a lot of cool people there as well.  After we got settled in, we spent the rest of the day walking around and at the house of terror museum. There was also a neo nazi riot that day. Believe it or not, we actually even had a dialog with a fascist. Saturday night we went out to a couple bars that were fun, but fairly uneventful. On Sunday we spent a good portion of the day at the bath house, which is basically a place with a TON of pools, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms, etc. It was a much needed day of relaxation. That night we hung around the hostel and drank some absinthe. I love that stuff because 1. I can get so drunk off of so little, and 2. I speak fantastic German after drinking it. Too bad it is not legal in the states. Monday was a day of sightseeing and walking and then getting on the plane back to Stutgart. The flight was short, but we were a bit scared for our lives on the landing because we felt like Indiana Jones was flying the plane. Discount airlines=untrained pilots? Maybe. The journey back didn't take quite as long and this time we didn't sleep in the airport. Instead, we slept on the McPatio in the Karlsruhe train station while we were waiting for our connecting train. We got back at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning and I managed to sleep through all of my roommates alarms and miss some class. Overall, a great weekend. I'm so glad that we ended up in Budapest. It is a place that I would never book a trip to, but I ended up loving it so much. I'll definitely go back!

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we be chillin' at the holiday inn

I went to Munich this weekend with Cassandra and it was amazing. The trip got off to a rocky start when we realized an hour into our train ride that we weren't on the right train. The mistake only cost us an hour though and we were able to get to Munich fairly easily after that. We definitely thought we were doomed for another "Paris Weekend". Once we got there we checked into the hotel and were so happy to find that we had nice big beds, flat screen tv, and most importantly, A SHOWER! The best part though: free bike rentals! We stayed at the hotel for about 10 minutes and then took the bikes downtown. The ride took way longer than it should have but was absolutely beautiful riding through this giant park. Once we got downtown we walked around and then found a place to eat dinner which was schnitzel of course. I feel like german cuisine consists only of schnitzel (meat), bratwurst (sausage), and spaetzel (egg noodles). I might be getting sick of it... Anyway, after dinner we went to the legendary Hofbrau house. Our plan was to ask someone that already had a table if we could join them, seeing as it is nearly impossible to find a table in that place. We ended up sitting at a table with a bunch of engineers from some college in Indiana. Our time there was awesome, and it was great to meet some new people. After that we decided that it was time for some hard alcohol and went to a latino bar that was absolutely packed.  This was probably my least favorite part of the night because my rum and coke was 15 euros (>20 george washingtons). Unfortunately, I was unaware of this until it was in my sweet little hands and I had no choice but to hand over the cash. Learning experience: don't order drinks before you know how much they cost.  Needless to say, we only had one drink and then proceeded on the drunk bike ride back to the hotel. This was quite the adventure since 1. we were drunk and 2. we didn't know where we were going. I think I might be lucky to be alive...  About every 200 yards we would run into some people and ask them where to go. The plan worked out fantastically until we came to the big park (now pitch black) that we rode through in the beginning. No way we were going through that! While we were pondering the next option, an older man rode by and asked us if we needed help. Luckily, we were able to pretend that we were sober and talk to this man who so graciously led us back to the street our hotel was on.  Last night really restored my faith in humanity and made me realize that there are actually still nice people out there. We met so many people last night and every single one of them was so willing to help us out. It was definitely the best night in Germany thus far. 

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another day in germany

I'm writing this entry per request of the lovely Miss Elizabeth Kinder who wanted to know what I do every day here in Freiburg. Described below is a typical weekday.

7:15 a.m.- Wake up to soothing Asian sounds that are not from Angus' cell phone, but rather my Chinese roommate's sweet alarm clock. Usually this is a difficult task and is immediately followed  by coffee making. 

8:00 a.m.- Walk to class. If I was too lazy to make a sandwich (or forgot to buy bread to make a sandwich on) then the walk is complemented with a stop at the bakery where I will usually buy a chocolate filled croissant. 

8:30 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.- Class which can sometimes be very boring. When it's boring, I tend to think about things other than German. For example: I decided upon cool colors to paint my apartment the other day. Most of the time though, this is just 4 hours of German learning fun. Right.

1:00 p.m.-  This time is usually filled with a mixture of different activities. After class I'll either go get lunch in the city or go back to the guesthouse and make something myself. Then, assuming the weather is good, I'll either go running or biking. If the weather is not good, I usually sit around and wait for it to get better.  I also usually get gelato during this time. However, today I calculated how much I've spent on ice cream since I've been here and the amount is alarming. So, that activity might soon be getting cut out of my daily routine. 

~7 p.m. - Dinner time. The first week or so everyone was really enthusiastic about cooking dinner but now we're all just lazy. There are a few places that we frequently go out to when we're too lazy to cook. 1) The Chicken Place- Yeah, they sell chickens, but usually everyone gets pizza or bratwurst there. 2) The Pasta Palace- from 6-730 every night you can get a whole pasta meal for 1 euro 90 cents! Or I'll just stay in and make a sandwich.

9:00 p.m.- Some nights we'll go out to a bar. Every Tuesday we go to a great place which I just recently found out used to be a morgue. I'm slightly turned off from it now, but will still continue to go because I can get drunk there for about 4 euros. Other nights we'll just hang around the guest house.

10:00 p.m.- Unfortunately, this is often when I start my homework. 

12:00 a.m.- Bed time.

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happy easter?

It is undoubtedly evident that I'm missing the lack of ice cold drinks here in Germany. While I was cruising the aisles of the grocery store I noticed that they don't refrigerate eggs here. So not only can you not get a cold drink, but now you can't get cold eggs?!

Luckily these might make up for the lack of refrigeration:

Easter eggs all year long!

Not cold.

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