One Heck of a Birthday

So after my last post we went to SommerFest, a giant carnival/festival at the university that Julia attends. At first, it was not a very happening festival, because it was raining and cold and windy. By about midnight, it realy picked up. There were thousands of students there. I must say it was strange seeing Julia's campus turned into a giant party, but it was a lot of fun. I ate German churros and crepes and danced until the wee hours of the morning. It was so much fun.
We came back after for in the morning.

So for once, I did not get 8 hours of sleep. After we woke up on Saturday, Janina and Tabea (two other students from the GAPP exchange) came to visit Julia and wish her a happy birthday. We went into the city and walked along the Rhein (I am going to miss the Rhein!!). We hung out the whole day, and I ought the world'S biggest pretyel for dinner. I wish I had taken a picture, because I cannot even explain the size of this thing.

When we came back, Janina, Tabea, and I played a game with a German-English dictionary, trying to get the other to guess hard German or English words. It was a ton of fun. Unfortunately after that, we received some bad news. The boyfriend of one of the exchange partners was in a terrible accident, and his chances of survival are very slim. Actually, I believe he was going to be taken off of life support today. This tragic news put us in a somber mood. Janina and Tabea left, and Julia and I spent the rest of the evening engaged in philosophical conversation. We went to bed fairly early, but I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night, thinking about the accident and life's mysteries.

Saturday was the first day of my Europtrip without rain, and still the only to date.

Yesterday I woke up real early to take the train to Tuebingen. The first train got to Stuttgart a bit late, and I ran to platform 9 only to see the train to Tuebingen slip away in front of my eyes. I had to wait for the next one, so I got to Tuebingen almost an hour and a half later than I had planned. Tamara, another GAPP exchange student, studies and Tuebingen and met me at the train station to show me around. Tuebingen was so old and so picturesque. I really felt like I was in a postcard the whole time I was there. I can't really describe the architectural style the city was built in, so you will have to wait to see pictures. It was a nice day in Tuebingen, and many gondolas and other boats were afloat on the Neckar River. Tuebingen was a smaller city, with probably a little bit less than a hundred thousand inhabitants. It was a definite university town. I think I will probably study in Tuebingen or Freiburg, if not in Konstanz. None of them stuck out as a must (Tuebingen came closest), but I think I would like all.

When I arrived back in Mainz (the way back took only three hours instead of four) I ran into Eli, who lives next door to Julia, at the train station. We rode the city train back to the apartment, and then Eli, Julia, and I spent the night talking and such. We went to bed before midnight again.

This morning I spent packing and watching what news I could find on tv--it was not too informative. I ate some Muesli, and then took the bus to meet Julia at the university for lunch. I then sat in on her criminal law lecture for a third time (I know have 6 hours of German criminal law under my belt). For lunch we ate Gefluegel (bird) schnitzel in a mango curry sauce with noodles and vegetables. It was delicious. The food in the Mensas here is very delicious, pretty darn healthy, and extremely affordable. The whole meal was only 2 Euro, 20. Staying fit in Germany should not be a problem.

After the lecture, Julia and I went grocery shopping. I find the supermarkets here so interesting, and Germans who want fresh food have to go shopping pretty much every day. So things tend to come in very small portions and such.

When I started writing this post, it was fairly warm and sunny out. Now it is pouring and it is quite dark. It looks a bit cold as well. The weather is crayz here!!

I am getting really excited for Paris tomorrow, and hopefully I will get to update this blog relatively shortly after my arrival. The German Rail Company is going on strike tomorrow morning, so hopefully I will make it to Paris. This will be my last post from Deutschland, so Tschuess!!

Oh, and for Gabby--there is an Eis Cafe directly across the street from Julia's apartment. It is called EisCafe Italien Mario. hahahaha.

Bis Spaete´(until later),

Jason