An Unfortunately Short Overview of the Last Few Days

So I wrote this all earlier today, but then I deleted it. I thought I was back in the German groove, but I mixed up 'delete' with 'edit,' and well...I think that you can figure out the rest. I will give a brief, yet descriptive update of my last three days here in Europa.

SUNDAY:
After I wrote my best, I checked out Trinity University. It was pretty, but I found the newer, smaller university in Maynooth (outside Dublin) a bit nicer. There was also a man mooning passersby at Trinity, and that was no bueno. After exploring Trinity for a bit, I returned to my hostel, the Avalon House, where I met a broken up couple from California (why there were traveling Europe together, I have no idea!!). Anyway, they asked me to go out with them, and I decided that I might as well try to end my stay in Dublin on a good night, and I did. We went to Temple Bar, a large area of pubs near Dublin's City Center. We even went in the Temple Bar, the largest one. It was a lot of fun, but I cannot even explain how expensive the drinks were. I planned on staying foronly a little while, since I had to get up very early, but I was having so much, and decided that I probably would not sleep so well in my twelve room hostel, so I stayed out for awhile. At the first pub, we met a guy from Scottsdale, and he joined our group. I had now met Arizonans three out of four days in a row!!

We went pubhopping for a bit, and spent the majority of our time poking fun at the drunkards around us (whoever said there are no alcoholics in Europe is a downright liar--most of the people making fools of themselves were obviously local Dubliners). After, we went to get pizza (I didn't eat any), and then we walked around for awhile. It was a lot of fun. I got back to the hostel at around 2, where I showered before laying in bed for an hour and a half, unable to sleep. At 4, I got out of bed and checked out.

MONDAY:
I walked to the bus station for a good start to a terrible messy day of travel (Thanks Mom and Ali!!). The airport was an absolute mess, in complete contrast to that of Edinburgh's. The plane was on time, however, and I it was a very nice flight...until we landed in an entirely different city than I thought we were to land in. We flew into Frankfurt-Hahn, instead of Frankfurt-Main, and the airport is nowhere near Frankfurt. I took a bus almost two hours to Frankfurt-Main, where i found the train station I was to leave from. I got there, only to discover that I missed all of the morning trains to Mainz. I got in a line to validate my Eurail pass, and I was on the line for somewhere around 45 minutes before I went to the departures board to find that I had missed yet another train to Mainz. I had to then take a Schnellbahn to Mainz-Kastel, where I then took a taxi to Mainz Hauptbahnhof (Hauptbahnhof = main train station). So I broke down and took a taxi, something I did not plan on doing the whole trip. :(

Poor Julia had waited almost two hours for my arrival by the time I got there, and I felt so bad. Being the kind-hearted mädchen that she is, the time did not matter to her and she did not complain. She was sheerly excited to see me. We embraced, and my entire travel ordeal was forgetten...we had four years of catching up to do.

We went to her apartment so that I could drop off my stuff, and then we headed off to the Uni, where Julia studies Jura (law). I sat in on a criminal law lecture, and it was really interesting. I had a bit of trouble understanding the professor, so I spent much of the hour looking through her book--I understood about nine out of every ten words. After this we went to Johannisfest, a giant festival in commemoration of John the Baptist that I had actually attended four years ago. It is widely celebrated in Germany and surrounding countries, but the biggest celebration is in Mainz, where 500,000 come annually to the local festival. It was a ton of fun.

We then went to an Eiscafe, because I was really craving some German gelato. I ordered a Spaghetti Eis, just like I did when I first came to Germany. It was delicious, and the first thing I had eaten all day.

We then went back to Johannisfest, where we met a friend of Julia's, Laura.

We rode the ferris wheel, and Julia was scared out of her mind when I started moving the wheel and making us spin whilst suspended a couple of hundred feet high. After the ferris wheel we watched perhaps the greatest fireworks display I have ever seen, held directly over the beautiful Rhein River. It was a ton of fun, and the weather here is still cool--so that was too my liking.

When we came back to Julia's apartment after the festival, I passed out nearly instantly.

TUESDAY:
After eight solid horus of sleep, I woke up to a cold, rainy day in Mainz, only to find out that my train to Freiburg was in just over a half hour. I threw on some clothes, grabbed my rainjacket, and set off for the Hauptbahnhof. The train ride was a little more than two hours, and I am REALLY starting to wish my iPod would work. I made a playlist for my Eurotrip and everything.

Anyway, I spent the day in Freiburg, looking at the University. I loved it. And the city is based around the Neckar River, which is very nice. The University is 550 years old, and the city has some beautiful architecture. I think Freiburg would be a great place to study. Oh, and it was very cold and very windy. The weather here right now feels like early spring in Germany, I guess. The people here are obviously unhappy about it, but I love it. I have worn my coat more in the month of June 2007 than I have worn any coat before in my entire life!!

Something exciting happened today. When I ordered food or asked for directions, etc., nobody responded to me in English. Usually people detect my accent, and since just about everybody here speaks English, they will respond in English. And I hate it. This was the first time I spoke to so many vendors and worked in German without being responded to in English!!

I came back to Mainz, where I ate Broetchen und Kaese (Bread rolls with cheese). There is no bread in the world that is as good as the bread in Germany, except maybe my mom's crescent rolls and pizza dough. After dinner, we watched television (I can understand the news anchors perfectly, as they speak slowly and clearly) and talked for nearly three hours. After this, we went to bed, and at the end of a long day thinking in German, I am so mentally exhausted that I can fall fast asleep.

WEDNESDAY:
I woke up this morning after NINE hours of sleep. I am sure my family is shocked to hear that I slept more than eight hours two nights in a row, but it gets evem better (or stranger). I did the dishes and took a shower (you do not want to know how long it had been), and then headed off to the Hauptbahnhof to go to Stuttgart.

Stuttgart is a pretty city, but it is architecturally newer than many German cities, because so much of it was destroyed in the second World War. A lot of the buildings were built in the 60s and 70s (aka architecture's dark ages). It is a big city though, and apparently many engineering feats are taking palce there as I write.

I was greeted at the train station just before two by Laura Thornes, the German-speaking countries study abroad advisor at the UofA. She is absolutely wonderful. She had the whole day planned. We walked around the city for awhile, and she showed me both of Stuttgart's campuses. We took a break for coffee and ice cream. Yumm. I also ate some ice cream the day before in Freiburg, einen Erdbeerbecher (a strawberry flavored party in a cone). The student apartments in Stuttgart are very nice. We also saw this area where some very interestingplants are groing (bambo and other tropical trees and flowers), and it is controlled by this crazy looking building. It was very neat. After a tour that lasted a few hours (it was very thorough), we went to meet some students who spent the summer studying in Stuttgart.

We went to this area where one can see the entire city of Stuttgart, and climbed what felt like several hundred stairs to the top of this very modern viewing tower to take some pictures. It was very windy at the top, but the view was excellent. Then we went to a park with a zipline, and it was a ton of fun. I spoke with some of the students that were studying in Stuttgart, and they seemed to like it a lot. I met a kid who had also participated in the GAPP (German American Partnership Program), which is how I met Julia.

They were all going to a Biergarten, but I needed to leave if I wanted to make it back to Mainz by midnight. I felt bad leaving, since Laura had a truly wonderful day planned, but it was so neat to see the city and the University. I absolutely loved it.

I came back and Julia and a friend, Elli, met me at the Hauptbahnof. We walked back to the apartment (Elli is Juliaäs next door neighbor), and went to bed almost immediately.

THURSDAY:
I woke up this morning after TEN HOURS of only onceßdisturbed sleep. I woke up sometime in the night to pee. I have averaged nine hours of sleep since my arrival in Deutschland. Thinking in German all day is truly exhausting, but it is al coming back to me and I am able to speak and listen only in German. Maybe 5% of what I say all day is in English. It is wonderful. I am so excited to study here and hopefully become truly fluent.

Julia and I met her sister at the Mensa (Uni cafeteria) today for lunch. It was incredible. Mensa's have no fast food, and they are EXTREMELY cheap. I got schnitzel with rice (it was actually unbreaded hen), two pieces of Broetchen, and chocolate mousse/pudding all for §2.60. Afterwards, a drank a latte machiatto, perhaps the best kind of coffee in existence. It was all sehr lecker (delicious).

After this, we went to the Bibliothek where Sonja (Julia's sister), had some business to take care of and some copies to make. Then Julia and I went into the city. I saw where her aunt worked (she is a doctor), and then we went to Gummi Baren Treff, the best gummi bear manufacturer in the world. I bought several kilograms of gummi bears (so many that they gave me a bloth bag to carry them in), and I fear that they will all be gone by the time I fly back to Amerika. After this, we went to the post office where I bought thirteen very expensive stamps (:(). Then we went to Laura's apartment, a very rustic, very nice building int he middle of the city, and just hung out there for awhile.

Afterwards we went grocery shopping, before coming back to Julia's apartment (which is also very nice, albeit a bit newer), and eating. I had two more pieces of Broetchen, with cheese and cherry jam (so good). It was delicious.

And now I am writing this post. I am sure that I missed several things, but hopefully I will be able to write a bit more regularly now so that I will not. I am having a great time, and am so glad that the language is coming back to me so easily. I have decided that rain travel is ten thousand times better than air travel (especially when you can get an entire three or four seats and a table to yourself--I actually fell asleep on one two days ago). And I also fear that I am getting used to the keyboard here, because now I am going to have to relearn the American keyboard when I come back.

I have now, for perhaps the first time in my life, been in ten days straight of rain.

I am going to run now, but hopefully I will write again in the next couple of days. Tomorrow is Julia's twentieth birthday, so I should have plenty of stories.

To my family and friends, I miss you all very much and think of you often. Mom, I have been getting plenty of sleep. Dad, you need to golf the Old Course at St. Andrews. Ali, thanks again so much for all of the travel tips and for leeting me borrow everything.

Until later,

Jason