day 33

day 33

the last several posts are new

i've been in germany for one whole month now.

today i plan to skip breakfast and go for a short ride then go to the computer lab and post all the stuff i have been typing for the last 5 days. then make dinner and go to sleep.


my rommate both snores and talks in his sleep. well its not actually talking its more humming/mouning. makes it hard to sleep well that and his weird sleeping hours. 3:00 am - 9:00 am and 3:00pm - 5:00 pm.

today te computer lab is open from 10:00 - 16:30 so i shold have plenty of time to do stuff. tomarrow the llab is open from 10-14 so i'll be kicked of by the time most of you wake up. i don't think i will have internet acces until the 4th of september so i'll have four days of stuff to take care of then.

i need to get a rail pass for vienna and get a copy of the nominative accusitive and dative ending chart from central website.

day 32

day 32

i'm back in schwabisch hall.

uggghhhh.... i have so much stuff to go over. the backpack when its fully loaded reaks havoc on my shoulders it will take atlest 3 days before they feel right again.


ok i spent 59.01 euro papermoney on the trip (my log says i spent more but the money i counted here says otherwise) however i spent 151.77 euro on traintickets and the hostel. totaling 210.78 euro ($284.56) slightly more than expected. but then i did eat at a resurant almost every night. fyi the wiener schnitzel in fussen germany (just north of austrian boarder) is delicious if you have the means to try it i highly recoment it.

i decided to skip the german museum. it was raining and i didn't want to go to the train station let alone a museum that i din't know were it was and was atlest twice as far as the train station. so i went to dachau and saw the memorial they had audio guides so i got one of them. it was informative (not emotional babling) which i liked.

its 9 pm i'm going to bed


ok its tomarrow but i'm gonna write about today (yesterday). i woke up yesterday at 6:45. got dressed and took the sheets off my bad (you have to take the sheets off the bed and put them in the laundry hamper befroe check out) then i got all of my stuff out of my locker annd went down stairs for breakfast. i ate breads and rolls for about an hour then checked stuff onlline (i had extra minutes from the previous day). and then i checked out. i walked outside and it was raining not terably hard but it wasn't a drizzle either. it was then i desided not to go to the museum i didn't want to ride to the trainstation (about 1 km away) let alone the museum were i wasn't sure were it was and it was atlest 3km away. so i rode , walked and hingout under overhangs to the trainstaion. i was soaked by the time i got there. i bought my ticket to schwabisch hall (with a stop over in dachau. i thought i should really buy a ticket for my bike two. so i thought i did. the train to dachoe nobody checked my ticket. so i got off and looked at a map and thought about taking the bus. it wasn't raining at the time but i figured it would be raining latter (the forcast said it would rain harder latter in the day) so i looked for a maschine to buy a ticket for the buss but didn't find one. then the bus left. luckily i had found directions to the camp on line so i walked there about 2 - 3 km it was about the time i got there that my shoulders started to hurt. i was about to stop and take a break when i saw the audio tour check out place. so i got a tour and walked into the camp.

the words on the gate "arbiet macht frie"

after a while i realized i had spent nearly 2 hours there and the train on my schedual left in allittle more than an hour so i returned the audio tour and took a short break then walked back to the train station were i knew there was a mc donalds. when i got there i ordered a doulbe cheese burger and ate it then i went to the platform and waited (ussually when a train comes it has a picture on the side of the train evry care has a no smoking sign and the picture) i was looking for was a bike but i didn't see it so i got on an stood in the area between the cars and waited for about an hour and a half then the ticket guy came and asked for my ticket and the ticket for my bike i gave him my ticket and the ticket for my bike . he looked at the ticket for the bike and said no this is just for munich so he took out his tiny computer / pinter thing and printed off a bike ticket for me and charged me 4.50 euro then i got onto the next train put my bike in the corner and sat down then about 2 minutes letter (before the train left) a family of about 7-10 got on the train all with bikes my bike was buried. so i asked the father when he was getting off he said at ansbach i said gut me to. then right before the train stopped he started asking me questions and i didn't understand him so i just replied ich wiesse night (i don't know) then he started speaking english do you need to transfer trains here? i said yes so he had to orchestrat his family to help me get off first. which realy wasn't nessissary but i was greatfull. then i got on the train to schwabischhall hessental and went there then transfered to another train and went to schwabisch hall then i rode my bike to the grocery store. i was about to lock it up but then i realized i still had un opened pretzels in my bag and if they searched it i could go to jail or somthing so i rode back to the dorm droped off the bag and grabed the other and rode back to the store and bought some rice and tomatoe sauce. then rode back and made rice and tomatoe sauce for dinner. it was not that great. then i figured out the money for my trip and went to bed. apparently i beat the america group back here. iwouldn't be surprised if they were in prison or stranded on the side of the road.

well that all for yesterday now i'm gonna start on todays.

day 31

today i woke up at 6:45 got dressed grabed the stuff i needed and got out of the room. then i had breakfast which was al you could eat. but, i think i was more like all you could stand to eat. the orange juice was fresh squeezed which tastes weird it has an extra zing to it. and the only edible thing there was rolls (mostly stail) and bread and various jams and honey. then i rode to the train station bought a ticket and went to fussen on the way the ticketer checked my ticket and yelled at me for not haveing a ticket for my bike. i didn't know i needed one. when i got there i rode around the city got lost so i went back to the trainstation and asked the info guy which way the castles were he said that way and always straight. pointing away from the trainstattion i thanked him and road aboit 5 km to the castles i found the ticket office the line for neuschwanstien was long the line started outside the building and did two rooms like at disney world. but it wasn't effective because the walls were glass. the hohenschwangau castle line was directly to the same place but there was literally nobody there so i decided it was worth it to go with the shorter line. i arrived in at the ticket office at 11:40 and got to the castle at about 11:50 the tour started at 1:15 so i had a hour to wait. if i had gone with the neuschwwanstien castle the line would have taken a hour (atleast) then the walk up to the castle probably 20-30 minutes (big hills long distance) and the wait for my tour group to start would have been twice as long so i would still be there a week from now if i had gone with neuschwanstien.

the castle itself was not a castle it was a mansion which is still privatly owned by the royal family. it was basically turned into a mueseum. lots of gold and silver relics and other shiney things.

i'll post more on that latter

then i road back to the train station locked up my bike and walked into town and found a nice resturant i walked in sat down the waitress walked up and said was morchest du i said eine spisekarte bitte and she came back with an englisch menu and talked to me in english the rest of the time i was there. i had weiner schnitzel and frenchfries it was delicious.

then i went back to the trainstation bought a ticket at the mashine then walked inside and asked the info guy for a bike ticket it cost 4.50 euro then i waited for the train got on and this ticket guy didn't seems to care at all if i had the bike ticket or not. i've never had a problem before so i assume i don't need one and if they ask i'll start babbling in english at them..

when i got to munich i locked up my bike and walked around the trainstation looking for food i found a place that sold pretzels and sprite so i bought a pretzel and a sprite i wasn't to hungry i had lunner already (lunner = late lunch/early dinner) this was either a snack or second dinner. then i rode back to the hostel talked to mom and dad and now i'm in the room typing this now i'm gonna plan for tomarrow.

day 30

day 30

whoops i skipped a day.

today it is currently 6:30 in the morning i have an hour before my train leaves and i have to make my computer finish the spy/virus sweeps i started lastnight. i would like to defrag as well but i don't have time. when i post this i should be in munich and i should have seen most of the city. any way i'll add more then maybe.

i missed two of my trians today the first left before i got there (my train was 2 minutes late). so i waited an hour and got on the next one then i got the thee next station with plenty of time to spare i got to the platform and a freighttrain went crawling through so i checked the sation arrival thing and yeah the train was supose to arrive already. then i notice the platformed had changed from the hour before. so i ran to platform one and was confused because it was a different type of train and the conductor had just blown the whistle so i wasn't sure i i could board of not and the train went. so i waited for another hour and got on the train to munich and waited for 2 hours.

ok i got to munich just fine but the directions i required me to go on the tram/lightrail thing. i didn't realize how curvey the s-bahn system is here so i found a map and used that to figure out the location of the street. i was wrong but luckily i remembered the photo on line and saw the hostel on the way. so i came in (luckily they speak english) and got my room key. th room is actually two rooms my has 8 beds and the othere has 6 i guess. there is no ac so it is really hot. i'm gonna try to get on the internet now and talk to mom and dad. the hostel is kinda funny there is a price tag on almost everything. i explored the city i couldn't find the fraun kirche for a while it the tallest thing here but every thing else is just tall enough to hide it when you are on the ground.

i see a church in the diastance out my window i'm gonna check that out next. i have to get online to see what and were everything is in munich. i talked to mom and looked up my itinerary and i think i'm ready to go. my batteries going so i'm gonna stop for today unless i can get it charged.


have a great day
bbye

ok i went to all the places here in town
-the frauen kirche
the area in front of the church is so small that you can't get far enough a way to take a proper picture
-the octoberfest place (they are seting it up for october)
it was fairly un impresive it was like a carnival but instead of rides thay had beer tents. however i did see a greek style bbuilding in the back i think it was hephestus the god of going alittle to far.
-the english garten
it was pretty. but small. i think i prefer the kind of nature that is only found in nature (i.e. the mountain bike trail)
-st. paul church
the prettiest church in munich however less popular
-and almost every street in the inner city
the sidewalks are cobble stone but there is a paved potion going on the street side for bike and othere fast trafic.

tomarrow there is an english tour of dochau that is in english and costs 15 euro thats cheaper than what i could do it for. but it would be in the middle of my time in munich and i don't think i could do neschwanstien and hohengua and still make it back to schwabisch hall on time. however i found out that dachoe is on the way home so i could swing over there and then go home. on the last day. neuschwanstien is way south so i would have to do crazy stuff to make that work on the last day.

i'm not sure why but every town in germany has a church and they all are the same. you have the pretty towers in the front and the back is boring tile roof.

i'm not sure why but when ever i go to a place in germany somthing weird happens with my body. on the flight over to germany i got a bloody nose (but i have an excuss i was over a mile high at that point) then i had to pee realy bad between the airport and schwabisch hall. here i got diarea. so i used the bathroom here and went out to lunch. and BAM diarea again so i had to pay 1 euro to use the bathroom (actually it was 80 cents but i put the money in in the wrong order so it had to be 1 euro) and that was the end of that.

i ate burger king for dinner (the first time i have a carbonated beverage in over a month) it was so good to have american food again. then i walked back here and it is curently 8 o'clock

i am going to go to bed soon because i'm tired.

day 28

day 28

ok today so far i have gotten groceries for my trip again. i researched the price of rice i can get 4 125g instant rice packs for 1.50 euro so i'm gonna try to make stirfry ssomtime in the next month. i'm not sure howmuch rice that is but i think i should last me a while. the america group left some dirty dishes in the kitchen so i'm gonna clean that today aswell (our broom is missing grrrr.) i think i have every thing lined up for the trip to munich i just need to get on the train on time transfer properly and find the hostel before 3:00 then i have a choice of trains home but i'll explain that latter.

i'm gonna go for a bike ride today up to hessental and see if i ccan find the train station there if i can i will be able to save 2 euro on most of my excursions next month.

ok now for a detailed description of my trip to munich

on monday i will wake up at 6:00 AM and make a large amount of spagehitti for breakfast. then at 7:30 i will ride my bike to the train station and wait for my train to come. it should arrive at 7:49 then i will take the train to schwabish hall hessintal and transfer to another train going to ansbach then transfer to a train going to Treuchtlingen then tranfer to a train going to munich i should arrive at 11:33 then i will have to figure out which way to go to get to the hostel basicaly i plan to ride next to the S-bahn tracks as best i can until i get to the street mensioned in the directions then i will ride the rest of the way to the hostel and lock my bike to somthing and check in. then i will explore the city center and th english garten. and maybe ride around the city if i have time. then go to sleep (i might meet some intresting people in my room i'm sleeping in a room with up to 14 othere strangers luckily the hostel has a luggage locker so my stuff should be safe.)

the next day i will wake up early and eat alot of breakfast (theres a free buffet) then i will either ride my bike to neuschwanstien of take a train (depending on distance) i will tour both neuschwanstien and hohengau then come back to the hostel and maybe ride around the city. then go to sleep.

the third day i will wake up and eat a huge breakfast. then go to dochau and tour that then ride back and go to the german museum. then i should get back on the train by 2:30 pm to come back here that will only cost 36.30 euro or if i want to stay longer i can wait up until 5:39 thats the absolute lastest that i can get back to schwabisch hall on the same day (other wise i'll have to spend the night at a train station) however the latter ticket will cost 55 euro so i'll try my best fo be there at 2:30. (thats why i havn't bought my ticket home yet i'm not sure how much time i will need for the museum or for dochoe)

and thats how my trip will go.

i did some research into the courses at vienna today. it seems that i will have to take a placement test. again. and they will put me in a level and then put me into several classes ounce this is complete i will take the following classes at the following times

music in vienna mondays 16:00 - 18:30
liturature tuesdays 17:45 - 20:15
vienna seminar wensdays 10:00 - 12:00 oct 3,17,31 nov 14,28, dec 12, jan 9,16
german gramer and idomatics wensdays 16:30 - 19:00
austria course thursdays 17:45 - 20:15

i'm not sure how the placment test fits into all of this but i'll ask ruth

i think this placment test is also a way of measuring what level we would be at at central to ensure we studied at goethe. but they don't realy mension that at all any place.

i have noticed a huge jump in my spagehitti intake over the last few days although the meals at goethe wern't much they certainly were filling i can tell my budget for food in vienna will have to double at least.

i have worked out a rough regrestion of my spending for the next 5 months and i should be between 2200 and 3000 euro ($2970-$4050). so far i have withdrawn a total of 446.93 euro ($603.36) (i still have 190 some euro ($256) in my room which is included in this number. 446.93 euro is just the amount that i have taken out of the bank or creditcard) i expect that number to be cut into a forth next month. however the the first month in vienna should be about equivalent. and the numbers should decrese till the italy tour then they should shoot back up. and i shouldn't have to spend much more during the month of january.

it is incredably hard to balance my laptop on my lap so that the fan isn't blocked. you think they would put a blower fan in it to suck air in one side and blow it out the other but instead they have it suck in the back and blow out the bottom. the design is flawed.

since i havn't said anything about germany for a while i will type for a while about the way stuff works here (because i have nothing better to do)
the electrical out lets here are inset into the wall so to plug somthing in you need to have a plug then goes into the outlet and has two prongs on it to go into the holes. this is done for two reasons 1. if you inset the outlet into the wall it becomes harder for forgeign objects and fluids to get into the electrical parts of the outlet. 2. as some of you may remember jon ounce got a paper clip to go imbetween an extenstion cord and a plug and made the two prongs ark. with this plug there is no way for that to happen.

the doors here (atleeast interior doors) are shaped so that when you close the door there is a lip going slightly over the door frame instead of the door going entirly into the door frame like in america this may improve heating and cooling cost however that lip subtracts from the amount of door around the latch so i think it could be more easily kicked open.

the door locks here have key holes on both sides i think this is pretty cool it does two things 1. if sombody breaks into your house through your window they have to take every thing with them back out that window because they can't just unlock the door from the inside. second it assured you that you can't lock yourself out of your house. however the keys turn the wrong way if you want to get into the room you have to turn the key out away from the door frame and to lock the room you have to turn into the door frame.

the toilets here mosly have two ways of flushing (i'll let you figure out why) the first way uses less water and the second way uses more water they do this because water conservation is realy big over here. also the water dosn't spin in these toilets its like it gets sucked out really fast but no vortex.

the light switches almost all function like the one i installed in my room (a rocker switch) but it is half the size. also it you want to turn the lights on you puch the buttom down and if you want them off you push the buttom up. this is backwards from what we have in the usa.

traffic here seems to always drive on the right and the steering collum is on the left side just like in america.
however the cars them selves seem to have different lines than the american made cars.in america our cars mostly have smooth long curves. here the cars all seem to have short radious curves (i'm not sure but thats how i view it)

i have noticed all stoves here (atleast in private residence) have been electric this is probably because they don't want to be dependant on gas and also the towns here are so dense and old and the streets are so curvy and rough that if a fire were to break out buy the time the fire truck got here not only would the house be gone but the house five houses down would be gone to.

none of the rooms have vents but they all have windows and radiators i think this is because the houses were built well before central air was even though of. and it it easier to heat water and disperse it to the whole town than it is to put furnaces in ever building.

the windows here are brilliant. they all have a latch like a door handle if you turn it down and oull the window opens like the doors on back of the suburban or the side doors i guess to, but if you turn the latch up and pull the window upons like the back hatch on a pickup truck, and other windows work slightly differently but the same concept by moving the pins in hinges in and out you can control how the window opens. also they are double pain windows but the put an hinge on the inside of the window so you can open up the inside of the window for cleaning.

i hanv't seen this for real yet but there is a company that makes stoves and on this model of stove when you open the door you can slide it under the stove so you don't have to lean over the door to take say a pizza out of the oven.

on almost every roof they have snow fences that look like a tinny lader for a toy or somthing going allong the edge of the roof

all the roofs here are tile roofs however when a tile breaks they don't seem to care what color tile they put back up so you have some houses with black tile roofs with random pink tiles strewn through out and vise versa.

if you buy a pack of cigarettes her instead of having the label on the side that says "caution smoking may possibly be linked to lung cancer and might affect pregnancyes and may promote premature death" in tiny print. half of the front of the box says "SMOKING CAN MAKE YOU DEAD" its funn to read some of the labels while waiting at the super markt yet almost every one in germany still smokes. the first time i saw an advertisement for cigarets at the trainstation i thought it was anti-smoking propoganda but then i saw the packs at the supermarket and relized it was an advertiment and the second largest words on the poster were "smoking can make you dead" (in german of course).

also the media is a lot more lax about sexuality here it is common to see billboards with pictures of fruit with condoms on them and to see mostly naked women advertising strip clubs on the front page of newspapers.

the euro is a tricky currency to get down. in america anything bigger than a dollar is paper and green (with some exceptions i.e. the dollar coins, which don't count because nobody uses them) and change is every thing smaller than a dollar. however here in europe the euro comes in the following ways

1 cent coin
2 cent coin
5 cent coin
10 cent coin
20 cent coin
50 cent coin
1 euro coin
1 euro paper (hard to find)
2 euro coin
5 euro paper
10 euro paper
20 euro paper
50 euro paper
maybe bigger i don't know

but coins, which as an american i think are mostly worthless, have almost as much power as the paper money. infact at the super markt the money drawers are diferent they have one spot for 10 euro notes one spot for 5 euro notes and the rest is all coins. europeans must jingle alot more than americans.

comforters (like bedding) instead of being sown together like in america they have the basically what would be a comforter in america but it has a smooth faberic on the outside and a gigantic pillow case. the pillow case goes around the comforter so when you wash it you only wash the pillow case and you don't have to worry about messing up the stuffung.

i'm not sure whats going on but a guy with a buzz cut just moved into room 5 and a girl with a buzz cut seems to have just moved into room 7 it seems like they are dating but i thought yesterday that the arab guys were moving into room 7 i'm confused it should all become clear after i get back from my break and the othere americans have befriended them. yeah they are definatly dating.

well i think thats all for today i'm planning on making super now and thn maybe going to the store to get a sponge (our dish rag is discusting)
maybe a bike ride and definatly sleep. fom what i've heard the american group will be done with amsterdam on sunday and may or maynot come back here i'm assumming that we will get back at around the same time. but i'm not sure.

day 27

day 27

Yesterday I went out to the super market and bought all of the food I need for the trip. I got 2 bags of pretzels rice cakes and waffles. I had the waffles for dinner they are terrable so I'm gonna find somthing else. I also went to the train station to buy my train ticket to munich I used my credit card it took 2 tries but it worked. I also withdrew money from my checking acount using a german atm. and booked the hostel and emailed ruth to tell her I would be in munich for 3 days.

Today I woke up and I was confused because it was 7:30 and the american group should have left at 5:00 in the morning but I heared voices but I couldn't understand them I figued it was because I had just woken up and could think german yet. So I got up and walked into the kitchen expecting to see the american group but nobody was there. so I started making pancakes and I saw two arab people walking out of the canadian girls room (she left on wensday). Apparently the goethe institute decided to move the arab people who are going to be here for 9 months (to complete 7 levels of german) into the canadian girls room. I don't like the arab group they are loud childish and look like they think it is the 80's in america. they are all wearing mullots and are wearing 80's like clothing, its disturbing.

today I hope to get online again and research
the times to leave munich to get back here
exact directions to the hostel from the train station
how much it cost to tour dochoe or if I can tour it at all.


In afew hours when it gets warm out I plan to go for a bike ride around the area.
I'll need to pack but I think I'll have to do that sunday.

I found out yesterday that joe is no longer going to central and miller transfered to another school. Then I realized all my close friends at central have either transfered or graduated. and ontop of that since miller transfered my single room in the bottom of firth has been taken by somebody else who will probably stay the whole year so the liklyhood of me getting my own room is rapidly decreasing. which means the violin making plan will need to be revised or thrown out entirly. my only real hope is that tim has his own room and that I can take it when he goes abroad next semester. but I think he has a room mate. I think if I have to have a room mate christa will work on getting me with someone that I already kinda know.

I am considering what I want to do when I get back to central do I want to go with the 20 meal plan, the 1 meal plan, or not get meal plan at all and feed myself. I'm not sure what would be cheaper. if I could feed myself with my work study money I could save mom and dad over $1000. but as I know I'm not very good at picking a variety of food to eat (i.e. spagehitti every night) I will need to raid moms recipe box and pick food based on that.

also I have to decide what I want to do about my independent study next semester patzia has said I could add a credit to one of my existing 200 lvl classes which gives me "modern thought" and "readings in aquinas" since readings in aquinas is a 300 lvl class (which basically means they added enough stuff to the 200 lvl class to make it 300 and add an extra credit to it) and it is taught by ray. I don't want to add an extra creit to it (ray is a loosy teacher). I think I would like to add a crdit to modern thought whch is taught by patzia (the better philosophy teacher) ussually adding a credit means writing a long paper (5 pages) which should take me no more than 2 weeks. and modern thought is probably more easy to write a paper in. I think i would like to do somthing on descartes. maybe somthing on his proof of god and his proof of his own existance and if the two are compatible or not. but I should take a look at the sylibus before I decide any thing.

I'm gonna be busy next semester I will have all the exit interview and graduation stuff and finding a career to do ontop of classes. life is gonna suck for the next two years. I'm not sure what the exit interview entails, and I'm not sure what to expect for graduation stuff any info any of you could offer would be helpfull.

I found an internet room at goethe that is open during most of the break. I went in there yesterday to talk to mom. I was confused why it was two separet rooms about the same size (8'x8') and why there were two large boxes on the floor that wouldn't move. eventually I figuered out that there was tile on the walls and that there were closed off water valves just above the boxes on the floor. I must have been a bathroom at one point. but why they would change a bathroom into a computer room is still confusing me. atleast I understand now why they only have the one bathroom down stairs for the whole building.

I was talking to james yesterday and he was happy, he asked me why is every thing better in germany? I replyied I don't know then he went into how since every one in america came from here you think it would be the place to be, but every thing is better here (in germany) and I replied yeah like the cost of food and gas. then he said yeah but vegtables are cheaper here and I said but meat is way more expensive. I don't think he has seen enough of america to realize how cool america actually is. he has spent most of his life in rural iowa. europe is all the same one over crowded city right next to another america every city is slightly different and out natural land marks are far more impresive. afew days ago james started prasing the randomness of the street systems here in europe and complaining about the grid system in america. he doesn't seem to understand that grids make more sence. I think he will learn that pretty rapidly one his car trip today.

well I've been typing for nearly an hour now and its only 9:30 I'm gonna stop for a while.

day 26

day 26

the american group is going to amsterdam on friday morning so i will have the kitchen and bathrooms to myself for the weekend

i plan to leave for munich on monday morning at 8:00 and arrive at 11:30 i have to check in to the hostel between then and 3:00 it looks like it shouldn't be to hard to find. i plan to explore the marion platz (town center) and the englisch garten for the rest of the day.

the next day i will wake up early and ride my bike to neuschwanstien and Hohenschwangau and spend the day in there. then i will ride back to the hostel and maybe ride around the city (it i have time)

the next day i will go to the german museum and walk through that. then i will ride my bike to dachoe concentration camp and tour that for a while then ride back to munich (or the nearest train station) and come back to schwabisch hall.

it turns out thtta the media center will be open normal hours from now to next friday so i should be able to post stuff. and during the munich trip i will get atleast 10 minutes of internet free and if the price is right i might get more. or i might find an unsecured network. either way i should remain connected.

since i will have access to a kitchen at the hostel i am bringing spagehitti with me so i cook up some of that. i wil also bring rice cakes, generic waffels (sealed should last forever) pretzels (they are dirt cheap here, actually dirt is pretty expensive here i guess thay are as expensive as dirt in america (not good dirt)) and maybe some fresh rolls for the first day or two.

since some information is hard to get online i'm just gonna play it by ear when i get there and make adjustments as nessissary.

the facilities team is being slow in getting back to me on my questions which means thay are reluctant to help me get a job in their field likly because they feel i should do somthing more with my degree. or they know that i can't get a job there and are putting off telling me.

while i am away mustafa will still have acces to my room and since i don't know him i naturally don't trust him so i think i'm gonna put most of my belongings back in the suit case and put it under my bed or in the closet to help remove temptation.

total the munich trip should be just under 200 euro.

over the week end i would like to get a map of the surounding area and ride to all the small town around schwabisch hall.

in one month i will be going to vienna the program wants to fly me there but i have a bike and my luggage is heavier than the flight will allow so i'm likly going to take the train. i'm not sure about the cost but it will likly b cheaper than getting the bike on the plane and paying for the extra weight. i'll have to talk to ruth to see if i can get a refund or not and i'll have to find out how much a train to vienna would cost.

today i have to
withdraw money from my checking acount.
research stuff
how to get to the hostel from the train station
how to ride to neuschwanstien
how to ride to neuschwanstien and hohengau
how to get to the german museum
book the hostel
buy train ticket(s)
and maybe buy food for the trip. (need geet done before sunday)
find out the cost for dachoe.
and talk to mom and dad
maybe research bread costs.
email ruth tell her i'm going to munich from the 27th to the 29th

the actual day 25

day 25

apparently today was the last day of classes so we had a big emotional send off and i don't do those to well do i went and ate lunch and now i'm here typing this blog. ove the last months we have had scafolding bolted to the side of the house we use to watch hot ballons from it and use it to go down stairs but they took it down today and yesterday. which is a shame because i really enjoyed eating dinner out there.

any way i'm not entirly sure how internet is going to work for the next week and a half so i might not post stuff for a while. there is an internet cafee nxt to my dorm but it costs a euro for every half hour. so if i do do that i will have to plan ahead for what i wnat to do and get it done in a hurry. today i hope to check the weather for the next week and pick a three day period to go to munich in. then reserve the hostel, and possibly the train tickets. tomarrow i plan to learn all the little stuff that i should have been focusing on before i came to germany like what genders different words are and so for so i can test higher next month.

i have an advising apointment with ruth on the 4th of september at 3:00 and i will ask her all my questions then.

i think thats all for today i'll see what i can do tomarrow.

day 25

day 24
not much happened today either. I researched the trip i plan to make to munich next week i plan to spend two nights there and three days. i plan to ride my bike to the next station because i can save 2 euros that way then take the train to munich (i might be able to pay with my credit card) then i will walk around the marion platzz (the town center) and loo at the buildings and possibly go up into some of them. then i will check into my hostel which should be very close to the town center (i will pay for this online with the credit card) and sleep fore the night. they should have lugage lockers so my laptop should be safe at night and if they don't i will use my laptop lock cable in conjuction with the smaller luggage locks i have to keep the bag mostly secure. i have an option of

private twin room expensive!!
3 bed private expensive
5 bed mixed dorm less expensive
6 bed mixed dorm less expensive
and 14 bed mixed dorm which is the cheapest

i'm going with the mixed 14 bed dorm. they should have internet connections and wifi (infact i'll just post a link http://www.hostelworld.com/availability.php/MeiningerCityHostelMunich-Munich-5947 )

the next day i will go to tour castle neuschwanstien and Hohenschwangau. that should take all day
then the next day i will go to dachoe concentration camp after seeing the german mueseum.
then i will get on a train and come back to schwabish hall i decided to only go with the trip to munich because there isn't much in nurnburg and it would effectivly double my expences.

i plan to bring with 500g of spagehitti and a can of tomatoe sauce and a pack of rice cakes, pretzels, and fresh rolls. this should all fit comfortably in my laptop bag along with other essentials.

now for the explanation of my fear of not graduating and the solution.
i looked at my transcript and realized that i needed to complete 37 credits between now and graduation. i figured that max i could take here was 17 and the max i could take next semester was 17 totaling 34 (3 credits short). then mom looked it up on the abroad web site and the goethe credits don't count for fall semester they are summer credits however i will either earn 12 or 8 credits at goethe i'm not sure which right now if i complete 12 there will be no problem with graduating i will only need 13 credits to graduate and i will complete 14.5 next semester any way so no problem. however it i only get 8 credits i will need to do 17 credits nexts semester which seems like alot but if i take the classes i was planning on taking and orchestra and a music lessons and play production (three classes that are virtualy imposible to not get an A in my grad point average shold improve and i will graduate however i will have to pay slightly more to take music lessons. also none of these classes will get in the way of my work study. if possible i would like to find a course to replace music lessons but i'll cross that bridge when i come to it. all ineed to do is get infor mation and i should have all the info i need for a long time by sept 4th when i have my advising apointment with ruth.

hopfully i should have responces to my facilities maintenece question my the end of the week. over all i'm pleased with my current situation.

well thats all for today.

day 23

day 23

today i went to class and then ate lunch and then talked to mom an dad for about 3 hours then made dinner and now i'm here doing nothing. not much doing on today tomarrow nothing is going to happen i'll probably start looking up hostels and stuff.

ohhh. mom looked up my graduation dilema and found out that i might graduate on time after all. i have to ask questions and maybe yell at a few people but its still some what hazy....... again.

i'm cautiously optimistic

well thats it for today.

day 22

day 22

well the idiots ate all but two packets of my butter stock pile so i guess i will have to start taking more in the morning to have during the week break. this time i'll hide it some how. how do 5 people go though 10 packets of butter in one night?

any way i am planing my trip to munich and nurnburg now. i plan to spend 2 - 3 nights in hostels if possible i will book in advancce on line with my credit card. since i am bringing my bike with me i think i will buy train tickets on the spot incase i decide to ride to the next city or what not. i did some checking and there is no way to get a discount on the german train system because im a student. right now im planing to ride out to munich and explore alittle then sleep then go to neuschwanstien castle and the one next to it. and ride around the city. then sleep. then explore the sights in the city more thouroughly and then either ride to nurnburg or take the train back to schwabisch hall or take the train to nurnburg. either way i will go to nurnberg the next day and spend one day i nurnberg and sleep in schwabisch hall that night. so about 3 days in munich and 1 day in nurnberg with 2 - 3 hostel stays.

i'll probably end up what ever is cheaper the train to schabisch hall and back to nurnberg
or the ride to nurnbeerg and a hostel stay i think it will be pretty close.

i plan to bring my laptop bag because i don't want to leave my laptop here and i may find an unsecured network i can use to post blogs and check the weather and stuff.

i still need ideas for food to bring with. it has to be compact cheap and be full of calories. i'm gonna try to get a hostel that has a usable kitchen so cooking should not be a problem.



terrable news every one. I was bored so I decide to look over my web-advisor thing (graduation plan thing) and apparently i over looked that i need 120 credits to graduate right now i have 83 completed and need 37 to graduate this semester i am theoretically taking 18 but only 17 will count toward my overall credits because of the 17 credit max thing then i will have 20 credits to do my current plans call for 14.5 credits so i will have 5.5 credits to complete after my anticipated graduation. so unless there is some sort of miracle i'm not going to graduate. if I take 17 credits I can bring that down to three credits or one class.

this effects my post graduation goals only slightly i will aply for a job with physical plant then take a single class and gradate the next semester. and if that doesn't work i will get a factory job at pella and work the night shift and work on classes during the day.

what i can do right now is email the registrar and see if there is a way that i can take more credits this semester and next. if i can take 18 this semester and 19 next semester i might be able to graduate on time however i will have no free time what so ever. i may be able to take a summer course. i have to research this. i cannot take on an intership for credit because it is to late for that.

day 21

day 21

today i woke up and made allot of pancakes about 5-6 and atte them with strawberry jelly. when went back to sleep for an hour then woke up and got my stuff and walked to the bus station. i saw abunch of the students there already so i waited with them eventually a guy walked up and hello to some of us and then a yellow bus pulled up and we all got on then we waited 15 minutes after we were supose to leave to the spanish and turkish people.(they are always late i find it insulting). then we drove through the mountains to rothenburg. i understand why people go profesional in cycling it is so they will close these roads down and they can ride ride down these hills. from what i could tell i could take the hair pins faster tan the buss did on my bike. when we got to rothenburg we split into two groups one with frau ritter (my teacher) and one with heir kurze (a friend of the institut) we walked around the city. it turns out we watched a video by rick steves about this city its the one were they have the glocken spiele with the mayor of the town drinking lots of wine to save the town from a war. also i saw a picture of rick steves in a window of a gift shop. then frau ritter had to go so we were able to go eat and explore the city for 3 - 5 hours. i went to the kings garten park place on the east side of the inner city and ate my rolls and drank some water while loking over the city wall at the mountains in the backgound was a man playing violin with a recording. and there were flowers growing almost every were. it was a very romantic scene. then i went to the torture museum.i used my studet id to save .40 cents. i was rather unimpressed with it since i had been told that it is such a great place. a quote out side said "man kind has never been so creative as when he thinks of ways to torture other humans" i don't think people realized that these torture devices are basically old farm equipment that has been modified. all the stuff there looked alot like the stuff in grampa alkemas garage. with some exceptions.

before i left the group i was talking to jose , whom had been there before. and he said that there was a bakerie down the street so after wards i walked down the street to get some cheap food and found a bakerie cafe. i waasn't comfortable with going in so i found a fast food place and got a schnitzel sandwhich. then i had half an hour before the group was supose to get back together at the town center which didn't give me much time to do any thing so i found a good spot and keeped an eye on the meeting place. when we did get back together there was a total of 5 of us. then i worked its way down to 3 we looked at a church and sruff then we walked on the outer wall then back to the bus. i considered going into the pupet and toy museum but from the sign it looked mostly like puppet and dolls so i decide not to do it.

then we drove back on the autobahn which was also anticlimatic. and wegot back and i went to the store and got some chocolate then made dinner and ate it. now the idiots are drunk and running around the table. micheal (who is ussually quit and reserved like me) is a crazy drunk (he is loud and moves around a lot) which only encourages the others.

i need ideas for food to take to munich and nurnburg
so it has to be cheap, easy to cook (if need be cooked at all), be able to last 5 days un refridgerated, be sterdy enough to be in a back pack for 5 days, and have lots of calories. so far i have come up with animal crackers, ramen, and cereal.thanks.

any way thats all for now.

day 20

i didn't do much yesterday so i'm not gonna bother posting anything about it and today so far has been pretty boring as well so i'm gonna focus on tommarrow. tomarrow i am going to rothen burg with the goethe program. i will eat breakfast pancakes with jelly this time because i realized thay have jelly at breakfast too. and then be at the bus station at 9:00 then i assume we will take a bus to rothenburg. i'm not sure if they will feed me so i will take two hard rolls with me. and i will eat a bigg breakfast and a big dinner if nessessary. i'm not sure whats in rothenburg i think there is a museum or somthing and old buildings. thats every thing that i know about.

windows vista puts spell check in most windows now however the spll check is worse than the one they had before in xp it can''t figure out how to spell "tom marrow" it thinks it is a name. and also it doesn't see any thing wrong with not capitalizing "i" .

day 18

day 18

ok, today i started off my doing my hamoe wrok in the morning. then i went to breakfast and made a cresant sandwich stowed it then took a bannanna and 2 rolls. i brought them to the dorm refridgerated the sandwitch and stored the rest in my closet. then went to class. during first break i walked back to the dorm and walked my bike to the bike shop and used there air compressor to fill up my tire. then i rode it back to the school. today we had class photos (during class) then we were let out early because some of us needed to eat early so we could go the mercedes museum. i ate lunch with encar and jose (and girl and guy from my class) we had rice and some kind of meat based stirfry. then i rode my bike back to the dorm to get my lunch and money. then i walked back to the school. i expected to take a bus to the miseim but we ended walking to the train station and using the trains. the first train was short but easy. the second train i was sitting across from the leader so when the lady asked for my ticket i said he has it and pointed at him. when we got the the museum each of us was given a ticket with a barcode on it and were told to go in so we wondered around what was apparently the lobby till we got the the exit then the lady there explained that he had to go up an elivator. i saw lots of cars some pictures should be posted. then on the way home the train was full because it was rush hour so we all got devided up i ended up sitting with a fat man who was pretending to sleep. and the ticket lady came out and i had to explain to her why i didn't have a ticket but some guy farther up in the train had it. then we got to schwabisch hall-hessital (which is actually hessentall) and we took the buss back to shwabish hall the bus was packed but then at the next stop more people got on so every one could barley move on the bus. then i walked back to the dorm to make my dinner when i was invited to eat with the group again. we had rice and schish-Kabobs (its not spelled right but phonetically it is right). and now i'm here typing my blog. any way its 9:30 and i'm going to kill a particularlly annoying fly then go to bed.


under a bridge on the way to the museum i saw graffitti "smash capitalism! stop G8" and another saying "kill capitalism" this was obviously posted recently but when i commented on it james said they have no reason to hate capitalism they were west germany i think this has to do with capitalism not working properly in europe. in america capitalism has mostly free reign but in europe it doesn't seem to work that way (europeans have allways liked putting allot of power in there goverments were as americans want to keep goverment out of there lives and give it only limited power. i have to do more research into this.

day 17

day 17

today i woke up and went to class i forgaot to do the home work so she gave me an extention till tomarrow. today we didn't do any thing intressting. i went to the ice cream shop today to get an icecream cone but the flavors were all weird so i went to the supermarkt to get an ice cream bar or somthing but all they had was an 8 pack of tiny icecream cones so i got that and ate them all (because im so happy that i will graduate on time) i also got a air pump and an inner tube at the markt they are much cheaper there. totaling 6.17 euro. the innertube has a wierd valve on it its like a combination presta shrader valve but it was the only valve that would work with the pump. the pump tops out at about 20 psi but that more than i need for now.

tomarrow i am going to the mercedes museum so i have to remember to bring my knife to breakfast so i can cut a cresant nicely (buter knifes can't cut) then i'm going to make a cresant sandwhich using the coldcuts and cheese i will also take a bannanna and a prezel roll i will store it in the fridge here and come back after lunch to get it and go to meet the group infront of goethe. during the half hour breaak i might come back here get my bike (i put new innertube in today) and go to the bike shop and use there pump to pump it up to the apropriete presure then i will ride it around until i have to go back to class then i will sit through class then eat lunch. the library doesn't open until 14:00 and i have to be in front of the school at 13:15 so i won't have tme to talk to mom and dad or post my blog. then i will ride my bike back here and get my lunch and go back to goethe to go to the museum. i expect to take lots of pictures and will post some here. then i will go to the movie.its gonna be a busy day.

and thats all that happened and will happen.

day 16

this is a dinosaur I made out of legos in class

day 16

ok today i had planned on going to the store and getting some pasta sauce and some pancake mix. i also planed to fix my bike tire (an inner tube costs 6 euros, i also got tire levers). i did both but to put the innertube in the tire i had to put air in it. the obvious option was to remove the valve core and blow aiir into it and then pinch it off and put the core back in but i can't tighten the core enough to make it air tight so i either need to find a tool to put the core back in properly or spend 6 moore euro on a new inner tube. if i do buy a new inner tube i'm gonna get a co2 catrige thing because i can fit that in a suitcase and i won't look like a pipe bomb (i won't bring co2 cartiges with me to austria)

i tried to buy oil at the hardware store today but the guy wanted 6 euros for a small bottle (general purpose oil) and i said no that to much then he said five and i said no thanks and walked out i can get a big bottle of 3 in 1 oil at home for half that price.

i tried to finf tortillas at the supermarkt and they didn't have any but they had pitas so i could make pita quesadias. there is no yellow cheese in germany. it is all white or whitish yellow.

so i thought by bike tire was working fo i rode up amountain (which was incredably hard to do even in first gear) to look for a nice place to take a picture of that castle town thing i showed in an earlier post (i forgot my camera) but i found the absolute perfect spot and the sun was setting off to the side so it was light up perfectly but there were trees in the way so i went higher and there ware still trees in the way i figured the only was to get this picture was to climb up ontop of a building but since im in another country and i don't speak much german i figured i should not risk it especially since i didn't have my camera with me. then i was ready to go home i checked my tire and it was starting to get soft. i said ohh no and jumped on and took off down this mountain . when i got to the bottom i checked the pressure again it was still ridable. and the rims were warm from all the breaking i had to do. any way when i got back the tire was still rideable but it will need to be repaired again. which is a shame because i was gonna start ridding it during the half hour breaks in the mornings tomarrow.

in better news i got an email from my advisor today saying that my religion class credit had been transfered to religion. which means as long as i get 3 history credits here in vienna i will graduate on time. so i am very happy. now i have to figure out what i want to do after college.

right now i am considering going into facilities maintence at central. and maybe bbuying a house and renting out the one side i have more information on this but it is quantative and mostly boring so i won't post it.

i found out today that an ice cream cone at the ice creme shop next door only cost .70 euro so i may have one tonight. since i'm so happy.

i have decided to go to munich and nurnburge durring my week long break right now i plan to stay in munich for 2-3 days and then visit nurnburge on the way back.

i found out that i got put into the dorm that i wanted in vienna so i will hav a place to store my bike. i just have to get it there. right now most of the group is thinking about taking the train instead of the planeso i might go with them. i also am considering taking the train and paying for another student to take my luggage on the plane then i meet them at the airport and take the taxi (central is providing) to the dorm. i'm not sure if central can refund my plane ticket money or if they use frequent flyer miles or what not. but it is worth reseaching.

today in class we had to present our post on a trip to munnich it went very well.

tomarrow i plan to go to the bike shop and look at getting an air delivering device and maybe a new tube.

i need to ask the german prof to fill out a german minor slip or i could ask joe to do it since i trust him more.

day 15

day 15 august 12

today I woke up and found that the drunken idiots did clean the dishes but failed to put them away or dry them. they also decided that the old towels smelled funny so they threw them away. so I used one of the towels provided to me by the house owners to dry the dishes and put them away. mid way through tom walked out ask asked what I was doing (I must have been a little loud) I replied I'm cleaning the mess you guys left last night. apparently I have been called the "phantom cleaner" I thought I was just doing what I thought any one would do. so Tom helped clean the rest of the kitchen and now I'm here eating chocolate coins and typing this.

any way I got a inflatable plastic hand at the race yesterday (T-Moblie) I think I'm gonna save it and give it to miller. and since I'm not a hat person I think I will give that to somebody at home to. maybe anderson. I plan on doing homewrk today and trying to take the tire off my bike if I can get it off I'm just gonna buy an innertube and walk to the gas station and fil it up tomarrow if I can't I'll be forced to reaserch the price of having the store do it versus buying the tools and doing it.

last night I stayed up till about 10:00 wth out realizing it the day went bye so fast. I bought fries and a coke at the race and the coke bottles here are smaller but they are made of about twice as much plastic I think I was supose to return it to the guy but its such a nice bottle I decided to keep it. it will last for ever.

tomarrow I need to go to the store and buy some tomatoe sauce and some pancake mix.

the first week I spend 309 euros
this week I spent 60.80 euros
next week I plan on spending 12 euros
if this progresion continues
the next week 2.4 euros
then .48 euros
then .01 euros
then for the rest of the next month I should spent less than a cent

however I think that this is not a linear or exponetial progresion but a limit problem infinantly aprotching 10 euros
however I cannot take break week into acount for this because of the obvious change in food supply and travel.
any way that is the extend of math I'm gonna do for today


I have been thinking allot about what I want to do after college and I think I would like to work facilities maintence for alleast the first few years. however I think I would have to get training before I do that. I think I should stop being so subtle and sent an email to all my friends at physical plant and ask what I have to do to get a job as a facilieties maintence technition. tony already knows that I have shown an intrest in this feild and I think dave knows but I have been to suttle in the past I have to ask them straight out.

what would I have to do to get a job at central as a facilities maintence technition? what would help me to be selected for the job? are there any skills that are needed at this time? who's ass do I need to kiss? and am I qualified to work here at this time? what kind of starting pay could I expect?

also could I aford to buy that house and rent out the othere side if I start to work at central? or would I have to live in an appartment for a while?
to buy the house I would need aloan which means I need good credit which means I need to build credit first so I have to start using my credit card. now the quesion is how much credit do I need and how is it measured?? I also need to reasearch how to rent out a side of a house and how to advertise it to people in pella. for a house I think I could rent it out for about $500 a month which would be a nice little side income. I think I could live off of that and use the main / central job to pay off college loans. the house would probably pay for its own renovations in under a year so I think I would have to live in an appartment and work physical plant pay off loans and build up a surplus of money to renovate the house at the same time then get a loan buy the house renovate it rent it out and use the income to pay off the morgage and then once I own the house I should have enough saved up to live in another house and rent out both sides. but this requires dividing the central income up into 5 separete catagories (school loans, house renovation, retirement, living expenses, and morgage) thats spreding my money allittle thin I think. but I belive there is a way to balance out this plan to make it work I just need numbers and those are hard to come by.

also I need to get a new copy of microsoft word before I go back to central for my laptop I'm not sure when to do that.

I have a lot of euro cent coins and I'm not sure what to do with them I think I'll start using then when I go the the supermarket to buy small things like spagehhitii and sauce.

day 14

i saw george hincapie, his bike, levi liephiemer, his bike, a panoramic view of schwabisch hall that i need a wide angle lense to do properly and the tour de france devil guy

day 14 august 11th

today i went to bretten to see the team time trial in the deutschland tour. i started off the day making pancakes. this time i used olive oil as a lubricant and heatted the pan to leave 4. the pancakes were not terrible they were actually some what bearable. felling good about my day (taking the pancakes as a good omen) i walked to the markt to buy some bannannas but they were all really expensive 3 euros for a bunch so i went with out them. i walked home and thought maybe i should leave early to explore the town of bretten before the race. so i unlocked my bike to find that my rear tire was entirly flat. so i sat and thought for about 5 minutes i came to two conclusions 1. the bike store is probably not open yet and probably open after i want to leave. 2. it is probably a slow leak since i didn't notice it before. so my first course of action was to walk to the bike shop to see when they opened 9:00 so i walked back to the dorm to get my bike to take to the gas station to fill the tire and see if the tire would last the day. it was a slow leak but it would barley last an hour. however i rode it to the trainstation any way it became apparent that the tire wouldn't last the day so i locked it up at the trainstation intending to walk it back to the dorm after the race. i checked the earliest time i could leave (having bought a flexy time ticket yesterday) 9:03. so i could get the tire fixed and then bend time so i could get on the train. or i could walk the bike back to the dorm and leave it there and just walk all day. i walked to the trainstation and got on the train. i waited for some one to ask for my ticket but nobody asked. so i went to the heilbronn trainstation and tranfered to the s-bahn to go to bretten i think i was supose to check my own ticket but nobody asked so i didn't. i thought the race was at bretten trainstation but luckily i looked out the window and saw the gerolstiener RV at the stop before the train station so i got off. i walked around looking at the different teams RV's and stuff and walked around the start and fininsh areas. i was at the discovery RV just intime to the the team arrive i took pictures and videos i saw levi leiphiemer in person (he is short). i then walked to th start area and watched the amatuers start then watched the profesionals start. i saw the tour de france devil. then i watched most of the teams finish CSC was winning before i left. and i went to th trainstation to check is i could leave latter but the S-bahn doesn't post scheduals so there was no way to know. so i watched the final teams come in and then waited for the train i got on an earlyier train and i only went half way so i had to wait for the later train to catch up and also the latter train was delayed 15 minutes so when i arrived in the trainstation i had to run to catch the train back to schwabisch hall. then i listened to music on the way back i saw a castle on top of a very steep hill on the train but there were trees so i couldn't get a photo. then i got back and walked back to the dorm and made dinner. i ate out on the scafolding outside the kitchen and watched the sun set.

today i learned that there is a hardware store here so i can get oil for my chain and i found a senic veiw that would look great but i would need a wide angle lens to make it work. also i had lunch i payed 3.20 euros for fries and a coke (becuase i had only the rolls which gave the the hick ups and the bottled watter i had bought at the gas station a while ago was Co2 water which tasted nasty. (also fries and coke here taste less good than in america) also i bought a 5 euro hat and shirt combo. my feet hurt and im sore all over but today was a good day. i think i was better off not having the bike today.

any way i'll post asmany photos as i can and maybe a video or two.

day 13 a part of it any way

i got an email from my german profesor replying to email i sent asking about my goethe placement and how it will affect my graduation plans. he said abunch of stuff which i interpret to mean that just by being here i will get the equivalent of 2 300level german courses so im guaranteed 8 300 lvl credits so i will graduate on time

also today i got a reply from my adviser about my credit transfer from history to religion. apparently the reason i didn't get a reply from the registrar is that he has been on vacation for a while so i should have the answers to my graduation plans questions by the end of august.

happy happy day.

this is the last post until Monday when i have access to internet again.

have a good week end

rest of day 12

rest of day 12 laast nights dinner and kitchen photos

i went to the meet and greet cake and coffee thing and i ended up sitting alone at a table with a girl/ lady whom had been in my class on the first day. on the first day she started crying because she had to learn german and she expected to master it in under a year. but that won't happen and her hussband doesn't think she needs german and blah blah blah. and uring the dinner she told me her life story and i could see the entire time her eyes were about to water. and i keep thinking i have to get out of here but how i have to get out of here but how if i leave she will feel abandoned and cry and if i stay i will be uncomfortable and if she starts crying i will have no course of action. im trapped. why arn't i empathetic i don't have emotions im a guy and on top of that i'm a vanderwoude. what should i do. i lack the empathetic skills to sympasize with her i was a victim in the wrong place at the wrong time.

ohh yeah i forgot to write yesterday that before class this kid (and i use the word kid on purpose he is 19 but he acts 15) Danik from kazacstan walks up to me and asks me if i like my (something) i assumed he said first name so i said yes (apparently he said president) then he said "do you know your president planned the 11 september thing, and he planned it, and he new that he would start a war with iraq and destroy them?" i was temped to say "yes i did know that i also know that he eats new born babies and makes deals with satan to quench his thirst for human blood" but in reality i said "no, im not here to discuss international politics im here to learn german."

today was actually andreas birthday (not yesterday) so danik came to class with flowers and a present for her. it is obvious that danik is attracted to her. i'm not sure andrea relizes it. andrea seems to be incredibuly book smart but ignorant in the feild of reality. i am affraid she may do somthing that he interprets to be a welcoming signal which would be bad for all parties. unfortunatly all i can do is watch i cannot interfer. its not my concern.

in my experience with you people from the middle east they like to pretend that they are incharge of people older than them i don't think they they were ever taught that they are not incharge. i will site three examples. one mahamad from 5th grade his favorite joke was to walk up to the board when mr creighton was out of the room and make a broad direction to the class (ie. ok class we are going outside, miss student teacher go order us some pizzas, ect...) in class danik seems to have the same aditude h e never listens to the teacher and she lacks the will power to dominate him also while in class 4 days ago some one who looked like he saw to many micheal jackson videos walked into class and wrote his name on the board and introduced himself as a teacher in all of these casses no body has ever found them to be funny. also, i think there is an undertone of disrespect of women mahamad stayed inline when mr creighton was around but when only the student teacher lady was around he would go crazy. our current teacher is female and danik is out of control.

any way this is the end of my hate blog

any way tomarrow i plan to go to bretten to see the second stage (team time trial) of the deutschland tour. i plan to first go to the farmers market in the morning and buy a bunch of bannanas (what are those groupings of bannannas called) i took five rolls out of breakfast this morning and i plan to have one for dinner tonight and the rest tommarrow after eatting breakfast (pancakes) and a light lunch spagehitti i will leave for the train station with my bike at about 9:45 is then i will leave for bretten at 10:30 ish. when i get there it should be lightly raining and then stop toward the end of my stay so i'm not bringing an umbrella. then i will ride to the start watch the amatuer racers go and wait for the profesionals to start. i will then eat my lunch of bannannas and bread then go to the train station at 5 :00 to go back to schwabisch hall.
if i see any camras i will try to get in the picture i'll be wearing blue jeans black sweater thing over a brown t shirt carrying dads brown messenger bag.

day 11 and part of 12

actually today is day 12 but i didn't have time to type yesterday

first i woke up early to finish homework then went to class in class we did birthday stuff because it was Andreas birthday. after class we had lunch then i went online to talk to mom and dad and to post my blog and research stuff then i made dinner (spaghetti tomato sauce and a brezel roll) while i was making dinner two of the people who eat together all the time were making there dinner (stew) so when i was done i did my dishes and theirs (because I'm a nice person) and one of them invited me to eat with them.(because i did the dishes) i figured yeah there gonna eat to early to get drunk and i have to leave to watch the movie before then any way so its a good chance to meet my fellow Americans. so i said yes so i did home work while the stew stewed and then ate with about 8-10 of them. thomas (a music major from Austin Texas) said we need dinning music and i said I have vavaldi. thomas liked the idea james on the othere hand did not (he is a music major from central) it is his opinion that all baroque music sounds the same both thomas and i were ready to slap him but we restrained our selves. during the violin solo in spring i said this is my favorite violin solo and almost every one agreeded its amazing. and the conversations stopped as soon as the first phrase of winter was played what is my favorite movment. after that we discusssed the energy problem i think i was one of the few who understood that the problem is not finding alternative energy we know about it already the problem is implementing it. any way the disscusion wound down and i went to the movie "good bybe lenin" the movie was in german with german subtitles which helped alot.

basicaly the movie is about a mother and her children (eastern berlin) who were separated about 2 months before the wall fell in berlin. the mother went into a coma and woke up eight months later so the son had to buy back the old appartment and decorate it the way it was to make her feel at home. the he had to find all the old food stuffs that they use to eat which didn't exist any more because of capitalism so he transfered the new food brands contents into old jars. then the mother realy wanted to watch tv so he and his coworker had to find old videos from a year before. then crazy stuff started to happen like the building outside her window had a coca cola flag hung on the side of it so they had to make fake news programs to convince her that berlin was still separated and one day she got out of the house and saw all the new capitalist stuff and they eventually had to make a fake news program that said that the wall had just fallen. it was a funny film if you can find it in english i highly recomend it.

in my opinion the pinical of musicis the baroque style, the concept of many things happening at once is very exciting.


and now it is thursday to day i hae to go to the office to sign up for the mercedes museum and maybe the rothenburg trip.
any way class will start soo so i'm gonna stop now.

now im gonna write about today.
today in class we had to do research for a trip to munich my group has a brazilian uy in it who claims to have the information so all we had to do was look up pictures to print up. he better have the information or i'll have his head. in othere news i did find out that there is a website for the train station system here in germany i plan to use it to plan my trip to stuttgart when the library opens. i think culture shock is starting to set in but im not sure if its culture shock or home sickness. either way i havent felt this way since i went to flordia on a mission trip in 5th grade. i don't think its jet lag i should be over that by now.

i signed up to go to the mercedes mueseum on wendsday and i plan to sign up for the trip to rothenburg either tomarrow or saterday.
last night we discussed our week long break plans the group wants to go to denmark (to get drunk i suspect) then stop in different towns on the way back here. i think i would like to go to munchin then go to nurnberg then come back here. but i haven't made my mind up yet
i have two weks to decide.

tonight there is a get to know people thing with food so i think i'll sign up for that.

i have been thinking about what i want to do after graduation and i think i would like to work at central and contiue taking classes probably one class per semester or year. but then again my plans have shanged so much i' not sure what i would like to do.
any way i think this blog is done for now
have a good day

please forgive any gramatic or spelling errors as microsoft word will no longer help me in this regard.

day 10 august 8

ok so i was sitting in bed taking a nap when i had a half awake dream thing. i was making a violin on the island at central. so i woke up i thought why not make a violin at central. if i stop watching cartoons and looking up usless stuff on the internet i could easily make a violin during the course of a semester. also i could arrange to have access to the equipment in the basment of the art building. i would also have access to orchestra people. so if i take what i have here with me to central along with some othere stuff (no tv, and no big computer, no mountain bike) i should have plenty of room in the car to bring the tools i need. also i will be in the basement so i can make alot more noise than i used to in my room before disturbing any one. so that is the plan.

I hardly used the mountain bike last semester because the trail was always so wet and the tv was only a destraction and i don't need the big computer now that i am used to using th laptop. furthure more since i will be use to living with no more than what will fit in a suitcase i will need even less stuff than previous years. i may be able to live with out a fridge or a microwave but i liked having those things last year so i'll take them next semester.

it dawned on last weekend that i'm a senior and i have to get a job lined up sometime in the next 10 months. i'm still not sure what i want to do. i would like to work for facilities maintence but the pay is probably not enough to pay off my college loans any time soon. also i think i would need to get more training. i'm not sure how likly i am to get hired in that feild with out expirience. i think i would like to work at central but then again im not sure about any of the specifics and being the INTP i am i'm afraid of making decisions with out being totaly informed. i also considered going to school and becoming a boiler technition because that feild is always in high demand and i could work standard preventative maintence and have good job security. i also considered buying a house and renting out half of it. or renovating houses. or cabnet making. or even going to dakota county tech and becoming a work site manager. any way i doubt that the central staff will be to use to helping college graduates get blue colar jobs most college graduates are "to good" to do physical labor. i guess i enjoy it becuase i like the satisfaction of seeing the results of my work. were as white colar jobs you work all day and still have no idea how much you got done.

i tried to use my credit card today to get a bottle of water in a gas sattion and the lady looked at me seriously and said "du mochtest ein trink kaufen mit ein karte? bist du veruckt?" ("you want to buy a drink with a credit card? are you crazy?") i said "nien" then she explained how a purchace had to be over 10 euros for me to use a credit card so i said ok and handed her 2 euro coins. now i have a bottle that i can use to hold water which is what i was after in the first pplace but i don't know if the card works or not yet.

tomarrow i plan on going to a movie in the evening in german with subtitles in german and thats the extent of my plan. i took some rolls out of breakfast this morning and i had a snack and a bigger dinner than ussual i think i will continue doing it especially this week end so i will have lunch in bretten.

any way im tired and i have to do homework tomarrow morning so i'm going to bed