day 64

day 64

today i woke up and tried to decide what to do. i decided to go to down town and see that so i took U-bahn 1 across the donau and i saw abunch of different flags are aranged in a circle right as the doors were closing i realized it must be the UN i took the train to the end of the line so i could see the rest of the city and i turned around and went back to see the UN there was a visitor center but it looked closed i'll have to see what the opening times are for it when i get online tomarrow. i took several pictures the wind was blowing so i got a good picture of the flag. then i took the train back to karls platz and got a coke and a giant cheese stick. coke is expensive here 1.80 euro per bottle ($2.43) for 1/2 liter. but i didn't buy it for the coke i bought it for the bottle. coke bottles in europe are extremly durible. probably 3x thicker plastic than the bottles at home. i can use it for water and it will never break or get ugly. now i'm back in my temp room typing this.

tomarrow i move to the haus burgenland II dorm at 2:00 and probably meet my new roommate. hopfully we are more talkative than my previous roommate. a guy came about 20 minutes ago and took the tv and lamps out of my room. i think they were preparing for the students coming tomarrow. i worked out my list of goals for the rest of this semester since i having nothing better to talk about i guess i'll just post them.

- learn moonlight sonata (the central office has a piano)
- eat a good wienerschnitzel
- see the city
- go to stradavarious workshop
- go to italy
- learn about violin making online
- learn somthing else on line (could/should i sign up for a online class??)
- pass all my classes
- do well in the history class
- go to all the concerts for the music class
- learn to cook gooder
- learn about a profesional trade/skill (ie electrician, carpenter, plumber, ect...)
- take lots of good pictures
- go walking alot
- spend no more than 5000 euro (i'm close to 1000 now so it shouldn't be a problem)
- learn to speak good german
- don't get sick

yesterday i went walking and found a place were motzart once stayed there was a big statue of him (he looked like a pompus jerk)

on the tour of the "ring" on friday we walked past an anti war protest. it was kinda scary although i knew nothing would have happened i knew i looked like an american and if somthing happened it would happen to me or the people around me. also saw a anti CO2 protest people were walking around in giant blue ball costumes that were supose to look like the CO2 molucule but since it was all blue i couldn't tell if it was CO2 or H2O or some other oxygen based molicule. also saw those people who dress up like statues and move when you put money in the box at there feet. they wern't very good. i liked the once in new orleans better. the people here did a lousy job with the makup and moved far to often. the one mozart guy wouldn't stop moving he was having a great time trying to get every ones attention. we also saw strause and chalie chaplin. (by far my favorite was a vampire in new orleans we couldn't tell if he was real or not his eyes didn't even move)

in germany small towns were judged by how big the church in the center was. vienna has atleast 20 churches all of which are gigger and more beutiful than any church i saw in germany (with the exception of st. pauls church in munich that is in the same class as all the churches here)

day 63??

day 63

ok yesterday i woke up and rode the train systems to school for oreintation.i took U-bahn 1 to karls platz then u-bahn 2 to scholentor then street cars to the school. three days costs 13.60 euro but i can stay on the train all day if i like. i think 50 euro for a month is well worth it the walk is far to long. also since it was my first time using the train system somthing strange was pretty much garentied to happen. i got on to the second U-Bahn and this guy (who looked like charles manson) was sitting with terable posture in the seat on the other side of the train from me behind me. at one point he just kinda yelled somthing in comprehensible at nobody. then the first stop came allong. the people got off and he doors shut and we were just about to leave when the guy sprang up and upened the door then he leaned up against one side and put his foot on the door so it couldn't close. every one on the train looked at him with distaste. then some othere guy said "in oder aus" (in or out) then pushed the guy out of the door. (two other men stood up to help the pusher if nessissary (if i were a citizen i would have helped the pusher too)) the door caught his arm i think then he forced the door open got his arm out then tried to kick the guy through the open door. the kick fell short by about a foot. then the door closed and the train started to move. at this point the crazy guy started to walk away but half way through turning around decided that he had to fight the pushed some more so he chased the train grabed the handle and the door opened about 2 inches before snapping shut again then the guy chased the train making obseen gestures at the pusher aparently ablivious to the other two men who stood up when the guy pushed him. according to marrie the stop that he "got off" at was well known for having homless and crack addicts sleep there during the night.

after the train insident every thing else went smoothly i found the office two hours early and decided to wait since i had nothing better to do. it was raining so i found a archway to hide in and i decided to see if there was WiFi at the campus i found one but the signal was weak so it took awhile to get on and the url bar couldn't be used to go to websites i had to search every thing through google. so i couldn't post my blog yesterday. but i did get an email off to mom and i checked my mail.

then andrea walked buy and asked if i knew were to go. of course i did. it was half an hour early but we decided to try the door bell any way. then a lady came up and pushed a button that unlocked the door. so we got in. later ruth came by and we got into the office.

the office consists of a security door going into a hallway immediatly on the left is a small kitchen (with washing machine) on the right in a computer room (3 computers(none of which allow google talk)) then about 6 feet past those doors are the doors to the office (right) and the bathroom (left) then after that is the mail area (we each get a document tray with our name on it) then the halway goes through a door way into a lounge if you keep walking you will go into the class room which has a baby grand piano in it.

the lounge is the most intresting room. it has a tv with VCR and couches and chairs behind all of that is a big table on which was all the stuff left behind from last year. i managed to get a spagehitti pan (a pan with a lid with straining holes in it) 2 bowls a big plastic container, a tennis ball, a mug, chop sticks and taco mix.

also before leving schwabish hall thomas had bought a water boiler thing its basically a heating coil attached to a AC cord that you put in water and plug in and the watter eventually boils he didn't want it any more so he gave it to me.

any way the pot and bowls i got wern't cleaned so there were some food particles still in place so last night i used the boiler coil inthe pot and got it near boiling (it took more than an hour) and used the hot watter to get most of the stuff off.

any way after we all got the stuff we wanted we started orientation were we listened to ruth tell us the same things again. and eventually we went to lunch with marrie at the university "mensa" (its like a cafeteria but its cheaper) i had wiener schnitzel it cost 4.20 euro and it wasn't great or terrable . during lunch i looked out the window (the mensa was on the top floor of the main university building) and saw a buetiful church it was breath taking.
then we took a tour of the university buildings i don't have to go to. and then we took a guided tour of the city. (my feet hurt at the end of the day) then we went back to the office and had a hour to do what ever i got online and checked my email. then we went to dinner in a resurant on campus (it was nice, they had there own resturant cat, that we took turns passing around) (glad i didn't have to pay for it though) then we went back to the office to grab our stuff and i went back to my temp dorm. and tried to clean my pot and bowls.

this morning i woke up and said every things gonna be closed on sunday i have to get stuff to eat. so i went out with a list and the intention of buying stuff. then i figured out that i wasn't even sure if i had a kitchen in my temp dorm. so i went back and got the direction from the dorm i'm gonna be living in to the office and worked them backwards to find out were it was and went there. i found it then i walked around it in a outward spiral and found a grocery store (before i left i couldn't find a kitchen so i decided to get only food that was ready to eat cereal and pretzels. also i got sponges and soap so i can clean tonight. then i took the train to the office area then came back to the dorm to drop of my stuff and charge the laptop battery so i can go to the campus and see if i can get on that wifi again.

its strange how kim can get lost so easily ruth gave us directions to the campus that were nearly perfectly consice but kim was still a 1/2 hour late infact i think she tries to be late and blames it on being lost (personally i would admit to being late because of somthing crazy that to being lost) i am amazed how little information most of these people take in about the city during the tour. i didn't hear or understand most of the tour but i was astute enought to know which buildings we were in and what they look like and that we didn't take any turns to get to them. but kim has a nack for asking questions that are obvious and not noticing things.

monday i move to my dorm at 2:00 and on tuesday i have a meeting with ruth about my courses i'm gonna see it i can just go on the concert trips for the music ourse with out taking the music course or maybe take it for audit (i don't wanna have to work to hard in it)

there is so much more to talk about but i either cant remember or am to tired to type about it i'm gonna go to the campus now since my batery is chraged an try to post this and yesterdays and maybe talk to mom and dad.

day 61

day 61

well today was the big day i finnaly got to vienna. its 6:30 and i am tired. the idiots decided to "finish off" all the beer they had left (plus some they bought) so up till 1:00 am thomas was yelling about how he loves space blankets and how loud they are crincling one as loudly as he could. this morning i slamed my fair share of doors at 6:00 am. i got the final packing done and had nothing to do for a while so i just sat in my room. eventually one of the office people came by and said that the 50 euro deposite would cover the oven i was thankfull i was expecting atleast 100 euro. i gave him my key and waited for a van to pick us up to take the luggage to the buss station. then ruth came bye and said that the van would be full so some of us would have to walk our luggage there so i did, i got there first. the bus was a charter bus. and it took alittle more than 2 hours to get to nurnberg then we had a two hour wait till the plane boarded. we boarded and flew to vienna. when we arived thomas deciided to point out every thing he recognized showing how much better he was than all of us. some times i find him help full and othere times i just wanna punch him in the face and say shut up and let me learn on my own!.

found out yesterday at the meeting that hausburgenland II doesn't open till oct 1rst so i have to stay in kirchschlagerhiem. luckily adam pretty much signed out all of our keys there were 6 of us and we got 4 keys 2 rooms are doubles. and also luckily he is a greedy bastard so he took a single leaving a single for me since i'm the only other guy. on the other had the internet doesn't connect to the internet just the local network. since i'm only gonna be here for 3 days i'm not gonna complain i may have access at the office tomarrow. who knows.

i text messaged dad that i was here and now i'm gonna take a nap then figure out were i am then explore the city tomarrow.

there is so much more to type but right now i'm tired so


**********************INTERMISION******************************

ok its tomarrwo morning now (day 62?) ok um....

ok more detail. at the meeting we got maps and a schedual of what we are gonna do for the next week. i have a meeting at the central office at 9:30am and its raining pretty hard so i'm gonna take the train instead of walking like i planed. (gotta find an umbrella). on the bus ride to the airport ruth asked me if it would be ok to have the history course in german since every one else wans the german credits. i said sure i'll probably undestand more than most of the class anyway.

then we checked our luggage (no problems) then i went to the terminal and bought some candy and ate it while i waited (the cashier asked for my boarding pass??) we had to go through the gate then they put us on a bus and drove us to the plane (i was surprised) take was fun the acceleration was faster than any other take off i've ever been on i had apple juice and a chicken sandwich. landing was fun the plane stayed about 20 ft off the runway then sudenly droped onto it. then a bus took us to the terminal and we pcked up our luggage. central hired two of those airport vans and they brought us to the dorms. i got a single hotel room (i love it!!) it has my own shower and every thing. of course i'm only here till monday then they will move me to the haus burgenland II with a german/austrian roommate.

found out that i'm not eligable for a student semester card (train ticket) because i'm not enrolled at the vienna university. so i'll have to buy monthly cards which is alot more. i'm gonna go with a 3 day card at first then try to explore the city more and see if i actualy need the cards or not (it may be cheaper to walk and buy daily cards on rainy days)

there is an internet connection here but it only goes to the local network not the internet. i would complain but i'll only bee here 4 days.

thats all i can remember for now. i have to figure out how to get to my meeting now.

day 59

day 59

today was the last day of class. i woke up and went to breakfast and did the normal routine then went to class and did my homework and defraged my computer. then the teacher walked in and said your always early i said yeah she asked if i was a morning person i said most of the time yeah then she left and i worked on the homework some more then she started writing the answers on the board and pawel (the russian guy) came in carrying allot of plastic bags the frau buchholz asked what they were and he said gifts so every one in the class got a paper bag from pwel with a thing from russia in it. i got a hat that says russia on it and a keychain. other people got those figurins that open up and have another figurene inside and that one opens up and there is another ( i forget the name but they were impresive) and most fo the guys got a small bottle of vodka one girl got a toy that has two bears with movable arms and if you swing a ball attached to 3 strings on bottom the bears lift and drop there arms. in class we disscussed german history mostly after WWII i knew most of it already but i wasn't about to explain it to a german who had lived through it and a russian so i just sat back and listened to every one elses perspective. at the end we got pictures of the class and every one had to sign every one elses and some people had to get every ones emil address and it got very uncomfortable very fast. at the end we had some kind of german fruit cake ( i think it was plume) i thought it tasted awfull but i remembered a story dad told me about norman schwartzkopf when he was a child.

the young normand schwarzkopfs father was a diplomat and he took his son with him to some country. they were haveing a ceromony or dinner or somthing and they were gonna eat some kind of strange food. the father told the son "this is a delacasey and an honor to these people. you are going to eat all of it and your going to like it." so i ate the whole thing with a smile.

then things got more emotional so i slipped out of the room (which i am very good at) and went to lunch after lunch i went online and talked to mom and dad then i came back here with all my stuff then went to the bike shop to sell my bike.

it took me three tries to walk in the door of the bike shop i wasn't sure how to explain it in german and was afraid they may misunderstand. eventually i walked in with the bike and said "halo ich habe diese rad im august gekauft heir und mochte es zuruck verkaufen" (hello i baught this bike in august and would like to sell it back (i messed up some of the grammar on purpose)) then he got me the manager and he spoke to fast i thought i heard him say no so i asked if he knew were i could sell it then he asked if i spoke english (i was relieved) eventualy he asked how much i would want for it i said 100 he imediatly said 50 i said ok. walking home i realized he wanted to hagle. but having already explained that i needed to get rid of it i was at a disavantage so if i did hagle i probably would have gotten no more than 60 out of it.

i came home and made supper stir fry. i started by cooking the rice the sauteing the veggies (corn peases and red peppers (canned) with garlic powder and cyan pepper) then i adde the rice and mixed it well. i had had a great idea two days before at breakfast (i always eat brezel rolls with honey) what if i used honey in the stirfry it would give it a sweeter taste. so i added honey to the rice vegie mixture then i added an egg and some more garlic powder and cayan pepper. the honey made a huge diference along with the soysauce it was both sweet and sauwer at the same time. i was very pleased

then i sat with the group before there dinner and they needed thing chopped very fast so me and james both said give me a knife so i chopped peppers and i should have chopped a zukini to but i never got one (some one else got to it first) then thomas aske dme to saute the veggie which i did (i like suaeteing) and they started watching a stupid movie so when the viggies were done i started watching to. my plan was to watch the movie with them while they ate but then 3 people from downstairs came up (one of them being adam the loud obnoxiuous person who i can't stand to be in the same room with) on top of that there were a limmited number of places at the table so i went back into my room. on the way there thomas said phill eat with us you did your fair share of work. i said no thanks i'm not a big fan of salad. and went back in my room and played a racing game i download afew weeks ago.

tomarrow i have to pack but before that i'm thinking of going to a tower that andrea told me about to get a better look at the surounding area.
i also have a meeting with ruth and the central people at 4:00 then thursday i leave for vienna i probably won't get on on thursday but i'll post as soon as possible. tomarrow should be a full day.

day 58

went to the art exhibit today for class it was an edward munch exhibit the first picture is his most famous for the painting "the scream" but that wasn't on display because it was stolen and ruined the next most famous one is the vampire which i did see.

most of his work looks like a kid with a carayon drew them but he could draw when he wanted to . it just seems that he didn't try..

day 57

day 57

ok today is sunday and i have nothing really to do i'm drying my cloths and the dryer is the worst dryer ever.
i put the cloths in the dryer and on the this is the tird time ii have had to start the dryer luckily i don't have to pay for the dryer.
today i was hopeing to take pictures of schwabisch hall but the dryer takes 20 minutes so i don't have time to go out. so i'm gonna type about my concerns and hopes for vienna.

concerns
1. roommate
2. course load
3. bezerksampt
4. food
5. credits transfering properly
6. getting lost
7. semester trian pass?
8. flight and transport to dorm problems

hopes
1. see lots of stuff in the city
2. trip to italy?
3. eat atleast one vienese wienerschnitzel
4. internet in my dorm
5. take some great pictures

concerns
1 roomate
i am concerned about getting a roommate that is a drinker or partyer or has a girlfriend that he insists on having over at all times. i got lucky with joe as a roommate freshman year

2 course load
the course load right now is 20 credits. 13 of those credits are a "intensive" class that meets for 2 hours a day monday through friday were i learn more german. i have a placment test on the first friday i am in vienna. 3 of the credits are a history class that will meet thursday evenings covering the history of vienna it will be taught in englisch which is good i need these credits to graduate. the final 3 credits are a music class were i will learn about composers and go on trips to concerts. if i need to i wil drop the music class although i will hold out until the withdraw date before withdrawing so i can go to the concerts. i am also considering signing up for a sports class likly a martial art or somthing easy and fun. i am concerned that my days will be to full. and my grades will suffer.

3. bezerksampt
when first arriving in vienna you have 72 hours to register with a district official. (i think its a living place thing) the booklet they gave us says they are not to friendly and not to be offnded which means BE AFRAID. i doubt it will be to big of a problem no matter how much he yells at me i'll still et registared.

4. food
mostly i am concerned about finding places to buy food and finding time to cook it. i'll probably continue my diet of spagehitti and rice and i may find new ways to cook it so i'm not always eating the same thing since i'll have an internet connection.

5. credits transfering properly
it would be a catastrofy if any of my credits didn't transfer over to central properly. i doubt it will be a problem since i'm not taking and uniiversity classes and all the classes i am taking are "central classes" so i assume they are automatically transferable but i'll have to talk to ruth to be sure of it.

6. getting lost
vienna is a big city, like minniapolis. i would hate to get lost. but given my personality i don't get lost easily. ussually when ever i go any place i automatically pick out 2 or 3 points of refference and never loose them. even if i do get lost i am pretty sure i'll find my way back to a place i know but its still a concen.

7. getting a train pass
when i arive i will have to figure out were every thing i need to know about is and then decide if its all in walking distance or if i need to get a train pass (117 euro) thats 1 fifth of what i spent these past two months and 200 of that was on the bike.

8. as i have learned in traveling in groups from before inevitably some one is going to have a problem that wil hold up the rest of the group it will likly be either kim or maggie kim will make a stupid mistake that will slow the rest of us down or maggie will just start complaining or somthing. the rest of us should be good to go (i'm not sure about jackie or emily they are both pretty girly) i know i won't be the cause of the problem thats just the way i am.

hopes
1 see lots of stuff in the city
mom looked up my dorm on google earth and found out that there is somkind of mozart museum thing between my dorm and my classes i would like to check that out and would also like to see what ever else there is in the city (which i should be able to find online with my inroom internet connection)

2. italy trip
the italy trip is looking pretty grim right now i'm thinking of shortening it to 5 days and just going to the places i really want to go see. it will require more research. from what i can tell online if i buy a rail pass i have to use a special train that has diffrent lines and i still have to buy a ticket. it may be cheaper to buy the reginal train tickets. it will require more research.

3. i wanna eat at least one viennesse wienerschnitzel. grant (a former abraod student) told me that they are almost every were in vienna so it shouldn't be to hard to find.

4. INTERNET IN MY ROOM
IN VIENNA I'M GONNA HAVE INTERNET IN MY ROOM SO I'LL BE ABLE TO RESEARCH ALL OF THE STUFF I HAVE BEEN WANTING TO REASEARCH WHEN I THINK OF IT INSTEAD OF HAVING TO RIGHT IT DOWN AND LOOK IT UP IN THE MEDIA CENTER THE NEXT DAY. ITS GONNA BE GREAT!!!!!

5. take some great pictures. i'm not sure if there are any mountains or forests near vienna but i hope to take some good pictures even is they are just of buildings. i prefer to take pictures of landscapes and nature but it all depends on what i have to work with. during some week and i would like to take a train to a city on the foot of the alps and take pictures of them.


well there is every thing i am thinking about for vienna.

i started packing alitlle today and i should have plenty of room in my suitcase we have a weight limit of 45 lbs for the checked luggage so i'm gonna leave my blanket here. (its dying anyway it has half the fuzz it use to have). and maybe mail some stuff home mostly souveniers and paperwork i don't need any more.

well the dryer should be done with the fourth cycle now i'm gonna go restart it again.


i had rice for brunch and looked over my food suply i have enough for an extra meal so i'm gonna have lunner today aswell. spagehitti it should be done after i start the dryer again its on the sixth cycle now i cleaned the lint trap so hopfully it goes faster.



the group didn't go to munich they decided it was to expensive

day 56

day 56

since my time in germany is coming to a close (5 days left) i feel it only fiting to write an overview of my experiences here.


flew in
transfered through amsterdam
got confused, eventually figured out how trains work
cried for the fist time since my iguana died in seventh grade.
learned german
bought a bike
learned that the other side of the world is still soar about the cold war
went to the mercedes museum
went to a bike race (saw levi liephiemer)
went to rothenburge
saw a tourture museum
passed A2.1 level
went to munich
saw the fraun kirche
saw st. pauls kirche
saw the oktoberfest grounds
saw neuschwanstien castle
toured hohenschwangau castle
had great wiener schnitzel
toured dachau concentration camp
stayed in a hostel in a room with 7 other strangers
got yelled at by train people alot.
lived off spagehitti for a while
started classes at goethe again
signed up for classes in vienna
went to a stuttgart philharmonic concert
went to a catholic church service in german
went to ludwigsburg.
saw a lousy museum
used my philosophy background to mess with some mormans
toured a big mansion
broke a stove
learned just how important parents are for how we turn out (i.e. adam drunken idiot)
signed up to go to frankfurt
frankfurt trip got canceled
found out just how mature i am.
endured drunken parties out side my door almost every night.

and i think thats all...


before i leave for vienna i have to:
1. get rid of bike some how
2. throw out allot of stuff
3. find out how stove thing will work
4. pack
5. mail some stuff home
6. laundry
7. ect...

as you can see its been an eventful 2 months. dad asked me if i got my moneys worth out of my bike and i said i didn't think so but looking back on it i rode it out of the city that one day and i used it in munich (it was a huge help (must have broken adozen or more laws there on it)) and i rode it during the course breaks and other misc. riding. also that one really good corner (down hill 180 at 30 kph the whole time) (fun) i think i did get 200 euro out of it. or atleast close to 200 euro.

classes were benifitial i know more now than when i came in both german and global stuff. i learned alot about group dynamics both in class and in my appartment.

i had some great chocolate.

and learned to live even more spartanly than i already did.

i believe all of these lessons will help in vienna.

i'm looking forward to going to vienna. and am only really worried about afew things
1. will my room mate be a drunken idiot
2. i have to registar with a district office
3. finding my dorm
4. my class credits transfering to central properly
5. the course load being to high.

other than that i'm confident i can make things work.

day 55

well i think the group is leaving to go to Munich to kill some brain cells so i should have the apartment mostly to myself this week end. found out that there was not enough interest to go to Frankfurt so I'm not going there this weekend (i got my money back)

and i think thats it

i plan to go around schwabish hall on sunday to take pictures (it will be my last chance) then i will get ready for the trip to Austria. tonight i'm gonna have spagehitti again. and tomarrow for luch i'm gonna make either stirfry or mexican rice not sure which yet.

and that its

day 54

day 54??

two days ago actually at 10:00 pm i went to the bathroom an found thomas cleaning the kitchen apparently the cleanning staff were coming the next day and he wanted to clean up for them we got to talking and he said he was gonna buy some wine and chocolate to leave out for the cleaning staff. i said i would like to chip in. then i went to sleep and woke up in the morning did my home work and went to breakfast, brought rolls back to my room and walked back to the institute. on the way i say thomas with a bag and hee told me that was the wine and chocolate. when i got back to the institute i checked on the price for the frankfurt trip and saw that it was 22.50 euro, i only had 20 euro with me at the time. so during the first break i walked back to the dorm to get 2.50 euro and the cleaning staff was in the kitchen i over heard them saw herr thomas acouple times. (the night before an italian who eats with the group said that giving a gift like that was an insult) i wasn't sure what the german view of this was so i decied not to go up and be forced to explain so i went to the atm and withdrew money (which i need to do any way) and payed for the frankfurt trip. when i walked back to class i ran into thamas again he told me
thecleaning staff love him now (which is good for me and the oven situation) later he told me he talked to marie (the central abroad person) and said that she was gonna email me so i checked my email and ... well i'll just post it. (i deleted names and such because i know othere people are reading this blog)

----
thanks for letting me know! I just got off the phone with Frau Dietrich at the Goethe Institut and she was very friendly and said that while the oven would have to be replaced it was an old oven and the most you would be charged would be the value the oven had at the time it broke. She was very impressed that you came forward and confessed that it had been you who broke the oven and will put that up in your favor. Currently she is unable to tell me what will happen or how much exactly a potential charge may be as she needs to wait for Frau Czerny's return (who is on vacation until next week). Central itself does not have anything in place for this but you might have a liability insurance or your parents might have a household insurance that also covers liability issues such as this. Could you check into that please?

Also, do not worry overly, as far as Frau Dietrich told me the charge would at the most probably be about 200 hundred dollars. So we will keep our fingers crossed and maybe you could find out whether you have insurance in the interim?Keep me posted and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

Best,
Ruth

this is the email i sent here 2 days ago

Ruth

last Sunday afternoon I accidentally broke part of the oven in my dorm. does central have something in place for when stuff like this happens? I tried to swat a fly on the oven door with an oven-mit (I choose the oven-mit because I knew it was glass and didn't want to break it. I also didn't hit it to hard) apparently there was a magnet sewn into the hanging loop of the oven-mit, that I didn't know about and a hole had worn into it so the magnet could slide out. when I tried to swat the fly the magnet flew out and the glass panel in front of the oven shattered. as far as we can tell the glass was weakened before this incident because there is no way I hit it hard enough that it should have shattered. the house mister is looking into if the glass panel can be replaced or if he will have to buy a new stove (which would cost about 1000 euro) I don't wanna pay that much. is there any thing I don't know about that might help in this situation?

thanks
-----


when i got back to the dorm i talked to thomas again and he said that he walked by the office today and he saw house master and his boss in another room and the boss was chewing him out for hating us. later i heard that the house master came up to our kitchen and cheked the oven mit to see if the actually was a magnet i the oven mit (which there wasn't we took it out because it was dangerous i have it in my room incase any one needs proof.) so in the end we turned every one against the house master his workers, his boss, and we all hated him from the start. i gave thomas 5 euro for the wine and stuff and i think that every thing should turn out fine.




saw a movie in class today. it was about a young man who lived with his grandmother. the grandmothers friends would come to visit every day from the retirment home and tell her to move in with them. the grandson onday took her out for a walk in her wheel chair and she fell asleep so he stoped and left her to go to the bathroom. then the wheel chair rolled into a pond and the grandson saw her walking in the water so he build a strap system that would hold her up and allow her to walk in a line with a caster on a rail on the ceiling. then he had the idea of using baloons he tried it himself first and then he started to fly away his granmother took out a rifle and tried to shot the ballons but hit him in the leg instead then she hit the baloons the next seen showed him walking with a cast and cruches and the grandmother walking with the help of a harnes and ballon system the movie was called "gregors grosses enfindung" i liked it it was funny.

tomarrow most of the group leaves to go to munich to get drunk with millions of othere people. i find it strange they get drunk and film themselves and then watch the videos over and over again and laugh about it (the videos aren't even funny) i don't understand whats so great about being totally out of control and making an idiot of yourself. whats funny is that they feel bad for me not drinking. as if i want to be a drunken bafoon.

thats all for now

day 52

day 52

well i talked to alexander about the oven and he wrote some stuff down and told me he would keep me up dated. he didn't know anything about money.
i emailed ruth about the oven today and havn't gonnen a responce yet. i talked to thomas tonight and found out that he emailed every one he could think of that would help including his own college. he also set up a meeting with the house master to discuss the sittuation apparently my accident came at the worst possible time. the house master already thinks we are a bunch of imature slobs because two beds broke durring our 2 month stay and one of the burners broke on the stove as well the group that was here before we showed up must have been slobs two because when we first showed up the kitchen was a disaster. thomas is going to go out and buy some wine and chocolates for the cleaning staff and ask for an appology. i'm gonna chip in. a rumor from alexander (the zivi(explained latter)) is that they might only keep my 50 euro deposit which in my opinion would be the best possible outcome. thamas has been a big help
through out this entire prodicament and i think he is the most mature person here he just can't control adam. and when adams out of control othere people think they have the right to get out of control.

ok, in germany there are two options for when you reach a certian age 1. join the army 2. become a "zivildienst" (civil "servant") alexander and christian are zivi's they were asigned to the goethe institute (probably because they know english) and they have to help out with the office functions and housing stuff. at goethe they are pretty much a combination of an RA (resident advisor) and an office secretary assistant kinda thing.

well its 10:30 and i should get to sleep thanks for reading good night.

day 52???

found out that we will have a predeparture meeting on the wensday before we leave. then we will meet at the bus station the next day to go to the nurnberg airport then fly to vienna. i have a attachment with the first weeks schedual

thats prety much it

day 50

day 50
today i woke up and ate breakfast (apfel strudel coffee cake) in the prossess i saw a fly on the table. i grabed a pot holder and smacked it hard i thought it was dead but flies in europe have a tendency to come back to life so i choped one of its wings off. not 5 minutes latter i saw it running around the table to i took an empty glass and traped it. after church i came back he was lying on his back not moving when i lifted the glass his legs started to move so i fliped him over and he started running around again i went in my room and started do stuff and i heard micheal say who did that (obviously implying the fly) it was at this point i decided to call him herb. i walked out and looked at herb and saw he was on his back again i said"ohh is herb dead?" it was fun

went to church today it was in german and it was suprisingly short i think most of it was singing but since i was not given a program i had no idea what songs to sing (i think they all had it engraved in there memory what to do). at the end of the service i walked out at noticed people putting money into small boxes in the back so thats were i put the 10 euro i owed them.

went to a thing called friendship day today it was basically a band playing and different nationalities foods.

the nights have been getting quieter since james tried to apologize to me (and i didn't forgive him(speaking of which it is incredably hard to be polite while not forgiving some one)) i thik he told thomas and thomas being the "father" of the group decided to keep it quite.

i don't understand but when ever any one in a group has a girlfriend he automatically becomes the "father" and the girl the "mother". as if they are more mature than the rest of the group.

now i'm eating lunch (stirfry with canned peas,corn,and red pepper and an egg.) its good.

well i just tried to swat a bee with a ovenmit and the tempered glass on the outside of the stove shatered. i can only guess that somthing hard was in the ovenmit and slid out as i swung it. i have it all cleaned up now and am having a delema as to what to do. should i own up to it to the peoplon this floor and to the house master or should i act like it never happened and hope no one notices. the right thing to do is to take responciblity and explain it was an accident this will cost me dearly. (i think getting that replaced would be very expensive). or i could ignore it and if the house master notices i should act surpriced and then every one on the floor will loose their deposite. (however if he doesn't notice no body will lose their deposit). i know what the right choice is but it is not my money its moms and dads, and i don't wanna get yelled at or give sombody allot of money. but given the reputation our group has the house master will look for any reason to keep our deposits.

well i just did the right thing. thomas came up stairs and said "oh my god" and i knew right away he noticed. so i went out and said "i did it". aparently there was a magnet in the ovenmits strap thing and there was a hole worn there and the magnet came right out. it sounds like the floor will have to pay for it but if it comes to it i will. (i'm sorry mom and dad).

my charecter has been tested twice this week end the first time with the money at the church and the second time with the oven. i think i passed both. life will suck for the next 13 days because of it.

day 49

friedrick shiller

day 49

last night i found out that there was a concert in the big church. it was the stuttgart philharmonic and they layed several song many of which i recognized but couldn't put a name to. there was one violin solo piece it was beutiful. when i purchas the ticket i thought i gave the lady ten euros but she gave me 12.50 back (the ticket was 7.50 euro) when i got back tonight i checked my information and i had 10 euro more than i was supose to have so tomarrow i'm gonna go to church and put it in the offering with a post it saying (for stuttgart philharmonic concert 15/9)

i'm going to ludwigsberg today i have an hour before i have to go still not sure what i'm gonna see but it should be a good excersis for my german and i'll try to learn alot.

thats all for this moring.

over all i had a good ay today. i went to the bs station went on the bus and went to marbach and saw the house schiller was born in (it was only alittle better than the museum of that guy who wrote the ice cream truck song( his museum was in a house that that he didn't actually live in but it might look like the one he live in except for the electric lights and the paint and the furtinure and all the stuff in the museum was basically worlds fair memorabilia from the worlds fair that he may or maynot have gone to) this museum was only slightly better it actually was the house he was born in and they had a video and some example of stuff he wrote an a lock of his hair for some reason. then we went to luwigsberg we were given maps and we had 3 hours to do what ever. i decided to go to a park and eat the dinner/breakfast rolls i brought with me for lunch. no sooner than i had finish the first half my roll two men dressed in black pants and white shirts with ties came walking my way. i remember thinking "please be buisness men, please be buisness men. then one of them talked to me "ugghhh missionaries" he said somthing in german i said "nien danke" then he said "aber dieses ist wrichtige" (but this is important) then i said i don't speak good german then he said "ahh do you speak good english (i should have said "was?" (what?) but i said yes) then i found out that they were mormans (great there religion is the easiest to disprove) so i listened to most of his spiele about how great it is that stuff is good and so forth and then he asked me what i knew about mormanism i used the term "magic rocks" on purpose to annoy him. then we discussed true for a while an how if i read the book and ask god to tell me if its true he will tell me it is. (i didn't bite). then he said the book of morman has never been disproven (now was my chance to strike) i asked were the (magical gold plates" were now. he said an angel took them away and so forth (darn it didn't work) so then i compared the bibles liniage and how the texts could be traced back all the way to it happenings and how the book of morman can only be traced back 200 years to the "magical rocks thing" he replied no they are equally old its just that the plates were hiden during that time. and i said ohh yes the magical plates that are no longer in our coporial reality. its kinda hard to authenticate them isn't it? in the end i think it was a draw i stayed christian he was still a morman and more importantly i didn't get a book. happily ever after

what i should have done was asked about the after life and used the "is there any thing god can't do? question" with the multiple god aspect and ask which god is the greatest god and how do you know its yours? after all god has no wives so obviously he is not the greatest one so why do you worship him? when you could worship a more powerfull god of a different world. and expend on all the flaws in polythesism.

all in all it has been a very religious week end so far mormans want me to read their book , osama bin laden wants me to read the karran (osamas latest video) (which i was planning on doing after college anyway), and the catholics gave me ten euro. i can expect the muslims to do somthing tomarrow and maybe the budists will come after me to..

after lunch in the park i walked around the city (there was nothing to do in the city but buy fresh fruit in the farmers market) and loitered by the castle (giant expensive residence hall) until the group came to take a tour of it. dispite not being a castle it was pretty cool the artwork was insiring and the over all design was impresive.

then we rode home and i ate dinner and now i'm here typing.

(p.s. if you ever have a chance to mess around with a mormans head i highly recomend it)

tomarrow i plan to go to the big catholic church to attend a service and repay my debt. i think they start at 10:00 am (lazy catholics always sleeping in) i hope to get in and out with out getting stuck talking to any of them or doing crazy catholic retuels in german. and then do laundry and defrag my computer and run all the checks it has wanted me to do for the past 2 weeks.

day 47 somthing

going to ludwigsberg tomarrow not sure whats there i think i has somthing to do with goethe and schiller it should be better than sitting alone in my room.

found out it is unlucky to give a knife or scissors as a gift as it symbolizes cutting off the friend ship. i've never heard of it before.

day 46

day 46

i think i might be sick. my throat is soar and my nose is alternating between running and being stuffy and i have small head aches ocationaly. i was about to go to the store to get orange juice when i started talking to thomas he offered me some sort of spray (i declined) and asked him were the orange juice was he said in back by the check out and payed me back for the eggs he used last week. i walked there got the juice and on the way back my side started to hurt like when training for the grand canyon i thought i must be sick i have barley walked at all today. when i got back (thomas was making a balsamic reduction (basically he was boilng vinigar and sugar (i think))) when i walked into the appartment my sinuses just started to drain right away. i felt good for a while dispite the awful smell but eventually i had to retreat to my room to avoid the smell and the soar throat is back.

had stew with colored noodles for lunch. last month a brazilian friend told me how he was joking one day with the cook about how he had a big hunger and shee gave him a huge helping and continued to give him big helping from that point on. so i tried it this month and it worked. today she gave me allot and asked if it was enough.

i have 14 days left in germany then i will transfer to vienna. once in vienna i will have 16 days until the german classes start. however the first week of being in vienna i will have vienna seminar on wensday (a two hour class) and perhaps my history and music classes. this should give me ample time to adust to the city.

the drunk group is going to octoberfest some time. (oktoberfest runs from the last week of september throught the first week of october). drinking sounds like an expensive habbit. and further moree i'm not sure any one here really realizes howmuch they are spending. thomas, today, went out on a whim today and bought a cleaver for 6 euro and said its a great deal. i think each of them is easily spending 100 euro a week.


learned somthing about people today for the most part they are egotistical and want imediate gratification with out concern for otheres or consiquences. maggie talked to me today she had a double room alto her self because her roomate left in the first week. and apparently the haus mister (house master (guy who controls the dormatories) wanted her to move to a differt room along with another central student to make room for othere people. she took affence to this saying its not my fault i got my own room i didn't cheat the system i just goot lucky and now i'm being punished for it and its not fair. the haus mister replied you think your being punished? she said well yeah i have to pack up all my stuff and move it to a different room and it isn't fair. i was tempted to tell her that she wasn't being opressed because she is not a minority but i held it back. what makes it really annoying is that she only talks in mooniton with a straight face and she has to tell every one. quite honestly i thiink her argument is flawed in ohh so many ways but my point is that she can't seeem to understand the haus misters point of view. and doesn't understand there is nothing she can do and that there are things bigger than herself.

there is a movie today that i am thinking of going to but given my current health condition i should consider not going as well. i think i will get a seat close to the door and go out when i gets to late but i will miss the quite time that i will have here since the drunks will be gone and as soon as they get back its gonna get loud. i think i will skip the movie tonight and wath it on my laptop some other time.



i got an apoligy from james last night for being so loud and how he didn't realize how loud they were till he stoped getting drunk every night. i was about to say "its alright" but caught my self before saying it. i realized i don't wanna give him permission to do it again. its hard to not forgive some one and be polite about it.

day 45

not much going on.

a group of 20 - 30 older people showed up yesterday. i suppose they are doing a two week course or something. none of them are in my class but they all eat in the cafeteria its getting crowded in there. i plan to eat breakfast with one of them tomorrow to find out whats going on
i think most of them are americans. they only speak german but they have an indescribable accent. it may just be a lack of any othere accent i don't know. i plan on going to the store today to get more spaghetti and zipplock bags and a sponge (our dish rag is disgusting).

i got the info i need to write a resume online today and plan to work on it tonight and over the week end.

not much else.

have a good day

day 43

day 43? sunday

i havn't posted blog in a while so i'm gonna write one up now even though not much has happened.

yesterday the group went to neuschwanstien and i stayed back i had the entire appartment to my self. so swept out my room and swep the kitchen and stuff. not much else intresting happened i was hopeing to go to a concert but i had no idea were it was and couldn't find it all i found was a rock concert like thing on the bridge. so i went to the supermarkt and get todays breakfast (apple strudel coffee cake) and on the way there i saw micheal james andrea and maggie. i thought great the entire central group will be here tonight its gonna be loud.when i got back they were making salad and watching movies on a laptop last night was actually the quitest night second to that night that every body was gone and my room mate never came back (i was the only one on the floor all night.)

i woke up this morning and talked to thomas mustafa and james about neuschwanstien. their experience was allot like mine. the castle was a museum and they just shoved you thoughthe only thing really worth seeing was the landscape around the castles. i think my trip was better because i had such a great view of neuschwanstien from the othere castle. then i ate lunch (rice with beef boulioun and a mostly stale roll) and now i'm typing this and i have a soar throat. i have to write a text on a famous american person (again) but i forgot to look up the info (again) so i'm gonna fake my way through george washington as best i can (or thomas edison) i don't plan to do much today i have less than 3 weeks before i go to vienna and get stressed out again. and on top of that i'm running out of vitamins i've been rationing them so i will have 5 left before i go to vienna at this point i don't want to buy a new bottle because it would only add weight to my luggage.

since i have nothing better to talk about i'm gonna go over the plan for getting to austria. in 2 weeks i'm gonna start trying to get rid of my bike (unless the group gets a car and they are willing to transport my bike for next to nothing) i might sell it at the bike shop or to one of the othere central students who is willing to lug it to austria. then i will start packing i will leave my shorts and stuff that i really don't need for winter here in germany or ship it home depending on the cost of shiping (probabaly not worth it). i will wear most of my winter cloting onto the plane and take it off if nessissary. i doubt they will be to conserned with the weight of the carry on since it is a city to city plane and it will be empty anyway. my carry on will be my laptop bag and my messenger bag will go in my luggage. the packing order for this trip is not that impportant. i jusy have to make sure the weights are about right. which will be hard to do since we don't have a scale. i expect my luggage to go slightly over the 45 lb limit but there is not much i can do about that. i'm not sure how we plan to get to nurnburg airport if they will make us go there our selves or if they will drive us or if we all go on the train together i'm not sure. but i expect that we will all be on the same plane so ruth will likley take care of all the paper work for us. then we will wait for a while (or rush like crazy) get on a plane and take off. the flight should take less than an hour or two so it will not be to boring. when we arrive we will all get luggage at the baggage claim together and some one will lose there luggage and ruth will have to sort that out with the airport and she will tell us all to go to our dorms. i'm not sure if she will give us money for the cabs or if she can pay in advance or what but we will take a taxi to our dorms and there i will be. i should have an internet connection and i should be there by late after noon so i'll try to get online to post how it went. then i will have to find out how to survive in vienna. (locate grocerie stores, classes, get train card, register with district official + other stuff i need to live ect....)

i found out that the AC/DC converter for my laptop get hotter here than in america and makes a great heating pad. i put it on my lower back and it works great.

i've decided to start work on my resume as soon as i can get online to find out the appropriate formate stuff. i remember i had a hard time with it before because its not a set form. i'm not sure how i will do this time.

one of the things i don't like about europe is that there are so many people every were even in this small town. in america i can always find a hill outside to sit on and just be alone but the only place to be alone here is in a room. in pella i had the hill bye green lot and the golf course. in farmington i had the park by the water tower and the mountain bike trail. here i have the small court yard on the side of the castle but there are often people there.

another thing i don't like about europe is the cost of meat it is to high. and there doesn't seem to be a code for electrical wiring these places are wired worse than the house in crestwood. on the other hand i do like the architecture of most of the buildings some of them are painful to look at but most of them look nice.

i only need the 14.5 credits next semester which means i may be able to make a violin . however i will almost certainly have a room mate and i doubt he would like me working with sharp tools and getting saw dust all over his carpet. so i am thinking of asking the art profesors if i could do an independant study in conjuction with the music department and use the shop in the basement of lubbers. the problem is that i will only be able to use it on tuesday and thursday mornings and would not be able to get in in the evenings and weekends so i am thinking of making the ribs and othere small hand carved stuff in my room and the larger messier louder things in the art shop. then whn i have the parts done making the whole thing in the art shop or in my room depending on how late it is in the semester. not sure if i'm gonna laquar it or not. i think the laquar only subtracts from the sound but it also keeps the wood safe. i'll consider that next semester.

i'm thinking of pushing up the date of leaving for america to the 18th or 19th instead of the 24th so i will have less of an over lap but with 17-18 days of overlap i'm not sure how early i can leave vienna and still get credit. the exact middle is 23rd but thats a wendsday and i will need a week end to recouperate so i can either leave two weeks early from vienna or be two weeks late for central. i think it would be best to leave vienna earlier and get to my philosphy classes. since my grades here in vienna don't really matter in the grand skeem of things but i need to keep my philosophy gpa high enough to graduate. so i'll ask ruth and dad about that tomarrow and talk to the group about when they are leaving.

day 40

not much going on

there was an exceptionally loud party outside my door last night i went out to go to the bathroom and found some of the institute staff there. my teacher whom lives somwere around my dorm was about to yell at me for partying to loud till i explained i was pissed off to. the party went till 12:30. so in retailiation i'm gonna turn off the heat to most of the building. i hid the good knife in the back of the drawer. if they look for it they will find it but it should cause some panic.

day 38 II

day 38 agian.

i just got out of a meeting with ruth (central abroad director advisor person) i talked to her about my credits at goethe and in vienna.

first of all, 2 months at goethe equats to 12 credits at central. (so i won't have to take 17 credits next semester)

second, i was under the impression that the introductory program was all the central college classes they told us about before. but, apparently the introductory program is a continuation of the goethe program in vienna (by a different association (not sure if it is central or not)) but for that i get 13 credits. the central classes are just there for people in the introducory program to take ontop of that (it would be imposible to take them all) i am also reqeired to take vienna seminar (a class that meets for two hours every othere week) which is a 1 credit class. and i plan to take history of vienna (a history course) 3 credits. and music of vienna (learn about composers and go to concerts) also 3 credits.

for the 4 months i am in vienna that totals 20 credits which sounds high (it may very well be). but the amount of time i would spend in class seems negligable compared to america. so i may still have free time if that is the case (which i probably won't be) i would like to sign up for a sport at the sports institute. i was thinking somekind of martial art or billiards but i will have to seee how heavy the course work is. if the course load is to heavy as it is i will drop music in vienna because i need the history credit. bringing me down to 17 credits. which i will suffer through if i have to.

for the whole time i am in germany the total is 29-32 credits which is 5-8 more than i thought it would be. in short i am going to graduate on time unless somthing disasterous happens. when i graduate i will have atleast 6 more credits than i need. happy happy day. :)

my bike might be able to go with the other people but i'm not gonna count on that if the weather stays this way (which i might at this time of the year) i won't get much riding in anyway. so it may be best to get rid of it. i already offered it to the group for 100 euro. but i did it in a way that i can take it back if i want to.


happy belated labor day to you all. hope you had fun (laboring??)

day 38

today was the first day of class they automatically moved me up to A2.2 and i think i will feel more challenged there maggi decided to fight the machine and i think she might not like the results. i met 2 governers of small cities in turkey in class today. had dinner last night with the central group i had schnitzel and apple juice it was good. the group is looking into getting a car and bringing there stuff to vienna that way while the rest of the group flies one person will drive the stuff. if it works out i might be able to keep my bike to dirt cheap.

i missed eating in the caffiteria the cook recognized me on the first day and now i think we are best friends. i'm gonna eat well for the next 3 months.

i started thinking in german today again. it was kinda cool. i was thinking in english for the past week and now i'm back in german.

i have a meeting with ruth today at 3:00 to discuss my classes in vienna. i should llearn alot over the course of the half hour.

it was funny at the resurant last night (ruth took us out for dinner) the idiots started telling her about the trip to amsterdam and she didn't like that they drove. so they figured that coffee would be a good substitute word for marajuana. ruth is considereding banning all trips to amsterdam after that

day 37

no placement tests today i just get assigned to the next level. i woke up this morning to find the idots ate my eggs and my carrot. i'm gonna start labling the stuff in the fridge if that doesn't work i'll have to throw one of them out the window. or drain all the colant out of the fridge so its useless to every one.

day 36

day 36

well i woke up at two oclock because james forgot his keys and decided to play tunes on the door bell. i wasn't about to let the idiot in he was drunk and he deserved to learn a lesson then mustafa got a phine call and went to get the door then they stayed up for a hour and tallked loudly in the kitchen. next time this happens i'm gonna open my window and throw somthing at him and call him stupid and maybe diconect the buzzer in the kitchen. actually i think i maybe able to turn it off using the circut baord. anyway i'm gonna turn off power to his room tonight and see how he likes it. adam palmshimer he gets drunk evry night so when i get baack to central i'm gonna look up his room number and call security on him evry night (i'll be doing a fovor to mankind. he lost his license over a dui just before he came here and he s happy because the time limit will be up by the time he gets back. he is going to be a lawyer. the only way to keep him in jail is if he commits vehicular manslaughter.

its actually funny to listen to them complan about how hard it is to drink at central. and central should become a wet campus so they can get drunk easier. they don't understand the politics involved they just want instant gratification and dam the consiquences.

well i have placemnt tests for tomarrow so i need to study really hard today so i can get into a higher level.

i heard a student say that the prison is schedualed to be demolished in the next month. i saw workers drilling 6" wide and probably 20' deep holes around the prison so either they are gonna use explosives (doubtfull) or they are gonna run wire underground before they do it. or they are working on somthing else and he prison demolishin is just a rummer.

i'm gonna make mexican rice for lunch today i'm not sure how it will turn out.

i think that is all. i don't think they will get drunk tonight because of tests tomarrow but they may get drunk on monday night.

one more month to go before i go to austria.

i have 8 1/4 months before i graduate an have to get a job but i'm still not sure what to do. i don't have any real training in anyfield that i want to work in and my philosphy degree doesn't look like its gonna help any. with most degrees you can get into teaching or engineering or some other field but philosophy is so broad that it seems i can't do anything with it. i can walk up to an employer and say "i can contemplate your existance" but thats about it. i think i may have to go to a tech school to get training to get a career.

5 of those months i will be over here so i will have a hard time getting everything i need to get done before graduation done on time. i should have gone farther in physics but i took the intro class which is a dead end for people who just want to fill the science requirment. i also should have stayed in the managment class. i should have tried to take more credits over all. other than that i think i did fairly well in college.

i've decided that the amount of money i would save and the time that i would use the bike in vienna is not worth getting it there. so i'm gonna sell it. i'm not sure if the bike shop buys bikes or not i'll have to ask them. but before i do that i'm gonna offer it to the central students. who want to take the train anyway. if niether will take it i'll try the goethe institute and if they won't buy it i'll donate it to the institute. if that doesn't work i guess i'll leave it at the trainstation. it will cost more than 100 euro to get it there and thats the cost of trains all semester. and it will be to cold to ride pretty soon anyway so i'll save more money and effort by getting rid of it.

day 35

day 35

it is september

this past week has been my highest spending week of them all totaling 70.23 euro paper money and 115.63 euro on the credit card unfortunatly this week should be expensive on my credit card as well i expect to get a rail pass for austria and italy $420 and a helmet for vienna. i think i will need it more there being its a city and cars will be about. i plan to buy the helmet online and send it to the central building and pick it up when i get there along with my rail pass.

not much happened today. i woke up cleaned the kitchen came here and typed some then went back out to make lunch and found tom mopping the floor. said "du hast ien map gefunden" (you found a mop) and he said "nien ich habe es gekauft" (no i bought it) then we went on about how disscusting this place is and how the cleaning lad doesn't actually clean she just takes our garbage.

thomas has become accusstumed to my making spagehitti every day. i surprised him yesterday by using garlic powder and beef boulioun in my sauce. i surprised him more today by making stirfry. i have 2 eggs left i plan to have one for breakfast to marrow and make stirfry again tomarrow. then i will have to live with spagehitti and rice with boulioun and garlic powder (still a step up from what i had last month. i think my need to save as much money as possible on food was a symptom of culture shock. i think i'm getting over it now. i'm still dutch but i'm not quite as hyperactive about it as last month anymore. i expect to spend 3 euro a week now of food well actually thats just averaged out i have most of the food i'll need for the rest of the month in my closet already. i just need to get 2 more packs of spagehitti and one more box of rice.

on monday i'll retake the placement test and eat lots of cresants (they have cresants in the waiting room) hopfully i'll test in to B2 (two levels higher than what i just finished.) then that night i will eatdinner with the central group and emily (apparently she lived in my house last semester) this will be her first month here. then on tuesday i will eat breakfast (and steal lots of rolls butter and jam) then find out who is in my class. then i will learn german and prepare for vienna. there should be less people at goethe this month because most othere schools around the world are starting about now so they are all going back to there respective schools. which means classes might go at the pace i want them to go.

i looked into train stuff for vienna i have choices between getting
a semester ticket (lasts all semester) for 117 euro
a monthly ticket 45 euro for each month
a weekly ticket 12,5 euro for each week
and a daily ticket 5.00 for a day

since i will have a bike and the city is not that big i think i will go without the semester ticket. however if the streets get ice and unridable i may consider getting a monthly ticket for the last month of two. and for the days or weeks that it is raining i can get weekly or daily tickets. the amount of time to ride to anyplace seems comperable to the time to take the train there + i can leave at any time and not wait for the train.
even walking would take alittle less than an hour to get to classes so if i wanted i could get an umbrella and walk to class if its raining or snowing.

day 34

day 34

today i woke up and went to the grocerystore to get some beef and chicken bouiloun, garlic power, rice, eggs, and carots. i was expecting it to be hard to find the boulioun but it was right there on the bottom shelf of the spice area (right were i would put it). i translated it last night it should be kraftbruhe but the packege said boulioun the beef was easyenough to find rind = beef so rindboulioun but chicken should be huhn but i couldn't find a container that said huhnboulioun there was a price for it but none of the pakages said it so i assumed that orange was chicken (like in america) luckily i was right. the othere stuff was no problem to find. buying vegitables is kinda cool in america you put the vegtables in a bag and weigh them and guess at the price and at the checkout they weigh it again. in germany they have an electric scale with a printed on it you put the bag of vegitables you want on it then press a button (in this case the carrot button) and a stcker prints out aand you put that on the bag and then they just scan it at the regristar. i think it may be possible to chet the system (i.e. weigh 5 carrots and put the sticker on and put 5 more in) (i wouldn't do that) however i think thats why the american system is the way it is.

i made stir fry with instant rice carrots and chicken boulioun and garlic powder for lunch today it was good. i plan on spagehitti for dinner and mexican rice from lunch tomarrow.

i got a copy of the schedual of activities for next month there is a day trip to neuschwanstien so i may be able to see it after all.
however there are also allot more activities this month and they are all alot more expensive. i think i will go to three this month and make central pay those off. so far i have gone to the mercedes museum (6 euro) and to rothenburg (8 euro). this month they have a trip to neuschwanstien a trip to ludwigsburg (were ever that is) and a trip to frankfurt. i would like to go to neuschwanstien (29 euro + food) and also frankfurt (22.50 euro + food) i will go to both and give central the recepts for the more expensive 3.

the internet should be open by now. i wanted to get in early so i could research the italy trip in december.
i found a guest house near rome for 2 euro a day but it is 14 miles outside of rome so thats a half hour to rome then half hour back. also rome is very far fom all the cities i want to see. the plan was to make florence my "base of operation" and depart from there every daythat would subtract from my travel time to each location. but all the hostels in florence ar more than $20 a night. that would add up to mare than 200 over all. were as in rome i would spend $20 total for housing. but it would take all day to get to another city and i would have an hour or two before i would have to go back. perhaps i should devide it up into blocks so i would spent two nights in verona two nights in florence and 3 nights in rome. i'm getting ahead of my self right now i have to study the rail systems and get a rail pass (the one i want cost $365-$420 for 8-10 days).


looks like the internet is not opening to day. maybe i should go to the internet cafe. it costs 2 euro per hour. well i just checked with the internet cafe and i can't use my laptop there so i'm not going online today.

well the americans came back. i over heard one of them describing the trip to amsterdam with my room mate and said they smoked alittle to much (marajuana). my only fear is that they brought some back with them that would make my life a living hell for atleast one night. but its nice to have them back its good to have friends i can talk to allbe it in german most of the time. the leader tried to talk to the guy nextdoor but he simple said "my name is peter and i speak bad german" (in german of course).
i have figured out my meal plan for the next month it is bassical the same as last months but this plan invovled making a rice dish every week end for lunch and on wensdays for dinner. (rice dishes include: stirfry mexican rice, plain rice with either chicken or beef boulioun or any combination there of) i also found out i can add beef boulioun to the spagehitti sauce and it improves the taste 20 fold aslo i remembered today that galic powder is gods gift to man. th total cost of this months food should be 15 euro. alittle more than last month but i think the variety is worth it. (remember a euro in europe is equivalent to a dollar in america one dollar can get you a loaf of bread in america and one euro can get you a loaf of bread here)

i ate with the group tonight (thomas loves to invite me to eat when ever it is his turn to cook when its his turn to lean dishes i'll do it as payback) we had steak. it was easily within the top ten steaks that i have ever had. allong with mexican rice and refried beans. it was good. but before dinner every one had to take a shot of tequilla (luckily thomas respects my desicion not to ddrink and since he is the group leader no one else apposed him.) (micheal on the other hand was confused as to why i wouldn't drink i didn't feel like explaing to him why he was an idiot) andrea and kim were there which only left maggi out of the group. kim was distraut because the boy she had a crush on went back to london. and she felt so close to him because they talked about there emotions alot. and all the guys sat up and we had to explain to her that guys don't have emotions. the only time a guy has emotions is when he likes a girl. then she said but he has a girlfriend and we said he was still coming on to you. it was funny i thought only guys could mis signals like that.

they drank until alittle past midnight. adam (whos parents encourge him to get drunk) is going to be a lawyer. i would love to hide a caera in the kitchen and send a video and letter of "recomendation" to every law school in the country. its unfair that people like me can try so hard and avoid alchohol and drugs and people like him can try so little and get wasted every night but i'm still gonna end up working for aguy like him. and the only reason is that he knows how to be social.