august 1 day 4

these are pictuers of my dorm the big brick wall on the right of the
side ways picture is the clock tower
the other one is the inside of my room
my windows are the three just over the door
of the white building



I am considering being a german intensive student in vienna instead of being a university
student as I thought I had to be. more importantly I know I have a choice now.
the way I under stand it the difference between intensive and university is as follows

intensive german program
I am automatically signed up for 12 credits at the central office in vienna
I can't take classes at any of the universities in vienna with out paying for it out of pocket


university program
I am free to choose what classes I take at either central or any other university in vienna
some central college classes are not avaliable to me

either way I will get a german minor but what I really need is 3 history credits if I don't
get those I won't graduate on time. (which would be the end of the world)


I went to class today andrea aparently moved down a class into my class. andrea has had a
total of 1 semester of german and she had to audit it because she didn't attend classes
I'm not sure how she managed to test into a higher level than me but I think I should be at a
higher level than her. of course I'm not sure what she did over the summer. further more
maggie and I seem to be the fastest people in our class so I think I should move up a class

after class today I went online for a insanly long time probably 2 - 3 hours I talked to
mom and dad then posted stuff on my blog and looked up stuff
by the way my dormis located at the following longitude latatude coordinates
49 degrees 06'54.86" north
9 degrees 44'09.49" east

then I went to and information meeting were they retold every thing we should have known already.
then I went to the super market and got a glass (for drinking) a tupper ware container (for eating out of and storing food) and a bag of spagehitti. I had plain spagetti noodless for dinner tonight , tomarrow I plan to steal some butter from breakfast so I can have noodles not a stringy blob.

tommarow I think I will go to the bike shop and get a cheap bike deffinatly used probably a
"towny / civilian" bike that is close to fitting me and most importantly is as cheap as possible.
it doesn't have to last long just two months. thats less time than my walmart bike lasted and
I was stupid on that thing.

microsoft word stopped working probably because it was a trial version

people who are eating supper in the other room are discussing going in together on food were
every day one of them goes out and buys 15 euros worth of groceries and then some one cooks and
they eat like kings if im asked if i want in i'm gonna say no i can eat like a poper for less
than 3 euro a week. and atleast thats how i want to eat right now.

day 3 july 31

Today I stated classes I was put into A2.1 the class is divided into 3 segments the first goes

From 8:15 - 9:45 then a half hour break then from 10:15 - 11:45 then a 15 minute break then

From 12:00 - 12:45 the class was mostly stuff I think I already knew but I can't tell if I belong in a higher

Class because it was only the first day

After class I went to have lunch. all I have to do to get lunch is get lunch then show a business card in a plastic envelope to the worker

After that I looked at the media center and hey have either net jacks so I talked to mom for a while and

Posted the last two posts

Then I went on a tour of schwabisch hall with the zivis (like sos's/resident advisors but German)

They told us were the super market was and some other useless junk then I went to a meeting with the central people we discussed stuff apparently I’m registered for the German introductory program I thought that I was a university student but I have a choice either option has advantages and I plan to research those after I do my homework

After that I went to the super market and got some fruit loops for dinner

I think I have scouted out the city pretty well now I don't think there is a place that I would get lost at here now.

I have walked more in the last two days than i think i have ever walked in such a short time my feet actually hurt.

There a people getting drunk out side my door I hope on of them jumps out a window

july 30th day 2

ther is one big church(lots of smaller ones)
one big castle
and lots of timber frame houses

I took the placement exam today i was placed in A2.2 the third beginners class I expected to get higher
but it consisted of a grammar test and even in English I suck at grammar tests.

last night at about 3:00 am I met my roommate I heard the door open I freaked out and woke up put a
shirt on then fell asleep again once I realized what was going on

this morning I woke up at 6:30 and walked around the city I ran into Maggie and we walked around for
a while then had breakfast at the Hotel Goldener Adler she went back to sleep and I went to take placement tests

I found another bike shop I would like to visit that some time today. Tonight I think there is a tour of Schwabisch Hall that will show me were all the food stores and such are. Then dinner with the central group. I had a hard enough time getting here I can't imagine how hard it will be for the people who don't speak German.

There is wifi here but you need a pass phrase and I’m not sure if it is the colleges or not

it is now noon I should try to pay the key deposit and get some lunch.

I payed the key deposit and found a super market how ever the don't care food there they just care stuff like cleaners and dog food and cosmetics

I visited the closer bike shop they have used bikes like I want starting from 120 euros I would visit the othere but I’m not sure how far it is or know how to get there also i have 2:30 hours before dinner were I plan to make up for my lack of lunch.

had dinner with the group found out the wifi is not the colleges it is somebody else’s so I will be typing this stuff on word transferring it at the college on week days

so far I have scored the best of all of the central students which I guess is pretty good I'm still not sure if
I’m in the right class but we will see tomorrow

I saw my roommate for the second time today he was going to sleep this after noon so I didn't disturb him I still don't know his name my wild guess is he is from Spain or western Europe

every one who arrived today had a much easier time getting here than I did.

I think I have adjusted to this city now. I can see my self surviving here for a while

I think I faced my greatest fear yesterday, the fear of not knowing how to do something independently. I was lost and could do nothing for myself and learned that no matter what I will survive and I have to live with things that I do and nothing can change that. some advice I gave to a girl today who was freaking out today about not having the right stuff or her phone not working is there is nothing you can do about it now, now you have to focus on the moment this is a lesson I think I will never forget don't worry about things you can't control
and also don't delude yourself into thinking that you have control when you don't

I’m tired I’m going to bed

day 1 july 28 -29

i live next to the clock tower

this is one of the traains i missed

this is the hotel i had to go to get my keys

To start today off (today being yesterday and today) I cleaned my room and got all of my affairs in order then I went for a bike ride with dad stopping at kwik trip for breakfast then we had lunch then mom and dad drove me to the airport they changed some money over for me then wish me fair well as I went through security. Security was a lot more lax than I thought it would be. I got stopped because I didn’t take my laptop out of my bag but it was no problem I had an hour to wait any how. Then I found my gate G6 and watched people we boarded the plane take off was fun and some of the scenic views from my window were so breath taking I couldn’t look away every seat had a 6-8 inch television screen in front of it and I found out I could make it continuously display the airplanes position and characteristics (speed altitude tail wind speed temp outside) it was great fun then I decided that since I wouldn’t get any sleep on the flight I started to watch the movie 300 (because that was an option in the screen) less than half way through the computer crashed and it rebooted but it didn’t want to display the movie or display the air craft stuff I also notice the big screens in front were frozen to. However I was able to manually track the airplane unfortunately the flight crew shut off the monitors before we landed so I couldn’t see the altimeter go negative. We ended up getting there ½ hour early.

After tat flight we got off the plane I looked up my gate number c-12 and headed to the gate. My father is right security at shipole is insane. They were frisking every other person luckily I didn’t set off the metal detector and was not in line to get frisked. Then I headed to my gate and sat for 2 hours. Then we boarded the plane the plane could probably hold 100-150 people there was a total of 30 of us at most what I found really amusing is that the first plane was nice and comfy were as the second plane looked like something that the pilot salvaged and he must have also found the stewardesses dresses (they were seriously the stereo typical stewardess dress of the seventies.

After we landed I followed every body else to the baggage claim to get my luggage I saw a bathroom there and thought I should go now but if I do I will leave my luggage in the open, so I got my bag and started to look for the s-bahn the main entrance had bee abandoned years ago so you had go down stairs and work a god awful machine that would only translate half of the words properly eventually I got it and got to bad constatt I figured out how to get a ticket to schwabisch hall and was waiting on platform 8 for it at 11:44 then a trained pulled up to another plat form and I thought good for them, were is my train then as the train pulled away I saw the words “S hall hessentle” I thought fine I’ll wait an hour till it comes back and then train that came at 12:44 was for Nurnberg so I didn’t get on then the next hour which was scheduled to go to schwabisch hall didn’t show up so I bought another ticket thinking that the last one I bought wouldn’t work for a transfer but the tickets were identical then after waiting two More hours to get on the train I thought I should really go to the bathroom. The bathroom at the train station has a rotating door to small for my bags to get through and it cost five Euros to get in so I figured I’d hold it at every stop I was concerned I would wet my pants finally I got to the end of the line and latterly ran to the station which happened to be entirely devoid of personnel and bathrooms so I ran next door. I never realized how good my German could be until I started to threaten/bride this man to let my use his bathroom. Then I waited for the bus but closer inspection of the schedule revealed that no bus was going to schwabish hall on Sundays so I was forced to take a cab I got in and the driver was having a fabulous time talking to me about he Goethe program and stuff then he asked were I was from and I said (ich bin von America) then all the sudden he got really quite and his breathing got really heavy I sat awquardly for several minutes till we drove over a hill displaying a panorama of the city. Then he started doing the tourist guide thing and frightened I showed as much interest as possible (I saw a bike shop on the way down) finally we got to the hotel and I got my keys, before we left he was quite insistent that he drive me to my room too but being the Dutchman I am I said no I’ll walk there. I walked the streets down by the river in a light drizzle trying to find a road that was blocked by a building and trying to find the name of a building with no doors and surrounded by a city wall then it started to rain after 10 – 20 more attempts I was wet and tired and disappointed in the ""lovely city"" that was covered in graffiti I went into a public bathroom (because I had to pee again at the time to) and just started to cry for about 5 minutes I had tried to contact the advisors but the numbers didn’t work and I had been dragging around a 55 lb suitcase on cobble stones for several hours I had not slept the night before and it just became to much.

Then I called dad who I had seen tried to call me an hour before and he got me in contact with marrie trappl she felt it was best for me to turn right and keep going straight. And it is really imperative that I turn right and keep going straight and if that doesn’t work I should ask a person at the hotel for help and she told me to turn right and keep going straight five or six more times till I just left.

I finally made it to the dorm and I was working on getting the key in the door when a girl walked up behind me, so I jumped out of the way to let her in first. I walked up to room four and found what looked to be girls clothing scattered over every thing and the notebooks on the desk had girly hand writing so I naturally assumed my roommate was a girl which I did not want (what the hell is central thinking) so I figured it might be a guy who has a girlfriend so I’ll just go get my stuff and put it in the room if it’s a girl I can sleep in the lounge for one night before we get it straightened out. When I came back with my luggage I was struggling with the key in the door if you keep rotating it nothing happens (I don’t feel secure in this place the doors are built to be broken and the locks are a joke) any way a group of 5-6 guys walked up behind me and tried to great me I immediately assumed they were my house mates so I asked them how the key works and one responded its simple you simply push all of these call buttons and the door opens and with in 20 seconds there was a guy on the other side of the door trying to open it (oohh yea there key holes on both sides) and they all thought I broke it and I know for a fact it was broke well before I have ever looked at it.

And further more the room is wired in the worst way I have every seen some plugs are 2 feet apart and others are the only plug on one side of the room. And even worse there is no either net cable hook up so I’m forced to type in work and copy it over when ever I get the capacity to get onto the internet during school days.

Now I’m even more tired so I’m going to lock up my laptop and hide it so nobody tries to steal it.

last day

today is the last full day i spent in the usa. today i did laundry, cleaned my carpet, went mountain biking. i am going to olive garten with mom and dad for dinner tonight. and now im going to ramble on about what i think is going to happen tomarrow.

tomarrow i am going to finish charging my lead acid battery, wash my sheets and do furthur cleaning of my room , double check my luagage and put the battery charger on dads tractor because he showed intrest in it to keep his battery charged and working over the winter. after mom and dad wake up i plan on going for a short bike ride then shower and shave then pack all unpacked stuff (laptop, shaver, vitamins, ect) by that time i should be entirly ready to leave.

now the fun part
mom and dad will take me to the airport and i will go through security check my lugage and wait. then i will board the plane put my laptop bag in the over head compartment and put the messenger bag under the seat infront of me and nap as much as possible. during the flight i should get a meal of some kind when i arrive in amsterdam i will get off the plane then check in for my flight after going through customs after lots of confusing stuff goes on i will get on a plane going to stuttgart i will then get off the plane and find my luogage then get on a "strassen-bahn" i think it is like the light rail in minneapolis. i will go for 6 stations then get off at bad cannstatt and i will try to find a train station. i tried to look up the location of the train station online but it does not exist much like the stradovarious workshop in italy. then i will take the regional express to a town called hessental and find a bus station then take bus #1 to schwabisch hall and go to the hotel goldener adler to get an envelope that has directions and keys to my room.

now the scary part
the next day i will have to check in at the information desk at the goethe institut to take german proficiency tests which are separated into two tests written and verbal i don't know what to expect from the written portion but i understand the verbal portion to be a informal conversation over coffee. and i should know what level i am in. then have dinner with people from the central abroad group.

then the nextday i will find out where i have to go for class
then on tuesday

you read it, you can't unread it

4 days to go

WELCOME TO MY BLOG




Alexandre Vinokourov tested positive for blood doping which would explain his come back from that crash after he lost 8 minutes. which is a shame, cycling has become synominous with doping and drug use. luckily however rassmussen is still clean

day negative 6

i have sucsessfully acomplished my sleep cycle switch i started by staying up latter and later until i fell asleep at midnight yesterday i stayed up all night and went to sleep at about 4:00 pm (about 11:00 pm austrian time) i woke up at midnight today and i think after two more cycles ii should be set to austrian time.

i made corn bread this morning. I forgot to grease the pan so the bottom crust isn't on the loaf, oops.

then i reserched cheap easy food i could make in austria. i have made a starting list and a list of groceries that i will likly need to get once over there

spagehitti
grilled cheese
quesedias
baked potatos
macaroni cheese
rice ironi
breads
french
basic
stir fry

groceries
several packets yeast
olive oil
cheese
rice ironi
macaroni cheese
flour
sugar
potatos
salt
vegitables
bread
rice/rotini
eggs


i was amazed to find out how simple french bread is to make. it only has four real ingredients.

then i went fro a bike ride down to "downtown" farmington" using my realy bright headlight
whom i have decided to name day-na

i agreed to go to church with mom and dad this morning so i could give my final farwells to church people.

this week is going to be hectic as i will sleep during half the time mom and dad are awake and i will be awake half the time they are awake so i have effectivly shortend my day by half as i can't work in the garage when i wake up and i can't be to noicy in the house for the first 6-8 hours.

i don't have much left to do in the garage i want to finish the semi truck (i only have to drill two holes put in two dowels then make a fifth wheel, glue it on then poly-eurithane it)i have finished the fire truck it looks gorgious. all i have to do thn is clean the garage to the point that i can be used as a storage area. because i know dad will store lots of stuff in there.

i plan to email every one about this blog in aboout 2 days so i have to go over every post and make sure it is all G rated. and un affensive to any body.