day 9

day 9

today while sitting in my room i figured out how to improve my eating situation for the rest of the two months. i was thinking about lunch for my trip on saterday and i thought i could make a lunch outof the coldcuts and cresants and hardrolls and fruit they give us for breakfast every morning then i realized that i couldn't do that on saterday because they don't provide lunch but i could do it for the mercedes benz museum on wendsday next week. then i realized if i take rolls every day like i have been taking butter every day i could improve my caloric intake by two fold at dinner. and if i stock pile them (they are likly to last 2 days or so) i could make a fairly good lunch for my week end trips.

on saterday i plan to go to the farmers markt buy some bannannas then make something with my pancake mix and have breakfast then i will eat lunch incredubly early (about 9:30) then leave swchabisch hall with my bike on a train at about 10:00 then arrive in bretten at 12:00 then i will find a good spot to watch the bike race (it is a time trial so i will likly move around alot at the start then switch to the finish) during the gap between departure and arrival of the teams i will eat second lunch/ dinner (this will consist of goethe hard rolls and bannannas) then i will watch the finishes and maybe stick around to get autographs or somthing then fight my way onto a train to schwabisch hall i should get back at about 7-8 o'clock then i can make spagehitti for second dinner and then go to sleep. i expect the train tickets to cost 35 euros for round trip and dinner to cost about 2-4 euros (for bannannas only).

they have a special kind of roll here that i need to learn how to make its called a bretzel roll (pretzel roll) it is delicious. it is like a soft pretzel but with more soft inside parts.

since im on the topic of food I will go more into detail about the food at the goethe institute
breakfast consists of (starting from the beginning of the line) coffee, hot water, tea, milk, rolls; (pretzel,poppie seed, hard, othere) cresants, sliced breads, orange juice, cereals, butter, various jams, coldcutts (i don't know their specific names), and various fruits. it doesn't seem like breakfast because there is nothing cooked. but it fills you up. the germans have a view that breakfast is a smaller meal and that lunch and dinner are the most important meals.

for lunch we have a choice between two menus ussually the first is with meat the second is vegitarian. the lunches here are always german (mostly because they are made in germany) they consist of water, ussually some sort of grain (rice, spatzel, noodles) and some meat so far there has been only one dish i didn't like and thats because i made the mistake of going with the vegitarian menu. then either salad od dessert. salad is salad and desert is ussually some kind of pudding. then silverware, then we show the lady our card then when she is not looking we take a roll from the basket. and that is lunch

dinner is not served but it is ussually spegetthi with butter. however this week i got sauce to go with it so i'll have tomatoe flavored spagehitti.
on week ends we arn't supplied any food so i went out and found pancake mix. i'm not sure if its the electric stove (i hate electric stoves they take for ever to heat up and they take forever to cool down i hate them and will devote my life to destroying them) or if its the mix but the pancakes don't cook properly instead of coming out light brown and fluffy the come out partially burned and partially uncooked and dense and goey. either way i eat them. it may taste terrible but it keeps me going. when i run out of this mx i'm going to try waffle mix.

during the week break im going to try to make double baked potatoes (phill style. aka mashed potatoes with stuff in it) i may buy some french bread as well and make that last aslong as possible. i think the main problem i will hve over the break is not having butter or hard rolls.

there is an italien ice cream shop next door some day i will try to have real "italian ice" its a delicious ice cream drink thing i can't describe. i had it at a professors house freshman year it was good.

day 8

I did some research last night and this morning and I figured that there are only two ways I might not graduate on time. I only researched this slim possibility because its scary and I have to understand it. chances I might not graduate are 1 in 9 chance at best. I'm almost certain I will graduate or at least walk across the stage.

1.) the religion class I took last semester that is counted as a history credit doesn't transfer to being a religion credit. then I will have to take a religion class the next year. a minor inconvinience

2.) I don't get eight 300 level crdits completed this semester. it seems that I am at a 200 lvl at the goethe institut right now. if I get the equivelent to 300 lvl next semester I will get six 300 lvl credits. and if all the classes at the central program in vienna are 300 lvl then I will have 18 300 lvl credits. but, if they aren't then I will have only six 300 lvl credits and will have to complete one 300 lvl course the next year but if I don't get any 300 lvl courses this semester I will have to complete 8 300 lvl credits (3 courses)

so if I don't graduate I should have only 1-3 classes to take to graduate.

luckily I should have all the information I need on this subject by the end of the week. and I can plan accordingly.

I realized today that since I'm not a sociable person I am not geting the most out of my german learning experince. so, I have made plans to increase my german skills by checking out movies from the media center on campus everyday and watching them every night. and checking out casset tapes from the media center and listening to them when I ride my bike. also, I plan to find a place were I can find a newspaper and read that every day.

my financial situation is as follows. Of the 400 euro I had at the beginning of the trip I have only 88 euros left. not bad considering that I bought a 200 euro bike. during the next two months I plan on:
eating 50 euros
going to bretten 35 euros I think
going to merceds museum 6 euros
going to rothenburg 8 euros
another excursion about 10 euros
and misc. 20 euros
total about 130 euros
also I should with draw 300 euros before I go to austria.

I should get some money back when I sell my bike about 100 euros
I should also get about 25 euros back from central for the excursions when I get to austria.

week ends are boring here ther is no internet and no entertainment.
so I have been here writing blog posts and letters to people in america
I wrote on letter to joe askking how he is doing
another to prof. patzia to tell him about my plans for next semester and ask about independent study, german minor, and transfering my religion credit.
and I think I should write a letter to prof. Weber about how my placement in goethe will effect my graduation plans.
also I made an outline of my life for the next 100 years.

now my battery is dieing so im going to eat lunch

I'm back and I'm bored. this morning I rode my bike to the train station to find out how much and how long my train ride next week will be the machine said about 1:30 hours and about 30 euros for round trip tickets. I'm not sure it is going to the right bretten though I'll go check again when the station is not so crowded.

yesterday morning was the "MARKT" infront of the church. there were about 30 stands filled with fruit bread stuff spirits and meat. I walked through twice but couldn't find any potatos of sufficient size to make backed potatos. we'll see what I can find on wendsday.

tomarrow morning I have to go directly to the office when I wake up to look for the sign up lists for the mercedes museum and the rothenburg trip and if they aren't there I have to go ask at exactly 8:00 when the office opens becuase I really want to go on those trips.

there are nats and fly's in germany but for some reason they aren't quite as annoying as the bugs in america.

I found two bike trails around here so far one that goes south for a ways (about 5 km) and one that goes north for atleast 17 km I took the castle picture on yesterdays post on the south path and the bridge picture on this post on the north trail.

i just rode east up the big hill towards the city i took the taxi from. it was hard to get up this hill but coming down i was doing about 40 kph the whole way down now i can understand how people in the tour de france can go 60 down these hills they are steap and if you have a fast bike which i don't you could do some insane speeds down these hills asumming there is no traffic either infront or behind you. it took me 30 minutes to get to the city and 10 minutes to get back.

my room mate whom i know has been here for atleast a month sleeps at weird hours. he goes to sleep at 3 pm and wakes up at 6 ish then goes to sleep again at 3 am i'm amazed the guy isn't completly crazy but since i still don't know his name i guess he might be and i don't know it. hopfully he leaves after this month and i can get a new room mate its weird not talking to him. he is about 5 years older than me to so its just weird.

so i did half my home work yesterday (the half i understood) and now i have to do the other half and i can't do the text on a famous person thing because i have no information i might log on early tomarrow to get info.

any way thats all for today bye

day 7 aug 4

hello every body


as i said in my last blog post i bought a bike. for not being a road bike it is fairly fast and for not being a mountain bike it handles fairly well. it is allitllte small but for the price it is good enough. besides it doesn't have to be perfect it only needs to last me two months. right now the plan is to sell the bike back to the bike shop before i leave for vienna. then buy a new onein vienna. hhow even i talked to some of the people in my dorm this morning and they thhought i should ask if i could cancel the plane trip to vienna take a train then bring the bike with me. i'm kind of hesitant about this plan because i think it would be more of a hassle than the thing is worth. i may be better off buying a bike in vienna.

i took the bike out last night and this morning to take a pictur of a castle city thing i heard about the clear picture i took last night the foggy picture i took this morning.

for every one who came with the central program from austin college in texas the purpose of this trip is to get drunk every night. for james i think the main point was music and getting wasted is just a bonus for some of us drinking beer is not a bad thing, beer just tastes nasty and they feel awkward not drinking in a bar with friends who are so they just don't go. for me i don't like the concept of losing control of any part of myself be it my body or my mind. and i don't like being in the facinity of any one who is, they are two much of a threat.

now i plan on going up to the train station to figure out how much tickets will cost for my trip to bretten next week.

as you read in the last blog i have to write a small text on some one famous i had a biography of the write brothers on mozilla so i could read it without an internet connection however my computer crashed last night so i don't have it any more and the library is closed until moonday afternoon so i have to find an internet cafe or somthing. the internet cafe closed at six so i guess i can't do it.

day 5 august 3

today I bought a used bike for 200 euros it is a little small but it will work for two months (I would post a picture but I forgot to bring the camera/computer cable.) I also got pancake mix which should last a while and keep me fed on the week ends tomarrow I plan on going to the "farmers market" they have in the mornings to see if I can get any thing for dirt cheap that will help keep me fed. I also plan to ride up to the train station to find out how much and how long my trip will be to bretten next week to see the tour of germany.

today I want to talk to mom again but all of the internet ports are already taken. it looks like rain out side. I have to look up sombody famous today so I'll just stay until a spot opens up.

I saw a picture of a city not to far from here that still has its medivel wall around it so I'm going to check that out tomarrow aswell.

by the time this is posted I will be totaly comitted to the german intensive program. the only fear I have is that it will not fullfill my 300 level requirement but if it doesn't I will find a way to complete my degree.

mom told me about the I-35 bridge colapsing on wensday I watched the video and I am amazed I rode my bike under that bridge not 3 weeks ago its kinda scary.

looks like a spot is about to open up which is good I'll just slide right in after she leaves. maybe not

any way now seems like as good a time as any to describe the school
the goethe institut consists two thirds of the top two levels of a three story horse shoe shaped building
the second floor is all class rooms and at the corner is the office the top floor is the media center here there are books and videos in german a couple of computers and 3 eithernet jack work stations. currently two of the three stations have a person using a laptop the othere is being "used" but a person who is charging a Ipod.
all of the classrooms on the second floor have eithernet jacks but each room is either locked or is being used for either music practice or somthing else
the goethe institut works with 2 privatly owned living facilities the "wohnhiem" this consists of about 8 buildings
that all seem to be pretty nice and the "jonesturm" or "jones tower" which is locatd nect to a clock tower on each floor of the jonesturm there are 4-5 rooms they all share a common kitchen and
for some reason there are 2-3 bathrooms 1 is a full bath the other is a tiolet and sink and the other is a shower and sink. its a weird lay out.

so far the are three possible excurions this month the first is to wurtenburg I won't be going to this one because I will be in bretten watching the tour de germany the second is to a mercedes museum which I will attend and the final one is to rothenburg which I will also attend. then central will pay me back for both of those and one more after I get to vienna.

currently I have about 80 euros left I should start to research how to get more when I tried to buy spagetti at the supper market with my visa card they would not accept it because it was visa. so I need to start concisering how to get money out of my acount I hope that germany is not a anti- visa area
because both of my cards are visas.

I still haven't met my roomate we have gotten into the habbit of just ignoring eachothere so it will be to awkward to ask his name preet soon. I know he has been here at goethe for atleast a month and he speaks arabic.


when I get online im going to ask marie what credit levels each course is because it is not listed on the course listings online and some of the classes she already menshined are not on the list at all.

today we had to draw a map of our home contry and label certen things then talk to othere people about our country using the map I talked to one guy from kazacsstan and 3 people from japan. I know 4 of us in the class are from america and that is half the class I think every one else is from different countries. one of the places we had to mark was the best food so I marked giordanos pizza and I had to explain why this pizza was better than any othere pizza in the world people really wanted to eat there afterwards


well thats all for now a spot still hasn't oened up and I have 2 hours before this place closes if I don't get on I'll either have to wait till monday or find an internet cafe.

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