WE WON!

So, Germany found their feet after the devastating loss to Italy and beat the Portugese, 3-1. Two amazing long-shot goals from Schweinsteiger really helped to seal the deal.

Since this game was only for 3rd place, I expected it to kind of be a bust, a game with no excitement. I thought all the anticipation surrounding the World Cup here in Germany would be gone, and the game would feel empty, like a party balloon that had lost its air.

But the magic was back for this Kampf um den dritten Platz, somehow. The Germans had seemingly recovered most of the good spirits they had before losing to Italy. Bringing back Olli Kahn to play keeper certainly didn't damper the mood. And above all, I think the team wanted to give its fans another chance to celebrate the German nation. They wanted to show the people that they really did have something to be proud of.

After watching the game in my room with some friends, we headed down into the city to watch the celebrating. It was pretty decent - the Neckar bridge was completely blocked off by revelers, and cars were zooming around everywhere with flags and people hanging out of them, honking and yelling. It was like any other regular World Cup victory, and I regretted not going to Stuttgart to watch the game. Of course, I couldn't help but think how much bigger the festivities would be if we had really become the Weltmeister 2006. But why wish for something that's already been decided?

At least we can root for France to win tomorrow's final.

Well, that's that. I'm tired, and I have choir tomorrow starting at 10 AM. Aaaaaand out.

Germany and Portugal are going up against each other for 3rd place in the World Cup, and the game starts in about a minute.

More exciting: Oliver Kahn is playing keeper tonight instead of Jens Lehmann. AND he's the captain!!! You really don't know how much joy this brings me, because for some inexplicable reason, I LOVE Olli Kahn. LOVE him. Go Olli!!!!!!!

Alright, game's on, gotta go. I'll get back to y'all later with results.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 31 degrees celcius with 83% humidity. You'd think after the thunderstorm we had today, the weather would back off for a bit. Actually, it's quite cool outside right now after having rained so hard, and I'm hoping the weather forecast is completely wrong and we'll have a nice, cool day tomorrow.

France beat Portugal tonight, 1-0. I hope they also beat Italy, those flopping, whining Pizzalieferants. Boo.

I finally ordered my Eurrail pass. Apparently Andrea has checked by the STA travel office a few times looking for it, hoping that I'd ordered it already. The lady working there recognizes her now. So when she goes tomorrow morning, it should be ready for her to pick up.

I'm actually quite tired and the only reason I didn't shut down my computer as soon as I got in tonight was the whole Eurrail pass. So now that that's done, I should probably high-tail it into bed. I don't think my sentences are even making sense at this point. Bleh.

Have a good night. And I'd never thought I'd say this, but: Go France!

Today's been a good day so far. Bio class presented a hard text that I didn't read all the way through, but luckily it was so hard that even the Germans didn't understand it and thus also did not completely read it. So we had something to bond over after class. That, and talking about the upcoming game tonight. I was glad to have these topics on hand, because I really felt like talking to these people. There's only 9 of us in the class, and for that reason I thought I'd get to know them fairly well, but turns out they all kinda knew each other already, and stayed in about 3 little cliques. I've slowly lowered my way into the nicest of the 3, and today talked to them about the stupid text and the Germany-Italy game after the seminar sitting. So that was good!

But bad is 1. I have a paper to write, even though I want to go to the BBQs surrounding the game and our Independence Day celebrations, and 2. my sweetheart is sick. He's been lying in bed since yesterday morning and feels just awful. So that's putting a damper on things lately (the second point, that is. Not so much the first).

Of course, I'm wearing red, white and blue to celebrate our nation's independence. I have yet to decide if I'll add the German colors to that mix for the game, but of course I probably will. (Minus the flag and the scarf I lent to Niko.)

Alright, less writing on my blog and more writing on my paper that's due tomorrow. Crap.

Sometimes I complain about German music not being very good. Well, I have to say, I like this song and the video that goes with it:



That's all I got for tonight. Germany plays Italy tomorrow and I have it from a good source (i.e. my boyfriend) who says that Germany has never beat Italy in World Cup play. Hopefully tomorrow will be the exception to the rule...

Happy 4th of July, you Amis out there!

And that's really all I got.

Back from the Abschiedsseminar in Weimar. It was a long weekend of hanging out, traveling a lot and getting little sleep, so instead of updating about how it all went, I'm going to steal something I saw on Matt's blog (which Ronda also stole) and fill it out for fun. Then I'm going to eat and relax for a while:

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (The countdown)

9 lasts.
-last place you were: Jeff's to say hi after being gone all weekend
-last cigarette: don't smoke cigs, they're gross
-last beverage: a whole 0.7 liter bottle of carbonated water
-last kiss: Jeff, of course
-last movie seen: Funny Games
-last person talked to on the phone: Jeff
-last cd played: the whole CD? Pinkerton by Weezer
-last bubble bath: not recently enough. dorm life doesn't allow for such luxuries
-last time you cried?: haha, Friday. I was stressed after the trip to Weimar and I got there and got all teary for some reason. I'm weird.

8 have you evers.
-have you ever dated someone twice: yah. bad idea...
-have you ever been cheated on: ...and that's why dating twice is a bad idea
-have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: probably, but not in the last year
-have you ever fallen in love: love is a tricky thing... I don't know if I know what it is yet.
-have you ever made out in the woods: haha, of course. I love nature
-have you ever been depressed: very mildly, mostly weather-related
-have you ever been drunk and threw up? can we say Oktoberfest?
-have you ever gone to the bathroom with the door open: haha of course! it's a fun risk to take

7 states you've been to:
-Washington
-California
-Missouri
-Oregon
-Florida
-Kansas
-Hawaii

6 things you've done today.
-woke up at 11, when we were supposed to check out of the hostel
-stole someones computer to check emails
-ate breakfast
-said goodbye to the people I met through the Federation this year
-spent 6 hours in a car from Weimar to Stuttgart, then another 80 minutes getting from the Stuttgart airport to Tuebingen, all in the name of saving as much money as possible
-took a break for some gelato and McDonald's. We're healthy people

5 favorite things.
-guacamole
-awesome theme parties
-good late-night discussions in either English or German
-ultimate frisbee
-grill parties (aka BBQs)

4 people you miss.
yeah I miss more than 4 people. but i'm not abandoning the list form so I'll kinda cheat:
-my entire family. (told you I'd cheat)
-Andrea
-Ashley
-Sara

3 favorite colors.
-blue
-jungle green
-polka dots

2 things you want to do before you die.
-live in former East Berlin
-work in or run a hostel

1 thing you regret.
-not finding a job or a volunteer position in Germany