Newest quote from Jeff:

“I think your calves are smaller from when we first met.”

And then, when I laughed:

“Isn’t that a compliment?”

internet's being slow again.

Classes here are impossible to figure out. Nothing's online, all the courses are listed in a book that I had to buy at the bookstore. I found some that I want to take, but they only list the professor and the time. No description, and, more importantly, no classroom. There are no email addresses for the professors. Luckily, the classes I'm taking don't require registration - but I do have to contact the professor and ask in advance if he will write me a "Schein" at the end of the course. If s/he allows me this, I have to go in and take a small test of the professor's choosing - oral, written, or a project - and that will determine my grade for the ENTIRE SEMESTER.

It all makes me wish I could take UW classes here. It's so much easier to find the classes you need, and enroll in them. (Well, the system is set up for it better. No promises on actually getting a spot in the class you want...)

Some of the kids from the California program get to take classes through that. I am uber-jealous. But I know taking actual university classes will be more enriching and interesting for me as a person... and more fulfilling.

Also, getting credits to transfer is a pain in the butt.

Don't think that I'm not excited to be starting classes again. It's been a long summer (from June 10th-ish to Oct. 24th is a long time! Over 4 months), and I'm ready to feel like I'm accomplishing something again. It's just... the start of the semester can be painful.

Well, I'm going to work on this whole class thing for a bit, as it is important. Then I think I'm going to Onkel tonight for their free showing of "Mona Lisa Smile" in German. We'll have to go early if we hope to get a spot.

You are gazing into the pixels of moral decay.

today was good. I need to get out of the habit of waking up at 2 pm, else i'm not going to be able to survive school.

Jeff and I are about to leave for Greek food for dinner. Actually, that sounds a lot better than blogging right now, so I'm gone. Bye!

corn chips are no place for a mighty warrior!

Also, as an update: I posted links to two new blogs. Ashley and Tina. Check it out.

My internet's finally being fast, for once!!! That means I've been on Facebook for about 45 minutes now. I should really be in the kitchen cleaning up the mess from last night. My floor decided to have an international dinner before the Semesteranfangsparty last night, and so we met at 8. Keeping within the theme of "traditional dish or drink from your home country", I of course had no good ideas, since Americans don't have any traditions. So I ended up making a macaroni and cheese casserole, which turned out surprisingly good considering I had no cheddar cheese, because Germans don't sell it, I guess. It was a hit after the party, when people trickeled in from 2 to 3 AM and, hungry, were directed by me to the mac & cheese. I was going to eat it today for lunch but it was far more satisfying watching my German friends enjoy a very American dish. The other American that was there made devilled eggs, which were also very good, but we couldn't figure out how to explain them as we were making them. The translation we came up with was "verteufelte Eier", which doesn't really make sense, but "devilled eggs" doesn't really, either, now does it? So anyway, we have a kitchen full of bottles and dirty dishes and pans, so I'll so see if they need my assistance.

I feel like an ass. I am so sorry.

I just didn't know how else to do it. And now that it's been done...

Can I take it back?

I never want to keep anything from you.

i love germany

I was going to post something clever but my internet is taking freakin' forever right now, and the effect is that I forgot what I was going to say. You happy now, ethernet???

Laundry's finally done. I started thinking about doing it a week ago, started it Saturday, and finished ironing it about 30 minutes ago, 7:30 on Monday night. Wonderful... is it going to be like this every time I need clean clothes?

The semester started today, but none of my classes meet for the first time until next week. Kinda odd, but that's the way it goes, I guess.

I realized today that I've had a relapse. I'm better now.

I'm gonna hit the "post" button now, and we'll see how long it actually takes to publish these thoughts to the world.

School starts next week. I can't believe I've already been here 3 weeks. So far the cities I have visited are Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, Hannover, Bremen, and of course my home city of Tuebingen, and since I haven't spent much time in any one place, it doesn't seem like I've been here that long. But I guess I have...

Today I spent some time getting groceries. Shopping is a little different in Germany, for a few different reasons. For one, you have to bring your own bags - like cloth reusable bags or a backpack - otherwise you have to buy plastic bags there for like 10 - 15 cents a piece. Groceries are generally cheaper but sold in smaller packages. The supermarkets aren't as "super" as they are in America - much smaller, and of course everything is in German, so sometimes I have no idea what I'm buying. You need a 1 Euro deposit to get your shopping cart out from the stack. And there are no baggers - you do your own bagging. Grocery selection can also be quite limited. But for 3 bags of groceries, I spent under 40 Euros, which I thought was pretty good. And avocados are sooooo much cheaper in Germany!!

Other than that, nothing new here. Found out that my foreign language credits are worth more than previously thought. Things are good.

Tonight, I'm headed to the Communist Bar. It's not really called that, but the Americans label it as such because it's got a big ol' portrait of Karl Marx on the wall. Should be good times.

Yay Germany! I finally have internet, thanks to Stefan, a very nice German guy who found out that he could give his user name and password out to as many people as he wanted and everyone could use the internet in the dorm. So I'm online now... IM me!

Now I'm just being lazy, but here's a preview of the email I'm gonna send out:

Things have been going pretty darn good since my last email. I spent the weekend in Amsterdam, which can be very expensive as it is an extremely popular vacation destination year-round. Luckily, I've gotten back into the swing of being a young person in Europe, which means that I buy food in cheap grocery stores far away from the tourist hotspots and stay in youth hostels.
Doing the traveling thing this time around was exciting, because I left without the faintest idea of what I was going to do once I got there. I met 4 other travelers on the train over, each of them from a different country, and together we rented a cheap hotel room for 2 nights. We got in pretty late, but the next morning I checked my email and found out that my cousin Melanie (whom I hadn't seen in 6 or 7 years) was arriving in Amsterdam via plane an hour from that moment! So I found her and her friend James at the airport Sheradon hotel, and we had that Saturday together to hang out in the city, as well as part of Monday.
Another weird coincidence was that I ran into somebody from UW - Ashley and Andy's old roommate Peter. He and his friend from Costa Rica, Gabi, ended up staying the 2nd night with us in our hotel room. Isn't the world small?
Now, any rumors that I had heard up until this point about Amsterdam I had almost completely dismissed. Surely no one really stands around in windows, barely dressed and barely illuminated with a red light, waiting for a 'visitor' with 50 Euros cash, and there's no way they can sell marijuana in 'coffeeshops'. But both of these things are done in Amsterdam's Red Light District, and it makes for a place that has a bustling, never-ending nightlife and some very creepy people (drug dealers and such). Of course, there is more to Amsterdam than the red light district and I spent a lot of the weekend walking the canals, touring the Leidesplein and Dam Square, and visiting famous museums like the Van Gogh Museum and the Heineken Experience. My hostel the 3rd night was a friendly place near the Museumsplein called the Flying Pig, supposedly one of the most famous hostels in Europe. I'd recommend it - It certainly was a fun place, pretty cheap (21 euros for a dorm bed, better rate than the hotel room), free internet, good breakfast and lots of friendly hostelers. I met some Brits, a German, and two really cute Mexicans who are studying in Warsaw, Poland this year and swear they will make good on my offer to crash at my dorm in Tuebingen. But you offer that to lots of people you meet on the road, and I have yet to hear back on any of them, or make good on offers given to me, for that matter...

Okay, gotta go pack for OKtoberfest. :)

I think everyone who reads this knows by now, but just for the record, i got to Germany safely and got all moved in to my room. my only issue now is getting matriculated, which, as it turns out, is a fairly difficult and lengthy process. internet and phone don't come easy, either. but i'll get there.

at the moment i'm in Amsterdam at a hostel that provides free internet, so that's a plus. The downside is that there are only 3 computers, so they're almost always occupied.

amsterdam is a crazy city. this is definitely a place to visit, and not to live. Everyone should see it, though. at least once.

well, I gotta check out of my hostel by 10:30 today, and also get breakfast first. So i'm off.