Chillin'

We decided not to meet again this morning so that Maressa could do some work (as should I!) so I slept in and since I had forgotten to get books for the Kindergarten at the library yesterday, I ended up not going. I probably should have just gone since won’t be able to go for the next two weeks, but I didn’t feel like it. I hung out for awhile and then eventually went for a walk that eventually led me to H&M. I bought a really pretty dress and then a cute white shirt. I’m pretty sure those will be my last H&M purchases, so I enjoyed walking around and looking at everything. After dropping my stuff off and picking my computer up, I went to Marstall and had an iced caramel macchiato and caught up on my blog.

To Eat or Not to Eat?

I had found a ton of old pictures on my external hard drive so we looked at those while we at breakfast this morning. They were from our home computer and included stuff like when we went to Seattle in high school, glamour shots, my last time in Germany, Katha’s visit and a few from when I was little. Heidi and Maressa had fun laughing at a lot of them, but unfortunately the time got away from us and we didn’t have time to do Bible study. Tsk tsk.

Katha came at 10:30 and we talked for awhile before walking down to a shop on the Hauptstrasse. She bought a cool Heidelberg mug from a fancy glass shop and now I unfortunately want one! She bought it for her host mom in Brighton. I can’t believe she leaves on Sunday! Big bummer since she won’t be back before I leave. We went back to my place and got my stuff for class and then went to Marstall for lunch. Katha got a chocolate donut and a iced white chocolate macchiato. Yum. We went to H&M for a bit afterwards before I went on to my internship at 1. I again got to work with Stefan, or at least I helped him with a project! I really feel like I’m an intern now. I just created and entered a bunch of stuff into excel, but I like stuff like that. I talked to a guy who I see there a lot and found out that he’s an American living/working here. That helped pass the time pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was 4 and time to go to class.

A lo of people weren’t in class today and I was just exhausted. I had stayed up too late the night before with the game and all of that excitement. I met up with Skyler and Maressa and we made this chili stuff, but were a little worried about the meat since it was 8 days past the date on the package. It had been frozen, but I was still really worried about getting sick. Maressa was totally for eating it and Skyler didn’t care, so we asked Anna and her friend and even though Anna said it would probably be ok, her friend said no and then Matthias also said that we even though we wouldn’t die from eating it, he wouldn’t do it. We were being stubborn, so I tried calling mom, but she wasn’t there so then I called Dad and he said that it’d be ok if we ate it. I was still skeptical and ended up only eating a little of it, which worked out since we had also made pasta to go with it. We watched Hairspray and hung out until Heidi came by later. She went on a date with Dan (they’re dating now…sort of…but I don’t think it will last). We watched an episode of Friends, but Heidi was ready to leave well before that and they left right after. She was in a strange mood, but maybe she was just tired like me. It worked out well that they left when they did because I was ready to go to bed!!

GERMANY IS GOING TO THE FINAL!!!!

I was actually really awake this morning, but unfortunately had the worst stomachache that bothered me all the way through class this morning. A guy gave a presentation on Otaku (means geeeky/nerd in Japanese) and it was pretty interesting, but took awhile for me to figure out how it completely tied in with mediaculture. It's a strange subculture that is actually somewhat disturbing because people who are considered otaku have obsessive interests usually in anime and/or comics. We saw a few magazines that are popular among these people and they were really disturbing because many of them showed young girls who were dressed up playing different roles looking much more mature than they actually are. The whole thing was just weird to me.

Since I wasn't feeling well I decided to not go to my internship and just chilled in my apartment for the rest of the day and did laundry and worked on moving my pictures from my computer to my external hard drive since my computer was pretty much as full as full can get! It was great to just chill for the entire afternoon. It thunderstormed and poured early in the afternoon and really cooled things off since it was really hot and humid this morning and yesterday. Whooo!

I went to Heidi's before watching the big Germany v. Turkey game at AJY. Matthias came to AJY later to watch the game and luckily got along really well with Eric. Let's just say that both of them like to talk a lot. Tonight's game determined who would play in the final and the excitement was just insane. There are a ton of Turkish people in Germany (especially in cities like Mannheim and even more in Berlin) so quite a few people were nervous about this game. We really are lucky that AJY is located directly in the Altstadt because we have a great place to watch the game and are also right in the middle of all of the excitment. The game was so nervewracking, especially since Turkey scored the first goal. And then Germany tied it up and scored another goal in the second half. We thought we had it since there were only 10 minutes until the end, but Turkey scored again and tied everything up. The worst part about the whole game was that the station lost signal with the broadcaster in Switzerland and we had to listen to the game on the tv via radio. We were all going crazy!!! But finally in the last few minutes Germany scored and from then on it was just insane. We probably stood at the windows in AJY for a half an hour just watching the people go crazy in the streets. They were singing and cheering and it was the coolest thing to see. What a perfect time to be here!!! Even if they don't win the final...(which they totally will!!!) experiencing the hype and excitement up until now has been soooo worth it!!! Auf geht's Deutschland!!!!

A Perfect Evening!

After sleeping in this morning I worked on my paper and then met Simone for lunch. We decided that next Friday we'd go to Karlsruhe together so she can show me where she's from. Yay! So excited! Maressa and I met a little while later for coffee at Schiller. Even though it was really warm outside, it was ok since Schiller is air conditioned and I was in fabulous company. Hanging out on one is so important to me and it was great to catch up with her since we haven't really had a chance to just sit down and talk in what seems like forever. First she left for Romania, then Johanna came, then Jess and Britt were here, then I went to the US, then her sister was here for two weeks and she's been crazy busy working on Idefix. FINALLY we both had time to just talk and it was great. She is so unbelievably uplifting and has the best advice and approach to life. Maressa and I will definitely be keeping in touch after we leave Heidelberg and I can see myself calling her for advice down the road on many occassions. She's an amazing woman of God and I just really admire her outlook on life and the way she carries herself.

Even though earlier in the day I had resisted getting Eis, I stopped in and got a scoop of lemon eis since it was just so hot. I chilled at AJY for awhile before going to Heidi's with her and Skyler. She checked over my paper and then we had a quite bite to eat before going to class. I was pretty much miserable in class because I was so hot and just felt like I had been sweating the whole dang day. Needless to say, I was happy when class was over. Heidi had the great idea to get a bottle of wine and sit by the river so we went to Schiller to buy a bottle (they let you taste it there, and clearly we love to support them so I made my second appearance of the day there and we got a great bottle of white wine. After rounding up Skyler and a few snacks, we headed for the river! We saw Sarah as we walked there and decided to sit on the castle side since we had never done that. It turned out to be fabulous. We were able to dangle our feet in the water and watched the sunset. Skyler didn't like the wine, so Heidi and I both had half of a bottle by the time 10 came around! We snacked on some cheeses while listening to music and it really was perfect. Of course we were a little typsy when we finally stood up so we danced a bit by the river and then went back to Heidi's where we just listened to Jack Johnson (clearly!) and chilled until Heidi fell asleep. Such a lovely way to cool down from a HOT day!

Unbelievable

Heidi, Skyler and I went to Aldi this morning after breakfast/Bible study and I was able to return my bottles after they fixed the machine. I'm going to be sad when I get home and don't get 25 cents for a bottle. I also realized that it is not socially acceptable to drink out of a 1.5 liter bottle or from a 1.5 liter box of peach iced tea. Big bummer because that is something that I really enjoy!

When I got home, I noticed that there were two notes hanging in the kitchen. The one above the stove read, "Allison, Do you call this thing clean?! Is this your idea of cleaning and keeping clean?!" Then there were a bunch of arrows pointing down to the CLEAN stove. The note on the door said, "ALLISON YOU SHOULD PUT THE DISHES BACK!!! You were the one who used them last right, right?!?" Both of these notes were from Julia. I of course was really upset/mad when I read them becuase #1 the stove was clean and when we finished in the kitchen the night before, it was clean and #2 We had done the dishes around 10 pm before Heidi and Skyler left and I went to bed. I hadn't even had a chance to put them away by the time she had written the note. UGH! I went to talk to her, but she wasn't there, which was probably a good thing because I most likely wouldn't have handled the situation like I would have liked to. I asked both Matthias and Anna what they thought about the stove and they said that it looked clean. Julia is just stressed/annoyed with everything and is taking it out on all of us...except for Anna who probably sides with her out of fear. I worked on some homework and went to class, trying to somewhat forget about the notes so that I would be calmer when it came to talking to Julia. I went to class at AJY at 6 and when I got back I saw that the kitchen light was on and that she was in the kitchen. The moment of truth. She was listening to her iPod and acted all nice when I walked in and then started to say something about thanks for taking care of the things she had pointed out, but I interrupted her and asked why she wrote the notes. Then she just went off and said that she's SO PISSED about everything and it was just ridiculous. I explained my side to her, but didn't listen to what I said and just kept saying how mad she was about everything and how everyone needs to do their part and then started bringing Matthias into it. Poor guy. She hates him so much, but really has no reason to. I think he rubs her the wrong way and it just infuriates her and then she takes it out on everyone else. She said that she's so mad because he always blames things on her and that the only way he knows how to communicate is to knock on her door and talk to her. Well duh! You never give him the time of day and are always in your room. This is not to say that I don't get annoyed or bothered by Matthias and his strange quirks, but she is just extreme. I ended up telling her that maybe we just have different standards of what clean is and tried really hard to be calm about everything. But I think that made her even angrier. After I put my stuff down and got my movies to take to Heidi's, she told me that she was also pissed that I hadn't put the grill away. Now I could see how Anna would be bothered by that because it was in between our door, but Julia's room is on the other side of the apartment! I told her that I didn't see how that could bother her since it isn't even near her room. I did feel bad about that, but not because of Julia, just because I had been meaning to put it away, but kept forgetting. She was still all mad when I left and I was pretty upset because I hate it when people are mad at me. But this time it was different because I didn't feel like I had done anything wrong and that really she is just crazy. I wanted so badly to ask her why she can't handle her frustrations like an adult instead of a 10 year old, but I refrained. I didn't need to add any fuel to that fire!

I was still pretty upset about it all when I got to Heidi's and we talked it over a bit while Skyler made us this great potato/egg/cheese dinner thing. We watched Because I Said So awhile later and had to laugh when one of the guys pretty much tells Mandy Moore that she needs to find a new word other than great...superb...a synonym for great, if you're looking for one! Heidi ALWAYS describes things as great and it was pretty funny. I ended up staying there pretty late since I wanted to avoid Julia and actually ended up locking my door before I went to bed for the first time since August.

Sleep!

Audra and I finally made it back to Heidelberg this morning around 7. We were supposed to get in at 5:15, but there was some kind of delay and the train was parked in Karlsruhe for quite awhile. Matthias was of course eating breakfast when I got home and I quickly said hi before hopping in the shower. After I got dressed he knocked on my door and wanted to know if he could talk to me about the kitchen. I told him that I was really tired and had just returned from Salzburg, but told him we could talk about the kitchen before he was able to start up a conversation about my trip. He wanted to know if I had made the oven dirty and when I told him that I hadn't, he wanted to know if I knew who had. Really. Really? We HAD to talk about this at 7:30 AM? Then he told me that I needed to clean the floor and I showed him that I had last week and that it was now Julia's turn for the upcoming week. He hadn't even read the dates that were written on the calendar (we write the date when we clean) and he said that it was instead my turn again since the list started from the top. But if he had read the dates he would have known that Julia had actually started the floor cleaning and not me. Then he said that I should clean the towels, but I pointed out that Julia had just done it the day before. I was getting frustrated and told him that I know what I need to do and that I don't need him to tell me. Wow. At least from all of this I have learned that I can't live with a guy like him. This is probably the only time I will actually live with a guy until I am married, and I'm kind of thankful for it because living with him and Keith this past year has really taught me a lot about guys and how they live. And both of them are pretty anal so I can't imagine what living with a sloppy guy is like!

I went to bed this morning still wondering why we had to have that conversation right at that very moment, but it didn't hinder my sleep too much because after waking up to my alarm around 11:30, I decided that I would sleep for a little while longer and didn't wake up until 4:45!! And of course at that point I figured that I might as well lay there until 5! I tried eating some rice and veggies, but wasn't really hungry and then Heidi and Skyler came over and I ended up making them crepes since Skyler hadn't eaten dinner. We just hung out and talked for awhile and then somehow I was tired again!

The Hills Are Alive...With the Sound of Music!!!

I got up at the crack of dawn this morning to meet Audra at Peterskirche to begin our journey to Salzburg. We bought our return train tickets at the station and then a little while later got on the train to Mannheim and then waited for our train that would get us to Salzburg…eventually! There was this crazy old German lady at the train station and she came up to the old couple who was sitting at the other end of the bench and started yelling at them. They didn’t know her and tried to ignore whatever she was saying. Strange. I slept most of the way and thankfully nobody sat next to me. It took around 5 hours to get there, but Bavaria is amazingly beautiful and we saw some beautiful scenery as we drove through Munich and into Salzburg.

We walked around Mirabell gardens not knowing that Do-Re-Mi was filmed there and took some pictures before finding our tour bus and eating a bit of lunch. I had brought a sandwich with me, which saved a few Euros! We made some American friends (a family with two kids, mostly talked to the dad who was really interested in what we’ve been doing in Germany) while waiting for the bus. The tour bus had Julie Andrews and the kids singing on the outside and was filled with almost all Americans. Our tour guide was insanely corny and not many people laughed at his jokes, but he tried. One of the jokes he told came as we were driving past a golf course. He said, “When you play at this golf course, they give you two pairs of socks, in case you get a hole in one.” I had to laugh at that…and a few others, but mainly because I could hear my dad telling them too! I learned that there was a movie made by Germans about the Von Trapp family, but that Roger & Hammerstein created their own musical that really had very few similarities to the actual story of the family. A movie was later made and Austrians and Germans didn’t like it because it was so different from the original. This is one reason that very few Austrians and Germans even know about the movie.

We saw the lake where they were in a boat and then fell in and it was so pretty with the mountains and the big white fortress thing in the background. The backyard was only used from this building because it was too complicated to film inside. They combined a few different locations and then put them together. Pretty interesting. We also drove past the place where Julie Andrews ran to the Von Trapp house and sang ‘Confidence’ an also where the kids played in the trees (same place). Then we got to go to the beloved gazebo that is unfortunately now locked because an 80 year old woman broke her hip when she fell while jumping from bench to bench a few years ago. It had to be moved from where it was originally filmed (the backyard that I mentioned earlier) because tourists were constantly jumping the fence and making too much noise while they were trying to hold lectures and other important things inside. It caused too much of a disturbance and since they didn’t want to just get rid of it, they moved it across town. Hollywood had built it just for that scene in the movie and they were going to destroy it after filming, but the people just loved it so much that they ended up giving it as a gift at the end.

The sky was super blue without any clouds. There were tons of hang gliders flying around at the top of this one mountain. I can’t imagine the view from up there because it was picturesque from the bus! We went up into the gorgeous mountains and were able to go on some type of bobsled ride on these cool little chairs. It was so much fun. You sat down on your chair and then the guy connected it to this lift and you rode up backward. The view was amazing and then once you got to the top, you had to get off and another guy put your chair on a new track that went down. You controlled the speed by moving the lever between your legs forward or back. I think I could have done that all day. You could make a killing off of something like that. I’m thinking that I’ll start a little business in the states! They could even do that at ski places in the summer. Oh the possibilities!

We later went to a little town called Mondsee where the wedding scene was filmed. We checked out the tourist shops and also ate some great apple strudel with vanilla eis and sauce. Four hours had already passed and we drove back into Salzburg. They played music from the movie most of the time on the bus and we had fun singing along. They also had a bar and I got this favorite Austrian soda thing that kind of tasted like ginger ale mixed with something. I kept the can to add to my collection. When we got back Audra and I walked around Mirabell gardens again and took a ton of pictures. There were flowers everywhere and we posed in the different places that had been shown in the movie. We walked across the river and found the Augustiner beer hall and had dinner and a beer in the huge beer garden. It was a really cool atmosphere and we hung out there for awhile before walking around. We ran into these two guys on the street who asked us a question about the game later that night, but we didn’t know. When he found out that we were Americans, he kissed us both on the cheek saying that he had always wanted to kiss an American girl. Haha.

After walking around the town and finding Mozart’s birth house, we lfigured out where all of the people that we had been seeing were going…to the public viewing of the Russa v. The Netherlands game. We joined and I had to throw away both the can that I had saved and another empty bottle that I was later going to fill up with water. I could have checked them, but would have felt like a moron checking garbage! There were a ton of people there and the atmosphere was great, but of course nothing compared to when we watched Germany play Portugal the other day. At around 10:30 we started making our way to the bus that would take us to the train station. We were both really tired and couldn’t wait to get to sleep on the train. We had reserved seats, but the whole train was a sleeping train and we had been put in separate rooms and decided to go somewhere else since there were a few other people inside that seemed like they weren’t going to be sleeping. We found an empty room and even though the guy who had a reservation in there came in a little bit later, he said we could stay and we crashed (but not before I put my camera and wallet in my coat pocket…just in case!!)

I really liked Salzburg and would love to go back again sometime. I had forgotten just how beautiful Austria is and could see myself living there or at least vacationing there for awhile! Audra and I had fun, but since we don’t know each other that well, I think it would have been better to go with a good friend. I had to laugh at some of the comments she made like, “I love how Catholic they are here!” She said that because in Bavaria and Austria they say Gruss Gott as a greeting…but really it doesn’t have anything to do with God. She also made a lot of comments about how things were in German there and how she was so surprised to see so much German. That is the official language of Austria! She said that she is used to seeing a lot of things in English in Heidelberg. I don’t know what she was talking about, but I just ignored most of her comments like that because they held no truth! Oh man…It worked out though since going on the Sound of Music tour was on my list of things to do in 2008!

Maressa's Acting Debut!

I showered and such after Bible study this morning and then went and read at the kindergarten. The kids are so stinking cute and I’m going to miss them and their adorable comments.

Heidi and Skyler came over that night and we cooked dinner before going to watch Maressa’s performance in Idefix. We got there early so we could get the good seats she had told us about. We were a little too early and ended up having to wait almost 20 minutes before we could even go inside. Eric, Dan and Janelle came too and we all sat together. The show was great and we laughed a lot. Maressa’s main piece was the most serious out of all of them, but she did an amazing job. It was cool to finally see it all come together since she had been rehearsing the lines for so long! Heidi and I decided that we want to go again on the closing night because we enjoyed it so much. I just went home afterward since I have to get up so early tomorrow morning to go to Salzburg!!!

Germany beats Portugal!!

Some Questions Answered!

I sent a few postcards after Bible Study this morning and went home to shower before class. In class we watched some of The Matrix, but class was still pretty boring because the professor just stood there and talked and tried to get us to contribute to his attempt at discussion. I tried to take a nap after class and lunch, but just couldn't sleep. That is of course, until around 2, which was too late because I needed to get up at 2:20 so that I could get ready to go to my internship. I was there for three hours and enjoyed it quite a bit. I only do it occasionally, but I found out that I love shelving books! It goes along with my love for organizing and putting things away in their proper places. Tomorrow I'm going to work with Stefan in PR, woohoo!!

I met up with Heidi, Mayara and Justine at Gino's and then we went to church, which turned out to be so great. We read the beginning of Nehemiah 8 and Chris' (the pastor) message related exactly to what we talked about in Bible Study this morning. Definitely answered some questions that we had! The topic was unity and the main question was: How much do you love God? We stayed at church until about 9:30 and then went to Heidi's and attempted to watch Chicago, but weren't able to because she would have had to change the code on her computer since it's a European DVD and this is the last time she could do it and then would never be able to turn it back. So we just ate our ice cream and talked for awhile!

Reality Time Check

We ended up just having breakfast together this morning instead of doing Bible study since all three of us are slackers and waited as long as possible to write our papers for Herr Dörr's class that we have tonight. I bought the bread this morning (we usually trade off bringing stuff to eat, works out really well!) and I got a sunflower seed bread for Maressa and I. She always gets that for herself when she buys bread and I thought I'd give it a try. Amazing! Wow. We also had a strawberry mango marmalade that added the perfect bit of sweetness.

I came home and read, played around online and stuff before starting on my paper at 11. I actually ended up finishing it in about an hour and then I went to meet Simone at 1 for lunch. While I was at home I got an email reminder about an AJY meeting that we had at 1:15, but I figured it would only last 20 minutes or so. Simone decided to go make copies while she waited and we decided we'd meet up there when I finished. Well the meeting ended up taking about an hour! We had to fill out all of this paperwork about un-enrolling from the University and confirmed which day we'd be leaving and all of that kind of stuff. How incredibly sad! I remember last semester when the fall students had to do all of that, but the full-year people were able to leave. And now today I was filling out those same papers in preparation for leaving Heidelberg. As much as I can't wait to be back at home, living on a "normal" schedule, so many parts of me don't want this to end. When I leave Heidelberg this time, it will be most likely for good. I mean, sure I'll come back to visit, but I will probably never live here ever again and that just makes me so sad. And when I do return, Maressa and Heidi won't be here to hang out with. They have made this experience just that much sweeter and it's going to be so strange not seeing them everyday. I cry as I think about not having them or Heidelberg as a part of my everyday life and all of the amazing experiences we have shared together over the last year. Wow.

Anyway, I was really concerned when I noticed that the meeting was taking much longer than I had anticipated and I had no way of contacting Simone. Heidi and Mayara were going to join us for lunch, so we walked over to the copy shop to see if Simone was still there, but of course she was not. We walked around a bit and then decided to see if she was at Marstall. We didn't see her there either and I felt really bad about standing her up like that. I thought I had her phone number on Skype so Heidi gave me her keys so that I could go call her from her room. But when I got there, I found out that I only had her Skype contact. Ugh! I walked back to Uniplatz and saw her out of the corner of my eye. Such a relief! I apologized and she told me that she had been trying to call me and decided to go ahead and eat since she hadn't seen me. But she ended up coming to Marstall to have a latte macchiato and I was able to give her the jelly belly's that I had bought for her while at home. She was really excited and I wished there was more I could give her since I had messed up so badly! I was the one who had asked her to hang out and then I basically ditched her. But everything worked out fine and we continued to talk and stuff after Mayara and Heidi left. We talked about her going grocery shopping later and what she was going to buy. I suggested chocolate, but she said that it's not good for you and that she checked on her weight the other day and was upset about it. So then when she was trying to think of what else she needed, I suggested rice and she said that rice, along with pasta and bread have way too many carbohydrates and that they're bad for you. Well I eat at least one of those things every day. Super. I'm only here for a bit more anyway, so I better enjoy all of this delicious bread/chocolate/etc. before I go leave! Before I go home I'm going to go to Karlsruhe to see where she's from and to see where her family lives. I'm so excited!!!

I went to hang out with Heidi and Mayara afterwards and we put the finishing touches on our papers before going to class with Maressa. Nobody had much energy during class and it was so evident. Herr Dörr even called Alexander out on it and said that we all have problems with focusing and being "Fit für Unterricht." I did get a 2 on my paper though, which was exciting! Just once I want to get a 1,5! Just once! Maybe next week!

I came home and had rice with vegetables for dinner while watching some of the EM game between France and Italy. Italy ended up winning 2-0 and of course Julia was happy. But Romania also played and by the sounds she was making in the common room, I'm pretty sure they lost. She had some friends over for dinner and asked if I wanted to join them, but they didn't start eating until after 10! Those Italians/Europeans!

Productivity at its Finest!

Heidi and I went on an adventure to Aldi after Bible Study, which was probably a slightly bad idea since we were both hungry when we got there. We both spent over 20 Euros, but got stuff that will last us for over a week. But man! Next time I will make sure I eat before shopping.

I had lunch and then went to class, which ended up being cancelled! Sweet! I would always rather being surprised that class has been cancelled rather than knowing ahead of time. Fabulous! I was able to get a lot of things checked off my list including cleaning, writing some postcards and taking a nap before going to class at 6. Really productive!! Heidi, Maressa, Mayara and I came back and cooked the lasagna that we had bought that morning and then went to AJY to watch Germany beat Austria in the EM! Yahoo!!! They didn't play all that great, but at least they won! We could hear the cheers when the goal was scored from inside AJY. Just love the atmosphere here when soccer is being played. Absolutely amazing and totally inspires me to get excited about it all!

Super Lazy Sunday

After church this morning we all came back to my apartment for lunch and then watched the rest of The Perfect Man. Cheesy Hillary Duff movie, but cute nonetheless. I spent the rest of the day just hanging out and reading Message in a Bottle.

Holiday Park for Heid's 23rd Birthday!

Early at Hbf
Day at Holiday Park
Scary Swings
Yummy Ice Cream
Holly Hand Holding
Expedition Gefore decorations - Heidi
Picture
Cake on Train
Dinner and fun story game at Idomeneo with Anna too
Sleep over at my place!!!