OHMYGOSH!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since last month!!!

I have to look at the calendar to see what i've been up to.. I'm sure soo much has happened... it usually does...

You read about Karnival so I shall just begin with the beginning of March.

I started off the month strong. Ran everyday (even though everyday isn't good)... but I did anyway. Tuesday the 3rd was the spring semester pub crawl. Every semester VISUM organizes a pubcrawl that includes 5 bars, 5 beers, 5 shots, and döner. It was so amazing last semester, this semester was sure to be a hit as well. You better believe who they let safeguard the flag again this time :-)Me! I can't really say much about pub crawl this semester, except that it was soo much fun! You'll be happy to know that i didn't stay out ALL night, I eventually found my way home.

That Thursday William Strange and I departed for a lovely urlaub to Copenhagen Denmark to visit Sydney! We left at about 4 in the morning and we actually flew Berlin air this time. SOO much better than Ryan Air! The plane actually landed flat on the ground this time. :-) I was so glad to see Sydney, I miss our shenanigans :-) Copenhagen is a quaint little town. We did the normal sightseeing and I think the coolest part was visiting a little neighborhood of Copenhagen that refuses to become part of the European Union. Really, this little village is smaller than Southern's campus... yet they refuse to become part of Copenhagen, they refuse to follow any rules, and where anarchy prevails. The town is called Freetown Christiania 

The main *street* of this town is called pusher street. Gee, I wonder why. They had more lax rules about drugs than Amsterdam! I have never seen such dealings of pot and resin in my life. It was so weird. Needless to say, the graffiti was amazing and the people were not unruly or mean.. they were just... livin...

Of course Syd took us around to some cool bars and clubs, but the majority of the trip was spent relaxing and sightseeings. The purpose of the trip was to visit syd, and give Gillian a much needed vacation. She had just finished her semester, so we were celebrating. 

Ok. So I need to tell a secret. Dan don't read. but, we made some friends. I understand that we are here in Germany to befriend ze Germans, and to assimilate and become one wiz ze Germanz. But we made some American friends. We all met at Murpheys law, the Irish pub one day, and became friends ever since. They are American Soldiers and they live about 10 minutes away. They invited us to the base for a party and we had such a blast :-) I can't describe it, but I have to give it up to these guys ( and girls!) who defend our country, have been separated from their homes for years, and are now getting shipped off to Iraq. I guess thats the hardest part about this friendship, is knowing that soon, everyone will go their separate ways. But, the times we have are great, and they really just make us giggle and smile. 

He was so happy that he made a Giraffe!




The next day I went rock climbing!!!! I love rock climbing!!!!! But the hardest part and I am patting myself on the back as I type... I learned all the commands and how to rock climb in German! Man, it was hard! Not to mention scary as hell, but to do it in a different language, trust your partner, and exert that much physical strength... I really learned alot that day. My partner was great, we climbed for most of the afternoon. He even got me to try some really hard walls, and I did them! I just scampered up the walls like it was nothing! I can't wait to go again. Probably this weekend. There is a cool sports hall in Ludwigshafen that has rock climbing, some hand ball, and paintball. 

Saint Patrick's Day: 

The day that everyone is Irish, and everyone looks good in green. 

I was lucky that my professor cancelled lectures for that day. If he didn't I would have been forced to sit in class till 9 at night!!! But he did. So I sat in Murpheys Irish Pub all day :-) This place has quickly become the favorite place to go. They know us by name, they know us by drink, and they know us by noise level :-) 

We all met at the Irish pub and danced the night away and had a good ol' blast. No one was out of control, and everyone was well behaved. Whether everyone remembers the night is another question... we are still trying to put the pieces together as we speak... 

the band was rockin' and they even had me come up on stage and hype up the crowd! The singer called me their personal back up dancer! They had that bar on their feet the entire time! 

That Friday was a David's birthday. David is of hungarian descent, but comes from England. He lives and works in Heidelberg and I met him through Gillian. It was his birthday and he says the culture where he comes from is to just get together and to make a big meal and celebrate. When I say this boy can cook! The best pork loin, seasoned to perfection,and  Hungarian potatoes, homemade iced tea. He went all out. and it was great. I'm glad we got to help him celebrate his birthday. 

That Saturday was called Lange nacht der Museen. that was actually really darn cool. What happens is once a year all the museums in heidelberg, Mannheim and Ludwigshafen are open till 2 in the morning, and you can go to anyones you want! They had exhibits, and music, and dances, and art, and anything else you could think of! We chose to go to the Wasserturm, which is only open this once a year to see the inside. The wasserturm is the center of attention in Mannheim, and the pride of the city. (not much inside, but just had to do it to say we did...) 

Then we went to the Kunsthalle Mannheim, and saw some cool contemporary art exhibits. We weren't really feeling this contemporary art because... frankly... WE could make better art.. anyway. 

After Kunsthalle we went to The Schloß... Thats my school. The middle part of the schloss is always open, but they charge to get in. We got to finally see the magnificant ceilings and hear about who used to live in my school and what happened there. It was pretty cool. 

Then, came the best exhibit EVER! It was called KörperWelt. It can be referred to as the Body exhibit that came to NYC and Cali. It was all about the human body, muscles, organs, tissues, and everything else you can think of. I learned alot about the body, it's amazing the things it can do!

My school at night                                Me and my buddy Edgar

Long night of Museums

My friends making fun of the painting...This is the *jail painting* as we called it. ( you don't wana know)

My favorite Dance leap!      What you look like hopping a fence

A smokers lung

Body exhibit

Today is Monday... I swung on the swings for a long time yesterday. I needed to clear my head. We were blessed with nice weather and sun... and now the weather is back to being Scheiße. It is going to rain for the next week. This weekend is Gillian's birthday, The steingarten Wohnheim Party and Rugby. So I will definitely blog about that! I'm going to go work on a presentation for class. Yes, Mom. I go to class. 

What am I supposed to say about class? Well. In my financial markets class (auf deutsch) we are learning how to invest in the German stock market. It's hard im not going to front. the words are tricky. I mean.. It's not simple... but were also learning about how to predict and follow the graphs and learning about trend lines and points of reference and something called KGV... If I hadn't learned some of this in English... I might just be miserable. 

My political Economy class is going great! I have a presentation to work on and a 10 page paper. Other than that. the teacher likes that i know about Economics, and he likes that theres only 5 students in the class and I scream out answers... 

All of my other German classes are going great. I like my teachers. I like learning German. I feel like this semester I am fine tuning my German, and I'm more relaxed to use it. Its going just fine :-) 

Well. Thats all for now.