Weil das ende in der nahe ist....

Haven't written in a while!!

Sorry :-) I know how you all love to hear my stories. Just as much as I love telling them.

We leave off on the 15. Well.. That weekend was a tad... eventful.

Every semester each student dorm and apartment building gets to throw a party. Its the largest one of the semester. Well. Steingarten (where I live)... we don't mess around :-) We threw a mafia party :-)

Jordan, Haesols boyfriend came from America to spend time with her so Hazel, Jordan, and Gillian were my guests. We dressed up Mafiosa like you wouldn't believeeeee!!!! We definately got the best respect that night.
Ok... Well... thats all for that story. HA. Lots of things happened that night including laptops being stolen from the 1st floor. (thankfully I live on the 6th) and Almir peed on my desk chair. (Long story) But overall it was fun. You will see pictures lol.

That Saturday was FANTASTIC!!!! Gillian and I and her boyfriend at the time (haha I love you Schnoox) Went to the championship Rugby game in Heidelberg. We watch Spain KILL, we watched Germany get beat in the last 1 minute to Portugal, (Who I knew would win anyway) and then we watched those penny gyps from ROMANIA KILLL KILLL KILL RUSSIAAAAAA. OMGGGG I have never seen Rugby played like that before! These guys were running around the field pulling tricks out like I have never seen before. Needless to say that Russia walked off the field with 0. and Romania took it home 36-0. What a game.

Well. That next week was nothing spectacular. Just alot of reading and writing, I even skipped the German night party at Zimmer. (thats a first for me).

That weekend 24-26 was the VISUM Berlin trip! I have lots to talk about!!

We left at about midnight and we took a double decker bus for our 8ish hour drive to Berlin. I was especially excited to see Berlin because of all that I already learned from Frau Dombrowskis class.
We got to Berlin at about 8 in the morning and the first thing I saw was..... DUNKIN DONUTS!!!! I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. It was awesome. They only have DD in Nordrhein Westfallen and Berlin. We got to the hostel , had some breakfast, and the first thing on our agenda was a city tour of Berlin. That was interesting because it was our first view of Berlin. The starting point was the American Embassy which was located right next to the Brandenburger Tor. I liked seeing that because It had a huge history behind it. The American Embassy was recently built and they have real exit signs.
Next to the American Embassy was the hotel where Michael Jackson hung a baby outside the window. That was an interesting part of the tour... Other things we saw were the siegesäule, (which I got to see in the movie Himmel über Berlin), the Berliner Dom, Alexander Platz, Potsdamer Platz, Reichstag, Holocaust Mahnmal, East Side Gallery, Judisches Museum, Checkpoint charlie, just to name a few, and some other really important sites.

After the tour we got to rome around for a bit. haha rome. I was just there!. I grabbed some lunch with friends and dunkin donuts of course, then we headed back to the Hostel to check in. The hostel was cool because of the way it was set up. Back in the day it was actually used as a boarding school for Jewish Girls. One of the VISUM events was going to a well known club in Berlin called the Fritz club. It was in what looked like an old factory with large rooms and bad music. (like most clubs in Germany). We didn't stay long, we went back and went to sleep. haha

The next morning we knew exactly what we wanted to see. HOHENSCHONHAUSEN!!!!!
I was excited to see this because this was an integral part of my favorite movie called Das Leben der anderen. This was an intense tour of the dark side of the former german democratic republic (ddr). Hohenschonhausen was a former remand prison of the stasi (ddr's state security). This tour was guided by former prisoners so you can tell how intense it was. We watched a movie about the history of the prison and its role in the system of political persecution in the ddr. Then we got to see the actual prison, and the submarine, which was a dark part of the prison where torture usually took place. We saw all the processes everything from internment to interrogation. This was cool because on the upper floor of the new prison, built next to the old, there were more interrogation rooms than holding cells. This was because they wanted to be efficient, we saw the room where they used to water torture people, and it was interesting because the set up of the interrogation rooms were all the same. We learned that several tape recorders were used at the same time, and the mind control techniques that the stasi used really did work. We got to see the tiger cages, which were small outdoor walking places,where prisoners were allowed to walk in circles with their hands behind their backs to get fresh air. This was because they weren't allowed to go outside, so when they did, they were only allowed to walk in a circle, with guards standing overhead.
This was an eery building. I could still smell the stench and the clammyness. I felt wierd being in this building, but it was definately worth it.

After that we went to a FABULOUS museum. We went to see an exhibit called signs of the city. This was an exhibit that tells about cities and the youths in them. Two kids made their way through their cities with digital cameras and cell phones with cameras and explored "signs" of their cities. They went through london, barcelona, berlin, and sophia (bulgaria). This was cool because you got to see each students perspective of different aspects of urban living, and the signs that we live by everyday.
This was really cool to see because you can see life through other peoples eyes, instead of your own. Quick story. I was sitting at the tram stop outside in the marktplatz and I had my earphones in. I also had a coffee in my hand. Well. An older lady was sitting next to me with a ciggarette. She then commented on how good her cigarette would taste with my coffee. She then told me to take out my earphones because she believed that students and younger people today don't open their eyes and ears to the world around them. (and all in german too! ). So I could see what she was talking about, because to the average observer these signs mean nothing, but to others they mean so much.

We hung out in Alexander platz and saw these guys on stilts... well... we couldn't resist :-) Pictures to come!
We also danced to the accordian players and pretended to be airplanes.

That night we went to the largest shopping mall in all of continental Europe called the KADeWe. It had a million floors with 500 Euro scarfs... Then of course that night Visum sponsered a party with lots of booze. I skipped out on the club that night, and didn't have much to drink. Instead I stayed up with the American guys and we went and had some Falafal at the cafe next door.

The next morning was Sunday and we go to sleep in. I woke up early and grabbed some friends and went to the East Side Gallery. That was so cool to see the actual wall and the amazing art thats... well... somewhat preserved. I can't stand how people can grafitti over other peoples grafitti! It was so upsetting to see peoples names and stupid remarks over the artists work. I got to stand on the east and the west side!

That monday was long... thats all I remember, and it was back to the daily grindstone of work and school and grammar.
I worked with Brian who helped me with Konjuctiv II vergangenheits form. I get it now.
The international dinner yesterday (Tuesday) was great because it is when everyone from all over the world prepares food and we all come together and try it. We had some great foods from Malaysia, France, Sweden, Italy, and of course America. The Americans represented and made some Jungle Juice! that was such a huge hit!!! Haesol made annies Macaroni and Cheese hahaha. Free Beer and great food. Can't get much better!

Thats pretty much it actually. I haven't been partying lately because I haven't been in the mood really. Drinking takes too much time, money and energy. Its gotten to the point in the semester where I like to read and study. That, and the weather has been constant rain!

For the rest of the week I plan on working on some presentations that are due... some case studies, and of course, some Grammer. (working on passive now and Konjuctiv I). So I can use all the study time I can get. Friday is Halloween and we plan on going to Frankensteins Castle in Darmstadt. This is cool for us because Frankensteins castle is cool! and it would be so awesome to go there on Halloween! But most people think we are corny :-) But we don't mind.


Enjoy the pictures!

Another Kugel of Gelato and a Panini please

Am letztes mal wir haben über Oktoberfest gesprochen... Dieses mal wir werden über ROMA sprechen! Roma war sehr schon und wir haben zo viel getan! Gibts' viele Sehenwirdigkeiten zum Beispiel die Arena, Trevi Wasserspiel etc. Wir haben alle schon gesehen und nur in 3 Tage!


The beginning of the week was alright. Don't remember much because time is going by really fast here.

I left for Rome on Thursday night and we took a bus to Frankfurt Hahn airport- flew to Chimpano Rome and then we went to our hostel. our hostel was called M&J hostel and was the best one i've stayed in yet! The staff was awesome, one of them was even from New York. The thing I love about hostels is that you meet so many travelers, and people from all over. For instance, we met Tom, who was freaking awesome, and the girl from Norway that Ashley is going go visit before December. We managed to see alot and in only 3 days. We first started by taking one of those stupid touristy bus things that everyone tells you not to go on... but we did anyway. It was a nice double decker. Of course we sat on the top. We did this because Rome is so large, we took the entire tour once without getting off (its was a hop on hop off) and we did this to see locations of everything.then to make a priority list of things we wanted to see first). Ok... so the second time around we started seeing the things on our list. We ended up seeing everything in the first 2 days. We also studied for a bit each day, and we chose places we wanted to go sit and read. The last day was the best because we went to the spanish steps and sat there and read... well... I started too but then fell asleep in the sun on the steps infront of the trevi fountain.

We ate Gelato... alot.. I think we both ended up eating 8 or 9 Kugeln of Gelato in 3 days. The pizza in Rome is also good. and the Paninis are to die for!.

Let me tell you about the last day we spent in Rome..

The first day we went to the Vatican City they wouldnt let us in because Ashley was wearing shorts (Strict dress code in the Vatican). So we went back on a Sunday. Just joking around we said that it would be soo cool to see the Pope at the Vatican on our first time in Rome on a Sunday... Sure enough. As soon as we get to the Vatican the music starts and the procession begins... Little did we Know the Pope was giving a mass! That was the coolest thing ever to see the Pope giving a mass and all the people from all over the world that were there! It was soo cool!

Well. The scenery was breathtaking. The Colleseum (Romans call it arena) was magical at night. I think instead of talking about it im just going to put up pictures. They speak a thousand words... down to the last Kugeln of Gelato we ate to Fabio, our Arena tour guide.

Enjoy the pictures.

Now then.. the week after Rome just seemed to fly by!!!!!

I write today, which is Monday, one week since I´ve been back and not too much has happened.

Classes have been good. Getting ready to write some Final exams. I think i am really enjoying these law classes because Its a way for me to see the German words (as long as they are) and to see proper grammer and to actually hear and see what its upoosed to look and hear like. I can almost understand word for word some of the laws in the Bügerliches Gesetzbuch! Which is the law students bible here.
German grammar class is going.... indifferent about how its going. I just keep up. learning my Konjuctiv II and my adjecktiv deklinations. We will see on my final exam. I am also working with some American friends on a presentation about the Health care system in Germany for our German business class.

I really think that the classes not dedicated to teaching me about the German language are helping me really learn it... If that makes any sense.

Ok now the fun stuff you REALLY want to hear about.

The mafia party.

Every semester each Studentenwohnheim gets a chance to throw a huge party for all the students in school. hehe.
It was our turn.
To date, it was the best party of the year!
The theme this year was a mafia party. EVERYBODY came with guns and suspenders and hats and glasses, and black clothing... we looked... so darn good.
From what I remember the music was good...
From what I remember the drinks were good...
Thats all I can really remember...

Oh I forgot to mention that I got my hair cut... short.. in Rome. It looks good.

Anyway. I have been studying alot lately so I decided to take aload off and party a little. I mean.. I lived where the party was so there was no reason not to take advantage of that... hehe.

I know these are some pretty scattered stories, next week will be better.

This week is all dedicated to reading and writing and getting ready for finals, and presentations and such because the next month will be a tad hectic.

Adam comes next month. WOOOOOO! Even though we broke up...
I´m not going to blast our business on the internet... however I AM taking a poll...
Who here actually listens to bad advice that friends give? I didn´t think so...
If your friends told you to eat a handfull of nails would you ? ( The jumping off a bridge cliche was getting old...)

I shall post some more pictures when I get home. For now... Tschüß

Leben: Es macht eine erweiterung notwendig. Ich geht, und der Rest von uns wartet hier...

Looking at my calendar.. the last time we spoke I went to the Mannheimer Volksfest, which was awesome...

Moving on... Every weekend Visum has theme parties, so that each group from certain geographic locations around the world get to celebrate... This week was Caribbean night. I had fun. haha. It was also Pub quiz night at Murpheys law! Our team always does the best, and we have loads of fun! We did really well in the categories of religion and classical music (surprising eh??!) Its really a good brain tester.

This past week was really filled with adventures.

On Thursday I have my favorite class: International Economic Law. In this class we talk alot about the WTO and laws and regulations. The professor always has me read the legal texts because I can understand them the best :-) that, and he says my English and legal pronunciations are superior (I should hope so... it IS my native tounge...) anyway. We split into 2 groups (there is only 8 of us...) and we had a debate about pro child labor and human rights advocation. I was on the money hungry capitalist side... I did well there. The group chose me as the leader because when we were discussing I was using big words and putting it into perspective like no ones business (holla!) however, I don't like speaking infront of classes (why im always whispering out answers) haha. Regardless my team clearly won that debate (even though we were essentially advocating the use of child labor... we worded it very nicely) haha. After class we had what the professor calls a "drink tank." Do you know what a think tank is? Its when a group gets together and talks... Well we had it at this fun little bar/restaurant called Tomate which is around the corner from school. We sat for about an hour and a half and had neuewine, which is wine of the season, and it tastes like apple cider, it was delicious! and he ordered us all Zweibeln pie... its like Quiche... but better! This was an awesome drink tank because we were talking about what kind of law we really wanted to get into, and what we would change about the way the NTO and WTO are run... it was interesting. But im a nerd like that. I was the only American... the rest of the class comes from France... Boo.

So after the Drink tank I raced home to a kitchen full of friends waiting my gallant arrival! They had Annies Mac and cheese ready for Dinner! That was a special night because at 4 a.m. that morning we would depart for our most adventurous weekend yet... OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!

We got to the train station at the right time... however the annoying voice overhead kept announcing 180 minuten spät... every ten minutes!!! so it kept pushing the time of arrival 180 minutes later! this concerned us because if you aren't at the beer tent before it opens there is no chance in hell you're getting into the tent... it is the goal of oktoberfest to get into the best tent.
So we finally got on the train and i secured a comfortable spot on the floor. This was a severely packed train because everyone was going to Münich for Oktoberfest... and everyone was wearing Drndls and Lederhosen!!!! I met an awesome kid from Texas who was studying in the Netherlands, and who had been on the train for 9 hours already just for the event... crazy kid.
We had fun for 6 hours. I didn't sleep much because the guy in the booth kept snorning. Gillian didn't sleep either because she kept getting kicked by the snoring man... and Sydney and Hazel got some sleep, but they were also in the car with the snorning man...

WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE SINGING AND DANCING AND DRINKING WEARING TRADITIONAL CLOTHING!! it was really something you would have had to be there to get it. It was soo cool. It felt a little touristy... but whatever. Its all in good fun.
So we walked down the street from the Haputbahnhof to the festival. I relate this Oktoberfest to the Germans version of St. Pattys day... where everyone is drunk wearing wierd clothing... and an overall excuse to be belligerent. I already saw some kid throwing up...and it wasn't even 9....

So we decided to go to the Himmel über Bayern tent...it looked good. We waited for about an hour before they even opened the door to the public... well... we pushed and shoved to the front of the fence thing and as soon as they took down the barriers it was like mass chaos... who the hell let the dogs out... it was cool though because we all ran like bats out of hell to get to the real entrances of the tent... well... we waited yet another hour to try and be let into the tent.... (if you don't have reservations its a grace of God to be let in.) well.. we wanted to take that chance.. realize we would never get it... decided to sit outside at one of the biergarten tables and we had our Oktoberfest beer! It was pretty ok. It was raining horribly, but we stuck it out like troopers. I even had my big Bavarian pretzel! People kept taking pictures of us because we were really sitting out there with our umbrellas getting soaked drinking beer out of our humongous Krügs.

Ok... so after we finished one Krüg we walked to another table and met some really awesome German people who were hiding under a huge plastic tarp... so they invited us "in" and we sung songs with them and made new friends! I guess it turned out alright. I realized you don't need to be inside the tent to have a good time :-) We made the best of it.

So, soaked as we were we got our huge cookies (pictures to follow) and we decided to leave Oktoberfest. We had had our fun.
After we left the festival Gillian had a tour of Münich planned out for us :-) Thank you fearless Reiseführer! She showed us the Gardens, where Hitler was arrested, the Lucky lions, and the clock tower, which at 5 oclock has a show! This tower was amazing because it had all the Glockenspiel men that came out and danced at 5!!! Before the show we went to the Paulaner Haus to have dinner. Paulaner is also a famous brew house.

We took the train to Stuttgart where we would meet a friend, Nick. Nick lives in Stuttgart and graciously let us stay there for 2 nights while we went to the Stuttgart festival. The festival in Stuttgart is the second largest and most popular beer festival, next to oktoberfest.
So Nick met us at the Hauptbahnhof where he gave us the keys to his house.... (he was going to a party which we were definately not up for...)
We went to his house, walked into the warmmmm living room, where he had left food for us and made us really comfortable beds!!!!!

That morning we had a great breakfast (did I mention we woke up at around 1??! ) I love Nutella! and we filled our stomachs... this was because we were going to have an awesome day drinking beer. haha
We got to the festival and thought we were going to have to wait in line for hours again! but apparently nick knew the guy at the tent door so he let us right in!!! IT WAS SOO COOL!!!

so we got into the most popular tent at the entire festival, the Hofbräu haus!. We danced on tables like the Germans, and sung songs like the Germans, met amazing people!!!! had such an amazing time... it's times like this that I'll remember for the rest of my life!!!!! The pictures I post will explain a lot, but it was really a magical time.
Nick made us go to the bar after that... but the girls and I werent feeling it so we went home and left nick there... who then stumbled in at 7 am!! so at 7 am we laughed hysterically as this 7 foot tall man was being put to bed, while singing along to the Marvin Gaye who he was blasting from his room... it was hysterical.

Ended up sleeping till 2 that next afternoon... got on our ICE train. and headed back to Mannheim.

What an amazing weekend.

Now... we get back to Mannheim and the train stops at Paradeplatz... there was a commotion... but I was so tired to get off and see what it was... but Sydney was immensely curious and made me get off.. I'm glad she did! there was a tightroper!!! and a guy that was driving a bicycle on a tightrope the entire way across the courtyard!!!!!! It was soo cool! Apparently Mannheim had a small Herbst fest that day. We walked around to some of the tents they had. It was nice!!!

Let me tell you about my Doing Business in Germany class. There is 3 Americans in the class, the most of them are from Norway... and theres 2 Russian girls, 1 Korean kid, and 1 from Taiwan, who the teacher keeps telling him he is from China...
WELL!!! This teacher hates our guts!!!!! The way he spoke, he personally blamed us 3 Americans for the collapse of the economy and the bankruptcy of an entire country (Iceland). hahahahahaha. We find this funny. So now my friends joke that I better get back to America and fix it! HAHAHAHAHA. We were talking in class about the economy and i really find it interesting how each country is dependent to the other country. Yet I must admit that America started the domino effect with our housing crunch and poor credit. It really is an interesting class. My group and I are now doing a presentation on the health care system in Germany, which I learned alot about already from doing my independent study this past semester. We are going to do the best presentation, then the professor can't say shit to us.

I love all my classes. I really do. I'm doing well in the German classes, however the grammar class is kind of hard. Its not hard material.. its just how fast she speaks.. I'm not really that used to being taught German.. in the German language...
I experienced a little of that in the summer academy but it wasn't that fast... and his accent wasn't crazy like Natalie's is... (my professor). Shes really cool. I stayed after with her for a little while and we went over Konjuktiv II. (which I despise.... )

The communication class is ok.. I like that one the least because she gives us assignments and we spend too much time preparing our answers... which in turn only end up being less than 1 minute... more time should be spent on just....speaking..
We had a debate in that class too about the use of cell phone... I was on the con side... I rocked house... I'm used to debates in german class. In Frau Dombrowski's class we had them all the time... She rocked as a teacher!

Last night was also a VISUM international party, it was French night... the party was big but it wasn't that great... maybe because people don't like the french?? haha

Today was a good day because Roses' boyfriend Will flew in from North Carolina!!!!!!!!! He is here for a week. He's such an awesome guy! Rose organized a dinner so all of us can meet him. We went to this restaurant called the Spaghetti Opera, which was reccomended to Rose by a German she randomly met on the Straßenbahn... What a great place it turned out to be! Homemade pasta and really fresh ingredients!.

So to go off on another tangent. Rose, trina and Ena went to Vienna this past weekend and had an amazing time! I made a list of all the places they HAD to see when they got there including Jugendstil aka Art Noveau (i really like it but don't tell Dan). and the Hundertwasser haus.... and of course the Hofborg... Everytime I hear someone mention Vienna my face lights up because it is most definately one of my favorite places in the world :-) . Sydney just left (literally) for her trip to Vienna and I gave her an extremely detailed list of places to go.. things to eat... and clubs to go to :-) hey... girls gotta have fun right?!

My trip this weekend is to ROMEEE!!!!!! I am very excited to see the Parthenon and the Spanish steps! I am going with an awesome girl Ashley who also comes from America. We're gona have a blast! I even made a list of all the Italian phrases I need to know, places we have to see, and i even drew a small map... (loooserrrr)


Ok so heres the thing. I really don't want to say this again. YES I AM STUDYING, YES I AM LEARNING GERMAN! However. there is one thing everyone needs to understand. I am not who they think I am... I am not who the wan't me to be... and I will not change.
I have a good head on my shoulders... I get my shit done, and I do it well... those of you that are concerned with my drinking, or the fact that i'm quote on quote traveling too much???!?!?!?! how can you travel too much!!! Listen... I am in Germany and it costs less than 30 U.S dollars to fly round trip to Italy... ireland...etc... why the hell would I not travel to these places?? I am here to learn about Europe... its called Globalization kids. and the most I know about the world, they way the world works, the way the people are and their culture... the better off I will be in life... I'm sorry that I can't bring you with me.. i'm sorry that all you can do is sit there and hear stories and look at pictures... would you prefer it if I didn't tell stories? show you pictures?
I wan't to share with you my elation and how much I enjoy seeing the world and everything in it. You wonder... where the hell did she come from? She doesn't want the American dream? Does she not want to graduate college, find her a money bag husband and have a cute little house and a picket fence with 2 kids a dog and a nanny?!?!?! nah...
I want a studio apartment somewhere coastal.. A hybrid car... I want to build my parents an adirondack house in the woods of NY. and I want to live happily ever after traveling and speaking my languages. I love learning, I really do... so, why would I want to waste this opportunity and mess up with school??? Now, if you feel the need to tell me again and again that I need to study more...then you really don't know me at all.

It is now 3:25 in the morning.. and I need some sleep. I finished all my work and even got to read some more of my Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch and some GATT articles. I wrote my own version of Rotkäppchen, and studied some Konjuktiv II. I am all ready to enjoy the weekend.


Thank you for tuning in.

Ruhe auf den billigen Plätzen, bitte

So the rest of this weekend was off the chain! This morning I get a call from a strange number so I pick it up and its Swedie! (Johan from Sweden) He was on his way to pick up a car from a friend, realized Ikea was closed (Sunday...duh) so he wanted to know if I would take a walk with him! So we grabbed him and went for a stroll by the wasserturm (It was such a lovely day!) Well the Blümefestival was over so we sat in Starbucks (...how European) for a KaffeStunde! It was awesome because we talked mostly about cultural differences between America and Sweden, and I learned alot!

So then we went to the Mannheim Volksfestival where I ate my first Wurst and we had beer on a rotating bar!! We rode lots of rides and wir haben so viel spaß gemacht! haha. We sung swedish drinking songs and played on top of the Ferris wheel. Overall today was quite a relaxing day... Gillian, Hazel, Sydney, Johan, Knut and I had a lovely time full of pee in your pants kinds of jokes and lots of fun.

Now let me tell you about the Abenteuer...

We took out the trash today... That was about a ONE HOUR process, and NOT the abenteuer I was hoping to have today.
I made gloves out of newspaper and hairtyes and made a mask of Pashmina. Gillian and Sydney were equally as disgusted as I was with this. There was bugs everywhere and we cleaned it all up. We even took the glass down the street to the receptacle. It was horrible. We hate cleaning up messes that aren't ours. But now the kitchen is clean again.

So i've got that bad about myself feeling again. I hope tomorrow, that I will be productive and get shit done so I can feel better about myself. Lets keep our fingers crossed. I have so much work to do! Most of it is reading, I just want to sit somewhere quite without being distracted by life and be completely engrossed with legal material and German grammar... no... i'm not even kidding... then I need to go running. I need to keep myself on task. I've started with the rewards system. (shoutout to my comrade!) because it seems to work quite well....

Lets hope.

A slight nod..... But in which direction?

This weekend has been quite awesome :-) I didn't have class Thursday because my professor if off in an OECD country fighting world hunger... (wow.) So... Sydney, Gillian and I went to Hidelberg to celebrate Davide's birthday! We went to the movies (my first German movie! ) and saw Walle... SOOO GOOD! And then we went to Cafe Ellen where Davide works, had some cake and beer. Then (the way home is always an adventure) then we made it home lol...


Friday was also quite interesting... We spend most of the day at IKEA.... (common now...how can you NOT?!) I can get lost there... anyway.. that was a trip in and of itself... but we finally got back.. ( I bought an aloe vera plant! ) and Gillian took a nap... well Erica, sydney, Gillian and I ended up chilling out in my room for a while... 11:30 rolled around and I went to go see my boyfriend Almir on the 4th floor... well there was no discussion... he demanded that I be at the party at B7... ok.. well I walked up to Sydneys room and said : ....Its 12... do you want to go to a party?? and she said yes :-) within 10 minutes we were dressed and walking out the door to a Party at B7...which was AWESOME!!!!!

Today we woke up semi-early lateish... and headed to heidelberg. We saw Gillians AWESOME zwischenmeter and then we went to the Heidelberger herbst. This was such an awesome festival to go to !!! Both Mannheim and Heidelberg are beautiful places in the fall I wish you all could see them!!! With the rolling hills and castles in the background, it surely is such a majestic sight. Thankfully the weather has been nice to us... with only a cool breeze and some blowing leaves and bright sun, Germany is a great place in the fall.
So we walked around and I ate some traditional potato pancakes with applesauce.. the girls got the knob sauce :-) We listened to some music and explored the city.. we then headed on our next adventure for the day!
HAROLDS HAUSE!

Harold is my friend from the army whom i met at the bar through another friend. Harold lives in Weinheim, right below the castle. So we hoped on the train to Weinheim for a dinner party at Harolds! Harolds dad is in town for 2 months and was going to be cooking traditional Thai food for us :-) That was awesome! His dad owns several restaurants in Thailand so he loves to cook. Let me tell you, i've never had traditional-traditional thai food before, this was out of this world good!!! It was just spicy enough, and the thai beer went so well with it. So overall it was an awesome night. Oh, and we owe Harold a big one because he got us real Mayo from the army base!!! He's also going to secure us a Turkey for our thanksgiving feast :-)

Tomorrow we are going to the Mannheim flower festival by the Wasserturm, then going to the Mannheim Volksfest, which is conveniently one street away from where I live! The rides look awesome, and I can smell the wurst from my apartment!

Next week is also going to be soo cool! We are going to Oktoberfest on Friday, then We are staying in Stuttgart that night with a friend so we can go to the Stuttgart festival! This festival is also said to be one of the largest!!! so excited!

The week after that I leave for ITALY!!!!!!!! Ashley and I are going to see Rome and Tuscany :-) I've never been to Italy before!!!!!
Ti amo!

Then the week after that I am spending 3 days with VISUM in BERLIN!!! I hope I get to see the East Gallery! I did a presentation on that for Prof. Dombrowskis class and it looked so interesting.

So it seems like I have my plans all set! There is soo much to see and do!!!! But yes... I am still studying and doing what I am here to do... learning right ;-) ?

Well what do we have here...

I usually say that I should update the blog daily... because ALOT happens here in one day... but its been exactly one week and ALOT went on!!!


Since we spoke last I had just went on the pub crawl...and schnekenhof etc etc.


Well...hungover as we were we got up one beautiful saturday morning and went painting!!!! oh my gosh what an amazing day that was!!! we were all pretty pissed that we had to be up so early but let me tell you... doing something good for someone else makes you feel good too! (mentally and physically lol)

So the name of the day was "wir Schaffen was" ich bin dabei!!!
we painted a really old run-down sports hall in the middle of no-where!!! and it was all for a good cause! We split up into teams...Hazel, Gillian, Swedie aka. Johan and me. We made the best painting team ever! Schnoox, schatz, snappi, and swedie! (the best looking, and the most fun painting team too!) we managed to paint our room, paint eachother, sing and dance, and drink coffee and we managed to finish our rooms before everyone else! we finished so early that we had time to paint another room! and in that room we had a blast too!!!!!!
(pictures to follow :-) )Overall I met some really amazing people, and had a really awesome day :-)
WIR SCHAFFEN WAS!!! ICH BIN DABEI!

So after we volunteered we returned to the hauptbahnhof with paint all over us, faces, etc, etc. ;-) and then we all rewarded ourselves with a beer :-) after a hard days work.

So we went home and Gillian and I made some more Maultaschen... ADDICTED!!!!! and we mix it with Freekadellen and peppers (spelling?!?!). It was delicsch.
So.. because i'm an exchange student I got a ticket to the Uni Mannheims annual Schloss fest... for free!

Let me tell you about the schloss fest...

every year students, faculty, and anyone who cares, gets realllyyyyyy dressed up and comes to the school. its like an open house. And the choirs perform in Ehrenhof (Huge courtyard directly infront of the school) and then orchestras of all sorts play in different wings of the castle. The most beautiful parts of the castle are opened up for this event so I got to see the greatest parts of it.

To add a tangent story. I was on facebook while Gillian and I were making food that night.. and I suddenly get a wierd message from some random (but beautiful) guy... he commented on my status which merely said: (making maultaschen...then maybe some schloss fest). Ok... so he commented that my dinner sounded excellent and I should go to the schloss fest... well. we started sending messages back and forth and before you knew it we were talking about this great bar in NYC that we had both been to and how we should meet at the schloss fest for a glass of wine :-)
So i got dressed in my best and headed down to the festival. IT WAS AMAZING!

I first went to the HoorSaal and listened to the greatest sounded university orchestra who played a nice waltz... I have never seen so may beautiful couples dancing so well before!!!! The ladies moved gracefully across the floor and the guys... who knew guys could dance like that?!?!?! (video to be posted of the orchestra)

I then had a glass of wine with David and some other friends (shoutout to David who looked amazing in his suit! and the other david too, who I had painted on earlier that morning)... so within the span of a day I had met some great people who I then got to celebrate with at the schloss fest. how cool is that!! Then we went and listened to some jazz in one of the other rooms, then after the festivites were over (by the way... I was escorted around for the most part with my facebook stalker... but then the girls and I ditched him because he was a stuffy, yet extremelyyyyyyyyyyyy handsome man.
So we went to the catacombs for a dance party!!! then the rest is history :-)

Ok... so classes are going AMAZINGLY!!!!!! I know all the answers to the questions!! But the teachers yell at me because I whisper answers, even though they are right... because I hate talking in class... but they are thrilled that I can speak awesome english, understand the legal texts, and know what the hell the text really means... awesomeeeeeeeee
The german classes are going quite well... I speak German all the time when I go out, and with people who I live with
and they all go: Wow, your German is so good! and I smile :-)

OHH! THE WINE FESTIVAL!!!!! (link to follow :-) )
We all went to the wine festival Thats why we were hung over when we had to go paint!!! ( i was thinking to myself.... i don't remember whyyy I was hungover)
So we went to the biggest wine festival in the world and it was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
We sat in a cool tent and drank riesling from pint glasses....
and listened to cool music...
and ate some wurst....
and rode on rides....
it was like a big country fair.....
and then this middle aged couple sitting at the table across from me called me over. and I sat down (german of course) and they were telling me about their son... and they said: we would love to have you as our daughter in law! (this could only happen to me...) and I was like ... ok!
So they gave me their sons name and I found him on Studivz (german facebook) and we have been talking eversince!!! He is a musician ( I a dancer.) His major is VWL (that was my undergrad) and I am BWL :-) hes a cool kid. and he lives in Heidelberg which is all of 20 mintues away... and hes a looker too :-)

Ok... so Tuesday eventually rolls around and we had this great event called Running dinner. Cool event!
Its where you team up with one person and you are assigned a certain course (in a 3 course meal) and you have to prepare it for 2 other teams... then you leave that house and go to another teams place to eat the other course, and so forth.
BUUUTTT since we didn't register in time, it turned out being me and sydney making maultaschen, going with TJ and peter, and 2 other german girls to a nice apartment and having dinner together :-) Hazel and tj made the best taco dip everrrrr and then the norwegs made the best Tiramasu. Then we had wine (natürlich) and then Polish vodka that tasted like apple strudel and it was SOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Then after we had a great meal we traveled across town to another friends apartment (more norwegans... hahahahaa) and sat on the roof and had strawberry marguritas and some more wine!
Then after that we trucked down to Zimmer for American night! and dance to really bad english techno and some hip hop.

Then I came home and slept :-)

That leads me to today where school was fantastic!!! now. It may seem like I party alot... but I do SO many other things here! I run up and down the Nekar almost daily (THE NEKAR IS NOT SHORT!!) all the way down to Luisenpark (so schön!) and then I also read and study law... because unlike learning Economics at home...where I have to have my head stuck in a book learning graphs that I don't care about and theories that are going to changed anyway... I LIKE law, and everything that I learned about Economics pertains to what I read about and learn about in my Law classes. I think thats why I have an advantage in my classes, its because I can apply what I already know about law and business and use it.
Ok... and the English helps too.

But a bit of sad news... Gillian moved out :-( She found her own Wohnung but that means that I have 2 houses now!!! But it was nice having her here... she protected me from Vlad the intruder and toaster girl.
We watched 90210 together :-) and held eachothers hair when we were hugging the porclain bowl :-) Those were moments.
Tomorrow is Davides birthday and we are going to go see Wally, then go for drinks.

I think thats all for now :-) pictures and links and movies for everyone!!!


OH AND THE BEST NEWS: I AM GOING TO ITALY (ROME AND TUSCANY!!!!!!) JA WOHL!!!! and OKTOBERFEST IS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!! JAAAAA WOHLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its only been a pretty productive week...

Well lets see... a lot can happen in a week... I won't bore you with the nitty gritty details... I'll just tell you the fun stuff :-)


Since we spoke last classes were just beginning.
I LOVE THEM!!!!
Im taking:

Allgemeiner Sprachkurs
Grammatik
Mündliche Kommunikation
Doing business in Germany
International comparative law
Business Law in comparative perspective.


They are soo much fun! It's alot of work!!! and ALOT of reading and alone study time.. but I think I like that better than hours in the classroom talking nonsense and doing assignments. I personally prefer personal research and then coming together once a week and hashing out the details.


So the university has parties which they call Schnekenhof. Schnekenhof really means snail... but its the quad inbetween the lecture halls. Wine tent, beer tent, 1 euro shots, Dj's, a nice stage, TONS of people, strobe lights.. i mean, this party is all out! Well.. I went to Schnekenhof and it was awesome! It was 90's night so we got to sing barbie girl and other throw backs :-)

Another cultural ding which I would like to share with you is VISUMs semesterly pub crawl. So we lined up outside the VISUM headquarters, prepared for a night of drunk debauchery, 5 beers, 5 shots (ended up being more) and a nice game of capture the flag. With over 200 people participating in 4 colored teams (representing yellow!) this event was sure to be the hit of the semester (and it was!!!!) i met some pretty damn awesome people!!!!!!
Well it first started with some warm ups.. literally... vodka red bull... then we trekked down the street to flic flac, the first bar... downed the beer and then took our shot... ok.... well you get the jist. There was alot of yelling and chanting amongst the teams... then we managed to steal the blue teams flag... guess who they put in charge of carrying and protecting it with pride?? ME!!! I carried that flag like it was my job! We all ended up at the brokers inn together where it got a little tricky... I ended up with beer on my head, scratches on my wrists, im sure david was equally as hurt LOL... as you can probably tell they tried to get the blue teams flag away from me... didn't work so well... we ended up stumbling out the front door of the bar where members from both the blue, red team (davids team- thats the catch) and the yellow team were waiting. Once they saw the struggle immediately came to my, and David's rescue... Do you recall upon a certain west side story?? Yea... it was great... so you had kids rumbling in the street over flags. We ended up with broken sticks (flag poles)... but the best part was when someone got tired of fighting we took shots together! On our journeys we also played games like pass the apple. It was such a great night :-) Then we each got a coupon for free dönner from City dönner. I'm not really a big fan.. but this was the best one i've ever had in my life..... After the bar we all ended up at Zimmer. Together.. everyone friends again, ready to have some beers and dance off the toxins. It was a wonderful night :-)

So I get this email (wont mention names) Gloria. and it was talking about my drinking habits in Germany. Yes, I love to go out with friends and have a glass of wine. I don't get wasted everynight of my life. We had this discussion a while back. When I flunk out of school, have a child, start abusing drugs, and get soo fat from drinking... then you may comment. I understand you're only looking out for me, however, I'm a big girl... I've gotten this far without fucking up. I survived the first month (yes... the hardest month) of living in a foreign country alone.. im sure I can control what I put in my body, and when, for recreational purposes. Not to harp on it... but drinking is a pretty big part of culture here in Germany. Did I mention that Oktoberfest is this weekend!!!!!!!!!
JA WOHL!!!!

Saturday I am volunteering painting a school sports hall so kids have a nice place to play....

Was Noch... Gillian is still here and we protect eachother from Vlad the intruder.

I can't believe the month is almost over...
I need to look back at the pictures and see what i've been doing the past week so I can fill you in...
Oh. I haven't heard from Dan my advisor in a while... if you're out there Dan I'm doing just fine!! And i heard you need help in the lab... hire my sister!




Ja know... I'm not just learning the German language... or about business and the law... I'm learning ALOT about myself and what I want to do with my life... this is what this experience is for...

oh... and we won't talk about that darn tuesday night.