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.

Valentines Day is for lovers. I love my roomate!!

I just found out how to change the font color and size on my blog 

I feel the same euphoria as my mother, when she learned to make paragraphs in emails. Go mom. 

VALENTINES DAY WAS A BLAST!!! Friday night was spent at the Irish pub murpheys law, where everything that CAN go wrong WILL go wrong. It was a fun night filled with German machine building men and drunk American soldiers. Just like a Friday night should be spent. I got to eat Döner :-) 

Saturday was AMAZING!!!!!! We woke up rather late and had a romantic breakfast. Then we went to Heidelberg for some RUGBY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Germany and Romania were playing for a spot in the 2011 European Championships. There was lots of snow on the ground and the guys were getting pounded on real hard. Trust me. If you want a real sport, Rugby is about as real as you can get.  I love #9 Mustafa Grüngör. A Turkish player from Aachen playing for the German national team. <3 <3 

Romania, however is my favorite rugby team. They're smooth on the field , lots of tricks, and they definitely show no mercy. There was rucking and scrumming and man handling the Germans. The Romanians jumped through the air like gypsies, and the Germans rolled around on the ground most of the time... They played a good game, they are a relatively new team. But the Romanians wiped the ground with them. literally. 

After rugby we went home and took a nap... I love naps. Then we got all cute and headed out for the second leg of our valentines day date. We went to spaghetti opera! I LOVE SPAGHETTI OPERA!  Homemade fresh pasta in a small restaurant in the red light district. don't ask how we found it... hahah. 

I had fresh pasta with a gorgonzola and sahne sauce. Gillian had pizza with Schinken and Champingons. 2 glasses of Halbtrocken Riesling (half-dry). It was amazing wine.  and the food was delicious!!!!!!!! hahahahahaha because they don't do take away food Gillian made me put two pieces of pizza in my hand purse. HAHAHAHAH wrapped up of course. Drunk food for later. you understand.  

Then we went to the hottest bar in Mannheim. You need to take an elevator to get to it. Its called Stars. The entire menu is made of drinks named after stars. I had the jennifer Lopez and Gillian had a robert redford.

So this was a draft from Valentines day that I never quite finished. Lets continues. This month was actually pretty darn amazing <3 alot has happened. Spirits are high, health is good, mind is clear. It was a smooth transition from America back to Germany.

The next week was filled with dates. Yea, obviously calendar dates, but i'm talkin romantic walks on the beach (what beach??!) and lots of coffee/tea stundes. That Tuesday I met with Jan. Jan works for BASF in Ludwigshafen and I agreed to meet with him for drinks. Its started off as just an excuse to use him for his superior knowledge of German. But we actually hit it off. His German is incredibly wonderful :-) The next day we met again and he taught me to make thai food, I adoreeee thai food!
The day after that Gillian took me to the Schnitzel house with over 100 different kinds of schnitzel! It was amazing. Schnitzel is one of my favorite German foods.

KARNIVAL: Karnival is Mardi Gras. I'm not going to write about what happened at Karnival because the pictures just tell the entire story. It was the best train ride I've ever had. and for 4 hours we were under the care of a bachelor party. I know. every girls dream right? They fed us, kept us insanely happy, and kept the flow of alcohol coming. Don't worry Gillian and I didn't put ourselves in that bad of a situation. They were just there to have a good time like everyone else. They were complete gentleman.

The rest of the week was spent running. I've been running a lot lately. I'm going to post the link to my Nike +Ipod site so you can give me encouragement and send me messages! 

This one's for you ma.

Yes. Come One, come all and Read the news. My mother saw a Pileated Woodpecker in the neighborhood.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker_dtl.html

We learn lots...But don't tell Dan!

So, This may sound like a blog from rant-ville. But Dan. This one's for you.

I learned something today. :-) I learn things everyday. But this pertains to Mac's and the wonderful world of technology that Dan so earnestly wants us to learn and use.

In a dying quest for more music (hey, you have to have a motivation right), but the impossible task of using downloading software such as limewire, I, Had the brilliant idea to steal all of Gillians Music (Over 4,000 songs) Using....

Bluetooth.


So, I set up her bluetooth and connected my computer to hers using wireless technology and the push of a button. I then copied her entire music library and put it in ..... THE DROP BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Dan you would be proud. There is not another computer term that was engrained into my memory as much as... the drop box.

I am now working on a clever scheme to share my internet connection. I live in a Studentenwohnheim and as far as I know only ICP has been assigned to the room, therefore making it nearly impossible to share an internet connection? however, with a router, some ethernet cords, bluetooth capabilities and the desire to learn. I'm pretty sure something can be done... Right, Dan?

P.s. I love all the Mac Forums. I've been reading them since I got my Mac. I've learned so much just from peoples comments, questions and opinions. What a great way to share info.

Well. My music is just about done loading. I'm on a quest now for this internet thing to work.

I was really sitting here thinking that everything I've done up till now has been a preparation for this whole Germany thing. think about it. Going on tour for three months was a great preparation for traveling and working in the language lab gave me a desire to learn new languages and technology.

P.s.s.

Dan, can you send Gillian and me some firewires and those cute Flip video things we used in Wien?


:-) :-) Sind sie Stolz auf mich?? !

I miss thunder storms

If you think about it, the world really is coming to an inevitable end and only we as a collective society, scratch that, collective world can stop this.

Nissan just cut 20,000 jobs.

The world is in a depression- That's right. i said it. Global warming is ruining out arable earth, and war is killing our people.
Yet no one really stops in the middle of the sidewalk to look up and wonder anymore. Why is it that our main goal is to ruin the planet and existance of life as we know it? Not just for our grandchildren and great grandchildren, but for every single person on the planet.

I see alot of these wana be pop star teens around the mall and on the street with those must have trendy-fad "go green" shirts, bags, buttons, and other apparel, and I crave to ask one.... so... you bought the shirt... what else have you done? I can be quite honest and say im pretty sure i'm not doing a whole heap. I use public transportation and all my garbage gets separated, but still. Going green is not a fad. Its not a trend. It's a new way of life that will save the planet. Your small emission of fossil fuel when you drive your SUV (my entire family drives them... GUILTY) is changing the way the earth operates. The way you commute, what you eat, what you wear, the gas and electricity you use and even the makeup you wear all have a degrading effect on the earth.

With all this talk of whose administration screwed us over the worst (BIAS: BUSH YOU SUCK- FUCKING WAR) F* em all. Let's stop pushing blame and lets start to rebuild shall we?

I've been reading this awesome book called Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. And the loser Economist inside me LOVES this book. Its fascinating. its critical, its true. It's everything about the earth (and the way we are running it into the ground) that no one bothers to tell us. You see, the general consensus in this book is that people are afraid to talk about this so called *Global warming* issue because it will turn into a political mess. Gosh darn politics ruin everything. This book is cynical and pushes blame on the real culprits. All of us. The way we live our lives, the way we put capitalism and Nihilism on a higher pedestal than Mother nature or God for that matter. I didn't think this book would be of any interest to me, because i'm not that earthy. But then I realized I am... I camp, I love it. I travel, I never want to leave. I admire all of mother nature and God's handiwork, and as this book points out, if we continue on this trajectory of detrimental behavior, all of this pristine earth and everything that we love in it, will be gone. It is starting to deteriorate at an exponential rate and it's not going to stop unless our behavior changes. It leaves me feeling helpless because I want it to stay like this forever and ever. P.s. I miss thunderstorms. I haven't heard a thunderstorm in a long time. But not a torrential thunderstorm. A nice one. I want the summer to come so I can sleep with the windows open and hear the grasshoppers in the lawn. I haven't heard the grasshoppers in a long time...

I think that supermarkets should start charging for plastic bags...

We have several theories here for the future of the world. We have on one side Samuel Huntingtons theory of the clash of civilization which states

It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural. Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.

and then on the other side we have Thomas Friedman who says that the world is basically a bad biological experiment. And when we hit the wall the impact would be such as if we weren't wearing any seatbelts or had any airbags. In his own words he sums up that biodiversity bequeaths resilience and without that we can't deal with the "global changes rapidly descending upon us." True. Every twenty seconds another species is becoming extinct. True GLOBAL WARMING. Not political. FACT.

And then in the middle we have others like Nostradamus who says that the world is going to end in 2021 anyway.

I believe that later is too late. So whatever we are going to save, We'd better start saving now.

I have high hopes and plans for my future. However its the state that the world is in right now that puts my mood in a damper. I am still optimistic. I still smile. I still travel and learn. I like books. I like life. I don't think anything can stop that. But when my grasshoppers stop chirping, or my moms eagles stop hanging out on top of the tree at the end of the street, or my Daddy's beloved Fish creek ponds reports the extinction of everylife form living in the creek THEN IM GOING TO BE PISSED. I don't know what the future hold and that scares me. For the time being I will remain confident in the initiative of our generation of youth ( ? ) To be decided.




That was my rant.

I am back in Germany if you couldn't already tell. Classes haven't begun yet they start next week. I arrived on Tuesday and spent the week in bed. Literally. Sleeping off a month of hangovers, food, headaches, and jitters. I stayed up till 5 in the morning and slept till 3 in the afternoon. it's quite a bad cycle to break actually. Most of my work gets done late at night, i'm more inspired. Anywhoo. I've been resting and reading, and sorting through things for the coming semester. it seems like this semester is going to go alot quicker than the first. It's because I know the ropes and know what to expect. That, and I already have most of my trips for the semester planned.
Friday night was the first night that I "Went Out" "Going Out" entails staying out all night, dancing the night away, and getting made up. Well, we went to Nachssicht, which is in heidelberg, Gillian and I, Will and david. It was a fun time. We then trapsed around Heidelberg finding other forms of amusement. It was overall a good night.




The next day we woke up and went to RUGBY! I LOVE RUGBY DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Germany was playing Georgia (Russia) and they lost horribly. The Georgians played a good game. They are darn fierce. Next weekend, On valentines day, there is another game. Germany against Romania. I LOVE ROMANIA! They are in my top three favorite rugby teams. I've been having rugby fever lately. I can't get enough youtube Rugby. I wish I could go to more games. Its a real mans sport. And the mud makes it all that much more obvious.







Valentines Day, I have a date with Schnoox. We are going to Rugby, the spaghetti Opera, and stars.

I can't wait for school to start either. I've picked out my classes already. But I won't tell you what they are until they are finalized. Let me tell you that one of them is " Ausgewählte Themen der Internationalen Beziehungen"

We planned our trip to go see Sydney in March in Coppenhagen and I can't wait! Denmark is going to be a great time! It's by the sea which makes it that much more beautiful. I can't wait to see Sydney, I miss her! And i'm going with Gillian. and everyone knows that road trips are fun!.

For now, i'm just reading, running, sleeping, exploring and relaxing before classes start. There's not much else I can do. But I'll keep you updated.






So i'm not a stalker or dare say Vouyer. But i'm a certified people watcher. I don't get in their way. I just observe serence life from the outside.
I noticed this lady on the tram and couldn't take my eyes off her. She was knitting/sleeping the entire way from Heidelberg back to Mannheim. She was smiling to herself. I thought that was great. But... I wonder what she was thinking...


Till next time.

Back to Mannheim

As I sit and wait in the airport of Charlotte NC, I reminisce on every single day spent at home in lovely America with friends and family.. Loved every minute of it!

Now as I head back to the place I can call home, I think about all the things I want to do, things I'll regret not doing, all the people I will meet, all I people I have met, and all the things i'll have to talk about when I come home.

Its going to be one hell of a ride. Thankfully There are people who care about me to see me through every step of the way. even when shit gets rough (which it usually does).

Can't wait to see what each day has in store for me. If it's anything like the first semester in Mannheim i'm going to have to call in some reinforcement.

Auf Jeden Fall, See you in July. Talk to you soon. and Happy travels!


Goldfarb

To err is human, to forgive divine, to laugh. and move on.

I've always said a lot can happen in one month. So much has happened this month thats left me bewildered, confused, stronger, more intelligent, and just a tad more cautious. Where to begin?

I've spent most of this month with the most amazing people in the world. Friends <3. Not necessarily drinking, dancing and using illegal drugs the entire time (joke), but talking and laughing and relaxing.
Sure, the Economy sucks, unemployment is at an all time high, but that doesn't mean that spirits should suck as well.

Im a pure fan of optimism. It's one of God's greatest gifts. Think about it. Do things suck all the time? No. They get better. Have hope. God gives you obstacles in life to make you stronger to prepare you for what's ahead.
Hanging out with my Comrade for the day.... Well, I asked her... What the hell is up the road for me? Because i've taken some pretty impressive blows. She said? Nothing... You're being prepared to help other people, because you've already gone through it.
WOW
Good answer. And I've never really thought of it that way before.
Nothing's certain
Life's uncertain
Touche.
We make plans. But how often do we stick to them ?
We make resolutions. But how often do we resolve?
I believe in the stepping stones of life
I've seen so much life.

I think the root of all evil is ignorance. People don't know...
::uuuuhhh well I didn't know:::
Bullshit
Bad answer
But so true
We, as a people need to educate ourselves to protect ourselves.
We choose a leader to make decisions for us, because as we all know, someone out there always knows better than someone else.
I say this because I was listening to some ignorant asshole in the bar saying "we didn't have an inauguration yesterday, we had an In nig**ration (didn't wana spell it out, but you get the hint)
and I was thinking to myself... Wow, stop bitching and complaining unless you can do a better job.
Just think. If half the American's didn't know what was going on in the world, they could have elected Palin for president. If American's didn't know left from right there could be another (God Forbid) Adolf Hiter.
In order to prevent these things from happening again we need to know whats going on, what could happen, and why things happen.
So, I freak out about everything. EVERYTHING. High Anxiety, High stress. All the time.
The other night my car wouldn't start. In the middle of New Haven. Adamant that there was nothing wrong Stephan assured me that everything was going to be ok. Well. Me. I still freak out the rest of the night. (Of course). Coming back to the car at the end of the night he started the car right up. Chandler tells me... Oh, it's ok, new batterys don't like to be started in the cold.
::Sigh:: I didn't know that Chandler.
You see, education is everything. It can save you from everything from Stress to bad political leaders. Education is everything. Not a fancy 100,000 a year college, but education and knowledge as small as why a car won't start. I love school, but I have to admit that there's so much I don't know... There's sure of a hell a lot that I want to learn! Open your eyes, Open your ears, because you can learn something walking down the street for all you know.

Thinking about it. (Usually). I have learned alot. And although circumstance follows me around like a rainshower in Germany, I need to take it and run.
Sorry to all my avid blog followers that don't enjoy figurative language
It means that although bad circumstances usually find me wherever I am, I need to take them and use them to make me smarter and stronger.

Now I have to turn to the comical part of my blog...
I loved waking up and seeing a friends mug shot on TV.... I chose my friends wisely... this REALLY was a victim of bad circumstance. HAHAHHAHAH and he got the shit end of the stick.

Now I have to turn to the sad part of my blog... ( I hate this part)
I've learned over time to use humor to cover up most of the sad emotions. Sure, its good in the short run but in the long run covering up and disregarding how you really feel isn't healthy. I've had many people that have come and go. Last semester we lost two people that I graduated High School and grew up with. One of which was my sisters first boyfriend.
In a matter of 24 hours I lost two people that I knew. And one is seriously ill and has less than a week to live. One woman was there with me growing up, and the other was a friend and wasn't much older than me. The other is a friends mother who is dying in the hospital.
What am I really thinking? What am I saying to the families? my condolences? What the hell does that mean? Thats not what they want to hear. Only the good die young? HA. Definitely not what they want to hear.
This sucks.
Thats what they want to hear.
It really does... Suck.
It was an interesting 24 hours. lets just say that.

Life comes and goes.

Naja.


P.s.
The next blog will be a blog about Deja vú. I'm convinced.

So, for those that don't want to hear about life and mystery, only about drinking and bad habits.
I've everywhere from the Tequilla bar, to work, to NYC, to waterbury, to black bear for 9 hours, to pub quizzes ( We won!) to the movies (valkyrie was great) etc. etc.
There. Happy.

P.s.
I read a book.

So, Today I was at Aaron's Stepmothers house for dinner, and come to find out she is german! And her mother came over today and I got to speak German with her! They thought I was the cutest thing LOL. It was nice to speak German to them. They were adorable.

The world is smaller then you think.


Not an easy read today, next blog will be better.


Haiku