Random Thoughts...

1. I hate birds - the birds here absolutely scare me, (and now your probably thinking that I’m crazy, or how could the birds be any different from birds back home?) That doesn't matter though... here when ever I go running I spend more time during my run avoiding the birds rather than enjoying my run. The birds come form the middle of no where and they try dive bombing you. And for the record, I have seen someone get hit by a bird, wasn't to pleasant.
2. I dislike computers - yes, that's right, computers and I aren't friends any more. Monday night my computer crashed (big time crash), and it is currently at the 'computer hospital.' They said it would probably take a week to figure out what was wrong with it (but I can tell you what is wrong... it's will not start, and when I can get it to start is freezes right away). So right now I'm at a computer lab on campus, writing this blog and checking my e-mail on a computer that is about as old as me. (I sat here for about 20 minutes before it even loaded up the page where I have to type in my password.)
3. I miss pesto - I'm starting to get hungry for some of my mom's food. Well... actually only pesto (my mom's pesto). I was telling someone how I missed my mom's pesto, and they asked why don't I just go and buy some at the store. I thought about it, but a) I'm a Rumery, b) I'm the daughter of two herb growers (where basil is the main herb), c) it would just be sack religious to buy pesto in a store, because of how much basil my parents grow. Eating pesto (and knowing how to make pesto) in my family is like eating potatoes in a German family. We just happen to eat it that often, and with every thing!! Yum!
4. My bike is my new best friend - my bike and I have been bonding these past few days as I've a been running around (like a chicken with my head cut off) trying to figure out about the whole 'computer disaster.' It took me in search of a computer repair store, and it has been taking me to places where I can find a computer and use the internet. We have just become so close!

Christmas is really in the air. After pulling an all nighter, I managed to get myself out of bed (only 3 hours of sleep, and ½ of it was on the train coming back from Munich) to meet some friend at the ‘Bahnhof’ and set out on another adventure.

Nürnberg Wiehnachtsmarkt

Fighting among the tourist (mostly American) to see what the world is really talking about when they say the ‘Nürmberg Wiehnachtsmarkt’ is the best in the world. I managed to stay awake to enjoy the various smells (Lebkuchen, Gluhwein and gebrannte Mandlen), and offerings of this ‘famous’ Wiehnachtsmarkt. I did the touristy things, drink a glass of Gluhwein (and take the glass ‘boot’ with me), eat Nürmburger wursts (well I didn’t eat them, but stood with friends while they enjoyed them), and took some pictures (say cheese).

a) Lebkuchen; Nürmburg is known for the Lebkuchen (a form of ginger bread that comes with an acquired taste).

b) Gluhwein or Kinderpunch; this comes at every Wiehnachtsmarkt, the hot spiced wine that everyone enjoys while standing in the bitter, cold German weather (normally the weather is cold, making it enjoyable for a glass of Gluhwein). Kinderpunch is the kid version of this hot drink.

c)50cm-wurst; the famous 50cm-wurst from Nürnberg that is only found at Wiehnachten zeit.

d) Heiβe Maroni; again the wonderful ‘roasted chestnuts on an open fire’ (it really is too bad that they don’t have these back home) that are enjoyed in the cold weather.

e) Gebrannte mandlen; cinnamon and sugar roasted almonds, a favorite during the Holiday season

f) Nürmburger Wurst; they look and smell like (although I don’t know if they taste like) little breakfast sausages, that come from Nürmburg.

15 days until Christmas...

MUSE!!!!!

1. First Concert (amazing first concert)

2. First all nighter (it was a long night, but a longer second day)




Shwan, Angela, Lieselot and myself, made our way to Munich for the Muse concert.

With some pre-gaming in an U-bahn stop
(yes, it is allowed to drink in public), and two hours of wandering though Munich trying find our way
(it's not our fault we got lost, we're blaming google's directions for that one),



we made it to the 'Konzert Halle' just in time to check our bags, and enjoy the music that Muse had to offer us.

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at my nose."

1. They 'DO' have ‘Hot Roasted' Chestnuts in Germany, and they are so yummy!!

2. There is no jack frost nipping at my nose. Weather is 100% too warm, still in the 50's (hot for Germany and to hot for December).

Happy December!! The count down in on, time to let the Holiday cheers begin.

December means...

a) Christmas Market: Weinachtsmarkt, you can find the coolest things there.b) Christmas Music: Been listening to it since Thanksgiving.
c) Christmas Food: What ever that means, I'm thinking more Christmas Chocolate.
d) Advent Calendars: 100% chocolate is the way to count down to X-mas.
e) Christmas Decorations: Yes, the town is covered. It's like walking into a Christmas movie, so romantic!f) Christmas Tree: Don't have one yet, but I think that Bamberg has me covered; there is one about every 5 feet as I walk down the streets, with lights and decorations, just for the sake of it (I guess).

22 days to go

On Saturday November 25th...
'The Indians'
(Shawn, Katrina, Katie, Molly, Leah, Jill)

joined forces with 'The Pilgrims'
(Adam, Clay, Theresa, Lieselot, Angela, Sarah)

for Thanksgiving 2006 in Bamberg, Germany.

The two worlds united as one,

for a festive feast of
Turkey, Sweet Potatoes, Yams, Bread, Green Bean Casserol, Pumpkin Pies
and much more.


Happy Thanksgiving!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!

Don’t worry, in a few days I myself will be feasting upon the great meal that comes with this great American Holiday!!

Yesterday I had a bit of a… not sure how to describe it, but a very, very different experience.

I went to the American Army Base. There is one located in Bamberg, and my friend Angela happened to get us the connections to go on base. So Pass Port in hand I walked to the US.

I felt like I was either stepping back in time or jumping into the future, because I was suddenly standing in an American Grocery store, like Safeway or City Market, buying peanut butter, and some cookies. Walking into this store there was the whole Thanksgiving section, with every thing from candied yams, to stove top stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We even were able to buy the turkey pan, pie pans, and some of our favorite Christmas goodies.

I got lucky and stocked up on my chocolate chips, peanut butter, tortilla chips, and some amazing granola bars.

Another thing I noticed was the customer service that this store had to offer. The manager kept asking if we had everything we needed, he was kind enough to show us where to find some things we weren’t able to find. Then there were baggers, you know the people who bag your groceries at check out and take it to your car for you. Amazing!

Happy Day = my bed is fixed, no more sleeping on the floor (actually I’ve been sleeping on my broken bed, some interesting nights sleep I must say)

Sad Day = it’s raining, although I really shouldn’t be complaining, because these past 4 ½ months have been rather pleasant in the weather department.

This past weekend…

5 days, 9 pass port stamps, 3 countries (excluding Germany), 2 cities, 1 original destination.
My original plan was to go to Budapest (pronounced Buda Pescht) for a nice long weekend to visit my friend Jessie (who I meet while on my first exchange to Germany 4 years ago). Upon arriving in Budapest, I was told that that night we were catching the night train to Prague. Cool, no problem with that, I’ve never been there. So 11 hours and 5 American girls… The world was ours to explore!

Praha
We spent a total of 2 days in Praha (Prague
in Czech), exploring the city, drinking coffee
and hot chocolate, and learning the wonders of Praha.

Jessie and I at the Bohemia Bagel Place

Bohemia Bagels – Just a little taste of Home, with an amazing bagel (it even came toasted) to start the day. They even had options such has fried or scrambled eggs with hash browns, pancakes (regular or with Blueberries), and muffins for breakfast.

Jewish Quarter – The old Jewish quarter was once the Ghetto of Prague, now it is just the remains of what once was there.

Old Town Square – There was the clock at the Old Town Hall (we saw it strike at 12:00), and the churches, I believe 4 in total, the Jan Hus Monument in the center of the square. This square just happened to be where we wandered every time we happened to be lost (that seemed to be 90% of the time).

The Praha Eiffel Tower – Yes, Prague has a mini version of the Eiffel Tower, and it gave to best over look of the city. 302 stairs in total, and I’m proud to say that I made it to the top (although it really wasn’t that hard)

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Praha’s Castles – This old and ancient city has its own castle district with churches galore. We happened to make it to the Castle in time to watch the ‘Changing of the Guards.’ (Such an exciting event) We also saw the house where Franz Kafka lived (he wrote the short story Metamorphosis)


Charles Bridge – The famous pedestrian bridge with tons and tons of local artists selling their art work to the tourists (for probably way to much money). Then there was the statue that everyone rubbed for luck (although I don’t remember the myth behind it).

Left to Right = Liz, Molly, Jessie, Deb, Claire

Short story: Jessie (from Maine), Claire (from Texas but goes to CSU) and I were planning on taking the 4:45 train from the Praha main train station on Saturday (the other two girls had already left). We went to look at the departure list to find out what track our train left from, and it just wasn’t there. So we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off to find out where our train was. Yeah, that’s right, at a whole other station. ‘Super, we had 25 minutes, plenty of time to take the Metro, and find this whole new destination!’ We find the other train station and we run to the information center and ask if our tickets are valid for this train (not sure why we started freaking out, but for some reason we thought our tickets might not be valid for this train). We asked about 20 people (all train personnel) and they all said just get on the train, we were fine (some even laughed at us). Going from Praha to Budapest we also have to go through Slovakia and at every country we get new train personnel. In Praha we were fine (even got the Pass Port stamped), then we enter Slovakia and I get my Pass Port stamped again (happy day, a whole new country). Then the train guy comes around and asks to see our tickets, I happened to be the first to show mine and he takes a ‘long’ look at it and then takes Jessie’s and Claire’s, and he just keeps looking. At this point I’m starting to get worried, then he points at me, and in his broken English says ‘come with me’ (ok, so now I’m very scared) he takes me to their ‘Office’ and told me that our tickets weren’t valid from Bratislava to Budapest with this train. We would have to get out at Bratislava and wait for the next train to come at 4:20 that morning (it was about 8pm at this point). I was very nervous, and I tried to explain that we asked tons of people in Praha and they all said that we were allowed to ride this train. Then Jessie comes to my rescue, and we start asking if we can pay to stay on this train (in all reality we didn’t want to get off in Bratislava and hang out at the train station for 8 hours). The train Personnel told us for the three of us combined we would have to pay about 36 Euros (not that bad), and then Jessie asked how much that was in Hungarian money. Through the translation process Jessie understood the numbers that they were saying in Hungary and then started the conversation (in Hungarian). They found out that Claire and Jessie were students in Budapest and that they were learning Hungarian. The train personnel for some reason loved Jessie and Claire so they decided to drop the price to about half of what it originally was and said that there would be no receipt. Fine by us, we just wanted to get back to Budapest.

Budapest
Although I was planning on spending on 4 full days in Budapest, the time I had there was amazing and I wouldn’t have left Praha out for anything. I was lucky enough to have my friend Jessie there to show me the city, go to the Opera with and drink tons of hot chocolate with to stay warm.

The Castle District – Was once invaded by the Turks and then restored by the Austrians, the Castle Districts now gives the best view of Pest with the Chain Bridge and the Danube in view, because of it’s location on the Buda side.

The Danube – The Danube is the main river running through Budapest. There are many bridges that go over the Danube, most popular being the Chain Bridge leading to the Castle district. Budapest is divided by the Danube River and on the east side of the river was once Buda and then on the west side of the river was Pest.

The Hungarian Opera – Jessie and I decided to go see and Opera, tickets were only 5 dollars and why not. I had never been to one. We say some random Opera that happened to have Germany subtitles (not that the Opera made sense anyways). But it was great for the laughs, and the music was amazing.

Parliament – in 1902 Budapest opened its first Parliament building representing the neo-Gothic era. Construction began in 1884, and should have been finished in 1896, but took 6 more years to finish.

The Night Life – Jessie, Clair and I got back to Budapest just in time to hit it up for some night life. We went to this pub with live music and danced the night away.

What to do in case of Fire….

Oh wait, scratch that, I mean… What to do in case of a broken BED!!
A) Try fixing it yourself, until you come to realize that you don’t have any of the tools.
B) Try fixing it with your friends, until you come to find out that three isn’t much better than one.
C) Go tell the Hausmeister (Landloard) that your bed is broken, until you realize that it’s the weekend, and Germans don’t work on the weekends.
D) Go tell the Hausmeister on Monday, oh wait, the Hausemeister only comes to your apartment building once a week and you don’t know when that is.
E) Better be leaving a note on the Hausmeister’s door in hopes that he come and fixes it soon and until then, enjoy sleeping on the floor!!

That’s what I’ll be doing. Good Night Molly.

Now I’m assuming that you’re probably wondering who, what, where, when, why and how in the world did I break my bed. That’s a good question, because I’m still asking myself the same thing, “Molly, how did you break your bed?” I never knew that watching the OC with some friends could be so strenuous on my bed/couch/ seating area. In the middle of the addictive “OC session” there was this sudden ‘THUMP’ and my bed dropped about 6 inches in a slating direction. Some piece of wood broke causing the rest of my bed to fall apart, meaning I’m sleeping on the floor, oh Joy!

Last weekend my window broke, this weekend my bed broke, I’m wondering what it will be next weekend?

This is the 'Gang' aka 'Vanity Fair'
Left to Right = Molly (the Crazy Coloradoan), Priscilla (the Ditsy, but Lovable girl from Illinois), Angela (the one and Only Canadian, Shawn (the Georgian Guy), Lieselot (the Belgian)

Yesterday I was at a bar for the ‘normal’ Monday night meet up with friends. It is also a chance to meet new people, hang out and enjoy the 1 Euro beers. There I was introduced to this Germany guy and in the start of almost all conversations here the question gets asked “Where are you from?” I did the normal saying “I’m from Colorado” (and I say Colorado with Great Pride), and this guy looked at me and said “How can anyone live in Colorado, there is nothing there.” I was just completely shocked. Granite, Colorado isn’t New York City, or San Francisco, but in my opinion Colorado has so much to offer, and there is so much there. This comment goes along with some of the other that I’ve heard when I say that I’m from Colorado like “Is Colorado in Canada?” (NO), or “Is Colorado south of Texas?” (There is the Gulf of Mexico south of Texas, but nope, no Colorado).

Halloween was a very eventful Holiday here. Although Germans (and by that I mean Europeans) don’t really celebrate Halloween, there was still a huge party with costumes. My Halloween started with some of my ‘North American’ friends for the favorite past time of pumpkin carving, and pumpkin seed roasting (they were so yummy!). On Halloween an Italian girl put on the Halloween party. So coming from the US I decided that I needed a good/unique/fun costume. So what was I? The famous Statue of Liberty. I just had to show some good ol’ American Pride. Two of my friends (Angela and Priscilla) were grapes, and I think that was by far the best idea/costume that anyone had.

Angela (Purple/Blue Grape), Shawn (Huck Fin), Priscilla (Green Grape)

This past weekend I had a good friend of mine (also from Colorado) come visit me. It was a great chance to catch up and show her where I’m living. (The more I explore Bamberg, the more I love this city.) Michelsberg, und staat Bamberg

What Amy and I accomplished this weekend…
Breaking windows: Not the right time of year for a broken window, but hopefully it’ll be getting fixed soon.
Watching The OC: Yes, I have corrupted Amy into the wonderful world of The OC. I had to show her what she was missing out on.
Exploring/Shopping around Bamberg: I was able to show her my favorite shops, and the castles and churches on the hills.

Amy and Molly

It’s come, and it’s come in full force… Winter! October was decently warm, with hardly any rain, quite enjoyable I might add. Then as soon as November hit…Winter, with snow, and freezing temperatures. I love it!!! (Give me some time though and I’m sure that I’ll hate it.)

I just hit up ‘New Country’ number 11, but who’s counting? (Oh that would be me.) I went to join my sister in London, England for a long weekend. What a change from Germany. It was so exciting to speak, hear and read English, although the English they speak there is rather hard to understand. I arrived in London Thursday afternoon, and was there until Sunday evening. I of course did the typical tourist things such as;

Shopping
-Oxford Street
- Soho
- Harrods
I became broke just looking at anything to buy. But I was able to treat myself to some VERY expensive things.

Sight seeing
-The Buckingham Palace
-The London Eye
-Tate Museum for Modern Art
-Tower Bridge
-Burrow Market -Big Ben
And much, much more. I would have to say that the London Eye was one of my favorite things (13 pounds = 26 dollars). It gave a great over view of the whole city.

Typical English Food
-Fish and Chips
-Curry
-Cadburys Chocolate
To get the English Curry we went to the ‘China Town’ of London, but with Indian Food restaurants instead. It was rather amusing seeing these guys fight for customers to come into their restaurant. ‘We’ll give you free drinks for you and your friends’ or any other lines like that.

London was an amazing place to visit, but in all reality, to go there one needs to have a ton of money, and be willing to spend it because London is over all, way to expensive.

Today I woke up to a light rain, and since I was going to Nürnburg with some friends I decided to buy my first Umbrella. That’s right, I’ve been in Germany for almost 4 months and I just purchased my first umbrella (Theresa you owe me 2 euros and 40 cent). I’m very impressed that I’ve gone that long without having to get one, but the main reason for that could be, no rain, and when it does rain, I suck it up!

Before I set out to buy the Umbrella this morning, I was taking my daily morning shower and enjoying the hot water, when I realized that my little shower platform was overflowing with water, because my shower curtain (which is about a foot to long for my shower, I lack the scissors to cut it) had clogged the drain. I quickly turned off the shower to step onto my bathroom floor and be standing in an inch of water (I wasn’t in a very good mood after that). I guess that’s what happens when you’re not totally awake after a night of dancing. My bad!!

I have survived my first week of University. I didn’t think it was all that bad actually. I feel that I have a rather light load, and I’m going to have tons of extra time on my hands. I’m still not sure on all the classes that I’m taking, but I’m trying to take something between 7 and 8 classes. All classes are offered once a week and are only 2 hours long. Ok, that’s a lie; they are actually 90 minutes long. But when registering for a class (ok you don’t really register either) it says that the classes starts at a certain time and it ends at a certain time, but really they start 15 minutes after that certain time and end 15 minutes before the other certain time. Are you getting me? 5 of the classes that I’m planning on taking are offered through the ‘Sprachen Zentrum’ at my university and then the other 2 or 3 are just generic classes.

So along with the University starting, the first semester parties start as well. On Tuesday was the first with party of the semester for all University students. It was called PARTYicipate. And it was put on by the University at a few of the clubs/bars in the ‘Insel Stadt.’ It was one wild, crazy night, and I just could help but think that CSU would never even think of putting on a party like this for its students. Then on Friday was the next University party. It was actually help in one of the University buildings. And I know for a fact that nothing like that would ever happen at CSU. I mean you can’t even get a beer at a CSU football game, and here I am, able to buy what ever alcohol I want and drink it while dancing, trashing the place (and when I say that I mean that there is glass all over the floor and people are smoking, even though it’s not allowed, remember though I’m not included in the trashing the place, it’s the ‘other people’) and having a great time inside a University building. Lets just face it; they have a lot of faith in their students that nothing will ‘really’ get destroyed.

My live is just becoming so exciting. Every weekend seems to be some great adventure, and the weeks are still full of learning (although University just started on Monday, so the weeks before were more or less filled with learning things about Bamberg, and possibly improving my German.)

My latest adventure… Salzburg. Austria

Oh, the hills are alive with the Sound of Music. I just wanted to sing that all weekend, and it was hard to refrain myself from doing so, but I thought that I would spare the world of my ‘wonderful’ singing voice.

I went to Salzburg with 4 other friends. 8:30am
we departed from Bamberg on the Regional Train in direction Austria. 3 other trains and 6 hours later we arrived in the Mozart city of Salzburg. By the way I went with two other Americans, Shawn and Priscilla, one Canadian, Angela and a Belgian, Liselot.

We were staying in this Youth Hostel that was
about a 5 minute walk from the inner city (great
location), and the first room that we were given was filled with windows. Yes, windows! We went back to the receptionist to explain that cuddling up with a few windows might not be the most comfortable thing to do after a night on the town. We were given another room that already had a few people staying there. We decided that our ‘roommates’ had to be American (we could tell by the sandals) and we named them Matt and Ben. Don’t ask, but it was great conversation, and kept us pretty entertained. The next morning, to our surprise, we hade three ‘roomies’ and two were girls (also from the states) who were up and out of there before the sun even rose (or it seemed so) and then the other ‘roomie’ was also from the states, and we were pretty far off from our original guess of names. Oh well, it was again great entertainment.

Other exciting moments in Salzburg

1. Molly getting soaking wet (we went to this ‘trick castle’ and I was told to sit at this table and not to worry because I wouldn’t get wet, oh, but I got drenched)
2. Priscilla’s ‘Jail Breaking’ moment
3. The coffee breaks
4. The Mozart Kugles

Shawn and me and the 'little pretzles people.'

Blogging, it’s so addicting!

Internet is now available in my dorm!! Although I've had it for the past two weeks. (It's so great.) But on Wednesday we had to have the 'internet man' come and make it so we could have wireless available for other people, not just me. I was told that the 'internet man' would come to my room some where between 12pm and 4pm. (nice hours, right?) At 4pm I was getting rather annoyed because no one had shown up, and I had been sitting in my room for 4 hours waiting for him to come. (I'm sounding very pathetic right now, but don't worry I watched almost the whole season of Gray's Anatomy to pass the time, another great TV show.) At around 5:30 the 'internet man' decided to show up (only an hours and a half late, gerrrr!!), and he just couldn't understand why we would want to share internet?? Maybe because it is a lot cheaper to share the internet, ever think of that? (I don't think he did.) But now there is internet access. Such a great feeling, to be connected to the world!

Last night I went out to dinner with some of the 'head people' from the Study Abroad office here in Bamberg, and with one of the CSU coordinators for Study Abroad. Thanks CSU for dinner! It was really good, and good to finally have a 'real' meal. There is the thought in the air that the exchange between CSU and Bamberg might become an official program. The thought is great and all, but I like that I'm studying in Germany for practically nothing. (Well the school part is nothing, but all of my travels I guess makes up for the lack of tuition.)

I thought that I would finally share some pictures of what Bamberg look likes. It is such a cute, old German town with its own personality.

'Little Venice'

Megan and I with the 'Alte Brücke' behind us.

Blog Entry 5:

4 weeks in Bamberg
School still hasn’t started
1 visitor
Too much fun!!

That’s right; I had my first visitor in Bamberg (other than my sister). My cousin Megan came to see me in Bamberg. (By the way, thanks parents for sending me some goodies from home, the dried peaches are great!!) It was so exciting knowing that someone came all the way from Colorado just to see me (although she did have other people to see while in Germany). Oh well, I can pretend that I’m important!

I was able to show Megan around Bamberg, introduce her to some of my new friends, and take her out to enjoy the night life in Bamberg (although, it really isn’t that great). Who cares though, it was great having someone here.

Over the weekend we went to who knows where to meet up with my Theresa (my sister, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany) and Sarah (another cousin who lives in Essen, Germany). Actually we were at some German Nature Park in the heart of Bavaria.

The idea of the weekend:

Girls weekend, ride bikes, hang out, watch the OC, explore the town (Eichstätt) that we landed in and eat at the ‘Potato Restaurant’

I think that we accomplished all of that.

- Girls weekend; yes we were all girls, having fun, talking about cute German, and Latin boys, and eating chocolate.
- Ride Bikes; we did that as well, I think about 40km (about 25 miles), around the ‘German’ style of a nature park.
- The OC; Oh yea, the OC came in handy this weekend. I think that we watched a total of 16 episodes, and then Sarah and I watched two more on the train and at the train station. What a great show!
- Exploring Eichsätt; done, and done again. I think that along with exploring Eichstätt, we explored the café’s in Eichstätt. We also learned that Eichsätt is well ‘sign posted’ and that there are still ‘living fossils.’
- The Potato Restaurant; yes we ate and drank potatoes. The only restaurant in the little ‘Village’ that we stayed in was the Potato Restaurant, and we thought that we better support it. It was cut, cozy, German restaurant, with lost of potatoes, and at the end of our meal they offered us ‘Potato Schnapps’ (delicious).

I figured out why my first two blogs were originally written at some odd hours and posted like that, but now they show a different time (the actual time that they were written at). It’s because I had the time set to US Pacific Coast time. Who would have thought that there were actually time settings on this blog? (Certainly not me, oops)

When I write ‘my thoughts’ here in this blog don’t think that I don’t like, or enjoy what I’m doing here in Europe or any of the experiences that I’ve had. I think that the blogs are more of an information session to tell my thought and what I’ve experienced. I most certainly enjoy living abroad, and having the opportunity to travel and see the world. I’m usually writing what strikes me as ‘odd.’

So, my next 'information session’ is how the German Bureaucracy works, or again ‘my thought’ on the German Bureaucracy.

German Bureaucracy

Yesterday I had to register for classes. Now I’m an official ‘University of Bamberg’ student!!! (Yeah, happy day) But I actually didn’t register for classes, but rather register at the university. I’m not to sure how you register for classes (and I’m sure that will be another tail when the time comes), but as of now I’m an official student in Bamberg, with a student ID, and a school e-mail account. (Don’t worry though I’m still going to be using my CSU e-mail account).

You’re probably thinking, what does registration have to do with German Bureaucracy, oh don’t you worry, there’s a point behind my story.

The hours of offices in Germany are rather inconvenient. Everything is almost only opened from 8/9 am and closed by 12:30 or 1pm. And some places are open for about 3 hours one afternoon a week. Not bad hours, right? Well not if you have to get things done at these offices. I’m in class everyday from 9am to 1pm, and to register at the University, or if I have to go to any other important office I have to skip class (currently I’m taking an intensive German class). So yesterday I ventured to the registration office. When I got to the registration office I found the ‘line’ and it was yet another amazing long line that was out the door and around the corner. It made sense though to see a line this long because everyone needs to register, but I would have never of thought that this line would have taken 3 hours to get through. (It was a long painful three hours of standing and waiting).

One of the main reasons that it took 3 hours was because they only had 2 people registering people. And it takes about 10 to 15 minutes to register. (Now times that by about 50 something people) During my ‘3 hour’ wait I was able to chit chat with other exchange students, which helped pass the time. During the middle of my wait, a lady came out to announce that they would be taking a half hour break, because they were just so stressed. (Well then why not hire more people and open another window so there isn’t so much stress?) But this is how things work, ‘very slowly.’ After I got registered, then I had to go wait in another line to pay for the University for studying here in Bamberg (only 58 Euros for a whole semester, so amazing!). But I wasn’t even done after that. I then had to wait for someone to call my name. I waited about another 10 minutes for that, and this is where I received my new e-mail address, my student ID and other important information (that I now have to read with a German/English dictionary).

The German Bureaucracy System is rather slow and there is no customer service. The Germans have different systems on how things have to be done and I guess I just have to learn to be patient.

Example: Moving to Bamberg; First I had to open a bank account, then I could go to the International Office and get my key to my dorm room and proof of living in Bamberg papers, then I could register with the city. Problem is, you can’t get a bank account without registering first with the city, and you can’t register with the city until you have proof of living in Germany, and I couldn’t get proof that I was living in Bamberg until I got a bank account. Life is so complicated here. (Don’t worry though, I have a bank account and I did get my keys to my room).

When I go grocery shopping, you are expected to bring you own bags (no problem with that) but you are also expected to bag your own bags. There is usually one cashier (no matter how long the line is), who is never excited to see you.

As I said in my last posting, I am learning my way around the city, and I’m starting to see friendly faces (of people I know, because Germans usually don’t smile or say hi to a stranger on the street) when I’m cursing around the city.

This whole 'Blog' thing isn't that bad. I like being able to write down what I'm thinking, what I've done and now the whole word knows my life. Oh Joy!! The life of Molly Rose, oh so exciting!

I was looking at the 2 blogs (a whole two, big whoop) that I've posted, and I thought it was rather funny that they were posted at 9 something am, and 11 something am. I actually wrote them at 6 and 9 something pm. I wonder why it has the times messed up? Good question!

Right now I should be studying for my German test that is tomorrow, but I've become trapped into the world of 'Blogging.' And also I needed a good reason to procrastinate (which I've always been very good at). I guess it's time to tell another tail. What should it be...? Bamberg!

Bamberg

So I've been living in Bamberg, Germany for about 2 1/2 weeks now. I'm starting to learn my way around the city, or at least know where things are located. I couldn't tell you what street there on because I have the hardest time remembering street names in German. It just hasn't happened jet, but maybe someday soon. I do know where I live, Hornthal Straβe 2a. Located right in the city center. Perfect location for going to class at 9am (I can actually leave my room at 8:55 and get to class by 8:59, I've timed it!), meeting up with friends, going to the bars, cafes, and clubs and being able to walk home. I don't have to worry about taking the bus, excellent! And everything I need is in walking distance or biking distance. I finally bought a bike, it's a blue curser. My new 'Baby!'

My room looks likes a hotel/motel room. I guess it would be better to say a motel, because it certainly isn't as nice as a hotel room. But I have my own bathroom (thank goodness), and a little kitchenette. My room came furnished, so I have a bed, desk, kitchen table, book shelves and a schrank (I guess it would be called a wardrobe in English, but we really don't have anything like them back home). But that's all that there was. I thought that there would be a communal kitchen so I wouldn’t have to buy kitchen supplies, oh but I was wrong. I had to go buy all kitchen supplies, bedding supplies, shower curtain, and a few other things to make it feel a little more 'homey.' No worries though, it's starting to feel like I live here. I got internet (never thought it would happen), I'm able to cook here, and people even came over to pre-party in my tiny shoe box the other night. It's great!

Bamberg is cute, quite, and the city center is on an island (how cool is that?) There are about 80,000 people that live in Bamberg. About 10,000 people are students and about 10 - 15% of the students are exchange students. Not bad. Next year Bamberg will be 1,000 years old, and none of the city was destroyed in WWII. It's a great old city!

Entry 2, this is actually being written right after I published the other one, but I want to tell my tails of Oktoberfest and for some reason Casablanca and Oktoberfest just didn't seem to fit to well in the same Blog.

Oktoberfest:

1. Beer drinking (yeah, there was a lot of that)
2. Pretzels eating (they were huge and delicious)
3. Song singing (Disney songs were the best)
4. Beer Mug steeling (5 in total)

I think that Oktoberfest started the 16th of September with the Meyer taping the Keg at 12:00pm sharp. And so of course we had to be there to witness the event.
I took the train down from Bamberg to Munich the night before. In Munich I meet up with my sister Theresa, my cousin Sarah and Theresa's friends Katie and Mark. We stayed in this, well I'm not sure what it was, but a place that had 5 matrices on the floor, and was a 5 minute walk from Oktoberfest. Perfect for stumbling back after a full day of drinking beer!! Katie wanted to drink beer from the 'Schottenhamel Bier Haus.' So we arrived at Oktoberfest on the opening day somewhere around 8am, if not earlier. Doors into any beer tent didn't open up until 9am. So we were in for a long wait surrounded by Germans wearing the Dirndls and Lederhosens. We happened to meet this Ozzie kid, who was a bit more prepared for the long wait than we were. He was kind enough to share his pretzels and water with us while we waited and waited. Some time around 9 the doors opened to the Schottenhamel Bier Haus (and let me remind you that this is the 'bier haus' to be in, this is the house where Oktoberfest kicks off and the beer starts flowing). The line went from being ’ok’ too unbearable. I'm not sure I can describe the 'line' but the security guards were pushing at one end then people at the other end were pushing because they wanted to get in as well. Although I don't see how pushing us would get them in any faster. We just happened to be stuck in the middle and we were getting 100% crunched. I don't think that we entered the beer tent until 9:30 or so, but we tried to quickly find a table for the 5 of us and hopefully 6 because our new found Ozzie friend wanted to sit and have a beer with us. I think that there was a combination of not being quick enough, having to big of a group and not reserving a table that led us to find a table in the garden of the tent Schottenhamel, not inside (so we missed all the action on the keg taping). We sat at that table for about 12 hours, 8 of which we were drinking beer. Sitting at the table involved; Drinking lots and lots of beer, meeting crazy Swiss people (who we got the best quotes from: "I think I need to empty my penis" and "you should try a Swiss guy"), meeting crazy Germans that tried teaching Sarah and I some German drinking songs (sorry to say I don't remember a word of what they were saying), playing drinking card games, singing the best songs in the world - Disney all the way, trying 'hot nuts' and seeing the true meaning of 'puke and rally.' We were successfully able to steal 5 beer masses, and find a winner for the best dressed couple in a Dirndl and Lederhosens.

Ok, so I'm guessing this is Blog number 1. I'm not sure about this whole "Blog" thing, but I figure its well worth the try. It might mean that the lazy side of me comes out and I stop sending out mass e-mails. We'll see though.

I think that I'll start this Blog with going back tracking a few weeks in September. I had my birthday, an exciting event, but not the most remarkable age. I then randomly bought a plane ticket to Casablanca, Morocco. And I think that's where I'm going to let my adventures begin.

Casablanca, Morocco:

I went to Casablanca with my friend Daniel. It was a rather random/last minute trip, but well worth it. I found Casablanca exciting (actually I can't really think of the right word), but very different from any other place that I've been to.

The things I noticed about Morocco (mainly Casablanca)

1. Punctuality: We bought our train tickets for a train that was suppose to depart the airport at 16:50. We thought not bad, because it meant that at 17:30 we would be in Casablanca city center. Right? Wrong!! The train came about 15 to 20 minutes late, and that really shouldn’t have been a big surprise (because my flight to Casablanca was also 30 min. delayed and I was flying with Air Moroc). The train ride was hot, humid and it stunk. No windows opened, so no fresh air was circulating through the hot, humid, smelly train. Big bummer!! The train ride took way longer than we were told it would. Maybe around 18:00 or 18:30 we finally got to Casablanca. What a surprise we were in for.

2. Taxis: At the train station we were asked if we needed a taxi to take us to our hotel (it was more like they insisted that we need a taxi, because no matter how many times we said no, they kept persisting that we needed a taxi). So why not, right? We needed to find our hotel, and we were both a little tired, getting hungry and ready to put our stuff down (not that I brought that much stuff, but Daniel on the other hand packed for about a month with 6 different pairs of shoes). The taxi ride was, um, CRAZY!! Taxi cars were built about in the 70’s only the front windows roll down and there are no, I repeat, NO seat belts in the back seats. Actually, we found that the taxi drivers got rather offended when Daniel (who always sat in the front seat) tried to use the seat belt that was there. The taxi cars were very dirty, small, and not the most comfortable ride. Hardly any taxi driver knew where we wanted to go, so we were the ones that had to direct the taxi drivers. Weird? The first few Taxis that we rode in didn't have meters so the taxi driver would just through out a random amount. We were so naive that we didn't even try to argue the amount. We just gave them the money, grabbed out stuff, and quickly went on our way. The dashboards of every car was turned into this sort-of alter, with flowers, pictures and sometimes Arabic prayers were written down and places there. Some of the 'alter' looking dashboards had stuffed animals, pillows and other random stuff. Never figured out why they did that, if it was just for decoration, or if there was really a meaning behind it all. When Daniel and I finally started getting Taxies that had meters we found that we were being charged way too much. But hey, we were the naive, white, tourist that these people milk for money.

3. Cleanliness: Casablanca was a very dirty city. After a few days of exploring the city, Daniel and I were able to find the nicer parts of the city, but overall the city was disgusting. When Daniel and I got to our hotel (Hotel Ramada) we got our room, the first thing that Daniel did was look to see how clean the bed was. And to our big surprise the sheets were so gross; it looked like they hadn't even been washed after they last guest. Daniel went down and got us another room. Other than that the hotel was pretty clean, and I felt that I slept pretty well while staying there. The city was kinda like what you see in movies of poverty stricken areas in Africa; old buildings that were falling apart, the smell of urine and old rotten meat that lingered in the air and the dirt and pollution that hung in the air. There was trash all over the streets, and I felt that I was walking in a dumpster while walking the streets. We did find clean places to eat, and enjoy ourselves, but it was a relief to get back to Germany where things were really clean, on time, and I could also speak the language.

4. Culture: Morocco has been greatly influenced by the French people. Almost everyone spoke French, although I didn’t and Daniel new enough to get by, but some things were still rather challenging. There was a great influence of Italian food in Casablanca as well, but I think that the influence of the Italians is everywhere. I wasn’t able to understand their culture that well because I didn’t have an insider to fill me in on things such as school, work, religion etc. I wanted to figure things out, but I was unable to. It seemed that there were just people constantly sitting around and kids always playing in the street, so I wonder how strict the school system is, and if it coasts money to go to school. Lots of beggars came up to us asking for money, and when we were buying things we had to bargain. Kinda fun to hear how much they want to charge us, and then for me to say how much I think that it’s worth and then they work their way down as I work my way up. Over all I thought that the people were happy. I felt that they just seemed at peace with their lives.

5. Things that struck me as odd:
a) Hot Milk: I don't mind getting steamed milk in the middle of winter, but I noticed that "hot milk" was the way that milk came. Daniel ordered a coffee and it came with a bit of milk that was of course hot. At the continental breakfast that our hotel offered I was going to eat a bowel of cereal, so I found the container that was holding the milk. Yeah, so I thought the milk was cold, and when I took my fist bite I was in for a big surprise. Müsli with 'hot milk' the best thing in the world, right?
b) Satellites: I wish that I could have sat at one building and counted all the satellites that were on the roof. By far too many! On the roofs of every building there were, I would say, over 100 satellites, along with 1 or 2 and sometimes 3 satellites hanging off. It was rather amusing.
c) The 'fresh' Orange Juice: Oranges must grow plentifully in Morocco, or somewhere near by, because oranges were the "fruit." Orange juice always came freshly pressed, my favorite, and was delicious.
d) Driving Skills: Ok, they actually have amazing driving skill, with no system. You will be on a two lane road and they will make 4 lanes. People just kinda wonder into the streets whenever they feel necessary and so cars are not only dodging other cars that are coming from all different directions, but they are trying to dodge the people and other random things that make their way into the streets. Crazy, crazy drivers!