Catch up.

I'm sitting down to update this blog because I'm tired of people send me angry messages to do it.(*cough**cough* Laura and Sierra).

Ok, so the rest of my trip to Germany was amazing! I did a lot of traveling around during the time I was there and I managed to go to Muenster, Cologne, Vallendar, Koblenz, Bonn and Maastricht (which is in the Netherlands). In Muenster I stayed with Charlotte and her parents and we enjoyed her mom's amazing cooking. We also went to a traditional German fair. I was SO much fun. It almost made up for missing the fair back home. The fair had all of the rides you would expect to find, plus food from every European country possible. I had a really really really good bratworst fresh from the grill. So so good. Anyways, when we were back in Vallendar I just kind of hung out with Charlotte and went to various activities. I went to some of her cheerleading practices, which was fun. Also, I went to a spanish class with her, which was really weird because they translated everything into German, so basically I was forced to communicate through Spanish. Ummmm, I'm trying to think of what else I did with Charlotte. I suppose I should've sat down to write this as it was happening.

Oh, on Tuesday I took a train down to Cologne, which is a fairly large city in Germany. Not as big as Berlin but its really nice. Taking the train was quite an adventure because that morning the train workers in the Vallendar area staged a general strike. Meaning none of the trains I needed to be on were running. Very, very annoying. So basically, Charlotte and I ran around until we found a train headed to Cologne and I just jumped on it hoping it would actually get here. I think I should've been more concerned with the situation given the fact that I only know about 10 word in German, but I was suprisingly calm. I finally did make it to Cologne though and my friends from school met me at the train station. They took me to the huge cathedral in Cologne and to an amazing Italian restuarant called Vapiano. Apparently they have a Vapiano in New York. I may have to research this. Anyways, I'm pretty sure the highlight of my day was going the Chocolate museum. There is an entire museum run by Lindt dedicated to chocolate. It was amazing. You went through and learned about the production of chocolate and the history and all that fun stuff. But the best part is at the end there is a HUGE chocolate fountain. I was in heaven. We also sat down in the cafe in the museum and had chocolate cake. It was delicious.

After Cologne, I returned to Charlotte's flat and spent more time with here. And she took me to a house party. Quite interesting, especially since I couldn't communicate with anyone. But it was fun. On Friday, Charlotte and I decided to go to Bonn. Which is a really nice, historical city in Germany. We went there and walked around and had a look at the city. I also went to the house where Beethoven was born. Pretty cool. And among other things, I ate an entire pizza. I was pretty impressed with myself. That night we went back to Muenster, to Charlotte's parents' house. Her mom was having a party in celebration of her birthday so I met a lot of interesting people. They were pretty interested in why I would come to England to study when it wasn't required of me. For me, its a hard thing to explain to people, why I'm here. Because a lot of people can't understand why I would just come for the experience when I could be at home in University. But I try, and sometimes they get the concept.

On Saturday, Charlotte and I drove to Maastricht, which is supposedly one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands. We had a bit of trouble getting there because of traffic and because we didn't really know where we were going, but we made it eventually. It was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in a really cute hostel in the center of town. When we got there we actually had Mexican food for lunch, not as good as home but good enough to satisfy the craving. And then we took a walking tour of the city and saw all of the historic parts. There is a wall that runs through the city that was part of the originial fortifications. Its highly interesting. We also got to see some gorgeous cathedrals and churches. The river running through the center of the city makes everything so much more picturesque. That night we ate at a little restuarant that served all kinds of food. I had a risotto dish that was to die for. I would love to go back to Maastricht one day and see more of the city.

So thats pretty much my trip to Germany. I'm back in England now. Actually, I just got back from a weekend in London. Again, I had train troubles (what is it with me and trains?) because the weather was so bad. I ended up hopping trains, starting in the opposite direction, until I got to London. I went to have Thanksgiving with the other Americans in my program. It was a really nice dinner, although they didn't quite get the pumpkin pie right. I guess nothing will ever be as good as my Moms. I must say I'm very tired now because I stayed out late both nights. The first night we just walked around a bit, went to Tesco, and talked until like 3 AM. The second night we got all dressed up and decided to sample a little bit of London's nightlife. It was so much fun, but I definitely could not live a continuous party lifestyle. First of all, its too expensive. Second of all, I just can't handle the lack of sleep. On the second night we had to take a bus to get back to our hostel because the underground had closed for the night. The bus ride was probably one of the most interesting bus rides of my life. There was either a problem with the system on the bus or someone was just trying to cause trouble. If you aren't familiar with public transportation then I will explain how it works. If you're on the bus and you want the bus driver to stop at the next stop, you have to push the red buttons and it will make a sound and he will stop. Well, on our bus the buttons were being pushed over and over and over and over again, causing us to hear a really annoying sound many times and causing us to stop at every stop. Well there were these really rowdy boys on our bus that were getting blamed for causing the trouble. We were sitting upstairs with them and we could plainly see that they weren't doing it. But everyone downstairs believed they were. So first a french man comes upstairs to yell at them. Next, an italian guy came upstairs and said 'I will call the polizia because I dont take caca'. I think you can assume the meaning. Really, it was all very entertaining because the french and italian accents make everything funny. But then the bus driver actually stopped, shut off the bus, and came upstairs and it turned into a huge argument. So a bus ride that shouldve taken us 30 minutes took us over and hour. But I don't really mind because it means I have a good story to tell.

I don't know if I'll have any pictures posted but I'll see what I can do. Its really hard to do anything with the lack of good internet I have. Let me take the opportunity to say I don't have wifi, or complete facebook access, or access to most chat systems. So stop scolding me for not being on skype or whatever, I CANT HELP IT! Seriously, I would love to be able to skype and communicate with everyone but its really beyond my control.

Anyways, I better go because I shouldve been doing work but I chose to update my blog instead. Cheers.