Eine Amerikanerin in Freiburg

Alles Klar!

So, it's been nearly a year since I last updated this journal, because, of course, I am no longer studying abroad in Germany. So why am I writing here now? Well, I'm just letting you know that the Eurotravels will commence once again-- I am going to teach English in Spain next year!! I leave in September and will be there until May. CIEE (the organization running this shindig) accepted me about a week ago; I've already sent in my deposit. Now I just need to find out my exact placement before continuing on with all the paper work business.

But how exciting!! I'll definitely start up a special Spain journal (and of course will post the link here). I'm gonna already start thinking of fun designs... :) lol I realize the design for this journal isn't all that exciting.

Oh also... I've started up a general LJ account with public posts-- cheetah_writes. I also still have my more personal LJ.... I have way too many LJ's.

So, keep your eyes peeled for info about Espana!!

Coming at you live from Colchester, Vermont, USA! I'm in Brian's new townhouse that he and his friend have had since May. Pretty nice place!

So, before I came home, I wondered how it would feel to be back, and after having been back 36 hours in the US, and just 9 hours in VT, here's how it feels. It feels like I woke up from a 5 month coma. Not that I know what waking up from a coma feels like, but what I mean is that it feels like I just was knocked out back in February and finally came around this summer. Like, I went to sleep, and woke up, and suddenly it just became summer. All though my time abroad in Europe itself seemed long, since it was a new place, five months away from home is hardly anything for having lived here 21 years.

Speaking of 21, I have very much enjoyed flashing my ID at two restaurants and at the NH State liquor store. My very first legal drink in the US: A B-52 coffee at Finale's in Cambridge, MA. Then yesterday we had dinner at an Italian place and I had Italian beer. At the liquor store, I bought 750 mL of vodka. The woman's like, "Happy birthday!" when she saw my ID.
I think I'll order myself a Mimosa when I get brunch at Sneakers with Brian today!

I drove my '95 Honda Civic last night from my home to Brian's place. It had been over 5 months since the last time I drove. OH God was it fun!!!! I just had fun accelerating and hearing the engine.... I had no idea I missed driving until last night. Though, I still maintain that if I ever live in Europe, I won't own a car-- why have a vehicle sucking away all your money when where you live has a VERY good public transportation system? My semester ticket was only 60 euros, which is around 90-100 USD. Consider that here, I pay about 500 USD in car insurance here for that same amount of time (6 months). That's just insurance, and already it's 5 times as much. Then there's the car itself, the maintenance, and the gas-- though, at least gas is not as obscenely priced here as in Germany (let's not get into the politics about the US government and oil, though).

So, weather in VT-- f***ing hot and humid, man! There were definitely a few days where Freiburg was about as hot as here (around 35 Celcius), but it was nowhere near as humid, so it was a lot more comfortable there than here.

Other news.... Brian bought his first car!!!!!!! A 2007 Honda Fit. He, my mom, Julie, and I spent a good six hours at the Boch Honda dealership, most of which was paperwork, obviously. He test drove a Fit with standard transmission and a Fit with automatic transmission. He chose automatic in the end, since it means not having to worry about replacing a clutch one day, and also it does have the option to switch to a manual mode. Plus, the standard was in black and the automatic was in blue, and he preferred blue very much over black.

OK, I think that's enough for now-- I'm very hungry, so we're gonna go brunch at Sneakers! Peace, from the U S of A!

PS to Mom: I hope you appreciated that I spell checked this entry!!

...and I´ll be flying home. Let me tell you, packing is such a pain!

Anyway, I´m strangely anxious about going home. I feel like I´ve gotten very used to being here in Germany and I´ll miss it. There are a number of things I like better here, although there are somethings I like better about home. Maybe I´ll experience some reverse culture shock!....

Gabi and Oliver now have a son! 20 inches and 7.7 pounds. Congrats to them!! Funny, just earlier this morning I was telling Bianca, "That baby better be born before I leave!!" and she´s like, "Probably not...." And just a few hours later, Oliver called Karl´s cell and told him the good news. So, Gabi and the baby both seem to be doing well.

Anyway, yesterday I said my final farewell to Freiburg. As Karl and Gertrude drove me out of the city, I started feeling kind of emotional and reflected on everything I experienced in the last five months. I admired the beauty of the black forrest in the sun as we drove through it.... and now, after having been gone 24 hours, I miss it already!! And I haven´t even left Germany. I had a dream last night about being back in the US or something... I don´t remember it exactly, but I woke up thinking I´d be back in my dorm, and also feeling sad. Not sure why I felt so sad.... so that made me sort of feel nervous about going back home for some reason. What will it be like? It´s been so long!!!!!!!!!!

Last night I watched Michael Moore's "Sicko" with Erica (the other American on my floor). I decided to type a few thoughts here, since of course Moore brings Europe into the picture as always and glorifies them and what a perfect world it is here, and in Canada. Don't get me wrong- I think both Canada and Europe are great places, and I do agree with a lot of their politics more than I do my own country's. But here's what bothers me about Michael Moore-- when he makes his documentaries, I agree with his points, but I hate that he feels it necessary to add in lies or extremely distorted truths. For example, in "Fahrenheit 9/11", he implies that the FBI, under the Bush administration, assisted the bin Ladens in flying out of the country, without even being interrogated, when no body else was allowed to fly in the three days (?) after 9/11. But appearently not only were they interrogated, but also they flew out shortly *after* the flight-ban was lifted. And the thing is, he doesn't actually lie about that- he just very slyly leaves those two things out.
So, as a liberal American, I feel like Moore is the Ann Coulter of Democrats.

That being said, here are some thoughts on the movie. ( Read more... )


Well, nothing like a depressiong Moore documentary to get you ready to go home to the USA. haha

On Friday I move out, which means I need to stop fooling around online and start running errands. Peace out!

WOOOHOOOOOOO! I sold my Damenfahrrad!!! Sold it to a German girl for 40 euros, including the lock/keys and helmet. I was worried she would be turned off at the fact that the light had broken off, but she wasn't phased at all by it. She said, "Oh, I've had other bikes before where that happened. It's really no big deal." Well, OK, as with all my paraphrasing, this one is translated from German into how I understood it. Also, she was shorter than me by like at least a few inches, which was encouraging to me because the bike is slightly too small for me. She was worried at first that it might be too big, but she tried it out a little and was satisfied.

Anyway, in exactly one week from today I'm moving out of my room. And I fly out of Munchen 5 days after that. That reminds me, I should email Karl. Things to do this last week here include:

-Abmelden (sign out, or whatever you'd say in English) from the city of Freiburg
-exmatriculate from the university
-pack up things... see if I need to ship anything!
-give away things
-collect Sheine (certificates from my courses)


Now, as for my feelings about leaving.... I mostly just miss the people at home. Otherwise, I love Europe. I like the quality of life here a lot now that I've gotten used to it. Funny, some friends of mine from China were saying that it must be easy for Americans to get used to Europe because it's mostly the same. One of them asked me if this was true, and I replied, "I can see how you'd think that- afterall, both the US and Europe are Western cultures and each are very different from Eastern cultures. But still, no, it's not easy-- I've had to go through a lot of adjustment here. Even though we have a lot in common, we're still two different cultures."

It's hard to describe.... I've just gotten used to accepting that cultures simply have their own quirks. Take drinking-- I used to be embarassed that the US is so uptight about just ordering a simple drink, because it really is stupid, in my opinion, especially considering other things that we aren't so uptight on, like extremely violent movies.... which is where I agree more with Europe's views. However, I'm not embarassed anymore-- I've simply accepted that it's part of our culture. I still would love to campaign for a lower drinking age. Even though I'm 21, I still strongly feel it needs to be lower, and also not treated like such a bad-ass thing. Yet, in the mean time, I accept it. it's a cultural thing... we're a country founded by prudes.
I LOVE how Cooper in "Eurotrip" put it. This is one of my favorite exchanges in the movie:

Cooper: "I'm talking about crazy european sex. You know America was founded by prudes. Prudes who left Europe because they hated all the kinky, steamy, European sex that was going on. And now I, Cooper Harris, will return to the land of my perverted forfathers and reclaim my birthright."
Scotty: "You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"
Cooper: "It's my passion."

Goes for sex, alcohol, and drugs. haha... BTW, this is still a PG journal. Just because the word "sex" is in a journal entry does not make it rated R. Maybe in the US it does, but I'm in Europe ;-)

Anyway, my point is, culture is culture. Stupid and brilliant. Confusing and mystifying.

I reserved myself a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday to pick up at the Buchhandlung Rombach and pay for in cash. It's 18.90 EURO when reserved.

I know, I know, you people back home in the US once again get a better deal-- Amazon was (until noon EDT yesterday) practically giving the books away for a tiny $17. And with the exchange rate, I'll be paying almost 50% more than that-- $26.

Oh yes, you laugh at Europe yet again charging a lot more money, but I can imagine the look on your face when I mention this little trade-off: I CAN GET THE BOOK 5 HOURS BEFORE ANYBODY IN THE US! It's officially released in Europe at midnight GMT (afterall, England is its birthplace), so 1AM CET here. And the 5-hour difference is just counting the East Coast of the US, not mentioning the other three timezones!!!

Yes, I am excited enough about the LAST HP book to have to walk back to the StuSie in the middle of the night, since the last S-bahns start going home to VAG-Zentrum (yes, all the English-speakers love making fun of the name, too) around 1 AM. And the night time buses don't start until like 3 AM. Though, maybe if I get my book quickly enough, I could catch one of the last VAG S-bahns and take it to Runzmatenweg... which is about a 10-minute walk from my dorm.
So hopefully I'll find someone who wants to go with me... walking home alone in the middle of the night is not safe, I know... but hey, it's Freiburg, and it's pretty safe here for the most part. But still, I'm hoping someone will go with me!

One of my American friends here is already going to fly to the US this Friday.... I have exactly two more weeks until I fly home, as of today.

But anyway, I need to get my Hausarbeit done today so that I can go have fun tonight with Anna and Niels at their barbaque. I'm excited about this... they're both vegetarian, so this will be my first vegetarian grill ever.... usually I'm the only one with veggie burgers or tofu wursts! Though, today is rainy and yucky so far, so I'm not sure what will happen....

Well aren't you lucky- another post! I go for a week without posting, and all of a sudden I've given you three posts within the last 12 hours. haha....

OK, Sunrise Avenue is now my new favorite band. Michael (my favorite German flatmate... lol) loves them and plays the album all the time on the boombox in the kitchen. They're Finnish (however the adjective is for Finnland). Well, I love the song "forever yours"... I just think the chords/melodie sound really cool.... even though half the lyrics are just the chorus being repeated. But, I've never cared much for lyrics anyway! Just the music.


Check out their MySpace for music.


So there you go-- My first (and probably only, sadly) European pop culture post here!

So, the concert went well last night. Not as big or long as our last one, but I think that was expected, considering we had only so many rehearsals this time. The director made an announcement to everyone when we were backstage after the concert, "Hey, everyone, Rebecca is heading home to the US soon at the end of this month." I felt special :) lol... I remember when I came to the very first rehearsal back in March he also announced, "We have a trombone player now- Rebecca, who is from the US." At first I was thinking, "Oh, great, identify me as the stupid american," but I don't think people really thought that. I felt very welcomed in the orchestra. It was good for my German, too, since most of the members are older and thus have not studied English as intensely as the younger generations. Though, the concert master kept trying to speak to me in broken English.... not sure whether he thought I wanted to talk in English, or whether he simply wanted to try using his English.

I feel pretty good today.... now I just have to work on this Hausarbeit. I'm going to make these next couple days intense....

Sadly, nothing very exciting is going on. However, the Freiburger Orchestergesellschaft is having a concert tomorrow! We're playing Brahms' Hungarian Dances and Rastrelli's Overture. They both sound pretty good, considering how few rehearsals we've had. And I'm enjoying myself again.

I have a Hausarbeit (paper) due soon that I need to seriously get cracking on. And yet, I don't entirely care if I do a bad job on it-- it's for Musikpsychologie, which, as I have stated before, is not that great a class in my mind. I filled out the evaluation form today (I know, it's amazing Germany has them... j/k! no offense intended to my German readers!) and wrote that I was disappointed with the class and that it was hardly psychology related dispite having "psychology" in the name. I mean, "How does a perfect fifth make you feel?" Come on! That's like phillosophy or music therapy.

So anyway, Freiburg finally has normal weather again! Yay! It's been in the 30s and sunny lately. (duh, 30s celcius, not fahrenheit... lol.) Tomorrow is supposed to be like 36 degrees, which is about 97 fahrenheit. Human body temp= 37 C or 98.6 F. Which reminds me, last Saturday was Live Earth, and a German channel was airing Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" in German. Let me tell you, it was kind of wierd to see this guy who looks just like Al Gore but speaking with a very high-pitched voice and in German!
It makes me want to go see the original now.
But anyway, I was proud of myself for being able to understand like 90% of the German. I thought it was funny how the screen would show figures in Fahrenheit or miles or feet, but when translated into German they just converted it all to metric. Makes me wonder if German even *has* words for the English system (like "inch" or "mile")... they probably do from some point in time.

:-) I'm going to come back to the US and say, "Yeah, you can get a liter of milk in Germany for 55 cents!" and people will be like, "Um... ok, what is that in gallons?" Well, at least most Americans know what a liter is thanks to soda bottles. But the concept of milk being measured in liters was wierd for me to accept at first for that reason. Like, what, milk soda?!?! hahaha... i love that.


In less than two weeks, I'll leave Freiburg to spend my remaining few days with Karl in Aidlingen. Hopefully we do something exciting.... haha probably not. But still, I look forward to being home soon, because although there are a lot of things here that I love and will miss, I really don't have many close friends here. I'm bored a lot. If I ever go abroad again, I'm going to make sure I do something that will keep me busy like a job or internship. I do like living here- simple things like walking to the grocery store to get a few things (vs. having to drive and buy a ton of things), or drinking without authority breathing down your neck, telling you that drinking is a sin. See, even though I'm going to be 21 anyway, I sort of feel like drinking at home will be different. Here ordering beer is just like ordering a coke. At home, it's like buying poison-- I mean, you're obviously going to get drunk out of your mind from having a single beer with dinner and then go drunk driving and kill 5 people. Just because you wanted to order a Becks with that pizza. But enough of that.... it's culture, what can you do? Germany has their own quirks as well.

Ich habe schon mein leztes Referat gestern gemacht! Yay! Kein mehr! Jetzt muss ich nur über mein Hausarbeit kümern... aber ich bin nicht so stressed darüber, weil die ganze Kurs doof ist, finde ich; Ich meine, dass mein Profesor ist sooooo philosophisch, dass ich könnte über irgendwas schreiben und er wäre glücklich.

Mir ist zu heiß, weil ich im Rio Bar bin, und mein Laptop ist so heiß auf meine Beine.

OK, enough of the German, I know. Basically, I said that I'm done with my referat, so I only need worry now about my paper for Musikpsychologie. But it's such a BS-philosophy course, taht I feel like I could make up anything in my paper and the prof would be satisfied. He's all, "Oh, how does the perfect fifth make you feel?" Come on!

I definitely have been disappointed by the Musikwissenschaft department, since I don't like either of the two seminars I signed up for. I dropped Politische Musik, because I couldn't stand it anymore; Musikpsychologie I can at least bear.

Anyway, I'm supposed to meet up with Claudia tonight; I think I'll ask her if she wants to do a Spanish-English tandem tonight. She even said she needed to work on her English, and I was like, "Well, why not do a tandem with me?" but she said she's usually too busy with stuff. So maybe tonight I'll see if I can convince her. Plus, I'd rather speak Spanish or English tonight.... I still, believe it or not, feel more fluent in Spanish than in German. Though, I'll probably be missing German once I'm conversing in Spanish and thinking very hard to remember certain words. But I think things like being in Italy have helped me remember my Spanish. I was surprised at how much I could say with Victoria (this girl at my hostel from Costa Rica) at the Hostel of the Sun in Naples. And also hearing all the Italian got me into the romance-language mood!

Grrr, I really wish I could take elementary Italian next year, but all the sections that would fit into my schedule are filled! If only I'd known back during preregistration, because as a senior, I had first dibs on classes. I sort of have this over-romanticized idea of speaking Italian being like, such a sexy thing to do. haha... But, I have a boyfriend anyway, who doesn't even know Italian.

I guess I'll just see if I can get Teddy to give me actual Bulgarian lessons next year. I'll take her out to coffee twice a week as her compensation (so that Thirsty Mind will be our classroom!). I mean, I'm sure as a friend she wouldn't want compensation; but she's a busy person (and falls asleep on chairs!! :-P I hope Teddy read that... lol) and all, so I want to make up for taking up time.

I am thirsty to learn more foreign language.... I'm not signed up for any foreign language class next semester, so something has got to happen..... ;-)

Just thought I'd share a part of an AIM conversation I had that relates to Europe:


Cuernavaca03: europeans just love anything to avoid credit cards for some reaosn--- paying in cash, bank-to-bank transfers....
Cuernavaca03: hehe, i wanted to say "uberweisungen" for transers....
Cuernavaca03: that's how german it is


Hehe, it's true; I now think, in my mind, "überweisung," before I think of the English, "transfer," mostly because bank transfers are not all that popular in the US (we really don't like the idea of someone else having such direct access to our cash!!!).

And I still do wonder what is with Europe and avoiding credit cards or checks? (to any Europeans reading this: The EC Card does not count as a credit card!) Is it a final way to protest capitolism and corperate power? One of my American friends here was talking about how at home she uses her credit card all the time (and pays off the balance in full every month), because she gets points on it, so it's like, free money for things she would have bought anyway. And it's kind of wierd to me that Europe doesn't have that. I could try to offer up a million theoretical explanations, many of which would be slightly tongue-in-cheek (you know me too well...).

However, I unfortnately finally have work to do, as I mentioned in my last entry. Time to go work on my referat on Hochbegabung.

Exactly one month until I touch American soil (more like, Boston pavement). Again, still having mixed feelings on this.... but for the most part, I'm leaning more towards being happy about it. But that may also be partly because I want all my work to just be over with!

Yes that's right... I'm finally doing real work for a change. I have a Referat on Hochbegabung (giftedness) with two German women from my class; this is for our Blockseminar on "Intelligenz, Kreativitaet, und Hochbegabung." For being three, 6-hr-long sessions... it's not all that bad! Again, though, I do get bored sometimes when I don't understand enough German; but also I think I'm a little bored because some of the things we talk about in that class are things I've already learned in a number of psych courses before. I mean, all the seminars I'm taking are theoretically for students in their second of fourth semester... yeah.

I'm at Rio Bar right now, by the way-- the internet is just, messed up right now in the StuSie. Basically, whatever server it is that converts URLs to IP Addresses is down, so unless you know the IP Address to every single site you visit, you basically can't surf the web. However, Skype does work.... and pretty well at that! So lately to get internet in my room I've VPN'd to UVM's network. But that's really slow, given that I'm using the already-slow StuSie internet to access a proxy server about 2,000 miles away.

So right now it is just so nice to have internet that works! I'm going to go enjoy that. In the mean time, if any of you living in Germany want any of the following items, email me: rrnowak (at) gmail (dot) com.

For free:
-bed-side IKEA lamp; very cheap-o, but works well enough as a bed-side light when you're reading before you go to bed.
-yellow-and-white-striped IKEA rug
-black door mat
-closet organizer/shelves (I used this for my clothes since my room has no dresser)

For sale:
-Damenfahrrad (bicycle) for 40 euros; includes lock and helmet.

Well, I can't believe that I only have a month and two days left in Europe. I feel like I've just gotten used to it here.... and yet now I have to again uproot myself and get back used to life in the USA. Well, i do have a whole month left.... not a lot of time, but it's something.

I was thinking about making a lot of day trips to nearby German towns/cities... because I haven't really done so even though I've spent time going to Italy, France, Spain... yet not my own study-abroad country! I think Germany is sort of an acquired taste.... Italy, for example, you fall in love with almost right away-- there is, afterall, a reason why so many movies and shows romanticize the country! I used to think it was just hollywood, but no, Italy really is a charming country. But anyway... Germany has its own unique qualities as well.

I also feel pretty accomplished that I'm somewhat fluent in German at this point, AND I can still speak Spanish pretty well. I can now say that I am proficient in two foreign languages.... how's that for a resume boost?
I love studying foreign language.... I'm still considering taking elementary Italian when I return to MHC senior year. I feel that it's close enough to Spanish that it would be pretty easy to learn. The only thing that would suck is that it meets every day (and in the morning at that). But it might be good for getting me out of bed on days like Tues and Thurs when I won't have any class-- it meets from 9-9.50, so I could do something like go weight-lifting afterwards. Then again, I might use those mornings for observations at Gorse, since I'm taking a developmental psych lab. Maybe I'll see if I can pick up the class once I've met for that lab. Then again, I might not even be able to get into it-- there's only one space left before reaching closed/waitlist status.
Another class I was thinking of taking just for fun was Computer Science 101.... learn cool things like java. And it only meets twice a week, plus a lab... whereas Italian would meet 5 times a week plus a lab. But, Italian would be much easier, which might be good considering that I'll be taking three 300-level classes. And I just love knowing foreign languages so much.

OK, but enough of that digression.

I have had mixed feelings about my experience until recently; after coming back from my trip to Naples, I was just so "wowed" by everything I saw, and decided definitely that taking a semester away from MHC was worth all of this. My classes weren't as good of quality as they would have been at MHC; but this was very much made up for by the fact that I had the chance to do so many things I couldn't have done in the US-- having gelato in Rome; having pizza in Naples; walking through Pompeii; hiking up Palatine Hill; exploring the Louvre in Paris; meeting other Americans in Paris because we almost got poisoned by a bug bomb; speaking Spanish in Barcelona; meeting an Irish guy on steriods in Berlin; falling into the Baechlen in Freiburg from my bicycle; drinking lots and lots of very good German beer...... it just goes on and on, from the little things to the big things. From enjoying the cuisine to seeing famous sights.

What I *do* have mixed feelings about now, is going home-- I feel sad and happy that in a month I will fly back to the US after having been away for over 5 months. That just BLOWS MY MIND-- five months away from the US! Wow! Crrrazy! Also, the longest I'll have been away from home in VT. I'd say the longest I've been away from my family, but I actually did see them in May, so that would be only three months; but still substantial!
Um, anyway, I will be sad that I'll leave Europe and all the amazing things here; but at the same time, I'll come home a bit wiser, knowing that while Europe has its perks, the US has its own as well. I will also be sad that I won't see certain people I've met here for a long time, if not ever again. Some people I'll miss more than others. But again, I will be very very very happy to see lots of people at home, and share all my stories with them. And also, I still deserve a REAL 21st Birthday party in the US! So that's going to happen, even though I'll have already been 21 for over 2 months. But I'll finally get to appreciate it in the US. The sad irony, though, is that I won't get to have all this amazing German beer.

I guess that's all for now. Peace

Finally, the moment you have been waiting for!

( Prossima fermata, PHOTOS! Uscita lato sinistro.... )

To see more, click here and see my entire NAPOLI album.

LOL... I love how "fermata" in Italian means "stop," because as a musician, I always thought it meant to hold or suspend-- which is what you do when a "fermata" is over a note or rest.
And I also love that the word for left is "sinistro"... which is where the English "sinister" comes from. The word for right is "destro".

(if you were wondering, the translation of that lj-cut link is "Next stop, photos! exit side left," and this is from the metro in Rome)

ok, that's all for now.....

Here's an email I wrote to Mom just now that sums things up in a nutshell:

Becky is perfectly fine..... I just got back from Capri. Capri is kind of overrated, but I still had a decent time there. Plus I feel really good right now-- i just showered. nice, cold shower. let me tell you, naples is pretty damn hot. well, more humid and gritty than hot i guess.

so anyway, people make such a big deal over naples-- it really hasn't been that bad. I think they only make a big deal because its not as touristy, and thus as a foreigner you feel more foreign. It just seems to me like its a typical dirty metropolis. i like it though.... i LOVED the Museo Archiologico Nazionale.... they have quite an amazing collection of artifacts from Pompeii and Herculeneum, plus Farnese statues from the Caracalla baths and a few Egyptian artifacts (I took some pictures for katie). They also have a whole section of erotica from pompeii and herculaneum.
that was the most exciting part of yesterday.... i went to the castel del uovo, which was really not exciting at all, and it just made me even more exhausted.

Today of course was Capri.... i pretty much just went because i met these two other girls who were gonna go there the next day and i asked if i could go with them. So I did.... between the ferry rides to and from, and lunch and the boat tour around the island.... i didn't really think it was that great for 40 euro. I think my time would have been better spent hiking the cliffs or something, but i went wearing flip flops, expecting to spend a lot of tiem at the beach. But even the beach was very pebbly and rocky, so I thinks going to Amalfi and Positano or Minori would have been better for that. Admittedly, though, the nice thing about rocks instead of sand is that it's much less messy!

I think I'm going to go post in my livejournal about this..... so, yeah, im doing ok!

love you.... and wish you were here... you'd love the archeological museum-- it has a lot of awesome stuff, yet it's not especially large, so it wouldn't be too harsh for your feet.

So to elaborate.... Capri was overrated-- the cheapest roundtrip ferry you can get is 18 euros. And then food is expensive, and what sucks is if you get there as early as we did (because the cheap one left at 7.35) you have a limitted lunch selection around 11.00 because the restaurants don't open until sometime in the afternoon... and that sucks if you're getting your energy just from a breakfast of cereal. The boat tour around the island is neat, but for 12 euros, not so sure. We didn't even get to see teh Blue Grotta, which is suppsoed to be this cave where the water is a gorgeous blue because of the angle the light comes in from. But that would also have been an extra 8 euros anyway.
I had read and heard that Capri was supposed to be so amazingly gorgeous and wonderful... and it wasn't, I thought. Yeah, it is beautiful... it does have a lot of tropical vegetation and lemon groves and really amazing cliffs and caves. So, better to hike, probably, and then enjoy some limoncello. But other than the beautiful nature, it seems more like an overpriced tourist trap... unless you have the money to do all the 'chic' shopping. I think it's somewhere that Teddy would like for that. All these special Italian shoes, bags, clothes, bathingsuits.....

As for the Archeological Museum, TOTALLY worth the money, even though you may get charged more than what your guide book tells you because the museum decided to have a special exhibit and charge you for that too even if you don't want to go to it. It's 9 euros to get in (6.50 if they don't have a special exhibit)... and I recommend getting an audioguide- they're only 4 euros and provide a lot of info, since the posters don't always have English information on them.
Even if you aren't normally that into archeology, it's a pretty impressive collection-- they have mosaics, glass, frescoes, statues, etc. from Pompeii, Herculeneum, and more.


So, Naples and its surroundings have a lot of things to offer-- archeological sights and museums; beaches; shopping; good pizza; hiking........ yeah. Strangely, I like Naples... it's pretty crazy. And they have good hostels, such as the one I'm at right now, Hostel of the Sun. From what I've seen, there are two things I'd say you HAVE to see here: Pompeii, and the archeology museum. Both were amazing. Oh yeah-- and also try Neapolitan pizza.

Um.... OK, I htink I'll go take a nap or something now!

So, I went with a couple people from my hostel to Vesuvius and Pompeii today. Well, first of all, Yang (one person I met at the hostel) and I --of all luck-- got fined on the bus. The ONE TIME that I have ever ridden in a bus in Italy without a ticket, we got caught. But, on the plus side of things, the man cut us a deal, and the two of us paid a total of 34 euro, rather than 34 euro per person... so it was only 17 per person. I mean, still sucks because its 17 euros could have been used for something else. But at least it's not like Germany, where they'd give you no merci and charge you a whole 40 euros.
Well, we went on w/o tickets because Jon (this French-Canadian guy at the hostel) convinced us that they NEVER check in Naples and shouldn't buy a ticket. Well, I'm never going to accept travel advice from a French-Canadian guy again! Especially named Jon. Well, that was teh worst part of the day.... only thing seconding that or competing with it being that at Pompeii they were sold out of the Campania arte 3-day card, which gives 2 free museum entrances adn discounts on others... for 12 euros. However, they did offer me the 7-day one for 28 euros which would grant me free entrance into museums and sights. Decided it wasn't worth it, since I'd probably spend almost that much anyway on whatever I could see while here. So those were how Napoli ripped me off.

But the good things were that we got to climb up Mt Vesuvius... oh yeah, also these two other girls who were friends with Jon and also french-canadia were with us.... so of course, the three of them spoke pretty much just french, which meant that Yang and I chatted most of the time. It was fun. So... we got good pictures of the crater. Oh yeah... the bus ride up was quite crazy. Narrow, windy road... two buses trying to pass eachother. yup. very fun.

OK, then we spent like 3 or 4 hours at Pompeii.... man, Pompeii was awesome! Though, seeing the casts of the people who died was sad/scary. But other parts were cool.... it's awesome how much stuff is still there because of the ashes that preserved it.

Well... I guess that's all for now.... I'm gonna go get some Neapolitan Pizza in a bit! yay!

OK.... so the subject was actually in Spanish not Italian, but that's the best I can do! Anyway, on with the post-- which is just copy-and-pasted from an email I wrote Bri and my Fam:

Ciao di Napoli!

OK, so I got here perfectly safely. Naples is pretty exciting so far, and I've only been here a couple hours! It was pretty awesome when the bus was taking us into the city. I mean, first of all, the Neapolitans drive *almost* as crazy as Mexicans, so that alone was exciting. But what's awesome is you can see Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance behind all the smog and haze. Yeah, I wasn't sure if the haze was from the polution or the humidity... probably both.
As for the garbage issue.... you can definitely see dumpsters overflowing with garbage sadly... but at least i haven't seen or smelled any toxic waste being burnt, so that's good.

I asked a police officer how to get to my hostel.... I asked, "D'ove Via Melisurgo 15?" He responded by getting a map, and explaining in italian and gestures where to go. I really love taht you can understand like 90% of key words in Italian if you already know Spanish.... It seriously helps so much and is the next best thing after actually know iing Italian. So, then he asked out of curiosity where I was from, I said "USA" pronuncing it the german way (oo ess ah)..... and so I asked if he spoke English-- Parla Inglese? Nope! Not a surprise actually. Then I asked, Deutsch? Nope.
Espaniol?
No, but he spoke french!
hehe... sothen I told him in Spanish that I can speak Spanish because its the best I can do for Italian! I think he thought I was from Spain at first because I was mostly speaking Spanish because I understood him asking something like whether I was from Spain, and where in spain-- Madrid? Barcelona? Haha... he obviously has not heard Spain spanish enough if he thinks Im from Spain. I dont have that stupid lisp when I speak Spanish! lol.... Anyway, I was proud of myself for being able to understand parts of his directions.... for example i understood that he said in Italian 'Go almost to the end of this street....'

Anyway... I wish I had a travel companion now not so much for the safety thing (though thats still a good reason) but also because it's so exciting to be here so far. I mean, Kaitlin and Allison would both love this... especially Allison-- this is the place if you're into ancient history and archeology. And also, as always.... como sempre... I wish Brian were here. Oh well... c'est la vie. So, plan for tomorrow is Pompeii..... I think I'll get up nice and early for breakfast (which is included here!) and go to the train station, where I can get the Campania Arte Card (which gives you discounts and some free entrances to various sights in and around Naples) and take the Circumvesuviana there. Pretty exciting so far!

Well I haven't eaten in about 7 hours, so i'm gonna have a nice dinner of tuna sandwich and beer. Yum. And I also have milk.... milk is 1.10 euros per liter here!!!!! that literally is twice what I pay in Freiburg-- 55 cents. I consider any milk over 70 cents to be expensive. OK, anyway, necesito comer!!

OK, I'm too lazy to put them all on here, so you can check out my "DEUTSCHLAND" album on facebook.

My flight for Naples leaves at 4.30... the train to Basel leaves at 1.15. I'm all packed, I think. I'm just killing time now mostly. So, I've got sunscreen, my camera, my passport, my italy guide book (which also has Italian phrases), clothing, meds, towel, etc. etc. etc. I'm still wondering if it would be better to buy a disposable camera for exploring Naples itself-- I'm worried about my camera being stolen! But I'd use my digital camera for Pomeii and Herculaneum and other sights outside the city.

Well, it's a little past noon, so I think I'll head downtown now to run a couple errands and then just read my book while I wait for the train.

Well, I handed in the forms to the Studentenwerk today about my move-out date. And I've been thinking about everything I'll miss about this place once I leave. I really miss people at home... I'd be perfectly happy to stay in Freiburg if they were all here! But anyway, here's what (or who) I'll miss from here:

• F***ing good public transportation, man! Europe makes the US look like dullsville in terms of easy mobility....



• Freshly-baked, high-quality bread for cheap (whereas at home it's poor-quality baked goods for a lot of money)



• The market at the Munsterplatz



• The Bächlen...



• Even speaking German... and feeling accomplished when I understand it or speak it!



• Traveling



• Youth hostels



• Duvets and Duvet covers



• Not being carded for buying a drink



• Really really really good beer



• Cheap stuff at grocery stores



• Anna and Niels! (my tandem partners)



• Michael... the nicest person on my floor of my WG.



• All the beautiful European streets, architecture....

OK, I think that's my list for now. I'm packing for Naples-- pretty much done. I'm packing for warm weather, but also aiming for releatively "conservative" dress-- pants, not shorts; and a white-coverup for my tanktops.... yeah. And I also have a lock, since hopefully they'll have lockers there at the hostel.

OK... well my mother is calling me!