Weeeeeeeeell...I's born down the Southland. Some twenty-odd years ago....

I'm back where it all started. I got to Wuppertal yesterday and I'll be heading home tomorrow. I've filled my day and a half eating entirely too much and seeing old friends. I'm gonna crash pretty soon so I don't miss my flight so I'm just gonna quickly thank all the people who helped me or made time for me along the way:
Jacky, Till, Pia, Klaus, Valtraud, Erich, Paula, Sabrina, René, Nico, Daniel, Bene, Kathrin, Janine, Minnie, Martine and last but not least the couple that ran the Döner stand in Kolsass who kept giving me extras because I'm so skinny and pathetic. Thanks to you all for helping make this trip amazing.
I'm tired and I'm sure I've forgotten someone here. I'll add you later when it comes to me. One last thing before I go:

OI! BOYOS! PREPARE YERSELVES! I'M COMIN' HOME!

Oh and be sure to check out my buddy Kevin's new blog post. He totally quotes me in it. (or rather he quotes me quoting my grandfather) Check it out. He's good people.

Baby I've been here before...

I made it back to Saarbrücken safe and sound, though admittedly a bit tired. I took off from Kolsass at ten after 7 and caught a bus to Innsbruck. There I had to get a train back to Munich. The lady that sold me the ticket got me the cheapest one available (thanks by the way) though the other side of that was that it was a 3 hour journey. Luckily the landscape was beautiful with lightly falling snow and mountains that gradually gave way to fields. I deliberately left myself ample time (3.5 hours) in Munich to run a quick errand for my buddy Jon. You see, there's a brewery bering Jon's last name near Munich and he used to have wheat beer glasses from this brewery. That is, until his wife accidentally broke them (as a quick aside - notice how my beer glasses don't get broken by wives, Jon?).

After that I caught a train to Mannheim. On the train, I sat across from a young woman who was on her way to the Frankfurt airport to catch a flight to Sydney for a year. We had a great time chatting on the train. There are always interesting people to be found in the world if you're just brave enough to say hello.

At the Mannheim stop I bid my new friend adieu and dashed across the platform and just made the train to Saarbrücken. A short nap later and I was back in the quaint provincial town near the French border. Till got off work shortly thereafter and we went to an Italian restaurant to quickly feed and watch the soccer game. A quick dig at the British military men who so gladly took the piss out of me in Kolsass. How'd y'all like that stomping Munich gave Arsenal three days ago? Yeah, eat it you potato-headed, island monkeys!

I plan on taking the next week pretty easy. Till's sick and this is the last week of my vacation, so I plan on spending my days frequenting cafes and coffee shops around town. Speaking of which, the song Hallelujah just came on over the radio. Thinking of you Nanna!

Odds 'n' Ends

As I spent the majority of the last week sick in bed, there isn't a whole lot to report. Nothing you people actually want to visualize that is.... That being said, I've decided to use this post to jot down some of the half thoughts and musings of the last couple of weeks.

Today I woke up to walk to one of my jobs. I decided to get up and do it earlier today so I could have more of the day to myself. I walked out of my apartment today at 6:00 and started the fifteen minute walk to work. I was the only one on the streets. It was an interesting sensation to realize that the entire village was asleep. There probably wasn't another soul out in the whole valley that early on a Sunday morning. Except the one guy who wasn't supposed to even be there. A sole American in a remote valley village. After work I took a walk through the woods surrounding Kolsass and made my way back to a small chapel tucked away in the trees. I had found this little place once by accident a number of weeks ago and hadn't found time to head back there. I spent fifteen or so minutes there in quiet, secluded meditation before going home, making coffee and beginning to pack my possessions back into my bag.

That alone has been a pretty liberating experience. As of right now effectively everything I own can fit into one hiking backpack. For anyone who's spent time as a poor college kid, or just someone starting out in the world with a few, precious possessions to their name, it's not difficult to remember having very little material wealth. The difference is as a college kid, there is always the possibility and even expectation that there will be a time of plenty in the future. The material is restricted by the financial. Now imagine you COULD buy something new: a new sweater or pair of pants, or a really cool tea kettle (ok so I like tea kettles), but then you remember that you physically have to carry any new acquisitions on you back. Is it worth it? And if so, what in your bag has to be left behind to make room?

Sorry again for the lack of substance in this post. My time in the valley is winding down and I can feel it coming to a close. On Wednesday I'll be back on the road and hopefully I'll have more of worth to share. See you all soon!

Xenoentomology

When I was first looking at colleges (after the Harvard/Yale/"I want to be a physicist like Einstein" phase), my dad gave me a piece of advice. I was looking at the programs at Fort Hays and had just returned from my one and only campus visit. We were sitting in the fire station drinking Dr. Pepper from the vending machine and he said, "It might not seem like a long way away now, Zach but you know, there is nothing worse than being sick and away from home. That two-and-a-half-hour car trip is gonna seem like half the world away when you're in your dorm room with the flu."  About three months later in that same office I told my father that I had decided to put college off for a year and go to Germany. Yeah I'm not always the best at taking advice.

He was right though. A lot of things were tough that first year, but being sick abroad is one of those things that just kinda stays sucky. Being sick is no cake-walk to begin with, but the point where you can't just stay in bed all day because no one is going to go out and get you soup and medicine is pretty terrible.

I've been fighting off a nasty bug for the last couple of days. No worries I'm well provisioned. I had the foresight to stock up on canned soup and aspirin when I felt it coming on. By the time I was completely bedridden I had all the tea and nourishment I'll need for the apocalypse. As such, this will be a pretty brief post seeing as I'm sneaking it in between naps. But I would like to leave you with this sentiment: the absolutely worst thing about being sick is when all the snot finally does drain from your sinuses and you can smell the rancidness of the room you've eaten, slept and had cold sweats in for the last three days. Yeah, good times.

So here's the thing...

I woke up today and walked to one of my myriad jobs. The stroll there was unremarkable. After about two hours I finished up and walked home. That stroll was also unremarkable. Therein lies the problem.

I got back into my apartment and looked out my window as I got breakfast ready. I saw the garden, the snow and my neighbor walking out to cut wood. After breakfast I took a nap and then started making lunch (hey I've got a cold and the whole country closes on Sundays; I can take a nap from breakfast to lunch!). Again I looked out the window and saw a bird flying by. Only after watching the bird for a bit did I realize that he was flying across an amazing landscape. He was flying across the breathtaking backdrop of the Alps and I had only just noticed it.

That's the problem. I had been outside, I had looked out the window repeatedly and only then had I noticed the outstanding view that I have. My Father has a theory about such things. Dad loves Colorado. Not skiing, not hiking; he loves Colorado. But he doesn't want to live there. And I finally understand why.

He's always said that living there would make it harder to appreciate the beauty that surrounds him. The dream becomes commonplace; the extraordinary becomes mundane. The Alps, unfortunately, have begun to lose their magic.

In ten days I'll be on the road again and I'm content with leaving the beauty of Kolsass behind. I'll stow it away for another time. I'll go away and come back to the breathtaking panorama that is this valley village and the wonderful people I've met here.

The wonderful thing though is that this concept works both ways. When I come back home to Kansas, it will be with new eyes. Just as I was taken aback by the beauty and novelty of the mountains, it will be equally breathtaking to see the purples and blues of the prairie and the green of newly sprouted wheat. Just as I enjoyed the company and hospitality of those I've met here and on the road, I'll be able to find ease and comfort in the familiar relationships back home. I guess what I'm saying is, it's been a wonderful time, but Kansas beckons. See you all in a couple of weeks!

Some People Part 2

Ok so it's been a while. Part of it is my fault, and the other part is, well... also my fault. As I've previously written, my apartment is currently under construction. Like heavy duty, total makeover construction. And, well, I used my computer to listen to music while I was using a jackhammer to cut into the concrete walls. The dust got into the computer and crashed it. Yeah it sucked.

I tracked down an Apple store in Innsbruck, but not until ten minutes after they closed. So I took the 45-minute bus ride back to Kolsass and went to a bar for dinner. While talking to the owner about my recent misadventure in Innsbruck she said she'd call her computer guy and see what he could do. As it turns out "fix the whole dang thing" is what he could do. The piece that was broken would have cost 1,000 Euros at an apple store (that's 1,333 Dollars about 200 less than what I bought the dang thing for). He did it for 100 Euros (still a hunk of cash, but only 10 percent of what it should have cost) and I had it back in two days.

The woman who referred me to the computer guru is also the woman who will be renting my apartment when I leave. She and her husband, have been phenomenal to me since I've gotten here. In fact, since they had to take out my oven and stove to do some wiring, they've been inviting me to the bar two or three times a week to feed me. Which is awesome because he cooks a lot better food than I would have made for myself.

Some people are like that. It seems that for every jacket-nabbing Kraut in the world, there is an alpine village full of Austrians willing to sit down and have a beer or share a meal with you.

I met several of these people when I went schellenschlagen last week.

Schellenschlagen is a Tyrollean tradition dating back 250 or so years. The idea is that the men of the village get together and strap on these huge bells and then go through the streets ringing them to scare away the evil ghosts of winter.  The video above shows them doing it in a parade on "Unsinniger Donnerstag", but the village men do it periodically all through the Fasching (Carnival) season. When not in a parade setting it more resembles christmas caroling. They ring the bells up and down the village streets and up to peoples houses, except they get schnapps and beer and mulled wine instead of hot-chocolate.

Last Thursday I got invited to go along...by someone that didn't even show up. That meant I infiltrated a time-honored, culturally significant tradition and the guy who invited me wasn't even there to vouch for me. It took the rest of the guys three stops to work up the courage to ask me who the heck I was. After that we had a great time. They were very excited to have their first American Schellenschlager, though I did have to keep pulling out my passport to prove that I wasn't German. Which is a compliment I guess.

Babel

Some six odd years ago when I started learning German, most people everyone warned me about the articles in German, believing that this would be the most difficult part of learning German as a foreigner. For a point of reference, there are three base definite articles that then each have several changes they can make depending on case, and an equally complicated list of indefinite articles. Not to mention the definitive and interrogative, possessive "article-like" pronouns.

Definite article (strong)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	der	das	die	die
Accusative	den	das	die	die
Dative	dem	dem	der	den
Genitive	des	des	der	der

Indefinite article endings (mixed)

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	ein	ein	eine	-eine
Accusative	einen	ein	eine	-eine
Dative	einem	einem	einer	-einen
Genitive	eines	eines	einer	-einer

                                               (Wikipedia)

I don't really expect many of you to understand what this is, just that you marvel at what my brain does in split seconds while speaking a foreign language.

They were correct in that articles can be a challenge at times, but it is by no means the hardest part of the German language. You see, German wasn't always a unified language. Most people ascribe the beginnings of a formal, unified German to the publishing of Luther's Guttenberg Bible. Before this, everyone spoke their regional language, which throughout Germany meant they all spoke more or less related dialects. Fast forward to today where all of those dialects still exist in addition to German being widely spoken in no less than six countries in Europe, each having it's own set of unique dialects and governmental reforms to standard German. 

Now what I learned in school is known as High German, or the form of German recognized by the German government as the most standard form of the language. It would be like learning British English as opposed to American. Or so I thought. I thought learning High German would be the skeleton key to German speakers everywhere. I may not speak their dialect, but everyone will know standard German... Yeah, not the case. 

People in my village describe what they speak as "Deutsch" and what I speak as "Preisisch" (Prussian). That's right, they consider what I speak to be the dialect. Which of course it is. There is no perfect form of a language. There are only forms recognized by arbitrary bodies to be more correct. However, if there were perfect forms of language there would still only be the one. People speaking imperfect Latin became the predecessors of perfect Italian, French and Spanish. An early Germanic tribe known as the Angles couldn't quite wrap their heads around conjugation and passive speech and their bastardized version of Proto-Germanic lead to language of the British Empire, which in turn spawned American English. 

That is what is so exciting about language. It's a living entity that grows and changes and evolves with each generation. And it never stops. Think of the word Google. It's a search engine. But how many of you have used the phrase "I'll google it real quick"? I'm only twenty-four, and in my lifetime I've seen the introduction of new words into my native language. How many words do you use today that your parents would never have thought were a part of our language? Post 'em in the comments if you like. 

And here's a cool link if you, like me, wonder sometimes where a word comes from. Enjoy. 

PS - Time for some endorsements. My good friend Claire is a small town Kansas girl who moved out to San Francisco after graduation. She's a phenomenal photographer (she took the picture I'm using for my blog) and a terribly witty and open-hearted young woman. Oh! And she has a blog! Check it out. She's a pretty interesting person.

The American Diaspora

I've been neglecting my blogging responsibilities. There is just so much to do here! By the time I make it home I'm exhausted.

One thing taking up a bunch of my time is renovating the apartment I'm in. One of the couples here in Kolsass is interested in renting it when I'm out of the picture. The catch is that this apartment has been used by Erich and Paula as storage for the last 10 or so years. Which means my living area has become a battle zone. Erich haphazardly carting things off to the workshop to be cut up for firewood on one side, and Paula desperately trying to find hiding place for them on the other. And me and my nice quiet apartment caught in the middle.

It's not that bad actually. It gives me something to do during the day and keeps a modest amount of coin in my pocket.

But back to my title...

Erich, Paula and I went to Innsbruck yesterday to meet with the Austro-American Society. It's a group of Americans, Austrian students studying English and their assorted hangers-on who, among other things, get together twice a month to have dinner. It was quite interesting to meet so many Americans that has chosen the life of an ex-pat. Some of them had gotten teaching positions here and then gotten married, some studied here and some came for vacation and just never bothered leaving again.

It was great to talk to these people about how extended time abroad influences their views of their homeland and what prompted them to jump ship to begin with. I'm going to try, as much as possible, to stay out of politics in this blog, but many seemed to have become quite critical of American policies concerning security and surveillance as well as the common conception of personal freedom.

Now we didn't just sit around and critique American culture for two hours.  There were many funny and absurd stories shared that we as long-term foreigners could all appreciate (anyone who has 'vermisst' their bus can relate).

Which leads me to why I must now take my leave. A very nice foreign exchange student from New Orleans has invited me to celebrate her birthday with her and Innsbruck crowd, which means I have a bus to catch.

Ski Weather

I had breakfast on a mountain today. Yup. On a mountain.

Paula Erich and I went skiing today and the first order of business was to trek up the mountain and just the right sequence of lifts and runs to get to this place called the Kristallhütte. Man that was a good breakfast! Two eggs over easy atop a mound of bacon and two slices of hearty wheat bread and butter. Just the thing you need to fuel a day of alpine skiing. Speaking of which...

Skiing in the alps is a blast. I didn't get too adventurous on the slopes today, but man you could have some fun there. People here really take their skiing seriously. None of the icy patches, or speed-crazed hooligans I've experienced elsewhere. Just perfect powder on every run and toddlers putting my form to shame.

The view from the peak was absolutely breathtaking. Valley upon valley with little clusters of red-roofed houses nestled between cloud-engulfed peaks. Kinda makes me wish I was the picture taking type. Too bad for you guys I guess.

We got there pretty early, which was great. We beat the crowds and clouds that showed up just as we were bailed home for lunch.

Tirol

Happy New Year everyone! I had a great time last night meeting new friends around the village and learning how the English celebrate New Year's Eve (they sing a song in a circle and hold hands, also they drink). Later in the night I met a couple of kids my age from the village and had a great time with them. 

But here's the really cool thing about this place. I live in the freaking alps! I can see the mountains from every window in my apartment. For all my nerd friends out there; it's like I live in Skyrim! For real. It's like High Hrothgar is in my backyard! For everyone else; t's like I live in the ALPS!

Well that's it for the moment. Actually, there's a ton more like the crazy dialect, the radically different bar culture, and the Swarovsky headquarters being 5 minutes away, but we're hitting the slopes early tomorrow so I better hit the hay. I'll see you all when I see you.

In Media Res

Today I drank a steaming cup of cat shit. But we'll get to that in a minute. 

On Sunday I took off from Saarbrücken. I bought a train ticket that's good all over Germany for one day, but only for local and regional transport. That meant that 328.643 mile trip took just over ten hours to complete. I was pretty sick of train stench by that time.

But I did get to meet a couple of interesting people. The ticket I bought is good for up to five people, so I put out the word that, for five euros, someone could ride with me to Hannover. I found three people that wanted to come along: a computer programmer from Morocco, a student from Syria, and woman from Turkey. Me being an American, you can imagine how interesting our conversations were.

But I did finally make it to Hannover where Till was waiting for me at the station. I met Rosi, his mother and his two brothers, Lutz and Götz. Rosi is an awesome cook by the way; I've likely put on significant weight while here. That first evening we had sausages and sauerkraut, the next day we had raclett (it's an awful lot like a Mongolian grill restaurant, but at home. I've only ever seen it in Europe so if anyone knows where I can get one in America, leave a comment), and lunch the next day produced goose with potato dumplings (Klose) and boiled red cabbage (Rotkraut). Pretty good stuff.

On Christmas Eve we all went to the protestant church in Ronnenberg (the town they live in). The sermon was more or less what one expects from a Christmas service, but the church itself was gorgeous. No one seemed to know for sure, but the consensus was that the church was originally built in the 14th century, and (relatively) recently rebuilt and restored. The floor was made of unfinished oak boards and every inch of the ceiling was painted with images of saints. The radical difference between the plainness of the floor and the extravagance of the ceiling may or may not have been an intentional symbol of some theological premise, but it was though-provoking none-the-less.

After church we came back and exchanged gifts. The three boys bought a bag of very, very expensive coffee for Rosi. Perhaps some of you coffee snobs will recognize the name Kopi Luwak. Yup, that's the name for coffee brewed from beans eaten, digested and then shit our by a cute monkey-cat. Take a minute and enjoy that picture. Now think about it pooping. Now you're making coffee from the poop. 

It was pretty tasty. Merry Christmas!

A Royale With Cheese

"It's the little differences. I mean they got the same shit  over there that they got here, but it's just...just there it's a little different." - Vincent 'Our Man in Amsterdam' Vega

So the first couple of times I came to Europe, Dr. Pepper was nowhere to be found. Which was kind of a bummer because that is my happy juice. Seriously, that stuff is the nectar of the gods. I remember my Dad taking my sister and me to a movie in Kansas City when I was younger and he gave us each a wad of cash and said we could get whatever we wanted. I had three boxes of junior mints and four Dr. Peppers. It was bad.

Any way, since then Dr. Pepper has made it's way across the pond, but every time I try it it's just terrible. But I'm a gullible sucker so when I saw it yesterday in the grocery store, I thought, "hey, it's been a couple of years since I tried it in Germany. Maybe they got the formula right." It still tastes like cough syrup. Serves me right I suppose.

Everything is a little different here, but that's not always a bad thing. The bread here is amazing! It's unfortunate because it's something that would never take off in America. Here the bread is hard and full of stuff. My personal favorite is a wheat bread that has sunflower seeds baked into it. I mean, you could build a pretty solid wall out of it, but it is so good.

And speaking of wheat and yeast; the beer is also a highlight here. Even their standard, run-of-the-mill beers (often a pilsner) have a ton of taste. I had a bock beer about a week ago that blew my mind. It's from the Bruch brewery close to here. Not a lot of carbonation and fairly malty (which is not really my style at all), but rich and dark and a nice roasted taste to mellow out the sweet. Damn good I say.

I lit a candle for you today

Whoa! Made it to Trier today. Finally! Met a Macedonian on the train. That was pretty cool.

My first stop in that epic little city was...the bathroom at a Burger King. My coffee caught up to me on the train and it was a brutal last half-hour. But after that I walked to the Porta Nigra. The Porta Nigra is this old Roman gate that used to stand at the edge of the city (ya know, like, 1,900 years ago), but now is a mere 0.6 kilometers away from the train station (the sign said so). The original name of the gate is lost to history (because people name gates, I guess?) but it has been known as the Porta Nigra (Black Gate) since the middle ages. Yeah, it got my Mordor up too. It got it's name, apparently, because of little lichen that took up residence on the stones, turning them a blackish grey color. I don't know if anyone else just got excited, but I love ancient symbiotes!

As I walked through the gate for the first time today, I got kind of a steam punk feel from it. There was a ton of scaffolding and wires and tubes running through it. Admittedly, they did make an effort to stick them in the darkest corners they could find which totally just added to the whole shadow-government ambiance.

After that I went rogue. I knew there were lots of other old Roman things scattered throughout the city, but I figured I'd just wander around 'til I found something interesting. I ended up following some narrow and very Harry Potter-esque streets to the Trier Cathedral. Admittedly, I had no idea it was a cathedral when I went in. I think I came in the back way. Absolutely gorgeous nonetheless and imagine how delighted I was when I found a magnificent cathedral at the end of Diagon Alley!

For real though. I do love old churches. When I lived in Wuppertal, I would often take the train to Cologne after classes just to do my reading in the shadow of the cathedral there. Something about all the stone-work is breathtaking. And they all smell the same: must and rock and...sacredness. There's a soothing coolness, an atmospheric balm for the soul that just permeates old churches.

When I left the cathedral (through the entrance I'll remind my readers), I found myself in the middle of the old town center! Old town centers are pretty cool in Europe by the way. Lots of old half-timber houses, but the fancy kind. Traumhaft! And they had the Weihnachtsmarkt set up there! And it's just not Christmas without Glühwein! I had four of those this afternoon, somehow made my way back to the train station and am now enjoying a cup of Irish tea (I watched Doctor Who this weekend and it made me miss tea time with Bronagh and Sharon) waiting for Till to get done with work so we can go see a movie. A surprise movie!

Hobos don't visit museums....

Change of plans…again. I hitched a ride with Till back to where he lives in Saarbrücken. It's a nice little city with several beautiful buildings. I spent most of the afternoon in a museum that used to be castle here. It had artifacts from every period starting with the original celtic inhabitants through to the modern day. What I found particularly fascinating was the ways in which the gods changed throughout history. The three major celtic gods (whose names escape me know) developed from a vague ancestor cult of which there is little evidence, and slowly morphed into a pantheon of greater and lesser gods through exposure and trade with the romans. Which of course made the transition somewhat easier when the romans conquered this area.

Not far from here is a small town called Trier which has the unique claim of being the oldest city in Germany. Check the wikipedia page. It's full of roman ruins and sundry other buildings of cultural significance. Maybe that'll be my project for tomorrow. We'll see how things go!

After arriving yesterday evening, Till and I set out to see the Weihnachtsmarkt here, but quickly changed our minds due to the biting cold (-6 Celsius, you guys can figure it out) and opted instead for a little restaurant near the river. Great food! We had two huge potato dumplings filled with seasoned ground beef with a bacon cream sauce over them. Sauerkraut came with it of course. To drink we ordered a couple of locally brewed bock beers. Perfect meal, except that I ate the whole thing and nearly fell asleep at the table. 

P.S. After writing this in a little coffee shop, I realized that the ticket for the museum got me into another museum for free. So I went to the art museum here. About the same amount of cultural significance, but with far fewer heathen gods. 

Travel Lite

Travel gear is a huge industry these days. Every store seems to have the latest and greatest in travel accessories. There are a lot of paradigms when it comes to travel and a lot of differences of opinion for the best travel gear. I belong to the cheap, minimalist camp myself. Travel on the cheap and with as little as possible. That being said there are a couple of things you really shouldn't skimp on. The first being shoes.

Being a nomad, you'll find yourself walking an awful lot, and because the weather (and often the destination) can be unpredictable a good pair of waterproof hiking shoes can be a lifesaver. I opted for the Firebrand II from Oboz. They're waterproof, insulated and comfortable to wear while hiking or while walking around the city. They aren't boots, which I like. They are a great all purpose shoe useful in all conditions.

The second thing any good wanderer needs is a good backpack. There are plenty of companies that offer a great product and a little shopping around to find what works for you is always a good idea. I'm currently rocking a hiking pack from Osprey courtesy of my father. This is a great pack that I use both for hiking and for general travel. My favorite feature is the small detachable day-pack which is great if you're using the pack as luggage and don't want to take space up with a back pack for quick hikes or a day on the slopes. 

Everything else is Geschmackssache. There are thousands of coats, towels, knives, utensils and other accessories designed to assist both the casual and the hardcore traveler. The best advice of all is to try it out yourself and figure what you need and what you don't. Happy travels!

Mice and Men

Nico's party turned out to be a blast! I was surprised to find people there that I hadn't even expected to see during my trip. And I met a couple of new people. So far a good trip.

My friend Kathrin and I went in together to get Nico a ticket to an F.C. Köln soccer game tomorrow. At first when we got the tickets I said I wouldn't go because I didn't think I'd be staying in Wuppertal this long. But my plans have evolved to the point where I will be going with everyone tomorrow! I went to book my ticket this morning and there was one seat left next to our group. Just the one. And I got it! I'll let you all know how it goes.

As far as plans go, mine have been fairly fluid. I wanted to go to Munich and spend three or so days wandering around getting to know the city. The problem is that most of the hostels are closed at the moment and the few that are open want way to much money for my taste (I'm Tom Metzler's grandson after all!). So I'll be hitching a ride with Till back to Saarbrucken on Wednesday and I'll spend a couple of days wandering aimlessly there. I'm told Saarbrucken is a smaller town more or less off the beaten path. Pia practically raved about the museums and it's supposedly only 15 minutes away from the oldest town in Germany. So it sounds like I'm gonna go hang out with some dead Italians for a while (Romans. I mean Romans). After that...well I'll have to let you know.

Some People...

Yesterday was another great day, by and large. I say by and large because of one anonymous agent who put a royal hitch in my plans. But we'll get to that.


I woke up and made the short walk down to the grocery store to pick some things up for breakfast (see Mom, I'm being a good guest!) when I quite literally ran into my friend Mark! He had a class around the corner and had popped over to grab a sandwich and some coffee. We had a good time quickly catching up and then I went on about my shopping with a little more sunshine in my day knowing that I was in a place I could always come back to and find people who knew me.


I then spent most of the day working on translations and napping. I'm still pretty jet lagged so I don't feel so bad about it. That evening I met good friend for dinner (chinese from the mall 'cause that's how we roll) then we went back to her apartment to catch up (read: drink beer and catch up). This was another point in the day that I just felt good about where I am and the connections I've made with people.


Eventually we decide to check out the party on campus. It was a blast. Again I ran into several people I knew but hadn't seen for two years and had a really good time. Jacky, being the social butterfly that she is, knew several of the people working behind the bar and they let us stash our coats around a corner instead of paying for the coat check. Go us!


Here's the part where this anonymous agent comes into play. After the party we head back to our little hidey corner to find that my coat, hat, scarf and gloves are gone. Just mine. My one heavy coat that I brought with me. I looked around thinking I could surely find whoever had taken it. It was a large, wool coat so it would've stood out among the t-shirts and skinny jeans. To quote the infamous gangster and general rolemodel for young children Vincent Vega, "Boy, I wish I could've caught him doing it. I'd have given anything to catch that asshole doing it. It'd been worth him doing it just so I could've caught him doing it. "


This next part is for that person specifically so unless you are that person, you can skip this next part. Also, if you are my Nanna you should skip this part.


Dear Supreme Asshole,

You are, in fact a bad person. If there was any doubt during the course of your life about whether or not you were a good person, I'm here (as a personal favor) to clear that up for you. You are not. In fact, you are a little bit of a bastard. Now you're not Dr. Mengele bad. You're not Rwandan genocide bad. You're not even like psychotic cylon bad. But you are a bad person. And really that's the pathetic part. You're petty bad. Not even henchman level; you're the foil in the story of the great day I had. Never-the-less, I walked home in the snow last night so you're kind of a huge douche. I now really hope Buddhism has it right so you come back as a naked blind alley cat. To borrow a unique phrase from my buddy Creigh, you are a dicksatchel. A bag of genitalia. Ok maybe that one was too far, but you're still someone I decidedly dislike.

Sincerely, Zach


Ok I'm done. Y'all can come back now. Back to better things. Till arrives today! As some of you already know, Till is one of my best friends on earth. We met here in Wuppertal while he was finishing up his master's. One thing I've learned about hanging out with Till though is that the two of us plus beer always ends in me getting talked into something crazy. Like the time we decided we could totally run a marathon without training for it (we did) or the time we spent a long weekend in Estonia (yup it's a real country) in the middle of February or the time I got the shake-down from a bouncer who then robbed me. Oh the good ol' days!

Good Day

I had a good day today. Not that that is unusual for me, just always welcome no matter how frequent. This good day is noteworthy, however, because it involved activities, places and people I hadn't seen in over two  years.

I woke up on my friend Sabrina's couch (the friend that came to meet me in Dusseldorf and then graciously let me crash at her apartment when I found myself somewhat homeless) to her roommate, Rene, making breakfast. With a good breakfast and a shower I was ready to hit the town...and desperately search for a new charger for my laptop...which I couldn't find for the life of me (both the original charger and the store selling the new one apply here). No worries though, I was already in a pretty cool part of town (the Marktplatz) so I decided to spend the early afternoon walking around and seeing my old stomping ground.

                                                     I have the coolest stomping ground!

I got a bit peckish so I stopped by my favorite Döner stand where the guys actually remembered me. I'm not sure if that speaks more to my personable nature, or to my poor eating habits. Either way, it was delicious!

Around 1:30 I started to make the long hike up to the university to meet Sabrina after her classes. As it turns out, I grossly underestimated my fitness and got there early enough to grab a coffee in the cafeteria. Which is where I ran into my friends Nico and Daniel! We had a good time catching up and Sabrina and I had a fun, though frosty, time wandering the Wuppertal Weihnachtsmarkt this evening. Oh! And Sabrina helped me find the Applestore I was looking for. I had read the directions wrong and walked right past it on my way to where I thought it was. But hey, it meant I spent the day wandering around in the (relative) sunshine instead of on Facebook, so I'm still going to count it as a win!

Arrival

I made it ladies and gentlemen! I'm pretty bushed so I'll just make a couple of quick comments then get a little shut-eye.

First, I totally spaced going the the bank this morning. Typical I know. Stop laughing, Dad. It all worked out though. The nice lady on the phone said my debit card should theoretically work in Europe now. Though, as my grandfather is fond of saying, "What's the difference between theory and practice? Theoretically nothing; practically everything." Hey, it's an adventure right?

Second, I was elated to find that I was sitting in the middle row of my trans-atlantic flight and that I was the only one with a seat there. I was less excited when I came back from the bathroom to find a kid passed out across the three unoccupied seats next to me. I stole his breakfast though, so I feel like we're even.

Third, listen to this song. While in California, my best friend and I were introduced to this song by another great friend. We got a little obsessed with it and would drunkenly stumble through it at parties in college (the refrain was made for pub singing!). Well, I flew over Halifax today and had to think about it...and now so do you, so there.

The rest of the trip was more or less unremarkable. I'm amazed by how familiar everything here is. I could have been here yesterday, so little has changed. Tonight I plan on stopping by my old haunt: the best Döner stand in Wuppertal. But for now I'm going to get a little rest. Collini out!

The Eve of Departure

Just finished packing for my trip to Germany. My trip that begins tomorrow that is. Every trip I create a timetable in which everything gets done incrementally throughout the weeks leading up to my departure and, per my usual, it all gets done the day before (and the day of in this case as I still need to hit the bank before I leave). Those who know me well will show no signs of surprise and will, in fact, be rolling their eyes at the typicality of the scenario. Some things will never change, Dad.

I'll be arriving in Düsseldorf, Germany Wednesday morning, just a few days before my friend Nico's birthday. Till will be up for the weekend and several shenanigans are already on the docket. Those who read a previous blog of mine will remember Till as the friend that talked me into a marathon that neither of us trained for. We tend to make really good decisions together.

After Nico's birthday party my plans become a bit more fluid. I intend to see a friend in Brussels at some point and eventually make my way down to Munich (a city which comes highly recommended but which I've as of yet avoided). Otherwise the itinerary is more or less open. Wish me luck as I sojourn my way to Austria and adventure!