Cardboard Bath Towels, Mountains to Climb, and New Friends to Climb it with!

Hello all!

I realize it has been *GASP* two days since I last posted an entry. Some of you may be getting a little nervous, and thus, taking that to heart, here I am to calm your anxiety.

I have to remember where I left off... ah yes, it was Sunday night last I really posted. Yes... ok so, I think I went grocery shopping on the bike... it was really cold! First I went to Aldi to get some trash bags and some juice... beforehand I had just been taking the entire little trashcan out to dump it... but Aldi has 40 little trash bags with handles on them for ,65. So I got some of those. I went to Rewe to get some EVOO but, alas, it was way to expensive for my likings and since I was only going to cook w/ it, I went back to Aldi and got the regular stuff. I did get some brown rice and sweet/sour sauce at Rewe (which was DELICIOUS by the way).

The rest of the afternoon I didn't do a whole lot, I worked out and got ready for the get-together for the new people at 6pm... so I got all ready and went to the lounge to see that only 5 people were gathered at the door. Little did we know we would eventually all become friends! Actually it's a little too soon to say that, but I wanted to make it dramatic. Just a bit. We sat and talked for a while then decided to go our separate ways, then meet back at 8:30 to play cards. So I went back and made dinner and came back. I learned how to play Phase 10! In German! I think it's an excellent way to learn new vocab! We played for two hours till the game was over and I got second place (never got to phase 10, but I got to phase 9!)... we took a short break and 2 of our group of 6 didn't come back... so it was four girls hanging out and we just chatted about all sorts of things. To make a long story short I ended up talking about my workout DVDs and I am excited to report that we are going to start a fitness club for our building! We'll be meeting 3x a week for anywhere between 45 and 90 minutes of exercise. Winter is coming soon and gyms are expensive and require motivation, I think if we offer this we can really serve the others in the building that want to get in/stay in shape over the winter.

So... Tuesday I slept in, I think, then went to meet 3 of my 4 FSAs to go meet Bettina Holstein-Alter in the Auslandsamt on Campus. We waited 5x as long as we were actually in there. I just introduced myself and that was it, lol... anyway so then I went and got a cafeteria card, although I've yet to put money on it because I prefer to eat at home. But you can eat really really cheap in our cafeteria... you get soup, a main dish + 1 side + a dessert or fruit for 1,70 ($2.41)... so it's cheap, but at Aldi I can get a loaf of bread, mustard, and some ham for that much that'll last me more than a week. So I still would rather bring my own lunch or go home and eat. I mean, I live right across the street!

I think I went to the grocery store again on Tuesday, and I was there for a long time, lol. Basically I'm just comparing prices and stuff. Anyway I had a pretty bad headache all day Tuesday that is, until I decided to work out in spite of it, and wouldn't you know that my headache was gone during my workout! No pain killer works like good ol' exercise. I washed my jeans and some towels yesterday... today they were dry already but stiff and dry as cardboard... I now understand why Gaby's towels are like they are... man. How unsoft. I think it might even hurt my skin a little when I dry. I'm just a wimp, lol.

Ok I should say the names of the people I met on Monday night... Laura (ain't seen nor heard from her since the card game, she's pretty quiet...added me on StudiVZ though), Niko (guy), Sarah, Carolin, and Christine. Christine and Carolin have known each other a long time and are gone for the weekend. I've gotten to know Sarah the most so far. Last night we watched A Knight's Tale in English. It was fun.

I invited Sarah and Niko to lunch at my "pad" today; we had sandwiches and ice cream, lol... since I only have one chair, we sat on my furniture. It worked perfectly! It was such a nice lunch. Niko washed my dishes for me, and Sarah dried them. Then we went walking. We found a drugstore right close to where we live (super duper, and no hills to climb on a bike), a cafe, a pizza place, and a place to buy drinks...here they have beverage stores where you can buy just things to drink. Anywhere from liquor, soda, water, tea, juice you name it, they have it. So that was neat. The only thing I wish there was was a grocery store closer!! I mean it takes like less than 10 minutes to go to Aldi on my bike, and 7 minutes to the city center on the bus, but then I end up waiting for the bus for a while next to an old lady that either smells of B.O. or is puffing away right into my face. Ugh.

Well I'm not sure if any of you remember the pics of the view from my window where I zoom in on a tower thingy up on the mountain... well, we climbed the mountain today to see it! Up on the mountain you can see everything! It is amazing. We can see both rivers, the fortress, our building, the university, everything! There's a little old-school playground, benches, and some bonfire spots along the way. We discussed getting together a picnic or some things to cook over a fire sometime. I think that'd be fun! I took some pics that I'll post tomorrow.

So far I really like this city. I LOVED climbing today (don't worry it was a paved trail!) And we weren't going to get lost, either, there were signs to the thinger anyway. The thinger was, by the way, actually not a tower. It was a tall memorial made from stone, commemorating fallen and survived heroes from the four wars that had occurred in Germany thus far (lol). I only wish we'd have gone up the mountain yesterday or the day before, as today was so cloudy and even rained for the first time since I've been here :-(. It was also rather cold. I did work up a bit of a sweat on the way up though, causing me to remove my jacket!

Tomorrow I'm going to participate in a tour of the city! I guess I already did that, but hey, I don't have anything else to do. Plus the guy giving the tour is kinda cute ;-)

Well I guess that is about it for now, this took me forever to post because it took me forever to remember two days ago!! That's why I post daily, people, DAILY!

Caitlin