Somethings I Normally Wouldn't Do...

Thursday night, I went to the Philharmonie.. and I was dressed up! In my  host mother's dress because she's small. But I decided I can't be serious all over so I wore cool socks and converse. Typical. It was for sure interesting, mostly to watch the composer and how his body moves. The music isn't something I'd typically listen to, obviously - Bach and Beethoven.

                                                                                         

    The way I used to cam-whore myself^^

Friday, was our Abschluss/placement test, which I actually did better on than expected. I headed back since I got a visit from my ma for a couple days. It was unusually beautiful outside - I could go out in my t-shirt! And of course, went to the Turkisch markt for the third Friday in a row to stock up on lots of fruit and veggies. We also sat down for some dinner at this Restaurant by the river. The people who sat behind us, arrived after and finished eating the food they ordered and left BEFORE we even GOT our food. Ach Deutschland, why so cruel? I also had no idea what I ordered. I just "vegetarisch" written in the description. I ended up getting a really yummy surprise.

Later that night, I went to Weinery Forumn to meet up with a couple people. You pay 2 Euro and can drink all the wine you want! They have so many different types to try. I enjoyed it. The next morning was a little bit iffy, but I got over it fast enough.

I decided to play tour guide and went all around Berlin. First, Checkpoint Charlie and what's left of the wall. Then walked to Potsdamer Platz, the Jewish memorial, Alexanderplaz (went to Alexa, a huge mall, and bought actual clothes that are classy enough to go out in... that includes Lady Gaga's face!), Museum Insel, a tour of where my classes are... etc etc. I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow.. Later that evening, we went out to this really cute cafe called "Bilderbuch" (Picture book) and the menu items are named after fairytales! Two bands performed, one of which was Acappella. I found it to be interesting, especially since they sang a song I would expected from such a band - Babara Ann. What acappella band DOESN'T do that?

Sunday was mostly a lazy day... it started raining (and hasn't really stopped) so I watched the german version of Phonebooth, went to the gym (which still smells like sweat and ass) and then did yoga. This week is bound to be boring since most of the IES students are going on trips since we have no classes. Only one that I know of is still staying, so yaay not completely alone! It will sort of nice to take a break from everyone. I should try meeting new people though, who are actually German since I need to get better at speaking - which I think I've slowly, but surely been accomplishing. I can read faster already! A lot of times when I hear languages being spoken, it doesn't even register to me WHAT language is being spoken, just what's being said - all three languages are getting to be first nature.

Hast du gut gemacht

My decision to stay home on Friday was a good one, since I had to be up at around 7 or 8 AM to get to a group field trip to Postdam. The people that went out seemed pretty miserable to be there, but alas, those troopers toughed it out! It was strange to be back on a regional train, but it felt right! Only time, I didn't get kicked out of my seat and my trip was less than 90 minutes one way.

These kids were singing "We Will Rock You"

Postdam is a cute, dead little city. Our tour was pretty short and very, very cold - the place lacked the tall buildings that would normally keep the wind to a minimum, and I made a poor judgment in choosing the amount of layers I'd wear. We wandered through a huge park/backyard of some crazy king to see Frederick II, King of Prussia's Schloss Sansouci (Castle). We got to wear huge slippers while in there! NEATOOOO.

We headed back to Berlin Mitte and on the way I got to experience one of the classics - no seats left on the train and having to stand/sit in the asiles. Oh the treacherous joys of traveling! We arrived back before we expected and the plan was to see a play, "Der Besuch Der Alten Dame" by Dürrenmatt. It was awkward timing to go home and come back, so I decided to stay, eat my first McDonalds in Berlin (they replaced Mayo with Hot Sauce... interestingly yummy) and walk around a huge book store called Dussmann. It's bigger than those damn Barns and Nobel, or whatnots I believe. It's got floors of music and books. I read a couple of short stories (mostly Grimm fairtales) and sampled the new Blind Guardian disc.

The play itself was pretty interesting. It's probably not the best thing to watch for students who aren't too informed about theater or aren't fully fluent in German. They had many things going on at once and talked quite fast. Ayee.

Right after that, me and some friendies headed to another person's house, who was celebrating his birthday! We hung out at his house for a couple hours, had a decent sized group - we eventaully left to go out in the town. Half decided to go crazy for some clubs, while the other half went to a chill rock n' roll bar called Doors. I personally don't want to waste money clubbing all the time, so I joined the chill. We sat around, had a beer, talked about Minnesota and played Uno. Of course, I got home after 4AM... I left that morning at 8. Being out for 20 hours makes me smell funky.

Sunday was mostly a lazy, relaxed day. I went for a little bike ride around Tempelhof (my favorite place to people watch!). My Gastmutter (landlord/host mother/whatever you want to call her) hosts yoga every Sunday, so I joined her and a friend of hers. I need to do it in my free time more often. The problem is, I live in the attic and am scared of making noise O_o

Later on, I headed to Starbucks to work on a presentation with my group - all of us were affected by a long Saturday night, but we still got a little work done...

Yesterday, Tuesday, seemed like a good day. It was like "make Gala feel good" day. Our presentation went pretty decent. We bought food for our fellow students so that they could guess how much it cost and to make our talking more interesting. Our topic was homelessness in Berlin so we discussed Hartz IV, Obdachlosezeitungen and Arche. We had some extra Brötchen left over, so I took them home. Getting off the U-bahn, I saw, of course, a homeless man (there's an abundance of them here) and gave him a piece of bread. He, like many others, had a dog with him and they both seemed extremely happy - I felt unbelievably good after. A random man then told me I did a good thing (in broken German) and we talked... I realized he was kept following me.. And wanted to have a drink with me... and wanted to be my friend. So I as politely as I could got myself away from him.

On Tuesdays, there's a language exchange at a little bar called Travolta. I went with a few friends from class and talked to some strangers in German. I think I'll keep going because I can help them with English, they speak to me in German, it's overall good company and atmosphere. I was actually told that "Sie spricht schon gut Deutsch (she speaks good German) and "You sound fluent". I've noticed quite an improvement since I've been here and already am even reading faster.

Today was another long day in Mitte Berlin. I biked to school because it was finally "warm" out. After class, I hung out at Starbucks in hopes of observing their barista lingo. No huge luck because they were so so busy. I did buy a drink - with the whipped creme. Oh man, it's not sweet here at all! I like it, no sugar overload.

Some of the group visited Reichstag - the German parliment building. Our tour guide had a sweet sense of humor. We also went up the dome and observed Berlin from up high. It was kinda cool, I was just getting to the lazy mood part of day. The way back on my bike was a bitch. A cop saw me riding on the sidewalk (Which, like in MN is illegal). There was lots of construction and cars and people - biking is impossible in downtown here. I also almost got run over and to try to prevent that I ended up falling off my bike in the middle of the road. DANGER! DANGER!

Sieh Jung aus, Sei Berlin

Time seems to fly in Berlin.. in Europe in general! For the most part at least. Seriously, time speeds up... maybe because I am seven hours ahead, lawl. I don't even know what I've been doing...  After class, which I personally think should be more intense and less filled with little busy-work projects, we either have orientations about our classes or people wander off to get food. Because people buy expensive food at restaurants when they're bored. People of all cultures seem to do this and it's interesting. Or maybe I'm just weird cause my metabolism keeps me full and I hate spending money!

Wednesday's class, we visited the wall's remains. The guide was silly and explained everything perfectly for people of our German level in a timely manner. The night was a random "night out" in which we went to this restautrant, mainly for drinks (I only mooched because I wasn't in the mood for a five euro cocktail on a school night) I still got a free shot of mango schnapps. The night mostly consisted of IES groups walking around Berlin Mitte area. Everyone was about to buy drinks (again!) at another bar and the bartender asked if everyone was of age.
"Yeah, we're all 20"
Then he points directly at me
"Not her"

Thanks

Thursday, we made a trip to the Deutsches Historisches Museum - this turned into total chaos. People were late to class, there were multiple organizations/groups/clubs/classes trying to get through, we didn't get tickets, we rushed through everything... Then afterward, were expected to do a structured presentation - with half our group not there to prepare.

After class, me and Emily decided to just walk around. We found this cool second hand shop where I bought a Germany mug, a baby doll backpack (which I named Johannes Wilhemm Schmitt) and very purple pants. Edeka has a great going on, get a card, buy fruit, get a discount on it! YEEEE! Except the woman asked us both if we were at least sixteen :( At least she spoke German to us (which doesn't happen too much) after finding out we're from the states! There is an amazing mall, which I believe to be larger than the Mall of America. It's called Alexa and not only does it have a basement, it has a sub-basement!

A viewing of a few "Arrested Development" episodes followed and that was awesome for a while.

Today, a few presentations were given... then a field trip to another museum - Pergamon Museum on Museum Insel. It was really cool!! It was basically a lot things from the middle east - columns, statues, pots, jewelry.. the upstairs was an Islamic art museum - carpets, glass art, etc etc.

After the museum, we headed to the Turkish Market! I LOVE ITTT. The fruit is so fresh and so so inexpensive. I really like Berlin. I want to live here, in a way. I mean... singles and atheist capital of the world? Openness, muti-culti, parks, bike friendly, good bands and moree. I just really want to meet more german people. Some Berliners.

It's Friday night and I couldn't be more content with staying in. Peace

Übung Macht Perfekt

Das ist wahrscheinlich die falsche Interpretation von den sehr bekannten amerikanischen Satz, aber ich hab zu mir gedacht, dass ich einen Eintrag auf Deutsch schreiben soll. Ich denke, dass es eine Leute gibt die blogspot besuchen die Deutsch wissen. ACH SO, JAWOHL.

Meine Gedanke im Moment:
Es riecht nach Apfelkuchen in meinem Zimmer.. ich wundere mich ob meine Vermieterin was backt.
Wenn Leute sich betrunken in Berlin, dann fangen sie an zu singen... amerikanische Weinachstlieder... auf Englisch. Vor einigen Tagen, habe ich "Jingle Bells" auf meinem Weg nach Hause gehört. Eine andere Nacht, habe ich "Walking in a Winterwonderland" bei einen Curry Laden gehört. Dieses Volk ist voll interessant.
Ich habe vergessen, wie mein Badezimmer aussieht
Ich wurde einen Sprachpartner bei IES suchen, weil ich zu viel Englisch hier spreche. Eine HU Gruppe vertragen konnte auch gut sein.
Leider, habe ich kein Bock zum fotographieren diese Tage. Touristische Gebäude sind mir nicht ganz attraktiv.. vielleicht wenn ich ein "Model" finde, wurde es mehr Spass machen... besonders beim Graffiti.
Das Wetter ist total Scheisse.. ich mochte zum Tiergarten gehen! Aber zu erst, muss ich jemanden finden, der mit mir gehen will.

LOFFELCHENSTELLUNG

Ich brauche mehr Freunde die mit mir Deutsch sprechen. Hoffendlich ist dass ^^ nicht zu furchtbar geschrieben...

lol.
lol.
lol.
lol.


gefuckingnau

Big Booty Bitches

I honestly wish I had an explaination for the heading of this. German boys are interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctVmNbVu2KA&feature=related
BIGBOOTYBITCHES

All night long

Anywho, on Friday, we had this ridiculous assignment to do throughout the day - go to various places in the city and find out random facts about Berlin. Some of these included asking strangers (in a place full of tourists... ) about the fall of the wall - either no one wanted to talk about it, or they knew nothing because they're tourists! AND we were expected to take pictures with them! Our group didn't do that though, because it's a bit much.

DIE POST!

And most of these places were under construction! Ya think we can find things when the streets are under construction? Nope! After these pictures, one of the girls got caught "Schwartzfahren" That is, riding public transportation without a ticket. Our teacher said we didn't need out stuff so we didn't bring it - turns out, we had to ride the U-bahn. And she got checked... Her only fine is 7 Euro because she can prove that she has a ticket elsewhere.

Afterwards, fed more pigeons again! They walked on my feet and ate out of my hand :)

This here, is my host cat, Flora. She's a tease. "MEOW COME PLAY WITH ME. COME PET ME. OHHH YEAHHH PURRR.. PURRR... REOW GO AWAY *claws away*"
After feeding the birds, I went to the gym and got ditched by plans... so I joined the IES-ers at a hookah bar again and just chilled for a few hours.

Saturday was a big day and night. Since it was gorgeous out and not freezing for one (Thank you Berlin) I went for a bike ride! THE PARKS HERE ARE FUCKING AMAZING!!




















I went to one and there were PONYS there! And and puppy parks! And drug dealers (according to Uschi) It was needed since my host left me "Amerikaner" and "Berliner" for breakfast... I was being a fatty O_o. But Saturday night was epic. Basically, bought a ticket for Clubnacht for 14 Euros and had access to unlimited clubs from 11PM until the morning... I got very very lost trying to find a park that the rest of the crew was hanging out at. I walked/S-bahned aimlessly for about two hours. Oh Berlin, you would be so much more beautiful and easier to navigate if you didn't have so much construction... what is this place, Minnesota? Srlsy.

I just ended up meeting people at Alexanderplatz, which is sort of like a part of downtown. They had shuttles going all night! I did something I'd always to do... pull ups on a moving bus!Those bars have always called to me. I am not sure how many clubs we went, or the names of half of them. I know we went to Club Soda first, where our group started dispersing - we just happened to leave right as everyone starting coming. In Europe, the partying doesn't start til after midnight. Damn.

We spent a lot of time just wandering the streets looking for clubs. I got ID'd at a couple of them, which is sort of strange in Berlin to do. We also met up with some random guys (those that kept singing Big Booty Bitches) who guided us to some clubs. We spoke some German and some English. I'm sure they made fun of us... but that's okay! In one of the clubs, me and Erin decided to jump into some sort of body of water.. probs a canal. So we stripped down and froze. It was a fun experience though. We visted M-Bia, Tresdor, Fritzclub, White Trash Fast Food... uhh what else?! I have no idea, but all I know is, I was walking home with the sun up, so I can only assume I got back at about seven in tha mornin'.

Due to my early arrival, Sunday was a lazy, but nice day. I went for a walk, took a few naps, ate some Brötchens (too much goodness to be true...) watched Dexter and another series with my host.

School today was another sort of BS day. I mean, it was better than what I had expected it to be - we did a workshop in a theater on a piece by Dürreman. I think I recall reading one of his plays my second semester at the Uni. Our teacher kinda forced us to do some acting... which.... eh. Blegh. It was entertaining because we all kinda sucked at it, but had a good attitude.

There appears to be no totally fat-free milk here. I just found some ,3% milk and it tastes great. I also fail-read a bottle of bubble bath soap (I think) and bought it, thinking it was lotion. Durnit. I should really try to speak more German... and read more German.I'll just say "genau" a lot. Because that's the thing to do.

Begin Class...

Monday was when our German intensive classes started. They are about 4 hours long every day. Time actually goes by pretty fast and we do get homework, which looks easy until I start doing it. After classes, random groups of people usually split off and eat or something - then head to IES for some random orientations.

Yesterday, we made a short trip to Alexa because pants needed to bought for one of the guys. Berlin is a cold cold city - the fact that Europeans like to air rooms daily, doesn't help. I'm dying! But Brötchens here are being amazing. I tried bits of pastries and they too are amazing. Sweet, but not like in the states. Here, it tastes like real food.. just sweet real food.

Today after class was a bit of adventure. Me and one of the guys went hunting for a grocery store. Found one with outstanding bread prices and fed some pigeons! I love those birds. They're so silly, they ate bread crumbs off of my shoe. I would for sure this every day... 19 cents for some bread!

I also joined a gym. It isn't even too expensive and the facility is huge and lovely. Very close too! So if I wanna go in the rain, an easy half mile with a bike. Open 24 hours a day for the times I want to go at 1AM. I don't think that will be happening because I live with a family that likes to go to bed early. I don't want to wake themmm. 

The First Weekend

So, Friday we all took our placement tests to be put into proper "sprachkurse". In a way, it reminded me of the tests we took in high school. But at one part, the listening part, I'm sure many people didn't do so hot. It started off slow and easy to comprehend, but as the big words came up, the reader sped up! Oh dear. Tomorrow, Monday, I start with those Kurse... I'm curious as to what level I'm placed in.

The verdict on best grocery store so far issss Lidl! Or maybe the Aldi by my place is just too ghetto. But seriously, cheap EVERYTHING.

We did some group wandering and shopping. We also go free lunch, consisting of pasta and pizza. So yummy... curse my tiny stomach. I wanted to eat so much moreeee... and I stayed full until I went to bed.

There was a bit of a get together close to Charlottenburg, I believe. I think I've learned how to operate the Ubahn.... But it seems that everytime I bike somewhere in this city, I get lost.

At least I got to hang out with Dennis! An old friend from high school - he was an exchange student for a year. I never thought I'd see him. In Berlin. And have conversations with him, in German. Whatever it was cool.

Today was just a chill day, mostly. Went on a bus tour with some of the IES group - but sadly, my audio guide headphone failed to work most of the time. But I got to see the awesomeness art on the wall.

Back at my Berlin home, I went for another bike ride, mainly to see where the venue is where Blind Guardian will play. It's super easy to find and less than four miles! There are also many bike friendly parks. The weather, however, is not all too friendly.

Flat Tire

 Here is my room! The whole attic!




 <

View from my room >>


Yesterday was another day at the IES. Me and my neighbor/fellow school mate decided to commute together. It was fairly simple considering it was our first time. Although while looking for a street, we asked two people where it was. Neither knew and when we looked up from our tourist-y maps, we saw that street right in front of us. Even the residents here can be blind.

It wasn't too eventful - most of the day consisted of filling out forms, visas, all those awesome international things. Afterwards, we went for a walk around town and chatted with each other. I like these people for the most part! There is one of those interesting odd ball people here as well... In many ways I am one too, so it's okay. I didn't take too many pictures of the walk (of buildings and such) because those can easily be googled.

The lovely people of IES got us dinner at some restraunt. I went to order a white russian since I never had one and was asked for my age.. oh come onnnn.

After dinner, most of the group headed out to a hookah/cocktail bar. It was pretty awesome! One of the hookahs was bigger than me! I took the Ubahn back, by myself (it's close..) but made up a hand shake with some person, who was probably male, drunk/drugged and confused.

I decided to try to bike to school today. Google maps has been good to me in the past, but I guess Deutschmaps doesn't like me much. SOOO I got scheiss lost. I didn't miss anything important though, so that's always good. On the way back, I also got lost, but realized that my back tire was completely flat!! I totally wondered why the resistance on this bike was so high... and why it was so bumpy and unsturdy...

I got back and right away went to a friend's of my aunt's pizzeria that he recently opened in Berlin (other locations are in Vic and Zagreb). It was about a 25 minute walk. He doesn't speak German so we spoke in my home language, which I for some reason find hard to do with people other than my parents. It was super nice, but empty. Good pizza, good wine and I got to take pictures of the place.

I also made my first grocery shopping trip to Aldi! Uschi (host) told me to help myself to food/left overs if I'm hungry as well. I should be set for a while with my fruit and cereal.

Tomorrow is my placement test. AYEEEE

And bikes here have stop lights. Score.

Willkommen - IES Berlin

Today I used my last day on Eurail pass and arrived to my last destination of my summer Eurotrip. With a little of confusion, I arrived to the IES headquarters on time. And of course, with the world being tiny, one of the people in the group I first sat down with for some casual conversation attends the University of Minnesota... no Twin Cities like myself, but still. So far everyone has been friendly and talkative.

We did a tour of the IES headquarters and went to town in Berlin so that people could buy cell phones, get passport pictures taken, buy our S and U bahn passes. At one of the stops, five or so punks got on, each had a dog and they were passing around a vodka bottle with another bottle filled with juice. At four in the afternoon. Ach, I could get used to this... yay public intoxication!

 My host, Uschi (her nickname is pretty cute, yes?) picked me up and we chatted a bit in German. It's starting to get less and less exhausting to speak.. then again I've been at it for the past four days or so. I get a whole floor to myself! Well, the attic. The whole attic on the fourth floor is mine and she rents it out to students every semester. Nothing felt better than to put clothes from the past week in the wash and to completely empty my bag.

She even cooked dinner and invited me to join! She has two sons (one of which will be leaving for India within a week) and a kittykatty. And bikes! She took me for a quick ride around a park, which was formally an airport (Templehof Park). It's really awesome, people are kite surfing on their skateboards and rollerblades there.

So far, so good.

Memory Lane

So Saturday I spent the most of the driving around downtown Hamburg. Walked around the streets and shops - didn't buy anything simply because I have no space to carry it. We visited a museum with a Rubens, van Dyck, Jordaens exhibit. It was pretty cool, I like noticing things in paintings that my art professor talked about. I'm sure I learned about these guys at some point too, but my memory on names is shit.

We also went to the Rathaus just for the hell of it and check out the "family day" - which is mainly meant for little kids. I also finally got my phone loaded again... after like three attempts and many misunderstandings. At least now I know what to and what to ask for. Hell, I almost bought myself a new phone number because of this complication.

At night, hit up the hookah bar. It wasn't too pricey for the shisha itself, but the drinks were. I paid 2 Euro for a simple cup of tea, but damn was it yummy.

Yesterday, went to the Hamburg Hafencity. Nothing too special, the weather was shit and prevented some serious boating/sailing. Drrr, Deutschland.. Afterwards, I went to the two apartments I lived in while I was in Germany as a little kid. In some ways, the apartments were the same in my memory. In others, I felt like there should have been a hill added or an expanded street. I was however, able to be like "hey, I looked out that window" or "hey my cat used to sit right there".

I was then treated to some dinner and wine... mmm tomato soup and bread.

Three Languages, One Day

Yesterday I arrived back to Hamburg Germany, after a nice 15 and a half hour train ride from Zagreb. Since I was alone, I avoided putting my 40 pound luggage up and had it under my feet. Thankfully (and surprisingly) the two trains have been fairly empty and no one had reserved seats where I was sitting. I also made a pit stop to Starbucks at the Munchen Hauptbahnhof out of curiosity. Since milk here tastes so so much better than in the states.. They also called out all the drinks in Engrish, but I'm assuming it's because they get flooded with tourists.


Today I slept in because I was awake for maybe 20 hours yesterday. Argh. I'm staying a family friend's apartment, whom I have known for about 16 years. My German language skills aren't the best, but I'm getting by. We did a lot of driving because the traffic  here is intense. I met his fellow band mates and hung out for a bit - saw their potential recording studio, went with them to fix up their practice space, made sushi myself.. it's been a pretty good day.

Now it's almost 3AM and I think I should try to sleep

Nature r00lz

Yesterday, I went for a major hike up to Petrova Gora. It's like... legit hiking.  See that silver glowy building? Yeah, I went there. It is visible from the apartment. The paved path for cars is over 7 kilometers, but the hiker's path is probably about 4 kilometers because it's so steep.

Today was a beach day. None of the beaches I've gone to in Croatia so far have been sandy beaches - they're stoney, bouldery, grassy. Not complaining the least bit, it might be strange for you Americans. This was grassy beach by a river I mentioned in the "MunFest" post - Mreznica. It's super clean and the water is greeny. I only wish I had my brought my googles - I'd been a much more effective swimmer. Damn contacts keeping me from going under as much as I'd like.

This beach had a bit of jungle in it. A really small one, but it was an interesting nature walk. Small water falls, small walking space, big trees, lots of roots.


Things I crave from the Minnesota:
BBQ wings
Valleyfair

Mun Fest

There is not much to do at all for me here. My day usually consists of breakfast, an episode of Dexter (gotta re-watch them before the new season! OH HOW EXCITED! And I better find it streaming online...) a walk around the neighborhood, a book, sudoku, some internets... etc.

I went for a short run yesterday. It's hot as hell out here and there is no AC in the apartments. I also haven't ran for weeks, or months. I miss my bike like no other. I just needed some form of exercise since me and Kevin walked the world! Me and my aunt also went to check out the Moon Fest by a river called Mreznica. It was somewhat of an adventure to get there, but after what my life has been lately, it's hard to say it was a big adventure.

First of all, we had no idea where this place was so we asked, then followed people. It was in a location that reminded me of Wacken - instead of village, it was woods. We parked the car and to get to the festival, we walked a good 20-30 minutes through darkness to get there. I wish I could find the website for this place, but I cannot. Stuck around for three bands and they were kinda fun. I was in the way front taking some photos when this very lovely young man-photographer let e in the barrier area :)

Note to self- bands I saw: Mel Camino, NeZnam, corto

Bye, Pikapal

A few days ago, me and my travel buddy Kevin parted ways. He took the train back from Zagreb, the capitol city of Croatia. After dropping him off, me and my aunt headed back to her apartment in Karlovac where grandma also lives. My days here haven’t been too eventful. I personally like some alone time.

I’ve basically been going on walks everyday around here, took a dip in the river across the street – which is ridiculously clear and clean… impossible to compare to the Mississippi for example – started re-watching Dexter episodes. I hope I get to watch season five online. Dexter (the character at least) is probably my soul mate.

Last night, I went to downtown Zagreb and saw Inception. That movie was nothing like I had imagined, mostly because I thought it was some sort of end-of-the-world-apocalypse type of movie plot, but it was about dreams. I even wanted to try controlling my dreams last night, but I seldom remember them anyways.   

Stari Grad Krk

We packed up and headed to our overnight train for Krk, Croatia! Krk is the biggest island in Croatia and I landed us a free place to stay since my aunt knows the lady that owns this apartment. I had been here before, maybe three years ago.

We got a sleeper train, which has beds. They’re tiny beds and I kept a backpack on mine so there was very little leg room for me. We arrived at about 10:30 in the morning, converted our moneys to Kunas ($1=5.23; 1Euro=7.13). When I ordered breakfast in my native language the waitress had a hard understanding me and I actually felt embarrassed by that. I mean, I only really speak the language at home with my parents – sometimes with their friends and other relatives. But they know that I never went to school in the country so I just learned the language from speaking it. I think part of the reason is also that I feel kind of insecure when I speak it to strangers so I get all shy-ish. *Shrugs* at least I try. And when switching between English and German as well, all my grammarz, and vocabz get jumbled up.
In order to get to the island, we had to take a bus, since it is connected by a long bridge. The shitty thing about this bus is that they didn’t announce the stops. So I got off on the completely wrong stop and didn’t know it for a long time. So we waited for about an hour and were lucky enough to get on the next bus without an extra charge. The confusing part is that the whole island is called “Krk” but there is a town on the island called “Krk” as well… oh well, we got there safe and sound, luckily the apartment wasn’t too far from the bus station. The only shit this is my fucking bag… it’s heavy and on wheels and kept hitting my calves. I had a nice leopard pattern of bruises.

Two of the days here were very lovely, weather-wise. We went to the beach and swam in the sea. I wish I had brought my goggles, and I wish I still had my swimming condition. I used to be a fucking fish. Now I’m like a… Nemo? Eh, whatever, I got to swim here and it felt amazing. The only bad thing is getting a headache. Going for walks around is awesome as well! I wonder how many miles my legs put on this trip. Between Wacken, beach walks in Holland, beachy hikes here, wood walks in Quentel… Woooweee. The last two days, sadly, weren’t so great. It was cloudy and rainy. So swimming was an option, just not a favorable one. The souvenir shops aren’t that great either, just really ghetto…

Oh, and of course more things have to get messy for us on this trip – our apartment’s water system wasn’t turned on. So we filled water bottles at a fountain and used that to wash our hands, dishes, Mexican showers, drinking water, brush teeth… no shower in a few days, but that’s alright. My aunt arrived and turned on the water!
Yesternight we attempted to go to a club... it's called Jungle and it doesn't start hopping until way after midnight. By hopping, I just mean people showing up and standing there. Not many people danced, but hey, I did for a bit. Not the best club experience but it killed a couple of nightly hours.
I just posted three posts because I got some free Wifi outside a bar. This place is crawling with tourists. It's like 10PM here. I think it's time to check my emails! Pictures coming soon, I hope! I just didn't want to carry my external with me.
This place has shooting stars galore! I saw like... ten in less than twenty minutes :)

Woods!

 With the Wacken adventure over, it still sometimes seems wrong to not wake up in a tent to people yelling “WAACKKEEEENN” at eight in the morning and then to wander around festival grounds, spending an hour standing in order to get a good place to watch a band I enjoy. But damn, did a in a private bathroom feel good. After being at the mystical Hamburg apartment for about two or so hours, we headed to the Bahnhof (trainstation) and went back to Quentel, to Kevin’s cousin’s.
The train ride was alright… we’ve spent a lot of time on the train, but luckily we had some movies on the computer to watch. I really have a love-hate relationship with the Eurail train system. If one train is late, almost all the other trains have to wait because some people need to connect.
We arrived pretty late, so we just went to bed… TO BED! A BED WITH A PILLOW AND BLANKETS AND MATRESS. I had no pillow at Wacken.. so my body was really hating me. We got up and realized we had the internet, so we spent a lot of time getting computer stuff done – emails, skype, facebook, blog, photos, etc. After that we went for a walk through some epic friggen woods. The house we were staying in is surrounded by a forest. The woods walk included edible berries! Mmmm fresh berries. Afterwards, Döner Kebab time. My first time eating this German-Turkish delicacy. Very much like the American-Greek gyro.
Next day, we went to some other, even more epic woods because these woods were once a town. A town where holocaust laborers worked. So there were still ruins of abandoned buildings. It for sure beat going to a museum because you knew it was genuine and not fixed up for the public. The buildings were huge, and there were so many of them. You could see where the toilets could have been and where electric cables were at one point.

I don’t understand how Europeans can eat all the ice creams and cakes they want, yet still have a lower obesity rate than Americans. Probably cause Americans are lazy. And European food in general has less sugar, even if it is the same brand as the US has.

Full Metal Experience

(Note: Most of these pictures were taken from flickr artists and aren't my own work so I won't taken credit for it/steal it)

This was quiet an experience. I am going to attempt to put everything down that happened during the four days of this insanity. I’m sure this post will be choppily written since I keep going back to add stuff and because I’m writing this in multiple sittings. Unfortunately, I am a retard and lost the only set of contact lenses I brought to Amsterdam/Wacken – I was blind and squinting the whole time. The camera I brought with (my little one, not the big black mother) had an error so I wasn’t able to take any pictures – I will put some on here that I got from the interwebz.
We got a ride to one of the shuttles in Itzehoe, which was running every half hour due to the amount of people going to Wacken Open Air – every shuttle filled completely. It was estimated that there were over 85,000 people there at the festival – Let’s assume there were more because there are some sneak-ins here and there. Since we wanted a good camping spot, get situated and be part of the pre-Wacken experience, we got there a day early, on Wednesday. We were very lucky and squeezed into a spot really close to the entrance. There was still a few things going on – such as smaller bands playing, shops and activities set up. The people we met on the train were the first people we saw once we walked into one of the tents to start checking things out.
There are technically seven stages at Wacken. The two main stages – Black and True. The big-but-not-quite-main-stage – Party. Then there was the Red Bull Bus, Biergarten, Headbangers Ballroom and Wackinger stages.

Wacken even had a mini Renaissnce Festival with games, mock (I’d think) Viking tournament things, booths, and even public torturing – yes, it was real :O. So I got to watch some guy get scratched and burned, etc. I also saw a lady get bondaged. Crazy festival people, I tell ya.

The metal market tents were filled with awesome clothes, jewelry, gifts, merch in general. Some of it wasn’t even too expensive. I ended up buying an Apo Reiters shirt for 5 Euro. I also checked out this band, which I ended up liking a bit called Dymytry. They’re mask wearing Czec Republic crazies. For sure downloading some of that when I have more than 15 minutes of internet time.
I walked past this one stage where a band called Lord of the Lost started playing, but no one was really there watching them so I stood up front to see what they were like. Turns out they started playing an hour early and had technical difficulties so I only heard one song. Later that night at the same stage played a really fun band called Fiddler’s Green. They kind of reminded me of Flogging Molly, just more metal. I got to crowd surf for this one and then got dropped (gently, thankfully…) right into a moshy pit! It was a lotta fun, we started this train of people and when I looked up, I realized we weren’t even by the stage anymore. Oh, being short! There was also a naked guy in this crowd. I thought to myself… what if he crowd surfed… and he did! I think this band also did a wall of death – one of the only walls of death through the whole festival. They were banned because of injuries and because of the mass amounts of people getting killed at the other festival in Germany.

There were also movies playing pretty much every night. This night they played an Anvil documentary, which was pretty cool, but I only watched a little bit because I wanted to see Mambo Kurt.

The most memorable part of that night was for sure Mambo Kurt. He’s a one man band who plays the Heimorgel to metal, pop, rock, you name it songs. It was a huge love fest and dance pit where everyone jumped around together. Met a cool German guy who knew no English, but no worries! I know Deutsch!
Sleeping was tough, especially since people at Wacken literally party all day and all night. I got out of the tent to see people already with beers in their hands. Sadly enough, people were passing out on festival grounds by two in the afternoon. Also, I had no pillow. And at night the temperature dropped drastically.
Now, Thursday was when the real party started. This when even MORE people showed up! Since the main band of this day played later in the night (I’m talking about Iron Maiden, of course) I just moseyed about. Me and Kevin pretty much went our separate ways during most of Wacken since we had different interests. This of course meant, me being alone and little girl – drunk men following me around. I was too sober for that because I didn’t want to get too drunk and forget seeing all those awesome bands.
Since food at the festival is absurdly expensive (as with any kind of fair/fest) we went to the town’s grocery store. Since the town is so tiny and so many metal heads want to save money, there was a guy at the door of the store letting people as others left because it was so full. Got a great deal though – five beers, six apples and a milk for 5,80 Euro (which is a bit more than 7 dollars).
I went tent hopping to see some rando bandos. There was also a tent that had wrestling, which I stuck around for for a little bit since I was too short to see. I stepped outside to see a crowd gathered around the Red Bull Bus stage and enjoyed the sweet sounds of Apokalyptica for a wee bit. I saw Svartsot as well – I only ended up seeing them because I thought the name sounded cool and I could right away tell the type of music they’d play.
The time had finally come to walk towards the Iron Maiden stage so that I could at least get a decent spot. This was already hopeless because Alice Cooper (who hadn’t aged in about fifteen years) was playing that stage. I stuck around for him and then Mötley Crüe played on the second main stage. The two main stages had screens on the side so that the crowd could see from far away. They sort of got “IRON MAIDEN’d” off. They’re an okay band, but I just get sick of them kinda easily.
Iron Maiden was amazing, the crowd went crazy and I got completely brutalized. I lost my sunglasses and part of my lip ring – I decided I had to get out of the pit and a little Swedish (?) guardian angel found/saved me! But he got a little bit too over protective. At least I got to go on his shoulders and actually see Iron Maiden. Woooaahhhhh.. For their second to last song I decided to crowd surf my way out, only to get dropped flat on my back and get the wind knocked out of me. When they ended their awesome set, I went straight to the tent and passed out because I was legitimately dizzy and light headed. Early night for me *sigh*.
Friday I sat around the main stages for most of the day. I saw some Amorphosis, some Ill Nino and some Dew Scented – talked to a few random people during this time as well, most of whom were the “Oh, you’re from America! I’m from Israel and have never ever kissed an American girl before!” *hides*. At least it was funny.
Then came Orphaned Land! They put up a really good show, but how can someone not enjoy a band where the lead singer is dressed in a white Jesus robe, the guitarist looks like a tattooed Borat and they sing Hebrew-ish metal. The annoying part about this was that although I was in the second row, my vision was blocked by this die-hard fan who was holding up a flag with his friends for half the set.
Since Die Apokolyptischen Reiter were playing on the same stage next, I decided to stick around, even though the wait was about an hour. It’s all good, found Kevin and rambled with him for a tad bit. This band’s keyboardist is probably a highlight of the show. He’s dressed in leather bondage wear and sits on one of those sexy swings, has a slide and a whip. Overall, very good live and enjoyable to watch. Downside is that I was in crowd surfer’s traffic.

Kamelot was playing in that area, those beauties. I am quite upset about being blind – at first I figured I wouldn’t even be able to see the bands because of my height, but people have been super nice and letting me be in the first row for a lot of the bands. Afterwards, I headed to the tent to get a sweatshirt and rest for a tiny bit – then to Equilibrium! I did not even see them, I just enjoyed myself in the pit with a couple of the people I had met throughout the days. Dududu BLUT IM AUGE! I wonder how many random people have taken pictures with me… if only I had gotten their names/facebooks.
I dared to take a shower after Equilibrium. You have to pay to shower! But Kevin found a pass on the ground so I got to shower FO FREE. It was my first time showering publicly since I had decorated my bodies. Since there was only three people in there, the water was super warm. As I was showering, I looked down and the water that was running down my body was black. DIRTYY!
I headed to the Headbanger’s Ballroom tent because I figured they’d have karaoke after midnight. Instead there was a black metal band, I believe it was Imperium Dekadenz (I’m only guessing by looking at the running order’s time table). They were good and all, but I realized I could have fallen asleep standing there so I headed back to the tent and acquainted myself with the Swiss neighbors.
Saturday was a more mellow day. I sat around more than usual and checked out the shops one last time. The Wacken Firefighters (WACKEN WACKEN FEUERWEHR!) played us some nice polka-folk music to dance to. All the Germans knew the songs since it’s in their roots. They even did a flute solo and a drum solo (SCHLAGZEUG SOLO!)
Watched Delain for a little bit. Thought they were awesome – but got very boring since it all sounded the same eventually.
During my walk, I met two Austrians and a Danish guy. I wish I could have hung out with them longer – we even spoke some German! I have never spoken that much Denglish in my life. I forgot what language I was speaking in half the time. The Danish guy had pure Absinthe.. haha interesting taste. I guess it’s starting to become partially outlawed here as well. Unfortunately, he had to go to first aid so I went to Stratovarious with a different person who had never really listened to them before. While waiting, someone shared their noodles with us. Stratovarious was full of energy the whole time. Unfortunately they didn’t play “Destiny”, but they did “Eagle Heart” so it’s all good! Right next to them was Edguy when they ended so I hopped on over and watched that for a short while because Circus of Horrors would be starting and I wanted a good seat.
I stood in line for quite some time, during which I saw a Jӓgermeister guy who had a backpack filled with it – of course selling the shots for 2 Euro each. And I did get a front spot for the show! Some of the stuff was pretty crazy – they had a suspension guy (pierced back to hooks and was swinging all around), fire breathers, knife swallowers, knife walkers, jugglers while balancing on balls on top of chairs, a guy pierced his cheeks and spat water through the holes, a man with retardedly stretchy skin, a midget who hung weights from his penis… etc, etc.

By my tent I met these fun Austrians and Italian guy who now lives in London. They basically just said “Hey you! Come here, have a beer”. But that’s how almost everyone at Wacken is! Lovely. Hung out with them for a while and someone set a big fire by our area. Then the firefighters killed it. I headed over to the main stages and saw some of U.D.O, which just reminded me of 3 Inches of Blood. The karaoke was cancelled for the night, sadly so back to the tent I went and re-met up with the friendly neighbors!
We actually had no confirmed ride back to Hamburg, so Kevin met these older guys who drove us there on Sunday afternoon! That morning was magical. Lots of tent destructions (Which I think is a waste of money, unless you’re traveling and can’t carry a tent), and “In Norway, there’s church burnings, at Wacken there are tent burnings” so lots of fire fighters were in and out of our area. We did some treasure hunting, I found a Jӓgermeister hat, a Cola cup, four German Pokemon cards. Traffic getting back was brutal as well. We saw our first McDonalds and realized we were back in real society.