Gewd 'ole countray fewd

Today I made my first trip out to the Mensa in like 3 months. I had a bunch of cash left on my Studentwerk card, and couldn't do that much laundry so I thought I'd try to use it up there. Now, there was a reason I hadn't gone there in 3 months. Mostly, this was because I thought the food was gross, but also because it meant I had to be ready to leave my room before 1pm, and considering my slow-pokiness, I usually leave earliest at 2pm. However, today I was feeling ambitious and got up around 9am, and by 11 I was out the door and on the way to food to use up that DB (err, Uni-cash, pretty much the same thing!)

So yeah I went there and ate food blablabla, but the thing that was unbelievable to me was how satisfied I felt afterwards! The food actually wasn't that bad either. Some chicken, corn, and potaters, that was all. But for a good hour after I got back to my room, I was like, "Dang yo! That was like the best meal!" Even though I knew it wasn't, it sure felt like it.

It kinda confused me for a while, but now I know why it was so good. I've been cooking for myself again, and all my cooking blows pretty bad. So I guess what I'm getting at here is that for probably my last visit to the Mensa, I'm glad that it was a pleasant one, but still, good riddance to it. I get to leave here in 10 days!!! Woohoo! (<-- and that right there was really the only reason I made this post.)

Back in the GDR

So I'm back in Magdeburg, and it's really warm compared to Ohio. Like today it got up to 50 deg, but it was way too windy. I think I'm getting used to all this traveling business of lugging around a bunch of crap and waiting for hours and hours and hours. Anyway, just thought I'd make a comment about me returning or something...

Dresden Weihnachtsmarkt!

Yesterday we visited the Christmas market(s) in Dresden, and I had a pretty much amazing time! We left around 9 am from Magdeburg with Laura, Megan, and Yana (who forbade us from photographing her) as our guide. We arrived in Dresden around 1 pm and met with Yana's friend from Benin (next to Nigeria, apparently) who is studying in Dresden. First we visited some churches, then we hit up the markets! The story unfolds in the web album I have created:

Dresden Advent 2007!

So yeah, as you can see it was a pretty awesome time. We finally got back to Magdeburg a little after midnight and were all totally exhausted. I slept pretty well last night... :D

Why does the stuff in this building never work?

My electrical outlets don't work right now, but it seems like everyone else in the building has the variety that function. Hopefully it'll magically be fixed by morning... If not, then I guess I'll have to deal with the scary Hausmeister lady... Darn you electricity!!! And darn you East Germany...

Stupid building, but hey! At least nobody has flooded the second floor by playing with balls in the hallway... Well, that's actually probably because we don't have sprinklers, but we do have outside doors that open inwards! And since we're on the topic of fire hazards, somebody stole all the fire extinguishers in building. Surprisingly though, Studentwerk actually noticed this and in response, they sent us letters saying to put them back. They also said if we don't put them back, then our lives will be in danger. Well gee, like I didn't know that. Maybe they should get us new ones since it wasn't our fault that some people here suck. Also if I remember correctly, I think those extinguishers were expired anyway...

Oh, and we still have only one washer for the whole effing building. I still can't believe how there is one washer for the 300+ people that live in this building.

Well, since people will probably have to come fix my room tomorrow, I guess I should get around to cleaning it since it's terribly messy. But, it doesn't look too bad when it's clean! >Signing off. <

Weihnachtsmarkt

Today I got to visit Magdeburg's Weihnachtsmarkt, woo! Down at Alter Markt, it featured Christmas spirit good times... It had a lot of the typical German festival type stands, lots of candied nuts, alcohol, and of course, wurst! One place in particular featured a 1/2 meter of Bratwurst for 2,80 EUR. See that awesomeness!



Actually, I was surprised as to how it was actually pretty tasty! Next up we found many types of Glühwein (mulled wine) and also Eierpunsch (egg nog). Both were pretty tasty! The egg nog here, I'm pretty sure, had wine in it, which was kind of a weird taste. Between the four of us that went, we tried some Glühwein with apples, Glühwein with raspberries, and the egg nog. My favorite was the Glühwein with apples--reminded me a lot of cider. I could totally go for some cider right about now...



While we were drinking that stuff, we kept hearing this weird voice which we thought was a carnival game person that wouldn't stfu. Turns out it was a talking moose head affixed to the top of the place where we got our drinkage. It was kinda creepy... Also, since I'm on the topic of sounds, they played the most random X-mas music. It ranged anywhere from traditional German folk songs to terrible pop songs, but that just seems to be the theme of the music anywhere you go in Germany, haha.

So yeah, then after hitting up the foods, we went for the crafty stuff. Actually, there wasn't much their in terms of crafts, but there were a good amount of shops with cute Christmassy stuff in the area. The mall there was featuring a bunch of Christmas stuff as well.

So overall, I had a fun experience today! I very much enjoy Christmas, and this was a good way to get even more pumped for my return trip home! I can't wait!

Finally!

I have finally found a beer that I actually enjoy drinking. Thank you Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier!!! It's made in München, and quite tasty. One of the indications that tells me it's yummy, is that I don')t have to mix it with banana juice to enjoy... (Even though that just means it makes an even tastier Bananenhefe.) It's flavorful and refreshing, so probably why I enjoy it. It's also costs (gasp) a whole 0,66 EUR per bottle, (as apposed to 0,49 EUR, which is more standard I guess...) And yes, I think this beats Franzeskaner. Call me a n00b, but I can't help what I feel, haha.

Pair this with a tomato and mozzarella baguette and I'm good to go...

Srsly, Terre Haute...

Well I know this doesn't have anything to do with Germany, but I am going to write about it anyway, and thus marking my third (and probably last) post of the day!

So today I had a quick meeting with Dr. Jaubowski and Dr. Moore over some tasty cake and coffee. So yeah we talked about the exchange program and bla bla bla, alles egal. Oh, and the whole time they called me Christine, haha. But everyone makes that mistake so I didn't say anything. I think it's kinda funny how now I can automatically respond to that name. (Probably because half of the people at Goodyear also called me Christine...) But anyway, the one thing that I wish to recount is what I learned from Dr. J about Terre Haute. So apparently the Hautians didn't re-elect the mayor they had before because they thought he was spending too much money on unimportant things. One the unimportant things he was spending money on was the sewer system.

Most inhabitable cities have two sewer channels, one for rain drainage and one for all the poo. Turns out, Terre Haute just puts everything into one channel and sends it off to the sewage treatment place. It's not a problem though, unless it actually rains. When it rains, the sewage place can't handle the increased volume of crap, so where does it send all the overflow? Into the Wabash River, naturally. So the federal government mandated that Terre Haute had better effing fix this, cuz that's nasty and like kinda really bad for the environment. So the mayor they had before was like, yeah, ok, I guess we shouldn't be dumping a bunch of raw sewage into the river. We will fix that. However the people didn't think that was money well spent, and told him to go away.

Also, I learned a lot of the people that have a septic tank don't actually have a leech bed. They say, why need a leech bed if you've got the river for your disposal??? Gross.

So, C'MON TERRE HAUTE!!! Seriously, I mean I know I make fun of the Hautians all the time for being unintelligent, but this is the first time I think that I've come to know solid proof of it... Terre Haute, the land of Wal-Mart and