Lad os få kreative (Let's get creative)

I hereby dub this weekend, the Three Days of Creative Drink-Getting.

Or something like that.

Well, now that we're all back in Sonderborg after the break, things are getting back to normal. And by normal I mean, doing school occasionally and getting shit-faced the rest of the time.

Thursday night Cafeen opened as a special occasion because a bunch of high schoolers were visiting the university for tours. Yes, it's that time of year again, when I have to walk through the halls past high school tours and resist the urge to yell "save yourselves!!"

Anyway, so we hit Cafeen at 7pm and were loady-pants by 9. This is my life. The night was spent, for the most part, trying to decipher which ridiculously built guys were from high school or from university and trying to convince the more "unique" high schoolers to do Shot-Up. Incredible influences on the next generation, I know.

During the night, a few of us got bored and resorted to playing foosball. My friend Joe and I soon figured out that we make an excellent team and we kept beating everyone. This is where Creative Drink-Getting strategy #1 was formed. Joe and I would challenge someone to a game of foosball. We bet them a beer for each of us that we would win. We kept winning.

There was a point when we started to get drunk enough that winning didn't really seem viable anymore. It was at this point that we started cheating. So whenever the other team wasn't looking, we would push one of their point markers back to make it look like they had less points. We also noticed that the dance floor lights made it really hard to see the ball sometimes, so if someone ever scored and the ball had moved so fast that we didn't see who it had been, Joe and I resolved to celebrate like we had seen that we had scored, when really, we were probably the least reliable people in the world. It worked.

Because Thursday was high school night, Cafeen closed early at about 12. Now usually, I don't make it to closing time at Cafeen. I usually get too drunk or head downtown. So I didn't know that they play "Closing Time" at closing time. I also didn't know that they boys wait around all night for the song to get on so they can drunkenly dance on the tables when the lights come on.

Exhibit A.

(Also, they are not about to kiss)

Moving on the Friday, which was significant for three reasons. 1) Creative Drink-Getting method #2 was implemented. 2) It was the Halloween party and 3) Because I am now a member of Cafeen, we were leaving at 2am, after closing, to head to an unbeknownst location for "Cafeen Weekend".

So let's start with Halloween. I'm broke and so I dressed in black, wore cat ears and called it a costume. Moving right along...

Creative-Drink Getting method #2 was actually developed and first implemented by Maud. We both ran out of money at about 11pm and still needed drinks. Cafeen was absolutely packed and there were crowds of people around the beer pong tables watching. Because of this, whenever the ball fell on the ground, it took a little bit of time to find it again. So, while the teams were searching the floor, Maud and I would steal a couple of the beer cups from each team's side. Given that there were three beer pong tables, this method was pretty effective until we got caught.

I don't really know why they were mad, to be honest. You could say we were helping them win.

At 2am, I bid farewell to Maud and the girls and ushered the boys out (while they belted "Closing Time"). The Cafeen members and I then piled into a massive van and drove 35 minutes to a lighthouse where we were staying for the weekend. 

The house itself was sick and absolutely huge. We played drinking games until about 5:30am and then I called it quits and went to sleep, only to be woken up 5 hours later for breakfast.

From there, we went outside and were split into two groups for "team-building" activities. Our team was called the "Winners from Behind"....... "Team-building."

Later on that night we drank a ton more, pulled a few pranks that involved chili powder, sleeping Cafeen members and a whole lot of Tasbasco, went geo-caching, entertained the idea of getting in the ocean water whilst drunk (we were quickly shut down), pulled more pranks that involved "caution" taping cars and tying tin cans to the underside, shutting off all the lights in the living room and having a makeshift dance party and making a stupid amount of nachos at 4am. 

Overall, it was a pretty great three days and an awesome way to kick off the second half of my exchange. If this weekend was indicative of how the rest of the semester is going to pan out, I think I'm in for a hell of a ride.

PS. Apparently I sleep with my ass in the air. No one has told me this before. I guess the way I lay, makes it look like I have a massive ass. Last night, Mette one of the girls, kept singing "face down, ass up, that's the way I like to sleep." I could not stop laughing.

PPS. Unbeknownst to me, Oh Canada is a pretty infamous national anthem. Every time I had to take a shot during the Cafeen weekend, everyone would start singing it. Canadian pride.

På skråning (On the downhill slope)

Yesterday was the halfway mark. Today marks officially eight weeks until I'm back in Canada.

How has it been eight weeks already? Has it been that long since I trudged through the Copenhagen airport, praying I would find someone who could speak English and could direct me to the train? Since I got lost in the middle of a town the size of Truro, just trying to find the grocery store? Since the first Friday I had here and started off my exchange with that wild night?

Pretty crazy.

Pretty crazy how much I've learned since I've been here.

Not just about being on my own (which I've found that I like), but about interacting with people and learning about them. About how to have patience and realize that everything will work itself out if I just relax. About how trivial my problems really are in the grand scheme of the world.

Today, I thought about where I was at this point last year. It now seems worlds away. And I realize it doesn't matter. There are so many bigger and better things going on in this world, that to spend my time dwelling on things that didn't go my way, is stupid and juvenile.

I mean, I was in Prague three days ago. I'm living in Europe. I'm actually doing this.

I've realized that what everyone tells you about being young is true. You can truly do whatever you want. I can hop a plane right now and go any place in the world. Everything is at our fingertips. For a long time, I've thought that I was held down by school responsibilities or the location of my family or my job. But those might have been excuses to stay where I was comfortable.

I will never regret the decision I made to come here. The leap of faith I took. Because at only eight weeks in, I feel like I'll be returning to Canada... not as a different person, but maybe with a different perspective.

Which was something that I definitely needed.

Nešťastná událost vede ke šťastnému dni (An unfortunate occurrence leads to a fortunate day)

Ha! See, now look at that language. Czech is fucked.

Moving right along to our second day in Prague, which was actually supposed to be our first and only day in Vienna.

When I met up with Sarah and Julie in Munich, they mentioned that they were thinking of doing a day trip to Vienna from Prague. The theory was that Prague is all well and good, but there's no real tourist attractions. Yes, they have the astronomical clock...

Behold. Astronomy.

But otherwise, the idea of touring Prague is just to simply see buildings that have been around for up to a thousand years. So we figured one day was enough. Plus Sarah wanted to see the UN Headquarters in Vienna.

And that people, is where it all went downhill. You see, apparently Sarah has a curse upon her. The universe does not want her to see the UN. She tried in Switzerland and was shut-out by construction. And so naturally, because she wanted to see it in Vienna, the universe was not going to have this.

We found out (at 5am in the morning before we were about to leave, no less) that our Eurail passes would not take us to Austria. That they only worked for Germany and Czech Republic. So we all went back to our respective beds and woke up five hours later wondering what the hell to do with ourselves.

So we went and got breakfast and then walked around the shopping area for a while before getting bored and literally standing on a street corner wondering what to do next. I cringe as I write this. In Prague, and no idea what to do. God, I'm getting spoiled by Euro life.

Anyway, we decided we would head over to the castle and explore that. On the way there however, we happened upon a free castle tour guide. How convenient.

Our tour guide's name was Keith and he was from Seattle/all over the place. Apparently he had come to Prague on holiday and had met someone and decided to move his life over there. Pretty crazy. 

Keith was the epitome of American stereotypes. He was loud and obnoxious. Called out people around him, taunted the other tour guides and was arrogant as hell. But some reason, I just thought he was awesome. His tour was really casual and he explained historical events in a way that made it easy to understand. Oh and he also took us to monastery to drink monk beer. My judgement might be clouded.

brewz.

Up by the monastery we also one of the best views of the city. Pictures will not do it justice.

And that's only one angle.

One side-note. When we were on our way up to monastery, we had to take a tram. Keith had warned us that if we were going to get pick-pocketed (which is very common in Prague) it would happen on the tram. So we're waiting at the station and this old-ish man starts to walk up to me and is kind of looking at me funny. Like almost like he's examining me. Anyway, he comes to stand right in front of me, seven feet away, and just stares. It occurred to me then, that, maybe he's a pick-pocketer. So a swung my purse in front of me and turned away from him. Then he starts circling our group, stopping to stare at people every so often. Finally, Keith catches on to him and start yelling at him, "I know what you're doing! Get away from my group!" The man kind of acts like he can't understand Keith. "I know you understand what I'm saying!! Get away from my group now!" Finally the man walks away. Keith explained that he was definitely a pick-pocketer, albeit, not a very good one.

Another funny story. When we were up in the castle, we were looking at a mural that was on the side of the church. Keith was explaining that the mural kept getting dirty and so the Czechs asked NASA if they had any kind of material that would protect it. Turns out NASA did, but they wanted a large sum of money for it. As Keith is explaining this, he says "They agreed. So the Czechs got out their chequebooks and they wrote a cheque..." and Julie and I just burst out laughing. Full-on, tears running down our faces. And we laughed for the next five minutes. And then later on that night when we were drunk, we thought of it again and started laughing again. I have no idea why it was so funny. I don't even think puns are that funny, but I was dying.

Anyway, after almost four hours of touring, we bid farewell to Keith, went to an Italian restaurant, on his recommendation and then got ready for the night. Pub Crawl #2. And the pub crawl that the American guy from the other day had tried to convince us to go on.

So we met up in the square at 8:30 and were then lead to the Drunken Monkey pub. The best way I can describe this pub is, frat house. There was an all-you-can-drink two hour period where the beer tasted like shit and the shots were watered down with lemon juice, but it was awesome. There were beer pong tables and we played flip cup and met some American Airforce guys who were stationed in London, but come to Prague every year. This is where things got interesting.

There must've been seven or eight of them. One of them was super young and reminded me of Justin Bieber. There was another one who I swear to God, looked exactly like Will Smith. In my drunken state, I told him this and he was henceforth dubbed Will. Another guy was called Romaine ("like the lettuce" he said) Romaine was especially drunk. He smelled Julie's hair and started yelling Herbal Essences. He said he really liked my nose ring. He challenged Sarah to a push-up contest.

Sarah accepted.

"To make things fair" Romaine insisted that Julie sit on his back while he did the push-ups. Romaine did seem pretty built, so he got to 12. Then Sarah got to 20. (Keep in mind, we're doing this in the middle of a bar). Not one to be beat, Romaine then insisted on Round 2. He once again did 12, with Julie on his back. Sarah pulled off 19 and half and then told Romaine he won. But seriously, Sarah obviously killed it. Even the Airforce guys were impressed that a girl could pull that off. 

Moving on from our push-up battle, we went on to the next bar on the crawl. This bar was kind of weird. It seemed like it was literally built into a cave. The ceiling were extremely low and the air was really dry. However, the beer was much better at this bar and so I was happier. We hung out a little longer with the Airforce guys before we decided we had to go. We were officially out of money and we had to get up early the morning to leave Prague.

The next morning, I said bye to Sarah and Julie on a street corner and then we headed in opposite directions, me back to Sonderborg and the girls off to Poland. I really had an amazing week and I was so happy to reconnect with Sarah and to meet Julie. Big shout-out goes to them for letting me tag along.

Julie took some awesome pictures of the three of us, so I'll add those in once she uploads them to Facebook.

I never break a promise.

PS. After coming home and vowing to be done travelling, I got a message from Kosta, a high school friend. Apparently, I might be going to London in two weeks. God help my Visa.

Praha je jen vlakem... (Prague's only a train ride away...)

I'd like to call attention to the fact that this post title is in Czech. A language that I have no hope of ever learning. I was hoping the translation would have more of the accents in it, but disappointingly enough, no dice. Just take my word for it, the language is on crack.

Prague. I was told two things about it before coming; just walk around the city and take in your surroundings. And, go on a pub crawl.

Prague seems to be one of the party capital cities of the world. The Czechs love their beer, their absinthe and they certainly love their clubs, given that Central Europe's biggest club is located right in the centre of it all. 

More about that later though. We arrived to our hostel in Prague at around 4pm after getting lost numerous times. Wandering around a strange city is just becoming funny now. However, with all the cobblestones here, dragging around our duffel bags certainly got old fast.

We finally found our hostel in the middle of Old Town. This was my favourite one so far. It was located at the top of a massive staircase in what was probably a large loft flat before they made it int a hostel. It was the smallest one I've been in, but it had this cozy/homey feel, plus my dorm room was massive, so I liked it. 

We decided before leaving the train station that day that we wanted to do a day trip to Vienna on Thursday. The train to Vienna would leave at 6:30am and so there was going to be no drinking on Wednesday night. Which left us with only one choice; do the pub crawl on our first night.

After a day of travelling, I didn't really feel up to getting wasted, but it was one of the things that I said I was going to do and so, I had no choice.

Sarah and I got ready to go, bought our tickets at the hostel front desk and off we went. The pub crawl company owns its own bar and so we went there first and were lead to the first bar on the tour. It was a pub that was offering us one hour of unlimited drinking. We had a few beer and shots and met some guys from the US and a couple of girls from Canada before heading off to the next bar.

The next "bar" was actually a club. And it was the clubbiest club I've ever been in. Literally everything had black lights, there were TVs everywhere (they were showing the Victoria's Secret fashion show in the women's washroom, which seemed odd) and even the bathroom faucets glowed when you turned them on. Not to mention the only light shining into the ONE stall in the washroom was a black light... Like really?

But besides that, it wasn't bad. The beer was relatively cheap and we did get to dance a little bit. In Prague you're still allowed to smoke in the bars and it kind of seemed weird to me every time someone lit up indoors. I could never get used to that, just seems so weird.

The next bar we went to, Sarah and I pretty much ignored everyone and had a heart-to-heart, in typical drunk girl fashion. However at one point, some guy tried to come in a start a conversation with us and drunk lying Jessie, took over. I told him we were from Napa (is that how you spell it?) Valley, California and that Sarah went to Cornell. (Couldn't even let her lie for herself, good one.)

From there, we headed out to the nights main event. The five floor club that everyone was talking about. Each floor is a different theme and each one plays different music. 

It must cost a fortune to power this place because the amount of lights in there was unreal. We walked inside and the entire entrance way was just these flat blue squares of light from floor to ceiling. Let me just say that that kind of light is the most unflattering thing ever.

We then proceeded thought the maze of stars and hallways to check out the different floors. One was Oldies, one was Rock and Roll and one was the Hit List, just to name a few. You get the idea. 

We ended up on one floor that had a bar and then the dance floor was down in a pit basically. You could look down from the balcony into the pit and it was basically a mosh. Really cool.

I was a little bit disappointed though because the club itself seemed kind of dead. The only people there were really only the pub crawlers. It would've been cool to be there on a Friday or Saturday night when it was really going.

Overall though, I thought it was really cool and I know I'll be coming back when I travel here again next Fall. Sarah and I finished the night off at KFC where I drunk ate a Zinger burger and regretted it immensely the next morning. 

The next day, we began our touring of the city. The night before, the buildings had been all lit up and the Old Town Square looked absolutely beautiful. Little did I know, it would look just as amazing in the daytime.

Prague is one of the most well-preserved cities in Europe. Apparently this is because Hitler had wanted to retire to the city after he was done taking over the world, so he ensured that it wasn't bombed to bits during WW2. Really.

Regardless, it's beautiful. The streets are winding cobblestone pathways lined by towering colourful buildings with stunning trim and gold accents. Many of the buildings are even left over from medieval times. I finally understood why everyone said just to walk around Prague.

We grabbed some breakfast and headed into Old Town Square where we were supposed to meet our tour group for another free tour. On the way there, we were stopped by a guy trying to sell tickets to a pub crawl. We, unfortunately, were not interested because we were supposed to be heading to Vienna the next morning at 6:30am. I say unfortunately because this guy was a total smokeshow. Turns out he was from New York and he'd been living in Prague for the past year and a half. We got to talking about what it's like living in Europe, beer, travel visas and life back home. Pretty cool guy actually and he almost had us convinced to go out for a few beers that night. But I was still recovering from the night before and he wore Oakley sunglasses so I had to judge and say no. No, no I'm kidding (about the judging, not the Oakley's) I've travelled that early, hungover before. It's pure hell. Not even pretty Americans could make me endure that.

We proceeded from our new friend to our tour just as the rain started. Julie and I quickly ran got umbrellas and we were on our way.

And naturally, as soon as we bought the umbrellas, the rain stopped.

The tour itself had its ups and downs. It was great to see the city through the eyes of someone who knew all the hotspots, although I wasn't as interested in the history as I had been Berlin's. But it was interesting and our tour guide was really funny. He had a tiny speaker with him and would add sound effects to the stories he told. I think the most horrifying one was the one about a man who tried to steal from one of the famous churches in Prague. His hand was subsequently cut off when he was caught and then hung from the church ceiling as a reminder to not steal. The hand still hangs in the church, mummified. Super creepy.

I also liked the story about the Jewish sector if Prague. The Jews were imprisonned there for 600 years and it was a slum. Poorest of the poor. These days however, it's the richest area of the city, hosting the site of a five star hotel and numerous high-end stores such as, my favourite, Dolce & Gabbana. Someday I'm going to go in one of those stores and act like I have a lot money and I can afford that kind of stuff. 

The tour ended off at the river and the sun was just going down. I wish the pictures did it justice, because the whole scene just looked beautiful.

From there, we were frozen so we went off to dinner. We found this neat little patio restaurant that had heat lamps and blankets. It was great because it was super cozy, but we were still outside and got to people watch. Kind of reminded me of Whistler in a way, some of the bars there do the same thing. It made me a little homesick for my favourite place in the world.

It occurred to me that night that my adventure was quickly coming to an end and I was going to have to go back to normal life in Sonderborg. I say normal, even thought I know it's not, but it is quickly becoming my normal. I know that these next few weeks are going to be the time that I become the most homesick and I could start to feel that in the pit of my stomach that Wednesday night in Prague. I think I'm just going to have to keep myself busy with school and working out and just keep looking forward to the next adventure. 

I also still had one more day in Prague which I think I'm going to put in a separate blog post because this one is getting a bit long. Which means I'm going to have to use a second Czech title translation. Gah, the things I do.

PS. Had crepes again in Prague. I'm not really sure how I'm going to get by without those things back in Canada.

PPS. I just noticed that a lot of my PS's have to do with food. Hash tag fatty probs.

Von Munchen nach Berlin (From Munich to Berlin)

Okay, confession time. I was only in Munich for approximately 10 hours. I didn't take any photos, didn't get a shot glass (which I do for every new place I visit for my shot glass collection) and I really only went outside the hostel to have dinner, but I'm counting it because, hey, bragging rights.

When I first found out Sarah was going to be in Germany during my break, she had already booked her hostels for only two people; her and Julie. They had booked months in advance and so when I made my booking I booked myself into group dorms, essentially sharing a room with five other people that I didn't know.

I was a little nervous for this. The first two hostels I booked (Munich and Berlin) were all girl dorms, however the Prague dorm was co-ed. So yeah, could be awkward. But I figured, it would add to the adventure and it might provide good material for everyone to laugh at in the blog.

What I didn't realize is how cool it would be to meet new people from all over the world. If you ever stay in hostels in Europe, I highly recommend group dorms. Not only because they're super cheap, but because meeting people is awesome. The only downside I found is that every night I was away, at least one person snored. You would be shocked at how many different kinds of snoring there are too.

But otherwise, I've met Germans, Australians, Central Americans, Americans... The list goes on. It was cool to hear all about what they're doing in Europe, where they've been so far and what their home is like. Definitely added to the whole experience of  "travelling Europe".

So, let's talk Berlin.

As I mentioned before, I was really excited for Berlin. I kind of have this weird interest in the history of Germany, both in the World War and Cold War aspects. So, this was the perfect city. Not to mention they have a huge party scene. Did I just manage to sound shallow and cultured at the same time?

We got to Berlin in the early evening so it was already dark. After wandering around the massive central station for a while, we finally found the train that would take us to the area where our hostel was. Now I don't want to sound like a pampered Canadian, but when we arrived to this area, I was a little sketched out. There were drunk people all over the place and there was litter just absolutely piled on the side of the street. There was graffiti all over the buildings and the overall impression of it was unsafe.

We managed to find our hostel (which was the swankiest one I've been in so far, it was pretty much a hotel) and then we went off to find some dinner. As we ventured farther into East Berlin, I found that it wasn't actually as scary as I had first thought, and I started to feel a little more comfortable.

We found a nice little pub a few minutes from our hostel and settled in for our makeshift Thanksgiving dinner, which consisted of not turkey, but schnitzel. Schnitzel is basically breaded meat, it can be chicken, pork or whatever. But it was soooo good. Almost made up for the fact that I was missing turkey. Our waitress was also awesome; a level of customer service that we did not experience again for the rest of the trip.

Forever nomming

Sarah, Julie and I actually spoke about this again later on in Prague. Maybe it's just that as North Americans, we're used to a certain level of customer service, but here in Europe, shop owners and waiters just seem plain rude to customers. It's almost as if we're an annoyance, rather than the reason they have food on their tables. Now, that might sound like something a stingy tourist would say and although I find tourists in Halifax sometimes annoying, I'm always excited to talk to someone from away and to welcome them to our country and show them how Maritime hospitality is done. It just doesn't really seem to be the same here for some people.

Some people. Not all.

Our first real day in Berlin began with a visit to Brandenburg Gate. On the way there, we happened across a middle-aged American couple who were also trying to find the square. We ended up helping each other get there and going on to discover that they would be leaving to go to Prague on the same day we were. Anyway for the next 24 hours, we kept happening upon this couple and it actually became kind of funny. If we didn't see them for a little while, we would jokingly ask where Martha was, who was the overbearing wife.

Anyway the gate itself is pretty historically significant, so that was cool. But what was hilarious was what happened when we got there. There were actors in the square pretending to be soldiers and taking pictures with tourists. One of them came up a grabbed Julie and immediately had wheels on. Anyway, the two of them made her take pictures with them and were over-the-top flirting with her. It was hilarious. I thought at first they were just fooling around, but then one of them actually asked for her number and asked where we were going that night. Turns around it wasn't as much a joke as I thought.

Go Julie.

At that moment however, Martha turned up and told us she had found a free tour for us to do, because she knew we were tight on cash. We seized up the opportunity to go on a free tour and an hour later we were following around Stephanie from New Zealand as she told us all about the most notable parts of Berlin.

Like Brandenburg Gate for example, has a statue on top of the Goddess of Victory. The statue was stolen from the Germans by the French and then subsequently stolen back. The plaza which the statue now overlooks translates roughly to Paris Plaza. Get it? The Germans have Victory over Paris. What's more, the French embassy is also in the square and some say the architecture of it makes it look militarized. So, the statues face is turned to look at the embassy, as if it always has its eyes on them. Kinda funny.

That bear in the background was creepy as shit

Anyway we visited all the hotspots like the space over Hitlers former bunker (which is now a car park), the Berlin Wall, happened upon a movie set (a movie that Dave Franco was filming actually, swoon) and visited the site of the infamous Nazi book burning.

Bookshelves sealed in the ground as a tribute to the book burning

Space Magik at the Berlin Wall

It's actually crazy some of the things that that city has endured and the history surrounding it. The Berlin Wall was one of the things that touched me the most. To think that people were literally trapped behind a wall and were willing to risk their lives to escape is just incredible. I would've given anything to be there when the first piece fell. Can you imagine how gratifying it must have been to those people to tear that wall down? I think it's important that some of the pieces are still up though. Serves as kind of an eery reminder of what we are capable of, both in terms of evil acts and heroic accomplishments.

We also paid a visit to an exhibit called Topography of Terror. Basically it shows a timeline of how the Nazi party came to power, the havoc they wreaked, and their subsequent collapse. It was horrifying some of the things they did. Of course, we're always taught about what happened during the world wars, but actually being in the place where it happened and seeing pictures, makes it so much more real. I almost felt emotionally drained after leaving the museum.

After that, we went and had dinner and then bought a bottle of wine. Sarah and I drank it in her room back at the hostel and from there went out to the club down the street from our hostel called The Matrix. Apparently it's one of the largest clubs in Berlin, but because it was a Monday night, some of the rooms were closed off. It was a cool vibe though. It was built into the tunnels beneath one of the subway stations, so it felt very underground-esque. 

We got a few drinks and did end up a wee bit drunk. The music was actually sick though. I love when DJs don't try to mix every single song they play and they just play songs that we can drunk jam to. So perfect.

Would you be surprised if I said iOS7? No, probably not.

We stayed for a few hours and then went to go home. When we went outside we ended up meeting two guys from Spain who were actually hilarious. Their names were Pablo and Jose and they kept telling us they wanted to marry us and move to Canada. In my drunken state, I couldn't stop laughing. I love meeting random people who turn out to be kind of interesting and later on, the encounter turns into a good story. 

The next morning we packed up at 9am and made our way back to the central station to continue on to Prague, the next leg of the journey. I was sad to leave Berlin. I could've stayed for a lot longer. But I know now that I will definitely be back. I kind of like this whole, only staying for a day or two in one city. It's like sampling what the city has to offer. That way, when I make a plan to come back, I know where I'll want to go.

PS. Germany literally has the best treats ever. So many different kinds of cookies and candy. I was loving it.

PPS. Just remembered, on the train ride from Munich to Berlin, we had reserved seats. I went to go and sit in mine and who's taken it? A nun. An old nun. How the hell am I supposed to tell a woman of God to get out of my seat? I think she must have sensed my inner conflict though because she asked if it was my seat and I mean, at that point I can't lie to a nun either, so I said yes. Still felt awful taking it though.

Also have ich gelogen (So I lied)

Yes I know I said that wouldn't be writing again for a while. But it's hard to remember everything that happens on a day to day basis without writing it down, so I'm thinking I'm going to write a post of every city I go to over the next week.

So as you may or may not have gathered the title of this post is in German, which should indicate to you that I am officially in Germany! Munich to be exact.

Now don't get me wrong I loved Edinburgh but I already have a feeling I'm going to like Germany more. The countryside is absolutely gorgeous, with these little towns nestled in foothills and the city is so metropolitan, while at the same time boasting beautiful buildings. I love it. I almost wish I was staying here for a whole day instead of going to Berlin tomorrow but I know that I'm going to love Berlin. I'm most excited for it.

Getting here was a struggle though. I got a drive to the train station in Flensburg, Northern Germany, which is about 30 min from Sonderborg. Once there, I hoped on a train to Neumunster. This is where it got complicated.

Transfers stress me out beyond belief. Turns out my ticket had the wrong platform number on it and all of the overhead announcements in the train station were in German, so I had no idea where to go. But once again, I have been floored by the kindness of strangers here in Europe. One guy on the platform must've noticed that I looked confused and asked where I was headed. I said Hamburg and he told me that he was headed that way as well and that the announcement had said that the platform had changed. Anyway he told me to follow him and he even carried my bag up and down the stairs for me. Absolutely unbelievable.

Once on the train, I felt so relieved. I love travelling by train. There's so much room and so much to look at out the window. About halfway through the journey I received another kindness from a complete stranger. We had been stopped at a station for 15 min and an announcement was made in German. Seeing my confusion, the woman sitting across from me asked if I understood what was happening. I said no, that I did not speak German. She quickly explained to me that the train was broken down and we should be heading out again in 30 min. She then said she would be my personal translator for the rest of the journey. So so nice.

I got to Munich and was overjoyed to see Sarah. It almost felt surreal. I hadn't really seen or talked to her in over a year but it felt like no time at all. After a harrowing day, it was such a comfort to finally be with her and Julie.

We headed back to hostel which was much swankier than the one I had stayed in in Edinburgh. I'm in a room with five other people that I don't know, but I don't really mind it so far. There's a couple Asians and an older lady and they all seem quiet and nice which I appreciate.

Sarah and I then went out for dinner at a place that was so German that we ended up ordering off the specials menu because we couldn't even understand what the dishes were on the actual menu, even though it was in English. THAT German.

We pretty much spent the entire meal chatting about what we've missed in each others lives and I remembered how much I love talking to her. Conversation always just flows so easily and she always has great insights. I realized how much I've missed her and I felt reassured that I was going to have a great time during this week.

Anyway I'll check back in in a few days after I've been through Berlin. Ciao for now!

PS. The showers at this hostel are my worst enemy. The pressure is so strong that it actually hurts and there's literally no room in the cubicle to get changed. So you either strip down in the middle of the bathroom or awkwardly go in and out of the stall changing your clothes for the towel and vice versa. I think the whole stereotype about Europeans being entirely comfortable with nudity might be a reality.

Cafeen nyeste medlem (Cafeen's newest member)

So as you may or may not know at this point in time, Cafeen is the student bar. Run entirely by students on a volunteer basis. The perks to being a member of the Cafeen team is that you get discount and free booze, plus you get to go on the weekend getaway drunk-a-palooza and bartend, which is something that I've missed a lot.

When I started school, an email went out that they were looking for new bartenders. Even though it's only a volunteer position, I figured it would be cool to meet people and be working behind a bar again. I filled out the application and then didn't really think of it again.

I didn't hear word back for five weeks and figured that they had chosen other people. Not a big deal, I could spend my Friday nights drinking as I usually do.

However, on Wednesday I received an email that I was in! Whut. Was not expecting that. And so I was told to report to Cafeen the following evening with my favourite fruit.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not like fruit. Any fruit. At all. So I chose the one that I could tolerate the best... an apple.

Fast-forward to Thursday night and I showed up at Cafeen was handed a beer and sat down to listen to the rules and how things work. After all the boring stuff, things got interesting...

I was really nervous about the fruit thing. All six new members had brought one and they varied. If we had to eat them, I was going to have some serious issues. I'm a brat.

But no, we soon found out that we had a challenge. We were going to have to make a drink that was "our fruit" themed. Kind of cool actually. I felt like I was on Masterchef. We had ten minutes to scurry around behind the bar, using the blender, liqueurs and any flavouring syrup we wanted.

I really wish I knew how to make an appletini, because that would've been sweet, but after looking around, I found apple liqueur and figured I could make some kind of girly drink.

It also soon became apparent that I was the only one with bartending experience. After I diced up a lemon and started pouring shots into cups, my fellow newbies jokingly claimed that I was cheating.

Anyway, my drink ended up being a half shot of rum, a shot of apple liqueur and a half shot of "exotic fruit" liqueur (I have no idea). Then I added sprite and some grenadine. The grenandine was mostly for colour purposes because the apple liqueur was this weird brown colour and made the drink look like shit. But as far as taste goes, I tried it and it was actually pretty awesome. The liquor wasn't too strong and the "exotic fruit" liqueur actually blended with the apple well. For kicks, I garnished the glasses with apple slices. Pretty cute, if I say so myself.

When time was up, each of our drinks were passed around and were given a score out of ten. Mine got an eight and I was only beat by a girl who had had brought bananas and had made a chocolate milk, Bailey's and banana smoothie. Easy win for her. I actually hate bananas and even I thought it was amazing.

We then got drunk. Quel shock.

I was supposed to meet up with the Germans and the Frenchies at Wunderbar later on in the evening, but I once again got too drunk (seems to be a theme these days) and ended up just going home. However, I do remember desperately wanting some pizza but being too lazy to bike and get a slice. For some reason I thought that an appropriate substitute would be bread (not toasted or anything) with cream cheese on it... I don't even know.

Anyway in other news I'm headed off to Munich tomorrow to meet up with dearest Sarah and her friend Julie. From there we're heading to Berlin on Sunday, (superrr excited for that) and then to Prague on Tuesday. I'll be back on Friday morning to my dear Sonderborg once again.

PS. I bought this absolutely gorgeous lace white shirt last week. Washed it today and it's yellow. I have no idea what dyed it but I was crushed. I loved that shirt. So, you better believe I biked back to H&M and bought it again. Got money ta blowwww. Only not really. But for 20$, it's totally worth the amount of wears that I'll get out of it and that's how I look at it.