Somebody Take Me Home...

So I've really been slacking on this whole posting thing. Life here has gotten kinda crazy.

Let's see...

Saturday Post-posting:
Right when I got out of the shower, Charis was knocking on my door. I quickly got ready and she took me shopping in Heidelberg!! She is truly amazing. We took the S-bahn to Bismarckplatz and we stopped first at Star Coffee which turns out to be very similar to Starbucks altho cheaper and you can mitnehmen which is FABULOUS (ie. take it with you) so we got Mochas and we began at H&M on Hauptstrasse. She showed me where the sales racks are and such and we went from store-to-store basically showing me which ones were good to shop in and which ones to simply look/skip. We went into a bunch that I LOVED. Zero is GORGEOUS it reminds me SO much of Banana Republic! We shopped for a while and eventually made it into this jewelry store that reminded me a lot of the jewelry store on Melrose in Cali. The walls are literally lined with necklaces/bracelets/earrings and the center is filled with tables that have bracelets/earrings/headbands/basically anything accessory-wise and it was pretty cheap. I got a really awesome wooden necklace, earrings to match (that are a tad radical but Charis forced me. apparently I've been missing the 'crazy earrings' memo haha and these gorgeous silver drop earrings. It was a really fun store!! Then we ran into Becca, Alex, and Davor on Hauptstrasse. Running into people I knew made me really really happy. It's like I'm finally starting to 'live' here! We decided to meet Alex and Davor at Charis's favorite pommes(french fries) resturant for pommes and drinks at 6 and continued shopping. Hauptstrasse is so cool!!! They have all these musicians that perform in the middle of the street or magicians and other types of acts. Charis and I watched a man who had 6 dogs do tricks with his dogs. One walked across a ladder, the little dachsaund(sp?) jumped over the back of HUGE black mut. It was pretty cool, altho the dogs looked absolutely miserable which broke my heart. There was black dog that was SO CUTE and looked like a terrier-mut and all I wanted was to pet him and cuddle him because he had his tail between his legs and just was so so sad. It broke my heart... we continued on and stopped at AJY for a little while where we ran into a couple of people as well as Katie Wolfe who was visiting for her spring break. She was an AJYer this past Fall and missed Heidelberg so much she bought a ticket to fly back here for her Spring Break-haha. So she went to pommes with us! Anna meet us for Pommes and we all had a really good time. They were really good pommes, altho Loni's are SO much better. haha! Afterwards, we came back to Ringstrasse and got ready for our "girls night"!!

Kayla & Jesse came over around 8ish and we hung out in my room before leaving at like 9:30ish! On the way to Untere-Strasse we stopped at the Wartburg to use Pat's bathroom and then made it to Ipunkt!! Ipunkt was PACKED. Literally packed. So we pushed our way to an open area and bought drinks and tried to get into the music. They play the weirdest music here... we got tired of it and wound up leaving and headed for Tangente where Pat & Becca took us a few weeks ago. We got there and they didn't open until 11, so we had to kill time for 20 minutes. The bar next door was open, so we went there and Charis/Kayla/Jesse ordered drinks while Anna and I had Leitungswasser (tap water). We made it to Tangente and they were having "Disco" night...which we were NOT into. So we stayed for an hour and then went back to Ipunkt which turned out better. We got there and they were playing Sweet Home Alabama and then eventually made it to Backstreet Boys (EEK!) and the West Virginia song that people go INSANE to here. We learned a super cool German dance to the song Cowboy und Indianer which apparently Uli knows as well (haha) and after a while we left and came home. It was by far the best night going-out wise in Heidelberg!!!

Sunday:
I had a TON of homework to do and a meeting at AJY with my group for a project at 2:30ish. So Anna and I went to Vivo (the coffee place from friday night) and did homework/drank coffee while we waited until our meeting at 2:30. After our meeting, we met Kayla at Raja for Indian food (mmm butter chicken and basmati rice!!) and then I came home to do the rest of my homework/go to bed early. Uneventful.

Monday:
We had class from 8:40-2:30 for lunch we had a break from 12:30-1:30 and we FINALLY ate at the MENSA on Uniplatz!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!! I had Schnitzel mit Pommes for 3 euros and a slice of Apfelkuchen!!!! Oh my GOD is the food better here!!! And it was fun to finally be surrounded by German students. Then after class Dan, Peter, Anna and I rushed back here to meet my Hausmeister for our laundry tokens. We FINALLY got our laundry tokens and were THRILLED...CLEAN CLOTHES!!! WOO!!! So Anna and I made a Hof trip for the week (I finally sat down before hand and made a list of what I wanted for lunches and such. Made it so much easier than having to walk the aisles searching for things.) and then since Pat was leaving the next day, we had dinner the three of us. I made fajitas (i know, right!? I'm becoming such a cook! go figure!) and they were AMAZING. Germans don't use mexican seasoning so I just kind of experimented...and it turned out really well (or at least, the three of us thought so). I love when it's the three of us. It makes me so so so happy... so Pat left around 8ish and Anna and I did the dishes before she left and I did homework before going to bed.

Tuesday:
We had class until 12:30, then went to the mensa again and then I came back to my apartment and did laundry-FINALLY. It was QUITE the experience. The machines don't even come up to my hips and they hold less than half a load that Elon's washers can hold. Fucking ridiculous. AND it costs TWICE as much as it does at Elon. AND the dryers don't work-apparently, I didn't risk the token because I had only bought 6, but Charis told me not to even bother. So I used the drying rack I bought at the Hof to hang dry all my clothes. (This was my first real-omg I miss Elon, experience). After doing laundry, Anna came over and we cooked dinner with Dan and Peter. When I say we cooked, boy did we cook!! We made bratwurst, pasta with alfredo sauce, breaded zucchini sticks, grilled onions and mushrooms and fresh bread. The table was literally covered in plates. RIDICULOUS. But boy was it all delicious!!! After dinner, I did as much ofmy hw as I could and passed out.

Wednesday:
We had class from 8:40-2:30ish and my group had a big break from 10:15-1:30. Not quite enough time to go home, so we stuck around at AJY planning our group project for the week and figuring out times for stuff. We ended up finishing that REALLY early so I was able to use Peterzahlt.de to call my Mom for 15 minutes and then Anna and I sat down and bought our tickets to SWEDEN!!!! WOO!!! We're leaving March 28th-April 2nd!!!!! I can NOT literally can NOT wait to see Sabina!!!! A familiar face, that's not a heidelberg face, is going to be so so so so so nice. Plus, I simply miss that girl!! Afterwards, we had a meeting about courses here and then I came back and relaxed, made myself tortollenis that made me really really ill and went to bed at 8.

Thursday:
I woke up and felt really sick still but pushed through it and went to class. Had class from 8:40-12:30 and then went to lunch at the Mensa with Dan and Anna before coming back to my apartment and relaxing/showering/getting ready to meet Becca at 6 for dinner. We met at Rossi, the resturant on Bismarckplatz where she works, and had a really good time. I hadn't spent time with just her, Pat or Anna or both have always been around so I didn't really get a chance to get to know her and last night was really really fun!! We were there until about 8:30ish and spent the whole time talking in English/German. She's really funny and we have a lot in common (she too owns over 20 pairs of jeans-SEE IT'S NOT JUST ME!!). I'm starting to be really glad that I have "other" friends outside of AJY. It's nice to get away from the same people for a little while. I can't wait until Pat & Judith come back from Urlaub(vacation). It's really weird without Pat here. Afterwards, I came back to my apartment and found a sticky note from Theresa on my door that said Charis had stopped by so I climbed the one flight up and knocked on Charis's door. She came downstairs and borrowed a movie (Love and Basketball-:) Mere :) ) and we ended up talking for an hour before she left, making plans to get together tonight and do something fun!!! I'm really glad because Anna's sick with a cold and I'm in the mood to do something "different". Becca invited me to dinner with her and a bunch of the Wartburg people at this really nice Chinese resturant but its between 20-50 euros a person and I'm not really up to paying that much, altho part of me feels that it'd be a really good experience and opportunity to meet those people outside of Patrick...but I don't think I can really afford to pay that much, especially if it ends up being 50 euros a person... so we'll see. I probably will bail on that and simply do dinner here. I bought myself maultaschen at the Hof so maybe I'll make a cheese sauce or something with those :) I'm meeting Charis at 5 to buy Paris tickets for next Thursday, unless they're outrageous expensive. I'm really hoping that we can get there for a decent price and get to see Aunt Patti & Uncle Richard...but we'll have to see.

I had my first experience of really and truly being homesick this morning. Last night I dreamt that I was at Elon and it was my first time back after being abroad and I saw Jackie working some type of table in moseley and I ran up to her and gave her this huge hug and she goes "Do you not notice who's standing right here???" And I turned and Kir was there and we shrieked and I was elated to be back at school and then my alarm went off and I realized I was 3000 miles away from everyone. It was really rough... but I got up and went to class and did well on a test (hopefully!) and had lunch at the Mensa with almost the whole group, so hopefully if I keep just trudging on it'll stay really good here and I'll have a few tough times that aren't that terrible...but I miss everyone from Elon so so so so so much and it makes me so sad that it's so hard to actually keep in touch with everyone since the time difference is so drastic. I sent a few people letters last week and it was INSANE how expensive it is to mail a letter to the states...which also makes me really sad...I'm a HUGE letter person and I sent Pat & Uli a ton of letters over fall sem, but since it's so expensive mailing letters here to home just isn't that realistic :( Tomorrow i'm supposed to go shopping in Mannheim with Kayla & Jesse and then we're making Garlic-Broccoli-Penne and Apple Pie for dinner and then Judith comes home and I'm going out with the Wartburg girls!!! YAY!!! So this weekend should be really good. I need to find time to write/workshop Kir's poem because I've really been slacking on that (Im SO sorry, Kir!! I LOVE YOU and I PROMISE I'm going to get to it!!) Well, I guess that's basically it. I miss you all so much it hurts!!!!!! I'm contemplating starting a mass-email, because I'm not quite sure how many people actually read my blog...so if you want to be added to my listing let me know. I know how annoying it is to get random mass-emails so I don't want to be one of those people that bugs you...so please, send me an email/fb message or comment on here and let me know if you want to be added to my mass email. I love you so much :)

Becca