From Hillbilly Heaven to Honkytonk Hell...

OFFICIALLY JULY!!!!! BEST MONTH---EVER!!!!!

Tuesday July 1st:
I woke up and had my presentation for Novel To Film from 11-1. We went, did our little class presentation and then sighed with relief when it was over with. After class, I went to AJY for our Vollversammlung (meeting) from 1:15-2ish...then went to the mensa with Anna and Jesse afterwards. After lunch, I got an ice cream and then had to book it home in time to get my stuff to bring with me to American Short Stories. It was over 90 degrees...there is NO air conditioning ANYWHERE here in Germany, so I sweated to death the entire 25 minute ride to class. NASTY. I got there and Gaja and Sarah were already there so we talked about how damn hot it is and then class started. We had class, and then afterwards I took the bus with Gaja and her boyfriend into town and then went home. I got home and worked on my presentation for the following morning and then went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Wednesday July 2nd:
I woke up and had my other presentation from 11-1 as well. I had to go to AJY to print off my notes so I left early and made my way towards the AJY Center. I got there, saw Anna and Kayla and had a meltdown while the printers refused to print my notes. Dr. Tracy attempted to print them himself-but he's a moron and can't fix anything electronic so it was just wasting time until he decided to print them from his computer-thank god. So then I ran to class and Jesse/Manuel and I did our presentation. The professor (who really doesn't deserve that high title since he doesn't really do shit) told us it was the best presentation he's seen (woah) and had the class grade us. The rest of the class couldn't come up with anything bad to say so they gave us a 1.3 which the "professor" said wasn't high enough but because it was unfair for him to adjust our grade and not everyone elses, he stuck with the 1.3. To me, that was totally fair because here anything in the 1 range is an A. So I was happy! So after class I went to AJY to see what was going on and ran into John so I hung out with him and we had plans to do dinner together that night anyway, so instead of waiting three hours we went grocery shopping and then came back to my place and started preparing and just hung out. I really like John. He's a really nice guy and he's always interesting to talk to. So while we prepared and cooked and talked I cleaned up and then Kayla showed up around 5:30ish and John had made Borscht and Fruit Soup. I decided that I really dislike borscht but I'm a fan of fruit soup, so that was okay. Then Pat came over to hang out for a bit and have dessert with us and we all hung out in my room for a while which was fun and around 9ish they all left to go home.

Thursday July 3rd:
I woke up and had my last day of praktikum. I got there at 8 and was given half the class (with Hanni and Martin in it!) and told to play a game with them while the other half went to the library. So we played a Lion game where three kids get sent out of the classroom and I pick one kid to b the lion and the three kids come back in and have to go up to whichever kid they think I picked and say "Good morning, Mr. Lion" and if its not the kid I picked, they respond with "No, I'm Mr. _____" It's apparently something that helps with their English skills. So we played that for an hour and then the teacher came back and had me sit and wait for the other half and after almost an hour of waiting for the other half she came back and said they didn't want to leave the library, so she sent me home. She gave me a calendar of Heidelberg and some coconut candies and thanked me for coming in and helping out. So that's the end of that. I'm glad I got to see Hanni and Martin but I'm not upset about having to stop going. Im glad I can sleep in on Thursdays/Fridays again. After praktikum I came home and did laundry/showered/cleaned and packed a box and then Judith/Alex/John/Fab picked me up and drove me to the military base to mail boxes. Oye. Alex had 5 boxes FILLED with books. John had 2 boxes of shoes/books. And I had one box of clothes. So because they can't go on base, I had to carry all 8 boxes-by myself-from the start of the gate into the post office building. WHAT a pain in the ass. AND let me add-it was raining. UGH! So I get them in there and then get told I have to fill out customs forms for all of them with specific details as to whats in each box. Retarded. So I do the best I can and then go back to the counter. THEN I get told that I can't mail anything because I don't have an APO address. So now I have to take all the boxes back outside and figure out a way to get them home-since Judith was on her way back to Mannheim.. Fuck. Well, this really sweet lady, Debbie Brown, heard me on the phone with John and told me I could use her APO mailing address. How sweet!! So she helped me out and we got all the boxes mailed and readdressed and done. So after 2 hours of dealing with bullshit...it was officially done. Thank goodness. So then I had to run to catch the Strassenbahn to get to Starbucks on Uniplatz by 3:00 to meet Sophia for coffee. I had 15 minutes. Great. So I booked it in the rain to the strassenbahn-got on-took it to Bismarckplatz-grabbed the bus and made it with 2 minutes to spare. Unreal. Then Sophia and I had coffee for a bit-which was really really nice. I really like her and I know Im gonna kick myself for not having spent more time with her when I had the chance. So we talked and then I had class at 4, so I left. I went to Pop Musik and then after class went to Creative Writing. In class, Pat sent me a text and asked if I wanted to hang out just us that night after class so I said sure. After retarded Crw Class I met Pat at Uniplatz where it started to rain. Great. Pat rode his bike, so he decided he'd 'race' the bus to see who got to the grocery story fastest. HA! So being my crazy best friend, he kept "revving" his bike and looking at me while I was on the bus...retard. Then Ines got on the bus (a Portugese girl from my crw class) and we talked for a while, which was nice and then at the Hof I got off and walked-through the torrential down pore to the Hof, where surprisingly I beat Patrick. I grabbed spaghetti sauce and then we made the three blocks walk home int he pouring rain. Nasty. Then I made spaghetti and meat sauce and we talked for the a while and hung out. It was really nice having it be just the two of us, we hadn't had that in a really long time. There are definitely times when I truly adore that boy. I'm so glad he's my best friend. Then Pat left around 11ish and I went to bed.

Friday July 4th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!!!!!!
I woke up and got ready for the AJY 4th of July party!!!! I showered and decided to blow dry my hair...then I was rushing and decided I should trim my bangs...and instead...I FREAKING CUT THEM. O.M.G. THEY'RE SO SHORT. Great. Then I met John at Romerkreis Sud to catch the 24 and we met Anna on the tram and we took it to Burgstrasse to meet Frau Heckmann who then took us in her car up the mountain *WOOHOO* She took us to the place where our AJY 4th of July grillfest was. We had cheeseburgers and chips and Alison brought cake and Jeff made his famous brownies and it was DELICIOUS!!!! We had a really good time and then around 4, Kayla/John/Davor and I went shopping for our JOINT 21st Birthday CELEBRATION/4th Of July BASH!!! We got tons of liquor to make a cooler of sex on the beach and a bucket of Gin & Tonic! After we went shopping, we took the tram to the Neckarweise and walked to the Grillplatz so that we could grill the sausages and stuff that we bought. We set up shop and John made the alcoholic concoctions!! It was a TON of fun!!! It was me, anna, davor, pat, becca, babs, fab, kayla, john, dan, eric, jeff, peter, Jesse, Ryan, and best of all Sophia came!!! Woohoo!! So it was a pretty solid group of people!! We were there til about midnight when Anna, Dan, John, and I walked back to Ringstrasse. John was too tired/drunk to walk home alone so since I had Brittny's air mattress in my room I let him crash for the night. BAD DECISION!!! Boy does that kid SNORE!! Ugh. So I had a good time trying to sleep and kept waking him up which wasnt fun for him and yeah...so that was my fourth. Probably one of the best 4th of July's Ive ever had :)

Saturday July 5th: WHITNEY'S ARRIVAL!!!
Woke up and John and I made breakfast. I had eggs and toast and he made himself a grilled cheese--haha. Then around 12ish I kicked him out and walked to Hauptbahnhof to meet Whitney! She came out and it was really good to see her :) We went back to my apartment and then decided to walk Hauptstrasse for a bit before meeting Becca and Pat for Eis. We had to put money on her cell phone and such and shopped a bit and then around 3ish met Becca and Pat. We went and had Eis (YUM) and then walked to the old bridge and hung out there for a while. After that we walked to Rudis and bought food/stuff and then parted ways so we could go home and Whit could run before we had to be at the Neckarweise at 8. Afterwards, we went to the Hof bought alcohol and grilling food again and then walked to the Neckarweise--same spot as the previous night. Everyone from the previous night came back and Pat brought his radio with batteries this time so we had music. It was really fun :) We made sausages and ended up just hanging out and talking until about 1ish. Then around 1, I grabbed Whit and we ran to catch the moonliner (night time bus) to head back to Ringstrasse. We got back, talked for a little while and then went to bed.

Sunday July 6th: Paper day...joy.
Today I woke up and Whit and I got ready and headed over to Kayla's for breakfast. She and Jeff made pancakes, french toast, eggs & bacon. They had tea and juices and müsli and all kinds of good stuff! It was me, whit, john, peter, kayla and jeff. Super fun!! We ate and ate and ate and then cleaned everything up and went back home at around 2ish. I had a meeting with Jesse around 3 to discuss our 8 pg paper for Novel To Film and then while Whit napped, spent the rest of the day writing my part of the paper. Joy. Afterwards, we made dinner (salmon and rice, and Whit had rice and beans) and then were lame and I kept writing while she read before bedtime. So far it's been a really good weekend :)