Trip through Italy Part 2: Florence, the Introduction to the real Italy.

Our trip to Florence the next day was my first real introduction to visiting Italy. Since it is a holiday season it is exceptionally busy. I cannot say whether or not the crowds of people are always there, but for us on our trip, they were there. Goodness there are lots of people everywhere. People bumping into you and the threat of one of those people being a pick pocketer makes you really aware of just where everything is in your pockets all the time.

The markets here were huge. Just big markets everywhere we went. It was really cool. Walking through one of them Michael and I got called Tom Cruise and James Bond because we were wearing our sunglasses and they wanted to get our attention. We then had a  lengthy discussion about who would be who. We both just decided we would be different James Bonds. In Germany I don't think we can be as easily spotted as Americans. In Italy we stick out. Especially me. No one here is tall and blonde. Besides that, unlike Germany, no one here wears backpacks. They pull along the rolly suitcases instead of carrying things on their backs. Apparently backpacks are not the latest in fashion. Oh well, practicality is the new hot in Germany. It's also naturally quite convenient imagine that.

Day one in Florence was spent exploring the city around our hostel. This meant the giant cathedral there. It was super cool and one of the most ornate buildings I had ever seen. (Naturally going to Rome this has changed.) It is still really ornate and really big. In our time walking through the city I learned that traffic laws are really ambiguous in Italy. It doesn't matter where you are, sidewalk, crosswalk or tucked away in a corner you could die from a vehicle…or so it seemed. I almost got taken out by a bus while standing by a bike rack. Fortunately I pay attention to my surroundings and I moved out of the way. 

The second day in Florence was really cool too. It had been raining quite vigorously through the night and early morning so when Michael and I got out everything was really wet. This was okay for me, everything was naturally more saturated in color so that made the pictures just that much easier. We went through the city, going in the not as populous regions. It was prettier there I think, probably because I could see things other than masses of heads bobbing in a giant crowd. We went to the Pitti Palace and wandered through the grounds there for several hours. We eventually left and met up with the others where we went up to a big hill overlooking the city. It is a hill built in dedication to Michelangelo. Naturally this is a fantastic place to view the city. I turned around to look at the hillside and was surprised to see a Ferrari California parked by a fountain. Apparently if you pay the company enough you can drive one around the city. I did not, because I could not, but I enjoyed the view. Twenty minutes later I saw a Ferrari F430 parked in some random backyard and decided then and there that Italy wasn't a bad place. Not that I was concerned it would be.

We moved on from Michelangelo Piazza and headed out to the countryside. Even in a beautiful city I like to see the country some times. I was not saddened when I saw the Tuscany countryside. One thing that we saw a lot of was olive trees. They are everywhere. Since we were walking around, we had time to think about olives and their strangeness. For example, who in the world figured out that they were good to eat. If you have had an olive directly from a tree you no longer want to live life. They are horrible. But somehow, once they are soaked in salt water they are delicious. People have weird ideas to come up with food but I am okay with that because most of the time they are fantastically delicious. Ahem, I speak to you Italy. Exhausted from days and days of walking through cities, we headed back early to take a much needed rest. We felt pleased with our time in Florence so we were okay. We were heading to Rome the next day anyways, so we got ready for that. 

The day to travel to Rome arrived and we met it head on. We were at the train station a little early and waited for our train. When you live in Germany, there are several things you start to take for granted. Organization of public transportation is one of them. Not to say that the German trains are ever on time, but you know what's going on most of the time. While watching the board for train arrivals and departures we formulated the theory that there was an Italian man in a booth somewhere moving trains to various places frantically hoping he doesn't mess up and get two trains in the same place. We could imagine him saying "This'a train goes'a here, and this'a train goes'a here…Oh no! I already a'have'a train a'here!" It looked just short of chaos. Our train was of course delayed so I had some time to watch the marquee and subsequently learn a little Italian. I Saw that a specific train was delayed an hour because of something to do with a single person...I saw the word retardi...not implying anything, just saying what I read. Another theory is that maybe the train was hijacked my a single musician and was driving the train too slowly. I don't know. 

We eventually got on our train, and I died a little inside when we could smell Italian food the whole trip. I don't buy food on trains, my wallet would probably commit suicide. Fortunately my misery was brief as was the trip to Rome. The cool thing about Europe is that trains aren't a thing one just ships coal on. People actually use it to travel (a novel concept I know), so they are good at traveling. They go like the clappers. I saw it going roundabouts 150 miles per hour (It was in kilometers per hour so the conversion was not exact). In Rome we began part 3 of our Trip through Italy. Stay tuned for the next blog: Trip Through Italy Part 3: When in Rome...

Trip through Italy Part 1: Venice.

Venice isn't like the rest of Italy at all. First of all, there are no roads, so therefore no cars. This means you are now safe from someone trying to kill you. Traffic laws in Italy seem to only apply to boats, and Venice runs on boats.

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After our experiences in Salzburg, we headed off to Italy. I had never been anywhere near Italy so I had no idea at all what to expect. I knew that my German would be pretty much useless there. I was hoping my English wouldn't too. Of course I was being ridiculous, everyone speaks English. I have had no problems expressing myself to the Italians. I just talk with my hands and I can fit right in, they understand what I am saying too. The train ride from Salzburg to Venice was just as pretty as it sounds like it would be. From the prettiest place I have seen to the prettiest place people tell me to see. Over the ocean, under mountains, through vast valleys we went! It was a great ride. My welcome into Italy was a giant snowstorm. The stone giants in the mountains were fighting with snow and it looked to be fierce. Then again we were going around 150 miles per hour so it could have been a gentle serene falling of snow that one thinks of when they hear Swan Lake. But at 150mph everything seems more like the 1812 Overture mixed with a little Bonanza theme. 

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Thankfully it wasn't snowing when we got to Venice. I say this only because I was not dressed for the cold and we had a ways to go to get to our hostel. That night Michael and I explored our little lagoon called Lido (like Toledo but without the "Ta") and found the ocean. It had been a while since I had genuinely been to a warm ocean so I was happy. It was dark and the stars were out. The Milky Way was out and I could see it streak across the sky in its typical awesomeness. We stood there for a while until the threat of our feet getting wet by the incoming waves moved us off the beach. We walked around until we got tired and then went to bed. The next morning was going to be a long day so we wanted to make sure we got enough sleep.

Our day began with a trip to the main island of Venice. Just being off shore we were technically not in Venice but we were really right there. In a normal city, the distance we had to go from our hostel to the city center would have only taken five to ten minutes, but because there are no cars let alone busses on the island, we had to take boats. All the boat traffic goes in one way. We ended up nearly circumnavigating the entire city before getting to where we wanted, taking about 45 minutes. This wasn't bad though, we were seeing the city from the water and it looked awesome.

We got onto land and realized that it was going to be really confusing to get anywhere. There aren't really streets and so not really technical street names. There are a few but that's about it. We did see some strangely helpful graffiti pointing us in the right direction once. I was happy that a reprobate had guided his moral compass enough to lend a helping hand. Other than the one surprisingly helpful graffiti, there wasn't much to go on as far as navigation. More than once we found ourselves almost stepping into the street, which is a big deal when it is water. I decided a Postal worker's first week on the job has got to be one of the worst things ever. 

The city of Venice is pretty. I was actually more in awe of the fact that it was a city on the water and that it was structurally sound. Besides, it's not like its the most modern city ever. But really, who's idea was it to build a city in the water anyways? I could come up with simpler things. But really, the city was super. After covering pretty much everything in that city, we split off and Michael and I found something to eat on the island while the others went back to Lido. We got lost trying to find the toilets that were always just around the next corner but were really a long ways off. Whoever designed the city must have been on some really heavy drugs, because there is no rhyme or reason to the placement of the buildings. The city makes no navigational sense at all, at least if you are walking. We finally returned to the area where we wanted to eat. Even cheap Italian food is really yummy so naturally I was pleased with life. 

I took so many pictures that day that my camera was probably just as grateful for the rest that night as I was. So when I finally hit the hay for the night, I slept wonderfully. A side note about sleeping in Italy, the beds are back to normal here. It has been a long time since I saw a non German style bed. I almost didn't know what to do. For those of you who don't know, there isn't a regular sheet on a German bed, it is instead a fancy covering on the bedspread that you pull off and wash, I don't remember the name, something French naturally. The point is, they are a little different, so seeing a normal bed threw me off guard. It's okay, I am adaptable. Nonetheless, I sleep beautifully just about wherever I am. Venice was no exception. We could hear the ocean from our hostel. It was nice.

The next day we moved on to Florence. I once again had no idea what to expect. As it turns out, the difference between Venice and Florence is about as much as going into a whole new country. Yes everyone still spoke a language that I only understand because they speak also with their hands, but other than that, they are different. (Just for clarification, I don't understand Italian by any stretch of the imagination) Check out my next blog, Florence: The Introduction to the real Italy, to hear about part 2 of our Trip through Italy. 

Day 2 Salzburg: The mountains are calling and I must go.

Day two in Salzburg dawned with the promise of being just as amazing as the day before. So true to our form we waited until a more reasonable hour, and when everything would potentially open, to wake up and start the day. 

Because it was Christmas there were only a handful of things open. One of them was a cable car to the top of one of the Alp passes. Because I cannot miss the opportunity to get to the tops of mountains I voted vociferously for this one. I was unchallenged. Everyone thought it was a brilliant idea. So off we went to the mountains. 

Nothing is ever as easy as it sounds. We had to go north to go south because we were originally too far south on our bus line to catch the one to the mountains. Then Michael got left at the Hauptbahnhof. We figured of anybody in our group to get left, he was probably the best one. We eventually reunited at the cable car station. More twists in our plan to get to the mountains; the cable car was closed due to wind. Not to be disheartened too much we went for a walk. We were in the country anyways so why not? We found a bubbly little river to sit beside. There we hung out for a couple hours throwing rocks, listening to music, and just having a swell time. While we were not atop the mountains, they were all around us; my yearning for mountains was being slowly assuaged and I became altogether blissful. 

Eventually we decided we should head back. Because the cable car was on our way to the bus we thought it couldn't hurt to see if it had opened and was letting people up. 

The magic of Christmas struck again! It was indeed taking people up the mountain! I was beside myself. To paraphrase a man who felt similarly about mountains as me, "The mountains were calling and I had to go."  The cable ride up was stunning. The cliffs of the Alps are unlike any I have ever seen before. We get to the top and the snow capped peaks were now under my feet. The high one gets when they are in the mountains is better than any drug humans have tried to create. After I threw on another layer of clothes I ran to the highest peak I could find. 

They say heaven is just beyond the stars. I say heaven is just before the stars, on the peaks of mountains. After I had ran up the highest point around I got out my camera and spent time marveling at the beauty around me. 

I never know how long I am in the mountains for. Time seems to stop. But I do know it was not long enough, but at the threat of being left by the last cable car we headed back. 

I am sure I looked like a madman running up and down the snowy slopes, but I was in the mountains so I was a madman. Besides I had been at too low of an elevation for too long and I needed to exercise at some kind of elevation. 

We returned back to the city, the thoughts of the mountains never leaving my mind. We walked around the once again bustling Christmas Markets and got some yummy Christmas treats, the four of us ate our supper on the same benches that Michael and I did the night before only this time there were loads of people. The now not so far away music echoed off the walls of the surrounding buildings and provided another fantastic atmosphere for supper. 

After supper we wandered around the city and watched the people ice skate. Because it was so warm there was a giant pool of water in the middle. But the skaters made the most of it and were having a good time. Later Michael and I took the other two up to the wall to look out across the city. This time there was one or two other people there for a short time, but it remained a quiet place to sit and look out across the city. We eventually headed back. We weren't in a hurry though because Salzburg's effect had its full grip around us and we didn't want to leave. 

After Salzburg we head to Venice. It will be interesting and I cannot wait to see what exciting adventures Italy has in store for us. 

Day 1 Salzburg: Unsere Stille Nacht.

Salzburg, the city of music nestled in the Alps, might have to be one of the single best cities in the entire world. On our Christmas break so far I have had snow, accomplished a life goal in seeing Neuschwanstein, and had an awesome time with these experiences. But the best so far is Salzburg. 

If you have ever been there then you would understand. The city is old and untouched by the nearly half century of wars that afflicted this continent. It is also remarkably clean.  The white buildings gleam in the daylight and music echoes in seemingly every alley and street. A river runs through the middle of the city, adding to the picturesque scene of it all. Above the gleaming white buildings and the snaking river juts the magnificently obtrusive Austrian Alps. Their high spires and ridges stand high around the city announcing their presence in the scene with the subtlety of a giant in the shire. 

The morning we were planning on exploring the city dawned and after the sun had risen to an appropriate height for a Christmas break we woke up and began our journey. This was the first real time we saw the city. I was shocked when I saw how beautiful it was. I couldn't say much else throughout the day except to express that very thought over and over. 

The castle of Salzburg stands high atop a giant hill with steep cliffs all the way around it. We later found out that it had never been taken by force. Because we had a do-pretty-much-whatever-you-want-in-Salzburg-for-a-reasonable-price card, otherwise know as a Salzburg Card, we took the cog railcar up the mountain and explored this awesome fortress. We later found a tour that looked interesting and was free with are magical card of Salzburg awesomeness. We would never miss out on a tour of a castle especially one so cool, so of course we went. The top of the castle had magnificent 360 degree views of the valley below and the mountains around. I thought it was the best view I had ever seen. And it was, until the next day (See Salzburg Day 2: The mountains are calling and I must go). We spent as long as the tour would let us looking out over this awesome view. Then we descended back into the hollows of the castle. The people back then must have been short because true to the inner Murphy in me I hit my head on the way down. 

On our tour Michael and I saw an ad for a Schubert and Mozart concert in the caste that evening. It was Christmas Eve and that sounded like a wonderful way to spend the evening.  

There was time between the concert and when we were done with the caste tour so we walked around the old city for a while. This would not be the last time, and as time would later tell, me and my camera became a hard party to pull from here. In the old city was the Christmas Market. The Salzburg Christmas Market is pretty famous and I really wanted to experience it before it closed in a few hours. It was totally different from the Christmas Markets in Germany it seemed, but maybe that's because Salzburg is nothing like anywhere in Germany I have experienced. I don't really know how to describe it. Words like quaint, picturesque, and comfortable just don't quite work. 

The time for the concert was approaching and we headed back towards the castle. I can see why the cog railcar is so popular among the people. The road to the castle is one of the steepest I have ever been on. It was a nice hike and I need to get back into climbing shape so I didn't complain. 

The concert was in a small back hall in the castle. No more than a hundred people were there. I felt lucky to be able to hear Mozart music in the city where he was born. In the audience I hardly heard any German. I don't know if this is because the people speaking other languages are just louder than those speaking German or if it was primarily a tourist thing. My money is on a little of both. The people beside us spoke German though and they sounded like they were from Austria so I don't know for sure. 

The concert began fifteen minutes late because people were still getting seated. The audience clapped between every movement. As annoying as it was to me (and from what I could see, also to the cellist) the music was awesome and the ambience of a concert in a castle forgave all.  

Our knowledge of classical music helped when the concert stopped. 

We could tell that most people didn't know if it was intermission or the end. We didn't pay for a program so we didn't see for sure but we knew what was supposed to be playing and we knew we didn't hear one of the Mozart pieces. It was indeed an intermission and when the music started, the amount of empty seats showed that a lot of people didn't know. Sad for them because the end was awesome. The sun began to set out the window of the castle. I looked out and could see the mountains lighting up in the way that only mountains can at sunset. Outside it was beautiful. Inside, the second movement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was starting. It fit with the atmosphere so well that I was sure the magic of Christmas was giving a present just for me. This began my Christmas in Salzburg. 

There couldn't have been many ways outside of being with family that it could have been better. 

After the concert Michael and I chose to walk down from the castle instead of taking the cog railcar.  This was a good life choice. It was beautiful to see Salzburg from above at night. Cities at night have been some of my favorite things to see, especially in Europe. Salzburg didn't disappoint. 

Because we have such a propensity to climb things that it borders on the clinical side, we had to go to the hill on the other side of the river and look out. We hiked for a long time and didn't get above the trees. In the darkness of a forest at night we decided to go off the trail and head straight up the side of the hill to the top. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We had the city lights to aim for on our way back so we were pretty sure we weren't going to get lost. 

We did not get lost. But What we couldn't see in the darkness were briar patches that put any I have previously experienced to shame. We quickly retreated. I was getting very hungry so eventually we turned around. We found the city wall and this temporarily distracted me from my hunger so we followed it for a while and finally stopped and looked out over the whole city as per our original plan. When my need for food finally outweighed my need to take pictures we headed back in town where we could shed some light on my high maintenance Christmas Eve meal of avocado and cream cheese on pita bread. 

On our walk back to the city center we saw many lone persons sitting on a bench nursing a beer and cigar. I thought that seemed like a terribly lonesome way to spend the holiday and when I didn't want to think about it any longer we found our own secluded bench in the city square. The contrast of the bustling of just a few hours before and the dexadness of what it was when we ate there was unimaginable. But there was still music. There seems to always be music in Salzburg. 

I cannot describe to you the ubiquity of the music in Salzburg especially around Christmas, but it's there, always. The music accompanied our meal as we gazed upon the castle gleaming in the night. With no sound at all in the city other than the distant sounds of Christmas music, our very own Silent Night had started, and my very own fantastic day had ended. 

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Our trip to Salzburg doesn't end here though. Read "Salzburg Day 2: The mountains are calling and I must go"   to read about our Christmas Day in the city of music, mountains, and Mozart. 

Märchenland. (Fairytale Land)

For as long as I have heard of it I have wanted to see Neuschwanstein, a castle in southern Germany. It has been a life goal to see it. That is how badly I have wanted to see it. I finally got the chance this weekend. We have been in the town (not quite big enough for me to call city) of Füssen for two days. These two days have been fantastic. This town might well be the prettiest towns I have ever seen. It has snow. Right now in my Christmassy state of mind, pretty much anything with snow is fantastic for me. But this town has three castles, and that is ridiculous…ly awesome. It also has mountains. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see actual mountains.

Castles are some of the coolest things ever. Apparently King Ludwig II thought the same thing because he built a bunch of them in Bavaria. After walking through Neuschwanstein, I have decided I would love to shake that man's hand. He built this specific castle simply because castles are cool and he didn't think his land had enough of them. Even though it bankrupted Bavaria at the time, millions of people since then have enjoyed the fact that he did it anyways. Apparently though, Ludwig was considered have a few more cuckoos than the average clock and considered unfit to rule. Later he mysteriously drowned. Because of these events and the fact that Bavaria was bankrupted, Neuschwanstein was never completed. It is on the outside and it is mind-blowing.

After Neuschwanstein was built and it became popular, Walt Disney, another man who became bankrupt because he wanted a good legacy to leave, built a castle based on the one here in Bavaria. This shows me that castles, though they may bankrupt you, are totally worth it. I have decided I will live in a castle one day. Hopefully it won't bankrupt me.

People say Bavaria is the real Germany. It is beautiful down here, but I also think the rest of Germany is too. Germany, like Colorado, has a lot of different things in it and that's what makes it really cool. While Bavaria is awesome, if that's all Germany was, then it wouldn't be as cool as it is with the rest of it. But it would still be a country with a thriving economy. Saw a Maserati Gran Tourismo in Füssen. Seeing epic cars in Germany is becoming a thing that I can almost count on. It's nice. 

Walt Disney and King Ludwig II  both built castles and a Märchenland that they have become famous for, each in their own ways. They were willing to sacrifice a lot in order to make the world around them a better place. Their result: millions of people since have enjoyed their efforts and both have become very famous. Some day I hope that I can do something that while the people of my time may think I am crazy, turns out to be a fantastic idea and make the world a better place. 

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On our day when we visited Neuschwanstein we also went to climb the mountain behind it to see if we could see it from the famous angle everyone has. I was also wanting a unique view to take pictures from since there are thousands the same on the internet. After climbing through ice and snow we finally made it to an overlook with an awesome view of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau the other castle there.  I was beside myself and we stayed there for a while, some of us pulling out some food and enjoying the view. Of course I pretty much just snapped pictures the entire time. 

I pride myself on being able to walk on snow and ice pretty much all the time. Since I grew up with snow, it is not that hard for me. But sometimes pride goes before a literal fall. I was walking back and was on the very last bit of the trail. There were people around who were having issues with the ice. Earlier I took the slightly harder way up the four feet (a little more than a meter for you Europeans) embankment and onto the trail because it was faster. Some other people were having a really hard time with it so it made me feel pretty good to do it. However on the way back down karma had her justice. I extremely rapidly made it down the embankment and right next to a ice covered rock that was between me and the parking lot. There was a collective gasp and I sat there for a moment embarrassed that I made such a rookie mistake on the ice. I did have my camera on my and a lens in both my right and left and right coat pockets. I managed with either skill or luck to not land anywhere near them. I rapidly checked on their health just the same. 

Later we walked down another road, where no one was, to get a different view of Hohenschwangau and the lake. While we didn't see exactly what we were looking for, we still got an awesome view. The road down was something that interested me a lot. It was somewhat steep and covered in ice the entire way, most of the time black ice. Of course I walked where it was the safest, which was usually not on the black ice. I was just commenting on how I thought it would be hard to drive up when a car comes busting up the road. I was thoroughly impressed. As a Coloradan I can drive snow and ice okay, but this person impressed me. I don't think I would have tried it. 

Once again my theory that people don't usually look at one's feet has been thrown out the window. Just about every time I wear flip flops here people comment on it. It's above freezing, therefore not cold enough to necessitate shoes. Of course the mountain hike i had shoes because I do recognize practicality sometimes. It never ceases to amaze me how much a simple thing like wearing flip flops in winter can smoke someone's system as much as it does the people here. Earlier, someone in a mall in Berlin asked me which country I was from and when I said America he thought I was from Alaska. He was from Sweden so he understood the feeling that there are lots of people that don't perceive it as that cold. He was fun to talk to for a little bit.

We are now on our way to Salzburg where we are spending Christmas. Since Munich is between Füssen and Salzburg we are going to spend a little time there today. I cannot wait to get to another awesome German city. Once out of Salzburg we head to Venice, Florence and eventually Rome. So far the trip has been a hundred times easier to travel than The Quest of Liechtenstein. Experience and a little more money spent on travel will do that though. Hopefully it will stay simple. 

A grandiloquently verbose vichyssoise of verbiage (Or in other words, Too many big words).

The quintessentially ambivalent vox populi regarding the holidays and their derivation doesn't seem to exist in Germany. The festivities surrounding this holiday season are off to a sublime start. The Christmas Markets are up, Advent calendars have started, and the reindeer have finished their arduous training in preparation for hauling the rotund jovial man in red.   

No really though, the Christmas season here is super cool. Not only does it vary a little from the traditional American Christmas, but they also have Christmas Markets here. Something that Germany and Austria are famous for are their Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets). I will be visiting these festive hoards of Christmas cheer several times before Yuletide day is upon us. Most notably I will be visiting Leipzig soon, the city where Classical composers went to create many of the melodies we know today. One of these composers was Bach. In a church in Leipzig, Bach wrote many musics, some of which we will be seeing in concert there. Naturally I am excited for this endeavor. 

Not only is it almost Christmas time, which makes me very happy, but it also was quite recently my second favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. As a strictly North American holiday, I was not expecting to have a Thanksgiving here, that is until very early on, our professors told us we would have the latter half of the day off and be able to have a ginormous repast. This made me, and the other Americans very happy. We spent an appropriately long time preparing the wonderfulness that is Thanksgiving. Our spread was shared with a small group of other, non American guests. It was really fun to show them Thanksgiving and tell them what it was all about. It was even more fun showing them first hand that Thanksgiving is all about being with friends and family, those close to us and of course an absurd amount of food. Because it was us students cooking and we are not the magicians of our respective grandparents, we naturally could not achieve this monumental proportion, but there was enough food to render most of us immovable for a pleasantly long period of time. 

As I prepare myself for the Yuletide season, I also prepare myself for the imminent cold that comes with it. The people around me still think I am crazy because it's colder than the underside of an iceberg and I still wear my flip flops. Of course I am not all crazy, so I put on a big coat. I am glad that it has become cold enough for me to wear my coats. In recent years, cold and most importantly snow, have been evading me. This makes me very unhappy. I love both. So when they run away to places where places I have just been, it makes me sad. They will of course be where I am a year after I am there. This Christmas I will be in Salzburg. Hopefully there will be snow, however the people here say that there in no guarantee. 

I don't know when I will post a blog next. But soon I will be going on a trip to southern Germany, Austria, and Italy, ultimately ending in Rome. This should be an epic adventure. I am sure I will have many hours on a train to write of my experiences. Until then, Merry Christmas.

99% Theodore Roosevelt

This week has been mildly rough on me. For some reason I have had a hard time sleeping. My brain decided it wasn't working hard enough while trying to learn another language during the day, so it decides to not rest during the night either. Though it has given me a lot of time to think and one thing I thought of was that I am glad I put my bed next to the heater. I have my heater barely above off so it only has a small warmth. I keep my window open so I can have cool air because it's awesome, but the small bit of heat is perfect. Just so long as the vile ladybugs don't find the heater awesome as well I will be fine. It has frosted a few times now so hopefully they are all dead.

Because my mother is awesome and she sent me my flip flops that I forgot, I now get to wear my flip flops…quite a lot…and the people around me who don't know me quite as well think I am crazy. Everyone else just knows I am. Every morning I hope on my bicycle and pedal furiously to breakfast. This works excellently for me because the faster I pedal, the warmer I will be, and axiomatically speaking I also am moving faster. Normally for one on a bike this is a bummer for his or her hands. But because I am not a novice rider, I ride with my hands in the pockets of my hoodie and sit back enjoying the my perch on my ride to breakfast. Yesterday someone told me that it was crazy cool that I could ride without using my hands. I told him of the convenience of avoiding frostbite on my metacarpals. He was still really impressed and it made me feel cool and my fingers not cool all at the same time. Naturally this is a good thing. My next goal is to ride a bike while operating a flycam. Just kidding. But I have taken video while on my bicycle. It wasn't too bad either.

I have been waxing philosophical in my recent "Nachtgedanken" and it has helped me realize that nothing worth having comes easy. I remembered a quote by Theodore Roosevelt that said something along these lines, so after a quick google search I found it, copied it down, and posted it on my door to help me stay motivated, especially through the times when I am tired and all I want to do is sleep. My paper taped to the door says "Nothing in the world is worth having or doing unless it means effort, pain, or difficulty. -99% Theodore Roosevelt." The 99% part is because I changed the second to last word to "or" when it used to be "and". I felt it was more correct for my situation…kinda like one of those multiple choice questions, "Which answer is most right for the situation." Those things are terrible. I just want to get that off my chest. But I digress. I had a good reason for changing it so that is what I did. I didn't feel like one should have to experience all of those things just to get something good out of life, but one or two was something I definitely agreed with.

Any time I think life should just be easy, I should just suddenly be able to speak another language, or magically know everything I need to about my future I think about this quote. When things come to you easily, you often don't have as good of an appreciation for them. It's only once you have worked hard, had challenges, and maybe even some pain to achieve a goal do you fully appreciate its value. This is something I was raised with, but as I experience more of life I find this to ring truer and truer. Or to put it simply, you get what you pay for, and free things are often crap. That being said, I do like free things, but it doesn't get you anywhere in life. Part of growing is being challenged, and without challenge you will never grow. This is something I have thought a lot about in the past week. I have just wanted to know what I was supposed to do with my future, or be able to speak perfect German. Both of these would be awesome to just, poof, know. But it wouldn't be the same. If I don't go through the work of actively searching for what I need to do with my life, I won't have as good of an understanding for what my ultimate purpose is supposed to be. 

Don't get me wrong, I am not a philosophizer by any means. That usually hurts my head and I have to scurry off to a corner and rock myself back and forth to the world I am used to, where I avoid prolonged experiences in overly serious situations. But this trip has helped me to grow in various ways. And with growth comes new knowledge and new life experiences. While this week I didn't go anywhere and explore new lands and eat different and delicious foods, I did still learn something about myself and have life experiences. If nothing else is accomplished with my time in Germany, and all I do is learn valuable life lessons then it was a good life choice. The awesome thing is, I am getting more out of it than just that.

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Ok, just because I don't believe in having something serious all the time, I thought I would end with a  funny story. The other night I was riding my bicycle through the campus. There were no clouds out and the moon was behind some trees so it was very dark. My bicycle has a light on it but I haven't hooked it up. After this experience, it might be worth my effort.

It was right after Week of Prayer here at the school so everyone and their bicycle was out and about. No one rides a bicycle slowly in the cold, so everyone is flying around in the dark. No one I encountered had a light. Literally one of the scariest things ever.

The first person I encountered saw me, but I didn't see them until we were right in front of each other. I was still going no hands. This normally is not a problem. My reaction time is good. Sorry guys, but I averted disaster here. My brakes exclaimed their protest shattering the illusion of relative quietness. I did not come to a complete and full stop, so I kept on riding without much more thought. Along came another person. They were moving at an inadvisable speed for it being a dark sidewalk. He clearly didn't see me but I could see him pedaling quite efficiently in my direction. Not wanting to cause a scene I moseyed on over to my side of the walk and was going to let him pass when all the sudden he saw me. Apparently he thought we were going to come to an abrupt stop, with our bicycles in a fiery wreak and the carnage of our potentially mutilated corpses scattered hither and yon. Of course none of this was the case. He hit the brakes harder than a person learning to drive stick in San Francisco. This made his bicycle careen towards me at an alarmingly sideways trajectory. By the time our vehicles were in the near vicinity both were moving slowly, and when they collided, eggs may not have broken. But the acrobatic move the rider pulled to avoid getting run over by his own bike would put some countries' Olympic teams to shame. We exchanged "My bad"s and "Sorry about that dude"s, and went on our way. The most harrowing bicycle experience I have had in regular weather conditions was done. But it wasn't until we had stopped that my feeling of control escaped me. As I had earlier mentioned, everyone was out. Another person goes zooming by, blissfully ignorant to the potential their ride could bring them. I didn't see them at all, and since I had nearly died twice, my nerves were at the ends of their ropes and were about to give up. 

They did. But in an order to maintain the appearance of control, only on the inside did I jump. And figuratively speaking, it was an athletic feat in its own. But on the outside, I probably just exhaled quickly and forcefully. I don't know. There was no danger but at that point I bid a hasty retreat inside where there were no more cyclists.