Hey all

Well I am back in Darmstadt for the final countdown.  Ryan and I had to come back on the 14th to give a presentation to Schmidt-Walter which went well.  I got about 14 credits in total for the project, so I am happy.

Today I started withdrawing from the University.  I met Thorsten (a German professor I met) at the Deutsche Bank where I closed my bank account and then we headed to the studenten werk where I got my deposit back.  The bad news in all of this is the choice of a few determined my fait.  I thought I could sign out of Karlshof (apartment complex) today and be able to stay in my room over the weekend.  Since I have an early flight (I need to leave at 4am) I would then drop the keys off Monday in the box and go...well no.  This is how some of the other Erasmus students did it about a month ago, but some people who did do this made a mess of their room during the weekend.  Because of this, they couldnt do it for me...yeah.

So after scrambling to get everything together (it was 10:30, the office closes at 12) I got everything into Ryans room and I will be staying with him over the weekend.  It sucks that a few bad apples ruin the whole thing for everyone.

I was going to go somewhere during this weekend, but after a month of traveling, I think I will stay here for the weekend and relax.  Thorsten will have Ryan and I for lunch on Sunday which I have heard is really good.

So Sunday is my last day.  I will need to leave Karlshof at 4am, then get to the bus by 5am where it will take me to the Frankfurt Hahn airport that is in the middle of nowhere.  After 3 hours of waiting, the plane will take me to Dublin where I will wait for another 4 hours before I take off for Chicago.  The 2nd waiting time should be easier since I will try to meet Shane, an Erasmus student from Dublin, for a drink or two or five.  I should get into Chicago around 4 where Mom and maybe Bill will pick me up.

So I am currently in Sweden, Västrås to be more specific.

The weather here is nice and I am enjoying the freeness of our stay.  Britt and Dan have been wonderful hosts and took us around to see the farm where I was about 12 years ago and we also got to see Benny.

We got in late last night since we didnt realize that Swedes like to travel a lot during the weekend...needless to say we could not get a train.  After 12 hours of travel, we did finally make it into the city and met Dan at the train station.

Tomorrow we will sadly be leaving.  We will head to Stockholm for a while before we take a bus to the airport which will then take us to Berlin where we will stay with Qynne for a few days.  Then Ryan and I have to head back to Darmstadt on the 14th to give a 15 min presentation to our professor.  I am hoping he will wave it and let us go since the semester has already been over for a month.

If not, we will be back in Darmstadt by the 14th.  After that I dont know what i will do.  Since I do have my rail pass until the 20th (i am leaving the 18th) I would like to use it while I have the time.  I was thinking of either Paris or Munich, but we will see.

Hey All

I am in Bremen which is in Germany.  We just got back from Brussels and Amsterdam.  Both were really exciting and fun to see.  We had waffels in Brussels and other stuff in Amsterdam...yeah.  In any case it was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow we will be heading out early to tour Copenhagen.  Hopefully we will find a hostel in the area.  After that we will then go to Sweden where we will stay with Britt and Dan for a few days.  It will be nice to see a familiar face after a month without seeing family.

After Sweden we should be flying into Berlin for a few days before I have to make one last presentation to my teacher.

Ok, g2g cause of internet $.

Ciao

miss you all.

05.08.08

Well we are half way done with the vacation and are back in Darmstadt for a rest.  It has been 19 days since I was back in Germany, so it feels good to be back.

After we were in Gimmelwald, we went to Zurich for a day trip.  We were supposed to meet Katha there, but my mobile was not working properly, of course, so we were not able to meet up.  We saw the three churches that were there and had some nice Swiss chocolate.  I also bought a Swiss army knife which is really cool.  They had a knife at the store that had over 100 attachments that cost 2400 Franks.  They now have knives with flash drive attachments and laser lights...pretty advanced for a knife.

We went back home later that night and have been here ever since.

Tomorrow morning we are going to be heading to Brussels for some good old fashion waffles.  I heard from a guy in Gimmelwald that Brussels has a bar with 2,008 different styles of beers...if I had time I would try them all.  After that we will be heading to Amsterdam and then Bremen and Copenhagen before settling in Sweden to see some relatives.

I currently am in Gimmelwald, Switzerland which also could be called heaven.

This place is unbelievable.  I currently am writing this blog and can see the swiss alps out of my window...hell I am in the Alps.  We are here pretty much to relax.  Ryan and Dave want to go hiking for a bit, and I might join them before settling in to a good book. 

We got here yesterday afternoon and have ejoyed out time since.  We have already eaten two different types of alp cheese and plan on getting some chocolate and milk or eggs.

I wish I could post some photos up so that you could see, but the computer is a bit quirky and I dont have the right cables to do so.  I will try to add them on the 5th when I am in Darmstadt.

Tomorrow we are going to leave for Zurich when we feel like it and then take a night train to Darmstadt.  I cannot believe that I have been on vacation for almost 3 weeks.

Hi All

I am currently in Rome for the next few days until we head to Pisa on Wed.  It has been very hot here, but since there is not too much humidity, the weather has been nice.  I am not use to the heat since Darmstadt has been so cold during the summer.  Yesterday we went to the Vatican and we had to wear pants, so you know how that went with the heat.

We met up with one of our friends from Darmstadt here named Pavel and are finding time to hang out with him before he goes back to the states.

The Pisa trip will only be a day, so we will not be there long.

Hope all is well and I will see you all soon.

Hi all

I am currently in Milan where I will stay until tomorrow afternoon.  We got in from Venice this afternoon and so far Italy has been more than I imagined!

I dont have too much time to write, but we have done a lot of cool things and have eaten a lot more.  We had a pizza today that had spaghetti on it and a gelato that was one of the best ice creams that I have ever had.  These last two days have also been wonderful weather-wise.  It has been in the 30 Cel range and has been cool and comfortable with no sunburns.

Tomorrow we will see the Last Supper by Da Vinci before heading off to Florence for a few days and then Rome!

Internet is somewhat scarce (free internet), so I will update when I can.

Ciao

Hey All

We just finished our day trip in Salzburg.  The theme: rain.  It has rained a good 50% of our trip, but our spirits are not down.  We saw a lot of cool things like Mozarts birthhouse and the only castle that was never taken.

While we were here, the Bahama youth choir was here performing.  We got to see them sing which was really cool since they won first prize in Vienna!

We will be heading off to Vienna tonight on a night train and see the city tomorrow.  After that it is off to ITALY!

Hey All

We just got back from Neuschwanstein which was really cool.  The Alps are breathtaking and I am so glad we went to see them.  We tried to get reservations the day before, but we were too late in getting them, so we left today and winged it.

We got tickets for 4:30 and only had to sit around for about 2.5 hours.  The climb up was very sweaty, but it felt good and we were able to get some cool pics.  I saw someone wearing an Arrowhead HS shirt on, but I did not say anything since I didnt feel like talking to anymore people from Sconnie land.

Tomorrow morning we will be heading to Salzburg for the day before we head to Wien or Vienna.