Back in action in Salzburg

Hello once again! It has been a little while since I have had enough time so sit down and write a new post, but I finally have a good chunk of time to recap everything that has happened during the last week.

Last weekend was our trip to Cologne, and it ended up being a lot of fun. It was a relatively long train ride there, but the time ended up going by quickly. As we got off of the train, our pen pals were there to greet us and we ended up going to a local brewery to sit down and talk for a bit before we went and checked in at the hostel. Later we ended up getting dinner and at night I ended up going out with a group of guys to watch the FC Bayern game at a bar. I ended up not staying out too late since we had to go to school on Friday morning. We ended up getting up around 6:30 Friday so that we could get breakfast and then catch the streetcars that would take us to the school. Being there was an interesting experience. I ended up going to a German class with my pen pal, which is the equivalent of our English class. They were discussing a novel for the whole time, and I was able to follow along with what was being said, but there was no way that I understood everything that was going on. After German class, we had group activities with the rest of the OU students and the rest of our pen pals. We played typical "getting to know you" games and, while it was not horrible, it was not horribly exciting.

I'm going to fast forward to Friday night, since that was probably the highlight of the weekend. Almost all of us went out to a club called Die Halle for a huge party being held for the end of the school year and graduation for students in Cologne. The building was packed full of people (10 or 11 thousand) and we ended up dancing all night until about 3 in the morning. There were lights everywhere, smoke machines, music blasting, people dancing. It was unlike anything that I have ever been to in my life and I wish that we had clubs like that back around OU. The only places that we can go are dark, small, and dirty. By the time that we made it back to the hostel and went to bed it was already almost 5:00.

Saturday I ended up going to the Koelner Dom, the zoo, and then to a cookout held at a pretty large park in the city. The day was also rather fun. The Dom was astoundingly beautiful and enormous. Our tour guide (who also gave us a tour of the city on Friday) was able to give a lot of information, but he also kept everything that he shared interesting and told a lot of stories that went along well with what he was saying. He also spoke English amazingly well, without any sign of an accent whatsoever. Later, at the zoo I saw most of your typical zoo animals. I also saw a raccoon and I laughed a little bit on the inside when I read the sign and saw Ohio highlighted on the map where the animals come from. In the evening at the cookout we ended up having a lot of fun just being able to hang out outside with great weather. Unfortunately, I didn't bring food along with me and I wasn't able to eat, but luckily the ice cream truck came by and I picked up an ice cream cone to hold me over until I could go to a restaurant later. Sunday, we traveled back to Salzburg by train from 10:20 - 5:00 and by the time we got back everyone seemed dead tired.

The weekend was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I was in a bit of a funky mood for most of it. Everyone that I met was amazingly nice and friendly, and they were also very helpful making sure that you got where you needed to be. I wish that I would have been able to meet a German family or see a typical German household, since the other OU students that did seemed like they had a ton of fun and really enjoyed themselves. But, even without being able to do that I still enjoyed my stay in Cologne. ((That was the really condensed version of the weekend, but to type it all out would take waaaaaaay to long to do. I'd be more than happy to talk about it more on the phone though))

This week in Salzburg has been surprisingly fun. I was expecting to just have a normal weekend, but little things have made this week different and interesting. We've had our classes and such, and those have been pretty normal, but on Tuesday we ended up having a potluck dinner. Every room (not person) was in charge of cooking at least one dish, and then we all met up in one of the study rooms down the hall. I figured that people would eat and leave, but almost everyone stuck around until about 11:00 (we started at 7). Overall, the food was good and it seemed like everyone had a lot of fun. We ended up bringing a guitar and computer to the room so that we could have some music and a mini dance party/sing-a-long. Unfortunately, just about everyone disappeared all at once and left trash/dishes behind so I ended up cleaning up the room, taking out the trash, and washing people's dishes for them.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was pretty ordinary, except that we had amazing weather and it was our first chance to go to a beer garden and to be able to sit out in the open. Wednesday was also the first day that we had nice weather on one of our city tours, and that was also a nice surprise. For once, I didn't have to fight with my umbrella to function while we were trying to walk around the city.

Today was my favorite day this week because earlier today we climbed to the top of a mountain called Gaisberg. By the time we got to the base of the mountain and started to hike it was about 10:20 and we ended up making it to the top at about 1:10 or so. It was a long (and after, a bit painful) hike, but it was worth the trip and energy that it took to get to the top of the mountain. At the top there were a couple of restaurants and we stopped in to rest and get some food. When we were finished, we took one last look around and then went back down. Luckily, there is a road that runs to the top of the mountain, so we were able to take a bus back down into the city.

Now, I'm here writing this and I'm going to get cleaned up soon and then take a well deserved nap. Hopefully, I will be able to write on here again soon with some more exciting stories. I feel like I cut a lot out from the stories that I put on this post, but maybe I can try to elaborate later if you would like.

Also, I have good news from OU. I received an email notifying me that I have been chosen as the outstanding junior computer science student for 2007-2008 and I also received a phone call yesterday about a possible internship with Lincoln Electric. The award comes with a cash prize and an invitation to an awards ceremony (which I cannot attend since I am on the wrong side of the world) and the internship will hopefully be during this summer if I am able to get it. I am still waiting for someone at Lincoln Electric to send me an email with the pertinent information.

I think that is all that I have for now. If anything else pops into my head I will make sure to hop back on here when I have a minute or two and write it down...and, as always, as I was typing this sentence something else popped into my head. I think that I might be heading back to Munich on Saturday with a couple of other students here from OU. We'll probably go on Saturday and just stay the night and then head back Sunday. It's a perfect short trip to take since you can get a 5-person ticket for only 29 Euro each way. Plans aren't finalized, but this is the kind of trip that you really can just decide last minute whether or not to go.

Thanks again for reading my blog. Keep leaving your comments, and if there is anything else that you would like to hear about feel free to ask either by email or by leaving a comment here. Talk to you again soon.

***New Photos Added Too***