Hmm no post in a while.  But no internet for a while either...

A lot has happened, but I can't write much now cuz I'm in the process of moving out of my apartment.  Tomorrow I go to Greece!! AND I might be visiting Helena for the US Open.  How sick would that be.  So many adventures

And camping in Michigan!

Patricia's Birthday

Last night was Patricia's (Maike's girlfriend) birthday.  The plan was to have a huge party down by the river, inviting tons of people, and having tons of food and beer.  For the past 3 weeks Patricia had been praying that it wouldn't rain on her birthday.  For the past 3 years she had had similar plans for a birthday party, and each of the last three years it rained, wiping out her plans.

Well, yesterday was a beautiful day.  Temps probably in the low 90s, sun was out, not too humid.  The curse would finally be over! Patricia and Maike had been slaving in the kitchen in preparation for the guests who were were all going to meet at the river at around 7 pm.  And then, at 6:30 pm, no joke, it started to rain...

I had to laugh because honestly there have been so few rainy days, and when it does rain, it rains at night.  But, true to form, it had to rain to throw a proverbial fork into the birthday plans.  The party was temporarily moved to their apartment, and when I got there, you could tell Patricia was reeally disappointed.  Which sucks cuz she's such a nice person. 

But I quickly ceased feeling bad once we started eating! Oh boy there was sooo much good food there.  MMmmmm pizza and guacomole and various quiches and beer and oh man.  I ate so much, despite already having eaten a sizable dinner at home.

At 10 pm we decided to relocate to some cafe, which I'm fairly certain was a gay cafe - it was really neat looking!  And the people there were really nice.  So yea, our group of 15+ just hung out there and chatted and drank and so on, and before I know it it was 2:30 am.  Hmmm ok it was time to start thinking about how to head home.

I had no idea where I was, but someone showed me to where the night tram stop was, so after walking for about 30 minutes to find it, it says that the next tram comes in 30 minutes.  Damn.  That's a long time to wait at 3 AM.  But whatever, I had nothing else to do, and it's not like I have to be mentally alert for pushing buttons at work the next day.  Plus, there was a Burger King right next door, so I went in and got a Whopper, which I hadnt had forever.  I really never eat fast food, except for when I drink.  I suppose some people can't resist smoking cigarettes when they drink.  Me, I just can't say no to a hamburger.

Eventually the tram comes, and this old creepy drunk guy starts yelling racial comments at this 20-something guy of middle-eastern decent.  The young guy just tells him to shut up and tries to ignore him, at which point the old guy goes up to him as if he wants to start something, and I think he even grabbed the young guy.  So htings start getting physical, at which point the tram driver stops the tram and kicks the old drunkard out.  Definitely more excitement than I was expecting at 3:30 AM.

I get home at 4 and pass out, only to wake up at 8 AM to go to work.

Sooo tired right now

Last week at work?

As it turns out, the guy who was using the smoke machine in a different wind tunnel last Friday left it on for too long, and it melted.  Which means that we can't use it until the machine shop fixes it, which means that I have nothing to do for an undetermined amount of time.

It's crazy that tomorrow is the 1st of August.  Absolutely nuts.  I leave for Greece on the 9th of August, which should be just an incredible trip, and when I get back to Munich, I'll have about 12 hours until my flight back to Kalamazoo.  It's exciting and sad at the same time.  Exciting because I soon get to see all of my Kalamazoo friends for our "Summer in 1 week" plan in which I plan to do all of the things I missed out on in Kalamazoo in 1 week.  Which includes....

CAMPING TRIP!!  Which is also a testament to how much my friends rock, as it was originally scheduled for the last days of my stay in Germany, but they're now trying to move it to a week later which would mean I could go!  It really means a lot to me that all of this hassle is being done because of me, and I really hope that it doesn't affect anyone that could have otherwise gone!  Well, whether they decide to move it to one week later or not, the fact that everyone's going through the trouble to make it work for me is more than enough to give me that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

But yea, this trip has definitely been a highlight of the past 3 years (even though plans kinda fell through last year).  And oh, the barbecue chicken....i'm not even hungry right now and I am so salivating at the thought of it. 

And then at the end of that week in Michigan, it's back to Baltimore for round 4: senior year.  Excited to see everyone hanging out at the crew house again, excited for the season, excited for the parties.  I'm just kind of getting used to the fact that I'm a senior now.  Man that feels so wierd to type. 

But at the same time, it'll be sad to leave. 

Munich has become a sort of home for me (one of my multiple places I consider home: Warsaw, Morgantown, Kalamazoo, Baltimore, etc.).  I've met a lot of excellent people here and have seen many wonderful things.  Though it's easy to say "man time really flew by," when I think back, it isn't just a blur to me.  So much happened: my struggle to find an apartment, my journeys to the rowing facilities, the entire world cup, salsa lessons, meeting people, some stories I can't put on xanga, going to Poland, visits from Landgraf and my sisters and grandparents, and so on.  My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures, as I am sure to forget so many things as time goes on.  But at least I updated this thing fairly regularly...

But yea, didn't mean to be sappy.  On Saturday the salsa people I take lessons from had this party at one of those latin clubs.  I went for a little bit because I was supposed to meet up with someone later, but I wanted to see what it was all about.  It turned out to be pretty cool, except the drinks were mad expensive and it was hotter than balls.  I danced like 3 times and my shirt was completely soaked through.  But fun.  I also clocked a girl in the mouth with my elbow while she was doing a turn. haha.  but HEY there were so many people there I was trying to keep her from hitting other people.  So you see, it was entirely not my fault.  Eh, it builds character, I figure.

Also, about 8 weeks ago when I was trying to get cleared to row, I had to submit a picture of myself for some ID that I needed to get.  So I went into one of those crappy photobooths.  It was supposed to cost 5 Euros, so I  put my money in and....nothing.  The stupid machine ate my 5 Euro bill!  Well, I get out of the booth and call the number on the side.  I explain the situation and ask if I can get my money back.  The lady says yes, of course, and she's very apologetic.  I ask if she can put it on my credit card and she says, "Sure! Just give me the card number."  So I start reading off the number, and about halfway through she stops me and says, "no sir, you're giving me the wrong number.  I only have room for 10 digits."  Now, I had no idea what to say.  Unless something changed in the last day or two, I was 99.8% positive that ALL CREDIT CARDS HAVE 16 DIGITS!  But she was quite steadfast and irrational in her defiance that, no, credit cards must only have 10 digits, as her computer lets her put in no more than 10 digits.  Well, realizing I couldn't win with her, I tell her to send the money to my house.  I spend the next 10 minutes giving her my address and explaining to her that my landlord's name, and not my name, is on the mailbox. 

Needless to say, I did not expect any money to actually arrive.  It was supposed to come in 2 weeks, but I was not alarmed that it never actually came. 

Until yesterday.  I open my mailbox, and it's a letter from the photobooth company! All right! 5 Euros, whoopee!  It was like finding money on the street, because to me this money was as good as gone.  It was also like a small victory, after I had battled with this incompetent woman in a foreign language over the phone.  It wasn't even so much money the itself, but more the victory of following through and accomplishing such a matter in German (which at the time was incredibly rusty).  So I was feeling mighty good.  I get up to my apartment and open the letter, and inside I find a nice letter of apology and...

5 Euros worth of stamps. 

Family Visit

First day at work since last Friday...and it's Thursday!

Yes, the grandparents and Kasia (sister) came into town on Sunday.  Well, Kasia came in on Monday after a long long journey and several setbacks.  But eventually everyone got here for 3 days of Munich site-seeing and together-being.

Overall it was hot as balls, which made everyone tired really fast.  And my grandma has problems with her foot after the car accident, so that really affected our pace and our mobility.  But nonetheless, it was good to just relax for a few days and explore the city again while being with family.  Though now I haven't worked out since Saturday...

Some highlights:

1.Going out for drinks with the sister.  Very coo - we never really get chances like that

2. Waiting for the night bus for an 45 minutes before realizing that the night bus doesn't run on weekdays (bitch!)

3.  Renting a sweet car and driving on the autobahn! No speed limits woot woot!  It really was awesome - great roads, everyone cruising at 100-105 mph.  I almost creamed my pants.

4.  Driving around Bavaria and the Bavarian Alps.  The views were absolutely unbelievable.

Seeing Neuschwanstein was remarkable.  How they were able to build something like that on that gigantic mountain is beyond me.  Absolutely breathtaking.  The only thing that keeps it off of my highlight list is the vast amounts of tourists there.  What a tourist trap!  And when it's hot and you're tired from walking, and then these tourists start shoving past you to take pictures when everyone is in the same small cramped area, you get incredible irritated.  Damn tourists...

But overall, it was great to hang out with my sister and grandparents for three days.  Really, its so rare that I get to do either, especially with my grandparents. 

Oh! And we found this sweet hotel for my grandparents a block away from me.  This hotel looked really cool, like traditional Bavarian style, but what was even better was the breakfast! Forget your donut and orange juice continental breakfast.  No, this was the best breakfast spread i have EVER seen!!!  First off, fresh delicious rolls.  Then beautifully arranged smoked hams, cheeses, avocado, eggs, eggs with caviar on top (!), tomatoes, 4 kinds of fresh juices, patees...oh man I will be hard pressed to find a better breakfast.  Sooooooooooo good.  such  a selection!  Oh man I'm hungry

So yea.  Great 3 days.  I still had the car today, so I took everyone to the airport (Autobahn again!).  The car was rented from downtown, and I had said that that's also where I'd be returning it.  But I figured, since I was already at the airport, I would just give the car back there. 

Well.  I drive into the car return garage and the guy begins looking over the car.  Everything is fine, except that I hadn't filled up the tank because I hadn't been expecting to be returning the car now.  So the tank was 3/8 full, but I was assured that it was no problem.  Finally, the guy finished, and I had to go to some office to pick up the final report paper for the car.  Ok.  So I go get it, after which they direct me to yet ANOTHER office to actually pay.  Ok fine.  So I walk across the terminal to where you pay.  A lovely lady takes the paper and says,  "Hmm your tank isn't full.  You might want to see if you can still go fill it up yourself, because otherwise we have to charge you 87 Euros. But they might have taken your car already"

WTF!  So I sprint back to the garage.  Car still there, tho by this point blocked by a whole bunch of other cars.  I make the garage guys make way for my car and I peel out of there.  I speed to the nearest station, fill it up for 30 some Euros, speed back, go through the whole multi-office-check-out adventure again, and finally make it to the terminal just in time to say bye to my sister.  Phew.  But hey I saved like 50-60 Euros (60-70 bucks!).  An adventure

Ok! Time to leave work.  It's been a long day of e-mail checking

sorry!

Sorry Rachel,  I know I promised you a post on your birthday, but I couldn't deliver. 

 I still can't believe you drunk dialed Joel...