One Month! - A Blog Post Long Overdue

Hello everyone,

I apologize for not updating my blog in ten days....it has been difficult to stay updated with no internet...but as of yesterday, I have it in my dorm!! It's pretty sweet...we have a bandwidth allowance of 8 GB per month (hint hint SNC if you want fast internet.....) so I'm trying to accomplish as much as I can today because my allowance will be reset tomorrow.

So...what's been going on? I got sick again....that figures though; once the weather gets cold, I'm sick. It happens...I don't have the stomach/intestinal sickness that I had before, which is pretty good....but man, when I get sick here, weird stuff happens! Like all day yesterday, I kind of felt like I was going to pass out...just really dizzy and stuff. Then like last night right before I went to bed, I started to get really cold....so I put on a sweatshirt, pulled the blanket over my head, and went to bed. Then...I knew I wasn't sleeping, but I started hallucinating. No, I don't do drugs....I think maybe my body was going into shock or something from being so cold or feverish or something...I saw some people from back home and I was talking to them! I knew I wasn't dreaming too! When I snapped out of it, I was just shaking from being so cold. I put some more clothes on, took some ibuprofen (which probably helped a lot) and went to sleep. This morning I felt pretty good, but still kind of dizzy during the day...hopefully I'm reaching the end of it. I'm sure I will be, because my German insurance activates tomorrow! I went to the bank today to pay my hospital bills....they totaled about 256 Euros (about $361) which I guess isn't that bad, but it came out of my food allowance because I had to pay it through the bank, so....yeah. I'll get the money back, but I have to send my receipts and stuff home. Sweet....

What also activates tomorrow is my Studienausweis! It allows for free travel on public transportation in the state of Hessen. So....I can ride the buses for free (finally) and take trains wherever I want in Hessen (Frankfurt, etc.) Sweet!

I guess I should go through a typical day in the life of me...

8:10- Wake up, shower, eat a cereal bar/drink some tea, music, get stuff ready for class

8:55- Leave for my Sprachkurs (which ends this Thursday)

9:10- Arrive at the Sprachenzentrum....it's actually a decent walk, but I've learned how to book it!

9:15- Class starts....It is, well...I guess I am indifferent.

10:45- Pause. It's a nice half hour break we get during class. Usually go to the bakery and grab breakfast #2: a Käsebrötchen!

11:15- Class again...

12:45- Class is over! I would say about half of the time I go out for lunch....there are places nearby if I want to get Pizza, Döner, or whatever....there is also a really nice Asian cuisine place inside the Lahn Center which I often frequent.

Rest of the day....my days are often quite random. I like to hang out with the other BCA students a lot....they are all really awesome! I spend a lot of time at the castle because well...cool people live there! Maybe do some homework in there....go shopping for food, or just do random stuff around the city.

Night: The best time! I like to stop somewhere for dinner, or have my friends cook for me and chip in, but stopping somewhere for cocktails or a Hefeweizen is my fav.

There it is. My real classes will start in approximately two weeks, and I probably should get a little more ready for signing up, but I pretty much have what I'm going to take ready... it looks like I will probably have a 3 day school week with 4-two hour classes. Grand!

I've been getting a lot of questions about my travel plans. I will for sure be going to Berlin from October 6th through the 10th. I need to make some plans to visit my sister in Prague for a weekend coming up soon...I will also be making a trip to France sometime in December with the BCA'ers. That is all that is certain....I want to make a trip to Madrid to visit some of the SNC peeps, as well as possibly Italy and London but....we'll see how far my bank account gets me!

Pictures....well, I'll see if I can post some pictures that I took on different excursions on here, but I can't guarantee anything...if I can't, I will post a link soon!

Gotta go, I hope all is well with everyone!!

Dave