Sunday, August 21, 2011

Last day in the Sweet S-R

This is definitely better late than never, but here we go! My last night in Sulzbach-Rosenburg was the most fun by far, and the most memorable!!

It's a little hazy now, especially since it's been about a week. We all told ourselves; Olivia, Matthew, Ezra, Rachel, and I that we were going to stay out that night. We were, no matter what. It was our absolute LAST night together, so no matter how tired we were or frustrated, we were going to live it up - we did, or maybe over did it a little (except me!ha).

We started our drinking power trip right before we had to play our final concert. Ezra and Rachel scored some free Ouzo (a Greek liquor), so we took a couple shots of that before performing. We played the concert in the town of Sulzbach-Rosenberg's huge stone church, meaning absolutely no warmth is in there since it is stone sealed. Since I drank though right before the performance, I kept thinking to myself on stage, "Is it toasty in here?!" The performance went well. I just couldn't wait till it was over so we could start enjoying ourselves more!

We stayed at the Bayerischer whatever it's called until about 12:30 am, and then ventured to outside the "S&M" building. We call it that because it is actually called the "SMS Building". The first day Ezra said it, and it just stuck from there. We danced, smoked, and just enjoyed each others company while enjoying a chilly night for about three hours. I learned a little salsa, laughed my ass off, made new German friends, made new memories. I ended up having to take care of most of my friends, because they got completely wasted, haha. I packed Rachel's things, helped pack Ezra's (They were both absolutely sh*tfaced!) and they still managed to be late for their shuttle, haha. I walked Olivia home, and she was pretty gone too.

I thought to myself, "Okay. It is 5 am. I can go to bed for 2 hours and make my shuttle at 7." That was funny, and wrong. I woke up so late, slept completely through my alarm set for 7 am, and woke up at 9:30 AM!!!! I instantly went into panic mode. My face got red, my body was warm, i thought I might explode from the overwhelming feeling of my sheer stupidity. I literally started pace/running around the room in circles for about 7 seconds, then darted out of my room in my underwear, straight to Olivia's room to tell her she probably missed her train. Turns out she left without even saying bye to me, even to see if I'd share the taxi with her like she said she would do. Thanks, friend! haha. Yeah, I was pretty pissed, but all in all it was ultimately my fault for oversleeping. I ended up having to spend an extra 105E (euro) to get myself to the airport, pronto. I kept hearing Lino, one of the faculty, telling the taxi, "something in german something in german SHNELL!!!!" I loved it! And they did exactly that. They hurried me to the airport! I made my flight with little ease, but I made it. I got to sit in the best seat in Economy, the one with the most foot room (the seat at the beginning of Econ). My friend Ayako, who I met during the festival, convinced the person next to her to switch with me and so we got to sit next to each other! She was passed out for really the entire flight, so I just watched movie after movie, after movie. I watched Water for Elephants (Which by the way is the saddest movie on the planet next to The Help), African Cats documentary, and others that I honestly can't remember at the moment.

I got back to Arizona, and my roommate Courtney picked me up curbside right at my terminal out of baggage claim. She's a keeper friend for sure. This is a new roommate by the way, not the same as last year.

In conclusion. This trip was of course one I will never forget, but something that has really, changed my life. People I have met there have changed my life, and I made lifelong friends. <3 br="">









Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Sulzbach-Rosenberg

So this might be weird and also might take extra long since I am typing on a full touch screen. My mom let me take her iPad to Germany! so far this festival is really unorganized. On the newsletter sent a few weeks before the starting date, they stressed to BE ON TIME to the airport. Everyone ended up waiting for the bus for over a half hour at the airport! We finally were fed so I'm happy, haha. On a much brighter note, it is so beautiful here, and I am staying in a big German cottage looking hotel. Absolutely adorable. It is over a mile away from where we have to be everyday, so I will definitely be getting my exercise!

To go back a few days, I got to sit next to the coolest people on all of my flights! On the flight to New Jersey, I sat next to a lesbian couple and they we absolutely hilarious. They thought I might be heading to NYU since they saw I had a violin with me and I was heading to Newark. I wish!!!!! anyway, after that flight, I was connected to Lufthansa. I missed two of 3 meals served on the plane due to how exhausted I was. I also, after snooping, found out I was sitting next to Charles Kaiser! He is kind of a huge deal in the journalism world. He was super funny and pretty easy to talk to, little did I know that i was chatting up a huge storm with a published author. I first got the feeling he was important when he was being pretty vague about his job. I could tell he was being extremely humble. Sooooo I did some snooping haha. I just happened to glance over at his laptop screen and see that the name said Charles Kaiser, so I tried to remember the name. Turns out I was right, and my sister was mad I didn't give him her card. What am I her publicist? I dont carry around her cards with me ha. On the third flight, I was sitting next to one of the faculty members here for Interharmony. He was such a big help with me finding my hotel, since he knew a little bit of German!

Once I got situated in my hotel, I changed my outfit, let my hair down, and left for downtown Nürnberg. It is such a cool little tourist town! It is basically what one would probably picture a German town to look like in their head. I wish I could include pictures, but I cannot transfer my pictures to the iPad. It's okay though, this thing took off ALOT of weight in my hand carry.

To get to Nürnberg, I had to buy a subway ticket. I had to get to the main station though. So long story short, I talked to at least 7 different Germans and none knew what I was saying, but i somehow,not sure how, got my point across that I needed a ticket to get on this damn thing. Some guy was nice enough to let me use his pass for 2 people ( he was alone) so I thanked him probably more than the normal person does haha.

I just killed time walking around the town, bought a few things, and then got bored. I kept thinking to myself, "this is what you've been wanting to do ALL your life! Travel alone! It was really cool at first and I felt super responsible having to figure everything out alone, but then I got bored, and sort of sad because I had no one to share is awesome town with and everyone else around me seemed to be with at least one other person. So after I ate a Wiggla or something like that (a sandwich with three mini sausages. Sooo good!!) I headed back to the subway to go back to the hotel room.

This is where it gets interesting. I decided I wanted to shower before I go to bed, and it's already like 9:30 or maybe even later. I am standing butt naked in front of the bathroom door when suddenly my hotel door opens! I think quick and get into the bathroom really fast and I hear a "god I've made so many mistakes today!!!! Where are you?!" I answered, "uhhh in the shower!" so I figured it was the maid. I start to get scared though, because I started thinking WHAT maid comes to a room this late? I obviously started thinking the worst possible scenarios, including one similar to when the daughter is kidnapped in the movie "Taken", and so I take the longest possible shower, just hoping whoever is out there is gone by the time I am about to die from being pruned. I finally finish my shower and slowly make my way to the main room of my hotel room and SOMEONE IS IN MY BED!!!!!! I didn't know what to do, I was so shocked I couldnt even scream! Only half of whoever this girl's face is showing. She pulls off the covers, and it's my friend Olivia! I immediately felt so retarded for thinking all the things I was. The reason why I didn't think it was her was because she was supposed to be in Frankfurt, not Nuremberg. Turns out when she received my email that I wasn't staying in Frankfurt, she decided to take a train here. Surprise surprise!!!!!!

After hanging out in the room for a while, we went to the bar downstairs. She had either three or four large sized German beers, and I had three cokes with lime, haha. We stayed for a while, and she ordered me my very first Jaigermeister shot. It was diiiiiiiisgusting. Wow. But I just chased it with my handy coca cola. I also smoked my first full cigarette, and i don't know if it was because I drank before, but the cigarette was just good. And this is coming from someone that gets a headache from any type of tobacco smoke.

So now back to now, I sit here alone in my hotel room. I don't think I'm actually going to be having a roommate, so I have this big room on the top floor to myself. I am kind of lonely though, and do wish there was at least someone to talk to. That's why I'm writing this long blog post, because I have nothing to do till about 5 tonight. I am also waiting for someone to get onto Skype.

I'll do an update soon!