The Week

Well, it’s about time I wrote in this blog! Last Monday and Tuesday we didn’t do much for traveling, we had a little break so that was really nice. On Tuesday, we were all craving Mexican food so we went out for dinner. After dinner, Courtney, Dalton, and I went to our favorite place. Once we got done, I put my coat on the table behind me while I was getting up. Courtney was like “NICOLE!” I turn around and I had knocked the menu onto the candle on the table behind me and there was a huge flame! I was just staring at it and the guy from across the room had to spring across to put it out! And then it was smoking and we didn’t want the smoke detectors to go off so Dalton grabbed it and threw it outside into the snow. Oh man, it was hilarious. And then we got back to the hostel and we watched Sissy (spelling!) which was fun. It was in German so Kelley translates it for us. It is 3 parts and hopefully we’ll be able to finish it before we go to Vienna this upcoming Sunday! Wednesday was Andrew’s birthday where we had a little party. Kelley made a SUPER good banana cake. And Jerry’s wife also made a cake that was scrumptious. Basically, I stuffed myself! On Thursday we took a day trip to Nuremberg. We left in the morning to go to the train station and our train was delayed. It was suppose to arrive in 10 minutes and some people wanted to go get coffee. It probably wasn’t the bestest idea in the world but they went. Right after they left our train arrived so the rest of us boarded the train. Right before it was about to leave, we see Lisa, Heather, Tanner sprinting towards the train and they get through the doors. Chris was like, “wouldn’t it be funny if the doors shut in between them?!” Right after he said that, the doors shut right before Jeff could get on. And then the train started to leave, so poor Jeff got left at the train station. The most ironic part was right we all got settled, a coffee cart went through! We had never seen one on a train and just the day that it decided to roll through our cart was the day Jeff missed the train for coffee. In Nuremberg we went to the Germanic Museum. It was ginormous! We were there for several hours and we didn’t even get through half of it. Here are some of the coolest things I saw:


There were these glass phials from the Romans in the early Merovingian Period. They used these glass phials to collect tears and then they deposited the tears at burials to symbolize grief. They called these lacrimaria. Lacrima=tear.





On display, the 1st globe in the world was there. It was created by Martin Behaim and constructed before the discovery of America. On the globe, it had the findings of Pliny, Strabo, Marco Polo, and Ptomely. It had what kinds of plants and animals were in each region, it was amazing!




They also had rooms that were set up with the type of furniture from different time periods. Rooms were dedicated to the different clothing styles within the different decades. They also had a room dedicated to music and the different instruments. Unfortunately, we were running out of time so we kind of ran through the exhibits.



We had some time before our train left so we all split up to get food. We were going to get Doners but it was freezing outside so we wanted to go someplace warm. On the way to the museum I saw a Pizza Hut! So Courtney and I ate there. Oh-my-Lanta it was sooo good! Just the other night I was in Lisa and Heather’s room talking about how I was craving pizza! On our way back to the trainstatoin for Regensburg, Courtney and I were reminded of Harry Potter and Platform 9 & 3/4. So of course, we wanted to take a picture. But they didn't have a Platform 10! They only had 9 and 11!! So I have concluded that Hogwarts doesn't want me. Sigh. But I am going to try at every train station!!



So we got back Thursday night and were planning to go to Switzerland the following day to go visit Courtney’s friend Teague. Unfortunately, they canceled so now we didn’t have anything to do for the weekend. Tanner and Andrew were planning to go to Interlaken, Switzerland but since we weren’t going they weren’t going to go. So we were like great. While in the lounge area-ish, a very attractive man named Chris came out and was talking to us. It was hilarious. He was probably just using us to use my computer, but it was worth it. Chuckles. He was like, so are you able to go out in the evenings? Courtney and I were like “uh-huh!” Later to find out, Kelley told us that dating here is very informal and the girls are supposed to take the initiative. Missed chance! Entirely joking, but it was quite hilarious. We had to wake up Andrew to make a decision, and he didn’t care what we did. At the end of the night, we decided to go. So the next morning we headed to the train station with no tickets, no place to stay, and no idea what we were going to do. We got our train tickets and hopped on our trains. At one point, our train changed platforms so we got on the platform the conductor told us to. When we got on the train, Andrew asked some passengers if our destinations were they same and they said yes. So we all got seated and comfortable, Courtney and I had unpacked our Subway and were getting ready to eat. Andrew went to go talk to the conductor and he said this wasn’t our train. Oh man, panic attack! We shoved all our stuff back in our bags and were sprinting to our correct train. Luckily, we made it just before it left. Some man came up to Andrew and was like “Danke, Danke!” Looks like he made the same mistake that we did!




So we got to Interlaken safe and sound with no place to stay. It was dark outside and we were starving. Thankfully, they had this sweet machine outside that told us all the hostels, what they offered, and gave directions! So we picked up and started walking. We eventually found it and it was crazy! Definitely a party hostel, there was a dance club beneath it so it never really got quiet. But it was still nice to actually have a place to stay. We got up the next morning, packed our stuff, and were on the search for a different hostel. It was foggy outside so we couldn’t quite see the mountains yet. We got our new hostel and this time we had our own bathroom! It was amazing! So we chilled there for a while and then started to wander the town. The skies cleared up and it was BEAUTIFUL! This town is smack dab in the middle of the Alps and there were mountains totally surrounding us. Oh man, they were so grandeur and powerful! For lunch we went to a restraint to have the famous Swiss Fondue. It was super expensive (like everything there) so Courtney and I got ice cream while Tanner and Andrew got the fondue. Oh man was I glad we didn’t get it. It wasn’t horrible but definitely not my favorite thing in the whole wide world. Then we were on the search for Swiss chocolate. We also posed for our jumping pictures where Andrew made me fall! But the rest of the day dedicated to exploring the city. We slept wonderfully that night and got up at the crack of dawn to make it back to our train….




Oh man, this was where we could have remade the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles movie. We got our tickets and itinerary for the trip. The first train didn’t have a platform number so we were running everywhere to figure it out. And then we were spring down the stairs and Tanner slipped on the ice and flew! I looked like it hurt! But luckily, his backpack broke the fall and was able to get right back up. We ran up the stairs and then down again, where of course, I slipped and ate it. Man oh man. All in all, we missed our first train and had to go back and get different tickets where we had to pay 6 more Franks. On the trains we were starving because we hadn't eaten all day long. Then Andrew remembered he had a loaf of bread and some cheese so he whipped it out. We were all laughing cause we were scarfing (Courtney said that was how "scarfing" was spelled.) it down so fast people probably thought we were in poverty or something. It was our jail meal: bread and water. We finally made it to Lindau but were still starving so we set out to find a restraint. When we walked out of the train station there was this amazing view! So we decided to walk around and see the place for a while.


Bread, cheese, and water. Poor college kids!



Our view from the train station!


After we got done with that, we hopped back on the train towards Regensburg. While we were on it, the train suddenly stopped and we were told we had to switch trains. I was sleeping and the minute I heard Andrew saying we had to get off, I freaked out! I thought this was our stop and I was frantically throwing everything into my bad. It was quite funny. So we were on that train, and Andrew was like, I think we are on the wrong train. Thankfully, we were on the correct one. We only had 1 more stop and then we were to Munich. Long story short, we got on the wrong train and when the ticket conductor came to check our tickets he told us it was no good. Oh man, you’ve got to be freaking kidding me! But he was really nice and didn’t charge us anything because we are stupid Americans. So we finally made it to Munich and then to Regensburg. Finally! The town we live in! We got to the bus depot and Andrew said that we could take bus #9. Well turns out we couldn’t so 45 minutes later we ended back at the bus depot. The driver told us we could take #3, what he forgot to mention was that there was a bus #3 north and a bus #3 south. Freaking-A. Once again, on the wrong bus for almost an hour. By that point I think that we could have murdered someone. After 2 and a half hours we finally made it to our hostel. I watched the first part of Dumb and Dumber to cheer up my mood before I fell asleep. And then we started class today which was really good. And basically just lazed around all day. We watched the 2nd part of Sissy which was really good, and here I am now. So many things have happened within the last week that if I recorded them all, my fingers would fall off. But for the most part, you readers got the general jest. This weekend is Vienna and the following week is Paris! But now I must be a diligent student and go read. I will post pictures when I have more time. Until we meet again.