Ramen noodles, a kiwi, and a Hohes C do a dinner make

So the Nutelleria is a giant marketing tool for the brand that we all know and love, Nutella. Its a little coffee bar that makes everything with Nutella. All the coffees are flavored with Nutella. Danis and I had a Nutella shake there. Even the food offerings have Nutella on them. Its amazing. And there's nothing more to say about it.

I don't think I've told you about these guys, but these are some people from the University of Arizona. They're really cool, and I've gone out with them a couple of times. Most of the group flew out this morning early from Muenchen. I met Katie (girl with the yellow shirt in the front) and Sean (guy with the blue shirt right behind her) at a laundromat.


I must credit myself with being ridiculously resourceful. These are the eating implements that I possess: two glasses, a bread knife, a fork I stole from the kitchen, and a spoon with a green handle that I bought yesterday. I can wield these primitive tools accomplish much. I commented to my mom right after I got here that it was hard to find easy to fix foods. I promptly received a package with microwavable goodies and ramen noodles. "How are you going to make ramen noodles with your lack of dishware and pots?" you might ask me, especially since I have to pay to use the gas of the stove in my building. Luckily the microwave requires no fee. I microwaved water in my two glasses until warm, and then I added the ramen and continued to microwave for several minutes. The ramen came out steamy and ready to eat.

I also drank a Hohes C and ate a kiwi with my noodles. The red fabric behind is my shirt that I used as a pot holder. I think it also adds something decorative to the picture.

Weekend. Frankfurt. And so on.///

I met Brett’s twin, Kyle, on Sunday to hang out. He’s working at the BMW factory in Regensburg. We went to a Biergarten and a little German boy pelted us with rocks. You’d think it was crazy that there was someone else from Fayetteville in this small city, but I met some girls from Colorado yesterday who told me there are two people on their program from Fayetteville also. I didn’t know them though.

I’ve been a good European visitor and I’ve been watching lots of Fussball (soccer). Holland beat Sweden last night in super-overtime.

Not only did I watch sports, I played Fussball with some Germans (and one Palestinian) on Saturday. It was a little intimidating but really fun. I actually scored a goal. Johannes tells me that it was legitimate, but I’m not so sure that they didn’t just let me make one.

The Palestinian jokingly told me something to the effect of “watch out, I’m the one who straps the bomb to my chest”, and it kind of took me back a little bit. I didn’t really know how to respond.

Frankfurt was really cool, but more because I was there hanging out with Danis than the actual city. I was told that Frankfurt was the Manhattan of Germany. It might have lots of economic prowess, but the skyline is more like Atlanta than Manhattan.


The hotel was amazing, but kind of situated near a bunch of porn shops. Right across the way from the hotel was, the Dolly Buster Center (for kids who can’t read too good). It was huge and had a booming loudspeaker from about 20:00-2:00.


The coolest thing we saw in Frankfurt was by far this museum exhibit of toys as art. There were old pieces and then a few works by Andy Warhol and Picasso. The building was set up with circular hallways, and someone had put in some sweet interactive art: a thirty-foot long hallway of closely placed, vertical, multicolor bungee cords. We just thought that you were supposed to look at it enjoy like all good art, but we were wrong! A little old man kept pointing to it and telling us something in German. We ultimately figured out that you could actually go through the thing. If you just stood still in it then the cords suspended you. The pictures I have of it don’t really do it justice. This is Danis outside of the museum. She wants to know why there is a banana here (I do too).


Since it was only Danis and I, we had to take lots of self pictures. I tried to set the timer on my camera, but we just ended up with four pictures like this:


I still need to tell you about the Nutellria among other things of the trip. Don’t worry. It’ll happen.

final from frankfurt

Things you should look for in an extended entry: giant bungy cord kosh ball type thing, italian restaurant that was once a chinese restaurant, bonny busty center, and what the Frankfurt airport is like.

I'm about to take Danis to the airport.

So, yeah.

the worlds oldest cantina, a short story by danis with comments by drew

Danis went to Rome:

(but don't be deceived, it wasn't in 2003)
She's with a girl named Kate. I think at least post knows her.

Please email pictures and comments about your summer events to me by email and perhaps they will make a blog entry.

I bought some gray jeans, and I'm wearing them today. I think they are technically faded black jeans. Danis thinks I'm Euro-trash. I think I'm sexy. Take that.

Danis will now eloquently narrate the events of last night's dinner:
After an afternoon of shopping and gallavanting around Regensburg, Drew and I decided to go to the "oldest outdoor cafe in the world" for some good 'ole German Brat and Kraut. We walked down to the Danube and sat down, only to get funny looks from other customers and the waitresses dressed in traditional German garb. (did they really have any right to look at US funny?) They told us the cantina was closed and that all they had was brat on rolls for take away. It was only 18:30, so we were kind of put out that they were closed. However, it had rained pretty hard only a few minutes before, which may have been why they were closed, but it was clear and bright at that point so it made no sense for the whole restaurant to be shutting down. With a sullen Drew in tow, we started looking for another place to eat. We specifically wanted "traditional German food" so when we came upon the Hoffbrau House (the original is in Munich and is apparently very famous), we knew we had found the right place. We walked in and the place was packed! It was smokey and loud and crackling with crazy German energy. We were seated by this large man who looked vaguely like a large mouth bass and were handed a menu by a brusque waitress in the typical German attire who didn't look too happy to be waiting on two more people. Since the restaurant was crowded, we were joined by an older German couple at our table. After picking out or foods of choice, we waited oh so patiently for the frazzled waitress to return and take our orders. Drew ordered Brat and Kraut and I ordered something that I cannot spell or say so don't ask me. It turned out to be a piece of pork, a Knoedl (doughy ball thing) and kraut. At this point the man half of the German couple started to ask us questions in English. He was so excited to talk to us and find out more about why we were in Regensburg. He spoke fairly decent English. They told us they had been vacationing in Croatia at the beach for the past 4 weeks and were now in Regensburg for a week before returning to their home in North Germany. (Imagine vacationing for 5 weeks!) They do this every year they told us. They said they had been to the states and really liked the people. So they liked us. And they really liked us because we "laughed together" and reminded them of themselves when they were younger. They had been married for 42 years and were awesome. And Drew tells me that I've typed too much, so I'm done. Oh yeah, we had to leave in a hurry because we had tickets to see this university play, all in German. It was terrible. I fell asleep for pretty much the entire first act (2 hours of horrible acting) before we left at intermission. Today we saw the girl that works in Drew's lab and she asked us about the end of the play....we just made up some stuff. Okay. THE END!

Danis wants to be an author when she grows up. She knows its long- leave it be.

In addition to the pants, I purchased a watch from the 1930s for myself, for my birthday. It has to be wound every twelve hours. Its the start to my illustrious antique watch collection.

Tomorrow we're going to Frankfurt for fun random travel. Anyone know anything exciting to do there? Danis flies out on Friday morning around 11:30. I'll be there to see her off. You guys better take care of her when she gets back to your continent. Or else.

switcheroo! its from two!

From Danis:
In Germany now! No more Italy which is sad, but Germany has been great so far. I mean, I've seen, um, two streets at night and the university so far, but I am sure they are accurate representations of the city as a whole and the country as well.

Showering in one large room in the dorm/house complex that Drew lives in is very strange. I have to walk down multiple flights of stairs to get to it and the water has to be pushed every four seconds for continuous flow. And the light in the hallways outside the shower is on a timer so you emerge damp and dripping into a dark area with a handful of shower stuff that makes it difficult to grope around the wall for the light switch. It is an experience for sure.

I met all the German guys that Drew works with. They seem like nice enough fellows. Stefan, the guy that Drew works under, knows just about every song that comes on the radio and he sings the first few bars in a really funny, high pitched voice every time. It is hilarious. The rest of them pretty much ignore me and talk in German to each other. I experienced the Mensa food today...pretty gross. Worse than Brough or any other cafeteria ever. I ate some indistinguishable vegetables and really dry rice. I am hungry right now for some good Italian food...but I guess I will settle for some sausage and kraut later for dinner. Okay, I'm done. Most of you guys check this site for updates on Drew anyway, not me. Ciao!

From Drew:
(It may be a second. I think he royally screwed up his experiment and they are going to kick him out of the lab and the city and maybe even the country for it. So sad. We may have to leave soon because they are about to bring out some really scary looking torture implements...)

Wo! Die Danis ist hier- The Danis is here. I really enjoy the use of the "the" before names in German- I think die d also understands this. I think I will enjoy the city even more now that I have someone to share it with.

I'm trying to shorten up the day, so we can go play in the city, but NMR titrations call! Oh the life of a scientist!

I'd really like an American salad. Can someone ship me this? Perhaps insulated with some sort of liquid nitrogen machine that keeps it cold. The salads here have lots of vinegar on them and are kind of soupy. I can't really explain. I'll show you a picture later.

I think Die Danis might be getting bored. I need to get some things done. I need to get some things done? I need to get some things done!

Good music - check out the funny word bubbles

Geburstag!

Today has been great:

1. Danis woke me up with a birthday call!

2. The Germans have all been ridiculously nice on my birthday considering that I've only known them for two weeks. Katja and Nina surprised me with a cake at lab.


3. The people in the lab all stopped by and wished me happy birthday, and they bought me some cakes.

4. I don't think that I've done a single productive chemistry thing today. However, I did make this sweet video to delight and entertain that is about me as a scientist.

5. People have called me from another continent.

6. My mom is going to sign a document for me saying that she is "my agent while I am abroad". I don't know if this will work, but I really like the sound of it.

11 not 6, and 4 or Fussball schauen

I've had the whistling part from Kill Bill vol1 stuck in my head for three days. Is there a soundtrack for that yet?

I'll get to writing as soon as I do a quick precipitation with ice water.

A public transit adventure:
I can take either bus 6 or bus 11 to get to the school, so I just kind of assumed that I could take either back to my house. I've only ever taken the 6 back, but the 11 was there so I thought, "why not?". Oh how wrong I was. I was taken farther and farther away from my desired destination. I saw four girls on unicycles. I passed four car dealerships: VW, Mercedes, one i forgot, and Porsche. After passing more than 4 stops, I realized that I must be headed the wrong way. I got off the bus, ate a Doener, and found my way back home.

The soccer game:

I don't really understand, but the Deutschland gegen Holland soccer game ended with a score of 1-1. Apparently, ending without a winner is acceptable. Do you have some soccer knowledge that you can share with me? Can someone ask Joe Tran whats going on? He's the only soccer player I can think of.

The game was really fun anyways. We grilled out and hung out until midnight. Stefan is the guy in the top picture. Eva is helping him get ready for the grilling. Giovanni, in the bottom picture, broke his glasses climbing, so he is squinting.

Prost!

Today I kept thinking I was making chemistry mistakes when I was not. I might have breathed some HCl gas though. That's not a good idea.

Tonight I will watch my first complete professional soccer game on television. Germany is playing the Netherlands. We're very excited about this around here.

Some people from my Bible study showed me around town and then we ate dinner. The guy in the black shirt in the front is Johannes. I work out with him sometimes. The girl in the left back in the white and black is Katja. She's the leader of the group. The girl in the right back with blonde hair is Nina. She let me have her old cell phone, so now I have my own German handy number.

Adventure and Ice Cream

The first night when I returned to Elizabeth's WG, it was populated with a variety of random men of Latin decent. They were having a salsa party in the kitchen. I was briefly captured by an inebriated German for moving in a circle together. I don't think that the motion we created was worthy of the title dancing. The rest of the weekend was full of adventure and ice cream. Elizabeth’s concert of the Haydn work Die Schoepfung was really beautiful.

On Saturday, as previously stated, a trip was taken to France. The city had a "La Petite Venice" with little canals and such. You can't see it in the picture, but we're standing on a bridge over one.


On Sunday before the concert, we went hiking in the Black Forest. It was foggy and mysterious.

I lunched in France today

Yes. The English writing skills have suffered. Although, I think that we all know that my grammar and spelling skills have never been the best. I'm spending the weekend with Americans though, so perhaps I'll regain some normal syntax at least.

Yes. I lunched in France today. I'm in Freiburg which is near the border, so we decided to visit a little city on the French side. As soon as you crossed the Rhine- bam!- you were hit with French flags and signs in another language. It was like driving from Arkansas to Oklahoma, except that it would be like all the signs were in Arkansan and then suddenly were in Oklahoman (thats the worst analogy I've ever written).

Elizabeth has a big room and a nice kitchen. I might be a little jealous.

Did you know they have vanilla coke in Germany? It has become my American indulgence.

The part of France we visited was not gross like some parts of France that some people and I have visited in the past. It was not littered with dog poo or anything.

Finally, visual media for the masses

The laptop works! Thus its time for examples of my beautiful photographic style.

My room, in all its glory:


The view from my windown, in all its glory:


I love the city at night:


A cool British street performer juggling fire:


Expect more sooner than later. I've got to do some labor working, and then I'm off to Freiburg. Happy weekend to you.

von Speilhall; ueber id photos

I'm in perhaps the only place I've ever been that is more shady in the day than during in the night. Its a little pool hall in a really nice part of town, but during the day... eesh.. i dont know the deal is.

If you ever plan to live in Regensburg for an amount of time, please remeber to bring some small passport photos. In the last two days I've had to pay a total of 7,50€ for little id photos. I bought a group of four to have one for my id for the sport center on campus that cost me 5€, and then I had to buy another set of four for 2.50€ from the train station people when I bought a BahnCard.

I was wrong not to bring shorts. Its really getting warm, and I'd like some to just walk around in the city with. I think I'll be visiting H&M for a pair or two. I alsmot bought a linen suit from H&M because it was only 100€- I might return for it. As well, perhaps I should not admit this, but I rolled up my jeans to the man-capri earlier today because I was just too warm. I don't plan to bring this trend back with me, but hey all the stylish euromen are doing it ! (of course many of stylish euromen also carry those long keychain things that hang out of your pocket)

The Two Hole Punch of Deutschland

I'm just sitting here listening to my Royal Tennembaum's Soundtrack (word to the T) and contemplating the two hole punch of Deutschland. Let me explain. Perhaps not everywhere, but in this lab all binders come with two prongs for the paper to fit on instead
of three. The holes are about this far apart apart:

X------------------------------------------------- X

I have no qualms with the design, but the actual two-hole-puncher is a little inefficient- its just difficult to get the paper in the correct place because it is smaller.

Today I lengthened the chain of amino acids- thats right, we've got glycine in the mix now- that I've been working on. I'm sure this is fascinating to you.

Tonight Giovanni- look back two posts for more info on him- is making us some sweet homemade Italian pizza. Aparently all social activities of the people in this lab happen on this hallway because this will be happening here at the lab kitchen at 19:00. Last night everyone had a barbeque for Stefan- again, refer back if neccessary- for his birthday. I went to a bible study at Katja's house.

Sara is correct. Paying with coins is fun. I have a velcro pocket on my wallet that is finally in use. And who doesnt love velcro?

Was noch? you might ask, well friends, nothing else. Have a beautiful day.

weekend update

Jennifer Davidson informs me that Regensburg is know as the 'city of churches'. This is very true. There are probable 7 really large churches near where I live, each of which rings their bells for 7.2 minutes to call everyone to church on Sunday. All are in the old part of town or 'Altstadt'- and by old I mean the middle ages old.

I spent the weekend exploring lots of these church and the rest of Altstadt. This part of town has narrow stone streets and squares and such. Its kind of like Carcasone with modern shops and apartments. Its a really cool juxtaposition. There are tons of outdoor cafe´s, and one of them is run by Rhoda, Trista's mom.

Last night, I gently sat upon my bed so that I could do some reading. The bed apparently did not like this, and it broke. In addition to this, I have found that the Haus handyman is on holiday until next week. This equals one week of sleeping with the mattress on the floor. Oh the adventures of travel!

ä ö ü € ß µ

Today was Stefan's (my lab guy's) birthday so we just had Kaffee und Kuchen. He and his girlfriend made these amazing cakes. Fuer Stefan: Alles gut zum Geborstag.

I'm probably going to come home with better German and worse English. I am trying to listen to the German to get used to the southern accent, but I might just be getting really good and ignoring the conversations going on around me. I think I'm picking up the bad English habits of the Germans. Sometimes I think in a mixture of the languages.

These are some people I have met thus far:
Stefan- lab supervisor, very friendly
Josh- American from KU, wears a pedometer, loves playing polo
Julia- works in my lab, getting teaching chemistry degree
Giovanni- Italian, dyed red hair, speaks German and perhaps not English (at least not to me)

I'm enjoying exploring the city and spending time on my own, but I get a little bored at night when there is no hanging out to be done. I brought all of my polaroids with me, and last night I arranged them all on the wall by theme (don't worry I'll hopefully be posting pictures of the room on Monday, the laptop has to be set up first).

I'm going to go play with amino acids now

I'll leave you with exciting characters that you would find on a German keyboard:
ä ö ü
€ ß µ

Tag 1 in Regensberg (or on the 6)

Well kids. I'm here. Listening to German speaking all around me and smelling the sweet sweet smell of organic solvents wafting through the chemistry lab. I flew out from Tulsa on June 1st at 1:10pm. I left Atlanta at 5:40. The airline provided enlightened movie entertainment of 'Welcome to Mooseport' which I watched and 'Starsky and Hutch' and 'Miracle' which I tried to sleep through but basically just watched without sound. There were lots of funny characters floating about. I arrived in Munich at 9:00am on June2 after a 8 hour flight. The night was cut a good seven hours that I usually sleep through. I went through some nice customs and passport checks and took a short bus to a small town where I caught a train to Regensburg. The train was incredibily full, and I had to stand for the hour and ten minute length of it. I got to see some really nice German countryside and watch fun people on the train though. Dr. Hirtreiter picked up from the railstation and raced me around town to set up a bank account and find my 'accomodations'. I haven't really got to spend time in the room except to drop off my bags. Its on the fourth floor and is pretty small, but I think it will do just fine. It has a great view of the city's cathedral and is in the center of town. I share a bathroom and kitchen area with others on my floor. The place has a fitness center which I haven't got to check out, but maybe be it will motivate me to work out while I'm here. I take the number six bus to and from school. I'm excited to get to explore the school and the city. I think I might take a nap now.