Villingen-Schwenningen

Last Friday Erik and I cruised out to Villingen-Schwenningen, specifically Schwenningen. There's a business school there that we checked out for next semester, whether or not it would be a viable choice. The town is quite small and looks boring. Nevertheless we humored the idea of attending when we met with the advisors for international students.

When the formalities ended we wandered around the town and found ourselves in a small, hole-in-the-wall bar. We were provided with beer, t.v. that aired wipeouts and other entertaining things, and a German  conversation with a middle-aged man from ex-Yugoslavia. Once the beer was consumed we decided that time was of the essence and headed out.

Next stop, doner kepab, mmmmm. We had purchased a Baden-Wurtemburg ticket earlier in the day, allowing us to travel anywhere within the state for a period of 24 hours. Time to travel, we thought, and Baden-Baden was our destination. Arriving there after sundown, we took a bus to Caracalla, an indoor/outdoor hotspring. It was a good time. There were spa/pool areas inside, very warm. Also a sauna. Outside even more water, an outside spa/pool area. In different areas of the compound there were waterfall like things that emitted strong, flowing water. Taking advantage of this luxury, we stood under the falling water and it massaged our bodies.

Skin completely pruned and two hours later, we headed back towards the bus stop, making a quick detour to McDonalds for an inexpensive meal. In a food coma, we headed back to the train station by bus. Erik and I are really good at sucking at public transportation and timing. When we got the the train station the next bus wasn't until and hour and a half later, 12:30am. So we waited, and waited some more.

During our time at the train station, the sewer rats of Germany showed there faces, drunk and destroyed buy who know what kinds of drugs. I guess that time of the night provides a breeding ground for such things. So from 12:30-7am we traveled by train and waited at train stations. At the Stuttgart station we hung out at a coffee shop that was open and yet another mentally disturbed person transfefred his disturbance to society.

Finally the time came that we arrived in Tubingen, around 6:40am. The sun was rising, a new day dawning. Sleep seemed like an awkward activity to entertain, nevertheless I entertained it and slept for days.

By the way, I ended up choosing to go to the school in Schwenningen. That chapter starts in mid-March.

Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory

I paid for what is called a Semesterticket and it gets me around on buses and trains for free within a certain radius. Taking advantage of this came to mind so I took a bus for half an hour and arrived at the Ritter Sport Chocolate Factory. It was a real spur of the moment trip so I didn't have a camera with me. Unfortunately there weren't any tours, but there was a museum and a shop. I cruised around the museum and watched a film in German about the factory, the production process, and the owner. After the museum I headed downstairs to the store and bought some chocolate for have the price that it's sold in normal stores. Sweet.

Game plan: Monday and Thursday I don't have class until 4pm so I'm going to wake up early on these days and travel for free within the radius of my pass. I'll bring the camera next time.

Die Thousand Oaks Dialekt

I had never realized it before, but there is a Thousand Oaks dialect, or at least a dialect within the group. Alden joined me in Germany for a few days and when we talked together in front of one of my German room mates she couldn't understand us. She can speak and understand English just fine, that wasn't the issue. When two people who have grown up together talk with one another the language gets mumbled and it is easily understood by each other. Weird huh?

Beyond that idea... after a gnarly bicycle journey in Morocco Alden came to Germany. We went to Stuttgart and cruised around for a few hours, good time. Also we cruised though a forest. The next day I reserved a tour at a brewery in Böblingen. Once we found the brewery we ran into an older man who was also visiting the brewery, though he was there for business reasons. He invited us for some coffee at the brewery restaurant and we obliged. It turns out he studied some form of beer engineering at Weihenstephan in Germany. For work he travels around to breweries doing engineering stuff that has to do with the production of beer. Seems like a cool job. Coffee consumed and now awake we said goodbye.

So it turned out that I didn't reserve a tour because there were not any tours that day, instead I reserved a table for lunch, oops. It worked out though because a Romanian guy in the restaurant offered to give us a ride to the car museum close to the train station. We took him up on the ride and checked out the museum. Cool cars and what not. Leaving the museum we were asked to help push a Ferrari onto a trailer. That was rad.

All in all it was a good time and having someone from back home to hang with was a relief.