Directly from Europe...on a German keyboard.

I've been wanting to post on my weblog since I left for Europe, but it hasn't happened because I forgot the site I needed to go to in order to log in and post. Anyway...Here's what's happened so far:

July 1, 2005
I'm on a flight to Chiago. The guy behind me is SO worried about flying and it's really amusing. I can't believe I'm actually going to Europe. I'm scared, but excited too. I know this is an amazing opportunity and I need to make the most of it. I hope to get through all the books I brought with me. I also hope to learn a lot and have a good experience. I'm looking forward to the time spent with a new group of people.
Right now I'm reading the Screwtape Letters, so I'll be writing down quotes from that in my journal. I'll have my favorite quotes up on my blog after I finish the book.

July 3, 2005
Yesterday SUCKED! We missed our train to Brussels by 3 minutes and then we spent two hours searching for a place to stay. Because of the Live 8 concert, the Gay pride event, an opening of something at the consolate, and Wimbleton, everything was booked full. We stayed in Waterloo train station with some random French man who had dropped his son off to take English classes at a school in London. His train wasn't leaving until noon the next day and he couldn't find a place to stay either. Fortunately, Amber speaks a bit of French, so we were able to talk to him for a bit.
After a few hours, two girls from the U.S. showed up. They had been in London sightseeing and couldn't find a place to stay either. They were staying in Holland, working on a military base. One was from California, one from Iowa and they both attended a University in California. I can't remember which one though.
Everything in London is SO expensive! I spend over 50 pounds in the first daz and I only paid to ride the subway twice, paid for the bus to Oxford, a train back to London and a bagel.

We're on a train from Brussels to Kassel, Germany. We decided not to go to Amsterdam because of the length of the train trip. By the time we would get to Amsterdam, we'd only be there for a few hours. When we were in Brussels, we never left the train station.
When we finally arrived, I took the first picture of the trip since the plane. We got off the train and found information for the Eurail (our train passes). Then, we found a phone and called Eva (who lives in Kassel). It took about 15 minutes to figure out the stupid calling cards. Amber talked to Eva's brother and she's supposed to pick us up when we get to Kassel.
I'm so tired of not understanding the language. The culture is also SO different here. We had to pay to use the bathrooms at the station and there was a really angry old lady who kept yelling at me. She didn't want me brushing my teeth in her bathroom. I told her that I didn't want to brush my teeth, just wash my face, but she stood over me and watched me just in case I tried to brush my teeth anyway. I was going to try to change clothes, but when I opened my bag, I found that my sunblock had exploded in my bag and I tried to throw it away but that made her mad too. She took the sunblock from me and dumped it down the toilet. Then she threw away the bottle. Then, she got mad at me and started yelling at me for using three paper towels. She said that was too much and she didn't care what was in my bag, I couldn't have any more paper towels to clean up the mess in my bag. After yelling at me about that, she tried to tell me that I'd been in the bathroom too long and she wanted me to leave. At this point, I hadn't even used the restroom so I went to the bathroom and washed my hands. She stood over me while I washed them to make sure I wasn't using too much soap and to keep me from taking another paper towel. I just wanted to give her another 35 cents and take three more paper towels...although, I'm sure that would have made her mad. Regardless, I finally left the angry old lady in her bathroom.
After that fiasco, we found a Subway that was surprisingly run by an American and a Canadian. They both played basketball in college and then came to Belgium to play for their national team. It was REALLY refreshing to finally understand what someone was saying. Especially after being yelled at in French I can hardly understand.
Everyone is exhausted. We all slept on the train to Brussels and again on the train to Kassel. It will be nice to sleep on a bed or at least a soft floor with blankets and a pillow. I just hope we can all get to sleep tonight.

July 4, 2005
We arrived in Kassel last night and Eva picked us up at the train station. We stopped at a Turkish shop downtown and got a sandwich that only cost €1.50. It had lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pork and bread. It also had a really good sauce that was kind of like ranch dressing or mayo...but kind of not...it was flavorful, but not overpowering. A very good dinner!
After we had eaten, we went back to Eva's house and I took a shower which felt SO good! I called my parents to wish them a Happy Aniversary and let them know we had gotten in safe. Then we all talked for awhile and we went to bed around 1:30. I set an alarm for 11:25, but Eva woke us up right before it went off.
Amber took a shower before we had breakfast. We met Eva's brother and one of his friends as well as Eva's boyfriend Rölf. We went to Wihelmvs Castle in Wilhemshöhe park where a famous German count lived and built this park for himself in the 1700-1800's. It was VERY prettz. We walked down what seemed like a million steps and over several bridges. We saw some swans at the bottom of the hill by the castle. I wanted to pet them but Rölf said we should stay away from them because they get aggressive.
I had a migraine and Dustin and Kelsey were really tired so Rölf got the car and picked us up at the bottom of the hill. We drove back to Eva's house and got some water. Most bottled water here is carbonated and I don't like it very much.
Amber wrote and sent a mass e-mail to her friend and I tried to post in my blog, but I couldn't remember the login site URL. I took some excedrine for my migraine and started feeling better.
After we sent out the e-mails, we went downtown and walked through the mall. Eva took us to the post office and Dustin and I sent some stuff back to Oxford to lighten our packs.

July 5, 2005
After we went to the post office, we bought ice cream at a local ice cream place that was Eva's favorite spot.
We went to the grocery store to get sausages for dinner, then back to Eva's house. Her mom cooked us dinner. We had krout, mashed potatoes and sausages. After dinner, her friend Sebastian came over. Sebastian drove me to the bar and we met Eva, Kelsey and Dustin there. It was nice not to be crammed into one car. Then Rölf came to the bar and suggested a beer for Amber. She had her first ever beer and she seemed to like it.
We were running short on time so we finished our drinks and I went with Sebastian and met everyone at the train station. Eva explained how the German train szstem worked and we got on our train. There were already two Asian girls in our compartment so we hurried to make our beds. I slept on the top bunk and put my bag above my head. I took two sleeping pills and used my sleeping mask and earplugs, which helped immensely. I slept surprisingly well but I was irritated with the border patrol who woke me up in the middle of the night to check my passport.
We arrived in Prague or Praha (in Czech) around 8:30am and called our hotel. It was really close to the train station so we walked over to check in. When we opened the door to our room, we walked in on a very surprised woman with pink hair still in bed. We went back downstairs and talked to the manager who gave us free breakfast. We ate breakfast and then checked into a different room. This time when we went in, the room was empty :-) It took us a few minutes to figure out the lights. It turned out that they wouldn't work unless you put your room card in a spot on the wall.
We all freshened up a bit and then selected a rout of Prague and the manager of the hotel called and made reservations for us.
We walked to the tour booth and got on the tour bus. Our tour guide looked like Jude Law :-) I took two pictures of him...(yeah...I'm a loser). We drove all over the city. We saw Charles Bridge, Charles University, Wencleslass Square, the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, Vitus Cathedral, the atomic clock, the Jewish district, and Old Town Square. It was raining so everzone got completely soaked. I wore my poncho and looked like a duck thanks to the weird hood. I felt so small because the poncho was so big but I looked pregnant because I held my purse in front of me.
We came back to the hotel to dry off and eat the fruit we had purchased when we went to the grocery store with Eva. I fell asleep till they woke me up for dinner.
We finished drying our clothes with the hairdryer in the room. Then, we ventured out to find food. We walked down to the old town square and found a nice little restaurant tucked away in an alley.
I had chicken breast stuffed with mushrooms, cheese and ham on top of spinach. We only paid about $6 for dinner or 330 kr. I also ordered a glass of the house white wine which was very good. It was called a Czech white wine. We walked around Prague for several hours and looked in lots of shops. I purchased a penguin and two shot glasses, 1 for Julie, 1 for Sam.
I took pictures of most of the statues on Charles bridge. It was a REALLY great day but I'm tired and my feet are really sore.

MORE TO COME...I'm out of time at the Internet Cafe.