Fun with Foreigners

Pictures

2005-12-14T18:27:00.000-05:00

Try this: http://kent.facebook.com/photos.php?id=23303767&l=7d31b

My only friend the end...

2005-12-13T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well its over. Now I have to get a real job or something to pay off this trip. I was in Paris this morning and now I find my self in Ann Arbor. I just made my flight, after emailing ahead to make sure I had transit from the airport I arrived at. Now for all you 'ney' sayers, when you fly internationally you have to get your bags where ever you initally land in the States to check them through Customs. Once you do that you have to recheck them and connect to your other flight. If you so choose you can just not connect. But you can also ask at the initial check-in to have your bags relabled for the city you initially just had a layover in. However depending on the circumstances it might cost you money, but it didn't cost me money.
But its all over. I am back in the states and I only want to go back and spend more time in each country. I only got a taste of each one and its only appropriate that I revisit and do it right. I will be back in Cincinnati this weekend and then I am sure that I will make my move up to Cleveland and Kent to visit everyone I can, unless I just don't give a crap about you! hahhahahaaha ok I've been up for too many hours straight on only two hours of sleep.

Planes,Trains, Toilets, and Automobiles

2005-12-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

So your in Edinburgh, you have a flight out of a city that is approximately an hour away called Glasgow. You need to take a bus to the bus station to take a bus to the Glasgow bus station, to take a bus to the Glasgow airport. You have a feeling that there are two airports in Glasgow, but the woman that sells you your bus ticket to the airport reassures you there is only one. You ask around, you ask people you know, people you don't know, because this feeling like 'everything is wrong' is haunting your every move. Everyone reassures you there is only one airport in Glasgow. You take all your busses and about an hour and a half later arrive at the airport. You feel better and yet your gut still says, "no", however your gut has been saying, "no" for the past week because you have digestive problems, so you ignore it. You walk into the airport and have some trouble finding your airline. You shake your head because this has to be the place because there is only one airport in Glasgow. After you realize that finding it is hopeless with out help, you ask at a random desk. They reveal to you that there is not only one airport in Glasgow, but that they recently renamed the other airport in Glasgow from Prestwick airport to GLASGOW PRESTWICK AIRPORT, and that its 45 minutes away IF you take a cab. Its current 2:00pm. Your flight leaves at 3:30pm. Theres no way, but you try anyway. You run to a cash machine, none of your cards work in it. You run to the cab and he tells you only cash. You plead with him and he tells you he can take credit. You ask how long it will take and how much it will cost. He says about 50 minutes and its going to cost 60 pounds (app 110 dollars). You shreik and get in freaking out more because if you miss the flight you just wasted the money for the flight and the money for the cab. It's a gamble but you roll the dice. You get to the airport, jump out and bolt inside. Your airline is there but the city you are traveling to is not posted at the check-in counter. Someone points to you that they just closed that city. You run to the guy still sitting there and he looks at you with compassion because you just missed the cut off by five minutes. But he is AWESOME and lets you on any way! And life is good. All the while dealing with your ever present digestive problems. You get to Paris but its not a main airport, but you knew this. You have to take a bus into town so you can catch the Metro. The bus ride is an hour and the Metro ride is an hour but you finally get to the place your staying. You get to bed and finally get some sleep on the ground instead of bunching up in a ball on a couch like the previous nights, but you are happy because this is what this trip is all about!

I see a light at the end of the tunnel

2005-12-08T12:39:00.000-05:00

I am finally getting better. I was in the hospital last night and they gave me an IV which helped. I was dangerously dehydrated. They kept mentioning how the IV bag was draining so quick. When I sucked that down, they let me leave after I gave them some samples (wink). Did not pay a dime, ten pence as they call it here, and I walked out with no trouble, except the pain still.
Its been slightly getting better and I am up from yesterdays rise to two meals a day! I fly back to Paris tomorrow for a few days of shopping, maybe some exploration to Austria if Juergen is up to it, and relaxing. Then I catch a flight back to the states on Tuesday. I hope I can get my luggage chucked off in Detroit instead of Dayton. Movies don't make themselves people!

Absolutely Miserable

2005-12-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

My horrible hangover turned in to full blown dysentery. Traveling takes a toll on your body. As I am sure you all wanted to know this about me, but too bad you are forced to read every damn word I type, hahahahaha! Ok maybe it's taken a little bit of my mind too.
But I have been in Edinburgh three days now and I have not visited one site! Today is the first time in two days I could actually move. But I am still alive... I will notify all of you, if and when I check into the ER. I hope it doesn't come to that but only time will tell now. I should be completely fine by tomorrow if all goes according normal function. Then I might be taking a bus tour up to the Highlands to go see where Highlander was born (HERE WE ARE BORN TO BE KINGS...). Also I hear there is a statue of David Hume on the trail up to the castle, so that should be cool. If you know who David Hume is, Cheers! If not, look it up.

From Edinburgh

2005-12-03T14:59:00.000-05:00

Well that was a grueling flight... Against my better judgement... wait 'better', 'judgement', 'my'!? I don't have any of these things... Any way, I was stoopid last night and when out with some people from Baltimore instead of getting a good nights rest before my flight, like I had done the previous four nights. So I was in rare form. Those sick bags on the plane work pretty well. I am better now and in Edinburgh, I have seen just the main strip, there is a festival or something going on and the whole city is lit up with neat lights and 'carnie' rides. Now I just have to find Clark and I will be set. But its time for me to go because this keyboard is covered in grease and goo from the McDonalds upstairs. Heil McDonalds!

Covent Garden

2005-12-02T05:19:00.000-05:00

The Covent Garden is a little shopping area in London where Monks use to garden and then they eventually opened a market there selling what their garden produced. I bet it use to be cool, because its not now. They did what everyone else does to cool areas and turned it into a hell hole. They sell junk down there now. Nothing of purpose or value can be purchased in this area. And just to give you an idea of what its like, Spencers, High on the Hill (the PC version), and tourist shops selling the same damn t-shirts as they sell in every other city. If I was mayor of London I would bull doze the Covent Garden out of principle. However this area is also home to the same theaters that Peter Pan first premiered in, so it can't be all the bad. I even saw a show. I watched The Producers, by Mel Brooks. It was pretty good. If anyone out there has seen History of the World part I, and has been waiting for Hitler ON ICE to come out, just go see this show and you will be satisfied.
Tomorrow I leave for Edinburgh, it will be cold, but "Cold never bothered me...(shiver)."

London ROCKS!!!

2005-11-29T12:40:00.000-05:00

This place is just straight cool. I saw the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Parliment, the London Eye, and the Dali/Picasso museum (because I missed it in Barcelona), where I met an African girl named Laura.

Racists read the next part, anyone else skip to the "*": She's white.

* We hung out and talked and it was cool. I don't know what is in store for tomorrow, but I think the Palace is on the list. But now I am getting hungry, so its time to drop 100,000,000£ on dinner.

Nick - Harry Potter was cool, but it did the same thing as the other movies and move too quick, but it was all together good. (Hell has frozen, Nick is a Harry Potter fan)

From London

2005-11-28T10:44:00.000-05:00

Well I took the Chunnel to London this morning. It is so easy to get around this whole continent that it makes me sick that you need a car in the U.S. The train was cookin' and we made it here in like two hours. On the train, for all you guys with yellow fever, there were two full cars packed with young Asian girls. I was swimming in them just to get to the food car. KUNG POW!!!
It's nice to be on an English speaking train. I sat next to an older couple and we chatted the whole way there. London is nice so far for the ten minutes I have been here. Some may ask, "Why London?" But we all know the answer to that, don't we? In France Harry Potter doesn't reach theaters until November 30th, and well, I just couldn't wait two more days to see it in dubbed French. So why not go to the source. But everyone already knew that.
Ok well I am starting to see things... unnatural things... due to lack of sleep, so instead of sleeping, its time for a 2£ coffee or in dollars that is a 4$ coffee. Think your rich, come to London and blow your college savings on dinner. I should write for the tourism office here.

In Paris once again

2005-11-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

I have rested up and now I am currently looking for passage to the UK. When I close my eyes I still see the guy getting macked by the bus, but it is getting better. I am going to email him and see if he is OK. Nothing much to say here, but when I get on the road again there will be more.

Thanksgiving in the E.R.

2005-11-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

So I met a friend a few days ago and we have been bar hopping and drinking Guiness for a couple of days in Barcelona, and yesterday we happen to run into eachother on the street well before we had planned to meet. He oddly enough ran into a nice girl we met at a bar the night before so we decided to hang out for the rest of the day and night. Well we were getting coffee at the Evil Starbucks and decided we would cross the street and head back towards the city center. Well upon crossing my friend didn't look both ways across the street and step out right infront of a bus. If you have never seen someone get hit by a bus, count your lucky stars, because it is not pretty. Luckily he just clipped the corner of the bus and tumbled for a few yards. It looked exactly like the movies, like a dumby thrown infront of a bus. Well instead of freaking out I immediatly reacted and made him stay down and the medics arrived shortly. I helped with the first aid and got him in to the medical van. Then I started to freak out because I was helpless. So we rode to the hospital and made sure he was ok. He had to stay over night so they could check for internal bleeding. He was fine. In the end he broke his clavical, had a deep cut in his arm and his face was scrapped up. He came so close to being under the wheel that it could have been way worse, but his feet hit the front tire and bounced off! He wanted to get up but he was not exactly thinking straight. We stayed in the hospital until midnight and we showed up the next day to help him out of the hospital. He is from Holland and the nice girl is from California. We just took it easy today and joked about what happen the night before. It was creepy to say the least though. That is a new Thanksgiving experience that I don't ever want to have again.

Pub Crawl

2005-11-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

I've entered a pub crawl at a local traveler's bar. It was cheap and should be a good way to meet other travelers. I was kicked out of the Hostel Eden. Apparently I didn't get up in time to let them know I needed another night, I have been in Spain too long, I am begining to need siestas. But they were nice about it and set me up with another place, instead of letting me fend for my own. Maybe its karma, last night I was on my way back and a Japanese man came up to me and said he got mugged in Sevilla, where I was planning on going, and needed some where to go. I brought him to Eden and they let him stay in the lounge. But I am sure that means, DON'T GO TO SEVILLA! So I guess I will see what Madrid has instore for me.
And before everyone asks, no they don't have Thanksgiving over here, that would be as queer as the British having celebrations on July 4th. So my treat to my self this Thanksgiving is the pub crawl tonight. It should be interesting to say the least. I also need to scare up some turkey for the night.

Casting Call!

2005-11-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

The creation of a movie is a grueling task, that my brother, jeff, and I intend on taking on. If you are interesting in: being in a movie, helping to create a movie, standing around and watching a movie made next to you, or anything movie related. Please contact either myself or him. Shooting beings shortly after December 15th in one of two cities: Ann Arbor MI, or Columbus OH. If you are interested in this idea and want to get paid absolutly nothing but job satisfaction, contact us.

As for myself, I am in Barcelona still and had an interesting night. I met another single serving friend at a bar. He was cool and we just chilled and talked until we decide it was time to scare up some Spanish women. Well we found two North African girls that were at the Hard Rock Cafe here. The seemed harmless, until one kept getting really friendly with me. She was obsessed with me and kept asking what I was doing later. She then referenced the movie Pretty Woman. I later realized that the two girls were probably prositutes, and that the one wanted me to be her Richard Gere and sweep her off her feet and take her out of the life she was in. Well that wasn't going to happen anytime is millienia. The girl insisted I take down her number and call her the next day, also probably not going to happen this millienia. I don't know what it is about all the wrong kind of people, but they certainly like me. Time to go to the largest aquarium in the world, eat your heart out Cindy.

From Barcelona

2005-11-21T03:45:00.000-05:00

Yea I know, its been the longest since I updated yet. Keep your pants on. I have been veggin' out in Paris just wandering and not really getting anything accomplished. I booked a flight to Barcelona out of a tiny air port in middle of no where France. The flight left at 9:00am which meant we had to leave by 6:00am, which meant we had to get up at 5:00am. Which meant we had to go to bed early. None of which happen. I fell asleep around 3:30am, got up at 5:30am got in the car at 6:30am made it to the tiny air port through the time warp to the late 1920´s just to find out that my flight was cancelled! Thwarted at every pass! Back to the apt... napped until 4:30pm. I found a train schedule and jumped ship to Barcelona.
Of course there were a lot of Spaniards on the train, but they are like a billion times nicer than the French. Probably helps that I actually retained some of the Spanish I learned in high school, stay in school kids.
When I got off the train it was just a short metro ride to the Hostal Eden. I had plans to stay at the InOut Hostal last night, near the In & Out Burger, but the flight was canceled so I am in Eden. You think they would throw me out if I started walking around wearing only a leaf? I guess there is only one way to find out.
Barcelona is right on the Mediteranian, and if it gets warm enough I may just hop in the sea. But now its near time for another expresso, I average about four a day, because some times its just too early to deal with Europeans. (Especially those snotty French.) ¡Buenos dias Señors!

From Rome, sweet Rome

2005-11-15T06:14:00.000-05:00

ROMA VICTA! Instead of letting Juergen pick me up from Zurich, I made a last minute decision to head to Rome. So I hopped on an over night train south. For what I saw of the Italian country side, from the train, its beautiful here. Its 75 degrees and sunny. The Colosseum is sweet. And the tour guides for it have a lot of interesting details. Like there were only two Christians were killed in it. All the rest of them were killed in the much larger Circus Maximus. On this tour I met another dude doing the same thing I am doing across Europe. It was cool to hang out with someone for a longer duration than just a train ride.
For all you damn cat lovers, come to Rome. There are 4 million people in Rome and 10 million cats. Stray cats are fed by everyone here. There are parks where the cats have more of a right to be there than you do. If you try and mess with the cats people will probably crusify you. They like cats because they kill rats. And rats carry more flees than cats and flees carry the Black Plague.
Italian women are HOT HOT HOT! And they are every where. People watching is great to say the least.
I spent the night in a Youth Hostel last night. It was cool, but I got back from touring Rome a little late. They still had a bed for me. Rome is really awesome and I only have a few more hours left here so I have to go to the Vatican and give the Bavarian Pope a high five for Juergen.

From Zürich

2005-11-12T10:19:00.000-05:00

Wow its been an interesting couple of days... This should be good so pad those seats and "Hold on too your butts." Ok lets start back in Paris. I went out Thursday night and started bar hopping because, hey lets face it, I could. I met this guy in a bar where the Guiness was way too expensive. He just started talking to me in perfect English. I hadn't talked to anyone in the past few days so I was happy. Well he said he was born in France but grew up in America. He said he was an art dealer in Columbus, OH of all places. I just laughed and told him that I would let all the people in Columbus know that I met him. We talked some more and he was going to show me another bar. We were in a really crowded area and there was no threat, so I said ok. He took me to an American\Aussi bar. We got a few drinks and he started talking about how he was messed up in the head. Like both French and American doctors told him he was a waste of space, and thats why he couldn't get a better job. I just kept nodding and agreeing because up setting strangers that are potentially insane is probably not a good idea. Well after a while he kept telling me that he was a serial killer. I just kept nodding and saying, that he wasn't that bad. Well I had a metro to catch and I was gonna dip out and go, he said he knew a short cut... I followed him very cautiously but it was all down main streets and there were plenty of other people around so again I was safe. He held true to his word and I haven't seen him since.
The next day I got up with a throbbing headache, the Jameson night cap probably didn't help that but oh well. Jüergen said he was going to Austria, and that he could drop me off anywhere along the way. Well guess what people, Zürich, Switzerland is on the way. For those of you that, much like me, didn't know, Switzerland is 60% German, 30% French, and 10% Italian. So they all speak English. Everyone understand? Good. Thats just a side note to give a setting but we arrived in town at about 2am. Any good hotel is open, right. Except mine. You need a key to get in. And Jüergen needs to get going the rest of the way to Austria. Eventually, before Jüergen left, a Spaniard walked out the door and I was atleast inside. The hotel had closed at 11pm, and didn't open again til 7am. I had 5 hours and a lobby couch. Jüergen left and I waited. Its some kind of "dress up in crazy costumes" holiday here so people are out until the late hours of the night. One guy walking by the couch asked what I was doing, I told him I was stuck here. He then invited me to his room... "No thanks, though I appreciate it." A cat nap later another man came up but this time only spoke French. He was a little more forward. He sat down on the love seat next to me making me sit up. He told me, for what I understand, that I was good looking. Then tried to rub my head. I brushed him off and just sort of tried to understand what was going on here. I was very tired. He then motioned for my genitals... I slapped his hand away and in that instance of terror I spoke in tounges. German, French, Spanish, and English were all coming out of my mouth at the same time, and I am sure in there some where I mentioned that I like women. He motioned to his genitals a few times and I repeated what ever it was I said. He then said, "Okay, ciao," and got up and walked away. I thought to my self as I have multiple times a day since I came here, "What the hell am I doing here?" 7am finally rolled around and I got a room and went straight to bed. So now I am in Zürich and have a day and a half to see the sights. Lets pray all my encounters go better, damn French!

Now those comments are more like it!!!

2005-11-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

It's about time I got a good feed of comments. Hopefully I answer all your questions here. Poland, maybe. Riots, don't feel like getting 21 days in jail and then deported. Hyundai's, some. Stick of gum idea, maybe. God, yes. Jail, worse. I have been bed ridden for the past few days. This usually happens this time of year it feels like a mixture of a slight cold and allergies that completely block me up for a few days. So I have done nothing for a while. And before I can go anywhere I need a cell phone plan, plane/train ticket, and a hostel set up. Rome is in my sights. But I still need to finish off the Louvre. But something tells me the Hotel de Invalids is going to be a much better tour.

Take three

2005-11-06T09:53:00.000-05:00

This is the third day in a row that I have come downtown to look for an internet café, cellular serivice, and an ATM. I found the ATM yesterday but the exact same one doesn't work now. I obviously found the internet café and the cellular service was less than helpful. I have threats upon my physical body from abroad to visit the Lourve, so I will probably go after this if its still open.
Yesterday when I was waiting for the Metro a woman came upto me offered me some "shit," which looked brown and powdery. After I declined she sprinkled it on her cigarette and sat there and smoked it. When I got downtown I wandered and bar hopped. I got pretty drunk yet still managed to find my way back to the apartment. I feel more comfortable in the downtown tourist area because more people speak English and it seems like everyone in this area is not from Paris. But internet time is money and I have traveling to do.

City of Lights, lit up?

2005-11-04T18:16:00.000-05:00

Bonjour! I am finally in Paris again. I got up this morning and got breakfast again. This time it was much easier to blend in. However, when I went to get my metro ticket for the next few days my true colors were revealed again. Apparently there is a discount for youths. So the woman was asking my age by saying, "hache?" Well I didn't realized that there was a discount nor that she thought I was a child. After about five minutes of, "Huh's," and "I don't understand's," I finally said 22. Then she said it doesn't apply and we moved on to the paying part. As she typed it up, she mutter some French under her breath, and you don't have to speak any language to know what she was saying. Once I got downtown I wandered around for about eight hours and met an English man and a few American chicks that were in school in Rome as part of an exchange program. I have alot of pictures and more to come, but no computer to upload them on to, so you will all have to wait.
I did manage to get to the top of the Effil Tower and from there I could see a huge fire in the distance where the riots were. It was pretty sweet! When I got down I spent the rest of the night looking for The Beast and The Vortex. Apparently larger versions of them do not exist in Paris. How disappointing...

Sin Country

2005-11-02T10:37:00.000-05:00

I have not really done anything since I got back from Dublin. Although we did go to a casino in the Czech Republic. That whole country is like Las Vegas. Except the casinos are one-hundreth the size and one hundred times as shady. Its a bad country to be in if you have no self control. You can do anything you want there, as long as you can afford it. I thought we were headed back to Paris today but I guess I was wrong. Tomorrow definatly. The riots should be interesting.

tipping/drinking age

2005-10-30T12:15:00.000-05:00

I was carded in Dublin... The drinking age is 18... I think they have an alcohol problem, but I'm not sure. In Germany its 16... But its like the tobacco carding rules in the states. If you look under a certain age way over 18, they are required to card. As for tipping, its different everywhere I go. Some places you tip for beer, some you don't even tip if they served you a meal. In Dublin I didn't tip for a sit down meal at lunch. But in Frankfürt, tipping for a meal is typical. Its way too messed up. Any way I used every form of public transportation yesterday. We hopped on the Laus to the bus station, took a bus to the airport. The plane dropped us at the Frankfürt train station and air port. Tram to the first terminal, hopped on a train at 2:00am, but because of daylight saving time, the train waited in the station for an hour. Then at 3:00am we took a taxi back to Jüergen's moms house. In a few days we are headed back to Paris, and I look forward to it. I like being in big cities better so far. There is more to do.

From Dublin

2005-10-28T09:50:00.000-05:00

Well we hopped back on the train from Berlin to Frankfurt. Caught our plane at the train station. Got to Dublin, Ireland. Took the Light Rail system they have here called the Laus and got to our cheap "hotel". We then went to The Temple Bar district to have a beer. Its a few square blocks of bars!!! Expensive beers. Today we met friends for lunch and are in the process of wandering. Ben Kellar, Dublin is your town. Apart from the Captain America restaraunt, the only football apparel I see in Europe is here and its all New York Jets. J-E-T-S. Jets. I wish my Bengals jersey wasn't in Paris. This is short because internet time is money. More later! Back to Bavaria tomorrow, maybe.

From Berlin

2005-10-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

I hopped on a train yesterday from downtown Cham to head to Berlin. Riding by train is sweet! However there are alot of stops and sometimes you have to hop trains. The doors open and close as quick as a subway. You have all of a minute to grab all your gear run out of your cabin and off the train. So if you turn around and the person who you are traveling with is gone, you have to make a choice really quick. Option 1: get off the train and hope to God your friend got off too. Option 2: stay on the train and see what happens. I chose option 2. For 30 mins I rode on the train to the next station, while Jüergen was at the last stop transfering trains. I was running up and down the train screaming! I almost knocked a few people over. Then when I reached an English speaking conductor, he explained that this train and the train that Juergen got on, both stop at the next stop and that I can still get to Berlin. However it was hard to explain to him that I had gotten split up from my friend. But because the trains both stopped at the next stop I was lucky beyond any amount of luck that could have ever been shed upon a single living entity, because I could still get to Berlin. But what about Juergen? The terror coursing threw my body for those 30 minutes was unforgettable. I don't speak a lick of German and I am a noob (first timer) to the European rail system. These facts all added up to me being completely screwed. The conductor told me to get off the train and wait for the next one. We stopped and one again I had a choice. I took the leap of faith and chose option 1 and hoped the next train was to Berlin. I waited. The next train rolled up... I got on. I started to walk down first class looking for Juergen, hoping this train even went to Berlin. Half way through the first car I saw Juergen walking around looking for me. The amount of relief I felt was undescribable. It was then that I decided to ''cell out'' and buy a cell phone when I got to Berlin. We rode on that train til Berlin and took a taxi to the hotel. I went out for a beer as Juergen had work to do.
In the morning I got up and hopped on a tour bus. This city is sweet but still under construction from the fact that we leveled it 60 years ago. There is a hole where the SS and SA headquarters use to be. Everything of Nazi significance is just a scar on the ground, exactly the way it should be. I found an internet cafe to transfer some funds and now I am going to do the unthinkable. I am going to purchase a cell phone. Today the Mark you all once knew is dead and I am going to trade my spine away for a godforsaken cell phone.
Tomorrow we take the train south to Frankfürt to connect with our flight to Dublin. FINALLY AN ENGLISH SPEAKING COUNTRY, barely!

Mr. Ed is dead

2005-10-24T12:54:00.000-05:00

I thought I would have nothing to post however the delicacy here is horse! Yes I ate horse, and it was awesome! And then I washed it down with a skull full of oxen blood... No but I really ate horse though. Other than that, tomorrow I will be in Berlin, two days after that I will be in Dublin. Two days after that, Prague, if I am lucky. Then back to Paris to stay for a while, maybe. The next week and a half should be interesting. If I don't post, you know why.

2:00 minute warning Bengals Steelers game...

2005-10-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

Yea I just checked the score and it looks like our boys are being put down like a diseased bird in Romania. The closest I come to anything NFL over here is a scrolling bar on the bottom of the screen or maybe a highlight briefly.
I haven't posted in a while cause there has been nothing to post, then I got real busy real quick. A few nights ago we went to a discotech (nightclub) a few Km away from here. Imagine a horrible nightclub that you have been to, replace all the people there with drunken high schoolers, and don't forget to make sure they all speak German. Thats basically what I saw. In short the night clubs suck here just as much as there. We got back around 2am and it was time for bed. Three hours later I got up at 5:30am and hopped in a car with Juergen's sister and her boyfriend to go to Passau. Its the second biggest city in Bavaria next to Munich and its about an hour and a half away. She had a class on Saturday morning which is why we had to leave early. Her boyfriend toured me around the city. It's awesome there. It's a college town with a tourism industry. Three rivers converge there and the city is basically V shaped. Its really small and only takes about 10 minutes to walk across from river to river. Across one of the rivers is Austria. Once the day gets going there, all the shops start to open and the street turns into a shopping mall in a matter of minutes. There are vendors and nice food joints everywhere. Once class was over we went for food at a Japanese place. The town was awesome. The cathedral in the town is the biggest building and the entire inside is sculpted and painted with different madonnas and such. I would have taken some pictures but there were some churchies praying.
When we got back to the house in Kötzting I split some more wood until it was time to head to Regansberg. Juergen has some friends there and they were having a nice dinner. There seemed like an unending train of food that was followed by wine. It was great. The couple hosting it was really nice. There were two really attractive girls that were playing on the same team if you get my drift, but I suspect that one of them is a switch hitter. Then there was one other girl, myself and Juergen. It was awesome even though 97% of the time I had no idea what was going on, but every once in a while they would fill me in. After all the food I made them all uncomfortable and insisted on doing the dishes. They all got a kick out of it and the switch hitter suggested I go home with her to clean up after she cooks. When dishes were done they brought out a bottle of schnopps that was 50% alcohol. We all did one shot and that was enough. After they all talked for a while it was time to go. We got back here at 2am or so and it was yet again time for bed.
I woke up 2 hours later but not willingly this time. I had a horrific nightmare, put it this way the haunted house spoke German, and thats all you people get to know about that. A few hours later when I could close my eyes I fell asleep until late in the afternoon.
Today we hiked up the mountain here but we started late. Once we got to the top we sat down for a beer that I carried up. We were obligated to bring the beer because a favorite past time in the winter around these parts is to get completely loaded and hike up the mountain at like 1am. We weren't crazy enough for that nor was it snowing but we did end up hiking back down in the dark. Kind of like that late night hike you and I took at Philmont dad, hell it was even raining. It was really cool up there and supposedly on a clear day you can see the Alps from there. The mountain we were on is about 500 m high from its base which is about 1500 ft. We got down with no problems and now I am here typing this. Who knows what tomorrow will hold... Berlin then Dublin, or maybe Prague. If not then its CNN all day. Its the only station other than MTV that is in English.

Null Set

2005-10-20T13:28:00.000-05:00

Nothing exciting or new has happen in the past two days. However I have a favor to ask anyone who reads this. Please post comments, even if you have nothing to say just leave your name, so I know who I am writing for.

I defected TO east Germany

2005-10-19T07:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I got a chance to walk around downtown Kötzting. It's a small little town that is really neat. The only thing to do there is eat at a restaurant or go shopping. Supposedly it changed in the recent years from a good place to go drink to what it is now.
Later that evening we went on our gas run to the Czech Republic. We only brought one gas can because any more is illegal. We drove about 20 minutes to the boarder where they didn't even check our ID's because they are part of the EU the boarders have become really relaxed. We filled up our tank and the can and then headed for the town square. What town we were in I couldn't tell you. It was small town Czech. We had to be careful which bar we went to because prositution and gambling is completely legal there. Everything is extremely cheap, even the women so I am told. We got a half liter of very good beer for 80 cents. Put it this way I still have a headache. Then we decided to play pool. During our first game a local asked if he could have next game. Juergen was suprised the guy spoke German and not English because they have some tension between east Germany and the Czechs because of the whole communism thing. They were really happy to meet me when they realized I was American, because we sent those Commy S.O.B.'s packin'. The guy's name was Oslo and his friend was Joseph. We shot some really sloppy pool and we all taught eachother how to say ''thank you'' and ''shit'' in each other's language. It was hilarious. Then we sat down to talk for a while and get more drunk. The guy was really upset he couldn't talk to me after Juergen lied to him and told him that my sisters and mother were black. Apparently this guy has a thing for black women. He was a 24 year old baker who had one kid out of wedlock. He seemed desperate to get out of the town he was in because it was really boring. When he found out that we lived in Paris he was almost shell shocked, and he wondered what we were doing in the Czech Republic. The guy wanted to exchange contact information so Juergen gave his phone number and I gave him my email address. He said he wanted to see photos of my sisters. I think he is going to be really disappointed when he finds out Cindy and Karen are white. We had no troubles getting back to Germany, I know this because I passed out on the trip back. I was falling asleep on the way there. I think the time change is still messing with me. Juergen wants to take me to Prague, its about 2 hours away by car, so our exploits in the Czech Republic are not over.

Loggin' a blog about logs

2005-10-17T15:58:00.000-05:00

I woke up aronnd 11am today and got some pictures of the house in the light. I promise there will be pictures posted soon. Jüergen and I drove into town for some virus protection for his labtop. We also ordered tires for his truck that has Ohio license plates. REPRESENT! He got his truck shipped over. To bad it's a Toyota. I have only seen one American car here and it was a Ford. Everyone drives the smallest car you can buy. A regular sized sudan here is like a road hog. Any way when we got back we got the tractor and drove it up the mountain between a mile and a kilometer. We loaded it up with wood and drove it down. It was smoking something fierce because Jüergen neglected to mention the parking break. When that happen a man started to say something to me and I had no idea what was going on so I just nodded, smiled, and kept walking. Later when the same man stopped us Jüergen told me he was calling us sissies because we were only loading the tractor half way. It looked full to me, but this guy only thinks its full when the front 2 wheels are lifting off the ground as you drive. This guy was dressed like you see on TV, kind of like the Ricöla man. This is the cleanest rural area I have ever seen! Red necks in America should take a few notes from theses people. Tomorrow may shape up to be a very interesting day. We are headed to the Czech Republic to get cheaper gas and bring it back with us to Paris when we go. I don't know if its completely legal but I guess we will find out. I don't think Jüergen would put me in harms way, so there is no need to worry mom and (as requested) dad.

German keyboards are hard to get use to

2005-10-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

I landed in Paris at 11:10am and I stayed up until 3:00pm which would make it a complete 24 hours. It took me one hour to get off the plane once it had landed. Damn French don't know how to design an airport. Its no wonder all their airports fall down with in 3 months of their grand opening. Okay enough racism for today, maybe. Once we got in the car we had an hour drive through Parisian traffic. Ever clintched your ass so tight you could crush diamonds? Me either, until now! Imagine a city of people that drive like Doug (my brother). 'Nuff said. As for the motorcyclists, well they just have a death wish!
Once we got to Jüergen's neck of the woods, we stopped for lunch at a ''Greek'' food joint. We were served by Iranians. Don't ask me... We got to his place and it has a main room the size of a dorm room, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. The shower curtain sticks to your ass when you shower, its my freshman year of college all over again. Jüergen had to go to work and I was in desperate need of sleep. When he left I crashed long enough to wake up and see his fat cat, Butch, pissing on his shoes out of malice. Even the French cats pee where ever they want! When Jüergen got back we went out to an Irish pub in Paris and more Greek food served by Iranians. I was advised not to upset the Iranians by calling them any nationality that they weren't, but since my French is worse than a deaf-mute I had no trouble there.
When we woke up yesterday we started to get ready because we were headed to Buvaria, Germany. I was in charge of breakfast while Jüergen went for a run. He showed me where the nearest bakery was and ran off. I grit my teeth and walked in. I was dumbfounded and had no idea what to say. I felt like a huge asshole while I waited for the French woman to get English speaking help. I finally just ordered 4 chocolate pastries and used a few € (Euros) to pay for it. I walked out embarassed with my tail between my legs. I squirried back to the rock that I crawled out from under. When Jüergen got back from his run we packed up and left for Germany. Its 8 hours from north east France to south east Germany. French roads have speed limits always and German roads have speed limits some times. So that was fun. We are so close to the Cech Republic I can probably see it from the window. We are in a small town called Kötzting. Germany reminds me of Indiana, decentralized and all farms. With out basketball of course, but they have a thing called handball. The mountains in this particular area are a lot like the Appalachian mountains.
Now I am staying in a sweet house on a farm for the next two weeks. Should be fun. But you know whats not fun? Using a computer in German. The ''y'' key is where the ''z'' should be and there are like 8 more keys between me and the shift and enter like:ö ä ü. It took me fifteen mintues to figure out how to make the @ symbol. But its 3 am here and its time for bed if I can't figure out how to use the German version of AOL. I thought it should be called GOL but I guess the empire has spead its tenticals pretty far. Good night, Bon soir, and (German for ''good night'')

Glamorous

2005-10-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

Not even before I got near the gate at the Dayton Airport is when my trip took its turn for unbelievable. Here I am eating a greasy hot dog over a trash can with my good friend Alex when out from the concourse comes the one, the only Kirk Cameron! www.imdb.com/name/nm0131647 He noticed me noticing him and smiled. What he is doing in Dayton? One can only speculate about... But I think he is on his way to see the creepy Jesus statue located just off of I-75.
Any way, back to people that are more important, I myself am currently in Detriot (ROCK CITY) eating a bagel and having a beer in an online cafe. The next part of my trip leaves in 1 hour. At approximatly 5:10am Eastern Standard I will be landing in Paris!

Preparation

2005-10-07T15:17:00.000-05:00

I leave October 14th. I have one week left and I have nothing ready. Check back when I leave.

Does anyone know if I am legally allowed to bring bacon over seas?