middle of the night

So its 3 in the morning here, and i cant really sleep, so i decided to go online to see if any friends are online to talk to, but alas, its only 9 in america so nobody is. Germany is so beautiful, and its like everything is the way its supposed to be. theres a city with people actually in it where everything happens, and then there are nice little towns all around it that are safer and have little shops and restaurants, and then theres hills with fields and meadows and flowers and cows and woods and mountains with churches on top in the distance, and i walk from one small town to the other to get to uni (about 15 minutes) and take this little footpath through the town, up the hillside, through the meadows and woods with all the flowers and cows, up to this little university.

Today was free, so i went to Schwäbisch Gmünd (the city in the middle, i live in Bettringen). it was pretty nice. i was with mike first, and then we found a bunch of other students from our group. Then everyone wanted to get gelato, but i wanted to see the church again (yesterday we had a stadt ralle, which means a scavenger hunt in a city to find different buildings). so i got to walk around by myself and take a lot of pictures :) the cathedral is awesome, really big, and while i was reading my Bible therein a group came in and started singing in german, it was like heaven. i found a nice little shop where i can buy a really old german Bible for about 8 euros. and i found a lot of other shops and kneipes. and i went in an antique shop and spoke with the shopkeeper there about michigan and the auto industry (all in german ;). then i met up with the rest of the group and we watched a film in german called "the reader", its an american film, but we watched it in german in this kino-kneipe which is basically both a small kind of indie theater with a bar attached to it so you can drink a beer while you watch.

The whole drinking thing was exciting at first, just because i cant really do it at home, and so for a while all i wanted to do was drink because it was new. the other night there was a "sportpartie" that the athletic dept at the school was putting on, so i went with some friends and basically just got drunk (mom, i know your reading this, dont worry, i didnt get too drunk and i was very responsible, which probably doesnt make you think its ok, but, just so you know), talked with germans, and then walked home. it was fun, but im kind of glad that i got it out of the way. now that ive gotten drunk once, its not like this special thing that i really want to do anymore. in fact i dont really want to do it anymore, i mean its fun, but its nothing special, and now that i know what it is i can be more responsible. i know now how much is enough, and what it feels like if i drink too much, and now that i know i dont really want to do it. i still really like having beer or wine with dinner, or sitting around in a bar having a beer or two, but i now understand the difference between that and getting drunk, and when the latter is appropriate, and when it is not.

i miss you all, and ill have some pictures up soon, and also a phone card and a skype account for instant messaging soon.

bis bald (til soon)