Austria and Germany

So I am currently on my trip to Europe, I left last Thursday right after my final. So far it has been pretty awesome. I flew in to Munich, which is the third largest city in Germany. After I figured out how to take the train from the airport to the main train station, I met up with my friend Rachel from UW, who is studying abroad over in Germany this summer. We took my stuff to a hostel, except it started to rain on us which kind of sucked. That evening and then the next morning I got to go see lots of cool stuff in Munich, and try to get used to the 9-hour time difference. I think one of the neatest things about Germany is getting to go to weird old restaurants and trying different things. Occasionally I can even read what I am ordering in German, which is neat. Now if only Germans would speak slower so I could understand what they are saying...

After Munich, Rachel and I left for Bad Gastein, a little ski village in the Austrian Alps. Obviously, since it is summer we couldn't go skiing, but we did get to wander around and look at waterfalls. We also took the gondola up to the top of one of the mountains, which was pretty neat. It wasn't the most exciting place in Europe, but there was lots of pretty scenery and it was a fairly relaxing trip. That is one of the most difficult things about this trip for me, I have to choose between going a lot of places and being really busy, or to stay in one place longer and not doing much sight-seeing but getting to relax more. Since it is unlikely that I will get to Europe again anytime soon, I should probably try to do as much as possible. But on the other hand, after I go back to the U.S. I see little relaxation in my future for at least the next year. So hopefully I will find time to do a little of both, we'll see.

As of right now, I am in Tuebingen, the city where Rachel is studying abroad in. Last night I went to dinner with Rachel and some of her friends, which was interesting since it was pouring rain. Germany doesn't have Seattle rain where it just drizzles a little, it really REALLY rains hard here. I get to sleep on the floor which is really uncomfortable, but tonight I will probably have a cushion. This weekend we are going to go to Switzerland I think, but in the meantime I'm not really sure what to do. I guess Rachel thinks I should go somewhere on my own for a day or two, since Tuebingen is kind of small and not that entertaining apparently. So probably I will do that maybe.

For me the most difficult thing about Germany is that I can't really speak German. It's not really a problem (most people here speak at least some English), but I really don't want to look like a tourist so I try to speak German when I can. It usually doesn't work so well, I really wish I could speak better German. Also, Germans pretty much drink beer all the time, which takes a little getting used to. The other aspect of Europe that I have gotten familiar with a little is the train system, which I have been using to get around. It takes a little while, but even going from the middle of Austria to the other end of Germany only took 6 hours which isn't too bad. Anyway, I am having a good time and I am looking forward to the rest of my trip. Europe is a lot of fun, but on the other hand I think I am starting to miss America a little bit.