Doesn't care how she gets there, long as she gets somewhere she knows.

Contrary to the picture I've been painting recently, studying abroad isn't perfect. I think the past few days are good examples of what I mean by this. On Sunday, Uli and I went out for cake. It was DELICIOUS, and I was so happy to be going back to the place I went to on my second day, when I was still really, really homesick. So everything is great, there are a couple of really cute guys working and Uli and I are chatting and all is well. Then, I start talking about music. The last time I was at this place, I started talking about music and almost broke a glass; Michael caught it before it hit the ground. This time, Michael wasn't there. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces. Luckily, the workers were super friendly so I just tipped really well and all was good. That night, I hung out with one of my roommates, his girlfriend, and two of his friends. They were all SUPER nice, but I was very, very quiet because I just felt like everyone was talking very quickly so I couldn't really follow/contribute to the conversation. Still, not horrible; just a little uncomfortable. Flash forward to today. I was SUPER excited to go into town and buy Peter Moren's new album. Well, it turns out that it doesn't come out in Germany until Friday. Bummer, but I figured I'd bounce back. HA! Little did I know. Then it was off the the Muenster, where I took beautiful pictures but really, really wanted to climb the stairs up to the beautiful view of the city. Well, turns out I was too early and they weren't open. Oh, well, I thought. I at least got gorgeous pictures of the inside of the church. And I did, and I also got to donate some money and I lit a candle for all of the women in my life by the alter of the Virgin Mary. I actually became very emotional, so that was nice. It was great to just meditate for a second. Anyway, then I came back home, and although I was disappointed in not having my CDs, I was SUPER happy when I saw that my UniCard and password/other info for the University had come in the mail!!! I immediately took my large StudentBuch out of my purse and traded it for my nice little UniCard, since that is what you need to validate your SemesterTicket that lets you ride the Strassenbahn (tram) for free. This is all important for later in my story. Anyway, I started to register for classes, but LOTS of things are full/past registration deadline so I'm going to have to e-mail professors and heads of things, which is a TOTAL PAIN. Still, I've already got 4 classes so I only need 2 or 3 more. At this point I was also really tired of the "downer" people from my earlier blog; they totally have a right to be bummed, but it was just SO draining. So, I thought, OK I need a break, and I had told Michael I would show him where this cool bookstore was. So, we get on the tram, and we're zipping through everything (I helped to pay for Michael's ticket because he doesn't have his SemesterTicket yet) and I'm sitting there, and the VAG (the name of the tram operators) workers came through to do a random check of tickets. I had heard about this, and it is SUPER rare, it happens about once a year or something, but regardless I wasn't worried because I had my UniCard and my SemesterTicket. Well. The first VAG guy peeked at my stuff and moved along. The second, freaking bastard (pardon my language, it is about to get ugly) held on to it, and he was really studying it so I was starting to be concerned. He started asking me stuff in German and I said, "Entschuldigung, ich habe nicht verstehen." A woman nearby tried to help translate, but I knew something was wrong so I started to panic, and then the tears started to come. Basically, what I found out more accurately after the fact, you have to stamp your UniCard every semester to validate it for a certain period of time (they do this so you can't just ride the tram forever with a Semester Ticket, you MUST be a current student.) I had no idea, but the guy was a real fucker and WROTE ME A TICKET. He didn't make me pay, which was I guess kind of nice, but seriously he could have just TOLD me to get my UniCard stamped for next time. But no, now I have to get it stamped and then take it in to the VAG office so they will destroy the ticket. Bunch of assholes. I am still furious. But at the time, I was scared and WAY embarassed and sad and I just cried and was miserable. Also, he made Michael and me miss our stop, so I called Scott and sobbed for a bit, and then once I thought I could hang together until I got back to my room, I hopped on a tram, paid for a trip ticket (just to avoid whatever other mess could happen) and went straight back to my room, without going to the bookstore. I directed Michael there, though, so he didn't have to waste his trip. Still, that was such a bastardly thing to do. Luckily, I have amazing people in my life. Scott was totally there for me, Uli immediately offered assistance (we're meeting tomorrow to take care of everything) and Brandon made me laugh. Michael was also really understanding, since I totally ditched him to hop a tram and hide in my room. Seita was really sweet on the phone and got mad at the guy with me. And Silke, who I was going to bake with this evening, came to see me and brought me calming tea. Basically. . .my support network here is so amazing ALREADY that despite scary situations like this, I can totally make it through. But I wanted to mention all of this, so people don't expect studying abroad to be all roses and candy and wonderfulness. There are scary and rough times, too. But it's all making me stronger and making me realize how many wonderful people I have in my life. Uli and I ended up eating dinner together at her place, which was delicious, and then when I came back I got to relax a little. I tried to do my laundry, but I had forgotten that you can't do it at night. So I have to wake up early tomorrow to do it before I go into town to meet Uli, and waking up is poopy, but I'll survive. And just now I got to watch "Four Weddings and a Funeral" auf Deutsch with my roommate David, which was a lot of fun. I have lots of plans tomorrow (now also including taking care of this damned ticket bullshit, but whatevs) and then I am heading to Koeln super soon!!! I have pictures of my room and Muenster now, so I'll post those in my next post (which will be JUST a picture post.) Also, to end on a happy note - I saw snow yesterday:) It wasn't the sticking kind, except for maybe a minute while I was on the tram, but it was beautiful. I also went to IKEA and bought three SUPER cheap rugs (1 Euro 50 Cents each) and cacti, named Fernando and Karl:) Now I must get to sleep, but don't worry about me! I've survived, I've grown and I had an incredible group of people taking care of me. Until next time, ciao!