The past few day's have been hot and stormy here and the weekend is
looking to be the same.

Work has been very busy and I've had lots of things to do which is
great! I however did leave work early on Tuesday to go swimming as it
was too hot out. It was well worth it! Tomorrow I will leave early as
well as I am off to Munich for the weekend.

In other news I got another bike today.... wish me luck as I'm sure I
will need it. My hope is that there are no more accidents and the
brakes will work all the time. I'm not going to attempt a ride on it
until after the weekend since I will be away but maybe that will also
give me time to prepare! haha

That is all for now as my bags are packed so I'm off to bed. Another
adventure story to come on Sunday :) nighty night

Now from I'm not too sure when....

Where has the time gone?! The last post I think was almost two weeks
ago now so I apologies for that. Time has been going so fast I don't
even know where to start. I guess with the week before last when I
returned from Venice. I had only 3 days of work that week and had
planned a chill weekend just a visit to Ulm on Saturday. This however
did not work as when I awoke on Saturday it was pouring rain and the
forecast looked the same for the rest of the day. So I took a much
needed break just watching movies and reading for the weekend. I think
other than my very first weekend here I have not done this. That
Friday was the day that my internet horribly crashed as well.... 65
euro later and over 3 hours spent at the store over 2 days I have
internet once again!

Last week was another short work week as the German's seem to have a
lot of holiday's in June. They're christian holiday's so I'm not
exactly sure why they are here and not in Canada.....

For the weekend the original was to head to Switzerland and hike in
the Alps but this didn't go through. So instead I did a loop if
Germany and France :) no big deal I know! haha It was great that is to
say the least. It was a four day trip the first in Frieburg, Germany
then Nancy, France the third day was Strasbourg, France and the last
day was wondering and stopping in a different small towns on the way
back home on Sunday.

That is the sum of the trip I had really wanted to go to Nancy it is
so close so I'm glad I did. On the way there we drove through the
black forest which was a gorgeous drive to say the least. The cities
were all very unique and lovely. I think that going into full
explanations of what I saw and did over those four days would write a
short novel. So if you have any specific questions just ask. One thing
to note however is that it is very noticeable that European cities are
noticeably built around water and water systems. I did see most of the
monuments and notable places at each city including the European
Parliament in Strasbourg.

Once I was back on Sunday I was dead and called it a night. Yesterday
and today have been very hot here that is for sure! Today was above 36
plus the humidity so having to wear pants to work is not very nice.
Today however we left work early to head to the pool for the afternoon
because it was so hot. It was packed for being a work day and not a
holiday but I can understand why. The water was great and then some of
the other interns and I played a German card game but in English so
that I could play along which was really nice of them.

On that note my German seems to be improving lately I have a few
sentences down can order food at restaurants and the bakery and can
address people the correct way! Hopefully this is a good sign as I
would like to know the minimal basics by the time I leave.

Sadly this is all for now since it is getting late. However, I will
say that I will try to keep this more updated again now that I have
internet back! Chow :D

Update will come tomorrow!

So i've had some internet fails the past few days. Okay so it fully
crashed and died... I'll hopefully get this updated tomorrow! In the
mean time I had a rainy relaxing weekend and went to the lake after
work today.

Fill you in soon, Me

Tuesday - Thursday

Tuesday was my last morning in Venice. We were up pretty early and had
a good breakfast before heading out for the morning. We took a walk
down the canal in the direction we hadn't been yet and we discovered a
really big street. The best part was that it wasn't crowded. After
exploring here and finding a really cool park we headed back to the
main section of the city. Here we were looking through shops since we
hadn't done that at all the whole trip. Ruth and I found a little shop
with dresses and things so Donnie left us here. We each found a summer
dress whihc was great. We also were in another store with Italian
leather were Ruth bought some gifts for people and I got a new little
bag :) After our little bit of shopping we headed back to the hotel to
get my things because I was leaving just after noon. Once I was all
packed up we caught the water bus to the train station and had some
lunch before I boarded. It was so nice to spend the weekend with Ruth
and Don since I don't see them very often any more!

The rest of my day was spent on the trains. I had a better train that
was more comfortable then the way down which helped a lot. I met a few
different people from all over which made the time go quickly. The
view was amazing as well! Train ride through the Alps was beautiful. I
arrived back home just after 11 on Tuesday night with a friend waiting
to pick me up so I didn't have to walk home in the dark! Which was so
nice and I was dead by this time so gladly accepted.

Wednesday and today were really busy day's at work. I had a tonne to
do which was great since I was still pretty tired from the weekend. I
was all over the place with work but managed to finish and hand in my
first lab report and testing results that I had completed all by
myself :)

Last night was Stammtisch and was a really great one. There are two
knew American interns so them along with Meri and myself brings the
English conversations a lot more. Which is good because my German is
not that great. It really is a hard language to learn. Plus it doesn't
help that everyone else wants to improve their English so that's what
they talk to me. I would like to learn some more German but I don't
think I will be fluent in it by the time I leave in August.

Today after work there was a storm brewing so I headed straight home.
NO sooner did I get inside did the thunder and lightening as well as
rain start! So I will be spending my night catching up on some sleep
and some reading. All for now, Chow!

Venice day 3

Today was my third day in Venice and I must conclude that " Venice is Venice "

This morning we woke up and headed down to our breakfast. Our hotel
that we are staying in is a palace which was a house to a wealthy
family. Where we had breakfast was in the basement and it was all
glassed off showing the servant entrance to the building. After we had
eaten and met some British folk we got ready for our day. While I was
waiting for Ruth and Don I was out on the front balcony of the hotel.
We are right on a canal and have a water entry to the palace. Here I
was able to watch he morning traffic including the mail boat which was
passing. They have boats for everything since there is no cars here or
roads. We'veseen mail, garbage, taxi, buses, delivery, gondola,and
even police and ambulance to name a few.

For the morning Ruth and I wanted to head to the Jewish ghetto and
Donnie wanted to stop by the hospital which we had been outside of
yesterday. So this is what we did.... Or were aiming to do. We found
the hospital with no troubles and walked around in it for a bit. We
detained the different wards and sections. This hospital is no
ordinary hospital as the building is carved and structured with
similar details as a church. Ov the years it has been added onto so it
is not all fully detailed like the entrance is.after leaving the
hospital we were headed to the ghetto. From the map it looked fairly
easy but we have learned it is just easier to ask since the maps are
not detailed enough so you end up taking many wrong turns and circling
around. This is what we did at first we thought we were making good
way. The it turns out that we were back by the hospital entrance!
Eventually we did make it to the ghetto eith some help along the way.

When wereached the ghetto we walked to the centre. Here we were able
to pick out the synagogues. Since the ghetto was so packed they were
a few floors up but signified by the 5. Windows in the front of the
buildings. We went into one of them but just the museum since to get
into the synagogue you had to do a guided tour and we figured it would
be a lot about the religion. Once done here we left the ghetto for San
mark by water bus to have lunch.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to grab our tickets to go to
the Murano island. We got our boat at 2 and headed for the glass
blowing island. The island was were the glass makers were sent to
avoid the threat of burning Venice down. The glass blowing we saw was
just amazing! The master we watched made a vase in no time. After this
he made a glass hours in less then 5 minutes! Once our tour of the
factory was finished we headed to the show room to see the works. Here
I got a glass bead hand done to wear as a pendant on a necklace. Our
time on the island was limited due to our boat but it was great to get
out there.

Once we were back to the main city Ruth and I headed to the s. Marco
church. There was a massive line up for this church partly due to tour
and the other i'm sure because it was free. To avoid this we just
walked in by the front of the line ... No one seemed to care or
notice! We walked around here seeing the different sections of the
church, the mosaics and the golden alter picture which was cover in
jewels as well. Since we saw what we could and didn't cross a path
with an English tour we called the visit done.

We came back to the hotel after this to relax,change and clean up for
dinner. At this time it began to rain though. Our plans had been to
eat in the grand canal but we decided to try another local place.
Which we did and I had some delicious pasta as my main meal. One
notable things is that the waiting service here in Italy is nothing
like that of home. They do not seem to smile, care to any extent what
you think and have virtually no pleasant attitudes. They can get away
with this since you pay automatic service charges with meals.

After dinner we had another of our what turns out to be walking in
circles even though we never seem to turn enough corner walks. With
nice again help from locals we found our way to the Marco square. Here
we sat and listened to a live band in the square while Ruth and Don
enjoyed what turned out to be some steeply priced cappochinos. Once we
were done here we wandered back to our palace ( with not getting lost
once! Haha) and called it a night

Tomorrow I have the morning I Venice but then need to train back to
Germany so I can be back to work Wednesday. So that is a all most
likely until Wednesday or Thursday. Chow :)

Venice days 1 & 2

My trip to Venice began on Friday after work. It seemed that again
Heidenheim was alive another weekend that I was leaving. At lunch we
went to the ice cream store in town, called just ice in German, and
there were all kinds of stands and vendors setting up in the
pedestrian square. On my way to the train station after work the
street was a busy spot however I have yet to learn what is going on
there. Maybe when I return I can find out.

In order to get to Venice I had to switch trains twice. I arrived in
Ulm with no problems however when I went to my platform for my next
train the sign was saying the train to Munich was 50 mins late! Not
good. After talking to some locals and a platform assistant I
discovered my train was on time it was the train that was suppose to
be an hour earlier to Munich that was late. So with this I made my ICE
train to Munich with no problems. This was the first train I have had
that had English announcements which was a very nice train. Not to
mention it's average speed was at 160km/h. In Munich I had 20 mins to
change platforms to my next train. So I grabbed some supper and had a
very sad attendant when he found out I was Canadian and
not American. I'm not sure why since he thought they were the same thing...

On my overnight train to Venice I was in a compartment car.it reminded me
greatly of the Hogwarts Express! I was in a car with two older couples and
a older man too. They did not have great English and were not overly
talkative which was a shame since it was semi hard to sleep since I was in
the middle seat. None the less I was able to get some sleep on and off
before arriving in Venice on Saturday morning

The train arrived early and it was very peaceful in the city when I arrived
since most people were not out for the day yet. I had a few hours to kill
before I could check into the hotel. I bought a map and was off with
backpack in tow. I seemed yo cover a lot of the city on the train station
side and found my way to the Realto bridge. The grand canal was bustling
and the water traffic was very interesting to watch. After this I returned
to the train station to reevaluate my location and determine a path to the
hotel. Here on the steps I met some American girls that were traveling
Europe for three weeks. After saying goodbye we parted ways then for Rome
and I for the hotel. The one notable fact if Venice in the maze of paths
through the city with many dead ends and useless maps and signs. With this I
managed to tour quite a bit of three districts. There was also a storm
moving in which I was being optimistic about.... At a dead end to the canal
it began to thunder and lightening as well as a down pour! Here I met a
British family as well as an American couple. The American couple were
attempting to head in the same direction as I was and had an extra
umbrella. So I set off with them buying my own umbrella along the way
before we parted ways at the Rialto bridge. Here I was able to find my was
to Pizza San Marco which was suppose to be close to my hotel. I knew the
canal that our hotel was on but was having no luck. After many attempts and
asking for help I mistakenly came across it when I wasn't expectig to. So I
checked in enjoyed a jicuzi bath and a nap before supper. I had a panini
for supper in the square before returning ti out palace hotel to wait for
Ruth and Don's arrival. Once they arrivednwe headed to bed for he night.

Today we were up early and had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel before
heading to the square where we were taking part in a walking tour. It was a
great and beautiful tour. We learned a lot of history and took some
beautiful pictures. The one big thing of the churches and history that was
crazy to believe was the Venice hospital the architecture was more like a
church and happened to be where our guide had been born. To finish off our
tour we went to the palace on the square where the courts and jail was
along with where the Doge lived. The details in the buildings and
immaculate detail in the paintings was very interestig to see. We also were
tonthe glumy dungeons across the bridge of sigh. After our tourbwas done we
headed to the hotel to freshen up before having lunch a a recommended cafe.

At lunch we met an older gentleman who was Italian. He had been to Halifax
in the 60's to visit family. He was very interested in helping us and sent
us to the Campo San Racco for the afternoon. Here we found an old church
where there was a choir practice happening that we listened to. After we
headed to the museum of San Roch to see the paintings of Tintoretto. The
detail and amazing work was unbelievable to see! Once we were finished here
we stopped for cappochinos before taking the water bus back to the
squre.once back at the square we found our way back to the hotel to change
before dinner. For dinner we went to another local recommended restaurant
which was fabulos. To finish our evening off we strolled ( getting lost fir
only a while) along the paths and grand canal before calling it a night.

Tomorrow will be another busy day wa we want to get to the Ghetto and to the
island famous for it's glass blowing. So with that I say nighty night!

Thursday

Today was a great day all around. Enjoyed work and relaxing after. I
did figure out why I haven't received any mail though... turns out
they won't leave it unless you have your name on the slot! It explains
so much.

I"m off to Venice tomorrow after work to spend the long weekend with
Ruth and Don. To enjoy some more delicious pasts and gellato!! So with
that I must be off to bed. Chow and stay tuned until next Wednesday or
Thursday :)

Saturday-Wednesday

Saturday-

Once we landed back in Germany we had almost a whole day to use. We
really wanted some eggs and bacon for breakfast and set out for the
hunt in Memmingen. It really was a hunt because this is not a typical
breakfast for German's as they're all about the carbs. After even
attempting to ask for a McDonalds (fail) we found a restaurant that
was open and willing to cook us eggs! The waiter had some translation
issues but we were able to have the beast scrambled eggs ever, buns,
fruit, cheese, juice and tea. There was to be croissants but they
didn't arrive until we were ready to go. So we packed them up along
with a box of cheese since there was way to much with the meals. We
still have about an hour to kill in Memmingen until our train so we
visited one of the many H&M's there is here.

Erin, Jenn, Emily Colin and I were off to Lake Constance for the
rest of the day since we were so close. When we arrived we stored our
bags in a locker at the train station then headed to the park to have
our croissants and cheese for lunch. We were pretty tired but made the
most of it. We toured around the board walk and went to the
castle/church. We were looking for a bathroom in the mids of this and
came on a theater. We didn't know that's what it was at the time but
we went to see if there was a bathroom. The door was open so we went
in.... there was no one there but we could hear some sort of practice
happening from the theater. Since we were in we used their great
bathrooms and left unnoticed. We thought we were doing great then a
little while later once we had walked on Erin noticed that her bag was
missing! So we resnuck into the theater and were on our way. After
this we found a place to rent paddle boat so we did just that. It was
a beautiful day and the lake was great. I think the best part however
was in one sweep of your head you could see Germany, Austria and
Switzerland! So nice :) We ended the day by grabbing some dinner
before catching our seperate trains home

When I arrived home on Saturday night I was surprised. You see after
6PM the city is pretty quiet since cafe, bars and restaurants are the
only things open. This wasn't the case on Saturday! There were tonnes
of people around, beer stands, kid games and the shops were open. I
had no idea what was going on. I even came across a fashion show and a
marching band. To solve the problem I called Meri to discover it was a
late night shopping event in the city since the running race was in
the city the next day too. After my confusion was solved I headed home
and went to bed.

Sunday-

Sunday the plan was to meet the gang at the race and have water
halfway for them. I woke up at 7 but didn't need to be ther until 9 so
I went back to bed...I was woken at 10:30 by Meri saying she had just
finished and wanted to know if I wanted to go to the pool for the
afternoon. I felt really bad but they had all ended up doing the 10k
rather then the 21 so they weren't too bad off with the water stations
that were there. I spent the afternoon with Meri, Rebecca, Renee, Andi
and Frank at the pool. It really was more like a park since the pool
was enclosed by a large park area that had courts, games, lawn, trees
and other such things. To end the day off we ordered pizza (we found a
delivery place!) and called it a day.

Monday

Going to work on Monday had nothing on the past few days I had had.
I however survived the day and didn't have any readings to do! The day
was a quick one but very hot! After work and supper Frank and I went
to the Wildlife Park that is behind my apartment! Who knew! I didn't
believe that it was there because I go running all around her but
there was and it is really neat. So I think I've found a new place to
run.

Tuesday

Nothing overly exciting this day. Other then it was Christian, works
in our department, last day. He is starting work with another company.
So to end his time he bought pizza for lunch for everyone. I thought
this was great but it got better. At 3 in the afternoon Christian
brought out several cakes and cupcakes and everyone once again
gathered for a bit. I'm getting much better at these gatherings and
can now sometimes follow bits and pieces of the conversation. Every
once and a while people will also fill me in in English which is
great. After work I had a bunch of errands to run to the post office
the grocery store and the vodafone to put money on my internet stick.
Then to finish the day I cleaned my apartment, had supper and went for
a run in the nature park.

Wednesday

Today there was nothing once again over special at work but it was a
pretty good day. All this week I"m trying to build up some over time
since I"m staying an extra day in Venice next week. So the day was
longer then normal but I had things to do so it wasn't too bad at all.
As it is Wednesday it is Stammtisch day. Tonight we met at a pub that
is at the bottom of the castle. I was a little worried at first when I
got there since the people I normally talk to weren't there. So the
German was flying and fast at that. It however did get better as Julia
and Dan arrived as well as two new American inters. So I had some
English before I left. I'm glad there are some new English speaking
people because sadly Meri leaves at the end of the month.

That should have the past few days all caught up! So I'm off to bed, Chow :)

Italy

So I'll try this again. I've attempted to fill you all in about Italy
but the internet has not been cooperating.

Let me start out with it was AMAZING! Pasta, pizza wine and the beach
will never ever be the same again.

The adventure started out last Wednesday after work. I took the train
to Memmingen to meet the rest of the group. It wasn't looking all that
promising as it was cold and rainy. I met Emily and Erin in Ulm and we
met Danielle at the train station before heading to our hotel. We had
to stay in Memmingen since there were no trains that would get us to
the airport on Thursday early enough. As we were leaving the hotel to
go meet Colin and Jenn and find some food the door across the hall
opened. There were two girls there and they asked if we were English.
We of course told them we were Canadian and heading to Italy in the
morning. Turns out there were as well. Not all that strange since the
airport was close by. As we were talking we learned they were
ballerinas with the Stuttgart ballet. This was interesting to Danielle
and I as we had met a Canadian in Stuttgart two weeks before who was
also studying with the same company. We told them this and one of them
(Jen who is Italian but lived in Africa, UK and Germany) was shocked
as she told us this person we had met was her best friend! The world
sometimes is really too small.

With our new friends in tow we headed downtown to grab some food and
pick up Colin along the way. With the help of a bouncer from another
restaurant (he said the one we were looking at was full of old people!
haha) we found a great place to eat. We first tried the downstairs
part but was ushered upstairs to the younger people part. The host
from downstairs came with us and said he would let us order from the
menu downstairs though. He loved us and the fact that we spoke
English! After explaining what everything was and what was good he
took our orders. As we waited for our food the waitress brought us
some free drinks from the Chief is what she told us. Sometimes being
Canadian has great benefits over here :) Jenn joined us here since
here train was late. After we were done we headed back to the hotel to
grab some sleep before the adventure truly began.

The next morning we grabbed some cabs to the airport once we were up
and ready to go. We had to check in a bit early since we are not part
of the European Union. After we were checked in we grabbed some
breakfast (pretzels of course since the German's are pro at these)
then went through security before boarding the plane. The plane was
packed so we split into twos to find a seat. Jenn and I sat by an old
man thinking this would be okay. Well it was but interesting I guess.
He turned out to be Italian and only knew a bit of English but was
slightly better at French. Between the three languages we were able to
talk to him a bit. Once he found out we were Canadian he wanted our
address to send us a post card. Jenn nor I wanted to do this and he
had already made names for us so we made up an address for him. I felt
slightly bad until I found out apparently he took a picture of me
while I was sleeping.... yeah interesting old man who thinks I'm Mary
and from Charlottetown Nova Scotia!

After landing our shuttle was at the airport waiting for us. He was
holding a sign with my name on it since I was the one who booked it! I
now know that German's are not as crazy drivers as the Italians! He
however did get us to the hostel safely and agreed to pick us up on
Saturday morning to have us back in time for our flight. After we
checked into the hostel which turned out to be a sweet spot we put on
our bathing suits and headed to the beach. On our way we did stop at
the grocery store to get some sunscreen, snacks and wine. We spent the
afternoon on the beach. It was so nice!

After the beach we headed to the hostel to have showers before heading
downtown to grab some supper. It took Danielle getting the neighbour
to show us how to turn on the hot water to get showers. However it
took longer then we had so our first showers were cold ones. It's a
good thing that I can rock the beach hair and didn't need a full
shower just enough to get rid of the sand :) We walked along the beach
during sunset to go downtown. With map in tow we were in search of a
restaurant that had been suggested by the person who checked us in. We
had no luck we even asked the police where to go but we didn't find
anyone who spoke English! We did run into some men in fancy uniforms
coming out of the state building from a dinner but they weren't from
there and didn't know where to go. So we kept looking we were giving
up so we asked some locals where we could eat and they sent us to a
great restaurant! We had real pasta, wine and bread. After supper we
grabbed some galeto (ice cream will never be the same!) we grabbed a
taxi and headed home for the night.

On Friday we were up early and the first ones in the grocery store to
get food for breakfast. We grabbed some fruit, juice eggs and yogurt
there and some fresh baked goods from the bakery next store. We ate on
the balcony of our hostel and had quite the feast :) After everyone
was ready and had water supply for the day we headed out in attempt to
get the cable cars up the mountain behind us. We were walking for a
while with no luck but we found a lot of interesting things. We
stopped to ask directions again but the English was a fail once again.
We decided to give up on them for now and headed downtown again. We
grabbed a bus at the closest stop since it was a long walk. The bus
was crazy and we made some new friends! Well Erin had a little boy
(wearing pink sparkly shoes) fall in love with her, an Italian woman
loved us and wanted to take out pictures for us too. Again the driving
was nuts! The driver was on his phone, going through the tight streets
and tonnes of traffic. He must have lots of practice that's for sure.
After getting downtown we had some real Italian Pizza for lunch. This
is where we found another new friend. This one was a dog as there are
a lot of stray dogs that wander the city. He took us to the pizza
place stayed there while we ate and then escorted us through the city
for a good part of the afternoon. We saw some amazing sites and were
out on the tip of the city in some ruins. It was a great time but we
decided to grab some more gellato before heading to the beach for the
afternoon.

For our final night we took another bus down town and were able to
find the restaurant that had been suggested to us. I'm sooooooooo glad
we did as it was the most delicious and amazing food I have ever had.
The hostess was great (bonus that she knew some English) and the food
even better. It was a tiny little place but very nice and we could
even watch the chef make and cook our pasta and food for us. Sadly
after this is was time to get some final gellato and head back since
we had an early flight.

The flight back was old creepy Italian man-less at least. We were all
dead to the world before the plane took off but we woke in time to see
us flying over the alps! It was a very clear day so we had a great view.

Italy was a tonne of fun and it was hard to got to work on Monday
after that! I will fill you in on Lake Constance (was there Saturday)
and the past two days another time. That's all for now but stay tuned
for more adventures as I'm off to Venice on Friday! Chow

Made it back from Italy safe and sounds :)

There is too much to tell for tonight so I will leave you with this
beautiful picture and write up the story tomorrow.

For my facebook friends I have put up some pictures but there are more to come

Chow!