Our visit to Berlin although short was great.

I loved our hostel, the two girls in our room last night didn't snore, I ate at
an all vegetarian restaurant and the tour of the city was phenomenal. I really
wish we had more time in the city, but we had to leave for Munich.

We were aiming to catch the 9:30 train to Munich. They run about every hour,
and it is a six hour train ride. So we woke up, packed up and headed to the bus
stop. The M14 was just leaving the bus stop as we were approaching, so we had
just missed it... and they only run every 10 minutes. So I definitely thought
that we were going to miss the 9:30am train and have to take the 10:30.
Fortunately for us, the train was running a little behind.

We got to the train station at 9:36am and the train was scheduled to leave at
9:49am :) Which left us just enough time to get some breakfast... A muffin and
coffee from McDonalds for me :) The timing couldn't have been any more perfect,
because the train pulled up to the platform as we were coming down the
escalator.

Meredith and I even got a table like we love on the train. The two of us took
up all four seats with our bags and all. Which is probably really rude.. but at
this point we needed our space. Besides, its been a while since I've done
laundry... and I don't think anyone would be wanting to sit by me!

The train ride went pretty well and fast. I got caught up on a blog and then
read for my Madison class. The book is definitely making more sense since the
walking tour in Berlin yesterday. And I am having more of an interest in it
which is awesome.

Also today I got my schedule for study abroad. It looks like i'll be in class
Mondays through Thursdays 10:30am until 5pm with an hour break for lunch. We
don't have Friday classes so that you can do weekend trips around Europe.
Although I will have done a lot of the main places, I am hoping to fit in a
weekend trip maybe to Luxembourg or something. We will have to see!

We got to our hostel within 5 mins of getting off the train. It is literally a
street away. Which is nice not having to us public transportation! Especially
with our luggage! However, we realized that there is a Wombats hostel right
next to ours. We absolutely loved the Wombats that we stayed in at Vienna.
Plus it has a kitchen and laundry facility. So we decided that we wanted to
cancel our reservation at Jaeger's and stay at the Wombats.

Unfortunately due to the reservation policy, we have to stay the first two
nights at Jaeger's to get our money back for the other nights that we paid for.
But we decided that would be okay. Better to spend 2 nights there than all 5 I
guess. It isn't that there is anything wrong with the Jaeger's hostel. It is
okay. But Wombats was actually a lot cheaper, and have better facilities.

The funny thing is when we were checking for availability at the Wombats we saw
two girls that we had met in Vienna, and also a boy that was staying at our
hostel in Venice. It really is such a small world.

We then decided to check out the shoe store that we saw at the corner, to see
their Birkenstocks! I knew that Birkenstocks were made in Germany, but I didn't
really realize that there would be such a huge price difference! Oh my
goodness... A pair in the States is like $120, when here they are about $50....
And there are so many more styles! With a deal that good I might just HAVE to
get a pair :D

After our shoe shopping we went back to the train station to get some food for
dinner. I had a panini and wedge fries ... which was good... but I haven't been
eating any fried food at all... so the grease gave me a stomach ache after :(
We also splurged on some sour gummy bears :) I love them lately!

We then headed back to our hostel where we met the other two people staying in
our room. It was a guy and a girl from Ohio... They were older but seemed
pretty decent. Well that really wasn't the case, for at least the guy anyways.
I should have known he was a pompous p****as soon as we walked in and was like:
"You don't by any chance have a Blackberry... Oh nevermind, I highly doubt you
do"

And I was like: "Umm actually I do."

To make a long story short... They are an ex-couple traveling together (that
just is a bad idea in itself) she broke her camera and so she took all her
pictures with his phone... she then got a new camera... and wanted the pictures
off his phone as soon as possible, because she figured if she didn't get them
right away she would never get them from him...

So Meredith and I sat and worked with her for 30 mins trying to find a way to
send them without having to click every single picture individually. Meanwhile
he was complaining that she was taking so long and he just wanted to go out (it
was about 7pm)... So he kept going downstairs and getting drinks. And just the
way he was pacing around the room, he seemed like he was tripping out on drugs.
Anyways... Meredith and I were just staying in, and watching Dexter of course..
and they went out.

She came back an hour or so later... Talking about how she was done with him &
how she was just heading to Spain and never talking to him again. So she was
packing her bags and venting to Meredith and I got the next hour or so... We
just nodded our heads and listened.

Meanwhile we were thinking ... shoot, what do we do when he comes back here.

Well what ended up happening was the girl was going to leave in the morning ...
and he wasn't back yet..

Well he came back at about 4am... loud as can be... saying how he was done
traveling with her, and how he was leaving right now to go to Prague and Vienna
in a car with people he met out... and just kept going on... these were some of
the things he said during his 2 hour rant at 4 in the morning:
"I am so much better than everyone here.. so are you"
"I want professional s***, none of this youth hostel crap"
"I hate Europe, it is just a bunch of old buildings and boring s***"
"I am going to make something of myself, be very successful and rub it in your
face"

Along with a million other offensive and ignorant things... And you wonder where
Americans get their horrible reputations.

You could tell that he had money the way he talked, but you could also tell that
he was miserable, and that everything in his life was defined by dollar signs.
It really made me realize that money in no way determines happiness, and also
that I would never ever ever marry for money.

It took a lot for me to bite my tongue when they were fighting... I just didn't
understand how I (at 19 years old) could have such a better perspective and
appreciation for life and humanity than him at 30 years old... yeah i think I
forgot to mention he was 30 earlier.

hmmm... well turns out they are both staying here tonight (after he left and
came back about 100 times)... tomorrow morning should be interesting!
-brooke.