hi hi everyone

my first euro daily rach
life is going good - i am in germany right now! i think so far this has been my fav country out of the three. (UK....london, france....paris, and here!) i went to oktoberfest and it was sooo awesome! it was crazy and the beers really were huge! we came into cologne (which has an amazing church there right out of the train station) and at 12 30am ish our friends picked us up and we all drove to munich together. its about a six hour drive. so i slept .... when we got there a guys dad that we were with had an office with a shower so we all showered up and got ready for the day. the dad drove us downtown and dropped us off where we got to see the huge clock in munich (münchen) and then went to the hofbrau house for beer. i guess its a pretty famous bar! it was really awesome though. we then took the subway to where oktoberfest is being held! which is awesome! i highly recommend going. i was only there for a night which was perfect but one more could have been good too. u then go to beer tents which really isnt a tent at all but takes a couple weeks to construct previous to the beginnings of oktoberfest! at oktoberfest u have to sit at a table to get served....think msu tailgate and that is when people start drinking out here. pleople are also all dressed up in liederhosen and a german girl outfit (like the dutch costumes ju an i made for halloween one year) we were in a really good tent and prob got to the place at 11 ish but the hippodrom is the biggest tent and that one was full. u would prob need to be there at about 9 to get a table! all in all good experience and i think we left around 8....played some games and then went to the hard rock cafe for a beer around 9 or 9 30. ju and i were in bed that night probably around 11 30 ish. which was good because at 6 we had to be on the road. the boys had to return the van at 2 30 ish.

next stop was herne germany where our friends shanny and tim play hockey! we went out with them that first night that we arrived which was suuuuch a cool bar. they dont close the bar until people start to leave. we left pretty late (um fiveish....sorry dad) normally i would not reveal such details but i need u to get the picture of how germany works. and the bar was still packed! we also took a taxi to the bar and i hadnt finished my beer yet but here in wonderful germany u can drink in taxis. soooooo wierd! i think it was just yesterday that we were walking down the street and there were two people standing on the sidewalk having a beer and talking. or when we went to do laundry and there was a guy smokng listening to music on the inside. haha.

yesterday! - we got to go to our first herne hockey game!!!! oh my gosh soooo cool! our boys did not play there best (d needed to work a little harder, the off did really good though) and the whole atmosphere is amazing! everyone gets into it. they have seats on one side and across the rink is standing area. which everyone prefers. there is also a guy with a huge drum in the crowd that plays that during the game and helps to lead chants. when someone scores the announcer says their first name and the crowd shouts out the second name! we sat for the first, stood for the second right next to the glass and then sat for the third. we were sitting with the doctors wife and two other people shanny had let know that we were coming. also, jumping back to the beginning of the game ...they gave us sparklers that we lit when they were announcing the home team and they were coming out onto the ice! it was really cool! very different. ju and i also got vip tickets so we were allowed to go into the vip room that had free beer and food. ju ate CHILLI at the game yesterday!!! i have never seen her eat so many different things in my life before. she even tried honey on a spoonful of cornflakes this morning cause shanny made her! haha

well we have been having a lot of fun here! we painted shannys room cause it used to be pink and his room was a mess so we also folded his clothes and gave him his room back haha. yesterday too the three of us built his bed from ikea! so it has been a lot of fun. we are going to buy shampoo today becasue we finally ran out! ju used mens shampoo yesterday adn smelled like man hahahahahahaha. i got the last of our shampoo! oh yeah! i also drove a standard around germany.... home from the rink (we dropped off the boys) and then back again! i didnt stall out once! i did awesome - ju helped with the moral support though. like the "people there on your left....get ready to slow down" good stuff... she did try to shift for me but i drew the line! so i have officially drvien a car in germany hahaha....i even parked on the side of the road...no paralleling though to nervous to try...i pulled into a spot but i did reverse out of it! so good experiences...now i can officially steal gregs car! haha

ok i must leave! i have put pics online of just paris and london so far....ju has not put hers up...she has more or london because she needs to bring her usb chord! but i miss and love u all. we are doing good out here so far!

talk soon

rach