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A difficult start to the day for moi as I am feeling unwell. Force myself into gear and we explore other areas of the city, concentrating around the main railway station, Mainz hauptbahnhof. Again spend time exploring the Lidl supermarket because we simply adore exploring foreign supermarkets. Once again, we are made to realise how high the cost of living is in Australia. In Germany, cheeses like Edam or gouda will set you back only around $5 a kilo, vitamin tablets for a quarter of the price in Australia and remarkably, nearly all products are German made. Made in China labels are rarely seen. Still feeling sick, so back to hotel for rest.
We then venture to the nearby Romisch-Germanisches museum to view antiquities gathered from 1) the era of Rome as a world power 27 BC to 24 AD and 2) Rome from around 300 AD, the late antiquity period, and through to the Early Middle Ages. Viewing sometimes intact relics that pre-date Christ always blows us away yet also emphasises the insignificant span of our own lives and the imperative of maximising what we do with that insignificant time. Still the writer feels energy depleted and nauseous.
Jesse SMS provides a dinner invite at his place. His house mates apparently wish to prepare us a 'romantic' dinner. Despite feeling unwell, force myself to walk the 2.4 km to his place. I had no choice as Jess had instructed me to 'man it up' and deal with it (illness). Irregardless, I wanted to meet his housemates and wanted to see Jesse again prior to leaving for Worms tomorrow. Dinner turns out to wonderful. Jesse's German housemates Bastion(from Koblenz) and Alice (from Hamburg) have prepared us a German specialty meal that looks a little like giant tortellini but after boiling, the pasta satchels are fried. Turns out to be a lovely night. Alice and Bastion are really lovely,charismatic and intelligent. We are later joined by three friends of Jesse's: Helga(Spanish,yes a strange Spanish name), Unnie (Finland) and Geri(Bulgarian). Jess met them at the international student orientation programme. They are also lively, intelligent and lovely. Hard to believe Jess has only been here a couple of weeks. He has already developed a great social network. Anyway, at 1045 pm we say goodbye and thank you to Jesse and his wonderful new friends and life and walk back to hotel. Yes, so far, Germany feels so incredibly safe in every possible way. There is no intimidation whatsoever on the streets at any time of the night. Why are things so different elsewhere in the world?
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