I made it!!

What a trip!! I honestly don't know that I have ever been so tired in my life! Tyler and got up around 3:30am in Germany, our cab was coming at 4:15am...my flight left Nuremberg at 6:50am. Nuremberg flight was good...leave Tyler was REALLY hard. You would like we would be used to saying good bye after 3.5 years long distance, but I think we have gotten so used to all our time together. I had just enough time in Amsterdam that I didn't have to rush and I could grab some breakfast. I got to my gate and asked about an upgrade and was told the flight was completely full. I knew then it was going to be rough!! In Amsterdam on International flights, you go through security at the gate, so it takes forever! So, we were an hour late taking off. I knew then I was going to miss my connector in Detroit because I was already cutting it pretty close. So, I missed it. The flight was at 2:45pm and at 2:30 I was still on the plane trying to get off. I still had to clear immigration, get my bags, go through customs and re-check my bags. Never going to happen in 15 minutes. So, I went to the desk to get re-booked on the next flight to Nashville. There was another one at 5:15 and I was put on stand-by for that. I was ok with it because it was only going to put me home about 2.5 hours later that I was planning on getting there....well, that flight got delayed 30 minutes, then an hour and a half and then finally cancelled. There were some bad storms in Detroit and surrounding areas yesterday that were causing incoming flights to be late and there were no planes to send everyone out on! There were some pretty unhappy people when that flight was cancelled!! I was too freaking tired to get mad (plus there was nothing the airline people could do) and just wanted to get home! The next flight was until 9:50pm...4 hours later!!! So I waited. It went by much faster than I thought. I finally had some good coffee that gave me the kick I needed to make it. I got to Nashville after 26 hours of travel and hardly any sleep, maybe a few minutes here and there (I can't sleep on planes) and guess what...NO BAGS! Who would have thought! Everyone that was on the cancelled flight didn't get their bags. Again too tired to get mad, just bring me my stuff tomorrow! They had to call security on one lady because she was so pissed. She wanted them to give her a free round-trip ticket because she had been through so much. I did hear her say in Detroit that she had been trying to get to Nashville from Detroit for 24 hours. So, I am sure she was over it...but still. Of course, Tyler made it to Saudi with no problems, on business class with plenty of drinks. He got there, went to bed and got up for work before I ever made it home! And he left Germany 3 hours after me. But I am here! Still without clothes or make-up or deodorant etc, you know the little things. But I did have some pretty sweet little pups that were excited to see me! Now I am catching up on emails, trying to get wedding things in order and watching some shows my mom recorded! Going to see my Vaco friends at the Sounds game tonight! Can't wait.

Change of plans!

I am heading home tomorrow. Tyler is leaving for Saudi Arabia tomorrow and will be gone until the day before I was originally scheduled to come home. So, we had my flight changed to come back a little early! I am sad to leave him because it will be a full month before I see him again, but I am also ready to get home and finish up wedding stuff! I started thinking about it today and realized just how much I still have left to do! I don't think I will be bored while I am home! I will still blog while I am there, I still have a lot from Dubai to share!!

Where did I leave off??

After we spent about um...5 minutes on the beach, we went in to get ready to go. Tyler was headed into the office with Tom and on the way, they were dropping me off at the Dubai Mall. (the largest mall in the world) Tom got held up at the house, so he put us in a cab to meet Drew for lunch. ***cabs are ridiculously cheap in Dubai*** We met Drew at the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) for lunch. Our cab driver tried to short us on change and Tyler was not going to let the happen! He kept acting like he didn't understand what Tyler was saying. So, Tyler took the money and went up and down the sidewalk until he got change! He probably would have let it drop, but this was the same cab driver that had dropped off Tom's Office Manager at the house and shorted her on change too. Here are some pictures that I took outside of there... Sheikh Mohammed on the side of a building outside of the DIFC. It was so great to have a good lunch!! We learned more about how things in Dubai run from Drew. He and his wife have been over there for about 2.5 years now and they love it! On their way back to the office, Tyler and Drew dropped me off at The Dubai Mall. OMG that place is amazing!! Of course Drew decides to drop me off at the "Fashion Avenue" door...I walk in and I am standing in a circle of stores...Armani, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Prada, Gucci and MANY more and I am realizing this is going to be a short mall trip!! But there was so much more to the mall! I can't even beging to guess how many stores are in that mall. They have the mall divided into sections though...jewerly, kids clothes, electronics, etc. There were also stores that sell the black robes that the Muslim women wear. I thought that was so interesting that there were those stores in the mall. Here are some pics from the mall... Ice skating rink in the mall... The Gold Souk inside the Dubai Mall. It is meant to look like an old Souk. We weren't able to make it to the real one. We slept too late on Saturday after our night out on Friday. More on that later... The waterfall inside the mall. Picture of the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. It is kind of dark, I couldn't figure out the settings on my camera. Read more about the aquarium here...http://www.thedubaiaquarium.com/ Candylicious! The largest candy store in the world. I read about it on the plane on my way there and wanted to find it. I had to take these 2 pictures from the hallway in the mall because they don't allow pics inside. I have always thought it was strange that people would travel alone. But now that I have spent time exploring different things alone, I can see where it is nice! It is amazing how much more observant you are when you are by yourself. You really do take in more! Plus, you get to do and see whatever you want!! I still have so much more to share from this trip! Dubai is such a unique place. So many different cultures! I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it. I am definitely interested in learning more about the Muslim religion and way of life. Those girls have some GREAT purses!! It is about the only way they have to show their style and they go all out for sure! More later...or tomorrow!!

Dubai Pictures

The Burj al Arab from the balcony outside our room. The Gulf Tyler on the beach...he didn't know I was taking this incase you can't tell by the look on his face.

Oh Dubai how I love thee!!

So, I have SO much to share, I think I am going to try and take it day by day...that way I can hopefully not leave anything out. :) Dubai was awesome. It was definitely a break I needed from Erlangen. It was so refreshing to be in a town where you could read signs and communicate! I almost missed my flight in Amsterdam because we were late from Nuremberg...so I hauled butt through the airport knocking people over to make sure I got a seat on that flight. I can't imagine that flights from Nuremberg to Dubai are too common so I was afraid if I missed it I wouldn't get on one until the next day. The flight was packed. I was flying on a 747, definitely the biggest plane I have ever been on. the flight was good, pretty uneventful. I watched a couple of movies. Once I got to Dubai and got my bag, I went through customs. They were not too thrilled with me that I didn't know where I was staying and I didn't have a contact number in Dubai. :) But they let me through...I told them that Tom was waiting for me outside! Tom Wilson, the managing partner in the Kilpatrick Stockton Dubai office offered for Tyler and I to stay at his house. His wife and kids have gone back to the US for the summer, so there was plenty of room. We were so grateful to him for letting us stay...and to Drew Baiter (another associate)for spending his weekend showing us around! So, I walked outside and Tom was waiting for me. We had to get in his car and drive around to the other side of the aiport to wait on Tyler. His flight was delayed about an hour, so Tom and I sat for about 2 hours and talked. He knows so much about the Muslim religion and just the culture in general and it was interesting to learn. I was still in such shock at that point. I had this grin on my face like "I can't believe I am in Dubai!!" By the time Tyler got there, went through customs and got his bag and we got back to Tom's house, it was late. We were super tired, so we called it a night. Tom's house is great! Right on the beach...and he has 2 dogs, so I was in heaven playing with them! Here is a picture I took from the beach. It is a little blurry because my camera lens was still fogged up. The heat wasn't what I expected. It definitely hits you in the face when you walk outside, but you really do adjust. The hardest part for me was getting used to my glasses completely fogging over everytime I walked out! Thursday morning Tom had some workers coming to the house to work on internet so they didn't have to go into the office first thing. Tyler and I decided to walk over to the beach and put our feet in the water. Tom had told us that because Arabian Gulf (they don't call it the Persian Gulf in the UAE) is so shallow, the water stays really warm in the summer, so we wanted to check it out!! We could see the Burj al Arab Hotel from Tom's house! We really wanted to go and see the inside, but you have to have a reservation for dinner, drinks, etc. in order to do so and even going for afternoon tea is just under $100 per person. So, we decided we would just admire from afar! You can really tell how hazey it is in this picture. You can see the hotel from most of the city, but it is difficult sometimes with the haze. In the background you can see the cranes where they are refurbishing an old fishing marina. Most construction in Dubai has halted, but there are still some projects that are being completed. Well, our coffee shop is closing shortly, so I need to wrap up. I will continue tomorrow!! I will add another post with a few more pics, I took a ton!

We are here!!

I just typed a long post and it deleted...I will write more tomorrow. It is 3am here.

Made it to the aiport!

Which is a huge accomplishment! My cab driver didn't even speak English. :) But he got me here and that is all I care about! I checked in behind some US Military people. They have obviously been stationed over here and they are headed home, they had TONS of bags. One of the girls that came along with them chatted with me a little...I think she must have seen me holding my US Passport. She has been to Dubai before and said she really loved the Hard Rock Cafe. :) My boarding pass for my flight from Amsterdam to Dubai didn't print out when I checked in at the computer, so that freaked me out a little. When I got to the counter, the guy informed me that they over booked my class. He said it wouldn't be any problem and that when I get to Amsterdam they will probably just upgrade me to first class. Let's hope so! I will be really bummed if I am stuck in Amsterdam. He did give me a map of where my current flight will be arriving and where I have to go to...it is about a 20 minute walk :) but I have a lot of time between flights, so I should be ok. As I was going through security, there was a lady behind me with an Ole Miss 2010 Cotton Bowl champions shirt...I screamed GO STATE at her. Not really, but we did talk. She was really nice and said she has to wear the shirt because Ole Miss is just happy to be winning any games. 2 conversations in English in 30 minutes was huge!! Now I am sitting at my gate waiting...I was here about 3 hours early. We weren't 100% sure the cab driver would show up, so we scheduled it early enough that if he didn't, I could still get on the bus and get to the city center to get another one. But he did and he was early. So, here I sit. Next to the smoking box. It isn't even a room, just a tiny box that everyone keeps going in and out of to smoke. nice... At least there are finally other people showing up, I was the only one sitting in this area for a long time! Fingers crossed I get on that flight to Dubai!!

A few things I really miss...

I just want to share a few things from home that I really miss!! (In no order other than the first two) 1.) My puppies 2.) My family...sorry guys, I can email and talk to you, I can't with the pups! 3.) Mexican food 4.) cold diet coke 5.) Light beer (I don't like the beer here) 6.) coffee...the way I like it 7.) My car 8.) air conditioning 9.) TV other than CNN (although not as much as I thought) 10.) My bed Also some things I appreciate about the US... 1.) Not having to pay to use the bathroom in public 2.) Not having to pay for ketchup at McDonalds 3.) Not having to pay to use a shopping cart at the grocery store (even if you do get it back when you return it) 4.) Not having to pay an extra $.25 for a water bottle to encourage you to recycle it 5.) Not having to seperate my trash!!! (This is grounds for a whole other post) 6.) People taking baths and washing their clothes Some things I love about being here... 1.) You can take your dog ANYWHERE! Just need to get mine over here 2.) I don't have to work 3.) Tyler isn't working as long of hours so we get to spend more time together (except when he goes to Saudi) 4.) Most music in Germany is in English 5.) All graphic t-shirts are in English too 6.) I find some super interestng things at the grocery 7.) Wine is really cheap 8.) Learning a lot about Germany 9.) Getting to travel some great places! and get all the stamps on my passport Give me some time and I know I will have a lot more things that I love about this experience!! I know I need to be in bed right now cause I have to get up early, but I think I am too excited to sleep! Like the night before you go to Disney when you are a kid!

Tuesday

I wish I had something more exciting to write about today, but honestly I haven't left the apartment and I don't know that I will!! I am going to finish up laundry and pack and go to bed early! the cab is picking me up at 8:15 so I will have to get up earlier than I have in 2 weeks. :) Speaking of, I can't believe I have been here 2 weeks today!! I know I will have lots more to share over the next few days! I am not sure what my internet connection will be like in Dubai and our wireless card only works on Germany. But hopefully I will get a chance to add some pics!

TOO funny!!

I had to share this!! Tyler sent me this a little bit ago. Check out his facebook soon for more.

Yay for apartment pictures!!

It is only 2 rooms so far, that was all I got cleaned this morning. But, hey...better than nothing! Plus, it takes me so long to put pics on the blog, I need to do a little at a time. First we have our bedroom...you can see the shadow over the window. That is the sun shade for that room. Every room (except the bathroom) has them. They keep the sun out, but at the same time you can't get a breeze when they are down, so it is hard to decide. Desk in the corner of the bedroom...doesn't get much use except for Tyler to throw his clothes on. Here is another shot of the bed. I really miss my bed at home. :( Here is a shot of the closet...Tyler's side. It is much neater than my side, so I decided to show it. Here is our bathroom! Yes, the window gets closed when I shower. This is the "shower curtain" and yes, that is as far as it goes. Takes some adjusting to. And here is the blasted washing machine/dryer that I love so much! Hope these are some what interesting! Just a look at where we are living for the next 6 months! Well, Tyler...I am all over the place! There was a little change of plans in out travel schedule. Tyler is having to stay in Saudi an extra day, but he got his flight for late that night. I will probably just have to wait about 1.5 hours on him at the airport. Also, this is really random....but I am sitting at Starbucks and these 2 girls have their small dog with them. About every 5 minutes the dog barks and it is so loud!! I was sitting in the corner cracking up because almost everytime it would bark, it would be a new group of customers and everyone would jump! It was really fun to watch!

He made it!!

Such a relief to me. I didn't do a very good job of checking out his travel itinerary before he left, so I wasn't exactly sure what time he was supposed to get to Saudi. So, of course, about 8:30pm when I haven't heard anything, I go to try and open it and nothing will open. So, I started to freak out a little bit! My internet is so spotty in the apartment anyway, sometimes it can take me 45 minutes to get a signal, so I was already getting frustrated. But, I turned on my phone and text him and told him to let me know when he got there...and not too much longer, he text me back and said they were at the airport waiting for their bags. So happy! Today has been interesting for me...I got up when Tyler did this morning and after he left, I layed back down on the couch to watch TV (aka Entourage Season 1 on my computer since we still only have German TV). I did attempt to watch Jessica Simpson's new show on MTV today, but the voice-overs were making me mad! I could never understand the end of her sentences because they started translating! I went out walking for about an hour and a half. I decided to walk more towards the university since we haven't really been over that way. I didn't get too far onto campus because I didn't realize just how far it was and by the time I got over in that direction I decided I better start heading back towards the apartment!! BUT...I did find the university pool and it is AWESOME! Like a miniture water park. I so wish I would have known about it last week! Depending on how brave I get and how hot it gets in the next 2 days, I may try and go back. It is quite a hike over there, but it might be worth it to jump in a pool! I also cleaned our tub (finally bought cleaning supplies yesterday! We couldn't read any of them, but I bought the one with Mr. Clean on it...and on the back there was a little pic of a sink, a tub and a toilet, so I assumed bathroom cleaner) and took a bath. That was nice, but since it is still a little hot here in the middle of the day, I was sweating and had to get out. THEN...I did my chemical peel that I spent way too much money on at Sephora. I am glad to report, it did not actually burn my skin off. It says for best results, do 3 days in a row and since I have some free time over the next few days, I am going to see what kind of results I get! I swore to myself that while Tyler was gone I was going to get this apartment clean enough to take pictures to post, but I feel like I am just making more of a mess! The problem isn't as much that it is dirty all the time, it is just rare that the clothes hanging rack and ironing board aren't in the middle of the room. Speaking of laundry...have I talked about that yet?? It takes me about 3 hours to do the smallest load of laundry you have ever seen! I am thankful to have somewhere to do it and not have to go to a laundry mat...but! We have one of those washer and dryer combos and it sucks. To wash on hot water, it takes like 142 minutes and to dry, I think it takes 154 or something like that. (that is longer than 3 hours, huh??) And you can only dry half of the load you washed. so, we hang a lot up, but then everything is really stiff so I have been ironing t-shirts and boxer shorts to try and make them a little softer. :) I still have a lot of things I want to do before I leave for Dubai. I have a feeling I am going to put them all off thinking "I will save that incase I get bored" and then they won't get done. Nothing that can't wait though!! Just things I have actually been putting off to do when Tyler left! I am chatting with him now...he says Saudi is much more American than where we are now. He was also pretty excited that Siemens accidently booked him business class. He said it is the way to go!! I will update more on that later. :) I am going to post some pictures tomorrow...I know those are more fun than my rambling!!

Tyler left this morning

I was sad, but I know I will be fine over the next few days! Plus, I just keep telling myself about the AWESOME trip we have at the end of this week!! He just emailed me and said he made it to Paris. They have a lay-over there and then on to Saudi Arabia. I will update more when he arrives!! He also scheduled a cab for me for Wednesday to get to the airport, which I am so thankful for!

I can't figure out this weather!!

It rained last night, so it was slightly cooler today...still very warm in the sun and in stores with no air. But clouds came through about 3 this afternoon as we were sitting outside at a coffee shop. Now, we are freezing! Tyler actually just left and took the bus home to get some warmer clothes! I cannot believe the drop in temperature in such a short amount of time. Funny too because we have been shopping this morning to buy clothes to wear in the desert! Not much, I just needed some longer shorts because although the ones I have aren't super short, I figured it would be best not to wear them in Dubai. We also bought some cleaning supplies so I can do some cleaning after Tyler leaves...exciting, right!! It will give me something to do while he is gone. I have mentioned before everything is closed on Sunday's, so I will probably do a lot of laying around and reading tomorrow. Which sounds good to me. I am going to skype with mom, Leslie and Erin soon and I hope Tyler gets back before they get here. I am planning on wearing my headphones since there are lots of other people in the coffee shop and I won't be able to tell how loud I am talking!! Not that I really care anyway! We are having dinner with Richard at his hotel tonight... I will either blog later tonight or tomorrow!

Joke

Here is a joke that Richard sent Tyler yesterday...I mentioned before Richard is British and he loves to make fun of us as Americans! A Swiss man, looking for directions, pulls up at a bus stop where two Texans are waiting. "Entschuldigen Sie mich, Sie zu tun sprechen Deutsches?" he asks. The two Texans just stare at him. "Excusez-moi pour vous faire parlent français?" The two continue to stare. "parli italiano?" No response. "¿los di usted habla español?" Still nothing. So he has a final try: "Tatakalamaani bil arabiyya?" The Swiss man drives off, extremely disgusted. The first Texan turns to the second and says, "You know Bubba, maybe we should learn a foreign language." "Why?" says the other. "That guy knew five and it didn't do him any good."

Words we have learned!!

I wanted to share with you guys the little bit of German that Tyler and I have learned!! And I mean it is very little. I wish we would learn more, but so many people around here adapt to us and speak English... Danke schon- Thank you Bitte schon-You're welcome (which I just said to our waiter when I meant to say thank you) Kaffe-coffee (easy one, right??) Chardonnay-Chardonnay Weiswein-White Wine Hallo-Hello Bye-Tschus!(chewss!) Guten Morgen-good morning (which I only hear on Saturday's because that is the only time I am out of the house early enough!) I really do hope to pick up more...we have learned more on menus just because that is about the only way we can have dinner!! I think that is why we eat at so many Italian restaurants (that and because there are so freaking many around here!!) But the words are so similiar we can get by if they don't have an English menu. We did find an awesome steak house tonight that had an English menu, so we were pumped!! My dinner was a steak, fries and a salad. Have I mentioned my lack of vegetables since I have been here??? I have never seen people eat so many carbs in my life!! Nothing comes with veggies on the menu. JT wouldn't last 2 days here!! Except the fact that weiswein is so dang cheap!! (No Kendall Jackson my love!)

Nuremberg Trials

Here are some pictures I took of the courthouse in Nuremberg. This is where the trials were held after WWII...at the time this was referred to as The Palace of Justice. The main trials were held from November 1945 to October 1946 and tried 22 of the most important captured leaders of Nazi Germany. The remainder of the trials lasted until 1949. This is still a full functioning courthouse! There is your history lesson for today. Stayed tuned, I will teach you about the castle.

Saudi Hotel

This is where Tyler will be staying on his trip to Saudi. Looks pretty cool!! http://www.moevenpick-hotels.com/en/pub/your_hotels/worldmap/jeddah/overview.cfm

I have the best family!!

My mom and sister sent me an awesome care package!! Mostly things I can eat while Tyler is in Saudi if I don't want to go out and and eat meals alone. Look at all that food!! As soon as the box was delivered, I ate Ramen...in bed. It was still 10:00am, but I didn't care. They also sent me these ice trays because we don't have any and we cannot seem to get drinks cold enough! AND...something to keep me busy while Tyler is gone for a few days. They know how much Tyler loves dolphins. :) And last, but not least...Reagan's tomato made it!! And isn't quite as rotten as we expected! Apparently customs didn't inspect that box very well! Reagan threw this tomato in from her plant at her house with the intentions of giving it to my dad once she got to my parents house to finish packing the box. She forgot it was in there and it made it all the way to Germany! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

I DO have more exciting news!!

We are going to Dubai!! I said earlier that Tyler is going to Saudi Arabi to the job site on Sunday. They were scheduled to come back to Germany on Wednesday, but one of the Kilpatrick partners in the Dubai office suggested Tyler stop by there on his way back. So, we are going to fly me over to meet him! I am so excited!! I have already looked up going to Ski Dubai!!

Also...

Don't be scared to leave me comments!! It makes me feel like people are really reading what I am writing! I know my mom is because she will email me about it. So, even if no one else is, I will still write it for her!! And obviously I didn't have much luck with Tyler posting. When he gets off in the afternoon, he has been having to send emails back to the law firm because he didn't have internet access here during the day at work. AND...he had a busted computer from the law firm that would go out constantly. So, now he has internet at work and they are shipping him a new laptop. Maybe he won't spend 2 hours everyday after a work day following up. :)

Guess what I am doing today!!??

Wearing jeans!!! I have not worn jeans since I got here because it has been too hot! I have basically been washing the same two pairs of shorts (the only 2 I own) and a couple of dresses. We had some storms come through last night and it feels GREAT today! I even walked to the city center from our apartment (about a 15 minute walk) and didn't break a sweat! I walked around some shops once I got here and now I am just sitting, having my internet time waiting for Tyler to get off work. We went back to the same Thai restaurant we went to the first night I was here last night. We both decided we were sick of pizza and noodles. We had the same waitress and she remembered us. Tyler asked if it was because we asked for an English menu and she said "No, we have loads of people asking for those!!". So that made us feel better. I have about 10 red bug bites on my feet. No idea when I got them. I am wondering if it wasn't at the beir garden Tuesday night. They don't itch me too bad, they are just extremly ugly. I feel like I am so boring the last couple of days!! It was all so exciting when I first got here. And it still is exciting and I am still learning so much, but we have definitely fallen into a routine. As I am sitting here, I am watching people come in and out of the mall with their dogs...that is so exciting to me that Sprocket and Wembley can shop with me!! Not sure that I will ever actually take them to the mall because they would probably wrap around someone's feet and we would have a lawsuit on our hands! I just had a random dude sit at my table with me and drink his coffee. :) When I say table, I mean a tiny little circle table at Starbucks, in the chair right next to me. He didn't bother me though, so I didn't mind. OH!! And I got offered a job last night! I guess since students are going home for break, a lot of places seem to be hiring. Once I told the girl that A.) I don't have a work Visa and B.) I speak zero German so it might be difficult, she agreed with me. I haven't taken any more pictures since we went to Nuremberg last weekend. I do still have some more to post from our trip there though. Hopefully I will have more exciting news to share later!

The heat is back

We thought we were getting a break from the heat yesterday, but it is back today. :) Tyler said that people at work are apologizing to him for the heat and lack of air. I have been very unproductive today and pretty much just sat on the couch all day long! I went out walking this morning, still trying to find that dang pool and didn't have any luck. I feel like everyone is in on a secret but us. Either that or someone is playing a joke on us and there really isn't a pool!! Last night we had drinks with Christoph and his wife. Christoph is an attorney for Adidas and worked on a big case with Kilpatrick a while back and Charlie Henn at KS got Tyler in touch with him. Christoph and his wife both went to school here in Erlangen and made it their home after they graduated. She is an attorney for Siemens. He gave us a lot of insight on places to eat, where we can go to the doctor and some of the better beir gardens. He also helped us out a lot on tipping! Apparently in Germany, when you let the waiter count you back all of your change and THEN you leave a tip, it is an insult because they assume you are not going to tip. It is more common that when you are given the total, you just round up and tell them to only give you however much back in change. So, although we have been tipping and probably more than we should (Only 10% in Germany) we have insulted some folks by getting all of our change back. He also told us that the part of town we are living in is what people in Erlangen call "Brooklyn". Apparently a lot of Turkish and Russians live around us, but he said it was very safe. Tyler and I agreed that it doesn't make much difference to us if we are living next to Russians or Germans, we still can't understand them. And there is an Italian doctor that lives above us who speaks a little English. So whatever, we are just a mix of nations! Richard assured me that we stick out and there is no need to try and blend in, that I think I already knew. We sat next to a group of kids that were speaking English...I was the closest to them and every once in a while they would talk to me. They asked why I was here, I learned my lesson that from now on, I should just say that Tyler is here working for Siemens and not say as an attorney. Apparently Germans don't like lawyers, even German ones. I then let him know that I was sitting with 4 other people and I was the only one who wasn't an attorney. A bit later I heard him make a comment to his friends "Oh, look at us, we are all big shot attorney's" That made me laugh. He also let me know that all Americans think that everyone should adapt to them and speak English instead of us learning other languages. I can't say that I totally disagree with him, but he was a jerk. And he didn't encourage me to run out and learn German. I learned some interesting things from Christoph last night! One being that Germany staggers their summer holidays. Starting in the North around the first of June and ending in the South with their break starting around the end of July. He said that originally started as an effort to keep everyone from heading to Italy on holiday at the same time. Wonder if that would benefit Destin?? I also learned about the "brotherhoods" here in Erlange for the university...or their fraternities. He said there are 2 types, beating and non-beating. Basically those that haze and those that don't. And the particular one we were standing in front of, in order to get in, you have to fence with no mask and get a scar across your face...pretty hardcore! Tyler leaves on Sunday morning for Saudi Arabia and returns Wednesday morning. I am sad to see him go. Not because I am scared to be here alone, just because I think I will be lonely! We are hoping to get the American TV worked out before he leaves. I will do some serious reading. I brought so many books with me and I haven't even started reading any of them! This is long enough with no pictures. :) I will post again later (I wrote this yesterday and never got around to posting)

pics

Just wanted to share some interesting pictures I have taken while I have been here. I am not feeling so hot today, I am really hoping I am not getting sick, but I do have quite a sore throat. Layed around most of the day and watched Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy. I am at Starbucks now waiting for Tyler to get off work.

Not much new

Not a whole lot new today... Tyler emailed me that he forgot is adapter for his computer today, so I headed out this morning to try and make the bus change and get to his office. I was very successful and it was much easier than I thought. Of course when I got there, I had forgotten on of the pieces he needed. So, I headed back home and back to his office. All of this took me about 2 hours. On the second trip I decided to walk because I could walk in the shade and there was a slight breeze. Better than the buses with no air. After that I did some more grocery shopping and reminded myself of why everyone around here purchases so little at the store...because you have to carry it back!! I almost died trying to get back to the apartment. I started counting my steps to keep my mind off how hot I was. Once I got back here, I cleaned up a little around the apartment because the landlord was stopping by tonight to try and hook up our smartcard to get TV in English. The change in TV cannot come soon enough! I have learned a lot on CNN over the last week, but there is only so many times you can watch the Spain soccer team get off the plane, hear about 6 months since the earth quake in Haiti and hear about the temps in Europe. They brought along their English speaking son too who was able to help us out on a lot of things around the house. Including the washing machine and sorting our trash. Apparently if you don't sort your trash properly, the city will leave you a ticket. He also left us his phone number and said call him anytime with questions. :) AND he said that most of his co-workers are American...How is it that we feel like we have seen none! Cooked dinner at the house tonight in an effort to not eat out all the time. Turned out pretty good...very basic! Noodles with sauce and cheese. Got to skype with the fam yesterday and see my pup pups. I miss them so much!! One funny thing that happened to me today...as I was getting on the bus this morning, this little old lady starts talking to me. I am pretty sure she was talking about how hot it is and I didn't get the impression she was saying anything that required an answer, so I just kind of went with it and let her think I understood what she was saying. I got a little kick out of that. It is raining pretty bad here right now which is very welcomed as far as we are concerned! We also learned that if we turn back in our plastic bottles at the store, we can get money back. Good thing we have been saving them all! We are going to watch a movie before bed, so I need to get off the computer! (Our DVD's don't play in the European player) I am going in to town tomorrow and I will add some more pictures!!

Coffini

Here are some pictures of Coffini, the coffee shop I go to everyday. They have wireless internet and I can open the windows and plug my computer in while still sitting outside. There is also a Starbucks right next door where I can get 2 hours of internet each day. (and that is air conditioned) Sometimes I go in there just to get cool! But I really like this place. So far, most of the waitresses speak English and they are very helpful. It is also right by the Arcaden and the busiest bus stops, so there is a lot of good people watching!

Sunday's are different!

Sunday's are so different than every other day! All shops are closed down...everything. So you better make sure that you got anything you need on Saturday. We took the train back to Nuremberg today to see if we could find the courthouse where the Nuremberg trials were held. I had read somewhere that you could only do the tours on Saturday's and Sunday's because it is still a full functioning courthouse. We walked all over and when we finally found it, there was no where to do tours that we could find. I am sure that we should have purchased tickets somewhere else, who knows. I did take a few pictures though and those are pretty cool! I will post those soon. After that we walked back to the "old town" where all the restaurants are, sat and had a glass of wine and headed back to Erlangen. About 2.5 hours later, we got back to the train station in Erlangan. One major problem with not speaking the language is when there are delays, changes, etc...you don't know about it!! We would sit and watch people move to other platforms, but had no idea what was going on. We finally got on the correct train and sat for about 25 minutes before ever moving, with no air. We were about to die, at least I was. :) And the teenage girl who got on the train with a rat on her shoulder, really put me over the edge. When we got back to Erlangen, we walked around a little trying to find the public pool...no luck there, but I think we are close! One lady pointed in the direction in German, but we realized we didn't have much more time to get back to internet before our skype date with my family. I am going to venture out tomorrow while Tyler is at work and see if I can find it. We are also getting 15 English channels tomorrow! woo hoo! We are picking up on more and more German. We have decided to just take the German Dictionary with us everywhere and just figure it out. No matter how long it takes. Tyler got all of the clothes washed yesterday, but not dried. We attempted the dryer twice, but both times the towels ended up hot and wet. That is another thing I am going to work on tomorrow. See...I won't get bored, I already have a full day planned. Throwing in a trip to the grocery because we decided we are going to cook at home and my day is full! Looks like rain, so maybe it will cool down a little. I cannot believe that I have been here almost a week! So far, this has been such a challenging, yet awesome experience!! I really don't know if I could do this alone like Tyler did for a week. As soon as I get confused, I look to him to fix it for me! I also don't know what it would be like to never have much of a conversation with anyone else. We saw some Americans get off the train in Erlangen when we did and I heard them talking about what bar they were going to tonight and I told Tyler we should show up and make friends!! It is definitely different to live where you walk to everything! We are so tired all the time until we adjust. I told him today there is no way we haven't dropped a few pounds considering how much we are walking and how much we are sweating!! We seriously sweat all day. I will post some more pictures, they are interesting...I think they are. :) ***side-note*** I feel like I sound like I am complaining a lot...I don't want to come across like that because I really am loving this!! I mean, who gets these kind of opportunities! It is just SOOOO hot!!! And no where to go and cool off. It is just a major adjustment. I am going to try and talk Tyler in to blogging tomorrow and maybe talk a little about work and give his opinion on being here.

Buildings

Here are some pictures I took while in Nuremberg today. It definitely has more of an "old Europe" feel than Erlangen. I get the feeling Erlangen is a much more modern town. But I also think Nuremberg is where people go to party. We saw a lot of people getting off the train as we were getting on looking like they were headed out for the night! Enjoy the pics, I have a lot more to share!!

FYI...

Dude played "Streets of London" 5 times in a row and by the time we got on the train to come home, we had seen 8 bachelorette parties. :)

Our first train ride!!

Tyler and I have never been on a train before. (atleast not that we can remember)So, we took pictures of each other on the train. I have to say, we weren't very impressed. We thought the German country-side was going to be much prettier...of course we didn't go very far. As we were riding along Tyler said "This looks like Texas" haha, he was kind of right.

Nuremberg

We have had such a fun day exploring Nuremberg! It is really so hot here. Have I said that a few times? I am used to heat living in the South, but there is no where to cool off here because of no air!! I have decided I wasted my time bringing a hair straightner because my hair goes in a ponytail as soon as I leave the house! I took a TON of pictures today. I want to learn what most of them are before I post them. We walked all around a castle and had lunch at the neatest restaurant looking over the market. We also found some souvenier shops, which we don't have at all in Erlangen since it isn't a tourist town. We have also come across A LOT of people speaking English (American tourist) which has been so refreshing to hear!! We learned that you actually have to pay to use public restrooms...50 Euros. That was interesting. I made Tyler go into a grocery store with me and help me look up things I think we will eat. I need his help deciding what we can actually eat! As I type this, we are watching a guy with one arm and no legs make his way down the street. We actually had the dicussion of how he gets around before he started moving....guess he let us know that he can. We have also been sitting at the same cafe for about 20 minutes and have heard a homeless guy play the same song 3 times. Tyler googled the words so he can sing along....and he is. We also saw a German bachelorette party!!! They had tank tops that said "Bridesmaid" and all. At least we assume that is what they say. :)

Attempt to find Mexican

So, I said I found 2 Mexican restaurants, El Sombrero and El Gomez. Well, we decided to try them out tonight! We went to El Gomez first because it was closer. The margaritas were not so good and since they didn't have a English menu, we went out on a limb and ordered some kind of nacho. Basically chips with cheese that was hardened before she could get it to the table. She was SUPER confused when I asked for salsa. She did bring us some sort of chicken dish that we really enjoyed...maybe we could go back for that. So, now we are at El Sombrero and the margaritas are a little better, but still nothing like we are used to. :( And we are the ONLY people here....AND the people who own the bar are the people that have the dog that I almost see get hit by a car. I guess this really is a small town. He is here, sitting at a table with his owners safe and sound. Maybe we should just stick with the pizzaria's. This is the first margarita, looks pretty good, right? Not so much. They make them with lemon, we didn't like it at all. This one is a little more authentic, but still not the best I have ever had. But when the waitress set it on the table, we were pumped! Look at that glass, how could it not be good!