What I just realized

If a weekend like this one doesn't mess with your head, I don't know what will. Thursday was a really good day. I found out I got one of the WGs I had interviewed for on Wednesday, the second one. It is a pretty large room, with furniture and a huge kitchen, which is awesome. There are two roomies: a girl and a guy and both seem really nice. Even though the guy said only enough words to communicate that his birthday was November 15th (the day before mine!!! hint hint). So that was exciting. That afternoon, Sean and I went shopping in the Fussgaenger Zone and I bought myself a European wool jacket . . . it is eggplant, has a belt, lots of buttons, a high neck and is long . . . it makes me look tall and skinny so it works pretty well. Bonus: it was only 50euro because it was on sale. Double Bonus: it was an early birthday present! Even though I still paid for it.
Later, I left for Heidelberg and arrived late on Thursday night. I stayed with Paul and was completely exhausted the first night. We had a nice conversation, catching up on the past few weeks so that was good. But he had to go to school the next morning and I wanted to get up early to explore, so we all went to bed pretty early. Friday was an amazing day. I met up with Nate (who had stayed at the Wartburg, his old residence, the night before), we got some breakfast and caught up. It was nice to go around with him because he studied there so I didn't just get the tourist view. While we walked up Hauptstrasse, I visited AJY where he studied abroad and the Theater where he did an internship. Then we walked across the Alte Bruecke to the Philosophenweg, which is a really famous and beautiful path up the Heiligenberg. It was a great hike up to the Aussichtsturm and had some landings with really nice views of the castle. After the tower, we went a bit further and he showed me this incredible Nazi-era amphitheater that would be an incredible place to hold outdoor concerts, if they allowed it to be. Then we kept walking up to an 11th Century cloister, the ruins of which were interesting to look at.
We had to walk back through the Amphitheater to get down the mountain and we decided to take a picture together, but, because no one was around, it had to be self-timed, which was quite a process. Nate propped up his camera and set the timer while I ran to see how far I could get in the 8 seconds before the picture took. Then, I stayed there while he set the timer again and ran himself to where I was. Attempt results were as follows: 1) not even close due to his decision to "catch air" by jumping down a flight of steps instead of running 2) he got much further, but then tripped and fell over 3) Almost made it to me, but was in the process of turning around while the picture was being taken 4) I think there was a fourth 5) we settled for a picture of him a few steps lower than I on the amphitheater steps. It was fun!
After this, we walked down the mountain discussing tree-types in a quest to find out what kinds of trees were in this particular forest. Our conclusion was that Oaks, maples and birch trees were predominant. This could also be because we only know two or three other types of trees, and these were not present. We had a delicious Flammkuchen for lunch at Bierbrezel, which Nate said was the best in Heidelberg. Nate had a haircut at his old barber, which came out fluffily but now makes him look much better (if, although perhaps appropriately, younger!). Our final stop of the day was the Castle at dusk, which was just beautiful. We took a lot of pictures of the castle and Elizabeth gate all lit up and of the city with all of its lights on. It was really something worth seeing, I though. Overall, our day together was full of great conversations and fun and interesting sights.
That night we ate dinner at Paul's where Tim and Lore (Fulbrighters from Bielefeld) joined us, watched an episode of Entourage and then went out to the bars. This was fun except that the combination of exhaustion, people and a way too "long" tequila sunrise made for a rather stressful night. Which carried into the morning. Nate and I were supposed to wake up at 6:45 to leave for a conference in Frankfurt. But when my alarm went off, I told him it wasn't mine and we both went back to sleep, haha. I think we got up at 8:30 or something but that was way too late. After quickly getting ready, we got on a train to Frankfurt and it was ganz klar that it was going to be a miserable day. The conference was miserable, we were independently miserable and worse yet we were miserable with each other. After such a good Friday, this was depressing. Highlights of the conference: a poem by Tennyson that Nate showed me, writing comical Haikus to each other while bored, naming all 50 states and capitols in alphabetical order, getting unlimited free wine at dinner.
We got back to Heidelberg at 11:30p or so and were supposed to meet up with Paul for a party. Not unexpectedly or without good reason, Nate left me here and went back to the Wartburg to sleep and hang out. I, then, had to go out after a miserable day, completely exhausted and in a cashmere turtleneck without money for even one drink to make the night at least appear happier, with the gang. I was not happy. The people were, of course, the only good thing. But I couldnt help not being completely happy. Just bad timing. I woke up today, Sunday, and ran to catch the Strassenbahn into Heidelberg, after realizing that I packed too many going out clothes and not enough normal clothes (hence, I am still in a glittery half sweater with fake crystal buttons). Nate and I had breakfast again (wiener Feinbacker -- delicious Apfeltasche and Croissant . . . and Toffee Nut Latte from Sbucks, amazing) and had a nice conversation.
We decided to spend the day seeing James Bond: Quantum of Solace. But because we wanted it in English, we had to go to Mannheim, which was on both of our ways home, but is an ugly city. Kind of neat though, because it was bombed out during WWII and was rebuilt as a grid, as in the street names are "O3" or "M7" . . . definitely not cool, but interesting. The movie was good, I thought the script was great and really well done. With the ecxeption of poor animation during the second fight scene. After that, we had to go back to the train station and wait -- so we had a nice conversation about politics and then I hopped on my train.
Just now, Basti and I skype-called for about 45 minutes, which was really nice. I am going to Berlin for Thanksgiving weekend and I will attempt to cook my first turkey. This will be really nice because I am pretty lonely right now, and this way I won't be as homesick for my family. I am excited to see him and Susanne. Life remains a rollar coaster and I look forward to it calming down. Someday. Pictures and more later!