Most of my spare time is, sadly, spent hanging out in fast food joints with free wifi because the university is so damn stupid when it comes to this stuff. Ugh. I have to pay 10 euro a month for internet, and I can't even get it in my dorm. Trust me, I was throwing together some major strings of words over that one. And now I'm forced into waiting all weekend until I can actually talk to someone. Yeah, I'm not too happy
That aside though, I've had a lot on my mind about a lot of things: meeting people, my family/friends (anymore it seems like that line is blurred, and friends are family, and family are my friends. Not that I mind), money, seeing the country I'm in, and some such things. Before getting here, all I could think about was leaving the US, and seeing the world, and now that I'm here, I just want everyone here with me. Guess I still really don't want to leave Strasbourg. I love it here. The short time I've been here, it's already starting to feel like home, and i feel more at ease here than I ever did at home. I feel like Erika...not someone known by affiliation with someone else, but ME. I can finally cut myself out of all the crap I was part of at home, and begin a new life, as my own person, on my own terms, I can be myself, and if you don't like it fuck you very much walk out the door you came striding in through.
I never minded being in a new place, not knowing anyone. I've been in that situation a few times. Not as much as some, but definitely more than most. I'm ok with it, for the most part. I like being on my own terms, and thinking and deciding and choosing for myself. Shit, even things like cleaning and the laundry are so different because now i'm doing it on my time frame. I leave when I want, I get home when I want. I watch my spending (sort of), turn on my music, and go out and explore wherever and whenever I damn well please. I'm alone with my imagination, which, well if you know me, sometimes that's all the more company I need to keep. Strasbourg's been kind to my creativity, if nothing else those surges that all artistic people feel have been coming back. Even if I don't act on it, it's nice being able to feel that again. I guess though, I'm starting to get wrestless and really want to meet and befriend more people, here. I swear I call and text the US, Canada, and Austria more than I do here in France. That's not saying people are horrible to me or anything. Aside from maybe one or 2 very isolated incidents (which I'm not going into on here), it's been fine. People have been nice, and are courteous when they realize I'm not from here. Sometimes they revert to English when they realize my accent, or they keep talking to me in French because I initiated in French, but it almost always ends in "Where are you from?" I definitely don't mind that question at all. God knows I asked it a million times at home whenever I heard a non American accent. But, most days end up with me tucked in a corner, hiding from the world, and just wondering when I won't be going out every night alone. At least a few times a week out would be nice...
Anyway, that all said, I made the trip over into Germany yesterday, and had an absolutely WONDERFUL time. The town right over the Rhine, Kehl, is all of a 20 minute ride away (minus the waiting time on the bus...WHICH IS SO MUCH LESS THAN IT WAS IN FORT WAYNE!). It's a nice little quaint town. the central shopping district isn't much more than what a plaza would be in the USA. I loved it though. The city is pretty, with a few churches, some bookstores, and even a WW2 Holocaust memorial on the side of one of the churches in town (not the biggest, but the central one). And just like here, almost everything/everyone uses French and German. I didn't have much of a chance to actually speak German, but when people spoke to me in German it wasn't too bad. I'll definitely be going back again. Nothing else, some practical needs are a smidgen cheaper there than in Strasbourg, and it's worth the trek over there. I was saddened though that the only German music I could find was Bushido (rap...i like him but buying his CDs isn't high on the list) and Tokio Hotel. Yes, I still love TH, but the only CD they had that I didn't already own in some format was the latest live CD, and I'm not as big on getting live CDs as I was. I have TH's last live CD and barely listen to it. I was REALLY hoping they'd have Acht's CD, as no matter what I still LOVE Gil Ofarim, but alas they didn't. No OOMPH either. i didn't look for Rammstein but they're kinda low on the list too. Not because i don't like them, but their stuff is relatively easy to come by in the US. Or to download. Come to think of it I didn't find Cinema Bizarre either, but since they split almost a year ago, I wasn't really looking either. So it looks like I'll have to trek further inland to see if I can't find all that.
Anyway, I digress. Germany was awesome. The weather was horrible for being a tourist, but the city is amazing. The main church there (I think it was to St. Romuk, whoever he was lol I've never heard the name before and I'm not Catholic, so forgive me) had a neat little garden that I went and sat in for a minute. there was a neat old stone chair in the middle, and all these trees that grew so thick over it that the rain didn't get through. I should've stayed there longer than I did; it was an honestly calm, relaxing place. It was almost like the leaves on the trees kept everything out...not just the rain. And I found a Hot Topic-esque kind of store. That shop is for sure getting a visit or two from me :D
I made the silly mistake though, of walking all the way home from Kehl. HAHA it was kind of by accident. No seriously, it was accidental! I wanted to take the footbridge home, and the catch a bus or tram or whatever back to my dorm. Well, by the time a bus showed up I was on the wrong side of the road and decided the time I would take waiting on the bus to get home, I'd make some decent progress home. So I hoofed it all the way back to my dorm. hahahaha! My feet hated me so much for that one! But I made out with some neat stuff; one of my favorite books, 'Das Parfum' by Patrick Suskind in its original German, and something for Brandon for Christmas (but I'm not saying what here in case he reads it :D), and a bunch of post cards and other cool little things. Kehl had some VERY cheap stores with cool little things in them. I'll be going back for sure.Anyway I had probably better let this go, and get out of here. I think I wanna go do some walking tonight...and I need coffee...BADLY! XD
<3Eri
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