-14 Degrees

So as im typing this it is currently -14 degrees Celsius. And if you are not familiar with Celsius, thats goddamn cold. The past few days have been really really REALLY cold. Even a full winter gear up does very little to keep the chill out. Face numbness is almost instantainous. But the cold also means snow. Which we have a fair bit of now. The past few days it's been casually snowing, since Wednesday i believe. But not really that much snow. Just enough to cover the ground and make the buses late. In other news my epic journey to England begins tomorrow at 22:55. Tom and I will be taking the 22:55 train to Nürnburg then catching the underground to the airport which we will be waiting at until our flight at 6:30 monday morning. Gonna be another all nighter from the looks of it. But i will be happy to begin my English Christmas adventure. So not really too much more to update on. Everyone is pretty much headed back home by now. Kinda sad to see people go, because when everyone's back there's only about 4 weeks left in the semester. And that means the people who are only here for one semester will not be with us much longer. Sadness. But yea so live long and prosper and i will update when i get to ol'Blighty. OH! and everyone needs to watch these videos if you are familiar at all with Star Wars.

It snowed today

It snowed today! Like real snow! It was flippin sweet, finally we get a little white coating to make it feel like the Solstice! Great times. I cant believe how fast the holidays have come upon me. Honestly it feel just like yesterday i was getting off the train in Würzburg, and now im preparing myself for my English Christmas, which begins next Monday for those who dont know. However im also kinda sad. Im sad about everyone leaving and my happy little Würzburg family being taken apart for the holidays. I have myself in a very good place here and most of that is because of my friends here. And now everyone's going away for the holidays and we wont get to party in the New Year together. Saddening. Stupid Xmas! But in other news i got to check out a German Fraternity house yesterday. It was awesome. My face2face partner is an active member of one of the Catholic Bruderschaften here in Würzburg. So after we had our speaking last night he invited me to see the house and grab a beer there. It really was amazing. I felt so German sitting there among the German intellectuals drinking beer and hanging out. The frats here are actually useful for society, unlike the stupid ones in the US where they try to feign a purpose by making their members do community service or some bullshit that helps them sleep at night, when their real purpose is just to host parties, and taken advantage of drunk girls. The German Fraternities have a history steeped in the struggle for a united German Nationstate. Dating all the way back to when Napoleon conquered the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The German Fraternal societies were created to fight against the French occupation and help spread political ideas that would lead to revolution where German could be united as one country. So score one point for Germans being awesome.

New Layout!

Hello all hope you enjoy the more holiday themed layout. Ive given up trying to find a better layout that'll let me post my pictures properly. But you can just click on them and im pretty sure they'll take you to my photobucket page where you can get a better look at them. But yes to Christmas is less than two weeks away. Its a real head trip for me. It hardly feels like ive been here for that long but look on it now ive been in Würburg for almost 3 and a half months. Scarely feels that way. Time is just wizzing by with reckless abandon. The weeks seem to go by faster and faster. Its already saturday but it doesnt feel like a whole week pased since last saturday. I suppose its a good thing though, cause that means im having a good time and time flies when you're having fun. And truer words were never spoken. Last night we had a wine tasting for one of my classes. We It was held in the wine cellar of the big palace in Würzburg. The wines we had for tasting were 6 local Franconian wines, and one local sparkeling wine, all grown either in Würzburg or very near by. I would have to say that last night was one of the most fun nights ive had here in Würzburg. The wine was absolutly delicious. As most people know im not a wine guy, or at least i didnt used to be. But i would say after last night you can safely count me in the wine drinkers' camp. The six wines were on a sliding scale of price. We started off with a couple of the less expensive "thinking" wines, which were considered dry wines. Then the last two were very sweet very frutiy wines, ones you would probably serve to guests to impress them. But only one glass, cause any more and the sweetness would get to you. Or at least to me. So if anyone needs Franconian wine reccomendations, i would say i am at least partialy versed in the wines of this lovely loverly region of the world. Our Professor, who was running the wine tasting, gave very long excllent explainations of the different types of wine and the stories behind some of the different types, and how the wine cellar used to be used by the prince bishop of Würzburg and just generally the huge importance of Wine to this area. I do also recall him more than one boasting about how much better the wine here is to Italian and French wine. And i would be inclined to believe him. I mean Goethe used to order a yearly supply of Franconian wine numbering in the hundreds of liters. So if a living literary god orders that much wine from somewhere it must be some of the best wine anywhere. Hmm this speaking of wine has left me desiring a glass. But alas i gotta get back to my fun fun fun studying in the library. OH! and i got a new haircut. Its awesome, very German. If i didnt have a quite apparent American accent with my German one would almost think i belonged here. MERRY SOLSTICE!

Temporary fix.

Ok so problem with pictures and formating has been fixed temporarily. I'll try to get it workin better tomorrow some time. but enjoy for now !

Just a quick side note.

Just a quick side note. I have just noticed that my pictures i just posted are sort of messed up. I dunno why that is but it frustrates me. Im gonna try and fix up but no promises. So just bear with me if i cant get it figured out.

Ich würde dich besser magen, wenn wir mit einander schlafen würden

So YES!!! Indeed it is Christmas here. Christmas big time. And i am loving it. Europe doesnt do Halloween or Thanksgiving, but that extra holiday spirit gets saved up for the Christmas season. And they dont pull any punches here with it at all. Specktacular really. Truthfully there is no better incarnation of the Christmas spirit in Germany than the "Christmas Market". I have never been to a Christmas Market before. Ok well maybe never a real one. Maybe a little half assed one put on by a church or whatever for a weekend back in the states. But here one can go to a full blown huge Christmas Market that is open everyday from the last weekend of November until right before Christmas. Its brilliant. Nothing gets you in the Christmas mood more than having a cup of steaming hot Glühwein and Bratwurt mit Brötchen while walking around the Christmas Market taking in the feeling. So essentially, for those who may not know, a Christmas Market is like a festival with lots of vendors and food. The vendors sell tons of different Christmas things. Everything from ornaments and candels, to cookware and jewlery. Its a huge selection of just general knick knacky stuff. Really great. And they're usually huge, taking up an entire market place. The one in Würzburg is pretty big taking up the entire markt platz and spilling over onto the side streets and main street. It is a great time, to go and just hang out there with a bunch of friends and just people watch. Of course one could also drop some money on awesome little Christmasy things. The Christmas Market in Würzburg is really beautiful. Tons of different vendors, tons of food stands, tons of delicious sweets stands, and of course lots of Glühwein. I think it would be safe to say that i have become a big fan of Glühwein. Glühwein is a spiced red wine that is served hot and is a traditional Christmas drink. Its great to warm up with, however one cup is enough to make you a little loopy. I bet is probably has something to do with the beverage being served hot. But it is good, real good. And when you get one they give it to you in a real cup with a deposit on it. So you can return the cup for your deposit or keep it for a souvenir. I have a pretty fair collection going on right now myself. I have already been the Würzburg Christmas Market a couple of times this past week. But i forgot my camera everytime. I'll try and grab a few shots of the market here and put em up for everyone to see. But today we all did a day trip to the Christmas Market in Rothenburg. Rothenburg is a little town east of Würzburg. The town is picturesque. Just stepping off the train i felt like i was falling in "A Christmas Carol". Very very nice. The Christmas market there was just what i had expected from the town. So beautiful, with delicious drinks and food to be had. We had a little dinner at a traditional German restaurant, which was also quite delicious. Then made a walk around the Market and saw the sights. And of course the evening would not be complete without a hot cup of something. To my delight they were serving cups of hot Honey Wine at the market. So seeing as hot i had already indulged in a Glühwein that day, Honey Wine sounded interesting. And it was SOOOO GOOD! Really sweet, couldnt even taste the alchole in it. MMMMMMM no wonder its the drink of the gods. So yes picture time! This was the view entering the old villiage. The inner town is surrounded by an old wall which was pretty cool. A couple of shots upon entering the actual villiage. HORSES! So a few shots of the Market Place and of the Christmas Market. A couple of window displays from the stores around the market. NIGHTFALL! Tom, keepin' it gangsta since 1781.... So as you can see it really was beautiful, and one could easily waste away an entire day or two just lost in the film quality of that town. But yes in conclusion Christmas in Germany = Awesome, and Mike = Happy. And dont forget, try some Glühwein! It'll make you be awesome!