Schokolade

Alright, for the first time in my life, I am obsessed with chocolate. I just cannot get enough of it! Now, I've always been someone who enjoys some chocolate now and then, if it's there I'll eat it, but I would never order it anyplace (I'm a vanilla gal!) and I've always gone for baked goods anyways like cake and brownies and muffins... but here in Germany, all that has changed. I CANNOT STOP EATING CHOCOLATE. It's legit turning into a problem. Last week I ate four full bars, this week I probably ate three. I'm on my way to finishing one right now... though I have to say, I poured myself a glass of milk just now--my first milk since I got here. Can't do it. I guess I'm going to go 5 months without milk because it's pretty gross here (and that's going to be pretty hard cause I'm a HUGE milk drinker back home.) When you buy it, it's not refrigerated (nothing is...it's weird) and the lowest fat they have is 1,5%...which is not like low-fat milk at home. This milk literally tastes like it came right out of a cow. I guess I'll just take the carton to the center and use the rest of it for my morning coffee...

But back to chocolate... how can anyone resist 35 cent chocolate bars at the grocery store? And since it's German chocolate, it's all amazing! But starting now... or, after I finish this last bar... I'm going to really try to cut down on the chocolate (though now I'm going to have to find a different way to get my calcium!) I think I've been able to avoid the pounds so far because we walk EVERYWHERE and I've been biking and have finally started running again (Heidelberg has so many great places to run!) but really, the chocolate's gonna have to take a back seat... I'll be updating about my progress periodically.

Now for something interesting-- the weekend! After class and lunch on Friday, we did some shopping for the pasta party- Brock introduced us to a new supermarket (Riva), which is absolutely the best one I've been in so far. It's a little pricier, but it's got a much bigger selection, and the food looks a little more legit than at Liedl and Pennymarkt. Then to Woolworth to buy my mirror, and back to the room. Finally got some tape and was able to hang up my new giant Europa map, as well as the very few photos that I brought, and unfortunately my new mirror does not stick to my plastered cement walls, but it's doing okay propped up on my suitcase.

Pasta party at Will's and Jenny's in the evening. The group gathered together and we had so much bread and cheese and wine and beer and bread and cheese and wine and beer...did I mention bread and cheese? And then pasta! Just...SO.MUCH.FOOD. Oh yeah...and cookies for dessert. Afterwards a bunch of us went to Halle 02 (the Heidelberg club) for 90s night! It was SO MUCH FUN! We got there around 11 and left after 2 I think. We recognized most every song, though there was a random German tune thrown in every now and then. Everything from Spice Girls to Ludacris to Nirvana to Greenday to Backstreet Boys to Offspring. Great night. Though by the end, we were all completely drenched in sweat, pretty gross.

Yesterday a group went to the giant Ikea in Mannheim but I didn't want to go because I really need to stop spending money. Despite the forecast it turned out to be a nice day (a little cold still though...), so Matt, Dan, and I decided to hop on the train with our semester tickets and go to Worms! Worms is in another state (Rheinland--same as Mainz) and is small city, but there was so much to see! We had no plans at all so we just walked around and found lots of dragons!



Literally, maybe 20 dragons all around the city. And of course we found the Worms cathedral, which was amazing! Absolutely my favorite cathedral I've seen so far. There was just so much going on both inside and out, and I could've definitely spent hours just walking around in it.





(Also, these are just a couple pictures, but for those that have access to my Facebook photo albums, I post all my pictures on there, and usually give much more detailed descriptions)

Explored Worms some more...the three of us shared a Spaghetti Eis and sat outside looking at the cathedral, then stopped at Pennymarkt to buy some chocolate, and then got on the train back to Heidelberg! So all in all, a 4 euro afternoon! Last night, Jinah had a rice party at her apartment. So take everything I described about Friday night's past party...but replace pasta with rice. We were already im Neuenheimer Feld, so a bunch of us went over to the bar in my building and stayed there for a couple hours. Just all around a good night with everyone!

Got up this morning and went to church. The mass here is much longer... today's was an hour and fifteen minutes. Then went on a nice run--it's not too warm, but it's very sunny, so the whole city was out and about. Made it a little hard to run when it's so crowded, but it's nice to see everyone enjoying the day OUTSIDE, unlike at home where no one is ever outdoors. Now it's time to tackle my weekend homework...and signed up to do my laundry tonight! (Very different system here... you've gotta sign up in advance for when you want to do your laundry.)

I like to try to have a focus or theme for my blog posts and this one was just very mundane, but we can't win 'em all, right?!