festival of the republic

so, more craziness with friends and now family. it was a lot of fun hanging out with katja in mannheim. i still can't believe that she hand built a massive giant sized home for her three guinnie (how in the world do you spell that) pigs. they make the coolest squeeky sounds. i couldn't stay too long because she had to roadtrip it down to lago di como for a holiday, so i moved over to heidelberg to stay with tyson and becky.

little people and dogs pay the same for a tram ride in germany.

it felt a lot like being back at pepperdine (my university) with good people all over the place. there was a group of students from the university that is also there doing a project and they were completely into games (cards, dice, or whatever else they could find). it made it great fun all of the time--but they really were a crazy bunch. being there with them definitely made me want to stop moving and saying goodbye to so many awesome people. thats probably good timing since there is less than two months left in the trip. my mind has been thinking much more about what i would like to do when i get home now, and a lot of it has to do with speding so much time with friends that i have met on this trip. i would like to have local friends again that i can see on a regular basis--the downside is that i know i am going to miss all of my european friends the moment i get back....guess that means i might be up for a move...


breakfast at tyson's and becky's. i had problems sitting in becky's chair; the ceiling was oddly angled.

i had problems gettting over to cologne so i had to skip out on that one for now. it was alright though because it just meant more time at tyson and becky's. everything works out for the best. for the last few nights i stayed with hayley in seregno which is about a 20 minute trian ride from milan. she is teaching english in italy and has a great apartment (huge balcony!!), roommates, and students. i guess that goes on the list of possible things to do (if only i could be an EU citizen, going to have to work on that...). i met hayley way back at the centre of new zealand (nelson) so it was cool to see how her path in life has gone.

this morning i met my mom in milan and now i'm staying at a hotel where i haven't seen that many stars on a sign this entire year. we've got about 20 days together for a sweet tour of northern italy. next week we rent a car so i hope to start working on my goal of learning to drive manual this year. i figure if i could do those tractors, i could do a car now. we'll see.

have a good day and happy festival of the republic! i have no idea what thats for, but its today.

your friend
chad