Mostly alive

Yesterday I did actually go to Cologne. Originally I was trying to find the ikea store, so I got out at the Cologne south train stop. I managed to accidentally pick the right way into the city. As I was walking along the sidewalk (oddly enough, every European street seems to have a sidewalk...imagine, actually giving people a place where they CAN walk)I kept hearing this windchime noise. Turns out it was about 8 people on their bicycles, all ringing their bells, because it was a wedding procession/celebration. I chose a path with sycamore trees on both sides, and ended up walking through the University of Cologne campus. Walk, walk, walk, and walk some more. I finally made it into the part of the city that I recognized and found lots of neato little secondhand stores or places that sold band shirts and stuff like that. Sadly, none of them had any cute boots. Walk, walk, walk, some more. After I've been home for a little bit, a friend of mine asks if I want to come to the book store. They ended up having the fountain show that night, again, also, but it was waaaay to crowded. Back at her place, we were invited to go back to Cologne with her friend and her brother and a guy from our class...all of them being Finnish...to go meet some more Finnish people in Cologne. So it ends up being two American girls, and I kid you not, 7 Finnish people. It ended up being a positively dreadful evening. One of the guys talked the entire night (even after I had left, because I was tired of hearing it) about how much he hated Americans. And that was the ONLY topic. So I went back to the train station and waited 45 minutes for the next train to Bonn and ended up eating an entire package of licorice (or cats' paws) in the process. Then the train STOPS in Br"uhl. No I still don't know how to make it make umlauts. And of course it's the regional train, so it takes 6 forevers anyway. And the bus in Bonn won't be there till oh, about another 45 minutes, so I just walk home. Again.
But then, when I get home (and I make it home alive), there are people on skype and someone rings the doorbell at my house...and it's Josh!!!! So I got to actually real live, as in really hear him, talk to my boy for the first time since I've been in Germany. So he was finally able to collect letters and postcards and things from the past month. And it turns out that my friend and her friend ended up going to the Hard Rock almost right after I left, but I was tired. We can always go back another time anyway, if I really want to see it. I thought I might actually study plants today, but we'll see. Mornings with no caffeine or sugar are a bad idea. Okay, so 2pm isn't really morning, but you understand. What the hell was I thinking, going out like that anyway?