"It Was One of Those Moments... That I Truly Felt Like I was a Part of the City."

At work today, I continued doing whatever Karin wanted me to do! I can tell that as the day grows closer for the international students to arrive that she is getting more and more stressed!

Yesterday, she had me do what she considered a "donkey job," which has its own word auf Deutsch. She had me go into every single bag that we had packed on Wednesday (over 200, by the way) and insert a flyer that had just come in. So, I spent over an hour doing that grueling task, as well as re-folding and organizing all of these bags.

Anyway, so today at work I got a few keys from Claudia for students coming in this weekend for the program. I also had to give a Students for Students ambassador (a German student who helps an incoming international student get into their room, get settled, and helps them with finding things initially) some bedding for his incoming student. I sell that from the Wurm Haus.

It was then time for Mittagspause! I had a nice chat with some Valpo students before they walked up to Aachelm, made some lunch, and took a nap. Then it was back to work.

Well, kind of! I got into the office and was told about 20 minutes later that I could go home early, if I wanted to. Is that even a QUESTION?! Hoorah! Off of work early. I finished up a few things and headed out that door.

It was grocery shopping time. I made a list and prepared to go to the Penny, when Eric Facebooked me and told me that he was back from Aachelm and wanted to make dinner. We made a recipe I found on pinterest for zucchini pizza and it was one of the best things I had ever eaten! And healthier than the traditional pizza.

Then, I grabbed my list and headed to the grocery store. Eric and I went to Edeka to grab a few things (including mint chocolate chip gelato!) and then went to Penny for most of my stuff. Every time I walk into that store, I forget about the Pfand that I need to use! I have about 2 Euros I could save off of my purchase, but oh well. I am really excited about the fact that I found all of the ingredients for
 a home-made spinach artichoke dip!

I ate some gelato and then headed off to take a bus into town! I went and saw Chroniken der Unterwelt tonight! Alas, I was disappointed (as I have before mentioned, I am an AVID reader of the books), but the experience was a fun one. I had never been to a German movie theater before and now I can say that I have!

It was interesting because instead of just buying your ticket and sitting wherever, you are actually given a seat number in the theater, just like a play. I got a good seat in pretty much the exact middle of the theater!

Because I had read the book, I understood most of what was going on. I was disappointed that the screenplay writer could have easily adapted the movie better to the book, but instead chose to completely remove a set from the movie (Renwicks) and added parts that were never in the book that just took up time that could have been put towards accurately portraying the book.

To be honest, every book that I have loved reading, I have ended up hating the movie the first time I saw it. I do believe I will still go see the movie in Stuttgart when it comes out (in English!). If someone asked me if I wanted a sequel, at this point I would say no! But maybe once I view the film more objectively, I will be okay with the rendition of the first book.

On my way home from the movie, I wanted to stick to the main streets, as I was walking by myself. I ended up walking through the Weindorf (wine festival) to get to the main square. It was so packed, but instead of being uncomfortable and hating the situation, I enjoyed being among all of those people - I had nowhere to be, and it was one of those moments as I looked around at the people in Lederhosen and Dierndls drinking large cups of local wine, all with the beautiful Marienkirche as a backdrop, that I truly felt like I was a part of the city.

The magic faded as I realized I had JUST missed the 10:30 bus and would either have to wait a half hour or walk home. I decided to walk home.

I made it safely and had a very nice and relaxing evening. :)