Berlin

On Monday I walked around the Wave-Gotik-Treffen till lunch time and then took a train to Berlin where I met my tandem partner Karen and her friend. They were really sweet and gave me a "Berlin at night" tour haha Then the next day we were really lucky and had nice weather to go sight seeing. It was a very rushed experience since I wanted to see as much of Berlin as I could in only one day. I think I did pretty well though since I got to see the Berlin wall, the Brandenburger Tor, Siegessaeule, Museumsinsel, Lustgarten, and a lot more. I was about to pass out after looking at the museums so we went home a bit early. Karen's friend was so sweet and bubbly and made us dinner and breakfast. I had to pop that disgusting blister on my foot and then could barely walk for the next couple days. That's what I get for wearing heels all day. I had a lot of fun with Karen and her friend and it was very good for my German. I got to learn lots of new words over this trip! Mostly slang haha It's so hard for me to understand people my age speaking German because they talk so fast and use slang that I don't understand. But I've learned that if I can figure out the meaning of "doch" I'll be fine. They use it SO much and it's really hard to translate. I kind of have it figured out, but not quite. I would love to go back to Berlin for a concert or something and spend some more time there. It was so nice when you weren't in the touristy areas where it was packed.

 These guys were amazing. I couldn't stand still for that long.

 In my rush I took a lot of sideways pictures...*sigh*

Wave-Gotik-Treffen

Wow I have so much to blog about! I went on a trip around Germany this past week. My first stop was the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig. It is a huge 5 day long Gothic music and art festival. There were 175 bands playing throughout the city on different days. I mostly walked around and took pictures of the beautiful people and buildings. I did go see Abney Park on Friday night because I love them and then I went to the big concert on Sunday night with Noisuf-x. I love the high of being at a concert, surrounded by people dancing and singing. It's wonderful. I think that was the most fun I had at WGT. The costumes were amazing of course. I was able to dress up a tiny bit but I didn't have room in my suitcase to bring too much. I started at 7am on Friday and got to Leipzig around 3pm. It was so chaotic that first day because I had to take another train to Halle to meet my couchsurfing hosts, then find Lintu and Thomas and view what little was left of the Victorian Picnic, check in to get my wristband for the events, and then I was finally able to go to the Abney Park concert. My first mitfahrgelegenheit (German carpool system) was really good, I had nice people and they got me to Leipzig pretty fast. My first time couchsurfing was also a lot of fun. I stayed with a couple who lived 30 minutes outside of Leipzig. Their apartment was really nice with a great view over Halle. They made me a huge breakfast every morning I was there (which I was not expecting!) and we watched some movies and just talked over coffee a lot when I wasn't at WGT. I got to meet up with Lintu and Thomas on the first day I was there but after that I'm not sure what happened. They just decided to ignore me the rest of the weekend. I have no clue if  I did something or what. They just wouldn't reply to my texts or calls so when I called them on Sunday and got no reply I just gave up and hung out with random people where ever I went, which was also cool. It really helped my German haha I was dumb and wore 6inch heeled boots on Saturday so now I have a terrible blister under my toe >_< They were super cute while I was wearing them though! Pretty much everyone I met was super nice and the bands/vendors were great. I didn't do much shopping since things are always way over priced at these events but I did get a hat and a t-shirt. Overall, very fun (minus the being ignored for no reason thing) and tiring weekend. I took about 180 pictures (yikes!) but because this blogging site has a monthly limit I had to really be picky. So these are just a very few of the costumes and building pictures. I have about 133 on facebook too so go check there if you're on my friends list ^_^

 Abeny Park

 so cute ^_^

 Incubite

Frühlingsfest

Yesterday I went to the Frühlingfest in Stuttgart with some friends. I wasn't sure what to expect other than beer tents and carnival rides but it was definitely a trip to take with friends. The festival was a lot of fun even though I don't drink beer or eat wurst. The rides were to expensive to go on and it rained some while we were there but it was so much fun seeing everyone dressed in Drindl and Lederhosen drinking, singing, and dancing. I really wanted to buy a Drindl but the ones on sale there were very expensive. I was told you can buy them on ebay for about $30 but I'm not sure when I would ever wear one since there are no more festivals while I'm here. So I just settled for a hat instead. Didn't actually drink any beer, just posed with it haha I've tasted several since I've been here and still haven't found one that doesn't taste terrible to me. It was a lot of fun meeting new people and spending time with friends. I really enjoyed being immersed in the German culture. Everyone singing together and just enjoying each others company. I can't wait for next weekend when I get to travel more.