survey says...!

short post here, gotta jet to meet Henning. But I had to post this. k, everyone its survey time, scale of 1 to 10, how hot is Ashley as a chick...
This picture both disturbed me greatly, and yet strangly enticed me all at the same time.

Im out. peace

Rather Mundane Update

Yo world

So the last few days have kinda been slow. Much slower than the last week, that's for sure. I've written out the postcards for the people who asked me for them. I'll be sending them out tomorrow. I've found some cool shit online. For those using Firefox, check this out, its a easy way to speed up Firefox, it actually works pretty well.

I spent most of the day running some errands. Shopping in Stuttgart, getting my room a bit more organized and homely, and starting to get angry at the people in charge of my program. They were supposed to send me my letter of acceptance to the university month's ago, but for some reason, they always had some excuse as to why it wasn't there. After talking to one of the dudes in my building, Martin, he was telling me how hard it is for Germans to get a room here in the residences. Apparently there's a 6 month waiting list, which is kinda ridiculous cause they definitely reserve rooms for the international students, as I didn't have a problem at all grabbing a room... but I digress.... he was saying that only until he started getting mad at the people in charge did he get a room. So I took his advice, I sent some nice, yet strongly worded emails to the people in charge in the Faculty of Physcis here. Ive sent them many emails in the past, only to recieve nothing, or telling me to show up during office hours (which none of them have shown up to...ever) . Anyhoo, within an hour, the dude came to my apartment and dropped off my whole package in person.

So I guess I've learned something about the German system, they really don't give a shit till you give them shit... good to know in the future.

So I got my important papers and information that I need to get my student visa, and get enrolled in the german course next week.

Tomorrow Im heading out of the city to meet up with an old friend from my exchange, Henning. This dude is definitely a character. He's definitely the best bassist I've ever met (sorry Krishna), as well as one of the most irresponsible people Ive ever met. My first encounter with him, he was driving like a maniac, drunk off his ass, and still drinking. Well, turns out it caught up to him and he's since got his license revoked for a couple months, which means we'll be travelling a la public transit. Fine by me, I bought a one month transit pass today, so I can go anywhere in the area at my will.

fuck, Ive been getting these viruses on my computer, which my virus checker has been picking up, but I don't know if its coming from the network, or theres something deep in my computer. If its the latter, I'll be forced to reformat. I don't understand what's going through these geeks heads when they're writing a virus. What kind of ignorant miserable asshole wants to inflict such frustration and damage on unsuspecting people? I guess they're just pissed that no one liked them in high school, so theyre taking their revenge on everyone else now...assholes.

Oh, I found another cool thing on the net. I guess it just riles up the physics in me, and gets me a little hot and bothered, but check it out regardless, I find it to be pretty interesting and humbling. I guess that's it for now. Sorry about the mindless ranting, I'm pretty bored now. I need to find something to do besides rant on this blog. peace for now

Rammstein, Foosball and a nature walk through the Black Forest

Hey

So I did end up going to the bar last night. I walked in, and all I see is this tiny dark room with lots of smoke, and loud hardcore German synthrock blasting. Think Rammstein wannabe's. The place was near empty, all the tenants, cept me of course, were decked out in crazy goth leather. To be honest, I felt rather intimidated. The girls definitely did look cute all decked out, but they also scared me to death to even talk to them.

I chatted up the bartender a bit, telling her that its my first time and I really wasn't expecting this. She was cool enough to let me know that it gets less scary as the night goes on. I believed her, drank my beer, and was ready to take off. As I was leaving, I see this huge other room, with more chilled looking people (still in the leather, but with less dog collars and black make-up). I see some Foosball tables (which for those who don't know, Im a huge Foosball fan, and pretty damn good too). I found a table with 3 people playing, asked to join, and made some friends immediately. I showed them how to whack the ball like it owes ya money.

These peeps were a bit older, all graduated and working, but I guess Im more in their age bracket than the 18 year olds in first year here. I've met some people from my building, unfortunately theyre all studying for their exams which start next week, so theyre all quiet and not doing much. We'll see how much they open up once their done with their writing.

So I took a tour today of my campus, and its much nicer than i thought. Ive only seen the older buildings here, which, I have to say, look like shit. Theyre all dirty and crusted, with graffiti everywhere. I suppose when the government pays for everything, aesthetics is the last thing on the minds of the people in charge. BUT the rest of the campus is beautiful. The newer buildings have some cool architecture to them. I even stumbled across this wicked solar array and this awesome building right next to it. Im definitely going to go in and see what theyre all about. I also took a nice little tour of the forest behind my building. It reminded me a ton of Cootes paradise in Hamilton. Lots of great trails, with a couple ponds nearby. I'll be purchasing a camera this week, and I'll make sure to post some good pics from in there.

Besides that, Ive been wandering around Stuttgart alot. Theres a ton of cool shops and my favourite part of Europe, the Fussgaengerzonen. A long ass word, which essentially means a pedestrian area. So there's a ton of shops, but no cars. These couple of pictures of from Stuttgarts famous Koenigstrasse (King Street). This is where the shit all goes down, theres the provincial buildings at the end of it with a beautiful lawn area for chillin, and more cafe's than you can shake a stick at. I made a list for myself of shit I still need to do before Im officially settled in here. Its gonna cost some serious dough. Things here are stupid expensive with the Euro now. Everyone's been telling me how its really hurting them. Wages have been cut due to the exchange of the Deutschemark to the Euro, but all the shops just changed the DM to the Euro sign, which means everything cost these people almost twice as much without making it back in wages. Anyhoo, I'll totally have to get a job soon, but not until I get my visa, and all the other BS still to be done.

Wicked, so keep posting those comments, I love to see them. peace

t

The communal sounds of the guitar

So I worked the magic of the guitar today to try and make some friends. I did my traditional sitting outside jamming with my acoustic this evening and sure enough it draws people in like the smell of bacon in the morning. I only really met a couple dudes from my building, but thats a good start for me.

I'll be checking out the local campus bar tonight... ALONE... I figure let's go balls out here, hopefully I don't stand out as that creepy foreigner who always says the wrong thing. I'll let you know how it goes.

I'll be buying a camera REAL soon, Ive been getting bitched at by some people for not having enough pictures. But I wanna get a decent one for a decent price, kinda asking alot, but hey I'm cheap, what can I say?

I figured out how my shared kitchen works today. The fridge has small little locked compartments that you store stuff in, as well as cupboards. So I went shopping for some essentials, and Im almost set. Tomorrow's task is to figure out how to do laundry, and then do it. Aaron was saying that his laundry machines take literally forever, so I gotta be patient. I've also decided to make some crucial purchases tomorrow, just small things for my room, but I have no clue where to find any of it. The adventure begins!

I also just downloaded this Google Talk thing. For those of you not in the know, its another Skype style program. For some reason, Skype is being weird with my network, but Google Talk is working fine. So for those of you looking to try some new things, check it out.

k, off to start drinking and mingling with some Germans.

out

t

Good times in the Black Forest

So I just got back from a surprise adventure that Hanna took me on. Great times, I have no idea what its called in English, but they have something on Blue Mountain in the summer. Its a fun little sled ride. Anyways, we had a good time sailing down this 1km long track. I chose to use as little brakes as possible (of course to increase the chances of totally coming off the track and getting a really great story from it), but those little bastards are on there good. I was flying around these rollercoaster like corners and side loops. All in all, a great afternoon. Unfortunately, we had no camera, so youre gonna have to settle with these couple I grabbed from Google.

Just replace the kid with me, and his seemingly frightened face with me giggling like a school girl, and you get a good idea of what I was doing. Great times.

I leave tomorrow for my boring life in Stuttgart. My goal for this week, make some FRIENDS. I still know no one at all at my school, so I have to break through the cold German shell to see what these people are all about.

t

Postcards

hey folks, if any of you are sentimental to postcards, and the joy that they bring when you get one in the mail, email me your address and I'll send one or two your way. Ive bought a few right now. I'll get more if there's demand for 'em. Also, I like getting postcards so send any you might acquire to:

Tim van Boxtel
Pfaffenwaldring 46A Rm:503
70569 Stuttgart
GERMANY

That will reach my front door. Im still in Freiburg, leaving tomorrow afternoon I think. As many times as Ive been here, the efficiency of the train system here blows me away. I can catch any train I want every hour, to the minute. Since I bought a German Rail Pass, Ive only been travelling the best trains that they give here. The ICE (Inter City Express) are fantastic. Complete with a bar\restaurant where I seem to often frequent. People here really take the efficiency for granted. Ive seen people get really pissed off here when the trains leave 2 minutes late. I feel like enlightening them on how it COULD be, but normally I keep my big mouth shut, laugh it off, and chalk it up to culture shock.

Well, yesterday was very relaxed and chilled. It was raining here almost all day, and this city really has nothing when you can't go outside. So instead, I made Hanna and I a wicked-bad lunch, we spent the day smoking joints and watching movies, then went out for a few drinks in the night. It was a very laid back day. I have something similar planned for today.

peace out all

RSS Feed

Hey guys, for those of you not tapped into the super speedy world of RSS, it's high time you do. Using a Firefox browser, its super easy to add links of the latests posts an news headlines. First you need an .xml name that points to your posts. For me its http://timingermany.blogspot.com/atom.xml

In the Manage Bookmarks Option, you just select New Live Bookmark in the File menu and copy and paste that .xml line into the URL bar. If anyone knows how this works in IE, let the world know, I havent really used it in a while.

Pictures from yesterday

I took some pictures. Here are some of the good ones from the day in Freiburg.

Chillin in Freiburg

So I made it to Freiburg no problem. It was a good train, equipped with a fine bar and restaurant. The 6 hours flew by. I chatted it up with a Taiwanese software programmer who was going home to see his family for the first time in months. We were talking alot about the boring routine of most jobs. He said his was no different. I sorta felt bad for him, but he was an intelligent guy, so he knows what's best for him.

This city is just as I remember it. There's the ever looming cathedral in the middle of town that is a part of all older European towns. This one is pretty big and has most of the older streets spiderwebbing from it. Im going to be climbing it today and take some cool shots for posting next. I found a couple cool pictures of this city on the internet. There's these awesome little aqueducts that run alongside the streets, called 'bächle' (pronounced bay-kla). They still have water running through them, I find them hilarious and wicked at the same time.

So last night we made a great dinner, drank some fantastic white wine (the area makes really good white wine that you can' t really buy anywhere else), and some excellent Amsterdam pot. Topping it off with Hanna's first showing of 'Office Space' made for a great night.

I'll be sure to have some good stories for next time. It's early and I'm tired, peace out

t

Headed outta Amsterdam

hey, this is gonna have to be a short post. I was supposed to leave Amsterdam this afternoon, but I left my Railpass in Aaron's apartment. He is working till 6. So I have decided to take a trains straight to Frieburg tomorrow morning.

It's been an intense/chill, confusing, and all around good time here in Amsterdam. Im glad I was with Aaron, as he knew more of the city than just the touristy parts. I saw some wicked cool scenery while biking through the streets of the city. Biking definitely adds a new dimension to the feel of the city. Checked out a few of Amsterdam's many coffeeshops, some of which were fantastic. I've sampled some of the fine pot here, and have been exploring the endless canals greatly.

So far I've been tied up in a little German beaurocracy a little. After endless amounts of waiting, all I got from it was my name registered in the system and an appointment for Sept 1. My welcome book to the school talked about the 'Obstacle Course' that is the system.

thats it for now.
peace
't

Amster-Damn I'm wasted!

So as it always goes, i got retarded in Amsterdam. It all started on the train ride over here. I hopped on my train in Stuttgart around noonish, and took the train to Duisburg, just north of Dusseldorf. I sat next to a cute little girl with wicked hair, Ine. We had a good chat, and I took my leave to switch trains.

My next train went straight from Duisburg to Amsterdam. Within a minute of getting on the train I started chatting up this Scottish dude, Malcolm, and we headed straight for the bar car. There we met a ton of travellers, from an older American couple, who were pretty funny, to these two Italian dudes who spoke German as their native tongue, due to Austria and Switzerland being so close). Whatev. We had a good long chat for the 2 hours as we smoked cigarettes and drank Warsteiners. We hit Amsterdam and, well, of course, headed straight for a coffee shop. I pickedup some lovely Northern Lights, they grabbed some White Widow, and the debauchery began.

By 6 pm, I was wasted, I also had to get in touch with Aaron here to find out where were staying tonight. I called him and he found my drunk ass, took me back, I grabbed a nap, then I was raring to go.

We went out with some off his friends, haha, to a coffeeshop. We drank some Heinekens, and well, smoked more joints. By 3 they kicked us out. We took a little tour of some of the shady areas of the Red Light District. As much as some of the girls were totally hot, I couldnt help thinking what kind of fucked up life they must lead. Ive never been too impressed with the Red Light District, as much as I agree with its principles. Better have them safe and controlled and roaming the streets. I guess the culture shock is still a bit too great for me to openly accept.

We got some pics at the end of the night when we were chillin in Aaron's pad with some of his friends. By 5am, Iwas ready for bed, so here I am, we woke up at 2 pm, Aaron is out getting beers for us to walk the streets with, and Im rolling many a joint for consumption.

Today we are going to check out the Tall Ship Festival, a bunch of old ass Pirate Ships sailed in here from all over the world, and seems like a cool thing to check out . . . on weeeed!

Tonight is a beach party in den Haag, the dutch capital. Should be a good time, I'll make sure we bring a camera.

So far, Amsterdam is just as I remember it. completely insane. I know for a fact, that if I were to live here, Id get sick of the touristy party town pretty quickly, but for now, I AM a tourist, so in the words of Jon Stewart...




Your Moment of Zen....

Plans for near future

So Im in Ludwigsburg now, this is where I spent my exchange many years back. Its great to see my old German family and spend the same old time with them. Ludwigsburg is a great little city with alot of culture, they built a castle here many years back, inspired by the castle at Versailles. Its gorgeous (as seen left <--). Ive had many a drunk nights wandering throughout the grounds. So Im hittin up Amsterdam in a couple days to see my favourite Jew, Aaron. Its big weekend there, as theres some sort of festival going on. Not entirely sure what it is, but I guess it doesnt really matter. I´ll be sampling some fine Dutch weed and the local culture. Something like this.

I'll let everyone know how the Dam is once I get there.

Afterwards, I'll be travelling to Freiburg, a quaint little town in the south west of Germany. My good friend Hanna lives there, and I'll be crashing at her place for a while. Im looking forward to seeing her, she came to Canada to visit a couple summers ago, and it'll be good to catch up.

I have to make some big purchases soon, I was looking at the cell phones (here, theyre called Handy's, cause they fit in your hand, which I find ridiculous). I was looking at something a bit more, like a Blackberry (Craig, you'd be proud). Its only 10€ for the phone if I get a plan, which is around 15€ per month for 100 minutes, a little expensive, but i really dont see myself using it very much. If I could get one with a camera, that would be ideal as it would save me the 100€-200€ for a digital camera.

Cool, my time here is running out, I must continue onwards and rock Germany a little bit more. Take care peeps, feel free to send me an email every now and then to let me know whats going on in Canada, I miss it already. peace y'all

t

Made it safe and sound!

yo world,

so I made it here in Stuttgart, safe and sound. Im tired to shit, but so far so good. I took care of alot of bs admin stuff today for my school, and I got my apartment 2 weeks early which is nice. I was going to travel out of my back for the next couple weeks, but Im glad I have a place to store my stuff, it was flippin heavy.

The weather here is nice. Cloudy and warm, Ive been sampling the fine European coffee and chatting up a few people. Its weird speaking German ALL the time, definitely something I have to get used to FAST. I opened up a bank account, and all is well. I think Im going to have to bite the bullet and get a cell phone soon.

Im at an internet cafe which is flippin expensive, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I should be getting internet in my place within the week, so expect lots of updates afterwards.

peace and love everyone, it was really hard leaving Canada. But I gave up a great life there to pursue a great one here, so I really can't complain.

First Post

Hey guys,

This is my blog. I figured instead of awful mass emails, which sometimes get too long for my ADD to take, I can use the blog space to share my thoughts as well as the times had in Germany.

I land in Stuttgart on Aug. 16. There, Im meeting a student of Physics in Stuttgart, Eva, to help me with some of the formalities of school. If there's one thing I need help with, its red tape.

After I get my school stuff organized, Im heading to Ludwigsburg to see my old buddy Kurt. We go way back to when I did my student exchange to his place in high school, it's been 8 years already, whew!

I don't get my apartment until September 1, which means I get 2 weeks to travel around, and go wherever the Eurorail will take me. Definitely check out Amsterdam and see my good buddy Aaron.

Anyways, thats the skinny on my first couple weeks in Europe.

peace and love

tim