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