...really enjoyed Nürnberg.

At noon on Saturday, our train stopped again. It had taken off about a half hour late, and wasn't making up lost time very well. This was one of those moments that, back home, would be at least boring and probably very annoying. Here, it was an opportunity for me to reflect on where I was. Briefly, I was on the train to Nürnberg. Thanks to the 28EUR Bayern-Ticket, which is a ticket that covers up to five people anywhere in Bavaria (and a little further), I was loosely affiliated with four others on the train: one girl studying in Munich who was up for the weekend; a second girl, studying in Regensburg, going to play handball near Nürnberg; the fellow who had found us all; and a fourth fellow who was in the nearby section, along with the other healthily-imbibed fans, off to watch the fußball match. (The match ended up being a notable one -- the underdogs, FC Nürnberg, ended a 13 game wining streak of Bayern München.)

I didn't know what to expect but Nürnberg ended up to be a great spot for a day-trip. What struck me most about this city was that it was so unexpectedly pretty -- I mean, mention Nürnberg to anyone outside Germany and the first thing they think of are the trials. I learned that it's also infamous as a favourite city of Hiter, and was the location of some major Nazi parties (or whatever the correct historial term is, propaganda fests?). Most of the city was flattened by Allied bombing, but the old city centre was thankfully spared.

The pedestrian area starts at the train station and leads around up to the river. It's not far to the castle on the north of the river, which itself was conveniently close to a little brewery -- Hausbrauerei Altstadthof. This place makes not only their own beer, but their own beer-liquor as well. The rouge and the wheat beer were my favourites -- the helles was fine, and the dark beer was a dark beer, but nothing to write home about. (A note to beer-drinkers visiting: there is another brewery near the Hauptbahnhof that is much larger and looks more touristy. Beer is worse there.) Needless to say, I have fond memories of olde Euro architecture and beer, so I think I'll end up seeing Nürnberg again.

...finally had one of THOSE nights

You know what I mean. The kind where you go to some shitty ass bar (maybe Grad Club) and see some crazy local band (in Canada, Sleepless Nights or that band from Burlington which I love but can't remember), talk with friends and meet some girl and get her number. When I initially went out tonight, I thought it was to a party. Then I met up with my friend in front of a cinema (what the hell do we call them in Canada... movie theatres?) and she told me that she'd rather go to this bar that's attached to the cinema where her boss is playing a concert. I can't tell you how funny it was -- for one of the songs, I was personally serenaded (that means he sat on my lap and sang to me).

So nice night. And here's the kicker -- we get the morning off tomorrow. How sweet is that? Actually, tomorrow's a half day -- I'll take the morning off, thanks :)

p.s. While the thought has crossed my mind to edit this drunken post, I don't think I'm going to bother. Instead I just want to add this link to it. I do read QC but this one seemed so appropriate for last night.

...already has the second one planned.

Last night I hosted a housewarming party. Things started at 8 and the first guest rolled in soon after that. I had people from my German course, people I work with, and then some people I've met around Regensburg. Franz ended up coming as well for a few hours and I think he, like most guests, had a good time.

It's hard to recap a party but Franz ended up doing a head count at one point. I think there were approximately 25 people who came by at one point in time. 3 cases of beer (20 x 0.5L per case) were consumed, so on average a little under 3 pints per person. One of the guys there had just finished his diploma thesis and, knowing his penchant for Islay, I supplied a bottle of Laphroaig. That was, to my pleasant surprise, enjoyed by quite a few of us. Maybe an average of 1 oz per person? The last three to leave included one who was almost asleep, at the reasonable time of 3:30am.

I have a small stack of dishes to wash, a box of donations from my boss for my new place, and a few new bottles of wine. In the box was a cheese cutter. I'm thinking of a February wine and cheese.

p.s. I have no idea why comments are not working. Perhaps a reason to use blogspot if you're going to create a blog.

...is one step closer to having a real apartment.

Right, so ignoring the multiple objects I seem to have managed to break at work, the week's been going alright. Today I took the monumental step forward of ordering internet for my place. I'm going with a cable company, and they'll have to change my current outlet -- with plugs for TV and radio -- to an outlet with an additional plug for internet. Hopefully it'll go smoothly. I'm sure I'll have to interact with someone who speaks no English for the installation. Otherwise, where would the fun be?

This would leave only a sofa and washing machine left on the list of things to acquire (as part of my New Years Resolutions). I was going to order a sofa from Ikea but it's going to take them 3 weeks to deliver it (yah, right). As for a washing machine, my aunt gave me interesting advice -- don't get one. Paraphrasing her, I need all the help I can meeting girls, and I'm more likely to meet one at a laundromat than I am washing my clothes in my bathroom.

p.s. As of now, I successfully made the appointment for the technician to come next week and do the installation. Seriously, who phones at 8am?

...is back in Bavaria

I was invited to dinner in celebration of a friend's birthday last night. Out of the eight of us, there were two Russians, one Kazakhstanian, one Slovakian, one Czech, one German and one Canadian (I didn't catch where one person was from). The lingua franca was German and I found myself able to understand more than I expected to. An interesting cultural note is that the birthday girl paid for everyone's dinner (including drinks) and supplied cakes.

Back in the lab, I get a few days rest while we wait for parts. Thursday we'll open the chamber again and hopefully next week I'll get to start with the experiments whose results I am to discuss at the annual DPG (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft -- Germany's CAP) meeting in March. Nothing like a little fire under your butt to make time fly. Of course, I say a few days rest but what I really mean is that instead of sitting in front of a microscope, I'm trying to help some of the other projects going on here.

Finally, I've been doing some jogging since I got back. Thanks to my father, I'm prepared for mild-winter jogging conditions like we have here. I'm going to say (unscientifically) that exercise does help getting over jet lag. It also helped me realize how bad my cardio is these day.

...is almost at the end of an intense vacation.

When I was in Prague, one of my friends told me that it seemed I just wanted to experience all that I could of what was around me. I think that was reasonable of me -- at the time, I didn't know when I would be back in Europe and so I went out often, visited as many cities as I could, and tried a lot of different food.

This describes my Christmas vacation here in Canada. I don't know when I'll be back and I've tried to meet up with many of my good friends and family. I think I've single-handedly put over 1500km on the car making multiple trips from Toronto to Kingston and South Dundas county.

Along with an awesome Christmas dinner here at home, my family hosted a euchre tournament over here, celebrated an uncle's birthday, and made it up to one of our aunt's farm to visit family. In Ktown, we had another KRIPES-fest (the nanoPhysics group at Queen's) over at Alastair's house, and rocked New Years Eve at the Grizz. (Thanks to BMD and Kat for putting me up.) Of course, I couldn't be back in Canada and not get some time in the saddle. Somehow I managed to fit in seven rides on Future (yay Leigh) AND even got to try my hand driving a two horse open sleigh (big ups to Alison on that one). It's been a great vacation.

...has finally moved into his new place.

On Sunday, I moved my two suitcases and three plastic bags of food, with the help of Thorsten, to my new place. It's on the fourth floor of the building (which doesn't have a lift), and I bought the kitchen (350EUR) and bed (300EUR) from the previous tenant so that I'd have something there.

It's a good thing I bought that bed. Since moving in, my evenings have been taken up with (Mon) entertaining a visiting prof, (Tues) our work Christmas party, (Wed) a trip to Ikea, (Thurs) my German lessons and another trip to a furniture store. It's Friday, I'm tired, and I just want something to hang my clothes on. And so I think I'll take another trip to Ikea and buy some things for that.

The location is awesome. Across the road from my building is a little bakery, and I'm 5 min from two bus lines that run to the university. It's about an 8 min walk to the nearest laundromat and 10-15 min to the heart of the city, although you can be on one of the main streets in about 7 min.

My current nickname for this place is my "Fortress of Solitude." Not, of course, because I have any ego about myself, but rather that it is a place that I'm quite fond of where I go to relax.