Saturday, and for the first time, I didn't had to go online and search for a place. It felt weird. So I spent the morning getting up to date with the shows. Fringe, Castle, I saw them all.
When we got down to lunch, I had a nasty surprise. Lunch was some kind of strudel, covered with vanilla sauce. Not desert, lunch. And so I ate my portion, but soon started feeling nausea. I couldn't eat enough "desert" to compensate for a real lunch. It was the first time I was hungry after lunch. But I could see they enjoyed it much. All of them had repeated the first dose, and some even had it for a third time. I was then asked if in Portugal it was also usual to have sweet lunch, and I said, no way, just meat or fish. They were so surprised.
After lunch I was asked if I could go walk the dogs, and Herman said, for an hour, or maybe two. I didn't knew if he was serious or not....So I went with Vanessa to walk them. I realized we were taking a longer path than usual, and started thinking that the one hour trip wasn't a joke after all. It wasn't. We walked for an hour and a half. I didn't mind though. The landscape is really beautiful, and I could use the exercise.
Back to my room, the girls came bursting in, asking if they could play the playstation. Yes, there is one in my room, but the only games I had found were singstar and sims, so I hadn't touched it. I said why not? And it was obvious they were only allowed to play on weekends, and were afraid that I wouldn't let them. out of nowhere, they got a need for speed, and asked if I wanted to join. Well, after 4 races I quit. Not to brag, but there's no point in constantly beating 14 years old girls. It was spoiling their fun.
Dinner time was coming, and for the first time I was starving. But before that, I was asked to join Herman I another walk with the dogs. This time it was only 30 minutes. So I got good exercise that day. On the way back home, I was hoping the dinner was the usual sandwiches, and fruit, and not some sweet stuff, because I was ravenous.
Lucky me, there were lunch leftovers, but there also was. Read, and the usual, so I chose that part. I think they understood I hadn't quite enjoyed lunch.
Back to my room, talked to the guys back home, read some Manga, went to bed. A nice day overall.
segunda-feira, 3 de outubro de 2011
sexta-feira, 30 de setembro de 2011
Day 14 - A new place!
Friday started badly. I woke up, looked at the mirror and thought that my beard was going wild. So I grabbed a nail scissors and hacked at it. I was glad to see the end result was not to shabby. Got on the iPad to recheck the bus time, and to my amazement I had it wrong. The bus was in 10 minutes! I thought I had 40....Turns out the bus is only a hourly bus after midday....So I ran. And I ran. Usually, I need 15-20 minutes reach the station, so I was worried. A lot. So much that I sped by the station and just kept going. Yep, I missed it. And only realized it when I saw MacDonalds, which I knew was way ahead of the station. I doubled back, but I saw the bus pass me. I can't describe how mad I was. I was going to have to call the landlord and reschedule the meeting. More than that, I had ran for nothing.Worst, if I was paying attention I would have made it. All in all, a bad start.
So I went to a store, I needed a notebook and some writing materials, to start writing all the new German words, bought them ( I couldn't find a notebook cheaper than 5 euros...) and just went to the station and wait for the next bus. Yep, I had to wait an hour. So I called the landlord, rescheduled the meeting to 3 PM.
When the bus finally came, I got on, and managed to find a cheaper ticket, as I had done the day before for the train. Turns out that if you do more than one trip, a daily ticket is the best choice. So a round trip now costed me 20 euros instead of 30. In the bus, i found myself explaining to two canadian old ladies the metro in Munich, and how to get to the oktoberfest, because as usual, none of the Germans sope Emglish. But despite my good deeds, traffic was heavy, and when I got to the train station, the train had already left. 20 minutes until the next one meant I would be late for the meeting I had already postponed. Nice....
So when I finally arrived at my final destination, 90 minutes after the initial time, 30 minutes late, I was feeling bad. But I talked to the landlord, saw the room, saw the place and said I'd take it. He said, well, this was reserved for a french guy, but he had told him to call to confirm it and he hadn't yet. If he didn't in the next two hours, the room was mine, just like that. I decided go head back to the hostel and just wait.
Man did those 2 hours drag on forever. And I was still expecting a call from the other landlady. But finally the landlord called and said the room was mine, if I wanted it. So I headed back, and in no time signed a contract.
So I bet you are all wondering, so here's the room:
It isn't big, only 10 sq m, but it had a nice window. On the pros side, it is cheap, only 368 a month, everything inluded, it has a supermarket in the ground floor, has a huge window to the south. On the cons side, it is not central, it will take something like 45 minutes to reach the college, it is small, and the apartment is shared with 8 persons, from all over the planet, and I had decided to sign the contract until march, and if I need to leave in february, which is likely, I will have to find someone to cover the last month.
But I was happy. I had a place.
So I went back to the hostel, surfed the internet for a while, and then I decided to go to the bathroom. This was a bad idea....why, because the bathroom was in the private area, and I had to use a non standard way to get there. No, I didn't go through windows, just a strange path a normal guest wouldn't take. And as I was lucky today, this was spotted, which led to 10 minutes of uncomfortable explanations with the receptionist. She no doubt thought that I was going to steal something from the rooms. Well I won't go into much details of what happened, but let's just say I won't be showing my face there in the next month. But no harm done.
On a train back to Mainburg, which was late again and I had to run for the bus. My luck was not the best, but hey, I did find an apartment. So back at Mainburg, some blog writing, some show watching, some skyping and I was done for the day. Went to bed, happy. I had a place!
So I went to a store, I needed a notebook and some writing materials, to start writing all the new German words, bought them ( I couldn't find a notebook cheaper than 5 euros...) and just went to the station and wait for the next bus. Yep, I had to wait an hour. So I called the landlord, rescheduled the meeting to 3 PM.
When the bus finally came, I got on, and managed to find a cheaper ticket, as I had done the day before for the train. Turns out that if you do more than one trip, a daily ticket is the best choice. So a round trip now costed me 20 euros instead of 30. In the bus, i found myself explaining to two canadian old ladies the metro in Munich, and how to get to the oktoberfest, because as usual, none of the Germans sope Emglish. But despite my good deeds, traffic was heavy, and when I got to the train station, the train had already left. 20 minutes until the next one meant I would be late for the meeting I had already postponed. Nice....
So when I finally arrived at my final destination, 90 minutes after the initial time, 30 minutes late, I was feeling bad. But I talked to the landlord, saw the room, saw the place and said I'd take it. He said, well, this was reserved for a french guy, but he had told him to call to confirm it and he hadn't yet. If he didn't in the next two hours, the room was mine, just like that. I decided go head back to the hostel and just wait.
Man did those 2 hours drag on forever. And I was still expecting a call from the other landlady. But finally the landlord called and said the room was mine, if I wanted it. So I headed back, and in no time signed a contract.
So I bet you are all wondering, so here's the room:
It isn't big, only 10 sq m, but it had a nice window. On the pros side, it is cheap, only 368 a month, everything inluded, it has a supermarket in the ground floor, has a huge window to the south. On the cons side, it is not central, it will take something like 45 minutes to reach the college, it is small, and the apartment is shared with 8 persons, from all over the planet, and I had decided to sign the contract until march, and if I need to leave in february, which is likely, I will have to find someone to cover the last month.
But I was happy. I had a place.
So I went back to the hostel, surfed the internet for a while, and then I decided to go to the bathroom. This was a bad idea....why, because the bathroom was in the private area, and I had to use a non standard way to get there. No, I didn't go through windows, just a strange path a normal guest wouldn't take. And as I was lucky today, this was spotted, which led to 10 minutes of uncomfortable explanations with the receptionist. She no doubt thought that I was going to steal something from the rooms. Well I won't go into much details of what happened, but let's just say I won't be showing my face there in the next month. But no harm done.
On a train back to Mainburg, which was late again and I had to run for the bus. My luck was not the best, but hey, I did find an apartment. So back at Mainburg, some blog writing, some show watching, some skyping and I was done for the day. Went to bed, happy. I had a place!
Day 13 - The search must go on!
So I was at Mainburg, and there was nothing else to do except looking for a place, watching some shows, walking the dogs, etc. The kids had no homework, so no help was needed there. And that's pretty much what I did the whole day. On a happier note, lunch was Cordon Bleu, one of the rare lunches I knew what I was eating.
In the evening, Herman showed up in my room, and I could understand that he needed my help (for what I didn't knew), and that we would be riding a car. So I got up and followed him. At the garden, he needed my help to take some measurements (he took the fences size), and we drove off, to a place that sells lumber. Why he needed my help was something I had yet to figure. Yes I had helped with with the tape, but that just took 1 minute. I guessed he would need help carrying some of the wood, but we had gone in a small car, and for what I knew, they sell this in blocks of 3 or more meters. Anyway I tagged along. At the first shop, he asked for the prices and I could tell he found them expensive. So on to the second shop. Here, he showed me a weird screw, and we tried to find an equal. No luck. Then he tried to explain what he wanted, and what I understood was that he needed to make a wooden door. So I spent 5 or 10 minutes looking at hinges, trying to be helpful. I sure wasn't though. Guess I hadn't understood well what he wanted. In that same shop we found the lumber he needed, only this one was too small. It was 3 cm smaller than what he wanted I guess, but he took it anyway.
Back at home I was proven right. It was small. And there I was looking dumb, while he rummaged through his garage, looking for who knows what. I was wondering if he still needed my help, but then he produced a piece of wood, from the first shop (guess he must have had a surplus the last time) and this was just the right size. Well, now it was up to him, cheaper and smaller or expensive and the right size. I understood my help was needed no more, if it ever was anyway.
With all this, it was already 7 PM, dinner time. I had cordon bleu again, while they ate bread with cheese, butter ( and I thought I used too much butter!), and some other stuff I didn't recognize.
Well, back to my room, more searching led to an appointment for the next day, not bad. And it was Skype time. Talked with some of the people back home, but then at midnight the Internet went off (or should I say the router stopped working), so it was bedtime. Did I dared to hope that the next day would be the lady of my search? Remember I had a pending answer for Friday. But I wasn't hopeful. Too many 'no' had seen to that.
In the evening, Herman showed up in my room, and I could understand that he needed my help (for what I didn't knew), and that we would be riding a car. So I got up and followed him. At the garden, he needed my help to take some measurements (he took the fences size), and we drove off, to a place that sells lumber. Why he needed my help was something I had yet to figure. Yes I had helped with with the tape, but that just took 1 minute. I guessed he would need help carrying some of the wood, but we had gone in a small car, and for what I knew, they sell this in blocks of 3 or more meters. Anyway I tagged along. At the first shop, he asked for the prices and I could tell he found them expensive. So on to the second shop. Here, he showed me a weird screw, and we tried to find an equal. No luck. Then he tried to explain what he wanted, and what I understood was that he needed to make a wooden door. So I spent 5 or 10 minutes looking at hinges, trying to be helpful. I sure wasn't though. Guess I hadn't understood well what he wanted. In that same shop we found the lumber he needed, only this one was too small. It was 3 cm smaller than what he wanted I guess, but he took it anyway.
Back at home I was proven right. It was small. And there I was looking dumb, while he rummaged through his garage, looking for who knows what. I was wondering if he still needed my help, but then he produced a piece of wood, from the first shop (guess he must have had a surplus the last time) and this was just the right size. Well, now it was up to him, cheaper and smaller or expensive and the right size. I understood my help was needed no more, if it ever was anyway.
With all this, it was already 7 PM, dinner time. I had cordon bleu again, while they ate bread with cheese, butter ( and I thought I used too much butter!), and some other stuff I didn't recognize.
Well, back to my room, more searching led to an appointment for the next day, not bad. And it was Skype time. Talked with some of the people back home, but then at midnight the Internet went off (or should I say the router stopped working), so it was bedtime. Did I dared to hope that the next day would be the lady of my search? Remember I had a pending answer for Friday. But I wasn't hopeful. Too many 'no' had seen to that.
quinta-feira, 29 de setembro de 2011
Day 12 - A new hope?
It was Wednesday and I had another place to see. Hooray I guess. So got on the bus, and during the 1 hour trip, I was doing some math, and realized that it was only needed 6 trips without ticket in the train to cover the penalty of being found with no ticket. Meaning that in 6 trips I would spend more than the fine....So I was seriously considering not buying a ticket on the next 6 trips. Another thing, I had never seen anyone checking tickets anyway.
But when I got to the train station, I realized I could get a ticked for the day for 10 euros ( a single ticket costs 7.5), and this allowed me to go in the subway to, so my resolve to go without a ticked vanished. And I'm glad it did, because in that trip, I was asked for a ticket. Lucky hein?
So now in Munich, I needed to find the apartment. Went online, and realized they didn't have the door number, on the message I got! Just the street...well I had time, so I went through all the doorbells, searching for the name I had been given. I found the right one just in time. It was 3 o'clock sharp when I rang the bell, exactly the time we had an appointment.
A quick look around the room and the apartment told me it was good for me ( I am not really picky right now), so I started to make the nice conversation, telling them how I loved the place etc....And I asked if there were many people interessed in the room. Only 4 they told me. This sure raised my hopes. Well , they said they would chose someone by next Friday, so back to hoping.
Now I was in Munich with nothing to do, just went back to the hostel and answered a couple more ads, before getting back to Mainburg. Bought another book at the main station, as I had already read the one bought on Sunday, and back to Mainburg I was. This time, the train was late, so I had to run for the bus, but no problem, got there just in time. That was great, because this are hourly buses, and at 7 PM I didn't feel like waiting for another hour....
Reached home on foot again ( didn't want to trouble anyone) and when I entered, Emi asked me if I was hungry. I managed to say yes, but that I would cook for myself as well. So I made my first meal in Germany. Tomato omelet, not that hard I know, but it was the simpler I could go. Cleaned everything and went to my room. More ads were answered, read some Manga and talked to the folks back at home. It was nice knowing that this blog was actually being read! So bed time, and I couldn't help but hope. Maybe this one was the one?
But when I got to the train station, I realized I could get a ticked for the day for 10 euros ( a single ticket costs 7.5), and this allowed me to go in the subway to, so my resolve to go without a ticked vanished. And I'm glad it did, because in that trip, I was asked for a ticket. Lucky hein?
So now in Munich, I needed to find the apartment. Went online, and realized they didn't have the door number, on the message I got! Just the street...well I had time, so I went through all the doorbells, searching for the name I had been given. I found the right one just in time. It was 3 o'clock sharp when I rang the bell, exactly the time we had an appointment.
A quick look around the room and the apartment told me it was good for me ( I am not really picky right now), so I started to make the nice conversation, telling them how I loved the place etc....And I asked if there were many people interessed in the room. Only 4 they told me. This sure raised my hopes. Well , they said they would chose someone by next Friday, so back to hoping.
Now I was in Munich with nothing to do, just went back to the hostel and answered a couple more ads, before getting back to Mainburg. Bought another book at the main station, as I had already read the one bought on Sunday, and back to Mainburg I was. This time, the train was late, so I had to run for the bus, but no problem, got there just in time. That was great, because this are hourly buses, and at 7 PM I didn't feel like waiting for another hour....
Reached home on foot again ( didn't want to trouble anyone) and when I entered, Emi asked me if I was hungry. I managed to say yes, but that I would cook for myself as well. So I made my first meal in Germany. Tomato omelet, not that hard I know, but it was the simpler I could go. Cleaned everything and went to my room. More ads were answered, read some Manga and talked to the folks back at home. It was nice knowing that this blog was actually being read! So bed time, and I couldn't help but hope. Maybe this one was the one?
quarta-feira, 28 de setembro de 2011
Day 11 - another let down.
I know I skipped day 10, but there wasn't really much to tell. In this small city I just spent the day searching for a place and watching a movie. No point in doing a while post about that.
And what's different about day 11? Well, two things. First, after a sausage lunch, I discovered how I could be useful. I realized the kids were doing their homework. French, Math, and English. Can't say I am an expert in French, but this was a beginner level, so it was fine. Math, well, you know me. So I helped the kids. For the first time I felt useful here in Mainburg. I was doing something other than looking at my iPad, or to a book. And later on, another opportunity to help arose. I managed to volunteer to take the dogs for a walk (yes, this include picking up their mess), and I was happy at the thankful look I got from Herman, Doris' father.
The second highlight of the day was the hippies refusal. I must say I took this hard, but well, my hopes were higher than usual. Following this, I started again my search, and got appointments for some other three places, one still in construction, ready in the last week of October. Let's see.
Again, dinner at 7, back to my room, reading, searching the Internet, watching a movie. Nothing else I could do anyway.
Bed time.
And what's different about day 11? Well, two things. First, after a sausage lunch, I discovered how I could be useful. I realized the kids were doing their homework. French, Math, and English. Can't say I am an expert in French, but this was a beginner level, so it was fine. Math, well, you know me. So I helped the kids. For the first time I felt useful here in Mainburg. I was doing something other than looking at my iPad, or to a book. And later on, another opportunity to help arose. I managed to volunteer to take the dogs for a walk (yes, this include picking up their mess), and I was happy at the thankful look I got from Herman, Doris' father.
The second highlight of the day was the hippies refusal. I must say I took this hard, but well, my hopes were higher than usual. Following this, I started again my search, and got appointments for some other three places, one still in construction, ready in the last week of October. Let's see.
Again, dinner at 7, back to my room, reading, searching the Internet, watching a movie. Nothing else I could do anyway.
Bed time.
Day 9 - back to Mainburg
So day 9, Sunday. This was the deadline for one of the apartments, and the reason I was still in Munich. Though I didn't dare to hope, I jumped every time my iPad downloaded a new email. And I kept on searching, what else could I do? By this time I did a quick search on my sent mail box to find out that I had broken the 400 emails sent barrier. 400! And this doesn't count those I only called, but these were considerably less. So lunch in Munich and by 4 PM it was time to get back to Mainburg. Obviously, I hadn't gotten the apartment (what a surprise!), so I went back. at the main station, I bought another book to read, knowing the boring times that would probably come.
Funny thing, when I reached the station at Mainburg, Doris' mom wasn't there, and didn't appear after 15 minutes. Both my phones were dead, so I couldn't call anyone. But well, home was only 6 or 7 minutes by car, so I pulled the maps on my iPad and off I was. 25 minutes later I reached their place, and found Doris' mom. Again, we can blame the failure in communication. I arrived at 6:10, and she expected me at 5:50. Ups. Well, no harm done. And has it was already 6:30, they were having dinner. Well, a very heavy afternoon snack.
After this dinner I went to my bedroom, and I must say I was done searching for the day. Went online and saw Castle, Big Bang Theory, Fringe, etc. All the new episodes. By the way, loved Castle and Fringe.
And I was done. Bed time, with a sense of deseperation over my head.
Funny thing, when I reached the station at Mainburg, Doris' mom wasn't there, and didn't appear after 15 minutes. Both my phones were dead, so I couldn't call anyone. But well, home was only 6 or 7 minutes by car, so I pulled the maps on my iPad and off I was. 25 minutes later I reached their place, and found Doris' mom. Again, we can blame the failure in communication. I arrived at 6:10, and she expected me at 5:50. Ups. Well, no harm done. And has it was already 6:30, they were having dinner. Well, a very heavy afternoon snack.
After this dinner I went to my bedroom, and I must say I was done searching for the day. Went online and saw Castle, Big Bang Theory, Fringe, etc. All the new episodes. By the way, loved Castle and Fringe.
And I was done. Bed time, with a sense of deseperation over my head.
domingo, 25 de setembro de 2011
Day 8 - Two more places
I woke up at Doris' and the entire morning was dedicated to flat hunting. I had a place to see between 1 and 3, but I still felt the need to search for more. And so I did, for 2 or 3 hours. Doris called for me some of the landlords, but got he usual response. Either 6 months was not enough, or the room was already gone. All in all, more of the same bad news.
At around 12 Doris offered to cook eggs and bacon for everyone, which everyone accepted, and I must say, they were good. The only problem was that when I finished them, it was already 1:30, so I needed to hurry.
10 minutes with the bus followed by 5 more with the subway got me to the right station. Then 3 minutes walking got me to the house. During this time I was again wondering about the language, decided to try both English and Spanish. When I started the conversation, to my relief, the landlord spoke English. Furthermore, when I said I was from Portugal, he said, Hey, my wife is Portuguese! And started talking Portuguese. Well if this didn't get me points and dint know what did. So I looked around the apartment, liked it, and started to fill an application form. Finished it, delivered, and as the question hadn't been popped yet, I felt obliged to do so....And did the look on His face changed when I said I was only renting for 6 months....Gave me my application back, said he wouldn't even considered it. I must admit, this got me down. A lot. That, and the number of people that just kept showing at the apartment...I must have seen more than 50 delivered application forms. How the he'll was I going to find a place?
I walked back home, not caring that I didn't actually knew the way, just had an idea of the direction. Yes, I felt bad.
Eventually I reached home, got on the PC, started searching again. My mood only got worse when Doris asked me to go back to her parent's place, as she was tired of having people staying over. Though she said that it was also painful for her, this hurt. But then a funny ad appeared, for a flat share, saying that Erasmus students are welcome! I immediately answered it, and half an hour later I was talking to a girl, who said they were tired of formal interviews, and asked if I wanted to drop by, maybe play a little Starcraft, jam with the guitar. Not a formal interview, just hanging around. I decided to go, it was more time I would be out of that apartment....
Got something to eat and I went there, and I got somewhat lost....First, took the first train that appeared, as I thought that any would do. Eventually, when I realized where I was, I also realized all the trains would do, except that one. Ok, time to head back. Then when I finally reached the right station, I got disoriented, and started heading in the wrong direction....when I saw nothing I recognized, decided it was better to just go back to the station. To add insult to injury, my phone battery was almost out, so I couldn't rely on google maps, and didn't even want to call anyone. Back at the station, took the right direction this time, but then a wrong turn led me to a wrong street. I was getting tired of being lost, it was getting dark, and most of all, I was mad at google maps! They had the whole zone wrong. So I called Doris and asked her to see on the map where I should've been heading. Finally, I found out the right door...
As I entered the apartment, I felt I was going back in time. This looked like the 80's again. A guy with a huge beard, smoking a cigar greeted me, and led me into the place. It was a mess, but in a good way. Not dirty, just messy. Got to the kitchen, to see a close match of Starcraft 1. I hadn't played that game for 5 years now....but I could see they were good. So I sat down, talked a bit, mostly tried to listen to their conversation. And after the Starcraft match they started to make dinner. My hippie impression just got bigger, when they all shared a meal, and a beer glass. To my huge amazement, I was invited to have dinner with them. More precisely, they said they were counting on me for dinner. This was against everything I had learned of German culture. Though I had already eaten, I was glad to accept.
After dinner appeared a girl, all dressed up, to see the place. I must say I hated her. Tried not to, but she was competition. She was very pretty , her German was better than mine, also an Erasmus student, I hated her. Obviously I did nothing, and I knew this hate was irrational and unfair, but nevertheless, I couldn't help but think that a girl so dressed up wouldn't like a place like that. But anyway, was happy when she left.
So I spent there 3 hours, lost a Starcraft game (got owned, to be accurate), talked, drak a bit. Really liked those guys. But i saw the list of candidates. They were more than 30, though I must add I was glad that most of them were crossed out.
Got back home to find out that Doris and Thomas were already asleep (it was only midnight), so I did my best to get to bed without disturbing them.
As I fell asleep, I hoped with all my heart those guys would pick me.
At around 12 Doris offered to cook eggs and bacon for everyone, which everyone accepted, and I must say, they were good. The only problem was that when I finished them, it was already 1:30, so I needed to hurry.
10 minutes with the bus followed by 5 more with the subway got me to the right station. Then 3 minutes walking got me to the house. During this time I was again wondering about the language, decided to try both English and Spanish. When I started the conversation, to my relief, the landlord spoke English. Furthermore, when I said I was from Portugal, he said, Hey, my wife is Portuguese! And started talking Portuguese. Well if this didn't get me points and dint know what did. So I looked around the apartment, liked it, and started to fill an application form. Finished it, delivered, and as the question hadn't been popped yet, I felt obliged to do so....And did the look on His face changed when I said I was only renting for 6 months....Gave me my application back, said he wouldn't even considered it. I must admit, this got me down. A lot. That, and the number of people that just kept showing at the apartment...I must have seen more than 50 delivered application forms. How the he'll was I going to find a place?
I walked back home, not caring that I didn't actually knew the way, just had an idea of the direction. Yes, I felt bad.
Eventually I reached home, got on the PC, started searching again. My mood only got worse when Doris asked me to go back to her parent's place, as she was tired of having people staying over. Though she said that it was also painful for her, this hurt. But then a funny ad appeared, for a flat share, saying that Erasmus students are welcome! I immediately answered it, and half an hour later I was talking to a girl, who said they were tired of formal interviews, and asked if I wanted to drop by, maybe play a little Starcraft, jam with the guitar. Not a formal interview, just hanging around. I decided to go, it was more time I would be out of that apartment....
Got something to eat and I went there, and I got somewhat lost....First, took the first train that appeared, as I thought that any would do. Eventually, when I realized where I was, I also realized all the trains would do, except that one. Ok, time to head back. Then when I finally reached the right station, I got disoriented, and started heading in the wrong direction....when I saw nothing I recognized, decided it was better to just go back to the station. To add insult to injury, my phone battery was almost out, so I couldn't rely on google maps, and didn't even want to call anyone. Back at the station, took the right direction this time, but then a wrong turn led me to a wrong street. I was getting tired of being lost, it was getting dark, and most of all, I was mad at google maps! They had the whole zone wrong. So I called Doris and asked her to see on the map where I should've been heading. Finally, I found out the right door...
As I entered the apartment, I felt I was going back in time. This looked like the 80's again. A guy with a huge beard, smoking a cigar greeted me, and led me into the place. It was a mess, but in a good way. Not dirty, just messy. Got to the kitchen, to see a close match of Starcraft 1. I hadn't played that game for 5 years now....but I could see they were good. So I sat down, talked a bit, mostly tried to listen to their conversation. And after the Starcraft match they started to make dinner. My hippie impression just got bigger, when they all shared a meal, and a beer glass. To my huge amazement, I was invited to have dinner with them. More precisely, they said they were counting on me for dinner. This was against everything I had learned of German culture. Though I had already eaten, I was glad to accept.
After dinner appeared a girl, all dressed up, to see the place. I must say I hated her. Tried not to, but she was competition. She was very pretty , her German was better than mine, also an Erasmus student, I hated her. Obviously I did nothing, and I knew this hate was irrational and unfair, but nevertheless, I couldn't help but think that a girl so dressed up wouldn't like a place like that. But anyway, was happy when she left.
So I spent there 3 hours, lost a Starcraft game (got owned, to be accurate), talked, drak a bit. Really liked those guys. But i saw the list of candidates. They were more than 30, though I must add I was glad that most of them were crossed out.
Got back home to find out that Doris and Thomas were already asleep (it was only midnight), so I did my best to get to bed without disturbing them.
As I fell asleep, I hoped with all my heart those guys would pick me.
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