Great weekend in Dortmund, Bochum, u. Würzburg

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What an awesome weekend it was. (Although I'm counting it a day early. It started on Thur. for me). I went to Dortmund u. Bochum to visit some friends and then Fri. took the train down to visit my cousin Bryan. He's stationed south of Frankfurt.

Dortmund/Bochum

Thur. morning Caro came and picked me up and we drove to Dortmund to visit Juli. It was sooooo nice to see Caro again (she was my short buddy in school). hehe... We always had a good time together. Juli's apartment is really nice. It's small, but it's just for her, so it works. At Juli's we ordered pizza and just hung out for a while. (Oh, I had missed the pizza here. It was sooo delicious, baked over an open fire) After a while we went shopping in Dortmund. Juli lives just a few blocks from the center of town. Quite a nice location. None of us really bought anything, but it was fun to look around together. The picture that's inlcuded with this blog is of Juli while we were in H&M. =) Good times.
In the evening the three of us took the Train into Bochum (a city about 15 min. away) and then took the subway to where Thomas, Stefan u. Ermes now live (3 guys from my old class). The three just moved in a couple weeks ago. Their apartment is quite nice and big. They're all three going to different schools in Bochum. Thomas wasn't there when we got there. He had just finished his last exam earlier in the day and was already out on the town celebrating. We hung out at the house for a while and drank Sekt (sparkling wine). We had brought it as a house warming gift. While we drank a bit, the guys continued to look for posters they're thinking of buying for their apartment. They were sooo typical of German humor. lol.... I'll try to find a few of them and post them here for you all.
We then went out. Just a few blocks away was an area where there a lot of bars. The weather has been really nice, so even on a Thur. there were a lot of people sitting out on the porches of the bars drinking and having a good time. We chilled at 'Three Sixty'. I had my first Weisse. It's a different kind of beer than what I normally drink here in Sundern. It was a little thicker than a pils, but not too thick. The four of us were just about to pay for our drinks when three guy showed up at our table and asked if we knew where Thomas was. The three guys were all friends of Thomas from school and had been out drinking with him. Thomas had told them he had to come find us because he absolutely had to see me. He of course never made it to where we were. The eight of us went back to the guys' apartment and low and behold who did we find passed out in his bed? Hehe... yep, Thomas =) Of course his roomates couldn't just leave him passed out while everyone was there, so they had fun waking him up.
All of us then chilled in the guys' living room for a while. Erik (one of Thomas' friends) and I talked a bit about Trier. His girlfriend goes to school there and is very involved with the international students. That was kinda cool. It's nice that even though I don't know his girlfriend, that I'll still kinda know someone down there. He also asked what house I'll be living in. He said Tarforst is pretty new and is really nice. =) I'm looking forward to seeing it.
A little after 12 Juli, Caro and I left to make our way back to Dortmund. Unfortunately we left just a couple min. too late. Just as we were walking down the steps to the subway, ours left. We then had to run the probably six blocks or so to the train station. It was the last train that left from Bochum to Dortmund, so we absolutely could not miss it. We finally got there and went to our track. Our train unded up being 20 min. late, so after running through the streets of Bochum we had to sit and wait for our train. lol... it was pretty funny...

Fri. morning we slept in (except Juli who had class at 8 in the morning). When she got back from calss we ate breakfast and just chilled. The two of them walked me to the train station where I caught my trian and headed down to Frankfurt.


Würzburg

The train ride down to Frankfurt was a long one. It was a little over 3 hours. I had a gorgeous view though. Luckily i got to sit next to the window. The train drove along the Rhine river. It was absolutely gorgeous. The towns along the Rhine were really nice. There were a lot of old buildings and several castles that had been built on the tops of the mountains (hills) overlooking the river. I really enjoyed the ride down there.
Bryan was about an hour late picking me up cause he got stuck in traffic on the Autobahn. Trying to find our way out of Frankfurt proved to be quite difficult. We spent about an hour trying to find the Autobahn that we needed to get on. If you've ever been on a German Autobahn, then you know that they can sometimes be quite confusing. They don't label them A1 south and A1 north like they do Freeways in the states. Instead you have to know names of cities that lie in the direction you want to go. Once your're on the Autobahn and find yourself going in the wrong direction it's not always just as easy as getting off at one exit and getting on it in the opposite direction. One Autobahn turns into another and then another. It was quite an experience. We also hit a lot of trafffic on the way down to Würzburg. It usually takes about an hour n' a half for Brian to get from his base to Frankfurt. He picked me up from the station a little after 5pm. We got to the base at 9pm. But, I got to drive on the Autobahn for the first time =) Bryan's night vision is bad, so when it got dark he had me drive. It was good times =)
Didn't do anything really special, just hung out. Fri. we just chilled and watched a couple movies. Being on the base this time was quite different than last summer. I didn't hang out with other soldiers as much this time. I also didn't find that I had to bite my tounge as much. Sat. Bryan, Caroline and I went into downtown Würzburg. It was kinda nice to just look around. In the evening the three of us and one of Bryan's buddies, Shane, went to a bar in Würzburg. Shane was pretty cool. It was refreshing to talk to a soldier that actually wanted to see Germany, not just be there. He was interested in learning the language, and really getting to know the German culutur. He's even learned the fox trot! hehe
Last time being on base and being around so many soldiers was really wierd. It's quite a different world on a base. This time though it wasn't that bad. It's still different, but that's to be expected. What's wierd though is feeling like you're in the US but being in Germany. That's odd. Especially when we went to the PX (like a department store) and everything was pretty much American. Or better yet seeing a Ford truck in Europe! Now that was wierd.
Sun came way too quickly and it was time for me to catch my trian in Frankfurt and head back up to Sundern. it had been a great weekend. I'm hoping to be able to visit Bryan again while I'm here. He and Caroline also have plans to visit me in Trier. =) Looking forward to it.

Sorry this has been another long one I'll try to keep them a little shorter from now on. Hope you enjoyed. Looking forward to hearing from you all when you get the chance. Miss ya! Ciao!!

p.s. oh yeah... I posted some new pics up. Feel free to check them out. If you need the link let me know and I'll get it to you.

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Photos

Juli, Caro and Me
Visting Juli in Dortmund

So Fashionable Juli!!
Juli while shopping in Dortmund