Today was a beautiful day with sun shining and no wind. The hotel serves breakfast until 10:30 so we were able to get something to eat.
There's a bus that runs on the hour from our hotel to downtown. We missed the bus at 10, hung out for an hour, then watched the 11 bus leave as well. Damn. I didn't want to wait another hour so Todd, Maria, and I walked to town. It was maybe an hour walk. Looking up at the hills and mountains, we could see the watch tower we climbed last night.
We ended up outside the grocery store so we went in for airplane snacks. We couldn't find any decent snacks. It was all junk food or foods you need to cook.
I bought another Kinder Egg and a bag of those chocolate wafers we got on the bus a couple days back.
Then we walked around Aalen! Every Thursday morning Aalen has an open market and we got to see the end of it. We bought some little red berries to snack on then decided to find a post office. We found one because we're smart. I bought a postcard to send to my dad.
Then I bought stamps for all the postcards I've been carrying around. Maria bought a postcard for Christin and I wrote on it and thanked her for being so kind and showing us around Berlin. All the stamps cost less then 7 euros.
We saw some people walking around with Chinese to-go boxes and got jealous so we found a Chinese restaurant. Maria and I shared a noodle box.
We wandered around more, trying to kill time. We had to been somewhere at 3. Every now and then we would bump into someone from our Aalen group. We stopped for donuts, then we stopped for beers.
Finally it was 3 and we met with out group near the bus station. We got on a bus! It took us to a mining museum. I have no idea what the museum was called. It's my last day and who cares. But apparently this mine has really pure air because they have people with asthma come in for a few hours to help their breathing.
Once the tour started, they gave us a hard helmet and a cape. I was loving it.
While I struggled to get my bag on over my cape, everyone else put their capes and helmets on and got on a mine carts. It was a sea of indistinguishable people wearing orange capes and white hard hats.
"Maria," I yelled. "I can't find you!"
A person in a white hard hat and orange cape popped their head up. "I'm here!" Maria called back. I joined her and the married couple in their cart.
We then rode the mine carts into the caves! It was fun and got dark and cold. It was maybe 10 degrees Celsius.
The caves were neat and every picture I tried to take on the cart was blurry. When it stopped we got out and watched a video about miners back in Aalen's olden times. I didn't pay attention and instead pretended I was watching a horror movie about miners being eaten by other miners who now dwell in the caves, feasting on the sweet flesh of spelunkers like myself. That was exciting.
It was our entire group and some random father and his two kids, a teen daughter and maybe 10 year old son. Our miner tour guide showed us things and had the little boy do demonstrations because he seemed to like it. Again, I didn't pay attention. But I was having all the fun with Maria and Todd. Todd was a little too tall and kept hitting his head on the caves ceiling. The sound of our hard hats hitting the cave made a cute POP! sound. That POP! sound is almost always followed by a swear word.
The mines had mannequins made up to look like miners. It was sorta campy but every now and then you would turn a corner and see one down a longer dark path and it was scare the poop out of you.
At one point our tour guide turned all the lights off to show us how dark it is. I bonked Maria on the hard hat head and she thought it was Todd and punched him. We were having all the laughs.
Our tour lady turned the lights back on.
The little boy got increasingly more annoying. He kept shining flashlights in people's eyes on purpose. People were starting to whisper complaints about him. I waited for him to shine the light in my eyes....
We then walked down a long hallway.
I'll mention this hallway later. Back to the little shithead. He was being annoying and I snapped and told him to be quiet. It was one of those moments where everyone can just feel the tension. Where was this little dickhead's father?
"Cleansing breathes." Maria told me and I did them. Despite being a popular hangout among the asthma survivors, the cleansing breathes in the cave only mildly helped. I ended up staying at the back of the group and the kid was put in front. I hate children.
We saw more cave things and watched another cave movie but I wasn't having fun at this point. I wanted to be done. After 90 minutes in the caves we got back on the cave cart and went out into the sunshine.
We got back on the bus and drove to our restaurant where we would be having the farewell dinner. Everyone had a change of nice clothes on them and I changed in the bathroom. I was wearing my red and white dress I bought in Scotland.
We then had to fill out an evaluation of the Aalen program. It was questions like "what did you like/dislike" and "what suggestions do you have". I said I liked the people. Everyone was awesome. I said I didn't like not having any time in Munich and our hotel being so far away from the city.
We had time to kill before dinner so Maria and I had an impromptu photo shoot outside.
Then we had a big group photo. Everyone was so lovely on this trip. I remember recalling last week how we did not have one single asshole among us (as soon as I said it I realized I'm the asshole of the trip). We sat down for dinner in a room with a big table.
On the menu tonight was meat, meat, meat, and green noodles with mushrooms and a colorful salad. I got the pasta (shocking, I know).
Everyone was having lots of conversations and I sat with Todd and Maria on one side and a group of girls on my other side. The girl next to me seemed drunk because she was loud and so funny. Everyone either had a beer or glass of wine but me. I was drinking non carbonated water.
We had an appetizer of french onion soup and I forgot to take a picture. There were big onions in the soup so I ate around them.
The girl next to me who was super funny said she had a minor panic attack in the cave hallway. I didn't even notice. We talked about that. What she was saying about how she felt in that hallway was interesting. She felt like they were never getting out of the hall and she had to hold someone's hand because feeling another person made it better. For the third time on this European vacation, I'm so happy I don't have any claustrophobia.
Then it was main course time! The staff brought out trout, veal wienerschnitzel, erzguben pot (which is like a dish of tenderloins and scrambled eggs and goodies). I waited for my pasta. And waited. Another girl (the girl who sometimes hangs out with Maria, Todd, and I. I yelled at her for being a loud American that one day. She's kind of annoying. She's like a human chihuahua or something) had her pasta already. The staff tried giving me the weinerschnitzel and I was like "No I ordered pasta!"
Someone was asked "Are you sure you ordered pasta?"
I said I was pretty damn sure. Turns out the girl eating her pasta was eating my fucking pasta and she had ordered the wienerschnitzel.
"Sorry Calla!" She said to me.
"Why would you eat it if you ordered the wiener?" I asked in horror.
Anyways, they gave me my partially eaten green noodle dish and a salad. I was the only one to order the pasta.
The pasta was alright. It had these red balls on it, I'm not sure what spice it was. But when I bite into them my mouth was full of this really nasty flavor. I had to eat around the red balls.
Todd asked me with a smirk how the pasta was.
"It would have been better if it wasn't partially eaten." I mumbled so the girl wouldn't hear me. Maria, Todd and I had a good laugh over that. Todd said this is karma for all the times we made fun of her. Maybe it is.
"But why do I have to bear the brunt of it?" I asked. We had a good laugh over that. Us three together is just the sound of laughter. And inappropriate jokes and making fun of people.
Our German school people gave us gifts. We got an Aalen University mug and a postcard book with German recipes inside.
Then we had dessert! Maria and I shared a serving of fried apple rings, pudding, and ice cream. The apple part was whatever but the pudding was very good.
Then we said goodbye to Karin. Our bus took us back to the hotel, by now it was 9:30.
We gave Austin a hug goodbye outside the hotel. So many goodbyes tonight!
Maria and I went up to the room and packed. I'm getting anxiety. I was worried about all my souvenirs not fitting in my suitcase. I decided to leave all my toiletries behind (they're all cheap, travel stuff), as well as my rain jacket. I'll wear my heaviest jeans and my flannel on the plane. Everything fit. My suitcase weights 45.9 pounds.
Maria and I chilled. She invited Todd over and the three of us hung out, watching funny youtube videos and German television. He lives in another state and won't be flying back with the main group. Around 2 a.m., Todd had to leave. We hugged goodbye. It was a bit of a bummer. He said he was glad he met us and would like if we could stay friends and see each other again. Maria agreed.
Maria went to sleep after Todd left. She was sad. I'm glad she's asleep because that girl doesn't do well on little sleep. I, however, will manage. It's 3:30 and we have to leave in 2 hours. This seems like a good end to today's post.
There's a bus that runs on the hour from our hotel to downtown. We missed the bus at 10, hung out for an hour, then watched the 11 bus leave as well. Damn. I didn't want to wait another hour so Todd, Maria, and I walked to town. It was maybe an hour walk. Looking up at the hills and mountains, we could see the watch tower we climbed last night.
You can see the top of the tower above the tree lines
We ended up outside the grocery store so we went in for airplane snacks. We couldn't find any decent snacks. It was all junk food or foods you need to cook.
Have a coke with your buddy Edeljoker
I bought another Kinder Egg and a bag of those chocolate wafers we got on the bus a couple days back.
Then we walked around Aalen! Every Thursday morning Aalen has an open market and we got to see the end of it. We bought some little red berries to snack on then decided to find a post office. We found one because we're smart. I bought a postcard to send to my dad.
'Weather's here. Wish you were beautiful. Love, Calla'
Then I bought stamps for all the postcards I've been carrying around. Maria bought a postcard for Christin and I wrote on it and thanked her for being so kind and showing us around Berlin. All the stamps cost less then 7 euros.
We saw some people walking around with Chinese to-go boxes and got jealous so we found a Chinese restaurant. Maria and I shared a noodle box.
Lunch
We wandered around more, trying to kill time. We had to been somewhere at 3. Every now and then we would bump into someone from our Aalen group. We stopped for donuts, then we stopped for beers.
Oh great, beer. My favorite...
Finally it was 3 and we met with out group near the bus station. We got on a bus! It took us to a mining museum. I have no idea what the museum was called. It's my last day and who cares. But apparently this mine has really pure air because they have people with asthma come in for a few hours to help their breathing.
Once the tour started, they gave us a hard helmet and a cape. I was loving it.
This town needs a hero.
While I struggled to get my bag on over my cape, everyone else put their capes and helmets on and got on a mine carts. It was a sea of indistinguishable people wearing orange capes and white hard hats.
"Maria," I yelled. "I can't find you!"
A person in a white hard hat and orange cape popped their head up. "I'm here!" Maria called back. I joined her and the married couple in their cart.
We then rode the mine carts into the caves! It was fun and got dark and cold. It was maybe 10 degrees Celsius.
Hi ho, it's off to work we go.
The caves were neat and every picture I tried to take on the cart was blurry. When it stopped we got out and watched a video about miners back in Aalen's olden times. I didn't pay attention and instead pretended I was watching a horror movie about miners being eaten by other miners who now dwell in the caves, feasting on the sweet flesh of spelunkers like myself. That was exciting.
It was our entire group and some random father and his two kids, a teen daughter and maybe 10 year old son. Our miner tour guide showed us things and had the little boy do demonstrations because he seemed to like it. Again, I didn't pay attention. But I was having all the fun with Maria and Todd. Todd was a little too tall and kept hitting his head on the caves ceiling. The sound of our hard hats hitting the cave made a cute POP! sound. That POP! sound is almost always followed by a swear word.
The mines had mannequins made up to look like miners. It was sorta campy but every now and then you would turn a corner and see one down a longer dark path and it was scare the poop out of you.
Please don't eat me
At one point our tour guide turned all the lights off to show us how dark it is. I bonked Maria on the hard hat head and she thought it was Todd and punched him. We were having all the laughs.
Selfie time.
Our tour lady turned the lights back on.
Surprise, every time is selfie time
The little boy got increasingly more annoying. He kept shining flashlights in people's eyes on purpose. People were starting to whisper complaints about him. I waited for him to shine the light in my eyes....
We then walked down a long hallway.
I'll mention this hallway later. Back to the little shithead. He was being annoying and I snapped and told him to be quiet. It was one of those moments where everyone can just feel the tension. Where was this little dickhead's father?
"Cleansing breathes." Maria told me and I did them. Despite being a popular hangout among the asthma survivors, the cleansing breathes in the cave only mildly helped. I ended up staying at the back of the group and the kid was put in front. I hate children.
We saw more cave things and watched another cave movie but I wasn't having fun at this point. I wanted to be done. After 90 minutes in the caves we got back on the cave cart and went out into the sunshine.
We got back on the bus and drove to our restaurant where we would be having the farewell dinner. Everyone had a change of nice clothes on them and I changed in the bathroom. I was wearing my red and white dress I bought in Scotland.
"You clean up nice" said everyone.
We then had to fill out an evaluation of the Aalen program. It was questions like "what did you like/dislike" and "what suggestions do you have". I said I liked the people. Everyone was awesome. I said I didn't like not having any time in Munich and our hotel being so far away from the city.
We had time to kill before dinner so Maria and I had an impromptu photo shoot outside.
Then we had a big group photo. Everyone was so lovely on this trip. I remember recalling last week how we did not have one single asshole among us (as soon as I said it I realized I'm the asshole of the trip). We sat down for dinner in a room with a big table.
On the menu tonight was meat, meat, meat, and green noodles with mushrooms and a colorful salad. I got the pasta (shocking, I know).
Everyone was having lots of conversations and I sat with Todd and Maria on one side and a group of girls on my other side. The girl next to me seemed drunk because she was loud and so funny. Everyone either had a beer or glass of wine but me. I was drinking non carbonated water.
We had an appetizer of french onion soup and I forgot to take a picture. There were big onions in the soup so I ate around them.
The girl next to me who was super funny said she had a minor panic attack in the cave hallway. I didn't even notice. We talked about that. What she was saying about how she felt in that hallway was interesting. She felt like they were never getting out of the hall and she had to hold someone's hand because feeling another person made it better. For the third time on this European vacation, I'm so happy I don't have any claustrophobia.
Then it was main course time! The staff brought out trout, veal wienerschnitzel, erzguben pot (which is like a dish of tenderloins and scrambled eggs and goodies). I waited for my pasta. And waited. Another girl (the girl who sometimes hangs out with Maria, Todd, and I. I yelled at her for being a loud American that one day. She's kind of annoying. She's like a human chihuahua or something) had her pasta already. The staff tried giving me the weinerschnitzel and I was like "No I ordered pasta!"
Someone was asked "Are you sure you ordered pasta?"
I said I was pretty damn sure. Turns out the girl eating her pasta was eating my fucking pasta and she had ordered the wienerschnitzel.
"Sorry Calla!" She said to me.
"Why would you eat it if you ordered the wiener?" I asked in horror.
Anyways, they gave me my partially eaten green noodle dish and a salad. I was the only one to order the pasta.
Salad
Partially eaten pasta
The pasta was alright. It had these red balls on it, I'm not sure what spice it was. But when I bite into them my mouth was full of this really nasty flavor. I had to eat around the red balls.
Todd asked me with a smirk how the pasta was.
"It would have been better if it wasn't partially eaten." I mumbled so the girl wouldn't hear me. Maria, Todd and I had a good laugh over that. Todd said this is karma for all the times we made fun of her. Maybe it is.
"But why do I have to bear the brunt of it?" I asked. We had a good laugh over that. Us three together is just the sound of laughter. And inappropriate jokes and making fun of people.
Our German school people gave us gifts. We got an Aalen University mug and a postcard book with German recipes inside.
Danke!
Then we had dessert! Maria and I shared a serving of fried apple rings, pudding, and ice cream. The apple part was whatever but the pudding was very good.
Fried apple rings
Then we said goodbye to Karin. Our bus took us back to the hotel, by now it was 9:30.
We gave Austin a hug goodbye outside the hotel. So many goodbyes tonight!
Maria and I went up to the room and packed. I'm getting anxiety. I was worried about all my souvenirs not fitting in my suitcase. I decided to leave all my toiletries behind (they're all cheap, travel stuff), as well as my rain jacket. I'll wear my heaviest jeans and my flannel on the plane. Everything fit. My suitcase weights 45.9 pounds.
Maria and I chilled. She invited Todd over and the three of us hung out, watching funny youtube videos and German television. He lives in another state and won't be flying back with the main group. Around 2 a.m., Todd had to leave. We hugged goodbye. It was a bit of a bummer. He said he was glad he met us and would like if we could stay friends and see each other again. Maria agreed.
Maria went to sleep after Todd left. She was sad. I'm glad she's asleep because that girl doesn't do well on little sleep. I, however, will manage. It's 3:30 and we have to leave in 2 hours. This seems like a good end to today's post.
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