Triumph

No rain today. It was a cold day all the same with gray clouds and cool winds. Definitely jeans and jacket weather.

I had all the trouble getting out of bed today. We slept with the windows open and I was bundled up in bed like a little Cally bug all cozy and nice. By 7:30 I finally got up.

Breakfast was in the hotel again. This time I got a lot of food and took a picture.

I love food.

I had a sandwich that was ham AND turkey, some pieces of bacon, a hard boiled egg, a bowl of fruit, a tomato, and a weird cup of forest honey (the cup it's in is like an ice cream cone. I think this is how you eat it? Who knows). It's a lot more meat than I usually eat in a day and overall too much food. I ate the sandwich, bacon, egg, and honey cup. Everything else kinda got wasted and I felt bad for taking so much only to throw it away. I will eat a light breakfast tomorrow to make up for it.

We got on the bus around 9. Then we drove to the Triumph warehouse. Triumph is a brand of underwear here in Europe.

Triumph's newest model.

We were taking a private tour through the warehouse to show us the logistics side. It was like a productions operation class. We weren't allowed pictures. It was mostly just walking around and watching boxes move by on a conveyor belt. Our tour guide told us what was going on and why they do things a certain way in order to stay efficient. We saw a lot of underwear. And bras. And swimsuits.

What was most odd to me was this. At Triumph, they make or buy the clothes from a place in Austria. The clothes have to be shipped to the Triumph warehouse in Aalen Germany when they must wait overnight before being shipped to the buyers. It's for custom reasons. That seems very strange to me and if anything stuck with me it was this.

We were done around 12. We took the bus back to Aalen University and had lunch at the cafeteria again. I wasn't hungry and ended up getting a spoonful of everything that looked good.

I got salmon, a salad, mini boiled potatoes, some chilled pasta salad, a cup of leek soup I think, and a yogurt dessert. Surprise surprise it was too much food. I ate the salmon, yogurt, and several bites of soup. Then I wasted the rest. That makes me feel bad. If I could I would have saved the food for later. Germany doesn't like to waste things.

At lunch I sat with 5 people I didn't know well and we talked about Disney World, places we wanted to visit, and the extreme different dialects in Germany. It's weird to think about but in America we have lots of different accents. But for a country the size of Germany to have different dialects to the point of pronouncing a word completely different is odd. I thought I had picked up a few words in Berlin but coming here in south Germany has me pronouncing things all wrong. It makes me self conscious to say the few words and phrases I do know because sometimes people here don't understand what I'm saying.

We left to walk into town. It was nice. Now that we're back in a group setting Maria and I aren't having to stay so close together, we can spread out. Having these people here has actually made us more fond of one another too. We sit together at breakfast and dinners and it's a blast again.

We went into town to visit a museum, the Limes Museum of Aalen. Not limes like the fruit.

Limes like a border defense system in Anciet Rome

We had a tour guide show our group around the museum. She spent a lot of time showing us maps of Aalen and where we were located now versus where that would be in a million bajillion years ago. That was hello boring.

I feel bad for saying it but it was all a little boring. I've been to some amazing museums these past few weeks. This just wasn't doing it for me. Show me more Vikings ships. Once you drink champagne you can't go back to beer.

We saw a lot of old items. The items were in glass display cases and the lights above us made it really hard to take a picture. Every single photo kept reflecting the case to show us looking at the item. So annoying. But I did get some! Here is a certificate for a soldier:

I feel angry with myself for not being able to better describe the items we saw. Everything was in German, no English. More annoyance! Everyone was tired too, maybe that was it. We all kept sitting down when we could and staring off.

They had a replica statue (the original is in the Louvre) and I can't remember the name.

"Try and get it loser"

The statue has a big body and a very small, or I guess I should say disproportioned, head. This is because the head is meant to be taken off and replaced with another head of someone else when the time came. I guess the artists weren't working together on the sizes.

We saw more items like pieces from a broken pot or broken well used during this old time period. Most of the items were like this. The coolest thing about this museum is that it's located on what was formerly the largest Roman fort north of the Alps. It's a world heritage site and that's a big deal.

Behind the museum, you can walk around the actual center of the fort. Walking in it feels like nothing but when you're higher up and looking down, you get a better picture.

About twice to three times larger than this picture shows.

The museum showed a lot of civilian life. That part felt a little childish. They had figurines and stables you could walk in with fake horses and stuff. They also had an area to try on chain mail. Once our tour was done I wandered off on my own and came back to this area to see people trying on chain mail and having all the fun. I found some chain mail to wear but it was heavy as hell. Maria helped me put it on:

It feels like I'm being pulled to hell.

I will freely admit that I'm a weakling. This was heavy! I was dying. I threw a helmet on my giant head and it was uncomfortable. I grabbed a shield, also heavy, and tried to take a scary pose but it was too much and I was struggling.

It was too heavy to take off by myself (I'm not joking, I got tired) and Maria helped me again. She was too rough and yanked it off me and pulled out one of my earrings. That hurt.

After we left the Limes museum we walked more into town. Our group is no more than 14 people. It takes us a really long time to get places and get things done. I don't know what's wrong with us. The Irish group, who was three times this size, was amazingly efficient. It's like the opposite here.

We went into town and Austin (he's the guy I had lunch with yesterday and couldn't remember his name. He's cool!) explained we needed to go to a bank. Since I have been in Europe for 3 weeks I know how to go to a bank and it was annoying for me to have to wait around for everyone. (Side note: Germany is a very bureaucratic country. I knew that. WHY DON'T OTHER PEOPLE? It takes longer to exchange currency because of paperwork that you wouldn't have to do in other countries. Maybe this is why Germany is doing so well financially.)

I was getting angry and antsy to get moving. I get like this on vacations. I just need to be moving and power walking. It's not like we're short on time. We have all the time! This is all more of a Calla Problem than a Group Problem. But I was getting angry at having to wait around. The dean who organized this trip wants us to all stay together and that makes me angry too. It surprises me how much I've changed in the past few weeks of being here. Or maybe I've always been this way. I just don't have a second thought about leaving my group to do my own thing. Alone. Being by myself in a foreign country is not scary.

I left and went to the store across the street from the bank. I think I just needed some space. I looked for deodorant since mine is on it's last swipe. I couldn't find any freaking deodorant. None! Where the hell is it being kept? There was seriously none. I left to go back to my group at the bank and they were still there. They are not efficient.

Finally we were ready to leave. Then everyone had to talk for six hundred hours. It was just stupid. People kept asking if there was this or that type of restaurant nearby. Austin would answer and give directions. After a while I just wanted to tell people "Look at your fucking map and find out for yourself." But it turns out only a few of us brought our maps. International tourist newbies!

I got fed up and left. I wandered around Aalen looking at shops and bought more candy at one. God I love candy. While I was leaving I saw the guy from our group who is from Ohio. His name is Todd. He followed me around so I went back to the city center where our group was. Maria and another girl were there so I dropped Todd off with them and left again on my own. I wanted to find a grocery store but had no luck. Eventually I texted Maria for directions to the restaurant she and I and a couple more people were going to. I got lost along the way but I've been lost so much this trip it isn't even a big deal.

The restaurant is called Bierhale Aalen and serves classic southern Germany food. I was still feeling angry so I walked in, nodded to the people I was meeting with, and didn't break stride to the bar.

I got a double jack and coke and was feeling a lot better about life.

At the restaurant was the married couple Maria is friends with, Maria, Todd, and another girl who we went to the SD Tourism Conference with. We drank beers and had a jolly time when Austin showed up to help us decipher the menu (it was all in German! Crazy, right?). I ordered what was the German equivalent to mac and cheese. I also ordered another drink.

We had lovely salads for our apps!

It had potatoes in it. They were like scallop potatoes and so freaking delicious. Then our food came out! Mine was very good and I made everyone try a bite and everyone said it was awesome. I was a bit drunk and having fun.

NSFW

My food and drinks cost 20 euros. We got on the bus back to the hotel and decided to go swimming! One of the girls, the one who I went to the tourism conference with, is kind of a newbie drinker and was acting a fool up in the hotel. She, Maria, and I did a shot of rum at the bar before going to the pool. (I make bad decisions)

Todd joined and it was the four of us. The pools are weird. You have to go to front desk and buy a key that has a blue token on it. The blue token gets you into the pool and keeps track of how long you were in there. To leave, you have to put the token through a machine. They charge by how long you were there.

The pools were pretty! They have 1 large indoor pool and 1 large outdoor pool. There's also an indoor and outdoor ice pool (I don't know what else to call it but those pools are cold as balls), and indoor hot tub that's pretty big, and a second indoor pool. I should take pictures but didn't bring my phone. I was trying to give Maria and Todd some alone time because I think they would be such a cute couple. I took drunk girl aside and tried to get her to hang out with me. We all had fun! We were the loud, young Americans. We got yelled at for splashing. Everyone there was there to relax so maybe we were a bit imposing.

We stayed for 90 minute and had to leave at 9. Everyone was still hyped up so we ran to our respective rooms, showered, and met back up at the bar. Todd and I drank water while the other girls had mixed drinks. They were silly. At 10 I told everyone peace out and went to the room.

I was starting to feel sick. Maybe it's the mac and cheese. Maybe it's the Jack. Maybe it's the salmon from last night. Maybe it's the four hours of sleep.

Maria came back around midnight. She had been drinking more and was all the chatty and had all the smiles.

"You're like a sister to me." She said loudly.

"I might get diarrhea tonight." I replied.

"That's fine." Good lord she was drunk. She clunked out around 1.

What a long day it's been! I can't believe I went to an underwear factory this morning, that seems like yesterday. I hope I don't get sick. And I hope I do get sick because I always bounce back. And I hope I can keep playing Cupid. I'm tired. Now that I've had time to reflect, the Limes museum was neat. I wish I had taken more pictures. Today's post feels all over the place.

I went to sleep around 2-3 am.