I don't know where I'm going, but I'm making good time: Z or Zed?

Due to the recent purchase of two round trip tickets to Chicago O'hare, money is at a steep decline. It definitely has nothing to do with the two trips that I've taken this month or the upcoming two I have planned. I don't think I have ever worried this much about money and it is entirely my fault. Thank god I don't have any regular bills and that I have a forgiving Mom who will let my loan payments trickle in slower than planned.

Honorary Hoosier. I've taught him well.

For Corinne's birthday a large and in charge van has been rented. We will be taking said van to Italy where we will spend some time in Florence sampling the wine and being nuisances to the locals. As the trip approaches I slightly regret agreeing to go on it. For money reasons, again. But I know that, as always, it will be an unforgettable trip full of mistakes, laughs, and Andrew blacking out.

In friend news, we recently lost another of our fellow Abramites to family illness. Our good friend Sean packed up his bags, well drunkenly threw his dirty clothes into a suitcase at 4am, and headed to the Munich airport to move back to the states. His Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and the outcome is not in his favor. It's a rude awakening when things happen back in the real world. You sometimes get caught up in the moment and forget about your friends and family and how fragile everything really is. After Christina lost her Mom it was an insight for all of us that the world doesn't stop just because we're playing overseas. BUT on a happier note, Christina will be back on the 28th! I am beyond excited for her return, but a little apprehensive. A lot has changed since she has been here and I'm nervous she won't be in love with Edelweiss and the Abrams like she was before. For starters, her job at Alpine has been given up, so it is entirely possible that she will be relocated to housekeeping or custodial. Cross your fingers that this doesn't happen. To think positive, she will have a new roommate that hopefully won't suck nearly as bad as her last. Overall, I'm excited to go to Antica Roma, our favorite Italian place, drink a Weiss bier, and catch up on everything we've missed over the last months. Well, and to make dirty jokes and laugh at how immature we are. I miss her!!


Hotel Creep Show

Marcel and I had a lovely little trip to Prague planned last weekend. It was rudely canceled due to a sucky insurance policy that Avis has. Apparently they don't allow you to drive their rental cars into the Czech Republic because it's too "dangerous" and you have to pay for any damages or stolen vehicles. Yada, yada, yada, Marcel and I don't have 20,000 Euro to pay for a new vehicle so we kept our business local and drove to Heidelberg. It's interesting how different we are. I instantly though "Oh well, let's risk it" and he instantly thought "NO WAY". Those darn Germans and their practicality. Heidelberg is about a 3 hour drive and as hard I tried I couldn't stay awake. As soon as the GPS had a significant amount of kilometers until our next turn I put the seat back and took a little snooze. I may not be the best navigator, but I did buy iced animal crackers and Oreos for our car snacks and I think that more than makes up for it. We had no place to rest our hats, so we did a little online research and found a cheap hotel in the industrial district. I think I became a little sketchy when the man who checked us in told us it was 60 for one night. Marcel responded with "online it says it's 50" and then the old man goes "Ooooh ok, yeah 50 is ok too". Even though I could have sworn the creepy hotel guy had cameras in the room and someone coming in the middle of the night to kidnap us, it wasn't so bad. It gave us something to laugh about over the next few days and is definitely something I'll always remember. The following day we stayed outside of the city in a cute guest house. We've already decided we will be returning to this place. Although I had no idea what was going on the entire time, Marcel absolutely loved the owners. If I ever own a guest house that is exactly how I would like to run it. Laid back and insanely nice. The surprising thing is they never took down any of our information and when we tried to pay when we first arrived the woman just told us that she would see us again and we could figure it out then. We had an amazing dinner there and got to sleep in the next day and have a private breakfast in the dining room. The food was cheap and the beer was cheaper. We had our own drinks up in the room but kept talking ourselves into just one more beer because we hardly ever see it at this price. After breakfast we headed back into Heidelberg to tour the zoo. If you ask me, this is always a good choice. Fairly inexpensive and a guaranteed good time, we've decided we will go to the zoo in every city we visit.