My best friend Tina and I were just talking on the phone… we both want to go to Prague some day, because we have never been and it is kind of one of those must-see cities in Europe. This is somewhat how the conversation went.

Viv: Oh, by the way train tickets to Prague aren’t too expensive from Munich…
Tina: How much are they?
Viv: Like €25 or so. [I was a little off, they are €33.]
Tina: Oh cool. That really isn’t too bad.
Viv: We should go, but not this summer. Maybe we can go in the spring. Isn’t Prague supposed to be really pretty in spring?!
Tina: Ummm, that was something else about Prague Spring. But we can go anyway.

We were both laughing so hard.
Reminded us of when the war in Afghanistan started, for some reason we both thought it was in Africa. *hangs head in shame* Yeah the ending in -stan could have hinted at its location but for some reason we both thought it was in Africa!!! But now we know, don’t worry.

Thankfully I don’t have too many blonde moments like this. My general knowledge isn’t really that bad.

Today I went to the grocery store to buy some food. I also returned some bottles. After I put all my bottles in the machine, I noticed there was still a receipt in it from the customer before me. When I pressed the button to get mine, it basically spat it right into my hand. I looked at it and saw whoever had used it had returned €5.09 worth of bottles. Now I had not seen the person who used it before me, and noone was anywhere close that could have been using it. There was a man using the machine next to mine, but I am sure he would have said something along the lines “hey I was using this machine”.

So I decided to take the receipt. What was I going to do? Give it to the cashier and say, “I guess someone lost this”? Because there was really no way to claim it to be yours, after all it could be anyone’s. I did feel a little weird about it, but I kept the receipt, and paid with it (and mine) for my groceries. I figured it’s like finding money. If no one is around who is obviously looking for it, you pick it up and keep it.

And since I am actually a little tight on money right now, it actually really helps me out. Aside from that it is always cool to buy food and just get money back, not have to give any to the cashier. Heh.

Would any of you have handled this differently?

So since I am in the middle of finals time, I do a whole lot other than studying. That’s how it goes, right? So I decided to change the layout of my site - had to fiddle with the html/php for a while to get it to look the way I want, but now it’s done.

I have only had one final yet, but that went well. I ended up not taking Old Spanish. I had issues with my blood pressure and that made me nauseous and dizzy, and after I threw up I went to the doctor’s on Friday. I can however still take it - either this upcoming Wednesday or the next - I’ll find out Monday. I also still have to take Spanish 3 on Tuesday. Today at work I was getting nauseous and dizzy again, so I ended up taking some pills for low blood pressure. Not sure if they helped but I do feel better now. That might also be due to the thunderstorm we got this afternoon though (because it cooled down quite a bit).

It has been incredibly hot for the past two weeks, and while I do love summer - don’t get me wrong - busses without air-condition, finals, and heat just don’t mix. Aside from that I would be happy with around 27°C (80°F), 36°C (95°F) is a little too hot for my gusto. In Norman it used to be above 95° a lot but I think somehow the heat was more bearable there - that might have something to do with the air-conditioning everywhere though, heh.

Well, other than that not much has been happening. I had my last day for the summer at the DAI last week. Due to finals and work I cannot work there anymore until I come back to Heidelberg in October.

I have also booked my trip to San Sebastián. I will be in Spain for four weeks in September to take Spanish classes, and I really hope that will improve my speaking skills - I am still so slow at forming sentences. I wish I could speak Spanish as well as English! But right now, not having to think about grammar is a long way to go for me. I am really excited about this trip! It will be my first time to Spain and judging from pictures, San Sebastián is a gorgeous city!
Starting on Wednesday I will be working full-time at the bookstore for two weeks, which will get me some extra money, so that’s good. I really hope it won’t be as hot as it has been lately, though. I am a little nervous about all the responsibility I will have, but it sounds like I can always ask someone if I feel a little lost, so I should be okay.

I will put some of that money towards a new digital camera - I am looking at the Canon Powershot SD600. I am going to wait another two weeks to order it, but I think that’s the one I’ll be getting. I am very excited about it, and hopefully I will be able to put it to good use when I’m in Spain.

Something else I am looking forward to is seeing Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on Thursday with my friend Sheela. I have been waiting for that movie to come out for forever, and it is finally coming out in five days. Cannot wait!

On August 9th, I am going home to Munich. Can’t wait to get a break from school and work, though a 15 page paper is waiting to be written during that time. Eep! Anyway, 18 days to go!

I hope y’all are having a fabulous summer!

I went to Media Markt today to look at the camera I was considering buying. Basically I realized it is too big for me, and the screen is a little too small. I didn’t quite expect it to be quite a s big as it was, so I asked one of the store’s assistants to recommend me one that is about equal in quality, and she suggested the Canon Digital Ixus 60. The name of it in the US is PowerShot SD600. It has 6MP and 3x zoom (the PowerShot A620 has 7MP and 4x zoom), but the macro mode is also very good, and it is small (not too small, I still got a nice grip on it), and it only costs €4 more. But since I won’t have to buy a recharger or batteries it will actually be a little cheaper (or about the same, if I buy a spare battery). I really like that it has a view finder, which a lot of cameras don’t. She said she would not recomment Casio yet, because their sensors aren’t as good yet so pictures don’t turn out that well. She also recommended Sony (the CyberShot DSC-W70) but since memory sticks are a lot more expensive, I would end up paying more for it, even though the cameras cost about the same.

Anyway, I am pretty certain I will end up getting this one, though I will wait two or three more weeks with ordering it. I am starting to work full-time next Wednesday, and during those two weeks I will earn the money I intend to spend on the camera, so I want to make sure I got the money first (i.e. worked enough hours).