Great Day to Be Alive

Today was flat-out an awesome day. Started off with class at 9am (okay, that part sucked) but at 1pm when we were done, I headed over to Osiander's bookstore because they were (and still are) having a book sale. Hundreds of paperbacks, all € 3,00 each! I browsed for almost an hour and picked up 6 diamonds in the rough:

1. Als Feuer vom Himmel fiel: Der Bombenkrieg in Deutschland
2. Willkommen in der Wirklichkeit: Wie Deutschland den Abstieg vermeiden kann
3. Toskana Forever: Ein Reiseleiter erzählt
4. Ein Imperium verfällt: Ist die Weltmacht USA am Ende?
5. Weltmacht Amerika: Das neue Rom
6. Und Wenn Sie Nicht Gestorben Sind: Autobiographie von Ludwig Harig

I got over € 60 worth of books for the bargain price of € 18!!!! And the books I got are awesome. I went nuts and treated myself because, honestly, when else am I going to have the opportunity to expand my German-book library so cheapy and so fast? Never! I am going back tomorrow to see what else they might have left. I never have any qualms whatsoever about spending money on books -- books contain knowledge, and that, my friends, is one thing no one can ever take away from you.

After that I headed over to the bontanical garden and did some reading in the Don't Know Much About History book I bought the other day. Pretty interesting, got up to the mid-colonial period. Spent an hour doing that, then laid down in the grass and watched the warm breeze blow the blossoms off the blooming trees and let the sun warm me as I dozed in the grass. It was so wonderful, for the first time in a week, to FINALLY be able to just lay there and not worry about homework or anything I had to get done. The afternoon was mine and it was so relaxing. After about 40 minutes of that I tried to start reading again, but two little toddlers decided I looked like a good playmate. One dropped a blue inflateable ball at my side and I tossed it over a foot or two away. She just stared at me, didn't even look at the ball. I smiled at her and she just broke out into one of those little kid smiles that makes your heart melt. She was adorable. Her little sister, meanwhile, had decided that my bottle cap looked tasty, so I had to grab that from her before she swallowed it and screw it back onto the bottle. I packed up, said goodbye to their parents (who were watching, highly entertained), and headed back to the Clubhaus to get my Pfand back.

Grabbed a Döner for a late 3pm lunch and then headed toward the Neckarbrücke to catch the bus back up to WHO. The sycamores on the Neckar island are back in full bloom and Tübingen is looking just as it did when I first arrived back in August -- actually, it's looking BETTER. I was in such a good mood that I realized I was literally grinning as I walked down the street, which explains the funny looks people had been giving me.

On the bus, we passed Im Rotbad, which is a stop in the middle of a residential neighborhood and also has a sort of little field right next to it. The farmers had brought their sheep back to this little field, roped it off, and were letting them graze and relax. It was so great. In the middle of a neighborhood, there's all these sheep just hanging out. There were baby sheep (what are those called again?) and they were all just playin' around and I wanted to get off the bus and just go into the middle of the field and chill with the sheep, shepard-style. That woulda been cool.

When i got back to WHO I decided it was just too nice out not to go for a run, so even though I was way full from the Döner I went for a jog. I peaked up on the fields and got up to a really nice pace, really got "in the zone," but after that I petered off and the Döner caught up with me and I cramped. Oh well, it was still a great run!

After a quick shower, it was time for the double birthday party my friends had planned for Almir and I behind our dorm, which was a blast. We all hung out, barbequed, and drank out of a mini-keg of the finest Stuttgarter Hofbräu. Only when it got dark and a storm rolled in (complete with thunder and lightning) did we decide it was time to clean up and retreat inside. What a great time. I love just hanging out with friends like that and it really meant a lot to both Almir and I that our friends went to all the effort to put that together.

Now, totally exhausted, I sit here on my bed, computer in lap, and am ready to tip over I'm so tired and content. It is time to sleep long and hard and have a wonderful Saturday morning in about 9 hours. I think I'll have a breakfast of toast with jam and coffee...

This was what the Germans would call a "herrlicher Tag."