I have found Heaven

And it's name is Cafe Schubert. More to come on that later.

All I have to say is thank GOD for Katrin. Otherwise, I would be stumbling around Saarbruecken like a mad woman (a mad woman who does not speak German) trying to figure out how to do simple things. Like open a bank account. Or register oneself with the city (which I still haven't done. The line to do so was LONG and, like a very wise friend once posted on facebook: just because there is a line doesn't mean you have to stand in it. Amen, sister). So instead, we went to eat pastries. At this glorious, oh, what do I want to call it? Bakarie? Cafe? A small slice of heaven wrapped in gold and presented to me by Megan Fox and Jonathan Rhyes Meyers naked?

Let's start at the beginning.

I slept in. That's right.. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. watching one of my all-time favorite movies "Fear" and I needed to sleep after that. And if you just judged me, puh-lease. We all have vices. Mine happens to come in a mid-90's thriller where Marky Mark takes his shirt off and Reese Witherspoon is, *cough* pleasured on a rollercoaster. Plus, it makes me long for Seattle. And Nordstrom Rack. I digress.

So I slept in. Until around 11. Because I was tired. I feel like it has been nothing but go, go, go since I got here and I needed to unwind a bit. I should say I actually woke up at 9, but I spent the majority of my morning talking with my friend Beth who lives in Milan, planning our Oktoberfest outing. Oh wait, I want to make sure you caught that--I'M GOING TO OKTOBERFEST! I'm so freaking excited. We booked our hotel, our respective modes of transportation, and I plan on being a drunken mess for 24 hours straight. In a drindl. I can barely contain my excitement. I hope being naked in Munich is all right, because I'm gonna lose my top (I hope my mother is not reading this).

I later walked downtown, which is about a 30 minute walk from my apartment but oh-so-lovely, in an attempt to once again register myself with the city. Apparently Katrin had read my blog and decided to not make me suffer in my non-German proficiency alone, and called me to say she would meet me downtown and come with me to open my bank account and register me with the city. Yay for her. And she brought me some tropical island posters to decorate my room, so I'm not staring at the depressingly white walls smudged with black god-only-knows what, paint peeling from the corners, spider making cozy little homes by the window. Shudder.

While I waited to meet her in sort of the pedestrian-ruled, open market-type area, I started to keep a tally of certain things I saw. I love to people watch, and I'm particularly fond of people watching in Germany. I counted 87 people who walked by me smoking, 32 teenagers in skin-tight jeans and converse (or Adidas with gold sparkles or these funky sandal thingys), 9 couples initiating some form of PDA and 4, oh, how would I classify this? White trash? Yes, German white trash. Imagine American, but German trying to be American white trash. It's quite a spectacle. And if I may get slightly mushy, I also saw an old couple, probably in their early 70's, walking in complete unison for almost 5 minutes. When one would stop, the other would stop, and then they would pick back up in the same stride, and they held that stride for 7 blocks. I know because I followed them. Not in some sort of creepy stalker sense, but because I had never seen two people fit each other so perfectly that their strides matched. It was quite adorable.

I met up with Katrin and like I said, the line to register with the city was long. And super, super smelly. I don't know what makes people think it is okay not to wear deodorant. Or not shower. I mean, if I were friends with these people, I sure as shit would say something. Like "dude, you haven't been laid in like two years? Maybe it's because you smell like a dirty diaper. Just sayin'." Instead of doing this very important task, Katrin took me to Cafe Schubert. I can only compare it as such--if Goody's sold not only ice cream and chocolates and candies but also personalized cakes and pies and pastries and had a huge open seating area like a little shop on Main Street at Disney World, that would be Cafe Schubert. I ordered this puffed pastry covered in a decadent chocolate shell. And wanted to cry. I think, for the first time since arriving in Saarbruecken, I experienced my first moment of pure bliss. *small tear*

We then met up with Brice, the other student from BSU who, as it turns out, had a malfunctioning cell phone, so he didn't stand me up! My record remains intact! YES! We went to have dinner at the restaurant, I believe called Tante Maya, and we were served by an extraordinarily bitchy waitress, but whatevs, because I had a fatty piece of steak, a salad and two of these wonderful concoctions called Colaweissen. And yes, that is half coke half Weissbier. I'm not sure what it is with Europeans and mixing their various booze with soda, but it was amazing. After the second one, I was feeling a little shnockered, so we went back to the Cafe Schubert and I had another dessert.

(As a side note, I've learned something very important about Germany. If you order "eine Bier" you get a Pilsner. You can probably drink 3-4 of these before you get hammered. However, if you order a "Weissbier" or a "Hefeweisen" I'd say the max is two before you start shedding clothes and ravaging the closest consenting adult).

Katrin then took us to a store called "DM" which I guess I would compare to a Walgreens? Maybe? All I know is that I was so excited to see things like Fabreeze and q-tips and laundry detergent that I almost cried again. Today was a great day for Germany in the chapters of Sarah's life.

Lastly, I received this gem of a message from a friend of mine on facebook. This person shall remain anonymous, unless they so choose to come forth. This message made me laugh pretty damn hard:

"hope you are doing well over there.
i enjoy your blogs-- you are a good writer which is surprising since you say dumb things in person.
enjoy your adventure - you'll have a great time"

Heart.



(a little Cowboy Junkies to make your day).