okay, i'm back at the computer, most of the keys don't work, and i'm tired....so hold on to your hats friends, you're in for a ride.

on the train from koln germany we got reservations in 1st class...how sweet is that? we got complimentary drinks and food, though we didn' take advantage of the free booze b/c we needed to be on the ball on our travel day. we arrived in paris and almost immediately my knowledge of french was put to the test since we needed subway tickets to another train station. on the train to montpellier, not only did britt and i not have seats together, we were 4 cars apart...i had some guys sitting with me, so of course when the fourth seat turned up empty i went a fetched her. they were excellent dudes, both from germany but studying international business in maastricht, netherlands. they spoke very good french, so they helped us find our hotel...but they had not booked a place and hoped there would be room where we were staying. there wasn't, so instead of having them wander all night in the rain, we decided they could have one of the big beds in our room. wednesday we all went to the beach together and got slightly burnt before returning to our place to wash the 5 tons of sand out of our ears before eating dinner. the beaches were awesome!! i forgot were were on the mediterranean, so when i jumped into the water, with my eyes open, i swallowed a whack of salt water...it tasted great! yuck. we had italian for dinner and stopped for a beer on the way home. our new friends left today for barcelona and i hope that they have a wicked time!!! you guys rock, say hi to bodo for me!!

******side note******
it's apparently customary for guys...(er, do i dare say immature men?) in europe to do any or all of the following when they see girls/women walking past them:

say "hey baby", make kissy faces, whistle, bark, meow, make awkward animal noises (whichever they deem appropriate), or just follow you and try to talk to you (when you don't respond they try every language they know!). we just walk away laughing at them...is this rude?

surprisingly, there are not that many french people speaking english and when i say i'm from canada, they assume i speak french and continue the conversation in their language. today was a lazy day spent nursing our sunburns, doing laundry, and moseying about the town. had a wee nap before eating greek for dinner. i had falafel balls, does anyone know what these are made of? i'd never eaten them before and thought they were made of some sketchy meat products, but it's chick peas...CHICK PEAS!!! i really liked them and ate too many so now i feel all falafely.

i don't like this whole keyboard fiasco that's going on here in europe, but i need to experience the culture right? ha ha. i love backpacking and reccomend it to everyone who has access to time, money...and brains. be on the ball and you'll make it just fine.a basic knowledge of languages would be helpful too!

well, i should get going because there's a huge line up for the computers. it's back to the beach tomorrow for more roasting~~~

just a quick update...i love montpellier!!! i already have a sweet tan after a few hours in the sun. the keyboards have changed yet again which makes it difficult to type fast. ahh! my time is running out...so i'm safe and sound. postcards are on the way as soon as i buy stamps. love y'all~~~

i'm so hot i think i might melt...and i'm only in germany, just wait until i wake up tomorrow in montpellier france. i'll be cookin'!

it's been awhile since i last made an entry simply b/c i have not had access to a computer long enough to blog. the last time that i wrote, i was trying to get to the jüdisches museum in berlin...i made it and it was amazing! definitely make room for it on your intinerary if you're headed for berlin. i also wandered around the city a bit more and saw multiple museums and monuments. i had a wonderful time in the city and was so happy to be able to spend time with such a great friend. katharina dropped me off at the berlin zoo station friday morning and i met up with my friend brittanee in düsseldorf, germany. i have to say that i am so happy to be travelling with her! she is such a blast, we get along great and are having so much fun. she also doesn't mind if she goes into a little bit of debt from this trip--which is cool since having a good time while in europe costs a pretty penny.

on saturday night we arrived in köln to the most amazing site i have ever seen...the köln dom (cathedral). it took over 4 centuries to build it and it is enormous! i just stared at it for about 2 hours as we waited to catch the next train to her friends house to stay the night. we people watched most of the time, drunk guys being slapped awake by laughing police officers, japanese tourists skating around in the convertible runners/blades, families re-uniting. the whole shebang. a couple of girls approached us to see if we could change some money for them and i apologized telling her that our office was closed for the evening (they gave me a funny look). we spent saturday and sunday night in hilden at this dude bodo's house, he trying to become a rockstar, but i think that in medias res has way better odds! monday afternoon we took a ferry trip up and down the rhine while we made sandwiches and gawked at the hudreds of naked male sun bathers along the far side of the river (köln is the gay capital of germany--not that there's anything wrong with that). i have never seen so many burnt bellies in my life! spent last night in köln at a super cute place called 'pension jansen'. i definitely recommend it if you're in town. i have taken up smoking since i've been here...just kidding, though i may as well have since i'm engulfed by the smoke nearly 24/7. it's really irritated my sinuses and i am now sick which sucks, but i'm not too concerned.

so now britt and i are just waiting to catch our train to paris and then to montpellier...we're arriving late, about 11pm! but thankfully the place we're staying is right by the station. (mom, don't worry!) i can't wait to lay by the mediterranean (sp?) and soak up the sun! i'll try to write some post-cards between sun and sleep. i hope that the ones i've sent already arrived safe and sound. so keep those emails coming and i'll keep pumping out the half-funny stories~~~