The Wonders of the Internets!

I found my old host sister from three years ago. My first trip to Germany was in the summer of 2003. I spent two weeks in southern Germany, mostly Bavaria, which is the Texas of Germany*. The first week we spent travelling to different cities and towns, including Oberammergau, Munich, and Salzburg ( in Austria ). The second week I spent with a host family outside of Ulm in a town called Illertissen. I had five host siblings, most of which were involved in music somehow. I spent a week with them and while that wasn't enough to improve my spoken German, it was enough to improve my listening skills. It was a great experience.

Well, thanks to the wonders of the German version of facebook.com I found my oldest former host sister. She's studying Music in Munich and invited me to spend a few days there. I'm pretty begeistert!

I also booked some bunks at The Flying Pig in Amsterdam at their beach hostel. While it's not exactly beach weather, it'll still be fun, and they've got a shuttle into the city for our convenience. While booking the bunks I got to thinking about what it would be like to surf in Germany/Europe and found a bit of information. I've seen river surfing in Munich before, but wasn't certain about surfing in the north. According to a few surfing sites, the coast is a bit muddy and it's best to go surfing off of islands, but the ferries can be expensive. Never mind the fact that I have neither a board nor a wetsuit. Still, it would be pretty fun.

* They have a funny accent, it's what everyone thinks of when they think of Germany/the USA, they're both a big state in the south, and proudly declare that they are a Freistatt, which, while having a more political meaning than "Lonestar" still conveys a feeling of independence.