Coming and going

So what's been happening lately? Well, in no particular order (okay, in the order that I am remembering them) I went to see the film 'Goodbye, Lenin' with Andres last Tuesday, and would definitely recommend it to all and sundry. A well produced look into divided Germany, both funny and sad.

Many people have been going off on day-trips throughout this country, and some for longer. My own break went through Luxemburg, Aachen, Cologne, Bonn and Koblenz with Martin (long-time friend from Stuttgart), his girlfriend, and his car. Despite a cold Saturday, the trip was great.

As mentioned on Jordi's updated website, Javi went off to Prague, Lou has now gone off to Berlin, Carolina has come back from Colombia, and Dani (el putogues) is off to Italy (don't expect many photos of the sights...). In the meantime I've been doing nothing unusual in working as much as possible, although I did clean and completely rearrange my room on Monday (inspections welcome), and worked up an appetite by running to Jordi and Javi's for dinner, and then running back afterwards (spring makes funny things happen to people).

Another thing of importance, is that Fernando and Joan have now boarded their plane to Argentina, and so wishes of all the best go out to them, and let's see if I get to visit them this summer...

As we have just had a huge thunderstorm, and lots of rain, the weather can described as unstable, so anyone planning a trip to visit me (us) here (hints to any of my friends back in the UK), bring your umbrellas !

now, where did I put my wellies?

Weather and News

Germany, are we are in Germany?? You wouldn't have thought so, what with the weather actually being hot (not just the sun being out and a freezing wind). So what do we do when we've got weather unseen here for the last 8 months? We stay inside and work. Yes, bosses seem to think that good weather means people will work faster, so they give us even more to do. Never mind, I can dream of the sea...

Couple of short news stories. First one following on about alternative uses for mobiles, some people just take it too far. And then an amusing story about internet pornography, and how the US government is aiming to succeed in paying off it's national debt, maybe.

smoke me a kipper.

Fun for the girls, and windows security update

After the article about the taiwanese women who 'accidently' got her mobile stuck in her rear quarters, comes the news of a new phone luxury called The Purring Kitty that owners of certain nokia handsets can download which makes use of the vibrate function...the rest I'll let this article explain.

And now something serious for users of the windows operating system. A new bug has been found that will allow specially-designed websites to format your hard-disks. More info and links to the patches can be found here.

That's it, nothing more nothing less.

New Photos Up

Along with the photos of Milan and Bologna, you can also find evidence of my latest haircut and the party at Jorge's place.

Enjoy.

News Roundup

Some brief news links.
Naturists are battling the government's plans to outlaw people taking off their clothes in public. They can count on my support :)
Police are searching for 118 missing piglets. The motive is yet unknown, but when a robbery of 100 lettuces and tomatoes follows, my bet's the bakery is next.
Just to prove that Birmingham really is a safe place to live, in a police amnesty on arms (hand in any weapon, and no prosecution will follow) in the west midlands, a slightly unusual piece was handed in. A grenade launcher goes to show that schoolkids are getting slightly out of control...
Finally, a well written article about net censorship and the war that is definitely worth reading.

Back to Mainz, and the Hague carload came back last night, Noelia is nursing an oil-burnt hand, had a great meal (provided by Olga, Bivi, Roberto) and film (la flor de mi secreto) experience in Bretzenheim on Sunday.

No rest for the wicked...

Student Cones

Funny title, but it has it's reasons. Not sufficient in taking away our civil liberties, our privacy, instilling fear in the population, now the government wants to take away the life and blood of its students. Yes, they want all traffic cones returned to government departments, and as such, have set up an amnesty so no questions will be asked. So what are we supposed to do now when we come home drunk from the pubs and clubs at 4am ??? At least we can keep the signposts, traffic lights and shopping trolleys... :)

Something a bit more personal now. Don't sit up in your chairs just yet though, I didn't mean that personal !!. Last night saw the Hechtsheim Bar open its doors for the new Erasmus students. After all the newbies went off to bed, we arrived, and had a great time dancing away to hits of the eighties (up-to-date, Germany :)

Well, that's all for now, pictures of Bologna are in progress, and you might just notice a change in me tomorrow.

Wait and see.

What a life

Well, for those of you who don't understand spanish, I think I'd better let you into what I've been upto over the last...month ?!!!

Valencia in the Fallas was great, had a superb time with Jordi, Dani, Paolo, and all the others we met there (way to many to list here - sorry!). Some of the most memorable moments were in the street parties, returning home at about 6am, having drunk a little bit :) A certain moment when we circled a tree singing "que nadie mea aqui" (you'll have to ask us for an explanation...) and in the final cremation of the Falla in the square of the city hall, when everybody turned to face the building of the PP (the ruling political party in Spain) and shouted "Stop the war". Very emotional, especially considering that the war then started 3 hours later...

By the way, the photos from the Fallas of 2003 are up, so go have a ganders.
Whilst on the subject of photos, the birthday dinner and party of Jordi, Javi and Lou are also up, as are those of the leaving party of Fernando and Joan.

What else has happened...well, the official changeover of houses has happened, and so Hechtsheim has said goodbye to Jordi, Javi, Juanfran, Carmen and Luca, and hello to Carlitos.

Whilst Dani and Paolo were here in Mainz (yes, they came over here after having been in the fallas) and after having had much fun at the Eisgrub, Javi and I were persuaded (ok, it didn't take much effort at all) to go and visit them in Bologna. Which is where we have been since Sunday until this morning at 2am when we arrived in Mainz.
We had such an amazing time there, it was unbelievable. We ate like kings, had fun at the parties with the friends, family and housemates of our two bologneses, and left with much will to return someday soon (what are you doing this weekend, Javi? :) There definitely are a thousand reasons to come back to this incredible city. The photos will be put up as soon as possible.

Now to a bit of general news. Although we have only just found out, a bomb was left outside the IBM building in Bologna on the 31st, whilst we were there. Luckily it didn't explode.

Best get back to work, catchup time...