hunting

looking for an apartment is crazy.. this weekend i will be packing up about half of my life to go to atlanta for cereal! my aunt and uncle are being really awesome and letting me hang out for a while, but it will be nice to actually settle in somewhere. my mom and i spent the morning booking appointments so we can look around a few places, and then discovered that our list for sunday included all the properties that are closed on sundays! who knew that just trying to go see places is so hectic.. hopefully we'll be able to re-schedule a few so we can check out as many places as possible. off to go through my wardrobe to decide what to pack and what to chuck!

jobby job time!

i go into world50 for my next round of interviews and actually had a great time. the people are great (those i met at least!) and everyone was surprisingly easy to talk to, i am usually so nervous in interviews i start talking circles, but it went well and i only verbally stumbled a few times! after a few hours of discussions and learning about the company they asked me to join their team! i am extremely excited and think it will be an awesome experience! atlanta here i come...

awoops!

i have been severely neglecting my poor little bloggy! since savannah i had an interview with jhm hotels, spent a week with jon, and had another interview in atlanta. columbus [which is where fort benning is located] is an interesting town with a downtown that has a lot of potential. jon recieved his blue cord and graduated from ibolc. yayyy! we went to a really tasty thai restaurant to celebrate on night. then it was one of the girls birthdays on friday, so a group of us went to atlanta and had dinner at mary mac's tea room and it was a-ma-zing. then we went to a very cool place called the porter beer bar. also a great atmosphere. saturday we had crab and steak, which i actually ate and loved! jon and i made burgers for the super bowl, and i was extremely sad that the stillers lost :( monday night i stayed with my cousins in atlanta, and interviewed with world50 this morning. thursday i'll be heading back to atlanta and who knows what the weekend will bring!

savannahhhhhhh

this weekend we took a little road trip to see ole bex. she and bono live in savannah in the most amazing apartment ever. we had an absolute ball. the city is just adorable and it seemed there were many young people [because of scad being all huge there and whatnot] which made the entire atmosphere lively. we met some great people who work for scad and by the end of our little adventure we were about ready to glue ourselves to beckman's floor so we wouldn't have to leave! check out the view from her balcony...

surgeryyyy!

this morning my mom got shoulder surgery. she kept telling me how its no big deal and its outpatient, yaddah yaddah yaddah. so she gets out of the operation and can barely talk she is so drugged up. as she begins to awake she realizes that she can no longer feel her arm. [the doctors put a block on it that will wear off during the night] she can not only not feel the arm, but she has no control over it whatsoever! at physical therapy shes freaking out because when she thinks her arm is one place she looks up and realizes that its really above her head. as amusing as this was, the funniest moment of this experience to date was while we were sitting on the couch. i had propped her arm up [doctors orders!] at a ninety degree angle, and when i moved the pillow so I could rearrange her to stretch her arm again her arm fell. right on her face. it scared her [because she didn't know what had hit her] so much that she screamed! as much as surgery is not fun. the shoulder block has been increasingly amusing!!

benning

this weekend i headed out to columbus georgia to go check out good ole fort benning. jon had a nice four day weekend so i got to check out the area he lives and had my first real base experience. it was a nice and relaxing weekend, and there was some pretty cool places to go in columbus. we had an awesome dinner at this mongolian grille called mongos, it was sooo tasty! the major downside: it's about a million miles into the middle of nowhere!

atlanta aquarium

yesterday i took jon back to atlanta to get his car since he bussed straight to south carolina. we wanted to go to the high museum to see the dalí exhibit, but museums are closed on mondays. boooo. i guess i'll just have to go back this weekend before it closes! instead we ended up going to the georgia aquarium, which was just as cool as everyone says it is! the colors and patterns of the fish were amazing.. a great alternative for dalí!

 

 

happy new year!

happy new year everyone! this year a group of my friend convened in charlotte to cheer on the tigers [who ended up losing the bowl game, but we still had fun anyway]  and celebrate the new year with clemson pals! the weekend was pretty eventful and we met many of our friends new work buddies. before we went to celebrate, i had three days to quickly make up a cooler for jon for the weekend. luckily his flight was delayed and he had to take a bus from new york to charlotte [okay lucky for me not him!] so i had a few extra days to finish up the painting. i didnt quite finish the camo on the top as you can see below...

but the tiger eyes on one of the sides turned out much better than i had expected.

now that the holidays are over it is time to buckle down and start job searching again! tomorrow i am taking jon back to atlanta, and will see the dalí exhibit at the high museum...

christmas frenzy

the holiday season is here! which of course means a ton to get done before my departure back to the states [which is why this has been a bit neglected since london!] this week my dad and my brother zac came to visit. they had a fabulous time skiing in zermatt this week, and today the three of us are off to munich!

at work we have been working hard to get everything we can completed before the new year, and on top of that i have begun to play around with my own portfolio and resume stuff to get ready for my job search. i had my first experience setting up a website all by myself! there are a toooooon of glitches still, but for a first attempt without ay real training or knowledge it's not too shabby.. check it out. www.ashleyreinstein.com [creative i know!]

but i am definitely going to have to get back to keeping this more updated!

from london, with love.

thursday jen and i wake up early. make sure our bags are packed [ready to go..] and then we pop off to work to make sure we have everything ready on time. after a restless day at the office were off to london town! we get to zurich and were right on time.. we rush through the ticket check point [where they scan your ticket to make sure your all set] and then we find our gate number and head to the passport check and then as were unloading onto the security dock the attendant [in very broken english] informs us that our flight to london city is canceled. what?? it can't be! oh but it was. we got up to the transfers desk and literally hundreds of people are standing around. luckily the fifa people were alll in zurich attempting to fly as well! after over 3 hours and 45 minutes in line [the men behind us informed us of this as we rounded the final bend in the queue] we had successfully made a nice handful of friends, read a hefty portion of my book [thank you lori it is sooo gooood!], and crocheted two headbands and numerous attempts at flowers. one of our new friends [dianna] used to knit/crochet, but hadn't done so in over 20 years, but her attempt at a flower was still stunning and it now resides on the hat that jen made me. when we get to the counter we cheerfully greet the teller [who has the most ridiculous hair style i have ever seen] as we have been doing all evening, and i cannot lie, we were sort of a hit. once they realized we didn't want to yell at them for snowing in england they just wanted to chatter about the crazy fifa-ers and the snow and yaddah yaddah.. well this guy wanted nothing to do with our happiness. he gives us a hotel brochure and then was very rude when we asked which bus we were supposed to be taking to which hotel [as if there is only one bus and one hotel near the zurich airport. false.] well we got put up in the hilton. it. was.like.heaven. that teller really did love us, he put us up in the 'relaxation suite' and very nicely showed us the fantastic free layover buffet they had set up.. amazing chick in a mushroom sauce, swedish meatballs to die for, these stuffing patties that went great with both sauces, rice, veggies, salad, fruit, free wine, beer, tea and water. we had a little party at the hilton until the waiter made it clear he was exhausted and our friends [who all happened to be older than us] had to make their way to bed. our room was fantastic and i will probably never forget the pillows. or the shower. it was as perfect as perfect gets!

our friday flight didn't leave until 3:30 to munich so we got to sleep in.. when we got to the provided breakfast buffet [also realllllly yummy] one of our friends [who has on this super crazy bling bling hat] told us that the guy behind him didn't get the hotel voucher because they had run out! then the ballerina from wimbledon told us that they almost didn't have a room for her when we were checking in the previous night! eeek! so we all go to the airport, fly to munich and then hop a plane to london city [this flight we sat with a personal assistant, about our age, very friendly who helped us with the tube vs. dlr and whatnot] and finally we had done it. we arrived in london! it was a bit late at this point so we checked into the hostel and headed to meet a friend of mine from college, elizabeth. unfortunately the tube trains kept getting delayed because of the ice and we arrived nine minutes late. and our lack of phone really screwed us up and we ended up stalking the employee entrance. we called her cell a few time using an officers phone [he had a k9.. pretty cool] and around 11 he went in to check and ask security where she was. but security had left, so we found this amazing lebanese restaurant [i have been craving some hummus!] and went to town! it was the best hummus i have ever had. i am certain of it. so we caught the last train from the center of the city and headed to the hostel. unfortunately we missed the very last leg of our journey and had to figure out the creepy minicab service that is provided for a very cheap sum. it turns out our hostel has a pretty happening bar jsut below it, and right next door! but we were exhausted and headed up to our room to crash.

we woke up early on saturday because we had big plans: first the tower of london, then meeting an old neighbor of mine for a bite to eat, and portobello road market. so we totter off to the tower and end up playing around for over three hours. it was like heaven for me. i surely could have stayed all day and not gotten bored! first we explored a bit before a tour began. we went up into the medieval section where they literally had re-constructed the way it originally looked. it was absolutely amazing the way they took the patterns from the leftover statues and effigies! it wound us through the rooms in the outer wall until we came out to an amazing view of the tower bridge!

by this time our tour was going to begin so we hurried off to meet the yeoman warder aka beefeater. these men [and one woman] have been serving england for basically a million years[over 20 which is basically a million!] and are awarded for their service by giving tours of the tower, and also residing there! after our enthusiastic 'interactive' tour with our beefeater [just so great!] we checked out the tower than held prisoners. it had the most amazing and intricate graffiti i have seen. the wall was literally carved into inches revealing family crests and favorite sayings. then we went to the white tower [the tallest, central one] to see the armour through the ages exhibit they had going. at the top floor [where the royal quarters were!] they had an interactive how-to-use-the-weapons-you've-been-staring-at exhibit. jen did quite well with her jousting attempt! by this time it was noon, and we were to meet art [the neighbor] at two, so we hurried to the old armory to check out the crown jewels. one jewel on one scepter was 530 carats. it looked fake. only the vault we were in sort of gave away the fact that it was REAL! fantastic! when we finally exited the jewel house it was almost two and so we hopped off [in fantastic moods] to the london bridge to meet art at barrowboy & banker and have a beer before we hit up burough market and grabbed the most delicious ostrich steak sandwich [with freshly made mustard and cranberry sauce]. after this we attempted to get to portobello road, but it was a bit late so art went to meet up with a friend and jen and i headed off to kings cross station to meet elizabeth and daryl. it was so great to see them again! we took the tube to daryl's friend millers' apartment in camden and picked up some sam's chicken and a bottle of wine [being good house guests of course] on the way. when we got there jen and millers quickly discovered their mutual obsession with deadmau5 and the evening took a great turn form there. since the tubes close at 12-1am we decided early that since we were having such a good time that we were going to stay in camden for the night. we went to a recording studio that millers flatmate owns and hung out with them, before heading down to a ridiculous club called 'egg'! after our eggy experience we hunted for pizza but unfortunately came up short and headed back to the flat in defeat [all relative of course].

sunday morning we were going to attempt to make it out to stonehenge, but since its far away, and our new brit friends had nothing ecstatic to say about it we decided to do the city sites [especially since jen hadn't seen the big stuff yet] first we went to trafalgar square and saw the amazing statues that are scattered about the area.

every year the citizens of olso gift a huge christmas tree to london and it was stunning, as well as a very cool tradition to learn about. then we decided that we needed some oriental food [since switzerland lacks it] and we walked through piccadilly circus, leister's square, and covent gardens to the really tasty restaurant called wanamama, which jen and i were immediately addicted to! then we kept walking across the thames [i believe on the millenium brudge] and to another market near the london eye, then across the next bridge to big ben, westminster, and the houses of parliment. at this point it was getting late and we needed to go back to camden to gather our belongings [from the previous days shopping when we were on our way to meet elizabeth and daryl] so we hopped a black cab to buckingham palace, caught the end of the guards switching out, and went back to camden. from there we headed back to leister's square to meet art at a mexican restaurant [with awful margaritas unfortunately] that was right next to the odeon that we were going to see harry potter in [where the premiere was]. dinner was fabulous and we had an awesome time before skipping over to see harry! the movie [which we both had low expectations for, being avid book readers] blew our minds, especially since the cast interviews were in front of the building we were in, and the scenes in the movie were literally around the corner. it was an amazing experience that i am sure jen and i will always look back on fondly! lastly we headed back to our hostel to pack and get ready to leave our new favorite city.

we arrived at the airport at 7 for our 8:30 flight to a departure board informing us of our flights cancellation. it was like a nightmare. luckily the line went quickly, and the man who helped us was very kind. he booked us on the earliest flight to zurich. a 3:30pm out of heathrow [an hour and a half away, but it was only 10 so we had time]. they gave us a cab [the cool black ones!] and we went to heathrow with two guys around our age, one working and living in basel and the other in geneva. the guy going to geneva was a pretty cool guy, he was reading a coben harlan book [in french!] and so we chatted about which ones we had read and which are must reads. i believe the one he recommended is already on my amazon wishlist! we dropped him off and headed into heathrow. we were departing from terminal five, which seemed to be the large one according to the maps. it was basically mall with a few terminals to let you leave the country. we were starving because by now it was noon [we should have been on our way from st. gallen to steigbach at this point] and we were starving. luckily a wagamama was standing right in front of us! so we went in to drink some more fantabulous juice and try a few more dishes.. all were amazing of course! then we went to find our gate. which naturally isn't posted hours before your flight leaves. so we found a computer station to let work know we were stranded. the keyboard of course had no spacebar so all_of_our_communication_was_like_this. quite frustrating! then we did a bit of shopping, picked up a few goodies and used our meal vouchers to get some lunch/dinner for the flight.

to sum up our experience... we basically had the worst traveling luck we could have had, that was awful, but we got through it. the amazing time and new friends we made definitely made up for the poor flight situations, and both zurich and london have very nice airports. at this point the only london airport i have not visited is standsted, so i will have to try to fit that in for my next trip!

thank you karma for allowing us to have such an amazing time!

major apologies...

it's true, i have been seriously neglecting this poor blog! after our fabulous thanksgiving thursday we had an eventful weekend. on friday night we took it easy [not sleeping can be rough] and on saturday jen and chris went shopping in st. gallen while i hunkered down and prepared for the next steps to enter the real world.. when they got back we went to the gais christmas markt which was absolutely amazing! i got most of my gifts there, which i think is really awesome and special because it was literally outside my window and they're the crafts of the people in the town we live in! that night we went to st. gallen to see our swiss fruendies before our little trip on sunday.. sunday we went to luzern. it was super adorable! the first thing we did was to go check out the rosengart collection...

matisse

after we had our minds blown by the amazing works of picasso, matisse, miró, and monet we took a stroll around the city. there was an awesome bridge [the chapel bridge] that burnt down in the early 1990s and they spent a bunch of money restoring it, but it wasn't 100% completed so some of the wood is still charred black. its amazing how well it was restored! [check out my facebook album to see all the pics!]

 after our stroll through the bridge we went to a very tasty brewery for dinner and got greattttt food! after our great food/dessert/fresh brewed beer we stumbled on a crazy parade that was going on that evening. there were groups of people with these whips that made some crazy cracking noises in the air, then large groups of men with giant bells came through the street and finally two santa clauses! [videos on the book!]

this week has been pretty crazy as well! while jen and i are preparing for our london adventure i am taking my real world steps! last night i got my domain name and hosting set up so that next week i can launch ashleyreinstein.com! a woot a wooooot!

thanksgiving [swiss style]

last night we chowed down on some raclette for thanksgiving. because thanksgiving is not celebrated here [which i was asked more than once how the day was celebrated in switzy!]lori and jon decided to cook us a traditional swiss dinner. it was amazing! i thought i loved fondue, but raclette may have taken the cake on my favorite swiss dish. partially because there was garlic cheese. it's like combining my two favorite things and saying 'hey, go pour this on your favorite starch'. it is literally a thick slice of cheese that is heated in these little trays [everyone gets one tray] until it bubbles and then it is scraped off onto a boiled potato that you can slice, mash, add meat [traditionally horse, but they got just normal thinly sliced beef for us], pickles, pickled onions, spices, anything you want! after stuffing ourselves on the fabulous food steffan took us home and we were down for the count!

today at work [being that christmas officially starts the day after thanksgiving] i got to make a few versions of christmas cards for one of our clients! they wanted their heads to appear in the christmas ornaments, so i created two versions. one that was pretty straightforward and what they had asked for, and my own take that is a little more cheerful [and i think americanized] and animated. i hope they enjoy both and i cannot wait to see which they choose!

the card on the left is the original one they requested, and the card on the right is the one that i came up with as am alternative [but i thought the wreaths were similar to ornaments since they both hang!] i also get to start working on a new project for rare disease day, creating their fliers/posters that will be used to attract visitors and build the brand of the event. definitely looking forward to working on that project. christmas rush come and get us!!

st.gallen

the ad train is moving once again! only this time they have decided that they want a bunch of professors without head shots to be silhouetted against the white background! luckily my photoshop skills are not too rusty and i have been able to put some heads on some bodies and make them fairly believable [oh did i mention these are being printed on friday and still have to be approved?]

hopefully we can get this ad and the next wrapped up and off to print perfect and as soon as possible!

the coldest weekend of my life!

this weekend we took basically the coolest adventure known to any of us. first we popped into interlaken, to check out junfrau [the virgin] and stayed at this pretty awesome hostel called balmers. it was adorable and had some pretty fun nightlife going on.. jen, chris and i [being our charming selves] naturally made friends as soon as we arrived.

after a fun evening of interlaken fun we  headed out to zermatt to meet up with jen's friends jess and dac.  zermatt was absolutely gorgeous. everyone there was all bundled up, and rightly so, it was freeeezing! once we found our hostel we set out for fondue, but noone was serving it until dinner, so we went to this restaurant that some girls at the hostel recommended and had some snackage, then we shopped around a bit and returned to the hostel so we could check in. after we unloaded and changed into more layers of clothing out we went for dinner! [since we had been craving fondue for hours at this point] we found a great place that had awesome fondue and had a tremendously long and filling dinner. on the way back we stopped by a cute little pub that some people from the hostel had told us about and had a beer with them before deciding that we needed a good nights sleep to get up early to see the ice palace!

we all got up before 8 to get ready and check out. then it was go time. we first got our tickets to the halfway point because it was too windy at the very top to ascend. then as son as we turn around the board lights up green and we can now go to the top top [which is where the palace it]. first we jump into these tiny moving pods that hold about six people and they sway as the take you up the mountain. i won't lie. i was terrified. next came a larger car that held a ton of people and their skis. this one was the car that was originally closed. it was freaky but took us basically to the top of the world! we first checked out the ice palace, you take an elevator down and it opens up into a tunnel in the ice. ridiculous. then we walked around the different sections.. this little kitchen table area, the chandelier,  the buddah, what appeared to be a nativity scene, and a very awkward assortment of people, animals, and frozen flowers that has plaques about glacier bugs and how they lived and grew. it was very interesting and pretty amazing. we then went to warm up in the gift shop at the top. it had a few of the ticket items we had been wanting but for cheaper! go figure. so after jen made a pretty awesome purchase we decided to head to the top. we took and elevator up and opened into white. all white. we were inside a cloud. after rushing up the stairs through the coldest wind imaginable [my face and ears are cold just thinking about it!] we reached the very top! we were equal with the top of the clouds, which blew my mind, and there was a giant crucifix and a plaque with some info about the peak. once we had take enough awesome photos we scurried down into the relative "warmth" of the inside of the mountain.

just the matterhorn making an appearance!

 
by this time it was after noon and we had to start getting ready to head back home, so off we headed in the ski lifts down the mountain and into thicker air and "warmth". we headed home and attempted to be productive but really all we did was make some dinner and watch glee! it was basically an amazing weekend :)

check out all my photos!

eighty whattt

so the last two days have been consumed by st.gallen! there was originally a catalog, made up of about 8-10 brochures called sol... it has transformed to slf and now sfl and contains 14 brochures. unfortunately the brochures are all just a bit different and needed to be completely re-layed out. it was a bit hectic, but it looks pretty print-fab now! hopefully monday it will all go off without a hitch and print consistent and well!

tonight after work we are going to interlaken, hanging out for the night and checking out the area in the morning, then jumping train to visp to meet jen's friends jess and dac and heading to zermatt to check out the matterhorn! we are pretty pumped about the experience so make sure to check back on sunday for photos and stories!

the falken

so the card actually turned out pretty well.. the combination of jen and i working on it got rave reviews from the client! they actually thought we had forgotten the additions! yay us!

i think it is still beign worked on, but i have to begin fixing up an 80 page brochure for print monday!

last night after a nice long day at work and the gym jen and i met chris at the falken for some pre-made dinner and drinks... we split a pizza, gnocchi, and lasagna and had a few  glasses of vino with our apps and dinner... then dessert came fresh glace [gelato, but i swear better!] with a cookie. it was great! the waiter spoke basically every language in the book except english, and was very amused at our attempt to learn snippets of different languages. to show his approval at our poor foreign language skills he brought us over a surprise.. straight amaretto! after our little dessert drink we all retired upstairs and just crashed for the night... so appealing!

photoshop madness!

morgan and i have been quite amused today. we have been attempting to create a photo of a group of st.gallen teachers for a 'thank you' card of some sort. the assignment was simple.. to throw a few people into the photo... either by floating ovals of their heads off tot he side, or by attempting to add them into the image [and make them look natural of course]

as you can see it was pretty hilarious...

color addict

so in keeping with my addiction to anything to do with color i have found something that i find perfectly amusing for any time a splash of color is needed! it is the color hunter. you type in what sort of colors you want to appear and anywhere from one to 100 pages of possible palettes show up! it gives you five colors and an image.. pretty fun if you ask me! yesterday we went over the designs we began for sgad and discussed what direction we wanted to go in.. check out my designs!

after our meeting we decided on a few different directions to go in... check back later for those designs!

fondue part two!

today was absolutely beautiful. after jen and i hit up the gym to fulfill some project pretty time we literally just basked in the sun at the train station. it was great! we got back and showered and then sporting some of my awesome new salvation purchases i went to go hang out int he dorfplatz on a bench that the sun was just beating down on! people kept starring at my sandaled feet, but i was so close to home and it was seriously gorgeous out so i couldn't pass up the opportunity to hang around without shoes!

 

after jen joined my reading session on the bench we went inside to find chris as she finished up her showering and the three of us headed off into the natural world of switzerland! the walk to appenzell was absolutely gorgeous. it is ridiculous that we get to just live and experience this all!

when we got to the city it was already dark, but that was fine, we were on a mission. fondue. part two. when we found an open restaurant with the fondue poster outside we jumped on the opportunity and sat in the non-smoking section... then the fun began!

we ordered a double order [since we were three hungry girls] and a glass of weine each. a small basket of bread came, which made us nervous at first, but we then discovered that they would continue to give us more until our käse was gone! this pot [which was decorated, just like the appenzell-wear you can see above] was just alive with boiling cheese! the chef came out and brought it to us and then continued to continuously check on us to make sure we were enjoying it. on one of these occasions he decided to being us each a shot glass full of schnapps [as if the weine and tooon of alcohol in the cheese weren't enough!]  to dip the bread in before we put it in the cheese. it was a very interesting taste. i wasn't really feeling it so chris was kind enough to finish my portion for me! my all-time favorite part of the fondue [and i think chris' as well] is scrapping off the well-done bits at the bottom of the pan. fantastical!! then we walked to the train station to hop the last train back and the machine wouldn't let us purchase our tickets! it literally would not accept any money! so the conductor ended up sticking his head out the window and telling us to just hop on anyway! so a quick free ride to gais and we were home sweet home with bellies full of hot melty cheese.. and to top things off lori promised to teach us how to make it so that when we go home the tradition can continue!

the day of the phoenix.

this morning jen and i woke up early to hit up the denner [so we don't starve tomorrow] and then we took the early train to st. gallen to check out the heils armee [salvation army] which happens to be out all-time favorite store. there were some pretty awesome purchases that took place. it was fantastical! so then after chris got her half tax card we decided to head out to munich. now the trains are under construction [which noone informed us of] so we ended up taking some bus when this couple took pity on us and told us we had to get off the train! so we end up in lindau. g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.

it was completely unreal. more photos to come in the near future. just amazing! so after hangin out we went to munich, where the trains were set up like harry potter [the movie is playing here but only in german, and we took some staged wand fighting photos in the cabin].we met some cool people on the train and finalllly got to munchen! yaaaay! it was pretty awesome. we headed for the hofbräuhaus to get some maß and schnitzel. this large group of older women sat down at our table, and it turns out they have been friends for twenty years, were in a bowling league together, and they take day trips to places like munich [they're from heidelberg, pretty awesome in the printing world!] after they left some other people sat down, but they were just not as friendly. after our fantastical meal we decided to hop the early train just in case to be safe. when we got onto the train we met three awesome girls from füssen who taught us some hilarious little german phrases! then we met raphi who was pretty awesome as well! after our friends departed we realized one of the girls left all her new h&m purchases, so we're hoping to find her so we can return her clothes!

 when we got to lindau we checked the schedule. it was quite a shock to us that because of earlier construction all the schedules were crazy and messed up. we were stuck in lindau for the night because there were only five trains from lindau: one at 10am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm. so we learn about a hostel that is clean and cheap and hop a taxi to go check it out [keep in mind it is about 11pm at this point]. in the cab we met some very cool people, eddie and sven. eddie told us he hadn't spoken english in about five years. it was very fun talking to him, he said we were the first americans he had ever met! so we get to this hostel and it's closed, we cannot get anyone's attention inside. so we start getting nervous, meanwhile chris talks to the cabbie and he tells us he will drive us back to st. gallen for fifty euros! which seemed like a fabulous idea to us...

so he had one more group of people to pick up and drive before he could take us so he drops off eddie and sven at a place that looks creepily like bar that has adult entertainment inside. our driver tells us there are seven people in his next load and so we need to wait at the bar. he could tell we were very freaked out and went to talk to the police officers to tell them we were uncomfortable and to take care of us. so he pulls away and the one officer comes and basically escorts us into this bar. we are basically having heart attacks thinking this is a topless establishment. turns out. it's just a super cool bar having a rocking 90s night! great music [understatement] and hanging out with our new friends was pretty awesome. plus i ordered a coca-cola and it came in an old-school glass bottle [which i received a euro for when it was returned!] and that made me feel like it was pretty awesome. so as we were singing spice girls and chatting with our new friends we decided that this potentially terrifying/stranded evening turned into a fabulous evening! our cabbie came back in half an hour [as promised] and off we drove to st. gallen! through germany and austria and right to the city. the was telling us that he lives in germany on a farm, but doesn't have any animals because he has three children and a dog, which were a handful themselves. his oldest daughter was our age, so i think when we had told him how old we were in the beginning he must have compared us with her and proceeded in a fatherly way [phew!]. once we were there we knew how to get home, which took a while but was ultimately quicker that it usually is. overall everything from the salvation army to the 90s night was a super great experience! anything that seemed daunting or unpreferable at first, soon became perfect, just like a phoenix raises from the ashes!