Friday, October 2

From	To	Distance (km)	Average Speed (km/hr)	Max Speed (km/hr)	Odometer (km)	Riding Time (hr:min:sec)	Push-Ups
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany							250

(1132 words)

Friday morning Matt and I slept in a bit. We went downstairs for breakfast at the Pension Becker, where I met an older American couple. This couple (the wife of which could speak some German) had spent two weeks doing "Friendship Force," which, I learned, is a club where members around the world host each other at their homes.

After breakfast, I let Matt go up and take a shower first. I stayed sitting in the breakfast room working on my last day in France (the day with Francis) in my travelogue. At noon I went back upstairs and took my shower, then met Matt in the internet cafe at 1:00. We walked to the Goethe Institute, where I inquired in the office about the bus to Munich.

I had learned that on Saturday the Goethe Institute was going to sponsor a day trip to Munich for the students, and that I would be able to go with them if the buses didn't fill up. Nadia, the temporary assistent working that month at the Goethe Institute, checked the lists and informed me that unfortunately the buses were full. But just at that moment, before I had much chance to be disappointed, a Korean girl walked up to the office window and told Nadia that, although she had signed up for the Munich trip, she didn't want to go anymore. So I paid the Korean girl my 30 mark fee, and Nadia changed the Korean girl's name to mine on the bus-to-Munich list.

I went down to the Treffpunkt, where Matt was already eating with Mary from North Carolina. Mary told us she had been an intern in Washington this past summer. "Not that kind of intern," she told us. I dined on yogurt, a banana, and bread spread with cheese I had taken from breakfast that morning.

At 2:00, I went once again to the Mediotek and worked on my last day in France until I finished it about 2:40. I then hopped on the internet for two hours and typed in my travelogue page, and worked through my e-mail.

Matt had been working on the internet from 2:00. Around 3:30 or so, Romana showed up. Matt later told me that when he mentioned to Romana earlier in the day that we had no place to stay Saturday and Sunday, she had said, "But why aren't you worried about it?"

"Oh, we'll take care of it this afternoon," replied Matt.

Romana said, "Why don't you take care of it this morning?"

As a came into the computer room to use the internet that afternoon, Romana, who was obviously still concerned about the room situation, turned to me and told me that Matt had said we didn't have a place to stay this weekend. I told her it was true and began explaining that the Pension where we were staying was fully booked on Saturday and Sunday night. At that point, Anja, the lady who was working in the Mediotek that week and who was getting me going on the internet, suddenly offered to let Matt and I stay at her place on Saturday and Sunday night. As Anja and I worked out the details, Matt turned to Romana and said "See?" But of course, had Romana not been worrying about it enough to ask me about it when I walked into the computer room, Anja never would have known to offer.

Anja and I agreed that when she got off work at the Mediotek at 8PM, Matt and I would follow her home so we'd know where she lived. After my two hours on the internet had expired, my stomach was starting to grumble, so I decided to go and get some dinner. I figured I would return to the Mediotek after dinner and use the internet for another hour or so until the Mediotek closed at 8PM. As I walked out into the hallway outside the Mediotek, however, I bumped into Sarah, an Irish girl I'd met at the Kennelernen Party the previous night. I then met her roommate, Isabel from Portugal, and they both invited me to join their group for dinner, which was meeting at the Marktplatz (the central square) at 6:30. I said goodbye to Sarah and Isabel, and turned around and walked back through the doors of the Mediotek. I sat down in front of the internet for yet another hour, and entered my bike computer data for the nine consecutive days of riding that had brought us to Rothenburg.

At 6:30, I was pacing around the Marktplatz trying to keep warm. Isabel and Sarah were nowhere to be seen, but a group that looked suspiciously like Goethe students was collecting in the middle of the square. I joined this group, who were indeed also waiting for Sarah and Isabel. Sarah and Isabel showed up around 6:45, apologizing for being late and explaining that they had been shopping. The entire group went into a Greek restaurant right on the square. I felt a bit like an outsider, as these people all already knew each other somewhat from their classes. Nevertheless, I started getting acquainted with them over my mousaka and salad, including Sarah, Isabel, Josephine from Sweden, and Cristine from France. By chance Matt had noticed me walking into the Greek restaurant with this group as he was walking Romana home. So he eventually showed up at the restaurant and sat down at the one empty chair at the table.

At 8, Matt and I left the restaurant and met Anja at the Mediotek, then walked with her to her apartment. I began to wonder if perhaps Anja was a collector when we walked into her apartment and discovered yet another guy already in her apartment. This fellow, a lanky American named Andy, had apparently been playing a video game called Civilization on Anja's computer. Matt seemed to want to chat on and on with Andy, even though the two of them were occupying floor space in Anja's apartment. As Matt chatted, Anja showed me around her apartment and explained the logistics of getting in her apartment if she wasn't around, where to sleep, etc. Eventually, I was able to tear Matt away from his endless conversation with Andy. We said thank you and good night to Anja, and left her apartment.

Tonight was the last night we could stay at the Pension Becker, and the next day I had to get up early and catch the bus to Munich. So before I went to bed that night, I moved my bike over to Anja's pitch black courtyard and locked it up against a railing. Back at the hotel room, I packed all my bags before bed, so Matt could move them to Anja's the next day.