The Final Countdown (dah nah naah naaaaah, dahnahnahnahnaaaah, dah nah naah naaaah, dahnah nah nah naaah...)

I am in official stressed-out mode. I even have the stress-break-out as proof. Beware: GERMANY GIVES YOU PIMPLES.

I have my first of two final exams at 18:00. In little more than half an hour. Just thinking about it makes me have to pee.

The weather in Germany is full blown summer. But not as bad as in California. I hear on the radio that it was 49ºC, and that people have died. As for my area of Germany...there was severe weather damage and possible tornado touch-down in Karlsruhe (20 or so km south of Landau). There is construction between Neustadt and Landau, creating traffic problems, and generally making train travel a pain. There is also a 3-meter long snake loose somewhere around Heidelberg, most likely by the river. People who see the snake are advised to keep their distance and contact the police--who have already stated that capture of the snake is highly unlikely.

I want to know what a 3-meter-long snake is doing in the south-western part of Germany.

Now... a bit of info on Landau. As I've mentioned before, the best bakery is the Discount-Bäker, because the products are cheap and good. The best (in my opinion) café for morning/afternoon coffe, as well as breakfasts (waffles with vanilla icecream and hot raspberries...OOHO!), is Café am Markt. The best restaurant/bar for salads and overall "cool" factor is Green, which is located at the southern end of the city center. Irish pub: Brennan's. Best café/bar for drinks, relaxed hanging out, and dinner foods is Leo's, which is located at the northern end of the city center. Best store for cheap housewares, tools, paper towels or TP is Kodi. Best store for cute, colored and stenciled canvas bags is Schlecker, which is right next door to Kodi. Not to be confused.

The worst place for anything beverage like is what I call the "red and yellow bakery". The only perk of it is that it is also open on Sundays, and has good Johannisbeer struessel cakes. And two-for-one deals.

The best (and only, really) book store to buy school books from is Buchkaiser, but specifically the one on Marktstraße. You get a complementary canvas bag when you purchase several books. The other Buchkaiser (on an intersecting street) is good for everything else, specifically travel guides.

The only two clubs I know of are Freiraum (good for prices, crappy for dance floor situation) and Logo (meh for prices, but great for dance floor situation; a.k.a. more places along the wall to sit and take a breather inbetween good songs). If you want to go to an all-night club, like one that's open until 5 a.m., it would be necessary to travel south to Karlsruhe (and, in turn, spend the night, because trains don't run that late), north to Mannheim, or west to Straßbourg.

The only (known) place where you can get free ANYTHING is the University's main campus. The University has the only free parking lot in the city, as well as free internet connection. The downside of both is that it's not safe to leave your car for more than a day (maybe not even that long) in the parking lot (winter break left three cars with passenger windows smashed in by thieves. Thieves. What a great word. It's not used often enough!), and the library is only open 9.00-19.30, Monday-Thursday, and 9.00-16.00 on Fridays. NO WEEKEND HOURS. If you need internet during the weekend, it's down to trekking to the city center to a T-Mobile HotSpot location (Café am Markt is one, but it's €8,- an hour, and that's BOGUS), one of the internet cafés (prices unknown to me), or making sure you have snagged yourself a Rechnenzentrum card, which allows you off-hours acces to the Uni's three stuffy, dusty computer labs. The card costs €10,-, which you get back upon return of the card. I don't own one.

30 minutes to test time, and I'm done here, for now. Quick tips, but tips nonetheless. Maybe I should ask those who read if they have any questions about life in Landau, or Germany in general. That would, at least, give me something concrete to write about...