What to say, what to say? It's mid-morning on a Monday, so this means I'm sitting around in my room, wasting time. I have class from 4:15 until 8:00 tonight, leaving my day completely free to do whatever I please. I was thinking about going to lay on the Dreisam, the river that runs behind where I live, but I just took a shower and being outside means getting sweaty. My life is full of hardship.

Speaking of hardship, I've been thinking about this idea of the poor college student a lot lately and what it means to me. I've spoken to more than one friend who is/has been studying abroad and they've talked about how they've lost weight because they don't have any money for food. And I've thought about this and I just don't know that I believe it. If I was down to my last damn dime, it most certainly is going to go toward food. I will never go hungry. What can I say? I come from the land of plenty and everything is bigger in Texas, har har. Food is a sacrifice that I simply cannot make.

Let's work out an example together and take a theoretical college student who is on a Tight budget and studying abroad. Let's name them Fritz. Fritz has German ancestry and really enjoys sauerkraut, German cinema and walking very fast. Fritz has roughly 30 euros a week to spend on everything. This means fun, food, and uhm, school supplies. So, supposing Fritz is a prolific writer and must purchase one new package of pens every week, that equals roughly 1 euro out of the budget. Good for you Fritz, now you only have 29 euros. Now suppose Fritz is really the depressed writer-type and thoroughly enjoys a nice glass of whiskey for creative courage. On average, one whiskey drink will cost Fritz around 5 euros. Fritz is really moody this week and drinks 2 whiskey sodas, that's 10 euros. Now Fritz has 19 euros. Uh oh, Fritz remembers he must eat, good thing food is Really cheap in this country. One loaf of bread is 99 cents, a liter of milk (organic) 89 cents, a package of cheese and some meat 3,50 euros, 10 eggs 80 cents, 3 apples 1 euro, and a 6 pack of decent German beer 3,50 euro. Hell, Fritz went nuts this week and even bought a chocolate bar for 68 cents. All together this equals 11,36 euros. Fritz has 7,64 euros to spare. That's roughly one more shot of jagermeister and a big box of Corn Flakes or perhaps a trip to Fritz's beloved cineplex. Good job, Fritz! You can eat, have fun AND study abroad.

That's all I've got for now. Next time will be what I love about Germany and I can guarantee major points will include food and drink.