Beethoven lives upstairs

If you've ever studied music at any point, chances are you've had ceremonious viewings of this film with hoards of your nerdiest friends. I know I definitely did throughout my undergrad (no shame). 

Well imagine the nerdiest of all your music friends coming to visit when you live 2 hours from the birthplace of Ludwig, himself. So during Matthew's visit, to Bonn we went - basically on a pilgrimage for Matthew, who is more or less a collector of Beethoven houses (you'd be surprised at how many locales cash in on having his name on the mailbox at various points throughout the composer's life).

While in Bonn, I got to witness the kind of excitement usually reserved for small children meeting their favorite super heroes at amusement parks (or maybe that was just me meeting spandex-clad Batman at Six Flags...).

yeah, sorry it's blurry... you're not actually allowed to take photos inside the house.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I'm in the process of google-proofing myself. Everything will be running the same (and what was public before will most likely remain public) but hopefully now when enquiring minds google my name (and I'm thinking mostly students), nothing of interest will pop up in the first few pages of results. Why do you all care? Well, a lot of account name changes are taking place. So for now, note that das Blog has a new URL and my twitter also has a new username! 

Matthew Lies

When Matthew Boyle came to visit, we kept ourselves very busy visiting lots of different cities around Dortmund. We went to Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen and Bonn, to name a few. And because of our traveling, this meant we were on the train quite a bit. 

Our first trip was to Aachen - the longest of all our journeys. The train ride is about 2 1/2 hours from Dortmund, so Matthew suggested we bring cards or something to do during the long ride. 

But it turns out he had other plans for the trip.

Since it was his 2nd day in Germany, I let it slide, knowing he was still adjusting. Of course, over the next week he did nothing but proclaim how much he did not have a jet-leg was not jet-lagged.

Like how he wasn't jet-lagged when we went to Bonn.

Or how he was completely adjusted to the time when we went to Düsseldorf. 

So the moral of this story? Matthew lies. 

Meet Matthew Boyle

We're kind of in love. 

just kidding! But I figured since we're about to be spending 17 days together (with a chance of one of us killing the other), he should get an official introduction on das Blog! 

See, Matthew Boyle and I met 15 years ago when I moved to Georgia, which makes him my oldest friend. He was the weird kid in my class that I hid from on the bus when I found out he lived in the same neighborhood (yeah, I was horrible, I know). But eventually we found ourselves enrolled for the same acting class and, really, from then on we were besties.  

So we're really good friends. But despite the sordid whispers of years gone by, we're not getting married. Ever. He's kind of like the brother I never had the younger brother I never had (Patrick's my favorite!). I mean, where did those rumors even start??

The last time Matthew and I saw each other was New Years 2011. 

18 months later, and I guess I can say I'm pretty excited to get to hang out with him again. It's always interesting times with us, so I'm sure there will be plenty to report back before it's all over!