Before I wrote this entry, my mood was out of control. I was usually seen on campus with a more-serious-than-usual face and sometimes I growled inadvertently. Don't get me wrong, but at least I wasn't biting or kicking and barking at anyone who passed in front of my balcony (unless it were the cats, which I do still). After some pondering the other night, I realized that my graying hair, hunched posture and "I'll-poke-you-with-my-cane" attitude was caused by two factors: seniority scare and staying on-campus for too long.

I admit it, I'm freaked about life beyond graduation (especially now that the world economy is bleeding jobs and foreclosures like a gutted-pig) and it has been hard to find a company that would be less lenient to turn down international students, when the current concern is to safeguard domestic jobs. But that's a tale for later.

I decided to stay away from frat parties and late-nights at the dorms for a weekend. I would pop that bloated Trinity Bubble and explore the world beyond Hildebrand and Mulberry. Every first Friday of the month, San Antonio has a fair/festival-like event named First Friday (shocker). First Friday has been on my "Things-To-Do-Before-Graduation" list for a long time, so it was perfect timing. Travis and I met Michael and Ryann at Michael's place and took the bus from there to downtown. After an unbearable half an hour of waiting, mostly because Ry wouldn't stop ranting about the inefficient public transportation system (-"This would never happen in Spain!!", -*cough*cough*yeah right*). We got off at the final stop in about 10 minutes (long enough for Ry to applaud the efficiency of the system), and walked towards the Blue Star Brewery.

On the way we saw many tables selling all kinds of handcrafts and T-shirts, bands playing on the streets, mimes that yelled at the people on the other side of the street (?!?!?!), and of course, people campaining for one or other candidate. There was a jazz band playing at the Brewery's parking lot, but due to crowdedness we decided to go inside and enjoy ourselves. The result of the night was positive: 3 pitchers and 3 King James in the company of good friends.

Saturday night, I crossed another thing from my to-do list: Oktoberfest at Fredericksburg. It reminded me a lot of Arbeitstag, back in Freiburg during May: Bands playing, beer and food everywhere, people hanging out at the tables drinking beer or dancing in between getting another beer... did I mention there was a lot of beer? I mean, what better way of spending an evening than eating Bratwurst and drinking authentic German beer? Seriously, drinking Franziskaner Hefeweizen was pure awesomeness pouring down my throat. It was like rewinding the tape back to the good ol' days abroad. Everything that night was great, except the fact that they played the Chicken Dance song three times due to popular demand! I mean, the Chicken Dance isn't that great to ask for it every hour. We need to come up with something better than polka and chicken dancing for this events, seriously.

Overall, the weekend was phenomenonal. Plus, I'm not growling anymore (although I am still kicking cats off my balcony). Sunday was the first rehearsal for Songs for a New World. I'm crossing another item from the list with that. I'm really excited about it and I'll have pictures about it next time, as well of pictures of Oktoberfest... and Budapest... and Prague... and all the other pictures I haven't posted up yet... *sigh* I'm such a slacker :(