This is costing me how much???

So today is a holiday in Germany, meaning I didn't have to go to work... whooo! But it also meant all the stores were closed.... booo. I was also only able to eat one meal today, but that's probably a good thing. Also, since the bus doesn't really come very often on holidays, I spent all of today in my room, except for the time I took my trash out and ate.

But more to the point, today I found out how much this room in the bread-and-breakfast is costing me: 48€/night! And the earliest I can get out of here is Saturday because I can't move all my luggage out of here by tomorrow morning cuz I have work, and the only place I could store it is at a friend's house who is kinda far away.

I did find a room in a WG (Wohngemeinschaft) that I liked, but it's in an apartment building and the super is on vacation for a week so I can't rent it or move in until he's back. So I'm prolly going to get a private room in someone's house (which isn't an uncommon thing over here) for 15€ a night.

On the topic vacation... everyone here seems to take a lot of it. The law sets the minimum number of vacation days as 24 days/year, but most places give you 30 -- that's 6 working weeks of paid vacation or about 11% of the working year. And that's not including all the national holidays, 9 of which fall on weekdays this year (vs. the 5 national holidays in the U.S. where you get work off). Unfortunately, as an intern, I'm not entitled to any vacation time, but on the bright side, it's a 35 hour work week here vs. the 40 hour back home.