I need a bike and a dog. (or, Germany Log Parts 1 and 2)

Here are two entries from my "Germany Log" from the first few days of being here:

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26 June 2009

I am sitting here in Caleb and Shane's room at the Adam-Stegerwald Haus in Konigswinter, Germany. I'm pretty tired because we've had a full couple of days. On Wednesday, Mom and I drove up to Atlanta to go to the airport. There was no parking so she had to drop me off at the front of the airport instead of walking in with me and making sure I found the European Council people and got all checked in. So I had to do that all by myself! Oh my! Which, I guess accordingly I should be able to do all of that by the age of twenty, but it was still so stressful that I was almost shaking! At least I got the life experience. Yeah, that's right. Life experience! I guess I've been getting a lot of those lately...

So we sat around in the airport for quite some time and I got my fill in of text messaging for the next month or so. But we finally boarded the flight to Frankfurt around 5:45 and by 6:15 or so we were off! As Shane stated, "I got not only one but two meals and a whole selection of movies!" on the flight. So it wasn't too shabby. However, I (of course) could not sleep, so jet lag was really gonna be a heck of a good time!

Which it was. "Time Drunk" does not even begin to describe it. All day yesterday I was more than just "a little out of it". But that's okay! It was still really great to be in Germany and I'm really just very excited. We took a bus straight from the airport in Frankfurt to Konigswinter, where we are staying at the Adam-Stegerwald Haus. It's a hotel with twin size beds and a shower curtain that is my new best friend. There delicious food offered to us for certain meals during the day (they even had potato dumplings!) and there is a gorgeous garden that we can go sit in. It's really very quaint, as is the town of Konigswinter. =)

Basically there is a strip of stores you can go into, including a store for groceries as well as several convenience marts. Of course, there are also beer gardens, but I haven't actually been to on yet. I just get so tired walking down the street that I really just want some caffeine so I always get a coke! I will get some beer soon, I swear!

I was so jetlagged that I went to bed at 8:30 last night. Hilarious! But today I'm doing much better.

We got up early and had breakfast here at the Adam-Stegerwald Hous. It was so good! There were eggs and rolls with nutella! And coffee! c'est parfait! (maybe not quite the right language...) But at 10:00 AM we had a meeting and "survival guide" to Bonn. Basically they told us about the rail passes, etc and had us fill out a little bit of paperwork. After that we had a delicious lunch (once again, at the Adam-Stegerwalder Hous!) and then we took the train into Bonn.

I LOVE Bonn. Let me just say that! We took a walking tour that was exhausting, but it really seems like my kind of city. It's filled with tons of interesting history, good stores for shopping, a university, and plus - it sits right on the Rheine! So beautiful! We had dinner at a really tasty pizzaria and then we proceeded to talk around the city. Caleb accidentily left his camera (which was apparently very expensive) in the restaraunt though - so he and I ran back and hilariously enough, the man (who I'm pretty sure spoke very little German and mostly Italian!) just took us to the back and pulled it out of a cupboard. Caleb was, needless to say, very happy! We took the train back into Konigswinter and now here I am! We're taking a trip to Aachen tomorrow - here's hoping!

I really need to pick up some German. Hah! I can tell them I speak English. Oh and of course "please" and "thank you" and like "hello" and "I'm sorry." But (apparently I didn't bother to finish this entry into my log. I'm highly disappointed with myself.)

28 June 2009

Here I sit on my bed in the Adam-Stegerwald Haus, after yet another long day of adventuring into the countryside of Germany. I'm getting used to the language barrier, and I honestly think that if NOT for said language barrier, I would more than just want to live here. The public transportation is wonderful, the cities are beautiful and old and full of history but also they are modern and have all the modern conveniences of life.

Here are the four words I use to describe what I've been doing in Germany: eating, drinking, walking, sleeping. I guess that's what I do in the states, but I really do think that I've done an overabundance of that here! There is very little sitting around and playing on the computer, and there is very little unhealthy eating!

Although I sit here right now with a bag of gummi bears and a box of schocko-waffels behind me, they are the first real sweets I've had since I've been here. We eat very healthily here in Germany, and we walk almost everywhere. It's insane.

Yesterday, we took a bus into the city of Aachen. It's apparently the "city of water", where there is a million different very strange fountains. They are all utterly fascinating in their stories and they are very interesting, but none of them are just normal fountains! Hah! One of them supposedly had "healing powers" because of the sulfer content. I didn't taste it because hey - we have sulfer water in south Georgia! But Shane told me he thought I would like it because I love hard boiled eggs! Haha!

We had yet another guided tour. It was interesting, as always, and the tour guide was cute when he would say things like "I am going to give you two informations about this castle - the first information..." So adorable! After the tour we went out to lunch and I had some schnitzel and my first alcoholic beverage ever legally purchased. It was a really really strong sex on the beach. Hah! I was feeling it by the end of the meal but luckily I sobered up as we walked around a little more.

We rode back into Konigswinter and met up with a girl that Barbara knows, Manu. She is from Konigswinter and she thought it would be nice for us to see where we could go as young people. I went to two pubs with her and tried to the local beer as well as some local wine. I got a little tipsy yet again, but some pizza and conversation calmed me down quite a bit.

This morning we got up earlier than ever! We had to be on the bus at 8 so breakfast was at 7. After my morning of nutella and whole grain rolls, we hopped on a bus off to the Burg Eltz, or Eltz Castle. We toured that, and as always, I love castle tours. It was also cute when our tour guide said "wisit" in place of "visit"! And there is always a lovely view at castles!

After that we hopped BACK on the bus and ate some food on our way into Trier. Luckily, we didn't have another guided tour here (I am pretty sure we were all toured out by this point!). We actually found out that there was the remains of an old Roman amphitheatre in Trier, so we took the long walk to look for it: Kate, Shane, Kori, Caroline, Caleb, Julian (otherwise known as Dufus), and me. It was actually pretty hot on the walk, but in the end it was totally worth it. We got to the amphitheatre after about forty five minutes of walking. It was incredible. Seriously - I could have died right then. We paid the two euro to get into the theatre and as we entered it was already obvious how incredible the accoustics were. The ruins of where the audience used to sit were on the sides of the hills around us and there was just an incredible feeling of being CONNECTED to this place for me. Like I could imagine all of the things that used to take place there - gladiators and comedies and it was just incredible. We even went underground to where they used to hold the animals and such. It was just so cool. I would even go out on a limb to say it was cathartic. Incredible.

After that we went and sat down at a little cafe on the street. There was a festival going on in Trier today so it was quite lively. I had a coke and a glass of wine and we just sort of relaxed, which was really nice, actually. And then we walked back to the bus, rode home to Konigswinter, I fell asleep and now I'm here. Logging it all in on my computer. =)

Here's another thought: I think that in order to be truly happy in Germany, I would need a dog and a bike. There has been no other time when I missed my dog and my bike more.

COMING SOON: Classes begin, trips to Bonn, Cologne (including Gay Pride Parade!), and eventually a trip to Paris (where I'll actually speak the language!)

SHANEISMS FOR THE DAY:
"Not only did I get one, but two full meals on the airplane! And a whole list of movies!"
"I don't know if I can tell the difference between who is gay and who is just European..."