First week

So I'm here in Germany!!!

I was hoping to be able to update before this because I would've had more to say but we aren't getting internet in our rooms for at least a few weeks and I would've felt kind of weird updating my blog in the university library. Luckily the bar in our complex has wifi if you buy a drink.

Basically, a week has passed and I absolutely love it here. All last week was orientation week - we met all of the other AYF students, filled out a lot of paperwork, opened bank accounts, got cell phones, took our placement test. At night I've been going out a lot... there's a square in town where people just go and hang out and drink on warm summer nights so we went there on Tuesday and I made friends with German guy and spoke to him for a couple hours in German, which helped out. Wednesday nights are shot nights in the StuSie bar (where we're at now, it's only a few minutes walk from my room), so we came and danced it up. Thursday we went on a bar crawl with a bunch of people from our program. I really like the bar scene here... a lot of dancing and chatting. Every night I've been pretty good about just drinking enough to feel good, so I don't embarrass myself over here.

We've done a lot of really, really cool stuff too. Friday we hiked up a trail through the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) to this Biergarten/Restaurant at the top. The hike was absolutely beautiful and the Biergarten was really nice and cute. Today we went to Basel, Switzerland for a day trip (the Swiss border is less than an hour away by train). There was a really cool street sale going on with a bunch of stands selling things from around the world and people playing music and such. We also went to the art museum there, which was free and really nice - there was a lot of Chagall and Picasso, which was pretty cool.

So overall, I'm having a great time. The not having internet thing kind of sucks but really isn't too horrible (obviously I can get online when I need to), but that's really the only thing I can complain about. I've made a lot of friends - almost everyone on our program is really, really cool, and I've met a few Germans who I'll hopefully keep talking to, because I really need to work on my German more. We start our language class tomorrow, so that should be a good way to keep me busy and working on my German. Our class during September is from 2-5:15 Monday-Friday, which isn't so bad, so we can still go out at night if we want to.

I don't know when my next post will be, but hopefully soon. I'll eventually post some pictures on facebook so everyone can see all of the fun I'm having.

Tschuess!