Typical Tuesday

So today I got up for class as usual…8 am on Tuesdays, but I have to catch the bus at 7:20!  Anway, I got to class and used my laptop for awhile…now that I have a German cord, I don’t have to worry about it dying on me all the time! =)  So class was actually quite fun today!  Rather than just sitting there listening to the lecture, we actually had some problems to solve.  We learned several formulas in class and then had to practice using them!  I really enjoyed it!  Then after class, I got my passport back and my residence permit went through!  I was so excited; they accepted my scholarship letter!  Now I don’t have to worry about opening a stupid bank account!  The guy that runs the service point handed it to me and asked if I knew German and I said no, so he told me what exactly the permit said.  He said that it says I can work for 90 days if I want or 180 days if its part time.  That was interesting to me, however, I don’t think I would be able to do that…I think my German would have to be better to work here! lol  Anyway, I also found out that we aren’t allowed to travel to the UK on the permit!  The UK isn’t included in the Schengen states!  That kinda ruins our plans to travel to Dublin in March! =(  Oh well, I was having trouble finding a cheap flight anyhow!  Now we are considering Prague!  I have already found 2 flights for roughly 100 Euro round trip!  Now just to find a good cheap hotel to go with it!

After getting my passport and paying the rest of my rent so that I don’t have to deal with it each month, I met Diana at the bus stop.  We were going to take the train to Wiesbaden, but the bus was quite late.  Therefore, we took the bus and although it takes longer, it was nice to see places that we hadn’t been before!   Once in Wiesbaden, we did a little shopping.  Diana wanted to get some slipper socks like I have, and I wanted to see if the jeans I had tried on the week before were still there…and they were!  We were also looking for a brownie pan…no such luck! 

After the shopping we went to Karstadt to get our free cappuccinos!  We both had receipts from things that we bought there a few weeks before and they had a coupon for a free cappuccino on there.  We walked into the café and there were a lot of people in there and we didn’t know how it worked or what all we could get with the receipt, so we started to get in line.  One lady with a tray of stuff started talking to me in German and I was like I’m sorry I don’t speak German, and then she said English and I was like yes and then she kept talking in German.  Diana and I just looked at her so confused!  And she cut in front of us.  Then this nice old lady behind us started talking to us in English and she explained that we go get a mug and fill it up with either coffee or cappuccino and then give the lady at the checkout our receipt and we don’t have to pay anything.  So we went over to the machines and we were watching everyone else. They also had hot chocolate, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to get that for free.  So I was kinda just standing there…I don’t care much for coffee but I was gonna try it since it was free.  Then a different nice lady came over and explained that we can get anything out of the machines and I said even hot chocolate and she was like yes!  We were like thank you so much!  So we finally had our drinks and we got ourselves a little table and sat down to enjoy them.  And that was some of the best hot chocolate I have ever had! lol The the 1^st nice lady waved at us from her table and said something like you got your drinks with a smile on her face and we were like yes thank you!  Then after she finished her meal, she came over to talk to us.  She asked us where we were from and talked about herself a little.  She was so cute and then she told us about the breakfast there, that it costs 4 Euro and you get 6 pieces, so like bread and ham and eggs, etc. and a drink, not sure if that’s included in the 6 pieces or on top of it lol But anyway it sounded like a pretty good deal.  We are hoping to go back and see the lady again; she was sooo sweet and spoke really good English.  She lived in England for awhile and has been to the US before.  It was funny when she was explaining to us what the breakfast was like because she couldn’t think of the word “bread” so she was like well um…you know what Brotchen is right? And I was like yea bread!  It was too cute!     

After we finished our drinks, we went to check out the movies.  I really wanted to find some in English.  So I was like “Entschuldigung, Do you have any movies in English?”  and the guy kind of gave me a funny look and was like they are almost all in English.  Then he picked a movie up and showed us the back where it says Audio: Deutsch und Englisch!  I was soooo excited!  The prices weren’t too cheap, so we decided to look at Saturn before we purchased any.  We found some new releases there for 9.99 Euro.  So now we have 2 new movies for our Slumber Party this weekend!   Oh yes, by the way, we are having a good old fashion Slumber Party this weekend!  Diana and I decided that we are going to take our mattresses off of our bed and lay them on the floor side by side to make a big bed, and we might even make a tent out of chairs and blankets!  Then we are inviting like 3 other girls over to watch movies, and maybe play some games and maybe do our nails.  We also asked everyone to bring their favorite junk food to share!  Its going to be so much fun I can’t wait! 

So after Wiesbaden, we came home and made dinner and then I got ready for my meeting.  I saw on facebook that the time and location had changed.  But then there were a bunch of comments, so I google translated them all and then I was very confused as to the time and place of the meeting.  So I messaged both of the students in charge and no reply…they weren’t online.  So I just showed up at the time that was posted in the original post and that place and luckily the others were there.  We sat down and got out our laptops.  It was mentioned in the post that it was very important to have them!  So anyway they began the meeting, in German!  Then Moritz (the student in charge of the group, or ressort as they call it) said that he needed to say this in German and then he would explain it to me later.  What I didn’t realized that later would be an hour and a half later!  I sat through an entire hour and a half meeting conducted all in German!  I understood like maybe every 10^th word.  I tried to piece it together but it wasn’t making a whole lot of sense.  Anyway, I finally got it explained to me, but I am debating whether or not I want to stay in this group.  I joined because I wanted to meet new people and get involved, plus since I barely have any classes right now sometimes I get bored, so it gave me something to do.  But if its always going to be in German I don’t see much point in me trying to be in it.  Plus they are planning a congress for October, and unfortunately I won’t be here then!  On the other hand, I don’t really want to quit now; they are really nice and welcoming in a way, but I don’t really feel like a part of the group when they are all speaking in German.  I really wish I knew more German, it would be so much easier.  So I really don’t know what I am going to do…I guess we will see how it goes! 

Ok well now that it is 2 am here, I guess I am going to try to get some sleep!  Salsa Dancing tomorrow night!  Quite excited…I get to wear my new black high heel boots!  They are so cute! 

Stuttgart

Diana, Sherin, and I woke up around 6:00 am to get ready to head to Stuttgart!  We rushed around to make sandwiches to take with us for lunch, eat breakfast and get out the door by 6:40 to get to the train station by 7:00.  We met Asli there and bought the train ticket.  It was great because we got this special weekend ticket that is good for up to 5 people for 40 Euro, so $10 a piece for us!  It lasts all day for anywhere in Germany, so we only had to pay $20 each for travel for the entire weekend!  So we got on the train and it took us about 4 hours to get there; we had to switch trains 3 times.  Once we got to Stuttgart, we had to figure out which train would take us to the station nearest our hotel.  Luckily we had looked up all the station names and train times before we left our house and it was all on an itinerary I made, and I printed out google maps for how to get everywhere!  Once we found the train and got off at the stop, we began to walk to our hotel.  Even though we were so organized with the maps, we weren’t sure which way to go after we left the train station!  Diana and I walked over to a little shop and I asked “Do you speak English?” in English rather than German, oops!  She didn’t, but pointed across the street.  By the time we got outside, Sherin and Asli had figured out which was we needed to go because there was a map posted at a bus stop.  We began walking but apparently took a couple of wrong turns because the streets were not at 90 degree angles, they were very confusing and curvy! Finally Asli decided to ask a girl that was walking by if she knew where the hotel was and she pointed us in the opposite direction and we started following her.  Ends up she was just walking to McDonald’s, not showing us the way!  Luckily, we figured out that was the correct way though and we eventually ended up at the hotel.  Only about an hour behind schedule! 

We checked in, dropped our clothes off, and headed back to the train station.  This time we knew where we were going!  We headed to the Porsche Museum.  Once we got there, I took a picture of every car in the museum!  You can check them out on Facebook if you want!  We also took turns taking each others pictures with our favorite cars.  After that we were supposed to go to the Mercedes Benz museum, but since we were behind schedule we decided to go the next day so we would have enough time.  So we decided to go to the shopping street!  I found some great things to take back home as gifts!  Then we went to the planetarium for the Laser Show entitled “When Stars Dream”.  It was pretty cool, and all of the music except one song was in English!  After the show we tried to find a restaurant; didn’t have much luck!  Finally we found a nice lady that spoke English and she pointed us in the right direction.  We ended up having noodles out of the little cardboard boxes it was yummy!  Then we headed back to the hotel.  On the way there we stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks and drinks.  We went back to the hotel and laughed about our day!  We had sooo much fun!  But our feet hurt so bad from all the walking!

The next morning we were planning on getting up at like 6:30 to eat and catch the 7:50 train, but that didn’t happen!  We ended up getting up a little after 7.  By the time we got downstairs for breakfast it was like 7:45.  The breakfast was great!  We had scrambled eggs, toast, rolls, pretzels, jam, cereal, yogurt, fruit salad, cold meats, different cheeses, juice, tea, and coffee to choose from!  It was sooo delicious!  We were really impressed and the hotel only cost 16.25 Euro each!  To compare, some other students that stayed in hostels paid like 22 or 24 a piece!  By the time we finished breakfast, there was no way we would make the 8:50 bus.  We took our time packing up and then headed to the train station.  We still had about 20 min to wait before the next train.  We stood there waiting and then watched the train pull in to the other platform.  As it was coming to a stop we finally realized we were on the wrong platform and took off running!  We had to run up a huge flight of stairs, run across, and then down another huge flight of stairs!  There were some German boys probably about 14 or 15 near the stairs that were yelling “Run” and “Hurry” but in German, and they were laughing at us.  Sherin and Asli got to the door first and got on and then me and Diana literally jumped on the train as the doors were closing, almost knocking Sherin over!  It was hilarious!  Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy!  We couldn’t believe that we had waited there for 20 min and still almost missed the train! lol

Anyway, we made it, so we were headed to the zoo.  We got there and tried to hurry to see every animal; since it was cold some of them were inside and it was hard to find them.  We had some problems with trying to enter the exits!  I am pretty sure we saw almost everything!  Then after the zoo we headed to the Mercedes Benz Museum!  And it was like twice the size of the Porsche one!  It was awesome!  Unfortunately, we could barely walk by the time we got to the end of it!  And it took us forever to figure out how to get into the area with the cars; ended up we had to take a lift to the top and then you have to work your way back down to the bottom.  We finally got through there and headed toward the train station.  We needed to grab some dinner before heading back home.  We ended up having some Turkish food that was Amazing!  Diana and I had Yufka Doner, which if you don’t know what that is, it was like a burrito with shaved beef (I think it was beef), onions and cabbage, tomatoes, and some type of sauce that is similar to ranch; anyway it was sooo good!  But the burrito was huge and we were stuffed after it. 

Then we got to the train station and hopped on.  Like on the way there we had to switch trains 3 times.  We switched the first time with no problem!  Then we were on the train sleeping on and off, and Sherin and Asli heard Darmstadt and I was like are you sure, I don’t think this is it.  They were like yes they said Darmstadt, so we gathered our stuff and hopped off the train.  Once we got off, Sherin was like “Where are we?”  and I don’t remember what exactly I said, but we all knew we were in trouble!  We had caught the last train back from Stuttgart and I was worried we were going to miss our connection and be stuck in Darmstadt!  What the heck is in Darmstadt?! lol So we ran up to the street and tried to look up the trains from the Kiosk to see when the next one comes and if there are any other trains going to Wiesbaden.  We were freaking out! 

We finally met a man on the street to ask which way to Hauptbanhof.  He told us we probably wouldn’t have enough time to walk there; we only had 15 min until our train departed.  He helped us look at the bus times tables and there was a bus about to come that went to Hauptbanhof, so he waited with us and then we got on and the driver didn’t know English and I was trying to pay and then the nice guy was like your train ticket should work.  So I showed it to the driver and then the nice guy explained to the driver in German what had happened and off we went.  The stupid bus hit like every red light and I swear he was the slowest bus driver I have known yet!  We were supposed to arrive at the station 2 minutes before the train departed, however the bus was like a minute and a half late.  The bus finally stopped and as soon as the doors opened we all jumped off and ran as fast as we could to the station!  We had to go to platform 9 which of course was all the way on the opposite side of the station.  Then we had to run down the stairs!  We made it to the bottom right as the train was pulling out!  Then Sherin who was still halfway up the stairs was waving and screaming stop at the driver, of course that didn’t work!  lol

So we looked at the time tables and luckily there was one more train coming after that!  So we had to wait an hour for it to get there.  In the mean time, we sat in a little convenient store inside the station and drank tea and ate donuts.  We tried to go to the bathroom; however the stupid bathrooms closed at 10pm!  Do they think no one has to pee after 10 or what?!  So then we decided to make a list of things not to do while traveling in Germany.  You can see my previous post for this list!  It’s hilarious you don’t want to miss it!  Finally the train came and we got to Wiesbaden and caught the last train back to Oestrich-Winkel.  We finally got home at about midnight!  Only about an hour behind schedule, but it felt so much later!  And we were so tired and sore we could barely move!  We just crashed in our beds and I slept until 1pm the next day!  All in all we had a lot of fun!  It was definitely an adventure!  Next stop: Berlin!  =)  Stayed tuned for the details!  

Things Not to do while Traveling in Germany

By:  Erin, Diana, Asli, and Sherin
(Created after we missed our train and we were waiting for the next one!)

1. Don't sleep on the train!
2. Don't get off at the wrong stop!
3. Don't be in a train station after 10pm because the bathrooms are closed!
4. Don't want to pee after 10 pm!
5. Don't forget to bring multiple pairs of shoes, your feet will hurt from walking too much!
6. Don't forget to bring a hat!
7. Don't drink anything after 10, because the bathrooms are closed!
8. Don't miss the train by less than 30 seconds!
9. Don't ride a bus that hits every red light!
10. Don't forget to bring a scooter!
11. Don't get on the wrong train!
12. Don't get drunk on Iced Tea!
13. Don't forget chargers, your camera battery will die on you!
14. Don't run into the street when its red!
15. Don't use the bathrooms on the train!
16. Don't try to enter the exits! (Learn how to read "Do Not Enter!" in German)
17. Don't wait until after dark to go sightseeing, pictures don't turn out!
18. Don't forget a rolling suitcase, rather than a shoulder bag!
19. Don't plan shopping on Sundays, everything will be closed!
20. Don't forget to learn to speak German, especially how to say "Drive Faster we are Missing the Train!"
21. Don't stand on the wrong platform as you watch the train pull in!
22. Don't stand in front of the train door while waiting for it to open, open it yourself!
23. Don't follow a random person you think is leading the way!
24. Don't take wrong turns, you will end up lost!
25. Don't forget to bring a GPS!
26. Don't forget to ask "Do you speak English?" in German, rather than in English!
27. Learn the 24 hour clock!
28. Leave enough time to walk to the train stations.
29. Don't pick something up from the breakfast bar that you think is tuna, its not!
30. Don't walk up to the hotel reception desk in your pjs and boots, the guy will give you a weird look!
31. Don't go to McDonald's for chocolate ice cream, they only have vanilla!
32. If you do not recognize the stop while exiting the train, don't get off, its probably not the right stop!
33. Don't think about being home in your warm bed, it will make you very depressed!
34. Don't stand on the elevator waiting for it to move without pushing the button!
35. Don't wave at the driver of the train yelling "STOP!", he won't stop!
36. Don't forget to wake up on time!
37. Don't tell the person that gets up on time to go back to bed!
38. Don't mix up the words "Don't talk!" and "Don't ask about it!"
39. Don't forget to bring an extra pair of legs!
40. Don't try to look for the animals outside when they are inside, and don't wait to long to go inside because they will go back outside!
41. Don't stand on the train talking after it stops!
42. Don't rush off the train when you have plenty of time!
43. Don't have to pee when its cold outside!
44. Don't go to the bathroom between trains!
45. Don't lose your cap while running!
46. Don't be too tired before a planetarium show, the music will put you to sleep!
47. Don't leave your cola in the middle of the sidewalk while taking pictures, a little boy will come by, pick it up, and say "Cola!" with a huge smile on his face, until his teacher yells at him to put it down (in German)!
48. Don't order the wrong meal because you get the numbers mixed up!
49. Don't forget to look up restaurants to add to your itinerary, with directions!
50. Don't try to fit too many things in, it won't work!

Salsa Dancing

Today after a lazy day at home combined with a little bit of studying, I had my first exam at EBS.  Luckily, it was pretty easy and I think I did very well.  After the exam a group of us headed to Wiesbaden for Salsa Dancing!  The place we went to gives free salsa lessons on certain nights.  It was so much fun!  We got there a little early, so we got a table and got some drinks.  And then our “leader” (Ricardo) lol the guy that organized the excursion and has been here for awhile and knows his way around showed us a few steps.  We watched him and Sonia dance a bit and then the rest of us decided to get up and try it.  None of us really had a clue what we were doing but it was fun.  Then Ricardo danced with me and showed me a few steps. 

After awhile the instructor began the lesson and there were a lot of people there so there wasn’t a lot of room to move.  Once we got down the few basic steps, he had us partner up.  By the way, the guy spoke in German the entire time so for the most part we had no clue what he was saying!  Pretty much the only part I understood was the eins, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sechs over and over lol Anyway, I didn’t have a partner and the instructor spouted off some sentence and the only word I understood was Frau and then he pointed at me lol.  Then some German guy that didn’t speak English came over to be my partner.  He was nice but it was a little awkward since we couldn’t really talk to each other.  After the lessons, we sat back down out our table to finish our drinks.  Some people were still dancing, and this guy came over and reached out his hand.  So I took it and we went to dance.  He said something to me, I have no clue what.  And I was like I speak English.  Luckily he was like ok, and started talking to me in English! =)  He asked if I knew the dance and I was like not really.  So he showed me.  Then he asked my name and then told me his and was like nice to meet you.  I was like you too…and then I tried out my German and said Freut Mich.  He was like huh?  And I was like nice to meet you, ein bisschen Deutsch.  It was not good! lol I am not sure if he just didn’t hear me or if he didn’t speak German, because there were some Spanish speaking people there.  Ich veiss es nicht. lol  Anyway it was fun and he was nice. 

Then on the train ride home Shadi and I were talking about our dancing experiences.  She was saying how its like their culture (referring to Salsa dancers) that you don’t say no when someone asks you to dance.  They don’t mean anything by it, they just want to dance.  So she was talking about this old guy that she danced with because she couldn’t say no!  It was so funny…then I told her about my Freut Mich story and we started cracking up again.  She said I should stick to English!  Then we heard one of the guys say that we needed to give them some of whatever we were smoking because we were definitely on something!  Lol…but nope just a little Mojito maybe.  Anyway it was a blast and I can’t wait until next week!   

Wrong Bus

Tuesday classes began for me.  My first, and only, class this week was Operations and Supply Chain Management.  So far the class was somewhat boring.  It was that introductory period where you just learn the basics like what is a supply chain, etc.  So just review for me.  I am hoping that its going to get more interesting!  However, the class was far from bad.  I definitely like the teacher; he is very cute!  After class, Sherin, Diana, and I were in the hallway and he walked by and I was like Diana, that’s my teacher.  And she was like he is very handsome!  I was like I know right?!  She was like I want to come to class with you!  We were going to go validate our health insurance, but we didn’t think we had enough time before Sherin’s class.  So Diana and I decided to go do the rest of our grocery shopping. 

We walked to Rewe from the campus and got a few things ( Peanut Butter and Refried Beans!!!) and then decided to walk to Aldi to get the other things because its cheaper there.  After we were done shopping, we headed to the bus stop…it was a long walk with the heavy bags!  I had my laptop on my shoulder, one big bag of food in one hand and a 6 pack (liters) of cola in the other!  I thought that we had missed the bus and we were going to have to wait awhile but everyone was standing there  so we got excited and then jumped on the bus. 

Once on the bus, it turned down a road we didn’t usually go down.  After a few stops, we realized we had gotten on the wrong bus!  We were on the 181!  We decided we would just ride it out and figured eventually it would circle back around to Oestrich-Winkel.  By then we were already in some town we hadn’t heard of and passing a sign that said Oestrich-Winkel 4 km pointing the opposite direction!  We got to this stop by some train station and everyone got off…except us.  Then the driver started saying something to us in German, so I walked to the front of the bus and was like “we got on the wrong bus” and he just stared at me.  I was like “do you speak English?”  And he goes “NEIN!” practically yelling at me!  I was like we need 1-7-1 and held my fingers up and he pointed across the street and kicked us off the bus.  I guess the same bus doesn’t circle back around =( 

Anyway, we get off the bus with all of our groceries and there were a lot of people at the stop looking at us kind of funny.  We walked over and looked at the times and luckily 171 was coming in 6 minutes!  So we finally made it home.  It was funny!  I can’t believe we did that…I mean we have only been taking the same bus from the same stop for the past 2 weeks!  lol Oh well…it made for a good story!  And we aren’t the only ones that get lost or get on the wrong bus!  

Shopping

Monday was our shopping day!  Diana and I got up early to head to Wiesbaden; there were several things on our list and I wanted to get them before my class started on Tuesday!  Luckily I found this great store that had like everything that I had been looking for…and at a reasonable price.  I found a planner for like 2.50 Euro, as opposed to the 7 to 20 some Euro ones that were everywhere else.  I also got notebooks for 0.99 Euro, some shaving cream (idk why it was so hard to find that), and some black leggings I had been wanting.   We went to a few other stores before Sherin met us.  We went to the mall near the train station to look for the straightener that Diana had seen the other day and also to look at some boots.  We didn’t end up getting those boots, we decided we liked the ones in Frankfurt better, but we did get some cute new sweaters that were only 12 Euro and they included a belt!  Then we grabbed something to drink from the grocery store, as well as a chocolate glazed, marble cake that we all shared for lunch…healthy I know! lol Then we hoped on the train to head to Frankfurt to go back for the boots we wanted…they were only 15 Euro!  We grabbed some crepes for lunch, dinner, a snack or whatever lol because I had been craving them ever since we walked past the place on Friday.  Then we hoped back on the train hoping to make it back to Wiesbaden in enough time to do our grocery shopping before the stores closed!  Luckily we made it, but the grocery store in the mall was expensive so we decided to just get the basics and head home.  We would get the rest in Oestrich-Winkel the next day. 

Week 2

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had class.  Nothing too exciting happened those three days.  Monday we walked around Wiesbaden for a bit, did a little shopping.  I didn’t find anything but Sharon got some jeans.  Tuesday we went grocery shopping.  The lady at Netto wasn’t very nice; we were counting out the money and I was trying to ask Sharon for some coins because I didn’t have enough in my hand to make up the cents part and for some reason she wasn’t understanding me and the lady threw a hissy fit.  She like hit her hands down on the counter and then like reached out for the money.  I gave her the bills but I wasn’t finished counting the change.  Finally Sharon gave me what I needed and I handed it to her.  It was ridiculous for her to act that way because there wasn’t even anyone behind us, so there was no need for us to be in a hurry.  Plus we were trying to hurry anyway…its not like we were being slow on purpose.  Whatever…I’m going to move on because its making me mad just thinking about it.  I hope that lady is not there next time, because I like that store…its cheaper than Aldi in most aspects.  We got a whole cartful of food for 21 Euro.  Nothing that we bought was over 2 Euro; most things were under 1 Euro.  =) 

Oh something exciting things did happen!  After grocery shopping we were headed to the bus stop and I couldn’t find my student ID (which has our semester bus and train ticket on it).  We stopped and went through all the grocery bags, all my pockets, and all of Sharon’s pockets.  It was nowhere!  I was so worried that I had dropped it on the bus or something when I was trying to put it back in my pocket.  I couldn’t remember if I had put it in my pocket or if it was in my hand when we got off.  Then I remembered that we went into a little electronic shop right by the bus stop to look for a plug thing and so I went back in there to see if I had sat it down while looking at something.  I walked in and the lady recognized us and she had found it and kept it safe for me!  Thank the Lord because we found out the next day that it costs 40 Euro to replace it if we lose it!  And the other exciting thing…that evening our other roommate showed up, Diana from Mexico!  Hello delicious Mexican food! 

Wednesday was our last day of German Intensive Course.  We had a listening exam that was quite hard.  I am hoping the written exam next week is not as hard!  After school we went to Wiesbaden because we needed to go to the Apple store because Diana’s computer wasn’t charging.  I got some delicious chocolates; they were expensive but so worth it!  Thursday we had workshops all day at school.  Then Friday we went on a trip to Frankfurt.  We had a bus tour in the morning; we walked around the old parts of Frankfurt and then we drove around the modern parts.  Around 12ish we were done with that and we could either ride back on the busses or stay in Frankfurt and get home on our own.  We of course decided to stay in Frankfurt.  We all had our eyes on different shops that we had seen earlier in the day.

Half of the small group I was with took off looking for a bank, but I really wanted to check out the souvenir shops that were right around the corner before leaving that part of town.  I talked Diana and Sherin into going with me and when the others realized we were walking in a different direction, they turned around and followed me.  I win! =)  After looking in the souvenir shops for a bit we headed out to realize we lost the other half of the group again.  So it was just me, Sherin, Diana, and Carla.  We decided to go on to the mall because we had no clue where the other group had gone.  We walked through the shopping street, went to 2 different malls, and even visited the sky deck to take pictures from the top of the mall.  We found lots of great deals and are planning to go back next week.  We got some groceries and then headed back to Wiesbaden to switch trains and head home.  Sharon was already home when we got here; she said that they decided to go ahead to the bank (thanks for telling us…lol)  and then they pretty much came home after that.  Glad I wasn’t with that group; us girls had so much fun shopping!

Saturday was lazy day!  We didn’t even leave the house.  Diana went with Carla to Wiesbaden for a bit, but the rest of us just stayed in.  Diana, Carla, and I went to Wiesbaden Sunday afternoon.  We went to the bank to use the ATMs…and then did some sightseeing to take some pictures!  We got some warm drinks at Starbucks, but other than that didn’t do much.  With the exception of a few select restaurants, everything here is closed on Sundays!  Carla stated on our way back to the train station, “The people don’t work, and the lights don’t work!”  She was referring to the crosswalk lights; all but like 2 of them were not working!  It was too funny; I said I have to put that on my blog!  When we got home, we rushed to grab our laptops and make it to the bus stop before the bus arrived so we could go to school and use the internet.  I am hoping we can get internet in our flat soon!  So that about wraps up week 2 in Germany.  Tomorrow Diana, Sherin, and I are going to go shopping in Wiesbaden and if we don’t find what we want, we are gonna go ahead and go to Frankfurt again.  Then afterwards we are going to meet up with Carla and do some grocery shopping.  They want me to make Pizza for them, so I am hoping to find all the ingredients I need.  I also want to find Peanut Butter…Karly said she found it at Rewe so I am going to look again! 

Day 7: Washing Machine

Today completes my first week in Germany!  And boy was it a crazy one.  Today we slept in again…not as late as yesterday though, and were awakened by the sound of our new roommate arriving!  Her name is Sherin.  This is going to get confusing…we now have Erin, Sharon, and Sherin!  lol How funny is that?! We are all very curious what our other roommates name is going to be; she will arrive on Tuesday. 

So this morning I decided to go see what they had to offer at the bakery downstairs.  They had a small assortment and she was telling us that there was chocolate or raisin and I looked at a powdery one and asked what it was and she said Raspberry filled and I got so excited she probably thought I was crazy!  I was like yes I want that! After breakfast we decided to try out the washing machine.  Why the washing machine is in Spanish and we are in Germany…don’t ask me! lol  I decided to put it on delicate just in case, since that is one of the few settings I could actually read.  Our new roommie cooked us some noodles for lunch and then we watched some more Outsourced before heading to school to use the internet.  All in all it was a pretty lazy day…tomorrow should be much more interesting as we are planning to travel to Weisbaden after class!        

Day 3-6: Classes Begin

We got up around 6:30 and were rushing around to catch the bus so we wouldn’t have to walk.  Luckily we made it in time.  We arrived at school in plenty of time and I was able to get on Facebook! Yay!  So be sure to check out the pictures! The first day of class was great!  Our teacher is awesome!  She is so nice and she makes class so much fun!  I was worried it was going to be very serious, but we laugh like all the time and we even play games!  For the most part the next few days we just went to school and then came home to relax because we were tired.  We had been eating sandwiches and then we went to Aldi to get some other food.  I made pigs in a blanket on Friday for lunch.  Friday afternoon we did a little shopping; we looked for another plug so I would have my own.  Right now I have been sharing with my roomie when I need to charge my laptop and phone.  No luck so far, but we did get some air freshener, soft hand soap for the bathroom, and I got some shower gel.  Nights we have been hanging out watching tv series that my roomie has on an external hard drive.  We have been watching Outsourced, which I hadn’t heard of but its great, hilarious!  We also watch How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory.  Saturday has been very lazy so far!  We slept in until like noon and now I am typing up these blog posts since I haven’t really had time yet.  I am going to go make some cheeseburgers and mac n cheese here in a few minutes and then we are heading to school to use the internet.  Unfortunately, we don’t have internet in our flat and I think its going to be too expensive to get; so we are probably just going to have to go to school when we want to use it.  So goodbye for now!                   

Day 2: Meet and Greet at School

The next day we got up around 7:30 to get ready for school.  My roommate thought we had to catch the bus at 9.  So we got down to the bus stop which luckily is almost right next to our flat.  We got down there to find that it doesn’t leave until 9:20.  So we walked back up to our flat.  When we went back down, we met Shardi of Iran.  She is very friendly and lively.  There was a nice lady on the bus that told us where we needed to stop for school and showed us that we had to press the stop button when we wanted to get off.  Unfortunately, the bus doesn’t go straight to the Schloss campus, therefore we had to walk a ways after we got off; it was probably only like 10 minutes though.  At school, they had coffee, tea, and croissants waiting for us.  The croissant thing I had was delicious; it had like cinnamon sugar and some crushed up nuts or something, I don’t know but it was so good!  Then we mingled for a while and took some pictures with our new friends.  Then we had a tour of the school; which didn’t take very long because it is quite small.  I didn’t realize before, but it’s actually a private school.  After the tour we went to pick up our student ID cards and pay for our semester ticket for the busses and trains in the region.  I also got a free SIM Card from the school; unfortunately, I haven’t been able to work yet!  Then we went to the cafeteria for lunch.  We had chicken with gravy and fries and mixed veggies (carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli) and I had apple juice.  Of course, it wasn’t like American apple juice, it was carbonated!  Everything here is carbonated! =(  Even the bottled water, its like soda water, disgusting!  After we finished our meal, a group of us decided to take a walk to the Burg campus and find Aldi.  On our way out of the cafeteria, a group of people said some of them were going to Weisbaden that night and we could meet them at school at 6 if we wanted to join.  I was so excited to find Aldi, something I recognized; of course everything is labeled in German, so it was difficult finding things.  We just got a few things like a bag of chips, soda to try, and sandwich stuff to hold us over until we came back.  Then we went home and got ready to go to Weisbaden.  Unfortunately, we missed the bus, so we started walking and ran into Andrew and 2 other guys.  We then hopped on the train and rode it to school and got there a few minutes late but everyone was still there.  We stood there forever trying to figure out what to do.  Then we started walking to a bar that was supposed to be open however, we got over there and it was closed.  Then we ran into Adrian, a totally cute German student at EBS.  He was so nice and decided to change his plans to show us around Weisbaden.  So we hopped on a train and headed into the city.  We went to one place but they said our group was too big so they wouldn’t serve us.  We found another little bar and surprisingly they let us in even though we pretty much filled their entire room!  They even pushed tables together  for us.  Pretty much everyone got beer, but of course I hate beer so I asked the waitress who luckily new English what I should try and she said that the bar tender makes a really good Mai Tai so that’s what I got!  I was delicious and so cute!  It had confetti on the straw!  Then one of my friends from France let me just try a sip of her beer so that I could say I’ve tried German beer.  And it was good!  I don’t know what American’s do to theirs, but they got it all wrong!  Then we went back home and got ready for bed we had  to catch the bus at 7:20 the next morning for our first day of German class. 

Day 1: Arrival in Germany

On January 1st, at around 7 am, I arrived in Frankfurt Germany. The flight was long and I did not get very much sleep. Unfortunately, there was a crying baby just one seat over. On top of not being able to sleep, my touch screen kept messing up, so it was difficult to watch movies or listen to music. One time it got stuck on the music and it was too loud for me to listen to. Then it got stuck on country! I ended up just taking my headphones off and waiting until the screen finally started working again. Then I was able to change it to a movie. Luckily, the snacks were good and for dinner I had tortellini.

Landing in Germany 

Once arriving at the airport, I was getting my passport checked and the guy spouted some big long sentence off in German.  I was like “I’m sorry, I don’t speak German.”  He was like “Why not?” very seriously.  I just smiled and was like “I’m going to learn; that’s why I’m here, to study.”  He then let me through, thank the Lord.  I was totally freaking out! Then I wasn’t sure which belt my suitcase was going to be on so I stood at one for a while and didn’t see it and then moved to the next and still didn’t see it, so I was standing between them looking at both of them.  I’m sure people thought I was crazy!

I finally got my back and headed to Terminal 1, where we were supposed to meet.  It was easy to find because there was a train that took me straight from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1.  I couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to meet the driver though; my map didn’t make much sense, luckily one of the ladies at the info desk knew a little English, because I only had like 5 minutes until we were supposed to be picked up!  I got there and called the driver and he said he would be there in a few minutes.  The guy walked in, took one look at me and held the EBS sign up right in front of my face and I just smiled and I think I was like “Yay, I’m in the right place!”  It was funny.

The Ride to Oestrich-Winkel

The driver helped me get my luggage out to the van and 3 other students were already in there, Sonia, Andrew, and Kyle. The ride from Frankfurt to Oestrich-Winkel was great!  We talked about where we were from and all that. Luckily, the driver knew very good English and so he was like a tour guide and told us a lot of useful information.  Kyle was your typical American stereo type; therefore the ride was quite enjoyable.  Those of us in the back were laughing almost the entire way.  At one point, he asked the driver, “So what’s the best kind of German beer?” We all started busting up laughing.  The driver was like “You are a funny guy!” with his German accent; it was great! Once we got to Oestrich-Winkel the driver dropped us each off at our homes.  He dropped Kyle off second and he was just standing there staring at us like which way do I go and he put his hands up and shrugged his shoulders and the driver was like he’ll figure it out and drove off!  It was hilarious!

My Closet in Our Flat

Arriving at My Flat 

He dropped me off next and unlocked the first door for me and then left. I walked up the stairs of the corridor to my flat and then couldn’t get it unlocked! I stood there for like 20 minutes and the lock just kept spinning around and around.  I started crying because I was tired and freaking out because I couldn’t get my door open.  I finally realized that you have to pull the door towards you and then unlock it.  I finally got in, looked around and then put my stuff away.  Then I just laid on my bed and cried some more. I didn’t know what to do, where to go, or how to get there and I didn’t want to go alone.  The only place I knew where someone lived was Kyle, and even there I just knew the general area not the flat number.  I tried to see if there was any Wi-Fi around and was able to tap into one and skype with my mom for a few minutes, but the connection was bad and she could hear me, but I couldn’t hear her.

Roomie Sharon & I in Our Flat

Walking Around Town

After several hours, my roomie arrived around 5 pm or so. Her name is Sharon and she is from Uganda. When her family left, we decided to walk around even though it was still raining. We walked to the store down the street called “Schlecker”. The lady was very rude and didn’t know any English, so we just left. We kept walking and ran into a guy on the street that knew very little English, and he pointed us in the direction of “Rewe,” one of the grocery stores. We finally found it and walked in only to find Alcohol. I mean the entire place was filled with it and there was no food in sight.  Eventually we found some Coke products in the back corner, but it was a very small selection. We got some Coke and Sprite, and then headed outside again. Then we met a guy that new English quite well, and he told us that there was another branch of Rewe around the corner that had food.  We headed over there and then back to the house. On the way back home, we stopped back at Schlecker to get toilet paper and I wanted shampoo and conditioner so I could take a shower. Our first night in Germany was definitely an adventure! It was rough, but luckily I knew it could only get better!