Deutschland Update

And so I’m in Germany.
And yes, it’s awesome.
And yes, that is my dorm, Charlottenburgerstrasse, aka Berliner Allee, aka the Citrus Chateau.
And yes, there are solar panels on the roof.
And no, it was not designed in the 70's. It's actually the newest dorm.
I got here no problem (except for the fact that my duffel is the HARDEST bag to roll around ever. There will be a baggage exchange when Mike visits.) The journey was actually kind of amusing: fellow participants were accrued as we reached each leg of the journey. Four of us from Penn State left the Philly airport for Frankfurt. At the baggage claim we found three more. Then, at the train station there were two extra additions. I felt like a freshman, but, hey, there’s strength in large travel parties.

All and all, my roommates are pretty nice when I see them. The German custom of keeping your door closed whenever one is in their room, whether or not they wish to be disturbed, kind of hinders the socialization, but I definitely have nice roommates. One girl’s roommates talked about her in German, thinking she couldn’t understand what they were saying (she could), and it was not nice.

I love Freiburg. They have a lot of shopping. Surprisingly, I’m not crippled by the exchange rate (which, by the way, right now is $1 =€ 0.7703(!!!!). I’m having a party if it gets 1:1.). A sweater that I’d pay $15 is €10, so it works out wonderfully. I can’t do much more shopping, otherwise I don’t know how I’ll bring everything home. Seriously, though, Freiburg is such a cute, quaint city, but still big enough to actually be a city. Everything is so beautiful.

I’ve been seeing a lot of Germany, too. So far I’ve been to the “Tuscany of Germany” and Heidelberg. Both were beautiful. This southern region of Germany looks so much like home it hurts. If you changed the architecture from beautiful to boring, it would be NEPA. Even the weather is the same (though, recently, it’s been better than in the US).
My grandfather kept telling me have to go the München to see this gorgeous castle that is lit up at night to look like it’s on fire and has a huge vat of wine. Sorry, Grandpa, it’s actually Heidelberg (What are the chances?)! The picture is of said huge vat of wine. I know it’s blurry (The lighting was bad.), but you just have to see it. More pictures will be posted on Facebook soon. Oh, and in Heidelberg, I went to a FAKE Hard Rock Café! I saw burgers for €3,10 and thought, “What a great deal!” The food was crappy, and, if you look at the Hard Rock Café’s website, you will find that there is no Hard Rock Heidelburg! I was swindled in the town where Martin Luther defended his thesis!

And David Bowie just came up on my playlist (What Babe?) Surprisingly, this is the first real wave of homesickness that has hit me. Hmm… that’s a pretty good track record, actually. Anyway, I miss you all! And now that I’m (finally) settled in, I’ll write more frequently. Until next time!

10 Things I Have Learned About Germany/Freiburg so Far:

1) EVERYONE bikes in Freiburg. Really, it’s quite ridiculous. The bikes easily out number the cars 10:1, at least.

2) Freiburgers (lmao, I know) are very nice to/used to foreigners, due to its extremely central location. On any given Saturday, at least half of the customers at the local IKEA are French.

3) Yes, there are exceptions to the stereotypes. For example, my flatmates don’t recycle. They have three trashcans just for the hell of it.

4) Speaking of my flatmates… Germans don’t congregate in the communal areas of their flats. They stay in their rooms with the door closed, no matter what they are doing.

5) And yes, Germans are very, very punctual.

6) They will clarify for you that David Hasselhoff was not responsible for the unification of Germany.

7) For some reason, instead of regular windows, they have glass doors with gates immediately outside of said doors.

8) Skim milk does not exist. Additionally, Germans find the thought of skim milk repulsive. (Speaking of food: the Coke bottles are shaped completely differently, and Harry Potter helps sell food in Germany. See pictures.)

9) At the clubs, they play American music, but not American club music. Think Tutti Fruiti, La Bumba, Shakira, The Killers, Rock Around the Clock.

10) Finally, there are creepers in Germany, and they are much more aggressive than the average American creeper. Trust me.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu!

And so I’m leaving tomorrow for Germany. God knows that with my parents in charge of the time table, I’ll be wandering around the airport for four hours before I depart, but, hey, at least I won’t be rushing. And maybe I’ll get in some good shopping, too.

I have taught my parents how to use skype, so we’ll see how that goes. When we did a test run, they wanted to know why the picture was jumpy. “Because,” I told them, “we bought $20 webcams, not $60 ones.” They’re still not sure if they’ll remember how to run it on their own. Let’s hope I don’t have to try and explain it to them again from across an ocean.

In other news, $500 will get you a mere €340. My train ticket, which I cannot buy until I actually get to the train station, costs about €68. That, in combination with buying everything that I will have forgotten, may drain me of this bit of currency very quickly; I’ll have to search for an ATM as soon as I set foot in Germany. Quick German Tip: ATM is the same in both English and German. They’re bright yellow (see picture), and you can also by stamps at them. Anyway, I’ll let you know how the search goes.

Until next time!