the beginnings

It's day 6 of 113. I keep putting it in those terms because it makes me feel like I'm on a really long season of Survivor. Being stranded on an island= being stranded in a foreign country. Sleeping on a the beach = sleeping on really weird german mattresses. Eating stuff from the jungle = eating german food that has no name or identity. 16 cast mates= 28 viz people to run around Europe with. It's kind of the same, right? ;)

I've been meaning to blog but these past couple of days have literally been nonstop! I'm finally finding the time. Here's a recap of what I've been up to since I got here.

Day 1:
The plane ride was loooooong. I've been to Europe twice before but for some reason this plane ride was everlasting. I didn't sleep and the people in front of Chelsey, Teaghan, & I were pretty noisy. Good thing Teaghan brought his laptop to watch movies with! Once we got off the plane, we began the long journey to get our luggage. I used the word "long" because when we arrived at the baggage pickup, only half our luggage was there. Needless to say, I was freaking out that both of my suitcases were missing. Like, I was already planning out how expensive it was going to be to buy 4 months of new clothes in Germany. After about 30 minutes of pacing around, everyone's missing luggage began to show up. My sleep deprived self was very thankful. After that ordeal, buses from the AIB picked us up outside of the airport in Frankfurt and took us on a two hour bus ride to Bonn. It was surreal stepping outside in Germany because it was actually snowing. :) Once arriving at the AIB, our host mom picked us up. Erin & I were super nervous because of the unknown but thankfully Elizabeth is super nice. I couldn't ask for a nicer host mom. (side note: later that night erin, thomas, ethan & i decided to catch the subway from our subdivision Tannenbusch into the inner city of bonn. while exploring I lost my bus pass. it was pretty typical of me. first night...the one thing I can't lose...and I did. so much win).

Day 2:
To get into Bonn, Erin & I have the options of either taking the subway or the bus. Here's a picture of our subway stop.

It's amazing how well the transportation is set up here. Gas is more than double here what it is in the USA so hardly anyone takes cars. You use what transportation is close to you and then walk EVERYWHERE. literally...everywhere. It's amazing how healthy everyone here is though. The food isn't exactly healthy but due to the small portion sizes and amount of walking, it doesn't even matter. German people live off of bread, cheese, & beer and are still skinnier than 90% of America. But anyways, on this day we got our Visa's set up and had an orientation walk around Bonn. Most of us were still jet lagged so honestly I don't recall much from this day.

Day 3:
This day was the most miserable day I hope for any of us to have on this trip. Sound dramatic? Try walking from 1pm to about 9pm outside in the 15 degree cold. I don't think I have ever been that cold in my entire life! All I know is that when I get back to Texas, I will never complain about it being windy and 40 degrees ever again. On this day we had German class at 1015am. Hallo!
After a quick lunch, we were taken on a "historical tour of Bonn." This was great and all but the snowy cold weather and wind made it pretty hard to hear the tour guide and it was long and drawn out. Everyone was just huddled into a big group trying to stay relatively warm. After trekking around the snow for 2 hours, we took the subway into the nearby town of Cologne. This city is huge and I can't wait to explore it later! We were taken to 4 art exhibits that were all in these neat underground warehouses. I felt like I was in NYC. Definitely something you'd never see in Tejas. Here's a picture of one of them.

A lot of people weren't thrilled to be walking around outside for a couple more hours but I think it was worth it to get a taste of the art district in Cologne. It was pretttttty neat. (another sidenote: it is very unusual for it to snow in Bonn. It's been about 10 degrees colder than it usually is here right now. Oh and it is snowing AGAIN as I'm typing this. It's supposed to snow Tuesday as well....eeeeek). One last observation about the snow. I've gone skiing in the USA times before and the snow there doesn't even compare to the amount of snow here. It's crazy!

Day 4:
We woke up early to go meet the mayor of Bonn. We met her in this beautiful building that has previously hosted multiple US presidents such as Kennedy and Carter. After that, we went to German class & studio. I keep forgetting that we have to actually do schoolwork here. All I want to do is walk around and explore the city. Make it stopppppppppp. This night, we went to Billa-Bonn. We first went there on Wednesday and quickly decided it's our new favorite bar. On this day, it was packed full of students. It's definitely the place to go if you're in college! Students from Penn State, Texas A&M, & a theater college in Los Angeles are all studying abroad thru the same program together & we all found ourselves at this very bar. It's been cool getting to know them.

Day 5/Day 6(today):
Teaghan and I met up to get lunch and explore the city yesterday. The snow was finally melting, I was getting to break out the uggs, and all was well(until it started snowing heavily again today...nooooo). Bonn is such a neat city. It's beautiful. The buildings are all these perfectly stacked and colorful buildings perfect for shopping in. It's a very weird mix of new and old. For example, right next to a bunch of stores is a church that was built around 1050. Pretty crazy! Here it is.

Last night, we all went to an opening event hosted by the AIB(the place organizing our study abroad adventure and schooling). It was a buffet with so much food. Heaven. After that we all just walked around, shopped, went to Starbucks, and went back to Billa-Bonn. It was an "eventful" night but I'm glad it's a new day. Oh and today I woke up and found out that a stranger has found my bus pass and mailed in to my home here. Thank you kind strangers.

There's quick recap on everything that's gone on since I've gotten here! I'm going to try to blog more if I can. tHaAaaaNkz 4 rEaDiNgggggg.

tschüs!