Campfires and Irish Beer

Campfires and Irish Beer

We started Wednesday with three hours of lugging our purchases from the flea market to our dorms. Let me tell you: with a small television, a printer, three trash cans, an alarm clock, hangers, and a laundry basket, I had it easy. There are some people who still have to go back later to pick up the rest of their things. I also picked up my German phone, which is an adorable brick of a Nokia. :)

For lunch we all ate at an Italian Pizzeria called “La Piazza.” I had a Margherita pizza- it was on thin crust and the toppings were so fresh! I also had the opportunity to converse with one of the mentors, Justin, who was an AYF student two years ago. The other mentors are also wonderful. There’s Sabrina, who is a native German with the most awesome accent, then there is Myka who is also German, Bryan who is the definition of a crazy American, Simeon, a German who we’ve all decided can only be described as “incredibly adorable”, and Jan who is also German.

Wednesday night we had a barbeque where we grilled bratwurst and peppers. People brought Brot (bread) and Bier, the mentors set up colorful lights and played music, and we talked and had a great time. Afterward, a pretty large group of us went to O’Kelly’s, one of the two popular Irish pubs in the city. We hung out for an hour and a half or so and I got to know more of the program participants. Unfortunately, we had to leave pretty early (around 12:15 or so) because the Strassenbahn stops running at 12:33.)

Today (Thursday) began on a very slow and sleepy note. I hit the snooze button on my alarm clock three times, ambled downstairs to wake up James (who seems to have appointed me as his caretaker), wandered back upstairs, laid down for a couple more minutes, then slowly got ready to head to the Innenstadt (downtown). After meeting up with the rest of my group, we headed to the SWFR office where we signed our housing contracts. Then we took care of getting phones and a prepaid AldiTalk plan, ate lunch in the university cafeteria, and attended a seminar on German finances.

Now I’m at Starbucks (the only place with convenient internet at the moment) typing this and drinking a lukewarm café latte. Tomorrow is the “paperwork marathon”. We’ll also be getting a biometric passport photo (I have no idea what that is) and taking our placement exams for the Sprachkurs that begins next week.

Bis Später!