Up the creek without a Schläger

2/27/12 Today! The first day of classes! There is a bus strike!!!! Which in turn means that there werent any busses running in the entire city!!! And guess who lives about a 20 min bus ride north of where my classes are? Thats right this guy. So we had to get a taxi which is harder to get when everyone and their Hunden (Dogs) was calling for a taxi that morning so getting one wasnt impossible, but it wasnt easy ill tell you that. And once I was done with classes normally we would explore the city more and have adventures since we had an easy way home, but this time around there wasnt an easy way home. It was either hard on the wallet or the legs, and my friends and I thought we should hike it home. And it was a very interesting and tiring walk,alllllll 45 minutes of me. But i had my livestrong bracelet on, so i figured if Lance can defeat cancer twice I can walk as far as it takes, and in the end it wasnt all to bad. Gave me a sence of accomplishment, good exercise, and a darn tootin good story. But once i got back i was bed ridden for the day and played all the solitaire my heart desired.

2/28/12

I figured since the last post was kind of short id combine today and yesterday into one. Today started earlier then I like at a nice 6am to catch a bus ride from Wehrde to Sued Marburg which is a good 40 min bus ride so that we can register for our visas. And Thank God! Because the bus stike only lasted one day. Now i dont exactly understand what they were so upset about, but whatever it was i guess their simple demands were met being the strike was only a day... Later that day I had the first chance to be able to get some guys together and play some soccer which is what ive been looking forward to do since i got here and since today wasnt the coldest day out we figured we would. We found a field that was very, very muddy which made the game that much more fun, and also while we were playing a Ukrainian man walked by with his dog which ended up chasing the ball around, and later the same man came back and asked to play with us, which was pretty neat if you ask me. But these ol' bones just quite the same as they used to be and lets just say i am as beat as a boxing match. Its gonna be an early night for this temporary German. Till next time folks!

One thing after the other

My goodness readers, germany has more unpredictable adventures for me than 11 year old car jackers! Last saturday I experienced one of germanys greatest cultural events! That's right folks! Saturday was party day, and lets just say ain't no party like a Marburg party cause a Marburg party don't stop (please excuse the bad grammer, its just song lyrics). At the university they have an international bar called Schwarz-Weiss (Black-White) which may be an odd name, but theres nothing odd about 1 Euro beers! And german beer knows how to pack a punch let me tell you. I've may or may not (depending on the reader) have had my fair share of drinks in my years, but germany takes the cake. After a couple at Schwarz-Weiss we all took a bus into town to go to the oberstadt. Once there we went to a club, which was as fun as it was hot. Seriously folks, I had no where to put my jacket, and my internal tempurature was just as hot as my dance moves, which went a little like this. Then after we all got Doner's which are delicious!!!!! And dont worry after we caught a taxi, and all made it home safely with no accidents or injuries.

Sunday was my day of rest which is exactly what I did. I for the first time in my life spend almost 6 hours in the library which had internet. (since I dont have internet in my room at this point) And let me tell you, when one does not have internet access for a period of time, when one does finally get it, one knows exactly what they are going to do with it and gets alot of things done in a very short amount of time. I probably sent 6 or 7 emails simultaneously and checked every social network i have within the first 5 min of having it. Here's the kicker though! I was able to find out that I can, through the internet, call anyone in the US of A for just a penny a minute! So let me tell you that I indulged with this offer and am so grateful to have the technology we do today.

Orientation

Waking up this morning and saying it was brutal is an understatement. I got up and mozied to the showers and basically just stood in the shower staring and felt just so lost. Then getting to the orientation, they had told us to be there at 830 so i took the bus at 736 into town to get there early enough, had a delicious danish for breakfast at one of their many amazing bakeries, and then went to the building we were assigned to go too. I soon found out that classes aren't going to be all that comfortable in this classroom, because my legs were to long to fit into the desk normally so I have to sort of sit sideways in the chair which hits other people so there's gonna be a lot of awkward moments headed my way. We took the written test of figure out which section of german we would be placed in which um i mean i dont want to toot my own horn, but i pretty much nailed it. Then after we had to wait in line for an oral exam which they only had two teachers in rooms to give these tests and each person mustve taken like 8 or 9 min just to get through it and of course I was in the back of the line. When it was finally my turn they had the weirdest questions to ask me like one was "What are your opinions on onling dating" and also "Say your friend has a cold, what is your advice" which the first one i wouldnt even know what to say in english let alone german and the second seems very unrealistic, who needs advice on colds, they practically heal themselves. Then after that we split up into 2 groups one going to get the internet access set up and the other taking a city walk around. I was in the first group that go to get internet access and let me tell ya. I've never been so happy to see the internet signal on my laptop. I dont have any in my room which without it I only use my room to sleep and change. And right away i knew where to go, who to email/facebook and was just sending a bunch of emails all at the same time so someone knew i wasnt dead in deustchland. No one was online on facebook because even though it was 3 o clock where I was it was still 8 at home so that kind of sucked not being able to chat with anybody, but after we did all that they said it was time to go on our city trip where we went to the Oberstadt (pictures will be posted on facebook). The Oberstadt is seriously just a time machine back to the past. The roads are all cobblestone, the shops are hundreds of years old, but still in amazing condition! They had a comic book store, and restaurants, and even a gummy bear shop with tons of... you guessed it! Gummy bears, and i love gummy bears. Then we all went to a restaurant but just ordered some drinks before we all went down to die Milchbar (Milk Bar) which really is just a white room with some tables and chairs and NO MILK! Everyone in the program new and old were there and all the teachers too, and we all just went around the room saying where were from and why we came to marburg and all that jazz. There happens to be 5 people from wisconsin here! which was pretty unbelievable. There are also oddly like 10 people from penn state here also, one from Australia, one from korea, a couple from mexico, and then a bunch from the states. After that a bunch of people were gonna go out, but we found a good group and went back to the dorms to play some cards, because we had to get up again at 9 in the morning to set up our visas, so we figured we would go out and party up the town the next day. Which will be a whoooole nother story for my next post.

Tchuss!

Thee Adventure Begins

Guten Tag! First I'd like to say that only being in germany for 10 hours my first day I got myself into more problems than I've ever had. The plane ride from Chicago to London was a hefty 8 hours, BUT I got a Fenster (Window) seat which was a plus. There happened to be a large high school class that was on the same flight and liked to yell at each other and add their commentary during the in-flight movie, which was most enjoyable. I  had a good amount of movies to watch while on the plane, but didnt have a good amount of battery to make it through one movie. I left Chicago with the sun setting and then came into London to see the sun rising which was pretty cool but also kind of disorientating and I kept checking the time back and home and thinking how it was 8 am where i was and only 3 am back at home. Now the craziest thing about the London airport that I've never seen before was that the entire terminal was covered in stores for expensive alcohol and also for designer clothes and purses. It was like a Macy's and they had a Dior, Prada, and a Gucci just to name a few which I wouldnt think would be all that popular in an airport. Now the first terror that happend to me was that when i was charging my laptop I put down my water bottle and my boarding passes, but when I left I must of picked up just my water bottle because when we were boarding I couldnt find my boarding pass and my heart felt like it was gonna burst out of my chest......BUT i was able to  just give him my passport and he printed off one for me which made me happier then a fish in water. Then once I was in Frankfurt everything went smoothly. I ordered my first mcdonalds meal in german

Auf Wiedersehen!!

Hallo alles! Ich habe nur ein Tag bevor ich nach Deutschland flugen (I have only one day before I fly to Germany)!! This will be the last post before I go which seems like the last post wasn't to long ago even thought it was. Today is my packing day, which is taking longer than I thought it would. I hope I'm not taking to much or too little, but I figure its best to bring less because I'm sure ill be hauling way more stuff when I return home. I am also frantically passing the house and looking at everything to figure out if I need it or not. Meine Euro (don't think to hard about what that means in German) came today and the only entertainment besides packing is looking at the pictures on them and all the different designs they have on them. As you might be able to tell its been a very long 2 month break for me and I never thought these words would come out of my mouth or be typed, but I am excited for some Wisson (Knowledge)! I think the weirdest thing is that it really hasn't set in completely that in 24 hours meine Mutter (Mom) and Ich (I) will be making our way down to Chicago and then 6 hours after that I will be on a plane and wont be back for 3 months. I've waited for 2 months, said all the goodbyes I could, and almost have everything packed, but I don't think I fully realize the adventure that is awaiting me. All I've really been thinking about is all the conversation starters I can use with the person that will be sitting next to me on the plane. So far I've come up with "What is your favorite episode of Friends and why?", and "Are you cool with me passing out on your shoulder at any given moment during this flight?". Also if the second question isn't used I've already planned on apologizing before that happens so its not schwierig (awkward).... Mein Amerikanisch Handy (American Cell Phone)  won't work while I am abroad, but I can have my texts sent to my email and can respond to them there and also you can reach me either on facebook, twitter @NealFagan, or my email maxamegamoo@hotmail.com (And yes, I know its a strange email and I know I should probably change that), but they said the internet won't be up right away when I get there so I'll be off the radar for a bit. Lastly since I wouldn't want any of you worrying about my safety, it just so happens that two of the students in my program will be landing at the same time at me in Frankfurt and we'll be meeting up to put our Köpfe (Heads) together and venture to our destination. Which is great news for me because if I had to travel by myself I would maybe get lost and fall on my knees and scream.


Finally I hope you all have an amazing semester/couple months. Thank you everyone for the support that you've given me while I was here and hope you all stay safe and I miss you already! Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye)!!!!