Germany!

I am officially in Germany (!!!) 

The first thing we noticed at the train station/airport is that Germany does not have drinking fountains. My host dad tells me that Germans would never ever use a drinking fountain, because, eww, germs, and also everyone here just drinks bubbly water anyway. But us Americans were thrown for a loop, because dammit why would you spend precious money on water when you could drink it out of the tap? 

The second weird thing was that our train to Dusseldorf came five minutes late, which was unexpected because Germans are Always On Time, we have been taught. 

But anyway, the train ride was really short, at least it seemed that way, and the country side was ohmygod so beautiful and then we were at the station and it hit me that we were about to get off the train and see our host parents and then everything seemed really crazy. We were in Germany! 

My host dad Alex met me at the station and we drove fifteen minutes to the little town of Monheim, right between Dusseldorf and Cologne, and by little town I mean forsure bigger than Eureka. 45,000 people, I think. 

We spent the day trying to keep me awake so that I'd adjust to the time difference, which was difficult seeing as I'd slept for only forty minutes on the plane. We came home to a really cute apartment (the building has a set of really sketchy hallways that lead up to the tiniest elevator--you can barely squeeze two people in it--and my host parents really don't like it which I totally sympathize with because it's kind of dirty and ugly but it makes me feel like I'm in a spy movie or something. Haha) and my room is really cool and I really love it. Anyway, I spent the afternoon unpacking my bags, and then Alex and I drove around the city for something to do, we drove to the Rhein and then past my high school, and then we picked up my host mom, Julia, at the train station on her way home from work. We came home and had welcome Grace cake and then Alex made dinner, which was wiener sausages and potato salad and watermelon, a traditional German meal that is really similar to traditional American meals. And then I gave my parents their presents and went to bed at eight, because basically no sleep for thirty hours plus nine hour time difference plus new culture equals zombie. 

This morning I woke up at eight, and Alex and I attempted to go get my visa but we didn't have enough of the paperwork so Alex said he could do it for me on Monday while I'm at language camp. We got my visa picture taken at a photo studio which was actually really fun even though I'm horribly awkward at pictures. Then we drove out to see the mustang Alex is restoring to look like the mustang in "Gone in 60 Seconds" and then we ate lunch at a German fast food place, where I ate currywurst, French fries, and coke, and Alex ate the same thing but with a soda called mezzo mix, a mix of fanta and coke. And now I'm home writing all these blog updates. So that's my life. 

Kaffee und Torte mit Mandarinen 

The Rheine

Alex and his mustang

What it will look like in three years :)

Currywurst mit pommes frites (yum)