July 17, 2007
This is the bike I've been riding to and from classes. It's an awesome piece of early 90's technology. At the moment the seat is up as high as possible and my legs are still crunched when I pedal. Most of the people here walk, bus or ride a bike. There are a lot of cars, don't get me wrong... really nice BMW's and Mercedes and what not, but there is very little room to park. In lots of places the cars are on the sidewalk when the street is too narrow. Even the grocery store has only 10 spaces for parkinglot style parking.
The bike ride to school this morning was tough. It's all up hill (inland) to the university. With only 3 gears and a back pedal brake.... you get the idea. 90% of the people i've seen have been in amazing shape. I feel like a blob trying to ride my bike up a small incline. The ride is only about 12 minutes, by the end of the week I plan on being able to make it to class without panting.
Coming back the dorms is easy, all downhill. It's the perfect time to stop for errands. There isn't a gorcery store that carries everything. Nothing like a walmart or target here. Food is at the Aldi, it has a few other things like TP and papertowels. Maybe some dish soap, laundry detergent, and to my surprise, a few office supplie- but not much! There are stores similar to Walgreens, only without the pharmacie. There is another place for that. The pharmacies here are amazing! You walk in and talk to the Pharmacist about your ailments. Right there at the store they prescribe the medicine and sell it. You pay full price in most cases, but skip the price of a doctors visit. They say that pharmacists here know more than the doctors about cures- doctors are for plastic surgery and broken bones.
July 16, 2007
Monday:
Well, I'm an idiot and can't figure out how to post this pic right side up. Which could be a problem later on.
This is one of the many clock towers in the city. They are everywhere. There really isn't a need for a watch, the buses have clocks (the bus system is awesome by the way). This specific clock tower is significant however. It is right at the intersection of the buildings we use for classes and check-in at the University. It's the only pink one I've seen and the only landmark I knew for the first few days. When I saw this clock I knew to get of the bus, or I had finally stumbled in the right direction.
I can now get anywhere from this clock. Most of the buses run through this section of campus, so it's easy. I did rent a bike today instead. It's a little easier to get around. However the bike is probably older than me. I'll get a pic of that next for sure.
We were told to meet infront of our dorms Sunday morning at 9:30 for an orientation. The bus picked us up, but we were not really ready to spend the whole day touring the city. We saw some beautiful churches and landmarks. I didn't post the pics, I figured they may be good on a regular school day post. We did have a class orientation first thing and then a lunch. After which we headed on a foot tour of the city. About 3:30 -which makes several hours of walking, we got onto a ferry that took us up the ford (not sure how to spell it in english sounds: feeyord) to a beach called Shilksee. Happens to be the same beach we went to the day before- only it was getting cloudy and we weren't dressed for it. The timing was perfect for a nap. The boys: Michael, Tom and Vance dozed while Jennifer and I goofed off with my camera. I haven't been much of a sleeper so far. There's too much to see!
After a quick tour of the pier and the sailing yachts belonging to the school, we were freed for an hour or so to walk around or swim. Kiel hosts a huge sailing week every year. There are sailboats everywhere in the water, so many the ferry was dodging them.
After another quick bus ride, we were suprised by a grand feast at a rented mansion. This place was huge!!!!!! The picture doesn't even do it justice!!!!! At least we were fed with good german food all day long!! Go free food!
We had a free day Saturday. It was kind of odd to be left alone in a foreign country, however we managed just fine. We hit the grocery store first. Germany is super into recycling and renewable energy, which means you bring your own bags. We knew that part. The part we didn't know was that Germans are very fast people. While you are paying you are expected to bag it yourself while people are telling you to hurry and you don't really understand. It was surely stressful the first time!
However we found the beach! Kiel is right on the coast of the Baltic Sea. It's about a 20 minute bus ride from our dorms. It's a straight shot-or would have been if we were on the right bus. We road teh 91 line to the end. The driver turned around and said "schwimmen gehen?" and we said yes. He more or less told us we were on the wrong bus and told us 502 instead. That bus was a straight shot.
Everyone we spoke to said we were lucky. It has been raining her for the last month. However, we had 25-27 degree C weather. Which is hot. Not Utah hot, but about 85-90 F. Plus it's very humid here, so it feels sticky. The beach was nice. The water was really really cold. Like 42-45 F cold. There is also a lot of jellyfish. Moslty they're harmless. Ther plain ones are OK. The ones with red tenticles are not. The kids play with them on the beach. Mind you 1/3 of the children don't wear bathing suits and the adults change onthe beach no problem. But is was fun none-the-less. Only a few minutes after getting back to the dorms there was a downpoor. Happens here nearly every day about 5 pm. The germans say we are on the start of a heat wave and are glad. The rest of us liked it in the 60's and 70's.!!!!
It's been a few days since I arrived here in Germany, but I'm just getting the chance to post my first day pictures. Mostly because I lacked internet connection until today.
These are some pictures from the airport in Newark. We arrived at the airpot in SLC about 4 am...this was taken about 5 pm- and our first real meal for the day. Besides the fact the airport was huge, there were lots of places to eat thankfully. It was a super 50's looking restaraunt, not sure about its name- and the first place where I haven't been carded for alcohol in the state. Germany is another story.
The actual travel time was about 21 hours, including layovers and bus time. With three different flights, I can tell you having the longest one last was the hardest. Coming home will be a breeze. I sat almost 8 hours in the same place on the flight, thankfully sleeping most of the way.
Our plane landed in Hamburg at 7:14 am. It was pretty cloudy and only 14 degrees C- which is about 50-55... i'm still not sure on the conversion. We were planning on meeting a few of the other students at the Hamburg train station mid morning, but Amanda had food motion sickness so bad she threw up out by the bus pick up. We decided to head to the dorms. After 2 trips on the bus and 500 meter walk carrying 2 suitcases and a backpack, we finally found our dorms. I didn't stay at them for the day, one of the other kids had been in Kiel a few days and I asked him to go exploring with me....That we did----however the stories of the pirate ship and love center are for another day.
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