May 30th - June 8th: May 30th, a Wednesday, was taco Wednesday. After such a hearty meal, what better to do than hit up the movie theater (Kino auf Deutsch). Luckily, and with a little pre-planning, their small local theater (with only 4 screens!) was showing Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator in English! Worked for me, as I found Borat and Bruno highly hilarious.
 |
| Das Kino |
The theater was the most adorable thing ever. It looked nothing like a movie theater on the outside, just a regular little shop. It was Svea, Jannik, Jonas, and I, and they thought it would be funny to have me ask for our reserved tickets. Yes, reserved tickets for a movie that is not going to sell out. Why? Because that's what you do here. When you are going to the movie theater, you reserve your tickets and subsequently your seat. There's no such thing as 'first come, first served'. Your ticket has an assigned seat, and you must sit in that seat. I think I prefer it the other way around. Anywho, the lady spoke no English, so it was a total fail. We ended up getting our tickets (after some confusion in which the lady thought none of us spoke German, blah blah blah).
I was excited to get a bucket of buttery, salty, fresh pop-corn and enjoy the movie. Slight problem.. they eat their popcorn sweet! Yes, they pop all their popcorn with sugar, and the only non-sweet popcorn was bagged like chips, and looked like it had been sitting on the shelf for ages. I opted for M&Ms instead... I did end up trying some of Jannik's popcorn, which they swear is God's gift to earth, and I can confidently say that I'll stick with salt and butter.
 |
| I wanted to press it so bad. |
The actual theater was cute as well. Very small, but spacious. No cupholders, instead there's like a little table of some sort in front of you where you set your food and drinks on. Also, on the table is a little red button. For what? When you're in the middle of the movie and still have a half a bucket of popcorn left, but run out of soda, you press the button and a worker comes to you and takes your order! No need to leave the theater, no need to miss Tom Hanks knock his tooth out with an ice-skate or Leonardo DiCaprio fade, blue-faced, into the ocean. Also, you can have pizza delivered to you in the theater! Americans would probably abuse both of those luxuries, so I don't see that transferring over anytime in the near future.
The movie was funny. Stupid, but funny. Something for my generation, probably. I did, however, find both Borat and Bruno to be funnier. Oh well. Previews for the new Spiderman (without Toby Maguire! *gasp*) and Prometheus looked promising, can't say the same about the new Dark Knight. Not the same without Heath.
 |
| 180 on the Autobahn, watch out! |
We decided to take the autobahn back home. No speed limit, I still can barely fathom it. We maxed out (in their little Skoda) at 180 KPH -112 MPH- which is probably the fastest I've ever gone and will ever go in a car. I'm surprised the wheels didn't fall off! All in all, it was an interesting night full of interesting first experiences.
Too much fun and too little work, right? That's what I thought, but apparently I thought too soon, because the next morning I woke up and was put to work. Cleaning the hen house, was probably the worst of all the chores. I swear, the thing had never been cleaned since its construction. The bird shit was inches thick on both the floor and the table, and I had to scrape it all away. If ever I wanted chickens before, I definitely don't anymore. I'll just buy my eggs at the grocery store, thank you very much. I didn't manage to take a photo of the 'before', probably because I was too concentrated on holding back from gagging to think of anything else. But believe me, it was bad. I think a total of 4 or 5 wheelbarrows full of crap I had to haul away.
 |
| My baby, Gardenia. |
I also got started on my own little garden. First I de-weeded the little lot, which was trickier than sounds, because all the plants that I had to remove were those annoying stinging nettles. I HATE THEM! At one point I literally thought my hand was on fire. I then opted to put on gloves (would have been smart from the beginning, ey?), but even then, they somehow managed to sting me either through the gloves or higher up on my arm. I ended up taking a shovel to the lot of them. Like the smell of cow manure and piss, I too won't miss those awful stinging nettles. After two-days work in my garden, it was time for plants! I'm quite proud of my garden, if you can't tell. So, at last count, there was 5 tomato plants, 1 cucumber (gürke!), and like 10 other plants that I don't remember.
Speaking of plants... can rhubarb grow in Florida? I hope so, because it's delicious! They make some desert from the stem, its quite sour, but then they top it with this yogurt-type mixture, and it's actually really good. I'll have to ask for the recipe! This whole experience has made me appreciate good food, which hopefully carries over once I return. I really need to learn how to cook..
Left: One of the more hotter, 'summer' days in Bunsoh - 14.5°C/58.1°F; Right: My favorite rhubarb dessert! Yum!
Oh yeah, back to the hen house (aka hen hell). After the two hours spent in there, I think I reeked of bird crap for the next two days.. even after I scraped my skin raw in the shower. I coughed all night long from all the dust and God-knows-what that I inhaled, and my nose blew black burgers (from all the dust) for the next few days as well (was that TMI?). However, I did get that hen house in pretty good shape. It's a shame the hens could care less.
Here are a few pictures of my masterpieces: a semi-cleaned hen egg layer thingy inside the semi-cleaned hen house, and the aftermath of cutting Max's hair (another task). He had to have lost a whole Abby, and still looked hairy as hell. They need to take a razor to him.
Here are a few pictures of my masterpieces: a semi-cleaned hen egg layer thingy inside the semi-cleaned hen house, and the aftermath of cutting Max's hair (another task). He had to have lost a whole Abby, and still looked hairy as hell. They need to take a razor to him.
We also finally made it out to the North Sea during low tide! So basically it was just a mud pit, pretty slippery too, I almost fell twice. I wore two layers of shirts, a sweatshirt, a jacket, a scarf, gloves, jeans, and two socks and still was cold! There's no escaping it. Afterwards, on the drive back from the North Sea, we stopped at an ice-cream shop. Like, seriously. I did, however, indulge in a double scoop despite the fact that I couldn't feel my fingers or nose. Flavors: rhubarb and waltmeister. I wanted to try something new, something different, and also because they didn't have: peanut butter and chocolate, cookies and cream, cookie dough, chocolate chip mint, or anything remotely popular in the States aside from the three regs - vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry (erdbeere). Rhubarb was really good, though!
The rest of the week was filled with chores here and there, about 20 games of Qwirkle and/or backgammon (the mother prefers board games over television) and a countdown to the Euro Cup kick-off. The chores were relatively light, however. Clean out the family car, tidy up the garage (that was actually a rather lengthy and strenuous task that required Jannik's help), mow the lawn, and vacuum throughout the house. The mowing bit I found tough as well. First off, I'd never used a lawn mower before in my life! Secondly, the grass was about knee high, and the lawn mower is old and on its last leg, so that mixed with tall grass caused it to shut off every three minutes. I spent most of the time pulling on the crank chord. My arm was definitely sore the next two days! Oh, and it doesn't suck the grass up in the bag that well. It was just pretty disastrous altogether. I'll leave mowing to the men in my life. Like I said, I'll take up cooking, and he can mow. Please.
 |
| Quote for the day: "The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials." |
I actually wasn't all too excited or anything for my 21st birthday, seeing as it's not a big deal over here. Just a month prior Laura, Alex, and I got totally wasted (sorry, mom) in Dublin, and we were only 20 then... These people have been drinking beer (legally) since they were 16, and alcohol since 18. To them, I'm years behind. I was, however, excited to see if my parents got me at least one of the two presents I requested. One, a male Pug puppy or, two, the Travelocity traveling gnome (don't ask, it has something to do with my obsession with The Amazing Race). Unfortunately, I only received one of the two... no puppy, just Harlem the Gnome Trotter as I aptly named him.
Birthday morning, the boys and Svea came into my room with chocolate brownie muffins (with peanut butter icing) and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Later a few of Ute's friends dropped by and dropped off flowers, gifts, and cake. It was actually pretty nice! One of the gifts I got was a jar of peanut butter. I will officially be known as the peanut butter girl in Bunsoh, and the funny thing is, I barely ever eat peanut butter back home in Orlando! Haha, oh well...
So with that, YAY! I'M LEGALLY ABLE TO DRINK IN THE STATES! WOOT WOOT! PARTY WHEN I GET BACK!
We arrived in Hamburg about midday, chilled in Diekmann's flat for a few hours, and then made our way to the city centre to watch the football match on the big screen. These people are crazy about their soccer over here. It kind of baffles me why it hasn't ever taken off in America. Perhaps because we have real sports like basketball and American football? Haha, only kidding, I actually really enjoy soccer.
 |
| Nicolas and Christian at the public viewing |
Off all the people that were in our 'group' (a bunch of people met up with Diekmann at his house and we all journeyed to the city centre together), only two bothered to speak with me in English - Nicolas and Christian. I'm not sure if the others knew I didn't speak German or if their English was poor, but oh well, I was just happy I didn't have to stand, watching soccer for 2 hours, completely silent. They also bought me a beer for my birthday, nice guys.
Happily (for Germany), they beat Portugal one to nil. And during that one goal scored (by Mario Gomez!) I literally thought the people were going to go mad. These people get more excited over a goal than anybody I've seen get excited over a touchdown by their team in the Superbowl.
The male toilets were hilarious, by the way. I don't even know how to describe them, except just a big, long, metal sink outside (with a barricade to keep it private from those not peeing). That's a bad description, but oh well. And, like the United Kingdom, you have to pay to use the restroom here too. What a hassle. Sucks if you really have to go and don't have a euro on you, what do you do then? Hm..
Anywho, after the game we went to one of the girl's flat and they sat around and drank for a few hours. At this point I was kind of bummed, it's my 21st birthday and I'm starring at a blank wall. I mean, no point in drinking, it's not going to make me understand German any better. I was also getting tired, and just wanted to lay day. However, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I learned that the long way. After about 2 or 3 hours there, they decided they wanted to go 'downtown', so we followed. Everybody, by this time, had changed their outfits from Germany soccer jerseys to clubbing clothes. Except for me, of course. I wasn't informed that we'd even go clubbing?! Once downtown we followed Diekmann into a few bars and then finally into a club. I'm not sure if Jonas and Svea saw the complete discomfort and lack of enjoyment on my face (although I tried my hardest to appear as if I was having a blast!) or they, too, weren't prepared to club the night away. Either way, they ended up getting the key from Diekmann and directions back to his place, and we (finally) parted from them.
I wanted to find Beatle Platz, which is a bar where the Beatles performed before their explosion. It was also featured on The Amazing Race, which is the real reason why I wanted to go, but the city centre was packed. It seemed as if the whole of Hamburg was there. We did pass by the Reeperbahn, though, which, if you don't know, is a famous prostitution street. There's a big metal gate in front of the street that prevents people from being able to look down it. On it, there's a sign that reads: Access by boys under 18 years old and women FORBIDDEN. Svea and I did sneak a peak behind, though, and spotted a prostitute just sitting in a window! Strangest thing I've ever seen. Probably just a dose of what Amsterdam's Red Light District will be like, however. Weird...
After taking the wrong metro, not getting off on the right stop, and missing another, we finally made is back to Diekmann's around 5 AM. I slept like a baby. Not the best birthday ever, but a very memorable one at least.
June 10th-13th: Back in Bunsoh, everything went back to normal - chores, sandwiches for dinner, and that dang rooster waking me up every morning! I did, however, get some very exciting news... my bestest friend Chase decided to take vacation from work and come travel around with me starting July 3rd! So, due to that, and the fact that this trip has cost way more than I originally budgeted (money well spent, though), I rearranged my itinerary and moved my return date up almost a whole month! The new plan is that I meet him in Pisa, and from there, over the next two weeks, we will travel to Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and back to London (Yes! Platform 9 3/4, here I come.. for real this time). Back to Orlando mid-July. So, my last two weeks or so with the Tödters I spent a lot of time trying to keep up with online classes and rearrange my travel plans, which still are up-in-the-air as I type. I just have to find my way to Pisa by 1 PM on July 3rd... hopefully.
 |
| They use Mercedes for everything here, including transporting cows! Also: police cars, taxis, garbage trucks, and cement trucks. |
Anyways, as I may have mentioned in a previous post, the father of the family has passed away about a month prior to my arrival. He worked on their farm, maintaining the land, cows, etc. It really is a lot of work! Now that he was no longer around to do it, the boys are doing their own thing, and Ute has a job (plus, it's too much for her to do), they decided to lease out the land and sell the cows. Negotiations and such were going on all throughout my stay, but it wasn't until the last few weeks that things actually started to take place. Slowly, the cows started to dwindle away. Kind of sad. We went from around probably 130 cows to, when I left, only 15 (and they were set to depart any day).
With the cows no longer there, that means that milk was no longer there. So Ute had to actually buy milk from the store. Something regular to me and my family, but something I don't think they had ever done! And they drink so much milk! Probably because there was a constant supply, but they drink it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So, when she came back from LIDL she had to have had at least 20 1L cartons of milk. A funny site to see.
A negative about the removal of the cows is that the flies started to bombard the inside of the house. There were always flies in the house, even before. I mean, when your house is attached to a barn, it's to be expected. But the presence of them had to triple after the cows left. Annoying as hell, too, those little insects. Ugh, I hate them. I became pretty effective at killing them, though. Either with the fly swatter, electric shock machine, or even catching them with my bare hands. So, if you ever have a fly problem, I'm the one you should call.
I told Ute that she should purchase one of those sticky strips that catch the flies. Probably not the most sanitary thing in the world, but rather effective. I'd rather have that than live flies buzzing around, landing on my food and in my drinks. However, these Germans are extremely environment and animal cautious, and she claimed that the sticky strip was 'mean' because it didn't kill the flies immediately and that they would suffer. To me, it's just a fly, I could care less. That's probably the American in me coming out - not cautious at all, haha. Although, I think I want to recycle when I get back. We'll see...
Left: My favorite cow. Named her Hermione. Sad to see her go. Right: Fly swatter and electric shock fly killer, great inventions.
June 14th: Wow, this post is getting rather lengthy! Almost a month full of stuff to write in here. No worries, it's almost over! Anyways.. Ute's friend, the wife of another farmer, is an English teacher at an elementary school in a town right outside of Bunsoh. We had made arrangements really early in my stay for me to accompany her to school one day and participate in the English lessons. Sounded fun, so I of course said yes. As I was in my final full week at the Tödter's, the lady (I forgot her name...) came and picked me up on a Thursday. She spoke very good English, which I learned she picked up while be an Au Pair in Chicago for a year about 10 years back. Her favorite TV show was FRIENDS, so we hit it off just fine. She did warn me that the children are in their first few years of English and therefore can't speak much of it, but that they all know I am coming, and are excited to meet a real American (talk about pressure for representing all of my country, haha).
Anywho, the kids were great! Class was fun. They were learning their farm animals and mastering counting. A real difficulty Germans have with the English language is the pronunciation of 'th' as in 'the', 'thirteen', and 'thirty'. It just seems so easy to me! But try explaining how to make that sound to someone... hard task.
June 14th: Wow, this post is getting rather lengthy! Almost a month full of stuff to write in here. No worries, it's almost over! Anyways.. Ute's friend, the wife of another farmer, is an English teacher at an elementary school in a town right outside of Bunsoh. We had made arrangements really early in my stay for me to accompany her to school one day and participate in the English lessons. Sounded fun, so I of course said yes. As I was in my final full week at the Tödter's, the lady (I forgot her name...) came and picked me up on a Thursday. She spoke very good English, which I learned she picked up while be an Au Pair in Chicago for a year about 10 years back. Her favorite TV show was FRIENDS, so we hit it off just fine. She did warn me that the children are in their first few years of English and therefore can't speak much of it, but that they all know I am coming, and are excited to meet a real American (talk about pressure for representing all of my country, haha).
The school system in Germany is so different than in the US. And even though I'd like to explain it to you all, even after getting it explained to me about 5 or more times, I still don't really have a good grasp on it. Just know that they don't have elementary, middle, and high school, their setup is extremely different. Even their school days are different. I think they are a bit shorter, as well. Kids will go to a class for 45 minutes and then have a 15 minute break to recess, and that's how the whole school day goes. Also, a teacher doesn't have an assigned class as they would in US elementary schools, nor do they have a classroom. The kids have a class room, and the teachers rotate around. I thought that was so strange, it just seems much easier if the teacher had their own specific class, but I guess this works for them, obviously.
The girls clung to me the whole time. I ended up having to play tag and hide and seek with them. As well as swinging on the swing and letting them use my camera. It was all fun and cute, though. Oh, and I also got to join in on the rehearsal of their upcoming play. I had no clue what was going on! It's funny when you have a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds directing you around because they understand everything and you don't. At the end of the day, everybody lined up in front of me with their notepads and wanted my phone number. And a few of the girls all gave me a sheet of paper with their names and phone numbers. Awh. I'll send them a postcard from Orlando, they'll probably like that..
The two English classes I sat in on. Crazy kids!
May 15th-20th: Filled with uncertainty. Originally I wanted to to leave on the 15th, then the 18th, then when I found out Chase was coming and had to reorganize my itinerary mixed with finding the cheapest transport to my next stop - Berlin - I ended up settling with the 20th.
The days leading up to my departure went by fast, although I did start to get a bit sad and nervous (to be going out on my own again) the closer it got.
Germany won their next to matches against The Netherlands and Denmark, and advanced into the knockout round, so those were fun to watch. Other than that, my finals days were filled with homework, stressing over my itinerary and money, cleaning the now empty cow stables, trying (and failing) to drive a tractor, backgammon, Qwirkle, and another visit to the North Sea (this time at high tide). We did make it to the Turkish restaurant for a final döner dinner. Yum. Before I knew it, it was Wednesday, my things were packed, and I was about to be on my way to Berlin, Krakow, and who knows where else before meeting up with Chase in two weeks time.
Final goodbyes with my family were great. They all came to the train station to send me on my way. Ute bought me a present, turned out to be some juggling balls, which I found to be awesome! If I failed to mention it, one of my online UCF courses I was taking over the summer was a class called 'Basic Learning Processes' required for my psychology minor (I hate psychology!). An assignment was learning how to juggle. So for the first two and a half weeks of my stay, Jonas and Jannik attempted to teach me how to juggle, and you would always find my wandering around the house throwing objects into the air. If anyone is concerned, I did *finally* end up mastering juggling! The gift was so fitting.
I invited them to come to Orlando next summer, maybe they'll be able to make the trip! I'm sure the inverse in weather will be just as much as a shock to them as it was to me. And maybe, sometime in the future, I'll find my way back to Bunsoh, Germany to check up on them. It was a blast and a real learning experience.
The days leading up to my departure went by fast, although I did start to get a bit sad and nervous (to be going out on my own again) the closer it got.
Germany won their next to matches against The Netherlands and Denmark, and advanced into the knockout round, so those were fun to watch. Other than that, my finals days were filled with homework, stressing over my itinerary and money, cleaning the now empty cow stables, trying (and failing) to drive a tractor, backgammon, Qwirkle, and another visit to the North Sea (this time at high tide). We did make it to the Turkish restaurant for a final döner dinner. Yum. Before I knew it, it was Wednesday, my things were packed, and I was about to be on my way to Berlin, Krakow, and who knows where else before meeting up with Chase in two weeks time.
 |
| Ute, Niklas, Jonas, Svea, Jannik (and myself in the back) |
I invited them to come to Orlando next summer, maybe they'll be able to make the trip! I'm sure the inverse in weather will be just as much as a shock to them as it was to me. And maybe, sometime in the future, I'll find my way back to Bunsoh, Germany to check up on them. It was a blast and a real learning experience.
Left: Can't drive stick, what made them think I could drive a stick-shift tractor? Right: Yes, a US mailbox in Germany...
Adios, Bianca.
Translated: Shopping in a German supermarket! And, whew, what a task!
A few days after Pfingsten, it was Jannik and I's turn to cook lunch. Me not being such a crafty cook, actually, me not being a cook at all, I opted for making tacos. Easy! ...I thought. But seeing as Germany is in Europe, and Europe isn't all too close to Mexico, Mexican food is an afterthought here. For instance, how we (Americans, or Floridians at least) have Mexican fast-food, mom and pop, and upscale Mexican restaurants literally everywhere (and entire isles dedicated Mexican dishes and spices in grocery stores), Germany has Turkish food (döners!), and England has Indian. So, naturally, there wasn't a single jar of salsa, taco seasoning, or taco wraps/shells in their house. My 'easy' dish turned into a full-fledged shopping trip.
 |
| ♳ Recycling ♳ |
First whenever you go to the grocery store, you return all your bottles. See, they buy their drinks in cases of 1L glass bottles. When the bottles are empty, they are returned to the store and you get some money back (I think like 25 cents, nothing great). But everybody does it! They are extremely "bio" friendly here. Everyone recycles, etc. No bags are used at grocery stores, you either bring your own basket, or (as the Tödters do) just load everything into the car, and unload everything out... no bag necessary. "You have hands," as they say. In the bigger stores, they offer plastic/paper bags, but you are charged for each one.
Shopping carts here cost too - 1 euro. However, when you return the cart you get your euro back. Eliminates the task of workers having to get the carts from the parking lot. Although I'm not sure how that would fly at bigger stores such as Walmart...
Anyways, I happened to reunite with my best friend while at the grocery store. Oh, had it been too long since I'd seen him last. One of the happiest moments so far. TOBASCO!
Gladly I had Jannik with me, otherwise I would have left the bottles and struggled with trying to free a cart from the dispenser not knowing that it costs a euro.
Aldi and LIDL are the most popular grocery stores in Germany, although LIDL, I've found, is pretty much popular everywhere throughout Europe. We went to LIDL, which is about half the size of Publix, so I began referring to it as "little" instead of "leedle" (which is how it's supposed to be pronounced).
 |
| Don't have €1, be prepared to carry everything! |
Aldi and LIDL are the most popular grocery stores in Germany, although LIDL, I've found, is pretty much popular everywhere throughout Europe. We went to LIDL, which is about half the size of Publix, so I began referring to it as "little" instead of "leedle" (which is how it's supposed to be pronounced).
At first glimpse, the market doesn't seem all too different from those back home. Aside from the German wording and relatively smallness of everything, it appears almost identical. That is until you start looking closer. I had no clue what half of the vegetables were, either they didn't look familiar or they just aren't common in the States, I'm not sure... Plus, everyday food necessities such as - kraft, Ramen noodles, and jalapeños - are completely absent from the store. Okay, those are probably necessities only for me, but still...!
Did I mention that I found chocolate pasta in the pasta isle?! Doesn't sound good at all, but I kind of wanted to try it. I didn't though. What would you eat with it? What type of sauce and sides? Strange... Anywho, the section dedicated to Mexican/taco food was ridiculously small. Which, in a way, helped me a bit, because I didn't really have much to choose from. One brand of salsa, one brand of taco shell, one brand of seasoning, and two types hot sauces - that was all!
Next to the taco section was a cute little 'American' section complete with 'American hot-dogs' and peanut-butter. I thought it was adorable. Oh, these German's don't known how much good food they're missing out on. It's a pity, really
I will give them this: their beer section is on point. Cases and cases. The store is smaller than my neighborhood Publix, yet their beer section probably doubles it, no problem. Also, their deli (I guess) was pretty nice. All the different meats and cheeses (and, boy, did those cheeses stink up that section of the store) were quite vast. No Gatorade, however, which was a complete bummer. I've gone the last month and a half without sweet tea and Gatorade. It's like I'm fasting or something. I've been living off of Punica and milk. The latter, with me being lactose-intolerant and all, hasn't gone over too well. Not to mention the cheese (they use cheese on everything, in everything, and with everything)! My stomach will be happy to get to Brussels in a few weeks (Italy and France are going to be equally as bad, I assume).
 |
| Best friends for ever. |
The tacos, I'd say, were a hit, though. I guess they'd never made their own tacos before, nor rarely ever eaten them, because they asked for my instruction on how to assemble them. It was cute. Of course, the tacos were served for lunch, and we went back to sandwiches for dinner. Honestly, if I never saw another sandwich again, I'd probably be quite okay. I barely liked them in the States, so now they're pretty much dead to me.
I came into Germany completely obsessed with their spicy mustard (which is considered regular mustard to them, they don't have - at all - our type of mustard). After eating the same sandwich, every day, for 30+ days, consisting of mustard, lunchmeat, Gouda cheese, and a tomato - I can barely stomach the taste of the mustard anymore. I have, however, grown to LOVE sausages, eggs, and pancakes - three things I used to absolutely despise. I guess you win some, you lose some.
 |
| My dinner. We didn't have any tomatoes that day so I spiced things up with some bell pepper! |
Since we're on the topic of food, however, I have high expectations for Italy and Belgium. You can probably keep Poland, Czech, Austria, Slovakia, the Netherlands, and I'm undecided about France.
Pizza in Pisa, authentic italian food in Rome, mussels in Brussels, and some Belgium chocolate to finish it off. Can't wait! England's fish and chips weren't bad either, probably get some of that on the way back. Not sure about France... their cheese repulses me.
And, don't worry folks back home, I plan on bringing a box of Belgium chocolates back with me!
Pizza in Pisa, authentic italian food in Rome, mussels in Brussels, and some Belgium chocolate to finish it off. Can't wait! England's fish and chips weren't bad either, probably get some of that on the way back. Not sure about France... their cheese repulses me.
And, don't worry folks back home, I plan on bringing a box of Belgium chocolates back with me!
Vaarwel, Bianca.
It has been pretty crazy, non-stop here on the farm. But today is actually a pretty chill day, probably because the weather is the coldest it's been since I've arrived, which naturally makes everyone pretty lazy. So what a better time to update my blog, do some homework, and perhaps watch a few episodes of Pretty Little Liars?
So, let's catch you up on the past four weeks and a half of my life in Germany. And, wow, have four week flown by!
 |
| Sabine, Ute, and Niklas |
May 17th: My arrival in Heide, Germany, and where I left off on my previous post. I was greeted at the train station by Ute (pronounced Oo-tuh; she is the mother), Niklas (the youngest son, aged 10), and Sabine (pronounced Zah-bee-nuh; family friend). They whisked me away to their Skoda, which I had never seen before in my life, but apparently is a very popular make of car here in Deutschland. I quickly learned that I had arrived on Vatter Tag - aka Father's Day - which is in no way celebrated like how we do back in the States. Here, all the men (regardless of whether or not they actually are a father) walk the sidewalks from one destination to another all the while drinking. So, basically, I saw 30+ drunk dudes stumbling around on the side of the road. Way to prove right part of my stereotype of Germany within the first 20 minutes of my arrival (stereotype: all Germans drink, eat sausages, and wear Lederhosen). When we got back to the house, they showed me around the farm, introduced me to their HUGE Newfoundland dog named Max, and showed me to my room. Cute, cozy little room. Bigger than I had expected. I was quickly informed that extended family would be coming over later to meet me. Nice gesture, but I was still in the midst of my sickness and just wanted to lay down, sleep, and recuperate. Whatever, I sucked it up and toughed through what turned out to be a very long night. Before the family arrived, they whisked me away on a walk through their village (I would call it a town, but they keep referring to it as a village). They showed me the Quallenbad which is a natural spring water pool. I touched the water and almost freaked! It was FREEZING. It had to be colder than Wekiva Springs, no doubt about it. I was glad, at the moment, that I hadn't taken up space in my backpack with a bathing suit. There was no way on God's green Earth that I would be getting in there. Not unless it was 100 degrees outside, and I've learned that will never happen. When we got back to the house, Jannik (pronounced Yawn-ick), the 19 year old, was home. Nice kid, really funny! He has a PS3, so we played some FIFA. Sadly, he didn't have Call of Duty, so... yeah.
 |
| Marisa with her Welcome to Germany sign |
Later, Ute's brother, his wife, and their two kids (Mathis and Marisa) came. Marisa was the cutest little thing, probably 10 years old, but she made me a 'Welcome to Germany' sign and brought me some flower. Of course, she was too shy to give them directly to me.
Everyone speaks at least a little English, so it's not too bad. It's not perfect, but enough to get their point across. Most of them have visited the States previously, as well.
We played some boardgames - Qwirkle, Pictionary (which was really hard for me, because I had to translate everything I was going to draw, and then when guessing, I would guess right, but they wouldn't know...), and a memory game. Interesting stuff, but definitely not games that we would consider 'fun' back home. Oh well, it helped the time pass. After everyone left, I jumped at the chance to go to bed. I think I actually slept in the clothes I was wearing - I was that tired.
 |
| EAT MOR CHIKIN! |
May 18th: My alarm went off at 8 AM, and when I rolled over to turn it off, I knew I wasn't getting out of the bed for quite some time. My head was aching, my throat felt as if it was on fire, and once I started coughing - I couldn't stop. Ute came in at about 1 PM, and I explained to her that I didn't feel well and asked if it would be alright if I rested for the day. She consented, although I'm not sure she truly understood that I was sick and not just sleepy. She came in again around 4 and seemed surprised that I was still in bed. Maybe when they are sick here they continue on like nothing's wrong? Oh well. I checked up on my homework (and the NBA playoffs), and watched an episode of Showtime's Homeland (good show, btw!). She came in again around 7 to ask if I wanted to play Qwirkle with them. At this point, I absolutely knew that she didn't understand that I was sick and needed to rest. But I felt bad for staying in my room for so long, so I mustered up the energy to drag myself to the living room and act as if I didn't feel like I was slowly dying. One of Ute's friends was over with her daughter, so we all played together. It was awful because I was literally coughing every 10 seconds, or after every time I spoke. When that concluded, everyone left and went to bed. Relief.
May 19th-24th: All of this kind of meshes together, so it hard for me to recall exactly what happened...
Saturday, I woke up in time for breakfast. As I'm not much of a breakfast eater, I wasn't sure what to expect. How they do breakfast (and any other meal for that matter) is they lay out the bread in a basket on the table. Everybody gets there own little cutting board, a knife, and a fork. Jam, honey, other spreads, cheeses, etc. are all on the table too. And you just pick and choose from that. What's weird, or at least to me, is that they ONLY ever use one slice of bread. Meaning they never sandwich their sandwich, for lack of a better explanation. For instance, for dinner (yes, all we eat for dinner is sandwiches!), they'll take a slice of bread, slap some spread on it, slice up a cucumber and tomato, and then chow down with no top bread. So they must think I'm either really weird, wasteful, or just a pig for always using two slices. So with that... I've compiled a list of what I've deemed 'weird' things done here:
1. At parades, they throw candy to the children. Normal, right? They also throw little bottles of alcohol to the adults!
2. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are pretty much unheard of!
3. After swimming at the swimming pool, you change into your dry clothes. But they don't go to the bathroom to do it, they just do it wherever! I thought it was a little weird when I saw several children being stripped naked and then dressed right in front of me. It wasn't until I saw grown adults doing the same that I was kind of taken aback!
4. Staying in step with number 3, they don't censor their TV. When watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall (voiced over in German) on a regular TV channel, they didn't blur out or edit any of the nudity parts. Awkward!
5. After people shower here, they put back on the same clothes. Kind of defeats the purpose, right?
6. Their hot meals are served for lunch, and for dinner you get sandwiches. How is a sandwich supposed to fill you up? Don't even get me started into how and what they eat.... that would be a whole 'nother post in itself.
7. They use forks and knives to eat everything - pizza, spaghetti (and a spoon for this one), salad, döners (kind of like a Pita Pit sandwich but not as good), hotdogs.
It's crazy. I just stick to my single fork.
That's all I can think of at the moment, but trust me, there are tons more!
 |
| Not my calling in life. |
Anyways, my first Saturday here, I accompanied Ferdinand - the weekend cow helper - with milking the cows. They have machines, so you don't have to literally sit there and manually milk all 100+ cows, but you still have to manually check each cow to make sure the milk is pure. Perhaps I wasn't born with the skill to yank on cow nipples, but I couldn't get a single drop of milk to flow out of them for the life of me. So I was given the duty of hooking the machines up to the cows - easy enough, but scary because you have to reach up under the cow, and if you startle them, they can kick.. and your head is in the path of destruction if that happens. After the milking was done, we had to fork out feed and hay to them. Cows have got to be the nastiest animals ever! They just poop and pee wherever, whenever. When eating... why not? When walking... why not? One cow was laying down, and the other standing somewhat over it, and it just pooped... all on the other cow's head. Like seriously? I was disturbed.
Anyways, the smell after working in the stables is very memorable, and not necessarily in a good way. Something I most definitely won't miss. (It's funny though, now, because I'm quite used to it).
 |
| American boat crossing the Nord-Ostee Kanal. |
I've seen the natural springs, the Schalenstein (a rock left from the Stone Ages), and a few other interesting bits of their town.
 |
| I ♥ DÖNER! |
 |
| BBQ? |
This section is for my friends who are reading, and not for my parents, because they probably will have no clue what I'm talking about. The drinking games they play here are so LAME! No Flip Cup, no Beer Pong, no Kings, no High-Low. And when I tried to explain them to them, they looked at me as if those games sounded extremely boring. (We've watched two American movies since then - Project X and Chronicle, and in both there were scenes of Beer Pong, so I know I'm not crazy!).
 |
| A popular beer in the Dithmarscher area of Schleswig-Holstein |
Finally, though, after everyone got drunk enough, they finally started attempting to speak English, which made things a little more fun for myself. One of their friend, Tim, was hilarious! His English not so good, but he was completely hammered, so I couldn't blame him.
In German, they say "genau" in almost every sentence. It translates to "of course" or "exactly". They use it as we'd use 'yes' most of the time. So, for instance, whenever anyone asks a question like: "is this the movie you were wanting to see?" or "you have an iPhone, right?" they would respond with "genau" instead of their words for "yes", "right", or "correct". I explained that, because whenever Germans start to speak in English, they say "of course" A LOT! For instance, Tim kept giving me German words or sayings to shout out loud. One of them was "geile Beiner" which means 'hot legs'. I don't know why, as I said, he was drunk. Anyways, anytime I said: No. He'd always say "of course, it will be so funny, of course, of course." I heard that line at least 30 times that night.
The party started to dwindle around 11PM, I'd say. Everyone started to make their way to Albersdorf for Pfingsten. The fair was closed, but as a last hurrah, everyone gathers in the big, park square (they call is 'the bush') and drinks. Initally, I didn't want to go. I was getting tired, and the thought of going into the city wasn't too appealing. Even though they had started to speak in English, I wasn't sure that it would continue. If I was to be trapped in Albersdorf, bored out of my mind, tired, and unable to understand anything... well, that wasn't something I was wanting to get myself into. However, Tim, Jonas, and another boy named Patty convinced me to go as it is a once a year thing, and I happen to be in Schleswig-Holstein during this time. Finally, I agreed. I mean, I came all the way to Europe to experience new and unforgettable things, these type of things, so I couldn't not go.
It was different than I had imagine it would be. Way bigger. There was a live band, and then about 10-12 beer vendor tents. Trust me, folks at home, you have never heard of any of the beers they sell here. Local brews, I guess. There were around 2,000 people, all drunk, standing around. Quite a sight to see. However, both my phone and my camera were dead, so you'll have to take my word for it. Drunk Germans are nothing like drunk Americans, especially the younger ones. They're not sloppy, and don't get out of control. To reduce on littering/trash, they charged you €2 for a beer, but another €2 for the cup. When you're finished with your beer, you return the cup and get your €2 back. Clever, but inconvenient...
 |
| The VW van they drove around Europe in! Awesome! I envy them; I want one for a road trip around the US! |
However, I did find out that in Germany there is a law regarding farmers and farmland. When a farmer dies, and does not have a will in place, all the land goes to his oldest son. This is to prevent farm land from being broken-up/divided, and to keep large farms. So, the house, the farm, the cows, everything, now belonged to Jonas and not his mother. He wasn't happy about this, and I don't blame him. A big burden and responsibility. Plus, because everything now belongs to him, he won't be able to get aid from the government for his university studies. Oh man.
We stayed on top of the tower for quite some time. The sun began to rise by the time we climbed down. That's not saying all too much as it gets dark around 10:30PM here, and light around 4AM. Confuses the heck out of me when it's bright as day outside and the clock says 9:45PM.
Jonas had left his cellphone at home, and we were pretty sure that we wouldn't be able to find the group of people, so we were kind of stuck in Albersdorf, with no way to get back to Bunsoh other than walking. Sounds bad, but the walk would only take an hour max. So we set out to walk.
We started discussing credit cards, and how Americans use them for everything. Here, they use cash for everything. Most places don't accept cards, and if they do, you have to spend a certain amount. This goes for debit cards as well, as they run everything as credit. Thank God that we got on this subject, because it made me check my pocket for my cards... they were gone! (In Dublin, when we bought a bus tour pass, they gave us the card in a clear little card holder type thing, hard to describe. Anyways, since then, I've used that to place my drivers license, UCF ID, two debit cards, and credit card in.) They were all missing. I had brought them with me just incase I needed ID or money. Jonas thought I was joking, but I guess after he saw the slight panic on my face, he realized I wasn't. We backtracked and searched, and searched, and searched. I mean, we were pretty deep into the forest, where the tower was... the forest isn't an ideal place to lose something. After about an hour looking, I incredibly found them lying on the ground next to the most random tree. Relief.
 |
| My spectacular photography skills are getting better; this is the place that I've called 'home' for the past month. |
We continued walking in hopes that Ute would drive up. She finally did, it was 5:30AM at this time. As soon as we got back to the house, I said goodnight to Jonas, sprinted to my room, and crashed down on my bed. But, all in all, I was pretty happy I went out that night.
The rest will be posted later.
2 days until I leave for Berlin!
Chao, Bianca.
 |
| Giant's Causeway! |
May 9th: I ended up going on the Giant's Causeway tour. After much contemplation that morning on whether I wanted to wake up or not, I finally coaxed myself out of bed, into the shower, and onto the rainy streets of Dublin. Yes, even at 6:00 AM it is raining in Dublin! I will never take Florida's weather for granted again. I had no clue where I was supposed to go, I asked the guy working the front desk of my hostel and he hadn't even heard of "the Tourist Information Station on Suffolk Street," and so for about 10 minutes I wondered around O'Connell Street looking completely lost. Finally, I asked a passer-by, and after giving me the worst directions in the world (go straight, then turn left, no, right at the ??? [couldn't understand his accent], and then straight again, you'll see a red ??? and then turn around... I think he saw the confusion on my face), he offered to walk me to the place. Wasn't far at all, but I probably would have never been able to find it on my own.
We lined up and loaded in. My name wasn't on the list, probably because I had just signed up for the tour the night before and had paid my 12 euro deposit then. I was supposed to pay the remaining €48 in person, but in the confusion he never asked for it. (Don't worry, I felt bad and ended up giving it to him anyway).
 |
| Irish scenery |
The tour guide's name was Bud, and he looked like a typical Irish guy, leprechaun features if you will - he was short with pointy ears and beady eyes. Funnist guy ever, though. Like Cormac on the walking tour, Bud made the 12+ hour trip very fun. The ride to N. Ireland is about 2 hours from Dublin. I slept most of the time after I got over the amazing scenery that is Ireland. Green as far as the eyes can see. The border between the Republic of Ireland and North Ireland isn't marked by a crossing or anything, but the difference is noticed almost immediately. For example: the signs changed from being posted in kilometers per hour to miles per hour (familiarity!), the lights changed from going red to green to red/yellow to green (hard to explain, but in the UK the yellow is never on by itself, if that makes sense), the license plates switched from being the EU's signature white with the EU flag on the side to the UK's all yellow, and lastly, the money switched from Euros to the dreaded Sterling Pound.
There was an Irish giant by the name of Finn McCool who one day and one way or another got into an argument with another giant named Fingal who lived across the sea in Scotland. They began throwing dirt and rocks at each other, but could not reach each other to settle the matter because neither of them were strong swimmers. So instead, they built this causeway of stepping stones to bridge the gap between the two lands. However, Finn McCool's wife (or mother, I forget which) was worried about him and did not want him to battle Fingal, so she devised a crafty plan. She dressed Finn up to look like a baby. When Fingal crossed the causeway, he found the 'baby'. The wife (or mother) then told Fingal that Finn was away, but that baby was his son. Fingal became frightened because of the baby was so large, than Finn must be HUGE. He feverishly crossed back to Scotland, and out of fright ripped the crossing part of the causeway up so that Finn could not reach him. And there it is, haha. Rumor has it, though, that the causeway was really caused by volcanic eruptions sinking into the water, blah blah blah. My theory: aliens!
 |
| Guinness! |
May 10th: Laura arrived! Nothing exciting, as it was their first day in Dublin, so they wanted to visit all the sites I had already gone to. I went along for the ride. However, we did go to the Guinness Brewery and Jameson Distillery. Guinness was nice, and massive. I indulged in 2.5 pints, one was free as a lady who did the tour (if you do the tour you get a voucher for a free pint) asked me to take a picture of her and then gave me her voucher. Saved me €5. Everybody was tired and jet lagged, so Laura, Alex, and myself were the only ones to experience Dublin's Temple Bar area that night. A mixture of alcohol and dancing made the rest of the night a complete blur...
May 11th: More Dublin. By this time I was ready to leave. Dublin, in my opinion, is a mixture of New York City and Charleston. It has that 'big city' feel with a historic city approach. It, in itself, is pretty neat, but the weather is atrocious. 40-45 degrees mixed with rain and wind isn't something this Florida girl is accustomed to, nor was I prepared for. So, later that day, when we were headed to the airport to make our way to Bristol, England, I wasn't the least bit sad to say goodbye to my first international city.
 |
| They have kegs everywhere on the streets. |
Okay, so this is where I complain. Laura and her family planned their trip to Ireland about 3-4 weeks prior to their departure. It just so happens that my plans as well as my destinations before Germany semi-coincided with theirs. So we reorganized my travel plans to align exactly with theirs. However, Laura has to be the HARDEST person to get in contact with, so it took her forever and a day to send me their travel itinerary so that I could book the same flights/trains as theirs. By the time she sent it to me, I was already in Dublin. And, just my luck, my credit and debit cards were not working (even though I notified them ahead of time about my travel plans, ugh!). So everywhere we went, I had to pay double, sometimes triple, the price that they paid (it's cheaper to book in advance, of course, and to also book online). Not to mention Ryanair (the airline we flew with from Dublin to Bristol) charged me €60 (approx. $77) to print out my boarding pass! - Ridiculous. I will try to avoid flying with them in the future, although that seems unlikely.
 |
| Stonehenge! |
May 12th: Bristol was better, weather-wise. Still cold, but no rain, which was a godsend. Apparently the day we arrived was the first day in quite some time that it hadn't rained. Lucky us. Also, the next day, when we went to Stonehenge and Bath, it didn't rain either. That alone, made Bristol one of my favorite places, haha. Stonehenge was nice, we rented a car to get there from Bristol, which is about a 1.5 hour drive. Scariest drive of my life! The car was a manual, and Laura's dad was driving. As the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car, the gears were on his left, that combined with driving on the other side of the road made for an interesting trip. Every so often we'd end up in the wrong lane, facing traffic. But more often than not we'd end up on the curb! Anywho, Stonehenge was nice, once again smaller than I'd imagined. And it's roped off now, so you can't actually touch the stones like you could years before. They said it would have taken 1,000 men to drag the stones 750 miles, and how they were able to place them on top of each other?... no clue. My theory: Aliens!
 |
| The main Roman bathing quarters |
After we left Stonehenge, we went to Bath, which is actually a little hidden gem. So pretty and so old! It houses the ancient Roman Baths, which are ridiculous in size and structure. We had the choice of taking the tour or bathing in the spa (which uses water from the hot spring which feeds the baths); everyone opted for the spa except myself. I don't know, to me, why would you go to a foreign country for a spa that you could receive in the States? It's not like you can actually bathe in the Roman Baths, no. It's a new, state-of-the-art-type facility that only uses the hot spring water. 2 hours for something like £50 ($90ish). Luckily, the wait for the spa was some 2+ hours, so we had no choice but to do the tour (Ha!). I think the tour was worth it, if not for the information than at least for the pictures. The whole town, though, was just amazing and picturesque. I will definitely be dragging my mother here one day.
 |
| Chelsea FC vs Blackburn, 5/13/2012 |
Once in London, we decided to walk the however many miles to the hotel instead of taking a taxi. I had my backpack, which weighs at least 30 pounds, plus my carry-on backpack (with my computer, iPad, and other important items that I would die without... which weights about 7 pounds), and of course my umbrella (because, yes, it was raining again). I literally thought I was going to die the whole time. My back was aching, my hands freezing, my umbrella kept reversing on account of the wind, and I kept falling behind the pack. Once we made it to the hotel, our rooms weren't even ready and there was no where to store our luggage. Miserable.
 |
| Laura and I in front of the London Eye and Parliament |
 |
| Ben! And a double decker bus. |
Alex and Laura got into their typical fights, which kind of set a damper on the mood for the night. However, I did eventually coerce them into utilizing our Tube day pass to go see Big Ben and The London Eye. It was nighttime, and they were illuminated, which was nice. However, it was a Sunday, so the Tube stops running earlier and their are several disruptions, as they call it, so we didn't have time to make it to King's Cross Station. If the name doesn't ring a bell, than obviously you haven't seen Harry Potter. So, I'll give a brief summary. In Harry Potter, in order to get to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry you have to take a train entitled The Hogwarts Express. This particular train departs from King's Cross Station via Platform 9 3/4 (nine and three quarters). After the fame of the books, King's Cross Station actually built a Platform 9 3/4 complete with a cart sticking halfway out of the wall and everything. Being a Harry Potter nerd, it was a must-go-to for me. Sadly, nobody else shared my enthusiasm, and out of fear of not being able to reconnect with them, I had to forfeit my KCS dream. So, I'm hoping to somehow make my way back to London before heading home. Just to see Platform Nine and Three Quarters.
 |
| Buckingham Palace! |
Anyways, after the tour we gathered all our luggage and headed off to London Gatwick Airport. Once again I had to purchase my ticket at the airport. I was three pounds short, and because no-one wanted to wait with me, had to resort to asking stranger for £3. The ticket lady was very nice however and pulled £3 from her purse. EasyJet: 1, Ryanair: 0. By the time I got my ticket, checked my bag, made it through security (I got searched, what a joy), I had barely any time to get to my gate and board. So that means I wasn't able to pick up a shot glass from London, and now my collection is incomplete. Yet another reason why I must return there before I head back to the States. After all that, I was tired, and a bit annoyed, and slept the whole flight to Edinburgh, Scotland.
May 15th: SCOTLAND! A prayer answered. No rain. Still cold, but no rain! NO RAIN! Okay, a little rain, but it was extremely bi-polar. For instance, we went into a gift shop. I came outside early, because there was nothing I wanted in there and it was a bit crowded. During the 10 minutes that I stood outside waiting, I took my umbrella out twice. It rained - opened my umbrella, then it stopped - closed my umbrella, then the sun came, then it rained again, etc. I was literally confused.
 |
| (Sir Walter) Scott Monument |
Edinburgh is pretty sweet. The architecture is unlike anything I've ever seen. A mix between Gothic and Victorian. The city has a good feel about it, also, which made it really enjoyable.
The first day we made our way to the castle - Edinburgh Castle. Apparently it's supposed to be a big deal, not sure why. Then we took our bus tour all the way around the city. We drove by the cafe where J.K Rowling sat and wrote the first Harry Potter novel (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone). Nobody wanted to go, so I wasn't able to go in - another heartbreaker. Afterwards we headed back to the apartment, everyone decided to buy groceries and cook as opposed to going out. Sounded like a good idea to me, as eating out was starting to hurt my pockets. Sadly, my credit and debit cards still weren't working and I wasn't able to buy anything. This is where my breakdown occurred. I was literally STARVING and without any type of currency that meant anything (I had about 300 US dollars on me, which was about as good as Monopoly money). Not to mention I had gotten sick from, what I assume, was the freezing, wet London weather. I wanted nothing more than some soup, perhaps a salad, and Abby and Magic. I went to bed, anticipating Germany, and cursing the United Kingdom.
 |
| Tight squeeze! |
May 16th: Final day in the UK (thank God), and final day with Laura and her peeps (not so sad about that either... but I won't say more). We just went around Edinburgh some more, bought a few things, checked out H&M, and Laura and I decided to climb 287 steps to the top of the Scott Monument - made for some pretty awesome pictures, although my legs were aching and a bit of claustrophobia set in as the stairwell began to get narrower and narrower.
After we made it up and back down again we couldn't think of anything else better to do after a killer workout except chow down on some KFC fried chicken..
I left everyone at the KFC to catch my bus to the airport and my flight to Amsterdam. I was excited about this. My first few days in Dublin, alone, weren't all too bad looking back on it. However, I was extremely excited to meet up with Laura and her clan so that I wouldn't have to experience all of Europe on my own. Retrospectively, probably not the best idea... It's somewhat strange how being with a group of people can make you feel more alone than when you actually are solo, if that makes sense. Enough about that, however. At this point, I felt like crap. My head was killing me, my throat extremely sore, and coughing was non-stop. It was miserable. The only good thing about that was that I had no problem falling asleep on the flight, which is good when you absolutely hate flying. When I woke up, however, my ears were popped, and I couldn't hear a single thing. It took 5-6 hours for my right ear to un-pop, and my left one still hasn't popped completely now.. a week later (yikes!). Which probably made me look crazy to the immigration people because I could barely hear a word they were saying, and since I couldn't hear my own self talk, I probably was shouting. Whatever, I got my stamp and passed on through.
 |
| The lovely Edinburgh, Scotland |
Amsterdam is what I consider my first real experience abroad, because it was actually the first place where English wasn't the primary language. Not to mention I know absolutely no Dutch. Of course, since it is an airport, *most* of the signs were in English, and everyone I encountered spoke English once they realized that I couldn't understand anything they were saying.
Since I had told my German family that I would be there at 1 PM the following morning, I needed to stay on schedule with the trains. But, once again I faced a dilemma - the international ticket office was closed (international because I was buying tickets that would ultimately take me into Germany). So I could only buy tickets as far as the Netherlands and buy the rest at my last Netherland stop. The worst part, however, was that I had to catch a train at 23:15 to Hengelo and wait 5 hours for my connecting train. When I was originally choosing my trains, 5 hours didn't seem like a big deal. I'll such pull out my iPad, watch a few episodes of Breaking Bad, and five hours will pass by in no time. I didn't take into account, or didn't know, that I would be extremely sick, it would be extremely cold, and I would be extremely tired. So, once I got to Hengelo I scratched that plan, asked the first policeman I saw where the nearest hotel was, and crashed. I mean, my train of though at that time was: I don't care how much a room costs, I have to lay down and rest. The room cost €60, I think, but was well worth the money. It was a nice room, too! Big, king sized bed, closet, kitchen, and a decent sized shower (showers over here barely allow for turning).
May 17th: I slept soundly for those few hours, than rushed up, cleaned up, checked out, and dragged myself back to the train station.
My amazing luck coming into play once more, the train that I was to catch to Bremen (I think) was two hours late! I think the guy said it was some sort of Dutch holiday or something, but then they shouldn't have allowed me to book the ticket! I was livid, sick, and had to stand in the freezing cold for two hours waiting for my train. Not a happy memory. Additionally, this faux pa would make me miss all my remaining connections and put me at my destination two hours behind schedule. Which isn't all too bad, but like I've said before, there is virtually no such thing as free WiFi on this continent, and without WiFi I would not be able to contact my German family to inform them about the change of time. I was FREAKING out. There's nothing worse than thinking you are going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, Germany, unable to effectively speak the language, and with only €10 to your name and a debit card that is 'iffy' to say the least.
 |
| Germany's definition of an 'American' hotdog |
Whatever, I sucked it up, somehow manage to find my way to Hamburg, bought 10 minutes of WiFi on my cell for €4 and sent an email. I also tried calling them from the pay phone, but ended up losing €3 to it because I couldn't figure out how to dial German numbers. Slight learning curve.
Eventually, as you already know, I made my way to Heide (which I kept pronouncing as HI-DEE, and no one knew what I was saying. Its pronounced HI-DUH, whatever). The train ride was great, which says a lot in comparison to my train ride to Hamburg. I guess they don't stop selling tickets, even after all the seats are taken, because I walked up and down the 10 or so train carts and couldn't find an empty seat to save my life. I ended up standing for the 2.5 ride, which was killer, especially with a 30 pound pack on my bag. However, the train to Heide was virtually empty, and both myself and my bag had our own seat. The ride was picturesque, painted by green pastures, dozens of windmills, and hundreds of cows. I guess this is like the Wyoming of Germany. When the train arrived in Heide, I stumbled out of the cart and onto the platform. And there was sun. No rain, no cold, just sun. I was so happy and relieved that I wouldn't have to be spending the next month combatting with the same weather conditions I had tolerated for the past ten days. Anyways, I wondered around aimlessly waiting for someone to shout my name - nothing. I started to panic, thinking that maybe that hadn't gotten my e-mail and that my fears of being stranded might actually become a reality. However, that didn't happen, I found them, and the rest is history!
Oh my, that was a long post. Actually, I had written something very similar to this once before, and lost it all when the internet here failed. Hopefully this time it works.
I'm going to stop here for now, as I have tons of homework to do for my two summer classes, and can't afford to get anything below an 'A' in either of them. I'll finish 'catching up' tomorrow, and then will be able to post daily once I'm up-to-date - yay!
Tschüss, Bianca.
Leave a Comment