"I don't believe there is anything in the whole earth that you can't learn in Berlin except the German language."
-Mark Twain
Mark Twain's travel quotes describe my life.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Budgeting woes
Ugh, sorry, I'm so bad at blogging!
Welcome to week 3 of my classes! The system is definitely different than the U.S. which is definitely causing some stress... but it's midnight in Paderborn, and I'm going to make this post relatively short tonight. I could promise to update again tomorrow, but seeing as it's been almost two weeks since my last post, don't hold your breath.
I've been blowing through money a little faster than anticipated. It's hard to cut back on expenses, though, when you want to see the world. Sigh. I wish I could get paid to explore the globe. This just means take it easy on the drinks and try not to go out to eat so much. Of course, not going out is impossible - this is Germany, and trying the local cuisine and partying on weekends are a must. I'm in Europe and I'm going to take this chance to travel. I think I'm doing pretty well, I just need to stay conscious of where my money is going.
Another good reason to cut back: my waistline! Before I left the U.S. I had lost some weight, which felt amazing. I think that, with a little conscious effort, I can lose it again. I invested in a blender to make smoothies, which I love. It makes it easy to eat a serving of spinach because I stuff it in with some strawberries and bananas and I can't taste it at all. I'm looking into joining a gym, but in the meantime, I found a great road that I can run on. I walked along it yesterday just to see where it went, and the answer is, a cornfield.
It turns out that if you walk about 10 minutes from Vogeliusweg, you hit a cornfield. On one side is a golf course, and the other is just fields. When the golf course ends, there's just fields. Eventually you hit another road, and there's a sidewalk that's good for running, which is surprising because it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. There are some people who walk their dogs along it, and I ran into some Spanish girls that I knew. I never really felt alone when I was walking, but I'll be alone enough that I could run without worrying if I look stupid.
Update: I joined a gym a few days ago, and while it's a bit pricey, it's worth it to me to have the place close by to work out.
I'm also trying to make steps toward improving my German. My semester course started today, and I like my teacher (more on that in another post). I'd also like to join the Tandem program, where I get paired up with a German speaker who wants to learn English, and we have conversation hours in German and English. Tonight I went to go see a movie in German. I didn't like it and could only understand the gist of the action, but hopefully in the long run experiences like these will help me improve (or at least lessen my awful accent).
It's closing in on midnight here and I have a 7:30 a.m. class tomorrow morning. Ciao!
Welcome to week 3 of my classes! The system is definitely different than the U.S. which is definitely causing some stress... but it's midnight in Paderborn, and I'm going to make this post relatively short tonight. I could promise to update again tomorrow, but seeing as it's been almost two weeks since my last post, don't hold your breath.
I've been blowing through money a little faster than anticipated. It's hard to cut back on expenses, though, when you want to see the world. Sigh. I wish I could get paid to explore the globe. This just means take it easy on the drinks and try not to go out to eat so much. Of course, not going out is impossible - this is Germany, and trying the local cuisine and partying on weekends are a must. I'm in Europe and I'm going to take this chance to travel. I think I'm doing pretty well, I just need to stay conscious of where my money is going.
Another good reason to cut back: my waistline! Before I left the U.S. I had lost some weight, which felt amazing. I think that, with a little conscious effort, I can lose it again. I invested in a blender to make smoothies, which I love. It makes it easy to eat a serving of spinach because I stuff it in with some strawberries and bananas and I can't taste it at all. I'm looking into joining a gym, but in the meantime, I found a great road that I can run on. I walked along it yesterday just to see where it went, and the answer is, a cornfield.
It turns out that if you walk about 10 minutes from Vogeliusweg, you hit a cornfield. On one side is a golf course, and the other is just fields. When the golf course ends, there's just fields. Eventually you hit another road, and there's a sidewalk that's good for running, which is surprising because it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. There are some people who walk their dogs along it, and I ran into some Spanish girls that I knew. I never really felt alone when I was walking, but I'll be alone enough that I could run without worrying if I look stupid.
Update: I joined a gym a few days ago, and while it's a bit pricey, it's worth it to me to have the place close by to work out.
I'm also trying to make steps toward improving my German. My semester course started today, and I like my teacher (more on that in another post). I'd also like to join the Tandem program, where I get paired up with a German speaker who wants to learn English, and we have conversation hours in German and English. Tonight I went to go see a movie in German. I didn't like it and could only understand the gist of the action, but hopefully in the long run experiences like these will help me improve (or at least lessen my awful accent).
It's closing in on midnight here and I have a 7:30 a.m. class tomorrow morning. Ciao!
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Whirlwind of international events
Last weekend I went to Amsterdam, which was so beautiful and amazing. I'm excited to blog all about it, but it's taking a long time to put together, so here's a post to distract you until I get that done.
Yesterday I went clothes shopping with Kate and Eleanor in Cologne. The shops there are a LOT better, and more inclined to have clothes in my size. I needed jeans and Eleanor is always down to shop. The train trip took about 2.5 hours each way and we stayed for about 6 hours total. I honestly could have shopped more, I had so much fun. We paid for the regional train ticket in our fees, so the train rides were free (kind of).
There are a bunch of little things that I keep noticing about Germany. They're not particularly exciting, but to an American, they're really surprising. For example, there are Subways in Germany, and they sell 15 cm sandwiches, not 6 inch! Of course, this should have been obvious because everywhere except the U.S. is on the metric system. There was also a Dunkin Donuts in the Cologne train station, but it was just awful. I was so disappointed. But I expected too much for the Dunkin Donuts to be the same, and in the future it's probably better to try something new, rather than try to recreate the American experience.
What else am I doing? Well, my weekends are often booked now, thanks to the Eurobiz club. They plan activities for the international students like weekend trips and socials. I really hope that my home university has a club like this, because it's a really great program. On Saturday I'm going to the town of Wewelsburg . It's my German Buddy's home village, and location of a three-sided "castle" (I've learned that the German word for castle, Schloss, also refers to buildings that are more like mansions). The next weekend is Dusseldorf@night. Everyone who wants to come can take the train down for an evening tour followed by dinner at 8:30 and going to a bar. The last train leaves at 10:30, so most people are going to opt to stay all night and take the first train back Sunday morning. I'm not sure if I can make it all the way through to Sunday morning, but staying out all night with my friends sounds amazing.
Two weeks after that I'm spending a weekend in Eurobiz in Berlin! I'm super excited for this, because you can't just go to Germany and not go to Berlin. The trip includes two nights, a city tour, a Schloss tour, a visit to the Brandenburg Gate, and a bunch of other fun stuff, all for 75 euros! I'm really super excited about this trip.
And, finally, a happy 21st birthday to the best roommate in the world!!! I miss her a lot, and I hope she has a great birthday.
Yesterday I went clothes shopping with Kate and Eleanor in Cologne. The shops there are a LOT better, and more inclined to have clothes in my size. I needed jeans and Eleanor is always down to shop. The train trip took about 2.5 hours each way and we stayed for about 6 hours total. I honestly could have shopped more, I had so much fun. We paid for the regional train ticket in our fees, so the train rides were free (kind of).
There are a bunch of little things that I keep noticing about Germany. They're not particularly exciting, but to an American, they're really surprising. For example, there are Subways in Germany, and they sell 15 cm sandwiches, not 6 inch! Of course, this should have been obvious because everywhere except the U.S. is on the metric system. There was also a Dunkin Donuts in the Cologne train station, but it was just awful. I was so disappointed. But I expected too much for the Dunkin Donuts to be the same, and in the future it's probably better to try something new, rather than try to recreate the American experience.
What else am I doing? Well, my weekends are often booked now, thanks to the Eurobiz club. They plan activities for the international students like weekend trips and socials. I really hope that my home university has a club like this, because it's a really great program. On Saturday I'm going to the town of Wewelsburg . It's my German Buddy's home village, and location of a three-sided "castle" (I've learned that the German word for castle, Schloss, also refers to buildings that are more like mansions). The next weekend is Dusseldorf@night. Everyone who wants to come can take the train down for an evening tour followed by dinner at 8:30 and going to a bar. The last train leaves at 10:30, so most people are going to opt to stay all night and take the first train back Sunday morning. I'm not sure if I can make it all the way through to Sunday morning, but staying out all night with my friends sounds amazing.
Two weeks after that I'm spending a weekend in Eurobiz in Berlin! I'm super excited for this, because you can't just go to Germany and not go to Berlin. The trip includes two nights, a city tour, a Schloss tour, a visit to the Brandenburg Gate, and a bunch of other fun stuff, all for 75 euros! I'm really super excited about this trip.
And, finally, a happy 21st birthday to the best roommate in the world!!! I miss her a lot, and I hope she has a great birthday.
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