Madrid and the start of school!

(Me and Kelly in Konstanz, Germany...it is right on the border of the German-Switzerland border...gorgeous city.)

So last week I ventured to Madrid Spain to visit my friend Diego, he studied in the USA for a year when I was a Junior in High School. I was actually really nervous to go because I was traveling totally by myself. It was quite an experience. I left Sunday October 12th at 12:15 AM and didn't arrive in Spain until 11:00 AM, and the night before I got no sleep because Jake, Kelly and I went to Konstanz, Germany which is southern Germany right next to Switzerland and it is on this really huge lake called The Bodensee. On a clear day you are able to see the Alps! Too bad it wasn't clear enough for us to see it, but the city was absolutely gorgeous. So once I got to Spain I was so exhausted. We actually didn't do much the whole week because Diego had University and we both were sick for about 2 days. It was actually really frustrating being in Spain knowing that I took 3 years of Spanish, but forgot everything! I couldn't communicate and barely anyone spoke English, so it was kind of lonely. Madrid was pretty, but it definitely was not what I was expecting from Spain. The weather was awesome, in the 70's the whole time, but the city was not very special to me, to me it just seemed like a big city, nothing really stood out. It was really nice to see Diego again though because it had been three years since we saw each other, he looked so different when he picked me up from the airport, with facial hair and all, granted he was 15 when he was in the USA... (I met up with my friend Jason in Madrid)(Picture of me in front of the post office in Madrid..it used to be a castle for the royal family) (Picture of me and Diego)

Spain was such a strange experience for me for a lot of reasons. One being that I have never encountered people that do so many drugs. Every time I was walking down the street people would just casually walk by me and mutter "Hashish?" I had no idea what that was until I came to Spain, apparently it's just like weed. It was everywhere in Spain. I know there are a lot of drugs in the USA, but I never feel directly confronted with them. Also another thing was prostitutes in Spain. I honestly don't think I have ever actually seen a real prostitute, of course I live in rural Iowa, but in Spain, women are just on the street and they will just go up to older men and coax them into going somewhere with them. Once I saw it I couldn't look away. Diego and his girlfriend were wondering why I was so fascinated, but I had just never actually seen it. Quite an experience. Hookers and drugs. This picture is of the amazing park in the center of Madrid, me and Diego's girlfriend.

I don't really know what I was expecting for Spanish food, but once I ate it I really did not like it. I just thought it was really bland and not my type of food. Spanish people ALWAYS eat ham too for some reason. They have these stores where there are just countless pig legs hanging from the ceiling. It looks so disgusting. Maybe just for Americans, seeing raw meat hanging from a ceiling for people to buy. Spain is known for rice, churros, tortilla, empanadas, and paella...I am sure some other things too, but these are what I experienced. Churros are also well known in the USA but they are made Mexican style, with cinnamon and sugar, the Churros in Spain are just long fried pieces of dough and you dip them in hot chocolate sauce. They are kind of good, but it was nasty seeing people actually drinking the chocolate sauce, acting like it was hot chocolate with marshmallows! Tortilla is a potato/onion cake thing...it just looks like an omelet, it was actually delicious. Empanadas are also good, the one I had was tuna (I actually hate Tuna fish but these were so good!) basically a pie type thing with meat and vegetables inside. And finally Paella is usually a seafood dish with rice, like squid and rice was very popular, seeing pictures of it made me sick...not a fan of that kind of seafood.

I had a good time seeing Diego. I also met up with one of my good friends that I hang out with in Freiburg. He was staying in Madrid for 3 days and we met up for dinner. I also hung out with Diego's girlfriend Maria a lot, she took me shopping and showed me around Madrid, we had a lot of fun. We also saw 2 famous Spanish actors, I obviously had not idea who they were but at least I saw some celebrities.
(Once I finally got back home to Freiburg from Spain...my friends and I went to a Brauerei (Brewerey) for Kelly's birthday, she is the one in the brown next to me...she also happened to go to school with Kyle Welch, my cousin...small world)

This week on Monday I finally started school, which will go until mid February. It was such an odd feeling I had on my first day. The feeling I had when I went to high school in Texas for the first day, feeling like the new kid, not knowing anyone. It was a really awkward feeling. I am taking 4 classes, my program offers quite a few classes for us to take, I am taking 3 of them. A history course of German unification to reunification (1871-1990), a course about theater which is taught by a professor from Iowa (she is German) and then a Composition and Conversation class. The one University class I am taking is either a Film class or a children's literature class. I went to the children's literature one on Monday and it was so hard for me because the teacher was talking and we were taking notes at the same time. Today I was supposed to go to my film class but we got so lost and never found the class. Nonetheless I am very excited to start a whole year of German classes so I can start my way on becoming fluent!

Other than that not much is going on here. I think my friends and I are planning on going to Amsterdam, Holland (Netherlands) in November and I may be going to Stockholm, Sweden in the beginning of December to see a friend of mine, Diana. It is nice to feel more settled in here now! I just found out also that the exchange rate is $1.28=1 Euro!! Which is amazing considering when I came to Germany in August it was $1.60=1 Euro. Hope all is well at home, and mom I really hope you visit soon! Love you all!

Tschuess! (Bye)

Mannheim, Heidelberg, Visiting Eric

Last weekend I went to visit Eric from Thursday to Sunday. We had a lot of fun. We first went to Heidelberg on Friday and it was actually a really gorgeous day. Heidelberg is a huge touristy part of Germany, because it is the epitome of what people think when they think of Germany. We walked up to the castle. Of course I was huffing and puffing the whole way there because it was a walk that was basically straight up! Eric was wondering why I was so out of breath..haha. In Heidelberg I heard the most English I have heard since I have been in Germany, it was kind of weird actually. Some lady from Wisconsin actually came up to me and Eric to talk because she heard us speaking English. After we walked around throughout the castle and saw the amazing view of Heidelberg and the forest we went to a little bar to get something to drink and I had a little snack. A German couple from Bremen asked us if they could sit at the same table with us because the whole restaurant was full and we had 2 free seats at our table. So they started talking to us in German and then asked us if we were from Denmark? haha it was kind of weird that they assumed we were from there, because our accents are pretty American, at least mine is anyway. We finally told them we were from the USA and got into a huge discussion lasting about 2 hours ! The woman was saying she thinks that American accents sound like we are speaking with a hot potato in our mouths...haha!!! So that was a comparison I have never heard before. And of course they had to ask what our views on McCain and Obama were, EVERY German seems so interested on our political views, which is strange for me, because I really have never gotten into many political discussions. ( Pictures of me and Eric at the Castle in Heidelberg)

Needless to say Heidelberg was so beautiful, especially at this time of year in the fall because all the leaves are changing and perfect weather to walk around the city. On Saturday we explored Mannheim. It is so different from where I am at in Freiburg. Mannheim is very industrialized, and flat. While in Freiburg, I am surrounded by the Black Forest and everything is very old looking, and every road has cobble stones. But Mannheim was definitely a change of scenery for me, especially the amount of Turkish people there were there, Freiburg definitely doesn't have very many. Mannheim's weather is also very different because it will be totally sunny and not a cloud in the sky and then 30 minutes later it will be cloudy and about to rain, it does this everyday. Eric got mad at me because I didn't take my umbrella with me the first day, because he knew it would rain at least once...and unluckily for me it did. All of Eric's roomates were gone all weekend so I didn't get to meet any of them but I did meet his Brazilian friends. He definitely has a knack for developing a very diverse group of friends...lol. Mannheim also has a really pretty water tower downtown, definitely looks nothing like "water towers" in the USA. The Mannheim Castle was also a sight to see. It was so enormous! I think the whole castle took up about 6 city blocks!! Eric also took me to this amazing church that he stumbled upon one day, it didn't look very pretty from the outside but once we walked in, my jaw dropped! Everything was marble, gold and green, it was so pretty, and my pictures don't do justice at all! sadly.

(Eric by the garden in Mannnheim/Wasserturm...the fountain was amazing.)

(Picture of me in front of the Wasserturm...Water tower in Mannheim) thank god it was actually a nice day in Mannheim.) (Eric in front of the enormous John Deere Plant...you can't tell from the picture but it was huge)


I also met my Tandem partner last week and I went to the Hookah bar with her and 2 of her Ukrainian friends. We had a lot of fun just talking, both in English and German. Her English is so good, I was wondering why she wanted me for a tandem partner, but I really hope she can help me improve my German. Her name is Anne Winkel and she is 22 years old, so I am glad I have a new German girl friend.

So right now I am on my 2 week break before University starts. Tomorrow I think me, Kelly, and Jake (my AYF friends) are going to Triberg in the Black Forest. It apparently has the biggest waterfall in Germany and home of the Cuckoo Clock, which originated in the Black Forest. So I am sure it will be really pretty there.

Next week from Sunday October 12-October 19 I am going to Madrid, Spain to see my friend Diego, he was an exchange student at North Scott High School when I was a Junior and we became really good friends. He lives in downtown Madrid so I am sure it will be soo pretty! The weather is supposed to be nice the whole week too, around 65-72! perfect weather! It just sucks that I have to fit everything that I am taking into a backpack because to check my luggage it cost 30 Euros ($43)!! So knowing me I am sure I'll over pack! But that's my plan for the next week...on October 20th I start German University! I am definitely getting a little scared because every class is in German of course! So I hope I can keep up and get some good grades!

I hope everything is going great back at home...even though the economy is taking a big hit!

Auf Wiedersehen!