So today was definitely interesting!
We got to class at 8:20ish so I got another sbux with Dan...I think he's become my coffee buddy which is a REALLY bad thing...I don't need another one of those.. haha then we had class until 10:15 and we were DONE for the day! YAY!!!! So Anna, Dan, Peter and I came back and hung out for a while and I FINALLY got to put all my pics/signs up around my room! It looks SO much better now!!! A lot more "me". Thank goodness. Then we went to Neuenheimer Feld where Jesse lives and saw her dorm and her area of Heidelberg which is a lot more campus like...makes me kind of jealous altho I really like where I live. Afterwards, Anna and I decided to try our luck with the Strassenbahn and figure out how to get to Aldi! After about a 15 minute ride, and a quick "OMG ITS RIGHT THERE...GET OFF!" we made it!! Aldi is like the cheapest grocery store EVER. We got all of our food for dinner for 6 Euros and it was enough to feed 4 of us!! Freaking ridiculous!! We had Chicken Alfredo with Penne pasta and it was DEEELICIOUS if I do say so myself ;)! I'm getting pretty good at the whole cooking thing altho Anna def helps out a lot. I like our little four some a lot tho, we "blend" really well and its a lot of fun! So we cooked in Dan's apartment tonight because I'm getting the feeling that my apartment mates don't really appreciate that whenever I'm home I always have 3 others with me...I feel bad but at the same time, it's my room and I can have whoever I want over regardless of what they "say" the ONLY time we're not in my room is when we're in the Kitchen and I was told its my space as well and I have yet to use any of the "community" items for our dinners, so screw them. Well, after dinner Peter, Dan and I went to the Pub across the street to "try it out" and see if its our new Ringstrasse hang out...definitely NOT. I may not be Mrs. Pub but this place was beyond awkward. They had every light in the place turned up to the brightest setting and the music was the weirdest mix ever!! They played Beat It by MJ and then went into Nickelback...so weird. We went because apparently every Thursday night is all Cocktails are 4 euros so we had to test it out haha! I had my first German Sex On The Beach and it was pretty good, altho not nearly as good as the kind in the states. They don't have rum here...it's really weird, and I'm not sure I'm a fan. We shall see!! Anyway, we had a really good time and its only 9:30 which means we get to go to bed early!! YAY!!! I can NOT wait until tomorrow night!! We're having a dance-party/pre-gaming night either in my apartment or Peters (depending on roommate situations) with the crew (Peter, Dan, Anna & Me) plus Jesse & Kayla! It's going to be fantastic!! And afterwards there's a club down the street that we're going to test out! I LOVE it here!!! Having this kind of freedom really makes me feel adult and more responsible which is really nice. And I think I can handle the whole cooking dinners/food for myself and living alone. This was truly a great decision.
Well, I think I'm going to head to bed since I have class at 8:40 again..ugh. However, I miss you all with all my heart!!!!!!
xoxo,
Becca
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
For The First Time
Heute:
I got to class around 8:20ish which left enough time to putz around before class started at 8:40... so Dan and I went and got Starbucks (YAY for 2nd starbucks!!) and I bought myself the CUTEST coffee mug (the kind that you can take with you...with the lid)! So now I can make myself tea in the mornings before class, or even coffee if I can stomach just regular coffee...we shall see!
Class went really well, I feel like I am learning SO much from Frau Heckmann and she's going really slow and reviewing everything which makes me feel a lot more confident with a lot of it. So that's really nice. For lunch, Anna and I went to Kamps, a Backerei and I had a KaseBrotchen...it was UNBELIEVABLY amazing!! Mmmm! Then we went and had a tour of a museum that holds all the furniture that used to be inside the castle when the prince and princess lived there. It was kind of cool altho I feel like Id be able to really appreciate it more if we hadn't been touring a museum or another part of the actual town every day for almost a week now. So we finished with the museum around 3 and I went back to AJY to see if Pat was online. He wasn't...so I wound up taking the bus/s-bahn home alone for the first time which was definitely an experience! I'm starting to feel a lot more adult here...its weird. I like it tho...don't get me wrong, I feel like I can accomlish things without my parents around which is scary/nice all at the same time. So after I got back to my apartment I talked to Mom on skype for an hour which was nice because we haven't really been able to speak because my internet is so freaking slow. Then Dan, Anna and I went to the Hof to buy dinner. Anna made us Schnitzel and I made Mommy Pasta (pasta with tons of butter/parmo haha) and we had Dan & Peter up here for dinner. I really like my little Ringstrasse Gruppe. Charis came to visit tonight which was really exciting!! She lives directly above me and was an AJYer this past Fall and then graduated in January and now has an actual job in Germany and lives here!! She's FANTASTIC!! Reminds me a lot of Johanna in a way altho not nearly as crazy as Jojo :) Anyway she made me feel a lot better about the way my roommates/suitemates have been acting. And she also taught me that Germans don't do the whole "open door policy" even in the common areas like the kitchen and whenever you cook, you have to leave the window open. SO weird. Well, she hung out for a while and it was nice to talk to someone who was SOO friendly and fun and then at around 9ish everyone left my apartment and I started my homework.
It's been a pretty productive day altho I sort of feel like these days are flying past and I'm not really getting anything accomplished...its really strange. I'm really excited about Friday night though because I'm having a bunch of people over to my room and then we're going to a club around the corner from me which is apparently a lot of fun! I feel like my life here has started to kind of pick up a pattern, altho we'll see where it pans out too! I really miss my Eloners...I talked to Kir earlier today while I was online in the AJY center and being so far away makes me really feel left out/sad. I'm almost more excited about next year than I am about being here which is kind of ridiculous haha. Anyway its 10:30 and I think I'm going to head to bed. Love and miss you all!!
Becca
I got to class around 8:20ish which left enough time to putz around before class started at 8:40... so Dan and I went and got Starbucks (YAY for 2nd starbucks!!) and I bought myself the CUTEST coffee mug (the kind that you can take with you...with the lid)! So now I can make myself tea in the mornings before class, or even coffee if I can stomach just regular coffee...we shall see!
Class went really well, I feel like I am learning SO much from Frau Heckmann and she's going really slow and reviewing everything which makes me feel a lot more confident with a lot of it. So that's really nice. For lunch, Anna and I went to Kamps, a Backerei and I had a KaseBrotchen...it was UNBELIEVABLY amazing!! Mmmm! Then we went and had a tour of a museum that holds all the furniture that used to be inside the castle when the prince and princess lived there. It was kind of cool altho I feel like Id be able to really appreciate it more if we hadn't been touring a museum or another part of the actual town every day for almost a week now. So we finished with the museum around 3 and I went back to AJY to see if Pat was online. He wasn't...so I wound up taking the bus/s-bahn home alone for the first time which was definitely an experience! I'm starting to feel a lot more adult here...its weird. I like it tho...don't get me wrong, I feel like I can accomlish things without my parents around which is scary/nice all at the same time. So after I got back to my apartment I talked to Mom on skype for an hour which was nice because we haven't really been able to speak because my internet is so freaking slow. Then Dan, Anna and I went to the Hof to buy dinner. Anna made us Schnitzel and I made Mommy Pasta (pasta with tons of butter/parmo haha) and we had Dan & Peter up here for dinner. I really like my little Ringstrasse Gruppe. Charis came to visit tonight which was really exciting!! She lives directly above me and was an AJYer this past Fall and then graduated in January and now has an actual job in Germany and lives here!! She's FANTASTIC!! Reminds me a lot of Johanna in a way altho not nearly as crazy as Jojo :) Anyway she made me feel a lot better about the way my roommates/suitemates have been acting. And she also taught me that Germans don't do the whole "open door policy" even in the common areas like the kitchen and whenever you cook, you have to leave the window open. SO weird. Well, she hung out for a while and it was nice to talk to someone who was SOO friendly and fun and then at around 9ish everyone left my apartment and I started my homework.
It's been a pretty productive day altho I sort of feel like these days are flying past and I'm not really getting anything accomplished...its really strange. I'm really excited about Friday night though because I'm having a bunch of people over to my room and then we're going to a club around the corner from me which is apparently a lot of fun! I feel like my life here has started to kind of pick up a pattern, altho we'll see where it pans out too! I really miss my Eloners...I talked to Kir earlier today while I was online in the AJY center and being so far away makes me really feel left out/sad. I'm almost more excited about next year than I am about being here which is kind of ridiculous haha. Anyway its 10:30 and I think I'm going to head to bed. Love and miss you all!!
Becca
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
One Step Up
Hallo meine Lieben!
Monday:
Our first day of "actual" class. We got there at 8:40 and had to take a grammar test to determine if we were in the advanced or the regular class for our 4 week intensive course. I took the test and low and behold...I'm in the regular class haha! I'm actually kind of pleased with it because at least it will be semi-easy and I think it's going to be pretty helpful. I LOOOVE the teacher, Frau Hanne Heckmann. She reminds me a lot of Nanny (my gma) in a sense...very mothery and sweet and goes at a slow pace so that no one is left behind, which is really nice. Anyway so we took that test and then had to endure a TON of paperwork. We finally applied for our Residence Visas as well as Insurance stuff and other things...regardless it was a TON of papers we had to fill out all in German. Afterwards, Anna and I went to PennyMarkt to find cheap food for dinner that night because we had planned to make alfredo pasta with the Ringstrasse boys. As we were walking in we ran into Judith!! (One of Patrick's housemates who hung out with us Saturday night). She spoke German to both of us at a fairly normal rate and I understood 95% of what she was saying!! HUGE improvement!! We both have decided that we like Judith a LOT (and it's pronounced JUD-IT...interesting!) After that we ended up buying tons of pasta, big bottles of water (cuz u cant drink from the tap here), cream cheese and butter (for my bagels duh!) and juice for mixers (haha). It was a huge success! Then we got back to the Ringstrasse (home) and Pat came over to help me move my furniture around to how i wanted it set up. I plan to put pics up asap but that requires having time to take them and load them...so we'll see how soon they get up here. After that we hung with Pat for a while then he left and Peter & Dan came up and we decided to visit the Hof (Our grocery store...Handelshof) and find cheese since PennyMarkt didn't have any. We ended up making the BEST alfredo sauce EVER and had a TON of pasta which was fabulous! It was the first time I've used my kitchen and was kind of excited about it!! My suitemate, Theresa, finally was home while I was home and hung out with us for a few before going out...I really like her, she seems like a really sweet girl! (The other suitemates are slightly...bizarre...) Anyway, so we cooked until 10ish then Peter & I took Anna home so she wasn't by herself and when I got back here i passed out.. it was a very eventful day!
Tuesday(TODAY!):
We got to AJY at 8:20ish so I had tons of time to check facebook/email/studi and I had a message from KATRIN!!! It was SO good to hear from someone that I knew here that was anxious to see me. We're attempting to plan a trip to Frankfurt and then to BK/Neu Bamberg which is FANTASTIC!! Loni schnitzel here I come!!! So I was excited about that and then class started at 8:40 again. We had a really good class today. Altho a lot of it is HUGE review, as in things I did WAAAAY back in like German 2 with Frau Old (haha) its still nice to get this kind of review as opposed to not having it. Then at 10:15 class ended and we went on a tour of the Alt-stadt with Herr Dorr. It was interesting but I'm extremely "toured" out. I'd like to really get a chance to explore my town with my friends and then after living here hear all about why it's so famous. Ugh. That lasted until 12:30 and then me, jesse, anna and kayla went to find a Resturant that was cheap and ended up picking the same one that our ENTIRE class was already eating in! SO ironic haha! So we had Bratwurst & Pommes for 3.50e which is SO cheap here and then ended up parting ways. Anna and I went to visit Pat for a while to pick up his text book and then made our way to Woolworths to buy cheap school supplies and odds and ends. I finally have a clock in my room which should make life easier. Afterwards we came back to Ringstrasse to drop off my things, talk to my mommy and then made our way to Rohrbach 110 where Anna lives. Her rooms cute...its a lot like a typical dorm room except all the furniture is built into the walls which is weird. We also made an improvement! I got her to speak to a guy on her hall! So now at least she knows one person!! For dinner we met Jesse & Kayla at Raja's for some cheap Indian food! (YAY NAV haha!) I had Butter Chicken and Basmati Rice with a Samosa and Nan...SOOOO good and it was like 6.00 which isn't terrible! Plus, it was fun to kind of explore the other part of town that wasn't just Hauptstrasse. Afterwards, Jesse & Anna came back to my room and Peter came up and we all did our homework together which was cute...a lot like back at Elon except Peter was here and not Pat... :-\
Tomorrow we're going on another "tour" of a museum here in Heidelberg...god I am SO sick of it lol! But afterwards, Peter, Dan, Anna and I are cooking some type of chicken with buttered pasta...which should be good and then on Friday we're having a dance-party/going out clubbing night with Kayla and Jesse! So things are going really well here! It's surprising how quickly I adjusted/and how interesting it is I haven't had a "meltdown" yet. We looked through Elon pics today which made me kind of sad, and made me realize just how much I missed being at Elon, however as soon as we stepped out of my room it was a lot easier to simply enjoy this amazing city. I can't express just how much I love it here! Anna told me today that the past 3 days she's heard me laugh more than she's ever heard me laugh at Elon...which is very interesting. I think this was possibly one of the best decisions Ive ever made...thank god.
Anyway, I'm off to bed because I have class at 8:40 again but I love and miss you all so so much and keep me updated, PLEASE!! I need to know about your lives!!
xoxo,
Becca
Monday:
Our first day of "actual" class. We got there at 8:40 and had to take a grammar test to determine if we were in the advanced or the regular class for our 4 week intensive course. I took the test and low and behold...I'm in the regular class haha! I'm actually kind of pleased with it because at least it will be semi-easy and I think it's going to be pretty helpful. I LOOOVE the teacher, Frau Hanne Heckmann. She reminds me a lot of Nanny (my gma) in a sense...very mothery and sweet and goes at a slow pace so that no one is left behind, which is really nice. Anyway so we took that test and then had to endure a TON of paperwork. We finally applied for our Residence Visas as well as Insurance stuff and other things...regardless it was a TON of papers we had to fill out all in German. Afterwards, Anna and I went to PennyMarkt to find cheap food for dinner that night because we had planned to make alfredo pasta with the Ringstrasse boys. As we were walking in we ran into Judith!! (One of Patrick's housemates who hung out with us Saturday night). She spoke German to both of us at a fairly normal rate and I understood 95% of what she was saying!! HUGE improvement!! We both have decided that we like Judith a LOT (and it's pronounced JUD-IT...interesting!) After that we ended up buying tons of pasta, big bottles of water (cuz u cant drink from the tap here), cream cheese and butter (for my bagels duh!) and juice for mixers (haha). It was a huge success! Then we got back to the Ringstrasse (home) and Pat came over to help me move my furniture around to how i wanted it set up. I plan to put pics up asap but that requires having time to take them and load them...so we'll see how soon they get up here. After that we hung with Pat for a while then he left and Peter & Dan came up and we decided to visit the Hof (Our grocery store...Handelshof) and find cheese since PennyMarkt didn't have any. We ended up making the BEST alfredo sauce EVER and had a TON of pasta which was fabulous! It was the first time I've used my kitchen and was kind of excited about it!! My suitemate, Theresa, finally was home while I was home and hung out with us for a few before going out...I really like her, she seems like a really sweet girl! (The other suitemates are slightly...bizarre...) Anyway, so we cooked until 10ish then Peter & I took Anna home so she wasn't by herself and when I got back here i passed out.. it was a very eventful day!
Tuesday(TODAY!):
We got to AJY at 8:20ish so I had tons of time to check facebook/email/studi and I had a message from KATRIN!!! It was SO good to hear from someone that I knew here that was anxious to see me. We're attempting to plan a trip to Frankfurt and then to BK/Neu Bamberg which is FANTASTIC!! Loni schnitzel here I come!!! So I was excited about that and then class started at 8:40 again. We had a really good class today. Altho a lot of it is HUGE review, as in things I did WAAAAY back in like German 2 with Frau Old (haha) its still nice to get this kind of review as opposed to not having it. Then at 10:15 class ended and we went on a tour of the Alt-stadt with Herr Dorr. It was interesting but I'm extremely "toured" out. I'd like to really get a chance to explore my town with my friends and then after living here hear all about why it's so famous. Ugh. That lasted until 12:30 and then me, jesse, anna and kayla went to find a Resturant that was cheap and ended up picking the same one that our ENTIRE class was already eating in! SO ironic haha! So we had Bratwurst & Pommes for 3.50e which is SO cheap here and then ended up parting ways. Anna and I went to visit Pat for a while to pick up his text book and then made our way to Woolworths to buy cheap school supplies and odds and ends. I finally have a clock in my room which should make life easier. Afterwards we came back to Ringstrasse to drop off my things, talk to my mommy and then made our way to Rohrbach 110 where Anna lives. Her rooms cute...its a lot like a typical dorm room except all the furniture is built into the walls which is weird. We also made an improvement! I got her to speak to a guy on her hall! So now at least she knows one person!! For dinner we met Jesse & Kayla at Raja's for some cheap Indian food! (YAY NAV haha!) I had Butter Chicken and Basmati Rice with a Samosa and Nan...SOOOO good and it was like 6.00 which isn't terrible! Plus, it was fun to kind of explore the other part of town that wasn't just Hauptstrasse. Afterwards, Jesse & Anna came back to my room and Peter came up and we all did our homework together which was cute...a lot like back at Elon except Peter was here and not Pat... :-\
Tomorrow we're going on another "tour" of a museum here in Heidelberg...god I am SO sick of it lol! But afterwards, Peter, Dan, Anna and I are cooking some type of chicken with buttered pasta...which should be good and then on Friday we're having a dance-party/going out clubbing night with Kayla and Jesse! So things are going really well here! It's surprising how quickly I adjusted/and how interesting it is I haven't had a "meltdown" yet. We looked through Elon pics today which made me kind of sad, and made me realize just how much I missed being at Elon, however as soon as we stepped out of my room it was a lot easier to simply enjoy this amazing city. I can't express just how much I love it here! Anna told me today that the past 3 days she's heard me laugh more than she's ever heard me laugh at Elon...which is very interesting. I think this was possibly one of the best decisions Ive ever made...thank god.
Anyway, I'm off to bed because I have class at 8:40 again but I love and miss you all so so much and keep me updated, PLEASE!! I need to know about your lives!!
xoxo,
Becca
Sunday, February 24, 2008
A Lot Of Things Different...
SO I'M HERE!!!!!
Thursday morning I woke up around 8ish finished packing and went to the airport around 1:30. Jesse and her parents met me, mom and sarah and we checked in and got things in order before making our way through security. It was really hard to leave my mom behind but it was a lot easier with Jesse by my side. So we took a flight from Dulles to Charlotte and then had a 3 hr layover in Charlotte. We grabbed dinner at a Mexican resturant in Charlotte and then make our final phone calls. I called Mom and then called Kir to say goodbye to her :( sooo...hard. I already miss her like crazy and it hasn't even been a week since I last saw her! Then they started speaking in German and we knew it was time to go!!!!! We boarded the plane and wound up sitting behind these two German cowboys (haha) however we wound up watching movies/passing out the entire flight.
We arrived at 10:50ish Friday morning and made our way through customs/immigration and got our bags and met Dr. Tracy and Frau Heckmann in the waiting area. We went and got on the bus and headed towards Heidelberg!!!
When we got to Heidelberg, we stopped at the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and dropped everyone except for me, Peter, Dan and Brett off (we all live in the same apartment complex). Well, Jesse got off the bus then ran back on and screamed "BECCA. OFF THE BUS. NOW!" So I ran off the bus and Anna ran on the bus and we both shrieked...it was AMAZING!!!!! So we agreed to meet at the Sparkasse (bank) next to the AJY Center (American Junior Year is the program I'm here with...and we have our OWN person center that has computers and a classroom) at 3:00. So I get dropped off and the boys help me take my HUGE bags up to my room and when we walk in my suitmate Theresa looks really shocked. Apparently they weren't told a new "mitbewohner" was moving in. Oops. Well, she talked to me for a few minutes and we seemed to hit it off pretty well and then I was left to unpack before meeting Peter and Dan at 2:50 to take the s-bahn (streetcar) for the first time into the city! So I unpacked everything in my little room and set things up and realized I had no internet cord. Sadness. So at 2:50 we went and grabbed the s-bahn to Hauptstrasse (the main street in Heidelberg) and walked the length of it just kind of exploring. We met up with Anna and Jesse and Kayla (a girl who lives in Jesse's dorm and is on the trip as well!) We all wound up getting cell phones immediately from T-Mobile for 19.95 Euro which is a better deal than anyone else has found so that's exciting and afterwards we went to "The Dubliner" an irish pub and got our first LEGAL drinks!! WOO!!! At 6:00 that night we had a pizza party at the AJY center and thats when we were going to FINALLY see Patrick!!! I have NEVER been so happy to see someone!!! We ended up going back to his place for a bit and then leaving to come back to mine with Nelly, John, Anna and Peter before we all went to bed at 9ish. It was a FABULOUS first day!!!
SATURDAY:
We had to be at the AJY center at 9:30 so at 9:00 the ringstrasse crew (Peter & Dan & Me) met at the courtyard and walked to the s-bahn. Well, we had missed the first train so we had to wait until 9:17 which in turn caused us to be late because we hadn't grabbed breakfast yet...whoops! So we went to Starbucks (haha I know!) and had coffee/muffins before running down to the AJY center. We had an orientation session then broke for lunch. Pat took us to this place called GINO'S that serves Gyros and they were UNBELIEVABLE!!! 2.50 euros for this HUGE gyro that tasted SOOOOOO good. I know I'm going to end up eating there a lot...haha. Then we went back to have a "FlohMarkt" (flea market) where I got a laundry basket, two pillows, two new blankets, a box of school supplies and bucket/trashcan all for $5.00 american cash. Freaking fabulous!!! Then afterwards Anna and I came back to my room before going grocery shopping. I bought cereal, milk, yogurt, jam and bagels, black tea and sugar and of course...vodka/orange juice. haha! I love being legal here!! Then we had a half hour before we had to meet Dan Brett and Peter for dinner. We went to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and had Bratwurst mit Brot (basically hotdogs in buns) and then came back to my room and drank before going to Pat's at 10. Pat's was UNBELIEVABLY fun!! I met his German best friend who also happens to be a Becca (must be something about us Becca's ;) ) and all of his other female friends there. So the whole group of us and the Germans went to Becca's club that she works at which was awesome because she was able to get us in without having to wait in line! And was able to put our coats away without having to wait for that either! Love connections ;)! We had a great time dancing, altho the music was no where NEAR as good as when Anthony DJs at Travis's parties, but it was definitely a good time. Afterwards, Peter and I road the s-bahn home and I passed out.
SUNDAY:
I woke up around 10:30 to shower/get ready to leave by 12 for our meeting at 1:00. Peter and I met in the Courtyard and took the s-bahn to Hauptstrasse where I then went to Big Pommes to get fries and wursts for lunch before class started. We got to class and it was the first official day of speaking German so everyone was speaking when we got there which was kind of exciting altho made me really nervous. We wound up sitting for a while listening to the "do's and don'ts" of safety in Heidelberg and then at 2:00 we went for a walk up to the Heidelberg Castle. Dr. Tracy talked about that damn castle for 3 freaking HOURS. I was beyond done listening. At 5:00 we went back to the AJY center and then at 6 we went to Tangra for an authentic German dinner!! I FINALLY got my Schnitzel mit Pommes!!! And it was SOOO GOOOD!!!! Altho i can NOT wait to get Loni's mmmmmm!!!! After dinner, I road the s-bahn back with the boys and have been uploading pics on facebook and writing this before going to bed. Tomorrow starts our first official day of classes. We get "sorted" into good...and bad...German abilities and then we start our intense German class which should definitely be interesting. I'm hoping that I can be better about this whole journaling thing but it was hard before I was able to get my ethernet cord. However, now I should be good to go! I miss you all so very very much and I hope that things are going well at home/Elon/everywhere else! Please keep in touch!!
Love,
Becca
Thursday morning I woke up around 8ish finished packing and went to the airport around 1:30. Jesse and her parents met me, mom and sarah and we checked in and got things in order before making our way through security. It was really hard to leave my mom behind but it was a lot easier with Jesse by my side. So we took a flight from Dulles to Charlotte and then had a 3 hr layover in Charlotte. We grabbed dinner at a Mexican resturant in Charlotte and then make our final phone calls. I called Mom and then called Kir to say goodbye to her :( sooo...hard. I already miss her like crazy and it hasn't even been a week since I last saw her! Then they started speaking in German and we knew it was time to go!!!!! We boarded the plane and wound up sitting behind these two German cowboys (haha) however we wound up watching movies/passing out the entire flight.
We arrived at 10:50ish Friday morning and made our way through customs/immigration and got our bags and met Dr. Tracy and Frau Heckmann in the waiting area. We went and got on the bus and headed towards Heidelberg!!!
When we got to Heidelberg, we stopped at the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and dropped everyone except for me, Peter, Dan and Brett off (we all live in the same apartment complex). Well, Jesse got off the bus then ran back on and screamed "BECCA. OFF THE BUS. NOW!" So I ran off the bus and Anna ran on the bus and we both shrieked...it was AMAZING!!!!! So we agreed to meet at the Sparkasse (bank) next to the AJY Center (American Junior Year is the program I'm here with...and we have our OWN person center that has computers and a classroom) at 3:00. So I get dropped off and the boys help me take my HUGE bags up to my room and when we walk in my suitmate Theresa looks really shocked. Apparently they weren't told a new "mitbewohner" was moving in. Oops. Well, she talked to me for a few minutes and we seemed to hit it off pretty well and then I was left to unpack before meeting Peter and Dan at 2:50 to take the s-bahn (streetcar) for the first time into the city! So I unpacked everything in my little room and set things up and realized I had no internet cord. Sadness. So at 2:50 we went and grabbed the s-bahn to Hauptstrasse (the main street in Heidelberg) and walked the length of it just kind of exploring. We met up with Anna and Jesse and Kayla (a girl who lives in Jesse's dorm and is on the trip as well!) We all wound up getting cell phones immediately from T-Mobile for 19.95 Euro which is a better deal than anyone else has found so that's exciting and afterwards we went to "The Dubliner" an irish pub and got our first LEGAL drinks!! WOO!!! At 6:00 that night we had a pizza party at the AJY center and thats when we were going to FINALLY see Patrick!!! I have NEVER been so happy to see someone!!! We ended up going back to his place for a bit and then leaving to come back to mine with Nelly, John, Anna and Peter before we all went to bed at 9ish. It was a FABULOUS first day!!!
SATURDAY:
We had to be at the AJY center at 9:30 so at 9:00 the ringstrasse crew (Peter & Dan & Me) met at the courtyard and walked to the s-bahn. Well, we had missed the first train so we had to wait until 9:17 which in turn caused us to be late because we hadn't grabbed breakfast yet...whoops! So we went to Starbucks (haha I know!) and had coffee/muffins before running down to the AJY center. We had an orientation session then broke for lunch. Pat took us to this place called GINO'S that serves Gyros and they were UNBELIEVABLE!!! 2.50 euros for this HUGE gyro that tasted SOOOOOO good. I know I'm going to end up eating there a lot...haha. Then we went back to have a "FlohMarkt" (flea market) where I got a laundry basket, two pillows, two new blankets, a box of school supplies and bucket/trashcan all for $5.00 american cash. Freaking fabulous!!! Then afterwards Anna and I came back to my room before going grocery shopping. I bought cereal, milk, yogurt, jam and bagels, black tea and sugar and of course...vodka/orange juice. haha! I love being legal here!! Then we had a half hour before we had to meet Dan Brett and Peter for dinner. We went to the Hauptbahnhof (train station) and had Bratwurst mit Brot (basically hotdogs in buns) and then came back to my room and drank before going to Pat's at 10. Pat's was UNBELIEVABLY fun!! I met his German best friend who also happens to be a Becca (must be something about us Becca's ;) ) and all of his other female friends there. So the whole group of us and the Germans went to Becca's club that she works at which was awesome because she was able to get us in without having to wait in line! And was able to put our coats away without having to wait for that either! Love connections ;)! We had a great time dancing, altho the music was no where NEAR as good as when Anthony DJs at Travis's parties, but it was definitely a good time. Afterwards, Peter and I road the s-bahn home and I passed out.
SUNDAY:
I woke up around 10:30 to shower/get ready to leave by 12 for our meeting at 1:00. Peter and I met in the Courtyard and took the s-bahn to Hauptstrasse where I then went to Big Pommes to get fries and wursts for lunch before class started. We got to class and it was the first official day of speaking German so everyone was speaking when we got there which was kind of exciting altho made me really nervous. We wound up sitting for a while listening to the "do's and don'ts" of safety in Heidelberg and then at 2:00 we went for a walk up to the Heidelberg Castle. Dr. Tracy talked about that damn castle for 3 freaking HOURS. I was beyond done listening. At 5:00 we went back to the AJY center and then at 6 we went to Tangra for an authentic German dinner!! I FINALLY got my Schnitzel mit Pommes!!! And it was SOOO GOOOD!!!! Altho i can NOT wait to get Loni's mmmmmm!!!! After dinner, I road the s-bahn back with the boys and have been uploading pics on facebook and writing this before going to bed. Tomorrow starts our first official day of classes. We get "sorted" into good...and bad...German abilities and then we start our intense German class which should definitely be interesting. I'm hoping that I can be better about this whole journaling thing but it was hard before I was able to get my ethernet cord. However, now I should be good to go! I miss you all so very very much and I hope that things are going well at home/Elon/everywhere else! Please keep in touch!!
Love,
Becca
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Because Of Your Love...
I'm officially packed and ready to go although I'm not quite sure I'm emotionally ready to go. I'd been pretty good at keeping it together and all of a sudden I lost it at dinner tonight...I guess thats when it got to be really real.
I woke up today to a horrible anxiety dream that Jesse decided she just couldn't handle going and dropped out at the last minute forcing me to not only fly to Charlotte alone but then continue on to Frankfurt by myself where Pat is no longer picking us up at the airport and I got stranded in a strange town all alone. Talk about stressful. Sammy came over and took me to run my errands because I noticed that my tire was flat...not good, but thank goodness she came home!! We ran to the bank and Target and wound up at Chipotle for lunch where I think we scared some poor table of older men when we started our venting session...quite humerous. Afterwards she dropped me back off and said goodbye and I continued packing until I went to pick Ashley up from school. I took her for our last DQ trip and then went back and played with her and Lil for a little while before heading over to Bry's to say goodbye to him and his fam... then came home for dinner and Am Idol with the fam. I can NOT believe that I'm leaving in less than 24 hours... I've said almost all of my goodbyes and I've been really impressed with those who've called me to say goodbye. If I didn't thank you profusely before...it really really meant a lot to me. I'm going to miss you all so very very much...
well, before I start to be a crying mess all over again I think I shall finish the few odds and ends I have left and head to bed. Next update...FROM GERMANY!!!
I woke up today to a horrible anxiety dream that Jesse decided she just couldn't handle going and dropped out at the last minute forcing me to not only fly to Charlotte alone but then continue on to Frankfurt by myself where Pat is no longer picking us up at the airport and I got stranded in a strange town all alone. Talk about stressful. Sammy came over and took me to run my errands because I noticed that my tire was flat...not good, but thank goodness she came home!! We ran to the bank and Target and wound up at Chipotle for lunch where I think we scared some poor table of older men when we started our venting session...quite humerous. Afterwards she dropped me back off and said goodbye and I continued packing until I went to pick Ashley up from school. I took her for our last DQ trip and then went back and played with her and Lil for a little while before heading over to Bry's to say goodbye to him and his fam... then came home for dinner and Am Idol with the fam. I can NOT believe that I'm leaving in less than 24 hours... I've said almost all of my goodbyes and I've been really impressed with those who've called me to say goodbye. If I didn't thank you profusely before...it really really meant a lot to me. I'm going to miss you all so very very much...
well, before I start to be a crying mess all over again I think I shall finish the few odds and ends I have left and head to bed. Next update...FROM GERMANY!!!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Everywhere We Go...
I'M LEAVING IN 3 DAYS!!!!!! HOLY COW!!!!!!!
Still haven't started to pack other than organizing my Target bought toiletries, and I'm beginning to freak out about it. I can't believe that this time next week I'm going to be in Heidelberg attending classes and speaking German! OH MY GOSH!!!! I'm SO nervous!!
So this past weekend, I went down to Elon for my final goodbye. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it was going to be, however now that I'm back at home it makes me realize just how much I miss being there. I can't believe I won't be stepping foot on campus again until August...that seems so long from now!! I spent the weekend at Kir's with her and Lucas, Alicia and Cindy and Alicia's friend Josh from Georgetown. We had a mini-party Friday night and Hil, Caleb, Jackie & Ben, Colin, Whit, and Amelia came to play Apples to Apples and Pictionary and stuff and Travis & Anthony showed up for a little while. I love how everytime I've gone down this past month I've always gotten to see the same group of people. It makes me so happy :) Saturday we all went shopping at the Four Seasons Mall which was so fun! Josh is probably one of my new favorite shopping partners! :) Afterwards, we met Whit, Hil, & Caleb for dinner at Panera and then made our way over to Travis's. Unfortunately, I started to feel horribly sick and lasted maybe ten minutes at Travis's before going back to Kir's. I was really touched that Kir & Hil opted to leave the party to hang out with me as opposed to sticking around and having a good time. It's hard to find friends like that... Sunday I went and saw Phantom of the Opera with Sammy Roo, Colin & Hilry. Sammy came down specifically to see the show and get her Cook-Out/Killer Cookie fix. The show was really good and I'm glad that I was able to see it before leaving! Afterwards, we hung out at Kir's then went to my goodbye dinner with the whole gang :( I hate goodbyes. It was easier to say goodbye to my girls because I know that I'll see them in August at the latest, however, I was extra sad to say goodbye to Colin since he's graduating. That part really sucked. After goodbyes we went back to Kir's and spent our last night watching SVU and relaxing. It was a really good weekend, despite the situation. I'm truly blessed to have such amazing friends...truly.
Tomorrow I have four loads of laundry, two huge suitcases and a duffel bag to pack and an entire semesters worth of things in the basement to sort through and make sure I don't need to take with me. I can see my life rounding a corner and I'm really getting excited about it. Well, that's it for now, but here's to the start of my Germany blog!!!
Still haven't started to pack other than organizing my Target bought toiletries, and I'm beginning to freak out about it. I can't believe that this time next week I'm going to be in Heidelberg attending classes and speaking German! OH MY GOSH!!!! I'm SO nervous!!
So this past weekend, I went down to Elon for my final goodbye. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it was going to be, however now that I'm back at home it makes me realize just how much I miss being there. I can't believe I won't be stepping foot on campus again until August...that seems so long from now!! I spent the weekend at Kir's with her and Lucas, Alicia and Cindy and Alicia's friend Josh from Georgetown. We had a mini-party Friday night and Hil, Caleb, Jackie & Ben, Colin, Whit, and Amelia came to play Apples to Apples and Pictionary and stuff and Travis & Anthony showed up for a little while. I love how everytime I've gone down this past month I've always gotten to see the same group of people. It makes me so happy :) Saturday we all went shopping at the Four Seasons Mall which was so fun! Josh is probably one of my new favorite shopping partners! :) Afterwards, we met Whit, Hil, & Caleb for dinner at Panera and then made our way over to Travis's. Unfortunately, I started to feel horribly sick and lasted maybe ten minutes at Travis's before going back to Kir's. I was really touched that Kir & Hil opted to leave the party to hang out with me as opposed to sticking around and having a good time. It's hard to find friends like that... Sunday I went and saw Phantom of the Opera with Sammy Roo, Colin & Hilry. Sammy came down specifically to see the show and get her Cook-Out/Killer Cookie fix. The show was really good and I'm glad that I was able to see it before leaving! Afterwards, we hung out at Kir's then went to my goodbye dinner with the whole gang :( I hate goodbyes. It was easier to say goodbye to my girls because I know that I'll see them in August at the latest, however, I was extra sad to say goodbye to Colin since he's graduating. That part really sucked. After goodbyes we went back to Kir's and spent our last night watching SVU and relaxing. It was a really good weekend, despite the situation. I'm truly blessed to have such amazing friends...truly.
Tomorrow I have four loads of laundry, two huge suitcases and a duffel bag to pack and an entire semesters worth of things in the basement to sort through and make sure I don't need to take with me. I can see my life rounding a corner and I'm really getting excited about it. Well, that's it for now, but here's to the start of my Germany blog!!!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Back Where I Come From
So unfortunately, it's been quite a long time since I posted last...basically an entire semester haha! I sort of forgot about this thing. I guess I'll try and catch up on what I've missed...
Fall Semester was FANTASTIC!!! I took four pretty tough courses: Poetry, Abnormal Psychology, Criminology and German Fluency. Anna and I lived in the new buildings on campus, the Colonnades, which ended up working out really well. They were pretty sweet even tho they weren't exactly built real well. I had my own room and bathroom and for a semester it couldn't have been more perfect. I even got to be pretty good friends with Bobby who lived two doors down and is studying abroad for spring as well! (although he'll be in Paris)
That's another thing, I officially got accepted to study abroad in Heidelberg, Germany for the spring of 2008!!! I am unbelievably excited!! I leave in exactly 17 days and although I am not packed at all (not even organized or unpacked from being at school yet!) I am impatiently counting down until February 21st. (We'll get more into that in a minute) We had a couple new foreign exchange students this semester as well! We even had another Aachen guy, Christian who was a genuine sweetheart. There's just something about those Aachen boys ;) Uli and I have kept in touch which makes me SUPER happy! :) I can't wait to see him when we're over there!!! I also became good friends with the Swedish exchange, Sabina. She ended up spending Thanksgiving break at my house which was SO much fun! I'm planning on visiting her while I'm overseas, so hopefully that will work out. Ruben was from Slovakia, Helen from Austria, Anna from Poland and Vincent was from France. It was a great group of kids! Anna and I somehow always seem to find ourselves befriending the internationals...must be something to that-haha.
Let's see...when I wasn't spending time with the internationals, I was with my newly formed creative writing crew. We consisted of: Colin, Hilry, Jackie, Kir, Sarah and Whitney. All of us (minus Colin & Jackie) were in Poetry together so when it came time to actually revising we managed to spend close to 24 hrs working on our portfolios and stressing together-which in turn, seemed to have brought us all a lot closer, which was really great. I'm SO glad I finally have a 'group' within my major.
It was really hard having to pack my room up in December. I'm so used to everyone moving their things out at the same time that it was really weird to be the only one having to say goodbye. I decided to work for Sally again instead of taking a Winter Term class so everything had to be out after Fall semester. :-\ Oh well... So I've been spending Dec-Feb 21st back home in NoVa with the bestests!
It was great seeing Al, Jojo and Samuel again. Al went to Africa for 10 days back over her xmas break which I still can't believe she did! I'd love to go to Africa but I don't think I'd actually have the nerve to go... Jojo's coming home in a few days to spend a weekend with me before I leave and I can NOT wait to see her. It's really kind of lonely/boring here without everyone so it'll be nice to have her home. Sammy's been great. Since UMW is only 45 min away she's coming home every weekend basically to spend time with me and keep me 'entertained' haha. Really...I don't know where I'd be without my bestests.
SO that basically caught us up on the past 6 months haha!
GERMANY! So I'm getting an apartment on Ringstrasse which is apparently right next to the train station ( can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing yet...I guess we'll see). But it's also only about a block or two from the Commisary and the PX...now who knows if I'll be able to actually use them since Dad's retired but it's definitely worth a shot! I'm apparently also the closest to Patrick which makes me INCREDIBLY happy!! Being without that boy for an entire semester was killer, I can NOT wait to see him :) !! Anna is off Rohrbach which is a dorm we're told and Jesse is also in a dorm but across the river. So we're all pretty much close enough by bus and we're going to have a FANTASTIC time I can tell!!
We're starting to figure out where we want to go and what we want to do travel wise while we're there and the list is kind of ridiculous. As for me, I really want to do Paris (to see Aunt Patti & Uncle Richard), London, Sabina in Sweden, Venice & Florence, Greece, Ireland and maybe somewhere warm like Spain. I also can't WAIT to see Katrin! It's been basically 4 years since we last were together and I know that I have changed a LOT in that amount of time. It's going to be so nice to see her and her mom again. (Mmm Loni schnitzel mit pommes!)
I'm kind of nervous about the fact that all of my classes are going to be taught in German. Weber really screwed us over. My German has gone way down hill since last spring and I'm worried I'm stuck in one of those language ruts people talk about. I really just want to become fluent or at least fluent enough to where people didn't laugh when I spoke or instinctively switched to English themselves. I guess we'll see. We don't get to pick classes until a month after we're there, which is so strange!! Everyone at Elon has already started Spring Semester and none of us even know what we're going to be taking!
Well, since this is going to become my Germany-blog I figure I'll start getting back into the habit of posting...we'll see how it goes!
Fall Semester was FANTASTIC!!! I took four pretty tough courses: Poetry, Abnormal Psychology, Criminology and German Fluency. Anna and I lived in the new buildings on campus, the Colonnades, which ended up working out really well. They were pretty sweet even tho they weren't exactly built real well. I had my own room and bathroom and for a semester it couldn't have been more perfect. I even got to be pretty good friends with Bobby who lived two doors down and is studying abroad for spring as well! (although he'll be in Paris)
That's another thing, I officially got accepted to study abroad in Heidelberg, Germany for the spring of 2008!!! I am unbelievably excited!! I leave in exactly 17 days and although I am not packed at all (not even organized or unpacked from being at school yet!) I am impatiently counting down until February 21st. (We'll get more into that in a minute) We had a couple new foreign exchange students this semester as well! We even had another Aachen guy, Christian who was a genuine sweetheart. There's just something about those Aachen boys ;) Uli and I have kept in touch which makes me SUPER happy! :) I can't wait to see him when we're over there!!! I also became good friends with the Swedish exchange, Sabina. She ended up spending Thanksgiving break at my house which was SO much fun! I'm planning on visiting her while I'm overseas, so hopefully that will work out. Ruben was from Slovakia, Helen from Austria, Anna from Poland and Vincent was from France. It was a great group of kids! Anna and I somehow always seem to find ourselves befriending the internationals...must be something to that-haha.
Let's see...when I wasn't spending time with the internationals, I was with my newly formed creative writing crew. We consisted of: Colin, Hilry, Jackie, Kir, Sarah and Whitney. All of us (minus Colin & Jackie) were in Poetry together so when it came time to actually revising we managed to spend close to 24 hrs working on our portfolios and stressing together-which in turn, seemed to have brought us all a lot closer, which was really great. I'm SO glad I finally have a 'group' within my major.
It was really hard having to pack my room up in December. I'm so used to everyone moving their things out at the same time that it was really weird to be the only one having to say goodbye. I decided to work for Sally again instead of taking a Winter Term class so everything had to be out after Fall semester. :-\ Oh well... So I've been spending Dec-Feb 21st back home in NoVa with the bestests!
It was great seeing Al, Jojo and Samuel again. Al went to Africa for 10 days back over her xmas break which I still can't believe she did! I'd love to go to Africa but I don't think I'd actually have the nerve to go... Jojo's coming home in a few days to spend a weekend with me before I leave and I can NOT wait to see her. It's really kind of lonely/boring here without everyone so it'll be nice to have her home. Sammy's been great. Since UMW is only 45 min away she's coming home every weekend basically to spend time with me and keep me 'entertained' haha. Really...I don't know where I'd be without my bestests.
SO that basically caught us up on the past 6 months haha!
GERMANY! So I'm getting an apartment on Ringstrasse which is apparently right next to the train station ( can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing yet...I guess we'll see). But it's also only about a block or two from the Commisary and the PX...now who knows if I'll be able to actually use them since Dad's retired but it's definitely worth a shot! I'm apparently also the closest to Patrick which makes me INCREDIBLY happy!! Being without that boy for an entire semester was killer, I can NOT wait to see him :) !! Anna is off Rohrbach which is a dorm we're told and Jesse is also in a dorm but across the river. So we're all pretty much close enough by bus and we're going to have a FANTASTIC time I can tell!!
We're starting to figure out where we want to go and what we want to do travel wise while we're there and the list is kind of ridiculous. As for me, I really want to do Paris (to see Aunt Patti & Uncle Richard), London, Sabina in Sweden, Venice & Florence, Greece, Ireland and maybe somewhere warm like Spain. I also can't WAIT to see Katrin! It's been basically 4 years since we last were together and I know that I have changed a LOT in that amount of time. It's going to be so nice to see her and her mom again. (Mmm Loni schnitzel mit pommes!)
I'm kind of nervous about the fact that all of my classes are going to be taught in German. Weber really screwed us over. My German has gone way down hill since last spring and I'm worried I'm stuck in one of those language ruts people talk about. I really just want to become fluent or at least fluent enough to where people didn't laugh when I spoke or instinctively switched to English themselves. I guess we'll see. We don't get to pick classes until a month after we're there, which is so strange!! Everyone at Elon has already started Spring Semester and none of us even know what we're going to be taking!
Well, since this is going to become my Germany-blog I figure I'll start getting back into the habit of posting...we'll see how it goes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
