finally, pictures from Bonn and the Goethe-Institute!

part of my room

first night in Bad Godesberg....went to Cafe Bago with the Americans, lol
the Godesburg (in Bad Godesberg), aka the remnants of some really old castle
sometimes translations don't quite work out, but i like the inclusion of "the best for you."they don't take kindly to vegetarians here
Mcdonalds and a cowboy; now I feel right at home!
these giant heads even make Ian (who's 6'8") look tiny! we couldn't figure out for the longest time why there were these two stone heads lying in front of the cathedral in Bonn, but we finally figured out that they represent the 2 patron saints of Bonn (who were both decapitated). kinda weird, but whatever
Das Bonner Muenster, aka the cathedral in Bonn (construction begun in the 1200s!)
the cathedral again (you can see the heads at the bottom)
the inside of the cathedral is amazing, decorated very opulently in the Baroque style
Beethoven intimidates me
everything here is so squished together (like this 500 year old church, jammed in between shops and apartments)
the old city hall (and a wedding). A good deal of the buildings in Bonn were built in the late 1700s and thus quite colorful and ornate.
part of the palace that now houses Bonn University (yes the university is in a palace). Europe is ridiculous.
Decorations on the roof of the University
I really like things in silhouette
awww, sad sunflower :( don't know what was up with this trailer, but i just liked it
again, Europe is such a mish-mash, like this 800 yr-old segment of the old city wall just stuck randomly in the street in front of some apartments
ok, I know it's creepy, but I had to take a picture of this guy as an example of the madness that is Karneval. Karneval is the German word for Mardi Gras, except in Bonn and Cologne the celebrations begin a month early and everywhere you go you see people (especially lots of older people) dressed up in costumes. According to Pascal, there are Karneval Clubs, whose members meet throughout the year and plan their costumes and float for the parades. This is what happens when uptight Germans finally let their hair down, lol.
In this house was Ludwig van Beethoven born on December 17th 1770. In Bonn, everything revolves around Beethoven.
Beethoven was born in the room on the very top right. The house is a museum, which Leigh, Caroline and I visited. It was really interesting, but too many placards to read in Deutsch.
Listening to some of Beethoven's works in the digital studio.
So Caroline and I found this playground while we were walking to the Rhein river, and it contained this contraption. We think that you're supposed to be able to pull on the chains to slide yourself back and forth like a skateboard in a half-pipe, but for us it was just a death trap.
We should not be allowed in playgrounds
Wow, I look way too happy to be riding that bouncy horse. Guess I'm just a 5-yr-old at heart :)
Caroline and I make bad choices, like setting our camers on self-timers and trying to stand on a teeter-totter. Luckily there were no casualties, except for Caroline's pants, which split right up the crotch. Hilarious for me, not so much for her!
The Rhein Promenade. Not the prettiest picture ever, but this is basically what the weather usually looks like (wet and gray), so I figured it was a fair representation.
Remember when I said that all of the government-related stuff like embassies and consultes moved to Berlin in 1990? Yeah, some of them didn't have enough money to make the move.
Right by the Goethe-Institute is a beautiful neighborhood called the Villenviertel, where all the diplomats used to live back in the day. Lots of beautiful mansions.
I can't get over how green and mossy everything is, even in February! It's quite the change from dry and brown Spokane.
One day I will live in the house. And I will gaze upon the Rhein everyday while my servants bring me chocolate. Lol, jk.
Waleeeeeeeeeed!!! (Waleed is the name of the guy looking at the camera. He and his twin are hilarious). Playing "Billiard" with some people from the Goethe-Institute. Just for the record, I'm terrible at pool, which is why after 1 game I opted to be the photographer instead. Also, I don't know how this happens, but just like at Wash U, I pretty much only hang out with guys here. I need more estrogen in my life.


Ok, that's all for now, but expect another post and some pictures from Cologne in a few days!

Arrival in Bonn

oy, i'm really slow at this whole blogging thing! partially because it takes so long to upload photos since the internet is rather slow here. so, there won't be any pictures in this post, but hopefully those will come tonight or tomorrow.

I wanted to write real quick about my first week here at the Goethe-Institute. It's located in Bad Godesberg, which is a suburb of Bonn, which (fun fact alert!) was the capital of Germany and the seat of the government from 1949 until 1990, when the capital of reunified Germany was moved to Berlin. I think the Bonn natives are still pissed about that, because Bonn lost a lot of businesses, consulates, inhabitants, etc. Anyways, Bad Godesberg is fairly small and rather quiet, but it only takes 5 minutes with the train or 20 with the subway to get to Bonn city center. Bonn is a BEAUTIFUL city, with lots of Baroque architecture (pictures to come, I promise!) So basically, I've really enjoyed my surroundings so far.

I arrived at the Goethe-Institute on Monday afternoon (I took the train from Essen with Pascal). And thank goodness he came with me, because there is no way I could have maneuvered all my luggage on the train (you need lots of stuff for 6 months, ok?) Anyways, when I arrived at the Institute I checked in and then immediately had to take a placement test, which was oh so delightful. There was some grammar multiple choice, a short essay, and a spoken interview. It actually wasn't so bad, and from my experiences in class the first week, I think I'm in the right level. I also love my teacher; he's incredibly sarcastic and hilarious.

My daily routine here goes something like this: get up around 7:45 or 8 to go to breakfast (since it's only served from 7:30-8:30), shower (always a good thing to include in the daily schedule), do the homework I didn't do the night before, hang out in my room, go to the grocery store if necessary, eat lunch in the Kantine (a cafeteria in an office building a couple blocks away; it's really cheap), and then go to class. I have class from 1:30-6pm with 2 breaks in there, so it's really not as long as it sounds. After class I typically make dinner and then hang out with the other people in the dorm. So, pretty low-key, and definitely a huge change from the hectic pace of Wash U.

The dorm I live in is connected to the building where I have classes, which is very convenient (certainly beats walking ten minutes to class in the sleet like at WashU). There's about 20 people living in the dorm, and about 12 living in another dorm that belongs to the Institute. Most are people in their early to mid-20s, but there are a couple older ones (30s or 40s). The people here are absolutely crazy and hilarious; there's people from all over: Saudi arabia, Turkey, Argentinia, Brazil, Hungary, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Australia, etc. etc. There are actually very few Americans and the largest group of people are probably the ones from various Arabic countries. So basically we're all a bunch of foreigners trying to communicate in German with each other because that's our lingua franca; as you can imagine, this sometimes has very interesting results. I'm actually learning some Turkish and Arabic as well, which is fun and also very amusing, because it usually ends up with my friend Ahmad yelling at me for pronouncing everything wrong (including his name). Also living at the Institute are 3 Zivis, short for Zivildienstleistender. In Germany, once a guy is 18 he gets called up by the Bundeswehr (army) for a year of service (it doesn't always happen right when he turns 18). If he doesn't want to go to the army he has to do a year of civil service instead, which is usually working in a nursing home, hospital, etc. So our Zivis get to work at the Goethe-Institute and speak german really slowly to foreigners! They're 19, 21, and 22, and all are really nice and basically just chill with us all the time.

Ok, I'm gonna go eat lunch now, but I'm really going to try to post some pictures tonight. Tschuess!

And So It Begins (well, sort of, I'm over 2 weeks late with this post)

Ok, so technically this is my 3rd week in Germany, since I arrived here on Jan. 18th. But, I just moved to Bonn a couple of days ago to officially start my study abroad program, so I figured I better get cracking on this whole blogging thing. First off, a quick synopsis of my first 2 weeks:

I arrived in Duesseldorf (a very foggy view of which can be seen to the left) where Pascal and his dad were slightly late picking me up. We drove to Essen (where they live) and I had a nice little reunion with his family (ok, just with his mom really, she loves me but his brothers could pretty much care less if I'm there or not). For the next 2 weeks I just hung out with Pascal for the most part. We went out a few times, went to his friend's house, walked his dog in the park, etc. etc. It was so wonderful to be together again after so long apart (nearly 6 months!) so we basically spent every possible second together.

Train station in Essen
Ice-skating downtown
Schloss Borbeck, about 2 blocks from Pascal's house
Please note the sun in this picture (a rare occurrence for winter in Germany)
Nina, du bist mein Lieblingshund!

Unfortunately, he still had those pesky college classes he had to go to, but that wasn't so bad, because I just slept in or talked with his mom. The second week I was there I spent a couple afternoons helping out at the elementary school that's right by his house. I had helped his mom with some after-school art class/tutoring stuff there last winter and I loved the kids, so I decided to go back. I basically just played games with them and told them all about America (they were very curious as to whether I had ever met 50 Cent or Arnold Schwarzenegger, or ever eaten at a McDonalds). For the record, it's no to the first two but yes to the third. Anyways, that was truly a lot of fun and definitely helped my German skills. Those two are a handful, let me tell you
oh Rami, what a charmer
sometimes it's good to be a kid again

Last weekend Pascal and I took the train 2.5 hrs from his home in Essen to the tiny village of Hildfeld in the Sauerland region to visit his grandparents. I had met them the first time I was in Germany, in the summer of 07, but hadn't seen them since. All I can say is, this was the best weekend ever. It was snowing softly while we were there, surrounded by forests, farms, and hills. His grandparents are the nicest, cutest, old German couple you could imagine. His "Oma" stuffed us full of food, we drank some delicious wine, took a few walks, talked about German history, and his Opa gave us 100 euros (I told you they were ridiculously nice). They were so happy to have us visit, and it was definitely fun for Pascal and I as well.

I love snow, but it was kinda cold to be out walking
Helping out his grandparents by shoveling the driveway


I wanted to write about my arrival at the Goethe-Institute in Bonn, but my stomach is telling me quite clearly that it is hungry, so hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow. I miss you all, especially my Wash U people (I propose you use bloc funding to come visit me. I'm sure there's enough to cover everybody's airfare). Keep it real on V2!