First week of classes/weekend
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2008
1
11
61
Trip End
Jul 01, 2008
Cologne,
Germany
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Exciting, first day of class. Class technically started at 9:30, but only for those students who had taken German language classes before. Jessica and I, being the only people who had not taken any proper classes just hung out and surfed the web for an hour or so until everyone was done. We gathered in a classroom for a bit, talked with our teacher about our classes, and then went out on a much longer than planned city tour. It was supposed to take about an hour or so, but the beginning German teacher was unable to come in that day, due to exploding pipes in her house. So we toured the area until about 3:00, all of us were absolutely starving by that point, seeing as 90% of the stores we looked at were restaurants or food stalls. After finally getting some damn food, my friend Saibhang and I bought some tickets for a hockey game; the Köln Sharks were playing the Frankfurt Lions. Hells yeah.
Tuesday:
First full day of German, and of class. Wow this language is hard. My brain was totally fried by the end of class, and I was in desperate need of a Kölsch. My teacher is amazing though, she is very engaging, and requires the student to at least attempt speaking in German at all times (unless asking a question). She's also quite a character; laughing, joking, or smiling most of the time. The student/teacher ratio of 2-1 helps quite a bit too, I'm sure. After class, Saibhang, Jake, Maxi, and I went to the hockey game. That was damn fun. The fans are amazing, for sure. There were two sections of the stadium opposite each other with huge amounts of screaming, fanatical fans.
Pigeon 2
Both sides had quite a few random fans that brought in drums; one side would scream a chant, then the other side would counter. This lasted for pretty much the whole game. Nearly everyone in the stadium was wearing some form of team gear. And to make the game even better, Köln won the game 7-1! It was great. After the game Jake, Jessica, Laneise and I just wandered the streets, drinking some Kölsch along the way.Wednesday:
Just regular classes today, nothing really spectacular.
Thursday:
Class went well, another day of my brain being fried. I signed up for three more classes today, so my class schedule is European Union Culture and Institutions, International Marketing, Beginning German, Management Organizations, International Negotiations and Conflict Resolution, and.....Beginning Boxing! This is going to be a full quarter, but I should get 26 credits to transfer back to Central. After class, Saibhang and I bought tickets for a handball game next Wednesday, which should be awesome. I really didn't do too much after buying tickets, just lounging, and homework.
Friday:
We just had a short day of classes today, from 9-about 11. Then we were all split up into groups and sent off on a scavenger hunt through the city. Jake and I were partnered up, and it turned out to actually be a lot of fun. Our list of things to find was entirely in German, which made things interesting. Jake is in intermediate/advanced German, so he was able to decipher most of what was on the sheet, but I was responsible for asking random people where things were in the city, and attempting to understand their directions.
My Room
We started out the scavenger hunt with a little trash talking against the girls team. It took around an hour, and the last stop was at a brewery. My German teacher (Dagmar) bought everyone a couple rounds and some bread/cheese plates. Everyone wandered the streets after leaving the brewery for a short time before parting ways. On my way home, I stopped off in the Neumarkt and bought a sweatshirt and shirt. Damn the U.S. dollar. There are so many cool things that would actually be a damn good deal, if our money were actually worth something. Sam, Jessica and I met up later that evening for a few beers at an Irish pub, which was fun. There was karaoke there, I didn't have enough beers to get up on stage; maybe next time...I ended up spending over an hour walking home in the rain, since I missed my damn train. Because few people use the metro down by where I live, there is no metro service from 1-4am on Fridays, and only ONE train an hour on weekends. Which pretty much gives me three options; leave the bars before 12 (hell no), stay out till 4(perhaps), or walk (meh). I choose option 3, because on Saturday, Jessica, Saibhang, Maxi, Sam, and I were going to a concert. Saturday:
I met up with Saibhang fairly early in the day to check out a bike sale and a flea market. We found an old man selling two fairly crappy bikes in our price range, and the haggling began. As luck would have it, he didn't speak a word of English, so I was forced to use VERY broken German, hand motions, and body language.
Pigeon 3
He had a price tag of 50 E on the bike, but I was able to work him down to 35 E. Not too shabby. The headlight works, all the gears work, and its not too rusty. Of course, right after we both had our bikes, the rain sent again (sigh). Saibhang and I met up with Maxi and Jessica in Neumarkt where they were looking at cheap airfare. We found out about an awesome offer by Germanwings that's just my travel style; a round trip flight at a date and time of your choice for only 30 E BUT, you can't choose where you go. It gives a list of 12-14 cities around Europe, and the airline chooses for you lottery style. The bonus; every city is amazing; Prague, Lisbon, Berlin, London, Dublin, Paris, a city in Turkey....Jessica and I, plus whoever the hell else wants to go are doing this for sure. Sam, Saibhang, Jessica, Maxi and I met up and went out to the club where some DJ's and punk rock were performing. We got there at around 10, the music started a little before 11, and kept going well into the morning. Maxi left first because she wasn't feeling too good, next was Sam; but Saibhang, Jessica, and I stayed until damn near 4 in the morning. I really don't think I've ever danced so much in my life; I may only have 4 movies, but god damnit I worked the hell out of those moves. I finally stumbled back into my bed at 5am.Sunday:
I woke up at 12:30 today, way too early in my opinion. After eating breakfast, I rode my bike into Neumarkt, wandered through the crowds, bought some clothes and pretty much just milled around for a couple hours. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day out, so the street performers were in full effect. Guys playing classical violin, didgeridoo, mandolin, you name it. And randomly enough, smack dab in the middle of the market, a runway was set up for models to do their thing. I wish I had brought my camera with me today, but meh; I'm here for three months. I went for a couple hour bike ride after the market, then just relaxed up until this point. I've included a picture of my room, a view out my window, and some pictures the coolest damn pigeons. I can't explain why, but I freakin love these pigeons.
