Oh hello Chancelor Merkel!

I have had two hectic days. We've been having 'intensive orientation' which has been at times annoying but usually beneficial. After a generic German info session, we split up into groups to explore specific parts of the city. My group's job was supermarkets. We saw four or five, and I think we were lucky. It's been SO nice to know where they are. I got some jam and fresh bread for breakfast and MAYBE dinner. Oh so healthy. Anyway. Afterwards we all compared notes and finished for the day. About 15 of us headed over to IKEA to pick some stuff up and then almost everyone met up again for dinner at a beer garden. A very drunk German joined our group on the train and started yelling at me, so I used Beth's line and said I "hadn't yet had the privilege of learning German" so he demanded (in french) to know if I spoke french. So then we had a brief talk in French and then one in spanish. He gave me a highfive. I kept not remembering words and he would laugh at me. It was mildly horrifying. But I smiled and kept talking with him. He laughed and was talking about he tried to come to the US but couldn't get a visa cause they thought he was a terrorist. But he said he knew terrorists? We all nervously laughed. Then when we left he said he liked jolly americans, and told everyone I was cool. It was a little bit scary. Then at the beer garden I saw my first liter. I can't believe how HUGE they are. I decided that I am much better off without those, and I had some real sausage. Hearty. This morning I was supposed to meet up with 5 people but all of us failed so I got a croissant from a bakery and tried to make it to the T Mobile store alone. I was confident I knew where it was but I was so very wrong. I asked a few Germans for directions and they were very helpful. The store didn't have what I wanted but I found a phone later. We also saw Chancelor Merkel speak. We saw her walk in and then were bored cause it was in German and didn't understand. We talked about our trips and classes today. I'm taking foreign policy analysis, Regions in the EU, EU environmental policies: the road to sustainability, german, and the EU seminar. We're all traveling to Berlin, Riga, Luxembourg, Brussels, Paris, and Strasbourg. It sounds like I'll be in the group going to Krakow Prague and Budapest- but it's up in the air so I may end up doing the Rome, Madrid and Barcelona trips instead. Oh and in additions there are a few trips to the alps and black forest. There's talk of going to Milan in a few weeks? Who knows if it will happen though. I think classes start in about 3 weeks after we finish our first week of German and go to Berlin and Riga. I'm going to be a very busy girl, but I know I'm going to have fun now. The kids in the program are really fabulous.

I'm going to try to figure out how to do pictures for next time!!