Thursday after class, the girls all took a bus over to the north side of town to check out the city's library. It's really nice and new: three stories filled with lots of literature and music, not to mention interesting architecture. I ended up getting a library card and checking out a few CDs and a history book about Berlin, so I can read up before next weekend. Hopefully we will still be able to fly to Berlin on Friday. Because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, flights all across Europe have been cancelled. The cloud of ash is headed towards Germany and Austria sometime during the next day or two, so who knows?
On Friday, a few people took a day trip to go skiing (I'm not much of a skiier, so I stayed here.) Jeremy and I spent the day exploring the Altstadt and taking pictures from the hills. I feel like I could live in the city for years and still not see everything. Maybe it comes from being in a place with so many mountains and hilly areas. There are a lot of hidden trails and parks that can't always be seen from the main roads and I think this trip is turning me into a hiker.
Of course, we've been spending a lot of time at the lokals these last few nights. Thursday night a ton of us ended up at Shakespeare, a cute cafe that's pretty low key, but serves great beer. Rote Zach, Ben, and I ended up staying pretty late and chatting with some of the regulars. Friday night we went back to another Irish pub: Shamrock, which features an Austrian band covering lots of Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was kind of amusing. One thing that I guess I take for granted in the States are the anti-smoking laws inside buildings. The smell of smoke doesn't exactly bother me, but after going to the bars, it's hard to get the smell off of whatever clothes you wore. Just different. On Monday, Europa Kolleg is throwing a party: Heimbar, which is a monthly (or so) dorm-wide bar in the basement. It should be a good chance to get to know our neighbors a little better; hopefully they don't think we're just loud Americans!
I think we've all come to discover that in general, people here are really very nice. Sure, we might have to pay extra for ketchup and move a little faster in the grocery store line. But most people we meet are just curious and eager to talk to Americans and to hear about life across the Atlantic. Most of the time, I end up speaking German to them, and they speak English to me. Not great for my comprehension skills, I guess, but they want to practice their language skills too.
Well, I don't want to miss out on enjoying the weather, so I think I'm going to head into town to do some homework. More tomorrow, I'm sure.
Ahh you answered the question I asked you in that fb message: Because of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, flights all across Europe have been cancelled.
ReplyDeleteThat's lame... I hope your flight works out, though! Yeah, the smoking ban in the U.S. is probably is for the best... bars would be completely polluted otherwise. Glad you had fun at Shakespeare, though.
Haha, I like the German-English communication method. Probably not the most effective by any means, but at least both parties learn a little bit.