First Week!

So, I suppose it took me awhile for me to get this set up. Es tut mir leid... but I have been very, very busy. Where to begin...?

The flight over was slightly hellish. My first flight to Detroit was delayed because of thunderstorms over Ohio, so when I got there, I had to sprint through the Detroit airport to catch my flight to Amsterdam. This occured with a VERY heavy backpack and an ostentatious jacket (for those of you who know the Rotary jacket, I'm sure you sympathize). Luckily I made it on time, and then made my flight to Köln with ease. In Amsterdam, I actually met another Rotary exchanger on her way to Switzerland. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, when I arrived, I was greeted by the RYE chairs for the Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler Club, Herr & Frau Hansonis, and my host grandma and host sister, Line. We drove home -- Germans drive CRAZY, by the way -- and I ate some soup, got a shower, and slept. When I woke up, I met my host parents, ate some more food, and then... slept some more. Unfortunately the next morning I had to wake up at nine to get into the city on time to take care of some business i.e. bank account, living permit, etc. I met the other American exchanger that's here in Bad Neuenahr with me, David. He seems pretty ok, as of yet :)

What all have I done? I will number them and then describe.

1) Gone to the Heimersheim Weinfest
This was pretty cool. I live in a wine-producing region, so most little villages have wine fests during this time of year. So anyway, this place was CRAZY, so many people were dressed up in medieval costumes, and so much wine... I have never before seen so many people publicly drunk. I went twice -- during the day with my host mother Elke and host sister Line, and then at night just with Line and her friends. I preffered it better during the daytime, as there was more interesting things than people drinking. It was also really crowded at night... You could hardly go one step without running into someone. Even with that, I still had fun. Twas a good experience, methinks, for being introduced to the culture here.

2) Gone to Köln for a baptism
This was also cool. I didn't understand any of the service, but the baby was cute, haha. It was actually quite different than a traditional baptism in the U.S.A., but unfortunately, I cannot properly describe it.

3) Gone to Bonn
I think this was my favorite out of all. First, I got to visit the Beethoven Haus -- which is where the aforementioned famous composer was born. There was so much to see there... some of his original instruments, old letters, his ear trumpets (he was deaf), and even some original scores! Post BH, my host grandma and sisters Line and Rike (who got home on Sunday from Barcelona) and I went to get ice cream. Ice cream here is so much better than at home, let me tell you. More cream then ice, and so much richer. I took pictures of random points of interest around town, and we went shopping as well. Rike got a new pair of shoes, and I got an awesome purple handbag that I am absolutely in love with.

4) Gone to the local swimming pool
The Bad Neuenahr public pool is SO much nicer than ANY American pool I've ever been to. I went with my host sisters, their friends, and David. They have both indoor and outdoor pools, and water slides. Yes, in plural. Viele Spaß :)

5) Explored Ahrweiler, the medieval town
This I actually did today with David, after our German lesson. We originally just went so I could post some letters and get school supplies, but we ended up buying ice cream and basically wandering around for awhile. It's really cool, it's a walled city... pictures of which are to be posted on Facebook at a later date.

There has been so much more, here are some quick highlights.

*Kirchdaun, the village in which I currently live, has about 350 people and 200 cows.
* There is one other exchange student in my club, Vedashree from India, but she has yet to arrive due to problems with her visa :( She should arrive Saturday.
* School in my state starts Monday, but we Austaschschüler don't start until Tuesday. Schweeeet.
* Today, one of Rike's friends came over and brought me flowers welcoming me to Germany :) I thought that was very, very nice.

And lastly, but most definitely not leastly...

THE FOOD HERE IS AMAZING!
Brötchen... käse... Mineralwasser... Apfelschorle... Würst... Nutella... Eis... mmmm

I am thinking that this is all for now.

Liebe Grüße,
And I love and miss you all,

Signe