Woche ein!

In just seven days, we have flown over the entire Atlantic Ocean, landed in a country over 5,000 miles away from Texas, invaded welcoming host families' homes, navigated a completely foreign city, eaten authentic German homemade food, commuicated with non-English speaking people, embraced below freezing temperatures, met amazing new people, began a full academic semester, and much more. And it's only been one week! My initial anxieties have been calmed: the flights were fine, the weather is beautiful (cold, but still amazing), the food is great (98% of the time), my host mom is HILARIOUS, and the language barrier is slowly disappearing. It has been so humbling to wake up every morning and look out my 5th floor apartment window overlooking the Rhine River and the city of Bonn, especially when everything is covered in snow. I get caught up in my own little world in College Station but being here really reminds me of how, no matter where you are, the world keeps turning, people wake up and live their lives, and there is so much to do/see everyday!

It did not take long as I thought to adjust to this new lifestyle.  The transportation is definitely a new experience. I miss just being able to jump in my truck and go where I please, but we've got the tram/bus system down now and we definitely get our exercise. It's been a lot of fun just walking around the streets in Bonn trying to figure out what leads where, good places we want to eat, and doing a little bit of shopping. We've got a routine with our host mom and all the classes so far seem fine. I'm excited to go on more tours and visit different cities around Germany and Europe now!

Bah ha, it's a little excessive...but sometimes I do feel like Randy from A Christmas Story when I get ready in the morning.