Fünfzhen!!!!

So it's been what, 5 days? 5 days since I left the sweet, sweet state of Texas and travelled across the Atlantic. There are three things that especially stand out to me:

1. Host fam - seriously so cool. 

2. My TAMU friends - seriously SO cool.

3. Everything else - SO COOL.

Ok those aren't very intelligent thoughts, so let me elaborate a little. 

My host family is seriously the best. I think I have the best host family out of all the host families, but I try to keep it on the down-low cause I don't want anyone to get jealous. ;) They're avid runners, eat organic (sometimes vegan) with lots of vegetables, and are SO welcoming. I immediately felt at home upon arrival after my 30-hours-with-no-sleep flight into Germany, as Gitti (host-mom) made me some tea and took me on a walk through Beule, which is the sub-town/district we live in. They're also totally cool with me practicing piano, and they let me raid the fridge. What more can you ask for?

Beule is situated right on the Rhine river--in fact, our street name is Rhinestrauße (literally "Rhine Street). When I walk to the AIB in the mornings, the first half mile of my journey is bordering the Rhine then crossing the Kennedy bridge over the river sparkling in the morning sun, which is an amazing way to start the day. I'm sure I'll quickly change my tune when it rains, though!! Yikes. 

Speaking of AIB, the classes are pretty awesome. We all know Dr. Wasser is a great lecturer and his lectures are fascinating, so I won't even bother elaborating on that right now. The class that I'm having the most fun with is German! Our professor is very friendly and understanding of our Texas drawls, and the curriculum is based on "survival German" rather than grammar. I definitely prefer this, as I am learning how to say hi/bye, order food, and other practical things. My favorite words so far are "fünfzhen" (fifteen) and "tschüss!" (bye!; pronounced like "juice!"). I told my host family that fünfzhen was my favorite word and they thought that was pretty hilarious. I guess "fifteen" isn't very fun to say when you speak it every day. . . 

Not only is my host family great, but my A&M buddies are also so fantastic. I immediately felt a connection with everyone--just the simple fact that we're all new to Germany and its language has already brought us closer (nervousness to say "Entshuldigung" to a random stranger is great bonding I guess). I'm glad that I have an awesome group of people to get to explore new places with! For example, just today we went to our first (of many) castles--the Drachensfel over Königswinter. My host mom informed me that this is the oldest national park in Germany, and while we didn't get to read up on the history there (all signs in German...sigh) it was interesting to see the ruins of past civilizations and to see the beautiful overlook of the Rhine and the surrounding village. 

Well, I'm off to go eat some nutritious dinner! Believe me, you'll be hearing more about this kid's adventures later on! Tschüss!