Getting used to the German Lifestyle

This post is about a week late but I am going to be talking about my first few days in Bonn and getting used to the change in lifestyle. First things first, I am happy to say that I have an awesome host family. My host dad Mario, and my host mom Christina, are some of the nicest people I've ever met. Their daughter Yolanda is a year younger than me and she is super cool and down to earth. They have been housing exchange students since 1994, aka they're one of the longest participating families at the AIB. Also living in the house is my Travis, a visualization major also from A&M. A regular day in the house typically consists of me grabbing an apple for breakfast before school (some of the best/freshest apples I've ever indulged in) and returning home to dinner already made. We sometimes eat dinner as a family however sometimes its hard to accommodate everybody's schedule since there are so many people living in the house. Once dinner is over, we normally watch a movie in the living room together but its always in German so I kind of just stare at the screen and pretend to know what's going on. Although everything for the most part is going well, I will say that I was told to limit my "shower time" which is a little bit of an adjustment.. I normally take 20 minute showers or so but apparently thats too long here (something about the steam causing mold to grow).

So far, I've really come to like Bonn.. A LOT. The city is just the right size and has the perfect tourist:locals ratio. It is so awesome living in such a modern city that also dates back hundreds of years to where you can still see the history throughout the streets. I will admit however that it is a little frustrating at times living so far out of town because all of my peers can go out at night to have a drink or two but for me, I have to wait for the train which comes once every hour after 8 pm. Having to use the train as my main form of transportation has been an adjustment as well because I no longer have a car to get me to and from wherever I want, whenever I want. On a positive note, having to depend of the train kind of "trains" me (see what I did there) to be on time and forces me to manage my time in the morning more efficiently.

One of my favorite discoveries so far has to be Pommdönner... Its a turkish dish consisting of fries and shaved beef and I like to put chile sauce on top to make it a little spicy. I had it three days in a row thats how much I like it. Another favorite that my mom told me to try was currywurst. I had this for the first time from a food cart outside and that was also super good. The German's love their meat and potatoes and thats definitely my cup of tea. Anyways, thats it for now, stay tuned as I continue to blog about my european adventures >:)