American football has a following, say what?!?!?!

A cute house we saw in the town before the football game.

So after our wonderful bar hopping night thanks to Benny, we had to get up at the crack of 10:30 to go to where he plays football. Now this isn't any normal football game. This was his championship game for the American style league he plays on. That is right, they do play American football in Germany, and some other European countries as far as I know of. It wasn't just a small game either. There had to be about 300 people, but back to me telling you about our time at the game and then I will get back to the bit of culture-shock this game brought.

We met up with Fabian, I think that name is just so much fun to say and think... like Fabio, to head out to the field/ middle school they play at. It was an interesting car ride, because we could understand even more of the conversation than normal and they were talking about football in German. Emily and I just couldn't stop giving each other looks and eye rolls. Once we got to the field we did what we do best: sit and watch everyone else set up. Honestly, we didn't know what to do. They had a system down and we would of ruined it! After the set-up we finally went to breakfast,the only reason we would get up so early after staying out till 2:30-3 a.m.

One of the streets we saw,

Breakfast was good. It was full of healthy food for growing boys who have a football game in 3 hours and coffee. I couldn't find cream or sugar, so I drank it black (ick) like my mom. We were introduced to some of the teammates, more like they introduced themselves. Benny started to tease us, because after breakfast we decided to walk around the campus. It turns out we were heading towards the locker rooms without knowing it. Once we realized this we started to walk around the town.

Now this town was way cool. It had cobblestone roads and the cutest houses! Surprisingly, we didn't get lost. We did make it back to the game with 1 1/2 hours to spare though. Now that was boring, slightly interesting, and it had a bit of home sick all intertwined. There was a bbq set up, a normal concession stand selling team good and drinks, and a few people brought their American cars ( a mustang, corvette, what I think was a blazer, and some kind of dodge), that proved to be interesting. It did make me miss my boss from the Drift Inn. That just set off a huge bought of homesickness that I just got over last night, Tuesday night.

Winners!!!!!

The game itself was pretty fun. Benny's team even sent 3 guys to the hospital, one knee injury, a shoulder injury, and a guy hurt his neck. Benny's team did win so that was always a plus. We joked with him that the only reason they won was because he had his two good luck charms at the game, they've lost the last two games. After the game, while Benny and Fabian (still a highly entertaining name) were showering Emily and I were left to our own devices, this can be a good or bad thing. We found a bunch of monkey-bars to swing on, good thing, and while we were on the monkey bars we met one of the coaches, Coach Red. We asked if he was American, we heard him talking on the phone, his response was "Of course I'm American; I'm black". That started a long conversation with him about why he was there and what we needed to to while in Bremen and Europe in general. That would mostly conclude our Sunday besides that we watched the Ravens vs the Eagles later that night.

A tree we saw. Can anybody tell me what it is?

Finally Monday comes and that means we get to move into our flats!!!!!! (applaud!!) This was a very fun experience and awkward, at least for me, experience. I tend to be very shy and I didn't know how to handle the influx of new people into my life, add in all the official appointment we have to go to no wonder I don't want to talk to anyone. So far we have met some of the officials at the ISO, International Studies Office, and registered with the city. We both opened bank accounts so we can pay rent and other fun stuff. We do live right next to the bars, perfect for us, and downtown.

Downtown is very beautiful. Some amazing architecture, I will take more pictures of it later, and the stores are just cute. It is very different from the States. Everything has its own store and it is pretty nifty! There is no supermarket or superstore. The closest we found to a superstore that had cleaning products, some electronics, toys, school supplies, and make-up.  It is refreshing to not have a Walmart, but it would be useful sometimes. I'll let Emily talk about the food some more, but the good news is I haven't had a terrible food reaction yet!!!!!

As for our flatmates they are awesome. Emily's invited her to IKEA while mine invited me to go swimming. It was fun, but frustrating since I am still super shy about talking in German. But my flatmates and I are slowly working through my shyness and its nice. One of them was even joking with me about my German. The others are helpful when I don't know how to do something. They are getting curious on how well I speak German since it is my minor. I explain it, but I am trying hard to speak to them in a bit of German. I have a feeling that this shyness is going to pass! Emily is going well that I know of. Her flat has a hamster so she has a fuzzy animal to play with. Her room is coming along. I have a feeling that she is going to do well here. But that is all I have to say for now. Talk to you later, Ash.

                                   Have a good Homecoming NMU!!!