A Week of Nonsense

              Orientation week is over although, it was very fun! Met lots of new people and learned a ton of new things about the Uni. here. This past week we have been doing nothing but preparing for our semester and traveling around Germany. On Monday and Tuesday we basically did nothing but stay at home and look up some fun courses to take! (There are SO many!) Then on Wednesday a group of us went to Hamburg for the day. The group consisted of 5 of us: Ashley, Jonathan, Cedric, Akshay, and myself. Once there however, we acquired a new member: Cedrics friend Martin who was living in Hamburg and was willing to show us around a bit. First up: The Harbor!

                     The Harbor View!
     The Harbor was Ashley's choice and it was a good choice. Thanks to Martin we took a taxi-boat and was able to get out onto the water and look at the sights. It was so surreal, it looked almost as if a robot-city. Lining the harbor was shipping containers, ship-building cranes, ships, docks, etc.. It was just packed and created it is own unique atmosphere. It made me wish for my big DSLR camera and a whole day just to walk/boat the whole harbor. I think I would have gotten a few good shots but alas, the point and shoot mama lend me did just fine and got some great pics! (Thanks again mommy!)


                                                                                                           The Red Light District...

Next was the Red-light district. I wont say who wanted to see it but I think deep in all of us we wanted to see what it was like because we do not have these kind of things in the States. It was HUGE! Pretty much the size of Northern Michigan University's campus. There were a good 4 streets just lined with sex shops, strip clubs, night clubs, whore-houses, etc. Since there was a decent group mixed of boys and girls we got a lot of weird stares, especially since it was during the day. Ash and I tried to leave the boys by themselves so we can witness them getting hit on by prostitutes, but alas, there were none to harass the boys. :( There will be a group of us going back during the night to experience the full throttle of it all. Wish us luck and safety! ;) From here we went and sat downtown and relaxed until our train, then we went home. What a fun day!



The Olympic Roller-Coaster

On Friday we went to Freimarkt in Bremen. Freimarkt is like Oldenburg's Kramermarkt which is like our state and county fairs. Full of carnival rides, beer tents, and food stands. There was a decent group of us who went and we rode some pretty awesome rides. One of which was a roller coaster in the shape of the Olympic Rings! Another, and my favorite, was an adventure-based roller coaster that had us going into these long tunnels and giant cave full of flashing and laser lights. Talk about nifty and awesome at the same time! After we went to the bar street and got some good grub and drinks!

The next day we were supposed to go to Nordeny for a Uni. excursion but alas, the tracks were broken so we could not travel that way. However, we decided to go back to Bremen for the day. This time it was quite a large group of a lot of exchange students. We first decided to get something to eat. So we went to this great pasta-bar called Vapiano's. It was so delicious and not a bad price at all. Then we went to the mini-markt happening in the city center. Here we found a few section of vendors that were renaissance themed! Ash and I drooled over the leather-wear and nifty wooden musical instruments. Also, there were these "potions" there made by witches. But if you looked at the bottle you would figure out it was just fruit wine! Alright! You can bet we bought some! I bought Mead and Ash bought Honey-raspberry and Cranberry wine! Yum!

 

The Wine-Potion Bottles with Descriptions!

The next posts will be soon and there will probably be two since Ash and I will both want to update you all as to the classes we are taking! So far they are great but I have yet to visit them all!


XOXO Emily


Travel Tips:

1. Your wallet. -> It probably has everything from money, cards, passports, pictures, etc. The LAST thing you want to lose. Keep it close and safe maybe in a purse or in a zippable jacket pocket. Everywhere in the world there are pick-pockets, so keep it secret, keep it safe. (Yes that was a LOTR quote) If all else fails, attach a leash to that sucker.

2. Before you leave home, make a playlist of your favorite songs of all times.Or, songs that remind you of home. Trust me, when you get to a new and different place you will want something that will remind you of home and the people back home that love you and want you to succeed. It also helps in cases of homesickness. Me? I have a playlist called "Country Home" its all country and all songs that keep me in touch with who I am and who I want to be.

3. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even stupid ones. You may seem or feel silly but people will understand that you do not want to offend or do the wrong thing. No question is too small and no question is stupid. Trust me, I've asked more times where the bathroom is than anything else. :)