GERMANY

Yay, I finally made it to Frankfurt!  The past few days have been SUPER busy, but I have been enjoying every minute of it.

My friend and I arrived to Frankfurt on Sunday morning after a long 24 hours of traveling.  We left the Barcelona train station at 9:00 am on Saturday and then had connections in Figueres, Paris, and Stuttgart.  It was a great experience traveling through the French countryside, but the overnight ride got a little long… I think next time I flying would be a better option!  Once I arrived at the hotel, I met my roommate (who is from Shanghai) and took a quick nap.  That night the whole group, which consists of about 40 students ranging in age from 17 – 26 took the train down to watch the public viewing of the USA take on Japan in women’s world cup.  Since the world cup was being held in Frankfurt the crowd was crazy. We tried to get tickets to the actual game but unfortunately it was sold out.

Monday was our first day of class – for the first two weeks classes are held at Fachhochschule University and the last two weeks classes are at Goethe University.  The entire group went to a seminar on intercultural communication and took the German language placement test.  That night we had the ISU opening ceremony at Fachhochschule and had apfelwein and pretzels with the staff. Apfelwein (apple wine) is a traditional German drink that somewhat resembles a cider. Let’s just say it is definitely one of my new favorite drinks (it’s cheaper than water too, so that’s a plus).

After class on Tuesday the group went to a museum called Dialog in the Silence, where we learned about the deaf culture – literally. We had soundproof headphones on the entire two hours and were led through activities by a deaf tour guide.  It was a very neat experience and really made me appreciate my good health and sense of hearing.  Tuesday night the group went out to a local bar to grab dinner.  I ordered a very German dinner consisting of Apfelwein, sausage, and sauerkraut.  The sausage was good, but I didn’t care for the sauerkraut.

Today we started a new seminar on the History of European Integration.  The professor covered A LOT of material for one class, so lets hope the test isn’t too hard!  After class we were split into two groups and went on a walking tour of Frankfurt.  We also got to go to the top of the Maintower, a 656-foot skyscraper built in 2000.   The views from the top were gorgeous, but I had to go down right away because of my fear of heights!