First Impressions of Germany...

Hallo!

Well we are on day 6 of our Germany trip and I think our heads are still spinning. We have yet to find a permanent place to live for the next 3 months, but have our fingers crossed that something works out in the next couple of days.

Our trip started off with a bang by taking Air India from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. And it's just what you think of when you think of Air India (the next stop after Frankfurt was India). It was an experience in itself and only began to prepare us for what we were in store for. We were unable to fall asleep on the flight and once we arrived in Germany, were only running on adrenaline. (FYI: we were up more thank 24 hours and have yet to get the right amount of sleep). Jet lag is no fun, but our bodies seem to be adjusting slowly.

The train ride from Frankfurt to Bonn was breathtaking. Nothing like we are use to seeing back in the "States". We counted 14 castles on the ride there, but are sure we missed a few. There are vineyards everywhere you look and the crazy thing is, they are on the sides of mountains... we would really like to see how they are actually picked. Looks like a very tedious process.

Once in Bonn, that's when things began to get interesting. We each had two large suitcases, plus a carry on and our laptop bags. This wouldn't be such a big deal if we were moving straight into a place of residence, but we have had to move hotels 4 times so far (our living quarters right now are actually at Andrew's work... they have two rooms available). Dragging luggage around town is no fun, especially when you have chicken arms like me. haha.

We have yet been brave enough to venture into an authentic German restaurant. Communication probably has been our number one obstacle we have been faced with since being here (well besides finding a place to live). Not that we expected everyone to speak English, I guess we just thought and hoped for an easier way of communication. So far our German vocabulary consists of like 7 phrases:

Hallo (hello)
Guten Tag (good day)
Ich verstehe nicht (I don't understand)
Sprechen Sie Englisch? (Do you speak English?)
Bitte (please, you're welcome)
Auf Wiedersehen (goodbye)
Danke (thank you)
#'s 1-10

We did try going to an Irish pub, even though the food wasn't so much German, the way of serving was. The only time the server came to our table was to ask for drinks, otherwise we had to get someones attention to order food and to receive our bill. It took around 2 hours to eat, which is very different than back in the US, but now that we know the ins and outs, I think we should have a better experience next time.

Well, even though this post only takes us into day 3, I will stop here and start a new post soon to talk more about our experiences! Hope you enjoy reading!

Cheers!