Promises

Dear Everybody that might be interested,

I have been slowly chipping away at a very long update, but through the chaos of trying to find and apartment, still living with 3 year olds and trying to get officially registered with the country of Germany I have not been able finish.

SOO a longer, more detailed, update will be here by Wednesday (I have set my deadline) but for now here's what's going on:

1.) Still no apartment--have moved into a free room in the neighbors house to escape from the kiddies for a while but still eat and basically live at the Lemkes

2.) Oktoberfest was wild, but I think driving on the Autobahn was the coolest part of the weekend by far.

3.) I have 3 classes at my "vocational college"... most of my students are older than me. This is weird. Teaching has been fun though.

4.) If you're interested in a photo documentation of my life, my new town, Oktoberfest, Cologne... and "the fam" I just posted an album on Facebook :)

LOTS OF LOVE from Glücksburg/Flensburg.
Mere

Grab a snack...

This update is obviously long overdue. I really can't put it any other way. While I feel I should apologize, you might actually end up thanking me in the end because in the meanwhile I've been collecting lottttssss of bloggable material. Can you believe I've been here almost 2 weeks? 

I fear, however, that I might bore you to death with even the most exciting of tales due to the sheer length of this potential future blog entry; therefore, I will do what I do best: List. This is really in the best interest of everyone involved.

Cool People I've Met

• Cute couple from Hamburg on my flight
• Monika and Alex were the first friendly faces I met on my german adventure. Upon answering a question Monika asked (in german) in German, Monika started speaking RAPIDLY, and (I believe) in slang in my direction. My confused and overwhelmed face must have inspired some sort of sympathy response, because she immediately became my friend and caretaker. We chatted in a great warm-up mix of german and english for most of the flight. When we finally landed in Hamburg we exchanged information and they stayed with me until my bags came, offered to give me a ride to the train station and in the end, with a hug and a smile, simply pointed me in the direction of the Schnell-bahn. Off I went to  my new home, with a feeling of calm and promise of a warm dinner in Hamburg if I ever wanted it. Niiiiice. 
• All the very nice people who helped me schlep my broken bag on and off the train(s)
• Note to all moving to Europe for a year: Vera Bradley bags are NOT good travel bags (for this particular endeavor that is... I would never betray my Vera). As it were, my bag handles completely ripped and I was left trying to carry a 37 pound capsule of sundry items while also balancing a rolley bag that didn't fit through these obnoxiously narrow gates of the escalators while simultaneously trying to navigate the tunnels and trains of the German transportation system. It was messy.  I was sweaty. Thank you to every nice german man and woman who helped me carry these bags up stairs, down stairs, and across that "gap" between the subway and cement that Brits always tell you to mind. 
• Particular thanks to Peter the Australian who not only helped me bring my bags onto the train, but also came back to my car (4 cars away from his first class seat) when it was time for me to get off to make sure that I was awake for my stop (due to heavy cold medicine it was actually a close call) and help me take my bags OFF again. Thanks Peter! Next step, Flensburg!
• Marten the almost-roomate in Flensburg
• In perfectly seamless handoff, Peter said goodbye and wished me luck and I turned around to meet the not-serial killer-almost-roomate named Marten who had come to the train station to pick me up and take me back to the apartment I almost had so I could put my bags down while I got settled in Flensburg. In hindsight, I am not only incredibly thankful for this, I am also astounded at how well it worked out, and equally confused as to why the HELL I thought I could just travel to a foreign country and think I could just... arrive. Thank you God, thank you Marten... dear friends, I am still alive. 
• My advisor and his family
• While Marten's offer of staying on his sofa was very nice, and the dinner that he and the other almost-roomate Anna prepared for me was even nicer, the truth is the room I was offered was nothing but a big, empty, white room. I wasn't about to sleep on the floor (though at that point I was so exhausted I probably could have) so I called my advisor. He had also offered me a bed, and at this point, that was all I needed. 
• I not only got a bed, I got a mom, warm meals, someone who knew how to open a bank account for me, twin 3 year old girls who kept my mind entertained and distracted, and a real feeling of home so I never actually felt "homesick". I still haven't, and I could go on and on about the kindness of my advisor and his family for days. They are truly lovely, wonderful people. If you pray anytime soon, throw the Lemke's in there in your laundry list of thanks. Really. 
• All of my teachers
• More on them later... tomorrow is my first day of school! So far they all seem SUPER nice and made me feel welcome. Feeling welcome seems to be the moral of my story.
• Fulbright kids
• Not to diss my own kind, but speaking frankly, german majors as a group are not the coolest of kids. This could start a very philosophical discussion about what it means to be "cool" but let's skip that and say that in a group of 100+ fubrighters I found a group of 6 kindred spirits who seem to all be athletic, outgoing, and want to travel. So we have decided to do just that and plan to have our first real adventure together this weeekend at Oktoberfest. Keep your eyes peeled for that wild update. 
• Within this group comes Marie Greenman. Marie (if you ever read this) thank you for letting me crash at your place in Cologne! I stayed with Marie from Michigan and we had SO much fun at German Karaoke on Thrusday night and at a perfectly european club on Friday night. This is all on top of having perfectly legitimate touristy/educational experiences during the day of course. 

• Random drunk dane on the train
• I'll probably write more on the "soccer culture" in more detail later, but while I'm introducing stories by way of introducing the people I've met I'd like to throw a shout out to Lars, the dane who lives in Flensburg, who was on my train back from Cologne on Saturday. The train was PACKED from Hamburg to Flensburg. Little did I know that Saturday is the day soccer is played and Hamburg just won a huge match. I found out quickly enough through the persistent and ever crecendo-ing chants of the fans on my train and the fact that there was NO PLACE TO SIT. Lars kindly let me sit in his seat, but only through the unspoken promise of semi-coherent conversation for the following 2 hours. Let's just say I learned a LOT about soccer, Hamburg, and soccer chants and didn't get a lot of reading done. I also got his number in case I wanted to learn how to speak danish. Great. 

Stereotypes Confirmed

• Beer, Butter, Bretzeln, Brot
• For those of you who knew me when I traveled to Deutschland the first time (6 years ago... crazy) you know that this dangerous combination of B's led to my ultimate, how can I say this, swelling? I gained 30 pounds in 3 weeks and have pictures to prove it. I've found that 6 years later, this combo is still as german and as common as ever. I'm on the look out for a gym.
• People from Cologne are the friendliest in Germany
• Though I don't have much to compare it to at this point, I can certainly say I've never had so much fun in a german city.
• Typical German things that I already knew
• In case you travel here and didn't already know these things, you should certainly know that:
• Germans bring up politics in small talk ALWAYS. Be prepared
• Do not cross the street when the light is red. They don't even have a word for J-walking because it simply doesn't exist. Should choose to travel across the street while the red hand says "STOP", be prepared for a old german woman to appear out of nowhere and hit you with her umbrella. It WILL happen. 
• Hygiene: Let's call it different.
• I'll save the rest of these for another rainy-day bloggable entry...

Stereotypes Abolished

• Northern Germans are as cold as the perpetually sleeting weather
• See: "cool people I've met".   
• Also See: Picture of the beautiful sunny ocean on right
• I didn't arm myself with too many stereotypes before I came, so... that's all I've got. 

Alright--all caught up? Next blog: First day of school. It starts in about 5 hours. Goodnight!

Kidding...

Ok, so I decided that schlepping my computer along to this long and boring orientation in Cologne would be more of a hassle than a help... so I'm going to have to save the big adventure stories for a little bit later.

For now, I give you just a taste of what my life is like and what is to come...

The picture to the right is on the beach on the way from the middle of Flensburg out to where I have been camping out for the last few days (my advisor's house in Glücksburg... not real camping mind you)

I took it today while taking a bike-riding adventure through the city to get my train ticket. I had a small window of time to do this because Germany as a country shuts down on Sunday, even though they are an unimaginably secular country, so I sped my bike from Glücksburg to Flensburg in about an hour. After the thrill of actually getting someplace all on my own without getting lost wore off, I realized that I was tired and the day was beutiful so I took a meandering tour back home to Glücksburg.

Well wouldn't you know it, I got lost. I wouldn't have known I was lost at all unless the signs around me stopped looking like typical german signs (with the ß's and ü's) and started looking like ø and well, yeah, that's actually the only interesting danish letter I know, and I looked around me and saw only danish flags.  Huh.

Yes, I had meandered my way to Denmark. Can we just take a moment to pause at the absurdity this? On a casual sunday stroll I casually sauntered to Denmark.... casual is definitely the best word for this situation.  I'm still not used to my new life and expect to wake up from this dream soon.

Speaking of dreaming, I have to get up in a mere 4 hours to catch a train to Cologne so I should probably go.

For now though, I will also explain the title of my blog because I feel that has been conspicuously absent from the discussion and is actually a driving force behind all my thoughts.

Here are the lyrics to my favorite song by Sister Hazel and if you press play at the bottom of this blog you can hear it as well (thanks to Lauren Friedman for the multi-dimensional experience suggestion...so smart she is)

Wait, wait... I jest. Adding music seems to be more complicated than I thought, so if you're interested you can follow this link to hear it on youtube. Lame, I know. Sorry. I'll figure it out when I'm not desperate for sleep. The lyrics are the cool part anyway.

Sometimes I wake with a weary head and
I wonder how I'll ever get through
Then I think of the things you said
how you told me to my self be true
My faith in things unseen,
My belief that it'll all work out
May seem like a strange cup of tea,
but if its all right with you than it all
Right with me

Oh my feet I walk, with my legs I run
In my arms I'll hold another day
With my head I think, from my heart I sing
And with my hand to my face I pray

There's times I feel with the strains of life
I could just turn around, turn around walk away
Then a strength like a beam from above
lifts me up by the hand and it leads me to say
Good things for good people you see
good things they seem to all work out
May seem like a strange cup of tea but
if its all right with you well then its all right with me

Oh my feet I walk, with my legs I run
In my arms I'll hold another day
With my head I think, from my heart I sing
And with my hand to my face I pray

Getting by ain't enough for me
I know what I like I like what I see
I'm not only flesh and blood but
I'm heart and soul I know

Sometimes I feel at the end of the day
was it worth while or have I settled for less
I sit back and your there by my side sincerely you say,
we're both so blessed
Count your blessing count them one, two, three
don't give up cause it'll all work out
It may seem like a strange cup of tea but
if it's all right with you, it's just fine with me

Oh my feet I walk, with my legs I run
In my arms I'll hoild another day
With my head I think, from my heart I sing
And with my hand to my face I pray 


So there you go. Count your blessings, count them 1,2,3 and I'll check in when I get back from Cologne. 


Mere

Better late than never?

Hello dear friends,

I am writing to tell you that I am here! I am alive! I have had SO many adventures in these first 3 days and plan on having more, but adventures, I have found, take time... and that is time that I could have spent bogging, and instead have spent meeting new people and getting lost etc. PLUS I'm  living with a family who has 4 kids (including 3 year old twins) which means that between deciphering the nonesensical german phrases of 2 screeching 3 year olds, and helping the mom cook and clean the house, I have only enough time to get online for a second to search for apartments.

Yes, I said it, I'm still looking for apartments. I have been unsuccessful so far, but I think with enough wishing, hoping, and maybe a few beers it will all work out. Anyone know any cool 23 year olds in Northern Germany?

I travel to Cologne tomorrow for orientation and will have a 7 hour train ride to write down EVERYTHING. Get ready, and fix yourself some snacks,  because the next post is gonna be a doozy.

Lots of love,

Meredith