Days 1/2 - May 3rd/4th, 2008

After a very long plane ride, I'm here in Augsburg!

We left the house Saturday morning around 9 to drive down to see my cousins, who live really close to Dulles. After visiting them for a few hours, my parents drove me about 20 minutes to Dulles for the 7 pm flight out of the country. The person who checked me in said I'd have an aisle seat but of course I had the middle of the row, with people on either side of me, which was very uncomfortable for 8 hours!

As soon as I got on the plane I switched my watch over to German time so I could get in the mindset and hopefully get over the jetlag quicker. So we actually left at 1 am and landed at 9 am to a very warm (and intially good smelling) Frankfurt airport. I was able to catch some z's on the plane (or y's as it is on German keyboards), and a bunch of us went to a little cafe to get some food. I got a reallz good Bavarian pretzel and cappacino, and was able to try some German out. I ordered auf Deutsch and they responded in German as well, but they would always say the price in English. I think they knew I was American because no German would be wearing an Italia soccer jersey.

We hopped aboard the ICE train to Augsburg for 3 hours, and I admittedly took a longer nap than I wanted to, but I got some cool pictures of the German countryside. We got to Augsburg and met the German students that we'd be working with, and they seemed really cool and laid back. For dinner, we ate a DELICIOUS Bavarian meal at the König von Flandern (King from Flanders) restaurant, served by a waitress who grew up in New York! They basically gave us a large tray of meats (ham, roast beef, sausage, pork), and we were able to go to town. We also ordered two 3 Liter things of the house dark beer, which most everyone enjoyed.

Afterwards, some of the Germans wanted to take us to a Biergarten (literally, "beer garden", an place where they drink outside and hang out), but it was closed, so we went to the Ratskeller restaurant/lounge, which was a very neat place. It was all underground, and opened up into a very large hall with wooden tables and some very American music. Most everyone got another beer or this drink that was wine, water, and something else mixed together, but I got this realllllly good chocolate ice cream dish.

It had been a long day of travel with very little sleep, so most of us headed back about 9:30 or 10:00 and it was time for some well earned sleep. All in all the day was a great success. I got here all right, and was able to try out some German. I got delicious food, and met the German students, who all were really nice and talkative to us (with great English). Plus, I asked one of the guys, Phillip, if we could set a soccer game up, and he was all for it. All the guys toasted a good trip (Prost), and it's definitely going to be a good one.