Day 5

Today was a very relaxing day. I woke up to a soft pitter patter on my attic window and walked outside to feel a nice 56 degrees, unlike the inches of snow at home. Today I didn’t have to be at school until 11:40 and I only had one 45 minute lesson. I taught a group of 8th graders a lesson on Manhattan, which was difficult considering I have only been to NYC myself once. It is so interesting to see what German people think that Americans know or do not know. Afterwards, I was all done and enjoyed a nice ride home on my bike. EVERYONE rides a bike EVERYWHERE here. Bella mad lunch for herself, Lotti, Elli, and I and it was probably one of my favorite meals I have had in Germany thus far. It was called flammkuchen which is similar to a pizza type thing. It was a soft bread, with a creamy cheese sauce, yellow peppers, red peppers, tomato, basil, and onions baked. It was so so so so so GOOD!!! I have been craving it all night long. After my late lunch, I met up with one of my friends, Jessica (from WKU), and her host sister, Laura. We decided to take a train (my first European train ride!!) to a nearby city called Dortmund to go shopping for the afternoon! Dortmund is a very large city and has a HUGE shopping center. The streets remind me a lot of Times Square, but with prettier buildings. The buildings are so close, the streets are so crowded, and there are lights and signs EVERYWHERE. Definitely not what I pictured parts of Germany to look like. We even walked to the probably the largest mall I have every been too. It was four stories high with such good brand name stores. And it beautiful because everything is decorated for Christmas. I had so much fun shopping and can’t wait to come back soon for the Christmas festival.Mental note: everyone loves Hollister and wants to buy it here unlike at home where that phase left a long time ago. I wanted to buy everything I saw, not at Hollister but at everywhere else, but decided to save my money for my Berlin trip this weekend. I did decide to buy German froyo (yes it is different here…real yogurt and delicious) and a German chocolate donut… you have to try one. Both only cost me 3 Euros… I could get used to living here. So far, Germany has continued to surprise me. I decided that I do not want to leave…since that is not an option… time needs to slow down! NOW!!!