Cologne

THE city closest to Bonn is Cologne. It is the 4th largest city in Germany and I feel as though if Bonn were Sacramento, Cologne would be San Francisco. Cologne is the 4th largest city in Germany and a whole lot bigger than Bonn. In one of our first weeks here, our advisors at the university decided that it would be a good idea for us to see the city and become a little bit familiar with it.

Cologne is famous for 2 things: Inventing Eau de Cologne; and it's massive cathedral. On our tour of Cologne we climbed almost to the very top of the cathedral and looked out over the entire city. While my fear of heights led me to be a little bit apprehensive at first, I'm glad I took the opportunity. The view was gorgeous, the sky was clear, and I felt like I was on top of the world.

It was also cool being able to see the inside workings of the cathedral. Our tour guide showed us the skeleton of the cathedral as well as various oddities I had no idea existed.

Cologne is a nice city to visit (especially at night) but I'm really glad I live in Bonn which is just a short train ride away. In comparison to Bonn, Cologne is very large and at this point of my stay I've figured out my way around. Bonn is basically in a big circle and I pretty much always know where I'm going whereas when I'm in Cologne I feel as though if I take one wrong street I will have no chance of getting back home. A few friends and I have visited Cologne a couple of times for it's nightclubs but I always prefer returning back to my room in Bonn. At this point, I believe, it's become my home.

Several Things I've Noticed About the Germans

ON one of our excursions we had a mixer with a number of German high school students who were studying US-German relations so we were instructed to talk to them about their perceptions of us and vice versa. It's given me an interesting perspective of what being an "American" is. But for now I'll dish on my perspectives of the Germans:

1. Most younger Germans speak English because they are required to learn in like 5th grade. Also any German will tell you that English is way easier to learn than German. Most Germans know 3 languages as well.
   
2. Germans aren't cold! A simple smile is just more of an invitation over here than it is in the U.S. (I'm still trying to figure out whether this is good or bad)
3. Germans will tell you exactly how they feel. Whether it's about politics, food, how someone behaves, Germans want to you know exactly what is on their mind. At first it's a little offputting, now it's more refreshing.
4. Germans know how to party and like to party very much. After attending Oktoberfest this past weekend, this became very very very clear.
5. Germans don't hate Americans!!! I think it has more to do with our current administration. Whenever I tell someone I'm from America (California especially) they immediately want to talk about celebrities or sunshine.

This is just the beginning. As I continue to travel I'm sure I will develop more perceptions about my new friends the Germans and will report on them accordingly.

It is an Honor to be a Bonner

So after a month in beautiful Deutschland comes my first blog entry. It has been almost non-stop until now. I don't have class until Monday so I finally have some time to breathe.

Basically, Germany is amazing and exceeds my expectations every day I am here. The trip over was long...very long. However I am glad that I took the group flight because it made it a lot more bearable being with people I knew. For some reason though I had a lot of trouble sleeping and didn't really until I got to my room in Germany. We got to the Frankfurt airport and took a 2 hour bus ride to the city of Bonn, where I will be living until mid-December. One of the first things I noticed as I stepped into Germany was how much English is used everywhere. I'm glad that I garnered a very basic understanding of the language before I left but after I noticed this I knew it wouldn't be much of a problem to make my way around the country.

After getting into Bonn they separated the students staying with host families from the students staying in the dorms. I was told that I would be living by myself and at first I was a little bit apprehensive about this but now I quite enjoy it because I'm living in a room for 2 people as 1. The people I live with are really nice and I know I'm creating some lasting relationships with my newly-formed friends. In the dorm facilities there are also students from a landscaping program at Texas A&M University as well as several German business men so it's an interesting smorgesboard of people from different cultures!

After settling into our rooms, our housing coordinator Olaf took us all out to dinner at a Biergarten near the university. There I had my first taste of German beer. The regional favorite is Kölsch which is brewed in nearby Cologne. German beer is way better than American beer. To put it mildly. Anyway, we had dinner on the Rhine and I got to take lots of beautiful pictures. Then Olaf asked us if we wanted to go shopping for food or out to a bar. We chose the bar.

Zebulon is a bar famous amongst the LMU students in the Bonn program because of their friendliness to us basically. Inside there's a large LMU banner and various pictures of LMU students from their semesters abroad. The staff is really friendly and ordered us all a round on the house.

Before arriving to Bonn I was worried about how long it would take to adjust to a completely different way of life than my own but after my first day in Bonn I knew it wouldn't be much of a challenge.