9 April - My travel to Germany. Over 1400 Germany pictures, photos, and stories, study abroad, maps, and travel advice for Germany and France.

Still no Internet in my room, and still no boxes. Those are kind of my themes for the day I guess. But other than that, everything is going really well!

I'm really fortunate to have so many great people around who are willing to help and wanting to meet new faces and new people. Today I met a couple of new people, and saw some faces from around the world. A guy named Ali (from Iran), showed me how to write my name in Arabic. I talked with a girl from the Czech Republic named Veronika about why you should get more than one hour of sleep/night. (She was at a party I was at the other night over on Dave's floor, and we all stayed up until 6:00 AM, and she had to work at 7:30 AM.) Dave (from South Dakota) is a pretty cool guy! He's a Fullbright scholar, and will be teaching German here in Germany for the next two years or so. Then there's Roberto from Spain, who I stayed up until 3:00 last night talking with about the differences between America and Spain and politics und 'Gott und die Welt' (A German idiom for a conversation about life, the universe, and everything.). I'm still trying to understand everything Jenny says, because she's still using English words that they use in Great Britain that we don't use in the states. It's nice to have her close by when I want to speak some English and yet get away from Americans... (No offense intended to anyone studying over here.) I ate lunch today with Jim (and aforementioned Dave) who is from Minnesota and is engaged to a girl named Heidi who he talked quite a bit about at lunch today. It was cool to hear about his life back home. I got an email from Monika who is from Poland, asking me what I'd been up to this weekend, and it was cool to hear from her since I hadn't seen her since going to Schmitzz last Wednesday night. Also today was pretty cool because I stopped by this "bucherflohmarkt" (book flea market), which was actually a family selling books from their backyard, which they do "fast jedes Dienstags" (almost every Tuesday) depending on the weather (he must have told me that at least 8 times). This guy in his late seventies spent about 45 minutes talking to me about the Native American Indians and about how unbelievable it was what had happened to them, which led into talk about the second world war, and about American immigration, and about how he isn't really interested in New York, or the east or west coast, but more interested in what happens around the Rocky Mountains, to the left and to right of the Rocky Mountains was how he put it. It was pretty cool! Then I went to the Innenstadt (downtown more or less) and had coffee with Kurt (Colorado), Ryan (LongBeach, California), Trish (Wisconsin), Mindy (Wisconsin), Molly (Wisconsin), and Briggitte (Wisconsin). So many cool people all around me, and that was just today!!!

I kind of lose track of whether I am speaking English or German, because I use the two pretty interchangeably here. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what I am doing, because most people understand English as well. I'm really trying to stick with the German, but it's too easy to resort back to the English. Even the lady at the bank this morning did it when I went to get my ATM card. I didn't hear something she said, so I said, "Nochmal, bitte (again, please),' and she switched automatically into English..

So here's my advice on the boxes and on the Internet, for those of you reading this site who are coming to Oldenburg to study. Remember two very important P words. Be patient, and be persistent, and make an effort to get to know lots of people. If I had not been persistent about my boxes, they would be on their way back to the states today, and if I had not had the help of Anne or my buddy Michael, I would not have been able to get to the customs office to pick them up, or to request that they hold my boxes for me. Had I not been persistent with the Internet, I still wouldn't even know who to talk to about getting it set up, and patience is necessary, because I've been here now 2 1/2 weeks, and am still waiting for 3 boxes (I will get the notifications from Bob on Wednesday), and still no Internet as well.

This is the longest time I have ever been out of the states, and also my longest time in Europe. It's interesting living here because I feel like I almost want to be a tourist sometimes--almost like the day-to-day stuff would mean more if I acted like a tourist. I'm not really homesick because I know that I won't be here that long. I am more than 1/8 finished with the time that I will spend here, and feel like I have so much more that I want to do that I'm not going to get to do while I'm here. I do miss home though, and it was really nice to get an Easter card and shirt from my family today! Thanks Dad, Mom, and Deanna!

I'm sure I've already made this point a hundred times too, but I want to make it again. Technology amazes me. The day after I got here, I was able to get a Handy (cell phone), a very inexpensive phone card from Telecafe (in the Innenstadt), and talk to my family for free via email. I can't really envision being here without the comfort of all these luxuries, and I'm glad they're here!

Germany Map - where I lived

I lived and studied at the German university in Oldenburg which is near Bremen, and about two hours east of Hamburg, Germany. Clearly visible on the map are Bremen and Twistringen, Germany. When I go back, I'd like to visit Hannover and Berlin, as well as Cologne. Also, I'd like to visit more German castles, Because I only visited two in Nuremberg. Click on the travel links on this page to see pictures and advice about studying abroad in Germany (and traveling advice for France), or click the links below to go to strive4impact.com's other pages.

The Phones and the Internet
Inexpensive calling advice within North America, from North America to the world, and calling from anywhere in the world to North America

Jonathan's VOIP page
What is VoIP? It lets you make a phone call from your computer to anywhere in the world! I pay only 4 cents per minute to call anywhere in Europe! Cheap rates for countries around the world.

GERMAN	ENGLISH
Feinkost	Deli

My travels in Germany Pictures and Photos

Pictures, travel tips, and stories