My travels in Germany Pictures and Photos

Pictures, travel tips, and stories

March 22 - July 22

Freitag, 30 Marz 4:30 PM

Wenn die sonne scheint, geht alles viel besser!

(Everything is better when the sun comes out!)

        The sun is shining today!  It's the first time I've seen the sun and blue sky in about 3 days.  The birds are chirping (which is totally new), I can see blue sky, and I'm able to sit with my window open while typing!  I really like good weather!

German word of the day: 

Yesterday, I got a message in my mailbox that said I had received a package and that they had tried to deliver it, but that I wasn't here to sign for it, so I needed to call them to arrange for redelivery.  While I was waiting to meet with Bob McLaughlin, I called the Deutsche Post, and arranged for redelivery for this morning between 8:00 and 12:00.  I was able to understand everything that they were saying to me and sure enough, got my box this morning at 11:45 AM, which had the two old voltage converters that Mom had given me in it, (Thank-you MOM!), and am now able to use my computer again and charge the computer batteries which Brian sent with me which were a huge help on the way here (thanks Brian).  I was so proud of my German skills though that I was able to call the post office and arrange for redelivery!

Also yesterday, Anne (Pronounced An-uh), took me to the Zollamt (Customs office) to pick up my boxes.  Unfortunately, I only had a notice for one, so that was the only one that I could pick up, but that was okay, because it had my camera, sheets, and some warm clothes in it, which will definitely be great to have!  So now I am only waiting for three boxes, and I know that one of them is actually at the Zollamt, because I saw it when we were there yesterday, but I have to wait to get a notification that it's there before I can go and pick it up.  I just realized as well that those notifications are going to be delivered to Bob McLaughlin, who will be out of town all of next week...and the German Zollamt will only hold the boxes for one week, and after that they get sent back, meaning that I had better get in touch with Bob this weekend.  We'll see what happens with that.

After the Zollamt, we went to Burger King (which is an American company, not a British one)... of all places.  But Jim from Wisconsin (who is not a Packers fan--go JIM!) felt that we had to stop by McDonald's, and he got a barbecue burger, which I have to admit, did look pretty appetizing.  Anyway, here's some pictures of that:

    Burger King Place mat in German

Jim and Anne just hanging out in Burger King (Note the rain outside)

            Last night we went to this 80's club called Amadeus (but they didn't play that song or anything by Falco), and had 3 Mark ($1.40) 10 oz. margaritas, which were actually pretty good, and 6 Mark dunkel weizen bier, which was pretty good as well.  

            The Germans have a drinking phrase which sounds remarkably similar to one we have, but theirs sounds better...

American
Liquor before beer, you're in the clear.
Beer before liquor, make you even sicker.

German
Bier auf wein, lass es sein.
Wein auf bier, radt ich dir.

British
Beer and wine makes you feel fine.
Wine and beer makes you feel queer.

            So, sorry I missed so many days on this site in the past week.  I didn't have any way to recharge my computer, so it made no sense to get an Internet connection into my room yet.  Now I can plug things in, so that is pretty cool!  Here are a couple of pages I put together for showing people my wohnungsplatz (living space).

Toilette (bathroom)      Duschen (showers)        Kuche (kitchen)     Meine Zimmer (My room)

The bells of the church nearby are ringing.  Must mean it's time for me to go have dinner!  

        So, that's some of the news from Oldenburg for today (that's for all you Garrison Keeler fans).  I hope you're doing well wherever you are!

Today, I wish I had packed in my suitcase instead of in boxes:

Things I was glad to have today:

Go to the next Germany update

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 buttons 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.

Go to the next Germany update

Helpful Germany Links page and the Study abroad advice page
cheap phone calls and Germany calling cards.

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Jonathan Kraft