Day One- 1st September 2012
(this is obviously posted after day one because of the internet problems. I will eventually catch up... i hope)
I made it! After leaving my parents
clutching my shoes, I embarked on this new adventure (after being
patted down by security first, of course). I packed one too many pair
of shoes and had to take some out to lighten my checked bag. On my
first flight, Myrtle Beach to Atlanta, I met a really nice guy,
Isaac. He had just graduated from CCU and was offered a job as a
scout there. He was from Florida and had a parent involved with
education like me, so we chatted about that for a while. He was going
to a concert in Philly featuring Jay Z and Kanye, so I was a little
jealous.
After a brisk walk to my gate, I made
it on the plane to Amsterdam. I was sandwiched between a nice man
from somewhere in Africa and a German girl. I think I said 3 words to
each of them on the 8-hour flight. I was all about the movies. I
learned from our class trip to Berlin in May that there were free and
current movies to watch on the flight. So I crammed in all I could. I
watched Snow White and the Huntsman (ehh), Hugo (yeah!), Sherlock
Holmes 2 ( I love RDJ), and half of The French Connection (car
chases!). I made it to Amsterdam and had to go through customs. I was
worried about making my connection to Dusseldorf on time, because
when we went through in May, it was very crowded and we had to run to
catch our flight.
Story time!- I also harbored a fear of
customs because of a harrowing childhood experience. Okay, maybe
harrowing isn’t the right word, but it stuck in my brain. I
remember being 8 or 9 and we were going through customs in France.
For some reason, I went to the counter by myself (I could barely see
over) and was questioned by a very intimidating man with a graying
mustache. He asked “business or pleasure” and I had no idea what
that meant. He should have inferred that I was a child and not there
to visit my winery and check up on my French stock holdings. In any
case, I just turned to find my Dad and he came over to negotiate with
Mr. Mustache.
I got through this time without any
problems or long waits and made it on my final plane. However, the
pilot said we would be 30 minutes late departing. That would leave me
30 minutes to find the baggage claim AND the correct train. However,
the “Delicious Treats” that the stewardess was passing out were
some consolation. It is KLM’s snack brand and I had a sugarcoated
waffle that tasted a lot like the Donut Sticks you can get stateside.
I made it to Baggage Claim and found my
way to the train. Of course, it wasn’t that simple. To get to the
actual train station, you have to take a Sky Train, or monorail. You
also have to buy a ticket for this thing from a kiosk with no
English. There was a line forming behind me, so I pressed some
buttons, and when I couldn’t find the 2 Euro to pay, I just fed the
machine the first bill I could find. Which was a 20. That’s like
paying for a pack of gum with a $20 bill in the U.S. So I now had a
handful of change and my ticket. Whatever. I knew I would be leaving
from platform 1, and I finally got there. The problem was that there
was no sign indicating what train would leave the platform. Luckily I
ran into an English-speaking couple that assured me this was the
right train. Unluckily, I had no idea there were assigned seats on
the train. I just assumed it was like a subway. So I moved seats
twice, since I inferred that all the pointing and talking being
directed at me had something to do with the seat I was in.
Thankfully, a girl took pity on me and explained in broken English
that there were assigned seats, that I was in hers, mine was number
25, and I should move. I finally left the crazy train and met up
with Dr. Ute’s (my professor from Columbia College) friend Uschi.
She helped me haul my luggage to her car and told me about her horse
Dodi and the town of Dortmund. She reminded me a lot of Dr. Ute and
informed me they had met as students at the University of Bonn. I was
so grateful to her for picking me up, and I was really happy to meet
and get to know her as well.
Of course they are paving the road
where my dorm is located. I felt right at home since my first two
years at CC were spent listening to jackhammers and backhoes in the
early hours of the morning. I then met up with Ann-Kathrin and her
boyfriend Carl, who are my Dortmund Doubles (Students assigned to
foreign-exchange people to help them get used to Germany). We lugged
everything up the stairs and investigated my dorm. I bombarded them
with questions ranging from how to open the windows (it’s was hard,
ok?) to how to unlock doors (it’s also hard, ok?). They graciously
answered every one and then took me to tour the campus.
They showed me where most of my classes
would be and explained the complicated numbering system of room
numbers. In Germany, the 1st floor is not the ground
floor; it is the first floor up. So I guess the ground floor is
regarded as 0. Thanks to Ann Kathrin and Carl, I won’t be running
around on the wrong floor trying to find my class.
Then we went shopping. We went to an
Aldi’s! I felt right at home. They even had some Trader Joe’s
stuff. I was sad to find out that peanut butter was a specialty in
Germany. So my PB&J’s were reduced to just J’s. We went back
to Carl’s apartment where we ate and got to know one another. Carl
used to work in a video shop and has a collection of over 600 movies.
He also has posters and memorabilia everywhere, which was seriously
impressive for a movie nerd like me. He even had a real-live katana!
He let me hold it too! I asked if it was a Hattori Hanzo sword and
he just laughed (Kill Bill reference). His collection also included
loads of old guns from WWI and earlier, an old ammunition box, a
tomahawk, and a huge bowie knife. He let me hold and try out all this
stuff (the guns didn’t fire anymore, don’t worry).
After this, Ann-Kathrin and I went
shopping for a phone. She showed me how to use the U-bahn (subway),
and we went to Germany’s version of Best Buy, Saturn, and found a
little 15.99€ Samsung, circa
2005. Now I can call/text German numbers without running up a huge
bill.
Don’t be too jealous.
Then we went to a store in the mall, which Carl
described as Germany’s version of J.C. Penney. We were looking for
one thing: a bigger wallet (to keep all my change from breaking 20’s
left and right).
When we got back to Carl’s to set up
the phone, Carl said my Southern accent was noticeable when I said
certain words. (I think it was all the y’alls that gave me away) I
was thankful it wasn’t too noticeable. But, to entertain
them, I laid it on thick and they kept coming up with requests for me
to say. A lot of them were lines by Joy from My Name is Earl,
but I didn’t mind. Then, Ann-Kathrin tried talking in a Southern
accent, which was hilarious as well.
We drove back to my dorm and
Ann-Kathrin helped me haul all my groceries upstairs. My roommate,
Dalma, who had not been there when we initially arrived, was home.
She was not expecting us, and I’m sure we scared her. At least, I
would’ve been scared at 11:00 at night and I hear two people in my
apartment. Ann-Kathrin explained in German who I was, and Dalma was
very gracious. She’s from Duisberg, a town 30 minutes from here,
and made me feel welcome.
At the end of the day, I was very
tired, but very happy to have made it safely with no major problems.
I think this qualifies as an adequate
post for my first day, sorry if you got bored, I will try and leave
out some stuff in the next one! Schüss! (Goodbye)
P.s. According to Carl and Ann-Kathrin,
no one says Auf Weidershen in Germany anymore. It’s usually Schüss.
It would be like Americans saying “Farewell” instead of “Goodbye”
- Word of the day: Seiben und Dreizig or Thirty-seven, which is my dorm number.
Full Address-
- Joanna Burch
Emil-Figge-Strausse
37
Zi (short for
“Zimmer” which means “room”) 141
Dortmund, Germany
44227
If you want to
write me, I think postage is like 97 cents, so I think two regular
stamps and maybe a 10-cent stamp would do.
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