Seventeenth Day in Dortmund

Sept. 17th, 2012

Another Monday! It seems like time passes extra fast here. I can't believe I've already been in Germany for 2 1/2 weeks! I got up at 8:00 as usual and made my way to class. I chose to walk along the road this morning, just to break up the monotony of walking in the field. I did make a video of what it's like to walk that path, but I am trying to edit it so everyone does not have to sit through five minutes of the camera pointed at the ground.

In any case, I wish I had taken the field this morning. While they are doing construction on the main road to University, they usually have one or the other side of the street open to foot traffic. This morning, both sides were closed. I was already running a little bit late and could not afford to walk all the way back to the entrance road for the field. So I took my life in my own hands and walked along the road. Every time I heard a car approaching, I squeezed as close to the side as I could, but I was still uncomfortable with the amount of space between me and their rearview mirrors. I guess this is Europe, where drivers are used to going around pedestrians and cyclists, but I was still scared. As soon as the sidewalk opened back up, I hopped on it. I was glad that I did, two seconds later, a garbage truck passed me, and the tires were hugging the curb where I had just been walking. Phew! And that, kids, is the time I was almost squished by a garbage truck! I will definitely be taking the field path until these construction workers decide their work is done.

In class today, we learned about the four cases a word can be: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive. I was really glad that I took Grammar last year with Dr. Tuten. English grammar is hard enough, but at least I knew what the teacher was talking about when she named the cases. There were some people in class who had never heard of the cases.

After class let out, I was determined to go shopping in the city. However, this usually requires money, and I was down to 5 Euro. I had been holding out on going to any old ATM, because Daddy found out the Deutsch Bank is associated with Bank of America and there is no extra charge if you withdraw money from one of their ATM's. I had looked up where the closest one was and made my way to Stadtgarten. I found it with no problems and was happy to finally have some money in my wallet.

After that, I went to Rossman's. I was specifically looking for Vicks VapoRub. A lot of people are getting sick and I do not want to be without my menthol gel if I catch something. However, the Germans must not get sick, or they don't use Vicks. Instead, they use  "Wicks" but it was only cough drops. Alas, I gave up searching and went to Aldi's for some groceries.

So it does exist!!! 

I filled up my buggy as was expecting to pay at least 40 Euro, but my total only came out to 12.50! Thank you Aldi!

I also got my first letter today that wasn't a bank statement or phone bill. It was from my sister Leslie and I was so excited. Here is said letter:

Thank you sissy!!! 

She also recommended some ideas for the blog, so in fulfilling her request, I will focus a little more on the food I eat over here. (I am happy to oblige when it comes to talking about food).

So. At Aldi's, I purchased some Kinder eggs. Lauren and Leslie had already introduced me to these delicious treats when I was around 12. They are like Cracker Jacks, except more chocolate and better toys. I even got a pack of three for 1 Euro!

Drei! Drei Eier, a-hah-hah!

Here is what one looks like:

Prize inside!!

Assemble this awesome wolf!

The finished product.

Okay, i think that's enough on the subject of Kinder eggs.

I also purchased the equivalent of Lil Smokies in honor of my father, since they are his favorite thing to serve at dinner parties.

What else? Oh! I also got some Peppermint tea that is delicious! I got some Apfelschorle as well. It's like apple cider, and we discovered it on our trip to Berlin back in May. "It's like crack!"as my friend Sarah describes it haha.

Crack-tastic!

On my way back to school, I stopped at a store in the train station. We had passed this place dozens of times, but I never had the chance to stop. They sell chocolate covered waffles on a stick. It's pretty much the best thing ever. It's only 60 cents as well. I was so excited to try them and they did not disappoint. Here's what they look like in all of their glory:

 Enough food for a while, that's the end of this post, Schüss!

German Word of the Day: Brief- "Letter" I am always excited to open a Brief from home!