Amy Lynn Schaag is a Cavewoman with No Internet.

So. I had planned to wait until Thursday (yesterday) to make another blogpost because that was supposed to be when I received internet access in my dorm. To make a long story short, no internet access was received and probably none will until next Thursday. So now I am making this post in the lab.

My first day in Germany was somewhat pitiful, but that could just be because I was tired and scarred from the long, lonely, uncomfortable plane rides. Or it could be because my very first European bus ride experience consisted Germans laughing at me for not knowing what to do with my bus ticket when I got on. But don't feel sorry for me because it only has gotten way better since then!

Everyone in the dorm I'm staying in is super nice. I met a bunch of people the very first night because I had to go around knocking on people's doors to see if I could borrow a towel (great conversation starter by the way!). I ended up actually getting a towel from a very friendly Spanish girl named Patricia who has since loaned me many other items, invited me to every event in her life since then, and helped me find a phone for use in Europe. Because of her I have been introduced, I think, to the entire Spanish community in Braunschweig. They are very fun people! Patricia is also a great person to practice my German with because she speaks virtually no English, and I speak absolutely no Spanish, so we are forced to speak German with each other. It causes a lot of miscommunications but that's ok.

The people who work in the lab with me are also AWESOME. They go out of their way to make sure I am having a good time and include me in everything. They often speak English to make sure I understand what is being said and if I want to speak German they speak slowly because they know I can't understand when they talk fast. They have a soccer team and were very adamant about me joining, even though I told them I suck. We played yesterday and even though I was stinking up the field, they still passed the ball to me all the time. They are a very funny, close-knit group of people and all have nicknames for each other. For example, they call Jo "Vogel" which means bird in German and another guy "Ossie" which is a German slang term for someone who comes from East Germany. There's another guy whose dad apparently owns or has some very important position with Jaegermeister. They call him "Mr. Jaeger."

There seem to be no hipsters present yet in Braunschweig (punkish yes, 90's-esque grunge definitely) but I plan to start a wave. Jo calls my wayfarers "mickey mouse sunglasses" and I was like, "Dude. Just you wait and soon everyone in Germany will be wearing these just like EVERYONE in America wears them!" He also said that when I wear my fannypack I look like a "cool ghetto kid." WIN.

This weekend I am staying in Braunschweig to explore, etc. Tomorrow I'm going to the Fleamarket to buy a stolen bike for cheap (very common here) then there is a free Beerfest, a small music festival, and Jo wants to go see Robin Hood sometime this weekend (dubbed-over in German for the win).

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far!
Tchuss!