After a long flight, which included some very unwelcome turbulence at the end, I arrived in Frankfurt, called my parents (quick phone call! $1.60/minute? I don't think so!) and after a little confusion, managed to find the passport stamping people before the rest of my flight did, making my walk through the line very short. I got my bags and, worried about getting through customs, hurried through the doors...only to find I was done, and that there were three people from AJY waiting for me: two students and one in-charge person. We waited for a long time for everyone else in the group to get there, a few flights were delayed, but eventually we got on out bus, and drove from Frankfurt to Heidelberg, about an hour drive.
When we got to HD, we were shown to our rooms. Mine is on the Untere Neckarstraße which is right near the river (the Neckar) and around the corner from the AJY center (meaning I have a really short commute in the morning) and right near the Mensa (cafeteria, and some of the cheapest food in town).
The weekend we spent being oriented, both by AJY and with Heidelberg in general. This week we started our preliminary course of language learning which, while pretty boring, is probably going to be really helpful. The German-only rule (we can only speak German in the center, so during classes as well as whenever in the building just hanging out, which a lot of us do) is also really helpful, even though it's unpopular. It helps me a lot to be forced to think in German all day (or at least a good portion of the day).
So far, I've explored thealtstadt of Heidelberg a lot, mostly the Hauptstraße and surrounding streets because it's so close to my dorm. I went to the castle yesterday which was fun! It's up this steep hill, but once you get up there, it's so unbelievably pretty! Today, we (Megan, Haleigh and Anne, three other AJY students and I) went to the top of the tower of the Heiliggeistkirche, which is in the middle of town, or at least in the middle of the altstadt, and what a trek! It was crazy, I seriously thought the steps (they were these really narrow wind-ey steps up like a thousand feet) were never going to end. I saw these scenes in my head of not being able to go up or down and like withering away on the steps. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but I was wondering how much longer we had to go. Of course, I whooshed through them on the way down...
I'm working on getting a sim card for my phone, but other than that, I'm pretty much set on things. Haleigh, Megan, Anne and I basically go to the store every day, first because it's something to do and we have a lot of free time at this point and secondly because we keep discovering new ones and exploring them like they're tourist attractions and thirdly because we need breakfast and snack food.
I'm not sure how to live in my dorm yet, like I don't understand how things work yet, but I'm getting there. I blew a fuse in my room a few days ago and was so flustered and embarrassed that I just went to bed and hoped it'd be fixed by morning when I'd have light outside my window to help me. That didn't happen. I ended up just like putzing around my room until, thank goodness, a guy came to my door to introduce himself and be like "hey, I'm ____ (I was so flustered at having to understand and respond, I have no idea what his name was) and what's yours? and how's your room?" and I had to be like "welll....actually..." and then, probably completely out of pity because I sound like a completely bumbling idiot every time I talk to someone other than Americans, he showed me where the breaker is, and I'm sure I'll have to use it again!
I'm also fuzzy on how to use the bathroom. Weird, right? You think "well, duh. you use it." not like that, I just mean there are two rooms, and I don't know how to handle them. It's like this: there is a room, and inside that room is a room, which is where the (one) toilet is. There's also a sink in that room, but the sink to use is in the bigger room, which is also where the shower is. So if you shower, no one can use the toilet, and if you need to use the toilet, but someone is in the shower, then it sucks for you. Except there is another bathroom, but it's on the other half of my floor and I don't know if I can use it... Don't even get me started on how to use the kitchen...
I promised myself this wouldn't be insanely long, so for that I'm sorry, but thanks for sticking by me if you made it to the end!
Maybe next week you'll get to hear about how I (maybe) went to France, or about the reenactment of the burning of the castle. there will be fireworks! fireworks!
Bis dann,
Sarah
