(no subject)
who'd have thought you could spend an entire afternoon in köln without even leaving the train station. haha. but on a sunday, that's really the place to be, since no other stores are open and it was raining anyhow.
haha, i got distracted. but look at this.
anyways. jason and i went to köln today and never made it past the front doors of the train station. but we had a nice surprise coming in. a dampfzug is going around for five days in the next three months, and one of those days happened to be today. rund um kölle...whatever kölle is. and so we went over and checked that out, took some pictures. the train stopped for about fifteen minutes and had attracted quite a crowd by the time it left.
and then we discovered just how many stores there are at köln hbf. i wanted to buy so much, but i didn't buy one thing. i'm proud of myself. ...i am going back there another day, though. some of the stuff would make good souvenirs for my family, some of it i just want, and other stuff is practical and nice, like bags and whatnot. there were a couple of bags and purses i really liked, but i didn't get them. even though they were cheap.
yesterday was pretty fun, at yvonne's birthday. i did feel a bit.......out of place, i guess. to start with, i was hands down the youngest one there. ok, not a big deal. then...i knew only four people out of thirty. somewhat more uncomfortable because i couldn't just jump into a conversation with anybody. and, when i did, the fact that i was the only non german there came into play. haha. i met yvonne's bf, boris. he's been living in sweden for awhile, now, and so it was nice for yvonne to have him back here.
everybody there was late twenties to thirties, and then of course there were friends of the family who were older than that. and most of them were coupled up. which made katherine feel uncomfortable. she's a friend of yvonne and we took the train out there together. i'd never really gotten to know her that well, but i did yesterday. first off, she was late and we missed the train by three minutes so we had to wait half and hour and we chatted. and then in the train to köln. and then on the tram to norf. and i talked to her there more than anybody else. yvonne was of course busy a lot of the time, or chatting with people and the only other people i "knew" were her mom and oma.
but i met a lot of people and chatted a lot anyways. people were curious about me, mostly because i'm american. they had questions, and stories and etc. one couple had been to new york and wanted to know how close i was to that. another guy had never been to the states, and oh...so this guy. he was one of the first people there i met. he came and sat down across from katherine and i and introduced himself and we started chatting. and before i knew it, he was giving me an entire rundown of things i had to see before i leave. "i don't care how, but you have to see these things before you leave." and i'd already told him i was leaving the 9th. among those things was some huge construction site somewhere, with huge holes in the ground. "it's not pretty, but it's something to see." haha. anyways, that's not the thing. the thing is when he asked me about my coming to germany, and if i'd gotten culture shock at all. i told him i hadn't gotten flat out culture shock, but that yes, some things were different and it'd taken me awhile to get used to it, or it had simply surprised/amazed/intrigued me. and then he went off onto this mini lecture about how it's impossible to get culture shock coming from the states to germany (he's never been to the states). he told me that going to asia or africa is so different, you really stand out and notice you're not at home anymore. true. i never said it was that different coming to germany, and he'd asked me, after all, what i'd felt upon coming to germany. ..? i felt kind of affronted, partially because i really hadn't expected that. because i don't speak german so well i eventually gave in and said fine, no such thing as culture shock, it's just like home. and he just kind of stared at me. he was high, i should mention. that might have had something to do with it...
i was going to stay the night there, but katherine didn't want to cause she doesn't know yvonne's mom or oma, and yvonne wasn't going back there with us. and she also didn't want to go back to bonn alone, and hey. no place like home. i was all up for sleeping in my own bed. so we went back home at 1am. but because it was so late and the train/tram/bus were only running once an hour, we didn't get home until 3am. not back to bonn, actually to our place (we live right next to each other), so that's not toooo bad. but i was so tired, i slept till 9.30 this morning. and then i hung out with jason today.
so, it was a good weekend. tomorrow morning i am helping jason and daniella take jason's stuff to the hbf, and then i'm going to stay there with him till his train at 2. but we're leaving at 9am. so i'll go get food for us at some point... i was talking to jason about this today, and everybody so far has had somebody else (or more than one somebody else) help them get there stuff out of the dorms and to the train station. but not me. i don't know what i did wrong, but i'm all alone at the end. like jason said, though...it's cause i'm staying so late. everybody else has either taken off, is taking off or will leave very shortly. i'm really worried, though, about how i'll manage. because i bought the ticket to frankfurt from bonn. but now that i'm staying in dormagen, köln would be soooo much more sensible. dormagen is, after all, about 20 minutes from köln and more than 40 from bonn. and i have to switch in köln anyhow.
so now. the day i leave, i'm going to have to switch trains twice...once in köln and once in bonn. and i have two big suitcases, a carry-on, nik's computer, and my dvd player that i'm taking back with me. i have to get all that from dormagen to frankfurt alone. and i'm debating buying a third suitcase because, according to jason (but he's not sure), it only costs 80$ for a third bag up to 70lb. !! how sweet would that be!? i don't know how i'm going to get everything into two suitcases, and that's figuring in that i'm mailing stuff home from prague. if i had three suitcases, that would be sooo super! and i'd be willing to pay 80$ for that. but could you imagine then? how would i pull that off? carrying it all by myself. when i came here i only had two suitcases and a carry-on and that was enough work.
well. it will be a hectic stress, but i'll manage. somehow. it will be nice to have it over, though. once i check in i'm just going to be soooo relieved. i almost want to be to that point right now. i hate that in-between packing and getting all your luggage wherever part. oh well.
i'm going to bed soon. after i finish watching the patriot. =)
oh, and on a completely random note. i had my first döner today. all i can say is yum. good thing i didn't try those earlier, i would have eaten way too many. oh. and my light. jason (more or less) fixed it for me! i'm happy about that.
haha, i got distracted. but look at this.
anyways. jason and i went to köln today and never made it past the front doors of the train station. but we had a nice surprise coming in. a dampfzug is going around for five days in the next three months, and one of those days happened to be today. rund um kölle...whatever kölle is. and so we went over and checked that out, took some pictures. the train stopped for about fifteen minutes and had attracted quite a crowd by the time it left.
and then we discovered just how many stores there are at köln hbf. i wanted to buy so much, but i didn't buy one thing. i'm proud of myself. ...i am going back there another day, though. some of the stuff would make good souvenirs for my family, some of it i just want, and other stuff is practical and nice, like bags and whatnot. there were a couple of bags and purses i really liked, but i didn't get them. even though they were cheap.
yesterday was pretty fun, at yvonne's birthday. i did feel a bit.......out of place, i guess. to start with, i was hands down the youngest one there. ok, not a big deal. then...i knew only four people out of thirty. somewhat more uncomfortable because i couldn't just jump into a conversation with anybody. and, when i did, the fact that i was the only non german there came into play. haha. i met yvonne's bf, boris. he's been living in sweden for awhile, now, and so it was nice for yvonne to have him back here.
everybody there was late twenties to thirties, and then of course there were friends of the family who were older than that. and most of them were coupled up. which made katherine feel uncomfortable. she's a friend of yvonne and we took the train out there together. i'd never really gotten to know her that well, but i did yesterday. first off, she was late and we missed the train by three minutes so we had to wait half and hour and we chatted. and then in the train to köln. and then on the tram to norf. and i talked to her there more than anybody else. yvonne was of course busy a lot of the time, or chatting with people and the only other people i "knew" were her mom and oma.
but i met a lot of people and chatted a lot anyways. people were curious about me, mostly because i'm american. they had questions, and stories and etc. one couple had been to new york and wanted to know how close i was to that. another guy had never been to the states, and oh...so this guy. he was one of the first people there i met. he came and sat down across from katherine and i and introduced himself and we started chatting. and before i knew it, he was giving me an entire rundown of things i had to see before i leave. "i don't care how, but you have to see these things before you leave." and i'd already told him i was leaving the 9th. among those things was some huge construction site somewhere, with huge holes in the ground. "it's not pretty, but it's something to see." haha. anyways, that's not the thing. the thing is when he asked me about my coming to germany, and if i'd gotten culture shock at all. i told him i hadn't gotten flat out culture shock, but that yes, some things were different and it'd taken me awhile to get used to it, or it had simply surprised/amazed/intrigued me. and then he went off onto this mini lecture about how it's impossible to get culture shock coming from the states to germany (he's never been to the states). he told me that going to asia or africa is so different, you really stand out and notice you're not at home anymore. true. i never said it was that different coming to germany, and he'd asked me, after all, what i'd felt upon coming to germany. ..? i felt kind of affronted, partially because i really hadn't expected that. because i don't speak german so well i eventually gave in and said fine, no such thing as culture shock, it's just like home. and he just kind of stared at me. he was high, i should mention. that might have had something to do with it...
i was going to stay the night there, but katherine didn't want to cause she doesn't know yvonne's mom or oma, and yvonne wasn't going back there with us. and she also didn't want to go back to bonn alone, and hey. no place like home. i was all up for sleeping in my own bed. so we went back home at 1am. but because it was so late and the train/tram/bus were only running once an hour, we didn't get home until 3am. not back to bonn, actually to our place (we live right next to each other), so that's not toooo bad. but i was so tired, i slept till 9.30 this morning. and then i hung out with jason today.
so, it was a good weekend. tomorrow morning i am helping jason and daniella take jason's stuff to the hbf, and then i'm going to stay there with him till his train at 2. but we're leaving at 9am. so i'll go get food for us at some point... i was talking to jason about this today, and everybody so far has had somebody else (or more than one somebody else) help them get there stuff out of the dorms and to the train station. but not me. i don't know what i did wrong, but i'm all alone at the end. like jason said, though...it's cause i'm staying so late. everybody else has either taken off, is taking off or will leave very shortly. i'm really worried, though, about how i'll manage. because i bought the ticket to frankfurt from bonn. but now that i'm staying in dormagen, köln would be soooo much more sensible. dormagen is, after all, about 20 minutes from köln and more than 40 from bonn. and i have to switch in köln anyhow.
so now. the day i leave, i'm going to have to switch trains twice...once in köln and once in bonn. and i have two big suitcases, a carry-on, nik's computer, and my dvd player that i'm taking back with me. i have to get all that from dormagen to frankfurt alone. and i'm debating buying a third suitcase because, according to jason (but he's not sure), it only costs 80$ for a third bag up to 70lb. !! how sweet would that be!? i don't know how i'm going to get everything into two suitcases, and that's figuring in that i'm mailing stuff home from prague. if i had three suitcases, that would be sooo super! and i'd be willing to pay 80$ for that. but could you imagine then? how would i pull that off? carrying it all by myself. when i came here i only had two suitcases and a carry-on and that was enough work.
well. it will be a hectic stress, but i'll manage. somehow. it will be nice to have it over, though. once i check in i'm just going to be soooo relieved. i almost want to be to that point right now. i hate that in-between packing and getting all your luggage wherever part. oh well.
i'm going to bed soon. after i finish watching the patriot. =)
oh, and on a completely random note. i had my first döner today. all i can say is yum. good thing i didn't try those earlier, i would have eaten way too many. oh. and my light. jason (more or less) fixed it for me! i'm happy about that.