Märchenstadt

I'm in Germany!
So here's my first actual post. It's amazing. Truthfully, I think this is about my favorite city I've ever been to except for Eidfjord. It's beautiful and quaint and a college town with plenty of stuff to do all at once.
So quick recap with photos (Fotos):

My parents came to the airport to see me off. I love my parents :)



This is me on the "red carpet" which United rolled out for Chrissy and me. Seriously, they called it the "red carpet." My flights were basically uneventful. A little delayed, but nothing serious.

One thing that was interesting was when I was on the long flight from Chicago to Copenhagen, I sat next to this really large, drunk man from near Iceland. He talked a long time (occasionally incoherent, but unfortunately in English, so I couldn't pretend not to understand). One of his many inappropriate stories was about the prostitute he bought in New Orleans for $300. He also said that he has 6 children, none of whom look like him. Hmm.


Here's Amelia and me in the Zurich train station. Also included are Chrissy's bags. We got stares. Total, I'm pretty sure our luggage weighed a ton and a half.


We went shopping at the Supermarkt. I found the exact same chocolate rabbits that Mom gave me. I also got a good bottle of wine for 1 euro 49 cents! I haven't tried it yet, tho, so we'll see.


Uni-Konstanz! My university is enormous and ridiculous-looking. The cafeteria (Mensa) is actually decent and pretty cheap. I had orientation today.


bizarre sculpture(?) near the university


Lake Constance (in German "Bodensee") and a statue of Imperia. I have no idea who Imperia is, but she's a big deal here. Maybe you can see the Alps in the background. Constance is really pretty.

We went on a tour of the city today after our orientation period and language placement exam. It was chilly, but the city is really nice. Buses run every fifteen minutes to everywhere, and actually nothing is really that expensive. While we were walking around I met a bunch of other foreign students who'll be taking language classes this month, too. One of the young women I met (from Italy) called Constance a fairytale city ("Märchenstadt", our common language is German).


buildings in Constance


another building


Hanfuniversum - I'm not really sure what they sell here, because I'm pretty sure pot is still illegal here. They do have hookahs in the window, tho.


shot of our tour group - Our tour was actually a scavenger hunt, so one of our tasks was to take a photo of ourselves in this courtyard.


Here I am in Constance. It's a little chilly, but still better than Minnesota!

*So I don't have internet in my room yet, but I will hopefully very soon, so expect better posts in the near future.

A little about my room: It's decent; it was really nasty, but I cleaned for hours, and now it looks fine. Plus I found an extra mattress, so I have a place for visitors to sleep (for free)! It's also really close the university, so it's only a walk. And tomorrow the bus drivers are striking, so for the people living in nice dorms - hah! - they have like a half hour walk. One point for Sonnenbühl Ost. (My address, by the way, is Zr. Nr. 160, Haus E, Sonnenbühl Ost, Jacob-Burckhardt-Str. 35, 78464 Konstanz).

There's my first post. There will be more in a few days.