Stories...

So here are some stories about my first couple of weeks in Germany. The days are actually all messing together so it's hard for me to remember some of the more day to day activities that we have done, but we had a very busy weekend. On Saturday was the opening of the Opera season and my host parents are avid Opera goers so we went to the opening debut concert that they put on. We sat at a restaurant across from the Opera house in this big square and they had a huge stage set up for an entire orchestra. So we ate dinner and listened while the orchestra played the music to an entire Opera. It was actually kind of cool. The music was beautiful. And then they have a huge street in the city center called the Pedestrian Zone because no cars are allowed in this area and it's just completely FILLED with shops. That's all it is really haha, and there are FOUR H&M's on this one street. For those of you who don't know what H&M is, it's like a really nice, hip store and i think it's Swedish and they have a select few in the states, but i LOVE their clothes and there not terribly expensive. And they were having a HUGE sale so while we were waiting for the music to start i went shopping and bought a couple of small things that were on sale haha. I mean a girl can't pass up a huge sale like that.

Then on Sunday we had a very long, busy day. We woke up early in the morning and drove about an hour to the mountains. Then we went on a 4 hours hike up the mountain. GOOD GOD it's hard to drag my fat ass up the side of the mountain let me just tell you that right now haha. I was like dying, and near the end i was like this view BETTER be worth all of this and it was. It was the most gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains (Alps if you will that border Switzerland) and the Tergensee Lake down below. So then we climbed back down a little ways and had a small picnic and a little rest. Then we climbed back down the mountain and went swimming in the lake which was about 40 degrees F...so i did NOT get in past my ankles lol. Lets just say after about 2 min my feet were red and numb hahaha. Definitely not California or Hawaii water. haha And then we went to a local biergarten/pub/restaurant and had a quick snack and some bier. Then we got some gelato (ice cream) on the way home which was excellent!! Then we drove directly to one of their friends houses who was hosting a small BBQ for the World Cup. THEY LOVE THE WORLD CUP HERE!!! The Germans go crazy for fußball (soccer). Well the Germans were playing England and they slaughtered England 4-1. So they were having a celebration BBQ and were watching the game. And then i was so exhausted and so was Bartho so i took him home and put him to bed and just sat on the couch in my room and relaxed for a little while before i went to bed lol.

Then on Monday after Kathrin came home from work we took Bartho to a nearby beach because it's been so warm outside lately. It's been beautiful weather about high 70's-high 80's but it is getting rather hott so we took him to the beach and played for like 3 hours. So that was really fun too and the beach was only about 10 min or so from the house which isn't that bad at all.

We had our first German thunderstorm last night and man was it intense. Its kind of like Arizona weather where it will be hott outside but you'll have warm rain and thunder and lightening and that's what it was early this morning. The Thunder literally woke me up and sounded like a cannon was going off. And the rain was pounding on my windows and i was like oh sheesh then when i fully woke up a couple of hours later there was not a gray cloud in the sky, the sun was shying and i was already starting to sweat a little haha. So the weather has been very interesting here. Well i don't want to continue to bore you all with my mundance existance so i will end it here. Oh but i will say we are going to go and have dinner at a Biergarten tonight, i'm so excited. A biergarten is where you bring your own food, but you buy the bier there and you just sit at picnic tables under some trees and you enjoy life, bier, and friends. I love going to biergartens and it's my first visit to one since i've been here so i'm very excited. I'll let you all know how it goes. I send my love to you all and hope that we will be able to chat soon. Tschuess!!! (bye)