Und es geht immer weiter....it keeps going on....

All right, I want to see what I can do to get everybody up to speed so that I don't have to spend a lot of time recapping things of the past and can enthrall you with my more fresh experiences.  Let's try this...

• Everyone speaks German here.  I know! Surprise...that's the culture shock, though. I'm still getting used to it, although now it's more as if I'm numb.  I'm finding that I can understand most things relatively well, but my ability to communicate it back is not nearly as advanced as I hoped.  
• The first month I'm here (4. March - 4. April) is an orientation course. It includes a language class every morning Monday through Friday, numerous excursions, workshops, and other events.  Last Wednesday I took a placement test to put me into a language group, and I was slightly disappointed (and still am a little) to be placed into a group lower than I had expected.  In theory, it should be the group I need to improve my German, but it's frustrating to work on the past tense when I've already read literature and written essays in most of my German classes.  *sigh*   That's my "Untericht" which meets daily from about 9 -12
• The International center has probably around 120 or exchange students, about two thirds of which are from the states.  I might be wrong, but that's close.  There's a huge group from Madison (about 16), three from Ripon, about 10 from Washington, Illinois, and Kansas.  The other big groups are from Taiwan and Japan, and then there's a bunch of people from just all over the place.
• I'm making some friends here.  I've been hanging out with one of the students from Madison who speaks German really well, as well as another student from Singapore.  To my surprise, she speaks fluent English, and was amused that I didn't know that, which kind of set the tone of the rest of my feeble attempts to draw facts about singapore from my memory.  I have a lot to learn!  Anyways, they're pretty cool, and we've done a lot of adjusting and exploring of the city (and grocery stores together)
• Everyone speaks German here....wait, did I mention that already? hmmm...It's kind of a pervasive element that I'm (unfortunately) with other English speakers, which brings us to....
• Kneipen and Bars (kind of the same thing).  My best German immersion is happening at these places....I've met a few Germans, or people who speak fluent Deutsch, and we tend to hang out at these places.  It's good atmosphere and great beverages (it's true), so I'm fortunately getting to use my German in these places.  The one we've been to more than once is called Rym, pronounced goom, which is a Russian bar.  Naturally, because I'm in Germany, we go to a Russian bar.  Es ist mir egal...  There's a little Kneipe right by my dorm building which I went to Sunday with a couple friends, and it was a good example of a town corner bar, where a few usuals were there, and the bartender treated us with a house favorite liqueur of plum and pear from yugoslavia after he found out we were new. 
• The people here are pretty friendly.  I've had a few run-in's with some grouchy individuals, but for the most part the people are very down to earth and are willing to help if you're willing to ask.  
• I love public transportation...and I'm going to miss it so bad when I come home  The bus, street car, and train system here is so nice, and as a student, the first two are free!  Fantastisch!  However, the first full day we were here, the transportation union had a strike, so we had to do a lot of walking.  The German's all thought it was ironic and were making jokes about how organized the are.  
• Bonn has a population of 300,000, but it's actually relatively small and it's easy and safe to navigate by foot.  I found that out last night when I missed my bus, got onto another bus that took me someplace that looked moderately familiar, and then booked it to my destination, all and all took me about 10 minutes.  There are longer stretches, but the important parts for me are nearby enough.
• I'm going wine-tasting and sight seeing on Friday as part of the international program...Marksburg is our destination, and it's famed amongst the students who have gone before us.  Apparently the tour guide speaks english with an amazing German accent...I'm looking forward to it!
• I have a cell phone here, which you guys can call with no charge to me ; )  I leave that call up to you (hee hee). Otherwise I've been using the internet program to call family and friends.  I've totaled maybe an hour of conversation, which has costed about two dollars.  Good stuff.
• Last week Friday was when I truly started enjoying myself here.  I finally purchased groceries, soap, a pan, silverware and plate, they found my camera on the shuttle bus that took me to my dorm the first day. We had a great meal (chinese, naturally) courtesy of the International Club, and I had my first experience at the bar Rym with some Germans and fellow "foreigners".  Man, it's weird to think of myself as a foreigner!
• Germans recycle.  A lot.  They're pretty cool like that, and we Americans have a lot to learn from that.  It's kind of crazy.  At the groceries stores, if you don't bring a bag, you have to buy one for the equivalent of about 10 - 25 cents.  It's smart!  At college I had a massive store of plastic bags that I acquired over the year.  That's not going to happen here!  For those of you back home (mommy and daddy ;)) I really suggest reusing your bags, or getting the reusable, non-plastic ones.  The world is worth it.  Now excuse me, I have to go find a tree to hug...

All right, that's about all I can think of right now besides maybe mentioning that pretty much everyone speaks German here.  That's what I'm here for!  Geil...  eh, don't translate that one on your own, trust me that it's the equivalent of our "sweet".  That means you, mom, it's for your own good.  Any questions?

Stay tuned, more up-to-date adventures to come!