Germany or Bust

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My adventure in Germany has officially started. After spending the couple of days in DC with my Dad my program seminar started. I met all of the participants from all over the country. The ages are mostly 1 year out of college or just finished college. Everyone I have met is really nice and I have had a really good time getting to know people from states I have never been to. The seminar at Georgetown took was about 2 days. We went to lectures about culture shock and more details about the program. On the second day the program director gave us some bad news. Our flight to Germany was cancelled. We were still going to get to Germany but on different flights and it was no longer a non-stop flight. The original flight was only going to take 7 or 8 hours. The flights I took in total were about 25 hours. I spent tons of time in lines and waiting in airports. So we were all very relieved once we got to Frankfurt Germany at 7:00pm on August 1st. We spent that night in a hotel and we were going to bus it to our language schools the next morning.
The next morning I got on a 4 hour bus ride to Radolfzell. In Radofzell I am going to language school for 2 months and staying with a host family. We arrived to the language school and got a tour of the facilities. The language school has classrooms and computer labs and even it own party room that they call the “rumpus room”. Yep! A taxi then took me to my host Christel Kalkowski an old women that rents out her spare rooms. She doesn’t speak much English but she speaks German slowly and repeats things to make sure I understand. She has been hosting people from all over the world since around 1982. She has even hosted people that were in the same program as me in previous years. My room is decked out in the finest 70s décor and it has a TV that I can watch all my television shows dubbed in German. The Hills is just that much better when you can’t understand what they are saying.
There is a group of 20 from my program that are in Radolfzell and we attend German classes each weekday until about 3pm. The town of Radolfzell is very quaint and I am a short walk to Lake Constance. It is really nice being near a lake since it makes me feel much more at home. The lake is huge and is often a destination for Germans on vacation. Even with it being such a small town it has a great bus system and the train is right in town and it is easy to get to the surrounding towns fast. The program gave us a free transportation card so I can get around town and even take the train to the other towns close to Radolfzell. The town is pretty small so to go someplace with actual shopping you really have to go to the town of Konstanz. I am excited to start my adventure in Germany in such a picturesque town and hope you will continue to follow my time in Germany. Miss everyone a ton.

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Photos

Mein Zimmer
This is the room that I am staying in for the first 2 months

CDC Language School
This is the school that I take German classes at.

Der Bodensee
This is Lake Constance that the town is surround around.

Comments

[claire]

Ah!
I want to be there! How fun! How hope you're living with a nice little old lady :) Be good!

[Kristina]

Hi matt!
Hey Matt! I'm so glad I finally got to make a comment! It would not work for me earlier..anywho I have been enjoying your entries and the pictures keep them coming! Have fun and be safe! Miss ya! -Kristina