Willkommen in Deutschland

Despite all of the snow, bird flu, and german bureaucracy I am alive and well here in Konstanz. I am finally getting settled in to my tiny little single room, although as of yet I am not an official student here at the Universität Konstanz, I have no residence permit to live in Germany, I have not yet recieved internet service, and I cant really do much without signing my name at least ten times and giving away three copies of my vital documents. Not to worry, though. Everything is going great. In the building I am living In the mutual language is German, so that is all I speak at home, with most of my friends here at the uni, and in the language class that I just started last week. Even after the first day I noticed a huge improvement in my german skills. word.

This past week has seen the German snowfall records for the past twenty years shattered. It has snowed every day that I have been here and even the Germans, as proud of their cars and driving skills as they are, are staying off the roads when it gets really bad. My first adventure here in Germany came last weekend when myself and a group of new international students (they all hang out together here, too) went to an authentic german diskothek complete with thumping bass, skin tight clothes for both genders (especially the men), deutsches Bier, some of the worst american music possible and random english phrases provided by the dj via loudspeaker. Im pretty sure he yelled "lumberjack" at least seven times. Anyway, after the place closed at five in the morning we waited outside and tried to call the taxi service for a good hour or so and we found out that all of the taxis in the city were either full or had crashed into a snowbank and were out of commission. We walked home with the help of a couple native Konstanzers and a bus that was picking up stranded people in the city. All in all it took a good three hours and I didnt find my way into bed until well after dawn. A good night indeed.

Last night I went to to pub to watch the Champions league game between Werder Bremen and Juventus on the big screen with a bunch of raucous (wasted) german soccer fans. It was great to see so much enthusiasm for a sport that doesnt get enough credit in America. Tonight Bayern München plays AC Milan and it should be much the same.

Bis Bald--