September 4, 2007

Yesterday Silke Helge and I ate breakfast at 6:30 am and then they dropped me off at the trainstation to catch the train at 8:21 to Hamburg where I switched to get on my train to Koeln. Once I got to the station in Koeln (the ride was around 5 hours) I tried to find the other fulbrighters. They were outside sitting on the steps of the Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). There wouldn’t have been enough space for us all in the station…Luggage was piled up along the steps and total we were 180 students from English speaking countries and there are three rounds that come through orientation. One group was last week, we are this week and the last one comes next week. 150 of the 180 are Americans and the rest are a mixture of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British. So you can only imagine what a sight it was with all of us in the city. After waiting what seemed like hours and meeting a bunch of new and interesting people, we got on the buses that brought us to Haus Altenberg, where our actual orientation is taking place. It is an old monastery that has been turned into a place where students come for special meetings such as ours. It is solely used for this purpose, but there is a cathedral where the village people (not a pun) can come.

After arriving at Haus Altenberg we were immediately assigned to our rooms. This was done according to states where we are placed. I am living with Helen from Chillicothe, Ohio, who went to OU and Rebecca from Atlanta, Georgia. They are stationed about an hour and 2 and ½ hours respectively from me. Helen is living in a small village about 10 kilometers from Denmark so I might have to go visit her and we can cross the border together. I have been hanging out with my roommates most of the time because we are also in working groups with the people from our states but I have also met a wide variety of other people. Most are very interesting. The first person I actually met in Koeln was Stephanie, who is going to Munich. She’s is really sweet, so maybe if I get the chance to head south I will stop by and visit her. Of course the percentage of guys to girls ration is very good for the boys and not so good for the girls, but the guys that I have met thus far have been very nice. It’s amazing to see how many Americans actually study German. When you are a German major, you think you are one among maybe 20 in the country but it is nice to know there are more people than that, who find the language important in the states. Most people here know someone else here who either went to school with them or near them. Of course no one hear knows where Bethany College is so I try to explain it to them.

We have had sessions most of the time so I haven’t had much time for anything else. The socializing comes at dinner or after all of the sessions come to an end. Today we divided up into groups to do simulated lessons. There are two really strong personalities in my group so they argued the whole time (believe it or not, that does not include me), but we came up with a lesson plan despite the fact that I wanted to strangle the one girl. After the sessions Helen and I went wandering around the village checking out the creek, woods, etc. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. The cows even thought we were coming to feed them and took off full speed running at us. Well that is all for now. I'll right again at the end of orientation!