Germany!

I can now add Germany to the list of countries I have been too (and if you count airports I can also add Switzerland, because of my layover in Zurich). I am slowly but surely becoming a world traveler. :) So my journey began with waking up at 4:30am on Friday to catch a 6am train to Madrid so I could make it to the airport for my flight at 10am. Other than a slight delay my flights were fine and I arrived in Hamburg on schedule. Two observations I made almost instantly about Germany (and the short time I spent in Switzerland): 1) almost EVERYONE in those two countries speaks English, and 2) it is very strange to be in a country where I don't know a single word of the language. I think the only thing I knew how to say in German when I arrived was Guten Tag, and it didn't increase much while I was there. When I first arrived in Spain I was a little thrown off hearing so many people speaking a different language, but I could understand at least a little of what people were saying. In Germany it was completely a mystery to me what people were saying. A few people attempted to speak German to me but I just said 'what' and they immediately switched to English.

But anyway, more about my trip. After 12 hours of traveling, I finally arrived at Chaz's appartment (for anyone reading this who doesn't know Chaz, she is one of my friends from Goucher who is studying abroad in Luneburg Germany for the semester). We walked around the town a little but mostly just had a relaxed night. I immediately loved the feel of the town. It was very cute and European-looking and cute, and I really liked the buildings. After being in Spain for so long I've gotten used to how things look here, and it was really cool to see a different style. I was so excited that I was actually in Germany, it felt unbelievable. Then we went out for dinner and I got schnitzel just because it sounded so German, even though I didn't know what it was haha. And since it was Germany I just had to order beer with dinner. Here are some pictures of food and the town:

Then on Saturday we went to Hamburg for the day and walked around the city a little. One of the highlights was seeing a church that was bombed during the war and never rebuilt. Now it's used as a monument and museum about the war. We also bought tickets to take an elevator to the top of the tower where you can see all around at the city below. It's about 4000 meters up, which is really high, I'm not exactly sure how much that is in feet. But in the elevator on the way up I started to get kind of scared, and I'm not usually afraid of heights. Here are some pictures.

I took a bunch more pictures in Hamburg, so here are a few of my favorites.

That night we went to a Halloween party and I met a bunch of Chaz's friends, who were all really great. Even though Halloween isn't very big in Europe since it's an American import, it's gaining in popularity and lots of people were dressed up. Most of them were Americans but I saw a few Germans dressed up too. I decided to dress up as an 80's person since I just threw on a random assortment of clothes and decided I looked sort of 80's haha. I had a great time at the party and then we went to a club and danced for a few hours. I had a blast!

Sunday was pretty laid back since most things were closed and the weather was kinda dreary. Then Monday I left :( and it took me 15 hours to get back to Salamanca because I hadn't bought a train ticket for the return trip since I wasn't quite sure what time I would get to the train station and the only train that had spaces left was 4 hours after I got there. The wait in the station was horrible. But now I know that I should buy a ticket in advance even if I'm not exactly sure so I don't have the same thing happen again.

Now that I've taken two trips I want to travel to many more places, but money is beginning to be an issue so I won't get to do everything. I'll just have to make sure I make it back to Spain as soon as possible. Also, Danielle is coming to visit next week, and I'm super excited!!