The beginning.

Ahh, finally… a travel blog: a means of documentation, creativity, and (most importantly) communication. I have already experienced so many amazing things, but have yet to fully reflect on them since I haven’t written about the travels. And they need to be shared! So here goes… my life and times here in Frankfurt, Germany...

 

...the transportation hub of Europe and just one city in this world I plan on unraveling one thread at a time- the people I meet, the places I go, and the stories my mom may or may not want to read about. But let’s be honest… she’ll likely be more critical of the grammar and language within the blog than the content itself. Fingers crossed. 

So, a little about my daily life here: I live in a small suburb on the outskirts of Frankfurt with a great host family of 6: host mom (translator for ECB), host dad (lawyer), and four little loving German rascals (4, 6, 8, and 10). They are all extremely open, flexible, and friendly (however non-German that typically is). I was attending German classes during the day, but after doing that for 20 hours/week + 30 hours/week of work at home + homework and commute time (1 hour each way), it was really becoming more of a burden than a blessing. So now I take some German courses online and occasionally meet up with friendly Germans to practice my speaking- perhaps I’ll take another class down the road, but I usually learn better on my own, anyway.

During my first couple months here, I got pretty out of shape due to the dramatic weather change. I mean, I know I was expecting it to be cold. But it’s a lot easier wanting to live in cold weather while sitting on the beach in 100+ degrees of flaming sun searing off my top layer of flesh than it is to actually be living in it. I wasn’t unhappy, but the thought of running outside in the grey-slate-industrial-iced-smog wind could have easily made me laugh. I don’t even know how they commuted to the car. Florida itself would have been in a state of emergency and so that was the declaration my body made. I was happy inside with a bowl of oatmeal and a book to read. Turns out, winter’s not my thing. I got stir crazy fast.

Now spring is just around the corner! The birds are singing, people are sitting on their previously abandoned back porches, and the gardens are flourishing.

After this past week, I’m already getting some color back! I never realized the effect the weather was having on everyone’s mood. Just one month ago, had I waved at another runner on the path, they probably would have pretended I didn’t exist and then non-discretely harden their stare straight ahead to focus on their pace. Now that the flowers are blossoming and the trees are coming back to life, strangers make eye contact and sometimes even wave back at the “crazy” American trying to be friendly. It’s wonderful! There is a 10K called the Frankfurt Stadtlauf (“city run”) that I’m now training for to get back in shape. We live pretty close to the Main River, so it’s an easy bike to where I can start my runs along the riverside. The race is on May 22^nd, which is one week before my host family and I travel to Sardinia, so it’s perfect timing !

This upcoming week will also be filled with travels: I’ve just found out a few days ago that my host family is travelling to Legoland next week and then heading to North Germany to visit their family for Easter. I was invited, but I have decided not to go and stay here to make my own travels. My host mother and father disagreed over whether I would have fun or not, and my host father’s argument was: “of course it would be fun for her, they have an indoor pool she can swim in.” So not that being at Legoland with excited screaming children followed by spending several days with intimidating rich Germans that own a Mercedes dealership doesn’t sound fun, I think I would have a better time on my own / with friends. Therefore, I have decided that next Tuesday, I will be travelling to Münster to visit with a friend that I made while in Cologne. On Thursday, I will head to Munich, where I was able to secure a 9 euro bus ticket to Prague, where I will then spend Easter weekend. J I can’t wait! As for my previous adventures, I will write more about these later: 

- Burns' supper / eating haggis 

- Karneval in Cologne/ Dusseldorf

- Brussels and Amsterdam with Michelle

- Night trips to Offenbach and Hanau

- Soccer game here in Frankfurt 

So this is all for now. Enough to read, enough to write. Guten Nacht. Schlaf gut.