So today was my first real day in beautiful Bonn. I woke up in time to say goodbye to my host family before they left for work, and then I got ready for the day. Dressed in a turtleneck, white sneaks, and an over jacket, I thought I was prepared for the day. Hold onto that thought now, I'll come back to it later. Anyway, I went to Juliette's house and together with her host son Will, she walked us down the path we needed to go to get to the train stop. When we go there, we got on the train and took a ride down to the central train station Bonn Hauptbahnhof (or HBF for short) where we each went our separate ways to our respective school groups (he's from California).
We met with our program coordinator Kristin - pronounced Christine - and walked to the new AIB headquarters where we will be having classes starting tomorrow. When we got there, Kristin showed us around the place and gave a little presentation about what's expected of us on this program, complete with drinks and brownies. After, we all piled in to a room where we had our pictures taken for the visa's we will need to stay for four months before taking a tour of AIB. We met with one of Kristin's coworkers who gave us a tour of the actual city.
Let me tell you, this place is Huge, but there are hidden gems everywhere in the architecture and small shops that litter the city.
Down a street
In front of the Mayor's house
Bonn University inner courtyard
Lunch was in a small shop called "currywurst forever," and then we explored all the important places, including the Rhine river separating Bonn from Cologne.
After our tour ended, we all decided to celebrate our first day by going to a pub and drinking our first legal beer, as most of us are under 21, but over 18, allowing us to be legal to drink in Germany.
We remembered that servers don't like to serve super large parties, so we decided to split up into two tables...awkwardly uneven as some of our group was still outside at the time. Before they could come in, an old German lady came by and scolded us for being stupid, and ordered us to go to a bigger table. Of course, it was all in German, so it confused us all. Later, we weren't ready to order our drinks, and so she went to the other group (who had come inside and sat at another table) and ordered their drinks. When she came back with the drinks, she looked at us and did the little hand to the nose wave at us. So we basically got scolded in German and taunted by the same lady in 10 minutes while she got our beers. It was awesome!! All in all, it was a good first day in Bonn. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.
We remembered that servers don't like to serve super large parties, so we decided to split up into two tables...awkwardly uneven as some of our group was still outside at the time. Before they could come in, an old German lady came by and scolded us for being stupid, and ordered us to go to a bigger table. Of course, it was all in German, so it confused us all. Later, we weren't ready to order our drinks, and so she went to the other group (who had come inside and sat at another table) and ordered their drinks. When she came back with the drinks, she looked at us and did the little hand to the nose wave at us. So we basically got scolded in German and taunted by the same lady in 10 minutes while she got our beers. It was awesome!! All in all, it was a good first day in Bonn. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.
I love your writing. It's really informative and witty. Keep it up. And it sounds like your having a great time!
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