The Germans

The last three days have been quite interesting. There are two german students working in the same lab as me. I didn't know it but they were also staying at the same Travelodge I was. I ran into them at the free hotel breakfast thursday morning. Their names are Thorsten and Andreas and they seem pretty cool. We looked at places together thursday during the day and we've done a bunch of house-stuff shopping together the last three days.

So I moved into my house friday morning. I am sharing a house with five other people. A bunch of them are grad students in arts mostly. There's one guy doing an MBA and a girl that works at a coffee shop downtown. They are all really nice and I felt at home almost instantly. The landlords are really good people as well. Joe picked me up from the Travelodge with my stuff yesterday morning and Linda came by this morning to see how I was doing.

The place is mostly furnished. All I needed was food, and a breakfast bowl. I found one almost identical to the blue ones I have at home. I decided to keep it in my room so it would always be clean for my morning mini wheats.

I decided in the process of purchasing essentials for my house that DOLLAR STORES ARE AMAZING!!! Andreas and Thorsten needed some cookware, dishes and such. I never realized you could get so many useful things at the dollar store! I found breakfast bowls, cups, coat hangers, snack bags and a square box for my sandwiches all for a paltry five dollars and change. Incredible.

I also had to do some grocery shopping. I think I've never been more scared in my life. I actually had to walk into a grocery store and had to spend my money buying food that I had to cook. I nearly wetted myself. But I settled on a few essentials: beer, pizza, cookies and toilet paper. Just kidding! I actually bought mini wheats, milk, pizza, KD, ground beef, apples, bananas, bread, hot dogs.... I think I need to go shopping again today. All the others in my house cook really well it seems. Linda, the landlady asked if we wanted to have a potluck-ish gathering sometime next week. Apparently I get to bring the hotdogs.

I also discovered that I am spending money at an astonishing rate. It could be all the bar hopping. You see Germans on the weekend go to the bar it seems, and not much else. So given that these guys are my only friends and my options are to go to the bar, or to stay at home, I've been going to the bar. This town has an alarming number of liquor establishments and danceclubs for its size. Apparently lots of americans come over from detroit. We're pretty sure they don't ID any of the girls. I'd bet money there were a few twelve year olds there the other night. If they look or act younger than my sister, they're off limits as far as I'm concerned. I think I'm putting on weight from the beer.

I went running this morning along the detroit river. I knew I had a headwind but when I saw the gulls flapping like mad and going nowhere I didn't feel so bad about my languid pace and the pain in my legs. I can't be that out of shape. It had to be the headwind, or the beer. It had to be the headwind.