Agh, it's been a little while since I've updated - my apologies!!
Unfortunately, I can't regale you with exciting adventures that have happened in the meantime, either; my life's been pretty quiet and routine, but that's what I'm happy with.
Last Saturday night, I went with Frau Paetzolt to the Gewandhaus for a Youth Symphony Orchestra concert that her daughter was playing (oboe!) in. It was a great concert! Two pieces by Elgar (one being a cello concerto and the cellist was amazing), a piece by Bruch (?), and the ballet suite from Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky (or apparently, in German, Tschaikowsky).
This week has been crawling by, to be completely honest. Monday and Tuesday just seemed to go by soooo slowly...just one of those weeks, I guess. Today was a lot better, and I'm excited to say I have a bit of a project to do! Frau Paetzolt was asking me today what my favorite group was and then she started asking me why I liked that group so much. Basically, I told her that I really enjoy working with the drug ward because the other wards I can relate more to - for example, with depression, I can almost relate if I'm feeling, well, depressed. (I know that's not the same thing but bear with me.) But with the drug ward, I don't know as much about it and I don't understand what makes people want to start taking drugs in the first place.
She then suggested I come up with five questions that I want to answer as much as possible while I'm here - the first of which being "what makes people start taking drugs?" She said the questions could be pretty much anything - her work, her colleagues' work, the patients, methods, etc. I can ask whomever I need to and maybe I won't answer a question fully (like the one I already have - probably won't since it's different for everyone) but it will give me something concrete to be doing, which I'm happy about.
So yeah! That's pretty much all that's new with me. I filmed a "commute home from the hospital" video yesterday on my way home to kind of show you the area around where I am, so if you're interested in seeing that, I will hopefully get that edited and up this weekend! :)
Tschüs!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Pfingsten & Practicum
Another holiday already? There have been three since I got here! I'm pretty sure there aren't any more the rest of the summer, so there's that. But yeah. Tomorrow is Pfingsten, which has to do with Pentecost. I haven't really run into anyone who seems really religious, but Caroline mentioned that Eastern Germany isn't really much into religion, and when people are, they're usually older. (Makes sense, seeing as this part of the country was under the USSR for a while. Also, I mentioned to a couple people but I don't think I ever put it on here: Frau Paetzolt mentioned to me that people who grew up in East Germany as opposed to West Germany learned Russian in school during that time, not English. I hadn't ever given that any thought!)
An interesting thing about Leipzig is that apparently there is a very strong gothic movement here, because on the weekend of Pfingsten (I was told a couple times), people dress up in all black and walk around. I didn't think much about it, but I went out today, and these people are dedicated. This isn't just black shirt and black pants. I saw a guy with a cape, a guy with a ton of chains on his pants (criss-crossing all over and I kind of wondered how he was able to walk anywhere), and a lot of the women have on long dresses. Not just long dresses, but like...hoop-skirt style dresses, completely black or with dark colors (green, purple, etc.). It was pretty impressive. I saw one couple dressed up and their little boy (maybe 4) was wearing some black too; it was super-cute.
It's been a pretty quiet but busy week. I've been going to the hospital from about 9-4 every day (except Friday - I'm done at noon) which means I'm gone from about 8-5 every day. The commute isn't too bad: walk 3 minutes to the Haltestelle (bus/tram stop), wait a minute or five, take the Bahn to Augustusplatz (about 6 minutes), take a different Bahn to Franzosenallee (about 15 minutes), and walk 15 minutes to the hospital. Thankfully I haven't had to schlep in horrible weather yet!
I haven't talked much about my practicum on here since I figured I would keep this more to the "exploring around Germany" type things, but since I basically have a full-time job (except it's not actually a job) here, I might as well talk a little about it. Though there are some privacy/confidentiality rules, I don't think I know any clients' names well enough to say anything about them. So I should be okay.
I am pretty much just following around the therapists and observing their sessions, sometimes sitting inside the circle and sometimes not (like for psychotherapy groups). The main groups I've seen so far are the Tagesklinik (day clinic - outpatient therapy, pretty much), drug ward, geriatric psychiatric and psychotherapy groups, and then the general psychiatric and psychotherapy groups.
I'm definitely the most interested in the workings of the drug ward and have been talking a lot with Frau Lülff about them. I don't really have much knowledge about the way the US does drug rehab, and I wish I knew more, but at least when I'm done here I can come back and compare it to the US. I was surprised to learn that roughly 80% of the patients in this drug ward are there because of crystal meth - I guess Saxony (the state I'm in) has the biggest meth problem in Germany because everyone gets it from the Czech Republic (Tscheschiche Republik...gotta love that one in German).
Another thing that really surprised me was that in this particular drug ward, everyone is there voluntarily: you have to call and get your name on a waiting list, and then you'll be about 60-70 people down, and then you call every day and your name moves up. Once you're at the top and they see you have motivation to come, they'll call you and tell you there's a place for you. Frau Lülff said that for some of the patients, they want to come because of a court case and they'll be able to say "yeah, I'm trying to get in therapy", where some of the patients are safer when they're not at home, like if they're a dealer or something. I live a pretty sheltered life, but I can't even imagine some of this stuff happening or how you would get into it in the first place. Scary stuff.
That's all I can really think of right now. As I said, it's been pretty quiet - I haven't been out and about all that much this week. I'm hoping to get out a little tomorrow and maybe explore a little.
Bis bald!
An interesting thing about Leipzig is that apparently there is a very strong gothic movement here, because on the weekend of Pfingsten (I was told a couple times), people dress up in all black and walk around. I didn't think much about it, but I went out today, and these people are dedicated. This isn't just black shirt and black pants. I saw a guy with a cape, a guy with a ton of chains on his pants (criss-crossing all over and I kind of wondered how he was able to walk anywhere), and a lot of the women have on long dresses. Not just long dresses, but like...hoop-skirt style dresses, completely black or with dark colors (green, purple, etc.). It was pretty impressive. I saw one couple dressed up and their little boy (maybe 4) was wearing some black too; it was super-cute.
It's been a pretty quiet but busy week. I've been going to the hospital from about 9-4 every day (except Friday - I'm done at noon) which means I'm gone from about 8-5 every day. The commute isn't too bad: walk 3 minutes to the Haltestelle (bus/tram stop), wait a minute or five, take the Bahn to Augustusplatz (about 6 minutes), take a different Bahn to Franzosenallee (about 15 minutes), and walk 15 minutes to the hospital. Thankfully I haven't had to schlep in horrible weather yet!
I haven't talked much about my practicum on here since I figured I would keep this more to the "exploring around Germany" type things, but since I basically have a full-time job (except it's not actually a job) here, I might as well talk a little about it. Though there are some privacy/confidentiality rules, I don't think I know any clients' names well enough to say anything about them. So I should be okay.
I am pretty much just following around the therapists and observing their sessions, sometimes sitting inside the circle and sometimes not (like for psychotherapy groups). The main groups I've seen so far are the Tagesklinik (day clinic - outpatient therapy, pretty much), drug ward, geriatric psychiatric and psychotherapy groups, and then the general psychiatric and psychotherapy groups.
I'm definitely the most interested in the workings of the drug ward and have been talking a lot with Frau Lülff about them. I don't really have much knowledge about the way the US does drug rehab, and I wish I knew more, but at least when I'm done here I can come back and compare it to the US. I was surprised to learn that roughly 80% of the patients in this drug ward are there because of crystal meth - I guess Saxony (the state I'm in) has the biggest meth problem in Germany because everyone gets it from the Czech Republic (Tscheschiche Republik...gotta love that one in German).
Another thing that really surprised me was that in this particular drug ward, everyone is there voluntarily: you have to call and get your name on a waiting list, and then you'll be about 60-70 people down, and then you call every day and your name moves up. Once you're at the top and they see you have motivation to come, they'll call you and tell you there's a place for you. Frau Lülff said that for some of the patients, they want to come because of a court case and they'll be able to say "yeah, I'm trying to get in therapy", where some of the patients are safer when they're not at home, like if they're a dealer or something. I live a pretty sheltered life, but I can't even imagine some of this stuff happening or how you would get into it in the first place. Scary stuff.
That's all I can really think of right now. As I said, it's been pretty quiet - I haven't been out and about all that much this week. I'm hoping to get out a little tomorrow and maybe explore a little.
Bis bald!
Friday, May 10, 2013
Strange Week
It's been a couple days since I've updated, and while none of them by themselves really had anything interesting happen, I do have pictures and random anec dotes from all of them that should make a pretty good post for your enjoyment.
Sunday I did end up going to the city center again to just wander around a little. The weather was gorgeous, which made for a lovely day of walking. I happened to find a brass quintet playing some music and filmed a couple pieces they played, but I didn't feel like uploading all of them so I just shared that one (Handel's Water Music, I believe?).
I also went back over to the St. Thomaskirche and took some pictures...
I might try to go to church sometime here, but I don't know if they actually have church services or if it's just a historic place now. Either way wouldn't really surprise me.
Most of my wandering didn't really amount to much; unless I'm with at least one other person, I don't really get much out of exploring somewhere new. Maybe it's the lack of being able to see a lot or know what to look for, maybe it's just because I'm introverted. Or a little of both. Probably a little of both. I did get more pictures though!
This last picture is of the ground. There are little grooves in the ground and it goes straight through all the streets. As the little guy with the cane shows, I think it actually is for people who are blind. I'm not 100% sure, but the fact that the grooves change at corners and go straight through all the streets makes me think it's to help orient people who can't see. Pretty cool!
Monday ended up being my only "full" day of practicum (9-5) at the hospital. My main contact was sick still, and then on Tuesday the second music therapist got sick and then by Wednesday, all three were out and I didn't have to come in. Thursday was a holiday (not sure which holiday) and then today, Frau Paetzolt told me nothing was really going on so I should just come in Monday. Unexpected long weekend? Normally I'd be happy but I'm really not doing a ton right now, so getting out and doing something Monday will be great, especially settling in to a normal routine. I did take a couple pictures of the music therapy room at the hospital.
I went to the bank with Caroline and got some money for groceries, so she and I went to Rewe and got food. I like that the food seems to be cheaper here - especially fresh produce! Fresh produce is cheaper than processed/already made food. I didn't end up getting strawberries yet because Caroline advised me against it - they're probably from Spain and not too fresh yet. Strawberries from Spain, no big deal. ;) Speaking of processed food, I was amused to find this:
They also had hot dogs (wrapped in American cheese, no less). I've never seen anything like this in the US, though my boyfriend told me that Kroger sells them. *shudder*
I did, however, get some good ol' German Maultaschen!
I'd had them the day I arrived in Germany the first time I was here in 2009 but I didn't remember much about them, being really tired that day and also not feeling very well at the time. But I recalled liking them so I wanted to try them again. They're kind of like pirogi, but the meat in them is a lot like Braunschweiger, if you've ever had that.
Yesterday Caroline and I made a salad with greens, cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot (I may or may not have also shredded part of my finger but we don't talk about that), and then we sautéed up some garlic, onions, bacon bits, and cut up the Maultaschen and put that in there as well and combined it in the salad when we were done. It was pretty darn awesome.
That's pretty much all that has happened in the last couple days. Hopefully I'll get out some this weekend and have more exciting stories for all of you.
Bis bald!
Sunday I did end up going to the city center again to just wander around a little. The weather was gorgeous, which made for a lovely day of walking. I happened to find a brass quintet playing some music and filmed a couple pieces they played, but I didn't feel like uploading all of them so I just shared that one (Handel's Water Music, I believe?).
I also went back over to the St. Thomaskirche and took some pictures...
Most of my wandering didn't really amount to much; unless I'm with at least one other person, I don't really get much out of exploring somewhere new. Maybe it's the lack of being able to see a lot or know what to look for, maybe it's just because I'm introverted. Or a little of both. Probably a little of both. I did get more pictures though!
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| Altes Rathaus |
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| Opera House |
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| Only foot traffic is allowed in this part of the city center |
Monday ended up being my only "full" day of practicum (9-5) at the hospital. My main contact was sick still, and then on Tuesday the second music therapist got sick and then by Wednesday, all three were out and I didn't have to come in. Thursday was a holiday (not sure which holiday) and then today, Frau Paetzolt told me nothing was really going on so I should just come in Monday. Unexpected long weekend? Normally I'd be happy but I'm really not doing a ton right now, so getting out and doing something Monday will be great, especially settling in to a normal routine. I did take a couple pictures of the music therapy room at the hospital.
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| Yep, that's a steel drum on the right there. They have two! |
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| How convenient! It comes with a bun and everything! |
I did, however, get some good ol' German Maultaschen!
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| YUM |
Yesterday Caroline and I made a salad with greens, cherry tomatoes, and shredded carrot (I may or may not have also shredded part of my finger but we don't talk about that), and then we sautéed up some garlic, onions, bacon bits, and cut up the Maultaschen and put that in there as well and combined it in the salad when we were done. It was pretty darn awesome.
That's pretty much all that has happened in the last couple days. Hopefully I'll get out some this weekend and have more exciting stories for all of you.
Bis bald!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Quiet Weekend
As you can probably guess from the title, it's been pretty quiet here the last couple days. Caroline's been in Berlin (getting back some time today, though I don't know when - probably late) and I usually am not really motivated to get out and do things unless I have someone to go with, so I haven't done a lot of exciting things. I did get out a little though!
Friday I knew I had to go to the bank, and there's a little German one down the street but I'm trying to avoid using that one since there is a Deutsche Bank in city center and that one is affiliated with Bank of America - no fees for taking out money (theoretically)! I had to go down to my landlord's apartment to give her my little "here's something from America!" gift, so I mentioned to her that I'd be going and she offered to take me with her later, as she had to go into the city anyway. I was quite happy to accept her offer.
So later in the afternoon, I set out with her and her niece (who is in about 10th grade) to Augustusplatz (the city center). She took me on a little "Rundgang" (tour, basically) of the center, where I did indeed see the St. Thomaskirche, which is where J. S. Bach did a lot of his work and where he's buried. There was a concert going on, as there is every Friday and Saturday, but I didn't go to it - I will at some point though! We also stopped at the oldest coffee shop in Germany, the Coffe Baum I think it's called, and had some hot chocolate. (German "Sahne", which means cream, and in this case is whipped cream, is definitely not as sweet as American whipped cream! Still quite good though!)
We never did actually go to the bank, but Frau Günther said I could find it Saturday. I was disappointed at the idea of having to go alone, but hey, gotta get out of your comfort zone somehow! So that evening I diligently looked up how to get to the Deutsche Bank on Martin-Luther-Ring and even did a Google streetview to figure out where to go.
The next morning, I got ready and headed to the Bahn station. I needed to transfer from Bahn 4 to Bahn 11 at Augustusplatz - except, come to find out when I GET to Augustusplatz, Bahn 11 doesn't run at Augustusplatz. Only 4, 7, 12, and 15. Well hmph. So I wandered around a little and then just went back home.
I really needed money to get some groceries, but I figured I had enough to last me until Caroline got home (other than needing bread), and then she could hopefully shed some light on the situation. Having about 3€ on me, I then schlepped over to the store and bought a (boring) loaf of bread for 1.79€. (Cost about the same as the three little Brötchen I'd bought before, but I figured a real loaf would last me longer and probably stay fresher too, even if it's not awesome fresh bread.)
I don't really have anything going on today either, so I'm probably going to go to the city center again and take some more pictures. The Altes Rathaus was really pretty and so was the opera house, so definitely going to get pictures of them.
The only other thing I have to do is the paperwork from Personalabteilung at the Krankenhaus. As Frau Paetzolt said, I'm probably going to learn a bunch of new German words - yay! :P I also was figuring out the route I will be taking to get there, and I realized in looking at Bahn schedules that if I just walk up one station from where I'd usually get on (Johannisplatz rather than Koehlerstraße, not that that really matters), I can take the same Straßenbahn from there to my stop rather than changing from bus to the Bahn halfway there. Success! Also, less of a chance of missing a connection = less stress for me! :)
That is all I've really been up to. If I take pictures later today, I will definitely post them here!
Bis bald!
Friday I knew I had to go to the bank, and there's a little German one down the street but I'm trying to avoid using that one since there is a Deutsche Bank in city center and that one is affiliated with Bank of America - no fees for taking out money (theoretically)! I had to go down to my landlord's apartment to give her my little "here's something from America!" gift, so I mentioned to her that I'd be going and she offered to take me with her later, as she had to go into the city anyway. I was quite happy to accept her offer.
So later in the afternoon, I set out with her and her niece (who is in about 10th grade) to Augustusplatz (the city center). She took me on a little "Rundgang" (tour, basically) of the center, where I did indeed see the St. Thomaskirche, which is where J. S. Bach did a lot of his work and where he's buried. There was a concert going on, as there is every Friday and Saturday, but I didn't go to it - I will at some point though! We also stopped at the oldest coffee shop in Germany, the Coffe Baum I think it's called, and had some hot chocolate. (German "Sahne", which means cream, and in this case is whipped cream, is definitely not as sweet as American whipped cream! Still quite good though!)
We never did actually go to the bank, but Frau Günther said I could find it Saturday. I was disappointed at the idea of having to go alone, but hey, gotta get out of your comfort zone somehow! So that evening I diligently looked up how to get to the Deutsche Bank on Martin-Luther-Ring and even did a Google streetview to figure out where to go.
The next morning, I got ready and headed to the Bahn station. I needed to transfer from Bahn 4 to Bahn 11 at Augustusplatz - except, come to find out when I GET to Augustusplatz, Bahn 11 doesn't run at Augustusplatz. Only 4, 7, 12, and 15. Well hmph. So I wandered around a little and then just went back home.
I really needed money to get some groceries, but I figured I had enough to last me until Caroline got home (other than needing bread), and then she could hopefully shed some light on the situation. Having about 3€ on me, I then schlepped over to the store and bought a (boring) loaf of bread for 1.79€. (Cost about the same as the three little Brötchen I'd bought before, but I figured a real loaf would last me longer and probably stay fresher too, even if it's not awesome fresh bread.)
I don't really have anything going on today either, so I'm probably going to go to the city center again and take some more pictures. The Altes Rathaus was really pretty and so was the opera house, so definitely going to get pictures of them.
The only other thing I have to do is the paperwork from Personalabteilung at the Krankenhaus. As Frau Paetzolt said, I'm probably going to learn a bunch of new German words - yay! :P I also was figuring out the route I will be taking to get there, and I realized in looking at Bahn schedules that if I just walk up one station from where I'd usually get on (Johannisplatz rather than Koehlerstraße, not that that really matters), I can take the same Straßenbahn from there to my stop rather than changing from bus to the Bahn halfway there. Success! Also, less of a chance of missing a connection = less stress for me! :)
That is all I've really been up to. If I take pictures later today, I will definitely post them here!
Bis bald!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Day Off and Apartment Tour!
Hallo!
I have an unexpected day off from my practicum today; Frau Paetzolt emailed me last night to let me know that she is sick so I didn't have to come in. I'm actually grateful because it means I can figure out the way via Bus & Bahn (streetcar) today or over the weekend. Funny enough though, I still woke up at 4:30 and finally got up around 6:30. Aren't time changes fun?
As a kind of funny side note, I had cereal (Muesli - yum!) with milk this morning. Like, milk IN the cereal. Now, you might be thinking "okay, what's the big deal?" I haven't eaten milk in my cereal in at least 10 years (gosh, saying that makes me feel old!). I used to eat it that way, but my mom would make me drink the milk that was left and I thought it tasted GROSS so I was like "I'll show you!" and stopped putting milk in my cereal. And yes, the friends of mine that knew about this gave me lots of crap for it. :) But I knew Muesli can be kind of crunchy (like, Grape Nut / gravel crunchy) so I figured I should soften it a little. It was quite good! (yay random stories that don't matter!)
So anyway...
Yesterday, Frau Paetzolt me up and took me home from the hospital so I didn't have to worry about getting there on my first day, and she actually drove a slightly different way than she usually takes so she could show me where the Bahn would drop me off and how I would walk the rest of the way. Maybe I'll film that walk eventually, or at least take some pictures! At the hospital when we were done for the day, she sat down with me and looked up the official way I'll have to take: first I will take a bus for about 10 minutes then transfer to the Bahn for the rest of the way. When she took me home, she helped me figure out how to buy a Monatskarte (month ticket) for the Bahn and bus system in the city, which I was obviously quite grateful for.
I think she will actually not be at the hospital for a couple days next week, but there are two other music therapists there and we'd already decided my "schedule" for when I could be with each of them, so I will be able to follow them more next week.
This weekend, my roommate Caroline is in Berlin with her friends, so I'm here alone. I'm hoping to get out and explore the city some; I will be going to the bank with my landlord later to get some money out; I'm really grateful that she offered to take me so I could figure things out. I'd looked up how to get there and it didn't seem that hard, but still...I will always take help when it's offered, especially since I don't really know my way around the city yet!
I took the time this morning to film a little apartment tour so you can see where I'm living during my time here. The one thing I meant to mention in the tour but forgot was that I live on the third floor. Normally, I wouldn't say anything, but an interesting tidbit is that we (in America) would say I'm living on the fourth floor: Germans don't count the ground floor (Erdgeschoss) when they count the floors, so you have the ground floor and then one level up is the first floor. I just find that interesting!
I think that is all for now - enjoy the little tour!
Bis bald!
Apartment Tour video
I have an unexpected day off from my practicum today; Frau Paetzolt emailed me last night to let me know that she is sick so I didn't have to come in. I'm actually grateful because it means I can figure out the way via Bus & Bahn (streetcar) today or over the weekend. Funny enough though, I still woke up at 4:30 and finally got up around 6:30. Aren't time changes fun?
As a kind of funny side note, I had cereal (Muesli - yum!) with milk this morning. Like, milk IN the cereal. Now, you might be thinking "okay, what's the big deal?" I haven't eaten milk in my cereal in at least 10 years (gosh, saying that makes me feel old!). I used to eat it that way, but my mom would make me drink the milk that was left and I thought it tasted GROSS so I was like "I'll show you!" and stopped putting milk in my cereal. And yes, the friends of mine that knew about this gave me lots of crap for it. :) But I knew Muesli can be kind of crunchy (like, Grape Nut / gravel crunchy) so I figured I should soften it a little. It was quite good! (yay random stories that don't matter!)
So anyway...
Yesterday, Frau Paetzolt me up and took me home from the hospital so I didn't have to worry about getting there on my first day, and she actually drove a slightly different way than she usually takes so she could show me where the Bahn would drop me off and how I would walk the rest of the way. Maybe I'll film that walk eventually, or at least take some pictures! At the hospital when we were done for the day, she sat down with me and looked up the official way I'll have to take: first I will take a bus for about 10 minutes then transfer to the Bahn for the rest of the way. When she took me home, she helped me figure out how to buy a Monatskarte (month ticket) for the Bahn and bus system in the city, which I was obviously quite grateful for.
I think she will actually not be at the hospital for a couple days next week, but there are two other music therapists there and we'd already decided my "schedule" for when I could be with each of them, so I will be able to follow them more next week.
This weekend, my roommate Caroline is in Berlin with her friends, so I'm here alone. I'm hoping to get out and explore the city some; I will be going to the bank with my landlord later to get some money out; I'm really grateful that she offered to take me so I could figure things out. I'd looked up how to get there and it didn't seem that hard, but still...I will always take help when it's offered, especially since I don't really know my way around the city yet!
I took the time this morning to film a little apartment tour so you can see where I'm living during my time here. The one thing I meant to mention in the tour but forgot was that I live on the third floor. Normally, I wouldn't say anything, but an interesting tidbit is that we (in America) would say I'm living on the fourth floor: Germans don't count the ground floor (Erdgeschoss) when they count the floors, so you have the ground floor and then one level up is the first floor. I just find that interesting!
I think that is all for now - enjoy the little tour!
Bis bald!
Apartment Tour video
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Apartment and Biergarten
I will probably put up a couple more pictures of the inside of my apartment, but I figured I would show you just some not-as-exciting stuff first (first the plane, now boring pictures...anyone noticing a theme here?). So first of all, here is a view of the inside of my apartment building when you first walk in:
And for something small but cool, here is a picture of my keys.
Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to a Biergarten (literally "beer garden") with my roommate, Caroline, and two of her friends that I'd met the day before. The building was getting renovated and the outside looked quite cool, but there wasn't much to look at on the inside.
I paid 8€ and got a lemonade and a HUGE piece of what they called cake - I probably would call it a square piece of pie. :) It was about 4x4 inches and I only ate half of it. The lemonade was a little strange - we definitely wouldn't call it lemonade. The actual liquid was some sort of citrus-y pop, like Sprite or something, and then they had put chunks of lemon and orange in it, along with mint leaves. It was interesting, but I kept having to pick the little bits of mint leaf out. I know I could've eaten them, but...didn't really want to.
I'm typing this at about 6:15am: I start my music therapy practicum today and I was worried I'd sleep in or something since yesterday I slept for about 11 hours and was still tired at noon. But I woke up around 5 today and never fell back asleep so I figured I might as well do something productive!
Have a lovely day, everyone! Bis bald!
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| 20 steps to each floor! |
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| The awesome old-looking one opens my door! |
I paid 8€ and got a lemonade and a HUGE piece of what they called cake - I probably would call it a square piece of pie. :) It was about 4x4 inches and I only ate half of it. The lemonade was a little strange - we definitely wouldn't call it lemonade. The actual liquid was some sort of citrus-y pop, like Sprite or something, and then they had put chunks of lemon and orange in it, along with mint leaves. It was interesting, but I kept having to pick the little bits of mint leaf out. I know I could've eaten them, but...didn't really want to.
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| It was in a huge beer glass, too. |
Have a lovely day, everyone! Bis bald!
The Flight
Greetings from Germany!
I decided to just talk about my flight in this post - I will try not to talk too long, as it's just the flight and not actually much about Germany most likely. But the moral of this post is Lufthansa is great if you need assistance with flying!
When I got to the Detroit airport, they didn't have someone right away, but someone from the airport did take me through security and to my gate. (Sidenote: she grew up in Macedonia, as in the country, and told me how much I'd love Europe and how it's better than the USA.) She sat me in the little boarding area for people who need assistance, so I got to go on a little early and have someone show me where my seat was.
I was a little nervous that I'd have to ask again for help when I got to Frankfurt, but I had my white cane with me and made sure to have it out and they stopped me from leaving and put me again with people who needed assistance. (My name was on their "list" since I'd called beforehand to say I would need help getting around.) We all walked to a little back hallway and then they kind of split us up (I'm assuming it was based on where everyone needed to go); I ended up with a couple who had actually been sitting behind me on the plane.
Then they took us all on little electric cars all around the airport (or at least, that's what it felt like!). I knew the Frankfurt airport was pretty big, but WOW. I was super-glad not to be navigating by myself, that's for sure. Around the airport, through doors for authorized people only, up and down some elevators...I was completely lost. The best part was when the attendant stopped at the passport gate: she took our passports ("no, you can stay here!") and got them stamped for us. I was the first to be dropped off - I still had about three hours of my layover left so they took me to the little lounge for the disabled where I could wait. I was really glad - not only were there not many people there, there was some food and drinks that we could have! I was quite thirsty so it was nice not to have to look for a place to buy anything. I then took (or tried to take) a nap, as I hadn't slept on the plane. (Believe me, I tried. 7.5 hours is not fun when you can't sleep.)
Around my boarding time, they came and took me to my gate (which involved a shuttle that everyone had to ride - this airport was crazy-huge!) and helped me on the plane again. When I arrived in Leipzig, someone came with me to help me find my baggage and made sure I found my ride. (My landlord came and picked me up, which was really nice of her.)
So that was the extent of my flight, really. I'll try to do a more exciting post soon here.
Tschüs!
I decided to just talk about my flight in this post - I will try not to talk too long, as it's just the flight and not actually much about Germany most likely. But the moral of this post is Lufthansa is great if you need assistance with flying!
When I got to the Detroit airport, they didn't have someone right away, but someone from the airport did take me through security and to my gate. (Sidenote: she grew up in Macedonia, as in the country, and told me how much I'd love Europe and how it's better than the USA.) She sat me in the little boarding area for people who need assistance, so I got to go on a little early and have someone show me where my seat was.
I was a little nervous that I'd have to ask again for help when I got to Frankfurt, but I had my white cane with me and made sure to have it out and they stopped me from leaving and put me again with people who needed assistance. (My name was on their "list" since I'd called beforehand to say I would need help getting around.) We all walked to a little back hallway and then they kind of split us up (I'm assuming it was based on where everyone needed to go); I ended up with a couple who had actually been sitting behind me on the plane.
Then they took us all on little electric cars all around the airport (or at least, that's what it felt like!). I knew the Frankfurt airport was pretty big, but WOW. I was super-glad not to be navigating by myself, that's for sure. Around the airport, through doors for authorized people only, up and down some elevators...I was completely lost. The best part was when the attendant stopped at the passport gate: she took our passports ("no, you can stay here!") and got them stamped for us. I was the first to be dropped off - I still had about three hours of my layover left so they took me to the little lounge for the disabled where I could wait. I was really glad - not only were there not many people there, there was some food and drinks that we could have! I was quite thirsty so it was nice not to have to look for a place to buy anything. I then took (or tried to take) a nap, as I hadn't slept on the plane. (Believe me, I tried. 7.5 hours is not fun when you can't sleep.)
Around my boarding time, they came and took me to my gate (which involved a shuttle that everyone had to ride - this airport was crazy-huge!) and helped me on the plane again. When I arrived in Leipzig, someone came with me to help me find my baggage and made sure I found my ride. (My landlord came and picked me up, which was really nice of her.)
So that was the extent of my flight, really. I'll try to do a more exciting post soon here.
Tschüs!
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