a month down.

hi again! i feel like working backwards, telling you recent stuff first.

the pre-session language course ended yesterday, and i think it ended well. although my grade wasn't as good as I would have liked to to be, I am happy with the progress that i made in the course. and it also helps that my grade will be pass-fail, so the actual grade won't transfer. it will just show that i PASSED :D

for the end of the course, we all made groups and did little plays about our experience so far in germany and with german stereotypes. our group did a sketch were we were riding on a train to oktoberfest, and instead of showing tickets, the kontroller(the person who goes through the train making sure everyone has tickets) was more concerned with making sure everyone had their german beer on the train.

in the evening most of the exchange students went out to Platz an der Sonne, and then a club called The Keller. this club had three different rooms for dancing, and each had different music playing. a few other students and i chose to go to the room with the 90s/current alt rock. i think german clubs are better than american clubs for a couple reasons....
1. German clubs usually have more than one kind of music playing. if you don't like the song in one room, you can usually go to another and hear something you do like.
2. Germans can't dance....and i like this because i can't dance either! they don't even attempt to bump and grind, they groove around with very little rhythm or talent, which is exactly my style!
3. German clubs are open very late, like 6 am. more time for fun! me and a few of the other students got home around 4 am, and it felt like we left earlier than everyone else.

on a different note...the weather was absolutely beautiful all week, so Alexander decided to show me around some of the parks in Bottrop. This region isn't known for being too beautiful, but the parks in Bottrop were spectacular! Trees everywhere, art sculptures, ponds, playgrounds, large lawns for relaxing..it was nice! (Oddly enough, there are ditches that are dug specifically for people to throw their beer bottles in. I think that either homeless people or city workers come and clean out the ditch every night.) We just walked his little beagle , Yoshi, around the park for a few hours in the sunshine.

I think that my family would love Germany because it is a VERY dog friendly country. Everyone brings there dogs everywhere with them -- into shops, on the train, everywhere except for restaurants and grocery stores. I always feel like running up and cuddling strangers' dogs because I miss having a dog around! (but after that incident in high school with the chihuahua at Valley West Mall, I know better than to hastily embrace a strangers' dog)

on wednesday we all visited the only brewery left in Dortmund, the Dortmund Actien Brauerei. did you know that the factory workers used to be able to drink up to 3 liters of beer during their shift? whoa, i don't know how anything ever got done at that place! we also had a beer tasting at the end where we sampled four different dortmunder beers. all of the exchange students left all giggly and happy.

next week i think wendy, brittany, and i will be visiting brussels and the netherlands. i don't know how long we will be there, but i will come back with lots of fun stories to share.