in Lüneburg!

Alright- I finally have time to sit down and write about my adventures thus far. I arrived in Lüneburg yesterday afternoon. My assigned "buddy" from England, who I also live with showed me around- the first meal I had was a Döner kebab with a Beck's Lemon. Delicious. Also, the weather has been perfect since arriving in Germany- which I hear is a rarity.

Anyway, let me back track to London for a bit.
So, the whole story about London: I arrived at Heathrow VERY tired. However, I had decided to book a bus tour- probably the best call. I ended up checking in to the 5th terminal at Heathrow instead of walking out to baggage claim. However, British Airways has some employees escort one out into the right place, if they want to visit London for the day. This is a fair notice: DO NOT leave the airport unless you have an 8+ hr layover. It took me so long to figure out where I was going, buy tickets to Heathrow connect (the train that connects Heathrow to London) and to finally get out to the London city center. I also ended up using the tube- what a nightmare, in all honesty. I had barely enough time to take the tour and eat some fish and chips (delicious, by the way). Anyway, I also had to go through customs at the UK border- the immigration officer was skeptical (as they should be) when I turned in my landing card. I was only staying in the city for a few hours, alone. Thankfully I had proof that I booked the bus tour and that I knew where I was going- had I not, they may not have let me in. So my passport had it first stamp and I was on my way to be a tourist in London. Traffic was terrible, the normally two hour tour took about 3 1/2 hours to complete. Unfortunately I didn't have time to visit a lot of the sites- some which included Big Ben and the Parliament building, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the London eye, Picadilly Circus (which is not a circus!! But it's a park that has the route of an old Roman road into London), the Red Lion Pub, 10 Downing Street, and...let's see what i'm missing...oh, the River Thames, London Bridge, Tower of London, and those guards that stand really still (they weren't the ones in red coats and bear caps unfortunately). London was one cluster of busyness- the diamond jubilee preparations where underway, as well as preparations for the London olympics.

I ended up staying on the bus the whole tour, but i'll be back for sure to claim my free cruise on the river Thames.


On to Germany-
I arrived in Germany at about 9 local time. The plane ride was about...1-1.5 hrs. It was a really short trip. One thing I was honestly worried about was that I would have a lot of trouble getting into Germany, much like in the UK. However, the scenario went like this:

I approach the "Non-EU passports" counter, I give my american passport to an immigration officer wearing a "Polizei" label. She says: "First time in Germany?" I reply: "Yes ma'am," while smiling. She then stamps my passport, and all of this took place within a minute. I was so surprised that I didn't have to fill out a landing card, show proof that I wasn't staying in Germany long-term, etc. To be honest, I still find it a bit strange (but very good news!)

I stayed the night in Hamburg with my good friend Tricia. Thankfully, thanks to touring London earlier that day, I was so tired by 12am local time, that I was ready to sleep. I'm actually still feeling the jetlag, or I may just be tired from all the walking around.

I haven't had the chance to properly look around Lüneburg, so that's my plan tomorrow! I called it an early night tonight because i'm tired (and i plan to look for brötchen- bread- in the morning!). I think being surrounded in German is already helping. I'm becoming more aware of what words are, what words to use, etc.

Bis Später (until later)!

Hi all!

Just a quick update- because it's Fruhstückzeit (breakfast time) in Germany. I arrived in Hamburg last night at around 9 or so. No trouble at customs, it was surprisingly easy to get through. In London I had a harder time. I had an 11 hr layover at Heathrow, so I decided to explore the city. Mission successful! The link from my album is here. One commentary about London, WOW. everything is expensive. Wow.

More details soon!

My favorite landmarks of London, Big Ben and the Parliament building.

I LEAVE....

TODAY!

I leave in two days!

Nerves are through the roof now! The adrenaline is pumping and i'm ready to be on my way! I just got into contact with my USAC buddy- a person who is supposed to guide through Lüneburg for the first few days/weeks.

(Here is the view from the bathroom! Courtesy of Chris, my new roommate)

Luckily, he lives in the same apartment i'll be living in. So I get a sneak peak at where i'm going to be living for the summer! The views look amazing (granted, even if it's from the bathroom).

Well, here are my set destinations for this summer. After Lüneburg, it's pretty much by ear where I go.

I'm very excited!

The cosmos are at work....

I got this in a fortune cookie I had today. I'll admit, i'm a big believer of fate, so this is a great positive sign of what's to come. A bit eerie, but I'm really excited of what's in store for me. I'll be sure to update in three months about this.

Me in Germany

Courtesy of http://everyday-cute.tumblr.com/

Two week pre-departure thoughts

The countdown is....counting down. 14 days until I board a plane for London that will take me to my summer home in Lüneburg, Germany. It's kind of nerve wrecking, really. Do I want time to go slow or do I want it to go faster? Slow, because i'm nervous about the move. Fast because i'm also excited about moving.

I ordered a satchel (it looks very touristy, so I won't be taking it out much when I go out. It came in today along with my converter plug. Things are getting very real!!

Anyway, here's a distraction that I found very deep:

Sometimes in life, I feel like that penguin. I leave the colony not to face a certain death, but because I want to stand out from the others. Do I rationalize this behavior? No, and neither does this penguin.
The reason I also posted it is because Werner Herzog is a modern philosopher. He brings out observations that we don't see, although we are presented with them. He has a very dark way of approaching things. He's been an inspiration recently in my thoughts and feelings about leaving for the summer, in a way that I should look at things from another angle (since i've been pretty anxious and nervous about leaving). But not everything has to be a Werner Herzog reality. The key is to stop worrying and let the natural way take its course at times.

Those are my thoughts for today. Bis später!

Pre-departure jitters

Hey everyone!
The purpose of this blog is to write down all of my concerns, learnings, etc. I hope that someone can come across this blog and find it entertaining as well as informational.

Alright, that's a formal start.

For the past few weeks (the last 2-3 in general), I've been having pre-departure jitters. I've just worried about anything and everything. However, I've kept this in mind and it has really helped me out:  everything will turn out ok! Worrying excessively about something won't help you or the problem out. The best thing is to a) leave the situation alone if it's out of your control, b) actively find a solution, and quickly if there is one, c) STOP WORRYING; worrying won't fix anything!

Anyway, now I will actually talk about my study abroad in Germany!

First and foremost, I've been wanting to study in Germany for a while now. About a year and a half ago I applied to study there. But the plans to study there fell through. Long story short, things just didn't work out with the program. Now, fast forward to around February 2012. I was still tinkering around with the idea of studying abroad. I visited the page for the study abroad office at the University of Houston and found a few programs that offered summer and fall opportunities. I decided to go with USAC since they were so prompt in answering my pre-application questions. So far, i'm glad I have gone through their program. I've heard very good things about the program and they've been very receptive to most of my concerns. Now, with all of the applications done and tickets booked, it's time to play the waiting game!

My departure date is set for May 22nd, 2012 at 4:20. My first stop is Heathrow airport in London, England. I intentionally set an 11 hr layover there so that I could explore the city. I also wanted to make sure that British Airways wouldn't leave my baggage behind and I would be stuck in Lüneburg without a change of socks. I planned an adventure before my adventure and I'm hoping to see a big chunk of London, even if it's for a few hours. I will arrive in Hamburg at 9:20 local time. My expectations of scheduling a mini-adventure were also in the hopes of being very tired once I arrived in Hamburg, so I would awake with the other citizens; I will update later if this plan works (trial and error, right?).

Everything is finally starting to come together. I received my housing assignment early yesterday morning. The verdict: I will be living in a shared apartment with 4 other international students, next to a river and an irish pub! I'll try not to hang out at the pub too much, since my goal is to assimilate to German culture and not irish. But a few international dinners there wouldn't hurt either.

My new home for the summer!

Well, that's it for me. I can't wait to arrive in Lüneburg!