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)!