Two Weeks and my Impressions

So two weeks ago, I moved in at Erfurt. When I look back on it, I think that the time has come and gone in the blink of an eye, but at other times it seems months since I last traveled and years since I left home. My roommate and I have decided that the days here in Germany are not actually 24 hours, but instead some smaller number. Each night, as I turn on my lamp to either read or do a puzzle while I listen to the news on my iPod, I cannot keep myself from muttering, 'Well, another day gone.' I can only imagine how fast the days will go when I am filling them with hours of classes and homework, social events, and weekend trips around Germany. They cannot possibly get much shorter!

So far, I have found the city of Erfurt truly fascinating, an odd mixture of old and new, with the stereotypical German architecture competing with modern buildings for the bigger statement. Fashion is cutting edge (I have never seen so many truly ugly shoes in my life), rebellious (what do you think, should I dye my hair purple and orange, or should I just get a lopsided buzz cut?), and painfully old (those skin-tight leopard print tights should rest in peace forever in the 80's). Hip teenagers with big sunglasses rub shoulders with cute retired Germans shopping for flowers. And certainly, the old East Germany still has a lingering presence in many of Erfurt's citizens, a fact that cannot be proven or explained. I am not sure many who have lived through it can even pinpoint the differences. It can only be felt in this thriving city's pulse and in its diverse character.

I would have to say that thusfar the greatest adventure has been the task of shopping for groceries. Anyone who has lived in a foreign country can probably relate to the combination of emotions that arise from such an expedition: overwhelmed by the very smell of the store as the door swings open, claustrophobia from the unusually tight aisles and hordes of fellow shoppers, isolation in not understanding the conversations around you, confusion in not knowing how to read the food labels, frustration in not finding the comfort foods you most long for, hesitation in seeing products stored in ways different from home (seriously, milk not refrigerated? This just seems unsafe to me). I have now been shopping several times for myself and with friends, and while I have grown more accustomed to the German idea of groceries, I still have not gotten over the rows upon rows of various meats, cheeses, and breads. Slowly and cautiously, I am trying the weird meats and unfamiliar cheeses. But I still always have the urge to carry a dictionary with me.